Star Trek First Contact (1996)

There was a trend with Star Trek fans that the even numbered Star Trek films were better than the odd numbered Star Trek films. With ‘Star Trek First Contact’ being the 8^th film to be released in 1996, it had to maintain this trend. Luckily, this instalment in the popular science fiction franchise did not disappoint.

In 2373, ‘Captain Jean-Luc Picard’ (Patrick Stewart) awakens from a nightmare where he revisits his assimilation by the Borg 6 years earlier and receives a message from Starfleet Command. He is informed that the Borg is on course to attack Earth. Captain Picard and the crew of the newly christened USS Enterprise-E are sent to patrol the Neutral Zone just in case the Romulans try to act on the situation and to not introduce an “unstable element”.

After surveying the Neutral Zone and finding nothing, they receive a message that a fleet of star ships has engaged the Borg and are losing the battle. The Borg informs them that if they do not surrender they will be assimilated. Captain Picard then disobeys Starfleet orders and sets course to Earth and help the fleet in the battle against the Borg. When they arrive, they see that the fleet is losing against a single damaged Borg Cube.

The Enterprise saves the USS Defiant commanded by Lieutenant Commander Worf (Michael Dorn). Captain Picard orders the fleet to aim at a set of coordinates on the Borg Cube that appear to not be “vital to their system” and they open fire. The Cube is then severely damaged and ejects a Borg Sphere before exploding. The Sphere creates a temporal vortex and travels back in time. The Enterprise follows them to April 4^th 2063, the day before Humans make first contact with extra-terrestrial life.

In a small settlement in Central Montana, ‘Zefram Cochrane’ (James Cromwell) and his friend ‘Lily’ (Alfre Woodard) are leaving a bar. The Borg open fire upon the settlement attempting to destroy The Phoenix, a prototype warp ship that Zefram Cochrane and Lily intend to fly and break the warp barrier for the first time the next day. The Enterprise arrives and sees the Sphere firing upon the surface of Earth and proceeds to destroy it with their Quantum Torpedo’s. The crew of the Enterprise teleport to the surface to search for Cochrane and make sure that history is not changed and continue to fight the Borg who transported to the Enterprise before their Sphere was destroyed.

This instalment in the Star Trek franchise was hailed for its parallels to Herman Melville’s ‘Moby Dick’ and if you know the story of Moby Dick, you will see the similarities between Captain Picard’s and Captain Ahab’s quest for revenge against the creatures that hurt them. Picard wants to ensure that the future is preserved and to destroy the Borg once and for all and Captain Ahab seeks revenge against the whale that crippled him.

Patrick Stewart plays the role of the emotional Picard very well, using his traditional and Shakespearean training to his advantage to create the depth and emotions we need to see from Captain Picard who has been mentally and physically scarred from his previous encounter with the Borg where he was assimilated and forced to become a drone within their collective.

The main villain, the ‘Borg Queen’ portrayed by Alice Krige, is a perfect femme fatale, but not the typical femme fatale you expect. She leads the Borg and unlike the rest of the collective, she has emotions and utilises her sexuality to lure the android Data (Brent Spiner) to work with the Borg in exchange for giving him flesh, blood and bring him closer to being Human than he could ever imagine. She is subtle with her voice and body movements, not over doing it to create a well-rounded individual within a collective that has no individuals.

Even James Cromwell’s portrayal of the great Zefram Cochrane, the man who leads Mankind into the next frontier of Human history deserves some credit. In Star Trek lore, he is portrayed as a great man who was philosophical and a scientist who wanted to help Mankind and break the warp barrier, when in reality, this Zefram Cochrane is nothing more than a drunk, a man who is washed up and dreams of money, naked women, retiring to a deserted island and ironically doesn’t like to fly. As the man caught in the middle of his destiny and what he wants, he pulls it off with the fear being the man that the crew of the Enterprise believe he should be.

The design of the evil Borg in this film surpasses the design from their first appearance in the episode ‘Q Who’ on ‘Star Trek The Next Generation’. They look more mechanical, lifeless and frightening and are capable of giving you nightmares from the vivid and graphic depiction of their assimilation process. The emotionless expressions and movements of each Borg are frightening and they look real, like a cybernetic organism should look like.

This film maintained the trend of the even numbered Star Trek films being more superior to the odd numbered Star Trek films. Just watch ‘Star Trek Generations’ or ‘Star Trek Insurrection’, compare them to this film and you will see that this trend does apply. It was broken after the release of ‘Star Trek Nemesis’ (the tenth Star Trek film), which received negative feedback from fans and critics and was far surpassed by ‘Star Trek’ (the reboot and eleventh film released), which received positive feedback from fans and critics, was a box office success and won an Academy Award in 2010 for Best Makeup (the first Academy Award won by a Star Trek film).

These series of films or TV series may not be as popular as ‘Star Wars’ or gross as much money, with its near 45 plus years’ worth of history and canon, the skies the limit for Star Trek. This instalment proves that you don’t have to be a juggernaut like Star Wars to be fun, entertaining, and scary and have depth to be a successful film.

Robocop (1987)

With the remake of ‘Robocop’ due to be released next year and with the first trailer officially released recently, there will be lots of expectations that will follow the remake until its release. Will it be successful? Will it be as good as the original? Will they kill an executive named ‘Kenny’ in a brutal fashion with ED-209?

We are just going to have to wait and see what the remake holds when it is released next year. Until then, I am going to review the original ‘Robocop’ that was directed by Paul Verhoeven (‘Total Recall’ and ‘Starship Troopers’) and with Peter Weller playing the “half man, half machine, all cop”.

‘Robocop’ graced the silver screen back in 1987 with its ultra-violence and social commentary that is provided through the use of news reports and adverts throughout the film. Since the release, it spawned two sequels in 1990 and 1993 and a remake is due to be released next year, a TV series, comic series and even a video game crossover with ‘The Terminator’.

In the near future, Detroit City is entering bankruptcy and is overrun with crime and the Police Force cannot handle the continue work load. The City enter a contract with Omni Consumer Products (OCP) to allow them to control and run the Police Force with future plans to demolish ‘Old Detroit’ and create a Utopian city known as ‘Delta City’.

Senior President, ‘Dick Jones’ (Ronny Cox) demonstrates the latest force in law enforcement to combat the continuing rise of crime in Old Detroit, an officer who does not need to sleep, eat, drink and will follow the rules to the book, the Enforcement Droid series 209 (ED-209). During the initial demonstration, ED-209 malfunctions and brutally kills an executive. With the construction of Delta City due to commence in the coming months, the OCP Chairman (Dan O’Herlihy) advances an alternative put forward by a young and eager executive named ‘Bob Morton’ (Miguel Ferrer) and calls his proposed cyborg ‘Robocop’.

Veteran police officer, ‘Alex Murphy’ (Peter Weller), is transferred to a new precinct within Old Detroit and partnered up with feisty young cop, ‘Anne Lewis’ (Nancy Allen). On their first patrol, they track down crime boss, ‘Clarence Boddicker’ (Kurtwood Smith) and chase into a steel mill in the outskirts of Old Detroit. Murphy and Lewis split up to try and find the gang but Lewis is knocked unconscious by one gang member and Murphy finds another. Before he can arrest him, the rest of the group arrive and corner him. Murphy is brutally murdered by the gang by being shot at point blank range with shotguns and finally executed with a single bullet to the head.

Murphy is taken to the hospital where he is pronounced dead. OCP decide to harvest the body of Alex Murphy and transform him into the first Robocop.

With its brutal scenes, excellent and simple plot, great acting from the cast and depiction of an overrun Detroit City with crime and the corrupt ‘OCP’ make this film a highly regarded film in the action and science fiction genres.

Peter Weller as the cyborg hero, Robocop, is done so well. His portrayal of a machine is spot on as his robotic movements in his steps, movements with his upper bodies are executed perfectly to resemble that of a machine. He purposely took mime lessons to perfect the movements of Robocop. The mechanical voice he provides as well throughout the film add to the belief that Murphy truly has been transformed into a machine.

The character of the evil Clarence Boddicker is perfect by Kurtwood Smith. His look as a normal guy who has turned to crime and has become the biggest cop killer in Old Detroit is spot on. You fear him because of his presence, he walks into a room and you know that the worst is coming. He doesn’t need to shout to show his authority over the rest of his gang. His run down outfit fits the tone of the film as well showing that he is suffering like the rest of the city, but he is still the biggest crime boss in Old Detroit.

Robocop is normally remembered for its brutal and ultra-violence and certainly not for the weak hearted. Scenes of brutal murders and killings are the main ingredient for this film and it carries it throughout. The first brutal scene we are exposed to is the death of OCP Executive Mr Kinney (Kevin Page) at the hands of ED-209. The battle tank malfunctions in a demonstration and subsequently kills Kinney with its huge mounted guns. We see his body get torn apart by its bullets, blood flying everywhere and his flesh exploding because of the impact of the bullets.

The death of Murphy by Clarence Boddicker and his gang is also brutal. This is a very famous scene for fans of Robocop. Clarence pins Murphy down and says “You see, I have this problem. Cops don’t like me. So I don’t like cops”. He aims his shotgun at Murphy and blows his hand off! It literally explodes! He is then brutally shot at point blank range by the rest of the gang eventually losing a lot of blood and his entire right arm before being executed with a bullet to the head. The makeup effects and effects of Murphy’s body being ripped to pieces by each shot makes you fear for Murphy’s well-being and you know that this is the beginning of the end for him. It’s frightening at how brutal the film is.

The social commentary within the film is a perfect analysis of how things are in the future. The news reports updating you of minor sub plot developments such as the mentioning of Clarence Boddicker and his latest cop murder before Murphy and explaining the decay of American where poverty, crime and unemployment run riot. Even with adverts for products that the average man can’t afford such as the 6000 SUX and artificial heart transplants.

Families bonding over a game of “Nuke Em” where the object is you try and nuke your opponent so you are the last nation standing, showing the privatization of America through the conglomerate OCP and their corruption by hiring a man such as Clarence Boddicker to reign fear over Old Detroit and the plans to bring drugs, crime and prostitution to Delta City and the decay of American values shown throughout the film such as the death of Murphy who is shown to be a good father, loving husband and a man who works by the book.

The film has many different levels that can be analysed and reviewed, but the main points that carry the film is its use of ultra-violence, the acting, direction from Verhoeven where he shows us the decay of America, privatization, poverty, Murphy’s identity and who he is. Is he Robocop or is he Alex Murphy? The film has many different factors that make it memorable from the opening scene with the news reports to the final moments where Robocop saves the day. It is a triumph in film making and an excellent critique of a dystopia world where crime is everywhere and how the world is rotting into a point of decadence where it seems impossible to escape.

It’s a popular film and as mentioned above has spawned 2 sequels, a TV series, comic series, video games, merchandise and a crossover with The Terminator. With the remake due to be released next year, it will be very hard for it to live up to the expectation, brutality and fame that this film has. But we shall see what happens in the next 6 months with more trailers due to be released and hype surrounding the famous half man, half machine and all cop. It will be interesting to see what they do with him.

Masters Of The Universe (1987)

Back in the 1980s, many TV shows or cartoons were being based off a successful toy line or game and had a considerable amount of success such as ‘Dungeon’s and Dragons’, ‘Transformers’ and ‘G.I. Joe’ (or ‘Action Force’ in the UK). There was one particular Mattel toy line that spawned a successful cartoon series and subsequently made into a feature length film. This was ‘He-Man and the Masters Of The Universe’.

After the cancellation of He-Man and the Masters Of The Universe a film was put into production with Dolph Lundgren cast as the hero ‘He-Man’, Frank Langella as his arch nemesis ‘Skeletor’ and a young Courtney Cox, playing Earth teenage girl ‘Julie’. A lot of expectation came with the film and it was to be a sure fire hit with the kids due to its popularity as a toy line and cartoon series. This sadly, was not meant to be.

On planet Eternia, at the centre of the Universe, Skeletor (Frank Langella) and his army have seized control of Castle Grayskull and taken the ‘Sorceress’ (Christina Pickles) as his prisoner. Skeletor plans to exploit the Great Eye of the Galaxy and seize its power to become the true Master Of The Universe.

The Eternian defenders are outnumbered, scattered around the planet and taken hostage. Skeletors arch enemy and Eternia’s greatest warrior ‘He-Man’ (Dolph Lundgren), his trusted friend and veteran soldier ‘Man-At-Arms’ (Jon Cypher) and his daughter ‘Teela’ (Chelsea Field) attack a squadron of Skeletor’s troops and rescue a Thenorian inventor and locksmith, ‘Gwildor’ (Billy Barty).

He informs the trio that Skeletor’s second in command, ‘Evil-Lyn’ (Meg Foster) has stolen his Cosmic Key, a device that can transport anyone from one location to another and even planet to planet and used it to infiltrate Castle Grayskull but luckily, he still has the original prototype. Skeletor’s forces attack Gwildor’s home, but the group escape through a passageway that leads them straight to Castle Grayskull.

At Castle Grayskull, He-Man and his team are ambushed by Skeletor’s troops and a fire fight ensues. Gwildor uses his prototype key and opens up a portal, escape danger and they arrive on Earth, outside of Whittier, California. The key is lost upon arrival and they split up to find it.

Two Human natives, ‘Julie’ (Courtney Cox) and ‘Kevin’ (Robert Duncan McNeill) find the key by mistake in a cemetery and start to push its buttons and accidentally activate it, which allows Evil-Lyn to trace the signal to Earth. Skeletor sends a team of mercenaries consisting of ‘Saurod’ (Pons Marr), ‘Beastman’ (Tony Carroll), ‘Blade’ (Anthony De Longis) and ‘Karg’ (Robert Towers) to Earth to retrieve the key and capture He-Man.

As someone who grew up with the toy line, watched the cartoon TV series and even watched this film as a child, it holds a particular fun and nostalgic feeling in my heart and I do consider it a film that is “so bad it’s good”. But for the uninitiated and for fans of the cartoon and toy line, this film will be disappointing in more ways than one.

To begin with, it is widely known that within the Universe of the cartoon and toy line, He-Man is also known as ‘Prince Adam of Eternia’ the son of ‘Queen Marlena’ and ‘King Randor’. Within this film, there is no mention of his parents, his status as Prince of Eternia or his true identity of Prince Adam and he is introduced as He-Man and throughout the film is known simply as He-Man. So why not mention his true identity, his parents and his position on Eternia? It would only take a few minutes of screen time to explain.

Speaking of He-Man, the actor portraying the eponymous hero, Dolph Lundgren, back in 1987, he was a rising actor after appearing in ‘Rocky IV’ as ‘Ivan Drago’ and ‘A View To a Kill’ as ‘Venz’ (those were his only two screen credits prior to this film), he had no formal acting training and was picked due to his physical appearance. Dolph Lundgren’s portrayal of He-Man is wooden and one dimensional. Just watch Dolph Lundgren’s face and you will see he has one expression, rarely smiles and the tone of his voice never changes. He certainly was a bad choice to play He-Man.

I’m sure this was a huge film and possible career boost for young actors such as Robert Duncan McNeill (Kevin) and Courtney Cox (Julie) back in 1987, but sadly did not improve their profile and they had to find success elsewhere. Robert Duncan McNeill found success as ‘Lieutenant Tom Paris’ in ‘Star Trek Voyager’ and Courtney Cox gained big success as ‘Monica Geller’ in ‘Friends’ and ‘Gale Weathers’ in the ‘Scream’ franchise.

The only actor who in my opinion stood out above the rest was Frank Langella as the villain Skeletor. His portrayal as a subtle villain and conqueror was fun to watch as he didn’t make it cartoonish or wooden. He added depth and looked more like a Shakespearean actor playing the King in ‘Hamlet’ than of an evil villain bent on taking over Eternia and the Universe. He was subtle with his voice and his inflections and had the ability to make you believe that he is a true villain.

Though the plot of the film is pretty simple, the script lacks pace and the action sequences with its special effects are mediocre at best for 1987 standards. It tries its best to keep you on the edge of your seat with the action, but whenever He-Man is in a fight, he appears to always have it under control and even though in one or two scenes is outnumbered, he never appears to be in too much danger, which doesn’t allow the audience to sit back and hope that He-Man survives so he can save the Universe, but he survives any attack without any damage, so we don’t always feel that we should cheer He-Man on.

The introduction of the character Gwildor, who was created specifically for this film, as a substitute for the popular ‘Orko’ who was widely known in the cartoon does not pay off at all and becomes more annoying from his first appearance in the film up until the end of the film. I understand that due to the film’s limited budget it would have been difficult to create the popular Orko who is seen flying and floating. But my argument to this is, if they can create small machines that float and fly in ‘Batteries Not Included’, which was made on a similar budget and released the same year, then why can’t they do the same for this?

It is an example that a popular TV series or cartoon series can’t work as a film and that studios just want to exploit the popularity of a series and pay little to no attention to the established canon for example, Michael Bay’s ‘Transformers Trilogy’, ‘Inspector Gadget’ released in 1999 and ‘Yogi Bear’ released in 2010.

Of course, this could change and could still be made into another feature length film but only if the writers were true to the mythology of this franchise and not miss out on key character aspects such as He-Man’s true identity as Prince Adam, the character Orko being in the film and the film taking place solely on Eternia. We have seen previous attempts at bringing famous characters to Earth and have failed with a prime example of this being ‘Alien vs Predator’ in 2004 and its subsequent sequel ‘Aliens vs Predator: Requiem’.

Overall, as I mentioned above, this film is great for me for nostalgia purposes if you were a fan of the toys and cartoon series back in the 1980s but even the biggest fans or those who know little to nothing about the He-Man and the Masters Of The Universe mythology will be disappointed by this film for its slow pacing, wooden plot and poor acting by most of the cast except Frank Langella.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

It was 7 years that came and went between the release of ‘The Terminator’ in 1984 and ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’ in 1991. There were so many questions and so much hype that surrounded the film and the biggest question of all was “Can Terminator 2 be as good The Terminator?”

In the future, mankind is at war with machines, being led by the artificial intelligence network, Skynet. The war is coming to an end and to protect the leader of the Human Resistance, John Connor, a single soldier named Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) is sent back in time to 1984 to protect his mother, Sarah Connor. We are told that two Terminators were sent back in time, one assigned to protect John and ensure his survival and the second to kill him. The new Terminator is an advanced prototype that is capable of copying humans as he is made from a shape shifting alloy known as ‘mimetic poly-alloy’ or ‘liquid metal’ and can create knives with his hands.

The year is 1995, eleven years after the events of ‘The Terminator’, John Connor (Edward Furlong) is a young boy and has become a rebel who does not respect his foster parents at all and Sarah (Linda Hamilton) has been locked away in Pescadero Mental Institution and cannot see John at all. A Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) arrives and seeks transportation and clothing at a bar, the patrons laugh and say no, causing a bar fight to which the Terminator gets clothing and transportation and begins his mission. A second Terminator, the T-1000 (Robert Patrick) arrives and disguises himself as a Police Officer after killing a real Officer.

Both Terminators converge on John at a local shopping mall and a chase ensues after the Terminator protects John from the T-1000. After escaping the T-1000, John and the Terminator fear that the T-1000 will strike at John, by killing Sarah and then copying her and then kill John, so they decide to free Sarah from Pescadero Mental Institute where another fire fight with the T-1000 and they escape. The Terminator explains that the man most responsible for the creation of Skynet is Miles Dyson (Joe Morton) and explains how Skynet is activated and begins war with Mankind.

They seek refuge in Mexico and gather weapons and supplies there before they set off and fight for the future.

James Cameron (director of The Terminator and Terminator 2) had a lot of weight on his shoulders as did the returning cast of Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator) and Linda Hamilton (Sarah Connor) and the new cast members Edward Furlong (John Connor) and Robert Patrick (The T-1000) to fulfil the expectations and deliver a film that can stand up against its predecessor.

In the summer of 1991, those questions and expectations were answered and we saw a master class in filmmaking. Not just in showcasing the technical aspects, which Cameron has been known for, but for its story, staying true to its predecessor, edge of your seat action, touching scenes and even proving that Arnold Schwarzenegger has the ability to act.

The technical side of the film was a revolutionary marvel back in 1991, which first came to fruition in Cameron’s previous film ‘The Abyss’, where he found out that creating the effects required to create the shape shifting effects of the T-1000 were finally possible. Its visual effects, such as the creation of the Terminators at the beginning of the film are outstanding and it proves that Stan Winston was the greatest visual effects specialist.

Its intricate story and plot is simple to follow and the backstory as well in the film provide the audience with enough information about what has happened before and what will happen if they fail in their mission to save the future, which allows us to sit back and enjoy the film.

Linda Hamilton as the mother and soldier determined to not let the future happen deserved to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress as she carries the weight of the future on her shoulders. Showing the pain of trying to stop the future from happening as well as her inept ability to be a mother to John as she tries to teach him to be a soldier instead of nurturing him and allowing him to grow up.

The role of the Terminator was expanded in this film by Arnold Schwarzenegger and provides more of a rounded character in this film than the previous film as in The Terminator, we are shown that the Terminator is driven by his mission alone and must kill Sarah, but the Terminator in this film allows us to see that he is capable of learning and learns about how to smile and why Humans cry as well as follow his mission of protecting John. This truly was Schwarzenegger’s defining film.

As I mentioned above, the film had a lot of expectation and it fulfilled its expectation in 1991 when it was released and will be remembered for its visual effects, storytelling and plot, action sequences, well rounded characters and great acting by all the cast and as one of the greatest sequels to ever be made alongside ‘Aliens’ (also directed by James Cameron), ‘The Godfather Part 2’ and ‘The Dark Knight’.

Batman and Robin (1997)

Back in 1997 we were treated to something special. A film known as ‘Batman and Robin’ directed by Joel Schumacher was released to overwhelming hate, disdain and has become a benchmark in bad films. It failed to live up to any kind of expectation set by its predecessors ‘Batman’, ‘Batman Returns’ or even ‘Batman Forever’.

The film itself is a mess with a convoluted plot that makes little to no sense, a bloated cast including George Clooney (Batman/Bruce Wayne), Uma Thurman (Poison Ivy/Pamela Isley) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (Mr Freeze/Victor Fries) that portray their respective characters so ill-conceived and recklessly it becomes a joke and the addition of Alicia Silverstone (Batgirl/Barbara Pennyworth) doesn’t help the cause.

The film starts with Batman (George Clooney) and Robin (Chris O’Donnell) heading off to stop Mr Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger) from stealing a cache of diamonds at a museum in Gotham City. Robin is frozen and Mr Freeze escapes as Batman unfreezes Robin. They learn that he was a brilliant scientist known as Dr Victor Fries who must use diamonds to maintain his sub-zero suit after an accident in his cryogenics lab whilst treating his wife for MacGregor’s Syndrome.

In the Amazon, botanist Dr Pamela Isley (Uma Thurman) is working with Dr Jason Woodrue (John Glover) who is creating a super serum known as ‘Venom’ and injects it into a convict and creates the super soldier, Bane (Robert ‘Jeep’ Swenson) who he attempts to sell to the corrupt rulers of the world. Dr Isley sees this and is killed by Dr Woodrue. She is resurrected by the chemicals and serums she has been working on her plants and becomes filled with Poison in her veins and kills Dr Woodrue with a kiss and becomes Poison Ivy.

In the midst of all this, Bruce’s relationship with Dick is becoming strained as Dick doesn’t want to be a sidekick, but Bruce’s partner and equal. Alfred is diagnosed with MacGregor’s Syndrome; Alfred’s niece Barbara (Alicia Silverstone) comes to town and is revealed to be a rebel after being found at a bike race by Dick and saves her from falling to her death and finds out that Bruce and Dick are ‘The Caped Crusaders’, Batman and Robin enter a strange love triangle with Poison Ivy after she attempts to steal a diamond at a charity auction and Poison Ivy and Mr Freeze plot to take over the world by freezing it.

It’s a light show with bright neon lights, ridiculous set pieces, a mess of a plot, poor acting, an exceptional amount of pointless gadgets and jokes such as the ‘Batman Credit Card’, which is valid ‘forever’ and it isn’t worthy of being recognised as “a film that is so bad it’s good” because it is just that bad. I can understand that after Batman Returns didn’t gross as much at the box office as Batman and due to the dark tones in the film, they wanted to try and appeal to a younger demographic and that was arguably fulfilled with Batman Forever, but this is heading to a new level of bad and nearly killed the Batman franchise.

The film itself has essentially killed the film careers of Chris O’Donnell and Alicia Silverstone as they have not appeared in any recognizable films since, Uma Thurman’s career took a big hit and took until ‘Kill Bill’ to recover, George Clooney’s career was hurt as well but he has since recovered and is now considered a respected actor in Hollywood and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s career was never damaged due to his superstar status and the fact he successfully became Governor of California in 2003 and won a second term in 2007 and has since returned to acting.

There is literally nothing positive I can say about the film. The action set pieces are ridiculous as I stated above, the plot and story makes no sense, the sets are brightly coloured and very stereotypical for the villains, the acting is poor and cartoonish and I’m not even going to try and compliment the soundtrack or the cinematography to try and make it look like there is some sort of positive that comes out of this film.

The negatives of this film outweigh any form of positive that this film has and if it were to be argued that this film has any kind of positive, there is more of a list of negatives that beats this film into submission. George Clooney has even gone on to say that he would refund anyone’s admission for the film if they hated it and Chris O’Donnell is ashamed of it and considers it to be a two hour toy commercial.

It is more cringe worthy than fun and it gets harder to watch the more times you watch it. There is no justifying its existence outside a master class of making bad films. It is more reminiscent of the 1960’s Batman TV series with Adam West and Burt Ward but even then when watching that you can understand that back in the 1960’s you could get away with nonsensical plots and ideas. In 1997, with something like this you really can’t.

All I can say is thank God that they decided to reboot the franchise with Batman Begins and created The Dark Knight Trilogy. Christopher Nolan, we salute you for giving us a masterpiece of a trilogy. Joel Schumacher, hang your head in shame for this diabolical mess of a film.

Man Of Steel (2013)

It has been 7 years since the release of ‘Superman Returns’ directed by ‘X-Men’ and ‘The Usual Suspects’ director, Bryan Singer and this year we have been treated to the return of the iconic hero who fights for truth, justice and the American way. The one and only Superman returns to the silver screen and with huge expectation behind it to deliver not only a film of epic proportions, but a film with an intriguing story and characters.

The film begins and war has broken out on Krypton, which is slowly dying due to all natural resources being exhausted and is due to explode. Jor-El (Russell Crowe) infuses his new born son with a codex and sends him to Earth, but General Zod (Michael Shannon) kills Jor-El. He is subsequently banished to the Phantom Zone and Krypton dies and finally explodes.

On Earth, his adopted father, Jonathan (Kevin Costner), who died after saving people from a tornado, reveals to a young Clark that he is fact an alien and he must try to be human as the people on Earth would see Clark as a threat to them. Clark (Henry Cavill) is a grown man, and has harnessed his powers but he is searching for his purpose in life and moves from job to job, keeping a low profile and living a nomadic lifestyle under many different identities.

After finding a Kryptonian ship in the Arctic and infiltrating the vessel, a holographic representation of Jor-El reveals to Clark his true identity that he is from Krypton, Jor-El’s son and the extinction of their race. Jor-El says to him that he can bring hope to the people of Earth and becomes the hero we all know and love, Superman.

Lois Lane (Amy Adams), a journalist at ‘The Daily Planet’ is denied a story by the editor in chief, Perry White (Laurence Fishburne) on a superhuman rescuer, tracks Clark down and wants to do an expose on him and his superhuman abilities and after finding out his true identity, decides not to pursue the story.

Superman is tracked down by General Zod, who escaped the Phantom Zone after the destruction of Krypton, due to a distress signal sent from the Kryptonian vessel in the Arctic and orders that Superman surrenders himself so he can rebuild the Kryptonian race on Earth. Will Superman follow these orders and surrender or will he defend the people of Earth?

The film certainly does deliver an interesting take of the eponymous Kryptonian hero with producer Christopher Nolan (director of ‘The Dark Knight Trilogy’) guiding the project and with Zack Snyder (director of ‘300’ and ‘Watchmen’) in the director’s chair and from a visual perspective, the film is of epic proportions and delivers with its incredible CGI action set pieces and will be a big contender to win the Academy Award for visual effects. Well, with a budget of £225million and with the 75 plus years of mythology, it should be filled with big CGI action set pieces.

So, on the epic proportion action set pieces are covered and are beyond exceptional in this film. Sadly, the story does lack and the characters aren’t exactly defined and it is a case of substance over story in this film. The film is intriguing from a parental perspective. Whose wishes does Clark follow, his adopted father Jonathan or his biological father Jor-El?

The relationship between Clark and Jonathan is deep and you can feel it from the young Clark who asks his father “Can’t I just be your son?” to which an emotional Jonathan replies “You are my son.” Russell Crowe as Jor-El helps create Superman in Clark and his portrayal as a man who believes that his son will be a God to the people of Earth is fantastic as his subtle optimism and belief carry him. Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent is a perfect father figure who teaches Clark to control his abilities and to be Human. Costner brings heart to the story as the father torn from not allowing his son to be all he can be. Russell Crowe and Kevin Costner, were the best actors in this film.

The film itself is a masterpiece in special effects filmmaking and it will be a top contender to win an Academy Award for its Special Effects. They truly are mind blowing and keep you on the edge of your seat with its action set pieces with battles in Metropolis, Smallville, with shots of the Kryptonian weapons and ships and Superman duelling Zod in the air and his henchmen. But what this film has in special effects lacks in storytelling.

The film itself, as mentioned above, is a film where Clark searches for meaning and is similar to Christopher Nolan’s ‘Batman Begins’ with its origin story but sadly does not have the same depth that Batman Begins has. It loses you by the third act and the climax where it becomes a huge spectacle of special effects and as amazing as they are, the filmmakers do not continue with the giving depth and meaning to the characters.

The story is somewhat two dimensional and is lost in the midst of all the action in the final act of the film. It asks the question, why do we need a CGI fest with Superman? It has over 75 years of mythology for you to build up a strong story and characters so we care about the fate of Earth or the lives of Clark and Lois.

Overall, the film delivers in all aspects of entertainment and is worthy of being a box office smash hit with its action and CGI. I would recommend that for the sequel that they expand the story and not just look to try and cash in on the popularity of Superman. Treat the hero and its mythology with the respect it deserves and build a film universe and franchise that we can all love and enjoy such as The Dark Knight Trilogy.

Welcome to The Filmmakers Factory

Hi there.

My name is James and I am a film enthusiast. I’ve decided to start my own film blog where I get the chance to offer film reviews, critiques, analysis, news and provide you with trivia about films.

I’ll be writing my first one up soon and it will be on this summer’s blockbuster hit ‘Man Of Steel’.

Hope you all enjoy it.

James

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