MOVIE REVIEW: BAYWATCH (2017)

Baywatch is a 2017 movie that is based on the famous earlier television show (called Baywatch). The original Baywatch was known for its eye candy (with David Hasslehoff and Pamela Anderson). This movie is a comedy that casts Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as the lead lifeguard and Zac Effron as a troubled gold-medallist.

The main plot revolves around the lifeguards getting involved in a criminal enterprise occuring on their beach. As part of this, Zac Effron also goes through his redemption arc as he proves himself to his mentor, chases the girl, and rises to the occasion. However, this movie isn't here for its originality but for its comedy.

For the most part, the comedy is okay. It definitely suffers in that the funniest parts have been shown in the trailers. The remains of the comedy isn't really anything that gets more than the occasional chuckle. The actors are charismatic enough, but the script and interactions really let them down.

But who is let down the most in this movie are the female characters. Every female character that has more than a passing mention only really exists to be a goal for the male characters. They don't really have any other moments of awesome, character development, or any resistance to the main characters charisma once they have saved the day.

So all up middling comedy and grating representations of characters means that this is more a miss than a hit. If you really want the best funny parts, just go and watch the trailers.

2 out of 5 watching waffles.

MOVIE REVIEW: GHOSTBUSTERS (2016)

Ghostbusters is a movie that seemed to come around with allot of controversy. And most of this controversy seemed to be for controversy's own sake, as most people I talked to weren't too concerned about it being made with a bunch of female protagonists. As it turned out, the movie actually turned out to be pretty good.

The movie is about a bunch of scientists who go around capturing ghosts. One of them starts as being reluctant (not because of skepticism, but because of the damage to her career in academia it may cause), but becomes part of the group after she encounters a ghost. After forming the group, they get an office, find a fourth member (a non-scientist subway worker), hire a sexy dumb male intern (Chris Hemsworth, looking like he was born for comedy), and start capturing ghosts.

This is a pretty standard Ghostbusters movie. And it is a good one at that. It constantly goes around with tongue-in-cheek-style humour in its approach to situations and lets defined characters (in the ghost busters) react to situations in a believable manner. The only stumbling block this movie has is the ending or the more dramatic moments. Here, the movie stumbles. When the movie tries to get too serious, it doesn't work.

Unfortunately, the climax (involving someone killing themselves to set-up a master plan, to let you see serious) feels like it drags for the sake of having a big ghost battle climax (ala Marshmallow Man). Chris Hemsworth, despite being a good thing, is also over-used. It is like they realised how good he was and then doubled the length of all his scenes so the joke is slightly overblown as opposed to being appreciated.

While not as good as the original, this movie is definitely worth a watch. The comedy and characters are really good, the story is good and the effects are good. It did stumble by putting a bit too much a good thing in and also not nailing the change from comedy to serious well, but still highly enjoyable.

And the only reason I remember the Chris Hemsworth actor is because he is an Avenger.

3.5 out of 5 Ghosted Waffles

Movie Review: The Lone Ranger (2013)

The Lone Ranger movie that was released earlier this year is a re-imagining of the old Lone Ranger mythos. It garnered quite allot of attention for casting Johnny Depp as a Native American and received quite a critical backlash on release. Although I can see why this movie was critically panned, I still found it to be entertaining while it lasted.

The storyline of the Lone Ranger is a bit of a schizophrenic mess. The story is effectively Tonto telling of his adventures to a young boy in a museum, so some of this can come off as an unreliable or biased narrator. The story begins with The Lone Ranger arriving into town as an attorney and an inept action hero who doesn't believe in guns. No real reason is established for his extreme dislike of guns. He is also in the shadows of his heroic ranger brother which is built up to be a big thing, but is then forgotten about except as a running gag with Tonto. When he is killed but brought back, it might have been because of a mystical, intelligent horse, or just because of luck. When he comes back, he is a “spirit walker” and therefore can’t die in battle, except it might just be random luck saving his life. Without any sort of consistent theme, the story struggled to get out of first gear as it kept jumping between what was central to the plot.

The movie also struggled to find a consistent tone. It often alternated between trying to be a serious action movie and then have elements of slapstick comedy. This is no more apparent than in a sequence where you witness a massacre, and the next scene appears to be a somber reflection by Tonto until he makes a joke about the horse. This was also a problem with the characters, as the big events that you would think would lead to character development (such as the aforementioned massacre) don’t really affect the characters too much. Even finding out more about their history and the mistakes in their lives doesn't the characters anymore interesting. Instead, it feels like it was only put in there because the writers needed to actually give the characters some development, although it never seems to affect any of their actions.

Despite this, it was refreshing that the movie didn't make the mistake of taking itself too seriously for the most part. It did realise that its main appeal is as slapstick comedy with some out-there action scenes. In fact, it is only when the movie does try to become dark and broody that it really starts to drag out. I can see why the critics would savage the movie due to the mess of a storyline, inconsistent tone and complete lack of character development, but it did keep me entertained for its running length.

2 out of 5 Wendingo-killing waffles.