Finally! Me along with other fans of Gareth Evans have been waiting for this since 2021! And now, it's finally arrived!
Havoc is an action-thriller movie. It's produced by One More One, Severn Screen, and XYZ Films with Netflix distributing. Gareth Evans both wrote and directed.
The story is, after a drug deal goes horrible wrong, detective Walker must fight his way through the criminal underworld in order to rescue a politician's son. While going on this rescue mission he uncovers more the city's dark web of conspiracy and corruption.
Initial Reaction
Now I've been waiting for this movie since the announcement way back in 2021. I was especially excited for Gareth Evans for being the one who was gonna write and direct. And if any of you have ever seen The Raid movies, you'd understand why it's awesome to see and hear his name being attached. Oh, by the way, watch The Raid movies. They're awesome!
Cons
I've got nothing.
Middle Ground
First is the story. Now I'll be honest, yes, it's a very basic story. You're not gonna find anything groundbreaking, but as I've stated many times before, you can have a basic story as long as the journey from point A to point B has a good entertainment factor to it. And Havoc for the most part has that. Then there's the pacing. Then there's the cinematography. 99% of the time the cinematography is gorgeous. First let me show you the beautiful landscape shots.
Those are just pure eye candy. They're perfect. But then we get shots like these.
What the hell is going on?!? These look horrible. Especially that second one. What is that? Tom Hardy looks like he's photoshopped in. Since I'm on the subject matter now it's a good time to transition to the next slight problem. Some of the CGI & green screen aren't very good. Some I didn't mind cause it looked fine, but stuff like this, no. I can't come up with a defense for that. That's bad.
Pros
Let give credit to the thing will came here for, the action. I really liked the action. It's violence with bloody splattering everywhere with some creative kills put in. The biggest standouts were the nightclub scene and the cabin siege at the end. Those were awesome. My last bit of credit goes to Tom Hardy's performance. The character he's playing is a very standard grizzled, morally questionable cop, but Hardy is able to add a lot of depth with his charisma for dialogue moments and physicality when the action ramps up.
While there are issues I can't say I was fully disappointed. There is some fun to be add but yes, Evans' Raid movies are better, but again, still wasn't fully disappointed.
My final rating is, Okay.
So that'll be all for today. Come back on Monday, Apr 28th, for my review of The Accountant 2. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.
With the sequel arriving soon, it's time to do what I usual do in this cases. Review what came before.
The Accountant is an action-thriller that was produced by Electric City Entertainment, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, and Zero Gravity Management and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It's written by Bill Dubuque and directed by Gavin O'Connor.
The story is, an autistic man who goes by the alias Christian Wolff acts as a forensic accountant for criminal organizations where he "un-cooks" their financial records to uncover thefts. Because of these actions, the Treasury Department is hot on his heels and must find ways to avoid being captured. Just to make matters more intense, he's uncovered an embezzlement scheme where the ones behind it want him dead.
Negatives
I've got nothing.
Mix
One aspect that could've used some work was the pacing. Some moments do pick up a little bit but for the most part this movie can be slow in a lot of areas. This is a 2 hours and 8 minutes and there are times you come very close to feeling that runtime.
Then there's character development. Now Christian himself is pretty good. We learn a lot about him, as for the rest that's where the slight issue comes in. Some are okay nothing that really bothered me, but others are very underdeveloped. Those were the characters that were just there to move the plot forward and nothing else.
Positives
First bit goes to the premise. I was very much interested in how Christian works, what his world is like, and everything in between. You knew you could make an accountant a badass? It was a very fresh take for the action genre.
Then there's the growing tension. Throughout the plot you'll be left anxiously waiting for everything to come together in a big explosive way. From the embezzlement mystery to the government investigation of trying to find Wolff. It keeps you engaged from beginning to middle to end.
My next bit of praise goes to the action. The action perfectly showcases Christian's skill set and showed just how lethal he is. It's fun, well-choreographed, and intense, all backed up by Ben Affleck's very surprising physicality. Which made me really wish we had that solo Batman film of his. #MakeTheBatfleckMovie 😉😆
The last praise goes to Ben Affleck's performance. He is fantastic. He displays a strong but quiet character. He delivers the dialogue perfectly and I found it really shined when he was showing Christian's awkward side when the character is trying desperately to connect with other people. Ben was also doing great with facial expressions. The best example of those expressions is when he has a sensory overload and his eyes are intense and is jaw tightly clenched, a great way of showing distress without being over the top. And like I said before, he does a spectacular job with the action scenes. Both in martial arts and gunplay.
There are issues with The Accountant but, there's still a lot to like about the movie.
My final rating is, Good.
That's all for today. Come back on Saturday, April 26th, for the newest Netflix movie, Havoc. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.
Alright we're back the on the Road to Karate Kid: Legends. Hopefully this one will be better than the last movie I reviewed.
The Karate Kid (2010) is a martial arts drama film and the fifth movie in the franchise. It originally served as a loose remake but because of the upcoming Karate Kid: Legends, it's now retconned as taking place in the same continuity in the original film series' universe. The companies in charged of production were Columbia Pictures, China Film Group, Overbrook Entertainment, and JW Productions with Sony Pictures Releasing doing distributing. Robert Mark Kamen and Christopher Murphey wrote with Harald Zwart directing.
The story is, after getting a job transfer widowed mother Sherry and her 12-year-old son Dre move from Detroit, Michigan to Beijing, China. If handling moving to a different country wasn't bad enough Dre is being relentlessly bullied. He soon finds an ally in maintenance man Mr. Han, who teaches him the secrets of self-defense.
Negatives
I've got nothing to say here.
Mix
There's two mix bags here, staring with the pacing. While some moments move at a pretty good speed there are scenes where stuff can drag. To the point where you can almost feel the 2hr runtime.
Then there's the story. Now it is predictable. Kid is bullied and then by the end he isn't because he's proved himself but, but, there is a lot of good to it. It's got good themes of growth and finding belonging. So while you do know what's gonna happen next, especially if you're familiar with the 1984 film, at least there is a lot of heart put into. So the story doesn't feel like a cash grab when compared to other remakes.
Positives
One of the few good aspects is the cinematography. It's beautiful. You get visually striking images of China's landscapes, along with some nicely done urban settings. So thumbs up to the late Roger Pratt. 👍🏻
Then there's the fight scenes. I know some people complain about them looking to polished, but that didn't bother me too much. Sometimes I wish they were a bit more gritty, but I still had some fun with them. You'll get a kick (does this count as a pun?) out of them. Because there is a lot of authenticity to them and like all good action scenes, they do bring some pretty good character-driven stakes and growth to them.
The last praise will go to the performances. First there's Jaden Smith. He's really good when it comes to the more quieter moments and has some good charisma to him as well. Although sometimes he does force it with the dramatic stuff. But I think we should give him a pass on that. 1) He was 11 at the time of making this. 2) He only did two other movies prior to this so there wasn't that much experience under his belt and 3) there are way worse child performances than this one. But then we have the other star of the movie, Jackie Chan. He really grounds the whole movie, while still bringing humor and charm along the way. But wow, he is amazing at drama. There's one scene where his character [Mr. Han] is telling a story of terrible tragedy that happened to him in the past, and Chan kills it.
While not flawless a lot of the good helps bring balance to the more gray areas. It's not perfect but the movie still has a lot going for it.
My final rating is, Good.
Okay, that was way better than The Next Karate Kid. But that's a wrap for this road. Hopefully in May Karate Kid: Legends will be good. Anyways, that's all for now. Come back on Thursday, Apr 24th, for my A Look Back at review of 2016's The Accountant. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.
Oh God! You have no idea how long I've been trying to hold this off with reviewing other movies. But the time has come. So let's just rip off the band aid.
Howard the Duck is a comic book movie based on the Marvel Comics' character of the same name. It was produced by Lucasfilm, yes, the same production company that made Star Wars, with Universal Pictures distributing. This was written by Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck, who also had a hand in writing the story.
The story is, Howard was just minding his own business when suddenly he's transported from his world to yours. Now he must find a way back to his dimension, but he soon finds out he's not the only thing that came through. Only the other creature isn't so friendly.
My Thoughts
Now I do wanna touch on one positive. That being the Howard the Duck costume. It's not half bad, sure it could've been better but for 1986 it's still good.
Alright with all of the good out of the way it's time to get into the garbage, and oh boy is there a lot of it. The movie starts off with Howard's world where everybody is a duck and that world is filled with duck puns. No I'm serious everything has some sort of duck pun in it. There's Breeders of the Lost Stork, Rolling Egg, Splashdance, and this.
Your eyes don't deceive you! This is actually in the movie! And it gets worse!
Once again, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. This is real.
So after that a sudden quake (surprisingly Howard doesn't call it a "quack") happens, then out of nowhere Howard is pulled and crashes through walls surprising his neighbors and we see this.
Now you're probably wondering, "why am I tormenting you by showing duck tits?" Simple, I was tormented with this imagery so now you're gonna feel my pain as well. Oh and another thing, this was marketed as a family movie. Let that sink in for a bit.
Afterwards, Howard saves and befriends a struggling musician named Beverly. And she very very quickly just accepts him as a friend and is totally calm about him being a talking duck. A matter of fact throughout the movie almost everybody isn't taken aback by Howard. Sure he gets into fights with humans in a couple of scenes, but 97% of the time nobody is shocked. Hell, one part of the movie shows Howard having a job as a janitor for a romance spa. That means Howard was interviewed and the guy who runs the place wasn't shocked by an anthropomorphic duck. Even the customers in the romance spa weren't shocked. Does this sort of thing happen more than usual in this universe?! WHY IS NOBODY FREAKING OUT!?!
Beverly takes Howard back to her apartment and throughout this scene it's just over long exposition dump about Beverly's problems and how she and her band have a scummy manager (why doesn't she just fire the guy in the first place is never explained), and just on and on. So Howard falls asleep and Beverly goes through his wallet. Because that's the polite thing to do when you let a guest crash at your place. Invade their personal belongs. Unsurprisingly Howard's wallet contains and you won't believe this...more duck related jokes, oh and this.
I know George Lucas is a flawed filmmaker, but between the duck boobs and now this I gotta wonder why didn't he bail out of producing this? Was the paycheck really worth it?
So once that new piece of disturbing was over, Beverly takes Howard to a scientist named Phil Blumburtt, and he is so annoying! Not one line or antic from Phil is funny. He's a terrible comedic relief and I was hoping he wouldn't pop up again, but no. He plays an important role which means we're stuck with him!
Later it's revealed Phil is only a lab assistant, Howard is pissed about this, rejects Beverly's help, and gets a job at the previously mentioned romance spa...but then quickly goes back to Beverly. So what was the point? Why did the writers have this big emotional fallout only for it to be quickly resolved. You might as well have kept them together without the big fight. Howard later finds Bev and her band performing, where he confronts their terrible manager, which leads to this.
They got their asses kicked by a three foot talking duck...those guys can never show their faces out in public ever again.
Then we're finally at the movie's most infamous moment.
Mr. Lucas, I ask yet again, was that paycheck really worth it? I also came to ask another big question. That being why is this movie so weirdly sexual with Howard? First duck knockers, then the condom, and now this love scene! Did Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck want to the fuck the duck?! What the hell is going on?!?
So if you're still watching after that, Howard, Beverly, Phil and another scientist named Dr. Walter Jennings go to the lab and plan to send Howard back but find out the machine is broken. The reason being something else came through, and that something else has possessed Dr. Jennings and refers to himself as the "Dark Overlord of the Universe". Howard and Beverly later take him to a diner and they don't believe in what he's saying. Even though his skin is clearly changing and clearly not using his voice to talk. Then after some customers try to kill Howard, and sadly not succeed, the Dark Overlord kidnaps Beverly. Which he really doesn't need to do. Sure later on he says he wants to use Beve's body to have another one of his kind possess her but why? All he and his species want to do is annihilate everything not secretly takeover.
So after Howard and Phil (I told you we were stuck with him) evade capture from the police, they're back at the lab and Howard is ready to do battle with Dark Overlord. Who stops possessing Dr. Jennings and transformers into his real self. And I present to you a small snippet of the special effects for Overlord.
Yeah, I almost forgot to mention. But whenever the movie isn't doing puppeteering or suits for Howard, the effects dip in quality.
To make this last part short, Howard successfully defeats the Dark Overlord, closes the portal, and even though that means he's stuck in a different dimension, he can still be with Beverly and be the manager for her rock band. I didn't know Howard had experience in such a thing but apparently he does.
So that was Howard the Duck, and wow was it bad. Not only was it not really exciting but it could just be plain stupid, and not in any sort of fun way. Also, exposed duck tits, condoms, and coming this close 🤏 to seeing a human woman have sex with a duck. I want to remind you this was marketed towards families.
My final rating is, DESTROY IT!
That's all for now. Come back on Monday, Apr 21st, for the last part of my Road to Karate Kids: Legends with my review of The Karate Kid (2010). Hopefully that'll be better than what I just reviewed, until then enjoy the rest of your day and I hope on Sunday you have a very Happy Easter 🐰.
Alright, the next part of the Road to The Fantastic Four: First Steps!
Fantastic Four (often stylized as Fantastic 4) is a comic book movie based on the Marvel Comics' team of the same name, it's also the second live-action Fantastic Four movie. Production was done by 20th Century Fox who also distributed, Marvel Enterprises, Constantin Film, and 1492 Pictures. The story was written by Mark Frost and Michael France with Tim Story directing.
The story is, after convincing CEO Victor Von Doom to allow him test the effects of cosmic energy clouds on some biological samples, Dr. Reed Richards and his team consisting of Ben Grimm, Sue Storm, and Johnny Storm head out to space. However, the clouds arrive ahead of schedule and expose the four to their strange energy. Now, they must come to terms with their newly discovered powers. Meanwhile, Victor has plans of his own.
Negatives
I've got nothing.
Mix
One of the three mixed aspects is the pacing. The origin part is pretty good actually. It's got a good setup and everything. But as soon as that's over the rest of the pacing is just okay. Some moments work, but others are very rushed. One of the biggest examples of that rush is the final battle with Doom.
Then there's the special effects. Now we got some really good effects. Such as the practical effects for The Thing and the flames for The Human Torch, and then there's some really bad stuff. Like Mr. Fantastic's stretching.
Yeah...sadly it doesn't get any better after that.
The last thing I'll touch on for this part of the review is Doctor Doom. I won't touch on Julian McMahon's performance, not yet, I'll instead focus on this version of Doctor Doom. Now I'm probably gonna get a lot of hate for this, but while I didn't get too bent out of shape with how he got his powers, I do admit the personality isn't Doom. Basically all the writers did was take Willen Dafoe's Norman Osborn and make Doom a clone of that. Not in the sense that he's over the top, it's just he's a evil businessman. Is it the worst thing to happen? No, far from it. Could've been more accurate to the comic? Yes, but still, not the worst thing.
Positives
Alright it's that time where I find some positives, one is the tone. While it does have quite a few more serious moments, the more lighthearted tone really works for this movie. Especially since that is the Fantastic Four. Yeah, the comics will have some really intense and jaw dropping moments, but compared to a lot of other comics it can be more on the lighter side.
Then there's the humor. Now there are some parts that didn't work. For instance sometimes the romantic tension between Reed and Sue can come off a bit like a sitcom, BUT! But, I found myself enjoying some of the humorous moments. A lot of them surprisingly work and didn't make me shake my head in disappointment. Yeah, this comic book movie maybe lighthearted but the comedy isn't an overbearing cringe fest. Take note MCU writers!
The last thing I'll credit is the performances. The material is okay but the cast really makes it work. Michael Chiklis brings out Ben Grimm's pain of his transformation, Chris Evans plays Johnny Storm's cocky attitude greatly, and Julian McMahon can be both charismatic and even very threatening. So yeah, even you don't like the movie you gotta give the cast the credit they deserve.
There's no doubt that this movie is flawed, but I always found it too be massively overhated. So I'm always happy to read and hear other people have a soft spot for it much like I do.
My final rating is, Okay.
That's all for now. Come back on Thursday, Apr 17th, for my Cinematic Disasters review of a truly bad Marvel movie. That being....ugh...Howard the Duck. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.
Pain & Gain is a satirical black comedy crime movie based on the crimes committed by the Sun Gym gang. Productions was done by De Line Pictures, Bay Films and Paramount Pictures, who also distributed too. Christopher Markusand Stephen McFeely wrote while Michael Baydirected.
The story is, Sun Gym manager Daniel Lugo feels as though he deserves more in life after everything he's been through. After convincing his friend/fellow bodybuilder Adrian Doorbal and manipulating born again Christian Paul Doyle, the trio kidnaps and extort a wealthy man. They might being enjoying the high life now, but soon it'll come crashing down.
Why It's Underrated
Now back in 2013 the movie successfully grossed a total of $86 million worldwide on a $26 million budget, and despite Bay's name being attached, I've read reviews and watched videos of people speaking favorable about it. However over the time it started spilling under everyone's radar. I don't recall it ever having a TV showing, but for a quite awhile it was on free streaming services such as Tubi & Pluto TV.
My Thoughts
Now while I do enjoy this movie I do have a slight issue with the pacing. For awhile it can be slow, but once the crimes start happening the pacing does become very brisk.
One positive for this is the visual style.
Now this is just one of many great shots of Miami. The city is given this beautifully bright color palette made even better with crisp cinematography. Sticking with the visual style let me give you a snippet of the colors.
Now I'll fully admit, it did take time for me to get use to the over saturated colors. But when rewatching and thinking about it, I think it might work in the film's favor. The story is already excessively larger than life, so why not match that with excessive colors? And also, this isn't really the worst look for movie.
Let's move onto the comedy. One of two parts that make it work is the dialogue. There's a huge amount of hilarious lines. I think the number one is "Jesus Christ himself has blessed me with many gifts! One of them is knocking someone the fuck out!" I remember very well being in the theater back in 2013 and everybody laughing loudly at that line. The second part of the humor comes from the satire. While not the most deepest, the movie does satirize the American Dream. Primarily touching upon the theme of entitlement. With the Sun Gym gang all thinking they're owed something.
My last praise goes to the performances from Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne The Rock Johnson, and Anthony Mackie. Wahlberg does an exactly job nailing Lugo's delusions, manipulation, and charisma. Then you have The Rock given what's probably his best performance out of his entire character. While he has brought humor to his other roles, in this we see a more vulnerable character. Then there's Mackie. He has a more quieter role, but it works because his character is more grounded than the others. And all three perfectly showcase how unintelligent the Sun Gym gang were as well as how awful they were too.
Guys, I love Pain & Gain. It has flaws, yes, but there's a lot of good going on in it too.
My final rating is, Good.
That's all for now. Come back on Monday, Apr 14th, for the next part of the Road to The Fantastic Four: First Steps, with my review of Fantastic Four (2005). Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.
Superman Returns is a comic book movie based on well, Superman. While it's the fifth movie in the franchise it serves as an homage sequel to Superman (1978) and Superman II, thus ignoring III and IV: The Quest for Peace. It was produced by DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures, Peters Entertainment, and Bad Hat Harry Productions with Warner Bros. Picture also handling distribution. Superman Returns was written by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris and was directed by Bryan Singer.
The story is, Superman traveled to a location where astronomers believed they discovered the remains of Krypton. Five years later he's come back to Earth, and while the people of Metropolis rejoice, Clark is saddened to learn just how much Lois has moved on from him. During all of this, Lex is planning something that'll kill billions of people.
Negatives
I've got nothing.
Mix
Alright let's get to it. First off, the story. Now I actually appreciate the story took a good portion of focusing on character. It makes sense. Superman hasn't been seen for five years so we might as well have some focus on how things have changed while he was gone. But we brings it down a peg is it's pacing. I get they wanted a slow burn, but even slow burns have their quick moments.
The next aspect I'll touch on is the tone. While I admire the tribute to the Donner films, there also lies the problem. On one hand it's trying to capture a nostalgia feeling, but on the other it also feels like it does want to be modern, well 2006 modern not this year's modern. The point is it's trying to do a balancing act, but each side keeps tipping one way and they have to run quickly to the center before falling.
Positives
Alright let's get to the positives. One being the style. Yes, I know hard to give Bryan Singer credit giving the controversies surrounding him, but let's separate the art from the artist, then go back to hating him. The look to the movie is beautiful. It's very cinematic and clean. And it has a very warm color palette for more easy going scenes, but dark for the intense moments.
Then there's the action. Yes, there is action in this movie! That airplane rescue scene is amazing. When Metropolis is crumbling, we see Superman use all of his powers to stop all of the disasters. Then we have the intense scene of Superman lifting a whole mountain despite his weakened state. I think when people say action, what they mean is they wanted to see Superman fight someone. An understandable thing, after all prior to this movie we fought three different enemies. But this is also a confusing complaint because he didn't fight anybody in the first Reeve's movie, he stopped natural disasters.
My last praise will go to Brandon Routh and his performance. While the material isn't the strongest Routh provided enough strength and charm to make it work. So I'm glad years later he was given the chance to be Superman again in the Arrowverse's version of Crisis on Infinite Earths.
While Superman Returns isn't perfect, I do believe it gets way too much hate.
My final rating is, Good.
That's all for now. Come back on Thursday, Apr 10th for my Underrated Films review of Michael Bay's Pain & Gain. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day. Also, if you can, please help me get my X account unsuspended by contacting @elonmusk, @X, and @Support.
