drumcoder Reviews

Storm (2005)

Too pretentious for it's own good.

[6/10 · 13 December 2005]

First of all the actors. Sasha Becker, who I have never seen before, does an excellent job. He holds the movie together nicely and goes through a variety of moods flawlessly. Now for the rest of the cast... Jonas Karlsson, an actor who I normally respect, is horribly cast for this movie and the role as the "bad guy". With or without a scar (hah) by his right eye. Eva Röse is not only poorly casted in her role but does a terrible job, overacting every single line she does.

Another major problem with this movie is that it tries to much. It's like they added comic-book / matrix / fight club / anime / computer game references and scenes in the end just to be the flavor of the month and it totally destroys this movie! If all of that was removed and the tempo was actually slower the movie would benefit greatly. I mean come on,.. jumping over laser scenes and random running with ninjas hunting you in the midst of a otherwise good movie. Granted, the script steals a hell of a lot of influences (ripping of?) from other movies (butterfly effect / hell raiser / matrix etc) but it's core is good. Sadly this is like watching 3 movies in one with only one being good and them pulling different ways and you almost feel like jamming a fork into your leg every time you see a scene that apparently "has to be there" with no intent but to show that the movie is hip.

Cudos has to go to the art department and the Cinematography guy in charge Linus Sandgren cause *that* work is totally flawless. I left with a bitter taste of what this movie could have been LIKE and what a waste of talent of the cinematography and lead actor it had been.

Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Vastly Overrated Summerflick at the Right time.

[6/10 · 5 July 2004]

This movie is vastly overrated to say the least. Sure, it's a good summer movie - but that is all (don't believe the IMDb score). It's a summer action movie at the right time without competition, that's why it's a box office smash hit (nobody goes to see Troy anymore) - not on movie merits. If you don't believe me yet at how overrated this flick is; look at the votes. 50% of voters has given this movie a 10. A 10! Imo it's more of a 6 or a week 7 (I gave it a 6) and here's why.

This is more of a drama then an action movie and some scenes are really drawn out. "What?!! You just want brainless action!" I hear the Spiderman fans screaming from the top of their lungs. "No.", I reply calmly, "I don't". But when you want some sort of drama or a strongly emotional driven storybase (or what not) you need, imo, at least 2 things.

1) A good script. This is not it, no matter what you say. The script is very poor by all means and I'm not reacting to the liberties taken over the spiderman story (and some things are really out there), it's just not a very good script by any standards. The tempo and wrapup of the movie is really strange aswell (but that's the editings and / or directors fault).

2) Good acting. And this is not it again. Tobey Maguire surprised me with how poorly he acted in this movie - looked mostly like he was wandering about being sleepy all of the time without any emotions to show for his life. Kirsten Dunst never was (or will be) a good actress. Alfred Molina? Hah. It feels like they're trying to make the movie as cheap as they can, what a poor substitute he is for the great Dafoe in the first movie. In fact, the best acting by far is that of James Franco and he only has a small part (he truelly shines).

The effects are still mediocre at best aswell (Harry Potter 3's are outstanding) and cleary compatriot. There isn't any excuse for it either this time around since the first Spiderman movie pulled in as much cash as it did. No, simply put this is a good movie; but not great by any means. no matter how hard people try to project on you that it's "innovative" cause of the emotion overload (poorly executed) they try to fill it with.