Summer 2007
Resident Evil: Extinction
If you were to look back through the movie reviews you'd see I don't have a review of the first two Resident Evil movies. Having never really played the games but associating them with the terrible graphics of the original PlayStation, I hadn't been impressed with what I had seen and didn't get into them. Subsequently, despite the presence of Milla, I didn't care about the movies. Part of me wanted to see them, but after they left the theater I'd forget about them. Eventually I watched them and they were almost exactly what I expected.
Resident Evil is the Alien movies with zombies instead of aliens. An evil corporation is trying to control a hideously uncontrollable thing and everyone else is paying the price for their arrogance. Step in a female lead that is somehow special in her association to the menace, works for the company, and is trying to stop them. The problem with Resident Evil is it lacks the skill, not to mention the originality that made Alien work.
By the time we get to the third movie, they've run out of any good ideas. At the end of the second movie the zombies have run amok and are destroying everything. Apparently the military was completely worthless, the company has been left completely intact despite the end of the world, and the female lead is managing to do the impossible because she is developing super powers, like you do. If only people had realized a movie or so back that all it takes is a chain link fence and you can hold off zombies indefinitely. The movie starts out fairly logically until a crate of zombies is delivered by the evil company to the female lead and the band of survivors she is with as they arrive in Las Vegas. Well, it's an idea anyway.
While I found the first two movies at least somewhat entertaining if ridiculous, this one disappointed. It re-used pieces from the first two movies for no apparent reason, it lost all cohesion with the reality that had been set up by the first two movies, and in general while it had some good jumping-out-and-scaring-you moments, it was pretty lame.
Superbad
The first few minutes into this movie I was starting to wonder why people were saying it was so funny. A scene that was in the trailer and some bad juvenile jokes and rants and I was starting to feel disappointed. The plot was getting really typical, the characters weren't doing much for me, and I just wasn't impressed. Then, right about the time that one of the kids is trying to buy liquor with a fake ID and gets punched in the face out of the blue by a robber, the movie gets funny. Really funny.
This sequence, also in the trailer, is followed by the introduction of the pair of cops who really make the film. For the remainder of the movie, which is most of it, I laughed almost continuously. The characters warmed up, and while the plot stayed true to its formula it didn't make a bit of difference because its was all so hilarious. There was something about the direction that kept it feeling genuine, not real certainly, but genuine. The humor never gets above slapstick or juvenile, but if you've seen the trailer you wouldn't expect it to. This movie was all-around hilarious and a worthwhile flick to see.
The Bourne Ultimatum
Very few movie series, especially those made separately from one another, manage to keep a momentum and consistency by their third iteration. Usually by the third movie the director has changed, the screenwriter has changed, and in some cases even the main actor has changed. With Bourne, the director changed from the first to the second, which makes it all the more remarkable that the movies still fit together as a whole so well. Some of that I attribute to the screenwriter, Tony Gilroy, who stayed on for all three movies, as well as the main characters who returned each time, though Chris Cooper didn't have appearances in his flashbacks this time around.
The Bourne Ultimatum stays true to its roots, remaining smart, urgent, and viscious. It moves quickly from situation to situation, putting together fight scenes, intrigue, car chases, and spy conspiracy so fluidly that you feel out of breath just watching it. Unlike some action movies that seem like they set up the scene with some plot, Bourne truly feels like a story unfolding naturally, albeit with an obvious direction that keeps it grounded.
Having recently watched the first two movies in anticipation of seeing Ultimatum, I thought they did a good job of keeping people who hadn't seen or just didn't remember the other movies in the loop while not resorting a 'last time on Bourne' style recap that bores those who have and do. The move picks off where the last one left off, actually overlapping somewhat to better tie things together. A few of the methods explained in previous movies were left out this time, but there was still a consistently smart feel, where Bourne uses the world around him against those trying to capture him. He doesn't have the vast resources that they do, but he makes clever use of everyday objects in a way that we haven't seen in Bond since the 1960s.
While they of course leave the ending open to another sequel, things are also left with a finished feeling, as if they really don't need to. In Hollywood things left finished are rarely left untouched, and there's nothing to stop Bourne from being dragged into the same mediocrity that so many series have suffered from, but so far it has managed to remain an example of quality filmmaking.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
I actually think that I liked this most recent Harry Potter movie --at least in some ways-- more than the others. For one, as Harry is getting older, the story is growing up too. The movie feels more serious and the things that have been hidden for the last several movies are starting to come out. It also seemed like more than dumb luck came into play, with Harry actually becoming more capable and exerting more influence on the things that have in the past sort of happened to him.
Some portions of the movie were still overly simple, probably a necessity to keep younger viewers in the loop, but the overall feeling was improved, the characters felt like they were a bit more developed and nuanced (with some cookie-cutter exceptions), and there was some real magic on display that felt a bit less like all of the adults were restraining their abilities.
Transformers
Michael Bay directs a movie based on a line of kids toys from the eighties. What could possibly go wrong? Well, it starts with the subject being treated far too seriously. As in many Bay movies, the military is featured heavily, with all the technical lingo, wise-cracking soldiers, and latest in military tech. The movie struggles to be hip with an endless litany of Internet references, product placements, and of course depictions of high school kids outsmarting the top brass at the Pentagon. Then character after character is introduced, each one more cookie cutter and stereotypical than the last, so much so that they might as well have been pulled from the OEM parts bin over at GM, who sponsored every other part of the movie.
Once the stage has been set, there's nothing left to do but introduce a plot with enough holes to drive a transforming robot semi through, add in some conspiracy theory for seasoning, and then call in ILM to make the thing the slightest bit entertaining. I won't start listing the retarded decisions, stupid situations, and absurd contradictions because it will only prolong my effort to forget I wasted well over two hours and eight dollars on seeing the wretched, reanimated corpse of someone's childhood.
Live Free or Die Hard
When you want an action movie with one-liner quips, senseless explosions, and a super villain who has everything under control except one man who just won't die, you actually have a fairly broad selection. This formula for success has some icons including Schwarzenegger, Stalone, Cruise, any one of the Bonds, and of course, Bruce Willis. The key difference between Bruce Willis and all of the other action heroes is that he's the every man hero. He isn't particularly good at anything other than staying alive and killing people that try to kill him. He's not slick, suave, or sophisticated. He doesn't have the latest kit, he doesn't work for a top secret agency, he doesn't even get assigned to a mission. He's just a regular guy that gets mixed up with bad guys through a set of coincidences. That is part of the appeal of Bruce Willis movies. From The Last Boyscout to The Fifth Element to Sin City, not to mention the other Die Hard movies, Bruce Willis is easily one of my favorite action movie actors.
When you take the typical Bruce Willis action hero, some good come backs, one-liners, and throw in some amazing action scenes, you've already got a good movie. That's a good thing, because Live Free or Die Hard doesn't stand up to much further scrutiny. The suspension of disbelief is strained when natural gas lines are routed to a power station to cause massive explosions, when the F-35 starts blowing up an entire interchange, or when the computer hackers frantically bang on a keyboard for a few seconds and any number of ridiculous things happen. Every time a satellite is referenced in relation to a cell phone working, every time the Internet is available when the power is out, I let it go and try to enjoy the movie. At the heart of it, it's about Bruce Willis driving an SUV into an elevator shaft, dodging a jet with a semi, taking out a helicopter with a car, and then saying something really funny.
If you can let absurdity after absurdity after absurdity slide because you're there to see Bruce Willis kick some ass and make some jokes, you'll probably enjoy this movie. I did my best, and for the most part I liked it.