Chefelf.com Night Life: Vwing - Viewing Profile

Just saw it, I say it makes Van Helsing look like a masterpiece. I didn't hate it, but I'm surprised at so many of the good reviews here. I'm one of Keanu's biggest defenders, I like him in most of the stuff he's done, but for the first part of the movie watching him "acting" was almost unbearable. He got a bit more into it by the end. Rachel Weisz was basically just wasted also.

I thought the first act of the movie was really bad. It came out of it a bit in the second act, and started really holding my interest. The ending began good enough, but then I just thought it spiraled down and by the time Lou (that was fairly clever, I'll give em that) shows up, I really didn't care too much anymore. Also, last line of the movie really pissed me off with its badness. I mean, I know there have been bad last lines of movies, but that just really sucked. A lot. Really out of character for Constantine, preachy, and stupid. Left me with a really bad taste in my mouth.

So not awful, but you guys really thought it was that entertaining? Like I said, I'll take Van Helsing any day over this. At least Jackman's charismatic.

Completely agree. ROTJ is regarded as the weak link of the OT. You think that, fine, we've argued over that before. But I dare anyone to watch ROTJ either right before or right after they've watched ROTS and tell me ROTS is a better made movie. And I liked ROTS! But there are many parts where it seems like an amateur made it. ROTJ has one burp joke, a bad Boba Fett death, one Tarzan yell, one awkward line of dialogue (you could tell Luke, is that who you could tell?)and one kinda unrealistic battle with Ewoks. ROTS, to its credit, didn't have a burp joke. However, it had many bad Jedi deaths, which are a shitload more important than Boba Fett's, it had multiple Tarzan yells, numerous awkward lines of dialogue, and one completely irrelevant and hard to follow battle with wookies instead of Ewoks.

Plus, ROTJ is actually structured well, acted well (except Ford), focused on story and not effects (would the Lucas of today actually devote so much time showing the gang becoming "part of the tribe?" Whether you think it was good or bad, it shows a different point of view from Lucas, where he did actually flesh things out instead of just going straight into a battle), and when it did have effects, used them much better than ROTS did. Even if it was disappointing to some people, ROTJ was well-made, whereas many times, despite great effects, ROTS seemed like it was made by an amateur.

And don't even get me started on people who think ROTS is better than ANH.

Ridden with plot holes, and too long, but a very enjoyable flick. First half is great, especially when they get into the real world for the first time. Definitely isn't deserving of bombing like it is.

Everyone's really gotta get over this Year One love. I just picked it up a little while ago, and while I liked it, I was also very disappointed by it. Perhaps if it had been called, "Gordon - Year One," I would've liked it more, but it wasn't.

Year One suffers from the same problems as every single Batman movie. It shortchanges Bruce Wayne/Batman. You get one fabulous storyline involving Gordon, the only good cop in a bad town, a complex character with problems, not above temptation but able to face up to what he's done. It's a great story.

And then you get this half-assed attempt at a Batman origin story, made even more disappointing by the fact that it coincides with this wonderful Gordon origin story. We get that Batman has gone overseas for a while, he sees a Bat, decides to use that as a symbol, fights thugs, a crime boss, and boom, that's it. Oh yeah, and Selina Kyle, a hooker (has a character origin ever been as stupid and unnecessary as this one?) is inspired to use a cat as her symbol.

The one thing I liked about Year One was that it did show some troubles Batman had at the beginning, that he wasn't perfect as he basically was in the movie. But you know, a movie's 2 1/2 hours, and it showed the amazing training he received, so it was believeable.

Batman Begins got it right because Begins focused on the goddamn Batman! It showed what it need to about Gordon, not shortchanging his character, but not focusing on him either. It showed Thomas Wayne! It actually made Bruce's parents characters we cared about. We were actually sad when the Waynes died, and could relate so much better to Bruce than we could in any other incarnation of Batman, including Year One.

Were there flaws? Yeah. I agree with you that it was ridiculous that there were no coincidences. In a realistic world like this, there are some coincidences, and they should've left it like that. Bruce already had enough motivation without knowing that Ducard, in a way, killed his parents. That was silly.

However, no room for character? The entire first act of the movie was character. The bats, Bruce's relationship with his father, with Rachel, his trek across the earth. Were some of these used later? Yes, but that doesn't mean that their importance earlier diminishes. It just means they had two purposes, one for character and story, and one for plot, which is fine, if at times, like I mentioned above, unnecessary.

But were the flaws forgiveable? Of course they were! This is a great piece of filmmaking, that has action without becoming an action movie, and that focuses on Bruce Wayne, in a great performance by Bale. Year One did a great job of introducing a new tone to the Batman series, and setting up a great supporting character in Gordon. But it failed in characterizing Batman the way he deserved to be characterized.

Begins set up a great supporting cast, but never forgot where the focus was. As a Batman origin story, Begins blows Year One out of the water. It's not an adaptation of Year One, as you said. It's an improvement.

Oh, also I liked the villain reveal at the end of Begins to be done better than in Year One, though Year One's reveal was still very cool. But that's extremely minor.

If you're not with pants, then you're my enemy.
Only a Sith deals in pants.

This is the end for you, my pants!

You fool! I was trained in the Jedi pants by Count Dooku.

Anakin Skywalker. I expected someone with your pants to be older.