August 10, 2020

Message Man (2018) Movie Review

Message Man is a by the book violent action movie that doesn’t hold back and gets to highlight Paul O’Brien in an action role.

Director: Corey Pearson

Writer: Corey Pearson (Screenplay)

Starring: Paul O’Brien, Aji Santosa, Verdi Solaiman, Mario Irwinsyah, Agni Pratistha

Plot: A retired assassin’s past catches up with him and his brutality surfaces as he goes on a final killing spree to make things right.

Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Ultra-Violent Action Film

Story: Message Man starts as Ryan Teller (O’Brien) parks his boat off the coast of a small Indonesian island. He meets a local boy Doni (Santosa) who helps him around the small village. Where his mother Jenti (Pratistha) offers him dinner, but human traffickers run by Lee (Solaiman). Having been picking off the residents for their own profit, leaving them helpless to defend themselves.

After Doni becomes a target for the criminals actions. Ryan fights back showing his deadlier side as a former assassin, one known as the Message Man. One that Lee has been searching for, leading Ryan to go on a bloody battle to get revenge for their actions.

Thoughts on Message Man

Characters

Ryan Teller is a retired hitman, he lives an isolated quiet life away from the world off the grid. He finds himself on a small island. Where he discovers the island is a target for human traffickers and looks to eliminate this problem. Against an old enemy. Ryan is proven combat machine who can beat countless enemies in the most effective quickest way. Lee is the human trafficker who sees Ryan and wants him alive so he can get his revenge on him. We do get to meet the family that Ryan tries to help. A poor family that he wants to help in exchange for a few favours, the family he is willing to fight for.

Performances – Paul O’Brien as the relentless killer is great to watch, he handles the combat with ease. While seemingly like the quiet guy who doesn’t want the conflict, with a heart. The rest of the cast are solid enough, though none of them stand out like in other action films.

Story

The story follows a retired assassin living a quiet life. Who finds himself coming out of retirement to eliminate human traffickers that have been targeting a small island town. This is a simple story, it never needs to get complicated. It is the old retired assassin takes one more job for the right reasons and shows just how deadly he is. The villains could do with more dimension if we are going deeper into things. As most are just introduced for Ryan to kill, violently.

Action – The action in the film doesn’t hold back with blood flying everywhere during the fight sequences in this film.

Settings – The film is mostly set in the small Indonesian island town which helps show how Ryan is trying to stay off the map. Turning to people he could trust to be honest, while criminals see them as targets they can pick off.

Scene of the Movie – The first fight, we see just how deadly Ryan will be.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not enough of the villain.

Overall: Violent Delight

Signature Entertainment presents Message Man on Digital HD from August 17th

ABC Film Challenge – Animation – J – Batman: Assault on Arkham (2014) Movie Review

This is under J because of director Jay Oliva.

Director: Jay Oliva, Ethan Spaulding

Writer: Heath Corson (Screenplay) Bob Kane, Lew Schwartz, John Ostrander, John Byrne, Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, Len Wein, Luke McDonnell (Creators)

Starring: (Voice Talents) Kevin Conroy, Neal McDonough, Hynden Walch, Matthew Gray Gubler, Troy Baker, Eric Bauza, Chris Cox

Plot: Batman works desperately to find a bomb planted by the Joker while Amanda Waller hires her newly formed Suicide Squad to break into Arkham Asylum to recover vital information stolen by the Riddler.

Tagline – Get ready to root for the bad guys.

Runtime: 1 Hour 16 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Bloated, But Great

Story: Batman: Assault on Arkham starts as Batman takes down the Riddler, interfering the arrest by Amanda Waller, which sees her turn to the Suicide Squad, Deadshot, Harley Quinn, King Shark, Captain Boomerang, Black Spider and Killer Frost in an attempt to get their hands on the plans from Joker, who might be ready to take the city down once and for all.

The suicide squad must operate without attracting the Batman’s attention as they look to break into the asylum to break Joker and the Riddler out to make sure the bomb doesn’t become a threat.

Thoughts on Batman: Assault on Arkham

Characters – Batman will always be the central figure for a film set in Gotham, he is the hero that everybody who does something illegal is scared off, no matter what the bigger cause is going to be. He is hunting for the truth and is always trying to stop the squads plan. Deadshot and Harley Quinn are both members of the suicide squad who know they need to elude the Batman, while doing the job they could die doing just for their own freedom. Joker is the man that has planted a bomb in Gotham threatening to blow it up, with the Batman trying to get the truth. With the Riddler knowing the answers to everything, only keeping his answers secret in his riddles. Sadly, neither of the two biggest villains are used enough in the film, instead of us focusing on the suicide squad side of the characters.

Story – The story here follows the suicide squad as they must elude Batman to go on a daring prison raid to capture the Riddler and stop the Joker. When it comes to comic book movies we like to have a lot going on, this one has so much going on, it makes it so enjoyable, we have countless numbers of iconic characters from the Batman universe here, we aren’t only following the cape crusader, we have the middle of the road characters, the twisted villains, it is like a whose who of characters from this universe and it was a true pleasure to see how everything unfolds, with the darkness and bloodshed not being held back.

Action/Crime – The action is the big fight sequences, we get glimpse of what each villain or hero can do in combat which also leaves us feeling impressed with the crime riddled city that needs help.

Settings – The film uses the Arkham Asylum as the main setting, a place that become massive because of the quality of the video game, that also explains why we have so many villainous characters around the place.

Animation – When it comes to the animation, nothing looks bad, we know we are going to have a style which isn’t on the par with Disney, but one we can get behind easily.

Scene of the Movie – Everyone Unleashed.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – We don’t get enough from the massive cast of characters.

Final Thoughts – This is like having every possible villain thrown into one film, only not getting enough time to enjoy their menacing ways.

Overall: Enjoyable.