Monday, January 16, 2012

Double Review, Contraband, Ghost Protocol: NR #15 & 16

That was a mediocre Golden Globes wasn't it? Everyone got the award they were predicted to get, Rango got jibbed as an animated movie, and Attack the Block was sadly no where to be seen. They could have at least nominated it for best original score, I mean have you heard that score? Anyway, I'm not here to debate the "Please watch this show/movie that no one watches" awards, I'm here to do my 4th double review or two action movies, some have more action than others, but they both seem to be making a ton of money. I'm talking about..

























Let's Begin


CONTRABAND



PLOT
Chris Farraday is one of the best smugglers in the world, but has since retired to a simple life by settling down with a wife and kids and starting up his own security system business. Meanwhile, Chris's brother-in-law is caught in a bad situation when he losses the drugs he was smuggling in for a drug dealer. Now this dealer is threatening to terrorize his sister's family; Chris's wife and family. Now Chris must get back into the smuggling business to get the money to save his family.





PROS
Giovanni Ribisi as the villain is the best part of the movie for all the wrong reason. He is so unintentional funny that he becomes the most non-threatening villain I've ever seen. I was praying that he would come on and make me laugh or at least get some emotion out of me.


CONS
Mark Whalberg is sleep walking through this entire movie. He's not bad yet not memorable, and that's a problem.

My biggest complaint is that this movie is SO BORING. I was bored to tears and then some. It starts out slow, then it picks up with the twist, and gets boring again.

We have no stake in what is happening. You don't care about these bland, cookie cutter characters because they are bland and cookie-cutter.

The film is too predictable, the group I went with were guessing crucial plot points that would happen at the end of the movie in the middle of the movie.



CONCLUSION
It probably seems like I hate this movie, but I don't. I can't explain it, but I never at any point hated this movie and I may feel this way since I can barley remember this movie. I feel that you don't need to see it in theaters, but if you are interested in seeing it wait 'till DVD or when it comes on cable.



RATING
RENTABLE










MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 4: GHOST PROTOCOL






PLOT
After an IMF agent holding nuclear launch codes is killed, IMF decides to bring Ethan Hunt back to save the world again, but with a team this time. When a mission at the Kermlin is botched and it explodes, the blame is put on Ethan and crew. The president then initiates Ghost Protocol and disbands the IMF. Now Ethan and company must discover who set them up but with only the limited resources they have left.





PROS
Remember when I said Tintin had the best action scenes of last year? Well this sure gave Tintin a run for its money. The action scenes here are some of the most tense scenes of 2011. I found myself almost falling out of my seat I was so close to the edge.

The biggest complaint against the Mission Impossible films has been the fact that it's never a team effort, it's always the Tom Cruise show. Well here it's always about the team. Everyone has a moment to shine and be helpful. Tom could never do anything here alone.

The direction is great, and we have Brad Bird to thank for that. You may not know the name, but you definitely know the movies. He's the director of such classics as The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, and Ratatouille. You may notice that all of these films are animated, well he makes a seamless transition from animation to live action.

This is a personal Pro, but Simon Pegg is given a lot of scenes to do what he does best, be funny. He even gets a few scenes to be action packed.



CONS
The script is actually pretty bad, but Brad's directing and near constant action keeps your from thinking about the story. But the script is still stupid.




CONCLUSION
This is an action-packed rollercoaster ride full of adrenaline that will leave you tired and worn out by the end of it. I had a lot of fun and think you will too. And if you can help it, see it in Imax, It supposedly is amazing in Imax.



RATING
RUN TO 
















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