Movie Review: Zombie Diaries 2: World of the Dead

Zombie Diaries 2: World of the Dead a.k.a World of the Dead: The Zombie Diaries 2 a.k.a Zombie Chronicle
Dimension Extreme Films, Bleeding Edge Films, Metrodome Distribution, Off World Films, Straightwire Films, The Weinstein Company, UK, 2011.

Zombie epidemic is spreading in the UK. After 4 months the society has collapsed. A group of soldiers are still struggling. Someone leaves the gate open and the zombies take over the base. Only a few soldiers (Philip Brodie, Rob Oldfield, Vicky Araico and Okorie Chukwu) and a catatonic girl Leeann (Alix Wilton Regan) escape. Maybe it would be safer to go abroad but a bunch of vile bandits makes the trip difficult. Near the end the story takes an unnecessary "I Spit on Your Grave" style rape-revenge turn. 

JOnes (Rob Oldfield)

Leeann

Carter (Okorie Chukwu)

The film is shot using "Blair Witch Project" or "Cloverfield" found footage style. It is not the worst of the genre but not the best either. The fake cinema verite style guarantees again that the camera is shaking like mad. However the first-person view makes the zombie apocalypse seem more gloomy and bleak so some points for the atmosphere. Only Leeann's flashbacks and the ending break the immersion and feeling that the film has been filmed by someone middle in the events. Also it is strange that someone would be just peeking through the camera in the middle of a zombie attack. Shoot some zombies, man! For a change the zombies are of the slow Romero-variant. The zombies feel surprisingly nonthreatening, mostly standing still or slowly shambling around and it is a wonder they can kill someone. The acting is quite good but the characters are left undeveloped and the plot wastes some of the potentially interesting ideas. The ending is disappointing and makes no sense if you think about it. Also the timeline is strange, sometimes it is winter and on the next day it is not. Partially it is a good effort but otherwise there is nothing new here.

Slow shambler

Maddox (Philip Brodie)

Rating: Average

Starring: Philip Brodie, Alix Wilton Regan, Rob Oldfield, Vicky Araico, Toby Bowman, Okorie Chukwu, Russell Jones, Hiram Bleetman, Toby Nicholas, Marshall Griffin, Rufus Graham, Josh Myers, Aj Williams, Matt Nickolay, Andy Jones, Craig Ramos-Stovin, Criselda Ramos-Stovin, Caitlyn Ramos-Stovin, Jonnie Hurn, Amanda Sterkenburg, Chris Vincent, Jody Neil Ruth, Joshua Dunlop, Adam Fellows, Chris Martin Hill, Doris Knight, Mike Ray, Ian Smale 

Director: Michael G. Bartlett, Kevin Gates

Movie Review: Zombie Apocalypse

Zombie Apocalypse a.k.a The Last Stand

The Asylum, Syfy, UK, USA, 2011.

VM2 virus spreads turning people into zombies. Six months later only a handful of survivors are still alive. Ramona (Taryn Manning) and Billy (Eddie Steeples) meet a group of experienced zombie killers including sledgehammer wielding Henry (Ving Rhames) and swordswoman Cassie (Lesley-Ann Brandt). The group tries to travel to Catalina where they should be safe. They meet a group of archers who try also try to go to Catalina. Then animals start to turn into zombies also.

Henry

Cassie

Ramona

Above average Asylum-film that takes the zombie-subject seriously. Compared to usual Asylum end of the world filcks the characters are better drawn and more interesting. Often in the films of The Asylum there are only a handful of extras presenting citizens. Here a decent number of zombie extras were used and although some of the zombie actors are used in several scenes, at least they look like a real zombie horde here. In some scenes the story feels like a "Walking Dead" clone, and the characters actually mention a character named Kirkman. Also in the beginning a character named Kevin Anderson gets pwned by zombies, I don't know maybe it is a reference to scifi author Kevin J. Anderson or something. There is some fun zombie action, big man Ving Rhames smashes zombies with sledgehammer, shouts some fun one liners and in the end zombie tigers jump in. Some of the bad CGI effects are all too obvious but otherwise the low budget is quite well used and the locations in Los Angeles are used nicely. The zombie-genre begins to be all too formulaic and so is the story here, but for zombie-entertainment needs "Zombie Apocalypse" offers a quick fix.

Myrah (Lilan Bowden)

Regular zombies

Zombie tigers!

Rating: Good 

Starring: Ving Rhames, Taryn Manning, Johnny Pacar, Gary Weeks, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Eddie Steeples, Robert Blanche, Gerald Webb, Lilan Bowden, Anya Monzikova, Lauran Doverspike, Kimberly Ables Jindra, Ami Albea, Darryl Allen, John Alonzo, Larry Andrews, Kat Andrusco, Mary Alexandra Andrusco, Kimberly Arcega, Kristen Louise Baker, Jennifer Barbosa, Terry Kenard Barnes, Amy Becklin, Jadarrel Belser, Neil H. Berkow, Jahaziel Berumen, Cleo Berry, Jonathan D. Black, Medgine Brice, Les Brooks Jr., Nick Cantoni, Alison Carr, Lloyd Carr, Neftali Castrellon, Mikalyn Cavanaugh, Jacob M. Clayton, David Cohen, Mary Jeannette Corona, Dawlin Delgado, Chago Robert Desantiago, Mark Diamond, Jonathan Dieringer, Kevin Di Leo, Robert Draper, Deric Duncan, Emma Duncan, Jennifer Flatebo, Jon Fedele, Alex Flores, Javier Flores, Kelby Floyd, Michael Gaglio, Frank Giarmona, Charles K. Gibson Jr., Olivia Gilbert, Morgan Gish, D.A. Goodman, Bob Gray, Dustin Green, Frances Green, James Green, Libertad Green, Sabrina Guyll, Samantha Hartson, Luke Heller, Henry Hermiz, Rosibel Hidalgo, Kerry Himmel, Stephen Holman, Timothy Ingles, Althea Johnson, Brittany Jones, John Paul Jones, Josh Kahn, Jason Kakebeen, Nicolette Kenny, Nina Ki, Anthony Kien, Jason Michael Lease , Waymond Lee, Adrien Lyon, Parker Lyon, Graham Mackie, Ryan Geoffrey Perez, Mike Perfetuo, Domenic Ricci II, Ralph Smith, Eduardo Terry, William Mortensen Vaughan, Marty Wood, Dustin York, Norman L. Blackman, Kimi Evans, James McAuley
Director: Nick Lyon

Movie Review: Mad Max: Fury Road

Mad Max: Fury Road
Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures, Kennedy Miller Productions, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, South Africa, Australia, USA, 2015. 

Several years after nuclear war and the collapse of civilization Max (Tom Hardy) is haunted by all the lives he could not save. He is abducted and forced to become a blood donor for army of despotic ruler Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne). Joe oppresses the people who have to worship him as a god. Joe's most trusted warrior Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) steals something from Joe, so Joe sends his army after her. Max is taken along as a living blood bag. 

Max

Imperator Furiosa

Immortan Joe

Max manages to escape and reluctantly allies with Furiosa and her cargo. Joe's allies the Bullet Farmers and the Gas Towners join the chase. Trip through hellish landscape can start. The odds are against Max and Furiosa but sometimes allies can come from surprising people. 

Compared to the original trilogy there are some differences in the timeline as in the first movie Max was somewhere between 20 and 30, and it is implicated that over twenty years have passed since the apocalypse so Max should be middle-aged now. Now he looks quite young for his age. Also the fate of some characters is left on the cutting table (the deleted scenes extras reveal some of the mysteries).

Doomsday rally

Miller takes the elements of one of the most influential post-apocalyptic action films "Mad Max: The Road Warrior" and makes it even more insane. Mutant freak bad guys, crazy acrobatic henchmen and badass vehicles. Couple of the vehicles seem to be inspired by spiked VW Beetle from "The Cars that ate Paris." There are war drummers and a blind dude playing electric guitar. And biker grannies. The CGI-enhanced action scenes use refreshing amount of real vehicles and stunts. The action scenes look epic and fill most of the film's duration, this is like "Hard Boiled" of car chase movies.

Nux

Spiked Beetle

After the energetic start there comes tranquil moments crucial to character development and the Mad Max Universe. Beneath all the craziness lies an inspirational story with even some touching scenes. The heroes are all in someway damaged or abused and have lost their humanity and reason to live, just trying to stay alive. In the beginning Max is an hunted animal caring nothing else than surviving. Furiosa is chasing dream that proves to be false. It is interesting to see how the trust between Max and Furiosa rises through their mutual actions after a rough start. Strong emotions are expressed with minimal dialogue. Unlikely alliances form and War Boy Nux (Nicholas Hoult) rises from fanatical foot soldier to tragic heroic figure. At first Nux is brainwashed by Joe and he seeks only heroic death on the Fury Road. In the end Max finds a temporary reason to help others to avoid the path he has chosen for himself and his demons of his past seem to accept the decision. Furiosa finds a more realistic dream and Nux finds a real reason to fight for. Furiosa goes straight in the pantheon of great action-film female heroes.

In the era of generic looking action epics, newest Mad Max is an insanely energetic action film that has not sacrifized the quirky Australian style of the prequels.

My ranking of the Mad Max movies:

1. Road Warrior
2. Fury Road
3. Beyond Thunderdome
4. Mad Max

Rating: Very good

Starring: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Josh Helman, Nathan Jones, Zoë Kravitz, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Riley Keough, Abbey Lee, Courtney Eaton, John Howard, Richard Carter, Iota, Angus Sampson, Jennifer Hagan, Megan Gale, Melissa Jaffer, Melita Jurisic, Gillian Jones, Joy Smithers, Antoinette Kellermann, Christina Koch, Jon Iles, Quentin Kenihan, Coco Jack Gillies, Chris Patton, Stephen Dunlevy, Richard Norton, Vincent Roxburgh, John Walton, Ben Smith-Petersen, Russ McCarroll, Judd Wild, Elizabeth Cunico, Greg van Borssum, Robert Jones, Sebastian Dickins, Darren Mitchell, Crusoe Kurddal, Shyan Tonga, Cass Cumerford, Albert Lee, Riley Paton, Ripley Voeten, Macyn Van Borssum, Hunter Stratton Boland, Nathan Jenkins, Fletcher Gill, Whiley Toll, Ferdinand Hengombe, Gadaffi Davsab, Noddy Alfred, Jackson Hengombe, Christian Fane, Callum Gallagher, Abel Hofflin, Lee Perry 

Director: George Miller

Movie Review: A.P.E.X.

A.P.E.X. a.k.a Apex
Green Communications Inc., Republic Pictures, USA, 1994.

In the year 2072 A.P.E.X. (= Advanced Prototype Exploration Unit) was created to explore time. Time paradoxes cause a time virus infection. To avoid epidemic from spreading sterilization units are sent to to destroy the point in time where paradox was detected.

Scientist Nicholas Sinclair (Richard Keats) has nightmares about his wife Natasha (Lisa Ann Russell) vanishing in time anomaly. In 2073 the scientists send A.P.E.X. unit 100 years back in time. In 1973 Hippie family wanders into the test area and creates a time paradox. To save the family Sinclair jumps into the time portal. Dr. Elgin (David Jean Thomas) and Johnson (Kristin Norton) vanish with the research facility because of the paradox. 

Nicholas Sinclair

Natasha

Johnson

When Sinclair returns the world is overrun by A.P.E.X. killer robots. A.P.E.X. robots are slow but deadly but they have one weak spot: their CD-player! Duke Nukem look-alike Shepherd (Mitchell Cox) recruits him into his squad of resistance fighters. By the way their Jeffries Automotive Landmaster personnel carrier looks quite cool:

In the alternate future Sinclair finds out that the people he knew are totally different and also he does not know about himself either. Dr. Elgin is the leader of the resistance. Sinclair finds of that his wife is tough soldier who is infected with the time virus. Sinclair, Shepherd, Natasha, Rasheed (Adam Lawson) and Taylor (Marcus Aurelius) go to search for second laboratory equipped with time machine. They meet also hostile scavengers and a man living in the desert with his family (Brian Richard Peck).

Dr. Elgin

Shepherd

Rasheed and Taylor

"A.P.E.X." has Terminator-style time travelling and futuristic war against the machines made B-movie style. Phillip J. Roth is known for several low-budget so bad they are good scifi-movies, but for once this looks seriously made. For a low budget scifi it moderately entertaining, although the acting is cringeworthy bad at times. Also the midpoint of the movie feels quite lackluster as if they ran out of ideas.

A.P.E.X.

Part of The 2016 Movie Watching Challenge (#40. Movie that is set in the future)

Rating: Average

Starring: Richard Keats, Mitchell Cox, Lisa Ann Russell, Marcus Aurelius, Adam Lawson, David Jean Thomas, Brian Richard Peck, Anna B. Choi, Kristin Norton, Jay Irwin , Robert Tossberg, Kathleen Randazzo, Kareem H. Captan , Merle Nicks, Natasha Roth, Suzi Mealing, J Bartell, Randy Kagan, Tony Gugliuzza, Jose Ontiveros, Richard Hench, Jeffre Phillips, Robert J. Marino, Gary Moran, Joe Zimmerman, Gordon Capps, Jack Barrett Phelan, Steven Michael, Todd James, Eric Gordon, Tom Fellon, Rich Kennedy, Ginger Marin, Marcia Swayze
Director: Phillip J. Roth 

Movie Review: Autómata

Autómata

Millennium Films, Green Moon, Nu Boyana Viburno, Bulgaria, USA, Spain, Canada, 2014.

2044 AD. Solar radiation has increased and the deserts surrounding the cities are radioactive. (Solar storms just do not work that way, however it is later explained that failed tests with nuclear energy caused the radioactivity.) The radiation has reduced the human population to 21 million. The remaining humans use Automata Pilgrim 7000 robots to do their work. The robots obey loosely Asimov's laws, they

1) can not harm living things and

2) they can not alter themselves.

The surviving lucky ones live in walled cities with blimps that create artificial clouds. The unlucky ones live in the surrounding ghettoes.

Automata Pilgrim 7000 robot

Jacq Vaucan (Antonio Banderas) is burned out insurance inspector working for robot manufacturing ROC company. His wife Rachel (Birgitte Hjort Sørensen) is having a baby. Cop Sean Wallace (Dylan McDermott) shoots a robot that learned to repair itself. The autopsy reveals that it was heavily modified by "Clocksmith" for smuggling illegal parts. Vaucan wants a transfer to a more peaceful city near sea. First he must someone responsible for the mess.

Jacq Vaucan

Rachel Vaucan

Sean Wallace

When Wallace breaks a modified pleasure bot named Cleo, Vaucan meets mechanic Dr. Dupre (Melanie Griffith). Vaucan asks Dupre to research the bio-kernel of the self repairing robot. Soon assassins target Vaucan and Cleo. Then Vaucan finds himself in the desert talking philosophy with his new robot pals.

Cleo

Dr. Dupre

Vaucan meets the robots

"Blade Runner", "A.I", "Animatrix", "Ghost in the Shell" and "Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence". All great movies pondering the differences, similarities,  interaction of humans and artificial life. Add also dash of "Mad Max"- series and "I Robot." Those influences I was thinking for the first half hour. Is what is called soul limited to carbon based lifeforms, or is it an emergent feature that appears when the data processing unit is complex enough?

Technically the movie looks good, with "Blade Runner"-style post-apocalyptic city, and robots that look like real mechanical robots and not just something made with pixels. Although the starting point is good it lacks something to make it a great hardcore scifi classic. In the second half plot-holes and clumsiness in the storytelling break the mood. There is interesting stuff about evolution and lifespan of species but it does not go quite deep enough before the final showdown starts. Luckily the action does not go overboard with special effects and the style stays quite realistic and minimal.

The human characters are not very interesting, and for example Rachel's part is quite small and not very well realised. The bad guys are just one-dimensional baddies. It does not help that one interesting character is killed early in the movie. However it is more interesting to see what the robots are doing. In the underrated Robin Williams' movie "Bicentennial Man" robot named Andrew struggled to become a human. In "Autómata" the robots try to evolve beyond humanity, finally abandoning the primitive imitation of human form. The robots also try to understand arts and culture to maintain the memory of doomed humans.

So it is not perfect despite all the potential. There was also problem with Ibáñez's previous movie "Hierro" where the atmospheric first half was flattened by clichés and over-explaining twists in the second half. Still "Autómata" is smarter and better than most scifi-films today, but it could have been much better.

Rating: Good

Starring: Antonio Banderas, Dylan McDermott, Melanie Griffith, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, Robert Forster, Tim McInnerny, David Ryall, Javier Bardem (voice), Boris Kabakchiev, Lyubomir Neikov, Krasimir Kutsurapov, Anton Lamrev, Geraldine Somerville, Harry Anichkin, Stanislav Pishtalov, Daniela Dancheva, Danny Kirrane, Christina Tam, Andrew Tiernan, Benjamin Phillips, Andy Nyman, David Koral, Micah Phillips, Christa Campbell, Tim Barlow, Philip Rosch, Hristo Mitzkov, Darianna Krasteva, Valentina Ivanova, Anton Trendafilov, Stoyan Angelov, Velizar Velizarov, Bashar Rahal, Dan Cade, Albena Stavreva, Carla Rodrigo, Alejandro Serna, Dimitar Ilkov 

Director: Gabe Ibáñez

Movie Review: Heroic Trio 2: Executioners

Heroic Trio 2: Executioners (Jin doi hou hap cyun) 

China Entertainment Films Production, Paka Hill Productions, Hong Kong, 1993. 

After the events of the "Heroic Trio" the city has been destroyed by nuclear attack. Still most of the city seems to be intact. Anarchy reigns and the Heroic Trio- group has dispersed. Ching (Michelle Yeoh) drives a truck and delivers medicine. Clear Water Corporation has monopoly on water. Chat (Maggie Cheung) is now water bandit stealing water mostly for herself. Tung (Anita Mui) has a daughter Cindy (Sze Ning). Tung's husband Inspector Lau (Damian Lau) tries to keep law and order but the people are rioting because water quality is low and price is rising all the time. 

Chat

Tung

Ching

Expeditioners tried to find clean water but the searchers were killed by radiation. White Solar Society's religious leader Chong Hon (Takeshi Kaneshiro) asks government for answers, but someone arranges a massacre in demonstration. Quite many Honk Kong movies of the 1990s had references to 1989 student riots in Tiananmen Square. Anti-government sentiment is rising and Colonel (Paul Chun Pui) wants Lau to assassinate Chong Hon. 

Chong Hon

Colonel

President's deputy (Eddy Ko Hung) sends Ching to find clear water. Ching tries to resurrect Heroic Trio but Tung has promised her husband to leave the Wonder Woman days behind. Also Chat wants to follow her own path and earn money. To make a point Ching destroys what I believe to be her invisibility cloak. Or might as well be Shroud of Turin. Somehow the cloth was important symbol for the Heroic Trio. Anyway Invisible Woman is no longer invisible. 

Chong Hon is the puppet of scarred Clear Water Corporation boss Mr. Kim (Anthony Wong). Kim wants to control the government. Ching and her friend Kau (Anthony Wong) prevent the assassination attempt. Both of them seem to be followers of White Solar Society. Ching is also an government secret agent. So Kau survived after all, reformed and became Ching's servant. Heck, whereas the first film had flashback scenes this movie sure does not bother explaining things!

Kau

Tak

President's deputy suspects some kind of conspiracy and puts Tak (Ching Wan Lau) to study it. Mr. Kim conspires with military. Lau is murdered and Tong is captured so Ching and Chat must stop the military coup alone. Chat, Tak and Cindy go to find pure water but Clear Water Corporation tries to eliminate all who find it. At one point Ching fights against a guy (Vincent Lau Tak) who can punch through things and people. Maybe he has learned some punches from "Riki-Oh." 

Michelle Yeoh

Killer (Vincent Lau Tak)

Finally the members of Heroic Trio combine thir forces. The final battle between good and evil occurs in the abandoned church. Also Mr. Kim knows "Riki-Oh" techniques. The ending reduces the Heroic Trio to Heroic Duo. 

Wonder Woman returns

Chat, Tung and Ching

The sequel to "Heroic Trio" abandons the superhero elements until the final moments and is more a post-apocalyptic political thriller. The first movie had dark moments too, but this is set in dystopian future without many comic reliefs. The darker story has many of the characters from the first movie killed. Sacrifices have to be done for greater good. The story is quite complicated and the three women all have their own adventures with less teamwork. Ching tries to protect the President (Guan Shan), Chat searches for pure water and Tung sits mostly in jail planning for revenge. 

Compared to the comic book style of the first film the second movie does not fully integrate to the same fantasy universe and would have worked better as a stand-alone film. Also when the Heroic Trio returns to full force in the end, the otherwise good fantasy-wuxia action mismatches the otherwise semi-realistic style. In the first film the Trio battled against ancient monarchistic demon, now against greedy corporation. Although the film disappoints as a sequel, it offers entertaining political thriller with some good gun fu and wuxia action. 

Bubble bath scene!

Anthony Wong appears heavily masked like psychotic "Phantom of the Opera" and if American remake is ever considered Mickey Rourke would be good candidate for the role of Mr. Kim. This movie was Takeshi Kaneshiro's first movie debut.

Mr. Kim

This review is based on the uncut German DVD-print "Johnnie To Double Feature Heroic Trio Teil 1&2"  published by HDMV that contains also "Heroic Trio." Although the two movies are on one disc this edition is highly recommended as the picture quality is good and the films contain English, Cantonese and German audio tracks and English subtitles. However the subtitles of "Heroic Trio 2" contain many translation errors.

Rating: Good 

Starring: Anita Mui, Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung, Damian Lau, Anthony Wong, Kaneshiro Takeshi, Lau Ching-Wan, Paul Chun Pui, Guan Shan, Eddy Ko Hung, Sze Ning, Lam Kin-Fai, Vincent Lau Tak, Cher Yeung Suet-Yee, Dion Lam Dik-On, Yu Ngai-Ho, Leung Kei-Hei, Cheng Ka-Sang, Wan Seung-Lam, Kong Foo-Keung, Wong Wai-Fai, Ho Chi-Moon, Law Wai-Kai, Chang Seng-Kwong, Sam Hoh Choi-Chow, Kong Miu-Deng 

Directors: Siu-Tung Ching (as Ching Siu Tung), Johnnie To