Today's weather - sunny
I didn't have much high hopes of this movie but after watching it, I was pleasantly impressed. Directed by Christopher Nolan, this is the last of a 3-part trilogy on the DC comic superhero character Batman. The first two movies Batman Begins and The Dark Knight were released in 2005 and 2008 respectively.
Hemmed by a cast which included Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne and Batman, Michael Caine as the butler Alfred, Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon, as well as new characters Selina cum Cat Burglar played by Anne Hathaway, Bane by Tom Hardy, John by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, other cameos included Cillian Murphy and Morgan Freeman. I am happy that this new installment wasn't a disappointment in the making and it was worth the wait for four whole years before it came to the big screen.
I shan't dwell on the storyline but I am very glad that the movie-makers introduced new twists or surprises to an otherwise mundane plot. One of my favourite character actors Joseph Gordon-Levitt really came a long way since his days on the TV series "Third Rock from the Sun". As John Blake, the audience was treated to a surprise at the end when it hinted that he could be the new Robin, who is the other half of the well-known Batman-Robin pairing portrayed in the comics. Interestingly, in one of the scenes, Joseph's police uniform spotted the familiar initial GC on his sleeves, which I suppose stood for Gotham City. Anne provided a different girlish portrayal of the Cat Burglar, which was a fresh take that bore absolutely no resemblance to the classic Cat Woman played by Michelle Pfeiffer in the late 80s. Then there was Tom Hardy, whom I last remembered as one of the characters in the movie "Inception" of recent years. Just take a look at the photos below on how much he bulked up in a matter of months to play the role of Bane. Sadly, he was almost unrecognizable with the mask on this face and there was only one blink and you will missed it scene of his actual face in the entire movie. Such ballooning in body weight must have a toll on a person's health, I guess? What a sacrifice actors have to make!
And yes, I am looking forward to see the new movie "Man of Steel" on the most well-known DC comic superhero Superman in 2013, which is a year away, after watching the short trailer played before the movie started.
Today's weather - sunny
I was hesitating whether to review the 2 movies I watched in a single post or I should split them but eventually decided to put them together in this very long post. We are getting an overdose of Chris Hemsworth but I am not really complaining. He appeared in the movies "The Cabin in the Woods", "The Avengers" and soon we will be seeing him again in "Snow White and the Huntsman" but that is going to be another subsequent post.
I must say I was very glad I didn't read any reviews on the movie "The Cabin in the Woods" before catching the movie. My sole intention was actually to watch Chris Hemsworth in both movies and make a comparison between the two. Coincidentally, both movies were produced by Joss Whedon, who produced one of my earlier favourite TV series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alyson Hannigan and so on.
Back to the movie review, little did I know this former movie was packed with a lot of surprises, albeit in a good way. Frankly, there are a lot of violence and gore which would not go down well with some, if not most, viewers. But the movie wasn't anything it seemed to be and panned out differently from what I expected. It started with two technicians in an unknown facility chatting away about their work to a group of college students going on a trip to a cabin in the woods. At first, I couldn't see the connection at all.
Then from the moment where I was enjoying an eagle soaring across the picturesque view of the forest to suddenly seeing it smashed into an invisible field before vaporizing into thin air and discovering a painting in the cabin revealed a one-sided mirror made me sat up. What appeared to be a slasher movie turned into a reality tv setting where everything and anything the students did were monitored by hidden cameras in the operative room occupied by the technicians. The surrounding settings and their actions were all manipulated by the technicians e.g. brightening up part of the forest, releasing pheremones into the air, to steer them towards a very certain outcome of death. It reminded me slightly of "The Hunger Games".
The technicians and all the staff in the secret facility made bets on the victims and had deadpan expressions, which hinted that they were all too familiar and desensitized with the process and outcome, when one student after another were killed by undead zombies that rose from the graves. It was confusing once again when I couldn't relate the reality tv part to the night creatures but it was apparent that the five were doomed to die to satisfy an unknown audience, which I initially thought to be the filthy rich strata of a decaying society. When Chris rode on a motorbike to try and cross the ravine in an attempt to seek rescue, I knew his fate would be the same as that of the eagle. When everyone in the facility were celebrating an unknown victory as the last victim and lead character Dana, played by Kristen Connolly, was shown on the multiple tv screens as being strangled and thrown around by the undead, I knew these people were already devoid of sympathy and emotions.
A phone call later created more chaos as the technicians realized with horror that things did not turn out the way it was supposed to and rushed to set things in motion to salvage the situation. The two survivors escaped death and managed to unknowingly sneak into the facility, which was all along in the vicinity, to finally learn the whole truth. What seemed like a crazy reality tv programme morphed further as an entire slew of horrors e.g. giant monsters, werewolves, vampires, ghosts, serial killers, were unleashed from transparent cuboidal trapped cages to kill anything and everything they encounter in the facility.
That was when Sigourney Weaver made a guest appearance as the Director of the facility to explain to the two victims that all the setup was part of an annual ritual to sacrifice 5 pre-selected young people to the ancient ones who were far more terrifying than those unleashed, known as giant evil gods, to appease them so that they would not destroy the entire world. Of course Sigourney was not successful and the two fought to the end, when the hand of the god of destruction rose from the ground to decimate whatever beings that remained. This last lava giant arm that reminded me of "Clash of the Titans" marked the end of this movie.
So I must admit that I enjoyed this B-grade movie was beyond my expectations and I give it credit for its originality and creativity. The storyline definitely wasn't as predictable as most of the movies out there and it was totally a typical Joss Whedon production from the Buffy series. Well, I believe there must be something that Chris Hemsworth saw in the script that made him accept the role. How entertaining and how much fun I had watching this movie.
Now, regarding the other blockbuster movie "The Avengers" based on the Marvel comics and starring Samuel Jackson, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johanson, which was coincidentally produced by Joss Whedon too, there is nothing much I am going to write about it. It was a superheroes movie that appealed to the general masses. The combined allure and forces of superheroes i.e. Hawkeye, Black Widow, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, were too much for anyone to resist. I am sure if they were to make a movie on the Justice League, the outcome would be similar. For me, although the movie was entertaining, it was every bit as predictable as I thought it would be and nothing was out of line. The success of the individual movies on the different superheroes i.e. Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, definitely helped incite the viewers' interest to catch this movie that unites them all. What is better than a superhero movie other than a 5-superheroes movie right? Anyway, no clues for guessing who are my favourite superheroes in this movie. It was such a pleasant surprise to see Cobie Smulders, who was the tv reporter Robin in the tv comedy series "How I Met Your Mother", play a rather prominent role in this movie.
With that, I shall end this extremely long-winded post.
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