The Taking of Pelham 123

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Plot

John Travolta plays "Ryder" a brutal gunman who along with his three henchmen have hijacked a New York City subway train. They have given the city 60 minutes to hand over £10million dollars.

Ryder though only wants to speak to Walter Garber (Denzel Washington) a worker assigned to the train control center.

What begins is a very awkward relationship between the two as the time ticks down to the deadline.

Summary

This movie has two of hollywood's most accomplished actors, Travolta is brilliant in his role as a psychotic kidnapper who has a massive grudge against the city with only profit on his mind.

Washington is equally brilliant in his role as the ordinary man called upon to perform extradordinary tasks.

The action comes thick and fast, right from the beginning and never really slows down.

There is plenty of tension throughout this movie and some of the dialogue between Travolta and Washington is superb.

There are some flaws I found with this movie, the passengers on the train seemed very calm and they didnt seem to truly realise the extent of what was happening.

I also did not like the fact Washington's character at the beginning of the film is that of a normal guy in the wrong place at the wrong time, then by the end of the film he suddenly turns into a superman hero character.

I will not spoil the ending but just thinking about it realistically in my city if this happened in real life, Travolta's character would have been blown to hell.

Overall

The Taking Of Pelham 123 was a very entertaining and grity film that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

If you are into your action movies there are enough car chase scenes and explosions to keep the movie going at a fast pace and keep action movie fans happy.

This movie really was very enjoyable and was intense, It had great twists and it washard to see how the movie was going to end.

But I was left dissapointed with the ending, it really was a let down and tainted all the good memories I had for the film.

Crunch Rating -

4. Die Hard

Die Hard is truly a landmark film because without it we would not have such films as Speed or Under Siege it truly is that simple.

Bruce Willis is perfectly cast as quick witted New York cop John Mclane, the man who seems to always be in the wrong place at the right time.

What I love about this movie so much is the incredible action scenes and the hilarious quick one liners, they are perfectly placed and really fit in well with the tone of the film.

What makes the viewer emotionally involved with Mclane is that his wife (Bonnie Bedelia) is held hostage in the building.

This adds a human effect to Mclane and enforces the point that he is just an average guy facing insurmountable odds.

This movie is one of the all time great action flicks and is also a great Christmas movie, but not for the kids!

The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Plot

New Moon is the sequel to the highly successful 2008 box office smash Twilight.

It centers around the effects of Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) leaving Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) after an incident with his family makes him realise that she may be better off without him.

Bella frequently sees Edward as a ghostly conscious trying to keep her out of harm.

But when Bella realises that Edward shows up when she is in danger, she goes looking for harm in order to see him.

Summary

Having watched the first Twilight film and being surprisingly impressed by it, I was more than willing to give New Moon a chance.

While Bella and Edward were the main driving force behind the success of the first film, I did think this sequel would suffer as Edward is missing for the great majority of the film.

But I feel the character of Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) adds an intriguing element to the film.

The whole story of will she get with Jacob or will Edward come back and rekindle his love for Bella was at first interesting, but that is all that seems to push the movie forward.

The storyline continues without any developments and I found it monotonous until the conclusion, when the pace of the film rapidly shifts into top gear.

Overall

If you are a fan of the series you will love this film and I am sure you will look forward to the third part.

But if you are new to the series or watching it casually then I would suggest you watch something else.

I got very bored and the movie struggled to hold my concentration.

Most films usually have a weak second installment and New Moon is no different.

Crunch Rating -

Terminator Salvation

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Plot

Set in 2018, Christian Bale stars as John Connor, the man who has the unenviable task of leading the human resistance against the Terminators and Skynet.

But the future Connor was raised to believe is completely different to that his mother told him.

Part of this altered future is Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a man who doesn't know what day or year it is, his last memory is being on death row.

Connor must decide whether or not to trust Wright. As Skynet prepares its final assault, Connor and Marcus find themselves in the Skynet’s operations, where they uncover the secret behind the possible destruction of the human race.

Summary

I am a massive fan of the Terminator franchise, I was really looking forward to what direction this movie would take.

Kyle Reese's (Anton Yelchin) vision of the future from the first film, has changed widly from what we see in Terminator Salvation and I feel that is a good touch.

I enjoyed director MCG's (Charlies Angels: Full Throttle & We Are Marshall) vision of what the future was to look like.

The problem with the film is that the main plot line of the resistance fighting against Skynet is lost and becomes secondary to the story of Marcus Wright and his befriending of Reese.

The worst part about the film was that I cared more about Wright than the Connor character, that should not happen.

John Connor is the man who ties everything together. Sympathy and emotion is built for him in T:2 and dare I even say T:3, but not here.

This film lacked the connection with Connor and instead of being a guy who has lived through this before he seemed to be just a badass rebel.

Overall

It's a film that serves a purpose in the Terminator franchise, but only just.

I like the fact the ending opens up the possibility for a sequel, but I was left wondering what actually was achieved by Connor and Wright.

If it is a superb action flick with great effects you are looking for then by all means see this film.

If you are a fan of the series, then unfortunately this is not a worthy successor to the first two films.

Crunch Rating -

Star Trek

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Plot

Star Trek takes us right back to the beginning and shows how James T Kirk (Chris Pine) became captain.

After the death of his father, Kirk grows up to be a rebellious youth and has no direction in life.

Meanwhile Spock (Zachary Quinto) is fighting is Vulcan logic and his human emotions.

But there is trouble on the horizon as a Romulan from the future wants to destroy Spock.

Kirk and Spock reluctantly are forced together in order to save the galaxy.

Summary

Rebooting a franchise is never an easy job, but it does have it's share of success most notably the reinvention of James Bond and Batman.

Director J J Abrams (Lost & Mission Impossible III) has taken it upon himself to reinvent Star Trek and I think he has done a good job.

I am not a "Trekkie" and never have been, so I was reluctant to even give this film a try.

But I am glad I did because I really enjoyed it.

The action scenes were incredible and the audio of the S.S Enterprise coming in and out of warp was amazing, the audio team worked hard on making the sounds as real as possible and it definately paid off.

The characters were great, there was some really good casting even Simon Pegg in the role of Scotty was surprisingly very good.

I had heared a lot coming into this film of how Pine would fill the role of Captain Kirk but I feel he was superb, same has to be said for Quinto.

Both roles were filled superbly and I feel the casting for this film is one of it's strong points.

Overall

What this film has done is reinvent a relatively dull and dying franchise to a brand new audience.

I know Star Trek fans will probably not find this movie to their liking but as someone who is new to the series I found it a great installment.

With the perfect mix of action, excitement and intensity, Star Trek was a very solid and thoroughly entertaining movie that I would recommend to anyone.

Crunch Rating -

Public Enemies

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Plot

Public Enemies is a true story set in the great depression of the 1930's.

It focuses on legendary gangster John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) who because of his bank robberies, quickly gets named as America's public enemy #1 by J.Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) and the FBI.

Dillinger with his ridiculously infectious charm manages to endear himself to almost everyone including the public who love his audacious jailbreaks and charismatic charm.

Not to mention the fact that the public have no sympathy for the banks that helped make the country in such a depressed state.

Hoover sends top FBI agent Melvin Purvis' (Christian Bale) to stop Dillinger.

Summary

Depp plays Dillinger brilliantly and director Michael Mann (Heat, Collateral) portrays his cocky and arrogant nature well on screen.

Bale as Purvis' is equally brilliant as the straight-laced cop intent on catching Dillinger.

One thing that is so good about Mann's previous films is the character development he shows, in this film there really was no character development.

Being a true story this film should educate the audience about the main characters, I still do not really know anything about Dillinger or Purvis.

The attention to the period detail in this film is incredible and there are a couple of really good, intense and realistic gun shoot-out scenes.

Highlighted more should have been the cat and mouse aspect of the film. While it is intriguing to see when Purvis will get his man, more could have been done to highten the drama of his impending capture.

Overall

It is so refreshing to see Johnny Depp play a character that is not crazy, weird, or a pirate. Reminding us all what a damn fine actor he is when given a suitable role.

Public Enemies has some magnificent acting and showcases two of Hollywood's biggest leading stars in Christian Bale and Depp, but I feel they never are really allowed to expand on the script they are given.

The action scenes are very well done and it does feel like as an audience you are right in the thick of the gun shoot outs.

Crunch Rating -