The Meg (2018)

Wow! Its been quite a while since I went to go see a movie at the theatres. The last one was probably Ocean’s Eight. I mean, aside from Fantasia where I’m still in a semi-break from movies but I love shark films and Jason Statham and The Meg has been one of those films that I’ve been anticipated the moment I knew of its existence so it was a opening weekend must-see for myself. Its taken a little bit to get this review up but better late than never. To be clear, I haven’t read the novel that this movie is based on so this is completely on how I felt about the movie and nothing related to how well the adaptation works.

Let’s check it out!

The Meg (2018)

Director: Jon Turteltaub

Cast: Jason Statham, Bingbing Li, Rainn Wilson, Cliff Curtis, Winston Chao, Shuya Sophia Cai, Ruby Rose, Page Kennedy, Robert Taylor, Olafur Darri Olafsson, Jessica McNamee

After escaping an attack by what he claims was a 70-foot shark, Jonas Taylor must confront his fears to save those trapped in a sunken submersible. – IMDB

Being a fan of shark films and Jason Statham, The Meg was one anticipated movie that truly delivered on all my expectations. Its refreshing to be able to say that. Shark films have a special place in my heart and the best comparison that I have for The Meg is something like Deep Blue Sea, which happens to be one of my favorite shark films ever. Featuring a 70 foot Megalodon as its star predator is a tough feat and director Jon Turteltaub does a great job at making sure that it holds the suspense and builds on using the underwater sequences to create the thrills with the unexpected. Sure, there are some parts here because of the Chinese collaboration that makes it build the story with some filler drama and romance that feels unnecessary but the cast here delivers on this simple script. Let’s face it, this is a shark movie and not some award-winning film. Its a popcorn flick meant to be entertaining and it does exactly that. There is some suspension of belief and some far-fetched ideas that they try hard to give us the justifications in the story which mostly works, but the thrills of the Meg is in some of the parallels and nods it gives to the ultimate shark movie, Jaws. For some, that might be issues because this isn’t quite the Spielberg masterpiece but for myself, it never was meant to be that so I appreciated it for being exactly what it was.

Looking at the cast, Jason Statham also does a great job at being the leading man. He still is equipped with his one liners and his hardcore tough guy act. It works for him and its what I love about the movies he is in. For that, he fits well into his role as Jonas. His sequences against the shark adds in those comedic touches before heading into the intense sequences against a prehistoric shark. Even tough guys get scared, they just mask it with some humor and it works so well for him. Its not often we see Jason Statham with a lot of romance in his films but as odd and misplaced as this one feels between him and the character played by Bingbing Li, there are some bonding moments here that also work out. It helps that Bingbing Li is not only a pretty face but also a talented actress. However, nothing quite steals the show like the little girl playing the daughter by Shuya Sophia Cai who is not the typical whiny and annoying little girl but one that is smart and knows her stuff around. She’s charming and cute and intelligent and some of the best moments are actually between her and Jason Statham.

Aside from these main players, there are a ton of familiar faces here. Playing the sponsor of the research facility is Rainn Wilson who plays this billionaire who goes to visit and has his mind on all the wrong things at times but does add a nice twist of giving the normal do everything to make this work character have a twist. While he isn’t straight and narrow and still makes some dumb decision in the end, it takes on another tangent. On the other hand, a lot of people aren’t a big fan of Ruby Rose but I’ve liked her style since  her role in Orange is the New Black. As one note and as much as she is put in similar roles, I like the addition of that type of character. However, in this one, you end up losing count how many times she draws the short straw and ends up falling into the water.

As predictable as The Meg is and as forced as the romance here, The Meg knows what it is and it delivers exactly as expected. A 70 foot shark is a huge presence literally and Jon Turteltaub is masterful as making it scarce and taking his time to reveal this beast completely. There are incredible lighting and cinematography underwater that makes it all work so well. I probably should have mentioned this but I forked out the big bucks (because it was the only way my theatre was showing it) and saw it UltraAVX and 3D. Let me tell you, a lot of parts got me jumping in my seat and genuinely tense. It may be my love for shark films and just how thrilling these films can be but The Meg is a fun popcorn flick. There are some solid moments that are fairly unique to watch. Plus, it achieves a level of making the megalodon be scarce to build up the tense moments and it works out a lot of time. Running a fairly tight run time, it is pretty well-paced. Sure there are some filler material but it never lingers long enough to make it completely in the way of the real purpose we’re there: to see a prehistoric shark. Its a shark film, you’re either on board or you aren’t. Maybe its a simple way to put it but popcorn movies don’t need depth, it needs entertainment and I was thoroughly thrilled and entertained. I get the criticism and I have some of my own as you see, but its still a solid shark film.

I only wish that it does well enough to get a franchise going because I can’t wait to see Jason Statham get back into going against some more prehistoric underwater creatures. Now, that would be so awesome!

Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)

I’m not one of those opening day movie goers.  Not because I don’t want to, I just don’t really like the crowds but a few of my friends have been wanting to see this as much as I’ve wanted to so one of them used his coupons and booked us some seats at the VIP cinema.  Its a pretty luxurious cinema experience limited to adults only and you can eat with a little table, more comfy seats for a more expensive price.  Either way, we all got some food, our drinks and sat back to what we shortly before the movie started learned an almost 3 hour movie.  All I hoped in my mind when it started was the the dinobots would kick some ass.

I don’t usually post revews on the weekend but I just wanted to enjoy being the first few to catch a movie on opening weekend. Lets check it out! 😉

Director: Michael Bay

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Nicola Peltz, Kelsey Grammar, Jack Reynor, Sophia Myles, Bingbing Li

Picking up after the last epic battle in Chicago, the world is stricken with fear with the robots in general and the government has decided to not be in line with any robots regardless of which side they stand.  As they pick up their pieces, in Texas, Cade Yaeger (Mark Wahlberg) and his teenage daughter, Tessa (Nicola Peltz) try to live their lives struggling to pay their bills and keep afloat financially. Thats when he finds a broken truck which turns out to be a damaged Optimus Prime.  He decides to try to fix him while the black ops (I think) tracks them and wants to neutralize Optimus.  With Tess’s secret boyfriend Shane (Jack Reynor), they struggle to escape while helping the Autobots reunite and find out who is trying to destroy them.

Referring back to my opening paragraph, it seems that I had very low expectations.  The fact is after the garbage presented in Transformers 2 & 3, I wasn’t too confident about how this one would turn out. However, I had hopes because one, Shia LaBeouf wasn’t part of this anymore and it was replaced with the much more competent Mark Wahlberg and there was dinobots.  Plus, with Michael Bay, there is a certain level of dumb, over the top, CGI-y, explosions and action going on.  Pretty much defines an action movie that is simply enjoyable without having to think much.

As I’m writing this out, I just got out of the movie less than 4 hours ago.  Transformers was everything that I expected it to be and maybe it even gave me hopes of it keeping that quality for following movies.  Sure, there was some cheesy and rather laughable moments that kind of gave me a few shake my head and face-palm moments, like for example, the slow motion low angle shooting the agents coming in with their jackets flapping in the wind or deliberately making Tessa and her short shorts walking slow pace.  Not to mention, the movie was ridiculously long and at about 90 minutes in, I almost felt like it was losing steam.  However, it did come back with some more action as usual.

Lets just say that Michael Bay keeps his signature Michael Bay stuff and this movie is more in line with the enjoyment level I had for the first one and might even have surpassed it.  One of those reasons goes to Mark Wahlberg.  I like Wahlberg a lot.  Seriously, the man is very many.  Like he has a very likable appearance and his acting is pretty good.  I’ve enjoyed a lot of the movies that he has been in and no, I haven’t seen The Happening so I can’t comment. I felt like he brought a lot more than anything that Shia Lebeouf could offer in the previous instalments.  Plus, Wahlberg is diversified as an actor.  He can bring a bit of humor and do good in action and that really is needed in this role.

I’m going to go straight out and say that the cast really impressed me.  I love Stanley Tucci and the man is kick ass funny and just great.  I haven’t dived much into his character but he does have a pretty key role as he ends up stuck with Cade and group as they escape from their many dangers.  Along with that, we have Kelsey Grammar as the second line bad guy.  I kind of found his character annoying but that makes sense seeing as that was the role he was given.  I spent the whole movie trying to figure out where I saw Nicola Peltz and realized as the IMDB page was loading that she was in Bates Motel.  I’m not exactly sure that I like her as an actress or I just didn’t really like it always giving the girls a stupid roles and lines, although I do like her more than Megan Fox. Plus, there’s a smaller role for Sophia Myles who is the main girl in the series Moonlight (that I love although it only had one season).

On the other side of things, in the trailers you see it anyways, which was also a highlight for me is bringing in the whole Hong Kong scene.  For one, there was a few cameos from known actors in the Hong Kong and China entertainment. Then, my friend and I had a bet before of who can identify which buildings were real and which were CGI. While we are talking about this, Bingbing Li has a little role in this one.  I had to add a picture of her just because I believe Mikey@Screenkicker told me he has a thing for Asian girls so here’s a picture for him. She is better than Ziyi Zhang 😉 Plus, she’s an actress that I’m slowly liking more and more.

If you haven’t liked the previous Transformers, I’m going to say that you probably won’t like this one either and I’d say to just back away from it.  You get exactly what you’d expect from a Michael Bay movie and thats an over the top summer blockbuster which is a tad dumb, and over the top with action and explosion. The only difference that gives it a little edge is that it doesn’t take itself seriously and for that, I can sit down and watch this and have a great laugh.  Plus, I really dig this cast and the Chinese actor cameos. Mark Wahlberg brings something fresh to the whole equation and the dinobots kicked serious butt even if they weren’t there for too long.  The Transformers themselves made the movie great as well.

I had a lot of fun with this one.  Its not a masterpiece and I hope that you don’t walk in expecting it to be.  How I feel for this one pretty much measures up to why and how I love silly movies like Resident Evil Retribution and The Expendables.  There’s going to be lots of criticisms about this one.  I’m pretty sure about that but hey, what counts in the end to have fun and I definitely did 🙂

Have you seen Transformers 4? Do you intend to? What are your thoughts on Mark Wahlberg?

Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)

Last night my boyfriend and I made it over to the theatres before it got pulled off on Friday to see Resident Evil: Retribution.  This is what happens when you are in a suburban area and the theatres focus on French version of Hollywood movies, but its alright as it meant that we pushed ourselves to see it faster.  Just a quick recap for you, I’m a newbie at Resident Evil.  I watched all the Resident Evils this summer.

Just to give you an idea of my thoughts on the first few:  The first one, Resident Evil, was the only one that should be categorized as a horror movie as it was the closest to it.  The tone was slightly eerie and the storyline was decent.  The second and third called Resident Evil: Apocalypse and Resident Evil: Extinction was really borderline.  I’m not really sure I’d call it “so bad its good”, at times I found myself rolling my eyes but it had its moments that I just laughed at the movie, but I mean it wasn’t really laughable and wasn’t very scary in general.  The fourth one, Resident Evil: Afterlife was a different story.  That was brainless entertainment 101 and it was so fun to watch.  I mean it was crappy acting, horrible (if any) storyline but altogether I had a fun time laughing and just enjoying the action.  It was a nice flick to just give your brain a little break.

Okay, so  now lets get down to business.  We get Resident Evil: Retribution which is the fifth one in this series.  When I saw the preview for this, I was seriously wanting to see it because it just looked so awesomely fun and c’mon, why pass up the chance for 3D fun when its made exactly for it? This movie was made for 3D, for all who didn’t know.  There is just that one choice: 3D.  Its all to say, I expected some great fun times at the theatres.

The question now is: Did I actually get what I wanted? Hell yes! Let me tell you why.  For starters, this movie you probably don’t really need to see the first few and thats usually the case for Resident Evil.  They always give you a recap of the stories beforehand and sometimes its the part relevant for this movie or linked in some way or another. This helps give the new audience a way to slightly understand what lead to the situation now. I had seen these during the summer so it was alright, I didn’t really need the recap but it helped me build the intensity the other movies had before, relive some of the action from before.

In a movie like this, you are talking about action matched a bunch of horrible acting and a very lengthened storyline that expands further (if you’ve followed the last few, it just builds from the first one sometimes if not mostly into very crazy ideas).  As much as these features usually would make a movie very unenjoyable, I would say that it has been a charm for Resident Evil series.  In this one, its the essence of the horrible acting and how they pull out those bad looks that made me laugh so much.

What I did thoroughly liked was the fact that they brought back a lot of the characters from previous movies.  I think to be able to bring back the same cast helps the audience that has followed these series feel more attached to the characters (no matter the acting skills).  So just a recap, Milla Jovovich stays as the main female role by the name of Alice who is the one who has been able to bond with the T-Virus that has been whats infected the world.   Her “enemy” from Umbrella Corporation, Albert Wesker (played by  Shawn Roberts) is back, bringing with him the video game characters of Ada Wong (played by Bingbing Li) and Leon (Johann Urb) also Barry (Kevin Durand).  I may not know all the actors very well but Bingbing Li is one I’ve seen her grow as an actress in Chinese movies and she’s alright.  Its nice to see her in a Hollywood flick. Aside from that, we get pulled into how come all the previous ones are back with Rain (Michelle Rodriguez) and Luther West (Boris Kodjoe).  Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory) comes back as an enemy who is used by the Umbrella Corporation.  You know who they brought back to control Umbrella Corporation, The Red Queen.  I always thought that part was the essence of the horror in the first one.  So lots of action going on just from all that.   You bring in more people, more weapons, more fighting and more action.

As mentioned before, 3D was the main feature of this movie.  In the beginning and various parts, it was the 3D that really brought me back to jump a bit (but thats because I’m just easily startled) because when these zombies are coming at you suddenly or bursting through doors in the beginning, it can do that.  Other times, it just magnified all the action going on.  The computer graphics is bad though. Let me say, it brings out all the cheesiness and matches up when that pure entertainment, action and cheesy one-liners and glares between the characters.  Man, thinking about it just makes me laugh.

Before I end this and continue rambling on about how its “so bad its good”, which it is.  As someone who has seen all the previous ones, I can’t stop but think that Paul W.S. Anderson definitely has this down real good. The Resident Evils he did (1, 4 and now 5) was awesome in that way and same goes for Death Race and I just saw that he even did Event Horizon. All movies that I liked so I guess I’m into his kind of entertainment.  I’m already saying that if they pulled out a Resident Evil 6, I’ll be there also (which I think there will be) and you bet that Paul W.S. Anderson will be involved one way or another.  Especially if we get that “this is humanities last stand. The beginning of the end.”

So all in all, PLEASE and I’m begging you, an advisory to those that hated the first few or you just don’t like this brainless entertainment, blood splattering action, just stay far away.  If you do love that or simply, “so bad its good” movie, this one I would recommend.  I’m still debating whether the one before was better but for now, I’m happy with this one.  I’m fairly confident we’ll have a 6th one especially since they just brought out the video game characters.  I’d like to end this off with Alice’s favorite line  to start off the movie(she says this in variation for all the movies in this series), “Once again we find ourselves fighting for our lives”.