THE DIVERGENT SERIES: INSURGENT

Part of a trilogy from "The Divergent Series", this second part "Insurgent" starring the same leads Shailene Woodley, Theo James and others such as Jai Courtney, Maggie Q, Naomi Watts and Kate Winslet.

The movie continued off from the last movie where Tris, Four, Caleb and Peter escaped from the Erudite faction leader Jeanine's clutches and were hiding in the Amity faction until Eric came along in search of a divergent who could be a perfect match to open up a mystery box, from the city's founders, that contained the symbols of all factions. 

Peter betrayed the others who fortunately managed to kill Eric and sought refuge in the Factionless territory instead. Jai Courtney played the ruthless Eric so convincingly that I would really miss his absence. There, Four was unhappily reunited with his mother Evelyn who was then the leader of the Factionless, and revealed his true name Tobias. Evelyn tried to persuade Tobias to accept her proposal to get both Dauntless and Factionless to combine forces to fight against Erudite.

Eventually, Tris was caught by Jeanine and on her own accord, managed to open up the box to reveal the secret behind the walls. The combined factions also managed to defeat Erudite and Jeanine was taken as prisoner, where she was shot in the head by Evelyn before the movie ended.

I didn't like Shailene and I still don't, but overall I do think this second part is better than the first.

Jeanine and Peter tested many divergents to open up the mystery box

Tris cut her hair

Eric had madness written all over his eyes

Eric confronting leader of the Amity faction

Tobias (Four), Peter and Tris

TAKEN 3

I have waited for this movie for some time now especially since I love the first two parts.

With the same cast ensemble comprising Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills, Maggie Grace as Kim Mills, Famke Janssen as Bryan's ex-wife Lenore St. John, Dougray Scott as Stuart St. John and a new member Forest Whitaker as Inspector Franck Dotlzer, the story progressed rather lazily in the first half an hour until Lenore got murdered. That was when the pace picked up, the plot thickened and the action began.

Liam Neeson didn't seem as intimidating in this movie than when he was in the first movie perhaps because of age, but his voice was still certainly commanding and sexy for his age. Thankfully, Maggie Grace wasn't acting like a teenager and freaking out easily anymore, which was really irritating in the earlier movies.

The rest of the movie was kind of predictable in that no matter how many enemies were up against him, the ex-operative with the help of a few friends in this movie eventually eliminated all of them, except for one. I think the movie has lost some of its lustre and the formulaic success was no longer enough to keep me riveted to the chair.

Will there be a part 4? I don't know and guess it would depend on the box office takings for this movie. 

Bryan Mills with daughter Kim

this will be the last we see of Famke as Lenore

Stuart St. John

Inspector Franck Dotlzer

Bryan dueling with one of the villains Oleg Malankov

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART 2

This is the finale of the Twilight romantic fantasy movie series that premiered in the year 2008, gave vampire movies a new twist and made household names out of the 3 young leads Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner.

This last installment finally saw Bella transformed into a powerful vampire with amazing abilities. It also spawned the child of Bella and Edward, Renesmee who is a half human and half immortal. The movie has a strong cast comprising MacKenzie Foy, Ashley Greene, Michael Sheen, Dakota Fanning, Kellan Lutz and Maggie Grace, amongst many others.

I am not a good storyteller and do not know how to embellish a tale, but I was really happy with how the story panned out and the ending. Frankly, there are many things about this finale that I love.

For a start, I love how they alternated the colours red and white at the beginning of the movie to introduce the production crew and ended the movie by showing the entire cast from the first movie until the last. I think it is unprecedented and although I couldn't remember all the characters but it was a good way to wrap up the saga after 5 years.

Then, I love the beginning part of the movie where they showed fantastic views of the beautiful forest conifers and animals when Bella displayed her newfound abilities to hunt. Once again, it was as if I was looking at an enchanted forest with mystical creatures. I was already sold after watching this initial but brief introduction before the story unfolded its dark side. 

The showdown between the vampires, werewolves and Volturi on the snow-covered open field was the climax and I was shocked and saddened by the sudden and quick deaths of the Carlisle Cullen and Jasper, during the brutal battle, who appeared and played important roles in the Cullen family from the first movie until now. Their deaths enraged the Cullen family and their vampire friends and gave them strength to fight and hold their own against the powerful and corrupted royalty Aro, Jane, Alec and others of the Volturi coven, whose demise was both sweet and uplifting for those who rooted for the Cullens. 

The battle ended brilliantly, and gave a well-deserved ending to this epic tale of vampires and werewolves. Of all the movies in this series as shown below, this is my personal favourite.

• Twilight (2008)
• The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)
• The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010)
• The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn part 1 (2011)
• The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn part 2 (2012)

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TAKEN 2

At 56, Liam Neeson sealed his position as an action hero since the 2008 predecessor movie "Taken" which took the box office by surprise. The Irish actor has made many movies since the 80s and filmed quite a number of movies in recent times such as "Clash of the Titans", "Wrath of the Titans", "The Grey", "Batteship". Unlike his younger contemporaries who became action heroes at a younger age, this seasoned and brilliant actor is convincing as a tough secret agent despite his age.

This time round, the movie was set predominantly in Istanbul, which frankly I didn't like. As the CIA Operative Bryan Mills who went to Istanbul on a mission, the fiercely protective husband and father had to single-handedly risked life and limb to rescue his ex-wife Lenore (played by Famke Janssen of "Ex-Men" fame as the character Pheonix) and daughter Kim (played by Maggie Grace) from a legion of his enemies, who were relatives of the men he killed in "Taken", away from his home ground. His job trained him to be a relentless and focused killer with an obsessive compulsive disorder and super-memory who, despite being blindfolded earlier, managed to retrace his steps to the kidnapper's secret hiding place based on his specific set of skills alone.

Seriously, he is not someone to trifle with or whom you want to make enemies of. Especially not after the famous line uttered by him in the first movie to the kidnapper Marko whom took Kim:

I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.

With the success of "Taken 2", now there are talks of a third movie. If this is true, I am definitely looking forward to it since I am very impressed by his commanding voice and versatility in acting.