Terminator Genisys (6/10): More like Terminator Reset.

“Come with me if you want to live.”

After four Terminator films it was about time someone actually hit the reset button for this fifth installment of the franchise directed by Alan Taylor. Now that the series has been refreshed we will be expecting at least two more sequels, but fortunately James Cameron will be back to direct them because these films haven’t come close to the high standards set by the first two. Terminator Genisys opens with a lot of promise as it begins as sort of a prequel where John Connor and Kyle Reese are fighting as part of the Resistance against the machines. As they are about to destroy Skynet, the machines send back a T-800 to kill Sarah Connor, and in order to protect her Kyle volunteers to go back (which explains the events that took place in the original Terminator), but a series of unexpected events take place and the original timeline is altered so everything has been reset. Screenwriters, Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier, came up with an interesting premise for this sequel which takes into consideration much of the Terminator mythology. It does however take a huge risk considering it basically erases the canon set by the first two Terminator films. Unfortunately what began with promise started to lose its appeal near the end as the action and the pacing began to drag while the twists kept on piling on each other. This sequel will satisfy those audience members who are simply looking to have a good time and marvel at the special effects, but those who are hoping it to match the quality of the original two films will be left very disappointed. I’d argue that this film doesn’t even want to compete with them, but rather simply stand out as a forgettable fun blockbuster sequel, and it does.

Emilia Clarke takes over Hamilton’s role playing the iconic Sarah Connor, while its Jason Clarke’s turn to be John Connor (the fourth different actor to do so in the same number of films). Jai Courtney gets to take on the role of Kyle Reese, who also happens to be the narrator of the film. Arnold Schwarzenegger is also back as the young T-800 who is sent back in time to kill Sarah and as a Guardian who is sent to protect her when she was a child in the alternating timeline. The film begins in 2029 as the Resistance is facing off Skynet and then it jumps back to 1984 when Terminator and Reese are sent to the past, but once the timeline has been altered they travel to 2017 where most of the film takes place. The plot may be a bit confusing for some since there are many twists and eventually it hurts the film. The third act involving a bus in the Golden Gate Bridge followed by a helicopter chase does get a bit ridiculous, but I guess those are the scenes many people pay money to go see.  

There is something about the premise in all these sequels where there are so many alternating timelines developing that it eventually hurts the franchise because you come to expect that no matter what the heroes do to prevent Judgement Day there will always be some alternative for it to resurface again, and the same could be said about saving Sarah Connor. After a while you’re simply watching these action scenes and thinking to yourself what’s the point because even if they succeed there will be something else they will have to do in the next movie to prevent Judgement Day from happening all over again. So most of the emotional thrills from the original films gets lost here because there isn’t much more at stake. What this film does succeed at is in its inclusion of some humor revolving around Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character and J.K. Simmons. Each time the action sequences or the drama began to drag the film down, the light touches of humor made it more bearable. I was really looking forward to what Emilia Clarke could add to the character of Sarah Connor considering I love her performance in Game of Thrones, but surprisingly it was Jai Courtney who got most of my sympathy. It might not be fair to blame Clarke considering Sarah Connor is such an iconic character, but Clarke never manages to reach the same level Linda Hamilton did. Having said that however I still did like her in this film, but she never steals the show. Courtney on the other hand is an actor I’ve never really liked, but in this film he shows some potential and carries each action scene he’s in. Schwarzenegger is the best thing about Genisys and it was great to see him having fun playing the character that turned him into a star. He delivers each one-liner better than any machine could ever do. He makes the film worth it. 

Insurgent (4/10): Bigger and louder sequel, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's better.

“You are living proof that the divergent problem has grown beyond all control.”

Director Robert Schwentke (RED, RIPD) replaced Neil Burger for the Divergent sequel which is much bigger, louder, and action packed. I actually ended up mildly recommending the first film which I found engaging enough thanks to Shailene Woodley’s lead performance. Unfortunately, Insurgent is a step down for the franchise because bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better. The action scenes look great and the film is very pretty to look at, but the main issue I have here is with the story which I felt was so convoluted that I wasn’t able to engage with any of the characters. I honestly couldn’t remember much of what had happened in Divergent (which means it didn’t really make an impact on me the first time around), but we get enough flashbacks and exposition here to recall some of the important events. We are also introduced to the two other factions that the first one left out (amity and candid) so we get new characters that mostly appear on screen for a couple of minutes. Octavia Spencer is the leader of amity and Daniel Dae Kim of candid. Insurgent also introduces us to the factualness who are led by Naomi Watt’s Evelyn. So Insurgent basically ha the same flaws most sequels do, which is try to make everything bigger and it ends up crowding the screenplay and leaving little room for character development. Sure, some of the action scenes are great (mostly the first couple of scenes) but I simply lost interest in the story and found it incredibly tedious and boring. By the end I didn’t really care what could happen to any of the characters. I haven’t had much luck with Schwentke’s films recently and would’ve preferred Burger continued directing the franchise instead. If you are a fan of Veronica Roth’s YA novels you probably will enjoy this, but I’m not familiar with her work and didn’t enjoy this film at all.   

Insurgent takes place right after the events of Divergent so if you haven’t watched the first film you might feel lost. Basically, the story is set in a dystopian future where society is divided into five factions based on people’s virtues. Jeanine (Kate Winslet) is the head of the erudite (the intelligent faction) who basically has control over this wrecked city surrounded by giant walls which separate them from the vast outdoor wasteland. The heroine of the franchise is Tris (Shailene Woodley) who discovers she’s divergent because she doesn’t fit into one faction, but decides however she wants to be Dauntless (the more adventurous and fearless members of society who become the protectors of the city). Here she falls in love with Four (Theo James), befriends Christina (Zoe Kravitz), and is bullied by Peter (Miles Teller) and Eric (Jai Courtney) who are all returning characters in the sequel. In Divergent, Tris discovers that her kind isn’t accepted in society believing they are a threat for not fitting in. She also discovers that Jeanine is planning on taking over the rest of the factions beginning with Abnegation which is where her parents (Tony Goldwyn and Ashley Judd) reside. Her parents are killed in the attack but she eventually stops Jeanine’s plan. Insurgent picks up right after the attack as we follow the surviving fugitives hiding out with the Amity faction. Tris’s brother, Caleb (Ansel Elgort) is also with them. Jeanine will stop at nothing to capture Tris discovering she’s a valuable asset. 

The plot in insurgent felt much weaker and the film focuses mainly on the action sequences. There are way too many characters introduced, which is a shame because it diverts the attention at times from the main ones. Shailene Woodley gives a solid performance but she didn’t carry the film this time around. I found her character a bit less charismatic since she spends most of the film feeling guilty and unable to forgive herself for the loss of her parents and friends. Theo James isn’t any better either and the romantic chemistry that existed in the first film grows weak this time around. Ansel Elgort is devoid of all the charm he brought to the table in The Fault of Our Stars (it is weird seeing him play Woodley’s sister in this film after being her love interest). My favorite performance in this sequel surprisingly came from Miles Teller who doesn’t get much screen time but shines in the few scenes he’s in. The villains aren’t actually very menacing and everything about this sequel felt more boring and tedious to me. Even the simulation and dream sequences are a bit of a letdown and took me away from the film completely.    

Unbroken (7/10): The Passion of the Christ of War movies

“A moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory.”

Directed by Angelina Jolie, Unbroken focuses on the inspiring true story of Olympic winning medalist, Louis Zamperini, who later went on to serve during World War II going through all kinds of hardships. Unbroken opens with an incredibly strong action scene (which might be the best in the movie) and as the story unfolds we get some flashbacks of Louis’s childhood and upbringing. It is a bit formulaic in the sense that it follows pretty much the same conventions as most biopics have done in the past. One of my favorite quotes in the film is when Louis’s brother tells him that “A moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory,” but ironically after getting through this film the quote feels like it works better the other way around, “A moment of glory is worth a lifetime of pain” because Jolie makes sure we witness all the trials that he went through during the War. She focuses more on Louis’s lifetime of pain and only a moment of glory. Unbroken is The Passion of the Christ of war dramas because we experience the hardships that Louis has to go through in a very detailed manner. There is no doubt in my mind that this was an inspirational story, but Jolie spends most of her time going from one scene to the next without ever trying to develop the character or tell us who Louis really was. In other words she tells an inspiring story but doesn’t transmit anything about the man who went through it all. There are several reasons why I did enjoy this film despite its flaws and the first one is because of Roger Deakins’s cinematography which is always outstanding. I could see pretty much any movie that this man shoots. The second reason is because the Coen brothers were involved in the adaptation of Laura Hillenbrand’s best-selling novel. The Coen brothers aren’t as successful when they don’t direct their own screenplays, but this time they had strong material to work with. Hillenbrand is a great writer (Seabiscuit  and now Unbroken) and the story is inspirational so there is a lot to like. 

The film hooked me from the opening scene where we experience a great action scene from within a bomber aircraft overflying the Pacific Ocean. Then the generic flashbacks began and the film lost some of its potential. Jack O’Connell plays the lead character Louis Zamperini. After his solid performance in Starred Up, O’Connell, is definitely someone worth keeping your eyes on because he’s extremely talented. In Unbroken we see him enduring a great amount of suffering (thus the comparison with The Passion of the Christ) so the film focuses on that aspect instead of giving us any insight on O’Connell’s character. I still think the story is so inspirational that it manages to hook us and captivate us throughout the entire run time. Jolie is interested in simply telling the story so we go from one scene to the next without learning much of who the character’s really are. The opening was fantastic, the scene where the plane crashes into the Ocean and the survivors struggle to survive was also another highlight of the film, and finally the torture he endures as a prisoner of war was inspiring. The technical aspects of the film are fantastic and Deakins cinematography is gorgeous. The supporting performances from Domhnall Gleeson and Miyavi are also very solid. But by the time the end credits start rolling you kind of wish the film had focused on the later aspects of Louis’s life which were perhaps even more inspiring than the torture he endured.

My Review: Divergent (6/10)

"I don't want to be just one thing. I can't be. I want to be brave, and I want to be selfless, intelligent, and honest and kind. Well, I'm still working on kind."

Let me start off by saying that I had no prior knowledge of Veronica Roth's novel which this film is based on so I can't make any claims on how faithful the adaptation is. Although I will say that 5 minutes into the film I kind of got a feeling that this futuristic dystopian story had some similarities to The Hunger Games which made me wonder if Divergent was not yet another one of Suzanne Collins' novel adaptations. The main reasons why this film was among my most anticipated films for 2014 were director Neil Burger, for his unique work in Limitless and The Illusionist, and Shailene Woodley who has been terrific in just about every film I've seen her in. So I was greatly disappointed when I discovered that Divergent, which had a heavy message aimed towards young adolescents about not being labelled or categorized and discovering who you really were by following your own path in life, was being a bit hypocritical in its approach considering it can easily be categorized as yet another generic and formulaic teen romantic adventure film full of cliches. This was far from Burger's previous films which I found unique, perhaps due to their indie approach. However having said all this, I still found Divergent entertaining enough to mildly recommend it thanks in most part to the Shailene Woodley's lead performance. I'm not Divergent's target audience, but I think adolescents and young teenagers will love this film and their expectation will be fulfilled. They are the only reason why  the planned sequels will get to be made, but the truth of the matter is that this is a much lesser film than The Hunger Games and will easily be forgotten in time.

Vanessa Taylor and Evan Daugherty adapted the screenplay from Roth's novel setting the story in a futuristic dystopian Chicago where people live confined inside wired walls. They are also divided into five factions based on their virtues. Their is Abnegation who represent the selfless, Dauntless the brave, Erudite the intelligent, Candor the honest, and Amity the peaceful. The Abnegation faction are the ones in charge of governing the city considering they are selfless and always put others first. They are merciful people. Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley) and her brother, Caleb (Ansel Elgort) have been raised by their parents, Andrew (Tony Goldwyn) and Natalie (Ashely Judd), in this faction, but when they turn 16 they are free to choose the faction they feel they belong with. Before they decide they must take a test which basically tells them what faction they really belong to, but they are free to decide on their own. Everyone always fits into one faction, but if you make a wrong choice you could end up factionless (homeless). When Tris takes the test she discovers she's one of the few people who is divergent (meaning she has basically all the virtues from every faction), but she must keep it to herself because these people don't fit in to this dystopian society where being different is viewed as something dangerous. When the day comes for Tris and Caleb to make their decision she ends up choosing Dauntless, who are basically in charge of the security and enforcing order in the city. Knowing that faction comes before family she must bid them farewell, and her training with Dauntless begins. At first she doesn't fit in due to the extreme physical and intense psychological tests that their instructors, Four (Theo James) and Eric (Jai Courtney), make them go through. If she doesn't pass the initiation program she will be sent with the factionless, but at the same time if they discover she is divergent, she could be killed so the adventure begins (and of course the romance as well).

I enjoyed the performance from the young actors in this film and I think Woodley had great chemistry with James. A lot of people had issues with his performance, but I thought he was very believable and pulled it off well. The cast elevate this film and make the film's extended running time worth the while. There are some beautiful scenes that work really well in Divergent, I loved the cinematography and the dream sequences were probably the highlight of the film. There was also a scene where Tris went down a canopy line through the destroyed buildings that looked pretty cool. The story is formulaic and has its flaws. It felt melodramatic towards the end and tries too hard to leave audiences hooked for the sequel. The first part of the film suffers for taking to long to set things up and introducing each character, but once we are with Tris in Dauntless as she goes through the initiation process the film picks up. The film also fails to engage the audience as to why the divergent are so dangerous to their society, but it all seems to rely on the message the film is trying to give to young teenagers. It is a metaphor playing on the fear of adolescents of finding their place in society and discovering who they really are. It wasn't the film I was hoping for, but I am feeling merciful today so I will give it a passing grade.

My Review: Jack Reacher (8/10)

¨There´s this guy, he´s a kind of cop, at least he used to be. He doesn’t care about proof, he doesn’t care about the law, he only cares about what´s right. He knows what I did. You can´t protect me. No one can.¨

Jack Reacher was one of those films I went into with very low expectations, but came out pleasantly surprised with how entertaining the movie really was. Tom Cruise isn’t one of my favorite actors, but I can honestly say that I prefer his mysterious, quiet, low key approach much more than his eccentric and talkative characters (like in Knight and Day). There is no denying his on screen charisma and he really doesn’t have to do much in order for you to root for him and that is why I find his quieter performances much more thrilling and engaging. Jack Reacher has it all: it´s action packed, it has thrills, mysteries, twists, and even some comedy. I was entertained much more than I thought I would be with this Tom Cruise vehicle. The screenplay was adapted by Academy Award winner, Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) from Lee Child´s book One Shot. Although McQuarrie is known mostly for his work with screenplays, this is his second film as a director (the first being The Way of the Gun) and he does a great job with the action scenes here. I am not a big fan of car chases, I get tired of them very easily, but this film has one of the best vehicle chases I´ve seen since Ronin. The opening scene with the sniper point of view was also pretty gripping and inventive. I was really glad I got to see this film despite it not being groundbreaking or anything because it was entertaining. This mystery thriller worked really well thanks to some great comedic moments.

Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) is a former military operative who has been living off the radar in the past year like a John Doe. He is the kind of person who can´t be found, but rather he finds you. The movie begins with a deadly sniper shooting five innocent victims in the middle of the city. The police identify the alleged murderer as Barr (Joseph Sikora), a former military officer who claims to be innocent. Detective Emerson (David Oyelowo) has a strong case against him, but all Barr says is ¨Get Jack Reacher.¨ Neither Emerson nor District Attorney Rodin (Richard Jenkins) know how to reach Reacher, but he shows up after hearing the news. He begins investigating the case after the defense attorney, Helen (Rosamund Pike), convinces him to look into the supposedly locked case. She believes like everyone else that Barr is guilty, but wants to save him from the death penalty. When Jack Reacher begins to investigate the case he finds some evidence that leads him to believe that Barr is innocent and that someone had a specific target in mind and wanted to make everything look like a random killing. While Jack begins digging deeper some men begin to follow him and try to scare him off, but Reacher is the sort of guy who always gets to the bottom of things.  

Tom Cruise may have found yet another franchise in Jack Reacher as his character is very likeable by remaining very quiet, mysterious, calm, but at the same time very tough. He is the sort of guy who seems to always be in control and in cool. There are also some very interesting performances here from Robert Duvall, Alexia Fast, Jai Courtney, and the great director Werner Herzog who have a supporting role. Duvall brings some comedic relief and has great chemistry with Cruise, while Herzog and Courtney create some interesting villains. The film runs a bit long and there is some problem with the pacing of the film at times, but the great action scenes make up for it. Jack Reacher has some very smart one liners and always answers with some sort of quick remark, which were the comedic highlight of the film. There is a bathroom scene that feels a bit off from the rest of the movie, and the action here is sort of cartoonish but it was also another one of the funniest moments of the film. Despite not being a huge Tom Cruise fan I really did enjoy this film and recommend it.  

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My Review: A Good Day to Die Hard (4/10)

¨The things we do for our kids! Yippee Ki-Yay…¨

This is the fifth film in the Die Hard franchise which began way back in 1988 when Bruce Willis still had some hair. That movie helped Willis become an action star and raised the bar for all action movies since. It also received four Oscar nominations. None of the sequels have been able to match that same quality, but at least they had a decent storyline and were overall pretty decent films. A Good Day to Die Hard on the other hand not only does it not live up to the franchise expectations, it kills it once and for all thanks to a terrible script and some senseless action scenes. This film is all noise, but no content. It is the shortest and by far the worse film of the franchise making the 2007 sequel look like a masterpiece next to this one. A lot of things went wrong with this film; first of all it was directed by John Moore (Max Payne, The Omen) who in my opinion hasn’t directed a good movie in his entire career. Second, the script written by Skip Woods is absolutely terrible with no story whatsoever or any character development. Woods didn’t repeat the success he had with the A-Team film which I found to be pretty funny and entertaining. Third and perhaps the most fatal mistake they took John McClane out of the United States and took him to Russia which is too bad because in the original film New York was more like a character than a simple location. I am just so glad that Nicolas Winding Refn decided not to direct this terrible story. He´s a smart man. So far the 2013 releases have been pretty weak and A Good Day to Die Hard wasn’t the exception.

For the first time we get to follow our hero, John McClane (Bruce Willis) to a foreign territory as he decides to travel to Russia on vacations in search of his troubled son, Jack (Jai Courtney) with whom he hasn’t been in contact with in over three years. Jack happens to be on trial for murder, but what his father doesn’t know is that he is working as an undercover agent for the CIA. Jack is on a mission to prevent a nuclear weapon heist and he is actually on trial to try to free Yuri Komarov (Sebastian Koch), a political prisoner who claims to have important incriminating evidence in a secret hidden file on a high ranked Russian official named Viktor Chagarin (Sergei Kolesnikov). Jack is trying to free Yuri before the corrupt officials get to Yuri and eliminate him in order to get his hands on the file and prevent a nuclear war. This is when John arrives in Russia and while he is getting to the courthouse to find his son he gets caught in the middle of a gigantic explosion that is being led by Chagarin and his men to try to intercept Yuri before he testifies. Jack manages to rescue Yuri and they escape from the courthouse, but are being followed. John catches up with them while they are being pursued and his son Jack is not too pleased to see him. His father seems to have interfered with his plan to rescue Yuri and the rest of the CIA officials have to cancel the extraction. Now they are forced to work together in order to get Yuri to safety and find the file before Chagarin and his men do.

Like in all other Die Hard films we have plenty of helicopter explosions and a lot of action, but we lack a true story. There is very little dialog in this film and hardly any transition time from one action scene to another. That is why this film is so short, there is no room for character development and the producers don’t want us to think too much about the plot. Everything feels so rushed and in my opinion John Moore has completely killed this franchise through this uninspired script that they decided to work with. The film is very disappointing, loud, and full of boring vehicle chases and explosions. Not even Bruce Willis has enough charisma this time to save the film. Unlike in his earlier films where his character, John McClane was a mere mortal who bled and got beat up, here they make him look like a superhero who can´t be touched. There is no fun in his character being an immortal, because what we liked about him in the first place was his vulnerability and the courage he had to face danger despite getting hurt. His character lacks personality just like this film does which has been reduced to a bunch of noise and senseless twists. Skip this movie.

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