BONES, CLAWS AND SPARKLY ALIENS
Jan. 2nd, 2014 03:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defrogWhile I'm spouting uniformed opinions, herewith are the last of the 2013 film reviews. You may enjoy them now.
The Wolverine
Based on the limited series arc by Claremont/Miller! Logan – having quit the X-Men and haunted by the death of Jean Grey – is summoned to Japan to visit Yashida, whom he rescued during WW2. Yashida is dying, and wants to take Logan’s healing powers for himself, which would allow Logan to finally live a normal life, grow old and die. Logan refuses, but things get complicated when Yashida’s granddaughter is attacked by Yakuza thugs.
And we’re off. It’s an improvement over the previous solo Wolverine film in the sense that the story and setting are more interesting, and Hugh Jackman gets to add a little more emotional depth to Logan. Also, the action scenes are better, especially when they involve Yukio (Rila Fukushima), one of the more likeable characters to pop up in an X-Men film.
Even so, it’s one of those films that assumes you’ve already seen all the X-Men films and/or read the Wolverine comics – the script takes a number of shortcuts based on that assumption, which is fine for fans but not much help to everyone else. Also (and this is sacrilege, I know, but) I’ve never really been that interested in Wolverine as a solo character. The X-Men were always more than the sum of their parts, and Wolverine is no exception.
The Host
Not the Korean monster movie, but the film based on the novel by Stephanie Meyer that isn’t Twilight. The premise: aliens have turned Earth into a utopia by possessing most humans and taking over the planet. An alien called Wanderer is implanted inside captured teenager Melanie, who is part of a human resistance. The head Seeker wants Wanderer to access Melanie’s memories to find out where the resistance is, but Melanie unexpectedly fights her possession and convinces Wanderer to help her escape. But seeing as how you can recognize possessed humans by the sparkly rings in their eyes, Melanie’s own people refuse to accept her.
Which isn’t a bad idea for a film. However – this being based on a Stephanie Meyer novel – most of the potential is wasted on the love triangle between Melanie, her boyfriend Jared and his friend Ian, who has fallen in love with Wanderer (who is inside Melanie, so you see the problem). And even the fun you can have with that premise is pretty much squandered in favor of teen romance sappiness.
Granted, I am not the target audience for this kind of film. But it essentially does for the alien invasion/possession genre what Twilight did for vampire lore. Namely, make it as boring as possible via insipid teenage romance.
The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones
Another attempt by Hollywood to build a franchise based on a series of Young Adult novels – this time on The Mortal Instruments. The books have gotten good reviews, but there’s no evidence of that in the film version.
The story follows Clary, a teenage girl who discovers the secret world of “shadowhunters” (human/angel hybrids who kills demons) after her mother – who turns out to be one – is kidnapped. Another shadowhunter, Jayce, helps Clary to find her mom and find out what her attackers are after. Meanwhile, Clary learns how to use her own shadowhunter powers she didn’t realize she had. There are also vampires and werewolves, and the inevitable love triangle.
On the plus side, there’s tons of action compared to (oh, say) The Host, and the teen romance stuff, while annoying, doesn’t take up as much screen time. But the story gets pretty cluttered and jumbled to the point that by the climax of the film, I wasn’t really just sure what the villain’s plan was supposed to be. Maybe it works in prose, but on film it’s confusing. It doesn't help that director Harald Zwart seems to have been instructed to make Clary and Jayce look as awesomely beautiful and cool as possible at all times. Again, I know I’m not the target audience. But there really isn’t much for anyone outside the fan-base of the books. Okay, yes, it’s better than Twilight, but then what isn’t?
Dem bones,
This is dF
The Wolverine
Based on the limited series arc by Claremont/Miller! Logan – having quit the X-Men and haunted by the death of Jean Grey – is summoned to Japan to visit Yashida, whom he rescued during WW2. Yashida is dying, and wants to take Logan’s healing powers for himself, which would allow Logan to finally live a normal life, grow old and die. Logan refuses, but things get complicated when Yashida’s granddaughter is attacked by Yakuza thugs.
And we’re off. It’s an improvement over the previous solo Wolverine film in the sense that the story and setting are more interesting, and Hugh Jackman gets to add a little more emotional depth to Logan. Also, the action scenes are better, especially when they involve Yukio (Rila Fukushima), one of the more likeable characters to pop up in an X-Men film.
Even so, it’s one of those films that assumes you’ve already seen all the X-Men films and/or read the Wolverine comics – the script takes a number of shortcuts based on that assumption, which is fine for fans but not much help to everyone else. Also (and this is sacrilege, I know, but) I’ve never really been that interested in Wolverine as a solo character. The X-Men were always more than the sum of their parts, and Wolverine is no exception.
The Host
Not the Korean monster movie, but the film based on the novel by Stephanie Meyer that isn’t Twilight. The premise: aliens have turned Earth into a utopia by possessing most humans and taking over the planet. An alien called Wanderer is implanted inside captured teenager Melanie, who is part of a human resistance. The head Seeker wants Wanderer to access Melanie’s memories to find out where the resistance is, but Melanie unexpectedly fights her possession and convinces Wanderer to help her escape. But seeing as how you can recognize possessed humans by the sparkly rings in their eyes, Melanie’s own people refuse to accept her.
Which isn’t a bad idea for a film. However – this being based on a Stephanie Meyer novel – most of the potential is wasted on the love triangle between Melanie, her boyfriend Jared and his friend Ian, who has fallen in love with Wanderer (who is inside Melanie, so you see the problem). And even the fun you can have with that premise is pretty much squandered in favor of teen romance sappiness.
Granted, I am not the target audience for this kind of film. But it essentially does for the alien invasion/possession genre what Twilight did for vampire lore. Namely, make it as boring as possible via insipid teenage romance.
The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones
Another attempt by Hollywood to build a franchise based on a series of Young Adult novels – this time on The Mortal Instruments. The books have gotten good reviews, but there’s no evidence of that in the film version.
The story follows Clary, a teenage girl who discovers the secret world of “shadowhunters” (human/angel hybrids who kills demons) after her mother – who turns out to be one – is kidnapped. Another shadowhunter, Jayce, helps Clary to find her mom and find out what her attackers are after. Meanwhile, Clary learns how to use her own shadowhunter powers she didn’t realize she had. There are also vampires and werewolves, and the inevitable love triangle.
On the plus side, there’s tons of action compared to (oh, say) The Host, and the teen romance stuff, while annoying, doesn’t take up as much screen time. But the story gets pretty cluttered and jumbled to the point that by the climax of the film, I wasn’t really just sure what the villain’s plan was supposed to be. Maybe it works in prose, but on film it’s confusing. It doesn't help that director Harald Zwart seems to have been instructed to make Clary and Jayce look as awesomely beautiful and cool as possible at all times. Again, I know I’m not the target audience. But there really isn’t much for anyone outside the fan-base of the books. Okay, yes, it’s better than Twilight, but then what isn’t?
Dem bones,
This is dF
