Category Archives: Live Action Movies

Hitman: Agent 47 Review

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This review is of the TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

We are back in the Hitman universe with this reboot. They learned a lot of their lessons from last time fortunately so this one actually ends up being pretty fun. We’ve got some solid action, special effects, and the whole works. It even feels a bit more like a superhero kind of film with how we’ve got powers now and even 47 can shoot across the whole city. Yeah if you were looking for some Hitman action then you’ve come to the right place.

So the movie introduces us to Katia who seems to have the ability to see the future. It helps her get out of a lot of bad spots and she even saves some lives by utilizing this power. She has been trying to find someone for a while now but doesn’t even know why. The situation gets dangerous when a man named John Smith (I’m sure that’s his real name…) shows up and tells Katia that an assassin is after her so she has to trust him. The assassin of course is 47 who is pursuing her quite relentlessly. Perhaps this guy can help Katia find out why she has super powers and why she even wants to find this random guy from her visions. Either way they will need to move fast.

The first half involves a lot of chase scenes as they try to get away from 47 and I thought this was handled really well. 47 is a Hitman after all so he won’t always be the hero here. Putting him in as a villain makes for a very intense perspective and I definitely wouldn’t have minded if it stayed like that the whole time. He gets some great feats here too like when he goes on a roof and then shoots a bullet that goes through a train, car, past a bridge, and then into the car where Katia is to hit her. The shot is absolutely insane and even Hawkeye would have to give him some respect there. It’s really impressive all the way through and 47 is practically robotic with how he keeps on going.

Now I do have one absolutely major issue with one of the opening scenes though. So 47’s mission right now is seemingly to neutralize both Katia and John. He is authorized to do whatever it takes to accomplish this. Now as the film goes on you can see why Katia is okay for now but what about John? There are several times where 47 can finish him off but chooses to keep on going. These scenes only work if you assume that 47 actually is a robot. I’ll give you a quick scene here. 47 knocks John to the ground and then turns to set up his gun so he can fire at Katia. He gets really close to shooting her but then John tackles him so they fall to the ground.

Okay, time to shoot John and then go back to hunting Katia right? Wrong, 47 acts like John isn’t even there and gets up to walk after Katia. So…John tackles him again and they wrestle in the train tracks for a bit. Several times John will interrupt 47 and the Hitman will knock him away or land a punch but then go back to ignoring him. I thought that didn’t make any sense unless they changed scripts midway and he was going to be a robot. 47 seems to have no common sense in these scenes which is just odd because he is always portrayed as such a highly skilled agent.

Still, as a character he was really solid. I liked his scenes in the embassy where he is in control the whole time and talks tough. He talks a whole lot more in this film than in the first one and it works well. You get the sense that he is absolutely ruthless and now that he can explain his intentions to the other characters, it makes him that much more sinister. It was also just nice seeing the U.S. Embassy show up even if you knew they were going to be doomed after a while. So there was a whole lot to like about these opening scenes. Plus I also enjoy how everything was dialed up to 11 with the crazy shots across the city or even Katia using her powers to figure out where to go next.

As a character Katia is quite solid. She may have been lacking in confidence at first but this didn’t stop her from taking a risk to save the lady in the opening scene and then always staying on the run. Katia basically had to self teach herself how to use these strange abilities and to stay in the game which is not easy. By the end of the film she has really come into her own and it’s a shame that we won’t be getting a sequel because I think that could have been a great film. Certainly Katia would have had a nice role in it and I liked where the film was going.

Yes, we do have a cliffhanger here so get ready for that. It’s a really hype one though and you can pull quite a few comparisons to Terminator 2 here. I think in a lot of ways this film was trying to be like that one and it succeeded. So if we kept this up I think the movies would have gotten even better as we leaned more on the sci-fi angle. The final scene (pre credits) was just really excellent and exactly the kind of note you want to end the movie off on.

Diana actually appears in person for this film which was nice. She doesn’t seem quite as personable as in the first film though. Here she appears to be fully part of team corporate. I guess if you stay long enough they always get you but it would have been nice to have seen her in more of a heroic role. Then we have John Connor Smith and he’s a fun character. I did find it a bit funny when Katia asked if that was his real name later on. Cmon now…it’s definitely not. The sad thing is if I ever met someone who was actually called John Smith I probably wouldn’t believe him. At this point the name is only used as an alias to the point where using that name actually just puts some suspicion on you.

Either way John was a really solid character here though. He definitely helped to bolster the cast. The movie has a fairly small cast of important characters to be honest but this way you can focus more on the plot and what’s going on. There are some other characters of course but these are the big ones. There is a whole lot of action here as well so you’ll definitely enjoy that. 47 gets to fight with guns, knives, and his fists. Everyone gets a little piece of the pie here.

The uniform still really stands out as well. This movie got to show off how versatile it could be as well by having 47 be a villain one moment and then someone you have to root for in the next. In some scenes he’ll remind you of Wesker even. This time the movie has quite a few twists and turns compared to the first which was more straight forward and it works out quite well. I did think the first one left things off on an interesting note as well but this one really raised the bar. It’s just a shame that it wasn’t better received because I need that sequel!

Overall, If you like a solid action movie then you should definitely enjoy this one. It’s a well rounded title with a lot of action and interesting plot developments. Sometimes the heroes can be a bit brutal with how they finish off their enemies like one kill in particular where the guy got crunched into oblivion but in Katia’s case she is fighting for her life and in 47’s case…he really couldn’t care less. You get the feeling he has some kind of plan going on that he’s not mentioning to anyone either but that could just be me overthinking it. It’s not like we’ll ever know for sure I suppose but hopefully we get another reboot or something soon because this series has a lot of potential.

Overall 7/10

Hitman Review

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This review is of the TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

The Hitman video game series is definitely well known and you figure a film about it should be amazing right? Well, this one didn’t quite do it for me. It has some moments that show promise but ultimately just made too many mistakes which kept this from being the next big hit. At least they got the suit and tie right.

So the movie starts off with a quick origin for 47 and he gets the drop on the interpol agent Mike. We then get a flashback to 3 months ago to set things up. Here are the ground rules you need to know about this universe. A bunch of kids were raised to be future hitmen so they don’t show much emotion. The main character’s name is simply 47 and he has done really well. The head of the group or at least the one who contacts him is Diana and she has historically given him a lot of missions that he completes easily enough. Well, one day the mission appears to be a set-up as the guy (Mikhail) that 47 murdered is still alive and he’s told to murder a witness (Nika) who didn’t actually see him? 47 needs to figure out what is going on quickly to turn the tables on these guys or else his reputation as a top hitman may be on the line.

I do think it’s always an odd decision to have your first movie be something that changes the status quo to something you haven’t experienced yet. Shouldn’t a plot about 47 being betrayed by his group be a sequel’s plot as opposed to the original? At least give us a chance to see 47 working in a normal environment. In that sense I’d say you should have had the sequel take place first since the plot was more standard for 47. This is true for any film based on a franchise though, the first movie should feel like a classic adventure with whatever elements are usually in the games and then you subvert this later on.

Well, lets knock out some of the negatives right away. First up, the editing isn’t great and that’s a field I don’t even bring up unless it’s really bad. There are a ton of cuts in each action sequence so you don’t actually get to see the action a lot. Why do you need 5 different camera angles for someone getting punched? Now even if they actually did a solid punch on the set it’s hard to tell and you assume the choreography wasn’t very good. This happens a lot during pretty much every fight.

The only one that gets around this is the 4 man sword fight which is actually really good. Now that’s a fight that is a highlight in the movie and gave us a good look at what could happen here. If this had been the feel of the whole film then I think we’d be having a whole different conversation here. The sword fight was just really good. The gun battles and hand to hand are solid too of course but not nearly on the same level, particularly because of the cuts.

Then sometimes it felt like they were just taking short cuts. There is one scene where a character is walking through a underground parking lot of sorts. Instead of you know…having the character just walk all the way through before cutting away we see him take a step, then there’s a blinding flash of light. Then another step, another light, and then rinse and repeat for a third time before he vanishes. Beyond trying to give the audience seizures, what is even the point of that? It doesn’t make sense to me and felt like they just didn’t want to film the whole walking sequence or something happened and they lost some of the files.

I don’t mind a film being busy with a lot of effects (Kaguya season 1 handled this perfectly with lots of special effects everywhere) but they should have some kind of purpose to them. Otherwise it’s just adding effects to add them. Also, the romance here is pretty bad. Nika is a character who has effectively been held hostage for a long while by the villains. It feels like the last thing she wants to do is to get into an affair right now. There’s also no reason she would actually start liking 47 this quickly as she should still be in self preservation mode. He’s constantly threatening her and their whole dynamic just seems very weak. It all happens way too quickly and 47’s half hearted resistance will just make you roll your eyes.

This is a film that definitely didn’t need romance in the slightest. Finally, I thought the organization could have looked better. Now I don’t know much about 47’s group so maybe they’re all just evil anyway but at least Diana seems trustworthy with how she called 47 to warn him. How come she didn’t find out that the fix was in sooner? Also, why is the organization willing to sell out 47 this easily when he’s one of their best assets? Feels like they’re choosing the wrong side to me by a long shot. You don’t want to turn someone like 47 against you, that’s a terrible move.

Okay so for the good parts, I did like the Interpol agent Mike. That guy wasn’t about to get pushed around by the Russians and just kept going on the case to stop 47. He wasn’t getting distracted or tricked along the way either and just held onto his singular focus the whole time. He may never actually be a threat to 47 in anyway but his plot was always interesting.

47 himself was a decent main character as well. I wouldn’t say he was very good and he lost some points along the way but ultimately he always had a plan and would come out on top. He certainly got the upper hand on Mike quickly enough and took out a ton of villains at every point. I liked Diana even if her role was super small. I was not really a fan of Nika though. Certainly a tragic backstory for her but in the present she didn’t actually get to contribute much at all.

As for the villain Mikhail, well he is the kind of guy who panics a whole ton. The plan to frame 47 was solid without a doubt but the villains didn’t know how to follow through on that. There are a few other villains as well but none of them are particularly memorable. The movie goes through the motions and they get their moments where they come close to stopping 47 but you barely even see them as characters most of the time.

The soundtrack is pretty decent though. Some solid tunes in there and I did like the visual. The movie always made sure to show off 47’s suit and how the tie would practically glow. Fans will at least be satisfied that the outfit is pretty much a 1 to 1 recreation from the games. No expense was spared there and the ending also leaves some interesting plots for future installments. Of course no sequel would end up coming out but it did get you interested in the franchise as a whole and that is at least partially the goal in making an adaption like this.

Overall, Hitman wasn’t a success. For everything it did right, it did something wrong as well. I would place is squarely in the middle as a result and while there is a decent amount of replay value, I feel as though there is no real reason to watch it again. Watch Mission Impossible instead if you want to see some solid secret agent work or watch Terminator if you want to watch a stoic villain running around. After all, make no mistake, 47 is still a villain here. Just because his goals align with the heroes sometimes doesn’t change the fact that he is still a killer for hire who follows orders without really thinking about it. If the games keep in all of the interesting plot elements while touching the rest up then I can definitely see how this became a really big franchise.

Overall 5/10

Ransom! Review

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With a title like this you know exactly what the movie is going to be about. It’s not trying to beat around the bush either and just gets you right into the action. The film revolves around a kid being held for ransom and how to deal with that. The writing is on point and the movie is engaging from start to finish so I certainly had no issues with it. It’s a compelling title all around.

The movie starts with Dave agreeing to help his son Andy out with this little fort he’s building. Dave will grab some supplies on the way home and will even be leaving work early to make sure it all works out. Well, he arrives home and Andy is late which Dave is a bit annoyed at. Gradually this grows into concern and when a call arrives saying that Andy was taken away to the doctor’s and the doctor denies this, Dave knows they have a problem on their hand. Sure enough, the thief calls in and demands a large sum of money for Andy’s return. Everyone quickly tells Dave to pay the ransom and he agrees that this makes sense but then he finds out from a local reporter and the police chief that paying the ransom may actually not help. In fact, it may just seal Andy’s death. So now what should Dave do?

I thought it was an interesting approach here about not paying the ransom and the logic made sense. Once the villain has the random money there is no reason for him to return the kid and until he gets it, there is more reason to keep the kid alive. Of course as the film makes sure to explain a lot, this can still go sideways no matter what you pick. So Dave has to be prepared for the consequences no matter what because if anything happens to Andy he will likely have a whole lot of regrets no matter what. If he doesn’t pay the ransom then everyone will pile on him afterwards and blame him for the full event.

Dave gives it a lot of thought in both options and the way he handled it was great. Basically he turns it around by using the money to threaten the kidnapper directly. If you’re not going to pay the ransom then this is absolutely the way to go about it. It would be difficult for the kidnapper not to get nervous after a point because that is a ton of money to throw around and naturally there are few people you can trust at that point in time. It was a way to turn the tables and considering that Dave had pretty much 0 support, it was a good testament to his character. He was ready to sacrifice everything in order to make the best pick for Andy’s safety.

His wife Edith wasn’t quite on board with this though. It’s a stressful time so you understand why she is panicking a lot but as a result she really does not look good at all here. Edith never takes time out to try and listen to the ideas or anything and just cracks immediately and has to be put under sedation a few times. It would have been nice if she was a little more supportive so Dave could have had someone backing him up. Ultimately she did him no favors here and ended up being the weakest character.

There’s also Jim who is the head of police and he seems reasonable up to a point before he chooses the wrong side. He was one of the first people to float the idea that providing ransom money isn’t a good idea but ultimately the politics of the whole thing gets to him and he tries to take that back. Ultimately he gets back on the saddle but it takes a little while.

As a result I was a much bigger fan of Charlie. Charlie’s a reporter and so he’s seen this play out many times before. He’s someone you would want to use as a reference for a huge decision like this. Nothing is 100% of course and he stresses this a lot but at least he is able to give Dave a fresh perspective. He doesn’t back out on him either. So Charlie has a solid character arc where he starts off as someone who is only interested in the story and gradually becomes someone that Dave can count on. Considering that he started off as someone that Dave nearly beat up, I’d say he did well for himself.

The movie keeps up the tension throughout the whole film really well. At no point is there a break in this and you can see the characters getting tired over time. After all the longer this goes on, the more time the characters have to keep on second guessing themselves. The villain never truly appears beyond a quick silhouette from time to time which worked out well enough. The villain isn’t really one of the main points of focus after all. This film is really about dealing with the kidnapping itself and the social pressure that is causes. So in a way the kidnapper himself is of a secondary concern.

The social aspect was also handled well like with how everyone said Dave should pay the ransom because that’s just how it’s done. They don’t talk about how this would be helpful and that’s why Dave starts to give this more thought. It’s always a good thing to do since you shouldn’t just do something because it’s always been done that way. I don’t doubt that the town may have fully attacked Dave at some point if things didn’t go over well. During the film we already started to see them get a little intense like throwing rocks through the window after all.

The film has a satisfying ending though and ultimately there’s a good amount of replay value here. It may sound like that wouldn’t be the case since the whole thing takes place pretty much inside the apartment with the characters talking a lot but the writing is very good from start to finish so it’s never an issue. It’s why good writing is so important since you need that to keep the movie interesting. If there are no big fight scenes or visuals then writing will suddenly become the most important aspect.

Overall, Ransom! is a very fresh take on the kidnapping plot. I can’t think of any other titles that went about it in this way where it focuses on how the parents handle this in terms of complying or choosing not too. A lot of the dynamics for the social plot would certainly be different in a modern setting and I’d be interested in seeing how that’s tackled as well. Naturally a kidnapping is a fairly dark plot in and of itself so you’ll need to be able to take that if you’re going to enjoy the film. It’s all handled in a classy manner though without getting too grim. It keeps up the tension but it’s all about the atmosphere which is the best way to do it. I would definitely recommend checking this film out, it was really quite interesting.

Overall 7/10

Old Review

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Old is a movie that certainly got a lot of promotion. You always figure it should have some kind of a twist since the producer is known for that and the very premise goes hand in hand with having a good twist in there. There are some mysteries and it’s all very interesting but it fumbles the ball quickly. The characters are unlikable and the film explores a lot of the things you’d rather not see in quick aging instead of more interesting ideas. As a result it ultimately starts to drag and just really messed up here.

So the main characters Guy and Prisca have been having a lot of relationship issues lately. Their marriage is pretty much at an end so they’re just going to do this one last vacation and then call it quits. Well, their kids are excited for this at least and it seems like it should be fun. The place has complementary drinks and the whole thing is very high-end. They’re even invited to a private beach with a few other select guests but that’s when things get tricky. It doesn’t seem like there is a way to leave the Beach and they all start to grow older so time is limited here.

Naturally the hook is on seeing how the characters grow old and what they do about it. It’s a solid hook but you absolutely need something more than that if you’re going to make this a very memorable experience. This film opted to do that with character drama as they inevitably start turning on each other and everyone goes crazy. It’s not out of nowhere as the film does set up some legitimate reasons for why this group is so crazy but it doesn’t help take away from the fact that it’s annoying.

In a life or death situation the last thing you want is for everyone to start cracking right out of the gate. Of course a film may need some drama but I dare say that it would be executed better without this angle. Seeing the characters team up and keep on trying new things would absolutely have a much better effect. This way the characters are still likable and you’ve still got some drama as each attempt wouldn’t work which would put them in a tougher position. These are just some ideas off the top of my head that I think would have done a whole lot of good here.

Guy and Prisca start off on a rather rocky note and it doesn’t get much better for them for most of the film. Particularly once we find out why their relationship is in tatters. They put this aside to help the kids which is good but at no point are they all that likable. Then you have the kids Maddox and Trent. Maddox is okay but Trent definitely looks really bad here as he decides this is the best time to mess around. You’d think that he would hold off on doing anything crazy when all of this is going on but I guess not. I’ll throw blame onto Kara as well here as it takes two to tango.

It was a bad moment that also leads to a completely unnecessary scene as the gang have to work on helping Kara give birth on this island. Really now? You can probably guess that with the whole aging thing this doesn’t go over very well. Then you’ve also got a live surgery operation that has to go on and you quickly realize that the film is really trying for max shock value here. There’s a lot of interesting ideas you can do about being trapped on a beach with time moving so quickly like this but surgery and giving birth aren’t two items I would put on the list there.

Then with the characters going crazy it’s not like there’s many opportunities to team up either. So Charles is a surgeon but he was already losing his mind and this just made things worse for all of them. He ends up being the biggest obstacle here and on a small beach like this, having just one person against you can be absolutely deadly. The guy runs around with a knife trying to attack the others almost from the jump. Right when he appears you know something’s off and it just gradually gets worse and worse throughout the film.

His wife Chrystal at least seemed reasonable. Perhaps a bit stuck up but she wasn’t losing her marbles the way the others did. Unfortunately almost nobody is safe by the end so eventually she went looney as well. Agnes and Sedan didn’t really have a chance to crack. Patricia was in a really tough spot from the start so the whole time gimmick was going to get to her. For Jarin I thought his plan to swim wasn’t very well thought out. It’s a shame since he seemed like one of the most reasonable members by far.

In fact, he has the best idea early on and it was disappointing that nobody tried it. So this whole time you may be wondering why the heroes don’t just walk off of the beach right? Well, every time they walk to the exit they get dizzy and then end up fainting. The characters figure this is because of how time moves so quickly here that their bodies need time to adjust almost like when swimming deep underwater. So Jarin figures that maybe this won’t be an issue if they go really slowly.

That makes a lot of sense and I think it would have worked. Now, would it have actually resulted in a happy ending for all of them? Eh, probably not since getting out of the beach isn’t necessarily a win condition here. They’d probably still lose but from their perspective I think it is absolutely worth it and something they should have tried for. It would take a lot of time but still would have easily been the best chance of success.

Without saying what the twist is this time, I can say that it does make sense. It’s a bit more on the low key side so it’s nothing crazy but at least it does work which is the important thing. It’s a reasonable ending all things considered and at least isn’t super dreary or anything. The characters actually played it smart in the climax this time which was nice. If they had made any big mistakes or something then that would have been annoying.

Overall, Old is not a film I would recommend. The concept behind the island and the mystery is definitely interesting but it goes all “Lord of the Flies” way too quickly. Mix that in with just trying to be gritty for no reason and you lose a lot of the atmosphere that this film could have generated naturally. There’s just so much potential and promise that you can do with this kind of film and ultimately it just wasn’t there. This is a movie that you will definitely want to skip out on.

Overall 3/10

The Time Machine Review

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Whenever you have a film with time travel you know that things are going to get good. That was my thought upon watching this film as well and it definitely delivered. What you have to understand right from the jump is that this isn’t an action title though. It’s actually very low key about the time traveling aspect. Sure, there are some punches thrown near the end but for the most part this is a dialogue based film but one that works rather well here and I like the time travel rules that the film abided by.

There are a lot of time travel rules after all. The ones where you can’t alter the past or the future, the ones that create new universes, ones where you can’t go directly to your own past, etc. Personally my favorite styles tend to be when you can change things and you just see a lot of ripple effects. It makes the most sense to me even if we don’t actually know how time travel would work yet. Back to the movie though.

So George invites his friends over for dinner but when they arrive he is very late and appears as if he’s been in some kind of battle. He explains to them that he has been travelling through time and this triggers a flashback which is from the rest of the movie. So a while back he tried to show his invention to them but they didn’t believe him. It was partially on him for only showing them the basic version when he could have messed with the real one and proved the machine quite easily. Instead they laugh and run off while he decides to use this machine to go to the future. At first George just has fun seeing how things will change in the next year or so but then he ends up going over 800,000 years in the future. Humanity seems to finally be at peace but is there some darker secret here? George will have to find out fast because his machine may be in danger.

Naturally if your time machine breaks for any reason then that’s game over so you don’t want that to happen. The way the film handles it, the machines effectively exists outside of time while it is being used and then it appears in the same spot that it was, just in a different universe. It’s a very handy ability that’s for sure and the controls are very intuitive so he is able to stop on a dime in any era. Somehow George even made a mini version of it so he has completely mastered the mechanics of it. He could really become rich with an invention like that even if that’s not really his style.

So the first half of the film is just very calm as he goes from place to place and has fun. He can be a little slow on the uptake and draws attention to himself all the time but nobody is really going to be thinking about time travel so that part’s safe. The real high stakes of the film don’t appear until after he’s in the far future though.

So Humanity pretty much blew themselves up it seems because al technology is gone and the world is back to the cave man era. The people are still rather dignified though so it’s not a full reset. People have grown lazy though because now there is a race of alien type creature that cater to their every whim so people don’t need to work anymore. Their food is served to them and they don’t bother reading so people just live every day on repeat. George is quite dismayed about this but at the same time he meets a lady named Weena that he likes so that’s a silver lining there.

Now he has a reason to embrace this new time period. The film never makes it clear why these other beings are watching over humanity and how they prepare all of this when they seem mindless. There are a lot of questions here and perhaps another film could go more into detail but it’s not like George has a lot of time to find out all of the answers. He’s busy just trying to stay alive the whole time and he does a good job of it too.

I like to think he’ll give some more closure to the characters in the present at some point but the ending is a happy one either way. George was a solid main character once he found his footing and really got used to traveling through time. He should help make the future era a much better one as well. Then Weena was a good heroine as well even if she didn’t get a whole lot to do in the future. She was brave enough to talk to him when most wouldn’t say a word.

The film really thrives because of its writing. A film like this absolutely needs high quality writing to survive since that is going to be what executes on the solid premise. I have no complaints on that area and thought that the script was quite solid. Yes, I do have some issues with how George could have done a much better job of proving his time machine to the group. That is a bit iffy so I’ll just make an excuse for him and say that if his friends would barely entertain this idea of his then maybe they didn’t deserve to see it anyway. He had one good friend in Filby but even that guy didn’t really believe him the whole time. At least he would defend George but that’s about all I can say for him. Nice guy but if he had taken the next step and actually assisted with the time travel that would have been ideal.

Overall, The Time Machine is a fun, dare I say relaxing film. It’s just very low key so there isn’t a ton to say about it, but it’s interesting enough. I think the concept is what intrigues you the most because it’s fun to put yourself in George’s shoes and think about what you would do with a time machine. The possibilities are really endless especially with the level of freedom you have with this machine. Of course you have to be careful not to leave it alone or to let it get broken or you’ll be really sunk. If you want a nice look at the future then this is a good one to check out without a doubt.

Overall 7/10

Faster Review

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This review is of the TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

It’s time for an old school revenge thriller. This one plays it by the books but it’s executed rather well and makes for a good title. The cast is fairly small so you really get to focus on each of the characters and it has a satisfying ending. So in the end you’ll be left in a good spot here and it definitely could have had a fun sequel but I guess it’ll stay as a one shot.

The film starts with Jimmy getting out of jail. He’s been doing a lot of time so he’s eager to be out of there and to set things right. He worked with a group of villains who ended up betraying him and murdering his brother. Jimmy nearly died as well since he took a bullet to the head but he barely survived. Now he wants revenge and through an informant he was able to get a list of the names on who was in the gang. He intends to pick them off one by one. Meanwhile someone has hired an assassin known as Killer to take Jimmy down. That guy likes to be known as the best of the best and so it’s a matter or pride now.

Finally you have the cops on Jimmy’s trail as well. Cicero is the main officer in charge but she is forced to work with Humphries who used to be a great cop in his day but he’s considered to be washed up at this point. Will he only serve to slow her down or will he step up when it counts? Either way the time is ticking because Jimmy will vanish to the winds as soon as he has achieved his vengeance against the gang.

So what I did like about the film straight off the bat is that it goes right down to business. It feels like less than 20 minutes have passed before Jimmy got a gun, threatened someone, and found his first target. The guy moves very fast and doesn’t take any breaks. He’s a very convincing man on a mission and you can feel his determination in each scene. It’ also clear that he is quite skilled not just with a gun but in close combat as well. A nice touch here is that everyone in the know regards Jimmy as a legend because he should be dead (Getting shot in the head will usually do that) and he never loses a fight.

So even bouncers are scared of him and the only one who dares to get in his way is Killer. I liked their battles. Jimmy is clearly more skilled from the two but they are experts in their craft. We get a whole scene with Killer explaining that he is the best in every field to show just how skilled that guy is. Killer’s got a bit of a romance subplot where he is thinking about settling down as well. Not a main plot or anything but I suppose it gives him more development there. I liked that the film didn’t play him off as totally insane at least. Initially I thought he was going to bump her off when his therapist started mentioning that she may be distracting him. Fortunately he took it the right way for a change.

Then Jimmy already has a lot of personality and a backstory so you understand his actions from the start. The scene of the gang taking out his brother was definitely really intense. Not the kind of situation you want to be in and so there’s nothing that can shake his conviction when going through the villains. The only obstacle for him is that one of these guys has turned over a new leaf. Jerrof is now a pastor and he even starts preaching about not living for revenge in the hopes that Jimmy will hear this and not take him out.

It’s one of the pivotal moments in the film because if Jimmy finishes him off then it’ll mean he did ultimately see his revenge all the way through. On the other hand, if he spares him then he will have saved the guy’s family from a lot of heartache. It’s a plot that the film gives a good amount of time here so the characters can say their peace. It’s one of the moments where Faster definitely separates itself in a good way. I thought that when it came to be crunch time, the characters always made the right move.

Jimmy and the Killer could have both gone down different roads but didn’t. Jerrod’s journey to redemption was also a very good one and it was a nice way to tie together all of the sermons we heard Jimmy listening to the whole time. The way it was wrapped up to actually be a serious plot point with Jerrod trying to get his message across was handled really well. As for the main police officer Cicero, I felt like she made the wrong calls here.

She has some solid banter with Humphries and I liked their dynamic. I can also totally get why she would be upset at having to work with him. That’s all well and good but what hurts her is near the end of the film she finds something out and has to make the choice of letting people know or burying the information. Very rarely do I think burying information is a good idea and I would definitely say that this is not one of those times. Even if things end up working out, it’s not because of her but in spite of her. It’s hard to totally recover from making the wrong move like that.

Likewise, I didn’t care for Humphries. He created a lot of trouble for himself romantically with his addictions and even now in the present he hasn’t really changed. He does things more secretively but he’s the same guy that he always was and never moved forward. The film may have been trying to balance you rooting for the cops while rooting for Jimmy so the cops couldn’t be super likable but it didn’t work as I just didn’t end up liking them much. Cicero is still much better than Humphries but neither were all that solid.

Faster’s greatest strength is definitely its fast pacing and nonstop action. In the present something is always going on so you definitely stay interested from start to finish. I also thought the ending was very good which was important. On the weak side, I would say that the flashback segment could definitely be really drawn out. It’s the usual fair as the villains laugh it up until they finally blow the guy up and that’s the kind of thing you could handle in a few instances of a really sped up flashback vision. The romance scenes with Killer also could have been reduced somewhat. It’s not like he was a major presence in the film anyway. It did well to establish her as someone who was very supportive and loyal so you want to keep that and can condense it as well. Ultimately you just wanted to get back to the main plot each time.

Overall, Faster will give you your fill of action and story all the way through. It’s a very fast film with Jimmy really going through his list like clockwork. The soundtrack was solid and the film even had some decent humor like Jimmy just asking where the exit was at prison or when he scared the bouncer. It’s not going to be an all time title by any means but it has good replay value so it’s the kind of movie that you could definitely see again in the future.

Overall 6/10

Invaders from Mars Review

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Invaders from Mars has an excellent premise. Who doesn’t like the ideas of aliens showing up to shapeshift into people and change our way of life right? Well, that part was fun but the film is held back a little by the fact that the main character is a little kid so there isn’t much he can do to help. There was quite a bit I liked in this film but also a lot of parts that I thought could have been better. So ultimately I ended up being a little on the fence here but you should have a good time.

The movie starts out with David noticing a spaceship landing in the backyard area one night. He asks his father George to check it out so George does but he is instantly defeated by the alien menace. When he returns he now has a weird injury on the back of his neck and he talks rather robotically. At first David doesn’t realize what is quite wrong here but George is so over the top suspicious that the pieces begin to come together. The issue is that at school this has already started to spread as more of the kid and teachers are taken in. How can David get his family back before it’s too late?

David really blows it right from the jump though. So early on after he figures out that something has happened to the Dad, George goes missing for a long while. David’s mother is worried and David somehow doesn’t suggest that they check the backyard area. He knows that is exactly where the ship is and how George had been so suspicious about it the whole time. Why not check that area out? If David was scared about it being a trap then he should have told her that. Instead he just watches as they head over there and she is naturally taken out as well. George did not help one bit.

Meanwhile at school you have the nice nurse Linda who hasn’t been taken over yet. The story is rather fantastic but she starts to believe it because the aliens are just that obvious about it. They turn all skeptics into believers with how unconvincing they are. So Linda makes the smart move…she gets the government involved. Now I have to pause here to say that I was shocked at how big the government’s role was here but in a very good way. This was absolutely the right approach to dealing with the aliens.

The army is also portrayed very competently. At one point the aliens impersonate some army members and try to assassinate the general but his right hand man knocks the guns out from their hands and takes them out. It was highly impressive and that’s when I knew that these guys weren’t playing around. If they had taken over the film entirely from David and Linda I would not have minded at all. This was the best part of the film and it even became more of a classic action story.

We get good fights and action scenes all around. Additionally, the effects have aged rather well. The aliens look interesting at least and their base of operations was also intense. Now the aliens may not be very smart as I mentioned how they tend to be responsible for all of the sticky situations that they find themselves in but at least they have character. They definitely take things quite personally and while they seem emotionless at first, that facade falls through right away.

I could have done without the scene of one of the aliens eating a frog though. They controlled the mean teacher right away and so this leads to her always chasing David around but where does the frog come in? Do they just eat frogs as a general species rule or was this just for kicks? Either way it was a rather odd scene to include. The aliens don’t even know how to properly drink coffee so George spills a lot at the beginning. Personally, if they’re this sloppy as actors then they just should have gang rushed the town and abducted everybody. It would probably have had better results than waiting the whole time.

In the end, the only likable character here was Linda aside from all of the government guys who were a lot of fun. I never warmed up to David and I can’t say that the parents looked great with how easily they were taken out. We see the alien base later on after all so we know what the aliens are capable of and I like to think that the parents should have at least been able to yell for help or something and make a big commotion. Perhaps they were sneak attacked each time but it’s still not a good look on their end with how David was able to escape the whole time.

Now as to the ending, I was less than pleased with how it went. Of course I love a twist ending and a cliffhanger. If you do either of those things then you have probably ended in the right way but the big issue here is that it’s not a super interesting ending. I think it would have needed to show you a little more in order to get hooked. Personally I like the idea of David being stuck in a time loop of ever changing events sort of like the Terminator series. The overall premise is the same but the way things happen will be different each time. It would explain a bit but not how the aliens are such good actors now. A sequel could have capitalized on this and in retrospect would have made the ending better. Otherwise I think a different cliffhanger would have worked better.

Overall, I would have liked a different main character but Invaders from Mars is still a solid film. The writing is on point and the pacing is pretty good. It’s got a good sci-fi angle going and I like the idea of the aliens gradually taking over the town one person at a time. The execution just wasn’t as good as it could have been and I don’t think there would be a lot of replay value here. Still, if you’re up for watching an alien film then you could do worse than this one and you will get to see why you should always voice your concerns about aliens flying in from Mars because if you wait then it may be too late.

Overall 6/10

Se7en Review

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This review is of the edited TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

When you’ve got a film with the heroes trying to stop a mass murderer you can often come up against the rather tricky dilemma of establishing this plot while trying not to let things get too dark. Having a psycho be the main villain usually makes this quite impossible though and this film was not able to survive it. It definitely gets twisted for all parties involved and with no real winners here you’re going to want to skip this one.

The movie starts with William getting ready for retirement. He’s had a good career on the force but it’s time to call it a day. Unfortunately his plans are slowed when a mass murderer shows up and starts creating headlines. William is paired with a younger detective known as David who is eager to prove himself here while William just wants out. They do not get along at all with William constantly pushing David. Still, the two will have to get their act together and quickly or this John Doe will continue his murder spree. The only pattern so far is that he’s murdering people along the line of the 7 Deadly Sin. Each of his murders are then stylized based on that.

You feel bad for William because of course something like this had to happen right when he was about to retire. Couldn’t have waited just a few more days right? Now in a way he can’t walk out because if he does it’ll be like he ran away from the case and he’ll probably also be living with a lot of guilt. William is incredibly jaded by this point as well since he’s been working in such a corrupt city for so long. He sees awful crimes every day and at this point doesn’t see a lot of hope left for humanity. There’s nothing left here for him if he stays on the job.

Unfortunately he’s also the best detective around and he knows this very well. Part of why he’s so antagonistic to David at first seems to be to try to get him out of here. He’s concerned why David specifically volunteered to enlist here and the guy never really gives him a straight answer which doesn’t help matters. Meanwhile David’s more of an optimist who thinks he can make the world better one case at a time. He’s got a lot of energy and definitely wants to prove himself. He means well and makes for a good main character. I actually thought he was a little better than William here.

Sure, William is more talented but the fact that he is so jaded means that he just isn’t enthusiastic about anything anymore. At least David is doing his best at all times to make sure that things go well. Then you have David’s wife Tracy who is not happy about being here at all. She would rather be in just about any city but came along because she wanted to be supportive at all times. She’s definitely well meaning in that respect but it would have been best to have a full conversation with him about it. Even their apartment is in rough shape and shakes whenever a train approaches. It would be very difficult to live like that for very long.

The actual villain “John” is your average psycho so there’s not a lot to say about him. He wants to see the world burn and to bring everyone to his level. He has a whole methodology on how he murders everyone but also enjoys it quite a lot and gets called out by the main characters. At the end of the day he’s just a criminal who has to be stopped. The guy has a lot of plans and certainly gets around but you’re just hoping he’ll be caught pretty soon.

One common issue with these kind of films is how much the villain gets away with before being taken down though. There are 7 deadly sins so you would hope the heroes could stop him after maybe 3 right? Really show how they prevented a tragedy but no, you quickly realize that he’s going to get all the way down the list so by the time he’s stopped, he’s already won in a sense. The film is definitely going for a very tragic ending with how this all plays out. There’s definitely no happiness to be found here that’s for sure.

The film takes a little time out to show how crazy parts of the legal system can be though with the villain admitting that he’ll just plead insanity if they actually try him in court. Since recordings outside of the court room don’t count he can blatantly admit to being the murderer as often as he wants but it won’t count. The whole thing definitely feels really crazy and I feel like the film was trying to point out how absurd the whole thing is. It’s unfortunately realistic in that sense. Sure, there’s a chance the heroes could win in court but it would all be a gamble so even by the end they’re playing to the villain’s tune.

Throughout the movie you’ve got a very heavy atmosphere since each of the deaths are so tragic. Each person is murdered in increasingly disturbing ways so it’s not like the murders were even quick or anything like that. Most of the murders aren’t on screen which is good at least but you do always see the aftermath and know what went down. It’s definitely not a film you’ll want to check out if you prefer to avoid the darker elements like that.

In the end that’s why the film can’t succeed. You ideally want a film where the heroes win and save the day on a fun adventure or if you’re going the darker route, have a villain who wins but has interesting ideals or the murders are quick and matter of fact. The more deranged you make the villain, the less likely the film is to succeed because it’s just going way too far the whole time. You don’t have time to enjoy the film because you’re constantly getting hit with these moments.

Overall, Se7en is a film you’ll want to avoid. It’s a rather gritty film where there are no winning battles. You can easily see why Williams is so jaded because every time he solves a case and sees these horrors, he has to know that more atrocities are being committed at the same time. After a while you just feel like giving up and that’s pretty much what happened to him. If you want to see a murder mystery film that reigns it in a lot more you’ll want to check out something like Clue instead. You’ve still got a lot of those themes and elements but without all the extra details that you’d rather not see.

Overall 3/10

Bigger Than Life Review

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It’s never a good thing when you become bigger than life because that means that your ego is probably something you haven’t kept in check. This film has something like that happen to the main character but it’s not ego in this case. Instead it comes through not following the proper dosage on a drug and things get a little dicey. It’s why following the instructions for anything is so crucial.

The movie starts with showing us how sick Ed is. He’s been having seizures and fainting spells as of late so he is taken to the hospital and the prognosis is not very good. Ed will be dead in short order unless he tries an experimental treatment which could bump him off as well. It’s his best and only option though so he goes through with it. At first things appear to be fine but slowly Ed begins to go more and more insane to the point where even his family barely recognize him. Will Ed be okay or was this one case where the cure is deadlier than the condition?

Now, I mentioned that the issue is with Ed taking too much Corazon but even before that he started going a bit off the deep end. Sure this sped it up but based on how it appeared, he would have gone crazy sooner or later while taking these. Nowadays it’s more of a mainstream drug and I know it’s used on a lot of things so at least the going crazy part isn’t happening now.

Ed’s wife Lou doesn’t handle this too well the whole time though. On one hand she is trying to back up her husband at every turn which is admirable but it goes too far when he starts becoming a danger to everyone around them and she doesn’t act. He becomes quite harsh with their kid and starts acting like a drill sergeant. He doesn’t treat her very kindly half the time either and by the time she is finally ready to acknowledge that he is crazy..he is completely off his rocket. Her final plan also wasn’t subtle enough which nearly cost her everything.

The story has a happy ending but she didn’t contribute to that too much. She also should have been a lot nicer to Wally who just did his best to keep her in the loop and offer advice. She was rarely if ever grateful at all. Its fortunate that he was around in the end or thing would not have gone very well at all. Wally was easily my favorite character here. No matter how many verbal shots he took, the guy just kept trying to help anyway. Now that’s a really good friend.

As for the kid Richie, he’s not old enough to be able to do much of anything in this scenario anyway. He’s not a very interesting character and eventually also gets to his breaking point but there’s just no way for him to really impact the story. I don’t think you even needed him in the film since it doesn’t change much. You could have Ed threaten someone else instead for the same effect.

As for Ed, well it’s hard to like him here since he was taken over so completely by the drug and cracked. It’s too bad there weren’t at least scenes of him trying to fight it or we could see in his mind as the two sides of him fought. Instead since the brain washing was so complete and immediate, the only thing you can assume here is that he didn’t have the willpower to resist this. Hopefully he is able to stay strong now but for the majority of the film he’s effectively the antagonist.

The movie doesn’t have a very fun feeling to it the whole time either because of this. It’s either the characters running away from Ed or he’s just acting off. There aren’t a lot of light hearted moments after the first few scenes. The ones we do get later on are almost always interrupted into a more tense moment.

If the character cast was better then it would help the movie for sure. Instead this just ends up being a movie that you will get through but you probably won’t be recommending very high. It doesn’t really have any replay value either. The writing is good but the characters aren’t so it’s not really able to take full advantage of that. Some of the drama can also be a bit forced like Ed not letting Lou know about his part time job. While he indicated that she wouldn’t be happy about it, that’s not consistent with her character at all. Seems to me like she would not have thought that it was a very big deal at all.

So Ed’s perception may have already been a little off here. He was adding on extra stress to himself that he just didn’t need. Once he turned crazy he would certainly start making a lot of scenes like at the school and when he started to read his Bible but before that it didn’t seem like he had enough trust in Lou. If he had confided in her earlier and more often then she may have been able to help him get around the side effects right from the start. It’s why you can’t always go it alone in these things or you may end up being down and out.

Overall, Bigger Than Life is an emotional film about losing control of your mind. It’s definitely going for a pretty serious vibe and succeeds at that but as a result the movie just doesn’t have a lot of charm to it. You can get by without charm if the story is just that epic and engaging but this isn’t even that kind of adventure. It’s more of a low key story as the characters try their best to get through this tough period and there’s just not a whole lot of reasons to watch this one. It’s not bad and if you’re up for a more somber film then it’s worth a shot but you can definitely find something else to check out.

Overall 5/10

The Sorcerers Review

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This is definitely what I would consider to be one of the more mean spirited movies. It’s really just about someone getting absolutely crushed by another person’s mental abilities and you’re just thinking, “You have to fight!”. Whether that means talking into the mirror and saying the words fight over and over again or getting a pair of glasses since the lead is always grabbing his face, you have to find a way to resist the telepathic abilities of the enemy. If you don’t, then the game is already over before the match has even begun.

The movie starts off with Mike not being the nicest fellow as he ditches his girlfriend and best friend for no real reason. He decides to just hang around town to have a good time but gives up on this and ends up going to a bar. At this point he is approached by an old man named Marcus who guarantees he can give Mike a good time. Mike figures this doesn’t sound ominous at all and follows the guy to his flat where he is strapped into a chair and hypnotized. When he awakens from this he doesn’t feel any different and leaves but now it turns out that he can be mind controlled by Marcus and his wife Estelle. At first it’s innocent enough as they have him break an egg and they just enjoy feeling different sensations. Then things grow a little darker and Marcus starts to have second thoughts about this.

While Marcus seems like he would be the main antagonist here, he’s mostly just kicked around the whole time. He looks so weak in the film too that you have to shake your head. Like come on man, you can do much better than this can’t you? It feels like he is just not contributing much at all here. Surprisingly he still talks tough the whole time and while he ultimately makes a move at the very end, he just handled everything horribly. How do you get defeated so completely like this?

Meanwhile Estelle is definitely as cruel as can be. She isn’t afraid to push the envelope and do what she feels needs to be done. There’s nothing really interesting about her though. She gets drunk at one point and starts talking about making this a game so it seems like she just always wanted to prove that she was stronger than Marcus? Perhaps there is a good backstory in there somewhere but this film definitely didn’t have time for that.

As for Mike, like I said he’s basically got 0 agency in this film. He doesn’t remember what is happening to him while he is being mind controlled and has absolutely no way of stopping it. He has 0 defenses and just gets turned at the drop of a hat. Even when he isn’t being controlled he doesn’t seem like a nice character. The guy ditches his friends for no reason and is always very defensive. He’s not quite a murderer like what the villains turned him into but it’s clear that he’s not going to be much of a protagonist.

Alan and Nicole are the other two main characters I suppose but it’s not like they can do a whole lot about this. They suspect that something is going on with Mike but it doesn’t make sense since they’ve been friends for so long so they try to get more details. It does make sense why this whole thing does not make sense since of course mind control is involved but they would have no way of knowing that.

The only exciting part of the film is the climax where we get a whole car chase. The cops are mostly on the back foot here as they keep missing the turns but ultimately they still keep at it until the end. The heroes are really left with no answers but the ending is conclusive. It is just not a very satisfying fun. You’ll feel bad for the various victims who are attacked here. Ultimately they won’t get a whole lot of justice here with how things ended up.

It’s not at all rare to have a film like this where the villain has their fun until dying but the times it doesn’t work is when the heroes don’t get to do much. You can definitely say that this is true of this film because if you think about it, the heroes did almost nothing here. Ultimately the old man had to make a move himself and it certainly took him a long time to do this. The movie ends up dragging because you know how it’s going to end but the build up is just so crazy long. It feels like it never ends until the film is over.

At least I do still like the British way of speaking here. The various mannerisms like ending a sentence with “isn’t it?” as a rhetorical question is always nice. The script isn’t bad either and if the film was longer or the writing better then the movie could have capitalized on this with some strong dialogue. Unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be and so we didn’t get to fully experience this as much as we should have.

Overall, The Sorcerers is definitely a pretty weak film. It really just has the character get mind controlled over and over again without putting up any kind of defenses. That’s what really holds him back. I would have liked to have seen some restraint or at least being able to confront the villains in the end. It would be more interesting than just seeing him broken down over and over again. The whole film has a rather underground vibe to it as everything is dark and dreary even though it’s still day time. The idea of being able to share sensations is interesting enough but the downsides will always outweigh the positives. In a way you’re putting your life in someone else’s hands after all.

Overall 3/10