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Reviews
The Condemned (2007)
I was surprised that I liked it.
As noted previously, this is Battle Royale brought to America without all of the controversy that would be generated by the subject matter.
At least that's what I thought from the cover and first half-hour of the movie. The reality was different in that it quickly became a movie you could simply sit down and enjoy, even a hardcore critic like myself.
The action was on a par with Rambo (part 2), with gun-play and lots of running through the jungle. Hand to hand fights were perfectly acceptable and the extremely limited use of wires and CG did not offend me in the least, and I'm a bit over-sensitive to such things.
What surprised me the most was that I ACTUALLY started to believe in the characters. The mastermind was evil (but not incredibly so until the end), his support staff was understandably polarized in realistic percentages, the "enforcers" ,as I call them, were enforcing enough, and the prisoners were believable in their percentage of who would play and who would not (a la Battle Royale).
Steve Austin has never been on my list of people to respect outside of a bar-room brawl, but I DO respect him as an actor now. An honorable man who simply wants to survive long enough to arrange his affairs to help the woman he loves. Not overly sappy at all, and even touching at times.
The content at some points is not for the kiddies, as torture and off-screen rape are used to firmly define good and evil. It's a plot device, and like most in this film, it's not over-done by much, if at all. For someone who is used to the recent crap-tastic action films filled with CG, wires, and enough exposed flesh to draw pirhanas, I was incredibly surprised to find that I liked this film, even if I did like Battle Royale and could clearly see the influence. It's not a homage and it's not a rip-off of BR, it's simply taking a part of it's premise and using it to make another film.
I've recommended this film to others, and I'll recommend it again. Get some friends together and enjoy it.
Kataude mashin gâru (2008)
A rip-roaring rampage of revenge
First off, this movie was nothing but cartoonish violence throughout. From the weapons to the characters, this movie was made for people who like action and over-the-top gore, but still want to be able to laugh about it. Too often (here in the states) gore is used to incite disgust or fear in the viewer. I personally find it disgusting that they think I'll pay money to see two hours of someone treading the fine line between art and tasteless.
In Machine Girl, I knew what I was getting into from the cover. A school-girl with a Gatling for an arm. It was going to be bloody with some humor mixed in. On my personal score-sheet, this movie would be filled with beheadings, frags, dismemberment, and most importantly, creative deaths. While the CG was noticeable, it's important to note that it was supposed to be. That's part of the cartoonish violence and I (a person who hates CG) started to forgive that in order to get into the film.
Probably the most blatant example of the humor in this film is when Miki gets a mere laceration from a sword on her stomach, then spends the next scene suffering terribly from it. Up until that point, with numerous blood-geysers and dismemberments, and completely ignoring blood-loss and shock, I found the little nick she had to be a riot, and it was meant to be taken that way. In one of the final battles, Miki loses a foot to the Flying Guillotine and the evil-doer tells her she'll be dead in minutes from blood-loss. For an hour and a half people were losing limbs and blood, and now they're worried about bleeding out? That's humor, folks, not stupidity.
This film was really good, and in the same vein of film as Sin City. Comicbook violence and really good acting.