Movies

Mar 17 2013

The Guyver & Guyver : Dark Hero

Well yes I add this to science fiction as well since it’s about aliens and spaceships and the origin of humans and how aliens have affected our creation. The Guyver is a 1991 scifi-action movie based on the Japanese anime series Guyver. The idea behind Guyver is that a powerful alien race came to earth in the distance past before mankind ever existed. Their experiment was to created the ultimate organic weapon and thus created mankind. With the addition of a special gene into man, they created Zoanoids – humans that can change form at will from humans to humanoid mutant creatures. The leader of the Zoanoids at present is called the Zoalord who has formed a powerful corporation called Chronos to aid in his agenda for world domination – while humanity remains ignorant of the existence of the mutants. Among the alien remains on earth was found the guyver unit – a bio boosted body armour that makes the wearer superhuman. But the Zoalord has no idea how to activate it and has his scientists working on it.

In the first movie, The Guyver, a scientist Dr. Tetsu Segawa, steals the unit from the research lab in order to give it to his contact in the CIA, agent Max Reed (Mark Hamill) but is killed before he can reach the agent. Dr. Segawa hid the unit among some trash & garbage boxes. Reed and the CIA try and find out the murder and question the scientists daughter. Sean Barker, a martial arts student, and boyfriend of Dr. Segawa’s daughter Mizky, accidentaly finds and activated the Guyver unit while being bullied by a street gang and becomes the Guyver when the unit fuses with him. With incredible strength, speed, agility and weapons along with the armour, the Guyver must protect his love interest from the Zoanoids. The only weakness in the armour is the glowing ball on the helmet – removing it causes the armour to collapse and Sean is killed and dissolved when the head goon Zoanoid does it to him. However his dna is saved in the unit and later at the Zoalord’s lab when another Zoanoid tries to fuse with the unit, Sea is recreated and fights his way out. He kills the Zoalord and his thugs but agent Reed is killed as he was exposed to Zoanoid experiments to turn him into one himself and was pulled out too quickly. Although Sean and Mizky leave safely, it is revealed that one of the Zoanoid goons has survived and that they have infiltrated the CIA as well.

This movie is so badly acted and the actors chosen are almost idiotically ham acting – especially the Zoanoids goons, which includes Michael Berryman. Mark Hammil, with a mustache, was criticized as making “an unearned paycheck for a onetime A-picture star” in a lame movie that only has some good action scenes and costumes. Jack Armstrong is useless as a hero. Vivian Wu plays Mizky and comes across as a real dumb version of the ‘lady in distress; an Oriental version of the dumb blonde who just screams and cries in the movie. And she speaks like her tongue is too big for her mouth. Jeffery Coombs also has a small role as one of Zoanoid scientists. Really bad acting but the Guyver is cool and there are some good fight scenes. 4 outta 10!

The sequel Guyver : Dark Hero came out in 1994 and is lot more serious compared to the campy feel of the original. A year later a troubled and tormented Sean (played by David Hayter) is struggling to come to terms as the Guyver. He has lost friends and his love due to his outbursts and lives alone, fighting crime but also susceptible to moments of pure rage. He sees on tv about what seems like an animal attack that people think is a bear in the woods and is drawn to an archaeological dig in Utah that turns out to be funded by Cronos. Sean makes his way to the area and meets Cori (Kathy Christopherson), one of the archeologists who agrees to take him to her father, the lead archeologist at the dig and gets him a job there. At the underground cave, student archaeologists are unearthing the cave paintings, which resemble guyvers and other alien images, similar to ones that appear to Sean in his dreams. They later unearth a fantastic looking alien spaceship that looks like it’s organic. At night Sean hears a man being killed and attacks the Zoanoid that seems to haunt the grounds.

The next day the people explore the alien ship and Crane, the lead representative from Chromos at the site, gets his hands on what the corporation wanted all along: another Guyver unit. Sean meanwhile approaches one of the room that pulsates and it talks telepathically to him; he asks for the unit to be removed but it offers him no answers. Anyways, the Chronos employees seem to be in charge and take the new guyver unit away. Cori’s father is a Zoanoid himself but is blackmailed by the corporation employees to be silent. Cori discovers that what the employees plan to do, she is caught by them and is taken away. Her father mutates and attacks the others but is outnumbered. Sean, who is looking for Coris, sees them and activates the guyver unit and fights them off and kills them. He, Cori and her father return to the dig where the Chronos gang has everyone at gunpoint. Atkins, an FBI agent under the guise of an acheologist, rescues the others but is held up the Zoanoids himself, when his fellow agents are killed. Crane asks Sean to join them but is refused and then the Zoanoids fights the Guyver & Cori’s dad. Crane uses the second guyver unit on himself and seems to become more than a match for Sean but in the end Crane is destroyed by an energy force that blasts from the Guyver’s chest.

Sean, who had learned about the origins of how the Guyver units came to be, about the aliens coming to earth and creating both the Zoanioids and the humans, sends the spaceship back into space, much to agent Atkins chagrin. Coming to terms with his origins and more at peace with who he is now, Sean leaves the dig area with Cori.

The second movie is much more fun, more violent and bloody and has awesome fight sequences. 7 outta 10! The Guyver is cool and I hope they remake this movie series sometime with a bigger budget and better cast & storylines.

By Roshan • Movies, Sci Fi • 0

Mar 15 2013

Star Wars Old Cast To Return?

With reports out that the trio of main actors from the original triology of Star Wars movies – Harrison Ford as Han Solo, Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia and Mark Hammill as Luke Skywalker – will reprise their roles in the 7th movie of the franchise, there are comments both for and against this move. An aging trio will be looked upon to act as a transitory bridge from the old trilogy to the new one with the first movie, episode VIII supposed to come out in 2015. And while a lot of fans seem to love that idea, I am not so sure of it myself.

Well if the 3 had minor supporting roles which are more like a nod to the franchise’s origins I think that might work. The main cast of much younger characters could be the children (or grandchildren) of Han & Leia and uncle Luke having trained them in Jedi school. It’s actually been way too long from Return of the Jedi (1983) to now to actually have them in it and be the main storyline – as much as some of us would have wanted them to be. The only clear way I see is to have them play character roles, perhaps even have then appear throughout the next 3 movies who advice and help but not be the main heroes.

I’m looking forward to more movies from that franchise but am skeptical as to how well it’s going to be done. Having said that I’m not one of those who hated the prequel trilogy and that’s also because I don’t happen to worship the original trilogy. They aren’t that  great! even though I do like them a lot. So let’s see what’s gonna happen.

Update:  On February 5 2013, Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed the development of two stand-alone films, each individually written by Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg. On February 6, Entertainment Weekly reported that Disney is working on two films featuring Han Solo and Boba Fett.

By Roshan • Movies, Sci Fi • 0

Mar 15 2013

Men In Black 3

I have loved the first two Men In Black movies and seen them several times on cable since their releases. Set 15 years after the first movie and 10 after the second (as in true release) Men In Black 3 is the second sequel and most successful in terms of revenue. Released in May of last year, the movie sees Barry Sonnenfield and Steven Spielberg returned as director and executive producer respectively with Will Smith & Tommy Lee Jones returning as Agents J & K with Josh Brolin appearing as a younger version of K. Jermaine Clement plays past & present versions of the villain Boris The Animal, Emma Thompson, Alice Eve & Michael Stuhlberg have supporting roles.

So what do we have in MIB3:

• Boris the Animal escapes from a maximum security prison base on the moon by having his girlfriend (Nicole Scherzinger and does she really have such bodacious bosoms) deliver a cake to him, in which hidden is his organic and alive weapon. He seeks revenge on earth and especially on agent K who captured him back in 1969. Boris also lost his left arm in the confrontation with K. K is also responsible for the deployment of the ArcNet, a defense system that protected Earth from invasion and ultimately led to the Boglodites’ extinction.
• Agents J & K have a confrontation with Boris who withdraws but warns K that he is “already dead”. When J tries to do research on Boris back at the MIB hq, he finds that some of the information is denied to him. When questioned he is told by both K and, new head of MIB, O to leave it alone.
• Boris gets a device to travel back in time to 1969 o help his past self kill K and prevent the ArcNet’s deployment. As a result J finds himself in an alternate reality (J is the only one who remembers the two realities) where K has been dead for 40 years and there is an imminent Boglodites invasion with no ArcNet to protect earth. Using a similar device to travel to 1969 and save his partner. He meets up with agent K’s younger self (Josh Brolin) who mistrusts him but when J tells him the truth he is convinced. The get the ArcNet, in the form of a small disc-shaped device, from an alien named Griffin and protect him from an attack by Boris.
• J, K & Griffin travel to Cape Canaveral in Florida, where the Apollo 11 rocket is preparing to lift off and land the first humans on the Moon. K has to plant the device on the rocket and once it is in earth’s orbit the device will auto-activate.   Griffin uses his abilities to convince the local military personnel, which includes a colonel, to allow them access and aid them in their mission. Both the versions of Boris attack the agents while they are reaching the top of the rocket’s support structure. J knocks off the current version of Boris from the top of the structure while K shoots off the younger version’s arm and and he too falls off the structure, and place the ArcNet device on the rocket just before it launches. Future Boris is incinerated by the rocket’s exhaust.
• As J makes his way to meet K, he sees the past version of Boris ambush K and the colonel and shoots the colonel dead. K then kills Boris and turns around to see the colonel’s young son amed James approaches the scene looking for his father. K, who neuralyses and comforts the child, and J who sees them from afar realizes that the young boy is J. Sad at seeing his real father’s death J is comforted to know that K was a kind of surrogate dad to him.  returns to the present day, where K is still alive, and joins him at a diner, subtly thanking the older agent for all that he has done for him. As the movie ends, we see a smiling Griffin sitting in the same diner.

Most critics & fans have praised the performance of Josh Brolin which was shrewd casting I must say. I enjoyed the movie but miss the fun of the first one. Still enjoyable and I give it a 7.5 outta 10! 

By Roshan • Movies, Sci Fi • 0

Mar 13 2013

Deep Impact

Deep Impact is a 1998 movie directed by Mimi Leder and starring Robert Duvall, Téa Leoni, Elijah Wood, Leelee Sobieski, Ron Eldard and Morgan Freeman (as the US President). Most of you must have seen it on cable if not in the theatres, as they kept showing this movie for many years on cable all the time. The movie shares a similar premise to Armageddon, which also came out in 1998, although there it was an asteroid that threatens the destruction of all life on earth (you say tomato I say… ) and although the latter made more money (perhaps due to the more famous cast) this one was slightly more appreciated by the scientist community and well, even I like this one more than the latter, which is a cheese-fest as far as I am concerned.

I hadn’t seen this film in several years, perhaps since watching it a few times in 1999-2002 period but most of the movie was fresh in memory as I sat down to watch it again last night. For those of you who remember it, a young high school student and amateur astronomer Leo Biedermann, discovers a new bright object in the sky while on a school project and shares his discovery with astronomer Marcus Wolf who realizes that the object is a comet on a collision course with Earth. While trying to get the information out, he however is killed in a car crash but the government does find out about it a little later. A year later ambitious journalist reporter Jenny Lerner picks up the story about the resignation of the Secretary of the Treasury (James Cromwell in a tiny role) and rumours about ‘Ellie” thought to be a mistress and approaches him about the official story being that his wife is ill. As she leaves Jenny is accosted by FBI agents who take her to US President Tom Beck. Beck tells her to wait two days before making the discovery public, thinking that she got wind of all the details. Turns out that ‘Ellie’ is not a mistress but is ‘E.L.E” – Extinction level Event, much to the shock of Jenny.

Two days later the president has a large press conference which is widely televised and reveals the truth;  the comet, named Wolf-Biederman, is 7 miles (11 km) wide—large enough to cause a mass extinction, and possibly wipe out humanity, if it hits Earth. He also announces the joint venture with Russia to build a space craft called ‘the Messiah’ to transport a team of astronauts, who will land on the comet and destroy it by exploding it with nuclear weapons. After landing on the comet, the crew members plant nuclear bombs 100 meters beneath the surface. When the bombs are detonated, the ship is damaged and loses contact with Earth. Instead of being destroyed, the comet splits into two smaller rocks nicknamed “Biederman” (1.5 miles (2.4 km) wide) and “Wolf” (6 miles (9.7 km) wide), both world-threatening. A last-ditch effort to use Earth’s missile-borne nuclear weapons to deflect the two chunks of the comet also fails. The president declares martial law and  reveals that governments worldwide have been building underground shelters. The United States’ shelter is in the limestone caves of Missouri. The US government conducts a lottery to select 800,000 ordinary Americans aged 50 and under to join 200,000 pre-selected scientists, engineers, teachers, artists, soldiers, and officials.

The movie is much less about the heroism of unlikely candidates that save the world and more a softer, thoughtful and personal approach to the impending destruction of life on earth. Jenny who has been estranged from her father, who had divorced her mother and remarried a much younger woman, gives up her spot in the evacuation to a colleague who has a young baby, and chooses to reconcile with her father and face death on the beach near their summer house where they share a lot of happy memories. Her mother choses to enjoy a nice meal, dress in her finest jewellery and outfit and kill herself weeks before the event. Leo and his family are take to the caves but his new bride Sarah’s family is missed out on the list. She stays back and initially Leo’s family forces his to leave without her but Leo hitches a ride back and finds Sarah. Sarah’s parents make her leave with Leo on a motor bike and take her baby brother with them and save themselves. The smaller comet the impacts in the Atlantic Ocean creating a megatsunami and millions of other people perish as the tsunami destroys the Atlantic coasts of North and South America, Europe, and Africa.

The astronauts in the Messiah decide to to undertake a suicide mission with the remaining nuclear warheads. After saying goodbye to their loved ones by video conference, the ship reaches the fragment and enters a fissure to blow itself up, which breaks Wolf into much smaller pieces that burn up in Earth’s atmosphere. So although a lot of cities & land were destroyed and millions were killed, most of the earth survives and reconstruction & rebuilding starts for the world to recover. Jon Faverau, Blair Underwood, Kurtwood Smith, Vanessa Redgrave & Denise Crosby have minor supporting roles as well. I like the film and think it’s a better movie and holds up better all these years later. 7.5 outta 10!

By Roshan • Movies, Sci Fi • 0

Mar 5 2013

Battleship

So Inspired by the long-time popular board game by Hasbro, Battleship is directed by Peter Berg who also co-produced the movie. The film stars Taylor Kitsch, Liam Neeson, Alexander Skarsgård, Rihanna, John Tui, Brooklyn Decker, and Tadanobu Asano and released by Universal Pictures. I cannot say just how much I was looking forward to the movie when it was first announced but the reviews – both written as well as the ones I watch on Youtube – weren’t very promising and my hopes were dashed. I’ve never played Battleship, infact my only awareness of it is from the Tintin comic book Flight 714 in which Captain Haddock plays the game while on a flight with a cheating billionaire. Released in April, 2012 the movie has made around $304 mil.; a decent enough amount for most. However considering it’s $209 mil budget, the industry would consider the returns as quite disappointing.

The storyline is about another alien invasion film with extremely advanced alien villains, who came to earth after we broadcasted a  powerful signal from a communications array in Hawaii to a recently discovered exo-planet called Planet G by NASA and thought to have similar conditions to that of earth. That was in 2005 and now in 2012 they have reached earth. Here’s what I don’t like about the recent spate of these alien invasion movies featuring almost mechanical & one-dimensional aliens, who don’t get any character development or even lines to speak and their whole motivation for invading us seems to be just because we’re an alien race to them. Why do they do that? We can’t talk to them, communication attempts aren’t even done and it’s just a story of David vs Goliath. And ofcourse in most cases we win! Rather than a military and/or Air Force against the aliens, this time it’s the US Navy and with some help from the Japanese and one character who is a living poster for injured veterans, an Army veteran who’s legs were blown off while in combat. And ofcourse(!!!) the aliens are no match for match for an American vet with prosthetic legs and an attitude that could melt the hull of their ships!!!

In 2005 our hero, Alex Hopper, is a slacker who messes up everything he has ever been doing and loving rebuked by his older, more responsible Navy officer brother who sees the capabilities in him. On his birthday a drunk Alex offers to buy a chicken burrito for the object of his affections and breaks into a closed supermarket and is caught by the cops. His brother gets him into the navy where he hopes the discipline and rigors will shape him up into a better & responsible man. The girl, Samantha, just so happens to be the daughter of Admiral Shane, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Coincidence? I think not! So fast forward to 2012 and Alex’s ship joins the Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC) in Hawaii. His brother Stone Hopper is commanding officer of another ship in the exercise overseen by Admiral Shane. Hopper is in a rivalry with some of the Japanese sailors, especially Captain Nagata, Commanding Officer of a Japanese vessel. Alex is in a relationship with Samantha and dangerously close to being kicked off the Navy for his negligence, tardiness and when he gets into a fight with Nagata, he is told that post the exercise he will be discharged. This is when the aliens attack; 5 alien ships approach earth and their communications ship crashes in Hong Kong, causing heavy damage and casualties there, while four others land in the water near Hawaii. A huge mothership creates a force field, trapping the three warships. The aliens destroy the Samson, killing several sailors & commander Stone Hopper and the Japanese ship Myoko. The John Paul Jones is damaged killing it’s captain and several others. This leaves Hopper, as the highest ranking remaining officer in command of the ship, much to his reluctant and the disbelief of the others.

Some of the aliens on the other ships have taken control of the communications array in Oahu, Hawaii. Samantha, a physical therapist, just happens to be accompanying the retired U.S. Army veteran and double amputee Mick Canales on a hike to help him adapt to his prosthetic legs quite near the array and they see the aliens in action. And they just happen to run into scientist Cal Zapata who informs them that the aliens are using the array to signal back to their home planet. He retrieves a radio that will allow Sam and Mick to contact the John Paul Jones and relay this information. Meanwhile Hopper & his men rescue the Japanese sailors who survived their ship being blown away, from the water and confer with Nagata. Nagata suggests using NOAA’stsunami warning buoys around Hawaii to track the aliens and as night falls the John Paul Jones opens fire and destroys two of the alien ships. After capturing one of the aliens they find out that the aliens are sensitive to sunlight, and decides to lure the third alien vessel close to shore, where they shoot out its bridge windows as the sunrise blinds the aliens. In the ensuing battle, both ships are destroyed. The humans reach the shores and needing a new ship, they acquire the only remaining naval vessel, USS Missouri, which had been decommissioned and turned into a museum. With the help of retired old officers, the crew get the old battleship ready and go after the mother ship. Apparently the highly technologically advanced aliens are no match for old navy vets and rock music – specifically AC/DC!

he battleship evades the mothership’s gunfire and destroys the force field and the ship’s turrets. Alex uses the last shell to destroy the communications array on the island, leaving the Missouri defenseless. Just as the alien mothership is about to destroy the battleship, jet fighters from the RIMPAC fleet arrive and save the crew by destroying the weapons fired from the vessel’s last turret with the forcefield being down. The aliens are destroyed by the combined efforts of the naval forces. At the end of the movie a ceremony is held to honor the Navy personnel and Alex, who is promoted to Lieutenant Commander, is presented with a Silver Star and accepts Stone’s posthumous Navy Cross and is also given command of a ship of his own. After the ceremony, Alex asks Admiral Shane for his daughter’s hand in marriage. The admiral initially refuses but invites Alex to lunch to discuss the matter, referencing how Alex and Sam met. Post rolling of the credits, 3 schoolkids and a handyman run in terror as an an alien hand reaches out of an object they have just opened. Sequel, perhaps?

Despite all that, I did enjoy the film. You just have to put aside the predictable plot, the American armed forces promotion and the forgettable performances by some of the cast, especially Rihanna. Why must all African-American rap singers & RnB female singers make movies? Is there some unwritten rule in Hollywood? They are terrible at it. In case she says all the predictable stuff; as the missile approaches the alien vessel, the camera closes in on her and she says “boom” – sound effects as well? and pumps her fists at the right times. No acting skills. The action is fast paced and fun but don’t expect anything great from the film. I give it a 7 outta 10!

By Roshan • Movies, Sci Fi • 0

Feb 27 2013

Dredd

Directed by Pete Travis and written and produced by Alex Garland, Dredd is a 2012 film based on the British comic 2000 AD comic strip Judge Dredd. In a futuristic vast dystopian future, the earth is mostly a wasteland and humanity is closed off in huge Mega cities. Crime, corruption and violence rules and  only force for order are the Judges, who act as judge, jury and executioner. Back in 1995 the first attempt at bringing this comic to live action film was a commercial & critical flop in Judge Dredd, with Sylvster Stallone as the eponymous anti-hero. Totally unrelated, this 2012 film tries to succeed where the first attempt failed. We have Karl Urban as Dredd with Olivia Thirlby playing a rookie Judge on an assignment and assessment run with him. Lena Hedley plays the villain-ess MaMa.

• Mega City One is the setting of our film, a violent metropolis with 800 million residents and 17,000 crimes reported daily. A new drug called ‘sl0-mo’, which slows the user’s perception of time to 1% of normal, is the hottest seller on the streets. They are sold in asthma inhaler type dispensers and look like colourful liquids. The person behind Slo-Mo is a former prostitute turned powerful drug lord Madeline Madrigal, also known as “Ma-Ma”. She executes three rogue drug dealers by having them skinned, infused with Slo-Mo and thrown down the atrium from the top floor of a 200 storey slum tower, which also serves as the base of her operations. This is when Judge Dredd comes in.
• Dredd is assigned to evaluate rookie Cassandra Anderson, a powerful psychic who failed the aptitude tests to be a Judge. They get the call to investigate the death of the 3 drug dealers in the slum tower. They arrest a thug named Kay, whom Anderson’s mind probe reveals to be the one who carried out the drug dealers’ execution. Dredd decides to take him in for questioning. In response Ma-Ma has the tower locked down by taking over the security control room and having the building’s blast shields activated, cutting of communication & escape. She orders her men to kill the two judges.
• Dredd and Anderson fight their way through, killing dozens of armed thugs. At the 76th floor Ma-Ma  with Vulcan cannons that rip through the walls, killing numerous residents. The Judges are able to breach an outer wall and call for help. Anderson intervenes and uses her psychic abilities to read Kay’s mind, learning that the tower, Peach Trees, is the centre of Slo-Mo production and distribution.
• Two judges arrive at the building but are denied access  by Ma-Ma’s computer expert denies them entry by persuading them the call is part of the security drill. Meanwhile some armed teenagers attack Dredd, enabling Kay to take over Anderson’s gun and escape with her as hostage, and brings her to Ma-Ma’s base on the top floor. Ma-Ma then calls in 4 corrupt Judges, Lex, Kaplan, Chan and Alvarez, who she has worked & paid off in the past and when they arrive at the building, they are let in. Chan finds Dredd and they fight when his cover is blown. Meanwhile, Kay tries to execute Anderson with her own weapon, but the pistol’s DNA scanner does not recognize him and blows his arm off. Anderson escapes and later encounters Kaplan, whom she promptly kills after reading her mind.
• Elsewhere, Dredd kills Alvarez but runs out of ammunition, and is shot by Lex in the abdomen. Lex moves in to execute Dredd, but Dredd stalls him long enough for Anderson to arrive and kill Lex.The two then find the computer expert who gives them the codes for the building & confront Ma-Ma. She tells Dredd that in the case of her death, a device on her wrist will detonate explosives on the top floors, destroying the building. Dredd reasons that the detonator’s signal will not reach the explosives from the ground floor, so he forces Ma-Ma to inhale Slo-Mo and throws her down the atrium to her death. In the aftermath, Anderson accepts that she has failed her evaluation by getting disarmed, and leaves. The Chief Judge asks Dredd about Anderson’s performance; he responds that she has passed.

Got all that? It’s a messy, grimy, colourful, chaotic movie with lots of slow motion – people getting shot, blood spilling out and bullets ripping flesh and ofcourse the massive falling to her death scene for Ma-Ma at the end. I watched it late at night and found the going a bit tedious and the film predictable. It got some good reviews but failed at the box office. I can see why. I love the comic and had some hopes for this movie. 5 out of 10!

By Roshan • Movies, Sci Fi • 0