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Black Widow

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Vampire Owl: I hope that we are not speaking about the spiders here.

Vampire Bat: No, none of us vampires are related to spiders, you know.

Vampire Owl: The witches take in a lot spiders.

Vampire Bat: Most of them are killed by the cats in there though.

Vampire Owl: But they are essential part of the dark magic.

Vampire Bat: It is not dark magic, but black magic.

Vampire Owl: You feel that there is a difference between the two.

Vampire Bat: Yes, darkness is not necessarily black, as it can come in different colours.

Vampire Owl: You are talking about darkness being reinvented by the vampire elders.

Vampire Bat: The source is the portal though.

[Gets a paneer momo and three cups of black tea].

What is the movie about? :: Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour) and Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz) are undercover agents of Russia known elsewhere as the Red Guardian and Black Widow, just a few years after the fall of the Soviet Union. Everything seems to be too natural for them, as a family with parents and two children. The agents successfully disguise as a normal American family in Ohio with their two daughters, and after stealing SHIELD intelligence, manage to escape to Cuba, after going through a tough chase. Soon enough, they are trained vigorously for their possible future missions for this secret organization known as Red Room. Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) who had their training in the Red Room to become assassins, continue in their missions to become successful and highly skilled fighters in their own ways. Natasha has become a fugitive for violating the Sokovia Accords, some time after joining the Avengers, after she had left her own team of assassins much earlier to join SHIELD.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Natasha escapes to a safehouse in Norway, while Yelena comes in contact with a former Black Widow who provides a synthetic gas that neutralizes the chemical mind control agent on her, which leads her to understand her actions and move to hiding. She attempts to stop the Red Room, this organization which has been creating assassins by manipulation of the mind. Natasha believes that she had destroyed the Red Room a long time ago, but it seems that it is not the case, as she is hunted by an unknown figure for the vials which were sent to her by her sister. She manages to escape and meet Yelena, only to be attacked by more female assassins, part of the Black Widow programme in the Red Room. Yelena had hoped that someone from Avengers would help her to get rid of the Red Room and free the black widows, but it seems that the superhero team no longer holds strong, and they have to find a few other more effective options.

The defence of Black Widow :: The movie fits in nicely within the list of superhero movies with its own fine deviations. The action scenes definitely make the point, and the two leading ladies make the best part of the movie, and some fine humour is also added in there well. There are surely some fine scenes which stand apart from the others, and not all of them are at the best for the intensity or the use of special effects. The fight scenes when the two sisters meet, and when the black widows fight, are among two of the best. The visuals are really good, as you would expect from a movie like this. The emotional moments are also pretty much working. The film is a fine part of the cinematic universe, but at the same time, it is also good enough to stand alone here. In the end, you do know where to place this movie, and with the final moments after the credits, the same is assured yet again – it is once again that time when you don’t take the eyes away from the screen.

Positives and negatives :: The movie does have perfectly suited cast to work in its favour with a lot of efficiency. The new additions to the cinematic universe are indeed among the best, and we see them joining and blending in so well. We do have hope that there could be a new beginning for the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the new entries, even though the Corona virus pandemic threat is forever, and can affect its run in the future too. There are still times when the movie seems to go up and down, seemingly following an inconsistent pattern – the tale could have followed a more straight forward pattern rather than going on like the tides. There could have also been more training sequences of the black widows, and more of their missions might have done the movie more good. A little bit more of Avengers could have also provided the movie with positives. After all, we are never short of hope, as far as superheroes are concerned.

The performers of the soul :: Scarlett Johansson leads the way, as one would expect. We have seen her do what she has done the best in the previous movies. Florence Pugh is the one who comes up with some fine surprises, and if there is another Black Widow, it could only be her – she makes a perfect one indeed. She would have made a fine addition to the team of Avengers on another day, maybe as part of another dimension in future. The action works for both of them really well, and there is also that humour that comes nicely with them around. It is also nice to see Rachel Weisz in such a memorable role again, as she is one actress who was also part of our childhood for quite a long time. David Harbour brings an extra amount of humour in between too, and even when serious, he adds a certain amount of the same. Olga Kurylenko is also present, even though we don’t see much of her, at least not the face. She remains one action star that we can always trust on, one of the last references being the lesser known film, The Courier.

How it finishes :: We know where these Marvel movies go, and this one does have its deviation which seems to work efficiently by its own. As the new action-packed addition to the grand list, it is an entertaining ride that one wouldn’t want to miss, as we already have that feeling of requiring more of Avengers after Infinity War and Endgame. The superheroes and saving the world have been gone for rather too long, and here we have it back in the form of Black Widow. We have been wondering which the movie would bring that power back, as we around here don’t really watch the series. This one also has its own fine surprises to add to the same, as this one is really a fine mixture of things. It is not that easy to make an enjoyable film which can match the predecessors anymore, as Marvel has come up with some of the best already. Well, this some proof about the about the fact that there is always chance to keep the momentum going.

Release date: 9th July 2021
Running time: 134 minutes
Directed by: Cate Shortland
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, O-T Fagbenle, Olga Kurylenko, William Hurt, Ray Winstone, Rachel Weisz

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

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

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Proxima

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Vampire Owl: Have you heard about the vampire team planning to travel to Proxima Centauri?

Vampire Bat: No, such a plan was discarded after Doctor Frankenstein created a portal and ended up being crazy for three weeks.

Vampire Owl: It is depressing, because vampire space travel was only beginning to get popular.

Vampire Bat: You could have some temporary relief by watching a movie on space travel.

Vampire Owl: This one seems to be drama and not really science fiction.

Vampire Bat: Drama is more close to life than science fiction as far as humans are concerned.

Vampire Owl: I wouldn’t disagree with that statement. They always create some drama.

Vampire Bat: It is also the one reason why humans stopped evolving.

Vampire Owl: I do feel that they can still evolve like some of the alien species which we had met while traveling through one of those portals.

Vampire Bat: Well, lets see how far they can go and fight their own upcoming extinction.

[Gets a carrot cake and three cups of masala tea].

What is the movie about? :: Sarah Loreau (Eva Green) is preparing herself for a one-year mission aboard the International Space Station, after different stages of training on Earth, and a final quarantine which would follow. She is very excited about it, as she finally had the chance which she was waiting for, throughout these years. She had kept so many things away just for this special opportunity which rarely comes to her field. But her daughter Stella Akerman Loreau (Zelie Boulant-Lemesle) is certainly not even close to being happy about it. She does like the idea that her mother is going to the stars, but hates the fact that she has to leave her for such a long period of time, first out of the nation and then far away from Earth itself. This would mean that Stella and her cat would have to stay in a new house in a new neighbourhood in a distant city, with her father Thomas Akerman (Lars Eidinger) as the parents had separated, despite falling in love while working at the same space agency.

So, what happens with the events here? :: But things have to go as planned, and they have to follow the procedure, as she has qualified with great difficulty, and now there will be no replacement in her place. Sarah leaves for further training, much to the dismay of Stella who is left to adjust with the new home and the new school were she keeps struggling with Mathematics and also in making new friends, being a new loner. At the same time, Sarah has some initial struggles with keeping up, and her colleague from the United States, Mike Shannon (Matt Dillon) considers her to be more of a space tourist, as he is a war veteran who has served in Irag and Afghanistan. But he does appreciate her hard work as time progresses, but as she develops an infection in a new wound, Sarah has further struggles to go with. At the same time, the bond between the mother and daughter which was very strong and special seems to be having some cracks here and there. Now, Sarah has to keep up both her lives going, and it is a question whether she can do the same.

The defence of Proxima :: As one would expect, the movie thrives in the work of Eva Green, who excels as the astronaut mother who struggles to keep the two sides of her life going. The movie serves as a reflection of anyone who is trying to seek new heights, but cannot let go of the old world to which the person belongs to. The training sequences are nice, and the emotional moments are all in control, with everything safely handled by Eva herself, for this is her movie. As the movie was shot in different original training facilities of the European Space Agency, everything feels more real, just like the feelings. The movie’s progress is also steady, even though we are given the idea of what to expect in the beginning stages itself. As the movie chooses to go realistic over everything else, we do have the interesting family drama which depicts the mother-daughter relationship without much of a trouble. In the same, there is quality guaranteed.

The claws of flaw :: Proxima had scope to be something more, with both its dramatic side and it could have been an action thriller of a lesser level too, with more twists being added to the training sessions and time of quarantine. People who are looking for some science fiction are going to be disappointed, because the same is not there, and we can say the same about the action and thriller side too. It could have also had more of emotional moments together, and there could have been more of bonding scenes between the astronauts in the facility. The fact that it keeps changing the language in between is a little bit strange, as it remaining a French movie with English subtitles would have been fair enough. It could have also used some flashback to add to the tale, because our protagonist here does seem to have had a long interesting past. If it had used all the elements perfectly, there was chance for a flawless film here, but Proxima does come somewhat close.

Performers of the soul :: With birthday on the 6th of July, it is a good time to give Eva Green some lovely birthday wishes, as she is one actress who has been special throughout her career, reminding us of some fine roles which she had played so well – this movie is not that much of an exception in that case too. The lovely actress has that kind of movies in her list which I have loved to watch, with the last few being my personal favourite Dark Shadows, the grand sequel 300: Rise of an Empire, the much different Sin City: A Dame to Kill For and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children to be added to the list. She is fantastic in this movie, and we see the emotions running wild on one side, and the determination of the character on the other – Eva is delightful to watch in this film too, and she carries the movie on her shoulders with so much of ease. Zelie Boulant who plays the daughter also comes up with a fine performance. Matt Dillon does a fine job in the supporting role too. The rest just working along, as this one is indeed the Eva Green show from the first moment to the time when the credits starts rolling.

How it finishes :: It is no surprise that Proxima‘s biggest asset is Eva Green, and the same is reflected throughout the flick, with the focus never really shifting from her, as she brings the magnificent performance to elevate this movie to where it would have been, with another actress in her place. But those who watch this movie should note that it is not science fiction unlike some idea being given here. As the movie stays as close to a realistic world as possible even with an upcoming space travel, Proxima does deliver a strong drama which works with the mother-daughter relationship very well. It is the kind of movie that one can choose to watch during Eva Green’s birthday week, and the French actress’ work is reason enough to go for it. If you are going for science fiction in space or other planets, we do have those other titles, and expecting a Gravity, Interstellar or The Martian in this case will be wrong, as the tendency will be there as people see the lady wearing the spacesuit on the poster, but that is just one side of the tale.

Release date: 27th November 2019
Running time: 107 minutes
Directed by: Alice Winocour
Starring: Eva Green, Matt Dillon, Zelie Boulant, Lars Eidinger, Sandra Huller, Aleksey Fateev, Nancy Tate, Svetlana Nekhoroshikh, Anna Sherbinina, Vitaly Jay, Lionel Ferra, Manuela Aguzzi, Gregoire Colin, Trond-Erik Vassal

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Jurassic World II

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What is the movie about? :: A few years have passed after the events of the earlier movie, and the Jurassic World theme park on Isla Nublar has been abandoned since the evacuation. As dinosaurs roamed freely on the island, a mercenary team which arrives on the island makes an attempt to retrieve DNA from the remains of the cloned hybrid dinosaur Indominus rex, which was killed by a Mosasaurus. They successfully deliver the sample even though the team is attacked by a Mosasaurus and a Tyrannosaurus. The aim of the mercenaries is unknown, but at the same time, there is wide protest in the United States of America and other parts of the world in favour of saving the dinosaurs as the species, even though cloned, faces extinction again while facing a huge volcanic eruption, with the exception of Mosasaurus which escaped from the island through water.

So, what happens with the events to follow? :: Jurassic World’s former manager Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) who is now part of a dinosaur protection group gets a call from Sir Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell). The man, along with Eli Mills (Rafe Spall) confirm that they are planning to move these dinosaurs to a place where they will be safe. There will be no human contact, and without men to bother them, the creatures could thrive in their own world – this would cause no alarm for any other species. For locating Blue, the last living Velociraptor and smarter one among the dinosaurs, Claire recruits Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), Jurassic World’s former Velociraptor trainer, to join the mission to save the species facing extinction. They are joined by Franklin Webb (Justice Smith) and Zia Rodriguez (Daniella Pineda) as they travel to the island.

And what is follow with the tale? :: The leader of the hired soldiers at the island, Ken Wheatley (Ted Levine) is in charge of resue operations at Isla Nublar. He enjoys stealing the teeth of dinosaurs and making sure that they stay in the cages in one way or the other. Sooner or later, a few dinosaurs won’t be the biggest of their problems. There is Gunnar Eversol (Toby Jones) who comes into play, as he hopes to sell these dinosaurs through auction, while making them perfectly suitable for becoming war machines – as animals have always been used as weapons by humans throughout history. In between all of this, time is running out for dinosaurs, as the whole island gets ready to be destroyed by volcanic erruption. Can at least some of them including Blue be saved by the team, as the chances for extinction is once again so high?

The defence of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom :: The movie begins nicely as it introduces its two best pre-historic creatures, Mosasaurus and Tyrannosaurus very early, displaying moments of glory that this franchise has to offer us. There is no shortage of such moments, with the dinosaurs trying to escape the island, and the lava taking over, as well as the final battle with another hybrid dinosaur. There is the fear factor being utilized really well, and the dinosaur nostalgia taken to the next level. We are all left in need of another movie in the franchise, and there seems to be certainty in the same. The idea here more or less like that of a Frankenstein story, about humans trying to play God by giving life using science, and finding it extremely difficult to control their creations. The dinosaurs are all good here, and so is the world – there is more to see with both as we keep looking on.

The Claws of flaw :: There is always more expected from a dinosaur movie, and anything with the name Jurassic needs to do more each and every time. The second Jurassic World doesn’t add much to the franchise, and won’t bring anything that is special – it is more or less the same thing that we have been watching since the first one, Jurassic Park. There is no real attempt to move beyond the safe mode, and the focus is not really on the story – well, the big dinosaurs on the screen was always going to work in one way or the other, and that is the one thing were all the focus goes. The questions about the necessity of saving a species are not touched that much as one would expect. Do humans have the responsibility to save those other species which are as much part of this world as we are all are? Well, that is one question that humanity will find difficult to answer, and even coming close to trying for the same is out of question for many.

The performers of the soul :: Chris Pratt who comes right out the Star-Lord shoes in Avengers: Infinity War and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has this one in full control. One has time to remember that Passengers was a lovely movie too, as he keeps things going well, following Jurassic World which brought the dinosaurs back to us. Bryce Dallas Howard gets some nice job to do here again, and this time, the character gets stronger on ideology. We can be sure that we need to see her as well as Christ Pratt in the next possible movie too, the team looks strong with the two around. We do miss Irrfan Khan this time, as his character had to die in that earlier movie. Daniella Pineda and Justice Smith support well, with something extra added here and there. Rafe Spall brings one ambitious and unpredictable character to fine strength. Isabella Sermon does a nice job here too, rising to the occasion.

How it finishes :: We have been in love with this franchise ever since the first move released in 1993 by the name Jurassic Park. The science fiction novel written by Michael Crichton did form the core, but with two more films, this movie franchise had the advantage and became another name for anything related to dinosaurs. In 2015, Jurassic World brought it back with nostalgia written all over it, and now, we have Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom which decided to get an early release in India before it released in the United States of America. Well, we can see only filled seats in the theatres more than one week after its release in the country. It is one big entertainer with big creatures, and it is to be seen about how much of a threat it possesses to Avengers: Infinity War which is still running in the theatres, and how much challenge it faces from the strong monsoons.

Release date: 22nd June 2018 (USA); 7th June 2018 (India)
Running time: 128 minutes
Directed by: JA Bayona
Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Daniella Pineda, Rafe Spall, Justice Smith, James Cromwell, Toby Jones, Ted Levine, BD Wong, Isabella Sermon, Geraldine Chaplin, Jeff Goldblum

<— Click here to go to the previous review, and before that.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Naam Shabana

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Vampire Owl: I know this person from Baby.

Vampire Bat: This is a spin-off prequel to that movie, and so it is no surprise that you know her.

Vampire Owl: So, this is both a spin-off and a prequel? That should mean two levels.

Vampire Bat: Yes, this one also has Ajay Singh Rajput played by Akshay Kumar, Anjali Singh Rajput played by Madhurima Tuli and Om Prakash Shukla played by Anupam Kher.

Vampire Owl: And joins Shabana Khan played by Taapsee Pannu, I see.

Vampire Bat: There is also our own Prithviraj with an evil side.

Vampire Owl: I don’t see what can be better than that.

Vampire Bat: Yes, Ivide had shown his negative shades better than any other.

Vampire Owl: And we remember that older movie with him playing the bad cop getting reformed – Vargam, I guess. I also liked him in his other Bollywood movie, Aurangzeb.

Vampire Bat: Bollywood needs a few more in their movies, just like him. I still have Memories in my head.

[Gets three cups of strong tea with Mariegold biscuits].

What is the movie about? :: Shabana Khan (Taapsee Pannu) is a college student who is also practicing Judo to take part in a number of competitions. Her mother, Farida Begum Khan (Natasha Rastogi) is in full support of her, whatever she plans to do. She doesn’t hesitate in beating up people who cause any kind of nuisance, no matter how small it is, or how meaningless the fight is. She has made herself tougher, as she had grown up watching her father beat up her mother mercilessly all the time after coming home drunk and out of his senses. On one of those days when he was attacking her mother, she had hit her father so hard on the back of his head, that he ended up dead – it had left her in the juvenile home, until coming back stronger to help her mother move forward with her life. This flashback about her is rather unknown to her new friends.

So, what happens next? :: Shabana is quite a popular girl in the college, and one of her friends, Jai (Taher Shabbir Mithaiwala) has fallen in love with her. He asks her to accompany him for dinner, and they seem to have fallen in love, but on that night, they come across some eve teasing, to which she decides to respond – the result is Jai getting killed and leaving her scarred for life. His parents blame her for the incident, and despite going to the police station almost every day, she finds no progress at all. Frustrated and without hope, one day while returning from the police station, she gets the calls of an unknown man (Manoj Bajpayee) who gives her an offer she can’t refuse. She will get her revenge against the four men, but he wants something from her in return. So, will she manage to live up to the promise on her end, and will he be able to do the same?

The defence of Naam Shabana :: A lot of reviewers who go around in Bollywood are sure to miss how good Prithviraj Sukumaran has been in this movie, and there is that tendency to figure out how much they can appreciate everyone else. The makers won’t give that much for someone of such calibre, and the reviewers will just focus more on the Bollywood stars – just like I had written earlier in the review of the short-film, Invisible Actor, that there are actors and superstars, and there are those who are good enough to become both and maintain the balance. Along with him and Taapsee, the movie has its thrilling side going. There are also some very nice action sequences, and nothing overdone in that department. There are also some nice dialogues to go with the same – some of them are actually funny, whether intentional or not. It also feels good to get an origin story, which provides more scope for a sequel.

The claws of flaw :: Some scenes in this movies are just strange – with people removing their shirts to fight, vengeance given so much importance by an intelligence wing, the villain willingly giving away his identity when there was other options considering how smart he is, choosing the rookie to do this dangerous mission when there are experienced people around, and so on. It is still good to see that such Bollywood tendencies get to be controlled up to an extent. Shabana also has rather less attention on her character than everything else about her. Some of the moments just get funny when they shouldn’t have been, and we also get so much less of the villain who should have been the highlight of this movie from the darker side. The first half of the movie, with its stretched romance, becomes the rather too long thing here too. They could have done without the songs too.

Performers of the soul :: As expected, Taapsee Pannu does provide some knockout punches here, and she suits the character really well – even when the character is not flawless, she nullifies a few bad sides. It her work in the original movie which has inspired this one, and she gets to play the girl with fire more. Everyone loved her in Pink, and this one no longer has her as a damsel in distress – she gets to make sure that her agency remains a proud one. Still, as her work in Baby was so effective in such a short time, that would be remembered more. Prithviraj Sukumaran who was seen in Malayalam movies which were different kind of thrillers, Oozham, Ezra and Tiyaan, here we have him playing the villain, and I am sure that having more of him would have helped this movie better. Akshay Kumar’s role is small, but quick and effective, while Manoj Bajpayee only gets to talk, without getting any action. Madhurima Tuli and Anupam Kher also cross over here from Baby.

How it finishes :: Naam Shabana is a movie which could have done better with more focus on its antagonist, and a more consistent character development of our protagonist. If you don’t go for this one with the expectations high considering Baby, you are surely not going to be disappointed – it is that one which automatically let the expectations go high, and the makers seem to have thought that this would bring the money. They could have made more money with better focus on Prithviraj, but here, they have taken rather too much time for even Taapsee’s training to begin. Still, Naam Shabana is another thriller that works, and even without the name of Baby attached to it, there is more to the tale. Maybe the stand-alone feeling will give the flick even more strength. You can only watch this one and come up with your own opinion, and the need for another movie in the franchise.

Release date: 31st March 2017
Running time: 147 minutes
Directed by: Shivam Nair
Starring: Taapsee Pannu, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Manoj Bajpayee, Akshay Kumar, Danny Denzongpa, Madhurima Tuli, Anupam Kher, Murali Sharma, Zakir Hussain, Bhuvan Arora, Taher Shabbir Mithaiwala, Natasha Rastogi, Manav Vij, Mohan Kapoor, Elli Avram, Shibani Dandekar, Virendra Saxena, Aparna Upadhyay

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Kill Command

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Vampire Owl :: I remember having made such a command.

Vampire Bat :: Yes, I totally understand. To your zombie minions?

Vampire Owl :: No, to the Frankenstein Monster.

Vampire Bat :: No wonder nobody gets killed by that command.

Vampire Owl :: My question is about why nobody has told me anything about this movie yet.

Vampire Bat :: Nobody I know have heard about this movie either.

Vampire Owl :: But I have a feeling that we will like this one. The poster is so nice.

Vampire Bat :: A science fiction action thriller will only do good at this time. We never really get much of such movies.

Vampire Owl :: We are going to make Dr. Victor Frankenstein proud by watching such movies.

Vampire Bat :: And we have Vanessa Kirby as the central character.

[Gets three cups of tea with bananachips].

What is it about? :: The story set a long way into the future, as technology has gone beyond human expectations, transforming lives as well as combat. Captain Bukes (Thure Lindhardt) and his team of marines are off to a training facility in a remote island. They are joined by Mills (Vanessa Kirby), a human who is genetically enhanced by robotic technology, being part of one of the many types of machines and hybrids who are supposed to replace the human soldiers later. The idea is simple, to finish off the machines which were designed by Mills and get out of the facility, as she herself will observe the whole thing. The soldiers don’t really trust Mills, and hesitate to consider her as one of them. But they trust themselves to go through this training with ease, as the opponents are just mindless machines who have always been there as part of the programme.

So what happens next? :: Even though things seem easy in the beginning, soon they find out that the machines are copying their battle style, and are learning how to counter the human soldiers, using the human idea against themselves, and steadily becoming the superior force with better skill acquired through the experience of fighting with the marines. This no longer remains a training programme, but a battle for survival, as there are more effective killing machines on the island than they had imagined. So, with marines getting killed one after the other, what are the chances of them completing the training or at least getting out of the island? What role does Mills play in this newly declared war, and on which side does her loyalties lie? Where did this simple training programme go wrong and how can the marines make their last stand with machines everywhere?

The defence of Kill Command :: The movie has great CGI; it was rather unexpected for a lesser known movie which seems to be made from a lower budget. It is the kind of movie that you can watch instead of all those high budget movies which keep coming for you, with almost nothing inside them other than the repetition of what we have been seeing for many years. The machines look really good and environment including the surroundings and the insides of the buildings are all nicely designed. There is also a lot of action going on here. There are some nice thrilling moments with the machines around, and you can look forward to a big adventure. This is also a short movie and things go on smoothly throughout its run, leaving no boring moments behind. The acting is also good, and there is something special about how it turns out on the screen – you see even a few nice scares to go with it.

The claws of flaw :: There will be similarities to be found when in comparison with other movies, with its central idea. A better treatment of the same subject could have been done with more entertainment and further twists. This one often takes its progression straight, taking things for granted, and not making the best use of everything. There is also a certain amount of predictability that comes in, and it hesitates to go as the movie progresses towards the end – a better finish would have also been nice, as everything seemed to be moving towards the big final moments, but that never really happens. There are the nicely designed machines, there is the partially machine character, there is a special environment which can bring mystery and horror, and also a lot of action, but all these are not used to create the maximum impact, which would have raised the level of this flick.

Performers of the soul :: The best of this movie are its machines; we will get to love how they look and work. This whole thing can be compared to one big video game that you might have played during your childhood – there is that kind of a feel throughout this flick. The cast includes mostly unknown names as far as people in this part of the world are concerned. The best among them, and the one who leads the way as the protagonist, is great to watch – Vanessa Kirby who has played Estella Havisham in the BBC version of Great Expectations, makes her half-human, half-machine character work with ease. Genetically enhanced characters or cyborgs are not really the best characters had to be that good, and I would consider this particular one to be another memorable mixed existence. The rest are there in support, which they manage well.

How it finishes :: Kill Command is that kind of a movie which can create a great video game out of itself – it is like a perfect setting for a First Person Shooter, especially one featuring some arena battles following games like Unreal Tournament and Quake III Arena. As a sci-fi action thriller, it makes a nice impact, even without trying too hard. With the kind of material that exists here, I would want to have a sequel, and I am pretty sure that it can surpass this one. Kill Command provides you with that feeling that some nice sci-fi movies can be made without the big names and those huge action sequences that destroy everything around. Just a few machines, some people and a remote location is enough to make the whole experience better with some nice CGI and performances, as long as the resources are used nicely. I would consider this movie to be a fine addition to those simple, but effective sci-fi movies – this is no Ex Machina, but still a fine work.

***This is the 300th movie review on this blog!!!

Release date: 13th May 2016
Running time: 99 minutes
Directed by: Steven Gomez
Starring: Vanessa Kirby, Thure Lindhardt, David Ajala, Bentley Kalu, Tom McKay, Kelly Gough, Deborah Rosan

killcommand

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Divergent

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Dystopia, the weakness :: The more relevant opinions should say that the weakness that haunts the world is more related to vampire romance, something which completely destroys the purpose of existence of vampires, no wonder Louis de Pointe du Lac felt that his life was pointless, and Anne Rice might have had a good idea what was to come next when she sat down to write Interview With the Vampire and all those works which followed in The Vampire Chronicles. Now, dystopia has risen to a level which is close to the vampire romance, and thanks to The Hunger Games, the scope for such fiction is proved immense; one has to agree that even Stephenie Meyer’s The Host and its movie adaptation had an extended feeling of dystopia enforced by the aliens. My first idea of dystopia came from Stephen King’s The Running Man which I read long ago, and that 1987 movie of the same name, Arnold Schwarzenegger and María Conchita Alonso. A dystopian America sells quite well. Even mindless movies like Escape from New York worked very well (questioned only by its own sequel Escape from L.A.) and now we know what a safe territory is, even safer than some vampire romance which can coin the terms like “still a better love story than Twilight“.

What is it about? :: The story is set in a future Chicago as the world has transformed into a dystopia inside walls. The society has been divided into five factions with five different qualities, Abnegation (selfless), Amity (peaceful), Candor (honest), Erudite (intelligent) and Dauntless (fearless). The factionless were to live a hopeless life. Beatrice Prior (Shailene Woodley) has grown up in Abnegation with her parents and brother, and it was the faction that run the government. Its selflessness was proven by their work in taking care of the poor, the sick and the factionless. To the surprise and sadness of their parents, her brother chooses Erudite and she chooses Dauntless, even as she does know that she is a “divergent” who has different qualities and such a person is considered a threat to the current social order in the dystopia. Christina (Zoë Kravitz) and Al (Christian Madsen), two former Candors, and Will (Ben Lloyd-Hughes), a former Erudite joins her friends group as she struggles to go on with an environment with which she is not familiar. She starts off at the bottom of the list threatened to be thrown out, but slowly begins to make her way up with the help of the instructor Four (Theo James). Soon, there will be more secrets to be unveiled though.

The defence of Divergent :: Another world awaits you in Divergent, a world which you are not unaware of, but it is still a world which you will enjoy once again – it is that kind of a world which gathers a dimension for just curiosity itself and thrives on it like Count Dracula on drop of blood. In the beginning itself, they show a huge fence, seemingly electrical along with skyscrapers which seems to have survived some Armageddon which ravished a lot of the known world. Its themes are many and its world nicely detailed with some nice effects added here and there. The post-apocalyptic city is really nice, with a train running through the centre and buildings connected with some kind of mechanical technology. The action sequences are nice and realistic, and the final combat scenes are well done. There is melee combat as well as shooting, and a lot more during the time of training for the fearless ones. The idea of the divergent among the factions is nicely developed out of something which we are all familiar with – the rebellion in the dystopia. The leap of faith moment and the initiation in style are two things I loved more than the rest.

The claws of flaw :: This movie is quite a lot like The Hunger Games, and explores a similar setting with a dystopia and training of young people to be capable for violence and if possible, inflict death upon the enemies. There is no deathmatch here, but there is that capture the flag (Unreal Tournament and Quake 3 Arena fans check!). Being alienated is becoming far too common a thing these days as corruption in politics, the worst of such thing inflicted upon us by Kristen Stewart’s Isabella Swann. The movie’s faction choosing ceremony reminds us of the four houses of Harry Potter, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin and Hufflepuff. Remember the choosing of jobs in City of Ember? That should be another memory slowly coming out forced by the incident. The movie could have tried something innovative to have its own identity which would look entirely different from the rest. But taking the safe path was going to be more suitable for the first movie of a possible trilogy with a possible extensions due to divisions. But one can be sure that all the flaws of the whole franchise might be lesser than those from just one half of any movie of the Twilight series, especially the latter ones. Mortal Instruments: City of Bones did come with more flaws, but that was pure nonsense.

Performers of the Soul :: There was the awesome Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games, and one might not be able to place anyone else in her place with a similar setting around. But Shailene Woodley is very close, and she is so good as the character that one feels almost of the same feeling for Beatrice Prior that was felt for Katniss Everdeen, the girl on fire. Shailene has almost everything that the Twilight heroine lacked, and she makes sure that Beatrice is never out of control. She fits into that world right from the beginning and gives us one of the best female protagonists in a dystopia. She has great moments and wonderful lines in a movie which depends so much on her performance and she delivers. She is not just the cute face right there. It is sad that Kate Winslet had so less to do in a role which was about being a mastermind villain from the faction of intelligence. The same can be said about Maggie Q who is just there to be there! Ashley Judd’s existence itself is her presence in the movie. Theo James does his role nicely, and finishes strong as the trainer and the lover. I will leave special mention for Zoë Kravitz as Christina who looked and acted wonderfully throughout the movie.

Soul exploration :: The movie has a lot of themes being explored in it, both directly and indirectly in its world. The whole division into four factions according their qualities and job is more like the ancient caste system itself, but lets not go further into that. In the case of factions, there are people who think different and has the ability to go against this order which forms the core of this dystopia – they are the divergents, to be better known as the rebels. As such a world is lead by the sympathetic faction, one can only wonder how long before two others, the brains and the muscle power can take over. So we need the divergents. What about our current society? Don’t we need them as a dystopia always threaten to happen in one place or the other? Haven’t such “different” people contributed a lot more to the world than the normal ones? When I was in school, I was to expect to join one of the two factions, engineering and medicine, with the two hidden faction, commerce and management – where did I join? Well, I had to diverge, and that had to be dauntless. That was just an example, but lets choose to be different rather than fit into groups with difficulty. Lets just not take the violence in the movie with it.

How it finishes :: Based on Veronica Roth’s Divergent, the movie present us with another dystopian world to ponder over. Even as I haven’t read any work by her, this does seem to work quite well. Being the opposite of utopia, dystopia always had the power to keep the readers and viewers interested. We by Yevgeny Zamyatin told us the story of a world which is slave to logic and machines, completely against any kind of creativity. George Orwell gave us more in his Nineteen Eighty-Four. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World might be the title which comes to the mind of most people. Remember Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange too. There are lots of such novels which has explored the themes related to dystopia in a powerful way. Divergent takes a leap into the same, but not exactly in the same way. I don’t know about the book, but the movie does fine as it throws at the audience everything it got. The visual media has been nicely used for the same purpose. It released here late, and as this is a festival season full of regional movies, the movie won’t do that well here, and the shows are limited too – quite the bad time of the year to release this one here!

PS: Don’t read the name as “Detergent” because one of my friends did! 😀

Release date: 11th April 2014 (India); 21st March 2014 (US)
Running time: 139 minutes
Directed by: Neil Burger
Starring: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ashley Judd, Kate Winslet, Jai Courtney, Ray Stevenson, Zoë Kravitz, Miles Teller, Tony Goldwyn, Maggie Q

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.