A Review: World War Z

"If you can fight. Fight. Help each other. Be prepared for anything."
                                                                                                                                --Gerry Lane

There is a brilliantly executed scene where Gerry (Pitt), on the run, picks up his daughter's plush toy in the streets of Philly. (Not the Springsteen song)

The toy also speaks with an adorable and haunting voice. And as Gerry and his family run to safety, the toy begins--in unison and by coincidence--to count up from the number one aloud as a pedestrian recently bitten begins to transform. Gerry watches from a safe distance as the man bitten changes from human to undead in twelve seconds flat. He mentally logs the time-stamp and can't shake the horror of watching the man rise hungry, charged with menace and, yes, not exactly dead or alive.


But sadly, this film is a shadowy reflection of it's former self. With grander aspirations of what it set out to do. Having followed the production since the scripting and greenlight stages, this is the not the same product, and the ingredients have changed. A ghost of it's former self.

A Review: Quantum Of Solace

Much like a hot, freshly brewed cup of coffee, this film started out the same way: fresh, hot, and having me excited. 

The opening with the chase sequence and then straight into Mr. White's interrogation and M's attempted murder was terrific, superb and brilliant even. But after that... the temperature went (slowly) south. 

The only other redeeming qualities this film had, was the wonderful Gemma Arterton as Strawberry Fields, Jeffrey Wright as Felix and of course, Judi Dench as M-om. I watch French film, so Mathieu Almaric was a real nice touch as the villain.

And much like a hot, freshly brewed cup of coffee, it also got cold before I was done. Colder and colder, until your left with nothing more than iced coffee. Not even fresh brewed, but farted out from a cheap machine at McDonald's. And everyone knows that substitutes, in essence, are never, ever, as good. 

If the title suggests anything--Quantum of Solace--this movie is confusing as all fuck. But serves up some "Quantum" action and whip cracking dialogue tossed around. 

Please let me be clear about something right quick son: this is a Bond film, so in that context, it's an amazing piece of work and Marc Forster should be proud. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience watching this fantastic film with Craig and Dench and and Arterton's brief but stand-out performance. Arterton as Fields was where the film started hitting high notes again. Forster is Forster for a reason, and this film has moments where that is reflected. But damn... This guy sold out to the sequel sickness, I.E. going bigger. Comparing this one to Casino is a must, and in that context, this film is most certainly inferior. The Rog, (Ebert) says, 

"Please understand: James Bond is not an action hero! He is too good for that. He is an attitude. Violence for him is an annoyance. He exists for the foreplay and the cigarette."

If Marc and team would have remembered that was the approach in Casino Royale and other stand outs of the long standing franchise, they would have had a real good film. But yeah, the third act is all an action dump on the audience. Damn. Remove two or three suspenseful scenes of mayhem and you woulda had something entirely different. Craig is reinventing Bond for the new age, and in the context, Bond is cooler, but more of a hands-on kinda guy. So I can respect the choice to give him some anti-up in the action department, but yeah, some of the script has poor excuses for the stuff.  

Speaking of useless action, I liked this one he had too:

"Let's all think together. When has an action hero ever, even once, been killed by machinegun fire, no matter how many hundreds of rounds? The hit men should simply reject them and say, "No can do, Boss. They never work in this kind of movie."

My thoughts exactly.

Munki Out.