Good and Bad, all in one day…

I managed to see a few movies over the last week, and I found it interesting how both movies can be so alike, and yet so opposite in terms of quality because of a few things. One movie was amazing and one of the best films I’ve seen this year, and the other was a complete stinker. Both movies were action films and had the same share of unrealistic, over the top scenes. There was one major difference between the two: the writing. One film had a well grounded plot and dialogue that didn’t annoy us and had us laughing every now and then, while the other was horribly written and had lines that grated on my brain. Listening to that movie felt like listening to someone grate long nails across a blackboard, and how I managed to get through this movie without walking out is a miracle. The other was so good, I’d pay to see it again and purchase it when it comes out on DVD.

The first movie I saw this week was Live Free Or Die Hard which the is the fourth movie in the Die Hard franchise. Bruce Willis is back as an older and aging John McClane, and he’s still gold and did another amazing job as the old school cop lost in the new technology world. Directed by Len Wiseman who directed the Underworld movies, it was co-written by Kevin Smith, and you could tell by the way the characters talked to one another and how the film progressed. This movie had characters you liked to watch talk to one another, and had a well grounded plot. While the action was a little over the top, it was more tolerable because the story itself and the characters were worth watching and you were eager to see what happened next. This movie was non-stop action from start to finish and is one of if not the best action movie of the summer. I loved the fact that rather make Willis act younger than what he was, they used his character’s age in the script and made fun of it often and it made for good interactions with other characters. A lot of fun, this one is highly recommended.

Now comes the movie that turned out to be a complete stinker. My brother was eager to see this movie as he’s a big fan of the cartoon it was based on, but in the end we both got a bad taste from the real life adaptation of The Transformers. This movie was poorly written to the point where I could have swore this film was written by George Lucas. Yes, the dialogue was that corny and lifeless. And how do you make a bad script even worse? You hire Micheal Bay to direct this film and you have something worthy of having a few Golden Raspberries tossed it’s way. This film just got worse and worse with each passing scene, and not even the robot vs. robot action at the end could save this rotting piece of cinematic shit. This one had such potential to be good, but it was killed by gaud awful writing and the usual lifeless direction of Michael Bay. This movie was DOA before it even screened. Such a shame too, that cartoon is kick ass and deserved better.

So there ya have it, two action movies with very similar over the top action but one was far superior to the other cause of good direction and much better writing. I’ve told people that writing is one of the most important elements when it comes to make a good movie. A movie can be made or broken before filming even starts, and these films prove that and then some. Live Free Or Die Hard is all that and comes highly recommended, while Transformers was one of the worst movies I’ve seen this decade. How bad was this movie? Let me say this much: right now Ethan and Jonathan are watching one of the ‘Land Before Time Movies’ on the DVR and that movie has more captivating dialogue than Transformers does. I kid you not. I would rather watch those movies with my kids again than entertain the idea of watch Transformers again. Avoid that robot movie like the plague!

Peter

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