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Awix (3310 KP) rated Gamera: Revenge of Iris (1999) in Movies

Mar 15, 2019 (Updated Mar 15, 2019)

Gamera: Revenge of Iris (1999)

1999 | Fantasy, International

8.2

(5 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Apocalyptic final instalment in Kaneko's trilogy takes the Japanese monster movie to places it has never been before or since. Amid signs of the man-eating Gyaos creatures reappearing in vast numbers, an embittered girl bonds with the life-draining Iris creature to seek revenge on Gamera after her parents were killed in his battle with the first Gyaos some years earlier.

Incomplete Struggle (a much better title to my mind) is much more of a fantasy film than the previous chapter in the story, once again playing cleverly with various tropes of Japanese monster stories. The script takes the trouble to include characters from both previous films (it is clearly intended as a grand conclusion to the story) and also explores notions of pre-millennial angst. Once again, the monster battles are superbly staged, but the big ideas explored by the film are also fascinating, even if some elements of the story are left a bit vague. What one person sees as vaulting imagination and ambition, another may see as the script getting a bit out of control; some may also have an issue with the deliberate lack of closure at the very end of the film. Nevertheless, this movie manages to give the Japanese kaiju genre a sense of majesty and gravitas it has seldom achieved anywhere else.

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated Quantum of Solace (2008) in Movies

Mar 1, 2018 (Updated Mar 2, 2018)

Quantum of Solace (2008)

2008 | Action, Drama, Mystery

6.2

(18 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Twenty-second Bond film was initially greeted like an outbreak of flatulence in a crowded train, but with the benefit of a few years it has become clear it's not quite as bad as all that. The first proper sequel in Bond history sees the commander in pursuit of the mysterious Quantum syndicate, a hunt that takes him to the Caribbean, Europe, and South America.

Still a very untypical Bond film, with an austere, bleak mood; likely to feature prominently in pub quizzes as the answer to the questions 'which is the shortest Bond movie?' and 'in which film do Bond and the Bond girl not actually do it?' You can see the influence of the Bourne series in the attempt to turn Bond into a more edgy, self-doubting figure, and the general distrust of security agencies as a whole; but these things are not really the stuff of a good Bond film, and nor is a plot revolving around a plan to topple the government of a country most viewers would struggle to find on a map.

Competently-staged fights and chases, particularly the final set-piece, but most of the jokes fall flat and, well, it's just not really fun enough to really work as a piece of Bond. Commendable attempt though, and not actively painful to watch.

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated Skyfall (2012) in Movies

Jun 22, 2018

Skyfall (2012)

2012 | Action, Mystery

8.0

(41 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

You almost get the sense at the moment that Eon (makers of the Bond films) quite enjoy the cachet and prestige (and huge box office) associated with these films but would really secretly rather be doing another kind of film. Hence the effort, throughout the Craig movies, to get away from the trusted and (when well executed) lucrative Bond formula and do something different.

Hence this, which is not as earnest or obviously Bourne-inspired as Quantum of Solace, but still departs from the playbook in a number of key ways. It's a very introspective Bond film, quite glum and dark (though Bardem tries his best to have some fun with his role) - there's no main Bond girl per se (unless you count Judi Dench), and the exotic location for the finale is eschewed in favour of the London underground and foggy Scotland. As a change of pace it is striking, but if every Bond film was like this I think people would soon get sick of it (as the reaction to SPECTRE perhaps proved). Still, much good stuff here, Naomie Harries, Ralph Fiennes and Ben Whishaw make good first impressions, and there's some well-staged action. Whatever the influence this film ends up having on the franchise, on its own terms this is a fine film.