Paper_Hanger’s Weblog
Performances, movies and book reviews …Archive for Action Film
Terminator Salvation
I had a spare three hours so I went to see the latest Terminator movie. Warning: plot elements revealed.
I found Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles kind of interesting, so I thought “give it a go.”
Christian Bale gets to play the first adult potrayal of John Connor. I found the rest of the rest of the cast looked like the cast from The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Marcus (Sam Worthington) for Derek (Brian Austin Green); Blair (Moon Bloodgood) for Cameron (Summer Glau) and Kyle (Anton Yelchin) for John Connor (Thomas Dekker ). Nice to see Yelchin showing some versatility (vis-a-vis playing the part of Chekov in Star Trek.
It is an action movie. It is loud and violent, and maybe a little formula-ish. John has to save his future father without revealing too much to those around him. Still, it pays homage to the earlier Terminator movies in a number of places; there is even a ‘tip of the hat’ to Arnold Schwarzenegger
The film stay consistent with the previous Terminator movies. It fills in some of the missing pieces; and does not try to re-invent things.
I have two questions: (i) was that really Arnie in the final confrontation? (ii) John knows that Skynet will one day produce human tissue covered terminators, so why is he so surprised?
0.3
Casino Royale
Having watched the sequel, first, I managed to get hold of Casino Royale and finally see the introduction of Daniel Craig as James Bond.
Warning: plot elements revealed
I was disappointed, I felt the major tension builder – the card game was badly handled. The result was that the film was a like one of the old Bob-Hope-and-Bing-Crosby Road-film; only no humour – just action and thuggery. The action scenes were very well done – John Woo has had a big impact in terms of raising the bar in this area. The run up a crane-arm chase segment is so amazing that it is totally unbelievable – the athleticism and skill required reduces the action scenes to choreography for gymnasts. It was like watching the Cirque de Soleil!
The film introduces us to Bond and explains the way he is, but that is useful only if you have seen most of the other Bond films. Otherwise, there are these odd moments when the film seems to pause, before moving on for no reason – the Aston Martin, the Martini, the dinner jacket, and so on.
I read the book when I was younger, and this turned out to be a drawback. Vesper Lynd (played by Eva Green), in the book, works for M16. The concept of sending a Treasury official along to handle the money side of things is so contrived as to be implausible, and against printed reality that I momentarily dropped out of ’sit back and enjoy’ mode.
Also, in the book, Le Chiffre (ably played by Mads Mikkelsen) plays baccarat – not Texas Holdem. The protracted poker game just did not build and hold tension. I felt the game was pretty much ignored and the audience was expected to take it all on trust.
The film is has a very fast pace, and feels like one long chase. There is no end as such, because the film is just part one, and transitions smoothly into part two – Quantum of Solace.
Daniel Craig play Bond very well; I never believed that spies lived the high life and occassional shot someone. Craig’s bond is gritty; he runs, gets wounds bigger than will be covered by a bandaid, gets dirty – much more believeable.
0.3
Quantum of Solace
Even though I had not seen the prequel – Casino Royale, I had a spare two hours, so I went to see Marc Forster’s take on James Bond: Quantum of Solace.
Warning: plot elements revealed
This film is advertised as picking up exactly where Casino Royale left off, so I wasn’t surprised when the film starts with a car chase – but then again it is not an uncommon way to start a movie these days. Bond (Daniel Craig) is back in an Aston Martin being chased by two black Alfa Romeos – bullets fly, the police get involved, cars crash, Bond gets away.
The surprise is that there is someone in the boot; the bad guys were after Bond’s captive. But before MI6 can interrogate the captive, a mole within MI6 takes out the interrogation team and security team, and almost kills M (Judi Dench).
And so this recreation of James Bond shows us – the audience – a glimpse of the recreated Smersh. Much of the film is used to develop the concept that there is a global conspiracy – MI6’s has a ‘new’ nemesis – Quantum.
Revenge is the theme of this film. Bond encounters Camille (Oleg Kurylenko) a young women scarred physically and mentally, out to avenge the brutal murder of her family. Bond is out to revenge the deaths of: Vesper, killed in Casino Royale; Fields (Gemma Arterton), killed to frame Bond; and Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini), killed to frame Bond. Inevitably Bond and Camille pair up – the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Fields’ death is quite unpleasant, drowned in crude oil, and appears to be Forster’s tip-of-the-hat to Goldfinger. Fields is found naked, covered in oil, on a bed; very remanisant of Jill Masterton (Shirley Eaton) painted in gold.
The film is has a very fast pace, and feels like one long chase. The end has the inevitable showdown in the desert, with bullets and bodies flying. The very end shows that Bond has not been consumed by his need for revenge, or perhaps that there are other ways to get revenge, than just killing someone.
Daniel Craig certainly brings a hard edge to Bond.
I thought the ‘bodies in the sand’ lead in, at the beginning of the film, very innovative and very relevant – Quantum are out to corner all of the water in Bolivia.
0.3
Eagle Eye
Prior to the screening of Taken, the following trailer registered with me.
The trailer left me with two threads: a man appears framed for terrorism to coerce him to rob an armoured car; a woman’s son is threaten, to coerce her into assisting with the robbery. But to what end? Who’s is the calm assertive voice on the phone, who gives our reluctant puppets their instructions?
I was intrigued and made a mental note to see it when it came out of a media format that suited me.
This is a Trailer Review
0.3
A few days later, I had some time to spare, so I went to see it. Warning: plot revealed.
This film is set Washington DC. It is Die Hard 4.0 meets 2001.
Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) a gifted but undriven young man is suddenly pitched into some weird terrorist intrigue, when he is framed for terrorism and then gets instructions from a woman who can communicate with him by any networked device. Likewise Rachel Holloman (Rachel Monaghan), a struggling solo mother, is pitched into the conspiracy, when unseen forces threaten her son; she too, get instructions from the woman at the end of the phone.
Our reluctant heros/villians take a little while to adjust to their new role as modern day ‘Bonny and Clydes.’ The early segment is dominated by the calm voice of their ‘controller.’
It turns out that the voice belongs to a computer, and our two reluctants are its proxies. It becomes clear after awhile, that the computer wants them to blow something up. The question in my mind for the second half of them film: was it the President, or the computer itself? – to find out see the film
Eagle Eye is just a little formula. The two protagonists don’t really invoke much sympathy – LaBeouf comes accross very well as the twin who lived in the shadow of his much much more capable brother all his life; Monaghan does her best – but is not given much time to work with – strong editing puts the main focus is on LaBeouf’s character. There is a computer taking control of all the networked devices. Democracy is in danger. There is even time for some romance.
The Major Bowman character was just too much of a ‘hat tip to 2001′; and as if that wasn’t enough director D j Caruso has him (Anthony Mackie) and Agent Zoe Perez (Rosario Dawson) pulling hard drives out of racks.
Billy Bob Thornton plays FBI Senior Agent in Charge Toby Grant. It is his job to apprehend Jerry and Rachel. He makes the most of it.
Still, a reasonable diversion for two hours.
0.3
The Bourne Ultimatum
Sep 16, 2007 by
The third film in Jason Bourne’s quest to find himself. As usual with these kinds of film – action / thriller – I put my brain into neutral and cruised. The first 80% was one long action sequence and had one of the best fight-in-a-bathroom sequences I have for sometime. It got to the point where I wondered how it would end. How it ended was a bit of a disappointment. Bourne is the product of brain washing – by the flashbacks, using some Gregory-Peck-Manchurian-Candidate techniques. Despite the best that Bourne’s former colleagues can throw at him, Bourne wins through some spectacular fights and crashes. In the end, it felt like Die Hard (1,2,3 or 4.0) mets the Manchurian Candidate.
0.3
