ichabod81

When the show was announced, I was sceptical to say the least. Finnish TV is what it is and I mean.. a former radio morning DJ as a host and panelists who consist of a theater/TV actress, a contemporary singer, a stand-up comedian and two novelists. Then I pulled it together and gave it a shot.

I LOVE THIS SHOW. Never miss it. Four out of five rotating regular panelists, the host and a weekly guest review the news of the past week. The concept is simple and entertaining enough and what makes the show truly brilliant is the chemistry within the odd group.

An absolute joy to watch and hopefully it goes on forever.

Please, take note that I rated this film 8 only because of it's value as an action film, but that's exactly the point I came here to get across. Everybody seems to have the same argument when they trash this film.. "it's all effects and no brains or dramatic undertones". OK, that is true, I've got to admit, but then again what kind of movie were these people actually expecting to see? Huh?!

G.I. Joe is as pure as an action film can possibly be and most importantly, it doesn't pretend to be anything else. Look at the poster. Check out the trailer. After those, were you perhaps waiting to see an Ingmar Bergman film? IT'S G.I. JOE, for Christ's sake! And I must say that in it's category, it isn't that bad. Sommers can direct good action sequences (the pursuit on the streets of Paris is stunning!) and although the film is obviously overblown with ridiculous gadgets and over the top plot lines, it doesn't matter because Joe succeeds in it's ONLY primary mission: to be entertaining. It's never boring and it's the silly fun it was always going to be.

So in a nutshell.. if you want a serious film to watch, check out There Will Be Blood or Doubt, but if you just want to forget for two hours the mess your leaders have left your nation, nay, the *world* and just have fun, check out this action film. Thank you.

The summary pretty much.. erh.. sums it up. The film follows a group of friends who take over the illegal distribution of hard liquor in Helsinki in the mid 60s. What follows is a typical story of the rise and fall of these wanna be gangsters.

The movie hardly offers anything new to the tired formula, but there are some good performances such as Edelmann in the leading role and especially the ALWAYS funny Hietalahti in a supporting role. For once, Franzen does his part a bit too over the top, but that's nothing compared to the disaster that is Pääkkönen's "mob boss". The guy looks like he's 12 and the role is passionless and feels phoned in.

This will no doubt be a great success here in Finland, but the fact that it's the best of the worst, doesn't make it a good film.