Davncin Gilbert

I feel like Hollywood's out of ideas at this point, and rehashing older (and better) movies is the new way of doing business. This is basically a redux of the original Gladiator, with a much more shallow script, lines and speeches borrowed from the original, less talented actors, and much less emotional power. It's as if someone created a knockoff of Gladiator, the same way one might make a knockoff version of a purse, it'll pass, but anyone who's seen the original is gonna turn their nose up at it. Not one day after watching it, we saw an ad for Disney's latest offerings: Lilo and Stitch (a live action version), and yet another Moana film. Round and round we go folks. Reviews can barely be trusted anymore, due to the lower standards of younger viewers, who didn't come up watching quality films. Google should require an age be added to reviewers' posts IMO.

I'm 55, a long-time horror fan who's seen his share of movies, so I've got a little perspective on what's "good" horror I think. Most good horror films use atmosphere, shadows, fear of the unknown, a foreboding soundtrack, and suspense, to ratchet up the suspense before each kill... The filmmakers forego all that here, and give us basically a video game "shooters POV" of a killer walking from kill-to kill, (in broad daylight much of the time btw.) While there are (3) great, gory kills in this film, there's no fear, no scares, little dialogue, no story, no "rooting" for anyone, no music... ANYTHING to get your heart rate pumping at all. (The final scene, on the side of the road, staring into the woods for 15 seconds is more suspenseful than the rest of the film). So, by all means, skip ahead from kill-to-kill, then move on to something else, you'll thank me for saving 80 minutes of your valuable time.

We're fans of the originals, as well as the remakes, but this one just didn't do anything for us. The first hour or so has great production qualities, and expansive (CGI) landscapes... It LOOKS great, but there's just no substance or story to keep you watching. It felt like something thrown together to bring in money on the title alone. We can't recommend it.

First, this film isn't bad, and worth a look, but viewers should watch with this in mind: It appears to be a comedy, but isn't, and doesn't work as comedy due to the many dark/serious aspects. It also doesn't quite work as a serious drama or thriller, because of the occasional comedic scenes dropped in, (and don't even get me started on the head-scratcher of an ending!) I think the film is best viewed as a hypothetical look inside the mind of a mentally ill serial killer. While the movie has its flaws, it's a great quirky, film that'll definitely have keep your attention, and thinking "WTF!" more than a few times.

Alien Romulus is a poor attempt at a sequel, that borrows heavily from both Prometheus, as well as Alien, with lackluster results. While the set pieces and effects are good, the story and acting (by a cast made up completely of unknown, and very young actors) never quite matches the level of an adolescent TV show. The first hour of the film is all a set-up for the ending, and there's little to keep the viewer interested. While the final act does have a nice little twist, it's barely worth sitting through the almost 90 minute disappointment that is majority of the film, (at least from the point of view of someone who's seen the first two Alien films.) I think the the biggest difference between this film, and the originals, is the actors that were chosen, and a complete lack of suspense or edge-of-your-seat action, which were plentiful in each of the first two films. The characters in the original were likeable, we cared about them, and they had unique personalities. In Romulus, the android is the only character that we care about, and that's a sad statement.

VERDICT: STICK WITH THE ORIGINAL TWISTER FILM. If you're younger, and haven't seen the original "Twister", you might enjoy this one. The effects/visuals are great, with a couple of really intense scenes. Having said that, we felt "underwhelmed" by this version, which lacked character development, a decent soundtrack, and any likeable characters. In the original, the actors were really good, and we felt like we knew them, their individual personalities were apparent. In this film, nobody stood out, for any reason... They were all just reciting lines from a script. (Glen Powell was the exception, but basically just played the same guy he played in Top Gun). While Twister boasted a rocking soundtrack, with each song ratcheting up the energy level of action sequences... Twisters producers chose a country music soundtrack, which, let's face it, doesn't exactly "go" with an action film. I actually nodded off a couple of times during the first hour... There just wasn't much going on here if there wasn't a tornado on screen.

A Quiet Place 3 does for the series, what Aliens did for that series: It takes what worked in the original, multiplies it, and adds some new characters. The Alien movies featured a cat, and well... Now AQP does too. The movie also manages to recreate some of the more powerful "self-sacrificing" scenes from the original as well, keeping human drama dead center, in a world infested by aliens. Overall, it's a decent movie, but generally more of the same from the first two films, just basically an origin story. There are some things I could nitpick, such as the odds of two people (or a cat) running into/finding each other repeatedly, in a chaotic NYC with millions of people running for their lives... It's as unlikely as jumping into the water holding a cat, and not being cut to ribbons. Bottom line: if you liked the first film, you'll like the this one.

DO NOT waste your money on this film, it plays like a bad "straight to DVD" production. In the first 90 minutes, there's literally ONE scene that has any resemblance to a civil war situation. Prior to that, it's all poor dialogue, boring scenes with nothing going on, and no back story whatsoever. Finally, in the final 15 minutes, (when the main characters FINALLY get to their destination at the front lines, do we see a few battle scenes, (where everyone is wearing the same uniforms, and you can't tell who's who). The whole film is like an episode of the Walking Dead, only there are no zombies... Just 'aftermath' scenes where "something" took place. I got the feeling the production was scrapped, and they through something together to try and make some of their money back... However little that might be.

I can't put this in the same category as Zero Dark Thirty, or other "big budget" films on the subject... I will say that the film makers did a lot with only one "A-lister", and a smaller budget. We were heavily engaged in the film to the end, and everything about the movie felt like a big Hollywood production meant for theaters. The story is simple, but the soundtrack, great acting, action, and some poignant human moments make this a winner. As good as any Middle East conflict film in recent history, (except 13 Hours... That's the king for us.) We really liked that different points of view were shown, and it wasn't simply a patriotic Army recruitment film.