Tag Archives: planet

Borderlands

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Vampire Owl: When was the last time you went near the border?

Vampire Bat: You mean near the werewolf territory.

Vampire Owl: No, the zombie lands on the other side.

Vampire Bat: When did we begin to check the wastelands?

Vampire Owl: I believe that there is something more than the walking dead there.

Vampire Bat: I am sure that the movie is not referring to such borders.

Vampire Owl: Are we going for interplanetary borders then?

Vampire Bat: That has always been a better choice, for they are more open.

Vampire Owl: I have heard about those space vampires.

Vampire Bat: The space does have its own variety of blood-drinking species.

[Gets a blackcurrant shake and three cups of black tea].

What is the movie about? :: It is said that a long time ago, the whole of galaxy was ruled by an alien race known as Eridians, whose power and technology were far beyond the understanding of human race. But human beings were able to find some part of this science and use it to their advantage, thus becoming the reason for bettering their world and making themselves scientifically advanced enough to make an impact in their world above other species. But the best of such scientific knowledge was hidden in a vault in a planet known as Pandora. Corporations, criminals and treasure hunters who made peace impossible in the planet and nearby have been killing each other in an attempt to find the secret vault for no success in the end. Then there was the prophecy about a daughter of Eiridia who would restore peace. More people have died searching for this than all the wars which had occurred in the past. There is almost nothing good happening in the one prosperous planet with enough natural beauty to inspire enough tourists from Earth. But the only tourism event happening there might be a treasure hunt for vault.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt) who is the daughter of Deukalian Atlas (Edgar Ramírez), the richest man around, and one of the most powerful corporate magnates in the galaxy, gets kidnapped by a rogue soldier Roland Greaves (Kevin Hart) and a psychopath Krieg (Florian Munteanu) who is released at the same time by accident. Despite the soldiers trying their best, the group of three manages to get out of the area and travel to the wastelands of Pandora where they do not come in the areas under scan. The job is given to a legendary bounty hunter Lilith (Cate Blanchett) who is almost ready to retire, but the offer is a little too much for her to reject. She is considered the best with a great history of bounty hunting by too many people to avoid her as an option, even though troops of Atlas are also after the kid. As she lands on Pandora to search for the missing girl, she comes across Claptrap (Jack Black), a robot that says that it was programmed a long time ago to assist her. With the help of the robot, she finally traces the location of Tina and embarks on the journey.

And what does this world bring in between all the chaos and destruction? :: There, she finds out that Tina was not really kidnapped, but had decided to escape with the rogue soldier and the psycho intentionally to avoid her father. She attacks Lilith with her two friends, and it is then that the troops sent by Atlas Corporation reaches the same area and attacks all of them. This leads to the strange new team of the teenage runaway girl, rogue soldier, bounty hunter, psychopath and the old robot escaping from there, with the soldier team known as Crimson Lance on their trail. It is discovered that Tina was not human or the corporate daughter as everyone had thought – she was a genetically engineered alien created with the biological parts taken from the Eridians, the ancient race that once lived and bettered Pandora. She was created through experiments by Atlas so that she can open the vault where lost civilization’s advanced science and technology are kept. Atlas Corporation intends to rule the world with the new advanced weapons they intend to gain. Can the one strange team stop him in time? Or will the gates to unlimited technology be opened to a greedy villain who would become invincible?

The defence of Borderlands :: There is some nice world detail that we see here, even though not perfect, there is something to watch out for at every corner here. Ariana Greenblatt adds more to the fun than the others here. The funny side mostly works in this movie, unlike those movies with ridiculous jokes like Deadpool and its strange relations. The battle scenes are truly exciting, and the detailing on small things will catch our attention. A good science fiction movie comes first out of the world where it is set, and this one wins there, and takes it to the side of action, where it secures another win for most of the time. There is also the reminder that this is from a game, with some fine weapons being shown, and explosions as well as stylish chases all around. The post-apocalyptic feeling is also present, like in Mad Max: Fury Road, but this one is surely the much lighter version, without that eternal depression of world going out of hand with no chance for a return. This feels mostly because of the knowledge about the existence of an alien life which would mean more than just giving up for humanity.

The claws of flaw :: The movie should have taken itself more seriously, and we feel the silliness a little too much in between. The main character should have been younger and got someone other than Cate Blanchett to play it, as we get the feeling of having the suitable one for the tale of such a past. The twist used in the movie seems to be rather too comfortable and safe for anyone’s liking too, and it is something about which one feels the need to bother less. The colours of the movie could have been reduced a little bit outside and used more inside the alien world within the portal, as we have too much of an opposite. Jamie Lee Curtis surely feels to have been more wasted than anyone in this particular role. The villain could have also had more to do in the earlier and middle stages of the movie. There could have been more of a journey of a mystery adventure which the movie leaves behind. As the movie came when my gaming times had mostly reached the beginning of the end stages, I could not really comment on a game – movie comparison, but positive reviews in that case were not found.

How it finishes :: As this movie is based on a computer game, the negative reviews were always expected. But like Until Dawn, Need for Speed, Hitman, Doom, Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Warcraft, Mortal Kombat and others, this keeps the gaming side moving well to the cinematic world. I would love to see Mass Effect game made into movie, and it would have similar settings, but considering its capabilities as a game itself, there would be a big movie, with the looks of Jupiter Ascending, but that one would satisfy more critics. For now, for some simple entertainment during the weekends, this is the kind of movie that we would want to watch. Let us not go through too many of those negative reviews, as there are so many positives about this movie, which comes back every time we feel that there would be a problem. Maybe, a sequel could do this one a lot of good, with a lot of worlds to explore in a Star Trek or Star Wars model. Then we go back to the game and come back again to enjoy this.

Release date: 9th August 2024
Running time: 101 minutes
Directed by: Eli Roth
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Edgar Ramírez, Ariana Greenblatt, Florian Munteanu, Gina Gershon, Jamie Lee Curtis

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

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Atlas

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Vampire Owl: I have known others with the name Atlas before.

Vampire Bat: I believe that it was Cloud Atlas.

Vampire Owl: So, you feel that there is nothing common among the two.

Vampire Bat: There should be a little bit of future related things in both.

Vampire Owl: A world of future never gets old in the past or present.

Vampire Bat: Well, the future does seem to be very much different than what we thought many years ago.

Vampire Owl: Yes, third world war is too late in human world.

Vampire Bat: And the space colonization has been delayed too much.

Vampire Owl: What about time travel? I believe that there was going to be a time machine with a rage of 10000 BC to 12000 AD.

Vampire Bat: Well, we do not even have teleportation yet.

[Gets some Paneer 65 and three cups of orange tea].

What is the movie about? :: It is the year 2043, and humanoid artificial intelligence terrorist Harlan Shepherd (Simu Liu) leads a war of machines against humans, which leaves about three million people dead, proving the scientist who adopted him as his son, and the founder of the programme Val Shepherd (Lana Parrilla) wrong in her theories and expectations about a better future with Artificial Intelligence. The group of machines seem to be too powerful a force to counter for any nation and its military power. An apocalyptic event which soon lead to the extinction of humanity seems imminent, with Harlan having full access to all machines and controlling all similar forces. There are talks around and the military forces of the world join together to form a group known as International Coalition of Nations (ICN), and this leads to the humans finally winning many battles against Harlan much to the dismay of the machines. This forces him to escape Earth and locate himself in outer space, with a promise to come back and finish what he had started with determination.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: After twenty-eight years pass without the machines making any direct battles with humans, Atlas Maru Shepherd (Jennifer Lopez), an analyst, the daughter of Harlan’s designer, has been hunting for a chance to find the escaped machines who are responsible for that near-apocalyptic event. After one of Harlan’s AI agents is captured and interrogated by her using special techniques, she finds out that Harlan can be found on a planet in the Andromeda Galaxy. As she provides this information to the others, keeps insisting that she should come along and face Harlan, something which she has wanted to do for a very long time. The military hopes to use AI-assisted giant robots known as ARCs which connect to human rangers through a neural link, but Atlas in not ready for the same as she distrusts all kinds of Artificial Intelligence. But Harlan’s drones attack their spaceship just before entering the planet’s atmosphere, and Atlas is forced to enter an ARC herself and falls right on to the planet’s surface.

And what more can happen between humans and machines now? :: Atlas is not happy about her situation within a machine, but she manages to gain basic control of the ARC despite her distrust of the Artificial Intelligence who introduces itself as Smith in a very friendly manner. As they move, the two combine forces and soon find the rest of the rangers dead, and somehow manages to escape to escape from the humanoids chasing them despite the link between her and the machine being weak. She reluctantly agrees to directly interface her mind with Smith, allowing for greater control of the ARC. This allows them to move on with a hope to escape, as finding and defeating Harlan seems to be almost impossible now as she is no monster hunter and the enemy is too strong. But is there still a chance to stop Harlan, and should they take it instead of going through the route to the escape pod? Is there something they can do, and is there a chance that Harlan will directly come to get them? Is Harlan actually a villain or is there something more to him than what meets the eye?

The defence of Atlas :: The biggest advantage of this movie is its stunning visuals with some fine Computer-Generated Imagery and visual effects that elevates this movie so much that people would have wanted to watch the same on the big screen. The spaceships, visuals of space and the planet in Proxima Centauri, along with the stylish AI machines are joy to watch, often reminding one of some computer games – remembering MissionForce: CyberStorm of 1996. Then we know Pacific Rim and its sequel. The messages of Artificial Intelligence and trust, along with the idea about human future being devastation does keep all the thinking going forward. All the action makes things more interesting, and the alien planet is something that everyone would look forward to. Jennifer Lopez mostly manages to handle this quite well, even though the role would have suited a newer, younger or lesser-known actress better with the tale seemingly going in that path. There are no unnecessary complications of science here though, and without an Interstellar-kind of scientific overdose, the move scores more on the true science-fiction and not that science-reality mode that keeps the viewers struggling. The Mech-AI and bonding feels nice too.

The claws of flaw :: The movie not having a younger main character to suit the situation more does hurt it at times, and there are moments when it seems to go into a silly mode. There is too much focus on one character even when this is about saving the world. It does not feel appropriate to see that the most trained leader of the rangers and his fully matched AI companion falls too easily while the analyst gets to defeat advanced Artificial Intelligence humanoids with powerful weapons with ease – it is quite the disgrace to the soldiers and their battle-hardened commander intending on saving the world. Somehow, their only duty seems to be focused on keeping the seemingly useless emotionally struggling elder lady who might be mostly out control, safe at all times. In that case, they should have kept her back home, as she is nowhere close to as guide as she claimed to be with the Artificial Intelligence leader, with her missing out on the most predictable part of the movie. The basic idea about Artificial Intelligence seems to be overused, even though we do not come to know that it is what we are dealing with, until the movie is somewhat closer to its end.

How it finishes :: Atlas could have surely been a better movie with less predictability, with more of a consideration on its basic strengths, but it remains an entertainer, and for that much there is no doubt. The repetition itself holds it down, but the same seems to be the one thing that would drive movies like this forever. The film was surely not well-received by the critics and Jennifer Lopez was even nominated for the Worst Actress category at the Golden Raspberry Awards – but you know that critics often make no sense, as they recently did with Madame Web, and we know that even the best movies do not make money, like John Carter. This movie could have at least received some accolades for its graphics and visuals, for the settings in space need not always be this good, and not all science fiction are spectacles of this quality, not even those much-famed superhero movies of Marvel. You watch this one for the beauty on the screen and another world of future with an emotional and classic touch. Well, you need movies like these at regular intervals to keep the love for science fiction going, and not those silly stuff which deviates from the genre’s core.

Release date: 24th May 2024 (Netflix)
Running time: 120 minutes
Directed by: Brad Peyton
Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Simu Liu, Sterling K Brown, Mark Strong, Gregory James Cohan, Abraham Popoola, Lana Parrilla

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

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Arrival

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Vampire Owl: We are all awaiting their grand arrival, sometimes without even closing our eyes.

Vampire Bat: I don’t understand. Who exactly are you talking about? There are no names on this guest book for quite some time. If this is an unofficial meeting coming up, you will still have to inform Uncle Dracula through the telepathic connection.

Vampire Owl: The ones who shall not be named, those whom nobody shall dare to name.

Vampire Bat: If you can’t name then, I won’t be able to wait for them. It makes no sense at all.

Vampire Owl: It is because you are a man without faith. It makes you spiritually poor.

Vampire Bat: I have more faith than you and your brainless zombie minions combined.

Vampire Owl: Well, the beautifully carved tombstones at my favourite cemetery has better faith.

Vampire Bat: This does make me wonder what you mean by the words “faith” and “arrival”.

Vampire Owl: Maybe, you can take some lessons from this movie.

Vampire Bat: Movies with messages and lessons are the best. Let us see how this one goes.

[Gets three cups of masala tea with special samosas].

What is the movie about? :: A linguist, Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is teaching at the university when she hears an alarm. Twelve alien spacecrafts have landed on Earth, at Maracay in Venezuela, Montana in the United States, Kujalleq in Greenland, Devon in the United Kingdom, Kenema in Sierra Leone, Khartoum in Sudan, Punjab in Pakistan, Siberia in Russia, Hokkaido in Japan, Shanghai in China, and also in the Black Sea and the Indian Ocean. The United States Army Colonel G.T. Weber (Forest Whitaker) contacts Louise to help the nation and the planet Earth as a whole by joining a team which includes people specialised in different fields including a theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner). The idea is to understand the reason behind the arrival of the aliens.

So, what happens next? :: At a military camp in Montana near one of the spaceships, the military look forward to knowing if the aliens are really hostile, or are they just trying to make peace with the humans. This can only be done by entering the spaceship at a certain point of time, coming face to face with the creatures. The aliens are nicknamed by the group as “heptapods” due to having seven legs, and the team starts making contact with them. The language of the aliens is something which corresponds to nothing else, as they write some strange circular symbols on the glass which separated them and the humans. Louise puts in a big effort to understand what these symbols mean by connecting them to the basic vocabulary.

What follows the arrival :: Louise also seems to have visions of her daughter at the same time, and it seems to connect with her process of knowing the new language. The nations and their leaders become restless as time passes, and all the spacecrafts remain at the same place without moving an inch. With the curiosity at its peak, the answer from the aliens on what they want seems to be “offer weapon” which alerts all countries. There is the fear of an upcoming threat from the aliens with some new advanced weapons, and some nations even mobilise their military as if to defend against a potential attack. China takes it one step further, as it gets ready to attack the aliens from its territory, and asks other world leaders to do the same. But Louise is convinced that there is something more to this alien arrival – what can it be? Can she stop a war?

The defence of Arrival :: We might have seen many alien invasion movies, but Arrival is the flick that successfully thinks differently with the basic idea. It is science fiction, and it has creatures from other planet, but it so close to life; it is something that not many movies of the same genre will find difficult to achieve. There is also a lot of beauty on screen, and the performances that support the whole thing. The feeling of a possible disaster runs throughout the movie, but there seems to be not more than one explosion in the whole movie. Amy Adams remains the big strong point of the movie, and along with Nocturnal Animals, this is another movie in which she scores amazingly high. Between Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and the upcoming Justice League, she has got two perfect movies in there. Jeremy Renner and the visuals nicely compliment the same.

The claws of flaw :: A lot of people are certain to find Arrival to be kind of slow for their liking. There are too many things happening in this movie, and a lot of them are emotional, plus there is almost no big action sequence or destruction which people expect from these type of movies. Don’t judge this movie by the positive or negative opinions though, as Arrival is a kind of personal experience which needs the movie to be watched. It is also a little bit too philosophical – even though it is not that bad, that feeling is not there throughout the flick. A quicker pace, and a more twisted revealing of the surprise would have helped better too, but as this is based on a short story, it is up-to those who have read the tale to make a better analysis inside. The movie could have also been darker in its theme along with speeding up things. I am also sure that people would have expected more considering how the first half was going.

How it finishes :: Based on a science fiction short story “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang which had won the 2000 Nebula Award for Best Novella and the 1999 Sturgeon Award, Arrival might be the alien movie and the science fiction flick which you might have been waiting for, with a desire to concentrate less on action. It has won eight OScar nominations at the 89th Academy Awards as we look at them – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing. Well, if these are not reasons enough to make you watch this movie, one has to wonder what else would have. I would wish for a nomination for Amy Adams for the Best Actress too, with this one and Nocturnal Animals too, but we can’t get them all, can we?

Release date: 11th November 2016
Running time: 116 minutes
Directed by: Denis Villeneuve
Starring: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg, Tzi Ma, Mark O’Brien

arrival

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

The Martian

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Vampire Owl: I have always wanted to have a pact with the Martians. The Earthlings are too evil for our taste.

Vampire Bat: Well, Dejah Thoris has been a fine Martian.

Vampire Owl: I hope that the presence of an Earthling on Mars will mean that he is free of the ambitions of Earth.

Vampire Bat: It shall be so, as there is no real need for money and power on Mars as of now.

[Gets the tickets and cheese popcorn].

✠ This was recently posted by me at Kiagia.com: http://www.kiagia.com/index.php/current-film-releases-movie/1115-the-martian-movie-review

Based on Andy Weir’s novel of the same name from 2011, The Martian is a much awaited movie which has already received a lot of positive opinions. The stories of survival outside the planet Earth has had the attention of the audience with Gravity and Interstellar, and The Martian tries to make further impact in the same area during this weekend. Directed by Ridley Scott and having Matt Damon in the lead, the movie is sure to attract the audience of all types, as the trailer did manage to catch the attention, bringing it to a large number of screens on this October 2nd.

A human mission to Mars goes terribly wrong and the astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is presumed to be dead and left on the planet as commander Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain) has to make the choice not to risk the return of the whole crew for searching for him. But he is alive and has become the first lone man on a planet seemingly without life. The first and the best option for the astronaut would be to wait for death considering how difficult or rather near impossible it should be to survive in Mars without any contact with Earth and possessing not enough supplies until the next mission can arrive. But Mark decides to try, and make that attempt not to die.

As Mark is a botanist, he finds a way to grow some potatoes inside, after creating a favourable atmosphere for the plants. The chances of survival still remain too low, until NASA engineers Vincent Kapoor (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Mindy Park (Mackenzie Davis) find out from the photos of the Mars station taken, that he is alive. They communicate using a Mars Pathfinder which Mark finds on the planet, and NASA begins the programs to send him supplies and get him home. But it is not that easy, as the probe which they sends explode and Mark himself has his own disasters at his place decreasing his chances of survival by many days.

Matt Damon is the man to look out for. He was also there in the last year’s space movie Interstellar, in a role which included being rescued from a planet too. But it never really had much there, and the planet sequence itself was more like a need to have a human character that is somewhat closer to the villainy. But here, there are no heroes and villains, and there is just the need for survival, that too in a fair way. The movie focuses on him, and so do the viewers, and he delivers an outstanding performance as the lone man who fights to survive where a normal person would have lost all hope. He has the most screen time, and makes a very fine use of the same.

The Martian remains ahead of both Interstellar and Gravity in many ways, making things more entertaining for the audience. The 3D of this movie might not be that heavy, but with the other aspects, The Martian clearly rises high. The environment is also a joy to watch. There is a perfect blend of emotional, intellectual and funny side here, the final side which was completely absent in Interstellar. The Martian is also straight to the point, but it never really fails to touch the audience. The movie knows where to stop being too much scientific and weird. It is the strength of the movie that the main character of the movie always remains someone whom the audience can connect with, instead of being someone special.

There is a strong, inspirational message in The Martian, and it is something which never lets go. It is the adventure that inspires the viewers never to lose hope, and it is also the kind of path which Interstellar could have followed. Another interesting thing about the protagonist of this movie is that he finds a lot more than just hope – he takes the opportunity to take the optimism to another level and even have some fun with his situation. The Martian has laughter, and that too when facing the possibility of death in a world far away from Earth. It is an adventure without any trace of pessimism, and almost everyone associated with it believes in their optimism, and this is a strange fact as the present world clearly lacks it, with so much of evil prevailing around the wars, terrorism, racial and religious hatred along with the other terrible things.

The Martian clearly has what it takes to be the big winner, and this is a good weekend to score among the viewers. This battle for escape from Mars is something that the fans of science fiction and survivor movies shouldn’t dare to miss. This has enough entertainment; some nice intelligent ideas and philosophy, along with making sure that the common man can easily understand the science here, as well as avoid whatever scientific term which they needn’t follow. The Martian is that kind of a movie, and by being the same, it will be a better, smooth experience for the brain and the heart than Interstellar, and easily overtakes the previous movie from Ridley Scott, Exodus: Gods and Kings.

Release date: 2nd October 2015
Running time: 141 minutes
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Starring: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kate Mara, Sean Bean, Mackenzie Davis, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Peña, Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Donald Glover, Benedict Wong, Naomi Scott, Lili Bordán, Nick Mohammed

themartian

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✠ The Vampire Bat.

Guardians of the Galaxy

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Vampire Owl :: But we were expected to have watched Guardians of the Galaxy last week, right?

Vampire Bat :: Yes, but with Hercules being postponed for some dumb movies, this also seems to have been delayed.

Vampire Owl :: So Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which was to release this Friday should release next weekend.

Vampire Bat :: And movies like Lucy will go missing.

Vampire Owl :: We have a long life-span. We can wait, may be it will release many months later.

Vampire Bat :: Yes, with immortality having its glitches.

Vampire Owl :: Are we going for Into the Storm?

Vampire Bat :: May be no?

Vampire Owl :: Fine, I thought I would need that for the owlification list.

Vampire Bat :: It does have more shows, even as critics have annihilated it.

[Enters the movie hall].

What is it about? :: Twenty six years after he was abducted from Earth by space pirates, Peter Quill (Christ Pratt) steals an orb for which many others are making similar attempts. His successful stealing of the item meant that there was a huge bounty on him set by the leader of the space pirates, Yondu Udonta (Michael Rooker) and an assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana) is sent after him by Ronan (Lee Pace), a member of the scientifically advance war-loving race called Kree. Two bounty hunters – a humanoid tree Groot (Vin Diesel) and a genetically engineered raccoon called Rocket (Bradley Cooper) are also after the man who stole the orb, but a complicated fight with Gamora and Quill leads them to prison from where they come up with a plan, and supported by Drax (Dave Bautista) who is looking for revenge against Ronan, break out of the prison. They would initially look to sell the device, but after knowing how dangerous it is, they will have to join forces to save the galaxy against the man who look forward to destroying it, as he take the orb from them.

The defence of Guardians of the Galaxy :: This movie is all about the entertainment, and there would have been no doubt about that one. It is that fun ride which makes one laugh, go through the thrills and also add some emotions to the same. The characters are superb, and they remain interesting and most of the situations become further interesting due to them, and each has some special characteristic, and belong to a different species. That should remind us gamers about Mass Effect, one of those awesome games set in space, with the need to save the known universe from a group of alien invaders known as the Reapers (without that much detail and other stuff). But this movie is light and without the complications, and there it scores with the common audience. The visuals are great too, with the spaceships and awesome gadgets being used, and the world of space nicely using the power of technology to its advantage, and 3D is pretty much effective too. The computer-generated stuff rarely gets this good, one has to admit. You won’t need the super-powered heroes for this one!

The claws of flaw :: Guardians of the Galaxy has pretty much a predictable run with what is has, and it remains what we usually see. The movie has a lot more to do before it establishes itself completely, and I would guess that the same would be done in the sequel which is supposed to come out in 2017. There is a lot of background to be established, and this movie is without much power in its plot. The movie could have taken a few more minutes to establish a better universe and work on the worlds that exist within the same. The galaxy could have been better known before there were guardians for the galaxy, and these guardians themselves are misfits and outlaws who turn heroes, something which we have seen so many times. It has a good amount of silliness, which does work with its universe of aliens and spaceships, but not without them. This one has a long way to go before becoming something like the game Mass Effect with its character and universe. There is a lot of thinking to be done.

Performers of the soul :: Chris Pratt makes his character impressive, no doubt about that one, but the one who struck me more was Zoe Saldana as the green lady Gamora. She was blue in Avatar and was in space before in both Star Trek movies, and here she is green, and she plays that character to perfection. Dave Bautista makes a very strong appearance here, and his quiting WWE drama was rightly for this movie’s promotion – and it is good to see him having such nice role which suits him, along with making another comeback to WWE some time later. Interestingly, there is also a funny side to this tough character. Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel gives voice to the two other guardians, and Cooper’s Rocket might be the fan favourite in this movie with the funny lines and the interesting moments. Karen Gillan’s Nebula came up as another surprisingly interesting character. Lee Pace’s Ronan is a strong villain, and makes a powerful impact, but the character Thanos leaves us wishing for more which could come to us in an upcoming sequel.

Soul exploration :: The movie is all about saving the world from the evil forces, and there is not much to think about it in a complicated manner. There is the orb which gives great powers and the most evil of them all wishing to take control of it to cause destruction and chaos all around. The heroes are all former outlaws who have lost something and are not really good or bad, but capable of goodness. The movie is sure to leave the audience happy and with no signs of disappointment, and there its success lies. If you have loved The Avengers, there is not much doubt about falling in love with these heroes who are in no way super with their powers, but do take their chances. They make up a strange team and become the guardians, and with a little expansion of the world that was in this movie, that too in detail, would work wonders for this franchise in the next entry of the franchise. That should be the masterpiece.

How it finishes :: Into the Storm has more shows, but Guardians of the Galaxy should surely hold strong in this part of the world in the absence of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which is yet to find its release here. The demand for disaster movies is not that much as it used to be, and storms come nowhere near things like the end of the world and global destruction. The found footage category doesn’t add anything positive either to an already dying genre of movies which has nothing else to offer other than destruction. But Guardians of the Galaxy belongs to that immortal genre which can prove interesting even after a lot of repetition added to it. Because of the same, Marvel gets another movie and a beginning to another franchise which they can use nicely as the success of The Avengers has been repeated here, even as this one doesn’t seem to be good enough to break those records. This is another big superhero movie indeed, and that too in space.

Release date: 8th August 2014 (India); 1st August 2014 (US)
Running time: 122 minutes
Directed by: James Gunn
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Mikaela Hoover, Glenn Close, Benicio del Toro, Ophelia Lovibond, Gregg Henry, Peter Serafinowicz

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✠ The Vampire Bat.