Denis Villeneuve is the man!
There’s only one word that came into my mind after watching it: finally.
Finally, a blockbuster that isn’t afraid to be primarily driven by drama and tension, and doesn’t undercut its own tone by throwing in a joke every 30 seconds.
Finally, a blockbuster that puts actual effort in its cinematography, and doesn’t have a bland or calculated colour palette.
Finally, a blockbuster with a story that has actual substance and themes, and doesn’t rely on intertextual references or nostalgia to create a fake sheen of depth.
Finally, a blockbuster that doesn’t pander to China by having big, loud and overblown action sequences, but relies on practical and grounded spectacle instead (it has big sand worms, you really don’t need to throw anything at the screen besides that).
Finally, a blockbuster that actually feels big, because it isn’t primarily shot in close ups, or on a sound stage.
And of course: finally, a blockbuster that isn’t a fucking prequel, sequel, or connected to an already established IP somehow.
(Yeah, I know Tenet did those things as well, but I couldn’t get into that because the characters were so flat and uninteresting).
This just checks all the boxes. An engaging story with subtext, very well set up characters, great acting (like James Gunn, Villeneuve's great at accentuating the strengths of limited actors like Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa), spectecular visuals and art design (desaturated but not in an ugly washed out way), pacing (slow but it never drags), directing, one of Hans Zimmer’s best scores: it’s all here.
I only have one real criticism: there’s too much exposition, especially in the first half.
It can occasionally hold your hand by referencing things that have already been established previously, and some scenes of characters explaining stuff to each other could’ve been conveyed more visually.
Other than that, it’s easily one of the best films of the year.
I’ve seen some people critiquing it for being incomplete, which is true, but this isn’t just a set up for a future film.
It feels like a whole meal, there are pay offs in this, and the characters progress (even if, yes, their arcs are still incomplete).
8.5/10
This feels like a particularly unhinged episode of All Stars from an alternate universe.
This week we get our first dramatic showcase of Mama Ru in her early stages of senility, as she cackles in delight at the abundance of fart sounds added in post while the queens watch in a mixture of horror and awe, and as she forgets that she is shooting an episode of a regular season instead of All Stars and has the queens lip-sync for their legacy rather than for their lives. For me it was a little too wild of a ride to be enjoyable, though I will say that all of the contestants did a fantastic job at acting in this challenge. And Lady Camden's stunt on the runway was just absolutely bonkers, definitely the high point of the episode for me.
That being said, I am sick and tired of DeJa, this season's filler queen, being saved time and time again after gracing the runway with the ugliest outfits (and wigs!) each episode. Not to mention that outside of the runway, she is edited out to such an extent that it honestly wouldn't make a difference if she went home. So why is she still here?
Another queen who I think is being unfairly favored this time around is Daya Betty. I mean, that runway... whatever was salvageable from that honestly mid-tier presentation was completely undermined by that weird, floppy hat. Her acting, though by no means the worst, wasn't the best either, so her placement in the top over Bosco is baffling to me. In an earlier season of Drag Race, the judges never would've given a queen a win just to kiss her boo-boos and offer validation so that she doesn't constantly whinge about "only being safe."
This season is starting to lose me, and it is because of all these shenanigans on the production's part. Things have been a little rocky with the undue departure of Kornbread, but the rest of the cast is still great, and the piss-poor judging and tampering is taking away from their stories and making it harder to honestly appreciate their talents.
It's seems this movie has garnered a lot of hate, I can say that as a person who use to hate Ben Affleck with a burning passion (No clue why really) He's been pumping out movies that are making me like him. I'll admit that yes this movie needs to kinda get its timeline straightened out or at least use the 2 hours to maybe explain things better or maybe run 2 hours and 30 mins for some more explanation the ending feels way too rushed. Now as for a shooting movie goes it's not bad I've seen better and I've defiantly seen worse honestly it works out for me I enjoyed it. Brax being the brother I caught pretty fast I think we all did, I also think they should have not made it so obvious until the moment they meet more suspense that way Some good actors overall with some B-rated actors throw in cause you know budget or whatever.
Over all:
Story: 7/10- Kid with a form of autism becomes the most bad ass accountant and elite assassin! can you get any better than that? Nah, but maybe if you put the time skips in a nicer order, change some of the scenes around and explained some more stuff this would be a better film.
Visuals: 8/10- Who doesn't like the outdoors so outdoorsy that you can shoot off your sniper rifle at a miles distance without anyone complaining so backwoods that shit, you name your company ZZZ and you laundry money through a fucking laundry mat! wtf
Over all, anyone who doesn't like this film is either not a big fans of guns blazing films or isn't a big fan of the story. Like I've said the story needs work but I still like this movie.. Adding it to my very very very small list of movies that star ben that I like
I didn't have any expectations before watching this movie and I hadn't read the book(still haven't ,still not going to)and to me this was all very average.
This movie reminded me of two other movies.Those movies are both superior to this one,and it only reminds me of them because of the whole ''There's someone that has gone through some type of injury and they need an assistant to help them''thing.Those 2 movies are ''The Intouchables (2011)'' and a Swedish movies called ''Ego (2013)'' and both of them are really quite good.
Emilia Clarke did a great job and her character is very likable from the very start.Her smile is adorable and I think she's a really good actress in general.
In the very beginning I wasn't feeling Will and Lou's relationship at all and I was honestly shipping her more with Nathan.Of course she had a boyfriend that I wasn't really very fond of.Patrick was a bit annoying and when he gave Lou a necklace with HIS NAME on it I just kind of lost it...what is she?property?No thank you dude,I'll pass.The only time where I really felt for Patrick was when he found out about the trip ,the uh.."business trip" ,I completely understand why he got mad.
The biggest reason why I give this movie a 6 and not anything higher is because there's something missing.I can't quite put my finger on it but there's just something that just makes this movie kind of "meh" to me.I think it might be Sam Claflin,I don't think he's a bad actor but I don't think he fits the role very well.
I got kind of irritated at the fact that she was always saying both his first AND last name,it's so cringey ,but that's probably just me.
I'm glad he ended up dying,I know that sound horrible but if he would magically just get better and start walking again that would just be way too cliché and I'm so glad that didn't happen.Is a life with just a little joy and a great deal of pain really so much better than no life at all?maybe not,it really depends.
Just like a guy suddenly going blind,he knows what he lost and knowing what you can't have is certainly much worse than not having it in the first place.To live your life in a wheelchair when you know there's so much more out there is a major restraint and for some people it just isn't worth it.
Would I recommend it?not really.Watch it if you want to,maybe you'll love it or maybe you won't but those are my thoughts about it anyway,if that helps.
