This Means War

Saw this at the Showplace ICON Theater at West End in St. Louis Park, MN just last Saturday afternoon.

We did not get the VIP Reserved Seating as the film wasn't being shown in a theater with that option. Still, even the regular seats are quite comfy.


I had mixed feelings about this movie. Chris Pine is an up-and-coming actor, and he wasn't too terribly bad in this but I was constantly reminded of him in the Star Trek reboot movie. He doesn't seem to have a whole lot of depth in his acting, but that's the kind of thing that develops with time and experience.

Tom Hardy was almost forgettable in this, he didn't seem to have as much screen time, or even the best lines in the film.

You may hate me/us for this, but Reese Witherspoon was a poor choice as the love interest for this film as well. She's not overly attractive, not a very good actress, and I couldn't see myself or anyone I know fighting for her affection. That said, her acting style seemed to fit the type of character she was playing.

Overall, the movie is a bit slow, and feels repetitive as you progress through the film. There are some genuinely funny bits in the film that got me laughing out loud, but overall it was a forgettable film. Maryanne had a similar reaction when we discussed it after the movie. There was potential for it to be much better than it was, honest. It just never got there.

To be honest, I had to go look up the show times at the theater website to remember the name of the movie. That should be a pretty good hint right there about how 'good' this movie was.

I'd Wait for this to come out as a rental, or a $1 theater somewhere before you see it unless you really like one or more of the actors in the film. It's just not worth full price in my opinion.

Contagion

Ehhh...

Wait for a Rental.


If you've seen the movie Virus, or read the book 'The Hot Zone', then you'll be very familiar with this movie.

Done in the Docu-Drama style, it's not remotely an Action-Thriller movie as it's being marketed; no real action, and not a big thrill either. It was very predicitable if you've read the Hot Zone book or know anything about how the CDC and the Gov respond to viral epidemics, and the whole story revolved around one family and then a bunch of doctors and researchers trying to figure it out. The problem is that the focus kept shifting so often you weren't sure just who things were supposed to be centered on, who to root for, and in some cases exactly why some of the stuff that was happening was really happening. There were a couple characters and subplots in the movie that made no sense and didn't seem to fit in the slightest. At points it almost felt like there were two seperate and distinct movies that somebody decided to merge together to create one product.

In our opinion it just didn't work well. Even the 'twist' at the end was no surprise to either of us. When we left the theater, we wondered how this could've been a better movie. We kinda concluded that removing one subplot and the 6 or 8 recognizable actors from the movie that were part of that subplot, and focusing much more on how people were coping with the disease and finding the cure and such, basically adding an element of urgency that (strangely) was missing throughout the whole thing would've made this a more enjoyable flick.

If you're at all interested, wait for a rental and watch it at home with a few friends. Between the movie and teh conversation of the friends trying to understand what's going on during the movie, you'll have a more enjoyable experience.