Year: 2013
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Cast: Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Zoe Kravitz, Sophie Okonedo
Plot: In the future, Earth has become uninhabitable, forcing humans to move to a new planet, Nova Prime. A thousand years later, a general named Cypher Raige brings his son Kitai on a training expedition, but their spaceship crashes on Earth, which has evolved into a dangerous planet filled with deadly lifeforms and a deadlier climate. With his father seriously injured, Kitai is forced to get help by going through the dangerous terrain alone.
Review: Looking at the people involved in this film, from director M Night Shyamalan to the father and son team of Smiths, you would be tempted to stay away from it. After all, Shyamalan hasn't had a hit in years (the last being the awful The Last Airbender), and we've seen Will team up with his kids one time too many, either as a co-star or a producer, or something.
But I admit, I am curious about it. It looked decent on the surface, and I love adventure, so why not? The good news is, it's not as bad as everyone claims it is. But it certainly isn't mind blowingly good.
So basically, the film follows Jaden's character Kitai, who has to travel on foot to the tail section of their ship which separated during the crash, since his father broke both his legs, and there are no other survivors. Earth has a fluctuating climate, much less oxygen than before and filled with killer animals. So Kitai has his work cut out for him, especially since he is struggling to live up to his father's expectations.
What's good about it is that it's better than The Last Airbender in many ways. It's a straightforward plot, the acting is decent enough and the CGI isn't bad at all. Yeah, some of it still looks fake, but I can overlook that. Will's character is also well written, and he plays it well too. I like it when he's serious the whole time, even though he has a natural flair for comedy. This film requires seriousness from him, and he delivers.
What's bad however is having to rely on Jaden to carry most of the film. Now, Jaden is by no means a bad actor, he had some good moments here, the best of which is when he argues with his dad over his sister's death many years ago. But as good as he is, he's not quite ready to lead a film of this kind yet. I'll give him some credit for trying though.
The plot, as simple as it may be, is also predictable to a fault. You can tell how this film is going to end once it gets rolling, and thus you never really feel like Kitai is in any real danger as he races to his destination. The pace is uneven at times too.
In summation, After Earth is a decent adventure flick, but nothing more. M Night is gonna have to work harder to return to form, and Jaden needs to grow up a bit more. My advice to Jaden: don't work with your dad too often, okay? (3/5)
Year: 2013
Director: Justin Lin
Cast: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Luke Evans, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Sung Kang, Gal Gadot
Plot: Agent Hobbs catches up to Dom, not to arrest him but to ask for his help to stop a similar crew pulling jobs around Europe. One of the members of this crew is Dom's presumed dead girlfriend Letty Ortiz.
Review: Remember how much carnage there was back in Fast Five? Well, we got some more carnage to behold here, though to be honest, despite all the great sequences Justin Lin set up in this instalment, none of them surpass the vault dragging finale of Fast Five.
But to his credit, his three big sequences: a night time chase in London, a highway chase featuring a tank and an airplane chase on a huge runway are all great. However the airplane chase suffers from bad lighting and shaky camerawork as it was quite hard to see what's happening from time to time. But you gotta give props to Lin for having the guts to do it in the first place.
So basically Dom and Brian have to reassemble the old gang to catch Hobbs' new target, Owen Shaw who has his own speeding crew. Shaw is smart and sneaky, thereby being able to stay one step ahead most of the time. Other than this, the running theme in this film is family, represented by Dom's need to get Letty back and Brian's attempt at becoming a dad to his newborn son.
The cast perform well mostly, though as far as this franchise is concerned, the acting really isn't the talking point. Diesel and Walker do their part well as always, with Gibson and Ludacris providing the humour. Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is once again the all round tough guy Hobbs who plays second fiddle to Diesel. Luke Evans is a bit miscast as Shaw in my opinion. He's a good actor, but playing a villain just isn't his forte.
Fast & Furious 6 is a generally crowd pleasing attempt at tying up some loose ends, but it does feel a bit lacking if compared to the previous one. With a better shot climax and a slight improvement in the script, it would have been better. But at the very least, Justin Lin leaves behind a post credit scene that has us looking forward to number 7. (3.5/5)
Year: 2013
Director: J.J. Abrams
Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Benedict Cumberbatch, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Peter Weller, Alice Eve
Plot: The crew of the Enterprise are sent on a mission to capture terrorist John Harrison who has made several attacks on Starfleet. However they discover he's more than just a terrorist when they catch up to him.
Review: J.J. Abrams' Star Trek reboot was one of the best things to ever happen to the long standing franchise. He gave the adventures of Kirk, Spock and company a new lease of life, and made it more accessible to non sci-fi audiences as well.
I'm happy to note that this sequel is simply superb. Abrams and writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof (Lost) have outdone themselves this time. Star Trek Into Drakness is visibly darker in tone but still retains the great drama and humour from the first film. And the action I must say is far better than before.
Like the first film, Abrams treats us to the budding relationship between Kirk and Spock, where the impulsiveness of the former always clashes with the latter's logical approach. This generates some funny moments between them and some serious ones as well, leading to a truly touching and genuine friendship. Then there's the villain played by Benedict Cumberbatch, who is cold and brilliant at the same time. Cumberbatch is perfect for this role, displaying cunning and brutality with ease and yet there's a moment when he becomes a somewhat tragic figure, and you almost feel for the guy. It's safe to say he nearly steals the show.
But the film belongs to Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto as Kirk and Spock respectively. Pine is as brash as he was previously, but this time he's slowly easing into the role of a captain which is a delight to watch. Quinto also excels as Spock, still trying to be more logical than emotional, and not always successful in doing so. The duo's chemistry really shine here, I have to say it again. The rest of the crew all have their moments, but it's Simon Pegg's Scotty that has the most improvement from the last film, showing a nice balance of humour and seriousness which makes him more memorable this time. Karl Urban still gets a chance here and there to be the crummy doctor on board, not as prominent this time but still effective nonetheless. Special mention goes out to Peter Weller (Robocop) as Admiral Marcus, who brings great screen presence to an already fabulous flick. I don't think he ever had a stellar career outside of Robocop, so it's great to see him here.
I only have one minor complaint, which is the way the Klingons are portrayed here. I'm aware that they're not a central part of the plot, but they were made to look weak, when they're supposed to be badasses in previous incarnations.
Star Trek Into Darkness is truly awesome. It's fun, it's smart and nearly perfect in every way. Recommended. (4.5/5)
Year: 2013
Director: Shane Black
Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Ben Kingsley, Rebecca Hall
Plot: After the events that took place in The Avengers, Tony Stark has a personal crisis which quickly escalates when he takes on two threats from an old acquaintance and a terrorist known as The Mandarin.
Review: Iron Man part three will go down as being the most different of the trilogy so far. Heck, it's not even in the vein of last year's Avengers blow up fest. So if you walk into this expecting a slam bang actioner, you're not going to like it that much.
That being said, Iron Man 3 is awesome. The entire film, scripted and directed by Shane Black, works like a comic book story arc, where we don't just watch our hero fight every twenty minutes. We get to see what exactly makes him tick, when he is most vulnerable, who are his enemies and why they want him dead, and more importantly how he's going to overcome the odds when he doesn't have what he needs the most. To that end, Black's film works more like a semi slow burn thriller, which is most evident during the middle third of the film when Tony Stark seeks help from a young boy to fix his armor and attempt to make a comeback.
Actionwise, there are four that stand out the most: the attack on Stark's house (which you've seen in the trailers), an aerial rescue of falling people, Stark fighting his enemies without the armor at the boy's neighborhood, and the memorable final sequence (I won't spoil it for you, except to say it's kick ass). Some may say that it's not enough because of the long delays in between those sequences, but it works for me.
Once again, Robert Downey Jr proves why he's the best guy to play Tony Stark. Out of the three films and The Avengers, here's where he gets to show the most about who Tony Stark is, and not about who Iron Man is. Downey's ability to show vulnerability while laughing and occasionally stumbling in the face of danger is a sight to behold. Gwyneth Paltrow gets a bigger role here than before as Stark's long suffering girlfriend Pepper Potts, so much more that it happens at the expense of Don Cheadle's character Rhodey, who becomes little more than Stark's sidekick. Guy Pearce as usual makes a commendable villain in Aldrich Killian while Ben Kingsley hams it up as The Mandarin, and with great effect. Iron Man comic fans will notice a huge difference in the way Black handles The Mandarin here, and I suspect it will have a mixed reaction. I personally thought it was cool. Ty Simpkins gets a special mention as Harley, the young boy who helps Stark.
The downsides would be the abovementioned reduction of Cheadle's screen time, as well as the subplot involving the President and Vice President, which is a mere distraction at best. Other than that, the film is solid overall.
I'll warn you again: Iron Man 3 isn't what you may expect it to be, but I think you ought to give it a try. I sure loved it, you might too. (4/5)
P.S.: Wait till the credits finish rolling for one final scene.
Year: 2013
Director: Allen Hughes
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jeffrey Wright, Barry Pepper
Plot: Former cop turned private detective Billy Taggart is hired by New York City mayor Nicholas Hostetler to spy on his wife, whom he thinks is having an affair. However nothing is what it seems.
Review: There have been thrillers where what you see isn't really what's going on, like The Recruit and the recent Side Effects. Broken City is in that same vein, but unfortunately doesn't quite measure up.
Allen Hughes directs this film based on a script by Brian Tucker, which is not without intrigue, but frequently seesaws between being draggy and being vague. It would potentially build some momentum, only to squander it by losing itself into the plot and veer off course. Worse still, most of the characters here are hard to like, except maybe Taggart's assistant Katy, played by Alona Tal (previously seen on TV series Supernatural).
To be fair, the cast perform well enough. Mark Wahlberg plays yet another blue collar character with huge problems. He seems to excel at playing these guys. Problem is, this time around he's not likable. I just couldn't root for the guy, not that he's bad or anything, he's just poorly written. Russell Crowe puts on a somewhat bad American accent with a politician's haircut to become the devious mayor, and he seems solid enough, yet as much as I respect Crowe, I can't help but wonder if George Clooney would fit this role better. The rest of the cast, from Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jeffrey Wright and Barry Pepper are convincing in their respective roles, but again, they don't give the audience much reason to care about them and how they fit into the film, the script just doesn't give them the chance. So yeah, Alona Tal actually redeems a bit of the film, and you know that's not good when a minor character actually stands out.
With a tighter script and even tighter direction, Broken City could have been something. Thrillers like this, along with the solid cast would have made for an edgy piece that would keep you guessing. But the film drags itself at an uneven pace to its anti-climactic ending.
I know I haven't given you much about the plot here, instead opting to tell you why you shouldn't see this. But really, you're not missing much. It's not a horrible film, but it's something you ought to catch on cable or rental instead of the cinema. (2.5/5)
