Blade: Trinity

Title: Blade: Trinity
Director: David S. Goyer
Cast: Wesley Snipes, Ryan Reynolds, Jessica Biel
Year: 2004
MPAA: Rated R for strong pervasive violence and language, and some sexual content.
Date of Review: April 29, 2005

"Blade", one of Marvel’s darker superheros, debuted on the big screen in 1998, completely revamped (pardon the pun) from a Mexican vampire slayer with a few wooden stakes, to a hip, cool, tech-savvy Wesley Snipes with a great sword. Then in 2002, visionary Mexican director and admitted comic book maniac, Guillermo del Toro, brought to the screen his vision of the character with the wildly popular "Blade 2", in which the titular anti-hero teamed up with a ruthless team of vampires to hunt a new breed of monster that kills humans and vampires indiscriminately. Both of these films were written by David S. Goyer, who has penned almost every Marvel Comic film adaptation since "Spider-Man", so when it was announced early last year that he would not only write but make his directorial debut with "Blade: Trinity", naturally, many were excited.

"Blade: Trinity" stars Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Biel (among others) alongside Wesley Snipes and Kris Kristofferson, who reprise their roles as Blade and his partner Whistler, respectively. It begins with Blade being captured by the FBI after accidentally killing a human who was posing as a vampire. He is soon rescued by Hannibal King (played by Ryan Reynolds in a performance that’s frighteningly similar to his character Van Wilder), and Abigail Whistler, played by Jessica Biel. Unfortunately, the casting directors seem to think that the only pre-requisite of being a vampire hunter is that you’re on the list of "Most Beautiful People in the World".

The movie seems to be a mixture of the previous two films, while also trying to incorporate a plot about Dracula. However, through the entire 2-hour length of the film, it is hard to tell whether the Dracula storyline is meant to be a main feature in the film, or simply a subplot. Not to mention the fact that Dracula looked like a strange mix of the Lord of Darkness from "Legend", and something off a bad episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". Combine that with vampire dogs (yes...vampire dogs) and you have some pretty unconvincing villains at hand.

The problems with "Blade: Trinity" don’t lie in the concept, but in the execution. The idea of Blade fighting Dracula is one that was inevitable in a franchise such as this, and the fact that it was left to the final film had a lot of fans eager to see what would be done. Instead of creating an original mix of action and horror, however, it is simply a re-hash of the plots of the previous two films, with a horrendous amount of product placement. Jessica Biel’s character serves absolutely no purpose, other than advertising iPods. Yes, the personal MP3 sound system is advertised heavily in this film, showing Jessica Biel not only loading songs onto it on two occasions, but before she fights hoards of undead villains, there are quick cuts to her placing headphones in her ears and hitting PLAY.

It’s not that "Blade: Trinity" is a bad movie in any respect. In fact, it has some scenes of stunning originality, and Ryan Reynolds has a few one-liners that are quite funny, if only for the fact that they are so inappropriate. But this film could have been so much more. Seeing as how it is the first Marvel film to complete a trilogy, as well as close the entire franchise, it would have been nice to have gone out with a bang...but instead we got a barely audible thud.

5.5/10

Start of new reviews

OK I am done posting my old reviews, so I will now being posting the newer ones. I will start with "Blade: Trinity", which I just finished.

Saw

Title: Saw
Director: James Wan
Cast: Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Monica Potter
Year: 2004
MPAA: Rated R for strong grisly violence and language
Date of Review: February 17, 2005


James Wan's "Saw" was perhaps one of the most eagerly awaited movies of last year after receiving critical acclaim at the Sundance film festival. Claiming to be "Se7en" for the new millennium, the film tells a similar story of a deranged killer who chooses victims that display a lack of humility for what they have been given in life. Such victims include a doctor who is having an affair, and a man who allegedly attempted suicide to get attention. The twist that makes the film's premise so interesting, though, is that instead of simply killing or torturing his victims with his own hands, the killer finds ways for them to kill themselves. Unfortunately, this intriguing plot is spoiled by a horrible script, the worst acting this side of "Spice World", and way too many quick cuts and instances of MTV style editing.

Cary Elwes, famous for his role as the charming prince in "The Princess Bride", plays the role of the adulterous doctor who wakes up chained to a pipe in a small white room filled with septic pipes and various janitorial supplies. Across from him is another man named Adam (played by rookie actor Leigh Whannel), who is also chained to a pipe, and in the center of the room is a third man, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. From there, the doctor must decide if he has the guts to kill Adam or saw off his own foot in order to survive the killer's plan and save his family.

While all of the setwork, make-up and contraption designs are quite good, the movie is filmed with the competence of an episode of "Judge Judy". It doesn't help that Cary Elwes has a smirk on his face through the entire film, and seems to be trying to refrain from laughing, even while supposedly devastated by the revelation that his family is being held captive.

Regardless of the horrible acting and poor scriptwork, which seem to be almost required in today's horror films, "Saw" suffers from taking an original idea and turning it into a by-the-numbers slasher. Danny Glover plays an ex-cop who was let go from the force after having a previous encounter with the killer, and has since become obsessed with discovering his true identity and stopping the killing. The movie is filled with convenient instances of people showing up at just the right moment, and coincidence after coincidence until even the coincidences become predictable. By the time the end twist rolls around, you're already so fed up with all the twists of plot that it's really not that shocking...or perhaps it's just hard to care by that point.

By the end of the movie, we're left asking questions: what was the killer's motive? How has no one caught him yet? And why wasn't the movie given the budget and effort that it deserved? Supposedly, according the James Wan, the film was originally over two hours long, but had to be trimmed down to barely an hour and forty minutes so as to receive an R rating. Wan himself stated that so much plot was cut that the effect he was going for was lost. Hopefully an unrated version of the film will be released at a later date, but as of now, "Saw" is a typical serial killer flick with a premise that really could have been the next "Se7en", but fell short with its execution.

5/10

Shattered Glass

Title: Shattered Glass
Director: Billy Ray
Cast: Hayden Christensen, Chloe Sevigny, Peter Sarsgaard
Year: 2003
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for language, sexual references and brief drug use
Date of Review: February 9, 2005


In this true-to-life story, Hayden Christensen plays Stephen Glass, a young reporter working for The New Republic magazine in the late 1990s. It follows the rise and fall of his short career, as we see him become popular with his co-workers who love hearing his humorous stories about events he has attended, people he has interviewed, and things he has seen. It is then found out by a reporter for the then-online magazine Forbes, that Stephen Glass' latest article about a hacker conference is actually a fabrication. This leads to an investigation by his editor, who discovers that over 2/3 of all of Glass' work has been fictional.

The movie runs at a tight pace, and at a runtime of barely 90 minutes, it is shorter than the average political or legal drama. This is usually the downfall of many movies of this type, but for this, it is actually beneficial, as we are not bogged down with needless characters, dialogue or moral preaching. It is quick and to-the-point, much like the articles it depicts. Stylistically, this is a good thing.

Unfortunately, what the movie IS bogged down by are a few iffy and uneven performances, mainly from Steve Zahn, who is incredibly miscast as the Forbes reporter that begins the unraveling of Glass' lies. While his character is meant to be a serious one, it seems like he is always holding back from laughing or spurting out some comedic one-liner that you could expect from a movie by the Farrelly Brothers. Hayden Christensen is great at playing the whiny over-achiever Stephen Glass. Then again, it seems, after looking at Christensen's filmography, that that is the only type of character he can play.

To balance the film out, there are some outstanding performances from the supporting cast, most notably that of young actor Peter Sarsgaard in the role of Chuck, the editor who uncovers Glass' deceiving nature. He plays a character that is easy to hate, yet at the same time easy to identify with, as he struggles to earn the respect of the writers while uncovering a conspiracy incriminating one of their best friends.

The direction is taut and keeps the film interesting, but there are bits that could have been improved, re-written, or completely scrapped. There is an entire subplot to the story in which Glass is telling a high school class about his experiences writing for The New Republic, but it doesn't go anywhere and leaves you wondering why it was ever put there in the first place.

"Shattered Glass" is an intriguing film with its share of flaws. Its few moments of hoakiness are evened out by a few moments of sheer brilliance from actor Peter Sarsgaard. The film provides an entertaining and worthwhile look at ethics in journalism, and with a fast pace it manages to avoid dabbling in uninteresting characters and subjects.

6.5/10

Resident Evil: Apocalypse

Title: Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Director: Alexander Witt
Cast: Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory, Thomas Kretschmann
Year: 2004
MPAA: Rated R for non-stop violence, language and some nudity
Date of Review: February 3, 2005


Paul Anderson's latest venture into writing a movie based on a video game is filled with "apparently’s". Apparently, standard issue uniforms for female government agents is a blue tube top and the shortest mini skirt ever seen. Apparently tactical SWAT-like teams recruit their members solely from third world countries. Apparently a helicopter only needs to be about 20 feet away in order to make it out of a nuclear explosion. Apparently people with ADD are now prime candidates for directorial jobs in Hollywood. And apparently Paul Anderson is completely oblivious to the fact that he can't write.

This movie, being the sequel to an already mediocre movie, manages to somehow make an hour and a half of people shooting zombies quite boring. The story picks up where the first film left off, with Alice (Milla Jovovich) waking up in a deserted hospital, grabbing a shotgun, and getting down-and-dirty with the zombies that have taken over the city. But now, in what Anderson seems to think was a very clever move, she is joined by members of the S.T.A.R.S. team - that tactical team mentioned earlier. And wouldn't you know it, one of those people is Jill Valentine, the popular character from the first Resident Evil video game. Many terrible action sequences, even more terrible special effects, and even MORE terrible dialogue exchanges ensue.

There's really not much going for this movie at all. It plays out like a video game designed by someone with schizophrenia, and has worse dialogue than "Alien vs. Predator" (which, coincidentally, was also penned by Paul Anderson). Unfortunately, unlike "Alien vs. Predator", this movie does not have great effects or set work to make it tolerable - everything is just very poorly done, and, if you are a fan of the video game franchise, you’ll be wondering where they got any of the ideas for this movie, because it’s obviously not the games that inspired them to write the story.

This movie features a few respectable actors, and makes you wonder why they would ever stoop so low, even if it was just a movie to pay the bills. Thomas Kretschmann, who appeared in Roman Polanski’s war-time drama "The Pianist", plays an evil corporate mogul willing to sacrifice anyone or anything for...well...I’m not really sure. The plot is so vague that you really have no idea what the motivations for any of the characters are, and they are all paper-thin themselves. Even the immense talent of Kretschmann couldn’t provide credibility to his character, which is written so poorly that you could swear his lines came out of a "Cliche Villain Handbook". Milla Jovovich, who has proven on many occasions to be a competent actress, really tarnishes her image with her character of Alice, who now seems to be some sort of rip-off of Marvel Comics’ X-Men character, Wolverine.

Speaking of rip-offs, this movie goes to show you that there is a very delicate line in the world of movies between "homage" and "unoriginal rip-off". "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" manages to steal from just about every successful zombie franchise in the history of cinema, but Anderson would of course pass these instances off as "respectful homages" to the movies. Anderson even manages to incorporate references to his own past works, showing how incredibly full of himself he is, and how oblivious he is to the fact that he can’t write.

"Resident Evil: Apocalypse" takes all the great elements we have come to love in zombie movies these days, and waters them down to a level so bad and nonsensical that it is barely watchable. The script not only leaves a lot to be desired, but will make even the most casual movie goer cringe at its cheesiness. It’s main problem is that, while many horror movies can maintain a high level of fun while being cheesy, this is not fun at all, and is actually tedious and, in the end, boring.

1.5/10

Bad Taste

Title: Bad Taste
Director: Peter Jackson
Cast: Peter Jackson, Terry Potter, Pete O'Herne
Year: 1987
MPAA: Rated R for strong violence and gore, language, and some disturbing images
Date of Review: January 31, 2005


Looking at Peter Jackson's filmography is like looking at the diary of someone with multiple personalities. With "Bad Taste", he started off in the same vein as Sam Raimi, making extremely low budget horror films which, with their ridiculous amounts of gore, classic over-the-top acting and memorable characters and one-liners, became huge cult hits. Jackson directed another gore-fest called "Dead Alive", then did a complete u-turn with his critically acclaimed drama "Heavenly Creatures", which starred Harvey Keitel and Kate Winslet. After his semi-successful horror/comedy "The Frighteners" starring Michael J. Fox, he went on to direct what we know him best for, the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

With "Bad Taste", Peter Jackson has created a mixed bag of comedy, extremely low-budget action, and some of the most disgusting gore this side of the galaxy. The story follows a team of government agents nicknamed "The Boys" as they try to foil the plans of an intergalactic alien fast food chain called "Crumb's Crunchy Delights", who plan on using humans in their latest addition to the menu. That's basically all the story you get, and then you are thrust into an hour and a half of exploding heads, piles of brains, people drinking vomit, and, of course, exploding sheep.

Considering the fact that they had a budget of literally nothing, the things Jackson and his team were able to pull off are pretty incredible. When the aliens finally morph into their real, alien forms, the costumes are both hilarious and impressive, and the actual morphing process itself was quite inventive. I would also like to note that whoever sacrificed their hot-rod to be blown up by a rocket launcher was either very faithful to the project, or completely insane.

The movie is filled with dialogue that is so intentionally bad that you can't help but laugh. Peter Jackson plays two roles in the film: one of "The Boys", and one of the aliens. His human role is a mumbling dork named Derek who, after being told that a band of vicious aliens are heading his way, says "I'm a Derek...Derek's don't run". There is also some great witty banter between the two "macho men" of the team as they take their time driving to aid their friends. One of their conversations reveals that the team's actual government name is "Astro Investigation and Defense Service", to which one of them says "I wish we'd get that name changed".

The only real drawback to the movie could even be considered something that makes it funnier. Unfortunately, shortly after the movie was completed, all of the audio tracks were lost. This meant that all of the dialogue had to be re-recorded in a studio and matched up to the actors' mouths. While some may find this a bit distracting, it actually makes everything they say even more ridiculous and overdone.

"Bad Taste" is a truly gross movie. From the opening multiple-head-shot sequence to the ending "re-birth" shot, we are treated to some of the most disgustingly ooey-gooey gore ever put on film. But it is all done very well, and it has a wonderful self-mocking sense of humor that is nearly impossible to not laugh at.

8.5/10

Oldboy

Title: Oldboy
Director: Park Chanwook
Cast: Choi Min-sik, Yu Ji-tae, Kang Hye-jeong
Year: 2004
MPAA: Rated R for strong violence including scenes of torture, sexuality and pervasive language
Date of Review: January 30, 2005


This recent and very underseen/underrated Korean gem won the Grand Prix at Cannes, yet it has managed to cruise under the radar of most North American theatres and video stores, as well as, it seems, the Academy, as it is not nominated for "Best Foreign Language Film" this year - an award it deserves to not only be nominated for, but win.

The film's complex plot begins with a man named Oh Daesu being held at a police station on the eve of his daughter's third birthday, as he is drunk and being a little bit wild. He is bailed out, and quickly kidnapped by an unknown party. He awakes in a small apartment, with all windows and doors completely barricaded, and he is kept there for 15 years without any reason. During the next half hour, we enter the mind of a man aging mentally and physically as he is isolated with only a television to keep him company. He watches history fly by on the TV set - Kim Jong Il becoming the leader of Korea, George Bush becoming president of the USA, the attacks on the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001. Then, as suddenly as he is captured, he wakes up inside a briefcase which he quickly bursts out of to find himself on the roof of an unknown building in the middle of the city. The rest of the film finds Daesu hunting down clues as to the reason for his imprisonment, while trying to determine who is helping him and who is involved in the ever-growing conspiracy.

"Oldboy" takes many twists and turns in both plot and character development that may leave some feeling a bit confused, but luckily all loose ends are tied up by the end - though you may regret it. It is definitely not a film for the feint of heart. It contains some incredibly choreographed fight scenes that are both realistic and completely jaw-dropping in their brutality. It also contains some of the most disturbing scenes and plot revelations I have, personally, ever seen.

The part that really shines in the film and will keep you strapped to your seat even through all the violence and masochism is the performance of Choi Minsik, the actor playing the lead role of Oh Daesu. From hilarious comedy in his first scenes as an out-of-control drunk to the utter devastation he goes through in the final revelations of plot, he keeps a human face on situations that are beyond anything that you or I could ever comprehend.

With fantastic cinematography and a stylish sense of direction, Park Chanwook has created a film that is beautiful yet repulsive, physically exciting yet emotionally devastating. The characters feel real and that is what makes the film so tragic.

Easily the best of 2004, and probably the best of the new millennium, "Oldboy", while not for everyone, is a sensory feast that features the most haunting and disturbing story since David Fincher's "Se7en".

10/10

Alien vs. Predator

Title: Alien vs. Predator
Director: Paul W. S. Anderson
Cast: Sanaa Lathan, Raoul Bova, Lance Henriksen
Year: 2004
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for violence, language, horror images, slime and gore
Date of Review: January 29, 2005


While it is not the worst movie I have ever seen - in fact, not even in that realm of bad movies
- Alien vs. Predator manages to bastardize everything about the two franchises involved, creating an overly formulaic and cliche action/adventure movie, where there was potential to be a thrilling and terrifying sci-fi/horror.

The plot basically tries to show the origins of both species (and strangely enough, it seems human civilization has a lot to owe to the Predators). It begins with Weyland (Lance Henrikson) gathering up a team of scientists to go to Antarctica, where his satellite has picked up enormous heat levels that seem to form the shape of an underground pyramid. They arrive to find that someone - or something - got there before them, drilling a perfectly cylindrical hole 2000 feet down to the pyramid. If that wasn't the first clue that they should get out of there, I don't know what was.

As it turns out, Predators came to Earth thousands and thousands of years ago and encountered primitive humans. They taught them how to build structures, and the humans treated them like Gods (does this remind anyone else of 2001: A Space Odyssey?). The Predators then begin breeding Aliens, using willing human sacrifices as hosts to the deadly Aliens. Flash back to the present. These scientists are now stuck in this underground pyramid, and are being slaughtered one-by-one by both Aliens and Predators, and there you have your plot.

The movie is filled with paper-thin characters. Of course, neither franchise was particularly renowned for their use of deep characters, but at least we cared somewhat for them, and in the first Alien film in particular, they acted like real people. The people in AvP are the typical Hollywood good-looking bunch of barely-legal adults, saying big words like "marine biologist" and "temple", when you know the actors probably had no clue what they were talking about. Neither did the writers, for that matter.

Instead of caring for the characters, I genuinely loathed a few of them. The babe-magnet Italian guy for example, who looks like a surfer and is supposed to be an expert on everything there is to know about anything, it seems. At one point I actually laughed out loud when he randomly makes the prediction "I bet the pyramid moves at exactly every 10 minutes", which just happens to be exactly correct.

Getting passed the horrible acting and script work, what really bothered me was the complete butchering of both the Alien and Predator franchises. All the stealthy, sleek movements and traits of the Aliens are gone, replaced with the gracefulness of a bulldog in heat. No longer can they sneak up right beside you or maneuver through tight corridors and cracks to get to their prey - instead they jump and run, knocking over boulders and making tons of noise, with their best stealth capability being the ability to hide in dark tunnels. They're loud, obnoxious creatures that prove to be little threat to anyone, since a single woman with no combat training at all manages to kill one by herself in the open. The Predators, who we all used to know as advanced tribal hunters from a distant galaxy, have been replaced with overweight, clunky wrestlers. Everything they do in this movie goes against everything they were based on - honor, the hunt, etc. One of the biggest rules established through the Predator universe has been that they cannot kill something that is unarmed - a rule that is broken in AvP several times over.

The fights look like wrestling matches. At times there are some interesting shots, and there are obvious tributes to fight scenes from previous films in both franchises, but it just doesn't feel like Alien or Predator. The Aliens have the intelligence and strength of medium-sized dogs, and the Predators seem to be incredibly uneven with regards to what type of damage they can and cannot take.

All that being said, there are some beautifully done sets. The temple has quite a neat look to it, and some of the work done on the look of the Alien costumes is impressive when it is not CGI. But this just cannot make the movie good when there is just so much to dislike about it.

Overall this was a tiring, mediocre movie that could have been so much more. If they had taken out the hundreds of times that we see facehuggers flying through the air in bullet time and replaced them with decent tension, story, and a little gore to keep things up to snuff, we might have had a somewhat respectable popcorn flick here.

3/10

Zebraman

Title: Zebraman
Director: Takashi Miike
Cast: Sho Aikawa, Kyoka Suzuki, Koen Kondo
Year: 2004
MPAA: PG for violence, thematic elements, and gore used for comedic purposes
Date of Review: January 29, 2005


This is one of the latest films that Takashi Miike has splooged out. I don't know if it is actually his latest, since it seems he comes out with a new full-length movie every week.

This strange blend of sci-fi, action and comedy centers around a middle-aged school teacher whose life is uneventful and unsatisfying. His wife seems to be having an affair, his children have no respect for him, and his students don't take him seriously. As an escape during his spare time, he makes a costume resembling an old television superhero called "Zebraman", which aired in Japan for 7 episodes before being cancelled. Before you begin asking questions or searching for pictures, it is a fictional television show, and yes, it is actually a costume that resembles a zebra.

Coincidentally, at about the same time that he begins wearing his costume outside his house and attempting to foil robberies and petty crimes, the world is being invaded by strange, jelly-like aliens residing under the stage of the local junior high school. Of course, this becomes the main conflict, with Zebraman fighting the aliens and attempting to defend Earth by himself.

There are several subplots thrown into the mix, but none of them are really fully explored or resolved. There is one that is quite touching, involving a new student in his class who is handicapped, and who shares his love for Zebraman. There is also one featuring two military officers working incognito as a gay couple trying to find where the aliens are hiding. Throughout the film we see these characters pop in and out, but the boy is really the only one that has any impact on the story and how it unfolds.

One major drawback to the film is that it seems Takashi Miike couldn't really decide what type of film he was trying to make. It begins as an almost gut-splittingly funny spoof of the recent Hollywood explosion of superhero movies, but then turns into an overly-sentimental feel-good film. It also contains Miike's signature disturbingly gross gore, though since it is generally aliens involved (with their blood and organs being green) it's not as gross as his other films such as "Ichi the Killer". By the time the ridiculous final battle rolled around, I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to be laughing at how intentionally horrible and cheesy it was, or cringing at how badly it was done.

The special effects are nothing to call home about, but they get the job done and there are no times when they look particularly horrible, but at the same time they never look great either. You can tell that most of the effects budget was spilled into the final battle, which is quite sad because it is very disappointing and, again, it's hard to tell what Miike was actually going for with it.

Overall, like the special effects it showcases, "Zebraman" is nothing spectacular, but is worth seeing if you are interested in Asian cinema or are looking for something that is generally fun and at times has a good sense of humor. It's sort of like what you would get if you took Tim Burton's "Mars Attacks!" and put it in a blender with any one of the recent plethora of superhero movies that Hollywood is spewing out.

4.5/10

The Passion of the Christ

Title: The Passion of the Christ
Director: Mel Gibson
Cast: Jim Caviezel, Monica Bellucci, Maia Morgenstern
Year: 2004
MPAA: Rated R for sequences of graphic violence
Date of Review: February 27, 2004


Having seen the original trailer which was released last year when the film was originally just called "The Passion" (which, by the way, I think is a much better title), I was intrigued to see this film from the beginning. I am not a religious person, but I do think that the stories told in the Bible are interesting, and the message behind them is one that can be applied to anyone anywhere in the world. Needless to say, I was also looking forward to seeing Mel Gibson's next directorial efforts.

Skip forward about 6-8 months and it's January 2004, and the film is receiving flak more than a month before it has even been released. Enraged by this, Gibson says some things about the critics that he probably will end up regret saying. But this does not change the fact that the people who have seen the film already are giving it very mixed reviews. Some said it was a Biblical epic for the ages, depicting the last 12 hours of Jesus' life just as they would have been. Others say it is an offensive and overly violent film promoting anti-semetism.

Last night, on Wednesday February 25, 2004, "The Passion of the Christ" was released to the world, and I was lucky enough to get to see it at one of the first showings in my hometown (thanks again, Steve). This spectacular film was both emotionally draining and, at some points, almost physically painful to watch. This is not a complaint in any way, but simply a statement of the truth - watching Jesus (played with masterful grace and, well, passion, by Jim Caviezel) being tortured beyond anything people in modern society could even imagine is a sight I will never forget, and was quite disturbing...but it was not without purpose. Mel Gibson's goal with the film was to portray his vision of what occurred in the events leading up to and including the crucifiction, and he wanted to show the brutality with which Jesus was treated. The film shows the love that Jesus gave to all those who would accept it, and even to those who persecuted and, ultimately, killed him.

Perhaps one of my favorite performances in the film was that of Hristo Shopov as Pontius Pilate, the Roman general that is forced to judge Jesus according to the will of the people. He was incredibly aware of his role in the story, and managed to show his emotions clearly and realistically within the parameters of his character, as a Roman soldier of his status would be expected to be merciless and without emotion.

The performance put forward by Rosalinda Celentano as Satan was also quite powerful. With few lines and no truly evil actions, she manages to convey the purely evil nature of Satan very well, and is quite frightening.

The cinematography was truly beautiful. Every scene was shot with such precision and grace that it actually feels like you are watching the events actually occurring.

Of course, I must comment on the extremely high levels of gore in the film, and all I will say is that, in the context of the film and the message Gibson was trying to give, it was perfectly suitable to the film. Perhaps the most disturbing shot, for me, was of the crown of thorns being placed on Jesus' head. The thorns are pressed into his skin, then literally smashed into place using wooden rods. The whole film is quite violent and graphic, but when you think about it, Jesus was being punished for the sins of ALL men, so it makes sense that this would be a very brutal occurrence.

This film doesn’t really present any brand new ideas about Jesus’ final 12 hours, but rather takes the original ideas and presents them in a more realistic, less sugar-coated manor. Many argue that the Jews are portrayed as savages who are completely clueless to their wrongdoings, but, in fact, everyone is portrayed that way. After all, that is the reason they did it, hence "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do".

Mel Gibson’s "The Passion of the Christ" is truly a cinematic event and will be remembered for many years to come (hopefully in a good light). Seeing this film was an experience, not just your typical night at the movies. When the last scene faded out to the credits, everyone just sat, silent, for about 5 minutes. Everyone, including myself, was speechless. The audience all stood up in unison and left in awe, still completely silent.

10/10

--------Blog Maintenance--------

I have decided I am going to post all of my previous reviews, along with the dates at which I reviewed them, before I begin posting new reviews. I want to show older work, in hopes that improvement can be seen.

Please note that these range from early 2004 to now, and I have seen a lot of movies since then for which I have not done reviews. My tastes have changed quite a bit, so films which I gave 10/10 ratings to back then I may not like as much now.

So, I hope you enjoy these next few reviews. I will signify when the new reviews begin. The "Oldboy" review will be back up at a later date.

-B.

The beginning of something big, hopefully

Together with some kind advice and help from my grade 12 Entrepreneurship teacher, I am beginning a business venture, and it starts here.

Now, you are probably wondering, "why in the name of all that is holy is he beginning a business venture by creating a blog?". Basically, I hope that my reviews will be of a good enough quality that people will keep coming back. If I can generate some traffic, perhaps even get a list of "returning clients", I may be able to get movie tickets to sneak previews, etc. (through collaboration with the local newspaper, or through the production companies themsleves).

This is not unheard of, so if I can get a good blog going with my reviews, there is a good chance this could lead somewhere.

My eventual goal is to make films of my own. Not to make millions of dollars and spend my life in the spotlight, but instead because I absolutely love film, love making my own miniature independent projects, and I cannot imagine doing anything else for the rest of my life.

So, I hope you enjoy what will be posted by me. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.