Saying that Wrath of a Titans bests its 2010 predecessor Clash of the Titans is like saying…

Oh, the heck with it. Wrath of the Titans shows marked improvement in terms of acting and the use of 3-D, but it’s too lazy to even warrant an analogy of any kind. The movie doesn’t seem to care that it’s even a movie. It’s just a bunch of crap happening for little to no reason, and it’s brought to you by director Jonathan Liebsman (Battle: Los Angeles, Darkness Falls), who after killing this potentially fun sword and sandals franchise off is about to put his hack hands all over that Michael Bay produced Ninja Turtles reboot everyone’s been bitching about. I’ll just let that sink in while you proceed on with the rest of the review.

Called upon by his father Zeus (Liam Neeson), the heroic demigod Perseus (Sam Worthington) gets called away from raising his son in peace when Ares (Edgar Ramirez) teams with Hades (Ralph Fiennes) to resurrect their father Kronos – the original God that Zeus took over from – in order to destroy the world, or something like that. It’s honestly never made clear, but everything you need to know is delivered by Neeson in one thirty second long speech approximately three minutes into the film. The three person writing staff’s devotion to really not giving a shit is quite admirable, in hindsight.

At least, Neeson and Fiennes are back because Sam Worthington still isn’t anywhere near the leading man every suit in Hollywood seemingly wants to make him. But while it’s fun to watch Neeson and Fiennes face off against one another in their few scenes together, it’s painfully clear that Neeson wasn’t even there for half the shoot since he’s chained up with his back to the camera most of the time. They’re usually good in bad movies only because they are fun to watch doing pretty much anything, but Liebsman gives them absolutely no material to work with. Ditto the poor Rosamund Pike as a warrior general, Toby Kebbell as the son of Poseidon, and Bill Nighy who shows up only to be a plot convenience and an unfunny comedic relief as a fallen God and weapons maker.

There are fleeting moments where Liebsman understands how cheesy and one note his film is, but aside from the craziest instance of a snake biting the audience in 3D since Comin’ At Ya, every single thing he attempts after the film’s set-up stinks. He seems in such a hurry to get to the finale that none of the other action sequences comes across as anything more than incomprehensibly edited filler with zero stakes and absolutely no logical or logistical sense.

This is the kind of movie where characters are just forgotten about for stretches because the writers have no idea what to do with them; the kind of film where people somehow miraculously teleport from point A to point B because, again, the writers and the director have no logical way to account for them being anywhere else; the kind of film where when the group of heroes is separated they shout each other’s name incessantly like it will make a lick of difference. Every cliché from lazy action epics that could possibly get crammed into a film show up here, and things only get more incompetent as the film reaches its deathly long and uninteresting conclusion that makes a 100 minute film feel like an eternity.

The visual effects are more accomplished and the 3-D is markedly improved despite an obviously lower budget than the first film. In the hands of a better director, this might have elevated Wrath of the Titans, but Liebsman seems to be crafting a sequel to his headache inducing nightmare Battle: Los Angeles instead of a movie with two headed dragons and minotaurs. The blend of handheld camerawork, 3-D, and some of the most spastic editing since Transformers 2 induced the worst headache I probably ever got from watching a film while I wasn’t already previously sick. Such a shame, too, since the creature design and make-up work here is top notch.

While watching Wrath of the Titans, I couldn’t shake the fact that I would rather be watching a movie where Neeson and Fiennes were buddies talking about all the strange movies they’ve done in their careers. There’s a sequence where they turn to each other and smile when they talk about what they did when they were younger. I wonder if they even knew the camera was on. It’s a rare moment of grace in an otherwise graceless movie. I also liked the sequence because it was one of maybe ten minutes in the film where I could clearly see and understand just what was happening and why it was happening.

One has to be extremely careful in not overselling Man on a Ledge. While it isn’t exactly a “great” or a “good” movie, it’s the kind of film that harkens back to the grindhouse potboilers of the mid to late 70s; movies like Search and Destroy and The Glove, only this time with a modern sheen and a better cast of actors who are up for pretty much anything. Ostensibly a cross between Inside Man and The Negotiator with a healthy dose of Michael Bay style ridiculousness, Man on a Ledge might be the most fun to be had in cinemas this January. It’s an unabashed crowd pleaser that really doesn’t care that it doesn’t make an iota of logical sense.

Following a brazen escape from police custody at his father’s funeral, former New York City police officer Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) holes himself up in a room at the famed Roosevelt Hotel, climbs out on a ledge and threatens to jump. He asks specifically for a disgraced, often hungover rookie negotiator (Elizabeth Banks) to talk him down, but the threat of his suicide is all a ruse designed to distract authorities from a heist going on across the street designed to help clear his name and prove him innocent of the diamond theft that landed him in Sing Sing in the first place.

While Cassidy plays to the crowd below and annoys the police (including site leader Ed Burns), across the street at the offices of ruthless real estate tycoon David Englander (Ed Harris), Nick’s brother (Jamie Bell) and his future sister-in-law (Genesis Rodriguez) are attempting to steal the $20 million dollar diamond that will prove Englander framed Nick. Oh, and while all THIS is happening there’s a reporter (Kyra Sedgwick) turning the scene into a media circus AND Nick’s former partner (Anthony Mackie) is trying to get to the bottom of things away from the site.

While it sounds like there’s an overabundance of plot going on in director Asger Leth’s first fictional feature, the film itself would beg to differ otherwise. It’s all a springboard for launching some incredibly implausible, but wholly elaborate set pieces that feel like nostalgic homages to action films of the past rather than wholesale replications of them. There’s the scene where a car has to outrun a train, a scene where someone has to cut the red wire, the scene where security cameras need to be taken out. These are all standard genre conventions, but Leth and writer Pablo F. Fenjves actually come up with some inventive twists that make the ridiculous subject matter all the more fun to watch.

The cast seems in on the fun for the most part, especially Harris who gets to devour anything and everything in his path and has one of the best character introductions and sendoffs in recent memory. Banks and Burns make for great foils to each other and they almost deserve a movie of their own. Everyone else seems to be having a blast, except for Worthington, who takes this material a bit more seriously than it needs to be. When everything around the main character is more fun to watch than the guy on the ledge is, that’s a bit of a problem.

The final fifteen minutes or so of Man on a Ledge are burned into my memory. It’s a conclusion that is equal parts thrilling and completely idiotic in the best possible way. Audiences at the preview screening chuckled at it, but by the end of the film they cheered. Man on a Ledge achieves its goals splendidly by giving the audience exactly what they want. There’s a Man. On a Ledge. And it’s pretty awesome.

Having recently been hitched, I’ve come to learn that marital spats happen for two reasons, and two reasons only: money and women. For this couple it’s the latter. You see, Michael has an attractive co-worker (Eva Mendes) which leads to speculation and insecurity. The two go in circles over who said what, and if anyone put something someplace; although they soon reconcile over veneered smiles and scrambled eggs (not a euphemism).

Michael is played by Sam Worthington, who has made his mark in Hollywood as the ‘it action guy.’ Here he is soft and sensitive; though he still hasn’t found a role for his Australian accent. After the quarrel, Michael goes on another business trip away from the watchful eyes of his wife and into the gaze of his would-be paramour.

Joanna (Keira Knightley) for her part has further issues to address: writer’s block afflicts her attempts at a follow-up novel. Confronting Michael has only served to compact her internal struggles to be creative. While clearing her head, she serendipitously bumps into a former flame (Guillaume Canet) who is in town on business. Joanna and Alex decide to meet for dinner and drinks later. She’s lonely and he’s French. What could possibly go wrong?

Last Night jumps back-and-forth between the decisions made by Michael and Joanna. Ultimately, this is where the film reveals its major faults. Canet (who is the best of the four by far) and Knightley play cutesy while sipping expensive wine and lamenting about the past, while Mendes practically throws her panties at Michael in an attempt to feel better about herself. All sense of intrigue and seduction is thrown out the window, leaving room for force-fed sympathetic stories of failed romance and questionable decision making. Speaking of such, one person strays, but I’ll leave it to you to figure out who, between the Parisian or the Latina, does the best wrecking ball impression.

The film, directed by Massy Tadjedin, relies on whether or not we care about these good looking people and their trivial problems. You can probably decide for yourselves which side I’m on. This would probably work as a short, but as a feature-length production it misses the mark severely. The city of New York is the real and only star here. As usual, the streets and cityscapes paint a stunning portrait that completely overshadows the people showcased within her; When you leave the theatre thinking of sidewalks, buildings, and housing arrangements, the message has been lost.

James Cameron's Avatar

You may have heard of James Cameron’s new film, a little movie called Avatar.  Cameron and others have hyped the film to no end, claiming that it will change cinema as we know it (and for $250 million, it had better!).  Avatar features all the hallmarks we’ve come to expect from James Cameron: great action set pieces, amazing effects, evil corporations and cool creatures. Despite its many shortcomings, Avatar is impressive as sheer spectacle and a genuinely exciting experience

In 2154, Earth is overpopulated and starved for resources.  Mankind is beginning to explore the galaxy, and discovers the resource-rich planet Pandora. SecFor, a military-industrial conglomerate has setup shop on Pandora, eager to exploit its natural resources.  There is just one problem: the Na’vi, 12-foot-tall, blue feline–humanoids and the natives of Pandora, don’t take kindly to outsiders. The Na’vi are a tribal society who seek to live in harmony with their planet, but as the humans continue to encroach on Pandora the age old conflict between nature and technology comes to a head.

Enter former Marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a paraplegic confined to a wheelchair.  After the death of his identical twin, Jake is offered a chance to take his brother’s place in the experimental Avatar program.  SecFor has created human-Na’vi hybrids called avatars that can be remotely controlled by the person for whom they have been grown.  The company hopes to use the avatars to foster better relations with the Na’vi.  Shortly after arriving on Pandora, SecFor’s head of security, Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang) offers to arrange surgery that will allow Jake to walk again, on the condition that Jake uses his avatar to gain the trust of the Na’vi and provide the Colonel with intelligence.  Over the course of the next three months Jake becomes a member of the local tribe, goes native, and finds himself torn between his duty to SecFor and his newfound loyalty to the Na’vi.

Sigourney Weaver and Sam Worthington in Avatar

Avatar’s plot has been done to death. It’s pretty much Dances with Wolves in space. It’s Fern Gully with big-ass mechs.  Avatar even shares many thematic similarities with Cameron’s Aliens: humanity expanding its frontiers and coming into conflict with hostile alien forces. At times, the film burdens itself with messages about war and climate change, and it feels like you’re being hit over the head with it. Cameron seems to have a hard time reconciling his eco-friendly, pro-environment message with the fact that he enjoys blowing things up. For every beautiful creature and breathtaking vista, Cameron has a sleek piece of military hardware just around the corner, ready to destroy it.

Speaking of beautiful creatures and breathtaking vistas, it cannot be understated how absolutely gorgeous the film is. Avatar looks like no other movie I’ve seen. Cameron’s attention to the smallest detail makes the film’s universe come alive. Add to that his expert application of the 3D effects and the results are stunning. There are a few of those moments where something flies at the screen apparently to remind you that the film is 3D, but those moments don’t ever feel like too much. The 3D really shines in the scenes where it adds depth and scale to a scene: ships look big, the jungles look dense, and the chasms look deep.

Equally impressive are the computer generated effects in the film. There probably isn’t a single shot in Avatar that wasn’t altered, augmented or otherwise changed using computer graphics.  The effects were integrated into the live action scenes flawlessly.  Not only are the Na’vi well characterized, but because their performances were motion captured by the actors who played them, the results are far more realistic than you’d expect of computer-generated characters. From the way they move, to the way the light reflects in their eyes, you’ll be convinced the Na’vi were actually filmed and not generated.

Stephen Lang as Colonel Quaritch in James Cameron's Avatar

Computer generated creatures aren’t the only stars of Avatar, there are some genuine flesh-and-blood actors in the film too.  Sam Worthington (Terminator Salvation, Clash of the Titans) gives a passable, if a little wooden performance as Jake Sully; his Aussie accent comes through on more than one occasion.  Jake narrates the film in a series of log entries, and it’s in these quiet moments where Worthington really shines.  Zoe Saldaña (Star Trek), who plays Jake’s Na’vi love-interest Neyteri, is a little stiff at times too.  I have a feeling that both Worthington and Saldaña may have suffered from Star Wars prequel syndrome; acting against green screens with little or no sets to interact with is challenging for even the best actors.

Sigourney Weaver and Joel Moore are both having fun with their supporting roles as part of SecFor’s science team. Stephen Lang’s villainous Colonel Quaritch is worth mention. It’s been a while since we’ve seen such a great hard-ass on screen. The atmosphere on Pandora will kill a human in under a minute, yet Quaritch foregoes an oxygen mask on multiple occassions in order to more quickly deal with a situation. Quaritch is not a villain per se, he’s just a hired gun for SecFor. His job is killing and he’s very good at what he does. When he finally does start taking things personally, he’s terrifying. Stephen Lang is one of the highlights of the film.

Is Avatar the industry redefining film we were promised?  Maybe. It seems unlikely to become a classic film and certainly won’t provide the same bang when viewed at home. It’s legacy will most likely be technological one: Avatar has pushed many theatres to add new, powerful 3D setups.  Time will tell if 3D is truly the game-changer Cameron claims them to be. The bottom line is that Avatar is worth seeing for the spectacle; this is a film that must be experienced on the big screen. It’s a shame to see the film suffer because the director put so much emphasis on the technology and effects.  If only Avatar‘s generic plot had lived up to groundbreaking visuals; at least Cameron got it half right.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This film could really go either way, the original screenplay for Clash of the Titans was written by the legendary writer-director Lawrence Kasdan, but the script has since been reworked by the writers of Æon Flux and The Tuxedo.  However, Leterrier has an extremely good eye for action and that’s what you’re looking for in a sword and sandals epic like this.  Let the comparisons to 300 begin.  Clash of the Titans is set for release on March 26th, 2010.

Via FirstShowing.net

If you were one of the lucky people to score tickets for one of the Avatar preview events happening all over North America tomorrow, you’ll get to see much more than what is shown in this trailer, and in 3D no less.  Dork Shelf will be at Avatar Day and we’ll let you know what we thought.

There is no arguing that Avatar looks impressive, it’s crazy to think that almost everything in the film is a computer generated effect.  Expectations for this movie are huge, if anyone can surprise us, it’ll be James Cameron.  We’ll have to wait until December to find out if the wait was worth all the hype.

Terminator Salvation wants to be a great film, but it has big shoes to fill.  The first two Terminator films were excellent, while the third was mediocre at best. Terminator Salvation aims to right the wrongs of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, bringing the franchise back to the darker more serious tone of the first two. The film has a fairly solid concept: a post-apocalyptic war against robots. The movie even has some great actors who turn out solid performances and the special effects are good. How could you go wrong? Based on my description, you would think this movie has all the makings of a great summer blockbuster: unfortunately this is simply not the case.

Full review after the break; spoilers to follow.

I really wanted to like Terminator Salvation. I consider myself a fan of the Terminator series and I was skeptical about the involvement of McG, who directed the Charlie’s Angels movies which I dislike with a passion.

All my skepticism about McG went out the window when I saw the second theatrical trailer, it completely sold me on Terminator Salvation. The trailer made the movie look amazing, which is the point of a well made trailer—it also made me realize that I’m a sucker for a well placed Nine Inch Nails tunes in movie trailers (cf. 300).

If the trailer were the movie, I would have taken back everything bad I’ve ever said about McG. However, as I’ve learned recently the trailer is not the movie, and as a result I still have plenty of bad things to say about McG.

Joseph McGinty Nichol—I mean McG—is a competent enough director, but this movie needed a good director. There are so many little things wrong with Terminator Salvation, things that a good director would have corrected during the production.

For starters, the script for the film is simply awful. The film features many talented actors, including Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Helena Bonham Carter, and even Michael “God Damn” Ironside, but they are given very little to work with. No matter how talented an actor is they need good material to shine, the screenplay for a film really is half the battle.

The actors try, they really do. Christian Bale is a decent actor, but he’s alternately yelling at anyone and anything in sight or growling Dark Knight-style in every other scene. Anton Yelchin was really good as a young version of Kyle Reese, he makes the role played by Michael Biehn in the original very much his own. Bryce Howard is good in the few scenes she’s in, but has no time to develop her character, she’s a non-presence in the movie. Michael Ironside brings the dour demeanour he’s famous for, but his role as the Resistance leader is shallow and underdeveloped. Helena Bonham Carter is utterly wasted, her character’s entire purpose is to relay exposition to the audience. Common’s laughable delivery of the three lines he has was unfortunate. I think the musician should stick to what he does best.

Often the actors’ experience and competence manages to shine though the terrible script, but this doesn’t happen enough. Speaking of actors and their performances in relation to the script, I must mention Sam Worthington and Moon Bloodgood, who are arguably the main characters of the film.

Sam Worthington is going to be a big star, his performance almost makes Terminator Salvation worth seeing. The fact that he can generate sympathy for his character, that Marcus Wright is a likable character at all is simply amazing. Worthington is good in the film, but he’s given literally some of the worst lines I have ever heard in a major Hollywood picture. Worthington’s character could have been far more nuanced and interesting, but not enough time is spent with him for you to ever really care.

His relationship with Moon Bloodgood’s character is painful to watch.  The dialogue between the two is stifled by one awful line after another. Where Worthington can get away with it, Bloodgood often cannot: she’s simply not as good an actor.

One of the major problems I had with the film is that one of the central plot points of the movie is exposed completely and absolutely by the trailer and all of the associated marketing for the movie. Marcus Wright (Worthington), is a cyborg who doesn’t know he’s a cyborg for most of the movie.

Almost the entire first hour of the movie involves the characters and the audience trying to figure out who Marcus really is and what his motives are. As a result half the movie feels like a waste of time as the story goes through the motions of revealing he’s a cyborg. The big reveal, that holy-shit-he’s-a-robot moment, is utterly ruined for most people because they already knew the guy was a cyborg.

Speaking of cyborgs though, the special effects were great. The movie is dedicated to the memory of the late, great effects genius Stan Winston, and they don’t let him down. There is a nice balance of practical and computer generated effects, and they are blended together very well. The terminators themselves looked amazing and believable, not shiny and fake like some prior iterations. The previous Terminator film relied too heavily on CGI, if there is one good thing I can say about McG, it’s that I’m glad he took the effects back to basics.

The much talked about computer generated cameo by everyone’s favourite Austrian muscle man worked surprisingly well. I’m sure it was a difficult effect to pull off, but using practical and computer effects techniques in conjunction really sold it for me.

Effects-wise I really liked the film, but the action overpowers the movie. Gunfire and explosions drown out the characters and the story. Maybe McG realized that the script was absolute shite, and decided that if he had enough to explosions in the film people wouldn’t notice. Also, it wouldn’t be a McG movie without a character riding a dirt bike and going off a jump at some point… just saying.

Terminator Salvation really is a mess of a movie. Most people are just going to go see for the action and effects, which are in no short supply. If that’s all you want, then I highly recommend the movie.

But there is so much wasted potential, the film just strikes me as one giant lost opportunity. The movie doesn’t have heart, something that made the original Terminator and Terminator 2 so great. Salvation is a pale imitation, when it could have been so much more.

Maybe it will be more, maybe there is a good movie to be salvaged from Terminator Salvation. McG claims to have cut out over 40 minutes of footage. I’m sure those scenes he cut were solely devoted to character development, since this version of Terminator Salvation misses them. With the cut footage in mind I might give Terminator Salvation another chance, I’ll wait for a Director’s Cut on Blu-Ray. For now I’ll just call the movie Terminator Salvagable, in hopes that the film can indeed be salvaged.