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nikbik
Reviews
Inkheart (2008)
Nice story but lacked action
Inkheart is not a bad film, but not too wonderful either. I went in expecting far more than I got. Brendan Fraser is pretty good, but Paul Bettany absolutely acts him off the screen as Dustfinger, proving yet again what a versatile actor he is.
I expected more fantasy action scenes and got the feeling that the film was building up to 'get going' but never really did. Even in the final scenes it all seems rather restrained and you leave feeling like there was so much more that could have been done. Andy Serkis is suitably scary but reminds me of a Bond villain, whilst Jim Broadbent and John Thomson are woefully under-used. What this film needs is more Elinor riding unicorns, Dustfinger juggling fire and more characters brought to life from books; rather than plodding along not really making any waves.
Hancock (2008)
Twist on superhero films
It makes a change from all those pumped up, perfect superheroes as the character of Hancock is drunken, ill-mannered and generally unpleasant in most aspects. The scenes with Will Smith playing his wisecracking best are the most memorable, although Jason Bateman is a good, solid support. The only thing I disliked is the way the film descended into schmaltzy territory in the latter part. In some respects I didn't care what happened to certain characters, it was just the typical Hollywood syrup ladled on. The plot weakened and the scriptwriters obviously thought lots of shoot em up action would compensate - and that's what lets Hancock down. Overall though, its a pretty good film compared to what's on at the moment.