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damian-129
Reviews
Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
A worthy sequel
This third sequel of the Die Hard franchise was most effective. I was happy to see that there were some elements in it that gave it a true Die Hard feel. It wasn't a random action script with Bruce Willis playing the hero. This was an adventure worthy of John Mclane.
Like the other films the villains are well funded, well trained masters of their work who, in the end, just want tons of cash. Thats what Die hard is about. John Mclane thwarting their billion dollar, ingenious plans of becoming rich through elaborate schemes and red herrings. If it wasn't for John Mclane, his first nemesis Hans Gruber would have been "sitting on a beach. Earning 20%".
The script does a good job of bringing the former 80's action hero into the modern era. We get the feeling that he's getting old and rusty. That is until the fit hits the shan. The survival instincts of the man jump into overdrive once again and obstacles that would kill most people, John Mclane thrives off of.
The internet was pretty much a government plaything when the first Die Hard was made so placing an old relic into the thick of modern computers and other hardware was entertaining. John's hacker sidekick provides a lot of comic relief but proves invaluable whenever their adventure involves technical manipulation.
Our new chief villain is played by Timothy Olyphant and although he did a good job I found myself wanting someone more 'Gruberish' for the part. This is mainly because I'm a big Alan Rickman fan. Since the only other thing I had seen Olyphany play was Seth Bullock off of HBO's Deadwood I kept expecting him to put on a big black hat in every scene.
I would say this movie ranks as high as part 3, better than part 2 but doesn't even come close to the original. The original was a pioneering action flick which broke the mold for its time and I doubt anything will succeed it until a truly genius script is written.
Overall, a very good movie. Tons of action. Its got good Willis one-liners, great baddies and holds true to the other Mclane fantasies where the character starts out nice and clean but by the end of the movie his appearance is a testament to the strife of being the hero one more time. Thumbs Up!
Dead Silence (2007)
Not too bad for modern horror, though derivative of some earlier titles
It was hard to keep Darkness Falls out of my mind while watching this movie. The similarities are profound. Woman is popular...woman loses popularity. Something happens to children, woman gets blamed and executed for it. Now, woman is the ghost in the darkness, exacting ghostly revenge through a very specific M.O. In Darkness Falls you were safe unless you looked at her. In Dead Silence you were safe unless you screamed when she was present. Are you getting the picture here? The story wasn't that bad. You felt for the main character as he solved his puzzle and learned the truth. The death of his fiancé at the beginning of the movie really sets a good tone and mood for the rest of the movie. You share his determination to get to the bottom of whatever is going on.
The movie keeps you interested with a bunch of jumpy and drawn out shockers. It never gets too silly. My only problem was the main dummy of the movie (who has more screen time than anyone). The first couple of times when the camera gives it a close up and its eyes move in the direction of an unknowing character were effective. After the 10th time they used this effect I was getting a little irritable. At least make it jump up Chucky style in one of these scenes to make them worth it!! If you liked Darkness Falls and the premise of the Blair Witch I think you can enjoy this movie. Its not heavy on the gore but it has good scares and an unhappy ending which will leave you grinning.
Dark Ride (2006)
The wasted potential disturbed me the most
I've been a fan of horror for decades. I have appreciated some attempts by some newcomers to the genre. Some fall flat on their face. Others hit the ground running. Some of the former have an excuse however. You can tell when production level is a hindrance to relaying a well executed plan and if some of these film makers were to get their hands on decent resources I'm pretty sure their final project would be much more enjoyable.
With Dark Ride we have the unfortunate opposite and it left me loathing the production for one simple fact. These people HAD the production value to create a very effective horror film and they spoiled it with a script that pretty much sucked from beginning to end.
Most people call it cliché. There's a fine line between cliché and stupidity. I read an earlier review that hit the nail on the head. Not ONE of these characters had any redeeming qualities about them. If you cannot make someone likable after 40 minutes of character development? There's a problem. It wasn't as much bad acting as it was lame dialogue. At times I could almost sense the cast being embarrassed with their lines as they were delivered.
Things were going so-so up until the part where the characters realize WHY they were at the park to begin with. At that point I started slightly cocking my head like a confused puppy while watching.
There is obviously a comparison to Tobe Hooper's early 80's Funhouse. Funhouse gave the audience the feeling that these people were really trapped. I couldn't buy the character's peril in Dark Ride since I knew that the door keeping them locked in was mere plywood and if even one of the girls put a boot to it, it would have disintegrated and that would have been the end. This is one of many problems that plagued this movie. If their confinement was actually impregnable after the cast exhausted all options of getting out, then the terror would have been present. Imagine how House on Haunted Hill (1999) would have been if the lockdown doors were cardboard and everyone panicked, scrambled to get out without trying to bust through it.
If I can end on a positive note it would be to say that the gore in the movie was very well done. We get lots of messy disembowelments, a nice head splitting, decapitation and more. The gorehound in me give props to the special effects people. This is the first of the '8 movies to die for' that I have watched. I'm hoping the others will be much better.