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I Am Rick Cottontree
03-24-13
This has been repeated on TV the past few days, used to have it on DVD too.


Review #194, Movie #264
Vertical Limit


Year Of Release
2000

Director
Martin Campbell

Producer
Martin Campbell, Robert King, Marcia Nasatir, Lloyd Phillips

Writer
Robert King, Terry Hayes

Notes
The man behind James Bond critic-divider GoldenEye, Martin Campbell, was hired to direct Vertical Limit. Campbell then went on to direct blockbuster Casino Royale and critical failure Green Lantern.
The film also contains masses of homages to real life people and climbers, including character names and some scenes with genuine, famous climbers as extras and stuntmen.

---

Peter Garrett and his sister Annie are experienced climbers. They were taught everything they know by their father... but after a tragic accident, Peter and Annie become estranged.

Annie moves on and eventually becomes one of the greatest climbers in the world. Peter however, never forgets what he knwos but tends to stay away from the lifestyle.
Annie then becomes part of a team that heads up a K2 with a Billionaire called Eilliot Vaughn for a publicity stunt, and Peter being in the area, pays Annie a visit before she goes up...

... but the awkward meeting between them won't be the worst part of their meeting when a local climber and mountain man, Montgomery Wick, seems to know something nobody else does about Billionaire Vaughn... and when disaster hits Peter and Annie again in the form of an avalanche, Peter must rally the basecamp crew to rescue the buried survivors.

---

Another strange one for my thread. Vertical Limit has the makings to be a great film. Especially with it being almost a one off film about mountain climbing disasters.

Sadly though, it feels like a hollow wannabe Cliffhanger. Just without the style or peril.

It's missing genuine drama, genuine antagonists and is also missing a properly written story too.
The movie is simply that... a bunch of people up a mountain who need rescuing with the backstory of Peter and Annie becoming something thrown in to at least try to give the audience some sort of connection.

There are a couple of little sub-plots with some of the other characters, but sadly, it's nowhere near enough and definitely too late.

The overall dialogue writing is also substandard, especially when a whole group of climber have gathered and are all arguing whether or not they should go and rescue, or just let the survivors die.

The film does succeed in on area though. Similar to Dead Calm, it splits itself into two films. One with the rescue team, the other with Annie and Vaughn.
Vaughn is a kind of antagonist, but sadly, with there being very little connection to what's actually going on and to whom, it doesn't really lift anything.


The acting is also touch and go.
Chris O'Donnell as Peter is as usual, wooden to the extreme. It's hard to see with the $75m budget, why the filmmakers decided to choose him. His dialogue delivery is also extremely predictable, as if he already knows what's going to happen.

Robin Tunney plays Annie... she's a much better pick. Her overal character has little to do except survive disaster with Bill Paxton... and survive Bill Paxton.
Paxton however shines as Billionaire Vaughn. Though his character isn't given much range writing wise, Paxton really makes the role. His changing characteristic as the film goes on is well played by Bill but sadly, like I said, you don't really care about anyone around him for him to make much of an impact.

Back up comes from Isabella Scorupco, Alexander Siddig and Temuera Morrison.
I've said before about Morrison, any film with him on the cast sheet is destined to be half hearted.
Scott Glenn also makes an apparent spooky and mysterious character in Montgomery Wick... a sort of faux-wise old wizard of a character.

Ben Mendelsohn and Steve Le Marquand make tha great comic relief though as two Australian brothers who help out with the rescue. They're funny, engaging and full of charisma. Definitely the best on show.


The main thing that stands out though, is the choreography of the action sequences and effects department.
This is where the film really makes its mark.

Some of the action sequences are absolutely breathtaking and the effects that back them up are incredibly realistic. There's also some beautiful photography throughout in second and third acts too.

Sadly, that really the only good thing about the film... exciting action, top effects and photography.


---


All in all, worthy of a place in the great action and effects history books... beautiful to watch... just incredibly boring to sit through and shamefully cliche.
Shame really, it could have been great.

My rating: 28%


Last edited by The Rodent; 05-16-14 at 02:31 PM.



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Miss Vicky's Loyal and Willing Slave
03-24-13
Wow I've not seen Vertical Limit in absolute years! Must be 10 at least and remember very little of it. The one thing I do seem to remember is a bag of blood exploding to indicate the location of some characters. Or is that another film?



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I Am Rick Cottontree
03-24-13
Yeah that's the one... they use the blood of a dead body and a flare to make a mark in the white snow.



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I Am Rick Cottontree
03-29-13
Short review...

Review #195, Movie #265
Street Fighter


Year Of Release
1994

Director
Stephen E de Souza

Producer
Edward R Pressman, Kenzo Tsujimoto, Akio Sakai

Writer
Stephen E de Souza

Notes
Like Sandra Bullock's Speed 2 having the connections to the Die Hard Franchise I mentioned a few pages back, Street Fighter has connections to the same action films plus others.
The man who wrote and directed Street Fighter, Stephen E de Souza, is the same man who wrote Schwarzenegger's films The Running Man and...

... Commando and what was going to be the sequel to Commando... Die Hard.
Although, Souza was also responsible for other cheese fests in the forms of Stallone's Judge Dredd, Beverly Hills Cop 3 and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life.

Also, Van Damme was originally going to star as Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat, but turned it down to star as Guile in Street Fighter.

---

Colonel Guile is the head of the AN Forces... his mission is to take down a warlord called General M.Bison.
Bison has taken a number of hostages, including a friend of Guile's called Blanka and is holding them to ransom.
Guile and his team, Cammy and and T.Hawk, must use whatever resources they have to stop Bison from receiving his ransom and making himself the Dictator of a country called Shadaloo.

Along the way, Guile makes allies and enemies... including Chun-Li, E.Honda, Balrog, Sagat, Vega, Dhalsim, Zangief... and Ryu and Ken.

---

Right... ok....


Badly written, taking nothing from the beloved video games apart from a few character names and throwing the whole lot into an extremely poorly written screenplay and script.

It's highly childlike in tone, highly childlike in dialogue and even worse when it comes to actual story.
Bad guy, takes hostages, demands money, the good guys go on a rampage to stop him. That's it.


What's really, really strange about the film though, is that along with all the bad points... it's actually incredibly entertaining.
Cheesy one-liners that don't work, unintentionally funny acting and scripting that's so unintentionally funny it makes it seem like it was on purpose... which again, makes it more entertaining.

Even with the rewritten characters, including Blanka who is now a genetic experiment rather than a swamp monster... it all kinda works well in a bad-good way.


Jean Claude Van Damme plays Guile. Wooden, acting badly even for JCVD, carries the action well but isn't likeable at all in this one.

Back up comes from Byron Mann, Damian Chapa, Ming Na, Peter Tuiasosopo, Wes Studi, Grand L Bush and Andrew Bryniarski... Bryniarski in particular is actually the best of the backup as Zangief. He seems to know it's a pile and embraces it.

Kylie Minogue as Cammy is by far the worst. It's hard to believe this woman was still getting acting gigs... she's awful. Not funny awful either.


The only good thing about Street Fighter is Raúl Juliá as M.Bison.
As usual with Juliá, even with a poor script and poor dialogue, he lifts the character to new levels.
He also seems to embrace the cheesy side of everything too and makes the most of it.
Vaya Con Dios.


The action and effects are what the film really tries to hammer home...

Sadly though, the only scrap worth a watch is Ryu and Ken versus Vega and Sagat. Even then there's not much to it.
The rest is poorly choreographed, poorly executed, poorly photographed and seems to have been filmed with the actual badly trained actors, rather than at least getting some proper stuntmen involved.
It's extremely underwhelming.

Still though, with the rest of the film being what it is, it makes for a change of scenery against the backdrop of cheese and wooden-ness.


---


All in all... so bad it's almost good. Unlike de Souza's other film Commando... it's not quite "good" enough for that badge of honour.

Entertaining if you're actually expecting a piece of cr*p as you can laugh at how bad it is, but if you go in with the mind-set that expects an exciting fighter-actioner, you'll be in for a big let down.
Not the worst film I've seen, even though it is awful.

I'll 50/50 this one rather than give it a Rodent's Rejected. It's worth a go, just to laugh at how bad it is if you like that sort of thing.

My rating: 3%


Last edited by The Rodent; 05-16-14 at 02:32 PM.



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I don't remember asking you a ******* thing!
04-06-13
Ah, Street Fighter. I knew it was bad as soon as I saw the poster. Video game films never seem to work. Even some of the better ones are still trash, which is what's truly sad.



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I Am Rick Cottontree
04-13-13
Another one that's being repeated on telly over the past few days, and right now for that matter...


Review #196, Movie #266
Eraser




Year Of Release
1996


Director
Chuck Russell


Producer
Anne Kopelson, Arnold Kopelson


Writer
Tony Puryear, Walon Green, Michael S Chernuchin


Notes
The film was hit by a few problems and almost backstabbing too.
Alongside writers Tony Puryear, Walon Green and Michael S Chernuchin, John Milius, William Wisher Jr and none other than Frank Darabont wrote treatments for the film. Milius, Wisher and Darabont aren't credited though.
Also, Director Chuck Russell and Producer Arnold Kopelson came to hate each other during the production.
Their hatred was so strong that Schwarzenegger actually rewrote the filming schedule and became a middle-man for the pair so they could communicate.

The film also contains a number of homages to Arnie and his other films, including one of the characters calling Arnie a "Tree Trunk". In reality, Arnie is known as "The Oak". Arnie also wears a uniform on one scene that has a catchphrase from one of his previous films printed on the back of it.

---

U.S Marshall John Kruger works for the Witness Security program. He's known as "Eraser" as he is able to erase people from existence for their own protection.
When an arms manufacturing company comes into disrepute and it appears they are selling top secret weapons to the Russians, Kruger is assigned to erase the identity of a woman who can prove the company's guilt of High Treason.

But when it appears that this corruption of illegal selling of top secret weapons has spread to some top ranking places within the Government, Kruger discovers that it's a lot harder to make people disappear than he originally thought.

---

Typical Schwarzenegger actioner but with a bit of a brain behind it.

What's different about Eraser, is that is has a couple of well hidden and surprising twists throughout and the acting is also really quite good for a typical Arnie Smash 'em Up.

The main thing is the screenplay. It's a done-to-death sequence of events, but the hidden twists give an extra air of entertainment and it makes the whole thing feel much fresher than the average actioner.

One thing I like about the film is the gory side of some of the action. It doesn't do the usual Hollywood thing of hiding snot and blood. It's not ultraviolent, but the violence and blood isn't exactly the usual.

The other thing is some original writing on behalf of the villains of the film. They're not just bad for the sake of it. They have a nicely simple a well written background to them and pitting them against Arnie's clean-cut but serious and tough good guy works well.


The acting, as I said is pretty good for an actioner.
Schwarzenegger is a slightly different character than usual. He's tough and solid yes, but he has a human and vulnerable side too. He carries the humour well too.
Vanessa L Williams as Lee Cullen makes a good show too. She's the woman under big Arn's protection. She's good within the action and has a nice personality that lifts the story too.

James Caan is awesome though as US Marshal Robert DeGuerin, Arnie's Boss. Definitely a standout role.

Robert Pastorelli stands out too as a kind of sidekick to Kruger. He's more of a comic relief but has a key role for the story.

Back up comes from Nick Chinlund, Joe Viterelli, Tony Longo, Mark Rolston, James Cromwell and James Coburn.


The action and effects though are a bit touch and go.
Some of the computer effects are a little dated by today's standard, especially some of the animated crocodiles and some of the weapons seen, but the choreography and action itself are absolutely brilliant and exciting.

With the dodgy computer effects, there's also some brilliantly rendered weaponry effects in the form of the Rail-Guns that the bad guys end up with.
Seeing such an original weapon fired repeatedly by good guys and bad guys in a big brawl is really fun.

---


All in all, pretty standard action up from big Arn and nothing that will make the ranks of Classic Schwarzenegger...

... but with the little twists and decent acting throughout, and that weapon mixed into the action, Eraser delivers exactly what the audience should expect.
Thrills, spills, action and cheesy Schwarzenegger one-liners.

My rating: 82%


Last edited by The Rodent; 05-16-14 at 02:33 PM.



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Miss Vicky's Loyal and Willing Slave
04-13-13
Definitely need to watch Eraser sometime. It's one of the very few Arnie films I've still never seen.

And nice to see you back reviewing. Wasn't sure if you had packed it in, or were perhaps preparing another big epic review like your X-Men franchise one. Personally I was hoping for the former!



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I don't remember asking you a ******* thing!
05-12-13
I want to see you review some of David Lynch's work, if you haven't already. Everyone seems to have a mixed opinion about his work. I really enjoy his stuff, but I wanna hear what you gotta say.



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I Am Rick Cottontree
05-18-13
Review #197, Movie #267
Man On Fire


Year Of Release
2004

Director
Tony Scott

Producer
Lucas Foster, Arnon Milchan, Tony Scott

Writer
Brian Helgeland, AJ Quinnell

Notes
In 1983, Tony Scott pressed to make the film himself, which means Man On Fire would have been one of his earliest... but he was rejected as he was deemed too inexperienced.
The film was then made in 1987 with Arnon Milchan as producer and Elie Chouraqui as director... Milchan then approached Tony years later, which culminated in this 2004 effort.

---

John Creasy is a former US Marine, now working as a Bodyguard for the rich and famous. In Mexico City, kidnappings have become a pandemic and rich businessman Samuel Ramos hires Creasy to protect his 9 year old daughter, Pita.
Basically Creasy just has to babysit, drive Pita to school and just be around at all times to make sure she's safe.

Creasy finds it a little difficult at first when the highly intelligent Pita questions him and his reserve but eventually they find a common ground and a kinship.

But when Creasy and Pita are overwhelmed by armed men, and despite a heroic attempt by Creasy top stop these men, Pita is kidnapped and Creasy is left hospitalised and is under investigation into the kidnapping.

But more horror is around the corner and Creasy's hand is forced... and he makes the judgement that everyone involved with Pita's disappearance will pay for what they have done.


Bit of a tough one to review.
Man On Fire pushes a lot of buttons in the right way... but look under the skin only slightly and it feels extremely pretentious.

It lays on thick the message of friendship and revenge for wrongs... and at times it gets a little tiring.
It feels as though the filmmakers are pushing just too much with the "that was my friend and you will pay" mentality. We get the point, we didn't need reminded every 30 seconds.

The other thing is some of the implausible things that the main character does, there's very little exposition into how he gets around to doing and knowing certain things. Some of the things he discovers are shown, others aren't.


What works though, is the shooting style and photography and the character writing.
The character writing in particular is extremely good. Creasy's change along the running time and Pita's relationship with him is very well developed as the film goes on.
The other thing is how Creasy's scenes of information finding is handled. Basically he uses torture to get information so he can get to whoever was involved in Pita's kidnapping.
It's all very cold and calculated and doesn't ever go all Hollywood OTT.

The first act of the film based around Creasy and Pita though is laced very gently with humour too. Their relationship is worked on and given a real depth at times.


Which brings me to the acting.
We're treated to bit parts in the forms of Marc Anthony and Radha Mitchell as Pita's parents. Both are kept to the background to allow the story to develop around Creasy but when on screen, both make an impact. Anthony in particular is good.

Rachel Ticotin and Giancarlo Giannini also make a show as another double act. They're reporters/informants for Creasy. Ticotin in particular makes the best show of these two and looks hot too I might add.

Dakota Fanning as Pita isn't seen a great deal after the initial kidnapping, but she makes an impression that lasts throughout the film. Her chemistry with Washington is also top drawer.

Now Denzel Washington... cool, calm and calculated and all that comes second only to the rage you can see is building within the character that he's somehow able to bury deep down to get the job done.
Washington absolutely rocks this role.
His onscreen chemistry with everyone he comes into contact with, especially Fanning, is brilliantly pieced together too.

Back up comes from Christopher Walken.


There's little "action" as such, just hints and hits of more exciting cinema and the occasional gunfight and some torture scenes. They work well though and the choreography, backed up by the character connections makes the film more exciting and you can't help get behind Creasy and his gruesome techniques.


---


All in all, it won't make ranks of Classic any time soon, but it's still a satisfying revenge thriller with some nice hits of action every now and then.
Brilliantly acted though from everyone involved, especially Washington and the story and screenplay work too.
Just a shame about the borderline mawkish "message of friendship" that is plastered extremely thick all over the character writing.

My rating: 84%


Last edited by The Rodent; 05-16-14 at 02:33 PM.



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I don't remember asking you a ******* thing!
05-18-13
Good review, man. Never seen Man on Fire, but it's on my backlog of films to see. Gotta love a good Denzel Washington flick.

Also, "Back up comes from Christopher Walken." Is there really nothing else to say about him? lol granted it is Walken, but is he good, bad, hokey? Either way, he's always entertaining.



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I Am Rick Cottontree
05-18-13
Cheers MM, it's worth a watch.

He's seen for about 60 seconds altogether but out of all the other extras, he stands out. He's a good guy too.



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Miss Vicky's Loyal and Willing Slave
05-21-13
Wow you're back after more than a month away! I didn't know that rodents hibernated! Is that really the first film you've watched in all that time, or have you been watching films but just not bothering to review them?

Though you've failed on your return as you've reviewed a film I haven't seen, thus making your review worthless! I'll need to get to it though as it's recently dawned on me that I'm actually a big fan of a lot of Tony Scott flicks - Beverly Hills Cop 2, Last Boy Scout, True Romance, Enemy of the State etc.



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I Am Rick Cottontree
05-21-13
JayDee is jealous that I've done a film he hasn't

I've been watching films, just haven't reviewed them... I have a couple in mind for the lead up to my next benchmark.

If I time it right, I might be able to get Man Of Steel as the 200th review, 270th film... just depends if it's being shown in 2D at my local though.



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I Am Rick Cottontree
06-13-13
Review #198, Movie #268
Jeepers Creepers



Year Of Release
2001

Director
Victor Salva

Producer
Francis Ford Coppola, Tom Luse, Barry Opper

Writer
Victor Salva

Notes
The original title of the film was Here Comes The Boogeyman and was going to have Lance Henriksen as the Creeper.
Also, main duo Long and Philips weren't ever allowed to meet Jonathan Breck outside of the set, which gave their reactions to him more weight.

---
Siblings Trish and Darry Jenner are heading home to see their Mother... they're driving across the USA, basically on a road trip. Along the way they bicker, argue, wind each other up but seem to get on well as siblings.

When a large rusty brown truck near runs them off the road, they recall stories between them of a couple who died 20 years ago on the same road they are currently driving on...

... but their urban legends of psychopaths stalking travellers are the least of their worries when a few miles up the road they drive casually past an old Church...

... and they witness the driver of the rusty truck dumping what appears to be a dead body into the Church cellar...
---

Jeepers Creepers gives old style scares with modern twists and incorporates some nicely original touches to the proceedings too.

It starts out as a mystery thriller, in the same vein as maybe Joy Ride or even Spielberg's 1971 film Duel...

Jeepers then ramps up the story to newer heights and puts the audience on the back foot during the second act before ramping itself up again for the third act.
It's a very cleverly told tale with some brilliantly placed humour, some of it physical humour in regard to the strange driver of the rusty truck.

What makes the whole thing tie together better than most other horrors of modern day, is the genuinely spooky and untold story that manages to unravel itself during the running time.
There's a genuinely real feeling history to the screenplay and it also doesn't open up so much that it becomes yet another self-explanatory backstory like most horrors of recent times.

It's also wonderfully open when it comes to spooky visuals and disturbing ideas that lead up to a well conceived ending.


The acting is also top notch.
Justin Long and Gina Philips as Trish and Darry are wonderfully cast. I haven't seen Philips a great deal in other films but she holds it together really well in the strange circumstances.
Long though is by far at his most likable and really gets into the action and hysterics. I loved Justin in this film.
Their chemistry is also fantastic... their genuinely believable as Brother and Sister.

Backup comes from Patricia Belcher (playing it fantastically real as a psychic) and Jonathan Breck as the "Creeper".
Breck in particular is wonderfully dark and disturbing in what is basically a mime act.


The action is also great. Used sparingly and using shadows and silhouettes to great effect... and the more gory and louder action is also handled brilliantly too with some genuine jumps and 'whoa' moments mixed in with some standard, but knowingly standard, frights.
Some of the visuals in the first act, especially when introduced to the stranger truck driver are brilliantly photographed.

---


All in all... not an instant classic at time of release and garnering only 45% on some websites...
... and I'm skipping reviewing the lower than average sequel (which went too much for shocks and action rather than story and horror)...

... Jeepers Creepers gives all the spooky horror shocks and disturbing backstory and visuals mixed with nicely fine-tuned action and humour that will please any film fan.
Highly underrated fun and horror.

My rating: 87%


Last edited by The Rodent; 05-16-14 at 02:34 PM.



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I Am Rick Cottontree
06-21-13
Ok boys and girls... I've just been to see it...

Review #199, Movie #269
Man Of Steel

This is for the 2D version


Year Of Release
2013

Director
Zack Snyder

Producer
Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven, Emma Thomas, Deborah Snyder

Writer
David S Goyer, Christopher Nolan

---

The planet Krypton is dying... and at the brink of their destruction, General Zod makes war against those who are responsible for the predicament that is faced by the entire populous of the planet.

Jor-El, a scientist on the planet has warned the heads of Krypton of this fate, but he was ignored and has become a target of Zod as he has launched his infant son Kal-El to safety where he can hide in peace on Earth.

After Krypton's destruction, Zod makes it his mission to hunt Kal-El across the stars and retrieve a very particular piece of technology that was sent to Earth with Kal-El and destroy Earth to build an new Krypton... but after 33 years of living with Humans, Kal-El, now known as Clark Kent, will have to make a choice...

... to join Zod and allow his people to live again... or stand against the General and his hoard and become a saviour for mankind.


---


Ok... slammed by many, revered by others... scale wise, the second half of Man Of Steel is exactly what most Superhero Movies should be.

Many have hammered the lack of cheese and fun of the other Superman films of years gone by... I say, forget those films for now... Man Of Steel isn't meant to be those films... and many forget that Superman The Movie had almost a musical number stuck in the middle...

... I'd like to see the faces of those slamming Man Of Steel if they'd included a scene like that in this film
There are also a few action scenes that seem to have come from the original Christopher Reeve films Superman The Movie and Superman II... in particular Clark getting bullied by a Trucker and a burly brawl in Smallville between bad guys and the Military.

The other thing... is that Man Of Steel... spoiler alert guys... fits in perfectly with The Dark Knight Trilogy... and a connection is implied within the third act as well


Now...
The epic scale battles and fist fights, explosions, gunfights and other bodyslamming action scenes that make up most of the second half of the film is something that has been missing from a Superman film since, well, ever really.

The overall Global size of the action, I don't think, has ever been seen on screen before in many films apart from maybe 2012 or Independence Day... it's huge.
The kind of scale to expect is something that is normally only seen on the pages of the comics themselves.

Much of the action takes place throughout Metropolis and Smallville... but there are other set pieces included in the destruction when Zod get his plan together that give just that extra touch of epicness that make Man Of Steel stand apart from other Superhero films.


The overall effects department hasn't been spared either. By far the most effective, erm, effects I have yet to see in an action film... Steel almost appears to have rewritten some of the computer-whizz rulebooks, it's that well put together in the CGI and Practical Effects stakes.
It's by far the most destructive film I've seen in a long, long time.


The choreography is also top drawer and backs up the action fantastically and excitingly... with the exception of two things...
1) Snyder's overuse of close-ups during burly brawls between The Supe and whichever evil Kryptonian he is currently trading punches with. It knocks the viewer sideways at times and gets disorientating.
2) Snyder's overuse of fast zooming with a handheld camera whenever something in the distance does anything. Similar to JJ Abrams' fast zooming whenever the Starship Enterprise goes into warp...


Other than those two faults, which don't really take much away from the good points... Steel does have one major problem... most of the first half of the film.

The writing is substandard character wise... the first half is mainly one -long excuse note made up of flashbacks that tell Kal-El's story, Krypton's history, and Clark's early life on Earth with his overprotective father Jonathan.
There's also little audience to character connections... you don't really get to care enough about the leads... especially, sadly, the story between Clark and Lois Lane...

Now, all the actors involved do an absolute top job. They're all giving 101%... but the poor scripting and lack of character building and connection making screenplay within the first half, it makes the whole film feel hollow to an extent. There are some characters that everyone knows and loves that have been rewritten as well and it feels highly gimmicky. Again though, the actors involved are at the top of their game, it's the scripting that lets it down.

It's almost as if character-character and audience-character connection is simply a given and the writers... Goyer and Nolan... haven't really tried to write those connections because they thought that past connections and maybe a touch of nostalgia and knowledge on the audience's behalf would have been enough.
I can see how that approach would work, but it makes some of the character emotions a little non-universal.

However:
Cavill is perfect as Clark/Kal/Superman... I had difficulty at the very beginning seeing him as Superman, but as the movie progressed, I fell in love with this new performance... especially as Cavill appears to be learning the role, as the character learns his new powers. That is one thing that does work well with the writing. Cavill's physique is also bang on the money.

Amy Adams is also on top form... she has less to do than Cavill though, and sadly, like I said, the poor character writing makes the connection between her and Cavill sketchy at best.
Her role within Superman/Clark's life has also been rewritten along with some of the other rewritten characters.

Back up comes from Antje Traue as Zod's right-hand girl Faora... and from Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as Jonathan and Martha Kent... neither are seen enough tbh, I loved them in these roles, especially Costner... they're extremely likeable and are near to being the best written of the lot.
More backup comes from Lawrence Fishburne as a rewritten Perry White and Russell Crowe as Jor-El.
Crowe is mainly seen as a hologram though and his role is very generic throughout. Crowe does a pretty decent job though.

The standout role though is Michael Shannon as General Zod. Shannon absolutely makes this film. He's threatening when needed, holds his weight against Cavill's muscled Super Man... I loved Shannon's take as Zod, he beats Terrence Stamp by miles... that's something I never thought I'd say.


---


All in all... the tremendous acting makes up for the badly written script and screenplay in the first half...

... the explosive second half more than makes up for any problems in the first half as well... if they had just taken more time with the writing in that first hour, this could easily, quite easily, be a film pushing the 100% barrier... sadly I have to mark it down due to lack of actual character.
But still...
... top effects, probably the best I've ever seen... top action, great acting and visual/action epicness usually only seen on comicbook pages.

My rating: 91%


Last edited by The Rodent; 05-16-14 at 02:34 PM.



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06-21-13
Originally Posted by The Rodent
Ok boys and girls...


I'm not included?

Page 34 of 62
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