Olympus Has Fallen (2013) – Movie Review

16 05 2013

Olympus Has Fallen (2013)

Cast: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Dylan McDermott, Angela Bassett, Melissa Leo

Writers: Creighton Rothenburger & Katrin Benedikt

Director: Antoine Fuqua

Viewed: Saturday May 11 2013 @ Event Cinemas Toombul

There are many different reasons we enjoy going to the cinema. Sometimes we feel like experiencing a film that makes us really think, to take stock of our own lives and how we live. Sometimes we want to be shocked, or scared out of our minds, hiding behind our hands but still unable to completely look away. Occasionally we even want to watch the utterly unbelievable circumstances that bring two insanely beautiful people together to fall in love. Then sometimes we just want to be able to sit back in a comfy chair, switch off our brain and enjoy a couple of hours of loud noises, lots of shooting and just general, dumb fun. If this last example happens to be the mood you find yourself in, then Olympus Has Fallen is for you.

Olympus Has Fallen

Olympus Has Fallen

Eighteen months after being removed from The President’s (Aaron Eckhart, The Dark Knight) Secret Service detail for failing to save the First Lady (Ashley Judd, Kiss the Girls, remember her?) from a snowy, Christmas car crash, Mike Banning is unhappy in his new job working at the Treasury. Luckily for him the White House is very soon taken over by the North Koreans and it’s up to Banning to save the day as he uses all his skills (and apparently still-operational-after-18-months access codes to handy information inside the White House) to kill off the terrorists one by one while communicating with the acting President (Morgan Freeman, Kiss the Girls, though sharing no screen time with his old co-star) and Bannings’ boss (Angela Bassett, pretty much just playing the same part she did in This Means War) on the outside. Its basically Die Hard if John McClane had been a highly trained Secret Service Agent…and his wife had been somebody important.

It sounds pretty stupid…and it is, but that doesn’t stop it from being a lot of fun. And violent! In most action movies these days the violence is so watered down to achieve that coveted American PG-13 rating and allow the target audience of teenage boys to attend that there isn’t much point in anyone else paying to see it. This isn’t the case here. I can safely say that Olympus Has Fallen boasts the highest on-screen body count that I have seen in a movie for a long time. Innocent bystanders are showered with bullets on the streets, knives are plunged in to skulls, bodies are blown in all directions by explosions and a woman has the shit beaten out of her. The thirteen minute scene (the bad guy is considerate enough to tell us how long it takes) of the ambush on the White House is an absolute bloodbath.

There is no denying that Olympus Has Fallen has its problems. I mean, it’s a movie about the White House being taken over by North Korean terrorists! You’d expect a plot hole or two. I did however take major issue with one moment towards the end of the movie. *SPOILER* As the terrorists prepare to escape the bunker and White House we see them placing sacks over the hostages heads, including the President. Moments later we see that this was all a rouse and the President hasn’t been taken anywhere! Which makes me ask: Why did they put the sack over his head, just to remove it again almost instantly? The other hostages are bagged so it’s not for their benefit. The other terrorists would see someone with a bag being kept behind and become suspicious, so it’s not to fool them in to thinking they are taking him. It’s for us. It’s a glaring, deliberate cheat to make us believe the President is with the other hostages, and it’s unforgivable.

With guns, fights, explosions, destruction, and witty one-liners. Olympus Has Fallen has everything we have come to love and expect from the action movie. Some of the acting isn’t great (Morgan Freeman in particular seems like he was only on set for a day or two to pick up his pay cheque), the motives of the bad guys aren’t very original (Nuclear meltdown! Yawn!) and you can’t help but wonder how dumb the Secret Service can be as all these guys pile out of the White House to be mowed down by bullets, but the good (perhaps doesn’t outweigh but) counter balances the bad. I particularly enjoyed the nice touch of having a segment of Hamish MacDonald from Ten News cut in to the Australian version of the movie. I’m assuming a similar thing was done with news personalities from other countries? For all these reasons I give Olympus Has Fallen 2 ½ Rant and Rave Points.

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Categories : Action, Movie Review, Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman

Iron Man 3 (2013) – Movie Review

3 05 2013

Iron Man 3 (2013)

Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Ben Kingsley

Writers: Drew Pearce & Shane Black

Director: Shane Black

Viewed: Wednesday May 01 2013 @ Event Cinemas Chermside

How do you spot a Marvel noob in the cinema audience? Watch them all walk out during the credits. Fools.

Every once in a while, though not very often mind you, the Cinema Gods sweep their grace upon Australia and we actually get a major film released here before America. I don’t know why it happens. I don’t question it. I just embrace it. This time around it’s the eagerly anticipated first chapter in Marvel’s Phase Two, and the third (solo) outing for perhaps the best cast superhero in comic book movie history: Iron Man 3.

Iron Man 3

I say “best cast superhero” because I think it would be hard for anyone to argue that Robert Downey Jr (Wonder Boys) is fucking fantastic as Tony “I am Iron Man” Stark, and this movie is RDJ and Stark at their absolute best. From his relationships with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow, Shakespeare In Love, and apparently “The Worlds Most Hated Woman”, a grossly undeserved title) and Rhodes (Don Cheadle, Flight), to how he has been affected by the events in The Avengers, RDJ, Drew Pearce and Shane Black make Stark more human, grounded and relatable to the audience than ever before. It’s just kind of a shame that the same can’t be said for the rest of the movie.

Don’t get my wrong, this film is a fun ride. It looks great (in 2D anyway, which is how I viewed it), has more laughs than its predecessors, and the special effects are damn near flawless. It’s just that when compared to the first two Iron Man entries, 3 doesn’t quite seem to fit. This may be a deliberate choice, but it’s a jarring one. For me personally, I think my main reason for feeling this way is the villain(s). Previously (except for maybe in The Avengers, which doesn’t even try to base it’s baddies in reality but completely nails it) we’ve seen Iron Man up against bad guys that you could stretch your imagination (the whole point of superhero movies, right?) and believe they could really exist. Not so much here. People who heat up to 3000 degrees and explode? No. Man who can breathe fire (but then only uses this ability once)? No, Shane Black. No! A “twist” and “big reveal” about the Big Bad that we saw just last year in The Dark Knight Rises? Wasn’t a good idea then, isn’t such a good one now (though admittedly it does work better here, allowing for some great laughs and for Ben Kingsley, Shutter Island, to really shine). In fact I’m sure Pearce and Black must have had major hard-ons for The Dark Knight Rises because not only do they “borrow” its fake-out villain idea, but there’s even a “Clean Slate” reference!

I’m conflicted. I had such a good time watching this film but there was just so much I didn’t like. For example: If these people get so hot they can heat through the iron suits, why don’t their clothes burn? I for one could certainly appreciates some neked James Badge Dale (24). In one scene a woman walks through fire (which would burn at a lesser degree than the people themselves are supposed to be) and her clothes come out slightly blackened, but they still don’t burn up and even this slight singeing doesn’t occur on any other occasion. There’s also a “holy fuck I can’t believe they just did that! That’s amazing!” moment in the big finale, which seems so brave, only to be undone minutes later (though, again admittedly, it does allow for another “holy fuck that was awesome!” moment). Also, with the technology that Stark has managed to work into these suits, there’s really no need for him to ever put himself in danger by actually being in them. So why not save everyone a lot of stress, worry and peril and just fight crime from some top secret location? This seems like a much simpler solution to keeping the people he loves safe than the ones chosen here.

I realise there are always going to be these types of questions and inconsistencies with any movies like this, it’s just that this film was such an exhausting roller coaster of glaring highs and lows. Stark’s time with a younger version of himself (Ty Simpkins, Little Children - one of my all-time favourite movies) contains some of the best scenes and moments of the entire series, but the villains are easily the worst (and yes I’m including Mickey Rourke in Iron Man 2) and waaaaaay too OTT for what we’ve come to expect from these kind of “comic book movies”. However all the acting is top notch, the action scenes are a thrill, and I just liked it and had too much fun watching it to not highly recommend it. For all these confusing reasons I give Iron Man 3 3 ½ Rant and Rave Points.

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Categories : Action, Adventure, Marvel, Movie Review, Superheroes

A Quick Update (First Quarter of 2013) – Movie Review

16 04 2013

Here’s a few points on some of the movies viewed during the Rant absence:

Life of Pi (2012) – Wow. Amazing. Would be just as enjoyable and beautiful if watched with the sound on mute. Does the book complete justice…except the ending which doesn’t feel as though it is part of the same movie. If you’ve just spent almost two hours showing us incredible imagery, why would you spend the last 10 minutes simply telling us the big twist (especially when the showing would have allowed for more Gerard Depardieu screen time!)? 4 ½ Rant and Rave Points.

ParaNorman (2012) – A bit of fun but nowhere near as enjoyable for adults as other “kids” movies out there (and no they don’t all have to be made by Pixar. Monster House is a great example), and that is kind of what we have come to expect. Things also get a little confused when we’re supposed to start sympathising with the witch who is really a child…but still really a witch. Personally I felt a movie about the teenage characters in the film would be more interesting than what we get here . 2 Rant and Rave Points.

Pitch Perfect (2012) – Without doubt my favourite movie to come out in the last few months. This is everything Glee tries, and fails, to be. Funny, great characters and great musical numbers. Of course much has been said about Rebel Wilson (terrible in Bridesmaids) stealing the show (which she does) but special mention also has to be made of Elizabeth Banks (The Hunger Games) and John Michael Higgins (Couples Retreat) who are freakin’ hilarious as the commentators at the competitions. Anna Kendrick (also terrific in Up In The Air) further proves why she deserves to be allowed to put that whole Twilight franchise behind her. Unfortunately an OTT revisit to an earlier (and more acceptable because it helps create a character AND is totally unexpected) vomit gag is absolutely unforgivable and keeps Pitch Perfect from getting a perfect score. 4 ½ Rant and Rave Points.

Hitchcock (2012)- Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs) is the main reason to see this movie (and really ANY movie he is in) about the famed horror director’s making of Psycho. He’s fantastic and I’m still trying to figure out how he even manages to talk, let alone give such a performance, under all that prosthesis. Helen Mirren (The Queen) is great, as always, too. The bookend scenes of “Hitch” breaking the fourth wall work because they are an homage to Alfred Hitchcock Presents, however this occurring sporadically during the film is off putting and doesn’t help the story at all, in fact it distracts from it. 3 ½ Rant and Rave Points.

Zero Dark Thirty (2012) – A completely intense and engrossing movie from the very beginning when all we see is a black screen while we listen to (I’m assuming real) 911 calls from victims of the 9/11 (are those numbers coincidence)? terrorist attacks. If you aren’t at least slightly affected by what you hear I don’t think you’re quite human. The movie follows Jessica Chastain‘s (The Help) Maya and her almost 10 year mission/obsession to catch Osama bin Laden, jumping through the “highlights” of terrorist bombings, attacks and interrogations until eventually leading to the compound raid that saw bin Laden dead. The whole movie is great but the last 25 minutes or so (the raid) is worth the viewing alone. When it’s done you won’t even realise you’ve been sitting there for two and a half hours. The only (small) flaw is that people, places, and events are spoken about in a way that the movie assumes the viewer has a fair bit of knowledge about the hunt for bin Laden, so it can get a little confusing. Read the book No Easy Day for another great telling of the same story. 4 ½ Rant and Rave Points.

Silver Linings Playbook (2012) – I do love me some Jennifer Lawrence (The Hunger Games), and if you don’t you should YouTube the video of her “flirting” with Jack Nicholson after the Oscars. How can you not love that? Bradley Cooper (The Hangover) plays Pat who is home after a stint in a mental institution after beating the lover of his (now ex) wife and being diagnosed with bipolar. While he plans to reconcile with said ex-wife, he meets Tiffany (Lawrence) a “recovering” sex addict and they help each other “deal” (through dance!). It’s basically a rom-com…but one of the best. While it’s good I’m not 100% sure it was quite worthy of all the awards it ultimately won. At least Argo got the biggie. 4 Rant and Rave Points.

Django Unchained (2012) – What can you say really? It’s Tarnatino being Tarantino. While he’ll never again reach the heights of Pulp Fiction, he sure doesn’t mind trying. There’s an interesting story, interesting characters, interesting sets, interesting dialog and lots of blood and violence. Everything you go in to a Tarantino movie expecting, and everything you receive every time you go to a Tarantino movie. Christoph Waltz is amazing. I guess that’s what you can say. 4 Rant and Rave Points.

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Oz The Great and Powerful (2013) – Movie Review

10 04 2013

Oz The Great and Powerful

Cast: James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, Zach Braff

Writers: Mitchell Kapner & David Lindsay-Abaire

Director: Sam Raimi

Viewed: Friday April 05 2013 @ Event Cinemas Myer Center, Brisbane

So I’ve been MIA for a few months now for many reasons that I won’t bother going in to here. The main thing is I’M BACK! and it was the news last week that the person who can only be described as my reviewing hero, Roger Ebert had passed that spurred me back in to action. This man battled cancer for more than a decade, not being able to speak a word or even eat food for many of those years, and still reviewed, hosted film festivals, tweeted and blogged like a fiend. If he could do all that, what excuse do I have? Let’s just put it down to laziness and move on.

Oz The Great and Powerful

Oz The Great and Powerful

Obviously I’ve seen a few movies over the last three months or so. I’m thinking of doing a quick catch-up post with a couple of thoughts on each film, but for now we have Oz The Great and Powerful, the story of how The Wizard of Oz came to be in Oz and garnered the reputation of being “a whiz of a wiz, if ever a wiz there was”. But can a prequel coming three quarters of a century after the original classic really meet the expectations it could never possible avoid and even come close to comparing?

No, not really. The movie opens (in black & white) with James Franco’s circus magician Oscar “Oz” Diggs performing in little ol’ Kansas. He’s a bit of a cad and in this opening scene alone has three women on the go at once. When the boyfriend of one of them comes after Oz, he escapes in his hot air balloon just in time to be swept up in a tornado (tornado insurance must be impossible to get in Kansas) and transported to the technicolour world (not quite as effective in the 21st century) of Oz where he meets Theodora (Mila Kunis, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) who believes him to be the prosthesized savior of the land of Oz. She takes him to meet her sister Evanora (Rachel Weisz, The Bourne Legacy) who informs Oz that to become the true ruler of the land of Oz he must defeat Glinda (Michelle Williams, Brokeback Mountian, giving the only performance I’ve ever liked her in), the “Wicked Witch”.

During his quest along the yellow brick road (never named in the movie, I assume for legal reasons) Oz meets some friends that we just so happen to have met in that black and white scene back in Kansas. They are Finley (Zach Braff, Garden State), a cute flying monkey who’s life Oz saved, and China Girl (Joey King, The Dark Knight Rises) a (surprise!) girl made out of china who’s whole family and village has been destroyed by the Wicked Witch. Eventually they meet up with Glinda, learn the truth about what is really happening in Oz, and hatch a plan to defeat the real Wicked Witches. Which witch is the wicked witch? The movie wants it to be a mystery but it’s pretty obvious from the start. Unfortunately it’s once this reveal is made that the film really goes down hill.

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

Kudos must go to Sam Raimi (Spiderman, directing his first movie in four years) for achieving what nobody else before him could: make Mila Kunis look terrible. When we first see Theodora standing there on the banks of the river Kunis is stunning (as usual) in a fabulous red pant suit and matching hat, only to change later into a corset and shawl combo that makes her look nothing more than frumpy. THEN the transformation comes and she spends the rest of the movie a not-quite-right-green (yes green is a not-quite-right colour for a person to be, but it just looks off), eyebrowless and cackling like crazy. It’s an awful performance and by far the worst we have ever seen from her.

The rest of the cast fares much better (except maybe Weisz, who is criminally underutilised). I’m yet to see a bad performance out of Franco. Williams, as I mentioned earlier, is not a favourite of mine but is perfect as Glinda. Braff and King bring their CGI characters to life, though some of their awkward interactions with the human actors shatter that illusion. The land of Oz itself looks stunning with the  sets, costumes and even the deliberately (I think) fake looking green screen backgrounds all combining perfectly to create the magical world.

In the end though all just feels s a little flat. A bit meh. The use of actors playing characters in Kansas and Oz is obviously a homage to the original film, however there it was to emphasise it all being Dorothy’s dream. Here there is no wake-up moment at the end, so what is the point? And why only go half way? Michelle Williams is the only witch to appear as a character in Kansas. Who not have Weisz as the new assistant and Kunis as the other woman scorned that is seen?  Theodora’s reasons for hating on Oz are also weak. Sure, he leads her on slightly, but she’s the one who makes more out of his flirtations than she should. Marriage after only one day together? There’s not enough chemistry between the characters to make this work. Unnecessary plot points are forced upon the viewer in Raimi’s attempt to line up with the origin story as much as possible.

While Oz isn’t a bad movie, it’s nowhere near what it could have been. If you watched The Wizard of Oz and thought to yourself “Oh I wonder what the back story of the Wizard coming to Oz is?” did you ever image the answer would be “ Almost EXACTLY the same as Dorothy’s!”? Because that is basically what this is. For a more interesting Oz origin story, go and see the musical Wicked. For all these reasons I give Oz the Great and Powerful 2 ½ Rant and Rave points.

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Les Misérables (2012) – Movie Review

31 12 2012

Les Misérables (2012)

 
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, Eddie Redmayne

Writers: Herbert Kretzmer & William Nicholson

Director: Tom Hooper

Viewed: Saturday December 30 2012 @ Event Cinemas Chermside, Brisbane.

 
I’ve been looking forward to the release of Les Mis for a long while now. With the Oscar winning Director of The King’s Speech at the helm and such an awesome cast filled with big names and veterans of the musical announced, it was always going to be something to behold. I don’t think too many fans are going to find themselves disappointed with how their beloved musical has been brought to the screen (for it is indeed a great spectacle), but how does it fare at just being an entertaining movie?

Les Miserables

In 1815 France, Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman, in-between Wolverine movies) is released from prison and the tyranny of policeman Javert (Russell Crowe, Gladiator), but when Jean Valjean is helped by a Priest (Colm Wilkinson, The Phantom of the Opera), decides to turn his life around, and skips parole, Javert begins a decades long pursuit of his nemesis. Eight years later and Valjean is now a business owner and mayor of a small French town. Working in one of his factories is Fantine (Anne Hathaway, The Dark Knight Rises) who is fired when the other workers take a dislike to her. Turning to prostitution to pay for the care of her daughter Cosette (Isabelle Allen), Fantine soon becomes fatally ill and is discovered by Valjean who vows to care for her dauther as his own. He then collects Collette from her “carers” The Thenardiers’ (Sacha Baron Cowen, Bruno & Helena Bonham Carter, Big Fish) but once again must go on the run from, now Inspector, Javert. Another decade or so later and the French Revolution is imminent. Valjean is still in hiding with the now grown Cosette (Amanda Seyfried, Mamma Mia!) but when she falls in love with a Revolutionary named Marius (Eddie Redmayne, My Week With Marilyn) things get even more complicated. Soon there is war and many, many characters are dead.

Les Mis is a BIG movie. Big anticipation, big cast, big songs, big scope. Everything about it is larger than life, which is what a good musical needs to be. There are fantastic performance littered throughout the cast, particularly Jackman, Hathaway and Redmayne. There has been talk of Oscar nominations for Jackman and Hathaway and both deserve it (perhaps not the win, but at least the nomination). They give it their all. The dedication shown and performances given on screen, all round, come from a great love and respect for the material. The weakest link is by far Russell Crowe, who appears unable to convey any emotion through song (or his face) meaning Javert’s finale has little impact (expect for the literal impact involved). Other deaths had me in tears.

As well as being big, Les Mis is a long movie. At two and a half hours, it’s a little too long. Trims could have been made. The first two acts of the movie flow quickly as you are swept away by the grandeur and the mad pacing (we fly from one close-up dominated number to the next so that you’re barely able to absorb what you have just seen), but as we move in to the final act, the rise of the Revolution, things slow down considerably. Much of this is due to the introduction of the love story between Cosette and Marius which is woefully underdeveloped. By this point in the proceedings there isn’t enough to get us completely invested in this love that is blossomed from but a single glance. It’s hard to swallow and many of the character’s actions throughout the entire finale are reliant on us believing in it. Both Seyfried and Redmayne do what they can with what they have though and Seyfried even manages to redeem herself slightly for Mamma Mia!.

With barely a spoken word, Les Mis isn’t exactly targeted at regular cinema goers and, as I said, fans of the musical aren’t going to be complaining much about what they see here. All the big numbers are there, the performances are amazing (having the actors sing live on set instead of lip-synching to a soundtrack offers an extra level of realism and emotion, mostly), and the sets and designs are breath-taking. I wish Hooper had have kept his cameras steady every once in a while, and the final act almost causes whip-lash with it’s change of pace, but there are only small complaints to be made here. For all these reasons I give Les Misérables 4 Rant and Rave Points.

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Categories : Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, Movie Review, Musicals

Legally Blonde: The Musical (2012) – Musical Review

27 12 2012

Legally Blonde: The Musical (2012)

Cast: Lucy Durack, David Harris, Rob Mills, Helen Dillamore, Erika Heynatz, Cameron Daddo

Music & Lyrics: Laurence O’Keefe & Nell Benjamin

Book: Heather Hach

Director & Choreographer: Jerry Mitchell

Viewed: Wednesday 12 December 2012 @ The Sydney Lyric Theater, The Star, Sydney.

The Legally Blonde movies were a favourite of a friend of mine that I lived with on and off for years. They’re not exactly cinematic masterpieces, but you couldn’t help but love Elle’s journey of discovery that we can achieve anything and that it’s really what’s inside, and sometimes right in front of us, that counts (a theme that can be carried over to any number of Reese Witherspoon (Sweet Home Alabama) flicks) and I didn’t mind viewing them. From this fluff is born Legally Blonde: The Musical, an absolute musical masterpiece that impresses and entertains on every level. My birthday a couple of weeks ago meant I was fortunate enough to travel to Sydney and see this spectacular sensation in all it’s glory. From the front row!Legally Blonde: The Musical

Seen the movie? You know the story, only now it’s in song! Great song! Elle (Lucy Durack, Wicked) thinks her longterm boyfriend Warner Huntington III (Rob Mills, Young Talent Time) is going to propose to her (“Omigod You Guys”) but instead he breaks up with her (“Serious”) before leaving for Harvard Law School where Elle follows (“What You Want” & “The Harvard Variations”). There she doesn’t really fit in with the rest of her classmates (“Blood in the Water” & “Positive”) but makes a couple of friends in Emmett (David Harris, Wicked), the assistant of Professor Callahan (Cameron Daddo, 24) and a local beauty technician, Paulette (Helen Dallimore, Wicked) (“Ireland”) who gives her the courage and insight to take on Harvard Law (“Ireland (Reprise)” & “Serious (Reprise)”) and see the potential in Emmett (“Chip on My Shoulder”) before Elle is made an Intern to Professor Callahan in a big case (“So Much Better”) involving the arrest of a high-profile weight-loss professional, BrookeWyndham (Erika Heynatz, It Takes Two) who is accused of murdering her husband (“Whipped into Shape”). Elle starts to teach her friends some things about themselves (“Take It Like a Man” & “Bend and Snap”) and then the trial arrives and Elle saves the day, legitimising her place at Harvard Law to her peers (“There! Right There!”). Professor Callahan makes her question herself yet again by making a move on her (“Legally Blonde”) but Elle finally learns her worth (“Legally Blonde Remix”) and gets with Emmett (“Omigod You Guys (Reprise)” & “Find My Way/Finale”).

My face hurt at the end of this show from smiling all the way through. It was so amazing. Sets, costumes, actors, songs. Everything was fantastic. Every song had me bopping along or had the smile stretching further across my face. There were many memorable tunes (my partner and I are still randomly blurting out “Omigod, omigod you guys!” and “Is he gay, or European?”. Yes, I know. Gay as gay can be.) and the accompanying choreography complimented them perfectly. The whole production was a lot of fun and you could see how much all the performers enjoyed presenting the material by how they gave everything on the stage (Cameron Daddo was spraying spittle like he was sweating through his tongue), with supporting players shining just as much (if not more) as the “big name stars” in the cast. If that’s not enough there are a couple of ridiculously cute dogs thrown in for your Awwwww-ing pleasure too!

I couldn’t give a higher recommendation other than the fact that I plan to go see this again when it opens at QPAC in Brisbane in March (buy tickets here). I could hands down say it is one of the best musicals I have ever seen (Cats #1, Now and Forever) and I can’t wait to have the pleasure of seeing it again. I can’t think of any negatives to my experience so I have to give Legally Blonde: The Musical 5 Rant and Rave Points.

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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) – Movie Review

27 12 2012

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

 

Cast: Ian McKellan, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Ken Scott, Andy Serkis, Ian Holm, Elijah Wood, Hugo Weaving, Cake Blanchett

Writers: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Guillermo del Toro

Director: Peter Jackson

Viewed: Wednesday 26 December 2012 @ Event Cinemas Rockhampton.

Having been subjected over the last few months to the same The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (from now referred to simply as The Hobbit) trailer enough times to string them all together and equal the running time of the actual movie, it is with great relief that it finally hits screens. I have to admit I wasn’t caught up in the excitement around it’s pending release. I’d recently rewatched the original The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy and found I was no longer as impressed with them as I once was. How does it do though to revisit characters we loved a decade ago six decades before we loved them? The Hobbit lets us find out.

The_Hobbit_An_Unexpected_Journey_poster_Hobbits_749x1109It is a lil bit fun to return to Middle Earth. The landscapes and set pieces are as grand and beautiful as ever (how happy must NZ Tourism be to have another turn of this merry-go-round?), the costumes, make-up, CGI and effects are all great, and again there is a journey fraught with trouble to a specific destination where even bigger trouble awaits. A complete recipe for success last time round. This time you can’t help but think you’ve seen it all before. Kinda like a rebooted TLOTR.

Unprepared Hobbit presented with a quest to a dangerous land on which he could possible die? Check. Wise wizard to help him on said quest? Check. Fellowship…I mean group of other more experienced/suitable beings for said quest to accompany unprepared Hobbit for said Quest? Check. Member of royalty as part of said Fello…group? Check. Many random, dangerous and life threatening events on said quest? Check. Encounter with Gollum? Check. It’s all there, and that doesn’t have to be much of a problem. The whole point of a sequel is to use the formula established by the original and then (in theory), improve. The problems arise when The Hobbit doesn’t really improve on anything we’ve seen, story or adventure wise, in TLOTR.

A huge issue here is the lack of any real danger or villain. There’s a big set-up at the beginning of the film for the dragon Smaug, where much effort is made to ensure he is kept hidden (boy he better look good when we finally get a good view), but he’s at the final location of the journey, so he’s no threat here. Orcs are still around, but again not much threat until the final act of this movie. Last time we had Saruman (we have him this time round too, but still a good guy at this point in the time-line), Sauron’s crazy loud eye and countless orcs constantly after our Fellowship. Now (after the first hour/act of much exposition and little action) we have strained attempt after obvious attempt to keep things interesting by throwing our group in to random peril. I’ve never read the source material but I viewed this movie with someone who has and there were many things on screen occurring that she could “not remember happening in the book”. Much has been made of the fact that this new trilogy was originally planned as two parts. My, my how it shows. The liberties that are taken to bring back some characters and fill out the running time are outrageous and unnecessary. It may be “clever” to see Frodo and Bilbo on the day of Bilbo’s birthday from the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring, but it feels like a bit of a cheat too.

With a shorter running time than any of the original TLOTR Trilogy, The Hobbit starts to feel long towards the end. Something I hadn’t experienced in this world before. Jackson (King Kong) does create an amazing visual world though, and getting to visit it again has its joys (my favourite part was getting to spend two and a half hours with Ian McKellan (X-Men). Always a pleasure. Andy Serkis (King Kong) brings his game again too, making Gollum more fearful and pitiful than ever before). Most fans of The Lord of the Rings are going to be so glad to finally have the opportunity to see this chapter of the adventure that these joys will far outweigh anything negative anybody has to say about this movie. I wasn’t overwhelmed, and for all these reasons I give The Hobbit 3 Rant and Rave Points.

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Categories : Adventure, Hobbits, Ian McKellan, Movie Review

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