Reviews

I walked into the theater with pretty low expectations. Especially after seeing the trailer for the movie which made me feel like it was going to be just another Transformers rip off. But after watching Real Steel, I can safely tell you that – this movie blows Transformers out of this world. Forget the Michael Bay disappointments we’ve been sitting through over the past few years. Real Steel does right everything that Transformers did wrong, and then offers some more. But most importantly; it has heart.

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Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson) is back, and it’s a good thing. After catching the funny trailer many months ago, I had some pretty high expectations about the movie, and I wasn’t let down. As soon as the movie starts you’re in for a treat. What was missing in the original (which I felt was too dry for my tastes) is all here and while Rowan Atkinson might be aging, he sure isn’t losing his acting chops.

Johnny English Reborn tells the story of Johnny English, a secret agent who was dismissed from the force 5 years ago due to a mishap in the past, returning to MI7 to help prevent an assassination attempt on China’s Prime Minister. This time around he has a new partner in the form of newcomer, Agent Tucker (Daniel Kaluuya) to keep him in check. There aren’t any racial jokes here (ala Rush Hour), which is refreshing. However there’s a lot of slapstick humor here. And I mean a lot.

The plot this time around is far-fetched – but hey, what would you expect from a spy comedy? It’s the jokes and gags littered throughout the story that we came for, and there are plenty to be found. Beating up old people? Check. Stereotypical Asian bad guys? Check. Helicopter ride on the freeway? Check (in fact, it was one of my favorite scenes in the movie).

All in all, I didn’t have a problem with the movie, and found myself laughing out loud during quite a number of scenes. If you’ve got time and some brain cells to kill, Johnny English Reborn is definitely right up your alley. I’d give Johnny English Reborn 7/10. Oh yes, stay awhile for a nice outtake during the credits.

So I went into the cinema with low expectations mainly because I didn’t expect much after watching the trailer for Priest and I wasn’t impressed. And I was right.

Priest tells the story about a priest (Paul Bettany) in a futuristic post-apocalyptic world that sets out on a journey to rescue his niece who was abducted by vampires. The Church, unhappy with his intentions sends out some priests after him to bring him back. And let’s not forget the mysterious villain, the man in the hat who looks a lot like Hugh Jackman.

A typical story that’s been done quite a number of times, except this time it’s set in an interesting location. One of the strongest points about the movie is the whole post-apocalyptic setting and the Church – it’s not a totally fresh idea, but it certainly is a nice breather from all the typical vampire movies we’ve seen recently. Speaking of vampires, these creatures aren’t your regular humans with fangs either, they look more like aliens from space than anything, which is good and bad. People aren’t used to vampires being like that, which probably makes it hard to accept, while it makes the movie stand out from other vampire films.

The protagonist, Priest, was unlikeable. He wasn’t interesting, and besides his ability to kick ass, there was really nothing going for him. His sidekick, Hicks (Cam Gigandet) was even more interesting than him. But all in all, the actors were probably the worst part of the movie. A lackluster performance from most pretty much everyone who wasn’t a vampire.

To sum it all up, Priest isn’t a very good movie. But it isn’t terrible either. It probably could’ve been a better movie if they had better actors or a more captivating script. Props to the crew for coming up with an interesting setting and creating a new style of vampires. Definitely not a movie I would watch twice, but if there was a sequel I might give it a shot. The animated introduction was probably the best part of the film. Priest gets 5/10.