Jaws might've tried to instill a fear of sharks into people, but this? It seems to be trying to dispel that bad mojo instead.

Come to think of it it might've been the same with the first Deep Blue Sea, made twenty years prior. One of the first things they did was to clarify that sharks aren't actually interested in humans... an exception being the scientifically engineered murder sharks of the movie of course.

It was the 'great white' that time; now it's bull sharks. All the more monstrous already; all the more murderous!

It starts gritty. And beautiful. What an intro. The music's perfect. The South African duo are bad-ass and the ambient swim after that's an appreciative break. It shows promise! And then it all goes to hell.

Not just script-wise.

You move to a lecture, and immediately realize the script's finna be a bad one this time around. It gets worse. The conversations are all unreasonably provocative. The reactions exaggerated. The drone instead of the helicopter. The limited research facility budget and breadth. Too much God Complex talk. Too much flashy lighting instead of actual cinematographic detail. Too much special effects. Somewhat boxed in audio too if you don't listen via headphones.

I did learn a bit more about sharks, Danielle Savre does have a wonderful cleavage, and the war of man against AI compared to that of carnal prehistoric beasts feels all the more relevant in our time, but otherwise this wasn't the comeback I hoped it'd be.

The first movie was so good. Not actors (with certain exception - the first two were great) nor location is a match here, and the dialog often feels superficial and lacking weight; authenticity; punchline. The characters make up for it with overly aggressive demeanor instead.

Sad to say this couldn't compare to the first one after all. But still, there's a third one too; I think I'll see that one next...

 rated 3/5: not bad

Why do all Chinese movies have to be so sad?!

It's a tale of the revolution this time, with Donnie Yen in a sacrificial but honorable role, along with a big Shaolin monk and a prodigal martial kind of master, who all do their best to aid the revolution, laying their lives on the line just to get a prominent man - Doctor Sun - to a meeting.

It's a flashified variant of a probably real set of trials people went through in the stages of revolution that finally overthrew the Qing dynasty... but for what? Did China become the land of promise they hoped? Are they looking down and smiling now - happy that their country is in the hands of the noble caretakers they hoped would take over?

I don't mean to get all cynical, but the philosophy of blood paving the way for revolution feels so unnecessary here, honorable or no.

Then again maybe this historical glimpse was a subliminal call to action yet again. And if so I understand. Revolutions may be required. Regimes may need to be toppled. So that their aims may change and they may be noble once again. Who knows. If that is the intention here then bravo.

Either way it's a well-made movie. Sad but true, as they say. Well-placed. Well-filmed. Well... everything but the ending... but only the ending before the one to come when all is said and done.

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

(more…)

So strange to see the twin towers standing tall. And so rare to get a glimpse of office windows so close by in a movie that you can almost see the people behind them, and to get as intimate a street-side view of the city as you do here. Of New York. HQ of the land of the free, but not really.

Rare with Country music in both intro and outro too, like this was more a Western than a Crime movie.

It's a movie from the time bad guys couldn't win, I thought. But maybe it was just a time when black guys still couldn't be the heroes.

It turned into an unexpectedly good movie nevertheless! The views. The grit. Robert Ginty out for vengeance, as a Charles Bronson-type vigilante, with mercury bullets and burner. It feels pretty real! The beheading at the start of the film took me by surprise too. The burnt-out corpse as well. Some bits seem stereotypical but some surprise you.

Hope all went well, in the end, but as a trademark of a good movie you don't know for sure...

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

Judge a movie by its catchphrase maybe? This one: Fast, Furious and Fatal.

It's a TV movie. A story about a ghost car, two racers - rivals, and one unfortunate crash...

It's not a bad movie, though it starts better than it ends. I get reeled in then. The gore looks real. The characters feel real. The little town seems like a real place. The conversations get serious. But it goes on a little too long, the twists become predictable, Cutter's threat level sinks and I'm left... somewhat satisfied but not entirely.

Reminds me of that other movie with the real ghost car that really was really good (Knight Rider?)! And I wouldn't mind more made on this same theme, but this... hmm. It was alright.

 rated 3/5: not bad

Spy shit. Professional but gloomy-like. Mysterious. They reveal things one thing at a time. The IMDB movie description feels as vague as the movie: Follows Nicolas Shaw, a retired U.S. special operative who becomes part of an elite "invisible" team that quietly takes out the worst villains around the world.

It's got some refreshing bits, like the snow, like the countryside, like thoroughly professional action sequences when they do occur, but as it turns out it's just not one of those movies you'll remember.

I honestly had to skim through the movie once more - two days after watching - to remember what I was reviewing.

It comes back to me now, though. Small moments of surprising genius or clean-cut mercilessness. And stupid details, like the main character shooting two holes in the water basin after the torture session - like it wouldn't be both quicker and more practical (he might need that basin again) to just loosen the rope?

I don't know if me forgetting this movie so quick is a testament to the movie not being that memorable or just to my memory - at least currently - being terrible, but it does feel like a movie that won't stick. The greenhouse scene might. Overall though? Don't think so.

It feels both surprisingly professional and surprisingly not. Messy in an oddly clean-cut way.

They could've scripted it a bit better, and concluded a bit better too.

 rated 3/5: not bad

If you want to make a movie in English, then speak English so that English speaking people specifically can understand it.

Other than that I have no complaints here, except for maybe about how dark this movie was. Goddamn. No hope. Death. One after the other.

Feels a little overly politicized and talkative sometimes too, but the action scenes (and they make up most of the movie) shine in a creative and high-tech sometimes-first-person Hardcore Henry kind of way.

A little more polish; a little more natural language, and I feel this would've been one serious movie. It's all out war. Brimstone and inferno or whatever they call that. So intense when it is, but it isn't always, and unfortunately I didn't understand the Korean here, nor all of the English - and some conversations were very drawn out.

It's refreshingly different otherwise. High-tech and ferocious. Wish I could've given it at least a four.

 rated 3.5/5: not bad at all