Lord Of War - 8/10
Very good movie.
GREAT movie. The only movie after The Wicker Man where Cage is bearable to watch.
Haha, I'm a big Nicholas Cage fan and Lord Of War is indeed one of his finest films, but The Wicker Man sucks tennisballs through a gardening hose, imo. Pointless remake. This is the first time I see somebody (who dislikes Cage) recommend this movie. I will give it another shot.
Saw Predators as well two days ago. I'm a big but very sensitive fan, and although it did a couple of things wrong, it also did a lot of things right.
<<< SPOILERS >>>
Robert Rodriguez is obviously a true fan of the original. The story stays true to the Predator formula but adds little differences. I had to get used to the fact that the people we follow in this movie aren't a cohesive fighting unit like in the original so it wasn't gonna be the tactical shooter I was hoping for. But the idea to take "predators" from earth (killers/elite soldiers/assassins/etc.) and pit them against Predators is a cool one and after a while I started to get more into the survival-horror aspect of the movie. Adrian Brody is a surprise in this movie as a tough leading man and the rest of the casting feels fresh. He get s alot of flak for being unbelievable, but to me it'works, and it's a sign the filmmakers had at least the right intentions with this movie. Despite it's big franchise-roots this is a low budget movie and it relies heavily on proper actors instead of overwhelming SFX.
Some action scenes could've done with some better editing/directing but the story overall works and they got the mood right. Thanks to a lot of, but not too much, nods and winks to the original.
Big minus is the fact that nobody but Hanzo got a proper death-scene. Now that is probably deliberate but I felt a bit let down. I get that they weren't making a gloryfying heroic sci-fi epic (you know, with slo-mo shots, heroic deeds and all) and in the end it fits with the movie: it's a bunch of single-minded individuals who are trying to survive. It wasn't like a fantasy RPG band of merry explorers where everybody had his thing, the warrior, the mage, etc. Here we have a sniper who doesn't snipe and a minigun sporting guy who doesn't support, for example. I would've liked to see that movie, but Rodriguez probably had other ideas.
Pro: story, look, feel
Cons: actionscenes could've easily been better, even with the absent of proper military tactics. A couple of FX shot don't convince, but that's thanks to the budget I guess. At least they use 'm wiesly.