triple bill movie review
The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
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Defintely better than the first one. But that is not really saying much. Ioan Gruffudd is probably the most uncharismatic actor around. He sucks the life out of every scene he is in. No idea who cast him in this role as he does little or no justice to what should be the most important role in the Fantastic Four. On the other hand Chris Evans (Human Torch/Johnny Storm) and Michael Chiklis (The Thing) are as good as ever with their great chemistry and comic timing. Then we come to Jessica Alba (Sue Storm/ Invisible Woman). The babe of the show. But somehow in this installment she seems to have shed a lot of the girlish charm that made her such a hit and comes across as rather bland and sexy in a married sort of way for most of the film.
The silver surfer- one of the most iconic characters of the Marvel universe. All in all this was a pretty decent interpretation and most of what makes the SS such a great character comes across here. But they kind of tweaked the SS canon and shortchanged the audience of his backstory and motives that lead to the finale.
Another character that gets his debut here is Galactacus. but in this movie version the powerful Galactacus is shown as a cloud-like entity which is far different from the character in the comics.
The movie ran rather short and there was a lack of character development. The only people that seemed to be having any fun were the Thing and the Human Torch. The lack of respect to the Marvel canon was a minus. But the set pieces and SFX were great and the pacing of the story were great.
rating: 3 out of 5 surf boards
Die Hard 4.0
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Bruce Willis returns to reprise his most famous role more than a decade after the last one. As much as we expected them to be scrapping the bottom of the barrel, the Die Hard franchise is back bigger and badder. I guess the character of John McClane thrives on being the underdog put against overwhelming odds yet comes out on top in the end. So I do not see why they can recreate this character for part 5 or more.
This was fun movie with all the action and big money scenes you would expect of a summer blockbuster. A fun ride throughout. The Die Hard franchise is brought up to date with the story being that the entire US economic and defense infrastructure is brought to its knees by a disgruntled ex-employee with an axe to grind (aren't they all?). As the authorities scramble to do damage control, who else but John McClane overcomes one perilous situation after another.
All in all, a great action movie that stands up to the previous 3 installments in the franchise.
rating: 4 out of 5 explosions
Transformers
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The eagerly anticipated live action version of the Transformers.
It is never easy to do a movie based on a popular cartoon. An entire generation has grown up watching and loving the Transformers. So any movie made has to satisfy the ready-made fanbase yet be updated enough to keep them interested and bring in more new fans.
The key to any film in this genre is the characterisation and the action sequences. Although many of the characters are already familiar to many of us, some have been tweaked for commercial reasons. Despite this all the Autobots come across well in the screen time they are afforded. Transformers also over delivers in terms of action.
The two Transformer protagonists, Optimus Prime and Bumblebee are fully fleshed out and beautifully rendered that by the end of the film you identify with them as much as one would of human heroes.
The script and scenes were unexpectedly witty and humourous. That made the movie a whole lot more enjoyable than a straight out action flick. Shia LaBeouf is a real gem in his role. He has impeccable comic timing yet comes across as believable as a young kid who finds himself suddenly thrust into the greatest battle for Earth.
The 'transformation' and fight sequences were realistic. The Transformers were all given new shapes and 'transform' more seamlessly. Gone are the chunky,blocky shapes of the cartoon, and in with the new cooler looking shapes and armour.
I must say the CG in this one far exceeded what I had hoped for. The CG characters interact seamlessly with their human counterparts. The fight scenes are awesome yet more realistic than the CG seen in any movie yet.
All in all one of the best movies of recent times. Rarely does a movie rise above all expectations as spectacularly as this movie does. It does have its flaws, but those are drowned out by how much this movie entertains even casual movie-goers. Every generation has a film that sets the benchmark of its genre and goes on to become an icon of the times. This one does.
rating: 4.5 out of 5 all sparks
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posted by Lion at
7/08/2007 11:30:00 PM
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2 Comments
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