Reviews

The King of Queens is at it again and he hit this one out of the park! Salma Hayek also put in a fun performance as did Henry Winkler. Kevin's real life brother offered up some of the funnier moments dealing with domestic realities. Every character in this film made me laugh until it hurt. This film is a sure crowd pleaser as it has the Asians, Hispanics and the white crowd both old and young covered quite well. Most of the comedy is from the older actors in this film so I think the older crowd will appreciate this film as much as teens will. At times you know you are watching a comedy. At other points you know there is good heart touching drama added in with a comedic touch. And then when the fighting kicks in you feel like you are watching a real fight. If you have a heart for music studies you will cheer these characters on! If you enjoy the UFC/MMA fighting then you'll have a blast watching Kevin James dive into this world and get/give a good whooping! A lot of the real players/announcers/refs from UFC are in this film adding to the feel of a real UFC match. It's a smart film in it's comedic moments. On the other hand, as contrived and predictable as many elements in this story are, you will still find yourself cheering the players on and maybe even feel your eyes water due to feelings from either end of the emotional spectrum. I had given up on comedy films in recent years as most of them our just way too raunchy. But the PG rating on this film...I applaud all those behind this production. This movie works and it will make anyone laugh!

I usually agree with Ebert's reviews but he was way off on this one! The cinematography, color schemes, set production values were all excellent and so was the acting. If you are a Gary Oldman fan you certainly don't want to miss this.

The storyline was good and it really kept me guessing until the end. I say that because about 1/3 of the way through Shamalayan's 1st movie I figured out Bruce being dead. This movie will be compared to The Village and which is the only Shamalayan movie I truly enjoyed.

Also, this movie is not a horror by any means. It had plenty for adults and for teens with a good balance of both throughout.

Stay through the end credits for a special surprise!

I love train movies and I love Denzel, but I hated the new Pelham 123. Even Denzel couldn't save that flick. Thinking back..there was just too much dialogue in that movie..this movie had a perfect balance of everything. I think Denzel made another train movie because he realized he needed to redeem himself..and he totally did!

Some of you are on the railroad yard fence about even bothering with this movie because there is no human enemy in this flick. I was sitting on that same fence earlier tonight, wanting so badly to stay in my comfortable neighborhood full of human enemy infested movies. But I am so glad I crossed to the other side of the tracks to watch Denzel fight the metal beast! Denzel Is The Man of Steel!

P.S. - The photography was excellent as were the abundant one-liners.

Cruise and Diaz make this movie work, and it works very well! The action was plenty and so was the visual and subtle verbal humor. I have never been a fan of Diaz, but she fit her role perfectly. Cruise knows action and the action was in the same vein as an over the top James Bond movie aka Die Another Day or Mission Impossible. I thought both of those particular films were too crazy in the action department. But I didn't care how crazy the action scenes in this movie were because the chemistry between the two leads was extremely good and that is all that matters once you start watching. This is the perfect date movie for any age. My wife may have enjoyed it more than I do and this was an action movie more than anything. The comedy involved a lot of dry humor, both verbal and visual like in an Indiana Jones movie. No one was really cracking jokes in this movie, but the actors caused me to laugh based on what they did in reaction to what was happening around them and to them. There is lots of spontaneous humorous action throughout. Never a dull moment! Cruise and Diaz trot the globe and there is lots of cinematic eye candy throughout with the various exotic locations. It was well worth the price of admission and this is coming from a guy who had sworn off comical action movies.

Saw The Hurt Locker 7 days prior to watching Tunnel Rats. Tunnel Rats wins in a big way!! There was no main character in Tunnel Rats, and these guys were all regular Army. I was on the edge of my seat AND emotionally attached to these characters. There were at least 10 characters (3 or 4 of them enemy) that had some sort of character development and that takes place in the first 45 minutes of the film. It was slow at first, but once the first person enters the tunnel you'll feel like you're right there in Nam INSIDE THAT TUNNEL!!! I felt like I was crawling in there alongside these guys fighting my way through just trying to survive and find my way out. The tunnel confrontations were incredibly tense and gripping! I liked how the "Gooks" were portrayed as well, especially the female. The production values were well above B-movie grade. The cinematography was well done with some very thoughtfully choreographed shots with the Huey and the scenery. The soundtrack was quite appropriate as well. The DVD release takes out the really gory kill scenes, but you will have seen enough to imagine what just happened. When the really gory deaths occur there is a freeze frame and sometimes a brief drop to black. If you want to see all the gory deaths later on you can choose to do so in the Deleted Scenes section. The gory deaths are so horrifying that I think it's a good idea that they were cut out so that you don't just zone out and miss the next 20 seconds of intense action and suspense! If you enjoy war movies or are a student of Vietnam War history, this is a must see!

The trailer made me laugh out loud, and that's why I went to see this piece of nonsense. If you've seen the trailer, you've seen the funny parts. I'm not kidding! I felt so ripped off!! I was ready to walk out after watching the first 15 minutes without even cracking a smile. I love dry humor, but this was way too dry! Every gag in this movie has been seen before too, so maybe that's why I didn't feel like laughing. No movie has made me laugh more than Naked Gun when I first saw it, and this movie is no Naked Gun. Not even close!!!!! People who find this even 1/10 as amusing as the Naked Gun series must be out of their minds!

Action scenes in this movie sucked royally too, and there are no gun fights until the last 20 minutes of the movie. Worth the wait? NOT! Nothing original and like I said before..if you've seen the trailer/previews then that's all you needed to see of this pathetic film. I had more fun laughing at the stupidity of John Cena in The Marine then I did with this film.

Craig Ferguson of the Late Late Show is very funny. Monty Python is funny. This movie is not! Please don't waste your time with this boring, MTV-style edited piece of trash. You've been warned!

Other reviewers before me saw this in Kazak language with English subtitles. My review is for the English version which was released in 40 US theaters this weekend. Only the greetings were in the Kazak language. Being a fan of Hong Kong flicks, I've seen my fair share of bad dubbing, and I could not tell that this was dubbed, period! Maybe it wasn't as most of the main actors are American. It was a wonderfully filmed historical epic that contains some minor ripoffs from Return to Snowy River, Gladiator and Musa(2001), but those scenes worked very well. If you're a fan of warriors on horseback this is definitely a must see for you. To be honest I wasn't expecting it to be so good, and the only reason I drove out of my way to see it was because Mark Dacascos was in it. He plays a menacing warrior and was definitely cast well as his character! Way to go Mark! The girls in this flick are pretty and their acting is well done! This film is definitely soft on the eyes and full of epic eye candy. They spent the 40 million production dollars well. The actors' performances were believable even the unknowns. My only complaint with this film is the 2 main heroes. You could tell they'd been trained well with sword fighting as I'm sure Jason Scott Lee and Mark helped out with that. But I really didn't think the two main heroes were cast well as Kazaks seeing how most everyone else in the film at least looked half Oriental including the Kazaks. Aside from that, I have no complaints and only praise for this foul-language-free and nudity-free sweeping historical epic shot on location which is a definite plus in my book!

This is a very realistic and emotionally charged war epic with cool heroes and fight scenes that captivated my attention like no other war epic movie ever has. This movie kicks butt! This is not a wire-fu heavy martial arts pic. While this does have some martial arts in it, there is no outlandish wire-fu that really turns me off! Haven't we had enough of that? This has the elements of an American Western epic rather than than over-the-top Hong Kong cinema sword play that is just eye candy more than anything...I have a great appreciation for historical epics and this one left me more satisfied than Braveheart and Gladiator did. The reason being is that there is more than one hero to care about. And there is a spoiled rotten princess who gets treated as such. I liked how she didn't always get her way. The journey these heroes and non-heroes take through the desert kept me guessing and dying to see what would happen next. There are many pleasant surprises! I leached on to these warriors and the film makers made me want to stick with them and not miss a thing! This blows away Chinese chop socky cinema which pales in comparison after watching this epic. Outstanding performances especially by the archer! This archer played by Sung Kee is incredibly awesome!! He made Orlando Bloom's archer in LOTR look like a pansy! I really believed these guys were for real..it's that realistic! The cinematography is jaw-dropping and the story...just go rent it now!!!!!

This movie really made me care for the main characters! By the time the middle of this movie rolled around, I was wanting to marry the leading lady myself! Noemie is incredible and beautiful in this film!!!! Braveheart, Last of the Mohicans, The Patriot, Gladiator all got me riled up and angry with the bad guys, but this one got me so ticked off that I wanted to jump into the movie screen and beat them to a pulp!! I'm getting worked up again right now just thinking about it! There was hardly any action set pieces in this film, but I didn't care. Naomie is the reason to watch this film. I rented this movie because Jason Isaacs, Tim Roth, etc. were in it, but none of the big names had much screen time at all except for Gerard DippyDoo who I wanted to behead by the end of the movie!!! Ugh..I'm still angry with him even now!! I had never seen the very talented actress Noemie before this film, but as Mary-Loup she absolutely stole the show! She lit up every scene she was in. Without a doubt she is now my favorite movie actress! Her English is very good too considering she's French. She looked very believable and natural with that bow and arrow. Hope to see her in some more action roles soon!

But at least Transporter 2 was fun. Robert Patrick is the only actor worth watching in this film, and even he had some wacky forced lines that made no sense. If you've seen the trailer you've seen it all. I'm so serious! I've seen every B movie out there and this is a C for sure! Also being a Marine, I was at first blown away by how pathetic the "Marine" background footage was that they gave Cena. But about 1/3 of the way through this poor excuse for an action film, I was very happy that they had him wear a camouflage Army cover (hat for you non-military types) instead of a cornered Marine issue cover when he saluted that officer because neither he nor his character deserved to wear a Marine uniform. By the way, a high ranking officer would never salute a Sgt. first. It's always the other way around! Apparently there were no real Marine advisers on this movie set. Even if they had all the Marine details in order, the action was extremely stupid and I was left severely disappointed. Neither Cena nor Cena's character in this movie deserve to be called The Marine. One last thing. I've seen some people say the action is so realistic in this film. That is the furthest thing from the truth. I saw at least 300 bullets (I'm not exaggerating either) unloaded into the car Cena was driving during a chase and not a single flat tire as a result. Need I say more!?!

Don't be fooled by the stylish DVD cover. You will regret it!!! This movie was annoying to say the least. ZERO action. Breathtaking my eyeball! The lead character was never out of breath except when he ran out of cigarettes. I don't remember him even running a single time. He was never in a hurry to get anywhere. I saw one machine gun the whole movie and it was being carried by a soldier in town. No one fired at the main character. No one even came near him with a gun. So why is the rifle the most prominent image on the DVD cover?!?!!?

I got tired of hearing that terrorist on the other end of the phone line after about 10 minutes too. Tell me please how on earth he could see him EVERYWHERE and ANYWHERE. If the terrorist on the phone walked everywhere the lead character did, then why on earth didn't the terrorist just do the job? Silly plot line.

The only thing this movie is good for is for its National Geographic-like shots of the slum-filled Philippines. I now know that I would never want to waste my money visiting that country. It's an absolute wreck!