Saully's Reviews

→ in
Tools    





[Equilibrium]



Hello everyone. My name is Saully and this is my review for the 2002 movie, Equilibrium.

Equilibrium, in my opinion, is one of the most underrated and underexposed action movies of this decade. Starring Christian Bale, Taye Diggs, Emily Watson and Sean Bean.
Now it is not weird if you actually haven’t even heard of this movie. Because it never really got the advertisment it deserved for some reason. I think what happened was that the movie kind of had an overall look of The Matrix. And so people kind of tended to overlook it. However it’s a cult classic, and has a big following.

The story for Equilibrium:
It’s basicially a post-apocalyptic movie, as it takes place after a World War 3. Now after the world leaders that do survive the war, they take a look back at the war, they find that the reason why wars have occurred is because of human emotions. Therefore they create this drug called Prozium. Which surpresses all human emotions. Therefore people don’t get angry, and of course that means there is no war. The man responsible for introducing Prozium to the masses is a man known only as Father. Now Father appears on television screens all over the city, but never appears in person for fear of assassination. Which makes you wonder, if he has a fear of being assassinated, what is wrong with this Utopia he has created?
The centre where Prozium is distributed to the people, is called Equilibrium. And thus where the movie gets it’s name.
Now in Libria, anything that causes a human to feel. Like say music, books or paintings are strictly out-lawed. And punishable by death. Now Libria does have foot soldiers in order to enforce these laws. But their number one line of defense is the grammaton cleric. Christian Bale plays as grammaton cleric, John Preston. These are elite troops that are specially trained in many forms of combat. Such as gun play and martial arts. Sean Bean plays as his partner, cleric Partridge. Although it is quickly discovered by Preston that Partridge is guilty of sense offense. Or what they call it, when someone has stopped taking Prozium and begins to start feeling. As there is is only one punishment for sense offense, Preston is forced to kill his own partner.
Preston is soon parred up with a new partner, cleric Brandt. Played by Taye Diggs. Who shares Preston’s ability to sense people who are feeling emotions, and thus very good at finding sense criminals. We also discover Emily Watson’s character, Mary. Who is soon discovered to be a sense offender as well. Preston soon finds out that she was a lover of Partridge.
The rest of the movie involes Preston finding out more Mary and Partridge. And what it might be actually like to feel.
The action element of the movie also comes in as Preston is signed to find the last remaining people of the resistance to the Libria way of life.

Grammaton clerics are trained in many forms of combat. First and foremost being with pistols, in order to efficiently create a maximun killzone. They are also trained with swords. And there’s actually some really cool sword fighting sequences that are in this movie. So if you like sword play as well as gun play then this movie is right up your alley.

Now at first glance i think people might thend to accuse this movie of being a Matrix rip-off. Even though it came out a year before Matrix: Reloaded. However this movie also puts on some strong story. And i think the action sequences are actually very unique. I don’t think that it’s really fair to compare this movie to The Matrix at all, just because it came out during kind of the same time.

For those of you that have seen Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, and really enjoy Christian Bale as Batman. Absolutely you should see this movie. This is kind of Christian Bale as Batman, before he was Batman. I think that even some of the action sequences that are in this movie, are better than Batman Begins.






[The Book Of Eli]




The Book Of Eli. Starring Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman and Mila Kunis.
Now there’s alot to say about this movie. I Found it intriguing. And i for one was looking forward to this movie.

Okay so the trailer for The Book Of Eli was vague. You know Eli has a book. And is willing to die to protect it.

Story for The Book Of Eli:
Eli is a drifter. In a really dark and really depressing post-apocalyptic world. In this word civilization is out. The world is comprised of drifters, murderers and victims. And then theres Eli. An old humble badass drifter, drifting west. Who comes accross this little town run by Carnegie (Gary Oldman). Who has been searching for a book, and wants to use it as a weapon. And Carnegie finds out that Eli has the book that he really wants. And in a post-apocalyptic world with people without hope, this book, being the last one of it’s kind in existence. Could make the owner, in the eyes of the people a prophet. Or even god. Eli and Carnegie both know this. And so the conflict insumes.

As for the performances. I thought they were all good. Gary Oldman shows us that yes, even though he can play top cop Jim Gordon. He can still be a villain. Even though i think he just comes of too polite. I thought Eli was awesome as the silent drifter, with more action than words. At first he didn’t talk much. Like not at all. But Denzel was a badass. And Mila Kunis plays as a solid supporting character. She actually wasn’t as annoying as you think she’s going to be. Anyone could have played her role. But she wasn’t annoying. And she did a couple of badass things herself.

Now what really impressed me about this movie, is that it had a religious tone to it without being preachy. Usually movies with religious tones to it feel like 2 hours of mass. But this movie did not feel like that. And that was impressive. I found it to be an interesting story. That touched on, what i think, a really accurate takes of human nature. I mean without rules, humanity looks a lot less human.

But the movie is far from perfect. See the Hughes brothers (Directors), they did something here that not a lot of action post-apocalyptic movies do. What is the one main question that people ask when a tragedy strikes? ”Where is god?”.
That’s a touchy subject isn’t it? But yes, where is god when an earthquake kills thousands. Where is god when war breaks out and millions of innocent people die? Well these questions are rarely explored in film. The Hughes brothers, they tried to, and they explore this ever so slightly. But the movie begs for them to just go all the way with it. And they don’t. The Hughes brothers flat out ignore the very premise they introduce and opts for an ending that looks to appease the masses, hoping not to offend. This is unacceptable. One does not present an intire idea, and ask the audience to take a leap of faith with you. Only to switch it on them and try to drive home a different message instead. That’s called a cop out. And it’s what seriously hurts this film.

So you can see this movie touching on human nature, faith and religion. Story aside, I found it to be an impressive movie. But it needed more story telling, and less walking. It needed a deeper look into society if we were to fully cheer for it’s main character. Good acting. And badass. So go check it out!






RIP www.moviejustice.com 2002-2010
The Book Of Eli



But the movie is far from perfect. See the Hughes brothers (Directors), they did something here that not a lot of action post-apocalyptic movies do. What is the one main question that people ask when a tragedy strikes? ”Where is god?”.
That’s a touchy subject isn’t it? But yes, where is god when an earthquake kills thousands. Where is god when war breaks out and millions of innocent people die? Well these questions are rarely explored in film. The Hughes brothers, they tried to, and they explore this ever so slightly. But the movie begs for them to just go all the way with it. And they don’t. The Hughes brothers flat out ignore the very premise they introduce and opts for an ending that looks to appease the masses, hoping not to offend. This is unacceptable. One does not present an intire idea, and ask the audience to take a leap of faith with you. Only to switch it on them and try to drive home a different message instead. That’s called a cop out. And it’s what seriously hurts this film.

So you can see this movie touching on human nature, faith and religion. Story aside, I found it to be an impressive movie. But it needed more story telling, and less walking. It needed a deeper look into society if we were to fully cheer for it’s main character. Good acting. And badass. So go check it out!
Good points, though I disagree with you on those questings not being answered as a shortcoming of the film. I don't think its purpose is to answer the question of "Why does God allow suffering if he loves us?" The question being answered is more of a pschological than theological question. How does God affect the human psyche... well it can give hope or it can give power to those who preach it and believe it to be false hope. Taking advantage of others as Oldman's character wanted to do. This idea of God being used a "crutch for the weak" could have been explored more because the movie is not really about God, it's about how the belief in God affects man, and it's on this level that the film also fails on. I agree the movie did have a shallow skimming the surface look at society. Probably because it was too busy establishing the character as being badass to say anything profound, important, or really even interesting.
__________________
"A candy colored clown!"
Member since Fall 2002
Top 100 Films, clicky below

http://www.movieforums.com/community...ad.php?t=26201



[Jumper]




Most people know who Nightcrawler is. He's that blue elfy-looking X-Man who can teleport anywhere. You might have seen him in X2, played by Alan Cumming.
So Jumper takes the mutant superpower, and attaches it to a separate story. Which begs to question. Why not just make a Nightcrawler spin-off? Your already borrowing the superpower, he's a character with a pretty deep back story, so why not just expand on what's already there? Fine. It is what it is. And Jumper does have some pretty good talent involved with this project.

So Hayden Christensen plays a character named David Rice. A young man who has a generic ability to teleport. He comes across this ability early on, and does what I think anybody would with a power like that. Completely abuse it to gain a vast amount of wealth. He spends the next few years, living it up with a consequence-free life. That is until he comes across Roland (Samuel L. Jackson). He leads an organization who call themselvs paladins. Who's mission is to complete radication of every jumper they can find. He hates them. And he intends on showing them that there's always consequences. With his high-tech devices, used to disrupt their teleporting abilities, and kill them. Without giving too much away, David comes across another jumper who hunts the hunters. And there's a silly love story in there somewhere between David and Millie (Rachel Bilson), but it's not worth to discuss.

It's a shame that the movie didn't focus on, what to me was the most interesting aspect of this film. The war between the paladins and jumpers. It's a battle that apparently has been going on for centuries. And I would have loved to know more about why the paladins are so intend on killing the jumpers. Sure there is room for that in another movie. But why wait to give us an explanation? I mean the love story in this movie clearly did not work. So why not spend that time, giving us a great history with the characters instead? Especially since this is a story about where the main character is maturing, it would have been nice to know something more about him. Besides the fact that he has parent issues. Doing this could have made Jumper a very special movie.

It's frustrating, because there was a lot in Jumper that I did like. Especially the jumping. I felt it was used in a very imaginative way, that reminded me of how I felt when I first saw The Matrix. See you get so used to kung fu movies, and then someone throws in some bullet time. And your like "holy cow! that's awesome!". In Jumper, the teleporting fights were really unique and creative. And i love that you just have no idea of where you were going to be taken next. Also on that note, the teleporting effect itself was done really well. Ranging from the ever so slight teleportation, to a massive wave of energy you really felt. Especially if you got a great sound system.

While the movie is probably a good rental, and a great way to way to test your speaker system. It's just lacking anything substantial for it to truly be remembered for. Or for you to even care a sequel will be made. Who knows what's next. Maybe a story about a guy who can change his skin to metal.
I mean if your going to borrow a power from a comic book hero, then take the fundamentals of what makes a comic book hero great. Namely, a strong back story.



__________________
Saully's Reviews
Latest Review: 300



[Battle: Los Angeles]




Now as cliche as alien invasion films have become. There have still been ways to make the genre survive over the years. District 9 showed what could be done with a small budget. And Skyline showed what you can do when you steal a few sets from another movie. Battle: LA is nothing new. You've seen it all here before folks.

The story is one you've heard many times before. One day, meteor start crashing down on earth, and it's quickly realized that we're under attack. They get that when they start shooting at us. A platooned marines are ordered to get as many civilians as they can, out of an area that is marked to be bombed. The marines fight as one, to fight through impossible odds. And somehow find a weakness that will give earth the ability to fight back.

There's a few things i appreciated from Battle: Los Angeles. One, is how the characters are handled. Battle: Los Angeles treats it's characters with respect. While it allows certain moments for them to stretch out, and celebrate with some provoto. Ultimately, they move and act like marines. And i like that. While the film doesn't take time-out to explore these characters (it's not that kind of film). You will (or eventually should) realize that the main characters are not anyone visual, but the marine corps themselves. The marine corp is the main character. Another thing that i can appreciate in this film, is the pacing. Far too many of these aline invasion movies follow a typical formula: Introduce characters, introduce aliens, aliens kick our ass, we find their weakness, we fight back, all a while stopping for 5-10 minutes to allow some character time to develop some lame subplot. Sure, Battle: Los Angeles has this. But, it's kept down to a minimum. You know the pacing in this film is relentless. So if your the type of person that can't stand 20-30 minutes of non stop shooting, explosions and covering fire. Then yeah this movie is probably not for you.

One of the things that helps Battle: Los Angeles is the surprisingly appropriate acting. Everyone gives a solid performance here. And i was relived to not see some damn kid to try steal the show. Or some dog run through a series of explosions to survive.

Again, this film is not one of your hooky alien invasion films. It's pretty straight forward. So yeah. Battle: Los Angeles does not break new ground. They don't really explore much of the aliens themselves. It might be a bit of a disappointment to some, especially since many of the TV spots make it seem like there are levels of secrets to this film.

This is a straight forward action, sci-fi film. That plays exactly like a video game. It's satisfied me in a very guilty-pleasure type of way. So Battle: Los Angeles is nothing more than pure visual pop movie fun. I could probably describe it as Black Hawk Down meets Independence Day. Might feel a bit long at times. It might not be the pretties special effects you'll see. And some of the camera work, especially at night, could have been tighten up.






Sorry Harmonica.......I got to stay here.
Thanks for the Equillibrium review S, very good-- didn't know about this one, but I'm going to seek it out now
__________________
Under-the-radar Movie Awesomeness.
http://earlsmoviepicks.blogspot.com/



Thanks for the Equillibrium review S, very good-- didn't know about this one, but I'm going to seek it out now
Thanks. And i think you'll like the movie very much



[Kung Fu Panda]




Release: June 6, 2008
Genre: Comedy
Studio: DreamWorks Pictures
MPAA Rating: Rated PG for sequences of martial arts action.

What Hollywood has truly missed the mark on is what really made a good kung fu movie. It wasn't always the action that made a good kung fu flick, but the lesson behind it. The heart of the movie. And it's something DreamWorks intend on not missing the mark on.

Po (played by Jack Black), is a panda who spends his days dreaming about becoming a kung fu master, while working with his father in a noodle shop. He's a kung fu fanatic, obsessed with the town's most prestigious warriors, The Furious Five. Which consists of Tigress (Angelina Jolie),
Monkey (Jackie Chan), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu),
and Crane (David Cross). One day, master Oogway has a premonition that the evil warrior, Tai Lung, will escape. And decides that it's time to choose the Dragon Warrior. The one who will be able to defeat Tai Lung. After Po desperately tries to see the ceremony, he's unexpectedly chosen as the Dragon Warrior, and begins his training under master Shifu.

You know Jack Black is a great vocal talent. He actually feels like he's into the movie. He is Po. And puts everything on the screen. Every grunt. Everytime he's out out of breath. He's bringing this character to life. In fact, as brief as it may be, everyone does a pretty good job with their vocal work here.

The animation is beautiful. And with some great action scenes, with choreography that surprise me with how well it was executed. Now the movie may not be as funny as other animated films, but it definitely has more action. Something that's hard to find in some many family films. Now sure, all this is nice and pretty. But it wouldn't mean anything to me if there wasn't a good story behind in there. But he movie doesn't break any new ground in story telling. What is there is what matters. And that's heart. The movie really captures the spirit of what made this film so popular. And has a good message about believing in yourself, despite what others may think. It's a nice throw-back to many who grew up on martial arts classics. And can now share that love of art with their children. Without worrying about capitation and exploding hearts.






[Green Lantern]



This movie is getting slammed by critics.

Green Lantern tells the story of Hal Jordan. Hot-shot pilot, who get's summoned to a dying alien, who passes to him this green ring. That holds superpowers. A ring that allows the user to wield green energy, and form constructs based on his will. Meaning, whatever he imagines, the ring will temporarily create. How Jordan discovers that the ring is actually part of the Green Lantern core, a group created by ancient order of immortals to keep peace in the universe. Hal learns how to use this new power in time to defend earth against called Parallax. A creature that feeds on fear. Yeah, it sounds complicated, i know. But really, it's simple sci-fi goodness here folks.

Unfortunately, the movie is getting slammed by critics. And well, honestly i gotta tell say... **** them. This movie is not nearly as bad as those meters would have you believe. Does this film have issues? Absolutely. What film doesn't? The current ratings would have you believe that this is anohter Ghost Rider. And that, it is certainly not. There's two things with Green Lantern that prevent it from being a superhero film of the quality that we have grown accustomed to these days. With movies like The Dark Knight, and most recently, X-Men: First Class. We're not asking for everything to be dark and emotional. Just show us a film with the same level of respect that the writers have shown for these heroes, and their stories over the years.

As characterization, while we do get to know Hal Jordan through his conversation with his friend, Carol Ferris (Blake Lively). We don't feel like we get to truly know this character, beyond what's force-fed to us. He becomes too dimensional, predictable. He's fights for right, because that's what must be done. None enough of Hal Jordan is spend anywhere else. This film desperately needed to have Hal Jordan spend more time with his training, or understanding the Green Lantern core. The characters in the Green Lantern core. More importantly, with his mentor. Who would have been Sinestro, if they actually followed the damn story.

The film does a decent job of breaking up the plotting pace, with enough Green Lantern goodness, to keep things moving along. But in the end it was all rather boring. Like Green Lantern, it didn't have a pulse. It was as if everything was written by a machine, instead of people. And while many would complain that Hal Jordan accepted his new role rather quickly. I don't think that was the problem in this movie. Cause i say nothing is more annoying than a cynical hero, refusing to believe the events unfolding around him are true. I would like to think that the ring would pick a person of better quality. Don't you think? The problem is what i said. More needed to be dealt into this character. Hal Jordan is the type of person to jump right into things, but not enough was written for him to jump right into. To show how cocky Hal Jordan could be, a less whiny Hal Jordan would have been nice.

The second issue ties to the old saying: "A hero is only a good as his villain". And while Parralax was the villain in this movie. If felt more like this was Hal Jordan's coming of age story. And that was the real story, And Parralax was just a creature in the background with his own story. I never felt like Parralax was a real threat. Green Lantern needed a better villain!
I gotta say, Ryan Reynolds did play a good Hal Jordan. While i would have loved to see him being a little more cocky, and less whiny.

The visual effect are excellent. And this is the first non-animated 3-D film, that looked great in 3-D. While the film needed more Hal Jordan, and less of that romantic relationship that was found in there somewhere. The film still managed to have pretty good pacing. Still, Green Lantern should have been more.







You say that Green Lantern was the first non-animated film to look great in 3D, did you see Avatar in 3D?



I actually haven't seen Avatar in 3D, so i could be mistaken. But did you see Green Lantern in 3D?



Sorry Harmonica.......I got to stay here.
Just saw Equillibrium-- enjoyed it-- boy that one sure seemed like it flew under the radar--once again, good call.

Thanks. And i think you'll like the movie very much



[District 9]




Release: August 14, 2009

Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Drama
Studio: Screen Gems
MPAA Rating: Rated R for bloody violence and pervasive language.

District 9 starts like a documentary. Interviews immediately tell you the events that you are about to see, already happened. It starts by showing us a giant space ship that stays hovered over South Africa. After months of no contact with the alien ship, the country decides to break inside, which reveals an alien species. Unable to fix their space ships, they're quarantined and confined in an area. And a new agency, called the MNU, The Multinational United, was contracted to control the alien situation. The MNU have decided to appease the crise of the people, who want the aliens removed from the land that they've landed in. And decide to convict the aliens to a separate containment area. Now to execute this process legally, they promote Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), a bureaucrat working for the MNU. Who is put in charge to issue the warrant, and have the aliens sign the order of eviction. During the course of his job, he discovers a canister, that releases a fluid to his face.

The film is set in a alternate reality, where apartheid laws got applies to the aliens, instead of to the people of South Africa. In many ways, the film shows the effects of apartheid, and the horrors that come attributed from that corrupt system. The film does an amazing job of showing the environment these aliens haft to live in. And the deplorable conditions that they haft to survive through. It's solid film making.

District 9 has many elements of other great sci-fi movies. Like Enemy Mine, Alien Nation even The Fly. It also plays out like the most kick-ass first person action shooter that you wish you could play. Images of games like Half-Life and Halo will run through your mind as you see the amazing action play-out right before you. There are things in this movie that you have never seen before. It's just so awesome. This is the result of a film that's made with complete vision. Untouched by a corporation that decides what scenes to cut, what characters to add, just so that they can make some toys. This is what happens when you let a person make his movie, and it's a beautiful thing.

Now the film... It's just a perfect sci-fi movie, i'm not kidding. It's a must-see.






Miss Vicky's Loyal and Willing Slave
Nice reviews Saully. And nice avatar as well.

I thought District 9 and Kung Fu Panda were great, and Equilibrium was good fun. Not seen the rest. I really thought Jumper looked like fun when it was being advertised but with all the negative reviews I never got round to seeing it



Thanks. I like yours too

I recommend watching The Book of Eli. Battle: L.A. is goo too, way better than Skyline.
Definitely watch Jumper if you like Hayden Christensen. If your not a fan of him, then i don't know if you'll like Jumper. I know that sounds kind of weird, but yeah...



[Rescue Dawn]



The movie stars Christian Bale as Dieter Dengler. A German-American pilot, shot down and captured in Laos, during the Vietnam war. The film is based on a true story how this man organized a daring escape with other prisoners.

The movie has a great cast of actors, that includes Steve Zahn, who, in my opinion, is a severely underrated actor. His character named Duane, plays off as one of the most powerful elements of this film. His humble attitude and soft nature, balances Dengler, as their friendship builds over the months under extreme tormenting conditions. And Jeremy Davies, another fine actor, who plays a prisoner named Gene, shows exactly what 2 years in prison camp can do to a man. I haven't seen a actor that skinny since Bale dropped the weight for The Machinist. These three men give powerful performances sharing screen time together, without any particulare actor stealing the show and dwarfing the others. Rarely are scenes with multiple actors on screen at the same time, this good.

Rescue Dawn takes it's time before the POWs actually escape. Focusing more on the psychological trauma these men experience over the months. No, this is not an action movie. And Dieter Dengler is not a superhero who single single-handedly battles his way past multiple guards. This movie shows the despair and gradual degradation these men face in conditions so bad, they decided to take their chances escaping. And once they break out, the movie picks up, as they desperately try to escape what has become their second prison, the jungle itself.

Dieter Dengler has an amazing story to tell, that deserves your attention.