I really, REALLY liked it. It does something that's at the basis of my life-long enjoyment of giant monster movies really, really well, and some of the scenes had me bouncing in my seat with joy.
That being said... It's not a movie built along the lines of a modern blockbuster, at least not entirely, and for that I think it's not gonna be a huge tentpole success. People are gonna complain about character choices or dialogues or characterization. It's much more in line with the classic Godzilla formula, and THAT it does really well.
One of the big challenges of a monster movie is always to have a good balance of "monsters fighting" and "humans talking" in a way that builds tension and action, and this one, more than almost any other Godzilla movie, and more than 2014's take, was right on. Monster fights always had clear stakes, and the puny humans buzzing around had clear objectives (even if often it was just 'try and survive in the shitstorm of the century') and felt in their place as supporting characters in the monster drama.
So, in short... If you wanna see a pure, slick action movie, go see John Wick 3. If you want some of that designer-drug concentrated dose of entertainment you expect from a tentpole, you got Endgame. But if you ever felt a thrill watching Godzilla melt the rubber face off of another giant monster, you're in for a hell of a treat.
Well, damn.The reviews for this were good, but even by keeping my expectations in check I still ended up disappointed.
It's really a kids' movie, and not a very good one at that. It's not, say, The Incredibles where you can indulge in the fantasy as an adult and stll enjoy it... It's the kind of kids' movie that condescends to its audience. The Wizard and the bad guys are just terrible, barely on the level of a Scooby-Doo villain, and the entire conflict at the heart of the movie makes no sense.
There's a bit of humor in having a teenager in an adult superhero body, but most of those jokes were shown in the trailer or don't amount to much more than predictable humor. Worst, there's no attempt at all by Levi to act as if he's Billy Batson in Shazam's body... The two characters may as well be completely different people. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle this ain't.
A hard pass as far as I'm concerned.
Better action movie than Endgame. Fite me.
The best and worst of Hollywood, all in one package: bombastic, over-the-top action scenes, famous actors chewing scenery like it's going out of style, but very little heart and truth in the characters and dialogues. None of the characters are especially sympathetic, except perhaps Hector and Odysseus (played by an underused Sean Bean).
The movie claims to be "inspired by" the Ilad, but it should be noted that it plays fast and loose with the events of the Trojan War as chronicled by the Greek Epics, of which the Iliad is but a small part. It's loosely based on the Epics at best (for instance, the Trojan War was said to have lasted ten years, but here it goes by in the space of a week or two), and it makes no real effort to convey Bronze Age warfare with any accuracy.
This was also peak Brad Pitt, so we get to see his naked ass a few times for good measure.
I wanted to like this movie so much more than I did. The high concept is fantastic, but the execution just devolves into cliché after cliché. The cool moments happen because the script contrives to make them happen. (Worst offenders: the elevator scene and the cops mysteriously separating Liam and Rose.) It's really too bad.
Doesn't live up to its premise. Starts off as "time-travel-savvy nerds encounter time travel," which would make it Scream for SF, but honestly, they never show SF smarts and go through the exact same motions you've seen before.
Besides that, the humor is a bit grating at times, and the main characters are never truly sympathetic. Too bad, I liked the concept.
I really wanted to like this because Orcs! Elves! The truth is, the racial stuff was super on the nose, yet the plot was pretty average. I still enjoyed it, and I have hopes the sequel will transcend this installment, but as it stands, this was not as great as "End of Watch with orcs" makes it out to be.
Batman travels to feudal Japan where he fights the Joker who became a feudal lord. If you're thinking, "Cool, surely that means there'll be Japanese castles turning into giant robots and Robin befriending a cute talking monkey," then boy is this is the movie for you.
I gotta admit, this didn't turn out to be anything like what I had imagined. I thought we'd get an Elseworlds set in feudal Japan, but instead what we got is an insane anime-style nonsensical action sequence in the style of mid-'80s Japanese animation. Ten-year-old me would have dug this immensely. Adult me had to struggle through some of the nonsense, but overall it was enjoyable for the hot mess it was.
