Cold Pursuit

Nels Coxman's quiet life as a snowplow driver comes crashing down when his beloved son dies under mysterious circumstances. His search for the truth soon becomes a quest for revenge against a psychotic drug lord named Viking and his sleazy henchmen. Transformed from upstanding citizen to coldblooded vigilante, Coxman unwittingly sets off a chain of events that includes a kidnapping, a series of deadly misunderstandings and a turf war between Viking and a rival boss.

When I first heard of Cold Pursuit, the trailers were a little bit misleading. They made me think this was going to be a Taken-esque action thriller, much like most of Liam Neeson's recent movies in the last few years. What I didn't realize, was 2 things: First, Cold Pursuit actually ended up being more along the lines of Ocean's 11-13 with it being an action comedy. Or more accurately, a dark comedy, given the nature of the story. Secondly, I never realized this was an American remake of a Norwegian film titled In Order of Disappearance. It also had the same director for both movies. I'd never seen nor even heard of the Norwegian film before, so I'm definitely going to have to watch that now.

Since I wasn't expecting that tone, the first 15-20 minutes threw me for a loop before I was able to relax into it and enjoy the rest of the movie. After that, I really did enjoy it. Sure, it's not anywhere near Liam Neeson's best role(s), or movie in general. It's certainly not the type of movie to be in any conversations during Oscar season. But for what it's worth, I thought it was really good. Also, now that I know what to expect, I'm planning on going back through and watching it again with a clearer and more open mind to get a sense of the entire movie, not just after the first 20 minutes. 

I feel confident in saying that fans of the Ocean's series, as well as Fargo will enjoy Cold Pursuit. I know I did. There are some people who might be a little uneasy about the over exaggerated stereotypes throughout the movie, but if you can get past that and the dark humor, then I would highly suggest checking this out.

The Predator

From the outer reaches of space to the small-town streets of suburbia, the hunt comes home. The universe's most lethal hunters are stronger, smarter and deadlier than ever before, having genetically upgraded themselves with DNA from other species. When a boy accidentally triggers their return to Earth, only a ragtag crew of ex-soldiers and an evolutionary biologist can prevent the end of the human race.

I love the Predator franchise, almost as much as I love the Alien franchise. That being said, this latest addition to the franchise is hands down one of the worst movies of 2018. It's sad too, I actually was intrigued with the story, particularly a couple of the twists it throws in. And yet, the humor (and dialogue in general) and some of the acting from several of the characters brought it down so much that I almost walked out from the theater. Pretty much all of the characters were bland and uninteresting, making me not care about any of them, especially when some of them died. Thankfully, I only paid two bucks for a ticket instead of full price. Otherwise, I would've been even more ticked off. 

There really isn't much, if anything, positive I can say about The Predator. Despite all of the crap, though, I actually hope there's another one that involves one of the bigger twists from the movie. I won't specify what, but the twist was interesting enough for me that I would like to see more.

Alita: Battle Angel

Set several centuries in the future, the abandoned Alita is found in the scrapyard of Iron City by Ido, a compassionate cyber-doctor who takes the unconscious cyborg Alita to his clinic. When Alita awakens, she has no memory of who she is, nor does she have any recognition of the world she finds herself in. As Alita learns to navigate her new life and the treacherous streets of Iron City, Ido tries to shield her from her mysterious past.

I'm unfamiliar with the Japanese manga called Gunnm, of which Alita: Battle Angel is based on. I feel like I should have done a little bit of research into the manga in order to maybe have a better understanding of the story, characters, etc. Alita: Battle Angel is light on plot, but heavy in the stylized action. This made for a visually stunning, but somewhat confusing movie. It didn't help that the movie ended on a cliffhanger. I wasn't expecting to have every single detail about the story spelled out over the course of the movie, but I do think there should have been a bit more for the audience to understand, especially those - such as myself - who've never read nor heard of the original source material. For instance, there's a discussion about a war that happened 300 years prior to the movies events unfolding. I would have liked to get just a small amount of info on what that war was about. 

That's not to say I didn't enjoy it. I enjoyed it a lot. However, I do wish more time was spent developing the story and focusing on the world-building instead of on the action and setting the movie up for the next movie. I did enjoy the performances, particularly that of Rosa Salazar as Alita, and Keean Johnson as Hugo. I liked the character of Dr. Ido, played by the masterful Christoph Waltz, but again, I felt there was something missing.

Overall, I would actually still recommend Alita: Battle Angel. It's still a very fun movie. As far as manga/anime live action adaptations go, this was far better than Ghost in the Shell or even the live action Death Note. Also, I unintentionally saw this in 3D (wasn't paying attention to the ticket I bought). I didn't think 3D really added anything to the movie. So far, the only 3D movies I've ever seen where the technology was effectively used was Avatar and Life of Pi.