There is something off about this movie. There were plenty of things that I was absolutely loving about it but yet as the movie kept on progressing, it slowly started to turn into something less and less impressive and effective to watch.
Thing I was liking about it at first was that it was truly living up to its title. The movie had a great epic feel to it, with all of its action, story, environments and characters. The way the movie was shot was absolutely perfect and there are some great sequences at the beginning of the movie. It had a seemingly bigger than live type of story in it, that would take us to all kinds of magical places and it kept on introducing all sorts of rich and colorful new characters, like a good epic movie often does.
The movie however reaches a certain point, after which it starts to loose focus causing the movie to be an ineffective one and even a bit of a bore at times. After a while it just isn't clear anymore where the story is trying to take us. What's the goal of our main heroes? What do the villains want? You keep forgetting, since it's the movie itself that's starting to do and tell things in a very messy and muddled way.
The story itself of course also isn't a terribly original one. It basically combines lots of story elements, from different movies from the past, both animated and life action. It isn't a too big problem though, since the movie still successfully manages to feel and look original enough of its own.
And you can't say much negative about the movie its look. The animations are all superb and it's good to see how the animated genre keeps on evolving and innovating. It's a very realistic looking animated movie, in which the only unrealistic looking elements are its characters. That's not a complaint though, it differentiates the animated movie genre from any other genre. Besides, the characters are all good and fun looking ones, with also each their very own distinctive personalities.
And despite a somewhat weaker second half, I still enjoyed watching this movie. I even have to say that I liked this movie better than most other animated movies, that came out these recent years. It had a more mature feeling to it, both visual and storytelling-wise. It still of course makes some bad choices though with its storytelling, which especially affects its comedy. Sometimes it's forcing things and it also has some needless comic relief characters in it. Oh well, at least very young children should still be able to enjoy and appreciate them but the older persons watching this movie will most likely find them to be annoying and pointless for this movie.
Despite all criticism, this movie is still worth checking out in my opinion.
Still not really sure about whether this was a good movie or not. On
the one hand, it isn't really doing anything terribly wrong but on the
other it's just never the most exciting, entertaining or interesting
movie to watch.
It's one of those thrillers that's going for a more gritty and
realistic approach but the problem with it is that the movie its story
isn't really suited for such a type of approach really. The movie is
told in a (needlessly) complicated and slow manner but the story in
itself is a quite simple and straightforward one actually. The movie
may have worked out better, if only it had a more clever and less
formulaic type of script involved. It still tries to tell its story in
a clever and surprising way but without getting its viewers ever
involved enough with either its story or characters.
The movie is told in such a complicated way at times, that the movie
actually becomes hard to follow, despite its still very straightforward
main plot line. Ultimately it's nothing more but a revenge flick, only
told as if it's something way more than just that, without ever really
truly becoming something more interesting or better than just the
average revenge thriller.
It's a bit of a problem that the movie is taking itself so seriously,
all throughout. There is never any room for any sort of entertainment
or even any other lighter type of moments. So no, this is not a movie
you should expect to get any fun out of. And it really could have used
some more bright spots and lighter moments in it. The movie as it is
does not only look very bleak, it also really feels that way.
But that's also due to how the actors portray their characters in this
movie. They constantly keep a straight face and it seems to be
impossible for them to smile (well, at least for Noomi Rapace's
character there is a good explanation for it, early on in the movie).
Especially the movie its main character, played by Colin Farrell, feels
like a very bland one, just because of that. He's not a very likable
protagonist, also because the movie does a poor job at giving him
enough background and a strong and sensible enough character
motivation.
It feels that the movie either should have been one totally focused on
its characters and as a sort of character study if you will, with more
depth and emotions to it, or as a more Hollywoodized thriller, with
some more intriguing twists and developments to it. The movie now isn't
really being either one of those and it feels stuck somewhere between
different movie styles, without ever doing anything interesting or
surprising enough to constantly keep you intrigued and involved.
The movie is still not a bad one and I also do still consider it to be
perfectly watchable but it just isn't one that I can wholeheartedly
recommend as well.
A teenager finds herself transported to a deep forest setting where a battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil is taking place. She bands together with a rag-tag group characters in order to save their world -- and ours. From: IMDb.com
Directed by: Chris Wedge
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, Beyoncé Knowles and others
A struggling screenwriter inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends kidnap a gangster's beloved Shih Tzu. From: IMDb.com
Directed by: Martin McDonagh
Starring: Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell and others
A struggling screenwriter inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends kidnap a gangster's beloved Shih Tzu. From: IMDb.com
Directed by: Martin McDonagh
Starring: Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell and others
In all fairness, this is not a bad movie at all. As a genre movie it's
simply providing some good fun and eye candy as well. However when you
start comparing it to the first Paul Verhoeven movie version, starring
Arnold Schwarzenegger, you'll have to conclude that this movie, by far,
is being an inferior one.
There really were plenty of problems I had with this movie but the
bottom-line of it all was that this movie is being nothing more but an
average one, in about every regard. It stands out in absolutely no way,
except maybe for its looks.
Visually it's being a great movie to look at. Not only are the special
effects just fine but so its set design. The movie really has a very
typical futuristic/science-fiction Philip K. Dick look and feel to it
and the movie is incredibly detailed looking. They definitely spend
some money on this movie, which luckily can all be seen back on the
screen.
But lets get back to the problems of this movie. Probably the biggest
problem of the movie is that it does a poor job at handling and telling
its story. I would imaging that anyone who had never seen the first
movie version, or has read the Philip K. Dick short story, will have an
incredibly hard time figuring out what is going exactly on in this
movie. It's never really focused enough on telling its story and the
main plot line gets introduced far too late in this to its audience.
Basically this is being a movie in which its main character is
constantly on the run. It's like a non-stop chase movie, in which the
movie never stops or slows down to elaborate on anything or let stuff
sink in. It probably sounds like a good and awesome that this movie is
incredibly fast paced and basically has non-stop action in it but let
me tell; you get fed up with all of it after a while. It's also hard to
remain impressed with everything this movie constantly throws at you.
Instead of having one or two standout action scenes the movie is being
like one, big, long but average action scene.
This is probably why this movie will be a big disappointment to most
people; it does absolutely nothing to stand out. It's sort of funny how
the movie is constantly paying homage to the first movie version (also
to please the fans no doubt) but it leaves out all of its greatest
moments and does almost nothing creative or interesting by itself.
It's hard to really feel involved with this movie, or with its main
character, played by Colin Farrell, since it's mostly being average and
predictable all the way through with its story and developments. This
takes away so much of the tension and thriller aspects of the movie and
besides ruins everything that potential could had been interesting and
clever about this movie its story.
Nothing wrong with being average. It just means that it isn't being
very memorable, or all that great and interesting to watch. It's still
good as a genre movie and definitely also as eye candy!
As the nation states Euromerica and New Shanghai vie for supremacy, a factory worker begins to suspect that he's a spy, though he is unaware which side of the fight he's on. From: IMDb.com
Directed by: Len Wiseman
Starring: Colin Farrell, Bokeem Woodbine, Bryan Cranston and others
A teenager finds herself transported to a deep forest setting where a battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil is taking place. She bands together with a rag-tag group characters in order to save their world -- and ours. From: IMDb.com
Directed by: Chris Wedge
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, Beyoncé Knowles and others
I had seen the theatrical version of "Daredevil" a couple of months ago. I hated it. I thought it was dreadful and it was lacking in its story, characters and pace. The movie was incredibly weak and totally uninteresting to watch because it lacked substance. Still I decided to give the director's cut a chance. I'm glad I did, for the Director's cut is so much better to watch. The pace is better, the story makes more sense and the characters are more involving. The theatrical version was lame, the Director's cut is awesome!
The Director's cut takes its time to build up the story and its characters. The Director's cut is about 30 minutes longer than the original version and most of that time is spend on extended scene's with the characters. Suddenly because of that not only the characters but also the story became more understandable and interesting. Especially the villains became so much better. Colin Farrell as Bullseye gets more opportunity to show his coolness and his character became so much more cooler now. He also really seemed to be enjoying himself playing this villainous over-the-top role. Same goes for Michael Clarke Duncan. Main reason why his character didn't really worked in the original version was because his character had quite limited screen time. The only part of the movie in which he was prominent present was the ending. In the Director's cut he gets to show more evil and his character becomes so much more villainous. Also the Joe Pantoliano character no longer makes a pointless impression and he gets to play a way more important part in the movie. Same goes for the Leland Orser, Derrick O'Connor and Erick Avari characters. Because the movie takes its time to build up the characters suddenly everything in the movie just makes more sense and everything suddenly fits and feels right.
Because the story flows so much better I can now actually say that "Daredevil" is a really cool movie to watch. The action sequences also suddenly are way more exciting. They are nicely choreographed and edited together.
Sure, the movie still does have its flaws and it still is far from the best superhero comic-book movie ever made but its just the fact that the Director's cut is so incredibly much better than the original theatrical version that causes my sudden (late) enthusiasm for this movie.
Lets do the world a favor, lets all burn the theatrical versions and lets all embrace the Director's cut.
