Hey guys, it’s been a while. Remember me? I do movie reviews! Well, to make up for my long absence from the movie scene I saw two, count ’em, two movies. I chose a bad week to come back though as the two biggest releases were Dolphin Tale 2 and No Good Deed and neither of which sparked my interest. The Drop (James Gandolfini and Tom Hardy) looks really good but I couldn’t find a theater playing it that worked with my schedule. So instead I saw Sin City: A Dame to Kill For and The November Man. Allow me to hit the ground running and jump right into the first one.
The first Sin City was a good movie. It wasn’t ground breaking or amazing, it was just a solid movie. But they took so long to make a sequel that all the magic of the first one had evaporated from my memory. If it had come out two or even four years later I would have been more stoked. That being said, I wasn’t keen on seeing it but I couldn’t pass up a five dollar matinee at a theater that’s ten minutes away from San Jose State.
Sin City: A Dame To Kill For was a shadow of its predecessor but it wasn’t bad, not in the classic sense at least. The acting was great and the look and feel of the movie did wonders to help set the mood. However this wasn’t enough to save it from bad pacing and sloppy CGI.
Since this is a spoiler free review I will refrain from saying too much. What I will say is that Sin City 2 has three major story lines. One revolved around Joseph Gordon-Levitt, one around Josh Brolin, and the last around Jessica Alba. Movies with multiple stories in it usually work one of two ways. The first being each story is told from beginning to end, one after the other. The second is that the movie takes turns telling each different story and each one keeps pace with the rest. Sin City 2 opted for a more ramshackle way of storytelling. My comic book guru friend Nate from Atlantis Fantasy World in Santa Cruz told me that this was how the comic was set up, that it told the story in the same way. Even though that was the case, it didn’t transfer well from page to screen and the movie suffered because of it.
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For was pieced together like Buffalo Bills skin suit and only looked mildly better. I mentioned before that the acting was good, but even all the talent the actors brought to the screen couldn’t put Humpty Sin City together again. Josh Brolin and Joseph Gordon Levitt are masters of their craft but the movie was still lacking. Jessica Alba and Rosario Dawson played their parts fantastically. I want to rave more about all the actors but I’d be here all night. Everyone did a really good job but I still wasn’t thrilled with the final product. Hell, they could have brought back Gregory Peck from the dead and it wouldn’t have saved the movie.
The CGI was another problem I had. For the most part it was good but there were a few times that were so bad it brought me out of the movie. I don’t think every movie should have flawless CG but I at least want it to be consistent. Doctor Who has cheesy effects but it’s consistent and also adds to the charm.
Please realize that I didn’t hate Sin City: A Dame To Kill For. It just wasn’t good. Sin City is based off a comic series by Frank Miller (300, The Spirit) and the first movie was done shot for shot and it worked beautifully. I’m not sure if it part 2 was done the same way but like I mentioned above, it just didn’t work.
The move looked beautiful (for the most part), and was well acted, but it was like adding truffle oil and fancy plating to a TV dinner. It didn’t come together. I know this review is late and I’m still posting it for good reason. That’s because if you saw the first Sin City or this movie interested you at all, then you should see it because it was mildly enjoyable but just like a TV dinner, it’s best enjoyed at home. Save yourself the theater prices and watch it on Netflix.
Sin City 2: A Dame To Kill For gets a 6 out of 11.
On to the next movie!
So the James Bond movie came out and… what? You mean November Man wasn’t a James Bond movie? But Pierce Brosnan played a smooth and well trained spy who finds himself in a dangerous and difficult situation while being surrounded by beautiful women and drinking a lot! Okay, fine. November Man wasn’t a James Bond clone, not really. It’s just that his character was similar even though the agency he worked for was different (CIA instead of MI6) and he didn’t have the James Bond plot armor. The plot itself wasn’t as fantastic and outrageous as most Bond plots are. It was a standard cloak and dagger type story. So what did I think about it? Stay tuned.
November Man was a fun movie but suffered from predictability. The story is a familiar one: An agent is brought back from retirement because he’s the only one who can do a job but lo and behold there’s more to the job than he signed up for and also someone makes it personal. I know I’m oversimplifying things but it was very formulaic which added to it’s predictability.
Nothing was spectacular in regards to the acting but it also wasn’t bad. Piece Brosnan was James Bond, like I joked earlier, and I didn’t recognize anyone else besides Will Patton who, like Brosnan, always seems to play himself. I’m not saying you have to be famous to be a good actor, but the lesser known people gave just as average performances and did nothing to stand out. But remember, the acting wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t good. The movie was enough to keep me awake but there were quite a few times where I wished I had seen Guardians of the Galaxy again or went to see The Trip to Italy with Steve Coogan.
There were a lot of explosions and for the most part the fighting and stunts were believable but there were a few instances that made me raise an eyebrow. A car hits a wall at breakneck speeds and even with an airbag the driver isn’t going to jump out of the car, let alone jump out and do awesome spy stuff.
I mentioned how predictable it was twice before so allow me to attempt to talk about that a bit without spoilers. The movie quickly introduces the main plot and most of what you need to know to put things together. They throw a few red herrings your way, none of which are Communism (if you know what movie I’m referencing then you’re awesome), but it was easy to see right through them. I figured out one of the key plot points the moment it was introduced. Spy movies or anything with mystery have to walk a fine line. If they give too much, the answers will be obvious. However if they give too little the big reveals will seemingly come out of nowhere and leave the audience frustrated and dumbfounded. I’m sorry to say that The November Man tried to talk this line and failed.
The reason this review goes so well with Sin City 2 is because of what I’m about to say. The November Man was worth watching but not for the price of a ticket. Watch it at home. In fact, this is the kind of movie you want to watch when you’re home sick, it’s raining out, and you hate daytime TV so you open up Netflix or whatever movie service you use, and look for something to watch.
The November Man gets a 6 out of 11.