Plot
"A factory worker, Douglas Quaid (Farell), begins to suspect that he is a spy after visiting Rekall - a company that provides its clients with implanted fake memories of a life they would like to have led - goes wrong and he finds himself on the run".
My Thoughts
I will start by saying I have seen the original film, while I was not a huge fan of the film this mainly had to do with limitations of the look of the film (which is more to do with the time it was made than directly with the film itself) However the film was solid and I did enjoy it when I watched it. This film I was not exactly sure how to gauge my interest level, I was interested in seeing the film when it was announced and put into production, on the other hand I wouldn't say I was definitely going to see it at the time I heard of thee news of it being made. After seeing the trailer a while back my interest piques for the film and I decided I would see it, I will say if you are a fan of action sequences and futuristic backdrops this is the film for you the film looks gorgeous the CG is top notch and the setting goes well with the tone of the film.If you have seen the first film this film follows basically the same formula " A man finds out his life is a lie and must find out who he is and why his life was a lie". The acting in this film I took it with the "perspective" attitude what I mean by this is that I knew what kind of film I was seeing and was not expecting great acting and with that mindset I was not disappointed with the acting everyone did commendable jobs for the roles they had to play no major complaints other than I will add Colin Farrell for me had no charisma or conviction in his leading role I would say it could be down to the script but I have seen Colin Farrell act before in previous roles and I am not shocked he didn't do a good job with this role, I am actually surprised to be saying this but the standout performer was Kate Beckinsale as Farrell's characters wife, she gave her role the right amount of attitude and ruthlessness that it needed to be played with, I have only seen her in one other role this year (Underworld:Awakening) and she surpassed that role greatly with this role she was easily the best in this film, the other major lead was Jessica Biel, again as with Farrell I know what to expect with Ms.Biel and usually its not much and I got what I expected out of her another listless performance. As Mentioned earlier the special effects were top notch and blended well with the futuristic setting of the film, I had a few gripes though first the robot policemen in this film looked a little to much like the robots in "I,Robot" for me and secondly the flying cars had no variation they all looked the same I like to see some originality and in both instances here there was not much, The story for me was not a very good one, if follows the path of the original and maybe that is a bad thing, the story was slightly changed in some aspects to freshen it up a bit , but for me it still felt a little to stale and not fresh enough, this is not a huge factor but it took away a little for me. Rotten Tomatoes had this to say about the film "While it boasts some impressive action sequences, Total Recall lacks the intricate plotting, wry humor, and fleshed out characters that made the original a sci-fi classic". Overall if you go into the film expecting great acting top notch effects and a masterpiece of a story you will be greatly disappointed, but if you understand what the film you are going to see is essentially about then you may even be surprised by the film, I wasn't surprised just because I knew the actors in the film where already below average actors and barring the one surprise by Mrs.Beckinsale I was left underwhelmed..
Rating
Under Par overall Acting, Stale Story took away too much from the good fighting sequences and great special effects, Okay film worth seeing if you have free time over the weekend. 7.0/10!!!!
The next and last for the month of August is "The Expendables 2" Starring Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham and Jet Li the film opened on the 17th.
"Mr. Church reunites the Expendables for what should be an easy paycheck, but when one of their men is murdered on the job, their quest for revenge puts them deep in enemy territory and up against an unexpected threat"
My Thoughts
I want to start off by saying I was eagerly anticipating this film, I thoroughly enjoyed the first "Expendables" some may disagree with me, but if you look at the film for what it was which was Action film in its purest form it was really entertaining and when watching some films that is all you need to have a good viewing experience. The original cast stay's together completely which for me is always a good ingredient when doing sequels for film franchises it is always good to have continuity. A couple of new faces are added for this film such as Liam Hemesworth, Jean Claude Van Damme and Chuck Norris to name the biggest additions. Acting is a huge part of films and for a film of this caliber superb acting should not be expected, if you are expecting Oscar caliber acting performances then look elsewhere. That is not to say that the acting in this film was bad, In my opinion it was actually good for what the film required of the cast which was snappy one liners and cliches abound, and in that regard the cast did a good job. The plot for this film is not one that hasn't been seen before, without giving too much away a member of the expendables crew is killed by the villain (Van Damme) and the group sets out for revenge in spectacular fashion. the special effects in this film are very natural and there is not much CG at all which for me was a good quality to see, in so many movies nowadays they are CG laden and in some instances look to over the top and cartoon like and that can take away from the experience this was not the case and I am happy to say that, everything in the film looked natural and made the film appear more reminiscence of actual life. While no one in the cast stood out in particular, but I will mention that Jean Claude Van Damme did a serviceable job as the main villain Jean Vilain (I know, I know what a name). There is not much to really add to a film like this, it is one of those cases where you know what to expect in the film, I will say though I wished Jet li had more screen time in this film, I really liked his character from the first film and I did not like the way his character went missing in the film for so long, I also really liked Chuck Norris character in his film, when he shows up you know it is chuck Norris is all I will say without giving away his memorable scenes.Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 68% had this to say "Taut, violent, and suitably self-deprecating, The Expendables 2 gives classic action fans everything they can reasonably expect from a star-studded shoot-'em-up -- for better and for worse". Overall there is not much I honestly disliked about the film, other than the fact that they want to make a 3rd film and going by the way all these guys are aging all I can say is that they better get started soon, this film was exactly what I expected and for that I have no complaints.
Rating
Was exactly what I expected and what I wanted to see 8.2/10!!!!
