
Awful. Lots of explosions, with Aaron Sorkinesque snap-patter, minus Sorkin’s talent (which is spotty, at best), passing for dialogue. Unintelligible.

Awful. Lots of explosions, with Aaron Sorkinesque snap-patter, minus Sorkin’s talent (which is spotty, at best), passing for dialogue. Unintelligible.

A swift comic book brought to life. Michael Cera, bassist for a Canadian band, dreams of his love, finds her and then learns he must defeat her evil ex-boyfriends to have her. And by defeat, he must slay them in fights that resemble video game challenges. The fight scenes are ingenious and the script is consistently hip and funny. A gas.

It’s exciting and the special effects are masterful (though I miss Roddy McDowell and Kim Novak in ape makeup).
Two complaints. First, James Franco is not scientist material. He’s stoner and hiker, not thinker. Second, how the hell is San Francisco harboring more apes than Madagascar?
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Better than the first movie, Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law have given their easy banter a deeper root, and the villain Moriarty (Jared Harris) is seductive and superior. You actually believe feel Holmes is over-matched. Best, Stephen Fry has been enlisted as Holmes’ older brother and his scenes are hilarious.
The plot is also interesting and intricate, developing with appropriate twists and turns, and the special effects (you can’t go wrong with an armaments factory) are dizzying.