Ed's Review Dot Com

Paramount Pictures, Skydance Productions,

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Jason Clarke, Matt Smith, Byung-hun Lee, J.K. Simmons, Dayo Okeniyi , Courtney B. Vance, Michael Gladis

John Connor (Jason Clarke) is determined to stop Skynet, and so he sends Sgt. Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) and to protect the future, but something strange happens that interrupts the space time continuum sending him to a different past but with memories of both possible futures. He’s joined by the original Terminator (Arnold Swarzenegger) and together they set out to stop Skynet before it even comes on-line in this prequel to the original Terminator film.

This is not an extremely great film, but it was pretty darn good. There’s some great action sequences, with some pretty stunning CGI effects. The action and danger seems pretty real, and Arnold doesn’t take himself too serious and has a good time making fun of himself and the original series. He’s actually pretty funny sometimes. The movie is fast paced and has a lot of adventure in it, but it was a bit too familiar. The idea of an alternate past is a good add to the story, but it’s hard to follow things, and unless you really remember the original Terminator, you might, as I did, get lost a little. In the end it comes together, but it was a hard job trying to figure it out. Perhaps it’s just been too long in coming, but of course we had to wait until Arnold finished his governorship before he would able to do this. It might be good advice to re-watch the original before watching this, and it will probably be a lot easier to follow. I think I would have to mildly recommend this film just for the update to the Terminator story with something different, but my socks were definitely not knocked off by it. There were times when my mind wandered, and I had to make and effort to get back into the story. If you are a fan of the series, then this is worth watching.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Summit Entertainment, Di Bonaventura Pictures, DC Entertainment,

Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Byung-hun Lee, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren

Frank (Bruce Willis) is retired CIA, and happily married to Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) and no longer interested in CIA matters. He’s been classified though as “Retired, Extremely Dangerous”. One day he’s met by Marvin (John Malkovich), his former partner in crime, in a supermarket. Marvin informs him of top secret data released by Wikileaks implementing them in the loss of a top secret portable nuclear device that was hidden in Russia. All the different spy agencies are after them to find out where the various parts of the device are hidden, and Frank is sucked back into the business as he and Marvin put the team back together and try to locate the device before someone else does.

The first “Red” movie was really hysterical. I was blown away by it when I watched it. This one was a letdown. It is nowhere near as good as the first. That being said, it does have some really funny moments. It’s also a relatively decent adventure spy story. Malkovich is really good as an effective agent, but is so inappropriate sometimes, it’s hysterical. He says anything he thinks. Half of Frank’s job is to keep Marvin out of trouble for his big mouth. These guys breaking into the Kremlin is a good adventure, but when you put it up beside the first film, it pales in comparison. If you’re in the mood for a decent action adventure spy story, then go ahead and watch this. It’s certainly very watchable. Just don’t expect it to be as hilarious as the first one was.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog