Review – Page 65 – Mosher'sUnimaginativelyEntitledBlog

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

I’ve not see the “new” Star Wars trilogy so I was a little out of depth with The Clone Wars, but all the same I enjoyed it. I’ve no idea who the vocal cast are but they did a decent job. The visuals are stunning with sequences to match anything you’ve seen in the “proper” films, or indeed the Lego games.

Plot in a nutshell: Jabba’s son has been kidnapped and the safe use of a sector of space by the Rebel Alliance (or whatever they were pre-proper Star Wars) relies on their finding him and returning him. Of course, the Empire (or whatever they were pre-proper Star Wars) are involved somehow, so everything is not as clear as it could be.

For a cartoon, the plot’s got quite a few twists and turns which was a pleasant surprise. For me, though, it was the visuals and the battles that made it. Just like the original trilogy.

A worthwhile addition to the storyline – though I still think anything outside the original, unedited trilogy should just be classed as chaff.

Herbie: Fully Loaded

Yeah, OK. I watched the new Herbie: Fully Loaded film. I was on a long flight, OK? And… it wasn’t bad. Not just because of the lead actress (Lindsay Lohan) who’s rather hot and about 15 years too young for me. Ah, well.

What I really liked about this is it has all the character of the original films without going mad with the CGI. Herbie‘s mischievous, gets his own way and even moves the way he used to back in the 70’s.

Plot in a nutshell: Herbie turns up in a junkyard about to be scrapped. The daughter of a racing driver spots him and buys him. By accident, she ends up in a drag race with an Indy car driver who then demands a public re-match… which he will win by all costs.

The little spark between the lead actress and her mechanic is obviously one that’ll work out in the end. The good guys are going to win. Herbie’s going to mess stuff up because he’s stubborn. Someone will overcome odds to prove they’re better than anyone thought they were. It’s a Disney film, for crying out loud.

I don’t remember the details of the old films too well – it’s been many years since I saw the parade along Low Fell when Herbie Goes Bananas came out – but this is certainly an excellent addition to a classic canon. If Hollywood insists on dredging its history because nobody can come up with something original then this is how to go about it.

Igor

I’m a sucker for a cartoon, so I picked Igor next on the in-flight list. I’d heard a little about it and it seemed a nice premise. The voice cast has some superb actors listed including Steve Buscemi, Eddie Izzard and John Cleese (all too briefly).

Plot in a nutshell: in a mountainous country the king has saved the economy – destroyed by continuous storm clouds – by promoting evil geniuses. Their job is to built devilish world-ending devices. Each year, these devices compete and the winner’s is used to blackmail the rest of the planet for enough money to keep the country ticking over for another 12 months.

Every mad professor has an “Igor”. They’re all called Igor and they all look much the same – small and hunchbacked, speak with a list. Or film follows one Igor with ideas above his station. Of course, he has a couple of comic sidekicks (a brain in a bucket and a squirrel that can’t die, no matter how much he tries) and there’s a bed guy in the plot.

The story is a little predictable, but it is a kid’s film. The action sequences are amusing, the animation superb and – as is often the case – one of the sidekicks has all the best lines. Donkey’s dialogue always outdoes Shrek‘s, for instance.

There’s comedy, romance, action and big monsters. It’s also slightly gross, so it’s bound to appeal to the younger set. Not a classic, but a good way to tide the last 90 minutes or so between Heathrow and Abu Dhabi.

Bangkok Dangerous

I watched a few films on the flights from the UK to Bangkok via Abu Dhabi. And in an effort to cram a few more posts on here, you’re going to have to suffer a couple of reviews. Deal with it.

First up is the Nicolas Cage thriller Bangkok Dangerous. I picked it partly for the simple reason as I was heading to Bangkok and also because it’s a city I like and I wanted to see how it was portrayed.

It’s got a very split personality – much like the central character, an assassin who’s pulling off one last suite of jobs before retiring. He breaks a couple of his own rules, including taking on a trainee and a girlfriend. The thing is, the jump from action to romance really jars in places although Cage does a good job of portraying the hick out of water in a strange country in a relationship with a (deaf!) girl from another culture.

Bangkok isn’t portrayed badly, which is a relief. It’s not all seedy and purse snatchers and go-go bars. A lot of the scenery and culture is shown, and the old waterways feature in one action sequence. The Thai actors who appear are all pretty good, too.

However, it does get a little mawkish in places and the ending’s somewhat abrupt while at the same time open.

Worth a watch on an aeroplane, although the violence – I assume – is toned down somewhat. At least the editing is well done, as opposed to the hatchet jobs you see in the Malaysian cinemas.

Review: Taken

Bit of a random choice of film, this. I’d not heard of Taken before I checked out the cinema times but the trailer looked pretty good. And, I’m rather glad we opted for it.

It’s a by-the-numbers thriller. You kind of know how it’s going to go from the start right to the end, but along the way it’s got some great set pieces and superb action. Ex-CIA agent separated from wife is talked into allowing his daughter to go to Paris. He warns her about how bad the world is. She insists it’s all fine. She gets kidnapped. Angry daddy flies to France and goes on the rampage.

Liam Neeson shows why he was considered for Bond before they picked Pierce Brosnan by being somewhat pretty kick-ass. Actually, I think he’s got a touch of the Daniel Craig about him. As Leah put it, “a bit of rough”. At 56, he’s a bit over the hill for playing Bond, but he does look the part in smart clothes and you certainly wouldn’t mess with him if you kidnapped his daughter.

Without a doubt there are a few plot-holes – like why does nobody question a “French” policeman’s Irish American accent? But the pace is generally so fast that by the time you start worrying about this, Neeson’s breaking someone else’s arm.

A few of the reviews I’ve scanned are scathing about the film’s so-called “racism”, stereotyping Eastern Europeans as gangsters and Arabs as rich kiddy-fiddlers. Well, so bloody what? Someone has to be the bad guy. Shall we burn all the old Bond novels because Blofeld was obviously Eastern European and therefore that’s an insult? True fact – Albanians can be gangsters the same way the Italians can. Arabs can treat women like **** the same way a drunk in a Glasgow council flat can. Deal with it – it’s a film.

As with many French-set and French-directed films, the action sequences are pretty impressive. Car chases, frenetic fight scenes and the like. If you liked The Transporter and Ronin, you’ll probably go for this. It’s not as over the top as the former, or as deep as the latter but it’s fun in its own right.

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