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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Guardians (2017) Russia

Not just another superhero film!

Original title:

Zashchitniki (Russian)

Genre:

Action, Adventure, Science Fiction.

Length:

Approximately 5-minute read.


Review:
     It was more like a counterpart of the first 'Captain America' film. Because both the films set in the same background, which is the Cold War. But the Cold War was merely a reason to initiate what the film needed for its story. So as we roughly guessing the plot, there's something goes wrong in the secret experiment and then there emerges the superheroes and the supervillains.

     The last time I saw such scale grand Russian film was 'The Inhabited Island' and decided never watch such Russian flicks. I might be wrong, because my knowledge about the Russian films is less, but there could be a lot better films that I haven't seen. Anyway, I put all my faith on it, despite very low ratings and heavily criticised it on the internet. I must say that, it was a decent film, neither a breathtaking nor a worst film (of the year).

     Yep, there's lots of cliche, because you have seen them all in high standard Hollywood films. But since it is not a Hollywood, comparing them is unfair. A little appreciation needed for its effort. Except borrowing the concept should be questioned here. Because that's made its lack of originality. And one more exception is that science is everywhere the same, which is a big excuse for that.

     The graphics were almost flawless. The characters are unique, but adapted from the same blueprint how every superhero film take off. So what went wrong with it is the big question, despite everything's carefully and nicely done. And the answer is the screenplay. Any superhero films majorly depends on the best designed action sequences and the stunt choreography with respective superpowers of the superheroes at its best.

 Death for us is not a problem, we've lived long enough. 

     I liked the costumes, which aren't too fancy or simple, and the superpowers, but I don't think they were used that in the best way possible. And have you ever seen a 90 or less minute superhero film. That's another drawback. Because shortening the runtime does not speed up the narration. In this film, there were no space given for the character developments, like to make them, those heroes sit somewhere and have some lazy takes, which surely opens their deep thought, including personal events of the past and all. What I saw was, they came, they saw the villain and they fought him.

     Well, at first attempt, it should not succeed, otherwise the film ends there. That's how all the superheroes rise back from the initial stumble. Only after upgrading with modern scientific weapons and gadgets to boost their superpowers, they now can match the bad guy. Those were the properly done things from the film. But not everybody will be happy for it as it is another cliched segment. So what, that's same even if it is a Hollywood or European film.

     Then what makes the film watchable is the production standards, that very much comparable with the big cost films around the world. Those criticised it was wrongly accused as saying it has the cheap CGI visuals, but that's definitely not true. Then the most successful film in the history of Indian cinema, 'Bahubali' would lead such worst visual effects list. If you watch this film, you would know that or you would bring your own perception. But the plot holes, surely there are many, if you are focused enough to identify them.

     After all, if you give your interest to watch the film, then there won't be any time to go after such errors. Thus, it is the thing what all the film critics usually do. Madness is some film fanatics joined them. So never mind all the negatives about the film. Don't think I'm defending it. Just know how I rated it, an average. My idea is to expose it not a very bad film as it was labelled. That does not mean it is a fantastic film either. A 50-50 chance film, which can be still watchable, and once you did, the outcome of the watch could be anything. So after seeing all the confusing ratings and reviews, it must be hard for you whether to go for it or not. Suppose if you ask me, I say choose wisely, and if you did, have low expectations.



Suitable for:
Tween, Teen, Adult, All


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


Similar movies:
Avengers, Fantastic Four, Hellboy, Justice League, X-Men, Power Rangers.


External link(s):

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Assassination Classroom (2015) Japan

A strange tale of class E.

Original title:

Ansatsu Kyoshitsu (Japanese)

Genre:

Action, Adventure, Comedy, Science Fiction.

Length:

Approximately 6-minute read.


Review:
     I had zero idea about the film. Anybody who reads the title correctly would think it might be a horror or a crime-thriller. It was the same case for me as well. This is a strong name for a children's film, particularly in the west. Remember 'Jack the Giant Killer' was renamed as '...Giant Slayer' for the same reason. But adults do not care, especially the youngsters. Such films are measured by how much blood shed. Anyway, it was well designed. From the story to the characters.

     So this was adapted from a famous manga series of the same name. Recently an anime series as well made out of it and was received so well. The creativity has no limits, that's how Japanese manga and animes flourished when the western world shifted their focus on 3D animation. Even the Marvel and DC made a bigger stride in motion pictures. This is an alien invasion theme, but very unique, probably only kind. It is more like a computer game than a film. Just take a gun and have a great time killing the strange creature(s). Just like most of the films in the 'Resident Evil' franchise.

     From the director of 'Oppai Valleyball'. The film is about the students and their class E from a junior high school that was invaded by an alien intelligence. He who claims the responsibility for most part of the moon's disappearance and pledged to do the same to earth by the end of the year. Now with the full support of government and armed agencies, the class E students are given full license to kill the alien and win the great prize. Provided them human friendly weapons and assassination training, the game begins.

 Even though he's a powerful who can destroy the world, everyone is saying he's quite good at teaching. 

     By learning the storyline, you might think it is easy, but that's the trick part. Because Korosensei (the name was given to it by class E students) is lightening fast and no bullet can hit him. You can call it something like Japanese version of 'The Flash'. Even he looks like a smile emoji with weird smiling sound, but the facial expression changes according to the situations like the different emoticons.

     The concept of the film definitely looks great for manga and anime, but live-action is different and they did make it work. The film was close to two hours, and they filled it with quite interesting stuffs. That means I did not face any trouble with the film's pace. Most of the story takes place in the classroom and its surroundings. Great character, as well, well developed story at different levels to make it a good entertaining product.

     Despite Korosensei is the villain, he was quite likeable character. His dialogues, his dedication in teaching, he can be easily forgiven, but his threats are very serious. It's a matter of defending the earth and human pride. So that's the major difference between humans, including class E and him. But all this is in a comedy film, that's the great about the film. Honestly, I did not get a few jokes, as they are meant very close to the Japanese sense of humour. But still a very enjoyable film by outsiders.

     There's already a sequel was made by the same director called 'The Graduation', but it was not as successful as this one. I can't rule out anything till I saw it myself. Hope I would see it as soon as possible. Meanwhile, if you haven't seen it yet, surely worth an attempt. But don't expect too much fancy like the western sci-fis. If you are familiar with the Japanese style of storytelling, you would know your limit. Like many manga adaptations to the big screens, I'm very thankful. Because I'm unlucky to get a chance to read those mangas as I can't get them anywhere near me. Anyway, I'm not a book guy, but films. So this format works for me and I'm loving it.



Suitable for:
Tween, Teen, Adult, All


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


Similar movies:
CJ7, Ghostbusters, The Secret of the Magic Gourd, Save the Green Planet, Evolution.


External link(s):

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I Am a Hero (2016) Japan

The hand that holds the pencil forced to take arms.

Genre:

Action, Science-fiction, Thriller.

Length:

Approximately 6-minute read.

Review:

     If you are a big zombie film fan, this should be your next flick to check it out. This is a Japanese live-action film adapted from the manga series of the same name. I am not saying it was the best zombie film ever, or the decade or even the year, but surely a better film compared to the recent ones. First of all the story is same as most of the same themed films, that the zombie outbreak brings chaos everywhere, and followed by the survival game. The difference in here was the characters and some of the great scenes that lifted the film up.

     Hideo, also pronounced as Hero is a 'best newcomer' manga artist award winner a few years back. Now in his 30s looking for a breakthrough in his career. But after receiving a backlash when his book was denied to publish and followed by break up with his girlfriend, he begins to witness a series of strange events around him. While the entire city turned into madness, he and a random school girl join the hands to escape from the horror. So their journey begins to nowhere, but be safe. Later a couple of twists come into play and brings an end to the narration.

     The script was not praiseworthy, but the filmmaking was, including the performances. The actors had given their best shots. The scenes involving the conflict between humans and zombies were carved so awesomely. Being a film fanatic, I'm used to this kind of themes, so none of these flicks can scare me. Not just the sci-fi horror films, but also the supernatural horrors. That's a drawback. But if I was a normal guy or a little kid, this film would have been in a different league. Still, I enjoyed it. Because overall film offered me a great entertainment.

 What you seek isn't dream anymore!
It's delusion. Only a small, special group of people can achieve success. 

     I don't understand the Japanese, except a few simple words, but from my observation, they never mentioned the word 'zombie'. They called it by the virus that caused it, ZQN. I don't know what those alphabets stand for, but all I got was the word 'Zokyun'. The equivalent English word is 'bang', like a sudden sharp thud sound. Anyway, coming to the film, the characters are unpredictable. You can't trust anyone of them, except our lead guy. Not just because of the infection, but their intentions, more like it is about survival of the fittest. I mean like usual, the man's weakness, power hungry.

     After Hideo, the school girl Hiromi is the next in the lead, but there's nothing much to expect from her. They kept that role very mysterious, that I was looking for an explanation which never came. That was really disappointing, but it also mean a hint of a possible sequel. I hope they make one, after all this film was received so well. The details in the film were very impressive, even the small ones. Not just they focused the human characters, they have given strength to zombies to strike the survived human ruthlessly, but uniquely like an athlete. So basically, no traditional zombie theory was followed. They bent the rules to make it a unique product, as well as to entertain the viewers, mostly funnily.

     Shot in the fine places, especially in the second half. This film redefined the zombie film from those days before the evolution of superheroes and space-age flicks. It was a perfect mix of comedy, action and thriller. But I laughed surely better than those recent full length comedy flicks that had best comedians. This is not a remake material, so I'm not expecting the west to do that. Like I always say, whatever world film I watch, I'm happy to end up in a Japanese or a French film. It was a bit long, worth it though. I am not overwhelmed and blindly recommending it, but this film was really good, particularly if you like black comedy, sort of.

Suitable for:

Tween, Teen, Adult, All

Final verdict:

Ignore, Bad, Average, Good, Excellent

Similar movies:

Zombieland, Shaun of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Braindead, Warm Bodies, Doghouse.

External link(s):

    

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