MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT (Malaysia, 26 Jul 2018)

Genre: Action / Thriller

Running Length: 2:27

Cast: Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, Henry Cavill, Michelle Monaghan, Vanessa Kirby, Angela Bassett, Sean Harris, Alec Baldwin

Director: Christopher McQuarrie 

Screenplay: Christopher McQuarrie, based on the television series by Bruce Geller 

What’s this movie about? 

In MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT, Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his IMF team join forces with CIA assassin August Walker (Cavill) to race against time to prevent three nuclear warheads from being detonated by an evil organization called The Apostles.

In the process, the mission becomes complicated as the team gets entangled with a mysterious woman named “White Widow” (Kirby), former ally Ilsa Faust (Ferguson) and arch-enemy from the last movie Rogue Nation, Solomon Lane (Harris).

Highlights!

• The white-knuckle action sequences. The M:I franchise started out as a thriller and have now morphed into this full-on relentlessly-paced action adventure.  All the action scenes are meticulously planned from the halo jump to the final OMG! WTF! crazy helicopter chase scene. My favourite one is the motorcycle chase scene in Paris - I was like on the edge of my seat!
• The camera work.  The tourist location stunts especially of Tom running and jumping from one rooftop to another is clean and breathtaking. No green screen shaky camera BS. 
• Tom Cruise. You know he brought his A game and wasn’t phoning in. Every run, every leap, every punch, every fall and every climb = 100% Tom Cruise.

 

Lowlights 

• The story. It’s nothing new. We have seen this plot many times before. 
• The score. Nothing really memorable here. It was actually distracting especially the earlier action scenes. They need not dramatize it with a score where it’s already breath-taking enough. It was an overkill (except the motorcycle chase scene where a score was absent – that’s probably why that sequence was much more effective). 
• No real danger. Yes, there are suspenseful moments but at the back of my mind, I knew everything will be ok. That’s why I still preferred the first Mission: Impossible - it was designed to be a thriller first, the action came in thereafter. In that movie, there was that tensed and "quiet" iconic cable-dangling backflip moment. In Fallout, it is just loud balls-to-the-wall action. 

In summary 

The 2.5 hours of non-stop action can be exhausting and draining. If they shaved off 20 to 25 mins, the film could be a much tighter experience. Nevertheless, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT is probably the best action blockbuster this year. 

Rating: 8/10

READY PLAYER ONE (Malaysia, 29 Mar 2018)

Genre: Science Fiction / Adventure 

Running Length: 2:20

Cast: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, Mark Rylance, Philip Zhao, Win Morisaki

Director: Steven Spielberg 

Screenplay: Zak Penn and Ernest Cline, based on the novel by Ernest Cline 

READY PLAYER ONE brings back a little of the "Spielberg magic" missing in his recent movies; the sense of adventure, special effects, sweeping music score, awestruck faces of the actors to show a sense of wonder and of course, the neat ending.

What's the movie about?

The year is 2045, where there's widespread poverty and overpopulation. People are more interested in escaping reality into this massive online universe called The Oasis via their VR equipment. When the founder of this game died, he offered his fortune and ownership of the entire game to whoever who can find the prized Easter Egg. Our hero Wade Watts (Sheridan) and his group of new found friends in the game has to face off against an evil corporation who wants The Oasis too.   

What I like about it?

• The Oasis. It's a visual fest, immersive and packed with details! This movie needs to be watched on the big screen with the best possible sound system.  
• Pop references. Because a player can be anybody in the game, this movie is packed full with recognizable characters; King Kong, Iron Giant, the DeLorean, the Akira motorbike, Streetfighter characters, Alien etc. One YouTube video says there are at least 128 of these references. Geeks will love this movie!
• The sweeping music score by Alan Silvestri.
• The sense of adventure and wonder in Act 1. The car race is WOW!
• The good old Spielberg kan-cheong moments in Act 3, involving scenes going back and forth between the game world and the real world. Only Spielberg can get the audience to scream  "Quick, quick hurry up!" at the screen. 

What I didn't?

• The bloated middle Act. After being introduced to the Oasis, I felt that was no need to keep going deeper into that world. I caught myself checking my watch. 
• The missed opportunity of exploring the growing phenomenon of young people living a reclusive life. The filmmakers did shed some light on it but kinda addressed it lightly at the end. 
• The performances from the actors are ok but not particularly memorable. 

RATING: 7.5/10 

STAR TREK BEYOND (2016)

Genre: Science Fiction / Action
Running Length: 2.00
Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Idris Elba, Sofia Boutella
Director: Justin Lin
Screenplay: Simon Pegg & Doug Jung

I was neither a big fan of Star Trek nor Star Wars series. But I leaned towards the latter because light sabers are just too cool. Well let's put it this way, Star Wars is about a war and Star Trek is about trekking the galaxy for the purpose of exploration. And war stories are always grander in scope and the agenda is clear; good guys vs bad guys. Thus, the premise of showing the day-to-day life on the Enterprise and the crew contemplating whether to engage with foreign regimes or not seems boring...until now.

Well, the first act of STAR TREK BEYOND does just that by looking at the reality of the everyday life on the starship. Even Captain Kirk himself is questioning his purpose as the captain of the ship because, "Things are starting to feel a little...episodic, " he confesses.

But when the second act kicks in, it goes up a notch. The Captain and his crew are attacked by Krall (Alba), a vicious enemy. As a result, the USS Enterprise crashes (yet again) into our deadly enemy's territory and the main crew are separated. It is in this process of finding each other and rescuing the rest of the crew, the audience is treated to some nice character development. The highlight to me is the amazing chemistry between Urban and Quinto's character as they had to lean-on each other to survive. A shout out to Urban who usually plays tough action hero characters because in this installment, his Bones character is fully fleshed out and his against type casting as a "doctor and not a fighter" is just perfect.

Speaking of casting, many critics have argued that Idris Alba is wasted as the main villain because he is buried under all the prosthetic. But when his character's motivation is revealed, I personally felt his casting was worthwhile.    

And when the movie finally kicks into warp drive in its third act, it goes into full on explosive Justin Lin's Fast & Furious mode. In fact, now I can fully appreciate how clever it is for the marketing team to use "it" for its first trailer. Many may argue for its sheer ridiculousness but I love it!

All in all, Star Trek Beyond should appeal to the mainstream audience without alienating fans of the Star Trek series. Although it seems to draw more inspiration from Guardians of the Galaxy in terms of its treatment, I'm not complaining because this film is much more fun compared to its predecessors. And it has a good balance of piling up the action and focusing on the relationships within the crew. The humanity element which defines this series is respectfully kept in this sequel as it explores the vision of what society could become in the future if humanity learned from its past mistakes...or do not.

Rating: 8.5/10

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUE NATION (2015)

Genre: Action/Thriller
Running Length: 2:11
Cast:  Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Jeremy Renner, Alec Baldwin, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Screenplay: Christopher McQuarrie

Watching any of the Mission: Impossible films (MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUE NATION being the 5th outing from the franchise) is like watching an episode of The Road Runner cartoons. No matter how outrageous the traps are (set by The Coyote), The Road Runner will never fall into it. Similarly, no matter how dangerous the situations are thrown at Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt, we know at the back of our mind he will somehow survive it. There is a sense of predictability that Ethan Hunt/The Road Runner will always win. So, the fun is actually seeing how our hero creatively overcomes each "trap" without being caught.

Just like the previous Mission, the storyline often feels insignificant as the focus is on the action set pieces. The plot checks all its trademark boxes; exotic locations, shifting alliances, megalomaniac villains, but this round, the wall to wall action sequences are amped-up to 11. The hanging Tom Cruise by the plane sequence (seen in the trailer and posters) would be the most daring stunt, but the other scenes offered are more intense; the Nessun Dorma drama, the breathtaking underwater complication, the relentless motorcycle chase and the final confrontation. What works in these sequences is its little reliance on CGI and Tom Cruise going full Jackie Chan as a one-man stunt machine. So there is a sense of real danger and tension.

What also worked in this film is Rebecca Ferguson's character. She is no damsel in distress. In fact, she does more rescuing than being rescued. And I'm glad the filmmakers did not over sexualised the relationship between Cruise and her. I'm also glad that Simon Pegg has meatier scenes this round.

Although the tone is predominantly serious, there is enough humour and silliness to keep Rogue Nation as a solid piece of popcorn entertainment. That's all folks!

Rating: 7/10

MAN UP (2015)

Genre: Romance/Comedy
Running Length: 1:28
Cast: Lake Bell, Simon Pegg, Ophelia Lovibond, Olivia Williams, Rory Kinnear, Sharon Horgan, Stephen Campbell Moore
Director: Ben Palmer
Screenplay: Tess Morris 

MAN UP is like a pop version of Before Sunrise. Our two main characters talk about various topics (nice movie references) and do things together as they get deeper and deeper into each others' hang-ups as the night goes by, but the treatment is overly simplistic and too neat. The guilty pleasure of watching a romantic comedy is its predictability. We know where the story will be heading but what defines a true adult rom-com is how the filmmakers take a tried and tested formula and add a layer of realism into it (Personally, Silver Linings Playbook still takes the cake in this genre). Man Up started off quite promisingly but it got really clumsy and corny as it came to the end. And when an unrequited high school crush towards our female lead shows up in the middle of the film to give it a dash of slapstick, you know where all this is heading. Nevertheless, Pegg and Bell make a charming couple. And the gender reversal scenario does give it a little twist, where our male lead plays the hopeless romantic instead while the female is the cynic but both are a mess inside, thus making them a believable couple. Some quieter scenes are really engaging (like the scene where Bell observes that Pegg is an "emotional jigsaw" and he just needs to "find the corners" to piece every thing together) but they are few and far between.

Rating: 6/10

HECTOR AND THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS (2014)

Genre: Adventure/Drama
Running Length: 1:54
Cast: Simon Pegg, Rosamund Pike, Stellan Skarsgard, Ming Zhao, Barry Atsma, Jean Reno, Toni Collette, Christopher Plummer
Director: Peter Chelsom
Screenplay: Maria von Heland and Peter Chelsom & Tinker Lindsay, based on the novel by Fracois Lelord

"We should concern ourselves not so much with the pursuit of happiness but rather with the happiness of pursuit." a quote from this movie. 

Although HECTOR AND THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS shares a similar theme as Walter Mitty; a middle-aged man who lives a routine life reaches a mid-life crisis and thus, spurring him to go on an international journey to understand the meaning of life/happiness, this movie goes into darker territory than Mitty ever would have dared venture. Those who are familiar with Simon Pegg's movies may not be totally surprised that he can be taken seriously on screen, but as Hector, his work here is a revelation. There are some funny moments here and there but he generally plays it down - especially the very believable emotional last scene which was truly affecting. Although his search leads him to a mixed bag of adventure, the deliverables to viewers are a little uneven. This is no Indiana Jones or even Tintin. Some encounters worked but most of them felt somewhat cliché. Nevertheless, this film works nicely as a character piece.  

Rating: 6.5/10