Two movies to review today people. It was a quiet weekend, which enabled me to break the hoodoo and finally partake in some cinema. Lets get underway......
"Hanna": If Jason Bourne were a sixteen year-old girl.
You may or may not have heard of this film. I remember hearing whispers about it before it came, but things really quieted down after that. I don't even know if it was on wide-release in theaters, which is a too bad, because it is pretty good.
Usually I wouldn't go for a film where the main character is a sixteen year old girl, but "Hanna" has got a pretty neat storyline, and loads of Bourne-style type action to boot. Eric Bana plays a former CIA asset, and is training his daughter Hanna for an apparent revenge mission against his former handler, played quite brilliantly by Cate Blanchett. That may not sound like a brilliant plot line, but it really caught my attention. First off, it spans a number of different locales, but the bulk takes place in Germany. The film becomes something of a roller coaster ride, with very few dull moments, and the action sequences are all pretty fun. In one of the better fight sequences, Hanna, whose frightening ability to defend herself becomes apparent more towards the end (it wasn't all down to Bana's training) takes on three thugs in a shipyard full of containers, and it is pretty exciting stuff. The choreography of the fight scenes wasn't as well done as in the Bourne films, Bana's fighting wasn't nearly as fluid as Matt Damon's was (The Australian looked pretty rigid when fending off a gang of enemies in an empty subway station), but it wasn't too shabby either, certainly better than some of the stuff I have seen in recent times (Rain Fall anyone? Biggest movie disappointment in recent times. Barry Eisler weeps).
There were some odd moments in the film that I think could have been done without, for instance, the director seemed to like to utilize the camera-spinning effect, where the whole screen/image begins to spin around. You will have to see it to know exactly what I mean, but you will recognize it. Blanchett, like I said, was very good in her role, but Eric Bana wasn't very convincing (He shouldn't try a German accent, it wasn't working for him). The young girl who plays Hanna, her name escapes me, held her own though, I was pleasantly surprised. Perhaps we will be seeing her again. "Hanna" was a solid pic, not groundbreaking by any means, but definitely a decent watch.
Verdict: See it, it will make a good rent. Grade: B+
If you liked this movie you might also like: Someone with almost superhuman fighting/killing skills, knowledge of a babel of languages, and being chased around Europe by CIA cronies? Where have we seen that before.......?
"Source Code": Deja Vu all over again.
What a stupid movie. I had a bad feeling about this one, but my Uncle Richard downloaded and burned it for me, so I thought I would at least give it a chance. You might know the premise: The military has technology that allows operatives to experience the last eight minutes of someone's life in order to gain intelligence/information on terrorist attacks or some other event. Well, ok, that is a fairly intriguing idea. The implementation, not so much.
Jake Gyllenhall plays the soldier who is tapped into this mission to figure out who bombed a Chicago-bound train, and prevent further attacks from taking place in the future. Again, not a bad start for a story line. But, of course, leave it to some director to ruin it. Remember that awful Denzel Washington/Tony Scott film "Deja Vu" where the army or some other government entity has a time travel device, and you can go back and alter time or some dumb shit (I forget now, it was a forgettable film). I feared that the movie would turn into that, and my fears would become reality. The film, which started out as kind of a whodunit in a way (once the eight minutes is up, you can go back in for another try), but quickly devolved into this sappy story....if you had a minute to live what would you do, I would say sorry to my dad blah blah blah. I am not even going to bother to explain how it got to that point, it is not worth it. Gylennhall, of course, falls in love with one of the women on the train, and it was all downhill from there. Now he feels he can alter the future and all this horseshit by changing the past. I had a feeling I was gonna get burned, and I did. Deja vu all over again.
Verdict: Don't. Grade: D. The beginning was okay, then failure happened.
If you liked this movie you might also like: If you like any form of time-travel, alter the past/future type movies, then I think you need to check into your nearest psychiatric center, and request help.
