Hobbs and Shaw Review

Fast and Furious continues to get more outrageous… and fun

The best thing about the Fast and Furious franchise is that it knows what it is. It’s crazy, absurd action sequences that you almost need to turn off your brain to enjoy, but it’s extremely well made and impossible to not have fun watching unless you just over-analyze it. Hobbs and Shaw continues with this trend, introducing their first superhuman trying to destroy mankind as we know it.

The story follows the team-up of two unlikely allies, agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) and assassin Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) as they work together to extract a virus from Shaw’s sister (Vanessa Kirby) and keep it out of the hands of a mechanically enhanced, self proclaimed bad guy (Idris Elba) trying to purge the world of weakness.

And the movie does what Fast and Furious does best: gripping action all the way through. From London to Samoa and everywhere in between, it’s hard to not be entertained by the crazy car chases and the brutal fights. This is especially so once they get to the final showdown, which has one of the most creative and fun brawls I’ve ever witnessed on film in the beautiful landscape of the previously mentioned Samoa.

Where most action movies drop the ball is when the movie moves away from what defines the genre—the action. Hobbs and Shaw remedied this with endless humor between the two titular characters. Despite how much the characters themselves hate each other, you can feel the strong chemistry between Johnson and Statham every time they get the chance to relax and insult each other back and forth with their quick wit. The two are absolutely phenomenal and it made the movie feel better paced and it never lets the crowd get bored.

I really have no criticism of this movie, it did exactly what it set out to do: entertain the fans with a blend of intense, over-the-top action and witty humor. It’s one of my favorite movies this year and it surely sets a precedent for what a quality action movie looks like. I’m not sure how the Fast and Furious movies keep getting better, but I’m looking forward to seeing where the family goes next.

The Hall Score: 8/10

August 9, 2019 0

Godzilla: King of the Monsters Review

A clash of the titans that is a ton of fun, despite the lame human side of things

In the latest entry in the growing “MonsterVerse,” Godzilla is back, but he has competition this time around from another titan just as strong as he is: King Ghidorah. It’s big, it’s booming, and it’s badass.

Directed by Michael Dougherty, the story follows the battle for planet Earth as titans across the globe rise from their hibernation and fight to be the ultimate alpha. There is some human aspects to the plot, but they’re honestly not worth mentioning.

Going off of that, the writing really wasn’t there. There was a whole story about Monarch trying to save the monsters from being killed off from the military and terrorists trying to awaken them to “restore balance” and honestly, most of that stuff was pretty boring. There was also a whole family plot-line with the main characters but there wasn’t enough to establish an emotional connection to make you actually care.

The thing that sucks about this is the fact that the cast is absolutely loaded with talent. You’ve got Kyle Chandler, Millie Bobby Brown, Ken Watanabe, Bradley Whitford, Sally Hawkins, Charles Dance, and more. The actors all do a great job with their characters, but there isn’t enough within the script for them to work with so it falls flat. The 2014 Godzilla did a pretty good job with this so I’m not sure why it went so wrong in this iteration.

You’re not coming to a Godzilla movie for the humans though, you’re coming for the monsters. While the human side lacked serious attention, the fighting and action was more than enough to make up for it.

The fighting throughout the movie is insanely fun to watch. There’s big blows, brilliant effects, and roaring sound. While I may have zoned out once or twice in the previous scenes, my attention would immediately come back when the big boys come out to play. The second you hear the roars of Godzilla, the screech of Rodan or Ghidorah, or the scream of Mothra, that means it’s go time.

The score and the designs of the monsters helped significantly too. You could tell when something was about to go down because all of the sudden there would be booming drums and this chanting that prepares you for the upcoming chaos. It added to the atmosphere and enhanced the experience. Couple that with the gorgeous looks of the giant beasts, and you’ve got quite the spectacle as they battle for supremacy. They promised a grand cast of titans and they provided.

The battles weren’t perfect, but they were still absolutely joyful to watch. Really the only thing I could have asked for was a little more being shown. They tried to balance the screentime of the final battle between titans and humans, but they should have focused more on the city-destroying rampage instead. The humans were fine, but that brawl was between the monsters, not the people.

While I can’t say that Godzilla: King of the Monsters was a cinematic masterpiece, it’s still damn fun to watch. It may be criticized for what it lacks, but it provided what it promises: massive battles between godlike monsters that will have you on the edge of your seat. I can’t wait to see what they do in next year’s Godzilla vs. Kong.

The Hall Score: 7/10

June 1, 2019 0

John Wick: Chapter 3 Review

Parabellum – Prepare for War

John Wick has established itself as one of the best action franchises of our time, and with it’s third installment, it keeps getting bigger and better. There’s more fighting, more action, and more backstory. It’s quite the spectacle from start to finish.

Directed by Chad Stahelski (V for Vendetta), the story follows the titular character John Wick (Keanu Reeves) as he becomes a wanted man for killing a member of the High Table, an international guild of assassins with a strict set of rules.

The John Wick franchise promises plenty of action and it delivers. The fight scene choreography is insane and the kills are both gruesome and satisfying. There were a couple of times where it was hard not to make noises from disgust or from excitement. It’s constant, and it’s fun to watch.

The movie is also visually stunning. The camerawork and the cinematography accompanied by a variety of absolutely beautiful sets just makes it a joy to watch off of that alone. There’s different tricks they use throughout that take it above and beyond, and it really does make it entertaining, even when you’re not watching the fighting (which you should be).

Outside of the fighting and action scenes, there’s a ton of world-building from this third chapter. There was a lot of this in the second, but this one just shows the scope of the world of what they call “under the table.” The build-up is exciting, as it’s easy to tell from the timeline that a big climax is coming soon. Whether that’s in the fourth, the fifth, or whatever other chapter, it’s going to be big and it’s going to be badass.

Now, the big action sequences that make John Wick what it is also hurt it in a way in this chapter. As the movies get longer each time, it also becomes more tiring to watch. Sure, the fights are intense and the pacing is good, but after enough of these gripping brawls, it becomes a bit much. That intensity can come back to bite it after a while and it’s exhausting. All they really had to do to fix this was shorten a few of the fights and the movie as a whole so there’s not any burn-out from the audience.

The animals in this one also deserve a shout-out. Halle Berry’s character comes in mid-film with two Shepherd dogs that are trained to kill and they are a blast to watch. They’re not in the action for long, but they’re the highlight of every scene they’re in. The training that it took to get those dogs ready was probably extensive, and I applaud the effort. They really were some good boys.

John Wick: Chapter 3 did what it needed to do. It gave over-the-top but brilliant fight scenes full of excitement and satisfying blows. While adding to the story does help a lot, Keanu Reeves kicking ass is what fans really come for. He did just that, and they went above and beyond with everything around him. While it could have been shortened a bit to make it more clean and concise, it’s still an action movie worth watching nonetheless.

The Hall Score: 8/10

May 24, 2019 0