 The previous 'Sonic' film took me some time to really warm up to, but it has since become something I enjoy. I originally had my hang-ups about adapting a famous property into yet another "fish-out-of-water" story like, 'Smurfs,' or 'Masters of the Universe,' in which our hero's extraordinary home world is left behind to spend the majority of the film on Earth, trying to get back. 'Sonic' did this as well, but at the very least, things weren't as simple as that basic plotline idea. Plus, we had the resurrection of Jim Carrey.
However, there may be a bias here with me and the 'Sonic' franchise because these games were a significant part of my childhood. If these movies had been released in the early '90s, when Carrey and the Sonic franchise were both in their prime, and I was still young, I'd have loved them and probably made them favourites among titles that still sit close to my heart today, like 'Ghostbusters' and 'Ninja Turtles.' But alas, we weren't even at 'Toy Story' yet, as far as CG animation goes, so here we are. The nostalgia particularly pops for me with this sequel, as it introduces the likes of both Tails (Colleen O'Shaughnessey) and Knuckles (Idris Elba), whom I remember fondly from a couple of my games, particularly, 'Sonic Triple Trouble,' which I was addicted to. But I'm getting ahead of myself. The sequel, here, picks up eight months after the first film's events. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) has been banished to a Mushroom Planet, and Sonic (Ben Schwartz) is living the good life with Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie Wachowski (Tika Sumpter). However, Sonic becomes easily bored and, with his super-speed powers, acts as a vigilante hero for the town of Green Hills, Montana. This leads to an "Uncle Ben" moment from Tom, who tells Sonic to be patient and responsible with his powers after Sonic pretty much tears up a city block. Eventually, Tom and Maddie depart for Maddie's sister's wedding in Hawaii, thanks to one of Sonic's incredibly handy Warp Rings (I gotta get some of those). Of course, Sonic goes hog-wild with the house to himself, but he has no idea what's coming. Sonic's "party" is soon disrupted by Doctor Robotnik and his new "friend," Knuckles, the Echidna, who has a hilarious "Drax"-like personality. Both are out for revenge; Robotnik's is obvious. Knuckles wants to honour his extinct Echidna tribe by finding the legendary Master Emerald, allowing whoever possesses it to bend reality to their will. Of course, once Robotnik gets hold of this information, he starts a scheme of his own, along with his old assistant, Stone (Lee Majdoub), to help Knuckles find the Emerald and steal it from him. Sonic's only real help is from a kid who idolizes him: a two-tailed fox named Miles "Tails" Prower. Miles Prower is a fun play on words here and even a part of the character's original history, showing that the writers here did at least a little homework. And that's what I do enjoy about these movies. Most of the time, if there's something out of place about the film as far as an adaptation goes, I do a little of my homework and usually realize the movie is pretty accurate. They're also not shy about the design of things. For example, here, we see Robotnik floating around in a big half-ball machine straight out of the games. While these films give me a certain sense of nostalgia, as so much about them is very '90s, I can't deny there was a thing or two that irked me here. The cliche of dancing to get out of a sticky situation at a rough and tumble bar is in here, for example, feeling a lot like filler. Also, like its predecessor, the jokes and gags are very "Dad." But I can't just sit here and point out everything I don't like about it. The film is meant for a younger audience; it's harmless, and again, I can't deny that the child within me sees the appeal. I'll say again: I'd have loved these as a kid. 3/5
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 Through and through, I consider myself a Mario Man. But there was something special I couldn't deny about those 'Sonic' games I had for my Sega Game Gear. I didn't even go for much else when equipping my Game Gear with fun because I always knew I'd have fun with 'Sonic' games and their "Blast Processing" (which gave Sonic his incredible speed). It sure beat putting around in the OG 'Mario Kart,' and to put a cherry on top of it all, those 'Sonic' games had some amazing, catchy soundtracks.
Two animated series came out to add to the fun of the 'Sonic' games. They ran parallel, but one show was far better than the other. 'The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog' was far more cartoonish, kid-friendly, and had several uncomfortable PSAs. The other, 'Sonic the Hedgehog,' provided an overarching story featuring characters who didn't exist in the games and told an environmentally conscious story without rubbing it in our faces. It was great! A Sonic movie should always have come from that concept for my money. But we got this instead, which many people still love. We start on Sonic's (Ben Schwartz) home planet, where he was born with super speed powers, and the land's native echidnas are constantly chasing him down for said powers. In his childhood, he was protected by an Owl named Longclaw (Donna Jay Fulks), who, as far as I can tell, is brand new here. That might irk some, but the cartoon I loved did the same thing, so it wasn't a big deal for me. During one such chase, Longclaw uses a "Warp Ring" to send him through a portal to Earth so he can stay protected, sending a bag of rings with him. On Earth, Sonic grows up as a cryptid, often called the "Blue Devil." He suggests that he's living the good life, but this life of hiding has him lonely. As a result, Sonic throws a tantrum that causes a power outage throughout the quaint little town of Green Hills, Montana. Knowing he caused the blackout, Sonic tries hiding in Tom Wachowski's (James Marsden) garage, where he can get off Earth using one of his rings, away from the people who will now be looking for him. But when Tom busts in to discover Sonic, a mishap with the Warp Rings occurs, sending Sonic's rings through a Warp Hole to San Francisco. The loss of Sonic's rings sends him and Tom on a road trip to San Francisco to retrieve them. Why doesn't Sonic zoom over and grab them himself? He has no idea where San Francisco is or how to get there. In the meantime, the massive blackout Sonic caused has the government bring in Doctor Robotnik (Jim Carrey in what is arguably his resurrection), who eventually discovers Sonic is the source and could very well have the ability to supercharge his machines. Hence, their rivalry begins. The film all comes down to being a road trip chase movie, complete with Easter eggs for fans like me. The fact that it takes place in "Green Hills" is only the tip of the iceberg. There are relatively obscure references, too, like the "Mean Bean Machine," which is just a coffeemaker in the film. You even get to hear a bit of that classic Green Hills Zone music (if you know any music from the game, it's probably that theme). So, this is a pretty good choice for a movie that will appeal to the Genesis/Game Gear generation and kids who may be brand new to the 'Sonic' franchise. I wasn't as sure about the quality of this film the first time I saw it, but I have to admit that it has grown on me over time. With the help of Jim Carrey's comedic timing and showing us a lot of game familiarity, I credit the film for successfully executing the "fish-out-of-water" cliche. It's not just "Sonic on Earth". They do something with it, making him a cryptid and having him meet his arch-nemesis on Earth instead of someone just following through a portal. It's not quite the movie I wanted initially, but I'll be damned if I can't give this movie a bit of real kudos for doing a video game movie, perhaps not perfectly, but damn well. 4/5  A bit of a confession to the masses that a few people know about me is that when it comes to classically epic movies - you know, the kind that are often considered some of the greats, I don't end up watching them that often. I'll view them once or twice just to say I've seen them, but the collection of amazing movies out there I've only seen a handful of times, or even once, is pretty outstanding, and would shock people. 'Gladiator' is one such title, which I saw twice in theatres, twice on DVD, and I've left it alone for over two decades until now.
The great thing about being such a fan of film, yet having that approach to things, is that it allows movies to be "brand new" to me again, and I can enjoy them on that level I enjoyed them once in the past. Sometimes things like early CG can get in the way, but not in the case of something like 'Gladiator,' which overthrows anything bad about it (and there's not much) with a great story, bringing together bits of fact and fiction to create something truly epic, and arguably, one of the greatest films of all time. The whole thing opens up in the year 180 AD, where Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) leads Emperor Marcus Aurelius' Roman army to victory against Germanic tribes. As this puts Maximus in Marcus' favour, Marcus tells him of his crooked son, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), whom he deems unfit to take things over. Instead, Marcus tells Maximus how he'd like him to take succession as regent, believing he would be a great leader who will be able to restore the Roman Republic. Upon finding this information out, Commodus gets understandably PO'ed, murders his father in secret, and proclaims himself the new Emperor of Rome. When he requests Maximus' loyalty, however, Maximus refuses, remembering what Marcus told him. That's when things go off the rails. As Maximus fails to pledge his loyalty, in turn, he eventually discovers the murdered bodies of his wife and family, and is eventually sold to gladiator trainer Proximo (Oliver Reed). The thing is, Maximus is not just some guy off the streets of Rome - he's a trained, professional war General, and has some skills. As Maximus keeps fighting through battles, mostly at Rome's Colosseum, his popularity rises, earning him the nickname "The Spaniard." But when Commodus organizes 150 days of gladiatorial games to commemorate his father, Proximo convinces Maximus that if he wants his freedom, he's gonna have to win over the crowd. His popularity may very well be the only thing that keeps him from getting killed, despite Commodus' dislike for him, as Commodus wants the respect of the Roman people. This is a film that still totally holds up, and I'd highly recommend checking it out again if you haven't seen it in a while. It's a friendly reminder that epic movies of the early 2000s could still be pulled off without needing a whole lot of CG, which, at the time, 'Lord of the Rings' was pulling off really well, but 'Star Wars' exemplified CG that hasn't aged very well. It was a mixed bag. But luckily, here, for cool scenes like the tiger brawl, they used real tigers and a teeny-tiny bit of CG and stuffed tigers for their deaths, and it still looks great. I remember this one getting all the accolades of the time, too. Twelve Oscar nominations, for example, winning five, including Best Picture. And if you go to IMDb right now, it is ranked as #34 in the Top 250 Movies of All Time. Any way you slice it, really, this is just one of those legendary titles that has gone down in cinematic history as something truly epic in every sense of the word. So go ahead and check it out if you've never seen it, and after you're done, ask yourself the big question; "are you not entertained?" 5/5  As the Sony-verse continued to unfold with its whole "Not-Sinister-Six" plan, I left 'Carnage' here with the same thoughts I had about its predecessor. The characters may not have been developed perfectly, but they looked great, were well-cast, and it's an easy movie to have fun with. Also, just like 'Venom,' while this didn't necessarily do well critically, the fans make it clear that it's not so bad, as long as you can let go of reality a bit. And you should for a character like Venom.
This one branches nicely off of 'Venom' and its stinger scene, in which we see Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) head into San Quentin State Prison to interview one Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson). And if you've ever been any sort of fan of Venom, you know exactly who that is. While the MCU is the "King of Stingers," I can at least say there wasn't any confusion about what this was meant to lead to. Kasady simply leaves us with the promise of "Carnage" whenever he manages to get out, and a lot of us looked forward to the next chapter. We open here back in 1996, where we meet a young Kasady (Jack Bandeira), communicating back and forth through holding cells with his love interest, Frances Barrison, AKA "Shriek" (Naomie Harris), who is more or less revealed to be a mutant, in so many words, to keep it nice and legal. She is taken from St. Estes Home for Unwanted Children, where she fell in love with Cletus, and forced to be separated and taken to the Ravencroft Institute, where she and her mutant abilities will be more secure. This leaves Cletus stewing for several years. In the present, Det. Patrick Mulligan (Stephen Graham) contacts Brock (who's still bonded with Venom, but keeping it on the down-low), telling him that Kasady wants an interview. Hesitantly, Brock agrees, and during their one-on-one, a little piece of Venom is taken from Brock, eventually bonds with Kasady, and Carnage is created. Their bond is almost perfect, and their motivation goes from prison-break and break-out Shriek, to much more sinister things, and it's up to Venom to put a stop to it. Meanwhile, there's a secondary plot involving Eddie's ex-fiancée, Anne Weying (Michelle Williams) and her engagement to Dr. Dan Lewis (Reid Scott). This is where I find the film kinda tries on the 'Spider-Man 2' concept on for size; his love interest likes someone else, lacks feelings for him, and it all boils down to his superhero life interfering with his normal one. It works out here, but in some ways, does feel like a copy. That said, I still mean it when I say I think this one is slightly more fun than its predecessor. For as much as I love the casting of Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock, I think it's safe to say that Woody Harrelson really steals the show here as Cletus Kasady. The man does "psycho" very well, and there's a real intimidation to his look at times. You can tell he's having a ton of fun with the role, and I love how much his character embraces the chaos that is Carnage, constantly letting his Symbiote take the wheel. On the flipside, they brought out the more fun aspects of Venom, which may have been a risk, but I remember "fun" Venom from the original Playstation game, so I embraced it pretty easily. When it comes to the Sony-verse movies, it's clear that 'Venom' is their bread and butter, while 'Morbius' and 'Madam Web' failed miserably. The 'Venom' movies may not have been perfect, but at least one could find some fun in them. The Symbiotes here, at least look good and don't need to peel back their face to show their inner celebrity every five seconds (Topher!), making them feel more familiar. For me, the 'Venom' movies are just a friendly reminder that sometimes the superhero genre just doesn't need to be taken seriously, as long as a good time is had. 3/5  The Sony-verse (as far as Spider-Man-related movies go) is a very hit-or-miss situation altogether. While the animated 'Spider-Verse' movies are entertaining, artistic, clever takes on stories about Miles Morales, giving Sony its own Spider-Man after Disney/Marvel took Peter Parker away. That's a whole situation I wish the hell I knew why Sony wasn't capitalizing on, but they decided to go a different route instead; the frankly overall disappointing route of trying to make some kind of a fake-ass Sinister Six for themselves.
For my money, the only half decent live-action movies that exist in the Sony-verse are the Venom films, starting with this new, but not bad take on the character. By the time this came out, a lot of us went with the idea that it couldn't possibly be worse than 'Spider-Man 3's take on the character. In the end, it pretty much completely divided audiences. Critically, these didn't do so hot, but fans (and myself) were at least able to cut it a little slack, because, hell, the character was just done really well. When a space mission that includes the quick name-drop of "Jameson" (Chris O'Hara) goes wrong, and their ship crash-lands on Earth, three of four "Symbiotes" (an alien organism that attempts to bond with a host) are quickly collected by Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), who understands that successfully bonding with these things could be a next step towards our human evolution, allowing us to explore space, and potentially finds more planets to inhabit. However, a fourth Symbiote (Venom) manages to escape the wreckage. Meanwhile, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) enters the scene to report on Drake, and give him a hard time with some top secret files. As a result, Brock loses everything, including His job, and his fiance, Anne (Michelle Williams), who happened to work for Drake's company. However, Dr. Dora Skirth (Jenny Slate), who works for Drake and realizes what he's doing with these Symbiotes, secretly invites Brock back to the lab to expose Drake's experiments. This is where the Venom Symbiote finds and bonds with Brock. It's revealed that the Symbiotes' general purpose (at least for this movie) is to invade planets, possess and devour their inhabitants, and move on. If Eddie helps Venom with this, he may just be spared. However, the pair soon find themselves in over their heads when the aforementioned fourth, escaped Symbiote (Riot) finds his host, ready to continue their alien goals, while Venom ends up finding a bit more of a human/righteous side to himself while bonded with Brock, and helps Eddie become the film's hero. The whole Venom storyline has more or less fallen by the wayside as far as trying to get a live-action version of it to be everything we want it to be. 'Spider-Man 3' screwed it up, and this storyline is just very different, with its own ideas and concepts. I was never too mad at it though, considering what was done with 'Spider-Man: Homecoming,' being an MCU original take on a much more popular character, and enjoying that just fine. Why should this have been any different for me? In the end, I can fully admit that I find this movie to be a lot of fun, and although the story isn't "correct," the character (I find) is done well. This is definitely not everyone's Venom, and I think it's safe to say that aside from the original comic book take on things, one should definitely refer to the 1994 animated series for the original story. That said, if you're new to the character, I don't think this is a bad place to start. While these films remain the best part of the Sony-verse, however, they're far from perfect, or even that wonderful. But if you're looking for a bit of a roller coaster ride, and are open to a few changes here and there, this is just fine for what it is. 3/5  At the end of 2016's 'Deadpool', we got our typical-by-now post-credit sequence, involving Deadpool doing a take on the post-credit scene to 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off', and ultimately teasing us that the film already had a sequel in the works with the casting of famed badass, and never-before-used Cable in mind. We were ready for it, and the rumour mill started up on who was gonna play Cable - most famously, Brad Pitt, but we'll come back to him in a bit. It was one of the more discussed topics among friends until they cast Thanos, himself, Josh Brolin.
I think everything worked out for the best in the end, but instead of talking about casting, maybe I should just get into the film itself. Riding on the coattails of the ultra-successful, R-rated 'Logan', this one actually opens with a dose of tragedy, and another great opening sequence with humorous credits, this time parodying the 'Bond' movies. Even though this all happens right at the beginning, and the film is on the older side at this point, I'm still not gonna say exactly what happens, but it does lead to Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) entering a deep depression, which makes him search for a greater purpose. Soon enough, Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) and Negasonic (Brianna Hildebrand) come back into Wade's life, in another attempt to recruit him to the X-Men. Wade reluctantly agrees, and is soon given his first mission; to try to help a destructive young mutant by the name of Firefist (Julian Dennison) before things go wrong. That particular "wrong" involves killing the headmaster of his orphanage (Eddie Marsan) who want to cure him, and consider his mutant abilities a sin. That murder will ultimately direct him down a dark path of destruction. We learn of this destruction through the aforementioned Cable, who travels from the future to "present day" (2018) to get to Firefist early, and prevent him from eventually growing up and slaughtering Cable's family. The kid then becomes Deadpool's go-to source for having a change of heart and ultimately doing the right thing by not only preventing his 'T2'-like murder, but also trying to set him on the right path. Although the jokes and gags here are plenty, this one is still quite a bit darker than the first, and a better glimpse into Wade's more serious side (small though that side may be). I might suggest that this chapter of the 'Deadpool' series might have been better for the time, especially with the introduction of 'X-Force', which was the original direction these films were heading. We were introduced to characters like Domino (Zazie Beetz), Zeitgeist (Bill Skarsgård), Bedlam (Terry Crews), Shatterstar (Lewis Tan), Vanisher (remember when I mentioned Brad Pitt?) and of course, Peter (Rob Delaney). I may argue that things really did turn out for the best in the end, when these films took a different direction with 'Deadpool & Wolverine', but still, an 'X-Force' movie lead by Deadpool could have been a lot of fun! So this now kind of suffers as a bit of a hinge movie with different expectations by the end of it, but I will say that it's not something in plain sight. It's not like the movie left us with a major cliff-hanger for the upcoming 'X-Force' movie. Instead, we actually get a time-travel sequence that lends itself more to the direction they went with the series. One might call it a happy accident, but one might also just say that the concept of time travel opens too many easy doors. But that's the nice thing about Deadpool - either way you slice it, we're gonna have fun with it. It's hard for me to say whether I like this one of the first one better, but I do feel like the first had more going for it as a film the fans were clamouring for. That's not to say this wasn't effective, it's just that we've seen what DP can do at this point. On top of that, this now carries that "What if?" scenario involving 'X-Force' that we never got to see. But there's still enough here in fourth wall-breaking, jokes, gags, cameos and all-around action that it's a super solid and super worthy sequel to its predecessor. Just thank god 'Deadpool & Wolverine' picked up some of the missing pieces! 5/5  Going back to 2016, it just took one thing for us geeks to hear before we were foaming at the mouth like wild dogs in anticipation for this movie. And that was the R-rating! All we could do was imagine all the possibilities, and it delivered on all fronts. Fourth-wall breaking aplenty, sure, but also sex, violence, foul language, suggestive moments - everything that makes Deadpool awesome was there. We needed things set right after that Baraka-looking Deadpool given to us in 'Origins: Wolverine', and we GOT IT!
Cutting right to the chase, Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) works as a mercenary for hire. After he meets the love of his life, Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), life is looking better than ever, however, he becomes riddled with El Cancer, and soon desperate situations call for desperate measures. He agrees to an offer that he is told will not only cure his cancer, but give him the abilities of a superhero. Instead, Wade is subject to a torturous nightmare which eventually gives him the ability to heal from basically everything, and the ordeal leaves him deformed. This was all done by the hands of a dude who likes to call himself Ajax (Ed Skrein), and his assistant, Angel Dust (Gina Carano), and most of the film is centred on Wade's revenge against the pair for turning him into a freak. Armed with a killer sense of humour, a rapid healing factor, blades and bullets, nothing can stop him! Nothing short of Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand), that is. In my opinion, the best way to look at it is that they're basically representing a PG-13 rating telling an R-rating what it should be doing while the R-rating doesn't really care. We've become accustomed to superhero movies thinking a bit more outside of the box by now, but just think about it being early 2016 at this point. The most well-regarded superhero movie at the time was probably still 'The Avengers', with 'Civil War' right around the corner, meaning Spidey wasn't even a part of the MCU yet. For the time, between the R-rating, fan service, fourth wall-breaking and Ryan Reynolds being awesome for helping to bring it all together, this was one of the best superhero movies of all time. Arguably, it still is. A couple more characters we are introduced to throughout the movie also help form what becomes Wade's inner circle; eventually what he calls his family. There's the lovable cab driver, Dopinder (Karan Soni), his bartender and close friend, Weasel (T.J. Miller), and his senior, foul-mouthed roommate, Blind Al (Leslie Uggams). While none of them are deeply essential to the plot, all of their back and forth banter with Wade/Deadpool make for some of the funniest moments in the film. Because the studio actually wised up and let the crew do what they wanted with the movie, its one that still completely holds up, and I'd argue set the bar just a little higher for things to come - namely a new batch of 20th Century Fox superhero titles with a darker tone to them. They were even playing with genres for a bit when you get right down to it. If this was a comedy, 'Logan' was a western, and 'New Mutants' was set to be a horror, originally slated to air in April of 2018, before 'Deadpool 2'. It would have been interesting to see where that all could have gone, but here and now, I'm kinda glad it didn't completely work out. Still, however, I can't help but give this film all the kudos it deserves for really, truly listening to its audience, and providing us with a winning product that didn't really seem to get on anyone's nerves with any kind of predictability, or cliched moments. The plot is incredibly basic for a typical superhero movie, sure, but I almost feels like that adds to the experience, as Wade is just cracking fourth-wall jokes throughout. It works for what it needs to be, and its a superhero movie everyone can enjoy, if only because its just so damn fun! 5/5  Way back in the late 90s, there was a whole slew of movies about natural disasters, becoming the "bar-setter" when it came to box office success. It's funny to think about what made a fun box office thriller before the turn of the century, but I do have very fond memories of the era. Whether I went with friends or by myself, I found my love of movies within this time by hitting up the theare almost every weekend. So there will be a bit of a bias towards this movie for me, if only because it reminds me of a simpler time.
When I say "simpler time," here, I'm not so much talking about my life as I am the box office, and what made a hit. This was before superheroes got good, predates 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Harry Potter', and it marks a time when I remember people just being more forgiving about the execution of a fun, popcorn action movie. And really, that's all 'Twister' should be viewed as. These movies aren't without faults, but they do remind us of a time we could just strap in and go for a ride. It's still how I try to watch movies today, although it doesn't always succeed. Truth be told, this was one a dear friend showed to me at his house shortly after it was released on VHS (it's what predated DVDs for all you kids), so I missed it on the big screen. But it, combined with the release of 'Independence Day' earlier that year, is probably (arguably) the beginning of the 90s disaster movie era, and I definitely caught the bug. The whole concept of "Man vs Nature" was always something I liked, and it was cool to see something a bit more grounded and "real," which added to the fear factor of everything. Kicking the whole thing off with a fairly devastating scene involving one Jo Harding's (Alexa PenaVega) childhood, the movie begins with the experience that would turn her into the adult storm chaser she would become (Helen Hunt). Leading a team of other storm chasers and scientists, she hopes to one day be able to deploy an invention they have dubbed "Dorothy," which will be able to study wind patterns and such with little sensors and make storm predictions much more accurate. Said design comes from the mind of Bill (Bill Paxton), Jo's estranged husband. He has since gotten out of the storm-chasing game and become a weatherman due to his uncanny ability to read the skies. He has also settled down and gotten engaged to a reproductive therapist named Melissa (Jami Gertz). Bill brings Melissa with him for some reason to get his and Jo's divorce papers signed, but upon meeting up with Jo, Bill gets sucked right back into the game, especially knowing that his vision of Dorothy has been made and is ready to be tested. Bill, Jo and the rest of the team (which includes the likes of Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Alan Ruck, among others) also get a fair shake of competition with a jerk named Jonas Miller (Cary Elwes), who ultimately stole Bill's ideas for Dorothy, and hopes to beat them to the punch. Otherwise, a lot of the film involves storm-chasing, going one by one, conveniently according to scale of the twisters they chase, with a grand total of five, and perhaps providing a bit of predictability after the second tornado. While the film may not be quite as riveting or exciting as it once was, since so much more has been released since, there's still an obvious "something" to it. The release of '24's long-gap sequel of 'Twisters' released to some pretty solid box office numbers, all things considered. Is nostalgia the main factor? Or has it just been that long since we've had fun with tornadoes that don't have sharks all up in them? Either way, I do consider this a mild classic in its own right. It's by no means perfect, and often absurd, but nevertheless still kinda fun. 4/5  Here's an interesting example of a film with interesting timing. Released in the beginning of 2020, this happens to be one of the last films I saw in theatres before everything shut down, thanks the that horrible C-word (and I don't mean the one that's often okay to say in Britain). So, I guess it could be said that I have a little bit of a soft-spot for this, as it stands as a reminder to me that sometimes we just want to be entertained, even if the film is a little off the wall. 'Bad Boys' was always a good example of such a thought.
I even remember that at the time, I was looking at this as one of those rare, hidden gems that could be found within the deep, dark pit that is the January/February dumping zone. It's the same every year, lately (save maybe for 2021 and 2022), but as long as one has their eyes peeled for them, these not-so-hidden gems can be found. 'Bad Boys for Life' was definitely one of these, and provided another rarity in reaching into our nostalgia and not messing it all up! I mean, here we have a title that probably should have sucked, just based on what it is - a third title that no one was really asking for at the time, cranked out about fifteen years too late. And when you look at the critic's consensus for 'Bad Boys II,' it's a little bit surprising that they have decided tho push forward with the 'Bad Boys' franchise. But I'll be damned if they didn't grasp at our nostalgia and fully succeed. I might consider this the weakest of the bunch at this point, but it's still about as fun as a 'Bad Boys' movie ought to be. Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) come speeding back into our lives, and we welcome them with open arms. Honestly, I remember feeling it when I was sitting there in the theatre, as if to say "I didn't realize I missed this." Just as we fondly remember the pair, Mike's still confident in his driving skills, while Marcus reluctantly goes along for the ride, on the edge of vomiting all over that sleek interior. The perfect scene to snatch us back up after so long of a wait. After a bit of fun chaos, we find out Marcus has a newborn grandchild, and during a celebration, Marcus mentions retirement. This pretty much goes against Mike's thoughts of being partners forever, calling back to their mantra - "we ride together, we die together, bad boys for life" (pulled from 'Bad Boys II'). Before they know it, their friendship is tested, when a case very personal to Mike pops up, and Marcus refuses to get back into things, and become the family man he wants to be. There's actually quite a bit that happens in between all that, I'm not gonna lie, but this is one of those movies that's full of interesting surprises along the way, so no spoiler territory here. More will be revealed in the review for 'Bad Boys: Ride or Die.' Interestingly, in its own way, even for a balls-to-the-wall 'Bad Boys' movie, things get pretty deep here. It was actually a great film for developing both Mike and Marcus, as it peels back some never before seen layers to them, humanizing them a bit more than they were before this. Directorial team Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (credited as Adil and Bilall) had to have been fans of those original films, as they do a solid job here in keeping the R-rated heart of 'Bad Boys' alive, but making it their own thing. I think if you liked the first two, this one will be just as entertaining. That said, I still love the action-fest that is 'Bad Boys II' a bit more than this, but remember that I go against other critics on that. It's a good resurrection to the series here, and Adil and Bilall do these Bad Boys justice. 4/5  I think this is a good opportunity to get something perfectly straight about my opinions on Michael Bay. I've felt for quite some time now that Bay has always been a pretty damn great action movie director as long as he keeps his hands out of the cookie jar that was my childhood with things like 'Transformers' and 'Ninja Turtles'. If he takes the director's chair on something more original, like the 'Bad Boys' films here, or even 'The Rock', and to a lesser extent, 'Armageddon' (say what you will about that movie, the cast is still its best feature).
Despite what critics have to say about this particular chapter being the lowest rated on the batch with a super-rotten rating of 24%, I am personally stuck on how insanely fun the movie is, and it serves as a friendly reminder that Michael Bay is out to entertain us the way action movies were always made to. To be fair, "there's no way that you could perpetrate that amount of carnage and mayhem and not incur a considerable amount of paperwork." as the great film 'Hot Fuzz' reminds us. But to also paraphrase the film, this is a movie made for someone who just wants to switch off that brain of theirs. Taking place eight years after the first film, Miami PD detectives, Mike Lowery (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) investigate the trafficking of ecstasy, looking out for a huge career bust. However, while usting up a Klan meeting in search of the drugs, a shootout occurs, Mike shoots Marcus in the butt, and we soon learn that in the background of all this, Marcus is intent on changing his job up to something a little safer, and leaving Mike as his ride-or-die partner. In the meantime, unbeknownst to Mike and Marcus, Marcus' sister, Syd (Gabrielle Union) works undercover for the DEA as a money launderer for the Russian mafia, headed in Miami by drug lord Hector Juan Carlos "Johnny" Tapia (Jordi Mollà). Of course, when family gets involved, "shit gets real." Marcus not only had to watch out for his sister while trying to bring down a drug lord, but also unbeknownst to him, Mike and Syd are secretly a bit of an item. So as one can probably tell, a lot of the comedy comes from Marcus' mystery here. I think just to be fair, I should mention that even in the era of 2003, there are a few jokes and gags here that one can't necessarily get away with these days, and there's some degree of homophobia going on here. But IF you can see this as a product of its time, and look past some of the more unfortunate material, as far as action movies for the sake of action, this has got to be one of the best. Not only does it feature one of my favourite all-time car chase sequences, but it's also where I fell in love with single-take action sequences. Of course, I cannot talk about this film without talking about Reggie (Dennis Greene), introduced here for the first time as Marcus' daughter's first date. In one of the funniest scenes in the series, Marcus and Mike test Reggie's character, and you kinda feel bad for the poor kid. That said, his character goes through some of the best background development over the next couple of films. I will be sure to mention him in the next couple of reviews for the series, as he just adds to the fun of it all. So, while there may be a detail here or there that wouldn't necessarily fly these days, I feel like I can still recommend this to those who are looking for some high-octane action. You can definitley back-to-back the first two, but know that they both stand on their own all the same, and while the first is more substance, this one's all about style (but like, in a good way). Just go into this knowing full well who was sitting in the director's chair, and it can be a super fun time! 4/5 |
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