Reviews

I was a bit nervous / anxious of seeing this movie, and thus got a mountain high expectations. When leaving the movie theater I was like: "Was that it ?!" but a day later I changed a bit my mind: it's a nice movie, but not worth a 10/10. I would give it a 7,5 but you can't give 0,5 point here :) The very first part of the movie where Thanos is being killed is interesting because it got a nice twist, I thought "How they gonna fill these 2,5 hours now?" but then everything becomes the expected battle against Thanos we were all waiting for, the battle could also have been a slightly bit more epic, it was epic, but not epic enough imho, knowing it was (for the moment) the very last battle of the Avengers. I liked the "evolution" of Thor after 5 years, but I didn't like the Hulk evolution, smart & brutal is usually something that doesn't match together. The role of Captain Marvel in the movie is also disproportional, she is extremely bad-*ss during the whole movie, but when she fights Thanos they seem to be the same power... There are also some illogical things about past / present / future characters (like killing the old Nebula has no effect ?) but it's not such a big bummer. To be honest I preferred the "Infinity War" movie, probably because I wasn't expecting so much from that one as for Endgame.

The movie itself was very enjoyable. I liked very much how "bas*ss" Venom is (especially in the middle of the movie), the special effects (the way the symbiote somehow looks disgusting to touch) , the actors performance, the funny script. But I liked a bit less the story. How suddenly the super bad guy turns to be a good guy who's saving the world for alien domination... I know it's a spinoff but I didn't except he could turn into a (that) good guy. The female version of Venom (should we call her Venoma ? :p ) was also strange, a dog version of Venom could have been more interesting for example. Also the dialogues between Eddie & Venom (or Drake & Riot) where the head was floating was a bit bizarre. A mirror-like effect could have been more logic (like after the first fight scene where Eddie looks in the car in sees the Venom reflection, or from the LOTR Smeagol & Gollum). But none the less, as said here above, it's a very enjoyable movie.

I came back somewhat disappointed from the movie. The story itself is quite OK, but there are really scene's where I was thinking "WTF?" Thinking about the scene were Leia "floats" in space to go back to her spaceship (or when she "welds" the door open during the mutiny). The part where the rebel ship "cuts" the spaceship from Snoke (that is like 10 times bigger?) in two, and 99,99% of the stormtroopers dies except captain Phasma, Finn & his Chinese buddy. Even if I have to say this scene was pretty "wow", having no sound for about 5 seconds and afterwards a huge bang. Also these stupid jokes should not be included in a Star Wars movie imho, I don't know if this is due to the Disney influence but doesn't fit for me. Also these little "pinguins / birds" like are at the end with Chewbacca in the Falcon is probably a nice marketing character that will sell as hell in a plush doll. Special FX are of course stunning, the location of the last fight scene is also very nice, same with the one of the battle with Rey & Kylo Ren with the burning cloth falling down in pieces. I won't say it's a bad movie, but it's just not "epic" enough I think to be a Star Wars movie, I preferred Rogue One for instance to this one.

I went to see the movie the first weekend it was released here in Belgium with some big expectations due to the role the movie had here in the Belgian media before its release.

I heard the intro was "stunning & creative" etc. but this was the first deception. It was a simple 2D animated composition with the covers of the Tintin albums where you see the cast, nothing special.

But from the moment the first frame started I was simply blown away by it's CG. It's really like you are thinking "is this 3D or real ?". With only the exception of the faces of the characters everything looked real to me. The first scene is "shot" in Brussels on the "Place du Jeu de balle" from the Marolles district where there is a daily famous flea market. That same flea market is shown in the shot, where a caricaturist (who is clearly Hergé) is doing a drawing for a customer who sits in front of him. When the drawing is finish he gives it to that customer with the words "There you go, I think it's quite resembling..." on that sketch is the (famous) Tintin portrait in 2D, you then understand that that customer is Tintin. This was for me a nice & original allusion to Hergé in the movie.

The storyline is a mix of "The Secret Of The Unicorn" together with "The Crab With The Golden Claws" with a few changes. The sheikh in the movie is a "good" guy and not a drug baron (although it's not 100% clear if he's not) like in the album and Bianca Castafiore appears in the movie too. The part in Baghar (a fictive port city in Morocco) is also different than in the album. They escape from the sheikhs house and are pursued by his guard and by Sakharin (the bad guy in the movie) and his men. This scene is really too much exaggerated for me and is not what would happen in a Tintin album could happen. It gave me more the impression that I was in a scene from Uncharted 2 (a video game) with that bike and collapsing buildings than in a Tintin movie.

The movie ends like in the Secret of the Unicorn album too and has an open end (like in the album) into the direction of the album "Red Rackham's Treasure".

That's "in short" what the movie is about story wise, the scenario is rather well written and the mix of both stories is also nicely done, the extra elements are believable and possible and gives an extra dimension to the story. During the movie I also saw a few camera angles that were typically "comic book-ish" like it was directly from a still of the album. But what really irritate me in the movie was all the "special camera moves" in the movie, like the hundred "pass through" elements and so on. The movie was also quite short in comparison with other movies.

In short, it's really a "sick" movie for CG and the story is interesting but "tribute-wise" it's a bit too "Americanized" (with "action-action-action" most the time) and some jokes are more "Looney Tunes"-ish (like the belch of Haddock in the airplane tank), and that's clearly not what Hergé's work is about.

I think I might go check the next (if there will be some) movies only for the CG and to see the mixes of different stories but I think at the end I will be a bit disappointed too.