Tag: Action

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Movie Review

Point Man (2019)

Director: Phil Blattenberger

Writer: Phil Blattenberger (Screenplay)

Starring: Christopher Long, Jacob Keohane, Chase Gutzmore, Marcus Bailey, Matthew Ewald

 

Plot: Set in Vietnam in April 1968 – three months after the tide-turning Tet Offensive and one month after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. – Point Man is the story of a U.S. Army fire team fractured by racial tensions, moral crises, and the crushing pressures of combat in a war nobody wants to fight. Andre “Casper” Allen, a rough-edged ideologue, finds his radical politics put him at odds with the squad’s machine gunner, Silas Meeks. When their search-and-destroy mission in the Mekong Delta goes terribly wrong, both men find themselves pitted against each other and their recalcitrant platoon commander, Lieutenant Sutter. Point men die like flies in the bush, and as loyalties dissolve every step forward comes with a price.

 

Runtime: 1 Hour 47 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

 

Verdict: The Reality of War

 

Story: Point Man starts in Vietnam with a platoon of mixed raced soldiers, Andre ‘Casper’ Allen (Long), Joe Creighton (Gutzmore), Felix Wake (Bailey) and racist Silas Meeks (Keohane) all under the strict Lieutenant Sutter (Ewald). On their latest mission they four men get separated from their platoon and are left behind enemy lines.

The journey back sees the four men clash with Joe making difficult decisions when they see how the fellow American soldiers are acting, Silas needing to put his racial problems behind him with Casper trying his hardest to keep the four men together knowing it will be the only way they can make it back to safety.

 

Thoughts on Point Man

 

Characters – Andre ‘Casper’ Allen is one of the black soldiers in the platoon, he is tired of the racial divide within the platoon, but after he is split from the platoon, he must do the correct decision-making to see his friends back to safety, the decisions he must face will see him go after his own side that have gone too far in the war. Joe is the one that will do the right thing, he knows just how bad the situations will be and will do the right thing even if it means his life will end doing it. Silas is the racist soldier that ends up with the three black soldiers, he doesn’t want to work with them, but knows this will be the only way to get out of the situation alive, he is always looking out for himself. Lieutenant Sutter is the strict platoon leader that has been forced into difficult decisions, he seems like he going to be the one that is against everyone through this film almost in a cowardly way too.

Performances – The performance in this film are interesting because when it comes to the discussion points, we get strong acting from the whole cast, it gets to the conflict side which also plays into the budget which does expose the weak points in this film. Christopher Long in the leading performance shows the chemistry required with Chase Gutzmore and Marcus Bailey, with the tension feeling real with Jacob Keohane.

Story – The story gives us a glimpse into the mindset of three black soldiers in the Vietnam war, they believe they are just there to be part of the body count, while being given the jobs which are more likely to die, mostly the Point Man role. We see how they react to becoming separated with a racist behind enemy lines and how they must work together to survive, while dealing with the soldiers in the land that could cause just as much problems whichever side of the fight they are on. This story gets to show us how war can affect people, make them do things they wouldn’t normally consider and how the skin colour of these soldiers is going to seeing them get the blame for anything going wrong. This story shows us just how difficult the war was on the victims, how doing the right thing can make you an enemy to your own side. The only part of the film I didn’t like from the story side of things was the final act, it felt to quick.

Action – The action in this film comes from the standard war related material, we see guns firing and people falling, none of the graphicness of war though.

Settings – We follow our soldiers through the forests and plains of Vietnam, nothing looks out of place for the settings side of things, though it could have look slightly more war torn.


Scene of the Movie – The first difficult decision.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The ending was too quick.

Final Thoughts – This is a strong look at the reality of war, we see how the lives of the men would have been affected by their decisions and how they are in constant fear of being the first to be picked off.

 

Overall: Strong Look at War.

Rating

 

 

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Movie Review

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Director: Jon Watts

Writer: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Jon Watts, Christopher Ford, Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers (Screenplay) Stan Lee, Steve Ditko (Comic Book)

Starring: Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr, Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau, Zendaya, Donald Glover

 

Plot: Several months after the events of Captain America: Civil War, Peter Parker, with the help of his mentor Tony Stark, tries to balance his life as an ordinary high school student in Queens, New York City while fighting crime as his superhero alter ego Spider-Man as a new threat, the Vulture, emerges.

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Easily the Best Spider-Man Movie

 

Story: Spider-Man: Homecoming starts as we learn how Adrian Toomes (Keaton) has be learning to develop the alien technology from the first Avengers battle in New York City, he has learnt how to make highly powerful weapons which he sales on the black market. Peter Parker (Holland) on the other hand must return to his quiet life in Queens after his work fighting Captain America for Tony Stark (Downey Jr), with Happy Hogan (Favreau) reluctantly looking over him.

Peter builds his weapons at school and turns into Spider-Man out of school to fight off small time criminals, when Peter stumbles upon Adrian’s men and weapons he tries to get help but no one would listen to him so he tries to stop him, himself, here is where Peter must learn the responsibility of being a superhero all while trying to get good grades at school.

 

Thoughts on Spider-Man: Homecoming

 

Characters/Performance – Peter Parker is the geeky high school student who has shone through classes, getting heckling like bullying from Flash but is easily a background student. Outside of school he gets all of his excitement fighting crime waiting for the call to be part of the Avengers. Peter has one of the better superhero arcs in recent years he learns about responsibility, friendship and sacrifice to become the masked hero. Adrian Toomes is a man who knows how to make the most of a difficult situation, he takes his demolition/removal men and turns his enterprise into an arms dealership that produces the most high tech weapons on the streets from the alien technology. The best thing about this character is, that he is human, there is no superhero abilities he has just mastered the technology to be the threat, he wants money over destruction which is refreshing. Tony Stark is mostly used as the mentor and is there for all the important decisions Peter must make. Aunt May is younger than before but is mostly used as the concerned parental figure in Peter’s life. Happy is also in like a reluctant guardian role mostly on the other end of the phone. In the school we have Ned the best friend he always puts Peter’s foot in it, Michelle the quiet one that stays out the way, Liz the one Peter has a crush on and Flash the bully like character but it is mostly whittled down to heckling.

Performance wise, Tom Holland is excellent at Peter Parker, his enthusiasm shines through but we also get to see the range of emotions Peter goes through during the film, he does also make a great Spider-Man being original enough after the previous two actors turns at him. Michael Keaton makes a devilish villain and one you can enjoy watching because of the simple desire he has. Robert Downey Jr, Marisa Tomei and Jon Favreau are good through the film giving us the comic timing we need at times but also the serious talks when needed. Jacob Batalon gets the most laughs, Zendaya, Laura Harrier and Tony Revolori also are great in the roles they play.

Story – This is the third first solo chapter of Spider-Man, we have been introduced to this version in Civil War so, we can skip he got bitten and slowly learn he is mutating which is great. We know have a young superhero (15) that has been giving a glimpse of the battles he could be having, (See Civil War) but must return to a normal high school life. The best way to describe this feeling is traveling to a beautiful country only to need to return to a dead-end job. The story focuses on the growing up process, if you want this is a coming of age superhero film because Peter must learn his place in the world, not every day is going to be battle the save the world and most of all enjoy the youth he currently has. We have strong elements of a high school comedy coming through here and people will all say if John Hughes made a superhero movie, well this would be it.

Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi – The action is good with each battle increasing in size, starting with a small car chase before escalating up to the ferry scene which we saw in the trailer and beyond. The adventure comes from seeing how Peter tries to solve these crimes by himself learning about his enhanced suit. The sci-fi element of the film comes from the idea that Toomes has learnt from the alien technology left from the battles that destroyed the city.

Settings – The settings are mostly New York but we do also end up in Washington because we need big landmarks for the battle or saving people scenes to take place in.

Special Effects – It would be hard to fault a single side of the special effects being used in this film, that all make the action sequences look fantastic.

Final Thoughts – This has been a brilliant year for comic book movies and we seem to have learnt the formula, give a small introduction in an ensemble film before stepping out giving us the solo film instead of origin this origin that. I would say this is know the best Spider-Man film I have seen and I would be happy to suggest people to watch and even watch again myself.

 

Overall: Marvel throws us the best teen comedy superhero movie to date.

Rating

 

 

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Movie Review

Tekken (2010)

Uncover Tekken’s Elite Fighters with Jon Foo

Uncover Tekken's Elite Fighters with Jon Foo

Director: Dwight H. Little
Starring: Jon Foo, Kelly Overton, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Ian Anthony Dale, Cung Le, Darrin Dewitt Henson, Luke Goss, Mircea Monroe, Tamlyn Tomita, Candice Hillebrand, Marian Zapico, Gary Daniels, Lateef Crowder, Anton Kasabov

Jin (Jon Foo) a runner with a big fighting skill in the outside city of Anvil get discovered by Tekken the corporation who control the world they come after him and kill his mother Jun (Tamlyn Tomita). Setting out on revenge Jin goes to become the wild card entry in the iron fist competition against the Tekken elite fighters.

To earn the wild card entry Jin meets Steve Fox (Luke Goss) an ex fighter who is hustling crowds to find someone to fight Marshall Law (Cung Le). After becoming victorious Jin is now the people’s choice and Steve becomes his agent/trainer taking him to the iron fist tournament.

Heihachi Mishima (Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa 47 Ronin) is the leader of Tekken with his son Kazuya (Ian Anthony Dale) the next in line and head of security. Jin’s goal is to take out the Tekken leader in revenge for his mothers death but first he has to beat the fighters.

Cast

  • Christie Monteiro (Kelly Overton)
  • Raven (Darrin Dewitt Henson)
  • Nina Williams (Candice Hillebrand)
  • Anna Williams (Marian Zapico)
  • Bryan Fury (Gary Daniels)
  • Eddy Gordo (Lateef Crowder)
  • Sergel Dragunov (Anton Kasabov)
  • Yoshimistu (Gary Ray Stearns)

Can Jin over come the odds and become the first wild card Iron Fist winner ?

This is based on the video game Tekken and from the few i have played i have only heard of a few of the fighters in the movies. I think most Tekken fans will be disappointed with the film as many characters and twist do not follow the games very well. One the other hand having mainly human fighters it will make more sense to an unknown to the series.

As a one of fighting movie this is not actually a bad movie with some well constructed fight scenes. The story is easy to follow seeing who the good and bad guys are but the twists are not as hidden as they could have been. All in all i think i would rate this movie well.

My rating 70%

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Movie Review

Independence Day (1996)

Director: Roland Emmerich
Starring: Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch, Robert Loggia, Randy Quiad, Margaret Colin, Vivica A. Fox, James Rebhorn, Adam Baldwin, Brent Spiner, James Duval, Lisa Jakub, Giuseppe Andrews, Harvey Fierstein

First of lets go through the characters starting with David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) a separated cable repair guy in a television company, David has a very religions father Julius (Judd Hirsch) who is a long suffering chess loser to David who simple keep a few steps ahead of everything based in New York. President Thomas Whitmore (Bill Pullman) a young ex fighter pilot who critics slam because of his age. His wife First Lady Marilyn Whitmore (Mary McDonnell) who is on a visit elsewhere in America. On the President’s staff are Constance Spano (Margaret Colin) David’s separated wife, General William Grey (Robert Loggia) a general who believes in peace and Albert Nimzicki (James Rebhorn). We have a small travelling family the Casse’s father Russell (Randy Quaid) who believes he was abducted and a war veteran and his children Migeul (James Duval), Alicia (Lisa Jakub) and Troy (Giuseppe Andrews). Finally we have Captain Steve Hiller (Will Smith) an wanna be astronaut and top fighter pilot who girlfriend is exotic dancer Jasmine (Vivica A. Fox) she also has a son Dylan.

On July 2ND alien spaceships enter the Earth’s atmosphere locating themselves in the world biggest cities. President Whitmore sets up an operation to communicate with the spaceship. While in New York David finds a code in the satellites that shows that in fact the spaceship are lining up like chess pieces for an attack on these cities. David rushes down to Washington to convince the President what is happening. David convinces the President and along with his staff escape seconds before the alien attack.

After the first attack the President relocates to Area 51 learning about a previous alien crash. Major Mitchell (Adam Baldwin) is the man in charge with Dr Brackish Okun (Brent Spiner) leading the research projects on the aliens. President Whitmore arranges to a counter strike a lead pilot Captain Hiller leads his team in battle with little effect. Captain Hiller has a race through a canyon crashing one the the small space crafts and kidnapping one of the aliens.

We are not left to wonder how humanity will survive this attack? Will this mix bunch of characters be able to unite to defeat Earth new common enemy?

Roland Emmerich gives us his first major action picture with plenty of destruction too. With Will Smith doing one of his first lead role as Captain Hiller shines giving one of his best non dramatic performances. The Americas get a chance to be a heroes again in a true action blockbuster that all should see.

The Story is always going to be predictable but it is also very easy to follow, you can also pick up the movie from most points and not feel like you missed too much. This was the top grossing film of 1996 with $306million. With talk of two potential sequels you are left wondering how those could come about tho.

My rating 92%

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Movie Review

The Bourne Identity (2002)

Director: Doug Liman
Starring: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen, Brian Cox, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Gabriel Mann, Julia Stiles, Tim Dutton, Nicky Naude
 
Starting off when a mysterious man (Matt Damon) if found by fisherman almost dead in the ocean. The fisherman nurse the man back to health, Finding a L.E.D with a bank number in Zurich the man head for the bank.
 
Upon arriving at the bank and going to get the box that is filled with money currency from all over the world and several passports revealing his name Jason Bourne. Going onto the Embassy the authorities try to capture Jason only for Jason to escape using Marie (Franke Potente) to help him get to Paris.
 
While Jason is trying to figure out who he is the American government are trying to locate him. Conklin (Chris Cooper) is heading the team under Ward Abbott’s (Brian Cox) order to cover up their assassination attempt on Wombosi (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje). Conklin orders Nicolette (Julia Syiles) to arrange hit men to complete the job and take out Bourne. The Hit man include The Professional (Clive Owen) and Castel (Nicky Naude).

Having some close combat fight scenes and a high speed chase in an old school mini around Paris. Jason always keeps calm through out the story what ever the situation he finds himself in,

This edge of your seat action thriller shows how a covert agent can be disposed off so easily by their government. Jason keeps one step ahead through out the film seemly knowing every trick that will be pulled off. Add in the conspiracy theory giving this movie more tension.

A great action thriller 89%

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Movie Review

The Next Three Days (2010)

Director: Paul Haggis
Starring: Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Ty Simpkins, Jason Beghe, Aisha hinds, Olivia Wilde, Helen Carey, Brian Dennehy, Liam Neeson, Jonathan Tucker, Lennie James

John Brennan (Russel Crowe) and his wife Lara (Elizabeth Banks) have a normal life, but one morning there is a knock at the door. Detective Quinn (Jason Beghe) and Detective Collero (Aisha Hinds) are there to arrest Lara for the murder of her boss. With evidence against her including finger prints on the murder weapon, a co worker seeing her leave the scene and an argument that day at work. John is left with his son Luke (Ty Simpkins) he tries to find all the legal ways to prove her innocence.

Having failed to find any way to get Lara out legally, John arranges to meet one man who has escaped from jail before Damon Pennington (Liam Neeson). Damon explains all the thing John must do if he goes through with this escape plan. With help from Grace and George Brennan (Helen Carey and Brian Dennehy) John’s parents on raising his son. John keeps the plan very secret with his casual spying on his everyday routine. Meeting Nicole (Olivia Wilde) a parent of a child the same age as Luke he starts to see how things in his life could be by opening up to her about his Wife’s situation.Check Spelling

We are left now with the questions of What is John’s plan? How far will John go? Was Lara innocent? with this adrenaline ride we set out on a great view for all action thriller fans.

Paul Haggis director of Crash really gives us a tension built action film which never really goes all over the top action focusing more on the thriller side which keeps the audience interested from the start to the finish. Even tho i am not a fan of Russel Crowe i found that this performance of an average guy pushed to limits for love but still keep a calm composure about himself one of his best to date.

One other thing you will notice is an excellent sound track perfectly fitting every scene adding to the tension moving you closer to the edge of your seat wait for the story to unfold and build up to its big climax.

My rating is 91%

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Movie Review

Deep Rising (1998)

Director: Stephen Sommers
Starring: Treat Williams, Famke Janssen, Anthony Heald, Kevin J O’Connor, Wes Studi, Derrick O’Connor, Jason Flemyng, Cliff Curtis, Clifton Powell, Trevor Goddard, Djimon Hounsou, Una Damon, Clint Curtis

Starting out on a luxury cruise ships maiden voyage owner Simon Canton (Anthony Heald) has a celebration with guests including Captain Atherton (Derrick O’Connor) and jewel thief Trillian St. James (Famke Janssen). After stopping her stealing the jewels they lock her in a storage cupboard until they reach the next port. Something then attacks the ship and we are left to wonder what has happened.

Next we meet John Finnegan (Treat Williams) a boat for hire who takes any job for the right money and his two workers Joey (Kevin J O’Connor) and Leila (Una Damon). The have been paid by Hanover (Wes Studi) and his mercenaries Mulligan (Jason Flemyng), Mamooli (Cliff Curtis) Mason (Clifton Powell) T.Ray (Trevor Goddard) Vivo (Djimon Hounsou) and Billy (Clint Curtis) a truly international group from all corners of the Earth. They have paid to be taken to the middle of nowhere with a large amount of weapons.

Upon arriving at the destination which is the cruise ship which they are due to hijack they find the ship abandoned. With the ship they arrived on damaged they must search the abandoned ship for tools to fix theirs or a way to get the cruise ship moving again. While searching they find Captain Artherton, Simon and Trillian but they start hearing noises from the creature that seems to have attacked the ship. How will our heroes get out of this one?

This action horror is Stephen Sommers first go at the action genre and he has a very simple idea to work with a group of people on a boat in the middle of ocean. It has a atmosphere which Aliens created not to the same level of tension tho. The dialog is tongue in check with lots of one liners to cover how serious the situation is actually meant to be which makes the film enjoyable because as a stand alone horror this film would really fail.

If you enjoyed Stephen Sommers other movies you will enjoy this and he creates very similar characters and like using his relecutant heroes with almost comic relief side kicks. Also you see some of the creation of The Mummy visual effects with some of the death scenes.

My overall Rating a very enjoyable 86%

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Movie Review

Deep Blue Sea (1999)

Director: Renny Harlin
Starring: Thomas Jane, Saffron Burrows, Samuel L Jackson, Jacqueline McKenzie, Michael Rapaport, Stellan Skarsgard, LL Cool J, Aida Turturro

In a remote research facility a team of scientists are trying to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease by experimenting on sharks by making them smarter creating similar brain tissue as humans.

Lead by Dr Susan McCallister (Saffron Burrows) an ambitions character who has suffered the effects of the disease from watching parent going through it. She is assisted by Janice Higgins (Jacyueline McKenzie) Tom Scoggins (Michael Rapaport) and Jim Whitlock (Stellan Skarsgard) in the lab work.

One of the investors is set to see how the operation is run Russell Franklin (Samuel L Jackson) a man who has seemingly done every adventure he has wanted to. Upon his arrive he sees how good a shark wrangler Carter Blake (Thomas Jane) is showing off his ability to jump on the back of sharks with a clever little move.

Leading into a weekend the base is left with this skeleton crew along with Preacher (LL Cool J) who is the cook who has sinned in his life and found God and Bird his parrot. While the last member is Brenda Kerns (Aida Turturro) the communication tower officer. The main experiment is going on with this crew which involves place a shark to sleep and put a needle into the brain to remove tissue to see how it deals wit the disease. Only for this sleeping shark to bite Jim Whitlock’s arm off. With a storm brewing a rescue helicopter is sent out to take Jim off to a hospital. As the conditions worsen the helicopter fails to take off again crashing into the communication tower and one of the sharks to burst the glass filling the facility up with water. Now who will escape? How will they escape?

Being a shark movie it will always get comparisons to Jaws but giving this a claustrophobic atmosphere this called almost be Jaws meets Aliens. It gives us a question of how far would you go for the results to cure a disease which has such consequences.

All the characters have different motives and beliefs that are all understandable. Preacher is especially good character who spends most of the film walking the halls think he is being tested by God talking to himself. This is great action thriller worth a watch leaving people on the edge of their seats.

My rating 88%

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Movie Review

The Mummy Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor (2008)

Director: Rob Cohen
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello, John Hannah, Michelle Yeoh, Luke Ford, Isabella Leong, Anthony Wong Chau Sang, Russel Wong, Liam Cunningham, David Calder

This third installment on The Mummy movies in based in China rather than Egypt so no Imhotep this time. Starting off with the traditional back story following the evil emperor Han (Jet Li) and after being cured by sorceress Zi Yuan (Michelle Yeoh) Han and his army are turned into a terracotta army a lost in time.

We now have a more grown up Alex (Luke Ford) on an archaeological dig finds the terracotta army along with his professor Roger Wilson (David Calder) and take the Emperor Han back to the museum for an exhibit. On the other side of the world Rick (Brendan Fraser) and Evy O’Connell (Maria Bello) are asked to escort The Eye of Shangri-La to China. All the family meet up in Jonathan (John Hannah) club in China.

While passing on the relic at the museum Roger Wilson teams up with General Yang (Anthony Wong Chau Sang) to betray the O’Connells and raise Emperor Han who sets of on a rampage escape through China. With the help of mysterious young lady Lin (Isabella Leong) the O’Connells attempt in vein to stop Han’s escape. With the help of one of Rick’s old buddies Mad Dog Maguire (Liam Cunningham) the O’Connells and Lin must now race across China visiting ancient ruins and finding the mythical fountain of Youth and stop Emperor Han from taking over the world.

The story is a good story with the twists of seeing and learning on Chinese myths including Yetis, even tho it is very similar to the original Mummy movie going back to the basic ideas losing the whole reincarnation back story built in the Mummy returns. Another couple of things that weaken this movie in a comparison to the first two is no Stephen Sommers or Rachel Weisz.

Overall the basic action adventure in products just not the high standards we would be used to Brendan Fraser and John Hannah both put in their good performances while Maria Bello as the concerned mother more than adventurous Liberian. Jet Li villain seems more ruthless than Imhotep but was always a fighter who wanted it all rather than a guy who would do anything for love.

My rating 78%