Resident Evil Retribution review

Hate it or love it, the Resident evil franchise has created success in both the box office and in making new fans to the RE world.
RE retribution is the 5th film in the series the started more than 10 years ago, here the film picks up from where the last film ended, where we find Alice " played by the one and only Milla Jovovic " on board the Arcadia fighting off the Umbrella army, she gets captured and send to their underwater facility for interrogation, down there she finds a hidden friend within the Umbrella cooperation who helps her escape, and throughout the movie we follow ALice as she tries to escape the facility with the aid of some of her older fiends and allies. of course she faces all kind of threat that we all know and familiar with from the RE world, including Zombies, monsters and Umbrella soldiers.

the plot is quite simple and basic and is very similar to most of the previous RE films, which does not add anything special or might be shallow for the people who take these films seriously. the action on the other hand offers a lot more, there are several well executed action scenes with fresh ideas, impressive visuals, the jaw dropping type of visuals. very stylish and professional stuff.

personally, my favorite RE movie is split between Afterlife and Apocalypse, both were very interesting, adding more fresh and interesting characters " Claire, Jill " and the action was solid as usual.
so why did Retribution fall in ranking ? well, i found it weak in several areas, for example, here we were introduced to new characters, but those characters were rushed into the plot without any background, which made us care less about them and about their survival, not to mention they added a bigger number of new faces than usual.it was a bit of a mess.

another problem, is that the plot started to shift further and further into fantasy and away from reality. now i understand that these films are SCi Fi, meaning they were not intended to be realistic, however, i found the previous 4 films believable, you can relate to them some how, but this one was too Sci fi for me, if you can get my meaning.
things like multiple clones, Zombie soldiers, futuristic models based on huge cities, Umbrella controlling simulations to detail is just way over fetched. some scenes seemed odd somehow, weird and at times even ridiculous.

I also hated the fact that they didn't tell us what ever happened to Clair and Chris from the previous Afterlife movie !

having said that, i still had a kick out of watching this movie, as mentioned, action was solid not to forget its always a joy to watch Milla as Alice, she owned that role.

reading some reviews of the film on websites like IMDB and so forth , it seems a lot of people were taking these films very seriously and are expecting a solid drama with a complicated twisted plot, which is not the case with these films, they are mainly brainless action films with style.
other people are still moaning that Anderson " the director " took the RE series into a different direction from the Video games, which i don't understand, the guy bought the right to making the film, he got it and probably with a high price and now he is free to do what ever he wants with it, his visions and his style, so people need to grow up and just accept that, its been 10 years already and they are still moaning about it.
i guess now they can rest a bit with the two animated RE movies that came out, it might give some of the obsessed some closure. i only watched Degeneration and it was good enough, but to me not as a good as the live films.

the picture on this Blu ray is awesome, its clean and smooth like looking through a glass not a TV screen provided that you have the High definition connections and all that, same has to be said about the audio and sound, speaking of audio i forgot to mention that Retribution, despite its short comings it had a fantastic soundtrack, probably the best in the series.
the Blu Ray also had a bunch of special features which i couldn't and really didn't care to go through them all which are listed above in the product details if you really care about that stuff, as for me, i only go for the movies usually and don't care much about the features.

so to summarize, not the best in the series, but still a solid addition to the successful RE movie series with Mill Jovovic doing her best, impressive visuals and action scenes. worthy to add to your collection if you're a fan of the series or of good action.

Kill'em all review

I was having high hopes for Kill'em all, but was left disappointed at the lack of creativity and enjoyment of this movie. it had what seemed to be an interesting plot, the idea behind it sounded cool and intriguing, but the delivery of that idea was below what is expected. the plot involves a group of highly professional assassins who got kidnapped and locked into a bunker together by a madman who forces them to play his game and fight each other to escape, for no clear reason, probably for his own sick entertainment. the fight scenes in the film were impressive to some extent, some well choreographed fight scenes that involve mainly martial arts, but they add nothing new to the hundreds of action films out there.

the lead actress had some impressive moves and a cool sexy outfit, very delicious to look at.

generally, the acting was just awful, very rigid and lame, those people seem like professional athletes, but just don't cut it as actors which really harmed this movie big time.

the script and dialog was just as awful if not the worst i've ever seen in a movie, just awful writing, that nothing smart comes out of those actors, lame and boring dialog that i just screamed please shut up once a conversation starts !

Add to that a lame villain that looks like an Asian version of Blofeld of the Bond films, minus the cat. a bold villain in a grey suit with some good fighting skills actually, he also have an army of psychopaths and ninjas that ultimately fight our heroes. " one might ask why don't he just use his ninjas to fight each other for entertainment ? "

the effects were also below average when explosions were involved, something that can be made with a simple editing program on your laptop.

so generally, a boring film for the most part, low grade B film with only some good fight scenes as its positive, otherwise,atrocious acting and an avoidable B film that adds nothing new or special out of all the hundreds of B action films out there

Safe movie review

Well it has to be said, that the action genre has not been up to standards lately, and it seems like the action era has ended by the end of the 90s, until Statham showed up !!

this movie is one of the better entertaining action movies in recent years, I really enjoyed every part of it and it took me back to the Die Hard and 90s years when action films were on top.

Don't get me wrong, its not a perfect film or an Oscar nominated movie, but it truly does deliver pure entertainment and an enjoyable movie experience.

the movie is somewhat similar to 1998 Mercury Rising starring the one and only Bruce Willis, only Safe was more brutal and much more action packed !! sorry Bruce

it revolves around a broken and fallen ex-cop Luke Wright " Statham " who lost almost everything in his life and who hit rock bottom, but once his path is crossed by the young and helpless Chinese girl Mei who is being hunted by every scum bag and corrupt cop in NYC because of her possession of a safe code, the inner fighter in Luke wakes up and now he has a new goal in life, protect Mei and bring down the bad guys !! the plot sounds like something that Jackie Chan would usually do, thankfully, the role fell to Statham who really made the difference here !!

I like Jackie Chan, but come on, he is not brutal enough !

A very well written script for a simple plot, very fast paced and not to mention action packed, Statham really stretches his muscles here, lots of well choreographed fighting sequences, some fantastic shoot out scenes one of which takes place in a night club that was adrenaline pumping, the action was brutal.

I also liked how they gathered around some very good actors playing the villains or bad guys, characters ranging from Russian mobsters to Chinese gangsters and even corrupt Cops.

I strongly believe that Jason Statham has emerged as the new action star of the new millennium, he is what Van Damme, Scwharezzenger and Stallone were in the 90s, he has all what it takes to be the ultimate action star and his acting is pretty good too. I can't deny the efforts of Stallone to bring the action genre back with his newest movies like the Expendables 2, but for now, Statham is on top.

so in short, out of all those B grade action films out there, its nice to see a very well crafted action packed movie that is pure entertainment, thank you Statham !!

9 out of 10

Freelancers movie review

So this movie is not perfect by any means, not the best movie out there, but also not as half bad as people are saying in their reviews, and that it is a copycat of Training day.

first, it has nothing to do with Training Day, and actually they are two different movies with very very minor similarities. this movie is actually more like Street Kings starring Keanu Reeves which deals with bad cops and one particular cop " 50 Cent " who starts to develop some conscious and digs into the mystery of who killed his father who was also a cop a long time ago.

he is taken under the wing of big time cop who was also his father's partner, played by Robert Deniro, who is also a bad cop and a drug dealer, aided by his right hand played by Forest Whitakar.

the acting from those giants was excellent as usual, and really lifted this movie up for me, it is such a joy to watch Deniro acting. Now 50 Cents acting is average at best, but his acting sort of served his character's role in this film, he seemed cold and devoid of emotions which was quite a reflection of his character in the film, so it worked out well for him, but there is no denying his below average acting.

the story definitely has several weak points, and as one reviewer already mentioned, characters shift suddenly in their behaviors, nevertheless, i wasn't expecting a well crafted master piece of a film, but rather a nice little drama with big names and wonderful performances with a story that held my attention enough.

I might be biased here, because I'm a big fan of the police Drama genre like Cop land, Street Kings and this movie, but for what its worth, i thought this movie was better than Son of no one, which is also a police drama starring another legend Al Pacino and Channing Tatum.

Freelancers gets a 7 out of 10

Cat Run movie review

I would have to say that after watching this film that it is a flawed but entertaining R rated film.

its an action comedy movie that involves a female escort who witness a goverment cover up of a crime and is then hunted by the people trying to cover it up, aided by two unlikely private detectives to expose the crime and escape the ruthless assassins sent to elimante her.

quite the simple plot yet filled with all sort of characters from funny and silly like Jullian played by Alphonso Mcauley to cold blooded killers like Helen played by Janet Mcteer who for me really stole the show with her brilliant peroformance as the british assassin, absolutely loved her !

the movie is a mixture of Action and Comedy which could work for and against the film, at times it felt like a Bond film, other times felt more like There is something about Marry !!

I mostly enjoyed the serious part of it, the mature violent kills and gory scenes, i also loved the setteing of the film that took a wide tour through European countries capturing some beautiful scenery which added much to the movie.

Action scene were pulled off with perfection, gun fights and a final fist fight not to be missed.

In short, the movie was flawed in certain areas, but was actaully pretty entertaining and worth a watch for sure, at least for Janet Mcteer's performance and some solid mature action.
I say 7.5 out of 10

Total Recall movie review

After watching the Dark Knight Rises this summer, i never thought ill watch another very good and entertaining film this same summer, but i was wrong.

after the average remake of Fright Night last year, Collin Farrel must have been worried about his second remake this year, Total Recall.

But i can safely say, that he shouldn't worry at all, because this movie delivered an enjoyable movie experience.

the plot is some what similar to the original film from the early 90s, where Farrel finds himself in a mistaken identity situation without knowing what is really going on, is he or is he not who he is ?

and so he embarks into a journey of self discovery while being chased by the ruthless Lori Quaid played by Kate Beckinsale who plays the bad guy "  or gal in this case ", again a surprise role since i never saw her in such a role.

on the other side of the coin we find Jessica Biel playing the mysterious girl who apears to be helping Farrel's character to remember who he was, or is she ?? her character wasn't that complex or difficult, and so she does a good job here.

now what really made this movie a very good one, is the none stop action, it was quiet an action packed movie with street chases, futuristic car chases, fist fights and even gun fights with very impressive visuals.

highly recommended and is actually better than the original " sorry Arnold ", not to be missed.

i say 8 out of 10

Dark Knight Rises movie review

Yes, and finally Batman is back in the third and final chapter of this amazing and exceptional movie franchise of the beloved superhero !!

the Dark Knight Rises was such an enjoyable movie experience, very dark with an engaging plot. I certainly felt that the 3 hours running time flew by so quickly.

As most of you know, that this film picks up around 8 years after the dark Knight events, and here we find that Batman is no more and Bruce Wayne has kept a low profile and isolated himself in his place. And only when a gruesome villain Bane starts terrorizing Gotham is what makes our Dark Knight rise again !!

a simple yet powerful plot executed with perfection by Nolan who captures the characters, the story and Gotham perfectly with just the right pace.

of course, Christian Bale plays an excellent Batman, all the critics agree that he is the best actor who ever played the role !!

and so to find a very good villain to fill the great performance of the late Heth Ledger as the Joker seemed difficult, but here comes Tom Hardy with another exceptional performance giving us another very strong and tough villain that Batman has ever faced. his voice and character will remain a classic for years to come just like what has Darth Vader had become.

I was also very skeptical  about casting Ann Hathway as Catwoman, i just didn't think she would pull it off, but i was surprised with her acting and how she owned the role, very very good.

Gary Oldman and Jordon Gordon Levitt also gave very memorable performances, so the acting was just superb all around.

the plot as i already mentioned was also very engaging, and there is also some powerful action scenes with impressive special effects, but nothing over the top like some of the latest blockbusters are !!

to me, this film owns the Avengers, and is wayyyy better than the Avengers at so many levels, and without the new and over rated 3D technology, proving that good movies don't need 3D to be good !!

Bravo Nolan, well done. I can also see an Oscar here some where ??