xiayun

It reminded me Battlefield Earth in some way, although this one was easier to sit through due to the good visual effects. The first 20 minutes were a total bore; I was like "where is this story going?' I understand they were trying to establish some sort of character relationships at the beginning, but it was so uninteresting the way they present it, and you still don't really care about any of them afterward. At least it got better when we finally got to the aliens attack. Still, there is no plot whatsoever, just a lot of running around, and the characters getting killed one by one in predictable fashions. They also tried a couple of slow-mo scenes when it's not necessary. You could see they borrowed heavily from other sci-fi movies, but the result is very mediocre in term of engaging the audience and delivering the total package. Like my boss said after the movie, it feels like an end-of-class project by some visual effect graduate students.

Well, both the bads and goods stood out. The screenplay is certainly nothing special. It follows a familiar plot with a lot of one dimensional characters. The bad guys are bad who were shouting out bad one liners with no redeeming qualities throughout. Also the political messages (or sarcasm such as "we will fight terror with terror with preemptive strikes") and environmental messages are definitely not subtle, and there are several blatant tear-jerking attempts with slow-motions and background music. This is no LOTR or TDK in terms of screenplay, but at least Cameron avoided ill-attempted jokes or making protagonists keep rising from near death.

That being said, good story is not really the point we're seeing the film here, is it? We want visuals and actions, and on both fronts, it's near perfection. It's like Jurassic Park meets LOTR, in 3D. The world Cameron created was immense and gorgeous. I know it's CGI, but it's very much worthy of a Cinematography nomination. The actions are intense with fine editing. After feeling dragged somewhat in the first 100 minutes especially since the story didn't get me, the last hour went by in a blink of the eye.

Overall, still very much recommendable. B+.

I had my fear going in, but it was all shattered. What a blast. This is a must-see for every MJ fan and even non-fans to understand why he was so popular and deserved every bit of the title King of the Pop. A consummate artist, a perfectionist, and a visionary. The film is overflowed with his energy, passion, and dedication. If the rehearsals could be this good and engaging, one could only imagine what the concerts would've been. His voice sometimes showed his age, but his dance moves were not, at all. Also the young female guitarist was not just good looking, but crazily good with the guitar as well. Smooth Criminal segment is probably my favorite, but they're all very excellent. I don't feel the film is exploiting his death in any way. It's simply paying the tribute and gives fans something they deserve to see.