TIGAER-DESIGN.COM_.v5 – Digital Art by Christian Hecker

What fascinating times we live in. Here we have a movie that was supposed to come out in theaters and suddenly falls into the hands of streaming service Netflix and they release the movie without any big advertisings whatsoever. What does that say about the quality of the film? Was there no confidence it could make some solid boxoffice cash? For the consumer it’s certainly not a bad thing. We got instant access to the film. A film that is the third installment in a series of films that are (kind of) connected. First we got Cloverfield in 2008. A ‘giant monster’ film, that left us with tons of questions. Then, silence for a while. I guess the makers thought about the direction they want to go with it. Cloverfield was quite a success and, despite its handheld point of view/shakycam filming style, a rather good film. Then in 2016 we got Cloverfield Lane. Definitely not what everyone expected. However, it was a very solid film with some very solid performances and direction. The trained eye also managed to find tons of references to the viral marketing campaign that connected both films. Rumors about a third movie spawned rather quickly. This third film now ended up being ‘The Cloverfield Paradox’.

The basic story behind it is pretty simple. In 2028, a multinational crew of scientists on a space station try to find a way to solve the energy crisis, that has hit Earth. On that orbiting station they have a particle-accelerator kind of device that, so they hope, will solve their global energy problems. After two years of tests and closing in on pure desperation, the crew decides to do another test. Of course that is where stuff is going wrong after looking promising at first. The crew finds out that Earth disappeared and soon discoveres that they switched realities. A lot of weird stuff happens along their way to find a solution to all their problems. So much for a quickie unspoiled story description. Kind of basic stuff, right? A story we’ve had before. At least when it comes to the outline of it.

This movie is a mixed bag. On the one hand we have a really solid quality production. Fantastic vfx and production design. You can see that the film was made for a bigger screen. The cast is also worth mentioning. Daniel Brühl, David Oyelowo, Elizabeth Debicki, Chris O’Dowd. Some familiar faces and names! And after seeing the film, it’s safe to say they did the best with what they had. The script itself is problematic and in parts very scifi/horror cliche. To its defense, it balances out these cliches, with some parts that really contain neat twists. But does the creativity in those twists save the film? To a degree yes. At least it never felt boring to me. There are a lot of situations where you question the decisions made by the crew though. However, in horror movies like that, you pretty much always have people make stupid decisions, to create some tension. So yes, the script could have been a lot smarter. Something that Cloverfield Lane did almost perfectly right, with a very solid and smart script behind it. The editing is also a little problematic. There are a couple of parts on Earth that do not connect very well. I at least felt a little irritated here and there. But one thing I absolutely don’t understand is why the chinese character in that film only speaks chinese. Everyone else speaks english! They subtitled her. In the established scientific environment we see in the film, surely as unrealistic as it can be. I guess the answer is ‘Asian markets’.

Camera and vfx work was really nice. Especially in the vfx work you can see that there was some money spent. The design of the station and how it presented itself felt unique. I really enjoyed the exterior shots of it. Bear McCreary did a good job with the score too. As explained earlier, the editing is a little weak… along with the script.

I guess, the success of the film surely depends on expectations. I didn’t have any. I wanted to be entertained and I think the film does a nice job with that. I wouldn’t even say that the film wants to be more than just entertaining. Try not to look for deeper meaning or some philosophical stuff. Most of the science they talk about makes no sense either, which makes me believe the film didn’t even try to be something more than an extended Outer Limits, Twilight Zone or Black Mirror episode. Which is fine to me. Is it a masterpiece? No it isn’t. Of the now three Cloverfield films it’s the weakest.

If you have Netflix and a thing for scifi… check it out on a rainy afternoon or lazy evening.

6.2/10

The Cloverfield Paradox on IMDb

Burn it to the ground! It surely is one of the most complicated tasks of our time, to continue a series of movies that is so beloved (almost religious) by such a crazy amount of people. Yep, Star Wars. So much mythology, so many characters, so many details! Now imagine you want to give it a new spin. You want to try to not only build on what came before but also enhance it by doing new stuff and play around a bit. Subverting expectations is something you could try, to find an entry point for something new. That ‘new spin’ you’re looking for. J.J. Abrams’ ‘The Force Awakens’ (TFA) played it pretty safe. A lot of familiar beats in that film. No question. Still, I enjoyed the film a lot and also noticed the new stuff – the film trying to open up new opportunities for future installments. But the main point it had to fight with was the resemblance to Episode 4 – A New Hope. Still, fans were into it and a lot of fan theories (which I personally couldn’t care less about) showed how invested fans were for the next film. Episode 8 – The Last Jedi (TLJ) tries and goes down an almost entirely own path. It seems the makers of the film listened to their audience. At least to a certain degree. But did the film in itself succeed? Let’s see what a new director (Rian Johnson) can bring to the series and if he is able to build on what we were left off with in the previous film by J.J. Abrams.

The first surprise is that this film starts exactly where we left the previous film. It feels like almost no time has passed between the films. After the desperate but successful attack on Starkiller base, what’s left of the Resistance/Rebels/Alliance (the good guys) evacuates the base they were stationed on in the previous film. All while a New Order fleet (led by General Hux (Domnhall Gleeson) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver)) is trying to block the good guys from jumping into hyperspace and escape. Which brings up a continuity problem (one of many in this film). After some nice space battle action the Rebel fleet escapes. Unfortunately the New Order has a device that makes it possible for them to locate the Rebel fleet. Soon after the Rebel fleet jumps into safety, a New Order fleet shows up right behind them. That includes a super massive flagship. So now it’s Hux, Kylo Ren and Snoke right at their tails. The small rebel fleet (very very small) manages to get out of effective laser range of the New Order. The shields of the rebel fleet hold but their engine energy slowly drains. So a cat and mouse game starts. Which brings up another plot hole. Why doesn’t the New Order just start some of their fighters and long range bombers to catch up to the rebel fleet that outpaces the capital ships of the New Order? As far as I can evaluate the situation in that scenario… the rebel fleet would have been toast… space toast. In a matter of minutes. Not to mention some inconsistencies (story wise) with the shields on that rebel ship. So instead we have this cat and mouse scenario going on for almost 3/4 of the film. It maintains a certain level of suspense but feels odd at the same time.

In the meantime Rey (Daisy Ridley) met up with Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and tries to talk him into training her. He refuses. His standpoint now is that the force (as a whole) is the root of all evil. And I’m completely on Luke’s side here. Even if the Luke we’ve seen up to this point doesn’t really represent the Luke Skywalker I grew up with. Rey doesn’t stop trying to convince him to train her and follows Luke across the island. We meet the Porgs and I actually like these guys. They (for me) represent the humour parts that work in the film. And there are too many that do not hit the mark at all. Luke changes his mind and tries to teach Rey at least some basic things. tries to make her understand his standpoint in regards to the force. That’s something we should have seen more of though. I’m very conflicted about the portrayal of Luke in this film. Luke’s character swings back and forth between the Luke we know and some other character. The argument is that we’ve not seen him for so long and people change. Still. Mark Hamill does a fantastic job with what he’s working with though. I liked his performance a lot. He managed to give Luke some depth and here and there we get that version of Luke we learned to love.

While Rey is with Luke and the rebel fleet fleeing from an overwhelming display of force by the New Order, it’s time to start a subplot for Finn (John Boyega) and a new character named Rose (Kelly Marie Tran). Finn wants to get Rey and after some misunderstandings with Rose they ultimately decide to find a way to disable the tracking device that enables the New Order to find and track the rebel fleet. For that they visit a ‘Casino Planet’. This (estimated 45 minute) plotline leads to nothing. It introduces the character of Rose, which I actually enjoyed a lot. She’s a good addition to the set of characters and the chemistry between Finn and Rose works too. But that’s not the actual problem here. Instead we should ask ourselfes why this plotline got included in the film. More screentime for an asian character to make this movie more attractive for asian markets? Sounds cold but plausible, right? I mean, it’s Disney we’re dealing with here. They try to cover up this very weak plotline with some political and social statements about the rich, poor and the face of war. It’s very on the nose and wreaks of poor writing. This whole subplot does. Finn and Rose meet a codecracker named DJ (Benicio Del Toro) who helps them with their task. DJ is a neat character too! But in the conclusion of that subplot he is completely wasted. This Finn and Rose part felt incredibly like the prequel movies. Even down to the overall CGI’y look of the Casino Planet. Very uninspired writing. I’m sure that part already got cut to the shortest possible result. But I feel there are at least another 5 minutes we could lose there.

We learn that Kylo and Rey seem to have a certain way of connecting through the force. While on the island with Luke, Rey and Kylo talk out some things that ultimately lead to Rey leaving Luke behind. She begs Luke to come with her but he refuses. A decision I can understand at this point in the film. Rey voluntarily meets up with Kylo on Snoke’s flagship. This meetup eventually leads to a confrontation with Snoke. This is probably one of the stronger parts of the film. The back and forth between Snoke and Rey. Kylo’s reactions to what’s going on. You may say whatever you want about the results of that confrontation… but it’s effective. I’m very split about this direction. The scenes between Rey and Kylo are the best though. Both actors do a good job of portraying the conflict between them.

Things on the last remaining ship of the rebel fleet become tense as the fuel levels fall. Luckily they managed to come close enough to a planet that contains an old rebel outpost. They begin to leave the ship while Finn, Rose and DJ are on Snoke’s flag ship and manage to find the tracking device. Unfortunately a betrayal happens. Which almost entirely renders Finn’s and Rose’s subplot useless.

Then one of the most epic scenes in Star Wars history happens.

For a moment it seems like Kylo and Rey team up. Finn and Rose manage to catch up with the rebels that managed to escape to a planet that was their destination right from the beginning. Everything is ready for a final battle. And a battle we get. Along with (again) one of the stupidest character moments. However, I don’t want to go into every little detail and stop the plot discussion here.

After seeing that film I feel that there will be Fans 1.0 and Fans 2.5 (Fans 2.0 would be the folks who grew up with the prequels I guess). The film doesn’t even try to hide the fact that it, almost literally, wants to burn down what came before it. And while I’m not entirely opposed to that… I really feel it could have been done with a little more respect. Not just respect for the previous material but also respect for the fans of that material. There are parts of the story that I felt were useless and could have been avoided. There is this mutiny element on the fleeing rebel ship that could have easily been avoided by the leaders just telling their plans to everyone. Wouldn’t a competent leader do that in a dire situation just to avoid unnecessary complications? There weren’t many people left anyway! Just tell them! No, instead we create some artificial conflict. A conflict that plays out kind of fine in the film but falls apart as soon as you think about it. We need to keep some characters in the dark because otherwise they would have zero character growth in this film. Character growth and how it’s handled is a general issue in this film.

Talking about respect for the material. Give Admiral Ackbar a better death! Some might argue it’s a ‘non-character’. But enough fans have read enough books (of the old, now cancelled, extended universe (thanks Disney)) where he did play a larger role. Let him initiate that wonderful epic scene I mentioned earlier! There is no need to introduce a new character just for that. Well, ok, it’s Disney… they probably want to sell some stuff with that new character. Sometimes it’s too obvious. Or is it just to diversify the cast with more females? I don’t care. All I know is that they had a perfect character for that scene and felt the need to go with someone no one ever heard of.

From a technical point of view there is almost nothing to complain about. Almost. I think it is certainly one of the most beautiful SW films yet. Some great camera angles and well composed shots. John Williams composed a nice score for it. The sound design is pretty much flawless (Dolby Atmos really brought out the best in that department). Only the writing could have been better. It is weird how at the end of the film our characters have undergone a change… but not necessarily grown. Some of them end up where they started. Even after an 2 1/2hr movie where tons of things happen. The Casino part feels staged and too much. Unfortunately the film splits up the characters we had fun with in TFA. Finn and Rey had such a nice chemistry in that first film and they don’t share anything in this film. Rey and Poe seem to meet for the first time ever at the end of this film. Which is completely odd. That said…

…I must say that I did like the film a lot better after a second viewing. It doesn’t change my opinion about it and I still stand with the flaws I pointed out. The casino part still felt misplaced. The humour still fell flat most of the time. Character development still felt weird. However, I was able to see through it a little better and here and there understood what the makers were going for. And it will be interesting to see where they go now. They managed to establish a clean slate. It could have been done more smoothly. It’s not the feared re-hash of Empire Strikes Back and now the third movie can pretty much do what it wants. I can even imagine them doing a time jump of a couple of years. And that’s as far as I am willing to venture into ‘fan theory’ town. Did the film make me jump up and say: “oh! now I really want to know how it continues!”? Absolutely not. The film left me indifferent. Much contrary to TFA… which definitely made me want to see more.

For now, let’s see where this almost clean slate brings us.

A 7.7/10 for me. Yes, it may be a surprising high vote after reading my review. It’s always easier to write about stuff you didn’t like. But there is some good in this film too. This film planted a seed for something entirely new. We may agree or disagree with elements of the film… but the fact that from now on it can really become its own thing is worth honoring. I feel it’s one of these films that need time. And I’m willing to give it that time.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi on IMDb

To me the Thor movies always felt a little out of place when looking at the overall collection of movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The first one took itself a little too serious. The second film was not able to find a good balance between the more serious tone and the lighthearted stuff it tried to sprinkle in. Then Guardians of the Galaxy appeared on the map. Its whacky sense of humour, paired with some neat scifi elements, showed that audiences don’t always want that it all super gritty, dark and enjoy some more ‘far out’ stuff as well. Then we got Doctor Strange, which is also a property you just cannot take a 100% serious and Marvel understood that by giving Doctor Strange a similar treatment like GotG. Now with the third movie in the Thor series it seems they have found the right balance and tone for this property as well. You just cannot be dead serious all the time when you have gods, magic and all kinds of weirdo things going on in your story. Thor: Ragnarok did that right I think. Minimizing the drama and maximizing the fun.

How do I describe the story to this film? It’s actually rather simple. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) have a sister they don’t know about, Hela. Hela (Cate Blanchett) wants revenge on her/their father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) for leaving her behind and being a traitor to their original plans to extend the power of Asgard. Thor and Loki didn’t even know they had a sister. While trying to stop Hela from entering Asgard, Thor and Loki get split up. Thor lands on a strange planet, ruled by a figure called the ‘Grandmaster’ (Jeff Goldblum). He rules that planet by distracting the population with gigantic shows of Gladiator battles. Thor soon finds himself in the ring to fight the most powerful Gladiator this arena has ever seen. The Hulk. (Wouldn’t it have been awesome to not have this spoilered in the trailer? What a fantastic reveal it would have been in the film itself!) A neat brawl ensues. In the meantime Loki, who is also trapped on this planet, sees how Thor is crossing all his plans to make friends with the Grandmaster. Soon they have to work together and find a way off this planet to get back to Asgard and save if from Hela. That’s pretty much the base of the story. Straightforward and simple.

The question, again, is… would this film work without all the other films in the MCU? In this case I actually think it could. Yes, it has plenty of cross-references to the other films (especially regarding Hulk) but still, it’s more than enough its own thing. Especially when it comes to the production design, presentation and music. This film really has its own voice which separates it from the rest of the films in the MCU. It feels more like a comic than most of the other MCU films. Especially with the colour palette they go with, which orientates strongly on the comic source material. They don’t shy away using strong and shiny colours that stand out and create an appealing style throughout the film. The costume design was quite ridiculous even in the first Thor film and therefor felt a little out of place since the tone was a little to serious. In Thor 3 the costumes and their ridiculousness work perfect and completely mesh with what the movie wants to be. Fun and over the top.

With all the FUN in here, is there any room left for some heady stuff? I fear not. Don’t expect anything here that will make you think about this film or a hidden message or something. You may even forget most of it within one hour after seeing the film. It really is just about having a good time and escape this dull and full of bad news world we live in. And for that it works pretty much perfect. The direction (Taika Waititi) works and makes every one of the characters shine, especially in the scenes where they interact with each other. I already said that the art department did a great job. The camera work is good enough. But the music, with its synthi style, elevates the film even more. Most of the other MCU films do not have a really memorable soundtrack. So, while there aren’t too many topics in here that will keep you busy thinking about it… there is enough stuff to satisfy. So it’s kind of the classic cheeseburger of movies. It looks good. It tastes good. You don’t necessarily miss it when you don’t have it. Does that sound a little dismissive? Maybe. Maybe not?

Overall I think the film is a valuable addition to the MCU. It embraces the comic aesthetic more than most of the other films and does well with that. It is a little long (which film isn’t these days?) but I never felt bored. Will I see the film again as soon as it’s on home video? Probably not. But I will watch it a second time, sooner or later. It is a popcorn movie in the purest sense. Maybe a little hollow, forgettable and not all of the gags work… but it’s just a fun time. Also, Cate Blanchett finally gives the MCU a villain with a hint of depth.

7.8/10

Thor: Ragnarok on IMDb

In 1982 we got Blade Runner, an audience and critical flop at the time, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford in the lead. Much like the 1982 John Carpenter film ‘The Thing’, this film was a big flop back in the day. Now both are widely accepted as classics. Maybe the themes and ideas did go over peoples heads or they couldn’t see Harrison Ford play a (kinda) bad guy. Or the open ending (now you would say cliffhanger) was unsatifying. Over the years this film turned into a cult classic and petty much from the get go started to influence all scifi properties that came after 1982. So there were at least some people who understood what a milestone this film was. The first thing that catched on was the dystopian look of it. Later the ideas and themes were better understood and appreciated. Now Blade Runner is (in my eyes at least) an essential film you should have seen and talked about at least once in your life. It’s an important film, exploring the nature of humanity and where it may be headed. Now, all these years later, we get a sequel: Blade Runner 2049. When I first heard they plan a sequel, I was as skeptical as one can be. Then I learned they hired Denis Villeneuve to direct it and that decision immediately spawned a big bucket of hope. He’s one of my favourite directors working today and I enjoyed his recent films a lot! Ridley Scott took the Producer chair and ultimately still had some saying in the making of this film. We also got Hampton Fancher, one of the original writers of the back! So, a potentially very good combination. So how did this collaboration turn out? Is it a worthy sequel to one of the most influential films of all time? Let’s have a look at it without any spoilers.

Blade Runner 2049 starts in broad daylight. Which, right from the get go, tells the audience that this film will be different and things have changed in the past 35 years since when the first movie took place. From what we see the environment is barren, dusty and lifeless. Kind of what you would expect the environment would look like outside one of the megacities. We meet K (Ryan Gosling). K is part of a Blade Runner unit. The unit is still active and hunting down rogue replicants. K finds one of these replicants and visits him. Sapper Morton (Dave Bautista) runs a farm outside the city and leads a secluded life, away from everyone and pretty much everything. When K shows up, Sapper is not surprised. He waited for that moment… god knows how long. The scene plays out very quiet and builds up tension that leads into a fight between the two. K manages to win the upper hand and ‘retires’ Morton. Uppon investigating the farm, he finds suspicios things and decides to follow their lead. Blade Runner are police detectives and we see him doing his job more than once throughout the film. So yeah, the film is kind of a ‘police work’ story. Which makes this film more a scifi noir detective story. We learn the clues along with K and try to make sense of it through him. Something that creates a nice connection between the character and the audience. The clues send K and us down a rabbit hole of discoveries and twists that will come (almost) full circle in the end of the film. A fantastic ending that is almost as powerful as the one in the first film. For the rest, please go see the film! It’s worth it!

The acting we get here is also very good. Ryan Gosling tackles his character with a rather subdued performance. So when his character gets emotional, there is a certain impact behind it. Especially since his character goes through all kinds of emotional things thoughout the film. Harrison Ford, at the end of the film, delivers probably one of his best performances in recent years. I loved to see him really put some effort into his character of an older Rick Deckard. The only one who may be a little too much ‘over the top’ would be Jared Leto’s character of Niander Wallace. He kind of replaces Eldon Tyrell. Don’t get me wrong, I like Jared Leto’s character in this film but the scenes with him are probably some of the scenes I would have trimmed down a little. Another standout performance is given by Ana de Armas who plays Joi. She is not one of the main characters but even her character has growth and depth in this film. They managed to squeeze so many things into this film. Even the small nuances have weight. It’s wonderful.

Let’s talk about world building. Something the original movie did perfect. We not only got that scifi story but also a glimpse into how people live in that world and deal with it. Not much has changed since the original film. The world just got a little more bleak, dark and grey. Less wet and more dusty. The only colour we get is artificial, much like almost everything in that world. Everything feels cold and even the dirty areas we see feel kind of sterile at the same time. Which is a fascinating mixture to me. When there is colour on the screen, it’s as if your eyes soak it up like a sponge. And this feeling works perfectly for the world we live in within this film. However, I wanted to see a little more of the world. Nonetheless we do get some really fantastic shots. Aside from these amazingly filmed vista shots we also get very intimate and personal stuff of course. The camera work by Roger Deakins is perfect and captures these moments very nicely. We learn a lot about how this world operates now and how hard it is to survive in it. The original themes of isolation, identity, compassion (to name a few) are all there and tackled throughout the film. The film captures the themes of the original, expands on them and gives the audience a solution to most of the questions we were left off with at the end of the original film. There still are some ambiguous parts but why not? Leave us with something to speculate about. Much like the original film. This film however manages it to give us a very satisfying ending despite the open questions that may still be there. To get this done in a fashion like that is quite masterful and I admire it a lot. It’s clear that there was not much studio interference here and the writers and filmmakers had free reign. Which gave us a sequel worthy of the original. Which is something I’m very grateful for.

With a 160 minute runtime it is indeed a very long movie. I personally could have easily trimmed it by at least 10 minutes. So, this extensive runtime (for me) is probably the only downside of this film. Some shots just linger on too long for no apparent reason. The movie is slow and action sequences sparse. It’s more a character study or… world study. It’s not a ‘bam boom bang’ scifi opera. It’s personal, introvert and almost thinking about itself and the questions it asks. These questions are not just about us and the human condition in general. It’s also about technology and how we deal with it. With the ever growing population on this planet it’s almost paradox that people don’t really come together more but move away from each other (at least emotionally and mentally). Living with technologies that want to bring us closer but end up distancing us from each other. You can see this already today. At least when you’re not staring at your cellphone display all the time and start to observe the world around you a bit.

Of course this film touches on the ‘playing god’ theme of the original as well. We love to create things but a lot of times end up dismissing our creation as failed and look down on it. End up with a Blade Runner unit that hunts down our failed creations, so we are not constantly confronted by our mistakes. And by doing that… ending up making our failure even more obvious. I can observe that on myself when looking at artwork of mine. Most of the time I’m quite happy with the results but I can also see the cracks that (at least to me) sometimes borderline on ruining the work for me. We can never be entirely happy with something we create it seems. At least when it comes to our artificial creations. Yet, we are still looking for perfection. For thousands of years now. I guess that’s part of what makes us human as well. We cannot stop. We always have to go further and if it means our end… then may it be so. Another thing is that we cannot be alone. Yes, some of us can cope better with isolation than others, but in general we desperately need company in some way or another. Could that notion be transferred onto our creations as well? Is this notion of wanting to share our experience with someone (or something) else be something universal? Not just limited to us as human beings but also in our creations? The movie tackles these questions and questions our way of compassion.

Vangelis is one major reason why the original movie works so amazingly well. His score matched the images in a way that is very hard to describe, in a way that is/feels almost out of this world. It’s magical. So of course it would be an amazingly difficult task to re-imagine that music for a follow up film. After listening to both soundtracks in the past two days I must say that Vangelis still is the far superior one. What Johan Johannson, Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch managed to do for Blade Runner 2049 is remarkeable nonetheless. Their score manages it to be a continuation of the original movie’s score and also match this new world we are confronted with in 2049. With the influences in the Vangelis soundtrack being quite diverse, the music in 2049 is harder and more claustrophobic in many ways. It perfectly mirrors the dense, thick and atmospheric feel of the world. All that without losing that fine connection to the music from the original. It’s not copying the Vangelis music though. But it’s not violently trying to be its own thing too. It merges with the music of the 1982 original. And if you know the original movie in and out you can hear the musical cues from the original score every now and then. It’s used sparsly and with great respect. So all around the trio did a great job creating a musical soundscape for the world of Blade Runner 2049.

Keeping all these things in mind it’s quite an accomplishment and I’m thankful we have this film now. There could have gone so many things wrong. They even pull off the magic trick to make every single one of the different cuts of the original work in line with this new one. Fantastic writing and direction. What else can there be said? Watch the old and this new one back to back and you will have an all around satisfying experience. Along with a very satisfying ending that kind of manages to close the circle of the original storyline but still leaves some things open. Does ‘leaving things open’ mean ‘sequel bait’? Absolutely not. It’s just room that’s been left empty so you have something to talk and think about.

I’m very happy this film exists. It gives me hope. Not just for when it comes to movies but also for mankind a little bit. At least a portion of humanity is not going blindly into the future.

8.7/10

Blade Runner 2049 on IMDb

I haven’t seen the 1990 TV Mini Series of IT for quite some time now but remember liking it. Watching it when I was younger definitely scared me. Even if they had to tone down the scary parts since it was made for TV. Especially the first part with the kids, I found nicely done. Audiences since then grew desensitized I think and therefor a new interpretation of Stephen King’s novel had to be more shocking and more scary. Did they succeed? Well, to a degree they did.

Instead of setting it in the 60s (like in the book) they updated it to the late 1980 (1989 if I remember right). Moving it there makes absolute sense and enables the second part of the story to play in 2017. If you haven’t seen the TV Mini Series or read the book, the story is pretty simple. A group of kids is forced to battle an shapeshifting entity in a small town. The preferred form of the entity is a clown so it is able to lure kids into a trap more easily. It seems that the creature feeds on fear for the most part. Every 27 years or so it comes out of the shadows and haunts that small town. Kids disappear left and right and no one seems to wonder about it. Our ‘Losers Club’ of kids wants to end it and find out what happened to newly missed kids. Among these missing kids is the younger brother of Bill Denbrough (Jaeden Lieberher). Along with his friends Richie (Finn Wolfhard), Eddie (Jack Dylan Grazer), Stanley (Wyatt Oleff), Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor), Beverly (Sophia Lillis) and Mike (Chosen Jacobs) he wants to find his brother and find out what is going on in the town. All of them get a scary visit by IT/Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard), which makes them bond even tighter. In the end they all decide to muster up the courage to fight IT.

The film is trying to balance the more scary horror elements with the experience the kids have in the late 1980s. The film manages it to create a nice atmosphere and paints a nice picture of the time. We see how that group of friends comes together through their experiences with Pennywise. All of them have to go through some nightmarish things and they soon understand that there is more going on than just missing children. All of the kids are very good but the standout for me is Beverly played by Sophia Lillis. She did a fantastic job of portraying her character as (in my eyes) the toughest and, at the same time, most vulnerable character of the group. If I were part of that group I would have probably fallen in love with her. All of the kids get their moment to shine and they all use it. Some good direction by Andy Muschietti. All of them had my sympathy and I wanted the group of kids to succeed and beat Pennywise.

Talking about Pennywise! The iconic portrayal of Pennywise by Tim Curry in the 1990 Mini Series was outstanding. Even if he only had a couple of scenes throughout the 3h runtime… he managed to leave a strong impression. Bill Skarsgard had to fill these expectations. The direction, art design and presentation of Pennywise in this new film definitely helped to bring him close to Tim Curry’s performance. I would say they both are equally good. And both are slightly different takes on the character. All of the scenes with Pennywise worked and delivered some creepy moments. My favourite is a scene where our group of kids check out some dia pictures to learn more about the past of the town. Suddenly hell breaks loose.

The creepy and scare scenes are the ones a film like this is measured by and the film certainly delivers. In the beginning we see how Bill’s brother gets captured by Pennywise and immediately know that it’s a film for adults. It sets the right mood and what’s at stake right from the get go. Loved that decision! Throughout the film I admit I had some goosebumps here and there (which only very rarely happens!). But I cannot figure out why. I wasn’t exactly scared by these particular scenes. In the beginning I noticed that they installed a new Dolby Atmos soundsystem into the theater. Maybe it was indeed the sound design that made me react that way. The sound in this film was mixed very good and certainly added to the thick atmosphere in it. Although I must say that I would have wished for some more quiet sequences. Pretty much all horror scenes are accompanied by loud sound effects. Almost a little too much. Last but not least I must say that the film tried to avoid jumpscare moments. They are there but not used to a degree where it becomes annoying.

Almost a little too much was the rollercoaster ride between the friendship moments of the kids and the horror sequences. The film switched back and forth. It had to do that for the story to make sense and I understand that. All the kids individually needed a scene where they confront their fears. At the end of the film I was on the verge of being a little exhausted by it though. Both the friendship and horror sequences do work nicely. Although I must say that I enjoyed the friendship moments and interaction between the kids (when they’re not part of a horror sequence) a little more. They do have a great chemistry and it shows on screen.

So, will this film become a classic? I really am not sure. It certainly is an above average horror movie and I hope it will find a good audience. It actually did already, being one of the most successful movies this year. Now the task of the filmmakers is to find good personnel for the second chapter of the story, when we see the ‘Losers Club’ as adults. I hope they manage to keep the atmosphere and tone. And with the success of this film they should be able to get a neat cast too. Fingers crossed! However, tonally the second film has to be very different. It’s about adults and the (now so) hip nostalgia beats wouldn’t work and make the film cheap. So they have some work to do to make the two films work as a whole. If they succeed with the second film it could indeed elevate this first film into a ‘modern classic’ status.

It is a nice movie for the big screen. Go see it if you have the chance! Not sure if there is a 3d version but 2d is absolutely fine and enough for this one.

A 7.7/10 for me.

It on IMDb

This new Planet Of The Apes series is a phenomenon to me. With a movie landscape going, almost entirely, for heavy and loud vfx spectacles, it is refreshing to see a film that is quiet and almost introvert. A film using vfx only for storytelling and asking questions about what makes us human. And still the series managed to create a fanbase and have some solid success at the box office. Hats off to you Hollywood, you can still do it.

The film starts with a group of soldiers preparing an attack on an ape village. A battle breaks loose and after early successes the battle turns and the soldiers have to retreat. But the losses on both sides are high. We meet Cesar again, the leader of the ape colony and a well known character from the past movies. We immediately notice that he got older and a little more grumpy it seems. He is very unsatisfied about the situation and together with his leaders he plans to move his folks to another, more peaceful, place. Under heavy losses the apes manage to push back the attack of the humans. Unfortunately there are traitors in their ranks and a later suprise attack by the humans takes an unbearable toll on Cesar. He sends his people away and goes for a revenge mission. Soon we find out that his people were captured by the humans Cesar was looking for. Now Cesar has to find a way to free them. And that too takes a high toll on him while he fights demons of the past. He soon learns that co-existence between apes and humans seems to be impossible.

The second film (at least I feel so) did have more action sequences in it. This third film is rather quiet and delivers a rollercoaster ride on more of an emotional level. That goes for both sides, the apes and the humans. Of course our sympathies clearly lean towards the apes. Especially in the moments of loss and when they’re caged in. There still is room for understanding the human perspective though. And the film does a nice job of showing it. On the human side it’s mainly fear and hubris. And that can be nicely observed in the leader of the humans, played by Woody Harrelson. Beside a little girl, he is pretty much the only human we have real contact to. He represents the whole human aspect, their emotions, motivations, fears and he does well in that part. Everything else is more or less focussed on the apes and how they deal with the circumstances.

With that focus on the apes it’s again remarkable how good these creatures look. Now they’re really seamlessly integrated into the live action footage. Most of the time I couldn’t tell at all when they used a puppet and when not. This of course works for the immersive quality of the movie. You soon forget to think that they’re vfx. The emotional range these apes show can be heartbreaking. What Andy Serkis, Steve Zahn and the other actors along with the vfx team did with Cesar and the other apes should be considered for a ton of awards. But not only Cesar is amazing to watch. He’s got a group of friends with him when he embarks on his trip to the human base. All of them are fantastic, have an own character and almost try to out-act each other in certain scenes.

On a technical level I must say that there is not much to complain. I enjoyed the camera work and even the music (even though not really too memorable) has an own character and style. I also liked the editing very much. The film has a good sense of when to keep a shot going and when to cut. Especially in the more emotional scenes. Maybe the pacing could have been a little better organized. I don’t think this film needed to be 140min long. It is a tiny bit too slow here and there.

As a long time fan of the original series I spotted a lot of obvious and not so obvious references in this film. That was nice to see and gave the whole film an extra layer (at least for the die hard fans). I don’t think they will try to connect the old series to the new series (and it would be wrong to do so if you ask me) but I enjoyed these little references.

Is it a theater must see? Probably not. Except you want to marvel at the vfx quality and some really beautiful shots. If you’ve seen the first two films, definitely check it out when it’s on bluray. It’s a fantastic continuation of the story. Great characters, well written and smoothly directed by Matt Reeves.

Even though entirely unnecessary, the 3d felt pretty good in case of this film. Less exhausting in a quieter film and more room for the effect to unfold.

A 7.5/10 for me.

War for the Planet of the Apes on IMDb

Here we go with the most expensive european/independent movie project to date. A movie that did cost something like 200mio dollars (advertising not included) really needs to capture a good audience to make that kind of money back. You can rightfully say that Valerian did bomb at the US boxoffice. So its last chance are the other markets. Especially Europe and China. Of course this film will also be (or is) compared to Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element. Which wasn’t exactly a boxoffice hit either. But at least has had a Bruce Willis or Gary Oldman to make people interested.

Valerian is (how could it be something else these days) made after a story from a comic – Valerian & Laureline by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières that started in 1967. If you are familiar with sci-fi movies between 67 and now… you can see how the comic kind of influenced everything that came after it. Especially Star Wars, with its look and characters as one prominent example. Valerian is about two young special agents, Major Valerian (played by Dane DeHaan) and Sergeant Laureline (played by Cara Delevingne). Both are part of the military and have to take care of the more complicated missions that tend to come up every now and then. I haven’t read the comics but from what I gathered it’s a giant mix of everything. From western to hard scifi. The definition ‘Space Opera’ comes to mind. Valerian Director Luc Besson read these as a child and was immediately hooked. When he later decided to make The Fifth Element, we can clearly see that the comics did have some influence on him. Also because french comic artists worked on the concept art for it. He even got asked why he does that Fifth Element movie when he should do his version of Valerian. Valerian, as envisioned by Besson, just wasn’t technically possible at the time. So he waited for the computer technology to catch up.

The film starts with a wonderful and well done intro that explains how the ‘City Of A Thousand Planets’ came into existence. We go through hundreds of years and see the city grow from what can be described as the the ISS to a gigantic structure inhabiting 30 million people of all kinds of races and species. Everyone peacefully living side by side. The situation in this place can best be described as controlled chaos. And it seems to work. Which is cool and sends the right message. The city is now named Alpha.

Then we get another intro that makes us familiar with the planet Mül and its natives. This planet can best be described as paradise. I would love to visit that place… even though I know I would never be able to afford it. Still! Beautiful beaches and fantastic vistas. The folks living there could brothers and sisters from the NaVi species we know from Avatar. Not blue but skinny and tall. Kind of what I imagine humans look like at the end of the book The Forever War. We see them enjoy life and go by their business when suddenly explosions happen and things drop from the sky. Obviously there is a battle happening in orbit and debris is crashing on the planet. How these creatures don’t get wind of the battle going on above their heads is a little beyond me. You can see stars and planets on the horizon but not that giant battle? A huge ship gets hit and crashes onto the planet surface which starts a gigantic shockwave that kills everything. Among the victims is a princess of the natives. Except a couple of the people who were lucky to have found shelter in one of the previously crashed ships. When that princess dies she explodes into some kind of memory beam, traveling through space and looking for the right being to catch it up. That beam finds Valerian and deems him worthy to carry the memory of that planet, its native culture and what happened.

After these two intros we meet Valerian and Laureline fooling around on, what seems to be, a holodeck. Valerian gets up, looks a little confused. But I didn’t get the indication what, what we saw of Mül, was a vision he had. 5 minutes later we learn that he has had a weird dream. However, we immediately learn what these two are about and it never really stops throughout the film. We are constantly reminded that Valerian loves Laureline and wants convince her that he’s not the douchebag womanizer from the past anymore. He’s got only eyes for her. She of course doesn’t really buy it. Even though she does like him quite a bit. Now we have seen this kind of relationship before in (can you guess it?)… Star Wars. Han Solo and Leia Organa. I wouldn’t be surprised if George Lucas didn’t model his two characters after the Valerian comics. There is a big difference though. At least when it comes to the movies. The chemistry between Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher was spot on and worked from the get go. When looking at Empire Strikes Back, where the romance gets in full gear, we have the best example of how to work the romance into the film. It’s cute, funny and makes us care about Han and Leia even more. The way the romance plays out in the Valerian movie is very awkward. DeHaan and Delevingne to me have no chemistry at all. Although you can see that both of them try their best to make it work. However, by the end of the film I did not care more about these two than 120 minutes earlier. While I think Dane DeHaan did a better job, the other folks I saw the film with claimed that Cara Delevingne did a better job and found DeHaan weaker. It’s also save to say that both of them just looked too young. Almost like fresh out of high school. She more than him. And we have to take them as highly qualified space ranger soldier type people. It just didn’t really work. Both of them are sent on a mission to retrieve a creature from a gigantic (Virtual/Augmented Reality?) market place. Here we get a glimpse of the visual power of this film. And it’s fair to say that it’s amazing to look at. Creativity that is missing in so many other formulaic movies these days. They go all in and it pays off. When it comes to the story it’s the start of a “I save you and you save me” chain that we’ll see throughout the film. While it does drive the plot forward it becomes a little much after a while. The creativity saves the movie in these parts. They manage to ‘steal’ the creature and leave behind a frustrated bad gangster boss that surely was supposed to get back in a sequel (which we’ll probably never get). Now after a little more than 30 minutes we finally get to Alpha… or the City of a thousand Planets.

There is a lot of exposition talk in this movie. Of course there is a lot to explain about the world but it wouldn’t have hurt to just drop some of the stuff explained there. Most of it we don’t need for this film. But again, the movie wants to set up a whole universe and potential sequels. Once in the city we learn more about how the different species have organized and how the military works. We also learn that the creature we just captured plays a larger role in the upcoming plot. But before that we learn that the city has a problem. There is an area in its core that becomes increasingly radiated and a danger to the rest of the city. And that is where the movie leads us. An investigation of what is going on there. So the film transforms into some sort of detective story. In the end we get explained how everything we saw in the past two hours comes together and resolves the mystery. Just in case you missed the plot going on with all the eyecandy burning out your eye holes.

Now let’s talk the good stuff. As mentioned before the film (much like The Fifth Element) is a great source of inspiration. There is rarely a scifi movie that comes with more creativity in its look and design. The collection of creature designs alone is insane. And some of them we just see for a second. Still, they’re fully animated and detailed and there went some care into all of them. So visually this movie is amazing. The planet Mül is beautiful and its people/natives are really interesting. I would even go as far as saying that a movie about these people and their struggle to survive would have been a more interesting movie than the one we got. The glimpse we get from this world they created there really makes me want to like this film more. The direction of the action sequences also works pretty good. Just the right amount of kinetic energy without crossing the overkill line. A good balance in my opinion. Unfortunately it’s only the visuals and action sequences that really work. At least the main concept artists got a very early credit at the end. Well deserved and only fair. One of them even liked some of my own work in the past! Yay!

Now the bad stuff. Beside our two main characters we have some more played by Clive Owen, Ethan Hawke and Rihanna. The only ‘name’ actors in this film. Although I wouldn’t categorize Rihanna as an ‘actress’. At least Owen and Hawke do not get much to do. Which is a shame! Talking about Rihanna. Adding her was an insane decision if you ask me. Not because she can’t act particularly well. But because the scene they implemented her for grinds the movie to a complete halt for 15 minutes! It ruins the whole pacing of the film for a strip/dance number of hers. Completely unnecessary. Her character is 90% a CG character and I understand that we need this character to move the plot along. But it really didn’t require that dance number just to show off that you got Rihanna in your film. Which, in all honesty, nobody cares about to begin with! The dance number is cool and well done… but for the film it’s completely counterproductive and useless. Throw her out and shorten that part. Next we have the dialogue. Some of it reminded me of scenes between Anakin and Padme in Star Wars Episode 2. So wooden! Along with the dialogue we have the humor. And there are a lot of ‘supposedly’ funny scenes in this film. I rarely heard anyone laugh when I saw the film. 80% of the jokes completely backfired. I felt bad for the film. So what it comes down to is a bad script and bad writing. Almost every scene of dialogue felt staged and artificial. But hey, it’s a film that is 80% CGI… of course it feels artificial. So yeah, why not making this film completely CGI to begin with? That’s what I wondered throughout the film. Especially since the live-action elements do not implement with the CGI stuff too seamlessly in some parts of the film. Room for improvements. An example of the bad writing is that I cannot remember who the humans fought in the beginning next to Mül. I don’t even know if they actually mention what this battle was about. And this battle is the reason for the plot in this film. We know nothing about it. Or I simply missed it. Which doesn’t speak for the film either.

It’s a giant space opera… so… “How is the music?” you ask? Well, I don’t know. I can’t remember a single piece of music from this film. Except David Bowie at the beginning intro. A space opera like this needs a striking musical soundtrack! But there’s nothing! Some argue that the only good musical soundtrack is the one that seamlessly melts with the film and you don’t hear while it plays out. But no, that’s stupid. A movie like this needs memorable musical themes. But there’s nothing in it. Again, a shame.

For me as a scifi artist I look at this film and say, “Yep, that’s it. We officially have crossed the line where there really isn’t anything new left to do. It’s all been done. Whatever idea I come up with… it’s probably been done by someone else before me already.”. Yes, this film is definitely a fantastic source of inspiration for people like me. But if you want a good story with likeable characters… nope. I must admit that I was not a big fan of Besson’s Fifth Element movie when it came out and over time I learned to respect it and even like it. I don’t see this happen with Valerian. Which makes me sad. There is a lot of good stuff in here. It’s not entirely wasted but it’s not used properly either.

A 6.5/10 for me.

Valerian on IMDb

Ridley Scott is one of the best filmmakers of our time. He has some modern classics under his belt and rightfully so. Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator or Kingdom Of Heaven (Yes, a completely underrated gem of a movie!). All these films deal with either historical aspects or try to explore the human condition. Always trying to find visual answers certain questions. In Alien it’s the fear of the unknown. In Blade Runner about humanity. In Gladiator it’s about corruption and how to overcome it. In Kingdom Of Heaven it’s about Religion, Faith and how to deal with it. That’s at least how I read these films. Even Prometheus, despite all its flaws, at least tries to ask interesting questions. Now we got Alien: Covenant from Ridley Scott and expect him to continue on his path of asking questions and maybe even deliver some answers. With this film being a direct sequel to Prometheus (which is a giant question without any answers) it’s the least to expect, right? This will be a long review.

We ‘board’ the Covenant. A colony ship with a little more than 2000 people on board and about 15 crewmembers. The movie throws us right into it. The crew drops out of hypersleep due to a random shockwave that hits the ship and damages it. So we’re there with these people and know nothing about them. At least if you haven’t seen any of the promo videos on Youtube. While the crew is trying to wake up and understand the situation, we see a hypersleep pod that is damaged. The Captain is in there and because the pod decides that there is no way of survival for him… it automatically cremates his body. And there goes James Franco. Not even a minute of screen time. You can see more of him in the promo video on Youtube. It’s a useless marketing stunt. There is no reason to have him in there. While you could argue that the reaction of the pod is stupid, I think it’s well thought out and a plausible mechanism to implement into these things. The next one in the chain of command is Oram (Billy Crudup). We get told (multiple times in this film) that he’s a religious guy, a man of faith. We never get to see him act out his beliefs though. The movie doesn’t even care to explore that ‘faith’ angle. And the movie starts to categorize or put its characters into boxes because it doesn’t even care about laying out a foundation for these people. Everyone is a cardboard cutout of some cliche of a character we have seen in so many other films. Especially in the horror genre. Our main woman (because it’s the vital ingredient of any Alien movie) is Daniels (Katherine Waterston). And she falls flat too. Because there is no foundation for her as well. No time to bond with her character. Although she seems to be one of the only people with something like a brain in her head. Then there is the android Walter (Michael Fassbender). Last but not least the only other character worth to mention is a pilot named Tennessee (Danny McBride). The rest of these characters is cannon fodder. Did I mention that all these crew people are either married or couples? Is that fact supposed to build some emotional connection to these cardboard characters? If so… it doesn work at all and makes the whole situation, they eventually stumble into, just even more stupid. So much for the introduction of the characters.

They suddenly pick up a message while repairing the Covenant. They find out where it comes from and that it’s not too far away. Plus the planet it comes from seems to be habitable and safe for humans. So they decide to cancel their original mission. A mission to colonize a certain planet it took them decades to investigate, prepare and map out. And their main argument is that they don’t want to go back into hypersleep. Their second argument is that it takes only a couple of weeks to get there instead of the 7-8 years to get to their original destination. We get a somewhat nice scene between Daniels and Oram. They discuss how useful it would be to cancel their original mission to investigate that signal. Daniels is against it. Rightfully so. Oram, who doesn’t have the best standing with the crew at this point, decides to go with most of the crew instead. Because… you know… hypersleep sucks. And so the Covenant changes course to that mysterious planet.

The reaction of the crew regarding this signal is weird. The movie doesn’t establish for how long mankind is doing this colony space stuff and how regularly they catch up signals sent out by ‘what could be’ an alien species. Not one of them is reacting really surprised and amazed. How can it be? How is this possible? Aliens, wtf? Are we making first contact? It becomes even weirder when they find out that it’s a signal sent out by a human! Which is even stranger than having a signal by aliens at this point. No one recognizes this as overly weird and asks how this is even possible. And, except for that short discussion between Daniels and Oram, they immediately set course to investigate. Wouldn’t it be more natural to wait 2 or 3 days to think about it first? These people act so irrational. Maybe the hypersleep did something to their brains. Maybe that technology isn’t developed enough and leaves people dumb. Maybe the technology needs a little more work until we’re in the Alien (1979) timeline (20 years after the happenings in Covenant) and they figured out how to avoid brain damage from traveling with hypersleep pods. Because in the 1979 movie everyone of these characters acts rational!

The Covenant arrives at the planet that is the source of that strange signal they catched up and except for three crewmembers all of them decide to land on the planet. While a giant storm is going on. Please don’t wait for the storm to be over. Please make this endeavour as risky as possible! They manage to pass through the storm and find a spot to land. The fact that the air is breathable on this planet is enough for them to go out (into a completely unknown ecosystem) and start their investigation. They don’t even have breathing masks on. And again they don’t care about landing on an alien planet. They walk out of their landed ship onto the planet surface as if they walk out of a subway train. The most common thing ever. No one even states how crazy weird and amazing it is to (what seems to) be the first group of humans who set foot onto that planet. Again very irrational behaviour of our characters. Yes, you could argue that, with the signal seemingly originating from a human, they are not the first to set foot onto that planet. And yes, you could argue that, if that human being in the signal can survive on this planet, we don’t need precaution when it comes to breathing masks an all that. Still, it’s uncharted territory. An ecosystem they don’t know. There have to be precautions other than “let’s take some guns with us”.

With the crew setting foot onto the planet, we leave the first act of the movie. And the part I enjoyed most. From here it’s almost constantly down hill. Characters that can barely be described as 2 dimensional are constantly doing stupid things just to move the plot forward. We discover what happened to Dr. Elizabeth Shaw and David after Prometheus. We see how the original Alien came to be. Get very unsatisfying answers to formerly interesting questions. See an ending that completely disappoints but still made (at least) me want to know where it goes from there.

Now you ask, are there at least some parts of the film that were good? Yes. The design and VFX work is outstanding and pretty much seamless. Except for a couple of times that made me raise my eye brows… silently asking “wtf was that?”. There is enough stuff in this movie that would have made a far better film than what we ultimately got. We get some interesting scenes when Walter is confronted with David and his ideas. A lot of people complained about the casting of Danny Mcbride and I wasn’t one of them. I think he did the best job of all the characters in the film. Usually you cast him as a dirty comic relief but not in this film. He’s ‘space trucker’ deluxe in this film and probably the most believable character of the whole crew. Almost to a point where he doesn’t fit in anymore. Even though we don’t get the grand imagery we know from Prometheus, I would say the photography is mostly well done. When it comes to the music I have to say that the parts where they re-used the score from Prometheus and the original Alien film work really well. It was pretty neat to hear stuff from the original Alien re-used here and there. All the musical pieces that were new… I cannot even remember.

The problem of the Alien franchise is its diversity. Diversity is a cool thing. It allows to explore a topic with a different point of view. The original Alien (1979) is a straight horror film. Aliens (1986) is a straight action film. Alien 3 (1993) goes back to horror but changes the setting. Alien 4 (1997) is action again but also just for fun ridiculous. Prometheus (2012 – Not really an Alien movie but part of the franchise) tries to be a little more heady and asks interesting questions with its more philosophical approach. So we have quite a variety here, tackling the subject from different angles. But this also splits up the fans. Some like the slow burn original Alien because of its mystery and horror elements. Others tend to enjoy the second film more because of the action. Then you have a third group of fans that really liked what Prometheus tried to do, which is almost completely going its own, more philosophical route. So you end up with three groups of fans who all want their share. Mystery, action, horror and ‘what if’ philosophical stuff. You cannot put all these things into one film. It would be a mess. And that (unfortunately) is what we got with Covenant. A try in resetting the course Prometheus did set up and going back to the stuff we already know and (seemingly?) what people want.

For me this film was a disappointment. What I hated (yes, hate is a strong word but in this case it’s the only one I can use) most in this film is what they did with the character of Elizabeth Shaw. From my understanding she and David, at the end of Prometheus, had some sort of mutual respect going on. She repaired him. Which is a sign of compassion and (again) respect. After finding out what happened to her I felt betrayed. I haven’t felt this angry since Star Trek: Into Darkness. Or maybe Interstellar? Well, with Interstellar I was more confused than angry. However, I didn’t have too high expectations going into this film. Even though you can rightfully have higher expectations. It’s the Alien franchise and Ridley Scott. There will always be certain expectations. Scott started the whole thing! Under that presumption you could say that it’s his good right to run it into the ground as well.

If you read everything up to this point… hats off to you sir or madame. =) My rating for this film is a 6.2/10

Alien: Covenant on IMDb

The first movie was a surprise hit and a legit fun movie. With its far out ideas and presentation it managed to make a point in saying that it wants to distance itself a little from the rest of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). It was a neat ensamble movie that brought together characters that each are their own thing but still build a consistent and fun group. Now we meet that group of characters again for a new adventure and wonder… will it be as magical as the first time we had an adventure with them?

The strength of director James Gunn seems to be to play with expectations and trying to avoid them but still giving the audience what it wants. It’s quite the talent to be honest and it’s at display right at the beginning of the film. It starts with our group of (questionable) heroes trying to fight a monster. Now there is a fight but we don’t get to see much of it, since this opening sequence focusses on Groot, dancing around and enjoying himself along to some fun music. All that while the rest of the team is battling a giant beast with tentacles in the background. But don’t worry, we still get to see enough of the fight. Of course our heroes win and we get introduced to the Sovereign. A society striving for perfection in everything. They hired the Guardians to fight the monster. Everything goes well until Rocket manages to upset the queen or leader of the Sovereign. The Guardians flee the planet. Luckily some mystery ship appears and helps them get away just in time. Still, they end up with a highly damaged ship and crashland on another planet. With the Guardians stranded there and trying to figure out how to move on… that mentioned mysterious spacecraft shows up and lands next to their crashed ship. We meet Ego (Kurt Russell) and learn that he’s the father of Star Lord (Chris Pratt). In the meantime we have Yondu (Michael Rooker) looking for Star Lord and closing in on his location. The Guardians decide to split up with Star Lord, Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and Drax (Dave Bautista) following Ego to his planet. The rest of the gang stays behind trying to repair the ship. Soon Yondu shows up and captures the gang left behind with the ship. Yondu is facing some problems as well. Mutiny. Half his crew isn’t very happy with him and manage to push him aside. Suddenly he’s in the same boat with Rocket and Groot. They now have to work together to get away, which gives us some really nice and funny moments. At the same time we have Star Lord learning more about his father and what he’s up to. Of course not everything is what it seems. Gamora and Drax kind of try to deal with their past and work out things. Especially Gamora gets to deal with her sister Nebula (Karen Gillan). And there is some stuff to work out for both of them. And in the end… it’s all about family.

So much for a brief, unspoiled, summary of the first half of the film. This movie is so stuffed with characters and I only mentioned the first tier so far. There also is Mantis (Pom Klementieff) who is a companion traveling and being on with Ego for a long time. Then there is Kraglin (Sean Gunn) who is Yondu’s loyal right hand. Or Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki), leader of the Sovereign. It is amazing how all of these characters get enough space to shine. There literally is no character that falls short and everyone of them gets something to do. And all of them do a great job with what they got. So it’s quite an achievement for writer/director James Gunn, making it work so well. While the characters are written very nicely, I do have some problems here and there. with other parts.

We have a good pacing in the beginning up until we crash on that planet. Then it slows down. Which is good because we need a break. Up to that point we have had almost entirely action scenes. So it’s good to get some breathing room and learn a little more about our characters. We can also see that there passed some time since the first film. Groot grew a little and can run around now. It appears that there has also been something more emotional between Star Lord and Gamora. They accepted the fact that they are a team now and they seem to like it. However. I’m not sure if splitting up the gang in the second act of the film helped. Star Lord deals with his father, Gamora with her sister and Drax with his past by befriending Mantis, with Rocket and Groot not even on the same planet. Sure, you can’t always have these characters together and expect to see individual development of each character. These individual moments still work nice but it’s also a fact that it’s most fun when the gang is together. So it’s a mild nitpick from my side.

With a fast paced actiony start of the film and a more quiet part in the second act, we close the film with a huge action sequence that closes the circle and brings all characters back together again. And having all the gang back together certainly helps the film. Nonetheless the sequence is far too long. This ‘neverending action scene overkill syndrome’ in these kind of filmes really fatigues you at some point. It’s visually amazing and well done. I won’t argue about that. But it’s always too long. Unfortunately in this film too. Even if, again, every single character gets a moment to shine and take a valuable part in the final battle. It’s just too long. There is a reason why fireworks should never be longer than 15 minutes. By making it too long it will lose its magic.

Even though the script is really well written I felt that the dialogue was a little weird here and there. I rewatched the first film and felt the same with that one. But in this second film it stood out a little more. There are a couple of scenes that spell out too much stuff we (as an attentive audience) suspect anyway. There is no need to tell us everything that might go on in this film. The actions of the characters tell us enough. It’s also more fun to suspect where the plot might go instead of having it spelled out and directly know. So yeah, there are a couple of scenes where the dialogue by certain characters hammers it down the audience’s throat. That, to me, felt very unnecessary and too much like “let me take you by the hand so you understand EVERYTHING”. Unnecessary. Trust in your audience and actors a little more.

Like I said before the visuals in this movie are fantastic. I really enjoy the colour palette they work with and (in my point of view) it elevates this movie from the more ‘earthbound’ installments in the MCU. The fact that it’s in space, which allows the material to go off into a more fantasy kind of direction, works to its benefit. Something Marvel struggled with when it comes to the two first Thor films. After seeing the trailer for the third Thor movie it seems they are embracing the more fantastical elements with a little more freedom. They ‘figured out the formula’ so to say. Taking a path away from the sort of more gritty realism we usually get from an Ironman or Cpt. America movie. It’s great and a lot fun to see how much inspiration and imagination is going on there. So a big ‘well done guys’ to the concept and vfx crews that worked on this film. The creative freedom pays off.

As a final verdict I must say that I liked the first movie a tiny bit more. But that, by no stretch, means I did not like this second movie. I enjoyed it a lot and I love the universe they created there. I rarely go back to rewatch other marvel movies but the Guardians movies… I can see myself go back to watch these a couple more times in the future. I like to revisit that world.

Visually the film is a treat so try to catch it on the big screen!

7.9/10

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on IMDb

Before watching the film I checked out some of the concept art various artists did for the film. It did have a very unique feel and look and so I decided to see this one on the big screen. Although I did not expect too much from the story. Some movies are just there for the eye candy. I saw the original animated film a couple of years ago and found its themes and look rather interesting. Another reason to give this live action version a shot.

The story is quickly told and unfortunately not too complex. We mainly follow Major (Scarlett Johansson) on her quest to learn more about her past. She is a cyborg with only her brain being organic. She was part of an experiment that’s supposed to bring cybernetic enhancements to a new level. The world she lives in is completely absorbed by media. You can’t look anywhere without being bombarded by ads and information. Cybernetic enhancements are a norm and nothing unusual. Major is part of a special police unit and through her and her colleagues we are introduced to how these technological enhancements work and what they can do. Throughout the film we follow Major down a rabbit hole of discoveries that clear up her past and how she became what she is. Together with her team she tries to track down a hacker who can become a real danger to the technology that almost completely consumed mankind at this point.

While asking interesting questions about where mankind might be headed, it only asks these questions on a shallow level. Instead they focus on a plot we have seen in similar shape or form many times before. Which is disappointing to a degree. While watching the film I was not really able to connect to the character of Major. Instead I connected more to her partner Batou (Pilou Asbaek). He was interesting in the fact that he looks like a bulldozer but they never used him that way. He was restrained and pretty tame compared to what other films would have done with a character like him. Beside him we have the wonderful Juliette Binoche playing Dr. Ouelet. She is sort of a mother figure for Major and oversees her medical treatment and the experiment Major was part of.

I feel all the folks we see on screen did their best to get the most out of their parts but to me it mostly felt flat. The film has a runtime of 107 minutes and in an age where most big productions go for 2 hours and more… it’s rather short. To me it felt longer than its 107 minutes. Which makes me feel weird since a film like this should be completely in my wheelhouse. Visually it certainly is. The world is fascinating and I would love to make a trip there for a week. More than a week though… no, I guess the constant bombardment with information would drive me crazy. The film’s problem is the storytelling and its characters. Like mentioned earlier, we have already seen this story so many times. In the beginning of the film is a cut that jumps 1 year ahead. Which brings me to the characters and the fact that, if I had seen what Major had to go through in that one year, I may have been able to connect better with her. The characters in general could have been deeper. They missed a big chance there. Especially with Juliette Binoche but also Takeshi Kitano. It’s so weird how they handle his character Aramaki. He just appears on screen without any big introduction or back story. Even at the end of the film we don’t know much more about him. Yet Kitano plays Aramaki as if he’s having the best story to tell from all the characters in the film. I want to know more about him and his role/part in this world. More character moments again would have extended the runtime. So who knows, maybe the film would have slipped into ‘completely boring’ territory.

Director Rupert Sanders doesn’t have too many things on his resume and maybe it wasn’t the smartest move to hand out a quite heady scifi piece to someone without proper experience. On the other hand you simply cannot expect Blade Runner like quality here. While visually it does come close to a benchmark look, much like Blade Runner in 1982. But it lacks spiritual depth and glosses over the actually interesting philosophical topics. To handle the heady stuff it would have really required a very experienced director though.

As for the whitewashing controversy… I don’t care. It would not have changed or influenced the quality of the film in any way shape or form. It’s a Hollywood production, do you really expect them to go for actors that match the ethnicity of the original characters? Not gonna happen.

So is this film worth a recommendation? It’s not the usual two hours of loud explosions and action setpieces which is definitely a positive. It is visually inspiring and very interesting. You can literally get lost in all the stuff that’s going on in that futuristic version of Hong Kong. Storywise it’s unfortunately nothing new and misses chances with its characters.

If I recommend it then solely for the visuals.

6.4/10

Ghost In The Shell on IMDb