Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, a review

Plot Summary

Chun-Li (Kristin Kreuk), a concert pianist and martial artist, is out to avenge the slaying of her father Xiang (Edmund Chen), by ruthless businessman, M. Bison (Neal McDonough).

Thoughts

This is without doubt, one of the worst movies ever made.

The acting in this film was awful, and that doesn't fully articulate how bad it was. Chris Klein, who played a sex-starved teen in one of the "American Pie" films, plays Charlie Nash, an Interpol operative. Klein imbues his character with about as much life as a corpse has. The rest of the main cast -- Kristin Kreuk, Robin Shou, Neal McDonough and Michael Clarke Duncan -- put in performances of gigantic awfulness. Although Shou, who played martial artist Liu Kang in another video game adaptation, had a sincerity and conviction that made his performance a little less awful.

The story was awful -- Bison ripping his unborn child out of its mother's womb, thereby ridding himself of his conscience -- I mean, c'mon! Perhaps it wouldn't have seemed ridiculous had the scene been executed well.

The hand-to-hand fights and gunfights were as exciting as watching wet paint dry, the choreography of both was appalling. Both lacked impact and excitement. It was as though the actors and actresses had not been given any direction at all and so had to improvise on set, during principal photography.

It is movies like this one that evoke an appreciation of filmmakers with real talent and commitment. "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li" is not worth anyone's time.

Luc Besson and his Lone Runners

There are parallels between the films "The Professional" and "Transporter 3". The former, written and directed by Luc Besson. The Latter, co-written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, and directed by Olivier Megaton. I don't know whether the parallels are coincidental or intentional, but Mr. Besson had a hand in shaping both of films.

The protagonists from both films, Leon (Jean Reno) from "The Professional" and Frank Martin (Jason Statham) from "Transporter 3", are dedicated, disciplined, exceptionally skilled and work alone. Both are permanently altered for the better by the females who inadvertently come into their lives. For Leon, it's a 13-year-old girl played perfectly by then child prodigy Natalie Portman, who gets him not wanting to be lonely anymore, wanting to enjoy life and put down roots, towards the end of the film. For Frank, it's a highly attractive, freckled Eastern European woman whom he's transporting, played satisfactorily by Natalya Rudakova, who gets him to loosen up and overcome his fear of living. One needs only one word to describe what Leon and Frank do, a "cleaner" or "hitman" and "transporter", respectively. Each man has one person whom he trusts and who knows what he does for a living -- a sort of confidante. For Leon, it's a burly restaurant owner who gets him "hitman" work and keeps his earnings like a bank. This restaurateur is played nicely by likable New Yorker, Danny Aiello. For Frank, it's a French Police Inspector whom he occasionally goes fishing with, played by Francois Berleand.

Finis.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a review

Plot Summary

Logan / Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), an ex-special forces operative, lives a quite life with his lover Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins). Victor Creed (Liev Schreiber), in league with Colonel William Stryker (Danny Huston), simulates the murder of Kayla. Enraged and vengeful, Logan agrees to have an indestructible metal bonded to his skeleton so that he may exact revenge.

Thoughts

On the whole, I thought that this film was mediocre. The drama -- those moments driven by simple emotional acting -- was poorly timed, pretentious and lacked the emotional punch of classical Greek tragedy, which it seemed to aspire to. The only action sequence that almost thrilled me, I repeat, almost thrilled me, was the one where Logan and Victor fought the elusive and deadly "Weapon XI", on the rim of a nuclear reactor tower. It wasn't very exciting but it got my attention. The rest of the action set pieces didn't do anything for me, I'm not sure why. It may have been the extensive use of CGI, bland choreography or what seemed to me to be an over-faithfulness to the source material -- merely taking the comic-book action as it was and putting it on screen -- making the action come across as too fanciful, even for a film based on fantasy. I found the story somewhat convoluted and some of the characters' motivations weak or unclear.

Hakeem Kae Kazim, who portrayed a Nigerian criminal here, seems to be taking on more and more roles of this type, he runs the risk of being stuck in this type of role for good. He played a despicable character in Terry George's "Hotel Rwanda" and played a role identical to this in Edward Zwick's "Blood Diamond" and who knows what else. It's starting to lose its believability. I found the Nigerian locale unconvincing, it felt more like a set or studio back-lot than a real location, and some of the trees that I saw in the landscape seemed out of place.

In spite of the aforementioned, this film had several things going for it. One of them was the talented Liev Schreiber. Schreiber didn't act as Victor Creed, he became Victor, through and through. He had a strong presence on screen and was a more than formidable opponent for Logan. Schreiber conveyed the animalistic tendencies in Victor with a fierceness that was scary. His take on the character was full and interesting, saving it from the monotonous, two-dimensional hell that it would have ended up in otherwise. Some of the credit for this, goes to the writers and others of course.

Another thing this film had going for it, was Harry Gregson-Williams' outstanding score. The score was impressively heroic and rousing, very apt for this film. Unfortunately, the score was more entertaining than the film itself. 

Ryan Reynolds' portrayal of "Deadpool" was enjoyable. I enjoyed the character's absurd sense of humour. Dominic Monaghan's portrayal of Bradley, a mutant with the ability to manipulate electricity and energy, was subtle and restrained yet, very effective. I tend to have difficulty commenting on the principle player's performance, which in this case, was Hugh Jackman. I suspect that the reader will disagree with me quite strongly, but I found Jackman's performance to be no more than adequate. I admire his continual return to such a physically and emotionally demanding role -- all that impaling, scowling, snarling, grunting, melancholy and so on. The role suits Jackman to a T, the man was born to play it.

Last but not least. The visual effects and the opening credits sequence were outstanding. Of note, were the effects that went into fleshing out Logan and Victor. What made the opening credits sequence impressive for me, was that a great deal of back story was revealed that would have had to go into the film itself, saving time. Another thing was the subdued colour palette, which enhanced the impact of the visuals. And there's a scene where Logan and Victor, as G.I.s in Vietnam, stand back-to-back, as they are surrounded by fellow soldiers -- Schreiber's pose in this scene, claws extended and fangs bared, looked exactly like a work of comic art, it was amazing. Another thing that was impressive was Victor, leaping around like a cheetah on the beaches of Normandy during the D-Day landings, dispatching German soldiers with claw and bullet, it was just fantastic. Gregson-Williams' monster of a score made it all even more appealing.

"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" is worth at least one look.

Lost: Season 1

"Lost" is a fantastic TV show, and that's putting it mildly. One theme that the writers keep hitting upon, is the danger of keeping to oneself, information that would be best shared with all -- secrets. I love watching Charlie and Claire interacting with each other, their interactions are so beautifully moving most of the time. There's a piece of music that accompanies almost all the scenes where Charlie and Claire interact directly with each other, I call it "Charlie and Claire's Theme", it's at once beautifully melancholic and hopeful. Michael Giacchino, the score composer, outdid himself with that piece, I don't have the words to adequately articulate how deeply that cue moves me.

For me, "Lost", is not only about being lost in terms of physical location, but being lost in life too -- losing your way, as you travel to that place where you can say without doubt, that you're the best person that you can possibly be. I loved the scene in season one, where Sawyer reveals to Jack that he, by sheer happenstance, wound up sitting next to Jack's father in a bar in Australia and then proceeds to share with Jack the contents of their conversation. This was Sawyer's way of bidding farewell to Jack and thanking him, without seeming like a pansy. Matthew Fox's and Josh Holloway's performances in this scene, were I think, outstanding. More so Fox's. My eyes welled up as I watched this scene.