hennyxu
Joined Dec 2012
Welcome to the new profile
Our updates are still in development. While the previous version of the profile is no longer accessible, we're actively working on improvements, and some of the missing features will be returning soon! Stay tuned for their return. In the meantime, the Ratings Analysis is still available on our iOS and Android apps, found on the profile page. To view your Rating Distribution(s) by Year and Genre, please refer to our new Help guide.
Badges2
To learn how to earn badges, go to the badges help page.
Ratings195
hennyxu's rating
Reviews24
hennyxu's rating
Henny's Movie Review: Bright (no spoilers)
In five words: TV movie with untapped potential.
Bright is a Netflix movie with an original take on the well-known "buddy cop" genre. Set in present Los Angeles, similar to our own, the movie tells a story of a world where fantasy creatures like orgs and elves live among us. Like most buddy cop movies our protagonists get into trouble and they have to solve it before the end credits roll. The movie has an intriguing setup with much potential to become a franchise; however with a meager story and 90s television quality filming it was mostly noise. I think everyone who is BRIGHT enough should watch something else on Netflix.
The story follows a human cop (played by Will Smith) and his org partner (played by Joel Edgerton) doing their job when they are called to investigate a building. There they discover an ancient weapon and learn that they have to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. As aforementioned the story is quite meager and the only saving grace is the interaction between the two protagonists. The cinematography sets a grim depiction of LA with org street gangs ruling the streets, and it is mostly shot at night. The music is almost non-existent, which can also be said for the antagonist, setup and payoff. The three act structure of the movie consists of an unimpressive quite boring beginning, almost no middle (mostly noise), and an anticlimactic ending.
The movie fails on almost all levels. The story needs more depth, especially since we are talking about a mystical world with magic. I understand that the movie isn't focused on telling an epic story, but tries to tell a more grounded story. A story about a couple of cops doing their daily jobs in a mythical world. I get that, but why do all the characters react like this is a big event. All I'm trying to say is that the story doesn't fit how everyone is reacting. In addition the movie attempts to depict a world with different social classes where the Elves represent the rich, humans the middle class, and the orgs the lower class. Even though this is an interesting setup this aspect of the movie is dropped almost immediately after it was introduced (like most things in this movie). There are side stories that go nowhere and instead of setting up a scene, in order for it to be paid off later, the movie tend to run through it all without any setup. The movie uses close-ups for most scenes and everything is framed in the middle (like 90s television shows). This limits the world that they are trying to build and sometimes detracts us from what is truly important. Furthermore, the most important thing for a movie that is character focused is to show character growth, well there is very little of it.
Does that mean that the movie has nothing positive? Well no, I can without a doubt say that the org cop has some funny lines and moment and in my opinion should have been the main character. Also there are some action scenes where they slow everything down, which is also quite good. And lastly the make-up, CGI, and practical effects were very good.
Really people there are a lot of better things out there that can truly brighten your day.
I give this movie a 4.
In five words: TV movie with untapped potential.
Bright is a Netflix movie with an original take on the well-known "buddy cop" genre. Set in present Los Angeles, similar to our own, the movie tells a story of a world where fantasy creatures like orgs and elves live among us. Like most buddy cop movies our protagonists get into trouble and they have to solve it before the end credits roll. The movie has an intriguing setup with much potential to become a franchise; however with a meager story and 90s television quality filming it was mostly noise. I think everyone who is BRIGHT enough should watch something else on Netflix.
The story follows a human cop (played by Will Smith) and his org partner (played by Joel Edgerton) doing their job when they are called to investigate a building. There they discover an ancient weapon and learn that they have to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. As aforementioned the story is quite meager and the only saving grace is the interaction between the two protagonists. The cinematography sets a grim depiction of LA with org street gangs ruling the streets, and it is mostly shot at night. The music is almost non-existent, which can also be said for the antagonist, setup and payoff. The three act structure of the movie consists of an unimpressive quite boring beginning, almost no middle (mostly noise), and an anticlimactic ending.
The movie fails on almost all levels. The story needs more depth, especially since we are talking about a mystical world with magic. I understand that the movie isn't focused on telling an epic story, but tries to tell a more grounded story. A story about a couple of cops doing their daily jobs in a mythical world. I get that, but why do all the characters react like this is a big event. All I'm trying to say is that the story doesn't fit how everyone is reacting. In addition the movie attempts to depict a world with different social classes where the Elves represent the rich, humans the middle class, and the orgs the lower class. Even though this is an interesting setup this aspect of the movie is dropped almost immediately after it was introduced (like most things in this movie). There are side stories that go nowhere and instead of setting up a scene, in order for it to be paid off later, the movie tend to run through it all without any setup. The movie uses close-ups for most scenes and everything is framed in the middle (like 90s television shows). This limits the world that they are trying to build and sometimes detracts us from what is truly important. Furthermore, the most important thing for a movie that is character focused is to show character growth, well there is very little of it.
Does that mean that the movie has nothing positive? Well no, I can without a doubt say that the org cop has some funny lines and moment and in my opinion should have been the main character. Also there are some action scenes where they slow everything down, which is also quite good. And lastly the make-up, CGI, and practical effects were very good.
Really people there are a lot of better things out there that can truly brighten your day.
I give this movie a 4.
Good movie with a good setup, focus, character development, tension and great pacing. It isn't original in anyway and certain parts are quite predictable, however the movie delivers everything marvelously with a great pacing and balance. Furthermore, the movie is very short only 1 hour and 30 minutes. So stop reading and start watching.
This may all sound familiar, we find a sample or organism in space and we try to analyze it only to find out it is hostile. It is the basic setup as Alien and/or Species; however is that a bad thing? Alien is considered a master piece by most and it is a recommended watch, Species not so much. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and when a movie is good we don't need to compare them, just enjoy them.
As aforementioned Life is quite short and within this short time the director is able to give us a hopeful beginning, tense middle with good character development, and a well enough ending. The cinematography is similar to the movie Gravity (2013) with a realistic view of space and the ISS. The music isn't anything special but it does its job to underscore the moments. What really stands out is the balance and pacing of the movie. The director knows how to setup a moment and how to pay it off later. Together with a fast pacing the movie almost never felt like it dragged on for too long (maybe a little at the end).
The movie's protagonist isn't one person but a group. It consists of 5 astronauts on the ISS doing research on a Martian specimen. Each member has their own function on the ISS and gets their own moment to shine in the movie. The antagonist, is off course the Martian organism, however the movie tells it from a neutral perspective, basically it isn't evil it just tries to survive.
That is it really. It is a shorter review than usual, but hey it is a short movie. Off course I can nitpick every small detail and give you all a detailed comparison with other movies, but this time it isn't about that. It is just me telling you that I liked the movie and that I can honestly recommend it.
It is a good watch.
I give this movie a 7.
This may all sound familiar, we find a sample or organism in space and we try to analyze it only to find out it is hostile. It is the basic setup as Alien and/or Species; however is that a bad thing? Alien is considered a master piece by most and it is a recommended watch, Species not so much. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and when a movie is good we don't need to compare them, just enjoy them.
As aforementioned Life is quite short and within this short time the director is able to give us a hopeful beginning, tense middle with good character development, and a well enough ending. The cinematography is similar to the movie Gravity (2013) with a realistic view of space and the ISS. The music isn't anything special but it does its job to underscore the moments. What really stands out is the balance and pacing of the movie. The director knows how to setup a moment and how to pay it off later. Together with a fast pacing the movie almost never felt like it dragged on for too long (maybe a little at the end).
The movie's protagonist isn't one person but a group. It consists of 5 astronauts on the ISS doing research on a Martian specimen. Each member has their own function on the ISS and gets their own moment to shine in the movie. The antagonist, is off course the Martian organism, however the movie tells it from a neutral perspective, basically it isn't evil it just tries to survive.
That is it really. It is a shorter review than usual, but hey it is a short movie. Off course I can nitpick every small detail and give you all a detailed comparison with other movies, but this time it isn't about that. It is just me telling you that I liked the movie and that I can honestly recommend it.
It is a good watch.
I give this movie a 7.
The fifth movie in the Pirates of The Caribbean franchise is promoted as the final chapter. It will be the last time we'll see Jack Sparrow sail the open seas on the Black Pearl and follow him on a crazy adventure, depending on the box office results off course. So did they close the franchise with a swansong or did they jump the shark. Well let's order some rum and "drink up me hearties yoho!" and dive into "Davy Jones' locker" to review this movie.
First some background about the franchise. Pirates of the Caribbean is a movie franchise that started strong with a movie that breathed new life into the pirate movie genre in 2003. A genre that died in 1996 with Cutthroat Island starring Geena Davis. The first movie "The Curse of The Black Pearl" is a good and entertaining movie with a strong story and well balanced action and humor. This is also the first time we see Johnny Depp play a drunk and brilliant pirate named Jack Sparrow.
Following the success of The Black Pearl, Disney decided to shoot the back-to-back resulting in mediocre action movies with a convoluted story. The fourth movie however completely jumped the shark by including an uninteresting villain and a story that made no sense; furthermore it primarily focused on Jack Sparrow. Don't take me wrong, Jack Sparrow is a brilliant and funny character; however the fourth installment showed us that he can't carry a movie. So how is the fifth and final movie?
Story: The fifth movie is about a boy named Henry Turner whom wants to find the trident of Poseidon in order to free his father from a curse. To achieve this he needs the help of Jack Sparrow and a horologist named Carina Smyth. During this endeavor they are followed by Captain Salazar an old enemy of Jack Sparrow's and he is seeking revenge. While this is the main outline there are also multiple other side stories and none of them are paid-off properly, resulting in some plot holes. Basically they tried to juggle too many story lines and in the end they ended up with nothing. A shame though because there is a specific side-story about the character Carina Smyth that had much potential and in my opinion should've been the main story.
Characters: There are too many characters in this movie and they all do not have enough screen time to fully develop. Together with an unfocused story it isn't always clear who the main character truly is:
Carina Smyth (played by: Kaya Scodelario), a girl who tried to follow in her father's footsteps as a scientist. She is headstrong, inventive and personally I think she should have been the main focus of the movie. Her story has so much potential. She is portrait reasonably by Kaya and I think she can do better, however the script is letting her down.
Henry Turner (played by: Brenton Thwaites), the son of the main character from the previous movies Will Turner (played by: Orlando Bloom aka Legolas). He is adventures, innocent and focused on freeing his father from the curse. He doesn't really do much in the movie. A forgettable character and the performance by Brenton was bland.
Jack Sparrow (played by: Johnny Depp), worst performance yet by Depp. The character was entertaining in the previous movies, partly because we see a new side of Jack Sparrow, in this we're just going through the motions. While it is interesting to see his younger self and his relation with Captain Salazar it is regrettable that we never truly see this character grow.
Hector Barbossa (played by: Geoffrey Rush), I've said it once and I'm saying it again he should've been the lead in the previous movie and especially this movie. I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll keep it a bit cryptic. His part in this movie is a little short; however it has soooooo much potential. If only Geoffrey Rush had more lines and a better script this movie could've been great.
Cinematography: Nothing truly noteworthy. If you've seen the previous movies you'll know that the in camera shots on the sea are beautiful to look at. The CGI effects are a little dated but still good enough.
Three-Act-Structure: Beginning: The movie starts strong, mysterious followed by over the top action. However, after I don't know how long (felt like an hour), they were still introducing characters and unnecessarily fighting and it dragged.
Middle: Almost non-existent mostly action scenes and no character development. At least none that truly mattered.
End: Really, this movie has a dragged out beginning, and after that an anticlimactic ending. Because the movie doesn't give us any time to truly connect with the characters. They are mostly used to setup the next action scene or plot. And because of this we are not emotionally invested in their motivations and choices, resulting in a specific moment at the end of the movie that really wasn't earned.
Conclusion: A shame that is the only thing I can truly and honestly say about this movie. If they only had focused the story on the female lead Carina and invested time and money to rewrite the script they could've made one of the best pirates movie to end the franchise. As aforementioned, most of the stories aren't fleshed out properly and even though Salazar is portrait as the main villain he didn't leave an impression on me. It was mostly a copy paste work with interesting ideas and some with much potential.
So even though this movie isn't any good it is important to note that it didn't commit the unforgivable SIN a movie can ever commit and that is being boring. If you don't overthink it and just go with the flow, I think you'll have a good time.
First some background about the franchise. Pirates of the Caribbean is a movie franchise that started strong with a movie that breathed new life into the pirate movie genre in 2003. A genre that died in 1996 with Cutthroat Island starring Geena Davis. The first movie "The Curse of The Black Pearl" is a good and entertaining movie with a strong story and well balanced action and humor. This is also the first time we see Johnny Depp play a drunk and brilliant pirate named Jack Sparrow.
Following the success of The Black Pearl, Disney decided to shoot the back-to-back resulting in mediocre action movies with a convoluted story. The fourth movie however completely jumped the shark by including an uninteresting villain and a story that made no sense; furthermore it primarily focused on Jack Sparrow. Don't take me wrong, Jack Sparrow is a brilliant and funny character; however the fourth installment showed us that he can't carry a movie. So how is the fifth and final movie?
Story: The fifth movie is about a boy named Henry Turner whom wants to find the trident of Poseidon in order to free his father from a curse. To achieve this he needs the help of Jack Sparrow and a horologist named Carina Smyth. During this endeavor they are followed by Captain Salazar an old enemy of Jack Sparrow's and he is seeking revenge. While this is the main outline there are also multiple other side stories and none of them are paid-off properly, resulting in some plot holes. Basically they tried to juggle too many story lines and in the end they ended up with nothing. A shame though because there is a specific side-story about the character Carina Smyth that had much potential and in my opinion should've been the main story.
Characters: There are too many characters in this movie and they all do not have enough screen time to fully develop. Together with an unfocused story it isn't always clear who the main character truly is:
Carina Smyth (played by: Kaya Scodelario), a girl who tried to follow in her father's footsteps as a scientist. She is headstrong, inventive and personally I think she should have been the main focus of the movie. Her story has so much potential. She is portrait reasonably by Kaya and I think she can do better, however the script is letting her down.
Henry Turner (played by: Brenton Thwaites), the son of the main character from the previous movies Will Turner (played by: Orlando Bloom aka Legolas). He is adventures, innocent and focused on freeing his father from the curse. He doesn't really do much in the movie. A forgettable character and the performance by Brenton was bland.
Jack Sparrow (played by: Johnny Depp), worst performance yet by Depp. The character was entertaining in the previous movies, partly because we see a new side of Jack Sparrow, in this we're just going through the motions. While it is interesting to see his younger self and his relation with Captain Salazar it is regrettable that we never truly see this character grow.
Hector Barbossa (played by: Geoffrey Rush), I've said it once and I'm saying it again he should've been the lead in the previous movie and especially this movie. I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll keep it a bit cryptic. His part in this movie is a little short; however it has soooooo much potential. If only Geoffrey Rush had more lines and a better script this movie could've been great.
Cinematography: Nothing truly noteworthy. If you've seen the previous movies you'll know that the in camera shots on the sea are beautiful to look at. The CGI effects are a little dated but still good enough.
Three-Act-Structure: Beginning: The movie starts strong, mysterious followed by over the top action. However, after I don't know how long (felt like an hour), they were still introducing characters and unnecessarily fighting and it dragged.
Middle: Almost non-existent mostly action scenes and no character development. At least none that truly mattered.
End: Really, this movie has a dragged out beginning, and after that an anticlimactic ending. Because the movie doesn't give us any time to truly connect with the characters. They are mostly used to setup the next action scene or plot. And because of this we are not emotionally invested in their motivations and choices, resulting in a specific moment at the end of the movie that really wasn't earned.
Conclusion: A shame that is the only thing I can truly and honestly say about this movie. If they only had focused the story on the female lead Carina and invested time and money to rewrite the script they could've made one of the best pirates movie to end the franchise. As aforementioned, most of the stories aren't fleshed out properly and even though Salazar is portrait as the main villain he didn't leave an impression on me. It was mostly a copy paste work with interesting ideas and some with much potential.
So even though this movie isn't any good it is important to note that it didn't commit the unforgivable SIN a movie can ever commit and that is being boring. If you don't overthink it and just go with the flow, I think you'll have a good time.