etmistereportois

It's a nice mid-term animation movie to kill some time with your family: great visuals, nice music and mostly OK, but nothing really special in terms of the story. I kinda wish I'd seen it in the theater, though, cause the picture in some places is really great. I enjoyed the 2D parts particularly, it'd be better, had they added more of those.

I can see where the great art direction comes from, it seems that Paul Tibbitt has done a big job before being replaced. Being in development for a few years, I guess the movie stuck in a development hell at some point, so most probably Universal had to cut what they could, wrap it and push to the theaters, but not only that, it was the studio who purposely killed it, throwing it under the train of bad marketing, and bad release date when the market had Spider Man and Elemental being in theaters already, gathering all the attention they could. We might say that they didn't want to loos even more money on the marketing. But at least they could have selected a different release date, to say the least. I'd say it's a shame an original idea got that kind of treatment, having in mind how few original projects there are on the screen these years.

So overall, it's definitely a fun movie for a family watch, but don't expect anything great from it. It gets the job done entertaining you with goofy characters and creative visual interludes.

Never have I seen something that sincere. Never have I thought there's something that could make me cry so hard. Never have I felt so much love from the other side of the TV screen.

A pure kindness.

I bumped into it while I was changing TV channels. It got me good when I saw all the violence being thrown at me from the screen, so I decided I should at least watch it till the end. When the film ended, I felt like I experienced all the fights myself - my breathe was fast as I ran a mile, and I even had sweat on my forehead, thinking to myself "Now that was a ride!". I liked it, but I wasn't ready to say something about it - it wouldn't be very objective, and there wasn't anything to say except "OH MY GOSH IT WAS FREAKIN' INCREDIBLE".

And so, a week or two later I re-watched it and liked the film even more. I wasn't paying attention to details during my first watch, but this time I saw much more then just a huge fight.

Firstly, I would like to mention that I have never seen such creative camera work in action-packed films. All these shaky camera moves, Dutch angles in moments they were needed and some really clever shots - all this was highly innovative and 2010s-fresh. Camera work really helped with creating the desperate atmosphere of SWAT team being on the edge of death and trying to survive.

Secondly, the soundtrack. I haven't heard the original version, but the American one with Mike Shinoda was simply outstanding. These electronic vibes with a pinch of brostep make all the violent fights and shootings even more aesthetic and beautiful. Seeing Iko Uwais beating the crap out of gangsters gives a very satisfying feeling by itself, but with the Mike Shinoda's compositions the effect becomes two or three times better. I have to say that this film has one of a few soundtracks I really want to buy and listen to separately. I don't want to say that I don't like other films' music, but this one truly overdone the soundtrack format.

And thirdly, the direction. Gareth Evans did an extremely amazing work making all the shootings, fights and sounds into one solid piece of art. Colours, decorations and the way actors played really amazed me. There wasn't much unexpected moments in the plot, but actually I don't think this really matters in action films. As long as the script doesn't have any plot holes, it works really fine. I personally liked the themes this film talks about, though it may occur as a bunch of clichés to somebody. All the effects were great enough too, considering the budget the film used.

To sum up, I'd love to say that this film feels like a roller- coaster (in a good way). There is not much plot twists, but it's not really necessary. You'll get that much adrenaline in your blood, you won't need any serious dialogues, which are pretty good, anyway. If you want to experience some action and excitement, this film is definitely your choice.