It took me longer than I wanted to see Mad Max: Fury Road. But that’s what I get for being a nice guy and waiting for my friends. I realize it’s late but I feel like the film still deserves a review even if it’s not going to be in theaters too much longer. I also saw Aloha and it was a very bromantic evening so why not throw a review for that into the mix too? After all the movies are a little similar. How, you may ask? They both came under fire for various social issues and while my reviews are always going to be about the movie and it’s quality instead of social commentary, I can’t help but make small comments on both movies. So here’s my review for Aloha. Mad Max will come right after.
I was very excited for this movie. As some of you may already know, I’m a huge rom-com fan and so is my friend Evan. He put this on my radar the moment the trailer dropped. It has a fantastic cast and looked funny and seemed sweet enough to give me a toothache. So why did it come under so much fire and get a 18% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 40% on Metacritic? Simple. Like I’ve said before most critics a dbags who forget that movies should be fun and don’t need to be critically analyzed like they’re writing a dissertation on stale plots. So what was the movie really like? Well, it wasn’t that great, but it’s worth a watch.
Aloha had a fantastic cast. Bradley Cooper is ruggedly handsome and is a good enough actor to pull of a damaged man without overdoing it and making it uncomfortable. He has the disarming quality of Paul Rudd so even when he does a serious role there’s still an air of mischievousness. Emma Stone cut her teeth on movies like The Help or Birdman and Rachel McAdams is no stranger to romances so the acting in this movie was top notch. John Krasinski impressed me the most as his character had a deep internal struggle but, as the previews already let on, he’s a man of few words so he HAD to wear it all on his face. He didn’t say a lot because he had to. Bill Murray and Alec Baldwin didn’t play a big part so don’t let the preview fool you. They are in it and their roles are important but Cooper, Stone, and McAdams take center stage with Krasinski not too far off.
If all I judged a movie on was it’s acting, then Aloha would be getting a 9 or a 10 from me. If the rest of the movie was just mediocre it could have squeaked by with a 7.5 or an 8. However it felt like Cameron Crowe, the director and writer, has a hard-on for indie movies because quite a few scenes had a shaky handy cam feel with awkward close ups and odd cutaways. It almost seems like Crowe wanted to pay homage to some no named romance he saw at Sundance or Cannes and thought this was his chance to do it. I have to thank my friends Evan and Glenn for pointing these out to me. I’m ashamed that while I knew something was off with the style of the movie, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
Aloha clocks in at an hour and forty-five minutes but I think it should have been longer because I don’t think the story got fleshed out enough. I don’t want to spoil anything so let me just say this. Some of the characters have important parts to their backstory that gets swept under the rug. The one thing I can say is that part of Brian’s (Cooper) back story is talked about but rarely shown. There are a couple of mentions of it early on and one closer to the end, but that’s it. They could have taken this dark part out of his story and it would have been the same movie. If they would have shown it a little more, shown the effects it had on him, then it would have only enhanced the film. I have a feeling that somewhere on the cutting room floor is the missing parts to a better movie.
Before I finish the Aloha review I want to talk about some of the flack the film has been getting. The biggest two topics I’ve heard are 1. That the movie is set in Hawaii but only has Hawaiians as supporting actors and 2. Emma Stone’s character is a quarter Hawaiian but you can’t tell. Look, I’m all for bringing social injustices to light but let’s save the anger for things that actually deserve it. One of the subplots of the movie was about the military and America’s relationship with the native Hawaiians. The main cast were all part of the military side of things so the fact that they’re white isn’t a big shock. If the movie was about native Hawaiians and the cast was still all white THEN there would have been reason for anger. The second gripe I’ve read about, that one is really stupid. I mean, these people are morons. Emma Stone’s character is a quarter (1/4 if you’re into fractions) Hawaiian. It’s no shock she doesn’t look it. My best friend AJ is half Mexican and I myself am half Japanese and we don’t look it at all, besides, shouldn’t we not be judging others on looks? Okay, let me get off my soapbox and wrap this review up.
This movie was fun. It’s worth a watch but just not in theaters. Wait for Netflix or Amazon Prime or something. It’ll make a fun date night movie if you want to stay in. The camera style and lack of story development kept this movie from really shinning and it was only due to the cute love story and the good acting that I could even recommend watching it for free. Aloha will make you smile if you’re a fan of romantic comedies. The price of admission for the theater, however, wont.
Aloha gets a 6.5 out of 11.
Okay folks, it’s time for Mad Max. Like I said earlier, this one has already been out a while but I still want to give my two cents and to provide a brief commentary on the supposed social justice tones/undertones.
Let me start by saying this Mad Max: Fury Road was awesome. I loved it from beginning to end and the only thing keeping me from seeing it again this week is that other movies were coming out that I wanted to see. I went into this movie expecting a true action movie and I wasn’t disappointed. It had enough plot to keep me from drooling on myself but not too so I could get lost in the action sequences without having anything nagging me in the back of my mind. A huge plus is that you don’t even have to have seen the other movies in the series. So if you’re filthy casual then fear not. You can start with this movie and not be confused nor will you have anything from the previous movies spoiled for you.
The acting was good but nothing spectacular Tom Hardy, of course, played the often silent protagonist and even though it didn’t give him a great opportunity to spread his wings, it was enough to be thoroughly enjoyable. Charlize Theron was good as the tough main character. Even though the movie has Mad Max in the title, Max plays more of a supporting role in the story even though he’s on screen for almost the whole film. My favorite character was Nux played by Nicholas Hoult. You would know him as Hank McCoy/Beast from the last two X-Men movies but if you had recognized him in Mad Max I’d have called bull because I would never had known it was him if it wasn’t for IMDB. I believe his character showed more depth than any other characters in the movie. Max (Hardy) has most of his struggle internalized and holds it inside while Furiosa (Theron) didn’t have much growth. I know, as I’ve said in other reviews, not every character in a movie has to go through some huge change, but for those actors who can take on the role and pull it off well, I like to give a little extra tip of the hat to.
The best part about the movie was the wonderful look and feel. It felt like a Fallout game had a baby with a destruction derby. Everything about it was over the top and it worked wonderfully. Look at the picture right after this paragraph! They had a gigantic vehicle with drummers and a guitarist hanging from it as part of a convoy of other post-apocalyptic vehicles! That says it all! Just this week Fallout 4 was announced so this is a great time for post-apocalyptic themed entertainment. Fury Road was over the top and action packed and you shouldn’t expect anything else from it. If you want to think then go see anything else. If you want to watch an action movie with a hint of metal (the heavy kind) then sit down and hold on to your seat.
I’m going to keep this part brief, which is hard for me because I like talking… well… typing. Anywho, a Google search for Mad Max: Fury Road will pop up the IMDB page, reviews, and articles on the feminist tones in the movie. Some people even believe the movie feminist notes border on misandry. The protagonists were mainly female and the antagonists were mainly male. The bare bones plot of the movie is Max helping mistreated women fighting back against the men that hurt them but the women don’t really need him, he just provides extra badassness (it’s a word, trust me.) With a few exceptions the men in the movie are bad and the women are good. So does that mean that George Miller wrote this as social commentary? No, it doesn’t. This is a case of people reading too much into a movie. There’s one really good reason why Mad Max isn’t a feminist/misandrist commentary piece but unfortunately that would involve a spoiler. If you’re at all interested in what that thing is then email me BilliamReviews@gmail.com. Otherwise just go and see the movie and enjoy it for what it is. An action packed spectacle.
Okay. lets wrap this up. I loved Mad Max: Fury Road. It was and entertaining action movie in its purest form. Once it’s out on blu-ray, I’m going to buy it and watch it again. It was that good. If you haven’t seen it yet and like action films then do yourself a favor and see this one. If you’ve seen it already and liked it, them see it again!
Mad Max: Fury Road gets a 10 out of 11