Cool News
Akira attends the World Premiere of MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2
Hey folks, Harry here. Man, this is a very odd schizophrenic review. At one level, Akira calls MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2 "The Movie of the Summer".... and then spends most of the review complaining about nitpicks... So I guess what that means is... This is a film with some badass action beats with the balls to the wall cut out. This is going to be one of those... "pulled punch" films, that... is real kick ass, but one of those films where you know you were suppose to taste the sole of your foot in the back of your mouth, but Paramount and the MPAA decided to give you a Bob Hope kick in the ass as opposed to a Jet Li kick in the ass. We'll see soon enough! Here's Akira...
Whats up Harry. Just had the time of my life at the world premiere of
Mission Impossible 2. The last premiere screening I had been to was for Romeo
Must Die, and may I say that MI-2 just kicked the shit out of that movie! Now
maybe it was because there was a lot more energy in the crowd than any other
movie I has ever been too, but every time this film got to an action scene, I
got that John Woo spine-tingeling feeling that made me want to stand up and
cheer with excitement.
I think the plot has already been explained in the
earlier reviews so I will not go into that here, and I don't think people are
going to see this film for its plot.
So how good are the action scenes? I
know this was the PG-13 version of the film because none of the crazy
violence that was talked about in early screenings was present during this
screening. Sure people get shot, but you never get the true feeling of the
wound. And that is why this film doesn't hold a candle to The Killer or my
favorite, Hard Boiled.
During every gunfire sequence you could feel where the
edits in violence were made. They would show Tom firing a weapon or weapons,
and then there would be a quick flask of the target or targets being hit,
then they would cut back to Cruise.
This probably won't effect the average
movie audience, but for Woo fanatics like myself, will make you wish they had
the balls to release the R version as Woo had originally visioned.
Another
topic I MUST go into is the little Matrix 360 spins that some geeks will
quickly yell rip-off to. Any fool can tell you that The Matrix was not the
first to use this technique. I remember awwwwwing at the Gap commercial the
first time I saw it. Sure The Matrix made the technique popular, but I have
seen it done better (anyone see that TGIF commercial where they go through
the entire restaurant). I am almost positive that MI-2 did this to stick with
the latest "bullet-time" craze, and it was not necessary at the moments that
it happened. But anyone who calls Woo a copycat should know that almost all
of the recent poor attempts of making the action film, have tried, and failed
miserably.
That about all the time I have right now, I almost fell asleep at
my computer. This will be the film of the summer. I didn't think anything
would top Gladiator, but John Woo has a style that no one else has. And make
sure you prepare yourself for the last 30 minutes of this film. The only Woo
finally that even comes close to his Boiled hospital scene. Makes the
improbable ending to the last movie look like crap. I will be there again on
the 24th, your asses better be there too.
See ya
Akira
-
+ Expand All
-
Aren't the IMF meant to be covert spies? eg, not making a big scene. All's this film looks like is one giant explosion after another with guns blazing. Really low profile stuff. But ive already got my ticket, so i guess I should shut up and watch it and like it.
-
Apparently you haven't seen the man making the sweetest of the sweet love with Michelle Pfeifer in the "What Lies Beneath" trailer--like jungle cats I say!
-
Zeitgeist is much better :).
-
May 21, 2000 11:59:09 PM CDT
Actually, the first use of "Bullet Time" was not by the gap, but
by booyotch
There was a sting video quite a few years back, and there was a sequence where a girl ran into a white room with a ring of hedges about waist high(they hid the cameras) and there were oak leaves falling in the middle and she ran up and jumped up and it froze and rotated around her... It looked sloppy, 'cause i guess they hadn't perfected the blending of the integrated shots... Now you Know, and knowing is half the battle...
-
Edits or no, i can't wait... first big-screen woo. cruise said something about wanting to have each "episode" of M:I to have a different feel under a different director... i want jarmusch to do the next one.. that would beat ass. I wonder when Ghost Dog is hitting Dvd.
Anybody know where i can find a website on Video Power, the cartoon/gameshow starring the monster truck Bigfoot, and the Tomato known as Kwirk?
ha. umm... FIRST POST=NOTHING. -
Wow. I'm not sure what to say about that...review. I guess it was a review. It actually read more like a drunk guy's stream of consciousness. "Totally cool...but it kinda wasn't...but oh it was awesome...but dude it shoulda..." It leaves me with the age old question of, "what the fuck?" Right now I'm ambivalent about spending my time and money on this flick. John Woo is a god, no questions asked, but something about those silly looking Cruise spin kicks in the previews makes me hesitant. This review, if that's what that was, doesn't exactly push me either way. If there is any movie, however, this summer that can make me stop chanting "Maximus, Maximus" in my mind...I will be pleasantly surprised.
-
Woo always comes through. Looking forward to the action scenes! Hey, Akira, I heard you downed your first Clown! Woo-hoo!
-
"The only Woo finally that even comes close to his Boiled hospital scene"
I'm guessing he hasn't seen A Better Tommorow 2's White House Shootout, the best single gunfight in movie history. I've always thought Hard-Boiled's ending eventually becomes soulless, despite having among the greatest technical achievements in action movie history (the 15 minute unbroken cut as they walk around blowing people away and causing various explosions). It's the real emotion, plus the pure coolness of the White House scene that makes it great.
"this guy is correct in naming Hard Boiled as the superior John Woo film over the over-rated (and musical score-stealing) The Killer."
Hard-Boiled?! Better then the Killer? I do think the Killer is over-rated somewhat, but Hard-Boiled.. I don't know how anyonce can think it's superior to just about any movie. It's very entertaining of course, but if it had had shorter action scenes that were mediocre instead of brilliant, people would realize how bad it is. The plot is dumb and crazed, most of the symbolism is whacked, all that's great about it is the characters (and not that many of them) and action.
Just some thoughts.. -
May 22, 2000 12:34:57 AM CDT
Can we stop talking about the "bullet-time" effect, as if it cou
by superninja
It is a special effect! It was developed for use in the film The Matrix, and used to excess in the Gap television spots. But it is still an effect, and it's not going to go away, so please stop acting like it was just a one-time-only thing!
-
Passionate. Passionate. Passionate. The Killer is never afraid to be operatic with its emotions, and while most American action fans want detachment it spits in the face of it. Melodramatic? Absolutely. But if you can rid yourself of the cynicsm that this society instills in you then it's an incredibly emotionally effective movie - and I think it has Chow Yun Fat at his most charismatic - EVER. I'd also say that the end scene in the Church is the greatest gun battle ever, even over ABT II's finale and the stuff in Hard-Boiled. The warehouse scene and other scenes in Hard-Boiled are of course fantastic examples of action filmmaking - but the Church scene in The Killer combines incredible action choreography with heavy story elements and character relationships. It puts emotion into the action, and yes I Love it when they use "The Messiah" during the scene - it's phenomenal - very "Wild Bunch" feel to it. As for the score stuff - lots of eighties Hong Kong films did that - so what? It fits, and by the way, the main original score(Chinese Music) for The Killer, the soulful them in the opening - is extremely powerful and haunting. The Killer is flat out fantastic.
-
Knowing your psychology is uber-cool. Oh, yeah, and Harry's a big, fat sell-out.
-
It was for his video, "I'll see you when you get there". The song was on the soundtrack for the Tim Robbins and Martin Lawrence movie, Nothing To Lose. The one shot I remember from the video is a guy stepping off of a building or a bridge or something, and then the camera stops and does the pan around him using "bullet time". It was definitely new at that point, and it did'nt look very sharp at all. I guess they did'nt use enough cameras when they shot the sequences. I think they used like over a hundred or so different cameras to get the "bullet time" effect for the Matrix.
-
And that those early reviews that said it was ultra violent were full of shit. My basis for this is an article I read in Premiere where Woo was talking about how they were making a PG-13 movie from the get-go and how he made the action his style but shot around graphic violence. It still looks like a lot of fun, and I was watching TBS's Cruise Control presentation of Top Gun (its 3 in the fucking morning, cut me a break) and they had an interview and a bunch of clips with some crazy stunts and kung fu stuff. So I think it may actually be good despite the watered down PG-13 realm of crappy action movies.
-
The Matrix was the first to use "bullet-time" which was invented specifically for the movie. Now before some goon starts shouting about Gap ads, hear me out, and correct me if I'm wrong. Wasn't bullet time used describing the scene where the bullets are flying at Keanu Reeves and he's moving as the camera spins around? Because I thought that was the big difference, because before it was always freeze frame spin around and "bullet-time" had him moving at the same time the camera spun around him. I know I know this is nit-picking but I'm just trying to specify hear, clarify a little, and I may be mistaken, this is true, but I think I am correct in my assessment. Oh, and a couple other things, I agree with the guy who was up there raving about The Killer, that is my favorite John Woo movie, yah, but I prefer the smaller shootouts from the beginning and later in his apartment I thought those were more slick and tense and not so over-the-top but this is just a matter of opinion. Also, also, I want to say that Sal Paradise is the man and you have to dig the Dulouz legend.
-
The process of using multiple cameras to freeze or slowdown time is called 'Timetrack virtual camera movement' and was invented in 1994 by a guy named Dayton Taylor. (www.virtualcamera.com)
It certainly wasn't invented for the Matrix but it's possible they did things with it that hadn't ever been done before. For example the sets that you see, during the bullet-time sequences, such as the subway station were all computer generated. I think the phrase bullet-time was coined by the Matrix effects team but that's probably only 'cos it sounds ways cooler than 'Timetrack virtual camera movement'.
-
May 22, 2000 5:54:48 AM CDT
Ginger is absolutely right, and to complete the bullet-time stor
by glippyglipson
...in 1995/1996 everybody and their sister in the visual effects industry went crazy over the new effects that could be created with the Timetrack. And although the technique wasn't perfect at all, everybody could see the many possibilities. So, filmmakers started applying the effect in experimental films, music videos and the like. One visual effects company that was busy creating (a similar) photography technique at the time, was Mass Illusions. A guy named John Gaeta was involved in the project. Now, one thing obviously led to another when the Wachowski's were snooping around some visual effects companies, trying to figure out if the specific effects they wanted for a project of theirs, The Matrix, could really be done. The story goes that Larry and Andy actually envisioned bullet-time in their storyboards, and that John Gaeta showed them a technique that Mass Illusions was in the process of developping. Later, Gaeta became visual effects supervisor on the show and Mass Illusions (now called Manex) got credit for the 'bullet time' technique. On the DVD, you can clearly hear Gaeta saying: "Bullet-time was specifically created for The Matrix" and actually, he's not lying. Bullet-time combined a number of existing techniques to create the specific effects that Larry and Andy wanted. I just wonder if Manex would have perfected the technique if the Wachowski's hadn't knocked on their door one fine day. I mean, even Gaeta himself said that they were trying to just move ahead with photogrametry. And that concept has been around for a LONG time.
-
Does nayone have a clue what is going on in the trailer & commercial when Ethan skydives and then falls? It looks like he falls through some grates and then stops his freefall by pressing a button on his belt. What's going on??
-
For the sake of correctness and completeness, I would like to point everyone to the following article:
http://VFXPro.com/.getarticle/.551568972
This is where it all started ... "temps mort" ... "dead time" ... "time-slice photography".
And it started all the way back in 1980 (!) at the Bath Academy of Art.
Ciao,
Jerry Racer -
I'm sick of people saying Hard-Boiled is better than The Killer. Hard-Boiled has its share of mind-bogglingly choreographed action scenes, but the story doesn't have any where near the coherence or operatic depth of The Killer. It abandons an involving, cop going deep cover story about mid-way through for a Die Hard in a hospital rip-off, and becomes ludicrously uneven. Worth seeing just for the action, but The Killer is a far superior film. As far as his American films go, Face-Off is the only one that approaches his HK work, but strangely, the aspect it comes shortest on is the action. It's the story premise and performances that keep that movie afloat, not the action. I don't think Woo has "lost it" or anything, he's said that the rushed production schedules of American filmmaking don't allow him to be as elaborate in his action scenes. In Hong Kong, he'd spend months working out a single scene. Now he has to use storyboards and cut corners, which takes the spontaneity and inspiration out of them. Let's hope Woo can make his ultimate Woo movie someday...As far as MI2 goes, what's the point of calling it Mission Impossible. Just call it Ethan Hunt, Man of Mystery or some shit. Mission Impossible was always an ensemble piece, and a suspense piece, now it's just another over-cranked Bond flick.
-
The way I see it, Woo can steal the bullet-time thing if he wants to, since the Matrix was just a mediocre Woo rip-off that had bullet-time to spice it up.... And The Killer and Hard Boiled BOTH totally kick ass!
-
Every talkback is full of you guys just whining that your individual opinion is the only one that counts. Whine..whine...boohoo...Hard-boiled is better than the Killer..NO! Killer is better than Hard-boiled...Gladiator rocks..Gladiator sucks...It's interesting when the arguments are backed up with some actual thought-processes, otherwise it's just boring. For the record I just saw Gladiator a second time, and even though I love it, it's seriously flawed. Jude Law should have played Commodus, and a good editor could have elevated it from being a great summer movie to being a great movie by tightening up the third act, eliminating all uses of post-production slow-mo, and cutting out that cheesy close-up at the end of Maximus'wife and child.
-
May 22, 2000 1:37:25 PM CDT
You're all wrong about who used the frozen time 360 shot first..
by toe jam
I believe the first time it was ever used was in a Van Halen video, I think it was the first song they ever did with Gary Cherone as their new lead singer. For the life of me, I can't fucking remember the name of the song, but it had this Neanderthal chick dressed only in a fur bikini and she was running around in this ice maze or something and she used a hammer to smash this huge block of ice. It was KIND OF cool, but not the kind of thing I would ever have imagined myself ooohing and aaaahing at when it was used in a big action film.
-
then why are you calling it "multiple personality disorder" when the term "dissociative identity disorder" has been the accepted terminology for that disorder for years now?
-
Rallying here for A Better Tomorrow for Woo's best film. My friends all dig The Killer most, but I just think ABT wrings with emotion...and i think the resturant shootout is the best ever. Alright, i speak my piece.
-
The reasons? The same as Dagan noted: passion, soul, refusal to slip into the modern mold of "cool cynicism," operatic gunfights, Yun-Fat's overall charm, and Woo's impeccable rhythm alternating between wound-up tension and cathartic release. Overall, it's Woo's personal vision untainted by Hollywood or studio restraints: beautiful. I will shamefully use this last sentence to say that the Matrix sucks balls.
-
The Killer is the best pure ACTION film of all time - #1 Woo and will never be beaten by another movie. The story, the acting, the violence, the excitement, etc. All of these things add up to give the audience one HELL of a ride. Hard Boiled was AWESOME, but The Killer was better.
-
i saw a TIMEX EXPEDITON watch commercial about a year and a half before that GAP commercial that used "Bullet Time" - for those that forgot its the one where the guy racing on a mountain bike splashes in a puddle of muddy water the commercial freezes and the camera spins around and shows his image,the bike and the water in 3D
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- Whitney Houston 1963 - 2012 -- 419 total posts 209 posts
- WTF HOLLYWOOD: SOLARBABIES -- 131 total posts 129 posts
- Herc’s Seen Tonight’s Return Of THE WALKING DEAD!! Discuss Also DOWNTON ABBEY, FEAR FACTOR, PAN AM, ONCE, SIMPSONS, DYNAMITE, LUCK, SHAMELESS, BAIT CAR, THE GRAMMYS And More!! Sunday Is Sweeps Day 11!! -- 123 total posts 122 posts
- New JUDGE DREDD post production footage pops up -- 124 total posts 58 posts
- There's a STAR TREK video game that is going to lead into JJ's STAR TREK 2 apparently... -- 191 total posts 47 posts
- Avid Comic Reader Hercules Does Battle With Tedium During Kevin Smith’s COMIC BOOK MEN! -- 43 total posts 43 posts
- If the Behind the Scenes Pics of the Day drops her pen, pick it up, but don’t look at her legs or else it will be on your record. -- 60 total posts 42 posts
- I am The Behind the Scenes Pics of the Day! No, I’m the Behind the Scenes Pic of the Day! -- 27 total posts 27 posts
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 506 total posts 26 posts
- HANNA's Saoirse Ronan to boss around seven little people -- 77 total posts 24 posts