Justin Lin | 102 mins | TV | 16:9 | USA / English | 12 / PG-13
Some say this is the worst of the series, and I think I agree. 2 Fast 2 Furious has a stupid name and Tokyo Drift is almost a direct-to-DVD cheapo, but they embrace their trashy roots and are kinda fun.
#4 takes itself too seriously as a revenge/drug-smuggling thriller. There’s only the occasional uninspiring driving sequence, many featuring CGI that looks straight out of a computer game — and not even a computer game now, but a computer game back when the film was made.
The tagline — “New model. Original parts.” — was very neat, but is also the best thing here.
This review is part of the 100 Films Advent Calendar 2013. Read more here.
In the interests of completing my ever-growing backlog, I decided to post ‘drabble reviews’ of some films. For those unfamiliar with the concept, a drabble is a complete piece of writing exactly 100 words long.
Most action-thrillers are cast from the same mould; it’s the decoration which dictates whether the final product is a Steven Segal or a Jason Bourne.
Side by Side is a documentary on camera technology. No, wait, come back! It’s much more interesting than that sounds.
The significance of the debate is emphasised by the interviewees. Nearly every high-profile name who has at any time factored in the film vs. digital debate pops up, however briefly (renowned film advocate Christopher Nolan gets just a couple of comments; I think Peter Jackson is the only notable omission). Indeed, you can tell how significant the interviewees are just by looking at the poster — what more do you need to know? There are also others — producers, cinematographers, and so on — whose names you might not be familiar with, whose work you might not even know, but have insightful contributions to make. Presenter Keanu Reeves is not just a celebrity voiceover but also the primary (sole?) interviewer, and believe it or not he does a sterling job.
In an ethnically diverse and equal future, white American Kirk and white Vulcan-American Spock are commanded by white American Pike and white American Marcus to lead their crew to capture a Starfleet-targeting terrorist: John Harrison, a white Englishman who may be more than meets the eye…
There’s still humour, mind; something which marked the first film out for a kind of geek controversy, as some felt it went too far. Because the original Star Trek TV series was dark and super-serious? An increased role for Simon Pegg’s Scotty provides most of the laughs, as everyone else is busy going Into Darkness. Unfortunately, despite the sporadic likability of several cast members, they don’t seem to have much to give. An inversion of a famous scene from a previous Trek movie ought to be tremendously moving, but doesn’t even stir.
and I think the same process may have been used for some finished scenes. Which is a sarky way of saying that sometimes he phones it in. Take his first proper face-to-face with Kirk, when he’s in the Enterprise’s brig: he’s on Posh British Villain autopilot. There’s no menace, no tension; just words in our accent. It’s Cumberbatch’s Sherlock robbed of any of the charm, wit or intelligence.
There are good bits — in fact, I’d say that’s a pretty apt description: good bits in amongst mediocrity. There’s an arty dialogue-free bit starring Noel Clarke that’s kind of good… and kind of self consciously “look, we done told a story with no speaking!” Shot on a mix of 35mm and IMAX, the film occasionally looks very nice. I imagine some sequences were visually stunning in IMAX, though Paramount haven’t done us the courtesy of preserving the ratio shifts on Blu-ray (unless you buy some German version, apparently). I felt there was considerably less lens flare this time out too; if it was still there in hefty doses then the film was obviously doing something right because I didn’t notice it.
You probably remember that, just a few months after its release, a convention of Trekkies voted Into Darkness the worst Star Trek film ever made. That’s a bit much — for all its flaws, it’s still better than most of 
Having heard only bad things, I expected a soul-crushing dud of 
I’ve never actually read the Narnia novels, but I did have them read to me when I was very young and, for some reason, I remember Voyage of the Dawn Treader being my favourite. Sadly, this doesn’t quite translate to the big screen.
but as a grown adult it is painful. The level of subtlety here is so low a participant in 
Sean Bean and his ragtag band of knights investigate an unaffected village during Ye plague-adled Olden Days in this folk horror from the director of 
Well. What can I say? Curiosity got the better of me.
This wouldn’t matter so much if what was left was entertaining, but it’s a little weak. I’ve seen a couple of the LEGO Star Wars TV specials and found them to be quite fun, but LEGO Batman can’t reach their level. It’s not just that it’s almost four times as long as one of those, it’s that the humour it does contain doesn’t hit home in the same way. It’s often too juvenile, too “that’ll do”, too “I can tell this is supposed to be humorous but it’s just not funny”. I know I started by saying that I just watched this through curiosity, but partly it was that I’d found those Star Wars specials enjoyable enough and thought this would be more of the same with superheroes. It wants to be, but it isn’t.
Dogged by comparisons to 
November’s films in full
Upon reaching my goal the first time, I decided (quite rightly, I think) that #100 should be An Important Occasion — and what can be more important than The Greatest Film Ever Made™? Many viewers these days seem to struggle with Kane’s reputation, or it just leads them to dismiss the film out of hand, but I thought it was genuinely exceptional and deserving of its acclaim.
Come the second year, and watching Something Significant went out the window as I scrabbled through 11 films in 6 days to make it to 100, and this Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers picture happened to be the last of them. That said, Swing Time is hardly a poor movie — while not my favourite Astaire/Rogers movie (not that I’ve seen many, but the honour goes to Top Hat), their dancing is nonetheless sublime.
And so, after missing it again in 2012, we come to this year. The alternation continues, with arguably the most acclaimed and beloved film that I’d never seen earning the spot of my fifth #100. As a double bonus, it’s one of my WDYMYHS films too (OK, that’s not an accident). That status, and the film’s sheer size (its length! its scope!), makes it a little tricky to get your head around. But wow, it looks incredible on Blu-ray.
100Films.co.uk 