Howdy ladies and gents people, time for another single paragraph review and today I’ll be doing a brief review on Midnight Special. Now this is a film I’d been following since the early side of last year and with the trailers and video interviews I’d watched I got so hyped for this film. Alas I couldn’t bring my lazy ass out of the house to watch it in the cinema during my chaotic time at the airport, and I regretted that decision so badly. But since then I’ve had the film on my mind, and today I finally got around to checking it out.
The story can be described as the following: “The film revolves around Roy and his biological son, Alton Meyer, escaping federal and local officers, after discovering that Alton has special powers.” Firstly can I just say that this film was incredible, such an engaging, dramatic and different kind of film. I mean there are elements of the story and characters you can relate to certain sci-fi films from the past, but this film found a way to tell a story that invoked the best elements of those older sci-fi films while leaving its own mark as well. There were several things I liked about the story, from its pacing, to its ability to drop you almost right in the middle of the story without having to fully explain all of the details as to how we’ve arrived at where we were with the main characters. But what I loved about the story was the mystery, we learnt that Alton was a kid with special powers, him, his dad and a friend were on the run, the government wanted him, some religious people had interest in him, and so on, yet the film never felt like it needed to hold your hand. It had its tone, sense of mystery, intrigue and wonderment, plus and moved at its own pace. And over time certain details became apparent, tension started to build and your emotional engagement grew and grew. By the final act of the film all was revealed and I’ve heard that the final revelation turned some critics off, I however found pretty fascinating and cool. And let’s talk about those performances, Michael Shannon continues to be an actor who can do no wrong for me, he played Roy Tomlin, an overly protective, yet courageous father who wanted to give his son safe and I just loved Shannon’s performance, especially how he can emote so much through his face without doing that much. Joel Edgerton continues to be great as an actor as Lucas, I also really liked Kirsten Dunst as Sarah Tomlin, Adam Driver was also pretty good as Paul Sevier, but I think Jaeden Lieberher desrves a fair amount of praise as Alton, he acted well and was very believable on the role. I also have to quickly mention the nice use of CGI, good cinematography and the film score which were lovely. In conclusion Midnight Special was such a surprisingly delightful experience, I mean I knew I’d enjoy the film, but I didn’t expect to love it so intensely, the level of mystery, intrigue and tension was wonderful and with great performances from the cast, this has easily become one of my top favourite films of 2016.
So that was my review, have you seen Midnight Special and if so what did you think of it? Please leave your comments below and I’ll see ya on the next review, laters! 😀
Howdy ladies and gents of the internet, as some of you may have seen, not too long ago I started a film podcast entitled Film Focus! And so every week on either Wednesday or Friday (depending on the release of certain films), I bring you a new review or film-related discussion which will hopefully be informative and humourous.
Anyway here’s the 12th episode:
Even though you can read my written review that I did recently, but I feel like I had a little more to say about this film so that’s what the podcast episode is for. Plus if you wanted hear a super charismatic guy talking about this film then I think you’ll like this episode the most, this is probably the most energetic I’ve been since the Captain America: Civil War reviews haha. 😛
As I said before in each episode I’ll cover a different topic and since I don’t have much in the way of listeners or promotion, I’m here to spread the word about my podcast. 🙂
So if you have some spare time on your hands and would like to listen to the ramblings of a passionate/strange man then please check it out, and share it with your friends if you can. Also you have any feedback or if you’d be interested in joining on future episodes be sure to let me know, until next time, laters! 😀
Howdy people, hypersonic55 back with another review and today I get to talk about Jason Bourne, the eagerly anticipated sequel to the 2007 film; The Bourne Ultimatum. Now I’ve been hyped yet cautious about this film since it was announced a few years ago, but the duo of Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon gave me hope. So after seeing the film I’m ready to pass judgement!
The plot for the film can be described as the following:
“A decade after his disappearance at the conclusion of The Bourne Ultimatum, Jason Bourne unexpectedly resurfaces at a time when the world is faced with unprecedented instability. At the same time, a new program, Operation Ironhand, has been created to hunt him down while he is still trying to find all the answers to his past.”
What I liked about the story was the following:
It was tonally consistent with the previous films
It felt relevant to modern times
It gave Bourne a reason to come out of hiding and go on the hunt
The world felt expanded and was layered when it came to history of Bourne and his ties to the CIA
I will admit that story took a little while to get going and didn’t have the immediate hook that I wanted, however after a key moment early on things shifted into gear and got interesting. From there the film went deep into the history of this film series, yet still presented new issues, conspiracies and dangers that relate Bourne, the CIA and the use of modern technology and privacy. There was a sense of realism, grittiness, intimacy and pressure involved, but what this film really did well was make things personal, not only for Bourne, but for the people he interacted with as well, this added a level of drama necessary for you to care about the characters and stakes involved. It has to be mentioned that this film’s tale isn’t as unique or engaging as the previous films, however if you just want to see more of the same then you’ll be fine.
As for the cast they were all very good. Firstly there’s Matt Damon who returned to great effect as Jason Bourne, the cool thing about Bourne in this film is that he’s off the grid, but still haunted by his past and once he gets involved with Nicky and starts to discover more mysterious behind his past made for some really cool and suspenseful material. Damon felt like he never left this role as was able to be calm and collected, badass and emotionally engaging. Alicia Vikander was the next most interesting character as Heather Lee, as a CIA agent her character was very smart, resourceful and knew how to strategize to sort out the situations she faced. I didn’t expect Vikander to be as involved and as important as she was, but it was a welcome surprise and I actually liked her a lot. Tommy Lee Jones was also good as director of the CIA, Robert Dewey, this guy had an interesting part to play in this film being very self-aware, aggressive, cautious and calculated when it came to his actions with Bourne and the secret operations within the CIA. Vincent Cassel as the Asset was very enjoyable, besides being a badass assassin, he was also driven, cold and ruthless and I liked that Cassel brought a sense of energy and urgency to this character. Also seeing Julia Stiles again as Nicolette “Nicky” Parsons, it was great to see that even after she went into hiding that she was still looking into the past for information and had Bourne’s interests at heart. And finally Riz Ahmed was nice as Aaron Kalloor, his character was very charismatic, likeable and interesting in this role.
Presentation-wise this film was pretty solid. Visually this film was great with wonderful cinematography, and awesome action sequences whether it was the insanely sweet car chases or the well-choreographed fight scenes, the visual style and flair of this series was on-point. Oh and the film score by John Powell and David Buckley was lovely, very energetic, emotional and amplified the action on-screen and brought back the familiar themes that came with the previous films.
In the end Jason Bourne was just what I wanted it to be, a kick ass action thriller that was intriguing, intense and badass. While not as good as the previous three films, I still had a hell of good time with this film and I recommend it highly.
Rating: 8/10
So are you planning to see Jason Bourne and if you’ve seen it what did you think of it? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments below and I’ll see you on the next review, laters! 😀
Howdy ladies and gents of the internet, as some of you may have seen, not too long ago I started a film podcast entitled Film Focus! I know I’m a little late with the blog post on the Star Trek Beyond episode since I did it last week, but hey gotta keep up appearances right?
Anyway here’s the 11th episode:
Even though I did a written review last week, as usual I have a little more to say in the podcast, plus verbalising my thoughts is normally the best way to get a proper understanding of how I feel about a film. The next review on the podcast should be Jason Bourne that will probably be out on tomorrow as I’ll be going to see it tonight. 🙂
As I said before in each episode I’ll cover a different topic and since I don’t have much in the way of listeners or promotion, I’m here to spread the word about my podcast. 🙂
So if you have some spare time on your hands and would like to listen to the ramblings of a passionate/strange man then please check it out, and share it with your friends if you can. Also you have any feedback or if you’d be interested in joining on future episodes be sure to let me know, until next time, laters! 😀
Howdy ladies and gents, how’s it going? So this morning I was bored and felt like watching something Batman oriented, so I decided to watch the animated adaptation of Batman: The Killing Joke and while most reviews for this animated film have been made available online already, after I finished the film I knew I’d have to talk about it. Note spoilers ahead in the first big paragraph…
Now here’s the thing, I haven’t read The Killing Joke graphic novel, why? Because I’m a busy that’s why haha. But seriously it’s been on my list of reading material for years, however, I’ve been busy with college, uni, work and my TV bingeing to check it out. But since I’ve been hearing so much mixed buzz surrounding this film I had to check it out, and yeah I can now understand the mixed response for this film for sure.
Here’s a plot summary:
“As Batman hunts for the escaped Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime attacks the Gordon family to prove a diabolical point mirroring his own fall into madness.”
First thing that’s worth mentioning is the fact that this film primarily focuses on Barbra Gordon’s Batgirl for around the first half hour and then around 28 minutes in the actual Killing Joke material kicks in, and while Batgirl’s story was pretty interesting, it also presents the film’s first two issues: 1) Batgirl’s story feels a little separate from the main meat of the film and 2) SPOILERS Batgirl has sex with Batman… Yeah that happens, but more on that in a minute. Firstly I understand the filmmakers intention of fleshing out Batgirl’s story for this film, and certain elements were interesting, a lot of it didn’t feel as captivating as it should have. And secondly, heading into the spoiler-based territory again, seeing Batgirl and Batman get it on gave me such an awkward feeling, even though I had this part of the film spoiled before I saw it, in the scene when it takes place you could see it coming, and it was just strange and a little out of character.
So with the actual Killing Joke story, as someone who’s technically experiencing it for the first time it was pretty interesting and explored a lot of interesting themes and ideas when it comes to the Joker’s backstory, the horrific events that befall Jim and Barbra Gordon and Batman’s relationship with the Joker. Some of these story and character moments were pretty dark, haunting and thought-provoking. That being said, I feel like this film had a lot of dark, mature and psychological themes and issues that it tried to present to the viewer, and while some of it comes across well, other times it felt like it didn’t dive deep enough, like it was pulling its punches on some of these issues that are real and tough to talk about even though it had an R-rating. And just for my own personal preference I enjoy my Batman stories the most when there’s a balance of the seriousness and light-hearted material, and since this film was more serious I just didn’t enjoy it as much. As for the characters I thought they were all pretty interesting, though the most important people was the Joker, Batman and Commissioner Gordon, all of which had the best material, though the Joker was the most fleshed out and captivating of the whole cast. Oh and we have to talk about the voice cast as well. I thought Tara Strong did well as Barbra Gordon and I enjoyed Ray Wise as Jim Gordon too, but at the end of the day for me its all about Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill as Batman and Joker, my favourite veterans from Batman: TAS, they do well but I felt like their performances weren’t as charismatic or memorable as a lot of their previous work, that being said when he was on-point, Hamill really did well with material.
And finally when it comes to the presentation it’s a bit of a mixed bag, visually the art and animation varies between being pretty good to being a little basic and questionable when it came to the fluidity and use of 3D against 2D animation. Plus the music by Kristopher Carter, Michael McCuistion and Lolita Ritmanis was alright, not very memorable. In the end Batman: The Killing Joke, while it has its moments, felt like a bit of a let down when compared to previous DC animated films I’ve seen when it comes to the execution of the story and animation and while it was interesting, I don’t know if I’ll be watching it again any time soon.
Rating: 6/10
So have you seen this film and if so what did you think of it? Be sure to drop your thoughts in the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next review, laters! 😀
Good day to you ladies and gents, once again another crazy session at San Diego Comic-Con has come and gone, and if you’re fan of comics, film and TV then you’re more than likely hyped for this event. So between Thursday and Saturday this week us fans were treated to a plethora of information in form of interviews, trailers and descriptions of panels and footage, and man, it was an overwhelming amount of gorgeous announcements. While some of the stuff that shown off was expected, at the same time there were plenty of unexpected announcements and it was glorious as a fan of several of these different franchises to get all of this information. The hype is real right now and just trying to think of it all right now is boggling my mind! But like last year, I’m gonna try to show off my personal highlights from SDCC 2016 😀
Doctor Strange Trailer #2
Yo, this was the best thing I could have woken up to. I had heard rumours of a second trailer for Doctor Strange being released during Comic-Con, but I wasn’t sure it was going to happen, but sure enough it did and it was glorious! And while this wasn’t super amazing, it was certainly fascinating to watch. We got some additional details on Steven Strange’s path to becoming the Sorcerer Supreme with his training, use of magic and interaction with other characters, we also got to see more of the main cast especially with the extra scenes of Mads Mikkelsen as the villain and Benedict Wong as Wong. What I’m loving is how Marvel Studios are embracing the supernatural elements of the source material which is reflected in some of the dialogue and plot, but mainly with the visual presentation which is super trippy, colourful beyond comprehension and clearly got an Inception kind of feel but times twenty! Cumberbatch looks so cool especially with the way he puts on that cloak and I love that line at the end of the trailer with Baron Mordo giving Strange the Wi-Fi password, that was great. I’ve been hyped for this film for ages, but now the hype has gotten so much higher! 😀
Wonder Woman Trailer
Okay so the Wonder Woman trailer has finally been released and I have to say that I’m intrigued and definitely down for this film more so than before. The thing about Gal Gadot’s version of Wonder Woman is that she’s pretty, but I don’t find her intimidating or badass, and while she had her moments in Batman V Superman, I wasn’t in love with her. However this trailer really seems to be winning me over with the good chemistry between Gal Gadot and Chris Pine, the WWI setting and the action sequences that look pretty cool. Oh and the colour, I’m liking the use of colour especially in WW’s costume and some of those action scenes look pretty hardcore. Oh and the use of WW’s theme from BvS, nice! My only issues with the trailer was the use of slow motion during the action scenes, these days it feels a little excessive in action movies and seeing some of WW’s movements, it looked a little awkward, but other than that the trailer’s good and I’m ready for this film.
Justice League Footage
But this footage was the real surprise for me, Justice League is still in production as far as I know and for there to be such polished-looking footage already is crazy, but welcomed for me. This footage if anything proved one single thing, that Justice League will be a different kettle of fish from the last two DCEU films with humour, light-heartedness and colour. I liked how Bruce and Diana were on the hunt for their superhero team and how these moments of banter between Diana and Bruce about Aquaman’s recruitment or the conversation between Bruce and Barry Allen. Ezra Miller’s version of the Flash is one that I think I’ll like a lot and Jason Momoa looks tough as nails as Aquaman, and overall it looks like this film will be good session. I will admit that this trailer lacked the style, charisma and impact of a proper trailer like Wonder Woman, but since the film’s not done with principal photography I’m gonna let it slide.
Kong: Skull Island Trailer
Out of every trailer that dropped from SDCC, this was the one that really caught me by surprise. I’ve been looking forward to this film for a while, but to see some actual footage and the tone this film is going for, I was like “Damn, this needs to be in my system now yo!” This film really has a Godzilla (2014) kind of vibe especially with that opening shot on the ocean with the use of colour and the dark clouds, but the style and tone feels more in line with a film from decades ago like the 1970’s. I also enjoyed seeing how big of a part Samuel L. Jackson and John Goodman have with Jackson looking like the tough military guy and Goodman being some kind researcher familiar with the island. The visuals are looks very solid with some cool cinematography, big set pieces and King Kong, damn, how big is here? This film definitely establishes that Skull Island isn’t a place for humans, that it’s been around since the early times of Earth and that trespassers will meet their end, and that just excites me to see how dangerous this place and it’s inhabitants are.
Danai Gurira Joining Black Panther
This was one of the best small surprises for me, to have Danai Gurira from The Walking Dead come over to the MCU in the new Black Panther film? Hell yeah, she’s perfect to come into this film and to have her as the head Black Panther’s personal body guards it seems like a great role that’ll hopefully have some action material as Gurira excels at that in Walking Dead. And just in general to see Ryan Coogler talk so passionately about being a fan and working on Black Panther was great, but also seeing the current cast, Chadwick Boseman Lupita Nyong’o, Michael B. Jordan and Danai Gurira together talking about their excitement for this new film was awesome.
Luke Cage & Iron Fist Trailers
And finally there’s the trailers from the first day of SDCC that got me all sweaty in the from of the trailers for the Netflix Marvel shows; Luke Cage and Iron Fist. And while there was this nice teaser for The Defenders, these trailers had actual footage and I’ve been hyped for these shows because of their potential in the future especially when it comes to crossovers. Firstly there’s Luke Cage and while there wasn’t really much in the way of story, this trailer definitely gives a look at the kind of tone, action and style of this show and how it’s different from Daredevil and Jessica Jones. I’m liking the action and how brutal/humourous it is with Cage just dispatching bad guys. And with Iron Fist there’s even less to see, but what glimpses we do get are pretty cool flashbacks to a young Danny Rand and his mum in a plane crash and then being found by monks in the snow, then fast forward to modern times with Rand being restrained in a bed and then smashing through that wall. I liked it, Finn Jones looks cool and with the music it really felt mystical and otherworldly.
And so that brings my highlights from this year’s SDCC to a close, what was your favourite material from Comic-Con this year? Whatever they are be sure to comment below and let me know and I’ll see ya on the next blog post, laters! 😀
Howdy ladies and gents how’s it going? So I woke up this morning looking forward to what information had come out of San Diego Comic-Con from yesterday, but then I see in my YouTube subscription feed “Sonic Mania” and “Sonic 2017 – Reveal Discussion” and I’m like, “What’s this madness?” And then remembered that yesterday was meant to be the day that Sega revealed the new Sonic game, and yo, what was revealed was not what I expected, but we’ll talk about that in a minute.
Firstly let’s talk about Sonic in Lego Dimensions.
This trailer was pretty fun as it looked like the developers included a lot of the basic/key elements of Sonic’s gameplay along the standard Lego formula. It was just nice to see Sonic’s homing attack, the Tornado, and Green Hill Zone all in this trailer. Oh and frigging Super Sonic at the end, clearly Lego Dimensions are trying to entice me to buy their game, and normally I would, but Dimensions is such an expensive investment that I just don’t feel like getting all that stuff just to play as Sonic. The only thing that pissed me off about this trailer was the music or should I say the use of it. “Event: Let’s Make It!” is one of my all-time favourite tunes from Sonic Adventure 2 and the fact that it was horribly cut and looped I think around 3 times before playing the whole way through was incredibly annoying. They should have found a better way to play the song in its entirety or just replaced the song altogether.
But now let’s move on the major surprise, Sonic Mania!
This game, I mean what the hell? This game out of nowhere. It’s like someone out there heard the cries and pleas of the Sonic fan community and got something that done. To have a new Sonic game, that looks and plays like the Mega Drive/Genesis era of games developed by Christian Whitehead? Damn, you have me, give me the game now. I just love the way this game looks with solid/familiar gameplay, incredible sprite-based graphics that remind me of Sonic 2/Knuckles Chaotix and the ability to play as Sonic, Tails and Knuckles? It feels like a bizarre dream that this is an official game being endorsed by Sega, but hey I’m not complaining. Though, one has to wonder how much of this game will be new in terms of gameplay, level design, stages and so on, because if the end product is just a decent collection of remixed classic Sonic material then there’s plenty of fan games that exist that can do that already just with less polish in the graphical department. I just hope that the level design, secrets and longevity is on-point because this game looks really awesome!
And finally there’s the Sonic 2017.
This trailer didn’t give us any gameplay, but there was a least a few details that could give us some possible details as to what the story and gameplay. When the trailer started and I saw that the tone felt a little more serious and dark, I immediately got flashbacks to Sonic 06 and I was a little troubled, but then I saw Sonic running around displaying all of his skills from the Unleashed/Colours/Generations series of games and then frigging Classic Sonic showed and I’m like “What? So these two are together again? Okay, cool.” And afterward I thought regardless of what name this game gets, it’ll be looked as a Generations sequel for sure. I found it interesting that there were some giant robots lumbering around looking similar to the Death Egg Robot from Sonic 2, and the way they look and the fiery setting, I got some X-Men: Days of Future Past vibes from sure, like these robots are Sentinels chasing after Sonic and company. I’m curious if both Sonics will be the only playable characters as the “Join the resistance” line suggests that there will be more characters will be involved, if not in a gameplay capacity then at least in a story capacity, though I feel like it’s be a missed opportunity to not get some of the other main characters involved. Either way I’m interested in this game for sure, I just hope the gameplay is solid, and if it is the gameplay from Generations again except better, I’ll be fine with that too.
In conclusion overall this info has me happy, especially with Sonic Mania, but until I see more gameplay I won’t get too hyped. So have seen the trailers for the new Sonic games and if so what did you think of it? Comment below and I’ll see ya on the next blog post, laters! 😀
Howdy ladies and gents how’s it going? Today I’m here to finally review Star Trek Beyond, a film that I’ve been cautiously optimistic for a while now. So yesterday I went to Cineworld for a film triple to check out Star Trek, Into Darkness and Beyond, and I LOVED having the chance to see the 2009 film in the cinema again, and it was also rewatch Into Darkness for the first time since 2013. However it was so annoying how the projectionist messed up the image twice for around 10 or so minutes on the first two films that totally ruined my immersion, but luckily Beyond‘s screening was fine. Now I loved the first film and Into DarknessI liked at the time, but have since become a less interested in it, but now its time to pass judgement on Beyond! 😀
So the story can be described as the following:
“The USS Enterprise crew explores the furthest reaches of uncharted space, where they encounter a new ruthless enemy who puts them and everything the Federation stands for to the test.”
I thought story was interesting was pretty good because it felt smaller in scale but still had all the right amount of importance, drama, adventure and action like that this series has become known for. This film was a lot more thought-provoking, intimate and character-driven than before. I also appreciated how this film really got into explored the life and times of the Enterprise crew and got into the psyche of the main characters and fleshed out their personal lives too. And while there were certain elements that I predicted, it was still a fairly entertaining story that felt very in line with the 60’s Star Trek TV show and had some nice references to the past for long-term fans.
The cast all did an admirable job in their roles. Chris Pine was great as Captain James T. Kirk, I appreciated how he’d matured from the previous films and started to feel the weight of being the captain of his ship. Equally good was Zachary Quinto as Spock, it was interesting to see him such a different mindset and in a vulnerable state, but luckily he still provides some really great humour through his Vulcan demeanour. It was great to see Karl Urban again as Bones as he felt like the voice of reason and had some of the best humour, seeing Simon Pegg back as Scotty was great as he some really funny and important moments. I also liked how Zoe Saldana had more to do in this film as Nyota Uhura, John Cho was also really good as Sulu, and finally out the returning crew, Anton Yelchin as Chekov was delightful and had some cool moments, and it was both great and saddening to see this film after Yelchin’s death. This film also continued to illustrate the wonderful friendship and banter between the main Enterprise crew especially with Kirk’s connection to Spock and Bone. As for the new cast members, Idris Elba as Krall was fairly generic and uninteresting at first, but by the end of the film he became a more interesting character with extra layers of depth, and Sofia Boutella did well as Jaylah, for a character I didn’t expect to like she had a lot of great comedic and badass action moments, plus her motivation and interaction with Kirk’s crew was great.
When it comes to the presentation was pretty solid. Visually the film was large in scale with some good cinematography, nice and thrilling action sequences, and cool hand-to-hand combat. Though some of the CGI looked a little lacking in detail though I’m not sure if that was because of the 3D glasses). And finally Michael Giacchino returns for the film score, and brings such a bombastic and charismatic sound that was consistent with the previous films, though I believe this soundtrack lacked the intensity and style that I loved his work with the first and second film.
In conclusion Star Trek Beyond was a pretty good film and was much better than I expected, and while it may not be my favourite in this new set of Star Trek films, it was certainly a good session. I recommend this for sure. 🙂
So are you going to see Star Trek Beyond and if have you seen it what did you think of it? Also what’s your favourite film out this new trilogy so far?
Howdy people of the internet, time for another review and today I’m talking about a film I’ve wanted to watch for a while now, In the Blood. I remember when the trailer for this came out back in 2014 and was interested because of Gina Carano’s appearance as the main character, but missed it on VOD during its initial release. And since I had some time to spare before heading out tonight I thought I’d finally get it off my watch list on Amazon Video. 🙂
So the story in this film involves Ava and Derek, a newlywed couple who take a trip to the Caribbean on their honeymoon, but when Derek disappears after an accident, Ava goes on the hunt to find her husband by any means necessary.
The style of the plot is simple enough and was fun to watch at times, however it was needlessly complicated once certain mysteries come to light. The first thing that bugged me was the script as there were moments that could have been really cool, dramatic or surprising, but the scenes weren’t written well, fleshed out enough, or they had such basic/lazy dialogue that lacked impact. Also while a film doesn’t have to spell everything out for you, there’s a difference between finding out information based on the details you are given and making assumptions to fill in the gaps because the film doesn’t tell you anything, and this film sometimes fell into the latter. For example, there’s a clear language barrier for Ava once she’s on the hunt in the Caribbean, but film seemed to address it whenever it wanted in the sense that when:
Ava talks to the locals in English and they don’t understand her.
Or Ava talks to the locals in English and they do understand her but still talk in their common tongue.
There’s moments where Ava randomly talks in the local’s language, letting us know that she can speak it, but only when she wants to.
This happened a lot and was confusing and annoying as the film didn’t properly indicate to what extent that ava could speak or understand the language and vice versa for the people she encountered other people. And while the plot a little extra meat than expected in terms of the overall story it was a little nonsensical for my liking.
But let’s move away from the story and onto the cast. Firstly there’s Gina Carano as Ava who I liked a lot, now while som her emotional material could have used some work, you could see that she was at least trying and where she did succeed was in being a badass. She commanded the screen and had a magnetic presence when fighting or intimidating her enemies, and it also has to be said that she was gorgeous! 😛 I love Luis Guzmán and he had a pretty interesting role to play as Chief Ramón Garza, Cam Gigandet was alright but kind of plain as Derek Grant, Ismael Cruz Cordovawas kind of good as Manny, I also quite liked Amaury Nolasco as Silvio Lugo, and while it was fun to see Danny Trejo as Big Biz he wasn’t in the film nearly as much as he could have been.
When it comes to the action this was where the film shined. While the film wasn’t sure shot as well as it could have been for the fight scenes, overall there were some pretty cool displays of hand to hand combat and firefights which were nicely choreographed and violent.
In conclusion In the Blood was a fun little action film and proves that I’ll watch Gina Carano beat people up in any film, and while the story and script were a little generic and silly, it was servicable. 🙂
So have your seen In the Blood and if so what did you think of it? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next episode, laters! 😀
Howdy ladies and gents, how’s it going? Today is a special day as it marks 43 years since the death of Bruce Lee, and for those who aren’t in the know Lee is one of the most notable/influential individuals when it comes to martial arts, physical fitness and being an actor in the martial arts film genre. And for the longest time I’ve wanted to review one of his films on this blog and considering the occasion I thought I’d review one of my all-time favourite films; Enter the Dragon. Minor spoilers to follow…
The storycan be described as the following:
“Enter the Dragon revolves around the three main characters. Lee, a man recruited by an agency to investigate a tournament hosted by Han, since they believe he has an Opium trade there. It is a deadly tournament that they will enter on an island. Lee’s job is to get the other two out of there alive.”
What I love about this film is it’s sense of style, tone and genre. This is a martial arts film first and foremost but it also has elements of the spy genre implemented into it, and at certain points it really feels like a James Bond film, and while some may say that the story feels like a Bond knock off, I actually enjoyed the spy elements as it made the film feel unique and different from other martial arts films of that time period. Plus their’s a nice simplicity the overall story, but there’s minor details that enhance the flesh out the world and characters like: 1) Han’s connection to the shaolin temple. 2) Roper and William’s flashbacks that helps establish their motivations for entering the tournament. And 3) Learning about Lee’s sister and how she ties back to Han’s main bodyguard.
As for the cast they are all very interesting and memorable, but let’s start with the man of the hour, Bruce Lee as Lee. Lee essentially is playing himself, but that’s fine as this film is not only a good representation of him as his real persona, but it also allows him to show off his acting skills which are much better than his previous roles. It also helps that Lee does a lot of his best work on-screen with his facial expressions and form perfect action moves. I also really loved John Saxon as Roper, he was very humourous, cheeky and reminds me a lot of Bruce Campbell for some reason haha. I also really enjoyed Jim Kelly as Williams who was the definition of smooth with his lovely voice, relaxed body language and charm. Shih Kien as Han (voice dubbed by Keye Luke) was a very enjoyable villain who was cunning and perceptive. Also Ahna Capri was very pretty and stylish as Tania, Bob Wall was also strangly enjoyable as O’Hara and finally Angela Mao was really cool and cute as Su Lin.
When it comes to the presentation is one of the key aspects that I love! Visually the film is great, there is so much awesome martial arts action going on from not only Bruce Lee, but also some of the main and secondary cast members, and it is awesome. There are some nice punches and kicks, grapples and throws, use of weapons and cool killing moves, and why I like it so much over the years is due to the style and charisma put into every move. And it also helps that it is all presented with good cinematography with a mixture of wide, medium and POV camera shots that are edited well and really helps see the action from all angles. I also love the use of the old school sound effects that really make those hits sound good memorable both in a hard-hitting and admittedly funny way too. Oh and the film score from Lalo Schifrin is incredible, and while some may be turned off by the 70’s infused sound it definitely feels right and has such a gorgeous and funky sound, and of course the “Theme from Enter the Dragon” is totally classic and badass!
However the film’s not perfect, some of the sound effects are off with the timing and the level of impact doesn’t always sound great. Also as much as I like the choreography some of the moves are a bit over the top and unrealistic. The plot as well could have used a bit of tweaking with some additional scenes to help explain a few details, and finally as a film from the 70’s the film’s age definitely shows and considering how fast, tight, chaotic and ambitious martial arts films have become over the years this film may across as a bit tame.
In the end Enter the Dragon is just cool as hell and is a classic in the genre of martial arts films, and it certainly has started to show its age, I believe in holds up with due to a charismatic protagonist, kick ass martial arts, interesting plot and wonderful soundtrack. Unless you’re a fan of this genre then you really aren’t aware of how instrumental this film was to the martial arts genre and I feel like there wouldn’t be Raid films or the subsequent action stars without this film’s existence.
Rating: 8/10
So have you seen Enter the Dragon and if so what do you think of it? Please be sure to comment below and I’ll see ya on the next review, laters! 😀
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