Dredd (3D)

Judge, Jury, and Executioner might be what Dredd thinks he is, but here, on this blog, I get to judge and maybe execute his film. I would have loved to play with the title and maybe call the post Dredd-ful, but as luck would have it, the film actually surpasses a lot of my expectations.

Karl Urban in a role that requires him to wear a helmet covering most of his face throughout the film, does a great job of playing the über-cool Dredd. Lena Henley as the villainous Ma-Ma plays a female character that leaves a strong impact both on Judge Dredd and the audience. Putting these two characters inside a 200-floor apartment block and letting them loose in a head-to-head battle not only forms the premise of the film, but gives it a claustrophobic feel that works rather well. It also helps keep the story moving in one direction, not meandering away with unnecessary sub-plots (of which there a couple). 

Dredd gets tremendous credit for coming up with an ingenious way to get away with somewhat excessive use of slow-motion. Unfortunately, that doesn't stop the film from being draggy at times and it doesn't really pick-up till the "machine-gun massacre of floor 76" around the halfway mark. There is a lot of running around corridors without much action at times, but the film stays clear of too much melodrama staying true to the action. With special effects helping the cast at every corner, Dredd is at times visually stunning to watch, even though this generally includes people getting shot and/or killed.            

What really was dreadful about the film is the 3D aspect. I cannot be sure, but checking the screen in-between it seemed that the film was one of those where only parts were in 3D and not the entire film. I could be wrong about this. Nevertheless, if 3D has to succeed, it needs support from everyone involved, and when the cinema provides dirty and scratched glasses, it really doesn't help much, so much so that I had to strain my eyes at times to make out what was going on screen.

As Dredd makes for an above average action flick, it manages to grab attention for not shying away from the gore and bloody mess that is a result of all the fighting. It does lack the one-liners that are ever-so-important to make such action films memorable. While the film is in a completely different league than its predecessor, it might just miss out on the type of cult status other films like Robocop has had over the years, or for that matter even The Raid earlier this year. It does, however, have scope to be converted into an eagerly awaited franchise.

Rating 3/5

   

Immortals 3D

It's pretty in parts, but comes nowhere close to the beauty of The Fall. It's bloody, but you just cannot compare it to 300. It's seeped in Greek mythology, but I would still prefer Troy over the Immortals.

The "story" of Theseus, Immortals has more that needs covering up than it can brag about. The characters, almost all of them, lack passion. It seems the makers thought that the fancy headgear that most characters wear would cover up their acting talents, but unfortunately that too doesn't help. The story itself is too shallow, almost like a masala Indian film from the 80s.

The latest trend in movies seems to be that films should end in a way so that if necessary a sequel can be made to cash in on the success. The Immortals not only falls in the same category, but also is a perfect example of a film that tries to put style over substance.

Now, normally I do not talk about actors individually, but in this case I must;

Take, Mickey Rourke. In SinCity and The Fighter he made a stand-up-and-pay-attention comeback. Then with Iron Man 2 he sort of went into familiar territory. But, my fear is that with him doing almost a similar role in the Immortals, he is making the same mistakes and just getting himself typecast again.

Frieda Pinto. I have to be honest and tell you that I'm so glad Hollywood decided to adopt her. In my book she remains one of the most overrated actresses and honestly I could not tolerate seeing her in Indian films. So, thank you Mr. Danny Boyle and Mr. Woody Allen for keeping her on the other side of the planet. 

Lastly, Henry Cavill in the role of Theseus was fairly good, although could have been better, but still I do not see him as the next Superman. There is a certain oddity about him that I can't put my finger on.

I could probably go on for a bit about the negative aspects of the movie... and I will. Why was Stephen Dorff not given a meatier role? Why at times the movie tries to be like 300, but the action sequences just don't match up. Why-o-Why did the cinema theater only have it in 3D when they should be aware I so despise watching films in 3D (and yet I fall down in-front of the system and pay extra to watch movies that would have been equally good in 2D). 

On the positive side, the final battle scene does look good. It's still nowhere close to the other realistic and visually stunning battle scenes from films like Troy or 300, but nevertheless it was exciting. What I do not understand is when will the whole having a fight scene with intermittent slow motion shots get old? Okay, I do still find it cool and maybe it's because of people like me that filmmakers still use this, but it is getting outdated. We've had this is in so many movies that eventually there will come a point when people will just not respond to it. Maybe till then we let the filmmakers milk the special effects cow?

Shallow, mostly unimpressive, boring, and without any real substance versus a few cool fight sequences. That'll be a disappointing 2/5 star rating for me.  

Embarrassingly reviewing JLS 3D - Eyes Wide Open

I really want to be gentle towards this concert movie considering I won a couple of free tickets for it and that is the only reason I went to watch it. But, I don’t think in all honesty I can be.

JLS 3D (which could easily have been 2D and really here is another reason why 3D should not gain popularity) is a pretty average concert movie. When I won the competition I actually had to look up who JLS were. They are a boy band (imagine the horror) who gained popularity once they came in second at the X-Factor.

As expected the theater was full of mostly teenage girls and their bored looking parents. Thank God I was there with my wife and didn’t really look out of place. After the initial “Woooooo” and “Yeah” it wasn’t until half the movie was over that people really got into it and started clapping and waving their hands with the songs.

The songs were pretty okay. I would not go out and buy a CD, but they had a few dance numbers worth tapping your feet to. Then again I really am not their target audience.

The movie had all the elements of a concert movie. Covering their gig at the London O2 arena intermittently it featured their road trip and individual stories. There were funny moments, and friendly banter. There was emotion and the whole brotherhood talk; obviously most of it was done with the band members being topless which got the most “Wooooooo” from the audience in the theater. There were bits that were interesting, like when their cover of Backstreet Boys “Everybody” was intercut with their training session.

All in all it was a fun experience giving me and my wife a little time together. The movie obviously catering to the same audience the band’s music aims at was sugar coated. There are no revelations or controversies discussed. Although it gets a modest 2.5 stars out of 5 from me, I could tell that some of the other more age appropriate audience enjoyed it a lot.