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trancehunter
Reviews
After.Life (2009)
I think this is one that Liam Neeson probably wants to forget about....
The movie seems quite promising for the first part, the event that opens up the movie draws you in as a viewer, there is a sense of tension, mystery and creepiness. However this seems to dwindle off as the plot line becomes very rigid and basic, as a viewer I found that I became irritated by the weak characters, that show a lack of depth and initiative. The element of mystery dwindles, along with suspense and tension - as the movie remains slow, predictable and fairly simple, and therefore there is no development of any real feeling of worry, anxiety or fear that this kind of movie is supposed to create. On the one hand it attempts to be a psychological thriller, however there is nowhere near enough depth to the plot line or the characters to create a story complex enough to challenge the way you think or perceive the topic/personalities/scenario/events within the film which a good psychological thriller should do. On the other it attempts to delve into the horror genre by incorporating dark and eerie elements to the atmosphere, surroundings and movie scenes. Again these really aren't introduced in a sophisticated manner and their effects are weak, in fact some of these elements are far too disconnected from the actual plot to make sense of them, which only works to negate the effects of the potential psychological thriller elements of the film. Like many other films that are poorly executed, this one seems to attempt to incorporate a whole bunch of elements to a basic level in order to make up a film, rather than just concentrating on a few elements and making them deep and solid, which would have made more impact on me as a viewer overall. The biggest downfall for me was the ending, I am not going to spoil by explaining it, however I will say that the ending not only irritated me to a severe extent, but also made me feel like the film itself had achieved nothing and that I as a viewer therefore achieved absolutely nothing by watching it. The film really required a strong ending in order to redeem itself from the poorness it had displayed throughout, and as stated, it didn't. In terms of the script I cant really offer much of a comment as I cant really remember what it was like. Therefore I don't remember it for being particularly bad, but then again I don't remember it for being particularly good either! In terms of acting, Liam Neeson is definitely in my favourite top 100 and as always I couldn't fault his acting as he did the best anybody could do with the character he played. I will fault, however, the fact that he appeared in a film as poor as this as it really doesn't stack up to the caliber of any other movie that I have seen him star in. Aside from playing an irritating character, Cristina Ricci also acted well in her credit and I can't deny that despite thinking she is odd looking, I did think that she looked rather tight in a skimpy dress which for me was the only consolation for enduring such a poor film. So because of her the film gets 3/10 and not 2/10.
In conclusion the idea behind the film had potential, however it remained too simplistic and flawed to create any real impact. If anything the film overall had a negative impact on me as the ending was frustrating.
Panic Button (2011)
Epic Fail.......
First of all the film is clearly a failed attempt at a Big brother/Saw hybrid, removing all originality from the foundation of the movie, they might have got away with it if was all executed well but it wasn't.
Then obviously you have the bad script coupled with bad acting and poor delivery of the already poor script. The interaction between characters and the 'main bad guy' is both awkward, frustrating and irritating. The core of the film follows the same generic formula of all weak psychological 'thrillers/horrors': A group of people take it in turns to reveal their personality traits and flaws in a crisis situation. The same generic formula applies to the rules and boundaries of the circumstances and the main bad guy: A highly unlikely and at times impossible scenario combined with over-the top powers afforded to the bad guy in order emphasise the feeling of fear, control and helplessness. The result merely portrays a story that is too unbelievable to have any real impact on you as a viewer and therefore reveals a lack of effort from the writer to think of a more intricate and realistic plot. An example of this is the fact that it takes place on a private jet (requiring a huge level of funds or authority/power to utilise - which your typical deluded killer doesn't have). Oh and this jet happens to get some form of North Sea WIFI where it picks up perfect internet connection ANYWHERE. Another is the ability of the bad guy to acquire access to ANY information on ANYBODY at ANY given time in order to gain control over the characters within the crisis. If it were possible to have this level of intelligence then there would be basically no cyber crime ANYWHERE in the world as the police would have caught everybody by now. Bare in mind that it turns out that this guy is an average sociopath - how he acquired super hacker/CIA capabilities in his spare time is omitted.
After thirty minutes I was just wishing something would happen, anything to make the film have any real point to it. After forty I was wishing it would end. In the end there lacks any real point to have watching the film, there is a slight twist,but even that doesn't result in any sense of achievement. The characters were so weak that I really didn't care what they did or said or if they all died, in fact I hoped they would to stop being so irritating. The thing I hoped for the most was the irritating, cowardly and Ponce bad guy to reveal himself from the safety of his ivory tower and get brutally done over just to teach him a lesson, however if you are hoping for this slight balance of justice then you may as well use the 'OFF BUTTON' since this never happens either.