Pacific Rim (2013)

Tags

Action, Charlie Day, Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Movie, Pacific Rim, Rinko Kikuchi, Science Fiction

okay, this new iron man suit is pretty frickin’ sweet…

Well, at least it’s better than Transformers.

This movie isn’t hateful.  It doesn’t make me mad watching it like some other big budget explosion-fests, but it does frustrate me.  Why?  Because it’s the kind of movie that could be so much more.  I watch it and realize that, with a few changes, it could satisfy the inner child in me that wants to see people in giant robot suits fighting huge alien monsters, as well as the adult part of me that would enjoy an interesting story. Something with well-developed characters, a plot with a few unexpected twists, and maybe even a story line that challenges me in some way.  The only challenge in this movie is trying to name all of the movies that it reminds you of.  There were many for me – Independence Day, Transformers, the 1998 Godzilla movie, and of course, Robot Jox.

That is not an impressive list of movies to borrow from, and while Pacific Rim thankfully isn’t overloaded with as many comedy relief attempts as most other big budget blockbusters, it still falls into the same bad habits as most of those movies.  Seriously, is it too much to ask to do something unpredictable?  Not one single thing happened in this movie that was unexpected.  And I do mean not ONE THING.  It is movie-making autopilot of the worst kind.  But hey, as long as it looks cool, right?

Well, about that…

While admittedly these robot/monster fights are less muddled and headache-inducing than the fight sequences in Transformers, they still occur almost exclusively either at night, in the ocean, in the rain, or all of the above.  A few daylight fights would have been nice.

I could go on a long rant about logic problems and various other issues, but CinemaSins and Screen Junkies already did a nice job with that.  (Big time spoilers in both those videos!)

In the end, this is actually an okay movie if you’re looking for totally mindless entertainment.  Like I said, it doesn’t make me angry watching it like Transformers and some other movies.  It’s stupid and could have been SO much better, but it is what it is.

5.5/10

Prometheus (2012)

Tags

Charlize Theron, Drama, Idris Elba, Michael Fassbender, Movie, Noomi Rapace, Prometheus, Science Fiction

He’s got the whoooole world…

Well, it took me long enough to finally see this.  I guess all the hate scared me off, but I really didn’t think it was quite as bad as some were reporting.  Disappointing?  Sure, but not terrible.  Just…a bit too straightforward for this series.  Basically it’s just another story of people landing on a strange planet, encountering a life form, and then being turned into monsters by that life form.  It reminded me a lot of another movie I reviewed on here not too long ago called The Last Days on Mars, which I guess could just be a ripoff of Prometheus.

I like some aspects of this story, mainly the explanation of the black biological substance they encounter and what it was intended for, but other aspects were disappointing.  The alien race our human protagonists come to meet turn out to be just as uninteresting as most of the human characters in the movie.  Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender are pretty good, but the rest of the cast (save for maybe Idris Elba) are fairly dull.  And what’s with Guy Pearce being buried in some of the most unconvincing makeup I’ve ever seen?

Basically there are some good moments, nice visuals, and a few good ideas, but it all seems so typical that it’s hard to muster much excitement about the movie.  And yes, I agree with anybody that was yelling, “just run to the side!”

6.3/10

Obsessed (2009)

Tags

Ali Larter, Beyonce Knowles, Drama, Idris Elba, Movie, Obsessed

hold up everybody, I just got an email from my agent...he may have found me a better role.

PG-13

Idris Elba, Ali Larter, Beyonce Knowles

Sharon: You came into my house, you touched my child…you think you’re crazy!?  I’ll show you crazy!  Just try me, b****!!

Derek (Elba) is happy and successful both at work and in his personal life.  He’s happily married to Sharon (Knowles), and they have a young son together.  What could possibly go wrong?  Well, a crazy temp could start working in Derek’s office, and this crazy temp, Lisa (Larter), could become obsessed with stealing Derek away from his wife.  That wouldn’t be much fun.

I have a theory about how this movie came into being.  I think a bunch of executives were sitting around thinking about what two actresses they wanted to see fight/wrestle each other.  Since Beyonce is everywhere, her name came up pretty quick.  Somebody else was a fan of the show Heroes, so Ali Larter’s name was thrown into the mix.  Eventually those were the two that were settled on, and they began trying to build a movie around that one fight scene.

Preposterous?  Well then maybe you haven’t seen the movie.  There’s not much else to it.  The plot progresses exactly as one would expect, so there’s really no reason to discuss the specifics further.

Idris Elba (and maybe Ali Larter as well) is too good for this kind of trash.  He has a good presence on screen and should be playing parts with much more substance.  Beyonce isn’t too bad, but she’s mostly there to act annoyed with Derek and then fight Lisa.

I will say this for the movie, it’s a borderline guilty pleasure sort of film.  The leads are all attractive, the dialogue is energetic, even when stupid, and then there’s the big fight at the end.  You might get a kick out of it, even if afterward you realize you never want to see it again.

Never trust a temp.

10 – 4.5 for being so predictable and standard and stupid – .5 for too much irrational, idiotic behavior from the characters = 5.0