my brief thoughts on.... 'Wrecked' (2010)

I like survival movies. 1 person against all the odds and very little chance for survival. With these types of movies, you truly never know until the end, if the hero will survive or not.... and there is a chance they won't. I like not knowing the outcome and I like seeing people get creative. That's why I love zombie movies so much. They're the ultimate survival movies. 'Wrecked' is in that category and had all the earmarks of a good survival movie. The problem with it was that I didn't really care too much about who he actually was. In order to spend about 2 hours with someone, you'd better make them likeable or at least pick a very likeable actor. Adrian Brody is a good actor and one that I am usually happy with, but he wasn't really right for this role in my opinion. But the biggest problem with 'Wrecked'? The ending. The answer to the question of who Adrian Brody was and the last 2 minutes, were lame. The last 60 seconds before the credits rolled, pretty much destroyed the rest of the movie. I am not sure why the director and writer chose to put one final clip into the movie, but they did. I guess that maybe they did it since the movie is kind of being pieced together and it was a missing part of the puzzle? But it didn't make a whole lot of sense in it's placement. If the story was in reverse, perhaps. (it wasn't) It was jarring and not needed. It just makes me upset to think about it. I, however, haven't thrown the baby out with the bathwater. I still found good things about this movie.

First, here's the plot: (taken from IMDB.com) "A man awakens in a mangled car-wreck at the bottom of a steep cliff. Injured and trapped inside, with no memory of how he got there or who he is, he must rely on his most primal instincts to survive. But as he attempts to free himself from the carnage and escape an impossible situation, a darker side is revealed. Even if he manages to survive, the man may have to face the horrible consequences of an earlier, forgotten life." That is basically the plot. There is some other things going on that are kind of confusing at first, but get explained later in the story. There is very little dialogue and most of the movie is centered on Adrian just trying to get away from the wreck. Anyway....What have we learned so far? The movie doesn't have a likeable lead character. (not Mr. Brody's fault) The ending is terrible. It felt like an hour and a half wasted. What else is there to say? Well....

It started out really well. I was engaged and very curious what happened to the main character. He was trapped in a car in the middle of a forest and you could feel his claustrophobia. I could put myself in his place. It's one thing to be stuck in the middle of nowhere or to be injured there, but to also not even have a remote chance of helping yourself try.... is frightening. He could barely move, let alone go anywhere. Once he finally escaped the car, that's when things got even more difficult. The man had a broken leg-something and there wasn't anyone nearby to hear him yell. He also is being visited, regularly, by a hungry mountain lion. The tension and hopelessness in the story are very tangible. It's just that once the hallucinations and back story start to unfold, I really began to lose interest. It almost would have been more effective to just leave it up to the viewers to figure things out. The man finds clues all along his way towards rescue and each one of them leads you to believe something different. I don't know if it would have worked better my way, but I think I would be writing a better review if it had been done that way. And not just because it's my way.

I have seriously debated how much the ending tainted my thoughts on the overall piece. As of right now, I have come to the conclusion that it pretty much ruined it for me. I'm going to give it 2 out of 5 stars and I think that's fair. I really wanted to like it from the get-go and I tried to keep my interest throughout the entire thing. There just wasn't enough content in this movie to make it what it really should have been, a great film. Adrian Brody did the best with what he had and the only other real characters were his dog, the mountain lion and the phantom lady. They also did the best with what they had. That's really all I can say about this movie. It's OnDemand right now from Netflix, so if you're really bored and want to see if I'm right.... check it out. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Right? Perhaps.

my brief thoughts on.... 'Predators' (2010)

as long as the 'Predator' has existed on celluloid, the debate about 'Aliens' or 'Predators' has existed.... and me personally, i have always been an 'Aliens' guy.... but i've watched all of the 'Predator' movies and even both of the 'Alien vs. Predator' movies as well.... it's not that i hated the 'Predator'.... i dug all the movies.... (except 'Alien vs. Predator: Requiem'.... nobody liked that movie.).... but when i heard that Robert Rodriguez had finally got the green light for his version of the 'Predator' that he'd been pitching for years, i was excited.... even though he ended up only producing the movie and not actually writing or directing it, i was sure it would still have his stamp on it.... the cast kind of threw me a bit.... who's ever heard of Adrian Brody as a lead in an action movie....? i had my doubts.... despite all of my reservations about the movie and whether it might be good or not, i went into it with an open mind and a bit of excitement....

the nice thing about this movie was that right off the bat they were going for a new twist on an old theme.... it opened with our heros in freefall and just waking up from being knocked out.... once they've "landed" on the ground, the fun begins.... all of the people that survived the freefall begin to run into each other and eventually band together.... as they try to figure out where they are and why.... each of them has a weapon or two, but no memory of how they got there.... soon they realize that they're being hunted and a few other surprises and then the fun begins....
the end result of this re-boot or 3rd installment in the 'Predators' catalogue was a good one.... the plot is simple enough, but fills you up.... Adrian Brody stepped up and played the hero quite well.... he kind of channeled his inner Christian Bale ala 'Batman' persona.... the action was good.... the 'Predators' were well done and took me back to the first movie.... and that excitement i had watching this new lifeform hunt Aronld in the jungle.... i came to the conclusion that even with how much i enjoyed this little sci-fi/action romp, it still only added up to a 3 out of 5 star outing.... it was such a simple and straight forward story that could have expanded the 'Predator' universe a bit more, but instead just relyed on a steady diet of action and aliens.... you'll have to rent this movie if you want to see it.... but if you're already a fan of the 'Predator' or this is your first experience with them, it's a winner either way.... this is a nice little slice of bloody goey goodness.

if you like this, also watch: 'Predator' (1987), 'Alien vs. Predator', and 'Predator 2'