For Pete’s Sake

Director: Francis Lawrence
Year of Release: 2007
Genre: Action / Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller
Run Time: 101min

In this modern adaptation of Richard Matheson’s novel of the same name we see Will Smith play virologist Robert Neville who it seems is the last human alive after some sort of viral brake out of a man made virus. Living in a post-apocalytic New York City his day is regiment during the day and by night he locks down where he lives and sleeps in fear of the mutant victims of the plague. He lives there still because it’s “Ground-Zero” and the best place for him to work on a cure.

Directed by Francis Lawrence (Constantine) this is a movie I had look forward too since I saw its first teaser trailer. I’m a fan of Will Smith, it seems even when the movie he’s in is awful he some how makes it bearable to watch, Wild Wild West being case in point. The premise and story of the movie is one that quite nicely unfolds as you watch the movie in a series of flashbacks and recorded news programs. In these we see where it all started, an idea of what went wrong and then in current time where it stands. Although this is a tried and test method of story telling it works well and suits the movie. Smith brings and delivers some light hearted asides and along with his trusted canine companion it seems Neville is quietly but diligently working towards a cure. However things aren’t that simple. Years living on his own is slowly driving him to a psychological breakdown, even with his attempts (shop dummies dressed up and treated as real) to somehow inject interaction into his life, these are slowly becoming ineffectual.

Now for the first time in a while I had actually read a review of this movie before I saw so had a view of someone else mildly influencing mine. However, on the many of the points that review picked out I disagreed on. I won’t pick out point by point but the main was the “mutant” humans. The review said the were too otherworldly or alien like but to me there were still human just no hair and lots more strength and a lust for anything with meat attached. I found the directing of the movie competent if nothing special and the acting from Smith being one of his best.

It’s is a very good movie and one to watch if you can it’s worth the admission ticket and isn’t overly long or too short to not tell the story properly. The other nice things about it is that it is clever enough in parts that you engage the brain but has enough no-brainer action to keep one entertained.

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Director: James Cameron
Year of Release: 1986
Genre: Action / Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller
Run Time: 137min (Theatrical) / 154min (Director’s Cut)

Seven years after the release of the original Alien film director James Cameron, who had just started making a name for himself, directed a sequal to what some consider to be one of the best Sci-Fi movies ever. Hoping to break to mold of sequals being inferior to the original, this 2hr plus movie hoped to take you on one helluva ride.

I re-watched this movie today to see if it still kicked ass and the jury is in and they say it’s still one of the best. When I sat down and watched it I was still at awe with the movie. Yes the special effects are ropey by todays standards but when a movie is over twenty years old you expect that. Even so, there are only a few bits and pieces of the SFX which are dodgy, the rest are still jaw-dropping, the Alien Queen being a case in point. The fist fight between the loader and the Queen at the end, it all still looks fresh to me. The bad points though are the shots of the dropship flying and perhaps the final explosion but they are only on screen briefly and can hardly tarnish the movie.

So what of the story? Well, we pick up 57 years after the events of the original movie. Ripley’s (Sigourney Weaver) escape pod she used to escape from the aliens in the original Alien movie is found by a deep salvage team and is rescued. Here she learns how long she’s been out there and that her daughter who was 10 when she left, died two years previously. With this news Ripley is put infront of a disciplinary board who refuse to believe the story of how and why she destroyed the Nostromo. Not only that but colonists are currently terraforming LV-426 (the planet the Nostromo set down on). It’s only a matter of time and not long after these events contact is lost with the colony on LV-426. Carter Burke (Paul Reiser) asks Ripley to join him and a team of Colonial Marines on a mission to find out what has happened to the colonists. After much thought Ripley decides to tag along.

The movie is a tense one. Even though I knew exactly what happens and when, it still made me jump at the right points. This is a testament to the films score and Cameron’s directing. The tension is built up beautifully and when the moment comes a quick crash from the music just makes your heart race. Visually, as mentioned earlier, it still makes you sit up and take notice. In a nutshell the movie is simply timeless. Even by todays standard of special effects it can hold its own against many modern offerings. What it can also do is show how movies of this genre should be made and oh how I wished Aliens versus Predator would have followed this mould.

Overall this movie is still a fantastic watch but if you are going to rent/buy make sure it’s the director’s cut. This version adds some key scenes to the movie which really help tell the story properly. Definately a top 100 movie of all time.

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