Film Review -
IRON MAN
Man what can I say, this film had everything you would want from a comic book hero movie. The main man starts out being arrogant and loud, but as the film progresses he has a life changing experience which make him realise he isn't the most important person in the world and you see him change into a humble ethical thinker, who realises he has the power to make a difference, but the good thing is that even at the end of the film he isn't completely selfless and that sets up a second film nicely, though the speech that occurs at the end of the credits is more likely to the thing that makes it obvious there will be a second film with Iron Man in it.... but it may not be an Iron Man exclusive....you'll have to sit through the credits to see what I'm talking about....
The premise of this film is.... Tony Stark, a multi billionaire who manufactures and sells arms to the U S government and he happens to be an electronics genius, gets kidnapped and ordered to make a missile for a terrorist organisation, but using his genius and with the aid of a the man who saved his life after he was hit by shrapnel, he builds an armoured suit to aid his escape. Whilst making good his escape he finds himself and realises he needs to give up his philandering ways and try and make a difference in the world, but in doing so his finds out that his kidnapping had be planned by a source closer to home.
As I said in my preview review write up...."I wasn't happy about the plans for Iron Man, I soon started hearing the cast and that didn't make me feel any better.... Robert Downey Jnr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Samuel L Jackson, Terrence Howard and Jeff Bridges, I def had some concerns...." Well I have to say my concerns were unfounded, this film was kicking it. Robert Downey Jnr did an exceptional job playing the main character and Ms P, was great as his executive assistance, in fact all the stars played their role really well and I have to tip my hat to the casting director and they got each character casted very well.
This is a must see on the big screen film in my books, and I really do believe it has got to be one of the best if not the best comic book hero adaptations ever, it def rivals "Batman Begins".... it is a great start to the summer what with other comic book hero films coming out this summer, "The Incredible Hulk", "The Dark Knight", "Hellboy 2" and even a comic book type hero film starring Will Smith called "Hancock"..... Iron Man has absolutely set the tone.
Would I see this film again... well actually I've already seen it twice and intend on seeing it again, but remember I've been an Iron Man fan since I was a kid, so I could be slightly biased, and I'll def be buying this film on disk when it comes out. A for a score, I'd have to say 8/10, but the only reason I've given it a lower score than I personally think it should have, is because I know I'm slightly biased....go watch it and feel free to send me a review from an unbiased person.
UNTRACEABLE
Can't you find me When I saw the trailer for this film on Playstation Network (PSN) in December 2007, I was like, "Yeah I got see that film", thing is ordinarily I wouldn't really watch this type film as it's in the ilk of Silence of the Lambs in fact the film posters for both films were very similar… a picture of a female with something over her mouth…., but maybe because this film was based in the world of IT, it took my fancy, though the trailer pretty much told you what was going to happen...
The premise of the film is that the section of the FBI that deals with dodgy websites gets a tip off about a website called "Kill With Me" which is essentially a website that is linked to a device of torture to which a living being is strapped and the more people that visit the site the quicker the living being dies. As the owner of the site escalates from killing a cat to killing humans, the FBI agent assigned to the case is on a mission to track him/her down, but because the site owner is bouncing the IP address all over the globe they can't trace where the signal is coming from, but as the agent gets closer, it becomes personal between her and them.
Even though I'd managed to guess what was going to happen even before I'd seen the film, I still really enjoyed this film as the journey to get there was good, and pretty tense, there was no point in the film where I thought "oh please come on"... and not that I'm sadistic, I have to say the way some people got taken out was pretty unique and def made you cringe, thinking, “I def hope I don't go that way”.
The acting was pretty good especially the lead actress Diane Lane who, put in a poor performance in Jumper, which I reviewed a few weeks back, which is below. She played the her role in this film really well and added some great suspense, which goes to show she is a good actress, maybe Jumper was just a bad script for her role.
Would I see this film again, well I wouldn't make a point of seeing it again, but if I went somewhere and it was on, I'd happily sit and watch it again. In terms of getting it on DVD/Blu-Ray, then I'd have to say, nope, would not get this at all, the extras would have to be amazing for me to even consider getting it. Out of 10, I'd have to give this film an 8/10, as I did enjoy the film, though would not break a neck to see it again.
JUMPER
The first time I'd heard anything about this film was on the radio... it was a radio ad, so didn't have the aid of pictures... obviously, wasn't sure from what I was hearing that I'd want to see this film, then I heard the line that sold it to me... "There are always consequences".... it wasn't the actual words... it was the fact that the words were said by Samuel L Jackson and I do like a film with Mr Jackson in it, especially if there is a chance he could be delivering a speech.... he never did complete that speech in Deep Blue Sea, anyway I digress.... so having established I wanted to see this film, I got round to seeing it a few days back.
The premise of the film is that a schoolboy loner, "David Rice", gets embarrassed in front of the school girl he wants to get with and ends up falling through a frozen lake and this causing him to find out he has the power to teleport where ever he wants to. The film jumps eights years and you see him as a young man with a finely tuned teleporting skill, but he finds out he isn't the only teleporter.. or Jumper and along with finding that out, he finds out there are a group of people called Paladins, lead by Mr Jackson's character "Roland" whose goal is to rid the world of jumpers as they feel that jumpers are an abomination to human society. The film follows "David Rice" played by Hayden "Anakin Skywalker" Christensen and how he deals with newly discovered threat and the fact he does actually have allies.
Am I glad I saw this film? Yes I am, there had been a fear that it may steal ideas from the Hiro character out of Heroes, but thankful it didn't. Though I am glad I saw the film, if I had a choice of watching Jumper or Heroes.... Heroes would win everytime, and not because Heroes has more people with different powers, it because Heroes is far better in terms of acting. In my opinion Mr Jackson was his usual top drawer self and put in a great performance, but the rest of the cast with the exception of Michael Rooker who played "David Rice's" dad, the acting was poor..... very poor.... despite that, the film was good and I enjoyed the concept.
All scenes with Mr Jackson were really good except one.... all I'm gonna say is.... "London Bus".... come on.... please... but yeah a good film and if you are a Mr Jackson fan, like Sci-Fi are an avid listener to Geek Syndicate then you should try and see this film.
Would I get this film on DVD, well rumour has it this film is part of a trilogy... so I'll wait for the triple pack, but as a one off film, and even though Mr Jackson is in it, I won't be buying this DVD anytime soon. Out of 10, I'd have to score this film with a good 7...
UNTRACEABLE
Can't you find meWhen I saw the trailer for this film on Playstation Network (PSN) in December 2007, I was like, "Yeah I got see that film", thing is ordinarily I wouldn't really watch this type film as it's in the ilk of Silence of the Lambs in fact the film posters for both films were very similar… a picture of a female with something over her mouth…., but maybe because this film was based in the world of IT, it took my fancy, though the trailer pretty much told you what was going to happen...
The premise of the film is that the section of the FBI that deals with dodgy websites gets a tip off about a website called "Kill With Me" which is essentially a website that is linked to a device of torture to which a living being is strapped and the more people that visit the site the quicker the living being dies. As the owner of the site escalates from killing a cat to killing humans, the FBI agent assigned to the case is on a mission to track him/her down, but because the site owner is bouncing the IP address all over the globe they can't trace where the signal is coming from, but as the agent gets closer, it becomes personal between her and them.
Even though I'd managed to guess what was going to happen even before I'd seen the film, I still really enjoyed this film as the journey to get there was good, and pretty tense, there was no point in the film where I thought "oh please come on"... and not that I'm sadistic, I have to say the way some people got taken out was pretty unique and def made you cringe, thinking, “I def hope I don't go that way”.
The acting was pretty good especially the lead actress Diane Lane who, put in a poor performance in Jumper, which I reviewed a few weeks back, which is below. She played the her role in this film really well and added some great suspense, which goes to show she is a good actress, maybe Jumper was just a bad script for her role.
Would I see this film again, well I wouldn't make a point of seeing it again, but if I went somewhere and it was on, I'd happily sit and watch it again. In terms of getting it on DVD/Blu-Ray, then I'd have to say, nope, would not get this at all, the extras would have to be amazing for me to even consider getting it. Out of 10, I'd have to give this film an 8/10, as I did enjoy the film, though would not break a neck to see it again.
JUMPER