Riddick : Something of a regression

If you enjoyed the first film in the ‘Riddick’ series (Pitch Black), then you’ll probably enjoy this one. Let’s just say they’re both rather similar. Riddick wrangles with a bunch of people that are trying to cash in on the bounty on his head, then a bunch of scary looking monsters enter the fray and attack said mercenaries and various other ship crew members.

The movie starts where it left off, with Riddick in control of the vast Necromonger army. Interestingly he has developed a yearning to find his Furyan home world. He is of course betrayed and finds himself injured and stranded on a less than hospitable alien planet. It’s then not long before the movie finds its way back to the familiar thread from the previous two films.

Thankfully we have the same team writing and directing the films, to maintain the franchises look and feel. It’s just a little disappointing coming back to the same old story, especially when the second film was so much more expansive in its plot and was therefore less predictable. If this was a standalone film, I think I’d have rated it more highly. But coming off the first two films I can’t help feeling a little dissatisfied. The action like the previous films is good, but you get the feel that this film has had its budget cut in both the effects and casting department.

I like Vin Diesel playing the anti hero Riddick. I think the character suits him. The support cast like the first film will be largely unknown to most audiences save for the sci-fi fans out there who will recognise Katee Sackhoff from the TV series Battlestar Galactica. The casting is again a bit of a letdown given the calibre of actors in the second film such as Judi Dench and New Zealand’s own Karl Urban, who does something of a cameo in one of the film’s opening scenes.

I think for the most part your science fiction fans out there will like Riddick. I guess from my side I was hoping for something closer in concept to the second film. I can’t help but feel they peaked in ‘The Chronicles of Riddick and have since regressed to something not quite as good. I still hope this isn’t the last we’ve seen of the series and that Riddick comes back to fight another day, because the concept and character are great.

About Time – A lovely heart warming tale

About time is a hilarious yet touching film about a young man who can travel back in time to relive, alter and ultimately improve any moment of his life with relative ease. It would be classed as a romantic comedy, but it’s not overly soppy so I would expect that almost anyone would enjoy it.

The movie starts in a rather idyllic setting at a seaside home, where we meet Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) and his somewhat unconventional family. After a rather embarrassing New Years Eve party, Tim’s father (Bill Nighy) pulls him aside to reveal a startling family secret. It turns out all the males within the family can travel back in time. After limited success with romance Tim’s first priority is to use this newfound ability to assist him in finding the love of his life. It’s here where he meets the lovely Mary (Rachel McAdams) and where all the hijinx relating to the use time travel to secure her affections begin.

Richard Curtis known for ‘Love Actually’ and ‘Notting Hill’ wrote and directed the film. I would say has done another solid job. At a few points throughout the film I found myself expecting him to make a mistake with the added complexity of time travel in the story, but to the Richard’s credit, the plot fitted together seamlessly. The humour is clever and won’t be lost on anyone, as it’s the sort of content that most can relate to.

As with most of Curtis’s films each of the supporting characters have their own sort of flair, meaning the lead’s end up being the most normal out of the bunch. Domhnall will largely be an unknown for most viewers, having minor roles on films like ‘Dredd’ and the ‘Harry Potter’ series. He fits the character well though and has great comic delivery. Rachel McAdams was not exceptional, nice and cheerful, but she is a little too nonchalant in a few of the films more romantic moments. Interestingly this isn’t her first foray into films as the love interest for men with the ability to time travel. Fans might also remember her as Clare in ‘The Time Travellers Wife’. Bill Nighy is brilliant as Tim’s eccentric time travelling father. He is hilarious during the funny bits, but also truly genuine during the tear jerking scenes.

About Time is a lovely heart warming tale, tracking the joys of ordinary life with a time travelling twist. The drama involved is set around the hardships found in everyday life, but is somehow made to seem beautiful. With numerous ‘laugh out loud’ moments I would recommend this for anyone. It will be a particularly good date night film that even the lads will enjoy.

The Mortal Instruments - City of Bones : A slow and dreary first instalment

‘The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones’ is the latest of a number of teen fantasy novels that have been adapted to film. The book reached number eight on the ‘New Your Times’ best sellers list and if the franchise is successful, we have a lot more to come with a total of six novels in the series. The studios must be confident of the content and the books fan following as they’re already in pre production for the sequel.

For the most part the film has a rather slow meandering pace, is overly dramatic and at times cheesy. The romantic moments are clunky and seem about as natural as a dog playing the piano.

The film is not without its redeeming features. Some of the action is well choreographed, the special effects are good enough and there were moments where the film is genuinely funny having most of the cinema laughing out loud.

But the dreary pace that the film takes while the story unfolds will lose most punters. I would say that most of the blame for this falls on the shoulders of Harald Zwart whose most notable films prior to this include ‘The Karate Kid’ remake with Jackie Chan and ‘The Pink Panther 2’. The 130 minute running time could easily have been trimmed into a more digestible size.

As far as performances go, they all do well enough for the genre and target audience, just don’t expect them to win any awards. In fairness, they’re all reasonably well cast staying true for the most part to the characters from the novels by description and personality.

Lily Collins (Mirror Mirror, Priest) plays the films lead as ‘Clary’ who discovers she’s a ‘Shadowhunter’ after her mother is mysteriously taken one morning. Clary then goes on a journey of discovery about her and her families past, which includes the mysterious league of Shadowhunters. As a Shadowhunter, Clary can gain supernatural abilities that assist other Shadowhunters in killing demons. This has helped them keep the balance between good and evil across the ages. You might expect then that the antagonist would be some mega demon with plans to take over the world. Surprisingly this is not the case, showing the film is not entirely predictable. 

All in all the film is most suited to fans of the novels or fantasy genre. The story seems to be interesting but is overshadowed by its slow and over dramatic delivery. You never know though, if the film studio’s can pull off a win with ‘Twilight’, they might also get some success with ‘City of Bones’. 

Kick Ass 2 : Not quite clean fun

Calling ‘Kick Ass 2’ good clean fun wouldn’t be quite accurate. Fun certainly. Clean…. ahhhh not so much. The obscene language and violence come thick and fast in this sequel to the 2010 hit.

For those of you that saw and enjoyed the first film, I can say with confidence that you will like the sequel. It’s a lot of what made the first film great. Unfortunately for some of the more squeamish within the viewing public, this might make the film rather offensive. But if you’re okay crude humour and graphic action scenes then you’re in for one hell of a ride.

We rejoin Dave Lizewski aka Kick Ass and Mindy Macready aka Hit Girl several years following the events of the first film. Mindy is now under the care of her dead fathers’ best friend and is supposed to be putting her life of fighting crime behind her. Instead she is training Dave so he can actually kick ass, as opposed to being something of a criminal’s punching bag as he was in the previous film. When Mindy gets caught out by her guardian Marcus she’s forced back to school. This means Dave has to find himself a new crew of amateur superheros to team up with. The team he finds call themselves ‘Justice Forever’ and are headed up by the tough but morally sound ‘Colonel Stars and Stripes’ (Jim Carrey). Red Mist from the previous film now calls himself the ‘Motherf*cker’ and is on a mission to become the world’s first super villain. He’s also rather peeved at Kick Ass for killing his father with a bazooka in the first film. This as you would expect leads to a lot of conflict, fight sequences and generally abusive language.

Matthew Vaughn who directed the first instalment steps out of the director’s chair and into the producers shoes, letting Jeff Wadlow take the reins on writing and directing the sequel. Jeff does a surprisingly good job of matching the style of the first film, but I’d suggest that he tries to get away with a little more on shock value than the previous movie.

For a pretty unknown bunch of actors they all do what they need to do, other than of course Mr Jim Carrey, who actually stood out in his role as Colonel Stars and Stripes, despite his change of heart regarding the violence in the film. His moral character did actually shine through in the performance of a born again Christian.

I can’t say I’d recommend Kick Ass to everyone, as I can imagine it being offensive to a lot of people on a number of different levels. But for those of us who don’t mind a bit of obscenity and enjoy some shock value then you definitely want to get involved. Use the first film as a yard stick, if you liked it then definitely head down to your local cinema to enjoy the sequel.