Yeah I mean, it is very much that movie. If you want my unfiltered opinion: it's glossy & loud, it's discount Tarantino/Ritchie, it's engineered to be forgotten about almost instantly, it's very Youtube reviewer friendly, it’s edited for people with no attention span, it’s postmodern and cringy; it's all of that. It's aiming to be a 6, and I was kinda expecting it to hit that target given how much I was into David Leitch' previous directorial effort. Unfortunately, this is hampered by the fact that it very much feels like a product of the pandemic. I'm pretty sure everything was shot on sound stages, and you can really tell, because the effects are dogshit. The same goes for the action, most of it feels like it was choreographed based on what was possible for the day. It's a shame, because good visuals and punchy action are two of the key ingredients if you want to make this kind of movie work. Now, its biggest saving grace are the characters and some of the comedy. I think most of the characters are quite well done and colorful (props to the writing and actors), especially the duo played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Brian Tyree-Henry (again, even if they feel like they walked straight out of a Guy Ritchie movie). It did make me laugh occasionally, but there's also a lot of cringe in it, especially with its obnoxious use of bathos and cameos by people I didn't need to see. I'm also getting pretty sick of the Marvelization of movie dialogue, I could’ve sworn some of Pitt’s lines in this were written with Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool in mind. The story itself is a mess pretty much right from the start and completely flies off the rails in the third act (no pun intended). I'm not sure if that's due to the writing or editing though. In true Tarantino fashion it's told out of order, but here it doesn't enhance the experience in a positive way. I don't know, I'd wait for this to appear on streaming, it's only occasionally fun and not really worth of the big screen.
4/10
The movie is BEAUTIFUL, and if you're looking for an action movie I definitely recommend it. However, if you're an actual fan of Avatar 1, you will be disappointed.
Overused plot twists :
- bad guy that comes back to life (terminator like),
- a boy raised by the Na'vi that is actually the son of the bad guy (jungle book / star wars like)
Remakes of scenes from the first movie :
- Jake riding sea horses for the first time,
- his son becoming friend with the most dangerous Tulkun (VS Jake and the big Leonopteryx making him Toruk Makto);
- Colonel being overconfident while getting his Banshee (just like Jake);
- Earthers burning the houses of Metkayina (VS when they burnt the Mother Tree);
- the wife of the chief (Ronal) losing her Tulkun and accusing Jake for bringing the Earthers (VS Neytiri losing her ikran and saying she never wants to see Jake again);
- exact same sentences ("The people say that the energy is just borrowed and you have to give it back");
- Jake's son behind chased by a very agressive fish in an unfamiliar environment (VS Jake chased by the Thanator in the forest;)
- the obvious end with a close up shot on Jake's eyes... (was thrilling once but come on...)
The apparition of useless characters :
- Spider makes no sense. He hated his dad, then decided to save him and then joined back Jake and the others???? so obviously the bad guy will come back;
- the Earthers who stayed from the first movie (they just appear 10 seconds to help Jake's daughter),
- the female colonel who brings nothing to the plot,
- Neytiri's mother who appears for 5 seconds maybe...
The lack of character development : they pretty much have 1 personality trait at the start and don't really grow from there, which is very different from the first movie -
- the colonel still hates the Na'Vis even after learning their language and getting his flying pet (his personality is basically "I hate Jake" throughout the entire movie),
- Neytiri hates Spider from the beginning,
- Jake is insufferable with his sons until the very very end where he softens up a bit...
The lack of plot coherence :
- Where the hell did the Metkayina go once the fight actually started?? (because their chief was supposed to get his daughter back);
- Why would the Earthers risk to lose the amrita (product from the tulkuns) that is funding all the actions on Pandora just to satisfy the seek for revenge of a soldier??
Lastly, and this is what frustrates me the most : the many stories started that do not have an end -
- Why is Kiri able to control Eywa? Why is Ronal not saying anything when she's supposed to be that spiritual??
- How is humanity actually planning to move to Pandora?...
Overall, I would recommend the movie if you decently liked the 1st one and want to stay in the same universe. But if you are looking for an actual sequel with a great plot and story / character development, be prepared to be disappointed.
Watched 3 episodes and it just got dumber and dumber.
Not only that, but no one is actually paying attention to details in the filming of it. Here's a couple of examples..
1. She's at the pool with her daughter. she's wearing a grey/white T-shirt. She leaves and gets into her car. She arrives at the destination wearing a yellow top and yellow jeans - huh?
2. Twice she tracks somebody down using her mobile phone - it shows us her doing it. How does she track someone she doesn't know? does everyone in Barcelona have a chip embedded that anyone can use to keep track of them?
3. She goes to meet somebody but parks literally 2 miles away. She stuffs a gun in her waistband but we never see it until she needs it then it appears again
4. She plays a game of tennis - doesn't sweat at all. Walks away and her mobile phone just appears in her hand!!
5. Someone shoots out her rear window and she drives to her destination.. with the window in tact
6. She runs away from the bad guys who jump into their Range Rovers and pursue her only to appear from two different directions to block her!!!
I could go on, but you get the picture.
1/10
I've just stepped out of the cinema having watched the worst movie of the year. I feel like the director has played me for a fool. I feel like the joke here.
Joaquin Phoenix must want to shake Todd Phillips till his eyes pop out his head for he went 100% down the rabbit hole to create this performance - only for a horrendously bad director, languid editing, and a screenplay-by-numbers to fail this picture into the miserable, sodden, car-crash of a film it is.
The last time I felt so vitriolic after a 'much-hyped' film was Guy Ritchie's Revolver. Another stinker for the ages.
I particularly feel like a joke has been had at my expense by the presence of Robert De Niro, who must have had deja vu cashing his paycheck reminiscing back to his (actually a good film) The King of Comedy.
This film tries to marry that Rupert character to Taxi Driver and comes up with garbage. Much like the garbage epidemic denoted in the plot itself.
I paid 8 pounds to see this. You'd have to pay me 800 to watch it again.
It almost worked for a few minutes during the scenes with Bobby D's Johnny Carson bit. Almost. The rest was as predictable yet immensely tedious as it could be without me being handed a copy of the script on the way in.
Do yourself a favour... Don't ruin your opinion of Joaquin Phoenix by seeing this. It doesn't feel like he is to blame here. But it's best to just steer clear of the movie altogether. It offers nothing to the DC universe. It offers nothing to the Batman legacy. It actively dishounours the greatness of Heath Ledger, Jack Nicholson, Cesar Romero and all future Jokers.
This film itself IS the joker.
Utter crap.
3/10 - for the attempts made by Joaquin Phoenix saving it from 1/10.
[Initial Impression] In this opening salvo for Apple TV+, M. Night Shyamalan gives us a slow reveal on a bizarre situation. Immediately, we discover the foibles of this couple making them not very likeable. I found the obscured camera angles, that I assume were done so to tell their own stories, to be distracting rather than facilitating the story telling. The pace teeters between boring and suspense. And even the suspense lead to a predictable outcome, but the set up for what will happen next and what is the real mystery behind this Servant, promises an underlying greatness to this series. Let's see if it pays off. I give the opening episode an 8 (potentially great) out of 10.
[Season One Verdict] That was disappointing. We put up with a lot, in hope of a season finale payoff: unlikeable characters, distracting camera angles, a preoccupation with culinary gore, all on the promise of unravelling the bizarre mystery. I think it is a crime to renew a series without fulfilling a seasonal arch. It was a waste of effort. No hidden depths here, just false teases. I won't be watching the second season and wish I hadn't watched the first. I give this series a 5 (disappointing) out of 10. [Mystery Thriller]
Over average “portrait of an assassin” film. Fassbender plays the role very well.
The inner monologue is ok but seemed to fail, at times, at being as interesting, as original or as funny as it intended to be.
Having our assassin listen only to the Smiths was a little cheesy IMO. I know it was meant to be cheeky but it missed the mark for me.
My daughter and I agreed that because of Fincher we entered the theatre with high expectations and were a tad disappointed. Had Fincher tightened things up and sprinkled in a couple more tasty morsels it could have been a great film…
… and there are a ton of plot holes and implausible situations. Here are a few in chronological order (spoiler alert):
Being invisible is impossible our man says because there are cams everywhere. So his camo is dressing like a German tourist. He scopes out the location of his future assassination for days as the German tourist, then switches to ninja clothes for the dirty deed, then switches back to his same German tourist outfit to make his escape. Ridiculous.
Why didn’t the assassins that beat up his gf wait around to kill him? You would think that would count as a failed assassination and that they too would be targeted for cleanup. I need to rewatch the part with the attorney because perhaps he says that he expected our man to have disappeared to the other side of the planet and that sending the assassins to his house was just a gesture to make it look like he made an attempt to clean up. And in that case to whom were they making this show of cleaning up? The botched assassination victim? That makes no sense…
The first assassin has one of those loud entrance door beeps when our man enters the assassins house and yet our man goes about looking through the house as if he expects to find the assassin asleep on the couch with a bag of potato chips. Of course the assassin gets the drop on him… Ridiculous.
Billionaire client says attorney suggested the proper thing would be to cleanup (kill our man) for an extra $150K. What? $150K? Assuming the attorney takes 1/3 as commission, that means each killer gets $50K to fly to Puerto Rico and murder another assassin? Dang assassins are on sale in this movie! They must have killed a lot of folks at $50K a pop to have “more money than they could ever spend”.
That’s it for now. If I’ve missed any other plot holes or implausibilities please let me know.
PS: I don’t usually care about holes and implausibilities but this movie pretends to be a realistic peek into the life of a highly competent, no frills assassin.
This is going to be one of those posts where I go against the mainstream but my reaction when I watched this movie was: You got to be f… kidding me?
The only resemblance to the REAL joker in this movie is the name. As far as I am concerned this movie is an insult to the fans of Batman and the REAL Joker.
The “Joker” in this move is a unintelligent deranged nutcase. There is a sob story in the background about how he became that way which is totally uninteresting.
The REAL joker is a intelligent criminal mastermind. I was waiting for this nutcase to actually become that for the entire movie. Spoiler alert, it never happened! This guy starts as a useless sobbing nutcase and he ends the movie as the same useless sobbing nutcase.
The movie has NOTHING to do with the real Joker. It is a blatant attempt to garner support for a unrelated psychopathic thriller by using the Joker name. If it would have been advertised as such I probably would have, if not liked it, so at least appreciated it for it’s qualities. It is indeed a well done movie technically and the main character is indeed excellently performed.
However, even if I try to distance myself from the deceitful Joker label, I find it overall boring, too long and really a movie about a psychopath probably made by someone with mental issues himself. But then that’s Hollywood today.
That the politically biased and elitist so called “critics” on sites like Rotten Tomatoes like it is not really surprising but I have to confess that I am somewhat surprised at the rave ratings by real viewers on some other sites.
Honestly, I was expecting to be disappointing by this movie. Then I am always cautious about movies getting rave reviews, especially from the previously mentioned totally useless and crappy “review” site. I did not expect this level of disappointment though. Epic fail as far as I am concerned.
