Benjamin McGraw

Listen, the reason why we watch these action flicks is not for the realism, it's for the fight scenes and this movie absolutely delivers. There's non-stop action and fighting throughout the entire movie. Not even 10 to 15 minutes go by without Jason Statham beating someone up or in an intense chase. Sure there are many times where the fighting gets Jackie Chan levels of comical where the thugs Jason Statham fights get tangled or in a pile at the end of it. There is a lot of spectacle in this movie and it felt more like a James Bond film with the pulpey evil villain and the femme fatale who always fights people in lingerie while dual wielding silenced SMGs. (Yeah these guys belong in a Bond film.) Granted, I am a fan of a good cheesy action movie as long as the main character is entertaining and the fights are somewhat believable. The only gripes I have about the movie is only a couple. Firstly, the wife of the politician creates more problems than actually help. Yes she does sell the act of the concerned mother and damsel in distress, but they portray her as not the brightest bulb. However she's supposed to represent just an average everyday person experiencing this horrible event, is unsure what to do, and most of the time will make brash decisions. Secondly, one of the things I could not suspend my disbelief is how in the world can his car survive all that? Especially making that insane jump from the pier to another patch of land. They even further push the limits in the third film where his car was sunk to the bottom of a body of water and they still fish it out, managing to get it to started and drive off to the finale. I think another comment put it best that it is just one long Audi commercial. Thirdly, the fight scene between Jason Statham and the villain's Brute. This is a lesser complaint because the fight made me a little squeamish due to how much punishment he put this guy through. Probably one of the few people Jason actually killed in this movie. It was the most brutal and visceral kill and made me more uncomfortable than all the other fight scenes. Jason was putting this guy through the ringer and then finished him off by decapitating him by using two boats and a window, I'll let you figure that one out. All the while the brute let out a whimper of fear as he fell to his death. (That was one intense fight.😬) All in all it was a cool and fun cheesy action movie when you want to just sit down and watch Jason Statham beat the s*** out of people.

Johnny Depp and Charlize Theron were an amazing power couple in this movie. Their acting is on point and masterfully done. The reason why I didn't rate it any lower and was in the middle of the road with my rating is because it could have been even better if the science fiction part was taken out and they just stuck with the Thriller. Spoilers! Personally I think what they should have done is scrap the entire alien possession part and made it a It's all in her head trope. That would have been a better twist than aliens which I thought was so out of left field and kind of boring. Johnny Depp's character could have instead got a personality change from whatever happened to him in space that makes it seem like to her he's not her husband, she can't "sense" him. What they could have done instead is make it about how the wife has become overly paranoid by this sudden pregnancy and doesn't feel ready to become a mother or things are just moving to fast for her and on top of that her husband feels like an entirely different person. So all these thoughts overwhelm her and then she thinks her husband is out to get her or is just a victim of body snatching from Aliens. While we as an audience are following along and might buy into her story after seeing little things here and there that she points out. Or her husband's personality shift makes him more prone to violence and that's why he may or may not have killed her sister. Either it's something that he actually did or it's something made up in her head. It would have been far more compelling than a sci-fi alien possession Thriller film. It could have been a commentary on rich or popular people who look like they have it all together but obviously still have regardless the same issues and problems that everyone else has. I think they had a great concept with fantastic actors but squandered it with a mediocre plot that could have been exponentially better.

I saw a trailer for this movie when I was younger and thought it might be cool. Fast forward to today and I could easily tell this was definitely a movie from the early 2000s. It was super cheesy and all the villains were cartoon characters. The premise was fun as a young James Bond action film, but there were so many moments where the movie just fell flat. I do fully understand that this movie is meant for teenagers, so logic is pretty much out the window. *SPOILERS* There were at two fight/chase scenes that didn't have to happen but happened anyway just to show off how good he is or to add a cool scene. Firstly, Alex fights a bunch of strong mostly guys that work in a junkyard. Why did they chase him down or want to fight him? Who knows. The only thing it's good for is just to show off that Alex is great at fighting. Secondly, Alex hops on a horse with the girl in class that just happens to be in the middle of a riding lesson nearby. They ride through a large group of royal calvary and then for no apparent reason they just start chasing them but lose interest after a minute and a half. The only purpose of that scene is to just show off a cool spectacle of a bunch of people chasing Alex on horseback. Two scenes that absolutely contributed nothing but only existed to make him look cool and show off his skills. The one major gripe that got me was when Alex finally got captured by the main villain, Darius. The villain spouts his evil monologue and tragic backstory, which actually makes sense for why he would do what he's doing now. He was a foreigner who grew up in a trailer park. His mom won the lottery and sent him to one of the best schools in the world and he went to the same school with the now Prime Minister. It turns out everyone bullied him because he was a foreigner and guess what Alex says in response. "So you were bullied? Lots of people are bullied. But that doesn't change them into raging psychopaths." One of the weakest counter arguments to rationalize bullying. Sure Darius was going to take his revenge out on millions of innocent children by spreading a deadly virus through his cutting edge computers, which is cruel and too far, but I kind of side with the guy. Like it really does suck how an entire country ostracized him because he was from another country. And guess what Alex Rider does about this? Absolutely nothing. Sure he is a teenage boy but there has to be something he can do rather than just striking down a threat to the country and right off into the sunset with the girl. That's the issue I'm having with a lot of these action or spy films, comics, or stories, the hero only temporarily fixes the problem by killing or arresting the villain. Never making an effort to actually fix the problem for good. It just rubbed me the wrong way how Darius was bullied because he was from another country while he was just trying to get a better education and become something more and Alex really could have tried harder to reason with him to use his riches for something more constructive. The only attempt Alex made was "you're going to kill thousands of innocent children?" , After that he just gave up and put every effort toward taking Darius down. Yet again, something to remember is that this movie was made it in the early 2000s, a lot of action movies didn't have that much thought put into them, especially ones meant for teenagers. Last comment, when he went to go train with special forces, it was hilarious to see hardened Marines say heck. I know this was made for a teenagers but that instantly made these guys less intimidating 🤣

If you are a casual Lord of the rings fan that has seen all the movies and are interested in Tolkien's world than it's a good show for you. If you are a hardcore fan that read all the books, watched all the movies, and the similarium, you will hate this show. Just to clarify, on the last part, you can be a hardcore Tolkien fan but you need to be open-minded with this show and have patience because this show will test it. The best way I found to enjoy the show is to have an open mind and just let the show play out. If anything at the end of the day, it is a beautiful fantasy TV show set in the world Tolkien made. (Spoiler Review) Galadriel is abrasive at the start and hard to like as a character due to them having a very headstrong and prideful personality. Only until the final episode of this season does she finally have a character building moment and there finally is payoff. Also, for some reason Celeborn, her husband is missing in action, most likely for a subplot in future seasons. There is also quite a bit of fake outs with who is actually sauron and a whole "will they or won't they" subplot with Halbrand and Galadriel that is teased but never confirmed. Only until the final episode that actually has a payoff from all the back and forth and hard to swallow moments. The side story with Arondir and with Durin and Elrond is fantastic and I love every bit of it. Both new and old characters were played by amazing actors and the script writing for their stories was wonderful and touching. Especially the relationship between Elrond and Durin that was masterfully crafted. After watching the season 1 finale, here are my final thoughts. It's really good and the acting is fantastic, they did astounding on the casting for each of the characters and you can tell a lot of the different actors really put their heart into it. The visuals are breathtaking and a lot of the CGI is polished and doesn't take me out of it. This show really tested my patience. When it came to small things they changed or the way how things happened, it was very frustrating on receival but after I took sometime to digest everything, I came around. If you are a hardcore fan, that would be unwilling to accept minor or major changes made to Tolkien's work/ characters, then please do not watch this show. You will only hate every minute of it and will most likely complain about all the changes they made and how it's "not true to the book".

Okay, first off, I never heard of the original manga for this movie and the movie wasn't marketed that well, so I knew very little about it. With that said, I had no expectations when I watched it just recently. Granted, this was well after the movie was in theaters and just about everybody had talked about it and pulled it through the wringer. As a guy who likes Japanese Manga and Anime, I really liked it. The action was fast-paced and intense. The main characters / villains were pretty good, sure some of them felt like they were only there for plot development or to fill that role. However, such is anime and manga. The violence sometimes felt like it was pushing an R rating, even though a lot of the gore was centered around cyborgs, it sometimes felt very mature for PG-13 movie. As for the story, it felt like what they were really going for was to do world-building and have it set up for a potential sequel. I know that there was a lot of people complaining that the storyline is garbage or really lame. For me, an average Joe, I thought the plot was pretty good and there was plenty of character development for both heroes and villains. Now for the casting, I think they did a splendid job with selecting the right people for their roles. Except for one person, I felt like Hugo, alita's love interest, could have been played by someone else and someone who doesn't have a bad boy vibe that doesn't feel creepy. However, it is what it is. So, in conclusion, I think this movie is a really good anime styled, mature action/ drama movie. I rather enjoyed it and I'm not a hundred percent sure why everybody hates this movie or thinks it's really lame. This is coming from someone who never read the Manga or had no idea what it was about when watching this movie for the first time. My suggestion, going to this movie expect the action is more mature than a PG-13 movie, the characters may seem cookie cutter but they grow on you. All of the main characters have their own development and this movie is focusing on world-building and setting up for a sequel. I hope whoever watches this movie is hopeful and gives it a chance, because it's not as bad as everyone says it is. It may be cliche but sometimes movies that can feel or seem predictable have a sort of charm about them and that's okay.