Change Your Image
maartenvanheek
Reviews
Bon Bini: Bangkok Nights (2023)
A little worse than the rest
Although I haven't come to expect Hollywood level drama and storytelling, the bon bini series is usually good for some cheap laughs. Unfortunately, for me the action fell flat in this one.
It's over the top drama, with unrealistic shootouts and chases that don't go anywhere. Sometimes you don't even know who is chasing and who is trying to get away.
That is not to say the movie isn't enjoyable. There are a few good moments throughout. But some of these could have been more fleshed out. One example: before a fight scene, the characters talk about how it would go down in the movies/Bollywood. But then in the actual fight scene there is only a tiny bit of Bollywood action, most of it is still "empty your machine gun and somehow the good guys win". The movie is already over the top, surprise us with some more please :)
Retribution (2023)
second movie I've ever walked out on
After reading the other review with spoilers, I'm glad we decided to walk out. I wanted to see it because Liam can be had for a good action movie. However, an hour in and we were silently screaming at the cinema screen to please be sensible.
Angry parents, misbehaved kids. Random plot twist about the mother that doesn't make any sense. People that don't listen.
After about an hour into the movie we couldn't take it any longer and decided to leave. The first hour could probably fit in 10 minutes, and considering the ending is apparently a bit hasty, that suggests to me that the whole movie could fit in a 20 minute TV episode.
Gran Turismo (2023)
Good movie, but a few too many lucky coincidences
Overall I liked the movie. It is well made, with a linear storyline, so no complicated flashbacks and flash forwards. My only complaint would be that it employs a few too many cliffhangers for my taste. I understand it though, since it is not an action movie and we need some way to stay invested in the story.
The movie does a good job of creating a character storyline, both personally and professionally.
We follow Jann Mardenborough, a simracer gone professional, based on real life events adapted for the movie. We see how he grows both personally, as a driver, as well as the growing support from his family and friends. Through the course of the movie, Jann makes at least two of his dreams come true, and picks up a new friend on the way!
The short version of the story is that we start with Jann as an avid player of the game Gran Turismo. Nissan has set up a GT Driver Academy, which promises the best simracers a contract as a professional driver. More on that later.
The cinematics are good, in my opionion. It features a mix of in-game content as well as recreated historical races. Thanks to it being a movie, we always follow our hero's car, unlike a real televised event where nobody would pay attention to the underdog much. It also mixes in some AR, such as hovering the current position above the car and highlighting race lines, as if it were in fact a sim racer screen capture.
During the movie, there was at least one scene I thought to be faked for the ratings, but it actually happend in real life too. Props to the creators for including this event!
I also think the movie does a good job of showing the hardships of becoming a professional racing driver. It's not like one day on your shopping drive you decide to become a pro, and that's it. We follow the best candidates of the simracing community in a knockout style competition for first place, alternating between simracing, racing on a track, and performing physical exercise.
Once Jann gets the contract, it quickly becomes clear that even as the top graduate simracer, the way to become a top racing driver is still a long and bumpy road. There is physical and mental exhaustion, as well as feuds and downright hostility on the race track. The coach does a great job to get the best out of Jann. The movie does a great job to show all of these aspects of the pro life.
However, there were some 'flaws' with the movie. As stated before, I understand we need cliffhangers, otherwise we know from minute 1 that Jann is a winner and the movie could be over in 15. However, it appears that the writers made every deciding moment a cliffhanger.
Trying not to give away spoilers, it starts with Jann nearly missing his invitation to the GT Academy qualification race. His friend screenshots it to him, so he is just in time to accept. The qualification (still in-game) also happens to be the next day (second coincidence/cliffhanger), and he nearly manages to completely miss the game that day (third). He does eventually win the race, but only by a hair (fourth).
I will stop counting and listing all the coincidences now, because there are too many. In the GT Academy, after several hair-raising moments, he wins the final race by a bumper length.
Now given a contract as a professional racing driver, we see a few more of these nose-length, millisecond difference race finishes. I think the movie would be better if they let him win some of these fair and square.
Overall a good movie. It ends with champagne on a podium, and Jann reconciled and better than ever with his family and friends. I'm a sucker for movies with a happy ending, so it ends on a high note for me.