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jonojet
Reviews
4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
Entertaining sci-fantasy action for a wide-ranging audience
After watching lots of action hero movies, you almost always expect the nice guys to win in the end. Almost. It's the twists that make a suspenseful, entertaining action hero movie. For those of you who don't know the plot, you are in for quite a few, believable surprises, which will leave you guessing as to who the goodies are, who the baddies are, and whether the goodies will win in the end!
Sure, there were lots of lines which probably sounded lame in comparison with subtle drama, and the performances won't be winning any Oscars. However, this is a film which is enjoyable the adults as well as the kids, on the SAME LEVEL,which is quite difficult to do. That means that adults are not laughing at in-house jokes that the children don't get - everyone is invited into believe the action. Remember, this is the first action hero movie to receive a PG rating for a while, which is a nice change from the increasingly violent movies we are subjecting kids to these days. The movie also has a moral bent; of cooperation, reconciling differences, and not judging others too quickly.
On the special effects side, I would say that they were, indeed, very well done, with one exception: that is, I felt that Mr. Fantastic's powers were not done justice by the special effects team, in comparison to some beautiful effects which we see in the other characters. The dance scene was particularly disappointing.
An entertaining film that everyone will enjoy, together.
The Last Samurai (2003)
Flaws in plot
I enjoyed the exploration of Japanese culture, and the struggle between modernisation and tradition, an issue which has found an interesting balance in Japanese society to this day. The one thing I could not stand in the movie was the incredulity in parts of the storyline. As already mentioned, the fight seen where Algren beats 5 samurai with a blunt flag is unbelievable, as is the machine-gun fight scene, where by some lucky coincidence, he is THE last man standing among the whole cavalry charge. And his capture... and the willingness of the samurai community to allow the enemy to join them? Fine, it makes for good drama but it somehow seems a bit too far-fetched a concept. Nonetheless, it does expose a lot of the Spartan and philosophical self-discipline of Bushido, and a great performance by Ken Watanabe. I was a bit disappointed by Cruise's appearance though, it seems like he's becoming more in love with himself as a big-name movie star rather than play the character.