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The Next Three Days Review

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It’s time for another thriller, but this one has a few chase scenes in it. It depicts how an average joe can defeat homeland security when they put the wrong convict on the prison for life sentence. The cops were good…John’s better! It’s a fun film and one that does a good job of pacing itself as the title is well over 2 hours, but never gets around to dragging on. The plan doesn’t go perfectly of course, so both sides have to make some adjustments.

The film starts out with John and Lara having dinner with their “friends.” Their debate quickly becomes one about meta physical power and the tough work dynamics of having a boss. It’s a pretty painful conversation and one that would have felt right at home in Cloverfield. Luckily, those characters never show up again after the two main characters leave. Unfortunately, the insults may have shaken Lara more than she let on as she is arrested for murder later that week. John doesn’t understand how she could have been framed. Years later, it has become clear that nobody believes Lara’s innocence and she will be locked up for life. John’s only chance now is to break into prison and give her freedom. It won’t be easy, but he’s got a gun and is not afraid to use it! Of course, directly breaking into prison would not be the smartest thing to do so he targets the transfer like in the classic superhero films.

It was fun to have a cameo by Liam Neeson as well. He’s pulled off this kind of caper in the past after all so he lets John know the basics. You have to have a super convoluted plan at the ready involving which turns to take and how to get there. You have to have an exit ready at every area in order to dodge the cops. John’s plan is pretty well thought out. Should it actually work? Eh….No, but I appreciate the attempt. In a way, I’d say that he should have succeeded once he blended in with the crowd though. At that point, it was a little iffy that the cop happened to see him as he was heading down the stairs. John escaping the hospital in the first place was the tricky part though.

You’ve got a few dozen cops chasing you and nobody thinks to guard the main lobby? Hmmmmm. Well, beyond that and the fact that the main characters kept getting lucky with guards changing shifts and such, I’d say that the film did a reasonable job. It’s a little worrisome if the main characters had actually been villains, but I like to think that the cops in this film will have learned from their mistakes in this round.

Before the actual plan is put into operation, we do get a long flurry of scenes as John gets ready for this test. He gets punked after going into a shady neighborhood while trying to get some passports. It was definitely pretty realistic since you don’t get accepted into a place like that so easily. Especially if you’re flaunting money around since that will just get you a lot of enemies. John goes to an enemy stronghold and attacks it in order to get some money since he’ll need it for the operation. This part is only one that I would have cut out had I been the director. It’s meant to show that John will go all the way if necessary and while these guys were all villains, they helped to corrupt John as well. He went out of his way to try and help someone, but it was too late. John had increased his body count to two people. At least he was not so far gone as to attack a bank. That would have definitely made it impossible to root for the guy.

As it stands, the main character was decent, but I preferred the police agents. Had I written the ending, I would have had them capture John and Lara, but then explain over at the police office that they had finally caught the real crook. It’d be a happy ending, but with the police showing that they’re still on top of things and Lara wouldn’t have to live her life as a convict. The film came close to going down that route, but ultimately decided that it would be too cheesy and left a more somber finale. For the most part, the film played it seriously, but we did get some light hearted banter from the cops. The main agent was always pushing everyone as hard as he could so that they could make the arrest, but there was always one agent who would talk back to him. She had the crispy replies and made it clear that she wouldn’t be ordered around. They really tried their best, but it wasn’t to be.

John’s kid was easily the most annoying character in the film. His subplot didn’t really need to happen at all. He becomes friends with one kid and that kid’s mother tries to talk to John a few times, but he’s always a little too distracted. I believe she was only added so she could have a reaction as she realizes that John busted his wife out of prison. Beyond that, the whole subplot never really amounted to much. George (The kid) also turned against the mother very quickly and just kept to himself quite a lot. Any scene with him in it would always lead to stress for everyone else.

That being said, I can’t say that I like Lara either. I much preferred the friend’s mom as a heroine and it would have been interesting if she had stepped in to help with the getaway. Distracting a cop or something could have made for a small role. Back to Lara though. She’s just about as bad as George, but in different ways. For starters, she does try to destroy herself upon hearing the bad news, but even then she’s unwilling to go with John. Even once they are finally making it away, she tries to destroy herself again. Lara also does her best to try and get John to doubt her so he could stop trying to save her, but this plan doesn’t work. Prison can be a trying time so Lara wasn’t really in her right mind for the whole film, but at the same time she was definitely hard to like. All of the iffy moments just kept on adding up.

Films like this can certainly lead one to believe that circumstantial evidence is a bad thing, but always remember that for every case like this one, we probably have another few hundred where a villain has been put away using this technique. There is not always tangible evidence to put someone away and without having circumstantial evidence at the ready, a lot of people would get away. Unfortunately, innocent people getting put behind bars is nothing new in real life, but I like to think that it is a very small number relative to the criminals and naturally the justice system tries to improve over the years. It will never be 100% safe and perfect, but getting it as close to that as possible is the goal.

Overall, The Next Three Days is a solid action film. There are a lot of chases and I always like the mind games that are played between the main character and the cops. They keep on trying to stay one step ahead of each other and a few steps ahead of the audience. The writing could be a little trying at times and a few of the main characters were very unlikable, but the lead was solid. The main character from both sides turned out to be good and the chase scenes were solid. Once the fugitive makes it to open ground, it definitely gets a lot harder to stop him/her. It’s not a perfect film, but it’s a solid one and a good title to check out. You’ll stay engrossed throughout the adventure. The dog got to live despite the burning house so that was a huge positive in the film’s favor. Things could have gotten very dicey there otherwise.

Overall 7/10

Mega Man X The Day of Σ Review

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It’s time to quickly review a short Mega Man OVA that came out a while back. This one was pretty fun and it was definitely cool how it came with the Mega Man X remake. I’ve seen it a few times over the years and it certainly holds up well. This OVA reminds me why we need more specials like this one in the future. The possibilities with Mega Man are simply endless!

The special is a little under 30 minutes and it shows how Sigma became the leader of the Mavericks. It works as an origin story and explores a time period that we never got to see much of. Mega Man X and Zero are tasked with finding out who is manipulating the reploids and turning them against their allies. The mystery takes them through a few massacres until they arrive at the deadly truth. Zero handles the shock of Sigma being a traitor pretty well while Mega Man X is a little more shocked. The special is fast paced as you would expect and the ending is open ended since you need to play the games to see how the saga really ended.

The animation is quite good. Zero’s character model at times felt a little too tall, but I’m just used to him looking a little more hunched over. The design is quite good if you look at it without thinking about the others and likewise with Megaman X. The energy blasts and effects look great. This could have easily been turned into a TV show and I’m certain that fans would have been very pleased with the results. The soundtrack is all right. It doesn’t use as many video game themes as I would have liked, but it still does sound nice and futuristic. The theme when Mega Man X was getting the charge shot ready was solid and overall it worked pretty well here.

The power levels are a little wonky as I feel like Mega Man X and Zero should be portrayed as much stronger. One Mechaniloid (I doubt that is how it is spelled, but close enough) should not last so long against a combined assault. Zero should have taken out his sword unless he acquired it later on. That would have been very handy. Mega Man X’s fully powered charge shot looked very accurate though and it is good to see. His power level should really be off the charts since he was essentially built to be the ultimate reploid. Also, Zero knew about Sigma which is how he countered the Maverick’s stab, but he looked pretty bad in that fight anyway. He should have been thinking about how to land a hit of his own instead of bragging for so long. I like his overconfidence, but landing at least one hit would have certainly helped a lot as well. Sigma is strong so it should be a good fight, but Zero’s no slouch either.

We got a cameo from Doctor Light and Doctor Cain as well. This helped to tie into the classic universe and I’m still waiting for the game where we see the events between them. I know that a popular theory is that Zero destroyed Bass and supposedly he may have destroyed Mega Man as well, but most of that is speculation. Others believe that Mega Man X was built from Mega Man’s parts. Personally, I’m hoping that this theory isn’t true since I want them to be completely separate. The special ends in a very sad way for Doctor Cain since he really underestimated the Mavericks. It seems like this was all just a game to Cain though so he may not be too distraught about his fate.

There were also cameos from other Mavericks and the legendary Vile. It would have been great to have seen Vile more since he is such an awesome character, but I suppose that I’ll have to wait a while. Maybe if the Mega Man show does well they’ll eventually introduce the X characters. It may be more of a comedy than anything, but hopefully they’re portrayed right. At least we have the Mega Man X episode from the 90’s cartoon. Mega Man X was nice and heroic here unlike his extreme cartoon version (to an extent) so that was nice to see. He definitely was not going to put the hostage at risk although he should have at least tried going for a leg or something. It was also interesting to note that Zero did hit the hostage in the training simulation, which basically proved that Mega Man X made the right call here. The hostage was grateful as well, which was a nice touch since they can be silent or condeming at times. The reploids here seemed very reasonable. The universe built around the characters definitely has a lot of room for growth and there is still a lot to explore.

Overall, Day of Sigma is a must watch for all Mega Man fans. It finally shows the story of how the Maverick war started in the first place. This war would basically not end for quite a few games so this trigger is very important. Unfortunately, it does go against canon events so it is considered to be more of an AU/non canon adventure than anything, but it still gives you a lot of context. The original version would likely be very similar as well. With solid animation and a good soundtrack, this OVA has all of the tools necessary to succeed. Mega Man X is a great main character as well and Zero is as cool as always. One day, maybe I’ll be saying the same thing about Mighty No 9, but it is unlikely.

Overall 8/10

A Few Good Men 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 since a review of the unedited version would likely be more negative.
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It’s time for a classic film and one that’s more critically applauded when compared to Galaxy Quest. Even the title can be seen as deep because you have to decide who the title is referring too. I personally think that it shouldn’t really go towards the two guys who choked the poor victim so I’d place it on Daniel and his partners, but I suppose that it’s ultimately your choice there.

Dawson and Downey are two U.S. Army Marines who have been charged with murder of another cadet in a hazing incident. They have pleaded innocent as the other cadet was murdered, but they claim to have been ordered to haze him. Their superior officer has given another story so it is time to go to court. Daniel has been assigned to the case, but while he is known as a skilled lawyer who can reduce a client’s sentence quite easily, he likes to take the easy way out. If a deal is offered, he’ll take it. JoAnne doesn’t want this to happen since she thinks the two guys are totally innocent and assigns herself as Daniel’s partner. There’s also a third partner who is involved, but he’s not thrilled at the prospect of helping these two bullies.

Before getting into anything else, I will say that I definitely agree with the third guy. Dawson and Downey are in the wrong here and spending a lifetime in prison is essentially what they deserve. Knowingly or not, they did murder someone and took away his chance at a future. They may say that they were ordered to put him into a suffocating position long enough to strike fear into him, but that’s essentially torture and any amount of common sense will tell you that this isn’t okay. When you’re in the Marines you’re expected to follow orders no matter what. Well, then you’ve got to set the example for the others or allow yourself to be discharged from your post. Assaulting a defenseless person is definitely not the right choice to make in any situation. It doesn’t make it any better when you consider that it was 2 vs 1 and the fact that these guys were supposed to be friends. Yeah, Dawson and Downey got no sympathy from me.

It doesn’t help that they don’t make it very easy for Daniel either. They hide crucial bits of information from their allies until the prosecutors bring up the evidence in court. (It’s way too late by then of course) They also don’t seem all that sorry about their actions either. There is basically no remorse for a while. They even say that they have a code. “Units, Corp, God, Country.” So, God’s third on that list and your Unit is above your Country? The priorities are really messed up here and when you put the Unit above morality then you know something is going to go wrong. As it stands, I was basically rooting for the opposing team although naturally I wanted the lie about not giving the order to come out.

Nathan is a pretty good villain and I instantly recognized the villain from the Shining. The actor’s voice is certainly iconic and he does a good job of playing the role here. Nathan is pretty confident and in his old age he really wants to command respect from just about everyone that he talks to. He has no respect for anyone but himself and he is committed to doing things his way. His personality is ultimately his downfall, but this was a villain that I could get behind.

Daniel’s a pretty good main character. I like the overconfidence and the fact that he treats everything like a game. It’s ultimately a front as he shows on different occasions that he actually has a good grasp on everything so it seems like he just has fun trolling everyone. His superiors clearly see his talent as they chose him…or that’s what he wants to think. They probably just wanted someone who would roll over when they attacked in court. Daniel’s only downfall is the fact that he panics a lot. When he panics, Daniel gets drunk and then he’ll start running around and yelling. This happens to a lot of main characters to be honest, they’ll just panic and then try to get sober in time for the climax. It may have been discouraging as the case had a lot of set backs, but getting drunk won’t help.

JoAnne’s a good heroine and she certainly does a good job of digging up a lot of info on her own. Without her prodding, the heroes would have definitely lost the case as she is the one who started to make Nathan look suspicious and Daniel would have given up several times if not for her. JoAnne is strong willed and you always need that in a lawyer. I’m also glad that the film avoided the predictable romance between her and Daniel. They ultimately stay in the friend zone and that’s the realistic way to handle this. Getting together after a few days of working on a case would have been dicey.

Daniel’s rival was a pretty interesting antagonist and he was actually reasonable, which is something that usually doesn’t happen. They were fighting as part of the case, but off the record they were still pals and even went out for drinks. They would feed each other info and the banter was always good. Meanwhile, the hardened secret agent was a bit of a let down. He talked tough and he got a lot of hype as well, but when the going got tough he decided to get out of there. By “there” I mean life and it was a rather anticlimactic way to go. There was really no point to doing any of that and it just made the guy look weak.

Of course, the main reason why this film was a lot of fun was the court room scenes. I always enjoy those and a good part of the film took place in court once the action started. The Judge kept them all honest as he overruled some of the objections. He also wouldn’t stand for any insults and not even Nathan could get away with any rudeness here. The court scenes were where you could really see what the characters were made of. Who had the skills and who simply did not. Daniel snatching away the rule book and bringing up the lunch room question was certainly one of the highlight moments in the court. He certainly did a great job debating even if the evidence was stacked against him from the start.

Overall, A Few Good Men is a solid film. There really isn’t much negative to say about it. The ending was satisfying since Dawson and Downey didn’t get a super happy ending. As far as I’m concerned, they’re just as guilty as anyone else. The characters were all pretty charismatic and I wouldn’t have minded seeing more of Nathan at the base. A few more scenes over there would have definitely been a blast. If you want a solid strategic film with good dialogue throughout, this is the film for you. You know that Nathan is lying from the start so you just have to wonder how the heroes can prove it. To an extent, the ending involves plot hax since there is no other way that the heroes could have made it, but it’s still pretty fun and the debate doesn’t use any hax until the very end so the rest is all very legit. We need more good court room films.

Overall 8/10

The Perfect Storm

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The Perfect Storm is based on a real life event where two storms of immense proportions clashed and a boat was destroyed along with its crew. I don’t remember hearing about this event before so I suppose that it was before my time. (After all, I hear about all the big news….sorta) There are a few big sideplots to try and pad out the time, but I’m afraid that they certainly don’t contribute anything to the narrative.

One of the subplots is about a little boat that also got caught in the storm. The Captain reminded his passengers that he’s never needed a map before and he doesn’t need one now. As a result, they’re tossed around in the waves for a while. I like the Captain’s gusto, although he is endangering everyone else just to prove his gusto. That’s certainly not the wisest course of action and he’s pretty much just there for comedy. He was a well done character though so I’ll give him some props there. Another subplot is that the Captain of the main ship is warned by the Captain of another one that he is in a dangerous zone. He barely listens to her though and while she almost saves him in time by calling in a chopper, it was too late.

Naturally, the main plot is where the meat of the story is, but unfortunately the characters do drag it down. The beginning is pretty sad and reminded me of Cloverfield to an extent. Especially considering that these guys are based on real individuals, you’d think that they would try to make the characters look better. One guy’s a flirt who only really cares about one night stands and never develops into a likable person. Another one doesn’t listen to his wife’s warnings about going to see and decides that the adventure is worth the money. The Captain yells at his crew quite a bit to remind them who’s in charge and to stop any betrayals before they can occur.

Without any likable characters, any film would have an issue being good. The characters constantly getting into fights with each other just makes you wait for the inevitable storm so that something can advance the plot. I also think that the film put too much emphasis on random fish scenes to pad out the time. We saw so many fish get chopped up that I was starting to feel in the mood for a good Salmon. We don’t need excessive animal violence in any film. The excuse of fishing being a sport just won’t cut it here. We don’t need that to be featured in the movie.

I’d also argue that the situation made the characters look a little bad, but naturally there may have been different circumstances in the real life event. The characters have to choose between their fish going bad and heading into the super storm that’s directly in front of them. Their boat’s good, but it’s not exactly military grade so the mission is effectively suicide as soon as it is mentioned. If you ask me, they should just let the fish spoil. A really inconvenient moment was definitely the fact that the characters ran out of ice, which meant that they couldn’t get any more fish. Returning home empty handed would have been humiliating and some of them would have probably been fired, but at least they’d be alive. It’s a tough personal choice to make, but when you have friends and family back home waiting for you, it’s time to make the tough calls.

If anything, it’s very impressive to see the military get involved and ride into the storm. I’m sure that it was the last thing any of them wanted to do since it was a dangerous situation. They’re probably wondering why everyone was out in the middle of the storm when it had been predicted for a while, but that’s how it goes. I feel like they could have been able to refuel in the film. They kept missing the shot, but why not try and try again until you literally can’t? I didn’t agree with the decision to just give up.

Overall, The Perfect Storm could have been a much better adaption. Based on the Wikipedia section of possible errors, it could have been more accurate as well. Although I’m sure that people would have been tackling them with denials and such no matter what so I can’t really comment on the accuracy. A lot of the padding could have been removed and the characters should have looked a lot better. Just as it’s said “Don’t speak ill of the dead” they should be portrayed as fairly good characters. They don’t have to be perfect, but I doubt the families would be thrilled about how some of these guys looked. Well, getting caught in a double storm would certainly be dicey so I advise you to stay ashore and if you have to choose between fish and your life…I trust that you’ll really think about the options before making a move. I don’t believe in going outside to find adventure or anything like that so when the next storm hits, I’ll be in bed with a chocolate chip cookie playing a nice round of Super Smash Bros.

Do You Believe

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God Is Not Dead was a terrific film and it’s good to see more and more Christian films make it to theaters. As more and more people hear about the Word, hopefully we will see them accept Christ into their lives. When I saw the title of this film, I immediately thought of a song that has been sung in Church fairly often as of late. It’s a great song based on the Apostle’s Creed where you reaffirm your faith in God. This film shows us many different characters who will have to deal with their faith in different ways as hardship comes in many forms.

There are a number of plots here and they are all rather separate until a highway situation forces all of them to meet up and help each other out. A pastor is asked if he believes in the Cross and is unable to really answer at first. It is certainly a powerful symbol which has been interpreted in many ways. Sacrifice and kindness would be the first two words that I would use for it and other Christians would possibly have different views. We all know that Jesus died for us and how we respond to that is all different. The pastor asks everyone what the cross means to them. He is then faced with other tough choices like whether he should accept stolen money from a gang member or not. Naturally, accepting such an offer is certainly not something that a Christian wants to do, but not accepting it would possibly put the criminal in even more danger as the guy wants to walk away from crime. The best thing that the Pastor could have done in my opinion, would have been to hand the cops the money immediately. I suppose that they may have forced him to identify the guy who gave the package to him, but it still seems like the best case scenario for the guy.

Not all of the plots end up perfectly happy for the characters, but most of them end up seeing the light and becoming a Christian before it’s too late. I think that the gangster plot was probably a little out of place here, but it did add some action to the whole ordeal, which is probably what the writers were going for here. One of the plots saw an emergency worker get sued for supposedly trying to convert someone to being a Christian and letting the guy die as a result. Naturally, this was not the case as the man tried his best to save the victim before converting him, but the wife would not hear of it. The man refused to lie about this even though it meant that he would lose all of his money in court as well as his job. Certainly a tough decision for anyone to make considering that your life would effectively be over as it would be very tough to bounce back from that. He certainly gave us a good example of standing by the belief that God will ensure that everything turns out okay. You have to believe and have faith.

Some of the plots were certainly more enjoyable than others, but in a film with so many storylines, it makes sense that this would happen. None of the plots were bad though. For example, I didn’t care too much for the Pastor’s subplot where he took in a girl who was pregnant and having a tough time so he took her in. It’s not my kind of plot, but it definitely shows how selfless the Pastor was here. An old couple also took in a girl and her mother, who didn’t have a home before then. They were fortunate to meet up with these Christians and one also gave them a place to stay before that. Seeing such generosity is always inspiring.

Do You Believe is a more somber than God’s Not Dead and shows you a lot of real trials that Christians deal with all the time. As such, the other film is naturally a lot more fun for me, but both titles are good to check out. As Christians, it’s good to give these films support provided that they do a good job of presenting God’s truths and aren’t simply trying to capitalize on them. This film has a number of good messages and I definitely recommend checking it out. At 2 hours, the movie is certainly able to fit a whole lot of themes in.

If I had pick which trial was the toughest, it would probably be taking in the pregnant lady. You have to be really selfless to do such an act since letting someone into your home is no small feat. It will also be expensive since you will have to provide for another person. The easiest one would probably be the court case. Not saying that it is easy by any means, but at that point in the game, your honor as a person would also help you to stick to your story of what happened. Pride and honor wouldn’t let you back down and since you know that telling the truth is the right thing to do here, it’s a double incentive for you. The gangster one depends on if you’ve made your peace with the world or not. At the very least, the end should be fairly quick in that scenario. I was glad that the film didn’t go over the top with the sadness angle though as a certain individual staying in the car at the end would have been unfortunate.

I look forward to seeing which Christian film I check out next. I know that several more will be coming out in the near future and that’s a really good thing. Despite society drifting further and further away from the Bible, these films give people a chance to retink Christianity and every person that ultimately converts into Christian is a big battle that has been won by the people behind the film. As in the film, there will always be those who will refuse to accept God even if a miracle occurs right in front of them, but we must still pray for as many people as possible to see the truth. Miracles do occur each and every day after all and until the Lord comes again, our mission to bring more and more people to Christ is not over!

The Wrong Man Review

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The Wrong Man is a unique film in the sense that it is a drama and a drama film. Those two sound almost the same though so it was probably just an error on the Google Search…maybe. I always like good retro films as the writing is always strong. I’d call this film a success although I did have one issue with the film that was decently sizable and kept it from being an epic 8. There’s another issue that holds it up a little in the realism angle, but it doesn’t affect the final score. Hitchcock says that this thriller is even more intense than some of his “fictional” ones and he’s probably right as the mix of court room drama and mystery made this a solid experience.

Manny is your average joe. He has a steady job and is known as a very dependable fellow around the neighborhood. Everyone knows him as a nice guy, but he is suddenly confronted by the police one day to answer for a list of crimes. He has apparently committed theft and assault several times. When asked, Manny claims innocence to all of this, but he is telling the truth or is he just trying to get off easy? Only time will tell!

This is supposedly based on a true story and I can believe it as I’m sure that cases like this have happened in the past. That being said, if we’re treating the story as if it really happened, then some scenes really stretched that line in the movie. There was one part where the cops decided to have Manny copy the letter that the criminal wrote to see if their handwriting was the same. It turns out that they were almost identical and Manny also made the same typo that the crook did. That was a little much if you asked me and at that point, I just figured that Manny had a split personality and did do the crimes. I think that this makes more sense than the alternative that the film gave us. That was the only scene that hurt its credability in terms of realism, but one scene is all that you need for something like this.

The only problem that I actually had with the film was the part where Manny’s wife went insane. It happened so suddenly as she was fighting for his innocence one day and the next, she had quickly fallen into despair. Apparently she had already been dealing with this, but the sudden breakdown was still a bit much. It was also very unnecessary to the film if you ask me. The film really would not have changed almost at all if she had stayed strong. The film would have also been more fun that way and Manny could have had someone else on his side. We do get a happy ending for her after a timeskip, but it just furthers the point that this plot was really shoehorned in.

Back to the realism part for a second. It is a little iffy how two of Manny’s witnesses just died so mysteriously. I suppose that mystery films need some red herrings, but everything was conveniently against Manny. He probably would have been doomed in court, but at least he had the character witnesses of his boss and the hotel owners. What he lacked in evidence and proof, Manny made up for with personal connections. I ended up liking his lawyer even though the guy seemed a little fishy at first. He pulled through when it counted and noticed that the jury was very bias and against Manny so he quickly called for a rematch. It was a very good choice on his part and I had barely even realized what the jury was doing. This guy certainly knew his stuff.

Manny was also a good main character. He could have handled the situation a little better I suppose, like talking to the owners of the shop a little more. It’s possible that it would have helped them realize that they had the wrong man. Manny also acted a little suspicious when his wife started to talk to the lawyer about possible witnesses and he quickly made an excuse to leave. Extra red herrings I suppose. The wife was likable before she went insane. A decent heroine, but that subplot hurt her.

I did like the cops as they tried to give Manny a fair shake the whole time, despite the fact that they had basically decided he was guilty from the start. I guess they figured that lying to his face would calm Manny down. The fact that they did call his wife was very iffy though. That just felt shady. These are the cops, not the mafia. What’s with all the secrecy? A few times, you would have thought that they weren’t on the level,but since this is based on a true story, I disregarded that notion since it would have been a little too fantastic. (In the original sense of the word, not good, but just unbelievable) “An innocent man has nothing to fear” is a line that the cops use quite a lot and it’s a memorable one. While it is only mostly true, it’s still something to keep in mind when you’re falsely accused. If you’re a modern film lead, you could even crack a bunch of jokes despite the severity of the situation.

As you would expect, the writing and the script are spot on. Even when Manny and the cops are starting to get a little heated, they use sophisticated burns to stop each other. Another suspicious character was Manny’s step brother, but he ended up being on the level so that was good for the lead. Manny certainly couldn’t afford to have any more enemies in this film. His two sons were also all right I suppose, but you could also call them filler and I’m glad that their roles weren’t any bigger.

The main draw of the film is simply the suspense as the mystery hooks you in. I thought that the film was very enjoyable and the mystery was handled well. I also really liked the court scenes and still love those. There wasn’t as much back and forth as usual since we mostly only saw it from the attacking side, but it was fun nonetheless. The film’s decently long, but doesn’t drag out. I would have liked to have scene the fake Manny a little more, but it wasn’t necessary to the plot I suppose. While the characters looked similar, I still don’t see how it fooled so many of the characters.

Overall, The Wrong Man is a good retro film. The suspense is certainly real and Manny is put through the ringer. The court case was fun and I liked all of the cop interrogation scenes. They were definitely enjoyable and the cops were portrayed as they should be. They knew their job and completed the mission without a whole lot of difficulty. It was also fun to see the old meatstore owners take out the criminal near the end. They definitely had gusto! I certainly recommend this film if you’re looking for an old fashioned mystery and a story about a man who must prove his innocence no matter the cost! There are no real negatives in this film aside from the wife’s subplot so you can just kick back and enjoy the show!

Overall 7/10

Fantastic Four (2015) Review

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This film was certainly underwhelmed a whole lot of people. It’s very hard to find any positive reviews of it online as I’ve only seen one myself. (Though tomatoes should have a few more) IRL I’ve only met 2 others who really liked it at the moment so things aren’t looking too good for the film. It was essentially doomed before it ever came out critically, but I thought that the trailers showed potential. This wouldn’t be the next Avengers, but it would be a good film and I was right on the money with that hunch!

Well, this is essentially the origin story of the team so the plot is self explanatory. Reed Richards is a super genius and one day he manages to build a teleporter. The government quickly recruits him so that they can travel to another dimension to use that planet’s resources to keep Earth alive for a little while longer and maybe even colonize it. The leader’s daughter has been helping with the project for a while and the guy’s son is pulled onto the project so that he can earn his car back after getting it banged up in a street race. Finally, Reed flexes his intellectual muscles and gets his old friend onto the team roster in time for the big experiment. Unfortunately, the heroes got too curious as they messed with the environment of the other dimension (Mostly Dr Doom’s fault) and they each got fantastic powers. Can they use them to save the world now!?

In that regard, the film plays out like you would expect. You definitely don’t want to go into this film expecting a lot of action as it’s more of a slice of life origin adventure. As long as you like the characters and atmosphere, then you’ll be okay. It’s certainly not as good as the MCU backdrop or the ASM series, but a steady improvement over the X-Men series. I was interested the whole time and the characters became likable/charismatic right away so it was fine to just see them talk and hang out even if Reed Richards was really miscast, which can be distracting.

The writing is one of the film’s weaknesses though. The language isn’t terrible, but it still comes at you a little more often than you would like. I always have to shake my head at this since older films never had this problem. I just hope that the English language doesn’t continue to deteriorate or we’re going to need more main characters to be like Mario, rarely talking except for a choice line or two. That being said, I don’t have a problem with the writing in terms of the plot or what happens in the film, just the language aspect.

In terms of the movie dialogue, I’d say that it was reasonable. Nothing spectacular, but nothing bad either. There’s certainly a lot of foreshadowing to get you ready for things that will happen later on in the film. Wondering if Dr Doom is here? The film name drops him right away for long time fans. Fantastic Four even essentially tells you how the film’s going to end with a what if scenario that someone insults Reed with a few times. One can make a comparison to Ant Man here as when Pym explained that nobody’s ever come back from shrinking to the Microverse, that felt like a bit of a dare to the viewers and Scott. Of course, those things tend to really come to you in hindsight as while you’re watching the film, you aren’t typically thinking about them much. I personally prefer to just enjoy the banter and action so I don’t pay too much attention to the hidden meanings of the dialogue unless it’s just that epic of a line.

Reed is the main character of course and he’s a nice guy. I’m just saddened by the fact that the film miscast one of the easiest characters to portray. I feel like almost anyone could do it, but the actor has to be older. It’s why I loved the scene where the film trolled everyone by having Reed pretend that he was older via shape shifting. If he had looked like that the entire film, I would have been thrilled! Reed shows how he is a natural born leader when the going gets tough and we can expect him to continue to use his powers in innovative ways in the sequel. I am glad that Reed has a very tough personality here. In the generic intimidation scene where Dr Doom tries to tell Reed to get away from Sue, Reed just interrupts him to say that he already finished the project ages ago and was going to go take a nap. That was certainly a hype moment and I’m glad that he didn’t just slink away like you would see in most movies.

Ben Grimm’s backstory appeared briefly here and I’m glad that it was so short since his plot could have hurt the film had it gone on any longer. Besides that, I didn’t care to see him as a kid, I wanted to see his superhero form! The Thing costume from the older films was considerably better than this depiction, but I could say the same for every other character so that’s not saying too much. He looks decent although he should have had the traditional pants. I think he gives up on Reed a little too easily and also loses sight of himself without a whole lot of help so he’s not the strongest of the characters in terms of strength of will. He started to destroy a lot of people without hesitation. He’ll likely be more like the happy go lucky Thing we’re used too in future films…hopefully.

Sue was a good heroine and actually defied all of the stereotypical roles as she did not randomly fall in love with Reed for no inexplicable reason. I can’t tell you how glad I was at this as I was expecting a Man of Steel type ending, which would have been very wince worthy. Her subtle insults at Reed were also pretty good like when she tried to ignore him by putting her headphones back on or telling him that his little science experiment almost cost people billions of dollars by taking out the electricity over the east coast. She certainly gave him a tough time and that’s how it should be since he was the new guy on the block. She never overdid it though and they still get along.

Johnny was always going to be an interesting character to watch because of how the film decided to culturally change him. His core personality is essentially intact. He’s still a hot head who has a lot of fun with his powers, he’ll just have slightly different mannerisms and slang words to fit his new character. He’s handled well for the most part and I’m glad that he masters his powers with ease. He doesn’t help with the whole language issue from the film, but none of them really do so it’s not exclusive to him. I did think that it was a little odd how his car almost went out at the beginning of the race since he’s supposed to be a really good mechanic, but I’ll just assume that it was a lucky break for the opponents. I feel like his role was a lot smaller than the other 3, but he’ll likely have his chance to shine next time.

Finally, we have Dr. Doom. You can’t help, but chuckle when you first see him since it seems like the film was intentionally trying to make him look bad. If they were going for a Mandarin level twist, they certainly achieved that! Of course, it would have had more effect if his first scene was his last one. Still, it was neat when he ultimately got his powers, but as a character, he’s not great. He flirts with Sue quite a bit and that always hurt him for me. What I do like about him is the whole anti government personality as that’s always very humorous.

He asks the tough questions and makes the heroes wonder about their mission. After all, it is inevitable that we will wreck that dimension like this one so should we really allow people to go there? He doesn’t think so and that’s why he ultimately grabs his power. He’s certainly a villain, but at least he has a goal that I can sympathize with. If he takes out the Earth, then the other dimension will be safe from those attackers and Doom can live with the world in unity. In this version, that’s how he gets his powers, which are quite impressive.

He’s essentially got telekinesis so he can move rocks around or blow people’s heads up by concentrating. It’s a little overpowered though as the heroes shouldn’t really have a chance against that. The one thing that they have going for them is that they seem to be immune to having their heads blown up. In theory, this is because the ooze that gave them their powers made them immune to that ability or just strengthened their bodies enough to withstand it. The film never gives an explanation, but that makes the most sense. Even then, Dr. Doom probably should have taken the win as he mostly just stood there and allowed the heroes to gain ground. He wouldn’t win many Super Smash battles against Sheik is he stayed on the defensive for so long!

As for the fight scenes, they’re quite good even though they’re short. Reed taking down the gunmen in the forest was pretty epic. It’s too bad that he couldn’t have really fought the Thing as that would have made for a good matchup. At that point in time, The Thing would certainly have the edge, but with a little prep time, Reed could definitely turn the tables. The final fight scene is definitely very epic as the backdrop is like something out of a video game with Dr Doom being the final boss. It’s very short though, which really hurts the fight scene and I would have liked the heroes to have used their powers more. Specifically Human Torch as he was taken out for most of the fight thanks to the rocks at Doom’s disposal. The way that Thing was taken out was a little anticlimactic and I’m calling plot hax on the Invisible Woman, but it just goes to show that they wouldn’t be quite as deadly without Mr Fantastic!

Surprisingly, the film got pretty violent in one action scene. It was like something out of a horror movie as the colors became very dark and the lights started to flicker. Dr. Doom just went around blowing people up without a care in the world and it reminded me of the walls in the Arkham games. I think that could have been toned down a little as it was unnecessary. It was an interesting tribute to the horror films out there, but I’ve never been a fan of them so I could do without that.

Unfortunately, there’s not much of a soundtrack here. That’s too bad as it always adds an extra pop to a film. The visuals were great so mixing that up with some fast paced techno music or something would have been pretty intense. Even some fast music for the dialogue would have been fun. The film just felt strangely silent a lot of the time. It really helps to capture the slice of life feel, but at the expense of that action feel we wanted. Oh yeah, it should be noted that there’s no animal violence here as the anime test trial was successful so the Ape lived. That was probably one of the best moments in the film.

So, time to compare this to the first two films! I do think that the first two win because the actual Fantastic Four as well as Dr Doom were better than their modern versions. I remember the writing being better and I also preferred the costumes/actors. Beating those films was always going to be tough though and I never expected it to top those. Still, Dr Doom can now continue to say that he has been the main villain in every single Fantastic Four film. That series certainly liked him as an opponent.

The ending of the film also gives the franchise a lot of hope. The next film would deal with the Fantastic Four actually being established and finally having their own Baxter Building. It would likely feel more like the comic book version than even the original films. The FF are respected by the government and they’re essentially rich now. There are just so many possibilities! I do think that it was a little unoriginal to steal Avengers Age of Ultron’s final line though. It’s a cool concept, but stealing it just isn’t right.

Overall, Fantastic Four was a solid movie. It’s definitely going to end up being a very underrated one. The score is incredibly low at the moment and now conspiracy theorists can speculate on whether Disney is destroying all other attempts to make non Disney owned Marvel films. If X-Men Apocalypse is critically panned (I could see it getting under a 50 for various reasons, but nowhere near FF level) then things will start to get dicey. Those kind of theories are always pretty epic to hear about, but sometimes it’s just a matter of everyone disliking a film or a big reviewer kicking things off and then the others jump on the train. “Wait…was this hype?” Yes..yes it was. I definitely hope that this movie ends up getting a sequel, but like The Amazing Spiderman, we may have just lost what could have been a beautiful franchise. The bright side is that now Mr. Fantastic can get recast. So, if you haven’t seen it yet, I definitely recommend checking this movie out. It’s got good characters, and some solid action scenes! It’s also fairly short so the pacing is quite fast and it may not be in theaters for long so you’re going to want to hurry and view it before the time is past.

Overall 7/10

Phenomenon Review

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Time to look at an older film that I hadn’t really heard of before I saw it. The title of the film is interesting as I like movie names that are short and to the point. 1 word can be the best way to go about things, but it isn’t always possible. It’s still neat that this film was able to use such a title and it ended up being pretty good so now I can always think of it when I hear the word Phenomenon. While the alien angle wasn’t played up as much as it could have been, it wasn’t too necessary for the plot progression.

George was just a normal guy who bought a lot of chairs and led an easy life. He got along with everyone and many would probably call it an ideal life back in the day. One day, he sees a UFO, which bestows unlimited knowledge upon him. Well…not unlimited, but he can now use a much greater portion of his brain, which allows him to perform incredible feats. George can learn languages in mere minutes, sense other people by connecting to their brainwaves, and much more. He instantly became the smartest man on the planet by a large margin. Unfortunately, this turns the town against him as well as…the government!

Phenomenon is a very calm film and can also be thought of as a slice of life romance film. George tries to continue living his life like normal, but it quickly becomes impossible for him. The other townsfolk start to become fearful and jealous of his abilities and they all have their own theories about why he has his powers. They continue to pressure him and the only person George can find any peace with it Lace. Lace is a lady that he tried to get friendly with, but she always gave him the cold shoulder. After all, she doesn’t want to get into any complicated affairs at the moment. It’s a very noble sentiment.

That being said, this is a film so the romance ultimately comes about anyway. It certainly wasn’t needed and George should have stayed in the friend zone. Lace wasn’t a bad character and she really tried to make it on her own as she sold her chairs, but it’s just not a great market so it wasn’t her best move. It was a small town as well so there definitely weren’t many potential buyers.

It was fun to see the government get involved even if they were very antagonistic in this film. It’s safe to say that they weren’t too happy about George getting his powers since it meant that he could decipher anything now. They even used him to spy on the US allies. That felt a little unnecessary, but at least the government was tough here. George’s only hope was to use his wits to escape from them and that happens to be his most potent weapon. That being said, he did start it since he cracked their code on live radio.

George was a likable main character. As mentioned earlier, he always meant well and you could tell that he was a nice guy. Once he became a genius, the information did start to make him act a little hyper, probably a side effect of the powers. Still, he managed to keep it in control. One part that was a little iffy was how he tried match maker for his friend. That could have seriously backfired and George put the guy in a tough spot. Still, it all ended well enough, but it was another plot that I could have done without.

The ending is actually a little somber although not quite as somber as it could have been. Originally, I thought that it may have ended with the government kidnapping George. The lead was presumed dead at that point, but he managed to escape later on. Had the film ended like that, it would have definitely been very iffy as the government would have looked pretty sinister. They still planned on doing it, which doesn’t even make that much sense. With George’s great amount of intelligence, they should have just kept him as a secret weapon.

Again, it needs to be stressed that this is essentially a slice of life drama first and foremost. If you’re watching this film for the action scenes or to see some general excitement, this isn’t the film for you. It’s a really dialogue based movie that moves along at a relatively slow pace. So long as the dialogue is good, I’m all set for a movie that’s all about talking and this film did well enough in that aspect.

If it had taken another route, it could have been even better or maybe not as good. For example, the alien route could have been taken as George fights off an invasion. That sounds epic, but we can only guess as to how that would have played out. I’d love to find out, but this version was still fun as well. It’s unfortunate that George couldn’t have a happier ending especially with the “sequel” that came out, but it’s just how it goes sometimes I suppose. At least the dog had a happy ending, which was a very good thing. If he had gotten injured, that would have been no good!

There’s not a whole lot to say about this film besides that. Naturally there are no action scenes or a soundtrack to mention. The villagers are definitely pretty bad and you will feel sorry for George a lot of the time since he can never get any peace. At least they didn’t go over the top like trying to break down his house as I almost expected that towards the end. The film deals with interesting concept like what you would do if you never had to sleep and were a super genius, but not enough so that I need to super analyze it. I do like to think of the possibilities though as I would definitely become a professional gamer and contribute to dozens of sites if I never had to sleep. That concept alone can keep you thinking for hours and hours on end! What would you do with the extra time? Think about it.

Overall, Phenomenon was a good film. It was certainly more enjoyable than I had anticipated. You need to be ready for a slow pace, but I do tend to enjoy those films a lot when they are well made. The characters were likable and even the government got involved! I always get a kick out of that. The villagers were definitely made to be unlikable and gave George a tough time, but at least he still made the most out of his days and didn’t let them get to him all that much. They did to an extent, but at least he always had 2-4 friends who stuck with him. Without them, the film likely would have been a lot more grim and less enjoyable so I’m glad that George had some pals. I definitely recommend this film as it’s very thoughtful and interesting.

Overall 7/10

Horror of Dracula Review

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Time to look at another Dracula film! Dracula has always been my least favorite of the classic monster legends. Yes…he’s less enjoyable for me than Frankenstein! I didn’t have high hopes for this film, but it was an old one so maybe it would be good. Alas, it wasn’t to be. The film made all of the mistakes that you would expect of it aside from animal violence. While I am grateful about the last part, it’s not enough to save the whole film.

Mr. Harker heads to Dracula’s lair to end the vampire once and for all. Little did he know that the mission was doomed to fail right from the start. Dracula is simply too powerful and with his telekinesis..there is really nothing that a mere mortal can do. Van Helsing realizes that Harker has been gone for a long time and decides to take out Dracula himself. Can he really beat the vampire or will everyone have to die first?

The film is surprisingly violent so you should be ready for a large body count. Characters are impaled and naturally bitten as this is a vampire film. It’s why I will never be able to get into Vampire films since blood sucking is essentially inevitable. If a 50’s version of Dracula is this violent, you can imagine how gruesome the latter ones are. Dracula takes no prisoners and simply creates more and more vampires whenever he fights.

I will give the film some credit for actually doing a good job of making you think that Mr. Harker actually stands a chance. He’s very confident and puts on a good poker face when talking to Dracula. His mistake was letting his feelings get in the way of his mission. He should have found it a little suspicious that there was a girl who wouldn’t tell him much, yet she still wanted to bypass the friend zone with him. Sadly, Mr. Harker is like the average film protagonist in the sense that he just doesn’t care. It certainly came back to bite him.

Vampires are typically weak against Garlic, Sunlight, and the sign of the Cross. It depends on the version, but all three are effective in this version and they are the best way to fight them off. Van Helsing uses all three, but he forgets them for the final battle so we get to see a quick fist fight. As with most classic monsters, Dracula likes to resort to the classic choking attack to take the heroes down for the count. It proves to be a bit of a mistake as it always gives the heroes a little extra time to prepare themselves.

Dracula doesn’t have a whole lot of personality and it seems like he just wants to make everyone miserable and suck as much blood as possible. His character had potential in the opening scenes, but then he quickly went off the deep end and became a villain who simply needed to be stopped. I suppose that’s all the character that he really needs, but it doesn’t make me care for him as an antagonist.

Mr. Harker was a decent lead, but his one mistake was a huge one and made him look like a rookie. How can you let yourself get bitten? Howwwwwwww! Van Helsing is more prepared than Mr. Harker, but he loves to be vague. Instead of rushing over to challenge Dracula, he likes to have some bait ready and it always cooking up a scheme that will allow him to approach the vampire from a defensive standpoint. Helsing is smart, but not overly brave and he could have reduced the body count if he had been upfront with the other characters from the start.

He certainly doesn’t deserve all of the blame though as the rest of the characters look pretty bad as well. Dracula’s victims aren’t able to fight their urges nor are they able to defend themselves so Dracula easily manages to take them out. If you know that you’re about to die anyway, you may as well through a good punch or something. It’ll look good on the stat sheet.

The first vampire lady to appear was rather odd on that front. She asked Harker to help her and then she attacked him. That’s not a very effective way to get someone to help and then Dracula defeated her. I assume that her lust for blood was just too powerful, but that still makes her look terrible. If you want to escape, then that should give you enough motivation to escape instead of going back and forth with the decisions. Ah well, that’s why her mission ultimately failed.

The beginning of the film with Mr. Harker was the best part and I feel like the whole film would have been better off if it had followed his plot a little more. Spending 80% of the film as a mystery thriller with him would have been epic. He would have had to die at some point anyway, but that would be the climax and the rest of the film would have still been fairly epic. Fans who went in expecting Dracula to get a big role would have been disappointed, but it would have all been worth it for the epic intro.

Dracula doesn’t look very tough in this version. I would still choose him over The Mummy in a fight as their physical abilities are more or less equal, but Dracula has the speed edge. Beyond that, I have a feeling that bullets would hurt him in this version as he didn’t seem all too sturdy. If he really cannot turn into a bat as Helsing believes, that also hurts his retreat options. The humans could have beaten Dracula if they knew any good judo tricks. Running up to Dracula and throwing a punch is simply not going to cut it here.

Overall, Dracula doesn’t manage to be as entertaining as the Mummy film. It’s short, but it’s still just pretty bad. The violence was a little over the top and you’ll just be reminded of why vampire films are no fun. The bitemarks are always a little gross and the concept of blood sucking is rather sad as well. Dracula Untold managed to avoid all of that for the most part and if you want to watch a film with the legend, check that one out instead. This one is best left in the relics of yesterday as it is forgotten while in the shadow of the original. Of course, this film did get 8 sequels…which is very intriguing. The legacy did not die here!

Overall 2/10

The Mummy (1959) Review

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It’s time to look at another take on The Mummy franchise! I’ve seen quite a few Mummy films at this point and he’s probably my favorite horror icon when compared to the other classics like the Werewolf, Dracula, and Frankenstein. The Mummy isn’t as strong as Dracula or potentially the Werewolf, but he defeats his opponents in more honorable ways. Slow and steady is typically how you want to fight against opponents and that’s just how The Mummy works. This film was actually decently good.

A few guys wander into a tomb and find a mysterious scroll. It activates the Mummy and puts one of the characters into a coma. Three years later, the old man wakes up and warns the main character that the Mummy will destroy them all. John essentially chuckles at this and heads back home, but he may have underestimated the message. The Mummy begins to systematically take the heroes down and John will have to think of a way to take it down once and for all!

The film plays out like you would expect it too. The Mummy formula is classic and the heroes can only wait for their ultimate demise, but I do appreciate the fact that John tries to fight back. He locks himself up in the study and prepared himself with some blunt objects. The Mummy easily chokes him, but the important part is that he tried. Luckily, he is saved by Isobel twice. The Mummy’s eyesight is failing so he believes that he recognizes her and decides to stop his attack on John. Man, John may have been the big hero in the film, but he definitely couldn’t get the job done when it counted.

The Mummy actually isn’t Imhotep this time, but a guy named Kharis instead. It doesn’t actually make a difference in the end, but it’s worth noting. You may even feel bad for the Mummy by the end since he can barely comprehend what is happening and he just wanted to be reunited with his love once more. Instead, he is simply used the entire time and doesn’t get to be friends with anyone. What a sad way to go. At least he got to show off his slight degree of super strength as the film went on and he used his patented choke attack on everyone.

I didn’t really have any big problems with the film. It all played out fairly well. This isn’t exactly the most exciting film though and it maybe dragged on a little at times, but never that much. It was a fairly short film after all so it’s not like any of the scenes went on forever. I do think that the calm before the storm scenes could maybe be a little dull at times, but it’s a minor issue and not something that would actually hurt the film.

The characters are a little bland, but not bad. John is a decent hero and I do appreciate the fact that he takes the initiative. He enters the home of the suspect who may be plotting to destroy him and he does it very casually with some veiled threats the whole time. That was a fun part in the movie as John wasn’t even pretending to be polite. He was openly insulting the villain and everything that the guy believed in. John is nothing if not bold after all. While the visit didn’t help him all that much, it did utterly prove that the villain was responsible for the Mummy. John succeeded as a secret agent!

Isobel didn’t have much of a role before we found out that she looked like the old Princess. She was able to trick the Mummy that way, but it was mostly accidental and she ended up fainting from the excitement so I can’t say that she was a great character. The Inspector was fun, but he was out of his league the whole time. It was very humorous to see just how unprepared he was the whole time. He really did not act like much of an inspector.

The climax was a lot of fun as a result though. The Inspector had hired several men to protect John, but they were no match. Not against the Mummy, but against the Mummy’s assistant! The human actually ends up taking just about all of them down, which was the funny part. It’s seriously not something that you would have expected. The hired guns just forgot to keep their ears alert for any signs of danger. The climax is more sad than funny though as the Mummy is shot to pieces by the trained professionals. The Swamp helped the intrigue factor I suppose.

Mehemet was the main human villain. He’s fairly generic and prays to a large statue of a cat god. Mehemet is very sensitive about people poking fun at his beliefs and he decides to destroy all of the main characters because they desecrated the tomb. It’s an interesting point of whether we should really be grave robbing or not. Essentially, that’s what is being done when people open tombs right? I actually agree with him that we shouldn’t be doing that because it is just like breaking into someone’s grave. It was his only valid point, but the guy naturally went off the deep end instead of going into that point a little more.

Granted, I doubt that John would have even considered the notion of stopping. He was way too interested in the new findings and didn’t seem to have any doubts about the moral ambiguity of what he was doing. John just wanted to win the fight at that point and he was looking for clues to do so. Luckily, the hero didn’t bring a dog over to the villain’s place like last time, which immediately gave this film an advantage over the original.

This Mummy film certainly beat the original one. I’m not sure how it stacks up against the 1999 version as it’s been a while, but I’m tempted to say that it may beat that one. It’s a tough bout of course, but I’d say that the main character here may be a little more likable. I still can’t get over how he casually went up to the main villain and started trash talking him. That was definitely classic. I was also glad that the heroes left Egypt right away so we got to go to a more city like environment for the duration of the film. Definitely a good move on their part.

Overall, The Mummy was a good film. It was actually better than I had anticipated since these classic Hollywood monsters don’t always have the greatest of reputations. Just wait until I review the Frankenstein film..heh heh heh. The characters are good and the writing is naturally solid as well. While the climax is a little more emotional than intended, this makes for a fun retro film to watch. It’s interesting to see how different the Mummy was back then. Watch a modern version of it and you’ll notice the differences. The new one is made to be more of an action blockbuster, while this one is more subdued. It’s also very short as I mentioned earlier so you’ll breeze through it.

Overall 6/10