someanse Reviews

Daylight's End (2016)

Decent

[6/10 · 7 August 2016]

Imo this movie certainly deserve more than 5.

Yes, it looks cheap in many places but it also has redeeming qualities. Basically, everything that comes out of this movie is never very good and in some instances it is really lacking, but overall it is enjoyable.

The characters are very numerous and we don't get to know them very well. They will mostly stay complete strangers to the audience until the end. Even the main protagonist is that way. But on the other hand, they aren't ''flat'',''idiotic'',''generic'' characters (minus the ''BADASS'' hero), they still have decent lines and interactions among each others.

The camera quality though suffers from the low-budget thingy and gives that cheap impression to the movie. While the set is decent>good, the costumes are very authentic, same for the makeup, and the casting (when it comes to visual). Just to explain my thoughts on that, there is a pattern in recent movie where every character is a teenager, with a stupid makeup and a stupid face (I am sure its about makeup and light), a good case is the recent Warcraft.

I do think that the plot is sometimes inconsistent, and that they chose to film some scenes just for the sake of having those scenes in the final cut. Worst, the same is true for some characters: there is clearly one character that is just there to make one scene happens and that afterward becomes completely useless; that can probably be true in other movies, but here it is quite shocking in the sense that everything might indicates that this characters is important or will become important later on. Which never happens, it's just a filler.

My review might look ''weak'' because it doesn't manage to underline the inner qualities or deficiencies of the movie, but it is only because the movie is that way. There is nothing really shiny about it, and although it has deficiencies in certain areas, I still think that it provides for an overall agreeable watch. Despite its faults there is a sense of authenticity that helps build intensity. I have to say, the final-final scene also made me sweat, which doesn't happen so much to me in other movies.

I wish they had a better writer for the characters and plot development, otherwise they still have a decent man capable of taking care of the ambiances&atmosphere; the general ideas are there, it's just that tiny bit of execution and cleverness that is lacking.

To summarize + Costumes/guns/(visual)casting + Intensity + Gunfights ain't bad - Gunfights sometimes feel a bit repetitive and sometimes idiotic - this cheap ''look'' of the camera - some inconsistencies in the plot or some scenes (but that would require spoilers to elaborate) - characters development really lacking

The Purge: Election Year (2016)

Bad and cliché

[3/10 · 14 July 2016]

I'm not so talented at commenting movies, but ill try my best.

I found the first iteration to be meh, but was really impressed with the second one: an action-flick with a great atmosphere, tense plot and interesting characters&relationship.

The comparison between this 3rd and the 2nd movie is relevant on many points. First thing first: the main character. In the first movie, he was on the purge, he was a killer that didn't give a sh1t but his goal. Although, on the way to murder, his conscience calls him for duty when he see armored men kidnapping a mom and her child. Prepared for the purge, the man is well trained and well equipped and soon demonstrates that when he gets off his car to kill the wrong doers. The action is fast, tense and this is one of those rare movies where you feel what a firearm does, what a kill is. The main character is fast, he executes his moves impeccably and never forgets to double-check fallen corpses with his aim.

There is a scene very alike in Purge: Election, and by comparison you can see how bland and cliché the action has become: Two girls in a truck come in rescue of some dudes in a shop. Outside the shop, four girls are trying to break in to get some kills&sugar.

The director is doing his ''best'' to make it like ''oh look this girl is a bad4ss'', toying with the camera, the zooms, face zooms and music. This kind of direction rarely happened in the previous movie, but it would happen, for instance: when a guy was coming out of his truck with a fr4eck1ng MINIGUN and was bl0wing the hell out off things. Or when an army - mostly of black people - comes from nowhere to save the day and kill a large group of bad guys. When something was actually big and b4d4ss, the 2nd movie went down the path of ''directing'' like the action was b4d4ss. In this 3rd movie, it happens all the time and the action is far from being exciting to watch. There is just nothing happening, no tension, no thrill, no feelings. Back to that scene: the girl is driving the truck, there are two villains in front of the truck, the truck pass through the villains. It didn't require any maneuver, the villains just stayed there in the path (possibly because other members of their group are very loud trying to breach the entrance to the shop), yet again, the camera goes to face with the ''b4d4ss'' girl - that is introduced as such in the first place - with a compelling music that incites us to think ''oh yeah, so b4d4ss''. Ofc, this is absolutely ridiculous... but... why the hell not? THEN AGAIN, she takes off the car, the camera stops, she stops to face the camera (yeah, loosing some precious seconds just to pose, making a mean face) and she then proceeds to take her shotgun. And again, the camera, the music, the face, with this time, the shotgun. She advances, she aims, she kills, she stops, another villain facing her, she aims, she skills. There are no other movements as the villains are 4 meters away from her. And there is still that music reminding us that everything we saw was absolutely thrilling. Only, everything that happened during this scene bl0ws. And the whole movie is this.

The main character, is probably still the best part but he has become so bland. He is not anymore this conflicted character obsessed with assassinating a certain person, but reluctant to kill. Reluctant to help people that could stop the achievement of his goal, but whose conscience tells to do the right thing.

The Purgers. They BL0W!! In the 1rst and 2nd movie, purgers are wearing masks and killing mostly with firearms, knives, blunt weapons; They often act in groups and remind us of gangs (also of the movie The Warriors). Here: W-T-F is this cr4p. They are all completely eccentrics! Every time you see them, it looks like a painting, they are taking the pose with robes, with thematic lights, with stuff, the f4ck??? Some good ideas with the ''tourismurder'', actually concludes on a scene that isn't bad, with people who behave more like in the 2nd movie. But most of the time, the purgers are just ?????

Now, for the plot. Well there is a plot, and it isn't worth debating. It just is... you know, nothing special.