Pacific Rim

This is a cool movie. Great effects, especially when you watch in 3D. It's directed by Guillermo del Toro and stars Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day and others. Kaiju in Japanese means 'giant monster. Jaegers in German means 'hunter'. That's the opening of Pacific Rim.
The movie introduces Kaijus and Jaegers. Kaijus, instead of aliens coming from outer space, are actually coming through a tear in the Pacific floor, or Pacific Rim. It is like a wormhole, or the Breach, for the Kaiju to enter earth. After few attacks, the world came together to pull all resources to create the Jaeger Programme. Gigantic robots built to fight the Kaijus. Jaegers are controlled by humans. However, it must be piloted by two. Two humans that are link or compatible. Their brains are link or they go through a neuron handshake. When 2 becomes 1. Most of which are siblings, twins/triplets or father and son. The Kaijus are rated on 1 being easy and 4 being big and strong. Towards the end, we meet a level 5 Kaiju, bigger and stronger.
Stacker Pentecost deploys the Gipsy Danger on a mission. However, brothers, Raleigh and Yancy Becket, disobeyed orders in order to save a few fishermen. Yancy gets killed and Raleigh blames himself and leads his life by being a wielder at construction sites.
As the world faces more Kaiju attacks, governments build walls to protect them. However, in the news, Australia's wall or Anti-Kaiju walls gets destroyed but gets killed by Jaeger Striker Eureka, piloted by Australian dad and son, Herc and Chuck Hansen. Pentecost arrives at the construction site to recruit Raleigh back. He's the only one that can pilot the Mark 3 Jaeger, the Gipsy Danger, restored. They gather at the Shatterdome, the last stand, especially that the governments pull out the funding for the programme. Here, we meet the Crimson Typhoon (Mark 4), piloted by the Wei triplet, Chinese, with their signature move, the Thundercloud Formation. What is this formation? 3 arms! It has a Chinese touch, 'Thundercloud!' and with the triplet brothers that plays basketball. We also meet the Russian's Cherno Alpha, Mark 1. It has the 'Chernobyl' name to it. And to join the party, the Striker Eureka, Mark 5, fastest Jaeger still standing.
The plan? Go to the tear in the ocean where the Kaiju are appearing, place a nuclear bomb to collapse the bridge or wormhole. Striker will deliver the bomb while the rest providing protection. However, Raleigh has to partner with someone. He chooses Mako Mori, the one involved with the restoration of the Gipsy Danger, due to their compatibility. However, Pentecost rejects. They did a test run. Raleigh and Mako had their neuron handshake. Raleigh realises that Pentecost was the one that saved Mako during a Kaiju attack. And because Mako is emotionally unstable, Pentecost fears she can't control and drifts away into the neuron handshake. Enter the drift is when their brains are link. Raleigh learns that Pentecost piloted a Jaeger by himself before. Those who pilot a Jaeger alone will suffer side effects due to the mental load (left and right brain of the Jaeger). Only Pentecost and Raleigh have ever piloted the Jaeger alone and survived. Another run by Pentecost into a Jaeger would kill him.
Dr. Newton Geiszler and Dr. Hermann Gottlieb studies the Kaiju. As Dr. Hermann studies the occurrences and estimates how many Kaijus are entering and at what speed they will be appearing, Dr. Newton believes that he can link up his brain and one of the Kaiju's brain. He did. And he learned about the Kaiju and requires more information. He goes to Chau, black market dealer for Kaiju remains. Dr. Newt needs a fresh brain in order to drift again. However, two Kaijus appear in Hong Kong. Somehow they can sense where Dr. Newt is. So the Jaegers come to the rescue. Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon gets attack. The Kaiju evolves and defeats them. Especially Kaiju can now ooze acid-like substance, Both Jaegers are destroyed, including the pilot. Striker comes to the rescue but the Kaiju can emit some sort of disruption wave. All electronic devices shuts down. However, Gipsy Danger is nuclear-powered. Gipsy Danger kills the Kaijus. One scene was when we found out Kaiju can fly. It has evolved! However, Gipsy Danger, too, has evolved, with a sword in its arms, killing the Kaiju as it is lifted up to the atmosphere.
As Dr. Newt and Chau harvest the Kaiju parts, one of it is pregnant and a little Kaiju appears and kills those around. However, the funny part, the baby Kaiju died due to strangulation of the umbilical cord around the neck. But not before swallowing Chau up. Dr. Hermann and Dr. Newton link their brain to the Kaiju. They learned the Kaiju are harvested by another alien to take over earth. The aliens send in Kaiju to scout earth, destroy its inhabitants and rule or take over earth so that they can enter the Breach and inhabit it themselves. So this means, the plan to nuke the Breach will not cause the wormhole to collapse. It won't work.
Striker and Gipsy enter the sea heading to the Breach. Striker now is piloted by Chuck Hansen and Pentecost, due to Herc's injured hand from the previous battle at Hong Kong. The Breach is guarded by Kaijus. Kaijus attack the Jaegers.  At this point, a level 5 Kaiju appears. Biggest and strongest. Striker sacrifices itself by blowing up the nuke. We see Chuck humbled, he was previously all high and mighty. As Striker is blown up, it gives Gipsy a chance to enter the Breach. However, only a Kaiju can enter the Breach. Gipsy attacks one of the, still alive, Kaiju and goes through the Breach into the alien place. As oxygen is running out, Raleigh ejects Mako into the escape pod, he can't self destruct automatically, so he has to do it manually, and escapes on the pod. Gipsy Danger detonates, destroying the alien home world. Raleigh and Mako escapes the wormhole before it collapse completely. They are rescued.
This movie is said to be like Ultraman or Transformers. However, it isn't. Especially, given the fact that the Jaeger is way bigger than the Transformers and Jaegers are controlled by humans, instead of an alien being using human as host for Ultraman. Still, Ultraman and Transformers are great in their movies too.
This movie is cool in its effects and I've seen it twice, so far!

Now You See Me

"Come in closer, because the more you think you see, the easy it'll be to fool you" (Morgan Freeman's opening line from the trailer).

Now You See Me stars Isla Fisher (sexy!), Morgan Freeman, Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Eisenberg, Michael Caine, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, and many more.

The movie starts off with J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg) showing a card trick with the opening line "the closer you look, the less you’ll see". He flips through a deck of cards, the audience remembers a card, and it is shown on the side of the building. And if you're watching the film, I bet you were seeing the same card as well (I was). Next was Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher) handcuff and drop into the casing of water with piranhas on top. If she can't escape in time, the piranhas will be release into the case. The piranhas was released and I thought that was a quick death within the first 5 minutes of the film. But it was just a magic trick. She appeared within the crowds. There is also Jack Wilder, who was doing another card trick but his trick was exposed. So he walked away. But the person who exposed his trick was robber by Jack. Next character, Merritt McKinney, he is seen as a hypnotist. He hypnotize a couple, the husband was cheating on the wife, Merritt ask the husband to pay him if the husband wants the wife to forget.

Each of these magicians are followed by a mysterious person in a hood. And each are given a Tarot card representing a different meaning. They are brought together by a mysterious benefactor. A year later, they perform under the name "The Four Horsemen" sponsored by Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine). The Four Horsemen invite an audience on stage and teleport him to his bank in Paris. All the money are vacuum, the selected audience put his ticket as proof, the bank opens and saw the ticket, and the money vacuumed are showered onto the crowd in the magic show (Las Vegas).

The FBI steps in to investigate, FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) and partnered with Interpol Agent Alma Dray (Melanie Laurent). In the scene where the Four Horsemen are interrogated, Atlas changed his handcuffs onto Rhodes. The Four Horsemen are released with no proofs to the Paris bank robbery. Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) meets Rhodes and explains that he can debunked the Four Horsemen's magic. Bradley is an ex-magician who debunks magic tricks to make money.

On the next performance of the Four Horsemen, Bradley, Dray, and Rhodes joins in to see what's their next magic trick. The magic is to make every audience's bank account be filled with money. I wish it was true for my account. During the performance, Merritt hypnotize a few audience to tackle (American Football / Rugby) anyone who yells 'Freeze'.  The Four Horsemen invites their sponsor, Tressler onto the the stage. They show his bank account amount on a giant placard. The number magically changes, reducing Tressler's money in the bank. The Four Horsemen said that the money is in return to those in the audience that have been denied from Tressler's company. Rhodes chases and yells 'Freeze'. The audience that was earlier hypnotized tackle Rhodes.

Dray gets into the magic and learns a thing or too. She further learns that there is a group called 'The Eye' that is a secret society of magicians. Somehow there was a link to a magician who died in the past, Lionel Shrike, whom was exposed by Bradley. Shrike died when he was challenged and humiliated by Bradley. Tressler hires Bradley to help expose the Four Horsemen.

Rhodes locates the Four Horsemen's hideout in the city itself. The rest manage to escape except Wilder. Wilder steals a car, FBI gives chase, Wilder's car hits the road divider and flips. Rhodes manages to take a blueprint. The FBI finds out that the Four Horsemen are targeting a safe, they interrupt the safe en route to 5 Pointz, and found it empty. Rhodes suspects that there could be a fifth Horsemen that manipulates the FBI and is controlling the whole case. Rhodes becomes obsess with the case. However, another FBI team takes over when their case somehow links to Rhodes' case. 

In their final performance, the Four (or three) Horsemen jumps off the rooftop and turns into money raining down on the audiences. Rhodes finally shows defeat to the case as he feels the Horsemen keeps on outwitting him. However, the money raining down appears to be fake. As Bradley returns to his car, the real money pops up along with FBI agents to arrest him. Bradley was framed.

In prison, Bradley is visited by Rhodes. He makes a deal with Rhodes to expose the Four Horsemen's magic trick in return of getting out of prison. However, Bradley is still puzzled as to why did the Horsemen went through all the trouble and meticulous planning. Rhodes, who was in the prison with Bradley, suddenly appears outside the prison and Bradley is surprised. Bradley soon realises that Rhodes is the fifth Horsemen and the one behind the whole plan.

As the Four Horsemen reunites (Wilder returns. He fakes his death). They are reunited at a funfair by the merry-go-round. With their Tarot cards, it unlocks the card in the tree and turns on the merry-go-round. Rhodes appears and reveals that he was the mysterious benefactor bringing them together to get back at the people that cause Shrike's humiliation and death. Shrike, being Rhodes' father. The Paris bank, Tressler's company who refuses to pay the death insurance, the company that produced the safe for Shrike's trick and Bradley for exposing Shrike's trick. Rhodes tells the Four Horsemen that The Eye recruited him and invites them to join. The end is Dray meets Rhodes at the Seine River.

It was a great movie about magic. The plot was good and definitely interesting how the twist turn out.

Unknown

Unknown, is an action movie starring Liam Neeson. The movie was great because it has more hand combat compared to using gadgetry in fighting scenes. Good old ass-kicking. However, at the start of the movie, Liam doesn’t posses ‘a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career’.

The general story of this movie is Liam’s character, Dr. Martin Harris, comes to Berlin, with his wife, Elizabeth, as a speaker at a Bio Tech conference. Upon arriving at the hotel, Martin realises his suitcase is not with him and could be at the airport. However, on the way to the airport, he encounters an accident. The driver, Gina, ran away while Martin is treated by the medical team. He was in a coma and woken up to find his identity has been stolen by another person, his wife doesn’t recognise him. No one could vouch for him in Berlin. The only person he could trust at that point was Rodney Cole, his friend/colleague/boss, whom Martin called. Martin goes through great lengths to prove that he really is Dr. Martin Harris. When he returned to the hotel, he goes to find his wife but, suddenly, his wife doesn't recognise him and another Dr. Martin Harris appears. Martin is sure it is a lie. But then with quick thinking, he says he needs to get back to the hospital. He goes back to the hospital, with the help of the nurse, she gave Martin a contact that can help him. Her contact, Ernst Jurgen, can find what he needs. The doctor wanted to check Martin's MRI, however, they are attack by an assassin. The assassin drugged Martin. However, Martin manage to escape. He tries to piece the puzzle together and remembered the taxi drive, Gina (played by Diane Kruger). And he tracks her down, she doesn't wants to help but end up helping him. Martin thinks his wife is threatened. However, it was learned that she's part of the bad guy. They (Elizabeth and the copycat Martin) were there to robbed Prof. Bressler of his research. They were hired by anonymous employer (makes you wonder, could this lead to Unknown sequel? To find out who the anonymous employer is?). Ernst helps Martin. It is revealed that the plan was to kill the prince that contributes to the conference. Rodney appeared in Berlin and meets Ernst. Ernst reveals that his investigation led him to find out of a secret operation where Rodney and his team infiltrate the conference. It's a covert team that are rarely heard by people. Ernst, a war person himself, reveals to Rodney and ask what happens if Martin knows? And Ernst commits suicide by taking cyanide. Rodney meets Martin at the airport and kidnaps him. Gina saw the kidnapping and followed. Rodney tells Martin the truth and says that Martin was his best before he hit his head and think he really was Martin Harris. Gina comes and rescues. Martin realises that he used to be a spy and he didn't like what he knows. But Gina convince Martin to stop his initial mission at Berlin. Martin goes back to the hotel. It is revealed, however, that the plan was not to kill the prince, but was to use it as a cover up to steal Bressler's research. His research was creating crops that can grow in harsh environments.

At the party, Elizabeth downloads Bressler's files from his laptop by using Bressler's password (the flower names in Martin's book, which is also his daughter's name). Martin tells the hotel security the story and check old recordings of him when Elizabeth and Martin was in Berlin. As Martin interrupts, and the plan of bombing the suite fails, Elizabeth goes back to off the bomb, but she failed. The bomb causes the hotel suite to blow up and damages to the hotel. Martin and the copycat Martin gets into a fight. As Martin hits his head, he gets his memory back. And he tells the copycat, "I didn't forget everything. I still remember how to kill you!".

Going for a sequel? It might be possible if there was an expansion of other characters that may be involved with Liam’s character. And perhaps to answer, who was the anonymous employer of Martin's mission?

TRON : Legacy

TRON Legacy is a sequel to the 1982 film, TRON. The story tells of Flynn, who now has a son, Sam. Sam grew up without a dad. One day, he stumbles upon the game his dad created, TRON and was digitize into the world of TRON. And he meets his dad, rivals, a gal and they all are in search to find a way out of TRON into the real world. As CLU (Codified Likeness Utility) is revealed in the likeness of Flynn, it is soon known that CLU is the baddie. CLU was built as to manage the digital realm. Tron was built as the security programme created by Alan. The disc on the back of each characters is their identify disc that contains all information of who they are. And the discs are use as a weapon. However, Flynn's disc is the main disc that contains all information and the key to escaping through the portal. Kinda like the master key to everything in digital realm. In one scene, as Quorra's hand was cut off (which makes you wonder, other programms will be derezzed (or killed, eliminated, deresolve) when they get cut off, but how come Quorra's hand is the only casualty), anyways, in one scene, we see Flynn opening the disc and playing around with some settings. Kinda like fixing the DNA of Quorra. As to CLU's objective was to create perfection, CLU soon realises that the ISOs (Isomorphic Algorithm) were imperfect of the digital realm. Hence, CLU destroys the ISOs. Flynn however, was in awe that there were ISOs appearing, to discover more as it may answer the questions of religion, science, and medicine. Soon CLU believes that Flynn isn't perfect, hence decides to eliminate Flynn. But CLU is stopped by Tron, which we see is about to be killed. As Sam is sucked into the game, after escaping CLU, he finds Quorra, an ISO that is looked after the Flynn. As they find a way to escape, through the portal, they encounter battles with CLU and his army, including his right hand man, or programme. Towards the end, we see the right hand man actually being Tron that was reprogramme by CLU to be bad. Tron soon turn good and dives into CLU's ship to give time to Sam, Quorra and Flynn to escape. However, CLU catches up with them at the portal. Flynn sacrifices himself in order to save Sam and Quorra. Sam and Quorra escaped into the real world. And Quorra's dream of feeling the sun's ray was fulfilled when Sam brought her on his bike in the morning as the sun rises.

Watching this movie, I would say it would fit for those into the cyber or gaming world. It would take some time to understand the lingo. However, for Flynn’s character, his lingo sticks with the ‘hey dude’ era because he has been trapped in TRON all this while. The effects for the film is cool and if only we had a stick that can be transformed into a vehicle of sorts.

However, after watching TRON Legacy, I went on to watch the original TRON (1982) and it was cool in the ’80 era days. Watching the 1982 version made me want to say the word ‘psychedelic’. There are similarities between both movies, example: When Flynn enters through the big door, he said ‘That’s a big door’, this was similar when Sam sneak into the office. Even though a short insertion of such, it was part of the essence of the first to the second movie. Besides that, of course visual effects was a huge difference. The technology they had in 1982 compared to 2010 was visually impossible to miss. Example: the cardboard-like suit to the computer-generated suit, and the light effects of the light cycle.

Overall, the movie’s main attraction for me was the visual effects and I would love to see a sequel.

Sanctum

Sanctum is a movie directed by James Cameron. The movie is about a group of people led by a cave explorer specialist / master diver. However, they got trapped. And the whole story would revolve around finding a way out and in the process every person’s life is revealed, disputes happen and people die.

The movie starts off introducing each character and straight to the cave exploration bit. Character development wise was average. The stars of the movie was the one bringing the movie to stand out but apart from that, take them out and the movie may fail. The great thing about the movie are the effects from James Cameron, as we may remember from Titanic. As the movie moves on, it couldn't be worse than having flash floods in the cave. The cave begins to flood, the storm worsen, and chances of escaping the cave became difficult. For the ending, it was, like, what? that’s the ending? Only one person escaped; the son. He found an opening, reached the beach and people nearby is seen coming to his rescue.

If you’re into body parts being chopped off, bones poking out of the body, people falling off from high places while seeing their body hit against rocks and sound of bones cracking, then you can enjoy the movie. For me, it was kind of gory. Why? Because the movie really shows you what happen in any accidents that happened. Eww…Every new place they find in the caves will only end up with someone dying. I guess perhaps that’s why they call it ‘Sanctum’, which means sacred place.

As the movie is in 3D, that really brings the effects to life. You’ll be watching it feeling chills down your spine when something sudden happen or even feel breathless when they dive under water. 3D movies are getting popular with new movies coming up.