Change Your Image
jesse-reinhard
Reviews
Taken 3 (2014)
A Lazy Conclusion to the Series
To sum it up in one word, it is lazy. The story/plot are just plane predictable and cheesy. It's unbelievable how many massive explosions he escapes without a scratch (at least two).
Bryan Mills's ex-wife is murder and he must solve the case while avoiding the police. In the end he may prove he's innocent, but how can they just let him walk out of the police station with all the other crimes he committed? Including: evading/escaping police custody, loads of property damage, nearly killing a ton of people on the highway, and actually killing all those Russian mobsters at the end. Sure he did pretty much the same stuff in the previous movies, but it all happened in another country. We can believe the ending where he flies back home to his normal life without repercussions.
But the whole plot falls apart when you find out Lenny's new husband is the bad guy (which you can see from a mile away). Think back to the first movie and Lenny's second husband. If you remember Bryan says he did a background check on the second husband (which was how he knew about his private jet and got to Paris, if you've forgotten). So how can Bryan let Lenny marry this new guy without doing a background check on him as well? How could not know about the arms dealing with Russian mobsters? Not know about him losing all his money or the life insurance policy on Lenny? Bryan should have known this stuff from the get-go, and none of the events of this movie should have happened.
Akira (1988)
Unlikeable characters & Lousy Plot
It is my opinion that Akira is no masterpiece for several reasons:
I can't find any likable characters in the movie. Kaneda and Tetsuo are members of a biker gang, and when I thought about it they're just sociopaths and aren't any better than their rival gangs. By the end none of the characters really develop or learn anything, and the ones that were killed off I assume is because they simply weren't useful anymore.
I find the movie visually unappealing and confusing. Most of the youthful characters were so plain and similar, they looked like they were made with a cookie cutter and I couldn't tell them apart. Kaneda and the female protagonist looked like they could have been siblings if not the same person. In contrast any character in their twenties or older was positively hideous for whatever reason. And you'll here this from every poor review: it is pointlessly gory and full of confusing grotesque creatures.
The plot is full of unanswered questions some of which include "what's with the kids who look like old people?" "what's with the killer stuffed animals, and why are they bleeding milk?" "Where did Kaneda find a laser gun without anyone stopping him?" And I felt cheated by the end when I spent the whole time thinking: "Akira? who's Akira? When are we going to see Akira." Only to find out Akira was dead the whole time... At this point in the movie I feel they ran out of ideas so they just filled it with grotesque nonsense and nothing was accomplished.
I give it a 2.5/10
Oldboy (2013)
An Underrated, Amercanized Remake
I was so disappointed with the original Oldboy's plot twist that I could hardly appreciate the movie. So I couldn't wait to see the remake to see how it would be handled, and was satisfied with the results. I give the new Oldboy a 7.5/10.
There are several things that I missed from the original Oldboy. "You laugh, the world laughs with you. You cry, and you cry alone", this quote was a reoccurring theme in the original, and while I didn't understand its full meaning, its absence in the remake was noticeable. Joe's transition back into society wasn't as dramatic as the original. The original Oldboy's behavior was much more animal like, his first interactions with people was more dynamic, and his narration let us know more what he was thinking. And finally the remake was at times poorly paced; for instance, Joe is trying to find the person who locked him up and jumps to trying to find the restaurant where the takeout came from.
The fight scene in the original Oldboy, in my opinion was over-hyped. I'll admit it was unique in that you see wide shot of the hallway while Oldboy fights his way through, but it wasn't engaging at all. You get more immersed in the fight scene of the remake. It is definitely an Amercanized version of the original which one could take as good or bad.
The villain was so much better in the remake. The original villain blamed Oldboy for his sister's death, which was the villain's fault and could have been prevented. The original was so absurd (such as a device that could stop his heart), the new villain was upfront and wasn't nearly as nonsensical. And where the original villain was motivated to show Oldboy's sins were bigger than his own, the new villain was motivated by defending his family's honor, which Joe had indirectly ruined.
I was a little surprised (and confused) by the remakes ending. I find it a little hard to believe that Chaney would even agree to see Joe again without killing him. And the audience is supposed to be sympathetic to the hero, so we don't want to see him being locked back up like he was at the beginning. But it is better than the original's ending which required Oldboy to be hypnotized so he could live his life guilt free.
What Dreams May Come (1998)
Thought provoking, but lacked decent storytelling.
Definitely made to be a romance, but I got more out of it for its philosophical depictions of heaven that probably would appease to multiple beliefs. As well as a classic depiction of hell, definitely some inspiration from Dante's Inferno. The movie didn't have enough time to explore all the philosophical possibilities for heaven, probably for the better because I felt it was already trying to cram in storytelling.
It felt very fast paced in establishing the relationship then immediately jumping to the tragedies. Then once Robin Williams is in heaven, they have to keep doing flashbacks throughout the movie, and keep introducing plot points right up to the end. What irked me the most was perhaps how no one appeared to be who they really were in heaven, part of being who you literally want to be. But it didn't really matter that they kept changing identities because their characters were underdeveloped and you don't associate them well with how they looked when they were alive anyway.
6.5/10