Year: 2009
Director: J.J. Abrams
Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Eric Bana, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Simon Pegg
"Space, the final frontier. These are the voyagers of the starship Enterprise. It's continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before..."
I would hear these words being spoken by Patrick Stewart every time I tuned in to watch Star Trek: The Next Generation on TV. Although Capt Jean-Luc Picard and his crew were a hit on TV, most people know Star Trek as the adventures of Captain James T. Kirk and Spock, played by William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy.
Star Trek has been a cult favourite for years. Gene Roddenberry's creation perfectly marries social and political issues with sci-fi and adventure. But after 10 films and numerous TV series, the franchise was slowly dying. It was in need of a shot in the arm, and along comes Alias creator J.J. Abrams to revitalise it for the new generation. And this is Star Trek at its best.
Abrams' reboot begins with the USS Kelvin encountering a Romulan vessel in space. The Romulan captain, Nero wastes no time in destroying the Starfleet ship, but not before acting captain George Kirk holds the Romulans at bay long enough to save his crew, which includes his wife and their newborn son, James.
James Kirk grows up to be a rebellious young man who can't stay out of trouble. This is in contrast to another young man, Spock who is half Vulcan and half human. Spock can't seem to find the right balance between his logical Vulcan side and his emotional human side. Soon, these two men end up joining Starfleet and wind up on the USS Enterprise. When an attack by the same Romulan vessel is made on Vulcan, the Enterprise crew have to work together to stop the Romulans.
However, this is easier said than done, as the crew is mostly inexperienced, and with their captain captured by the enemy, Kirk and Spock have to put aside their differences and work together before the Romulans destroy Earth.
I must say that Abrams has done a splendid job here. In order to pull more viewers who aren't familiar with Star Trek, Abrams and writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman update their film with more action sequences and less technical babble. They throw in an attractive young cast who aren't A-listers, but are able to play their roles well. Insert many comedic moments, put in some drama and voila, a masterpiece of a film. You can say that this Star Trek looks more like Star Wars, except the dialogue isn't cheesy and there are no lightsabers.
Chris Pine, whom most people would recognize starring in Just My Luck opposite Lindsay Lohan, succeeds in giving James Kirk the right amount of heroism, stubbornness and devil may care attitude, the same way Han Solo is painted in Star Wars. Heroes' Zachary Quinto balances off Pine's performance by portraying Spock as a calm and brilliant officer, who struggles to keep his emotions in check. The rest of the cast who play key crew members of the Enterprise crew lend very credible support, especially Karl Urban, who steals the show as the sarcastically funny Dr Bones McCoy. Eric Bana also gives a memorable performance as the menacing Nero. Look out for Leonard Nimoy in a guest appearance as future Spock.
This is truly a great reboot to a franchise in need of a return to greatness. Star Trek is never boring, well almost. I thought that tender scene between Spock and communications officer Uhura (Zoe Saldana) was unnecessary. But otherwise, this is one heck of an adventure. Go see it. (4/5)
Year: 2009
Director: Gavin Hood
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Lynn Collins, Will.I.Am, Taylor Kitsch, Dominic Monaghan, Ryan Reynolds
Sorry for the long hiatus. I actually had stuff to watch and review, but it just didn't work out. Anyways, I'm back to kick start the summer movie season, with none other than my favourite comicbook character's first solo adventure. I'm sure you guys have heard about this film being leaked online a few weeks before its intended release. I'm not quite sure how that will affect ticket sales as time goes by, though.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is basically a prequel of the X-Men trilogy, focusing on the franchise's most popular hero. Long before the X-Men, long before the day Wolverine and Rogue crossed paths with Professor X and his students, there was a young boy called James. He witnesses his father's death, learns the truth about his parents and his own uncanny ability all on the same night. It is this night that he and his half brother Victor run away from home and stick together, through the wars spanning a hundred years before they finally meet William Stryker.
Stryker is a military man who handles a team made up of special individuals like Victor and James, who now calls himself Logan. Together they carry out numerous covert operations, until one day Logan decides he's had enough of killing people and walks away. He spends the next six years in Canada being a lumberjack while living with his lover, Kayla. Stryker shows up one day and warns Logan that someone is out to kill his former teammates and he could be next. Logan ignores it, until Kayla winds up dead the next day, apparently at the hands of Victor.
Stryker offers to help Logan get his revenge, and the latter agrees. This is where Logan gets his adamantium skeleton courtesy of an experiment Stryker carries out. However, Logan soon learns the truth about Stryker's real intentions and plans on some payback.
I walked into the theatre with some high expectations, considering that this is my literary hero's major adventure on the big screen. And I got some of those expectations fulfilled. Gavin Hood, who directed Rendition, scores in giving the audience a thrill ride through Logan's past. You'll see plenty of action sequences, some of which may look way too cool to believe, but these guys are mutants so suspend your disbelief for a while and enjoy yourselves.
Hugh Jackman had impressed me since the first time he took on the Wolverine character in X-Men, and he hasn't let me down yet. Jackman gives Logan the ruggedness, anger and brute animal instinct he requires, and it is a joy to watch. Liev Schreiber is excellent as Victor, who appears intimidating for the most part, but has enough villainous charm to not get dull at all. It's good to see Schreiber lighten up for once. Danny Huston fits the role of Stryker perfectly, a man with ulterior motives.
However, Will.I.Am. and Lynn Collins fail to deliver in their roles as teammate John Wraith and Logan's girlfriend Kayla respectively. Their acting comes off very wooden, especially Will. He ought to just stick to singing. Ryan Reynolds and Dominic Monaghan, who play teammates Wade Wilson and Bradley respectively, are wasted with limited screen time. And yes, Gambit fans. You finally get to see this guy on screen. Whoopee. You know, I still don't get why this guy is so popular. So popular that when he didn't appear in X3, Marvel had to consider putting him in this film. So how did Taylor Kitsch do? Not bad actually. The French Cajun accent is inconsistent, but at least he looks the part, and Hood made him look cool enough in the action scenes. If anyone thinks he got too little time here, well then, you're just a Gambit lover, and you've forgotten whose film this is.
Speaking of which, this is a Wolverine story after all, so why are there other characters not closely associated with Logan in this film? Who you say? I won't name them, don't wanna ruin it for you. But that's not the only thing wrong. Personally I thought that Hood rushed this thing a little bit. The action comes hard and fast, there's almost no time for contemplation or elaboration. Everything moves real quick, and though they are super awesome to watch, it dents the impact of the story. If they spent an extra 15 minutes on the runtime, Wolverine might be just as good as Iron Man. But it just came close to that. A real pity, because I'd pick a Wolverine comicbook over an Iron Man comicbook any day.
Overall, it's a fun ride that doesn't quite equal some of Marvel's other more memorable films, but it's a perfect way to start the season. Now, bring on Star Trek. (4/5)
P.S.: Stay till the end credits finish rolling.
Year: 2009
Director: Alex Proyas
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Rose Byrne, Chandler Canterbury, Lara Robinson
I pity Nicolas Cage. He's a great actor and an Oscar winner. But somehow he hasn't been able to pick standout roles to be in for a long time. Thing is, it's not that he can't play those roles well, it's just that the premise for his films aren't interesting enough, or the execution of his films were below par. I seriously can't remember the last time I enjoyed a Nicolas Cage film. Maybe Face/Off was the last one. Everything after that ranged between okay and bad.
Anyway, he's in this new film Knowing, a disaster film with some sci-fi thrown in. Cage plays John Koestler, a lecturer at MIT who is a single father to his son Caleb (Chandler Canterbury). 50 years ago, a time capsule filled with drawings of students of Caleb's school was buried in the grounds, and now it is finally brought out for Caleb and his schoolmates to inherit them. Caleb gets one which isn't a drawing, but a series of numbers.
John takes a look at it, and notices something strange. He sees the date of 9/11 and the number of casualties of the WTC attacks. After checking the rest of the numbers and referencing them through the internet, he realizes that they're all dates and information of global disasters for the past 50 years. There are three more dates of tragedies at the end which haven't occured, prompting John to investigate the source of the numbers and find out how to stop them. To that end he seeks out Diana Wayland (Rose Byrne), the woman whose mother wrote the numbers 50 years ago, and together they discover secrets about her mother's last days, while being watched over by mysterious men in the shadows.
Director Alex Proyas, who made visually stunning sci-fi films like Dark City and I, Robot, tries to make Knowing a mixture of sci-fi, drama and thrillers. In the thrill department, some spectacular destruction shown on screen will leave you in awe. Check out the awesome airplane crash, which is then followed by an even more awesome subway train crash.
While the subject of armageddon has always been fascinating, the attempt to marry this aspect with sci-fi (which I can't give away too much lest I spoil the story, all I can say is that it leans towards The Day The Earth Stood Still) doesn't quite work. The execution of this particular element wasn't logical, and it comes off as quite laughable when you get to the end. I can see how the plot makes it logical, but Proyas needs to root this in reality a bit more.
Cage plays his character as best he can, always being the hero against insurmountable odds. However this film just doesn't do justice to his talent. Cage needs better material to work with. Byrne does okay as Diana, but gets annoying towards the end. The child stars, Canterbury and Lara Robinson who plays the child version of Diana's mother Lucinda, and Diana's daughter Abby in present day, excel in their roles though.
To sum it up, Knowing falls below expectations. Go for it if you enjoy great visual effects and massive carnage, but don't expect any more than that. (3.5/5)
Year: 2009
Director: Tom Tykwer
Cast: Clive Owen, Naomi Watts, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Ulrich Thomsen
I've always enjoyed watching Clive Owen and Naomi Watts on screen. Separately of course. And now they're both in the same film. I thought, this film would be great. Unfortunately, it's not.
The International, a thriller about an international bank that funds criminal activities and terrorism, is said to have come at a bad time, as we are in the midst of a financial crisis. However, the problem isn't the subject matter or the timing, but the execution.
The film begins with Owen's character Louis Salinger from Interpol witnessing the sudden death of his colleague from the Justice Department on the streets of Berlin. He suspects foul play but is unable to prove it. Salinger works hand in hand with DA Eleanor Whitman (Naomi Watts) in investigating the International Bank of Business and Credit (IBBC) concerning suspicions over financing illegal activities around the globe. At the time of his colleague's death, he had just met with an IBBC employee who was willing to come forward with evidence to implicate his employers.
Salinger and Whitman follow one lead after another, but each person eventually winds up dead. Then Salinger meets Wilhelm Wexler (Armin Mueller-Stahl), someone close to the IBBC head honcho Jonas Skarssen (Ulrich Thomsen). Wexler convinces Salinger to go outside the system to uncover the IBBC's dealings.
At the helm of this thriller is Tom Tykwer, famous for the film Run Lola Run. If there's one thing he got right in this film, it's the cinematography. Filmed mostly in Europe, Tykwer takes advantage of the wonderful architecture on display by using wide shots and aerial shots to show us the buildings there. Great job on that.
Now for the story. The International is meant to be a thriller where the bad guys are the untouchable kind, the kind that can do whatever they want and get away with it because they have the means and the power to manipulate everything. However, the execution of this particular point falls flat. Skarssen is made to look like a regular businessman instead of a mastermind, so there isn't a moment where I was convinced he was in control of everything. The IBBC's power isn't well portrayed, all I see are sloppy displays of how they handle situations when Salinger gets too close, like having a dozen men run into a museum with guns blazing to silence someone. Whatever happened to subtlety?
Owen plays Salinger with intensity, but it's nothing to shout about. Owen always plays characters like this, it's a walk in the park for him. Personally I'd love to see him in a comedy. That'd be a true test of his talent. Watts doesn't have much to do here, which is disappointing. And Mueller-Stahl.....why does he always get roles like this? The old man who has information but won't talk, the man who knows more than he's letting on? He's the most typecast actor around, I tell you.
I love the plot, and the camerawork. But it could have been so much better. Too bad. (3.5/5)
Year: 2009
Director: Renny Harlin
Cast: John Cena, Aidan Gillen, Ashley Scott, Steve Harris, Brian White, Gonzalo Menendez
'JOHN CEEEEEEEEEENAAAAAAAAA!'
That's how it sounds when John Cena, WWE wrestling's top superstar enters the ring. Like The Rock before him, he makes a transition from wrestling hero to action hero. His last film The Marine wasn't so great though. This time WWE Films tries putting Cena back in the movies again, with Die Hard 2 director Renny Harlin in the driver's seat.
In 12 Rounds, Cena plays New Orleans policeman Danny Fisher, who successfully arrests wanted arms dealer Miles Jackson (Aidan Gillen) while the latter was running from the clutches of the FBI. In the process, Miles' girlfriend dies after being run over by a car. Miles holds Danny responsible for it.
A year later, Danny gets a call from Miles, who apparently has escaped from prison and is seeking retribution. Miles forces Danny to play a game called 12 Rounds, where Danny has to survive 12 life threatening tests. Miles begins by blowing up Danny's house and kidnapping his girlfriend Molly (Ashley Scott). Thus the game is on as Danny races against time across New Orleans on foot, in cars, buses and even a fire truck to complete the tasks Miles sets him to do. Danny is aided by his partner Hank (Brian White) and FBI agent George Aiken (Steve Harris). Aiken has spent a large amount of his time hunting Miles and ignores Danny's priority in saving Molly's life, which put the two men at odds with each other.
It's Renny Harlin, the man who gave us great actioners like Die Hard 2, Deep Blue Sea and The Long Kiss Goodnight. But he is also the guy who made the flop Cutthroat Island. He hasn't had a hit in years, and judging by the reception 12 Rounds is getting in the States, he's still gonna have to wait. But in all honesty, 12 Rounds is actually a decent movie. I was entertained enough seeing Cena play the action hero, doing all the stunts, moving from one edge-of-your-seat scene to another. It wasn't boring at all, which proves that Harlin has still got some moves worthy of your attention.
However, if you have seen Die Hard With A Vengeance and Speed, you'll find this movie all too familiar. The plot, the villain, the execution, the characters.....all borrowed from those two action classics. So you won't find anything original to admire here.
As an action hero, Cena is believable enough. He's tough and made to look superhuman at times here, but it works to a certain extent. His acting hasn't improved much though. Gillen is quite effective as the genius villain, while Harris does yet another black supporting character for an action film. But at least Harris makes his character memorable this time around.
All in all, a decent action movie. Not great, but decent. (3.5/5)
Year: 2009
