I waited three weeks to finally see this because the prevailing opinion I got from professional reviewers and amateur ones was that this was OK, but not as good as the first one. On the whole I'd agree with that assessment. "Iron Man 2" doesn't embarrass itself like, say, "Batman and Robin" but it isn't in the same league as "The Dark Knight" or even "Spider-Man 2." Basically it's just a mediocre sequel that's enjoyable but doesn't add a whole lot.
When last we saw billionaire Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr. who has bucked traditional wisdom and thanks to CGI become an action star in his mid-40s) he was revealing to the world that he is Iron Man, pretty much so the director could cue the "I Am Iron Man" song. Anyway, now that he's made this admission, he finds out why the other superheroes keep their identities secret. First off, the government (led by a chubby Gary Shandling) wants the Iron Man technology. Second, a bitter ex-physicist in Russia named Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) starts work on his own arc reactor so he can take revenge on Stark, whose father stole the arc reactor technology from Vanko's father--supposedly.
On top of all of this, Tony is dying because the mini-arc reactor keeping shrapnel from piercing his heart is poisoning his blood. He decides to foist the daily running of his company to his loyal assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and takes to drinking and acting erratically to while out the end of his days.
This includes taking over for the driver of his Indy car in a race in Monaco. There as you've probably seen from the commercials, he runs into Vanko, who uses some kind of crazy electrical whips to blow up Tony's car. After Tony stops him and they have their little "Dark Knight"-style jail confrontation, Vanko is sprung by a competitor from Tony's so that he can use his skills for evil.
After that, it's on.
The movie's about two hours long and it feels like it at parts. Besides Vanko there are some other new characters. Some like Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johannson) might show up in future Marvel superheroes movies like the "Avengers" movie in the works for 2012 or so. As a result, some characters like Pepper Potts seem to get less time than in the first one.
Anyway, I already said at the beginning of my review this was OK but not great. On the whole it's enjoyable enough, with the same blend of humor and action as in the first one. Still, it doesn't really add much depth to the characters to make it a really good sequel. You'll get your money's worth, but it's not anything you'll really remember much after you leave the theater.
That is all.
My score: 62/100 (2.5 stars)
Metacritic score: 57/100 (2 stars)
Monday, May 31, 2010
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Alice in Wonderland (2010)
I watched this in my hotel room in Toronto while on vacation, so obviously I didn't see it with all the 3D bells and whistles. Which if you think about it is how most people will see it when it comes out soon on DVD, unless you have one of those new 3D TVs.
Anyway, after watching this I realized why this movie seemed so familiar--because it was pretty similar to Disney's Narnia franchise. Really you could have called this "Alice, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." It follows roughly the same plot, only Alice goes down a rabbit hole instead of through a wardrobe. She ends up in a magic world where animals talk that's ruled by a wicked queen--the Red Queen. And of course before you can say "Keanu Reeves" Alice becomes The One who has to save Wonderland from the Red Queen and her main monster the Jabberwocky. Replace Wonderland with Narnia, the Red Queen with the White Witch, and Alice with the four kids and you have "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." Though there isn't so much obvious Christian symbolism in "Alice" which is good or bad depending on your point of view.
If you saw Disney's animated "Alice in Wonderland" back in the day, this is supposed to be a kind of sequel. Basically it takes place 13 years after Alice originally went to Wonderland, which she thought was just a dream. This comes when her boring boyfriend proposes to her in front of a snobby audience. Alice with her father's whimsical spirit decides instead to light out after the white rabbit and ends up going down the hole.
Because I didn't have the 3D and because the plot seemed so familiar, I didn't really love this movie. It wasn't terrible and at least not as trippy as the original Disney version, but it wasn't great either. I read the Alice books way back in grade school, but I don't remember them well enough to compare them to this movie. There are probably some similarities. One probable change is that since they spent millions to get Johnny Depp for the Mad Hatter, they had to give him a more significant and sympathetic role. What was really missing was some kind of love interest for Alice, though maybe in the sequels she could hook up with the Mad Hatter.
Anyway, as I said this isn't a bad movie. (The worst part is Avril Lavigne caterwauling the theme song at the end.) It should be an enjoyable family rental even without the 3D. Or you could watch it in a hotel room like I did.
That is all.
My score: 62/100 (2.5 stars)
Metacritic score: 53 (2 stars)
Anyway, after watching this I realized why this movie seemed so familiar--because it was pretty similar to Disney's Narnia franchise. Really you could have called this "Alice, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." It follows roughly the same plot, only Alice goes down a rabbit hole instead of through a wardrobe. She ends up in a magic world where animals talk that's ruled by a wicked queen--the Red Queen. And of course before you can say "Keanu Reeves" Alice becomes The One who has to save Wonderland from the Red Queen and her main monster the Jabberwocky. Replace Wonderland with Narnia, the Red Queen with the White Witch, and Alice with the four kids and you have "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." Though there isn't so much obvious Christian symbolism in "Alice" which is good or bad depending on your point of view.
If you saw Disney's animated "Alice in Wonderland" back in the day, this is supposed to be a kind of sequel. Basically it takes place 13 years after Alice originally went to Wonderland, which she thought was just a dream. This comes when her boring boyfriend proposes to her in front of a snobby audience. Alice with her father's whimsical spirit decides instead to light out after the white rabbit and ends up going down the hole.
Because I didn't have the 3D and because the plot seemed so familiar, I didn't really love this movie. It wasn't terrible and at least not as trippy as the original Disney version, but it wasn't great either. I read the Alice books way back in grade school, but I don't remember them well enough to compare them to this movie. There are probably some similarities. One probable change is that since they spent millions to get Johnny Depp for the Mad Hatter, they had to give him a more significant and sympathetic role. What was really missing was some kind of love interest for Alice, though maybe in the sequels she could hook up with the Mad Hatter.
Anyway, as I said this isn't a bad movie. (The worst part is Avril Lavigne caterwauling the theme song at the end.) It should be an enjoyable family rental even without the 3D. Or you could watch it in a hotel room like I did.
That is all.
My score: 62/100 (2.5 stars)
Metacritic score: 53 (2 stars)
Friday, April 9, 2010
The Merry Gentleman
You might never have heard of this movie because I don't think it was every in wide release. It does help answer the question, "Whatever happened to Michael Keaton?" Since the Batman movies in the early 90s he's been in a few movies like "Jack Frost," "White Noise," and whatever the Lindsey Lohan Love Bug movie was called but nothing really major. Someone could have started a death hoax on Twitter and it wouldn't have really surprised me because I hadn't really seen him in anything in so long.
In this case Keaton directs and stars in "The Merry Gentleman" as a hitman who like most hitmen in movies is starting to regret his choice of careers. After completing an assignment to kill some old guy--who or why is never really said--he stands on the ledge of the building and contemplates jumping. That is until Kate (Kelly MacDonald of "No Country for Old Men" and "Choke") sees him and screams, startling him so that he tumbles back safely.
Kate has recently come to Chicago from New York or some place like that after her husband gave her a black eye, which was probably the latest in a series of black eyes. She's starting her life over again and has guys practically throwing themselves at her. There's a guy at the office XMas party and one of the cops who investigates the murder of the guy Frank killed. A dinner between the cop and Kate goes horribly wrong because she doesn't realize that he's making a move on her.
On the way home from this disastrous meeting, Kate decides to buy an XMas tree. Unfortunately the tree is bigger than her, so that she has a terrible time getting up the stairs, until Frank shows up to help her with it. In turn, Kate takes Frank the hospital when he passes out from pneumonia probably caused from too many cold Chicago nights on rooftops waiting to shoot people.
Naturally they begin to spend more time with each other, but things are bound to get complicated.
Don't get the wrong idea that this is a romantic comedy or even romantic in any way. If there was any kissing it was pretty brief and there's no sex at all. When Frank and Kate are hanging out they hardly say anything to each other because they're both keeping so much from each other.
That's the overriding problem with the movie. It becomes frustrating because there's so much left unsaid and so much more that you'd like to know about Frank and Kate. The way it ends was particularly unsatisfying. Not that I necessarily want them to end kissing against the setting sun, but something a little more concrete would have been nice.
Overall this isn't a bad movie, but there's too much missing for it to be a great movie either.
That is all.
My score: 62/100 (2.5 stars)
Metacritic score: 55/100 (2 stars)
In this case Keaton directs and stars in "The Merry Gentleman" as a hitman who like most hitmen in movies is starting to regret his choice of careers. After completing an assignment to kill some old guy--who or why is never really said--he stands on the ledge of the building and contemplates jumping. That is until Kate (Kelly MacDonald of "No Country for Old Men" and "Choke") sees him and screams, startling him so that he tumbles back safely.
Kate has recently come to Chicago from New York or some place like that after her husband gave her a black eye, which was probably the latest in a series of black eyes. She's starting her life over again and has guys practically throwing themselves at her. There's a guy at the office XMas party and one of the cops who investigates the murder of the guy Frank killed. A dinner between the cop and Kate goes horribly wrong because she doesn't realize that he's making a move on her.
On the way home from this disastrous meeting, Kate decides to buy an XMas tree. Unfortunately the tree is bigger than her, so that she has a terrible time getting up the stairs, until Frank shows up to help her with it. In turn, Kate takes Frank the hospital when he passes out from pneumonia probably caused from too many cold Chicago nights on rooftops waiting to shoot people.
Naturally they begin to spend more time with each other, but things are bound to get complicated.
Don't get the wrong idea that this is a romantic comedy or even romantic in any way. If there was any kissing it was pretty brief and there's no sex at all. When Frank and Kate are hanging out they hardly say anything to each other because they're both keeping so much from each other.
That's the overriding problem with the movie. It becomes frustrating because there's so much left unsaid and so much more that you'd like to know about Frank and Kate. The way it ends was particularly unsatisfying. Not that I necessarily want them to end kissing against the setting sun, but something a little more concrete would have been nice.
Overall this isn't a bad movie, but there's too much missing for it to be a great movie either.
That is all.
My score: 62/100 (2.5 stars)
Metacritic score: 55/100 (2 stars)
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
An Education
The old expression is that if something is too good to be true, it probably is. This holds especially true in love. When 16-year-old schoolgirl Jenny (Carey Mulligan) is offered a ride home in the rain by the much-older David (Peter Sarsgaard) she is instantly smitten. David has a sports car, he likes music, books, films, art, and all the other things that a wanna-be worldly girl like Jenny wants in a man.
It doesn’t take long for David to not only seduce Jenny but her parents as well. Her father (Alfred Molina) is almost as impressed with David’s knowledge as Jenny. He’s especially impressed that David seems to be rich and connected to famous people like CS Lewis. So with little prompting he allows Jenny to spend weekends with David unchaperoned, including a trip to Paris.
Even after Jenny learns some dark secrets about David, she decides to stay with him because he’s the cure to her life of constant studying Latin and Victorian literature to try and get into Oxford. Her teachers try to dissuade her when she starts getting in too deep, but Jenny shucks this off as jealousy.
This is all a good setup for a mature and thoughtful romance. It’s too bad the final act takes a predictable turn. It would have been nice if the movie had tried to think outside the box a little bit more in resolving the relationship between Jenny and David. Instead it falls back on a cliché like so many movies do.
The title "An Education" has a double meaning. First there's the issue of education in Jenny's father's relentless quest to get her into Oxford. What Jenny starts to wonder after spending time with David is what's the point of this education if she's going to end up lonely and bored like her teachers? (This taking place in 1961 there weren't many other opportunities for young women like her.) The title also refers to the education Jenny receives about life from her relationship with David. That is perhaps far more important.
Carey Mulligan does a great job of portraying the vulnerable and naïve young girl who like so many before her thinks she knows far more than she does. Peter Sarsgaard (born in Illinois) does a good job at portraying an older British guy without coming across like a creep.
Overall this was another movie like “500 Days of Summer” also from last year that’s a romantic movie but isn’t your traditional romance. If you want that you could go watch “The Last Song” or some other Nicholas Sparks tripe.
That is all.
My score: 75/100 (3 stars)
Metacritic score 85/100 (3.5 stars)
It doesn’t take long for David to not only seduce Jenny but her parents as well. Her father (Alfred Molina) is almost as impressed with David’s knowledge as Jenny. He’s especially impressed that David seems to be rich and connected to famous people like CS Lewis. So with little prompting he allows Jenny to spend weekends with David unchaperoned, including a trip to Paris.
Even after Jenny learns some dark secrets about David, she decides to stay with him because he’s the cure to her life of constant studying Latin and Victorian literature to try and get into Oxford. Her teachers try to dissuade her when she starts getting in too deep, but Jenny shucks this off as jealousy.
This is all a good setup for a mature and thoughtful romance. It’s too bad the final act takes a predictable turn. It would have been nice if the movie had tried to think outside the box a little bit more in resolving the relationship between Jenny and David. Instead it falls back on a cliché like so many movies do.
The title "An Education" has a double meaning. First there's the issue of education in Jenny's father's relentless quest to get her into Oxford. What Jenny starts to wonder after spending time with David is what's the point of this education if she's going to end up lonely and bored like her teachers? (This taking place in 1961 there weren't many other opportunities for young women like her.) The title also refers to the education Jenny receives about life from her relationship with David. That is perhaps far more important.
Carey Mulligan does a great job of portraying the vulnerable and naïve young girl who like so many before her thinks she knows far more than she does. Peter Sarsgaard (born in Illinois) does a good job at portraying an older British guy without coming across like a creep.
Overall this was another movie like “500 Days of Summer” also from last year that’s a romantic movie but isn’t your traditional romance. If you want that you could go watch “The Last Song” or some other Nicholas Sparks tripe.
That is all.
My score: 75/100 (3 stars)
Metacritic score 85/100 (3.5 stars)
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Brothers
In years to come there will probably be a better movie about soldiers returning home after the war in Afghanistan. Until then there's "Brothers" a melodramatic look at what happens when a soldier returns from the dead.
That soldier is Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire). He has a wife Grace (Natalie Portman) and two young daughters. He also as the title suggests has a brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) who was just released from prison for holding up a bank or something. While Tommy is trying to get back on his feet, Sam is sent for another tour in Afghanistan.
Not long after getting there, his helicopter is shot down. He's presumed dead. It's not giving away anything to say that he doesn't die. Instead, he's captured by the Taliban or some facsimile thereof. Meanwhile, Tommy gets a job as a contractor and decides to help Grace by remodeling her kitchen. He becomes closer to Grace and her children in the process though they don't go so far as sleeping with each other.
Meanwhile, Sam and a fellow soldier Joe Willis are being tortured. Willis cracks first, making one of those silly videos where he condemns America. When Sam breaks he does something far more horrific.
Again, probably not spoiling anything to say Sam is rescued and returned to America. I mean, that was the whole point of the movie. The problem then is Sam has trouble fitting back into normal life with his family and society in general. He also has to reconcile the things that he did in Afghanistan. Making it more awkward is that Grace and especially her kids have come to rely on Tommy.
Eventually it all boils down to an All-Star freak out by Sam that you could see coming from two miles away. Again, this isn't a great movie. It spends too long getting the pieces into place and not enough with them afterward. The whole thing is a little predictable and melodramatic. As I said at the beginning, someone will probably make a better movie on this subject in years to come.
Though it might be unintentional, the movie does highlight an important issue, which is that we in this country do a lousy job with our returning soldiers. We bring them home and just throw them to the wolves without much in the way of psychological care. This leads to problems down the road in the way of suicides and murders. You'd think after Vietnam we would have learned a lesson, but this isn't really the case. Soldiers, especially those who have done and seen terrible things like Sam in the movie, should be given help to readjust to normal life.
That is all.
(BTW, this movie is based on a Danish movie from 2004, which I'm willing to bet is better in terms of less melodrama.)
My score: 62/100 (2.5 stars)
Metacritic score: 58/100 (2 stars)
That soldier is Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire). He has a wife Grace (Natalie Portman) and two young daughters. He also as the title suggests has a brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) who was just released from prison for holding up a bank or something. While Tommy is trying to get back on his feet, Sam is sent for another tour in Afghanistan.
Not long after getting there, his helicopter is shot down. He's presumed dead. It's not giving away anything to say that he doesn't die. Instead, he's captured by the Taliban or some facsimile thereof. Meanwhile, Tommy gets a job as a contractor and decides to help Grace by remodeling her kitchen. He becomes closer to Grace and her children in the process though they don't go so far as sleeping with each other.
Meanwhile, Sam and a fellow soldier Joe Willis are being tortured. Willis cracks first, making one of those silly videos where he condemns America. When Sam breaks he does something far more horrific.
Again, probably not spoiling anything to say Sam is rescued and returned to America. I mean, that was the whole point of the movie. The problem then is Sam has trouble fitting back into normal life with his family and society in general. He also has to reconcile the things that he did in Afghanistan. Making it more awkward is that Grace and especially her kids have come to rely on Tommy.
Eventually it all boils down to an All-Star freak out by Sam that you could see coming from two miles away. Again, this isn't a great movie. It spends too long getting the pieces into place and not enough with them afterward. The whole thing is a little predictable and melodramatic. As I said at the beginning, someone will probably make a better movie on this subject in years to come.
Though it might be unintentional, the movie does highlight an important issue, which is that we in this country do a lousy job with our returning soldiers. We bring them home and just throw them to the wolves without much in the way of psychological care. This leads to problems down the road in the way of suicides and murders. You'd think after Vietnam we would have learned a lesson, but this isn't really the case. Soldiers, especially those who have done and seen terrible things like Sam in the movie, should be given help to readjust to normal life.
That is all.
(BTW, this movie is based on a Danish movie from 2004, which I'm willing to bet is better in terms of less melodrama.)
My score: 62/100 (2.5 stars)
Metacritic score: 58/100 (2 stars)
Friday, March 26, 2010
Fantastic Mr. Fox
It's refreshing to watch a movie intended for kids and adults that doesn't need to rely on a gimmick like 3D. Instead, this is an old school movie that relies on puppets to tell its story, which is loosely based on a story by Roald Dahl, the guy behind "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," "James and the Giant Peach," and others.
As you'd guess from the title, the story involves Mr. Fox (voiced by George Clooney) and his wife (voiced by Meryl Streep). After getting stuck in a cage, Mrs. Fox confesses that she's pregnant and makes Mr. Fox promise that if they get out alive that he'll stop stealing chickens and do something respectable.
When they do survive, Mr. Fox goes straight for 2 years (12 fox-years) by becoming a reporter with the local newspaper. He and Mrs. Fox move into a burrow with their son Ash. All seems right with the world.
Except that Mr. Fox has an itch to get back to his old ways. He starts by buying a tree to live in, which gives him a great view of the farms of Mr. Boggis, Mr. Bean, and Mr. Bunce. There's a rhyme about them saying that one is fat one is short and one is lean but they're all equally mean. With the help of Kylie the possum, Mr. Fox steals chickens, geese, and alcoholic cider from the farmers. He hides all of this from his wife so that she thinks he's still on the straight and narrow.
But Mr. Fox's actions have unexpected consequences when it creates total war between the human farmers and the animals living around them. It will take far more than one fox's cunning to save the day.
The movie is about as good as anything Pixar has put out. It's a fun little romp that both kids and adults can enjoy. And as I said at the beginning it doesn't require state-of-the-art computer animation or 3D glasses. Nor does it need the gross-out humor movies like the "Shrek" franchise employ.
The puppetry looks a little odd and it really isn't all that great when lots of motion is needed. Still, as someone who used to enjoy the Muppets it didn't really bother me. And I never knew foxes were so good at digging. I learned something.
Probably when you're thinking of someone to create a movie like this, the creator of "Rushmore," "The Royal Tenenbaums," and "The Life Aquatic" isn't going to be your first choice. And yet Wes Anderson manages to pull it off as well as Tim Burton and company did for "Nightmare Before Christmas."
This is a good rental for the whole family.
That is all.
My score: 75/100 (3 stars)
Metacritic score: 83/100 (3.5 stars)
As you'd guess from the title, the story involves Mr. Fox (voiced by George Clooney) and his wife (voiced by Meryl Streep). After getting stuck in a cage, Mrs. Fox confesses that she's pregnant and makes Mr. Fox promise that if they get out alive that he'll stop stealing chickens and do something respectable.
When they do survive, Mr. Fox goes straight for 2 years (12 fox-years) by becoming a reporter with the local newspaper. He and Mrs. Fox move into a burrow with their son Ash. All seems right with the world.
Except that Mr. Fox has an itch to get back to his old ways. He starts by buying a tree to live in, which gives him a great view of the farms of Mr. Boggis, Mr. Bean, and Mr. Bunce. There's a rhyme about them saying that one is fat one is short and one is lean but they're all equally mean. With the help of Kylie the possum, Mr. Fox steals chickens, geese, and alcoholic cider from the farmers. He hides all of this from his wife so that she thinks he's still on the straight and narrow.
But Mr. Fox's actions have unexpected consequences when it creates total war between the human farmers and the animals living around them. It will take far more than one fox's cunning to save the day.
The movie is about as good as anything Pixar has put out. It's a fun little romp that both kids and adults can enjoy. And as I said at the beginning it doesn't require state-of-the-art computer animation or 3D glasses. Nor does it need the gross-out humor movies like the "Shrek" franchise employ.
The puppetry looks a little odd and it really isn't all that great when lots of motion is needed. Still, as someone who used to enjoy the Muppets it didn't really bother me. And I never knew foxes were so good at digging. I learned something.
Probably when you're thinking of someone to create a movie like this, the creator of "Rushmore," "The Royal Tenenbaums," and "The Life Aquatic" isn't going to be your first choice. And yet Wes Anderson manages to pull it off as well as Tim Burton and company did for "Nightmare Before Christmas."
This is a good rental for the whole family.
That is all.
My score: 75/100 (3 stars)
Metacritic score: 83/100 (3.5 stars)
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
The Men Who Stare At Goats
Not so long ago in this galaxy, the US Army ran a short-lived program to use alternative methods to train psychic soldiers known as "Jedi warriors" after the Star Wars films. The program was headed by a man named Bill (Jeff Bridges, the 2009 role that didn't win him an Oscar) who traveled around California picking up various New Age techniques. The goal was that these Jedi warriors could be used to peaceably solve situations. Bill brought into the fold young soldiers like Len (George Clooney) and trained them to use their minds to find people in distant lands, become invisible, and walk through walls. (These were only moderately successful.) It was when the program brought in Larry (Kevin Spacey) that things took a turn for the worst. Larry wanted to turn the Jedi to the dark side by using their powers offensively. As the title suggests, they could stop the beating heart of a goat simply by staring at it.
This is what a young reporter named Bob (Ewan McGregor) uncovers in 2003 in Iraq. Back in his native Ann Arbor, Michigan, Bob encountered a former member of the program, who seems like a crackpot. It isn't until after Bob finds out his wife is cheating on him and he signs up to report on the war in Iraq that Bob runs into Len and decides to go with him into Iraq for a secret mission.
The mission leads them to several dangerous situations, including criminals, terrorists, and bumbling American security contractors. Ultimately Bob grows as a person while uncovering his true purpose in life.
How much of the Jedi program is bunk is left up to you to decide. Certainly in the Iraq scenes most of their "powers" seem like pure crap. In earlier scenes taking place in the early 80s, Len seemingly has the ability to find a missing person in Italy from a couch in America and to stop a goat's heart. But did he really? Who knows.
Naturally this movie isn't as well made as the Oscar-winning Iraq War drama "The Hurt Locker." It takes a more darkly humorous slant of things, especially when Len and Bob are picked up by the security contractors. Seeing them in action it's no surprise that so many Iraqis turned against American forces there. The movie wasn't quite as funny as I thought it would be from the previews, but it wasn't terrible either.
What I think it could have used was to be a little bit longer than its 90 minute running time. That way it could have explored the subjects and characters a bit more fully. As it is, most of the movie is spent just getting all of the characters together in the same room. By the time that's done, there was very little time for them to do much.
This is the second movie I've seen on remote viewing. The first was a thriller from a few years ago called "Suspect Zero" starring Ben Kingsley and Aaron Eckhart. That focused simply on the remote viewing program, where a "psychic" would see and draw a distant scene. If you think this is pure imagination you're wrong. I remember seeing a special on TV about this on Nat Geo or History or TLC or one of those channels about this. It was pretty interesting when the reporter actually tested one of the "psychics" and he passed the test.
In a deleted scene for this movie, Bill teaches his men the martial art aikido. This actually happened. Years ago on a dare I bought a book called "In Search of the Warrior Spirit" that described a similar army program to train soldiers in aikido and other martial arts in the late 80s. The program was abandoned, but as you can see, there is definitely some truth to this stuff.
Overall, this isn't bad for a rental, especially if you're interested in the paranormal.
BTW, do you suppose they cast Ewan McGregor purely for the ironic value of having the guy who played Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequels in a movie about "Jedi Warriors?"
That is all.
My score: 62/100 (2.5 stars)
Metacritic score: 54/100 (2 stars)
This is what a young reporter named Bob (Ewan McGregor) uncovers in 2003 in Iraq. Back in his native Ann Arbor, Michigan, Bob encountered a former member of the program, who seems like a crackpot. It isn't until after Bob finds out his wife is cheating on him and he signs up to report on the war in Iraq that Bob runs into Len and decides to go with him into Iraq for a secret mission.
The mission leads them to several dangerous situations, including criminals, terrorists, and bumbling American security contractors. Ultimately Bob grows as a person while uncovering his true purpose in life.
How much of the Jedi program is bunk is left up to you to decide. Certainly in the Iraq scenes most of their "powers" seem like pure crap. In earlier scenes taking place in the early 80s, Len seemingly has the ability to find a missing person in Italy from a couch in America and to stop a goat's heart. But did he really? Who knows.
Naturally this movie isn't as well made as the Oscar-winning Iraq War drama "The Hurt Locker." It takes a more darkly humorous slant of things, especially when Len and Bob are picked up by the security contractors. Seeing them in action it's no surprise that so many Iraqis turned against American forces there. The movie wasn't quite as funny as I thought it would be from the previews, but it wasn't terrible either.
What I think it could have used was to be a little bit longer than its 90 minute running time. That way it could have explored the subjects and characters a bit more fully. As it is, most of the movie is spent just getting all of the characters together in the same room. By the time that's done, there was very little time for them to do much.
This is the second movie I've seen on remote viewing. The first was a thriller from a few years ago called "Suspect Zero" starring Ben Kingsley and Aaron Eckhart. That focused simply on the remote viewing program, where a "psychic" would see and draw a distant scene. If you think this is pure imagination you're wrong. I remember seeing a special on TV about this on Nat Geo or History or TLC or one of those channels about this. It was pretty interesting when the reporter actually tested one of the "psychics" and he passed the test.
In a deleted scene for this movie, Bill teaches his men the martial art aikido. This actually happened. Years ago on a dare I bought a book called "In Search of the Warrior Spirit" that described a similar army program to train soldiers in aikido and other martial arts in the late 80s. The program was abandoned, but as you can see, there is definitely some truth to this stuff.
Overall, this isn't bad for a rental, especially if you're interested in the paranormal.
BTW, do you suppose they cast Ewan McGregor purely for the ironic value of having the guy who played Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequels in a movie about "Jedi Warriors?"
That is all.
My score: 62/100 (2.5 stars)
Metacritic score: 54/100 (2 stars)
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