Double Review: Bad Boys For Life & 1917

Howdy ladies and gentlemen of the internet, yeah I’m still alive haha. Today I am here to share my thoughts on both Bad Boys For Life and 1917 via my podcast Film Focus.

On episode 97 of Film Focus, I’ve got a double film review for Bad Boys For Life and 1917. Now I was initially going to do separate reviews for both but decided to put them together in the same episode as it’d be an interesting balance between something fun and something serious. Both films left me with thought I just had to share, so how did these films fare? Well, listen to this episode for some spoiler-free thoughts on both films! 😀

Timecodes:

02:24 Bad Boys For Life Review
14:32 1917 Review

Anyway here’s the review:

If you haven’t checked out my podcast before you can find it here: https://soundcloud.com/film_focus

So have you seen Bad Boys For Life and 1917 and if so what did you think of it? Drop your thoughts in the comments section below and I’ll see ya in the next review, laters! 😀

 

Gemini Man Review

Howdy ladies and gentlemen of the internet, I’m here with another review and though I’m a little later than I had hoped, I finally have time to share my with you my thoughts on Gemini Man via my podcast Film Focus.

On this episode of Film Focus, I get to talk about the latest film from Ang Lee starring Will Smith; Gemini Man. Now I have been following this film for a while and while the trailers didn’t blow me away, I was at least intrigued enough to see what the full film would be like. So is the film good or not? Well, check out this spoiler-free review to find out.

Anyway here’s the review:

If you haven’t checked out my podcast before you can find it here: https://soundcloud.com/film_focus

So have you seen Gemini Man and if so what did you think of it? Drop your thoughts in the comments section below and I’ll see ya in the next review, laters! 😀

 

ONE PARAGRAPH REVIEW: Collateral Beauty

Now this was a film I was super excited about way back when the first set pictures were released with Will Smith and Helen Mirren, I was just giddy and intrigued to see another dramatic film with Smith and the incredible cast… However, I saw the trailer, and I wasn’t impressed, in fact I was underwhelmed. And then, when I found out the actual premise of the film online and how it was different from what the trailers was selling you, I was quite annoyed. So I felt like I was going to skip the film after the mixed reception I saw from the US release, but I thought “Screw it, let’s give it a shot.”

The plot can be summed up as the following: “Retreating from life after a tragedy, a man questions the universe by writing to Love, Time and Death. Receiving unexpected answers, he begins to see how these things interlock and how even loss can reveal moments of meaning and beauty.” Now I heard this film was either underwhelming or just downright bad (especially from what I’ve recently read online), so I expected the worst, but I walked out of the film liking it more than I expected. I feel like this film had some interesting elements with the story and characters, but the execution was messy and questionable. Mourning the death of a loved one is something we all deal with in different ways, some harder than others, and I felt for Howard played by Will Smith, and could understand the difficult situation that he put his co-workers/friends in. However what Whit (Edward Norton), Claire (Kate Winslet) and Simon (Michael Peña) do in this film to their supposed friend is some of the most crafty and terrible things you could do to someone who is grieving. I would have liked more a focus on Howard and less on his coworkers lives because I feel like they took the focus away from Howard which was the most interesting part of the film. At several points I questioned the moral and ethical integrity of the people in this film, and while the film tries to present both sides of the argument for why certain plot elements transpire in the way that they do, and some people do present some logic as to how and why what these people are doing to Howard is wrong, its like the characters just give in and you as the audience still don’t buy into it because at the end of the day what Howard and his coworkers did was still wrong. I feel like the performances from the cast ranged from good to questionable, I liked Kate Winslet as Claire and Michael Peña as Simon I tought was good with the dramatic material, Edward Norton had some bad material to work with as Whit, while Keira Knightley as Aimee/”Love”, Jacob Latimore as Raffi/”Time” and Helen Mirren as Brigitte/”Death” did fare better in their roles though Knightley had some questionable scenes too. The best material comes from Will Smith as Howard, Smith delivers a performance that mainly relies on his physicality, facial expressions and little dialogue, but he was really good and his dramatic chops were put to good use in my opinion. And finally Naomie Harris as Madeleine was also quite good, I predicted how she would factor in the film early on, but she was one of the better actors in this film and her scenes were quite engaging. In conclusion Collateral Beauty was not the train wreck I expected and there were small moments of drama and emotional material that worked for me, but is a film that was predictable, had too many convenient moments and feels morally and ethically wrong with a conclusion that doesn’t feel entirely earned, but I didn’t hate the film so it wasn’t a complete waste of time.

So have you seen Collateral Beauty and if so what do you think of it? Be sure to leave your thoughts on the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next review, laters! 😀

 

EPIC REVIEW: Suicide Squad

Hey there ladies and gents, time for another new review and today I’ll be talking about one of my most anticipated films of 2016 which I saw around an ago; Suicide Squad. Now for those not aware I’ve been hyped for this film since the first Comic-Con trailer, the choice of director, cast and overall marketing just made me believe that this was gonna be the DC film for me, and more so than Batman V Superman, this was the film that I had most hope for in terms of expanding the DC cinematic universe. Now unless you’ve been away from the internet then you must be aware of all the negative reviews this film has gained over the last few days, and even though I caught glimpses of it, I decided to steer clear of those reviews and see it for myself. So I watched the earliest screening in my cinema, now I’m here, and well, here’s the thing, Suicide Squad, it’s not bad, but was not the amazing film I wanted it to be.

The story can be described as the following:

“A secret government agency led by Amanda Waller recruits imprisoned supervillains to execute dangerous black ops missions and save the world from a powerful threat in exchange for clemency.“

This story had some interesting elements with the formation of the villain squad and some of their individual stories, but the plot felt a little muddled and could have been a lot simpler and more streamlined. The problems begin with the story as I felt like there was a few too many moving pieces, not that it was hard to follow, more so there were a few side/sub plots that could have been shortened or gotten rid of altogether. Also the flow of the story felt off with some pacing issues and oddly edited scenes. And the overall plot was fine, but it had several elements that I’d seen in other comic books films, but not in a good way, plus I was kind of hoping for a film that was on a smaller scale and while this story was smaller than the last two DC films, at the same time it felt like it was reaching further to a global scale and that was unnecessary.

Now let’s talk about the cast, they may be the best part about the whole film, though this ensemble cast are not properly balanced, and some get way more screen time and character development than others. Let’s start with the top-tier characters with Will Smith as Deadshot, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flagg and Jared Leto as The Joker. Smith was on-point, he was funny, charismatic, mean and commanding, pretty much all the reasons you like the actor and I liked what he did as Deadshot, but I felt like his character got the most screen time and character development, and some of his scenes could have been cut to give more fleshing out time to other characters. Robbie was solid as Harley Quinn, there was that right balance of playfulness, craziness and sexiness, and while I wasn’t keen on some of the backstory, the overly sexual costume and personality traits, Harley was still a lot of fun. Davis was my favourite as Amanda Waller, she was a no-nonsense, ruthless and intimidating individual and Davis brought her A-game. And Kinnaman, while I didn’t care too much about his character, this was one of the better roles I’ve liked him in. Then there’s the slightly lower tier of the cast. Jai Courtney and Jay Hernandez brought some interesting flavour to the film as Boomerang and El Diablo, Courtney was fun, hilarious and crazy, while Hernandez brought a cool seriousness to his character and ended up being one of my favourite people. And Cara Delevingne as Enchantress, I kind of liked her but at the same time her performance and character fluctuated between me liking and disliking her. As for everyone else they either alright or just there, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Croc was alright but we barely got to know him and he didn’t say or do too much, and finally Karen Fukuhara as Katana severely underutilized and had some cool minor character detailed, but she was wasted and it pissed me off because it felt almost as bad as what X-Men: Apocalypse did with Jubilee.

When it comes to the presentation I wasn’t very impressed with this film. Visually the film had some decent moments with the action sequences, use of colour and CGI, but I wasn’t keen on how some of the scenes were framed, the action sequences were alright but lacked the right kind of choreography and cinematography to make them stand out, some of the lighting and editing was off and the CGI was iffy from time to time. Maybe I’m being a little harsh, but the visual material is one of the key elements I look forward to in any comic book adapted film and this film just didn’t have the wow factor. Also on the audio side of things the film score by Steven Price was a little bland and did nothing to amplify what was happening on-screen, plus there felt like there was an overabundance of music put in this film, and while I’m not against the use of popular music in films, at the same time it felt distracting and placed all over the film for the sake of it. Oh and finally, I dunno if it was just me but the sound effects really lacked impact especially when it came to the gunfire and characters getting smacked on the ground or into walls.

In the end Suicide Squad is not a terrible film, it’s certainly not Fan4stic or X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but I wanted to love this film so badly and it pains me that another one of these non-Batman films from DC has ended up not being a complete success considering the talent involved. I feel like this will be another polarizing film, but for the sake of your curiosity/sanity, give this film a watch and decide for yourselves.

So are you going to watch Suicide Squad and if you’ve seen it, pass on your thoughts in the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next review, laters! 😀

 

QUICK REVIEW: Concussion

Good day to you ladies and gents time for another film review and today I’ll be talking about Concussion. After so much time of waiting I got to watch it last night after a long day at work, and I’m glad to be finally talking about this film because I’ve been looking forward to it for so long.

The story can be described as the following:

“In Pittsburgh, accomplished pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu uncovers the truth about brain damage in football players who suffer repeated concussions in the course of normal play.”

What this film did well was to illustrate the dangers of playing American football and show the long-term psychological effects it could have on the players, through Dr. Bennet Omalu’s research and conversations with various other important figures, the informed and engaged you about the game of football and really helped create a compelling, disturbing and dramatic look at the brain damage that players went through. Another element that worked well in the film’s favour was the NFL’s attack on Omalu, it was intriguing to see such a massive company go out of their way to discredit and ruin the man’s career because his research could expose their negligence when it came to the safety of their players. There was also a heavy focus on Omalu’s personal life and while certain elements were interesting, I felt like the focus should have been more on the NFL’s side of things and his battle with them. If this film had struck a balance between Omalu’s life and the NFL’s dealings with him with a more conspiracy and emotional material then this story could have been so much more.

The cast was great across the board with a fabulous central performance from Will Smith as Dr.Bennet Omalu. I thought that the accent would be distracting, but after a while I really got into it and for a good 80% to 90% of the film I didn’t see Smith and saw Omalu, and I have to give it to Smith for committing to this role, giving us the great dramatic material that he’s known for, but also giving us I think the most subdued performance he’s done for a long time. Albert Brooks and Alec Baldwin both provide some really great performances as Dr. Cyril Wecht and Dr. Julian Bailes. Gugu Mbatha-Raw was also great as Prema Mutiso, and if was great to see Eddie Marsan as Dr. Steven DeKosky as well. And finally David Morse as Mike Webster, such a great performance from him, this character was pretty pivotal to the film and Morse played him with such dramatic flair and sensitivity.

In conclusion Concussion was a pretty solid film with an interesting story and some excellent performances from everyone involved especially Will Smith, unfortunately I feel like there was some missed opportunities to dive deeper into CTE issue with other players and how the NFL had to deal with the issue once it became more recognisable. The film was still solid and deserves to be seen for the story and performances.

Rating: 7.5/10

So have you seen Concussion and if so what did you think of it? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below and I’ll see you on the next review, laters! 😀

 

QUICK REVIEW: Suicide Squad Trailer #2

Howdy ladies and gents, time for another one of those trailer reviews and today I’m here to talk about the newest trailer for Suicide Squad. Now I’m pretty sure I did a review for the first trailer last year, but according to my archives I didn’t. I really enjoyed the first trailer and since then my interest in the film has only increased, the new posters were cool, but I was just waiting for the new trailer and later on it was dropped.

So here’s the trailer below:

Now I only got to see this trailer just before I got to go to work around 10am today and I was impressed. This trailer has a nice sense of personality and charm, and while we don’t get too many new details when it comes to the story, we do learn a few more details like:

1. The fact that we see the villains taken from jail to another undisclosed location and drafted into a team.
2. We see more individual moments from the members of the squad.
3. And we start to see some hints as to what the squad will be up against.

This trailer is all about Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, I just love this girl’s enthusiasm, personality and timing for humour through her strange personality. Robbie just steals the spotlight and it’s not just because of how gorgeous she is in her costume, but more so because she has some of the best dialogue and scenes. Just behind her was Jared Leto as the Joker, while this trailer doesn’t show much more than before, it did allow us hear him speak and laugh and illustrate this new interpretation of madness. It remains to be seen whether he’ll be a super memorable Joker when compared to what’s come before, but I’m sure he’ll be great. I really enjoyed seeing more of the characters Deadshot, Enchantress and her creepy smoke aura, and more moments of Rick Flag and Captain Boomerang (who looks pretty funny as played by Jai Courtney). And it also helps that the trailer included “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen, besides “Don’t Stop Me Now“, this is one of the most popular of Queen songs and it was well interrogated into the trailer with specific scenes and moments. And while I don’t need famous songs in trailers, this was one of the better ones with the action cut to the music which amplified the visuals.

To conclude Suicide Squad looks like a lot of fun, and this new trailer only increases my excitement. Now It’s probably not in the high-end of my most anticipated films of 2016, but it’s very charismatic, colourful, action-packed and humourous. The film could be okay, but I’m hoping it’ll be much more than that and help launch the DC cinematic universe beyond Batman V Superman and the upcoming Justice League and Wonder Woman films.

So have you seen the second trailer for Suicide Squad and if so what do you think of it? Are you more or less excited than before? Be sure to drop me a comment and I’ll see ya on the next review! 🙂

 

QUICK REVIEW: Bomba Estéreo & Will Smith – Fiesta (Remix)

Howdy people of the interweb, time for a music review and today I’m gonna do a song review for the recent release of “Fiesta (Remix)” by Bomba Estéreo & Will Smith. Obviously the news of this song’s existence and official release has been out for a few days, but I couldn’t sit around and not about it considering how big of a Will Smith fan I am. So I’m just gonna give my quick impressions on it.

Check out the song below:

So what were my thoughts on this song after hearing it for the first time? Well I was pretty much like, “Fuck yes, Will Smith still sounds awesome, I want more.” The fact of the matter is that this is primarily just another modern EDM track that just happens to feature Will Smith rapping for the first time in 10 YEARS! And he still sounds awesome. For me that is reason enough to celebrate this song’s existence.

This collaboration I did not expect at all and while its Bomba Estéreo’s song, it’s Smith’s contribution that makes it special. Smith raps like he never lost a step, the guy’s aggressive, stylish and sounds like he’s having fun on the track. He’s main verse makes me so happy, it just sounds like Smith never left the world of music and the fact that he raps both in english and spanish just makes him even cooler. OH and Will Smith says “shit”, and loads of people are freaking out about it. The reason its a big deal is because Smith has never swore in his songs (besides “Tell Me Why” where the “fuck” in bleeped out), but all I have to say is that times have changed and if Smith wants to say a swear or two then let him. With EDM songs I can go either way, some of it I absolutely love for the beats, rhythms and layering, and the way it makes me want to dance. On the other hand some of it makes me sick as its so repetitive, lacking in originality and sounds like noise more so music. This falls into the former category. The has a lovely opening guitar riff, has good layering and some fist bumping beats.

If you couldn’t tell already I’m a massive Will Smith fan, I grew up with him as both a rapper and actor, and some of today’s kids won’t know or appreciate why Smith is such a big deal, but for everyone who knows about his work back in the late 80’s, 90’s and early 00’s he is still a big deal. For me and a lot of other fans across the world, we’ve been wanting Smith to get back to rap for AGES, there’s been rumours and talk of the guy getting back in the studio, but nothing solid has come out of that. But to hear him rapping, even if it’s just a cameo appearance on another person’s song is enough. Now I know I want more, and I need more and I’m sure many other fans would be inclined to agree with me. And with there now be talk of Smith recording new music and planning a world tour, his comeback couldn’t come any sooner.

In conclusion “Fiesta (Remix)” by Bomba Estéreo and Will Smith is a pretty good jam. Besides having a nice sound, Smith’s rapping is on-point and gives me hope for the future. Some may argue that Will’s too old to be rapping again or just don’t care about him, but to them I say go away and let us fans revel in the fact that we have our man back in the world of music.

So what do you think of this song? Is it your cup of tea and do you welcome this a return to rap for Will Smith or not? Whatever your thoughts are leave me a comment below and be sure to come back next time for another song review yo! 😀

 

QUICK REVIEW: Six Degrees of Separation

Howdy ladies and gents time for a quick film review and no it’s not relating to a new film, mainly because I haven’t seen any as of recent, no today I’m going to be talking about Six Degrees of Separation. As a big fan of Will Smith I have heard on numerous occasions that this was the film that made people take him seriously as an actor after his introduction to the world as a comedic presence in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Now this is a film I have been meaning to see for years, but just haven’t found the time to watch it, however, after a night out last week Monday I decided to watch it the day afer and I wanted to give my thoughts on it.

The story can be described as the following:

“An affluent New York couple find their lives touched, intruded upon, and compelled by a mysterious young black man who is never quite who he says he is.”

The annoying thing about this film is that there is no simple way to talk about it, there are so many layers to the story and even when you try to summarise it, there are so many details that you could be leaving out. I found it intriguing how one person could enter the lives of so many people, charm them, be disruptive and then leave, it is so strange and yet so engaging when you see the affected parties treat their individual situations. At first the film confused me because of the quick cut nature of the editing between scenes when dealing with the non-linear nature of the plot, but after a while you adjust to the film’s style and it really becomes fun to watch. I love the way this film looks at human interaction through family, friends, social circles and even strangers and through certain events you could be connected. For me, I just found the overall story and its themes very fascinating and informative, so much so that I just had to look it up online and find out more information about it. It has been a very long time since a film has stayed in my head so strongly after my viewing and left me was so many questions that needed answering.

As for the cast they are all wonderful. Stockard Channing as Ouisa Kittredge was fabulous. Channing acts with such passion, force and humour, I like how her character has a very specific perspective on life, however after Paul comes into play, things start to gradually change and its interesting to see how she reacts to people and Paul in the latter half of the film. Donald Sutherland as Flan Kittredge was great, it is interesting to see him playing a humourous, worrisome, aggressive and yet sophisticated individual who has a sense of pride and see how he changes once Paul comes into play. The biggest revelation was Will Smith as Paul. Smith has always engaged viewers with his charm, charisma and wit, and he brings that into this film, but here Smith also offers deeper and darker emotions that I hadn’t seen from him before, as Paul he was funny and warm, but he was also deceptive, mysterious, a little creepy and vulnerable. Some of the monologues Paul talks about are so engaging that you could honestly just spend time discussing those segments alone because of the subject matter and how well Smith commits to them. The rest of the cast was good but the only other people I recalled from the film were Ian McKellen as Geoffrey Miller who was delightful, Heather Graham who was really good as Elizabeth, Eric Thal as Rick, and a young J. J. Abrams who appeared as Doug and gave a really good performance in his role and has one of the most memorable scenes involving a certain funny phone conversation. 😛

In conclusion Six Degrees of Separation is a really interesting, humourous and thought-provoking film that has an insightful and lovely narrative and features some really great performances from the main cast members. I wish I could do the film more justice in this review, but I don’t think I have the best analytical skills or comprehensive knowledge of the english language to talk about it in a fancy way. Best that I can do is to tell you to view the film for yourself, it is a really good watch and will definitely leave you thinking after it ends.

Rating: 8/10

So have you seen Six Degrees of Separation and if so what did you think of it? Be sure to comment below and I’ll see ya on the next review, laters! 😀

 

QUICK REVIEW: Concussion Trailer #1

Good day to you ladies and gents time for my first trailer review in ages and today I’ll be talking about a film I’ve been wanting to see more from for a while now, Concussion.

Check out the trailer below:

So my thoughts after seeing trailer? I’m down, I like it.

This is a film I’ve been following for a while now since the initial premise was put online, but since there wasn’t nearly as much attention on this film as there was Will Smith’s last film, Focus, I wasn’t sure if it was going to see any proper marketing. But FINALLY there’s some footage for this film and I have to say I’m hyped and intrigued. I love films based on true events, especially those where that have corruption and truth being withheld, and this film looks like it has that. This film looks like it’ll be a drama with some thriller elements as well, and I’m sure that it’ll be an emotional journey and I would hope that filmmakers have made the film informative and handles subject matter with care.

I’m just really interested in seeing Will Smith in a serious film again. Smith is a great actor who’s known primarily for his humour, but unless you’re a film fan of the older variety, you’ll probably not have seen some of Smith more serious work. Ali, Pursuit of Happyness and Seven Pounds are the best examples of Smith going into some pretty dramatic territories and demonstrating that he’s someone to be taken seriously. Some people have forgotten how good he is an actor after the likes of After Earth, and this film looks like Smith is going hard in this role. But I think the main talking point of this trailer will be Smith’s accent. As Dr. Bennet Omalu, Smith is doing a Nigerian accent (at least that’s what I’ve heard its supposed to be) and at first it was distracting and hard to adjust to, but I think I’ll get over when the film comes out. I think this will be the make or break aspect for some, as there are already talk online about the authenticity of Smith’s accent, to me it sounds a little off, but sometimes it can be legit and I just don’t know any better. Another thing to note, Will Smith sometimes has a habit of being seen as just Will Smith (similar to what happens to Tom Cruise), but here I just see the character he is playing, he is deep into this role and I’m convinced he’ll turn in a good performance. Besides all my gushing about Smith, I also LOVE the fact that Alec Baldwin is in this film. Baldwin, regardless of his status in the public eye, has done really great work in film and TV and I really like the guy in most things that I see him in and it looks like he’ll be great here too.

In conclusion Concussion looks pretty good. It looks super dramatic, has a great cast and a story that has me intrigued. I hope this film is good and will be seen by enough people.

So have you seen the trailer for Concussion and if so what did you think of it? Are you down with Smith’s accent or is it not convincing enough for you? Please be sure to comment below and I’ll see you on the next review, laters! 😀

 

Month of Superhero Film Reviews 2: Men In Black 2

Howdy people of the north, south, east and west, and welcome to Day #6 of Month of Superhero Film Reviews 2! During this month I’ll be reviewing of some of the best, average and worst comic book adapted films. After reviewing Men In Black yesterday, I decided why not continue with the sequel, Men In Black 2.

So MIB 2, the sequel not liked by many fans or critics. I actually didn’t see this film until 2005 and after all the hate that it’d gotten I was surprised by how much I liked it and back in my teenage years I used to watch this film a lot of DVD (mainly because I didn’t own the first film). But its been ages since I saw it last time so I was curious to see how it held up.

The story can be summed up as the following:

“Agent J must bring Agent K back from retirement when the evil Kylothian, Serleena comes to Earth looking for the Light of Zartha, a source of great power that could destroy the entire Earth if it doesn’t leave the planet soon.”

The story in this film is a decent one full of interesting mythology when it comes to the M.I.B.’s history and development of Agent K’s history with this organization, however it is definitely a step down from the last outing. While the stakes are higher and the danger is at the forefront of the film, it just felt like the quality in the storytelling got weaker. Jokes weren’t as funny, the story felt a little muddled and a lot of the time the film felt like a rehash of the last one except with some role reversal stuff for Agents K and J and some slightly different dangerous circumstances for Earth’s destruction. Oh and the film just has a very silly and wacky nature about it that takes away from some of the more serious and dramatic elements. That being said I still found this story to be quite charming, funny and there are some wonderful emotional moments sprinkled throughout the film that make the relationships between some of the characters really special.

Now let’s talk about the cast. Tommy Lee Jones as Agent K/Kevin Brown is great. It is interesting to see K having a normal life and adjusting to this former life he used to know, but it is also great to see him get back into his MIB groove and be the same humorless, grumpy and witty man we know him as, and Jones is lovely. Will Smith returns to great effect as Agent J/James Darrell Edwards III, this film is definitely more of the Agent J show with him becoming more seasoned as an Agent and having to show K everything that he used to know. While it does feel like Smith is just going a bit overboard with his material, overall he’s still really funny and awesome. Even though some of the humour doesn’t always work, for the most part Jones and Smith are just as good together as they were before, their banter and overall chemistry make this film work.Lara Flynn Boyle as Serleena, damn. I know this is a generic guy thing to say, but Serleena is frigging hot yo, but it also helps that she’s confident, aggressive and cheeky. Johnny Knoxville as Scrad & Charlie, erm, I wasn’t too keen on them. While there are a few moments where I chuckled, ultimately these two were just weird, annoying and their presence was just distracting and unnecessary. Rip Torn returns as Chief Zed and he was just as fun as he was before with some great dialogue and more screen time.

Rosario Dawson is lovely as Laura Vasquez, Laura is the sweet and innocent lady who just happens to be at the of the crisis and she has some really good moments with Agents J and K. Dawson, is such a pretty lady and it also helps that performance is the right balance of sweet, sad and funny too. Tim Blaney as Frank the Pug is lovely, it is interesting to see this character get more screen time and moments in the spotlight, Blaney’s voice work for Frank is great as he’s so talkative, strange and funny. Patrick Warburton as Agent T is awesome, the dude is a dumb as bricks but is so funny that you can’t help but love him. Warburton is one of those actors you just can’t dislike and he does a good job in this film. Tony Shalhoub is once again pretty great as Jack Jeebs , he has some really good moments in this film and seeing David Cross return as Newton is great as he provides some good moments of humour in the film. Oh and the cameo from Michael Jackson as Agent M, frigging awesome, it is so random and odd but so jokes at the same time.

Now let’s talk about the presentation. Visually the film is really good, the practical effects for the aliens still look really detailed and fancy, and the use of CGI for all of the fancy-looking aliens and big action set pieces are great, though I feel like there was an over abundance of CGI here and it made the film feel a little less realistic. But I have to give a shout out to the visual effects people from crafting all of those crazy alien designs. As for the soundtrack, Danny Elfman returns and does such a brilliant job crafting a score that is  just as fun, sassy and full of style and charm. Elfman retains all of the themes from the last film but creates some new ones and somehow finds a way to make the music even more energetic and upbeat.

And lastly how does it compare to the comics? Like I stated in the MIB1 review I’ve never read any of the original comics so I unfortunately can’t comment on it at this point in time.

So to conclude Men In Black 2 is still a decent film, it has a serviceable story, great performances again from Smith and Jones and has some pretty sweet action sequences. That being said it definitely felt like a disappointing follow-up the 90’s classic with not so funny jokes, a lot of CGI and not so interesting story. I don’t like this film as much as I used to but it’s not a total waste.

Rating: 6.5/10

That’s 6 reviews done, only 24 more to go. So have you seen Men In Black 2 and if so what are your thoughts on it? Drop me a comment and let me know your thoughts yo! Come back tomorrow and I’ll have a new film review online, until then peace out!