Change Your Image
collinsjay
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Thor (2011)
A Bridge Onwards or A Piece of Cinematic Genius?
The question above reminds me of many other questions; To be strong or to be weak? To have £10 or to have £5? The answer is always going to be the first one. Of course this is multiple choice and so is whether or not you should go and see Thor, especially in 2011's comic-book movie summer...
The film opens with an exciting, albeit short set piece on Earth introducing us to Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) an Astro Physicist out in the middle of know where waiting for a storm. The tension builds up, as even I in the audience became sceptical on anything happening... Until BOOM!! Thor (Chris Hemsworth) arrives with only one question on everyone's mind "where did he come from?" Firstly this is a fantastic introduction, it denies the audience any over complexities with the narrative by setting it up so well. As expected it goes on to explain the origins of Thor with a noisy, special effects filled prologue that essentially isn't needed. It seemed almost a duplicate to a Lord of the Rings style battle scene, without a Peter Jackson stab at making it jump of the screen. That's not to say Kenneth Branagh doesn't do a good job. He makes the years of comic book mythology so comprehensive in order to set up the movie and 3D or not he makes Asgard jump of the screen with its beauty.
Hemsworth really makes a believable Thor, his flamboyant antics only help to symbolise this better. Although Thor's written too narrowly for my taste, his arrogance is conveyed too simply and his romance with Jane Foster is far too spur-of-the-moment stuff. The acting from both Portman and Hemsworth however, allowed me to ignore this and the movie just became more and more intriguing. Tension builds as Loki (Tom Hiddleston) moves further towards the films antagonist. I really got the feeling of a medieval "who shall be king" battle going on in modern day New Mexico which is a lot of compelling fun to watch. Odin (Antony Hopkins) gives the film stability and understanding as his sons rivalry grows. Expect great effects, great acting and a great story, but don't expect a piece of cinematic genius.
Thor was always going to be the risk in the Avengers lead up movies. It does what it has to in order for the Avengers to be born in 2012 and it does no more, no less. There will be plenty of teases tying it into this ever growing Marvel universe (incidentally stay after the credits if you want to see more of that) and for fans this will be a blast. But fan or not this is a great film just don't expect anything more than a prequel to the Avengers.
Green Lantern (2011)
The Light is Always Greener on the Other Side
"Green Lantern is bad" claims The New York Times and so I've read the reviews. I then bought my ticket, to which the cheerful man I bought it from said "enjoy your film." As you can see her I'm getting enough mixed signals to scramble a radar. This film is going to come down to what I think...
The film begins, it's green theme surrounds the Warner bros logo. Nice touch I know, but now onto the film. The opening presents a beautifully landscaped universe, filled with planets of all different colours and sizes. However, this is not as breath taking as, lets say; when you first saw the beautiful effects conveyed when you first see Star Wars. It's actually quite generic for today's standards. The narrator then speaks explaining a clearly elaborate plot, built up over years of comic book mythology and in only five minutes. In away five minutes is enough for how tedious it actually is. Just think back to that one teacher back in school, with that monotone voice that so subtly tightens your eyelids and assaults your ears with worthless knowledge. That is exactly how I felt. Luckily for me I knew a bit about the Green Lantern mythology, enough so this could be bypassed. However be warned do some research or be punished with a monotonous Green Lantern 101.
Back down to earth we are introduced to Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) a stereotypical underachiever, accentuated by the fact that he is late for work as a test pilot. To be fair on Lantern I actually enjoyed a well done set piece involving Hal and wing-woman Carol (Blake Lively) as he proceeds to destroy two costly military aircrafts. With that fun over the film continues in its starting fashion. Hal becomes a Green Lantern goes to Oa where fellow Lantern Sinestro explains there is no way Hal can beat the movies super antagonist; Parallax. Faced with adversity and a ton of budget crunching special effects Hal saves the day from Parallax and his human sidekick Dr. Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard). Oh and he also wins the girl in an exasperatingly spontaneous amount of time. Now picture that in the space of two hours. I was bored to say the least. It checked off all the conventions of a normal comic book movie and failed to even attempt to go the extra mile. That's why everything about Lantern is downright derivative. It has solely wasted an impressive budget on mixing the fundamental ingredients of a comic book movie.
In this summer I don't believe Lantern can afford to do that. Going up against the likes of Thor, X-Men First Class and soon Captain America: The First Avenger Lantern has come dead last, trust me I've seen the first two. Albeit I'd like to say if you're looking for cinematography filled with miraculous special effects go see this film, but frankly I can't because if you wanted to see that you should go see any other superhero flick and get even more. In comparison and when stood alone Lantern falls well beneath standards. Trust me when I say I think I should have listened to the New York Times rather than the cheerful man who sold me my ticket.
Smallville: Finale (2011)
Ten Years to prepare was ten years well wasted, much the same can be said about the audience's time if they choose to watch this exasperating series finale.
Inconsistency seemed to be the only consistent thing about Smallville. It touched the highs then the lows throughout its 10 years on the air but it seemed to draw to many parallels to the Season 8 finale. Another Doomsday moment was always going to be the biggest fear for Smallville fans and it's hard to see why no one accepts that moment just repeated. Season 8 and Season 10 had left the ground work complete for a potentially perfect finales. But like Season 8 it was up, up and all the way back down again for Smallville. The finale opened well, Chloe (Allison Mack) set up a narrative that engrossed the screen in a cinematic beauty that bypassed the shows clearly poor budget. But the budget problems caught up with them and Smallville was back down to earth with a pointless "There is no wedding," storyline that develops into an "I'm such an idiot" there is a wedding conclusion. The cinematography transformed back into the shows normal fixed settings and the music explored a lot more but mostly stayed with the ear stabbing Smallville themes. What were the writers thinking when they read the vows twice? What were the writers thinking when they read the vows twice? Get what I mean; even reading that twice was tedious, never mind hearing the vows of Clark (Tom Welling) and Lois (Eric Durance) twice. Action is then welcomed with a fight between Clark and Oliver (Justin Hartley) but Smallville always have to have kryptonite in a fight. But this time it's gold Kryptonite and as Clark says "you know gold kryptonite will take away my powers forever." No wait no one knows that apart from Tess and Emile on this show; there you go your first plot hole. Clark stops this fight by saying one of the most self righteously cheesy monologues Smallville has ever spat out. The show wasn't all bad and no I'm not referring to the return of Lex or the birth of Superman, no I'm referring to the return of Jonathan Kent. His scenes were the only scenes that touched the audience, scenes that were so well presented, written and acted that it made me think I was watching a different show. For me this saved the finale from being in the top 10 worst episodes of Smallville. The prodigal villain returns through a carless bit of writing. Nothing was believable about this story arc, the initial story said Lex was dead and so were his clones, aside from Connor. Lex then greeted Clark in a way that just showed he was forced into the finale like he didn't belong. Clark becoming Superman was done too predictably. He learnt to fly through a nostalgic montage of his "best bits," sweet I know but I've watched all the previous episodes, I came to watch the finale. He defeated Darksied by flying into him, wow that guy was a real threat. He then put on the suit and was shown as a blur in space for about five minutes. And that's why I say it was ten years well wasted on a clearly rushed finale.