A Company Man (2012)

I’ve mentioned before how Korean revenge movies start blending together in my mind after seeing so many of them. Another type of movie that start blending in my mind are the contracted killers disobeying orders from their boss, falling in love with their target or a woman/man, and the contracted killer getting hunted down. That’s a broad outline I know, but ever since viewing A Bittersweet Life (2005) for the first time this year I keep associating that premise with it. However, the way A Bittersweet Life (2005) told that story mesmerized me to the point I just can’t help think of it every time I see something similar. Forever ensuring it’ll standout in my mind no matter how many similar films I see. A Company Man (2012) won’t enjoy that same luxury, but it’ll go down as a good action flick that didn’t quite live up to its potential in my mind.

Another day at the office training the new contract killers.

A Company Man is about Ji Hyeong-Do (So Ji-Sub), a contract killer operating in a modern day corporate structure. Before getting into the movie itself I have to compare this to the 2005 South Korean film A Bittersweet Life. Both A Bittersweet Life, and A Company Man tell very a similar story, and play out nearly the same. Having their loner leads start out emotionless, meeting a woman who is involved with music makes that they fall for, both protagonists become disgruntled with their everyday job, both leads are chased down by their bosses after disobeying orders, a climatic action sequence occurs at both leads former workplace, and both reflect how it all came down to this once the violence dies down. However, A Bittersweet Life is a half an hour longer helping it flesh out it characters, and themes that in A Company Man aren’t as fleshed out. In A Bittersweet Life there’s more presented to provide emotional investment that A Company Man lacks.

A Bittersweet Life isn’t the first, nor the last time a story about a contract killer disobeying order, and being hunted down is ever going to get told. For this instance, it was important to bring up because writer/director Lim Sang-Yoon is heavily inspired by A Bittersweet Life. Provided you seen A Bittersweet Life comparison to A Company Man are unavoidable while viewing it. Despite his ambitious to create a parallel between contract killers, and corporate office job equally dehumanizing it workers. Lim Sang-yoon can’t avoid the label of basically making an inferior version of A Bittersweet Life.

Unlike in A Bittersweet Life, Hyeong-do at least got a promotion for his work.

Diving into A Company Man itself the execution is decently done. The portrayal of contract hitman working in office type jobs is interesting to view. Making you want to learn more on how exactly this company functions, but never does. Then there’s also Ji Hyeong-do, our protagonist who starts the movie out wanting to quit his job. This decision does bring in the issue that it spends no time in showing Hyeong-do positive views on his workplace. Undermining a key trait of his character which is properly getting across how difficult it is for Hyeong-do to leave his job, and how betrayed he feels under this company.

While the nitty gritty of office work contract killers isn’t as fleshed as one would hope the conflicts are on the other hand. It might drop the ball on Hyeong-do attachment to his job, but witnessing the ugly side of it is shown. This is accomplished by having Hyeong-Do talk to two different individuals, and their different standing with the company. It’s through these scenes that Hyeong-Do slowly start to question what he’s doing with his life. Seeing the horrors his future might entails if he stays there longer. Allowing him to reflect on his life, and the offering the audience breathing room in understanding what kind man Hyeong-Do actually is.

When not about killing people, and retiring from that line of work. Hyeong-Do is soaking in a normal life. These scenes do their best in fleshing out the characters, but is hampered by the romance. Much in line with everything else in the story it’s a good idea that doesn’t quite reach the quality it should. Mainly using flashback to develop the romance Hyeong-Do has with a singer he was infatuated with in his youth. It’s a detail that contributes little in the long run. Especially when compared to the few times Hyeong-Do past is shown to the viewer. There’s also a young man whom Hyeong-Do sees himself in, but the sentiment of the idea will be more appreciated than the actual execution.

Here’s a rare sight. So Ji-sub showing emotions

So Ji-sub take charge in the leading role. Reserve in his emotional expression he brings nuance needed for this portrayal. Coming off as discontent on the inside, and fitting into the role of a your average office worker. This works wonder for the film’s narrative since So Ji-Sub goes out of his way to come across as ordinary as possible. In the action sequences it’s a different story as So Ji-Sub comes across as a badass. If there’s a fault with Ji-Sub acting it would be during the last twenty minutes. Retaining his cold, introverted persona So Ji-Sub refuses to bring more emotion into his character is his most emotionally vulnerable in the final act. 

The supporting cast do a solid job in their role. Only Kim Dong-Joon who plays a temp is given any ranged with his material. He’s basically a more expressive So Ji-sub bringing in partial emotional engagement that So Ji-sub failed to capture. Everyone else play their role in a by the number fashion. Kwak Do-Won is the one who comes to mind since he’s just grumpy looking in nearly every scene he’s in. Only being outmatched by the almost equally angry Jeon Kuk-Hwan who is more believable in his delivery. Then there’s Lee Mi-Yeon who plays a love interest of sorts. Other than looking pretty, she isn’t given much to work with like the rest of the supporting cast. It’s a film primarily carried by So Ji-sub with the supporting cast doing whatever they can with the limited material handed to them.

That’s one hell of a way to quit your job.

The worst edited action sequence comes when actor So Ji-sub has to fight against Yoo Ha-Bok in a small apartment. Attempting to make the sequence appear to be done in a single take, but coming off as choppily put together. Making it noticeable when both actors are inches apart from each other in every cut when a specific hit is thrown. It’s ambitious to make a action scene appear to have been done all done in a single take, but probably not something you should attempt to do in your directorial debut.

My favorite action scene is a fight sequence on a freeway that starts out inside a car, and eventually goes outside. The fight sequence is brief, but make use of the small interior of the car for some tight choreography. Getting surprisingly creative changing up shots without being overly edited. It’s easy to follow, and goes by pretty quickly. There’s also another fight sequence the occurs during the climax which makes use of more props. This particular fight is also brief, but is another good fight scene nonetheless.

So Ji-Sub is a complete badass when the action hits

The two shootouts on the other hand lack the polish that the fight scenes contain. One of them suffers from being shot in a confined space, and being cut too quickly to properly tell what’s going on. There’s this shootout in a office that’s pretty cool, but sloppy cinematography makes you wonder about the placement of certain actors. It’s a confined place the film attempts mask the unlikelihood that So Ji-Sub would survive. By not showing what’s directly in front of him when he’s attempting to open a door the action sequence isn’t tense. Another issue is the slick production disappears during this sequence, and there’s a notable drop in film quality. Despite this, it’s the standout sequence in the film for a reason. There’s plenty of environmental destruction, and the staging makes it stand out among your average gunfight.

A Company Man is unlikely to ever receive the same adoration that Kim Jee-Woon’s A Bittersweet Life has gained. By wearing that inspiration to the forefront A Company Man will inevitably stay in the shadow of what inspired it. However, by itself it’s a decently put together action movie elevated from some good action set pieces, and a great performance from So Ji-sub. It doesn’t reach greatness, but what is does accomplished is more than enough to pull it through to the end.

Rating: 7/10

Cinema-Maniac: Doppelganger (2003)

Doppelganger follows research scientist Hayasaki (Koji Yakusho) encountering an exact double whose true intention he’s uncertain off. A title like Doppelganger leaves little to the imagination if this was a horror movie. Doing things you would expect a horror movie to do like setting up the rumor if you see a your doppelganger you’ll die, and the doppelganger having devious intentions. Having the classical scenes where the doppelganger causes trouble, and the original taking the blame for his double misdeeds. Such scenes are typical for stories of this nature before revealing it’s true intention to use doppelganger as a metaphor. Using the doppelganger to have characters do some soul searching over building up scares. Opting more for a psychological, and black comedy approach turning a otherwise mundane story into a more interesting, but very messy movie.

Very classy Yakusho.

One twist to the doppelganger concept is bluntly stating that people who see their doppleganger regularly kill themselves being unable to accept a physical manestification of everything they wish to be. There’s Yuka (Hiromi Nagasaku) who expresses a dislike for her brother doppelganger despite him being everything she wanted her brother to be. Instead of building the movie around these kind of ideas they just remain interesting points to think about. Missing out on the opportunity to create more dynamic characters than just our protagonist. Hayasaki, and his doppelganger regularly bicker with each other revealing bits about Hayasaki as a person. There’s nothing subtle about what you’re meant to take away from the conversations when things are bluntly laid out. For instance, Hayasaki doppelganger telling Hayasaki his flaws, and how he should simply embrace his darker aspect. Leaving little to imagination to work out it themes.

Same thing applies with characters in the movie. Hayasaki assistants in the first half get replace by new characters he barely meets in the second half. A pointless choice since these new characters in the second half basically act the same as Hayasaki assistants in the first half. Their roles are simple from being the love interest to the greedy assistant who wants more recognition, and profit. The third act in particular goes from subtle character development into being more blunt caricatures of their personalities. While the transformation of the main characters are subtle what is not laid out as subtly is how they changed, especially when some dialogue just plainly explain a lesson they learned.

Surprise! How’d you like your office now!

As for the doppelgangers the film is not interested in discussing their origin. As mentioned before they’re simply use as a metaphor. Much like the invention of the Artificial Body (more accurately mechanical chair with arms) Hayasaki must accept, and move on from his own limitations. There conversations about hinting at the group, or the machine oppressing the individual, but these ideas aren’t fleshed out as clearly. Hayasaki spends over half of the movie away from any oppressing outside force. By removing his own shackles the outside forces don’t bother him until the third act. The company Hayasaki formerly worked for just lets him be with basically no qualms about their professional relationship. Making any commentary it has to say about the shackles in society just seem vaguely there, but not realized.

On the comedy side of things it’s hit or miss. The humor is typically deadpan with jokes spread out sparsely throughout the movie. Like a moment where Hayasaki is trying to get his Artificial Body, an assistant asks if she could help him, Hayasaki says yes she can, and lets her do all the work. Generally I ended up wondering if something was meant to be a joke, or taken seriously since both type of scenes are given the same treatment. The final act of the movie is where it takes a turn for the ridiculous. For instance, Hayasaki, and Yuka being able to keep up pace with speeding van that gets stolen from them. Another goofy moment is Hayasaki somehow surviving getting run over by a van. This is also where most of the lingering plot points are finally resolved, and sadly it’s also in the most spoonfed way it could think off. Once it finally gets to the ending the whole journey feels oddly satisfying despite the occasional clumsiness.

The main reason I checked out this movie is none other than the man himself Koji Yakusho. His performance in Doppelganger proves to me once again he’s true talent to keep an eye out for. Playing two different characters with different personality is not a difficult task. What is difficult is portraying a subtle change in those two characters in a way where it confuses the viewer on whether or not they’re following Hayasaki, or the double. By slowly changing the direction of both the characters he portrayed he’s able to send the viewer for a loop. Most of the film he’s mostly subdue in his shyness, and on the other hand also confident, and free spirited. Further making it difficult to distinguish who he’s portraying exactly in any given scene, and in a positive way no less.

Do not worry miss! I will kill your brother. (paraphrasing actual dialogue in this scene)

With two Koji Yakusho on screen the trickery to getting this done is pretty simple. Through the uses of green screen, CGI, and body double this task is accomplished. Given it’s relatively low budget it’s odd thinking a film that’s very simplistic required a lot of special effect work for around half of it. There’s nothing impressive about the special effects work in the movie, but considering I was surprise to learn it even had any special effect work done means it’ll probably unnoticed for other who see it. Kiyoshi Kurosawa writer/director attempts to give the film style in a few scenes. Most of the time it’s simply a wide shot of actors talking, but whenever there’s two Koji Yakusho on screen he’ll use a split screen effect to throw viewer off on who is who. This split screen effect it the most visually interesting it gets since it’s the only times Kurosawa tries to be visually bold in any form.

The other actors in the movie do fine in their roles. Hiromi Nagasaki gets a decent size role without complexity in her character. She’s unsure for half of the movie, and the other half she remains optimistic. Akira Emoto who doesn’t appear much in the movie playing Yakusho best friend provides Yakusho best onscreen chemistry. Whenever Emoto, and Yakusho share a scene a lot of their characters history gets vividly just through their performance. Yusuke Santamaria plays his part like a slacker until the final act where his performance is mildly crazy. Becoming more eccentric in his delivery resulting to a silly character being made. As for the rest of the small cast, that’s about it since actors in the first half are forgotten about. With this small cast it’s a good thing they’re good actors because they help make even the uneventful portions feel important.

Doppelganger is an odd film with interesting ideas, hit or miss humor, and a messy execution. All the ideas are here to create something with more depth than it ended up doing. Thankfully, Koji Yakusho performance makes the writing shortcomings easier to forgive thanks to his subtle performance in changing his persona is done flawlessly. It won’t leave you pondering on its themes, and ideas as much as writer/director Kiyoshi Kurosawa would like, but if you’re looking for a different take on the doppelganger types of story this one will entertain, and provide some mild intrigue in it themes.

Rating: 7/10

Cinema-Manaic: Voice Without a Shadow (1958)

Regardless of the medium, mystery/pot boilers centered stories I don’t check out frequently. When I think of a mystery story I think about someone trying to solve a crime, or find answer to an unexplained incident. For me, they all feel like they play out the same in the general way; main characters attempt to look for answers, eventually hit a dead end until finding the one clue that brings everything together, and finally explaining to the viewer how it worked out. Usually having me forget about its characters the next day.  Movies like these I get the appeal, but if I’m not going to get engaging characters than everything else surrounding them has to make up for it. Voice Without A Shadow does exactly that, even if it’s nothing outstanding by the end of it.

Reporter Notes: There was a murder at the crime scene, and someone is responsible.

Voice Without A Shadow starts out unconventional before becoming formulaic with its storytelling. You’re introduce to Asako Takahashi (Yoko Minamida), a telephone operator who who dials the wrong number one night, and hears the voice of a murderer. You would be wrong to assume that Asako would be the focus, and the rest of the movie would be her trying to help the police find the killer with her unmatched hearing. Stated in the movie to be able to differentiate, and recognize hundreds of different voices like no other person. The initial setup is fascinating using sound in a technical aspect to enhance put us in the same position as Asako. Making certain everyday activity sound louder to Asako, and in turn the audience watching. Unfortunately there is a time skip to three years later where we’re told the case has gone cold. This occurs in the first few minutes where it eventually takes another turn to where Asako does little in the effort to prove her husband’s innocence in a murder that transpired.

 

Within the first act of the movie, twice it does away with the initial setup before falling in the familiar territory of a pot boiler mystery. Towards the end of the first act newspaper journalist Hiroshi Ishikawa (Hideaki Nitani) who might as well be a detective since that his purpose in the movie. Putting the actual police force to shame when he’s able to put clues together that the police force overlooked. Something as simple like a bag being dry on the day it was found when the day before it was raining is one of many simple details the police force don’t think about. There is one detail in particular that is outrageous that the police force didn’t even considered. Without spoiling the actual movie, it would basically be the equivalent of someone filming a murder scene, and the police having to be told by someone outside the force the camera can record things, and therefore must have recorded the murder. This movie does the Japanese police force no favors in making them out to look incompetent at their jobs.

Shifting the focus to Ishikawa means you get the familiar routine of him interviewing people on the night of the crime, being at his wits end trying to solve the murder, having a near death encounter the closer he gets to solving the crime, and getting the one clue he needs to piece everything together. When in this state the movie plays out mechanically safe to fall into your expectations. Doing so by sharing a understanding why a familiar formula is so effective even after hundreds of usage. It’s biggest bright spot in this routine are the dead ends Ishikawa comes across during the case. They’re presented in a logical way with some detail that makes the case itself more complicated than it appears. Every time Ishikawa believes he got a lead there’s something that pushes him back further from finding any answers. Leading to many good head scratcher moments when attempting to solve the case alongside Ishikawa.

Even in a still image, Jo Shishido character is still hateable

My biggest issue with the movie is the lack of depth to the characters. They’re treated more like plot devices which means generally delivering expository dialogue after expository dialogue. Showing very little personality in its writing. At it best, the character writing is great when characters are talking about their past, and the rare comments about love. Ishikawa is the most interesting of the cast of characters with a colleague of his wondering why he’s solving a mystery for woman he knows won’t love him back. These moments when the characters don’t talk about the murder case are a highlight since they don’t happen often. Ishikawa gets delved into a fair amount showing his dedication to journalism, and seeking the truth. Being the only one in the cast to come out unscathed from the writing other issues.

 

There’s a good attempt to present some complexity to some of the suspects, but it sadly goes into the “we’re bad” category of writing eventually. A shame too since the movie does a good job not making the suspects obvious to Ishikawa even though the audience knows a bit more than he does. Asako side of the story attempts to create some paranoia through the usage of sound whenever she’s relevant. It doesn’t quite work like the writing intended because at random points it’ll switch characters perspective. Leaving little time for any paranoia to creep in. Once it finally comes together at the end the viewing experience is made worthwhile. What few character arcs it actually have reach satisfying conclusions. The answers to the mystery itself are mostly logical, and seeing the case itself being solved it a high point itself. Executing the familiar elements of a mystery just right to leave a positive impression.

(Not) Very subtle with the devil mask

Taking the charge for most of the movie is Hideaki Nitani. His biggest hurdle is the dialogue he’s given. Being unable to make it sound natural, but he does a decent delivery job delivering it. Nitani best moments of acting are surprisingly the sparse instances where the camera closes up on his face, and is able to express an array of emotions within his character. These more quieter moments displays greater potential in his acting abilities. Yoko Minamida is the standout in the cast. Despite the film minimizing her role the longer it goes she elevates whatever scene she’s in. Perfectly getting across the fear, and turmoil her character struggles through. Jo Shishido makes an appearance in a small role as a sleazy businessman. Give whatever character you want to Jo Shishido, and he’ll find a way to play the character naturally. Suitably obnoxious, and hateable he eases his way in a simple role. He ain’t in the film for much of it, but he will leave an impression. Toshio Takahara is mostly made out to be pathetic, but sympathetic at the same time. Sadly, he’s not given much to do beside look worried. The actors who play the suspects are good in their small roles with some able to make an impression.

 

Director Seijun Suzuki doesn’t spice things up in terms of writing, but on the technical side shows restraint in his style, and eagerness to make the most out of a scene visuals. One of these includes having an entire flashback sequence being entirely filmed in dutch angles. Creating a distorted look to the film in this sequence. Another stylistic choice are involves moments when it’s in first person, and appearing as if the characters are talking directly into the camera. It also briefly uses some tracking shots as well to set the mood accordingly. In one scene, Suzuki faintly has a shot of Yoko Minamida trying to sleep, and faintly faded visuals of her co-stars playing mahjong in the scene, and playing around with the audio to make the noticeable noise of mahjong moving around be become loud. Stylistic choices like these prevent the movie from being visually mundane.  Music is fine, but nothing memorable. It sounds like a dozen other pot boiler mystery movie score.

Voice Without A Shadow represents the general appeal of a pot boiler mystery, and also the lack of investment towards the characters involved. It might play things safe for a majority of its run time, but there is effort to make something good out of it. It succeeds more than it fails playing into your expectations. 

Rating: 7/10

Cinema-Maniac: Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)

Mission: Impossible 2 is easily the least liked installment in the Mission: Impossible series, yet it is where the series finally found confidence itself in what it wanted to be. Where the first installment was unsure if it wanted to be a high brow spy thriller, or action blockbuster; the sequel is happily content settling with being a overblown, over the top, and cheesy action blockbuster. Despite it general reception among film critics, and audiences; one thing that’s often overlooked about this movie is that it’s the only time in the entire franchise where Ethan Hunt isn’t disavowed from the Impossible Mission Force. Yes, making it the only time the Mission: Impossible franchise Ethan Hunt has ever been in IMF for the entire movie. It’s an ingredient in the formula that still gets used to this day in the ongoing franchise. Another thing that is forgotten about this sequel is that it’s the only time it became the highest grossing movie the year it came out. These accomplishments while superficial in the long term are things the other entries have yet to accomplish again. Instead of participating in any discussion if this entry is the best, or worst in the series I’ll simply continue on. As stated in my review for the original Mission: Impossible (1996) movie, I enjoy the fact each entry in this series try to feel different from one another, and here it’s no different.

Exploding sunglasses. What an impression it leaves

Mission: Impossible 2 follows IMF Agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) on a assignment in Sydney to find, and destroy a genetically modified disease called “Chimera” stolen by a rogue agent. I personally don’t consider the original movie to have a complicated story, although the storytelling has been significantly simplified in this installment. The writing is straightforward; you have good guy stopping bad guy with no twists in between. You won’t get the ambiguity of Ethan Hunt ally’s, or the situation he’s in. Everything is clear cut, even in the lame attempts when it tries to throw you off when characters take off their mask revealing their a different person. Gone are the mind games as well. Only once does Ethan Hunt has to quickly think his way out of a situation that went array, and only once does his enemy uses his intimate knowledge of how Ethan Hunt think to put him into a corner.

Right from the beginning this movie establishes clearly it’s taking an entirely different direction from the first one. When part of your opening sequence includes your main character climbing a cliff without any rock climbing equipment, the IMF delivering his mission briefing via rocket launcher missile which contains sunglasses, and exploding sunglasses into the title card you know movie is going to be difficult to take seriously. Wondering why a spy agency would create a tracking device that could only be monitor on one computer is only a small part of its silliness. Thankfully, the movie never tries to be serious since moments like these occasionally pop up in the movie. Surprisingly, trinkets of the dialogue is either on the nose, or so over the top you’ll laugh, and be baffled how such lines made it on screen. There’s a line of dialogue where a character literally states he’s evil to the audience. Some classic dialogue includes:

Ethan Hunt: We just rolled up a snowball and tossed it into hell. Now lets see what chance it has.

Ethan Hunt: No. She’s got no training for this kind of thing.

Swanbeck: What? To go to bed with a man, and lie to him? She’s a woman – she’s got all the training she needs.

Ethan Hunt is more skilled in combat, playful, and emotionally attached in the sequel. Changing from the detached rookie viewers first saw him as in the original film. Being driven to get payback for an old friend, and being more concerned about his teammates well being. Allowing the writers to show a more caring side of Ethan Hunt. However, he’s given new traits too that don’t align all the time with what was established in the previous movie. The obvious one being Ethan Hunt acts more suave as a lady killer, and more relaxed which pushes a natural transition into entirely rewriting an established character. Hardly showing any sign that he fears for his life during the mission. Almost as if he knows he’s going to make it out alive because he’s a newly enhanced Ethan Hunt. Making Ethan Hunt a one man army relying more on action than his quick wits to get out of a dangerous situation.

Cruise: Can you please try to acting!

What holds the movie back is the “love triangle” that eats up two acts of the movie attention. There isn’t much to it even when the film attempts to give background to their characters past. All the characterization that is provided is simplistic, as well as the motivations tied to the characters. While the film establishes itself as a dumb movie it takes it too far from a character perspective at points. None of this is more obvious than the moment where Ethan Hunt detonate a bomb after his love interest injects herself with Chemeria instead of detonating the bomb before she infected herself. Also within the same sequence, providing details on Ethan Hunt  original escape plan. If it went well, would Ethan still have blown up a hole in the wall, jumped out of it, and parachute to safety. Probably not, but since the movie skipped over that snippet when during the planning scene it makes that part of his plan baffling. More baffling than that is the how villain plan to spread the Chermia virus through a human subject in public area, yet having nothing in check to make sure the subject actually spreads the virus in a populated location.

One nice addition to the movie is the team is finally working together consistently towards a common goal. Unfortunately, Ethan Hunt does the most of the heavy lifting without much emphasis on the importance of teamwork. Sure, Ethan Hunt can’t hack, can’t get intel from a rogue agent, or fly a chopper. However, he’s the only one on field putting himself in danger while his team just partially participate from a distance a majority of the time. In context, it makes sense since Hunt is the best trained agent meant to do these kind of things. It’s more notable than in the first movie because here the team can trust each other, but the heavy lifting isn’t shared among the group. Although, Luther (Ving Rhames) actually helps out Ethan during an action sequence whereas in the first one he simply provided technical support without risk to his life. It’s odd how in one way it expands on the team work aspect to have it be a team operation for the whole thing, but on the other hand feeling unimportant with Ethan doing most of the dirty work.

Yep, Tom Cruise does back flip kick. Pretty cool to be honest.

What does carry over from the original movie is Tom Cruise committed performance. Coming across more charismatic, more humorous, and more suave than he did before. In spite of how ridiculous the movie’s effort can be to make Tom Cruise look as cool as possible. Cruise performance is still enjoyable to see. He doesn’t phone in a single scene, even when working with ridiculous dialogue, and doing insane things during his action sequences. Cruise is no martial artist, but he puts it his all to make you think he can do back flip kicks, dodge bullets while riding on a motorcycle, and that he can still perform a fight after colliding with someone in midair after he crashes his motorcycle into another person. Is it over the top as it sounds, but it’s gloriously done, and enjoyable when Cruise believes can do this stuff as much as he does. Another change is Tom Cruise long hair which he probably only had for the many slow-mo shots which are plentiful in this sequel. It is silly looking, but in line with the already goofy movie. What is sadly lost in the sequel is Cruise dramatic acting since he plays a more of a James Bond knock off than a experienced Ethan Hunt. Loosing any sense of urgency his character had in the original, and missing on the opportunity to capitalize on his dramatic chops.

The weakest link in the acting this time around is Thandie Newton who plays Nyh, and she hardly change facial expression, or her tone of voice for the entirety of the movie. She’s simply incapable of coming off as seductive when she’s meant to be alluring. Her monotone voice, and robotic expression prevents her from coming as a human. While Cruise charisma makes you buy he’s in love with Thandie Newton, even he is unable to make it appear like him, and Newton have any sort of chemistry. Then there’s Dougray Scott who plays villain Sean Ambrose, and he chews up the scenery. His performance is far subtle as possible whenever he’s onscreen. Being just as a difficult to take seriously as the foil to Tom Cruise. However, while it’s easy to see why Newton character dumped Scott character. Scott acting is unable to get across any appeal that Newton might have found in him.

Ving Rhames returns for the sequel playing Luther. He’s likable again being mostly humorous, and his character remains in tact for the sequel. Getting more screen time than he did in the previous installment. John Polson plays Billy Bird, and he does nothing worthwhile in his performance. He’s just in the movie, and just blends into the background. Richard Roxburgh plays right hand henchman Hugh, and he’s okay. Roxburgh only has the serious expression in the movie to express. While Roxburgh eventually fights against Tom Cruise in the movie it doesn’t last long. Brendan Gleeson, and Anthony Hopkins whom both are fantastic actors have little screen time. Despite how little they appear in the movie they manage to make a good impression even with the cheesy dialogue.

Hard to believe a movie filled with silly moments like this is called too serious by some

When John Woo finally gets to into the action sequences two acts into the movie he’s able to keep the film entertaining. It’s sloppy that one half is purely focused on the love triangle, and the mission while the remaining half is more focused on action. Aspects of the movie are overly edited to its detriment at times. Like early on in the movie when Rade Serbedzija sees a group of children were black, and white color filter is applied while being played with overly dramatic music. In another scene, the music gets too loud drowning out the actors delivering their dialogue. Speaking of music, the soundtrack is more rock, and punk eccentric being vastly different from it predecessor. While it’s not as good as the previous movie soundtrack it fits well for this sequel. However, the film replaces Larry Mullen & Adam Clayton rendition of the Mission Impossible theme with Limp Bizkit of all bands. Easily making this the most dated aspect of the movie. It has some cool sounding guitar riffs, but it’s nowhere near as memorable, or as close to matching the original movie theme song. There’s also some dated effects. Although, the dated effects don’t last long, but when it comes to action John Woo knows his stuff.

Mission: Impossible 2 is loud, over the top, cheesy, and entertaining for those reasons. It’s unfortunate you have to endure a long time before the movie picks up with it action sequences, but once it does it’ll make the wait partially worth it. John Woo action sequences are the best part of the movie while offering his usual cliches. Plenty of slow-mo, a single dove flying across the screen, and of course the star dodging plenty of bullets. The best action sequence involves a mixture of a car chase, and gunfight. Always keeping the action moving, and trying to find ways up itself during the sequence. Offering plenty of explosions, and cars destruction during the sequence. Everything is filmed from a good range making the action clearly visible. Every action sequence in the movie is highly choreographed preventing the gunfights from being repetitive from the usual cover, and shooting gunfights. Typically having Cruise be on the move during these action set pieces. Even more impressive how all the action sequences were done through practical means making them even more impressive.

Mission: Impossible 2 is loud, stupid, over the top, and silly fun. It takes about 60% of the movie before the action comes in, but once it does the sight it is amazing, and a blast to watch. While it writing is clunky in places the establish over the top tone helps ease any shortcoming in the long term. A charismatic Tom Cruise is a joy to watch during the proceeding as usual. These are also the reasons many dislike it, and why it has the polarizing position it has among viewers. However, I would still recommend this outing for fans of the franchise since it’s (currently) the only time you’ll see Ethan Hunt working in the IMF for the entirety of the movie.

Rating: 7/10

Cinema-Maniac: The Brink (2017)

Jin Zhang, or Max Zhang as he’s sometime is credited shares career similarities with director Jonathan Li. Both of these men before The Brink have worked their way up in the Hong Kong film industry. Jonathan Li starting out behind the camera as a third assistant director on Infernal Affairs 3 (2003), and Max Zhang starting out as a stunt double in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). Over a decade later of work both managed to garner some level of recognition. Max Zhang is easily more prolific with supporting roles in The Grandmaster (2013), Ip Man 3 (2015), and SPL 2: A Time for Consequences (2015). Garnering Max Zhang a well earned fanbase for not just his incredible athleticism in his fight sequences, but his on screen presence displaying good acting abilities. Surprisingly, The Brink doesn’t just mark Max Zhang first time headlining a major movie as the lead star, and also marks the first time Jonathan Li take the helm as a director after over a decade working mostly as a assistant director. Both have something to prove in this film that is steps away from greatness, but accomplish the feat of proving they can handle bigger roles.

A snippet of Max Zhang impressive skills in his fight sequences

On the story front The Brink is above average. Telling the classic story of a reckless Hong Kong officer, in this case being Sai Gau (Max Zhang), attempting to put an end on a criminal gold smuggling scheme. Anyone with experience in Hong Kong cinema will know what to expect from the story, minus the goods this time not being drugs. Some of the characters are also what you would expect them to be; best friend Zhi-Di (Wu Yue) so close to retiring getting pulled back into action, the chief coming down Sai Gau neck for operations gone wrong, a low ranked criminal villain in Jiang (Shawn Yue) with big ambitions, the daughter of a criminal reminding Sai Gau of his sense of duty, Jiang boss who plans to give his business to his son seeks to get rid of him, and that basically covers it. There are other minor characters, but they don’t contribute much in the grand scheme of things. It’s lacking in creativity, but when it comes execution writer Li Chun Fai knows how to play around with these familiar characters, and plot point in a successful way.

For starter, the pacing of the film is just right never lingering too much on unnecessary details, and evolving the main storyline in a organic way. Being able to escalate stakes within a reasonable scope. It has a certain number of main characters, and knows their influence with those around them. Hardly going overboard in favors of anyone to show more, or less an even playing field. Another positive in the writing is the whole cat, and mouse writing it takes for it central conflict. Both Sai Gau, and Jiang come face to face several times throughout the  movie. With Jiang just barely being able to get the advantage over Sai Gau in his attempts to arrest him. Further adding to the intrigue is Jiang seeking vengeance on those who betrayed him making proceeding events for him more difficult to come out on top. Seeing the many ways Jiang gets out of his situations is quite fun to witness.

Prison changed me man. I’m a blonde now. Don’t ask.

Other area of the writing comes with mixed results. Characters are simplistic, and clear cut in their motivations. In its effort to be more than a good cop capturing evil doer it leaves many aspects half baked. The most prominent one being a insignificant plot point on Zhi-Di owing an off screen gang money. This clumsily justifies Zhi-Di motives in the later half of the movie, but with it being the only mention it just goes nowhere. While the writing attempts to make things different shades of grey it ultimately just boils down to good guy versus bad guy. Characters are defined, but they switch motivation, or personality at a moment notice to serve the writers needs since Li Chun Fai couldn’t figure out how its character would get from point a to point b with how they were established. If Li Chun Fai didn’t rewrite established characters consistently he would have been able to create more complex characters in favor of the film.

Where the writing falter plenty is with the character of Ke-Yan (Cecilia So) whose name I don’t believe is actually ever said in the movie itself. The only way I was able to find out her name was looking for it in the closing credits. If that alone doesn’t get across how this character is just put into the movie for no narrative reason than maybe the fact she contributes nothing in the overarching story will. Her scenes amount to nothing, but just providing a little characterization for Sai Gau, and even less for Ke-Yan. Her subplot of being a daughter tied to a criminal Sai Gau accidentally killed isn’t explored. It’s brushed aside quickly, and feels like Ke-Yan is only here to provide a pro-life message that is shoehorned in. If Ke-Yan was going to be in the last shot of the movie than you know, doing something significant storywise with her would have made it more impactful. Lastly, why does Sai Gau go into prison for a couple a months with dark hair, but then when released has blonde hair. Not that it’s of any importance, but it’s a noticeable change that comes out of nowhere.

Shawn Yue (left) has the look of a trustworthy person.

Max Zhang for the first time in his career carries the mantle of a leading man, and he does quite well for himself. He doesn’t attempt to oversell his character through his acting, but rather tries to keep his portrayal restraint when not fighting. Providing more subtle delivery in some of his sentimental scenes preventing them from being sappy. There are glimmer of range within him that the film sadly doesn’t utilize more frequently. Of course, when it comes to Max Zhang in the fight sequences he’s still just as impressive, and quick as he ever been.

Opposite of Max Zhang is Shawn Yue playing the cold hearted villain. Nailing the portrayal of his character personality, but unable to overcome the occasional stoic delivery of dialogue. Sounding disinterested half the time, and the other half sounding detached like he should. Yue acting won’t impress, but one where he’s meant to mourn over a lost is handle well by Yue without him breaking character. Wu Yue whenever on screen typically takes the spotlight from Zhang. Giving life to a archetype character being capable to generate sympathy for his character in spite of the above average writing. When it comes to his fight sequences he’s just as impressive as Max Zhang. There’s some noteworthy name in the supporting cast like Janice Man, Derek Tsang, Gordon Lam, and Tai Po, but the supporting cast tends to be one note. Eventually being indistinguishable from one another performances.

My favorite fight in The Brink.

First time director Jonathan Li with the helps of cinematographer Kenny Tse captures a aquatic, moody feel to the film. Showing a more grimy side of Hong Kong through his usage of location. If it’s related to the ocean he’ll use from a crowded indoor fish market, to a fishing trawler in the middle of a storm, gloomy ports, and even going underwater to film a action sequence which in spite of being performed slowly is still entertaining to witness. His directing of action sequences stands out more than his narrative storytelling. Mostly because when it comes to action he allows for long takes, and if needed will get inventive with his shots to make his fight scenes pop out. Being able to avoid the pitfall of showing background actors doing nothing in his fight sequences. With tight editing, and great composition his eye for action sequences raises the film quality whenever onscreen. Heck, he’s able to make an action sequence underwater feel eventful. There might be only a handful of them spread throughout, but they are worth waiting for. His music choices are mixed. Some of it works like during the action sequences to add excitement, but sometime it comes off overblown like towards the end of the movie using choir like music.

Action choreography is handle by Chung Chi Li, and much like his action choreography in Extraordinary Mission (2017), Li goes for a more grounded approach. Having very limited usage of wires, most of which are sprinkle in the climax. Chi Li emphasizes Max Zhang speed in the only one versus many brawl that has Max Zhang fighting in a alley. Alongside Wu Yue who also participate in the one versus many brawl on his own, Max Zhang is able to make it look convincing he’s able to beat up a dozen men rapid swings of his flashlights. However, my personal favorite fight in a parking lot with Max Zhang going one on one with a masked assailant. Creatively using the parked cars environment to have its actors use to avoid hits from the other fighter. Both men are able to keep up with each other performing their moves quickly resulting in some impressive long takes in the fight. Lastly, the climax which involve Max Zhang fighting against Wu Yue, and Shawn Yue on a fishing ship during a storm is the centerpiece action sequence. It’s an exciting climatic fight with plenty happening in the background as it shakes throwing all participants off. The choreography here in particular takes into account the rocking ship putting the advantage of the fight to whoever it wants. It’s quite a sight to witness, and what’s also vastly enjoyable to witness is how epicly presented the final punch between Max Zhang, and Wu Yue is filmed.

The Brink doesn’t break any grounds in any area of filmmaking, but is overall a success thanks to it crew overcoming several weaknesses. In particular, the wonderfully done action sequences elevating above everything else to be the one area it shines the best. Jonathan Li proves he can handle his own in the forefront as a director thanks largely to his strong direction which is felt throughout the movie. Of course, Max Zhang himself continues to prove why his raise to fame isn’t a fluke. Being just capable in his acting as he is in his fight scenes will eventually garner him more leading roles in his career. Regardless of your familiarity with anyone in the film, or Hong Kong action cinema The Brink is a good way to spend your time.

Rating 7/10

Cinema-Maniac: The Debt Collector (2018)

In 1986, there was a Hong Kong movie called A Better Tomorrow that influenced a entire film industry, and was the first of many collaboration between actor Chow Yun-Fat, and John Woo. While it’s uncertain the collaboration between Scott Adkins, and director Jesse V. Johnson will have any kind of effect on the direct to video action business. They certainly are leaving a mark already. From Savage Dog (2017) an ambition action movie with a historical background that’s solid, to the surprisingly good comic good adaptation of Accident Man (2018), and now a film with direct inspiration from buddy cop movies with The Debt Collector (2018). Adding on to the list of good films under their collaboration.

Sue: “See this towel? It’s for you after the beating I’ll give you.”

The Debt collector follows classically-trained martial artist French (Scott Adkins), who goes to work as a mob debt collector in order to save his gym. This synopsis sounds like something out of a early 90s action flick, and in some ways pays homage to that. Teaming French up with experience mob debt collector Sue (Louis Mandylor). Starting the relationship in predictable, but well executed fashion of the two not getting along, and over time striking a closer friendship. The banter between French, and Sue keeps the film proceeding events engaging when action isn’t on screen. Making wisecracks at each other expense, talking about the moral lines that should never be crossed in their line of work, sharing a bit about themselves, and some very subtle references to some of the actors previous works for fans to catch. Also, some tongue in cheek lines to the sorts of movies it burrows from.

What simply starts as a series loosely strung together events do lead up to a overarching story. It takes halfway through the movie before it gets there being more incline to be character driven than story driven. Slowly having French, and Sue engage in various scenarios all of which end up going south. Mixing tightly choreographed action sequences, comedy, and the occasional characterization into it many scenarios. Once the overarching story becomes a mainstay it’s also another predictable path. Leading to French to further if what the job requires of him is actually worth it. There’s the part of learning about his target making him reconsider his job. Coming together in a climax with a unexpected outcome for a movie starring Scott Adkins, and even more surprising is the ending. It’s an ending ultimately suits the story for how far both French, and Sue went for their job by having actual consequences movies it is homaging wouldn’t go for. Earning it’s ending by having its characters question what they do, and taking the time to delve into that. However, it does mean anyone expecting the usual triumphant Scott Adkins climax in this movie will be disappointed when not receiving it.

One noticeable misstep in its early goings is completely ignoring the whole save the gym motivation for French as the film progresses. It does kick off the plot in a organic fashion, but a more personal driven motivation would have serve a greater purpose in the long run, especially considering the course it final act takes. Briefly touching on the value French gym has to him will suffice initially since it’s a fun throwback action flick. That is until you reach the final act where it changes course, and the undercooked motivation weakness comes into full effect. Aside from this misstep in the beginning, just about the only other major drawback would be the uneven structure. Half of the movie is packed with action sequences one right after the other, and the other half takes a drastic turn into the dramatic side with some splices of comedy. Taking into account the story’s intention it misdirecting the viewer works in it favor. Well, mostly. Throughout the movie, you see stock footage of cows eventually being taken to get slaughter. It’s on the noise in it’s message delivery, and far from subtle as the closing lines hammer its point home.

Despite low budgets, Adkins is always reliable on the action side for excitement

Scott Adkins takes the lead as French with his British accent. This role allows Adkins to stretch more of acting chops than his usual role, though isn’t given any heavily dramatic scenes. The most dramatic he’ll get is letting out a sigh of exhaustion. While his dramatic scenes are lacking what isn’t is Adkin capturing the straight man characteristic of his role. Managing to be convincing as someone out of his element. Where he does deliver the most is where it counts (besides the action sequences) is with his co-star Louis Mandylor. Adkins rough straight man attitude compliments nicely against Mandylor sleazy has been demeanor. Mandylor easily outshines Adkins since the material provides him opportunities for his character to be more intimate with those around him There’s also intensity in Mandylor which he captures perfectly in his eyes when he has to get his hands dirty. Their chemistry is the film biggest strength creating something that feels genuine in the actor comradeship with each other. It’s unlikely you’ll care a deal about the characters, but you’ll definitely find the duo entertaining if nothing else.

The supporting cast will largely go unnoticed since all of them get push to the wayside because of the film’s story. Only Jack Lowe is able to leave much of an impression in a small role since his character is begging for his life. Showing an ease to become a character with not a lot to chew on. Biggest surprise is easily Tony Todd. He doesn’t get plenty of screen time, but visibly has fun in his brief appearance. Then there’s Vladimir Kulich in a bigger role who also doesn’t have much screen time, though he’s enjoyable if only for the fact Adkins is once again playing a character who works for Kulich. Other than that, the supporting cast do fine in their small roles that do prevent nearly all of them from being able to shine does also mean the acting in general is better than average in your direct to video action films.

This movie has a of Scott Adkins driving people

When it comes the action side, fight choreography is handle by Luka LaFontaine (also responsible for the fights in Savage Dog) goes for a more grounded treatment to better fit its movie. Meaning, restraining Adkins from using many of his high flying maneuvers in favors of a more brawler like approach. Thankfully, LaFonatine is more than capable to get creative with his fight choreography. Since Adkins typically fight with men taller, and bigger than him this makes fight scenes eventful as none of them go down easily. LaFonatine is able to corporate some clever counter moves into his grounded choreographed fights without them feeling out of place. Seeing Scott Adkins get fling into a wall when someone blocks his punches, or seeing Adkins get slammed multiple time on a bar table when the person he’s fighting him won’t let his go of his grip is nicely worked in. Adkins receives plenty blows in the film requiring his character to either fight out of a scenario where he’s out number 3 to 1, or use something in his environment to get the upper hand. The action choreography is perhaps the least complex Adkins ever performed, but it’s shot nicely, and edited together nicely to make them entertaining nonetheless. The film does have one gunfight towards the end, and it’s pretty laughable it continues the tradition of people constantly missing at point blank range in Adkins direct to video action films. It’s further highlighted by the fact that Adkin character background, but it’s still an enjoyable gunfight in spite of that leap in logic.

The Debt Collector proves that Jesse V. Johnson, and Scott Adkins compliment each other really well. Jesse V. Johnson molds a story, and character that are engaging while allowing Adkins a departure from his usual roles, and letting the action experts do their thing. Adkins is able to rely more on his acting, and is able to hold his own against Louis Mandylor who takes the spotlight from him. When it comes to the action side Adkins is always reliable on that front, but here it’s nice to see him shine in a different way. Jesse V. Johnson, and Scott Adkins shortcomings in their fields are evident, but their understanding of each other strengths compliment each other in the films they make, and that’s make them an effective team. Producing far better films than you would expect from the direct to video market.

Rating: 7/10

Cinema-Maniac: Ready Player One (2018) Review

Ready Player One is set in a future where a virtual reality world called the OASIS is the biggest thing on Earth. One of its deceased creator challenges its users to find all his Easter Egg to give the winner his fortune. An unlikely young hero named Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) decides to join the contest, he is hurled into a breakneck, reality-bending treasure hunt against evil corporation IOI. Very sloppily written, the best time Ready Player One shines is when it doesn’t try to encompass everything out of reach, and simply focuses on being a piece of entertainment. It’s breakneck speed ensures there isn’t a dull moment to linger on in its nearly two, and a half hour runtime. Something else that’s somewhat of a positive are the pop culture references, for the most part, are simply there. Not drawing too much attention to them despite the large number of iconic characters to be seen on screen. There also isn’t a reliance on pop culture knowledge to understand the story itself. Granted, even knowing just a little bit helps add to the appeal of Ready Player One. For me, it was the The Holy Hand Grenade reference from (possibly the greatest fantasy film ever made) Monty Python, and the Holy Grail that was a nice surprise.

Not even a DeLorean capable of time traveling can outrun the almighty King Kong.

When it comes everything else this film does plenty of things that works against itself. Mostly how it feels disingenuous in delivery its “experience the real world” message. For starter, the lack of proper world building in the real world. Sure, the OASIS is a fantastical place where a majority of people go to avoid the harsh reality of their life, but those harsh realities are simply ignored in the film. Most you’ll get about the hardship of this future is the main character Wade lost his parents, and his current living conditions. There are also other aspects of the real world that are explained, but just like Wade parents, they come across more as decoration since it rarely shows the real world effects on its people. I sound like I’m being oblivious that this was the intended effect, but when Wade himself doesn’t show any concern for a family member dying within the film why should I care. Wade obviously doesn’t since all he does is simply acknowledge his caregiver has died, and moves on from it. Nothing about that plot point was handle properly making it seems like constant addiction to escapism is great.

Another issue is not enough time is spend in the real world itself for its message to be meaningful. Wade, and the other characters are rarely seen in the real world absorbing its actual beauty like it proclaims it has. You can claim something all you want, but when you don’t actually show it the results is disingenuous. Where’s the connection Wade makes with the real world, and its people. Absent within the film. Bringing up another point that if it wasn’t for Wade constantly ignoring the real world he would have never made the connection with his online friends in the OASIS. Reiterating, “experience the world” in this movie is forced. Why would people prefer to live in the real world if they live in slums over living in the OASIS where they can obtain anything they want. There’s a case to be made for living in the harsh real world, though you won’t find it here.

Speaking of disingenuous, all the pop culture references in the film just feel like they exist. While I’m sure Spielberg, and his crew has some connection to some of the things he references, all of it becomes homogenize. There’s no connection to a majority of it. If you notice something you love on screen chances are high it’ll disappear as just quickly. This issue applies with the pacing disregarding characterization. The most fleshed out characters are the creators of the OASIS; Ogden Morrow (Simon Pegg), and James Halliday (Mark Rylance) whom are given more characterization than the main cast themselves. Morrow, and Halliday also have a more fully realize conflict that gets explored as the film progresses unlike the main storyline that refuses to evolve. A big contributing factor to this is Halliday, and Morrow storyline deals with a trouble friendship whereas the other main storyline becomes save the world ordeal from the onset.

Even the main character more engaged in this subplot than their own.

When the movie begins, the OASIS users are competing against each other, and evil corporation IOI desires to win the grand prize. By the time the movie gets to it climax, this storyline has hardly evolve into anything beyond its introduction. Contributing more to a lackluster storyline is the writing makes the villains idiotic, and a plot point later on in the movie removes the whole underdog trait of its hero. It’s simple for IOI to find Wade Watts address, but it’s nearly impossible for the same group whom seemingly have dozen of drones ready to blow up anything be able to find Wade later on in the climax. This includes the fact there surveillance cameras seemingly all over the world which is a bigger leap in logic that IOI can’t find them. Like I wrote earlier, when Ready Player One is simply a film focusing on being a piece of entertainment it succeeds, but when it wants to capture the emotional investment it fails. If you removed the whole “experience the real world” message from the writing than issues regarding the lack of world building is gone. Instead, it prefers escapism over reality, and during the portion of the story it actually accepts that part of itself is when it’s a good film.

Tye Sheridan plays Wade Watts, and while his performance here didn’t impress me as much as he did in Mud (2012), he’s fine overall. While his enthusiasm for the OASIS is an aspect of his character he sells to the viewer successfully, everything else about his character ain’t as easy to sell. Some of this can be blame on the screenplay, like the scene where Sheridan is supposed to mourn the loss of a family member for less than a minute before it moves onto something else. When this happens, it’s reasonable he wouldn’t be able to emotionally capture what his character is feeling, and portray that in a way where the viewer can become further invested. Other times it’s purely his fault, like typically falling back to wide eyes facial expression to constantly show how he’s in awe of everything he sees. Showing some more enthusiasm would help him, though he also lacks the ability to get across the urgency when the film needs it.

Tye Sheridan co-stars are a bit better in balancing the area Sheridan lacks. Olivia Cooke for example is able to properly get across the urgency of a scene. There’s a moment in the second half of the film where she discovers where she’s being held captive, and her reaction is something appropriately out of a horror movie. She’s more rounded as an actor in this movie because she’s able to do a lot with little. There’s Ben Mendelsohn, T.J. Miller, and Hannah John-Kamen whom play the evil adults. As expected, they play the evil adults as you would expect. Mendelsohn especially comes off the most slimy, though the direction is a bit confused if he should be over the top evil, or humanized evil. Making it impossible for Mendelsohn to be memorable as a villain. T.J. Miller, and Hannah John-Kamen are the opposite simply being over the top in their portrayal. Being more than comfortable to make their characters come off as cartoons, and it works surprisingly well in the movie because of the already silly nature of the movie. There’s also the remaining co-stars of Win Morisaki, Lena Waithe, and Philip Zhao that make up the rest of the heroes. These three actors material are the most limited making them go into autopilot acting when the second half hits, but they do their best. Not on one point did I feel these three actors were phoning in their performance in spite of the thankless material.

This has to be the strangest assortment of characters I’ve seen in movies recently.

The two best actors in the movie without question are Simon Pegg, and Mark Rylance. Simon Pegg took a while for me to notice as it’s simply something I didn’t expect from him. Relying more on his dramatic side as a actor Pegg eases his way through scene after scene. Being effectively dramatic in everything without ever over acting, or stepping out of bound in his role. However, Mark Rylance is even more impressive in his performance. Without question he is the complete package as an actor in the movie; sincere, funny, believable, and captivating all at once no matter what scene he is. Rylance, and Pegg scenes together are easily the best in the movie, but Mark Rylance presence alone is something that hugely benefited Ready Player One. Without MarK Rylance in the movie, what would be missing is the only actor who is able to capture something heartfelt within a script that feels artificial with it dramatic scenes.

Steven Spielberg visuals aren’t convincing, but within the context of the movie they are more than fine. Since everything takes place in a virtual reality world accepting the plastic looking visuals is easy. What’s not easy is the blurriness that comes whenever the camera moves quickly. Whenever there’s too much going on screen it’s difficult for the camera to stay focus, especially in the climax of the movie where the blurriness makes it difficult to spot the many pop culture figures. However, during the action sequences the freedom of placing the camera wherever Spielberg wants leads to some visually stunning setpieces. In particular, the racing sequence in the beginning in the movie is a sight to behold, especially the amount of effects on screen all at once. My favorite set piece involved obviously involved Mecha-Godzilla (because I grew up with the franchise) fighting against two other iconic robots which I won’t spoil as it best to experience that fight blind. When it comes to music the original pieces of music was during the climax, and a orchestrated piece played that sounded similar to the classic Godzilla theme music. Aside from the obvious insert classic songs from The Bee Gees, Blondie, Prince, and a few other from the era. Music in the movie is nothing that stands out.

Ready Player One is a decent blockbuster made by Spielberg, but misses the magic that made blockbusters like Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, and Jurassic Park special. Missing is the heart, and the connection the filmmakers had with these creations, and recreating the joy it brought to them to a whole new audience. Gone is the wonder, missing is the heart, and absent is the emotion the story attempts to capture, but gave up on at some point. Whenever Ready Player One isn’t pretending it’s something it is not the film is enjoyable experience, and thankfully it’s like that for a majority of the run time. Disappointing yes, but also very entertaining.

Rating: 7/10

 

SPOILERS BELOW ON SOMETHING THAT BUGGED ME

I didn’t know where to put in this my actual review since it’s not detrimental enough to cripple the movie quality, but it did bug the Hell out of me. When the climax draws to a close, and Wade Watts bids farewell to James Halliday. Wade asks Halliday what he is, and Halliday simply leaves without answering. If Wade encounter with Halliday was simply explained away with it being programmed for whoever won the challenge than I would have been okay, but Halliday says it not. So, either James Halliday became a sentient being that somehow managed to live in a video game, or Halliday actually alive somewhere in the world, and is a big dick for making his best friend, and everyone he cares about that he’s dead. Either way, that minor detail bugs me to end.

Nitpicking A Joke (Contains Spoilers)

When the heroes are off visiting the world of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, there’s a moment where Aech, whom is presume to be male at this moment, making out with a corpse he temporarily sees as a beautiful woman. Once it reveals that Aech is a woman, the scene immediately didn’t make sense. I mean, there wasn’t anything in the movie to indicate she’s bi-sexual, or a lesbian. It was something that left me scratching my head. Sure I laughed when I saw it, but when thinking on back on it. This moment just feels like it got overlooked during the writing process.

Cinema-Maniac: First Shot (1993)

I always disagreed with the notion that there’s a set number of ways to write stories. However, there are times where it does feel like that is the case. Not just in movies, but in general media that I consume. It also doesn’t help in the little time I did spend in college taking classes on writing further expanded my knowledge on fictional writing. One thing I didn’t need to learn in my classes is that execution is key. No matter how many type of stories you write, or experience understanding how to make those elements work together can lead to making a good product. Hence, today’s movie while overly familiar for viewers who’ve seen The Untouchables execute the same general story into a decent film.

Alright, time for another full body checkup from the entire force.

First Shot is set during a time of widespread police corruption, Wong Yat-chung (Ti Lung) is a stubborn cop who takes on both the mob and the political establishment. In terms of story, it’s lifts from heavily from Brain De Palma’s The Untouchables (1987). If you’ve seen that film than you more, or less will know what to expect from First Shot. However, if you haven’t seen The Untouchable, here’s a couple of lifted plot points. In both, you have a good guy cop against the corrupt police system, the main character recruiting at a academy to ensure the officer they recruit aren’t corrupted, the struggle to maintain a key witness safe from the film’s villain, a scene with the main character departs from his family to put them in police protection, a vocal confrontation between the film’s hero & villain surrounded by the press after a ally of the protagonist gets killed, and both leading character getting betrayed by other high ranking officers. Also, both movies are based around true events. To call the writing of First Shot uninspired would be an understatement.

Now that the similarities have been brought up, the area they stand apart in are easy. First Shot is significantly less subtle with its portrayal of factual events. For starter, all the corrupt police officers have no qualm about showing how corrupt they are in public. Dialogue goes of it way to reinforce this fact in several scenes. There’s the slimy villain whom typically who to do something evil whenever he’s onscreen. Making the preceding events in the story a basic good guys versus bad guy story. It keeps the viewer engage in its predictable story by fleshing out its heroes, and going through fulfilling character arcs. Just like in The Untouchable, no one in this film safe from death, and it’s uncertain who is exactly next up on the chopping floor. The cast of First Shot aren’t fleshed out enough to ensure you’ll care about them, but you will see beyond them cannon fodder.

Another advantage to the film is the chase itself to lock up the villain. Seeing the heroes coming inches close to lock away their man is an engaging part of the film. Same with the deviation whenever it goes away from it source of inspiration. Alleviating the serious with some comedic scenes which generally tend to be less over the top than films typically produce in Hong Kong around this time. Resulting in a dynamic cast of heroes who makes the film somewhat worthwhile when action is absent.

Man, looks at that face on the left

What garner mix results are some of the subplots. While characters are generally fleshed out, minus the villains, some of the subplots come out of nowhere. In the middle of the film’s climactic action sequence, one of the character reveals he’ll take revenge against the man who killed his father. This plot point was never brought up beforehand making it a convoluted way to add tension in the climax. There’s also the romantic subplot which isn’t as bad, though doesn’t come across as tragic as the film expected it to be. Would have probably helped if it didn’t immediately switch gear into a climatic action sequence over lingering on the fact an important character just died. There’s also the unexpected gay bar scene where the heroes have to undercover to gather intel, and it’s um, something odd to place into the movie to get a quick laugh. I’ll leave it at that.

What it lacks in writing quality it makes up for it in star power. For starter, the usually great Ti Lung delivers in being a good leading man. While nowhere near his best work, Ti Lung in First Shot becomes the embodiment of his character making the typical good cop feel more human. Unlike the writing, Ti Lung imbues more emotion into scenes than what would have been required of him. For example, when he’s confront Simon Yam in alley it would have been enough if Ti Lung just come across as a bitter man. However, Ti Lung comes across as more understanding, and disappointment from how he deliver his dialogue. Of course, Ti Lung partakes in some action sequences, but there’s not much of them here in terms of gunplay. What there is in fight sequences are also brief, though well put together to make up for the lack of action. I wasn’t expecting Ti Lung to partake in a choreograph fight sequence against Waise Lee in the climax, but I welcome that.

Do you feel lucky punk? Well, do yah?

Simon Yam delivers the best performance in the cast as Sam Mok. Portraying a police officer who seeks redemption for his misgivings. He comes across the most humane out of his co-stars. While other actors also do a good job, they do feel samey since the script doesn’t offer much differentiation between them. Yam is the exception convincingly turning around a character whose fearful for his life as a officer, and seamlessly transform it into an officer looking to do right. Portraying the film’s closest thing to a complex character in a natural progression despite having to share the screen with several other actors. All the while never losing his charming side to him that makes him likable.

Maggie Cheung in the film doesn’t offer much in her role. He does well, but unfortunately unlike her male co-star she only gets one moment to portray any sadness for her character. She given much of the exposition to deliver, although she does make the most of what she can in a thankless role. Then there’s Canti Lau, and Andy Hui playing the young cadets who are best friends. While the script never capitalizes on the potential of these characters the actor sure do. It’s unlikely you’ll be shedding tears whenever one of these two bites the dust, but you’ll care to some degree. Canti Lau does pretty well in his fight scenes.

Diner scenes, typically the most dangerous for criminals

Waise Lee plays the film villain, and chews the scenery in all his scenes. He holds nothing back in comically playing his playing role as serious as possible. He lacks much in the way of facial expressions aside from looking angry in every scene he’s in. Same thing applies to Batt Leung-Gam who plays a silence henchman. He lacks the menacing presence for his type of character, but makes up for his appearances with his fighting abilities in his action sequences. Director David Lam does a competent job helming the movie, but nothing to elevate the movie unlike his cast of actors. Finally, Lowell Lo composed the music for the film. While the only piece of music in the film that stands out is the one that plays the movie out during the ending credit it’s all around serviceable. It’s hardly noticeable, but does the job fine.

First Shot is a solid crime action flick in its own right. It doesn’t come close to matching it’s source of inspiration, The Untouchable, on any level. What it does do is execute a similar story into a straight forward action movie with mild success.

Rating: 7/10

 

Poor Subtitles Quality

My favorite badly sub line of the movie

In the off chance you somehow manage to find a viewable copy of this by any means the hardsubs are very poor. Several times throughout my viewing of the film would there be grammatical, and spelling errors. Other points portions of the subtitles would be cut off making it easy to lose vital information. Considering at the time of this posting I’ve yet to find any other official release of First Shot. The poor subtitles will be a drawback for anyone with a passing interesting to view it, or unintentionally fun by how bad it is. Either way, take that in account you plan on viewing First Shot at any point.

Cinema-Maniac: The Dragon Family (1988) Chinese Movie Review

In 1986, in China that is, a little film known as A Better Tomorrow by John Woo was released. The influence the film had in its region film industry is an understatement, and often credited as setting the template for the heroic bloodshed genre. Due to its unpredescant success due to having virtually no advertisement at the time marking its influence on several films, and filmmakers at the same time to capture the same gold. Thus, today’s film in question is one of those films that is heavily influenced by A Better Tomorrow. Like many other films at the time, many try to capture the magic of the film that inspired them, but couldn’t duplicate the critical, or financial success. However, in spite of its heavy influence The Dragon Family (1988), unlike other films of a similar nature, is able to stand as a good film outside of A Better Tomorrow’s shadow.

So, this is how the movie got funded.

The Dragon Family follows the leader of a group of 4 triad families on their decision go straight and stop dealing in drugs, 3 of the 4 follow suit, but the 4th decides to continue with their illegal dealings, and frame the son of the boss to climb up the ranks. During my viewing of the film it became very evident that this film’s premise wasn’t going to live up to its full potential as I would have hoped it would. The groundwork is laid here for a gripping, and compelling crime epic with a few action scenes thrown in for a good measure of thrills. However, due to its run time of 90 minutes everything from characters, story, and themes come off as cookie cutter. For example, you get the usual blood brothers (A Better Tomorrow), followed by a betrayal by someone high ranking in the triad (Flaming Brothers), death of a loved one orchestrated by traitor triad (Tragic Hero), and an explosive finale involving the traitor (A Better Tomorrow again). This outline is simple to follow, and its formula is predictable for those familiar with these kind of Hong Kong action films post the release of A Better Tomorrow. 

Same thing applies for the characters as you have the wise old veteran whom everyone looks up to as a father, the young hot headed trouble maker who can’t go straight, the youngest member who has bright future ahead of him coming back into the criminal fold, the loving collected mother, and so forth. Sadly, almost all of the characters don’t have much to them beyond these descriptions. Only a few characters whom survived past the sixty minute mark receive any added characterization, but even then it leaves much to be desired.

Cameraman: “You’re joking right? This ain’t your entire family?”

Fortunately, everything else that is streamlined is in favor of the film, and the viewing experience. Much like the vein of a similar movie I recently reviewed, City War (Yi dan hong chun), it starts out like crime drama at first for around fifty minutes of its runtime. However, the difference is plain as day; the pacing is brisk, and scenes are to the point not prolonging any obvious plot points. Spending the first half entirely setting up events, and characters before its goes in the realm of a action revenge flick. Cookie cutter characters are sympathetic in their cause as well as not reaching higher than it knows it can actually achieve in its length. Something that’s quite baffling since Eddie Chan Shu-Chi, and Yuen are credited for the screenplay, and the story are credited to Lau Kar-wing, Clarence Yip, and Wong Jing making the total of five writers who worked on this. In its modesty, you’ll also find a film that actually tries to add some depth to the topic of vengeance. It doesn’t end up going anywhere meaningful, but the characters history in the field of crime, and some of them attempting to achieve a better life gives it some worth.

The cast listing for the film is ridiculously long, and they include Alan Tam, Andy Lau, Max Mok Siu Chung, Ken Tong Chun Yip, Norman Chu Siu Keung, Michael Miu Kiu Wai, William Ho Ka Kui, Lisa Chiao Chiao, Stanley Fung, Kent Cheng, Ku Feng, Lau Kar Wing, Shing Fui On, Philip Ko Fei, Wayne Archer, Charlie Cho Cha Lei, Kara Hui Ying Hung, Blacky Ko Sau Leung, Nick Masters, O Chun Hung, Pak Man Biu, and Sin Ho Ying. Yeah, that’s quite the cast, and especially attention grabbing for anyone who explores Hong Kong action cinema. In spite of the large cast it’s surprisingly easy to summarize the quality of acting within the film. The older the actor is the better the performances turn out. Granted someone like Shing Fui-On whose villain like appearance lend itself to Fui-On smooth portray a criminal wouldn’t find it difficult to disappear into his small role. Same with O Chun-Hung who portrays a father like figure to the younger generation could easily sell viewer on his portrayal thanks to his appearance as well. However, with the two examples given you wouldn’t be far off in thinking the older cast members make good out of general onenote roles.

Younger actors like Andy Lau, Max Mok/Mok Siu-Chung, and Alan Tam completely take the lead once the film gets over the halfway mark. Before then, these three actors are still in the film, but the film attempts to give equal screen time for other actors to get in their stuff in a good move that, especially if you go in blind, will make you wonder the outcome of characters throughout the film once the action hits. Out of Andy Lau, Max Mok, and Alan Tam the best performance is easily given by Alan Tam. Unlike a majority of his co-stars, he’s given more range to portray a more dynamic character who can at least allow him to come off as responsible, caring, and eventually brave. Andy Lau, and Max Mok portrayals follow largely the same trajectory. However, all three actors can equally share praise in performing their action scenes, along with some of their other cast members. Lau especially whom puts his body through quite the endeavor for the audience amusement. What saves this film from others A Better Tomorrow wannabe is Lau Kar-wing fine direction as never once throughout the film is he, or any of his crew ever confused on what type of film they are making, and when in the story they are making such a film.

The action choreography is handled by Chia-Liang Liu who won an Golden Horse (Taiwan/China equivalent to the Academy Awards) for Jackie Chan’s The Legend of Drunken Master (1994) renowned for its famous final fight sequence. It’s a factoid that will go largely ignored for the average movie viewer, but won’t be ignored is Chia-Liang Lui craftsmanship of action sequences. Lui first action sequence, which doesn’t appear until the second act, ensures to reward the audience, in particular action junkies, patience with a good shoot out. In this sequence, in a small room dozen of people are simply massacre heighten by tension thanks careful craftsmanship of seeing attempt after attempt of people trying to escape, or survive fail one after another. This first set piece does an excellent job displaying how harsh the criminal world can be.

The second action sequence, in vein of the first one, is also centered around survival/escaping from setting where the sequence takes place. Taking place at night, the choreography, and cinematography keeps the action at a distance, but also capturing the helplessness of the situation as the characters you follow struggle to stay alive. Showing in true desperation using household objects around them to fight off goons. Unlike the first action sequence, this one is more reliant on fight choreography, though is one sided for this sequence.

Yep, don’t like criminals at all.

Without a doubt, the standout sequence in this entire movie is easily the finale of the film. Combining gunplay, and several uniquely choreographed fight scenes together all in one sequence. Unlike the previous two sequence, the climatic action sequence is a all, or nothing setup. The gunfight it starts off with isn’t just cover, and shoot, but constantly moving around. Despite the constant movement of the gunfight the cinematography never loses sight of the action, and editing makes it all flow seamlessly. It’s quite an exciting sight seeing a gunfight that while quick has a lot going on in it besides ducking, and shooting. Once the guns are finally scrapped the fight sequences take over, and this time fights are even. Requiring the actors to take some serious painful falls, and throws through some rough objects to demonstrate the rough confrontation. Succeeding in truly ending the film on a high note.

The Dragon Family is the kind of film that makes you wish it was more fleshed out in its writing on all fronts, but in the end turns out to be a fine way to spend 90 minutes on. The few action sequences it offers are the true standout of the film while everything else does enough to not drag down the experience. Those familiar with Hong Kong action cinema post A Better Tomorrow will find familiarity in the material it threads on, but also find an enjoyable action flick. It won’t ever surpass the film that inspired it, but unlike many other imitators, The Dragon Family won’t remain the shadow of its inspiration.

Final Rating: 7/10

Random Factoid

I didn’t know where to place this random factoid, but if you look up posters for The Dragon Family (1988) you’ll notice Andy Lau headlines the movie. No surprise since even now Andy Lau is still a big name. However, what you likely didn’t know is that within the year 1988 Andy Lau headline 10 movies! The reason I didn’t put this random fact into the review itself is because I felt it ruined the flow of the review, and distracted from it.

Cinema-Maniac: Jurassic World

Original design by LandLCreations: http://landlcreations.deviantart.com/art/Jurassic-World-T-shirt-Design-522335613

Jurassic Park is a magnum opus in the monster film genre that best use simple, but engaging characters and escalating set pieces to its advantage to become a masterpiece of a blockbuster that offers everything imaginable. It’s sequel, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, took a different direction making the main characters environmentalists that got more people killed than actually saved. The approach resulted in a misfire due to the sheer lack of care of carrying over continuity from it predecessor, and a bad pro nature message delivery due to the heroes action resulting in the same amount of deaths as the Dinosaurs. Need we forget the sheer idiocy of virtually every single character in that film. Jurassic Park 3 bounce back from a misdirection, but still wasn’t the sequel people wanted. Despite some improvements like the addition of muscle movements on the CG Dinosaurs not present in previous films, and a more tightly written story it failed to provide an engaging story being more of a solid popcorn flick variety than the masterpiece the original film was. Jurassic World on the other hand attempts to be a mixture of all the previous films minus the practical effects. The result is ultimately a better refined version of Jurassic Park 3, but a pale shadow of what makes the original significant to film history.

Now the writing is both dumber and smarter than you expect it to be. In a sense the movie is an example “dumbtelligent”; a made up word by me that encompasses the traits of writing of various level found in this film. For example, let’s talk about creating an entirely brand new Dinosaur in the context of the film. The dumb aspects of this is this Dinosaur is also known by writers as “Plot Conveniencesaur” due to the people who created it having no knowledge about it despite the park’s scientist being the one who created it.

In one scene the created Dinosaur, named Indominus Rex, is able to camouflage into its environment like a Chameleon to avoid immediate detection and kill its prey. However, such ability is only ever used once in the film rendering it a pointless addition in the long run. Another moment involve when Indominus Rex is planning to escape from his cage. In context, we have people who have created this creature from the ground up and have raised it in captivity for its entire life, yet didn’t know Indominus Rex could lower its own body temperature until the plot demanded. Not even thermal cameras are able to see Indominus Rex. So instead of using the brought up tracking device implanted in Indominus Rex to track his location and simply wait to get the coordinates the workers at Jurassic World open up his cage to investigate if Indominus Rex is still in the cage. Once again, the same people who created Indominus from the ground up and have records of what went into this creation do tons of stupid things. One of them being making a Dinosaur whose just as equally dumb. An inconsequential detail about the climax is leading lady, Claire (played by Dallas Byrce Howard), using a flare and throwing it at Indominus Rex because the T-Rex is established to only see by heat signature…yet when the flare goes out neither does the idea of using camouflage or lowering body temperature comes to Indominus Rex mind when in combat against other Dinosaurs.

If only Indominus would also use his abilities to turn the film plot holes invisible.

The smart aspect of engineering Dinosaur is it’s made reasonable in the film context. It’s not the first that is immediately introduce, but a starting point to establish its fiction. In this world, people are bored by Dinosaurs like they are with regular animals. So the next logical step is to keep tourist coming back is create a Dinosaur from the ground up. Another nice touch to the park not seen before is a fully realized, operational park with some reasonable design choices. Some choices like the Gyrosphere for instance spell out questionable decisions like not including rails. People would be able to get attacked by Dinosaurs, and possibly harassed them with these machines. One must have would be making human size doors when entering cages, except most of the doors or gates are big enough for the contained Dinosaurs to walk/run through. Then comes a giant dome holding down Pteranodon that for some reason only has one dome of glass to ensure the Dinosaurs don’t fly away. For a park that spared no expense the park overlooked some issues in sake of tourism. However, an addition like security is upgraded so yes, there is more than one person responsible to ensure the safety of everyone on this island filled with Dinosaurs. There’s also other small touches like a full view of all Dinosaurs location, and implied Dinosaur trainers. Though, only ones for Raptors are specially shown.

According to Jurassic World this apparently never happened in The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

Some writing choices are rather pointless. For instance, there’s a character in Jurassic World by the name of Lowery (played by Jake Johnson) whose purpose is to tell the audience this is not Jurassic Park. In case, you know, you couldn’t read the title or didn’t hear the name of the amusement park within the film. This character basically spout self-awareness in one of the first scenes he appears in. His dialogue in this scene amounts to saying we need more teeths, and bigger Dinosaurs to draw in park visitors. It’s a subtle way to directly tell the audience the dire need for the franchise to introduce new Dinosaurs to draw in viewers, but at the same time Lowery character amounts to no importance in the film. If Lowery was removed the only aspect would change would be less humor. Any character could have delivered this same self-aware dialogue. Finally comes the disregard of continuity. According to this film the events of the The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park 3 didn’t happen for unknown reasons or doesn’t exist in the same world. Classifying itself as a direct sequel to the original which is also troubling. Expecting you to believe you forgot the Pteranodons that flew away from the island from Jurassic Park. What happened to those Dinosaurs exactly as it never shows the main characters reaching their destination? Also, no one from the original film apparently wrote about their experiences in Jurassic Park including Ian Malcolm. While on this, as a self-contained story it doesn’t really answer the question of why a larger park was built despite a previous park being a failure? If Jurassic Park wasn’t mentioned or was established to be hidden from public knowledge than the existence of the park would be more believable for newcomers instead of leaving dangling questions.

The good aspect of the writing is everything unfolds in real-time. Forget the fact that more than half of the film occurs in broad daylight. This means there’s no distraction from the main conflicts. One that deals with a brand new Dinosaur being loose causing rampage and another that focus on a two brothers attempting to get to safety in a park filled with creatures that can kill them. No matter what the characters are doing it is always related to moving it story forward. For example, if it was operated on real world logic than two kids wouldn’t just magically fix a twenty year old broken car by simply changing the battery. By not operating on realism it allows the characters and viewers to see more of the park. From the onset embracing the B movie aspects of its own writing uses it to great effect to create entertaining, over the top moments of pure escapism. Ranging from the fact a CEO would fly a Helicopter in an attempt to capture a lab created Dinosaur to the sheer cheesiness that is “The Comeback” moment in the climax. Can’t forget the “Obviously Evil Bad Guy” who says ridiculous things whenever on-screen and pitching his idea for militarized Dinosaurs for war. The music might indicate to take this moment seriously, but given this character introduced by pitching this idea it’s more comedic than a starting point for a debate for a theme that goes nowhere. It knows this using the antagonist to enjoy at least enjoy one deserve killing in the film.

All of the issues with the writing could have been easily fixed if it was a half an hour or hour longer. A longer length would have benefited Jurassic World which has the caricatures for engaging ideas like two brothers bonding in the trouble background of their parents divorce or even the pro-environmental message could be expanded upon beyond simply showing disastrous results of hybrids in one scene. Now simply because it would be longer wouldn’t mean the film would have turned out better, but some the ideas it clearly wanted to use could have been expanded on and put to better use. As it is you’ll see many moments that could have made it reach greatness, but won’t rise up to those occasions.

You can thank Colin Trevorrow for cool shots like these throughout Jurassic World.

Director Colin Trevorrow is heavily involved in how the film turned out from writing, producing, and yes directing. He made the right calls when presenting the “dumbtelligent” story. Cinematography is far away enough to see major set pieces. Pulling back away to see not only the major Dinosaur CG effects, but the smaller details like debris moving around when Dinosaurs are in movement or hitting a noticeable object. Then the blurred effect when characters are in a vehicle usually when escaping Dinosaurs in an attempt to capture a sense of speed in these scenes. Trevorrow’s usage of the original score, composed by Michael Giacchino, is also appropriate with his timing. I already mentioned before how “Obviously Evil Bad Guy” pitching the idea of militarizing Dinosaurs for war with serious music playing in the back ground. It works for presentation because it’s plays out like a B-movie. The fact there’s not many significant scenes without original music being played speaks for the writing holding its own. Giacchino score is basically a nostalgia trip at best if you’ve seen the previous movies or heard the iconic theme from Jurassic Park and at worst fades into the background if you have no connection with the series in any form. It best blends together whenever the atmosphere is being built in place and involving a Dinosaur as a key character. In the opening scene, anonymous music is played when showing a close up of an animal feet with sharp claws it to play against expectations. Aside from this, the only memorable pieces of music with what occurs on-screen is whenever it sounds similar to John Williams score in Jurassic Park.

I’ll ride off into the distance, in search of some emotions!

The actor aesthetically fit into their roles. You won’t see anything resembling ranged from its capable cast. For instance, Nick Robinson, plays an older brother who switches from being neglectful when around with his little brother, played by Ty Simpkins, to becoming a supportive brother the next scene. The problem is also from the script turning emotions one-eighty when the actor are portraying characters. Though, the roles written are on auto pilot. Chris Pratt for instance plays one of the lead character no matter what the film required retains the same wide eyes facial expression. When he is scared he doesn’t act any differently when at he is at ease. All the roles provide limited ranged since all the characters must be scared, run in fear, and be in awe when facing a Dinosaur that looks directly into their eyes. Therefore memorable characters are off the table the same with notable personalities. Chris Pratt character having more experience in the park reacts the same way as Ty Simpkins seeing Jurassic World for the first time. There’s no sense of experience from certain characters giving this impression this the first time anything like this happened.

“Can you tell I’m the villain?”

The actor that got the best written role for acting was Vincent D’Onofrio who plays a character that might as well be named “Obviously Evil Bad Guy”. When he’s introduce it’s an introduction equivalent to saying “Hahah. I’m evil”. His performance works the best since his character is escalating in one note evilness and priding himself in that fact. Smiling when he pitches his goofy Dinosaur soldier ideas, and wanting to make money at the cost lives. Vincent D’Onofrio is embracing the role seriously giving his character a goofy charm that fits perfectly with how it’s presented and written. He’s enjoyable villain simply for how over the top he is. Special effects are well done, but a downgrade from its predecessors which uses both practical and CG. However, the CG in Jurassic World are used for more complex scenes than anything ever done in the franchise. For instance, there’s a set piece where Pteranodons are attacking people around the park. A scene like this shows how far more advance the CG has become allowing a dozen Dinosaurs to be on-screen while attacking humans. In previous films it was usually one person being picked off despite large group traveling together. In Jurassic World, the fact that Pteranodons are seen picking up several people at the same time is a small achievement for the franchise.

Jurassic World is a not good continuation as a sequel, and doesn’t bother to learn from its predecessors. It has the same lackluster characterization preventing complex characters from being created and the same leap in logic in order for its story to be told. It’s pretty much afraid to have its own identity in fear of being a complete failure without relying on a proven formula. However, it does make for a decent film. What you won’t find is the same simple identifiable, engaging characters or sense of wonder that eventually become lost under heavy uses of CGI, but you’ll find escapism entertainment. It’s operates on B-movie logics containing set pieces that makes full use of its Dinosaurs for creative setups. Entertaining the film is, but an engaging experience it is not.

7/10