Howdy ladies and gents, time for another quick review and today I’m talking about Dead Man Down. Now, this is one of the many films that’s been on my watchlist on Amazon Video for AGES, and since I wanted to watch a film that wasn’t too long, but was also on the overdue section of my watchlist I decided to give this film a watch. So is this film a good watch or not? Well read on and find out! đ
The plot can be summed up as the following: “In New York City, a crime lord’s right-hand man is helped by a woman seeking retribution.“
Now I don’t want to say too much about the plot in the summary above, so just check out the trailer below if you want any additional information. I watched this film completely blind and I thought this film was fun, but not too captivating throughout. If you have seen any thriller with a revenge plot then you’ve experienced a lot of these story elements before, and at first, you’re intrigued by the main character and his ties these criminals and this mysterious woman. That being said, certain things start out a little slow and there seemed to be a few moving parts to story that I wasn’t sure how they’d serve the main story. However, once some plot twists and revelations come to light the picks up and gets quite exciting. While some plot points play out as you’d expect, there were some minor aspects that turned out differently than I expected which was nice. One of the things that elevate the film is the cast, firstly there’s Colin Farrell as Victor, he doesn’t talk much especially early on, however, as the film goes on we get to learn more about him and understand his motivations, and it also helps that Farrell can be intimidating and likeable. Noomi Rapace as Beatrice is also really good, she’s a woman deeply affected by an accident that left her physically and mentally scarred and at first, it was interesting to learn about her backstory and how she tied to current events of the plot, and Rapace is so charming, strong and cute in this role, and I think this is the most attracted I’ve been to her as an actress so far. Farrell and Rapace have solid and cute chemistry together. Also, Dominic Cooper is good as Darcy, I liked his connection to Victor and how he played detective to find out the truth of an important death earlier on. Also, Terrence Howard did play a decent villain in the form of as Alphonse Hoyt, he’s smooth yet aggressive and has some great moments to chew scenery and in some ways, this character feels like a precursor to his role in Empire. And finally, Isabelle Huppert as Beatrice’s mother Maman was nice, offering light-hearted and subtle moments of drama with her daughter. Visually the film is pretty good. It felt like there was a strong sense of direction when it came to the action as it was shot and framed well, had some nice violence and gunfights, and the final action sequence in a house was pretty damn cool. Also, the film score from Jacob Groth was good and had some lovely dramatic and emotional moments. In conclusion, Dead Man Down was a decent film, it wasn’t overly original and was a little slow and predictable at points, the performances, style, action and latter half of the film kept me engaged.
So have you seen Dead Man Down and if so what did you think of it? Leave your thoughts in the comments below and I’ll see ya in the next review, laters! đ
Good day to you ladies and gentlemen and welcome to another film review and today’s review will be on the latest science fiction film Prometheus. Now unlike most of my usual reviews this oe will be a much more condensed block of writing unlike my usual writing style.
There was a lot of talk, speculation and hype behind this film before its release. So is it good? Read on to hear my thoughts on it.
So here we are in June with the release of Prometheus, the latest film from Ridley Scott that sees him return to genre of science fiction to give a film on a grand scale that promises great sci-fi elements, action, potential horror and violence thanks to its 15 film certificate. Much hype was floating around this film because of the viral campaign, massive advertising and most importantly the hype surrounding this films connection to the Alien franchise as a potential prequel to the original film or not.
Now I’ve already placed this film as my fourth favourite film of the year and have given a decent mini review of what I thought of the film in a recent blog post about my top 5 films of 2012. ut for those wanting some extra clarification I’ll try to elaborate. As I said before Prometheus came out there was much hype, I can recall when the teaser trailer came out back in December of 2011 and I’m sure that in many places of the internet the world blew up. After that point everyone was talking about Prometheus, like it was going to be the film of the year or something. Even before that teaser trailer was released, nuff people were talking about this film on websites and in film magazines, just loads of places talking about Prometheus and before December I can’t say I was very much interested, thought I did keep a sneaky eye on updates on the film every now and then. But then I watched the teaser trailer and said to myselfâOkay this film is worth my time.â And from that point onwards I followed everything and every subsequent trailer got me more and more excited. The main reason I was interested in this film was because I wanted to know much of connection this film would be to the first Alien film, but hearing Ridley Scott be so coy about the subject in interviews was kind of annoying. So I just decided to stay open-minded about the subject.
So story of Prometheus in a summarised fashion goes a little something like this:
” A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.”
For me I thought the film was pretty good, though I was a tad conflicted at the time of leaving the cinema as to whether I really liked the film or not. about the way I think about the film. The story is a good for the most part, but unfortunately it’s a bit predictable and once the mystery unfolds some of the generic codes and conventions of the science fiction and horror genres become apparent. It also doesn’t help that the film also suffers from a cast of one-dimensional characters, a lot the people in this film you know are just there to die in some way done the line. Luckily there are three decent performances from Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace and Idris Elba. Though in truth the only standout performance and main person you care about is Michael Fassbender as David, he was incredible, versatile and the main thing that kept this film afloat. Oh and before I forget I have to give a shout out has to go out to Idris Elba as Captain Janek, he was just this cool, calm and collected character who just did his job but was also hella funny and a right badass who I enjoyed watching in the film too.
There was a lot of good stuff to be found in Prometheus, for one it was a great-looking film, with a great atmosphere created by the CGI and visual style, it also had action and some nice gruesome scenes of violence. However the film lacked the creepy and disturbing nature present in the 1979 Alien film, plus there wasnât any proper scares, suspense or surprise. The film was a little predictable and some of the characters were dull and uninspired, you just knew that a good number of them would die. Now as a film that takes place in the same universe as Alien it has a lot of notable references here and there, but it should be noted that the film technically isn’t a direct prequel to Alien it just has elements of it sprinkled all over the place. Overall I think Prometheus a good film that looks incredible from a visual standpoint and features some great scenes of action and gruesome stuff, but it has issues with its story and some very uninteresting and predictable characters (bar the people I mentioned specifically beforehand). Though I think the worst thing for Prometheus was the fact that the hype was too high, lots of people expected far too much and thatâs why I think not too many people came away happy with the end result. But again do not let that deter you from watching the film, go watch Prometheus, it’s a good summer film, just lower your expectations and you’ll be fine.
Well that’s my thoughts on the film in a smaller format, if you want to know everything I thought about Prometheus then check my video review below:
At first I was just curious about this film and was just keeping track of its progress from a distance, but now my this film is really intriguing me and I really want to see it, the film in question being Prometheus, the new film from Ridley Scott.
Now as I said before, at the time this film was announced I was only partially interested because the concept of the film sounded cool, plus Ridley Scott was attached to the project, but beyond that this film wasn’t on my radar at all. Prometheus first started out as another film in the series of Alien films, a series of sci-fi films that Ridley Scott helped create by making Alien in 1979. While this did sound like an interesting concept I think a lot of people just wanted the franchise to be left alone especially after the Alien Vs. Predator films. I don’t think it was until Ridley Scott was attached the project in 2008 that people started to pay attention and though that this film might be good because it’s being directed by the man who basically established the franchise. The project couldn’t be in safer hands right?
So there was a lot of talk and happenings in 2009 about the then unnamed upcoming Alien film. Firstly Fox studio stated that this film would be a reboot to the Alien franchise, then it became a prequel to be set 30 years prior to Alien but the original alien creature wouldn’t be in it and neither would Sigourney Weaver’s character Ellen Ripley. Fox also gave a little more information about the context of the film saying that it would involve discovery and the origins of an alien race of the space jockey. Then there were a load of different things that happened to the film during its developement like Ridley Scott becoming the director, to the film having a script revised that contested Scott’s original budget plan, so he had to reduce it so that it would be in line with 20th Century Fox’s budget. In 2010 the film finally got a tentative title under the name “Paradise”. In April Scott confirmed that the film would be shot in 3D and that he wanted to make two Alien prequel films, also by November of that year the film had gone into production according to visual FX designer Henry South.
In January 2011 the film got its official name Prometheus and scheduled to be coming out in 2012. It was also at this point when Ridley Scott started tone down the connection of this film to the Alien franchise saying “while Alien was indeed the jumping-off point for this project, out of the creative process evolved a new, grand mythology and universe in which this original story takes place. The keen fan will recognize strands of Alien’s DNA, so to speak, but the ideas tackled in this film are unique, large and provocative.” Some fans however didn’t take kindly to the fact that the film had been set up in a lot of ways as an Alien prequel but now was being downplayed as if the connections didn’t existence at all when they were clearly there. In June and July 2011 we got more information about the setting of Prometheus, we were told that the film takes place in the same universe as Alien and Damon Lindelof stated “a true prequel should essentially proceed [sic] the events of the original film, but be about something entirely different, feature different characters, have an entirely different theme, although it takes place in that same world.” So he and Scott were really adamant that Prometheus would be able work on its own as a film with elements of the Alien films within it, but not as a direct prequel to the first Alien film. Filming for this film begun in March 2011 and continued for several months until August when the film had gone into post-production. In December 2011 the film had undergone some additional dialogue recording and it was stated by Scott that the film would be edited into two versions; a PG-13 cut and a R-rated cut submitted to Fox when the film is finalized.
Last December we got our first look at Prometheus in a teaser trailer and man it was pretty impressive. Straight from the outset it established itself with that same creepy vibe you got from the first Alien film. During the one-minute teaser we are treated to some fast-cut editing, many different scenes of action, chaos, destruction and people in danger and some distorted audio used on someone talking off-screen in the beginning, But the most intriguing part was when the lines started appearing on the screen that started to spell out the name of the film, the same way it was done in the first Alien. If that wasn’t a clear sign that this film was connected to the original Alien film then I don’t know what is. Either way it was pretty cool, interesting and creepy in atmosphere. At the time the film had my interest, but not my full attention…
Man I thought the first trailer for Prometheus was cool, but this trailer kicks the crap out of the last one and it genuinely has me excited for the film. From being vaguely interested to being highly excited doesn’t happen to most films I’m interested in, but in the case of Prometheus it did and my summer has just become that much more interesting. Now with The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Dark Knight Rises and Men In Black 3 all on my list for summer films I can now add Prometheus to the list too, June 8th couldn’t come any sooner.
Howdy ladies and gentlemen, in this blog post I’m going to give you my review of the second Sherlock Holmes film from Guy Richie; Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.
So the story of the film is an easy one to follow, basically we have Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson having to join forces again to take down their most calculating adversary, Professor Moriarty. The story in this film for me is a lot interesting than the first film because the characters in this sequel the characters are much more interesting and involved in the plot than before. Even some of the secondary cast lend themselves to the story in a great way. There is also a greater sense of danger and urgency in this film then there was in the last film and that is something I always love in sequels; having greater stakes and a deeper story for the audience to get invested in. It has been argued by some that the story is a lot further from the original source material and because of that the film has faults with the story and its characters. Overall I thought this story was pretty impressive, although I wish the writers had dived a little deeper into the darker areas of the film which would have made the characters and plot a lot better. But for the most part Sherlock Holmes 2 has a great story worth telling.
When it comes to the characters Robert Downey, Jr. as always is just incredible as Holmes, he is funny, complicated and a very strange man, but he does have a brilliant mind and the way in which he figures things out is nothing short of astounding. Holmes is also very similar to how he was in the first film, but I think this film takes him into deeper emotional territory than the before. At first I thought Holmes was an invincible smart man who couldnât be touched but this film shows he can be hurt, physically and mentally and even the great Sherlock Holmes can get things wrong sometimes and I really liked that. When it comes to Watson, Jude Law is simply wonderful, he is the stern, yet fair friend of Holmes who brings his own level of smarts, wit and charm to the film. Even as he gets married and his life changes with his new wife we see that he still is the same man he was in the first film and like Holmes he goes though some emotional episodes that makes Watson all the better for it. Together throughout the journey of this film Holmes and Watson find that they need each other, that their bond extends further than just their journeys together, that for all the dysfunctional aspects of their relationship and all the problems that Holmes usually causes Watson in the end they really do need each other and itâs that bond that is one of the most powerful aspects of the film.
The other powerful character that completes the film is Jared Harris as Moriarty, as the antagonist he gives a much more memorable performance than Mark Strong’s villain in the last film. Unlike Strongâs character, Harrisâ actually has a presence. Moriarty is one of those sort of villains that doesnât act like one out in the open and operates behind the shadows while having a very different persona to the public as a cover. And as charming as he is, when his calculating villainy side comes out and his cruel side becomes apparent you realise heâs a force to be dealt with. He’s definitely not the type of guy you’d want to meet in a back alley at night. And the way in which Moriarty and Holmes interact is just incredible, they’re both incredibly smart and are constantly trying to outwit each other. Also Noomi Rapace is good as Simza, though I believe her character was incredibly underused and wasnât in the film as much as I thought she’d be which was disappointing, but for what she did contribute to the film it was pretty good. The same can be said for Rachel McAdams and Kelly Reilly who reprise their roles as Irene Adler and Mary Morstan/Watson. And lastly but by no means least a special mention has to be given to Stephen Fry as Mycroft Holmes, he was just incredible in the film, he was witty, funny and just larger than life, he had much more of a role than I thought he would, but every scene he was in he was very memorable. As usual Stephen Fry delivers.
Now when it comes to the action sequences this film does not disappoint. From the fights, to the chase sequences and everything in-between everything is on a much higher level than before. Everything is on a much bigger and better scale than the last film; Holmesâ fights are even more interestingly choreographed than before, the gun fights are on a better scale and with all of the different locations in the film all of them introduce interesting scenarios and scenes of thrills, tension and adventure. And like the previous film Hans Zimmer returns to compose the soundtrack and itâs just a good as it was in the previous film, possibly better due to the darker nature of this film. Either way Hans Zimmer continues to be invincible and cannot do any wrong.
Conclusion
Overall Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is a great follow-up to the first film and in a lot of ways is much better than its predecessor. The pacing is a lot better and with a much deeper plot, good character development, a much better villain and incredible action sequences this is definitely a film worth checking out. Director Guy Ritchie and his filmmaking team have taken what has worked in the first film and re-applied it in this film on a much bigger scale and I feel they should be commended for it. A lot of film critics and audience members have given this film bad reviews stating that itâs not as good as the original or stating that the film doesnât do enough to differentiate itself from the first film. And while some of that may be true and there were issues and elements that this sequel didnât fully commit to, overall the film isnât nearly as bad as many people make it out to be. It is a well-made film with action, story and its fairly intelligent too. It’s not perfect but I still enjoyed it immensely and will probably be seeing again very soon.
The Hypersonic55's Realm of Reviews and Other Stuff 