Reviews

I thought it was clever and well done with some good bits of black humor. Right up my alley. The acting was great and I really enjoyed it. Even knowing that pretty much anything was a potential clue, the scene at the end with the knife still surprised me.

Random side note: Parts of the movie were filmed in the town where I work so it was fun spotting familiar streets and shops. And the bar where I have attended many trivia nights also made an appearance.

I liked McKay's other political film, The Big Short, so I had high hopes for this. I was disappointed. I'm as liberal as they come but I thought this was incredibly heavy-handed. I also didn't care for the jumping around between the past and present as well as the random cuts to weird imagery. I feel like a more linear, straight forward telling of the facts would've been an improvement. We know Cheney was definitely no angel, to put it kindly. Just tell the story and let the audience draw their own conclusions. We're not stupid. We get it.

Things I did like: Bale was stellar. He WAS Cheney. A great performance. Amy Adams was wonderful as Lynn. Sam Rockwell didn't look exactly like Bush but he had the speech patterns and mannerisms down pat.

Just got back from seeing this and I thought it was excellent. The cinematography was gorgeous and the performances were very powerful. I'm sure that what happened to Eva happened to a lot of young women. Bruno was a very Fagin-like character, drawing her in and putting her in more and more desperate situations, taking full advantage of the fact that she would do anything to get her sister off of Ellis Island. And making it seem like it was her decision to boot! When all of your options suck what do you do? If you have a strong will to survive, you do what Eva did.

I know that Eva was charmed by Orlando/Emile (Jeremy Renner) but if she'd gone with him I think she would've ultimately regretted it. While well meaning, he came across as something of a flighty dilettante who would've dropped her the moment something shinier and newer came along. His character was all élan and dash with very little substance, purposely so.

The final scene between Eva and Bruno was perfect and I hope that come Oscar season this movie gets some recognition.

I wasn't expecting anything deep or insightful or thought provoking when I went to see this. I was expecting a fantasy/horror movie with dark humor where I could turn off my brain and just enjoy the ride and that was pretty much what I got. I really enjoyed it. It was fun and funny and it was fairly obvious that their tongues were firmly in their cheeks when they made this. I enjoyed the 'Middle Ages meets Steampunk' aspect and thought it was a nice touch that Hansel actually developed the sugar sickness - a.k.a. diabetes - from being forced to eat all that candy as a kid.

I enjoyed the brother/sister vibe between the two. You don't see a great many brother/sister action duos. At least, none come immediately to mind. It's always buddies/cops or soldiers and if there is a male/female pairing it's usually romantic. To have the protagonists be siblings was a refreshing twist. They both knew the other could take care of themselves but were still protective and concerned for each other.

And as for taking care of themselves, hunting witches was never shown as easy. They each got their asses handed to them on numerous occasions and in the scene where we see Hansel shirtless, his body is covered in scars, both old and new.

The only complaint I have is that it wasn't long enough. It's run time is just short of 90 minutes so they had ample room to expand a few scenes - or even add new ones - to flesh out the character development a little.

It had a few flaws but overall, I liked it. I think Jeremy Renner has a really marvelous ability to blend toughness and vulnerability in a way that a great many actors don't. As such, I actually found Aaron Cross to be far more relate-able than Jason Bourne. He projected this undercurrent of quiet panic throughout the entire movie at the very idea that he would revert back to his former self – a poor man's Forrest Gump, as it were – and I found that to be both intriguing and sympathetic. He didn't want to go back to what he'd been, and with very good reason. Another thing I liked was how Aaron wasn't the one to survive because he was somehow better than the other agents but because he got lucky.

Edited to add:

I saw this for a second time and, as a result,felt the need to come and post a few more thoughts/comments. I've never been much of a Matt Damon fan, so I didn't miss him at all, and as stated above, I found that Aaron came across as more relate-able. Jason Bourne was a blank slate the way Matt portrayed him, so while I enjoyed the other movies, it was largely in spite of Damon rather than because of him. I'd be okay with never seeing Jason Bourne in any future films, though they can reference him all they want. So Matt, please be sure to keep your word! Jeremy was damn good, and I am pleased he's becoming more high profile. And yes, he was HOT in this movie.

Shame that the film is getting negative reviews, but not that surprising. These movies put Matt Damon on the map, so anyone invested in his involvement would be a hard sell.

I also thought that Rachel and Jeremy were extremely convincing with their deep connection in a short amount of time. Often, I roll my eyes at such developments, and never really bought Jason and Marie's love story. Yet, I found myself invested in Aaron and Marta. Rachel Weisz always manages to convey an inner strength in her roles while being vulnerable. Given the saturation of the physically kickass woman in movies these days, it's refreshing to see more of a balance in a female character (in an action film). Though her final actions on the motorcycle were pretty badass.

All that said, the movie did end abruptly, and left me wanting more and I very much hope that we get it.