Barbarian

 

Gillipedia Official Rating: Felt like a barbarian eating my popcorn watching this

Score: 9/10

          This is the best horror film of the year for me. It’s also the twistiest. So with that said, I’ll keep the details limited to preserve the experience for you when you take my advice to go watch this movie. And without much else at the theaters to pay attention to, now is a great time to check it out.

          I’ll say this much about it. We start off with our star Tess arriving to her AirBnB on a dark and stormy night. To her surprise there’s already a man there. His name is Keith, and he genuinely appears to be a normal guy, if a little reserved, wondering why there’s a woman at the doorstep in the middle of the night. It turns out that he rented the place using a different app, and rather than putting Tess out for the night, he invites her to come in just to be able to use the wifi and figure this situation out. You can see the skepticism and internal alarms going off in Tess’ eyes, but she relents. And of course with this being a horror movie, there’s more to this setup than meets the eye.

          It’s also absolutely worth noting that Keith is played by Bill Skarsgard. If his eyes look at all familiar, it’s because he played the titular clown in It. And that knowledge kept playing in my mind as Tess reluctantly stepped into the unknown house. In a great coincidence, I had just recently watched the horror film Drag Me to Hell from a decade ago. I don’t recommend that Sam Raimi directed flick; however, it has Justin Long playing the sweet, sympathetic boyfriend. Why do I bring this up? Well, the only other piece of information I’ll divulge is that he makes an appearance in this film.

          In a bit of a redundant statement, this movie starts immediately. What I described above consists of the first 10 minutes of the film. And this is a brisk film, but how does it fill the rest of the screentime? Well, that’s where the twistiness comes into play. But it takes more than the ability to make M. Night Shyamalan proud to create a great film. Without beating you over the head, Barbarian really impressed me by its ability to have me wonder about the morals of the characters and what the film is ultimately trying to say by the time the credits roll around. It’s not like material that you take to Sunday Bible School, but it scratches beneath the surface that say slasher flicks don’t even make an attempt at while being wildly entertaining.

          There’s plenty to rave about this film. The dialogue has a naturalistic feel to it. There’s a couple lines that feel closer to lazy writing, but it works really well overall. The score is also great. And one of my favorite things is how the film shoots its different characters. The film frequently is on Tess’ face, but we also get to peek over her shoulder. So as she faces forward, we’re squirming in our seats and wondering what might be behind her. In contrast, once Long makes his appearance, he brings about a carefree attitude like he won’t ever end up on the bottom no matter what life throws at him. Thus, he is shot more from behind as he frantically twists his head with no clear direction on what he’s doing.

          I am not familiar with leading actress Georgina Campbell, but she does a great job portraying a capable woman who is still aware of the dangers around her. Outside of a couple lines of dialogue, the only thing I feel like the film could’ve possibly improved upon was more of a character arc for the leading lady. But even writing out that critique, I have to recognize that not every movie needs to have the protagonist experience some sort of epiphany. The film had its goals with its story, succeeded, and excelled beyond what I was expecting in terms of simply being entertaining. So who is the barbarian of the film? In a twist piece of writing, I don’t reveal that answer. If you’re a fan of thriller horror films, you have to check Barbarian out.

Bird Box

 

Gillipedia Official Rating: Please don’t bring back the Bird Box challenge

Score: 6/10

          Bird Box is ultimately fine. There’s nothing egregious about it. But it does frustrate me in ways that I’ll discuss, and it also has the unfortunate circumstance of releasing after A Quiet Place and inevitably drawing the comparisons of being that movie except you can’t see instead of speak. It’s really more like M. Night Shymalan’s The Happening but better. Where the aforementioned film has people killing themselves for smelling the roses, Bird Box has people commit suicide after seeing some “creatures”.

          The film begins with a tense situation where our hero, Sandra Bullock’s Malorie, tells her 2 kids that they have to make a journey down a river blindfolded. It’s a fun premise, sets the tone appropriately, and introduces us to our main character in what feels like a post-apocalyptic setting. And it’s just enough of a tease for when it flashes back 5 years to Bullock pregnant and talking with her sister Jessica—played by Sarah Paulson—about mass suicides happening across Europe. During a prenatal visit at the hospital, the mysteries from the East have suddenly made their way over to the U.S., and Malorie and Jessica frantically start driving back while chaos ensues around them. Jessica is presented as the level-headed sister while Malorie doesn’t appear to have taken to the role of an expectant mother yet. But when Jessica’s eyes appear to simultaneously glow yet appear blank, she rambles about their mother and drives their car into incoming traffic. Malorie gives her best efforts to stop this episode, but the car crashes, Malorie escapes, and she manages to get people inside a house to let her in.

          This sets up the main focus of the story. We’re introduced to many characters in a classic apocalyptic setting now together all trying to survive. But as their story continues, it periodically flashes forward to Malorie and her 2 kids on the river; we assume we know the fate of everyone in the house, but there’s still the intrigue of what happens next and the hope that we as an audience want things to end well in both timelines—although we both know that’s more than likely not the outcome. So that’s the goal of the movie: make us care about the characters in the house knowing full well that all except Malorie and her unborn child most likely won’t make it. Oh, and before we talk about this more, I do need to address that on the river, Malorie calls the kids “Boy” and “Girl”. While I can see this as something you can get away with in a book, it feels hollow and too sharp from Malorie. Anyway, keep reading this review, People.

          The characters in the house are my biggest frustration with the film. We have all the stereotypes at this party: two young adults who are horny because they’re young, a sweet old lady, the grumpy old man who wants everyone off his lawn, a comedic relief, and the charming and caring romantic interest. Oh, and there’s also BD Wong who doesn’t fit any mold actually and isn’t actually trying to genetically mutate a giant dino for the literal, what would it be, 5^th film. Soon afterward, there’s a knocking at the door, and a young, sweet pregnant woman joins their crew as well.

          There’s some scenes with genuine tension like when they run out of supplies and take a car to the supermarket (they cleverly use GPS and detection systems on the car since they black out the windows) and back on the river when a crazy man encourages them to open their eyes. But since it’s proven that if they don’t look out at the open world they’re fine, some other scenes’ tension feels more manufactured. I do have to compare this to A Quiet Place. Yes, I understand the novel Bird Box is based off was released prior to A Quiet Place; however, I can still compare the quality of story and filmmaking and not run into the debate of originality between the two. But I digress. Whereas John Krasinski’s film introduces the malevolent creatures in the opening scene, we never see the creatures of this film. The rules feel more defined and it’s interesting to see how the characters in A Quiet Place have adapted to survive. Bird Box puts less emphasis on their vague creatures and focuses more on the characters. But that does put the mindset of, “Okay, just don’t look outside,” in my mind; plus, I didn’t find the Bird Box characters well fleshed out—which is central to the success. You learn a little about the creatures and their effects and how it affects the outside world, but it honestly isn’t as compelling as A Quiet Place.

          I see what Bird Box was going for, and all in all, it’s entertaining. The latter half is better with the focus being on Malorie, Boy, Girl, and the love interest Tom. John Malkovich plays a pretty decent role, and Lil Rel Howery is obviously the comedic relief. While I find A Quiet Place a true masterpiece in its execution of horror, Bird Box has some solid moments as well as more phoned in portions. But if you take it compared to The Happening, it’s basically what that movie could’ve been. If you haven’t watched it yet, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it enough. But for those that have already seen it, I have a feeling if you go back to it, you’ll see where I’m coming from in it not being as complete a film as it wants to be. Oh, and it took the birds thing from War of the Worlds. Sorry about it.

Predator Vs. Prey

 

Predator Official Rating: No, this is not a documentary about Ezra Miller

Score: 5/10

Prey Official Rating: Fifty Shades of Prey. Or Eat. Prey. Love. Or The Prey Man. Or...

Score: 8/10

          The original Predator movie is a well-beloved classic of the 80s. It’s spawned a series of sequels that I haven’t bothered to watch yet. But with the biggest film debut on Hulu, the concept of Prey as a prequel set 300 years in the past with the Comanche tribe in America serving as the setting and stars definitely intrigued me. And these two films are very different. The original is a cheesy action flick with loads of gore and big guns probably beloved by people that will change their mind upon a rewatch, and Prey is a much more cinematic and intimate experience with surprisingly good action to round it out. Let’s discuss.

          Predator has interesting elements about it. The story is completely irrelevant about hired mercenaries set on a rescue mission in the jungle or something of the sort. Again, doesn’t matter, and thankfully, they only bother with like 5 minutes of exposition before welcoming the characters to the jungle. The action is often classically over-the-top with unlimited rounds unloaded from firearms, ridiculously big and unnecessary explosions, and an overall sense of machismo that has since been characterized maybe by the likes of Michael Bay. Beyond that, however, you have star Arnold Schwarzenegger spewing lines cheesier than his Mr. Freeze character. But you also have the iconic Predator villain itself that has now infamously faced off against the xenomorphs from Alien and brings about the slasher horror genre to this film.

          The Predator creature has cool design elements, but since this is the original film, it also makes it hard to know what its actual threat level is, and some of its cooler elements aren’t revealed until halfway or even later into the film. Since much of its attack is centered around stealth, don’t expect to see much of the Predator in the film. Some of the kills are admittedly pretty cool, but there’s also an excess of gore that wasn’t to my liking.

          The stars are Arnie and Carl Weathers. All of the acting is really bad, but Weathers is the best and is surprisingly almost as ripped as Arnold. No joke, the most impressive thing about this film are the guns—and I’m not referring to firearms. The film’s cheesy elements weren’t entertaining enough for me, and the more horror sci-fi elements courtesy of the Predator were too few as well. The music from Alan Silvestri holds up really well and stands out from the same score that many action flicks currently seem to be using. Ultimately, for those that remember this film fondly, I don’t think you’ll enjoy it as much now because it’s honestly sub-par.

          Whereas Prey does just about everything it can to not only be a fresh and innovative take on the franchise, I truly believe it is far better than the original. This is not a perfect film, but the setting is interesting, this Predator is cool, and the action is far superior to the recent Marvel films (as far back until Shang-Chi because the choreography in that one is amazing).

          Taking place 300 years ago with a Comanche tribe, our heroine is trying to prove that where her talents and heart lie is actually out on the hunts. I watched this movie in English, but I’ve heard there’s a subtitled option where they speak the native language. Also can appreciate the culturally appropriate cast, but I do have to admit that the acting here isn’t the best either. But our main lead who looked like Aubrey Plaza to me is good enough.

          The dialogue is the weakest aspect of the film, but luckily, it’s pretty sparse overall. This also lends to the fact that since a large aspect of the film are the characters out on hunts, there’s not going to be many conversations had during this time. It’s a more intimate experience and really feels like you’ve been dropped in this era in history with the added sci-fi horror element of the Predator thrown in for good measure. Where the original overused guns and explosions, the (presumably) historically accurate use of weaponry adds the suspenseful element of how will these characters take down this powerful creature with the tools at hand.

          Portions of the score reminded me of The Last of the Mohicans, and I honestly wish they just riffed from the movie even more because the score from that film is incredible and works pretty well in Prey. And I know I said it earlier, but this film is simply cinematic. It reminds me of an indie film needing to stand out with clever practical shots, but this film has the benefit of a solid budget. Not only does the Predator look great, some of the realistic animals they create (a bear for instance) look better than other films I’ve seen recently because they don’t try having the animals perform weird gestures that feels outside of the bounds of reality which is the typical giveaway of something looking “fake.”

          If I had to sum it up, this film is like the videogame Horizon Zero Dawn mixed with the style of Eternals director Chloe Zhao. I’ve given her plenty of crap for the atrocious Nomadland, but I have given consistent praise of her landscape shots. And this film often shoots around waist-high for characters so that you have a view of the beautiful sky; to me it’s the film’s way of saying, “Look at me. We’re shooting this outside and not just on some green screen stage.”

          A couple action elements from the climax aren’t very believable, but there’s really dynamic fight choreography and Predator kills that raise this film from a competent sequel to being one of the best action films I’ve seen this year. When you compare that to the utterly unbelievable traps Arnie sets up for the Predator in like a couple of hours that would actually easily take one man weeks to do, there’s no competition on which is the better film. Not only do I say if you’re going to watch any film in the franchise, make it Prey, I’d make it required viewing for films that have come out in 2022.