Well, I didnt know about this film, until few months ago, when I happened to read some article about it, that also had some cool looking screen shots from the film. It sounded like a pretty cool action film, and I got excited. I search the net for the trailer, but other than half finished official website, there were nothing else.
Then, When we went to see XXX, the official trailer for this film was shown. And it looked Damn cool. Very stylish, it promised some great looking action scenes, lots of explosions and cool looking characters.
Then one week prior to the film release I found out that it will be rated R. In our day and age, its becoming quite a rarity for action films to be R, last film that had this rating being Blade 2. It made my desire to see this film even more.
I knew that critics with trash this film, so I didnt paid any attention to the almost unison critical outcry. I hoped for the better. So was the film as good, as I hoped it to be, or it failed to entertain me, just as it did with other people? Read on to find out.
I won't re-tell the the film's storyline, since if you reading this, chances are you allready know about whats happens in it, or at least have an idea. 2 goverment agent meet in the battle with each other, but then find out about third outside force, that is in fact the real enemy, and have to join forces to win the battle.
I didnt find the plot as confusing or stupid as many other critics. When I went to see this movie, I dind't expected highly intellegent storytelling, and what the film had didnt dissapoint. Sure the characters werent very deep, and there were not many details about them given, but again you can't expect action film to have all dramatic depth, and not to bore you to death with character info over exposure. Sure, there were plenty of your usual action film cliches, and some of the lines and dialog can be called ridiculous, but it worked for me.
Now, few words about direction and actor performances. With film's being director Kaos 2nd film, you cant really expect a true proffesional level of directing, but he did ok in most of the parts. Sure action scenes could have used more control and better setup, and I'm sure many viewers will be put off by many moments of Slow-motion technique used, but this particular style didnt bothered me at all. The film stars Antonio Banderas as Agent Eks, and Licy Lui as Agent Sever. Both did a great job in the action scenes, especially Lui. Here she looks like a female terminator, fast, deadly and silent. She doesnt have much dialog, but it not necessary. She just just there to kick ass, and she does it with style. Banderas have more dramatic role, thus meaning he has more lines, but he delivers them well, and his action moments are also pretty good, though not on Lui level of intensity. The film also have Ray Park(of Darth Maul fame) as one of the bad guys, but he has nothing to do, until the end, when he does goes against Lui for the round of some cool fighting.
Next stop Action. And if you an action fan, you know that its the one of the most important aspects of Action film. And let me tell you, this film has alot of it. But is it all good? Sadly no. There are some cool and inventive action set pieces here and there, like Prison bus escape stunt, Fall from the roof top, the has been captured in the film's trailer, or above mentioned fight between Park and Lui, but most of the action sadly comes as generic explosions and people running. Explosions do look great, and there are lots of car, train, building and other types, some look better than other, and some really unnecessary at all. I am a big fan of SWAT teams in movies, and here they had a good chance to stage some impressive gun fights, but instead went with explosion overload, with actual gunfight scenes seriously lacking energy. Fights were staged nicely, without use of now standard wires, and HK style fast fighting. Its good to see a variety in the film, and again both stars performed well during these scenes. I dont know if it was Park who did film choreography, but it was decently done and staged, and looked good on film.
Musical score was ok, with scenes of roaring techno and rock music during action scenes, intermixed with more slower scores during dramatic moments. Still some of the music could have beed done better, and once in a while it was little too much on your ears. Especially when it was a repetetive melody, goin over and over, and some what spoiling the scene. Same goes for Sound FX.
At the end, I will summorize the feeling I got after watching it. If you an action fan and enjoy some mindless action and explosions, and dont look into plot too much, give this film a try. Don't expect a high drive of films of John Woo, or Matrix, and you will be ok. But if you like more thought provokin fare, skip it for something else.
I'm personally somewhat dissapointed in it, since what looked like a must see acion flick, ended up more generic action film. Its good to be seen for the Matenee price, but dont waste a full price on it, and wait for the dvd release 6 months later.
Hopefully upcoming Transporter, that was recently pushed to October, will deliver action on higher scale. Both in fun and quality wise.
i just saw ecks vs. sever, and to put it plainly, i wasn't too impressed.
first of all, there was plenty of action. in fact, most of the movie is action. sounds good, right? not really. while the movie piles on the explosions and guns and whatnot, it was just all so boringly done. there were no scenes that give the audience a rush to watch or say "oh shit","holy crap," or "damn, that was cool." everything was so mundane. the one car/motorcycle chase scene it had felt as if everyone was moving at a whopping 30 mph. also, nearly every explosion was in slow motion (which is a lot of slow motion). i never liked slow motion to begin with, and this movie just goes way overboard with it.
secondly, given the title of the movie, and how it was promoted, i was expecting a really cool showdown between ecks and sever before they joined forces, but ecks was lame. he got his ass handed to him on more than one occasion, and when he did get to lay some smack down, nothing about him conveyed anything "badass." sever, on the other hand, was like the terminator --- she keeps coming and coming. that was cool.
the only other cool thing about ecks vs. sever is the fact that ray park is in the movie. his fight with lucy lui was pretty cool, but much too short, and not good enough to make up for the rest of the boring action laced throughout the movie.
ecks vs. sever could have been a very smart and slick action/spy movie. however, boring action scenes full of slow motion, lame story, and bad portrayal of character (i think this is more the writer's fault) bring down this movie --- big time.
given that, i'd have to give this movie a thumbs down.
ps - oh, as for the music, the techno was pretty cool, but the new age stuff that comes on every time lucy lui was on screen didn't sit too well with me.
The Darkest Soul
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