News Archive - June 2008
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6-27-2008
Wanted Man
So the trailers that have been running for the new film Wanted
have had me intrigued for a few weeks now. Sure, Angelina Jolie is hot
and Morgan Freeman is always good, and even James McAvoy had an
interesting role in Atonement, but the action is what initially
caught my eye. And, so, I hit up the midnight showing last night.
The film is based on a graphic novel by Mark Millar which came out back
in 2003-2004. The graphic novel depicts the Fraternity as a group of
super-villains that, in 1986, conquered the superheroes of the world and
re-wrote history to cover up the fact that they had ever been alive.
The film pretty much skips all that.
And I don't care one bit about that.
Here there be spoilers
In the film the Fraternity is a league of assassins who trace their roots back 1,000 years. The Fates pass down information to the Fraternity via a woven tapestry with a hidden code. The code reveals names of people who the Fates believe should be preemptively killed to stop them from causing harm or damage or otherwise fucking shit up.
McAvoy plays Wesley Gibson, an accountant with a dead end job, mean boss and cheating girlfriend, who is living a life that has no future. He's basically one "Ahh, I'm also gonna need you to go ahead and come in on Sunday, too..." away from burning the place he works at down. Enter Jolie as Fox. She pulls him out of a convenience store just as Cross, played by Thomas Kretschmann, makes an attempt on his life. The chase that ensues is one of the best sequences I've seen in a film in a while. After some insane auto acrobatics, Fox eludes Cross with an unconscious Gibson in tow.
Gibson wakes up in the halls of the Fraternity's headquarters where he meets the boss, Freeman as Sloan, along with other assassins. He learns that his father, who had abandoned him as an infant, was a member of the Fraternity and that he had inherited his father's abilities to be an assassin. Sloan let's Gibson in on the fact that his father had just been killed a few days prior and that he wants Gibson to avenge his father's death by killing Cross, the man who killed him.
Gibson agrees and begins his training as an assassin. The members of the Fraternity do have some superhero type powers including the ability to curve bullets, shoot wings off flies and use their adrenaline to run faster, jump higher and otherwise do things no ordinary human can. And most of it's damn cool.
The movie unfolds with some interesting twists and turns, incredible action sequences and some cool FX work. The film was shot in Chicago, Budapest and several locations in the Czeck Republic. The director, Timur Bekmambetov, picked out some unique locations and filmed them all with a cool style that gives a very unique look to the film.
The action sequences strike a nice balance between moving the story along and giving you stuff to gawk at. The acting is top notch all around including the main stars as well as Terrence Stamp as Pekwarsky and Chris Pratt as Barry, Gibson's co-worker and the guy putting it to Gibson's girlfriend. Dato Bakhadze as the Butcher and Marc Warren as The Repairman both have some memorable scenes throughout the movie but their final scenes late in the movie are both memorable "holy shit!" scenes. Common even shows up in the film as Gunsmith, but other than standing around and looking tough he doesn't do much. His role in Smokin' Aces was much more interesting.
I don't want to give away any more of the plot because it's really quite well done and has some interesting surprises for you along the way. I've read where there is talk of making this a franchise and guarantee you I'll be in line for any more films in this series.
I was somewhat unsure of what to expect from this film but I came out of the theater loving it. It's not perfect and I can definitely see where some people would have problems with a few action sequences and such. But in the end, it's a comic book film and knowing that going in sold the film and action for me. It was better than The Incredible Hulk, the action was better in some aspects than Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and it had a plot and characters that you could buy into like Iron Man.
If you have a couple of hours to spare some evening during the week or you're looking to beat the heat this weekend, get to the theater and see this film. I'll give it a solid four wheels of cheddar out of five.
6-13-2008
It's Incredible
I'll admit right up front that I was no fan of the Hulk movie that came out a couple years ago. Sure, Jennifer Connelly is hot and Sam Elliott is always fun to watch on screen, but Eric Bana just wasn't a good Bruce Banner. So why, not having liked the first movie, would I go to the midnight showing of the new Incredible Hulkk film last night? Good question. Let's discuss.
First up, this time around Bruce Banner is played by Edward Norton and Connelly has been replaced by Liv Tyler. William Hurt joins the party as General Thunderbolt Ross and a new supporting cast is about including Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky and Tim Blake Nelson as Samuel Sterns.
Now, I'll stop there for a minute to let you all know that I'm not a Hulk expert. I understand some of these characters are pulled out of the comic universe of the Hulk, but I really can't tell you who, or why or what-for. You'll have to figure that out on your own.
Here there be spoilers
Having said that I don't know who everyone is, some of the cameos may have been lost on me but some weren't and here are the ones that you should look for.
Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. Remember, this is the second film from Marvel Entertainment, the first being the phenomenal Iron Man, and it furthers the combining of our favorite superheroes into one cohesive universe for future films. Some of the technology used by the military it the film is from Stark Industries and Stark himself shows up to offer help to Ross. S.H.I.E.L.D. is present on some of the military computers and it's assumed that Stark is there in the same capacity as Sam Jackson, as Nick Fury, was in Iron Man.
Lou "I Never Miss a Comic Convention" Ferrigno has a cameo as a security guard but is also billed as the voice of the Hulk for the film. Of course, Stan "The Man" Lee gets his screen time, after all, what would a Marvel film be without Stan?
Even Captain America makes a cameo. Sort of. The Super-Soldier serum that creates Captain America is used in the film. I cheated a little by reading some spoilers on the web and can also offer up that there is apparently some film of Cap, or Steve Rogers, that was cut but should be out on the DVD.
Also, I'm pretty sure we got a first look at a potential villain for a future Hulk film but I'm not sure. That's where my lack of Hulk comic knowledge kicks in. Whatever, I can only be so much geek.
Oh, and there's supposed to be a Bill Bixby cameo but unless it was Bixby on a TV program that Norton, as the current Bruce Banner, was watching, I think I missed it.
Ok, let's get to the film itself. It's not that great. It's not as bad as the original but it's not X-Men, Spider-Man, or even Spider-Man 2 for that matter. It's slightly better than the Fantastic Four movies, however. Blah.
First up, the film reboots the Hulk franchise. Gone is the bat-shiat insane Father played by Nick Nolte. Gone are the childhood injections. Gone is the neon green, poorly done, CGI Hulk. Instead we get back to basics, and by basics I mean the 70's Bill Bixby Hulk. Scientist Bruce Banner tests gamma radiation on himself as part of an experiment commissioned by General Ross and the Hulk is born.
The film starts out with Banner hiding out in Brazil but Ross is on the case, hunting him. When a lead develops he goes after Banner with his new top gun, Blonsky. When the Hulk shows up and puts the kibosh on the capture mission, Ross goes to the Super-Soldier serum to make Blonsky into a soldier that can help. Meanwhile, Banner makes his way back to the US to recover the data on the original experiment so that Sterns can help him find a cure. There he meets up with Tyler's Betty Ross and Gen. Ross catches up to him again.
Stuff starts blowing up at that point and doesn't really stop till the end. Blonsky bulks up on Banner's blood, which has been stockpiled by Sterns, and turns into the Abomination and the Hulk is the only one who can stop him.
There's a lot of filler stuff that goes in the middle that's nonsense. It's not as interesting as the middle stuff from Iron Man but it's not crap like Punisher either. It's just unfortunate story that the film needs in order to complete its reboot of the franchise and for that it succeeds. It just would have been nice to get past some of that and get into the action sooner. Next time, I guess.
The acting is better all around this time than it was in the previous Hulk film. The plot was probably better as well and the CGI for the Hulk was definitely up a notch. However the film suffered from the same close up action with quick cuts that I hate. It also has so much CGI in it near the end that it starts to really look fake. Less is more, right?
Some of the highlights include the opening chase sequence in Brazil and the fight with the Hulk in the park about two thirds of the way through. And I have to admit that when the Hulk makes his first appearance of the film I was pretty geeked. It was also fun to see some nods to the old TV series and the comics with "Hulk SMASH" and punching the ground to break up the footing of Abomination. Oh, the score of the film rocked as well. There's a LOT of throwback stuff with some updates which was nice. Little things like that are kind of cool.
The theater last night seemed barren when compared to the nearly standing room only showing of Indiana Jones a couple weeks ago. The crowd seemed to partly be into the film, though, and I'm glad I caught it before the weekend. The movie doesn't suck but with the new measuring stick for comic book movies being Iron Man, the film falls short. Tyler and Norton are good in the film but I kind of wish we had Sam Elliot back as General Ross. If you are a fan of the Hulk I think you'll really enjoy the film. If you aren't, but you liked Fantastic Four and can even forgive the shortcomings in Spider-Man 3, you'll like this film. It's a great building block for the future.
Besides the fact that we had to sit through another origins film, several scenes that were in the most recent trailers were cut or changed in the final cut of the movie. Usually, that tells me that something wasn't right with the film and they had to work on it right till the last minute. That's usually not a good thing. I almost dropped this film down to two wheels of cheddar but I'm going to throw a half wheel on just because we got the new Clone Wars trailer in front of the film. So, there you have it, two and a half wheels of cheddar out of five.