Review: Despicable Me 2 (2D)

The sequel boasts no lack of the original's manic energy and colour, and while it is very child friendly and colourful, it is a mindless distraction.

Supervillain Gru has now left the life of villainy behind and is living with the three girls and his minions. But he is called into service of the Anti-Villain League to track down another supervillain and he's paired up with Lucy, a secret agent. Meanwhile someone is abducting the minions.

The film has no lack of energy, and it maintains the first film's glossy, colourful visuals and great soundtrack. It is a feel-good movie, a film designed for kids and families looking to relax and be entertained.

I will say that it doesn't have the first film's moments of clarity nor does it take the time to calm down; whenever the plot would normally stop to breathe and set up some imagery or establishing shots the minions jump in and act crazy with a ton of sight gags. The film definitely wants to get these little yellow guys into as many outrageous costumes as possible!

Watching this film makes me realise how I like Gru... when he isn't happy. Since leaving supervillainy, Gru is much happier and as a result, less interesting. The film has replaced his personal conflict of villain-turned-good guy for the confrontation of love, dating and relationships with women. How original!

Enter Lucy, agent for the AVL, who is step up as a... you guessed it... romantic interest. Lucy isn't the most interesting character either; it took a while for me to warm to her cheeky, kooky mannerisms.

I actually think I prefer the first Despicable Me to this one, and I am definitely in a minority by saying that! While I did love the visual flair, the originality, the funny moments and the soundtrack, I found the attempts of developing characters (which the first film needed) to be lacking and a little unfocused. 
It felt a little like someone shaking shiny keys at me to keep my attention.

Additional Marshmallows: I still find the three little girls to be the best characters, at least alongside Gru, and this film didn't really know what to do with them... except provide a really weird romantic subplot...

Review: Monsters University

Monsters University provides fun and some unexpected moments, but it doesn't feel like one Pixar's best, more like one of their safer bets.

As the animation studio's first prequel, the film goes back to see the humble beginnings of Mike and Sully's friendship from 2001's Monsters Inc. (yes, it was twelve years ago) as they go to college and learn to be "Scarers". But while Mike knows all there is to know about scares in theory... he isn't intimidating enough. Or is he?

The film's very simple premise is "High School for monsters". We haven't seen much of the Monsters world until now, but it appears to be little more than a replica of our own (buses, cars, schools, grades, etc) and so there isn't much to go with asides our two heroes and how their rivalry becomes a strong friendship. This is somewhat obvious... given the natural curse of a prequel; you know how it ultimately turns out.

The film's structure is simplistic too, our leads go through the familiar trappings of college life, interspersed with montage sequences. Looking at it with less critical eyes, these scenes are very funny; a slew of antics and bit-characters that could have worked as singular shorts. They are very funny moments, but narrative progression feels more like part-of-the-course rather than involving the audience.

There are two things I do give this film though, one being Helen Mirren's character of Dame Hardscrabble, who positively steals the show, all of the show, and proved to me that Pixar can make these monsters actually scary looking for once (really, look at them, they are mostly just amorphous blobs). The other thing is the film's final act and how it doesn't give our heroes the easiest of times. There is still a fraction of Pixar's daring, unconventional streak here.

Oh, and the librarian, she was awesome too.

It is hard to pin down but for a Pixar film, it feels too safe, too conventional. It didn't draw me in nor push me away, but given nearly all of Pixar films have completely arrested me emotionally, there was very little of that here. This is most likely down to its decision to restrain itself into a very formulaic High School structure.

That all said, it is fun and will entertain the kids for just under two hours. Probably good to marathon with Monsters Inc (that's obvious, but as a prequel it does work well)

Ahh! That dude's voice was Nathan Fillion! I knew I recognised it!

Review: Pacific Rim (2D)

Director Guillermo Del Toro can do no wrong in my book, so when he decides to make a two hour giant robot movie, I have very little to gripe about!

Set in the near future, Earth is persistently attacked by giant alien creatures known only to us as Kaiju. They wreck havoc and destroy major cities for decades, and the frequency of attacks (and size of the monsters) is only increasing. The countries of the world unite to forge the Jaeger program; giant, skyscraper sized super machines to fight back against the invaders.

The film is Del Toro's biggest, brassiest and most deliberate "blockbuster" yet; it is simplistic in formula, full of archetypical characters (and stereotypes), driven only to give us action on a staggering scale.
Some people will see nothing but cliche and lack of "seriousness", and certainly, Pacific Rim is first and foremost an entertaining romp and little else. While there isn't that much to the characters, there is enough to give a weighty (and awesome!) finale. It isn't weighed down with emotional baggage either; this film isn't trying to have "a message" or "subtext", its about good old fashioned action.
I am grateful someone like Del Toro took up this project. Despite its simplicity, the man's creative vision and tact provides the film with awesome spectacle. Action sequences are graciously slow; none of the frenetic chaos Michael Bay gave Transformers, no, Pacific Rim's action is on such a scale that movements are so huge they have to be given proper treatment.

What is greater still about Pacific Rim is that, despite outward appearances from critical opinions, it is an original film: this isn't based off a comic, or a cartoon; it isn't a remake, or a sequel or a prequel to anything. While watching you are reminded of those ballistic action films that existed before Hollywood got obsessed with remaking familiar properties. This is a great film for just this reason!

I'm singing its praises a lot aren't I, especially how it should hopefully be a new benchmark for original material and the handling of spectacular action, so what can I possibly gripe about? I always find something, right?
While Idris Elba and Ron Perlman steal the show completely, other characters are pretty unimaginative. The two I had any misgivings for were the stereotypical "science nerds", whose purpose may be valid in the story but their dialogue is deliberately ranting and raving to get important exposition out of the way as quickly as possible. This, however, isn't film breaking (Mr Bay has made a lot worse (and less necessary) stereotypes than these)

Overall, if you like your Godzilla films (the originals, that is) and frankly any science fiction action ever made, Pacific Rim is definitely for you. I would go so far to say that if you have been drawn into comic book universes recently (yes, almost everyone) I'd recommend this for you too, if only for giant action being filmed correctly.

 

Review: Now You See Me

We've had numerous magician / magic trick movies, and while Now You See Me doesn't try to reinvent the concept, it is certainly a flashy, entertaining, easily consumable affair.

Four magicians, an escape artist, mentalist, card trickster and a slight-of-hand street magician, are all brought together to perform a dazzling show at Las Vegas. Who brought them together is a mystery, but when the show's climax has a bank in France robbed through a live act of teleportation, the FBI and Interpol are called in to investigate.

Our four tricksters are probably the best element of the movie. Their motivations are unclear and their stage presence is likeable and fun, spearheaded by Woody Harrelson and a surprisingly unique performance by Jesse Eisenberg. Everyone's favourite Hulk Mark Ruffalo is the FBI investigator hot on their heels, along with his Interpol not-romantic-interest-but-really-is Alma Drey. Admittedly, I found the two of them the least compelling of the cast, their scenes felt a little flat.
Adding further weight to the cast, Michael Cane is one of the show's benefactors, while Morgan Freeman is a man who profits from revealing the secrets of magicians.

It is a fast film, playing out more like an all out action thriller than say... The Prestige. We have a cat and mouse story with dozens of twists and turns most of which you should catch moments before their reveal. The film's pacing is consistent, and the visuals pop with a lot of flashy lighting and modern settings, glamorous and glitzy, making it very easy and pleasing to watch.

It is however... a bit silly. Some of the trickery involved has a little too much suspension of disbelief, while some of it is so blatant than you will want to bash the FBI's collective heads together for not getting it. The characters aren't that fleshed out either, we only know bits and pieces about everyone... a decision purposefully made to keep the film's insane level of ambiguity going strong.
The ongoing revelations to the tricks felt a little bit like the first Sherlock Holmes film's answer to deductive reasoning, going like this: How did they do that?? Answer: They are magicians, they just knew it would go that way. See aforementioned "suspension of disbelief".

However, the actors are clearly having a lot of fun here, and the glossy easy-going eye candy cannot be ignored. I had fun watching this; it is simple but effective.

Review: World War Z (2D)

Brad Pitt's new zombie film has a novel spin on your atypical zombie film, but it turns out that's about all it has.

So our film starts out with Gerry (Brad Pitt) rescuing his family when Philadelphia is suddenly overrun by some sort of infected horde. The "undead" are swarming all over the globe in a matter of moments, and as an ex-UN agent, Gerry is asked to aid in an operation to find the source of the outbreak.

The film begins promisingly enough. We see the city reduced to chaos (and as someone from Scotland, very funny to see Glasgow shot to look like Philadelphia for budget reasons) and most of the world's infrastructure is gone. Pitt's family are safe upon a military aircraft carrier at sea while he travels the continents to find the cure.
But this is where the film loses its conviction... There is something of a rinse-and-repeat structure going on; think 28 Days Later if it ate 2012. Wherever Brad Pitt goes, the entire place is not far away from being totally destroyed, he is permanently on the edge of a wave of destruction. While this makes the film very fast paced and immersive, I can't say I felt compared to care about the people getting massacred. Like when Gerry's wife calls at a very inappropriate time, and several soldiers lose their lives, upon calling her back, they are all: "Oh hey, you called at a bad time, but it's okay I'm fine". Why not some tension from all the DEATH a little mistake like that can actually do??

I guess another problem with this lack of caring is that the "zombie" horde is 95% computer generated. In fact, if you wait through the credits you will see that under the title Zombies there are only twelve names. Funny that!
The wave of zombies comes after our hero almost specifically, and while it does make for great spectacle, there was never a point where things slowed down and allowed for the characters to breath. I really liked the soldier woman that he meets later on, but we never got to know her...

Also, how hard is it to sneak around quietly? The ending is all about being quiet, to avoid zombies noticing them, yet our heroes are bumbling around like clumsy oxen. I know you are tense, but seriously just watch where you are walking! 

It is a passable zombie film, and if you haven't already seen the trailer then you have some good action spectaculars to look forward to. But as is, it is a little simple and straight-forward without much conviction for what its selling: the end of the world.

Additional Marshmallows: And who makes the first scenes where we see Brad Pitt have really obvious editing problems?? People will notice that nonsense.
 

 
   

Review: Troll Hunter

An entertaining found footage film from Norway with only a handful of odd inconsistencies letting itself down.

In the same year that Monsters was released (a terrible, terrible movie) there was a little known monster movie released from Norway. Troll Hunter follows a group of three student film-makers who investigate a series of bear shootings, only to stumble upon a man whose career is to hunt and kill real trolls.

The film has all the cliches from your average found footage film, memories of Cloverfield and Blair Witch will come to mind while watching, but the film has some merit. The students are taken on a journey by the hunter, called Hans, who has had enough of his secret, Government driven job and would see it end by having footage of the trolls released. Good sense of purpose and drive for everyone involved, and especially for filming it all!
The special effects are a little dated given they weren't blockbuster budget levels, but a little suspension of disbelief can get you immersed in the fantastic world. I would say the effects improve over the course of the film, strangely; you'd think the first troll would have all the effort put into him.

However, the characters are pretty uninteresting, at least in regards to the film's lack of giving them any real personality; I didn't feel like I got to know them. They were certainly likeable (which is more than I can say for Cloverfield or Diary of the Dead...) just not very fleshed out. There were a lot of inconsistencies too, plot points given and then dropped only scenes later, its lore felt lost and some of its suspension of disbelief is hard to swallow. The man working at the electric power station never questioned why pylons exist only to be placed in a circle and not power anything? Really? (They even question this oddity in the script, but it goes nowhere)
The film's only cohesive structure is "road-trip scene, troll encounter, road-trip scene, troll encounter" repeat. This gets a little tiresome and makes a relatively short film feel long.

But it has its merits, and while I had trouble getting all of its "comedic" elements (must be a Norwegian thing) I can't say I didn't like it. Characters were nice, trolls were cool, Hans was awesome in a reclusive way, and Norway was photographed extremely elegantly at times, great landscapes. It's just that more work on making things believable would have gone a long way.

Like your monster movies? You can do worse.