Plot summary (story synopsis): China, the closing decades of the 19th century. Wong Fei Hung (Eddie Peng) infiltrates the Black Tiger gang, which is led by the villainous Lei Gong (Sammo Hung). Wong Fei Hung's plan is to destroy the gang from within, by stealing their silver and killing not just Lei Gong, but his lieutenants - his three adopted sons - as well.
He earns his place as Lei Gong's fourth adopted son by killing the leader of the rival Northern Sea gang. From this privileged insider position, he learns the location of the keys to Lei Gong's silver vault.
With the help of childhood friend Fiery (Jing Boran), love-interest Chun (Wang Luodan) and courtesan Orchid (Angelababy), he schemes to steal the silver, as well as free 300 slave laborers that Lei Gong has kidnapped and kept hidden.
***
Rise of the Legend is an entertaining kung fu movie, combining the visuals of Wong Kar Wai's the Grandmaster, with above-average fight choreography (not quite up to the standard of Donnie Yen's Ip Man, but close). All wrapped up in an engaging Robin Hood tale.
Comparisons will be made with Jet Li's Once Upon a Time in China, which also tells the story of the legendary Wong Fei Hung, but that's not what I'm going to do. I'll be honest and admit that I don't remember much about Once Upon a Time in China except that it had some goofball humor and that Wong Fei Hung's plucky mother stole the show. (I'm also not a big Jet Li fan - his smugness gets on my nerves.)
Eddie Peng? He does fine, despite not having Jet Li's martial arts background. He fights convincingly and plays off well against Sammo Hung. There's also some chemistry between him and the elegant Wang Luodan.
The visuals are gorgeous. From the authentic-looking wooden buildings and interiors, to the beautiful lighting by cinematographer Ng Man Ching, Rise of the Legend looks good. Especially outstanding is the high-contrast lighting in the one-man-against-hundreds fight in the first act of the movie, when Wong Fei Hung has to fight his way through a Northern Sea horde after killing their leader.
The plot from scriptwriter To Chi Long is surprisingly complex for a kung fu movie, and manages to hold your interest throughout the movie. So this isn't your standard kung fu movie, with a thin story serving mainly as an excuse to serve up some fight scenes.
The fight choreography is a mixed bag, but mainly good. You do see some Hung Gar moves at the start (the Southern kung fu style used by the real life Wong Fei Hung) - which is not something you often see in kung fu movies. Look out for the claw hand (instead of clenched fist) - used for grabbing wrists, open-palm strikes and take-downs. Stances are wide (compared to say, Wing Chun, which shares some moves with Hung Gar), trading off mobility for stability.
There's also the famous double punch, probably Hung Gar's signature move - one high, one low, delivered to the side (the far arm arches over the fighter's head and he bends over sideways, making this look like an ornamental move, but it's a legitimate combat technique).
Unfortunately, most of this is seen at the start of the movie. Hung Gar techniques are slowly bled from the fight choreography until the final showdown between Wong Fei Hong and Lei Gong, regresses to the bland punch/block/kick of your standard kung fu movie. No combination moves, blocks from the outside of a punch, off-axis attacks, arm locks, wrist grabs.
So, points for having some real Hung Gar, but not top marks because this is not consistently applied. (Donnie Yen's first Ip Man movie was more purely Wing Chun but faltered a bit too. It's still the best kung fu movie in years, however the second movie stinks.)
The movie's title implies that the filmmakers intend to make a sequel. I hope they do.
2014-11-28
2014-11-13
Sayang Disayang (2014)
Plot summary (story synopsis): Murni (Aidli Mosbit) is from a small village in Aceh, Indonesia. She works in Singapore as a domestic helper, looking after recently crippled widower Harun (veteran Malaysian actor Rahim Razali).
No matter how hard she tries, she is unable to satisfy the grouchy Harun. He constantly complains about her cooking, especially her sambal belacan - chili fried with shrimp paste and lime.
Will Murni be able to please Harun? And why is he so particular about sambal belacan anyway?
***
Sayang Disayang (love is loved) is Singapore's entry for the 2015 Academy Awards Foreign Language Film. It's not going to win. It's main shortcoming is that it's a short film stretched out to feature length. There isn't enough material for its long run time.
The scenes of Murni pounding chili, and carp swimming, quickly become repetitive. The beautiful gamelan and flute music becomes wearying too.
Just as bad is the lack of clarity in the proceedings. Sayang Disayang does try to use show-don't-tell storytelling technique. However for most of the movie it's not clear that Murni is even trying to modify her cooking to please Harun. We see her cheerfully singing and ignoring Harun's rants, making it look like she doesn't care what he thinks about her cooking.
Her cooking technique looks the same too (at least to me). It's only towards the end of the movie that we notice her doing something different - using a food blender instead of mortar and pestle.
It's not just the shifts in her cooking. Even the changes in her relationship with Harun are not clearly developed. They seem abrupt and unconvincing.
The few side stories are similarly unpolished. Harun's visit to his mosque seems out of place, as are the hints of politicking within the mosque's leadership (I didn't get this part, writer/director Sanif Olek had to explain it to me when I asked him about it after a screening).
Murni imagining her mother talking to her also seems out of place. It is confusingly shown. We don't know who she is at first, and it's not clear if Murni is imagining her or not.
This is Sanif Olek's first feature film (he works as director for TV productions). He shows promise but has a way to go. I don't think the Oscar selection will go to his head. He seems like a sensible, humble guy. I actually feel bad, writing such a negative review. He's a very friendly guy - I met him once at a library talk and once at a Sayang Disayang screening.
No matter how hard she tries, she is unable to satisfy the grouchy Harun. He constantly complains about her cooking, especially her sambal belacan - chili fried with shrimp paste and lime.
Will Murni be able to please Harun? And why is he so particular about sambal belacan anyway?
***
Sayang Disayang (love is loved) is Singapore's entry for the 2015 Academy Awards Foreign Language Film. It's not going to win. It's main shortcoming is that it's a short film stretched out to feature length. There isn't enough material for its long run time.
The scenes of Murni pounding chili, and carp swimming, quickly become repetitive. The beautiful gamelan and flute music becomes wearying too.
Just as bad is the lack of clarity in the proceedings. Sayang Disayang does try to use show-don't-tell storytelling technique. However for most of the movie it's not clear that Murni is even trying to modify her cooking to please Harun. We see her cheerfully singing and ignoring Harun's rants, making it look like she doesn't care what he thinks about her cooking.
Her cooking technique looks the same too (at least to me). It's only towards the end of the movie that we notice her doing something different - using a food blender instead of mortar and pestle.
It's not just the shifts in her cooking. Even the changes in her relationship with Harun are not clearly developed. They seem abrupt and unconvincing.
The few side stories are similarly unpolished. Harun's visit to his mosque seems out of place, as are the hints of politicking within the mosque's leadership (I didn't get this part, writer/director Sanif Olek had to explain it to me when I asked him about it after a screening).
Murni imagining her mother talking to her also seems out of place. It is confusingly shown. We don't know who she is at first, and it's not clear if Murni is imagining her or not.
This is Sanif Olek's first feature film (he works as director for TV productions). He shows promise but has a way to go. I don't think the Oscar selection will go to his head. He seems like a sensible, humble guy. I actually feel bad, writing such a negative review. He's a very friendly guy - I met him once at a library talk and once at a Sayang Disayang screening.
2014-11-11
Kung Fu Jungle (2014)
Plot summary (story synopsis): Hahou Mo (Donnie Yen) is in jail for manslaughter, with 2 years of a 5 year sentence left to serve. He had accidentally killed another kung fu expert in a duel, while trying to find out who was the better fighter.
Fung Yu-Sau (Baoqiang Wang) now seems to be following in his footsteps, fighting kung fu masters, but deliberately killing them. Hahou Mo knows that he can stop Fung Yu-Sau and makes a deal with lead detective Luk Yuen-Sum (Charlie Yeung, who is a woman despite her name). Luk Yuen-Sum reluctantly agrees to release Hahou Mo from prison into her custody.
Hahou Mo has figured out Fung Yu-Sau's plan. He is following a kung fu poem and targeting kung fu masters in boxing, kicking, grappling (Chin Na), weapons, and internal styles - in that order.
Hahou Mo leads detective Luk Yuen-Sum to Fung Yu-Sau's next target, but then runs away to Foshan to protect his sweetheart Sinn Ying (Bing Bai) from Fung Yu-Sau.
***
Kung Fu Jungle is an above-average kung fu movie. The fights are decent and not too long. The story and characters are engaging. Locations are interesting - old-world Foshan, a river village.
The idea of Fung Yu-Sau as a master of different styles of kung fu, fighting different masters in their own style, is a good one. It allows the movie to showcase different styles without resorting to the old cliche of a martial arts tournament.
Unfortunately for kung fu fans (who are obviously the movie's target audience) not enough is made of the opportunity. The first few fights come off nicely enough. They aren't generic fights. They actually follow the declared styles - boxing, kicking, grappling, weapons.
But instead of building towards a climax with the showdown between Fung Yu-Sau and Hahou Mo, the fight between the two, degenerates into the generic punch, kick, block fighting seen in too many Hong Kong movies.
According to the poem sequence Fung Yu-Sau was following, Hahou Mo should have been a master of an internal style (Hsing Yi, Ba Gua or Tai Chi). However all the clues point to him being a Wing Chun guy. Foshan was an early center of Wing Chun, and is where Hahou Mo learned his kung fu.
Hahou Mo also fights with a pole, one of the classic Wing Chun weapons (six and a half point pole). Yet, his kung fu style is not Wing Chun (and not an internal style either). Not just his unarmed technique. His pole technique is all wrong. He swings it like a club instead of thrusting it like a spear.
So it's a head-scratcher. Why imply that Hahou Mo is a Wing Chun guy, then not have him use Wing Chun?
Another wasted opportunity is Fung Yu-Sau's belief that "kung fu is for killing". It could have been developed as a comparison between "fighting" kung fu and "tournament" kung fu. Instead, good guy Hahou Mo repudiates the idea entirely. Which doesn't ring true, considering kung fu's main function.
The acting is passable. You don't watch kung fu movies for their acting. Donnie Yen's acting range is limited to one "concerned face" and that's about it. The police-investigation plot is believable and is enough to drive the story from one fight to another, which is all that matters.
Kung Fu Jungle is a good kung fu movie. It could have been great.
Fung Yu-Sau (Baoqiang Wang) now seems to be following in his footsteps, fighting kung fu masters, but deliberately killing them. Hahou Mo knows that he can stop Fung Yu-Sau and makes a deal with lead detective Luk Yuen-Sum (Charlie Yeung, who is a woman despite her name). Luk Yuen-Sum reluctantly agrees to release Hahou Mo from prison into her custody.
Hahou Mo has figured out Fung Yu-Sau's plan. He is following a kung fu poem and targeting kung fu masters in boxing, kicking, grappling (Chin Na), weapons, and internal styles - in that order.
Hahou Mo leads detective Luk Yuen-Sum to Fung Yu-Sau's next target, but then runs away to Foshan to protect his sweetheart Sinn Ying (Bing Bai) from Fung Yu-Sau.
***
Kung Fu Jungle is an above-average kung fu movie. The fights are decent and not too long. The story and characters are engaging. Locations are interesting - old-world Foshan, a river village.
The idea of Fung Yu-Sau as a master of different styles of kung fu, fighting different masters in their own style, is a good one. It allows the movie to showcase different styles without resorting to the old cliche of a martial arts tournament.
Unfortunately for kung fu fans (who are obviously the movie's target audience) not enough is made of the opportunity. The first few fights come off nicely enough. They aren't generic fights. They actually follow the declared styles - boxing, kicking, grappling, weapons.
But instead of building towards a climax with the showdown between Fung Yu-Sau and Hahou Mo, the fight between the two, degenerates into the generic punch, kick, block fighting seen in too many Hong Kong movies.
According to the poem sequence Fung Yu-Sau was following, Hahou Mo should have been a master of an internal style (Hsing Yi, Ba Gua or Tai Chi). However all the clues point to him being a Wing Chun guy. Foshan was an early center of Wing Chun, and is where Hahou Mo learned his kung fu.
Hahou Mo also fights with a pole, one of the classic Wing Chun weapons (six and a half point pole). Yet, his kung fu style is not Wing Chun (and not an internal style either). Not just his unarmed technique. His pole technique is all wrong. He swings it like a club instead of thrusting it like a spear.
So it's a head-scratcher. Why imply that Hahou Mo is a Wing Chun guy, then not have him use Wing Chun?
Another wasted opportunity is Fung Yu-Sau's belief that "kung fu is for killing". It could have been developed as a comparison between "fighting" kung fu and "tournament" kung fu. Instead, good guy Hahou Mo repudiates the idea entirely. Which doesn't ring true, considering kung fu's main function.
The acting is passable. You don't watch kung fu movies for their acting. Donnie Yen's acting range is limited to one "concerned face" and that's about it. The police-investigation plot is believable and is enough to drive the story from one fight to another, which is all that matters.
Kung Fu Jungle is a good kung fu movie. It could have been great.
2014-10-25
Laggies (2014)
One day, Anthony proposes to her. Thrown for a loop by this unexpected development (as well as seeing her dad make out with another woman), she ends up hiding from Anthony and her friends. She crashes with Annika (Chloe Grace Moretz) - a teenage girl that she had just met - to get away from her regular life and get her head together.
Annika's single dad Craig (Sam Rockwell) is exasperated by his uninvited guest but soon grows to enjoy the company of the free-spirited Megan. A week passes and Megan has to return to Anthony and her regular life.
***
Laggies is Reality Bites meets Lost in Translation, a movie for today's directionless millenials who are drifting in their career and personal life. Despite its roster of mainstream stars, Laggies is an indie film from indie director Lynn Shelton (it premiered at Sundance 2014) and freshman writer Andrea Seigel.
The movie's trailer highlights the comedic bits, and emphasizes Keira Knightley's scenes with Chloe Grace Moretz and Sam Rockwell. But this is more a light drama with Keira Knightley front and center - Moretz, like Sam Rockwell, plays a supporting character.
And it works, though in an art-film kind of way. We enjoy the journey as we watch Megan bumble through her life and has minor misadventures. But this is the extreme show-don't-tell storytelling technique of Lost in Translation - effective if you're a movie buff, but which will cause the general public to complain, But nothing happens!
An interesting pattern is beginning to emerge from Keira Knigtley's movie choices. Laggies has the same feel (though very different plot) from Begin Again and Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. It's a combination of light romance, light drama and light comedy. All done in a simple, intimate, upper middle-class setting.
Laggies seems to the kind of movie that Keira Knightley makes for fun, in between paycheck blockbusters such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. I'm still not big fan of hers, but considering her track record in choosing scripts, I'll be looking out for her movies.
2014-10-23
John Wick (2014)
Plot summary (story synopsis): Retired hit-man John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is grieving the loss of his wife when he meets Iosef Tarasov (Alfie Allen - Theon Greyjoy in Game of Thrones) at a gas station.
Iosef is the spoiled good-for-nothing son of Russian mobster Viggo Tarasov (Michael Nyqvist). He wants to buy Wick's Mustang sports car but Wick turns him down. Iosef and his men break into Wick's house, beat him up, kill his dog (a present from his wife), and steal the car.
Iosef doesn't know who Wick is, but his father Viggo does. Wick used to work for Viggo and was his deadliest killer. Viggo knows a shit storm is going to descend on him and his son when Wick comes looking for vengeance. He puts out an open contract on Wick and personally invites Marcus (Willem Dafoe), one of Wicks' friends, to join in the hunt.
***
If Luc Besson, Joss Whedon and Quentin Tarantino made a movie together, what would it look like? It would look like John Wick. This is the movie that Luc Besson tried, and failed, to make with Colombiana.
John Wick is a fantastic, violent, revenge movie that combines the convincing world-building of Luc Besson, the quirky characters (who behave in unexpected but believable ways, especially the bad guys) of Joss Whedon, and the ultra-violence of Tarantino (body-count is 50 to 100):
John Wick gets a stupendous 9.1/10 viewer rating on IMDB and a 92% critics average on Rotten Tomatoes.
It's written by Derek Kolstad. Derek who? Derek who has written two previous movies: The Package (a Steve Austin and Dolph Lundgren B movie), and One in the Chamber (another Dolph Lundgren B movie with can-you-believe-an-oscar-winner-could-sink-so-low Cuba Gooding Jr.). You know what? I'm feeling like watching B movies right now.
Most revenge movies are just about the action. John Wick manages to create a believable underworld subculture and interesting characters, with short, deft scenes that don't slow down the pacing. And it still manages to out-action most other revenge movies.You want an example of a bad revenge movie? Try The Punisher.
Aside from that, you want a real bad-ass hero. A Rambo that makes you go, Holy cow, who is this guy? John Wick manages to do this by showing Keanu Reeves comprehensively kicking ass.
First-time directors David Leitch and Chad Stahelski are experienced stuntmen, with over 70 movie credits each on IMDB. This explains the exceptional fight choreography (IMDB doesn't list a fight choreographer, so the directors must have done it).
John Wick kills 50 to 100 bad guys in the course of the movie and each kill is unique, with some interesting stylistic twist. Unlike Hong Kong movies, the fights don't seem too long because they are beautifully thought out and don't become repetitive.
The Thais (e.g. Ong Bak), Indonesians (e.g. The Raid: Redemption), Koreans (Old Dog? Overrated) and Chinese (including John Woo) do not have this level of moviemaking skill.
With all this, you don't need Keanu Reeves. But guess what? You do have him. And what a Keanu Reeves he is. This is a grittier Constantine, even angrier and more humorless. I'm a huge Keanu Reeves fan and this is one of his best performances. (I do not know why people like to criticize his acting.)
You want more reasons to watch?
Iosef is the spoiled good-for-nothing son of Russian mobster Viggo Tarasov (Michael Nyqvist). He wants to buy Wick's Mustang sports car but Wick turns him down. Iosef and his men break into Wick's house, beat him up, kill his dog (a present from his wife), and steal the car.
Iosef doesn't know who Wick is, but his father Viggo does. Wick used to work for Viggo and was his deadliest killer. Viggo knows a shit storm is going to descend on him and his son when Wick comes looking for vengeance. He puts out an open contract on Wick and personally invites Marcus (Willem Dafoe), one of Wicks' friends, to join in the hunt.
***
If Luc Besson, Joss Whedon and Quentin Tarantino made a movie together, what would it look like? It would look like John Wick. This is the movie that Luc Besson tried, and failed, to make with Colombiana.
John Wick is a fantastic, violent, revenge movie that combines the convincing world-building of Luc Besson, the quirky characters (who behave in unexpected but believable ways, especially the bad guys) of Joss Whedon, and the ultra-violence of Tarantino (body-count is 50 to 100):
- There's a posh hotel that caters to criminals. Where no killing is allowed - a demilitarized zone for killers, enforced by the hotel's own assassins.
- Viggo Tarasov telephones a car chop-shop owner and asks him why he hit his son. Because he stole John Wick's car and killed his dog, is the reply. Viggo says Oh, and puts down the phone. This is the kind of creative writing and bad-guy character development that Joss Whedon would be proud of.
- There's an extended series of individual fight in a nightclub/hotel where John Wick single-handedly takes out tens of bad guys. It's like the monster fight scene in Kill Bill Part 1.
John Wick gets a stupendous 9.1/10 viewer rating on IMDB and a 92% critics average on Rotten Tomatoes.
It's written by Derek Kolstad. Derek who? Derek who has written two previous movies: The Package (a Steve Austin and Dolph Lundgren B movie), and One in the Chamber (another Dolph Lundgren B movie with can-you-believe-an-oscar-winner-could-sink-so-low Cuba Gooding Jr.). You know what? I'm feeling like watching B movies right now.
Most revenge movies are just about the action. John Wick manages to create a believable underworld subculture and interesting characters, with short, deft scenes that don't slow down the pacing. And it still manages to out-action most other revenge movies.You want an example of a bad revenge movie? Try The Punisher.
Aside from that, you want a real bad-ass hero. A Rambo that makes you go, Holy cow, who is this guy? John Wick manages to do this by showing Keanu Reeves comprehensively kicking ass.
First-time directors David Leitch and Chad Stahelski are experienced stuntmen, with over 70 movie credits each on IMDB. This explains the exceptional fight choreography (IMDB doesn't list a fight choreographer, so the directors must have done it).
John Wick kills 50 to 100 bad guys in the course of the movie and each kill is unique, with some interesting stylistic twist. Unlike Hong Kong movies, the fights don't seem too long because they are beautifully thought out and don't become repetitive.
The Thais (e.g. Ong Bak), Indonesians (e.g. The Raid: Redemption), Koreans (Old Dog? Overrated) and Chinese (including John Woo) do not have this level of moviemaking skill.
With all this, you don't need Keanu Reeves. But guess what? You do have him. And what a Keanu Reeves he is. This is a grittier Constantine, even angrier and more humorless. I'm a huge Keanu Reeves fan and this is one of his best performances. (I do not know why people like to criticize his acting.)
You want more reasons to watch?
- Desperate Housewife Eva Longoria is one of the producers.
- Mila Kunis lookalike Adrianne Palicki has a small role, as a feisty assassin that Joss Whedon would have been proud to have created.
- Keanu Reeves shoots a really bad-ass Kel-Tec KSG 12-gauge shotgun.
- Cinematography by Jonathan Sela (Max Payne, A Good Day to Die Hard). Lighting is good but not exceptional, but that's only because today's standards are so high.
- Theon Greyjoy gets slapped around and killed.
2014-10-21
Black and White: The Dawn of Justice (2014)
Plot summary (story synopsis): Hotshot police detective Wu Ying-Hsiung (Mark Chao) is on the trail of a mysterious group of terrorists who are blowing up bridges and trains in Harbour City. He "meets cute" with Chen Zhen (Lin Gengxin), a suave detective from another police precinct. Despite their constant bickering, the two are thrown together by circumstances and race to prevent further bombings.
The terrorists turn out to be a doomsday cult. They plan to isolate Harbour City by bombing its transportation links to the rest of the country, then zap it back to the stone age with stolen EMP (electro magnetic pulse) missiles, and a virus bio-weapon. The plan is to start a renaissance from the ashes of the ruined city.
***
This is a sequel to 2012's Black and White Episode 1: The Dawn of Assault, as well as a prequel to the 2009 TV series Black and White. I haven't watched the earlier movie or the TV series, so I won't be making any comparisons with them.
Dawn of Justice starts of quite well. It's slam-bang action from the start, with a humorous "meet cute" between the two male leads, worthy of 48 Hours or Lethal Weapon. Yes, this is a buddy-buddy cop movie, or at least it tries to be.
Unfortunately the humor and fast pacing doesn't last long and we are soon left with a rather generic terrorist plot, generic bad guys, generic cops and melodramatic hostage situations. I watched the movie a week ago and I seriously cannot remember much about the plot.
There is a lot of fighting - with guns, fists and feet. But it's the standard Hong Kong overkill and you start feeling numb to all the action after a while. The wall-to-wall fighting is especially thick towards the end.
It's nowhere close to the quality of something like Heat, Collateral or Miami Vice. Look at the gunfights in those three Michael Mann movies. There's a sense of drama and realism. Even if you don't know exactly what is going on, you get the feeling that at least one side knows what they are doing and are shooting purposefully.
Say what you will about Hollywood. At least there are many Hollywood movies that try for a new angle on the cops/terrorist genre. They don't always work out, but some do.
In contrast, the Chinese writers and directors are too often going through the motions. Thinking that they can get away with weak plots and unimaginative fights. That audiences will be dazzled and entertained by shallow flash and action.
Chinese moviemakers are simply not trying hard enough. I'm not a John Woo fan, I think he's overrated. But at least he cared about what he was doing.
So yeah, I have lots of gripes. But this one stands out: GPS doesn't work in tunnels. Okay one more - the bomb vest that blew up the police station is too small to have caused that much damage. That's car bomb territory - thousands of pounds of high explosives. And don't get me started on the EMP.
The terrorists turn out to be a doomsday cult. They plan to isolate Harbour City by bombing its transportation links to the rest of the country, then zap it back to the stone age with stolen EMP (electro magnetic pulse) missiles, and a virus bio-weapon. The plan is to start a renaissance from the ashes of the ruined city.
***
This is a sequel to 2012's Black and White Episode 1: The Dawn of Assault, as well as a prequel to the 2009 TV series Black and White. I haven't watched the earlier movie or the TV series, so I won't be making any comparisons with them.
Dawn of Justice starts of quite well. It's slam-bang action from the start, with a humorous "meet cute" between the two male leads, worthy of 48 Hours or Lethal Weapon. Yes, this is a buddy-buddy cop movie, or at least it tries to be.
Unfortunately the humor and fast pacing doesn't last long and we are soon left with a rather generic terrorist plot, generic bad guys, generic cops and melodramatic hostage situations. I watched the movie a week ago and I seriously cannot remember much about the plot.
There is a lot of fighting - with guns, fists and feet. But it's the standard Hong Kong overkill and you start feeling numb to all the action after a while. The wall-to-wall fighting is especially thick towards the end.
It's nowhere close to the quality of something like Heat, Collateral or Miami Vice. Look at the gunfights in those three Michael Mann movies. There's a sense of drama and realism. Even if you don't know exactly what is going on, you get the feeling that at least one side knows what they are doing and are shooting purposefully.
Say what you will about Hollywood. At least there are many Hollywood movies that try for a new angle on the cops/terrorist genre. They don't always work out, but some do.
In contrast, the Chinese writers and directors are too often going through the motions. Thinking that they can get away with weak plots and unimaginative fights. That audiences will be dazzled and entertained by shallow flash and action.
Chinese moviemakers are simply not trying hard enough. I'm not a John Woo fan, I think he's overrated. But at least he cared about what he was doing.
So yeah, I have lots of gripes. But this one stands out: GPS doesn't work in tunnels. Okay one more - the bomb vest that blew up the police station is too small to have caused that much damage. That's car bomb territory - thousands of pounds of high explosives. And don't get me started on the EMP.
2014-10-19
The Judge (2014)
Plot summary (story synopsis): Hotshot defense lawyer Hank Palmer (Robert Downey Jr.) returns to his small hometown for his mother's funeral.
He hasn't been home for years because he can't get along with his father Joseph (Robert Duvall) who is a judge there. Hank had crashed a car when he was in school, injuring older brother Glen's (Vincent D'Onofrio, strangely looking like Brian Dennehy) pitching arm and destroying what might have been a promising baseball career. Joseph has never forgiven Hank for his recklessness.
During his few days home, Hank continues to argue with Joseph, but manages to rekindle his friendship with old school sweetheart Samantha Powell (Vera Farmiga).
After the funeral, Joseph is arrested for the hit-and-run murder of a man who had just been released from prison. A man that Joseph had previously sentenced too leniently and had gone on to kill the man's girlfriend.
Hank extends his stay and insists on defending Joseph but Joseph chooses an inexperienced local lawyer instead, thinking that Hank's big-city tactics are dishonest. The local lawyer is no match for prosecutor Dwight Dickham (Billy Bob Thornton) and Joseph is forced to let Hank defend him.
***
The Judge is On Golden Pond meets courtroom drama. It's an engrossing mix that works, with maybe two-thirds family drama and one-third courtroom drama.
The first 30 minutes or so of the movie are all about Hank and his family. It is only after this extended introduction that the courtroom drama kicks in. And even after that, Joseph's legal problems never overshadow Hank's attempts to reconnect with his family and hometown.
There is some detailed and believable legal sparring between Hank and Dwight Dickham, but this serves more to shore up Hank's credentials as a skilled, ruthless lawyer than to serve as the main course.
This means that The Judge is more family drama than courtroom thriller, in spite of what the publicity material might imply.
The script - from Bill Dubuque, writer/director David Dobkin (Jack the Giant Slayer) and Nick Schenk (Gran Torino) - is solid. Despite a 141 minute run time, the movie never feels slow.
The movie has a modern sensibility and avoids cliches. There are few simple resolutions. Father and son do manage to reconcile somewhat, but not fully. Joseph's and Samantha's renewal of their relationship is not fairytale-perfect. It all feels very real.
But the main reason to watch The Judge would be the cast. Robert Downey Jr. is enough for me to want to watch. Robert "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" Duvall too? That moves the needle up to Must Watch. Vera Farmiga, Billy Bob Thornton and Vincent D'Onofrio? Icing on the cake.
Not to be forgotten is cinematographer Janusz Kaminski - Spielberg's go-to guy. Today's standards are so high that you don't need a big name like Kaminski to get great lighting. The reason cinematographer stars like him are significant (at least to me) is that they have the clout to choose their projects, ensuring a certain level of quality in the scripts that they do choose.
Allow me to pat myself on the back for noticing something special about the lighting. I didn't know who the cinematographer was until I saw the end credits, but I did notice that the lighting was good. Soft, directional light, raking the actors' face almost parallel to the planes of their face. This gives a 3D modeling effect. It's a subtle effect. Most people won't notice it.
When I saw that it was Kaminski, I went "woo hoo!" because I was right - someone exceptional had lit the movie. You get beautiful lighting that looks natural. Except maybe for the courtroom. It's too dark. Looks good, but a real courtroom would be nice and bright - flat, ugly lighting.
For another recent example of a star cinematographer at work, look at Dwayne Johnson's Hercules. That's Dante Spinotti's work. He has lit five Michael Mann movies. I also noticed something special about the lighting in Hercules before knowing who the cinematographer was - subtle fill light in the shadows, revealing details of the actors' body and clothes.
The Judge is a good movie, getting a 7.8/10 on IMDB. The strange thing is that it only gets a 45% critics' average on Rotten Tomatoes.
2014-10-15
Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends (2014)
Plot summary (story synopsis): Kenshin ("sword heart") Himura (Takeru Satô) is washed up on shore after his failed attempt to save his girlfriend Kaoru Kamiya (Emi Takei). His old swordfighting sensei Seijuro Hiko finds him on the beach and carries him home.
After waking up, Kenshin convinces his old master to teach him the ultimate fighting technique of their style of swordsmanship, in order to defeat evil bad guy Shishio (Tatsuya Fujiwara).
Meanwhile, Shishio has been terrorizing villages along the coast, bombarding them with the cannon on his steel warship. Lacking such modern technology of their own, the government is unable to stop him. Shishio knows that he has the upper hand and pressures the government to arrest and execute Kenshin for his past crimes.
Along the way back to Tokyo, Kenshin has to fight off Aoshi Shinomori (Yûsuke Iseya). In Tokyo Kenshin is quickly arrested by government soldiers. The government pretends to execute Kenshin, but instead uses the fake execution as cover to attack Shishio and his warship. The stage is set for an epic confrontation between Kenshin and his sidekicks, and Shishio and his band of killers.
***
The Legend Ends is part two of this Rurouni Kenshin sequel. (Part one of the sequel is Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno. The first movie, Rurouni Kenshin, was released in 2012.)
It's a rather disappointing part two. Part one was almost too busy, introducing new characters left and right. But at least it was interesting. Part two is rather staid in comparison, with too much of the run time being taken up by the extended confrontation on Shishio's warship.
The many new and old characters from part one are sidelined and don't get much screen time - the exception being Aoshi and Kenshin's sensei.
The first part of the movie, with Kenshin and his sensei, isn't too bad. There is the usual mumbo jumbo about the spiritual side of fighting (for the real stuff, read Miyamoto Musashi's A Book of Five Rings), but that's not too annoying. We also get to see Kenshin as a child, how he ended up learning swordfighting from Seijuro Hiko, but that's relatively brief.
However, whatever plot there is, isn't convincing. Kenshin's fake execution doesn't seem necessary. It's the kind of gimmick that you would expect to see in a kiddie cartoon. Actually, the government doesn't need Kenshin at all. In the end, their shore-based cannon manage to sink Shishio's warship, making Kenshin's attack on the warship a wasted effort. (You could argue that the government wasn't sure that their cannon would sink the warship, but then why would they act as if Kenshin was their only hope?)
It is doubly a wasted effort because Shishio was going to die from his burn wounds anyway. Which doesn't make sense. The justification is that Shishio can't sweat because of his burns, causing him to overheat. Ummm, he can't spray water on himself? And Shishio's doctor can predict the time of his death, accurate to the minute? And Shishio jumping around and fighting doesn't dramatically shorten his life?
The whole warship scenario also isn't convincing. How did Shishio manage to get his hands on such rare and expensive technology? Where did he get trained sailors from? How about resupplies - fuel and ammunition?
The moviemakers even manage to get the warship details wrong. The cannon barrel walls are too thin, and the shells are loaded in without any propellant (the powder charge in naval guns is a separate package from the explosive shell). Ooh, you think that's too geeky? Wait till you hear that the warship has the all-big-gun design of a post-dreadnought battleship, decades before HMS Dreadnought.
The warship is like a Bond villain's ridiculous lair - magically existing in the middle of nowhere, without drawing attention to itself despite years of construction, tons of raw materials, and thousands of workers.
It's okay if you want to establish some kind of steam punk alternate history - Wild Wild West and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen succeeded in that. But you need to establish it. The Legend Ends simply plonks down a warship and expects us to believe that the bad guy - with no obvious sources of wealth or naval piracy capability - owns it, while the government doesn't have their own.
This isn't nit-picking. Taking too many liberties with common sense, throws the audience out of the story. Like Fox Mulder, we want to believe, but we don't want moviemakers to treat us like fools.
But more damning is the emphasis on fights over characters. Where is the backstory for the creepily-polite Sojiro? Part one was worth the price of the ticket. Part two is not.
After waking up, Kenshin convinces his old master to teach him the ultimate fighting technique of their style of swordsmanship, in order to defeat evil bad guy Shishio (Tatsuya Fujiwara).
Meanwhile, Shishio has been terrorizing villages along the coast, bombarding them with the cannon on his steel warship. Lacking such modern technology of their own, the government is unable to stop him. Shishio knows that he has the upper hand and pressures the government to arrest and execute Kenshin for his past crimes.
Along the way back to Tokyo, Kenshin has to fight off Aoshi Shinomori (Yûsuke Iseya). In Tokyo Kenshin is quickly arrested by government soldiers. The government pretends to execute Kenshin, but instead uses the fake execution as cover to attack Shishio and his warship. The stage is set for an epic confrontation between Kenshin and his sidekicks, and Shishio and his band of killers.
***
The Legend Ends is part two of this Rurouni Kenshin sequel. (Part one of the sequel is Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno. The first movie, Rurouni Kenshin, was released in 2012.)
It's a rather disappointing part two. Part one was almost too busy, introducing new characters left and right. But at least it was interesting. Part two is rather staid in comparison, with too much of the run time being taken up by the extended confrontation on Shishio's warship.
The many new and old characters from part one are sidelined and don't get much screen time - the exception being Aoshi and Kenshin's sensei.
The first part of the movie, with Kenshin and his sensei, isn't too bad. There is the usual mumbo jumbo about the spiritual side of fighting (for the real stuff, read Miyamoto Musashi's A Book of Five Rings), but that's not too annoying. We also get to see Kenshin as a child, how he ended up learning swordfighting from Seijuro Hiko, but that's relatively brief.
However, whatever plot there is, isn't convincing. Kenshin's fake execution doesn't seem necessary. It's the kind of gimmick that you would expect to see in a kiddie cartoon. Actually, the government doesn't need Kenshin at all. In the end, their shore-based cannon manage to sink Shishio's warship, making Kenshin's attack on the warship a wasted effort. (You could argue that the government wasn't sure that their cannon would sink the warship, but then why would they act as if Kenshin was their only hope?)
It is doubly a wasted effort because Shishio was going to die from his burn wounds anyway. Which doesn't make sense. The justification is that Shishio can't sweat because of his burns, causing him to overheat. Ummm, he can't spray water on himself? And Shishio's doctor can predict the time of his death, accurate to the minute? And Shishio jumping around and fighting doesn't dramatically shorten his life?
The whole warship scenario also isn't convincing. How did Shishio manage to get his hands on such rare and expensive technology? Where did he get trained sailors from? How about resupplies - fuel and ammunition?
The moviemakers even manage to get the warship details wrong. The cannon barrel walls are too thin, and the shells are loaded in without any propellant (the powder charge in naval guns is a separate package from the explosive shell). Ooh, you think that's too geeky? Wait till you hear that the warship has the all-big-gun design of a post-dreadnought battleship, decades before HMS Dreadnought.
The warship is like a Bond villain's ridiculous lair - magically existing in the middle of nowhere, without drawing attention to itself despite years of construction, tons of raw materials, and thousands of workers.
It's okay if you want to establish some kind of steam punk alternate history - Wild Wild West and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen succeeded in that. But you need to establish it. The Legend Ends simply plonks down a warship and expects us to believe that the bad guy - with no obvious sources of wealth or naval piracy capability - owns it, while the government doesn't have their own.
This isn't nit-picking. Taking too many liberties with common sense, throws the audience out of the story. Like Fox Mulder, we want to believe, but we don't want moviemakers to treat us like fools.
But more damning is the emphasis on fights over characters. Where is the backstory for the creepily-polite Sojiro? Part one was worth the price of the ticket. Part two is not.
2014-10-08
Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno (2014)
Plot summary (story synopsis): Government killer Makoto Shishio (Tatsuya Fujiwara) is betrayed by the government and left to burn to death. He miraculously survives with hideous burns. He swears revenge and starts killing policemen in Kyoto.
A desperate government reaches out to legendary retired swordsman Kenshin Himura in Tokyo. Kenshin at first refuses but Shishio sends his men to Tokyo to kill too. Sickened by this, Kenshin reluctantly goes to Kyoto to find Shishio. He goes alone but his lovable sidekick Sagara Sanosuke (Munetaka Aoki, playing a violent version of Seinfeld's Kramer) and pretty girlfriend Kaoru Kamiya (Emi Takei) follow not far behind.
Along the way, he picks up strays in the form of girl thief Misao Makimachi (Tao Tsuchiya) and a recently-orphaned boy. He also fights with, and loses to, Shishio's boyish and creepily polite henchman Seta Sojiro (Ryunosuke Kamiki), who manages to break Kenshin's sword.
Kenshin must now get a replacement sword from the master swordmaker who made his original sword. He has to fight another one of Shishio's men - Cho (Ryosuke Miura) a punk with bleached blond hair - before heading to Kyoto to foil Shishio's plan to burn Kyoto to the ground.
***
Sequel Kyoto Inferno is superior to 2012's Rurouni Kenshin. Keishi Ohtomo directed both movies, but Kyoto Inferno has a stronger storyline, and probably a bigger budget too. The first movie grossed $100 million worldwide, so Warner Bros. likely budgeted more money for the sequel - $30 million (I can't find numbers for the first movie's budget). It certainly shows. The fight choreography, sets and lighting look better, more cinematic. The first movie looked like a TV production.
The first movie had a haphazard plot, trying to establish Kenshin Himura's origin story and showing how he settled down in Kaoru Kamiya's kendo dojo. Kyoto Inferno has a tighter focus on bad guy Makoto Shishio, fewer subplots that go nowhere.
Kenshin's diversions along the way to Kyoto are interesting and don't feel like filler. The supporting characters - both the strays he picks up, and the bad guys he fights - are nicely and quickly fleshed out and feel like real people.
Takeru Satô's portrayal of the pacifist Kenshin has improved. His aw-shucks goofy demeanor in the first movie did not fit Kenshin's retired killer character. He looks more serious in Kyoto Inferno, more believable.
Some gripes: the opening scene where the Kyoto policemen try to hunt Shishio is a bit ridiculous. They handle their bolt-action rifles like they were submachine guns. Director Keishi Ohtomo was probably influenced by seeing today's special forces storm buildings with their MP-5s. A bolt-action rifle is big, heavy and clumsy. You're not going to run around with one held up to your cheek in firing position, peering down the iron sights. Especially at night.
Okay, that's a military nut's nit-pick. More seriously, Shishio calmly walks away from a fight between his henchman and Kenshin. Okay, he's confident that Kenshin will lose. But isn't he at least a bit interested in watching Kenshin fight? This artificial nonchalance is obviously a dramatic device. Making the audience aware of this, throws them out of the story.
But overall this is an entertaining movie. It's difficult to find something new to say in a samurai movie - they have been done to death. Working within these limitations, Kyoto Inferno doesn't break any new ground, but doesn't drown in cliches either.
Warning: this sequel is a two-parter and ends with a cliffhanger. Part two is The Legend Ends.
A desperate government reaches out to legendary retired swordsman Kenshin Himura in Tokyo. Kenshin at first refuses but Shishio sends his men to Tokyo to kill too. Sickened by this, Kenshin reluctantly goes to Kyoto to find Shishio. He goes alone but his lovable sidekick Sagara Sanosuke (Munetaka Aoki, playing a violent version of Seinfeld's Kramer) and pretty girlfriend Kaoru Kamiya (Emi Takei) follow not far behind.
Along the way, he picks up strays in the form of girl thief Misao Makimachi (Tao Tsuchiya) and a recently-orphaned boy. He also fights with, and loses to, Shishio's boyish and creepily polite henchman Seta Sojiro (Ryunosuke Kamiki), who manages to break Kenshin's sword.
Kenshin must now get a replacement sword from the master swordmaker who made his original sword. He has to fight another one of Shishio's men - Cho (Ryosuke Miura) a punk with bleached blond hair - before heading to Kyoto to foil Shishio's plan to burn Kyoto to the ground.
***
Sequel Kyoto Inferno is superior to 2012's Rurouni Kenshin. Keishi Ohtomo directed both movies, but Kyoto Inferno has a stronger storyline, and probably a bigger budget too. The first movie grossed $100 million worldwide, so Warner Bros. likely budgeted more money for the sequel - $30 million (I can't find numbers for the first movie's budget). It certainly shows. The fight choreography, sets and lighting look better, more cinematic. The first movie looked like a TV production.
The first movie had a haphazard plot, trying to establish Kenshin Himura's origin story and showing how he settled down in Kaoru Kamiya's kendo dojo. Kyoto Inferno has a tighter focus on bad guy Makoto Shishio, fewer subplots that go nowhere.
Kenshin's diversions along the way to Kyoto are interesting and don't feel like filler. The supporting characters - both the strays he picks up, and the bad guys he fights - are nicely and quickly fleshed out and feel like real people.
Takeru Satô's portrayal of the pacifist Kenshin has improved. His aw-shucks goofy demeanor in the first movie did not fit Kenshin's retired killer character. He looks more serious in Kyoto Inferno, more believable.
Some gripes: the opening scene where the Kyoto policemen try to hunt Shishio is a bit ridiculous. They handle their bolt-action rifles like they were submachine guns. Director Keishi Ohtomo was probably influenced by seeing today's special forces storm buildings with their MP-5s. A bolt-action rifle is big, heavy and clumsy. You're not going to run around with one held up to your cheek in firing position, peering down the iron sights. Especially at night.
Okay, that's a military nut's nit-pick. More seriously, Shishio calmly walks away from a fight between his henchman and Kenshin. Okay, he's confident that Kenshin will lose. But isn't he at least a bit interested in watching Kenshin fight? This artificial nonchalance is obviously a dramatic device. Making the audience aware of this, throws them out of the story.
But overall this is an entertaining movie. It's difficult to find something new to say in a samurai movie - they have been done to death. Working within these limitations, Kyoto Inferno doesn't break any new ground, but doesn't drown in cliches either.
Warning: this sequel is a two-parter and ends with a cliffhanger. Part two is The Legend Ends.
2014-10-03
Dracula Untold (2014)
Plot summary (story synopsis): Transylvanian prince Vlad (Luke Evans - Fast and Furious 6, Immortals) is bullied by Turkish prince Mehmed (Dominic Cooper - Dino Bambino in Need for Speed) into paying an annual tribute of silver.
Mehmed now ups the tribute to include one thousand and one young boys, including Vlad's own son, to be brought up to become Turkish Janissaries - slave soldiers.
Unable to accept such a demand, Vlad offers himself to the Master Vampire (Charles Dance - Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones) in exchange for a vampire's superhuman power to kill.
Vlad becomes a deadly monster and successfully fights the Turkish army. But he has to resist drinking human blood for three days, or he will be doomed to become a vampire forever. His family is not yet safe - from the Turkish army, and from himself.
***
Dracula Untold puts a superhero spin on the familiar Dracula story. Unfortunately, that's not sufficient to make the story interesting enough to distinguish it from the many Dracula movies that have preceded it. We've already seen too many anti-heroes try to resist the lure of blood - from Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire to Joss Whedon's Angel - for it alone to be enough to hold our interest.
Dracula Untold is a one-trick pony. All it has is Dracula as superhero. Unfortunately the movie doesn't do much with this idea. Just a simple, linear extrapolation. You can guess the ending, and most of the events leading up to it, early on in the movie.
This is Irish director Gary Shore's first feature. Following the footsteps of the Scott brothers, he started out in TV commercials. This explains why the visuals are good.
However the script and acting (possibly a director's main responsibility) are lacking. The melodramatic script by rookie writers Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless (this is also their first feature) is as subtle as a sledgehammer, all tell and no show.
The script has rough edges. The movie starts off with narration by Vlad's son, but isn't bookended by another narration by him at the end. The epilogue is actually a cliched scene set in today's world, a clumsy attempt to set the stage for a sequel.
Another gripe - Vlad deputizes/creates about 20 vampires from humans, to help him fight the Turks. After killing thousands of soldiers, and presumably drinking their fill of blood, these vampires are still thirsty for Vlad's son's blood?
From a business viewpoint, the movie is an odd duck. It's from industry stalwarts Universal Pictures and Legendary Pictures, and also Michael De Luca Productions (Captain Phillips, Moneyball, The Social Network, Ghost Rider). IMDB estimates the budget as $100 million. So this is a moderately expensive Hollywood movie - not surprising as it is heavily effects-laden.
Yet there are no big stars heading the cast list. While it's easy to scoff at the large salaries drawn by A-list stars, movies like Dracula Untold show how the big stars earn their keep.
Luke Evans doesn't impress as Vlad (even Kit Harrington would have been better), Dominic Cooper is only slightly more interesting as Mehmed, his Turkish opponent. The elegant Sarah Gadon is more watchable, but not by much. The most fun to watch is Charles Dance as the Master Vampire but he doesn't get much screen time.
Casting a major star like Tom Cruise or Keanu Reeves would not have improved the weak script, but their on-screen charisma would have made the movie more palatable. Luke Evans is painfully bland.
On the plus side, there is no noticeable political correctness in the movie. No mention is made of religion, but the Turks are evil, through and through. For an example of political correctness gone wild, watch Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven.
Mehmed now ups the tribute to include one thousand and one young boys, including Vlad's own son, to be brought up to become Turkish Janissaries - slave soldiers.
Unable to accept such a demand, Vlad offers himself to the Master Vampire (Charles Dance - Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones) in exchange for a vampire's superhuman power to kill.
Vlad becomes a deadly monster and successfully fights the Turkish army. But he has to resist drinking human blood for three days, or he will be doomed to become a vampire forever. His family is not yet safe - from the Turkish army, and from himself.
***
Dracula Untold puts a superhero spin on the familiar Dracula story. Unfortunately, that's not sufficient to make the story interesting enough to distinguish it from the many Dracula movies that have preceded it. We've already seen too many anti-heroes try to resist the lure of blood - from Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire to Joss Whedon's Angel - for it alone to be enough to hold our interest.
Dracula Untold is a one-trick pony. All it has is Dracula as superhero. Unfortunately the movie doesn't do much with this idea. Just a simple, linear extrapolation. You can guess the ending, and most of the events leading up to it, early on in the movie.
This is Irish director Gary Shore's first feature. Following the footsteps of the Scott brothers, he started out in TV commercials. This explains why the visuals are good.
However the script and acting (possibly a director's main responsibility) are lacking. The melodramatic script by rookie writers Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless (this is also their first feature) is as subtle as a sledgehammer, all tell and no show.
The script has rough edges. The movie starts off with narration by Vlad's son, but isn't bookended by another narration by him at the end. The epilogue is actually a cliched scene set in today's world, a clumsy attempt to set the stage for a sequel.
Another gripe - Vlad deputizes/creates about 20 vampires from humans, to help him fight the Turks. After killing thousands of soldiers, and presumably drinking their fill of blood, these vampires are still thirsty for Vlad's son's blood?
From a business viewpoint, the movie is an odd duck. It's from industry stalwarts Universal Pictures and Legendary Pictures, and also Michael De Luca Productions (Captain Phillips, Moneyball, The Social Network, Ghost Rider). IMDB estimates the budget as $100 million. So this is a moderately expensive Hollywood movie - not surprising as it is heavily effects-laden.
Yet there are no big stars heading the cast list. While it's easy to scoff at the large salaries drawn by A-list stars, movies like Dracula Untold show how the big stars earn their keep.
Luke Evans doesn't impress as Vlad (even Kit Harrington would have been better), Dominic Cooper is only slightly more interesting as Mehmed, his Turkish opponent. The elegant Sarah Gadon is more watchable, but not by much. The most fun to watch is Charles Dance as the Master Vampire but he doesn't get much screen time.
Casting a major star like Tom Cruise or Keanu Reeves would not have improved the weak script, but their on-screen charisma would have made the movie more palatable. Luke Evans is painfully bland.
On the plus side, there is no noticeable political correctness in the movie. No mention is made of religion, but the Turks are evil, through and through. For an example of political correctness gone wild, watch Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven.
Beauty and the Beast / La belle et la bête (2014)
On his way out he plucks a rose for his favorite daughter Belle (Léa Seydoux - Midnight in Paris, Blue is the Warmest Color, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol). This enrages his hidden benefactor, the hideous Beast (Vincent Cassel - Brotherhood of the Wolf, Black Swan) because while all the other items were gifts to Le marchand, the rose was not.
To pay for his crime of stealing the rose, the Beast forces Le marchand to be a captive in the castle. Loyal Belle takes his place instead. At first, Belle fears the monstrous-looking beast, but begins to get used to life in the ruined castle. She also has dreams of the castle's past, showing how the Beast - originally a prince - came to be cursed to become a monster.
Belle's debt-ridden brother Maxime (Nicolas Gob) notices the large jewel Belle brought with her on her one visit home. He leads his thuggish creditors to the castle, to loot the place.
***
Beauty and the Beast follows the standard fairytale too closely. In addition, there are cute dogs and two giant stone robots/monsters, but that's not enough to make the story interesting.
French director Christophe Gans has directed only 4 feature films over the past 20 years. But 3 of them - Crying Freeman, Brotherhood of the Wolf, and Silent Hill - have been above-average movies with engaging storylines and gorgeous visuals.
Beauty and the Beast does have beautiful visuals - the enormous ruined castle, the menacing forest. Even Belle's crude backyard garden looks picture-perfect. But the lack of a strong story (from Gans and co-writer Sandra Vo-Anh) is fatal.
Catherine Hardwicke's Red Riding Hood was only loosely based on the old fairytale. She built an entirely different story on top of it. Gans should have done the same.
Gans doesn't even bother to explore the ramifications of his unambitious story. The Beast seems to have been made immortal by the spell. Does breaking the spell make him mortal again? Wouldn't that suck? Does the magical healing pool still work? Why not open it up to the public? Imagine the impact.
Lea Seydoux doesn't save the movie. She wears beautiful gowns, but actually looks more attractive in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, and more charming in Midnight in Paris. (Despite having small parts in both movies.) Her character is one-dimensional and her love for the Beast is not developed enough to be believable. Vincent Cassel can't do much either with a weak script and from behind a wall of special effects.
Gans's other, better, movies were violent action/adventure adult entertainment. He should stay away from PG-13 Disney material. Or get Luc Besson to help him with scripts. Maybe both.
2014-09-25
The Prince (2014)
Coincidentally, Paul used to be a major gangster in New Orleans. He accidentally killed crime lord Omar's (Bruce Willis) wife and daughter in a car bombing. Hearing that Paul is back in town, Omar pulls out all the stops to get Paul, despite warnings from his lieutenant Mark (Korean star Rain - Ninja Assassin) to leave Paul alone.
Paul drops Angela off at his old friend Sam's (John Cusack) place for safekeeping, and begins a one-man rampage to retrieve his daughter.
***
The Prince is a redneck version of Taken. Instead of former spy Liam Neeson, you have former gangster Jason Patric. With Bruce Willis and John Cusack as supporting cast, I had high hopes for this movie. Unfortunately, it's a B-movie dud.
I'm a Jason Patric fan. I loved Incognito, The Beast of War and The Lost Boys. Heck, I even liked Speed 2. Unfortunately, like Mark Dacascos and many other good actors, his career never really seemed to take off.
He's doing himself no favors by acting in movies like The Prince. I would also like to know who called in favors to get Bruce Willis and John Cusack to act in this clunker.
The movie starts off slowly. There are no quotable quips here, no ready-made tough-guy Internet memes. Taken quickly establishes Liam Neeson's bad ass credentials at the start of the movie, but The Prince keeps Paul's gangster past under wraps for a while.
This makes for a slow start to the movie, but it almost works when at about 30-minute mark, Paul gets recognized by an old foe. Paul had killed seven men in a shootout, and then had spared this man's life. He repays Paul by convincing his thug nephew (Beth's boyfriend) to tell Paul where Beth is. Along the way, he recounts Paul's bad-assery to his nephew (and of course the audience), making Paul sound like a Grammaton Cleric.
Aside from the tough-guy lines, Taken worked because Liam Neeson's tradecraft in tracking down and fighting the kidnappers, was interesting and believable. There is no equivalent detail in The Prince. The scene described above, is about as good as it gets.
Paul is not believably established as the one-man-army the movie says he is. Omar and Sam are also not well developed as characters. Worse is Angela. Angela doesn't seem to care much about Beth at the start, but then suddenly risks her safety to help Paul.
There's also an overall lack of style and polish to the whole movie. The visuals are far from cinematic (the best-looking scenes are at the start - Paul working in his garage) and often look drab. Not purposefully grungy, just student-film uninspired. Just like the gun fights and car chase (singular) - plain boring, bordering on ridiculous.
IMDB estimates the budget at $18 million. That sounds about right. Director Brian A Miller, and writers Andre Fabrizio and Jeremy Passmore, deserve their obscurity.
As a joke, I texted a movie-buff friend, asking him if I should watch Denzel (his movie The Equalizer opened on the same day) or Jason Patric. He knew about The Equalizer, but had no idea that there was a Jason Patric movie showing in the cineplexes. I don't blame him.
P.S. There's a scene where Paul checks out an unloaded submachine gun, working the mechanism, all the while pointing the gun at Angela. That's a safety no-no, even with an unloaded gun. Paul is supposed to be a crude gangster, but he is also supposed to be ex-military. This is the kind of thing that the army drills into you to not do. Paul also shoots from the hip (at least some of the time), another thing that the army trains you to not do.
2014-09-12
Café. Waiting. Love (2014)
Plot summary (story synopsis): University freshman Si-Ying (Vivian Sung) works at a cafe. She encounters various quirky personalities including the cafe's depressed owner (former pop star Vivian Chow), stern barista Abusi (Megan Lai), legendary university prankster A-Tuo (Bruce Lu-Si Bu), handsome flirt Zeyu (Marcus Chang) and former actor Brother Bao (Lee Luo).
***
"Café. Waiting. Love" is a sweet, whimsical romantic comedy. It's more a series of vignettes or multiple subplots - in the parochial style of Amelie - than a conventional plot-driven movie.
But it works. The adorable Vivian Sung deftly carries the movie. She's feisty, cute and girl-next-door approachable, not too glamorous (that would be Vivian Chow). Bruce Lu-Si Bu doesn't have quite the same impact - his goofy persona isn't particularly endearing or impressive. And that's okay. This is Vivian Sung's show and she is up to the task.
The other actors stack up pretty well. Megan Lai is striking in her small but impactful role as the unsmiling ace barista who concocts weird, customized drinks for customers. Vivian Chow is surprisingly effective as the sad cafe owner, pining after her dead lover (she seemed like a bubblehead when she was a pop star).
Written (novel and script) by young (born 1978) Taiwanese author Giddens Ko (You Are the Apple of My Eye), this is the kind of hip and stylish movie that makes you believe in an international youth culture. It's the world of 1970's TV's Big Blue Marble (gawd, I'm old) or Thomas Friedman's Flat World.
A world where urbanites all over the world share the same kumbaya liberal values and Starbucks tastes, but retain a few of their own cute cultural idiosyncrasies (Si-Ying's roommate practices Iron Head Kung-fu, by repeatedly bashing her head with a brick). It's a world many of us want to believe in. But looking at today's headlines, would be foolish to believe exists outside a thin demographic of middle-class, westernized societies.
I'm not saying that the movie consciously pushes this ideology. I'm saying that writer Giddens Ko and first-time director Chin-Lin Chiang are naturally citizens of the world. "Café. Waiting. Love" is a fun and lightweight movie that makes no demands on an international audience, because its worldview is a westernized worldview that today passes for international culture. And there's nothing wrong with that - both being lightweight and having a westernized worldview.
I'm a story guy and I normally look at movies from a storytelling perspective. But I was really struck by the modern, almost hipster, sensibility of this movie. It's a world away from Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen, Tsui Hark, Wong Jing, Johnnie To and Wong Kar Wai.
I do have a few gripes. The magical roast sausages are a bridge too far (and are unnecessary) but they hardly mar this charming little movie. For quirky magic, the underrated Simply Irresistible (1999, Sarah Michelle Gellar) is much better.
However, considering how crude and clueless contemporary Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China movies can be; this movie is a treat. There's more to Chinese cinema than martial arts and costumed, historical dramas.
***
"Café. Waiting. Love" is a sweet, whimsical romantic comedy. It's more a series of vignettes or multiple subplots - in the parochial style of Amelie - than a conventional plot-driven movie.
But it works. The adorable Vivian Sung deftly carries the movie. She's feisty, cute and girl-next-door approachable, not too glamorous (that would be Vivian Chow). Bruce Lu-Si Bu doesn't have quite the same impact - his goofy persona isn't particularly endearing or impressive. And that's okay. This is Vivian Sung's show and she is up to the task.
The other actors stack up pretty well. Megan Lai is striking in her small but impactful role as the unsmiling ace barista who concocts weird, customized drinks for customers. Vivian Chow is surprisingly effective as the sad cafe owner, pining after her dead lover (she seemed like a bubblehead when she was a pop star).
Written (novel and script) by young (born 1978) Taiwanese author Giddens Ko (You Are the Apple of My Eye), this is the kind of hip and stylish movie that makes you believe in an international youth culture. It's the world of 1970's TV's Big Blue Marble (gawd, I'm old) or Thomas Friedman's Flat World.
A world where urbanites all over the world share the same kumbaya liberal values and Starbucks tastes, but retain a few of their own cute cultural idiosyncrasies (Si-Ying's roommate practices Iron Head Kung-fu, by repeatedly bashing her head with a brick). It's a world many of us want to believe in. But looking at today's headlines, would be foolish to believe exists outside a thin demographic of middle-class, westernized societies.
I'm not saying that the movie consciously pushes this ideology. I'm saying that writer Giddens Ko and first-time director Chin-Lin Chiang are naturally citizens of the world. "Café. Waiting. Love" is a fun and lightweight movie that makes no demands on an international audience, because its worldview is a westernized worldview that today passes for international culture. And there's nothing wrong with that - both being lightweight and having a westernized worldview.
I'm a story guy and I normally look at movies from a storytelling perspective. But I was really struck by the modern, almost hipster, sensibility of this movie. It's a world away from Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen, Tsui Hark, Wong Jing, Johnnie To and Wong Kar Wai.
I do have a few gripes. The magical roast sausages are a bridge too far (and are unnecessary) but they hardly mar this charming little movie. For quirky magic, the underrated Simply Irresistible (1999, Sarah Michelle Gellar) is much better.
However, considering how crude and clueless contemporary Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China movies can be; this movie is a treat. There's more to Chinese cinema than martial arts and costumed, historical dramas.
2014-09-02
The November Man (2014)
Plot summary (story synopsis): Devereaux (Pierce Brosnan) quits the CIA after an operation with rookie Mason (Luke Bracey) goes bad and an innocent child gets killed.
Five years later, Devereaux's ex-boss Hanley (Bill Smitrovich) tracks him down to his Swiss retirement cafe. Hanley tempts Devereaux back to work, saying that an old friend needs his help.
Devereaux agrees, but things go bad and Mason end's up killing Devereaux's friend. An enraged Devereaux starts to hunt down the members of Mason's CIA team.
At the same time, Devereaux tries to complete his friend's mission and bring crooked Russian politician Arkady Federov (Lazar Ristovski) to justice for war crimes. This leads him to aid-worker Alice (Olga Kurylenko) and they are now hunted by the CIA and the Russians.
***
The November Man is an enjoyable, fast-paced spy thriller. It doesn't break any new ground but it has the advantage of being based on a novel - Bill Granger's relatively unknown "There Are No Spies." This means that compared to your average spy movie, The November Man is above-average in terms of plot complexity and character development. Most importanly, Brosnan doesn't sing.
Director Roger Donaldson (The Recruit, Thirteen Days, Dante's Peak, Species) keeps the pacing fast - always a good thing. The run, run, chase, chase style is reminiscent of a Roland Emmerich movie. Devereaux and Alice are always on the move, unlike too many movies where the heroes spend too much time in the bat cave.
The movie's opening (and trailer) makes it look like this is going to be a student versus master movie, ala The Recruit (Colin Farrell versus Al Pacino). But this is Pierce Brosnan's show. Mason is quickly sidelined and the movie turns conventional with bad-ass Devereaux playing Jason Bourne with eye-candy Alice in tow.
Considering Pierce Brosnan's past roles as James Bond, the question people will be asking is - How does the movie compare with the Bond movies? Quite well, especially considering that the budget is only $15 million. Brosnan doesn't try to play Bond here, coming across as a more human and sympathetic spy.
There are two main twists in the plot, both of which do work but teeter on the edge of being obligatory. There is some subtle foreshadowing of the twists, so if you're paying attention you'll be rewarded with the satisfaction of guessing correctly.
Brosnan is one of the producers of the movie, and a sequel has already been announced. It looks like Brosnan has better luck starting a new book-based movie franchise with November Man, compared to Tom Cruise's attempt with Jack Reacher.
Five years later, Devereaux's ex-boss Hanley (Bill Smitrovich) tracks him down to his Swiss retirement cafe. Hanley tempts Devereaux back to work, saying that an old friend needs his help.
Devereaux agrees, but things go bad and Mason end's up killing Devereaux's friend. An enraged Devereaux starts to hunt down the members of Mason's CIA team.
At the same time, Devereaux tries to complete his friend's mission and bring crooked Russian politician Arkady Federov (Lazar Ristovski) to justice for war crimes. This leads him to aid-worker Alice (Olga Kurylenko) and they are now hunted by the CIA and the Russians.
***
The November Man is an enjoyable, fast-paced spy thriller. It doesn't break any new ground but it has the advantage of being based on a novel - Bill Granger's relatively unknown "There Are No Spies." This means that compared to your average spy movie, The November Man is above-average in terms of plot complexity and character development. Most importanly, Brosnan doesn't sing.
Director Roger Donaldson (The Recruit, Thirteen Days, Dante's Peak, Species) keeps the pacing fast - always a good thing. The run, run, chase, chase style is reminiscent of a Roland Emmerich movie. Devereaux and Alice are always on the move, unlike too many movies where the heroes spend too much time in the bat cave.
The movie's opening (and trailer) makes it look like this is going to be a student versus master movie, ala The Recruit (Colin Farrell versus Al Pacino). But this is Pierce Brosnan's show. Mason is quickly sidelined and the movie turns conventional with bad-ass Devereaux playing Jason Bourne with eye-candy Alice in tow.
Considering Pierce Brosnan's past roles as James Bond, the question people will be asking is - How does the movie compare with the Bond movies? Quite well, especially considering that the budget is only $15 million. Brosnan doesn't try to play Bond here, coming across as a more human and sympathetic spy.
There are two main twists in the plot, both of which do work but teeter on the edge of being obligatory. There is some subtle foreshadowing of the twists, so if you're paying attention you'll be rewarded with the satisfaction of guessing correctly.
Brosnan is one of the producers of the movie, and a sequel has already been announced. It looks like Brosnan has better luck starting a new book-based movie franchise with November Man, compared to Tom Cruise's attempt with Jack Reacher.
2014-08-29
The Four 3 (2014)
Plot summary (story synopsis): An attempt to assassinate the Emperor (Alec Su) fails, but he is forced to go into hiding because bad guy Lord An (Yu Cheng Hui) has convinced the palace guards that the emperor is an impostor. Lord An has also gained the support of Ji Yao Hua (Jiang Yi Yan), the head of Department Six - the larger of the Emperor's two police units.
The Emperor knows that he can trust only Zhuge Zheng Wo (Anthony Wong), who heads the Emperor's other police unit called the Divine Constabulary. The Divine Constabulary consists of the eponymous Four who have various supernatural abilities - crippled psychic Emotionless (Crystal Liu Yi Fei), Iron Hands (Collin Chou), Cold Blood (Deng Chao) and Life Stealer (Ronald Cheng).
Emotionless had left the Divine Constabulary after finding out that the Emperor had ordered the death of her father (framed as a traitor). However she is at the Divine Constabulary when the Emperor goes there to hide.
She captures the Emperor and tries to build up the resolve to kill him to avenge her father's death. Before she can do so, they are attacked by Lord An's ninjas (this is a Chinese movie, but they dress and fight like ninjas). The rest of the Divine Constabulary rescues them and they all are now on the run from Lord An's men.
Some adventures later, they confront Lord An and his co-conspirators in the Emperor's palace and an epic fight breaks out.
***
The Four 3 is the last movie in The Four trilogy. It is an entertaining but unremarkable wu shu action movie. Gordon Chan directed all three movies, lending some continuity to the series.
It's possible to enjoy this third movie without having seen the earlier two movies. In the third movie you'll find some dude who is fused to a tree, and a shape-shifting assassin. Just accept them as part of the story. You don't need to know who they are.
While I did enjoy the first movie, I actually walked out of the second movie after about 20 minutes. It was slow and boring and I was also suffering from lack of sleep. This third movie is better than the second, but perhaps a bit less enjoyable than the first.
The first movie was mainly about the hot/cold romance between Emotionless and Cold Blood, this third movie is more about Emotionless's desire to avenge her father's death. The other 3 members of The Four don't get much character development. Considering how stunning Crystal Liu looks here, I have no complaints.
The plot is sufficient to propel the story forward at a fast pace, which helps to keep you entertained. Aside from the lack of character development, my main complaint is actually about the movie's lighting. I'm probably more interested in lighting than the average movie buff, but I'm not that much of a lighting geek.
The lighting here is distracting because it looks fake. Not just fake, but electric. In the library and dungeon scenes, the light looks like it is coming from recessed ceiling lights (there are no open flames or lanterns in sight) - not something you can do with candles or lanterns. The lighting is also always steady, no sign of flicker from flames, even when the main light is ostensibly a flickering flame right in the center of the room. And there's blue light coming from god-knows where.
Taken together, this makes the movie look like it was filmed on a TV set. Other kung fu movies, including the first The Four movie, might have similar lighting. I can't remember. All I know is that I noticed the incongruity in this movie.
Other gripes - the emperor is not regal at all. He lacks the self confidence to be a believable emperor. Leaving his kidnapper unpunished, peasants talking trash to him - not likely. And his idea of going out into the city to see what his people really think about him? No, no disguise for him. He floats around in the royal barge, his arrival loudly announced by his eunuch.
Superpowers? You see precious little from The Four. The main superpowers come from Zhuge Zheng Wo, who fights with cartoonish colored swirls of magical energy.
Pacing is fast, so all is not lost. The Four 3 is a reasonable way to kill some time, but is in no way unmissable.
The Emperor knows that he can trust only Zhuge Zheng Wo (Anthony Wong), who heads the Emperor's other police unit called the Divine Constabulary. The Divine Constabulary consists of the eponymous Four who have various supernatural abilities - crippled psychic Emotionless (Crystal Liu Yi Fei), Iron Hands (Collin Chou), Cold Blood (Deng Chao) and Life Stealer (Ronald Cheng).
Emotionless had left the Divine Constabulary after finding out that the Emperor had ordered the death of her father (framed as a traitor). However she is at the Divine Constabulary when the Emperor goes there to hide.
She captures the Emperor and tries to build up the resolve to kill him to avenge her father's death. Before she can do so, they are attacked by Lord An's ninjas (this is a Chinese movie, but they dress and fight like ninjas). The rest of the Divine Constabulary rescues them and they all are now on the run from Lord An's men.
Some adventures later, they confront Lord An and his co-conspirators in the Emperor's palace and an epic fight breaks out.
***
The Four 3 is the last movie in The Four trilogy. It is an entertaining but unremarkable wu shu action movie. Gordon Chan directed all three movies, lending some continuity to the series.
It's possible to enjoy this third movie without having seen the earlier two movies. In the third movie you'll find some dude who is fused to a tree, and a shape-shifting assassin. Just accept them as part of the story. You don't need to know who they are.
While I did enjoy the first movie, I actually walked out of the second movie after about 20 minutes. It was slow and boring and I was also suffering from lack of sleep. This third movie is better than the second, but perhaps a bit less enjoyable than the first.
The first movie was mainly about the hot/cold romance between Emotionless and Cold Blood, this third movie is more about Emotionless's desire to avenge her father's death. The other 3 members of The Four don't get much character development. Considering how stunning Crystal Liu looks here, I have no complaints.
The plot is sufficient to propel the story forward at a fast pace, which helps to keep you entertained. Aside from the lack of character development, my main complaint is actually about the movie's lighting. I'm probably more interested in lighting than the average movie buff, but I'm not that much of a lighting geek.
The lighting here is distracting because it looks fake. Not just fake, but electric. In the library and dungeon scenes, the light looks like it is coming from recessed ceiling lights (there are no open flames or lanterns in sight) - not something you can do with candles or lanterns. The lighting is also always steady, no sign of flicker from flames, even when the main light is ostensibly a flickering flame right in the center of the room. And there's blue light coming from god-knows where.
Taken together, this makes the movie look like it was filmed on a TV set. Other kung fu movies, including the first The Four movie, might have similar lighting. I can't remember. All I know is that I noticed the incongruity in this movie.
Other gripes - the emperor is not regal at all. He lacks the self confidence to be a believable emperor. Leaving his kidnapper unpunished, peasants talking trash to him - not likely. And his idea of going out into the city to see what his people really think about him? No, no disguise for him. He floats around in the royal barge, his arrival loudly announced by his eunuch.
Superpowers? You see precious little from The Four. The main superpowers come from Zhuge Zheng Wo, who fights with cartoonish colored swirls of magical energy.
Pacing is fast, so all is not lost. The Four 3 is a reasonable way to kill some time, but is in no way unmissable.
2014-08-26
The Giver (2014)
Plot summary (story synopsis): In the future, a small society lives in peaceful isolation atop a mountain plateau. There is no war, crime or even bad behavior. This is partly maintained by having everyone receive a daily injection of medicine that mutes their emotions. Drones patrol the skies, looking out for misbehavior. A council of Elders makes decisions for everyone. Including what clothes they wear, what time they have to be at home, their occupation and whether or not they receive babies.
Teenager Jonas (Brenton Thwaites) is assigned to be the new Keeper of Memories at his coming-of-age ceremony. Unlike everyone else, he will be exposed to Earth's rich, wonderful, and violent history; so that he can advise the Elders. He receives one-on-one training from The Giver (Jeff Bridges).
Alternately delighted, shocked and overwhelmed by the history of mankind, he illegally shares his knowledge of fun with friend Fiona (Odeya Rush) and sister Lilly (Emma Tremblay). This worries his father (Alexander Skarsgård), mother (a no longer baby-faced Katie Holmes), and Chief Elder (Meryl Streep).
Jonas then realizes the horrific truth behind his ostensibly peaceful society, and decides to leave.
***
The Giver is a decent but unremarkable mix of THX-1138 (medicated, docile population) and Pleasantville (young rebel brings emotions to repressed Stepford Wives society). You can also throw in Logan's Run - secret euthanasia, and a reverse of The Village - high tech instead low tech road to paradise. Unfortunately The Giver is inferior to all of these movies.
Its plot is linear, with no major surprises - you can pretty much guess what is going to happen next, including the ending. Worse, its futuristic society is badly thought out and does not withstand serious scrutiny.
Based on the Young Adult novel by Lois Lowry, the movie has a target teen audience that probably won't mind. But it lacks the star power and action of Hunger Games or even Divergent. It probably isn't going to pull in much of a crowd. I have seen zero marketing for it. The first I heard of it was when a friend recommended it to me. Looks like the Weinstein Company isn't betting heavily on it.
The Giver's schmaltzy emotionalism and shallow social commentary is worthy of Andrew Niccol (Gattaca, The Host) but lacks Niccol's refined touch and glossy visuals. It looks more like a TV movie.
The cast is not the problem, with Brenton Thwaites and Odeya Rush looking good on screen and managing to gain the audience's sympathy. Jeff Bridges is convincing as the troubled, gentle and wise Giver. It's the sort of role he can play in his sleep. Meryl Streep is a bit understated as the evil Chief Elder, but then she usually is.
Verisimilitude and the voluntary suspension of disbelief, are big deals to me. The Giver fails in this because little thought was spent on designing a realistic scenario for its future society.
It falls into the common science fiction trap of having all sorts of cool futuristic gadgets, but lacks a population that is large enough to sustain the industries necessary to produce them. From the aerial shot of the settlement, there are at most 100,000 people (probably closer to 10,000) living in isolation. Yet they have electric bikes, drones, holographic projectors, solar panels - all the normal cliches of a futuristic society.
They also live in seemingly self-sufficient economic autarky, not needing to trade with anyone for raw materials or food.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Okay, let's accept the society as a given. Even then, the plot is full of holes. Why does passing the Border of Memory, automatically zap people with emotions and mankind's lost memories? Especially since they are still on medication? Why haven't any outsiders ventured into the border, or even right up to the settlement?
The best stories work because they are believable. Force-fitting a morality play onto an arbitrary science fiction future world isn't going to cut it. Director Phillip Noyce (Salt, Patriot Games, Rabbit-Proof Fence) should have passed on the script.
2014-08-21
Lucy (2014)
The drug gives her extraordinary mental and physical powers, including telekinesis and Jedi mind-tricks. She uses her new powers to exact revenge on the Korean criminals, led by Mr. Jang (Min-sik Choi), who forced her to become their drug mule.
She tracks down the world expert on brain enhancement - Professor Norman (Morgan Freeman) - in Paris, and arranges for the French police to intercept the other drug mules and bring their packets of drugs to Paris. This is because she needs more of the drugs to further enhance her powers.
Mr. Jang comes to Paris and a massive fight breaks out between his thugs, Lucy, and the Paris police.
***
Lucy is an odd mix of action-adventure, noir (doomed, poisoned protagonist) and science fiction. It's entertaining enough but is technically unconvincing, causing writer/director Luc Besson's reach to exceed his grasp.
At least with Luc Besson, you know that you're not going to get some unoriginal run-of-the-mill by-the-numbers actioneer.
The movie starts off promisingly enough. Luc Besson has always been good with introductions and this one is a doozy. I won't spoil it for you by revealing any details here.
However it begins to go off the rails when Lucy magically develops superpowers such as telekinesis, and medical diagnosis skills out of thin air (she doesn't do any reading or research before being able to diagnose a terminal patient from his x-rays alone).
Verisimilitude and the voluntary suspension of disbelief, are critical for getting the audience to buy into a story. Luc Besson usually aces it but he should stay away from science fiction (Fifth Element was science fantasy). He does not have the technical judgment to pull it off.
But wait, there's more! Lucy conveniently leaves the bad guys alive after disabling them, so that they can stick around for the final confrontation. It's not like she is squeamish about killing. She cold-bloodedly kills the Chinese criminals who held her captive.
So there goes the remaining bits of the audience's voluntary suspension of disbelief. And to make sure it is fully gone, Luc Besson stomps on it even more. Lucy can control people's mind, like a Jedi, but doesn't use it to disable the bad guys (don't give me that only works on the weak-minded crap). She can also telepathically knock them unconscious, levitate them in the air, but she doesn't lift a finger to help the police who are protecting her from the bad guys. So there's a massive gunfight at the end of the movie, which she could have easily won single-handedly.
And to top it all off, the movie's basic premise, that humans use only 10 percent of their brain, is flat out wrong. There are other objections - the fossil Lucy was not the world's first woman, only the earliest known fossil - but I don't want to go on like some geek. (Lucy sees radio waves, and can send TV signals from Taipei to Paris using her brainpower alone.)
Stylistically, the movie is flawed too. The cuts to documentary footage (we see a cheetah stalking its prey when Lucy is being cornered by the bad guys) are clunky and throw you out of the movie.
In other visuals, Luc Besson seems to being paying homages to Akira (organic quick-grow tentacles), The Time Machine (it's obvious when you see it), Kick-Ass (camera work showing the armed thugs in the passageway), The Matrix (white room), and I-kid-you-not Star Wars (bad guy shoots at Lucy but she disappears, leaving her empty clothes behind). Heck, I'd even throw 2001: A Space Odyssey into the mix (evolution of man into a super being). It's all very distracting.
All in all, I'd consider this an honorable failure.
2014-08-03
The White Haired Witch of Lunar Kingdom (2014)
Jade Raksha is part of the gang of irregulars that holds Lunar Fort, a small but strategic border outpost that controls a mountainous trail between the Han (Chinese) and Jin armies.
Traitorous general Jin Duyi (Vincent Zhao) kills the Governor (who is also Zhuo Yihang's grandfather) during a skirmish with Jade Raksha, and frames her for the murder.
Meanwhile, the red pills turn out to be poisonous and Zhuo Yihang is blamed for the emperor's death. He ends up in Lunar Fort, where he uses his medicinal skills to stop a typhoid outbreak, furthering his friendship with Jade Raksha along the way.
Some political intrigues later, Jin Duyi takes over Lunar Fort by treachery and holds Zhuo Yihang prisoner. Jade Raksha comes to his rescue but is captured too. There is a spell she can cast to break free, but only at a terrible personal cost.
***
Chinese movies are like a box of chocolates. With WHWLK, what you get is an odd mix of political intrigue, action-adventure and romance. The first two thirds of the movie is a disjointed mix of events that aren't really interesting, convincing, or integrated well with each other.
It's only in the third act, the fight at Lunar Fort, that the movie finally gets into gear. But it's too little, too late. It doesn't help that Lunar Fort itself, looks like a cheap stage set.
There are some interesting details of imperial Chinese customs - the red pills, "top scholar cookies" from the chief eunuch. But without an engrossing plot, these stand out more as curiosities and don't really make you feel like you are stepping into ancient China.
The wirework flying kung fu and slashing sword fights are okay, I guess. Quite standard, not too shabby, but not particularly outstanding either. There are battle scenes with hundreds of armored infantry, that do help to establish an epic scope, but what we are really interested in is the relationship between Zhuo Yihang and Jade Raksha, and there's precious little of that.
Acting is decent, given the limitations of the script. I'm not a Fan Bing Bing fan but she looks pretty good here.
Most reviewers seem to prefer Ronny Yu's 1993 version, The Bride With White Hair, which starred Brigitte Lin and Leslie Cheung. I haven't seen that movie.
If you want to watch a Chinese kung fu historical romance, I'd suggest 2012's Painted Skin: The Resurrection, instead. (http://pisang-movie-recommendations.blogspot.com/2012/07/painted-skin-resurrection-2012.html)
2014-07-27
Space Pirate Captain Harlock (2013)
Harlock plans to set off 100 bombs at different parts of the galaxy to reverse time and fix the problems caused by the Gaia Sanction. Yama, brother of Isola (an important member of Gaia Sanction), infiltrates Harlock's crew and tries to stop him.
***
Space Pirate is a visually impressive but grandiosely nonsensical science fiction anime movie. It's okay to have a technically ridiculous premise, as long as you make the audience want to believe in the story - through good storytelling or engaging characters.
However, Space Pirate doesn't give you any reason to overlook its badly-imagined space opera world. It lacks the world-building integrity and rich character development of TV anime series such as Escaflowne or Neon Genesis Evangelion. Heck, even the Final Fantasies are better.
For one thing, Harlock himself doesn't get much screen time, appearing more as a shadowy enigma - a supporting character - than as the main protagonist. That role falls to Yama, who comes across as a cardboard character too.
Isola is the designated bad guy (complete with cliched physical disability - he can't walk). Unfortunately, he is literally a cartoon bad guy. And his soap opera relationship with Yama is painfully melodramatic.
Harlock's crew are also cardboard cliches. There's a super-confident hot blond in a tight-fitting suit (who looks like Heather Locklear) and a crude, salty cigar-chomping sergeant (not really a sergeant, and I might have imagined the cigar, but you get the idea).
The visuals are good. The overall design is some kind of steampunk tech that we've seen before but still looks interesting. Lighting is dramatic high contrast, a bit like the lighting in Underworld. I'm not a clothes guy but the baroque costumes look good. Each major character has his own signature design, with realistically rendered fabric textures.
The characters do move a bit like robots but you quickly get used to this and barely notice after a while. Facial expressions could be better but are good enough.
Unfortunately the space battles are unimaginative Star Trek-style visual-range laser fights between lumbering space battleships. Heck, the Gaia Sanction troops look like Stormtroopers.
Space Pirate is advertised with a breathless endorsement from James Cameron. I can't imagine what he must have been smoking.
2014-07-10
Walking on Sunshine (2014)
Plot summary (story synopsis): During a stay in an Italian beach resort, Englishwoman Maddie (Annabel Scholey) falls in love with local Italian hunk Raf (Giulio Berruti) and decides to marry him after a whirlwind 5 week romance.
Her sister Taylor (Hannah Arterton) flies in for the wedding, only to find out that Raf is the man that she dumped three years ago, leaving Italy to return to England in order to get a university education.
Raf and Taylor agree to keep their past a secret from Maddie, but their attraction for each other is still there. Meanwhile, Maddie's bad-boy ex, Doug (Greg Wise) makes a surprise visit to try and win her back.
***
Walking on Sunshine is a fun, light musical-romance-comedy with a rollicking 80s soundtrack. It lacks the star power of Mamma Mia! and Rock of Ages, but equals them in pop nostalgia and probably exceeds them in dance energy.
Directors Max Giwa and Dania Pasquini have previously directed two StreetDance movies. I have never heard of StreetDance before but I guess there's a lot of dancing in them.
There's certainly a lot of dancing in Sunshine, with an entire airport lobby breaking out into song (Madonna's Holiday) and dance within the first few minutes of the opening of the movie. If you're too young to remember, this is classic 1980s music video-style.
There was a group of schoolgirls sitting behind me in the theater and they were giggling and squealing throughout the whole movie. So you don't have to be an old codger to enjoy the movie, but you might miss a few 1980s references.
The cast of unknowns acquit themselves well. Hannah Arterton has a Piper Perabo charm about her, while Giulio Berruti looks like a male model. It sounds like the actors sing their own songs, but I can't be sure. They aren't spectacular singers, but they are good enough. There is some professional support from Leona Lewis (who sang I See You in Avatar) who plays Elena, one of Taylor's friends. The best part? Pierce Brosnan doesn't sing in this movie.
Good use is made of the Italian setting, with the ancient stone buildings leaving the greatest impression. There's a spectacular mass tomato fight in a cobblestone alley, like the Running of the Bulls or Holi, only with tomatoes.
There's something special about the songs of the 1980s. Every generation thinks that about their music. I was a teenager during the 1980s so I'm probably biased, but unlike the music of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, 1980s music hasn't aged. Play one today and you could fool a teenager into thinking that it was a current hit.
However I can't help thinking that there are so many movies with 1980s pop/rock soundtracks now because the people who grew up in the 1980s are now movie directors, writers and producers. Or maybe they are just a middle-aged demographic ripe for milking money from. In 10 years, we'll be seeing a whole bunch of 1990s music movies. Hello Guns N' Roses.
The runtime of Walking on Sunshine is maybe 30% to 50% songs, so it's as much music as it is story. Which is great. If you're an eighties child, bring your kids to see it. If you're not, go see it and realize that once, your parents too were young.
Her sister Taylor (Hannah Arterton) flies in for the wedding, only to find out that Raf is the man that she dumped three years ago, leaving Italy to return to England in order to get a university education.
Raf and Taylor agree to keep their past a secret from Maddie, but their attraction for each other is still there. Meanwhile, Maddie's bad-boy ex, Doug (Greg Wise) makes a surprise visit to try and win her back.
***
Walking on Sunshine is a fun, light musical-romance-comedy with a rollicking 80s soundtrack. It lacks the star power of Mamma Mia! and Rock of Ages, but equals them in pop nostalgia and probably exceeds them in dance energy.
Directors Max Giwa and Dania Pasquini have previously directed two StreetDance movies. I have never heard of StreetDance before but I guess there's a lot of dancing in them.
There's certainly a lot of dancing in Sunshine, with an entire airport lobby breaking out into song (Madonna's Holiday) and dance within the first few minutes of the opening of the movie. If you're too young to remember, this is classic 1980s music video-style.
There was a group of schoolgirls sitting behind me in the theater and they were giggling and squealing throughout the whole movie. So you don't have to be an old codger to enjoy the movie, but you might miss a few 1980s references.
The cast of unknowns acquit themselves well. Hannah Arterton has a Piper Perabo charm about her, while Giulio Berruti looks like a male model. It sounds like the actors sing their own songs, but I can't be sure. They aren't spectacular singers, but they are good enough. There is some professional support from Leona Lewis (who sang I See You in Avatar) who plays Elena, one of Taylor's friends. The best part? Pierce Brosnan doesn't sing in this movie.
Good use is made of the Italian setting, with the ancient stone buildings leaving the greatest impression. There's a spectacular mass tomato fight in a cobblestone alley, like the Running of the Bulls or Holi, only with tomatoes.
There's something special about the songs of the 1980s. Every generation thinks that about their music. I was a teenager during the 1980s so I'm probably biased, but unlike the music of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, 1980s music hasn't aged. Play one today and you could fool a teenager into thinking that it was a current hit.
However I can't help thinking that there are so many movies with 1980s pop/rock soundtracks now because the people who grew up in the 1980s are now movie directors, writers and producers. Or maybe they are just a middle-aged demographic ripe for milking money from. In 10 years, we'll be seeing a whole bunch of 1990s music movies. Hello Guns N' Roses.
The runtime of Walking on Sunshine is maybe 30% to 50% songs, so it's as much music as it is story. Which is great. If you're an eighties child, bring your kids to see it. If you're not, go see it and realize that once, your parents too were young.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)
The humans are running low on fuel. Malcolm (Jason Clarke) leads an expedition into the forest to restart a hydroelectric power generator. They stumble onto some apes and shoot one out of fear. An enraged Caesar lets them go but warns them to never come back.
Desperate for electricity, Malcolm returns and manages to convince Caesar to allow the humans to restart the power generator. Koba (Toby Kebbell) still hates the humans from his years in captivity, and tries to convince Caesar to stop cooperating with the humans. Caesar refuses to change his mind, causing Koba to take matters into his own hands.
***
Dawn is an entertaining but ultimately shallow sequel to 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The characters are just as rich and sympathetic as Rise's, making it an engaging drama, but not much more.
There's a new director - Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Let Me In, Felicity) replaces Rupert Wyatt. But Rise's writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, together with new writer Mark Bomback (Live Free or Die Hard), worked on Dawn too. This probably accounts for the continuity in feel from the first movie. If you liked Rise, you'll like Dawn.
Most people would classify Dawn as a science fiction action/adventure but it's more of a drama. It's about Caesar as the non-violent leader, reluctantly dragged into war. It's a character study. It's a good character study, but that doesn't change the fact that the movie is not really about apes.
One test of a "real" science fiction story, is to take out the science fiction element and then see if the story still works. Dawn still works as a story if the apes were replaced by an oppressed racial minority. That's because the story doesn't explore the consequences of intelligent apes - for example how apes come to terms with human technology, or how apes regard their less intelligent predecessors, or how apes relate to their former masters (Dawn touches on this shallowly), or how presumably inferior apes could defeat humans (the two sides fight, but again, the apes could be replaced by a racial minority and the story would be the same).
Like too many movies, Dawn uses its post-apocalyptic premise mainly as cool background. It doesn't think through its ramifications and the scenarios are not convincing:
- They need electricity mainly to power their radio, to contact other survivors. You need at most a few kilowatts for that. You can get that from a single car engine - which they do have. You don't need a freaking hydroelectric dam. That's megawatts.
- You can't so easily restart a hydroelectric power station that has been abandoned for 10 years. It's not just the power station. The electrical distribution system to the city will also be a complicated mess.
- They can't run their cars on methanol or ethanol? Sure, ethanol corrodes some engine parts, but this is fixable. Or at least address this option in the story.
- The human survivors are shown crowded in a few large buildings. They aren't out in the fields, growing food or hunting animals or scavenging for leftover technology?
- The apes are shown to easily start using guns, even out-shooting the humans. All without any training. In reality, even untrained humans will have difficulty shooting straight and keeping their guns working. Yet Koba is shown expertly shooting his automatic rifle in short bursts (without being startled by the sound or recoil), and switching to single-shot (semi automatic) mode when necessary.
It's not just this lack of science fiction and technical rigor that makes Dawn feel shallow. There is no arc for the characters. The good guys (both ape and human) are consistently good, and the bad guys (both ape and human) are consistently bad. Even Dreyfus, who acts more unexpectedly than the other characters, doesn't change in the course of the movie.
Call it a formula if you will, but this lack of a character arc makes Dawn feel like a kiddie movie. Caesar is an interesting character. The audience is kept wondering whether or not he will turn to the dark side. But in the end Caesar's big insight is that apes are too much like humans - they can be evil and violent too. That's trite.
I'm not saying that Caesar should have turned to the dark side. I'm saying that at least one of the characters should have changed.
Don't get me wrong. This is an entertaining movie. But it mainly engages your heart, not your head.
Visuals from Director of Photography Michael Seresin (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Mercury Rising) and Production Designer James Chinlund (The Avengers) are good - the ruined buildings where the humans hide out, the apes' peaceful hillside village.
Andy Serkis is fun to watch as the brooding Caesar. Jason Clarke is also convincing as the decent, brave, pacifist Malcolm. But he's too plain vanilla. He's like some mild-mannered TV sitcom dad. Too unbelievably nice.
Dawn is mainly about these two and their relationship of trust. Keri Russell (Felicity) makes an appearance as Malcolm's girlfriend, but she's barely supporting cast. Gary Oldman, also in a small role, is as good as always but he doesn't have much to do.
Rise was released 3 years ago. I liked it, but I'll have to admit that I don't remember the details. Did the apes ride horses at the end? I can't remember. They do ride horses in Dawn, which is cool because one of the strongest images from the old Charlton Heston Planet of the Apes movie, is apes riding on horses.
2014-07-03
Begin Again (2014)
Plot summary (story synopsis): Talented songwriter Greta (Keira Knightley - Pirates of the Caribbean, King Arthur, Atonement, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit) doesn't take her work seriously, preferring to live in the shadow of her famous singer boyfriend Dave (Adam Levine - Maroon 5's lead singer). They break up after she finds out that he had an affair.
Meanwhile, formerly-successful music producer Dan (Mark Ruffalo - Bruce Banner in The Avengers) is fired from the recording label that he started. He is divorced from Miriam (Catherine Keener - Being John Malkovich, Captain Phillips) and living in a rundown apartment.
He stumbles across Greta singing one of her songs in a bar and is impressed by her talent. He tries to sign her up, but his former boss Saul (Mos Def - 16 Blocks, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) back at his old label wants them to record a demo tape first.
Low on cash, Dan decides to use volunteer musicians, and record along New York's streets to make use of their ambient sound instead of renting a studio. Over the course of a few days, Dan and Greta get to know each other better as they record the demo album, roping in Dan's daughter Violet (Hailee Steinfeld - True Grit, Ender's Game, 3 Days to Kill) to play guitar.
***
Begin Again is an effective mix of Before Sunrise and The Commitments. It's a slow but entertaining show-don't-tell love story with some decent music, shot against the backdrop of the less glamorous part of New York. A part that isn't often seen in movies. We see the cosy backstreets New York, with the Empire State Building being the only major landmark shown.
The story sounds a lot like Once, writer/director John Carney's 2006 movie, which I haven't seen.
Mark Ruffalo is convincing as the down-and-out producer. Keira Knightley is even better as the sweet but tough, perceptive and talented songwriter. This is one of her best roles. I haven't been a fan in the past - she's competent, but there's something missing. However this movie might have changed my mind. The supporting cast, as might be expected from their past work, is excellent.
The chemistry between the two leads, works. John Carney's script allows them to believably get to know each other. Their interactions don't feel fake or forced. Most of it is low-key. There are a few dramatic moments but these aren't melodramatic or overwrought.
It's less "talkie" than Before Sunrise, closer to Lost in Translation's casual unhurried approach. It lacks Lost in Translation's mesmerizing dreamlike atmosphere but it's still a pleasant ride for the audience.
Like Before Sunrise, the ending isn't a conventionally romantic one and might not satisfy the general public that likes neat endings. Hopefully, like Before Sunrise, there will be a sequel too.
Meanwhile, formerly-successful music producer Dan (Mark Ruffalo - Bruce Banner in The Avengers) is fired from the recording label that he started. He is divorced from Miriam (Catherine Keener - Being John Malkovich, Captain Phillips) and living in a rundown apartment.
He stumbles across Greta singing one of her songs in a bar and is impressed by her talent. He tries to sign her up, but his former boss Saul (Mos Def - 16 Blocks, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) back at his old label wants them to record a demo tape first.
Low on cash, Dan decides to use volunteer musicians, and record along New York's streets to make use of their ambient sound instead of renting a studio. Over the course of a few days, Dan and Greta get to know each other better as they record the demo album, roping in Dan's daughter Violet (Hailee Steinfeld - True Grit, Ender's Game, 3 Days to Kill) to play guitar.
***
Begin Again is an effective mix of Before Sunrise and The Commitments. It's a slow but entertaining show-don't-tell love story with some decent music, shot against the backdrop of the less glamorous part of New York. A part that isn't often seen in movies. We see the cosy backstreets New York, with the Empire State Building being the only major landmark shown.
The story sounds a lot like Once, writer/director John Carney's 2006 movie, which I haven't seen.
Mark Ruffalo is convincing as the down-and-out producer. Keira Knightley is even better as the sweet but tough, perceptive and talented songwriter. This is one of her best roles. I haven't been a fan in the past - she's competent, but there's something missing. However this movie might have changed my mind. The supporting cast, as might be expected from their past work, is excellent.
The chemistry between the two leads, works. John Carney's script allows them to believably get to know each other. Their interactions don't feel fake or forced. Most of it is low-key. There are a few dramatic moments but these aren't melodramatic or overwrought.
It's less "talkie" than Before Sunrise, closer to Lost in Translation's casual unhurried approach. It lacks Lost in Translation's mesmerizing dreamlike atmosphere but it's still a pleasant ride for the audience.
Like Before Sunrise, the ending isn't a conventionally romantic one and might not satisfy the general public that likes neat endings. Hopefully, like Before Sunrise, there will be a sequel too.
2014-06-29
Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)
Cade refuses to betray Optimus and manages to escape with Optimus, his sidekick friend Lucas Flannery (T.J. Miller), teen daughter Tessa (Nicola Peltz - all grown up now since The Last Airbender and sporting blond hair) and her boyfriend Shane Dyson (Jack Reynor).
Meanwhile, rogue CIA bigshot Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammer - surprisingly convincing as a bad guy considering his earlier Frasier incarnation) is in league with Decepticon bounty hunter Lockdown. Lockdown hunts down Autobots and sends them to evil industrialist Joshua Joyce (Stanley Tucci - the John Turturro equivalent) for reverse engineering.
Optimus rallies the remaining surviving Autobots and Cade spies on the government agents who are chasing them. He finds out that Joyce is making Transformers, including one based on Megatron.
Things quickly escalate and the good guys find themselves fighting the bad guys and causing massive amounts of mayhem. First in Chicago, and then in Hong Kong.
***
Transformers 4 is an interesting attempt to start a new trilogy of movies, with a new set of human companions. Fan favorites Optimus Prime and Bumblebee are back but the Witwickys (including no no no no no no Sam - Shia LaBeouf) are nowhere to be seen. Unfortunately, missing in action is the US military, and that makes all the difference.
It's only with Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson missing, that you realize how much they, and US military hardware, meant to the franchise. Okay, I'm a neocon, but I think the average cinema-goer will agree. Without the oomph and firepower of the US military in the background, Age of Extinction feels decidely like a smaller movie.
It suffers from the same internationalization that afflicted G.I. Joe. Michael Bay is no longer proud to be American. It is Beijing that scrambles fighter jets to protect Hong Kong. Yes, the ChiComs are now one of the good guys. Michael Bay doesn't go all the way though - the Chinese fighters are only seen in the distance, in the background, and don't take part in the fight.
Of course, all this is to cater to the large mainland China market. With Li Bing Bing (Ada Wong in Resident Evil: Retribution) playing Fan Bing Bing's role in X-Men: Days of Future Past, as the token Chinese to draw in the Chinese audience.
The movie starts of well enough, in a classic Michael Bay sun-drenched photogenic rural paradise. Cade and his daughter are nicely introduced to the audience, without it feeling like boring exposition.
The action follows quickly, and killing off the comedic sidekick early in the movie, was an impressive move. Which I thought signified an edgier Transformers. Unfortunately Age of Extinction actually ends up being goofier.
The first trilogy managed to make you forget that Transformers was originally a kiddie cartoon. Age of Extinction has Lockdown flying around in a spaceship, making me think of Gatchaman and other kiddie shows.
The Dinobots are a bust, serving only as eye candy and not adding much drama to the story. (I was complaining about the movie to a friend but he wouldn't listen, going wild over the prospect of seeing Grimlock - the Dinobot leader.) Okay, the monster Decepticon snake in the third movie was also eye candy, but that was so cool.
Age of Extinction also makes the Joel Schumacher Batman mistake of having two bad guys - Lockdown and a revived Megatron. This splits our attention, diluting the menace from each bad guy.
Character development is poor, even by Michael Bay standards. He has managed to shake off his old habit of having two story tracks - the cutesy Witwicky track for character development, plus the main Transformers action track. You can advance the plot and reveal character at the same time. That's the good news.
The bad news is that he (and writer Ehren Kruger who worked on the 2nd and 3rd movies) doesn't do much with the opportunity. Mark Wahlberg is good as Cade, drawing the audience into his world. But Wahlberg can do that with any script.
Optimus Prime is disappointing. He does his normal speechifying about honour and loyalty, but strangely seems to have forgotten the humans that worked with him in the past. He doesn't try to contact his old pals, doesn't even mention them. He ends up sounding like, yup, a robot.
Stanley Tucci is fun to watch as the evil industrialist. He's obviously being set up as a John Turturro replacement - bad guy turned comedic sidekick. But minor characters such as his employee Darcy Tirrel (Sophia Myles - Tristan and Isolde) and Tessa's boyfriend Shane Dyson (Jack Reynor) seem superfluous. We'll probably see more of them in the next movie.
Nicola Peltz is the prettiest of all the Transformers girls (I didn't see anything in Megan Fox), but she's supposed to be 17 years old in the movie, giving male audiences a guilty conscience for lusting over jailbait. Not that she's all that hot. I do not share Michael Bay's taste in women.
Age of Extinction gets a 6.9/10 from viewers on IMDB, and an expectedly low 17/100 from the critics on Rotten Tomatoes. This time, I agree with the critics.
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