Movie Review - Seventh Son

Seventh Son

Starring: Jeff Bridges, Ben Barnes, Julianne Moore, Alicia Vikander, Antje Traue, Olivia Williams, John DeSantis, Kit Harington, Djimon Hounsou, David Cubitt, and more.

Directed by: Sergey Bodrov Screenplay by: Charles Leavitt and Steven Knight Screen Story by: Matt Greenberg Inspired by the Novel by: John Delaney Cinematography by: Newton Thomas Sigel Music by: Marco Beltrami

Premise: An evil locked away for decades underground escapes. The man who first imprisoned Mother Malkin, the Spook John Gregory, tries to capture her again, only to find her power has increased to the point the old methods will no longer work. Losing his apprentice, John finds another seventh son of a seventh son, except he's not exactly what he should be. But with the full red moon less than a week away and Mother Malkin's power reaching new peaks, Gregory has little choice but to work with what's available. (Rated PG-13)

Review:

1) Acting - Total Thumbs Up: Jeff Bridges was fun as the somewhat drunk and embittered Spook, John Gregory. Ben Barnes as Tom Ward oozed honesty and a very curious nature and doing things his own way. Alicia Vikander as the capable Alice was interesting to watch as her character dealt with conflicts with regards to family and love.

2) Special Effects - Total Thumbs Up: Some truly outstanding work from the special effects department. The beginning sequence combining CGI and time lapse photography spoke volumes without anyone having to explain anything - and looked fabulous!

The morphing sequences for all the witches were incredibly smooth. The sabertooth cheetah made me purr. All the fantasy creatures were great. And when Mother Malkin brings her main rooms and sister back to their prime - lovely work!

My favorite special effect, however, was the ghasts in the forest. There's a scene where one bops around Tom that looked so good it gave me chills. Ben Barnes really sold the particular scene as well.

3) Plot/Story - Thumbs Up: I've not read the series, so can't compare it to the books. It's also listed as 'inspired by' rather than 'based on', so I'm thinking a lot may have changed from the original. Something for fans of the series might want to keep in mind.

The plot is somewhat standard and passable as long as you don't look too closely.

Five days of training, most of which are taken up with traveling, does not much of a warrior make. It plot also suffered from too many cool bad guys. Mother Malkin has five top warriors, but while they all look quite interesting, there's too many of them vying for attention and not enough time for them to really strut their stuff, let alone to get the audience to know them. Sadly, this also left no time for Mother Malkin to be developed much either, except that she's a queen, has more power than before, and is evil.

One strangely amusing bit is Mother Malkin refusing the gift of several assassins from her vassal Radu. He states they are some of his best men. But Mother Malkin didn't find them all that good. Later in the film, they prove she's right! Lol! It was very odd.... Would have been nice to learn how Gregory and Tusk became friends, especially since Gregory appeared the type to kill first ask questions later. :P

4) Stunts - Total Thumbs Up: Jeff Bridges stunt double got to do a lot of work! Lots of people got thrown about. Some swordplay and lizard munching, though again too many things too see too fast to get too impressed over anyone.

5) Locations/Cinematography - Total Thumbs Up: The locations for the film were great. Just the place they picked for Mother Malkin's original incarceration was fabulous. Add in the fog enshrouded mountains, the walled city with an Arabian flare, and the mountain retreat with Asian influences, and there was plenty of fodder for the eyes.

6) Music - Total Thumbs Up: I've been seeing Marco Beltrami's name a lot lately. He's been doing some really nice work to boot! Just like the locations seemed to have a bit of Asian and Arabic influence, the soundtrack does as well. Some nice creepy undertones here and there, too, like where werewolves or vampires prey music. There are samples at Mr. Beltrami's site, but no movie soundtrack forthcoming that I could find. :(

Conclusion: Seventh Son is a nice fantasy romp as long as you don't look too deeply. Great special effects and the lovely soundtrack add a lot to enhance the experience.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Full Price)

Movie Review - Dracula Untold

Dracula Untold

Starring: Luke Evans, Sarah Gadon, Dominic Cooper, Art Parkinson, Charles Dance, Diarmaid Murtagh, Paul Kaye, William Houston, Noah Huntley, Ronan Vibert, and more.

Directed by: Gary Shore Written by: Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless Based on Characters Created by: Bram Stoker Cinematography by: John Schwartzman Music by: Ramin Djawadi

Premise: When the Turks demand Vlad adds a thousand children, as well as his son, to their yearly tribute, Vlad Tepes decides it is too dear a price to pay. Killing several Turks, he turns to Broken Tooth Mountain where he'd glimpsed something evil and very powerful. It is this power he hopes to gain to allow him to save his people. Yet the power has a cost. (Rated PG-13)

Review:

1) Acting - Total Thumbs Up: Luke Evans was perfect for the role - waxing from stern, to concerned, to loving husband and father, to hungry predator with ease. Charles Dance brought great presence to the Master Vampire. Sarah Gadon as Vlad's lovely and perceptive wife, made for a nice foil and wove in well into the themes of light and dark.

2) Special Effects - Thumbs Up: The film had a lot of nice effects. The different ways bats were used were very cool - both in the giant waves and the more personal combat moments. Some neat uses of dark and light as seen through vampiric eyes. The first vaporizing sunlight effect was fantastic. Some of the others weren't as well done, but still looked very good.

There's a nice scene done almost exclusively through the reflections of a sword. What I loved more was the POV being kept on the man holding the sword till his end. A very nice touch.

The art in the priest's book was fantastic! The detail was superb.

3) Plot/Story - Thumbs Down: Is this film in any way historically accurate? Not much. But the fact the supernatural would be involved does give a clue this would be the way of it, so it didn't hinder my interest. Bad writing, however, is a whole other matter.

Aside from Vlad, his wife, and son, there was no development of any of the other characters. The Turks were all cardboard villains. Those around Vlad about the same. And for one or two of them, if you blink while watching the film, you'd miss the only clue to their personalities that you were given.

There was nothing whatsoever to support the request for a thousand children. (If you have an army of over a hundred thousand strong sitting around, what difference would an extra thousand untrained soldiers make?) The fact Vlad and the Turkish ruler had been close friends made the whole thing that much harder to swallow.

Vlad has fought countless wars, created strategies, killed thousands before ever taking on supernatural powers - yet not once were any real tactics or thought, for that matter, ever presented by him. After the slaying of the first group of soldiers once he gained his powers, why didn't he fly straight to the main encampment and kill the ruler in his sleep? The main problem would be gone, his army and people thrown into disarray at the death of their leader, and if they didn't get the hint, he could have come back and slayed the lot without a single fellow countryman ever placed near the danger. I have more on this issue, but will stop here.

The next major affront was the ruler knowing how to combat supernatural Vlad. Since seemingly no one in the country of Transylvania knew about vampires except one priest, how the heck would the Turkish ruler have a clue? The Turks killed everyone they got a hold of. They didn't question or take any prisoners. The one they did take wouldn't hold told them, and didn't know all that much in the first place. And sadder still, they took a being with his incredible power, put him in a place that made him weak, and instead of having him step outside, pick up a spear, and using his magnified senses and superhuman strength to torpedo it through the cloth and into the chest of his enemy, you have him stay inside and "fight" it out. (Yes, they did do some cool things with visuals during that fight, but still...)  

And last, but not least, why the heck would Turkish scouts go to the most desolate mountain to scout for a possible invasion anyway? Now, if they'd mentioned the Turkish ruler having heard rumors of who was trapped there and wanted it investigated to see if he could give himself power, that could have been a fun angle. But, alas, no...

No real surprises or plot twists other than the delectable bit at the end. (Though I realized later that shot was all in sublight - so...huh????)

4) Stunts - Total Thumbs Up: Lots of fancy and destructive stunts by real people and CGI. Integration of both were pretty flawless, making for lots of combat fun. There is some shaky cam action, which always feels like a cheap tactic to me, but most of it wasn't, so that was good.

5) Locations/Cinematography - Thumbs Up: Lots of lovely sweeping views from above or panning shots over open fields in the day and the night. It all plays beautifully with the CGI bats. The land looks mostly unspoiled by people, making for lovely terrain shots and closeups.

My one complaint was the lack of Transylvanian/Wallachian style to the castle or monastery. Wallachia and other Carpathian locations have their own look and local flavor. Yet none of that really came across in the film. They just seemed typical, generic. Too bad.

Conclusion: If you turn of your logic circuits and possibly a couple of others, "Dracula - Untold" is an entertaining film. Some cool special effects and fight scenes as well as some great acting on the part of Lucas Evans, Sarah Gadon, and Charles Dance.

Rating: 3 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Full Price To See Again.)

Movie Review - I, Frankenstein

I, Frankenstein

Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Yvonne Strahovski, Miranda Otto, Bill Nighy, Jai Courtney, Socratis Otto, Aden Young, Caitlin Stasey, Mahesh Jadu, Steve Mouzakis, Nicholas Bell, and more.

Directed by: Stuart Beattie Screenplay by: Stuart Beattie Screen Story by: Kevin Grevioux and Stuart Beattie From the Graphic Novel by: Kevin Grevioux Based on Characters in the Novel by: Mary Shelley Cinematography by: Ross Emery Music by: Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek

Premise: Picking up where the Mary Shelley novel left off, the creature brings Frankenstein's body home to bury him at the family graveyard. A final act of grudging respcet after the scientist died while still pursuing his creation. While doing so, the creature is attacked by demons, who seem to know who and what he is. Rescued by shape shifting gargoyles, the creature is given a name and instructed about a conflict most are not aware of. And he's now become a part of it, whether he likes it or not. (Rated PG-13)

Review:

1) Acting - Total Thumbs Up: Aaron Eckhart was a great choice to play Victor Frankenstein's reanimated creation. Yvonne Strahovsky was a lot of fun as the eager scientist. She even wore sensible shoes! (Something usually unheard of in movies.) Bill Nighy continues his tradition of playing high ranking supernatural villains. Which works very well as he does such a great job of being a suave and persuasive type of evil.

2) Special Effects - Total Thumbs Up: "I, Frankenstein" has a ton of awesome special effects. The way the demons and gargoyles 'descend' and 'ascend' are incredibly flashy. The demons 'descending' even drill into the ground as they are ejected to the plain of Hell, which made for some cool visuals.

The switches between CGI and reality and back again, were close to seamless. This let them create some fun combat scenes as the actors fought one another and then their bodies would catch flame and deteriorate in moments while still moving. The shape shifting of the gargoyles looked good, but the demon changes looked even better.

Yet as in any Frankenstein film, it is the scientific gadgets that look coolest of all. Dr Wade's electricity chamber looked amazing in IMAX 3D. Loved the see through computer screens. And wait until you see the giant chamber of bodies and the electricity conducting coils - very impressive.

3) Story - Thumbs Up: I'd just recently seen the Frankenstein play by Danny Boyle, which shares the thoughts and feelings of the creature as well as Frankenstein's, so a lot of the general details of the Mary Shelley story were still fresh in my mind. So I was thrilled when the film began and they picked up pretty much were the story left off - the chase of the monster by his creator in the Arctic. They even quickly mentioned things from the novel that had already transpired for those not acquainted with the original work. Even better (despite what the name of the film makes it look like), they don't confuse 'Frankenstein' as the name of the creature. (The very end of the film ties back to the name they chose and it works quite well.)

In ancient times gargoyles were thought to be good for scaring away evil and for protection. It was one of the reasons they were used on so many buildings (and also as a way to funnel rainwater away from the buildings). So I loved how they took the old stories just one step further and made gargoyles shape shifters as well as actual defenders of humanity against 666 hordes from Hell. I almost laughed out loud when I saw their main headquarters - the choice could not have been more apt.

Even the symbol for the gargoyles order has basis in fact, as it looks very close to an upside down Papal Cross.

4) Stunts - Total Thumbs Up: There are a lot of fights in the film, and like I mentioned earlier, the combat using both real people and CGI combatants was great. I especially enjoyed the combat scene at the old building where Adam was staying.

5) Costuming/Makeup - Total Thumbs Up: I have to give the costuming department major 'kudos' for actually having a beautiful woman on screen who wears sensible shoes! As a research scientist, Dr. Wade would be on her feet a lot, and flats are just the thing. In most films, however, they would have still put her in heels to make her more appealing. So it was wonderful to see reality/common sense win for once.

The makeup department did an outstanding job as well. The makeup work on Adam was fantastic. The scar tissue on his face and upper body looked like the real thing.

Conclusion: If you're looking for some good supernatural action or are a fan of Frankentein, this movie is for you. Great visuals and special effects, as well as a fast paced solid plot, all of which will keep you thoroughly entertained.

Rating: 4 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission)


Also, if you're looking for a fun read, go check out my short story "Bloody Hell" which is now live at 4 Star Stories. And it's free! :)