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Shredder (2001)
What you'd expect and nothing more
Okay, first of all, anyone watching this film expecting to see a horror masterpiece should be ashamed of themselves. Much like 'Dr. Giggles,' 'Jack Frost' (and Jack Frost 2) and 'Killer Rats,' this is one of those guilty pleasures that you'll only see after you've exhausted your supply of slasher flicks. It's not up to the par of those old Friday the 13th flicks that I so love, but it's not the worst thing ever committed to film. My roommate (also a fan of cheesy horror) asked me if it was good or not. I told her that she has no right to question my taste in horror, since she was the one that rented Ankle Biters. (midget vampires lol)
That said, anyone who's ever seen a slasher flick will guess the ending the EXACT MOMENT the real killer is first shown on screen. There are red herrings galore, but none of them seem to work.
There are actually some great one-liners in this film. And the dead girl rotating around the ski lift was funny, but I wish we could have seen the killer trying to jump up and retrieve the body. That would have been comedy gold.
The acting ranges from decent to downright abysmal, but the script-writing was pretty pathetic. There are numerous plot holes, (One character is actually SEEN DEAD and then is walking around like nothing ever happened.) a great number of stale scenes that add nothing, and predictable as all-get-out sequences. You can guess within the first 10 minutes which characters will die.
By the way, the scriptwriters should win an award for making the blonde girl the biggest jerk girlfriend in all of movie history. Likewise, her boyfriend should win an award for dumbest boyfriend ever.
The blood effects are tolerable, the CGI scene at the end was probably the absolute worst abuse of computer graphics ever put on celluloid.
In short, it's no Friday the 13th, it's not Dr. Giggles, but at least it's not Ankle Biters. Don't expect a horror masterpiece, and you'll probably enjoy wasting 90 minutes on this flick.
** out of ****
xXx (2002)
Exactly what you'd expect
Okay, before you see this movie, you have to concede two things. Firstly, that the acting won't be all that great. It's like, alright, Vin Diesel is this big buff dude, and some of the cast members are strictly eye candy with little to no acting talent. However, if you're looking for a top-notch acting job, I suggest you stay away from action films. The second concession you'll have to make is that this movie isn't what you may call "cerebral entertainment." By this I mean, you're only going to enjoy it if you go into it knowing what to expect.
What to expect is this: A fast-paced thrill ride with one explosion and stunt after another. Sure, there's a plot, but I've seen this movie three times, and all that sticks in my head are the explosions. And that's the way it should be. Vin Diesel isn't intended to be the next sophisticated Hollywood thought-provoking artist. He's a Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwartzenegger for the new generation. And he does well in these types of roles.
If you go into this movie, expecting an art-house film, you'll be disappointed. If you go into it expecting a more modernized, American James Bond type film, with less suaveness and more sweat, you may come home happy.
Personally, I liked this movie. It did in spades exactly what it set out to do: Be an hour and a half of mindless, pointless eye-candy entertainment, which you can stare at for awhile. Then, you can come out of the theater and go "OH wow! Did you see that one explosion? That was the bomb!" Why do people knock movies that aren't "intelligent" enough? Not everything is about thinking, and this is one of them. Sit back and enjoy the car chases, explosions, and free falls, because life's too short to analyze everything. I give this movie four stars out of five for being a cinematic, thrill-ride eye candy production that does its job well.