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Monday, April 29, 2013

Iron Man 3 (2013)

Director: Shane Black
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Guy Pearce, Ben Kingsley
 
Iron Man 3 is a decent enough entertainer that mishmashes various story-lines from Marvel’s Iron Man universe.

Iron Man 3 (2013)Film is technically sound—showcases some state of art 3d/special effects. Director here clearly tries to match up to the genius of ‘Iron Man 1’ and even plots the film around ‘America hating’ terrorism, but film never really punch above its weight and is an action-comedy at best. Air rescue sequence was quite awesome; perhaps best action from film. Comedy is good wherever justified, though mostly it is your usual cliché—you might/might not like it.    

RDJ, with his charm, is indeed ‘The’ Iron Man but his antics here seemed a little superfluous and, at times, enforced. It should have either been a serious film with subtle humor and a message or an all-out action-comedy—it was somewhat irritating to see every serious scene end with some needless chaff.  

Strictly for Iron Man geeks (might contain spoilers):

From comics/cartoons point of view the film can be described in 3 simple words: “What a sham”. It wouldn’t have bothered me that much had they mucked up ‘Mandarin’ with either poor acting or some modification but what they did was criminal (I hope Marvel sues them and every geek bays for their blood).  Perhaps in light of real-world political tensions they tinkered with Mandarin’s mainland China origin and made him a British instead. Even that is fine, when you have a heavyweight actor like Kingsley portraying him as fabulously as he did (prior to the lamest twist of cinema history of course).

Now, I am little perplexed after the events of the film:

  • Are they actually saying, Lex Luthor, Superman’s main nemesis, is just propaganda (Joker for Batman)? Trying hard to avoid any spoilers…hope you get the drift.   
  • Is Aldrich Killian the real Mandarin now, who will come back to life with some silly retcon?    
  • What is going to happen with the ‘Ten Rings’? Why did they even show it…
___________________________________________________________________________

As a film Iron Man works well; as an adaptation it is like a ‘Just for Laugh’ joke. Frankly, I could have done without Iron Man 3, however, as just a film (not a comic book adaptation) this is a decent watch; doesn’t matter how disappointed the comic geek in me sounds!

Go enjoy it for some high-octane showdown.

7.4/10 
   

Monday, April 15, 2013

Oblivion (2013)

Director: Joseph Kosinski 
Genre: Sci-Fi 
Cast: Tom Cruise, Morgan Freman, Olga Kurylenko

Oblivion (2013)In pre-narration, Humans are attacked by Aliens, moon is destroyed; bringing about chaos to planet’s physiology. Nuclear warfare that follows helps Humans defeat the Aliens, but wrecks further havoc on planet and Earth is now mostly inhabitable; infested with outlasting Aliens known as ‘Scavs’. 

Human survivors move to a space abode The ‘Tet’, and continue using Earth’s remaining natural resources to support themselves. Tom Cruise, along with a partner, guards essential fuel and maintains energy/power producing units.

Visually enticing, mildly paced (goes well with the dystopian setting) film lead stoutly, as always, by bankable Tom Cruise. A simple plot—somewhat a mishmash of elements from many previous science fiction films—that unfolds to an okayish, non-complex revelation. Unlike most futuristic sci-fi films the dystopia is deliberately beautiful.

Not a sci-fi masterpiece or ground-breaking stuff but can be enjoyed once...moderately.

Trailers for ‘The Host’ and Will Smith & Son starring ‘After Earth’ seemed decent.

7.2/10
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