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

Finally the movie arrived in Germany and I had the chance to see it. Two months after its release in the United States. I really had to fight with myself to not watch any released reviews about the movie. I did not want to spoil the film for me. I’m a little proud of myself for that.

Since it is Ridley Scott’s return to Scifi, since Blade Runner in 1982, expectations were high. I personally am a long time Ridley Scott fan. He’s a master with constructing images, composition and depth. I wanted to see him working with a Scifi setting for a long time. I also wanted to get some answers regarding the Alien of course. We got a lot of both. But was it enough?

The movie is about some scientists, who discover that the human race must have descended from another species, that previously landed on earth, created that first spark of life, that lead to what we are now. From ancient cave paintings, scattered around the world, these scientists also discover hints that point to a star system. The Weyland Corporation finances a big project to find out what’s behind all this. The ship ‘Prometheus’ and its crew, along with the scientists, starts a journey to find out what’s behind it all. Once they arrive they immediately find the planet and prepare to land. On their way down they also immediately find some structures that can only be artificially created. Again immediately they go out and explore. In these pyramids they find remnants of an ancient race they refer to as ‘The Engineers’. Obviously something wrong must have happened because they find old fossil dead bodies. Of course they have no idea what exactly happened and keep looking around. And that’s when the movie starts to roll.

The main characters in the movie are Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace), David (Michael Fassbender), Captain Janek (Idris Elba) and Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron). All other characters do indeed fall a little flat. Which is a downer. Nonetheless you can see that all of the actors tried to get the most out of their parts.

Noomi Rapace delivers a good performance, even if her character doesn’t have too much depth either. But she manages it to build up sympathies. Especially when it comes to the scientist parts. In the beginning of the movie, whenever she talks about her field, you can see a sparkle in her eyes. The character really loves her work.

Michael Fassbender plays the android David. For me he rivals Elizabeth Shaw as the main character in the movie. I must also say that Fassbender should be considered for an Academy Award for this part. The whole all around performance of him… the way he moves, the way he talks and especially the way his emotions work… just great. The fact that an android doesn’t have real emotions, and that Fassbender has to portrait the try of an android to show emotion, worked amazingly good with him. While the humans in the movie are looking for their creators… the character of David already lives amongst them. We can see how disappointed he is, finding out that his creators are far from perfect. That he himself is actually more perfect than his creators.

Captain Janek is in command of the Prometheus. Idris Elba does a good job playing a space ship captain, that has probably seen a lot of things in his career. A captain that is willing to take necessary risks. Even though in the beginning of the movie we get the feeling he is also someone who got his orders. And he follows these orders. No matter what. This character had some development throughout the movie. He has to make some hard decisions.

Meredith Vickers is the chief of operation. She’s there to overlook the whole endeavour. Charlize Theron was pretty much the perfect cast for this character since Meredith Vickers is a very cold person. I think I remember seeing her smile only once in the whole film. Originally she was asked to play Elizabeth Shaw. But I think Noomi Rapace was the better pick for that role. Charlize Theron just looks too good for that. Scientists don’t look that way. Charlize Theron is also an actress that gets better and better with her age. I can see her doing some very impressive things in the future.

While the movie does play in the ‘Alien’ universe and shares connections to the other films, it does nonetheless stand on its own feet and tries to tell a different story. It does answer questions from the previous movies and also raises new ones. Which is no problem for me. You just can’t answer everything. You have to leave some things open to keep the audience stimulated and the mystery alive. Especially when it comes to the concept the movie shows. The whole idea about that we humans are an artificially, by aliens, engineered species. Which isn’t too far-fetched from my point of view. It’s mind-boggling to think about how many circumstances/coincidents are needed to create life. Especially life that developes into such a highly complex organism like a human being. The possibility that we’re engineered is there. At least for me.

Right now there are talks that there will be a Directors Cut. As usual… with Ridley Scott movies. I also hope that this Directors Cut will add material that fills all the little holes when it comes to the flat character portrayal. The theatrical released cut is very very flawed if you watch this movie with a critical point of view. Of course you need to have characters that do completely stupid moves to create some shock moments… especially in an Alien movie. But a lot of the decisions by the characters are just brainless. The death of Meredith Vickers seems also very constructed and unnecessary the way they set it up. There is also no rational explanation why the Engineers are so hostile towards us humans. Considering that they will add 20-40 minutes of new material to the Directors Cut, we might get some more depth and explanations with that one. I really hope!

In my final words I want to make clear that I enjoyed the movie. It has flaws… big ones, but I can see past that. Visually it’s surely one of the best Scifi movies ever made. The 3d worked really nice and was worth the extra cash. For now I hope the Directors Cut will help to make the movie even better. But even after seeing the movie a second time, it still was fresh and entertaining.

7.9/10

Prometheus on IMDb

When I saw Batman Begins in 2005 I never expected it to become a series to be honest. When The Dark Knight hit the big screen, I also did not expect it to be that kind of a monster of a film. Now with The Dark Knight Rises it managed it to keep that level of quality and created a pretty much perfect conclusion to the series.

The latest installment starts eight years after the happenings with the Joker and Harvey Dent. Bruce Wayne has pretty much retired from being Batman and his Wayne Enterprises Corporation is on a decline too. Gotham City managed to get crime under control due to the things that happened eight years ago. Suddenly a new evil spawns in form of Bane. A mysterious guy out of nowhere. He got a little and very loyal army behind his back and plans to start havoc in Gotham City. Bruce Wayne decides to get back into the suit. But not without fighting against personal conflicts and demons. In the mean time Bane slowly but surely gains control over Gotham City. Bane is smart enough to fool the Gotham police into a trap which leaves the city pretty much unprotected. In the end Bane controls the whole city and cuts it off the rest of the world. Gotham City under siege… no one gets in and no one gets out. Bane also manages it to beat Batman and sends him into a far away prison. A broken and destroyed Bruce Wayne has to watch how his Gotham fall apart. Seeing that gives him strength to recover. He eventually gets back to Gotham to face Bane, end the siege and save the city one last time.

I saw a couple of reviews over the past few days and I pretty much agree with what they say. This movie is a Bruce Wayne movie. It’s not exactly a Batman movie if we start to break it down. It’s more about Bruce Wayne who is trying to find back into a normal life. The ‘Batman’ alter ego is actually only there to help him find that new life. At the beginning he’s a broken man. They implemented some nice pointers to Howard Hughes – you’ll recognize it if you are familiar with his biography. As soon as Wayne sees that his city is in danger, he decides to do something. It takes him a bit and you can see his inner struggle. For him, and the past eight long years, Batman was dead.

Right at the beginning we also learn to know a lady named Selina Kyle. We early also understand that she’s Catwoman. I had very many doubts about Anne Hathaway playing that character. But she did a fine enough job, I have to admit. In the movie, I feel her introduction, felt a little rushed though. We never know where she learned to steal or fight the way she does. She just knows how to do it. That is one small nitpick on that end. Throughout the movie she will switch back and forth between playing good and playing bad. Nonetheless there are some dialogue sequences that come across rather clunky. Especially between her and Batman.

Another new character is Blake. A young cop who is still ambitious and eager to do and learn new things. Joseph Gordon-Levitt gives him some good character and pretty much fits in perfectly. He is the character that builds a bridge between all the super-characters like Commissioner Gordon, Bruce Wayne etc and the normal people on the streets. It’s a very likable character played very well by Gordon-Levitt.

Bane, the bad guy in the movie, is played by Tom Hardy. Even though he’s constantly behind a mask, we can still see that Hardy is trying to give his character as much emotion as possible. Successfully, from my point of view. In english reviews I heard a lot of complaints about the fact, that sometimes it’s hard to understand, what Bane is saying through his mask. I saw the dubbed version in German language. No problems there. The german voice even managed to add an extra portion of depth to the character. I liked that. The portrayal of Bane in the movie comes across very powerful. He does leave an impression. He literally kicks Batman’s ass. And yeah… why doesn’t Batman go straight for the mask to render Bane useless? That’s a point. Since Bane needs the mask to keep himself stable… he would be an easy target without it. A flaw… but forgivable.

We also have the wondeful Marion Cotillard in this movie. Who, I think, is a perfect addition to the whole tone of the movie. She plays Miranda. A not so screen prominent part as Bruce Wayne’s romance. Miranda finds her way into Wayne Enterprises to save the company from falling apart. She also plays her part in the movie’s finale. I really liked her part. On the other hand… I loved all of Marion Cotillard’s work so far. A wonderful actress.

The movie is very long with its 164 minutes. But if you are familiar with the previous two films you are perfectly entertained throughout every minute. While I would say that you can watch the second movie without having seen the first one, I couldn’t say that you can watch Dark Knight Rises. There are a lot of hints going back to the first movie and, of course, the second one. Even though there is one thing I missed, and that was a single mentioning of the Joker. I think they completely left him behind. Of course you cannot bring him back on screen… but you could have at least mentioned him somewhere. And, if I did not miss anything, they did not.

On the technical aspects there are almost no complaints. The camera, the pacing, cutting, music… it all goes together very well. Fight scenes as well as the mass scenes are well choreographed and executed. Acting is top notch and every actor/actress is trying to get the most off of the character they are playing. Some slightly clunky dialogue here and there. But only in the super hero moments or fight scenes. The VFX work is phenomenal and blends perfectly into the live action footage. Quality work, much like in The Dark Knight. Sound work felt good on most parts. I had more problems with Batman’s rough voice than Bane’s. I don’t know if that ‘super hero mode voice sound change’ was really necessary for Batman.

This movie is a great conclusion to the series and I hope it will keep the Batman franchise untouched, at least for 10 years. I doubt that though. Unfortunately.

8.7/10

The Dark Knight Rises on IMDb

Yet again I have to announce something that makes me proud. For the past year I sat down and created a neat little art book. This book contains 9 of my personal portfolio favourites on a very high quality 30×30 cm / 12×12 inches paper. All of them on two-page spreads. So basically 60cm wide. That gives some amazing detail! Additionally it’s packaged in a very well produced and manufactured binding. For details feel free to check this page. There you can find all necessary info about the book as well as detailed photos.

Check The Preview – Here

Buy The Book – Here

Regards