I did your job once... I was good at it. (Blade Runner 2049 2017)

148.

Blade Runner 2049

 

 

 

 

 

8.5/10

 

 

The long-anticipated sequel to the 1982 movie, Blade Runner, has finally come to the big screen. I had to study the first movie within my University degree and refused to watch it again after that. We know Harrison Ford is back for this one, along with some new additions in the form of Ryan Gosling, Dave Batista and Jared Leto, to know but a few. With the new use of CGI and limitless money, this has the potential to be a brilliant film in all forms. The original had pulled a cult following and many people knew the pressure that was on with this sequel. So, will it be a cheap copy or an outstanding 'replicant'?

First, we have a little reading to do. Filled in on what has happened since the first movie, with the creation of new replicants and the older generation being hunted down. The title of the movie, is shown through the red font within the paragraphs. The beginning sets the tone with a beautiful, hard on the eyes, landscape and immersive, if not uncomfortable musical score. Within minutes we are introduced to Gosling's character, K, who is a Blade Runner and is out so terminate Sapper Morton, played by Dave Batista. It's accomplished and I can't believe how little a role Batista had in the movie. K is ready to leave, but first investigates a dying tree and asks his little drone to take pictures of the underneath. Finding a chest buried deep down, he sends a message for his team to unearth it and heads back home. After finding out that the chest contained a female, who gave birth, even though she was a replicant, the fact that Sapper said he'd witness a miracle, seemed to make more sense. Now, it's time for them to find the replicant child. Instantly, I'm thinking that the child, is Gosling's character. He heads home and we instantly see the life he has. A rough tower block, full of people giving him abuse because of the fact he is a replicant. He starts to talk to his girlfriend in his apartment, but as he enters each room, we never really see her and it becomes apparent that she isn't really there. She is a hologram and this guy prefers it that way, never being judged. He still casts a lonely figure, constantly having his mind on work. There is also a scene where his hologram, named Joi, calls a prostitute over and overlaps her body, syncing with her, so that K may feel that it is Joi that he will be engaging in intercourse with. This is quite a drawn-out process and felt longer than it should have been. Everyone got the idea but I think they just wanted to show the special effects and the moment lasted for around 5 minutes longer than it should have.
The story now progresses back to the child case and K sets out to the Wallace company, to find out about the serial number that was found in the chest. After some searching, with the blackout from years ago clearing most data, a female replicant comes to help out. Luv, take K to an archive which when they enter the serial number, an old video pops up and it's our first main link to the prequel. I's Rachael, being interviewed by Deckard, who is Ford's character. This is also the first main moment that made me realise, if you haven't seen the first one, confusion may set in. Luv reports what has happened to his boss, Wallace, who is played by Jared Leto. This guy's voice is so irritating, is gets higher towards the end of each stuttering sentence, as if he is constantly asking questions. I'm finding myself shuffling in my seat every time his mouth opens. Wallace's main objective, is to create a replicant that can give birth. This way he can maximise the amount created that are needed for slaves. This guy has a little bit of evil inside, as he slices a replicant open at the torso, after knowing she cannot give birth. He knows Tyrell knew how to do this and sends Luv to keep an eye on K and the case he is doing. K himself has returned to Sapper's farm, found a picture of a woman holding a baby and also a date carved into the bottom of the tree. This clearly upsets him and after reporting it back to his boss, Joshi, she lets him know that someone, has stolen the remains of Rachael and killed the doctor who was studying it. We have seen that it was Luv. Joshi meets K at his place and asks about his memories that have been planted inside him to make him feel more realistic. He goes on about being in a factory and being chased by other kids who wanted to steal him wooden horse but after he hides it in a furnace, they beat him up off camera. He remembers that the horse has a date on it, the same one that was on the tree, but he doesn't let this out. He figures that the date is a birth date, so works into the archives himself to find some certificates. He finds two children, who have identical DNA, which is impossible and he suspects that one must be a fake. He clicks his little pen and out pops Joi, questioning him on whether he is the baby. He seems irritate and sets off to find the orphanage that these two kids were in. The girl is now dead but the boy is still about.   
During the travel, we are treated to the immersive music again and great graphics of the surrounding areas. As San Diego approached, K is shot out of the sky and crashes, being set upon but many people. These people are made easy work of though, by missiles from the sky. Luv really is keeping an eye on him and helping him on his course. The scene was made better by an EMP, which caused Joi to lose connection and stutter about, with some great graphics. Inside the orphanage, K physically makes the caretaker give him information on the two kids from years ago, so the guy takes him to his office. On the way, K takes his time, looks around and seem to recognise the place. In the office, the book from years ago has the pages ripped out that K needs and he angrily leaves but not before taking a walk. He walks through places that the audience now recognise from his memory implant. He retrieves the wooden horse and heads home, upset, where Joi convinces him that his memory was real. This means that he was born and names him Joe. Now I'm convinced that it's him. She also makes him go and see an expert on the memories, so off he sets to meet a woman who is locked in a glass dome due to her immune system being on the fritz. Her parents left her on Earth, with everything they thought that she would need. He mainly asks her whether the memories could real and she discusses how each creator, sometimes puts their own personal touch into the implants. She sits and reviews his and instantly becomes visibly upset, telling him that they are real. K leaves in a fit of anger and I'm sitting there pretty convinced that it's actually her! Why would she have a tear if it wasn't her?
K heads back to the LAPD and has to take the usual tests to prove that he is still on point. This time is fails massively and is sent home by Joshi to sort his head out. This leads to that syncing sex scene that I have already mentioned and the next morning, the prostitute, plants a tracker in his coat. Who's this bird now? K heads back to an anger Joshi, who tells him that he is going to be killed for his bassline failed test and he explains that he is only in this state because he has completed his mission and killed the kid. Joshi gives him 48 hours to disappear, to which he returns home and tells Joi he is leaving. She demands that she comes too, so that no one can question her in the whereabouts of K. He damages the projector in his room so that Joi cannot be moved to another device and this alerts Luv, who has been using the projector to track K's movements. I've now realised that we are about an hour and 30 minutes in and we are still yet to see Harrison Ford. Luv has made her way to Joshi's office and asks where K is. After the refusal, she ends up killing Joshi and uses her computer to find him anyway. K has taken the horse to find out and information that he can about it, finding out that the radiation levels means that the only nearby place it could have come from, would be Las Vegas. Luv is still tracking him as he makes his way into the remains of Vegas. Another few minutes of wide lens shots and music, setting the scene of this abandoned place. He enters a hotel and with the booby-traps, I guess he's in the right place. It doesn't take long for Deckard to show himself, holding a gun, with a slight shake that I don't know is put on or is Ford's age. The fight for a while, into a room that has musical icons through holograms. The speakers are broken though and every now and again, the music comes on, blaring and leaving the scene every uneasy as it carries on. In the end, a truce is brought about and the two have a drink and a chat. Deckard tells his story and why he vanished to protect the child. It becomes apparent that K was followed and the building is attacked. A car flies in through the window and lands, with men fighting Deckard and K, taking Deckard with them. As K is attacked by Luv, Joi appears, begging for her to stop. Luv walks over and steps on the mobile projector, just as Joi tells K she loves him. That was harder moment than I thought it would be. I'm actually gutted for the guy. He is now left for dead.
K wakes up and his wounds have been seen to. A group of replicants, who are waiting for an uprising, have been following him around and one of these included Mariette, the prostitute. Their leader reveals how she was there during childbirth for Rachael and is the one in the picture from earlier. They went to lengths to hide the baby and figure that if they can prove that they can have children, then the human world can no longer deny them their rights. K leads on to telling them that he is the child but Freysa, the leader, quickly extinguishes his flame but telling him that it was a girl. Was I right? K is confused and asks how he can have the real memory and he's told that it's in many of the replicant's minds as a motivation for freedom. He works out who the daughter is and the replicants beg K to go back to LA and kill Deckard, so that he cannot give Wallace any information. Once he is back, he's walking through a massive storm, battered and bruised, ready for his next mission. Deckard has been brought in front of Wallace and his tactics to get information involve a replicant, rebuilt like Rachael, that Deckard can keep, but he quickly notices that her eyes are the wrong colour and Luv puts a gun to her head and kills her. The special effects here, were the same type used in Rogue One in the case of Leia etc. With the failure of making him talk, Wallace wants Deckard to be taken off world, where they have the means to make him talk. They take off in a spinner, with Deckard cuffed in the back but it's not long until K tracks them down and shoots the two escorting spinners, leaving the main car to turn back to base. It crashes onto the beach and K pulls up next to it, like a man possessed, we can see it in his eyes, as he shoots the driver and takes aim for Luv. The waves are crashing into the car, slowly but surely, dragging it into the tide. Luv and K fight for a while, as she overcomes him due to his earlier injuries, explaining to him, how she is the new, better model. He then turns the tide himself and knocks her out an enters the vehicle to get Deckard. Back comes Luv, but K drowns her and as all of his carries on, we see Harrison Ford comically trying to keep his head above the water in the background. He is saved, just in time and taken to the shore, where he knows he needs to be killed. This doesn't happen though and K states that people will believe that he went down with the spinner.
The movie final draws to an end after nearly 2 and a half hours, as Deckard is taken to the woman that K went to see about his memories. He urges Deckard to enter, to meet his daughter. K lies down onto the steps outside, holding his wounds and seemingly at peace with the part he has played in all of this. The screen turns to black, as we believe, is the same as K's life finally ending.
This sequel has been a long time in waiting and once back in the world, I had quickly remembered the first movie. It was an action packed, immersive storyline that didn't feel as long as it did but at the same time, could really have been cut down in size. The long, drawn out travel scenes, could have easily been shorter, along with the syncing scene, which would have meant the movie could have been around the two-hour mark, making it a lot more appealing for others. The casting didn't have one fault and Gosling really impressed me with this movie. The guys range of genres is growing in my eyes. As for Leto and Ford, I didn't expect to see as little of those two as we did. The musical score in this movie, was the same as the first. It was truly gripping and at times, unnerving, which was intentional and brilliant. This moves onto the visuals, from the bright opening, ending with a darker fight scene and the true ending back to a nice bright snowfall. It was a movie that worked so well, even with the risk taken of upsetting the prequel's loyal followers. You didn't truly need to see the first for this story to work, but it definitely helped with the background at times. With a story of ups and downs, a dark grimness being sandwiched between a bright beginning and end, I've seen this movie twice. One final thought would always be, is Deckard a replicant?? In my opinion...no.
 

It's a great day to die (Flatliners 2017)

 

 

 

147.

Flatliners

 

 

 

 

5.5/10

 

 

Another horror and another re-make of the film with the same title from 1990. This one stars Ellen Page, Diego Luna, who recently stared in Rogue One and the only link it has to it's original, is that Kiefer Sutherland plays a role once again, but a different character compared to the one that the audience would remember him playing. The trailer pretty much gives us what we need to know. These medical students are killing themselves for a short period of time, to discover what the afterlife is like and then being revived. Could this movie bring the old version back to life or leave this plot dead and buried?

The movie begins with Page's character, Courtney, driving with her little sister in the passenger seat, until a hidden bend in the road leads to a car crash, he driving into the river and her sister not making it back to the surface. Fast Forward a few years and Courtney is now a medical student, obsessing about the afterlife and maybe the thought of seeing her sister once again. In an unused basement, she lures her best friend and another fellow student down, telling them of her plan and the need for their help. Things don't go well and another part of the group is called in to help revive her, before another female walks in, completing our main gang for this movie. We have the leader in Courtney, the cocky guy in Jamie, Sophia is Courtney's best friend and is a cautious worrier, Ray is one of the most intelligent students, along with Marlo, who both have a sort of sexual tension as well as competitive streak towards each other. After the experiment and Courtney has been taken home, the gang watch her recordings on a laptop, showing each part of the brain, which reacts during her death. Courtney herself, recalls memories of when she was younger, talents that she had long forgotten and increased intelligence. Jamie becomes envious and wants to go next. During his experience, we see him riding a motorbike, with his ex-girlfriend on the back, before the scene starts to turn dark and we zoom in on a house. The next to go are Marlo and Sophia, both increasing their minutes that they remain dead and both experience similar, positive results as Courtney. The first two to go though, are the first to experience the bad sides of the experiment. Both start seeing visions of their past, but decide to keep it a secret.

Soon, the movie turns into some decent horror scenes as everyone starts to be hunted down by their visions. Courtney by her sister, because it was her fault for the death for using her phone while driving. Jamie is tracked by his ex-girlfriend's and her baby, who he begged to get an abortion. Marlo is hunted by a man that she killed by accident when mixing up his medication and Sophia by a girl whose life she ruined in school by leaking some pictures of her. Ray, the only one who hasn't flatlined, doesn't believe the others and as everything gets more intense, Courtney records a video, apologising, before admitting that her interest in the experiments was to see her sister again, not scientific discovery. She is later chased by her vision and killed as she falls from the high story of her apartment. Didn't see that one coming. Marlo is suffocated in her car by her vision as Jamie is stabbed in the hand, but these two survive their encounters. Marlo heads to the morgue to find Courtney's phone after it has been ringing them one by one. She has another vision in there, before making it back to the gang for them all to learn of how their friend died. They come clean with each other about their past mistakes and look to make amends after realising that the visions are clearly past sins and not paranormal. After the group take action, things start to improve, but Marlo doesn't want to sort it out and instead tries to flatline again, in hope of killing herself instead but is saved by the team. In the end, she confesses to the Dean of the University and the gang are last seen in the pub, celebrating their friendship and enjoying a piano piece that is being played by a man. This song is the same that Courtney played once she remembered how to play the piano after 12 years.

What ever happened to original ideas? I haven't seen the original, but I'm not sure it was enough of a hit to warrant being re-made into a movie 17 years later. The storyline was clever and interesting enough, but it was never going to be massive, cliff hanger. The trailer pretty much used all of the jump scares that the film conveyed, so everyone watching, if they had a decent memory, would pretty much know what was coming. The cast were ok, but forgettable and there wasn't too much use of special effects when the visions were mainly made up of people with make-up. The camera work, such as cutting between real life and the hallucinations did work really well though.  It's not one that I'll be rushing back to see and a far cry away from the other horrors that will be out at this time of year.

I wanna make a paradise (Mother 2017)

 

 

 

146.

Mother!

 

 

 

 

5/10

 

 

 

Another horror, in a time when everyone has to compete with IT. The trailer to this, didn't show too much about what was in store but with the cast of Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer, it had some pedigree behind it. What it did have was some unnerving drums and sort of scratching noise throughout. The caption says that a couple's relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence. With a series of boos and standing ovations at a film festival, I haven't a clue what is to come. Let's hope it won't be one my Mother should have stopped me watching.

Let's start with a quick run through of the storyline, which I can admit was the most confusing thing that I have ever watched. Speeding through it, the film begins with an unknown woman's face, stern but flames surround her, until she ultimately dies. This then turns into someone putting a crystal on a mantle, and the burnt house turning into a newly, refurbished of sorts, house and a woman in bed. She reaches over for her husband, who isn't there and sits up, revealing herself as Lawrence's character. She gets up and goes on the search around the house for her husband. A few days later and a random man shows up, he's a doctor and Bardem's character invites him in and quickly have a discussing. Bardem is a poet and this guy is a massive fan. He's shown around the house and to the crystal that we have seen earlier. This crystal was the only thing that survived when the house burnt down before. Jennifer Lawrence's character is rebuilding the house for him, after he has lost everything Turns out, the two men have drunk too much together and Jennifer's character, who will call Mother, wakes into his room to see her husband rubbing his back as he is sick in the toilet. The husband, who we'll call Him, quickly covers a big cut and bruising on the man's back. The next morning, he's totally fine, but there is another knock on the door and this guy's wife turns out. She invited to stay too, and Mother doesn't like it. Him, seems happy to leave these strangers in and loves the attention he gets from them as fans. The woman loves a drink and soon reveals that her husband is dying so wanted to see his favourite poet. Mother is constantly cleaning up after them, following them around and having to get the woman out of her husband's study. She runs downstairs to find her husband and they both hear a smash from upstairs. The man and woman are in the study and have dropped the crystal. This send Him into a massive spiral of anger and shuts them all out of the study, before nailing the door closed. The man and woman have headed down to their room and instantly start having sex, with no care about what had just happened.

Some more days pass and other than the Man and Woman's sons turning up, one killing the other and a massive funeral being held at the house. This funeral brings many people and they don't seem to want to listen to Mother. Treating the house as their own, sitting on work surfaces, trying to use the bedrooms and then trying to decorate, Mother finally loses her patience and kicks everyone out. Mother and Him are the only ones left to continue living their lives. A time frame passes and it turns out that she is pregnant, which gives Him the passion to write once more. His latest piece of work brings his adoring fans back, who turn up at the house and distract him from his wife. They end up letting themselves into the house and an autograph station is set up, they start taking apart the house and stealing things to prove they were there. This is now where the movie gets a little mental. Everyone starts getting aggressive and fighting, which leads to the police turning up and attacking people. Then the army arrive, before being killed. Everyone is behind cages, the agent for Him is shooting unarmed people in the head, the place is wrecked, full of graffiti and suddenly becomes dark. All of this is seen with Mother being followed around. She is soon saved by Him, who carries her to his study, were he has to pass by all of his fans to get too. She gives birth in there and doesn't want to hand the baby to Him, in fear that he will take it to the fans. He is clearly seduced by these people, loving the attention that he craves. Mother has fallen asleep and woken to her empty arms as Him has taken the baby. She runs out of the room to see him carrying her son through the crowd before they take it off him and pass it around. That's until we hear its neck snap and a distraught Mother is battling through the crowd to get to a table where the baby's carcass is lying on a shrine, being eaten by the fans. She starts to battle and shout for them to leave, scratching her husband's face and running down to the cellar. There, she smashes through a plastered over wall, cracks open an oil drum and decides to set the pool of oil on fire, which quickly spread through the house and causes everyone to run for their lives. Him picks her burnt body up and there isn't a mark on him, no dirt or anything. He lays her down on the couch and plunges his hands into her chest, pulling out the crystal that was smashed earlier, leaving her to die. The crystal is once again put back onto the mantle and the house begins to rebuild itself, to the point that the film began at. We are once again in the bedroom, watching a woman wake, but this time it isn't Jennifer Lawrence playing the Mother.

The whole background to this story is centred around religion. Mother, is the Earth or Mother Nature, creating the home. Him is God, the creator of work, which many people come to love and worship. Their house can be seen as Eden and the Man would be Adam. When we see the cut on his back, which God covers up, it symbolises the rib which was taken to create Eve. Obviously, this means that the Woman is Eve, the bad influence on Adam and her being drunk, smashing the crystal would link with Eve eaten the apple from the forbidden tree and both being chucked out of Eden. All of the police, army and sex shows the debauchery brought to Earth, and things that Mother Nature wouldn't be happy with happening in her home. Finally, the baby scene. This would be the body of Christ and the bread at the last supper. This is a very interesting way to tell a story and that's not even touching the strain of the relationship between Mother and Him.

Unless you went home and googled what this movie was about, it's is a hard thing to watch at times. I sat there confused towards the end as everything was falling apart, wondering what was coming next and how Him was so calm during the whole fiasco. It is a unique concept, in the way that showing a religious story in the form of everyday life, to an extent. Away from the main storyline, there are other, smaller events featured in the bible, that are featured in the movie. The film was made more unnatural with no use of music, no musical score at all and the lack of names carried this different style too. No-one's name was mentioned at any point and this again was confusing. I don't think I have felt this uncomfortable during a movie for a while which leads this to a hard decision on how to rate it. For the watch and confusion it brought, I rated it quite low but the cleverness of the story that it is trying to portray means that it could have been quite higher, but this could only be understood after going home and reading about it.

We're from the Kingsman tailor shop in London, maybe you've heard of us (Kingsman: The Golden Cirlce 2017)

145.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle

 

 

 

 

 

8/10

 

 

The second instalment of the spy/comedy franchise revolving around a group in the UK called The Kingsman. I enjoyed the first movie, for its humour and action sequences but was very disappointed with the way that it glorified 'The Sun' newspaper. this movie had a really strong cast and with the first trailer, it looked like the British were against the Americans, but after the second, we could see that they were actually working together. With a little less Samuel L. Jackson, I think I'm going to enjoy this more than the first. Will this have the suave or will it be simple mutton dressed as lamb?

A year has passed since the last one was set and Eggsy, played by Taron Egerton, has taken the codename of his late mentor, Galahad. He's living with the Princess of Sweden and straight away, we are thrust into an action scene that leaves us on the edge of our seats. Eggsy battles an ex-recruit from the Kingman who lost an arm in the first movie, along with him voice box. The scene consists of music and slow-motion action, switching to fast paced to create a great fight scene, along with a car chase through the centre of London. The fight comes to an end, as Charlie loses him arm again, but it is controlled from somewhere else and hacks into Eggsy's car, gaining information on all of the safe houses and each agent. Whilst Eggsy is away, meeting his future in-laws, through his glasses, he sees that each of the safe houses, headquarters and home address is wiped out by bombs. Amongst the dead are the leader of the Kingsman, a female agent, Eggsy's pug and one of his friends, who was dog sitting for him. We are already aware that he has kept his true identity away from his friends.

Only Eggsy and Merlin, the gadget maker and intel expert for the Kingsman, are left alive and follow protocol which takes them to the Statesman, the same kind of outfit, but in America. These ones use the disguise of a Whiskey distillery. Each one is named after an alcoholic beverage and after an encounter, where the two are bettered by Channing Tatum's character, Tequila. They're then taken to a room for questioning and a secret, two-way mirror is revealed and behind it is Harry, Colin Firth, who was believed to have died in the first movie. Now, the only way that you didn't know that this was coming was if you hadn't have seen any of the trailers for this movie. This kind of spoiled the surprise. It turns out that the shot to the head has given him amnesia, he knows nothing about his job, or the other agents. Back in the boardroom and Eggsy, along with Merlin are briefed on a drug cartel called, The Golden Circle. Their new plan, is to stop the distribution, but when Tequila comes down with a strange blue rash, Whiskey is put in to partner Eggsy. Whiskey is played by the same guy who played the Red Viper in Game of Thrones. A cool actor in my opinion. It turns out that Charlie is working with the Golden Circle and is still in touch with his ex-girlfriend, whom the pair track down to Glastonbury.

The Golden Circle is run by Julianne Moore, and her acting in this comes across as a soft but violent approach. She gets someone to feed their own friend into a meat mincer, and then serves him as a burger, with nothing but a smile on her face. She owns two robot dogs and lives in a forest, out of reach. Her name is Poppy Adams and broadcasts a message around the world, that her drugs contain a lethal toxin, that will kill every user unless her drugs become legal, to which she will then give the antidote. At the festival, the pair have tracked down the ex-girlfriend and Whiskey attempts to make contact first, before showing how it's done by Eggsy. He takes her back to her tent, where he places a tracker inside her in a pretty sexual turn of events, as the camera too, travels inside. Not a scene for the youngsters. He immediately feels guilty though, and calls the Princess, who doesn't take things well. She leaves, to head home and starts smoking some weed.  Some of the humour from this movie, comes in the form of Elton John. He plays himself, captured by Poppy, for her own personal music gigs. He's part of the experiment, to show that the antidote works once someone has taken the toxin. The President of the United States takes Poppy's treat as a good thing. He can round up all of the drug takers, in order to win the war on drugs. Then Poppy will think that he is giving in to demands, only to have her fail, when she doesn't have anyone left to buy her drugs anyway.
After many failed attempts to sort Harry out, Eggsy triggers his memories back through a traumatic event, which is the shooting of his dog, spoken about in the first movie. Once he is back on board, the pair and Whiskey, use the tracker planted inside the girl, to find a facility that stores in antidote in the mountains of Italy. They get in and out with a sample but are ambushed by some Golden Circle guards and Whiskey drops it, smashing it on a stone floor. Harry thinks that this guy is playing both sides, so shoots him in the head, obviously. Eggsy can't stand up for him and everything thinks he isn't back to his usual self. The Princess finally rings him and we see that she has the blue rash too, Tequila is also put into incubation by the Statesman version of Merlin, played by Halle Berry. This all gives Eggsy some more incentive to finish this mission. He travels to 'Poppy Land' and before he can get to the gate, steps on a landmine. Merlin has finally made it into the field and freezes the mine before pushing Eggsy off it and taking his place. He begins to sing 'Take me home, Country Road' to divert the attention of the guards so that they come closer and sacrifices himself to take some enemies with him. This turns out to be a strong start to a great scene as Elton John hears the explosion and thinks it's a rescue mission. He is singing 'Saturday Night's Alright (for fighting)' but uses the actual day, which is Wednesday. Quite cool as it was the Wednesday that it was released and I was viewing it on the day too. He kicks the guard's asses himself and makes it outside, with the scene flipping back to Eggsy and Harry fighting everyone else outside. The music accompanies all of this very well. Eggsy turns his attention to Charlie, as Harry and Elton finish off the robot dogs. The make their way to Poppy an inject her with a high dose, leaving her high as a kite and giving away her password to release the antidote.
Just as the end is near, Whiskey shows back up. He's been treated for his head wound, just like Harry was and instantly received the traumatic wake up call to bring him back on board. He wants the drug takers to die too. It will lead to more drinkers, so the Statesman stocks will rise but the main reason would be to avenge the deaths of his wife and child by the hands of a drug taker. The battle ensues and is yet another great one. Slow motion, different weapons, more music and an ending that results in the meat-grinder again. The antidote I finally released to everyone and I'm pretty sure that the Principality Stadium is where everyone is being held, although they make it look like it's in America. The President is arrested for attempted genocide, the Statesman announces that it has bought a distillery in Scotland and Ginger Ale, Halle Berry, takes over the handle of Whiskey. Eggsy ends up marrying the Princess and the movie ends with a well-dressed Tequila moving to London to work for the Kingsman.
This film was very enjoyable and had a bit of everything to appeal to most. Between the humour and the action, this sometimes over the top, spy film knows exactly what it is trying to be and you need to know what your letting yourself in for before paying the money. I didn't expect Elton John to be in it, yet alone have such a strong role at times and be as funny as he was. The trailer did show a little too much and I would have preferred that the reveal of Harry, Colin Firth's character, be left out of it altogether, it would have been a good surprise. I even enjoyed the female villain compared to the first film, but maybe that's because I dislike Samuel L. Jackson so much. Unfortunately, we had to see 'the Sun' newspaper on show again, for no reason what so ever. As for the techniques used, the slow-motion, to speeding up of fight scenes and multiple angles, helped to add an extra dimension to each scene. Never take a movie like this too seriously and I'm excited to see where we go next.

Out there you're a Ghost, you don't exist! (American Assassin 2017)

144.

American Assassin

 

 

 

 

 

7.5/10

    

The kid from Maze Runner is all grown up and looking to kick some ass as an American Assassin. With a trainer that used to be Batman, in the form of Michael Keaton, this has the potential to be a decent action film of sorts. The trailer revealed a pretty gritty storyline and a rough around the edges youngster, getting put through his paces. The film itself, it based on a novel and is one of a series, with a hope that this could become along the lines of a new Bourne franchise. It's the 11th book, but the first if put in chronological order. Is this one going to be worth taking a bullet for?

The film begins with a young couple getting engaged on a beach, whilst on holiday, only for Islamic Terrorists to start some gun fire and pretty much end the lives of everyone there. The was a very intense scene, down to the fact of it not being long ago that events like these happened in a holiday destination of Tunisia. Amid the carnage, Mitch Rapp, tries to make it back from the bar to find his new fiancé, only for her to die meters away from him. Months later and we can see that he is a changed man. Beard and hair fully grown, punch bag and throwing knifes in full use, getting in trouble at his local gym for not letting a fighter go after he had tapped out, this guy is clearly consumed by revenge. He is on terrorist website, looking to join them, but clearly with the intention of killing the man who is responsible for killing his fiancé. The chat room leader asks him questions about being a Jihad and all are answered quickly, before he is invited to meet the leaders and take out his vengeance. Once face to face with the man, the cell is ambushed by U.S. Special Forces that we have already see keeping an eye on Mitch through hidden cameras in his place. Upset that he never got his revenge, he stabs the leader repeatedly, although is already dead. Taken to a CIA safe house, he is debriefed for 30 days before the real storyline begins. We've had the reasons behind his actions, now it's time to get invited onto a special, black operations unit called Orion.

During his training, we see the usual conflict between our main character, and another guy in training, who clearly fells that this kid shouldn't be there. Predictability steps in, when Mitch passes with flying colours and soon the team will be deployed. The enemy set-up is created as an American is after some stolen nuclear material for an Iranian faction. This seller, 'Ghost', is in Poland and ends up intercepting a third party, shooting them and stealing the plutonium and disappearing into the crowd. Once the new report comes through, Hurley notices the 'Ghost' as someone that he trained personally. Thinking this guy was killed in action. Hurley's team is sent to Turkey to stop the sell on of the equipment to the Iranians who are not happy with thy deal that the President of Iran is making with the US regarding the nuclear deal. When the team arrive in Istanbul, they are greeted with a female agent and instantly you think, either Mitch is going to get with her, or she is going to betray them. It's simply the way these movies go and so far, this hasn't been an exception. The attempt to intercept the trigger device deal, but instead, the 'Ghost' knows what is going on, shoots the asshole Orion recruit and everything fails. Mitch doesn't follow orders and tracks down the buyer. Fighting ensues with some decent scenes and quick camera work. With guns and hand to hand combat, your soon enjoying the action a lot more. Mitch leaves no one alive, takes the laptop back to the safe house and is soon in the firing line with the boss. At the same time, he's helped them out a lot with the information gathered and they are led to a hotel where a nuclear physicist is in hiding, between helping 'Ghost' build the nuclear device. The team come into trouble when they try to capture him and themselves, are captured, until Hurley bursts in and kicks some ass, saving the crew. 'Ghost' sees his old mentor and quickly flees, jumping out of the window and out of sight. Back at the safe house, getting patched up, Mitch and the female agent, Annika are having a conversation and she lets slip some information that she shouldn't know and is soon set upon by Mitch, who questions her about being an enemy spy. She claims that she is working for other Iranians, a faction that is trying to stop the main enemies. As he has her arrested, Hurley is off to meet his own contact from within the Iranians, but all doesn't go to plan as 'Ghost' knows his plans and kills the informant and kidnaps Hurley.

After learning this, Mitch takes it upon himself to get his trainer back. He knows no one will help, but has now began to believe Annika and sets out to get her back as she is being transferred by car. He smashes into her car, with one he has stolen, knocks out the guards and uses her find the headquarters in which the nuke is being built. Inside the building, Hurley is being tortured by 'Ghost'. He receives nothing but laughter back, as Hurley tries telling the workers that they will be killed once the nuke is finished. Obviously, this turns out to be true within a few seconds and even the leaders of the Iranians are shot. 'Ghost' escapes with the nuke, just as Mitch arrives and frees a badly injured Hurley. Annika runs after 'Ghost' due to the fact that he earlier shot the informant, who turns out if her uncle and the person she was undercover for. Once Mitch catches up with them, she turns the gun on herself after she is caught by 'Ghost', so that she cannot use her as a hostage. I didn't see that ending coming for her. The 'Ghost' has headed out to a boat with a nuke and is heading out to sea. Hurley has worked out that the main plan is to kamikaze attack a Navy fleet out at sea, after thinking that America has failed him. The fleet are told about the plan and need to make the right move. They plan on blowing him apart and taking the full blunt of it. What they don't know it that Mitch has made it onto the small boat too. He's in a fight scene below deck with 'Ghost' and ends up killing him, moving onto securing the nuke. His only option is to take the boat out to see and with all the satellites focused on the boat. Hurley notices who's driving. He requests a helicopter out to Mitch, in order to try and save him. Mitch is turning the boat about from the fleet and then is directed, through the radio, to toss it overboard. He's grabbed from the boat and as the bomb goes off, it creates a massive sink hole, leading to a tsunami and turbulence in the air. Everyone seems to survive and as expected, the day is saved.

The film ends with Hurley recovering from everything and explain to the CIA that Mitch Rapp is on vacation in Dubai. In the background, it a news report explaining that the Iranian faction, that ultimately failed in this nuclear bomb plan, will end up winning the election for President of Iran anyway. In Dubai, the candidates for the faction enter an elevator and Mitch is already standing at the back, smiling at them as then enter and the doors close, along with the camera going black, as we are made to assume that he is going to carry out a killing before the doors open back up.
 I'm not too sure if this is my downfall or not, but this film was very predictable. For once, it would be a breath of fresh air, simply for things not to go to plan and the enemies win. I know this will never happen, but at least it will be an ending that people will never expect. Instead we have an ending that will leave us nothing but a feeling of being satisfied after watching this storyline. With some pretty decent fight scenes at times and an ending that contained a great CGI moment once the bomb exploded, it will be interesting to see if they make this into a series of movies. The main character, along with his mentor, are full of seriousness, just like Bourne rather than the sarcasm and wit of Bond. The plot wasn't too fresh though but this can be seen as a decent start to a new, action packed franchise.