S.W.A.T.: Firefight

Guns, guys with muscles, a hot chick... and that's pretty much it.

I'm a big fan of action movies, specially special-forces tipes. That's why I decided to whatch this movie in the first place. However, I can only say that I was very, very disapointed.... Don't think I'm saying this because this wasn't an Oscar worthy film. I do like seeing the occasional cheesy action film. However, this movie had too much cheese in it... and not enough of the rest.

S.W.A.T.: Firefight tells the story of a LAPD SWAT officer that goes to Detroit to train the local SWAT team, but ends up being chased by a dangerous man looking for revenge.

Altough the movie does have plenty action scenes, the scenes don't have that much action (in most of them, the bad guys look like they're just hanging around). Also, the screenplay is really nothing special.

But the worst of all are the charecters. In my opinion, in a cheesy action movie, you have to have captivating characters. That's what makes you want to watch the film and, in some cases, is the cause for a film's success. Not in this case... The characters are very poorly acted and you can't really see any type of engaging interaction or connection between them (only Robert Patrick does a decent enough job). In a word: insipid.

But not everything is bad. There was one thing that I really liked about it, which was the directing. I found the first-person shots and gun-mounted cameras on the CQB (Close Quarters Battle) scenes to really give you the feeling that you're in the middle of it, stacked and ready to breach into a room. In my opinion, a very good job from the movie director and director of photography, that unfortunately is wasted in such a minor film.

Overall, if you're bored, watching this movie won't kill you. However, I really don't recomend it.

Name: S.W.A.T.: Firefight
Genre: Action, Police
Date of Release: 2011
Director: Nenny Boom
Actors: Gabriel Macht, Robert Patrick, Carly Pope

Rating: 5/10

Hackers

"Hack the Planet!"

Although this movie is pretty old (1995), I came across it recently again and couldn't help but write a review of it, because this film was a landmark in my teenage years (yes, I was allready a geek at that time).
The stroy of this movie revolves arround Dade Murphy, a computer genious that, as a kid, was phorbiden of touching a computer until his 18th birthday, for writting a virus that caused a major crash in the stock market. The plot evolves as he and his new hacker friends try to clear their names since they are framed for a crime they didn't commit.
I know, nothing new with this stroy. However, what captured my and my friend's attention when we first saw it was the fact that it's so insanely unreal. I mean, hackers dressed and acting like punks, using roller skates as their primary mean of transportation, going to this awesome underground clubs... I'm pretty sure hackers of that time (and today's, for that matter) weren't like that.
However, these characters were simply... funny... and kind of cool! Strange... but cool!
To add to the "unreality", the browsing experience is like flying around in the virtual world, the computer displays are almost like projectors pointed at the user's face and the character's operating systems are just awesome.
Well, do take into the account that this is a geek talking, so you may not find this movie amusing at all. If I saw it now for the first time, I would probably not take much notice of it either.
However, as a kid, this movie actually motivated me to learn more about computers. (Hack the Planet!)
If you still don't feel like checking this movie out, it's ok. But perhaps a 20 year old Angelina Jolie could be reason enough to spice your curiosity...

Name: Hackers
Genre: Action
Date of Release: 1995
Director: Iain Softley
Actors: Jonny Lee Miller, Angelina Jolie
Rating: 6+/10

The Troll Hunter

Now, that's a big troll...

The Troll Hunter is the latest moc-doc offering from Norway. The movie follows a group of students investigating mysterious bear killings, trying to find who has been responsible for them. Little do they know that their investigation will lead them to the discovery of trolls, a long-kept secret by the government of Norway.

The Troll Hunter is not a character driven story, and doesn't really have a good story. But it is fun. The trolls start to show up soon into the movie and the special effects aren't too bad. Still it feels like something is still missing to make the movie great. It could just be that I'm not Norwegian, so the folklore is a little lost on me but who knows...

I's still entertaining so give it a try if you have nothing better to do.

Name:The Troll Hunter
Genre: Moc-doc
Date of Release: 2010
Director: André Øvredal
Actors: Otto Jespersen, Hans Morten Hansen, Tomas Alf Larsen
Rating: 5/10