Don't shoot, I've got your shoe.

Atomic Blonde (2017)

7.1/10 on IMDb
75% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's thoughts: It's alright;
Watch it in cinemas;
Low-energy entertainment

Watch it if you: Want to see some amazing and violent action sequences;
Want an action spy film where the plot isn't amazing;
Are a fan of Charlize Theron

MI6 agent Lorraine Broughton is sent to Berlin to recover an important document now fallen into the hands of Russian enemies. With the Berlin wall about to fall, tensions in the city are high as she tries to navigate her way through the mission while trusting no one.

With her stunning looks and amazing action role in Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), I am a huge fan of Charlize Theron. So to have a movie where she is an absolute babe AND she kicks ass, was like hitting the jackpot.

Firstly, the film was sold on it's 80s/90s vibe through both the visuals and the soundtrack. I actually did really love this because not only was the soundtrack great, but the film as a whole looked really great. From Charlize's stylistic black and white wardrobe, to the neon colours and style of directing, this film was visually very pleasing and good to watch especially in cinemas.

Secondly, it was sold as an action film, and I have to say this is the part of the film that really, truly, delivers. The action scenes were fantastic here because they just seemed SO realistic. I don't really know what this word means, but I think it applies to this film: visceral. It feels like this film could be described as really visceral because of the fight sequences. Whenever someone gets hit, this movie doesn't play out like a Bond film where everyone dodges punches classily, still looks suave when delivering a hard-hitting suckerpunch, and a sexy lower lip cut is the most damage your opponent can inflict on you.

No, in Atomic Blonde, when you get hit, you really get hit.

If you're thrown against the wall, you're going to have problems getting back up to fight again, and if you hit your opponent on the head with a chair, your back is going to be really sore and your opponent is going to struggle to stand up straight again.

The action scenes are also filmed in really cool long takes, which just adds to the realism. I'd like to think that Fury Road played a part in Charlize Theron's producing of this film, and that she drew inspiration from those fight scenes for this movie. I'm so happy she's doing more action stuff, and look forward to her next action role.

But, alas, as with most blockbusters, the storyline wasn't the best. I wish they just kept it as a simple spy movie, but they just had to add in all these really complex and different elements to make it interesting, but for me it was really hard to follow even from the beginning. It also started to get a bit boring and felt like it was being dragged out, especially how the film had like 3 different endings à la Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).

But just because the plot wasn't that great, doesn't mean the film was bad. It was still great eye candy because of Charlize Theron's fashion and fighting, it had a great soundtrack, and it was just a lot of fun to watch.

Apes. Together. Strong.

War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)

8.0/10 on IMDb
93% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's thoughts: It's alright;
Proceed at your own risk

Watch it if you: Just want to see how the Apes trilogy ends;
Aren't expecting a war/action movie but are looking for a dramatic film focusing on Caesar


War for the Planet of the Apes is the third installment of the prequel story leading up to how our beloved planet became a planet of apes. Following the events of the previous movie, the apes, led by Caesar, are forced into a brutal war with the humans, a war that will determine the future of humans, and Earth.

I was so excited for this film, as I loved Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014). These two films were amazingly done and I just couldn't wait for the final epic showdown.

But (and I seem to be the only one that thinks so) I thought this film was a massive let down.

Firstly, at 2 hours and 20 minutes, this movie is really long. And it feels long. Quite a few scenes feel very dragged out and repetitive, making the film as a whole quite boring.

A war film that's boring?! How can it be?!

Well, the opening scene was a great war scene, and I thought the rest of the movie was going to be like that. But the film isn't actually a war film.

Nope, there's hardly any actual 'war' in this film despite the first word of the movie literally being 'War'. So it was very different to my expectations of it being full of action. There is, of course, a war going on, but (without saying any spoilers) it plays out very differently to how you expect, and want, it to go.

Perhaps these expectations just made me like the film a lot less, and if I saw the film again it might actually be better because I would know that it's not actually a huge war movie.

So those were my main gripes with the film, but of course there were some aspects of the movie that I really liked.

I loved how the focus was more on Caesar and there weren't really many main human characters in this. It was very different to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes where you kind of had half-half humans vs apes, and you weren't sure who to root for. Here you very distinctly root for the apes. It's kind of a weird feeling to root for these animals to destroy your own species.

But here you get to see more of what Caesar is feeling and thinking, and what his own internal conflicts are. He appears a lot more aggressive in this film, and you see how Koba and the events in Dawn have really affected him.

I also loved the very biblical themes in this movie. Here, Caesar was like the Moses of the apes, the mass of apes was like an Exodus, and there's a whole lot more, including some imagery akin to crucifixion.

This focus on the apes meant that the CGI was SPECTACULAR. Firstly, Andy Serkis is fantastic as usual, but all the animals were done so well. Maurice looked amazing, and also the mass of apes moving all together was breathtaking. They also included the imagery of apes riding horses down beaches and sandy terrain, which was a great allusion to the original Planet of the Apes (1968).

Going back to things I didn't like though...

I really don't like the addition of a 'comedic' character in this movie. I found the character sooooo annoying! Some parts were funny but every time he opened his mouth I was seirously just cringing so much.

Also, whenever I watched the trailers or promotional clips of the film, I became really unsure about Woody Harrelson. And sure enough, I just didn't like him in here. I think his actual character was very interesting, and I even did agree with his reasoning, but either his acting or the actual writing of the dialogue was not convincing.

Another thing was I found it so funny how at the beginning they needed to show you why they went with the ordering of Rise/Dawn/War, since for the past 3 years I've been questioning why it wasn't the "dawn" before the "rise" of the planet of the apes.

So all in all, I seriously don't know why all the critics loved this film. They are saying that it is the best of the trilogy but I think Dawn is the best and Rise still overshadows it by a mile. Others might think that it's poignant, and very deep, but I couldn't get past how long and drawn out the scenes were. It was boring to me, and the stunning CGI and beautiful mo-cap done by Andy Serkis could not make up for that.


A few side notes:

• Bad Ape looked so much like Dobby I really could not take him seriously