Movie Thoughts Bundle (The 2000s) #1

In this collection of short reviews, we’ll explore a particular section of the late 2000's. Here we'll spotlight the rise of a yet another major 80's cartoon movie adaptation, a couple of solid horror flicks that unfortunately flew under the mainstream moviegoer radar, and another opportunity for Rolan Emerich to destroy the world in spectacular fashion.

1. G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra - 7/10

I went into this movie expecting nothing more than a CGI fest action bonanza filled with entertaining one liners and explosions. And well… that's basically what I got so I can’t really complain too much now, can I?Another thing that I got from this movie was surprising fun cameos by actors from the Mummy films like Brenden Frasier and Arnold Vosloo (which was a personal delight for me being a big fan of those movies myself). I was delighted to see that Stephen Sommers found a way to insert a little bit of flavor from his previous celebrated directorial efforts into this movie for the fans. 

Now, let's talk about the characters a bit. Unlike another movie that came out this summer, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, G.I. Joe actually did a pretty good job with establishing each characters’ backgrounds, goals, and intentions. And as for the action, I thought it was directed pretty well overall considering I can see everything taking place unlike the recently released Transformers Revenge of the Fallen. There’s also a few really exciting action scenes presented here with an extensive chase in Paris showing off high tech weaponry and ninja maneuvers being the big highlight set piece. 

The only nitpick that I had with Rise of Cobra was that some of the scenes came across as glaring influences of other popular movie scenes. For example: the scene where they're jumping over the missiles looked very similar to the scene in Transformers where Ironhide performs a similar feat. There's also the final Snake Eyes vs. Storm Shadow fight leading to a supposed death that seemed heavily inspired by the iconic Darth Maul fight from Star Wars Episode 1. That being said, at the end of the day, G.I Joe was not a total disappointment as I did have an absolute blast with some of the action heavy segments. It's certainly worth the price of admission for that reason. Now whether or not it honors the source material that it adapts from is another discussion altogether.

2. Case 39 - 8/10

The fact that this movie truly scared me, and not in a cheesy jump scare heavy fashion, but actually legitimately freaked me out at times is worthy of celebrating. Considering the countless of horror movies that I've seen in my lifetime up to this point, it's very very rare for a newer release to truly scare me these days. So with that context, I just have to give Case 39 two thumbs up for at the very least accomplishing that feat. It's honestly kinda challenging talking about this movie without spoiling it, but if anything, I can say that no matter how much you think you know the route that the story is going to take, nothing will prepare you for the fear inducing wild ride that awaits you. 

Once a particular game changing revelation comes into play within the story, things get pretty crazy as any semblance of hope for the protagonist starts to gradually get snuffed out. There are a couple of scenes that feel chaotic in the scariest ways possible where this little girl's “case” at the center of the narrative sends the audience on a nightmarish roller coaster. That's when the scare factor element really kicks into overdrive and Case 39 becomes a must-watch for fans of the genre. 

3. 2012 - 8/10

I came into this disaster movie to be dazzled by buildings and highways being torn to shreds before my eyes in spectacular fashion. And for that, I was not disappointed. The destruction scenes were absolutely incredible from a cinematic perspective and the CGI elements revolving around these epic set pieces was exceptional to say the least. However, this movie is of course not without its flaws as there were a couple things in between and during the jaw dropping moments of action that negatively stood out to me. For one thing, as highly impressive as the cinematic presentation was for the apocalyptic sequences, bizarrely enough, the movie looked like a TV soap opera in parts. 

Now thankfully, this visual style only seemed to have centered around some of the more character driven scenes as opposed to the environmental destruction. I wasn’t sure if this was a theater issue or the movie itself having this directional choice, but it certainly distracted me a little. And last but not least, despite my expectations with this particular genre being more spectacle driven, I couldn't ignore the highly forgettable characters being presented that I simply didn't connect to much at all.

4. Pandorum - 8/10

Due to the marketing, I initially went into Pandorum eagerly expecting an incredible excitement worthy sci-fi horror movie akin to Ridley Scott's Alien. Only instead, I’d describe this movie as more of a sci-fi action flick with tones of Doom and Chronicles of Riddick. And after having to do a bit of a genre expectations adjustment shift, I ended up enjoying what Pandorum had to offer in its entertaining fight scenes, interesting story, and creature design work. Now that being said, there are some horror elements interwoven into the presentation that I quite admired such as the fact that most of the movie takes place inside of a malfunctioning spaceship. 

With the power frequently cutting on and off of this dark ship interior, this made for an interesting setting that displayed an effectively dread inducing atmosphere throughout. The only notable issues that I'd say may have slightly halted the experiences were a few scenes where the pacing did seem a bit slow dragging the film down a little. However, I'd say this was still a solid watch worth checking out for fans of science-fiction movies in general.