Furies

Posted on June 29, 2023 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: We get to watch a Vietnamese film after a long time.

Vampire Bat: Well, this is the prequel of the other Vietnamese movie which we watched.

Vampire Owl: That should remind us to watch more of the same kind.

Vampire Bat: Do you think that we will have time?

Vampire Owl: We are immortals. We have all the time in the end.

Vampire Bat: But the world is everything except immortal.

Vampire Owl: Immortality is subjective as long as we remain vampires.

Vampire Bat: The werewolves and zombies would call us quasi-immortal.

Vampire Owl: Immortality can vary according to situations.

Vampire Bat: All kinds of immortality should serve the purpose.

[Gets a chicken samosa and three cups of Vagamon tea].

What is the movie about? :: Bi (Đồng Ánh Quỳnh) is forced to leave her home in the countryside after her mother is murdered, and she kills the man who is responsible for the plight and had also assaulted her. She is forced to leave her home for Ho Chi Minh City as it is also burned to ashes. She lives in the new city doing some small jobs and also through a little pickpocketing which she masters. She meets Jacqueline (Veronica Ngo) who saves her from being assaulted by her usual opponents in the streets. She decides to go with her instead of continuing to wander around the streets. She finds out that there are many other homeless children in Jacqueline’s place. But there is more the lady she just met than what meets the eye for the first time. She meets Thanh (Tóc Tiên) and Hong (Rima Thanh Vy), who seem to have been taken under the care of Jacqueline just like her. The two girls don’t seem to like the newcomer that much, as she seems to be incapable of blending in, with less skills including the social ones. These girls also feel like well-trained in the unexpected.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: The girls have formed a vigilante group to protect women from the gangs of the city which have been involved in trafficking young women and girls for brothels. As of now, Bi seems to be the weakling among all of them. But she manages to prove her point there, with not being ready to back down. This group known as the Wild Daisies targets the city’s major gang leader Hai a.k.a. Mad Dog (Thuận Nguyễn), who manages trafficking of young women to serve in his brothels with a casino as the front office for all the illegal activities. His dominance is assured by his trusted lieutenants, Long bồ đà (Song Luân), Sơn Lai (Gi A Nguyễn) and Tèo mặt sẹo (Phan Thanh Hiền). But Hai is not without enemies, as there is a continuous gang war going on. Jacqueline also seeks vengeance on him for the atrocities he committed on her family. But the requirement for revenge might not be enough to progress in her mission. There is a long way to go, and she goes through a difficult path with the new girls.

The defence of Furies :: There need to be time spent for the appreciation of the action that we see on the screen here. It is not dependent on heroism or overdose of effects or properties, but seemingly dependent on what actually can be done. The training sessions that we see here are almost as good as the fighting scenes outside. The fighting basically never really has a long pause after the procedure begins. The Vietnamese style of Martial arts never really cease to catch our attention either. The colours that we see around here add to overall beauty of the action that we have around here. It is not just limited to the inside environments, as the streets also add to that colourful side. The feeling of being in a world of crime which moves on towards terror is always there, and the villainy is something that works like a dream. The characters do remain interesting at all times, and we have the tales of bonding against all odds, adding a certain emotional side. The ending also nicely sets the world to go to the previous movie whose incidents happen later.

The claws of flaw :: Furies had to fit into the shoes of Furie, which was then selected as the Vietnamese choice for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards, and it can be safely said that the effort is very good. The beginning might have the viewers in a little bit of doubt, but those questions never really survive for that long. But the film never gets to the quality of the previous one, as there are moments which seems to be rather forced. Some moments lose the realistic touch, and the emotions here are not able to match the feelings which were so strong in Furie. This film could have surely been much more with some twists and turns along with a more satisfying ending. The adrenaline rush could have also been more. At times, you are reminded of movies like Charlie’s Angels, but without the comic side and having a much darker angle to it. One can be sure that if this movie was produced by Hollywood or Bollywood, it would have looked a lot different, even if most of the violent side is maintained without second thoughts.

The performers of the soul :: Veronica Ngo who played the leading role in the earlier movie also leads the way here. She continues the good form, and the fighting skills go on to exhibit the same strength as the previous flick, even though not for that long – she doesn’t remain the focus of attention here for quite a long period of time as there is the team of three that takes the spotlight. Among the girls, it is Rima Thanh Vy who adds a certain lighter side to the proceedings. There fun whenever she is around, and that stands apart from the rest. Tóc Tiên has the stronger presence among them all, and can be considered as the action star above the rest. Đồng Ánh Quỳnh plays the emotions and trauma of her character really well. Thuận Nguyễn makes a nice villain in the process. Vovinam, the Vietnamese way of martial arts seems to have been effectively used by all the performers well, while elements of Chinese and Japanese systems of fighting can also be seen. The release in Netflix means that the movie will have better viewership than its predecessor.

How it finishes :: Furies serves as a prequel to Furie which released earlier, does that particular job which was given to it really well. A highly stylized martial arts film with female protagonists leading the way is found here with fully powered action sequences. It is only some time back that we had John Wick once again bringing the never-ending action to the big screens, but this kind of a martial arts mixture has been missing for long enough, whether we had Hitman, Transporter, Kate, Mechanic, Accountant or any such character in between. This world with the stylish lighting of Ho Chi Minh City and what lies beneath makes an environment which stays distant from the usual Hollywood-style setting, and yet maintains quality within its divergence. If you are looking for a classic martial arts movie which does not overdo anything and still manages to have so much of action, you have it here. There were opportunities to be lost in the available options, but the movie has risen above them to provide us with an experience which is to be remembered with many other action films.

Release date: 23rd December 2022 (Vietnam); 23rd March 2023 (Netflix)
Running time: 109 minutes
Directed by: Veronica Ngo
Starring: Veronica Ngo, Đồng Ánh Quỳnh, Tóc Tiên, Rima Thanh, Vy Thuận Nguyễn, Song Luân, Gi A Nguyễn, Phan Thanh Hiền

<<< Click here to go to the previous review.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Seance

Posted on April 5, 2022 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: So, more youngsters are trying to make contact with the dead.

Vampire Bat: Yes, you needn’t be bothered as this is not about the undead.

Vampire Owl: Nobody can contact us through the portal. It has natural resistance.

Vampire Bat: There is absolutely nothing natural about the portal.

Vampire Owl: Doctor Frankenstein has arranged for the natural resistance.

Vampire Bat: If the crazy scientist is involved, it is is surely not natural.

Vampire Owl: You continue to underestimate the doctor.

Vampire Bat: I make no estimate of such a pseudo-scientist.

Vampire Owl: You know that the Frankenstein monster is real.

Vampire Bat: So are his 2897 accidental creations, which are of no use.

[Gets a vancho cake and three glasses of strawberry shake].

What is the movie about? :: At Edelvine Academy for Girls, Alice (Inanna Sarkis), Bethany (Madisen Beaty) and other girls play a prank on their friends by faking the appearance of the Edelvine Ghost, an urban legend about a student who killed herself – soon, one of their friends, Kerrie (Megan Best), is found dead in the academy hostel, having fallen from her window. A new student Camille (Suki Waterhouse) who has been on the waiting list for the academy admission for a long time, gets the seat which has been left vacant by the death of Kerrie. The headmistress, Mrs Landry (Marina Stephenson Kerr) considers the death as an unfortunate accident, and is happy to have her there. Camille does feel that there is something wrong with the room. She becomes friends with Helina (Ella-Rae Smith), but gets in a fight with Alice and Bethany’s gang including Yvonne (Stephanie Sy), Rosalind (Djouliet Amara) and Lenora (Jade Michael), and gets beaten up by Alice with the help of her friends. The headmistress sends them to detention in the library until a certain amount of archiving is complete.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: The girls, despite their differences, decide to work together for the time being to finish the job as soon as possible and get out of there. It is during the detention that Alice convinces the group including Carmille and Helina to join her in a seance meant to contact Kerrie’s spirit and what actually happened. The two get the feeling that this is only a prank, but everyone finds things go out of control as they really seems to make contact with a spirit which tells them that they are going to be murdered by someone only mentioned as “her”. They are not sure if the spirit belongs to Kerrie or the original spirt which is part of the urban legend. Later in the night, Lenora moves away from the others to a lonely area to text a possible future boyfriend, but ends up seeing a masked figure. Soon, she is attacked and killed by the same strange figure. Mrs Landry feels that Lenora had run away as her personal items are missing along with her. Camille feels that her room might still be haunted by Kerrie, and there are enough dark spaces in the building for them to be scared.

And what more is with the girls and the ghosts around here in a world of chaos? :: The police and the parents feels that Lenora might have run away with the man with whom she became acquainted online. With the help of the man in charge of the rooms, Trevor (Seamus Patterson) who also happens to be the son of the headmistress, they get into Lenora’s room and find a strange cross made out of blood on the bed. They identify the symbol as part of the pendant worn by the girl who had killed herself and became Edelvine Ghost. Soon enough, Rosalind would be next person to be murdered by the unknown figure. Her death is considered to be an accident, but has the girls very much worried about what might happen next. Another one of the girls also notice a masked figure in the room, but the headmistress still dismisses it as a strange dream. The girls feel that time is running out for them, and if a solution is not found out soon enough, they are all going to disappear or die soon enough. Yet, it doesn’t make much of sense.

The defence of Seance :: The effects that this movie seems to use for horror seems to be of great quality. There is a fine atmosphere for the horror to grow at all times. The sound effects also nicely contribute to the same. The music is also very nice, and contributes well to the overall atmosphere of the movie – we do feel that it makes us feel more engaged with the whole thing. You think that this is going in one direction, and then there is another dimension to the whole thing – we notice the music changing accordingly, and there are always some fine settings to contribute to the horror. The presence of something sinister is also there, and with the fine use of darkness, the movie assures one of the same. The makers surely know how to get the best ingredients, and arrange them. There are some dialogues which seem to be coming randomly, but they are all of some significance. There are so many directions which this movie could choose, and we can see that it doesn’t try to go for the usual, which has served right – as Robert Frost would say about the road not that much taken making the difference.

Positives and negatives :: The movie has one nice twist to the killings which is pretty much an interesting surprise as the clues wouldn’t lead to the killings that easily. There are many red herrings present in here, as a ghost isn’t everything that we need to suspect around here. They mystery is strong, and there are enough suspects around here for one to await more deaths to happen. It is strange that there are many negative reviews to keep this one down, as we come to know that there is more to this than what can be seen after the first few minutes itself. You have the feeling that this could be Ouija and its sequels or I Know What You Did Last Summer and its sequels – this one has the killer and the ghostly presence, which means that your guess can most probably just go wrong. It could have still made the murders look better – even the shower murder scene goes wasted in here. Yet, the girls are too good, especially Suki Waterhouse, Inanna Sarkis and Madisen Beaty who blends in nicely with a possibility to become bigger scream queens of future, Suki also having some fine action sequences – reminds one of The Hunt fights.

How it finishes :: Seance is one find surprise horror movie that seems to have made an impact out of nowhere. We often have the tendency to underestimate movies like these, but some horror films have the skills to lift themselves up despite what you think, especially with so many negative reviews around. There is more than what meets the eye here, and there is the mixture of more than one genre as things come together. Well, horror is rarely one thing – even in real life, there is more than one kind of terror – we had different ones here, from nipah virus to corona virus, excess rainfall leading to floods, rising prices of fuel and the possibility of descending into chaos from what seemed to be good order. The reality of horror which prevails in this thankless world where evil people get the best results can be often more terrifying for people. Otherwise, we will always have movies like this one. Amazon Prime Video has the right horror movie this time, rising very high above last year’s Madres, The Manor and Black as Night.

Release date: 21st May 2021
Running time: 92 minutes
Directed by: Simon Barrett
Starring: Suki Waterhouse, Madisen Beaty, Ella-Rae Smith Inanna Sarkis, Marina Stephenson-Kerr, Seamus Patterson

<<< Click here to go to the previous review.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Charlie’s Angels

Posted on November 6, 2020 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: I remember having watched those two older versions.

Vampire Bat: You mean the movies with Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu.

Vampire Owl: Yes, during those times, it was a change from the usual action movies which we managed to get locally.

Vampire Bat: Yes, I watched the movie at a time when the CD versions were just getting to be popular, replacing the video cassettes.

Vampire Owl: We have to go, like twenty years backwards. We are really old, aren’t we?

Vampire Bat: It is still a very small number of years in vampire time.

Vampire Owl: That is true, but when we look at the actresses involved here, we know that there is more to it than just vampire time.

Vampire Bat: Unless they come with something like Charlie’s Vampires.

Vampire Owl: I don’t think that they would want vampires doing this job.

Vampire Bat: I don’t see why not, especially if they start running out of the usual options.

[Gets some potato chips and three cups of ginger tea].

What is the movie about? :: John Bosley (Patrick Stewart), a senior operative, plans and executes a mission with his angels perfectly, and soon, enters retirement, with a programme which appreciates what he had done for a long time during his stay in the organization. Meanhile, Elena Houghlin (Naomi Scott), an engineer working under the millionaire Alexander Brok (Sam Claflin), wants to take a secret out regarding their new project Callisto, and their head of development, Peter Fleming (Nat Faxon) who is planning something sinister. She understands that the device which was supposed to be used for clean and cheap energy, has potential to be weaponized, and some people already have eyes on that. She has a meeting with Edgar Dessange (Djimon Hounsou), and the two angels operatives Jane Kano (Ella Balinska) and Sabina Wilson (Kristen Stewart) has an eye on them in case something happens.

So, what happens with the events here? :: But, they are attacked by an assassin known only as Hodak (Jonathan Tucker), and are chased all around the city by him, until they end up in a river, and Edgar is dead. Rebekah Bosley (Elizabeth Banks) who is in charge, gets them together, and their injuries and troubles are taken care of by the person whom they referred to as the Saint (Luis Gerardo Mendez). They decide to sneak into Brok’s corporate headquarters so that they can steal the remaining Calisto prototypes before someone manage to use it, and make copies of it. Along with Elena, the other two angels also gets in using different ids, but despite their best efforts, they fail. Fleming has the only existing Callisto models, and they find him traveling to Istanbul, Turkey – they decide to follow them, with Elena also given the angel equipments, to serve as the electronics and computer expert, or rather the hacker. But can they find out the real villain here?

The defence of Charlie’s Angels :: Elizabeth Banks not only acts in this movie, but is also the director, and she has nicely managed to make this version of the angels a very entertaining one. There are some nicely managed action sequences, as heists, explosions and chases become just part of this movie which also manages to have a certain amount of humour maintained throughout its run, and its two hours of run-time ends quickly enough. Most of the credit for the same goes to Naomi Scott, both directly and indirectly. The visuals are good, with some interesting locations being explored by the camera along with the angels. It has to be said that was high time they had another movie in this franchise, as we always have space for films like these which takes things lightly, along with the serious ones which get all the sequels – Mission Impossible kind of stuff. This one is sure to make you ask for a sequel, not making one waiting too long.

The claws of flaw :: Considering the fact that this is a movie which has arrived years after the earlier version, there was a lot of time to bring some innovation, but there is no such thing being attempted here. The movie focuses more on action thriller cliches to make the best out of its material, but it should have opted for changes. The plot also has its own predictable elements, and the twist that it has is rather minute, and is not there to stay. As usual, there is the new recruit, the rookie who will learn things, and finally join the team, as beating up some evil men becomes a reason for them travel all around the world at a time when there was no COVID-19 – maybe they wouldn’t do that these days. You might also miss the great popularity of Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu, the three leads of the original version, as the actresses who play the same roles in this movie are those whom most of the film lovers of this part of the world might not be familiar with, except for Kristen Stewart.

Performers of the soul :: Elizabeth Banks, the director plays a major role in this movie, and does that well, and most people will always remember her for the role in the dystopian science fiction thriller, The Hunger Games, and its sequels. But the one who catches our attention the most is Naomi Scott, who plays the girl who changes from being clueless to becoming the angel. She was recently seen in Aladdin, and she was there in Power Rangers with Elizabeth Banks, playing one of the protagonists and the antagonist respectively. Ella Balinska is the next one to catch our attention, a relatively new face to most of us, who hasn’t really watched the movies in which she acted, and she makes one fine angel. Kristen Stewart was the one person whom I doubted when playing an angel because I had only seen her in the Twilight series and Snow White and the Huntsman, but she is surprisingly good here, and along with the other angels, she brings a lot of the funny side into action. Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Tucker are the appreciable male members of the cast.

How it finishes :: When we compare this new version of Charlie’s Angels to the old ones, this one seems to have a certain advantage with what seems to be a very energetic young cast and more fun than those which we had watched a long time ago, but we remember that we also loved them, and had that novelty with bigger names related to it. Not many movies which come back after a long time makes an impact, unless you have a Stephen King novel for support like Doctor Sleep. The movie is one light-hearted, quick, smart and humorous adventure which you will remember for long, and even bring a certain amount of nostalgia related to those older versions. There are only a few movies like Jumanji which can effectively use action and comedy, and Charlie’s Angels is a movie which has risen again to try and do that, and even though not as good as that movie on a game, this one is also a lot of fun to watch.

Release date: 15th November 2019
Running time: 119 minutes
Directed by: Elizabeth Banks
Starring: Naomi Scott, Ella Balinska, Kristen Stewart, Elizabeth Banks, Djimon Hounsou, Sam Claflin, Noah Centineo, Nat Faxon, Patrick Stewart