Tag Archives: Star Wars

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

 

Panem’s long national nightmare is over. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 brings the saga to a resolution, at last. The film starts slowly, but soon things get real and things go boom.

The first three Hunger Games movies have seen the beginnings of the revolution against President Snow (Donald Sutherland). It’s time for Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), Finnick (Sam Claflin), Gale (Liam Hemsworth) and the others to lead the assault on the Capitol.

After dodging bullets from huge mounted machine guns, then escaping a rising black tide that threatens to drown the rebel advance squad, a challenge to Katniss’s leadership is thwarted. A decision to cross the Capitol underground leads to a violent encounter in the sewers with creepy creatures.

As the rebels close in on Snow’s HQ, the final battle feels like an anticlimax. After the surrender and her meeting with Snow, Katniss, prepares to publicly execute him with a well-targeted arrow. A coda that ties things up will make hardcore THG fans happy.

This final film shows again how derivative The Hunger Games saga is. Of course, the game itself is TV reality competition taken to a new, fatal level. The Panem palace guards look amazingly like the Empire’s storm troopers in the Star War films. The sewer creatures resemble Valdemort from the Harry Potter films. The depiction of a structure breaking up recalls similar scenes from Inception. A feline-costumed woman who provides momentary refuge to the rebels could’ve stepped out of the cast of Cats or an Anime convention.

The movies, overall, have been vastly entertaining, thanks to strong casting and brilliant costuming. Considering the billions this franchise has generated, it seems odd to say a final goodbye. Should we be surprised if, in five years maybe, someone floats a possible new movie idea with a story rooted in this universe? I will not be.

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“The Avengers”

Marvel’s “The Avengers” is too much and too many.

Not that you shouldn’t see it. You should. Just prepare yourself to be stuffed. Like a huge holiday meal, “The Avengers” will leave you totally sated.

It’s also analogous to a sports All-Star game. Sure, it’s great to see all the Marvel heroes together. But as an All-Star game is not always an entertaining game, so does “The Avengers” fail to deliver a truly great movie.

The interaction—including verbal and physical battles—among the characters is fun and often funny to watch. It’s amusing as Captain America (Chris Evans) tries to assimilate into the 21st century world, after awakening from a 70-year nap.

Thankfully, the film’s writers and director give the biggest chunk of screen time to Robert Downey, Jr. as Iron Man/Tony Stark. This is good because Downey is a much better actor than the rest of the cast. Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk/Bruce Banner is also excellent in his Marvel debut.

The other main players: Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye and Tom Hiddleston as the villain Loki.

The movie’s pacing brings to mind the latter Star Wars movies with long periods of exposition between the action scenes. The film’s final battle is spectacularly good, but overlong—not unlike having three pieces of pumpkin pie at the end of a holiday feast.

Clocking in at 2:20 or so, it’s a long movie. But with so many characters to feature and so much action to fit in, it has to be.

“The Avengers,” like a Transformers film, is critic-proof. Even if every reviewer in America from Ebert on down said the film sucked, it would still gross $100 million plus this weekend.

It doesn’t suck. But it’s not as good a movie as one might have hoped for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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John Carter—\Meh\

Disney spent a ridiculous amount of money on the production and marketing of “John Carter.” Sorry to respond with general indifference. This movie is not horrible, but it reeks of ordinariness.

The things I like about “John Carter”:

  1. The flying machines. Their “steampunk” era design fascinated me. They don’t look like they would be airworthy, but they do look really cool.
  2. The domestic pet creatures on Barsoom (Mars). They have faces and bodies like Jabba the Hutt, but they are extremely fast. They act like dogs, even if they don’t look quite like them.
  3. The language difficulties that result in John Carter repeatedly being called “Virginia.” (Silly, but mildly amusing.)

Things I do not like about “John Carter”:

  1. A lack of charisma by the title character. I had a hard time really caring about him. Not that Taylor Kitsch is a bad actor, but the engagement was not there.
  2. The creatures on Barsoom that are a cross between the Na’vi in “Avatar” and JarJar Binks. The best word to describe them is “derivative.”
  3. A setting and CGI effects that repeatedly make me think of the three recent “Star Wars” movies (Episodes I, II and III).
  4. Lynn Collins as Dejah Thoris as the movie’s designated “babe” is gorgeous, but brings nothing new to the table.
  5. 3-D. Yes, there are a handful of scenes that are enhanced by 3-D, but overall it’s not necessary. (Except to add to box office figures.)

For a movie that had such a huge budget, one would expect something special. For a movie that Disney apparently wants to turn into a franchise, one would expect something mind-blowing.

Expectations are not met with “John Carter.”

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