Week 7: Robocop

The new RoboCop is a surprisingly good and entertaining sci-fi action thriller that appeals to the human heart by conveying emotions and the humanity side of Murphy, the main character who eventually becomes the titled cyborg law enforcer. The film ultimately wins for not trying to be the original (1987 version). The story of Murphy is similar (since it's a remake) but does its own thing to provide something new instead of retelling the same thing again. The film focuses more on the development of Murphy's character, his initial response to his cyborg body and relationship with his family, making the character more emotional and relatable to the audience. The film delves into the meaning of humanity, family themes, media influence on public opinion, corporate greed (capitalism), authoritarianism and corrupt law enforcement authorities. It provides a brief view of the struggles we might face with machines or digital surveillance of the future. It also briefly raises the question whether it's ethical or legal to eliminate the human factor in law enforcement to reduce crime rates by creating merciless cyborgs or robots to replace humans. The action sequences are updated with a higher body count, with better CGI and sound effects, making them cooler, stylish and more entertaining than the original. The new black tactical design of Robocop is found to be acceptable and nice...the updated Robocop is more agile, flexible and stronger compared to the original. However, I personally find the right human hand to be slightly distracting. (I prefer no human hand at all, entirely machine except the face) There's quite a lot of credible actors in this film: Abbie Cornish, Jay Baruchel, James Earle Haley, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton and Samuel L. Jackson all providing decent performances to this remake. Although it's hardly a ground-breaking film or a masterpiece, Robocop is a decent and satisfying remake that delivers on many levels. There's currently no plot problems, inconsistencies or plot holes found in this film at this time of writing this review. So, it's good enough for a recommendation to watch it. Rating: 7.5/10

Week 6: Divergent

Divergent is a sci fi/fantasy type movie that is set in a futuristic dystopic society where all the population of the world is divided into five factions that each represent different virtues. Teens who reach the requisite age have to decide if they want to stay in their given faction or switch to another, new faction, and either way that will be their faction for the rest of their lives. 

Beatrice (Tris) Prior and her fellow faction members have to live through various challenges in a highly competitive and dangerous initiation process to get the permission to live out the choice they have made. These tests include extreme physical and intense psychological challenges which affect them all profoundly. 

Beatrice's deadly secret is that she is "divergent", meaning she does not fit into any one particular faction alone. If the wrong people find out this terrible secret she will be sentenced to death immediately. As she discovers a growing conspiracy that threatens to unravel the entire world, this secret might come in handy to help her save the people she loves, or on the other hand it could destroy the entire world. Now when i heard about this move, i thought it was a Hunger Games ripoff, but i read some of the book and enjoyed it, so i got excited. I went to go see it and it was actually good, i would recommend people go see it. 

Rating: 8 out of 10

Week 5: Need for Speed

I went to go see Need For Speed expecting to see a really meh movie and I must say, despite a 2hr 10min running time, this film was extremely entertaining from start to finish. The film follows Toby Marshall, played by Aaron Paul, and his quest for revenge against a billionaire racer, played by Dominic Cooper, who killed his friend. The film's familiar plot gets excused for the mere fact that the action sequences in this film are amazing and keep you holding your breath. The lack of CGI is jaw dropping. It makes the action sequences in Fast & Furious 6 look like more of a video game than the basis for this film. It truly is amazing. Aaron Paul is very good in this film, while he is nowhere near the caliber of his famous Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad, he still proves that he is an amazing actor with great things ahead of him. Another surprise here is Kid Cudi, who gives a light hearted touch to the rough and tough story of revenge. Michael Keaton is another welcomed addition to this film as he lets the viewer get a better idea of who our anti-hero, Toby Marshall, truly is. Dominic Cooper is a down side of the film, unfortunately he weighs down the film with a typical evil billionaire performance, the only think he is missing is his pinky finger against his lips but it is just enough to overlook. Getting back to the basis of this movie, this is hands down the best video game adaptation ever made. It's hard to believe when watching it that this is a video game adaptation because it is actually good. This comes as proof that with good actors and directing, video games can be adapted correctly.
Rating:7.5 out of 10

Week 4: 300 Rise of an Empire

300: Rise of an Empire was a little different from what I initially expected. Assumed it was a sequel. However, it is more of a companion movie - a different view point of the events in 300 and the events after and some events before.

I found the story to be entertaining. The Persians are still attacking Greece, but this time we watch from the view point of Athenian Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton) while the events of 300 unfold elsewhere. The backstory of some old and some new characters were interesting to watch. The events which take place after 300 were awesome and led to some great battle scenes.

And whilst 300 had plenty of fantastic battle scenes, Rise has some equally fantastic naval battle scenes. Ships wrecks, beheadings, one on ones, and battles were all awesome and entertaining. Watching Themistocles engage in naval tactics was quite fun to watch. The one on one (or multiple) combats were a bit better than the original. I found them rougher and just more fun to watch. Eva green as Artemisia was amazing. She was terrifying at times and great fun to watch. 

However, I did find a few scenes felt out of place and unnecessary. In saying that, the confrontations Themistocles and Artemisia more than made up for it. 

The ending of the movie was satisfying and to repeat myself, so was the final battle scenes. They were incredibly fun to watch. 

A very entertaining movie, especially since I was lucky to be able to watch them back to back on the big screen.

Rating: 8 out of 10