Venom 3D (2018) USA

Another superhero, another world saving story.

Genre:

Action, Science-Fiction, Thriller.

Length:

Approximately 3-minute read.

Review:

     I have been taking some break from reviewing the films. That does not mean I have stopped watching the films. But not as much as before. Now I'm thinking to get back with this one. As usual watched it on the opening day itself. That's pride I'm being a cinephile. Opted the best seat in the hall and watched in the digital 3D version. But that was only the technology attached to it, I did not find anything special from that aspect. From my recent observation, it seems Hollywood giving up on that technology.

     Now coming to the filmm, I must say that the Iron Man is the most commonly loved superhero these days. His AI suit can be compared to this film. I mean Venom might be an alien thing which they call it in here a black alien symbiotic substance, but our hero in this story gets his superpower after merging with that thing into one.

     I am not into comic books, so I don't know much about this character, but I think he's supposed to be an antihero. The way everything turned out at the end was neatly done. As per my research, this is not the part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That means this is not going to be the part of the Avengers series. Now the good news is that, Sony's own Marvel Universe that has the recent Spider-man film starring Tom Holland is an adjunct to this.

     Spider-man was the most adopted superhero theme in the recent time. In the last 16 years, there were like three versions of the spider-man films. We all seen Venom in the Tobey Maguire's third Spider-man film. Turning red and blue suit into complete black. I think that was awesomely done. Especially how the both, Spider-man and Venom communicate and work together. On this one, those parts were intensively turned into comedy.

 Eyes, lungs, pancreas, so many snacks, so little time. 

     I don't have to agree with the film critics as I always do. But I independently say this is an average film. One of the main reasons was, I'm kind of bored of superhero film. I mean, that's not entirely true, What I meant was the intro. This is nothing much different than the Spider-man story. His personal struggles, job, romance and all, feels like everything repeating in a different form.

     The best thing about this film was the Tom Hardy. As always, his performance was great. As I've said, they should have trimmed down the intro to get going with the actual story. If they did not wasted the scenes for silly jokes and intro, it could have turned out to be a decent film. Believe me those who are not into the films, like those who watch films occasionally might enjoy it. Not the regular goers like me.

     The runtime was not an issue. The casting too was not that bad. The graphics were acceptable standard, but I expected, even better shots. The most important of all was the end part, and it was okayish, because of how easy predictable it was. I think it's not good for young kids. It could be a little scary for them, especially swallowing the head thing like that. And some dialogues seems fun for an adult, but I don't know how it would affect the children which is pretty much about cannibalism.

     Now all eyes on the 'Silver & Black'. The Sony's next Marvel Universe film, where Silver Sable and Black Cat are going to be introduced. And as I'm hearing, Tom Holland can also be seen. It's going to be Sony's own Avengers. From that perspective, this film must be seen to get ready. Other than that its just an okay film to watch on Netflix or Amazon fire stick on the weekends.

Suitable for:

Tween, Teen, Adult, All

Final verdict:

Ignore, Bad, Average, Good, Excellent

Similar movies:

Spider-man, Ant-man, Iron Man, Thor, Doctor Strange, Deadpool.

External link(s):

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The Villainess (2017) South Korea

She did not choose this life, but it did.

Original title:

Aknyeo (Korean)

Genre:

Action, Thriller.

Length:

Approximately 4-minute read.


Review:
     It's a woman centric film. Not a tale from the normal society. A complete action-thriller, but there were sufficient drama, especially in the middle part, where the pace slows down to build a new perspective. It never reveals whether it is a revenge story or not, except the opening event. Because there were full of twist and turns when it enter the third act. Having patience is a must for this flick.

     At first, for me it looked like 'Kill Bill' meets 'Salt'. But I had this kind of feelings many times for the Korean films. They reminds me some other films from other continents. It's only at the beginning or overall the basic platform, but when you finish watching them, you won't feel the same. This was a well developed story and the characters. Particularly the opening and end were strong. What comes in between them is where some viewers might think it let them down. For that, one of the reasons was it being two hours long narrative.

     That's fine for me. Because, there were too many things to accomplish. They had to use the variation in the pace to reach the other end very convincingly or close to that. When the first half ends, it kind of restarts like a new story in a new setting. Maybe that did not work. Because we all knew there could come a twist, but on the brighter side, we did not what was it. Certainly not something new we had seen in a cinema. Especially the possibility. In such a dark tale, that path was often used.

 I wish you two had met under different circumstances. 

     A woman, single handedly takes down a notorious gang. Following that, nabbed by the cops, she gets an offer that she can't say no to it, in order to save herself and her yet to born child. So it's her new identity, a new beginning, but surrounded by full of dangers. She has to play along to get along and that's when a twist comes in. The entire scenario changes. The remaining story till the conclusion intensifies and end with a bloodbath.

     Very well designed stunt sequences. If you are an action film fan, you would enjoy them. That East Asian traditional axe, hammer, sword/machete or barehanded fightings were the highlights. As I've mentioned, the opening and the end fights take our breathe away. Yet very rarely there were silly stunt shots. Maybe, technically failed. Viewing them from the unusual camera angles, with slow and fast motions gives hard time to get used to it. Overall, the film survived because of obviously the stunts.

     It was not among the best Korean films. But one of the decent action films that passes by every year. This film could possibly get a sequel. It has all those qualities to qualify. You would know it when you see the final shot, that it's not over yet. Because the front character was so powerful. Maybe going international in the sequel could get a worldwide attention. But anyway, I'm rooting for that. I'm not a big Korean film fan, but Japanese. Though 90-95 per cent of the time, they always delivers a good entertainment, instead of Japanese films' artistic appeal. It isn't a must see, but still I feel you should not miss it.



Suitable for:
Tween, Teen, Adult, All


Final verdict:
Ignore, Bad, Average, Good, Excellent


Similar movies:
Kill Bill, Salt, Colombiana, New World, The Man From Nowhere, The Yellow Sea.


External link(s):

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The Tail Job (2015) Australia

Who is this Sio Bohan!

Genre:

Action, Adventure, Comedy.

Length:

Approximately 4-minute read.


Review:
     This is why I keep my eye on the Aussie films. It came a couple of years ago, but till now I did not get a chance to watch it. One of the best B movies I have seen. Totally under-noticed. A simple story, that's a 24 hour event, roaming around the city in a taxi. I mean tailing a girl as the title says. A perfect situation for a perfect comedy, thoroughly enjoyable film.

     I was this close to ignore it. Seeing its poster, anybody would make such decision. But I often take chances on such small films, and with a right time I just finished watching it. Then surprised by how wonderful it was. I just thought if it was a Hollywood film with stars like Kevin Hart in it, the fate of the film would have been different. So if you are reading this, simply put it into your watch list. I'm not expecting you all to love it, but surely most of you end up liking it.

     The film opened with some gangsters business, a killing business. Soon the narration turned to a man who decided to tail his fiancee thinking she might be having an affair. Fortunately, he teams up with a taxi driver who is willing to help him, but of course it costs lots of money. Once their tailing job went wrong, everything changes, leading to them to no go zone and also chased by a psycho driver.

 Do you have any idea of the shit storm you've just brought to your front door? 

     The worst night of their lives, the two with a never give up attitude, they go certain length to accomplish the mission they have taken. Among all, I felt sorry for the character Stacey. All along I knew what would be the result of this story, but possibly a twist could have changed it, but did not. So Stacey was a good addition to spice up the story. Like her, many small roles had some nice impact on the narration. Started off well and ended on a high.

     It all revolved around the name Sio Bohan. You might think it is a made up name with a misunderstanding, but the film defined differently as the story progressing. It was like the short animation 'The Chubbchubbs', too much hyped and then lived up to that par. Of course it all seems intentionally done, but a well done job by the writers to create those perfect circumstances, particularly being funny.

     So much fun. Of course, cinematically it all possible, but the thing is the film opened by telling us it was inspired by a real event. I think what they meant is it was based on every suspicious boyfriends, grooms, husbands. Most of the events improvised for the film to get a better outcome. Yes, the filmmaker has done an awesome job. The production was very good also the performances, particularly all the main cast.

     Don't judge the film by it's poster as I almost did. Also, it is a much better film than the average rating you see on the internet. These two lead actors were awesome. It was a great combo, one of the best I've seen in the cinematic world. I hope they would return, possible a sequel to this one. A must watch film, especially by the people in their 20s and 30s.



Suitable for:
Tween, Teen, Adult, All


Final verdict:
Ignore, Bad, Average, Good, Excellent


Similar movies:
Last Cab to Darwin, Moments of Clarity, Open Windows, The Road Within, Detours.


External link(s):

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Headshot (2016) Indonesia

No matter what, the bad past always hunts you down!

Genre:

Action, Thriller.

Length:

Approximately 3-minute read.


Review:
     Like everybody, I was anticipating 'The Raid 3', instead I got this one. Iko Uwais is not just a rising star, he is making Indonesian films internationally recognised. But seems as fast he's rising, as fast he's sinking. The reason is heavily relied on martial arts. In real life, he himself an artist too. But taking into the account like from Tony Jaa, and Hong Kong, chinese film industries. That's a one generation thing. To keep the industry on the float in the long term, it takes good stories and performances, alongside good production.

     'The Raid' duology was good, but not lucky anymore. Basically, this is the same pattern with different characters and situations compared to those two titles. The stunt fans might enjoy it, but what terribly lacked in this film was the a good story. The majority of the film goers, including film critics believe in that. Hence it did not deliver as expected. By the way, this is a generation of CGI film like 'Mad Max: Fury Road'. Yet some kids from the 90s still love to see a pure martial art films.

     It is an action packed film. A gangster theme. The day when a notorious gangster leader named Lee escapes the prison, a young man was found unconscious on the beach, then he was treated by an aspiring young doctor. Lee finds out about this amnesiac man and sends his finest men to retrieve him. But nothing goes as planned. The confrontation between them slowly restores his lost memory. Defeating all the fighters, he's set for the final standoff against Lee which will bring an end to the narration.

 You saved me before. I need you to save me one more time. 

     The production was good, though the performances were ordinary. Because all the focus were the action sequences. At least I expected decent dialogues. It was a weird romance platform, a sub-genre. Romance can blossom anywhere, anytime, but weakly developed to believe it the least. Not the best martial art film too. There were some twists in the narration, but none were surprising enough. The film would have achieved a better result if it had done well in the stunt parts. I'm sure there will be some people who would like it or liked it. I usually like martial art films, but not this one, not my cup of tea.

     Sometimes the opening does not matter if the rest of the tale recovers well. Very cliched initiation, but it did not get better. Especially the conclusion was a big let down. The entire film was leaned on Iko's role. Also the character Lee was too much hyped. In between them, the rest of the cast was discarded. Overall, I don't think they have missed an opportunity in here, because I felt nothing were designed so well to be a decent film at any level. From familiarity to the predictability, the storytelling never had the upper hand to get better. Some people think it is worth watching at least once, but according to me not. All I would say is it's your call.



Suitable for:
Tween, Teen, Adult, All


Final verdict:
Ignore, Bad, Average, Good, Excellent


Similar movies:
The Raid 1 & 2, Outrage 1 & 2, Election 1 & 2, Man of Tai Chi, Dredd, Ong Bak.


External link(s):

WCA geolocation:
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