Incredibles 2 Movie Review

As a big fan of The Incredibles (a favorite animated movie, favorite score, excellent blend of superheros and James Bond, the emotional journey), I’m rather mixed on Incredibles 2. I tried going in with little-to-no expectations, trying to soak in the movie I saw, but probably still had a degree of bias / expectation.

SPOILER-FREE quick take: Incredibles 2 has a number of really great things in it (such as the action), it also has a few too many plot lines, with no storyline really getting the breadth and depth they deserve. Overall, the film lacks the heart of the first movie, but there's almost always something going on and I was surprised how quickly the movie flew by, despite being bored at times and awkward pacing leading to a general lack of proper climactic moments.

Extended review with SPOILERS:


WHAT I LIKED:
1. The action was really, really great! Some seriously top-tier stuff. That raccoon!

2. Jack-Jack’s micro storyline (the various scenes) were pretty great - he made for some excellent humor and action, giving other characters lots of things to play with.

3. The villain’s message and general motivation was solid – I loved the callout of consumer culture, with regards to people defining themselves by consumption as opposed to creation, as well as becoming passive due to that consumption. And the reason for the villain being a villain is pretty good (ruined faith/reliance in Supers), and fairly in-line with the Syndrome’s motivation (burned entitlement by Supers).

4. Voyd! Like with Blink in X-Men: DOFP, Voyd was awesome.

5. Winston Deavor (MILD SPOILER) actually being an earnest good guy. Yes, men are problematic in society and in media, so it's nice to see an earnest good guy in this.

6. Frozone getting more to do. More Sam Jackson is almost always a good thing in my book.

7. The company logos (Disney and Pixar) in the beginning done in the red Incredibles aesthetic.

8. A number of little moments, such as SPOILERS Evelyn calling out Helen think they'd be friends despite not knowing each other, and Jack-Jack towards the end using his telekinesis to save his mom after recognizing the situation (I would have loved this to have held for an extra beat).


WHAT I'M MIXED ON:
1. The dialogue – For the most part it’s fine, but there were a number of lines that were a bit too on-the-nose for my preference. Again, probably fine, but another pass or two would’ve been nice (may also have been tied to the delivery).

2. Brad Bird’s storytelling voice is somewhat questionable and he isn’t exactly great with women – He’s mostly fine, but there are little signs in Mrs. Incredible, Violet, Edna Mode, Voyd and Evelyn Deavor that are questionable, and are presumably a reflection of his baby boomer upbringing and current middle-aged status. A couple examples: while Mrs. Incredible is an incredible character, she’s a bit more of a plot mover than any real emotional thrust; there’s a fun-but-side-eyed puberty joke at Violet’s expense (plus her general reaction to her plot). Again, things are generally fine, but Bird’s voice has a certain coldness to it that’s become more apparent (after the Tomorrowland bust, presumably).

3. Michael Giacchino’s score – I could probably put this under “didn’t work for me” since it’s a largely forgettable score, saved only by the re-use of the great themes from the original (a personal favorite score). Maybe it’s a fault of the high number of plots causing auditory disarray, but shrug. Maybe both MG and BB are past their prime. :/

4. The new Supers – Again, Voyd is great, but they’re all largely gimmicks and barely characters. They serve the plot decently and do make for good action scenes, which is / can be fine.

5. The villain’s plot – While the motivation is great, the actual plot is a bit wonky, with at least one plot hole towards the end (SPOILER the kids realize the goggles are the problem, but when Violet’s fighting Voyd she doesn’t bother to go for the goggles).

6. The humor - There were some good jokes in the film, but the timing and delivery were occasionally... off/odd.


WHAT DIDN'T WORK FOR ME:
1. It’s kinda boring – The movie had an odd mix of having too many plotlines (Mrs. Incredible taking the lead and female empowerment, Mr. Incredible learning to be a good dad, Violet’s dating life, Jack-Jack’s powers and the family’s discovery, Frozone kinda having something, the tech siblings trying to bring Supers back into the limelight, the commentary on legality, the villain’s message to callout consumer culture, the villain’s motivation, Edna Mode “kinda” having something, the retired FBI guy “kinda” having something) and awkward pacing. There were a number of times where the story would follow Mrs. Incredible and just as she was about to do something, it’d cut back to Mr. Incredible doing boring dad stuff for an extended period, as opposed to following the more interesting Mrs. Incredible. There’s also just a general cold tone that comes through in the cinematography, particularly for Mr. Incredible’s parenting stuff.

2. There’s no emotional thread! – The first one was so great because it mainly followed the emotional journey of Mr. Incredible, along with how it affected Mrs. Incredible (and her reactions), and their journey towards becoming a stronger couple and family. In the sequel, we’re still largely following the emotional journey of Mr. Incredible, despite Mrs. Incredible taking the more prominent role, and there’s also a little journey by Violet, but nothing really comes together. The film touches on so many things, then distances itself.

3. Being an immediate sequel – Can we please stop this trend? It didn’t work in Quantum of Solace, it didn’t work in The Last Jedi, it didn't work in Search for Spock (though awesome opening sequence) and it didn’t work here. Immediate sequels that aren’t written at the same time (e.g. LOTR, BTTF) make for really, really awkward plot structures, and Incredibles 2 highlights that problem for me.

4. Jack-Jacks macro storyline about the family not knowing about his powers. The whole first movie was building towards Jack-Jack having powers, which were revealed at the end. Sure, the characters “might” not have known about the powers, but it’s been 14 years since the movie came out – it was an awkward creative choice to have none of the character aware of Jack-Jack’s powers.

5. Changes in the art direction – While there’s still a lot of the wonderful throwback art direction that made the first one so great, the advances of CG animation since the original has given the sequel a polish that is awkward and took me out of the movie several times – increased details in the characters’ complexions, certain shots with regards to lighting, and other aesthetic choices that just felt disconnected from the more simplified and stylized approach of the original, and some character designs that didn’t feel entirely Pixar-esque. That said, the animation is fantastic.

6. The pacing / climaxes – Kinda touched on this above, but want to explicitly call it out. There were a number of times where the movie felt like it was building towards something only for the film to quickly touch on it, then move on. There was no real weight to anything in the movie for me. Hell, the actual climax of the movie just kinda comes and goes.

7. Screenslaver - The hypnosis angle was interesting, but they ultimately felt underwhelming and SPOILER the identity reveal was rather telegraphed, which gave the movie a somewhat rote plot.


CONCLUSION: WASN'T FOR ME. But while it didn’t work for me, I’d happily put this in the Your Mileage May Vary category, as it does have a number of really good things, but also some questionable creative choices / direction.

It's certainly nice seeing the family, characters and world onscreen again, but what I saw wasn't nearly up to the highs of the first.

Movies on plane August 2018 part 1

John Wick Chapter 2 
John Wick 1 and 2 are not for me, as much as I'd love to like them.

I have three issues with this one:
1) The assassins (particularly Reeves and Common), and others, are trying too hard to be cool like the opening scene of The Matrix: Reloaded; which is bad.
2) Much as I respect physical actual action, this is just a bunch of Reeves awkwardly bobbing around with a gun near his head. Then when he's close, it's just spin everyone around before popping everyone in the head. Speaking of which...
3) If I wanted to watch Headshots: The Movie, I'd rather watch a "Let's Play" of Goldeneye 64 in Big Head mode on easy difficulty.

There are again teases of an interesting world, but the film follows characters I don't really care about and the most basic, basic, basic, basic story around: mess with John Wick = you die. It was boring and flat. Maybe I'd enjoy it more with a better director?

Unless you enjoyed the first movie, John Wick Chapter 2 is sadly NOT RECOMMENDED, but please go see it anyway and judge for yourself.


Ghost in the Shell
There are actually some decent things good in the film, such as production design, generally costumes and some elements of the story (the metaphysical, the villain mostly).

But there are indeed some problems in the movie, too, particularly with how much they messed with Major's origin and made it such a central point (save it for the second or simplify what was done), adding an origin to Bato's eyes and casting him with a New York accent (or whatever that crappy accent was), not to mention criminally under-utilizing the rest of the Section 9 team. Had the story focused more on them being a solid team, having good banter, but still having political machinations, it would have been better. I'm positive a minor recut of the movie will go a long way.

As for the controversy of the casting and whitewashing, it wasn't an issue to me as she's in a shell - a supposedly generic shell, per the show and mange (another movie fuck-up). Hell, once she got a better idea of her origin, she could have modified her shell for a not-going-to-happen-now sequel. Would giving the role to an Asian actress have been preferred? Absolutely. But her being whitewashed/her identity taken away was part of the story and not a bad idea for a story.

Despite its number of issues, Ghost in the Shell is RECOMMENDED, but maybe just barely. I wish either this version were better or there's a sequel that could show off just how good the property is, but maybe that's what the Stand Alone Complex anime series is for (particularly the second season).


Kong: Skull Island
It's a total B-movie, but hot damn is this fun. Easily my now second favorite movie of the year, considering how underwhelming this year has been (first is Get Out). Kong has some cliches with the 70s setting re: music and the military, but things just work and click due to some excellent direction and editing.

Sure, the characters don't really exist outside maybe Sam Jackson's character, but it's not really the point - Kong is the central figure of the story and he completely owns this movie. We just happen to be seeing Kong through these rando's eyes. Then again, John C Reilly was so much fun!

Also, give the team that brought this Kong to life all of Andy Serkis' future work. This Kong was so much more compelling than Peter Jackson's version, which I've admittedly forgotten. Then again, it may have just been the movie, on the whole.

Either way, I'm completely onboard with the sequel and can't wait. The post-credits sequence is arguably the second best ending of the year (first goes to Split; third may be the post-credits from Spider-man: Homecoming).

Your enjoyment of B-movie cheese may vary, but Kong: Skull Island is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED by me. I'm sad I missed out on this in theaters, as I'm sure it'd have been quite the experience.

Kingsman: The Secret Service - The Adult Bond Send-Up You Didn't Know You Wanted

Kingsman: The Secret Service

It was within the first scene of the movie (the title sequence) that I quickly realized to just say "fuck it" and enjoy the ride that is Kingsman: The Secret Service. In that "checked-out" mentality, I found the film to never take itself as anything other than what it is: a modern day adult send-up of classic Bond and spy movies.

It does a great job of playing with classic Bond tropes: the grandiose villain with a defining feature (lisp) and the badass second-in-command, the rich and powerful secret organization complete with a master of gadgetry/tech , the equally powerful evil organization and even the classic spy romances.

Without trying to give too much away, the film did a very interesting twist by having the villain (wonderfully played by the one and only Samuel L. Jackson) not actually seem all that evil - he actually wants to, as he fully believes, help the human race - through population control. The film itself never directly calls him out as evil, nor does he grandstand, but clearly he's the bad guy. Right?

As for the spy romances, I thought Kingsman did a great job by largely avoiding them, instead focusing on the friendship between the two young, attractive, would-be secret agents - breakout stars Taron Edgerton and Sophie Cookson. Even the wicked and alluring evil second-in-command played by Sofia Boutella, also a breakout, lacks a clear romance angle. It's refreshing to just have them focus on character growth and plot (classic spy hero's journey to save the world).

Speaking of the characters, everyone did a fantastic job, with Colin Firth going above and beyond to prove that he can really kick ass and have fun while doing it! The adult actors (Firth, Jackson, Mark Strong, Michael Caine) were all clearly enjoying their roles, while the younger actors felt more like they had something to prove (as they had more of an arc, particularly Edgerton and Cookson).

Beyond that, I particularly enjoyed the films overall style - choregraphy, cinematography, direction, set design (exotic locales and elaborate sets!), costumes and even a surprisingly satisfying soundtrack by Henry Jackman and Matthew Margeson.

My only gripe is the film's gratuitous violence. I like good over-the-top violence with a point, such as Robocop, but found the occasional bit of over-the-top violence in Kingsman to be unnecessary, despite the many great action sequences. Then again, the gratuitous violence regarding our desensitization may be one of the films mild attempts at social commentary - the other regarding the power elite of the world vs the layperson. But the commentary, and even the violence, wasn't really the primary focus of the film, which was simply to have some crude, crass adult fun with spy movies.

Bottom line:
RECOMMENDED for those looking for a highly enjoyable spy romp popcorn flick with great action and style.
NOT RECOMMENDED for those against gratuitous violence, crude humor or expecting something revolutionary in the spy genre.