The Darkest Hour (2011) film review.

Review: 1.5 out of 5.

Of all the highest grossing films of 2011 I have watched, the film I reviewed is definitely the lowest, at least critically. The Darkest Hour was so bad, I almost slept throughout the entire film. That is not me exaggerating, I assure you. If any of you watched Skyline, this is a lot worse. I won't go into specifics right now, but I'll go into the background detail along the way.

Released 25th December 2011, a non-Christmas Day Special guarantee, the Russian-American production was directed by Chris Gorak and produced by Timur Bekmanbetav (Wanted) and ran a tedious 89 minutes. The motion picture with its tag line "Survive the Holidays" followed two young American men, Sean (Emile Hirsch) and Ben (Max Minghella) who travel to Moscow to sell their very own software to the company, headed by a Swedish businessman. Unfortunately, their passion project has been ripped from them (cough Social Network) and were thrown out. Sean and Ben start to woo beautiful women in the company, how convenient both the women they end up with, Natalie (Olivia Thirlby) and Anne (Rachael Taylor) are also American.

Fast-forward 15 minutes later, everyone looked outside at the night sky as a sudden glow appeared just when many aurora balls of light fell down. An invasion began to ensue as invaders protected by force fields ravaged the area, vaporizing every man, woman and child who got in their way. They proceed to consume the humans electrical resources.

Good:

It was hard to note anything great about the film, what I do appreciate is the concept they were going for, which is an alien invasion from Russia's perspective and the fact these creatures are far beyond humanoid and more so another plane of existence, which is raw energy. The length of the production gone into the film was not the best and is satisfactory, but the potential, basic, premise fell very short in the actual interpretation.

Bad:

There were many things that were bad about the sci-fi that is hard to muster in one go. First of all, the script by Jon Spaihts was trite. I hardly think there was any structure at all in this film, it started off fine up until the arrival of the aliens but pacing went completely out of whack and was a drag all the way through. It was noisy, not contained and went hay-wire. Everybody went beserk including the main cast who was frighteningly 2 dimensional in personality, drive and reaction. It is like the actors who did these characters didn't even try. There is really nothing more to say here.

The film was so bad, even through the last half of the 2nd act that I couldn't watch it anymore. The direction was so apalling, by the time some of the characters teamed up with the Russian's and found a solution to their perdicament, that was it for me. If anyone saw this would damn well agree with me. It was undercooked and I grew sick of what they fed me.

Even the music was depressing, balled together with awful screams with sweet, fitting, executions. Sooner or later, you will tire of the executions and could not really invest in the characters. So much that you could hardly care if they lived or died. Most of all, I couldn't take any of the actors or director for that matter, seriously.

Overall:

The film had a descent premise, but was engrossed in trash; flat characters, lazy cast, futile script, poor direction and production that would of been great if a little more thought had gone into the movie instead of screams, overbearing slow pace and less flashing lights. Watch Kanye's music video, he'll give you tips on brightness and contrast. Don't bother watching this on 3D, your better off renting a cheap copy in your local DVD or Blu-ray store just to add to your collection. The next review will be Drake's second outing, Take Care LP.

- Written by Kbon.

[Prototype] game review

Review: 4 out of 5

Okay, I'm going to take a break reviewing films just for a short while.

I haven't made any critic responses since Predators and that was a long time ago. Well, I'm back in my favourite desktop seat, but this time I share many view points on a video game. Non other than a large step of the most entertaining game of the year. It is Prototype, now because game's are very complex, I will judge it and break it down by the "Story", "Game play" and "Design" rather than how I critique films, music and other media.

Prototype is published by Activision and developed by Radical Entertainment, featuring Barry Pepper who voiced Alex Mercer, the most powerful character in the Wildstorm universe. It was released over a year ago in June 2009 for the X Box 360, PS3 and Windows PC, they also released a comic book published by DC comics Wildstorm, which ties in with the game. Players get to become the anti-hero in an open world environment and do battle with an ever present black ops military organization called Blackwatch and the Infected, (Resident Evil, anyone?) mutated victims of a plague spread throughout New York City.

Story:

Mercer wakes up in the middle of a morgue just before two surgeons were about to dissect him. He escapes a facility, Genteck, who are the main figurehead and centre of genetic manipulation and several conspiracies within the game. Though it is not long before the Blackwatch soldiers confront Mercer, attempting to shoot him down. Mercer, obviously survives and exhibits superhuman abilities. He discovers that he carries in his palms shapeshifting abilities that grant a range of different powers.

Eventually, he makes contact with his sister, Dana Mercer. Not only do we learn her connections to Alex and Gentek as the reporter dug enough information to fight against the company while her brother was undercover. Alex subsequently encounters a psychopathic woman called Elizabeth Greene, who like Mercer is altered by a virulent weapon dubbed "Blacklight", which changed her in ways that literally trashes Darwin's theory of natural selection out the window. Feeling a link towards Greene he frees her only to get smacked by her ungrateful "mother". Greene births hideous monsters such as Hunters and other abnormalities while she infects the entire city, which sets the stage for what's to come. The effect of that and how it stretches in with his constant search for those who is responsible.

I have played some levels and this is a largely progressive, incredible storyline. The interesting thing about this is although this game is linear, many of the audiences is able to feel attached to Mercer. This is especially on side missions e.g. Web of Intrigue. Mercer, through a system like this can steal memories from targets who are involved with his past by absorbing host's body's. The feature allows the audience to veer down memory lane to uncover secrets and growing mysteries relative to the main plot. Nothing I found wrong in the story that is pretty well written except the pacing can be a little tedious.

Game Play:

Mercer has the ability to disguise himself by consuming others. This enables the user to regain health after it decreased from attacks. In addition, stealth is a major issue when it comes to infiltrating army bases at some point in the game. There is a reticule at the bottom of the screen in your Heads Up Display (HUD) that measures your discretion. If you are spotted in your host's guise doing suspicious activity, it will be harder to escape.

Another factor is Mercer gains 'upgrades' or special manoeuvres during the course of the game. These abilities come across in a few options for defensive and offensive powers. For instance, he can transform parts of his body into blades that can penetrate almost any material. A defense would be a shield he envelops that blocks most attacks. Going through a catalog of powers is not as tough as it sounds. It's simple to activate plus this does not interrupt normal play.

In addition, the character has super strength and gymnastic capability that makes use of his parkour movements. Alex can go anywhere, you are basically unstoppable. The only problem with the mechanics is the controls are crazy sometimes. I think one point in level 2 I had a problem throwing a car onto a helicopter, but it easily clears that flare up. The other trouble was difficulty adjusting to his agility, he just goes on and on non stop. It compels the fluidity of his travels slightly because you cannot go up a building without falling off the top of it.

Design:

The presentation is descent, but not perfect. A lot of things can be done here besides the story like working alongside the Infected or military during Events section. That is only just a sample of the potential you can try in this game. These help to keep the gamer busy, nevertheless, collecting medals in a sort of arcade tone maybe fun but can get old very quickly. The graphics on the monsters are believable and is a good spokesperson for very mature levels of gore. At least it is not too demanding though, visuals are crisp, especially when diving into Alex's subconscious in vague but effective flashbacks. Sadly, there is always drawbacks with entertainment so I hate to break it like this, but the skyline has low quality and the drastic change transitioned from pre-infection to post-infection in the setting does not do much for me.

Overall:

Developers at Radical Entertainment balanced a sharp cut apocalyptic premise with a gritty, open world, superhero game for single player. With a few improvements this would be a masterpiece. Prototype still is more than just an idea, it is a collector's item that coups up a conspiracy that fits it's way on a control pad snugly as much as slipping into footwear. With intense game play, remarkable graphics and clever story I could play it in fortnights. You can truly change everything and become anything within this ball of a game.

- Written by Kbon

Predators (2010) film review

Review: 2.5 out of 5.

Thank you to all who read here,

I came from my long while of watching films to review the 2010 film, which I had a fair share of little expectations for. After watching the laughing stock that was A-Team based on the famous big television series and the even more expendable mercenaries in a B-movie known as The Expendables, I had decided to review Predators. This Sci-Fi film is a remake of the Predator franchise. So, forget Alien vs Predator (2004) and Alien vs Predator: Requiem (2007). Pretend they never happened, that is exactly what I was told by one of my friends when I was just about to buy tickets at the box office. Those crossovers stink anyway, nothing compared to the first two original films Predator (1987) and Predator 2 (1990). Let's get down to it.

As per usual, I will break this down into three categories. Those of you who read my past reviews know this, as for those who don't know, they are the "Good", the "Bad" and the "Overall". No, I didn't make a Clint Eastwood reference. Man, you people always spot these Easter Eggs a lot, just kidding. Anyway, Predators (not Predator, notice the "s") is directed by Nimrod Antal and is produced by Robert Rodriguez, the master behind the Spy Kids series and most recently Sin City and Grindhouse with Quentin Tarantino. It was distributed by 20th Century Fox and is 107 minutes long, a bit of a drag than it needed to be. What is quite interesting is the fact that Rodriguez penned an early draft of a script for Predators more than a decade ago in 1994 before Fox invested with this. In a way, I'm kind of glad they picked the right time to show it. On with the review, I'll get to my bench mark later.

Predators had the Lost feel to it, but that does not necessarily do much for the ratings. When you are shown on the screen in the opening scene, you first meet Royce (Adrien Brody) who literally falls from the sky from only God knows where into a jungle reminiscent to an Amazon. Royce meets up with several other people who have landed in the jungle and turn out to be either hired soldiers of fortune or convicts execpt a doctor. The party includes Cuchillo; a drug lord (Danny Trejo), Nikolai; a Russian soldier (Oleg Taktarov), Isabelle; a sniper from Israel (Alice Braga), Mombasa; RUF officer (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali), the skilled Yakuza member; Hanzo, (Louis Ozawa Changchien) death row inmate; Stans (Walton Goggins) and finally the doctor I was talking about, Edwin (Topher Grace). In a space of 15 minutes during the film, it becomes obvious the group is not on the planet they think they are on.

Good:

Before I get to the good bits, let me say that this movie does bring a sense of intrigue. I admit that I was surprised by the level of gore in this film since this is a certificate 15, but that does not really do much for me. There were some little good parts in it that kept me watching like the surprising appearance of our guest actor Laurence Fishburne, but even he did not do well to save this feature in being average. There were some crispy clean visuals as I would expect in a science fiction film of this day and age plus some very snappy dialogue. The Predators themselves were just how I knew of them with their gnawing split mouths and Rasta dreadlocks hidden away by their space helmet/masks. Yes, as ugly as ever. I thank everyone in the costume department for their handiwork. Another great part is the film maker's new take on the extraterrestrial hunting machines, an existence of a new specie of Predator dubbed Super Predators who are larger, more bloodthirsty and do not share that honour the original does. Among other creatures, I will talk about later, there is a feud between those large Predators and the classic ones. I do appreciate the sword fight between Hanzo and one of the Super Predators, but that is really it and was more for entertainment.

Bad:

Predators serves as only a half point between the box office failure and splendor masterpiece of Hollywood films, meaning don't bother waste your time going cinemas just rent it in your local DVD or Blu-ray market. I made a painful and reckless mistake watching this. Nevertheless, I didn't really complain, I mean I had cheap and tasty popcorn. The sweet kind, done just right. The acting was mediocre at best, although, I couldn't believe the factor of Fishburne's rendition of a crazed militant could be so bad. In my mind I was thinking along the lines of "Is he for real?!" but as I placed more popcorn in my mouth I just was shocked at the idea. Fishburne you can do better, man. I will ignore the fact that producers killed off a black man in the most terrible fashion they can think of. The irony is Mombasa (Ali) is not the first but the second target after another non-Caucasian man (Trejo). After more senseless humans getting picked off, a lame plot twist involving the doctor and some brawl with monsters I now come to my final conclusion. My rating fits the picture of another great concept gone to waste.

Overall:

The script is weak in certain places, but it beats A-Team with leaps and bounds. Though it still does not do enough to really pick me apart with their awesome plasma guns, in fact it does not even come close. The acting was okay but Fishburne felt like an extra. Good direction, but poor execution, visuals are standard blockbuster imagery and so is the sound, which sets the creepy air but it takes all of the thrills away and can get boring quite easily. They did a number on the effects budget and relied on references from previous films to catch on. My suggestion is just buy it on DVD and just wait till the ticket sales end. I got another review for you coming in a few weeks and it is [Prototype] the game, which means I have to grab my PS3 pad and start breezing through all the levels. Peace out, fans.

- Written by Kbon