The Force Awakens With A New Star Wars
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens is the seventh film in the Star Wars film franchise and the first to hit theaters in a decade as it tries to restore order to the Star Wars galaxy. The film focuses on two new characters, a tomboyish mechanic pilot named Rey (Daisy Ridley) and an ex-Stormtrooper named Finn (John Boyega). The film starts with a hot shot pilot, Poe Dameron, (Oscar Isaac) and his droid BB-8. He sends away the droid with a vital map before he's captured. Poe then meets Finn, who decides to turn against the First Order and being a storrmtrooper. Finn helps him escape but they get separated. Later Finn teams up with Rey, who now has BB-8. Their mission is to find the missing Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill).
The Force Awakens doesn’t have the magic of the original films. In fact, it seems more like a reboot of A New Hope. The most original part of the movie is that the “Original” cast is back.
The Force Awakens begins the same way A New Hope did. A wannabe Vader, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) has turned to the Dark Side and is looking for secret plans that have been hidden in a small droid. This Dark Jedi also has a father/son relationship within the Skywalker family. The droid, this time it’s BB-8 escapes the ship to another sandy desert planet. This is where the droid finds Rey, like Luke, she is a young pilot who is starting to learn the ways of the Force and join the Resistance/Republic. There is another cantina/bar scene where Finn looks to find a ship and get passage off the planet.
There is a bigger badder Death Star 3.0 where again they must find its weakness and blow it up. Kylo Ren answers to the First Order’s Supreme Leader (Evil Emperor) Snoke, CG performed by Andy Serkis, who looks like an ancient holographic Gollum. There’s another tractor beam that catches the Millennium Falcon and again they need to find a way to turn off the tractor beam and get back to the Falcon which leads to an older Han Solo (Harrison Ford), having an Obi-Wan Kenobi scene in the end of the film.
At times, I felt “I’ve got a bad feeling about this” and I've seen this movie before as the story is a rehash of the original film. However it’s still a lot of fun. Most of the new characters are entertaining but Kylo Ren is a weak villain. The original cast is back and it’s wonderful to see Han Solo, Leia, now a rebel General (Carrie Fisher) and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) interact again.
Of course, it has a lot of action and lightsaber battles. Rey had practiced with a martial arts bo and has the Force on her side, it seems strange that Finn is able to pick up the weapon and fight so well.
Unlike The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, this movie still has enough action and fun to make me do what I did with the original Star Wars movies, go back and see it again.
Jim McLernon
Jurassic World Shows The Jurassic Park Franchise Isn't Extinct
Now this is a summer film! After the disappointments of Avengers: Age of Ultron and Tomorrowland, Jurassic World comes roaring along and shows everyone the meaning of the term summer blockbuster. It's everything that a film of its type is supposed to be: exciting, thrilling, awe-inspiring, adventurous, and sprinkled enough with messages to go with the popcorn. It's rather amazing to think that the fourth film in a franchise would reinvigorate it especially when the last film in the franchise, Jurassic Park III, signaled that the film series had run its course.
Jurassic World takes place over twenty years after the first Jurassic Park. That failed dinosaur theme park from the first film has been reborn as the mega successful Jurassic World. Yet, despite the park's popularity, the owners are concerned with keeping the park profitable. To remedy this, some bonehead comes up with the idea of genetically creating new species of dinosaurs as if regular dinosaurs weren't spectacular enough for the masses.
Actually this train of thought is valid in the film. One observation made by the film is that our society is rather fickle and bored easily. A case in point is when two of the film's young characters Gray Mitchell (Ty Simpkins) and his older brother Zack (Nick Robinson) visit the park. In one scene they're at an aquatic stadium similar to what we find in SeaWorld. The star attraction is a huge Mosasaurus , while Gray is excited to see this gigantic leviathan chomping on shark bait, Zack is distracted with his smartphone. That is so true with many people today, they're only interested in what's next. And it's this mentality that leads to disaster in Jurassic World.
The two siblings could've been your typical annoying kid characters, but they actually work. Through them, we empathize with their wonder and vulnerability. One of the best moments is early in the film when Gray first enters the park. The famous John Williams score adds to the rousing feeling as he takes in sweeping views of the world-class resort. We don't see any dinosaurs but the scene is supposed to evoke the joy and wonder that a young child has when first visiting a theme park. Think about it, when first entering these parks, a visitor doesn't automatically see the star attractions, but the visitor is mesmerized by the architecture and the promise of what's to come. Director Colin Treverrow is able to convey this POV and makes us wish the park actually existed. Later, when the boys are imperiled by rampaging dinosaurs we feel their fear. Some of those tension-soaked moments come close to rivaling what Steven Spielberg accomplished with the early Jurassic Park films. Even though he can't capture Steven Spielberg's magic touch with the camera, he gives it his all.
Anyway, to keep enticing visitors like the Mitchell boys, the park's owners have a new dinosaur created, the Indominus rex. It's a mean, pale, towering behemoth that is a Tyrannosaurus rex and Velociraptor mix on steroids. As in the first film, the scientists meddled with nature and in trying to make cooler dinosaurs created a nightmare. The I-rex turns out to be unusually intelligent and lethal. Demonstrating this is how it's able to use camouflage and trickery to enable an escape from its compound. Once it breaks free, it goes on a sadistic killing spree and murders dinosaurs and humans alike for sport. This isn't your typical dinosaur running amok. The Indominus rex is one of the best dinosaur creations ever seen on film and is certain to be regarded as a classic monster. By the way it so easily outwitted and outfought humans, it was hard to be certain that the good guys would win. Plus, the film allowed time to have the characters and audience mourn for a dying sauropod, an unfortunate victim of the I-rex. It was a good touch.
However, even though the Indominus rex seems unbeatable, the park's owners have Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), an expert Velociraptor whisperer to even the odds. He is hands down the best and most interesting character in the movie. Grady was cool and savvy, and of course no one in charge listens to him. Often, he knocks heads with the park's operations manager Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), who is the Mitchell boys' aunt. She is the typical corporate shill that only cares about profits. But she changes her ways as the film progresses and she finds out that the new dinosaur is out of control and that her nephews are lost and in harm's way. The banter between her and Grady was surprisingly funny in a cornball, cliché-ridden way but it was funny at times. There was this scene where she and Grady are tracking the boys and she's running around the jungle in a business suit and high heels (and it's film miracle that she is able to outrun dinosaurs in the heels). To show that she is willing to get rough to find the boys, Dearing hysterically adjusts her suit by rolling up the sleeves and loosening her jacket. Some may find all this eye rolling but it worked.
The film is chock full of implausibilities like Dearing's high-heel jungle sprints. Consider that the park's owner (Irrfan Khan) is the only person capable of flying a helicopter and as CEO is allowed to take part in an assault of the I-rex. Then there is unbelievable fact that the boys are able to jumpstart a jeep left rotting for twenty years with old gasoline! Or how about cell phones and radios that never work when they're needed? Adding to this is InGen security expert Josh Hoskin's (Vincent D'Onofrio) outlandish idea to weaponize Velociraptors. These are not guard dogs but unpredictable wild animals as he soon finds out. Still it was an interesting subplot about the military applications of genetically created dinosaurs. This could be a direction that a sequel can explore.
One of Jurassic World's best features were naturally the Velociraptors that Grady handled. Through hard work, he has limited control over the dinosaurs, but it's precarious. Nevertheless, one fist-pumping moment is when he takes off in a motorcycle at night to hunt the I-rex and the raptors join him like a pack of dogs. Unfortunately, it all backfired for the humans because being that the Indominus rex was part raptor it was able to assume an alpha role and had the raptors attack the human hunters. But despite their betrayal, the raptors, led by one called Blue, in the end turn on the I-rex in the climax. And boy was that one epic battle, especially when Dearing unleashes a T-rex to join in the fray. It was a tribute to those epic kaiju films where monsters like Godzilla, teamed up with Rodan and others to fight Ghidorah. That fight had one of the film's final messages which was by working together two different parties were able to survive.
Jurassic World is a great gem of a surprise. It may not be in the same league as the Spielberg films, but it's a tremendously enjoyable romp that shows that the world of Jurassic Park still has much to offer viewers.
José Soto
Avengers Come Of Age With Ultron
Eye-popping. Action-drenched. Dazzling. LOUD. Explosive. Those are words that come to mind when thinking about Avengers: Age of Ultron. That is because this sequel to The Avengers is a true visual feast. That isn't to say that Avengers: Age of Ultron tops the original, it doesn't, but viewers will have an unforgettable time at the theaters watching it.
Joss Whedon returns to the director's chair with this sequel that reunites most of the original cast including Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/The Hulk, Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye and Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanov/Black Widow. Like any worthwhile sequel, Avengers: Age of Ultron introduces new, exciting characters like Vision (Paul Bettany), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and the malevolent android Ultron (James Spader).
After a kinetic opener where the Avengers take out an enemy base in Eastern Europe, they encounter two super-powered people who are antagonistic towards them. One of them, the Scarlet Witch, has mind-altering powers and influences Stark to retrieve Loki's scepter from the base. In the last film, this weapon was wielded by Thor's errant brother Loki and it's powered by one of the immensely powerful Infinity Stones featured throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Back in New York, Stark and Banner decide to use the scepter's power to help them create a genuine artificial intelligence. Their efforts fail, but once they leave the lab, the program becomes sentient and assumes the Ultron identity in a damaged Iron Man drone body. The problem is that Ultron's programming of performing Stark's directive of bringing about world peace has been corrupted. Now it wants to eliminate humanity. The AI goes viral and spans the world, perfecting its physical body and carrying out its planned extinction event as the Avengers struggle to catch up to Ultron and defeat it. As this plays out throughout the film, we see shifting alliances, inside looks of our heroes, and the emergence of new heroes.
Avengers: Age of Ultron is a very busy film, sometimes too busy. There are so many plot points and character developments that things get lost in the shuffle at times. It rushes through plot developments that needed more nuance like the creation of Ultron. The moment it becomes self aware it is automatically evil. There are attempts to explain why Ultron wants to kill humanity but they're hollow and don't resonate. Then there are moments when the film is about to go off the rails with its nods to the larger MCU and in setting up other films. Sometimes it feels organic, like Stark and Rogers' growing antagonism towards each other, which will culminate in next year's Captain America: Civil War. Other times they feel tacked on and clumsily shoved in like Thor worrying about his own dilemmas that will be concluded in his next film. These diversions while interesting don't allow this film to stand on its own because this film shines when it's concentrating on its own merits.
With all this going on, things get lost in the shuffle and aren't dwelled upon. The film struggles to juggle all these new characters and servicing the old ones. It is too bad more time wasn't spent on the Vision, the best new character thanks to Bettany's sympathetic performance. However, some much needed time is devoted to Avengers who didn't have much screen presence the last time around. This applies to Barton as we find out that he actually has a wife and family and this revelation makes him much more endearing to us as the point is driven home that he is the most vulnerable Avenger. Also, it was interesting to see that Captain America has by now emerged as the true leader of the team and has more of a screen presence than Iron Man.
As action-packed and fast moving as it is, Avengers: Age of Ultron lacks the original's oomph and sense of wow. The novelty of seeing our favorite superheroes coming together isn't there obviously, but it does its best to carry on.
Putting that aside, Avengers: Age of Ultron is very exciting and worth watching in theaters. Many of the special effects and action scenes are inspired and breathtaking like the part where Iron Man battles the Hulk in Africa or when Captain America and Black Widow confront Ultron and his drones in South Korea. Joss Whedon knows how to raise the stakes for our characters in the final arc where Ultron finalizes his machinations and there's a feeling of desperation and fatality among the Avengers. We care about these characters and by the end of the film the status quo has been upset and that's a good thing. Like the comic book this film is based upon, things are always evolving with the Avengers, which will make things feel fresh in upcoming films.
Despite its faults Avengers: Age of Ultron is a fitting and rousing conclusion to Phase Two of the MCU and sets up the next chapter in the growing MCU.
José Soto