Reviews

The Hurt Locker

The other day I went to see “The Hurt Locker“. There was plenty of hype around this movie – 6 Oscars, 73 other award wins, and 47 nominations for more awards. Not to mention that the director is Kathryn Bigelow, who is, among other things, an ex-wife of James Cameron. (And as we know, in many cases, you are who you are married to, and if so, it’s extremely helpful in this case).

Anyways. Obviously, with all that noise, I’ve heard quite a bit about the film, and I saw the trailer, and I had a slight idea on what it was and how it was. I went prepared. Or so I thought…

The film turned out to be totally different from what I was expecting. Actually, I think it turned out totally different from what anybody were expecting. And that’s a good thing. Surprise! Somehow this film is very different from pretty much everything. It has action, but it’s not an action. It has drama, but it’s not a drama. It’s supposedly has documentary, but it’s not documentary. The storyline is very vague and doesn’t seem to stand out or lead anywhere, but on the other hand the film is rather long and I didn’t get tired of it at all. It’s very natural.

The way it works, I guess, is that this film is using atmosphere to tell the story, rather than dialogs, powerful music, and impressive shots. As I said, at times you don’t really know where it goes and if it goes anywhere at all. But yet somehow it all makes sense. Also, one other thing that I really enjoyed, and which I thought was a cornerstone of this film is simplicity. The whole situation in Iraq is not simple. There are many sides to it and many points of views. But this film drops down to a very simplistic view of the whole picture from the eyes of a few American soldiers. There is no propaganda, there are no high-flying ideas. It’s just that simple – a few guys at war. It’s not about why they are there. It’s about them actually being there.

The film is not very entertaining, even though it has a few hilarious bits and quite a few action sequences. It’s simple, and yet deep. It doesn’t force ideas upon thee, but it does make you think. And as I said, it’s different from most films I’ve seen, and yet very similar somehow.

Overall, I’ll give it a 4 out of 5, and I would highly recommend it.

Date Night

Last Friday I went to see “Date Night“. Actually, I went to see another movie, but I was confused by the scheduled and arrived at incorrect time. So instead of going back home decided to see this one. Even though I didn’t particularly liked the trailer and didn’t expect much of this movie.

It wasn’t exceptional by any means – the story was average, the acting was average, there were plenty of things we’ve seen before in other movies. But somehow it still made me laugh a lot and left me with a couple of things to think about.

Good Friday evening entertainment altogether. 4 out of 5.

Iron Man 2

Last Friday I went to see a much anticipated movie – “Iron Man 2“. I really enjoyed the first “Iron Man” and the trailer for “Iron Man 2” looked really promising.

The film left me with mixed feelings. On one hand – there was plenty of action and fantastic cast. On the other – this part is much dumber than the first one and the ending is horrible. Sorry, not the ending, but the epic battle between good and evil, the part of the film where the villain is defeated. That sucked really bad. The good thing though that it’s a small part of the film and it only happens towards the end, so there is plenty of time to enjoy the visual effects and such.

I still think that the first part was way better, but this one does count for a good Friday evening entertainment. See it on the big screen, if you are planning to watch it at all. I’ll rate it as a weak 4 out of 5. It barely made it.

Ninja Assassin

How much would you expect from a movie titled “Ninja Assassin“? Either not much at all, or way too much – depending on two things: whether you saw the trailer for this film and whether you lived and loved every ninja movie that was released back in the videotape days.

I loved ninja movies. Most of them got to me exactly at the age when a boy thinks he is becoming a man. That’s the time when you are romantic and want to feel the power and have way too much time on your hands and you are still a kid who haven’t forgot how to imagine things and how to play with toys. How could anyone not love those movies was beyond me.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) ninja movies are mostly a thing of the past. They are not mainstream any more and even if they are released at all somewhere – you don’t hear about them. “Ninja Assassin” was an exception, I think, for two reasons. First, it was way too long since we saw a ninja movie. There are many people out there who miss them. Nobody would watch one ninja movie after another these days, but an occasional nostalgia is very welcome. Second reason is the trailer. It was visually awesome. Even those who saw it once a long time ago still remember it.

Now, to the movie. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was better than any other ninja movie that I have seen (or remember) and mostly that is due to a huge leap in visual effects and movie martial arts since the time I last saw a ninja movie. I mean the graphics and choreography are breathtaking sometimes. It was all post-processed, of course, to give it a fake look – similar to the massacre of Crazy 88 gang in Kill Bill. The blood is too red, too liquid, too gushing, and too much. But it’s fun to watch. Sword fights are awesome. All the ninja accessories are there. And, probably, for the first time we are shown the most terrifying ninja skill properly – hiding in the shadows. Ninjas in this movie appear out of nowhere and disappear into nowhere.

There are plenty of fights and action and the story is deeper than in many other ninja movies. In fact, I think they slightly overdid the setting – there are 1000 year old clans, governments and corporations using assassins, code of honour, and all those billion other things, which unfortunately never get used. They just mention them but they are either totally or mostly irrelevant for the happenings in the film.

Regardless, I had fun watching this film and it brought a whole lot of awesome memories. And, being biased towards the ninja stuff, I feel empowered to give it a 4 out of 5.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

I totally forgot to review a film that I wasn’t planning to watch at all, but did, and enjoyed quite a bit – “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” (by the way, is that the longest movie titles ever or what?).

I saw the trailer and thought that this film would exploit parents’ love for their children and good memories of epic fairy tales, such as Harry Potter & Co. But my wife wanted to see it too much and I couldn’t say no, and there was no better choice, so we went.

I was surprised as to how much I actually enjoyed it. There was a rather straight-forward story, but it was wrapped with lots of excellent visual effects, some humor, and an amazing cast. I think the movie was way under-promoted for all the good work that went into it. Maybe they ran out of money, who knows. That’s not important. The fact that it is solid, light, and provides good entertainment is important on the other hand.

4 out of 5. Enjoy it on a big screen, but if you missed it – rent or buy a DVD. You can watch it several times.