Pacific Rim (2013)

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Directed by: Guillermo del Toro

Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi

Pacific Rim is a rare film considering its competition this summer. Its a big budget summer action film that manages not to be a reboot, sequel, remake, or a haphazard adaption of a novel. Yes, it is inspired by the giant monster movies of the past, but it manages to feel quite original and refreshing. So, what do you get in Pacific Rim? Just what the trailers have shown you: giant robots punching the shit out of giant monsters, and vice versa.

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'Nuff said

The plot in Pacific Rim is a fairly simple ordeal. Monsters, dubbed kaiju, are coming through an inter demential portal at the bottom of the sea. After cities are destroyed, the nations of the world pool their resources to create jaegers; giant, 250 story tall humanoid robots operated by two pilots  All of this is explained in the first 5 minutes of the film. This is one of the good things about the Pacific Rim. It doesn't get bogged down in unnecessary backstory, nor does it try to make up too much fake science to explain how it's fictional technology works.

After years of fighting the war against the kaiju, the jaegers start to loose their effectiveness. The nations that fund them start pulling out of the project to pursue other options. What was once an army of robots is reduced to a handful, stretched thin trying to push back the increasing number of monsters. Instead of continuing the war of attrition they decide to take the fight to the monsters, and collapse the portal that is delivering them to our world. Pacific Rim is definitely a movie that requires the suspension of disbelief. However, its not a movie that will insult your intelligence, like some other popcorn-entertainment flicks.

In the character department, Pacific Rim is a mixed bag. Raleigh (Charlie Hunnam) is our main charter,  a washed up jaeger pilot. He is a pretty blank slate, which is a normal story telling technique to allow the audience to insert themselves into the story. He is a bit too blank, and comes off as bland and forgettable. Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) is a rookie pilot with an interesting back story that doesn't get fleshed out enough. The one that really leads the cast is Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba), who is a veteran pilot and in charge of the jaeger program. Never since Independence Day have such corny, cheese filled lines been delivered with so much fervor. Other times, I'm not sure which accent the British actor is trying to use. J.J Abrams Charlie Day and Burn Gorman are a fun addition as the pair of kaiju researchers attached to the jaeger program.

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Of course, you wouldn't be able to have this movie without copious amounts of CGI. Overall, it works, with the effects giving you a good deal of how freaking big these monsters and robots are. During the battle scenes there are a few neat moments that bring everything back down to average human level. One in particular involves a robo-fist plowing through an office building. The action scenes were excellently filmed, and the shaky cam is kept at a minimum. If you see it, you'll want to see it on the big screen. I get the feeling it won't be the same on a home TV screen.

 Bottom line- 8/10. Overall, Pacific Rim manages to be a quite entertaining action flick, with a fair amount of heart to go along with it. Those who complain about their inability to suspend disbelief enough to enjoy a film about giant robots vs monsters may want to skip it. It has plenty of action/disaster movie tropes and cliches, but also does something a little new, and has a few genuinely emotional moments.

Looper (2012)

Director: Rian Johnson

Release Date: 28 September, 2012

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt

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Looper is... Hard to describe. Its a very interesting take on the very tired time travel genre. Even if you get a gist of its premise from the trailers and description; the plot manages to surprise on more than one occasion. It isn't a time travel movie, but more a movie about the what happens when time travel exists. If that makes any sense. 

Much, much more sense than this. 

Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as Joe, a looper. Loopers are special assassins hired by the mob to eliminate targets without leaving a trace. You see, the mob has access to illegal time travel devices in the future. When they want to wipe someone out, the victim sent back in time, bound and with a hood obscuring their face, where a waiting looper executes them and destroys the body. They're paid very handsomely for this morbid task. The only catch is that, eventually, they'll have to "close their loop". They must execute their future self to eliminate any evidence of time travel being used. The reward is a huge payout and 30 years to live as they wish. 

Of course, it doesn't go as planned. Joe becomes increasingly concerned as many of his fellow loopers are retired. Rumors go around that the mobsters in the future are planning on getting rid of all of the loopers. Eventually, Joe is brought face to face with future Joe (Bruce Willis). For some reason future Joe isn't bound or hooded, and quickly over powers young Joe. He escapes, intending to kill a future murderous gang leader only known as "The Rainmaker" while he is a child. Young Joe must hunt his future self down or become a target of the mob himself. 

Heres where the plot could have become very cliche. I was expecting future Joe and young Joe to eventually team up together to take down the gang. But that never happens. There's no "good"or "bad" Joe either. They both have an end goal they wish to achieve  and are willing to go to any means to get it. This leads to a showdown that completely caught me off guard (in a good way). 

Plot and story aside, Looper comes together pretty slickly. The future world has a very dirty "tech noir" feel to it that harkons to films like Blade Runner. Looper is fairly violent, but doesn't revel in the violence. It would have been easy for them to erase the blood, half second of visible breasts,  and a handful of F-bombs to get a PG-13 rating. But the mature and complex themes remain, which I don't think would appeal to a PG-13 audience. The film looks great, with some pretty impressive action sequences. They're not grand in scale where everything explodes leaving half of the world scorched. The set pieces are smaller, but the action is more tense because you actually care about the characters and their world.

"Yes, I know pages 37-90 are blank. Thats where all the CGI robots and fake boobs go."

The characters and actors are great. Willis and Godon-Levitt make a great pair and their chemistry with each other is great. Pierce Gagnon has a role as a youngster that puts most of the grown up actors in this movie to shame. He plays a character that is too spoiler-y for me to talk about here, but the performance deserves serious recognition. 

There is some silly makeup that Gordon-Levitt wears to make him look more like a younger version of Willis that looks pretty awful from some angles. It is something the film could have totally left out and it wouldn't have made a difference. The film ignores the time travel paradoxes that could potentially bog it down, which keeps it somewhat not confusing. That being said, the plot may be had for some to follow.

Bottom Line: 9/10- Looper is a surprisingly entertaining sci-fi film. It is a shining example of what sci fi should be. Introduce an amazing technology and ask a simple "what if?" question. Looper isn't about shoving as much shiny computer generated future on the screen as possible. Looper is about how the world can shape a person. Its about how even one person can become two completely different people, willing to go to completely different means to get what they want. 

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Release Date: July 20th, 2012

Directed By: Christopher Nolan

Starring: Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anne Hathaway

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The Dark Knight Rises is arguably one of the most anticipated films of 2012. With the huge fan base and comercial success of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, its easy to see why. That also meant it had big shoes to fill. While it manages to create a fulfilling end to Nolan's gritty and dark Batman trilogy, it doesn't quite live up to its predecessor. 

Even with the box office boosting addition of scantily clad women. 

The Dark Night Rises takes place 8 years after the events of the Dark Knight. Batman/Bruce Wayne (Bale) has been in exile the entire time after taking the fall for the murder of Harvey Dent/Two Face and a few others. But things in Gotham look like they're turing around; organized crime is on the run, and things appear to be calming down after the caos that The Joker caused. Batman is soon brought out of his self imposed exile by a new threat, Bane (Hardy). As Batman is dragged out of hiding, there are a few more characters introduced. Among them are Selina Kyle, AKA Catwoman, who is a very capable thief that attempts to steal from Bruce. While she's never referred to as "Catwoman", its pretty darn obvious once she dons her night vison goggles that flip up to form a pair of ears (see above). Also introduced is Gotham police officer John Blake (Gordon-Levitt). Its later revealed that his first name is actually Robin. While he never becomes Batman's sidekick, but does serve a pretty important role in the film. Which is a good thing, because it keeps the film from becoming full of the cringe worthy silliness that was 1997's Batman and Robin. Also because Christian Bale refused to take the role of Batman if Robin ever appeared. 

In case you needed to be reminded. 

Bane is a ruthless mask wearing terrorist that seeks to destroy Gotham. He certainly is an excellent movie vilan, but doesn't quite match The Joker from The Dark Knight.  He is ruthless and menacing, and turns out to be Batman's first true match. I was mainly concerned about not being able to understand his dialogue, as he wears a mask that obscures most of his face for the entire film. I had no problems with this, his lines were clear and totally understandable. My biggest gripe with the character was that he wasn't as fleshed out as I would have liked it to be. That, and [SPOILER ALERT, skip to the next paragraph if you don't want a minor spoiler] his death was totally anticlimactic for such a menacing villain. 

Although it is excellent, it does have a few flaws. For a film that is the last in its trilogy, there are an awful lot of new characters introduced. It may be difficult to follow all of them without a second viewing. It also runs long, coming in at two hours and forty five minutes. There are a few plot holes that show up in the last act that are rather distracting. It would have been easy to explain them away, so it makes me wonder why they were left there. 

Bottom Line: 8/10- The Dark Knight Rises is a fine end to Nolan's Batman trilogy. It doesn't live up to The Dark Knight, but nearly matches it. Even on its own it manages to be a fine action film with dark dramatic overtones. Oh, and it looks amazing in Imax. 

Prometheus (2012)

Release Date (USA): June 8th, 2012

Directed By: Ridley Scott

Starring: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Logan Marshall-Green

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Prometheus marks director Ridley Scott's return to the universe of the Alien films; the first of which he directed. Prometheus isn't another Alien film, although it shares some plot points, its a very interesting (and at some times disgusting) exploration in to the origins of the Xenomorph we all know and love. Oh yeah, and that origin of human kind thing too.

Prometheus follows the story of archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Tom Hardy look-alike Logan Marshal Green) as they search for the origins of human kind. After discovering a similar star chart among numerous ancient cultures, the team is recruited by the Weyland corporation to form an expedition to the stars. Meanwhile, Ancient Aliens guy finds his favorite movie ever.

On board the spacecraft, Prometheus, we meet other members of our crew: Michael Fassbender steals the show as creepy android David, Charlize Theron is a hard line corporate executive, and a handful of other cliched characters that serve very little purpose other than to be killed halfway into the film.

My name is grouchy-guy-with-mohawk. Yes, I die. 

Prometheus does start off at a slower pace. This isn't bad, its done just right. Its just enough to tug you into the story line. Scott's attention to detail is obvious, with almost every beautiful set being planned out to the tiniest detail. The second half of the film is considerably faster, as the action and gruesome on screen deaths speed up. The team discovers some interesting life forms, and things quickly go to hell. Bones are snapped, various bodily fluids are splashed about, faces are melted, and bodies are burnt to a crisp. They say that the original Alien film had a pretty obvious rape subtext, with the whole "man being violently impregnated" plot point. If Alien is about rape, Prometheus is a rape inside a rape, with a side of rape garnished with self administered abortion. 

They came to see Madagascar 3. They didn't know they were in the wrong theater until it was too late. 

The 3D effect in Prometheus is very easy on the eyes. It added depth to the film, but not much else. There was no gimmicky things that flew out of the screen at you.The focus was good and didn't cause any headaches. Its what 3D is supposed to be: an addition to the film that isn't obnoxious or over used. 

Bottom Line: 8/10: Prometheus looses some points due to a bland supporting cast. That, and the last 30 seconds where it is painfully obvious they're setting up for a sequel. Everything else is pure gritty, violent sci-fi goodness. If you go into Prometheus expecting a direct prequel to the Alien films, you may leave a bit disappointed. Prometheus is very much its own film, with a few clever tie ins to its parent franchise. 

Sucker Punch (2011)

Directed by: Zack Snyder

Starring: Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone

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So I have to admit: I'm no fan of Zach Snyder. I didn't really enjoy 300, and I couldn't finish Watchmen. The Dawn of the Dead remake was enjoyable, but not what I'd consider one of my favorites. This, combined with mixed reviews from friends, prevented me from going to see Sucker Punch while it was in theaters. Even after it arrived from Netflix, it say around for a while until I forced myself to watch it. So you've probably gathered this by now: I'm not a huge fan of Snyder's work. But the surprising thing is, while it wasn't what I'd consider a great movie, I found it pretty fun to watch. 

Sucker Punch follows the story of Baby Doll (Emily Browing). Her family is torn apart by the death of her mother. After being framed for the additional death of her sister, she is sent to a mental institute for women. Which turns out to be a brothel... Or something. Anyways, Babydoll and her comrades come up with a plan to escape from their prison. In order to execute their plan, they need to obtain a few objects that will aid them; like a map to find their way out, a key to unlock doors, etc.

This is where suckerpunch turns from a Life Time made for TV movie into a kickass over the top action flick: Each one of these objectives is represented by some crazy fantasy mission. Like a trench battle fighting steampunk nazi-zombie robots. Or a quest to steal a crystal from a firebreathing dragon. You get the idea.

                          Steampunk-nazi-robot-zombies. Also what Zack Snyder calls "subtlety".

Suckerpunch's best feature is probably its dense visuals. The fantasy scenes are always visually beautiful. The battle scenes also kick some serious ass. While there is definitely some very heavy use of CGI in these parts, it doesn't take away from the impact of the scenes. It actually helps with the campy, comic book style of whats going on. I found my self excited for what the next sequence would be, and disappointed when I knew they were all over.

But besides the visuals and stunning action sequences, there are quite a few flaws. The biggest being that the film probably won't appeal to a whole wide range of people. If you're not someone who likes this style of film, you'll most likely end up with a headache before its over.

"We're sorry about your migraine.. Perhaps more explosions will make you feel better?" 

Another flaw that bothers me, the biggest thing that keeps me from really liking Snyder's movies, is that it tries way too damn hard to be cool. It seems that literally every five minutes there is another slow motion montage of the action happening on screen. It feels like the film is just constantly reminding you "Hey. Look over here. See this? Steampunk-nazi-robot-zombies. Yeah. That's cool, huh? Look. You don't understand how freaking cool this is. Look. Look again. Look in slow motion. Isn't this hip? The kids are gonna love me. You old folks? You have no idea, cause you're lame. Guess what else? Freaking dragons. Look. Look at the damn dragon in slow motion. Look. Are you looking? Isn't it cool? Here's some more slow motion." 

If Suckerpunch were a person, it would be one of these guys. 

The acting was also another low point. By no means was it terrible, it just seemed flat compared to the outrageous-ness of all the action going on. Take the main character, Baby doll. She has the same facial expression for what feels like 90% of the movie. 

Zack Snyder calls this "consistency". 

Bottom Line: 6/10: Its a fun, no-brain-needed action flick, not much else. I may just be biased against Snyder, I'll admit that, but I found the same flaws here that I found in his other stuff. Suckerpunch has some pleasing visuals and impressive action sequences. It lacks in the character and story departments. And there is just way too many slow motion sequences. 

Red (2010)

Directed by: Robert Schwentke

Starring: Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Hellen Mirren, Mary-Louise Parker

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The film industry is lucky  Red came out  shortly after The Expendables. (Read  my review of that train wreck here) If it had not, I might have given up on going to the movies all together. Red managed to redeem the film industry of The Expendables' mistakes, and made me believe in campy-throw-back action movies again.

This is how douchebags say "thank you". 

RED is actually an acronym; Retired, Extremely Dangerous. Bruce Willis stars in the lead role as a retired black-ops CIA super spy. He lives in boredom and mediocrity, with the only joy he gets coming from telephone conversations with a woman who works in a pension office. Rather quickly , his is attacked at home by a band of government thugs. After kicking a few asses and taking a few names, he leaves to find out why the government he worked for is now trying to kill him. Along the way, he pulls a few of his old counterparts out of retirement.

The story isn't horribly original, and it can get pretty confusing, especially in the third act. Red makes up for the weak story line with lots of awesome characters. Of course, Willis is the usual wise cracking badass. Nothing new for him here, but he's good at it. Mary-Louise Parker gets a few good laughs as his reluctant love intrest. Morgan freeman and Helen Mirren are great as another two ex-agents pulled out of retirement.  Karl Urban does very well as the initially cold and calculating government agent sent to stop the REDs, whatever the cost. Out of all of this, my favorite character was played by John Malkovich. He is a mentally disturbed ex-operative, mostly due to the fact that he was fed LSD daily for 11 years when he worked for the CIA.

Seems perfectly stable to me...

Bottom Line: 8/10: Red has its flaws, mostly in the story department. But it sure as hell is fun, with plenty of campy action and fun characters to go around. If you're into action films, don't let this one slip past you. Even if  you thought The Expendables had ruined the gene for you. 

Repo Men (2010)

Starring: Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, Alice Braga

Directed by: Miguel Sapochnik 

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Repo Men is a sci-fi film that has a lot of good ideas. It starts out with a very interesting "what if" question, as many good sci-fi films do. The unfortunate thing is, thats the only thing it does well. Almost everything else about Repo Men is mediocre at best. 

Remy (Law) and Jake (Whitaker) work as repossession officials for a large corporation called The Union in the not too distant future. The only thing is, this company sells insanely expensive artificial organs to the sick and wounded. When people get behind on their payments, the repo men are sent out to recover the organs... In some of the most disturbing ways possible. From here, the story takes some very predictable turns. It manages to pull off one surprising twist, but everything else is cliché. It ends up being very disappointing because there is so many directions they could have gone with this- Instead of going for pure shock when organs are harvested in disgusting ways from innocent people. 

Should have gone with the PPO.....

The acting is another problem here. Its incredibly inconsistent. Sometimes Jude Law does a fair job, other times his lines come of as stilted and hollow. Whitaker just seems out of place in this whole film. Some of the secondary actors are much better than the lead cast, however, there are still no outstanding performances in this film. Some scenes are just pure awkward. One in particular involves lots of semi-nude making out, while the two characters slice each other open to scan their artificial organs. It just reeks of some really odd sexual fantasy.

Tarantino's foot fetish suddenly seems a lot less weird. 

Bottom Line: 4/10: It starts off with a good idea that is marred by bad everything else. The story can hold your attention if you're not too grossed out by the gore. There is a plot twist, which I'm not sure was intelligent or cheap...I'll just say it was interesting. Lots of questions are left unanswered, like why it seems that 80% of the population has needed an organ transplant. Don't go for this one unless you really want to... Unless you're a die hard sci-fi buff, chances are you won't enjoy Repo Men a single bit.