MOVIE REVIEW: xXx: Return of Xander Cage (2017)

From IMDB:

Extreme athlete turned government operative Xander Cage (Vin Diesel) comes out of self-imposed exile, thought to be long dead, and is set on a collision course with deadly alpha warrior Xiang (Donnie Yen) and his team in a race to recover a sinister and seemingly unstoppable weapon known as Pandora's Box. Recruiting an all-new group of thrill-seeking cohorts, Xander finds himself enmeshed in a deadly conspiracy that points to collusion at the highest levels of world governments. 

Reviews 22 user | 19 critic

Popularity 16 ( 17)

From Rotten Tomatoes:

The third explosive chapter of the blockbuster franchise that redefined the spy thriller finds extreme athlete turned government operative Xander Cage (Vin Diesel) coming out of self-imposed exile and on a collision course with deadly alpha warrior Xiang and his team in a race to recover a sinister and seemingly unstoppable weapon known as Pandora's Box. Recruiting an all-new group of thrill-seeking cohorts, Xander finds himself enmeshed in a deadly conspiracy that points to collusion at the highest levels of world governments. Packed with the series' signature deadpan wit and bad-ass attitude, "xXx: RETURN OF XANDER CAGE" will raise the bar on extreme action with some of the most mind-blowing stunts to ever be caught on film.

Rating: PG-13 (for extended sequences of gunplay and violent action, and for sexual material and language)

Genre: Action & Adventure, Drama

Directed By: D.J. Caruso

In Theatres: Jan 20, 2017 Wide

Runtime: 110 minutes

Studio: Paramount Pictures

WANT TO SEE 93% want to see

User Ratings: 14,969

This is Gibbons. He's sort of like the more casual and hip version of Nick Fury. He does another thing in this movie that Nick Fury does too. ©Paramount Pictures.

So apparently Xander Cage wasn't killed in the second movie... 

xXx started way back in 2002 with Vin Diesel playing Xander Cage or xXx, but I can't for the life of me remember whether I actually saw that movie or not. Then the sequel showed up in 2005 titled xXx: State of the Union, this time around Vin Diesel wasn't free since he was making The Pacifier so a new xXx was found to replace him and that man was named Darius Stone played by Ice Cube. Again I can't remember actually watching it. The takeaway here is that both movies left little to no impression on me for me to even recall whether I watched either or both movies at all. Very, very forgettable films. 

So why did two movies that didn't really make huge money at the box office and impressed only a handful of critics who put it in the so-bad-that-it's-sort-of-good category get a third instalment? And not only that but also got Vin Diesel to return as the titular character? I honestly don't know but made it did get. 

Anyway, as the title suggest Xander Cage is back. He wasn't killed off as mentioned in the second movie but has instead been chumming it up with the locals somewhere in Latin America. He's also been stealing cable for them as an act of rebellion against the rich, or something like that. While Cage is doing that the man who recruited him, Augustus Gibbons played by Samuel L. Jackson is busy trying to recruit professional footballer Neymar to join the xXx program when a satellite falls out of the sky and kills them both. The satellite, of course, didn't fall out of the sky by accident. 

So this scene apparently takes place on an island somewhere in the Philipines but you'd find a hard time spotting the locals. ©Paramount Pictures.

The little incident prompts someone from the government named Jane Marke (Toni Collette) to call a meeting of pretty important individuals in the intelligence industry for a meeting. The meeting gets crashed though by Xiang (Donnie Yen), Serena Unger (Deepika Padukone) and Hawk (Michael Bisping) who kill pretty much everyone there except for Marke and the CIA Director (Al Sapienza) and proceed to steal something called the Pandora Box which apparently was the device used to pull the satellite out of it's orbit to be turned into a missile to target a man eating in a Chinese Restaurant. The trio escapes literally unscathed and are met by their fourth member Talon (Tony Jaa) whose only contribution to the nights' event is to take down a man on a motorcycle holding a gun. Not too sure why there was only one man on a motorcycle with a gun at a meeting of obviously important people. Where in the world are their security details/teams? 

So now Marke has a problem, she's been attacked by a very professional and somewhat daredevil team and she has no idea who they are. So what does she do? She looks for Cage. Now how did she know he was alive? It would make sense that Cage would be trying to lay low and avoid being noticed by people like Marke. And how come Gibbons didn't know something like this was brewing? Why didn't he get even an inkling that someone was out for him? Also wouldn't Gibbons know that Cage was alive? 

So she's a sniper but here she's decided to hang herself under a coconut tree in full view of everyone while holding a very large sniper rifle. That's a real pro. ©Paramount Pictures.

Moving on. Marke tracks down Cage and tells him she needs him and that he'll get the government's full support. She even brings along an elite team of soldiers for him to lead. Cage makes fun of them, sneakily hooks all of them up the equipment package they've brought on the plane then opens the cargo bays and drops them out of the sky. Cage then tells Marke that he's got his own people and so we soon meet Adele Wolff (Ruby Rose) a sniper and weapons specialist who likes to shoot at hunters that are trying to kill animals, Nicks (Kris Wu) a wannabe DJ and Tennyson Torch (Rory McCann) a former stunt driver who now spends his time crashing cars into things and then taking a selfie with the wreck. Once Cage has gathered his team we meet the last person on the team who's also Marke's underling and that's Becky Clearidge (Nina Dobrev). 

So after Cage meets with Ainsley (Hermione Corfield) a woman under house arrest in London who has a team of beautiful young ladies who are apparently hackers, she can't do it herself because it would violate her house arrest terms, Cage discovers where Xiang and his team are hiding out. And so begins lots of fighting and shooting, some talk about who wants or should get the Pandora Box, a few folks switching sides, a dead CIA Director and the return of someone from the dead and someone from the past. 

See that girl with the glasses? She's supposed to be the teams tech support but she's also the comic relief. She's only good at one of them, guess which? ©Paramount Pictures.

Now for the likes.

Hmm... Let's see...

• The Story? Nope. Didn't like it. Too convoluted and full of plot holes. 
• The dialogue? Nope. Didn't like that either. Stilted and juvenile. Lots of one-liners that's probably meant to make the character sound cool. You'll notice that it's quite often paired with them trying to look cool saying it. Also, Tony Jaa hardly says anything. 
• The action? Hmmm... Nope. Not that either. The stunts either looked ridiculous or didn't make sense. I mean how likely is it that in the middle of an alley there's a conveniently placed ramp for you to use in order to ram into your opponent. The fight scenes were just as bad as well especially when you consider that not only is Donnie Yen in it but Tony Jaa too. These two guys not only appear in front of the camera but they have consulted for fight scenes behind the camera too. 
• The camera work? Hmm.. wasn't impressed with that either. The only people who'll watch this movie and think that the camera work is awesome would be the same people that think the Fast and Furious movies are the best action movies ever. In fact, compared to this I'd probably agree with them. 
• The music? Hmm... I read somewhere that the makers of this movie wanted the movie to be a big part of it. There definitely is music and you do notice it because it gets a little intrusive at times but it won't make you want it like how the Guardians of the Galaxy did with Starlord's Mixtape Vol. 1.
• The only good thing I can think of about this movie is that at the very least the cast is truly diverse. 
• The other good thing is that I found Toni Collette's constant eye rolling a reminder that I wasn't the only one who found this movie a steaming pile of poo. Maybe. 

The not so likes.

Uhhh... Look up there.  I could write more but I'm bored already. 

Oh, look! It's the Hound. Actually, go watch him as The Hound instead of whomever he plays in this one. ©Paramount Pictures.

So, yeah, I didn't like this movie. It was horrible. You know how some movies are so bad that it's good? Yeah, this isn't one of them. I honestly don't understand how this movie got made. How did they all look at the script and collectively agreed to do it as it is, even when you think about how some movie scripts get written and rewritten until they get one that works you'd still have to wonder how bad the other scripts were that they decided to settle on this one. All they had to do was live up to the previous films and yet somehow... Actually, I don't know or can't tell if this one is better or worse than the first two since I don't remember either of them. 

Anyway, if you're a fan of Vin Diesel I'd suggest you give this a miss, wait for Fast & Furious 8 or maybe even Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, you may not see him in it but I can guarantee he'll be better there. If you're a fan of the fight masters Donnie Yen or Tony Jaa, well Rogue One is probably still playing somewhere and Tony Jaa's earlier films are much better. As for Kris Wu and Deepika Padukone, well this is their first big budget Hollywood film so I'm guessing they have that going for them. Samuel L. Jackson and Toni Collette, I guess they're doing it for a laugh and the cheque. 

If you value your money if you want a coherent and well-told story with exciting action and amazing fight scenes don't go watch this movie. If you don't care about any of those things and you're like 12 and think extreme sports and the X-Games are the most amazing things ever to be shown on TV then go right ahead. I'm giving this movie a 1 out of 5. 

Here, check out the trailer. 

I'D LIKE TO THANK KLIPS.MY AND UNITED INTERNATIONAL PICTURES MALAYSIA FOR THE EARLY PREMIERE PASSES! 

 ... 

MOVIE REVIEW: BILLY LYNN'S LONG HALFTIME WALK (2016)

From IMDB:

Two-time Academy Award® winner Ang Lee brings his extraordinary vision to Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, based on the widely-acclaimed, bestselling novel. The film is told from the point of view of 19-year-old private Billy Lynn (newcomer Joe Alwyn) who, along with his fellow soldiers in Bravo Squad, becomes a hero after a harrowing Iraq battle and is brought home temporarily for a victory tour. Through flashbacks, culminating at the spectacular halftime show of the Thanksgiving Day football game, the film reveals what really happened to the squad - contrasting the realities of the war with America's perceptions. The film also stars Kristen Stewart, Chris Tucker, Garrett Hedlund, with Vin Diesel, and Steve Martin. Lee used new technology, shooting at an ultra-high frame rate for the first time in film history, to create an immersive digital experience helping him dramatize war in a way never seen before. Lee directed and produced the film, from a screenplay by Jean-Christophe ...

54 Metascore From metacritic.com

Reviews 6 user | 12 critic

From Rotten Tomatoes:

The film is told from the point of view of 19-year-old private Billy Lynn, who, along with his fellow soldiers in Bravo Squad, has been hailed as a hero and brought home for a victory tour after a harrowing Iraq battle. Through flashbacks, culminating at the spectacular halftime show of the Thanksgiving Day football game, the film reveals what really happened to the squad - contrasting the realities of the Iraq conflict with America's celebration back home.

Rating: R (for language throughout, some war violence, sexual content, and brief drug use)

Genre: Drama

Directed By: Ang Lee

Written By: Jean-Christophe Castelli

In Theaters: Nov 11, 2016 Limited

Runtime: 110 minutes

Studio: Sony Pictures

TOMATOMETER 46%

Average Rating: 4.8/10

Reviews Counted: 26

Fresh: 12

Rotten: 14

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

WANT TO SEE 86% want to see

User Ratings: 4,187

BILLY LYNN'S LONG HALFTIME WALK OPENS IN THE U.S. ON THE 11th OF NOVEMBER AND IN MALAYSIA ON THE 10th OF NOVEMBER. TO FIND OUT WHEN IT OPENS IN A CINEMA NEAR YOU CLICK HERE. 

This is Billy. He joined the military because he did something pretty bad to his sister's boyfriend. ©TriStar Pictures

A movie about how a man who has been sent to fight a war not his and then returns to receive an accolade he has a hard time accepting emotionally...

So this is a movie about a team of eight men named the Bravo Squad who in Iraq one less than fine day encountered some bad men and during their encounter a Sergeant named Shroom (Vin Diesel) is caught out in the open and is shot. While the rest of the team is pinned down by enemy gun fire a Specialist in the team named Billy Lynn (Joe Alwyn) bravely runs out to try and rescue him but is instead himself caught out in the open. He bravely stands his ground and shoots at the bad men and eventually manages to roll his Sergeant to safety for the moment. The whole event just happens to be caught on camera.

That is Sergeant Breem, he likes to tell each of his squad members that he loves them before they go out and kill people. ©TriStar Pictures

Later on after he receives the Silver Star he and his team are paraded around the United States to show Americans what a hero looks like. In the movie we spend the last day of his tour when it culminates with the team appearing at the halftime show of an American Football game. 

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk actually began as a book written by Ben Fountain and was published in May of 2012. The book was meant to be a sharp satire that dealt with themes such as brotherhood, the commercialization of war, and what it really means to support the war when the real costs are barely felt by the majority of U.S. citizens at home. (Took that last bit from the Wiki page for the novel. You can read the full Wiki entry here.) It received many positive reviews and won praise from many reviewers and even won a few awards from the many it was nominated for. 

That's Kate Billy's sister. See those scars? That's why he had to go join the military. ©TriStar Pictures

So fast forward to 2014 and the book is currently being turned into a screenplay by Simon Beaufoy who also wrote the screenplay for Slumdog Millionaire (2008).The film would be produced by Film4 in collaboration with a U.S. production company, The Ink Factory, and Sony Pictures' TriStar film studio division as well as China's Bona Film Group and Studio 8, which is backed by the Chinese conglomerate Fosun. The movie would be directed by Ang Lee whose last film Life of Pi (2012) won the Oscar for Best Achievement in Directing, Best Achievement in Cinematography, Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score and Best Achievement in Visual Effects. If you're wondering who from that award-winning film is also working on this one it's Mychael Danna the music composer.

The man on the left is Sergeant Dime and the other guy is Albert. Albert is trying to sell Bravo Team's heroic story but no one seems interested. ©TriStar Pictures

Now Ang Lee didn't just want to make a movie that gave you the feels in the pit of your stomach and in your heart, he also wanted it to make your eyes go wide in amazement at what you saw. He wanted this movie an "immersive" and "realistic" experience of the reality and emotional journey of soldiers. Ang Lee wanted to give you the "Whole Shebang" in terms of a visual experience. So what did he decide to do with this film that would hopefully do that? He decided he wanted viewers to experience his latest film at a projection frame rate of 120 frames per second in 3D at 4K HD resolution. This is the first film to actually use those specifications. The last film that was shown and a high frame rate was The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) but even that was only at 48 frames per second and when that film was released not everyone was impressed by the new frame rate. But unfortunately for most of us we won't be able to watch this film the way Ang Lee would want as only six theaters worldwide are capable of handling the specifications. In fact, during its world premiere they had to arrange for a special set-up as the original theater that it was supposed to be in didn't have the right dimensions to fit the dual laser projectors and the large screen. 

The man standing right up front there is Mr. Norm Oglesby, he owns the stadium or the football team or something. He'd like to make a movie about Billy and his friends but he doesn't want to pay them that much.©TriStar Pictures 

Anyway, so if you didn't read the brief storyline above or have yet to see the trailer, here's my brief description for Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk. You follow Billy and the Bravo Team he is with on the last day of their nationwide tour which ends at the halftime show of an American Football game. As he goes through the day little things causes him to remember the events that would lead up to this day. He also, with his team mates encounter people during his day that makes him question what he does, who he does it for and why he does it.

So for killing some men and almost saving the life of Sergeant Breem on camera, Bravo Team gets to imitate lifeless mannequins on stage while Destiny's Child performs. ©TriStar Pictures 

So here's a few things I liked.

• The story. For the most part it's interesting. An interesting take on the participants of a war that no one really wanted to happen, wanted to participate in let alone be a part of for so long. An interesting perspective from someone whom everyone has labeled a 'hero' but who himself just thinks he only did what his training taught him to do. And of course the people that meet him.
• The cast for the most part was pretty good. Considering how this was his first major role in a major film Joe Alwyn did a pretty good job. As did Kristen Stewart and Vin Diesel despite only showing up in a few scenes. Wasn't too impressed with Garrett Hedlund though, actually I have never really enjoyed his acting.
• Was really nice to see Steve Martin and Chris Tucker too. And was quite pleased with his portrayal of a Texas millionaire.
• The camera work was interesting but not always.

There's an unusual preoccupation this movie has with Billy's virgin status. So how do they handle that? Have him have a casual hook-up with a cheerleader and then send him back to war. ©TriStar Pictures 

A few things that didn't sway me

• Interesting as the story is I don't think this movie did the book justice. I haven't read the book but I'm sure it doesn't live up to it. 
• The acting. In general it felt more of a miss than a hit. 
• Remember when I said the camera work was interesting but not always? Well, I think part of it can be blamed on the new frame rate which didn't allow for many re-takes compared to using conventional methods and I think it shows on screen. Some of the performances probably could have been better. Also Ang Lee uses a lot of shots where the actors look directly at the camera as character addresses Bobby Lynn and a lot of the times the performance given then just isn't convincing and that ruins things quite a bit.

Here's a nice little moment where Mr. Oglesby tries to reason with Billy about why he wants to pay them so little for their story. ©TriStar Pictures 

When you watch this movie you sort of get that although it's supposed to be satire in that satire there is a message trying to be heard. Was it the intention of the author all along? Was the message what Ang Lee was interested in when he decided to make this movie? Maybe. Who knows. Another thing about this movie is the release date coinciding with America finding out who it's new president is. It's sort of timely in a way. But here's the thing about that message thing I was talking about whatever that message may be, because of the shortcomings present in this film whatever that message is is sort of less effective. You're not drawn into this film or to the characters. And because of that you don't appreciate what the characters are going through or hear what they're really trying to say let alone have what they say impact you. That being said though there is one moment in the film that made me think, it's the final scene that Lynn has with Shroom right at the end of the film. 

Probably the only real memorable moment in the movie for me. ©TriStar Pictures 

All in all this movie was sort of a disappointment for me especially when you consider who was directing it and who started work on the screenplay. It could have been vastly better probably if instead of trying to impress audiences with new technology which can't even be applied in most cinemas Ang Lee instead did it the old-fashioned way and concentrated on the actors and their performance. This is a very human story and I guess it could have been a movie worth talking about because of what it may be trying to say.

Anyway, I didn't really enjoy this movie much so I'm giving Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk a 2.5 out of 5. 

Here's the trailer for your consideration.

A BIG THANKS GOES TO KLIPS.MY AND SONY PICTURES MALAYSIA FOR THE PREMIER PASSES!!

Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy

What’s it about?

 They don't really look like this in the movie..

 

From IMDB : 

“After stealing a mysterious orb in the far reaches of outer space, Peter Quill, a half human/half alien is now the main target of a manhunt led by the villain known as Ronan the Accuser. To help fight Ronan and his team and save the galaxy from his power, Quill creates a team known as the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' to save the world.”

What does this lowly terran think of this space romp?