Today's Trailer: True Blood, the final season

Posted this interesting bit of advertising on MS yesterday:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/155784/trailer_laatste_seizoen_true_blood_

Looks like True Blood means to go out with a bang. As it should. I know the show has seen its ups and downs, but even among all the silly Maenad blood orgies and wacky worshipping witches there was always enough left to keep you enticed. I've yet to see Season 6, so I don't know whether it too features dramatic qualitative deterioration or whether it keeps the momentum and strength of Season 5 going, but I'd like to think the odd numbered seasons provide the better fare, and hopefully Season 7 continues that trend and carries it to a formidable finale that once and for all defines the series as a true quality show beyond contestation. As for the trailer, it looks promising, showcasing that all our favorite characters are back - some of them we haven't seen for a while, and others we could have lived without for a while longer - for one final supernatural showdown, before we'll have to do without them forever. I bet there will be a fair amount of casualties among them, as the writers don't necessarily have to keep them alive for more any longer. Whoever gets fanged up, it better not be Eric, since I'm still hoping for his own spin-off show. Or maybe the end of True Blood would be a decent time to start watching Vikings then.

Today's Review: 300: Rise of an Empire

300: Rise of an Empire: ***/*****, or 6/10

The visually unusual action-on-steroid flick 300 proved to be quite the unexpected box office success back in 2006. It took a while before the army of pixel pushing programmers got reassembled for a second chance at glory, which many blamed on Frank Miller, the writer/artist of the original graphic novel of the same name. Considering Miller isn't even done publishing his follow-up Xerxes yet and the current sequel 300: Rise of an Empire hardly follows that particular story, such critique is quite unfounded. This second installment could have been shot years ago, and it would probably have been for the better, since the distinguished visual style that characterizes both this movie and its predecessor has been copied almost as often as the signature quote 'This is Sparta!' has since been enthusiastically and overly loudly uttered in fanboy circles. But what becomes quite clear early on upon watching Rise of an Empire, is that 'this' is not Sparta anymore.

Rise of an Empire, from a narrative viewpoint, serves as both a prequel and a sequel to 300, and even has some of the newly depicted events take place simultaneously with its illustrious forebear. The result is a rather uncomfortable mix of separate story elements all cramped together in one movie that feels the need to both explain the motives behind the ruthless conquest of the antagonist, the Persian king Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), and explore the political intrigue between the various Greek city-states that must unite against him to keep Greece Greek. The movie flashes back to Xerxes' past as easily as it does to the outcome of the battle of Thermopylae, which makes for an overall chaotic feel that was lacking in the original 300, whose narrative structure proved less distracting and more coherent. The movie starts with the history of how Xerxes became king of Persia after the death of his father at the hands of the Athenian Themistokles, and his rise to power afterwards guided by delusions of divinity. A supernatural element provided by some fluorescent pool in a cave which supposedly made him a god is all too easily discarded by the spectator from its inception, as he/she has already seen the scar Leonidas gave him in the previous film, which effectively stripped him of his godlike status. And as soon as the movie is done demystifying the giant despot, who we find out basically grew from a whimpy princeling's grief over his father, the title of the film makes progressively little sense, as we're only ten minutes into the movie. It took that long for the titular 'empire' to 'rise', now the remaining 90 minutes will be spend on bringing about its decline.

More poignant to the title's failure is the fact Xerxes is merely a supporting character to the overall story, as the movie is based around the personal battle between Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton) and his Persian counterpart, Artemisia (Eva Green), the vengeful admiral of Xerxes' navy. Artemisia is a sly, seductive and manipulative woman who pressured her king into going to war with Greece, despite the advice of his dying father against participating in such a costly, doomed exercise. As a horribly abused former child slave of Greek descent, she has some personal issues with the Greeks to conclude, which brings her head-on with the Athenian statesman. Green portrays this strong woman with visible delight and ensures the enemy's side is not devoid of the necessary charisma, which would have played well off Gerard Butler's equally commanding Leonidas. Unfortunately, she has to make do with Stapleton's rather bland Themistokles instead, who proves to lack the gravitas one would expect from such a renowned politician. Equipped with largely the same ideological motivations as Leonidas, Themistokles keeps droning on about the magnificence of Greek freedom as opposed to Persian tyranny, which he deems so grand and noble it's worth risking every soldier's life to uphold it. Problem is, because of Artemisia's distressing background of pain and suffering such lines are somewhat rendered moot, as we know the limits of Greek freedom, while Leonidas at least did a much catchier job at delivering them and inspiring his troops to kick Persian ass. We'd be inclined to pick Artemisia's side, were it not for her routine of viciously despatching her bumbling commanders in disturbing ways.

300: Rise of an Empire proves to be a telling case of 'girl power' over the political machinations of the men who assume command. The film reintroduces the character of Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey), who also serves as the film's narrator. It's not the endless quasi-poetic lines the script supplies her, it's her ability to stand up to Themistokles and voice her displeasure with his approach to fight “his” war, coupled with her own desire to right the wrong that was done to her and Sparta, that make her more compelling to watch and listen to than her Athenian rival. Gorgo proves at least as tough a female presence as Artemisia and the two are almost kindred spirits if they hadn't been fighting on opposing sides. Unfortunately they do not grace the screen together but are both limited to interacting with the boring Themistokles. A showdown between both female characters would have been preferable, but sadly we are denied. Too bad, it's not like these movies care the least bit for historical accuracy.

Though narratively and emotionally this semi-sequel turns out to be a mixed bag, it's the action and visual flair characteristic of the established 300 style that should make the film. In that regard the movie leaves little room for disappointment. However, because of 300's then-originality and the numerous copycats that followed it, there's little novelty to discern here. If you expected excessively muscled men beating their adversaries in all manner of gruesome, bloody ways, usually shown in extreme slow-motion shots against obviously digital backdrops, that's what you'll receive. Athenian muscles are not as outrageous as their Spartan counterparts, which is probably a good thing as it ought to cause less physical insecurity amongst the audience's male demographic (though the same may not be said of Artemisia's ample bosom dimensions for female viewers). Since most of the movie revolves around the naval battles between the Greek and Persian fleets, the movie differs in tone with its predecessor mostly in that regard, trading in the earthy red colour pattern for a blue maritime quality. The bombastic hardrock style soundtrack remains to great effect though. Epic shots of ships ramming into each other and the various tactics applied by both naval commanders to do as much damage as possible serve the majority of the film's action sequences, but it cannot be helped that these start to feel tedious as the movie progresses. Battles on boats simply do not provide the same opportunity for colourful combat diversity as land battles do due to their limiting nature. Don't expect to see any monstrous men, elephants or rhinos fighting in Artemisia's war. The script apparently acknowledged this lack of fantasy by adding a strange dream sequence in which a drowning Themistokles envisions giant marine reptiles picking off his men as they lie dying in the water. As any expensive blockbuster sequel of today, this movie is billed a 3D-experience, but little effective use is made of that technology. There's the occasional arrow or spear in your face, but otherwise the film offers little remarkable in this regard.

300: Rise of an Empire is a fairly decent follow-up to its predecessor that proves largely devoid of surprise or inspiration and arrives a little late to the battlefield, but does what people expect it to do. It packs quite a punch in the female acting department, but its male stars and their motives are simply not as interesting to keep your attention from drifting on the waves of its maritime action scenes. Though it serves its obligatory bit of gory battle scenes, it stylistically can't stand up to its predecessor and feels like little more than a compendium piece in terms of story. It will definitely not rank as high on a popcultural level, absent absurdly cocky but highly quotable lines that proved 300's trademark and are sorely missed here. Truth is, Athenians are just a lot less fun to go to battle with than those delightfully over-the-top-and-then-some Spartans with their constant flow of witty reprisal.

Today's Mini-Review: Deep Rising

Rating: ****/*****, or 7/10

Starring: Treat Williams, Famke Janssen, Anthony Heald

Directed by Stephen Sommers

USA: Calimari Productions, 1998

Before Stephen Sommers sank his teeth in remaking The Mummy (and soon after milking it dry with various unwarranted sequels and spin-offs) and before going totally overboard with the remaining classic Universal Horror monsters with the lackluster Van Helsing, he had already shown his affinity for monsters with this delightful big budget B-movie. Assembling a diverse cast, including several notable character actors that would later be seen in more ambitious fare, Sommers brings us an excellent action chiller set on a luxury ocean liner on her maiden voyage that has the misfortune of being boarded by a band of ruthless brigands. Their trouble is something even more insidious beat them to their target and swiftly proceeds to move against them as well.

Treat Williams (a veteran of all kinds of TV and movie work, just not of the memorable kind) stars as smuggler captain Finnegan, who has taken on the thankless job of transporting a group of dangerous testosterone dominated mercenaries (think Aliens, except these are bad guys) to the Argonautica, a gargantuan cruise ship and playground for the rich and wealthy, that has just embarked on her first trip across the South China Sea. Offloading the volatile, loudmouth band of privateers – among them Djimon Hounsou (Gladiator, Blood Diamond), Wes Studi (Avatar, Hell on Wheels) and Jason Flemyng (Stardust, X-Men: First Class) – should be all in a day's work, but unfortunately all their plans are shot to hell when it turns out something far more sinister and deadly already boarded the boat and ate most of the passengers and crew. Stumbling upon a few survivors, including sexy con woman Trillian (Famke Janssen), the gang must soon alter their intentions as they are faced with ghastly sea monsters that mean to slither their grotesque tentacles all around their bodies to suck 'em dry. At least the revelation that the mercs planned on torpedoing the ship after they got away with the money allows them some firepower to retaliate and save their skin, provided someone is left alive to blow the boat sky-high. It's soon a matter of 'no honor among thieves' as it turns out nobody here can be trusted, not even in the face of getting devoured by slimey sea serpents, of sorts. Amidst pirates and sleazy cruise ship managers it's hard to step up as the voice of reason, but Finnegan attempts to do so anyway and at least succeeds in convincing Trillian to bail out while they still can, also making for some semi-romantic tête-a-tête between them that thankfully never gets in the way of the real fun but actually gives them both the necessary rogue-ish character. Unfortunately, Finnegan's contractors won't let them walk away and are set to complete their mission, even all through the maritime monster infestation that threatens to kill them all. Working their way through the vessel, Deep Rising's plot soon develops along the old fashioned 'ten little Indians' line, but the pleasure to be had proves none the less of it.

Unlike most of Sommers' monster movies soon to follow, Deep Rising feels like an actual entry into the horror genre, instead of catering to the 'PG-13 happy' crowd of Hollywood execs who want to make their films as accessible to most demographics as they can, which led to all his subsequent movies merely playing with horror conventions but instead devolving into typical FX driven blockbuster spectacle. Nevertheless, Sommers' willingness to throw in CGI where the budget allows him can already be felt in this film as the creatures often look overly digital (not surprising, considering digital effects were still largely new territory around this time) and particularly towards the climax end up being overused, but still the movie contains its fair share of suspenseful and gory moments. If you ever wondered what a half-digested human being looks like, here's an answer for you and it is kinda disturbing to behold. Despite the uneasy reliance on digital FX to allow the monsters to do their horrific killing, in terms of sheer fast paced action interspersed with moments of aptly timed comedy delivered by a cast that seems to thoroughly enjoy itself, Deep Rising proves to be about as entertaining as they come without feeling the need to be more than just solid popcorn enjoyment. There's a reason the film's finale comes with an hilarious open ended note – without the usual sequel pretensions – that underscores that everything that came before should not have been taken at all seriously, in case that was not perfectly clear from the onset of the film. In the annals of 'delightful movie pairings', Deep Rising's 'modern pirates versus sea monsters' deserves to be worthy of some credit.

Ultimately this effective horror extravaganza failed to attract an audience and became a typical box office bomb. Rather undeservedly so in my mind, as I consider this a vastly underrated, hugely entertaining action/horror flick. If you like dynamic action on the high oceans and you don't mind a bit of sea monsters slaughtering humans throughout, this is about as good as it gets. And if out of that sentence only the 'action' part appeals to you, Deep Rising definitely doesn't sink in its efforts.

Today's Mini-Review: Death Race 2000

Rating: ***/*****, or 7/10

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, David Carradine, Simone Griffeth

Directed by Paul Bartel

USA: New World Pictures, 1975

Ah, dystopian societies... If they're not engaged in brutalizing their own population, they're exploring new avenues of keeping the crowd in line by trite but true methods of 'panem et circenses', also guaranteeing their own existence is kept in check by ruling through that most potent combination of fear and wonder. Some form of gladiatorial event is ever a popular choice, appealing to the inhabitants of the totalitarian regime (or simply intimidating them) as well as to cinemagoers around the globe who cannot help but be mesmerized by the ruthless spectacle that ever delivers a paradoxical sense of blatant abjection and undeniable attraction. While these days the rage consists of teenagers battling each other to the death in fancy arenas, far more colourful and bizarre forms of contest have been portrayed at the movies in earlier decades. In 1975 Rollerball introduced spectators to the sport of the same name, an odd combination between hockey and boxing, that helped set new standards of onscreen violence. Capitalizing on the advance press publicity for this film, producer Roger Corman wasn't afraid to cannibalize the notion of 'blood sports' in order to produce an exploitation film making use of similar themes, thereby taking advantage of the media interest in the topic and subsequently beating Rollerball's theatrical release by a mere two months. And so a cult hit was born with Death Race 2000.

As the title successfully indicates, the premise of the movie revolves around a lethal race set in the then futuristic sounding year 2000. After the merger of the two major American political parties when the economy collapsed, a dictatorship runs the country and the titular contest is used to keep the populace satiated, bound to their television screens instead of giving them the opportunity to go out and start plotting the government's downfall. Contestants drive across the continent and win the race not only by driving faster than their opponents but also by the number of accidental bystanders they purposefully run down. Throwing out all morality, killing kids and old folk scores you more points than hitting people in their prime, as it's the utter depravity of the kill that determines the number of points awarded. To make matters even more interesting (and weird), each driver has a theme applied to their car, so we witness zany cars in Roman, Western and gangster style designs. Commentary on the race is given by the most obnoxious sportscasters imaginable to enhance the viewer's general sense of 'what-the'f**k'. The most popular participants of the 2000 race are Frankenstein (David Carradine, the world's most (in)famous autoerotic asphyxiation victim) and Machine Gun Joe Viterbo (a pre-Rocky Sylvester Stallone), both very able killer car drivers with little to no compunctions about hitting pedestrians hard. Frankenstein however finds himself caught in a ploy from a resistance movement to sabotage the race and assassinate the president, but he holds his private motives and political convictions (if any) as well. As the deplorable race progresses, Frankenstein must both survive his race rivals and outwit political insurgents who would abuse him as a puppet for their own shady agenda.

As you may have gathered, unlike Rollerball, Death Race 2000 has no pretensions of being a serious film, as it's more occupied with satirizing the social mores and the role of the media than with exploring the changing nature of violence in present day society; a major theme in the Seventies, as movies got increasingly more bloody and gory and actual violent incidents were allegedly inspired by such audiovisual fare, making society fear civilization was rapidly spiralling out of control. Though a fair amount of blood and gore (and nudity to top it off) is present in Death Race 2000, the movie mostly feels like a comedy and wants to do just that, making ample fun of people's projections of the future debasement of political standards and the mental deterioration caused by the media dumbing people down by pushing mindless drivel down their throats. It's easy to read social commentary in this film, even though Corman and the film's director Paul Bartel have no desire to come off as overly political, instead opting only to make a simple fun and ridiculous movie appealing to bored teenagers, appropriating themes and trends of the day just to ensure the movie makes more money than it cost (always a specialty of Corman's). Their intentions are adequately underscored by cheap production design, cheesy oneliners and completely over-the-top performances throughout the picture. With such ingredients and lack of willful message, it's no surprise Death Race 2000 became a smash cult hit, generating quite a profit from its obvious low budget (only around 300,000 bucks). A remake (and two sequels to that) starring Jason Statham would eventually follow, which traded in the good humour for a much grittier and convincing look and cars and stuntsto match that actually delivered the spectacle dystopian society already promised its audience three decades earlier.

Today's Mini-Review: Black Hawk Down

Black Hawk Down

Rating: ****/*****, or 7/10

Ridley Scott's account of the U.S. Marine incident in Somalia of October 3, 1993. Scott provides the drama, producer Jerry Bruckheimer ensures the expected carnage and explosions (plus a bunch of actual Black Hawk helicopters!). A wonderfully diverse cast of both top actors (Tom Sizemore, Ewan McGregor, Sam Shepard) and former unknowns (among them, Eric Bana, William Fichtner, Tom Hardy, Nicolaj Coster-Waldau and Orlando Bloom) portrays the various Army Rangers and their commanding officers, who set out to perform a mission that soon spins out of everybody's control, resulting in a spectacular but horrific onslaught. Dispatched to arrest several high ranking officers of a vicious local warlord in Mogadishu, their objective swiftly turns into a basic fight to get out alive as the soldiers find themselves severely outnumbered when confronted with thousands of angry Somalis. All hell breaks loose on the city streets as a humongous firefight ensues that will witness several Americans gutted publicly and not one but two Black Hawk helicopters taken out. Not to mention the hundreds upon hundreds of Somali footsoldiers that got themselves killed in their attempt to simply overrun their highly trained opponents instead of going about their business with any tactical sense. Starting things at a surprisingly slow pace, an eerie calm before the storm you know will follow, Scott introduces the platoon of sympathetic young soldiers at his leisure, portraying them as fairly naive and rather bored by the lack of action, clearly not entirely grasping the gravity of the tense political situation they're in. But then, how could they predict things would get this bad, considering it wasn't supposed to go down the way it ended up doing? The moment they go in, there's no more time for levity and laughs since what follows is two hours of non-stop action where these boys have to deal with everything their military education had hoped them to avoid. Scott proves completely uncompromising, revealing the absolute brutality of the events in all its graphic horror, resulting in a harrowing viewing experience that's clearly not suited for everybody: if you're uncomfortable at the sight of bloody operations without sedatives or any type of gory dismemberment, you had better stay away from this film. As sudden as it started the fight is over and we're simply left numb and combat fatigued, wondering how things could have gotten so terribly out of hand so fast (even though the mission wasn't actually a failure by definition, as its goal was secured!). Despite its powerful punch, the movie tends to feel monotonous after 80 minutes of relentless gunfire, while it's a shame the Somali point of view is only briefly adressed (since 90% of the Somalis in this film end up as cannon fodder, it would have been nice to know what they thought they were fighting for). Nevertheless, Sir Ridley has clearly proven he's just as adapt at making daring, gripping war movies as he is at historical epics and science fiction pictures. Though there's little doubt audiences will prove as adapt at sitting through this cinematic battle from hell without any sense of shock and horror.

Starring: Eric Bana, Ewan McGregor, Josh Hartnett

Directed by Ridley Scott

USA/UK: Revolution Studios, 2001

Review - Silent Hill: Revelation 3D

Happy New Year everybody!

Still offline unfortunately. My own computer continues to undergo attempts at repair (or so I hope) at the store where I bought it from, a process that isn't going as smoothly as it might have gone because of the interruptions caused by the Holidays. Hopefully I'll be able to pick it up tomorrow so I can return to update my blog as often as it ought to be updated, instead of by the low frequency of late. Of course, I haven't fully idled my time away (though that is one of the reasons we have holidays, if I understand correctly) and I managed to be present at yet another press screening, particularly of the horror flick Silent Hill: Revelation 3D, my (not all too positive) thoughts on which can be found here:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/142990/silent_hill:_revelation_3d_-_recensie



Hope to be back soon. After all, the excellent (in terms of movies) year 2012 has made way for 2013, which also looks to witness its fair share of good - and not so good - films over which I hope to share my feelings. Plus, there's all the usual year-gone-by backlash, as we can finally settle the score on which 2012 movies rocked abs and which sucked ass. There's plenty of both as we have seen, and I hope to be able to discuss it all in the not too distant future. If technology will allow me...

Today's Film: Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Dawn of the Dead

Rating: ****/*****, or 8/10

Few remakes ever surpass their predecessors, but this one gets remarkably close, if it's not a definite improvement over the already great original George A. Romero zombie classic from 1978. Zack Snyder, who would go on to direct 300, Watchmen and unfortunately Sucker Punch, first proved his talent for adapting – in this case re-adapting – other people's work with this gripping, gory and hugely entertaining horror flick. A zombie plague engulfs America after which a band of survivors barricades itself in a shopping mall for safety. Tensions run high in the group as its members continue to find themselves attacked by the living dead and eventually a choice must be made: do these people decide to stay in their safe haven where they got everything they need except their freedom, or do they take their chances storming out in an attempt to find out whether there's other people still alive out there in some remote and secure location, with the hopes of joining them. 

The story remains largely the same (except for the absence of a violent, marauding biker gang invading the mall), but the hungry undead are more lethal than ever, this time also adding speed to help satiate their lust for devouring human flesh, making them much easier to take seriously than Romero's slow, lumbering walking dead, thus only enhancing the suspense (and the body count). Fantastic make-up efects galore in this picture, providing a wide array of eerie zombies and disturbing scenes of dismemberment and bloodshed. Still, Snyder doesn't let the gore rule the film, but prefers to locate the horror in the story itself. Of particularly great shock effect is the film's fabulous opening, which starts off very restrained and seemingly normal with a nurse just going home after a hard day's work, going to bed at night and waking up the next morning finding her neighbourhood burning in utter chaos and despair as it has suddenly fallen prey to a zombie apocalypse. Though the movie treats us to many a memorable moment of naked, merciless terror later on, this gruesome opening stands out as its most horrifying scene. The TV show The Walking Dead – though itself based on a graphic novel – would later feature a very similar world of undead post-apocalyptics, clearly inspired by this remake and building on its premise of a ragtag group of survivors trapped in a hellish world ruled by hungry corpses.

Starring: Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber

Directed by Zack Snyder

USA: Strike Entertainment, 2004

Doing the Judge justice

Dredd 3D: ****/*****, or 7/10

In the annals of cinema, you'll find few instances of remakes surpassing their predecessors in quality. The lack of creative originality and the general feeling of déja vù all too often prohibit a remake from living up to the name of its forebear, usually rendering them highly derivative products produced simply for making more money by cashing in on an established franchise's name. However, one of the latest additions to the ever growing but already overly long list of remakes, reboots, re-imaginings and the like, Dredd 3D proves a pleasant deviation from the norm in this regard. However, it will surprise few people familiar with the former Judge Dredd movie from 1995 (which starred Sylvester Stallone as Dredd) that its successor improves upon that film on just about every level, considering it ranks considerably high on nigh on every list of 'worst comic book adapations' in existence. Judge Dredd is just an easy movie to top, and Dredd 3D does so with a vengeance appropriate for its titular character.

Transporting us to a typical post-apocalyptic future world where humanity has made a big mess of things via nuclear war and global pollution, we are introduced to the setting of the film, a vast metropolis named Mega-City One, where the remaining 800 million people live in a state of near anarchy on the remains of the world-that-was, huddled together in slums and giant skyscrapers. Of course so many people in a single spot is a recipe for crime running rampant, but fortunately for the decent citizens of the city (if any) the Hall of Justice has a small army of Judges patrolling the town, acting as judge, jury and if needs be, executioner in any conflict.. Sporting intimidating outfits with eerie helmets to match, a wide range of explosive weaponry and an overall 'don't fuck with us' mentality and attitude, this future police force roams the street delivering swift justice to any offenders unlucky enough to cross their path; which is still only a small percentage of total crime levels, aptly indicating the need for such a seemingly excessive justice system. Among the hardened veteran Judges is a character simply named Dredd, a paragon of virtue even amongst his fellow law enforcers, highly skilled in making sure criminals get their just due if he happens upon their shady activities. Playing Dredd is Karl Urban, who, given his fairly impressive resumé of similar Sci-Fi action flicks (examples include Priest (2011), Doom (2005) and The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), though he's undoubtedly best known for his performance as Eomer of Rohan in the two final installments of The Lord of the Rings trilogy), seems the perfect choice for the role, which fits in neatly with the rest of his oeuvre. His Dredd carries the neccessary gravitas for the character of an uncompromising badass cop, meeting out punishment with a total lack of prejudice, simply adhering to the laws in a dystopian world where very few seem to care about said law, so he refuses to shy away from intimidation and violence if warranted.

Of course such a character proves difficult to feel much empathy for, so we – and Dredd himself – are introduced to rookie Judge-in-training Anderson (Olivia Thirlby, The Darkest Hour (2011)) to help guide us into this gritty, bleak future world, working alongside Dredd on her first day as he assesses her qualities as a potential Judge. Though she failed for her first exams in training, Dredd's superiors are eager to keep her on the force since she is a mutant, possessing psychic abilities to read minds and such, which would make her a great asset to the force. That is, if she survives her first day: unfortunately she and Dredd stumble upon quite a tricky situation as they are faced with a vicious gang murder in a skyscraper which proves to be just the tip of the iceberg in a huge narcotics operation under control of the highly dangerous psychopathic Ma-Ma (another terrific, and horrific, bad lady for Lena Headey, who once played the protector of mankind's future in her own series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, but since her performance as the devious, scheming Cersei Lannister in the superb HBO series Game of Thrones ironically excels at playing convincingly evil dames). When she learns these Judges are onto her, she immediately seals off the enormous building from the outside and, in order to get rid of the evidence most effectively, orders her legions of creepy minions to kill them both in whatever nasty way they see fit. All too soon, Dredd and Anderson find themselves cornered and have to mow their way through scores of bad guys, while attempting to break the perimeter and call for back-up. If this story sounds somewhat familiar, it's not because this movie is a remake, but because much of the plot is overly reminiscent of the recent Indonesian action hit The Raid: Redemption, which featured a police squad under siege in an apartment building on the orders of a ruthless crime lord who orders the local tenants to exterminate the law enforcers. Were it not for the fact both movies were produced more or less simultaneously, the plethora of similarities would seem just a little too suspicious. Luckily, Dredd 3D at least differs in its execution by its future setting and the fact the plot is less used as a showcase for impressive martial arts and more as a standard Hollywood type action flick (though the film was produced independently from the studio system) applying “ordinary” gun fights and stunts as its main visual draws.

Speaking of visuals, it's ironic drugs offer the most successful FX shots of the movie, despite the protagonist's insistence on shutting this drug operation down, thereby aiming to end the fabulous visual flair applied to the effects the drugs in this film have on its characters for the audience to enjoy. The drugs in question are nicknamed 'Slo-Mo' and their effects revolve around the apparent slowing down of time to a fraction of its actual speed. This results in the movie's most stunning 3D shots (it's called Dredd 3D after all), where we see the image slowing down accompanied by a glittering haze that adds some much desired colour to this otherwise dreary and bleak future. Whenever Slo-Mo is used, dazzling, almost lyrical visuals brighten the gloomy mood, allowing for wonderful dimensions of visual depth to be revealed, which are however also applied for further enhancing the levels of gore, already disturbing at times. When we see characters fall to their death from the great heights of Ma-Ma's complex, we're both fascinated and revulsed by the image of seeing them hit the ground and splattering across the screen in the graphic depth and detail such slow-motion effects allow for. It takes a strong stomach for sure, but such shots form the visual highlight of the film, and their ingenuity in 3D justifies the '3D' in the film's title, considering for most of the film two dimensions appear to suffice.

Ultimately, such visuals plus the basic action and violence are Dredd 3D's main assets, since both the story and the character development leave something to be desired. As for character development, Dredd basically has none. One might say the title is grossly misleading, considering it's really not Dredd's story at all, it's Anderson's. Though we see the film from both their perspectives, it's mostly about her. It's her first day on duty, being trained in the ways of the Judges by her mentor. For Dredd, it's all in a day's work, while for Anderson, it's a life defining experience that sees both her physical and her mental faculties tested to their limits as she must confront one creepy criminal after another, almost getting (mind) raped in the process, while Dredd, who simply shoots and maims his way through the baddies, experiences no such ordeals. Credit must be given to Thirlby for playing such a demanding role (especially considering she has never done this type of film before, unlike Urban who we already know revels in it) and pulling it off compellingly, thus adding some heart, cause and emotion to the film (though we would like to have seen a bit more explanation on the role of mutants like her in Mega-City One, something the movie alludes to on more than one occasion but never fleshes out sufficiently), whereas Dredd stays a rather bland character throughout. However, in Dredd's case, revealing more about his persona isn't at all necessary. Staying true to the comics on which the movie is based, nowhere in this film is he seen removing his helmet or showing his face, other than his mouth – which houses a well suited grumbly, raspy low voice (think Christian Bale as the similar themed Batman character in the recent Dark Knight trilogy) – since as the truest servant of the law, he must feel like something beyond simply human, more like an ideal than an actual man of flesh and blood. Dredd is made out to be just that by staying underdeveloped, unexplored, a walking talking enigma, a man without a past and without clearly defined motivations, who only lives to uphold the law, the one thing holding this screwed up society together. Undoubtedly such a character has a colourful past to explain his one sided rationale, but explaining that all away would defeat Dredd's effectiveness in this film: it would remove his helmet metaphorically, so it's as much a no-go as is removing his actual helmet, something Stallone back in 1995 had less issues with in his take on the character, which is one of the reasons his Judge Dredd failed to properly adhere to the character.

In short, Dredd 3D is a decent new shot at adapting the original comic book, superior to its feeble predecessor. It offers little new material to the genre though, since both the story and the dystopian future setting have been done before (and better) in the past, but that doesn't stop the film from being a wholesomely entertaining Sci-Fi action flick, sporting some thoroughly thrilling scenes of violence and gore and impressive visuals at times, aiding the otherwise hardly noticeable 3D effects. The unfathomable Dredd as played by Urban proves a memorable re-imagining of the iconic comic character, a sentry of the law making a lawless city just a little bit safer. Considering its various plot similarities to The Raid: Redemption, Dredd 3D fortunately also renders the much dreaded American remake of that particular film redundant. Sadly Dredd 3D underperformed at the domestic box office, so it may be quite a while before we see Dredd in action again, but until that time, this is without the doubt the best rendition of the character, effecting some much needed justice upon the franchise name by making us completely forget the lackluster 1995 film.

Sidenote: despite its shortcomings, consciously or not, Dredd 3D ultimately proved to be inspiring. Taking the metro on the way home at night, I noticed a woman harassed by some vagabonds. I stood at some ten metres distance, but nobody appeared to come to her aid (though there was quite a number of people around), despite her obvious distress. I simply walked down the tram towards the incident and demanded to know what was going on. The assailants told me in a rude and agressive tone to fuck off, but I stood my ground and told them to end their intimidation and public disturbance, at which point they directed their attention toward me. Though I got increasingly nervous, I didn't let them notice and simply looked at them very sternly uninterruptedly. The forbidding relentless eye contact clearly made them unhinged and though they continued slinging (racist) insults and threats my way, they didn't go so far as to resort to more physical measures to underscore their intentions. My tactic proved effective as several other people joined me in pointing out the hoodlums' faults in the matter and when reaching the next station, the agressors made a swift though noisy departure, clearly intimidated by the now greater numbers opposing them, exposing them for the cowards they were. Looking back, I seemed to have quickly judged the situation and acted upon it, likely extinguishing an explosive situation publicly, and I didn't need a cool helmet (quite the opposite in fact), a gun or other weaponry to do so.

Or did I? When the loudmouths had left, I realized I unknowingly had zipped open my coat's left pocket and had clutched a pen I always keep in there. Though one wasn't necessary in the end (thankfully!), I apparently unconsciously had looked for a weapon to defend myself with if it had come down to a brawl. Maybe my antagonists had noticed and feared I harbored something more formidable in there, thus hastening their decision for a quick exit. I cannot help but wonder what would have happened if it had come to a fight. A pen may normally not constitute a lethal weapon, but people have been severely hurt with less. I'm just grateful I never had to find out how such alternate situations would have developed. Unlike is usual for Dredd, this particular incident only warranted his typical quick assessment and unrelenting domineering posture to bring it to a happy end (as the woman thanked me and I received credit from numerous people on the tram for my action). But then, Amsterdam is hardly Mega-City One. Still, if I had seen a different motion picture in the hours before, would I have been in the right mood to defuse a potentially violent situation like this...?

And watch the trailer here:

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/lions_gate/dredd/

Conan the Barbarian (2011)

Rating: ***/*****, or 6/10

Re-imagination of the Conan franchise and the barbarian character itself, first immortalized by Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1982. Jason Momoa (the former Khal Drogo on the brilliant HBO show Game of Thrones) has big boots to fill indeed, and does it adequately enough judging by the size of his biceps and the lack of subtlety and talent for murder displayed in his take on Conan. This sleeker, more modern action flick retells the origins of Conan, keeping close to Schwarzenegger's Conan the Barbarian (1982) combined with some elements from Conan the Destroyer (1984), starting of as a wild child who witnesses his tribe massacred and his beloved father (Ron Perlman!) viciously put to death at the hands of the evil tyrant king Khalar Zym (Stephen Lang once again failing to portray a truly disdainful antagonist as he did on Avatar (2009)). Seeking revenge in the long run, Conan at first sticks to the life of a thief and a pirate, until he picks up Zym's trace again and slashes his way to the top through a long row of creepy henchmen, delivering some decent action scenes and rescuing a beautiful lady of royal blood (Rachel Nichols) in the process. This princess is intended as a human sacrifice so Zym and his maniacal sorceress daughter (a delightful Rose McGowan who is obviously having a ball here) can summon the powers of an ancient mask and conquer the world. Of course Conan doesn't make it easy for them, resulting in a string of violent fisticuffs, intense moments of swords hacking into human flesh and overly digital monsters to be fought, basically the ingredients most spectators would have expected. Overall a fairly entertaining action film, certainly the best in director Marcus Nispel's repertoire (which isn't saying much with movies like Pathfinder (2007) and Friday the 13^th (2009) on his score), but never truly special and certainly not as iconic as Schwarzenegger's original portrayal of the classic Robert E. Howard character. The movie did rather poorly at the box office, despite being released in 3-D (though for most of the film you wouldn't have noticed this), so we probably won't be hearing from Conan for a while. A shame on the one hand, but on the other, we'll always have Ah-nuld.

Starring Jason Momoa, Stephen Lang, Rose McGowan

Directed by Marcus Nispel

USA: Millennium Films, 2011

Centurion

Rating: ***/*****, or 7/10

Enjoyable high adrenaline action film set in Roman times. In the Second Century A.D., a Roman legion sets out on a mission in the unconquered north of Britain but walks into an ambush and gets viciously decimated, after which a ragtag group of survivors of various ranks and ethnic backgrounds led by Quintus Dias (Michael Fassbender, just before his definite breakthrough roles in X-Men: First Class and Shame the year after) must run for their lives behind enemy lines to get back to Hadrian's Wall and safety. Unfortunately for them, they're hunted by an elite team of killer Picts led by the mute but scary assassin Etain (Olga Kurylenko). Will any of them make it out alive? And if they do, could they ever go back to the life of Roman soldiery? Neil Marshall (The Descent, Doomsday) does his thing as an accomplished action director and doesn't bother making anything even resembling a Roman epic, but delivers a simple chase flick set in ancient times instead. What the film lacks in its straightforward story it makes up for decently in action and suspense. Ironically enough, the following year The Eagle was released (very similar plot wise but more serious in tone), which in terms of story was almost a direct sequel, though that particular production had no ties to Centurion.

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Olga Kurylenko, Dominic West

Directed by Neil Marshall

UK: Celador Films, 2010

This awesome animated poster was also attached to the film, setting the tone of the movie more effectively than the regular theatrical poster bothered to do:

Caligula

Rating: ***/*****, or 6/10

One of the most bizarre entries in the recorded history of cinema, this kinky movie is clearly a product of the seventies with its 'laissez-faire' attitude towards movie contents. The story behind this production is at least as intriguing and sleazy as the final product itself. A grandiose mixture of historical epicness and pornography, this movie went through many tumultuous phases, both during and particularly after production. At its core it tells the story of Caligula (Malcolm McDowell), a young man who rose to be Emperor of ancient Rome at the death of his vile old uncle Tiberius (Peter O'Toole surrounded by naked people), but ruled for only four years because of his disgusting appetites. The movie shows, among other things, Caligula hosting several orgies, engaging in incest with his sister Drusilla (Teresa Ann Savoy) and having hundreds of people viciously executed for next to no reason. McDowell does an excellent job of portraying the spoiled but traumatized young emperor, but he's outstaged at every turn by the abundance of explicit sex scenes, including fellatio, cunnilingus, lesbian sex, group sex, people urinating on each other, attempted intercourse with fish and various other animals, naked mutants and about everything else the Penthouse producers could think of: it'll come as no surprise original screen writer Gore Vidal had his name removed from the credits when he noticed what had been done to his serious screen play. From a camp perspective, this is actually all rather fun, but if you're looking for historical accuracy, or subtlety, you'll find little here. The movie is still banned in several countries, while there has been almost a dozen cuts in circulation over the years, and none of the make for a really good film, but all of them are fascinating to behold nonetheless.

Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole

Directed by Tinto Brass, Bob Guccione

Italy/USA: Penthouse Film International, 1979

Braindead

Rating: ****/*****, or 8/10

Outrageous 'zomedy' (comedy with zombies) film, one of the most goriest motion pictures ever made, courtesy of a much younger Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings). Also totally hilarious by every count. In 1957, Lionel, a young man living under the iron rule of his old tyrant of a mother, finds himself in love with a nice Hispanic girl, but their love affair is cut short when his mum is bitten by a creepy Sumatran Rat Monkey (charming little stop motion creature), which causes a nasty infection turning her into a zombie. The same fate awaits everyone who also suffers her bite, and that ends up being quite a lot of people. Lionel hides his monstrous mother and her fellow undead in his basement, and then finds himself confronted with his greedy uncle who's after his inheritance, while he still tries to maintain his romance. The lid eventually blows open completely when his mother and her zombie minions break free and start killing everyone in their path. Features some utterly silly characters, including a priest highly skilled in karate who 'kicks ass for the Lord', a German immigrant doctor who has a secret Nazi background and a vicious zombie baby. The experience of shooting the (extremely disturbing) splatter scenes sure came in handy for shooting scenes of killing Orcs in Lord of the Rings. Fortunately, comedy triumphs over disgust, though it's no shame to feel an upset stomach and serious throat convulsions watching this grotesque flick, which remains one of the funniest horror films of all time. Released in America under the title 'Dead Alive'.

Starring: Timothy Balme, Diana Peňalver, Elizabeth Moody

Directed by Peter Jackson

New Zealand: WingNut Films, 1992

BloodRayne

Rating: ***/*****, or 5/10

One of Uwe Boll's best films, though that isn't saying much considering his reputation as one of the worst directors alive. Still, despite its obvious limited budget this is a fairly enjoyable action flick with a surprisingly good cast (how Boll always manages to get such noted actors for his otherwise bad films ever remains a mystery). In 18^th Century Romania, Rayne (Kristanna Loken, Terminator 3), a young Dhampir (vampire/human hybrid), lives a meager life full abuse travelling with a circus as a sideshow attraction, but decides to jump ship, after which she finds out her father, Kagan (Ben Kingsley), the king of vampires, raped her mother. Out for vengeance against her father, she teams up with a group of vampire hunters, including Vladimir (Michael Madsen) and Katarin (Michelle Rodriguez) who are at war with Kagan's sinister forces. Kagan himself however means to destroy humanity and has no qualms killing his daughter if it stops her from interfering with his vile schemes. The plot is a bit of a mess and at times hard to follow or nonsensical, while the visual effects often are of poor quality. However, some fine acting and adequate action scenes keep this film from being a total loss, the fate to which many other Uwe Boll films were condemned. If you expect a faithful adaptation of the original video game this movie is based on, forget it.

Starring: Kristanna Loken, Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen

Directed by Uwe Boll

USA/Germany: Boll KG Productions, 2005

Big Tits Zombie

Rating: */*****, or 1/10

Absolutely dismal attempt to make something resembling a horror comedy, like only the Japanese in their sick psycho minds could produce (any Japanese people that have seen this thing would undubitably concur with me in that last bigotry ridden statement). Easily one of the worst films I've ever seen, which unfortunately even ended up in my movie collection (I never knew my friends disliked me so much they would give me this monstrosity for my birthday... but at least I didn't pay for it, except for the ten years it took away from my life by giving me brain rot). Except for a few nice naked breasts sparsely displayed throughout, there's just nothing redeemable about this audiovisual piece of poo that by rights shouldn't even be allowed to be called a movie, since that would insult anyone who's ever worked on proper films. The plot, if there is such a thing here, revolves around a few exotic dancers (a bunch of girls with hardly any acting experience, which is clearly revealed) who find themselves under siege by completely unconvincing looking zombies (my cat's fleas could have provided better make-up effects!) after discovering some old book containing incantations capable of resurrecting the dead. Every supposed joke the brainless mutants called 'writers' make misses its mark completely, making this movie so painfully cringeworthy this flick is very hard to sit through, even though it's running for only 74 minutes. To make matters worse – yes, that is actually possible – the movie boasts 3D effects: every time an icon pops up in the corner of the screen, you can put on your 3D glasses, but what is seen when wearing these is not 3D, it's just jumbled, messed up imagery, inducing nasty headaches within seconds. Depth is obviously non-existent in every way here, it might as well be called a 0D movie. If there ever is such a thing as a public movie burning rally somewhere, this is the title you're most likely to see in agony on the bon fire; I'd be first in line to make sure no copies of this horrific pile of garbage survive the event. Original Japanese title: Kyonyȗ Doragon: Onsen zonbi vs sutorippȃ 5: if there's indeed a part 1 through 4 of this (I never bothered finding this out), watching the series in a marathon is nothing short of committing seppuku, the dishonourable version.

“Starring”: Sola Aoi, Risa Kasumi, Mari Sakurai

“Directed” by Takao Nakano

Japan: Big Tits Dragon Production Committee, 2010

Blob, The (1988)

Rating: ***/*****, or 7/10

This remake of the 1958 original film is less of a mixed bag genre wise and more of a straightforward horror film: the abundance of gore makes it clear it has no pretensions to be anything else. An gelatinous alien organism lands on Earth in a small American town and starts devouring its inhabitants, quickly increasing in mass until little escape seems possible for the remaining survivors, who also find themselves confronted with a secret government agency intent on capturing the life form for its own shady purposes. Several teenagers must try to evade both these sinister agents and the hungry entity itself to stay alive, in the classic eighties horror tradition. If you can stand the goriness of people being consumed alive, you might find this a fun though otherwise unremarkable decent horror flick. However, the typical love triangle between teenagers present in this film can cause some irritation. At least you won't end up with a very annoying theme song stuck in your head as you would have in 1958.

Starring: Kevin Dillon, Shawnee Smith, Donovan Leitch

Directed by Chuck Russell

USA: TriStar Pictures, 1988

Apocalypto

Rating: ****/*****, or 8/10

Controversial as always, director Mel Gibson once again mixes history with dynamic action and moments of intense gore, creating a thrilling hellride of a movie which isn't as historically accurate as some people would like it to be. In Apocalypto, a group of peaceful rain forest natives is viciously attacked by Maya warriors, who sell the survivors into slavery after a gruelling trek through the jungle. Upon arriving, we learn about the many ways available in ancient Central-America to dispatch people to the afterlife. Jaguar Paw, a lone hunter, fights to escape the clutches of his captors to return home and rescue his pregnant wife and young son he hid in a sinkhole, for their safety from the raiders, from starvation, only to be chased by a band of ruthless pursuers out for his blood. Viewers who can stand the abundance of gore will be treated to a spectacular action-adventure flick (as was the case with Braveheart) set in an age still hardly explored by motion pictures, but undoubtedly worthy of less bloody cinematic representation. In the meantime, this film at least gets us interested in the subject.

Starring: Rudy Youngblood, Raoul Trujillo, Gerardo Taracena

Directed by Mel Gibson

USA: Icon Entertainment International, 2006

Anaconda

Rating ***/*****, or 7/10

Fun creature flick with a surprisingly good cast considering the fairly typical subject matter. A film crew heads deep into the lush Amazon rain forest to document an indigenous tribe, but on the way stumble on a seemingly lost poacher (Jon Voight performing with a rather silly accent). It soon turns out the guy intends to capture a giant anaconda snake alive and has no moral qualms about sacrificing the documentarists one at a time to achieve his goal. With both the ever more violent poacher and the supersnake (a clearly but effective combination of puppets and CGI) picking the crew off, can camera woman Jennifer Lopez save the day? Though the movie offers little narrative surprises and has an obviously artificial creature as the major threat, it makes up for it with decent acting, solid action and a damn fine score. This movie got no less than three totally unnecessary sequels.

Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Jon Voight, Ice Cube

Directed by Luis Llosa

USA: Cinema Line Film Corporation, 1997

Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation

Rating: */*****, or 2/10

Meer van hetzelfde, maar dan minder

Het is nooit een goed teken als een populaire film die gewoon in de bioscoop draaide een vervolg krijgt dat direct op DVD uitgebracht wordt. Het geeft al meteen aan dat het nieuwe deel het niet haalt bij het originele product, en dat het louter om het geld te doen is: de studio hoopt wegens het succes van de voorganger nog wat extra poen uit diens naam te slepen voor diegenen die er meer van willen zien. Slechts zeer zelden zitten er bij films die 'direct-to-video' uitgebracht worden memorabele titels. Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation kan hier helaas niet tot gerekend worden. De film is een belabberd vervolg op Paul Verhoevens spectaculaire sciencefiction-epos dat weliswaar meer van hetzelfde levert zoals te verwachten viel, maar niets dat het niveau van de vorige film evenaart, of überhaupt lang blijft hangen.

Verhoevens werk was een uitstekende terugkeer naar het sciencefictiongenre dat hem groot maakte aan de andere kant van de oceaan, waarin hij op satirische wijze een futuristische samenleving schetste doordrenkt van militarisme en totaal geloof in het heil van de staat ten koste van het individu. De film toonde een groep jongelui die zich enthousiast voor militaire dienst inschreef om het felbegeerde staatsburgerschap te verkrijgen en vervolgens in een grootschalige verwoestende oorlog tegen een ras van agressieve reuzen-insecten de ene gruwelijkheid na de andere beleefde. Desondanks verloren de tieners nooit het vertrouwen in het fascistische systeem, wat aangaf dat zij niet veel verschilden van de monsterlijke vijand die ook het belang van de soort boven alles stelde en zich vrijwillig naar de slachtbank begaf. Vergezeld van uitstekend effectenwerk en sensationele actiescènes leverde Verhoeven een controversiële satire af die bij vlagen even hilarisch als verbazingwekkend was.

Het zal niemand verrassen dat Verhoeven bedankte voor de eer het goedkopere tweede deel te draaien. Zoals niet ongebruikelijk is voor films die meteen naar de schappen van de videotheek verbannen worden is er niet eens een echte regisseur voor handen, maar is het werk uitbesteed aan iemand zonder regie-ervaring die tot voor kort op een andere afdeling van de filmindustrie werkzaam was. In dit geval heeft men 'visual effects supervisor' Phil Tippett ingeschakeld, die onder andere medeverantwoordelijk was voor de fantastische effecten in Star Wars en Robocop. Dat Tippett een aardige naam heeft qua special effects wil echter niet zeggen dat hij verstand heeft van regisseren. Maar het grote probleem van Starship Troopers 2 is niet de regie, maar het script, dat domweg van een deplorabel niveau is, hoewel het afkomstig is uit de pen van Ed Neumeier die ook het script van het eerste deel schreef.

De oorlog tegen de insecten gaat verbitterd door. Een militaire eenheid wordt overrompeld op een onherbergzame planeet en ziet zich genoodzaakt zich te verschansen in een recent verlaten en vervallen buitenpost. Daar treffen ze kapitein Dax (de norse Richard Burgi) aan, achtergelaten wegens de moord op een hogere officier, alsmede een andere groep soldaten. De slijmerige vijand blijft de manschappen lastig vallen waardoor ze genoodzaakt worden hun krachten te bundelen, maar al snel blijkt, volkomen voorspelbaar, dat het gevaar vanuit de eigen gelederen komt. Een nieuw soort insect heeft het gezelschap geïnfiltreerd met een dodelijk plan dat verstrekkende gevolgen kan hebben voor de hele mensheid. Uiteraard blijkt Dax niet de simpele moordenaar te zijn waar men hem voor hield maar vormt hij, samen met de stoere soldaat Sahara (de lieftallige Colleen Porch die haar mannetje staat tussen al het geweld), de laatste hoop op een goede afloop.

Wat levert Starship Troopers 2 dat Starship Troopers ons niet gaf? Helaas niet zoveel. Aangezien het plot zich grotendeels in de krappe ruimtes van de buitenpost afspeelt en het gevaar dit keer veel minder afkomstig is van monsterlijke spinnen en torren, maar vanuit andere mensen komt, is het niet verrassend dat de actie veel beperkter en minder imposant is dan in de voorganger het geval was. De setting wekt de clichématige indruk van het oude spookhuis waar de gestoorde moordenaar zijn slachtoffers één voor één opjaagt en afmaakt, en dat is eigenlijk precies wat er gebeurt, met smerig hakwerk dat past bij een dergelijk horrorscenario. Hoewel ook Verhoeven niet vies was van een beetje gore, ligt de nadruk er hier te stevig bovenop: spannend wordt het niet, wel ranzig. Eigenlijk voelen alleen de actiescènes aan het begin en einde van de film, als de protagonisten belaagd worden door hordes insecten, verwant aan de actie die Verhoeven ons voorschotelde. Vooruit, een paar blote borsten hier en daar passen ook wel in Verhoevens stijl.

Met een subtitel als 'Hero of the Federation' mogen we verwachten dat Starship Troopers 2 de satirische trend van het voorgaande deel volgt. Dat doet het ook, maar in mindere mate, en nergens zo bijtend of scherp als voorheen. De film plaatst vraagtekens bij de propaganda van het militaire apparaat omtrent het heldendom, wat volgens Dax inhoudt dat jonge mensen nodeloos opgeofferd worden in massale veldslagen die hen reduceert tot kanonnenvoer ter meerdere eer en glorie voor het systeem, als doel nieuwe rekruten aan te trekken om hetzelfde met hen te doen. Echter, zijn uiteindelijke eigen opoffering is wel degelijk voor een goede zaak, waardoor de boodschap van Starship Troopers 2 rond het thema heldendom in onduidelijkheid blijft steken.

Starship Troopers 2 heeft goede intenties en probeert de toeschouwer vergelijkbare waar als zijn voorganger te leveren, maar het starre script biedt daar helaas de ruimte niet voor. In plaats van epische sciencefiction en knallende actie resulteert de film in typisch bloederige horrormeuk, met een wel heel dun satirisch ondertoontje dat van weinig toegevoegde waarde blijkt. De effecten van dit vervolg zien er gelukkig nog redelijk acceptabel uit ondanks het geringe budget, zodat Tippets rol in deze productie niet helemaal zinloos is gebleken, maar als geheel is het niveau van Starship Troopers 2 op alle fronten minder dan van het origineel, waardoor de film amper de moeite waard is. Helaas heeft de ervaring ons geleerd dat zelfs meteen op video gedumpte, slappe aftreksels van films met naamsbekendheid doorgaans winst opleveren, wat studio's er zelden van weerhoudt hetzelfde kunstje te herhalen met een nog lager budget en uiteraard nog minder geslaagde resultaten. Liefhebbers van de eerste Starship Troopers kunnen dit vervolg daarom beter links laten liggen, wat hopelijk de studio laat zien dat we echt niet zitten te wachten op dit soort goedkope variaties op het thema.

Saw II

Rating: ***/*****, or 6/10

Het gemartel gaat door

Wanneer wordt de grens tussen geraffineerde horror en ordinaire martelporno overschreden? Die vraag drong zich op toen de film Saw vorig jaar de bioscopen bereikte. Het verhaal over twee mannen die vastgeketend zitten in een gore kelder, met de keuze om dood te hongeren of hun voet eraf te zagen om te ontsnappen, was schokkend, duister en bij vlagen letterlijk misselijkmakend, maar het viel niet te ontkennen dat de film uitstekend geschreven was, de nodige intrigerende plotwendingen bevatte en in het algemeen een goed gemaakte griezelfilm was. Aangezien de low budget-film voor een appel en een ei gedraaid was en een behoorlijk grote winst binnenhaalde, is het geen verrassing dat binnen korte tijd een tweede deel volgens dezelfde formule gemaakt is, want dat is tegenwoordig de regel in de filmindustrie. En dus gaat het martelen door...

Psychopaat Jigsaw is terug. Dit keer beperkt het lijden zich niet tot twee mensen, maar ziet een groep van acht zich in een vergelijkbare situatie geplaatst. Tezamen worden zij wakker, opgesloten in een vies en leegstaand huis, zonder te weten hoe ze daar gekomen zijn. Via bandrecorders krijgen zij Jigsaws regels te horen: het huis wordt langzaam gevuld met een dodelijk gas en de groep heeft slechts twee uur de tijd om te ontsnappen, tenzij ze injecties met antiserum te pakken kunnen krijgen die door het huis verspreid zijn. Om bij het antiserum te komen moeten ze echter eerst de dodelijke vallen die Jigsaw voor ze klaar heeft staan omzeilen. Zullen ze lichaamsdelen opofferen om in leven te blijven? Zullen ze samenwerken om te ontsnappen of is het ieder voor zich?

Het zijn dezelfde vragen die de eerste film stelde, en wat dat betreft verschilt Saw II weinig van de voorganger. De hoofdattractie wordt hier uiteraard gevormd door de nieuwe vallen die de schrijvers bedacht hebben om hun personages mee om zeep te helpen. En we hebben weinig met hen te doen, want het zijn voornamelijk criminelen en randfiguren, gestuurd door puur egoïsme en zelfbehoud. Dus kijken we rustig toe en wachten we op de volgende macabere uitvinding waarmee dit zootje ongeregeld zich geconfronteerd ziet. De één verbrandt levend, de ander bloedt langzaam dood, het is weer dolle pret! Toch blijft het oprecht intrigerend welke ziekelijke machinaties de schrijvers nu weer bedacht hebben...

Evenals in deel één werkt de politie hard om Jigsaw (een uitstekend grimmige Tobin Bell) te pakken te krijgen. Dat gebeurt al aan het begin van de film, waarop blijkt dat zijn nieuwste spel al in volle gang is. Inspecteur Matthews (een gefrustreerde Donnie Wahlberg) ziet zich gedwongen de zieleroerselen van de gek aan te horen, want zijn zoon is één van de acht slachtoffers. Dat het joch (de irritante Erik Knudsen) een arrogante kleine etter is, blijkt voor de vader minder relevant dan voor de kijker, voor wie het slechts kanonnenvoer van hetzelfde kaliber als de andere gevangenen is.

Het interessantste aspect van Saw II ligt in de conversaties tussen de wanhopige vader en de psychopaat, waarbij we diens beweegredenen eindelijk ten volle leren kennen. Jigsaw is een terminaal kankerpatiënt en in de waan dat de meeste mensen het leven niet ten volle waarderen en het verspillen. Daarom laat hij hen door zijn beproevingen heengaan, zodat ze na afloop hun leven meer zin geven. Echter, met zo'n boodschap blijft het merkwaardig dat veel van zijn slachtoffers in situaties terechtkomen die ze eigenlijk nauwelijks kunnen overleven. Maar in vergelijking met andere psychopaten uit de filmgeschiedenis (denk Leatherface, Freddy Krueger of Michael Myers) heeft Jigsaw meer diepgang en karakter dan we gewend zijn voor horrorfilms van dit expliciete en misselijkmakend niveau.

Jigsaws naderende einde ligt echter vanaf deel één al vast, maar de plotwending in Saw II biedt garantie voor de toekomst van de serie die zo nog vijf delen verder kan als het geld blijft binnenstromen, zoals het voor de eerste film deed. Het is echter oppassen dat Saw niet in hetzelfde herkauwen vervalt als het heersende cliché van dit type bloederige horrorfilms stelt. Immers, de originele films in franchises als A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween of Friday the 13^th mogen dan wel klassiek genoemd worden, de andere delen van deze reeksen zijn door de meeste mensen al terecht vergeten. Saw II houdt zich in vergelijking nog sterk, maar de valkuil van het genre lijkt onvermijdelijk.

Saw II doet de eerste film nog eens dunnetjes over, maar dan met meer dodelijke vallen, meer slachtoffers en vooral meer gore (in het laatste opzicht hoofdzakelijk meer dan nodig). De plottwists blijven gelukkig redelijk origineel en de boodschap van de moordenaar is niet helemaal ontoepasselijk, waardoor de film net boven de doorgaans lage standaard blijft die vervolgfilms in het horrorgenre meestal typeert. Desondanks is het duidelijk dat de serie zich hoe langer hoe meer op het lugubere vermaak van de inventieve dodelijke vallen gaat concentreren. Waar Saw een briljante instant klassieker in het genre bleek en Saw II een redelijk vervolg op het origineel, zal de formule rond Saw III – uiteraard al aangekondigd – inderdaad vervallen zijn tot zinloze martelporno. Wat dat betreft mag de zaag er nu al ingezet worden om de serie dat lot te besparen...