Ed's Review Dot Com

Universal Pictures, Dark Universe, Dentsu,

Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella, Annabelle Wallis, Russell Crowe, Jake Johnson, Courtney B. Vance, Marwan Kenzari, Stephen Thompson

Nick Morton (Tom Cruise) is a treasure hunter who stumbles upon an ancient tomb. He accidentally releases the spirit of Ahmanet, an ancient demon, and brings her back to conquer the earth. Though Nick is frightened for his life, he is the chosen one who is to sacrifice himself to make her rule the Earth again.

This was a bit of a dud for me. The Mummy movies with Brandan Fraser were surprisingly rather decent. There was lots of suspense, lots of action, and it was a roller coaster ride. I place the blame for this one directly on Mr. Cruise though. I guess he was trying to play some kind of character under the power of this evil woman, but the delivery was just awful. The beginning of the film where he’s trying to be a grave robber type guy who is looking for treasure buried under the sand, the dialog was simply awful. It seemed like a high school drama production or something. I mean it was really badly delivered. The rest of the movie, he just couldn’t pull off the character in the least. The action scenes weren’t too bad, but they were kind of choppy as well, and started and stopped pretty much at will. The whole thing was kind of hard to follow even though it seemed really simple. Annabelle Wallis and Russell Crowe weren’t bad. They were the only normal characters in the movie, since Tom Cruise was all over the place. One shining star in the movie which garners the most credit is Sofia Boutella who plays Ahmanet. She definitely put in an interesting performance, and she was able to best deal with Tom as he ran around from place to place. I found the whole experience to be underwhelming, and this is another of those movies that didn’t need a remake. I would suggest that you skip this one.

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Just One More Productions, Exit Strategy Productions,

Joel Hogan, Megan Peta Hill, Josh Potthoff, Pete Valley

Three friends have a dream to be accepted for a survivor-like reality show, but they have to submit a video showing how well they work together, and that they are up for adventure. They decide to travel to Australia to visit a friend they haven’t seen since they were children, and to film themselves doing a dive in a shark tank surrounded by hungry sharks. But when a disaster happens to their ship, the three find themselves floating alone in shark filled waters waiting for some good luck in the way of a rescue from their dark situation.

This is the third, obviously, in the serious of Open Water movies. I have seen all three of these, although the only review I have written is for Open Water 2 [Click Here for Ed’s Review]. It’s hard to believe that the first one was in 2004, 13 years ago before Ed’s Review was even a thought. The first one was a very startling and interesting film, but actually Open Water 2 was even better. This third installment was one too many, perhaps, and I found a bit disappointing. After the successful suspense of Open Water 2, this one took to the “found footage” gimmick which doesn’t really work. That’s because they can’t possibly show everything from the point of view of one single camera, so they constantly cheat by throwing in other shots and we’re supposed to try to figure out who filmed it, and where the film came from. The whole back story of kids wanting to be on reality tv, and then ending up in a found footage flick is hard to swallow. The acting is not very solid, and the chemistry between these three is very ho-hum. Over in 80 minutes flat, it’s still plenty long for you to get bored with it and wish it to be over. IT does follow the format, somewhat, of the trilogy, but does come up a little short. Personally, I wish I had passed on this one as it wasn’t worth the time invested, and is especially a letdown after the last one. Choose “47 Meters Down” instead of this one, and you’ll enjoy it a lot more, in my opinion.

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Chernin Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation,

Kate Winslet, Idris Elba, Beau Bridges, Dermot Mulroney, Waleed Zuaiter

Alex Martin (Kate Winslet) is a photographer, working a story in the NorthWest, but on her way home for her wedding to Mark (Dermot Mulroney) who is anxiously waiting for her back East. A storm has grounded all flights and there’s no way out. But Alex gets and idea to charter a plane, and finds a doctor, a neurosurgeon named Ben Bass (Idris Elba) who is desperate to get back for a surgery on a little boy, so Alex invites him to share the cost and take the plane flown by gritty old pilot Walter (Beau Bridges). But when a tragic accident brings the plane down on top of a snow covered mountain in Idaho, far from any civilization, they find out that the pilot has not filed a flight plan, and neither of the two have called anyone to let them know they were flying. Fighting terrible odds, injuries, and horrible weather, the two must depend on each other, and Walter’s dog who was in the plane with them, to figure out how to survive in this hostile and deadly environment, or die trying.

This movie, especially with the trailer, looks like an adventure/survival movie, which it is, of course, but it’s much more than that. The accident and the survival attempts are merely the backdrop for this intensive character study of the two characters, plus the dog, of course. It is in depth character development. The two have to depend on each other, but each have their own personal problems that affect who they are and how they react. They find they are very different from each other, and extremely different personalities, mainly because of what they do, and what they have experienced in life. Yet, without each other, neither has a chance of making it out. There is a lot of suspense, and some beautiful Canadian mountain views, and some intense struggles every day for the weeks they are stranded together, but they really find that they are strangely attracted to each other, but neither knows if it’s because they really care for each other, or if it’s the unusual circumstances that they find themselves in. The acting in this film is definitely Oscar worthy for both of them, and there is really only the two of them through 99% of the movie. Just when you think it’s over, it turns on it’s side again and goes on for another half hour. It’s beautifully filmed, a wonderful story, but it’s all about the actors in this movie. They deserve all the praise I feel they are about to get for these superb performances. This is a must see film.

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Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Pictures,

Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Kurt Russell, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki, Sylvester Stallone, Glenn Close, Sean Gunn, Chris Sullivan, Nathan Fillion, Laura Haddock, Tommy Flanagan

The Guardians are back in Volume two of this Marvel series, with all the usual characters. But Peter (Chris Pratt) is wondering about his true identity when a powerful godlike person named Ego (Kurt Russell) shows up claiming to be his real Father. He convinces Peter to travel back to his planet where he can explain the whole history of who Peter really is, while the rest of the team is left behind, being attacked and trying to fight off a new evil villain and his gang. If you’re a fan of the first movie this film is a must see.

This is a great adventure film, and very, very well done, as was the first film. The filmmakers have created a great cast of characters and have added to it with some clever new ones. There are also a lot of cameos in this movie as well that are fun to see. But the excitement and adventure level if very high, and it’s fast moving and perfectly paced to keep you into the whole film. Chris Pratt is excellent, and his under the surface relationship with Gamora (Zoe Saldana) is not only hysterically funny, but quite touching. Each of these characters who are now known to us are much better developed, and they play together better than any group I’ve seen. As you know, I’m not a big fan of comic book movies, but this one really breaks the usual mold and is a very interesting movie. I enjoyed the first one, and definitely found this one to be just as good. If somehow you managed to miss this sequel, since it’s out on DVD it’s a definite must see. I highly recommend this movie for young and old alike. Well done.

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Orange Pictures, Shotgun Pictures, Universum Film (UFA),

Susan May Pratt, Richard Speight Jr., Niklaus Lange, Ali Hillis, Cameron Richardson, Eric Dane

Six friends and a baby are in Mexico on a holiday aboard a luxury yacht looking forward to a wonderful time. Amy (Susan May Pratt) and her husband James (Richard Speight Jr.) and their baby Sara have joined Dan (Eric Dane), the reckless one of the group and his new girlfriend Michelle (Cameron Richardson) and their froends Zach (Niklaus Lange) and Lauren (Ali HIlls). They were college friends and are looking to a swell reunion and to celebrate Zach’s 30th birthday. They stop for a dip in the ocean but are soon horrified to learn that through their fooling around, they forgot to lower the ladder and now are trapped on the side of the ship with no way to get back into the boat. Stranded at sea, able to touch the boat, but they may as well be miles away, as with horror, they realize the baby is still on the boat.

There is a series of three Open Water films. The first one was about a couple of people who were part of a scuba diving group that got left behind out in the ocean without any way back in the heavy shark infested waters. Open Water 3 will be released in a few weeks on DVD and is the third installment. I’m looking forward to that one as well, but this 2006 one came and went and I didn’t even realize it, until I saw the 3 on the new one. So I dropped this into my queue on a lark, figuring to catch up on this 2006 film before the new one is released. I was glad I did. This is an independent film, and the only connection to the first film is the ocean. Otherwise, this is a completely different story, and it was rather interesting. Now I suppose that true sailors will find that it’s really silly and that there is a very simple solution to being stranded on the side of your yacht, but I’m not of a nautical nature, so I will just accept that they’re stranded out there. Then comes the questioning of whose fault it is, and what in the world they could do to solve the problem. This is really point of view camera work, and it’s bound to make you think about what you would do if you were in that situation. This is a small film with a basically unknown cast, made by folks who love to make movies, and it shows. The suspense if very good and the movie’s not that long, so it evolves quickly and is a pretty good escape film that allows you to relax and enjoy the ride. This is another hidden gem of a movie that I didn’t even know existed, but the suspense and pure terror of the plight of these folks made it really fun to watch. Give it a try, it’s a good one.

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