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Bad Boys II (2003)
The kind of movie that looks great in the previews but sucks in the theatre
Once upon a time, action movies made sense; they didn't try to be funny to the point that they would make the comedy genre, and they had enough action to make a scene realistic. Bad Boys II by comparison is an over the top gaudy movie that is backed by its own awesome 160 million dollar budget. It tries to out-do every consecutive scene from the previous one with bigger explosions, more ludicrous scenarios, and unfunny crude jokes.
Director Michael Bay this time seems to have outdone himself. This movie is similar to Matrix Reloaded in which the Wachowski Brothers also wanted to show off their technical and cinematic action scene abilities. But it's different because it doesn't regard international law, domestic law, and seemlessly turns Miami into a battle torn playground. If this was even modeled by real life, these heroes would have been fired within the first 10 minutes of the movie.
The movie revolves around the two police officers from Bad Boys II: problematic husband Marcus Burnett(Martin Lawrence) and rich bachelor Mike Lowrey(Will Smith). They are part of the Tactical Narcotics Team(TNT) of the police that deals with matters that overlap the Drug Enforcement Agency. It seems that the TNT can cause mass havoc without a reprimand, enter homes without warrants, and shoot up armies of other countries with absolutely no problem at all. Fast forward every 10 minutes and you get a new scene that wants to outdo the previous one, not only in effects but in presentation. The movie wants to engross the audience so much in these explosions that it fails to capture the essense of any of the characters. You don't care if anything happens. In fact, the 146 minute movie seems to drag along with neverending action scenes, scenes which are mastered to perfection in technique, but lack the emotion and whole heartedness of a true action flick.
This time, the TNT has to track down one of the biggest ecstasy dealers in North America. This dealer has capture Burnett's sister and off to the rescue is this duo with their team that break every law the police stands for.
Just about everything is morbid and crude about this movie: a drug dealers who ships drugs in carcasses, jokes about rats getting laid the "human" way, and people getting their heads blown off. Maybe I'm missing the point, but aren't police supposed to save lives?
Is this movie visually appealing? Yes. Does the action satisfy the moviegoers? Yes. Is it worth your $8.00? No. The endless one-liners and anti-hero pattern inherrant in these two "heroes" make one want to just toss this movie strip into the trash and burn it to ashes, which is where it should belong.
5/10
National Security (2003)
One of the worst comedies ever
Imagine a movie that throws every racist black joke cliche you could ever think about into an 88 minute movie. Then imagine that it is recycled every few minutes. National Security is a comedy that is not only unfunny, but is also unoriginal, full with cliches, and downright pointless.
The movie centers around Earl Montgomery (Martin Lawrence), a security officer, and Hank Rafferty (Steve Zahn) an ex-police officer who turns security officer after what seems to be a phony Rodney King beating. Now, this is where the movie starts to go wrong. It takes the typical black/white man stereotype and turns it into a cop movie that dares to enter where no one has gone before- make consistent black jokes from a black guy. Don't get me wrong, I'm not using black in a derogatory way, but merely to point out that these "African-American" or so called black jokes are unfunny and dull.
Later, the two somehow stumble upon a plot to take a precious metal-alloy that will make a crooked cop and some other thiefs rich. By coincidence, this group is also responsible for Hank's partners death. Because of this, Hank goes to revenge his partner.
What makes this movie even worse is it's seemingly full of holes. For instance, it dramatizes the court scene to make it seem important, but then puts an almost all African-American jury in as if it is somehow funny. Even Hank isn't given a fair trial. Moments of this movie center around police brutality and equality, something this movie doesn't care to resolve at all.
I laughed no much in this movie... no wait that was another movie. In this movie I laughed only once. It seems that 95% of the jokes were race related and after the first 10 minutes of the movie, no fresh material was ever given. In fact, all the jokes were told by Lawrence, who seems to have sold himself out on this movie. His 20 million dollar contract seems laughable at best for such a poor movie.
This movie could have been replaced with stick figures and I would have been just as delighted.
2/10
The Italian Job (2003)
A spectacular robbery in a not so spectacular film
With a promising opening scene of a great robbery, you would think this movie would have more potential like other robbery films such as The Score, which, ironically, also stars Edward Norton. However, as most other B rated movies, this movie falls short on many levels.
The Italian Job is a remake of the original The Italian Job (1969). It's about revenge over the death of John Bridger (Sutherland) after a $35 million heist. Charlie Croker (Wahlberg) leads his team of men and long with Bridger's daughter, they take a vengeance on Steve Frezelli (Norton) who stole the money from them in the opening scene.
The three mini-coopers seem to get a lot of attention in the movie (I wonder how much mini-cooper paid?). So much attention, in fact, that they had to show them from almost every angle for a good 3/4 of the movie. In fact, by the end of the movie, I myself was wanting one of the little powerful machines.
Actually, that's unfair to say because in the original, mini-coopers were also used. In any case, these cars swerve in and out of traffic during car chase scenes like no other. But even with these small, manueverable cars, they never make the action feel complete. When you go into an action movie, you expect action. Though action is delivered (during the robbery scenes), the action during car chase scenes never holds up. It's what you've seen in just about any other car chase scene ever, nothing spectacular.
There are a couple scenes though, which make you just laugh. Lyle(Seth Green) brings comedy to the screen and though the jokes are always on the same subject, they never get old. Norton, on the other hand, does not deliver. Not so surprising though, as he said in an interview that he did not look forward to making this movie.
The worst thing about this movie was the fact that it cut too many scenes short and made too many scenes long which should have been shorter. This was probably done so that the pacing would be steady throughout the movie, but it never makes the viewer feel satisfied.
6.5/10
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
Funny stereotypes
As in any other comedy, My Big Fat Greek Wedding depicts many stereotypes. In this case, they are depicted of a Greek family living in America. What makes this movie unique, though, is that it doesn't revolve around good-looking characters nor does it involve the Hollywood romance story, all which we have seen too often with Julia Roberts in.
The movie is about Toula(Nia Vardalos), a 30-year-old woman who seemingly can't get a boyfriend. Her family has all given up hope on her of ever getting a significant other. She works at the family's restaurant (Dancing Zorbas) as a waitress, because she has no purpose in life but to do such things. In walks Ian Miller(John Corbett), a guy who Toula gets an instant sense of "love at first sight" feelings in her.
The story focuses on the fact that Toula loves this new guy in her life and the fact that her dad has expectations of the "Greek" guy that she should marry. There is some kind of warmth in this movie which you feel when you watch it. The jokes are always fresh, though some are recycled and thrown at you later on in the film.
As the title of the movie says it, this movie involves enormous feasts, wedding receptions, and families. What makes this movie a success is the fact that there is tension not on the lover's part, but on the part of both sides of the two families. One has an obvious Greek tradition, and the other is the typical Caucasian family in the United States. But, like other romances, bonds are formed, and love surpasses all.
There are points in the movie which are unbelievably funny such as how Toula's father, Gus(Michael Constantine) uses Windex to solve all his problems. Gus also thinks that all words are derived from Greek, as in the scene where he tries to explain that the Japanese word "Kimono" came from the Greek word "Kimona". This is funnier than most romantic comedies out there, but with the warmth of a real-life love story.
8/10
The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
A Visual Feast
If the oracle in the movie could fathom how visually appealing this movie was, then maybe she'd be a true prophet. The Matrix Reloaded is an action packed visual feast: everything from a delicately filmed 100 agent fight scene to a climactic intense 15 minute freeway chase. This movie will definitely satisfy most movie-goers and people who loved the Matrix.
The plot continues from the first movie, with a darker feel to it. Neo(Keanu Reeves) shows himself to be the one with his amazing fighting abilities. He gets a boost: he can fly. Joined with his love, Trinity(Carrie-Anne Moss,) the one who believes in him, Morpheus (Lawrence Fishburne), and the rest of freed mankind, they attempt to stop sentinels from reaching Zion, the last place on Earth. Morpheus and a few others believe in the power of Neo, others are skeptics. It naturally follows that there is a struggle between the character and others, namely the commander. Neo also struggles with himself as he tries to hide his awful dream (I won't reveal it here) from himself. All this happens while the sentinels are digging for Zion and are a matter of days away from reaching the actual city.
Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad movie at all. It's pretty good, just not great. Where this movie falls short is in it's development. The story is long and drawn out; there are many unnecessary scenes, one which is the intimate setting between Reeves and Belluci. At times it's sort of ludicrous the things Neo can do; you never feel he's in any real danger. But then of course, you're always intent to see what happens next. Fast forward to the end, and you're left with the feel of Back to the Future. The ending is incomplete and unfulfilled, but most likely because the next in the series will be coming out in November. If you're looking for character development or a movie that isn't glaring with plot-holes, then this movie isn't for you. Otherwise, bust out the popcorn, bust out the coke, sit back, and enjoy your movie.
8/10
A Man Apart (2003)
Half action, half drama.
When you watch an action movie, you expect action. A Man Apart fails in doing this. It tries to captivate the audience with a partial drama approach and does it horribly. The synopsis revolves around Sean Vetter (Vin Diesel) who with a star DEA team that busts a druglord named Mateo Santos (Juan Fernandez). Locked up away for two life sentences, Santos' drugring murders Vetter's wife. You would think that this is a great loss for Vetter, but you never feel it. It never reaches the point where you feel the character; he is just a flat two dimensional guy who you never care for. Vetter pursues the entire drugring, with a vengeance because now he has nothing to lose. The only thing we really get out of Diesel is that he grew up "in the hood", so he is tough. Other than that, it seems he needs to retake acting 101. The most disappointing part of the movie was the climax, which didn't climax at all. I won't ruin it for you out there who are expecting some kind of great ending with a big fight, but nothing "great" happens.
6/10
Basic (2003)
A movie can only have so many plot twists.
Directed by John McTiernan, Basic is mind boggling movie that captivates the viewers to an extent. That extent is well covered in the first half of the movie. The second half is utterly repulsive, because the plot twists in so many ways, that the viewer no longer understands what is happening. Don't get me wrong, there are good movies with great plot twists, e.g. David Fincher's The Game. This movie just doesn't cut it, however. It seeks to twist the viewers perception on the movie... but it can only do that so many times before the viewer becomes outright bored and confused. Travolta, however, delivers a decent performance.
6.5/10
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
A Let Down
This is my first time posting as an IMDB member so I'll make it concise. This movie wasn't at all like I expected. I logged on earlier and it was rated 8.0/10.0 by IMDB users so I thought, hey, must be some outstanding movie of the year or something. Sadly, the only good part of the film were the opening credits. A lot of the movie dragged on, but with humor placed in awkward spots in an attempt to keep the user going. Easily one of Spielberg's worst. Was this supposed to be a comedy? Give me a break guys. At first walking out of the movie theatre, I didn't want to think it was THAT bad, after all, being directed by a star director. However, now that I think back upon it, it is an average movie. The thing that really got to me was how the heck Hanks was so nice??? He's a damn FBI agent that treats the guy he's chasing after like his own son! 6.5/10