leadercobra Reviews

Law Abiding Citizen (2009)

Question your own morality

[7/10 · 7 October 2009]

I was curious to see what Law Abiding Citizen had in store and I was not surprised to see an intelligent and thought provoking film. Gerard Butler stars as Clyde, a man who watched his wife and daughter die at the hands of two dirt bags. One of the dirt bags testifies against the other and one of them gets death row while the other goes free. The lawyer who makes the deal on Clyde's "behalf" is Nick (Jaime Foxx). Foxx plays a truly unlikeable character, despite being the protagonist. Ten years later, when death row time comes for one of the killers, it goes horribly wrong and both of them are killed...the trail of blood leads right to Clyde.

Clyde is taken into jail and he won't give a confession. This is where it gets interesting. Clyde uses leverage through threats which he is capable of making good on. He can somehow kill people in jail. He mostly uses explosives and carefully assembled sequences of chemicals. As an audience member (and I could even gather this from the trailer) it's very satisfying watching Clyde's devices kill people. It's easily the best aspect of the film.

This is where, despite it being incredibly interesting and entertaining, the film is lacking a bit. You know the ending from the start. As an audience member you know from the get go that justice and truth and morality will ALWAYS prevail, which is an issue that this film really tries to bring to the spotlight. The court system is corrupt. You can't help but side with Clyde and delight in him killing people throughout. Unless I'm sick and deranged...I was totally on his side the entire time. Not just for his philosophy, but because he gives us the sort of sick torture and gratifying kills that America wants to see. How on earth can we cheer for law abiding Jaime Foxx's dry character and his walking victims of friends and family? There are a few plot holes, but I can't give them away without spoiling the film. Other than the morality struggle the film puts the audience into (we cheer for the villain) it's great entertainment. Don't expect to leave satisfied with the outcome but the film is a satisfying experience.

Trick 'r Treat (2007)

Fun, lightweight horror anthology

[6/10 · 6 October 2009]

I'll admit that I really got over-hyped to see this movie after reading about how great it was for a couple years now without being able to actually see it until today. It didn't live up to my personal expectations but I still liked the film. It was fun, but not much more than that. The film centers on 4 stories which rather than presented one at a time are sort of awkwardly strung together. The effect doesn't work because uneven amounts of time are given to each story at a separate time. During the height of tension for one story, it will cut to the next story. The role of several of the characters, namely the "narrator figure" Sam is unclear. Is he a demon? Is he a protagonist who defends the honor of halloween or just a sick little pumpkinman/murderer? I also felt that the "scary" factor just wasn't present with this film. Was it entertaining to watch? Absolutely. I also feel like it had a great visual style. A+ for cinematography, music, costumes, etc. The tension just wasn't there. A principal murderer isn't a scary concept...neither is a vampire stalking teenage girls. There's a ton of similarities between this film and the best horror anthology of all time...Creepshow by George Romero and Stephen King. Creepshow is the superior film, as it's able to create breathtaking suspense as you're able to laugh at the same time. The comic book pages to life translation is also present in Trick R Treat. The central narrator character is present (Sam vs Creepy). The old hermit story is there (they're creeping up on you). The revenge from the grave story is there (the bus children and the fathers day cake), etc. The comparisons that can be drawn are endless, especially since Creepshow mostly invented the horror anthology on film. This movie certainly as moments of greatness. The flashbacks on the "short bus" as well as the ending "fight scene" are among the highlights but I found most of the film lackluster. For a film that I desperately wanted to like so badly, I found myself largely unimpressed with this release other than the great eye for visuals. If you don't have suspense and story, thank god they were great.

Surrogates (2009)

Surrogates solid, thought provoking film

[7/10 · 23 September 2009]

I went to an advance showing of Surrogates tonight and while it starts out a bit silly I ended up really liking it. The films strives for the mock realism of district nine but ends up falling short of that level of intensity. I have not read the graphic novel upon which the film is based, however knowing it's a multi part graphic novel is a bit odd since the film in incredibly short. I believe it clocks in at less than an hour and a half long. Rarely do I feel that the climax is reached TOO quickly in a film but everything seems to fall into place with little explanation as too how the characters know what's going on other than blind luck.

The movie sees Tom, played by Bruce Willis as a cop whose living through a surrogate. Think i-Robot but with less tension between the humans and the robots. Surrogates function in a way that humans can lie down with caps over their eyes and neurologically control attractive, boring versions of themselves. Curiously, Tom's surrogate is a cop with a blond comb over. Tom however is growing tired of relying on his surrogate. He wants to see his wife more often...his real wife.

In one of the film's many plot holes, a vagrant "meatbag" human (one who is against the idea of surrogates) uses a "device" to kill surrogates which somehow kills humans at the same time by making their brains exploded. If that sounds convoluted...that's because it is. There's many things in this film left unexplained including that aspect as well as the need for surrogates in the first place. Why bother? These thoughts are quickly erased once Tom is on a chase to find out who is trying to kill surrogates and why.

The film has a very fast pace like I said above with from the point of action to the climax very little digression. Within the title crawl you already what surrogates are, what their purpose is and the history of the surrogates. I wish they could slow down a bit and discuss more of the mentality behind the process, but I suppose that's up to the audience to decide.

Surrogates is a film that made me happy to be alive as I walked out and thought about it. It's an entertaining film but I can't help but feel that it falls into the same lines of action/drama/sci fi movies as recent ones like The Happening, I am Legend and i-Robot. It's definitely that kind of movie and if you enjoy that, then it won't disappoint.