The Expendables 2 (2012)

I've been operating the very blog you're reading right now for nine years this month, and it should be no secret by now that I really like horror movies and stuff with superheroes. But while I might be pigeonholing myself as a guy who writes reviews of just those two particular genres, I do in fact enjoy other types of movies. Like, for example, action movies. I really dig action movies. If there's a new Jason Statham movie coming out or I've heard Liam Neeson made a new movie similar to Taken, I'm going to be first in line to see them. And that's why, two years ago, I was super-excited to see The Expendables. It was the basic equivalent of an action movie all-star game, with almost every big action star of the '80s and '90s (with a few exceptions) having been assembled to kick some ass.

The Expendables was an awesome throwback to those old-school action movies, but if those movies it paid homage to knew anything, it was that bigger is better. That philosophy was strictly adhered to when the usual suspects got back together to make another Expendables movie. More explosions, more fast-paced action, more humor, and more famous faces are the name of the game in The Expendables 2, a move that only makes things a hell of a lot more fun.

Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) and his merry band of mercenaries known as "The Expendables" are still up to their old tricks, chasing paychecks and causing general mischief and mayhem wherever they go. But their relaxation between jobs will be short-lived, because the enigmatic CIA operative Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) is still quite unhappy with how they handled the job he'd given them in the first movie. He offers to forgive their debt and keep them out of federal prison if they'll merely retrieve an item from a helicopter that crashed in the Albanian mountains.

Accompanied by technical wizard Maggie Chan (Yu Nan), the Expendables successfully retrieve their quarry. They're intercepted, however, a gang of thugs led by Jean Vilain (Jean-Claude Van Damme), an international arms dealer and all-around monster. Vilain forcibly wrests the item away from their custody and absconds with it, but not before mercilessly killing one of the Expendables in cold blood.

This is a tremendously bad turn of events, as it turns out the item is a computer loaded with the coordinates of five tons of refined plutonium that had been abandoned by the Soviet Union after the Cold War ended. And with that much plutonium, Vilain could create more nuclear weapons than military superpower could ever want. Swearing revenge for the death of their comrade and unwilling to allow that plutonium to fall into the wrong hands, the Expendables ― with a little backup from fellow mercenaries Trench (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Booker (Chuck Norris) ― must prepare themselves for an all-out war.

The Expendables 2 provides practically everything I could possibly want in an action movie. It's full of over-the-top action, corny one-liners, and an overall feeling of fun. The movie never once tries to do anything more than entertain its audience with the best thrill ride it could build. And I honestly wouldn't expect or desire anything more out of it. It does exactly what it needs to do, and that's to simply be fun. I'm not kidding when I say that The Expendables 2 was one of the most purely fun movies I've seen in a theater all year.

Sylvester Stallone steps away from the director's chair he occupied during the first movie and lets Simon West take the reins this time around. Considering that West has movies like Con Air and the remake of The Mechanic under his belt, he's not that bad a choice to make when looking for someone to direct an Expendables sequel. And West actually does a great job behind the camera, keeping the movie fast-paced and never once letting it slow down. The movie's adrenaline stays high from the first frames of the movie to the end of the closing credits.

The first ten minutes alone are worth the price of admission, starting the movie with the most high-octane opening sequence I've seen in an incredibly long time. I'd dare go as far as to say that if the movie had ended as soon as this sequence did, it would have been the greatest action movie of all time. Between West's direction (which thankfully uses none of that shaky-cam crap whatsoever) and the well-done efforts of the cast and crew, it's the perfect way to open the movie. It sets the proper tone and really establishes just what kind of movie we're in for.

And usually I'll move along from the direction to the script, but in the case of movies like this one, there's really no serious need to. Credited to Richard Wenk and Sylvester Stallone, the script has precious little in the way of character development or thought-provoking storytelling. But nobody will be watching the movie for anything like that. All they really give us, all the movie really needs, are a bunch of badass characters and a few shy winks at the audience. These little nods to the audience are full of veiled (and not-so-veiled) references to the past work of some of the movie's stars, and though a couple of the jokes are a little hokey, I never felt like they were forced. The fact that they actually worked a "Chuck Norris Fact" into the dialogue is a little weird, but it was still a tremendously funny gag to throw in.

Last but not least is the cast, which ― like the first Expendables ― is full of big-name action stars and a few lesser-known actors. The entire ensemble is great together, each of whom get their own moments to shine in their own ways. Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham have an amusing chemistry together, making their characters' constant friendly bickering a lot of fun to watch. There are also some charming performances from Terry Crews and Dolph Lundgren, while Yu Nan and Randy Couture are pretty good in their parts. Liam Hemsworth is also quite likable and sympathetic in his role as the new guy on the team.

And while the brief appearances of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, and Chuck Norris are some of the best parts of the movie, my favorite performance comes from Jean-Claude Van Damme. He plays one hell of an awesome villain, portraying the character as a heartless monster who's cold as ice. Van Damme is playing way against type here, something he should do more often because he's a great bad guy.

So as you've probably guessed by now, I really dug The Expendables 2. I'd actually go as far as to say it's better than the first one. The movie is everything an action movie should be: fun, exciting, entertaining, and action-packed. And I know I said this about the first Expendables, but the only thing that could have made the movie better is if it had been a Golan-Globus production from Cannon Films. That would have made it perfect. Alas, that didn't happen, but the movie is still awesome and gets four stars on my usual scale. I actually heard that they're trying to get Wesley Snipes, Steven Seagal, and Clint Eastwood to appear in a third Expendables movie. If they could accomplish that and find a way to resurrect Charles Bronson, that would be the most awesome thing ever.

Final Rating: ****

Total Recall (2012)

The practice is nearly as old as cinema itself, but it seems like remakes have grown more and more prevalent over the last ten years. I guess Hollywood figures that if singers can find success covering songs, why can't studios cover movies? The majority of recent remakes have been adapted from movies released during the '60s, '70s, and '80s, which allows enough time to have passed for these new takes to seem fresh.

But then along came a remake of a movie made during the '90s. Remakes of more recent movies are nothing new, but they've mostly been relegated to movies made in non-English speaking countries in Asia and Europe. They wouldn't have any real name recognition in America to begin with, so they're fair game. But Sony and Columbia Pictures chose to remake Total Recall, a movie that if it were a person would be barely old enough to drink. But I guess I shouldn't be complaining too much, since I have a hard time putting anything past Hollywood anymore. But what worries me the most is just how they'd handle the movie, especially considering that the original is one of my favorite sci-fi movies of all time. I guess there's only one way to find out, so let's dig into the 2012 iteration of Total Recall and see if they can do any better than Paul Verhoeven and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

By the end of the twenty-first century, Earth will have been devastated by chemical warfare. Much of the planet is uninhabitable, with only two regions left able to comfortably support life. Political superpowers have divvied up these regions; the affluent United Federation of Britain encompasses the British Isles and parts of northern France, while Australia has become "The Colony," home to the majority of the world's working class.

Among the Colony's blue-collar workers is Doug Quaid (Colin Farrell), a factory worker who's grown weary of his mundane day-to-day life. Against the wishes of his wife Lori (Kate Beckinsale) and the advice of his friends, Quaid pays a visit to Rekall, a business that specializes in implanting fake memories into the minds of their customers. The only catch, as Rekall's director (John Cho) explains it to Quaid, is that the implanted memories cannot resemble one's real life experiences or it could risk causing a mental breakdown.

Quaid opts for a "secret agent" scenario to be implanted, but the procedure immediately goes awry as the memories of having been a secret agent are already in his brain. He instinctively kills a team of commandoes that kick down Rekall's door, amazed and horrified that he was actually capable of such a thing. He returns home and confesses the whole thing to Lori, who doesn't exactly take the news of his trip to Rekall well. Even she tries to kill him, revealing in the process that she's not really his wife, but an undercover government agent assigned to monitor him six weeks earlier.

With Lori leading every commando, mercenary, and police officer she can assemble in a manhunt for Quaid, he only finds a little safety when he's rescued by a mysterious woman named Melina (Jessica Biel). She explains to Quaid that he's really Carl Hauser, a spy who answered only to UFB Chancellor Vilos Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston). After he developed sympathies for an anti-UFB resistance movement in the Colony, he was captured and had his mind wiped, with his life as "Doug Quaid" implanted as a suppressive measure. Unsure of his own identity, Quaid now finds himself in the middle of a war between Cohaagan and Lori's soldiers and the Colony's freedom fighters, with both sides fighting to find a piece of crucial information locked deep within the recesses of Quaid's mind.

While I entered Total Recall with some slight trepidation because of my affection for the original movie, I left the theater pleasantly surprised. I honestly liked the movie a lot more than I thought I would. The movie provides not only a lot of fun moments for people familiar with the Arnold Schwarzenegger version, but it goes its own way in some aspects, which I respected. If it had been just a carbon copy of the 1990 movie, then I probably would have resented and disliked it. But I did indeed enjoy the new Total Recall, even if it did have a few flaws.

The movie was directed by Len Wiseman, who'd previously helmed the first two Underworld movies and Live Free or Die Hard. His work with flashy action movies certainly made him seem like a decent enough choice to make a Total Recall remake, and I don't think he disappointed. For starters, it's nice to see that Wiseman didn't go overboard with the shaky, jittery camerawork that a lot of action movies utilize nowadays. I will, however, concede that he probably went a little overboard with the slow-motion "somebody jumps from one ledge to another" shot. He uses that bit almost to the point of abusing it, so much so that you could turn it into one of the rules in a Total Recall drinking game.

But yeah, I thought Wiseman did a great job directing the movie. He never lets it become dull or boring, and the action scenes were exciting and well-orchestrated. (That lack of shaky-cam I mentioned helped out a lot, in that aspect.) His work is bolstered by the slick CGI effects and some moments of very nice cinematography. If anything, at least Wiseman and his crew make Total Recall nice to look at.

Next up to bat is the script penned by Kurt Wimmer and Mark Bomback. While the story they tell is awfully familiar, it's different enough that it still feels relatively new too. The lack of Mars is a start, but it goes beyond that. He big thing is that outside of a couple of scenes, the remake is a lot less ambiguous in regards to whether or not the whole thing could be part of Rekall's implanted memories. Wimmer and Bomback still run with the internal conflict, though, playing it up as Quaid having his entire world turned upside down and struggling to comprehend it. It's an interesting way to approach this aspect, and I thought Wimmer and Bomback actually pulled it off well enough.

And this brings us to the cast, who all do fine jobs in their respective roles. Colin Farrell is great as our hero, bringing Quaid's confusion to the forefront with his vulnerable performance. For all I thought Schwarzenegger did with the character in 1990, Farrell makes Quaid feel more real. He draws you in and makes you actually care about Quaid, a nice bit of acting that adds a lot to the movie.

I also enjoyed Jessica Biel, but it felt like there wasn't a whole lot for her to do. There wasn't a lot of acting required for her, just action and stunts. She's far outshined by Kate Beckinsale, who is really fun in as her total bitch of a character. I guess I'm too used to seeing her play the heroic vampire of the Underworld franchise, but watching Beckinsale skillfully play an amalgam of Sharon Stone and Michael Ironside's characters from the 1990 movie was really cool. And she practically steals the whole movie, to tell you the truth.

So my final thoughts on the Total Recall remake? It's perfectly acceptable entertainment. Time will tell if it'll age as well and be as revered as the original movie, but as of this moment, me and the remake are cool. It's a fun ride from beginning to end, with enough fun moments to please both fans of the old Total Recall and those who are unfamiliar with it. And thus, I'll give the movie three and a half stars and a hearty recommendation. Check it out if you have the opportunity, because it's totally worth it. (But watch the Schwarzenegger version first, okay? You'll thank me afterwards.) 

Final Rating: ***½

Total Recall (1990)

What if your entire life was a lie? What if everything you thought you knew was based upon falsities implanted into your mind by external forces? Such was the setup for famed science fiction writer Philip K. Dick's short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale." Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in 1966, the short story told the tale of a man who cannot trust his own memories. It's become one of Dick's more notable works over the years, due in part to the movie it inspired in 1990. That movie, Total Recall, has become one of the most popular sci-fi movies of the '90s, and for good reason: because it kicks ass.

Welcome to the year 2084, where we're quickly introduced to construction worker Douglas Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger). Quaid has been having recurring dreams about Mars, dreams that have made him long for a vacation on the red planet. His wife Lori (Sharon Stone) talks him out of it, though, citing the civil unrest and conflict amongst the Martian colonists. Disappointed with the rejection, Quaid pays a visit to Rekall, a company that specializes in implanting fake memories of fabulous vacations into the minds of their customers. The price is a bit steep, but Quaid signs up for a Martian adventure with a "secret agent" theme.

But just as the procedure begins, something goes wrong and Quaid awakens to discover that he actually is a secret agent. His entire life as Douglas Quaid has been manufactured as a cover story to protect him from his enemies on Mars. With a team of assassins led by the sadistic Richter (Michael Ironside) after him, Quaid quickly finds himself in the middle of a war between Martian governor Vilos Cohaagen (Ronny Cox) and a band of rebels seeking to overthrow him. His only assistance comes from Melina (Rachel Ticotin), a friend who knew him before he assumed his new life as Quaid. But as he becomes more embroiled in the battle for Mars's freedom, it will become harder and harder for Quaid to deduce what is reality and what was implanted by Rekall.

Nobody is ever going to accuse Total Recall of being high art, but it doesn't need to be. Some movies are made just so the audience can have fun, and Total Recall is exactly that. It's one of those movies that you could watch over and over without it ever getting stale or worn out. While it bears many of the hallmarks of your typical cheesy Arnold Schwarzenegger action movie, it's still a thrilling adventure that is both smart and a ton of fun. And besides, what's wrong with the occasional cheesy Schwarzenegger movie, anyway?

Helming the movie is Paul Verhoeven, directing his first effort following his 1987 classic RoboCop. Though Verhoeven is more well-known nowadays as the guy that made Showgirls, Verhoeven directed some absolutely awesome movies before that particular disaster. Total Recall is one of those, and his efforts here are really, really good. Verhoeven's efforts in the sci-fi genre have a distinct visual style, and Total Recall isn't any different. The special effects look outstanding (though I'd expect nothing less from effects designed by Rob Bottin), and the cinematography pulls you right into the story. Verhoeven keeps the movie going at a steady pace too, keeping the movie going and only slowing down enough to let us catch our breath after each big, genuinely exciting action sequence.

It also helps that Verhoeven is working from a great script. The concept of a cinematic adaptation of "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" bounced around from writer to writer for years, the final screenplay ― credited to Ronald Schusett, Dan O'Bannon, and Gary Goldman ― is a very well-done piece of work. It successfully blends all the typical Schwarzenegger movie clichés (over-the-top violence, corny one-liners, et cetera) with an intelligence that a lot of these old-school action movies lack.

The movie consistently leaves us questioning whether or not the whole movie is all in Quaid's head, bringing something of an existential crisis to what would be an otherwise typical futuristic action movie. It's not a wholly cerebral movie, not one that'll challenge its viewers. But the fact that its writers actually played up the science fiction aspect in the midst of all the macho bravado of the action going on makes the movie that much cooler.

The only thing left for me to talk about is the movie's cast, who all put forth some fine work. And you might call me crazy for saying this, but I thought the best performance came from our leading man. Nobody will ever make a serious argument that Arnold Schwarzenegger is a master thespian, but when a movie plays to his strengths, he can be a lot of fun. Total Recall does just that, putting things together in such a way that Schwarzenegger can grab the movie by the reins and run off with it. He's great in the role, playing the typical macho character you expect from him but adding a sense of confusion to the role. You really got the sense that Quaid is really unsure if he's experiencing fantasy or reality, thanks to the vulnerability Schwarzenegger allows to creep into the role. Sure, he's still playing "Action Hero Extraordinaire," but Total Recall is up there as one of the better performances of his career.

But the supporting cast contributes some respectable work as well. Playing the movie's resident "big bad" is Ronny Cox, who played a similarly sleazy villain for Verhoeven three years earlier in RoboCop Cox plays the role absolutely perfectly; he's a total slimeball that, if I may use a tired cliché, the kind of guy you'll love hating. The guy is a great actor and although RoboCop is my favorite of Cox's performances, this movie's pretty high up there too.

I also really liked Sharon Stone and I thought Rachel Ticotin was likable and charismatic in her role. But beyond Schwarzenegger and Cox, my favorite performance came from Michael Ironside, who plays Cohaagen's enforcer and chief lieutenant. I've never seen a movie where Ironside wasn't awesome, and Total Recall proves to be no different. He's a mean, sadistic, ruthless jerk, and every second he's on the screen is awesome.

And that's actually what Total Recall is: awesome. I wouldn't call it one of the best sci-fi movies of the '90s if I didn't feel it deserved that label. It's a fun, exciting, and truly entertaining movie that lives up to every positive thing that's been said about it over the last twenty years. You've probably already seen Total Recall a hundred times if you're a fan of science fiction or Schwarzenegger's brand of action movies, but if you haven't yet, it's definitely worth it. I'm just hoping that the remake can do it justice, because otherwise, I'll be really disappointed. 

Final Rating: ****

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Many comic book superheroes have become household names and cultural icons over the years, but very few have ever managed to rival the success of Batman. Created in 1939 by Bob Kane and an uncredited Bill Finger, Batman is arguably the most popular and culturally relevant superhero ever created. His popularity across the various forms of pop culture that have featured him has never waned in the seven decades since he debuted in the pages of Detective Comics #27.

Batman's appearances beyond the realm of comics haven't always worked out for the best, though. I'm specifically referring to the two films directed by Joel Schumacher. While Schumacher's Batman Forever has its defenders, Batman & Robin was critically savaged and is often derided for being so intolerably campy that it made the classic Batman TV show from the '60s look like a gritty drama. So negative was the reception for Schumacher's movies that the Batman movie franchise was killed dead for nearly a decade.

But all was not lost, as the franchise was revived and rebooted in 2005 by Christopher Nolan. Batman Begins firmly returned the cinematic Batman to the gritty realm he occupies in the comics, and it was a legitimately fantastic movie in its own right. But Nolan managed to surpass it three years later with The Dark Knight. One of the rare sequels that completely outdid its predecessor, The Dark Knight was so good that it became the first superhero movie to win an Academy Award for its acting and as of this writing is listed on IMDB.com as one of the top ten best movies ever made.

Flash forward to this summer and the release of Nolan's third and supposedly final Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises. Anticipation for the movie was at a fever pitch upon its release last weekend, and considering how awesome The Dark Knight was, the movie had a hell of an act to follow. So does Nolan's "Dark Knight Saga" end on a high note

Eight years have passed since the events of The Dark Knight, during which time Gotham City was finally able to free itself from the grip of organized crime thanks to legislation named for the late district attorney Harvey Dent. The murders Dent committed following his mental breakdown were swept under the rug, with Batman accepting the blame for both Dent's death and the crimes he committed so that the city would remember Dent as a hero.

Batman rode off into the sunset after that, and Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) has spent those eight years practically becoming a hermit secluded away in his mansion on the outskirts of Gotham City. Though he gave up the mantle of "Batman" long ago, Bruce is drawn back to the cape and cowl upon the rise of a new threat in the form of Bane (Tom Hardy). A monstrous mercenary with ties to Ra's al Ghul and the League of Shadows, Bane arrives in dramatic fashion, wounding Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) and staging a siege on Gotham's stock exchange.

Bane quickly assembles an army who begin to turn class warfare into traditional warfare pitting the working class against Gotham's more affluent citizens. He also surprisingly has a personal vendetta against Bruce, setting into motion a plan that leaves Wayne Enterprises facing bankruptcy and Bruce himself penniless. Bane even goes as far as to cripple Batman during a fight and leave him for dead in a hellish prison in the middle of nowhere.

With Batman out of the way, Bane quickly neutralizes much of the police department and completely conquers Gotham City by threatening to detonate a nuclear weapon if he is opposed. The government is unable to do anything about it, as any and all attempts to thwart Bane are met with abject failure. Faced with no other options, Batman must escape from his prison and ― with the help of cat burglar Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) and a brave young cop named John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) ― get back on his feet so that Gotham City can be safe once again.

It's an odd coincidence that The Dark Knight Rises was released in the same summer as The Avengers. The anticipation for both movies had been building since 2008, and The Dark Knight Rises is still shaping up to be a huge blockbuster even in spite of that tragic shooting in Colorado. But comparing the two would be like comparing apples and oranges. One was a lighthearted adventure, while the other is a serious drama. But the one thing that they do have in common is that they're both not only great superhero movies, but downright amazing movies period. I've already had my say in regards to The Avengers, but on the topic of The Dark Knight Rises, I can honestly say that it's an absolutely tremendous movie and a near-perfect way to end the trilogy.

Working on the movie as both director and co-writer, Christopher Nolan has crafted what I can truly call one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. From his director's chair, Nolan shapes the movie into a grand epic that concludes the saga on a high note. Though the movie runs two hours and 45 minutes, it never drags or feels overly long. Nolan tells the story in such a way that we the viewer stayed glued to the screen from beginning to end. It helps that he's working with Hans Zimmer's fantastic score and Wally Pfister's absolutely gorgeous cinematography, but Nolan probably could have made a great movie with lesser tools at his disposal.

The script, written by Nolan and his brother Jonathan, is also very good, but has its share of flaws. Really, the only problems whatsoever I have with The Dark Knight Rises are due to its script. The plot feels very rushed, like they're trying to fit in as much story as possible into the movie without making sure it flowed smoothly. Christopher, as director, did a great job trying to make sure it didn't drag but it still felt way too murky for its own good. We're told that five months have passed after Bane conquers Gotham City, but as fast as the story moves, it could have been five weeks for all we know. Would it have been so hard for the Nolans to take their time with the pacing? They had nearly three hours to work with, so it's not like they had to worry about a time issue.

But outside of that, practically everything the Nolans have written is gold. They actually make a bold move in writing not a Batman movie, but a Bruce Wayne movie. The full Batman costume doesn't even appear until nearly an hour into the movie. Instead, the Nolans delve into Bruce's psyche, to show just how his adventures as Batman would impact his sanity. So devoted to being Batman is their version of Bruce that when he gives up the cape and cowl, he doesn't know how to be Bruce Wayne. He sequesters himself away in the darkest part of Wayne Manor, so hidden from the world that even the people that work for him barely even know what he looks like. He's become almost as much a myth as Batman.

But despite his hermit-like existence and the guilt and heartache that are eating him alive, Bruce still longs to be Batman. It's who he is; that's all he is. Many comic book writers over the years have painted Batman as being the real person and Bruce Wayne as the disguise he wears, but I really got the feeling that the Nolans decided to take it one step further with a story that, for all intents and purposes, sets up that without Batman there's no Bruce Wayne either. I actually felt it was quite poetic, in that Bruce is so driven, so compelled into heroism that he practically can't function without the cape and cowl.

And since most other critics and reviewers have brought it up, I guess I'll have to mention it too. Even though the movie was supposedly written and in production long before the whole "Occupy Wall Street" movement took off last year, there's definitely a similar vibe to the movie. Of course, none of the Occupiers ever took over a city with a nuclear bomb, but Bane's class warfare rhetoric that he uses to stir Gotham City into a frenzy definitely feels like what would have happened if the Occupiers branched out into terrorism. It's much less over-the-top with Catwoman's "there's a storm coming" monologue and her general disdain for the wealthy, but the whole thing is there whether the Nolans intended for it to be or not.

But let's move along to the superb group of actors assembled. Returning to the role of the titular Dark Knight for the third and final time is Christian Bale, who once again knocks it out of the park with his performance. As good as his performances in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight were, I think he actually managed to trump them with this movie. Bale brings a lot of credibility and emotion to the role, making you forget that you're watching just an actor playing a character. He wholly becomes the character, making Bruce Wayne just as fascinating to watch as his costumed alter ego. The movies made by Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher movies had a hard time balancing that, but Bale succeeds and makes this movie (and the two prior entries in the trilogy) better for it.

From our protagonist we move onward to the movie's primary "big bad," as played by Tom Hardy. Hardy casts an intimidating presence, giving Bane an air of menace and frightening determination with every move he makes. He plays Bane as cold, calculating, and intelligent yet monstrous as well. It's thankfully much closer to his character's comic book counterpart than Jeep Swenson's grunting hulk from Batman & Robin. Hardy makes for both a charismatic and scary villain that really suits the character.

Perhaps the most controversial bit of casting was Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. People thought that she wouldn't be right for the role, that she'd never be able to match any other incarnation of Selina Kyle. This could be due in part to Hathaway's past roles in teen-themed fluff like The Princess Bride and Ella Enchanted, or perhaps it was due to the popularity of Michelle Pfeiffer's portrayal of Catwoman in Batman Returns. But those doubters were proven wrong, because Hathaway's performance is fantastic. She approaches Catwoman with the perfect combination of self-assurance and sex appeal, making the character the alluring figure she needs to be. Hathaway makes it very easy to see why Batman would be drawn to Catwoman, as she and Bale's playful, flirtatious chemistry together effortlessly duplicates Batman and Catwoman's fabled relationship in the source material.

Unfortunately, because the Bane character takes up so much of the movie's spotlight, Hathaway doesn't get as much time to shine as she probably should have. She does have some fantastic moments, but the role doesn't feel quite as big as it deserves. Had the role been a bit beefier, I'd honestly have no problem calling Hathaway's performance the absolute definitive live-action portrayal of Catwoman. Hathaway totally nails it, doing the very best she can to steal the movie and very nearly doing so.

The members of the supporting cast also turn in some fine performances despite appearing in smaller roles. Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman are great as always, while Marion Cotillard is okay yet not quite memorable. Cotillard appears as a Wayne Enterprises executive who plays a pivotal role during the climax, but until then, she barely has anything to do. This lack of meaningful screen time unfortunately means less time for Cotillard to make an impression. She's decent enough, though, but I would have

But my favorite performances among the supporting cast come from Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Michael Caine. Gordon-Levitt plays his role with aplomb, injecting his character with a necessary intelligence, bravery, and idealism. His performance is captivating enough that it really felt like Gordon-Levitt was in a competition with Hathaway to see who could get the audience to like them the most.

My personal favorite performance in the movie, however, is Caine's. Caine's performance is perfect, exemplifying everything that Alfred is and should be. He's not just a butler, but a father figure for Bruce, and Caine approaches Alfred in this movie with all the heartache and fear of a father who is watching his son fight and risk dying for a cause bigger than both of them. It's an emotional, gripping, utterly heartbreaking performance that, for all the efforts of Bale, Hardy, Hathaway, and Gordon-Levitt, truly does steal the show. It's just a shame that Caine disappears for much of the movie after the first act, because I wanted to see more of him.

The Dark Knight Rises isn't the perfect Batman movie, but I'd still call it one of the best ever. Yeah, it's got a couple of flaws, but it's still fantastic. And while the ending will more than likely leave you hoping for a fourth "Dark Knight" adventure, the movie still brings Nolan's saga to a satisfying conclusion. I'm sad to see the franchise face another reboot a few years down the road, I hope whomever is placed in charge can fill the huge shoes that Nolan, Bale, and crew are leaving behind. But either way, I can't wait to see where Batman goes from here.

Final Rating: ****

Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

Slasher movie fans have long sang the praises of Black Christmas and Halloween as being the creators of slasher movies as we know them. But if they created the game, it was Sean S. Cunningham's Friday the 13th that established the game's rules. Released in the summer of 1980 to cash in on the popularity of Halloween, Friday the 13th was surprisingly successful and launched a million knockoffs and wannabes that allowed slasher movies to dominate the horror genre during the '80s. And naturally, it got its own sequel as well. And as it would turn out, Friday the 13th Part 2 would not only be the first in a long line of sequels, but the one that would serve as the proper introduction to one of the horror genre's most enduring modern monsters.

Five years have passed since the events of the first movie, and the Camp Crystal Lake massacre ― and the mysterious disappearance of its sole survivor not long thereafter ― have become a local campfire legend. The legend also continues that the thought-dead Jason Voorhees survived his childhood drowning and watched as his psychotic mother's rampage was brought to a violent end, vowing bloody vengeance against anyone who would dare step foot in the area surrounding the lake. But those are just campfire stories, right?

They hopefully are, as Paul Holt (John Furey) has opened a new lakefront training lodge for potential camp counselors. The wannabe counselors are all set for a little summer fun, while Paul's hoping a little private time with his girlfriend Ginny (Amy Steel). But little does he know that unfortunately, some campfire legends are true. Jason (Steve Daskawisz) is very much alive and well, and he's got time (and teenagers) to kill.

Friday the 13th Part 2 came very early in the rise of slasher movies, and you can just vaguely make out the outline of the training wheels that both the franchise and the genre's basic formula were wearing at the time. Though many of the tropes and clichés commonly associated with the franchise and slasher movies in general are abundant, the movie never really hits a real stride until near the end. It's not a bad entry in the series by any means, but I just don't think it's one of the strongest either.

At the helm of this particular adventure is director Steve Miner, who would go on to direct not only the third Friday the 13th movie, but Halloween H20 as well. All he needs is a Nightmare on Elm Street movie and he's got the slasher hat trick. Miner's work here is hit or miss, as there are more than a few instances where it feels like he's just doing a half-assed remake of the first movie. The sequel was released barely a year after its predecessor, rushed to theaters in an attempt to strike while the iron was hot. Miner probably didn't have a lot of time to get fancy and creative, so I guess he figured he wouldn't try fixing what apparently wasn't broken.

But Miner does manage to scrounge up some really good moments. Some of the scares in the movie are very effective, and he builds some genuine suspense, especially during the last twenty minutes. There's flashes of brilliance among the disappointing parts, flashes that are good enough to make the movie more enjoyable than it probably should have been.

I usually follow my critique of the direction with my opinions regarding the script. But is there any reason to talk about it? The movie's not some post-modern satire like Scream or The Cabin in the Woods, so it's not like the writing will be Hemmingway. It's an '80s slasher movie; the script only exists to give the characters something to do so they aren't just standing around waiting for Jason to kill them.

Like I said about the direction, writer Ron Kurz seems to have borrowed heavily from the original Friday the 13th. He doesn't outright rip it off, but you can definitely see he's trying to replicate the formula at the very least. He shakes things up in a few places, like the scene where some of the characters actually leave the camp and head to the local bar for the rest of the movie. That's a heck of a way to thin out some of the characters without having to come up with death scenes.

I also enjoyed that Kurz included some characters that are actually likable. They aren't all that way, since there has to be some victims who you'll want to see Jason get his hands on. But there are multiple characters that you'll actually see yourself feeling bad for when they meet their inevitable and grisly demise.

It helps that there are a few strong performances among the cast too. Slasher movies aren't exactly known for their award-caliber acting, but this particular movie has some decent work in front of the camera. The strongest of them is Amy Steel, who plays the movie's resident "final girl." Steel plays the character as all "final girls" worth their salt should; she's vulnerable but tough, scared but smart. Steel makes her character not only charming but sympathetic and believable as well. While you might find yourself rooting for Jason more and more over the course of the dozen or so movies in this franchise, Steel's performance is so good that you'll find yourself rooting for her for a change.

And I should also highlight Steve Daskawisz, the man playing the movie's venerable killer. Though Warrington Gillette gets the credit for playing Jason despite appearing in only one scene, it was Daskawisz underneath that hood for much of the movie. (Yes, I said "hood." There's no iconic hockey mask here, only a sack that looks like it was stolen from the set of The Town That Dreaded Sundown.) Daskawisz is very good as Jason, giving him a sense of menace that Jason needs to be truly scary. He really makes you believe that he's going to find you and kill you and there's nothing you can do about it.

Friday the 13th Part 2 has long been one of the more popular sequels in the series. I don't know if I would call it one of mine, but I can see why it has its fans. It's a flawed movie, but it has some good scares and a talented heroine and villain. And it's the one that made Jason a true star to boot. So I'm going to give the movie three stars on the usual scale. And a word of warning: stay away from your local summer camp. Considering what today is, you never know who you could run into.

Final Rating: ***