The Bourne Legacy

I'm borrowing this write up from another online source named Nate Z. He echo's almost exactly what I would have to say about the movie with just a couple edits of my own...

The Jason Bourne spy series has been a financial wellspring for Universal studios, so when Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass (United 93) decided they had enough spy capers and hijinks, you can understand the studio's concern. They elevated Tony Gilroy, a writer from the beginning of the series, to director. Gilroy has done some well-received directing gigs of his own now (Michael Clayton), so his ascent made sense from a continuity standpoint. I did wonder how much liberty the studio was going to give him, whether he was going to be boxed in to a style that had worked for the series. I never knew I should have had bigger misgivings, namely that The Bourne Legacy would ransom its conclusion and force the audience to make Legacy a hit.

Apparently Jason Bourne wasn't alone. The C.I.A. has a team of six different super agents, each undergoing rigorous training and chemical alterations to their DNA via a series of daily pills. Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner) is out in the Alaskan wilderness when the C.I.A., led by Col. Eric Byer (Ed Norton) and Adm. Mark Turso (Stacy Keach), burn all their agents. They plan on starting over and that means eliminating all evidence of the spy program that gave birth to Bourne. That means Cross has to go as well. That also means the chemists and scientists working on the program must also be silenced permanently, and Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz) narrowly escapes a workplace shooting. Cross seeks her out for her medical expertise. They both have a common enemy that wants them dead. Together, the duo heads over to Manila where Shearing's company manufactures the super meds and so Cross can become a permanent super agent.

What the hell did I just watch? I know it's labeled The Bourne Legacy, Universal's attempt to squeeze more life out of its successful spy thriller franchise. That part I get. What I don't understand is that the filmmakers are trying to extort the viewing public into granting a Legacy sequel. Let's cut to the chase. This movie has no ending. I don't mean a bad ending. This movie is completely absent an ending. Not just an ending but also a third act. It's like the filmmakers lopped off the third act and said, "If you want to see where this story ends up, you better get us a sequel." There is no resolution for ANY STORYLINE in the entire movie. None. The good guys are still scrambling, figuring out how to blow the big bad conspiracy. The big bad conspiracy is still alive and kicking. The patsy for their wicked shenanigans is still the patsy. There is nothing that can be construed as an ending. At least the Damon Bourne movies each had a beginning, middle, and end and tied up their film plots. Sure the characters carried over and there were some larger, overarching storylines, but at least those movies felt complete. The Bourne Legacy is badly incomplete, a gaping void of a third act, and a blunder that makes me question the sanity of the filmmakers. How could you make a big budget summer action movie and not provide any semblance of closure? When the Moby tune kicked in on the soundtrack, I sat stunned, pinned to my seat in disbelief. "No, it can't be over. They couldn't possibly just end things here." Oh, and they do. So enjoy 2/3 of a movie, folks.

With the anticlimactic end in mind, I now understand why the first hour felt so draggy. It's because they had to fill out a two-hour running time. Especially for the Bourne franchise, the first hour seems to really be paced lackadaisically. For an action movie, it sure takes its time to get going. I wouldn't have minded if I felt like we were setting up something exciting, but really the story is about a super agent who just wants to get his meds. He travels across the U.S. and the world so he can get his pills, and then he does, and then the movie abruptly ends. I'm simplifying matters in a crass way, I admit, but doesn't this storyline just feel a tad slight? Legacy also starts to feel like a retread when it comes to its plot mechanics. The C.I.A. is burning all their super spy agents through suicide pills. They are destroying everything before Congressional oversight can reveal their true dastardly deeds. But then we need an antagonist, right? So the government goons reveal they have a SECOND even more super secret program to train super assassins/spies ("It's Treadstone without the inconsistencies"). How far are they going to take this? Is there going to be a third super duper ultra secret level of killer spies? It's repeating the same steps the franchise has already taken, the expert spy vs. spy clashes, but now it's starting to get silly in a way the franchise had previously avoided.

The action sequences are serviceable but they're not any better than what the franchise has produced before. Cross has a few nifty escapes but nothing that reminds you of Jason Bourne's sheer ingenuity. What other man can take down bad guys simply with a rolled up magazine or a book? Aaron Cross just can't compete with that. The final motorcycle chase is nice but it just seems to be repeating the same danger with little variation. The best action sequence is actually a bit macabre. It involves a workplace shootout. To even call it an action sequence is a bit of a disservice since it's actually a tense and horrific scenario that is coming eerily all too familiar in the news. Weisz's character has to hide while her co-worker methodically guns down his fellow lab workers. Oh, and he also took off the door handles, making it dire for help from the outside to get inside. It's a horrific sequence that's played out to stomach-knotting levels of tension, as the dread slowly mounts and the pessimistic inevitability looms. Now, obviously Weisz was going to survive, as we know this, but the sequence still resonates with real, primal terror.

So what does The Bourne Legacy have going for it in its favor? Well the duo of Renner and Weisz is a pretty good pairing. Renner (The Hurt Locker) has been rolled out as the next thinking man's action hero, and he finds interesting depth to his spy character in a rather routine plot. But he's even better when he's onscreen with Weisz (The Constant Gardener). There's plenty of shouting matches and intensity but they have workable chemistry and Weisz's character gets to be an essential part of the spy heroics rather than a tagalong. I cannot fault the actors for the film's flaws.

I understand why the Universal suits felt like they needed to pump new blood into their lucrative Bourne franchise. After a while, an amnesiac super spy is going to hit a breaking point; he's going to run out of essential memories to recall (Bourne 5: where Jason Bourne gets back the memory that he does not like Indian food). I like Renner and Weisz. I even like Tony Gilroy as a director. What I do not like is only getting 2/3 of a movie. Whose bright idea was it to just lop off the third act and provide no resolution? The ending is so unbelievably jarring, so staggeringly incompetent, that I have to dock this movie major points. I can't say the ending out and out ruins the film considering I was only marginally liking it beforehand. The Bourne Legacy is proof that sometimes imitation is not the best substitute for ingenuity. Gilroy is no Greengrass. Cross is no Bourne. Legacy is no complete movie.

Nate's Grade: C+

Now, for my notes:

Cross could be as good as Bourne, but they need to really WORK on that to change the characters image/perception by the viewing audience. I'm not happy with Gilroy as a director, at all. I also agree that the 'end' of the movie, well, isn't. It's obvious to me that they are planning on a sequel, there can't be any other reason to leave the movie end like that, unless it was something like "Oh, wait! We're making the movie too long! Let's just stop it.... HERE."

He gave it a C+, I have to start with a C-. After the movie ramps up a bit (after the first hour or so), it is actually a bit entertaining as an action movie. You can see where some of the chase scenes (and parts of other chase scenes) are nearly duplicates of previous chases Bourne films (change a vehicle type here, or change the terrain there) but still, if you just sit back with a big bowl of popcorn it's not a bad flick.

I agree completely though that they spent way too much time on the build-up. I read another review that basically says Cross is a drug addict and is working through the whole film to just get more drugs. Well, yes he is trying to find more medicine or "chems" as they are called in teh movie. He needs it so that he doesn't revert back to his normal mental state of 'stupid'. Apparently the character had an IQ that was so low that in order to get into the military as a younger man the recruiter had to fake an IQ test and report his numbers as higher than they were. Part of the medical marvel that is Cross is that two certain and very specific genetic changes were made to him as part of his particiaption in this spy program, and without the chems he is desperately trying to get a hold of, those changes will go away. Think of a heart patient who is on an aspirin regimen everyday. The chems are the same kind of thing, and if he stops taking them then the changes go away.

I'd give this a C overall, but being this is supposed to be a continuation of-sorts of the Bourne franchise, I have to give it a D. So far at least it's not a very good follow-up film for Bourne. Yes they make some great and consistent tie-ins to the previous films, but this honestly doesn't deserve a Bourne title, unless it was something like "The Bourne Movie Clone Part 1" or something.

It's worth seeing in the theater I guess, but definately as a matinee or dollar theater show. After all the hype, it's not worth a full price admission.

MI4: Ghost Protocol

Her perspective: A

Ethan Hunt is back, but this time, the entire IMF is disavowed due to an attack on the Kremlin that is being blamed on Ethan and his team. Now that we're done with what you could have seen in the previews...

Very action-packed and I was so drawn in that I was gasping, laughing out loud and even couldn't stop myself from making a comment in the theater (don't worry, I kept it to 1-2 words and spoke softly). The plot kept moving at a good clip - there was only one slow spot that I noticed. I am going to buy this as soon as possible. I haven't liked a movie this much since X Men: 1st Class and I think I actually liked this one better. Definitely more action and more fast paced. I can't blame 1st Class, though, it's the type of movie that requires a more thoughtful plot.

I'm not going to give anything away, so no spoilers. Suffice to say: GO SEE THIS MOVIE AND BUY IT ON DVD! :)

See my review on the theater also. It didn't fare NEARLY as well...

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

See it in the theater.


Maryanne really enjoyed this one, I thought it deviated slightly form the feel and theme of the first movie, but it was still plenty enjoyable and it had my attention all the way through.

This is only the first week of the movie run, so I don't want to give anything away, but you can count on the now customary Holmes-like twists and long running thought processes that we saw in the first movie, things like how they have Holmes anticipating things to come and thinking a few moves ahead. Not just over the next few minutes mind you, but even one day to the next (and in one case, starting from the beginning of the movie to the near-end of it). Many characters from the first movie make appearances (though most are very brief), and couple of them are even killed off this time around. It makes for an odd way to tie two movies together, but if you assume there will be future movies in the franchise, then a regular method of removing and replacing characters from one movie to the next keeps things fresh and new I guess.

There was plenty of action, the near-trademark Holmes slo-mo thought process makes an appearance a couple times, and there is plenty of wit, intelligence and cunning sprinkled throughout. It was as I said, an enjoyable film.

I hope they make a third film in this line. I also thought they could've done more with marketing this movie.


I'm glad we caught it on the big screen, and was pleasently surprised to find that the theater we choose to see it at (Marcus Theater in Rosemount this time around) wasn't very busy at all for a Saturday evening during new movie releases.

We arrived at the theater with minutes to spare, and still had time for consessions and seats before the previews started. We were a bit annoyed at the consession stand however. Who in their right mind takes 30 minutes to cook a hotdog? What theater doesn't have all of their consession food prepared and ready to sell on the opening weekend of a big movie during prime-time hours?? Apparently, this one. We kept asking after different food items (besides popcorn, drinks and nachos) and were told repeatedly that it would be 10 minutes for this, or 15 for that, or 30 for a hotdog, that kind of thing.

That's a bit ridiculous don't you think?

Captain America: The First Avenger

OK, this wasn't bad, but it was very SLOOOWWW for most of the movie. If you don't know any of the history of Captain America (I know some) then the first hour of the movie is for you. Pay attention; people show up and things happen for a reason, and you'll see them again later in the film.

There were a couple funny spots that got a few chuckles from the crowd, sections of it though were almost annoying. The long montages detracted from the film for me, but they do get the point across that time is passing and things are happening and stuff. I did also note a few discrepancies within the film itself. There are times when Cap's shield deflects stuff and he doesn't even look like he felt it, and then later he's deflecting the same kind of big stuff and getting tossed around by it. Kinda seems to be a contradiction in there.

We do see how Steve Rogers ended up getting into the Army, and how he was selected for the Super Soldier program (and they spend a lot of time making all that happen). And then they spend a lot of time (and another long montage) about how Cap isn't happy with his assigned role as spokesman and entertainer. Then you actually get some action, and see something of what he can do. Then you get to see him go after the Red Skull (bad guy). Then go after him again (in another long montage), and then have a not-quite-epic-and-somewhat-boring boss battle at almost the end, where Cap than makes the ultimate sacrifice.

Make sure you stay through ALL the credits. You'll also need to see this so that the Avengers movie that comes out next year will make some sense (along with Thor, the Incredible Hulk, and perhaps both Iron Man movies).

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2

I'm keeping this brief.

Lots of people rave about how great this was, fitting end to the series, etc. etc.

I'm not raving. In fact, I thought it was all a bit anti-climatic honestly. You know Voldemort is gonna lose, that's a given (Harry and friends always triumph in the end). Based on previews alone, you can see that the school is gonna get messed up, big fight and all that. I was looking forward to all that and thought it would happen based on how solemn and uneventful Part 1 was.

Well, they did have a big fight, and it was utterly predictable. There were a couple minor but interesting twists here and there, and if you weren't paying attention you'd miss them. Also a few chuckles, the (brief) return of a couple familiar faces and the like.

But really, the climax of the film was predictable at every step of the way and was far too short (and in my opinion too simple) to be a fitting end to the film series. I mean, seriously, your supposed to be beating up and defeating THE wizard of the century! Shouldn't the fight reflect that?

Still it was entertaining, and if your a die-hard HP fan then see it on the big screen while you still have time. For those interested in seeing how everything turns out but not interested enough to shell out about $20 per person to see it (ticket, food, etc.) then I'd wait for a Redbox rental or something.

I wasn't impressed with the film but I was entertained enough to not be unhappy that I spent all that money to see it in the expensive theater in our area (at least I was comfortable while watching it).

I know that Maryanne, Dean, Juliet, Mike and a few others will probably disagree with me on most of these points, but hey I'm the one writing the review, right? :) Really though, it was a pretty decent movie, I just wish they'd have done more with it since it is the final chapter and all.

RED

Ehhh... See it in the theater while you have time I guess.


Not that the movie is bad mind you, just a bit slow and campy at time. There are some slick action sequences and such, but overall you'll be familiar with most of the characters right away. Bruce Willis is always cast in these down-n-out law enforcement type roles, which his role in this movie isn't exactly but it's awful close. Morgan Freeman is doing his best intellectual impersonation (with just a bit of action). You'll recognize lots of faces though you may not know all the names. And the movie plot is also pretty predictable so it makes it difficult to be surprised when things happen farther along (like the twist on the twist near the end, I saw it coming an hour earlier).

Regardless, it was overall a fun and enjoyable movie. I'll probably buy it when it comes out on video, and I'd suggest seeing it in the theater before it's gone. Go for a matinee with a bunch of friends and you'll do well. There is a lot of little stuff happening ont he screen, and if you don't have a very large screen to see it all you'll miss a few little bits here and there.

Iron Man 2

B+

We saw this recently with some friends at the Kerasotes (now AMC) Showplace ICON theater in Saint Louis Park. We had the VIP seating in the balcony (nice comfy chairs, tables, lottsa space and leg room). These seats are a bit more expensive than the regular admission seating and require reservations/pre-purchase, but they're worth it for the big-deal and/or long movies you really want to see in a theater.

Anyway, you've read the review we did for Iron Man last year. I have to say that IM2 suffers from some of the same problems. Bits of the movie are just plain too long and quite boring, some sections could probably have been left out as they lend not much to the movie over all, and my FAVORITE thing to pick on... scenes in the TV commercials and theater trailers were not in the actual movie (I really hate when studios do that).

Still, generic plot stuff: The son of a Russian scientist that Stark's father worked with years ago on the Arc Reactor (remember the first movie) either bought, stole or somehow acquired plans to the chest power source Tony uses to keep himself alive and power his armor. This guy (who for those familiar with the Marvel Universe is called Whiplash) builds his electric whip weapons and goes after Tony in Monaco at a car race. He fails cause Stark has a portable briefcase sized version of the armor and was able to beat Whiplash, who is arrested.

One of the sub-plots running through the movie is that Tony is slowly being poisoned by the very device keeping him alive, and he's been working on a new design without success. He takes some kind of drink he made up to stave off the effects of the heavy metal poisoning, but is still losing the fight.

Anyway, Whiplash gets out of jail and is hired on by one of Starks competitors who wants not only the power source, but armor suits of his own to sell to the military. Oh, somewhere in between the initial fight and these new suits being developed (remember how I said parts of it were too long?) Rhode's takes the Mark II suit (the silverish one) and hands it over to the Air Force, who in turn hand it off to this guy Hammer that's working with Whiplash now. They mod the heck out of the suit adding weapons and such and call it War Machine, which Rhodes still pilots.

Meanwhile, Stark continues thinking he's dead soon, and starts giving away his company (to Pepper) and tossing out compute files and papers and such, getting drunk and throwing parties.

He eventually discovers that the new element he needs to make a new power source that won't poison him was thought up by his father 20 or more years ago and left hidden in plain sight for Tony to find years later (which he does). Tony ends up creating this new element based on Dad's design and builds a new chest piece that miraculously not only gives him renewed strength gut heals him of the heavy metal poisoning as well, all with-in a few seconds.

Just in time, as Whiplash is taking over all these drones he built for Hammer, including the War Machine suit, and going after Iron Man again.

Big fight ensues, where whiplash dies, the drones are destroyed, Rhodes recovers and helps in the fight, and everyone that needs to live does so.

See? Pretty easy to sum up this movie. Provided I left out a couple people, and a bunch of junk that doesn't really matter to the story.

A good movie if you can get through the boring bits (and there are more than a couple) but worth seeing in the theater regardless if your a fan.

Oh, they find Thor's hammer in the desert of Nevada at the end of the movie (for the upcoming Avengers movie next year).

We did enjoy the movie, and we actually intend to see it again here soon, partly because we did enjoy it, partly because I started day-dreaming in parts of the movie and missed some bits (remember, boring bits). Still pretty good movie with quite a few funny bits thrown in.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Must own, no. Would I mind owning it? I'll buy a previously viewed DVD form the local video store like we did for the fourth Indiana Jones movie ($3.99!!).

Not to spoil things, but this movie isn't the Joe's against Cobra. Cobra doesn't exist (yet) so you get to see the precursor to that.

If your familiar at all with G.I. Joe from the cartoons back in the 70's & 80's, then you'll recognize some of the character names while watching this. A number of your old favorites do NOT make an appearance in this film, but that is somewhat understandable since this isn't the whole Good Guys vs. the persistent Bad Guys yet (no Cobra).

Still, it was quite entertaining overall. I thought they did a pretty good job of bringing the franchise up to date, and found some good people to play the key roles for the most part. Some of the history has been altered, and I can kinda see why it was done that way. Those alterations do a good job of explaining why certain 'outside military' personnel were brought in to the fold, and also does a good job of setting up for future movies in the line.

To keep things short: Duke was seeing this girl, and this girl's brother was a geek assigned to his team for some operation overseas. Things went bad and the brother died. The girl went all Gothic and evil on Duke, and went to the dark side unbeknownst to him.

A few years later, Duke and his team are charged with transporting some new weapon the Gov just bought, and his ex-girl shows up to take his new toys. The Joe's show up during this fight, and Duke and his buddy end up joining them since he has some history with her.

Turns out the ex-girl is working for the really bad guy, and he has lots of other really bad guys working for him. Remember Snake Eyes from the cartoon? He has a 'brother' who's one of the bad guys, and they duke it out at the end. The head bad guy turns out to be Destro, and the dead-brother ain't so dead, and he becomes The Commander (and creates Cobra from the ashes of the other lead bad guy's remains).

Of course the movie does end there, but the writers or whoever built-in a couple spots were a sequel can show up, and I expect there will be at least one.

Overall the movie was good, entertaining and mostly well thought out. There aren't many plot twists, but they are creative and thought out. The movie ended up being mostly predictable for me, but I enjoyed many a school morning watching cartoons before heading out for the day, and G.I. Joe was one of them so I'm still pretty well versed on the history and people involved.

If some friends wanted to go see it again in the theater, I probably would. And when it comes out on video (provided there isn't some big deal alternate version or something on Blu-ray) I'll most likely stop at the video store and get a previously viewed DVD. The movie wasn't bad, but I can't see spending $40 on a Blu-ray disc for it (unlike Ironman which I bought on DVD and then later on Blu-ray, gave the DVD to my parents).

Your kids would like seeing this movie I think. It's high tech, but not so technical that young teens wouldn't understand what's going on (provided they like this kind of movie).

The special effects and overall cinematic experience can't be ignored though. If your going to see this movie, try to catch it in a good theater before the run ends. It'll make a difference.

Star Trek

This was odd for me. I'm not a huge fanboy of Star Trek or anything like that, but I've seen enough of it often enough to have a good feel for the 'universe' and history of Star Trek.

That said, they've just rewrote the book.

Lots of TV shows and stuff talked about this movie as a prequel to the rest of everything (Trek before Trek ever was I guess). It's not a prequel. Don't go into it thinking that or you'll be disappointed if you do (ask Maryanne about that).

This movie was really quite good (note: not GREAT). The writers have taken a very special opportunity (to me it seems that way) to reinvent the entire series all over again. Of course, they use time travel to set the whole thing up (seems to be a rather large crutch the writers continually fall back to) but it still works alright if you just let it be.

The interesting thing with this is that now future teams of writers can do whole new stories, create an entirely new history basically, for all of Star Trek. Hopefully, that's what everybody was thinking when they were writing and shooting this, and they'll jump on the possibility of creating a more up-to-date version of Star Trek for the movie theaters in the years to come.

I'm not dropping specific spoilers (just in case your one of the 17 people in the world that hasn't seen this yet) but it's still not the greatest movie it could've been.

Still, I'm getting this on Blu-ray when it's out.

IRONMAN

If you haven't seen this yet, what the heck are you waiting for????? First really, truly good movie I've seen in a couple years. We're planning on seeing it again tomorrow!

When I heard that Robert Downey Jr. was playing Tony Stark, I was a bit worried. I've seen Downey in a couple other action-type movies (like US Marshalls for example) and was not impressed. He did ok in those, but that's about the best I could say.

He was PERFECT for Tony Stark. His style of humor delivery fit perfect, and he was believable as Stark. I was quite surprised, and happy to be.

I was a slight bit annoyed with the way Pepper was written, but it still works with this movie.

YOu have to understand that I'm a Marvel fan and I'm quite familiar with the backstory for Ironman. This script changed a few things here and there, and took a few liberties with established history of Ironman, but again for this movie it works quite well, and I found myself very engrossed throughout the entire movie (first time in years too).

Oh, if you haven't seen the movie yet, please do yourself a favor and STAY SEATED UNTIL THE CREDITS ARE DONE. Little bonus for you after the credits, which also points the way to a couple more movies in the future.

I really, really enjoyed this movie. Maryanne really enjoyed this movie (which was a bit surprising as well). All of our friends and their kids that we saw this with really enjoyed the movie. The special effects were quite good, though noticable in a few places. The story was well done, and we even get introduced to a few 'future' characters like War Machine.

This is a must see. It's also a must own. For me, it's a must see again. I really hope they get the DVD out later this year.

Go see this movie. Unless you don't like Ironman, or don't like comics, or don't like action movies, or don't like fight scenes, or don't like real character developement, then don't.

But trust me, you'll like this movie anyway. GO! Do yourself a favor and catch it in a theater before it ends its run.

The Bourne Ultimatum - August 3, 2007

Synopsis: Matt Damon returns as the trained assassin Jason Bourne. All he wanted was to disappear. Instead, Jason Bourne is now hunted by the people who made him what he is. Having lost his memory and the one person he loved, he is undeterred by the barrage of bullets and a new generation of highly-trained killers. Bourne has only one objective: to go back to the beginning and find out who he was. Now, in the new chapter of this espionage series, Bourne will hunt down his past in order to find a future. He must travel from Moscow, Paris, Madrid and London to Tangier and New York City as he continues his quest to find the real Jason Bourne - all the while trying to outmaneuver the scores of cops, federal officers and Interpol agents with him in their crosshairs.

Her perspective: Wait/Must Own

Very good action flick. Good story line, it kept moving and kept my attention the whole film. Matt Damon was excellent, as always, and the other actors were great as well. The action was very well choreagraphed. However, there was quite a lot of extraneous camerawork during the fight scenes. I understand that the director wanted to portray how frantic the characters and the action was, but it was too much. If it had been a less talented actor, I could have seen using the camerawork to "hide" the fact, but it wasn't needed with Matt Damon.

They never really did explain the whole program that he had joined or what they had done to him that made him lose his memory. They also hinted at a personal relationship between Bourne and Nicky Parsons, but they never explained that, either. Even though these left me feeling unsatisfied, I still enjoyed the story.

All in all, if you're a fan, go ahead and see it in the theater, but if you just want to see a good action flick, buy it on DVD. This is one for the video collection.

Fantastic Four, Rise of the Silver Surfer - June 16, 2007

Her perspective: Must See

Synopsis: The Silver Surfer comes to earth to prepare it for destruction. As the Silver Surfer races around the globe wreaking havoc, Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben must unravel the mystery of the Silver Surfer and confront the surprising return of their mortal enemy, Doctor Doom, before all hope is lost... all while Reed and Sue are trying to get married.

Review: In the true style of the Marvel films, this movie is fast-paced, with plenty of action and suspense, which is the mark of good writing and directing. There are several spots that are hilarious, mixed with a few serious spots. They could have done more with Johnny switching powers, and they never explained how he kept his flame power when he took on the other three powers. Not having read the comics, I thought I might not be up to speed on the characters, but they did a good job of making the movies "stand alone" so you don't need to have read the comics. I was wishing that they had explained the science a little more behind separating the Silver Surfer from the board as well as separating Dr. Doom from the board. I also think that the final fight could have lasted longer and been a bit more involved.

Over all, though, if you just want to sit back and watch a Marvel film, it's a good one and I enjoyed it.

Shooter: Mark Wahlberg, Danny Glover

Her perspective: Must See, Must Own

Synopsis: Mark Wahlberg stars as a gunnery Sergeant sniper (Bob Lee Swagger) who saw his buddy killed in Ethiopia and subsequently retired to a solitary lifestyle in the mountains. He is sought out by Colonel Johnson, played by Danny Glover, to help him plan an assassination on the President, with the intention of stopping it. Bob agrees reluctantly, and the Colonel sets him up to take the fall for the assassination. However, the President was not shot, but a dignitary from Ethiopia. Bob continues to run throughout the film, using his skills: they train you how to stay alive after they train you how to kill. He goes to his buddy's widow to help him and eventually enlists the help of disgraced FBI agent, Nick Memphis (Michael Pena).

Review: Great Writing! There is quite a lot of humor and excellent one-liners. The plot is a bit complicated, yet easy to follow. Very good story line; a bit of a twist on a plot I've seen before. It moved along quickly right from the beginning and kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. There was just enough action, not too much, not too little; nothing gratuitous.