Iron Man (2008)

Title: Iron Man

Year: 2008

Director: Jon Favreau

Rating by the MPAA: PG-13 for some intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and brief suggestive content

Official Synopsis (from marvel.com): 2008's Iron Man tells the story of Tony Stark, a billionaire industrialist and genius inventor who is kidnapped and forced to build a devastating weapon. Instead, using his intelligence and ingenuity, Tony builds a high-tech suit of armor and escapes captivity. When he uncovers a nefarious plot with global implications, he dons his powerful armor and vows to protect the world as Iron Man.

Official Trailer

STEPH SAID

Rating:

Review:

Honestly, when I decided to watch Iron Man I didn’t know what to expect. I had never heard of him. I had never watch a story that featured him. And, knowing only that Robert Downey Jr. was to play the lead role of this movie, I decided that I didn’t want to do anything with it. I was pleasantly surprised. Then again, when you don’t expect much, anything will be alright.

I enjoyed Iron Man's origin story: how he was created and what he stands for. The war, terrorism, and violence, and the harsh reality it presented struck a chord in me. It is such a delicate and sensitive subject, that I was impressed it was lightly used in this type of movie.

I don’t like Downey because he seems arrogant, and he lets it show in every movie I have seen him in. They haven’t been many, granted. But, turns out, Tony Stark is arrogant! I couldn’t tell if it was Downey’s arrogance, or his acting skills, shining through. At least, that’s what I thought at first. By the end of the movie, Stark underwent a change of heart. He changed enough for me to like him, and that is saying something. Ironically, Downey’s portrayal of Tony Stark became the part I liked the most about this movie.

On the downside, I didn't enjoy the overall ending. First of all, Ms. Peppers comes out of Stark Industries and takes as much time to call Stark as it takes Stane get to Stark's home. If Pepper had called Tony and tell him about what she find out, maybe the ending of the movie would have been different. Also, Obadiah creating another suit was too much, too fast. It took the genius Tony weeks to create the fully functioning Iron Man suit. The geniuses at Stark couldn’t crack the arc reactor. Yet, Obadiah created bigger suits in days. To make everything seem even more unrealistic, Iron Man seemed to beat Stane too easily, even though he was using the old arc reactor, and he didn't have any power left.

Irrelevant to the bad ending, I am, most of all, grateful for this movie’s success. It is the beginning of something huge. If this movie had not been a success, maybe we wouldn’t have The Avengers, let alone Guardians of the Galaxy, right now. 

The Divergent Series: Insurgent (2015)

Title: The Divergent Series: Insurgent

Year: 2015

Director: Robert Schwentke

Rating: PG-13 for intense violence and action throughout, some sensuality, thematic elements and brief language

Synopsis: The Divergent Series: Insurgent raises the stakes for Tris as she searches for allies and answers in the ruins of a futuristic Chicago. Tris (Woodley) and Four (James) are now fugitives on the run, hunted by Jeanine (Winslet), the leader of the power-hungry Erudite elite. Racing against time, they must find out what Tris’s family sacrificed their lives to protect, and why the Erudite leaders will do anything to stop them. Haunted by her past choices but desperate to protect the ones she loves, Tris, with Four at her side, faces one impossible challenge after another as they unlock the truth about the past and ultimately the future of their world.

Official Page

Official Trailer

STEPH SAID

Rating:

Review:

This movie was way better than I expected. Having read, beforehand, the terrible book this movie is based on, I was expecting to snooze off five minutes into the movie. Yet, the plot was changed, and I was kept wide awake and interested for most of it.

Unlike in the book, the movie's story has a purpose. Jeanine needs a special Divergent – one that has aptitude for all five factions– to open a mysterious box. Unknown by everyone, even Jeanine, is that this box contains the ultimate truth, the answers to all the questions raised by the type of society they live in. Also, information about what is going on outside the fence. And, so begins the hunt for that one Divergent. Following the unspoken rule of YA stories, the protagonist, Tris, is the only person special enough for that task. Even though we know she only has aptitude for three factions. 

Jeanine's divergence continues to shine as she deceives the general public and does everything in her power to turn people against Divergents. During that time, Tris hides. She hides in Amity, Candor, and Dauntless. She even meets the Factionless, who are so in sync, they work as any other faction.

After many people die, Tris turned herlself in, because she had to, obviously. Once Tris gets to Erudite, we get to see the eye-popping simulations the box had to offer. They had too much dubsptep and Inception's-building-destruction for my taste, but the thought behind them, their ultimate goal, casts a fresh view of factions and human values.

I find it hard to belive, in a good way, that I was able to see and understand Tris' inner struggle better by watching an actress, than by reading Tris' thoughts in the book. Kudos to Shailene Woodley for her enactment.  Her performance during the truth serum scene, while she was in Candor, was so good it was difficult to watch. 

There are many things I didn't like about the movie. First, there is a sex scene that is completely out of place. Second, there is no explanation as to why half of Dauntless would betray their faction and follow Jeanine. Third, Tris and Four were conviently saved from tight spots. Thirty trained Dauntless soldiers are firing at Tris, Four, and Caleb but they all miss. Still, Four gets to knock down many Dauntless traitors. Then, Tris, Four, and even Caleb jump on a train, but the Dauntless trained don't even try it. This “luck” continues throughout the movie. It is all too convenient.

Last, but definitely not least, the message inside the box –the one that is supposed to explain everything, to give us the ultimate truth, the message that is supposed to convey meanning and purpose – makes no sense. It is a contradiction in itself. However, people didn't analized it too much because there were only five minutes left to present some visuals of the world and of people rejoicing in this newfound knowledge. The movie then ends on a high note, with every problem “resolved”. It gives a hopeful open ending to the series. Unfortunately, there is another book. I don't know what new problems the author created to extend the story for yet another book.

Of course, we have to rate and review this movie for what it is: a YA story. We can't expect from it what it will never give. Many people have rate this movie poorly because it doesn't have an intricate plot or layers upon layers of character development. This is not a drama, is a YA story. That is like expecting sex on a children's movie or a psycho killer in a romantic comedy. It could happen, but it probably won't.