Mission Impossible III review

Tom Cruise stars as Ethan Hunt trying to take down Phillip Seymour Hoffman

JJ Abrams Makes a Spectacular Directorial Debut!

Mission Impossible II was released in 2000 and had mixed reactions among critics and fans. It took Mission Impossible III six years to be released, and it was met with a lot of positive praise.  David Frincher was originally going to direct the film but left over creative differences. Tom Cruise called his friend, JJ Abrams, and asked him to direct his first ever movie. JJ Abrams decided to reboot the story and have Ethan Hunt be retired and getting married as the premise for the third installment.

Ethan Hunt is retired from IMF (Impossible Missions Force) and training new operatives for the field.  He is also engaged to a nurse, Julia (Michelle Monaghan).  Ethan gets a call from assistant director, John Musgrave (Billy Crudup), about his former protégé, Lindsey Farris (Keri Russell), being held captive in Germany.  Ethan leaves to rescue her with his team of Luther Strickell (Ving Rhames), Declan Gormley (Jonathan Rhys Myers), and Zhan Lei (Maggie Q). The team successfully rescues Lindsey but Lindsey needs to tell Ethan something important about the IMF. Her captor, Owen Davian (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), triggers a device in Lindsey’s head that kills her instantaneously.  Ethan and Musgrave are reprimanded for the death of Lindsey by the director of the IMF, Theodore Brassel (Lawrence Fishburne).   Lindsey before her death sends Ethan a encrypted chip that the IMF technician name Benji (Simon Pegg) decodes. Ethan learns Davian is going to the Vatican to buy an item called the “Rabbits Foot.” Ethan and team capture Davian and take him back to IMF. They are the Chesapeake Bay Bridge when Davian’s crew ambushes Hunt and his team. Davian escapes then captures Julia, Ethan’s fiancé. Ethan is taken into custody by Brassel and branded a rogue agent. Musgrave helps Ethan escape and tells Ethan the location of the Rabbit’s Foot.  Ethan must save Julia by obtaining the Rabbits Foot and exchanging it with Julia while alluding the IMF.

Mission Impossible III has several glaring negatives. As you watch the movie, the plot switches from a revenge flick to save the love of my life flick. Ethan goes to Vatican City to capture Davian. He is obviously filled with vengefulness and hate towards Davian and goes to capture the killer of his protégé without his two bosses knowing about it.  It’s unsanctioned operation that could cost Ethan his life and career. However, the plot of the movie switches when Davian escapes. He captures Julia and forces Ethan to steal the Rabbit’s Foot and bring it to him for Julia’s freedom.  The final negative is the movie is all action and tension. JJ needed to have scenes to flush out the characters. However, the action is also a positive of Mission Impossible III.

JJ Abrams delivered a heart pounding non stop action spy movie. He also incorporated more spy technology into the film. Abrams did a fantastic job in directing action scenes and added humor within those sequences.  Cruise is the face of the Mission Impossible franchise. Ethan Hunt is the leader of the teams and develops as a character. He is getting married and retired in the beginning of the movie. Luther even tells Hunt that he knows that active IMF Agents can’t have successful marriages. Ethan replies “that’s why I retired because I love her.”   The chemistry and acting is one of the strong points of the film.  Cruise has great chemistry with every cast member, and the main cast gives great acting performances.  Fishburne, Meyes, Maggie Q, Monaghan, Crudup, and Pegg stand out in the movie. Pegg really stands out, and included a clip below to show you why.  Phillip Seymour Hoffman really stands out.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman plays a wonderful villain. He tells Ethan after he is captured that he is “going to find his love ones, torture him in front of them, kill him, and then them.”  His goal is to sell the Rabbit’s Foot, although we never know what it is going to do.  Hoffman shows a little remorse in the movie. He has been the best Mission Impossible villain in the four films.

Overall, Mission Impossible III has a confusing plot while watching it but it is a damn good movie. Mission Impossible III gets a 4 out of 5.

 

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Review

Andy Serkis as Caesar in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Caesar’s and Koba’s conflict represents contemporary human conflict

Dawn of The Planet of the Apes is a sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  Andy Serkis plays Caesar; Toby Kebbell plays Kobra; Jason Clarke stars as Malcolm; Gary Oldman as Dreyfus; Keri Russell as Ellie: are the main cast of the film. The protagonist is Caesar, and Koba is the antagonist. The trailers for film show Gary Oldman to be the bad guy, but he is really an reactionary human leader.  Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is one of the best films of the year.

It takes place ten years after it’s predecessor, Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  Rocket (Caesar’s second in command), Koba ( Caesar’s military right hand), Maurice (Orangutan from the first movie and most trusted advisor), and Caesar’s Blue Eyes are council members who advise Caesar in making decisions for the Ape Colony. They have built a home with rules, and Apes speak to each other through verbal or non verbal means.   Make no mistake Caesar rules the colony and has the final say on everything until humans show up. Malcolm, Ellie, and the other group member’s appearance in Caesar’s home causes a lot friction between the apes. They divide in the Ape Leadership which has the potential for war between Humans and Apes.

Caesar and his son, Blue Eyes

Andy Serkis nails it as Caesar.  His acting performance is one of the best interpretations of a heroic character on screen. Caesar is a strong leader. He raises his hand, and every ape shuts up. It is only when human beings show up that some apes like Koba cause friction with Caesar’s leadership ideals.  Caesar’s emotions are shown through the brilliance of Serkis’ facial expressions through his acting. and the brilliant job that the visual effects department did to add tears, happiness, anger, or any other emotion to Caesar’s face. Every actor who played an Ape displayed brilliant emotions in their facial features, and the audience definitely notices this.   Koba is the villain that steals the show.

Toby Kebbell as Koba

Koba is a hurricane of destruction. His background is being a lab rat for most of his life until Caesar’s frees him in the first film.  He has a deep abiding hatred for human beings and you can understand why. He has so many scars on his body that makes it impossible not to sympathize for him; even through he kills humans.  Kebbell gave a great acting performance as Koba.  Koba is a great on screen villain, and the screenwriters and director crafted his story to make him so memorable.

Caesar, Koba, and Maurice on horses in front of the human colony

The screen writers: Mark Bomback, Rick Jaffa, and Amanda Silver did an excellent job of crafting a story that has so many twists and turns. The purpose of the story to develop Caesar into a leader for an upcoming war.  Caesar’s son has the most character development, and he’s a strong emotional anchor in the film.  The film is spectacular from Matt Reeve’s direction. The camera shots of the apes on horseback were so perfect. It also constantly raining which symbolizes despair and foreshadows a lot.  Matt Reeves should get kudos for capturing such brilliant emotion from every actor who played an ape on screen. This creative team will be back for the sequel.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes gets a 5/5. It is one of the best movies of the year. It has great acting, storytelling, a great villain, kick ass hero, and the directing is awesome.  The visual effects are so fantastic, and it gives the audience more excitement for the sequel in two years.

Dawn of the Planet of Apes Final Trailer (review)

Dawn of the Planet of Apes Final Trailer (review)

Rise of the Planet of the Apes came out in 2011. I didn’t see the movie in theater because the trailers were not exciting. However, I watched the movie on HBO or Starz and fell in love with the movie. I am big Planet of the Apes fan. The Apes themselves are an allegory for contemporary human society throughout the films. Fox announced Dawn of the Planet of Apes, and I was excited.  They released the first teaser trailer which was about 1 min and a half. The second trailer showed more of Caesar and his apes living peacefully in their society. This final trailer is so fantastic.

The brief summary of the trailer. The trailer begins with Caesar and his Apes on horses outside of the compound where human survivors of Simian Flu are living. Caesar yells to the human survivors that “Apes don’t want war.” We finally get introduced to the the main bad guy. It’s not Gary Oldman. It’s Kobra, the other ape who was given the test serum that enhances cognitive and intellectual ability.  Kobra will be the character who starts a war between Humans and Apes. The trailer also indicates that Oldman’s character, Dreyfus, has made contracted a surviving US Navy ship. They ship will probably lunch missiles at Caesar’s home. I could see the movie ending with a depressing tone.

Andy Serkis, who played Golum, stars as Caesar. The director, Matt Reeves, motioned capture all of the actors playing the Apes. Motion captures the actor’s movements, expressions, and voice which is scanned into a computer. The special effects people use the recording for CGI characters such as Caesar and Kobra. Toby Kebbell plays Kobra and will be the new Dr. Doom in the Fantastic Four Reboot. Gary Oldman, Dreyfus, plays the antagonistic Human leader who wants to kill the Apes.  Jason Clarke, Malcolm, and Keri Russell, Ellie, are the human couple who want to broker a peace between Ape and Human.

The trailer excited me for two reasons. First, Caesar is one of the best characters in all of film history. He’s such a stoic leader, intelligent, compassionate, and more human than most human beings are. Caesar values humanity as equals. The best part of this trailer is the human interaction between Caesar and Malcolm. Caesar calls him “friend, a good man.” However, my favorite part of the trailer is Kobra. Kobra has a voice in this trailer and he’s the asshole of the ape race who wants war. He thinks Apes are superior to humans. I loved in the scene in the trailer where he acts like a silly ape when approaching the human guards. He sneakily takes a gun from them and mercilessly kills the guards with a smile. He reminded me of the Joker.  He also has the best line of the trailer “Caesar loves Humans more than Apes.”  In the movie; we will see the conflict between Caesar and his Lt. Kobra. The new trailer show cased these two narrative story arcs and has increased my excitement for this movie.

Overall, I think Dawn of the Planet of the Apes could be the best summer blockbuster of this year. It will be released on July 11th, 2014.

I will go see Transformers 4: Age of Extinction on Wed and have my review for it on Thursday night.