I like that Damon and Afleck are working together, and I wanted to like this, only its hard. One of the problems is it is shot with almost every scene dark. Conference room discussions, banter between cop and boss, it all has the green lens and someone turned all the lights off effect. A lot of the dialogue just doesn't feel real, nor do some of the details. They also try to be a little too artistic with some scenes, like when a suspect is being questioned in a home, and upstairs cops are bashing in a wall with sledgehammers. As they ask questions, there is the occasional boom of a sledge hammer and dust falling down right where they happen to be questioning the person in the home, and it is just too clever, like someone thought this was a great artistic way to up the tension as the boom/dust falls after each question. It is also still very green! Really no explanation also why one cop with a police dog has a septum ring (nose ring going through the center), is she usually under cover, or what? That is just unusual for a cop, and especially a dog handler, which means she isn't working under cover. The cast of the core team is an asian cop, black cop, and septum pierced female cop. After conducting a search (which they do for 'extra credit' and are not on overtime pay, and take their own vehicles to the search location. What?), What they find is what initiates the main plot. Only what they find would make anyone with any guess of what must happen in those situations (think as if it was an unexpectedly giant-large drug bust or several bodies found, etc), call forensics, the upper command and likely federal authorities, the chief of police, the mayor, etc., just as plain mandatory what has to happen, only it doesn't. The dialogue around those plot holes just makes this hard to watch. Like, if we get this wrong "IA will be up our ass!" yet because they are worried about corruption, they call no one. To the script's credit, some of those options are brought up, only it really isn't justified why that isn't happening other than "this is my crime scene!". It is kind of like "Let's weigh 3000 tons of this cocaine we found ourselves in the garage, and don't call anyone because there is corruption in the department!" This is just dumb. First, forensics would be called just to get fingerprints etc from the containers these things are found in, and there is just no way they could take care of evidence that large without bringing in higher authorities. No way, unless all the cops there are trying to take what they find or hide it- which the whole team is acting like that is not what they are doing. We get no "Training Day" obvious corrupt cop team thing, where we know they are stealing money. The asian, black, and septum cop all are doing banter and have minor debates about whether or not they should be doing this on their own, while one of them admires an old station wagon in the garage... um...okay. It is like a 1986 Oldsmobile, in terrible shape. Wait, so (it's not drugs I'm just using that to be spoiler free), you found 3000 tons of cocaine, and you think you can weigh it on your own? Your not going to weigh it with special equipment? Your doing this by *hand*? Dumb. I wanted to like this, again, I really did. However it is slow and the script dialogue just doesn't feel real. Once you see the scene with the hammering and dust falling as the suspect is questioned (many, many booms and dust falling), you can't unsee it. "I'm in charge here!" Ha ha. Sorry, Matt and Ben, I did want to like it. Just didn't do it for me.
Obviously made during the mistaken Hollywood "everyone really wants girl bosses" time frame,and it shows.Every main male character is stupid or evil, and even a retired (i.e. elderly) "shield maiden" is somehow able to battle with a sword and shield against dozens of male warriors. I loved, and I do mean loved-seeing the "New Line Cinema" logo, and the Jackson era LOTR music is here, plus I love anime, but oh man the constant "Oh that princess just won't put on a dress," cliche, and whether as a little girl besting all the male friends, or as a grown woman besting a 6 foot four man in combat (literally winning in a face to face push off with shields sort of thing), just gets tiring. I love every strong female character in Jackson's original movies, even those added that weren't in the books and were a bit eye-rolling (ie "I AM NO MAN!), but this is just over two hours of cliche. Have her fail, many times, so there is a growth at the end,and we would all love it. Have a giant man kick her you-know-what, take her weapons, and she loses loved ones being too confident. Then later she becomes a leader who realizes men and women alike need others to survive, and we would all be giving this highest point reviews. We all loved in Return of the King, the one time outcast is now crowned a king, and he marries this strong female elf at the end. She did a lot of good in the films, yet was fallible as well. You know, Luke failed several times in the original SW trilogy, and that is why we routed for him, not because he was a male. Even Frodo gave in and wanted to keep The Ring, he was fallible (again to hit the point over and over), yet came back through fate, making him a hero. Who is writing this stuff?
Good, however not great. If you are bored with not much else to watch, this will definitely light up some memory cells (if you're old enough) and make you realize how much they tried to experiment with the formula for "super hero" type films. This was before the first Iron Man, and even before Superman Returns. Although Keanu's character is not a typical Avengers or Justice League costumed hero, they've tried to mash up Blade (1998) with some Matrix flavors, and then cook in some mystery/thriller elements. It is fun to watch a lot of those scenes that hold up fairly well, and then also fun to watch scenes that leave you wondering, "Did I actually enjoy this type of thing?" For example, in a "preparing to kill vampires" cliche scene, where Keanu puts the pieces together for a cross shaped shotgun / flamethrower combo (seriously, and it's made of gold), we get several minutes of exposition where the film maker's decided they needed to tell the audience what is going on instead of showing them. "What are you doing?" etc. In another cliche trope, it is great to know that as far back as 2005, bad writers were falling victim to the guilt of white mansplaining, and really needing the audience to feel it, too. So after the super powered Keanu tells the very human and vulnerable Rachel character to "stay in the car" and even gives her a super duper powered amulet that he says is a "get out of jail free card" to protect her from vampires, she of course becomes impatient, and decides to go and find him (he had already won his boss fight). She gets out of the car, defiantly says "Men!" and throws her ladies suit coat in the front seat- complete with somehow including the super duper powered amulet which also somehow came from around her neck to being thrown down with a button up front coat (not removed over the head in other words). Men! Always giving powered amulets and I'm not just staying in the car! A few minutes later both characters are in a hallway... more exposition to explain to the audience what is going on, and Keanu asks, "Wait. Where is the amulet?!" "Oh. I must have left it..." Cue the cliche "OMG" look on her face as she is about to be in trouble now. Again, for 2005, it is about a 7, so that's what rating I'll go with, although after many DC and Marvel and other super powered movies have been made since then, it would be about a 5.5 now. Still can't get over.... "Men!" as she defiantly decides not to wait in the car. Well, you can laugh at those scenes and enjoy Keanu's performance!
I watched this one after somehow missing it for like six years (obviously had no word of mouth). The premise is they change humans to live on a moon around Saturn, because like, humans can't breath that places Nitrogen for air and stuff. So, how come they don't just live in a space craft, a shelter and drill tunnels and live underground, or just build domes or something? How does changing humans make sense for 99% of the population? Not to mention it is ** another ** "we killed the environment" premise which is a serious cliche and trope now. How about any other premise? An asteroid hit the Earth and only a few people lived? A disease made them realize they need a colony? The Earth's core is breaking. The Sun is flaring out of control. "We killed the environment?!"It just became very slow writing, and nothing happened for long stretches of time. There is no adventure. There is no exciting plot. Just the start of a story that then ends because the movie had no budget. Skip it!
I made it to 33 minutes (that included some fast forwarding past predictable build up scenes). The premise is not a terrible one, however it would have been better as a Black Mirror much shorter story. Right when the cliche "mystery"notes stopped repeating "da da dee doo da..." and turned into Ana Taylor whatever her name is dancing on watch as a sniper to punk music because it was her "birthday and I'll do whatever the hell I want," I was done. Why do they insist on having scenes, like literally someone (whether male or female, but as is often the case, female characters) who are likely less than 90 lbs, doing things that only the largest of males can do? Examples include the extremely difficult task and arm strength needed to keep a sniper rifle steady (even on a tripod or bi-pod lying down), and even more absurd one scene where Ana is introduced to her male counterpart as he watches her through binoculars- using a big chainsaw to cut wood! This isn't a male / female bashing thing- if they showed a ten year old kid doing it, the entire audience would groan- and if you look at Ana's toothpick sized arms, while yes, very attractive, she just isn't going to be using that chainsaw to cut an entire tree's worth of firewood! Most men are not strong enough to be very honest- so stop trying to do the female boss girl thing- which back to my first point as to when I left- totally gets undercut because two snipers are told contact is * strictly forbidden. * Then Ana, the tiny female Russian sniper, decides "well f@ck it, my birthday is here!" and starts dancing to loud music, drinking, at night, when she is supposedly one of two highly trained snipers guarding the worst possible thing known to exist. If this was a black comedy, or an action-comedy i.e. Beverly Hills Cop- then I'm totally down with this kind of scene. Let's have everyone throw off their clothes while we're at it! But this isn't supposed to be a comedy! It is supposed to be a thriller/mystery/big-reveal-at-the-end drama, where obviously these two snipers, male and female, start up a romance through binoculars. No spoilers- remember I stopped 33 minutes in. It is just extremely obvious what is going to happen. I'm glad to see more of Ana since she was kind of out of the light for a while after Split, however this is just dumb and boring as the genre of movie it is supposed to be. Bottom Line: Don't waste your time.
Talk about propaganda versus documentary. Wow. This is another Netflix gem. They are *still* trying to push this on people. Give it a rest. From talking about QAnon to trying to tie that to the controversy on Jan. 6, this literally says about the people protesting, "literally everyone had their own little version of a conspiracy theory." Unfortunately, there is no mention of the entire summer of burned cities that year to even try and pretend some equal coverage of events. I don't agree with anything about those who thought it a good idea to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6 - really dumb thing to do. However, this 'documentary' says, "From the moment they were tear gassed..." (meaning the crowd on Jan. 6). Um, what? Aren't you going to ask or give a timeline about why they were tear gassed? Because even the Jan. 6 committee revealed no violence occurred until after the crowd was tear gassed. Let's give some real reporting, and at least find out what the police were thinking and doing as well. Why is it every other police action around the country gets a "defund the police" chant, but in this case, their actions are roundly ignored? Don't waste your time. This is not a documentary. Again- I don't agree with anyone going there on Jan. 6, this isn't some QAnon review, LOL. But I guess just asking for more information and balanced reporting gets you labeled as a conspiracy theorist.
Since the last presidential election in the U.S., most of Hollywood jumped on the bandwagon that everyone really wanted social change, and that should be reflected in movies. That is what we are seeing now in many titles, including this one. I'm not arguing for or against that change, by the way, however, that notion without a doubt was shoved into films in a ham-fisted way. It takes years for scripts to get to approval, and then get to casting, production, shooting, then post-production, we are getting the flow of sewage out of our water pipes now from three years ago. I think Snyder must have phoned this one in for the Netflix bucks. A couple of specifics both good and bad to give you an idea of what I mean:
- Stunning visuals most of the time
- Good performances by many of the actors
- The set pieces and most CGI are pretty cool
That is your three score. Now, the not-so-good:
- Another round of Rey-esque girl does it all storyline
- She alone sows fields using an animal drawn 1800's plow
- All the men, and I mean big, muscular men who could tear my head off, think negotiating with the "empire" so to speak is a good idea. She is the lone "we have to fight them," voice. - This 90 pound girl takes down 10 soldiers, including using moves where after a twist-flip-kick, she has her legs straddling guys on two different occasions- while they are standing up (so now the soldier is face to face with her) and both times shoots them straight up through the chin
- The pistol she uses (and I am former military) is so big, Dirty Harry couldn't carry it
- Her fight scenes come complete with 'wip-wip-wip-wip' sounds as she twirls an axe or knife during fights
- She is the one person who rings the 'alarm gong' when the "empire" arrives- with a huge steel hammer that must weigh what she does, over and over and over again (we are talking Thor's hammer with a long handle, big)
- Matrix-y type fights that are constantly slowed down to show you all her super moves (except she has no powers)
- Beyond that, there is a LOT of talking. Now, obviously, most scripts involve talking. Unfortunately, this is every few minutes, another exposition scene. -- In other words, two characters stop the whole storyline, and talk about what happened two hundred years ago, for what seems FOREVER. -- This is telling not showing. It should be the other way around "Show, don't tell." Example: Right: You watch a contemplative Luke Skywalker, as he looks on at a dual sunset, trying to figure out what his life is all about. You instantly know he is reflective on both the past, and future. Word count: 0. Wrong: Anakin goes on for 10 minutes in dialogue about how Obi-Wan is jealous, and the real power is all his, oh, and he's a serial killer of families, with the other character staring blankly back most of the time. (Instead she should have witnessed an argument between the two, or a hologram of his killings, and had the proper reaction that the audience would... with no words needed, because it is shown). In this case, Snyder has characters going on and on about what they should be showing you. "So, your leaving?" Cue 5 minutes of dialogue explaining it. Another weirdness: A C3P0 / Rogue One type droid is WASHING HIS FACE in a river. A girl he just met approaches. Cue 5 minutes of dialogue about what happened to someone else hundreds of years ago- and a "you remind me of her," from the droid, with a finishing touch about how honor has been lost. "I think it lives in you." Says the girl back to him, WHO JUST MET HIM 4 MINUTES AGO, and then from somewhere (she came to get a bucket of water) puts a crown of tied together daisies on the droid's head. She isn't collecting them as their talking. Did someone else leave it there? What is going on?? Cringe Snyder. Cringe. The visuals are nice, however, there is no way I can recommend one hour and forty seven minutes of this bleh. If I hear another wip-wip-wip-wip of a twirling weapon, I will seriously be ill!
