lukescott-97055 Reviews

Prisoners (2013)

Bleak,cold, sensational

[10/10 · 17 June 2022]

Prisoners are quite possibly one of the greatest mystery/thrillers to hit our screens in decades which this film nearing its 10th anniversary next year its in my eyes an instant classic up there with films like seven, pulp fiction and silence of the lambs which are all three of my favourite crime thriller type films of all time.

What this film does so well at is creating such a bleak and quite a gloomy environment around the characters using beautiful cinematography and weather and the overall mood of our characters, I suppose it's extremely realistic in the angle of capturing stages of grief and rage abd desperation that's what this film portrays for me.

Id says this is Hugh Jackman best ever role in his entire career yes that includes Wolverine, the way jackman captures tbis man's grief and anger mixed with fear was just out of this world which him going down this reckless and dangerous path to get his daughter home was just outstanding, and the things he does in the progress which just made my stomach turn and that, not just the violence and torture he took part in it was his emotional display which is completely shown in the 'hammer' scene which is maybe one of my favourite scenes ever put to a modern film.

The supporting and main cast was as good as jackman with jake Gyllenhaal as detective loki trying all in his power to uncover this sick mystery.

With some explosive and borderline chilling scenes.

What makes this film As stellar as it is, is the element of not knowing what twist or turns we are gonna see and with the perfect twist at the end of the film which tied the film together beautifully, then not forgetting to mention the most aggravating ending I have seen and that's a positive.

Prisoners are cold, depressing, and ugly which makes it the perfect mystery-thriller which adds everything you could seek from a film of this magnitude because it uses its two hours and a half-run time perfectly!

Kong: Skull Island (2017)

None stop FUN!

[8/10 · 1 April 2021]

Kong skull island is another fantastic entry into the monster verse and is maybe not the best but most visually striking and fun in the series with some crazy action sequences throughout. It's not as story-driven as Godzilla (2014) but I think that's ok because this is the perfect popcorn film it works as more a survival action-adventure on skull island and it works so so well it takes everything you want from a kong film other than a skyscraper... but I do love this film its so much fun with so much intensity presented throughout I can't get enough of it. This most definitely the most rewatchable film in this series for great reasons of course! While some of the casting choices are a bit lopsided I can still appreciate what was offered here like our unhinged antagonist played Brillant by Samual L Jackson, I think his character is very overlooked in this film like if you think about it from a certain perspective this is a man who's the only thing he has is war and destruction so when the Vietnam war ended he didn't have anything until Kong gave him a reason to bring the war to him I found the rivalry between him and kong to be very overlooked and frankly just awesome with him we get a very well written character who was played by John C Reily who I think is the best character in the entire monster verse in terms of human characters of course but im not kidding I think he was a very good character who has been trapped on skull island since he crashed during world war 2 so after all this time he gets home to see his family again! ⬇⬇⬇I just love the concept of his character and I can't help I especially after the end credits when you see him reunite with his family it always gets me watery-eyed and I dig it so much I don't understand the people who don't enjoy the human element like what I don't get is when we get monster stuff it gets called generic? Dumb if you ask me. The overall film is just stunning and intense and I respect it so much seeing kong for the first time in live-action for the first time since 2005 is always a delight, even if it changed up a bit but for the greater, of course, it's just a stupid monster smashing fun. The skull crawlers are terrifying creatures offering so many intense moments all the monsters in this flick are scary like the perfect unexpected scene where they were cutting branches in the jungle to discover it wasn't a plant at all; when they see a fellow soldier with an insect leg impaled through his MOUTH this has always freaked me out due to how unexpected it was it's one of the most underrated moments in the whole monster verse it adds true horror to this scene flawlessly... another overlooked scene in kong skull island is the scene where Tom Hiddleston slices through those flying devils it always gives me chills it was just SO DAMN EPIC MAN... then the main event Kong, kong was presented as a genuine threat from the first time he's introduced by throwing the whole tree at the choppers it was what kong was supposed to be demonstrated as a big BEAST. My main issue with kong skull island is the wastage of characters like john goodman and brie Larson they seem to be just there .. like for the sake of it no real purpose they just there it kinda bugged me followed by that they weren't a technical lead for the film too so you didn't give a damn about the characters. But still, it's a stupidly fun popcorn blockbuster and I will rewatch it every now and again.

Godzilla (2014)

A Godzilla film to Remember!

[8/10 · 30 March 2021]

Godzilla was a fantastic way to start the monster verse with a lot to love about this film from the fantastic environmental tone with the great action and visuals presented throughout the film's runtime while it isn't without flaws I do think it does a very good job at introducing us into this new world packed with monstrous threats. As I said it does have its fair share of issues like certain characters being there just for the sake of it and with s few elements of the story being very uninteresting and unengaging but as a whole, I have always adored the human element in the monster verse but there are some moments which went on way too long like the overall build-up to meeting Godzilla which again is kinda good but in terms of pacing it could have been handled a lot better. Peoples main complaint about Godzilla is that it's called Godzilla but you barely see him for me I really like this in honesty it makes it more mysterious and satisfying for when we see him in action; its way more satisfying in fact and shows all good things are well worth waiting for and for good warm-ups throughout this film is the other creatures raining hell on the human race. The threats in this film are genuinely scary and offered some great tense moments, for me what really made these creatures even scarier was the sensational sound mixing the sound in this film is beyond amazing this is probably my favourite thing about Godzilla (2014) and that's the sound and sound mixing just the little sounds the threats make when creeping about is so satisfying and builds up the scene in the best way especially during the train track sequence this scene always has me holding my breath due to how well the suspense was built up its just perfection in terms of coordinating tense moments. The film itself's self it visually impeccable each shot looks so aesthetic we really get shown the overall scale of these behemoths in battle or not, when the final battle arrives with Godzilla defending the city really showcases this. As i said i do like some of the human elements of these films and an example of that is Bryan Cranston character while his character does die earlier on in the film he does make his mark on the rest of the film with his wife is tragically killed at the start and how this affected him was shown very well and im glad it did him justice if im honest i wish he was the main lead of the film because i really didn't enjoy Aaron Taylor johnsons character in fact I forgot all about him before my rewatch due to how uninteresting he is I think Cranston would have fit the lead role way better in this film and think it would have worked way better. So as far as the plot goes it's very good just some issues that didn't sit with me too well. In terms of everything else, it's a fantastic start to the monster verse with us seeing the true scale of Godzilla and his strength; the perfect example of this was the bridge scene which is one of the most badass moments in the film seeing him raise and cause havok. I do love this film and think it deserves much more praise to be honest. I can't wait to continue my rewatch of these films.