FILM REVIEW

Puppet Master 2
Puppet Master 2
The second film in the ever-expanding series is a good sequel to the original. It’s almost as good, but not as quite. It has got some great FX, though and if you go into this film for the gore FX you will not be disappointed, and if you like B-movies then you will gain an extra kick from this film. I think this is better than the films that followed and the best film that followed was the third in the series. It went downhill after that, degenerating into really C-movies, however, all of them had, except for The Legacy, all have their certain charms. The story basically is nearly the same terrorising dolls from the first one; however this one has some different elements which I won’t spoil. Overall, I recommend it for those who like low-budget horror films.

The Bunnyman Resurrection
The Bunnyman ResurrectionIn a lot of ways this is a generic slasher film, with the key ingredients of violence, gore and sex in it. But this knows what it is, what it wants to be, and does it well for a low budget independent. If you don’t like slasher films, then you’ll probably not like this, but if you are then I think you’ll be surprised at how entertaining this is. It’s certainly better than the first film, which also knew what it was doing but felt a lot like it was just setting things up for a better sequel, which this is. This one goes at the horror full-pelt and doesn’t let up. There’s also some good character development with Joe, the psychopath who helps the Bunnyman hunt people down. It think they did a good job of not allowing the audience to get to know too much about the Bunnyman, though, because it, I feel, would have taken a lot of the tension out of the scenario of not knowing him, not knowing wha he could do, when he would appear. The gore is mostly of the CGI kind, which surprisingly works for this film and is quite good and used effectively. It’s not very scary as a whole, but it does have an atmosphere of helplessness and dread that was really effective in the Wrong Turn series. Acting wise, its not that great, a bit hammy at times and over-the-top, but its ok if the main reason youre watching is for the horror. All in all, it’s a well shot, good slasher flick which ticks all the boxes.

Dad’s Army
Dad's ArnyI am not a fan of Dad’s Army, but I did enjoy the spin-off original film to the series. It had some good laughs in it. This, I have to say, is minor league comedy. However, it is perfect family viewing when you just want to relax and enjoy a film which won’t test your knowledge very much, but will provide you with a bit of entertainment. The film started out really obvious, I think, with its basic gags. And overall, I think that the comedy is either hit-or-miss, really. I’d say that this is a fine film, a bit above average. I was expecting to not like it at all, but I found myself quite enjoying some scenes.

Toby Jones is great in his role, he really lives the part. However, at the start I didn’t really buy him doing comedy because I’ve seen him in his other dramatic roles. But I think some of his scenes did strike a much better cord comedy-wise. He had some of the funniest scenes.

Bill Nighy was great, like all of the actors, but he gave a more layered performance, his character being fleshed out more than the others, I think.

Catherine Zeta-Jones was great, also. Her English accent was spot on after performing in a dozen American productions. It was great to have her in the cast to light up the screen.

When the film ended, the audience applauded. All in all, it is a fine film.

Also, thank you for the marvellous screening at The Spring Arts and Heritage Centre.

Suicide Squad
Suicide SquadI had not watched Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice before attending a screening of the superhero action fantasy film Suicide Squad. I had heard about the comics, but didn’t really know the story. I knew that it was about a team of super-villains, but nothing really else. Oh, and that the team featured the Joker and Harley Quinn. Other than that, I didn’t know what to expect. Mainly I wanted to have a fun time and to be entertained.

The story centres on a group of super-villains who are forced together to fight crime for the government. They each have a microchip implanted into their necks which means if they step out of line, the microchip can kill them.

Now, I have not read any of the Suicide Squad comics and have seen some bits of the Arkham games, so I was not really knowing what I was going to witness. What I did see was a great superhero movie. I’m not very big on superhero movies, but I couldn’t pass on not liking this because the action and story and characterisation was so dark, superbly suiting the tone of the film. DC movies are much more adult than Marvel, having that dark atmosphere and themes to their films, and not even just films, their comics and games, as well, have a harder edge than Marvel do. Marvel tend to be a bit tongue-in-cheek with their humour, but DC has very little which is humorous. In fact, I didn’t laugh whilst watching this movie, and it doesn’t try to be a comedy. I found myself quickly falling in love with these characters. What was flawed, I think, was the back stories, some of them were lingered on, some of them sped past like they wanted to get to the main action faster and didn’t care much about that certain character. I would have liked it more if they had made the backstories as long as each of the characters to get to know them better. Plus, it was a bit obvious after introducing a character in the main plot line, showing a flashback to their life. That’s a minor niggle, mind you, because you can get past that.

Will Smith did an excellent job of Deadshot, the contract killer who has a great way with guns. I particularly liked his back-story where we find out how much he loves his child. Plus Batman has a nice cameo in his story, as well, which didn’t realise was going to happen.

Harley Quinn was one of my best characters, if not the best. As played by Margot Robbie she’s just absolutely brilliantly maniacal. I really liked when she was with the Joker. And yes, she was sexualised, she always is, either in comics games or (as now is the case) a movie. So you do get a lot of eye candy from Harley Quinn at a pole dancing club, for example. Also, it is meant for a more mature audience, hence the 15 rating. What I especially like about Harley Quinn is how she loves danger, and here she again flings herself into apparent doom, and is relishing every minute of it. Also, she does have one of the funniest scenes where she’s in an elevator fighting baddies and all the Squad are worried about her. When the door opens they see her standing there and are gobsmacked as she reacts like nothing happened. That was a bit funny.

Talking of the Joker, I was really sad about this. Jared Leto did an absolutely magnificent job of portraying the (in)famous villain, but his screen time was really short. It would have been great if we had seen more of him. I liked how he protected Harley Quinn.

Going in to this film I didn’t realise there were going to be some really dark aspects to this. Ok, this isn’t A Serbian Film, but when permanent death in a superhero film happens, which you are not expecting at all, it did rattle me a bit. I won’t say who dies, but it is a bit sad.

The effects are superb, apart from El Diablo’s fire, which is clearly computer generated, but could’ve been a lot worse. This is a flawed film, it’s not the best superhero film out there, but it’s really close. Now that I’ve seen this I really want to watch Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice.

By
Dimitrios Papageorgiou
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