Review: Jurassic World

Honestly, I went in the cinema with lowered expectations. This is due to the overexposure of the marketing campaign I saw everywhere, on social media, news, posters and trailers, I felt like I've seen too much of Jurassic World, and the best part are all shown in the trailers. I also lowered the expectations because the original Jurassic Park is a milestone in cinema. In the end, overexposure or not, I was entertained, Jurassic World has a decent enough plot and not be like another Jurassic Park III where dinosaurs exist just to eat humans.

Set 22 years after the events of the original Jurassic Park, the island is now a full-fledged theme park with actual attractions and is popular with the tourists. With the increasing operating cost, the park's owner, Masrani Corporation, wants to create a new dinosaur to attract a larger number of visitors, without thinking of the consequences.

Colin Trevorrow, the director of Jurassic World, did a wonderful job on recreating the spectacle of Jurassic Park. Sure, it is not as good as the original, but it is certainly better Jurassic Park III and at most times better than The Lost World. It has a pretty good story that drives the characters in the film. Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) are well written characters, they have great chemistry and have great progression in the story. Some characters' felt flat or do not move the plot at all. Claire's nephews don't feel important to the story as they and Claire do not feel like they are related, Simon Masrani is unsure he is a serious CEO or a comic relief, Dr. Wu (the only recurring character) suddenly feels so mysterious.

The dinosaurs are great on the big screen. The hybrid Indominous Rex is an imposing and terrifying figure in the film, a symbol of humanity's greed, the Mosasaurus is a great addition to the movie. I was bit worried in the trailer when Owen is controlling and taming the velociraptor, I though it was bit too much. However, due to the great acting of Chris Pratt, it is pretty convincing! If human can tame lions and tigers, why not the raptors (hehe). Lastly, it is really exciting when we are finally able to watch the original T-rex from Jurassic Park made an appearance, her appearance is what makes the last act of the movie so fantastic to watch.

Of course, 22 years later, the visuals of Jurassic Park have improved tremendously since then. Jurassic World looks great on the big screen, the dinosaurs feel lifelike and believable. Even though CGI has taken over much of the work, practical effects like animatronics are still used in close ups. There are some instance where the scenes really felt like the actors are looking into the green screen mapping or part of the CGI background, but that did not detract much from the experiences. The sound effects makes a roaring return with full spectrum of the dinosaurs' roars.

The movie did succeed in making it feels like Jurassic Park, with good amount of anticipation to the appearances of the dinosaurs and the suspense of the wait. It also brings a lot of the good memories (bad memories if you were in that world) of the Jurassic Park with the visit to the old park's site, most of the time it felt good, but in some instances it felt forced.

I also give credit to the writers' ability for refuting scientists' claims of dinosaurs that were researched post-Jurassic Park have feathers and looks slightly different in sizes. First, they use Dr. Wu to explain that these dinosaurs were bridged with genomes of modern reptiles in order to make them breed in the test tube and hence looked different. Secondly, they are not from the real world, they are in the world of Jurassic Park. It would looked weird if the velociraptors suddenly grown some feathers 22 years later.

I really liked Jurassic Park, not only because it was entertaining, it was also acknowledge what makes the first Jurassic Park so great and tried to recapture that magic. It also tried to avoid the comparisons by refusing to name it Jurassic Park IV as it would limit the storytelling because of The Lost World and the mediocre Jurassic Park III. There are some moments where the movie felt bit flat, but it was mostly a great and entertaining film. Colin Trevorrow and Steven Spielberg managed to make it work, that is to make the audience interested to see dinosaurs again.

To me, unlike The Lost World and Jurassic Park III, Jurassic World is a true sequel to Jurassic Park.

Score: 4/5

REVIEW: Furious 7 (Sending Off)

"One last ride," Vin Diesel's character, Dominic Toretto  has been saying this quote for the past iterations of Fast & Furious for years, even though there are sequels coming. For this time, Furious 7, it is one last ride for a character, in particular.

Back to work

I'll talk about that in a moment, but first let me talk about what I think of Furious 7 as a whole. It's difficult to find a franchise that grows in popularity in subsequent entry of the series. From a small budget flick to a must-watch blockbuster is no small feat.

Transporter is here!

The new movie saw Jason Statham, the new villain for the series, as Deckard Shaw, who is out for revenge for his brother, Owen. Jason Statham fit into this movie easily, as he is one of the most recognisable action star out there, I like him after I saw the American adaptation of The Italian Job and subsequent movie. In Furious 7, Jason Statham is just being Jason Statham, and I like it.

The action sequences, visual effects and the ensemble of casts are the main draw to the series. The crew (family) is better than ever, delivering their own witty one-liners to one another and the chemistry between them is still there. Tyrese continues his usual comedic relief role, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker being the frontmen, Letty be the female version of Dom, Ludacris be the IT guy, Nathalie Emmanuel from Game of Thrones join the fray, The Rock be the cop and some familiar faces return, which is a welcome sight.

The visual effects are detailed as well, I appreciate what they have done with all the ridiculous stunts they managed to pull off by doing it practically instead of doing CGI when they have the liberty to do that. The plane drop? It's real.

However, on the action sequences side, it's a bit of overdone. I'm not saying that the action sequences sucked or whatsoever, just that the fight scenes between characters have been overdone. The face-off between Dominic Toretto and Deckard Shaw is just plain ridiculous, the cars' chassis were damaged beyond recognisable, yet both the characters exited the car unscathed from injury, WTF?! Metal bars hit on concrete, the concrete disintegrate instantly yet done absolutely no damage on their faces.

I know this movie is over the top, but this scene is bullsh*t!

Not to mention there are some elements are unnecessary. Kurt Russell's character, Frank, doesn't seem necessary at the first place, and the military thing is not helping as well, although I might be wrong when the sequel comes to play. This resulted in the movie being bit too long.

In the end, none of these acclaims and criticisms matter as Furious 7 is all about one man, Paul Walker. His tragic death in 2013 caused the film to do some rewriting to give a proper farewell & retirement to his character. As Fast & Furious being the franchise started in my generation and continued to be successful, Paul Walker is the man I grow up watching, so it's bittersweet to watch this film, as his character, Brian O'Connor, continues to kick ass, yet towards the end, you know he will be retired. It is a "one last ride" for him.

The dialogue shared between Brian and his wife, Mia, it's touching and give so much emotion in the movie. The ending tribute and goodbye to Paul Walker, as he gave a one last drive toward the horizon is unbelievably emotional moment as well, tried to hold on to my feelings all the time while I watched it. The theater I was in, gave a respectful standing ovation, as they know it is the best way to say goodbye to the man who made this franchise at the first place.

Despite the overlong runtime and way too over the top sequences, Furious 7 managed to keep audiences engaged in its usual adrenaline pumping action sequences, stunts and the ensemble casts. Yet, none of these matter anyway, it is about Paul Walker and Brian O'Connor. It is about them giving their respective "one last ride".

Rating: N/A

One Last Ride

Review: Godzilla

Look, I have nothing against the 1998 American Godzilla, in fact, I like it as its own movie. As a standalone monster movie, it is ridiculously silly, funny and at the same time entertaining in its own way. But when you watched the original Japanese version, or had a glimpse of it, or even watched Ultraman before, that is not an actual Godzilla, it strayed too far from the original. The 1998 adaptation felt more like Jurassic Park on steroids.

So, when Legendary Pictures and Warner Brothers decided to reboot the whole Hollywood adaptation, I had some doubts whether it will succeed or not. But, Gareth Edwards' vision towards the Japanese version with his idea worked well, and rather brilliantly.

The movie is about the devastation of human abuse of the environment and the use of Nuclear based materials and its effects, which is the appearance of monsters of Godzilla. To make matters worse, Godzilla isn't the biggest trouble! Making the army had a torrid time throughout the movie. The brilliance about the new Godzilla is, it felt like Jaws. Godzilla makes the viewers felt terrified and nervous, even when Godzilla is off-screen.

The new Godzilla had some of the finest cast line-up, it has Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass, Avengers: Age of Ultron), Elizabeth Olsen (Avengers: Age of Ultron), Ken Watanabe (Inception, The Last Samurai), Bryan Cranston (Malcolm in the Middle, Breaking Bad).

These actors are some of the most popular and great actors around, and it is paired up with a really decent script. The movie is mostly centred around Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his family (Olsen, Cranston) and of course Godzilla. The movie surprisingly had a really strong human drama to back it up, but the character development is somewhat forgotten halfway through the movie.

The main character of the movie is still the titular character, Godzilla. Gareth Edwards made Godzilla hidden most of the time until the film climax. I like this idea, but moviegoers who prefer the movie come out gunblazing from the first second might not like this. This version of the Godzilla stays true to its Japanese roots, and bigger than the Japanese version. This makes Godzilla feels terrifying, on and off-screen. Beside Godzilla, there are MUTOs in the movie as well

The movie had a really strong visual effects as well. Many of the action set-pieces are well made and well-polished to make it feel believable and exciting. The destructions created by Godzilla are massive and the great visual effects make these destruction much scarier and realistic.

While the visual effects is great, the best part of Godzilla is definitely the audio effects. The movie is loud at the right time with all the actions going on-screen, with the roar of Godzilla the highlight of the audio effects. The audio effects is the best I've heard this year, and it is some of the best I've heard in recent years.

Godzilla is a faithful adaptation to its Japanese counterparts, highlighting the movie's values correctly. It is silly, but believable that makes the movie so entertaining to watch. Despite its strong but stalled human drama, the movie has a decent story to back it up. Gareth Edwards' Godzilla is one of the year's most entertaining movie of year.

Pros: Good visual effects, one of the best audio effects of the year, strong cast and good story, Godzilla is back!

Cons: Character development is somewhat stalled halfway, some silly moments, some viewers might not like the beginning of the film.

Score: 4/5