Double Feature Day: Pt. 2 V For Vendetta

Just finished watching V. Seen this movie plenty of times in the past, this just gave me an excuse to watch it again. This movie was requested by a friend of mine named Cameron, and I was more than happy to oblige. I adore this movie, it has everything a great action movie should have, on top of that, however, it has a great moral that people forget all too often these day:


People should not fear their government. Governments should fear their people.


This movie is an excellent work that gets to show off some strong CGI works and some great choreography and cinematography. I had an exceptionally difficult time finding Cons for this film. The only two I came up with sounded way too nit-picky. I have a feeling that one day this film will be shown in Film classes. It's one of the best films from the 00s, in my opinion.


*Note: Due to legality issues, there will be no photos accompanying this review. While it is "legal", it is only so until somebody raises a fit. And while their movie is about freedom of speech, I doubt they would care much for mine.

Pros:

Special Effects: A few months ago, I dived head first into Computer-generated imagery, more commonly known as CGI. Since working with CGI for myself, I spot bad CGI everywhere. Even in movies I've seen hundreds of times, that one scene now looks so fake. However, while I can see a lot of the CGI in V, none of it looks bad. It's hardly noticeable in most cases and when I did notice it, I was generally looking for it. Quite possibly the most obvious CGI would be the knife trails in some of the fighting sequences.

Choreography: David Leitch, was the Fight Choreographer and also, V's stunt double. He does an amazing job in the fights. It was probably tough working in that mask, limiting his view and, I'm sure, hard to nail the moves. However, his ability to pull it off, gives this film, some of the best fighting sequences from the past 10 years.

 Cons:

Storyline: I remember seeing this movie for the first time back in 2006. I remember leaving the theater and being confused by the storyline. Granted, I was only 15 at the time, but I knew enough to get this movie. The story can be a bit convoluted for a first time viewer. If you don't get the whole thing the first time around, watch it again. It's well worth taking the time to understand it all, it's quite an intricate web. Every time you see it, you'll see something you missed last time.

FINAL SCORE:

9/10

This movie is fantastic, it has action, blood, and Natalie Portman for the guys. However, it also deals with some subtexts of romance, mystery, and drama that will entertain most females as well. This is a movie I'm glad I picked up on Blu-Ray, and for only 8 Dollars! Thanks Cameron for the request, if anyone else would like to make a request, go HERE and read the instructions. kthxbai!

Purchase "V for Vendetta":

Amazon (DVD)

 Amazon (Blu-Ray)

Watch The Trailer Here

Double Feature Day: Pt.1 Savage Journey

Alright, going to do this Savage Journey movie first today, it's on the Drive-In Classics 50 Movie Pack. It's about the origins of the Mormon Church and their journey across the west, until they land in Utah. Never seen this one, could be alright. Why it's in the Drive-in Classics is beyond me, makes me think there will be a lot of violence. It's also from 1983, so that should make it a bit more entertaining.

IMDb: Savage Journey

After I finish this movie and review, I will be doing the next movie, which is actually a request. V for Vendetta. So you can expect to see both of those today.

 

Review:

This movie was pretty good, I'm not gonna lie. I knew little about the beginning of the Mormon religion, this movie was actually quite educational in that respect. Of course, that's assuming this movie is true and, even if it is, not exaggerating anything too bad. I think the acting and dialogue was well done, however, this movie is heavily biased towards Mormonism.

Pros:

Scenery: All of the scenery is really good looking. So good, in fact, I can't tell if it was shot in nature, or in a studio. Since this movie involves a lot of traveling, the scenery is something they needed to do well. In my opinion the scenery is pretty good and definitely helps the movie feel more realistic.

Desert, desert, desert, and Oh look, more desert

Acting: Religion is a hard subject to translate to film. If you poorly represent a major figure from that religion, you can get some serious heat. Savage Journey chose the right actors for the right roles. It seems like it was thought through very thoroughly. The performances from all the leads are very entertaining and believable.

Cons:

The "Savage" Journey: I don't mean to demean the hardships these people endured. I'm sure it was horrible for them. However, I can think of at least 5 journey's way more savage than theirs. For example, the locusts (see below). They lost maybe 20 or 30 people over the years due to savageness.

The Great Locust Massacre: Apparently this film has something against locusts. So here's the timeline, as I see it. The Mormons move into the Great Salt Lake Basin. Encroaching on the poor locust's homeland. The Mormons start planting crops. Meanwhile, the locusts are starving, after having their land taken by the white man. They begin to feed on the Mormon crops, if only to live another day. Then the Mormons go apeshit, and beat them with brooms, stick, 2x4s, etc. Hundreds of poor innocent locusts die, only because they were trying to live another day. And as if that was the end of their suffering. That's when their mortal enemy the birds come along, and the white man cheers as the birds eat all the innocent locusts. Horrific tragedy, is that in your American History book, I think not.

The worst day in locust history

VERY Biased: I'll be first to say that all religions are evil. More people have dies in the name of God and Religion than I can even imagine. However, I have a gut instinct that this film, is blowing it a little out of proportion. They make it seem as if everybody is evil except the Mormons. Every other character in the movie, is either killing Mormons or betraying Mormons. I think there is only one non-evil non-Mormon in this entire film. To be completely honest with you, I had more sympathy for the locusts than I did for the Mormons.

FINAL SCORE:

6/10

This film was insightful and well written, like I said, I hadn't heard this story before. I found this movie to be interesting, however, I will most likely not watch it again. However, I am glad I saw this movie.

Purchase "Savage Journey":

Amazon

Oldies

Drive In Classics 50 Movie Pack

I can't offer anything in the way of the full movie. If you're interested it's parted out on YouTube, just head over there and search "Savage Journey 1983". The movie is in public domain, so, as far as I know, it's not illegal to download it from a website you find on Google. Say for example, this one. However, I am not a copyright lawyer and if you get in trouble it's not my fault. kthxbai.