Red Cliff (2008)

Red Cliff. My knowledge on the history of China, particularly on the epic - yet often highly exaggerated - legend of the Three Kingdom is quite small. Of this miniscule knowledge I've got from comics (no, not the popular "Legenda Naga" comic which I loathe) and especially, games, I took a personal liking to Cao Cao for I think he is one with a noble reason to unite all of China despite his questionable methods, and Guan Yu for his understandably fictionalized and much exaggerated deeds and moral values. Therefore, when John Woo said that his two episode films about the Battle of Red Cliff will be based on historical fact, I was clearly flourish with anticipation. Of course, I don't have any idea about the differences between the historical facts and its romanticised counterpart and therefore could take any depiction of it with a grain of salt.

Red Cliff, episode one runs too long to my liking and it certainly won't appeal to casual viewers who had no idea nor care about the Romance of the Three Kingdom. Therefore i think that it's a wise decision to release this film into one single episode in the North America rather than two episodes just like what we saw here in Asia. Me and my wife agreed that there are many points in the film where the tone shifted uneasily, slowed down to a bore, and threatened my wife (who has a relatively short attention span) into a slumber. Further, we're agreed, not because we're sexist and all, that the role of women characters in this film are ones that put a huge question mark in our head and put a serious dent in the overall. For example, the birth scene. I really don't think that it would hurt anyone had the scene was eliminated entirely.

This film depicted the battle of Red Cliff or as this episode concerned, the first part of the battle of Red Cliff which happened right at the end of Han dynasty and arguably, trigger the event that led into a much known tale of Three Kingdom. The battle pitched a Northern army led by Cao Cao against the southern coalition of Liu Bei and Zhou Yu at the place called Red Cliff which even if the actual place was still a speculation, it was believed to be located somewhere along the Yangtze river bank.

For a viewer who had a prior engagement to the history (or fiction) of Three Kingdom this film could actually become a pleasant experience, my wife and I had a brief discussion on Who's Who during the film and we're actually pretty good in guessing each and every prominent characters that appear in this film. It's no brainer really, Guan Yu, Zhuge Liang, and Zhang Fei were quickly identifiable as they were given attributes that doesn't far off from their physical description in books and once their roles were established, the rest easily follows.

As I've said earlier, the film runs too long and a quick glance to the poster, it's obvious that this episode is mainly concerned with Zhuge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and his blossoming rivalry with Zhou Yu (Tony Leung) and if I could say it so myself, their chemistry was an okay one, not that "wow" but quite not that "meh" as well. Cao Cao had pretty much the same treatment with most of books and games about Three Kingdom out there, a cocky and arrogant antagonist albeit an excellent strategist almost at par with Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu. My problem lies with Liu Bei. Although I'm really not into his character, I had wished to see a powerful and charismatic character. He is after all, a man that could made powerful men such as Zhuge Liang and Guan Yu and Zhang Fei pledge their loyalty to his cause. Sadly, I found none of the said qualities in this film. Worse, on one scene, he is treated as no better than a comedy film's clown. That, and those white doves.

My rating: **1/2 / **** - A film that appeals more to the History of Three Kingdom savvy. Fight scenes were few and far between given the long running time. If I could make a comparison, "Warlords" (also with Takeshi Kaneshiro) proves a better fare for a film.

The Dark Knight (2008)

Disclaimer: This review is undoubtedly, understandably biased. Those who look for a fair-and-square review might want to head elsewhere instead. That being said, The Dark Knight is definitely on top of my list of 2008, heck, it's the Best film of all time if you asked me, Heath Ledger deserves an Oscar or I'm going to steal it for him, and.. oh yeah, Christopher Nolan is God!

Years ago, as I returned from the theater after the premiere of Batman Begins, I told my room-mate that its sequel is going to be a blast for we see Batman flips a Joker card hinting his next opponent in the sequel. I said to him excitedly, "Dude, we've never seen a Joker in any Batman films before!" Puzzled, he said, "Really?! I thought we've seen him already" Confident and cocky, I assured him that no, we've never seen a Joker before and of course, being a proud and a self-proclaimed Batman's no.1 fan I had refused to admit that I was wrong but the truth is loud and clear and there's no escaping it. We did saw a Joker back then in the 80's when Michael Keaton donned the masked vigilante for the first time.

I've seen the film of course, but somehow the Joker's presence in that film really slips from my mind. I totally forgot about him. In fact, the only other thing than Batman himself, I only remembered Vicky Vale from that particular film. Now, after I've seen The Dark Knight, I think I know why Jack Nicholson's portrayal of Joker slips from my mind.

Jack Nicholson is a great actor, no doubt about it but there's always a certain line that shouldn't be crossed even if you're a great actor. Ripping Joker, one of the most distinguishable villain in the comic history, out of his root is one such line and really, had you asked me, what Jack did to Joker is what i'd like to call a murder of a character. His portrayal of Joker is literally begged and screamed to be forgotten. Heath Ledger (and Nolan) despite the fan's initial reluctance to accept him as the Joker (a reluctance that slowly turns into an eager anticipation, if i may add) has more than manages to brought Joker back to its root, a sickening super smart villain with a cold ice running in his veins. This is, after all, the Batman's ultimate, numero uno, nemesis we're talking about here.

In a sense, the Dark Knight is actually more about Joker and Harvey Dent than it is about Batman. Nolan introduces us to two of the most important character in Batman. Harvey Dent, superbly played by Aaron Eckhard whom also deserves some award - aw, who am I kidding? Give every single person in this film an award and I won't even uttered a single breadth of complaint - is, was Batman's closest ally next to Jim Gordon (the venerable Gary Oldman) in the effort of cleaning the street of Gotham from injustice and crime. Enter Joker whose needs of crime and terror leverages into more of a passion than a mere money or fame. It takes little from him to prove that he is indeed the only villain of Gotham that could stand up against Batman. Arguably, he even stands taller as in the end, in my opinion, he had won the fight against Batman and that's why the Joker is Batman's nemesis. Jerry Robinson would be proud of his creation.

Arguably the most sophisticated and adult superhero film ever to come out of the pages of a comic book, The Dark Knight won't appeal to children. Parents who thought that Batman is the same Batman as they used to know, expecting their children to had a good time would in for a surprise. I could almost put the almost three-hours of The Dark Knight into a drama and in my opinion, you had to love drama before you could appreciate what The Dark Knight has to offer.

Acting wise, surprisingly, Christian Bale was outshone by almost everybody (except Maggie Gyllenhaal perhaps). His persona as Bruce Wayne, the millionaire, still the best that this franchise had to offer and I think, he is better as Bruce than he is as Batman. Gary Oldman is as good as ever. He is a spitting image of Jim Gordon from the comic anyway. Hence, no complaint from the comic fan, no complaint from general viewer, everybody wins. Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine had their share of shining moment. But really, the star of this film is of course, Heath Ledger who hardly recognizable under that Joker make-up. He was lingering like a memorable dream (pleasant or un-pleasant, your call) during the first half and when he was more palpable during the second half, it's like to see that dream had come to life and more than ready to bite you or embrace you, your call. He steals every single scene he's in right after his first banter with Batman. My favorite Joker moment: (Mouthed the word) "Six" Everyone who has doubtful that Heath would pull the ultimate Joker should dig themselves a hole and buried themselves in shame. Unfortunately, we won't ever going to see Heath returns as Joker anymore and whoever succeeded him had a gargantuan mountain to climb.

With The Dark Knight undeniable success (already taking the spot of biggest box-office opening of all time from Spider-Man 3), it is easy to see that a comic book adaptation film is not how it's used to be decades ago. Just like its paper and inks counterpart, the comic book adaptation is laden with deep and complex characters. No more silly and five-year-old comic-stuffs galore (point finger to Joel Schumacher who painted the supposedly dark and gloomy Gotham City with bright purplish colors). The comic books nowadays are filled with philosophical thoughts and subtle messages. No doubt this trend has been transferred to the silver screen as well. Plus, more and more world-class actors and actresses willing to play superheroes only after their unending passion and deep research on the hero themselves. I think it is safe to say that after Robert Downey Jr. and Christian Bale, the power-that-be, the men and women behind the decision to green light another hundreds-of-million dollars budget of a superhero film would think twice and maybe more when they put a name to shoulder the leading role and this at least half-way guaranteed that another superhero film, be it from Marvel or DC line of superheroes, would worth the wait. Oh, how I love comic.

My rating: ***** / **** - Don't expect me to give a fair judgement, if fairness was accounted for, I would give it a four star rating, anyway.

Choice

Well, we, humans had plans, but God may have other plans written for us. The child in me had to sit one out on this occasion as though I had planned by any means to go and see The Dark Knight tonight, my wife had to be hospitalized for a fear of fever (Demam Berdarah) and the husband (me) by all means should go out of town to take care of her, am I right? Of course, I am.

"Dark Side of the Rainbow"

This is a well-known trivia related to The Wizard of Oz (1939) but I bet there's still a score of many out there who has never heard of it. Let alone tried it for themselves. Dark Side of the Rainbow is the name used to refer to the act of listening Pink Floyd's masterpiece, "The Dark Side of the Moon" while watching the film. Supposedly, the visual of the film has a subtle synchronization with the music of the album providing some sort of a live soundtrack.

A couple of nights ago, for the first time, I tried it for myself. As noted in various sites in the Internet, I should begin playing the CD right after the Lion in the opening scene closes his mouth after his third roar. Well, as far as I'm concerned, though, I don't see what's all the fuss about with the synchronization. It probably because I've never seen the film before yesterday, or simply my timing isn't right.

As far as the film goes, for a film that released in 1939, The Wizard of Oz was rich and manages to look expensive. I've always been a sucker for a musical film anyway and I should say that The Wizard of Oz is notoriously famous for its "Over the Rainbow" song. So, yeah, despite the flawed overall visual quality, I could enjoy The Wizard of Oz and it would be one of the first film my daughter (or son, whichever came first :D) would see along with Sound of Music. No TV for my kids!

Anyway, here's a video of one of the scene from the film that supposedly synchronized with my favorite track from the album.

Yours Truly, Best/Worst Batman

While Christopher Nolan's take on the Batman franchise without a doubt outshone both Tim Burton's and especially Joel Schumacher's stinker duds, I was on a close opinion to chose Michael Keaton as the best Batman with Christian Bale a close second (the order of it MIGHT change after i saw The Dark Knight, though), but I've had no doubt whatsoever to name Christian Bale as the best Bruce Wayne. The worst Batman/Bruce Wayne? I should say that all Batman fans must unanimously name George Clooney as the worst Batman/Bruce Wayne. No. Frickin'. Doubt.

Can't. Wait. Any. Longer.

Okay, i'm now officially restless. James Berardinelli at ReelViews.com, one of the few film critics i'd like to hear from (probably due to his educational background in Electrical Engineering which in my opinion, doesn't stray that much away from Computer Science) has given this film a solid four stars, the first i've seen from him in a long time. Damn! And the word is, that this film arrived at our local theater on July 18th. Shoot 'n Crap, i'd say! But, no matter, July 18th or July 16th, you can count on me being the first in line for The Dark Knight.

Mustn't. Punch. the. Wall. for. Impatience.

Building the Hype. The Dark Knight

As if the film needs more hype than it already has. This film's hype is crazy. Probably the craziest hype ever in the history of film. I mean, even if Batman Begins doesn't really has that power to bring down the box-office much like Spider-Man film which of course, had you asked me, a clearly understatement, the duo Chris Nolan and Christian Bale still heralded by many as ones who responsible to revive the legacy of the second greatest detective in the fiction history (second only to Sherlock Holmes) and we, self-acclaimed Batman fans were ready to eat anything they had to offer as a sequel. Added to that, Warner Bros. has been throwing us gimmicks regarding the film more than we could chew. Added to that, again, the death of Heath Ledger the dude who plays the main villain, the glorious villain that many has come to accustomed with as probably the ultimate villain Batman ever had, surely upped the ante of the anticipation level.

Anyways, news has it that Indonesia is among the first country who has the privilege to see The Dark Knight earlier than most along with Australia (the home country of Heath Ledger) and Philippines. I sincerely hope that it would be the case for if it is true, i would skip work on July 16th. Now, if i could find an old Joker costume and could muster enough courage to don it on the screening day, that would be a blast.

"The Square Root of Three" by David Feinberg

Quite probably the single best thing that could be obtained from Harold & Kumar Escape from the Guantanamo Bay which otherwise a stoner film merely repeating the formula that put its predecessor (Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle) into the map of fans of intentionally stupid comedy film is this poem by Kumar, "The Square Root of Three" which according to some quick info from Google was written by David Feiberg. I can't help but smirked in amusement.

"I’m sure that I will always be
A lonely number like root three

The three is all that’s good and right,
Why must my three keep out of sight
Beneath the vicious square root sign,
I wish instead I were a nine

For nine could thwart this evil trick,
with just some quick arithmetic

I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321
Such is my reality, a sad irrationality

When hark! What is this I see,
Another square root of a three

As quietly co-waltzing by,
Together now we multiply
To form a number we prefer,
Rejoicing as an integer

We break free from our mortal bonds
With the wave of magic wands

Our square root signs become unglued
Your love for me has been renewed"

The overall film was okay, i guess, if you're a fan of the first film, you'd love it. It's full of ridiculous thing over another, as Harold & Kumar trek their "epic" journey from Guantanamo Bay to Texas, and meeting one cartoonish character after another from a bottomless swim party, a Cyclop inbred, a KKK party, to a smoking weed session with unexpected ally. This film is cock-full of racial stereotypes and enough nudity, profanity and of course, weeds to grant a solid R rating.

My rating: *1/2 / **** - Pretty much an enjoyable time wasting experience. However, a 110 minutes of running time might be a little too long for most to this kind of film.

Red Cliff... Not!

Anyone else excited to see John Woo's rendition of the most decisive battle in the Chinese History? I do and therefore i was pretty excited to learn that this film will hit the local theater tonight at midnight. However, as my wife, a Chinese history buff, won't let me see the film without her, i had to hold the reins and wait for her instead in two weeks time. Hey, just trying to be a good husband, here. Hopefully the film was still around at the time.

Another sad news, we won't see Hellboy II: The Golden Army anytime soon in Indonesia even if it is already hit the theater everywhere else. It irked me a lot on how ignorant those fools at 21 network really are. I mean, sure, Hellboy is an almost unknown superhero here, but, as far as i'm concerned, the first film is the best superhero film after Batman and that is only because i'm a fan of Batman. Further, Selma Blair is hands down, the best superhero's female sidekick ever. I don't even know who to direct my rage towards to for the lack of appreciation from the so-called movie-goers in Indonesia that ultimately led to the decision to push back the release of Hellboy II, yeah, movie-goers indeed, tasteless movie-goers, in fact, i wouldn't call them movie-goers, just a bunch of kids with too much of time and money and too little of everything else (including taste). Go see that Eddie Murphy's newest dud, Meet Dave, instead which perhaps not surprisingly, arrived on a spot-on schedule. I hope that they don't screw up again when The Dark Knight scheduled to arrive. Given the Batman's reputation, i wouldn't think that they would screw it up but hey, there's no limit to stupidity and taste-less-ness.

Batman: Gotham Knight (V) (2008)

Batman: Gotham Knight (DVD). Just like Animatrix series of Japanese-style animes that linked Matrix (1999) and its subsequent two-part sequels (Reloaded and Revolution), Batman: Gotham Knight is a series of animation episodes that (apparently) linked Batman Begins (2005) and the upcoming The Dark Knight (2008).

Batman: The Gotham Knight is a collection of six titles: Gotham Knight, Cross Fire, Field Test, In Darkness Dwells, Working Through Pain, and Deadshot. Each recounted the tale of Batman from various perspective after the events in Batman Begins which arguably turns Batman from a novice crimefighter into the Dark Knight. From a bunch of kids recounting their tales of Batman encounters, each with their own version of spice to fantasize their tales thus rendered the Batman into more than just a simple human being, from the squad of Gotham Police Department, Batman's battle against Scarecrow and Killer Croc, his encounter with Cassandra (not Cassandra Cain, though) in what i'm guessing India, his and Lucious Fox's research to have another addition into his arsenal of gadgetry, and finally his fight against Deadshot.

If you asked me, Batman: Gotham Knight is a more of a gimmick than an essential link that bridged the two Batman films. Long time fans of Batman, and especially Batman Animated series would know most of the stories already. Added to that, here, Batman was voiced by Kevin Conroy, its original voice actor from Batman Animated series. As far as The Dark Knight film which was going to hit the theaters next week concerned, unless my ears deceiving me, not a brief mention of Joker, Harvey Dent, or even Rachel Dawes ever came up which made the episodes depicted in this film act more like filler episodes. Therefore, unless you're Batman fans, really hyped up toward The Dark Knight film, or a film buffs with a lot of time to waste, or all three, it's okay to skip this film entirely and anticipate for the release of The Dark Knight film sometime next week instead.

Wanted (2008)

Wanted. A thousand years ago, a clan of weavers claimed themselves to be the bringer of balance to the world. They formed a fraternity of assassins, and with questionable method of choosing the target's name, they started to cleanse the world. The member of this fraternity of assassins were utterly talented in the art of killing. What i mean by "talented" is clearly an understatement because really, when you could curve the bullet of a shot, jumped off the building to another building across the street safely, timed your vehicle's speed and surroundings to pull off some nearly impossible stunts, to call you a "talented" would be an insult.

The story of Wanted is so absurd that it could only came out of the pages of a comic book. Indeed, Wanted was lifted out of the pages of a comic book therefore to enjoy the film in its fullest potential, you have to shove aside its absurdities and treat it as a pure fantasy. In that sense, Timur Bekmambetov as the director treat this film as such and as a result, provides an enjoyable entertainment imbued with stylish visual displays in vibe with 300 and The Matrix albeit a little less visceral, without being too much going on over the head.

Wesley (James McAvoy) is a practical loser. His life is miserable, his boss is miserable, his girlfriend is miserable, where he sleeps is miserable, his bank account is miserable, the only thing in his life that isn't miserable is perhaps Annabelle, his cat. What's worse, he accepts his miserable attributes of life. Meanwhile, across the street (well, not exactly across the street) a member of fraternity is up for a surprise and the first stylish action ensues as we follow an eccentric high-speed bullet soars through obstacles to finally shot through the man's head. Events quickly unfurled (according to my wife, too slow; according to me, just right) and Wesley met Fox (Angelina Jolie) and gunshots flies, car-chase ensues. Apparently, it seems that there's a member of fraternity that has gone rogue named Cross and he is up and about killing every members of the fraternity. Wesley, whose father was a member of the fraternity and was killed by Cross, (re)discovered a talent required to enroll into the fraternity. Sloan (Morgan Freeman), a self-established leader of the fraternity said that Wesley is the only one who could kill Cross (at this point, my wife and i asked each other, "Why?"). Thus begins Wesley's new life as he undergone many ferocious training before he was up against Cross (Thomas Kretschmann).

As a pure action, the film had its charm in an excess. Wesley is a likeable character and McAvoy easily fit into his place. Angelina Jolie is at her usual vixen persona, she doesn't need to do much to make me sigh in longing exasperation. Acting wise, nothing special from her, but her very last scene is sure going to get mentioned and remembered.

However, me and my wife had a similar question regarding the time when the Russian man got killed. It got me questioned the position in which Wesley was in the fraternity. It seems to me that Sloan and the fraternity had spoiled him a bit too much which in turns made the film rather inconsistent from my point of view. While i could easily ignored the fact, safely stored it elsewhere for later exploitation, my wife can't and as far as she concerned, this is where the film ended for her.

My rating: **1/2 / **** - Good action films, aptly executed, reasonable pacing. If action films is your cup of tea, this film is one you don't want to miss. However, in my opinion, one obstacle (that scene with the Russian guy) got me fumbled and i could never really get up from there.

Hancock (2008)

Hancock. Suffice to say that for all it's worth, i believed that Hancock works rather well (if one didn't want to call it passable) largely because Will Smith's star power whose performance is probably, in my opinion, one of his strongest performance yet.

John Hancock (Will Smith) is a misanthrope, an alcoholic, and a downtrodden man with a 'small' case of superhuman powers. High-speed flying, indestructible body, ultra-powerful punches and kicks, John Hancock has all the ingredients to become a famous superhero who stands in the line of goods against evils. But as the tagline of this film aptly said, "There are heroes. There are superheroes. And then there's John Hancock", John Hancock fall somewhere between a superhero and an "asshole". The public despised him so much that on one occasion, when Hancock allegedly held the bad guys but causing the city a damage worth US$ 9 mills., LAPD Chief himself said (it's not exactly what he said IN the film, just a rough approximation from my part), "We don't want him here, he can chose to destroy New York or wherever instead of this city" He kept on his sullenness and negativity toward society until he met a struggling PR Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), who then promises to made the public aware and ultimately appreciate what Hancock is capable of.

However, when Hancock met Mary (Charlize Theron), Ray's wife, one could very easily deduce by the mere fact that it's Charlize Theron - one of the prominent working actress today who played Mary - herself that Mary and Hancock promises some twist some backdrop to the overall "depressed Superman" -theme that has actually, in my opinion, going on superbly during the first half of the film.

I'll be bold by saying that no one could came up with an exact reason of why does Will Smith is almost associated with a box-office success. He was an actor whose name and season of summer combined meant only one thing for the film industry, "MONEY!" It's just plain fact. "Hancock", despite of the flaws it suffers, certainly noticeable during the second half, is another proof that Will Smith is still a Money-magnet when it comes to movies.

Hancock is clearly a two-part films squeezed into one. Arguably (if you asked me, at least), the first part of this film was more superior than the second in almost any aspect imaginable. In the first part, we see John Hancock as a miserable anti-hero at best, or a despicable bum at worst. Fortunately, Will Smith's persona made its viewers actually rooting for him to get things right on track and that's why it could be comfortably said that Hancock works largely due to Will Smith in reins. Thus, the first part of this film is probably responsible for most of the impressions left of this film to its viewers. It's funny, and entertaining.

The second part is where Mary, whose name alone threatened to stole the spotlight from Hancock from the very first eye contact came into play. I've heard that this film has undergone much surgery in the editing room for its producers wishes to aim for a "PG-13" rating. Rumor has it, that this film was submitted thrice before finally receives a "PG-13" rating. Therefore, i guess that the jumbled and sometimes incoherent second part of this film is the result of this surgery.

Albeit some of the scenes in the second part still retains the entertaining quality from the first part, i wouldn't be surprised if many among the audiences questioned some part of the plot. Myself, as i've always favored a dark and gloom ending, the way Hancock chose to wrap itself leave me with a frown and a "meh". Clearly, the ending was heavily influenced by the producer's decision and the original ending was more dark and gloomy IF there's an alternate ending, that is. Hopefully.

My rating: **1/2 / **** - It's actually a kind of film where you could have a good time, a few good laughs, but totally forgot about it the second you move your ass from the seat.

Poster: The Dark Knight