Red 2 (2013) Movie Review

RED 2 (2013) MOVIE REVIEW

While the entire movie is unnecessary as a whole, does that mean it is a bad movie? This time around, it does not. 

Taking place after the first Red, Red 2 once again revolves around Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) and his band of special operatives taking down any forces that come there way. This time around, Frank has retired and settled down with his wife Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) as they attempt at having a normal life. However, this changes when his best friend Marvin (John Malkovich) preaches him on how he has not killed anyone in months. Moments after this, Frank and Sarah are confronted by special men who tell Frank about a top secret event that is occurring  which causes Frank to round up his old friends and take down this evil once and for all. One thing I really enjoyed about the plot was that when a plot twist occurred  it logically made sense and it seemed that it wasn't just shoe-horned into the movie for no apparent reason. I also enjoyed the various locations that the story took them to, ranging from London to Paris. Overall, the story while not ground breaking, it was entertaining and kept the movie in tact and in balance. 

Still of John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker
and Bruce Willis

One of the major reasons this film worked was because of the chemistry shared between everyone on screen. Bruce Willis was good in his role though he was somehow out shone by his supporting crew, which consisted of both John Malkovich and Mary-Louise Parker. John just seemed to play the gun toting  crazy guy which obviously worked considering his personality and Mary just seemed....cute as she did not know how to handle everything at first, then by the end of the movie she is spouting the funniest lines and performing the funniest moments. About halfway through the film we are introduced to the other two women in the film, Helen Mirren and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Helen was good in her role much like Bruce was and Catherine Zeta-Jones somehow still remains to be a gorgeous woman and in Red 2, they use that to their full potential by making her a tease show almost the entire movie, which in my eyes, was a complete positive. Lastly, the remaining men include Anthony Hopkins who played a crazy depressing former criminal who has lost his mind, which caused funny things to be said from Hopkins and Byung-hun Lee (or Storm Shadow from G.I Joe) was good in his role, though surprisingly said some good lines here and there. An under used character in my opinion was Jack Horton (Neal McDonough) as whenever he was on screen, he was just awesome as he was intimidating and hilarious all at the same time, though this was most likely because he is the voice of two superheroes, which is probably why I loved him in this movie. Anyhow, the acting was really good and showed the lighter and funnier side to people I thought would never be comedic actors. 

Still of Catherine Zeta-Jones, Mary-Louise Parker
and Bruce Willis

To be honest, I can not find anything truly bad to hate this movie for (besides it being a tiny bit too long) as it is just a good time, nothing more and surely nothing less. The film shows impressive performances and manages to tell a complete story from start to finish. Although I cannot say anything bad about it, that doesn't mean that it is not perfect as no movie truly is. The best way I can describe this movie is that I will not go out of my way to find bad things about it unlike some films, I will just take the movie as it is, a good, funny action film. 

OVERALL: 7.4/10

Kick-Ass 2 (2013) Movie Review

KICK-ASS 2 (2013) MOVIE REVIEW

With Kick-Ass being one of my favourite films of all time, I obviously had extremely high hopes for the sequel. Did the movie live up to it's hype? In some ways yes, others not exactly.

Kick-Ass 2 follows a couple of years after the first as Mindy (Chloe-Grace Mortez) is now beginning high school, Dave (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has hung up his trademark costume and Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) is fueled with vengeance over the over the top death of his father at the end of the first film. This time around, Kick-Ass 2 really shows how these characters have changed over the years as Mindy is now more insecure while Dave and Chris are basically the same. As mentioned before, Chris is still angry at Kick-Ass for his dad's death, this causing Chris to bring together an army of supervillians to take down Kick-Ass once and for all. Because of this, Dave must where his costume once again to rid of Chris D'Amico once and for all. One aspect I felt was interesting with the plot was that the movie wasn't really centred around Dave, but it was more centred around Hit Girl and her having to deal with the troubles of going into high school. This focus made the film have a greater sense of heart which the first movie did not really grab me in, but then again, this is a Kick-Ass movie. Overall, I felt the story was good and did not try to over complicate audiences with pointless characters and other things like that. 

Still of Chloe Grace Mortez and Aaron Taylor-Johnson

One of the best things about this movie are all the various characters sprinkled throughout the film. For example towards the beginning of the movie we are introduced to Dr. Gravity and he is one of the best people in the movie as he just stands out with his bat and ridiculous "power". Other sub characters that were good include Night Bitch (Lindy Booth) and of course, Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey) who is the definition of scene stealing. It is no joke, every single scene he is in my eyes were just focused onto his loveable yet grizzled and menacing face. Anyhow, the acting was superb as well, especially Chloe's portrayal of Hit Girl. She pulled this off perfectly as she is becoming more of a well known name and is developing very well as an actor, which I for one hope is shown in the upcoming horror remake of Carrie starring the young actress. Like the last film, Aaron Taylor was good as Kick-Ass and Mintz-Plasse manages to kill it as The Mother fucker. Much like Jim Carrey, all of his moments are phenomenal  especially towards the middle and climax of the movie. Overall, the acting was really good and showed some great potential for these young actors.

Still of Donald Faison 

While watching the movie, there seemed to be something that just didn't grab me like the original did. Then it suddenly hit me, I realised that the film didn't have the same character that Kick-Ass 1 had. Reasons behind this include the age of Hit Girl as in the first, she was around 11 or 12 years of age, meaning that it seemed weird and awesome that she was killing people in horrific ways. In this movie, she is 16 which means that although still not good, it seemed more fitting that she would be killing people. Another thing that struck me as weird was the mis and under usage of certain characters, including both Dave's father and girlfriend. Dave's father I feel could have been used in a much better way as he could have been the person that gave him the push to go the extra mile when a task was at hand. As for the girl in his life, at the beginning of the movie, they break up. This break up could have created an intriguing plot point for the movie, though the film decides to completely abandon it and we never see her the entire movie and we never see how Dave reacts to any of it. In some cases however, it may have been a positive that this story arc wasn't included as it would have drove away from the main focus of the film. While the film certainly had downfalls, they did not over shadow the movie the entire time. 

Still of Christopher Mintz-Plasse

While Kick-Ass 2 did not succeed in what the original already succeeded in doing, the movie is still a good one and although I personally am disappointed by this movie, it is by no means a bad movie as it is actually a really good movie with heart, hilarity and gore. 

OVERALL: 7.6/10

 

 

Now You See Me (2013) Movie Review

NOW YOU SEE ME (2013) MOVIE REVIEW

Now you see me......now you don't...

Focused around four street magicians, Now You See Me tells the story of how these four magicians, Daniel (Jesse Eisenburg), Merritt (Woody Harrelson), Henley (Isla Fisher) and Jack (Dave Franco) all join forces to pull off the greatest heist the world has ever seen. Following their track however is the rage filled Special Agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffallo) and his newly assigned partner Alma Dray (Melanie Laurent). Now on a hunt for these vigilantes, Dylan and the FBI must now figure out how these master magicians continue to pull off these mind bending heists. One of the things I liked most about the plot was that every character was relevant, even the French special agent. This brought the film up a whole another level as achieving this is a skill that very few people can successfully do, one of these people being Joss Whedon (Director of The Avengers). Overall, the story for this film was extremely well constructed and managed to keep my interest for the majority of the movie.

Still of Mark Ruffalo and Melanie Laurent 

One major reason why this movie worked so well was because of the actual premise of it. With a premise involving magicians and heists, the possibilities are endless in which they do describe more and more into the film's progression. Obviously, the magic felt very real and made the heists seem very realistic and in some cases, easy to pull off. However, many times during the movie you begin to question whether that scenario would have played out that perfectly and go out without any hassles whatsoever. However, any heist movie is expected to have these kinds of trouble. At the end of each heist, Morgan Freeman's character begins to describe how they managed to pull off such a stunt so perfectly. By doing this, I felt it worked as since Freeman's character is someone who should know this, it all works almost too perfectly and continues to be a relevant aspect of the plot.

Still of Morgan Freeman and Melanie Laurent

As for the acting, it was perhaps the greatest thing that held the movie together and made it the enjoyable thing it was. The four main pro/antagonists in the movie play their roles perfectly and really do shine more when put together as they all have great chemistry. Although it is not too much of a gripe, I really believe that they could have used Dave Franco's character more in the movie as it just feels like he's just there to be a fourth man and not an actual horseman. Besides this, Woody Harrelson I feel steals every scene he's in as to be honest, no matter if the movie is bad or not, Woody Harrelson will steal the entire movie, which he did here. Other good actors include the standard phenomenal Morgan Freeman and Mark Ruffalo whom is becoming more of a well known actor because of his portrayal of The Hulk in The Avengers. Before I divert, I felt the acting was actually particularly strong and really showcased some hidden potential for many people. 

Still of Dave Franco, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson and
Jesse Eisenburg

While Now You See Me certainly won't win any major awards, it is still a great film to delve into and have a good time. Because of it's great acting, interesting premise and witty dialogue, it manages to tell the tale of four people who started from the bottom whom attempt to work their way to the top anyway they can. 

OVERALL: 7.5/10

Elysium (2013) Movie Review

ELYSIUM (2013) MOVIE REVIEW

So many sci-fi films being released in 2013, but is Elysium good enough to be considered the best? Well, let's see! 

Elysium is set in the year 2154 where the law is replaced with robots, Earth's citizens are left on a wasteland of a planet and the wealthy live on a space station named Elysium. On this station is where the rich live and because of this, the health is perfection as machines have been made to rid any signs of diseases, no matter how big or small they may be. Because of this, many of the people left on Earth want to travel to Elysium to become patched up, though the owner of Elysium, Delacore (Jodie Foster), will not allow this. Now the film centres around Max (Matt Damon) whom is a factory worker who just wants to live a peaceful life, though this rapidly changes when he has a horrifying accident at work, causing a lethal dose of radiation to enter his body. With a mere five days to live, Max goes to the aid of an old acquaintance to make a deal, which inevitably involves Max becoming a cyborg. Now half-man half-machine, Max must now find out a way to infiltrate Elysium, all the while having one of Delacore's assassins, Kruger (Sharlto Copley), following his every step. Going into this movie, I was expecting a film with a deep story and that's exactly what I got. Since this is a film by those that made the fantastic District 9, the story would undeniably be intriguing and exciting, which it is. 

Still of Elysium (Space Station) 

As for the many, many effects used in the film, I felt they were amazing. Just looking at the environments that the battles took place on were a pleasure to watch. Max's exo-suit looked better than I initially thought as I thought it would look it it was just tangling of him like loose clothing. However, the suit appeared to be insanely secure as since it was drilled into his bones, that would make it very durable and long-lasting. As for Elysium it self, I felt it look very really considering that it is a space station that is apparently easy to access as people just sneak in there everyday, anyway, I'm losing track. Overall, Elysium surprised me in the visuals that it pulled off. As for the acting, I thought it was very good as this movie was advertised to be Matt Damon's comeback, which it more or less is. Damon's a really good actor and it more than shows here as he plays a man who's got very little to live for, trying to regain his strength and courage to get his life back on track. Sharlto Copley was by far my favourite character as he plays the smart mouthed assassin that doesn't care what anyone else thinks and just does things. Copley is a phenomenal actor also as he proved that in District 9 and The A-Team, which ironically, he plays a crazy guy in at least one of those films so it's understandable why he plays a lunatic so well in Elysium. As for Jodie Foster, I didn't really click with her character as although Jodie's a fine actress, I didn't connect with her character and did not care about her fate. Overall, the acting is one of Elysium's greatest strengths and particularly shines when looking at the two main men of the film.

Still of Sharlto Copley and Alice Braga 

Everyone movie has them and with Elysium, the negatives are definitely evident. One of the problems I had with the movie is that I feel that it takes a little too long to get going, which is fine if it leads to something amazing though here, it leads to a little dialogue, a fight and more dialogue. Don't get me wrong, the action was spectacular but it's just not quite enough to make it worth it. Another thing is that I felt there were characters that could have been used in a better way is Max's best friend  Julio (Diego Luna). He is in the film for about almost half of it and I would have liked to see him in it more because he was a relate-able character in my eyes, along with Max. One last thing must be mentioned and while it is not a negative, it is defiantly worth mentioning. The blood in this movie, it's just....great. Every time someone dies, they are either drenched in blood or they explode in a celebration of guts and blood. Anyhow, these negatives while very small, did slightly affect my final judgement on the film as a whole. 

Still of Matt Damon fighting

Even with it's clear down falls, Elysium is a fantastic movie with great special effects, terrific acting an intriguing and surprisingly good story for a sci-fi film. Without question my favourite sci-fi of the year so far, Elysium could very much be considered the return of Matt Damon's acting career after for whatever reason it stopped for about 5 years. 

OVERALL: 8.2/10