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Reviews
Taken (2008)
Why so many positive reviews? This was terrible.
Normally I have no problem kicking back, switching my brain off, suspending my disbelief and having a great time enjoying a mindless action flick, but this was too much. One of the main problems is that this mindless action flick sees itself as a smart action/thriller/drama ala Man On Fire, which it most certainly is not. If the movie had embraced it's ridiculousness and not taken itself so seriously it could have been a decent (at best) popcorn movie. Liam Neeson (who I think is great in almost anything he does) is completely miscast as a one man army, punching and kicking his way through over 40 much younger, fitter, stronger men. This is not Bourne, this is not Bond, and it most definitely is not Man On Fire, this is a second rate PG-13 Rambo, with watered down violence and the heavy themes sugarcoated beyond belief to protect the fragile minds of film goers brought up on the idea that things really aren't that bad in the world and good will always defeat evil no matter how badly the odds are against them. Taken is typical, by the numbers, Hollywood crap. It's bound to make a killing in the US, but it deserves nothing more than to go straight to DVD.
Dead Space: Downfall (2008)
Loads of blood, not much else though.
Apparently this was supposed to "redefine animation for adults", but there is nothing groundbreaking here, or even adult for that matter. Violence is obviously not something for the kids, but the way it's handled in this movie is incredibly immature, so the only people who could get the most enjoyment out of it are kids. I'm all for gratuitous violence, but blood and guts are only entertaining for so long, it would be nice to have some suspense to go with it, after the first few disembowelments and decapitations I started to lose interest. There are times where the movie seems to be touching on themes that might elevate it above your typical sci-fi gore fest, but those are quickly ignored in favor of more bloodshed. Although we've seen it all before, Dead Space: Downfall is still reasonably entertaining and it's gotten me more interested in the game, so I guess it accomplished what it set out to do. It's just a shame that the people behind it decided to take the easy route by throwing as many body parts across the screen as possible, instead of trying to create a "real" adult animated horror film.