Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back – Review

Arguably the best Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back returns to the galaxy far, far away three years after the Rebel Alliance’s assault on the Death Star. The film is a darker chapter in the saga but it creates a compelling story and adds depth to our favourite characters. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back separates Luke from Leia and Han for the most part of the film, Luke goes on a spiritual journey training under the Jedi Master Yoda while the rest of the gang attempt to evade the Empire.

The main cast return now as house hold names, people were clamouring to see the next part of the story and the film doesn’t disappoint. The script by Lawrence Kasdan and Leigh Brackett fleshes out the spirit of the force as well as developing the characters in to more than the plucky heroes we see in the original film. Luke is impatient and lacks focus, traits that true Jedi do not possess. While Han is seen to be much more than a scoundrel that is only after money, he shows compassion and care for his friends. In the early part of the film Leia is seen as a leading part of the rebellion while unfortunately she is relegated to love interest for much of the rest of it. Lando Calrissian is introduced as a supporting character who while being Han’s old friend, has his hand forced by the Empire and subsequently betrays that friendship.

Having a darker plot raises the stakes for our heroes, while not putting the rebellion at too much of a risk. This film is able to spend time on the characters, it has a pretty awesome battle between the Alliance and the Empire but that is used to open the film while the remaining hour and a half is much more personal.

As with A New Hope the special effects of this film were advanced for their time. The production team kept with their expert model making for the bigger and more menacing ships and the stop-motion animation for the Tauntauns and the AT-ATs made things feel very real (even though now they may look a little dated). However the real praise goes to Jim Hensons workshop for Yoda. As a kid I thoroughly believed that Yoda was somehow real and even now in 2017 Yoda feels as real as any of the other characters.

The visual style of the film is similar to Star Wars: A New Hope but the colour pallet in general is darker, despite the planet Hoth and the interior of Cloud City being white. While set pieces like the Battle of Hoth and the escape from a Star Destroyer are impressive (most impressive), it is the final duel between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader that is an amazing piece of cinema. The glowing blades of the red and blue lightsabers in a dark environment convey a sense of horror and that style is used again in parts of their second duel in Return of the Jedi.

While it is a main feature in many of the Star Wars films, Empire Strikes Back features some of the most iconic music by John Williams. “The Imperial March” makes its first appearance in this film and it has become synonymous with Star Wars and probably as famous as the main theme. Williams’s score has been paired with all the episodic films up to this point and it as much a part of Star Wars as any character. The music in this film conveys the menace of the empire and the tranquillity of Yoda and his chosen home world of Dagobah. It helps the audience feel tension and happiness when ever it is needed, more than (probably) any other franchise.

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is a masterpiece of cinema and is one of the best films in the Star Wars franchise. Sequels these days tend to go bigger while this film goes a darker and more personal route.

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back: Well Above Average

Airplane! – Review

They don’t make them like they used to.

Airplane! Is one of those movies I’ve seen bits and pieces of but I’ve never sat down to watch the whole thing. Boy am I glad I did! There are very few jokes in this movie that don’t hit. It’s a simple but enjoyable story filled with slapstick humour that would probably not go down too well in this day and age.

The film spoofs other movies like Zero Hour (mostly), Jaws and Saturday Night Fever. Written and Directed by the Zucker Brothers (known for other comedies like The Naked Gun and Top Secret) as well as Jim Abrahams.

The comedic timing is the star in this film. Majority of the time, comedies don’t tend to go to heavily on the visuals, its the script and the actors delivering the lines.

I feel that the comedy in this movie stands the test of time while a lot of the visual comedy serves as a bit of a time capsule for things that were pretty standard in those days – you have to understand, this film is almost 40 years old.

There’s not much else I can say about this movie other than praise it. It’s a simple irreverent comedy that is great when you want to watch something without thinking too much. If you haven’t seen this 1980 film, I suggest you give this a go (in Australia and New Zealand, the film was released as ‘Flying High!’).

Airplane: Well Above Average

Dredd – Review

Karl Urban is Dredd.

Just needed to get that out of the way. Sylvester Stallone has nothing on Urban. This film was so simple but so frickin’ effective the visuals are stunning the acting from the three leads is perfect and comic book movies just keep getting better and better. Dredd was by far one of my favourite movies last year and now its on DVD so I can watch it again.

Set in Mega City One the story revolves around Judge Dredd, a law enforcer who has the power of Judge, Jury and Executioner and a young psychic rookie, Judge Cassandra Anderson. The pair are called to Peach Trees, a 200-storey slum ruled by Ma-Ma a drug lord who is responsible for the creation and distribution of new recreational drug Slo-Mo. When Ma-Ma finds out she has judges in her tower she orders a lockdown and tells the citizens she rules over to take the judges down or get out of the way, and so begins the fight to the top of the building for Judge Dredd and Judge Anderson.

With a plot line and main objective so clean cut and simple, the 95-minute film has plenty of time to have awesome fire-fights (and I do mean fire-fights), a little bit of back story (though none would suffice), and just the right amount of character development from both Dredd (Karl Urban) and Anderson (Olivia Thirlby). Lena Headey plays the drug-addled and psychotic Ma-Ma perfectly.

Stunning visual effects, near flawless acting, and enough explosions and gunfire to make any guy’s day. Dredd is the perfect man-movie.

Well Above Average

The Avengers – Review

What can I really say about The Avengers? Joss Whedon has directed a possible contender for movie of the year? I could say that. The Avenger’s truly is the ultimate Super-Hero film? I could say that too. Hell I’ve even heared people say it was better than Batman… The truth is Marvel’s The Avengers is absoultely, 100%, with out a single itty-bitty shadow of a doubt one of the greatest movies I’ve ever seen. You might say; “Thats a bold claim Nick, how can you really say that?” Well I can confidently say that because I have only been seen a handful of movies that I have walked out of and thought, ‘I wouldn’t change a thing’. The Avengers is one of them. It had everything I was expecting and more and I would not change one single thing about it. Joss Whedon has really raised the bar in Super-Hero films. I might even say; “Watch out Nolan”.

S.H.I.E.L.D. (the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division in the Marvel Cinematic Universe) has the Tesseract, the glowing blue cube as seen in Captain America. During a routine inspection by S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), a visitor from a strange world arives through a gate way created by the Tesseract, that visitor… is Loki Laufeyson (Tom Hiddleston). After an attack on the S.H.I.E.L.D. base, Loki makes off with the Tessract and some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents he has mind-controlled. He intends to hand over the Tesseract to the Chitauri and claim the Earth as his payment. Nick Fury will have none of that… AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!

Captain America – Steve Rogers (Chris Evans): The World War two veteran who was frozen in the arctict circle for about 70 years is back with a new suit and a new vision of the world. He’s dissapointed at what the world has become but still believes in the same ideals that America stood for during the War. Evans contiues to play the valliant Captain America very well, he has accepted that he is in the future and can’t go back and he is trying ever so hard to enbrace it… but it is difficult.

Iron Man – Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.): Tony Stark has a few new surprises in his suit this time around but it’s his quick wit agian that steels the spotlight. Downey Jr. and Whedon are a match made in heaven!

Thor Odinson (Chris Hemsworth): The god of thunder is sent by his father to put a stop to Loki and his plans. Once again, on of my favourite characters of the franchise does not dissapoint. Although out of the team he gets probably the least screen time (not by much though), Thor has a fantastic presence in the team and seems to be the target of many jokes.

The Hulk – Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo): Last played by Edward Norton in the film The Incredible Hulk, Ruffalo’s Banner is a very interesting character played very well. Ruffalo captures the bumbling scientist and tortured soul that is Bruce Banner in a way that the other actors of the role in the last few films (Eric Bana and Norton) havn’t been able to pull off. I wa very worried about having the Hulk on the team but I am convinced that it was a good choice… and I will say… the Hulk definately does, SMASH!

Black Widow – Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson): Joss Whedon loves his strong female characters and Black Widow is definatley one of them! We see a little more of her bad ass skill that we got a glimpse of in Iron Man 2 as well as her sexy demenor and a little of her back story involving her run ins with S.H.I.E.L.D. and their most  loyal (?) agent, Hawkeye.

Hawkeye – Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner): No need for that purple cowl, Hawkeye in this film proves that rangas can be bad ass! I have read articles that his shooting (with a bow and arrow) style is competely wrong but who cares? It’s a movie guys… serioulsy. I have to say I loved this character and I’d really like to see a spin off film in the next Avengers phase (see Cinema Forecast Week 16 & 17) to focus on the back story between Black Widow and Hawkeye. Even just a short would be good.

Secondary Cast members include Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Colbie Smulders as Maria Hill, Stellan Skarsgård as Erik Selvig, Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson and Gwenyth Paltrow as Pepper Potts.

It is so good to see such a huge cast all get enough screen time, this was my main concern going in to the film am I going to see Iron Man and Captain America hog the spotlight. But I didn’t and that is part of what made the film so damn good. You really felt like there was a team forming here and although the heroes had their differences, believe me the whole first act highlights this, when the Avengers assemble… my god is it worth it.

Technical Points: The film was converted in post in to 3D but to be honest… it’s not half bad. It’s your choice weather to see it in 3D or not seeing it in standard (2D) wont take anything away from the amazing film that it is. It brings a new maening to the Hero’s Journey (i’m calling it the Heroes’ Journey now) it keeps it simple with a fantastically developed 3 act-structure, which alot of films try to muck around with. Joss Whedon is brilliant at what he writes and directs and I would definately say that it’s the simplicity of the film that gave it the freedom that it needed. Everything is explained but I would recommend seeing the films in the franchise at least once first. Just so you get a scope of whats going on and where they’re up to in the story.

The Avengers is the perfect balance of action and comedy that the Super-Hero films of today have needed. It’s not meant to be completely serious… the films are based on comic books, I mean it works for Batman, but who says saving the world from aliens can’t be fun as well as deadly serious. Joss Whedon really does leave his mark on the franchise (in more ways than one) and the producers of the film have an option open for Joss to return to do The Avengers sequel in probably 2015 or 2016 (my estimate: based on the way the films are looking – Thor 2 and Iron Man 3 in 2013 & Captain America sequel in 2014). This is a film I would see again in a heart beat. It’s action-packed, funny, exciting, and a little bit sad. A true cinema expierence!

The Avengers: Well Above Average