Praising Terminator: Dark Fate for being the best Terminator sequel since Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) (even though I still believe Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) gets a bad reputation and especially considering the two movies that came after that film, wasn’t bad at all, but I do need to re-visit it to see how it holds up today) is like praising a wild animal for only eating your left hand, as that’s the one you don’t use that often. Sure, but wouldn’t not eating any of my hands be much better option?

What I am trying to say is that Terminator: Dark Fate definitely is the best Terminator movie we have gotten since (for me) 2003, but given the “competition”, that’s not really a high bar to climb. It is almost impossible to talk about this movie without going into the spoiler territory, so before I go there, let me just say the main points here – the new “human saviour” is pretty bland, the new Terminator (Gabriel Luna) is 100% the best “evil” Terminator we’ve gotten since T2 and overall this movie is really, really solid. Having said that…

Beware, SPOILERS are coming!

I think your enjoyment of this movie depends on how willing you are to (yet again) disregard previous 2 films (that’s right, Terminator Salvation (2009) and Terminator Genisys (2015) never happened) which I believe most fans are fine with. But, there is one additional and really important caveat – you also need to be fine with the hero of T2, John Connor, being killed at the very beginning of the movie. That is why I think plenty of fans had an issue with this movie from the very beginning. Without trying to sound like a certain US president, I can see both sides when comes to this issue – on one hand, the timeline was so over the place, this was the best thing to do narrative-wise, as it allows you to follow up “the good stuff” and not care about how other movies prior made “the good stuff” obsolete. But that is a paradox within itself, as even though Sarah and John stopped Skynet, he dies and something else just takes its place, Legion. That’s the other side – it feels like even though this film still acknowledges the first two movies, it kind of makes them obsolete too, by killing the leader of human uprising against the machines, I can see why people would be upset. I thought for this story it worked, I didn’t have any major issues with that decision.

What slightly bugged me was Natalia Reyes, respectively, her character. I think she did a decent job, but her character, even though she’s “the new John”, as Linda Hamilton puts it, felt really bland. I know she’s supposed to “grew into a leader”, but I don’t think we have seen a lot of that and just wished we would have gotten a glimpse of that. I wouldn’t necessarily blame Natalia, I honestly believe they should have focused some part of the movie to why is she THAT special, that she’s the one who gets all surviving humanity united, as we’ve only gotten one flashback scene, where she saves Graces (Mackenzie Davis was great) and then has the BRILLIANT idea of “maybe we should unite and fight the machines” and you think… really? Is she really the first one who thought of that…?

What I was impressed with is, as mentioned before, the new Terminator, Gabriel Luna. I really liked the fact he didn’t have that much dialogue, because that only made him more menacing and he felt unstoppable. Without any exaggeration, he was the highlight for me, as I really felt the danger every time he was on the screen, my hat is off to you, sir.

When I talked about paradoxes, this might be the ultimate meta paradox – they finally make a decent Terminator movie, but it is so late and we still had a bad taste in our mouths after the last movie, nobody actually cared. The box office was underwhelming, even bringing back both stars of T2, Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger, made no real difference, as people have given up on this franchise. Which, for this movie is a shame, as on its own, it’s pretty solid Terminator movie. I honestly wonder, whether we will get another one at some point, or whether (which is more likely) we would get a TV show, that starts from the very beginning…

Overall, Terminator: Dark Fate is a decent action movie, pretty good Terminator movie and you won’t be bored with it. If you can accept the fact the first two movies will (probably) never be topped, quality-wise, and to certain extent, no longer matter in this universe.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

Let me be clear, did I have massive expectations that this movie, based on a board game, will actually be great? No. Did I expect to be this average? Also no. And that is the main issue with Battleship. This could have been a dumb, fun movie. Instead, it’s a long movie, that is just plain dumb, with no fun.

I think the main thing (I really don’t want to say problem) here is Peter Berg – he’s a great action director. Some of those sequences actually still looked pretty great (the very first time we see the alien ships, and when they jump over their ship was quite neat) but I don’t think he’s a great “actors director”. Let me explain – you have a few decent people here, like Taylor Kitsch who I would argue is not a dramatic, soon to be Oscar winner by any means. But I do believe he’s capable of much more (if I remember correctly, he was one of the brighter points of the poor second season of True Detective) and it’s no secret, that 2012 wasn’t his year. Nevertheless, I still think he’s better than some people give him credit for. Then you have Liam Neeson a really seasoned actor, who has done a lot of great things, but in this film, he seams not fully there, overacting. And then you have Ri-Ri (you might know her as Rihanna, but I call her Ri-Ri because that’s how I roll) who was totally wasted in this movie. Not even talking about any acting, because she’s literally had no space to have any character, she was always kind of in the background, with most of her dialogues comprising of “Yes, sir”… why even hire her for that role? Such a waste.

The other thing about Battleship, it is way too long and it overstays its welcome. If you were to develop your characters better, than you could justify going over 2 hours (this movie is 2 hours 11 minutes) but this film is not really interested in doing that and instead, indulges itself in plenty of unnecessary scenes. I swear I have seen certain scenes that I had no idea why were they necessary to film, let alone put them in the finished film. This whole movie could have been at least 20 minutes shorter, and honestly, it could have been a fun, slightly dumb B movie we could all enjoy. Because occasionally, you do need to switch off, just relax, watching ships go boom. But this film takes itself way too seriously, so I was not sure what to think about it.

Which is a shame, as I love cheesy, dumb, B movies (after all I grew up on action movies from 80’s/90’s) where you shouldn’t take the movie seriously and let’s face it, what would be the better candidate for that, than a movie based on Battleship board game, where you could literally come up with 50 different stories…? As long as you give us some boats (pardon, ships!) destroying each other, you are golden. But this movie doesn’t feel fun. It just feels like a mix of action, with plenty of “meh” in between. Which is a shame, as with solid cast, pretty solid action scenes and Ri-Ri on top of that all, this should have been my guilty pleasure. Instead, I would feel guilty recommending this film to somebody with a good conscience.

Overall, you can definitely do worse than watching Battleship, that’s for sure. And I do still believe that on technical level, it’s pretty good movie. Too bad the story and characters have had a minimum work put into them. It’s also a shame somebody didn’t suggest to Peter Berg editing this film, before releasing it, as that would’ve sorted some issues. I will still continue playing Battleship, as it’s a game a do enjoy. But I don’t think I will be in a hurry to re-visit this Battleship.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

Without any exaggeration, John Wick is one part of a reason Keanu is the “God and saviour of our internet” today. If you don’t know what I am talking about, that means you don’t know sites like reddit, where people worship him. And to be fair, there is so much evidence of him being such a wholesome person, it’s hard not to like Keanu. I feel like that is why I have dismissed this movie, or its quality to be exact, as I have heard that it is great action movie, one of the best in the last couple of years, Keanu is back… I thought, well, maybe, but more likely people who really like Keanu want him to come back. But then, I’ve seen John Wick. And they were right.

This film is the pinnacle of “simple story told right”. Your movie doesn’t have to have twists, doesn’t have to be really dark, really funny, or have ton of known actors. All fans need is a connection, to Keanu, his dog and the really simple, yet effective story, of best hired killer that came out of “retirement” just to avenge a death of the dog (I won’t even label this a spoiler, as this is the “I’m your father” of our generation, everybody who even remotely heard of this movie knows that the dog dies) and his car getting stolen. That’s it. That is the story.

The reason John Wick succeeded where other movies (with similar vengeance story lines) failed is simple – Keanu and the actions scenes. Let me break this down.

As mentioned in my opening paragraph, people have always liked Keanu and they wanted him to do well. But ever since mid 2000’s, he didn’t really have a hit movie, or a TV show on his resume. So it started to look like he’s peaked with the Matrix movies and he will never get back to the “big leagues”. And then John Wick comes along. I think this role fit him so well, as certain people might have thought “you might as well retire at this point” and he said no, he kept trying. There is a line in this movie that goes:

“People keep asking if I’m back and I haven’t really had an answer. But now, yeah, I’m thinkin’ I’m back.”

To a certain extent, you could say this wasn’t just John Wick saying it in the movie, but Keanu announcing the fact that he’s back and he’s ready to have his “second coming”. I would label this as a “side” reason of why this movie has done so well.

The main reason this (and the subsequent movies) are as popular and well received are the actions set pieces. They feel new, they feel exciting and there is a very “simple” reason for this – hours and hours of hard work of stunt people, choreographers, and honouring that work by not cutting your action scenes to death. It’s truly great to see an amazing action movie, where they are not afraid to show you where everybody is, they only cut to a next scene/different angle when it’s absolutely necessary. I understand why this won’t really become a standard, as stunt work is hard and Keanu did around 90% of his stunt work himself. Plenty of big Hollywood productions can’t risk their main star getting injured during an action scene(s), because that would delay the shooting, possibly a release of the movie. I get it, I completely get why most Hollywood movies are shot/edited the way they are, and I can’t really blame them. That’s one more reason to cherish these movies as the unicorns they are. The amount of hard work that must have gone to every action set piece…

Every time I re-watch John Wick, it gets slightly better. I remember when I’ve seen this movie for the very first time, I was around 7/10. The next time, a year or two later, it went to 8/10. Now, it’s a solid 9/10. I do need to admit (I might be in the minority here) I prefer the John Wick: Chapter II (2017) slightly more (don’t worry, the reviews for that movie and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019) will follow) but at this point, it’s just a minor things, splitting hair. You can’t really go wrong with either of these movies. And all praise Keanu!

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

I do love me some period films. But with these, it can either be a big hit, or a very big miss. Motherless Brooklyn is, strangely, kind of in between. The movie has potential, some really good performances and the story/mystery does grab you and doesn’t let go until the very end, but there is just something about this movie that doesn’t fully click.

I really like Edward Norton, despite the horror stories about his nightmare behaviour on movie sets (this article sums up most of it) but this movie might have had a case of “too much of Edward”. I don’t think he’s as good of a director/storyteller as he is an actor. And I don’t think that’s something controversial to say. I am not suggesting he’s a bad director, because he definitely knows what to do, some of the shots in this film were truly great, but I think the main reason Motherless Brooklyn didn’t click with me all the way, it just felt fake. Not the story element, but the period element. I don’t know why, it just looked too polished, too “new”… Think of The Untouchables (1987) or the brilliant HBO show Boardwalk Empire (2010 – 2014), these all felt as authentic as they could, so you could immerse in their world. This movie lacked that “it” factor.

But everything else around it was pretty well done, to be honest. Edward’s definitely made correct decision when he decided to cast Gugu Mbatha-Raw as her performance was really great. So subtle, nothing too flashy, but she definitely was the highlight and centre piece of this film. When the movie started and I’ve realised Edward’s character suffers from Tourette’s syndrome, it threw me off for a bit, as the first couple of scenes were… well, bad. But it seemed to have improved (the acting, not Tourette’s) as the movie went along, so it wasn’t a disaster by any means. Plus, being Edward Norton, you do make some decent contacts, so there are great performances by Willem Dafoe and Alec Baldwin and in smaller role, Michael Kenneth Williams, who’s always reliable.

As I said before, the story is intriguing from the very beginning, even though it might be a bit tough to follow at some places. Which brings me to another thing I would like to mention. I don’t know who came up with the idea to set this film in the 50’s, when the book this movie is based on takes place in the 90’s, but it worked really well. At least for the story element, but again, I do need to repeat myself, you don’t get the feel of the “ye olde times” as from other movies/TV shows. What this movie does really well though is build the relationship between Norton’s character and Gugu’s character, where only around her is his condition “calmer”. Especially in the scene where they dance and you can tell, that for the very first time in ages, his “threads in his heads” have calmed down, just for a little while, but they did.

The more I think about this movie, the more I am convinced Norton should have focused on the acting and there should have been somebody else directing the film, somebody like Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma, one of these “old timers”, who could’ve taken the material and give it the extra “something”, that would have put this film a good category up. Because Motherless Brooklyn is a film, that’s pretty good, but with somebody else stirring the ship, it could’ve been excellent.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke