For this review, I will say I wasn’t necessarily expecting much from any of these movies, but each still had something, or someone, I was interested in seeing. After enjoying Disney’s Zootopia, the past few weeks haven’t offered anything too exciting, and I find myself anxiously waiting for both The Jungle Book and Captain America: Civil War to come out (I guess that maybe shows my allegiance to Disney’s films). I’m hopeful those films end up with more well-rounded characters and cohesive plots than the three I am about to review.
The Divergent Series: Allegiant
The Divergent Series is already at its third film, Allegiant. Veronica Roth’s book series ended with three, but the films are being (ridiculously) stretched to four films, with the final one being called Ascendant. If you read my review for the second film, Insurgent, you will see that I was pleasantly surprised with how much I didn’t mind the film. I had such trouble getting through reading the book version of the story, that the movie felt like such a feat to me that I was able to enjoy it. I suppose if I watched that film again my feelings may be less thrilled, but I did feel that the writers of the film tightened up the story and improved on the weak points. I didn't even read the final book after that, but Allegiant frustratingly reminded me of how I felt reading that book; a bit lost and feeling like there was no point to continue. The story really is all over the place in this film, with the reasonings behind lead character Tris (played by Shailene Woodley) and her companions becoming more and more lost. Picking up where the last film left off, Tris is determined to escape the walls that surround Chicago and hopes to find other life out there. She and her partner Four (Theo James) manage their escape, where the group discovers that the world outside of Chicago is mostly a toxic wasteland, until they find a suspicious city hidden behind secret walls. Again, like Kate Winslet’s role as Jeanine Matthews in the first two films, the person they are suppose to trust is the bad guy. This time, it is Jeff Daniels in that role, as a guy named David, who tells Tris she is “pure” while everyone else that was in Chicago is “damaged” based on their testing. I was bothered how easily Tris’ character believed everything David said and went along with his ideas, especially after all she had already been through. It almost seemed like the story reverted back to the beginning, in terms of who to trust and what they needed to do in order to survive. All of the characters didn’t really have proper screen time or development and so it felt like the film was just jumping around to different scenes with no real story. Great actors like Octavia Spencer and Naomi Watts are in the film, but don’t serve much purpose with only a few moments thrown in here and there. I am not sure I will check out the final film in the series at the theater, but I guess it seems a bit pointless to get all this way without seeing the final part. I just don’t think there is any satisfying ending at this point to wrap it up successfully.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Let’s firstly say that I’m not incredibly knowledgeable of the DC comic universe, nor of the full history of Batman or Superman. I know what I do from the films I have seen, but not much more. I’ve never been particularly fond of either character, but did quite enjoy Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. So going into this film I didn’t have expectations as a fan, but I was willing to give it a try knowing that I may not get aspects of it or miss little allusions to Justice League, as well as the factor that I did not particularly like 2013’s Man of Steel. Speaking of Man of Steel, that film is what sets up Batman v Superman, after Superman (played by Henry Cavill) has defeated General Zod and the city of Metropolis is left a mess. Many people admire Superman, but others think of him as an unpredictable threat. One of these people who consider him dangerous is Bruce Wayne, which is how we are introduced to Ben Affleck’s version of Batman. While the role of Batman has now been played by many actors, with Christian Bale’s performance still a bit too fresh in my head, I think Affleck did a fine job as a more hardened and tired Batman than we have seen before. While the main conflict in the film is Batman and Superman’s hostility toward each other, there is also Lex Luthor, played (quite stereotypically villan-y) by Jesse Eisenberg, who is manipulating many of the situations. The cast is rounded out with Lawrence Fishburne, Diane Lane, Holly Hunter, Jeremy Irons, and Amy Adams, who I wish had more to work with. Personally, I found the reasoning behind why these two superheros are against each other was pretty weakly laid out, and their tensions seem to quickly dissolve by the time we actually get them together for a battle. The highlight of the film for me was Gal Gadot’s introduction as Wonder Woman, who had a fabulously catchy theme song and added some brightness to the very dark and moody scenery that enveloped the film. The film overall felt like just a big, long, anti-climactic lead up to Justice League (with peaks at The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg) and ends with an eye roll-worthy “death” that leaves very little impact.
The Boss
I am always up for seeing a new role from Melissa McCarthy, but The Boss will definitely not be one of my favorites. Similar to 2014’s Tammy, this film was directed by McCarthy’s husband, Ben Falcone. A few chuckles and smirks popped out of me throughout The Boss but overall the film just fell flat. McCarthy plays Michelle Darnell, a girl who never had a family and was returned over and over from adopted families. She eventually declares that she doesn’t need anybody and would rather be alone. As an adult, Michelle is an incredibly rich self-help author and business woman. She fills arenas (while hip-hop dancing) and lives lavishly (including always wearing a turtleneck top), until she is arrested for insider trading. Once she is out of prison, Michelle finds all of her items gone and her home foreclosed, but she is determined to figure out how to rebuild her empire. She turns to her former assistant, Claire, played by Kristen Bell, for a place to stay. After she tastes Claire’s homemade brownies, and takes Claire’s young daughter to her Dandelions scout meeting, an idea clicks. Michelle convinces Claire to make her brownies to sell and forms the company “Darnell's Darlings.” The women recruit other young girls to sell and the business becomes successful, all while Michelle grows closer to both Claire and her daughter. Overall, McCarthy played the character well and with energy, but I personally like it better when she plays a character who is a bit more likable to begin with, verses having to slowly eek our way towards some sort of character likeability or redemption. There are moments in the film that just don’t connect to the plot very well, or aspects of the plot that just never return. Most of all, it just isn’t that funny in general, mainly just aggressive and abrasive. The lame and overused plot of when someone gets close to someone, they then push them away is also predictably included. A bright spot could have been the awesome Peter Dinklage, who plays Michelle’s former love and enemy, but he doesn’t have enough scenes to really make much of an impact. In the end, The Boss just doesn’t make much of an impact at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment