Movie Review: Dead Man Down (2013)

Victor (Colin Farrell) is Alphonse’s (Terence Howard) trusted partner in crime. When Alphonse begins receiving threatening messages, a quest to uncover the identity of the perpetrator ensues. Meanwhile Beatrice (Noomi Rapace), Victor’s mysterious neighbor, is keen to be involved in his troubled life.

DeadMan Down is Danish director Niels Arden Oplev’s first attempt to direct an English language movie. Oplev rose to prominence in 2009 when he directed the feature length adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s inherently dark and disturbing novel The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo.

The Dane is also well applauded for launching the fledgling career of Swedish actress Noomi Rapace. She has gone on to star in blockbusters such as Prometheus and Sherlock Holmes.

DeadMan Down is a brooding thriller based on redemption and revenge with heartfelt emotion at its core. Noomi Rapace and Colin Farrell have undeniable chemistry in what unfolds as a stringent double-edged relationship. A destructive yet immensely necessary bond, one which allows for mutual understanding of the inner turmoil they are burdened with. Their back stories pack emotional punch which is powerful enough to overcome.

Also, the casting of Terence Howard as crime boss is astute as he is an intimidating presence who commands attention in confrontational encounters with Farrell. Look out for the expertly shot scene in the darkened room as a prime example. The movie may have a few low key scenes, but wait until you reach the blistering climax.

We are all thankful that Oplev has not crafted a run of the mill, archetypal revenge heist thriller. Instead Dead Man Down transpires as a multi-layered drama. Farrell plays the central role with verve and in a tragic key that pushes his performance up high. Critically, there is no hero to side with in the film. We are left to analyze on our own. Do we have a right to seek revenge? Would an eye for an eye result in immorality? Themes of bullying and the aftermath of disfigurement form central tenets of critical analysis as well.

There is no question that Oplev truly knows how to get the best out of his films.

Movie Review: The Call (2013)

"911, what is your emergency?" Probably the most familiar phrase in America pertaining to emergencies. Is it even possible to make a movie from a 911 call? Director Brad Anderson together with Halle Berry thinks so. The Call has proven that a movie about an emergency call can be a successful thriller.

 It is just another day at the 911 "hive" call center. All the 911 operators are at their stations and busy working. Jordon Turner (Halle Berry) is following her everyday routine when a call comes in from a young girl named Leah Templeton (Evie Thompson). Leah says that someone is breaking into her house. Jordon give her instructions on what to do until the police arrive. Everything is going fine until the call disconnects, and Jordon makes the mistake of calling Leah back. The ringing of the phone leads the killer to Leah's location and is later found murdered. Jordon is devastated.

 After the incident, Jordon can't handle taking 911 calls anymore. She then becomes a 911 trainer for new recruits. During one of Jordon's training sessions, a call comes in from Casey Welson (Abigail Breslin) who states that she has been abducted from a local mall and is in the trunk of a car. The first operator doesn't know how to handle the situation, so Jordon takes the call. It is later discovered that Casey's abductor, Michael Foster (Michael Eklund), is the same person who kidnapped and murdered Leah Templeton. After the identity of the abductor is discovered, it becomes a race against time to rescue Casey.

 If there is one word to describe The Call, it would be gripping. The Call is surprisingly exciting. It is an adrenaline rush from start to finish.

 Each performer in The Call delivers believable and heart wrenching roles and executions. This is Halle Berry at her best. She successfully draws the audience inside the world of real 911 operators. Abigail Breslin is also moving as the frightened teen, and Michael Eklund is terrifyingly brilliant as a psychopath. Even the supporting performers give outstanding presentations.

 The Call is unforgettable. For a film with scenes that would be too disturbing for a young audience, on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 the lowest, 5 the highest), this film at least rates a 4. This should not be surprising considering that Brad Anderson has directed the likes of Vanishing on 7^th Street, most of the episodes on the TV sci-fi thriller, Fringe, and a few episodes from Boardwalk Empire, Alcatraz, and Person of Interest.

Movie Review: The Expendables 2 (2012)

Action heroes led by Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger have stormed to the top of the North American box office chart with The Expendables 2.

The film took $28.8m in its first weekend. It knocked The Bourne Legacy into second place after the latter’s good first weekend run.

The Expendables 2 brings back essentially the same cast, with a few additions, and features approximately the same quota of explosions and butt-kicking as its predecessor did, give or take more flame-throwing, skull-bashing, explosions, butt-kicking and, oh well, more dead bad guys.

Sylvester Stallone returns as mercenary Barney Ross, who leads a band of muscle-bound merry men. Barney is usually found in the company of his sardonic sidekick Lee Christmas (Jason Statham). Statham is his usual coolness intact acting even when emerging from very violent situations.

Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), Toll Road (Randy Couture), Hale Caesar (Terry Crews), and Jet Li – one of the most appealing characters in the first movie – all appear in the film in their own time. Then, there’s a fresh new Asian face named Maggie (Yu Nan), who seems to exist solely to make moo-moo eyes at rugged he-man Ross, who's having none of that girly stuff. There's also a greenhorn named Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth).

Most of the action takes place in Bulgaria, where Ross and Co. have been dispatched by shadowy CIA go-between Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) to prevent a heap of weapons-grade plutonium from falling into the wrong hands. This requires crash-landing a plane, blowing assorted evildoers to kingdom come, and making the acquaintance of a village full of women whose menfolk have been enslaved and put to work in a plutonium mine.

 Director Simon West (The Mechanic, Con Air) guides the plot as well as the body count. Many may be quick to say that the plot and storyline of Expendables and Expendables 2 is too simple; show us an action film that needs deep thinking because people are coming to watch the action.

 The bodies really do pile up though. TheExpendables 2 is reasonably a boom-boom, rat-tat-tat, wham, wham comic book, which it seems to be. Honestly, people don’t buy comics for the story or even the plot. There’s more wit and jokes though, compared to its predecessor. Sometimes even the dialogue sounds comic-like: "Better duck!" "Oh, [expletive]!" "I got this!" "Fire!" "Yeah!" "Whoa!"

 If you can watch the film to the end without loving Jean-Claude Van Damme’s villainous role, there is something wrong with your sense of action movies.

Masterful Cast Round off the Batman’s Trilogy Series in The Dark Knight Rises

Anyone following the Batman trilogy starring Christian Bale will agree that director and filmmaker Chris Nolan has offered up a masterful ending to the caped hero.

Unlike other trilogies – or more than that sometimes – the Batman trilogy that began with Batman Begins, followed by The Dark Knight, just kept getting better and better.

In TheDark Knight Rises, it is eight years after his last battle as Batman, and the eccentric billionaire Bruce Wayne is a broken man. He lost the love of his life and has unjustly become Gotham City's pariah. His butler, Alfred, is his only friend. Eventually, he is about to lose his billions as well.

 However, a terror attack on the city brings the caped warrior back in action.

 Tom Hardy plays the new villain, Bane. He rallies criminals against Gotham City. This is the first time Batman has come across anybody who is physically superior. The Bane character presented a different perspective because Batman might not survive the conflict with this person.

 The cast is as impressive as his larger than life story. Anne Hathaway plays Catwoman, Batman’s lithe and limber adversary, and eventual new love interest.

 And this is one of the success stories of Nolan’s trilogy. Christian Bale as Batman doesn’t monopolize the cast. All his adversaries nearly steal the show with their superb acting. Liam Neeson in Batman Begins is simply your classic nemesis. Or who can forget the late Heath Ledger’s role as Joker in The Dark Knight alongside Aaron Eckhart’s role as Two-face?

 Tom Hardy and Anne Hathaway continue the line of masterpiece acting that all Batman adversaries have displayed under Nolan’s directorial tutelage.

 Not to mention the fact that Christian Bale isn’t exactly surrounded by wimpy supporting cast either. Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine continue to churn out masterful acting.  

Nolan's cinematography and gritty atmospherics tap into fears of terrorism and economic meltdown. His scenario is post-apocalyptic. Its impact is enhanced by the gargantuan sets, including a plane that breaks apart thousands of feet in the air.

 To be sure, Nolan's Batman films have helped boost the comic book industry. Many now know that the villain Bane was in a Batman comic book, “Knightfall,” around 15 years ago. Nolan also took note that Batman comics were getting darker, so, he did the same with the films. 

  Unlike other super heroes’ alter egos who led a successful double life, Bruce Wayne led a very dark and sad life, with a past he could not move on. This is something most people could always relate to.

Movie Review: Taken (2009)

If you’re a sore realist, then Taken is not your movie. You’ll start wondering why CIA agents are not as good as Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) who becomes a one-man rescue squad to save his daughter who goes on a stupid vacation fraught with an open invitation to “kidnap my friend and I, we’re only females.”

 If you’re the type out for action and drama, then Taken is truly for you. You’ll enjoy the endless rescue skills, laser-eyed sharpshooting, pursuit driving, pocket-picking, impersonations, knife-fighting, tortures, and karate fighting, not to mention the ultimate killing machine that Liam Neeson turns out to be.

Bryan Mills is in retirement in Los Angeles and has more time to spend with his 17-year-old daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), who now lives with his ex-wife (Famke Janssen) and her millionaire husband (Xander Berkeley). He warns Kim not to go to Paris with a female friend because it’s dangerous for an all-female duo. The warning proves correct when Kim and friend are kidnapped by a notorious Albanian kidnap ring.

Now comes the exciting part. Mills has 96 hours to rescue Kim and her friend before they are drugged and sold as prostitutes. The virgins are auctioned off to Arab sheiks who, after having sex for several days, will have the girls killed.

 So with this in mind, is there any father – trained in the arts of CIA spycraft – who wouldn’t suddenly turn into a “Bourne” type of killer and leave behind a trail of dead or maimed Albanian bad guys to save their kid?

In spite of the critic the film received, Taken proves one thing. Liam Neeson, together with director Pierre Morel, and script writer/producer Luc Besson can bring realism and credibility to any role or any film just by playing or assembling the film very well. Just take a look at Besson’s past film record (The Fifth Element, Taxi, The Transporter) and you will see why Liam is truly cut out for Mill’s role.

Perhaps one day, Liam can be cast in one of the “Bourne” Whatever series. In the meantime, download Taken for your action viewing pleasure.  

Movie Review (Fantasy / Action): The Avengers (2012)

The Avengers, the careful (and yes, very careful) culmination of years of planning, multiple blockbusters, hundreds of millions of dollars and loads of patience is finally here, and it does not disappoint. The best comic book adaptation since The Dark Knight in 2008 and arguably the best Marvel Studios movie ever, The Avengers is exciting, funny, visually stimulating and thoroughly entertaining, the very definition of a good summer blockbuster.

Unfortunately, it’s not a good movie blockbuster. It’s actually a great one.

Directed by Joss Whedon, this is the man behind "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Firefly" and most recently, the critically praised The Cabin in the Woods, who was able to take the best elements from what can best be described as Avengers prequels from Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America and developed a rip roaring production that fires up all cylinders from every corner.

Time and money was of the essence. While the films mentioned above were all hits and money makers, some doubted if Whedon could pull off a film that brought together a meshing of reality like Iron Man with supernatural worlds like Thor. 

Doubts were further cast because even the Hulk which was cast and then recast by, first, Eric Bana, and then later by Edward Norton was then re-casted in the Avengers by Mark Ruffalo, who was never a superhero in any film. Jeremy Rener and Scarlett Johansson were already convincing in the past as action figures, so could Ruffalo pull of being Bruce Banner?

As everyone knows by now, he did more than convincingly. Some say he was more of the center of attraction. Puny humans to ever doubt his talents!

He isn't a character that works well on his own, but, set against something bigger, like a team of sorts, the Hulk finally is in the right place. Not only does Mark Ruffalo turn in a great performance as Bruce Banner, but the Hulk shines in the epic climax, overshadowing the rest of the characters.

Amazingly, Whedon found that perfect balance. While Robert Downey Jr., who by far is the biggest actor in the group, definitely plays a central role, Tony Stark is only a cog in the wheel. Each character has a role to play and, impressively, his own arc, which makes him (or her) more interesting. 

The movie has just the right amount of character development, and the character-driven scenes work seamlessly with the creative action sequences that Whedon throws at the audience. Each action sequence is bigger than the last, and increasingly complex and engaging. And if this isn’t enough, the character of Nick Fury should blow your mind.

This is a great blockbuster that you shouldn’t miss to download.

Romeo and Juliet, Directed by Baz Luhrmann, Combines Grand Opera with Bollywood

College students everywhere in the western world (include the Philippines for this) cringe at the thought of reading Shakespeare. Any Shakespeare. It doesn’t matter if it’s the greatest love story ever told: Romeo and Juliet.

 Students (and even some teachers) breathed a sigh of relief in 1996 when a film version of the novel was released, starred in by no less than Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, supported by other great Hollywood cast.

They modernized the movie so that viewers, especially young people can appreciate more the artistry of Shakespeare’s movies through the movie. Some of the casts’ role and costumes were exaggerated so that the movie will never go boring. To add color, there were funny scenes, a song and dance number (shades of future Bollywood), and even some action scenes. The dialogue was always short since it’s pretty obvious they couldn’t use the whole script from Shakespeare. The manner in which the old English script was suited to each scene is quite commendable (hearing late television news speaking in old English has to be seen.)

There were some critics who complained that DiCaprio and Danes did not suit the roles of two 14 year olds (if you haven’t read Romeo and Juliet, yes, that’s how old they were). However, director Baz Luhrmann didn’t get the pair for their age. He needed a pair who could act. Naturally, Luhrmann had to skip some scenes from the real script, unless he was willing to make a 4 hour film spewing Shakespearean lingo.

Baz Luhrmann is no stranger to Hollywood pedigree. Though Romeo and Juliet was his first big attempt, he would go on to direct Moulin Rouge, Australia, and most recently, The Great Gatsby. In Romeoand Juliet, Luhrmann wanted a film that combined Italian grand opera, realistic storied action, Bollywood style presentations, and ballroom drama.

If this is your type of movie, short of a musical, download Romeo and Juliet now.