Movie Review: 2012

Here we have yet another elephantine-budgeted, visual effect opus by sci-fi thriller maven Roland Emmerich, the director of Independence day, Day after Tomorrow , Godzilla and many others. Having taken the names of his previous grand epicurean works, now you know what to expect from the movie. 2012 is the year when, as per the mayan calendar, the earth is suppose to undergo massive makeshift. Only the opulent and the warned could be saved by a secretly prepared haven set up at a perfectly covert place.
The onset revolves around a man who is struggling to save the lives of his already disintegrated family. This brings about fast-paced action scenes where your heart would actually skip a beat or two, especially the scenes of quake extending towards aircraft or van or limo or wherever our hero unfortunately happens to be in. Watching the action taking place on marvelously portrayed landscapes, on the big screen, will undoubtedly make your trip to theater worth the money invested. Then who cares who survives till the end and who doesn’t.
You will find flavors of emotions, when our bright researcher fights for the right of fellow earth-men and you can also empathize with the selflessness of the President, amidst all the tohubohu of natural disasters of all kinds. After going back home you may google about Earth Crust Displacement theory and mayan calendar but while inside theater you can definitely not stop yourself from lauding the remarkable display of visual effects on screen.

Movie Review : Ninja Assassin

More than a Hollywood movie, Ninja Assassin is a bundle of sadistic cruelty and brutishness. If you are a true connoisseur of martial art and have a penchant towards ninja community and their customs, then only you can appreciate the movie, that too up to the extent where such scenes are involved. All other times you would wonder if director has forgotten to add a storyline while he was busy mixing the correct ingredients of the fake-blood recipe, which he has used quite liberally throughout the movie.

Alright then, here I’ll try my best to juxtapose the movie-plot which was drowned in the blood-pool altogether. Our Taekwondo and all related arts Champ Raizo (Rain) is trained thoroughly to be an assassin by a fiendish trainer cum leader of Ozunu Ninja clan. He is taught to win over fears and pathos. You would be reminded of his brutal training throughout the movie with irksome flashbacks and countless scars or his body. The atrocities of his trainer engulf life of his childhood love and so he turns his back towards his clan and become a freelancer. He comes across a beautiful forensic investigator, Mika (Naomi Harris) who is the recent target of Ozunu’s hit-list. Her heart reminds him of his love. This kick-starts the barbaric action scenes which end up in a bloody mess.

You can come out with one sense of relief that the girl is saved and our hero also comes out alive with additional designs on his already scar-laden body. Finally, you might appreciate Korean singer turned actor, Rain, who formidably adapted to the demanding role of a Ninja. Naomi did fair justice with her role which only needed innocent and terrified facial expressions and nothing more. Biggest disappointment was the director James McTeigue who raised expectations after his directorial debut, V for Vendetta, in 2006. There is huge fan following for the subject ‘Ninja’ across the countries, which could have been capitalized. However, script writer, Michael Straczynski should equally share the responsibility of Director as far as viewers’ disappointment is concerned.