Ink of Blood

(This review may contain spoilers).

I have seen the previous movie in this particular franchise and it was interesting to see the sequel have more of a real-world slant to it, though if I’m honest, there were parts of the movie that made it hard to suspend my disbelief.

I did think that the strongest character in this movie was Matias. I liked seeing his interactions with Amaya and their relationship provided a deeper level of conflict in this movie than just the horror.

I really liked Serena and Nari, but I didn’t really know how Dj Lexx fit in with the group. While the friends had clearly been brought together by something, there was very little detail about their shared history and why Damon was in London, while the rest of the characters seemed to live much closer to each other.

The feel of this movie was very tense and it was good to see the use of the technology. The River was suitably creepy, despite having the look of a fairly simple computer game.

I would have liked a bit more background on how Amaya fit into the group, as she seemed to be part of the friends, but was barely mentioned by any of the other characters.

I did like the fact that Mattias was trying to do the right thing, but I did feel that there were some poor choices made by the characters, especially when it came to not even trying to call for help. Something as simple as stepping out of the room with a cell phone could have been enough.

There was a slight relieving of tension with Charon IV for a little while, but as the movie rushed towards its conclusion, the tension was ramped up majorly.

I did really like the fact that there wasn’t a whole lot of gore, even though there was a lot of violence. This movie did a good job of following the ‘less is more’ route; and the videos that were found on the hard drive were extremely harrowing to watch.

I did think there was very little surprising about this movie. It followed the same formula as most recent horror movies and while the plot was full of tension and I cared about most of the characters, it isn’t a movie I would choose to watch again.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I liked the idea behind this storyline and I would have liked a bit more information about the background. The virus was such an important part of the present-day setting of the world, but I didn’t really get the idea that the virus had been such a huge event. While Ruby talked about the amount of children who had died, that didn’t feel particularly real to me as a viewer.

I haven’t read the book this movie is based on, so I can’t really speak to how accurately the movie followed the plot. I did like Ruby as a character, but her lack of knowledge about her abilities didn’t really fit in with the way she used them.

It was good that this movie focused a lot on the relationships between Ruby, Liam, Zu and Chubs, but I felt that a lot of the background information just fell by the wayside. When it came to the colours, there was too much telling rather than showing. And I would have liked a bit more information about how the Green abilities worked, considering there were times Chubs’ eyes glowed and times they didn’t, despite it being clear he was using his abilities then.

I liked the fact that there were more adult issues in this movie, such as segregation and the issue of consent. I did like Ruby and Liam’s relationship. I thought that it grew and evolved naturally and it was also nice to see Zu interacting with them. I would have liked to see more of both hers and Chubs’ pasts…and I thought it was sad how she had to keep her gloves on due to her abilities.

The movie wasn’t really clear on who the bad guys were meant to be. And while it could have been trying to show that neither side was good or bad, it didn’t really give much information or background at all. And a lot of the other characters didn’t have nearly as much depth to them.

I’d be interested in reading the book and finding out more information about the world, but as it stands, I didn’t really feel like this movie had a lot to make it stand out from the rest of the crowd. And while it did set itself up for a sequel, I didn’t have enough emotional stake in the over-arcing storyline to rush to watch more movies in the franchise.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I didn’t really have very high expectations going into this movie, which is probably why I actually found it more entertaining than I was expecting. Yes, the movie was fairly predictable, but I enjoyed it for what it was.

Jason Statham might well be one of my favourite actors and even though he seems to play the bad guy a lot, it was good to see him in the role of the ‘good guy’…at least for a change.

I have to say, the first scene did a really good job of establishing tension and demonstrating what to expect from the rest of the movie. It was quite a refreshing change to see Jonas make a decision that was vastly difficult…but what seemed to ultimately be the right one, even though other people didn’t necessarily agree. And it was good to see he did continue to carry on the burden from that choice.

I thought the movie did a really good job of capturing both the beauty and the danger inherent in the water. There were some really great visuals from the start. I can’t really say that I understood much of the science behind the undiscovered ‘world’, but I appreciated the fact that it was explained.

There was a lot of chemistry between Jonas and Suyin and I felt their building relationship was the strongest in the movie. I was a bit disappointed not to see a lot more of Suyin and her daughter, as I felt that could have added more depth to the movie. I also would have liked a bit more background about the relationship between Jonas and Mac; and there weren’t too many emotional moments between Suyin and her father before the end of the movie.

There was a lot of action in this movie and it kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. I would have liked some more focus on some of the secondary characters and I did feel like some of the decisions made, by Morris especially, bordered on dangerously foolish.

I was engaged in this movie throughout and I would enjoy watching this movie again in the future. It was simple and good fun. I didn’t need to think too much and I cared about the characters and the danger they were in.

(This review may contain spoilers).

This was another movie I was really looking forward to watching. I didn’t quite get to it on opening weekend, but it was close enough.

I definitely wouldn’t say this was a movie that could stand on its own, given its links to the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I really liked seeing some of Scott and Cassie’s relationship, along with Scott’s interactions with his ex-wife and her new husband.

I really did like seeing the fallout from Civil War and it was pretty awesome to see the lengths Scott went to so he could do things with his daughter; and how he dragged Luis into it.

It was really good to see some of the nods to the comics, such as in regards to Goliath/Giant-Man. I also really liked that Ghost had a lot of of depth, even though, as a villain, she was rather weak.

While this movie didn’t have quite as much humour as the first one, there were some really good laugh out loud moments in this. And I really liked being able to see more of Hope’s relationship with her parents. It was nice to see glimpses of Janet interacting with both her husband and her daughter.

I also really liked the fact there was a lot of focus on Hope as a main character. It was really good to see that she was able to hold her own against Ghost and I loved seeing her and Scott fighting alongside each other.

I really liked the use of the technology, though I felt that the growing/shrinking was used to quite an extreme. I didn’t really understand the quantum realm and how everything worked with that, but I did think that, visually, it was absolutely fascinating.

There were a couple of extra scenes at the end of the credits, one of which tied very neatly into Infinity War.

All in all, this movie was a lot of fun to watch and I’d enjoy watching it a second time. It might not have been such a serious addition to the MCU, but it was definitely worth watching as part of the world; at least in my opinion.

(This review may contain spoilers).

Despite not enjoying the first movies in this franchise, by the time this movie came out, I was very much looking forward to it.

I did find this movie very engaging, even though I felt the trailer was a little misleading. I did like the elements of humour and there were a few good moments of foreshadowing scattered throughout. At the same time, however, I did find it difficult to suspend my disbelief occasionally, as the technology especially seemed far too fantastical.

I did feel that this movie was more focused on the action than the relationships between and depth of the characters. While I did really like Benji and Luther, there wasn’t nearly enough interaction between Ethan and Ilsa to make me think they had much of a relationship between the previous movie and this one; and the hints that Ethan’s love life was cursed just felt really over the top.

I was disappointed not to see anything of Jeremy Renner’s character from the previous two movies. After he’d seemed to become part of the group, it was like his character just fizzled out.

I did also feel like there was a lot of predictability in this. August wasn’t a very likable character and it felt like there wasn’t a lot of depth to him. There was a lot of tension throughout the movie, but the villains were just bad guys without coming across as people whose motivation I could understand.

If you’re familiar with the Mission: Impossible franchise, then I would say this movie is worth watching. But I personally didn’t feel like it had much to make it stand out from the crowd. And while the storyline could stand alone, I think you need to have at least a passing knowledge of the franchise for this movie.

I wouldn’t mind watching the movie again, but I wouldn’t rush to buy it on DVD.

(This review may contain spoilers).

This was a movie I felt was really cleverly done, even if the format wasn’t an entirely new one – I just thought it worked really well for the storyline. It was really good to have the story of Margot and her parents told through the use of their laptop and I found it really easy to empathise with David as his search for his daughter became more desperate.

I thought there was a lot that this movie did really well, especially when it came to how harrowing the search was…and how difficult to see and learn more about Margot and just how little her dad really knew about how her life was affected by losing her mother.

I did feel this movie offered a unique perspective into the thriller genre, as it showed more of the wider world, rather than just focusing on a few people communicating on Skype. The movie was engaging and, although not exactly easy to watch, it was easy to get absorbed into the storyline.

I didn’t particularly like Abigail, who seemed very much like a vulture as the movie went on. And, of course, Isaac seemed to come across as such a stereotypical teenage boy that I was rolling my eyes every time he made an appearance. However, he did provide some needed humour at one point in the film.

I did think it was a bit difficult to get to know many of the secondary characters, as the movie was really only focused on David and Margot. I also found it a bit hard to suspend my disbelief when it came to David being able to guess his daughter’s passwords.

I thought there were some good elements of foreshadowing throughout this movie. It was easy to care about the main characters and the plot and this movie was so interestingly done, I’d really like to watch it again in the future, as I’m sure there were a lot of minor elements I missed.