Reviews

I remember seeing a tape of this movie once when I was a kid, although even back then I seemed to have a pretty good grasp of what the movie did right and what it did wrong. This is a movie that starts out with great potential, but unfortunately it suffers from a bit of an identity crisis in the third act that stops the movie from being the classic that it could have been.

The first two acts of the movie are great. We are introduced to a strong cast of child actors who all deliver great performances-- no doubt due to the direction by Joe Dante, who directed the Gremlins (which, unsurprisingly, was executive produced by Steven Spielberg). If you are familiar movies like Close Encounters, E.T., or the more recent Super 8, and even The Goonies, this movie will immediately have a familiar sense of charm. The story of some innocently mischievous kids getting into a bit of trouble so that they can build their own spaceship is something just about any kid can identify with, and the way the movie approaches the ends up being strangely plausible. The kids are memorable characters, and seeing the journey that takes them from happening upon a crazy, mysterious idea to flying their own spacecraft is one that will capture the imagination of both the young and old.

Unfortunately, the destination is not nearly as satisfying as the journey. When the kids get into space and finally make first contact, the thoughtful "Spielbergian" wonder disappears quickly, and is replaced with an obnoxious Saturday morning cartoon. The aliens themselves look like leftovers from a Ren and Stimpy cartoon, and they are about as tactfully written. The rest of the movie did such an admirable job of taken itself seriously that when our protagonists come face to face with pop-culture spouting Nickelodeon rejects, the movie falls apart.

I will always remember this movie as a mixed bag, and a missed opportunity. You get 2/3 of a great movie, and the last 1/3 of a crappy one. The first two acts of the movie definitely at least make it worth checking out, but the fact that the movie started off so strong only to rapidly devolve into cartoonish antics keeps it from being a must-see. I almost wish I had just stopped the tape when the kids made it into space, and left the mystery of the aliens as just that so I could enjoy the rest of the movie for what it was.

This movie is straight-up over the top fun. If you've seen movies like Crank or Drive Angry, you should know what to expect when you look at this movie. It's so intentionally ridiculous that it ends up being bad ass. It's not supposed to be taken seriously-- it's supposed to be fun, and fun is exactly what you'll get when you watch it.

I didn't like the original movie much-- the whole thing felt pretty artificial to me. The special effects looked too much like a video game, and the action felt the same way. It seemed to be stuck in the "superhero movie" mold, which is inappropriate since The Rider is not a superhero, and should not be in a superhero movie. This time around, he's appropriately placed in a straight-up action film with over-the-top violence. The performance Nicolas Cage delivers in this film, both as The Rider and as Johnny Blaze is a deliciously chaotic joy to watch unlike the sedated performance in the first film, and that's part of how this movie succeeds where its predecessor failed. "Spirit of Vengeance" truly lives up to the term "action packed," and has a good self-aware sense of humor about itself.

and we get to see Nicolas Cage eat the scenery as a possessed man in a way that's both entertaining and oddly believable. The Rider himself Also, I have to mention Idris Elba, since he steals pretty much every scene he's in with his great performance as an alcoholic warrior monk. The Rider himself also has way more personality himself-- he's not just a metal-less terminator in chains this time, but a psychotic entity who gets his jollies by killing people. You will see him laugh, cackle and mug at the camera with a muppet-like grin while he pisses fire. The Rider feels like a real character this time, and in addition to being a bad ass he's actually funny!

I also need to note that the special effects are far more realistic this time, which is appropriate since this movie feels like a grindhouse-style midnight movie rather than an over-polished Hollywood blockbuster. I'm surprised that a movie with a budget of only 70 million can have fire effects that are this good, since even big-budget films often struggle with it. Hats off to the animators!

Overall, I'd be hesitant to even call this a sequel to the first one if it weren't for the fact that it stars Nicolas Cage and picks up roughly 8 years where the original left off. You don't need to see the original to get into it, and it's overall a very different kind of movie. It's all the better for it, too! If you enjoy over-the-top movies like Drive Angy, Kick Ass and Crank, you will eat this film up. If you are expecting something serious-- I hate to break it to you, but you probably suck at evaluating movie trailers. If it looks like something you'd like, then give it a try and I'm pretty certain that you won't be disappointed.

This movie was not worse than I expected. However, it wasn't really much better, either. I'm not going to nitpick apart all the places where it failed to do justice to the games it (falsely) claims to draw inspiration from, and frankly there's plenty of other stuff wrong with this movie to warrant a bad review. Pretty mucht 90% of the movie is shot in slow motion, and Milla Jovovich is still just as obnoxious of a female protagonist as she's ever been. Not only is she doing the female equivalent of Christian Bale's Batman voice for the whole thing, but now she makes video blogs throughout the film to convey exposition, which adds an extra layer of tedium to the film's already tedious first half. Secondary characters for the most part only occupy space (BTW, is it just me, or does Ali Larter's face constantly look like it needs to be slapped?), Shawn Roberts eats the scenery like he's in a fan film playing Agent Smith from The Matrix, and there's YET ANOTHER ridiculous amnesia plot device thrown in to conveniently prevent Paul W.S. Anderson from having to write convincing relationships between his characters.

This game does borrow a few elements from the games, but for the most part it borrows from Resident Evil 5 which is unfortunate since that's one of my least favorite in the series-- especially the scarabs, which IMO were a lazy plot device and they're used just as lazily in this film as they were in the game. Again, I don't want to overemphasize what was changed from the games, because even though these things are frustrating to me as a fan they are not ultimately what makes this movie bad. It's Anderson's ridiculously overwrought sense of "style," the brain-dead script, the acting which ranges from lethargic to mustachio-twirling levels of ham, and the overall goofiness of the whole thing. I can't say I was disappointed though. It was not any worse than what I expected, and honestly anyone ought to be able to tell what kind of movies these are just by looking at the posters. They're essentially Paul Anderson's multi-million dollar birthday presents for his wife, who happens to play the main character.

Also, I must mention the 3D, which is of mixed quality despite it's claims of "using the technology behind James Cameron's Avatar." The 3D is just as spotty and obnoxious as the rest of the film, and when things aren't flying in your face, they're either too blurry and distorted to make out or just plain 2D looking. However, the extra $3-5 that it adds to the ticket prices has helped ensure that this will be the most profitable movie in the series and that Paul WS Anderson won't stop making them any time soon. My patience for the medium is fast dwindling, and I think next time I see a movie I'll save a few dollars and ask for 2D.

This movie was a mess. I don't read the X-Men comics so I don't really know how accurate it was, but it had almost no continuity with the previous 3 movies whatsoever. The special effects were crappy and unfinished looking (and no, I am NOT talking about the leaked workprint-- the "finished" effects were not much better), the acting was at times laughable, and the story was a jumbled mess. The whole thing was written around a revolving door of extended cameos to the point where it felt like a friggin' muppet movie. Seriously, why is Wolverine having a boxing match with this big fat guy? WHAT DOES IT HAVE TO DO WITH THE PLOT!? And also, there was the stupid "love story" with Wolverine and that Native American chick (who by the way, looks nothing at all like that blond WASP disco ball girl who is supposed be her "sister"). Rather than show us WHY Logan loves this woman so much, they just jump from Logan leaving the army to him living with this chick who he supposedly is in love with. This is a such a violation of the "show don't tell" rule of cinema that it's not even funny. He loves this woman just because. They don't need to show us WHY they love each other, they just do because the writers needed it.

And while I do not read the X-Men comics, I am familiar with the character of Deadpool and I can certainly understand why people felt like his character was so bastardized in this movie. Ryan Reynolds did a good job portraying Wade Wilson (one of the only enjoyable parts of the movie), but that's all we ever saw of him. "Weapon 11" was quite possibly the dumbest most contrived end-movie-boss battle I've seen in the last 10 years (and yes, I'm well aware of how video-game-like that sounds, because it's intentional). Really, was that the best that Tom Rothman and his cronies could come up with? A mutant who has a bunch of other mutants' powers? Good grief.

In conclusion, I think we can safely assume that this movie was written by a focus panel of 14 year old boys. The only thing missing is a bunch of bikini clad women and fart jokes (although the fat boxer guy kind of filled the bodily humor niche), because this movie is nothing but moronic drivel that seems like something that a bunch of testosterone-dizzy children pumped full of caffeine would come up with. As stupid as Transformers 2 was, the one summer blockbuster last year that managed to eclipse it was Wolverine. As schlocky as TF2's script was, Wolverine's was even worse. It's merely an unending stream of video game battles shoehorned into a stupid "revenge" story. No wonder the video game ended up being superior to the film it was based on.

When I first saw the teaser for this movie, I was a bit disappointed. I thought it looked too much like a cheap remake of the 2004 movie, and I had a hard time getting excited for it. Then, I saw the REAL trailer, and my anticipation grew. Finally, I saw the final film, and it became one of my favorite movies of 2008. This is a movie that IMO ought to please both hardcore fans of the comics who felt let down by Ang Lee's 2004 interpretation, as well as fans of the original TV series. It was a very tricky balance to achieve, but the movie somehow managed to pull it off.

Edward Norton is excellent as Dr. Banner, and is much more in line with what fans of both the comics and TV series would expect. Unlike rugged Aussie Eric Bana, Norton conveys the persona of a twerpy but vigilant scientist, and while his performance may not be as memorable as Robert Downy Jr's Tony Stark, he still delivers. The rest of the cast is great well, and if you've seen Iron Man the acting here is fairly consistent with it (which is good, since these are meant to be "sister movies" in the same continuity).

The action in this movie is fast paced and in good quantity, with a surprising amount of it focusing around Banner himself rather than his green alter-ego. Like I said, both fans of the comics and TV show should be pleased, because they managed to find a good screen time balance between the two, keeping our emotional investment in the movie firmly grounded on Norton's Banner. The scene where Hulk takes on the Humvees was awesome, and despite my initial skepticism based on the trailers, the climax with Abomination was top-notch monster mash goodness.

It's a shame that Hulk's brand doesn't seem to have much resonance with audiences, because this movie was pretty much exactly what I wanted when I walked into the theater. It's a fast action movie with heart and intelligence behind it, and it manages to respect the incarnations that came before it. Whether you're a fan of Superhero movies and comics or you just want a great action film, IMO this movie doesn't disappoint.

There is nothing more awesome than a bunch of armored dinosaurs blasting the snot out of each other with lasers. I can't believe it's been 20 years since this show first aired, and it still hasn't been revived for TV or the movies. I'm actually going to be going to animation school this fall, and one of my dreams is to one day create a new Dino-Riders cartoon series for TV. The franchise may not have had the widespread popularity or recognition of GI Joe or Transformers, but at its heart Dino-Riders is just as classic. If they were to make a new Dino-Riders show today, I think it would be far more popular than when it had originally aired, if they'd do it correctly. This franchise is a goldmine waiting to happen. All it needs is someone with the vision and someone with the means.