It's amazing how far franchises can fall. Horror film sequels are known for their diminishing returns, everything from Friday the 13th to A Nightmare on Elm Street have seen each sequel get worse and worse, but the record for the furthest fall has to be the Alien franchise. After Ridley Scott's masterpiece in creeping horror to James Cameron's all out actioner, their sequels … [Read more...]
Alien3 (1992) review by That Film Guy
1992 saw David Fincher's step into a project late, with an unfinished script and attempt to keep the Alien franchises' streak going with Alien3. Previously a rock music video director, Fincher has gone on to make some visually stunning films like Fight Club and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but he cut his feature film teeth on Alien3. Following on from Ridley Scott's science … [Read more...]
Alien: Resurrection (1997) review by That Film Guy
The fourth instalment of the increasing bloated and mishandled Alien franchise was released in 1997. Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Alien: Resurrection took the franchise in a drastic new direction after the critical mauling that Alien3 received and under the Frenchmen's gaze became a much comic take on the Alien Universe. A great deal of this humour comes from a script penned … [Read more...]
Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) review by That Film Brat
After the ridiculous success of Resident Evil at the box office, the studio green-lit a sequel and injected a bit more money into it this time ($45 million versus Resident Evil's $30 million). Paul W. S. Anderson decided not to stay on as director, but instead wrote the script and produced the film. And thank god. Resident Evil: Apocalypse improves on the first film in almost … [Read more...]
Act of Valor (2012) review by That Film Guy
Early 2012 saw the release of Act of Valor, a film involving a team of US Navy Seals sent on a variety of missions to rescue captured allies, eliminate enemies of the USA and generally just be Navy Seals. Act of Valor's unique selling point is that it stars real Navy Seals as opposed to actors and highlights the real tactics used by them when in the field. It is truly a novel … [Read more...]
The Raid (2012, Indonesian) review by That Film Guy
There are some films that do exactly what you expect them to. Contraband was always going to be a by-the-numbers thriller, The Lucky One was always going to be an emotionally manipulative 'love story' and The Raid was always going to be a bog-standard martial arts film. The thing is, it isn't. At all. … [Read more...]
Die Hard (1988) review by That Film Guy
The 1980s brought a rejuvenation in the very definition of action films. The likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Steven Seagal released huge commercial success after huge commercial success playing alpha males who could fight their way out of any situation. In the Christmas of 1988, one actor, with no background in action helped create one of the most iconic … [Read more...]
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) review by That Film Guy
When James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger collaborated on The Terminator in 1984 they created a franchise that has run for over two decades. The most successful both critically and commercially of the franchise is its immediate sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which reverses the role of Arnie's character from killing machine to protector of a young John Connor (Edward … [Read more...]
Lethal Weapon (1987) review by That Film Guy
The late 1980s was a hotbed of action films with fast-talking dialogue, big explosions and over-the-top action scenes. One of the finest examples, and one that was so successful that it spawned a host of hit-and-miss sequels is the Mel Gibson star-making vehicle, Lethal Weapon. Directed by 1980s supremo Richard Donner, Lethal Weapon would turn Mel Gibson into a megastar while … [Read more...]
Predators (2010) review by That Film Guy
After one sequel and two spin-off films, the eponymous Predator was brought back to the silver screen by Robert Rodriguez in 2010 in Predators. Pitched as the true sequel, and ignoring the events of Predator 2, Alien vs. Predator and Alien vs. Predator: Requiem, Predators takes the franchise back to the jungle atmosphere of the original and cleverly uses the ˜slasher horror' … [Read more...]