EXECUTIVE DECISIONKurt Russell,
Halle Berry
ACTIONTerrorists have hijacked a Boeing 747 en route to Washington D.C. and demand the release of one of their own from American custody.When officials realize that there's a weapon of mass destruction on board and a plan to strike at the U.S. capital, its up to an elite team of special forces commandos and a daring mid-air insertion to defuse the threat before its too late.THE GOOD : Typical '90s era actioner with plenty of over the top scenes, a fun and tense ride.THE BAD : Not much in the way of story and acting won't win at the critics.-6/10
===================================THOUGHTS / SPOILERS :Not bad as a popcorn movie / dvd rental. The film's main attraction is of course the physics defying mid air transfer of commandos from a specially modified stealth fighter to the hijacked airliner without drawing attention from the terrorists inside.Always nice to see John Leguizamo around. I personally find his amount of feistiness/energy often over the top and humourous. Another notable is Halle Berry in one of her earlier roles before Monster's Ball.
錦衣衛
(cant. "Gam-Yee-Wai" / mand. "Jin-Yi-Wei" / eng. "Brocade-Clad Guard")Donnie Yen, Zhao WeiAction, WuxiaLegend has it that the Emperors of the Ming Dynasty employed secret imperial police to keep order and stability within the empire. Trained in combat since childhood, these 'Jin Yi Wei' were bestowed the power to arrest and persecute in the name of the emperor. During a time of corruption and incompetence in the late Ming Dynasty, the Jin Yi Wei, taking orders from the eunuch faction, struggle to maintain stability amidst a period of countless rebellions. Qinglong, the leader of the Jin Yi Wei, receives orders from the chief eunuch to kill a rebellious Imperial Councilor and retrieve a box containing a list of names deemed enemies of the state.Qinglong and his team seize the box at great cost of life only to realize he had been used in a conspiracy to steal the Imperial Seal. The Jin Yi Wei leader finds himself on the run as he struggles to piece together who set him up and outrun his fellow Jin Yi Wei which are now hot on his tail.THE GOOD : Interesting premise, some tense battles and nice action choreographyTHE BAD : Too much CGI takes away from movie and the fight scenes, similar plotlines, Donnie Yen can fight but don't ask him to try romance.-4/10
L'IMMORTELJeno Reno ACTION, DRAMAOnce feared mob boss Charly Mattei turned in his life in the Marseille mafia for a chance to spend time with his wife and their two kids. Echoes of his old life come back to haunt him when he is gunned down in an underground parking lot.Miraculously, he survives and a long recovery ordeal later, he is reunited with family but also with those who want him out for good.THE GOOD : Decent actioner, crime drama. Poetic cinematography along with a good performance by Jean Reno.THE BAD : Plot not new, tense but predictable.-6/10
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THOUGHTS / SPOILERS :
L'immortel ain't no Leon but has Jean Reno in a similar role of menace turned civilian but encounters the criminal element and must do battle once more. Here, he's more the family man and to a certain point, you find Jean almost endearing in his role as a conflicted ex-mafia boss. Not a bad film.
THE MECHANICJason Statham, Ben FosterACTIONThe world has its ups and downs and business is good for those ready and able to deal with the problems. Arthur Bishop is one of those men. Employed by a secretive organization, Bishop gets handed assignments few men dare to even suggest. He is the best at what he does, that is until he's forced to take out one of his own and finds himself dealing with the aftermath, the troubled son.Taking him under his wing, Bishop trains the youngster in the business of killing knowing full well he is on a collision course with his past.THE GOOD : Some intense action sequences, the two man hit team is a treat to watch in action.THE BAD : The film loses steam and the plot fizzles as things are just starting to heat up.-4/10
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THOUGHTS/SPOILERS :
The movie starts off on key but sooner or later the notes become stuttered and short and the piece starts to fragment just as the action kicks off which is rather unfortunate. Situations become a bit far fetched and the rest of the movie becomes a predictable drag you can't wait to see finish.
This movie finds the same tragic flaws as did other similar assassin genre pieces like Wanted where the premise of the film starts off well but fails to hold up. Some of Statham's other generic action movies actually play through in a more coherent manner despite a more fantasized story like the movie Death Race. (I haven't seen Transporter 2/3 at this time so will not comment. Not in a rush to either.)
HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS /
十面埋伏(cant. "sup meen mai fuk" / mand. "shí miàn mái fú" / eng. ten faces in ambush) Zhang Ziyi, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy LauACTION ROMANCE WUXIAOfficers Leo and Jin are veteran police officers of a declining Tang Dynasty in the midst of fending off various rebel uprisings. The two men receive orders to track down and kill the successor of a recently assassinated rebel leader. They hatch a plan to capture and release the dead man's daughter in hopes that she will lead them to the group with Jin going undercover as a rebel sympathizer and Leo shadowing from a safe distance behind.When love blossoms between the daughter and the undercover officer, their little romance begins to threaten to undermine the delicate game of deception and reveal everything.THE GOOD : Gorgeous cinematography and choreography, tight script.THE BAD : Some of the acting is a little over the top.-8/10
RESIDENT EVIL : AFTERLIFEMilla JovovichACTION, SCI-FIHot on the tail of Umbrella Corporation, Alice and her clones tackle one branch of the elusive operations after another. Picking up traces of an old friend reignites her search for survivors and plunges Alice back into the zombie infested mayhem that has engulfed much of the planet.THE GOOD : Bullet splicing 3D/CGI slow mo shots are a visual delight. There's a few scares (predictable) and enough cheesy cliches to garner a few chuckles. THD BAD : Plot a hamfisted mess, characters are uninspired.THE UGLY : The dog with the splitting jaws and mutated heads is a nasty visual.> 2/10====================THOUGHTS / SPOILER WARNING : Overall I found little reason to watch this movie other than the fact that it was filmed at our school causing for quite the ruckus and arousing the curiosity of an otherwise apathetic student body. So I shelled out for the movie ticket when the film finally came out to see just how producers ended up portraying the particulars on the campus and I was delighted with not one, but two scenes, the latter was filmed at the more famous Robarts Library at St. George.There were some chuckles like the casting of Wentworth Miller as a very expressionless Chris Redfield who ironically is found in a jail cell during his character's debut in the movie. (Prison Break, anyone?) The rest of the movie is just one blunder after another, story wise and in and of itself. I doubt any fan of the video games even bother to follow the movie series at this point. The gratuitous usage of CGI benefits the movie's post apocalyptic renditions of cityscape and frequent special effects shots but in this day and age, many video games are actually outclassing movies with respect to story, cinematics and characters. The previous episodes were better but the series as a whole is on a downhill slide and with room for a 5th installment, I hope they use it wisely or not at all.
EXECUTIVE DECISION
