[Movie Review] District 9, 2009

This review will contain spoilers, but I'll point them out when they are coming up.

The basic story to District 9 that a spaceship appeared over Johannesburg, South Africa. The ship is drilled into and over a million aliens are found, malnourished and leaderless. The aliens are brought down to earth and kept in a camp, called District 9. This was meant to be temporary, however soon became permanent. Crime and poverty become rampant and District 9 turns into a slum. The aliens are often referred to as "prawns" due to their appearance. Multinational United (MNU) are placed in charge, and the main character is an employee, called Wikus van de Merwe. The plan is to move the aliens to a more permanent home, called District 10, and this is pretty much when things start to go off.

The main problem with this movie is that you have to suspend your disbelief a hell of a lot. If you totally immerse yourself in this world, then maybe you can ignore all the little things. However for me, this is supposed to be a representation of what might happen if aliens landed on Earth, so I'm going to treat it by my opinion of Earth standards. If you are able to avoid these things, then you are a better person than me.

• The aliens have red blood
• The aliens walk on their back legs
• The aliens can understand English
• The aliens have mannerisms similar to humans
• The aliens have a similar skeletal and organ structure to humans

Now this might not seem like anything unbelievable, but what you have to remember is that these are aliens. These aliens never had contact with humans before, yet they have all these similarities. It's strikes me a lot more that the writers of this movie did not want to make the aliens seem too far removed from humans as it would be difficult to relate to. This reveals another problem though, the message of the movie. The movie is set in South Africa, and there are quite obvious nods towards the Apartheid. This is why I think the aliens were made to seem more human, as it would be difficult to empathise with them if they were totally removed from our concept of humans.

If the film tried to remove it's message, then they could have made the aliens totally removed, and then it would have been interesting. For example, why, when an alien gets mad, would they lash out and punch a wall? That is a human mannerism, so why would aliens have that? It's one thing that bothered me throughout the entire movie. The aliens are basically humans with a different exterior.

*SPOILERS START*

So, what happens is Wikus gets infected, so to speak, and is gradually turning into an alien. This concept, on the whole, I like a lot. And to be honest, it's one part that is done pretty well. The actor who plays Wikus is really very good in it, and is totally believable.

Wikus and the main alien in this story end up storming MNU in order to get a small vial of fluid that Wikus confiscated earlier. This allows the alien to fly a spaceship that is under his shack. He can then get back into the mothership, pick all the aliens up and fly back home. He also says that he can cure Wikus with the technology on the ship. So (without explanation as to how they got there) Wikus and the alien run up to the building and use alien weaponry to storm it. With relative ease they get down to the secret base and get the vial. The alien then makes a quick bomb and they escape back to District 9.

There really is no explanation as to how nobody spotted an alien and a half man/half alien running down the street with massive alien guns as they approached MNU. It's really quite difficult to grasp the idea that they got there with no problems. At this point, Wikus is the most wanted man in the world, so everybody is on high alert.

In the climax, Wikus is on his knees at the mercy of the main bad army guy. If you ask me, the ending would have been a lot better if Wikus was shot and killed. He would have been like an anti-hero, or a martyr, and the message would have been a lot stronger. However they went for the Hollywood ending were aliens ambush the army guy and tear him to bits.

There is an interview with Wikus' wife at the end, and she holds up a rose sculpted from metal. Apparently it was found outside a friend of hers house, and she believes it to be from Wikus. The film then cuts to the image of an alien sculpting this rose from scrap metal. So Wikus fully turned into an alien. Great. Wow. Curtains.

*SPOILERS END*

This film has had a lot of anticipation and I know that a lot of people are going to disagree with what I'm saying here. I just, didn't like the movie. It disappointed me quite a lot.

So I'm giving the movie 5/10. The concept is a lot better than the execution in this movie. I love the idea that the aliens don't land on one of the major cities like New York or London. It's a really cool idea that aliens land, and we have no idea what to do. However this movie suffers from Hollywood syndrome. It is over-dramatic and unrealistic at times. The ending should have been bittersweet, however instead it was predictable and unsatisfying.

The movie is very visually pleasing however. The aliens look like they fit into their surroundings. Very rarely is it noticeable that they are CGI. Whenever somebody gets killed by an alien weapon, it looks really really cool. They get like, obliterated. And when the aliens attack someone, that also looks cool and realistic.

I'm giving this movie 5/10. I imagine this might be an unpopular belief, but it's how I feel. It's a wasted opportunity to make a really excellent movie.

Also, the reason I didn't refer to the real alien by his actual name is because it's so stupid. His name is Christopher Johnson. Apparently he was given this name by MNU, but this must mean that they've assigned names to all 1.8 million aliens in District 9, which I somehow doubt. I think realistically they would just assign them a number or a code or something.

Anyway, that's just me rambling. The movie gets 5 aliens out of 10.



- Simon

[Movie Review] Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, 2009

This review is spoiler free.



Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is probably the most anticipated summer blockbuster since The Dark Knight. The first Transformers movie showed us some amazing CGI that would take a lot to be matched. Everybody knows the Michael Bay style of directing, and this is his first directing job since the first Transformers.

The first movie opened us up to lots of things. One of them was Megan Fox. Before then, she was relatively unknown. Since then she has been shot into some form of super sex symbol. She was voted the Sexiest Woman in the World last year by FHM readers. To be honest, this is something that is definitely exploited in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. In the first movie, there are a few obvious softcore-porn shots for the male audience. However in Revenge of the Fallen, there are numerous scenes. I counted at least two slow-motion/low-cut top running scenes (including diving into the sand with chest close-ups). The first time we see her, she is perched over a motorcycle, in probably the most awkward position anyone could hold when painting a design on a bike. It's pretty clear that the writers/producers/director knew that Megan Fox would be a big selling point for lots of people, and boy, do they exploit it.

Now, Shia LeBeouf. Since the first Transformers movie, he has acted in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Eagle Eye. Both of these are kind of, action-type movies. I never saw Eagle Eye, but I heard that it was actually alright. In Revenge of the Fallen, there seems to be a bit of influence from LeBeouf's character in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. He runs around with a slight bit of facial hair and wears a leather jacket. Also they end up doing a bit of archaeological work in Egypt, seems a little Indie.

The acting in this movie is alright. I think I would criticise the writing more than the acting. However Megan Fox is quite distinctly off-par. She seemed very stale and it was difficult to believe that she was her character. Most of the way through it I'm just thinking it's Megan Fox, not Mikaela Banes. The rest of the acting is alright though, not going to win any awards, but alright nonetheless. My problem is with the writing though. At points it is just so, ridiculous. The character of Jetfire has this one line where I just cringed. He's saying something like "They're going to kill you!" It's supposed to be epic. However right before he says "you", he looks right into the camera, implying that he's referring to the audience. What? I hate it when movies do that. The only movie I've ever seen it done successfully in is Fight Club (when Tyler Durden talks to the audience). There's also one point were the characters are in a butcher shop, and dead pigs are around. Sam (LeBeouf) makes an off-camera remark about Swine Flu. This was obviously edited in during post-production as the first teaser for Revenge of the Fallen was released well before the Swine Flu outbreak. It's just a pointless culture reference and it pissed me off.

I'll move on to the actual characters shall I? First the humans.

Sam Witwicky is moving to college, and his parents are finding it difficult to let go of him. When he gets there, he meets his roommate, called Leo. Leo is pretty much a stereotypical conspiracy theory nut. Except, he runs a website with two employees from the room he just moved into. Pretty impressive eh? Those guys must have planned it well so they all got into the same college.

Okay so Sam is typical here. There really is little to say about the character. Imagine Shia LeBeouf in pretty much any of the other recent movies he's been in. There you have it, Sam Witwicky.

One character that does bother me though is Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox). In this movie, she's a bitch. At the start of the first Transformers movie, she was a bit of a bitch. However in Revenge of the Fallen, she is a bitch right the way through. I really didn't like her in this. It's like, she knows she's good looking, and instead of being down-to-earth about it, she's a complete bitch and flaunts around like she's Queen of the world.

I'll move onto the Autobots now, I could go on forever about Megan Fox and how below-average she was.

I won't talk about the Autobots that were in the first movie, I'll only talk about the new ones.

So we have Mudflap and Skids (The Twins), Wheelie, Jetfire and Arcee. There are others, but these are the main ones that I'll talk about here. Mudflap and Skids are probably the most annoying characters in the entire movie. They are your typical "double act". It's rather tragically unfunny. Wheelie is a little toy monster truck. It develops a relationship with Mikaela (making her even more unbearable). Alright character though, to be honest. He had his moments which were funny. Jetfire was an old man Autobot, if you get me. Basically he walks around with a limp and a walking stick. Fairly ridiculous concept but he was rather awesome towards the end. Arcee was an Autobot that turned into three motorbikes. Didn't really do a whole lot.

Right, the Decepticons.

Obviously we have Megatron and Starscream who were in the first movie. We also have The Fallen, Soundwave and Demolisher (amongst others). The Fallen is the main bad-guy in this movie, although you don't really see him in action until the very end. Soundwave is considered a favourite amongst fans and they really changed him for this movie. He was one a robot that summed up Transformers. The original Soundwave had a cassette tape loader in his chest which ejects smaller robots. Now he's just a generic looking Decepticon. They've taken one of the most memorable characters and made him forgettable. Demolisher is seen in the trailer and looks really awesome to be honest. He/she/it features in the first main scene of the movie and it kicks off the amazing effects.

Talking about the effects. That really is one area that this movie does not fail in. The CGI is amazing, it really is. The movie is two and a half hours long, and it can be a bit tiring watching all the visual porn that you get, but it doesn't take away from how amazing it is. This is one of the major plus points to this movie. It is a visual orgasm.

Overall, this movie is good, if you like these types of movies. If you were a fan of the first Transformers movie, you'll like this one. It's not a deep movie. It has it's fair share of close-ups and slow-motion, and if that's your thing, definitely go and see this movie. I do recommend it for the stunning visuals. However do not expect it to be a moving experience.

This movie gets 4 Autobots (out of 10)



Go and see it if you like the visual porno and the slow motion action. It's not going to emotionally affect you, but you'll enjoy it nonetheless. A bit long at two and a half hours, you'll probably feel completely spent by the end of it.

Anyway, that's it for today. Expect more posts soon!

x

[Movie Review] X-Men Origins: Wolverine, 2009

This review will contain spoilers, but you'll be warned when they are coming so don't worry :)

Before I start this review, I want to get this clear; if you liked the other three X-Men movies, go see this movie. You'll almost definitely like this movie.

There was something I noticed right from the start of this movie. Lost. I doubt it was intentional, but I saw a few links with Lost in this movie. Firstly, Kevin Durand plays the role of The Blob (he played Martin Keamy in Series 4 of Lost), and Dominic Monaghan plays the role of Bolt (he played Charlie Pace in Series' 1-3 of Lost). At first I just thought it was cool to see these actors again as I really liked them in Lost. However, later on in the movie, other characters start refering to this mysterious place called "The Island". Just a little note. I found it funny.

Yeah well, onto the more important things. Hugh Jackman was predictably good as Wolverine. Liev Schreiber was really good as Sabretooth. However one person surprisingly stole the show for me, even though he had very very little screentime (a travesty). It was Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool. His fast-talking kickassery was amazing. He got the Deadpool character spot on. I'll touch on this again in the spoilers section.

I have a bit of an issue though. The CGI in this movie really is not up to scratch at times. Wolverine's claws look very very computerised quite often. I have a sneaking suspicion that the CGI was rushed since the workprint of this movie was leaked in March, it certainly seems that way. I never saw the workprint, but there are times when you can see how the CGI has been added in. You shouldn't notice good CGI as CGI at all, but this really obviously was. Granted, the big-scale CGI looked really good and impressive, however it was the finer details that were a let down.

**SPOILERS START HERE**

Right so, let's talk Deadpool. Whenever I saw Ryan Reynolds at the start I thought he was really good and fit the character perfectly. However, come the last 15 or so minutes of the movie, he's transformed into this no-hair no-mouth thing with swords in his hands. Even still, it was pretty awesome. He was badass. The scene with Wolverine and Sabretooth fighting Deadpool atop the big nuclear chimney shaft thing was amazing. It worked really well. I loved it. However they went and cut off Deadpool's head and I feel like they've just ended their chances of having a really good potential character for future movies. There's something mysterious about Deadpool after he's been modified, and it really shows a match for Wolverine.

That's another point, after Wolverine undergoes the adamantium augmentation he becomes virtually invinceable. He went from getting his ass kicked by Sabretooth everytime to having the chance to cut his head off the first time they meet after the treatment. I'm not going into the implausability of it because, well, it's a superhero movie.

So yeah, I'm annoyed that there wasn't enough of Deadpool. He was easily the best character in the film and we see him at the start and the end then he's decapitated then the film's over.

**SPOILERS END HERE**

That's another thing. This film ended very abruptly for me. As it was a prequel, it ended when things were starting to get exciting. The credits were such an anti-climax. The film just seemed to come and go. It didn't feel like it was a long movie, but it also didn't feel very short. It just, came and went.

Seriously though, if you like the X-Men movies then I really recommend this movie because you'll most definitely enjoy it. If you haven't seen the other movies then I'd see it at a reduced price. I saw it at half price and I'm glad of that, I'd be a bit annoyed if I paid full price. It's not a masterpiece, it's not going to win any Oscars. It's a fairly straightforward X-Men movie with some boring sub-plots. Altogether, it's a Wolverine movie. If you like Wolverine, see the movie. If you aren't bothered, don't see the movie. I recommend seeing it just for the fight scene towards the end, I just wish it could have lasted longer.

Rating:
[IIIIIIIIII]
6/10

Talk to you tomorrow for my last day of BEDA ;]
x

[Movie Review] In Bruges, 2008

Could a movie get any better? Two Irishmen in lead roles, racist midgets, organised crime, and some stellar acting. In Bruges is set in, well, Bruges. The two main protagonists Ray and Ken (Played by Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson) are Irish hit men who are sent to Bruges to wait for their next job, however various events whilst in Bruges leads to bad memories being brought to the fore for the characters. They are under the guidance of their boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes) who has to get involved personally.

To put it simply, this film is brilliant. The Director, Martin McDonagh, was in what would be considered his first major release movie, and to be honest, he did a fantastic job. The quality of the direction is outstanding.

On top of this, we also get three fantastic performances from Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes. Especially in this case Colin Farrell. In my opinion, he has sort of been involved in farty movies, which never really had depth to them, such as Alexander and Miami Vice. However with In Bruges, Farrell shows a whole other side to his abilities that really has put him on the list of one of my favourite actors around at the minute. If you were to watch the movie, you would understand, this ties into my next point.

The genre of this movie is so difficult to tie down. It could be considered a thriller, and it is quite gruesome in places. But this is the last movie to make me laugh out loud since Borat. The best way I can show you how diverse this film is is through some of the keywords from the film's IMDb page: Murder Contract/Drug Use/Suicide/Psychopath/Obesity/Canadian Stereotype/Dwarf/Black Comedy

Maybe now you can see my point, it is wildly diverse. The reason I give this movie 9/10 is because it really was my favourite movie of the year when it came out. I think I would still rate it as good as The Dark Knight. Everything about it is excellent. The only reason it has not got 10/10 is because of the odd part in the movie which aren't very realistic. But if that is all I can find wrong with it, then it is doing very very well.

I 100% recommend you go out and watch this movie, buy it, own it, it is one for your collection. A modern classic. Sadly I feel it will fall into the same realm of obscurity as Lucky Number Slevin did and not get the recognition it deserves simply because the director is not an A-list director and it did not have a £100,000,000 budget. It is likely that it will be completely overlooked at next year's Academy Awards, but what do they stand for? If you want to see a great movie, with a great story, and some great acting, then I highly recommend In Bruges.

Ken: We shall strike a balance between culture and fun.
Ray: Somehow I believe, Ken, that the balance shall tip in the favor of culture, like a big fat fucking retarded fucking black girl on a see-saw opposite...a dwarf.

Rating:
[IIIIIIIIII]
9/10

IMDb Link

Thank you and goodnight