The Expendables 2

1½ pipes out of 4

A sequel better than the original? Is that even possible? When it comes to The Expendables and The Expendables 2, it is definitely the case. With Sylvester Stallone staying in front of the camera as Barney Ross and not behind it, The Expendables 2 manages to have a somewhat decent plot as well as amazing action. The introductory fight scene, introduction of the newest member of the group Billy (Liam Hemsworth) and fellow mercenary Trench (Arnold Schwarzenegger) leaves something to be desired with plenty of blood, guts and gore. It is kind of disheartening when it is obvious that it has been CGI’d. What happened to the good old days when you could see a gun fight with fake blood instead of computer graphics, and you would think that it might even be a little cheaper. As the film progresses, the plot gets better as instead of CIA agent Church (Bruce Willis) hiring a group of mercenaries to perform a coup in a foreign country, he asks them to perform an extraction mission of highly sensitive material. Of course this material is stolen by villain Vilain (Jean-Claude Van Damme) and subsequent hatred is created between Stallone and Van Damme. For the mission a female is added to the team (Nan Yu) and when it all falls apart begins to kindle a relationship with Stallone creating the sub-plot of whether Barney can ever love without getting the people he loves killed. Chuck Norris makes his return to film stacking the cast to the point of toppling. It is interesting that with Norris being known as the complete BAMF of all action stars, the film actually portrays this persona in order to appease the audience even going so far as to including a Chuck Norris joke. The Expendables 2 manages to increase the comedy and action to ramp up this sequel to give it one a satisfactory feeling when leaving the film. This is definitely not the acting action film of old like Saving Private Ryan, The Dark Knight or even The Avengers but this is what you go to in order to reminisce about the good old days of the action heroes.  

Moonrise Kingdom

3 pipes out of 4

The hidden kingdom of Moonrise has been found by millions of audiences and is easily the dark horse movie of the summer. Wes Anderson combines an all star cast of Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton and Frances McDormand to introduce Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman, the title characters who are the stereotypical oddballs who don’t fit in with their families.  The film is the epitome of cheesy which makes it all the more amazing. Instead of unintentional cheesy, the director takes every opportunity available to cheesify the film, such as most of the sets look as if they are on a stage. There is no attempt to make the film look like real life and actually goes through effort to remove the realness for instance calling Tilda Swinton’s character Social Services and no actual name. Through the use of awkward situations and interactions between characters and the stiff portrayal of the two children Suzy and Sam brings comedy throughout the film. With the introduction of Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman only Kara showed range and the ability to possibly expand on her career but both fulfill their roles for the film masterfully. Moonrise is not the movie for everyone, action is scarce and Jared Gilman develops his characters through lengthy dialogue and somewhat confusing flashbacks. Anderson often reverses the roles of the adults with the children giving the youth adult characteristics and the adults’ youthful stupidity. 

The Dark Knight Rises

2½ pipes out of 4 

All good things must come to an end and so it has with Christopher Nolan’s Batman Trilogy. In the final installment The Dark Knight Rises, Nolan manages to send the audience off with a style by tricking the audience into believing they know most of the plot through the trailers, only to find themselves glued to the edge of their seats with surprise cameos, plot twists and unexpected character development.  Throughout the Dark Knight trilogy, Nolan has done a masterful job of leaving little tidbits of comic lore for the diehard Batman fan but also holds enough intrigue for those who do not follow the comics. The Dark Knight Rises eloquently raps up the Batman story of Nolan’s trilogy with only a few mistakes. Nolan’s 2008 Dark Knight can easily be considered the greatest comic book movie of all time and brought legitimacy to the comic book movie industry. To follow up the Dark Knight with something as good or even better would be nothing short of a miracle and that is why Nolan doesn’t even try. He keeps the legitimacy of the Dark Knight trilogy but changes from telling the gritty story with masterful acting to throwing in curveballs that the audience doesn’t see coming. He also diverts everyone’s attention from the fact that Bane is no Joker with an intriguing back story with the League of Shadows from Batman Begins. Surprisingly Anne Hathaway manages to perform well as a troubled Catwoman debating her own morality. One of the most interesting aspects of the Dark Knight Rises is that it not necessary for the audience to view its predecessors in order to enjoy the film. There are a few aspects that undercut the plot causing for criticism, one being that in order to hold the plot together Nolan throws in too many characters without enough time to develop them properly. The two or three characters that Nolan chooses to develop he does well but leaves a number of others undeveloped. There were logistical issues that were swept under the rug with the audience expected to forget about but tend to be big enough to notice with ease. None of these issues damage the movie enough to make it not entertaining and well worth the price of admission.