(film review) - X-Men: Days Of Future Past

For me, Bryan Singer destroyed X-Men from the very beginning. From when Wolverine was made center of attention, for me, the X-Men film/franchise was just nonsense. I mean EVERYBODY knows Cyclops IS the leader of the X-Men and although this didn't change in the film, having everything center around Wolverine just didn't sit well with me. This is not to say I didn't enjoy the X-Men films, X-Men and X2, but I made do with what Bryan Singer did with the franchise. With that said, X-Men: The Last Stand could not have been any more of a useless mass of mess and Brett Ratner needs to redeem himself with the new Hercules film with Dwayne Johnson. With X-Men: First Class directed by Matthew Vaughn sliding into the X-Men franchise and somewhat saving it, Bryan Singer had a lot to clear up from the mess he started with (although we dealt with it and accepted it), the diabolical nonsense Brett Ratner did and also tidy up a little of First Class. And just before I start the review, I would like to conclude and reassure you with great news. Bryan Singer DID THE JOB.

Although the characters are all over the place, lets just roll with it.

We are currently in a dystopian future where Sentinel's are targeting and killing Mutants (what they are designed to do) but are also targeting humans. With both humans and mutants being imprisoned if not killed, there are only a few mutants in the world left who are trying to build up a resistance. Professor Xavier (Sir Patrick Stewart) & Magneto (Sir Ian Mckellen) have finally joined forces and work together to try and bring an end to the onslaught of sentinels to try and save mankind.
Accompanied with Storm (Halle Berry) & Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) they come across a bunch of X-Men, Bobby Drake aka Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), Peter Rasputin aka Colossus (Daniel Cudmore), Warparth, Sunspot, Bishop, Blink & Kitty Pryde who then devise a plan to send Wolverine back to the past to try and stop the creator of the Sentinels, Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage), from ever creating to Sentinels in the first place so they can rewrite history and save their future.

As for storylines, nothing out of the ordinary. As for the direction and execution of the film, brilliant. With something being as flawed but acceptable as it was, then to have other people dabble in the franchise and basically mess it up, Bryan Singer did a very good job with trying to tie ALL the loose ends within the franchise and his best at bringing together a story that made actual sense.

When the film was announced with all these Mutants, people along with myself were thinking, "There are too many characters, they won't have enough screen time. Bryan Singer is going to mess this one up too" And rightfully so, we should feel like this, but to add that their were 4 villains in this film and yet, the charcaters served the story well and these characters were used effectively, you'd complete miss the fact that not only Bolivar Trask and the Sentinels are the bad guys here, you'd miss the other two bad guys.

As seen in the trailer, there are some totally great moments. If you had seen the opening battle, with Blink, Colossus, Iceman and 'em, this plays out MUCH better when you watch the film. Brilliantly crafted and excellently executed. Teamwork in tandem. If you have seen the Quicksilver picture of him running on the wall, an excellent if not the actual best scene within the movie. It's like watching the beginning of X2. Bryan Singer DID THE JOB.

If you are used to the sentinels in the comics and cartoons and was put off with the sentinels in this film, trust me, it all makes sense when you watch the film.

Funny in places, serious at times and tension building up as the film climaxes and during certain moments of the film, I can only say, this film is brilliant. If you stay to after the credits at the very end, there is an EXCELLENT clue to the following film's story plot, but with such a neatly crafted and interweaving storyline and very well acted scenes from McAvoy and Fassbender, this film is a definate MUST SEE.

If you ever felt like an X-Men film just didn't cut it or the last couple of X-Men films weren't great and the Wolverine films were also a little sub-parr, than you will definitely enjoy this film. Try not to scrutinise this film too much as there are still a bunch of holes in the script and with a few of the characters, but to still arrive out on top with a very good viewing, you can only congratulate Bryan on his work and hopefully, in the next film X-Men: Apolocypse (so it has been called), hopefully he will do things right this time around...or at least try to and clear up some of the other nonsense plot holes. Maybe, just maybe he could bring in cloning into the storyline. But if that is the case, he would need to bring in Mr. Sinister. How great would that be?

(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.