Reviews

Oh the irony...MYSTERIOUS ISLAND was the sequel (of sorts) to 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA. This movie is the ersatz sequel to the recent JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH movie. Pretty much kiddie stuff and not nearly as much fun as the 1961 Harryhausen MYSTERIOUS ISLAND film. Out of the four versions of this story I've seen, that 1961 flick is still the best!

For this new telling, inconsistencies abound with many things seeming unrelated. Won't matter to the little ones, but not sure if adults will feel the same. Regrettably, JOURNEY 3 will be an "adaptaion" of Verne's FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON.

SO much has been written here, that I'm not going to reiterate.. But haters and lovers alike really owe it to themselves to watch the 215 minute Ultimate Cut edition of this movie (not to be confused with the Director's Cut). Adding the animation plus additional scenes (and even a better Blu-Ray transfer than previous releases) has much so much more depth to both some characters as well as motivations, that it becomes easily one of the best costumed hero films ever made...better than DARK KNIGHT, IMHO. (But the love scene still sucks!)

It is also much closer in execution to the Alan Moore graphic novel it is based on. Honestly, I really don't see how it could have been done any better. (Well, again, except for that damned love scene!)

Modest but very effective film. Those looking for rotting zombies, chainsaws, "deserve-to-die" teens, surprise appearances by cats, blood & gore, explosions, or at least a killing within the first 10 minutes...look elsewhere. Like some of the best films of old, you get to know the characters just as they get to know each other. The setting is remote and isolationist...realistic enough that you can put yourselves in their predicament. Sure, there are some plot holes, but nothing that you can't fill-in-the-blanks with yourself. The actors give it their all, in what appears to have been cramped, uncomfortable, and unpleasantly cold conditions. Just the sound of the unforgiving wind blowing in 5.1 sound is enough to make things suitably creepy...and then there's the supernatural element! If you like films like THE FOG (original version), ROSEMARY'S BABY, THE SHINING, etc...well, this movie is certainly not up to those classics...but like those films, it's not in a hurry to throw shocks at you. If you are one of today's ADD movie viewers, you won't enjoy this. But for the rest of us, it's a small gem that is best viewed with the lights (and phone) off, on a dark, chilly evening.

Blows the typical Hollywood bio-pics (RAY, WALK THE LINE, etc. etc.) right out of the water. A career-defining performance from Andy Serkis...his BAFTA nomination was more than well-deserved. He literally inhabits this physically and emotionally demanding role. The film does not sugar-coat the fact the Dury was a hard man to be around. Superbly edited as well, combining graphics, animation, varying film-stocks and angles, B&W, flashbacks, and fantasy sequences (ever see a band perform UNDER water?). While this might sound like a mish-mash, it certainly reflects those same artistic elements and chaos of the times. Yet the movie never loses it's narrative thru-line. A must-see, even more so for those who remember.

For those who have noted that the film seems "choppy" or that "You've missed something"...that is because the studio cut out 17 minutes from the film. So the version of WOLFMAN that we've seen on screen is NOT the film that the filmmakers had intended for us to see. I've heard that the footage may be reinstated for home video, so we'll just have to wait until then. As has been the case with other films (DAREDEVIL, LORD OF THE RINGS, etc.), the home video versions are usually superior to the aborted editions that studio suits foist on the public via theaters. While I did enjoy the film as is, I could tell that there was much more to the story than we were presented with (which also probably includes some of the gorier aspects that the ratings board seems compelled to "protect" us from.)