TRON Legacy

Tron Legacy is a perfect example of lazy plotting and style over substance.

The film is undeniably pretty. It's dark landscapes, neo-punk nightclubs, impressively designed vehicles and ships that looks like something out of a Star Wars spin off. The action scenes are mostly impressive too, well directed, and mostly make some good use of the 3D format. But I'm not really impressed by that. I'm not really impressed by how much money a production company has thrown at a film. That does not up my opinion of it, especially when there are so many 'pretty CGI' films out there nowadays.

If the film did not have any of the aesthetics, it would be a boring, nonsensical mess that I'm surprised even fans of the original have any time for. Despite everything else being pretty, CGI Jeff Bridges will have to go down in infamy as one of the worst pieces of CGI since The Rock in The Mummy Returns. I mean, what were they thinking? The mouth barely moved when he spoke, the expressions just looked awkward, and what they ended up with was something that barely looked human, let alone like a young Jeff Bridges. It was a constant distraction, and as a result, I could not take the character of CLU seriously.

But what excuses the rest? There was an awful lot of coincidental nonsense in the film, especially towards the end. I can't really go in to it without ruining it, but it was akin to a badly written wrestling storyline. A inexplicable face turn, sudden use of superpowers, and really stupid bad guy behaviour. Long, wordy sequences pass by between the characters when they try to explain and justify the silly storyline, involving the last of a race of beings that could solve every human problem if brought in to the real world. It was never really explained how this might happen, or why Flynn knew this. It's just all very poor, and should not be anywhere near two hours in length.

Something for the kids, but why an adults are wasting their time with this is beyond me.

3/10

The Tourist

The Tourist is the tale of criminal person Angelina Jolie, attempting to pass off Johnny Depp as a non-criminal person in order to throw off the cops. As a premise, it's fine.

The film undoubtedly stylish. As a host, Venice doesn't have to do much to sparkle, and is actually the film's major strength. It's ceaselessly beautiful, which is a welcome distraction from an occasionally mediocre plot. Johnny Depp's understated, often cooky performance is enjoyable for the most part. Angelina Jolie is fine too, despite the fact her journey in to being typecast is almost complete with yet another femme fatale under her minute belt. The action sequences are few and far between, leaving a lot of time for a heap of slow moving, hammy pieces of dialogue between the two leads. At times, it feels as though you're watching a rather well done perfume commercial rather than a spy thriller.

It's hard to know what else to say about this film without giving the game away, but the last ten minutes of the film make it a lot more enjoyable as a whole than the rest of the film had up until that point.

6/10

The Warriors Way (2010)

Asian Cinema meets western Cinema. No seriously, that's what it is, and unlike the complete shit-fest "comedies" starring Owen Wilson and Jackie Chan (Shang High Noon and Shang High Knights) they manage to get some humour in there without making me want to slap a baby.

The film is about Yang, a ninja (naturally) who has all but eliminated the enemy clan single handedly, until he finds the last of them. A baby girl. This causes him to turn tail and decide he wants to stop killing people (and a stupidly over the top, yet disgustingly epic way). On the run from his own clan now, he heads west.. Far.. Far into the west, into the wild west in fact, where he winds up in a town of mis-fits and ex circus freaks. HE FITS RIGHT IN! the entire second half (or middle chunk as I affectionately call it) is literally its own film.

In it we're introduced to Lynne (Kate Bosworth) and told of her back-story, her anguish, and who her antagonist is (Two main bad guys?). Her story is resolved in time for Yang to resolve his, in a way that feels as if (First Time) Director Sngmoo Lee just cut a ninja film in half, stuck a short western between the two halves and called it a three piece set.

Needless to say it doesn't really work, but that doesn't stop us having fun along the way. With hints of influence from Wild Wild west, to 300, to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and even Kung Pow, as well as every Ninja Anime ever made. It's visually stunning with its entirely CG backdrop (creating a surreal and unique environment, visa ve 300 and Sin City) and gloriously gory with it's beautifully choreographed fight scenes that, frankly, we could have seen more of.

Overall, good (if not overused) concept of "man trying to escape his past but something always gets in the way" but it wasn't particularly inspired, it could have been made better if Korean actor Jang Dong-gun had a facial expression other than "soulful contemplation". A more apt title would have been Coboys vs. Ninjas. 4/10.

The American (2010)

Ever want to see what Jason Bourne would be doing in his mid/late 40's?. Me either.
But let's say for arguments sake you did, you'd probably LOVE The American, starring one George Clooney as a custom firearm manufacturer trooping about Europe.

This unfortunately is another American film that thinks just because it's set predominantly in Eurpoean country, that it's a European film. While the beautiful Italian countryside shots (and for that matter, Beautiful Italian Women) keep your eyes wanting more, the story leads you DEMANDING more. the Term "slow burner" comes to mind while we go from "not much happening" to "some stuff's happening" back to "nothings happening" until we get to see George in a (kinda) sex scene. Not as much fun as you'd think.

While Mr Clooney does manage to convey a "been there, done that" sensibility to the performance (in a more grown up way than The Expendables) the whole feature still feels dry, and lacking a momentous and poignant conclusion I felt it was set up to be, instead we get a "so-so" final act where shit goes down and I feel neither uplifted nor deflated.

Clooney is on top form, can't doubt that, but this feature hardly keeps my on tippy toes for a huge resurgence in his career. Italian tits and custom guns make this a tantalising "manly" enough feature while picnics in the sun and George Clooney hold enough draw for women. I think. 5/10

Monsters (2010)

Sci Fi "end of the world" tales in Hollywood have been stretched so, so thin in the first century of the silver screen's existence. War Of the Worlds, Independence Day, It Came From Outer Space. Many setting (or inventing) the bar at which others must measure. Of course, with improved special effects came great possibilities to bring to us creatures from another world in a more believable way, the biggest and perhaps most vital tool leant to Science Fiction in cinema is CGI, a useful and expensive tool that has helped us cross the galaxy, see fully functioning, independently moving "non-puppet" aliens and enter extraordinary space ships. Before now it has been saved fore the elite, many directors getting the wrong end of the stick and trying so hard to get a beautiful image that they forget about substance and depth of story. Monsters, the ultra low budget (£320,000) 2010 sci-fi feature, is not part of that category.

It is, infact a journey that deals with how humans intereact with the world around them in extra-ordinary circumstances, and a very tangiable story of how human relationships develope during harsh times.

It isn't quite perfect though, Director/Cinematographer/Writer Gareth Edwards went uber-guerilla on this thing, shooting on location without permission and veering heavily from the script almost constantly. While it all makes a more realistic experience in an unrealistic setting, the loose reigns have let what could have been a huge middle finger to the larger studios (who readily invest $20-100 million for its summer blockbusters) wonders too far off course.

Sit in awe as this shoe string budgeted film hold up against its $100m+ counterparts,both in style and visual effects. But expect a plot that doesn't make a world of sense and doesn't stick strongly enough to a coherent story. A great first step and definitely worth at least your attention. 6/10