kitchen42 Reviews

Clear and Present Danger (1994)

Excellent! Worthy of the Jack Ryan Series!

[6 April 2003]

With the book being so long, obviously not all of the plot twists and events could be squeezed into this film, which is a little over 2 hours.

With respect to this, the movie is very good, with a good mix of action scenes and strong politically minded scenes. One major shame was the ending and the omission of notable characters that played a part in the end of the book. This was the same with Patriot Games.

My only disappointment was that Ryan's friend Dan Murray was killed in the same scene where Emil Jacobs, the FBI Director was killed. He was a good character, but wasn't given time to show. In the books Murray becomes FBI Director at the end of Clancy's series.

Other than the scenes with Murray and Jack Ryan, the acting and drama was perfect. A worthy addition to the Jack Ryan Series, and much better than ‘The Sum of All Fears' with Ben Affleck was Ryan.

Harrison Ford is without doubt the best Jack Ryan.

Top notch!!!

Waterloo (I) (1970)

A true Epic!

[15 July 2002]

***Possible Spoliers***

Waterloo is a fantastic film, and is worthy of more praise than it receives. I am a big fan of this era of warfare, and Waterloo is one of the few films that actually does it justice. The action scenes are like nothing else I have seen before. The portrayal of all the characters, not just Wellington and Bonaparte, was excellent, considering the epic size of the movie.

Both Christopher Plummer as the Duke of Wellington and Rod Steiger as Napoleon Bonaparte did fantastic jobs portraying their characters. Their performances were particularly excellent in the way that Steiger and Plummer acted their characters, in such differing ways, with Napoleon crying and saying ‘Goodbye My Sons' just before his abdication, whilst Wellington remarks to the Dutches of Richmond that his men are ‘scum of the earth'.

Both characters quirky humour is shown well with Wellington promoting the Irish private from the 27th regiment, better known as the Inniskilling, to corporal for being able to ‘defend a helpless situation' after Wellington caught him with a pig. Other characters such as General Sir Thomas Picton, Sir William Ponsonby and Lord Uxbridge were fantastic, but for mine the best co-starring role was that of Dan O'Herlihy as Marshall Michel Ney, the red-headed General who lost the Emperor his cavalry, just as Uxbridge lost Wellington his. O'Herlihy had great lines and portrayed Ney as a brave and courageous man.

As I eluded to earlier the battle scenes were fantastic, particularly the two cavalry charges, the best one being the French charge, led by the afore mentioned Marshall Ney. The shots of the French cavalry riding over the ridge to be faced with the British infantry in square are some of the best of the film. The charge of Britain's ‘heavies', the Life Guards, Inniskilling Horse and Scots Greys is the second best action sequence in the whole film.

The infantry sequences are reasonable also, but not as good as the cavalry sequences, and I am sure that the last volley, fired by the British Guards would have hit their own men, but anyway. The only quibble I have with the volley sequences are that the final scenes involving the Imperial Guard are different to what is portrayed in the books. History says that there were only a thin two deep line of redcoats, at the centre of the line, where Maitland's men were positioned, not three or four rows, but apart from that the battle scenes were excellent.

The only sad thing in the film, was the dubbed voice of Sir Thomas Picton, played by Jack Hawkins who had throat cancer at the time, and also the non-violent depiction of the battle scenes which did not accurately show the carnage and blood of the Battle of Waterloo.

Overall the film was fantastic, I would dearly love to track down the 5-hour directors cut which is rumoured to be around somewhere, and I must add that I was amazed that this film flopped at the box office. I thought cinema-goers would have lapped up this sort of epic action again and again, but obviously not.

The Longest Day (1962)

Great Film!

[10/10 · 22 January 2002]

Some people have described this film as bad because of the 'wooden' acting. Surely the spectacle, size and scope of the battle scenes make up for this supposed lack of acting skills.

I personally beleive the acting in this film is great, and the multitude of stars is just one reason to watch. Sadly because of the short space of time the movie has, and the number of characters it is hard to get involved with each of the charcters as an individual, as you would in a war film about one or a select few, like Patton. This has to be about the film's only flaw.

Albeit the war scenes lack a large amount of gore, in-fact they show any, with men not even screaming when they die. This has to be expected considering the film was made in a time where special effects were not as amazing as they are today.

Despite all of this, this has to be my favourite war movie, and my third favourite film all up. I could watch it purely for the battle scenes, but I also enjoy the film because of the way the events are depicted from three positions: those of the Germans in France, the French citizens and the Allied soldiers.

I beleive you cannot go wrong with this film. Some of the early parts are a little slow but that is all forgotten by the time the first glider-borne troops crash onto the Orne River Bridge and D-Day begins.

A great film, patriotic, exciting and very very gripping. I give this film an 9.5 from a possible 10.

The Patriot (2000)

Great Entertainment, a pure adrenaline rush of a film!!!!!

[19 January 2002]

Frankly I have been disgusted with the majority of the comments about this movie. I am an Australian and I thought this movie was great, not just because it starred two Australians, not that you can really call Mel Gibson an Australian, but because it taught me what hardships the Continental Army went through to beat the redcoats, wo at the time were the best infantry on the planet.

People have complained about i's historical accuracy, and no-one said the film was even meant to be historically accurate. Actually, the battles at Camden, which Gibson and Ledger watch from a house, Cowpens, the battle where Tavington was killed and the movie-ending Siege of Yorktown were all real battles and really did take place.

This was a great movie, and it should be praised for being the epic that it was!!!!!!

Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)

An Explosive Blockbuster!

[21 November 2001]

The action-adventure team of Richard Donner and Joel Silver has done it again! Lethal Weapon 4 explodes onto the screen. Mel Gibson and Danny Glover ignite the screen as buddy cops Riggs and Murtaugh and all the old favorites are back to join then. Leo (Joe Pesci), Captain Ed Murphy (Steve Kahan) and Lorna Cole (Rene Russo) make returns in this powerful action-blockbuster.

Joining the already impressive cast are comedian Chris Rock (Detective Lee Butters) and international action-star Jet Li (Wah Sing Ku).

It is great to see something other than drug traffickers dominating the scripts for the final installment in the Lethal Weapon series. This movie has everything that I have come to know and love from the Lethal Weapon movies. Laughs and action a 'plenty are here with the action more hard-hitting than ever. The inclusion of Chris Rock as Lee Butters adds to the comic parts of the movie, although Gibson and Glover match Rock with witty one-liners all the way.

Although this film has been criticised for being 'shallow' I believe that this is possibly the best film of the series. This movie is well worth a view and certainly worth the hiring fee. Although it is best if you view this after the first three as you will get a better idea of the characters and scenes they talk about in the 4th installment.

Another good feature in the re-released version of Lethal Weapon 4 in Australia is that the end credits are a collage of famous and infamous moments of the Lethal Weapon series including old favorites such as the 'toilet scene', the final scene of Lethal 3 and the sniper scene from Lethal 1.

Overall I would have to say that this film has got it all: comedy, action and a few good and interesting plot twists. If you are like me and enjoy a good action flick with plenty of violence and great one-liners check this one out.

Although this film does not take much to understand it is perfect for a Sunday night flick. Enjoy what is a great film!

Born on the Fourth of July (1989)

A Great Anti-War Film

[19 November 2001]

Oliver Stone and Ron Kovic have combined to bring Kovic's life alive in Born on the Fourth of July. Tom Cruise puts in a splendid performance as Kovic, a young idealistic American who goes to Vietnam and comes home, paralysed from the waist down, to fight for peace.

Although the film is fantastic there is frequent coarse language and some disturbing scenes, but overall a good film.

Enjoy!

Chunuk Bair (1992)

Great film, well directed

[10/10 · 29 May 2001]

This is a fantastic film. The drama involved made the film realistic and life-like sequences really make you fell sorry for the poor diggers and their experiences. The ending is particularly sad, All in all a great film.