Wednesday 24 October 2012

Resident Evil: Retribution, Looper and Taken 2

Remind me that the Resident Evil series is now dead in the water. The last couple at least had some kind of story. But this 3D sequel had none at all. A complete waste of time.

There are just not enough decent science fiction movies around, maybe one a year. So it was good that Looper turned out to be worth seeing. A sharp time travelling thriller from writer/director Rian Johnson, there are plenty of twists and just enough action to keep us interested. The screenplay is more than adequate and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis and Emily Blunt bring some top acting talent to the party, although the latter strangely only appears half way through. A decent story with the right ending.

When I reviewed Taken in 2008, I said "you just sit back and enjoy the ride". It was very reasonable hostage thriller and it was little wonder that a sequel would be on the cards. Unfortunately, Taken 2 is underwhelming in comparison. Lian Neeson was convincing in the original, but here seems very wooden when he has to speak, but that may be down to the poor writing. Some of the action sequences are OK and Istanbul is photographed superbly. But the plot hardly exists. A sorry sequel.

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