happiness-grace Reviews

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

The Drop-Off Was Inevitable

[7/10 · 1 April 2012]

As a big fan of the Terminator movies, 1 and 2 were superb! Unfortunately, T3 suffers from the "Hollywood blockbuster" syndrome, the need to out perform and surpass its predecessors with bigger, bolder, more blast-worthy action. Chases and nitroglycerine abound in this film as characterization is pushed to the background.

To be fair, very little characterization is needed except for the Claire Danes character. Unless you've been living in an isolated commune for the past 20 years, you know the Terminator. Arnold's persona has become pop culture myth -- like the Six Million Dollar Man writ large. Stahl's character, John Connor, is still the ordinary man tormented by his awesome destiny.

T3 does deliver the stunts, the explosions, even the catchy one-liners to which we've become accustomed. Arnold's performance is stellar. His charm breathes humanity into an automaton (Gov. Schwarzenegger one day perhaps?). Stahl is competent, while Danes is immeasurably underused. Note her role as Juliet in Baz Luhrman's Romeo and Juliet -- but hey, this isn't Henry James. Kristanna Loken is good as well, sexily exuding VERY homicidal tendencies.

I agree with Roger Ebert in saying that T3 is really a dumbed down version of its history. Were it not for the creative ending, I probably wouldn't have been as impressed. That said, T3 is a worthy addition to the franchise.

The Hunger Games (2012)

Can't wait for Pt. 2!

[9/10 · 1 April 2012]

I have not read the book, and my friend dragged to to the movies to watch "Hunger Games", so I am not a fan, in the real sense of the word.

However, the movie rocks, and it will be another legendary fantasy series in line with "Harry Potter", etc. I will say that there are a few things that must be pointed out. Despite Jennifer Lawrence presenting (in my opinion) the best performance of her life, Gary Ross tried too much and too little at the same time. Diverging from the violent nature of Suzanne Collins' original story put a big damper on the overall feel for the oppression of the Capital (all to keep profits up by keeping the movie PG-13). Overall though, the movie stayed true to the book as any adaptation I've seen prior. The energy output of this all star cast is amazing, despite the lack of "action" in some sequences. All and all, a great movie that begs the question: "What will become of Katniss Everdeen?", especially when you see the ending.

Immortals (2011)

Lacking Epic Factor

[6/10 · 1 April 2012]

The trailer looked amazing, but when you actually see "Immortals", the movie had a bit more story time than I anticipated.

Also, a lot of time was spent away from epic battles but there was plenty of fighting to keep action fans somewhat satisfied. Special effects were great, stylized blood was plenty but not too much, Frieda Pinto is gorgeous, and Henry Cavill is jacked. The acting was pretty good; to be fair, not very much was necessary from anyone besides Henry Cavill, but none of the actors underperformed.

The quality of the fight scenes was pretty good. Not a single fight scene went by where I was like "ok, I waited 5 minutes for that!?." The fight with the Greek Gods was very well done, although many people may disagree (more on that in the next paragraph). Most of the fights are just "look at Thesius... oh how he knows how to fight." But I personally couldn't care less how many people are fighting as long as the fights are well done.

The fight pertaining to the Gods is seen partly in the trailers when you see people floating in mid air as they and their friends get punished continuously. It's very Matrix/Kung Fu style, and some people didn't like that. But the way I see it, these are Gods fighting, not humans and legends. The fight has to have a different substance than just simple blood and guts.

What really irked me were the inconsistencies with Greek Mythology and the lack luster "epicness" of the Eperius bow. For one, the number of Gods present in this movie is 5. Zeuss, Poseidon, Apollo, Athena and one more... as far as the movie goes, they could of at least shown all of the Olympians. Also, the Titans are shown as rabid monkeys against the Gods. As far as I remember, they were equal to the Gods in strength and intellect. Lastly, the Eperius Bow was not as epic as they had built it up to be; especially the first time it's shot, it sort of just happen