As many here have already commented, Season 2 (or rather the 5 episodes i've struggled through so far) is not even a close relation to the well crafted and exciting season One.
In part I think the actor Joel Kinnaman's who played Hanna's father/mentor in Season one is sorely missed.Whilst Esme Creed-Miles who plays Hannah is a good in her role as the young assassin she doesn't have the gravitas to play the lead all on her own in Season two.......... Joel Kinnaman essentially played the lead in Season one.
Digging into the details further I notice the directors for several episodes of season two did not direct any episodes in Season one............which seems to help explain why the pacing is soooo different between season one and two.
Season one was exciting and well paced, but season two is sooo slow full of talking among teenage girls.
How did such a promising tv show turn so bad? Disappointing!
PS. the new teenage spy series "Alex Rider" was more engrossing and better paced than "Hannah" season two.
Reviews
6 Reviews
Cowboys & Aliens
(2011)
Ronald Reagan said once.......
12 January 2012
Warning: Spoilers
""In our obsession with antagonisms of the moment, we often forget how much unites all the members of humanity. Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world"- Ronald Reagan Sep 21 1987 United Nations.
Essentially this is what this movie is about, Cowboys, Indians, Outlaws and the Law abiding.... all forgetting there differences and joining forces to defeat the alien invaders.
The trouble with this movie is that it isn't believable....... not so much that an alien invasion isn't believable but the Cowboys' reaction to the "aliens".......no real sense of "shock and awe"......no deep questions about where these beings had come from......hell even the small boy who had a close encounter acts as if nothing THAT extraordinary has happened to him.
The other big flaw in the movie is the ending where the space ship resembles the Saturn 5 rocket that sent men to the moon......any one that has any knowledge of space flight will know that any ultra advanced "aliens" that visit Earth will NOT be using rocket fuel in their craft......If they did they would NEVER reach their destination, as the distances involved in interstellar space travel are so vast! .......a pretty bad school boy error by the film maker of this stinker of a movie! Avoid!
Essentially this is what this movie is about, Cowboys, Indians, Outlaws and the Law abiding.... all forgetting there differences and joining forces to defeat the alien invaders.
The trouble with this movie is that it isn't believable....... not so much that an alien invasion isn't believable but the Cowboys' reaction to the "aliens".......no real sense of "shock and awe"......no deep questions about where these beings had come from......hell even the small boy who had a close encounter acts as if nothing THAT extraordinary has happened to him.
The other big flaw in the movie is the ending where the space ship resembles the Saturn 5 rocket that sent men to the moon......any one that has any knowledge of space flight will know that any ultra advanced "aliens" that visit Earth will NOT be using rocket fuel in their craft......If they did they would NEVER reach their destination, as the distances involved in interstellar space travel are so vast! .......a pretty bad school boy error by the film maker of this stinker of a movie! Avoid!
Resident Evil: Afterlife
(2010)
Very disappointing ending!
10 September 2010
Warning: Spoilers
The film starts off impressively with a great battle scene, however the films pace slows down considerably after the opening battle scene.
The prison fortress that Mila lands on takes up most of the meat of the film, but very little seems to happen in here. And the dialogue is well....... here's an example from one of the main protagonists:
"What the hell is that thing!"
The abandoned prison also houses Chris Redfield played by Wentworth Earl Miller III of "Prison break" fame...... Chris Redfield, his sister Clare and Alice & co all escape from this abandoned prison. Was the selection of Wentworth Miller because of great casting....or was it because he gets to "break out" of prison......and his inclusion is nothing more than a wink/in joke to Prison Break!
The ending is pretty poor and very anticlimactic, there is a a sequel on the way as the ending makes clear but I would have preferred not to have to wait another year or 2 just to see part 2 of this movie!
It could have been much much better!
The prison fortress that Mila lands on takes up most of the meat of the film, but very little seems to happen in here. And the dialogue is well....... here's an example from one of the main protagonists:
"What the hell is that thing!"
The abandoned prison also houses Chris Redfield played by Wentworth Earl Miller III of "Prison break" fame...... Chris Redfield, his sister Clare and Alice & co all escape from this abandoned prison. Was the selection of Wentworth Miller because of great casting....or was it because he gets to "break out" of prison......and his inclusion is nothing more than a wink/in joke to Prison Break!
The ending is pretty poor and very anticlimactic, there is a a sequel on the way as the ending makes clear but I would have preferred not to have to wait another year or 2 just to see part 2 of this movie!
It could have been much much better!
Centurion
(2010)
Battles, Blood & Warrior Women....what's not to like?
27 April 2010
Warning: Spoilers
This is a straight forward tale of a band of Roman soldiers being hunted down by Pict warriors in the stunning surroundings of the Scottish mountains.
Whilst the dialogue and script won't exactly win any Oscars, the film was entertaining enough with plenty of blood & guts fighting scenes.
Olga Kurylenko was actually quite convincing in her portrayal of a brutal ice cold warrior, much better than Keira Knightley's portrayal of a female warrior in King Arthur. Perhaps Olga not having to utter a word in the entire film as she portrays a Pict who had her tongue cut out was a clever way to make her character more cold and mysterious.
I wouldn't quite go as far as one of the previous posters who describes the first major battle scene on a par with the opening scene in "Gladiator". Indeed some of the small criticisms I would level would be the use of very fast action shots during some of the fight scenes, i.e the camera motion is faster than your eye can register, think opening car chase in "Quantom of Solace" and you get the picture.
What really stands out in the film though is the stunning back drop of the Scottish mountains, It's like "Highlander" all over again only better!
Centurion, doesn't carry the "epic" status as other movies like "Gladiator","Braveheart" or "Kingdom of heaven", no it's on a much smaller scale and doesn't really spend too much time on character development on either the Pict or Roman sides. I suppose in a way it helps this film as it doesn't get bogged down in lengthy dialogue, but concentrates more on action.
Whilst this film won't score too highly on the originality stakes, it's a good effort in an all too neglected genre.
Whilst the dialogue and script won't exactly win any Oscars, the film was entertaining enough with plenty of blood & guts fighting scenes.
Olga Kurylenko was actually quite convincing in her portrayal of a brutal ice cold warrior, much better than Keira Knightley's portrayal of a female warrior in King Arthur. Perhaps Olga not having to utter a word in the entire film as she portrays a Pict who had her tongue cut out was a clever way to make her character more cold and mysterious.
I wouldn't quite go as far as one of the previous posters who describes the first major battle scene on a par with the opening scene in "Gladiator". Indeed some of the small criticisms I would level would be the use of very fast action shots during some of the fight scenes, i.e the camera motion is faster than your eye can register, think opening car chase in "Quantom of Solace" and you get the picture.
What really stands out in the film though is the stunning back drop of the Scottish mountains, It's like "Highlander" all over again only better!
Centurion, doesn't carry the "epic" status as other movies like "Gladiator","Braveheart" or "Kingdom of heaven", no it's on a much smaller scale and doesn't really spend too much time on character development on either the Pict or Roman sides. I suppose in a way it helps this film as it doesn't get bogged down in lengthy dialogue, but concentrates more on action.
Whilst this film won't score too highly on the originality stakes, it's a good effort in an all too neglected genre.
Daybreakers
(2009)
John Carpenter's Vampires or Near Dark it ain't!
19 January 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Firstly I don't know how old the Spierig brothers are but they must be pretty young if they think that 9 years is a long time in the future.
Okay so we know a vampire film is going to be fantasy film....however to suggest that in just 9 years from now the humans would be a rare breed and the vampires would be the dominant species is stretching things a little far. Even the black death, small pox, the Spanish flu & aids couldn't decimate the human race to that extent that the scenario in "Daybreakers" presents, and certainly it would take perhaps hundreds of years before any species would dominate the world if another previously dominant species did fall to some type of plague. To that end the film should have been set at least 100 years from now.....not in just 9 years!
As for the film, there are some decent moments, but then again there are some......."yeah right!" moments, such as the good guys making it overa broken bridge...... but of course the bad guys crash. Or indeed when the bad guys search for the good guys but fail to search inside the huge wine barrel that they are hiding in!
The acting was by the numbers not help by a pretty "by the numbers script".....what a waste for the acting talents of Sam Neill and most of all William Defoe! If there is to be a sequel then lets hope the Spierig brothers manage to secure a much much better script.
I am surprised at how many reviewers are giving "Daybreakers" such a high score.....my advise to them is to go revisit "Near Dark" and John Carpenter's "Vampires"......,"Daybreakers" is infinitely inferior to both of those films.
Okay so we know a vampire film is going to be fantasy film....however to suggest that in just 9 years from now the humans would be a rare breed and the vampires would be the dominant species is stretching things a little far. Even the black death, small pox, the Spanish flu & aids couldn't decimate the human race to that extent that the scenario in "Daybreakers" presents, and certainly it would take perhaps hundreds of years before any species would dominate the world if another previously dominant species did fall to some type of plague. To that end the film should have been set at least 100 years from now.....not in just 9 years!
As for the film, there are some decent moments, but then again there are some......."yeah right!" moments, such as the good guys making it overa broken bridge...... but of course the bad guys crash. Or indeed when the bad guys search for the good guys but fail to search inside the huge wine barrel that they are hiding in!
The acting was by the numbers not help by a pretty "by the numbers script".....what a waste for the acting talents of Sam Neill and most of all William Defoe! If there is to be a sequel then lets hope the Spierig brothers manage to secure a much much better script.
I am surprised at how many reviewers are giving "Daybreakers" such a high score.....my advise to them is to go revisit "Near Dark" and John Carpenter's "Vampires"......,"Daybreakers" is infinitely inferior to both of those films.
Smokin' Aces
(2006)
High Octane but Tarantino it ain't!
14 January 2007
No Spoilers in this review :
It was good in parts and the cast list was impressive. Alicia Keys looks hot! A fair bit of stylised action and gunplay but ultimately the story is a pretty weak one. The script didn't really seem sharp enough and doesn't compete with the likes of a Tarantino movie which it plainly is trying to imitate. There was far too much complex narrative both at the beginning and end of the movie to explain the set up and the conclusion ,with unfamiliar names being mentioned so fast and fleetingly that even Shirlock Holmes might have struggled to follow it.
The ending I found was a little anticlimatical given the carnage that had gone before hand. Having said that it's worth seeing but it's nothing special and probably will spawn a sequel in some shape or form. 6 out of 10.
It was good in parts and the cast list was impressive. Alicia Keys looks hot! A fair bit of stylised action and gunplay but ultimately the story is a pretty weak one. The script didn't really seem sharp enough and doesn't compete with the likes of a Tarantino movie which it plainly is trying to imitate. There was far too much complex narrative both at the beginning and end of the movie to explain the set up and the conclusion ,with unfamiliar names being mentioned so fast and fleetingly that even Shirlock Holmes might have struggled to follow it.
The ending I found was a little anticlimatical given the carnage that had gone before hand. Having said that it's worth seeing but it's nothing special and probably will spawn a sequel in some shape or form. 6 out of 10.
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