Movie Review: Sam Raimi's Spider-Man

 In Memory of my beloved grandmother (1929 - 2021)

Hey everyone, my name is Anthony and welcome back to my movie review.

For the past decades, we saw Iron Man, The Hulk, Captain America and many other heroes in Marvel on the big screen with plenty of success (for the most parts) thanks to popularity of "Marvel Cinematic Universe" by Marvel Studio and Disney, which i have to say that, im always support and respect the MCU since i watched Iron Man. However, we gotta go back in time that before Disney brought Marvel for creating their cinematic universe that changed the superheroes genre in movie industry, we're taking a look that was the most classic and my childhood favorite film ever since i... Never had a Marvel comics, all i had is watching a TV show, a video game adaptation from the movie and my childhood coloring book...

"Spider-Man" is a 2002 superhero film and adaptation of our friendly neighborhood hero from Marvel comics that was directed by Sam Raimi, produced by Laura Ziskin and Ian Bryce and written by David Koepp.

Ever since i talked about the Marvel superheroes that i mentioned, i saved the last one that not only i have a fond memory of this movie, but Spider-Man is also my number one childhood favorite comic hero as a kid. However, the film's development are rather a difficulty start, since it was started all the way back in 80's, where Marvel comics (mainly with Stan Lee) had a numerous negotiations with producers and directors to having our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man on the big screen, which it had a long hell development for the writings with horror content that Stan Lee hated it, the pick of the villains of either Dr. Octopus, Electro or the Green Goblin, a whole lot of directors based on aforementioned list, ranging from Tobe Hoper and Joseph Zito, a licensing that might screwing the time and the money and even financial issues. When James Cameron was picked, he has 45 "Scriptment" that he was credited (for the most part), which is gonna be hard to tell for which one of them will be worth it for David Koepp, though might picking up some script that Cameron gave, James bowed out from the studio, that is until Sam Raimi came in as a not only as a director (for the second time of a superhero film since he had done with Darkman), but he's also a huge fan of Spider-Man in his youth, which he's more than excited when he came in, which he checked in for the change and fixing the issues, whether some elements will in the movie or some will be cut (though some wouldn't happen until Spider-Man 2).

Originally, the film was supposed to be released on 2001 with a trailer involving the robbers being trapped in webs between the twin towers of World Trade Centers, but due to the horrific event known as 9/11, not only some scenes will be edited out and cut, but it was pushed to May 3 2002 in theaters. By the time it came out, the critics and audience are highly praised this movie for the action and a respectful adaptation of Spider-Man, and it made a lotta money at the box-office over $825 million, which is 8 times more than the budget ($139 million).

So, now i grew up to looking back at this movie, will this movie still holds up with great power comes great responsibility, or is it not ready to having a spider power on its system?

Well, lets find out.

The Story

For the plot, its a pretty simple story like any superhero films out there, but at least it has a fascinating plot.

The plot begins where we introduce Peter Parker, a young nerd student who's often get bullied and sometimes got distracted from Mary-Jane Watson for his falling in love. But while he (along with his best pal Harry Osborn) goes to the genetic lab in Columbia University, he was bitten by a special engineered super spider (which it got escaped for some reason, though not a radioactive one might i add) and got ill when he comes back home, but then when he got up and back to school, he didn't realized he's been changed from his new shape and his view being cleared to giving himself a super-sense (aka Spider-sense), strength, agility and shooting organic web from his wrists (yup, he has organic webs instead a web-shooter device like in comics or in MCU) to becoming Spider-Man (though he was originally to be called "Human-Spider"). Meanwhile, we have Harry's father Norman Osborn, the owner of his science corp called "Oscorp", he wants to have a contract deal with the US military, they denied his deal due to several issues what they have, which Norman thought it will be a good idea to doing his experiment test on himself, but after its messy execution, he became a crazed split-personality from normal person to rampage one in his goblin-like armor and his glider what we called "Green Goblin", its up to Peter Parker/Spider-Man to facing against the green menacer once and for all.

Its a pretty good to follow and sorta faithful from the comics as we all know, especially it has some elements that followed well, such as Peter Parker participating pro-wrestling for his fighting skills and need to earning money and seeking revenge over the gun robber who shot down his beloved Uncle Ben, even he has a difficulty time that he wanted to listening his uncle's advice, but his selfishness put him away, leaving a tragic moment what we see for his biggest regret, but does got change to becoming a superhero as we know.

Though one element that i like its not just the fight between Spidey and Green Goblin, but rather no matter how many times Gobby confronts our main hero, he offers him to be on his side, which in secret, Peter has a good respect with Osborn family, while Norman will probably know who he is. Of course, they also put some extra elements involving the witness of Spider-Man that we introduced our lovable hated big boss and publisher of Dailey Bugle named J. Jonah Jameson, sure it has nothing to do with main story, but just a plot device about Green Goblin, and also slandering Spider-Man as pure evil of the public, but i won't give more once il going to the characters.

Though the story is oversimply, but at least its a decent plot for get-go.

The Presentation

As a superhero film was released in 2002, it looks rather impressive.

With a film about our web-crawling hero lives in New York, they definitely filmed around on New York City like in Time Square, Queensboro Bridge, the rooftop garden at Rockefeller Center and several others in NY, although most shots are filmed in California like Natural History Museum as "Columbia University" and Pacific Electricity Building for Daily Bugle offices. Of course, several scenes involving the twin towers are cut and edited out due to... Well, an obvious horrific reasons... Not to mention, several shots are filmed in Sony's soundstages like Peter's home in Stage 29 and the wrestling ring and the first battle of Spider and Goblin in stage 27. Although the filming could be troublesome at the time, such as a construction worker Tim Holcombe was killed when the modified forklifter as a crane crashed at construction basket, resulting Sony got fined for the death.

For the costumes, they are pretty good design. Lets start with Spider-Man's suit that it is the most iconic movie's superhero suit ever, since its obviously design based on comic with thick web stripes and even eyes parts are mirror look-a-like. I love that suit so much and its no wonder why this suit was brought back in PS4 Spider-Man. Of course, it was done in skintight outfit with single piece like the mask which it has to be altered from different shot. Although, they have a problematic moment with the suit, im not saying about how tight that suit was, but rather it was stolen during the filming, but thankfully, it only lasted for 18 months to capture a robber. And as the Human-Spider, it looks not bad as i can say.

However, the challenging suit in the movie is gotta be the Green Goblin. In the original Goblin's design (mainly for the mask), it was supposed to be a living goblin-like much like in the comic with the use of animatronic that was done by Amalgamated Dynamics, but it was considered to be pretty challenging for the effects for the action, so they changed to wearing a armor helmet of goblin what we have in the movie.

As for the actions and the effects, though its somewhat aged at the time, but its still look impressive. Its obvious to say that most action scenes are done with CG, because doing a traditional stunt is rather pretty life risking, so a lot of intense action scene are done with CG like web-swing scene and the fight between Spider vs Gobby. Though the color schemes are pretty challenging for their actions, since Spider-Man was done in greenscreen, while Green Goblin was shot in bluescreen, which filming together will have one character being erased for one shot.

Despite it has some challenging and some trouble moments while making the movie, the presentation while its sorta didn't age well, it still looks impressive at its time.

The Characters

For the characters in the movie, its no secret that they're likable that we all know, for the most parts.

Lets start off with the OG live-action movie of Peter Parker/Spider-Man (played by Tobey Maguire), he's started a nerd student who loves comics at the times and sometimes an awkward young fella, but later on once he has his spider powers, he got himself trouble from scaring students to fighting against Flash Thompson to being nearly selfish what he wanted, but when his beloved Uncle Ben was shot down, he was changing to a brave and cocky hero, even if its not easy to keeping himself in secret as Spider-Man. But its easy to say that Tobey's role of Spider-Man is the most memorable in the film, he's fun, relatable and Tobey's performance is legendary, even though was in mid-20's to playing as a teenage student.

Next we have our main antagonist in this movie, Norman Osborn/Green Goblin (played by Willem Dafoe), a science boss of his corporation that he ended turning into a split personality person from his experiment gone wrong. I find him to be a fascinating villain in the movie, he's like to supervillain version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with Willem Dafoe's performance that he did a pretty good work of his role, especially with his evil persona form with his evil laugh.

After that, we have Mary-Jane Watson (played by Kirsten Dunst), she's basically not just a typical damsel in distress, but she's childhood love interest from Peter and aspired to becoming an actress (though started with her abusive father). I find her ok in the movie, even if she does get interest for our main hero. Though, Kirsten did a pretty good work of her role.

Next, there's Harry Osborn (played by James Franco), who's not only the son of Norman Osborn, but also Peter's best pal. He's another ok character in the movie, which we all know he was supposed to be going with MJ, despite Peter still likes her in his past, despite the build up, at least he may have a good respect to Pete. Though yes, as im working my review, he's getting S*** out of fame, due to his um... Unprofessional movement allegations. But i will say, he did a nice work of his performance.

Then we have Parker's family, Uncle Ben (played by the late Cliff Robertson) and Aunt May (played by Rosemary Harris), they're obviously used for plot development for Peter, but of course, they have a good heart for our main hero, especially with Ben, he's a tragic likable grandpa that he just wants to give a motivation to Pete to dealing with bullies without taking aggression or selfish, along with his important phrase "With great power, comes great responsibility" before he's shot down and died, much like in the comic. Same goes for Aunt May, though she may not as device to Pete, but then again, she has a good respect to Pete. Of course, with these veteran actors, they did a great work, specially for Cliff Robertson, which he sadly passed away in 2011. RIP Cliff.

And finally, the one that i like to save the last is J. Jonah Jameson (played by J.K. Simmons), the big publisher in Daily Bugle who always believing Spider-Man is a public menace and always standing his statement, cause he's a big boss. Even though we mainly love to hate him, but honestly, i find him the most fascinating one in the film, its not just of his development for being slanderous for our friendly neighborhood web-crawler, but rather Simmons totally nailed his performance that we enjoyed, not wonder he came back to playing the character in "Spider-Man: Far from home" in mid-credit scene (My apology for spoiler, btw) and recently, he plays as the badass father Omni-Man from "Invincible" on Amazon Prime Video (And no, i haven't subscribing it.).

As for the rest of characters, they're also not bad, but they deserves to be credited that i liked and note worthy.

There's Jameson's assistants like Robbie Robertson (played by Bill Nunn) who's the editor that despite following his boss's works but has opposite feeling that Spider-Man is a hero, Ted Hoffman (played by Ted Raimi, who's Sam's brother) who's an employee for either help or giving announcement, and Betty Brant (played by Elizabeth Banks, yes i know, this is before he made her craptacular remake of Charlie's Angels), who's a secretary who's always keep her eyes on Jameson whenever she's asking for request or doesn't going on the way.

Bonesaw McGraw was played by none other than "Macho Man" Randy Savage, who's one the most famous wrestler from the 80's and 90's for his performance and his cream of the crop promos, but its too bad he's also passed away in 2011.

There's one mugger who tries to attacking MJ was played by former kickboxer Benny "The Jet" Urquidez, though uncredited, but its pretty surprising what i may or may not noticed. In fact, he's the same guy who fought Jackie Chan twice from "Wheels on Meals" and "Dragons forever", but he lost his epic fight scenes, ouchies.

Of course since this is Sam Raimi's movie, its pretty obvious that my favorite actor Bruce Campbell will shown up in cameo, because he's Sam's best friend. In this movie, he played as the ring announcer of wrestling and even didn't like the name "Human-Spider", aw well. And speaking of Sam Raimi, yes, he's even acted in the movie, but as one random fanboy of Bonesaw by tossing popcorns in off-screen.

And lastly, since this is also a Marvel movie, Stan Lee will also shown up in cameo, this time where he was panic when Green Goblin is on the loose for rampage and saving a young girl.

While most characters are fascinated, but sorta underdeveloped, but it's mainly focus on Peter, Norman Osborn and maybe MJ. But then again, it has some note worthy moments.

SPOILER ALERT for those who haven't seen the movie or don't mind:

The final act is quite of rollercoaster ride like any films that i reviewed, but it goes from struggling, brutal to understandable.

After Peter Parker stayed in hospital to checking Aunt May, they're in conversation to sharing the past and present together at first, but not before that he realized that he has a major weakness, his identity (But don't worry, he didn't exposing himself at his aunt). He goes for a public phone to checking MJ, but got interrupted by his nemesis, Green Goblin. Which he held MJ and the kart of "Roosevelt Island trolley" in hostage to proclaim "heroes are for worthless", but Peter Parker as Spider-Man took his choice by saving MJ and the aerial tramway kart, after getting beat by Goblin while holding safe on both (along with the people of New York on the bridge protesting to leave Spider-Man alone), he saved them by carefully dropping it on the boat. But the celebration was far from over, as Green Gobby proceeds to kidnapping Spider-Man to an abandoned house, blown him away with his pumpkin bomb and brutally beaten him up that he wanted to kill MJ than forcing her to be with himself.

But Spider-Man took his upper-hand by crushing him with the wall of bricks, tossing him to another wall with multiple of punching in the Face! (Jesus Pete, i know you're reaching the boiling point, but don't take your anger to a higher level, haven't seen Star Wars, bud?) After a brutal beating the Green Goblin is changed back to Norman himself that despite he revealing himself that despite he fought him, he's begging for mercy to be in his part of family, but Pete said otherwise that his "father" was Uncle Ben (since you know, he likes him as a beloved father figure), but Norman none to please when he secretly activates his glider to kill Spider-Man, but of course, with his spider-sense, he avoided it and Norman is impaled to death by his own glider.

But once Spider-Man takes care the body to his home, Harry was shocked and angered to believing that he killed his father (Though we probably get used to it for the next movies), meaning he wants his revenge over our main hero. Meanwhile, aside of hugging his best pal, Peter still misses his beloved uncle, but Mary-Jane shows up that despite she's understandable for his loss of his father figure, she confesses Pete that despite she's saved by Spider-Man, she wants to be in loving relationship to him, though Peter appreciates her confession, but he sadly rejects her that he'll always be with her as a friend, which after walking away, this is his decision for not only hiding his identity, but also keeping his eyes on her to be safe, this is all given from his uncle's message "With great power, comes great responsibility", its his gift and curse, as himself and Spider-Man.

Quite of climatic fight between of two, but it does gave us a sorta satisfied ending where Parker chooses to reject her as a friend to protect her.

And now for my final opinion of this film.

Overall, despite the film is rather oversimplified, but as a grown up man who had a find memory of this film, i still enjoy it, the story is pretty good to have some faithful from the comics, the presentation is impressive and the characters are despite some flaws, but they're good for say the least. Even though today some might say its not the best start, but back then, it was a big deal with good reviews and a jackpot box-office.

Is it recommended movie? I'd say yes, then again, most people said it may not as fresh as the later installments, but give it a shot to see this movie if you want, my friend.

For my rating, its a tough one to give, i wanted to giving a perfect rating, but il tone it down while looking back as a 25 year old man. So, il give it a 8/10.

So this ends of my movie review, but, its far from over, because i decided to looking back at two remaining Spider-Man films by Sam Raimi. That's right, il do the marathon of the trilogy.

So tune it next time, we're going for the sequel that many people considered as the best one.

Thanks for reading, and im Anthony, signing out.

Movie Review: The Jungle Book 1967

 

Hey everyone, my name is Anthony and welcome back to my movie review.

You know, from 5 years ago, i remember watching the live action remake of Disney's The Jungle Book by Jon Favreau, in fact, i even reviewed this movie that i considered as a better live-action remake film that Favreau has ever done. Unlike the godawful remake one from Disney Renaissance he ever involved...!

But when i reviewed this movie, i was considered as a superior remake from the 1967 version that i remember seeing this film a lot when i was a kid. So, i felt like il do the movie review of this classic film.

"The Jungle Book" is a 1967 animated musical comedy that was directed by Wolfgang Reitherman (one of the "Nine Old Men"), produced by Walt Disney, and written by Larry Clemmons, Ralph Wright, Ken Anderson, Vance Gerry, and uncredited Bill Peet.

By the way, the reason i called "uncredited Bill Peet" for the latter, its because it had a change during the early concept. When the development started, Bill Peet was asked to Disney to make another animal movie with Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, Disney approved his request and Peet started to write the movie. According to the original concept, it was supposed to be faithful from the book with dark, sinister and dramatic feel of this movie, and he also created a new character in the movie named King Louie, who's the king of the monkeys. Not to mention, Terry Gilkyson joined in for the songs with some dark elements. When Walt Disney looked up the project, he wasn't very pleased about it, claiming that it will be too risky for family friendly film (since after several films, he wanted to be involved a bit), which resulting into a backstage conflict between Disney and Peet, and in the end, Bill Peet was calling quit the in January 1964 along with Gilkyson's scrapped songs (except for one song called "The Bare Necessities"), so Disney hired a new writer Larry Clemmons in order to finish the story, but Disney told him to not read the book, even if Clemmons was secretly looked at the book for the changing tone.

However, before the project was finished, they received a tragic news, on December 15th 1966, Walt Disney passed with the age of 65 due to the effect of lung cancer (since he was a chain smoker), his body was cremated and buried in the memorial park on Glendale, California. At first, they were concerned for the fate when the project was finished without the fearless leader, if the film was a flop, they had no choice but to shut down their studio. But when it came out on October 18, 1967, not only it was a huge hit, but it was declared as a dedication to Walt Disney, meaning that despite without Walt, the studio will continue the projects, even to this day.

Of course, since this is an adaptation of Rudyard Kipling, im not gonna do a comparison between the film and book, cause i never read it, nor even comparing from the Fraveau's version. Cause its been done before.

So, with all that said, is this film still good to this day? Or is this film that it should've going into man-village?

Well, lets find out.

The Story

With a movie about The Jungle Book, its more lighter and safer than the book. But again, im not doing a comparison, cause as always, im a movie guy.

Anyway, it takes place on the jungle of India, where a panther named Bagheera heard a baby's cry from the wrecked boat, so he takes the baby to the pack of wolves with Raksha and Rama, leaving an orphan baby boy turned into a Mancub named "Mowgli" after ten years. However, at the same time, the jungle isn't safe anymore, because according to Akela, he said about an evil tiger named Shere Khan is out there to hunting down Mowgli, so Bagheera has no choice but going on the journey to save Mowgli in order to bring him into the Man-Village.

Now the story itself it not bad, its all about despite they took care an orphan boy to becoming mancub, the jungle isn't safe from a dangerous predator like Shere Khan. Although, the story of going to the Man-Village is kinda ignored, mainly because the movie is probably focused on Mowgli, even if he doesn't wanting to be taken to the village, but il tell the characters later on. But of course, its not just Mowgli, it sorta focused with the chemistry between Bagheera and Baloo, ranging from Bagheera being warned about Shere Khan, while Baloo likes to have fun. 

However, in case for the writing, i can say its not bad, sure it doesn't have lore about the jungle law, its sorta more modern what they like to say, like they like to call "fire" than "red flower" (unless you countered the reference in the sing "Wanna be like you"). Despite a a bit of flaws, the jokes in this movie are pretty fun with some gags and some fun moments with Baloo.

The story and writing is pretty obvious it was done to be safer audience compare from either the book or the live action remake that i watched, which is truly understandable for Disney and probably the reason why Bill Peet will never coming back to them ever again. Does that mean its bad? Well, not really, i'd say its good for say the least.

The Animation and songs

Despite the some flaws of the story and some writing, at least the animation of this film looks pretty good.

With the film that came out from the 60's, it looks impressive hand drawn, colorful, the effects and even the paining background, they're all impressively good. Sure most moments that you can somewhat see some rough lines or some other flaws for the animation process, but then again, its from 60's, not everything is 100% pretty nor perfect, but they did a nice work. Some human animation (like Mowgli and the girl) moves nice and smoothly, and as for animals, they also works pretty good, even though most of them like Bagheera, the wolves and others are mainly animated like any animals, while some like Baloo, King Louie and others are sorta act like anthro, but then again, they're also worked nicely.

In fact, the animation that was done is the use of "xerography", its an experiment photography to transferring drawings to directly to animation cels for not only take down the inking process, but also toning down the budgets and times easily. 

"Who came up this idea?", you ask yourself, it was introduced by none other than Walt Disney's best pal named Ub Iwerks, the same guy who created Mickey Mouse for Disney's official mascot. Surprising, eh?

And lastly, there's the songs, and i have to admit, the songs in the movie are ranging from good to catchy and entertaining.

The first of which that we all know and love is "The Bare Necessities" by  Terry Gilkyson, which is Baloo's song that's all about get along together as a friend between a mancub and papa bear, its catchy and fun to listen to. But like i said before, Terry Gilkyson was supposed to making several songs in the movie with dark and dramatic tone, but Disney doesn't like nearly all of them that he wanted to be safe, leaving Gilkyson bowed out from the studio, but only accepted with "The Bare Necessities" to be kept in the movie.

The rest of the songs are all written by The Sherman Brothers (Richard and Robert), unlike before, those songs are made to add some small dark and mysterious tone, then flipped upside down to fun stuff. 

There's "I wan'na be like you", the song from King Louie he likes to be man like Mowgli, specially for knowing how to bring out a fire, its a sorta villain song, but its more for fun and damn its also pretty catchy, which it might be my underrated favorite.

"Trust in me" is a hypnotic song from Kaa that he wants to help Mowgli to be safe from Shere Khan, when in reality, he's holding him like a puppet in attempt to eating him alive, a hypnotic song with a whole lotta nope. Fun fact: This song is actually a recycled from a scrapped song from Mary Poppins called "Land of sand".

There's "Colonel Hathi's March" which is... Well, the marching elephants with Colonel Hathi, its nice but... I've no comment on it, its passable.

"That's What Friends Are For" is the vultures song that despite Mowgli is pretty much left alone (even though he still refusing to be taken in Man village) after Bagheera and Baloo, he does got interested with the vultures. At first as a kid, i don't like it so much as unnecessary, but as i grew up, i liked it too. But here's an interesting fact, this song is supposed to be a British invasion music style (which il explained the vultures later on) with a dim-witted rhino named Rocky, but this version along with Rocky are scrapped since they made too much original characters in the movie, so they put it as vultures own song with a barbershop quartet style.

And the last song called "My Own Home", which is basically a girl's song where she's fil the water on the pot before Mowgli got distracted to see her for the first time before going to the man-village. Its another passable song, but this is made a maybe a last part decision for how to end the story where Mowgli has left to the man-village.

The animation and the songs are pretty impressive work for the 1960's eh?

The Characters

In this version, Disney wanted the characters to be sorta based on celebrities from its time, whether some of them are based on or not, they're fascinated and rather likable.

Lets started with Mowgli (voiced by then child actor Bruce Reitherman), a mancub who's adopted by the wolf pack and being told to going to the man village to be safe. I find him that although he looks not bad and likes to be live peacefully in the jungle, but he's rather being a brat or careless about the warning, i mean jeez, mancub, i get you like to stay in the jungle on your own or even your wolf family, but it doesn't make any excuse for being a bratty cub to putting into trouble with some animals!! (Sorry for my limit, try to stay positive, Anthony...) Nit picking aside, i find him a not bad protagonist.

Next up is our beloved sloth bear Baloo (voiced by Phil Harris), who's a happy-go-lucky and carefree bear who likes to have fun in the jungle. Even though i like Mowgli, but we all agree that Baloo steals the show for his playful and likable role in the movie, especially with a great performance of Phil Harris for his sense of humor. And of course, his singing of "The Bare Necessities" is pretty good.

Then there's Bagheera (voiced by Sebastian Cabot), a panther who's sorta act like a guard to Mowgli to bring him to the man-village. He's another fascinated, he's always keep looking to be safe and serious when he was ordered to save Mowgli, even if its challenging based on  mancub's begging to stay in the jungle. But of course, il give credit for another good performance for Cabot.

After that, we have King Louie (voiced by Louis Prima), an orangutan (though orangutans are not found in India, but rather in Indonesia, Malaysia, Borneo and Sumatra) who ruled the monkeys (or Bandar-log), but he likes to be in boogie-woogie with his fellow monkeys and likes to be like man when he and his monkeys see Mowgli. He's yet another fascinated one, even though i don't think i call him a villain, but he's more like a neutral, but of course, Prima also did a good performance.

Next is Kaa (voiced by my favorite Disney used actor, Sterling Holloway), a python who's always looking at Mowgli as his prey, even if he sorta tricking him to stay in the jungle with his hypnotic look. As far as i respect to Holloway, Kaa is... Not my kind of character, he's ok, but not my favorite of the bunch, either that or the cringe factor from a disturbing fanfic that i wouldn't bother to read (Don't search on the subject in DA, please?).

Aside Kaa being a sorta side villain, the real villain is Shere Khan (voiced by George Sanders), a smart and merciless tiger who's hungry for blood at Man, even for looking at mancub. I gotta say, he's another fascinated one, but only more a bit disturbing that he's always like to searching Mowgli for his deadly mission, since he has a hatred of man. Of course, George's role of evil tiger perfectly fits in and did a nice work.

And finally we have the vultures, there's Buzzie (voiced by J. Pat O'Malley), Flaps (voiced by Chad Stuart), Dizzy (voiced by Lord Tim Hudson) and Ziggy (played by Digby Wolfe), these vultures are lived out of nowhere from the jungle, but they're not hungry for fleshes, they're just hanging out together on their own before befriending Mowgli for help. Like a said before, at first, i disliked them as a unnecessary characters in third act, but as a grew up, i changed my mind that they're also likable, specially with their performances. 

Btw, remember that i mentioned before of changing style of "Thats what friends are for"? Well, in the original plan, the vultures are meant to be The Beatles, based on mop-top hairstyle and their Liverpool accent, in fact, they were supposed to be played by The Beatles all along, but John Lennon rejected the proposal, resulting changing what they are.

The rest of the characters aren't much else to say, sure, they may have purpose, but didn't give attention or not.

There's Colonel Hathi (once again, voiced by Pat O'Malley), a colonel for his army of elephants with his wife Winifred (voiced by Verna Filton, but it was final role before she died in the same month as Walt Disney's death) and his junior son (voiced by then child Clint Howard, yup, the same brother of Ron Howard that we all know and loved), Akela (voiced by John Abbott), who's the voice of wolves for the warning messages, Rama (voiced by Ben Wright), who's Mowgli's father wolf with his wife Raksha, but he along with Raksha are only shown at the beginning, and the girl from the village (voiced by Darleen Carr), who's only shown for her song that i mentioned before that got Mowgli distracted and changed his life when he reaches at the man-village. Not to mention, she doesn't have her name until she was named Shanti in "The Jungle Book 2".

Aside with some characters have some flaws and some that i don't like in my opinion, but they're fun, likable and a great performances with familiar names. Which this is Disney's goal to win back the audience and critics to building a likable characters.

SPOILER ALERT if you haven't seen the movie or you don't mind:

The final act in this movie is quite of fun, though odd in the climatic scene, but with satisfied ending.

After Mowgli befriended with the vultures, the threatening tiger Shere Khan has arrived to hunting down Mowgli, even the Mowgli aren't as scared from the tiger, but rather his pouty confrontation at the tiger, which Khan is about to play the mind-game at the mancub, not before Khan was caught by Baloo for a tug of war with tiger's tail and Mowgli, Khan and Baloo are in the chase where the tiger is attempt to killing Mowgli, but saved by two of vultures. But when Baloo was attacked by Khan, the lightning strikes at the dead tree with fire, making a solution from a vulture to tell Mowgli to take a burning branch for his revenge at the tiger to scare him away.

Even though our mancub has defeating Khan, he was concerned that Baloo is "killed" from a merciless tiger, but it was all of swerve that Baloo is strangely ok after having multiple of scratches. But as Mowgli, Bagheera and Baloo are happy for defeating the tiger, they heard the beautiful voice of young girl from the village, which it got Mowgli distracted from his curiosity when he first see a human as a feral boy (sounds almost like he's acting like Tarzan for first witnessing a female human like Jane, but i digress.), not before the girl took the attention by dropping her water pot on purpose to Mowgli to do like she's done before, but in the end, Mowgli has his life changed that he shrugged off and going to the village.

Quite of odd fight and chase between Mowgli and Baloo vs Shere Khan, but hey, its Disney in the 60's, but at least it has an ok ending, but satisfied that Mowgli has accepted to change his life.

And now for my final opinion of this film.

Overall, the 1967's The Jungle Book is a pretty good film to looking back from my childhood, even if we truly understand that this film is pretty loosely from the anthology novel. The story is good, the animation looks impressive for 1960's, the songs are fun and catchy and the characters, while some have problems, they're fascinating and likables. Even though i had a fond memory of this film, i can definitely seen the flaws that i have as i grew while taking off my nostalgia glasses.

Do i say its a bad movie? No, not at all, its still a good film that i remembered as a kid, like i watched a lot. But then again, since i reviewed the remake one by Jon Favreau from 2016, while i like the 67 version, but i think the remake is superior to making it as a combination between the first Disney version and be respectful from the book. For my recommendation, i'd say give the 1967 version to watch, since it is one of Disney's classic. Or maybe the 2016 remake if you want.

For my rating, its gonna be a tough one, back in my remake review, i gave it a 8.5/10 (maybe i could tone it up to 9?) as a best remake that we all know. For this original, i think il give it a 7.5/10.

So this ends of my movie review, if you guys have your opinion or any suggestions, let me know at comment bellow and support me on KO-FI.com/blackevil.

Thanks for reading, and im Anthony, signing out.

Movie Review: Mortal Kombat 2021

 

Hey everyone, my name is Anthony and welcome back to my movie review.

From last year, i've covered Sonic the hedgehog on the big screen where it went from ugly to good one, which i enjoyed it for the most part, from Sonic's journey on Earth to Jim Carrey's fun performance of Dr. Robotnik. Aside from other movie based on video game that wouldn't able to touch at like Monster Hunter movie (because i never heard of it), there is one that i love it in a fighting genre next to Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat. You know the drill, a fighting tournament between Earth, NetherRealm and others with finishing move to kill your opponents, and it also brought us our familiar characters like Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Lui Kang, Sonya Blade, Raiden and Johnny Cage. But of course, like any games, its no secret it will be adapted from theaters and streaming service.

"Mortal Kombat" is 2021 martial arts, fantasy and video game adaptation produced and directed by Simon McQuoid, co-produced by James Wan, Todd Garner and E. Bennett Walsh, then written by Greg Russo Dave Callaham (for screenplay) and Oren Uziel (for story).

Before we have one, we used to have the 1995 version with the same name. Though the film itself is pretty average, it has some nice actions, some good characters, but some other characters aren't as good, the writing is messy, the presentation is ok, but the violence is pretty much missing which i considered a film with missing identity. Despite how average the film it was, it was succeeded the box-office to having a sequel "Mortal Kombat Annihilation" and its one the worst film ever made with the budget went lower and worse, the writing is even worse and the presentation with the CG are disgusting to look at, leaving the series being halted with the third film attempt being cancelled due to negative impact and commercial failure.

Thankfully for decades later, Warner Bros bought the rights of Mortal Kombat (even though they have their video game publishers, "Warner Bros Entertainment") in order to not only make the third MK film, but also a full-on reboot of the series with one missing content what Mortal Kombat needs, the violence to be Rated R, which is exactly what we wanted for MK series.

So, with all that said, will this bring us back to the fighting tournament with more brutal and violence than the 1995 version, or is this film that we'd rather die in NetherRealm?

Well, lets find out.

The Story

Since Mortal Kombat has plenty of characters, you think its gonna be of one character or group of good guys or anti hero story with Liu Kang, Scorpion, Sonya Blade, Jax, Raiden, Sub-Zero, Johnny Cage and many others, right? Well, its kinda like a group of good guys story, but rather thrown out of window for the writing.

It started on the 17th Century where we meet Hanzo Hasashi, who's being targeted by an assassin of Lin Kuei named Bi-Han (aka Sub-Zero), they both fighting each other, but Bi-Han murdered Hanzo to put an end of Shirai Ryu ninja clan. However, after Hanzo's family are both killed (minus the baby), the baby was rescued by the thunder god named Raiden. Fast forward to present time, a deadly tournament called "Mortal Kombat" is brought for a battle between Earthrealm and Outworld, but Outworld was out-beaten Earthrealm nine times out of ten in Mortal Kombat. We introduce our main hero named "Cole Young", an MMA fighter from Chicago, after losing one match, he was introduced by a Special Forces member named Jax Briggs, who tells Cole that he's the chosen one, but they got attacked by Bi-Han as Sub-Zero, as Jax lost the battle against the ice ninja by disarming him, Cole goes on his own to finding Sonya Blade from Jax's order, which Cole, Sonya and a captured Australian A-Hole named Kano are traveled out of nowhere until they found a temple from Raiden with his champions, Liu Kang and Kung Lao, but Raiden told our hero that the evil threat of Outworld with an evil warlock named Shang Tsung, its up to Cole to not only trained to be stronger in order to deal with Outworld.

For the story, its rather good as we can tell, its another underdog story who's been chosen to be part of Mortal Kombat, but i felt the writing is just comes off as either mixed-bag to questionable. Because while the story is good, but it just comes off as pretty cliché with some elements that has been done before, like being the chosen one for tournament without mercy. But one thing im disappointed is that the movie is more focused on Cole than some familiar characters in Mortal Kombat, which it disappoints me so much that i just wish it could've focus on either Liu Kang, Scorpion, Sonya or even Kitana, but all we have a bland protagonist, but il will explaining the characters later on. Not to mention, the movie also has a plot element from the dragon mark tattoo called "Arcana", which is meant from being chosen from Mortal Kombat with special power, but how does it came from in this movie? Well, they never explain about it what-so-ever...!

While the story is good for say the least, but the writing really ruined it for poor execution.

The Presentation

As far as i can tell, the budget is more on film's presentation than the writing. But i have to admitted, it looks pretty damn good.

For the filming location, it looks pretty cool looking from MMA arena, to street then to temple, since they're filmed in Australia (since the production is done in Adelaide Studios) and in the desert, i though its from USA, but its actually the Outback in Australia. Not to mention, they uses two cameras (ARRI ALEXA LF and Mini LF) with the use of Panavision Anamorphic lenses, which i gotta say, they did a pretty good work for their filming.

For the costumes, they're not bad, especially with the outfits of Sub-Zero and Scorpion, they look pretty good as in the game, for the new suits of other characters like Raiden, Shang Tsung, Mileena, Kabal and others, they're mixed bag, some are fitting nicely (especially with Kabal, he looks pretty damn cool, even though at first, i though its Smoke, but close), while some others, not so much (Yes, im looking at you, Mileena, like where your hot-pink color on your outfit?).

And of course, since this is Mortal Kombat, there's always gotta be a fighting scenes and i have to say, they're pretty cool and thankfully, pretty violent with blood and gore much like in the game (Take that, 1995 version!), and its no wonder why this film's rating is R for... Obvious reason. And their fighting and some elements are referenced in the game (if some of you are familiar with MK) like Liu Kang's bicycle kicks, Jax's Head Clap, Sub-Zero's ice blast, Scorpion's chain spear (aka "Get over here!!"), Kung Lao's buzzsaw hat (aka Razor's Edge) and Shang Tsung's stealing soul (along with "Your soul is MINE!"). So nice touch, guys.

The presentation of this movie is pretty good, especially with fighting scenes, the violence and the faithfulness of MK series, for the most part.

The Characters

As i said before, i just wish some characters in MK should've been the main focus than the main protagonist.

Lets easily start off with Cole Young (played by Lewis Tan), who's an MMA fighter from Chicago. I can honestly said that he's just forgettable in the movie, mainly for being an underdeveloped protagonist for being chosen fighter. Sure he can fight, but not good fighter enough for his personality, he's just boring as Tavern in Mortal Kombat Armageddon. Cause again, it should've been either Liu Kang, Scorpion or anybody than Cole Young...!

So what about the familiar faces in MK? Well they're not bad. 

There's Sonya Blade (played by Jessica McNamee) who's a badass member of Special Forces that we all know and love, Jax Briggs (played by Mehcad Brooks), who's the muscle member of Special Forces as MotherF***er, even though i can't help but he looks like if he's played by Terry Crews (even though its always my dream), Kano (played by Josh Lawson) who's an Australian Douchebag that he's probably likable for being a Dick to anybody around (like he easily made me chuckle that way he delivered), Raiden (played Tadanobu Asano), the thunder god who's more like giving us a plot device for our heroes (though i will say this, he's probably better than Christopher Lambert's role), Lui Kang (played by Ludi Lin), a Shaolin Monk champion who's almost act like a sensei for our heroes, Kung Lao (played by Max Huang) who's more like Liu Kang's sidekick, but also likable, Bi-Han/Sub-Zero (played by Joe Taslim) who's a ninja assassin of Lin Kuei and probably served as the main antagonist from his boss of Outworld, Shang Tsung (played by Chin Han) who's a warlock for souls and shapeshifting, but served as a big boss who cannot fight (well this sucks) and Hanzo Hasashi, aka Scorpion (played by Hiroyuki Sanada) a ninja clan of Shirai Ryu who got killed off early, but coming back, but only in final act (talk about a waste of time that i;ve been begging to see him coming back from the dead).

Although there's some other MK characters, but they're more like a after though ones, like Mileena (played by Sisi Stringer) who looks like she has rashes on her cheeks as loosely looking like in the game, Kabal (played by Daniel Nelson and voiced by Damon Herriman) who like i said, i thought its Smoke, but its Kabal all along, but no longer as good guy, but he's also likable, Reptile who's more like a first henchman, but he looks pretty cool, but not acting like a human ninja in disguise (Aw well), Goro (voiced by Angus Sampson) the prince of Shokan who's more like a sub-boss (much like in the game) at our main hero, Nitara (played by Mel Jarnson) who's a flying vampire for obstacle fight for Kung Lao and Reiko (played by former pro-wrestler Nathan Jones, though his wrestling performance was pretty embarrassment) who's a next gen of Shao Kahn (Too bad Shao Kahn isn't in the movie).

While the characters from MK are nice to see in the movie (some are faithful, while others didn't doing well), but its safe to say that Cole's appearance is unlikable.

And now for my final opinion of this movie.

Overall, the 2021 Mortal Kombat isn't as flawless victory as we expected. The story is ok, the actions are pretty good, the blood and gore is there for good reason and the characters are also ok. Its mainly the writing is pretty dreadful for its execution and Cole Young purpose has zero reason to being forgetable main role. Even though its not the worst movie based on video game, but they're still out there.

For my recommendation, i'd say its only for die-hard fans of Mortal Kombat who really want to see the bloody and gory version what we wanted. 

And does this film is better than 1995 version? Well, i'd say yeah, since the first one is the most PG-iest film ever for the lack of blood and gore, but more of typical martial arts film with some fun and silly moments.

For my rating, its a tough one, since as a fan of Mortal Kombat, i wanted to go higher, but due to some execution that ruined the film in somewhat disappointing result, i gotta give this film a 6/10.

So this ends of my movie review, if you guys have your opinion or any suggestions, let me know at comment bellow and support me on KO-FI.com/blackevil.

Thanks for reading, and im Anthony, signing out.

Movie Review: Godzilla vs Kong

 

Hey everyone, my name is Anthony and welcome back to my Movie Review, now with 2021 movies.

From many years ago, i've talked about Godzilla, i've talked about Kong and both of them are in Monsterverse series that we all know. Ever since we love Godzilla and Kong, its definitely no secrete that they're gonna make a movie of these guys in combat on the big screen.

"Godzilla vs Kong" is a 2021 Kaiju film is directed Adam Wingard, produced by Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, Brian Rogers, Mary Parent, Alex Garcia and Eric McLeod,written in screenplay by Eric Pearson and Max Borenstein, then story written by Terry Rossio, Michael Dougherty (Yup, the same guy who did Godzilla: King of the Monsters) and Zach Shields.

Ever since we heard the announcement of Godzilla facing against Kong, we're highly anticipated with the battle of two icons, its another crossover of East vs West. However, the movie got delayed a lot, ranging from changes and even the outbreak from the virus, so they chooses for not only release the film in theaters, but also available in renting digital download and streaming service like HBO Max.

Of course, its not the first time we have the battle of two icons, there's the 1962 "King Kong vs Godzilla" by Toho that its nice to having those two fighting each other for the first time, even though before we have a CG, we have a fun and silly battle between to guys in monster suits. Though the ending is debatable for who win the battle, its more like "You decide" conclusion element.

So, with all that said, will this movie bring us a epic battle of these two big monsters, or is it a waste of potential to having other monsters?

Well, lets find out.

The Story

For the plot in this movie, its surprisingly interesting, while the human plot that despite its improved, but its still flawed like before.

It picks up after "King of the Monsters" five years later, where Kong was monitered by the Monarch with a giant dome on Skull Island, which they were told that the citizens in Skull Island are wiped out from the storm, except for one deaf girl named Jia who only speaks with sign language. Meanwhile a cybernetic company called Apex are creating secret experiment, not before Godzilla came out nowhere and going rampage at Pensacola. Meanwhile, a geologist and cartographer Dr. Nathan Lind was told by Apex CEO named Walter Simmons about the plan of going a secret world called "Hollow Earth", Nathan was hesitant at first due to his brother's death, but he accepted the plan, but only he needs one monster to going in there, which is Kong. So its up for the Nathan Lind with other members like Dr. Ilene Andrews and her adopted girl Jia to bring out Kong to Hollow Earth without the risk and the secret truth of Godzilla's rampage.

Story is surprisingly good and curiously creative for expending world in Monsterverse, mainly with the Hollow Earth element for the origin or possibly why Godzilla is posing a threat like you know, like any Godzilla films out there, even though i still consider Godzilla as an anti-hero, appearing what he wanted, rampage or facing against evil monsters. Not mention, i also like the chemistry between Kong and Jia, since with Skull Island's citizens are all gone from the dangerous storm, they treated like a father and daughter figures with their sign language, which is nice and kinda cute at the same time.

However, like King of the Monsters, the story with the humans are pretty underwhelming for its execution. Despite that i appreciated the chemistry between a little girl and a giant ape, but the human plots with finding the secret in Apex with conspiracy theorist Bernie and the same girl from the previous movie Madison. Sure, i do appreciated of the expansion world where we're going to Hollow Earth, but again, the human elements are pretty underwhelming. I think its no secret this movie's main focus is either Kong or Godzilla. However, the movie is kinda miss the mark of the identity that Godzilla is the main focus in the title "Godzilla vs Kong", when in reality, the main focus is Kong, i mean it would've been ok to put the opposite of the title of the movie as "Kong vs Godzilla", either that or to avoiding confusion from the 1962 version's title.

Despite some problems of who's the main focus and poor executed human plot points, but the story is fascinating for say the least.

The Presentation

Aside from the writing flaws, i think it safe to say that the production of this movie is pretty good.

For the filming location and the setting, they're quite nice looking and rather a nice fit, since they picked a locations for the setting like Hawaii for Skull Island and Australia for factory and other locations like city in Brisbane. Though we though its their two locations, but they also filmed in Hong Kong as their final shooting.

Of course, aside from the real locations, there's always a CG background and i find them to be fascinating, especially the setting design of Hollow Earth, which i though its gonna be looking like hell with demons and stuff like DOOM, but it looks pretty different that i've never imagine. But im not gonna explain what it looks like for avoiding spoilers.

As for the action scenes, well its surprisingly all over, raging from Godzilla's threatening rampage, the presentation of Hollow Earth and the famous round 1 of Godzilla and Kong beat themselves up both in and out of water with battle ships and aircraft carriers. Of course, the final battle is pretty cool, but also brutal as hell, but again, no spoilers.

For the monsters appearance, its no secret that Kong and Godzilla look remain the same, sure they have some update appearance like Kong with scars and Godzilla's upgrade skins. As for the other monsters around, sadly, they never brought them back like Rodan, Behemoth, Scylla, MUTO number three, Methuselah nor even what happen to the new egg from Mothra, which is pretty disappointed that i just wish they could've give us more Titans from the previous films than just Godzilla and Kong. What we have instead is a flying cobra-like dragon and possibly a small version of The Giant Claw (but at least their looks aren't as ugly like the original flying battleship). Btw, before the film was released, there's a rumor that this movie have MechaGodzilla, which im easily hesitated in the first place based on its purpose, but again, no spoilers for conformation. Oh, they also brought back Skullcrawlers, so... Yay??

While the presentation gave me my nitpick with plot holes like the lack of Titans from "King of the Monsters", the presentation of this movie is pretty good, for the most parts.

The Characters

I think it safe to say that the Titans have better development than the underdeveloped humans, for the most parts.

When it comes to Godzilla, from before like "King of the Monsters" or even his Monsterverse debut, he's more like an anti-hero where he fought numerous evil Titans like MUTOs and even Ghidorah, which many people might considered him as like a god. Here in this movie, his anti-hero goes chaotic that he went into a threat at the humanities, for what reason he does that is just beyond me or even the fans.

As for Kong, he's also sorta being good towards humans, even if they pushed the line at the big ape. But this time, thanks to Jia like a daughter figure, it seems that he's somewhat giving a respect at the humanity, especially to giving a sympathetic element that he wants home after his Skull Island being taken by the Monarch with dome.

As for the humans, with the exception of Jia (played by young Kaylee Hottle) being the last person on Skull Island and a daughter figure from Kong which i appreciated, they're pretty forgettable foe their lack of purpose or anything. Despite their acting are fine.

There's Dr. Nathan Lind (played by Alexander Skarsgård) who's a reluctant cartographer and geologist for his study of Hollow Earth with Kong, Dr. Ilene Andrews (played by Rebecca Hall) who's a Monarc member of Linguist, Bernie Hayes (played by Brian Tyree Henry) who's an employee in Apex with his conspiracy theory that nobody cared, Walter Simmons (played by Demián Bichir) who's a typical evil big boss of Apex organization against anybody on his lay (let along Monarch), Maia Simmons (played by Eiza González) who's a top tier executive and daughter of Walter, Josh Valentine (played by Julian Dennison, aka Russell Collins from Deadpool 2) who's a cowardly nerd about Godzilla and Ren Serizawa (played by Shun Oguri) whos the son of Dr. Serizawa who sadly served by purpose what so ever in this movie.

But for whatever reason, Madison Russell (reprised by Millie Bobby Brown) and her dad Dr. Mark (reprised by Kyle Chandler) returned in this movie, but again, they're pretty much forgettable since "King of the Monsters" based on lack of context on their appearances.

While the monsters and Jia herself are fascinating, but its just that the humans are involved felt like a cardboard cutout crowd for pandemic sporting events.

And now for my final opinion of this film.

Overall, Godzilla vs Kong is a pretty good film to having two icons in ultimate fight. The story is pretty good, the presentation looks fantastic, despite the dark cinematography have some problem that i almost forgot to tell and the writing is not bad. Although i like the development of Jia, Kong and Godzilla, while the rest of humans, despite they may have some developments, but its their writing purpose is pretty much poorly executed in the final result and some other monsters from previous film like King of the Monsters don't make any returns.

If you're a fan of Kaiju film involving two iconic monsters, this is definitely for you, like it won't disappoints you. Or maybe watching the 1962 version by Toho if you love guy in monsters suits.

Sadly, this movie has a controversy, its not just the movie itself, but rather a war between this movie and the Zack Snyder's cut of Justice League, mainly because when Godzilla vs Kong came out, the film was well-received by critics and audience like myself included, but then army of Snyder's cut went after GvK with review bombs in order to destroy this movie. Look, i like DC superheroes, but there's no excuse to make war against either critics or a movie competitor (which GvK is distributed by the same company with Snyder's cut, Warner Bros). So for the love of god, DC community or maybe Kaiju community, please stop making war to picking side for who's better or else...!!

Sorry for my ranting, its just that whenever there's a controversy that pinched my nerve, il point it out.

Anyway, for my rating, im gonna give this one an 8/10. I would've gave it 7, but as a fan of Kaiju film, il give it a bit high.

So this ends of my movie review after my long hiatus, if you guys have your opinion or any suggestions, let me know at comment bellow and support me on KO-FI.com/blackevil.

Thanks for reading, and im Anthony, signing out.