Two Reviews: Priest and Battle: Los Angeles
So yeah, for my birthday, I decided to make it a movie day. The two movies I chose to see were a couple of flicks that have thus far been panned pretty soundly by the critics. Seeing as how one of them was free and the other was at the Cinema Cafe (Where my meal was quite graciously picked up by 
Igirisu and Mandy. Thanks guys!) I figured that I really had nothing to lose. and well, quite suprisingly, I don't feel that i lost anything.
First up...
Priest.
Basic plot of Priest: Vampires and Humans have been at war with each other since medieval times. The Vampires had us outclassed in just about every way except our sheer tenacity and ability to walk around in the sunlight. Eventually, the church stepped up and created the Priests (Think Grammaton Clerics from Equilibrium in terms of badassery.) Soon, the Priests had kicked all the vampires back onto reservations and once that happened, the Church decided that they didn't need the Priests anymore and basically cast them aside where they got treated like returning Vietnam War veterans by an ungrateful general populace. A few years later, out in the wastelands, a family doing research is attacked by a group of Vampires and the daughter is kidnapped. The local Sherriff goes into the city and informs Priest of these goings on (Turns out the farmer was his brother), and Priest defies the church's orders and leaves the city to go and rescue Lily (the daughter.) What follows is a lot of action and slap bang visuals.
Lots of critics panned this movie because of the light plot, long expanses between the action sequences, and stilted dialog. Well, to all those I say: A) it's a summer Blockbuster, you can't go in expecting heavy intricate plot, B) So now you're lambasting them for trying to explain plot? and C) well, there's only so much you can do with Cam Gigandet.
The performances in here ranged anywhere from tolerable (the aforementioned Gigandet), to good enough (Bettany and Maggie Q and Priest and Priestess) to Scenery chewing glorious (Karl Urban as Black Hat). Seriously, Urban pretty much stole every scene he was in and was actually a genuinely scary bad guy. Paul Bettany was Paul Bettany and badass all over the place.
The action: Not sure what the critics were complaining about: There seemed to be plenty enough and the movie never really got that boring. the fight sequences were pretty inventive, and they were pulled off convincingly enough.
the acting: a little stiff in places, but overall, not really Razzie worthy.
Overall: I'd recommend this for a matinee or a Netflix rental, and I would say you wouldn't be disappointed if you're looking for a good, mindless, action flick to keep you entertained for a few hours. It's left open for a sequel, and I hope it does actually happen.
Next up...
Battle: Los Angeles
Basic plot: Aliens have invaded, the entire western seaboard has fallen, so it's up to a group of scrappy Marines to retake the city while they rescue some civilians.
Ok, First off, this is a war movie. yes, it's got the sci-fi element coming at you, but make no mistake, this is a movie about tactics, fighting, and seeing our boys come out on top. Replace the Aliens with Russians or Arabs or Nazi's or whatever other outdated enemy Hollywood has run into the ground, and you've got a very basic, but very effective war movie.
Let's start off with the cast: Pretty much every stereotype is here: The "About to retire" Staff Sergeant, the guy about to get married, the fresh out of boot camp kid, the barely holding it together guy, The wisecracker, The guy that lost his brother and is trying to be super-Marine in order to make up for his memory, the boot Looie who is just a little too gung-ho to lead his Marines into combat. Thing is, these are stereotypes for a reason: They exist! Having spent 8 years in the Marines, I've seen every single one of these guys time and again. Every platoon, if they don't have one of these guys, then there's one in the next barracks over. The critics blasted this movie for relying overly heavily on the stereotypes, I say it's one of the things that the movie got right. There's a few nitpicks I've got (Some of the Marines were a little shaggy haired, and some of them were overly familiar with their superiors), but overall, I could believe that this was an actual fighting unit in today's Corps. At one point, one of the marines goes searching through his platoon mates stuff searching for a particular MRE and I laughed my ass off because I've seen that guy... Hell, I've BEEN that guy!
The action sequences are very well done and very much like what you would encounter in a real urban battle setting. Once again, I draw on my own experiences as a Marine to draw comparisons. Sure, they've got the shaky-cam going, but in the middle of a firefight, that's what you are: Shaky and jittery. I've never actually been in combat, but I've been in enough field training ops in Combat Town to know that you aren't going to get very many calm, steady moments to look around when things are going down.
The acting: pretty much across the board it falls right into "good enough" territory. There's one scene where Aaron Eckhardt goes for the Oscar (and I will admit, it is very effective, emotionally) but the whole tone is about Marines going in and getting the job done. You don't need Shakespearian level acting chops to pull that off.
Overall, if you want a really good war movie that'll scratch your Sci-Fi itch, then here you go. Definitely worth 2 hours of your time on Netflix.
Igirisu and Mandy. Thanks guys!) I figured that I really had nothing to lose. and well, quite suprisingly, I don't feel that i lost anything.
First up...
Priest.
Basic plot of Priest: Vampires and Humans have been at war with each other since medieval times. The Vampires had us outclassed in just about every way except our sheer tenacity and ability to walk around in the sunlight. Eventually, the church stepped up and created the Priests (Think Grammaton Clerics from Equilibrium in terms of badassery.) Soon, the Priests had kicked all the vampires back onto reservations and once that happened, the Church decided that they didn't need the Priests anymore and basically cast them aside where they got treated like returning Vietnam War veterans by an ungrateful general populace. A few years later, out in the wastelands, a family doing research is attacked by a group of Vampires and the daughter is kidnapped. The local Sherriff goes into the city and informs Priest of these goings on (Turns out the farmer was his brother), and Priest defies the church's orders and leaves the city to go and rescue Lily (the daughter.) What follows is a lot of action and slap bang visuals.
Lots of critics panned this movie because of the light plot, long expanses between the action sequences, and stilted dialog. Well, to all those I say: A) it's a summer Blockbuster, you can't go in expecting heavy intricate plot, B) So now you're lambasting them for trying to explain plot? and C) well, there's only so much you can do with Cam Gigandet.
The performances in here ranged anywhere from tolerable (the aforementioned Gigandet), to good enough (Bettany and Maggie Q and Priest and Priestess) to Scenery chewing glorious (Karl Urban as Black Hat). Seriously, Urban pretty much stole every scene he was in and was actually a genuinely scary bad guy. Paul Bettany was Paul Bettany and badass all over the place.
The action: Not sure what the critics were complaining about: There seemed to be plenty enough and the movie never really got that boring. the fight sequences were pretty inventive, and they were pulled off convincingly enough.
the acting: a little stiff in places, but overall, not really Razzie worthy.
Overall: I'd recommend this for a matinee or a Netflix rental, and I would say you wouldn't be disappointed if you're looking for a good, mindless, action flick to keep you entertained for a few hours. It's left open for a sequel, and I hope it does actually happen.
Next up...
Battle: Los Angeles
Basic plot: Aliens have invaded, the entire western seaboard has fallen, so it's up to a group of scrappy Marines to retake the city while they rescue some civilians.
Ok, First off, this is a war movie. yes, it's got the sci-fi element coming at you, but make no mistake, this is a movie about tactics, fighting, and seeing our boys come out on top. Replace the Aliens with Russians or Arabs or Nazi's or whatever other outdated enemy Hollywood has run into the ground, and you've got a very basic, but very effective war movie.
Let's start off with the cast: Pretty much every stereotype is here: The "About to retire" Staff Sergeant, the guy about to get married, the fresh out of boot camp kid, the barely holding it together guy, The wisecracker, The guy that lost his brother and is trying to be super-Marine in order to make up for his memory, the boot Looie who is just a little too gung-ho to lead his Marines into combat. Thing is, these are stereotypes for a reason: They exist! Having spent 8 years in the Marines, I've seen every single one of these guys time and again. Every platoon, if they don't have one of these guys, then there's one in the next barracks over. The critics blasted this movie for relying overly heavily on the stereotypes, I say it's one of the things that the movie got right. There's a few nitpicks I've got (Some of the Marines were a little shaggy haired, and some of them were overly familiar with their superiors), but overall, I could believe that this was an actual fighting unit in today's Corps. At one point, one of the marines goes searching through his platoon mates stuff searching for a particular MRE and I laughed my ass off because I've seen that guy... Hell, I've BEEN that guy!
The action sequences are very well done and very much like what you would encounter in a real urban battle setting. Once again, I draw on my own experiences as a Marine to draw comparisons. Sure, they've got the shaky-cam going, but in the middle of a firefight, that's what you are: Shaky and jittery. I've never actually been in combat, but I've been in enough field training ops in Combat Town to know that you aren't going to get very many calm, steady moments to look around when things are going down.
The acting: pretty much across the board it falls right into "good enough" territory. There's one scene where Aaron Eckhardt goes for the Oscar (and I will admit, it is very effective, emotionally) but the whole tone is about Marines going in and getting the job done. You don't need Shakespearian level acting chops to pull that off.
Overall, if you want a really good war movie that'll scratch your Sci-Fi itch, then here you go. Definitely worth 2 hours of your time on Netflix.