SYNOPSIS: From Hasbro the company that brought you Transformers, Battleship is an epic-scaled action-adventure that unfolds across the seas, in the skies and over land as our planet fights for survival against a superior alien force.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Eager to kickstart another franchise with ‘Transformers’-like potential, the people at Hasbro have turned to their classic ‘Battleship’ board game for another humans-versus-aliens big-budget spectacle. This time, the director is Peter Berg, an actor turned director whose experience at CG-laden fare starts and stops at Will Smith’s ‘Hancock’ – and ‘Battleship’ sees him attempting to be a Michael Bay equivalent, sans the oft-criticised shaky camerawork of ‘Transformers’.
Indeed, from the saturated images to the slo-mo rah-rah shots of its heroes to the rousing music mixed with soft rock tunes, it’s almost as if Berg were emulating Bay’s style in bringing Jon and Erich Hoeber’s screenplay to life. Speaking of which, the pair of writers, who demonstrated their penchant for hip humour in ‘Red’, seem to also have taken a leaf from the writers of ‘Transformers’ – not only is the plot wafer-thin, the heroes and villains are so clearly defined that the movie seems pitched at the intelligence of a six-year-old.
So the good guys are none other than everyone who can call themselves homo sapiens – the rash and feckless Lieutenant Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch), his straitlaced older brother Captain Stone Hopper (Alexander Skarsgard), Alex’s weapons specialist female officer Cora Raikes (Rihanna), Alex’s buxom fiancée Samantha (Brooklyn Decker), a double-amputee war hero Mick Canales (real-life Iraq veteran Gregory D. Gadson), and a Japanese naval Captain Yugi Nagata (Tadanobu Asano) and leader of the Japanese fleet engaged in war games with the Americans. The bad guys are of course the aliens, apparently from a ‘Goldilocks’ planet responding to a call we sent into deep space seeking the presence of other lifeforms.
Essentially, the aliens have lost their communications ability when their fleet of six ships entered our solar system, so they need to use our comms satellite in Hawaii to send a message back to their planet. And oh conveniently they also are averse to the sun, hence their sunshield helmets which they wear wherever they go. Out at sea, it is up to Alex and his crew to break through their aliens’ shield when the rest of their fleet are cut off; and on land, Samantha and Mick have to find a way to stop the aliens from communicating to their home planet.
And with that setup, Berg stitches together a pastiche of loud busy action sequences, which do enough to keep the casual viewer entertained but won’t leave any impressions by the time they are over. It is telling when the best sequence is in fact one built out of tension, where there aren’t people or aliens running about on screen frantically, one which also harks back to the strategic nature of the board name – and also a sterling example of inter-nation cooperation so especially vital given the volatile state of today’s maritime relations.
There’s really not much else to say – if you like loud, dumb and frenetic action, then ‘Battleship’ will keep you occupied for two hours. But if you like your movies with plot, character or depth, then well you know better than to take a ride on this ship. For their part, the actors do what they have to do to look frightened, perplexed, distressed, courageous and heroic – and the good looking cast are always easy on the eye. We’d much have preferred a thinking-man’s action movie – like the board game – but given the formula of ‘Transformers’, we guess that’s probably too much to ask.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The extras occupy a whole separate disc. Start with ‘Preparing for Battle’, which looks at the thought process that went into conceptualising a big-screen adaptation of the board game, including procuring an actual battleship (the USS Missouri) for shooting. ‘All Hands on Deck’ is a more standard making-of featurette, providing more on the set footage of the cast and crew during shooting.
‘Engage in Battle’ is made up of two shorter featurettes. ‘Shooting at Sea’ looks at the challenges of shooting out in the open sea with wind and waves, while ‘All Aboard the Fleet’ looks at shooting on real naval destroyers and of course the historic USS Missouri.
‘Commander Pete’ attempts to show director Peter Berg’s lively directing style on the set, getting involved in every piece of the action and interestingly playing the role of fitness instructor for cast and crew (he writes advice on the doughnut box about how ‘hope is not a tactic’ to discourage them from eating the high-calorie food for breakfast).
Finally, ‘The Visual Effects of Battleship’ is an interesting look at the wizards at ILM, who are responsible for the myriad CG visuals on screen. Particularly interesting is how they have attempted to give some character to the aliens and their spacecraft, and the challenges they faced in animating the latter’s movement in water.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio is excellent, balancing the clarity of the mayhem with the clarity of the dialogue. The bass and surround are immersive too, bringing the spectacle into the comfort of your living room. Visuals are crisp and sharp – contrasts are well-defined and colours look dynamic and alive on screen.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Gabriel Chong
SYNOPSIS: Marvel presents Marvel’s The Avengers, the Super Hero team up of a lifetim. Iconic Marvel Super Heroes Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America assemble for the first time ever in this new action-packed Marvel saga. When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster.
MOVIE REVIEW:
First of all, I like to say thank you for taking the time to read this DVD review. Either you are a loyal reader of our web or among the few hundred left on this planet (including my parents) who haven’t caught the most-talked about movie of the year. After years of churning out individual comic heroes’ adventures, Marvel finally see the fruition of their labor when Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk and Thor assemble for “The Avengers” earlier this April. The end result is an astounding US$1.5 Billion box-office worldwide.
Director, writer and fanboy Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly) did a marvelous job developing the Avenger’s debut outing. The main focus is here is turning the various superheroes into a team and obviously none of them are team players in the first place. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) aka Tony Stark is a genius billionaire who listens to no one. Captain America (Chris Evans) aka Steve Rogers is still emo-ing, trying to cope with the modern world. Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) aka Dr Bruce Banner is a loose cannon, he is after all a gigantic monster who smashed his way through. The crown prince of Asgard, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) without elaborating further is more of a Godly entity. Adding to the team is Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and we have a team of unlikely heroes with differing abilities and mindset teaming up to save earth from the evil Loki (Tom Hiddleston).
Whedon who took on the script all by himself (though Zak Penn received a story by credit, he has nothing to do with the end product) devoted a small part of the running time to each character, allowing audience to slowly reconnect with the superheroes before launching into all-out assault and mayhem. Of course, it’s a sheer delight for those who have followed closely behind all the previous buildup yet the family-friendly script welcomes newer audience as well. It’s definitely not as dark or brooding as “The Dark Knight” despite the subject involving some threatening attack on Earth. Whedon keeps things moving fast and even comical at some points.
Running at a hefty 143 minutes, “The Avengers” is filled to the brim with one action sequence following another. It’s a superhero movie and those craving for spectacle and destruction; you are in for a treat. The Helicarrier is one massive CG creation that it’s a marvel to ogle and the attack on the Helicarrier is just the beginning. All thanks to flawless CGI by ILM and crazy stuntwork, the finale which sees the actual formation of the Avengers working together to fight against their enemies on the streets of New York is a blast.
The success of Marvel’s The Avengers leaves us with only one question. So what the hell happen to DC’s Justice League if the honchos at Marvel can do it right. It doesn’t take Tony Stark’s rocket science to do something that will knock out the audience. Stop rebooting Batman and give us Wonder Woman and The Flash. WB, you make the wrong move by rejecting Whedon’s Wonder Woman.
“Avengers” is a fantastic treat for the geeks and movie-goers and the only way that Avengers 2 in May 2015 is going to top this one is to bring in Spider-Man. This is simply the must-watched popcorn entertainment piece for the year. Enough said.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
A Visual Journey is a short feature that has mainly Joss Whedon discussing the huge sets and visual effects of the movie.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
“Avengers” looks great on DVD with sharp and stunning images. Any better, you need to get the blu-ray. The Dolby Digital 5.1 is well-engineered with bombastic sound effects and dialogue reproduction is clear. This track definitely is the most dynamic one for the home entertainment scene.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Drama/Romance
Director: Wang Pei Hua
Cast: Sonia Sui, James Wen, Chris Wang, Amanda Zhu, Xiao Xiao Bin, Janel Cai, Ma Nien-Hsien, Jesse Tang
Runtime: 1 hr 49 mins
Rating: PG (Some Sexual References)
Released By: Clover Films & Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 13 September 2012
Synopsis: The movie continues the story from the TV series which ended with a cliff hanger where the wife (Sonia Sui) was deciding whether to return to her cheating husband (James Wen) or have a relationship with her boss (Chris Wang). 4 years after the divorce, her cheating husband, Wen Rui Fan, comes back in hopes of re-kindling their love. Will An Zhen return back to him or move on to a new love?
Movie Review:
Following the success of the Taiwanese hit television drama series, “The Fierce Wife”, the final episode is finally out after more than a year from when the drama concluded. It was a drama series that was immensely popular and sparked a lot of conversation. Other than the outstanding performance from the cast, the storyline was also highly praised. Its popularity was not only restricted to Taiwan, the drama series also made its way to our local television channel and was equally well received. In fact, it is so popular in Singapore that the tickets for the preview of this movie were sold out in just 10 minutes.
The greatest hook of the whole drama series was probably the story line. It was a complex and exciting plot that keeps your interests high. However, that was quite lacking in this movie as the characters moved on to more peaceful days, since it is set 4 years from when all the drama had happened. It is no longer about the hate and the malice, but rather, this movie focuses on reconciliation and resolution.
The original cast was roped in to complete this whole series. Their acting was really solid and fabulous, main actors/actresses and supporting roles alike. Out of the lot, Sonia Sui, as Xie An Zhen, probably stood out the most. Although Sonia Sui started out her career as a model, she has earned quite a good reputation in acting over the years. She has proven that she is more than just a pretty face, and her acting in The Fierce Wife in particular was very affecting and emotive. Co-actor Wen Shen Hao, as Wen Rui Fan, also had a part in making this a success. His comeback as a good man seeking for forgiveness was very sincere and he displayed much depth in character as he faces some dilemma and shock along the way.
This movie was set apart from the rest for many good reasons and it is a continuation of the spirit in the drama series. One of which is empowering women these days to fight for their own rights and pursue their own interest. Some may say it has a strong feministic point of view, but to be fair, it doesn’t hurt to have some media content that is geared towards this direction since it is quite rare. At the very least what was portrayed inside was very realistic and reflective of the society nowadays.
The director and her team behind The Fierce Wife really deserve a toast! They have successfully seen this drama series to its end. The narrative was one that was meaningful and pulled many heart strings, with a great balance and did not turn out to be overly sappy. As much as the director insisted that people who have watched it should not give away the ending, it isn’t that hard to guess anyway. It’s either him, or him! Well, watch it to find it out for yourself!
Movie Rating:
(Finally, it’s the end of the roller coaster ride. Judging by the roaring applause from the viewers when the credits roll, it is definitely a good wrap-up for avid viewers who have been following the drama series.)
Review by Tho Shu Ling
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RAIN THE BEST SHOW 3DPosted on 07 Sep 2012 |
Genre: Adventure/Action
Director: Sid Bennett
Cast: Natasha Loring, Richard Dillane, Matt Kane, Peter Brooke, Stephen Jennings, Abena Ayivor, Andre Weideman, Sivu Nobongoza
RunTime: 1 hr 23 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Frightening Scenes)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website:
Opening Day: 18 October 2012
Synopsis: And the world thought that dinosaurs were extinct... Brace yourself for a chilling ride into the heart of the Congo jungle, as an expedition accompanied by a film crew discovers that creatures thought to have been extinct for 65 million years are very much alive. This is the most exciting dinosaur movie since Jurassic Park! Following the disappearance of an expedition led by renowned explorer Jonathan Marchant, two Congolese fishermen discover a rucksack drifting in a river. Inside are tapes and hard drives containing over 100 hours of film. The footage tells the story of the expedition’s disappearance... Together with a TV crew and armed with an array of state-of-the-art mini cams, the expedition team from The British Cryptozoological Society had set out to track down Mokele Mbembe, a mythical monster believed to be descended from dinosaurs - Africa’s answer to the Loch Ness Monster. Recently expelled from school, Jonathan’s son, 15-year-old gadget freak Luke Marchant, stows away aboard the helicopter taking the expedition deep into the Congolese jungle. The mission almost ends before it begins when their chopper crashes deep in the heart of the Congo. What follows is a nerve-jangling adventure delving into mysterious places teeming with prehistoric creatures, both malevolent and benign…
Movie Review:
More typically associated with the horror genre, the found footage format has found its way into family friendly territory thanks to writer/ director Sid Bennett, who envisions a faux expedition led by the British Crypto-zoological Society into the African Congo in search of the Mokele Mbembe. That’s African for Loch Ness monster, but what the crew end up finding is a whole lost kingdom of dinosaurs – though as you might imagine, it pretty much goes downhill for the humans from there.
That is really as much plot as you are going to find in this thankfully brief film, which its production company StudioCanal had reportedly greenlit into production with an outline, a showreel, a budget, a VFX plan and a timetable but no script. The lack of the latter is awfully obvious, as this is as straightforward a movie as you are going to get – so if narrative is something you look out for in your movies, then you might as well stop here and give this one a miss.
Everyone else however should still proceed with caution, as Bennett uses the mould of Steven Spielberg’s ‘Jurassic Park’ to unfold a B-monster movie that is as generic as it gets. The leader of the expedition is respected explorer Johnathan Marchant (Richard Dillane), the Sam Neill equivalent who like the latter goes about the movie perpetually grumpy. A helicopter crash early into the film leads his crew stranded in the middle of nowhere, outnumbered and pretty much defenceless against the myriad of prehistoric creatures in the dense African vegetation.
Their tale of survival is supposedly to be more thrilling from a first-person perspective, but Bennett uses the tools of the format - the wobbly camerawork and sudden cuts – too liberally for his film’s own good. Too many chase sequences end too abruptly, as harm either comes to the person holding the camera whose point of view we are watching or to the camera itself. As a result, there is no sense of sustained tension, and soon you’ll grow not to care about the characters (thinly written as they are) nor the few species of dinosaurs that we get to see up close.
And that is quite a pity, for this modestly budgeted movie actually boasts decent CGI. Certainly they won’t be on the scale of ‘Jurassic Park’, but for what they are worth, the monsters are surprisingly convincing. Impressive too is the way Bennett gets them to interact with the humans, especially a cute young one which Johnathan’s son Luke (Matt Kane) develops an unexpected affinity with. Then again, the money shots are pretty much wasted by the shaky cinematography, which obscures what you do get to see onscreen.
To Bennett’s credit, he does try to build some suspense into the movie in the form of Johnathan’s jealous right hand man Charlie as well as some human drama through the strained father-son bond between Johnathan and Luke. Nonetheless, these attempts at building more heft into the story largely fall flat – not only because they are clichéd (think ‘Sanctum’ or any other adventure movie), but also because Bennett doesn’t make enough effort to develop them fully.
The end result is that we care less about any of the characters than we should, and remain disengaged from their quest to survive no thanks to the found footage format the movie has so eagerly embraced. If ‘The Dinosaur Project’ is worth any mention, it should be as a cautionary tale to all filmmakers out there - trying to fit a certain genre into the format is like squeezing a square peg into a round hole, and will ultimately only lead the current wave of found footage films to extinction.
Movie Rating:
(Generic and uninvolving, this tediously told story of survival is made even more dire by its blind embrace of the found footage genre)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Scott Derrickson
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, James Ransone, Fred Dalton Thompson, Nicholas King, Clare Foley, Victoria Leigh, Juliet Rylance, Michael Hall D'Addario
RunTime: 1 hr 50 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Disturbing Content)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: http://www.haveyouseenhim.com/
Opening Day: 11 October 2012
Synopsis: "Sinister" is a frightening new thriller from the producer of the "Paranormal Activity" films and the writer-director of "The Exorcism of Emily Roses." Ethan Hawke plays a true crime novelist who discovers a box of mysterious, disturbing home movies that plunge his family into a nightmarish experience of supernatural horror.
Movie Review:
Children. A mysterious box. Found footage. A large spooky home. Ingredients essential to concoct a horror film, especially when expanded, the narrative grew to include the occult, fiendish looking symbols, and the perennial boogie man. Writer-director Scott Derrickson, whose earlier foray was The Exorcism of Emily Rose, seemed to have scored with a perfect formula through Sinister, because I will unabashedly admit that I got genuinely spooked. Even if he had used the oldest tricks in the book, my heart skipped beats and I was tempted to close my eyes when ominous music blared through the speakers.
Ethan Hawke pulled off a near one man show here, as true-crime novelist Ellison Oswalt, who desperately needs another bestseller so that he can continue what he defines as a comfortable lifestyle for family, consisting of wife Tracy (Juliet Rylance), and young children Trevor (Michael Hall D'Addario) and Ashley (Clare Foley). Unable to afford the mortgage of his current mansion, he uproots everyone to a house that's a bargain in the market, only to keep its secret away from his wife - that it's actually a crime scene to a gruesome massacre. But what better way to fuel his obsession for detailed research than to stay in the house where it happened.
Derrickson balanced his film with a couple of elements that served well for the narrative, with care taken to explore the family dynamics early on, allowing these seeds sown to simmer for a bit, before having it take some importance to affect Ellison's decision making process, whether his family, or mission to stroke his ego, from what he deemed as his calling in life, was more important. Ellison is believable as the protagonist, not that we both enjoy writing, but by making him vulnerable, and put at a crossroads, proved to be a winning factor in making us sympathetic to his cause. That's even though he may be double-headed, in wanting to bring justice to a series of seemingly unrelated murders that he came to know of through some cans of Super 8 films found in his attic, or basically to add to his coffers, and cement his reputation in the literary crime circles.
And these grainy films provide the basis in which a pseudo-investigations begin, where we bear witness to a hanging, a drowning, a burning, a massacre, and more. Derrickson expertly pulls out all the stops in wanting to make a suspenseful film, and succeeded on many counts. Naturally he had the same old elements to rely on to build tension, and anticipation, such as the play with light and shadow, a creepy score contributed by Christopher Young, and really loud musical beats with quick cuts being in sync and on cue for that in your face jump scare. And each of what I call as dirty tricks, hit the sweet spot every time.
With the protagonist being a writer, it fuels possibilities whether the series of events happen to be a product of a fertile mind, stressed from the need to produce another hit book, or to solve the mysteries behind the crimes discovered, or just stemming from his frequent drinking. And having night time shenanigans that would rouse one up from sleep, and in one's blurry state, become opportunities to throw in inexplicable scenarios that cannot be logically dealt with other than be interference from the nether world, that will also test one's propensity to scream. Red herrings are abound, and Derrickson used these to keep you guessing just how the proceedings would unfold, and end.
Predictable especially in the final stages, Sinister opened up a glimmer of hope of a new franchise, given the creation of what could be an iconic horror villain in quite a long while. But that will depend on how this film will fare at the box office to warrant any follow up movie. Hopefully there's a fighting chance here, even if the story never really provided one to the characters, and hurried itself toward an ending that blended reality, and the supernatural.
Movie Rating:
(Recommended for those eager to get frightened in the darkened halls of a cinema)
Review by Stefan Shih
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Mark Tonderai
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Elisabeth Shue, Max Thieriot, Gil Bellows
RunTime: 1 hr 40 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence & Drug References)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 1 November 2012
Synopsis: Seeking a fresh start, newly divorced Sarah (Oscar®-nominee Elisabeth Shue; "Leaving Las Vegas," "Piranha 3D") and her daughter Elissa (Oscar®-nominee Jennifer Lawrence; "X-Men: First Class," "Winter’s Bone") find the house of their dreams in a small, upscale, rural town. But when startling and unexplainable events begin to happen, Sarah and Elissa learn the town is in the shadows of a chilling secret. Years earlier, in the house next door, a daughter killed her parents in their beds, and disappeared - leaving only a brother, Ryan (Max Thieriot, "My Soul to Take"), as the sole survivor. Against Sarah's wishes, Elissa begins a relationship with the reclusive Ryan - and the closer they get, the deeper they're all pulled into a mystery more dangerous than they ever imagined.
Movie Review:
There’s a certain fascination about House at the End of the Street, not because the generic title is wont to keep you guessing whether the movie is in the same genre-bending league as The Cabin in the Woods, but because the lead is played by Jennifer Lawrence. The actress became an overnight media darling after she gained critical acclaim for her role in the high-grossing The Hunger Games earlier this year, so it would seem unlikely that she would risk her reputation to star in such a low-profile movie. As it turns out, House was filmed before The Hunger Games. Unfortunately, House is one of those embarrassing movies that every big-name star makes before the rise to fame or just when the fame is rising.
Playing Elissa, Jennifer Lawrence is surrounded by a largely unknown cast that includes Elizabeth Shue as her newly divorced mother Sarah and Max Theiriot as her love interest Ryan. Determined to start life afresh, Elissa and Sarah have relocated to the House at the End of the Street (where else?), which also happens to be in a wooded area. Their new neighbours have barely given them time to settle down before grumbling about how a daughter’s murder of her parents four years ago in the house next door is still driving property prices down. Curious, Elissa befriends Ryan from the house next door, the murderer’s brother and the sole survivor of the family – only to discover that there’s something sinister about him.
Apart from Jennifer Lawrence’s pleasant demeanour and riveting performance that keep the slower portions interesting, there’s nothing about House that feels particularly appealing. The generic title might suggest that the filmmakers were trying to wrap the movie in as much mystery as possible, but as far as horror thrillers go, House is more cumbersome than mysterious. It isn’t quite the horror movie that the very misleading trailer purports it to be, though House pretends to be headed in that direction before skidding into a terribly unrewarding second half with poorly scripted twists. So while there are scares, none of them are huge and while there are mysteries, none of them are easy to follow.
Part of the reason why it’s so hard to keep up with what House is revealing and what it isn’t is because the movie is far too interested in exploring Ryan than anything else. At the beginning of the show, Elissa’s new neighbours tell us that the murderer (Ryan’s younger sister) might have drowned herself while courteously picking on rumours that she might still be lurking in the woods to look for new victims. It’s a premise that you’re expected to invest in and you’d expect House to keep tabs on, but the movie veers in a totally different direction, focusing instead on Ryan’s psychotic tendencies. There’re bits of information about the murderer, yet there’s never anything staggering that proposes the movie’s interest in answering any of the questions posed at the start.
All these problems make House a very tough movie to watch. You’re constantly hoping that you’ll get answers to the mysteries, and it certainly looks like you’ll get answers, but the movie sinks into mindless slasher flick territory as it heads into the last half hour. There’s an earth-shattering twist during last few seconds that will answer all questions and House will finally make sense. It’s a little too late by then.
Movie Rating:
(Pretending to be a mystery-laden horror movie before eventually sinking into mindless slasher flick territory, House at the End of the Street is a letdown that even Jennifer Lawrence can’t save)
Review by Loh Yong Jian
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Kim Gok, Kim Sun, Lim Dae-woong, Jung Bum-shik, Hong Jee-yong
Cast: Kim Ji-young, Jeong Eun-chae, nam Bo-ra, Kim Hyeon Soo
Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins
Rating: M18 (Violence & Gore)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website:
Opening Day: 1 November 2012
Synopsis: Don’t Answer to the Door:
Movie Review:
Horror Stories is by far the scariest movie this year. So when I say that you should already know whether you want to watch this, I mean it in the best possible way. For the rest of us who aren’t easily spooked by horror shows, Horror Stories is an eclectic anthology of what are essentially four short films bookended by a pointless narration from a kidnapped girl forced to recite horror stories to her captor. Like most shorts from other collections, the movies here tend to sway wildly between varying degrees of okay. It’s a pity some of them don’t bother to make much sense.
The first of the four movies, the grammatically erroneous ‘Don’t Answer to the Door’ also happens to be the most terrifying of the lot. Two kids are forced to fend for their lives after a doorstep delivery leaves them haunted by a dead postman. Their ordeal plays out rather tamely until the short starts swinging horror shenanigans at you faster than you can scream at the oddly hilarious face of the dead postman. The movie is grounded in dream sequences for the most part, giving it plenty of chances to pull off random shocks without it ever having to account for their relevance to the main story. It’s extremely lazy storytelling, to be sure, but if you like no-frills frights, this may be the most appealing.
‘Endless Flight’ is markedly different, choosing to chronicle a stewardess’s intense fight for survival after a suspected serial killer breaks out of his handcuffs and goes on a rampage instead of going for scares. The carefully planned script here is a departure from the previous episode’s cheap, forgettable thrills, making it the most realistic and the best of the four movies, though why the police opt to transport a criminal in a commercial plane is beyond understanding. Apart from a few glances at blood soaked faces, ‘Endless Flight’ is bereft of shocks, but seeing the stewardess continually outwit the killer is no less scary.
Falling somewhere in the middle is ‘Secret Recipe’, a send-up of Saw that finds a home in this collection only because it’s so gruesome. Beneath his avuncular demeanour, a plastic surgeon hides his penchant for cannibalism. Like Jigsaw, he forces his victims into a slow, painful death before devouring them. There’s a mysterious sub-story about how a mother prepares her daughter for marriage to the plastic surgeon only for her to lock her daughter up when the day arrives, but the movie never gets around to making any sense out of it. The scares here are also characterised by awkward visual effects, leaving the gore to do most of the work. It’s simple, but effective.
Comically mistranslated ‘Ambulance on the Death Zone’ squeezes into the final slot and ends the collection with a very familiar bang. Escaping from zombies in an ambulance, a doctor encounters a suspicious victim covered in scratches. Her mother claims that she was injured during a car accident, but the doctor is adamant that she’s turning into a zombie. With no way to prove whether or not she’s still human, the movie turns into a tense, emotional struggle between both, with the doctor believing that she should be abandoned and the mother insisting that her daughter receive medical help in the safety zone. Scenes of zombie-on-human action intersperse an otherwise melodramatic piece.
By now, whether you should expect a clear verdict on Horror Stories is beside the point. Honestly, it’s a string of stories that’s too exhausting to even try to summarise in one judgment, but if I have to leave you with something, it would be this: ‘Endless Flight’ and ‘Ambulance on the Death Zone’ are equally enjoyable, stretching tensions while retaining a chip of horror. ‘Secret Recipe’ is decidedly less smart while ‘Don’t Answer to the Door’ feels the most misplaced, funny in parts it shouldn’t be. With each short handled by a different director, it’s almost inevitable that Horror Stories is an amalgamation of several disparate styles. Which means it's almost inevitable that only half of the ticket price will be justified.
Movie Rating:
(Like other collections of short films, Horror Stories features some shorts which are better than the others)
Review by Loh Yong Jian
Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Cast: Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, David Oyelowo, Richard Jenkins, Alexia Fast, Robert Duvall, Jai Courtney, Werner Herzog
RunTime: 2 hrs 10 mins
Released By: UIP
Rating: PG13 (Brief Coarse Language And Some Violence)
Official Website: http://www.jackreachermovie.com/
Opening Day: 20 December 2012
Synopsis: Six shots. Five dead. One heartland city thrown into a state of terror. But within hours the cops have it solved: a slam-dunk case. Except for one thing. The accused man says: You got the wrong guy. Then he says: Get Reacher for me. And sure enough, ex–military investigator Jack Reacher is coming. He knows this shooter—a trained military sniper who never should have missed a shot. Reacher is certain something is not right—and soon the slam-dunk case explodes. Now Reacher is teamed with a beautiful young defense lawyer, moving closer to the unseen enemy who is pulling the strings. Reacher knows that no two opponents are created equal. This one has come to the heartland from his own kind of hell. And Reacher knows that the only way to take him down is to match his ruthlessness and cunning—and then beat him shot for shot.
Movie Review:
The idea that Jack Reacher attended the same detective school as Sherlock Holmes is hard to shake. Both have the near mystical ability to replay terrifyingly accurate flashbacks of a crime, an impressive tendency to uncover clues that everyone else has missed and impeccable skills in hand-to-hand combat. But it’s safe to assume that Jack Reacher isn’t simply a poltergeist of Sherlock Holmes. Where the latter has caustic wit and a welcoming demeanour, Jack Reacher has cold seriousness and rough-hewn mannerisms. Which is about all it takes to tell you why Jack Reacher isn’t nearly as fun to watch as Sherlock Holmes, though that is hardly any of this movie’s faults.
Jack Reacher, the brainchild of British novelist Lee Child and the protagonist in 17 novels so far, is a celebrated veteran soldier and a former military police investigator trained to kill. An adaptation of Child’s 2005 novel One Shot, Reacher’s big screen debut involves him with a suspect accused of sniping five seemingly random people. Feeling that the suspect has been framed, Reacher decides to team up with the accused’s defense lawyer. As he digs deeper into the mystery, he discovers a secret that could endanger the lives of everyone involved. Reacher now has to find the real killer before he gets to him and take the lives of those around him.
Like any good detective drama, Jack Reacher sidesteps viewers at just about every turn. Tom Cruise grounds his performance in as much cloying confidence and swagger as one could ever need to make seemingly shocking and inane speculation look like the most educated guesses. It’s this confidence that carries through to scenes featuring more physical work. Not famous for having the most challenging height in Hollywood, and certainly not for fitting the 1.96m stature of Child’s literary creation, Cruise has had his fair share of naysayers, but here he proves that it’s the spirit of the character that really counts. Drowning his finger in the eye socket of an enemy with methodical calmness, Cruise shows that he has made Reacher his for years to come.
Yet if any future Reacher movie is to be made, better informed creative liberties have to be taken with the source material. The movie is almost starved of the necessary complexity to make it work wonders, chief of which is the motivation of Reacher’s arch nemesis The Zec, here being muddied at best and non-existent at worst. Likewise, Reacher never reveals how he became a Bruce Wayne wannabe, but that may be partly due to the decision to adapt the 9th book in the series rather than the 1st. Even if there’s text in the novel pertaining to said worries, it has sadly been left on the cutting room floor.
The biggest problem, however, is Jack Reacher isn’t that entertaining to watch afterall. Barring a protracted car chase with the police and a bar fight against five henchmen, the movie is woefully restrained, trapped in a tangled web of practicality and the cutting combat efficiency that Reacher abides to. Whereas Sherlock Holmes invites his opponents to test his repertoire of fighting skills, Reacher seems almost too afraid to get into trouble and is content to take down his opponent in as few moves as possible. To be sure, it’s a great survival strategy, but there’s little in the form excitement for the audience.
Movie Rating:
(A decent first effort in adapting Jack Reacher for the big screen, but future Reacher movies could use more complexity and less restrained action)
Review by Loh Yong Jian
Genre: Martial Arts
Director: Andrew Lau
Cast: Huang Xiaoming, Ethan Juan, Shawn Yue, Li Yuchun, Jing Boran, Stephy Tang, Li Meng, Pu Bajia, Jimmy Wang Yu, King Shih-Chieh
Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins
Rating: PG13 (Violence)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures & Encore Films
Official Website: http://www.encorefilms.com/guillotines/
Opening Day: 27 December 2012
Synopsis: During the Manchurian-ruled Qing Dynasty, Emperor Yong Zheng established a secret assassination squad known as the Guillotines to eliminate all who opposed him. Once heavily favored by the Emperor, the Guillotines are deemed expendable once Emperor Qian Long ascends to the throne and adopts Western ideas and technology.
To consolidate his power under a new regime, the Emperor continues to use the Guillotines to persecute the conquered Han Chinese in a reign of terror and oppression. Led by master fighter Leng, the top ranked guillotine squad consists of five young warriors: Mu, San, Tai, Hutu and Buka. Serving the Qing Court unquestioningly, they have never failed in 348 missions to eliminate their targets.
But their success has made them arrogant and complacent. Their next mission is to eliminate Wolf and his Shepherd gang. During the operation, the squad manages to trap Wolf. Just as they are about to execute him, the squad commander orders that he be captured alive. He secretly plans to use Wolf as a pawn in his bid for power. Wolf’s gang of rebels ambushes the Guillotines in their moment of hesitation. Wolf escapes, taking Mu hostage.
With reports that Wolf has fled to the outer frontiers, the squad tracks him to a remote village outpost. On the other hand, the Emperor has sent his most trusted agent Du for the same mission and most importantly, to end the era of the Guillotines by replacing cold weapons with firearms. If only they make one false move, they will become the hunted. Facing annihilation, Leng and his Guillotines must outfight and outwit enemies from both sides.
Movie Review:
Just so you are under no illusion of the lethalness of a flying guillotine, a thrilling opening sequence sees the titular group of assassins under Emperor Qian Long’s command using the feared weapon against a gang of rebels known as ‘The Herders’. Dispatched from its wielder like a flying wheel, it locks around its target’s neck, activating a volley of blades within capable of decapitating a head right off its body. It’s not a pretty sight no doubt, but still a perfect precursor for what is lined up.
‘The Guillotines’ is not a pretty movie; rather, things look perpetually grimy and gloomy- much like the fate of the assassins led by Nala Leng (Ethan Juan). Plucked as orphans from a young age, they know no family but their own fellow comrades in arms. Then despite being the most formidable of the Emperor’s soldiers, their status was never made official; lest the throne be accused of resorting to “dirty” methods to get rid of its enemies. And when the Emperor decides it is time for reformation, they are regarded as threats and hunted for dead.
In the hands of a lesser producer, such material might have been just the subject of another run of the mill big-budget period action blockbuster; but with Peter Chan on board, you can be sure that ‘The Guillotines’ will be so much more. And indeed you will not be disappointed, as Chan assembles some of his best screenwriters – Aubrey Lam (“Perhaps Love”, “The Warlords” and “Wu Xia”), Joyce Chan (“Bodyguards and Assassins”, “Wu Xia”) and Jojo Hui (“The Warlords”) – to pen a compelling story on power, leadership and loyalty.
Of the three, it is the last that gets most prominent play – not only are the Guillotines forced to re-evaluate their blind loyalty to the Emperor, their leader Leng is faced with an even bigger dilemma as he is made to choose between the brothers he has fought with and his childhood buddy and Imperial Agent Du (Shawn Yue) with whom he had sworn their allegiance with to the Emperor when they were mere children. Leng and his fellow agent Musen (Li Yuchun) are further challenged when their arch enemy Wolf (Huang Xiaoming) – the leader of the “Herders” – turns out to be much more than just an anarchist.
As bit by bit of each character’s background and motivations are revealed, the viewer is challenged to put aside conventional archetypes of hero and villain, good and bad, right and wrong. Even as the movie begins with an action-oriented approach, director Andrew Lau adroitly adopts a much more elegant character-driven narrative towards the second half – and it is indeed an achievement when each character turns out to be more morally complex than we would have expected when we are first introduced to them.
Yet even while maintaining an intimate focus on the characters, Lau doesn’t lose sight of the larger context against which the character struggles unfold. At the crux of the turmoil is the Emperor’s thirst for power, the need to enslave the Han Chinese perceived to be antagonistic to his authoritarian rule. Then when the Emperor first sends the Guillotines and subsequently a whole regimen of fire-armed soldiers to quell the unrest and demand obedience, the film thrusts into prominence the consequences of a rule by force, even if it is meant to serve a greater purpose of unification. Right until an empathetic speech at the end on the importance of a rule founded on respect, the movie cleverly earns real-world relevance in its lessons on reform and revolution – especially given the recent leadership transition in Mainland China.
Such lofty ambitions rest on the shoulders of a young and fresh cast – thankfully, each perform at least adequately according to the demands of their respective roles. Up and coming Mainland actor Huang brings an appropriately rebellious yet grounded touch to Wolf; while Juan and Yue are well paired with each other as the “brothers” whose friendship is tested by their supposed unwavering loyalty to the Emperor. Li, who also sings the theme song, is surprisingly affecting as one of the Guillotines forced to re-assess everything she knows when she is taken hostage by Wolf. And with Peter Chan’s assistance no doubt, the movie gets a nice boost from veteran actors Jimmy Wang Yu and King Shih-Chieh, who shine in their bit roles as the leader of the Guillotines and commander of the border Army respectively.
Compared to the excellent drama at play, the inevitable action sequences choreographed by veteran Lee Tat-Chiu seem to be merely perfunctory. Only two sequences – the first described at the start of this review and the second when Wolf’s men conduct a daring ambush in broad daylight to rescue him – see the famed ‘flying guillotine’ deployed in its full glory, with the rest consisting mostly of some of the biggest explosions you’ve seen in Chinese cinema. That’s not to say they aren’t well done, but the most absorbing parts of the movie still belong to the character drama.
Considering the troubled production history behind the film – conceived first as a remake of the classic Shaw Brothers’ film ‘Master of the Flying Guillotine’ and then losing first choice Teddy Chan as director – it’s to both producer Peter Chan and director Andrew Lau’s credit that the film is this outstanding. Deftly balancing complex character-driven drama with gripping action, Lau delivers one of his best and most challenging films since ‘Infernal Affairs’ – with Peter Chan proving once again that his Midas touch in films (whether as a producer or director) is still very much alive. Even though the Guillotines only lived as myth and were never officially recognised, this movie will go down as one of the finest examples of Chinese cinema this year.
P.S. If you’re thinking how the movie looks in 3D, let’s just say that while the action scenes are better off with the format, the rest – and majority – of the movie could do with or without.
Movie Rating:
(A compelling watch thanks to rich and textured character-driven drama based on gripping themes of power, leadership and loyalty)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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