The Movie Review House

Taken 2

2012-10-16T04:02:00.001-07:00

Taken 2

3 out of 5 stars

Liam Neeson

...

Bryan Mills

Maggie Grace

...

Kim

Famke Janssen

...

Lenore

Leland Orser

...

Sam

Jon Gries

...

Casey

D.B. Sweeney

...

Bernie

Luke Grimes

...

Jamie

Rade Serbedzija

...

Murad Krasniqi (as Rade Sherbedgia)

Kevork Malikyan

...

Inspector Durmaz

Runtime: 91 min

The whole family is back in this sequel to the 2008 film, Taken. The plot centers around the Families of the men killed in the first film during LIam Neisen's rampage across France to rescue his daughter. The father of one of the men killed in the first film (The one in the chair with the electricity) leads a group of men to Istanbul where they plan to take Liam and his family back to the town where they can face the justice of the families of his "victims".

Fast paced and creative as the first film, this sequel ends too quickly for my taste and with a little less finality than I would have liked. Both the Ex-wife and the daughter have bigger roles (Tho Framke Jansen spends a great deal of the film out cold) and Liam relies less on technology mixed with creative aggression and more brute force in this one.

All in all a good thriller for an evening out, but if your budget is limited, wait for DVD on this one. -->

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Knight and Day 2010

2010-07-30T00:52:00.000-07:00

Knight and Day 2010

Tom Cruise ... Roy Miller /Matt Knight
Cameron Diaz ... June Havens
Peter Sarsgaard ...Special Agent Fitzgerald
Jordi Mollà ... Antonio
Viola Davis ... Director George
Paul Dano ... Simon Feck
Falk Hentschel ... Bernhard
Marc Blucas ... Rodney
Lennie Loftin ... Braces
Maggie Grace ... April Havens

Runtime: 1 hour 49 minutes

Rated PG-13 for sequences of action violence throughout, and brief strong language.

THE SHORT

An A-typical Spy thriller and action film with predictable plot twists and dialog.
Wait for DvD unless you just have money to burn.

THE LONG

Tom Cruise plays Roy Miller. An international man of mystery and super spy that get’s burned by the C.I.A. during a mission to recover a perpetual energy source the size of a AA battery capable of powering a city. The beautiful June Heavens played by Cameron Diaz gets caught up in Roy’s flight from assassins when he bumps into her in a Kansas airport.

The movie is filled with stunts you would expect from a super spy on he run, plenty of gorgeous scenery and expectable dialog. All the actors do a great job making this movie bearable, but it just doesn’t come across as anything special. Diaz’s character is likable, but seemingly way too comfortable being kidnapped, having her privacy violated and being shot at by her own government. Cruise does a good job playing the emotionally detached agent who may or may not be working for himself.

If you are heart throbbing for Tom Cruise or Cameron Diaz, you might spend the extra cash to see this in theaters. But my advise would be to wait for this one to hit the shelves at your local video store and instead spend that cash on one of the bajillion blockbusters out this summer.

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THE LAST AIRBENDER 2010

2010-07-29T01:15:00.000-07:00

The Last Airbender 2010

Noah Ringer ... Aang
Dev Patel ... Prince Zuko
Nicola Peltz ... Katara
Jackson Rathbone ... Sokka
Shaun Toub ... Uncle Iroh
Aasif Mandvi ... Commander Zhao
Cliff Curtis ... Fire Lord Ozai
Seychelle Gabriel ... Princess Yue

Running time: 1 hour 43 minutes

Rated PG for fantasy action violence.

THE SHORT

A passable kids movie that everyone can watch.
Worth waiting for DvD.

THE LONG

Based off of the famous children show Avatar, this film is M. Knight Shyamalan’s silver screen translation of that world. As with most highly complex and detailed worlds that get tossed into a brief movie, the characters are shallow and bland compared to their cartoon counterparts that have had time to develop over multiple episodes. The acting is passable for a children’s movie and the dialog boils down to 90 minutes of exposition to try and move the story along. It’s also obvious this is meant to be the first of at least three movies, but weather or not we see any more of the story is anyone’s guess since the questionable casting choices and poor delivery on fan expectations have essentially doomed this movie to a single entry in the movie goers diary.

As a stand alone film. There has been worse. Kids should find this film entertaining and the 3D version, though not mesmerizing, does help the experience a bit.

The film takes place in a mystical world where 4 nations (Air, Water, Earth and Fire) exist in relative peace. A peace kept by the renowned Avatar, a being that is able to control all 4 elements and is reborn each time they die. This time around the Avatar was born into the Air bending nation. A young boy named Aang who does not want the job and so runs away becoming trapped under the sea for 100 years. After he emerges, he finds the nations are no longer at peace. The Fire nation is taking control of everything piece by piece and has destroyed the Air nation completely trying to kill the Avatar. (Which is a plot hole for me since killing him just makes he get reborn again later. So it’s at best a short term solution.)

The first film is chapter 1: Water. This refers to the Avatar’s need to master the 3 non-native elements. He knows his native element of Air and goes on a quest to find a teacher to learn the secrets of water. We can expect any future films to be focused on learning Earth and Fire in turn. But the exiled Prince Zuko is also on a quest to regain his honor by capturing the Avatar and bringing him to the Fire nation. Pitted against his Father’s own men, Prince Zuko struggles between doing what will regain him his place in the Fire nation and what he feels is right.

Aang is joined on his quest by a brother and sister of the Water nation one of which is a Water bender whom is just learning her abilities. His trusty sidekick is a giant wooly riding creature resembling a Chinese dragon….almost. Oh and it flies. And swims in frigid water sometimes rather than flying, which seemed a bit odd.

This isn’t the best movie of the summer, and as far as family movies go, I would recommend about 6 others before this one, but if your kids are begging you to go see it, you should be able to sit through it without any permanent mental damage.

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Salt 2010

2010-07-27T20:00:00.000-07:00

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Cast

Angelina Jolie ... Evelyn Salt

Liev Schreiber ... Ted Winter

Chiwetel Ejiofor ... Peabody

Daniel Olbrychski ... Orlov

August Diehl ... Mike Krause

Daniel Pearce ... Young Orlov

Hunt Block ... U.S. President Lewis

Andre Braugher ... Secretary of Defense

Olek Krupa ... Russian President Matveyev

Runtime: 1 hour 40 minutes

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action.

THE SHORT

Jason Bourne in a woman suit.

Worth waiting for DvD unless you have the cash to blow on the theater.

THE LONG

Angelina Jolie plays a C.I.A. agent named Evelyn Salt that is accused of being a Russian spy who will kill the Russian President at the U.S. Vice presidents funeral as part of an overall plan to get the U.S. to launch nukes on targets in Muslim countries starting a global Jihad against the United States….like we didn’t have one already.

Jolie proclaims innocence and most of the movie is her running from the C.I.A., Secret Service and F.B.I. while trying to stop World War Three-ish.

The dialog is good, the acting is better than expected, stunts are eye catching and acceptable, but nothing memorable. The plot is easy to keep up with and the ending is no big surprise. It’s a good flick with plenty of action and close up shots of the beautiful Angelina Jolie and it also shows us more of her action abilities, but the character of Evelyn Salt is just not as entertaining or interesting as Jane Smith. (From Mr. and Mrs. Smith)

I would recommend this as an entertaining action flick. And since it has a strong female lead, guys might find it easier getting the gals to go see it. But if you just want some blind action, there are better movies our there right now chalk full of it.

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INCEPTION 2010

2010-07-23T04:08:00.000-07:00

Cast of Inception 2010

Leonardo DiCaprio	...	Cobb
Joseph Gordon-Levitt	...	Arthur
Ellen Page	...	Ariadne
Tom Hardy	...	Eames
Ken Watanabe	...	Saito
Dileep Rao	...	Yusuf
Cillian Murphy	...	Robert Fischer, Jr.
Tom Berenger	...	Browning
Marion Cotillard	...	Mal
Pete Postlethwaite	...	Maurice Fischer
Michael Caine	...	Miles
Lukas Haas	...	Nash

Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action throughout.

Runtime: 2 hours 28 min

THE SHORT

See it at the movie theater. In IMAX if you have the chance.

The Story of Dom Cobb (DiCaprio), a special kind of thief specializing in corporate secrets extracted from the dreams of his targets. He is a wanted man that is given a chance to do one special job to get off the fugitive list and have his life back.

THE LONG

This movie is easily a contender for the best film of the year. If it doesn't get a slew of awards then someone got robbed.

Cobb and his team of specialists are given a job using their special talents not to take information out of someone's head, but to place information in. Called an Inception, the practice is thought to be incredibly hard at best and impossible at worst because our dreams are controlled largely by our subconscious mind and our subconscious doesn't like getting ideas from outsiders. In fact it tends to react rather violently when it discovers anyone digging around your dreams except you.

Cobb's team is charged with a complex con game in the mind of a dreaming tycoon to get his own mind to suggest an idea to itself so that, over time, the dreamer will come to think of the idea as his own.

This wonderfully executed story takes place in the dream world where the rules of time and space can be bent and broken. Where different levels of dreaming come with increased risks and dying at the wrong time can land you in limbo, a dream state that may last decades in dream time before you wake up back in reality.

I'll stop there before I give away too much, but I will say that the all star cast, fresh story, non-overbearing special effects and fantastic direction of Inception make it an all time greatest movie that should not be missed in the theater.

Buy soda and popcorn too while you're there.

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