die_hard_ringer Reviews

Rambo (2008)

Brings the saga back to its roots (kind of)

[6/10 · 28 January 2008]

From the very first musical strains Rambo is hearkening back to First Blood, the original film in the series whose title character has since become a household name. This glossing-over of two forgettable sequels is a smart move, and it sets the tone for a film which, save for a greatly aged protagonist, could easily have come as the second film instead of the fourth.

This film finds our hero far away from the world, catching snakes somewhere near Burma. A group of missionaries arrive, he cautions them, gives them a ride into Burma, and then flexes his muscles without surprise when he learns that they never made it back. For a brief moment towards the beginning there is the feeling that Rambo is evoking the memory of Vietnam, making reference to staying out of the world's problems and things never changing (I.E. genocide). This bringing of the saga full-circle to the conflict where it began is an intriguing idea that is quickly lost in a deluge of blood.

In the first film John Rambo held himself back, reigned in his instinct to kill, never even finishing off his nemesis in the film, a small-town sheriff. Here, however, he begins by gunning down a boatload of Burmese pirates and doesn't stop until he's shot, decapitated, and disemboweled a small army. If ever there was any idea behind Rambo, thoughts to the effect of minding your own business or pacifism being as deadly as genocide, they're lost when the bloodbath begins and are never found again.

A few fascinating concepts are batted around in Rambo, but are quickly discarded when they get in the way of the carnage, because it would be far too much work to decide where to stand when gunning down the bad guys is so much simpler. But for what it is, Rambo is a success.

Old, grizzled, and jaded he's still got it, and watching his demonstrate that for the better part of two hours is surprisingly entertaining. The film also makes a good call in throwing in a supporting cast of mercenaries who, far from being subtle and nuanced characters, do add something of a foil for John.

Every time I think about Rambo I get to thinking about how, originally, the character was meant to die at the end of First Blood, a move which would have rendered it impossible to create any sequels. Preview audiences didn't like it, and so he survived to fight several more times. While I still feel that, dead or alive, there should never have been more than one Rambo film, this is about as good and end-cap (fingers crossed) that I could hope for, and the fact that it tries to bring back memories of the first film while practically ignoring the second and third leads me to believe that perhaps I'm not the only one who thinks so.

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

I smell a rat.

[2/10 · 26 May 2006]

I don't think I ever fully appreciated Bryan Singer until now. I thought that he could have done a better job on the first two films. Now I see how great he really was. He had hte ability to balance a bunch of different characters and still make us feel them, whereas Brett Ratner has a billion mutants and not a single one who has a character. Even the already-established characters like Storm, Wolverine, and sundry fade into the periphery. The plot is convoluded, the characters completely changed and (SPOILERS!!!) they kill characters who should not have died. I'm sorry, but I thought that Scott deserved better than to die in the first 15 minutes of film, and it bothers me that Xavier followed soon after and I just CANNOT believe that Wolverine A) could and B) would kill Jean Grey, there's no way the Phoenix would let him. I'm rambling, I know, and this just scratches to surface of what was wrong with the film. But damn, it was so disappointing. I waited so long for this movie...

Fantastic Four (I) (2005)

Fantastic is one thing it most certainly isn't

[6/10 · 14 July 2005]

I think I liked this movie more because I had no expectation whatsoever, which is good because, had I had any, it would not have lived up to them. The characters, even the fun, wise-cracking Johnny, were more like cardboard cut-outs than actual fleshed-out characters. You had the tough/smart babe (Jessica Alba) the brilliant yet awful at relationships scientist (Ioan Gruffud) the take-nothing-seriously-yet-become-a-hero-in-the-end wise-cracker (Chris Evans, and lastly the only decent character, the man who becomes twisted and must live with his deformity and learn to embrace his power (Michael Chiklis).

However, after acknowledging this, I could actually sit back and moderately enjoy the movie. The first half-hour was the best, then it got a bit tedious while we waited for the clobbering to start, then it started and, after it kept clobbering for the entire last half-hour of the movie, it was quite tiring.

I like it a lot better in retrospect than I did immediately after, but it is no classic. Then again, you could do a lot worse, take Hulk for example.

Cinderella Man (2005)

I'm sorry, Rocky, it's time to give up the title

[10/10 · 31 May 2005]

I was looking forward to Cindella Man for over a year, I was disappointed when it was postponed from last December, and I was thrilled to be able to make a special showing last Sunday. Generally, when I go in with high expectation (and this film was the one I was most looking forward to this year) I come out more than a little disappointed, although the films are often good, they rarely live up to my rampant anticipation. Cinderella Man, however, exceeded all my expectations.

Russel Crowe, who, since Master and Commander has been my favorite actor, outdoes any of his performances to date. He has clearly lost weight, he seemingly effortlessly picked up an accent, and his attitude is flawlessly proud, browbeaten, and unendingly strong. When he first loses his license to box at the beginning of the film he conveys, without shoving anything in our face, his sense of disappointment that he cannot provide for his family. He works furiously on the docks with a broken hand and still cannot keep his house heated. So at last, in one of the most moving moments of the film, he does what he would almost rather die than do, goes to his old friends and asks them for money.

I do not want to give away too many details of the film. But I can say, it is the best in years and, although i doubt it will because of A Beautiful Mind, it should win more than a few Oscars.

Rope (1948)

Hitchcock, brilliant as always, continues to amaze

[27 April 2004]

So far, of all the Hitchcock movies I have seen, there is only one I felt was a legitimately 'bad' movie, and that was Spellbound. He was a genius in not only the plots of his films, but also the brilliant cinematography. I plan on going into film as a director/writer, and one of the thoughts I had a while back was that it would be pretty cool to shoot an entire movie in one shot. What gave me that idea was hearing Spielberg talk about how he shot one of his Jaws scenes by having people pass in front of the camera instead of cutting closer to Roy Sheider. Well, as I watched Rope I realized that, "Oh my gosh, he's doing it!" The brilliance of it was that it was so subtle you almost didn't notice, at least, I almost didn't, he crafted the shots so well that you felt like the scene was cutting to different places even when it wasn't, and all this took place inside on apartment!

Now, for my praise of the story itself, and be warned, in praising it important details will be given away, at least, important to anyone who knows zilch about the movie.

Leave it to Hitchcock to analyze the intellectual side of murder, what might compel someone to commit the seemingly senseless murders we hear about so often. Jimmy Stewart, as a prep-school teacher, has taught his students superiorism, that all people are not equal and, if the 'elite' feel it, everything, including murder, should be allowed them. Well, two of his students take his teachings to the logical extreme and murder a fellow classmate, simply for the intellectual thrills of it. Then, as a finishing touch to their work, they throw a party and serve the food on the chest where the dead man is. Unfortunately, they make one mistake, inviting their old teacher who, as the night goes on, begins to suspect. (Spoilers ahead) As he realizes what they've done, Jimmy Stewart pressures the weaker of the two students who finally begins to break. In the climax of the film, where the professor returns to the apartment after everyone's left, their two views, that the students think to be the same, come head to head, and Jimmy Stewart is faced with the brutal mistakes he himself has taught.