Blimey, where do I start? Zack is an incredible director and out of the (possibly) 15 movies he has directed (maybe a little more), I have seen 13 of them and really enjoyed 12. It is really like that for me. I truly enjoy a Zack Snyder movie but part 1 of Rebel Moon, while I will not say it is trash, it is very hollow. A chopped-up and rushed movie that does not get anywhere with lots of exposition, stagnant dialogue and weightless characters with a protagonist with the charisma of a grape. In my review, I also stated the film felt like a part 1 as opposed to other movies which were a part 1 that came out that year AND maybe part 2 will be better. This trailer does look really good!
First of all, what are you doing with a blue glowing sword thingy with someone heading towards you, shooting, fighting and messing up all your troops and you are simply walking backwards with your sword in hand not trying to attack? Are you not attacking because you do not want to hurt your fellow troops or are you simply waiting to be tagged in? It's a stylish sideways "hallway fight" that seemed a little silly or choreographed in a way you could see the problems with the fight and scene. Secondly, where are the characters? Did all the other characters die in the first movie after she recruited them? I just cannot remember. I just do not know. I am not sold but, I am going to watch it because I enjoyed the first part even with its problems. I am sold on the visuals (it's Zack Snyder, but of course I am), sold on the robot fighting and I think the best bit in this trailer, is the sliding down diagonally and fighting at the same time. I really feel like I have not seen that in a movie before. Falling and fighting, yes, but sliding down and fighting, I do not think so. Anyway, let's just hope this part two heightens and lifts up part 1 like Dune part 2 did for Dune part 1.
Trash? I would not say trash, but maybe I am giving one of my "favourite" directors a pass? Maybe I am being too lenient on Zack because most of his movies, I have seen and enjoyed. This film has a few problems, but the problems it does have, are major problems. Everything else is fine and in some cases, great. True Zack Snyder storytelling, but the problems stick out like a sore thumb and some people may not be able to cast that aside. I am not saying that I happily cast aside the problems, not at all, but I feel I can identify the problems, separate them from the other good/great moments and give my opinion on what I think of the movie overall. I'll explain.
Kora is an ex-soldier, who defected from the Imperium, an infantry, part of The Motherworld a militaristic empire who seek to rule the universe through centuries of conquests and war. Living a quiet life on a distant moon on a farm helping out the locals, the imperium comes knocking and Admiral Atticus Noble seeks out the moon and it's dwellers. Knowing how Noble will operate, Kora decides to help the farmers out by rallying a team of warriors to help her take down the Motherworld and stop their tyranny.
Very cut and dry. A simple story of good vs bad. We have a protagonist and we have an antagonist. Before this movie was released, I heard that this film was proposed to Lucas Film (now at Disney) as a Star Wars movie and Lucas rejected it. Netflix took it and allowed Zack to make the movie he wanted. There is a very high possibility that nobody oversaw his work and let Zack get on with it because if I am honest, it shows. Zack is a great storyteller with a visual flare that dwarfs Michael Bay. I have said this many times here in many reviews. I am not a Zack fanboy but I do like his movies, so maybe I am being a bit biased here, but I would not say the movie is straight-up trash. It just feels like a movie made specifically to be a part 1, than a movie that happens to be a part 1. If that makes any sense! For example, this year alone we have had two movies I can draw from that felt like a whole movie but ended on a cliffhanger because they were part 1 of 2; 'Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse' and 'Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1'. Both films were lengthy, told a story with minimal flashbacks and were split into a three-act structure. You are introduced to the characters, we are told as to what is to be done and how to do it, and we go about trying to achieve that goal. This movie does not quite do that. We are introduced to the characters, we are told what is to be done, we spend time looking for more characters and given even more back-story of the main character (exposition) and then a fight ensues, finished, the end. The entire film felt like a first act including part of a second act with nothing but flashbacks and slow motion. Or better yet, more accurately, the film could have been a series and this was the end of Season One. The film generally felt unengaging because of this, slightly disjointed, and rushed, although still operating at a slow pace not really getting anywhere and everything simply felt surface level. It spends a lot of time trying to get somewhere but ultimately getting nowhere. The film reminded me of playing an RPG game, you've got your main character and they are on a quest, they pick up an assortment of different characters who will help you in your fight and each of them look very different from each other with different skill sets. Not terrible, but not executed in a way that made the characters stick out. The characters do not really sit with you either. It is very exposition-heavy for the main character. These are the issues with this film, along with the main actress being OK and the dialogue also being, just OK. The villain was trying to be menacing, but...was not that menacing at all, the film just felt very brief and chopped.
The music, and the action, are all superb. It is funny how a lot of the action is in slow motion so you can see the detail and what is going on, a Zack Snyder staple; the problem is, it was just a little overdone in my honest opinion, just a little too heavy-handed. Visually the movie is great though, something you can never take away from Zack. The music is also really good as it gave me Man of Steel vibes in places. The special effects could have been a little better considering 'The Creator' looked amazing on a shoestring budget, but it is Netflix, I am not going to cry over the special effects here. The acting from most of the characters was good. Djimon Hounsou, Ed Skrein and Charlie Hunnam were the standouts, but I just feel these characters could have been given more. Maybe if there were less slow-mo and more and better dialogue, the characters would have connected with the audience better, but then this leads me to the part 1 of it all.
Of recent, I have heard that Zack has a director's cut of this first part which makes me think 1 of 2 things happened here. Netflix stepped in and was actually involved in overseeing his work and told him to strip the movie down to a respectable time (because we all know Zack cannot make short films), so Zack did a lot of chopping and what he cut out of it, IS in fact in the directors cut which will tell more story OR, Zack and/or Netflix came to the decision of having a director's cut because "Release the Snyder Cut" was a movement and maybe Netflix thought they could capitalise off the back of that, either way, the film feels rushed and it ends awkwardly. The characters are touched on at a surface level, if that and the story hardly had any meat on its bones. It would have been nice to have the characters more fleshed out and memorable because the movie simply comes across as a fetch quest.
But did I enjoy the movie overall? Yes and no. I made 3 attempts to watch this movie and each time I tried, I was tired and I did fall asleep. All. Three. Times. Being ill and tired is one thing, but the main character is cool, but not really engaging. All the flashbacks and exposition got tired and boring. The slow motion, the visuals and the coolness of the film does not do enough to keep your attention because, well...we have seen it all before, you know. Sophia is nice and all, but they tried too hard for her to be badass but could have done more with her character if they took her in another direction. Like, she was the reluctant hero, with the charisma of a grape, but giving out forced speeches that had the weight of a feather which was meant to influence people to help her with her plight. Maybe it is her delivery. Maybe it is just how it is written. Maybe Part 2 will be better (because the trailer actually does look better) and maybe this film should have been one long 7-hour movie (I kid). Zack is a great filmmaker, but he does really need to know how to use better executions when directing. He is not trash by any means, but his misses are usually centred around the same things, all the time. Where is 300 Zack or Man of Steel Zack? There were glimpses of him here, but not enough. More Suckerpunch Snyder I'm afraid. Good but not as engaging with the characters overall lends to the film feeling hollow. The visuals, action and music are good though, but just not enough.
The Teaser! What was THAT garbage? Sorry, but seriously, what WAS that? In my last review, I said "I cannot say that this teaser trailer blew me away" and that was one of if not the very first thing I said. This trailer though, WOW! Lead with this! If you have read any of my Zack Snyder reviews, plus, I also said in my last review of this movie's trailer, "...I am a Zack Snyder fan" but fan or not, this trailer looks epic. I know it was a teaser but unfortunately, I do not believe that the teaser trailer helped to sell this movie to me or anyone at all, especially if you compare it to this. They definitely held back because if you look at these two trailers back to back, this trailer tells you everything and nothing about this movie, while the last trailer just gives us some very clean visuals and a whole lot of nothing. While I will say the visuals do somewhat still look fairly clean in comparison to Dune, for example, I am actually blown away by this trailer.
Whilst the last trailer intrigued me (and let's be honest, likely because of Zack Snyder), this trailer gave me 300/Gladiator vibes, Star Wars (obviously, considering), Dune, and maybe even a little Game of Thrones. I am totally down with this movie and the cast alone is excellent. Sofia Boutella, Charlie Hunnam, Djimon Hounsou, Ray Fisher, Ed Skrein and Anthony Hopkins. All the quality stylised imagery we expect from Zack is here. The sci-fi AND the fantasy is here. The music sounds great and I can only hope, Zack has crafted a nice little movie he can build a franchise from even though it was initially meant to be a Star Wars story. Seeing those "glowing swords/batons" felt a little forced, but other than that and the legions of soldiers standing to attention like stormtroopers, I hope this film feels nothing like Star Wars. We need something different. We need new IP and this might actually be it. The second trailer should give us a little more, but so far, this looks great.
For those of you who know me, I try and keep abreast of all the latest information coming out of Marvel in regards to film, and DC for that matter. I have never been a comic fanatic, but I love some of the character's DC and Marvel have produced. I like different character's for different reasons and so should anybody else, I guess. But I mean, if I were to choose between two clever/intelligent rich guys from Marvel or DC, I would pick Batman. Batman will always win in a fight. Spider-Man is one of my favourites with Wolverine coming second (out of Marvel anyway), so you can imagine my excitement should they place them in the same Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sh*t, they don't even need to use Hugh Jackman (I know, I know)...let's bring on somebody else to play him, I'am totally fine with that as long as it has everything that makes, Wolverine, Wolverine. Fan boys would be pissed, but who really cares, really? Dude better just do a fine job as Wolvie, right? Big shoes to fill.
Anyway, I've digressed a lot and my main point was, "The f*ck is a Thor?".
Well, if you have not seen the first film, Thor, I'll briefly explain to you, who he is.
Thor is the son of Norse God Odin, the Allfather of the Gods and ruler of Asgard. Thor has superhuman strength, superhuman speed, superhuman reflexes and agility, superhuman stamina, superhuman senses (for tracking objects), can travel through time, can withstand physical attacks making him almost invulnerable, he can fly, he can fly between worlds and he carries a Hammer as well as being the God of Thunder and Lightening.
That is what a Thor, is.
Although he has a love hate relationship with his brother, Thor loves his brother dearly even if his brother does nothing more than try to ruin his day by being mischievous, causing anarchy and pandemonium by attacking worlds or the inhabitants of. You could see more of that in the Avengers film. Thor: The Dark World is more of a tale of revenge from a Dark Elf named Malekith who was banished by Thor's grandfather, Bor. Now awoken from his sleep, Malekith seeks revenge on all of Asgard and Thor, running out of options chooses to release his brother from his prison for his crimes to side with him in order to defeat Malekith and save Asgard.
That is pretty much it, in a nutshell and although there is some more to it I am missing out, I've got to point out that, this film for me was better than the first film. Not only did they keep what worked in the first film, they improved on it by showing us more of everything. There is more of Asgard to look at, more from Heimdall, more "brotherly love" from Loki and Thor and although there wasn't any of the S.H.I.E.L.D characters or any other Avenger to assist Thor in his struggle, this film did well on it's own merits. The story was decent, the visuals and action were excellent and although after seeing all these superheroes get together to defeat threats in the past, i.e Avengers, you can't help but ask yourself, where were the others at this point. It does make me wonder, at what point in this Marvel Cinematic Universe's time doe this happen in comparison to Avengers and Ironman 3?
On a side note, sometimes you want to stick with the same director for films incase the guy who takes it over cuffs it up. In this case, Alan Taylor seamlessly continues Thor's story. Now we must wait until God knows when for a sequel.
Well, first things first, this isn't TeenWolf at all! For those who remember Michael J Fox casting aside his time machine called the Delorian to don a suit of fur and play Basketball in a vary watchable film of my era? Although Teenwolf was for kids, Wolfman is more like an extreme version of 'An American Werewolf in London' in which, basically claws through that and the film 'Wolf' with Jack Nickolson like a werewolf surrounded by 3000 brown paper bag covered mannequins scented with human meat. Or maybe I need to see these films again - I admit, it has been a while.
If you don't like blood and gore, stay well away. Not to say it was as bad as watching SAW 10, but even I had cover my mouth in Shock-Horror. I usually find severed heads, limbs, bodies, funny and admit, in this film I did, but this film was different somewhat.
Benicio Del Toro, I like him. He's a decent actor. I haven't actually seen Che as yet, but the few films I have seen him in, he has played the characters well. He gets into an entanglement involving the death of his savagely slain brother. Town goers believe the murder(s) to be done by a mad man, wile others feel it's supernatural. As he tries to investigate, he gets caught up with his brother's wife, a Police Detective named, Aberline who is somewhat certain that he is the killer due to his troubled past and being tormented by the death of his mother doesn't make things easy. However with the help of his father played by Anthony Hopkins, the truth is bound to come to light.
Like all werewolf films, you know how it is going to end. The silver bullet. Other than that, I can't really go into much of the film other than tell you that you know exactly hat is going to happen, but you will actually jump in certain parts and if not, the person you are watching it with will.
The special effects weren't bad and the acting was decent. My only gripe with the film was, if it wasn't that predictable and the zipper suit looked more "authentic" I would have said this was a superb film, but then, how do you use special effects without over doing it? Van Helsing comes to mind.
