Category Archives: Three Stars

GI Joe : The Rise of Cobra (Theaters)

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Since they first announced they were going to make a live action GI Joe film, I had mixed feelings. The announcement came hot on the heels of the massive success of the first Transformers film, with GI Joe being the obvious candidate for the next Hasbro franchise with cash cow potential. I loved the cartoons, the comic book, and even the toys but it always seemed a bit second rate to me compared to the Transformers franchise. After watching the movie, I feel that the film also feels a bit second rate in comparison.

The plot is fairly straight forward. An arms dealer, Destro (he actually had a name in the film but it doesn’t matter- he is Destro just without the metal head) has developed warheads that release nano mites capable of devouring anything in their path until they are deactivated. When it comes time for the warheads to be delivered, the delivery is hijacked. We soon find out that the warheads were hijacked by Destro’s organization and that he  plans to use them in his quest for world domination. It is up to an elite military unit, GI Joe, to find the warheads and stop Destro….and that’s pretty much it. There is a minor twist involved, but most people will see it coming from a mile away.

If this is your first exposure to the GI Joe universe, you will be confused as all hell. There is little to no introduction given on any of the characters and everything that happens just sort of happens without rhyme or reason. This is actually not too bad as you definitely have to suspend all disbelief for this film and come in ready to watch things explode and not think about it all too much. The movie is action packed and the settings are all pretty cool, ranging from an arctic snow base to an underwater fortress. Some of the underwater CGI is a bit too obvious and has too much of a cartoonish vibe to it.  I know this is a movie based on a cartoon, but the other settings all had a sense of realism to them, so the underwater sequences seem to stand out a bit more and seems inconsistent with the feel of the rest of the film.

As far as the casting goes, I didn’t really have any complaints. There wasn’t really much background or development given to any of them so it didn’t matter too much who played who. The one character that bothered me a little bit was Channing Tatum’s Duke. I remember Duke to be really clean cut and all American. Tatum’s Duke possesses enough of Duke’s physical characteristics, but I felt his portrayal was a bit too street for me.  His line delivery reminded me of John Cena on WWE.  Tatum doesn’t do a bad job, but his swagger just seems a bit out of place in his role.

Perhaps the coolest characters in the flick were the two ninjas. Byung hun-lee is excellent as super model / ninja StormShadow. I’m not sure if he was a super model in the movie, but when he wasn’t in his full ninja gear he definitely gave off a Zoolander type vibe. Ray Park is  equally cool as Snake eyes, the other half of the ninja rivalry. The only problem I had with Snake Eyes was with his costume design.  Snake Eyes is mute, yet for some reason they decided to add lips to his costume.That’s right- a cool ass ninja in all black with lips like Jay-Z.  Why they did this- I have no idea, but it really distracted me everytime he showed up.

If you go into this movie expecting some cool action sequences and special effects, you won’t be dissappointed.  However, if you go in expecting anything more you’re going to find the movie falls a bit short. I’m interested to see what my son thinks of the movie, since I’m sure most 9 year olds will think it is one of the coolest movies ever made. I can’t lie- I did enjoy the film, but there were just too many moments when it became way too campy for me. 

I realize that the source material isn’t exactly the deepest, but did they really have to try to awkwardly incorporate EVERY single catch phrase from the original cartoons? The movie reminded me a bit of the Fantastic four movies of recent years. Both franchises have the potential for greatness, but the actual flicks just seem to be missing that certain element that would make them excellent. The bottom line is that if you just want to be mindlessly entertained and enjoy a little bit of nostalgia at the same time, GI Joe is your movie.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (Theaters)

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The latest Harry Potter installment is one of the biggest movies of the summer. Anyone who has read the books or is just familiar with the film versions knows that the series is soon coming to an end, and the tension and anticipation is really starting to ramp up at this point.  I’ve never read any of the books, but I have seen each movie up to this point, therefore my background is a bit limited.  With the exception of the last movie, The Order of the Phoenix, I felt that each film got progressively better with the introductions of more interesting characters and the insurmountable threat posed by Voldemort and his followers.

Let me start by saying that the trailers for this film are a bit misleading. I know there are still two more movies after this one, but I thought that this movie would end in some type of epic magic battle. Sadly, the movie ended with a bit of a whimper. There are quite a few cool sequences throughout the film, but the whole time I was expecting the action to really get crazy.  Maybe it is because I haven’t read the books and so I can’t appreciate the details and events in this flick as much as a reader of the series, but I just felt a bit starved for action throughout the film.

The focus in this film is mainly on the three main characters and their foray into early adult hood. While I have no idea how old the characters are supposed to be in the novel, from the looks and vibe of the film I would say they are roughly around the equivalent of seniors in high school.  Seeing as how we have grown with the same cast since they were children, the fact that they are finally starting to outgrow their roles isn’t quite as distracting as you would think.  I can also accept the fact that most of the occurences in the film revolve around hormones, which also seems natural at this point in the characters lives.

The action in the film is minimal, which is somewhat understandable given that the focus is on how the characters and the dynamics of their relationships with one another have evolved. However, I couldn’t help but feel that we’ve seen ALL of this before to some degree in the other films. Hermione’s simultaneous attraction and disgust with Ron Weasley. Weasley’s goofy comic relief.  Harry modestly wrestling with his celebrity status. These are all issues that have been addressed before, yet they seem to dominate a lot of the movie. This is all fine, but could they at least have thrown in some more Wizard on Wizard action towards the end?

I know this film has received some great reviews, with many people stating that this is the best movie so far. I guess for me, I felt this one was a bit anti climatic. Some people already know about the event in the ending, however even with the inclusion of such a significant occurrence, I just wasn’t feeling it as I thought I should have.

The acting in this film is all top notch. The young cast has really grown into their roles over the years and have become the physical embodiments of their respective characters. At this point, it would be nearly impossible to picture anyone else playing these roles.  The real standout of the cast is by far Alan Rickman’s portrayal of Severus Snape. Since his first appearance, he has been one of the coolest and most interesting characters in the HP universe.  While he doesn’t have a ton of screen time in this one, the scenes he does appear in definitely command attention.

Perhaps if I was more into the novels, I would have enjoyed this film a lot more. I felt like it was just more of the same old stuff we’d seen in the past 5 movies. The movie wasn’t bad at all, I just expected a bit more from the series, especially this far along in the game. I still have hope for the 2 upcoming films based on the last book, The Deathly Hallows. Hopefully everything that has been built up to this point will pay off huge dividends in the final acts.

Push (DVD)

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When I first saw the trailers for ‘Push’, the similarities to Marvel’s X-men were overwhelming. Being a big X-men fan, I decided to pass on seeing the movie in theaters. Fast forward a couple of months and the movie is now on DVD. After seeing it on the video store shelf I decided to check it out.  While the two series have their similarities, Push has enough of its own vibe going on to distinguish it from other similar franchises.

The storyline follows two groups of mutants. One group comprises a special government unit, called the Division, who seek to capture and study all mutants in order to advance both technology and human ability in general, no matter the cost. Then you have the other group, who simply go about living their lives and using their powers however they please. (I don’t remember them being referred to as mutants in the film, but let’s just call a spade a spade here.)  The Division has been conducting experiments to produce a drug that will enhance the abilities of any mutant dramatically. The problem is that out of all the test subjects, no one has survived the injection except for one woman, named ‘Patient Zero’. Immediately after being injected, she escapes and takes the last syringe of the drug with her. The Division then goes about trying to recover her by any means necessary while a small group of mutants seek to find her for themselves with the hopes that she has the key to bring down the Division and put an end to their persecution.

 That is the plot in a nutshell. Each mutant has various abilities. For example, ‘Watchers’ can see the future, ‘Movers’ can move things telepathically, and ‘Pushers’ can push suggestive thoughts into other people’s minds to get them to do whatever they please.  For being a brand new franchise, the film has a pretty good budget and the majority of the special effects are first rate. The movie also has some of the most colorful palettes I’ve ever seen in a film, as almost every shot is bursting with lush visuals.

 The movie stars Chris Evans (Johnny Storm/Human Torch from the Fantastic Four movies) as Nick, a ‘mover’ enlisted by ‘watcher’ Cassie (Dakota Fanning) to help her recover Patient Zero in order to bring down the Division. Evans’ role is awfully similar to his other roles. If you can picture his Fantastic Four character with different powers then you can pretty much envision his performance in this film. Fanning’s character is a bit of a departure from her normal roles as she plays a street tough teenager.  At least I thought she was supposed to be tough until the first action scene in which she screamed so horribly my ear drums almost popped.

 That’s pretty much it. The movie isn’t great, but it’s not bad either. It will definitely keep you entertained for most of the film and is well worth a rental. The real star of this one is the special effects, which as mentioned previously, are top notch and allow for some pretty engaging action sequences. Overall, you can definitely do a lot worse than this movie and while it won’t exactly blow you away, it won’t put you to sleep either.