Movie Review: The Wolverine (2013)

This is a spoiler heavy review. Readers who wish to avoid plot details are recommended to skip the review.

The movie opens with the nuclear bomb attack on Japan in 1945. Logan/Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is a Prisoner of War (POW). Just as the bomb is about to be dropped, Logan is released by a Japanese soldier, Yashida (Ken Yamamura), who in turn is saved from the deadly blast by Logan.

Cut to the present. Logan is living in the woods and has recurring flashbacks of his one true love, the deceased Jean Grey (Famke Janssen). The only other living being, Logan has any connection with is a big, lumbering Grizzly Bear. The latter becomes the target of some hunters and Logan is forced to put him out of his misery.

Logan's encounter with the hunters at a local bar is interrupted by Yukio (Rila Fukushima). She works for an aging Yashida (Hal Yamanouchi), who wishes to see Logan one last time. Logan reluctantly travels to Japan to honor his friend's last wish.

Logan soon finds himself in the midst of an ongoing plot to kill Yashida's granddaughter Mariko (Tao Okamoto). This leads to the centerpiece of the movie - a chase sequence that starts at Yashida's funeral, continues on the streets and ends with Logan taking on assassins atop a speeding bullet train.

A wounded Logan discovers that he is losing his healing powers and faces the prospects of being mortally wounded. There are a few other supporting characters - Harada (Will Yun Lee) an archer, Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova), a mutant with the ability to inject poison and Mariko's father Shingen (Hiroyuki Sanada).

The movie climax involves Logan facing off against Silver Samurai. The movie's version of Silver Samurai is a hulking robot, operated by Yashida.

This is an out and out Hugh Jackman movie. There are a number of shots of Hugh's immensely ripped body. In his sixth outing as Wolverine/Logan (counting his cameo in X-Men: First Class), Hugh has the role down pat. This time, he fleshes out his signature role more, thanks to the loss of his self-healing ability.

Most of the remaining cast members are stereotypes - the young sidekick, the damsel in distress, the evil businessman and a few more. Don't miss out the excellent promo for X-Men: Days of Future Past in a mid-credits scene.

Pros

1. Hugh Jackman's performance
2. Very much a personal story - No threats of world wide apocalypse or scenes of city wide destruction .

Cons

1. Badly staged action sequences
2. Convoluted climax
3. Lack of chemistry between Hugh Jackman's Logan and Tao Okamoto's Mariko
4. Jean Grey's flashback scenes

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Recommended to fans of Hugh Jackman/Wolverine. Click here to read all my posts related to Marvel Comics.

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Image Sources: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Marvel Entertainment and Dune Entertainment

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X-Men: Days of Future Past - Trask Industries Viral Commercial

We get our first look at the Sentinels in this viral commercial for X-Men: Days of Future Past, upcoming superhero movie from Bryan Singer.

Bryan Singer returns to the comic book franchise, he started way back in 2000. The movie has a large ensemble cast (even by the usual Bryan Singer's X-Men movie standards). The cast of the original X-Men movie series (Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Anna Paquin, Halle Berry, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore, Daniel Cudmore) comes together with the cast of X-Men: First Class (Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult) to make this movie the must watch movie event of Summer 2014.

Click here to read the review of the latest Hugh Jackman movie, The Wolverine.

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Image Sources: Wikipedia, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Marvel Entertainment, Bad Hat Harry Productions and Dune Entertainment

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Movie Review: Pacific Rim (2013)

Earth is under attack by Kaijus, monsters that have arrived via a recently opened portal in the Pacific Ocean. Human beings all over the world have united as a race and have built gigantic robots called Jaegers. Jaegers are operated by two human beings (and sometimes three), connected to each other thro via their thoughts and memories. This concept referred to as "Drifting", enables these Jaeger drivers to manage the task of operating these towering machines.

Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) and Yancy Becket (Diego Klattenhoff) are brothers who make an excellent team of Jaeger drivers. In one such Kaiju encounter, Yancy is killed and Raleigh leaves the Jaeger program. He still suffers from nightmares.

Meanwhile, Kaijus are becoming more tougher to beat and the humankind is losing the fight. Marshal Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba), in charge of the Jaeger program wants Raleigh back and has his worn out Jaeger, Gipsy Danger rebuilt with the help of his protege, Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi).

Two scientists, Dr. Newton Geiszler (Charlie Day) and Gottlieb (Burn Gorman) are figuring out a way to defeat the Kaijus. Both of them have different theories and bicker constantly.

Herc Hansen (Max Martini) and Chuck Hansen (Robert Kazinsky) are a father-son duo, who operate Striker Eureka (Australian Jaeger).

Also in the mix is Guillermo del Toro regular Ron Perlman as Hannibal Chau, a shady dealer of Kaiju body parts.

The human interaction sequences that occupy a major section of the movie can get boring sometimes, thanks to pedestrian dialogues and cardboard characterizations. Specifically, the Russian Jaeger drivers are extreme stereotypes and reminded me of Drago (Dolph Lundgren) in Rocky 4.

The acting varies from being good to intolerably bad. I was expecting a Henry Cavill kind of handsome looking-but-bland and uninvolving performance from Charlie Hunnam. But Hunnam proved to be surprisingly good in his role. Rinko Kinkuchi and Robert Kazinsky are also impressive.

Idris Elba and Max Martini are adequate as senior and strict officers. Ron Perlman is a hoot as Hannibal. He has a charismatic screen presence.

Burn Gorman is OK. The least satisfying performance comes from Charlie Day. He is in a shouting mode for most of the movie and grates on the nerves. His work as the "likeable but goofy comic relief" makes Richard Pryor's Gus Gorman (a computer nerd), in Superman III (1983) look superlative by comparison.

Guillermo del Toro is well known for his love of horror/cult movies. His movies have been excellent, whether they are in the horror genre (The Devil's Backbone and Cronos) or superhero genre (Hellboy movies and Blade 2) or fantasy genre (Pan's Labyrinth). He puts in a lot of work in preproduction and his movies are always a work of passion.

I am sure he would have put his heart and soul into this movie too. The design and execution of Jaegers and Kaijus are proof of this fact.

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The special effects are very well done and are easily the best parts of the movie. The fight sequence featuring Crimson Typhoon (Chinese Jaeger) and Cherno Alpha (Russian Jaeger) is quite entertaining.

But the movie stretches on far longer than needed. The movie would have been great if it had ended with the battle sequence in Hong Kong. The "climax" that follows is just a big letdown, compared to the superbly rendered showdown between Gipsy Danger and a couple of Kaijus.

As Sherlock Holmes states in The Adventure of the Norwood Builder: "But he had not that supreme gift of the artist, the knowledge of when to stop."

Despite the amazing action sequences and the expertly executed machines and monsters (by ILM), the movie lacks much of the fun quotient of the Hellboy movies and is also predictable. It is not as bad as Man of Steel, but is still a disappointment considering the previous milestones in del Toro's career.

Fans of summer blockbusters/science fiction/action movies will enjoy Pacific Rim. My suggestion to fans of Guillermo: Watch the movie with reduced expectations and you might like it.

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Image Sources: Warner Bros., Legendary Pictures

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Movie Review: World War Z (2013)

UN Investigator, Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) and his family, wife Karin Lane (Mireille Enos) and daughters Constance Lane (Sterling Jerins) and Rachel Lane (Abigail Hargrove) are out driving on the streets as zombies are let loose all around them. Being the lead protagonists, they (obviously) survive the odds.

In fact, this happens a number of times in the movie. By the time, Pitt's character escapes from a mid-air flight zombie attack, I knew the movie had lost me. The studio is aiming for a lucrative franchise and killing off Brad Pitt's character is an obvious no-no. That just does not make any sense from a business perspective.

This reminded me of the repeated close shaves for the lead characters from the movie 2012. Of course, the argument can be made that this is what usually happens in a disaster flick. At least with 2012, Columbia Pictures had the decency of not trying to build a movie franchise.

Coming back to the movie, the plot involves Pitt's character trying to find a cure for the global epidemic. There are a couple of scenes of massive zombie attacks that are executed competently.

The movie hits all the usual notes - Brad Pitt giving a lot of heroic/reaction shots, lots (and I mean lots) of screaming from Sterling Jerins and Abigail Hargrove as Constance Lane and Rachel Lane respectively, Mireille Enos as the stoic wife, characters thrown in peril and (most significantly) the main protagonist surviving even as supporting characters and tons of extras perish.

Speaking of supporting characters, it is the actors playing them who make the best impression. Fana Mokoena, James Badge Dale, David Morse and Daniella Kertesz breathe some life into this movie, that often embraces the spirit of the undead.

Marc Foster delivers another workmanlike product. It is no wonder that Quantum of Solace is the only dull entry to feature Daniel Craig's enjoyable turn as James Bond.

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I have not read the book, but by all accounts Max Brooks' book is a smartly written take on global geopolitics against the backdrop of zombie attack. The movie on the other hand, sacrifices such nuances and is content to being a generic summer blockbuster, with hopes of a profitable franchise. Very much like the recent Superman dud, Man of Steel.

Recommended only to die-hard fans of Brad Pitt and/or zombie genre. For readers looking for enjoyable zombie movies, I would suggest genre master George A. Romero's original movies, Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland, 28 Days Later and Dead Snow.

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Image Sources: Paramount Pictures, Skydance Productions, Plan B Entertainment

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Movie Review: Man of Steel (2013)

The movie combines the plots of Superman: The Movie (1978) and Superman 2 (1980). The opening prologue of Man of Steel shows Krypton's destruction and Kal-El being sent to Earth. Similar to Superman 2, General Zod travels to Earth. Throw in some parts of Batman Begins and hey presto, you get Man of Steel.

I am not going to the plot details as there is not much to write about there. The plot has a number of holes though, which I will avoid to keep this review spoiler free.

The movie, if nothing else, shows the power of marketing. The marketing campaign for this movie has been nothing short of brilliant. The trailers and TV spots did an amazing job of presenting the movie as a must watch summer movie event. Unfortunately, the movie fails to live up to its hype. And I mean failure on an epic scale.

Kryptonians are supposed to be an advanced civilization but fly on dragon like flying beasts. There are flying spacecrafts too. The movie cannot decide whether it is belongs to the science fiction genre or the fantasy genre. Oh wait, it is a superhero movie, featuring Supes.

The acting is surprisingly weak, considering the star cast. Characterizations are either non-existent or just wrong.

Take the example of Martha Kent. Diane Lane's performance is limited to her wardrobe and her only effective scene is the one where she gets to counsel a very young Clark (Cooper Timberline) who is terrified after a manifestation of his x-ray vision.

Ditto for Amy Adams' Lois Lane. One of the main appeals of Clark-Lois dynamics is the fact that Lois is unaware of Supes' secret identity. 

As silly as Supes' secret identity is, it is still one of the benchmarks of the Supes mythology. Man of Steel gets rid of this aspect and this pretty much removes any scope for the classic Supes-Lois romance.

On the other end of the writing spectrum are the characters of Supes himself and Jor-El. Henry's version of Supes/Clark Kent is a dullard. Moping around like Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne does not a Clark Kent make. Neither does Henry Cavill's school of acting that alternates between 2 expressions: blank faced or constipated.

To put Henry's performance in perspective, I would say that both Dylan Sprayberry and Cooper Timberline make a better impression as younger versions of Clark, even though they have a fraction of the screen time compared to Cavill.

Henry is quite a handsome looking chap and looks brawny when he goes shirtless. In my humble opinion, his is the most boring version of Supes and possibly the worst as well. Without giving anything away, I will direct the readers to the movie climax to drive home this point.

Equally nonsensical is Jor-El's characterization. To the best of my knowledge, Jor-El has been a scientist on Krypton. Marlon Brando's version captured that aspect. Russell Crowe plays Jor-El as a scientist version of Maximus Decimus Meridius from Gladiator. Russell's Jor-El kicks, punches, shoots, dives and jumps on the back of flying dragons. Quite an all-rounder indeed. The less said about Jor-El's later appearances the better. Still, Russell delivers a watchable performance.

Michael Shannon is on auto-pilot mode and gives a one-note performance as General Zod. His is a glare-stare-shout performance and nothing else. The actors, especially Michael Shannon and Ayelet Zurer seem to be at line reading sessions. Perhaps, performing going against green screens did not inspire them to do anything beyond simple line reading exercises. Interestingly, Henry Cavill and even Amy Adams resort to such antics in their scenes together and it is quite a stretch to believe their romance subplot.

The best performances are by Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent and Antje Traue as Faora Ul. Kevin gives a believable performance as Jonathan Kent, who wants the best for Clark. He consistently advises Clark to hide his powers (another red flag as far as the comics is concerned). Still, Kevin's performance is one of the best ones.

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But the true scene stealer is Antje Traue. As Sub-Commander Faora-Ul, Zod's right hand, she exudes arrogance and pure evil. Hers is a fun performance and the movie comes alive when she is onscreen. The casting department definitely made the right choice (atleast) for this role.

The same cannot be said for the special effects department. It is painfully obvious that we are watching a computer generated special effect flying around, when it is supposed to be Henry Cavill as Supes. This happens a number of times in the movie and makes one wonder where did all the (supposedly) 200 million dollar plus budget went into.

I suppose a significant amount was spent on the Krypton sequence. For my money, I would have skipped that sequence and instead spent the budget on getting the Supes flight/fight scenes executed in a believable way. After all, this is the 21st century and Man of Steel should have more believable flight/fight sequences than the Chris Reeve movies. Between a Chris Reeve on wires scene vs weak CGI superman shots, I would gladly choose the former.

The special effects in Man of Steel are not always this good

Hans Zimmer's nonstop bombastic score is one of his least effective works in recent times. I could make out only one theme being repeated aloud or quietly, depending on the scene in question.

One way to get through the movie is to play the "Spot the Product placements" game. I spotted Nikon, IHOP, 7-Eleven and Sears. There are some more and I encourage the readers to look out for these.

This is lazy movie-making at its best. Warner Bros. must be desperate for a new franchise (now that The Dark Knight Trilogy and the Harry Potter series are over). Marvel's continuous success probably did not help either.

Marvel Studios did the right thing in getting directors who delivered adaptations with appropriate tone for each comic book character. For a fun character like Iron Man, they brought Jon Favreau on board. For a mythological character like Thor, they hired respected Shakespearean actor/director, Kenneth Branagh.

Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder

Warner Bros does not seem to care about these basic but crucial points. The critical and commercial success of The Dark Knight Trilogy seems to have become the Kryptonite of Man of Steel. The similarities between Man of Steel and Batman Begins are quite obvious. The back and forth narrative structure that worked so well in Batman Begins, results in an uneven tone for Man of Steel. No surprise there, as Zack Snyder is no Chris Nolan. The movie is all about (unimaginative) visual spectacle and (badly executed) special effects.

The horror story is set to continue as Warner Bros. has already signed up Snyder and writer David S. Goyer for the sequel.

DC Comics has been the major player on the animated scene. Its dominance in Hollywood has been eclipsed in the recent past by Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). I am sure Warner Bros/DC Comics wanted to challenge Marvel Studios' lucrative MCU movies with a new franchise that was supposed to be kicked off by Man of Steel and presumably lead to a Justice League movie. MCU fans can relax. Man of Steel may be a commercial success, but is no match from a critical perspective. This is just a boring movie with no humor, weak script/characterizations and very poorly executed special effects.

I have been a lifelong fan of Supes and Bats. As surprised I am to write this, I will be lying if I put it in any other way: Skip Man of Steel and watch the classic Christopher Reeve movies or Smallville or Superman/Batman: Public Enemies or Superman vs. The Elite or All-Star Superman instead. One of these even features Bats. And of course, there is the always enjoyable and far superior The Dark Knight Trilogy. 

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Image Sources: Warner Bros., Legendary Pictures, Syncopy

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Movie Review - After Earth (2013)

 

The opening scenes give us a quick overview of the preceding events. Earth has undergone drastic changes and humans are being hunted by monsters called "Ursas" released by aliens.
 

Ursas are technically blind but hunt humans by smelling the pheromones secreted out of fear. The "Ghosting" technique involves masking one's fear and thus becoming invisible to Ursas, enabing one to kill it. General Cypher Raige (Will Smith), the "Prime Commander" is the first Ghost and is a legend for his Ursa killing skills.

Sophie Okonedo as Faia Rage and Zoë Kravitz as Senshi Raige

Cypher's son, Kitai Raige (Jaden Smith) has an artistic temparament and suffers from recurring nightmare of witnessing his sister, Senshi Raige (Zoë Kravitz) being killed by an Ursa. Cypher and Kitai are emotionally distant and at Mrs Faia Raige's (Sophie Okonedo) suggestion, Cypher takes Kitai along on his mission. A generic space mishap makes them crash on Earth and only the father-son duo survive (Surprise, Surprise).
 

Cypher informs his son that other lifeforms on Earth have "evolved" to hate human beings. In addition, there are wild climate fluctuations that can put one's life in instant jeopardy. Cypher's legs are badly injured and Kitai has to go on an one man trek in the hostile territory in search of a MacGuffin to save the day (Surprise again).
 

Struck to his seat and left motionless, Cypher starts having flashbacks of his daughter and even shares some anecdotes with his son. Cue a lot of unintentional hilarity.

Jaden Smith as Kitai Raige doing some action hero type things in After Earth

The digitally created creatures on Earth (baboons, tigers) look to be computer generated rather than realistic as they are intended to be and the chase/action scenes are pedestrian.

The scientific aspects of the movie look quite outdated. The displays on Cypher's spaceship are old school and would be right at home in a B movie from the 1980s. If nothing, this movie will serve the purpose of showing the public how tough it is to make a good space movie. I definitely gained a new sense of respect for the recently released Star Trek sequel.

 

One of the shots of human heads strung on a tree reminded me of a similar shot in the Zack Snyder directed 300.
 

The initial prologue is one of the weakest I have seen with the extras running around, like in a low budget sci fi TV show.

Will Smith as General Cypher Raige in After Earth

Will Smith's usual charisma and winsome personality is lost in his performance as an emotionless warrior.

Sophie Okonedo as Faia Rage delivers the best performance, despite her limited screen time. Similarly, Zoë Kravitz is good in her role.

Lacking both imagination and humor (of the intentional kind), this is an assembly line product made with the sole purpose of launching Jaden Smith's career as a leading man.

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Unintentional hilarity abounds, thanks to the movie's self serious tone and cliched script - Kitai's artistic nature vs Cypher's emotionless one, a subordinate asking to be raised on his one leg to salute Cypher, the cheap props in the prologue, the name "Cypher" and his designation "Prime Commander". The cliches are just one too many.
 

Contrast this with Fast & Furious 6, whose lack of self seriousness and the ability to poke fun at the ridiculousness of the premise results in some well-earned laughs.

Jaden Smith as Kitai Raige wears the same expression throughout the movie

Coming back to After Earth, I actually laughed out loud when Kitai spoke his lines for the first time. The accent used by Jaden as Kitai is hilarious. Jaden Smith delivers a one-note performance, comprised mainly of a continuous look of constipation.
 

The final encounter reminded me of the Frodo-Shelob encounter in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Ursa itself looks to be inspired from the titular creature in The Alien and the Kraken from Clash of The Titans.

M. Night Shyamalan continues his descent into cinematic abyss. One wonders how come the director of this insipid movie also made The Sixth Sense. Following the director's footsteps, the rest of the crew have also turned out mediocre work.

Funniest line in the movie - Cypher to Kitai: "Take a Knee! Take a Knee, Cadet!"

In a nutshell: A laughably bad movie, that is typical of M. Night Shyamalan but represents a rare misstep for Will Smith.

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