Ink of Blood

(This review may contain spoilers).

I’ve watched this movie a few times now. It’s one that I really enjoy watching each time. I think the storyline works really well and although the setting of the movie is quite small, there’s a lot that’s going on.

On first glance, the movie seems to be about a man at the edge of desperation. The movie poster above indicates that… and does anyone else get a sense of vertigo looking at it?

I think this movie is one that requires you to pay attention, at least the first time round. I really like Sam Worthington in the role he plays. I found it easy to believe in his character and I cared about what was going to happen to him. I couldn’t help cringing at the reaction of the crowd. The sad thing is? It’s something I could see happening in reality. The reactions of the people looking on.

I liked watching the scenes of Nick with the people around him. The relationship with his brother runs a lot deeper than the first appearance would suggest and I especially liked Joey and Angie as characters. Even in the midst of all the tension, there were some comedy moments which helped.

I liked Lydia’s character and I felt she and Nick had some true chemistry. I would have liked to see a bit more of Ackerman. There were hints of him having more depth than he appeared to… but his character wasn’t explored as well as it could have been, in my opinion.

I recognised quite a few of the actors in this movie, but I found it easy to see them in the roles they were playing. I really liked the family moments in this movie and the interactions with Joey and Angie were really sweet.

Despite having seen this movie before, I found myself getting tense and being pulled into the plot. I enjoyed the concept… and even if it wasn’t entirely accurate as far as police procedure goes, it was still entertaining. In my opinion.

(This review may contain spoilers).

When I mentioned watching this movie to one of my brothers, he told me he thought it was exactly the same as many other movies that have come out. While I don’t quite agree, I do feel this movie, though entertaining, didn’t really have very many surprises in it.

Milla Jovovich is an actress I’ve seen in quite a lot of movies. Although the character she plays is obviously very competent, I didn’t feel there was enough background provided for her character. It was good to see the interactions between the characters, but although they did have friendships, I couldn’t quite figure out where the bonds came from. I’d assumed that Sam knew Kate from before… but then he implied that they didn’t… and that was confusing.

I thought it was good how the first scene did end up tying into the movie later on. I would have liked a bit more information about the Watchmaker… but I thought that Pierce Brosnan did a good job as the creepy assassin; even if there didn’t seem to be much depth to the character he played.

I did think it was good that at least two of the bad guys were given a bit of depth and reasons for what they were doing. As well as the two main actors I’ve mentioned, there were a couple of others I recognised as well.

I felt there was quite a bit of action in this movie and it didn’t really let up. Even though there were people dying, the movie had a low age rating and I felt the violence did reflect that.

It was a bit disappointing that many of the characters weren’t further explored and there was the sense that there wasn’t much loyalty between the people who were meant to be on the same side.

The film was entertaining and easy to watch, but there weren’t really any surprises or twists in it. It isn’t one I intend to see a second time.

(This review may contain spoilers).

This is another movie I’d say probably became one of my favourites when I originally watched it at the cinema. I haven’t read the book this movie is based on, so my review is entirely based on the movie.

I found this movie to be a really entertaining film to watch. Some parts of it seemed to come across as historically accurate, such as the fighting in the arena. I did have a cringe-worthy moment at the use of ‘Yeah’ and ‘Okay’, though.

My favourite part of this film was the friendship and close bond that sprung up between Marcus and Esca. There were some incredibly moving scenes between them, made more so because Esca’s original loyalty stemmed from a debt of honour he didn’t want to be committed to.

In many ways, I was glad to see there wasn’t any romance in this movie. It was good that the focus was on the brotherhood and loyalty between the characters. There were many scenes that were intense to watch in this and I thought it was good there was minimal use of CGI.

One of the things that I liked about this movie was that there was clear acknowledgment of neither side being good or evil. Some of the Romans had honour, but there were others who killed for sport… and even if Marcus was one of the good guys, the fact that the film focused more on the individuals than on one side or the other worked really well… in my opinion.

There was one particular scene that I found very disturbing, but despite the movie being an action one, the violence itself wasn’t as intense as it could have been. I liked both Channing Tatum and Jamie Bell in their roles and there were a couple of other actors I recognised in this, too.

I did like the ending of this movie and I found it really entertaining to watch. Maybe it’s not as historically accurate as it could be… but in my opinion, the bromance makes it definitely worth viewing if you enjoy films that focus on relationships other than romances.

(This review may contain spoilers).

It was interesting to see this movie fit in with the previous two in the series. Although I think it works well as a standalone, it was nice to see elements that were from the previous two movies, too.

I found Quinn a really intriguing character. It was nice to see quite a bit of development in her character before the horror truly started. I also liked seeing her interactions with her family and friends… even if I did think her dad was harder on her than he needed to be.

One thing I particularly liked in this movie was having the opportunity to learn more of Elise’s history. As more about her past was revealed, I found myself empathising with her more and more. I think that she’s my favourite character in the whole franchise.

Having broken legs when something scary’s happening is a truly horrifying thought. I’m sure Quinn probably felt trapped… and I cared about her safety during the course of the movie.

There wasn’t as much detail about the Further in this movie as there was in the previous two, but the instances where it was seen were really creepy. There was some air of mystery involving the spirits, both those shown in the Further and those shown outside it.

There were some quite jumpy moments in this movie, but although there were some really disturbing parts, there wasn’t much that was scary outside of the jumpy scenes. It was interesting to see references made to Josh… and the woman wanting to kill Elise was particularly scary.

There were some scenes in this movie where I found myself rolling my eyes at the actions some of the characters were making. I did think it was good to see Quinn’s father believe she was really in danger, rather than trying to convince himself that he was seeing things that were his own imagination.

There were a few amusing moments in this movie and some very intense scenes. I’d like to know more about the Further and if the spirits there would ever be able to move on.

If there are more movies in this franchise, I’ll probably end up watching them. I think there’s still a lot more that can be explored… and each of the films has ended on something of a cliffhanger. This movie was no exception, though I’ll be interested to see whereabouts in the time period a new movie might take place.