Reviews

It was clearly never going to compete with the likes of Return of the Jedi, but it might put a smile on your face if you normally enjoy watching these type of B-grade films and know what you're getting yourself into.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Ad Blanc-Sec is a 2010 comedy adventure film from director Luc Besson, who is better known for his work on L : The Professional and The Fifth Element.

Technically the story does centre around Lydia (the daughter), not John, but let's be honest here: if you're going to sit down and watch this movie, chances are it's solely for Gibson.

I expected as much going into the film, given the fact that not only did cinematographer David Eggby work on the 1979 Mad Max, but the film's editor, Richard Francis-Bruce, also worked on Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.

Even though the story is following a very common formula, the film is fairly successful at pulling the whole thing together, mostly thanks to its notable visuals.

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, a film based on Tom Stoppard's absurdist play of the same name, follows the antics of the titular characters as they witness the events of Shakespeare's Hamlet unfold around them.

The plot isn't particularly unique or even all that interesting, and the dynamic between the two lead characters, Le and Damien, is certainly something we've seen done before, but District 13's story and characters take a back seat to the action, and the film really shines whenever it really gets into motion.

Worst of all, instead of addressing any loose threads, the film just throws some more unsurprising curveballs near the end to try and trick the audience into thinking its clever instead of just being poorly written.

To quote Louis-Jos oude's character in the film: c'est weird, eh?

About midway through the film's runtime I was starting to lose faith in the movie, yet despite guessing what you could consider to be the film's major reveal (fairly early on at that), the end of the film astonishingly grabbed my attention again, and ultimately I rather enjoyed the entire concluding act.