Lightning Review: Sin City

Review #105

This review was originally posted for MovieRob‘s Latin Directors-themed Genre Grandeur.

Synopsis
In Sin City, corruption runs rampant and thugs rule the street. Four stories explore the darkest corners of this unforgiving city.

Review
Sin City isn’t just a comic book adaption, it’s a living, breathing comic book. I haven’t read any of Frank Miller’s Sin City books, but from what I’ve read and seen, it is almost (if not) frame perfect. Which is not too surprising given that Miller worked with Robert Rodriguez in the directors chair. Rodriguez’s cinematography combined with the book’s noir style is unparalleled. The voice over narration from the main characters of the five individual stories is reminiscent of the big noir films from the 1940s and 1950s. With specific items, like a red dress, lipstick, the Yellow Bastard’s skin, etc, it adds a unique feel the the film and its characters. The contrast between the shadows and white highlights to make items stand out, like Hartigan’s scars or Marv’s bandages, create a truly visceral visual experience. Much like 300, another of Miller’s comic-to-movie adaptations which was released the following year, the violence is brutal and graphically over-the-top. In other words: tremendous. If you haven’t seen Sin City, I have two things to say: 1) What is wrong with you? And 2) go watch it immediately!

Rating
4.5/5

Trailer

Cast & Crew
Robert Rodriguez – Director / Composer
Frank Miller – Director / Writer
Quentin Tarantino – Guest Director
John Debney – Composer
Graeme Revell – Composer

Jessica Alba – Nancy Callahan
Devon Aoki – Miho
Alexis Bledel – Becky
Powers Booth – Senator Roark
Jude Ciccolella – Liebowitz
Michael Clark Duncan – Manute
Rasario Dawson – Gail
Benicio del Toro – Det. Lt. Jack “Jackie Boy” Rafferty
Jason Douglas – Hitman
Tommy Flanagan – Brian
Rick Gomez – Klump
Carla Gugino – Lucille
Josh Hartnett – Salesman
Rutger Hauer – Cardinal Patrick Henry Roark
Nicky Katt – Stuka
Clark Middleton – Schutz
Jaime King – Goldie and Wendy
Michael Madsen – Bob
Frank Miller – Priest
Brittany Murphy – Shellie
Lisa Marie Newmyer – Tammy
Nick Offerman – Schlubb
Clive Owen – Dwight McCarthy
Mickey Rourke – Marv
Marley Shelton – The Customer
Nick Stahl – Roark Junior / Yellow Bastard
Patricia Vonne – Dallas
Bruce Willis – John Hartigan
Elijah Wood – Kevin

2 Fast 2 Furious Review

Synopsis
After the events of The Fast and the Furious, Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) is on the run. He makes his way to Miami, where he makes friends with the street race organizer Tej (Ludacris), and fellow street racer Suki (Devon Aoki). Eventually, FBI Agent Bilkins (Thom Barry) finds and captures O’Conner and the two strike a deal: O’Conner must go back undercover and work with Customs agent Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes) to bring down the drug lord Carter Verone (Cole Hauser) in exchange for a clean record. In order to give his cover credibility, O’Conner gets the help of his childhood friend, ex-convict Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson).

Review
My expectations for 2 Fast 2 Furious weren’t that high. The Fast and the Furious was a fun film, but it’s focus on cars and the racing underground didn’t seem like it had the power to garner a strong follow up. Unfortunately, I was right. The result was a movie that attempted to develop the character of Brian O’Conner, but threw out any idea of a plot for fast cars and fast action.

As with The Fast and the Furious, the main focus of this film are the cars. Once again, there is an abundance of gorgeous cars. And there is a greater diversity than before, too. Not only are there compact cars, but there also are pick-ups and classic American muscle cars. It was enjoyable to see more variety.

In terms of acting, The Fast and the Furious didn’t set the bar very high. But 2 Fast 2 Furious doesn’t improve any, either. Paul Walker seems like he is trying to fit in somewhere he doesn’t belong. I just doesn’t work. Tyrese Gibson and Eva Mendes do well, even actually help Walker seem less awkward, but their performances are nowhere near their best.

I would say my least favorite aspect about this movie is the dialogue. It probably played a part in my feelings towards Walker’s character. He dropped “cuz” and “bro” way too often to feel natural. Most of the conversations between characters feel like they were written by a teenager. Only b-list monster movies have worse dialogue.

There isn’t much of a plot. Rather, there is the illusion of a plot in order to show off the nice cars. This is more of a cop drama and a character study for Brian O’Conner than anything else. However, the lack of a solid plot undermines any character development this movie is trying to accomplish. At some points, the plot doesn’t even make sense. This is a perfect example that sometimes it is better if you don’t think about it very much, nod your head and just go with it. It’s not like this film tries to be clever anyway.

2 Fast 2 Furious is a sequel that was not really needed. They took a movie that understood what it was and tried to make a follow up that ended up with an identity crisis. Some nice cars and quick action aren’t enough to make up for the mess created by some poor acting and weak dialogue.

Rating
2/5

For the rest of the Fast & Furious franchise, check out my reviews for The Fast and the Furious, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6, and Furious 7.

War Review

Synopsis
When FBI Agent Tom Lone (Terry Chen) gets murdered, his partner, Jack Crawford (Jason Statham), vows revenge. Several years later, Crawford finally catches up to his partner’s killer, the elusive assassin known as Rogue (Jet Li), and finds himself caught in the middle of a feud between two rival gangs.

Review
War is your average action film, chock full of explosions and violence, with not much plot (at least until the end). Jet Li is one of my favorite action stars, and I have enjoyed many of Jason Statham’s movies, so it was fun to see them work together. If you enjoy any of Li’s or Statham’s other action movies, War is the movie for you.

Action sequences felt more believable than in other action movies. Not a lot of wire stunts were done (at leas t that I could see), so it added a sense of realism that usually isn’t present in movies containing martial arts. But then again, for two action stars know for their fighting skills, not a lot of it was on display. When Li and Statham finally meet, the fight felt a little lackluster. I think some of feeling was because I expected something more exaggerated from a fight between these two action heavyweights.

But throughout the rest of the film, there was a nice mix of action scenes, including hand-to-hand combat, gun battles, explosions, and a few sword fights. There was a little bit of everything. Most action films tend to have a camera style that is very jerky and utilizes quick cuts, but War did a good job of not following that convention. Shots were tight at times, but it wasn’t shaky, allowing the action to be easily visible without leaving the audience wondering what is happening.

With one character trying to play both sides, the plot can be hard to follow at times. I had some difficulty keeping up with who the character was working with/for, which made me lose interest in for a while. At the end, everything was explained, but it was a pain to get there. Also at the end there was a series of reveals that were pretty good and made the rest of the movie worthwhile.

It seems small, but something cool for the movie was the way the subtitles were done. Since one gang is Chinese and the other is Japanese, there are a lot of subtitles. To differentiate between the two languages, one was done in red and the other in yellow. As I said, it’s something small, but it’s a nice touch.

The action of War is much more realistic and not so over-the-top than other action films. The several plot twists and reveals at the end help make up for some of the shortcomings during the rest of the movie. Although War isn’t anything groundbreaking, it still offers all the break-neck action you could have hoped for.

Rating
3/5