Hansel & Gretel (2007)

From South Korean director Pil-Sung Yim, Hansel & Gretel opens in a typical horror move fashion: a man named Eun-soo (Jeong-myeong Cheon) gets into a car accident on a foggy road in the middle of nowhere. He wanders around the forest in a daze and is helped by a little girl wearing a red cloak into a strange house. There he meets her little sister and older brother as well as her parents. They seem like a perfect family; a little too perfect. Before long he finds that he is unable to leave the forest as every road takes him right back to the house and there is something seriously wrong with the family. To make matters worse he has no way of contacting the outside world and the parents suddenly leave the house and the children in his care. It becomes all too obvious that the kids are strange and possibly evil while the boy even possesses supernatural powers.

All of this is what makes the first half of the movie less entertaining. It is very predictable and full of clichés such as the music swelling rapidly when a shape moves across the screen while Eun-Soo looks around in the dark; there is even a scene where the little boy raises a flashlight to his face (as if he wasn’t evil enough already). There are hints of cannibalism (like in the original story) and other such atrocities coming from the kids that for the most part go unexplained. Strangely, the cannibalism revelation that Eun-soo discovers never really comes up again; you’d think that would be a bigger deal. Around the time that an odd married couple shows up lost is when the story really picks up. These people may be even worse than the kids, especially the man with glasses named Deacon-byun (played charismatically by Hee-soon Park). The story then takes so many twists that it becomes impossible to predict the ending and the flashback showing the origin of the children not only makes them sympathetic, but is more disturbing than anything that they have done up till that point; the man who used to own the house is so relentlessly twisted and evil that it is just hard to watch some of the things he did (and he did them with such relish).

The cinematography and visuals are impressive and highlight much of the film. There is an interesting contrast between the house, which is full of vibrant colors, candy, and toys, and the forest's dull green and fog (or at one point in the film white, due to the snow). The film does an excellent job capturing a lot of the horror that goes hand in hand with some of the old Grimm's fairytales. The acting is also good, especially from the children and that religious psychotic Deacon-byun who gets lost there with his wife. There are some elements of the film (mainly having to do with the way the children got powers) that are just confusing, but they don’t really need any more explanation other than that the house (for a very good reason) was cursed. Though far from perfect and a bit uneven, the second half of Hansel & Gretel turns what seemed like a typical horror film into a unique and chilling (though at times confusing) twist on a classic children’s fairytale.

A Woman's Way (2009)

A daring and unusual film from Greece directed by Panos H. Koutras (previous work includes The Attack of the Giant Mousaka back in 1999), A Woman's Way follows an inmate named Yiorgos (Yiannis Kokiasmenos) who is being released from prison after a fifteen year sentence for committing murder. He is on a mission to sell his home in his old village and find his lost son Leonidas of whom he has had no contact with while in prison. In the process he stays at a run down hotel and falls for a young pre-op transsexual prostitute named Strella (Mina Orfanou), who also works as a cabaret singer while taking care of her cancer ridden friend. After seeing her for awhile, his attitude gradually becomes lighter and his confidence increases but their affair comes to a screeching halt when her past comes out and an awful truth is realized connecting both of them together in a whole new way that Yiorgos could not have prepared for. This is a well acted and well directed film with performances that are varied and all believable featuring some scenes with humor and others displaying genuine drama. The direction is notable as much of Athens is shown off and there are a few interesting scenes featuring long takes. The one problem I had with the film in terms of how it was put together was with this one recurring dream sequence that the main character kept having: It was a CG squirrel in a forest. At different points in the film the squirrel's appearance would change based on how Yiorgos felt. If he was happy, the squirrel was in a sunny forest and it was peaceful. If something was wrong, the squirrel was roaring at the camera. This is incorporated into the story and it makes sense in terms of the plot, but it just seemed unnecessary and even silly. The poor CG also didn't fit with the more realistic camera style depicting a much neglected aspect of society.

That being said, I must state that this story is only meant for the very open-minded. This is not due to the various transsexual characters or the graphic nudity and sex scenes. This is due to one major twist that makes this love story so hard to watch that it could quite literally ruin the movie for some of the viewers; It is just downright disturbing. The film makes some blatant references Greek mythology and for those more familiar with how Greek mythological families mingled...you've been warned. To the credit of the director, this one particular twist is treated lightly in such a way that it can be taken in and potentially tolerated by the viewer. Though it is a film that I will probably never see again, it must be acknowledged that it is well made and for those brave enough to sit through the entire thing, there is a lot to take in and many questions to ponder over as the film challenges what makes a family and true love.

Moon (2009)

Moon takes place in a future where humans no longer rely on energy that hurts the environment. Instead, we hurt the moon's. Sam Rockwell plays Sam Bell who is the only person working at a lunar drilling site on the dark side of the moon. The only thing he has for company is a computer named Gerty (amusingly voiced by Kevin Spacey) who is something of a cross between Jarvis and HAL 9000. Living without contact for three years has taken its tole on Sam mentally and physically. Even the communications with his family and the company are not live-feed. While nearing one of the digging machines, he crashes and wakes up in an infirmary some time later, without any memory of the accident. After noticing some strange things going on around him, he eventually wanders out to the crash site and finds his body is still there. He ends up rescuing himself and finds out there may be a very strange explanation for what has been going on in the lunar facility and that he may not be allowed to leave.

Sam Rockwell's performance really sells the film, as the audience is as trapped as he is on this lunar station. Essentially playing two versions of himself, he is convincing and effective in making the two shades of the same person seem distinguishable. There are even a few pretty humorous moments throughout the film, mostly involving Sam arguing with himself and Gerty. This film marks the feature length film debut of director Duncan Jones (who previously made a short in 2002 called Whistle), and it is a very memorable debut. The visuals are quite impressive and the station where he lives feels not only retro (like the set of a late seventies/early eighties sci-fi) but claustrophobic and very enclosed, not to mention completely lacking in color. Everything within the station is monochrome and neutral, making even the surface of the moon more varied by comparison; a guy could lose his mind being trapped in a place like that. The visuals are especially commendable considering the limited budget of the film, and there are many CG sequences showing off the moon’s surface terrain and the vehicles used to drill and travel around it.

There is only one real issue I had with the film and that had to do with this one particular question that was never asked. At one point it becomes clear that Sam is getting worse physically to a point of a complete biological breakdown. Yet not once does he seem to ask Gerty what is wrong with him or how much time he has left. It is implied at various points throughout the film that he is running on a very limited amount of time, but it is something that the character never seems to bother asking about or even considering. The film ends without ever really explaining clearly why his body seems to be degrading. While this adds to a lot of the mystery that the plot already has surrounding the company and the way it works, it seemed like such an obvious problem that Sam never really addresses. This minor issue (mostly my own nitpicking) aside, Moon is an excellent sci-fi thriller that marks the debut of a promising director.

Warlords (2007)

Warlords opens with a brief history lesson explaining the time period to those unfamiliar with Chinese history. After this introduction and opening credits, a haggard and beefy looking Jet Li emerges from amidst a sea of corpses. He is revived by a mysterious woman in a nearby village and soon finds himself joining the ranks of a group of bandits led by Zhao Er-Hu (Andy Lau) and Zheng Wen-Xiang (Takeshi Kaneshiro). Having problems of their own caused by the Ho army (the same ones who allowed Pang Qingyun's (Jet Li) army to get massacred), Quingyun convinces the bandits to join up with the Qing forces to get paid (in order to feed their families) and also get power. The rest of the film follows their exploits as an army and the downfall of the heroes trying to deal with the political aftermath of their success as well as their own strained relationships.

The film's battle sequences are shot in a very gritty style reminiscent of that seen in Segei Bodrov's Mongol. The battles are bloody, muddy, and brutal. There are no wires and mystical action like that seen in some of Zhang Yimou's latest films (Hero, House of Flying Daggers); Director Peter Chan has a very different interpretation of how war should look. The film is lacking in vibrant colors and everything is gray and often set in the rain. Despite the high levels of drama, the imagery in the film is dark and often depressing as if to show off the ugly truth behind the romanticism of the three war heroes. Even with the darker tone, the battles scenes are epic and beautiful. In one of the major conflicts of the film, there is a high angle shot showing the battlefield in which Qingyun's forces are surround by circling horses of the enemy which are in turn surrounded by the circling forces of his reinforcements; the formations look like the spiraling eye of a storm. Jet Li may be in this film, but this is not quite the martial arts action picture that his presence brings to mind. There are elements of martial arts within the film, but the action is mostly about war and large-scale conflict over one man's particular ability to fight another. Jet Li is very convincing and shows a great deal of range in what may be one of his best performances. Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro are also very good additions making the acting in this film stand out.

The story follows the formula of some of the classic romantic epic tragedies: full of war, betrayal, love, death, and the rise and fall of heroes. There is one scene that resonates strongly after watching the film and that is the scene depicting the Suzhou Massacre incident. Part of what makes this scene so memorable are the reasons behind the way it turns out. Both sides have their own point of view but the reality demands that a certain resolution, despite how horrible it may sound, may be the only realistic option to go through with. The film is full of the tragedy of dead soldiers and you can see the weight of their deaths on the shoulders of the three heroes with all the shots showing the mountains of corpses that seem to be the result of each fight. Though Quingyun is determined to save the land and is convinced that what he is doing will result in long lasting peace, the price of his ambitions and goals are paid for in bodies.

The Yes Men Fix the World (2009)

The Yes Men Fix the World is a documentary follow up to 2004’s Yes Men chronicling a series of high exposure pranks that were played on big businessmen from companies such as ExxonMobil, HUD, DOW Chemical, and The New York Times. The two main guys behind the pranks are Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno though they often credit an unseen team that helps them do the elaborate hoaxes. The film is very smart and funny, and the humor is used to make their message easier to understand as well as make them more likable. Though a bit manipulative, the film is very effective in making the corporations and the logic (or lack of) behind the free market seem wrong and not helpful for society as a whole.

After watching the film, it is hard to argue otherwise. Through setting up fake websites in the name of the corporations they choose to attack, they get invited to several big events like employee conventions and in one case an interview on BBC World, a program broadcast to 300 million viewers. At these events they, while pretending to be important figures in the companies they are about to humiliate, tell people that they are going to do things like, in the case of DOW Chemical, take credit for the damage that their corporation caused in Bhopal (the Bhopal Disaster in 1984) by donating billions to help compensate for the lives and homes destroyed or, when representing HUD, promise to, instead of closing down and preventing people from getting their homes back in order to replace them with mixed-income development, rebuild houses that were destroyed by hurricane Katrina (this was announced right after Mayor Ray Nagin’s speech). There are other instances where they would promote, as in the name of ExxonMobil, alternative fuel sources made out of people. These hoaxes are always found out as the corporations stock takes an immediate dip and the company heads panic. The Yes Men are mainly accused of building false hope for the victims of these corporations and while it is true that these hoaxes may cause false hope (the people that were picked to represent the victims believe otherwise) it also poses the question: Why aren’t these companies doing some of these things? The Yes Men answer this question with depressing honesty. From the film you get the sense that all these companies work under the guise and beliefs made popular by conservative economists like Milton Friedman (to simplify: Greed is good). The message is strong, convincing, and especially relevant in today’s ever-changing world. As a documentary it is well made and, most importantly, accessible. Though it is humorous and Andy and Mike are likable, at the end it leaves a bitter taste in mouth because they didn’t change the way any of these companies work. They offer a hopeful outlook but fix the world, they do not. Instead the film does all that it can really do: make people aware of such a significant problem in society by forcing them to open their eyes and realize that this is not the way things should be.

The Beast Stalker (2008)

The Beast Stalker, directed by Dante Lam (director of Sniper), is a cop thriller following a series of characters tied up in an incident that resulted in the accidental death of a little girl. In order to redeem himself for her death, Sergeant Tong (Nicholas Tse) relentless attempts to save her sister who was kidnapped by a hitman (played by Nick Cheung) with one eye in order to be used as leverage against the attorney (Jingchu Zhang), the girl’s mother, who is prosecuting a known criminal. The action sequences are intense and the film moves at a very fast pace. The Beast Stalker is a very accessible thriller that could very easily end up being remade in the US (much like Infernal Affairs was made into The Departed). It employs the use of the “shaky cam” which has become so popular in recent years (as seen in the last two Bourne films) and the story, despite its many characters, is easy to follow.

The only issues that arise in this film that may turn off some of the more observant viewers are some of the distractingly implausible details that arise. For instance, it is made very clear from his introduction that the hitman is blind in one eye and his remaining eye is quickly losing its ability to see; in fact he is even colorblind in that eye. So for the big climax, Tong attempts to protect the little girl while fighting off the hitman in some kind of underground labyrinth-like sewer system. It is so dark down there that the audience can barely see the characters. So why is it that the Hitman has the upper hand? His ability to see anything down there is a stretch, let alone he somehow being better equipped for the environment; he manages to get the drop on Tong as if being nearly blind somehow makes one capable of navigating dark environments. There are a few other instances of the story being implausible just to move along the plot such as when Tong searches through a dozen garbage bags at a dump (in the dark no less) and manages to find a (very small) clue when he was not even sure what to look for. Instances like this aside, the film is not a bad one. Some of the action sequences, such as the chase scene about half way in, are pretty spectacular and rely on little or no special effects. The film also manages give every character believable motivation as well as depth. The acting is also very solid across the board. One of the film’s major themes is causality and it manages to tie up every character into one major incident seamlessly and flawlessly. You really get the sense that everything that happens in the film is the result of this one event that basically causes a domino effect for every scene after. Needless to say the ending is quite satisfying. It is a definite recommendation for any fan of Hong Kong action films.

Like a Dragon (2007)

Like a Dragon is Takashi Miike's adaptation of a video game series known in the U.S. as Yakuza. It cannot be stressed enough that this is a video game adaptation since if you are unfamiliar with the game or worse, haven't played it, then this is not the film for you. In fact, even for those who have played it, it barely works as more than a novelty of seeing video game characters portrayed in live action (though most are better portrayed as animated characters). The story is...hard to follow for the most part. If you've played the game then there is a better chance of not getting too lost, but if you haven't then there is not much to say that will help. There are too many characters and too many subplots. Two of the bigger ones, being the stand off with the incompetent bank robbers and the couple that goes on a robbing spree, are completely unnecessary in terms of the main plot. All the time given to them could have been better utilized in fleshing out the main story. The basic plot, at it's core, is about the Tojo clan losing 10 billion yen. The protagonist Kazuma Kiryu (played by Kazuki Kitamura) just got released from a ten year stint in prison. Why was he even in prison in the first place? There is never an explanation. He is looking for his old boss and a woman named Yumi (briefly shown as Saki Takaoka) while teamed up with a young girl named Haruka (played by Natsuo) who is looking for her mom who also happens to be Yumi's sister. There is not really an explanation for why Kiryu is looking for any of these people, and his relationship to Yumi is never really touched on. This is just the basic outline of the plot. They get tangled up in the lost money fiasco and all hell brakes loose.

There is one other character worth mentioning and while he may be the most pointless character in the entire film (especially considering all the time he takes up) he is easily the best part. Goro Majima (Goro Kishitani) has absolutely nothing to do with the missing cash, any of the subplots, or any group of characters outside Kiryu (though their relationship isn't exactly deep). His lack of context is laughable. Apparently something happened between the two of them before Kiryu went to prison and now he is hell bent on fighting him to the death; and I mean hell bent. He is almost like some outside force trying to stop the film's plot from moving forward. That being said, he is hilarious, over the top, completely and openly insane, and provides the film with its best fight scenes. Why on earth is he even in the film (aside from being a character from the game)? His own irrelevance doesn't seem matter to him, so it shouldn't matter to the audience. And trust me, it won't.

Visually the film is pretty impressive. It is incredibly stylized, there are lots of vibrant colors, and everything is shot with deep space, making the setting look and feel like a real city; full of background action and ambiance. It features some great music and a memorable score. The fight scenes are well choreographed and the film was clearly done on a lower budget, making the visuals something to appreciate (one of Miike's talents as a director). But I'm being generous and there are so many problems with this film, the biggest one being the structure of the story. Even without all the subplots, the story starts at what feels like the halfway point. It is never shown how Kiryu meets Haruka, it is never shown why he and Majima even know each other, and the villains come out of nowhere, while one of the main ones is killed before getting even a single line of dialogue. By the time some of the events that take place before the film starts are mentioned (briefly), the film is already over. There is no reason to care about any of the characters, some of which (that damn couple in particular) you wish weren't even in the film. Another issue is the references. There are many references to the video game which is fine, as that's something that one would expect in an adaptation, but a few of them are so upfront that it is no longer meant for only the fans to pick out of a scene. For example, Kiryu and the villain seem to be able to emit fire from their bodies when they are fighting. Why is this even possible? Why can only they do it? Why doesn't anyone else in the film notice or care that these people are on the verge of a flashy spontaneous combustion? This was something called "Heat Mode" in the game which allowed for special finishing moves and combos. Without this prior knowledge and recognition, this visual is merely random and bizarre. Also, at a key point in the film, Kiryu drinks an energy drink called "Stamina Spark" which powers him up and allows him to continue fighting, eerily similar to the way spinach works for Popeye. In the game this is something of a powerful healing item, but the way the film makes such a huge deal out of it is simply awe inspiring and will leave anyone not familiar with the game confused to say the least. The story from the game was much more involving and dramatic while the film's version is strange and laughable. Like a Dragon can't be recommended to anyone other than the hardest of hardcore Takashi Miike fans, and only those who have beaten the original video game first. In fact, not even them. No one should have to see this movie.

A Bittersweet Life (2005)

A Bittersweet Life, directed by Kim Ji-woon, follows Kim Sun-woo (played by Lee Byung-hun), a hotel manager who is actually a trusted mob enforcer, as he clashes with his duty and what he sees as the right thing to do morally. The film opens with Sun-woo removing some belligerent thugs from the hotel. He is unapologetic towards their boss, who is a rival mob leader, and is openly rude to him. Kang (Kim Yeong-cheol), Sun-woo’s boss, then holds a special meeting in which he lets him in on a secret: he is afraid that his young mistress (Shin Min-a) is cheating on him. Since he is going to be out of town for three days, he orders Sun-woo to watch her and, if it turns out that she is seeing someone else, kill both her and boyfriend. Sun-woo accepts his mission and begins following the girl and after seeing her he begins to develop feelings that are new to him and realizes just how lonely and alone his current life is. Sure enough, she is cheating on his boss. Unable to kill her and her boyfriend, he lets them go on the condition that they don’t ever see each other again. This gets out and soon he finds himself in trouble with the rival family as well as his own.

The acting is very good in this film; Lee Byung-hun gives the main character enough range that it is easy to feel that there is a truly lonely individual under the cool tough guy demeanor that is so prominently featured in the film. What really stands out the most in the film is the directing. The fight scenes are fast and brutal. The film is exceptionally violent and realistic with its action. There is one incredible sequence in which Sun-woo eludes his captors. Every aspect of the environment is utilized for him to realistically demonstrate an escape. Aside from his superb fighting ability, he is also incredibly resourceful. The are a few shots that almost seem as if the camera is rigged to Sun-woos back; it literally ducks with him as he dodges a punch and it is very involving and different, which only makes these action scenes more entertaining and exciting. The movie overall is very stylized and sleek, thanks to a variety of tracking shots and sharp colors. It embodies everything that makes a gangster film seem “cool.”

There is also an interesting dynamic between the mafia rules and structure and the personal moral beliefs. The reason for Sun-woo being betrayed and hunted by his own group is more than just his inability to complete the task assigned. It’s also more than the reason for which he failed to complete the task (a reason that Sun-woo himself doesn’t truly understand). It’s because he wouldn’t admit to being at fault. In the mafia hierarchy the boss is always right; even if he’s wrong. There is a great scene in which Kang is explaining this to the rival mob boss. It is Sun-woo’s dedication to what he truly felt was the right thing to do that gets him in the predicament he ends up in. He is so uncompromising in his beliefs that the end of his story is inevitable and bloody. It’s an incredible action film and there is enough substance to match it, thanks to great writing, directing, and acting.

Dark City (1998)

There is a man unconscious in a bathtub. A light fixture swings back and forth over the small room revealing the green floor tiles and purple bath water. The man wakes up; alarmed, naked, and confused he wanders into the next room and knocks over a fish tank. After placing the fish in the tub he gets dressed and finds a mutilated woman lying dead on the floor. The phone rings and a voice tells him that people are coming for him and he has to run. This is the opening sequence to Dark City, directed by Alex Proyas (The Crow). The story follows John Murdock (Rufus Sewell), who has lost his memory, as he runs from strange bald men who are trying to kill him as well as the police who suspect him to be a murderer. While on the run, he begins to develop powerful mental abilities and runs in a mysterious doctor (Kiefer Sutherland) who may know some answers. Inspector Bumstead (played pretty deadpan by William Hurt) and John’s wife Emma Murdock (Jennifer Connelly) also attempt to find him and in the process begin to notice strange things about the city around them, such as people being unable to recall certain memories.

The story is full of twists and turns and, for the first half hour or so, it is very easy to feel completely lost. Part of what makes this work is that John Murdock has very shattered memories of his life, so the city is as bizarre and new to him as it is to the audience, who must then learn about his world as he does. Every question raised and every mystery is solved by the end, resulting in an incredible (and perhaps a bit over the top) climax. The story poses several ideas as to what makes a person truly human, placing heavy importance on memories. If a person has no past or history, then who’s to say if they even exist? The visuals in Dark City are as engrossing as the story. The city is, without being redundant, very dark. It is set in a never ending night and the shadows and color scheme set a mysterious and sinister tone. There are dark greens (reminiscent of other sci-fi films like The Matrix) and yellows while virtually everything is cast in shadow. With the inspector/murder storyline and Emma being a nightclub singer, much of the film is set as a classic film noir; the big twist being the sci-fi elements that are incorporated making the film something else entirely. The sets are unique and massive, providing every sequence with plenty of background action and details, making the city itself a living, breathing character reminiscent of the city from The City of Lost Children. Every street is littered with details and every room or hallway has depth making it seem like there is a world behind the characters on screen. The visual effects are also impressive for the time, and the sequences in which the city is rearranged and rebuilt are particularly memorable, as is the underground mechanized base of the bald men. The acting is also good, Rufus Sewell in particular; he is convincing as a confused and tortured hero, making it easy to follow along with his discoveries. Kiefer Sutherland is surprisingly different in his role as the smart, but sickly Dr. Schreber. As a unique and original combination between the sci-fi and film noir genre, this is a film that is highly deserving of a recommendation.

Star Trek (2009)

Star Trek is director J.J. Abrams (Mission: Impossible III) re-envisioning of the classic television and film franchise which, through some very clever writing, maintains its own independence as well as establishing its place within the Star Trek canon. The film opens by cutting back and forth between the origins of James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) from childhood to young adult. Kirk is thrill-seeking, womanizing, and quick to get into fights, while Spock, being half human and half Vulcan, walks a fine line attempting to hide his emotions under the calm demeanor of being logical. There is just enough of an origin story to satisfy a glimpse of their lives before their time on the USS Enterprise, but it’s not much.

There is something a bit strange about Kirk's brief glimpse of childhood: while he is in the stolen car being chased by a Power Rangers villain, he turns on the music player and cranks up the volume to "Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys. Assuming that the Beastie Boys are no longer alive - but who knows, strange things happen in this film - this must be from a music player that contains what must be considered classical music in this time. It's only one scene and having music from what should be a time long past doesn't really hurt the film, but it's noticable and a bit distracting. None of the other characters are given any sort of back story beyond a passing mention. It would have been nice to have been given at least one or two more scenes showing how some of these characters met or, in one instance, became romantically involved, but it doesn’t really hurt the film which moves at a pace so fast that it’s hard to care about small details like this.

On board the USS Enterprise is where the story takes off and the action really picks up. After being introduced at a rapid-fire pace to all of the crew members including Dr. McCoy (Karl Urban) and Sulu (John Cho), Kirk and Spock must deal with their own strained relationship as well as with the menace of the Romulan ship led by Nero (Eric Bana), whose motives for destroying the federation planets are both tragic and horribly misguided. The visual effects are pretty incredible, but they don’t dwarf the actors that are in the scenes. Even with all the explosions and creatures, the focus never strays far from the actors; luckily, the acting is good. Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine in particular are both very believable in their roles. In Spock’s face, because of his constant strain in hiding his emotions, every twitch has new meaning in terms of what he is truly thinking. Zachary Quinto gives the character enough subtly to make his lack of emotion fun to watch. Chris Pine is both funny and natural in his portrayal of Kirk, capturing the charisma and leadership qualities of the character. The rest of the cast is good as well, including Eric Bana who is almost unrecognizable as Nero.

This being the first in what will undoubtedly become a new franchise of films, J.J. Abrams wastes no time in making this film a fun, fast-paced action film. There is nothing particularly deep about the story, and it's useless to search for anything philosophical or resembling social commentary. It is what it is: a purely entertaining ride. The action sequences are quite impressive, involving some spectacular animation, and the way the crew interacts with each other while dealing with them make them all the more entertaining to watch. Though there are many lines and references that are meant only for the fans of the original series, newcomers will have no trouble whatsoever following the story. At its core, Star Trek is a Sci-fi action movie which proves that a film can be an action packed visual spectacle, and yet still be a quality movie worth seeing more than once.

The Invincible Iron Man (2007)

About a year before the live action adaptation of the comic book super hero, an animated version was released exclusively to DVD and Blu-ray. This one is titled The Invincible Iron Man and is about a younger Tony Stark (Marc Worden) who, with the help of his engineer friend James "Rhodey" Rhodes (Rodney Saulsberry), are attempting to raise a lost kingdom for the Chinese government in order to win them over and get some major contracts for Stark Enterprises. The company run by his father Howard Stark and some other board members are not happy with all the secrecy and showboating of Tony and attempt to cancel his projects. To make matters worse, as it turns out the site where the ruins are being raised is being attacked by a group of radicals called the Jade Dragons. They are trying to prevent the resurrection of the ruins because they think that it will lead to the revival of the dreaded Mandarin: an evil warlord who caused the deaths of countless people during his reign. This turns out to be true and when Tony and Rhodey are kidnapped, they must build a powerful suit of armor so they can keep Tony alive, escape their captors, and stop the prophecy of the Mandarin.

The animation in this film is a combination of two dimensional and computer generated images. The people and backgrounds are for the most part nicely animated and detailed, given a retro 1950s look in order to capture the Howard Hughes style that Tony Stark was modeled after, while the CG is reserved for the Iron Man armors and the Elementals who were revived in order to ensure the Mandarins resurrection. The problem with this choice is that the two styles of animation don’t fit that well together. The CG is not very impressive and often the characters that are made this way seem stiff and move like they’re not part of the scene. This is noticeable when in order to make them seamlessly integrated into the environment they may turn into 2D animation, such as when Iron Man defeats the Fire Elemental. The shift is noticeable and at times distracting. The moments that work best for the CG characters are the ones in which they dominate the scene. For instance, the volcano fight sequence in which Iron Man takes on three of them at once is pretty entertaining and the fight with the Dragon towards the end of the film is also pretty decent, though in the case of the latter, the entire scene takes place within a dense fog, possibly to hide the sharp contrast between the CG and 2D animation.

The characters are not particularly memorable despite the quality of some of the voice acting. Marc Worden voices Tony Stark charismatically, but the character loses his appeal through his encounters with some of the other cast, mainly his father and Li Mei (Gwendoline Yeo). His father has a history of going behind his back with weapons contracts and the two of them argue, both being unable to comfort one another after the death of Maria Stark, Tony’s mother. This subplot is not too bad in terms of character depth for Tony, but the payoff at the end feels rushed, as if there was a scene that didn't make the final cut. The lack of payoff seems to be consistent throughout the entire film. The love story with Li Mei (of whom shares no chemistry with Tony Stark making the interest on both sides seem less than believable) is hard to care about and the Elementals themselves, who serve as the main source of action in the film, are uninteresting. This is not the fault of the animation team. The problem with the Elementals is that they don’t speak. They don’t make a single sound. Instead they just attack Tony Stark like creatures out of a silent film. Unfortunately the Mandarin is the biggest disappointment in the film. The contrast between magic and technology seemed promising and the build up to the big reveal spans the length of the entire film and some of it is pretty incredible, such the descent to his layer which resembles a descent into the pits of hell. All this makes his appearance even more disappointing as he just doesn’t live up to what anyone watching the film imagined, especially those familiar with his depiction in the source material. As far as the film goes, in its entirety it’s not terrible. There are a lot of Iron Man armors shown as far as fan service goes, and some of the locations that he travels to in order to fight the Elementals are interesting (an active volcano and a frozen underwater tornado to name a few). There was clearly some effort made into making the film visually impressive and distinguishable from the other animated Marvel films, but there’s just not enough there in terms of animation consistency and character development to warrant a recommendation.