mariusar

I haven't read the comics. But I absolutely consider Proyas' original film to be a superb piece of fantastical filmmaking. And that unquestionably to me Brandon Lee was on the cusp of true stardom with his performance as Eric in The Crow.

This film gets so much wrong. The relationship between Eric and Shelley here is just so cringe and overly contrived. The original film portrayed them as true good hearted innocents with their lives savagely taken by a group of detestable criminals. Everyone that Eric exacts vengeance upon in the original is a criminal. For example of how weak this film is, here, Eric's main killing spree is against likely ignorant bodyguards who are simply hired to provide security to wealthy man. And in Proyas' film, even the bad guys all have outsized personalities - twisted, evil personalities but they have character all the same.

I love Bill - he is a talented actor for sure. As well Danny Huston is wasted here. The overtly satanic tones of this film also is dumb. Michael Wincott was terrifying as the main baddie in the OG.

But FKA Twigs is simply not a good actor at all and should stick to making music.

Thirty years on from the classic The Crow. This film is simply irrelevant and just did not need to be remade. It would have benefited a bit with a totally different title but in the end Brandon Lee's peformance and Proyas' vision for the character of the crow is the only one that matters.

A meh 5 out of 10...

People who try to dissect and criticize heist films like this really make me laugh. They seem to fail to understand that as with nearly all heist films throughout the history of cinema a massive does of suspension of disbelief is required. As if a heist film is some kind of high art cinema piece.

Laughable, right?

Absurd heist plot as usual in this one, but augmented by some very nice visuals, mostly non-cringe acting from a generally likeable low-key crew and a noticeably restrained Kevin Hart all make for am eminently watchable caper film. Throw in a few nice to see faces like D'Onofrio, Worthington, Reno and Burn and what we have is a fairly welcome, competent addition to the heist genre IMO.

Heat, it ain't. It also sure ain't the Ocean's 11 remake with ludicrous star power involved.

But with the requisite suspension of disbelief in place for these kinds of films, this one is not terrible at all.

Hart should take a lesson here and tone down his persona much more often to become less of a clown onscreen.

This worked for me, under these parameters.

Yes, the sci-fi geek in me would have loved to see more insights into the aliens. Yes, the action fan in me would have loved to see pitched battles between the desperate human military and the beasties. Yes, some shots of the invading alien ships and humanity's utter lack of defenses would have been fun.

But none of those are what this film decided to be.

Instead, we get superb acting from Lupita and Joseph, a few truly terrifying moments of tensions, some epic scenes of destruction of my home of Manhattan and we are treated to one of the most well-trained cat (2x!) performances ever caught on film.

At its heart, A Quiet Place Day One is a very quiet, personal film, one that delves into the human will to live even in the face of imminent death - whether from a terminal disease or from monsters beyond imagination. How easy it would have been for Lupita's character to just scream her lungs out and allow the aliens to end her misery.

As an examination of the indomitable human spirit while under the most unimaginable duresses possible, this film delivers just fine.

Rate films for what they are. Not what you hoped they would be.

It's fine to be disappointed and I am glad to read many of the more critical comments here recognizing the excellent work presented.

But don't slam and piss on a film that is actually a well-crafted piece of work.