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By: Joe Jodoin
Remember three years ago when some over-the-top Die Hard rip-off came out of nowhere, and it actually turned out better than the last couple Die Hard movies? Well that movie got a sequel, full of more of the same mindless action. London Has Fallen is a fun throwback to the simplistic but entertaining action movies of the late 80s, early 90s period of cinema. Think of the classics with Schwarzenegger, Stallone, or Van Damme, full of graphic violence and cartoony explosions. This film will at least provide a short period of escapism for action lovers, but not much else for other audiences.
The story follows Islamic terrorists who carry out an attack at the British Prime Minister’s funeral, in order to kill most of the world’s leaders, including the American President. The only man who can protect the President is Secret Service Agent Mike Banning, and the two men travel around London fighting countless waves of terrorist bad guys. The plot is incredibly unrealistic and silly, but serves to create many over-the-top fantastical action sequences.
Olympus wasn’t a movie that I thought needed a sequel, and London isn’t a movie that needs to be seen, but it’s a movie that can be enjoyed if you’re bored on a summer afternoon.
Gerard Butler does a decent job in the lead role, but has to play a very cliché character with no great lines. Aaron Eckhart plays a boring and wooden prime minister, and Morgan Freeman’s role solely involves sitting in a chair and speaking in a monotone voice. However, because the action takes the spotlight, none of these strange decisions are bothersome. It never became mind numbing or boring, and despite a complete lack of emotional investment, I was having fun watching it.
Even though the movie is technically a sequel to Olympus Has Fallen, this really doesn’t matter as the prequel is never referred to at all. Olympus wasn’t a movie that I thought needed a sequel and London isn’t a movie that needs to be seen, but it’s a movie that can be enjoyed if you’re bored on a summer afternoon and want to relax and watch some mindless action for an hour and a half.
Overall, the movie lacks sophistication and elegance, but it makes up for it in gleeful brutality. Be prepared going into this film that there will be many plot holes and countless clichés, and by no means is the movie well made. This is just a good cure for boredom. It isn’t a movie for everyone, but hopefully you will know what you’re getting into if you decide you want to watch it.
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When the list of nominees for the 2015 Cannes Film Festival came out, I was as excited for Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth as I was for Mark Osborne’s Le Petit Prince. Having closely watched both Roman Polanski’s 1971 Macbeth and the modernized 2010 British television adaptation, you’d think I’d be tired of the play by now, but Shakespeare’s Scottish tragedy once again proves itself a whirlwind of a masterpiece regardless of how it’s delivered.
If I had to describe the film in one word it would be “desolate.” The film begins in the silence of a haunting funeral, and while a battle cry eventually breaks the startling quiet, the monotony is never quite shaken off. For most of the movie, lines are murmured under breaths, sound effects are scarce and background music far in between, and the end result produces scenes eerily reminiscent of the earliest days of Soviet Montage. With scenes flashing by — shots of the three witches, brief flashes of the apparitions — without a single note or word in the background, Macbeth is almost suffocating in its dark and dismal emptiness as the strange sombre mood is maintained to the very end.
Director Justin Kurzel, however, uses the monotony in the first half to his advantage. As with the battle cry shattering the silence in the film’s first act, this pattern continues in its most significant scenes. A personal favourite is the subdued music that underlines Macbeth’s soliloquy as he walks, dagger in hand, to King Duncan’s room — music that escalates to a discordant peak as the stabbing scene plays out, effectively silencing the actors and drowning out the sounds of the struggle. By the end of the scene, the music fades, the film plunges back into its unsettling silence, and Macbeth’s bloody hands and King Duncan’s dead body soundlessly dominate the screen. The dissonance of quiet and sound reappears in the second half, when the loud cries of “Hail Macbeth!” are juxtaposed with the silence in between each cry. The startling juxtaposition frames the movie in a psychological context I haven’t seen in another adaptation, with Macbeth’s rapidly loosening grasp on reality spiralling blatantly out of his control with each sudden burst of sound in what is otherwise a silent scene. This time, it is not Macbeth unleashing the sounds of fury, and instead he is the one left in a suffocating, artificial silence.
With Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy all having previously tackled the controversial role of the thane-turned-king, Michael Fassbender is the last of the X-Men Professor X and Magneto quartet to take his turn at Macbeth. Fassbender’s Macbeth is fierce and savage, more unhinged than Patrick Stewart’s war period Macbeth and devoid of Jon Finch’s complex vulnerability in the 1971 film. This Macbeth is beast-like even in the deafening silence. By the last act, however, he is despaired and half-gone, his furious soliloquies that are usually spoken in rising volume are instead delivered barely above a whisper. The end product is mystifying, as rare as it is to see a Macbeth whose madness was not depicted to equal rabid screaming, and with this, Fassbender makes the role his and his alone. Alongside him is French actress Marion Cotillard, whose own Lady Macbeth is quiet but terrifying. She plays the role with a subdued, tender weariness, and her exhausted delivery seals the fatigued atmosphere of the film.
What this version appears to lack in consistent cacophony, it nevertheless made up for with its diegetic elements. Scenes alternate between high contrast and low contrast, and the film does not hold back in the required depiction of brutality. Kurzel’s Macbeth is not hesitant with its visual design and symbolism is laid on thick. It plays with symbolic colours, from the dark blacks and browns of Macbeth’s scenes to the blood red saturation of the finale that ultimately defined the film for me. Death hangs above the narrative constantly, setting up for the intended catharsis Macbeth’s death is meant to trigger. As the film reaches its end, the music rises, and the colours become increasingly saturated, until the dark red credits start rolling on screen.
For all that the movie was remotely and desolately silent, it kept me on edge. I was always leaning in to see more and hear more, and with that in mind, I’d like to say Kurzel’s Macbeth delivered more than it disappointed. “It is a tale told by an idiot,” goes one of the most famous lines in the play, despairingly whispered in this one, “Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” What this adaptation of Macbeth appeared to lack in sound, it made up for in silent fury, resulting in a version that may be a walking shadow of the story, but one that definitely does not signify nothing.
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By: Joe Jodoin
As the first movie from Disney Animation since 2014’s Big Hero Six, Zootopia is a welcome return for the studio. The film possesses many of the same qualities as Disney’s other classics: top-notch animation, lovable characters and a powerful message for children and adults alike.
The film takes place in a world of anthropomorphic animals, and follows a young bunny named Judy Hopps. Judy has wanted to be a police officer her whole life, but after finally getting accepted to the force, she faces discrimination and exclusion from all her coworkers for being nothing but a cute little bunny. To prove herself a worthy cop, she sets out to solve a conspiracy involving 14 missing mammals, and enlists the help of a con artist fox named Nick Wilde to help her solve the case.
The brilliance of this premise is that it contains so much potential. It can work as an amalgamation of crime drama tropes, a parody of modern lifestyles in an anthropomorphized world and explore serious discrimination problems that people face in the real world. For the most part, Zootopia achieves all of these things, but also bites off more than it can chew.
The voice cast is incredible, featuring the voices of Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, J. K. Simmons and Alan Tudyk among others. Goodwin is the voice of Judy Hopps, and has a vast majority of the dialogue in the movie. She does an incredible job, and it’s almost impossible to imagine anyone else as the voice of Judy. The film definitely would not have been nearly as good if it wasn’t for her incredible vocal performance, in scenes that are both heart-wrenching and heart-warming.
The story is definitely more about what it takes to overcome discrimination, and the importance of treating everyone as equals, than it is about a conspiracy. The film satirizes racism with incredibly strong parallels between how different species of animals treat each other and how people of different skin colors treat each other. It also tackles sexism and stereotypes, arguing that a woman can do anything that a man can do. In the film’s third act, it goes even further, and shows how people can be discriminatory against a certain group without even realizing it because of how engrained stereotypes are in our collective consciousness. The way it confronts real world issues in such a blunt and powerful way is the main reason this film could go down in history as a Disney classic.
Furthermore, the attention to detail in Zootopia is astonishing. When Judy goes to a neighbourhood of mice, she looks like a giant relative to all the buildings. However, she looks tiny when at the police station, since everyone there is a larger animal like a rhino or elephant. The way the movie works with scale and environment is very clever. More highlights include scenes from the trailers, such as the sloth scene at the DMV, the godfather parody scene and a fox committing a con with popsicles and a fake baby.
Sadly, due to the film’s incredible scope and amount of potential, it can feel disjointed and jumbled, moving from one place to another every few minutes. It is normally a good thing when a film has a fast pace, but Zootopia moves so fast that it stumbles often. Some scenes will be working very well, but then will move onto the next scene too quickly. This takes away from some of the emotional impact that the film aimed to have, and also made it less funny as it was almost exhausting keeping up with everything that was going on. To put this in perspective, the villain isn’t even revealed until the last 15 minutes of the movie, and the whole climax, denouement and conclusion all occur incredibly fast. It would definitely have been more enjoyable if it was over two hours long, but that’s not the worst complaint to have about a movie.
Overall, Zootopia is a fun and original addition to the Disney cannon, and is almost impossible not to like. It has a great message that all kids should hear, tons of pop-culture references and a balance of character and heart. However, the whole isn’t quite as strong as the sum of its parts, making it feel like a minor disappointment.
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By: Rafik El Werfalli
For over 60 years, the Indigenous population of Canada has been denied the freedom of choosing where to live. Under a government-run “pass system,” Indigenous peoples were forced to live on reserves. Any who wanted to leave required written documentation — a pass — issued by their reserve’s government-appointed “Indian agent,” that outlined the reasons for and duration of the leave.
First introduced by Sir John A. Macdonald in the 1880s, the pass system restricted the rights of the Indigenous people of Canada and was implemented without going through Parliament.
Alex Williams’ new documentary film, The Pass System, explores the history of the government effort to further segregate and limit the freedoms of Indigenous communities. Williams highlights the different perspectives on the discriminatory system and includes stories of First Nation Elders from these Indigenous communities that illustrate the impact of the system on their lives.
Williams was raised in Treaty 6 territory, Saskatchewan, and grew up in a society that he saw as racist. Growing up in a low-income neighbourhood, he witnessed many people that were pushed out economically. According to Williams, “social and structural racism” was common in his hometown.
“[The pass system] was intended to keep people of colour out and control the indigenous population, restraining and confining them to reserves as much as possible,” he explained.
Ian Mosby, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the L.R. Wilson Institute for Canadian History at McMaster University added, “Canada has a problem with their attitudes towards indigenous people, not just the government, but also Canadians themselves. We need to really look deep down at dealing with this issue and dealing with the structural racism that Indigenous people faced and are currently facing.”
“Canadians in general have been taught a very selective version of their history and many historians have been working to change that.“
Williams agrees with Mosby. “Canadians in general have been taught a very selective version of their history and many historians have been working to change that,” said Williams. “I am hoping that it can be some help in understanding the roots of this very Canadian kind of racism, colonization and genocide.”
Mosby added that many Canadian aren’t aware of their past and don’t realize the true scale of racial segregation and discrimination that Indigenous people have and continue to experience.
The film has received wide coverage, including from the Toronto Star and CBC. The film has screened at numerous locations including the Toronto International Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival and at least 20 more screenings across Canada.
“This is a story that I think is really important for people to know, and hopefully come to this documentary, and hearing from the director, people will start to get a sense of how much they don’t know about Indigenous people” said Mosby.
The Pass System will be screened at McMaster University on Mar. 4 at 2:30 p.m. at the Michael DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery (MDCL) in room 1105.
Photo Credit: Toronto International Film Festival
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By: Joe Jodoin
This movie isn’t a groundbreaking artwork. It doesn’t subvert the audience’s perceptions of superhero archetype. It doesn’t even have a clever sense of humour or any breathtaking special effects. However, a Deadpool movie doesn’t have to have any of these qualities to be a success because that’s not why we love Deadpool. Deadpool is a foul-mouthed, juvenile sociopath, who takes nothing seriously and constantly breaks the fourth wall to let us know he is perfectly aware of what the audience is thinking. In that respect, Deadpool is exactly the kind of movie the character deserves.
I was first introduced to Deadpool just over 10 years ago, when I began reading X-Men comic books. He was never my favorite character, but he was the kind of character that provided essential comic relief through the use of meta-humor that I found myself craving when the drama of the more serious superhero epics got overwhelming. Right now we live in an age of Hollywood cinema where most audience members consider dark and grounded to be essential characteristics of a good superhero movie. The miracle of Deadpool is that it has arrived at the perfect time; not only to provide much needed counter programing from your typical superhero movies that take themselves so seriously, but it reminds audiences that superheroes also have a fun side, providing escapism through high entertainment.
Deadpool’s character has always been someone people either love or hate and it has been largely due to this controversial sense of humor.
Deadpool has received a generally positive response from film critics, but occasionally gets criticized for being the exact film that it ridicules. It has one of the most typical superhero origin stories ever conceived, with an upbeat but tormented protagonist, and a one-dimensional villain with no character development. There is the standard love interest, standard comic relief and sidekick characters, and standard cameos from other superheroes that some fans will recognize from other movies.
The storylines shows that this typical narrative is so overused because it works. The villain is underdeveloped so the lovable hero can get more screen time; the love interest gives the film heart; the comic relief calms you down after a brutal torture scene or a draining action scene. It reminds us that the reason superheroes exist is to provide escapism from daily life, and Deadpool is its ultimate manifestation.
The actors all do a fantastic job, espectially Ryan Reynolds, who was born to play Deadpool. He has previously tried to play other comic book characters such as Hannibal King or Green Lantern and has been perfectly serviceable, but his performance as Deadpool ranks among the greats such as Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man, or Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. Stefan Kapicic as Colossus was another major standout of the film. The character of Colossus has already been featured in three other X-Men movies, but on none of those occasions was he ever done justice. In Deadpool, he is portrayed as a big brother-like figure to the other X-men, who also has a heart under his shiny metal exterior.
The movie’s lewd sense of humour is another defining aspect, although whether it is a good or bad thing will be up to the individual viewer. Deadpool’s character has always been someone people either love or hate and it has been largely due to this controversial sense of humor.
Overall, this movie isn’t perfect, but I loved every single scene. You can pick apart this movie for things like its cheap special effects, countless dick jokes, or lack of originality, but those are exactly what make this the perfect Deadpool movie.
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By: Joe Jodoin
After its premier at the 2015 Sundance Festival, The Witch is finally out in theatres nationwide. I wasn’t looking forward to this movie very much, as I find most horror movies are poorly made in their reliance on jump scares, and have clichéd characters.
The Witch, however, completely blew me away. By relying on atmospheric horror, the film creates a depressing, unsettling environment that slowly builds tension and dread over its brisk 93-minute runtime.
The movie takes place in the 1630s, a time when people actually believed witches were real, and follows a family who is ostracized by their church and forced to make a life for themselves on the outskirts of a creepy forest. This proves to be a more difficult task than they thought, as all their crops mysteriously die, and their baby boy suddenly disappears into thin air. The family soon learns that a witch is behind their bad luck and they must find a way to survive its incredible torment.
The plot is very simple, but Robert Eggers’ direction is what makes it so special. The whole tone and atmosphere of the film makes watching it creepy, chilling, and quite unpleasant to watch at times. Be forwarned that this is not a movie that is “scary” in the typical sense of the word. It doesn’t make you scream or jump or be afraid to sleep at night. Instead, it just crawls under your skin and lingers on long after it ends.
Eggers also crafted the film with incredible attention to detail. All the sets, clothing and dialogue are accurate to the time period. A lot of the dialogue was actually taken from diaries and real life accounts of witches from the 1600s. This brought a realistic dimension to the story and made it very easy to become invested in the family’s wellbeing. However, the origins of the dialogue also made it difficult for a modern audience to fully comprehend it, which took away from my enjoyment of the film.
Despite that one flaw, The Witch has raised the bar for the modern horror genre. If more films followed suit, we could start to take the horror genre seriously once again. I would recommend watching The Witch if you want to finally see a film that subverts all horror clichés, while also presenting a dark and disturbing work of art.
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By: Joe Jodoin
Hail, Caesar! had everything going for it — a great trailer, a great premise, an incredible cast, and the beloved Coen brothers serving as both the writers and directors. Sadly, the movie just doesn’t work. It has some redeeming qualities of course, but it’s just not entertaining or memorable enough to warrant a recommendation.
Hail, Caesar! constantly switches between being comedic and being dramatic, but it doesn’t succeed at either. While at times the movie is funny, these times are few and far between.
The movie takes place in the 1950s, and loosely revolves around the daily life of Eddie Mannix, a Hollywood ‘fixer’ for Capitol Pictures, played by Josh Brolin. His job is keep the actors and movies free of controversy. This leads to Mannix interacting with all sorts of different characters, one of which is the lead actor in a big Roman epic called Hail Caesar, a Tale of Christ’s Life. The actor, played by George Clooney, is kidnapped by some extras, leading to the main mystery of the movie.
Unfortunately, the movie’s plot just consists of a bunch of different sub-plots, none of which are very interesting. None of the stories have a decent resolution, so you are left feeling very unsatisfied when the film ends. The movie also doesn’t use all of the talent it has. This is noticeable especially when looking at Jonah Hill, who was in all the trailers and promotion but only had five lines in the movie.
Hail, Caesar! constantly switches between being comedic and being dramatic, but it doesn’t succeed at either. While at times the movie is funny, these times are few and far between. This movie is truly unlike any other movie that I have ever seen, but even though originality is usually a compliment, Hail, Caesar! ends up being entirely forgettable.
Despite the movie’s many weaknesses, it has some partially redeeming qualities as well. The best aspect by far is that it succeeds at being a love letter to classic Hollywood cinema. It pays tribute to every different kind of genre film, and pays respect to the thousands of people involved in making each one of these movies a reality. There was also a neat message about how the problems Hollywood faced back in the 50s are essentially the same as they are today.
In addition to Brolin and Clooney, the other big standout of the film is Alden Ehrenreich, who plays an actor struggling to transition from the Western genre to making his first sophisticated drama. He has never had any substantial movie roles in the past, but if this movie is any indication, Ehrenreich is incredibly talented and looks to have a huge career ahead of him.
Overall, I’m really disappointed to hate on a film that was clearly made with so much passion and effort. This is one of those movies that sounds great on paper, and if anyone could have pulled it off, it would be the Coen brothers. Sadly, some screenplays just don’t translate well onto the big screen, and I just can’t say this is a film worth watching.
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By: Joe Jodoin
It has been eight years since the original Kung-Fu Panda was released, but now we finally have the complete trilogy. Kung-Fu Panda 3 works really well as a closing chapter to the character arc of Po the panda, but it underwhelms in terms of bringing any new ideas to the franchise. This is an easy movie to review, because it is exactly on par with its predecessor. If you liked Kung-Fu Panda 2, you will like this one just as much, but if you find these movies a little too childish for your taste, then the third iteration will not sway your opinion.
Story wise, Kung-Fu Panda 3 does not break any new ground and it is significantly similar to the first two movies. The villain this time around is voiced perfectly by J.K. Simmons, and is motivated to collect the “Chi” of all the kung-fu masters. For some reason (which is not fully explained), Po can only defeat him by learning how to use his own “Chi.” A new side plot involving Po’s biological father (voiced by Bryan Cranston) and Po training a panda army of his own provides much needed relief from the weak villain arc, but it still feels like a very conventional and familiar story. It’s also a little odd how the theme of Po’s coming of age is still the driving force behind his character arc, since this theme was the same for the past two films.
Where this movie really shines is in the visuals. The animation is gorgeous and colorful, in a way that is not only super absorbing for children, but also impressive to adults as well. The action scenes in particular looked amazing, and the fluidity of the character movements and choreography of the battles add up to some outstanding set pieces. There definitely could have been much more action, as every fight scene felt cut short or slightly underwhelming when it finished. I respect that the filmmakers were trying to focus more on story and character development, but for a movie called Kung-Fu Panda, there was not nearly enough kung-fu.
The fast pace of the movie works as both a strength and a weakness. First of all, it keeps viewers interested and constantly entertained. There are no scenes that felt like they didn’t need to be there, and no jokes that should have been cut out. This makes the movie feel lean and to-the-point, which was quite welcome. However, it is hard to become emotionally invested in what is happening, and it also makes some characters, like the villain, feel one-dimensional and forgettable. There is a sub-plot involving Po’s adopted father coming to terms with his son reconnecting with his biological father, but while this could have been deep and emotional, it was quickly glossed over. The short length of the movie — the whole movie is less than an hour and a half long — hurts its potential for more complex storytelling.
Overall, Kung-Fu Panda 3 is an entertaining and fun diversion, but it lacks the depth and originality that the best animated films possess.
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A few weeks ago, I woke up to the deaths of two people who were dear to my heart. In the span of four days, actor Alan Rickman and rock icon David Bowie both passed away from their battles with cancer.
I was inexplicably upset. For several days, I found myself unable to shake off this feeling of unease. I watched any video that showed up on my newsfeed involving Professor Snape, the beloved and painfully misunderstood character played by Alan Rickman in the Harry Potter series. I put on all of the David Bowie records I had in my library on repeat, remembering the times my father and I would spend afternoons listening together on my bedroom floor. Grieving for these icons was a harrowing ordeal. At the same time, my distress was very confusing to me; why was I grieving for people I’d never even met?
In my father’s youth, his favourite artist was David Bowie. Considered one of the most influential musicians of our time, Bowie produced hits and entertained fans for over six decades. He transcended what it meant to be a star; not only did he influence music, but his gender-bending alter-egos also impacted art, fashion and the global LGBTQ+ community. When my father immigrated to Canada in his teens, he barely knew any English. Yet, it did not take him long to fall for Bowie’s infectious and innovative tunes. In fact, he told me he initially learned much of his English through singing along to many of Bowie’s songs. Through his years as a fan, he accumulated dozens of vinyl records that I now have the pleasure of inheriting. I remember few weekends in my childhood where we wouldn’t spend an hour or two listening to David Bowie, in silence and in each other’s company.
When I became a little older, some of the first novels I read were from the Harry Potter series. Like millions around the world, I became captivated. I was entranced by the complexity of the plot and the depth of all the characters. Although I dressed up as Hermoine for many Halloweens, my favourite character had always been Professor Snape. Unlike other “bad guys” I was accustomed to at the time, Snape taught me that things in life are never as black and white as they may seem. There is a vast grey area where tortured souls and tough decisions reside, a place where the line between villain and hero is hazy and unclear. Oftentimes, we fall so in love with characters in novels that the actor who portrays them in film inevitably falls short. Alan Rickman was an exception. He embodied everything that Snape was and, through his unassailable talent, made the character his own.
With the death of a popular public figure, such as the deaths of Alan Rickman and David Bowie, comes a strange and perplexing sense of grief. It’s an unusual feeling that accompanies the news that someone you sort of knew yet never really met is gone. It may seem petty to grieve the death of a celebrity. With everything else going on in your life and in the world around you, it seems unreasonable for such an inconsequential event to trigger even an ounce of feeling. But, whether it is a celebrity or the barista who served you at Starbucks every morning, there is no accurate way to react to death, especially the death of someone you never really knew. It will be confusing and elusive, but that does not make your sadness any less valid.
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By: Joe Joboin
Michael Bay is a filmmaker that casual action fans love and critics love to hate. In his past films, he has ignored character development to objectify women, and ignored plot to film an endless number of explosions.
His directing style is fun and cool to look at, but the problem is that he thinks that all his films deserve to be two and half hours long, even though the action and violence quickly become mind-numbingly repetitive. He also has a terrible sense of humor that appeals exclusively to 12 year old boys, and ranges from being mildly annoying to incredibly offensive. Luckily, since 13 Hours is based on such a tragic and heroic true story, Bay actually decided to treat the material with some respect. Unfortunately, the film still ends up falling flat.
Watching this movie is like watching your friend play Call of Duty for over two hours. It’s no fun and you can probably find something better to do with your time.
The movie tells the story of a small group of soldiers trying to protect themselves during an attack on an American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. The story takes places during some of Libya’s most dangerous years, following the ousting of Gaddafi during the Libyan Civil War that saw the rise of numerous militia groups. On Sept. 11, 2012, a group of Libyan militia attacked the American compound and attempted to murder an American ambassador. Six American soldiers disobeyed orders and attempted a rescue mission, but got caught up in a brutal struggle for survival. This is serious and mature subject matter, which has not only attracted criticism from the CIA, but requires a great deal of respect to the people who died during this tragic event.
The film’s biggest strength lies in its technical aspects. The cinematography was well done, and the sound and visuals of the action scenes were surprisingly realistic and impactful. Some of the effects were obviously fake, like the explosions that tend to resemble fireworks, and the prosthetics of people’s wounded limbs. Even so, the experience of watching the fights had a very intense and real element to it.
However, 13 Hours had so many needless fights that it became impossible for me to actually enjoy it. Firstly, the character development was almost non-existent, and when it was present, it was very cliché and impossible to take seriously. Secondly, the action at certain times was impossible to follow, and there were long periods where all you could see were random soldiers shooting at people, and random people getting shot. There weren’t many opportunities for the viewer to be emotionally invested in the events. Just like Bay’s other films, the action scenes became uninteresting and boring and the dialogue failed to contribute substantially to the movie’s narrative.
Overall, watching this movie is like watching your friend play Call of Duty for over two hours. It’s no fun and you can probably find something better to do with your time.
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