The Amazing Spider-Man Review
Can someone please explain to me why this movie was made?
I’m not saying it was bad (I’m also not saying it was good. Like so many movies lately it qualifies as entertaining and not a whole lot more). I’m just saying that the best term to use in describing this movie is unnecessary. It doesn’t add anything to the Spider-Man story as told by Sam Raime 10 years ago. It is a reboot, but not truly a reimagining. It doesn’t come up with anything new or exciting. That acting is not any better. The special effects are superior (after 10 years I would be shocked if they weren’t improved) but the action scenes are significantly less exciting or well shot. Overall it’s just another Spider-Man movie that will fade into the mishmash of other mediocre comic book movies like an Alka Seltzer tablet dropped into a toilet bowl.
(Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man image courtesy of the Marvel Comic T Shirt category)
It’s really hard to do a review about a franchise reboot without comparing it to the first film and since today is the 4th of July and I have a BBQ to get to I’m not even going to try. Honestly, this film, while better technologically, is not as good as the first Tobey MacGuire film. Sorry fan boys. There it is.
There are a few other words that could be used to describe this movie. I suppose I have to give them competent. The movie is competently made in the same way you expect your dentist to fill your cavity competently. You would be shocked if he was incompetent and drilled the wrong tooth, or slipped and drilled a hole into your brain. However, would you want to go to a tattoo artist who was merely competent? Obviously competence would be a requirement for a good tattoo artist, but I would want someone both creative and artistic, with the ability to come up with something amazing that I had not thought of myself. For a hallowed franchise such as Spider-Man competence is not enough. There are no glaring plot holes, bad direction, or bad acting. Just nothing mind blowing.
Another term I would use to describe this story is glossed over. Every aspect of the Spider-Man story felt rushed and glossed over. The spider bite? Glossed over. Remember how in the first one Peter Parker spent a lot of time trying to even figure out how to use his powers? They sort of did that here but rushed through it and kind of, well, glossed it over. Ben Parkers death and the dramatic effect it had on Peter Parker? Glossed over and hardly mentioned. Development of a villain to fight? Glossed over. The action scene were brief, glossed over, and felt included out of a sense of obligation rather than a desire to make an action film (I liken it to my mom forcing me to bring my little sister along to everything as a kid). Even the romance between Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy, which seemed to dominate the screen time, felt stunted and malnourished. Critical aspects of it was seriously glossed over. I hate myself for saying this, but I found myself missing Kirstin Dunst as Mary Jane Parker. At least she and Tobey MacGuire had some on screen chemistry and the romance was allowed to develop organically. Here the romance is shoved on the screen and we are told they love each other but not offered any real evidence. The movie feels like they took every minor story from the Spider-Man canon and trimmed off all the corners in order to fit them all into a single 136 minute film. The funny thing is Sam Raime did the same thing and managed to come up with a great movie. Here it all just feels rushed and abbreviated.
Another term I could use here is enhanced, and I don’t mean it in a good way. The only time they really did anything different from the Sam Raime version is in making Peter Parker a super stud even before the spider bite. One of the greatest thing about Spider-Man is Peter Parker was pretty much a mundane “every man” before gaining his powers. In this film instead of being an awkward nerd about to graduate high school he is a good looking, skateboard riding, fashionable, scientific genius, contacts wearing hipster-esque dreamboat. There is none of the “Peter Parker coming of age” development that so aided the first couple movies (emo Peter Parker in the last one kind of derailed that aspect pretty badly).
A final word I will use to describe this movie is predictable. I don’t think I need to explain it any further.
Anyway, I could go on but won’t. Here is the story: Peter Parker gets bit by a genetically enhanced spider. Now go rent the 2002 Spider Man and you are good to go. Substitute Dr. Curtis Conner for Norman Osborne, the Lizard for the Green Goblin, Gwen Stacy for Mary Jane (blond for red head, basically), and Police Captain Stacy for J. Johah Jamison. Add in some odd ball continuity issues (how is it Peter Parker’s dad’s glasses are exactly Peters prescription?) and cut out a lot of the cooler story aspect in order to make more room for awkward chemistry-less romance. Get rid of the huge sweeping camera shots that made Spider Man swinging through NYC so cool and instead use the camera quick cut editing that has plagued movies for the last five years for everything that even smells like action. Throw in a grandiose evil villain plot that makes little sense and you are done.
By the way, a few weeks ago I posted a discussion as to why TWOK is the best of the Star Trek movies that I think applies to this movie in comparing it to the Sam Raimi one. If you recall, in the first movie the Green Goblin was more or less motivated to keep his company from being sold out from under him and then to either recruit Spider Man or destroy him. There was a personal and believable motivation that worked extremely well in conjunction with a well developed villain. In this movie Dr. Conners seems to have no real motivation for what his sceme is, and instead of having an axe to grind with Spider Man he has some dumb plan to save humanity by destroying it. The scope of the story actually hurts itself. Movies are always better when there is a personal reason for the antagonist to go after the protagonist. As soon as you expand his (or her) animosity to include the faceless unwashed masses of humanity you stop caring. As an audience we need to connect with a character and care about what happens to him or her. There isn’t enough caring to be had for the entire population of New York City.
Another issue I had was something Jason brought up a while ago about Spider Man running around without his mask on. In the comics he was religious about always wearing the mask. He never, ever ran around in the suit without it, to the point that even as a zombie he always wore the mask and talked about how it reminded him of his humanity. In this movie he couldn’t find enough excuses to take off the mask while wearing the suit. It’s like someone filled it with itching powder.
Finally, there were some real inconsistencies with regards to Spider Man’s powers. Did he have spidey sense or not? Sometimes it seemed like he did, like when he had to dodge bullets fired from three feet away. Other times he couldn’t sense a bus coming at him. Can he cling to buildings or not? He seems to do it all the time but then at the end needs someone to save him and haul his ass up the side of a building. When you see it you will understand.
Sigh. The stars. Comic book movie. Two stars. I am a Spider Man fan and will give it a bonus star for that. One star. No real glaring plot holes. One star. In spite of the difficulty in generating chemistry, I thought almost all of the acting was pretty well done. One star. I am a huge Emma Stone fan (Crazy, Stupid Love, Zombieland, the Help). I wasn’t really digging her as a blond but still. One star. CGI and special effects were nigh flawless. One star. Overall I was generally entertained and felt I got my money’s worth. Two stars. Total: nine stars.
The black holes. Somehow not quite getting the story right IMO. One black hole. Very limited action, and what action there was felt purposefully shortened and rushed through. One black hole. The whole “glossing over” of so much of the canon. One black hole. Peter Parker as the cool kid. One black hole. It feels weird calling a movie derivative when it pretty much clones the original. I guess I will have to say I am awarding a black hole for lack of imagination or vision. One black hole. Finally, one more for creating a totally unnecessary film. This is basically the appendix of movies. One black hole. Total: six black holes.
A grand total of three stars, which in my mind is a terrible score for a comic book movie. The Avengers scored a total of nine stars, and in my opinion is pretty much exactly three times as good. I still want to see the Avengers a second time, and honestly would not see this one again. Should you see it once? Sure, why not? It’s not bad, and you will probably enjoy it. However, a year from now it will have faded into the background. Overall it seems made more for kids that adults, and the kids in the audience seemed to love it (especially the little rug rat next to me who spilled his drink all over the floor, ruining my popcorn and more or less screaming through the first 30 minutes of the film until his dad had to take him out. Kids are generally cool, but parents generally suck). See it on a big screen, and honestly this is one of the few movies I am going to recommend you see in 3D. Seems like most of the action was designed to go better in 3D. Date movie? I supposed. This is another one that will neither enhance nor inhibit your campaign to get her into bed with you. Bathroom break? Dead easy. The dinner scene with Peter, Gwen, and her family is 100% worthless filler. The first time you see Peter Parker tap on Gwen’s window feel free to cut out, use the restroom, check your email, make a couple phone calls, and chat with the theater manager for five minutes.
By the way, during the course of writing this review I found out an answer to my original question as to why they made this film. Turns out the Sony license for Spider Man requires them to produce a movie in a timely manner or else it reverts back to Marvel (Disney). They had to rush something out and opted to go with mediocre rather than good. Too bad.
Thanks for reading, and I’m truly sorry I couldn’t gush about this movie a little more. It’s not bad. It’s just not great. Follow me on Twitter @NerdKungFu.com. I don’t know if I am going to have time to see a lot of films this week as I am getting ready for Comic Con. If you have comments on this movie or my review feel free to post them here. If you have off topic questions or suggestions email me at [email protected]. Have a great 4th of July! Talk to you soon.
Dave
Brave Movie Review
Anyway, Brave. If this were a stand alone Disney movie I would have to call it brilliant. As a Pixar film I’m going to have to call it mediocre. Still entertaining, but just not to the standard that I have become accustomed to.
Have you ever known a couple who start dating, move in together, and over the course of time end up looking, dressing, and sounding exactly like each other? This seems to be what is happening with the marriage of Disney and Pixar, except in this case it is Pixar, like the subservient personality in the relationship, that is evolving into Disney, not so much the other way around. 
This film definitely has a Disney flavor to it, and I for one feels this bodes ill for Marvel laboring under the thumb of Disney. Of course, the Avengers was amazing so maybe I don’t have to worry so much. (Marvel Comics Con image courtesy of the Marvel Comic T Shirt category)
Let’s see if any of this sounds familiar to any of you Disney fans out there: a young princess is being cajoled into something she doesn’t want to do by her parents and wants to rebel. She meets a witch who gives her a spell that goes horrible awry and has to spend the rest of the film dealing with the consequences and trying to fix it. This is where I get disappointed in Pixar. I expect them to come out with some thing clever and original, not something so formulaic and Disney cookie cutter.
Not to say it wasn’t fun or entertaining. (some modest spoilers incoming so if you want to miss them skip ahead a couple paragraphs) The story is of young Merida, a Scottish princess and tom boy who loves archery and horseback riding. She is the darling of her giant father the king, Fergus, who lost his leg to a terrifying bear Mordu, and the constant headache for her uptight mother Elinor. She has three young triplet brothers who are total scamps.
Anyway, her mother wants her to marry one of the sons of the three clan heads. She doesn’t want to get married (and given that she is like 14 in this movie I can’t really blame her) and causes all kinds of trouble. She wanders into to forest and finds a witch who gives her a spell to cast on her mother to change her. Her mother gets turned into a giant bear and it is up to Merida to keep her hidden from her father (who is known as the “Bear King” and kills all bears on sight) while trying to figure out how to reverse the spell. Scottish highlander hijinks ensues.
As I do with pretty much all kids movies I will forgo my normal star/black hole rating system. I generally judge them on how the kids in the audience reacts, and in this case they were enjoying the hell out of it. Lots of cute action, bright colors, and funny Scottish accents.
The animation was as amazing as I have ever seen. When you see it I invite you to pay particular attention to the animation of Merida’s horse Angus. It is unreal how cool and real it is, while still being a cartoon. The story is linear and simple enough for kids, but the characters and dialog are entertaining enough to engage an adult. Overall a very good movie. If I were to pick one thing to complain about it’s in calling the movie “Brave”. While no one in the film acts in a cowardly manner I didn’t see anything I would consider examples of extreme bravery. Normally if you call a movie Brave it’s because you want to impart some important lesson about bravery. Maybe a young warrior froze up on his first battlefield and has to face the demon of perhaps being a coward. I didn’t see Merida do a lot that would be considered excessively brave, and her father seemed brave enough when backed up by 200 of his clansmen. The title of this film feels like a final comprise among producers after a long debate. I’d be willing to bet the original working title was something like “Merida” until they realized it was pretty much exactly like Mulan.
So should you see this film? Absolutely. Bring the kids if you have them, or see it with some adults at a late showing. You will not be disappointed unless you are a hard core Monsters Inc. fan. Date movie? Are you kidding? This film was made to be a date movie. If this doesn’t get her blood pumping plug her into a power outlet as her robot battery needs recharging. Bathroom break? Honestly this is one of those movies where it is hard to find a dead space. No one scene is really critical, but they are all entertaining and add to the story. If I a gun to my head (or, more relevantly, a bursting bladder) I would probably say the scene where Merida teaches her mother how to fish. It drags on a while, and while entertaining is not really a critical element to the script. Plus, if you didn’t have to use the restroom before seeing all that splashing water will probably make it a priority, if you know what I mean.
Thanks for reading. Please vote for me in that contest. Follow me on Twitter @Nerdkungfu. If you have comments on this movie or my review feel free to post them here. Any off topic questions or comments email to [email protected]. I am getting super busy in the next two weeks getting ready for Comic Con and the biggest Warhammer tournament of the year for so I might be cutting back on movie reviews for a little while. I will probably see Ted this weekend and if I can find the time and stomach for it Magic Mike, although my early warning suck radar is blaring on that one. Today I’m off the Sacramento, party capitol of the Central Valley. Have a great day.
Dave
A question about Spider Man’s web shooters.
So I have a question about Spider Man. It looks like in the new movie they are adding in the artificial web shooters that he should have had from the beginning. I know I asked about this stuff before but another question occurred to me.
As any fan of the comic knows, Peter Parker used science to invent his web shooters and web fluid, which creates webs that dissolved after an hour. While this is cool and all, I have to wonder about how Peter Parker keeps himself supplied with web fluid.
Think about it. Spider Man shoots webs at every opportunity and in the comic he would often have to stop to replace his web cartridges. However, give the fact that he is a full time student, photographer, and spends hours a day patrolling New York City when does he have time to cook up more web fluid? He is pretty broke most of the time, so where does he get the raw material? I would imagine it’s it made of pretty esoteric chemicals. Where does he go to get his stuff? Also, couldn’t someone trying to find him analyze the webs and track him down through his suppliers?
Anyway, that’s it. This image I got from Dave’s Marvel comic t-shirt collection. Very very cool IMO.
Jason
The first disconcerting rumble from the new Spider Man movie.
I saw a trailer for the new Spider Man move and I have to say I had my first “Uh oh” moment. First of all, the one thing that Toby Maguire had right was he looked like the kind of dork Peter Parker really was. They managed to emo that out of him in the last movie, but he looked exactly like what I would imagine Parker looking like. This new kid looks like some kind of male model. Sure that might work for the girls out there, but are they really the target audience for this film?
The second thing was in all the Spider Man comics I read in my life I can count on like three fingers the number of times he would run around in costume but without the mask. It was so a part of his personality that he even wore it in the Marvel Zombies series. Yet the trailers show him without mask more than with. I guess they want to show the new guys pretty face.
Finally, while I know the quest to find Peter Parkers lost parents was a part of a few comics, first of all it wasn’t the burning question on his mind all his life. He had a very pleasant childhood with Ben and May and until the Ultimate series never even seemed to care that much. Furthermore, when he did find out he had to go to Algiers to investigate. Another thing that made Spider Man so cool was the fact that Parker was pretty much an average kid like everyone else, but this movie seems to want to make him out to some kind of “chosen one” or something.
On the other hand it looks like they are bringing back the mechanical web shooters, which I like. That whole shooting webs out of your arm sounded lazy to me. Also, technically if he could organically shoot webs out of his body shouldn’t the web spinners have been coming out of his butt?
The Spider Man image comes from Dave’s Marvel comic t shirt collection, by the way.
Jason
Big Wow Comic Fest
Just got back last night from Big Wow in San Jose and I have to say it was a blast. I thought I would do a post show report for any of you considering coming out next year.
First off, it was super crowded and busy, with a lot of cool guests and speakers. This might be due to the fact that Wonder Con moved to Anaheim this year (they are supposed to be back next year) or it could just be a great show that is growing on it’s own strength, but it was super crowded. Not Wonder or Comic Con style, but certainly busier than the Anaheim show.
The attendees: generally very cool. Sunday was dominated by families, with a ton of strollers and little super heroes. Saturday saw lots of teenage to young adults. One nice thing about the mid to smaller shows is I get more of a chance to talk to fans and find out what they are into (generally comic books).
What’s Hot: anything Avengers. I pretty much sold out of my Marvel Comic T Shirts. Batman was really big too, with the new movie coming out. I sold a surprisingly large amount of Flash shirts, but I think that has more to do with the Big Bang Theory than actual fans of the comic (Big Bang shirts did very well too).
What’s Not: zombie stuff seems to be dropping off. Still sells, but I think the saturation point has been reached. Same with Angry Birds shirts. Video games in general seem to have dropped off, although I did do well with Umbrella shirts from Resident Evil.
The Venue: San Jose Convention Center is no worse or better than any other decent hall. I will say the lack of carpet made for a lot of sore feet by the end of the day. Don’t we all love standing around on polished concrete all day?
Parking: excellent. Easy to get to and relatively cheap.
The Costumes: honestly I didn’t see a lot that really impressed me. The 501st was there looking sharp as usual, but nothing new that blew my socks off. Lots of goths.
The Girls: pretty impressive. Lots of cute girls, and the ratio seemed well weighted towards the distaff (in other words, 4 guys to every girl instead of the usual 7 to 1).
Show low point: finding out that the snack bar right outside the entrance didn’t open up until the exact moment the show started and I would have to be in my booth. I was forced to run down to the hotel coffee bar. I also found out that San Jose now forces everyone to charge $.10 for bags. As a friend of the environment I applaud that. As a consumer in a hurry I find it a little annoying.
Show high point: While walking in to the venue after jogging to the hotel coffee bar I heard someone in line say “Oh, NerdKungFu is here.” They must have recognized me, which makes me feel all happy inside.
This show also had me fall in love (or at least a very strong crush) with another movie star. The star in question is the lovely Maxine Wasa, who came by my booth on Saturday, berated me for not having her size in a shirt, and then came back the next day and bought two of them. I reciprocated by buying a very hot picture of her from her booth which she autographed for me. I really don’t do that sort of thing, but she had a spark that entranced me. She will be at Comic Con and I will go by her booth again. She’s had a couple cool roles and is something of a name in the horror scene. She just had a movie come out called No Strings 2. I will track it down and review it, even though it looks like it features a demonic puppet clown. A more freaky combination I can’t imagine.
One more cool thing that happened was a lady bought this Spider Man t shirt from me and then got a bunch of the artists at the show to sketch all over it. Very cool, and I think it looks sharp. I might have to start stocking more white t shirts for shows.
Anyway, I will see Battleship matinee today and if it as bad as it looks excrete my opinion all over it later tonight. Thanks for reading. Follow me on Twitter @Nerdkungfu or email questions or suggestions to [email protected]. Sorry for nothing over the weekend, but we were super busy. Talk to you soon. I have to go find a frame for a certain picture, if you know what I mean.
Dave
Sorry about no blog.
I was slammed all day getting ready for the Big Wow Comic Fest in San Jose. If you are coming be sure to stop by my booth and say hi. I will try to see Battleship tomorrow night but I don’t know.
I did have a weird moment today while unpacking this Thor shirt from the Marvel Comic t shirts. I suddenly realized I wanted to see the Avengers a second time. This is something I haven’t done since I started doing the movie reviews. I just want to see the Hulk again. I don’t have the time.
So look for a review tomorrow night, but I might not get it done. Thanks for your patience. Have a great night.
Dave
Attack of the Eyebrows
I was looking at some posters for the upcoming Spider Man movie and I realized the kid they got to play Peter Parker, Andrew Garfield, has big bushy eyebrows. This would not really be worth mentioning were it not for the fact that this guy seems to just be the latest in a long run of young actors considered hot who come from the caterpillar school of eyebrow growth. The obvious one is Robert Pattinson, the Lord God of Eyebrows, but the list includes Chase Crawford, Josh Hartnet, Joe Jonas, Daniel Radcliffe, the Jonas Bros, Charlie Simpson, Pete Wentz, and Jesse McCartney who all seem to have been grown in a tube in the same laboratory by a mad scientist who’s goal is to make eyebrows insanely popular as some kind of plot to conquer the world.
I don’t think it’s a big deal, although I tend to find them distracting. The funny part will come when they develop cosmetic eyebrow hair plugs so guys who are less well endowed in the brow department can feel good about themselves. Eventually all hot guys are going to look like the Lorax. I am sure women will enjoy laughing at that.
This Spider Man image is from Dave’s Marvel Comic T Shirts. I do like Silver Age style art.
Jason
More stupid movie decisions: Jessica Chastain bails out on Iron Man 3
There is something I love about watching otherwise successful people commit career suicide. Jessica Chastain, apparently feeling pretty good about her career after starring in Tree of Life, has announced she will not be in the upcoming Iron Man 3. What’s the matter, Jessica? Is the whole Iron Man/Avengers franchise not successful for you? Seriously? The Avengers nailed $207.4 million dollars this last weekend. Tree of Life grossed $13.3 million in it’s entire run, and based on Dave’s review of it I don’t know if it rated that much.
Honestly, when faced with the chance to hitch your wagon to the most successful team in the world I think it would be worth while to maybe be willing to take less money in return for the opportunity to promote yourself. I can’t imagine what kind of roles the stars of this film are being offered on a daily basis right now. Sounds like you could write your own ticket. Of course, traditionally the third movie in a series tends to feel the suck, so maybe Jessica knows something about the script we are all missing.
This very cool Iron Man I found in Dave’s Marvel Comic T shirts. I have to say I like the retro looking Iron Man from the first movie and early comics. Kind of Ming the Merciless meets Battle Bots.
Jason
Marvel the Avengers in 3D review
As good as I expected, but not a whole lot more than that.
The Avengers is not about surprising the audience with something truly exceptional or unexpected. It does exactly what it sets out to do: deliver a fun, exciting comic book movie with all the elements fans are looking for. The dialog is witty and funny, the action cool and exciting, the heroes all (for the most part) have their own motivation and angst, and the villain despicable yet sympathetic. I will say it was a lot of fun and well worth your time to see in a theater.
Of course, it wouldn’t be one of my reviews if I didn’t find something to nit pick, and this film does have its issues. The first one was the overuse of characters I don’t really give a damn about, specifically Hawkeye and Black Widow. Had they had their own origin movie I might have cared more, but every minute spent on them was time taken away from Iron Man, Thor, Capt. American, or the Hulk. It was like drinking a delicious milkshake from a straw that periodically switches over to unflavored yogurt. Not necessarily bad, but just not really what you want to be drinking. Kind of bland. Also, they really felt lost and out of place without more back story.
Another issue I had was specifically with Black Widow. If you read the post I did a few days ago about the problem of female heroes in comic movies you might have caught the point I made that either super heroines have to be so unstoppable that they never take a punch to the face, or the get beaten heavily, really disturbing most of the audience. In this film the opted for the former, which would have made sense had she actually had some kind of super power. However, she is just a human and the suspension of disbelief really gets strained when you see her killing super powered aliens with her bare hands.
I also had a problem with the super powered aliens invading the earth. Never have I seen a less effective invasion. At the beginning of the movie it was heavily implied that they would beat the combined armed forced of the planet in about a day, but once they arrived they more or less fell over if someone farted in their general direction. I don’t see how aliens can hope to conquer the planet if a chick with a pistol and a guy with a bow and arrow can kill dozens of them.
All that being said, the movie was great and had a lot of really good points that made up for the negative issues. Iron Man was great, as was Thor and Capt. America. However, in the action scenes it was the Hulk who dominated and added the real excitement. In addition to being amazingly strong and fast he had the added benefit of being really unpredictable, making his scenes that much more interesting.
I don’t want to get to much into the story as I expect every one of you readers to see this film. I will say it falls back onto the traditional Marvel mashup premise: superheroes meet up, find an excuse to beat the hell out of each other, and then later find a reason to team up against the big bad. I personally really appreciate this nod towards true comic book story telling and think it’s a wise move. As for the story, Loki comes back with a device to summon an “unstoppable” alien army. The Avengers are pulled in to stop him. Mass chaos ensues.
The stars. Really great action scenes. Two stars. Comic book movie. One star. The Hulk was freaking awesome. Two stars. Thor, Iron Man, and Capt. America were great too. One star. For the most part sticking to canon. One star. Loki was a really good villain. One star. While definitely riding the lame horse known as PG-13, they still managed to keep the action hot and at least talked about people being killed. One star. There were any number of really clever, laugh out loud lines and moments. One star. Camera work and CGI were flawless. One star. Pacing was great. Even in the otherwise sluggish first 30 minutes I never felt bored or disengaged. Exceptionally well done IMO. One star. The interaction between the differing personalities among the Avengers was really good and added a lot to the story. One star. Overall a great movie experience. Two stars. Total: fifteen stars.
The black holes. Too much screen time burned on Black Widow and Hawkeye, both of whom felt kind of appendix-like. One black hole. The lack of a real back story on either character made me not care about them at all. One black hole. Worthless, worthless 3D. How is it 3D is getting lamer, not better? One black hole. The alien invaders were kind of tissue paper. One black hole. The final battle scene was highly derivative of Transformers Dark of the Moon to the point even the aliens looked a lot like the Decepticons (grey technoblobs that blended in with the background and scenery). One black hole. SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT sorry but since this is a movie I expect you to see you might want to skip down the the next paragraph now. The ending used the stupid, stupid “pulling the plug” tool first pioneered badly in Independence Day and the later used as a severe emetic in Star Wars the Phantom Menace when it came to defeating the alien army. If you are borrowing plot tips from George Lucas you should know you are either being painfully lazy or just stupid. Is it so bad to say “Well, we defeated the enemy but there are still several hundred alien soldiers running around we will have to hunt down over the next several months.”? One black hole. Total: six black holes.
A grand total nine stars. An excellent score, and an excellent movie. If you aren’t a bitter, shriveled soul such as myself the issues I had will be glossed over like a fresh coat of paint on graffiti, and you will enjoy the hell out of this movie. Absolutely see it in a theater on the biggest screen you can find. Well worth it. The movie is interesting enough and the character interaction intriguing enough to even make this a decent date movie for the right girl. Bathroom break? I’d say about the time Black Widow starts talking one on one with Loki. I know it was supposed to be a clever scene that added something to her character but at the end of it you kind of realize it was as worthless as the majority of the rest of her screen time. Everything you learn from it she reiterates in the next scene.
Thanks for reading. Sorry I kind of rushed this one and didn’t research the cast like I usually do but I am really slammed today (Warhammer weekend). Follow me on Twitter @Nerdkungfu or send me an email if you have specific questions or suggestions at [email protected]. If you want to comment on this review feel free to do so here. I don’t know if I will have a chance to see anything this weekend, but if I do I’ll try to write it up Sunday night. Have a good one.
Dave
Wanted 2 looks like it is going ahead
I read online today that Angelina Jolie has passed on doing the sequel to Wanted 2. Good move in my opinion. I mean, her character died at the end of the last one. Were they going to add in some kind of resurrection or twin or something? What is this, Marvel? The Hulk shirt comes from Dave’s Marvel comic t shirts. I couldn’t find any of the guys who died and resurrected, but you get the idea.
I remember seeing this movie and liking it. Dave was saying that while bendy bullets are theoretically possible they got the physics wrong, at least for the last one. However, I don’t remember this movie doing amazingly well but somehow it took in over $341 million. How is that possible? I guess overseas sales. Angelina is pretty popular around the world. How is this movie going to do without her? Dave liked it too, but he has been doing nothing but groaning about bad sequels this year.
I’m glad they are making this movie. I will probably see it and enjoy it, although I will leave the review to Dave. He loves writing. I get bored after 10 minutes, which is why I do the short blogs. I’d probably just say it was good and walk away.
Jason
