Started off as a half decent action movie till the truly horrible third act.
Why would the government not help kill them under the ice, they were quick enough to believe 'the future people'? Just so you can have your small group of outcasts save the world? Why go through more than half of the movie to help 'the future people' and then barely use what you fought for, the toxin? Terrible writing.
I so love a happy ending. That was a happy ending, right?
The first 90 minutes of this movie are absolutely fantastic. They build up Marla as such a despicable, horrid creature that I was actively begging for the Mafia to get sick revenge on her.
The last 30 minutes are Season 8 Game of Thrones level of terrible and ruin what was about to be one of my favorite movies this year. The steps they want to strain credibility were insane. Firstly her surviving after being drugged and put in the water were questionable. The mafia failing to kill her girlfriend was just...how in the world did they fail killing that girl?
Marla just fell in the water (and I'm not going into the 3 minutes she was able to kick in a glass front window underwater and maintain holding her breath), but she still has her wallet to buy things at the convenience store. She gets to her girlfriend literally just before the place blows up, which she had no control over because she literally waited for a taxi.
They complain that they have nothing left but the diamonds, and but they also apparently have a handy wig, a taser, some morphine knockout drugs to pull off some James Bond type of killing of Peter Dinklage. And then when Dinklage survives, he agrees to be her partner. Look, I get she's smart and was gonna kill it with the mafia. But the shit she did was unforgivable, and it strains my belief that Dinklage wouldn't just go out and torture her the first chance he gets. They did not present him as being a "money first" guy, so him overlooking the mother being thrown IN A PSYCHIATRIC WARD is nuts.
Look, I enjoyed 70% of this movie. It was an excellent horror thriller to that point. I would've loved if this movie went the route of Dinklage and the mob being mostly outsmarted by the crazy, maniacally, absolutely dastardly woman. But that movie NEEDED to end with Dinklage personally killing Marla. No if, ands or buts, anything but that ending ruins the point they spent the rest of the movie going for.
It really hurts me to trash this movie, because Pike was fantastic again in her role as a villain and Dinklage really made me want his character to succeed. But that ending was the worst type of cop out possible.
The real question is why the hell did the guy charge money for snacks at the white house?
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
Pattinson is the best Batman ever.
he is so tortured, his emotions are sincere. He's the darkest and most precise batman out there.
the visuals and the soundtrack are incredible and take you into the thoughts of the character.
For me it’s a masterpiece.
I just want to thank the cinema gods for this absolute dream. It feels like I passed out and when I came to I could remember a very good and satisfying Batman film.
LOL, did anyone else notice they made sure to put in big bold numbers what year the J.K. Rollin parts had been filmed, to be extra careful like: "Don't worry guys, this was all filmed way before she became outspoken about "you know what", but it's okay because we didn't know back then !"
It’s funny to know that this movie was intended to come out before the pandemic, because by releasing it now it might provide some unintentional food for thought for the morons who believe that a certain virus was actually conceived in a lab.
I genuinely wonder if those people will read that far into this film, I’d find it deeply amusing.
The good news is that there are definetely a lot of things this does better than Spectre.
The action is memorable and way more visceral (though it doesn’t quite surpass the Mission Impossible Fallout bar) and the characters are generally more interesting.
I loved the women in this in particular, they all have distinct personalities and they’re not flawless human beings or overpowered (e.g. Ana de Armas is bubbly and fun, but at the same time she’s inexperienced and chaotic), like some blockbusters tend to do.
At the same time, we shouldn’t pretend that this film invented strong female characters for Bond, especially after we’ve had Eva Green and Judi Dench.
Meanwhile, James Bond himself has a very satisfying arc in this film, which isn’t too dissimilar to Tony Stark’s arc in Avengers Endgame , with a bold pay off in the third act. I’m happy that this film gave us confirmation that Mads Mikkelsen didn’t end up castrating Bond during that scene in Casino Royale.
It’s paced very well, more like a traditional action film and less like a drama, which was the case for Skyfall and Spectre. Don’t let the runtime intimidate you, it doesn’t feel longer than 2 hours.
And finally, the whole thing just looks great, it’s produced excuisetely. The cinematography isn’t quite Skyfall level, but Roger Deakins is an impossible bar to clear for any cinematographer.
Unfortunately, this film really struggles with its tone, bouncing between some cartoony stuff and very dark, dramatic moments.
It wants to honor the traditional Bond stuff, but at the same time it can’t let go of the roots of the Daniel Craig iteration, which makes it feel like an uneven artistic vision, because the foundation of Craig’s Bond rests on this idea that this isn’t the traditional Bond.
It’s going for the same tone as Skyfall, meaning its pretty serious, while also incorporating some campy stuff with the plot and the villain (but never going into straight up silly territory, like Spectre).
The problem is that you could still take the villain and the plot seriously in Skyfall (Bardem is still scary despite the camp, the hacking plot feels grounded), and that isn’t the case here, the plot goes too much into sci-fi territory for that.
Also, Rami Malek didn’t leave much of an impression on me, the accent is wonky and he feels like a stock villain (very much like Waltz in the last film). There’s not really an interesting motivation there, or an interesting evil plan. It’s a campy and theatrical plan, and it feels very familiar.
Finally, this film can be fairly predictable at times (for example: Matilde being Bond’s daughter was extremely obvious, but they still try to somewhat play it as a twist. The same goes for Lea Seydoux being framed in prologue.).
So, it’s good, it pushes the creative boundaries of what a Bond movie is in some ways, which is the best stuff.
But I kinda hope they bring in someone with a fresh, fully realized artistic vision to really shake things up again for the next reboot.
7/10
Ps for the Bond producers: please, please make a spin off with Ana de Armas’ character.
A proper send-off for Daniel Craig, he did much for the franchise. One of the better Bond-films for sure, there's lots to like here. The acting is great, music fantastic and obviously the action is riveting. Even at 163 minutes, it does not drag - and even though I wanted more, the ending was perfect. It's exciting to discuss who will become the next Bond, but let's enjoy this ride first and let it sink in.
Man that waitress deserved it
The first Pixar movie that I ever cried for, maybe it was the beautiful art, the compelling story or the fact that I was being represented on tv, no I'm not a sea monster, but if you replace all of the times that "sea monster" was said in this film and instead use "gay" you'll get what I mean. Hat's off to the writers, I could go on and on about how perfect the parallels are but I'll just have to silenzio bruno!!
I gave this an extra star based on the fact that everyone in the movie is so dumb just like the people I see outside everyday.
Horrible live-action remake. I tried my honest hardest to like this movie but it's terrible.
Funny as shit. And then sad as hell when you realize it's basically just a documentary.
It's always a pleasure to see Alison Brie, especially almost naked. John Cena is also good.
And don't forget - a man who touches the honey will eventually lick his fingers.
Not the best film ever but pretty good for a cosy Sunday Night!
Pretty easy to watch and put you in a good mood :)
Margot Robbie is a gift to cinema. This movie is a gift to our society. It's enjoyable and fun but part way through it become a pretty good commentary on our society and how men and women treat each other. It talks about capitalism, consumerism, feminism, the patriarchy, men's mental health, and how wrong we get the simple act of living sometimes. I'm sure there's gonna be people who think this is ultra woke, but maybe (and ironically), that's some people need.
I forgot how incredibly stupid the twins are in this. Both of them have incredible dimwitted streaks. However, inspite of their idiocy, I still enjoyed the film.
Shit (this is to fill the 5 words requirement)
This should have been called Enola Holmes goes Bridgerton: The Sherlock Holmes Story. So boring, annoying, silly and way too long. And stop with the fucking forth wall breaks, it's a... yeah pandemic is the correct word, despite the times.
Are you here looking for reviews to see if the movie is good?
Just say Silenzio Bruno!! and immediately watch this movie
i wonder who are the consumers of this type of movies. who the hell see´s this willingly?
As an Iranian man in exile, witnessing the courageous women of my country fighting shoulder by shoulder with men, to earn back their long-lost human rights; it was very pleasant to watch this movie. Feminism, as a movement towards equal rights, has every righ to be more portrayed in media.
The twist caught me off guard , some brutal kills , a fine prequel to know more about Esther
This movie goes back to basics and really recaptures the classic spirit of man (or woman in this case) vs Predator.
Amber does a great turn as Naru, a Comanche trying to show that she CAN hunt and ends up in a battle against the almighty predator. The evolution of the story is a well paced and the combat encounters are well planned and satisfying.
Aesthetically the predator is a more raw tribal type than we've seen before but is well put out.
There's a few CGI moments that could have done with a little longer is post but on the whole it's pretty good.
Fun, exciting and a classic Predator tale without all the fluff, much better than what we've seen in recent years.
Also the addition of a dog companion is fun :-) Although we are in a world where every movie likes to show strong women I think this movie framed it very well and the Comanche and time frame were a great choice.
8/10
I'm neither a girl, nor teenager or Asian and I still enjoyed it. Imagine only watching movies you identify with facepalm
