Reviews

This movie never really gets going. It all seems just a bit too obvious. Well meaning cop (treasury officer in this case) comes along, not well received, ends up the hero. This sort of thing has been done to death.

The plot is solid but just never changes pace. The action scenes are dull and uninteresting and the viewer is never able to connect with any of the characters. Attempts were made to characterise Eliot Ness (Costner) and Malone (Connery) but they seemed almost token and were again the same old cliches. Good family man and the only good cop in town.

Overall, this movie left me feeling rather empty.

5/10

X-Men was a good movie, but not a great one. It had a number of deficiencies. The most crucial of these IMO was the story itself. It never really engaged the viewer all that much. X2 OTOH has a much better story line. It is perhaps a little too obvious for the viewer but it is nonetheless more interesting.

X2 contains many action sequences laden with special effects. The movie hasn't been bogged down too much by all this and most of them are fairly original and well done.

The movie also continues the attempts at characterisation, especially of Wolverine, and for the most part seems to try too hard. The "chemistry" between Wolverine and Dr Jean Gray seems too forced. It would also be nice to see Rogue given more of a job than simply being an ornament, but a rather nice one at that :) Perhaps if there is an X-Men 3 she'll get to do more.

The comedic elements of the movie are once again well done with Jackman delivering some great dead-pan one-liners.

Overall, X2 is a fun and enjoyable movie but it must be remembered that it really isn't trying to be anything other than an action movie. It's perhaps a little long also.

7/10

Apocalypse Now is not a conventional film and it makes no attempts to be one. Do not sit down and expect to see a 2 hour film with a structure to it because you'll be disappointed. The movie lurches along with action scenes interspersed into moments of psycological reflection. And then some simply inexplicable scenes.

Overall, the pace of the movie is fairly slow. Coppola breaks all the rules of conventional film making with the movie opening with no titles and shots throughout the movie of up to 2 minutes. However, in the context of the film it works well. These men aren't normal people and Vietnam isn't a normal place and the film reflects this. Through the narration of Sheen's character, Captain Willard, we get an insight into the human mind and how it reacts to such adverse conditions. Like Marlow in Conrad's novella, we follow the psycological change of the protagonist as though it is our own.

The disappointment of the film is Brando's character, Colonel Kurtz. Although a lunatic he is obviously a man of surreal intellect yet on screen little of this is developed. An attempt is made, through Kurtz's discourses to analyse his mind but it isn't done anywhere near as well as with Sheen's character. Having said that, in some ways this just reinforces the idea that men can sometimes get so lost within their own little world that those outside of them couldn't possibly understand them and perhaps this was what Coppola wished to portray.

Overall, Apocalypse Now is an interesting look at the workings of the human mind in an adverse environment and also an interesting interpretation of Conrad's classic novella. There is some excellent photography throughout the film and despite its length it does manage to retain attention through most of the movie.

8/10

This is a fairly good Australian TV-moive. I only happened to see it by accident but it was interesting enough. The plot never really picks up any sort of decent pace but it is solid and there aren't any glaring holes. The acting is fine but nothing much is required in this story. 6/10

I rented this movie mainly to see Timothy Dalton. As I wasn't expecting an epic I wasn't overly disappointed by what was a fairly average movie.

My biggest complaint about this movie was the script. The dialogue was awful and often sounded extremely contrived. Dalton, as usual, was excellent and surprisingly so was Rupert Graves as the insecure Octavian. However Dalton's wonderful presence could not overcome the poor dialogue of the movie. Neither could it overcome the inadequacy of Cleopatra. Leonor Varela was clearly out of her depth and it was painful to watch her.

The movie was also far too long. If a movie is going to be 3 hours long then it must have an extremely interesting story that can hold an audience. I felt myself becoming bored after the first hour. Overall, this movie was nothing more or less than I expected and I would only recommend it if you have either a fan of Dalton's or have an interest in camp movies about Ancient Egypt.

5/10

The Bourne Identity ended up being different to what I expected. I went to see it having not read the book or having read any reviews of it. I was expecting a spy/espionage movie but what I got was just as good. The movie is fast paced and, unlike some action oriented movies, is able to convincingly sustain such a fast paced plot. While the plot may at first seem detailed and complex it is revealed well by the movie as each new element fits into the overall jigsaw puzzle.

The movie is not weighed down by too many characters central to the plot. The handful of central characters all put in solid performances. Damon is very convincing and shows he is maturing rapidly as an actor. The necessary female character, while well played by Franka Potente, was a little too cliched for my liking. Overall, The Bourne Identity is a well made film that is well worth a look for people after a bit more substance in an action movie.

8/10

I have always been skeptical of books made into moves. More often than not they don't follow the book closely enough and are worse off for it. The Sum of All Fears is a prime example of this.

Admittedly SOAF is not Clancy's best novel. There were significant problems with the novel I thought which don't warrant going into here. Anyway the movie seems to have magnified these problems. The main one is the character of Clark. In the novel he is fine but in the movie there seems little point to his character. He does a lot of investigating but little reporting to a higher authority or anything of the sort. He just ran around seeming to have little impact on any of the events or the plot in general. This is emphasised when he goes to see the radioactive poisoning victim. If that wasn't the most goddam useless scene I've ever seen in a movie then I don't know what is.

Another gripe I have is with the minor details of the movie. Names for one. Why change Marcus Cabot to William Cabot? Why change Narmanov to Nimerov? There seems little point. Also the neo-nazis are a stupid idea. I know that with current sensitivities the use of Islamic terrorists wouldn't have been a good idea but the neo-nazis were a cheap way out and a stupid idea in my opinion.

Overall, a very disappointing movie. 6/10