jonnybrutal-350-25526

This has all the trappings of a great story but it very rarely delivers. It's hindered by a clunky script and some clichéd characters....oh, and looking at times like an early 70's Dr Who episode. The CGI is below par and overused. The Fog/mist looked like a plug in offered on a budget video programme but I was prepared to forgive all that if it had moved along a little better and with some originality. All the classics are here, the Fog, The Mist, The Thing , Alien and sadly it never properly reared its head above the formulaic approach.

It's not terrible but it's not great either.....shame .

I haven't read the books so I'm watching this with no preconceptions and purely on merit. So far the series has played like an Agatha Christie with many possible antagonists while also running a backplot about disappearing indigenous girls and corruption. Alfred Molina plays the part of troubled detective brilliantly and his selection of sidekicks are excellent character driven parts. The locals that populate 3 pines are very quirky and all carry their fair share of secrets. The setting is beautifully imagined and cinematography is great. Having said all that this series is nothing new but just well done and the characters interesting enough to keep you invested. Recommended.

I may not be the target audience for this film being of relatively mature years but I do enjoy a good superhero movie if it's done well. This feels derivative from start to finish with a story that has to be explained to us via voice over so we're not left scratching our heads. It takes a lot of the clichés from every other(Marvel) film. We have the Rock, clad in a suitable lycra suit with armoured leg warmers and then we have a Pierce Brosnan led Justice league type bunch who are sort of rip offs of various other superheroes. The real issue is you just don't care about any danger or imminent death of any of the characters. It's all very smashy and crashy and the fight sequences are all start stoppy(currently in vogue for action movies) The CGI is pretty good (there's loads of it). The jokes are thin on the ground and it's all a bit too serious. Ol' Dwayne doesn't get his chops round some decent one liners ....something he's rather good at but humour is thin on the ground. The comic character, looks like a giant Deadpool but without the potty mouth and ....well, the jokes.

I wasn't expecting much with this movie and I wasn't disappointed. It entirely lived up to my meagre expectations.