Justice! 2012's Dredd

Ahh, Judge Dredd. Jury, executioner, and Judge. A no nonsense guy who will stop at nothing to see justice served the best way as possible. Originally a comic book series, Judge Dredd has gained a cult following over the years. He's been mentioned in other comics, video games and recently Hollywood. In this review, I'm doing the 2012 remake of Dredd, not the 1995 Sylvester Stallone version. First of all, this movie gets right what Stallone's did wrong. This movie doesn't stroke the ego of some lame (personally, I'm not a Stallone fan) action star. It sticks (mostly) to the comic books, though it's a tad bit more serious. The comics are basically political satire, amusing to read, not easily translatable on the silver screen. Let's get to the review!

 

 

Easy there, I'm on your side!

In the future, the world is a nuclear wasteland. Humanity resides in Mega Cities, stretching millions of miles, sheltered from the deadly wastelands. With so many residents, everything is in a Mega something. Mega Blocks (not the toy) Mega Highways, Mega Banks....you get the point. Though this being the future, crime still manages to cling on and ruin everyone's day. In come the Judges, peacekeepers who fight crime and are allowed to give sentences on the spot. For example, you jay walk, a Judge can give you two years in isocubes (aka prison). Enter Judge Dredd. The top Judge. The name itself brings fear to criminals and law abiding citizens alike. He's assigned to assess rookie Judge Cassandra Anderson (played by Olivia Thirlby). Anderson failed the Judge test, but the Chief Judge gives her a second chance due to the fact that Anderson's a mutant with psychic abilities. Dredd (played by Karl Urban) is skeptical, but takes Anderson out on assessment. A triple homicide is called in and the Judges go to Peach Trees apartments (a mega block). Turns out the triple homicide leads to something bigger than they thought and the plot thickens! The Ma-ma clan, run by Ma-Ma, produces a fancy new drug known as Slo-Mo and the killings were a warning to other drug lords. (Slo-mo is a narcotic that makes the brain feel like it's moving at 1%.) Dredd and Anderson raid a drug den, taking one of Ma-Ma's lieutenants in for questioning. Ma-Ma gets word of this and locks down Peach Trees using the security control room. She then announces to Peach Trees that she wants the two Judges dead and no one gets out until it happens. Dredd and Anderson now must fight for their lives in order to escape.

After a series of gunfights, punching, Gatling guns, and incendiary rounds, Anderson gets captured by her prisoner. Dredd understandably gets ticked off and goes after Ma-Ma and her gang. Now, there is a pretty cool twist involving crooked Judges and a fight between good and bad Judges. It's pretty intense. Anderson manages to free herself and meet up with Dredd. Then Dredd and Anderson fight their way to the top of Peach Tress to finish Ma-Ma once and for all.

The Good:
The special effects. This movie keeps it simple with the effects and only uses CGI when it's necessary. The scenes when the Slo-Mo drug is used seems to me that they're enhanced with CGI but, it's not cheesy. Also from what I could tell they were the only scenes with CGI. The story's decent too. The writers kept the story simple and it works. Go in, bust bad guy, stay alive, get out. Seriously, that's the plot in a nutshell. No insane plot twists, one location, and simple character roster. The people you're supposed to care about get screen time and the one's who are nameless and get taken out, well, you don't feel anything. And it works. Karl Urban as Judge Dredd. Move over Stallone, Urban's officially Dredd. He's got the iconic scowl down, the gruffy voice, Urban nails it. Olivia Thirlby does well as Anderson too. She grows as a character though the movie and you witness it. She starts out unsure and somewhat passive, then grows into a fully fledged Judge. In the beginning, when Dredd and Anderson are about to bust the drug den, Dredd comments on her not looking ready. Then, towards the end Dredd mentions that she looks ready when they're about to take out Ma-Ma. Anderson's also not some damsel in distress either. She's a badass girl who takes care of herself and that's nice to see in this day of age.  There isn't a whole lot bad to say about this movie.

The Bad:
Ma-Ma. She's not given a whole lot to work with. I mean, I wouldn't want to be living in the same building as her, she's pretty evil. I just wish she was given more back story. She's pretty much a cliche bad guy. To be fair, on the DVD, there is a comic book thingy that explains how she became who she is, but eh..not a whole lot of people are going to watch that. Lena Headey, who plays Ma-Ma does well for what's she given though.

Overall:
Overall, this movie's pretty darn good. It hits the right spots, and doesn't overdo anything. As said before, this movie keeps it simple. The casting for the Judges was spot on. The effects weren't over the top and made it feel more realistic. Hopefully, there will be a sequel and hopefully, they use the same recipe as before. Keeping it simple.

Bonus Round!
Wait, what? Bonus round? I wasn't notified about this! Anyways, this bonus round goes to the Lawgiver! That's the gun Judges use to dispense baddies and do other crime fighting stuff. The movie made the Lawgiver look utra realistic and something that might be used in the future. Look at this thing:   

   That's awesome. Where can I get one?

Score:
4.5 lawgivers out of 5.

X Men: Days of Future Past

Time travel. The mere mention of spiraling through time and space sends shivers down sci fi lovers and possibly some scientists necks. It's a fairly common theme, I mean look at all the different media that involves time traveling.  The Time Machine, Terminator, Terminator 2, Doctor Who...the list goes on. Well, comic books also involve traveling through time, so Hollywood took one of said comic books and made it into a movie. I'm talking about X Men: Days of Future Past. Now, this particular comic book did come out in the 80s, and there were a few things different from the movie in the comics. However, the plot somewhat remains the same: Giant mutant killing robots are taking over the world and a mutant must go back in time to stop these killing machines before humans and mutants are no more. So turn on your lava lamps and get in your Cadillac, we're going into the...70s!

As mentioned before, Days of Future Past is based off a series of X Men comics in the 80s, but with a few things switched around. First of all, Kitty Pryde (the girl who can run through solid objects) is sent back into the past. In the movie, Wolverine (played by Hugh Jackman) is the lucky guinea pig. The story is this: Sentinels, mutant killing robots, enslave anyone who is either a mutant, human helping mutants, or a potential genetic candidate to have a mutant offspring. Thankfully, John Connor- I mean, the X Men, start up a resistance to put an end to this. Problem is, the Sentinels have a cheat code; they can use mutant powers to fight mutants. This puts the X Men at a disadvantage, obviously. However, Kitty (played by Ellen Page) has a new, unexplained power, and can send people's consciousnesses back through time. Kitty uses said unexplained power and warns Professor X and some other X Men about the Sentinels, so they can come up with a plan. The plan is this: Send someone back through time and stop Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from speeding up the Sentinel Program and possibly murdering a scientist, Bolivar Trask. Wolverine is the best candidate and he is sent back into the 70s.

Wolverine must get Prof. X and Magneto to work with each other so they may convince Mystique that killing is kind of a bad thing to do. It won't be easy though, Prof. X has lost his powers and Magneto is well...locked up. Wolverine must convince the former to save the latter and also must give Prof. X his confidence back. There's some neat little cameos and a really cool scene or two, but the movie focuses on Magneto and Prof. X. Wolverine plays a secondary character, but when he's in the spotlight, he does a decent job. Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique does well too, but there a a few minor things that could have been left out. Micheal Fassbender and James McAvoy do show some good chemistry and I daresay they do as well as Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen together. Hugh Jackman -is- pretty much Wolverine at this point, though he didn't say "Bub." as much. The story's well writtten, however, it would have been interesting if they had followed the comics more closely. We need more well written heroines and an X Men movie with Kitty as the lead could have been different. Hollywood came up with some lame excuses as to why they couldn't have a female lead so, there's that. Then there's Quicksilver. He had the coolest scene in the movie, and he's only in it for 10 minutes. Seriously? And I have no idea how they're going to explain how Quicksilver's in his 20's and not as old as the hills in the new Avengers movie. Anyways, on to the good and bad.

Yeah, I don't trust him either, Blink.

 The Good:
Overall, Days of Future Past is a good movie. The special effects are visually stunning, and the casting was well done. The story is interesting and at times well paced. And some of the mutants, guys. Personally, Blink is my new favorite X Man (X Men?) Why? Freaking portals. There are the classics too, Colossus...that's about it. The casting for the most part is well done. Everyone does a decent job and there are some convincing moments. For example, Prof. X and Magneto have an argument about loss and Magneto nearly crushes the plane they're in from anger and how you should fight instead of giving up. That was really well done. Another is when Wolverine is trying to boost Prof. X's confidence as Prof. X's powers come back. James McAvoy does a well done performance there. The old school Sentinels are pretty badass.  And Quicksilver. He stole the show.

The Bad:
Kitty's new powers. Where did they come from? How does running through solid objects give you mental powers? They never explain this is in the movie. I would have been okay with it if they'd come up with something. But no, we're just stuck with, Kitty can send people back through time, deal with it. Then there's the mutants. Man, they got screwed in this movie. Their powers are so watered down it's pathetic. We have Warhawk, a native American, who's only power is to sense where things are. That's like, seriously racist. Oh, he's good with knives, but that's not a mutant power. In the comics, the dude's 250 pounds of muscle and makes Captain America look like a wimp. Then there's Storm, the woman who's considered a Goddess in the comics, become a useless "I can shoot lightning like Thor." She dies first, (surprise, surprise). Quicksilver seriously needed more screen time. In fact, the whole plot could have been solved faster,  (possibly less messier too) if he had stayed longer. And the mutants from First Class? Screw 'em they're dead. Not a one alive, except Havok. Whoop de doo, he gets 2 minutes and is never heard of again. And Marvel's favorite thing to do in movies is....trust the bad guy who was obviously evil in the first movie, but this time he's changed, only to find out he's still bad. Marvel, I'm obviously to keep giving you my money, but stop this. I already know the bad guy is still bad. Loki is still bad, Magneto is still bad, The Red Skull is still bad, stop! You can't keep doing this and acting like it's a new thing.

Overall:
X Men: Days of Future Past is a good sequel to X Men: First Class. And it's indefinitely better than that train wreck that was X Men 3: Movie that Shall never be Mentioned. And yeah, they hint at it like it's still there, but thankfully the movie erased 50 years of stupid history so it never happened. Anyways, decent movie. I'll keep watching it for the time being. If you're an X Men fan, this is a good film to watch.

Rating:
3.75 lava lamps out of 5. 

Rush Hour...2!

"Get on with force, don't stop til you get enough." -M. Jackson.

These wise words are sung in 2001s Rush Hour 2. The- oh yeah. Hey fellow movie watchers! It's been a long time since I reviewed a movie. There are going to be a few changes to this blog too. First of all, I'll be reviewing movies of all genres now. Now, that doesn't mean I'll stop doing kung fu flicks, just maybe less. Secondly, this blog shall henceforth be renamed The Shaolin Fist of Movie Reviews! And third, I'll be asking my loyal follower(s)? suggestions of movies that they'd like to see reviewed. So, leave a message in the comments! On to the review!

Today, I'll be reviewing the second movie in the Rush Hour movies. Why start with the second, you ask? Why not. Anyways, to the movie! Rush Hour 2 is the sequel to the first where we follow Inspector Lee and Officer Carter in their hijinks in Hong Kong. Lee and Carter are having fun, well, just roaming around Hong Kong doing Lee's police work. The U.S. Embassy in HK is attacked and Lee is called to the case. Carter, who's on vacation, reluctantly joins Lee in the case and they have to stop the Chinese Triad from importing....something. They join forces with a double agent, Isabella Molina to stop the Triad's evil scheme. Fists and feet of fury fly through out the flick! And there's Las Vegas too, so that's cool.

Not pictured: Las Vegas.

So that's the gist of it. Let's get on to the good and the bad parts of the movie.

The Good:
Personally, I like this movie a tad bit more than the first one. There's more action, jokes and more scenery. Chris Tucker does a good job reprising his role as James Carter, as well does Jackie Chan as Lee. The story's not too bad either, though this being a comedy, you can't take it too seriously. The action scenes are pretty well done and you feel pumped when Carter and Lee do their super high five thingy. Isabella's a nice touch to the story as well. She's not a useless female character that the males have to keep saving. She has her useful moments and keeps the boys alive when it's needed.

The Bad:
The bad guys. Bleah. Seriously, does every action movie bad guy have to be so cliche? "I want more money." "I want to sell drugs." "I want to steal diamonds and sell drugs." My goodness, I just want a bad guy in a kung fu movie I can get behind when their motives are more realistic. Or better written. Not to say that Ricky Tan is badly written, it's just that he's so cliche. And the double agent thing. You know, can we trust the agent or are they actually a bad guy too? Every time it's the same. The agent is protecting the others and trying not to blow their cover at the same time. And there's Carter. While Chris Tucker is slightly funny, Carter is a bit too sex maniac at times. It gets old when he's hitting on everything in sight, including walls. Then there's the slightly racist jokes. Sure, it's funny maybe once or twice, but telling the same joke over and over loses it's panache. 

Over all:
Rush Hour 2 is a fun movie to watch when there's nothing better to watch. It's still somewhat amusing after all these years. (Man, I can't believe this movie's 14 years old.) Chan and Tucker perform well, and I daresay that this is one of the few sequels better than the first movie. So, if you're in a mood for kung fu and comedy, pop in Rush Hour 2. You might enjoy it.

Rating:
3.5 Micheal Jackson songs out of 5.