This movie is more predictable than a bad B-movie and therefore also quite a bad and boring one.

It's amazing really; all of the right ingredients for a good movie were here. A good and interesting sounding concept, a decent cast and the fact that it's based on a true story. Nothing about this movie would indicate to you that it's a bad one, until you start watching it.

Pretty much from the first minute on already it started to annoy me. There are very little things more annoying than watching a bunch of guys act like tough guys, while they obviously aren't. Something so incredibly fake and annoying about it. I don't know, perhaps I have seen a few too many movies like this already. It basically makes it hard to ever care for any of the characters, when they are constantly acting like a bunch of tough-talking buffoons. And it's not like any of the main characters are doing 'good' things. They really are all a bunch of criminals, no matter how you look at it and some of them also do some absolutely despicable things.

But really, that's hardly the only problem of this movie. The weird thing about the movie is that about halfway through, things start to shift and it starts to become about something completely different, once it decides to change its main focus. Suddenly the Liam Hemsworth character isn't the main one anymore and all of the sudden it decides to focus on the good cop that's after him, played by Dwayne Johnson. It's a weird shift really. What was it trying to do and achieve with it? Who were we supposed to root for, toward the end? It doesn't help much that the Dwayne Johnson character isn't a very well developed one. He just shows up but we don't know anything about him at all, purely because the movie doesn't give you any background information on him, or tells you his character's motivation.

There also isn't any real excitement in this movie, which is disappointing for a movie that loves to present itself as an action heist movie. It's not as if this movie is ever trying to be a serious or dramatically deep one. It clearly was going for a more fast and entertaining type of approach but there just isn't ever enough action or fun. The movie actually gets quite boring to watch after a while, which also is really due to the fact of this movie being an incredibly formulaic and predictable one. Seriously, nothing happens as a surprise in this movie and you can see all of its 'twists' and events coming from miles away already, which is all really due to the movie its own storytelling.

Now, really this isn't the worst movie you could ever watch but at the same time, why should you watch it in the first place? There is absolutely no reason for it in my opinion! There obviously are countless, far better, genre movies out there, you can have a whole lot of more fun with as well.

5/10

Watch trailer

A drama centered on two childhood friends who plan to rob an armored car depository, and the NYPD officer who stands in their way. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Dito Montiel

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Liam Hemsworth, Emma Roberts and others

Current release date: 2013

It's good to see that the series is improving and maturing with basically every new movie but it still has a long road to go!

Maybe, just maybe this is my favorite movie out of the series, as of yet. Reason why I liked it was because it had some more depth and decent emotions to it, as the characters have clearly matured more over the past few years.

As an action movie, it's on to par as well with other modern recent genre flick, such as "A Good Day to Die Hard", "The Expendables" movies and "Olympus Has Fallen", just to name a random few, that come to mind. Movies that are not all that great story-wise but still movies that serve their purpose and beside offer some well executed and fine looking action moments in it. Movies that still have plenty wrong with them but remain watchable enough ones, for what they are.

And sure, once you really start analyzing this movie, it's a pretty far fetched and dumb one, that often doesn't make any sense but if you decide to just go along with it, chances are you will be having a pretty good time with it. It doesn't really ever slow down and features plenty of (long) action sequences in it to enjoy. And no, not just car related stuff but plenty of other action elements as well.

Still it seems obvious to me that the writers for these movies are constantly struggling to find a way to incorporate all of the many different characters in the movie and give them something useful and interesting to do. Half of the characters who appear in this movie could have easily been left out and it wouldn't have changed the movie its story or main plot. It's just to please the fans of the series and I'm just not a big fan at all. I would have preferred seeing the movie focus better and more on just two or three characters, instead of a whole group of people, who I can't even remember the names of.


It's also getting somewhat annoying to see how characters keep changing alliances in the series. Good guys turning bad, bad guys turning good. Good guys helping out bad guys, bad guys helping out good ones. make up your mind already! And when someone dies in one movie, stop bringing them back for the sequels, especially when their death left no room or whatsoever for any form of debate or doubt.

I have to say that Dwayne Johnson is a truly great addition to the franchise, as he already showed before in the previous installment; "Fast Five". I truly hope he'll take over the whole franchise one day and become the one main focus of it. He's charismatic, he's funny and he of course handles all of the action very well. Besides, he's truly turning into a pretty good actor as well, much better than Vin Diesel anyway. It's also enjoyable to see Luke Evans as the main villain in this but they truly could and should have used him better and some more at times.

A silly and most certainly not great movie but it's good enough for what it is!

6/10

Watch trailer

Perhaps I'm not really the right person to rate this movie. Even though I have seen all Fast & Furious movies, made prior to this one, I barely remember anything about them and I'm totally not into the series. Never have been and probably never will be.

And no, this movie, that is generally regarded as the best out of the series, isn't going to change that. Sure, it's some big, overblown, action fun but not really of very high quality, in my opinion.

15 minutes in and I have already seen two big action set-pieces but I still have absolutely no idea what its story is supposed to be all about and who all of these different characters that are in it, are exactly. The whole movie is basically being like that for me. A lot of stuff is happening but I never really know how or why it's all happening and why all of these different characters had to show up in it. Lets face it, there was really no good reason to bring back basically every main character out of all of the previous Fast & Furious installments. If only the title had some more truth in it and the movie indeed did feature only 5 main characters , it would have most likely been a more pleasant and easier to follow movie. Not that the movie is overly complicated but it just gets confusing and annoying after a while to see so many characters do so many different things, especially when you really don't care very much for any of them.

Still I consider this movie to be one of the better ones out of the long running franchise. Not that that's saying very much though, since I never really liked any of the other previous installments, expect for the 2009 movie "Fast & Furious". Thing that this movie obviously still has going for it is its pace and action. Even though I wasn't all that fond of the movie its action, it at least helps to keep the movie going and an interesting one to watch. I never cared for the story, dialog or any of the characters, so I was always looking forward to the next action set-piece that would come. And this movie luckily has plenty of action moments in it, though like I said before, I still had plenty of problems with that as well.

The problem with the action for me was that it's all terribly over-the-top. The laws of physics don't apply to the Fast & Furious movies I suppose. The same could of course be said for a majority of action flicks but in this particular case it kept on bothering me. The way stuff flies through the air and blows up just doesn't make any logical sense and the stuff that some of the characters survive in this movie is absolutely preposterous.

Still a thing I liked about the movie its action was that it wasn't just focusing on racing with the cars but also tons of other car related stuff and other more conventional action.

Another positive thing about this movie is Dwayne Johnson's presence. He makes up for the charisma and screen presence that Vin Diesel is lacking in this movie. Diesel just looked bored, uninterested and just plain tired throughout the entire movie and to be frank, his acting was terribly lacking as well and I'm actually a person who has always defended his acting in the past.

Still as a dumb action-flick, or perhaps I should rather say popcorn-flick, it works out as a fun and entertaining enough movie. Just not really my cup of tea I suppose.

6/10

Watch trailer

Guess this is what happens when you let a non-comedy director do a comical movie.

I'm actually one of the few persons in the world who still likes big, dumb, overblown Michael Bay movies but the comedy in all of his movies always felt kind of awkward to me but luckily it never was the center of attention in most of his previous movies. It's therefore also surprising to see this movie taking on a comedy approach, rather than a, more typical for Bay, action approach.

And yes, I'm aware of it that Michael Bay also directed the movie "Bad Boys" and the sequel to it in the past, which is actually still more of a comedy than this movie but the big different between that movie and this one is that "Bad Boys" had some great comedy actors in it, who handled most of the comedy well and managed to still turn it into something fun, no matter how badly written or poorly directed it was. Problem with this movie is that it clearly doesn't have the right actors in it to handle its comedy. The Rock, or Dwayne Johnson as you should call him now, is arguably the only somewhat remotely experienced comedy actor in this and it's therefore also no surprise that he's the highlight of the movie and plays the best character but that's not saying much though.

The movie is a still pretty shallow one, also with its characters. But the bigger problem with them is that they aren't all that likable. I mean, they are basically some criminals, who also all do some very despicable things throughout the movie, without showing much remorse. Why should I care for any of them? And why should I root for them? And why should I laugh when they do some stupid things, that often bring others in serious danger or even pain and worse than that?

This is a pretty odd and ineffective mixture of action and comedy elements to be frank. It's not serious enough to care about it and it's just too silly to enjoy it for what it is, even though apparently it's based on a true story. You feel that if the movie would have gone for either an all out comedy or action approach, the movie still could have worked out as a pretty good and enjoyable one. At times you just don't know whether you are supposed to laugh or feel sorry, during a certain scene or for a specific character.

Guess this movie ultimately wants to be about living the American dream. The idea behind this movie really isn't all that bad, to see a bunch of not too clever bodybuilders, trying to make something of their lives and live it to the fullest, by getting rich fast, by committing, what is in their eyes, a simple and safe to execute crime.

The story isn't ever handled all that great or interestingly though. While watching this movie you often actually start to wonder what the story is supposed to be heading at, especially when it keeps on introducing new characters, played by some big name actors. It never feels like it's following a good or clear enough main plot line and the storytelling is definitely lacking focus and a point to it all.

A smaller type of Bay movie, that's also one of his lesser ones!

5/10

Watch trailer

Agent Hobbs enlists the aid of Dom and team to help bring a rival gang, led by Owen Shaw, to justice. In exchange for clear records, they must put an end to their schemes, no matter how personal the cost. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Justin Lin

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and others

Current release date: May 24, 2013

Nothing wrong with simple, overblown, action entertainment but it's not the '80's anymore. You can't get away with just about everything, just in the name of entertainment.

You at least must have some substance and story in your movie, in order to feel involved with anyone who's in it and anything that is happening. Or, when you just have no good or original idea of your own; keep things as simplistic and straightforward as possible. Don't over complicate things by adding a whole bunch of different characters, we don't ever get to know and just make clear who the main villain is, what it is that he wants and make clear who the heroes are and what their motivation is. This movie does both things wrong with its story; it's lacking any sort of substance, with both its story and characters and at the same time it's also still over complicating stuff, by throwing in a whole bunch of unnecessary characters and pointless plot lines, that don't add anything to the real main story of the movie. It makes the movie a mostly messy and unpleasant one to watch.

It feels all over the place with its story and of course nothing is ever really making any sense in it. Sure, it's based on a cartoon and toy-line, for little kids, so of course I wasn't expecting a hyper-realistic type of action flick but it just bothered me how little the movie actually cared to explain and how silly it got at times. It come across as some lazy film-making to me, instead of something that adds to the fun of the overall movie, which probably was the approach the film-makers were going for with it.

This all mostly becomes apparent with the movie its villains and their villainous plot. Here is the problem with it; there just is no good villainous plan. OK, sure, so Cobra is trying to take over the world again but why? I mean what's the point of it all? What are they going to do once the world is theirs? And isn't controlling the world kind of overrated anyway? Sounds like a far too complicated and hard thing to do and it doesn't sound like any fun at all. It's only going to look good on your resume -leader of the world- but that's it really.

Thing with the villains that also bothered me was that I still don't really know who was supposed to be the main villain. I guess Cobra commander would be the answer but he barely is in the movie and he is given very little interesting things to do. At times I actually even also had a hard time figuring out who were supposed to be with the villains and who were supposed to be with the heroes in this movie. This confused me, especially at the beginning of the movie but continued to confuse me, also since characters for some reason change alliances in this movie.

But most of these things can also be said for the good guys of the movie, which just shows you how messily and ineffectively this movie is constructed and told. And was there a good reason for Bruce Willis to be in this? Was it necessary for Channing Tatum to return? All of this can be answered with a big fat no. There are too many new and old characters in this that just don't add enough and only add to the confusion and messy aspects of the movie.

But lets focus on some of the good things as well. It's not a bad looking movie and I was fond of its visual style, though the camera-work and editing was definitely still lacking at parts. At least most of the special effects and action are quite good and make it apparent this was a pretty costly movie to make. The budget shows on screen, which is always a good thing.

I also still liked some of the actors in this. It's good to see Jonathan Pryce having some fun with his role and hamming it up a bit, which was something this movie really needed. I also have to say that Dwayne Johnson is a pretty good lead for this movie. I have always been fond of him but not every part is right for him and his acting definitely is also still lacking in certain movies. Not in this one though. He's perfectly cast as Roadblock and even his acting is pretty good, all throughout.

Still the messy and poorly written script is keeping this movie down far too much and prevents the movie from ever becoming the big, fun, action spectacle that it clearly wanted to be.

4/10

Watch trailer

A trio of bodybuilders in Florida get caught up in an extortion ring and a kidnapping scheme that goes terribly wrong. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Michael Bay

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Rebel Wilson and others

Current release date: April 26, 2013

This movie...well, it exists! Can't say I loved it but also can't say that I hated it. It's a very typical genre movie, that does nothing special really but it still remains a decent enough watch.

Probably the biggest problem with the movie is that it doesn't really seem to know what it wants to be. It isn't exactly gritty and realistic enough for a serious crime thriller but at the same time it also isn't being tense or spectacular enough for a more entertaining type of genre movie. This also means that the drama of the movie falls mostly flat and the story doesn't work out as the most interesting one.

I admit that the movie even felt somewhat boring to me. And it was not like I was expecting an action flick, or faster paced type of movie, just because it had Dwayne Johnson as its main lead. No, I knew what I was in for but the movie still worked out as a tad bit too slow and dry at points, without ever becoming really interesting or clever enough with its story.

That brings me to another problem; this just isn't the most surprising genre movie you could watch. The story plays out by the numbers really and one or two plot twists could have done wonders.

I was also annoyed by t that the movie didn't really featured a clear enough main villain in it. This is the type of movie that could had used a strong villain, with a powerful screen presence (and no, I'm not asking for some sort of James Bond villain) and some evil schemes to mess things up for the movie its main characters. But no, just like the 'good boys', the 'bad boys' also remain underwritten in this and don't get an awful lot of interesting stuff to do.

You can't blame Dwayne Johnson for anything really. You also can't blame him for doing a more serious type of genre movie for a change and play a slightly more serious type of role, that doesn't require him to use and show off his muscle power all the time. He's also decent enough in this movie, in the sense that he's convincing enough playing an average family man but he of course isn't exactly the best actor out there, which sometimes becomes a bit too obvious, especially during the movie its more dramatic moments or when he has to share a scene with a far better and more experienced actor, such as Susan Sarandon, who also stars in this.

But that's all the negative stuff. Luckily the movie as a whole remains a perfectly watchable one. All of the bad and negative aspects about the movie don't ruin the overall experience, that still is a decent enough one, as long as your expectations for it aren't too high. But why should they be in the first place?

6/10

Watch trailer

Agent Hobbs enlists the aid of Dom and team to help bring a rival gang, led by Owen Shaw, to justice. In exchange for clear records, they must put an end to their schemes, no matter how personal the cost. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Justin Lin

Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson and others

Current release date: May 24, 2013

Agent Hobbs enlists the aid of Dom and team to help bring a rival gang, led by Owen Shaw, to justice. In exchange for clear records, they must put an end to their schemes, no matter how personal the cost. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Justin Lin

Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson and others

Current release date: May 24, 2013

Since Dom (Diesel) and Brians (Walker) Rio heist toppled a kingpins empire and left their crew with $100 million, our heroes have scattered across the globe. But their inability to return home and living forever on the lam have left their lives incomplete. Meanwhile, Hobbs (Johnson) has been tracking an organization of lethally skilled mercenary drivers across 12 countries, whose mastermind (Evans) is aided by a ruthless second-in-command revealed to be the love Dom thought was dead, Letty (Rodriguez). The only way to stop the criminal outfit is to outmatch them at street level, so Hobbs asks Dom to assemble his elite team in London. Payment? Full pardons for all of them so they can return home and make their families whole again. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Justin Lin

Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson and others

Current release date: May 24, 2013

A pair of bodybuilders in Florida get caught up in an extortion ring and a kidnapping scheme that goes terribly wrong. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Michael Bay

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Rebel Wilson and others

Current release date: April 26, 2013

The G.I. Joes are not only fighting their mortal enemy Cobra; they are forced to contend with threats from within the government that jeopardize their very existence. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Jon M. Chu

Starring: Channing Tatum, Dwayne Johnson, Ray Park and others

Current release date: March 29, 2013

A father goes undercover for the DEA in order to free his son who was imprisoned after being set up in drug deal. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Ric Roman Waugh

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Nadine Velazquez, Jon Bernthal and others

Current release date: February 22, 2013

The G.I. Joes are not only fighting their mortal enemy Cobra; they are forced to contend with threats from within the government that jeopardize their very existence. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Jon M. Chu

Starring: Channing Tatum, Dwayne Johnson, Ray Park and others

Current release date: March 29, 2013

(Review originally written at 6 May 2007)

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This movie is a typical sequel, meaning that everything is bigger. More action, more special effects, more comedy, more new characters and more different plot lines. Is it all better? Perhaps if the movie was more original and not so much an extension of the first movie, then perhaps it would had been.

If you enjoyed the first "The Mummy", you'll probably also enjoy watching this movie. It's in the same style and follows the same characters, with just a few more new adjustments to it. Not all are for the best though.

Compared to the first movie, this movie obviously has an highly budget and it uses this for some more big scale battles, at the beginning and end of the movie. It also puts in some overall more action sequences and more traveling elements, which helps to provide the movie with its fun and adventurous feeling.

They also tried to put some more layers into the story, involving the same characters from the first movie but none of this ever really works out, since these plot line differ way too much from the characters as we got introduced to in the first movie. There also are some new characters in the movie. The O'Connell's now have a son. Why oh why do movies always feel the need to put in kids into the story. As a matter of fact the character is quite entertaining in the movie but at the same time annoying because he just feels so completely redundant. Luckily John Hannah is still present for the comical notes of the movie and Arnold Vosloo as the charismatic mummy. This is the role he definitely will be remembered for, even though it isn't a very demanding role.

Very much like the first movie launched the careers of Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah and Arnold Vosloo, this movie launched the acting career of The Rock. Yes he's painfully horrible in this movie, despite having no lines but he's such a great new action hero star. He definitely is the new Arnold Schwarzenegger, who obviously also wasn't the best actor around but still a big and popular one. It was also fun to see Alun Armstrong in the movie, though he's hard to recognize. Also Patricia Velasquez's role has been extended, which is a welcome thing.

Like most sequels, it's tries (too) hard to surpass its first movie, in terms of size and spectacle. Yes, it provides the movie with some great moments but yet the movie feels more of the same. It's not a bad thing, since the movie is still perfectly fun and entertaining but its lack of originality and new ideas is disturbing at times and makes me worried for "The Mummy 3", if there is ever going to be such a movie.

The ending is sort of an anti-climax, when a computer animated scorpion king appears, that looks nothing like The Rock and looks as if it came straight out of a playstation game. It's a bit of a disappointing ending but luckily the rest of the movie is good enough to compensate for this and still make this is perfectly fun and watchable movie.

6/10

Watch trailer