Dubbed as the Cloverfield rip-off or the “should-have-been-halo” film, District 9 is the most unique piece of cinema that I have seen for quite a long time. This makes the film the biggest surprise among all the summer blockbusters to come out this year. Directed by newcomer Neill Blomkamp and presented by Peter Jackson of LOTR fame, D-9 is a film that once again proves that you don’t need famous actors in order to produce a great film.

The film starts out with a documentary film to it. Interviews, random events in the street and public opinions about the sudden appearance of a unidentified flying object over Johannesburg. It was revealed that the UFO was an alien mother-ship that was inoperable and housed around a million aliens on board. The government decides to take them to a military camp which was now named District 9. Later on, District 9 turns into a slum and the alien residences have learned to live amongst themselves as a community where there is crime, social differences with humans and interracial prostitution.

The film later on focuses on Wikus Van De Merwe, an MNU (Multinational United) employee and son-in-law of the head of the said company. He was assigned to head the relocation program for the aliens from District 9 to the new District 10. Something goes wrong during the relocation process and now Wikus is now the most wanted and notorious man in Johannesburg.

The film succeeds in incorporating the aliens into the human way of life not because they start talking or acting like us but because of the social themes that involve racism and the usage of derogatory remarks to the aliens which is “prawns”. The realism of the situation isn’t because of the visual effects or the production set up but because of the reaction of the humans to the existence of these aliens. Rather than befriending the aliens, most of the humans tend to be offended of their existence to the point of having riots against them and not letting them walk among humans in public.

During the first act of the film, it was kind of dragging since they had too much to show about the racial discrimination towards the aliens. The second act was where things start to get interesting and truly show the capability of human greed and deception. The third act which was mainly the part where all the action is shows a lot and one of the best scenes don’t involve a huge explosion but rather the connection between man and alien. The third act shows that not all humans are the same but some can be better or worse than others.

The visual effects were impressive but I do noticed some problems of the rendering of the alien creatures. There were instances where they seemed so out of touch with the world they are in which affects the film’s atmosphere at times. Some of the explosions looked obviously done in CGI, but I was very impressed mostly with the animation of the creatures and of the main highlights of the film which I will not spoil for you.

Sharlto Copley who played Wikus did a great job in the acting department but I can’t say the same for the other actors most especially the overtly war freakish Colonel who seems to too one dimensional and can only show one range of emotion. The interviews seemed authentic enough but some of the interviewees were over-acting a bit too much.

Overall, this is film is a masterpiece. It shows that a great film doesn’t have to have a linear storyline or award winning actors to be appreciated by everybody. There’s a large amount of gore here so that seems to be a fair warning to the faint of heart or people with weak stomachs. The production design is just superbly amazing and the cinematography even if it was shot in hand-held style still was beautiful. During the start of the film, it was quite boring but it ended with high note that can either bring a tear to grown man’s eye or make you ask for more.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars 4.5/5 stars

The movie starts with a flashback of around a generation ago wherein an arms dealer during the medieval era was sentenced to shame for selling weapons on both sides. After that, we get a glimpse of one of the arms dealer’s descendants named McCullen. Sounds like a fast food for firearms if you ask me. Anyway, we now meet Duke and his friend “Ripcord” transporting some high-tech nano-weapon of mass destruction and well the rest of film follows with huge explosions and weird-sounding shockwave based weapons.

The plot is normal at its best. We get a huge twist that you would probably predict the moment you see the “scientist” appear on screen. The movie also relies a lot on flashbacks that well, for some characters explains a lot. The flashbacks of other characters do explain a bit of history but actually just show off how good some kids are in Kung-Fu.

I don’t want to be a stone-hearted critic here but the whole love story angle involving Duke was one of the cheesiest, corniest, and one of the most cliche ways of inserting a love story into an action movie. The whole love story actually kind of ruined one of the characters for me since at first the character seemed so “bad-ass” then after a while turned into a lovesick puppy out of nowhere.

The best moment of the film probably is the whole reason behind the title “Rise of Cobra”. The whole planning stage of how Cobra Commander came to power is extremely enjoyable and really sends that whole shock into your spine. Although the whole thing was predictable, the execution of how it came into fruition was a joy to watch.

As far as movie adaptations go, I have no idea about the G.I.Joe franchise but according to some fans it “ruined” their childhood memories. Don’t get me wrong but aren’t “remakes” or “adaptations” made so that it could be enjoyed by all viewers and not just the fans of the source material? G.I.Joe does that so well that the only recognizable part from this film to the actual source material are the two ninjas who were just there so there could be some high flying kicks and punches. I enjoyed it fairly well. It didn’t look like a “The Village People Movie” like the original cartoon seemed to look like due to the modernization and “sexing it up”.

As for visual effects, this movie disappoints. There were a lot of obvious CGI replacements and unrealistic visual effects. Also, I will stand by my opinion that one of the scenes had a huge “clipping” problem. That means objects abnormally pass through each other. If that wasn’t bad enough, the sound effects also tend to range from plain to just absolutely cartoony. I guess Stephen Sommers wanted to make a movie for his kids rather than the other demographics that actually work to earn money to watch his movie.

All in all, the movie is “okay” at best but never actually does anything special aside from the existence of one of my favorite actors Joseph Gordon Levitt. Levitt lifts the movie from being “yuck” to “tolerable” the moment he appears on screen. Also, if you’ve been following this movie right from the start you’d probably know what his awesome role is. Anyway, compared to Transformers Revenge of the Fallen, G.I.Joe has more plot but the problem is the plot has no reason whatsoever until the ending is revealed. Also, G.I. Joe has so many ideas stolen from other movies as well as themes based on a lot of stories. At least Transformers was the original movie with huge transforming robots.

G.I.Joe: Rise of Cobra gets 3 stars out of  5

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The story of the entire film revolves around a character called “The Fallen” who seems to be one of the oldest yet menacing robots among the race of Transformers in the universe. The Fallen is out for “revenge” yet it seems like he’s just really pissed at everything that doesn’t have a metal skin or colored metal gray. Sam Witwicky, played by Shia Labeouf, is once again entangled in this conflict while he’s preparing himself for college and a long distance relationship with Mikaela, who is played by Megan Fox.  The Autobots seemed to have formed an alliance with the military thus forming the “N.E.S.T.” unit that is dedicated in hunting down and disabling the remaining Decepticons on Earth. The problem is, someone from the government seems to dislike all the destruction going on due to this “hunt”. So, with Sam busy with his personal life and the Autobots dealing with a stubborn government, it does seem like a great time to attack Earth right? Well, not unless of course you have no idea where to look first.

The movie starts off with Optimus Prime once again narrating about the history of their race.  A lot of things were revealed including the fact that humans of the ancient times had no sense of scale when it comes to intimidating their enemies.  That introduction itself was intriguing but it doesn’t escape the fact that maybe it was better not to have it at all. Sure, they needed to introduce the main bad guy for the film but somehow I guess it would have been better if they shocked everyone with the bad guy right in the middle of film instead.

The movie then continues showing off Sam Witwicky’s personal life. His going to college, his unsteady relationship with Mikaela, and his humping dogs seem to sum up his personal life along with Bumblebee still hanging around his garage. The first film handled this very well but this time around, most of the sequences that involve Sam Witwicky and the humans around him seem to be forced and well, not really involved with the rest of the conflict of the film. I don’t think that these scenes weren’t needed but the writers could have given it more thought on how Sam really fits into the conflict and not really just mere coincidences. And besides, why would Prime mention that they need Sam more then Sam realizes it, when actually, Sam just stumbled upon most of the information that he gathered.

Story aside and knowing Michael Bay, I don’t think we really need to use our brains too much to enjoy this film. Revenge of the Fallen was supposed to be fun and a visual feast for everyone. It’s a blockbuster movie in it’s own respect and not a contender for the Academy Award (Although, if there was an award for most explosions in a movie, this would be the definite winner).

Revenge of the Fallen succeeds in giving what most of the fans of first movie are truly looking for. Action, more robots, more story and less focus on the humans are some of these things and ROTF delivers. The odd thing is these few things are the things that the fans of the first movie seem to complain a lot about in ROTF. So, next time people, be careful what you wish for. Or should I say, when you wish for something, you better know what you’re in for.

The visual effects in the film were phenomenal just like in the first film. Realistic looking robots and tons of explosions while being composited with live-action footage really make this film a visual spectacle. The animations were near to perfection especially for those awesome fight scenes. The problem though with the visuals was actually the same problem in the first film. It was hard to tell who’s fighting who except for Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. ROTF actually made this scenario worse since most of the Decepticons were colored in metallic grey. Well, even “The Fallen” was mostly grey which actually made it difficult at time to wonder if Prime was fighting an ordinary Decepticon or The Fallen.

It’s safe to say that Revenge of the Fallen is a worthy sequel to the first Transformers movie. It expands on the franchise’s mythology and also gives us more than what we got from the first movie. Sure, the story seems rather shallow or disconnected, but it’s not that hard to follow if you paid attention a lot more carefully than staring at Megan Fox’s amazing body. Revenge of the Fallen is not for everybody, but if you’re looking for a really entertaining ride, this movie is worth the price of admission.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen gets 4 out of 5 stars

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

]]> http://jepstertogle.arcaneanimations.com/index.php/2009/07/05/transformers-revenge-of-the-fallen-review/feed/ 2 http://jepstertogle.arcaneanimations.com/index.php/2009/05/31/terminator-salvation-movie-review/ http://jepstertogle.arcaneanimations.com/index.php/2009/05/31/terminator-salvation-movie-review/#comments Sun, 31 May 2009 14:14:22 +0000 Jepster Togle http://jepstertogle.arcaneanimations.com/?p=564 Terminator Salvation is here but is there even salvation for this franchise?

One of the few films that sparked my interest in the visual effects industry was Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Just seeing that liquid metal get shot by a shotgun just left me wondering, “how did they do that?”. Also, that chase sequence with the Harley vs. the 10 Wheeler truck? That was a classic. James Cameron was a visual genius and a lot people knew that whatever James Cameron had in store for the next Terminator film was going to be spectacular.

Sadly, the next film in the series wasn’t directed by Cameron and turned out to be average compared to the second film in the “trilogy”. The third film had most of the same things the third film had but less Sarah Conor and too much comedic sequences. But the ending of the third film was so good that this third film actually deserves some merit for being part of the franchise.

Continuing from there, we get Terminator Salvation. John Connor is now a grown man in the form of Christian Bale. Yes, John Connor is Batman. Anyway, John Connor is like some sort of prophetic celebrity to lead mankind to salvation from Skynet or otherwise known as the “Machines”. Another major character in this film is Marcus Wright, a man out of nowhere looking for answers as to what happened to the world around him. The entire plot of the film revolves around saving mankind from the machines and most specifically the younger version of John Connor’s father, Kyle Reese.

When McG was first attached to this project, I certainly hoped that he get kicked out and be replaced by someone else. Honestly, after that tremendously pointless and waste of film called “Chalie’s Angels:Full Throttle”, McG for me was considered one of the worst directors of this era. Later on, Christian Bale was cast as John Conner which kind of left me asking, “Batman?”. No offense to Mr. Bale, but I think we’re seeing too much of him lately. So in other words, my expectations for this movie was extremely low.

Seeing the trailers didn’t help either. I was thinking, “These trailers only show the good stuff”. Knowing McG, he’d overdo most of the action sequences and maybe have John Connor fight a Terminator while falling 100 ft high down to the ground. Everyone, I’m sad to say, I was wrong.

Terminator Salvation is decent and might even be next in line to be one of the best movies to see this summer. Although not as spectacular as Cameron’s films, Terminator Salvation in its own right has the right amount of action, story, and drama to be part of this popular franchise. Some may have speculated that the film may no longer adhere to the past theme of all the Terminator films, “Chase”. Gladly, the film is a split between a objective based mission and a lot of chasing. There’s a lot of running here and there with additional stunts that will put you in the edge of your seat.

Another good thing to point out that makes the film good is the practical use of CGI. A lot of people would believe that McG would go overboard with visual effects using ever 3D software available to do his insane stunts. Thanks to Stan Winston studios, there were a lot practical special effects that just make every scene achieve that sense of dread in the film.

The film is far from perfect but compared to the third movie, Salvation proves to be more entertaining and more serious than the third film. The feeling that all hope is lost is clear in the entire film. Another one of the few flaws of the film is its way of trying to hard to use lines from previous films like, “Come with me if you want to live” or “I’ll be back”. Eventhough these lines were used at the right moment in time, they just screamed “fanservice” to the audience. The script was a bit one dimensional seeing that there wasn’t much dimension in most of the characters. Also, John Connor’s life partner, Kate Connor played by Bryce Dallas Howard, was severely underused. There could have been a lot of dramatic and intense dialogue between the two but they didn’t have much chemistry to begin with.

Another thing that the film suffers from is the lack of focus. The plot shifts from Kyle Reese, Marcus Wright, to John Connor a lot of times and sometimes I felt like I just wanted to know what would happen to John Connor. Although it makes sense to shift from the three different main characters, it would have been nice if all three met around halfway into the story.

There were a lot of unnecessary characters, namely the Russian General who plays alongside with Michael Ironside. Speaking of Michael Ironside, his performance felt much like his performances from a dozen B-movies, but I’m glad he didn’t have much to do with the plot of the movie.

All in all, the movie was good, not as great as Terminator 2 but definitely better than the third film. Christian Bale acts well, but I’m not sure if he really plays well as John Connor. Terminar Salvation ranks 2nd next to Star Trek so far in this years roster of summer blockbusters.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Terminator Salvation gets 3 out of 5 stars

I wasn’t expecting this.

I wasn’t expecting to be so disappointed with a movie that’s about one of my favorite comic book characters of all time, Wolverine.

I’ve been a fan of Logan since I was around 10 years old. I really liked his personality of being a mentor (to Jubilee), a protector, and a being of great rage. Yet, all of these are because of his one weakness. His amnesia, the loss of his memory rendered him to become so bitter and lonely. He needed something to occupy his mind and that’s why he fights. He fights to remember. He fights to find out why he is who he is.

Story

Like I said, changes from source material are okay for me as long as they keep the atmosphere and the character intact. Changes like plots, events and appearances are unavoidable since spandex costumes and violent events can never really look good on film sometimes.

The story starts with Wolverine, referred to as James, manifesting his powers at puberty. The story goes on showing the number of wars Logan and Victor (aka Sabertooth) went through. Now, this is where it all began. The introduction of the film never really showed much of how they both knew that they had a mutant healing factor. The claws yes, but how in the world did they know they won’t die in a war? So, initially I forgave that and continued to at least appreciate what happens next.

What happens next? They got recruited into a special forces group consisting of mutants and an impossibly hyper accurate human. I’m not even talking about Deadpool here. Anyway, it was a violent yet “okay” sequence to show the skills and powers of this special force. In fact, it was only Deadpool who made this scene a real joy to watch. Too bad, that was it for good action scenes.

Wolverine decides to leave since he doesn’t like all the violence that the group does. I was thinking, “What?”. You don’t like seeing innocents being killed but you went through around 4 wars killing anything in your way? I’m amazed he didn’t like the killing. Fine, he was killing enemy soldiers then and not civilians. But his decision to leave was because he had “enough”? I don’t think the next parts of the film justifies his reason.

So, 6 years later we see Wolverine with a woman. This is where the disaster begins. There was no exposition at all to introduce the woman. In fact, it kinda looked like Wolverine just picked her up from the street while drunk with his favorite drink, beer. I would have forgiven the movie without the woman’s introduction but sadly, the movie failed to show their chemistry as a couple.

Anyway, so something happens (I’m sure you predicted that already), so Wolverine goes on a rage to get his revenge. He finds out the truth behind it all and wait there’s a twist! A twist that was fine at first but later on, Logan’s actions just makes it all, stupid.

Don’t get me started with the “final boss”. Yes, just like a videogame. So, you’re thinking what could possibly be Wolverine’s greatest challenge? A man with mutant healing factor? A mutant with bigger claws? A mutant with Adamantium skin? Or maybe the girl with an Adamantium heart? One thing’s for sure, the final boss is a rip-off. I felt — cheated.

The way the movie revealed how he got his amnesia was probably the most stupid idea I’ve ever seen. Clearly, this movie was made for 6 year old kids who think large 7 inch blades are safe toys to play with.

Acting

I don’t blame the director much for how this film became a disaster. The actor’s performances were great. Hugh Jackman did a great job being Logan. Liev Schreiber as always does great performances. But as Sabertooth, he felt really over the top with all those “Animal leaps”. I don’t know if it’s really Liev that decided on that, the director or probably the executives from Fox. Danny Huston was really okay for me. But the guy who steals the show even if he only appeared for 5 minutes is Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool. Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson was a great homage to the “Merc with a mouth”. Lynn Collins as Silverfox though was a bit underwhelming compared to the others. Heck, even Will i Am did a better job than her.

Cinematography

The film shines based on the visuals alone. I’m not talking about special effects here. I’m talking about the props, some of the action scenes and the overall mood of the film was good. The composition of the scenes was great especially that chase sequence at the school was well done that those were one of the few parts I felt I was watching a good film.

Visual Effects

Action movies need great visual effects, right? Guess what, they’re incredibly mediocre in this film. There was a scene in the film with Logan looking at his claws in the mirror. That was one of the worst visual effects I’ve seen in a hollywood movie for a long time. Also, the wiring stunts and explosions felt so fake that you know most of them are computer generated.

The final battle scene actually felt like a videogame. Why was it really action packed? Was it intense? No. It was because it felt so fake.

Overall

The film had its good moments. But if those moments were put together with abysmal dialogue and disgusting visual effects to form a ridiculous plot, you got yourself a winner. A winner of one of the worst superhero movies of all time.

I came to watch this movie with really low expectations. I believe my expectations weren’t low enough.

I give this movie  1 out of 5 stars

Rating: 1 out of 5 stars