drojan Reviews

The Legend of Hercules (2014)

Eddie Murphy did a better Hercules than this

[9 January 2014]

Let me start off by saying I am a huge fantasy fan. I can usually enjoy any swords and sorcery type film and find something good about it. Now let me say Wow this movie was bad. I mean I thought this kind of clumsy, lowest common denominator filmmaking died in the 80's. It is bad when I asked the organizer to give me a refund on a free prescreening.

Where to begin? I don't expect much in this type of movie in terms of plot or characterization. In action "porn" like this, the plot is usually just barely coherent enough to move from one action sequence to the next and the characters are as black and white as a chessboard. This movie somehow delivers LESS than that.

It is staggering to me that with a mythology as rich and engaging to draw from, they choose a tired rehashing of Gladiator as the main focus of the film. No doubt holding the more interesting material back for future sequels. The laughable love story is unengaging, poorly scripted and given far too much screen time.

What really disappoints is the action sequences. Hercules is supposed to be a demigod that achieves the impossible; the movie portrays none of this. It wastes a good deal of time with a clumsy mix of fighting scenes in which Hercules is repeatedly captured and/or defeated. WTF? It is only towards the end that an attempt is made to show Hercules as he should be seen, but I had tuned out long before then.

Oddly enough, the blood and gore in this film is kept to a minimum, probably to keep it at PG-13 in hopes of duping the largest possible audience to drop money on it. It would have really benefited from a Conan-esque level of violence to give the movie more weight and better directed action sequences. The dramatic pause in the middle of the action (made famous in the movie 300) is in every single action sequence.

I really don't know what I recommend from this film. Everything in the movie has been done better in other films. I hope this film tanks but I doubt it. It will make a profit and encourage more of the same I'm sure.

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Good direction, bad editing

[7/10 · 19 December 2013]

It is always difficult to properly review legendary directors. There always comes a point where movie-making trends and styles have passed them by or the creative juices have simply stopped flowing. This is the case for Scorsese, at least by judging The Wolf of Wall Street.

All of his hallmarks are put to good use in the film. The immediacy and visual assault of the cinematography in particular was exceptional. The dark comedic touches are put to the forefront to great effect. I don't recall ever laughing out loud at Scorsese film before, but there are many such moments here.

The story itself is one of the oldest movie clichés, man overcomes humble beginnings, becomes wealthy, is seduced by money and power, is consumed by his excesses and ultimately redeemed.

The performances are intentionally bombastic and over the top and greatly add to the theme of excess. Jonah Hill especially loses himself in the role and delivers a lot of laughs and some depth to an otherwise shallow and one dimensional character. DiCaprio, while convincing as charismatic and flawed Jordan Belfort, grew tiresome over the course of the film as his character flies directly into the sun and then spectacularly crashes and burns.

Unfortunately the theme of excess extends to the length of the film as well; it is simply way too long. I felt like I was watching a director's cut in the theater. I know the general trend in movies today is longer run times, but at almost 3 hours it is just too much. What should be a highly entertaining two hour wild ride just drags in some places. The outlandish action and comedy scenes lose their bite in the last half of the film as the viewer is just numb from the assault at that point. The dramatic scenes are not well thought out and did not establish an emotional connection with the characters and their downfall as I should.

All in all, a very enjoyable, exciting film but it misses the mark in characterization and left me wanting less bombast and more meat in the story. I see an aging director trying to stay relevant and not wanting to make compromises this movie badly needs.