Tag Archives: Sam Worthington

Clash of the Titans 3D (Theaters)

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To be honest with everyone, I was quite against this remake since they day I found out it was in production. Yet is was the lure of the original that brought me into the theaters today. As a child, Desmond Davis’s Clash of the Titans was nothing short of magical for me. Regardless of how cheesy it may have been, it brought to life a universe of Greek mythology which previously could only be retold though books and oral tradition. Over the last couple decades, I will proudly admit to watching the original at least fifty times over, and prior to this screening, I did spend a lazy afternoon reliving the 1981 cult classic on my living room sofa in all its glory.

I think the biggest disappointment I had with Clash of the Titans was the huge alterations to the storyline. When you remake a movie such as this one, it needs to stay true to its roots. Remakes are created to enhance the experience and retell a story using updated technology and special effects. Not ruin it by changing the very fabric of the story itself. Okay, so the basic plot of the story remained the same, (Perseus defeating the Kraken) but the storytelling and development were so foreign to me. They changed so much in the screenplay, that with a few adjustments here and there, it could have possibly been made into another film altogether.

Putting Bias and nostalgia aside, this film was still quite horrible. Besides the updated CGI monsters and action sequences, this film lacked any kind of substance whatsoever. The storyline in the original was definitely not academy award winning, but at least it had one. This film seemed to jump from idea to idea with little to no explanation. There was hardly any background info on any of the characters or development for that matter and the dialogue between the actors was just grotesque. It was really hard for me to appreciate anything in this film.

Yet despite all its flaws, I believe there will be some out there who will come out of the theaters with some sort of satisfaction. After all, the sound was great, the monsters were pretty cool, and the film maintained a nice pace. Enough to keep the average moviegoer entertained.

My suggestion? If you enjoyed the original, I’d wait till this one is released on Blu-Ray and DVD. Everything that made the original a magical experience is gone. Save yourself the time and money and rent it. If you’ve never seen Clash of the Titans, pay for the 2D version of the film. The movie was shot with 2D in mind and during its post production some genius thought it was a good idea to make it 3D. The 3D glasses didn’t enhance the story or effects one bit.

Avatar 3D (Theaters)

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It’s been 12 years since James Cameron set box office records and literally transformed filmmaking as we know today with Titanic.  It’s interesting to note every movie geek, critic and average joe/jane knows the name James Cameron despite only having a handful of films out.  Though he took a long break from directing, he had some other side projects producing and getting in touch with mother nature to keep him busy.  Oh and he’s also been working on a movie that he claims will change the way we watch movies…forever.  Pretty bold statement there Jim.  Whenever a movie is hyped so much, it’s rare you walk away dumbfounded and speechless after viewing it.  Does Avatar live up to the bold claims of Mr. Cameron?  Hell YES!!!

So let’s get the story (or lack thereof) out of the way.  The story is about Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a former marine who lost his legs during battle,  awakened from cryogenic sleep to replace his deceased twin brother who was involved in a highly prioritized  scientific expedition on planet Pandora.  Pandora is home to the Na’vi people, a blue skinned 20 ft. creature that resembles the characteristics of a Native American tribe.  Pandora’s natural resources are worth billions to humans and would love to get their hands on all that cheddar.  Unfortunately, the tribe of the Omaticaya are colonized right over a huge lump of it which poses a mining problem to the humans.  Using advanced technology, the humans created Avatars, or an embodiment of a life form, in this case a Na’vi which was created by human and Na’vi DNA. 

Humans will assume these Avatars through mind control and mingle with the Na’vi, hoping to gain their approval and cooperation.  Jake Sully volunteers for the mission to communicate with the Na’vi, gain their trust and convince them to move elsewhere.  Sounds familiar so far doesn’t it.  I won’t get into it too much but that’s basically the plotline of the film.  In spite of that, there are many underlying political themes throughout the film.  The basic plot of humans wanting a natural resource by any means reminds me of the Bush Administration seeking oil in Iraq.  There is also one scene where the man in charge says they will “fight terror with terror”…scary ain’t it.  But this isn’t about politics so I will get to the real reason why you should watch Avatar 3D.

Plotline aside, it is a visual feast!  I’ve seen some movies integrate 3D into their film but not like this.  I’ll be honest, the first 10-15 minutes was a little awkward for me.  I sat there thinking, this isn’t gonna work.  But slowly, you kind of forget what you’re seeing.  If I can put it into words, imagine yourself there but only 5-10 feet away from what’s going on.  In fact James Cameron said it best, it’s like looking at another world through a window, you can practically touch it if the pane of glass wasn’t there.  James Cameron manages to pull you in this fictional world that feels so real without you even knowing it.  Sooner or later, an hour has passed and you’re just sucked in to Pandora forgetting the lame plotline and knowing subconsciously how it will end.  The experience of watching this film just pulls you into the story and makes you feel what the characters are feeling like you’re really there.  Everything just works beautifully.  James Cameron once again set the tone for revolutionary filmmaking.  We were astonished when he sank the Titanic, and now words can’t describe what James Cameron has done once again. 

In conclusion, there is much to be desired in terms of plotline but I commend Mr. Cameron for taking a simple formula that everyone can follow and just making it his own.  I mean we can laugh now at how silly we were for watching Titanic more than once in the theaters but you gotta admit, at the time it was real good.  The same applies, we may have seen this story before but I have never experienced it quite like this.  Though the runtime was a bit long (about 160 mins) it didn’t affect me at all and I never felt it dragged.  All in all, if this is how movies are to be made, then we have a lot to look forward to!

Terminator Salvation (Theaters)

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I’ve always loved the Terminator series. James Cameron’s iconic first two films are two of my favorite movies of all time. T3 Rise of the Machines, was no where near the greatness of the originals, but for every thing it did wrong it managed to do something right, and the movie overall was pretty good. Which brings us to Terminator Salvation, the latest sequel to feature another director’s take on Cameron’s universe, which brings us to the forefront of the future war between John Connor and humanity vs. the ruthless Skynet. 

Salvation, directed by McG, tells the story of the future human resistance fighting for survival against the all powerful Skynet. This is a battle that Terminator fans have dreamt of ever since the future glimpses from the first two films.   A battle torn earth being ravaged by Terminator robots in all of their metal exo-skeleton glory.  To say that there is a lot of substance involved in the treatment of this portion of the story is an understatement, however Salvation has no such substance at all.  The plot is disjointed and feels almost like a bunch of trailers sewn together than one complete movie.

There isn’t much story so I won’t get into that at all, instead we’ll examine the major players. Christian Bale as John Connor is decent at best. I am a big fan of Bale’s work, but he really seems to have phoned in this performance. I understand he is supposed to be the battle hardened bad ass version of Connor, but he does little except yell and snarl his lines. I admit the previous incarnations of Connor were a bit whiny and annoying, but they were also very human and gave decent insight in to why Connor is the way he is and how he eventually morphs into the great leader he is destined to be. It is as if Bale just did his own take on the character, reducing him to someone who barks every line spoken and it’s a mystery as to why anyone would want to follow him in the first place.

Then there is Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese, the man Connor sends back in time to father…Connor. I think this kid is going to blow up in all kinds of movies in the near future. While I was convinced that no one could rival Michael Biehn’s portrayal of Reese from the first Terminator, Yelchin does a decent job.  Most will recognize him as Chekov, from the newly revamped Star Trek, yet none of the goofiness of his other portrayal makes its way into this film. This Kyle Reese is all business. He does a good job of portraying Reese as a teenager and he shows the audience exactly how he becomes the the Kyle Reese we are introduced to in 1984.  Its a shame that Bale didn’t take a similar approach to his portrayal of Connor.

This brings us to the wild card of the cast, Marcus Wright played by Sam Worthington. Worthington is decent as the troubled Marcus, the only noticeable thing is his Australian accent creeping out every other line. I think they should have just let him run with the accent, after all it worked for Arnold in previous films.  Anyways, Worthington is decent, but his character is a bit awful. For those of you who don’t know  SPOILER ALERT ……….Marcus was a death row inmate who donated his body to science, only to wake up unknowingly transformed into a Terminator. Thats right. Marcus is a “human” terminator that can feel emotions, make decisions, but still has that cool metal skeleton and all of the other perks that come with being a Terminator.  This would actually be one of the decent plot devices the film has, if it weren’t so highly publicized repeatedly in the trailers. Then again the film doesn’t do a good job of disguising this fact. Marcus wakes up naked in a lightning storm looking for clothes. Insert “you might be a terminator” comment here.

Finally, we have McG’s directing. Technically, his directing is pretty good. He manages to maintain good shots that capture the action so there isn’t that disorienting feeling of wondering who is getting hit and whats going on.  As far as emotionally, he doesn’t really seem to get too much out of his actors’ performances. Either that or everyone on this production is on the exact same page in their visualization of the Terminator universe, which would be a shame. The effects and new Terminators in this movie are all pretty cool, but to be honest most of it seems like a scaled down version of Transformers. While a lot of the action looks pretty good, it is nothing we haven’t seen done better in other movies before and definitely not solid enough to salvage the entire film.

Perhaps the biggest thing about this movie is how meaningless it is ultimately. Nothing happens in the end and nothing is resolved, other than the ball being dropped. There is a scene in which Skynet captures Kyle Reese. Rather than just killing him and effectively preventing the birth of John Connor, they simply hold him to use as bait. This is obviously a huge fumbled opportunity and it captures the essence of the entire film perfectly.

There is so much potential, or was so much, in the future story of John Connor and the resistance, yet this film managed to obliterate any desire to see what happens. Its obvious that they are trying to milk this into becoming perhaps a new trilogy, as evidenced by the lack of any resolution in this first film. But it also becomes clear that trying to strecth out what they currently have is like watering down water.  Usually I would tell people to just check it out on their own, but I can’t honestly recommend this film in theaters. I would tell even the most die hard fans to wait for DVD. If this movie is any indication on the future of the franchise, consider it terminated…hehe.