300: Rise of An Empire (2014) review

‘300’ may not have been Zack Snyder’s first film, but it was thanks to that film’s huge success that made Snyder as famous as he is today, whereas 2004’s ‘Dawn of the Dead’ was basically a good ‘first impression’. Since that film came out in 2007, other films have tried to copy the film’s unique visual style but none have really achieved the same level of success of Snyder’s film. Now, 7 years after the original came out, the fictionalized world of Frank Miller’s ‘300’ continues with ‘300: Rise of An Empire’. This one, like its predecessor, is also based on one of Miller’s graphic novels, ‘Xerxes’. However, at the time I am writing this, it has yet to be published and there is currently no word on when it will be released. Also, for this film, Snyder does not return to direct seeing how he has been busy with ‘Man of Steel’ and its upcoming sequel. So, in his place is director Noam Murro, whose only film to date is the 2008 dramedy ‘Smart People’. Yeah, you have to admit that’s kind of an ‘out of left field’ choice to take over this franchise but Murro succeeds in continuing the franchise the same way Snyder started it with the original ‘300’. Sure, it may not be the best written film ever but it is still very much entertaining to watch.

While it may seem like a sequel, ‘Rise of An Empire’ is actually more of an interquel, taking place during the events of the original ‘300’ although some scenes do take place before and after that film. This film begins during the Battle of Marathon, 10 years before the events of the first film, between the Athenians and the Persians. There, Greek general Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton) kills Persian King Darius I. However, this event soon begins to set the groundwork for the war to come as Darius’ son Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) takes his father’s advice and becomes ‘the god king’ because it is the only way the Greeks can truly be defeated. As Xerxes begins his invasion on the people of Greece, Themistocles begins to rally the Athenian fleet as they begin their fight against the Persian naval fleet, led by Xerxes’ vengeful commander Artemisia (Eva Green), who seeks vengeance against Greece after her family was killed when she was younger (she herself actually being born a Greek).

Even with the change in direction, this film maintains the same highly stylized look of the original. However, Murro’s film is also noticeably much grittier in tone than Snyder’s film. For one thing, it doesn’t have the same exact level of mysticism as the original had during certain scenes. It’s clear that the original ‘300’ was more of a historical fantasy while this one feels just a bit more grounded in reality… though keep in mind, we’re still talking about a film with a king that’s eight feet tall and covered in piercings, amongst some other things, so it’s still very much an historical fantasy.  As such, in execution, this movie is just as awesomely entertaining as the original with all of its stylized action scenes that are full of slow-motion shots and digitized blood whenever someone is killed in battle. Yes, that admittedly does come at the expense of quality writing but then again, the original ‘300’ was also technically not that well-written either. But again like that film, this film’s not completely empty-minded. There are still the themes of honor and unity and as such, the movie’s not a total case of ‘style over substance’.

Still, many of the characters do fall rather flat, save for one character; Artemisia. Not only is she the standout character of the whole film, but Eva Green absolutely steals the show with her performance. She really gets into the role of this fierce and sexy commander of the Persian Naval Fleet and in a movie full of characters that don’t really get much character development, her character is easily the most fleshed out given her rather tragic backstory. She outshines everyone else in the cast, though that’s not to say some don’t give solid performances. Lead Sullivan Stapleton may not have the tenacity or bold attitude that Gerard Butler had as Leonidas, but he still does a rock solid job in the role for what he is given. The same can be said for the other members of the cast, including both returning characters (like Lena Headey as Leonidas’ widow, Queen Gorgo) and even some of the new characters (like Jack O’Connell as the son of one of Themistocles’ soldiers). Still, this movie belongs to Eva Green.

If you were a fan of the original ‘300’, I have the feeling that this film will very much satisfy you just as much as that film did. It’s just as entertaining and awesome as the original film and even though Zack Snyder does not direct this film, director Noam Murro still makes the movie feel very much like Snyder’s ‘300’. Yes, it’s not the best-written film ever and, when compared to the original, this suffers a bit more in regards to quality story and character development. Still, the film manages to be entertaining enough to the point where you can still have a good time with it while watching it. These ‘300’ films are some of the most perfect examples of ‘popcorn flicks’. Don’t get into this film expecting some quality writing because by the end of it, you’re going to leave pretty disappointed. This is just a fun and simple fantasy ‘swords and sandals’ flick and for some, that’s exactly what they came to see.

Rating: 3.5/5

Robocop Film Series Retrospective

The remake of ‘Robocop’ hits theaters this weekend, serving not only as a remake of the original 1987 film of the same name but also as a ‘reboot’ of the series, being the first film in this series to come out in nearly two decades. Obviously, like with most remakes, many are looking at this remake with either hesitation or anger, and as usual with remakes, it’s for good reason. The original film is such a classic that it begs the question as to why they should even remake it in the first place. But, for some odd reason, I’m actually sort of anticipating this film. I guess it’s mainly because, to put it bluntly, that original film is sort of the only good ‘Robocop’ film that has ever come out in theaters, as we’ll see in a bit with its two follow-ups. Because of that, I feel like there is a chance that this remake will turn out all right because this series is in need of a fresh start. But for now, it’s time to look back upon the original three films in the ‘Robocop’ series.

ROBOCOP (1987)

We begin with director Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 film which, as I said in the intro, is not only the best ‘Robocop’ film to date, but also the ONLY good ‘Robocop’ film as well. It’s a movie that’s incredibly violent (like a lot of Verhoeven’s films) but at the same time darkly comic, with a lot of dark humor that probably shouldn’t even be funny in the first place but somehow it is. It also serves as a biting satire of American culture and the media, from the lighthearted news reports to the commercial parodies, both of which appear frequently over the course of the film. Peter Weller is excellent in the role of Alex Murphy, the man who is killed by a gang of criminals and brought back to life by the OCP Corporation as the cybernetic cyborg policeman, Robocop; Weller just has an excellent presence in the role. The rest of the cast is great as well, including Nancy Allen as Murphy’s partner Anne Lewis and Kurtwood Smith as gang leader Clarence Boddicker (‘Can you fly, Bobby?’). Quite frankly, I can’t find anything wrong with this film. The original ‘Robocop’ still holds up very well 27 years after it came out back in 1987 and is not only one of the best sci-fi films of the 80’s, but one of the best sci-fi films period… sadly, we’re about to get into some not-so-great ‘Robocop’ films.

Rating: 5/5!

ROBOCOP 2 (1990)

Robocop 2 has to go down as one of the most disappointing follow-ups to any film ever. Here’s a film that does have some very good things in it, like a good cast, a story with potential, and some great action sequences. Plus, while Paul Verhoeven is not in the director chair this time, in his place is the man behind what is still the best ‘Star Wars’ film to date in ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, Irvin Kershner. What could possibly go wrong? Well, quite a lot of things actually. The overall story, which was written by Frank Miller, does have potential for a really good follow-up to the original film but in the end it’s full of plotlines that go absolutely nowhere. There’s one in particular that bugs me, strictly because of how it retcons the most important aspect of the character of Robocop; that even though he is now a machine, he still has the emotions of Alex Murphy, the man he once was before he was killed in action. But that all changes in one scene, a scene that occurs about only 16 minutes into the movie.

After a scene where Robocop drives by the home of his widow, he is then reprimanded by OCP for doing so and told that he is no longer human. He then has to tell his wife that he is only a machine and that her husband is dead. I like to refer to this scene as the moment in the film where it basically says ‘f*** you’ to the audience because of how this is an incredibly stupid idea for character development. At the end of the first film, Robocop started to feel more gain back some of his human emotions but basically in this scene he’s told to not act like a human anymore and he just does what he’s told. Now, I wouldn’t be so mad at this scene if there was a scene later where he decides to ignore what OCP is telling him and to act more ‘human’… but it never comes. This film takes one of the most defining attributes of the character and shoves it aside like it never happened. This has got to be some of the worst character development for an already established protagonist that I have ever seen. That is actually part of the reason why I’m even looking forward to the remake because I’m hoping the filmmakers could do a better job at handling this aspect of the character… or at least do a better job than they did in this movie.

But that’s just part of this film’s many problems. For one thing, it has quite a mean-spirited tone to it all. This is heavily exemplified in the character of Hob, a kid who is an ally of the main villain, drug-lord Cain. This heartless kid is not afraid to kill people, swears like a sailor, and is just an overall unpleasant little sadist. To make matters worse, the film tries to make us feel sorry for him when he dies, but I’m sorry, that’s not going to happen after all that he’s done in this film. In fact, pretty much every kid in this movie is a troublemaker (believe me folks I’m being very lenient in the words I’m using to describe the kids in this movie). There’s this scene where a bunch of Little Leaguers rob a store and beat up the store owner and another scene where some kids swear at Robocop (basically every kid in this movie has a potty mouth) and one of them even paints ‘kick me’ on his back. I wondering if either Kershner and/or Miller hate kids, because from the way kids are portrayed in this film, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was true.

I have a few other minor gripes, like how the ‘Old Man’ (Dan O’Herlihy reprising his role from the last film) is suddenly changed into a more corrupt character, which wasn’t how his character was portrayed in the first film, or how, now that I think about it, for a movie in the ‘Robocop’ franchise, Robocop’s barely in it! Don’t get me wrong, he is in the movie for a good amount of time but I’d swear that, for most of the film, they focus on other characters instead of him and his partner Anne Lewis. ‘Robocop 2’ might not be the overall worst in the series (that one’s coming up next) but after watching this film again I found myself hating it more because of all of its wasted potential. There are good things in this film, like a good cast, some intriguing plot points, and some really good action sequences, like the car chase between Robocop and Cain or the final battle between them, where by this point Cain has become a cyborg as well (that latter sequence is easily the best part of the film). But in the end, ‘Robocop 2’ does so many things wrong, resulting in a very unpleasant film to watch. It may have the general same level of violence as its predecessor, but it also lacks the great writing that made Paul Verhoeven’s film such a classic in the first place.

Rating: 1.5/5

ROBOCOP 3 (1993)

Oh boy, this one… if you thought ‘Robocop 2’ was bad, then wait until you get a load of this film. ‘Robocop 3’ doesn’t piss me off like ‘Robocop 2’ now does, there’s really no denying that 3 is the worst entry in the series and this is true for a few reasons. First of all, the film is surprisingly rather boring at times. For a movie where Robocop actually rebels against OCP when their plans to rebuild an old section of Detroit into the brand new ‘Delta City’ result in the company having to evict residents of a local neighborhood where they plan to build it from their homes, not much really happens in this movie. Can you believe that this movie makes ROBOT NINJAS boring? Yeah, there’s a robot ninja in this movie and yet they don’t do much with him. The fight between him and Robocop is the very definition of ‘anti-climactic’. I mean, this movie does have some pretty good action sequences, but when you take a cool concept like a robot ninja and do nothing with it, then that’s bad.

Another problem is the fact that this film was toned down to a PG-13 rating after the first two films were rated R, and well deserving of those ratings. Now, I know that a film’s rating doesn’t really affect the overall quality of a film but at the same time, I’m pretty sure this was just so that the studio could market it to a younger audience… then again, that’s kind of what they were already doing in the first place with the first two films even though they were rated R (do I need to remind you about the way kids are portrayed in the second film?) so I guess I’m not really that surprised. Let’s just hope that with the remake getting a PG-13 rating as well that it wasn’t just so that they could appeal to a younger audience. Also, Peter Weller does not reprise his role as Robocop for this movie. It’s nothing against his replacement, Robert John Burke, but something about him in the role just doesn’t feel right. I think it may be the voice in that just doesn’t work for the role, unlike Peter Weller, whose distinct voice fit perfectly for the character.

It’s sort of common knowledge that the third film in any film series is usually the worst in the series by that point, and that’s very much the case with ‘Robocop 3’. It’s not just that the film was toned down to a PG-13 or that Peter Weller didn’t return to the role of Robocop. This film as a whole is just boring and the fact that a story as potentially compelling as this one and an interesting concept like a robot ninja are both squandered in this very, very slow action movie is just sad. It’s also quite sad how a film as great as the original ‘Robocop’ had to be followed by not one, but two mediocre sequels. The third film may not piss me off as much as the second film but at the same time, the former is still the worst in the series in terms of its overall execution. Here’s hoping that the upcoming remake may just be the first good ‘Robocop’ film since the original. It’s been 27 years since that film came out and we’re still waiting.

Rating: 1/5

The Wolverine (2013) review

While the ‘X-Men’ franchise has certainly been very popular ever since Jack Kirby and Stan Lee created this team of mutant superheroes back in 1963, one member of the team has arguably stood out more than the rest; Logan AKA Wolverine, the animal-like mutant with the adamantium skeleton. The character has played a major part in pretty much every adaptation of the franchise, from TV series to video games. In the ‘X-Men’ film series, Wolverine (excellently portrayed by Hugh Jackman) has been in every major live-action X-Men film since 2000, including the original trilogy, the ‘reboot’ ‘X-Men: First Class’, and even a spinoff/prequel, ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’. However, that last film didn’t really turn out so well but now Jackman returns for another solo film, ‘The Wolverine’, which looks much more promising. The story takes inspiration from the 1982 limited series ‘Wolverine’, written by Chris Claremont and illustrated by Frank Miller. As for the director, James Mangold (who directed the 2007 remake of ‘3:10 to Yuma’) takes over for original choice Darren Aronofsky, who ended up leaving the project in pre-production. The end result is a major improvement over the last ‘Wolverine’ film that does do justice to the character.

The film takes place after the events of ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’ as, following the death of Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) and the disbandment of the X-Men, Logan AKA Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) has been spending most of his time alone in the Canadian wilderness haunted by his past. One day, he is approached by Yukio (Rila Fukushima), an employee of Ichiro Yashida (Haruhiko Yamanouchi), the dying head of a Japanese technology corporation who Logan had saved during the Nagasaki bombings of WWII. Logan heads to Tokyo to meet with Yashida, who offers him the chance to rid himself of his immortality so that he can finally have ‘an honorable death’. Logan refuses but the next day, after Yashida dies; he finds that, for some reason, his healing powers aren’t working. As Logan now tries to protect Yashida’s granddaughter Mariko (Tao Okamoto) from assassins, he has to come face to face with his inner demons as he struggles to survive without the help of his healing powers.

While I don’t want to compare this film to ‘X-Men Origins Wolverine’ too much, ‘The Wolverine’ does improve on almost every major problem that film had; the action scenes and effects are much better. Mangold does a great job at shooting these scenes and heck, for a PG-13 rated film, this film isn’t afraid to get a little more intense in some areas. As for the effects, to put it bluntly, all I can say is that Wolverine’s claws don’t look as crappy as they did in ‘Origins’. But perhaps the biggest improvement over ‘Origins’ is that this film knows where its focus should be; on the character of Wolverine. ‘Origins’, despite the fact that it was supposed to be a prequel detailing Wolverine’s back-story, had other mutants as well, and most of them were pretty much just shoehorned into the film. This time around, while there still are a couple of extra mutants in the film as well, it’s all about Wolverine and how he struggles with the demons of his past, including the fact that he was forced to kill the love of his life, Jean, in the previous film.

The fact that this film is set in Japan also sets up a pretty good ‘fish out of water’ story because Wolverine is out of his element here and is also in a bigger dilemma considering that his healing ability isn’t working like it did before. As far as superhero films go, this film has a lot more down time which is a nice alternative to what we’re used to seeing in superhero films. Granted, the final act in the film does slip into traditional superhero fare (I’m not saying that’s a bad thing; it’s just that this is a change of pace from the first two-thirds of the film), but the film is still very exciting from beginning to end. Not only does this film’s script do justice to the character of Wolverine, but this is also arguably Hugh Jackman’s best performance in the role, thanks to both his experience in the role and the material he’s given. He carries the film on his own, although the rest of the cast (mainly filled with actors/actresses you’ve probably never heard of) is solid as well.

As far as Wolverine’s solo films have turned out, ‘The Wolverine’ is easily superior to the previous attempt at giving the character his own film. This is thanks to better action scenes, better visual effects, and most importantly, stronger writing. The film knows where to keep its focus; on Wolverine and while there are a couple of additional mutants in this film (this is still an ‘X-Men’ film, after all), they don’t overshadow Wolverine and his story. Compared to other superhero films, there are a lot more ‘peaceful’ moments in this film but don’t worry, there are still some incredible action scenes and for a PG-13 film, this film isn’t afraid to push the limits of the rating. This is certainly a must-see for any fan of Wolverine, as this film does do the character and the story it’s based on justice. Plus, be sure to stick around for a post-credits scene that will set up next year’s ‘Days of Future Past’, the next major film for the ‘Children of the Atom’.

Rating: 4/5