It was interesting enough to hold my attention. The layers kept building upon each layer with each backroom visited.
But ultimately, what does it all mean? Was it some kind of subconscious? A view on AI? Nothing was expained. It's just one "adventure" from a bigger story, that's what it felt like. Still, I thought it was well made, well paced, and a good time at the cinema.
I'm very surprised this was a John Favreau-directed movie because... it's not good. He also credited as a co-writer, which surprised me even more. Why did it play like two seperate, different halves and why was the second half so bad?
If the movie had just stopped in the first half, I would have rated it 7 or higher. The first half was fast-paced, lots of fun, and I was smiling throughout.
The second half slowed down a whole lot. It was uninteresting. It was boring. I was no longer smiling. Even with that snake monster, I was not impressed.
Why even bring in Paul Lee in the last few minutes and not give him more screentime? We saw a lot of Zeb but he didn't have much of an impact. Which I kind of can say the same for Sigourney Weaver.
The only fan service I kind of appreciated but also don't really care that much if that shot wasn't there, was that table of X-Wing pilots played by the directors that have directed episodes of the TV show before. But I guess they couldn't afford to pay the proper actor price for Bryce Dallas Howard.
The story picked up pace immediately after the death of Cole Young.
While we all like to make fun of this new character that never appeared in the games, his death was not the reason the movie got better.
The story in this sequel was overall a much more engaging one. A Thanos-like storyline that works well usually and sets up our heroes on a trail for vengeance.
And Adeline Rudolph, surprisingly was a very capable lead even when she wasn't from the first movie. So was Karl Urban, but we all knew he was going to bring the charisma. Every time he and Josh Lawson was together, the comedy just jumped up a few notches.
Ironically, Cole Young's fight with Shao Kahn was one of the best. Liu Kang vs Kung Lao, and Bi Han vs Scorpion, disappointed a little.
Overall, a better movie than the first; and a great setup for the third.
Strangely, the relationship between Anne Hathaway's and Emily Blunt's characters, and Hathaway's and Stanley Tucci's characters were the most interesting. Meryl Streep's impact this time was just not there.
Also, it's weird how Streep's character no longer has the same blunt edge as before (and I'm not talking about being more "respectful" to Gen-Z's in the work environment), but I guess the years have changed her.
And when you have Kenneth Branagh who brought such gravitas, and Justin Theroux who immediately popped onscreen, it's so strange to bring in a Patrick Brammall as Hathaway's love interest. The most uncomfortable scene was when they had their first date in a restaurant. I thought Hathaway was overacting and perhaps over compensating for the lack of chemistry between the two.
There was a lot of running around, and most of the time the audience had no idea what all that running around was for.
The one that surprised me the most was the young actor that played a juvenile Michael, Juliano Valdi. To portray the emotion and psyche of a young Michael in order to convey to us who young Michael was, I thought he did such a brilliant job.
Jaafar Jackson had the moves and the voice down. The look, however, never once made me go, "Oh! That really looked like a vivid shadow of Michael Jackson himself." Which wasn't that much of an issue, to be honest.
Colman Domingo really portrayed the villain role so perfectly for this movie. Even though I wished the character had more depth into what drove his actions. And I also wished there were more to the other Jackson 5 members, other than being seen as supportive and friendly; which we all know that was not the case at all.
I definitely wished there was more drama, if not that then more of what inspired Michael to write the songs he wrote for the Thriller album. We only got one song's origin story here and that was very, very disappointing.
The making of Thriller, though, to see it in this fashion and to immediately reminsced about the impact that song had on the world, got me teary eyed.
What was Miles Teller doing here though? It was bad enough to get a character that barely had anything to do in the movie, it's worse to get a Miles Teller that didn't care for the role, too. Mike Myers popped though.
I can't get behind this type of storytelling. Dragging on a scene, posing the character, just to create and prolong a sense of suspense. Unnecessarily extending the runtime while having two important side characters that were very one-dimensional.
The jump scares were useless as usual, most of the time adding nothing to the plot. I didn't think Yang Yo was very good in this. And Derek Chang's character was a bit too posey.
Finally, that stinger at the end, it's as if there was no funeral? How do you miss the body?
As an action comedy, this worked.
The action was just alright. The comedy and chemistry between the characters were what really entertained. The actors all gave it their best. Vince Vaughn hasn't acted this good in a while.
It's silly fun and I'm all for it. I would watch the sequel.
I'm not sure that the use of that distorted slow-mo sequences were necessary. It was quite distracting and took up the running time.
BenDavid Grabinski did a nod to John Woo's Hard Boiled where pistols were hidden all around the shootout venue, like a pistol in the flower pot. But the execution here was sorely lacking in vision.
This is following in the footsteps of the live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Good first movie, and a super dumbed down sequel.
If you just watched this movie with no sound, it's no different. Because there wasn't a need for expositions. All resolution to all subplots had no logic. It's as if in creating the visual spectacle, the ran out of money so they couldn't afford the writers to write proper dialogue. What's the point of paying actors like Brie Larson and Donald Glover?
Even worse was, when Mario and Luigi spoke, they clearly sounded they had zero integration when recording. Their roles were so watered down that they didn't even need to speak.
This is a super terrible movie that is currently making so much money.
I caught myself smiling with glee all throughout the first act. The setup was so great, and that first action sequence was so well choreographed that I wished it was more of a one take kind of design. I completely believed Zazie Beetz's character knew how to use a samurai sword.
The second fight sequence where she used a fire hammer was much less convincing. And also here we found out more of her background, and that samurai sword was also much less convincing. But the fun never ceased, at least.
And in the end, the final fight was more of going through the motions than entertainment. But I would welcome a sequel.
I think Ryan Gosling has too much charisma for this role, not to mention too good looking, too. He's supposed to be shunned by his peers so his charisma did not track.
The movie was way too long. There were a few scenes in the second act that could have been shorter, especially with the first contact with the alien. Maybe Phil Lord and Christopher Miller wanted to stay true to the book, which I didn't read so I don't know what I'm talking about. But I was thinking if those scenes were cut shorter I don't think we would have missed anything.
I'm not sure Sandra Huller's acting here was the right choice. In the first part where she was just a cold operative on a mission, I liked it. But in the second act where she showed more of her personality, there wasn't much going on with her performance.
As a space adventure though, this was entertaining. Though I did not understand a word of the science behind how he solved the main plot. I don't think that was explained well.
