World War Z!!!!

World War Z.

From the celebrated and well known zombie novel named the same as the film title, World War Z the film is loosely based on the books events and tackles the whole Zombie film in a different interesting way. 

Starting off with Gerry (Brad Pitt) and his family stuck in traffic you see them sat waiting in a traffic jam, as people start running for their lives and explosions go off the family are soon enough trying to get away to save their lives. As the family get picked up by helicopter and taken to the refuge ship in the middle of an ocean you see that Gerry is an ex UN worker. Approached with the new mission of finding out where this new supposed virus started from you see him seperated from his family and flying to a far eastern country. 

As Gerry travels round the globe and has some near escapes from the supposed "infected" you see how fast the zombies are. Lightning speed with the ability of being able to scramble and jump onto anything that is still alive and worth eating to quench their hunger. With the large pan shots that glide across the screen you see the sheer scale of the terror and how many of the zombies are out there ready and waiting for new blood and flesh. 

Gerry of course travels across the globe from New York to Asia to Israel and ending up in the random place of Wales you see the scale of the outbreak and what is up against. Soon enough Gerry finds an answer to everyone's prayers and works out an effective way of combating against the un-dead and a way for the last remaining humans to stay alive and travel safely around the world.

To me this isn't really a zombie film, it's a story about an infection that takes over and gives the infected that feeling of wanting to eat. With no actual blood or full on biting and penetrating of skin by teeth shown on screen you get the feeling that it is one of those toned down films for the younger generation. We've already had a vampire franchise where we see no blood and now we have a zombie franchise with no blood or flesh to be eaten on screen, it's all abit too weird to me.

I can of course say that the scenes we do see of the "zombies" are great, the mass effect of them clambering over each other just shows the desperation they feel when they've changed. Pitt plays his character well and does so with confidence and really gives across a man on the edge trying to save the world AND be a great dad thousands of miles away as well. 

You can tell the film had problems as the first two thirds of the film are all fast paced CGI scenes but then the last third of the film is set in Wales. A place where you only see one building and three main characters left in the building it becomes the place where everything is resolved and is a more slowed down single kind of camera feel. These scenes slow the film down too much and felt to me like a last ditch attempt at an ending so they did it kind of half hearted.

All in all a great "zombie" style film that no doubt we will see a follow up to let us know how he and his family coped with the world slowly turning against them. For anyone who wants a zombie film but doesn't want to see all the blood and guts on screen then by all means check it out but don't expect anything spectacular.

7/10.

Despicable Me 2!!!!

Despicable Me 2.

After the huge success of the first Despicable Me film the cast of quirky, sweet and oh so funny characters are back for their second instalment filled with plenty of laughs. Picking up right where the last film finished Gru (Steve Carell) is now a happily settled down good guy with his three daughters Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier)  and Agnes (Elsie Kate Fisher) and has taken up making horrible tasting fruit jams.

Of course he can't live a normal life for too long and is soon visited by Lucy (Kristen Wiig) from the villain defence league who is convinced by Silas Ramsbottom (Steve Coogan) to help them catch a new criminal mastermind. As Gru and Lucy work together they take residence in a shopping centre where all manner of situations take place with of course the minions in tow.

As the pair move ever closer to the real master criminal they are thrown off course and soon enough the world is under threat from evil again. With the help of the minions and good old faithful Dr Nefario (Russell Brand) will Gru and Lucy save the world from great danger?

The films characters work really well together with the addition of Lucy and the relationship between the two blossoming throughout the film it has a great mix. A great storyline with some great lines from in my eyes the stars of the films the minions and a nice little life lesson storyline running along side as well it's a great kids film to be enjoyed by every age. 

It certainly had me laughing along to every joke and certainly had the younger kids laughing along as well. If your looking for something fun with abit of comedy, abit of romance and a great save the world storyline then watch this film and overall a great second film from the Despicable Me team, bring on the Minions movie?

8/10.

Man of Steel!!!!

Man of Steel.

Superhero or sci-fi film?, the age old daily debate I have with people when it comes to the "Superman" re-boot Man of Steel directed by Mr Zack Snyder. 

Starting off with the birth of Kal-El you see his father Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and his mother Lara Lor-Van (Ayelet Zurer) holding him for the first time. As Jor-El talks to the elders of Krypton General Zod (Michael Shannon) bursts in kills some elders and promises to take back Krypton from them and save the race. As all out chaos ensues and Jor-El takes the codex skull used for all new life on Krypton, Zod follows and asks for the codex from him. Already placing the codex into their sons blood cells they send him on a pod to Earth to be kept safe and away from Zod. With Zod and his crew being captured and sentenced to an ice pod and sent into the phantom zone Kal-El is safe to travel to Earth for a new life.

As the white foamy water crashes up against the side of the boat we see a tall dark haired, bearded man bringing in and sending out some fishing nets and cages. The next thing we see is an oil rig on fire and with Clark also on fire and holding up a huge metal rig to save his colleagues it shows us his superhuman powers for the first time. Travelling from town to town he works different jobs and sometimes leaves on bad terms, ending up in an Arctic place at a military exploration base be finds a Kryptonian ship and learns about his home world and creation.

Soon enough Clark's world is invaded by a now free general Zod who threatens the people of Earth and asks for Kal-El /Clark to reveal and hand himself over. Clark now has a decision to make about what to do, reveal himself and be declared an Alien and stand up to the criticism and save Earth or stay quiet like he always has done. With flashbacks of his life with his Earth parents Jonathan Kent (Kevin Costner) and Martha Kent (Diane Lane) we learn about how Clark kept his powers a secret and how his adopted father told him about his true existence on Earth.

Lois Lane (Amy Adams) is also in search of Clark and wanting to know about where he came from and also how she can possibly help tell his story. Of course their is the imminent threat of Zod and his gang of rebels who threaten to take over Earth and destroy it along with Clark, what will happen?

The film is of course packed full of action and fighting scenes which try to show off all of his superpowers, strength, laser eyes and of course flight are all shown. A small criticism is that the fight scenes can be a little too everywhere at times and if not watched quickly it can be seen as one massive blur on screen. I honestly think the correct amount of action was used and kept it to a minimum and was only used when necessary.

The actors portray their characters really well, Cavill as Clark/Kal-El is just scary as he looks like he was born for the role and he brings a vulnerable and conflicted side out of the character. Shannon as Zod is a nice touch as he brings a very militarised and stern character out and he sticks with it with tenacity. I have to say I'm unsure about Amy Adams as Lois but in this film she is shown to be a strong intelligent woman which is a change from her previous ditzy version on the Supe's TV show. The blossoming close relationship between the two is not explored too much which is a shame, add in a few close intimate moments between the two and it'd be a perfect film.

Some things I really liked is the origins of Superman's "S" symbol on his chest, deciding to say it is a symbol for the house of El which means hope is clever. And that every other Kryptonian's like Zod have all different chest symbols to represent the house they belong to on Krypton. Even starting on Krypton this is the first film to tackle that historical Superman event of his world being destroyed.

Of course the film had alot of hype mainly because the Dark Knight super team of David S Goyer, Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan worked on the film and of course Zack Snyder was at the helm directing. With Batman being such a massive hit this film had alot to live up to and needed to be something special which to me it really is.

To me this is not a superhero film it is more of a sci-fi film about an alien sent to Earth which is how the film should be viewed. Yes the film is dark and is nothing as bright as the comic books but it is a modern remake and the start of a Superman franchise that we have all been waiting for, "welcome to the planet".

9/10.

After Earth!!!!

After Earth.

For what looked to be a great ensemble of producers,director and actors, After Earth looked promising and the trailer boasted a visually stunning landscape and yet another take on Earth in the future.  The film itself reads to be a Smith family orientated film outing with wife Jada Pinkett Smith in a producing role her younger brother Caleeb Pinkett producing and Will Smith producing and writer of the story the whole family is involved. Let's not also forget that Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith are also starring in the film, the only person not involved with the film is Will's younger daughter Willow Smith. Obviously the directing role is given to director M. Night Shyamalan whose film credits are of either hit films or films that have completely flopped so lets hope this is a hit for him. 

The film starts showing that the earth was hit by a environmental cataclysm so all humans left to inhabit another plant called Nova Prime. Jump 1000 years later and you see chief ranger Cypher (Will Smith) leading the fight against the monsters (Ursas) who threaten to take over Nova Prime . Learning how to suppress his feeling of fear called 'ghosting' he is able to be undetected by the Ursas and trains his other rangers to do the same thing. 

As we see his son Kitai (Jaden Smith) training to be a ranger just like his dad he doesn't make the grade and soon enough convinced by his wife Faia (Sophie Okonedo) Cypher takes his son on one last mission before he retires. As the father and son are on the aircraft it soon enough crash lands and Cypher is badly injured from the crash and Kitai is left to travel to the tail end of the craft to send a distress beacon to save them both.

The rest of the film is pretty much a basic storyline of how the son fights giant animals on Earth and finally learns how to ghost and fight off an Ursa he finds a beacon and sends the beacon into the atmosphere saving himself and his father. END. As you can tell I just gave away the whole film be to be honest I've done you a massive favour as the film itself is quite awful and another film to add to Shyamalan's list of failure films. The storyline is slow and doesn't keep you hooked or interested with the overly stupid quotes from smith like "take a knee" is just aggravating. With one scene where Cypher tells his son a story his accent changes from southern Texas to Jamaican to English and back to American it just doesn't make sense and confused me. 

The acting is wooden as Jaden Smith plays Kitai like a spoilt brat who doesn't want to do anything his father says, it's like a reality TV version of "At Home with The Smiths". Will Smith himself is just stern faced, maybe that's because his character controls his emotions well but he's just cold. And of course this has to be the film where Will Smith has been sat down for most of the film and his character is not really needed at all. 

The only upside to the film is the clever internal decor of the space craft with a mixture of wood and fabrics mixed with metal it shows the potentially futuristic renewable designs of space crafts. The weapons and technology are impressive with a single weapon that transforms the blade into other blades and can split in two is clever. 

Overall it has to be the worst film I've seen this year, at a measly 100 minutes it's short and sharp and leaves a very bitter taste in your mouth and you won't get the 100 minutes of your life back either. If you want to go and see this film at some point then by all means do so but just let me say this "I told you it was rubbish".

2/10.

Byzantium!!!!

Byzantium.

A second vampire film from director Neil Jordan and a return to ways of how a vampire film should be done, dark, sexy and filled FULL of the good red stuff, blood. Yes Byzantium is directed by the man who brought us the classic vampire film 'Interview with the Vampire'. Deciding this time to use the story/play of Moira Buffini it sees the story of a centuries old mother and daughter in modern day life struggling to stay alive.

The film starts out with audio dialogue of the daughter Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan) telling her story and how she arrived at the place that she currently lives. Cutting to a lap dancing club you see the mother Clara (Gemma Arterton) giving a client a lap dance in order to make some money. As a man arrives in the club holding a picture of Clara she's soon being chased by him on the streets as she runs for her life, caught she leads him to her home where she beheads him with some cheese cutter wire.

Setting fire to the flat to destroy the body the mother and daughter leave and end up in a small sea side town where Clara meets a crying grieving client Noel (Daniel Mays). Finding out he has inherited a hotel 'Byzantium' from his deceased mother Clara befriends him and moves herself and her daughter into the hotel.

Soon enough a wandering Eleanor becomes friends with an old gentleman who invites her to his home and explains how he has read her story of her life. He accepts death and allows Eleanor to drain his blood and end his life for him, using her growing nail she slits his wrist and drains his blood. As she wanders into a hotel to play a piece by Mozart on a piano she gains an admirer in a young waiter Frank (Caleb Landry Jones) who follows her and tries to become friends. Deciding to join a college course she finally gets the chance to write about her life story and tells Frank her and her mothers secret which draws in some rather unwanted attention from her tutors. 

As the police find the burnt out flat and the old age pensioners blood drained body the mother and daughter are soon being tracked down by two men, Darvell (Sam Riley) and Savella (Uri Gavriel). Both men look and act mysterious and want to track down the mother and daughter as soon as possible.

As the relationship between the mother and daughter becomes strained and the relationship between Eleanor and Frank becomes stronger what will happen to the two bonds. Will Eleanor and Clara finally escape the sights of Darvell and Savella and how did the both of them become vampires.

The movie is interesting and brings in some different origins and ways in which vampires act and live in the real world during daylight. With the use of a growing finger nail to slice peoples wrists or necks to suck the blood out of victims is unique and a little twist on the usual fanged nocturnal vampire. The way in which they become vampires is like more of an old ritual in which they voluntarily take part in and is impressive with blood flowing waterfalls and packs of black birds swirling in the sky. 

Saoirse Ronan portrays Eleanor really well and plays the innocent young victim daughter with plenty of emotion, Gemma Arterton portrays the young mother who would do anything for her daughter well and shows how much she loves her daughter. I liked the addition of some UK tv actors like Daniel Mays and Tom Hollander as it gave it a more home UK style film and also the fact it's partly filmed in the UK as well. 

Overall it's the type of film for the people who complained about Twilight not being a vampire film, they would love this film. It's dark with plenty of blood and a brooding underlying storyline of love and loss and new relationships. There are no special effects or anything it's a straight up low budget style film that really hits every point of a vampire film. For any Twilight haters go or Twilight lovers go and watch this film and see how a proper blood filled vampire film is done.

8.5/10.