(film review) - 300: Rise of an Empire

Hindsight is a b*tch and sometimes it is really difficult to have a great idea, work off of it and try and construct a story which will gain praise through all different views or incarnations of said story.

So you understand what I mean, I will just dive straight into this.

300: Rise of an Empire is a standalone film which does not need to be seen with the previous 300 movie. It revolves around the story of the Rise of Greece and the parts these characters play which lead into a story interwoven around this film and the previous film.

The story is being told from Queen Gorgo of Sparta who tells her Spartan Troops before they join the battle of Salamis, the story thus far of General Themistocles of Athens (Sullivan Stapleton), who in the middle of the Battle of Marathon, kills King Darius in front of his son Xerxes. Darius’ Naval commander, Artemisia tells Xerxes of his dying words who then goes off to walk Barron lands and returns as Xerxes the God-King. As Themistocles meets with the council and convinces them to provide a bigger fleet to engage the Persians at see, Themistocles also tries to rally troops from Sparta to no avail. Engaging in many fights, this captures the attention of Artemisia who invites Themistocles to join her and her Persian army to be her second in command.

After watching this film, having watched the original 300 movie, you will generally feel that this film isn’t as great as the first one. This is because we as people like to compare. However, there is a lot of truth into your thoughts on this film because there are a lot of things that do not marry up with your expectations. So where you would think that this film is bound to be bigger and better than the last film, in fact, this film is the prequel and entwining film that weaves in between the sequel and in retrospect should have actually come out first for you to appreciate it more. Had this film come out in 2007, we would have loved this film for it’s story, pacing, special effects, cinematography and sound. If not, then they should have recorded all 3 movies at the same time and release one a year after each other like what they have done with the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit Trilogy. However this film comes across as a money grab with a weak or borrowed storyline which uses “borrowed” plots and special effects whilst they try to milk a 7 year old film for all it’s worth by adding a few sparkles.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a really good film to watch, but seems like a Rehash and I really do feel that if you had watched this 7 years ago and then 300 after, then you would appreciate this film more and the storyline. If they do a 3^rd film and I hope they do, they should re-release these films and promote it more as a Trilogy or a film consisting of 3 movies as one total movie spanning over 3 stories from different perspectives.

(film review) - The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Rise of Electro

I chose this title because it made more sense after watching the film. However, before I get into it, I want to point out a few things first. I have been following these comic book movies for a while now. I try to get enough information about these films, their potential storylines, the heroes and the antagonists. Spider-Man's marketing was relentless and barely stopped for a breather. From shooting, set pics, clues, mythos, potential enemies and the future of Spider-Man. With that said, Marc Webb IS directing a trilogy. Spider-Man's universe is going to be dynamic. So dynamic, they have planned future films after the original trilogy when that is complete with two spin off films and Spider-Man 4. Yes, as I said, dynamic.

To the average movie-goer, Spider-Man is just going to be another Spider-Man film and people will not understand the contractual agreements these studios who have the rights to Spider-Man and people won't understand why Toby Maguire is not Spider-Man any more, unfortunately. As I stated in my last Amazing Spider-Man review, that film was 10 years too late and this Spider-Man universe is much better and had this been executed way back when, we would be on Spider-Man 8 or so by now.
In regards to the film and it's relentless promotion and if you are reading this before you go out to see the film, I want to make you aware of something before you watch. Not a spoiler per say, but something in which the marketing has advertised which could be misinterpreted.

Firstly, this is indeed Spider-Man's biggest battle. However, with the images displayed with that message, it may not be the battle you were thinking.
Secondly, in this universe, Spider-Man follows very closely to the Spider-Man comics, down to plot twists and storylines which are burrowed from the ultimate universe as well as the comics to provide a "realistic" and "grounded" story. When watching this film, you will need to bare in mind that this is only the start of Spider-Man's troubles.

Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) is the young intelligent student who had been bitten by a genetically altered Spider which then turns him into a superhuman kid with heightened senses, strength, agility and stamina. Now as New York's friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, he has defeated criminals and Supervillains as well as juggling his life as a student and trying his best to keep a promise he has given to the love of his life's father after the events of the first film. Realising that breaking his promise is more haunting than he initially expected, Spider-Man battles with this along with the loss of his parents as he still has unanswered questions about his parents disappearance and his father's work/connection to Oscorp. As Peter's childhood friend comes back into town, Peter tries to rekindle his friendship with Harry Osborn (Dane Dehaan) until he is caught in a sticky situation where has has to make some hard choices. With all this going on and his on again off again relationship with Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), Max Dillion (Jamie Foxx) falls tragic to an accident which leaves him unrecognisable and able to control electricity who is now hellbent on destroying Spider-Man.

From loving the first The Amazing Spider-Man (Although it was 10 years too late), this film basically continues where the last Spider-Man left off. Much more colourful, more comic book-like in visuals but still somewhat dark in tone and even the threats come across somewhat real. The on screen relationship between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are great. In my opinion, their story is soo touching that there were a few times in the film I could have been brought to tears. Peter Parker's trouble/stress with his parents leaving, his old friend coming back to town and his aunt doing all that she can to look after her nephew without her beloved husband Uncle Ben is a lot. Although the film wasn't purely made for 3D like Avatar, the 3D element not once took me away from the movie like other 3D films have, like 300: Rise of an Empire and Man of Steel.
The comedy in this film was decent as there seemed to be a consistent tone in the film without coming across too cheesy/corny. The camera angles were also great and the last battle was epic enough. Dialogue was fitting, apart from a time where Peter Parker says, "Don't get it twisted" which took me out of the moment. It didn't feel like it was fitting. Jamie Foxx as Max Dillion was also great. His acting chops, something I have seen before in a previous film but as Electro, Mr. Foxx was quite sinister as well as very smart like his alter ego, not to mention Dane DeHaan's depiction of Harry Osborn.

I would say, DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THIS FILM as most of you would have seen Captain America: Winter Soldier and love it and then compare this Marvel film with that Marvel film. These films are NOT ALIKE.

Sometimes I feel that I have to defend Spider-Man too much etc etc, but in all honesty, although not as good as CA:TWS, this film is a great opening for the future films to come. Yes Spider-Man has his greatest challenge yet and this film did exactly what it needed to do to set up the Spidey Universe nicely. Watch out for the Easter Eggs.

(film review) - Captain America: The Winter Soldier

So, I saw this film as an early screening after tons and tons of trailers and clips and EVERYTHING. Needless to say that this was most definitely OVERKILL and although the film looked great, I was pretty much sick and tired of it all. At one stage, I went to see a film and ended up seeing a 10 minute clip of CA:TWS and although it got me interested in the film, I couldn't help but think, "gimme the movie now, alright!". I felt it was totally unnecessary.

So, as the film starts, I see the same 10 minute clip at the very beginning of the film that I saw before watching another film and I was upset. I've seen it all before. I was a little annoyed, but to be fair, the clip was excellent, so although I had already seen it, there were some great memorable bits I remembered and bits I didn't see as I was probably laughing too hard. And just like that, the film opens out into greatness!

For those who do not know anything about CAP; Steve Rogers aka Captain America (Chris Evans) was a weak and frail young man who underwent a scientific experiment to become an enhanced human at the peak of human perfection with an experimental serum in aid to win World War II. As this worked out to be a success, Steve Rogers fought in the war and with his efforts and the defeating of the villain named Red Skull who was trying to use a cosmic cube called the Tesseract to carry out evil villainess things, Captain America crash lands his plane to save countries from being totally obliterated by Weapons of Mass Destruction. Presumed dead and is later found 70 years later, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) welcomes Captain America: The First Avenger to a brand new world where things have changed a great deal.
Shortly after being "awoken", Captain America joins, Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow & The Hulk in a desperate effort to stop Loki (Thor's Brother) from using the same cosmic cube, The Tesseract to open a wormhole which will unleash an alien race called the Chitauri to overpower and control Earth. With Loki's defeat and everyone going back to their "normal" lives, Captain America is still trying to adjust to living in a completely different world which is 70 years on and also has Aliens, Gods and Magic thrown into the mix. Not only is this something which will take some time adjusting to, Captain America who now works with S.H.I.E.L.D's espionage agency, is dubious about how Shield operate, their motives and who he can really trust. This is where CA:TWS kicks off with a Bang and becomes one of my most entertaining marvel films in a long time. Possibly since The Avengers.

With a secret operation looming involving 3 Helicarriers led by Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford), which will be used to eliminate threats worldwide, things turn sour when Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) doesn't tell Captain America about her mission objectives, Nick Fury gets attacked by an unknown assailant and CAP gets framed the the death of someone really important (I'm trying to keep this Spoiler free). With no one to turn to or trust, Steve Rogers teams up with Sam Wilson aka The Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and tries to clear his name, solve the mystery of the death of that important person, uncover S.H.E.I.L.D Secrets and who this new player/myth/ghost/legend is they call The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan).

This film is much darker than the first film. Grittier and is more of a suspense thriller than just a comic book movie like how The Avengers was. I understand that billions of people worldwide did not like the first Captain America film, but I did. No it wasn't great, but to put that film into context with eras and timing, the first film made sense to me. This film on the other hand, could not be any more perfect than it already is. The bar was raised as the stakes are very high. The acting, the fight scenes, the characters, the secrets, the lies, the suspense, it was all too much. The film has a very serious tone to it as well as being laced with comedy throughout and still manages to portray a comic book movie.

I could not give anymore praise to this film as everything worked. It makes me completely appreciate (to an extent) the reasons why the promotion for this film was heavily pushed. The first film only made, 370 Million at the box office on a 140 Million Budget. And although it made more than double the cost of the film, when a film like Iron Man 3 can make 1.2 Billion on a 200 Million Budget, the push made a lot of sense. Hopefully, everyone who is caught up in Marvel's Cinematic Universe will go to see this or who would give this one a chance after possibly not liking the first one, I could not stress any more that, if you do not see this film, there is something really wrong with you. Like, really wrong with you. Especially if you do not like it.

Never in my life have I wanted to be a shield agent with Nick Fury status...AND I watch Marvel's Agents of Shield. I might even see it again over the weekend.

Go and watch it...you won't be disappointed. Oh, AND you don't need to have seen the first one or The Avengers to pick up the storyline.