If you remember my review on 'Hitman' you might recall that, and I quote, "I just plain didn't care". 'Hitman' was extremely average as an action flick, and felt a bit more like a movie within a movie. To top that all off, it was also a game collection never took any interest in. I think I had a demo for the first one, tried it, and it was just like these movies - okay at best. What can I say? It was another popular title I didn't quite latch on to. But once again, reviewing this as more as its own movie than a movie based on a game, it all just lands on one simple non-word - "meh". Going a bit more into Agent 47's origins, we learn (again?) that 47 (Rupert Friend - because Timothy Olyphant had better things to do) is a genetically enhanced super soldier who was created by a geneticist named Dr. Petr Litvenko (Ciarán Hinds). 47 becomes a hitman for the fictional ICA (International Contracts Agency) after Litvenko abandons the project due to a guilty conscience. For the last few years, 47 has been on the trail of Litvenko's daughter, Katia (Hannah Ware). Scared for her life, and cursed with a superhuman awareness of the world around her, she goes along with a man named John Smith (Zachary Quinto), who offers her protection. In the meantime, there is a group of mercenaries, led by a man named Delriego (Rolf Kanies) trying to find Litvenko in an attempt to recreate the Agent program for their own selfish means. Also, when it comes to Katia, she is searching for an unnamed man who may or may not have more of a connection to her than she could imagine - in fact, so does Agent 47. And with all that said, what can I say? I probably cared about this one even less than the first. I can't quite put my finger on what it is about 'Hitman' that I can't seem to get into, but much like I said in my last 'Hitman' review - it's simply not for me. Considering a lot of the video game titles I do like, that is honestly pretty strange, but here we are. To keep it plain and simple, this is another example of a movie that uses other movies to piece itself together. Although I must admit that the film didn't have my full attention, there are hints of the first couple of 'Terminator' movies going on here, along with... well, more of the same of the previous film. As far as action flicks go, it's kind of generic, and there's nothing here that really holds my attention. In fact, in trying to remember bits about the first film at this point, even though my review was recent enough, I've already forgotten most of what happened. There are other video game movies - some of the even worse in quality than this - that can hold my attention better, and I can manage to keep good memories of. Sometimes they're flat out bad movies, but at least they are entertaining in a cheesy way ('Street Fighter' being my prime example).In my opinion, on a shelf of video game movies, these flicks would be titles that I'd completely overlook in search of something else I could have more fun with. The funny thing is, these movies aren't even that terrible, they're just all-out forgettable. They're another fine example of movies you should throw your brain out the window to enjoy. However, I should probably mention that the "brain out the window" thing can only go so far. This didn't feel, to me, something I could look back on and have fun with, re-watching it and laughing with some friends. 'Super Mario Bros', 'Street Fighter', 'Mortal Kombat', they all have that corny quality where we see that they're pretty bad, but we still have a good time because it's all so dumb. This is more a matter of it being an action flick for a boring Sunday afternoon when you're super bored. If action movies were cups of coffee, this would be a small, regular - average at best, not enough to be memorable, and something you'd "drink" for a little pick me up as opposed to your glorious morning cup. 2/5
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I always enjoyed the fact that 'Breaking Bad' ends the way it does, and 'Need for Speed' ended up being Aaron Paul's next project. The only thing was, said project, came and went about as fast as the cars that it features. In the same sort of vein as something like 'DOA' or 'Tekken', this is a film based on a well-known game franchise, but some people still don't fully realize the films exist. There actually seems to be quite a few of those I've come across, so I've been pretty happy about at least being able to view new titles to me. But I digress. More review, less filler! We meet a mechanic named Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul). Desperate to keep his family-owned business going, he begins life as an underground street racer. When he ends up in dire straits, he forms a reluctant partnership with ex-NASCAR champion, Dino Brewster (Dominic Cooper). Together they stand the possibility of completing a project started by the late, great Carroll Shelby (who we may remember from 'Ford v Ferrari'), that has the potential to earn them a handsome amount of cash. However, their sale to car broker, Julia Bonet (Imogen Poots) includes a disagreement between Marshall and Brewster, and a tragic street racing accident is used to frame Marshall, and send him to prison. Two years later, Marshall is released on parole with vengeance against Brewster on the mind, but getting it done on the streets. Winning top prize in America's biggest underground street race, the De Leon, would get this done without hurting anyone (I mean, as far as that goes when it comes to street racing). But Brewster has also put a bounty on Marshall's car, while the police are constantly on his tail, making his task no easy one. But hey, does any of this sound familiar? I dunno about anyone else, but I feel like I more or less got what I wanted from this. Making rivals on the streets between police and other street racers? And the idea that this is based on a game with no linear story through its library? Although the film, on the whole, isn't exactly the best, it definitely is a 'Need for Speed' movie. The only question is, are you willing to accept it as it is? I can't help but feel if they took this plot and put it into another 'Need for Speed' title, it would be just fine. Things would feel pretty much natural. Maybe not the best of the series, but it'd work out. Unfortunately, a big screen adaptation of something like this is just another street racing movie, that feels too little too late. I think at this point, competing against 'Fast & Furious' movies (especially with 6 at this point, and #7 well on the way) is pretty much an automatic no-go. Somehow, that franchise cheeses things up to the utmost degree, but we love them because they're fun movies to lose your mind to. That's incredibly hard to compete with - a franchise that knows it's dumb, but people love it because it's dumb. I think the biggest problem with this movie is, honestly, just the length of it. It's a full 2 hours and 15 minutes, and it crowbars in celebrities like Michael Keaton to pad things out. He's a good name to have, but he's just a DJ who follows these underground races, channelling his inner Beetlejuice as he talks. The film could lose all of his scenes and would still make perfect sense. Although, at the time, Keaton was the biggest name the film had, other than Aaron Paul. It just felt unnecessary to me, but he was still pretty entertaining, as it felt like he was really into it. This is a tough one to make out. It really is just another street racing movie, with not a hell of a lot going for it (aside from a few cool stunts). But because its entitled 'Need for Speed', I personally feel like I can forgive it for its flaws much more. I just wasn't really that disappointed considering I got pretty much what I would have been looking for in a 'Need for Speed' movie. The film's main problems lie somewhere between the writing and the unnecessary length. But this is tolerable for what it's supposed to be, and while still pretty bad, might make for one of the better video game adaptations - if only things weren't so simple and they had more to work with. 2/5 So far, on this list of video game flicks, the one that stands out as best overall (at least for yours truly) has been 'Silent Hill'. There's a certain dark, horrific beauty to it that I couldn't help but admire. And while it may or may not be reminiscent of the game for fans, it totally works on its own as a simple, mind-bending horror movie. In other words, you really didn't need the game to enjoy it - all the stuff that needed to be there was there; not the least of which was a brilliantly eerie soundtrack (perfect for Halloween). But now we take a look at the film's sequel; a somewhat convoluted mess that I almost feel like I should watch again before reviewing it, because it was kind of confusing, but I don't want to, so here we are with a somewhat half-assed attempt. So, some years after the events of the first film, Christopher Da Silva (Sean Bean) and his adopted daughter, Sharon (Adelaide Clemens) find themselves on the run, assuming different identities; prominently, in this film, Harry and Heather Mason (I will keep calling them Chris and Sharon for purposes of recognition). Now for those catching up, we know Chris and Sharon from the first film, and as far as we know before going into this, they remain somewhere in Silent Hill - so IS this the real Sharon? While Sharon is convinced that their running has to do with Chris being in trouble with the cops, Chris knows better that it's actually a cult from Silent Hill known simply as "The Order". Now, the standard 'Silent Hill' story tends to involve someone venturing, or being taken into the dark world of Silent Hill, and another venturing in after them. In this case, the Order kidnaps Chris, and Sharon heads in to find him with the help of one, Vincent Cooper (Kit Harington). Maybe it's just my ADD at work, but pretty much around the time the Silent Hill stuff starts to go down, that's where things started to confuse me. This was a film that I found to be a jigsaw puzzle pieced together wrong. It consisted of all the right pieces, but it get to be too much for a plot that should be about as basic as the first. If you're in the mood for a lot of disturbing imagery that borders on torture porn, however, this could be pretty ripe for the picking for you. That's one thing I'd say the movie did really well - the atmosphere of the first film is still ever present, and that includes the soundtrack that I so praise. So as far as the mood goes, in my humble opinion, the film nails it. There's also some pretty great usage of practical effects to add some of that real "meat" to things. All in all, the film is successfully creepy, and uses various stars to its advantage like Carrie-Anne Moss and Malcolm McDowell. Who do they play? No spoilers, but if you need to know, here's this. The film unfolds with some mystery and intrigue, but I personally had a tough time with it. While certain aspects of the film are done really quite well, other things are either confusing or even sort of redundant. I mean, we have a character going into Silent Hill looking for another character while the story tells some kind of horrific history in the town, for some reason always involving a little girl. And I think that's where the film really drops the ball; it's sort of more of the same, and the cool, gruesome, horrific imagery just isn't enough to save it. In my mind, I'd say stick to the first one, as it just plain works as its own horror movie complete with a twist ending. This, while I wouldn't consider it trash, is a bit more or a spectacle than a good story. Who knows, it could make for a guilty pleasure for the Halloween season. 2/5 Once again, here we have a game in which I have never dabbled, nor do I have many friends who have ever talked about it. As far as I have researched, however, the games largely deal in stealth. Starting with 2000's 'Hitman: Codename 47', the games are semi-open world, third person, and the aim is to eliminate the targets assigned to you, being as stealthy as possible. They feature a cloned hitman known only as Agent 47, who works for the fictional ICA (International Contract Agency), and was genetically engineered to be amazing at his job - seen as the world's best assassin. The film certainly takes some of these elements, but I find things do get a little more convoluted than they really needed to. To confess, it may have been a bit of a lack of interest on my part, but I found myself confused from time to time while watching this, having to look up the Wiki synopsis just to get back on track. It's another movie where I can easily see others getting more out of it than I did, because for some reason, I just never got into this series... which is super weird, because playing stealthily is one of my favourite ways to play, ever since I played 'Manhunt', which actually came out three years after 'Codename 47'. Anyway, concerning the plot, we open with the image of a group of young boys at some facility getting barcode tattoos on the back of their shaved heads, which 'Dark Angel' did first, but I digress. These guys are trained in all sorts of specialties like unarmed combat, weaponry, demolitions etc. This is something we've seen a bunch of times at this point, most recently with 'Black Widow' - kids trained from a young age to become assassins. We then fast-forward to present day where Interpol agent Mike Whittier (Dougray Scott) runs into Agent 47 (Timothy Olyphant) who holds him at gunpoint, and they discuss 47's life, raised and trained to be a pro hitman by a group known as "The Organization". We then go back three months earlier, when after completing a job, 47 is contacted by his handler, Diana Burnwood (Lisa Ray-Jacobs) to take out Russian President, Mikhail Belicoff (Ulrich Thomsen). 47 seemingly carries out this task, but is later contacted and told that the attempt failed. He is then to take out the apparent witness to his attempt, Nika (Olga Kurylenko), who also happens to be Belicoff's mistress. Soon enough, 47 realizes that he has been setup, and a body double for Belicoff is trying to take things over, and they find themselves on the run from the Organization who seems to be behind everything. Like I said though, I was confused through much of this, and by the time it was over, I just plain didn't care. I can't quite put my finger on why, but this wasn't for me, despite its total potential. I think for yours truly, much of the problem lies in that whole backstory of training assassins from childhood, seemingly against their will. The real difference here is that 47 is still working for The Organization rather than being that one hero who escapes their mad clutches. Otherwise, it's not something I'd say is necessarily bad, but I'd suggest that it wasn't quite for me. I cannot put my finger on it, but for some reason I completely seem to lack an interest for anything 'Hitman'. It sounds like a series that would be up my alley. But I suppose it lies in the characters - I just don't care about anyone here. 47 is an asshole, Nika is full of herself, and this feels like a situation where you have no idea who you should be routing for. So, while It's definitely not my favourite video game movie, I may yet suggest that it's passable for others. As mentioned earlier, my knowledge on these games is slim to none, so whether or not they got various things right here is beyond me. I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record saying stuff like that, but there's a lot ahead that I'm probably going to feel the same about, so my readers may want to get used to it. As a stand-alone movie (treating this a little more like 'Resident Evil') this isn't that bad, it's just not something I'm particularly into. It's got solid action and atmosphere, and Olyphant plays things pretty darkly here, which I appreciate. But the plot is seemingly all over the place, and there was nothing that really absorbed me into things. Consider this one on the higher end of its overall rating. 2/5 Back in my PS1 days, there were two survival horror games that stuck out to me as potentially very good... if only I could get the handle of them. 'Resident Evil' was one of them, of course, owing largely to being the first game to give me a genuine jump scare. The other was the mind-bending and surreal nightmare that was 'Silent Hill'. It had an atmosphere with its gruesome imagery, lighting and dream-like, subtle soundtrack that I couldn't help but admire as what "horror" should be. It's a bit mind-blowing to think that at the time, a game could capture some truly horrific material while a movie couldn't. The first game was '99, so horror was in a heavy phase of teen slashers. They were all basically some kind of 'Friday the 13th' ripoff taking place in a more real-world setting. 'Silent Hill', among other games, however, offered something more unique - perhaps being able to get away with it a little easier both graphically and, well, graphically. Whether or not I ever got the handle of 'Resident Evil' and its tank controls, 'Silent Hill' was one I wished I didn't suck at because I wanted to experience it as some sort of next level horror. I might add that it was also around this time I started getting interested in all the classic 80s slashers I missed. The film's basic premise is seemingly pretty similar to the first game, but borrows elements as opposed to characters, all of whom are original for the film. I offer the movie credit for that, as it can be a self-contained story and doesn't really have to follow much of the game's original plot. In the argument of introducing us to Cole in the new 'Mortal Kombat', or Alice in 'Resident Evil', they interact with a whole bunch of characters we already know from the games, so you wonder where they enter into things. This, much like the games, is its own story, so even as a video game adaptation it sort of works either way. All they needed to do was add the right elements. Story-wise, this one opens with couple Christopher and Rose Da Silva (Sean Bean and Radha Mitchell, respectively) chasing after their daughter, Sharon (Jodelle Ferland) who just about sleepwalks her way off a cliff (filmed at my somewhat local Devil's Punch Bowl - in fact, much of this was filmed close to where I live, which is always pretty cool). She screams out the words "Silent Hill", and the parents wish they could figure out the connection between her and this mysterious location. Rose takes Sharon to find the town, which had since been abandoned due to a coal fire that continues to burn - based on the real-life location of Centralia, PA. Upon experiencing a car crash during a police chase from the seemingly shady officer Cybill Bennett (Laurie Holden), Rose awakens in the mysterious and abandoned ghost town with her daughter now missing. When Rose heads out to search for her, she soon finds herself in a hell on Earth where any time a loud siren goes off, trouble in its most terrifying forms are on their way. Along her journey to rescue her daughter, Rose further uncovers a mystery that may explain her daughter's connection with this Hellish town full of monster babies, twisty, bendy people, and a "Pyramid Head", who by the way offers up one of the most brutal deaths I've seen on screen - even if the effects are a bit dated now. Although I remain somewhat unsure of how this works as an adaptation, I think it's a title that can stand on its own very well as long as it's treated like its own thing, and not a direct adaptation of any of the games. Putting that aside, I would suggest that as a horror movie, this is something that does a good job of bringing that same horror magic I experienced with the first game to the big screen. When it comes to horror, I definitely have a thing for the twisted and unusual. A good horror movie has to mess with my mind, and this does manage that in several ways. It may not have done well critically, but this has its cult following of fans who suggest it's one of the best video game movies we have. I have to say, I couldn't agree more! While I still say that goes to 'Mortal Kombat', this was still at least objectively enjoyable as a horror movie. 4/5 |