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Copycat 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

Copycat is one of those films where you know it’s not going to be so good right from the jump. The question is will it rise to mid status or will it just be bad? Well, in this case it never ended up recovering and this is probably a film you aren’t going to be checking out a second time anyway. It’ll just fade away into obscurity.

The movie starts with Helen giving a lecture on the various mass murderers of the day and how you have to be scared because right now even some of the classmates could be evil. Her doom and gloom speech is a big hit but unfortunately one of those murderers was in attendance and attacks her. The guy murders one of the cops but is ultimately captured. Unfortunately the experience scarred Helen for life and she can no longer leave her apartment now. She is completely trapped.

This gets a little intense for her when she reads the news and sees that another mass murderer has appeared. This is her specialty but it’s not like she can go out there to take names and find out what’s going on. Helen is given little choice in the matter though when the villain sends her a threatening message. Monahan and Reuben are the two cops who will be helping her out here but can any of them take down this new villain? One thing’s for sure, they need to keep their guards up at all times.

I’ve noticed that these mass murder mystery films tend to put the main character in a rather difficult spot so they can’t help too much. At least it happened twice which is enough to make me raise an eyebrow as bone collector did the same thing. Since Helen can’t leave and is racked with fear that limits what she can actually contribute to the case. Considering all of this she actually does rather well in looking at the clues and helping out. You feel bad for her too because you figure one traumatic experience is enough for a life time and yet she’s going to have to go for a second one now.

I thought she was a good character though. Helen is tough and talks back to the other characters while also keeping up her boundaries. She only allows her friend Andy to see any moment of weakness within her. To everyone else she at least tries to keep the image up the whole time. Her friend Andy means well and looks after her but you get the feeling that he is doomed from the jump.

In these films just about everyone is doomed for being too close to the lead. Usually as soon as a character appears you know they could be next on the chopping block. The villain here doesn’t have any special powers or anything like that but at the end of the day he does have the element of surprise and that’s hard to fight off. Certainly it’s difficult to combat that on short notice at least.

The villain here is one of those psychotic kind of characters as you can probably guess. It’s also hard to call this a murder mystery to the extent that the film isn’t really giving you a chance to find out who the murderer is for the most part. I suppose the mystery is more about finding him before he bumps someone else off. Unfortunately the tricky part is that it takes a while to find a pattern or any leads so the body count here is already rather high.

I liked the two cops on the case though. Monahan does her best to manipulate everyone and shows that she has what it takes as a cop. Her approach to everything is rather by the book which isn’t a bad thing but the film uses that against her at one point. She ultimately gets off a shot just like how the manual said to do but in the end it wasn’t enough. I blame everyone else at the scene far more than her though because she still did her part.

At one point I almost started to wonder if she was going to end up being a villain in a twist or something but I’m glad the movie didn’t go in that direction. As for Reuben, he’s a good partner. Helen even tries to give him some romance tips at one point although I think it’s a little dicey to be thinking about how to make a move while there’s a serious threat on the loose like this. Ultimately Reuben may be a quick shot but that doesn’t mean he’s super safe.

The villain from the opening scene: Daryll, sticks around for the film and that was unfortunate. We already have one psychopath in this film, did we really need 2? Any scene with this guy in it is super annoying and drags on. I don’t think they should have even given that creep much attention. I suppose they were desperate for leads but that’s when you get someone on the inside to rough him up a bit. That may be easier said than done of course but it’s just a shame that Helen had to work with this guy even for a minute after what happened.

The movie’s stinger for the sequel is also really weak. It doesn’t make you hyped for a possible sequel at all and is just a groaner. It could have done something, almost anything more interesting than that. I would have no reason to believe the sequel would be any better than this film. In fact, there is even the chance that it would just be worse in the end depending on who the main villain is.

Overall, There isn’t much to like about Copycat. It’s your run of the mill horror/slasher title. It’s really gritty and by the time the heroes come around it’s always too late. The victories here feel hollow as a result and nobody is ever prepared so they get bumped like it’s nothing. The writing isn’t anything special and this film is really one of those dime a dozen horror titles. I would recommend just steering clear of this one. It doesn’t even have anything super entertaining to talk about or that at least would make it stand out. I suppose I won’t forget the scene with the random criminal at the police station because of how random it was. Whatever could go wrong for the heroes certainly did each time.

Overall 2/10

The Hurt Locker Review

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

The Hurt Locker really goes in depth with how dangerous it can be to try and disarm bombs in hostile territory. At times the film moves a little too slowly so pacing is an issue here but it’s still a good movie all around. It’s got a lot of good qualities to it and tells a solid story. It probably could have benefited from some more fight scenes but it’s not really that kind of movie.

The movie starts with Sanborn and his squad investigating another bomb. They have to disarm it and quickly leave. Unfortunately the robot malfunctions so one of the squad members has to go in personally and he dies in the explosion. His bomb suit didn’t really help at all this time. So in comes the replacement, William. William is one of those guys who doesn’t mind making a lot of splash plays and is eager for thrills. He has a very reckless nature about him and tends to disregard orders rather easily. This of course does bring up a lot of tension within the group and he’s also putting them in danger. Sanborn may have to make a difficult choice about this.

Unlike most war films, this isn’t about a squad on the front lines. For the most part these guys come in afterwards to disarm the bombs and make sure the general area is safe. They have to be prepared to fight at any point but that isn’t their main purpose. It’s an interesting angle to focus on but that also means that it won’t be nearly as exciting. For example, there’s a very long scene where the characters are just walking down a street towards the bomb. William then has to put on the suit to go there but it’s hard to move in that thing so it’s all very slow. The scene just drags on and on for a good while before he gets there.

You’ve also got a stand off where there are two guys in a building so the heroes have to prep a sniper rifle and watch from their vantage point. This stand-off lasts for a long while but it’s more on the boring side since nothing’s actually happening. Of course it’s easier said than done to try and storm the base but that probably would have been a lot easier. The Hurt Locker consistently takes any scene and then drags it on quite a bit. That’s its biggest weakness in a nutshell. It’s really my only big weakness for the film but it’s one that destroys any replay value. This is definitely a movie that you only watch once.

As for William, he’s a fun main character but does go too far on the rebel stuff. Throwing away his communicator was a big mistake and likewise running into a demolition field because he forgot a glove is a bit much. You can see why he really tests everyone’s patience here and it nearly costs him everything. Even Sanborn thinks about bumping him off at one point. That would have definitely been a huge mistake even if William was annoying though.

William’s job is the most dangerous as he has to be around the bombs so much so you do cut him some slack, just not enough for all of his actions. It’s definitely a job where there probably aren’t a lot of people lining up for it so I could see him getting away with a lot. As for Sanborn, he’s a solid leader. Definitely a lot more by the books and he can’t wait for this deployment to end while William is happier to be here. I can definitely sympathize with Sanborn a lot.

He’s doing his job so he’s not backing out or anything but he’s doing it because it’s the right thing to do, not because he actually wants to be here. It’s a really big difference. It certainly does help really paint Sanborn as a good character because he’s contending with a lot of fear throughout. Then you have John who isn’t even a combat guy but ends up going onto the field at one point. Things don’t go great for him but he did live up to his words that he would go onto the battlefield as needed. He didn’t shrink away from his responsibilities for a moment.

There’s a kid named Beckham who ends up being a rather important player here. Not so much because of what he does but what is seemingly done to him. It’s an understatement to say that not too many people are thrilled about the division being around so the heroes always have to be on guard but this kid enjoyed their company at least so William starts to grow attached to him which gets a little tricky with his duties.

Ultimately one of the tough parts about being in this squad would be minding your own business. It seems like a lot goes on here and someone could take out a gun at any moment. You can’t pro-actively just start attacking because there are a lot of innocent people here so you’re forced to be reactive. The amount of stress that comes with that has to be absolutely crazy. For sure everyone here probably had their wills written down before going on the mission.

Overall, The Hurt Locker is a film that really goes into detail on what being in the field is like. It’s well written and all seems pretty accurate to me. I think it could have just moved things on a little quicker and sped all of the scenes up. That would have helped a lot with the pacing and I think you could still get the tense atmosphere across even with that. The setting itself already helps a lot with that plus with this kind of film you know that the characters aren’t completely safe. They could still be destroyed at any possible moment.

Overall 6/10

Dante’s Peak Review

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Volcano disaster films should always be hype pretty much by definition since lava should make for a great visual. That’s not always the case but it’s a good rule of thumb at least. I would say this is a solid disaster film as well, we get a lot of danger and good visuals. Some really annoying characters for sure but it’s an entertaining movie with some solid pacing throughout. I definitely didn’t have any big issues with it.

The movie starts with Harry and his partner trying to escape as a volcano is erupting but unfortunately she has them hang back for a bit to try and grab some computer files. This ends up backfiring completely as they leave too late and she gets crushed by falling debris. Ultimately there is no way to recover from this and so Harry is now back to being alone. He then gets called into another potential volcano situation and it looks serious. Unfortunately even though his boss Paul specifically invited Harry here to gauge the volcano reactions, he thinks Harry is being a little too presumptuous and denies the action. This prevents anyone from evacuating until the volcano actually blows up. Will they be able to escape now or is it game over?

I would say that part of what makes a volcano situation particularly deadly is that just touching the lava would mean game over. It’s not like touching the stove where you can quickly leap away if you have good reaction times. Let the lava hit your leg and you’re not running anywhere. So with that delay a lot of people really don’t have a chance here. There are some intense images like when we see the bridges just collapse into nothingness and everyone crashing. Your best bet in a way is to go to the water but even then lava can survive for a bit on that surface. We also see that it boils the water up to an incredible temperature that just cannot be survived.

So water sounds good in theory but it’s probably not your best bet. Your best bet if possible is to put as much distance as possible and hope a rescue squad arrives but it’s still going to be a tough call. The body count here is quite high and we can blame Paul on this completely. The film tries to give him some hero moments later on and that he means well but at the end of the day he chose to gamble with everyone’s lives. That was a really bad call and it’s really hard to come back from that. Especially because it’s not like Harry was crazy.

In some disaster films you can see why the main guy is written off because he is acting erratically or not making any sense. That’s not the case here as Harry was being very careful from start to finish. I don’t really see what he could have done differently. He did all of the tests by the books and then used the evidence to show his findings. Paul just decided to ignore this and I didn’t think his counter reasoning was all that good. What’s the point of bringing in your best man if you won’t accept his findings?

As for the mayor Rachel, I wouldn’t put much blame on her. Ultimately she did end up listening to Paul but he is the big boss so that makes sense. In her position it’s hard to say that she should have listened to Harry. There were some warning signs but in the end it’s natural to listen to the experts when they’re talking. That’s exactly what she did so you can’t really fault that. The film was starting to set up a romance with her and Harry which is a bit iffy though since he lost the lady who was going to be his wife in such a tragic way.

Yes, time has passed but you don’t just do a rebound like that. While the film doesn’t go too far with this, I would still say the romance is a weak point here. Rachel’s kids can also be on the annoying side. They do try to help near the end of the film which doesn’t make the situation any better but I won’t deduct too many points for that from them. I do think the boy just randomly going to prohibited areas is a bit much though. His mom’s the mayor so he should be behaving himself more.

One of the most annoying characters is the grandmother though. She decides to just ride out the volcano in her house for some reason. Whether she wanted to test her limits or just didn’t think it was a big deal, it’s still selfish because she has family. It was natural that someone would come to check up on her and everyone nearly died as a result. You can only make that kind of a choice if you’re on your own but otherwise you have a lot of other people to think about.

There’s a scene involving the dog that nearly gets very messy but fortunately the movie doesn’t fall into that trap. The scene is intentionally meant to get you a little stressed but I can accept that since it ends well. I still don’t think it’s a good idea mind you, as using a dog to make everything tense is the cheap way out. You need to just let the volcano do that and it was already effective so why go through all of the extra effort? The film needs to have confidence in itself.

Overall, Dante’s Peak is a solid film. The writing is good and it’s an interesting story. I do tend to enjoy my disaster films as the visuals are always a lot of fun. Imagining how the end of the world can be also helps to show the appeal of these titles. In this case being locked in an island with a volcano erupting definitely sounds absolutely distressing. Even if you live through it, you’ve lost everything so the recovery process is just as scary. It would probably make this a hard watch for anyone who has actually had to experience something like this. If you’re up for an intense thriller though, then this is the one to check out. There’s definitely a body count here as well so don’t expect everyone to get off the island without a scratch.

Overall 7/10

Point Blank Review

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It’s always very and I mean very risky to backstab a fellow villain when you’re trying to make a lot of money. Remember that this is someone who was willing to go on such a dangerous mission in the first place so he will stop at nothing to get revenge. That’s really what this film is all about to, it’s a big revenge title. The movie works very well as a noir thriller where every scene is ominous and you never know what will happen next.

So the movie starts off with Walker on the big heist so he can finally get rich. Unfortunately he is shot in the back by his partner Reese who runs off with the cash and Walker’s wife. A long time passes but Walker eventually gets out of jail and he’s eager to even the score. He lives solely for revenge now and nothing is going to deter him from getting that. Whatever it takes, he will get his money back. So begins a long journey where he faces off with every big figure in the underworld. Will any of them give Walker his money?

Now right off the bat while this is a serious noir title, there is one part of the story that almost feels like it’s part parody. So Walker really wants his money which is just as important as the revenge. First he goes to Reese for it but when that doesn’t work he begins climbing up the criminal food chain in order to get it. He goes after Reese’s boss, then that guy’s boss, etc. all the way to the top. The issue is that none of these villains have any money.

Yes, all the big shots of the criminal empire have their funds tied up in assets and generally non cash objects. That is really hard to believe when their lives are literally at stake. You have them talking matter of factly about this even when they are being threatened and ultimate murdered. A lot of villains lose their lives over this as Walker isn’t playing games. He actually means to keep on destroying everyone until he gets his money so the villains should just produce it already. You can’t tell me that the heads who have near unlimited power aren’t able to scrounge up the money.

So that was always odd but it would never deter Walker. He just kept going after them and there was a really handy informant who had his back as well. It pays to have good intel so you are always on the winning side here. You won’t have too much sympathy for Walker’s wife Lynne though as ultimately she did go with Reese here. Not a good move and it just makes her look so bad. So even when she has regrets later on, it’s clear that she had made her choice and it wasn’t a good one.

The movie does have a sense of humor though even while Walker is on his mission. At one point he is able to get onto the elevators because the villains are basically goofing off. Then you have the guy who tries to trick Walker into getting in front of a sniper rifle but the tables are turned on him. It’s not laugh out loud funny like a big gag movie but the subtle humor worked well. It’s a very serious film but not one that always feels like you’re dreading the next moment. It has a lot of energy to it.

There’s also a rather trippy scene where Walker is navigating his way around a house and Chris is mocking him through loudspeakers and all kinds of devices. She really went through a lot of work to get the whole place set up and even lands a really long combo on him. The romance in general here is really weak as you feel like Walker wouldn’t be moving on just yet even after he was betrayed earlier. His mission comes first but then again you could almost still say this is part of the mission. He needs to waste some time between targets to be there at the right time and this may just be how he does it.

The writing is really solid here and I can’t think of the last time I saw a bunch of villains being as nonchalant about their evil empires as these guys were. They would sit on the couch smoking a cigar while talking about how they don’t have the money and how they can bump anyone off. They acted as if these guys all owned rather large companies and were just making business decisions. In some ways I suppose that really was the situation.

The crooks own the city and that’s a rather scary thought to the normal people. I guess you either play ball or that’s game over for you. The ending links up well with the opening and is a solid way to end things off. You get to decide exactly what Walker does at the end and if the package is worth it or not. Personally I do think the whole thing was legit this time with the package but it’s good Walker didn’t go out or he’d probably be gunned down. I do think he ultimately will make a move and it would work out though because Walker will eventually charge and the other guys should be gone.

As a final note, I think the film works as much because of what it didn’t show as what it did. There’s a lot of hidden lore here and dynamics we just don’t know about. The film doesn’t explain everything and I don’t think it needs to. Everything is kept very mysterious and that works exceptionally well for a noir. The more vague everything is, the more you get to try and put the pieces back together yourself. It adds a layer of unease to the whole thing and this atmosphere stays from start to finish. The film doesn’t fumble here.

It’s not perfect to be sure and has some weak elements like the romance and character basically going through with an affair to get the villain to drop his guard. I never like that approach because I don’t think under any circumstance you should allow yourself to be compromised just to complete the mission. There has to be a better way and at that point you just delay the mission or try something else even if it’s a bit riskier.

Overall, Point Blank is a really solid movie. You get to slowly pick up the pieces with Walker and he is a fun lead with how resolute the guy is in getting revenge. He will stop at absolutely nothing in order to get his money back and that’s real dedication right there. Nobody’s going to double cross him in the future, that’s a guarantee. If this film ever got a sequel I’d be all for it but there is some charm in being a one off since you really just get to imagine how it all played out.

Overall 7/10

The Ladykillers Review

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The Ladykillers is an old school comedy movie that has aged rather well. It’s got that low key humor which is always fun and while the movie may run a little on the long side as the pacing isn’t super dynamic, I would say that you’ll still have a good time with this one. You may just shake your head at how the main characters handle things at times. They definitely didn’t plan all that well for this caper and only get so far thanks to coincidences and luck.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Wilberforce who is always running to the police with wild stories. As a result they don’t believe her anymore and it’s a shame because she just wants to help but unfortunately isn’t very good as doing the detective work on her own. This would have at least let her filter out the crazier stories and could have saved her a lot of credibility with the cops. Well, one day she is approached by a Professor Marcus who asks if he can have the room she was offering in her house. She is glad to have a new tenant and agrees. The guy is even part of a musical band so now she gets to hear some free music.

What she doesn’t realize is that Marcus is a big thief. They pull off a rather large robbery at the railroad and even trick her into being an accomplice. Now they are just biding their time before leaving. Will she be able to get to the truth of this before they leave or is all that money about to vanish? Additionally, she may not be as safe as she thinks since these villains can sometimes get a little extreme about their money.

Naturally the humor here is that she’s having a merry ole time and is completely oblivious to what’s going on here. The villains aren’t exactly subtle and it’s just that she’s not too quick on the uptake here. If only she had more detective training then she may have been able to solve this. Since you know who the villains are from the start, it’s imperative that you find this amusing or you likely won’t enjoy the film as a whole very much. That is really the meat of the film after all.

And I would say it works out well enough. It’s not even too over the top silly for the most part as there isn’t a lot of slapstick or anything like that. The chase for her pet parrot comes awfully close though. It’s the kind of nice adventure that pads the runtime out a bit but feels rather random. At least it showed that the thieves were willing to go quite far to protect their cover as a nice musical band that is always here to help.

I can’t say I was a big fan of some of the villains though. The best one would probably be the leader Marcus. He’s the one who came up with the plan. While it may be a bit convoluted, it does end up working so you have to give him credit there. He’s also not someone who jumps into a fight too easily but is ready to mix it up if he’s disrespected too much. Louis tends to push him rather far. That guy’s the meanest of the group and the only one who is quite eager to take Wilberforce out even though she’s an older lady. He feels like she’s a threat to the plan and must be eliminated.

The other thieves at least aren’t on board with this but while they wouldn’t suggest it or commit the act personally, it doesn’t feel like they would do much to stop him. Ultimately that’s why you shouldn’t trust villains too far. Even if these guys may not be the ultimate evil or anything like that, there will definitely be times where they may cross the lines. They’re already criminals after all so it’s not a stretch that they could commit another crime.

I will say that the film’s climax/ending was rather unexpected. Given how calm and low key the whole movie was, I was expecting the ending to follow that trend. It ended up being a whole lot more exciting and explosive than I would have ever suspected. It still plays into the humor angle while also being rather serious there. It was a good way to end the movie and a wise move by the writer since it makes the whole thing a lot more memorable.

The music in the film was decent I suppose. It’s always nostalgic hearing those really old tunes. The thieves probably should have switched the track a little more often though. If the old lady was listening a little closer she would realize that it always sounds the same and may have realized that something was up. You could tell that some of the thieves weren’t really in with the plan from the jump though and weren’t super supportive about the whole thing. You’d think it would be a small price to pay for the money though, why grumble so much about something that’s rather minor? It’s why these guys never ended up being the top level thieves around.

Overall, The Ladykillers handles the comedy/action mix rather well. It’s so low key that some parts may start to feel a bit dull but the movie is just short enough where this isn’t a major concern. If it had been much longer then I think the film would have suffered for it. I probably would have taken the film in a bit of a different direction like having them all help the old lady out when a bigger thief shows up. I would say that they could do that for a sequel but it doesn’t feel likely. The premise itself is good though and works better as a comedy than as a really serious title. If you haven’t watched this film yet then it’s worth picking up.

Overall 6/10

A Good Day to Die Hard Review

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

Die Hard’s a fun series. It may have its ups and downs with quality but you know that you’ll always be in for a lot of action and thrills. This one was a little better than I was expecting though and I would even say it beat the last two. It doesn’t quite match up to the original but has a nice spin on an older main character here. If only the kid wasn’t so annoying.

So the movie starts off with a villain named Komarov being ready to shed light on some recent corruption and tyranny from some Russian officials. The thing is, the whole trial is naturally fake and they’re just going to blow him up. Before that can happen, he is rescued by Jack McClane, the son of John McClane. This guy works for the CIA and is ready to complete his mission no matter what. Wouldn’t you know it though, John happens to be in the area and decides to help out. There’s a lot of friction between John and Jack though which threatens to compromise the mission. Can they put aside their differences to save Komarov?

Now I’m referring to both of them there but if we’re being honest every issue is completely Jack’s fault. He’s constantly getting on John about everything when it’s never about him. Seriously John saves the guy’s life early on and Jack has absolutely no gratitude to show for him. Jack’s just constantly yelling and being slow on the uptake. He seems to forget that John has saved the world multiple times.

The movie does try to give Jack a little support here as it reminds us that John was often away from home which would make things tense but I think you ought to cut him some slack. At the very least John’s doing his best to make things right and even if Jack isn’t ready to be friends yet, he doesn’t have to be antagonistic. I absolutely understand him not wanting to be a close family or anything as that’s a deep wound but lives are at stake and he’s supposed to be a professional agent so he could act like one.

There’s one scene where they just keep yelling each other’s name for a full minutes as they’re walking around and I couldn’t help but think that they were giving their location away to every possible villain in the area. There’s definitely a way to be discreet but the heroes haven’t mastered that yet. I didn’t like Jack at all as you can probably guess. He can’t even give John credit like when he was able to get some car keys and always has to have some kind of bravado going.

John carries the film here. He’s clearly tired of saving the world and just wants to rest at this point but steps in with no hesitation once Jack is in trouble. John just makes sure to blast the villains off the road and it shows that he will always be there for Jack when it counts. John can be a little sarcastic all the time but he’s still taking the adventure seriously. I can say with confidence that Jack would have been doomed without him.

As for Komarov…well he’s around a lot but there’s nothing too memorable about him. He’s someone who has to be kept alive so Komarov is always around but basically his only character is that he also wants his daughter to be safe and that ends up being a whole other thing. Once again the situation may have been avoided a bit if Jack was more cautious since John realized that something was up right away.

For the main villain Alik, the film tries to give him a fun personality as he rants about America but I wouldn’t say it works as well as the earlier films. He’s an okay villain but ultimately he’s just a guy in a suit so you won’t remember him much. I would say that the film’s biggest weakness is that the plot isn’t super interesting. I’d say the best parts of the film are more about the dynamic with John and the fun action scenes.

The actual plot you don’t care all too much about. So there’s another corrupt guy in Russia and we’ve got a whistleblower here to talk about it. For starters part of you feels like it won’t actually amount to much. These guys have enough power to have a fake court proceedings and were comfortable going to murder him out in the open so realistically…will this guy make a big difference? I suppose he should and we have to believe that but the stakes just didn’t feel as big as any of the other Die Hards. So even though it won overall against some of them, it just wasn’t for the story.

Where the film succeeds is with a solid script and pacing. The movie is always moving rather quickly and doesn’t waste any time. It may be by the numbers but the execution is good. The change in scenery worked rather well too, it all just looks a bit different. It makes for some fun battles on the streets since it all doesn’t look familiar. Finally there was one scene I appreciated where the villains told the heroes to drop their guns and John just didn’t.

After all, why would you possibly do that? The terrorists will just destroy you as soon as you drop it. Unfortunately Komarov has horrible reaction times so he messes this up and the heroes get taken out but otherwise John was going to go out blasting. I absolutely think that’s the right call. Hostages can make things tougher but otherwise you should always go down blasting instead of dropping your gun. All the latter will do is guarantee a slower and more painful death. At least if you’re riddled with shots you should die almost instantly.

Overall, A Good Day to Die Hard is a solid movie. It has a good amount of replay value and is the kind of film I could definitely watch again. It’s fairly stand alone as well so you don’t even need the context of the earlier films. In fact, not seeing those may make you sympathize with Jack more but it can also make John seem a little too good as he outpaces all of the CIA agents immediately. (Those guys don’t look very good here) I didn’t like Jack though and it’s hard to see that changing. When you watch the movie just be prepared to see him whining over and over again.

Overall 6/10

Thor: Love and Thunder Review

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Thor has returned for his first solo adventure in quite a while. Thor Ragnarok still ranks as one of the top Marvel films while the first two have their mixed moments. Perhaps controversially I always had Thor 2 ahead of the first one even if the power levels in that film would go on to make everything else a little tricky. I’ll go into the full Thor rankings later on. Love and Thunder is a solid installment in the series even if it doesn’t come close to matching Ragnarok.

The movie starts with introducing us to the god butcher known as Gorr and his origins on how he came to get this title. He seemed like a rather decent guy but ultimately a tragic experience pushes him to the dark side. He begins to destroy all of the gods one by one. We then cut to Thor who is in a bit of a slump. He goes around and finishes battles with his immense strength but it all feels empty to him. Now this mission to save the gods and his people may be just what Thor needs but he will have to also deal with the shock of seeing Jane Foster become the new Thor. Will they be able to put aside their past history to team up and take Gorr down?

There’s a lot to unpack here so first lets start off with some of the really solid aspects. The action scenes are great when they happen. The biggest highlight for me was naturally the big team up with Thor and Jane as we get to see a lot of good combos there. The movie does a good job of having each energy weapon be a slightly different color which works well for contrast during the battles. There’s a lot of good movement here and I would say the power levels are accounted for as well. Each fighter has a different fighting strategy based on how they battle.

Thor still retains his power increase from Ragnarok which is important. For the most part I didn’t have too many strength issues. There is a moment involving being tied up that I found a little hard to buy and one or two fights end in more of a stalemate than I would have expected. It’s all more on the mild side though and nothing as head scratching as the Kurse fight from film 2. There’s one scene where Thor holds back two sci-fi motorbikes with his legs which may be the most impressive physical feat we’ve seen from him.

The soundtrack is also very solid. Not quite Dr. Strange level but there are a lot of good action tunes. I do think it was an odd decision to leave the best sounding lyrical song for the credits though. I think it would have worked really well during the movie similar to how Ragnarok had a song that appeared when Thor unlocked his true abilities. Either way it makes for a fun soundtrack to look up online.

As the main character Thor is good even if he’s still feeling a bit of his Endgame depression here. The movie plays up the gag with his hammers a bit too much and Thor has slowly become more of a full on comedic character than an action star. You can definitely have the balance of both and do it well but what makes that work is Thor’s full confidence. The scene with him taking the gang to Zeus’ palace for example can have some decent humor moments but it all feels a bit out of character. Thor’s the kind of hero who would usually take to the stage and start talking as opposed to almost being nervous and just staying in the stands the whole time. Thor can have a hero sure…but the whole thing didn’t really make sense.

So Thor is good and looks strong in combat but I wouldn’t say it was his best appearance. During battle there is no problem as he goes all in. There’s one scene in particular that is pretty much taken out of the Seven Deadly Sins playbook involving a solid catch and throw back that was very impressive. Definitely one of the highlights. The romance scenes can have him struggling a bit but in general the romance in the film was really weak. It’s been so long since Thor and Jane have been apart that this should really be something that they don’t rebound into. Stay as good friends and that would have been a much better dynamic. You could probably have better banter that way as well. There wasn’t any romance scene here that really worked.

Then we have Jane as the main heroine and she is a good character. I thought her plan involving using Mjolnir was a pretty smart one and I would have expected it to work a lot better. Her plot is the serious one in the film and provides a contrast to the happy Thor moments. Ultimately she’s a solid character who makes the right choices in the end and her fans should be really pleased with her portrayal here. She uses the hammer in a lot of creative ways too.

Valkyrie’s role is a lot smaller here than last time but she is around for the whole journey. Unfortunately she just can’t keep up in terms of raw power along with the others at this point so she tends to play more of a backup role. I like that she’s always ready to fight though and she gets more to do than Lady Sif, that’s for sure. Jane’s friend gets an even smaller role and that was a supremely good idea since she doesn’t add much to the story.

Zeus looks awful but I won’t go into that much further for spoiler purposes. Lets just say that I don’t see him gaining any real fans from this appearance. Now we get to Gorr and I thought he was an interesting villain. I’m a little less impressed with the execution as I felt the film could make him a little overboard in how petty he could be. (Scaring some kids comes to mind) His goal actually makes sense and the intro scene does a lot to really get his character across. His actions in the grand scheme make sense as a result which makes him a really interesting villain.

I felt like the writers realized he was starting to get a little too sympathetic so they had to quickly try and stop that but it’s not needed. Having a villain like this is always a good idea because even if you don’t root for them, at least they’re not just randomly psychotic. I would argue that at times the film even shows how a lot of people would potentially support his goal to destroy all of the gods. Over 90% of the gods we’ve met have all looked absolutely lousy and are basically unchecked evil. The heroes aren’t going to deal with them so that’s where Gorr steps in. That could be a longer editorial in itself but basically the appeal is that he’s like the Punisher. A villain who is judging other villains but down the road Gorr starts to be more generally unstable and and loses focus in his vision which hurts him as a character.

Now lets talk about the rankings a bit. So ultimately I would say that Ragnarok is clear and away the best of the 4 Thor films. I wouldn’t consider it to be that close. In second would be Thor 2, then Love and Thunder, followed by the original Thor movie. The reason why the first Thor film is at the end is really because there wasn’t a whole lot of action and it’s old enough where the visuals don’t hold up next to the others. Still a solid movie but in last by a solid amount.

The reason why The Dark World beats this one mainly comes down to that film having better pacing. Love and Thunder has higher peaks with its action scenes but also lower lows. Dark World had some cringe humor of its own but it doesn’t last as long and tends to rebound quicker. Yes, there’s the infamous moment of Thor’s mother being murdered and he’s back to joking shortly after, but this film matches that. There’s a moment where some people are kidnapped and are in mortal danger. Seconds…literally seconds later and Thor is back to flirting and joking around with Jane. Both of them seem to not care at all until a little later when they address the situation. That’s a perfect example of humor appearing at the worst possible moment.

Humor in itself can be a lot of fun of course. A lot of the best titles out there have a lot of humor and it works well but it’s all about timing. This film didn’t always get that across like with the Zeus scenes being way dragged out and Thor’s friends really not being helpful for a while there. Characters like Iron Man, Spider Man, and Ant Man just tend to have a better balance. They’re funnier and of course that does come down to writing of course but it also fits in with their characters more. If you want a comedic Thor, Ragnarok shows how to get the best balance of this as he’s still supremely confident as opposed to joking more at his own expense.

Then there’s also a very cheesy scene near the end. Lets just say it involves sharing power but man while it’s supposed to be an inspirational moment and all, it was still just hard to get into. Super convenient to have this on the go but I would have cut that scene out entirely and just had Thor use some cool range moves. It would have had a whole lot more impact that way.

The visuals are stunning all the way through, even away from the action scenes. I saw the movie in 3D so it was a little blurrier than usual. I couldn’t necessarily make out any easter eggs if they were too far in the background or get the full battle experience but all of them will likely be up on Youtube in 4K soon so then it’s time to relive the epic battles. I hope the films continue with emphasizing the glow of the weapons because it’s an almost anime type technique that immediately enhances a battle. Watch any Ufotable battle and you see that one of the tricks they used to have the best animation is that there are always a lot of colors at play.

I also enjoyed seeing the Guardians of the Galaxy for a bit. Their role is small but this is a really solid way to remind you that this is a cinematic universe without having the guest stars steal the film. (Not that I ever mind having them get a huge amount of screen time) It’s a very solid way to get this across. As a final note before approaching the end, I thought the way the film handled the monsters was really good and how the heroes would take care of them. I’m mainly thinking of the battle on the black and white planet. Instead of it being a traditional 3 vs 1, you had a 3 v 1 with a lot of monsters acting as stage hazards.

The characters would have to deal with them at times while also trying not to lose sight of Gorr and it helped make the battles more tense. Also, while the monsters were glass cannons, they could still deal a whole lot of damage so it’s not like you could ignore them completely. I wonder if this planet is one of the moments where there was some cut footage because there’s a scene involving a big blow and then next has the characters walking and squaring up for a fight. It felt like something was just missing there. Either way one of the best sequences there.

The ending to the movie is good and sets up a lot of fun ideas for the next movie. In theory there’s a whole new avenue of situations and scenarios that you can do now so I’ll be interested to see how that goes. In a lot of ways I can easily see the next one beating this film. The setups that are around have a whole lot of potential. The first after credits scene gives us a good glimpse of how the next film might go. Now, this next opponent is not even remotely a threat at this point in time but I’m sure there will be a way to even the playing field. There’s only one aspect I didn’t like about the first after credits scene and it involves one of the characters who appeared. I just don’t see the value in having him around so hopefully the next film can change my mind. It’s too bad the Avengers aren’t fully formed right now because this plot could almost work as the next Avengers title rather than a Thor standalone movie.

As for the second after credits scene, it’s decent enough. It opens the door to some interesting possibilities. If it follows a DBZ kind of logic, it will open things up almost as much as the whole multiverse angle. The movie already showed us a decently high cosmic level of things so at this point there isn’t much that you can rule out from the films incorporating into future plots. That’s a good thing since it will help to keep things really unpredictable.

Overall, Thor: Love and Thunder is a pretty good movie. With the big theater films there is always a lot to discuss. Ultimately it’s going to have less replay value than most of the other recent Marvel movies though. It beats Eternals but gets slaughtered by all of the other Phase IV titles. (Shang Chi, Spiderman, Dr. Strange, Black Widow) It beats Guardians of the Galaxy 2 but loses to all of the other Phase III titles. You get the idea and of course that does speak to how solid the Marvel movies have been for this to still be a positive score and lose to so many but it also shows how this movie didn’t reach its full potential. Most likely you’ll rewatch the fights online more than you will the whole movie. Still, the benefit of the comedic tone is that you can put this film on and just enjoy the moments. It’s mostly all light hearted and even if it does drag at times, there are still a lot of good moments. If you like the Marvel films then you’ll want to check this one out.

Overall 7/10

District 9 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

District 9 is one of those films that really did not live up to expectations. It’s not a big alien invasion film or a cool thriller with a lot of action scenes and explosions. Instead it’s going for a more “realistic” kind of vibe as humanity lets the aliens live in one district while running inhumane experiments on them the whole time. This movie is all about the grit and extra details while never allowing any of the characters to look all that heroic. It’s not a great look for humanity.

The movie starts with an alien ship appearing but for a while nothing happens. So the humans eventually cut themselves in and we see that the aliens are all very sick and can’t really fight at this point. So they are moved to Earth in a rather poor district and the humans who lived around there are not happy at all. The aliens have their own language which is translated in the subs and the humans can try to learn it to an extent. Wikus is one of the main guys going around handing out the eviction notices to some of these aliens so that they can be transported somewhere else. One of these operations goes wrong though as he it contaminated by a tube that one of the aliens was using and now Wikus is slowly turning into an alien. Humanity can’t allow an alien to be alive without advanced study so now everyone is hunting Wikus down to experiment with him until he dies from it all. Can Wikus escape?

The idea is that Wikus is effectively a fugitive on his own planet now. There is no real escape to be had so he has to try and fend for himself. At least for a while, eventually he meets up with Christopher again, one of the aliens. Christopher can cure Wikus if they can get off of the planet somehow in the spaceship and to do that they’re going to need a lot of fuel. At this point the humans can’t be reasoned with so Wikus is really on his own.

From the jump the movie doesn’t really give you any real likable characters to root for. Wikus is not the nicest guy to say the least and until he’s turned into an alien, he’s only marginally better than the other humans with how he interacts with the aliens. He grins gleefully as he destroys their babies and is having a lot of fun while this is serious business for the aliens. It’s all too late to feel sorry for him once he’s an alien and the film could have used a bit more nuance with the human characters. Make some of them a little nicer at least right?

Likewise I can’t say that the alien designs are all that good. Part of the point of the movie is that they’re all banged up and not exactly in fighting shape but that doesn’t make for an effective design. If anything you just feel like this is another aspect where the film dropped the ball because some nice visuals would have gone a long way. There is just nothing very nice to look at, the slums are breaking down and everything is rather desolate.

You have characters puking, you see cannibals eating aliens, and there is always a moment of shock value right around the corner. The movie paints a rather grim picture on the current state of affairs for everything and did I mention that this is documentary style? So you don’t even have great camera work because it’s always using the shaky cam style. I use the word shaky loosely as it’s filmed like a real documentary so they’re holding onto the camera tightly but a more traditional style would have greatly benefited the film.

A cynical film about how the government will always be messing with aliens behind the scenes can work well enough if you have one of the aliens as the main character and he is determined to save his comrades or something like that or it’s a big action movie where there’s a lot of fighting but otherwise the movie will just come across as rather mean spirited. The whole film is filled with extra details that you don’t need to know while also making sure that there is never any hope for the characters at any point in time. Certainly a big miss.

There’s just nothing particularly good to say about the movie. It doesn’t have good visuals, an impressive soundtrack, good characters, a solid story, or any fun moments that would make you cheer or laugh. It’s just a film that is determined to be as somber and depressing as possible. Now I do have some ways to fix it even while keeping to the same approach. If you want a film with a dialogue about how humans would treat aliens then you have to ditch the documentary style. We need a character who works for the news, someone in the resistance, and then the army characters from this title.

Give us some debates, some back and forth and different perspectives. The only way a film like this works is if there can be some meaningful dialogue and also a scenery shift so we can at least have some scenes with a happier touch. That would absolutely be the best way to handle this and it would really do wonders for the movie. You can also remove a lot of the grim dark scenes like the tortures and just blowing up aliens for no reason. Lets not make this so over the top.

Overall, Alas, this is not a winning film either way. I’d recommend just about any other alien film over this one. It’s certainly trying to do something new and different which can be applauded but ultimately it didn’t work. Sometimes being experimental doesn’t pay off even if that doesn’t mean that you should abandon being unique all together. It’s all about trial and error and eventually it could pay off. That said, I’d rather we not do a sequel to this film and focus on a reboot that is quite different instead.

Overall 1/10

Smokey and the Bandit II Review

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Now it’s time for the big sequel. Smokey and the Bandit II retreads a lot of ground from the first film but tends to do it in a weaker way on all fronts. Right off the bat I can say that this is still a good movie but it’s a step below the first. In no way does it surpass the original and that’s a shame because a sequel should always strive to do better…to be better! This one doesn’t quite accomplish that in the end.

The story starts with Snowman being recruited once again to help with some smuggling. He’s forced to call in his pal Bandit, but the guy has let himself go ever since Frog broke up with him. He’s gained a ton of weight and just doesn’t have any energy anymore so Snowman calls her back in too which causes her to walk out on her wedding to Junior. Once again that sets off Smokey who decides to take Bandit down. Frog and Bandit will have to put aside their personal feelings to get the job done as there is a lot of money at stake here. Will they be able to pull it off or is this game over?

Right off the bat it’s a rather odd decision to have Frog and Bandit be broken up only to reunite them right away as she runs out of the wedding. Immediately you know how the film is going to spin this but now the romance works even less than it did the first time. Bandit now knows that she was absolutely going to marry someone else just a few minutes ago so how much does she actually love him? Then she reveals that he was cheating on her even while they were together which makes sense with how he is acting all the time. They have so much dirt on each other that the romance can’t possibly start up again and yet it does. This is a complete rebound which is a bad idea.

In general the script isn’t quite as tight this time either. The characters are a bit more exaggerated this time. For example Smokey is now shown as being completely incompetent. He’s scared of other truck drivers and no longer intimidates anyone. While he would usually watch the other cops crash and burn in the first film, he’s the one crashing in this one. It’s just way too much of a role reversal the whole time. The film is trying to have him be the funny character without building up his talents without it. It completely missed the point of the original which is a shame.

Smokey is still fun of course but he’s just not nearly as imposing or effective. The characters don’t fear him at all and that’s a shame because it’s part of what made him such a good character. Instead the gag of him constantly insulting Junior is played up even more here and Junior is even less intelligent than usual. You can’t see how Frog was even close to marrying him unless he is just really rich or something. That wouldn’t be a good look for Frog regardless.

As for Bandit, man he has really fallen off since the first film. He’s not the big leader that he used to be now as he got all depressed so quickly. It takes a lot for him to finally get back in shape and ready for action. Then even after that he seems a little more petty than usual like how he blows up at someone for not being a big fan of his. You just didn’t think that something like that would bother him nearly as much as it does. Bandit wasn’t out for the fame, but the thrill of the hunt right?

Snowman also doesn’t get to do a whole lot even though he’s the lead. It’s a little hard to even say what his personality is here. I guess he’s just a nice guy who is ready for some action but for the most part he’s going through the motions. Now you may be wondering at this point, how is this still a good movie? Well, to a large part I’m comparing it to the first movie a lot and of course it doesn’t compare favorably but if you look at the movie on its own then it’s still good.

For one thing, the soundtrack is still solid here. Smokey still has his big moments with his iconic theme song playing. That’s always fun to hear and the chase scenes are still good. They may not be as dynamic as the first film’s but they’re good enough. The comedy is still solid even if less of the jokes land. I feel like the film was also trying to be more family friendly which explains why the humor was a lot goofier. Not sure if that was the intent but that makes sense to me at least.

The movie still has good pacing and you won’t get bored. The slowest part has to be the opening as you just want Bandit to be ready for action already. Once he is then the race is on. The film doesn’t focus as much on the dangers of smuggling this time as it’s all easy for the leads now but I guess in the back of your mind you can assume that it’s still a tough bet for them. I think we should have gotten to see more of the big race for governor since the petty squabbles there had some potential. Unfortunately that pretty much vanishes after the opening scene instead of being a whole big deal.

While the movie doesn’t excel, I also wouldn’t say it has any seriously bad points. Reusing so many plots from the original is certainly something that it shouldn’t be doing but that is what limits it from being better as opposed to striking it down. Ultimately I would recommend checking this film out to anyone who likes a good comedy. In a way it might work better to start with this one and then go back so you end with the higher note and then treat it like a prequel.

Overall, Smokey and the Bandit II didn’t really know what it wanted to do. The film was less focused and borrowed a lot from the original. Still, it wasn’t bad and I would say it worked well enough on its own merits. It may have less replay value than the first but you’ll still have a good time here. Expect to have less laughs but you’ll be engaged all the way through. We’ll see how the third film is able to compete with the first two, or even if it can compete with them at all. It may end up just being a sound loss for the movie but hopefully it can surpass its limits and even be the best one.

Overall 6/10

Smokey and the Bandit Review

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Now this is one of those films that has a classic feel to it. It’s all aged well from the humor to the plot itself. It may be fairly basic but the execution is on point and it doesn’t drag on. This is a good example of a solid all around comedy movie with memorable characters and music choices. Definitely a solid flick that you can check out at any time.

The movie starts with a trucker getting pulled over for trying to smuggle beer across state lines. This is a rather serious offense and it’s been going on for quite a while now as two guys in particular are really trying to make this happen for their big celebration coming up. Finally the rich duo are forced to ask for the help of Bandit, the most notorious truck driver in town. Everybody loves this guy, he’s effectively a local hero. Bandit agrees to help once the price is driven up enough. He contacts his friend Snowman who decides to bring his dog along. They must now get ready to drive an extremely long distance to get these beers what feels like halfway across the country in 48 hours.

There are two hitches to the initial plan though. One is that Bandit meets up with a girl who they later give the handle Frog, who has just ran off from her wedding. At the last second she decided to call it off and will be hitching a ride for now. Due to that there is a second hitch in that they’ve attracted the attention of Smokey, a very influential sheriff from Texas. His son Junior is the one who was going to marry Frog so the guy is extremely steamed and will get even more upset once he finds out what they are up to. This guy will do whatever it takes to stop them, even if it means tangling with other state law enforcement agencies. Can Bandit really pull this one off?

There’s a lot to like about this movie. The simple set up of a car chase across various state lines is really solid because then you have time to try and make the chase memorable. The movie pulls this off with its solid character cast which is rather small but as a result they all have strong character personalities at all times which can lead to a lot of good dialogue. The script here is consistently solid with all of the dynamics.

Bandit and Smokey have a very antagonistic relationship going here as Bandit will always talk very sarcastically or throw out plain insults while Smokey is yelling the whole time. Bandit and Frog also have a lot of good banter going on the whole time as they hurl insults. Now you know this will eventually turn into a romance so you will probably shake your head at that, but before that point there’s a lot of good dialogue going around. I’d say the same is true of all the characters, you’ll have a lot of fun here with how quickly they throw out all the lines.

Bandit is a very entertaining main character. He’s up for any challenge and always knows how to lose the cops. He may not be a hero as the guy is illegally smuggling and it sounds like this isn’t the first time, but at least his crimes are not violent ones. He’s not attacking anyone or anything like that, which doesn’t suddenly make him a hero or anything but he has his own honor code. I don’t see any romance with him lasting for long though as he likes to flirt with everyone and doesn’t seem like a very loyal guy. He just goes where the wind takes him.

Then you have Frog who is a rather fiery character as well. She goes with her gut even if her instincts kick in halfway down the wedding aisle. Frog can keep up with the fast paced banter as well as everyone else and takes everything in stride. That’s part of what makes the dynamic with her and Bandit work. She’s not out of her element at all and is just a very grounded character. Frog even gets to drive the car herself at times.

Snowman is a solid partner to Bandit. He plays the part of the more reasonable member who isn’t necessarily jumping on these challenges but won’t back away from it. His dog was a nice member of the crew as well. Part of what makes the scheme Snowman and Bandit are running have a much better shot of working than all the other truck drivers is because there are two of them. Basically the set up is that Bandit drives ahead in the car and if he sees any cops then he will lure them away as Snowman goes through in the big truck. Likewise if Snowman sees them then he can give Bandit a heads up. It’s not a full proof system or anything but it’s better than going it alone.

A lot of the time the heroes end up getting bailed out by their friends though. Bandit has a ton of fans on the airways so you constantly have people intentionally getting in Smokey’s way and helping out. Without them the main characters would have lost a lot of times. You can see why Smokey gets so heated because everything seems to be against him. What he doesn’t realize is…everyone is against him!

Smokey is a very entertaining character and definitely one of the highlights here. Part of what makes him really work is how exaggerated he is. The guy is extremely full of himself and believes that he represents the law 100%. Nobody else can get any say here because he knows that he’s always right. I respect his determination at least. You can tell that he’s someone who takes advantage of his power and gets set off too quickly but that’s what makes him such an intense antagonist. You may even find yourself rooting for him at times.

He sure takes a lot of shots at his son Junior though. Junior isn’t very smart and seems to lose intelligence the more he appears but at least he means well. Things just never work out for him and so he digs a hole for himself that’s deeper and deeper with each line. Sometimes the best thing to do is to not say anything at all and that’s what he will have to try and learn at some point.

As I mentioned earlier, the soundtrack here is solid. Smokey has his own theme which is always good. It definitely lets you know that something’s about to go down. What this film also got right was having Smokey still be a competent officer. We see that he does better than the other cops and is also intense enough where the teen delinquents fear him. This is a hard but important thing to balance. If Smokey was totally comic relief then the whole dynamic wouldn’t work as well because you need that fear to show how good Bandit is. It’s only impressive to see Bandit beating Smokey because we know that nobody’s ever bested him before.

The only weak part here is the obligatory romance and the film doesn’t spend a whole lot of time on it. You can just tell that it’s here because it has to be when Frog and Bandit’s banter was much better as reluctant allies. Once you go the romance route then you can’t really recapture that and so the film loses out on a lot of potential for the sequels and for the final act of the movie. Changing the dynamic like that is always risky and it didn’t pay off here.

Overall, Smokey and the Bandit is a very fun film. It’s got a lot of really solid dialogue moments which is important for a film like this and the humor is really good. It’s a very balanced movie from start to finish which is important. It never drags on and you’ll have a solid time with a very satisfying ending. So there’s no point in the movie where it loses steam and that means I can easily recommend this to just about anyone.

Overall 7/10