Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:08 PM
Genre: Action/Crime/Adventure/Thriller
Starring: Ed Harris, Nicolas Cage, Sean Connery, John Spencer
Boasting of a very strong star-cast, The Rock was a very promising movie. Brigadier General Francis X Hummel (Harris) is a Vietnam war hero and is disappointed with the fact that several US Marines have lost their lives in battle but have not received any form of respect from the US government. Taking the law in his own hands, he takes control of 'The Rock', a prison island off the coast of San Francisco and prepares to launch deadly bio-weapons at the city if his demands are not met. John Mason (Connery) is a British spy who was once held up in that very prison and knows it like the back of his hand. He is aware of a passage which would allow the Navy Seals to gain access into the island and take control of it. Dr. Stanley Goodspeed (Cage) is an FBI chemical weapons expert and knows how to diffuse the bio-weapon. The two are sent inside the island in order to perform their tasks and bring the situation back to order. The movie is very action-packed and if insane stunts and gun-wielding army men is what your looking for then it is definitely something you would want to watch. The trio put on an amazing show which is why this movie is very appealing. Although old, it still holds its charm.
Thumbs up: Gripping and entertaining
Thumbs down: The general hostage situation and good vs bad story
Rating: 7.2/10
Action,
Adventure,
Crime,
Good Movies,
Thriller,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 7:00 AM
Genre: Fantasy/Thriller/Action/Adventure
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello, John Hannah, Michelle Yeoh, Luke Ford
In ancient China, there lived an Emperor Han (Li) who had conquered all his desires and wishes except for death itself. He summoned a witch, Zi Juan (Yeoh) to grant him immortality, instead she cursed him and confessed her love for his General. The emperor along with his massive army was forever turned to stone. The year is 1947, Rick o'Connell (Fraser) and his wife Evelyn (Bello) are requested by the government to go to China and hand over a rare artifact to the Shanghai museum. They meet their son Alex (Ford) their who has uncovered Emperor Han's tomb. Alex gets double-crossed by his excavation companion and the emperor is reserructed. The mighty king now wants his army back and will reclaim what was once his. The movie story dosent really continue from the previous versions. Although the story has taken a new perspective of the term 'mummy' it still maintains the charm that the previous movies had. Action packed and thrilling moments is what you will get. What you dont get, however, is the mystery which the earlier versions had. You somehow know what is going to happen in the end and it is the inevitable victory of good over evil.
Thumbs up: Equally gripping as its predeccessors
Thumbs down: A slightly predictable story-line
Rating: 6.8/10
Action,
Adventure,
Fantasy,
Good Movies,
Thriller,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:46 AM
Genre: Drama/Thriller/Horror/Fantasy/Action
Starring: Keanu Reaves, Rachel Weisz, Shia LeBeouf, Djimon Hounsou
Angels and demons still exist in this world with humanity in between. Neither angel nor demon can cross over in their pure form and come on earth. They must come in the form of a half-breed which is part human and part devil/angel. An equal balance between good and bad is maintained on earth, however, increasing demon activity has recently tipped the scales. John Constantine (Reaves) is an exorcist who has been sending demons back to hell regularly. He knows his time is about to come and wishes that he ends up in heaven for the good deeds he is doing in spite of knowing that god does not agree with what he is doing. Angela and Isabel (Weisz) are twin sisters. Isabel is a mental patient who one night jumps off the roof and dies. Her death appears to be suicidal, however, her detective twin sister, Angela refuses to buy that story. Angela meets John in a chance encounter and learns about the existence of angels and demons. John offers the explanation that her sister might have been caught in the battle between good and evil which has landed her a place in hell. As the duo start uncovering the secrets of Isabel's past, they stumble across many horrifying facts which might just put humanity as a whole to the brink of extinction. The movie is loosely made and is extremely slow. Don't be surprised if you have to stifle a yawn or two. Except for a few startling moments, there isn't too much in the movie to actually horrify you into getting sleepless nights. The acting wasn't anything great either. In short, its quite a boring watch.
Thumbs up: *thinks hard* the little suspense that the movie had
Thumbs down: Not too thrilling for a movie of its kind
Rating: 4.4/10
Action,
Drama,
Fantasy,
Horror,
Pathetic Movies,
Thriller,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:04 PM
Genre: Crime/Drama/Biography/History/Thriller
Starring: Kevin Costner, Robert De Niro, Sean Connery, Charles Martin Smith, Andy Garcia
Al Capone (De Niro) was an infamous bootlegger that operated from Chicago in the 1930's. He dirtied the hands of almost every city official, law enforcement agency and politician in order to get his work done. Treasury department agent Eliot Ness (Costner) takes up the task of putting Al Capone behind bars for good. On his team is beat cop Jimmy Malone (Connery) sharp shooter George Stone (Garcia) and a treasury accountant Oscar Wallace (Smith). Repeated at getting Capone fail miserably and the team gets a bad name in the media. The team also suffers the loss of two team members but the rest diligently move on and finally manage to nab the mafia don and put him behind bars. The movie is well narrated considering the era in which it was made, but there are a lot of areas in which it could have improved in. The story was a little too simple and not as dramatic as one would have liked it. A bit of more drama and thrills would have taken things to a different level. Sean Connery's presence, however, didn't do too much of good as Robert De Niro's did.
Thumbs up: Robert De Niro in any avatar is always stunning
Thumbs down: A little more chills and thrills
Rating: 7.3/10
Biography,
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Historical Event,
Thriller,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 6:02 AM
Genre: Science-fiction/Action/Drama/Thriller
Starring: John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton, Oliver Platt, Zlatco Buric
A lot of movies, books and theories have come to light citing the inevitable destruction of the world, but most of them either don't hold water, have come and gone or are not expected in the near future. 2012 is perhaps one of the first such theory which does have a scientific explanation backing it up and has also a fixed date of occurrence. Jackson Curtis (Cusack) a little-known novelist, part-time limo driver for a Russian business tycoon and a divorcee, has taken his kids out camping. He sees a lot of strange things and meets a semi-demented radio jockey Charlie Frost, who explains him about a disaster waiting to happen. He also learns that the governments of various countries are building huge ships in China to seek refuge and survive this impact. He collects his family and along with his employer Yuri (Buric) they all head to China. Meanwhile, American geologist Adrian Helmsley (Ejiofor) with the help of an Indian astro-physicist had predicted the disaster but did not expect to occur so early. All top US officials have been killed and the White House Head of Staff Carl Anheuser (Platt) is now head of the US govt. He only wants people with big pay-checks and influence to be on-board. The movie has got poor detailing and graphics and could have been much better. Comparing it to The Day After Tomorrow, the movie fails to have the visual impact that its predecessor did. All that said and done, it gives out a very vital message. If such a calamity should befall human-kind, rather than being a racist we should all live as humans and not as attitude-laden animals trying to outdo each other. Peace-out!
Thumbs up: Teaches you a thing or two about being more human
Thumbs down: Poor graphics and detailing
Rating: 7.1/10
Action,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Science-fiction,
Thriller,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 1:24 AM
Genre: Comedy/Adventure/Drama
Starring: N!xau, Lena Farugia, Hans Strydom, Eiros, Nadies
Xi (N!xau) is back within an even crazier version of his adventures. Xi goes hunting for some food in the jungle along with his kids Xiri (Eiros) and Xisa (Nadies). A truck belonging to poachers is parked in the jungle with a compartment filled with water. Xiri and Xisa have never seen so much water in all their life and decide to have some fun. However, when the truck starts, the two cant seem to get out of it and are trapped inside. A desperate Xi starts pursuing them on foot to rescue his children from 'the strange beast'. Meanwhile, a wildlife expert Dr. Stephen Marshall (Strydom) is taking Ann (Farugia) a New York lawyer, out for an aerial safari in his mini-plane when they suddenly realise that they are badly out of fuel and have to crash land. Stuck in the middle of the Kalahari desert, there is very little that they can do. On the other hand, a lost Cuban and Angolan soldier are trying to get the better of each other by holding the other one prisoner. All three stories come together at one central point which simply makes this movie an even more entertaining watch. Scenes from this movie just seem to stick in your head and are simply unforgettable.
Thumbs up: Everything is just LOL
Thumbs down: Not in the mood to think this one out
Rating: 7.9/10
Adventure,
Comedy,
Drama,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 1:05 AM
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Adventure
Starring: N!xau, Marius Weyers, Sandra Prinsloo, Louw Verwey
Comedy movies are even more appealing when the humour in them does not seem to be picked from somewhere or over-used. This movie provided a fresh taste of comedy and is still one of the very fondly loved movies. Xi (N!xau) is a Sho tribesman living in the Kalahari Desert in Africa. He and his tribe members are very content with their simple life and have no worries. Their peaceful livelihood goes for a toss when an empty Coke bottle, thrown out of a low-flying plane falls on the ground and is discovered by Xi. The tribesman takes it as a gift from god and starts finding many uses for it. This eventually leads to fights, enmity and squabbling between the tribe members, emotions they were earlier unaware of. In order to set things straight, Xi decides to walk to the edge of the earth and throw the bottle away. Another side-story consists of a shy biologist Andrew Steyn (Weyers) and a journalist Kate (Prinsloo) and their blossoming love story within the jungle. Initially you might feel the movie is a whole load of trash, but give it some time and it would show you its true colours.
Thumbs up: N!xau all the way
Thumbs down: People throwing Coke bottles from the sky.
Rating: 7.7/10
Adventure,
Comedy,
Drama,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 4:23 AM
Genre: Crime/Drama/Mystery/Thriller
Starring: Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren
Russell Crowe's mere presence in a movie adds a lot of credits to it, this movie being no different. The US government decides to outsource all of its military operations to a private company. A petty thief gets murdered in a Washington alley along with a pizza delivery boy who witnessed the murder. Congressman Stephen Collins' (Affleck) aide, Sonia Baker dies in a train accident. Three separate events have one common link; PointCorp. The very same company to whom the military operations have been assigned to. The very company against whom Stephen is investigating and hurling charges of monopolistic practices. Cal (Crowe) is a polished journalist with the Washington Globe and also a very close friend of Stephen. When the media discovers about Stephen and Sonia's intimate relationship, all hell breaks lose and Stephen turns to Cal to help him get out of his mess. Much to Cal's horror, this story has much more than what it seems to be. Cal, along with Della (McAdams) the papers online reporter, start uncovering the truth bit by bit to uncover the entire conspiracy of corruption and deceit. The idea of a 'journalist solving a murder mystery' was better looked into by Zodiac, but then again that was a real-life incident and this one is completely hypothetical. The story gets a little predictable and you might just stifle a yawn or two, but its not exactly unexciting.
Thumbs up: Russell Crowe all the way
Thumbs down: Predictable, lacks some bit of suspense
Rating: 7.4/10
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Mystery,
Thriller,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 7:18 AM
Genre: Drama/Crime/Romance
Starring: Clive Owen, Julia Roberts, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Giamatti
Many a times many people have tried to emulate the Oceans series of movies but the original is the original no matter how hard you try. Claire (Roberts) and Ray (Owen) are a smart duo who love making other people with lots of money look stupid. Not just that, they passionately love each other and cant trust the other person with an even bigger passion. Howard Tully (Wilkinson) and Richard Garsik (Giamatti) are heads of rival FMCG companies. Garsik has hired a team of sleuths which includes Claire and Ray to find out what is that big thing that Howard Tully is so eager to announce at his shareholders meet. Garsik wants the product specifications stolen from Tully and wants to announce it before he can. Claire and Ray, however, have different plans. The movies kicks off on a very confused start, going back and forth into time and it takes a while to get the hang of things. The movie doesn't have the sort of excitement that it should have and the background score was the only thing that was trying to make the movie look funny. The twists are fun but could have been with a little more excitement and suspense. On the acting front, Julia Roberts and Clive Owen look like they are made for each other were probably the big thing that kept the movie going.
Thumbs up: Efforts by the entire star cast
Thumbs down: Uneventful and unexciting
Rating: 6.1/10
Average Movies,
Crime,
Drama,
Romance,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 11:04 PM
Genre: Drama/Romance/Comedy
Starring: Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Upen PatelWith a string of flop movies, Ranbir Kapoor decided to do a movie based on his life. Half-way through Wake Up Sid he realised the movie was getting a bit too serious and hence decided to do Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani. Prem (Kapoor) is president of the Happy Club, a club for unemployed and useless youths. He keeps getting put down by his father for not earning money and supporting the family. The members of Happy Club specialise in helping two lovers get together. Jenny (Kaif) is the new beauty in the neighbourhood and Prem is all head over heels over her. He tries to do everything within his reach to keep her happy and win her love. Usual love story saga ensues where the guy loves the girl but cant tell her and 'too-dumb-to-realise' girl loves someone else which she later realises is not made for her but the first guy who cares for her and loves her so much. In spite of very promising trailers the movie was a big no-show. The humour in the movie is definitely fresh but parts of it seem to have been inspired by Govinda movies. Katrina Kaif should condemn any form of emotional acting and admit that it is beyond her. Her British accent kept getting into the way of Hindi dialogues and should also pledge to not do her own dubbing. Upen Patel was overtly ridiculous with a very lose piece of acting and the even more obvious fake English accents. I still haven't figured out the logic behind one scene where Katrina runs past Ranbir shouting 'Prem, Prem' and does an about turn and comes back into his arms!? One can safely rename it as Bechare Ranbir ki Intni Bhi Ghazab Nahin Hai Kahani.
Thumbs up: Ranbir Kapoor and his attempts at humour
Thumbs down: Katrina, Upen and the duos accent problems
Rating: 5.7/10
Average Movies,
Bollywood,
Comedy,
Drama,
Romance,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 12:44 AM
Genre: Action/Drama/Crime
Starring: Will Smith, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight, Lisa Bonet
The US government wants to pass a bill which would allow them to survey citizens private property which is been done in the interest of national security. Congressman Reynolds (Voight) murders fellow Congressman Phillip Hammersly when the latter refuses to vote for the bill. Unknown to Reynolds, the entire murder was shot on a nature watchers hidden camera who wants to make millions by publishing it. Soon Reynolds and his men are in hot pursuit of him and get him killed but could not find the camera on him. What they do realise is that he interacted with Robert Dean (Smith) an innocent labor lawyer and slipped the tape into his bag without him realising it. Its now a wild goose chase behind Dean who does not have the slightest of idea of who is following him and why. Brill (Hackman) an ex-NSA operator who also supplies Dean with any information he needs agrees to bail him out of his mess. The movie is no different from any other American crime movie which involves practically every law enforcement agency abbreviated, blowing up cars and buildings as if it were a video game. Will Smith's presence in the movie does not help it any way. The movie does however have an interesting story line, only if wasn't stretched to its very limits.
Thumbs up: Story, Gene Hackman
Thumbs down: Too long for its kind, over-stretched car chases
Rating: 6.4/10
Action,
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Crime,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:07 AM
Genre: Documentary/ Drama/ History/Biography
Starring: Micheal Sheen, Frank Langella, Sam Rockwell, Kevin Bacon, Matthew Macfayden, Oliver Platt
A good movie can be aptly judged by two things. Firstly, the position of a persons back to the seat along with the expression on his/her face. In this case, my nose was barely inches away from the screen, staring as each pixel swiftly changed form and a broad grin on my face. Secondly, the flow of thought that immediately comes to ones mind right after a movie, which was the first few lines that you just read. Richard Nixon (Langella) is the only president of the United States to have ever resigned from office. Charges of corruption, burglary and misuse of presidential power hounded his feet. He never gave a pubic testimony accepting these charges and his successor gave him a presidential pardon, thus ruling out a court trial. The American publics sentiments were hurt and they wanted an all out confession. David Frost (Sheen) was a noted British comedian and talk show host, who had the brilliant idea of interviewing Nixon and trying to get a confession out of him. A lot of hurdles came across his way and his entire experience and fame as a journalist was put to test by this one man. The movie depicted a cold feeling between David and Nixon where they both seemed to fight a battle for coming out on top of the other. Michael Sheen and Frank Langella have beautifully managed to actually bring out that feeling on screen; simply watching them debate and hit out on each other is simply astounding. Its not just about representing the actual interviews but bringing out those emotions and facial expressions that bring it as close to reality. Langella's five second screen shot where he manages to show an array of thoughts and feelings of surprise, confusion, anger, sorrow, self-pity, humiliation and what not, all by one look on his face defines him as a good actor.
Thumbs up: Langella with Sheen not far behind
Thumbs down: Too busy appreciating the good points to figure this one out.
Rating: 8.5/10
Amazing Movies,
Biography,
Documentary,
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Historical Event,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:57 AM
Genre: Fantasy/Thriller/Action/Drama/Adventure
Starring: Bill Nighy, Rhona Mitra, Michael Sheen, Steven Mackintosh, Kevin Grevioux
Being the third installment of the Underworld series, the movie like its predecessors, leapfrogs onto a very different story from what we have seen so far. The first movie gave a small glimpse of Sonja (Mitra) and Lucian's (Sheen) love. Sonja, daughter of the Vampire elder Viktor (Nighy) shares an intimate relationship with Lucian (Sheen) a Lycan. Lucian was the first werewolf to have the ability of free transformation between werewolf and human and hence gave birth to the Lycan race. Viktor on learning about their relationship, condemns his own daughter to death. The movie simply goes back to an old story and narrates with more precision of what exactly happened. Underworld Evolution focused more on the Vampires side of the story, and the focus this time, has shifted to the Lycans Evolution. If one has seen both the previous versions, this movie doesn't really have anything new to add to the entire Lycan-Vampiric mystery. It's merely a detailed story of an event already revealed in the earlier movies. It neither continues nor adds to the storyline which makes it a bit uninteresting. The only good part of the movie is that no prior knowledge of the series is necessary to understand the movies basic storyline. It would be a good watch for someone who hasn't seen the earlier movies, but can be very boring for someone who has. The movie did not end as a finale and since it did not follow the story of the previous movies, the place where the second movie ended is yet to be finished, which would happen later on in the fourth version of the Underworld series.
Thumbs up: Watching the previous movies is not a prerequisite
Thumbs down: Story doesn't reveal anything new.
Rating: 5.9/10
Action,
Adventure,
Average Movies,
Drama,
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Thriller,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:47 AM
Genre: Action/Comedy/Crime
Starring: Queen Latifah, Jimmy Fallon, Jennifer Esposito, Gisele Bundchen
Andy Washburn (Fallon) is utterly hopeless. A disgrace to the NY PD and a bigger disgrace to the driving community. 'Ze Germans' are robbing a bank in Manhattan, which turns out to be a gang of stunning looking girls headed by Vanessa (Bundchen). Andy decides to take a cab to the location, since he lost his cop car and is the closest to the location. Belle (Latifah) the cab driver, knows the streets inside out has her car all pimped up. As usual, our fumbling idiot messes things up and ends up getting fired and Belle's car gets impounded. Andy wants to reclaim his lost respect by getting catching the thieves, and Belle wants her precious car back. I actually wanted the 1976 classic Taxi Driver and landed up with this movie. Queen Latifah looks sorely out of place and does not fit into an action movie from any angle whatsoever. The initial humour in the movie is laughable, but beyond that it gets tiresome. The car chases in this movie though are very interesting and are capable of matching more highly rated action movies. The plot is nothing very different, but perhaps if the humour was ruled out and replaced with more suspense and actually deciphering the modus operandi of the robbers, it would probably been at a very different level.
Thumbs up: Car chases
Thumbs down: A very out of place Queen Latifah
Rating: 5.8/10
Action,
Average Movies,
Comedy,
Crime,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:01 AM
Genre: Science-fiction/Action/Crime/Mystery
Starring: Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, Boris Kodjoe, James Cromwell
An American scientific-research company manages to create a robot in order to help the handicapped. The persons brain is synced with the robot, and whatever the human things, it is executed by the robot. However, this technology finds more appeal to the general audience, who can now put up a false physical profile for the world to see, while they sit back at home and control their bots, known as surrogates. These surrogates are designed in a way which will not kill the human, even if the robot dies. A young college student is found dead one day, who died when his surrogate was attacked, something which is not supposed to happen. The youth was later found to be the son of the inventor of the surrogates Canter (Cromwell). He and his son used look-alike surrogates and thus due to a mistaken identity, his son was killed instead of him. FBI agent Tom Greer (Willis) and his assistant Peters (Mitchell) are assigned to solve the mystery behind this impossible killing. His research brings him to the brink of a near-death experience in which he ends up losing his surrogate and realises that the 'flesh-life' is strikingly different from the fake life he has been living all this while. He wants the others too, to experience reality and give up the robotic one. The movie is a very typical big American corporation exploiting society to make money story. The mystery and the twists in the tale add some interest to the movie, but it only comes after the movies half-way mark. In order to differentiate from surrogates and humans, all surrogate characters were seemed to have been given an extra dose of make-up and the humans none. A lot of small detailing can be seen in the movie, which tries to bring you close to reality. The movie might get a tad bit confusing somewhere in the end, but you somehow get the point of it all. A unique concept and nothing else.
Thumbs up: Character detailing
Thumbs down: Same story, different technology
Rating: 6.9/10
Action,
Crime,
Good Movies,
Mystery,
Science-fiction,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 7:32 AM
Genre: Fantasy/Thriller/Action/Science-fiction/Mystery/Adventure
Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Tony Curran, Derek Jacobi
In continuation with the previous movie, the movie goes into a flashback, tracing the evolution of Lycans and Vampires. Alexander Corvinus (Jacobi) was the first person to go against the order of nature and develop immortality. His sons Marcus (Curran) and William were bitten by a bat and a werewolf respectively to start the Vampire and Lycan races. Marcus offered immortality to Viktor to him and his army in exchange for his support to control his savage brother. Viktor instead imprisoned William and took the Lycans as slave. If William was killed, the Lycan race would die and hence Viktor would lose his slaves. Fast forward to the current year, Marcus has been awoken by the blood of a Lycan scientist and he learns all of Kravens misdeeds. With Viktor and Amelia dead, he has the opportunity to free his imprisoned brother. Selene (Beckinsale) and Michael (Speedman) the hybrid, are on the run. Selene knows the exact location of the prision, since her father was commissioned to build it. Marcus is on the hunt for the key to open the prison and to learn of its location from Selene. The movie takes on a slightly different course than the previous movie, and focuses more on the Vampires history rather than the Lycans. It also has little history and suspense than its predecessor, but definitely has more action. The Gothic approach with a hint of technology offers a brilliant blend. Kate Beckinsale's performance stole the entire show, which made Scott Speedman look like small change.
Thumbs up: Action, Gothic-tech combine
Thumbs down: Lack of enough mystery
Rating: 7.1/10
Action,
Adventure,
Fantasy,
Good Movies,
Mystery,
Science-fiction,
Thriller,
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