Archive for September 2009
Zack “300″ Snyder created another visual spectacle with this comic-into-film. An amusing “Hellboy”/”Batman”-like story, a bit of “Sin City” storytelling and action, superheros, weird characters and quite a length. The story plays in a futuristic 1985 with the threat of a nuclear war, historical elements and fiction and nice ‘vintage’ music in a sci-fi film. Nice!
That is funny. I have been trying to get this film from my favorite rental for about a month (I had it come over from another branch, but then it was already rented out each time I came in) and then I run into it on the 3-for-25-euros shelve of a DVD shop. I heard this film being compared to “Insomnia” (the original of course that I apparently saw in the cinema before I started making film reviews). “Mørke” (which means “darkness” and is nicely translated by the English word “murk” for the international release) is another Scandinavian thriller and the mist on the cover of this film, undoubtely brings memories to “Insomnia”. Story-wise the two films have little incommon. Atmosphere-wise too, up to a certain degree. “Insomnia” is darker, more gloomy, but for both films go that they are hardly thrillers, more like pressing dramas. Also in both films it is no secret who is the bad guy, what is going on, etc. but both times the directors managed to make the viewer wonder when ‘it’ will happen and this works well for the atmosphere. There is good acting and nice camera work, so the result is satisfying enough to make an American remake of it, just like of “Insomnia“…
So we were downtown and got the idea to see a movie. There is nothing playing right now that I really need to see, but a few that I would not mind to watch. Of course the most interesting of them played at inconvenient times when we got the idea so we ended up at an action film for the masses. Fortunately this film is not completely standard. Of course, there is rapid camera work, flashy stop-motion montage, hip music, etc., but the nice thing about this film is that the part that matters are more slow-paced negotiation scenes with nice tension, while almost all of the action goes into details such as the bringing of the money. This does make the elaborate action scenes even more superfluous though and the fact that they are pretty much over the tops adds to this idea. The real firework comes from two great actors: John Travolta (with a great look) and Denzel Washington. I am no fan of the latter, but the man sure can set a part. “The Taking Of Pelham 123″ is not boring, nor really bad, but a few scenes are a too much (“Honey, I’m going to die.” “Please bring a gallon of milk on your way home.” “Why not half a gallon?” aargh, or the money bringing scene). No need to rush to the cinemas for this, but should it be on TV in a while and you have nothing better to do, this film could be an option.
