Reviews

As some others already pointed out - the main reason we watch movies is entertaining. The movie gives us some of that. If not for the abundance of similar movies, I would maybe got entertained. As I have seen plenty this was not so much fun. Still it was not bad. The actors tried and they almost succeeded to make the wholes and silliness of the script disappear. The dialog was sometimes not very matching the action but then again we all do such things in very odd situations so maybe this is OK. As with many military oriented movies this one fails on tactics but then it is not all bad. Even the main villain is not so bad and got some character from the writers.

If not for the few awkward moments I would not even mind so maybe I am just saturated with movies showing the glorious US military and its soldiers sacrificing their lives for the greater good of everybody. The problem is that I do not believe that anymore but the main issue with this movie is: even if it were moved into scifi territory - fighting aliens or between factions of the stellar empire etc. It would stil have the wholes and silly moments and not fitting characters. If you do not expect too much from the movie and just have to spend some time w/o too much thinking - it is OK. Do not expect the epic. The movie had its chance but the scripters did mess this up. Not even the good actors could carry this to real enjoyment.

It had potential as even the side characters were given some time and development. I want to be generous which is why it got 5 from me because they triad and because of the actors work. The script sacked tho even if the subject was great and it spent good time to develop depth it just lacked coherence.

Actually three families drama. Nice fighting scenes a bit of irony. Nothing special but I liked the actors and the play. The script is silly and has oddities that are beyond explaining but they did not disturb me too much. Perhaps I did not expect too much either. In the restaurant setting a family drama develops, add to it few mafia guys, and an old friend and you get some action. All 3 families have problems, the one of the old friend probably the biggest but deals with it the best. The fight scenes were not too exaggerated (as for this type of movie) i.e. There is no overwhelming odds where the small lady fights off much bigger guys with bare hands. There is also not too much of the woke nonsense. If one expects an occupation for own intellect this will not do. But if one just wants to see a film with some fight and some drama this will do.

I liked it. The actors are good. There is enough of the side story there too. Usually when family of a police officer is involved in such movies it is about the marital trouble. Here however we see how they are actually work together. We see marital problems of course but these are not related to the work of the police officer. I actually appreciated slow flow in this movie. Lack of terrible drama too - there is certain amount of it which is beneficial to the movie but not too much. Most of them overdo it and I am not talking about horrors where that is a main point. The rest of it i.e. The police work, corruption and criminals we have seen a;ready in different combinations many times. But the slow action, good actors (esp. The female and male leads) and relatively well done script make it for an interesting experience.

I gave it 7 only because the police stories are hardly ever new. The drugs and corruption too. Sicario was was a bit new in that it showed how both sides are connected and how impossible it is to make a lasting impact. Here another aspect of the war against drugs is shown but not flashed into your brains so you can watch and enjoy w/o the troubling facts about reality.

The movies of today seem to be aiming directly at the franchise i.e. Lots of things but the movie itself and that is visible. The director did few good movies I think. 300 and watchmen were excellent. Man of steel was ok so he can do it. All the others are just unwatchable and this film unfortunately belongs to the unwatchable category. Not sure why really - the idea was good I think even if sold so many times already. You could make it at least a half a decent movie out of this instead it is just boring. I really tried but as with the justice league I did not last over 30minutes.

Maybe indeed too much attention paid to franchise instead of to the story? Mandatory these days super female did not disturb as much as the boredom. Maybe it got better after 30minutes but this I will probably never know. What a waste of time.

I do not want to dig too much into whether this is as the book is or not. I did like the interpretation of Tom Cruise. I did like the interpretation in the series. In both cases first go at it was excellent and in both case the second go at it was much worse. In case of Tom Cruise's interpretation it was still watchable and entertaining albeit much lower standard than previous attempt. In case of the serial the second season is just boring. I do not mind Budweiser advertising in the second season too much but I have impression that quite some boring scenes (team building) were not done for anything else but that. Maybe it improves eventually (I have not watched the whole season 2. In full yet) but it is pain to get through the first few installments and I really do not care if this is as per book or not. The story must be engaging and I do not feel it is. Also the first season had a story that was really convincing: from character building, through the interactions between them and till the criminal story although the later was a bit OTT in my view but well in the limits of the entertainment that this is. So far I do not see well done character building, the 110 unit background scenes are not convincing as are the ways the team goes about its task, the dialogue is very artificial and things happen just to move the story from A to B.

I admit I had a problem finishing the 2nd installment already and did not manage the 3rd.

I will come back probably because I liked the 1st season a lot. But I really hope they improve on the story and character building. I liked Budweiser commercials from the past, but you cannot build the whole series around that guys.

Written 17.12.2023.

The good actors cannot save this garbage. I gave it 3 for trying but the story is weak, there is no fun element in it. It reminds me of last star wars failures or the bad superhero movie (that is the sad majority). This movie stands out in the franchise as the worst and frankly besides some themes and the setting does not habe much to do with the other 3.

You can see prolonged scenes where CGI plays a role without progressing the action in any way just providing the visual entertainment. Thee is too much of that and too little the real story. Telling. Once the story is bad this cannot be filled with something else.

What a waste of time.

It has everything that the first one had. The second I did like too. I was a bit reluctant to see this one because of the time travel but as the premise a bit unrealistic" anyway it did not hurt. They did not make a mess out of it which is good.

The actors played very well, the direction was good, the story good enough although due to time travel a bit inconsistent with itself. Still it worked perfectly. I really loved it.

This is a side and more general note. When I was a young boy I always wondered what would that be if the stories were more complete and one could see more sidelines of what happens while main characters go along the main story. The film industry delivered quite a lot of that recently with 3h monsters that have a company strong main characters fighting the evil. This one is more of a normal movie - it is not even 2h long and you do not feel exhausted when the movie ends. I think my old dream of seeing the "full story" would be better left a dream. This movie stays with the original idea while adding on top of it without going OTT. I appreciate that.

Back to the movie - the only thing I did not like were the small inconsistencies here and there. Still not really a big thing.

Well done everybody. Ach and the young K was perfect!

Most of the series I watch of late I cannot finish because the story sucks so much. Here it was a bit odd in few places but otherwise very nice story and play by main characters kept it on course. The only thing I did not buy is the ending. The way a friend of the main character reacted to the main characters request I just do not find resolved in believable way. And of course the mandatory bait for the next season. Nothing too bad and I enjoyed it.

The wokeness level is high nut acceptable - there is hardly any male character that has any leading position in the movie. Yet it does not hurt too much maybe because they did not ride on male toxicity this time, the male characters were sympathetic and some of them developed very nicely (whether a good spirit or villain).

As for science in the science fiction I think it is just a tool to tell a story. Not very good vehicle they used but it does not diminish the enjoyment and it is a main element of the book on which this is based.

As for the book I did not read it but I know there have been significant differences. I find this immaterial - it is another medium and I can live with a well made product independently from the book.

All in all a well done series.

Not sure why the fuss and controversy. To me sex scenes were ok if a bit overdone but the whole movie is felt with that feeling of having too much. Maybe that belongs to the main character coming of age ?

Solid playing. Not so bed story. The dialogues and motivations of main characters I could not understand. I guess some people talk about Sartre. I do sometimes talks about philosophy with my female friend over a dinner but I do not go to bed with her afterwards. I guess it all belongs to being full with emotions, questions and answers like some youngsters do. The rainbow flags - were they really necessary? I must admit the most what I was annoyed about this film was not overdone sex scenes but but the message. Was it really necessary? I thought the French were smarter.

It could get 8 but for the message 2 stars less.

First things first - not sure why lots of complaints about not being able to understand the dialogue. I did understand most of it. I certainly had less problems than with most of the other movies and series in English and I am not nativ speaker - maybe that is because?

As for film. The times were messy and the life is hardly ever a straight line that you can make a nice story from. The nights back then were hardly nationally aligned fighting for pay or for glory or mostly because they had to due to their allegiances and all these things changed in time. The infighting in the (un)holy roman empire was messy too. And yet people led their lives and some were able to even form dynasties. The guy is a hero of Chechs. Good for them. The one thing that rather disturbed me was the preaching of Hus which I found too modern. Then again you cannot really make a movie which is really 100% realistic so I was satisfied.

I liked the movie even if motivation of some characters I did not understand. But then that cleanly made hollywood flicks where all is explained and logical - these are not real life. I did not consider the time spent waster and in fact I enjoyed the movie a lot.

EDIT: I watched that again and did some reading about the time. The epoch was really messy with many pops and emporors of the holy roman empire at the same time. No wonder the political part of the story felt complex and therefore a bit difficult to understand. Life is like this sometimes.

What the movie is about was already written so I go straight to the chase - I gave it 9 our of 10 as the movie is almost perfect. It is like the movies of the past - no hysteria, no too much drama - just perfect. The part where the family suddenly helps in in binding the lose ends I find a bit weak tho. Still it was a perfect movie, well written story, well developed characters, good shooting, good score, very well playing characters, attention to details. Of course there were things that were not even close to real but that did not break suspension of realty in the slightest. I tend to stop watching movies made recently in the middle as I either loose interest or the drama is too much for me. Here it all comes in nice well made chunks easy to swallow.

I had some problems with the details of how the story ends hence only 9.

I hope there will be times again they will manage to make such movies again.

I think I will watch it again soon.

I try to avoid war movies as the horrors of war are difficult to show in a way that are close to reality without scaring people off so you either get unconvincing nonsense or a movie that is difficult to bear for audience, soldier or civilian alike. I still got interested as this is Swedish production and I admit that actress in main role made me more interested. I still dislike the war movies but I did watch this one. Difficult moral choices - there were few there, not all convincing. Not sure I would believe many soldiers are capable of making them. But the few weak points were not such a big distraction. String female roles here were OK. This coming from netflix and from Sweden I expected to be unbearable for woke reasons but these did not show their ugly heads or at least not so that I got irritated too much.

It is a bit longer than the old usual but I liked that too. As long as the film is running and I keep interest I do not mind. Well made.

I gave it 7 for the moral choices I mentioned earlier I did not quite believe but the rest of it was well done. Not wasted my time on this one.

I do not like real war time stories - they are either badly made or they show the war for what it is not what superhero nonsense from Hollywood - people are rarely shot and walk away and sometimes the great effort made with a lots of personal sacrifice of many people does not make any sense or is left w/o fruition - the camp has been removed and the soldier whose life lots of people tried to save died. That is how life is I am afraid. The whole war was messed up by out politicians and corrupt military planning - is my opinion. This story may be used as the metaphor of that although I admit that this is civilian/Hollywood perception of why certain things are done - the outposts are often only temporary points of distracting the opposition and are given up when the rest of the situation changes so that is maybe not a complete metaphor but considering how messed up and pointless our presence there was over 2 decades maybe it still is a proper one.

As for acting and how the story developed - I have no complains. I think the introduction phase was a bit too long and the battle could have been better developed. Still it was OK.

I wonder about the other side. It was always the q. If the air support was there or not so their action could only be successful if the outpost was successfully overrun. I wonder if we ever get the other side of the story? I mean in some of these areas people did not know that there was a war with Soviets before and that "they" won it. But that is another story.

In general I cannot say I liked the movie, similar like I did not like the survivor and kajaki/kilo two bravo - for these two movies are brutal. I appreciated the movie tho just as the two other mentioned ones. Not because of Afghanistan or animosity between us Westerners and Afghans but because of harsh reality of war that is portrayed. Inadvertently each of such stories is also a myth of people fighting against the odds.

I appreciate this was done. I am sorry for this many lost lives. Seems to be that from time to time this is unavoidable.

I was reluctant at first to watch it and it on some easy afternoon I had the time and I felt compelled. Most of the movies today I watch max 15min as they are so boring and predictable. I am trying to avoid zombies, vampires and superhero movies with a crew so big I cannot remember the name or character of each special superhero. This one is not such a thing and is also not aiming at fixing anything or save the world. At the beginning I got my prejudice confirmed - a hunting movie, again! I recall my firs one with JCvD decades ago. But this one had something special to it - something over the board and outright silly at the very beginning. So I stayed and I did not regret it - was nice action, some predictable and some not predictable turns and twists that were new to an average hunting movie enthusiast.

The movie had a sharp points being made but without names and also done in a way without moralizing - just how it is with all sides being silly and cruel and a Joe/Jane Normalo trying to survive. Which of course this being a film is not a normal person but has some sets of skills allowing to stand up.

I found out later on that I really did hear about the film when it was released. I consider the media coverage another idiocy as the movie was nothing that I read about if anything just the opposite. But then again that is the difference between media reality and the actual version of it.

Good performances too. The script has few holes here and there. But it is all manageable and nothing really disturbing for a satire.

As for woke: there are strong female characters but it is all made to look half way realistic. At least as it can be for the plot etc. There are obvious jokes at the woke themselves which is fresh considering current climate. There is no moralizing however so one can watch without having to take sides.

There surely had been some hunt movies before Hard Target with JCvD. It is almost a genre now. This is the first since Hard Target that I watched with interest. I would not call this one a classic but it is really refreshing. I may watch it again.

I was reluctant to see it. Got offered few times by algos on streaming platforms and eventually did watch it.

It is not what I expected. I expected a mystery of ninth legion - which is one as nobody knows what happened to it. But that does no mean much considering that we do not know what happened to MH270 either or that we do now cowboy films with black cowboys.

Expected a standard fare of strong male character fighting against odds, betrayal etc. Either it gets to be a righteous kill or a oppression of the weak but good. But no. Some of it is still there but the story is much richer than this. It is what the B movies used to offer from time to time: a surprisingly good multilayered story with good performance and nicely done. That we know nothing what happened to the 9th is just the better. No historic accuracy is needed except that of what life in Britain under Roman rule looked like. This looked like real enough to me.

Of course there is an arch there. Something however that is not common these days, where characters being woke are perfect from the onset. But this one is not - the weakness is there and thus the greatness when the weakness is overcome is there too. I do not mean it is a masterpiece but it is a really good deal.

I liked it enough to give it 9. I am glad that all the rest of it on the streaming service I subscribe to now was so appalling that I did watch a story about Romans in Scotland. I did not regret it. Was greatly suprised by quality although I also admit that if the wole did not destroy our culture in 2020s I would have given it a 8 or even 7. Right now it sticks out so much that it deserves 9. Sotry about the rant.

Interesting movie. In many aspects. Well done acting.

I watched it long time ago possibly not long after it was released (yes I am that young). I thought there was time to see it again possibly with kids so that they learn some if not about history than about humans and about good movies that hollywood once made. I have my reservations about showing this to my kids in 2021. For obvious reasons. We are all white and at least I am not ashamed of it as I do not see why I should. That is not as obvious in times when stating the obvious may land you prosecuted for hate speech. I am writing this because directly when I started to watch this I noticed that the main character used the n. Word not even 3 minutes into the film. A white boy saying n. Word. Is this at all possible today?

Now you may wonder why that matters for a film review. I think it does. The movie is 30yo and it seems to me that current culture wars will not stop till side cuts throats of the other in sufficient numbers. In this respect this movie can be seen also as a more general depiction of human condition. The war seems to be inherent to our nature and it brings best and worst in it to the fore. Even if you try wholeheartedly to avoid bloodshed you may end up on a battlefield - as with other things, progress has been made so that battlefield may be far away in normal sense of it - so that marching towards guns firing at you (as seen directly in first minutes of the movie) may not be your experience but you will be marching and the other side will be shooting.

As for the film itself it is one side of the very complex history. It cannot cover it all obviously. It did a good job showing the history of the US. I am just not sure if that is the US these fellows depicted in the movie were fighting for. But then we are again discussing the issues far beyond the scope of the movie but maybe that is why some movies are made? Not only to show senseless violence w/o real effect and superhumans never getting hurt but to show how it is and how it was. When I saw it decades ago I thought: well made historical epos. Now it provokes thought and consideration far beyond what the makers could envision. From this perspective the movie achieved its goal at least for me. Not sure however how many of us would still watch and consider the the pain, misery, heroism etc on all sides because as we know - only one side can be right and the world has to be seen in highest contrast settings possible.

A good movie. I gave it 8 especially as it became current in ways that makers and actors etc could not see back then.

Very good performances, good production values. That there is already a genre of time travel movies I was aware. That there is a time loop sub genre not but hey it has been a long time since groundhog day.

Most of the sci-fi movies but especially of this type suffer from explaining too much what the 'invention' is. It is not why we are watching the movies. We watch them because we like stories. Good stories. Here there is not even a pretense to explain stuff to scientifically. That is good. After all we recently lots of people claiming 'science' w/o understanding the basic principle. The main characters are nicely developed. They have a good arc. Even ones that have no clue that they are in the loop with the main character. There is a portion of romance and of family time. The main character is male and not much fun is being made of that - that must be a coincidence or is this movie not made in Hollywood late into second decade of 21. Century? In any case all important stuff is there. The premise is too silly for some for sure. But then again the authors do not take themselves very seriously which one can see in game like visual elements made explicitly so that we see and identify them as such.

I liked that.

Interesting is to compare the movie to all these other looping films - the good ones that I can still recall were talking about the way humans develop and interact. This one does it nicely too.

I gave it 8 because I did not like certain elements of the fundamental explanation of how things work but hey it is just a mechanism to make movie going and it is not soo painful to watch either. They added a new twist to it that I have not seen before so 8 seemed to be exactly right.

There is not much woke nonsense here either. Characters are strong or weak. They are just people. I liked that too.

Good actors. There is even Mell Gibson. And he is adding value.

I liked that movie that much that I watched it a second time few months after the first time. I do not do it often.

Story is bad and worse of it is not funny.

It checks on woke list tho but that is probably the reason why it is bad on story and fun.

I would not bother if not for my daughter who insisted. She liked it. I did not. Went on with it but still did not like it. Not even alc helped.

The only good part is Morissette part but I am an old prick and I recall the times when that was a power play.

The film is a waste of time.

Strong women are everywhere. Just as strong men. The superheroes are extension of that. Why make this caricature then?

Other than this it is almost watchable if not for big holes in the story. There are things that I dislike. Titanic - with fixed ending makes me cringe before I even go to cinema (well before covid that is, now only home theater). I watched almost till the end. The captain america was kind of OK without changing history. Well maybe I exaggerate. Still did not like the story - too many holes and silly things that were made out of lack skill combined with political activism. Was a wasted time and money.

Nice characters. Not overly complicated but engaging story about policman doing his job well and the main characters do not save the president, the world and everything so it stays at the level where I can still believe the characters are half real - I wonder what a police officer from Cal would say? I liked all the season up to 7. By 7th it got a slightly annoying, although less than the other productions of modern day - wokeness is raising its ugly head here and there. Maybe it is necessary - after all California is a state destroyed by wokeness and from which people are fleeing (writing it 2021, hope Californians find their way and fix their state) so parts of it had to find way into the season. Or did they?

If not for the wokeness: incels (really?), police officers engaging in silly stints? One of main characters showing his male weakness. Strong women everywhere - I actually do not mind that, there are strong women everywhere but you exaggerate too much and it becomes a caricature. All this on its own I would not mind. I would not mind it anyway if not for quite a few good ideas destroyed by woke silliness of late.

If not for the incels and a few silly policemen I would give it a 9. 2 stars are not much for wokeness. It did not destroy the show. It just made it less pleasurable. Maybe I misunderstood something. I come back and see if this makes sense.