Movie reviews: "Jack Reacher" and "Iron Man 3"

This week I have watched two movies.

First I watched at my friend's place, "Jack Reacher". Before watching, I knew that it starred Tom Cruise and I didn't have any expectations from it.

After a former US sniper-specialist James Barr gets framed for murdering of 6 innocent people in broad-daylight, his only chance is Jack Reacher, an ex-military policeman and investigator. Together with his defender Helen, he tries to find how and why did Barr get framed. What they discover will endanger their lives...

"The law has limits. He does not." This writes on the movie poster and describes the movie perfectly. The movie starts as a thriller and ends as a action movie with big gun-showdown. And throughout the movie, Tom Cruise is best in anything he does: he is a brilliant investigator with photographic memory, a confident ladies-man, a skilled martial-artist and of course the impeccable marksman.

If Tom Cruise's character was replaced with a team of three or four people that shared his skills, this would be very believable movie. But even so, "Jack Reacher" is not a bad movie. It has a nice and intriguing plot that keeps you guessing what will happen next, few comic scenes and nice action. If you don't have big expectations, you could have a nice time with this film, as I did.

And this weekend I went to the movies to watch the new "Iron Man 3". I am not very versed in "Iron Man" setting, but when I learned that this movie features Mandarin, his arch-enemy, it made me have big expectations.

The "Iron Man 3" is set after the last (and first) "The Avengers" movie. Tony Stark is without any real occupation, wasting time in his basement and suffering from anxiety attacks that are the consequence of events from "The Avengers". But now USA is threatened by a new villain, a terrorist known as Mandarin, who is somewhat connected with the group called AIM and biologist Maya Hanses, one of Stark's ex-conquests.

Well, without wading into spoilers, let's just say that Mandarin was a the same time a disappointment and hilarious surprise. My girlfriend, who had no expectations, found it (and the movie itself) great, while I was mildly dissatisfied.

The movie is fun, fun, fun with occasional action. Robert Downey Jr. really goes well with Iron Man role and is very funny in it. I also expected more focus on Iron Man suits, but the movie goes, let's say, back to the roots.

Of course, the movie is technologically ridiculous: there was something about "recalibrating the ISDN servers on van's roof". Also, the whole idea a mechanic can make and repair a suit is nonsensical, but you just have to accept it.

From some scenes at the end of the movie, it can be implied that this is the last movie in this sequence. But I just checked on Wikipedia and it says that we can expect at least one more movie with Downey Jr. as Iron Man (although it is not confirmed).

But all in all, "Iron Man 3" is a funny and exciting movie and I would recommend it to anybody who wants to enjoy an evening in nice action, humor and special effects.

Movie review: "The Avengers"

This weekend my girlfriend and I went to movies to watch "The Avengers". Not her first choice, but neither she was really against it. I intentionally did not want to go last weekend, hoping to avoid the biggest crowds. In the end, we were both satisfied. I have been following "The Avengers" hype for some time, although passively - I like super-hero franchises, but I am not really a fan. So I knew what to expect of the movie and it turned out I was pretty realistic in my expectations.

"The Avengers" is a movie that combines and continues several movies starring super-heroes: Iron-Man (watched both and liked), Thor (watched and liked), Captain America (didn't watch, heard it was not good), Hulk (didn't watch) and Black Widows and Hawkeye (don't have movies). It also features the agency S.H.I.E.L.D., which was mentioned and played parts in mentioned movies. The plot is pretty simple: S.H.I.E.L.D. has been tampering with some alien artifact called Teserakt and accidentally freed Loki (a villain from "Thor" movie), with a little bit of help from his new allies, Chitauri. He steals the Teserakt, abducts some scientist and agents and escapes in unknown direction with nothing good on his mind. In reaction, S.H.I.E.L.D. gathers restarts the Avengers initiative, which has a goal of centering all Earth's superheroes and ally them against common foe. They are later joined with Thor who comes to Earth to put his brother Loki to order. Considering their strength, the Avengers should not have any trouble defeating Loki, except two tinny problems: they have to find out what Loki's plan is, and they have to overcome their own differences (which are pretty big).

This movie takes after "Iron Man 2" in atmosphere - flashy, fast, lots of high-tech gadgets, much of ironic banter. As I said, it is not a plot-driven movie. Although it lasts more than two hours, it is all about characters, and some about the setting. This means that it is mostly oriented to those who like the franchises and will be able to disregard weak plot. To me, it also looked like they wanted to introduce the setting and prepare the field for the second Avengers movie or other connected movies. Characters were interesting enough, and humor was quite good and successful.

In my opinion, the only flaw of the movie was the weakness of the enemies. Loki was more of a daze and confuse mind-bending player, so it OK if he is physically week (even though he is a god). But I really expected much more from the Chitauri, considering how they were announced and referenced. Also, the ending reminded me much of "The Transformers 3" trailer I saw (didn't see the movie, yet).

All in all, "The Avengers" is a standard super-hero movie multiple several times (considering all the big-name super-heroes). If you like such movies, you will love it. Even if you don't, the movie has a bit of everything to offer: humor, action, Scarlett Johansson for guys, Chris Hemsworth for girls... Just don't expect some plot-heavy intelligent drama, and you will not be disappointed - because this is THE super-hero movie.

Movie review: "Iron Man 2"

Few days ago I unexpectedly watched "Iron Man 2". I watched the first part two years ago when it was out and I remember liking it very much. So I have been planning to watch this sequel, but somehow it never got its turn.

To summarize my impression: the movie is good if you don't start thinking about it. Let's see the good sides: nice cast (Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson and Mickey Rourke, to name the most famous), nice special effects (as every other super-hero movie in last few years), good comments, nice background (the Iron Man franchise)... If you sit to watch this movie with no expectations and you just want to relax without thinking, this is a good movie for that. It has a lot of easy humor, very nice action scenes and straightforward plot.

But, if you pay any attention, flaws become evident. First, Tony Stark is very far away from stark! He is a spoiled rich child in his forties, having no responsibility; the fact that he is dying doesn't excuse him. Second: I am not really knowledgeable about the Iron Man world and its characters (I watched few cartoon series when I was a kid), but I don't remember that the fact about Tony Start being Iron Man is public knowledge. Maybe I am wrong, but this confused me a bit... Third, the technology and skills of Tony Stark are just too exaggerated! His hacking, engineering, driving, you-name-it skills are really too much! And forging a nuclear reactor?!?! Forging!!!

So, if you plan to watch "Iron Man 2", don't contemplate much about it; instead, keep attention on present and you will have a nice time.