Skyfall

Skyfall (2012)

Predicted Rating: 4 Stars

Directed by: Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Jarhead). Starring: Daniel Craig (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Cowboys and Aliens), Judy Dench (Shakespeare's in Love) and Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men).

Picking up in Istanbul, secret agent James Bond (Craig) is pursuit of a criminal who has in his possession a stolen hard drive containing all the information of every agent placed in terrorism organisations around the planet. In the chase for the drive, Bond is appears to be fatally wounded by another agent and is thrown into the river. After the MI6 base is attacked, Bond returns with the mission to track down who has the missing drive.

I am probably not the best person to review this movie as I am not the biggest bond fan on the planet. I have only watched a half dozen of the other films and thought they were reasonably good without blowing me away. Or maybe I am a good person to review it because I can bring an impartial view to the singular film without being blinded by fandom. A conundrum that will be discussed for generations, wait probably minutes. Anyway enough of that, all I will be able to tell you is that this review is going to extremely short because I really can't think of much to write about. All I can really say it is a Bond film. Bond comes in, gets a mission, there are some action scenes, taps the bond girl, more action, movie over. So like I mentioned before, it is a solid film but it really didn't blow me away and made me think it was a fantastic film. The rave review from most critics seem unwarranted in some instances but hey, the public doesn't lie, it has already made an absolute truck load of money.

I was thinking, I would love to say this edition to the franchise brings x y and z new to the fold. However, as I have only watched a few a few of the other Bonds, I am grossly unqualified to make any such statement. From what I have gathered though, it really doesn't seem to introduce anything new. There are very few gadgets used, which seems to be consistent with the Craig films, but it would be cool to see one or two new gizmos. There also seemed to be a lot of the typical egotistical battles between characters where they use big words and stare at each other until someone gives up. There is also a huge reliance on the nostalgia factor trying to appeal to the diehards, and not so diehards. From the use of the DB5 to the introduction of characters who's true identity is not revealed until the end of the film ala Robin in the Dark Knight Rises. Oh no I ruined that for you, oh wait you should have seen it already! It all seemed a little tacky though and was unnecessary. Chatting with a big Bond fan afterwards, he was very disappointed with this factor, quoting the film as very camp.

My favourite part of the film was the villain. His back story wasn't very impressive, as he only wanted to kill M, rather than being hellbent on world domination like so many Bond villains have done in the past. However, he was very well played by Bardem, who is an Oscar winner by the way. He just seemed evil, like the dog from the Simpsons with the evil eyes, or when they put the dodgy music complementing the report on Groundskeeper Willie's home videos, he's Rowdy Roddy Peeper! He is no Hannibal Lector but Mr Silver adds something to what would be just a normal action film.

In the end all I can say that this was a solid film without being fantastic. It will satisfy the Bond fans as well as those who like action movies. Oh and it is not in 3-D, yes!

Overall: Good but not great, 3.5 Stars

Next Time: There is Sweet F.A. out until Boxing Day, where there is the Hobbit and Wreck-It Ralph. Looks like I will put out some reviews of classic films. January looks like a busy month though with Jack Reacher, Hitchcock, Paranorman and Django Unchained

Dredd 3D

Dredd 3D (2012)

Predicted Rating: 2 Stars

Directed by: Pete Travis (Vantage Point, End Game). Starring: Karl Urban (Lord of the Rings, Star Trek) and Olivia Thirlby (Juno, The Darkest Hour).

Dredd 3D takes place in the future (date unspecified so beware) where 800 million people live in a super city on the east coast of the US stretching from Boston to Washington DC (even though it was filmed in Johannesburg) as the rest of the country has been left inhabitable. Law and Order in Mega-City One is controlled by the Judges, acting as judge, jury and executioner. The story follows Dredd (Urban), who has been given the task or training the rookie Anderson (Thirlby), who is revealed to have powerful physic abilities. The Judges respond to a triple homicide at the 200 story mega structure known as Peach Trees, controlled by Ma-Ma and her drug mules. Ma-Ma catches drift of the Judges in the building and immediately shuts it down, preventing anyone from entering or exiting, and orders the assassination of the Judges. It is up to Dredd and Anderson to bring down the Ma-Ma clan and stop the supply of the deadly drug slo-mo.

First things first, this movie is bad-ass. It is action packed with very few moments to catch your breath. There is nothing better than throwing a whole people in a building, giving them guns and saying go. This is particularly evident in the Gatling gun scene (not as good as the one from Predator but it gives it a good crack) where an entire floor of the building, including its inhabitants, is destroyed. Getting past the violence, this film was actually surprisingly good. I was going in expecting a blood bath, which I got, but there were a few elements that surprised me. The first was when it revealed that Anderson had psychic abilities. I immediately thought, sigh, this is not X-Men, there is no way this could be good. However, it was moulded into the story extremely well. There was even a fantastic scene where Anderson gets into the head of one of the criminals, it is visually spectacular. The next is when Anderson "conveniently" reveals that she has left her helmet at home. Not so subtle guys but then you remember that Olivia Thirlby is ridiculously attractive and all is forgiven. Finally, at first the introduction of the corrupt Judges towards the end seemed out of place and unnecessary. Again, this ended up working quite well and tied the story together well.

I suppose the inevitable has been thrust upon us, I must compare this version to the original. Judge Dredd (1995) starred Sylvester Stallone and focuses on the story of Judge Dredd being framed for a crime he did not commit. I watched this film maybe 2 months ago and thought it was reasonable goof. The storyline was solid and there was that line delivered the only way Stallone knows, mumbled with no emotion. I am... the law! However one thing really ticked me off about the 1995 version, Rob bloody Schneider. He plays that damsel in distress character that we see so often in action films. There was only one problem, he is a bloke! This just makes him super annoying and in the end I didn't really care if he was killed. After watching the 2012 version, my opinion of the 1995 version decreased dramatically. The new film is far superior as it is how an action film should be, filled with action!

Following the fundamentals of movie making, i.e. plot, acting, character development and direction, Dredd 3D ticks almost all the boxes. The plot is fairly simple and almost non-existent but it really works for this movie. You can't really complain about the acting. Karl Urban was told to go and put on a dead pan performance that lacked any sort of emotion, which he did to perfection. I think it is time for me to talk in the same grizzly monotone voice all of the time. The direction of this movie was quite impressive. The second spot on my list of my favourite things of all time (yes this list can include anything that exists) is slow-motion. Slo-Mo is a pivotal aspect of the film, and the scenes involving it must be well directed to make it work. In the end they were. Some of them dragged out a little longer than they should of but overall they were well directed. The quality of direction was topped off with the scene I described above with Anderson getting in the criminals head. One thing that was not done well was the character development. It started off well the the introduction of Anderson with her abilities and her family, setting up some further explanation of her status. However, after maybe the first 20 minutes, it was completely forgotten about and many things were left unexplained.

In the end this was a decent film that surprised me. It is a solid action film but it is really one for the blokes again. There wasn't even an attempt to get Urban's shirt off to keep the ladies interested. However, I do recommend people go see this if you like some good old fashioned violence.

Overall Rating: Bad-ass bloodbath, 3.5 Stars

Next Time: Very quite period for decent movies till Christmas. This is 100% Twilight's fault. It will be a joyous occasion when it's release finishes as (I may eat my own words) it is the last instalment in what could be, wait, is most definitely the worst movie franchise of all time. I will probably go see Nitro Circus but whether you can review a movie of people hurting themselves, we can only wait and see. If not, Skyfall is out November 22, which should be awesome!