After Earth:
Kitai Raige is a younger ranger-in-training on an off-world human colony (Earth has been abandoned after humans drained its resources and destroyed its habitats) on Nova Prime, his emotionless father Cypher is a legend in the rangers for being the first person to "ghost" be so completely free from fear that he is undetected by Ursas, blind alien creatures who can sense fear. Ursas are controlled by the S'krell, an alien race who conflicted with humans when they set up off-world colonies on their planet. After persuasion from his caring wife, Cypher allows Kitai to join him and his team on a small mission: deliver a captive Ursa to a ranger camp for use in "ghosting" exercises. Cypher decides to mend the broken bond between him and his son, but unfortunately, the trip is cut short when an asteroid rips through the ship, they are forced to make a crash landing on an abandoned planet, which rips the ship in half, and kills nearly everyone, as well as setting the Ursa loose. The only survivors are Kitai and Cypher, but Cypher's legs are broken (one is extremely badly broken) and their supplies are limited. Kitai is given some survival supplies and a weapon by Cypher, and is sent off to retrieve a beacon so they can be rescued. Kitai must brave the dangers of this planet, including mutated animals, dangerous weather patterns, an escaped Ursa, and chemicals in the air, all while reconnecting with his father over a communicator. Cypher also informs him what planet they crashed on: Earth. For all the shit this movie's been getting, it's honestly not that bad, although it can be a bit boring at times. I don't agree with the critics that it's awful (it's a masterpiece compared to Shyamalan's other recent work) but I don't agree with casual moviegoers that it's great, either. I saw that Facebook user "Slendy" hasn't seen any good movies this summer, but gave The Purge 8/10, and this 9.5/10. I mean come on! Does this guy knows how to use his critical brain? No offense if you're reading this Slendy, but what happens if you see an actually good movie? Do you give it 12/10? Well, as far as the acting in the film goes, it's decent. Jaden Smith, sorry to say, isn't that great of an actor. I mean, he's decent, especially for his age, but compared to his father, he's nothing. Speaking of which, Will Smith doesn't get much to do in the film except give advice and sit in the ship with broken legs, and for most of the film acts like a cold, detached asshole. This I their second film together (the first being The Pursuit of Happyness) and since they are really the only two actors we have for much of the runtime, the film is kind of boring. The cast also includes Sophie Okonedo, Isabelle Fuhrman, and Zoe Isabella Kravitz in decent supporting roles. One thing that was odd was Jaden and some other actors sounded like they were attempting some sort of accent in the early scenes of the film, but that was dropped rather quickly. The action sequences are actually few-and-far-between, and none of them are too thrilling, and they're all far too short. One sequence that's not action but is more thrilling involving Jaden Smith giving himself anti-venom had me on the edge of my seat. The special effects are actually pretty good, and the landscape of Earth is unique and imaginative. One of the problems with the film are some cheesy/sappy moments, no real explanations about why we left Earth other than "we destroyed it" (no real depth about how), and it doesn't really explore the world of the human colonies, they're day-to-day lives, that sort of thing. (A similar problem was evident in The Purge) Another problem are the plot holes (Why'd they wind up so close to Earth on their travels? Why are military personnel so incompetent? Why does "ghosting" give Will Smith spider-sense?) But one thing I can reassure people about: no stupid twist. Shyamalan is known for his infamous/trademark twist/shock endings, some of which were clever and effective (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable), some of which were not (Signs, The Village). This just ends as is, which is good, but it does make sense, as this was not Shyamalan's idea, but Will Smith talked him into making it. Despite not having much action, okay acting, and being sometimes dull, After Earth is a decent sci-fi survival movie, just no nearly as good as it was made out to be. 2.5/5 stars.
Now You See Me:
Four talented magicians (some of whom are con artists, one is a mentalist) are brought together by a mysterious benefactor, and within a year, are performing in Las Vegas under the name "The Four Horsemen", sponsored by wealthy insurance company magnate Arthur Tressler. After using a teleportation device to rob a French bank vault as their final trick, an Interpol agent and an FBI investigator must track down the group of thieves and discover the secrets behind their magic tricks, and what their next move might be. French filmmaker Louis Leterrier (The Transporter, Transporter 2, The Incredible Hulk, Clash of the Titans, Unleashed) presents a pretty entertaining crime caper, with twists and turns and lots of surprises. Although this film is not at all realistic (many of these tricks would not be pulled off so easily), the explanations for each of the tricks are pretty interesting. They are presented by Morgan Freeman, playing an ex-magician who makes money off of exposing other magicians' secrets. The rest of the cast are really good. Jesse Eisenberg "leads" the group of magicians. I didn't really care for him in this film, I know he is a good actor, but he did the same thing here that pissed me off in The Social Network, he's smug, and acts like a smart-ass punk, as well as constantly talking really fast and robotically. He got way better towards the end, but still, kind of irritating. Woody Harrelson plays another smart-ass kind of guy, but he's pretty damn funny and he was the member of the group who stood out the most. Isla Fisher is the other stand-out because, well, look at her, she's Isla Fisher, that's all you have to say. Dave Franco (James Franco's younger brother from films like 21 Jump Street, Fright Night, and Charlie St. Cloud) plays the fourth member of the group, who is more of a con artist, but he still uses magic to perform his cons, so he fits in. He's also pretty fun to watch, and is way more likeable than in some other films he's featured in. Mark Ruffalo is who we see much of the film with, we see it from his perspective, so he's really the main character. He plays kind of a doucher at first, being an angry FBI investigator, but the more the film progresses, the more relatable he becomes, so we connect with him more, and almost want to see him catch the magicians, even though they're technically the good guys too. Ruffalo kind of reminds me of Dwayne Johnson in Fast Five, he's technically like an antagonist, but he's actually like an antihero. Melanie Laurent (Inglorious Basterds; I'm Fine, Don't Worry) plays a female, French Interpol agent who must work with Ruffalo on the case, who is reluctant at first to work with her, but they grow to like each other over the film, and develop some good chemistry. Michael Caine plays Arthur Tressler, a supporting character who is generally likeable at first, but reveals himself to be kind of a dick, a rich dick. Caine also appeared in another magician thriller: The Prestige. Hip-hop artist Common portrays Ruffalo's coworker Evans, and Michael J. Kelley (Chronicle, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, Man of Steel) plays Agent Fuller. David Warshofsky and J. Larose (known for his work with James Wan) appear in small roles, and Conan O'Brien appears as himself, Jose Garcia appears in a cameo role, and Elias Koteas appears in an uncredited cameo as fictional magician Lionel Shrike. Leterrier incorporates some of his nationality into the mix, having a character and some of the locations be French. (A French Interpol agent, a French bank, the French Quarter of New Orleans. Of course, that's probably just me making weird-ass connections, but who knows.) Leterrier also has some stuff that was earlier showcased in the Transporter films: cool car chases and awesome fights. There's one conflict between Franco and Ruffalo in particular that stands out, that goes from a fist fight (where Franco uses several magic tricks to deceive Ruffalo), to a chase on foot, to a thrilling car chase on the freeway. The action in the film is really thrilling, and the stunts were well-done, and more believable than in Fast & Furious 6, and Leterrier even throws in a good deal of effective humor. Some of the CG in certain scenes is pretty damn good, and all around the film looks really good, pretty vibrant and lively. The ending (which include a Shyamlanian, or Shyamalan-like, twist, which can be viewed as both good and bad) may disappoint or confuse people, but I didn't mind it. Now You See Me is an entertaining, thrilling, entertaining caper film that will keep you on the edge-of-your-seat until the end credits. 3.5/5 stars.
Other reviews I enjoyed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSk-fwe2Shg "After-Earth" Review, with a spoiler section you can skip over.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r38f5fkbPk Spoiler-free "Now You See Me" Review
(Images: Wikipedia)
No comments:
Post a Comment