Reviews

May 15, 2003, the whole world waited. May 16, 2003, the majority cried.

All I can say is, what happened? After the success of the first film, Warner Bros had a winner. Mothers spoke in witty tongue. Fathers debated with their sons whether the chicken came before the egg, and geeks decided that sunglasses were much cooler than a glare screen. What did the Wachowski Bros. do to screw up their sequel? "The machines are digging", Niobe (Jada Pinkett-Smith) says at the start of the movie. That's right, in 72 hours, the machines will reach the human city of Zion and war will break out. Neo, as The One, must find his purpose in this upcoming event, as well as taking on an unwelcome threat in the form of an agent from the previous film. Sound good on paper? Wait until you see the execution.

The acting was more wooden than sombre, and dialog not as sharp or witty: it's either stupid, or so ridiculous that not even the most literate could understand it.

It seems as though the introduction of new characters has halted the progression of other ones. Neo (Keanu Reeves) is now The One. That's it. End of story - his character has hit the end of the line. His relationship with Trinity (Carrie Anne Moss) is so unbelievable its funny, and Morpheus is more of the same, which is not a bad thing. Oh yeah, most of them can fight agents one-on-one now. "Hmm... upgraded?". I think not.

Hugo Weaving as Smith is undeniably good (and adds a much needed creepiness), and Lambert Wilson and Monica Bellucci are great as The Merovingian and Persephone respectively, even if they really do nothing to advance the plot.

It seems the Wachowskis have forgotten about how to tell a story, and rather tried to wow us with their updated versions of werewolves, vampires and ghosts of the Matrix, as well as impressing us with their dazzling effects.

Yes, they didn't forget their action sequences. Neo fighting three agents at a time (righteous!), Neo fighting hundred agents a time (um...), to Neo fighting henchmen with medieval weapons (eh?). They are all bigger and better than anything ever seen, but ultimately are pointless. The saving grace is the freeway sequence, which is one of the best out there.

As you can tell, I'm disappointed. I loved The Matrix, but the Wachowski Brothers somehow stuffed their unstuffable franchise up. Unless you really are interested in the lore of The Matrix, or want to skip to the action scenes, you may give this one a miss.

---MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS---

What can I say? From the moment it was advertised that "Popstar/actress Holly Valance...", I knew it was desperate for some ratings.

This will NOT satisfy action/martial arts fans, and it will NOT satisfy DOA fans. So what has Corey Yuen tried to achieve? Absolutely nothing.

The DOA characters are bland and generic (How did Yuen screw up the source material?!). The actors can't act. Their story arcs (or lack thereof) do not help the audience sympathize with them.

Holly Valance acts as the sexy cat thief Christie. It hurts that the whole time she tries to act like that. Devon Aoki as Kasumi was a complete miscast. Sarah Carter as Helena didn't stand out, but she didn't completely lose face in this mess. Ayane is nothing more than a reason for a cat fight between her and Kasumi. Ryu Hayabusa was played out to be Kasumi's love interest rather than a masterful ninja: any game enthusiast would wonder how Yuen could butcher one of the most beloved video game characters of all time.

The "added" characters are uninspired. Weatherby is annoying, and unfunny (the only reasons I remember his name. Oh yeah, and the fact that he kept telling everyone who called him "Wallaby". Was that funny?). You can see that the man is TRYING to act. Max, as Christie's partner in crime, does nothing to enhance the plot; he adds 3 minutes to the 86 minute movie by allowing Christie to sleep with him. The main antagonist and the final fight is almost laughable.

The only saving character is Jaime Pressley as Tina Armstrong. Although not in the busty proportions of "game" Tina, it's almost forgiven as she makes the character her own, and has a genuinely funny relationship with her father, Bass. One of the only reasons to watch this movie.

The plot is completely horrible. Generic and predictable, it would have looked better back in the 1980's. One expects it to revolve around the actual tournament, or focus on a specific character's story (seen in the game). What I got was some lame conspiracy, and as Tina rightly puts it in the trailer "They're a bunch of pervs".

The soundtrack is unoriginal. It's a bunch of licensed music, probably because the music composer gave up on this movie. Funnily enough, DOA rightly plays the song 'Scandalous'.

The martial arts/fighting is as fake as it can get. Wires can be 'seen' without actually being visible, and Yuen's decision to do 'Matrix' shots is a double edged sword. Good because it's apparent "Popstar" Valance can't fight, bad because the audience has had enough of slow motion sequences. All characters apparently do the same type of martial arts. One comes to wonder how the non-ninja characters fight fluidly with a sword against 20 trained professionals. Utter rubbish.

Attention to detail is obviously something the crew thought unnecessary. The characters are from different ethnicities. A few even come from Japan. Yet they can all speak perfect English. WITH American ACCENTS. From the first line, the audience roared with laughter at this very poor mistake.

---DOA fans--- Dear Yuen and co, why pay homage to DOA: Xtreme Beach Volleyball when you can't even pay homage to DOA properly? Christie works in a team? Hayate is the ultimate fighter? Hayabusa acts like a ninja wannabe? Helena is American? How did Jan Lee get defeated so easily? What about Lei Fang? Yes she is in it, but not as a beautiful oriental schoolgirl. She has a cameo but anyone would realize the woman portraying her is some 40 year old dressed up like a schoolgirl. Hideous.

Essentially, a movie not worthy of your time, unless you're REALLY REALLY bored. Miss. Pressley saves this stinker from scoring a one.

2/10

--CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS-- I'm not a fan of horror-thriller movies. This is partly due to the fact that most of them aim for the 'boo!' factor rather than real haunting ideas or good story lines.. Few films have achieved this in recent times (Exorcism of Emily Rose comes to mind), and Silent Hill is one of them.

Having hardly any knowledge of what or how the Silent Hill games are about, I watched the movie with decent expectations. I came out of the theater quite impressed at what the movie has achieved.

The story is essentially about Rose (Radha Mitchell) and her daughter Sharon (Jodelle Ferland), taking a vacation to Silent Hill. Ignorant of the town's past, Rose, en route to Silent Hill, has a sudden car crash. Upon coming out of unconsciousness, she finds her daughter has gone. So begins the journey into the dark secrets of the ghost town.

Rose, through the course of the movie, is seen running through a completely deserted town, which is 'snowing' ashes. In the distance of her vision, she sees what appears to be her daughter, and through the course of the movie she is seen chasing her daughter, who seems adamant on always being out of reach. A run in with the other humans stuck in this horror reveals plot points, until Rose must literally go to the root of all evil to find out where her daughter is.

A few times in the movie, things go 'bad'. The first time, Rose is chasing her daughter, who runs down a set of stairs. As Rose follows her, an air horn sirens. Everything turns dark, until it is pitch black. The true terror then begins.

'Otherworld' Silent Hill is the residence of most of the monsters encountered in this movie, and they are genuinely disturbing. The video game is famous for it's fear-inducing creatures, and its film adaption is certainly no slouch. The first monster encountered is arguably the most terrifying. In typical fashion, it creeps up on the protagonist. However, as well as its appearance and cry, the fact that Rose actually screamed at it's appearance is nothing short of terrific. Most other films depict the victim scared of dying rather than an appearance of a creature; in Silent Hill, the audience sympathizes with Rose as it is obvious she is terrified of the creature. In reality, anything that resembled that monster would generate the same sort of results (We wouldn't look with mild terror like Sarah Michelle Gellar did in 'The Grudge').

However, the monsters become less and less terrifying (although more and more disturbing). The last monster Rose encounters before reaching the turning point in the movie was creepy, but somewhat attractive (the male and female audience in the theater were divided in their reaction). Maybe the film was playing on the idea of an 'attractive killer' (certainly deformed), but it certainly got serious when she started slicing and dicing.

The source of these creatures ties in the plot; there's a reason these kind of monsters exist.

Upon its first view, Silent Hill's plot can lose some people. This could detract some people from the movie, and this has raised some negative comments from the film arena, saying that the game has to be played to be understood. This is not really true. One must see this movie several times before understanding, as not all the information is spoon fed. Some links in the movie can be missed upon the first viewing.

The special effects are quite good, making the otherworldly creatures believable, and the make up is excellent.

The sound effects are creepy. Since one of the video game's strengths was sound effects rather than the element of surprise, it is no surprise then that the movie has followed suit. Although it's not particularly memorable, it heightens and compliments the events on screen.

The cinematography is superb; it really immerses you into the movie. The three 'versions' of Silent Hill each have a distinct look: the 'normal' Silent Hill has normal lighting, and looks quite normal. The 'foggy' Silent Hill looks foreboding. The 'Otherworld' Silent Hill looks dark and sinister, and the unwelcoming creatures fit right into the atmosphere.

Christopher Gans has done an exceptional job of converting the game franchise into a movie. The beginning of the trip to Silent Hill is done almost exactly like the video game that inspired it; even the camera angles are the same. After this, however, he takes full control and applies his vision of Silent Hill: never far from the true plot, yet never following it completely.

In its own right, Silent Hill is an exceptional horror film, and a very good game-film adaption. Sadly enough, it even beats Hollywood's own 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' and 'House of Wax'. Unfortunately, due to the modest marketing and it being a cult video game, it will be overlooked in the running for the 'best video game to movie adaption' category.

7/10

I went to this movie, expecting that although this was going to be good, it would not be able to exceed the greatness of any of the three original movies. When I came out of the cinema, I thought, "Lucas, you've completed your quadrilogy."

Set a few years after the beginning of the Clone Wars, Anakin has reached Jedi Knight status, and him and Obi-Wan are on a mission to save Chancellor Palpatine Everything, from the acting, to the score, was of high calibre. The special effects were top notch as usual, and actually complimented the movie. The acting was raised another notch or two. McGregor was brilliant as usual, Yoda, even though purely CGI, looked even wiser and more aggressive, but Hayden Christensen, who plays Anakin, has probably improved the most. His acting is actually believable this time around, but some emotions still scream 'Episode II stinker' (That is, he seems to restrict himself). When Anakin turns to the Dark side though, Christensen's performance is quite amazing. The chemistry between him and co-star Natalie Portman is believable, too. Without a doubt, Ian McDirmid had the best on screen performance. It seems only he could ever portray the revival of the Sith.

John William's score feels somewhat restricted in the movie, although it is great. At times, one wonders where the music is, while lightsabers are cutting paths of limb-slicing death. There are places where you will feel proud of the Star Wars score though, such as the Yoda vs. Darth Sidious scene. Pure brilliance.

The story is great. It fits in almost perfectly with the old trilogy. Lucas wanted us to 'love' to be sad with this movie, and, fortunately for him, it does make one sad. The script was generally better this time around, and helps move the story emotionally. One cannot help but feel sad/angry at the time of the line "I need him!", or feel the tension at the lava planet when Obi-Wan says "Anakin, let her go!". The transition to Darth Vader wasn't as 'epic' as it should have been. This is probably the biggest let down in the movie, but even then, it is not a big let down. Ultimately, this is a sad movie, a movie that shows that good guys don't always win.

Overall, this movie had everything, great acting, good story, awesome effects, and the rise of one of the greatest villains of all time. Highly Recommended - 9/10

I watched this on the first few days it came out. I had very high expectations for this sequel, as I heard a lot about it on T.V and newspapers. And boy did it fulfill my expectations. Every aspect of this movie has been taken a level up, especially the *SPOILER* emotional part *SPOILER END*

The action has also taken been taken up a notch, and clearly has one of the best fighting scenes this side of The Matrix trilogy. The acting is superb, and Tobey once again is giving us a sense that Peter Parker is real. J.K Simmons is also great and funny, and Kirsten Dunst, Rosemary Harris and James Franco, along with Alfred Molina also do a very good job.

Probably the best movie you'll see this year, much less this Summer. 10/10