Terminator Salvation and the mediocrity of 2009 blockbusters (except from Watchmen :p)

Taking a break from endless editing on unfriendly macs, I might as well write a blog about another film I was waiting for this year.

Terminator is not bad, but it's not great either. It's a really good film and an enjoyable experience. Visually, the post-judgement day world is one of the best represented post-apocalyptic worlds we've seen in the big screen. Shane Hurlbut has done a magnificent work, and the air-raid in the beginning is an amazing single-shot take, introducing us to John Connor, the film's first supporting character.

Christian Bale is good, but he is still playing batman in a lot of scenes. When he lets go of that (and the brutal batman voice) his real talent is fully unveiled (such as in the last speech to the resistance, or when he has a discussion with his wife about how things have changed).

Sam Worthington is the real surprise in this film. Marcus Wright is the lead character in this film and he is great. Unfortunately, the trailers have given away too much, so I won't say anything more, in case I spoil whatever little surprise is left.

The film's real problems lie with the script. While the film's action sequences are amazing, when it turns to softer, emotional moments, the lines just don't deliver. Michael Ferris and John Brancato, writers of Terminator 3 as well, are not the best writers out there, and although I'm sure the rewrites by Jonah Nolan helped it, it needs some more work.

I'd like to stay on that for a little while, 'cause here is my biggest dissapointment with the film. Ferris and Brancato don't know how to write dialogue. In my opinion, the main thing that destroyed Terminator 3, was their unbalanced use of humour v. realism. Arnie with star-glasses is NOT a terminator film, it's a spoof. However, I'm willing to recognise that they can write interesting storylines and good endings. Staying with T3, the elements were really good. JC living off the grid, the always changing timelines, the questionable nature of fate and the best of all, the unavoidable Judgement Day. If the rest of the film was better written and executed, that same ending would have sent us home with a big "Wow". But no...

Moving on, the two of them had a script. They worked on it, they worked on it, they worked on it and they let others work on it. Bale signed after he saw the re-writes and it was all going well. Until about a year ago, when that script was leaked all over the internet. And because of that, they re-wrote it, using a totally different ending. And THAT was for me the biggest mistake in the production of this movie.

Below, I'm going to explain what that ending was. PLEASE DON'T READ ON IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE YET, SPOILERS FOLLOW.










*****************SPOILERS********************

So, when JC is pierced through with that huge metal bar, he dies. Yup, just like that. Marcus kills the T-800 and somehow, the only people that know that Connor is dead, are his wife and his inner circle (Blair, Barnes etc). A handful of people. But John Connor is more than a man these days. He is the face and voice of the resistance. The icon that provides hope for all. No one can tell if the resistance will win after such a loss of morale.

And what is the final decision? The inner circle decide to put John's skin (or make an artificial one looking like him, I don't remember) over Marcus' body. The End.

That would have been just amazing, the irony of the leader against the machines, is a terminator. We see Marcus developing a bond with young Kyle, protecting him, so it would be him that sent him to 1984. Marcus' decision to fight for the humans, making the decision for humanity's survival. I think it's great in so many levels, and it ties in perfectly with the first two installments.









*************END OF SPOILERS*************

Well, that's my opinion. A big amount of fans was pissed off with that original ending, but after seeing the film, I believe everyone will agree that it works a lot better than the mediocre, unchallenging ending the movie has right now.

And moving away from Terminator, what the fuck is going on with the 2009 blockbusters. We had such a good kickstart with Watchmen this year, I believed for a moment that it would be a nice one. Then... Wolverine (not bad, definitely not good), Star Trek (really good, not impressive), Terminator Salvation (good one, not great, could have been great with another ending :p), Angels & Demons (utter crap).

2008 had The Dark Knight and 2007 had (yes) Transformers. They were a blockbuster sensation, they were THE summer film. And for all you haters, Transformers might not be even close to the quality of The Dark Knight, but it's "wow" factor was goddamn high!

We still haven't got one this year (Watchmen was amazing, but it was a thinking man's film, The Dark Knight was both), and I don't think we will. I don't trust Transformers 2, it seems a darker replay of the first, and I think the first worked cause it didn't take itself too seriously. Public Enemies has good cast and crap cinematography, and from the trailers, I'm not that excited. I didn't bother to see night at the museum... but wait... Harry Potter goes dark! How original is that? Do I really have to mention Pink Panther 2?

Ah crap, I'm tired, and I'm going to see Terminator again. Comments below...

Star Trek

So after seeing Star Trek for a second time today, I feel I should say a few words about it.

Just to be clear, I'm going to say now that the film is great. I absolutely enjoyed it and if I had to rate it, I'd give it an 8/10. It didn't overwhelm me, it surely wasn't the best film I've seen this year, but it is a very good sci-fi film, enjoyable, and well-worth the ticket's money.

Also, I'd like to point out that this is my first experience with the Star Trek universe. I had never seen any of the series, or the movies that preceded it.

The special effects and cinematography were absolutely great. It really is a cinema film and I'm seriously thinking of checking it out on the IMAX. The performances were also really good, especially the Kirk-Spock chemistry, and Scotty. Unfortunately John Cho, who was playing Sulu, is someone that I can never take seriously, after the Harold & Kumar movies, but anyway...

The only thing that, not exactly bothered me but could have been better, was the film's plot. I will explain myself, but some spoilers will follow, so read on if you have seen it.

********SPOILERS************

Basically, it felt like that:

1. Nero's planet was destroyed
2. Nero destroys Spock's first planet
3. Nero plans to destroy his second planet
4. Nero is killed, good guys win

Add a confused J.J. Abrams on top of that, who thought he was doing "Lost" and did the whole time-travel/alternate-timeline thing all over again, and that's basically it.

Also, something else that bothered me, is that the film begins, goes on for about an hour with you kinda wondering what is happening... and the Old-Spock appears, and he narrates everything that had happened before. Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah... And then there's nothing to discover. It couldn't be less cinematic, I mean, WTF? Why Blah blah?

Of course, the film has also the task of introducing the characters, which it does very well, and even if the plot is so simple, it is told in the best way it could be. Still, I'm not sure if I wanted to know how everyone met each other, he could have filled the plot with some twists and sub-plots and present the crew as already together. Anyway, I think I'm babbling on...

*********END OF SPOILERS**********

Star Trek isn't the best film in any category. I still believe JJ's best film was M:i:III, the best sci-fi is Battlestar Galactica and the best origin story is Batman Begins. Nevertheless, it is a really good film and a great cinematic experience. In fact, I can't really see why some people were dissapointed, or didn't like it.

I really feel though, now that they're done with the introductions, that the second film has really good potential to become something extraordinary. I still believe that the most promising film of the summer season seems to be Terminator Salvation, which looks better and better with each trailer. We'll see in a few weeks...

Charlie The Unicorn

Just discovered these short animation videos from a company called FilmCow, check them out, they're hilarious!







The company's website is:
http://www.filmcow.com/

On Piracy...

April fool's day, and when I wake up I see news all over the net that a DVD-quality workprint copy of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" has leaked into various bittorrent sites. 'Yeah, right' I think. Turns out it wasn't a joke!

There is indeed a very good copy out there, and from what they say the only things missing are some SFX and music (and possibly some scenes). FOX is trying to contain the leak (which is impossible) while FBI and MPAA are working together to find the source.

Online and offline press are moaning all over about how indecent it is for people to see a non-finished product and how bad it will be for the movie's box office earnings. And I wonder, 'hmmm...'

See, I was thinking that maybe we need things like these if we want movies to start getting better. I'll explain myself.

If "Wolverine" proves to be a great movie, all those guys that downloaded it and watched it are definitely going to go to the theater to see the movie in it full glory. The only way that this leak is going to harm the movie is if it is, well, crap. 'Cause no one is going to spend £7 to see a movie that he already knows is crap.

And for all those that are saying 'the movie is not finished' stuff, I say that's bullshit. The SFX are apparently missing, but if a movie cannot engage you with its story and characters, I doubt if putting on the SFX will make it a totally different and better movie.

An example on that. Although not earlier, but still the first day that "The Dark Knight" was released, a very decent CAM copy started circulating the net. Still, it made one billion dollars worldwide. Good movies have nothing to fear from piracy, and we need more good movies. So, does that mean we need piracy?

Surveillance

Dionisis' Journal, March 8th, 2009

Saw Surveillance yesterday. Good direction. Bad twist. Could see the end in the first ten minutes. Acting was great. Film sets questions, shows reality. Apart from obvious twist, everything else is great. Recommended.

Watchmen... Rated R... Fuckin' A

"On Friday night, a comedian died in New York" and for the next 161 minutes we were following closely the investigation on his murder.

There was a lot of hype during these last few months. And with great hype comes great responsibility. Like the Dark Knight, there were some moments that I doubted if the movie would stand up to all these expectations. I was so glad to be proven wrong.

Plot-wise, a lot of the source material is missing, or is changed. But the important thing is that Watchmen, is there. All the meanings, comments and questions that the Graphic Novel sets are on the screen. When the movie ended, I was having the same discussions I had when I finished the graphic novel.

Having said that, the film is really faithful to the graphic novel, and all the changes done were the absolutely necessary. See, it's a different medium and it works in a different way. For example, a lot of the dialogue or narration was simplified, but in the movie you don't have the luxury of going back and reading "that bit" again, and take your time like in the graphic novel. In order to make sure you get everything that this piece of art stands for, in a medium that moves 25 pictures per second forward, the dialogue just had to be changed.

In short, this movie is not the graphic novel. However, it is the most faithful way it could ever be presented on the big screen. It is 161 minutes of character study, political and religious commentary and philosophical and ethical questions. So, in that matter, it is Watchmen. It is the Watchmen movie.

The characters were great, all of them were amazing actors. My personal choice would be, of course, Rorschach and The Comedian. I consider the Comedian's role one of the hardest for the film, cause he is a savage, brutal man, he has committed atrocities but there is a very human character underneath all that, and in the end Jeffrey Dean Morgan convinces us to sympathize with him. He deserves a fucking Oscar just for that.

Jackie Earl Haley is the ultimate star of the movie. Especially in the scenes without his mask, you can really see his commitment to what he's doing. Dan, Dr. Manhattan, Veidt and even Laurie were nothing short of brilliant, amazing, fully three dimensional characters, distorted mirror images of every living person on earth.

It is not a film to be viewed once, that's for sure. You don't walk away from it, I'm already looking forward to my next visit. There's so much in these 161 minutes, that the film feels really tight. You will want to see it again, and I believe, just like with the Graphic Novel, each viewing will be better than the previous one.

Another thing I really appreciated was the rating. It was rated R, and I liked that, not so much because of the violence/nudity (it was raw, but not something we've never seen before, Punisher was a lot more violent), but because of the audience it attracted. We watched the film in a sold-out 450 capacity screen, and we didn't hear a sound for almost three hours. No kiddies crying, no fucking drunk teenagers, just people who actually came to see the film. I want every film to be rated R. It was also the first time I've been to the cinema, that after the film ended, people were cheering, clapping. That must say something about the film.

As I watch reviews and stuff, I see that the world of critics is totally divided. Half of them praise it, the other half buries it. Let them go fuck themselves. I say we need more films like that, films that make our heads spin a little bit, make us think.

A big thank you goes to Alan Moore, who created the whole story/universe to begin with, and Zack Snyder, who managed to make the best translation when others couldn't (others like Terry Gilliam and Paul Greengrass). Well done guys, we need more of that stuff.

Franklyn

Some days ago, I went to see Franklyn. It was one of those occasions that I walked into the cinema knowing almost nothing about the film. I'd seen a poster and the trailer, but believe me, you can't figure out much about it from these two.

When we were walking out of the cinema, I couldn't make up my mind if I liked o not what I'd seen. After some thought, I feel that Franklyn is a very good film, having of course its weaknesses.

The major minus of the film are the first 20-30 minutes. Until you can figure out what's going on, it seems a bit shallow, and it drives your mind elsewhere. I, for once, was thinking I was watching a simple between-worlds story, cheap fantasy kind of thing.

However, after that, the film gets significantly better, revealing many diferrent layers to the film's plot and philosophy. I wouldn't want to give too much away, cause I, knowing nothing about it, enjoyed all the surprises and plot twists. All I can say is that it will give you things to talk with anyone you'll watch it with.

It is also one of those films that you would really want to watch a second time, once you have the plot out of the way, to notice all the details. I know I want anyway.

When I got back home, I found some more information about the film. It is the writer/director's first feature film (Gerald McMorrow), and he has only done one short film before this one. Also, it was made on the extremely low budget of £6,000,000. Believe me, it has some of the best visuals we've seen on the big screen and also the performances are great by the cast (Especially Eva Green and, surprisingly, Ryan Phillipe).

When I found out about these facts I respected the film even more. The film might have some weaknesses on the script and lacks engagement in the beginning, but I don't think there are many low budget director's debuts that are better than this one. I strongly recommend it.