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Reviews
Monster Hunter (2020)
Good monster action flick
No, it's not the Shawshank Redemption. The Shawshank Redemption didn't have dragons or machine guns. Nor are any of the monsters in this flick voiced by Morgan Freeman - a crying shame, for sure.
However, once you get over how Milla Jokavich is still absolutely rocking it in her mid 40s, there is a good action movie here that holds together pretty cohesively.
The pacing is pretty good, the CGI is great, and the story is enough to keep things moving without being pretentious or trying too hard to impress. There is no forced romance to slow things down - less kissing and more fighting was the correct choice.
Weaker points are the extended meeting between Jovovich and Jaa, but maybe there was padding needed and the fight choreography was on point, as you'd expect from these actors. The electro music of the Admiral jarred a bit with the cinematic style of the rest of the film, although the Admiral himself is competently played - his hairstyle is off the hook, but 'It's Ron Pearlman with awesome hair' so he can carry it off. The ending feels like the film is 'winding down' as the final grand showdown is somewhat interrupted by slow drama, and fewer wavy swords.
In conclusion, this is above average compared with general Netflix fodder, and while I won't be rushing to buy it to keep on DVD, it's worth a look and scratches the action film itch.
Snowpiercer (2020)
Above average in a sea of Netflix fodder
Good, with some unconvincing moments.
The Good:
- Most of the supporting actors are fantastic and outshine the lead.
- Interesting and believable characters, with only a couple of weaker links.
- The Music.
- Generally a good plot.
- There is more humour in the show than the fans in these reviews are appreciating.
- When things hit the fan, oftentimes this is genuinely dramatic and well-executed.
- I like the opening monologues. Each person has their minute in the spotlight.
The Bad:
- Rarely any real permanence to big plot developments. Alliances are made, broken, remade, and it seems that lots of possible alliegances are explored for dramatic effect, but at the expense of meaningful canon.
- The lead actor is a weak link. The big gestures of the musical stage don't transfer to the close ups of the screen, and the calmer scenes are really wooden (despite a fantastic rallying speech in one episode).
- The runner that manages to find a chicken within 10 minutes despite the train being 10 miles long (but hey it's sci-fi, they probably used the teleporter?).
- I know the location is restricted but the lack of variation in train carriages is too claustrophobic. Some carriages seem a lot taller than they should be, with high ceilings...
- Some characters have seemingly been cut from season 2 without any explanation.
'But is it as good as the movie!?!':
- They are seperate things and this is a good show in its own right. People should stop comparing everything and appreciate what this is.
Overall: Above average, worth a shot if you're interested.
Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan (2021)
Good, with distracting flaws.
PROS:
- Dramatisations are good for the most part
- The brutality is not glossed over
- Good visualisations of events
- Subject matter is interesting and mostly maintains interest
CONS:
- The series does suffer from over-dramatisation and repetition. Play a game of 'historian bingo' with me:
'It was the most decisive battle in Japanese history' - 10 points per mention 'This was the most bloody battle in the history of Japan' - 5 ppm 'It wasn't a battle, it was a MASSACRE' - 15 ppm 'There would have been battle cries and screams all around' - 5 ppm 'There was confusion among the fighting' - 10 ppm 'It would have been a brutal melee' - 5 ppm 'There were swords clashing in the fight' - 10ppm 'This would be the most important decision in all of Japanese history' - 10ppm
See how long it takes to beat 500 points...
- While initially a minor nitpick, these interjections become increasingly distracting and waffly as the series 'fills time' in the middling episodes.
- Music is nothing to write home about.
- Visible 'budget shortcuts' every now and then.
- Historians seem under-utilised as the series doesn't expore any topic in great detail, rather re-tells a storyline of events. How did these people live on a day-to-day basis? Can we see any of the sources/books/art on which these facts are based? How does the samurai armour protect them from attack? There is still so much I don't know about the samurai.
OVERALL: Good with some noticable flaws.
Rubber (2010)
interesting first 10m then just boring
The idea is more interesting than the execution and the poster art makes it look like a killer tyre might murder victims in a number of brutal ways. Sadly the murders are repetitive and boring, and despite the short runtime things feel like they run at a snails pace. The pretentious dialogue at the start sets things up very nicely, but subsequent dialogue quickly becomes needlessly drawn out and just lacks interest. The film's 'message' would be more powerful if the film itself wasn't so empty.
The soundtrack is mostly non-existent and when there is music it is monotone and incredibly amateurish. For a 'horror' movie there needs to be more music (horror in inverted commas that is)
Regretful of my purchase and would not recommend.
The Witcher (2019)
Nowhere near 10/10 but is very good
The good:
- Henry Cavill pulls it off.
- Quality of the acting is decent.
- The initial sorceress arc is pretty interesting.
- The timeline of the storytelling is well thought out and intruiging, and despite big leaps of time, remains coherent.
- Fight scenes are brilliant.
- With a few exceptions the sets and locations are very good.
- Music is expertly composed and produced.
- Props and clothing seem authentic and breathe life into the series.
- CGI is generally good quality except for a very anticlimactic 'dragon fight'. I guess this would have been expensive but what we saw of dragons was pretty poor - there was technically a fight but it was a poor distraction from what we really wanted.
The bad:
- You can tell they did this on a budget (but presumably did well with what they had).
- The aforementioned lack of a proper dragon fight.
- 'Clever' camerawork disguises some shortcuts. Some scenes and moments happen 'in our heads' without them being shown in full on screen.
- The supporting cast are very good but a few characters are not fleshed out enough to really care about them. Like episode 6 where there was a very cliche and contrived death scene which seemed totally out of place. The Witcher universe is dark, and not full of cliches (GOT reference intended).
- Episode 7 is too flashback heavy which hampers the progression of the story. We don't need flashbacks in a series that is 8 episodes long, unless you're playing for time.
- The grand scale of the final invasion is not achieved. Two men attacking some thorns is not an invasion.
- Some of the intros and endings are a bit underwhelming. The season finale is a great episode but the ending, while expected and appropriate, is not impressively executed.
Don't get me wrong, despite these criticisms I sincerely look forward to the next season and hope Netflix sign more episodes for season 2. It has the makings of a masterpiece and is by far one of the better things I've watched on Netflix this year.
Daredevil (2015)
Like watching white paint dry (if you're Fisk that is)
Pros:
- a truly amazing antagonist, who is really the star of the show
- excellent story
- characters have real substance, values and purpose
- brilliant music
- every season sees improvements in cinematography
- environments and props look awesome
- action scenes rock
- season 3 is masterfully written. One episode in particular is the best hour of TV I've ever witnessed. We're talking red wedding level good.
Cons:
- pacing, some long drawn out strands here and there
- a few shortcuts in action scenes, but rare. 'Did that baton really hit that guy's face?' may be asked a few times.
- during season 3, the character of Karen. Constantly flustered and anxious, the overacting routine and mannerisms get a bit exhausting & immersion breaking and the presence of 'an actor' becomes obvious. She does have badass moments, like actual badass, but rather than become stronger and develop like many of the other supporting characters, she arbitrarily regresses into an irritatingly persistent nervous wreck, maybe to fulfil the role of damsel in distress? It feels very 'weak' as the actor is certainly capable of expressing more dimensions.
Overall:
- Yes.
Watch it.
The Defenders (2017)
Starts strongly but limps to the ending
Pros:
-starts strongly with an intriguing plot
-Sigourney Weaver
-mostly great action scenes
-generally good pacing, except for the final episode
-Sigourney Weaver
-for the most part the characters have good chemistry
-Sigourney Weaver
Cons:
-well, not Sigourney Weaver, she's great
-the strong start doesn't last
-the excitement of the final episode is constantly interrupted with lengthy filler dialogue that serves little to no purpose. When things finally 'go down', the flow of action is like Iron Fist's flow of Chi (not very flowy)
-the soundtrack is rarely exciting. There is an amazing cliffhanger at the end, but at the same time it is immensely disappointing as there is no dramatic build up in the music. The gravity of certain moments is not truly felt when the music fails to reflect them.
Overall:
Decent, only 8 episodes long but the series concludes just before the steam runs out.