Grave Encounters 2

Alex Wright (Richard Harmon), a video blogger and aspiring horror film maker, becomes obsessed with the movie Grave Encounters. His obsession leads him to an apparent conspiracy, suggesting that the film was not a series of special effects and made up scenarios, but that the events actually happened and the crew of the show died in that building. Desperate to learn the truth, Alex enlists the help of his friends to break into the building where it was filmed and expose the cover up by the studio. However, they quickly regret the decision as they realise that the ghosts are indeed real and that they have found their latest victims.

Finally, we have another hand held horror film to blast through. I am a massive fan of these sorts of horrors and even though a lot of them are incredibly dull, pointless and terribly made (see Episode 50 and Apollo 18), there are some absolute gems out there that have taken my nerves and finely shredded them into microscopic fibres (see [.REC] and The Tunnel). The first Grave Encounters fell on the good side of the spectrum, providing some great scares wrapped in a brilliant premise. I was thoroughly impressed with the film but when I heard that there was a sequel, I thought long and hard before actually deciding to watch it. We’ve seen horror phenomenon such as Paranormal Activity and Saw ruined by unnecessary sequels that are just made for the cash grabbing studio execs. Grave Encounters was nowhere near as big of a success, so a sequel was always going to be a surprising development, no matter how good the film was. Nevertheless, here we are with part 2 and I have to say, well, it didn't really impress that much.

The film takes a while to get going, as we get to know the various students and how they inevitably love to party and drink a lot. It’s fairly standard stuff for the first half an hour or so, with some cheap and cheeky scares thrown in by simply showing various clips of the first film as Alex watches it. It’s a silly way to get some scares into the film, and I almost stopped watching because of it, as those weren’t original scares crafted from the events in this film, they were just cheap reruns. However, we eventually start unravelling the mystery of the unnamed insane asylum, and it starts to get creepy from there on in. There are brief moments of weirdness throughout the first half an hour as we suspect that something other-worldly may be pulling Alex towards his inevitable demise, but there’s nothing really substantial to scare us or keep is glued to the screen. It’s only when they eventually get to the asylum that things (obviously) start to get messed up.

In the pursuit of proving/disproving the cover up, we see the plucky students set up cameras in all the hotspots from the first film, and then things quickly go wrong as the ghosts make themselves known. Herein we find our first problem, as we get the same sort of scares as we did in the first film. True they stop resorting to using clips of the first film, but they are treading very familiar territory and don’t seem to make any sort of effort to do anything remotely new with it. This is probably my biggest complaint of the film, in that they have a whole complex of buildings to explore and they decide to explore the same one, rather than seeing if any of the others are haunted. You can see why they chose to go back, but there’s so much scope for new scares here that’s just wasted. We do get a couple of new treats, such as an ill advised trip into the nursery ward and a dramatic escape attempt, but overall there’s not a lot of great new material to get our nerves rattled. When the scares do happen though, they are a little overdone, especially on the effects side of things. Ghouls and ghosts with weird shifting faces are quite creepy but when you have the scared protagonist pointing the camera directly at what they should be running away from, the moment is lost. Horror, for me at least, is all about what you don’t see. Obviously these film makers don’t share the same viewpoint, as we’re given lengthy shots of horrifying ghouls, which become less scary the more time they’re on camera. In horror films, less is more, but here, we get everything!

I was initially planning on giving this a fairly positive review as when I came out of the movie, I thought it had been a lot better than I was expecting. But now I'm not so sure. I will admit that some of the film had me hooked, especially when they reveal something that triggers the final act. There are some interesting characters, only 2 of them mind you but it’s more than most horror films have nowadays, and the film certainly has enough plot twists to keep you at least a little interested. Now as I said, I was planning to give this film a good review, and to be honest, I still might, because it is nowhere near as flawed as some of its competitors (I refer once again to Episode 50), however, everything about this film is watchable, until the final 15 minutes or so. With one huge splash of special effects, the final act falls flat on its face and renders the whole film ridiculous and completely over-the-top, which was never really the aim of Grave Encounters. It’s something that actually tips the balance for me, as the sheer stupidity of this blunder puts the whole film in a completely different light, it makes it a film that’s just trying too hard to be big, loud and impressive, but just ends up looking dumb and stupid and for all it’s good ideas and interesting story development, it’s just not enough.

A promising sequel idea falls flat because of a few repeated scares and a terrible event in the third act. There’s a lot to like here, but it’s outweighed by the downright stupid stuff, making this a disappointing horror movie. Score: 4.0/10

Rise Of The Guardians

After 300 years, Jack Frost (Chris Pine) is getting fed up of no one being able to see him. He keeps questioning the man on the moon (who put him on earth in the first place) as to what his purpose is, until one day he is taken away to the North Pole to meet The Guardians. Consisting of Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), the Sandman and the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), the Guardians keep watch over the children of the world, making sure that they still believe in them. But now, a dark force from the past is beginning to resurface, and the Guardians need Jack as their new recruit to help them destroy it before the children stop believing.

This film had never really been on my “must watch” list. Despite the fairly positive reviews and the relentless ad campaign, I didn’t really have a burning desire to see what looked like a run-of-the-mill family flick. Nevertheless, after my Dad raved about this film, my curiosity was spiked and I sat down with the rest of my family to see if this was anything to actually get excited about. In parts, I could see why my Dad had raved about this movie, but after the end credits had finished rolling, I largely wondered what all the fuss was about.

The idea behind the film is actually a rather good one, taking the regular ideas of mythical characters like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and giving them a more modern and funky twist. The film makers have obviously spent a lot of time making sure each character looks and feels right, and there’s no denying that the characters all feel fully fleshed out (even Sandman, who doesn't say anything). This is one of the films strong points, as if the characters didn’t feel as alive and vibrant as they do, then the rest of the film may have fallen apart completely. The voice actors do a pretty good job at keeping their characters alive, with particularly funny turns from Hugh Jackman and Alec Baldwin. There are some duff notes in there, especially from Jude Law, who plays bad guy Pitch Black. Law just sounds odd when trying to put on his best menacing voice, which is a shame because the bad guy is actually quite creepy and sinister, but Law’s voice doesn’t really do it justice. On the other hand, we have a great turn from Chris Pine (who you’ll recognise as Kirk from the new Star Trek films), who plays Jack Frost with a great deal of passion. I’ve seen Pine in a few films now, and it’s clear why he’s becoming such a big star, as he’s able to work with all sorts of material and pull it off well.

However, we very quickly move on to the bad points of this film. First, there are the action sequences, which are just too ordinary. I’ll admit they are fast paced and beautifully realised, but there’s nothing particularly amazing or jaw dropping about them. There are some great ideas and set ups for brilliant fights, chases and perilous situations for our characters to get out of, but it feels like the writers just hold it all back at the last minute. I got myself all ready for something ridiculous and over the top, but instead all I got was standard and basic action scenes, which all felt very much on the rails. Sure there were some “WOW” moments, Jack and the Pitch facing off in the sky and the introduction of Santa’s sleigh to name but a few, but the writers seem reluctant to give us more ridiculous and instead give us more small scale action.

There’s also the slight problem with the pacing. For the most part, the film moves along at rather a brisk pace, introducing new plot elements and situations at regular intervals, but once it gets to the final series of events, the film sputters and struggles to go anywhere. Maybe they felt as though they hadn’t made a long enough film, so they had to try and make it longer with different battles and encounters, but what it translates to on the screen (for me at least) is a stop-start finale that frustrates more than it entertains. It could have been grand, epic and jaw droppingly brilliant, but instead it’s just like the rest of the film, ordinary and fairly bland. Disappointing to say the least.

It’s fun at times, but the action sequences aren’t as fantastical as they could be, and the finale suffers for it. The voice acting is just good enough to stop this film sinking below the average mark, but I can’t help thinking that this should have been so much better. Score: 5.0/10

REVIEW: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) leads a peaceful and quiet life in the Shire, but when an old wizard named Gandalf (Ian McKellen) introduces him to a band of Dwarves, his life is quickly turned upside down. The Dwarves, led by the fearless Thorin (Richard Armitage), enlist him in their quest to take back their fortress home, buried deep inside a lonely mountain. The fortress was forcibly taken by the demonic dragon Smaug, who now resides there amongst a mountain of golden treasures. As they set off for the fortress, they quickly realise that they are not the only ones heading for the fortress, and that dark forces are hunting them.

Now I should preface this review by saying that I have never read the book. In fact, I've never read any Tolkien, but according to some, I'm not missing out on much. I have however, seen the live action films that Peter Jackson made some years ago (though I haven’t bothered to sit through all the extended cuts yet). Now whilst I was curious about The Hobbit being made into a film, once I found out it was going to be another 3 films, I quickly lost what little interest I had. So, why did I end up seeing the film? A good question, because after seeing it I'm not really sure what all the fuss is about.

After initially watching the film, I sat down to look at the respective lengths of all the LOTR books and how they translated into film running time. A pointless exercise really, but Jackson has come under heavy fire for deciding to turn this book into 3 films. The first part of Jackson’s new trilogy comes in at 169 minutes (2 hours 49 minutes), with the book being 310 pages. Right here is where we have the first problem. The LOTR books have a total of 1571 pages and a combined theatrical running time of 558 minutes (I'm excluding the extended editions, because I'm not really that bothered about them). Doing some basic math (which is probably wrong) we find that we get through 2.8 pages per minute of film. That was for 3 books, but here, we’re roughly looking at a third of a book. That’s about 103 pages. Over 169 minutes, that means we’re only getting through 0.6 pages per minute of film. Ok, pointless maths bit is over, and it basically boils down to me saying that this film is extremely long and really doesn't have enough material to pad it out with.

There was a common joke about the LOTR films that they were basically tourist adverts for New Zealand, and the same jokes could pretty much be made again, except this time it’s nowhere near as funny. If I were to guess, I’d say a good 10 to 20 minutes of the film is just made up of long sweeping shots of the gang walking/running across various parts of New Zealand. Of course it looks very pretty, but that’s not really what I came to see. I came to see a Hobbit, some Dwarves and a Wizard, fight off hordes of monsters on a quest to take back their fortress from a powerful and evil dragon! Instead I get to see the many and varied natural wonders of New Zealand. Over 3 films. Which will probably all be just under 3 hours long. Cheers Peter Jackson. Even when we’re treated to an action scene, where some Orcs relentlessly hunt down our plucky heroes, Jackson can’t help but pad it out with many long, sweeping shots of the gang running across the same bit of countryside, in different directions...HOW EXCITING! As you can guess, it quickly gets very tedious.

If Jackson insists on padding this film out to within an inch of its life, then he could have at least attempted to pad it out where it would have been entertaining for the audiences. For example, why is there no fight between the Goblin king and Thorin/Gandalf? Why is there no fight between Thorin and the White Orc (technically there is, but it’s over in 10 seconds)? Actually, why is there hardly any fighting at all! When there is a fight, it involves everyone, and it’s incredibly hard to tell what the hell is going on! I was in a constant state of “hang on, which Dwarf is that? Where’s (random character) gone? How did that enemy get over there so fast?” any time they decided to draw their swords and take down something vaguely evil in their way. It’s an ugly mess of swords, shields and screaming and it doesn't make for entertaining cinema.

Moving on, we come to a big problem I have with the Tolkien world in general. Name dropping. Too many times during all the films, there will be characters involved in conversation and they will start spouting stuff like “You remember A, son of B, brother of C and second cousin of D”. Neither B, C nor D will have been seen at any time, but this name dropping immediately makes character A infinitely more important, because of the greatness of B, C and D. There are numerous incidents of this happening in The Hobbit, and it means absolutely nothing to a regular movie goer like me. Of course it must mean worlds to the fans, but it just becomes yet another annoying feature that drags me out of the magical world this film could potentially suck me into.

However, for all the bad points this film has, there are some rays of hope shining through. The special effects are incredibly good and the film does look spectacular. The Orcs and Goblins look particularly creepy, and add a much needed sense of menace to this otherwise docile film. The frame rate problem is noticeable, but it didn't hurt my eyes half as much as watching a 3D film. The acting is good, Martin Freeman gives it his best and Ian McKellen seems to enjoy himself playing Gandalf again. The likes of Ian Holm, Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving are all welcome and add a little bit of variety and familiarity to the film, but overall the acting is just ok, nothing spectacular. The one thing I do remember fondly from the film is Gollum. No, really, he’s actually good in this film. The LOTR Gollum did start to get a little annoying after a while, but this time around he’s more feral, violent and dare I say it, scary! He’s let down slightly by the lengthy riddle scene, but his dual personality, his violent nature, and his obsession with the ring are brilliantly highlighted in this film, and Andy Serkis plays him perfectly. I'm hoping he will be in the upcoming sequels, because this new take on Gollum is one of the best things about the film.

Another great thing about the film? The White Orc. I can’t remember the actual name of him (and I don’t really care that much to be honest), but what I do remember is that this guy is an almighty bad-ass  As he quickly becomes the main bad guy of the film (Smaug, who’s Smaug?) we’re treated to a dark and purely evil villain, who’s brilliantly animated and manages to pull the waning attention of the audience (or me at least) back into the film. I actually liked the White Orc so much; I started praying that Jackson wouldn't kill him off, like he was the Darth Maul of Middle Earth. Thankfully they didn't and he lives to hopefully get more screen time in the next two films.

I feel like I'm running out of steam and that this review may have to come to a slightly abrupt end. I don’t think I've said all I need to say about this film, but that’s going to have to do. One thing’s for certain, this is definitely going to be one of the biggest film franchises of the next few years and now I've seen one, I have to see them all. I'm not really happy about that though.

Filming a third of a 300 page book always seemed like a stupid idea, and the results are as expected. Jackson’s introduction to The Hobbit is dull, overly long, confusing and just nowhere near as exciting and thrilling as it potentially could have been. Incredibly disappointing! Score: 2.9/10

REVIEW: Resident Evil: Retribution

Hello once again Internet, we're about to dive head first into another review for the aforementioned films. Please keep you eyes pointed directly at the screen and prepare to soak up lots of ill informed opinions regarding the film. So, let's get to it shall we, here is the review for...

RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION

Alice, the long suffering clone warrior of Umbrella Corporation, is thrown back into battle with the hordes of zombies created by Umbrella. Captured by the corporation, she is then freed by an unlikely friend, who informs her of a strike team coming to help her. As she makes her way to rendezvous with the strike team, she finds help in the form of rogue Umbrella agent Ada Wong, who helps her to combat the waves of zombies and nasty creatures chasing them. It's now up to them to escape before the facility explodes and buries them all forever.

OK so I had a hard time writing that synopsis. I'm not usually that bad at recalling a films plot or the intricate details that outline the reasons why I did or didn't like the film. But with this movie, the 5th installment of the video game based franchise, I seriously had to search the very depths of my (admittedly small) brain before I found any memory of this film. This should give you a tiny indication of how this review is going to go.

This film has managed to achieve something I never thought was possible after watching any of the Twilight movies, or Disaster Movie. This film has managed to achieve an entirely new level of crap! I had already realized that this franchise was taking ideas from the rapidly expanding series of video games, the tentacle mouthed zombies (it's as weird as it sounds), the axe-wielding giant and indeed the brilliantly evil Wesker. However, what I didn't realize was that Paul Anderson (the director of all things silly) had completely run out of ideas, even when consulting the games, and had just decided to make a "greatest hits" movie consisting of practically nothing original. As the film went on, my jaw was gradually pulled towards the floor in sheer astonishment that I was watching possibly the most unoriginal film I've seen in, well, ever! From the enemies to the sets, right down to some of the characters, the amount of material scraped together from the previous films is staggering, bordering on impressive.

The plot is a rehash of the first film, underground base that Alice needs to escape from. The enemies consist of zombies (who can now run, OMG!), a fully mutated creature from the first film, plus the aforementioned axe wielding giants, among other, more human, gun-toting enemies. True, there are some new characters introduced, Ada Wong and Leon Kennedy make brief appearances throughout the film, but they're masked by the constant repetition on show, leaving them shallow, 1 dimensional and utterly boring, purely existing as a way to tie the film back to the video game franchise. Nothing changes about Alice as well, and the way in which she is freed from the facility is very confusing. Oh sod it I may as well tell you. Wesker sets her free and is now apparently a good guy. I know, how the hell did that happen? He was the big bad evil in the last installment and now he's had a HUGE change of heart. HOW? Ugh, moving on...

This film is making me incredibly angry, more so than any other film has done in a long time (until I inevitably see the last Twilight film), and it's all because of the stunning lengths this film has gone to to be the most unoriginal movie ever made. True, there are glimmers of new threats, zombies with guns being the highlight of the new ideas the director's grabbed frantically at, but it's really not enough to save this awful re-run of sets, characters, creatures, plot devices and dull, lifeless CGI from scraping the ground where the barrel used to be. This is the new standard for which truly awful films are made.

Until the next Twilight.

Score: 0.5/10

Well that's that review out of the way. I say that, I really loved doing that one, because it is somehow more satisfying to review a bad film than a brilliant one. It shouldn't work like that, but somehow it does. And by the way, for whoever is reading my articles, THANK YOU! I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them and I would urge you to write comments on any of the things I've posted. I would love to hear from all of you reading these mindless reviews, suggesting things for me to watch or commenting on the films I've reviewed. Come on, get involved guys!

Until next time internet!

REVIEW: The Expendables 2

Ok so the schedule didn't exactly work as planned. But with everything else that's going on at the moment it turns out that I can't keep such a hectic schedule, so this has to fall to the back burner. In any case, I'm going to write reviews and Top 5's as and when I get the chance. Yes the posts will be sporadic but they'll still be winging their way to your computer screens!

This article will start with one of the more memorable films I've seen in the last few weeks. Memorable for all sorts of reasons, this is...

THE EXPENDABLES 2

Years after the events of the first movie, Stallone and his macho men (who really cares about character names in a film like this?) are hired by Bruce Willis to track down blueprints to an old Russian mine that was thought never to have existed. On completing the mission, they are ambushed by the brutal Jean-Claude Van Damme, who steals the plans and kills one of their team. Now out for revenge, Stallone enlists the help of Willis, the deadly Nan Yu and even the legendary Schwarzenegger, to track Van Damme down and stop him selling dangerous cargo to the wrong people.

Now whilst a constant stream of HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA doesn't make for good review material, it does actually describe how I felt viewing this film. However, I shall try and describe this film in other means. If you have seen the first one then you will have already geared yourself up for more stupidly over the top action sequences peppered with cheesy and cliched one liners. There are tons of explosions, gunfights, cheesy lines and decent fight scenes thrown into the 90 minutes of macho madness we are dealt with, but my initial impressions after finishing this film, was that this movie that set out to be the ultimate portrayal of bad-ass action heroes ever made, had missed a few tricks.

Firstly, we have the introduction of a kick-ass kung-fu heroin in this film. Why you ask? Because despite being better in 5 minutes of this installment than in the entirety of the first one, Jet Li dives out of the film the first chance he gets and doesn't come back. It's confusing yes, but if you're going to replace Li with a kick-ass female counterpart, then Nan Yu (however awesome she is in this film) wouldn't have been my first choice. The obvious choice for the role would have been the legendary Michelle Yeoh, who's produced some stunning martial arts films throughout the years and has made the transition to Hollywood with great success. Alternatively, you have the Taiwanese death dealer JeeJa Yanin, who's debut in Chocolate (made by the Ong Bak team) should have made her another big contender. But I don't hold anything against Nan Yu as when she does get the opportunity to beat up the bad guys, she does so with brutal force and exhilarating creativity.

The second thing the film makers missed was the failure to include the B-movie legend Steven Segal in all the chaos! This is even more surprising when you consider that another B-movie legend, Mr. Van Damme plays the main bad guy throughout the film. How hard could that have been to write into the film? Instead of a pretty good fight between Stallone and Van Damme at the end, you could have a potentially earth-shattering battle between these two giants! Well, it may not be earth shattering, b hey, you know it would fit right into this film and give it a well deserved boost. Sadly though, there is no Steven Segal, so the film has to do without and quite frankly, it does pretty well without him.

The addition of a few new faces into the mix definitely helps move the film along. Along with the regulars, such as Stallone, Statham, Lundgren and Willis, we're joined by legends such as Schwarzenegger, Van Damme and best of all, Chuck Norris. Yes you read that right. Chuck FREAKING Norris! He's not in it for a lot and apparently, he's the reason why this film is only a 15 (though I had heard he wanted it to be a 12 or maybe even a PG originally, because he doesn't act in films with lots of swearing or something along those lines), but when he is in it, he does everything you'd expect him to, except roundhouse kicking people in the face. Sadly there's none of that.

Ok, so we've talked about the things they've missed and the people that they've added to make the film even more kick-ass than is legally acceptable, but what about the actual film? How does that shape up to modern action films that are released today? Well, it's actually not that bad. The action is fairly cliched yes, but it handles it with such gusto and pride in what it's doing that you can't really help but admire it's bravery. There are few films nowadays that are so senseless and pointless with their film making that they often get pushed to the sidelines, but The Expendables 2 is a film that knows it's being stupid, macho, pointless and insanely ridiculous all at the same time, and gives the audiences exactly what they expect. The action scenes are completely bonkers, the fights are brutal and nicely choreographed, the acting is bad and hilarious in equal measures, and the plot is completely unnecessary for a film such as this. All these things combine to give the audience something they haven't experienced in a long time, an explosive ride of sheer joy, for them to relive the times when action films were a  nonsensical roller-coaster of bullets, explosions and not-so-witty jokes. Actions movies are rarely as entertaining as this. Well done guys! Well done!

Score: 8.5/10

Thanks for tuning in and reading this review! Trust me there are a lot more to come, but with Christmas just around the corner, they may be a long time in the making. Until next time interwebbers!

REVIEW: America Psycho

Hey hey hey internet! Sorry about yesterdays accidental release of the blank document relating to this review. I'm very sorry for that but other, more pressing matters got in the way. Anyway, here we have a review (long or short I'm yet to find out) for one of the most interesting films I've seen in quite some time. Here is....

AMERICAN PSYCHO

Patrick Bateman is...not right in the head. He tries to fit in as best he can, being a major contributor at a Wall Street business, and going to regular lunch meetings and club nights with his co-workers, but underneath it all, he is a cold, ruthless, psychopathic killer. As Patrick struggles to contain his blood lust, he also struggles to cover up his tracks, as a private detective is hired to investigate the disappearance of one of his victims.

Now I really do not know where to start this review, because my head is still full of how amazingly brilliant this film was! I guess we shall start at the beginning then, with Patrick Bateman, played expertly by the new Batman, Christian Bale, discussing restaurants, cocaine and who's handling different accounts at their business. The thing that immediately strikes me about the film is how pitch perfect the dialog is. There are several scenes that showcase how great it is, but I think the scene that perfectly sums up the clever dialog and pretty much every other great thing about this film is the Huey Lewis scene. If you've seen the film you'll know what I'm on about, but for those who don't know, you may want to get worried whenever Bateman starts discussing music. Very worried.

There's a lot to love about this film, and for me, that's always a problem when it comes to reviewing it, because when there's a great film, it's hard to praise it without sounding half-crazed. It's always easier to point out flaws in a film and discuss those than try and creatively discuss the good points of any film. American Psycho is a film that I have watched countless time over the past year and there are so many things I love about it, so I really do have no idea where to start.

I guess maybe we can start at Christian Bale. We've all seen the new Batman trilogy and Bale has become an even bigger superstar because of it, but I would argue that the subtle humor, charm and sophistication of Bales performance is at least a hundred times better than his work in the new Batman trilogy. The way he goes from a sensible businessman barely keeping it together to a deranged lunatic is not exactly the most gradual descent into madness ever seen in movie history, but it is certainly one of the most convincing and terrifying I've seen on film. The supporting cast is rounded off nicely with Reese Witherspoon as Batemans supposed fiance, Jared Leto as the slimy Paul Allen, and Willem Defoe as a weirdly unsettling detective.

If there's another thing to notice immediately about the film, it's the visual style. Everything is lavishly designed and looks fantastic, right down to the bizarrely small portions of overpriced food they have in the restaurants.  The suits, the apartments, everything looks fantastic and it all helps to draw you in to Batemans weird and violent world. As the film goes on and Bateman unravels, so does everything else in the film. The music becomes more erratic, the styling loses its sheen and becomes more gritty, and the bizarre script just helps to amplify the surrounding elements, making this an engrossing and chilling experience that will be hard to forget in a hurry.

Score: 9.0/10

Ok I know that's a short review, but like I said, I've got more pressing matters to attend to. It might be like this for a while, but rest assured you'll still be getting the reviews, so really, there's no reason to complain. Is there? Anyway until next time internet!

REVIEW: Resident Evil

Well hello there internet, welcome back to another review article of The Movie Notebook, where any film is fair game! This week we're taking a look at the beginning of the franchise inspired by the hit video game franchise. This is...

RESIDENT EVIL

Alice wakes up alone in a mansion with no memory of why she's there. Moments later, an elite special forces unit crashes into the house, taking her down into a series of underground tunnels and rooms under the nearby Racoon City. The team have been tasked with sealing "The Hive" and assessing the situation after the main computer went homicidal and killed everyone. As they make their way through The Hive, they quickly realize that the computer is the very least of their worries, as they discover an army of hungry zombies lurking in the darkness.

So, this series of films has been going on for way too long now right? This year sees the 5th installment in the franchise and to be honest, I thought it would have died long before then. Paul Anderson's zombie action series took a few influences from the game but largely, this film hasn't really got a lot to do with the early incarnations of the game. True, there's the Umbrella corporation behind everything and the introduction of zombies, zombie dogs and the mutating licker, but the story seems to be just your average run-of-the-mill action flick. There's not a lot of innovation in the story and it's pretty clear just who is and isn't going to die right from the word go, but after all that has been considered, this is still a pretty fun film.

Anderson is responsible for what is possibly the best worst film ever made, Mortal Kombat. No go on, tell me you don't love that film! I dare you! When you accept that Anderson is definitely no Scorsese or Hitchcock, and only specializes in making dumb loud action flicks, then you start to understand why Resident Evil is the way it is. No it didn't have to take lots of influences from the game, because with Anderson at the helm, it was most likely going to be a riot anyway. And seeing as how over the years, the games have taken multiple unexpected routes in the story, culminating in the most recent installments action heavy game play, it shouldn't continue to anger people so much that Anderson's franchise has gone full steam ahead into big budget action nonsense, because that's exactly what the games seem to have done.

But anyway, the film itself is rapid, decently acted and is full of little amusing set pieces. Largely following Alice, played by Milla Jojovich, we're slowly given information as she regains her memory, along with two other survivors that she encounters along her travels. The creatures, whilst based on the games enemies, aren't terribly scary and won't due much to blow your mind in terms of creativeness. However the set pieces they are involved in, along with some tiny jump scares are enough to make you not really care that much about those little points. The film can be predictable, but then it's not like you were expecting to be blown away by some hugely shocking Shyamalan style twist. This is a very easy film to get into and is one of those films that's perfect for a Saturday night popcorn fest. And that's just about it.

Score: 7.0/10

Well that's it for this week folks, sorry for the short review, but I'm busy with other more pressing matters. I'll make it up to you next week...maybe. See you all on Monday!

Until next time internet!