Tag Archives: Science Fiction

X2: X-Men United (2003)

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In one of the most anticipated movies of 2003, we join the mutant superhero team from the hit comic, the X-men yet again from the throws of the surprising hit from 1999. In this one, after a coordinated attack on the president by a mutant terrorist, William Stryker, a mysterious military operative who has been doing reconnaissance on the Xavier mansion has discovered secrets within the house along with secrets on the students that attend the school. He convinces the president to let him and his army raids the mansion despite the arguments by Senator Kelly. After the X-men learn about the new mutant’s presence, they decide to travel across country and discover it, while Logan, back from his journey of discovery, baby sits all of the students for the night.

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Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (2002)

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“Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever” sways the general public into thinking this is a sort of “Spy vs. Spy” film, but it’s not. It’s not “Ecks vs. Sever”, it’s “Ecks fights Sever for a while and then they become allies when they discover they’re fighting for the same cause”. But that would be a stupid long title, not like “Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever” which is… never mind. The film is chock full of clichés, meaningless violence, lapses in pure logic and plausibility, little to no character emphases, and plot holes galore. Antonio Banderas’ character Jeremiah Ecks is a mix of many, many tired and generic hero elements from previous action movies starring Sylvester Stallone, Schwarzenegger, and a lot of other people.

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The Time Machine (2002)

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For a movie with such a big budget and such incredible special-effects, it’s hard to believe this is so terrible. I think Guy Pearce is a great actor and should be in roles better suited for him rather than starring in low-level cheesy roles such at this. He tries his best to work with the material he’s given in this movie and seems to work hard but it doesn’t pay off simply because of the story. Director Simon Wells, great grandson of H.G. Wells and director of animated films such as “Balto” and “The Prince of Egypt” completely misses the point of the novel and turns it into a cheesy science fiction flick. The movie is loud and gaudy, often giving to the audience more style than substance and presenting a paper thin adaptation.

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Metropolis (Metoroporisu) (2001)

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Based on the comic book by Osamu Tezuka, we visit Metropolis, a humongous city where high-class humans roam free and robots toil and work underground occasionally surfacing illegally. We meet detective Shunsaku Ban and Ken-ichi two people searching for a scientist performing illegal experiments with robots. This is probably one of the most unusual anime movies I have ever seen. The entire animated sequence and character designs closely resemble the works of legendary animator Ralph Bakshi (Cool World, and Fritz the Cat). No two characters in this movie look alike and no two characters seem alike. Many people who hear about this seems to think this movie is an animated Japanese remake of the 1929 Fritz Lang “Metropolis”.

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Eight Legged Freaks (2002)

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Admittedly, I was scared a little when I saw Dean Devlin’s name in the credits, but his influence seems surprisingly restrained and minimized only to special effects. “Eight Legged Freaks” is a loving and raucous homage to the fifties giant features and a rather great one at that. Rather than try to depict a stern narrative about a spider invasion, director Ellory Elkayem embraces the silliness and instead provides a pulpy monster movie with vicious violence, and some damn good dark comedy.

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Reign of Fire (2002)

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Director Rob Bowman gives us a very sleek and highly visual world of dragons and war. We get to see the cool looking dragons as they take over the world. Possibly, the best part of the movie, if any, is when the remaining survivors take on the King Dragon. A tried effort. I was looking forward to this when I first saw the trailer in the theatres; unfortunately, I was very disappointed. The movie gives us a promise we’ll enjoy this with a unique apocalyptic world, but it’s a big let down.

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Spy Kids (2001)

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spykidsTwo kids discover their supposedly uncool parents are famous secret spies. When the parents get caught by an evil genius, they must band together and rescue their parents. This is such a nice movie. Not for its action or acting, but for its simplicity. It makes so many attempts at being nonviolent even though there is a lot of martial-arts scenes, and no guns. James Bond would be proud of these kids. The two offspring of enemy secret spies turned lovers obtain the elements of being a spy, though they don’t know it yet. Alexa Vega’s character is the oldest sister and contains the physical abilities and ferocity of a spy, and Daryl Sabara’s character obtains the mental and technological abilities it takes to be a spy.

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