In the third and final film in the Taken series, and Written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, Neeson, Famke Janssen, and Maggie Grace return as Neeson gets a text to meet with his ex-wife Janssen when he discovers something horrible. Immediately the Los Angeles Police Department arrive to arrest him for a crime he did not commit. Neeson escapes and looks for the person who framed him while trying to protect his pregnant daughter Grace from suffering the same fate.
While I have always like Liam Neeson, this movie felt like a poor man's John Wick, although Neeson did do all of his own fighting sequences for the film.
Being a Trojan, I liked the fact that they used aerial footage of USC, and several extras were listed as USC students during Grace's university scenes.
Forrest Whitaker was pretty much wasted in this movie. I really had wanted him to play more of an obsessed detective in getting Neeson in this movie as the movie trailers seem to portray. Having Neeson and Whitaker matching wits in their various obsessions, with the police caught in the middle would have been great to see. I really wanted to see more of the police coordinating with each other a lot more in order to get Neeson rather than what was shown in the movie.
Click below to watch another movie trailer of Taken 3.
Rated PG-13 for violence and language. Running time: 109 Minutes.
In Twentieth Century Fox's Taken 2, retired CIAoperative Liam Neeson is on a business vacation trip in Istanbulwith his wife Famke Jansson and daughter Maggie Grace - when Neeson and Jansson get kidnapped by the father of the man who had kidnapped Maggie earlier.
In this sequel to Taken, I felt the movie was uneven. This seems not surprising as the work of writers Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen are uneven. I did not see the original movie, but while the father Rade Serbedzija was good as the vengeful father targeting Neeson and getting revenge for the death of Serbedzija's son and the rest of the village gang involved with the kidnapping of Grace to use her for human prostitution in the first Taken movie - some of the plot points were totally unbelievable, mostly dealing with Neeson and Jansson. The scenes at home with Grace's driving test were nice and ordinary - but once Neeson and Jansson were kidnapped, it started to get a little like an ordinary action film and a little illogical. I did like the use of the Marinesat the U.S. Embassy, however. I felt that they were more realistically used in the movie than in Argo. Seeing Grace being determined to go after her kidnapped parents from her hotel was great to see. Luc Besson claims that this is the last Taken movie.
Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 92 Minutes.
In Universal's Battleship, which is based on the game by Hasbro, screw up Taylor Kitsch is drafted by his Naval brother Alexander Skarsgård into the United States Navy with Skarsgard. While on RIMPAC, the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, a multi-national maritime exercise in which the U.S. Navy participates in - they encounter an alien invasion force.
While the movie was based on the game of Battleship, there were very little references to the game, or the references to the ads in which most of the audience would be more familiar with if they have never played the game. That seems a poor marketing strategy on the studio's/writer's part. Those of us who grew up with the game like me would want to see a little bit more of that. The ads of the game todayare based on the movie. The references in the movie were not always directly related to the game. You had to reach for the references to notice the connection to the game. The most obvious references were the alien artillery that were shaped like the pegs in the game, although the artillery pegs were not aerodynamically launched. The alien artillery flew through the air like thrown knives and I am surprised that they did not bounce off the ships when they were flying like that. The scene where the movie used tsunami warning buoys, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationweather tracking system, to locate the water displacement of the alien ships so they can call out artillery strikes against the alien ships is a direct reference as to playing the game. There was one scene in the movie that had dialog that was different than the trailer. Frankly, I liked the dialog in the trailer better for that scene than what they used in the movie. There was also a scene in the movie that was based on a true-life funny video that went viral on YouTube.
The movie is a combination of Top Gun, Under Siege, Independence Day, Battle Los Angeles, and Transformers. While the story is pretty standard, my favorite parts of the movie deal with the Naval exercise and the Naval ships themselves. Seeing the close-in weapon systems (CIWS) being used for the shipboard point-defense against the alien artillery was awesome. It was great seeing the old battleship U.S.S. Missouri and the old salt Navy men who had crewed the Missouri during World War II. It was especially great since battleships are now considered obsolete because they are too expensive to operate, as well as battleships having been surpassed by aircraft carriers as being the leading capital ships for the Navy.
A touching subplot, which gives a sense of realism to the movie, deals with the wounded warriors and the therapy they must go through. Kitsch's girlfriend Brooklyn Decker - who also unfortunately for Kitsch just happens to be the daughter of Kitsch's commanding officer Admiral Liam Neeson - is a therapist who gives therapy to real-life wounded warrior bi-lateral amputee Gregory D. Gadson in Oahu. Unfortunately, Admiral Neeson and most of the fleet were caught outside the alien force field and Neeson was not involved in fighting the aliens. This was a disappointment as I was expecting Neeson to be heavily involved in the action, one commander of our fleet against the commander of the alien fleet. Having some of the alien devastation taking place in Hong Kong adds to the scope of the movie, while news clips and footage of President Barack Obama, as well as the use of actual Naval personnel as extras to the movie added to the realism of the movie. Although, Peter MacNicol's brief appearance as the U.S. Secretary of Defense did not add to the political realism to me. Special thanks was given to the United StatesDepartment of Defense at the end of the movie.
This was singer Rihanna's acting debut. While I have never heard her music, Rihanna did pretty good as a Gunner's Mate and weapons specialist who kicked alien butt. Her character was basically of a girl from the hood who had joined the Navy and fired some big guns on both of the small boats and being on gun control on the big ships. Having wounded warrior Gadson also kicking alien butt in the movie was also fun to see. This was basically Kitsch's movie, so having Kitsch give up command of his ship over to his soccer rival Captain Tadanobu Asano, while understandable, bothered me. Also, I am not sure if that is legal to give up command of your ship like that in the Navy.
The plot of the alien invasion was too similar to Independence Day. Alien ships arrive from space and start to cause havoc, mostly with the Naval forces while trying to control communications. The aliens were too humanoid to me for the aliens to be scary enough as a threat, the aliens were just big and mean. The aliens weapons were scarier and more destructive than the aliens themselves. The alien ships were more like submersibles instead of aircraft as the alien ships hopscotched across the ocean. However the alien ships hopscotching along the ocean allowed the alien ships to be targeted like in the game.
At the end of the movie, there is a scene at the end of the end credits. This is the longest after credits scene that I have ever seen. I am not sure if this scene was just a nice tag to the movie, or a hint of what the sequel will be.
Warner Bros. Wrath of the Titans, has Perseus, Sam Worthington - from ancient Greece - having to fight the Titans as Worthington tries to rescue his father - the god Zeus, Liam Neeson, from the underworld.
In the sequel to Clash of the Titans, Wrath of the Titans has Worthington - a decade after the events of Clash of the Titans - trying to live a quiet life at home as a fisherman and being a single parent to his son John Bell. When Worthington learns that his father Neeson - the god Zeus - is being held prisoner in the deadly maze-like underworld of Tartarus from a dying Poseidon, Danny Huston, Worthington along with Huston's son Agenor, Toby Kebbell,goes after Neeson. Worthington's brother Ares, Édgar Ramírez, and Neeson's brother Hades, Ralph Fiennes, had captured Neeson in order to free Neeson's and Fiennes's powerful father Kronos - who they had all gotten together to overthrow Kronos and had imprisoned Kronos in the underworld long ago and was weakened by the lack of devotion by humanity. With the draining of Neeson's god-like powers, Kronos - the Titan's - strength grows stronger and escapes from the underworld to threaten to destroy the world.
I had mixed feelings about this movie. As much as I wanted to see a story about the gods and seeing Titanic battles, it was hard for me to care about the characters. Without caring about the characters - the battles meant nothing to me, which was a shame. Part of my not caring about the characters was that I did not care about Worthington. Despite the fact that Worthington had a son that he loved and was trying to protect, I could not relate to Worthington as he did not seem to relate to the others. I did not care for Worthington in the movie Avatareither for the same reason. I related more to Agenor, Toby Kebbell, as the son of Poseidon, Danny Huston, rather than to Worthington as Kebbell was much funnier. The weapons-maker of the gods Hephaestus, Bill Nighy, was also funny. There was a subtle sense of humor to the movie that at times I was wondering if the dialog was supposed to be funny, or if the audience had just considered the movie funny. The directing style of the movie by Jonathan Liebesman was more of a European style than an American style, which is curious as Liebesman directed Battle Los Angeles and the movie Battle Los Angeles was more in the style of an American film. The action of Wrath of the Titans was mostly up close and personal, which was a bit much for me as the movie did not allow me to feel some distance and perspective from the action. As for the bestial Titans, you never really got a good look at them - as these monsters were moving around so fast. With Kronos being the father of the gods, I wanted some dialog from him berating his children - but you never got that, you just got a big angry monster Titan.
When talking about the Greek gods and demi-gods, I forget at how large a dysfunctional family the gods were. With their god-like egos, the gods definitely are at odds with each other - and humans get caught in the middle of the gods. Humans like Queen Andromeda, Rosamund Pike, and her army get caught in the middle and must battle the gods. Having the family of gods at each other's throats, makes me very disconserted when compared to my loving family who have each other's backs. While Neeson is appropriately wise as the god king, Neeson does not seem to me as if he were the lecherous, promiscuous god who was well known for begetting dozens of gods and demi-gods.
I saw the movie in Dolby 3D.The movie was very good in 3D, both in the action and in the intimate moments with a roundness and deepness to the closeups as well as the objects flying at you in the action scenes. I did not see the first movie, and I heard the first movie was converted from 2D to 3D and heard that the conversion for the first movie was bad, but Wrath of the Titans was very good in 3D. As the kid in front of me said at the end of the movie, "3D was awesome!"
Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 99 Minutes.
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation's Star Wars - Episode I - The Phantom Menace - 3D, is a re-release of the classic movie of the Star Wars saga in 3-D. This is the first of the Star Wars films that will be released in 3-D theatrically. This is significant considering that this year 2012 is the 35th Anniversary of the original Star Wars. Given a collectible keepsake of the Star Wars - Episode I -The Phantom Menace - 3D real D 3D glasses to use for the screening - when you purchase a tickit to the movie, while supplies last - is a wonderful marketing strategy for the movie, and adds to the experience when you see the movie with the fans. As the films were meant to be seen in the big theaters, instead of on a tiny TV screen, I definitely wanted to see the movie again in the theater and get the full experience. The people behind me were singing the Star Wars theme song when the opening music started. Most people have seen the movie when it first came out, but there were families who brought their kids to see the movie, and the kids seemed to enjoy the movie.
Originally George Lucas shot the movie in 2D and converted the film to 3D for this edition. While there was more 3D than is usual for a conversion, it was disappointing that there was nothing coming out at you. I only recall 1 or 2 incidences like that, and those incidences were during the pod racing scene. I don't know if that is due to the nature of the technology or if they did not want that happening for the movie. Most of the 3D effects deal with depth going back into the picture - even during interior scenes, which is rare. As a result of nothing coming out at you, the traditional opening ship fly-by was not as impressive as I wanted it to be. I wanted the ship flying over my head, instead of flying into the screen. The best 3D sequence was the pod racing sequence, a sequence which is similar to NASCAR auto racing. This is not surprising as the pod racing sequence was the most popular sequence during the film's initial release back in 1999, so naturally they would focus all of their 3D resources on this sequence.
Since I did not have a movie review blog when the movie first came out, I will review the movie now. The movie itself I have always liked as the best of the movie prequels, despite the fact that a lot of people hated it. Overall, the film has basically a good story and there were a lot of good things about it. The Trade Federation has blockaded the peaceful world of Naboo. Two Jedi Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor are sent to negotiate with the leaders - but the Federation leaders betray them. The two Jedi escape the Trade Federation and head to the planet Naboo to warn Queen Amidala, Natalie Portman, but the Trade Federatoin droids have already invaded Naboo and the Queen is not safe there. Neeson and McGregor escape Naboo with Portman. Eventually, they land on Tatooine for battle damage repairs, where they become friends with a young boy - Anakin Skywalker, Jake Lloyd. Jedi Master Qui-Gon is curious about young Anakin - and feels the Force strong in Anakin. So Qui-Gon wants to take Anakin with them to the Jedi Council. The group must now find a way of getting back to the galactic capital of Coruscant and to solve this trade dispute, but someone else sinisterly waits in the shadows.
Granted there was a lot of story detail in the film that many people, including myself, were very critical with. Jar-Jar Ahmed Best was not as annoying to me as he was when I first saw the movie in 1999, but he was still annoying. I could relate to a clueless character like Jar-Jar being suddenly thrown into this situation, but Jar-Jar does not have good table manners. The fact that Jar-Jar eventually becomes a competant ambassador in Star Wars: The Clone Wars shows the growth of the character. The various alien races representing different races like Blacks and Asians could be controversial, but it never bothered me both then and now. The scientific explanation of the Force takes away from the mystical hokey religion aspect of the Force that we grew up with, at least the aspect of the Force my generation grew up with, making the film more of a science fiction film than a science fantasy. This was kind of a disappointment for me, as I liked the mystical energy field aspect of the Force.
Jake Lloyd as the young slave Anakin has the innocent face that was needed for the role, especially when Lloyd leaves both his mother Pernilla August and his home, but Lloyd was not that great of a child actor. Actually, Lloyd's lack of acting works in conjunction to the later films with Hayden Christensen as Anakin - whose acting also was not that great in the films, so in a sense there was a sort of continuity of bad acting in the movies for the character. Actually, I think Lloyd was better as a pilot than as an actor. This allowed him to do things instead of act. Lloyd's relationship with high school aged Natalie Portman as Padme Amidala was cute as Padme is the quintesential unreachable girl. Ewan McGregor was very young in his portrayal as padawan apprentice learner Obi-Wan Kenobi, while Liam Neeson as Jedi Master Qui Gon reminds me of the older Obi-Wan portrayed by Alec Guinness. It was hard for me to imagine young Obi-Wan Ewan McGregor would turn into older Obi-Wan Alec Guinness. McGregor did not seem to fail enough to show the potential growth into Guinness.
I liked the political aspect of the Galactic Senate, although the impeachment of Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum Terence Stamp was almost trivialized - as there is very little of Stamp in the movie, which is a waste of his talent. However, the political aspect of the Jedi Council has always bothered me - especially with Mace Windu Samuel L. Jackson and Yoda Frank Oz being part of the Jedi Council determining the fate of Lloyd, even though they were correct about the eventual future of Lloyd as Anakin, I felt uncomfortable about how they treated the child Lloyd. They were more critical of the child instead of being supportive for the child Lloyd as most teachers would be.
The iconic devilish character of Darth Maul Ray Park had more dialog than I remembered him having, although officially he only had three lines. The lack of dialog does detract from the menacing aspect of his character, although Park does kick Jedi butt - which the fans behind me appreciated. Too bad Park's voice was dubbed by Peter Serafinowicz, as I think Park could become more than just an incredible martial artist that plays such iconic martial artist movie roles. The foreshadowing of Senator Palpatine Ian McDiarmidfor the rest of the series is truely foreboding. The introduction of R2-D2 and a naked C-3PO was wonderful to see.
The end credits added additional 3-D credits, with additional music to cover the length of the D credits once the music for Duel of the Fates is over. The credits at the end of the movie still end with the sound of Darth Vader's respirator.
There is also a short 3-D computer animated cartoon from Blue Sky Studios of the character Scrat, from the Ice Age films. Scrat's Continental Crack-Up: Part 2 at the beginning of the movie is a typical adventure for the character Scrat to undergo, which also includes the voices from the Ice Age movies.
Keynote Speaker/Emergency Response Provider -
Experience in Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery, Life Safety/Crisis Management in private sector critical infrastructure.
Level 2 experience with City of Costa Mesa, CA Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program through Costa Mesa Fire & Rescue Dept. Graduate of City of Costa Mesa, CA Police Department Citizens Academy.
Member of Disaster Action Team for American Red Cross Orange County helping families impacted by house fire or other disaster. Member of Mass Care for American Red Cross providing emergency services of feeding, sheltering, & bulk supplies after a disaster. Home Fire Associate installing free smoke alarms in homes. Continuous certification training with American Red Cross.
Continuous certification training with FEMA Emergency Management Institute. the emergency management community’s flagship training institution, providing training to Federal, State, local, tribal, volunteer, public, and private sector officials to strengthen emergency management core competencies for professional training.
Certified in Adult/Child/Infant CPR & AED.
Amateur Radio Technician Class KK6WYG
