Category Archives: Thriller

05.28.17
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Alien: Covenant

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After Ridley Scott tried to revive his franchise with a prequel series that started in 2012 with Prometheus, which was a huge disappointment, Scott redeems his franchise with this follow-up to Prometheus. The plot is similar to the other Alien films, with a crew of a spaceship traveling to an uncharted planet and then getting attacked by extraterrestrial life forms. However, this time, the characters are all developed well and Scott actaully gets you to care about them. I didn’t really care much about the characters in Prometheus, but here you actually are interested in them, and things like love and loss in these characters’ lives are handled well. Michael Fassbender reprises his role from the previous installment as David, and he also plays a new character named Walter, both of which are androids. Fassbender has never failed to impress me, and here he delivers such an impressive performance and he lives up to the responsibility of having to take on two roles. Katherine Waterson is also a great protagonist, and her emotion actually helps carry the film well. The ensemble supporting cast is also great, especially Danny McBride as the wise-cracking pilot of the Covenant.

The first act of this film builds up the conflict very well, from the opening scene which begins the story in an unexpected manner. When the intensity begins, I found myself thrilled during the very gruesome and bloody scenes of aliens breaking through bodies and chasing the human protagonists. The sequences are shot very well, and the CGI effects used to create aliens, planets, and spaceships are beautiful. The movie carries on some of the questions raised in Prometheus about life and existence, but this time the script actually makes you think about what the characters are talking about, and this helps the character arcs of David and Walter be even more compelling. There are also some twists that surprised me and made the film much more exciting. Scott inserts some of Jerry Goldsmith’s score to the original 1979 Alien which started it all, and tries to keep the feel of a ’70s science ficiton horror film in there, but it’s easy to notice that this film still follows the formula that Alien and Aliens established, and it’s easy to eventually get tired of seeing the same things so many times. However, the intense final act leading to a dark and unexpected ending promises that the next film will step away from that formula, and hopefully be just as great as this one.

Alien: Covenant is far from the franchise’s best but it uses what has made the saga great before to put it and Scott’s career back on a great track. The cast and writers try hard here, and their work definitely pays off and this disturbing and horrifying yet tense and exciting sci-fi horror film that will definitely amuse fans, as well as plot twists that will surprise many viewers. If you’re a teen or older, I’d suggest you help this film at the box office and give it a watch.

A black-and-white poster of a mass of people being surrounded/tortured by the aliens, not unlike the Renaissance depictions of Hell, with one alien at the center highlighted by a shaft of light from the upper-left.

04.22.17
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Get Out

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Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) is an African-American who visits his Caucasian girlfriend’s mysterious family estate, but things start to slowly unravel and nothing is as peaceful as it seems.

Get Out is easily one of the smartest, most intense, and most surprising thrillers I’ve seen in theaters, and it’s even more shocking that its director is comedian Jordan Peele of the sketch comedy duo Key and Peele, and that this is his first time ever directing a movie. He creates such a mysterious and creepy environment in the film’s first hour and everything advances and is developed so well. Not only is everything very thrilling but the message he has to say about modern-day race relations is done so well with very over-the-top satirical humor and some that is mild as well.  The themes in the film about race aren’t preached or told to you but rather through interactions and reactions of the characters in the film, and it feels like something some audiences could even relate to. When the horrifying truth of what’s been going on throughout the film is finally revealed, everything makes sense and it ends in a suspenseful carnage of blood and surprises. Daniel Kaluuya shows such wonderful talent in every scene, and his character feels very realistic and in no way overdone like most filmmakers would make a protagonist like him behave. Allison WIlliams is also very well-cast and her performance is too great to spoil. However, the best of the cast is obviously Lil Rel Howery. He has about five or six scenes, and there wasn’t a single one that didn’t leave me cracking up. His dialogue is so hilarious and he knows how to bring terrific comic relief to a film. I didn’t think the 2017 film that truly defines what a Hollywood movie should be would be the directorial debut of a comedian or a horror film, but Get Out is widely distributed Hollywood at its greatest. The trailers misled me to think it was something cliche and uninspired, but what I stepped into truly blew me away. Peele makes it so original, engaging, and unforgettable, with sequences, twists, and shocks that are better than most of what you see nowadays being advertised on billboards and television. Get Out is not only brutal and thrilling but it also gives you an important and honest look at America today. Whether or not you like to be thrilled, entertained, or cracking up at the movies, I think every film lover and person should see Get Out. It’s the most acclaimed and essential film of the year so far and it’s an experience you won’t forget.

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01.29.17
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Split

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Three girls are kidnapped by a man with a diagnosed 23 distinct personalities, and must try and escape before the apparent emergence of a frightful new 24th.

Split reminded me why I love M. Night Shyamalan so much. He hasn’t been at the top of his game lately, with films like The Last Airbender and After Earth not bringing him much success, but Split is easily his greatest film since Signs, which was released almost fifteen years ago. Shyamalan brings back what made The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs so great and uses it to develop a fantastic psychological thriller. James McAvoy gives the leading role of this film everything he’s got, and I never imagined that he was capable of delivering such an insane and incredible performance as the kidnapper with multiple personality disorder. He portrays every personality so uniquely and I could tell he was so committed to making this character as unforgettable as he turned out to be. Anya Taylor-Joy delivers another superb leading performance, bringing so much depth, fear, and emotion into her character. The interaction between the main characters is always interesting and significant. The first act starts out a little bumpy in terms of its writing, but soon the stakes are raised and it all leads up to a thrilling final act. Every move them film makes feels so mysterious and threatening that it could be hinting at anything. Everything feels very subtle, which is why there’s so much suspense. Shyamalan’s writing and directing here makes Split more special than it looks, and I felt like I was watching something much different than most films we go see on the big screen. He should have kept making movies like this years ago.

I am glad to say that Split is M. Night Shyamalan’s return to form, with so much suspense that it’s unqiue and unpredictable. The performances are outstanding, and the ending is one of Shyamalan’s most brilliant decisions. Split is an absolute treat to watch, especially for fans of Shyamalan’s golden days, like myself.

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12.11.16
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Nocturnal Animals

ratings5

Susan (Amy Adams) is an art gallery owner who receives a book manuscript from her ex-husband Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal). As she reads, she is drawn into the fictional life of Tony Hastings (also played by Gyllenhaal), a math professor whose family vacation turns violent.

Nocturnal Animals isn’t the ordinary film you’d go to the movies to watch – I knew this from the moment the film started. It’s not simply a thriller, or a drama, either. It’s hard to fit Nocturnal Animals into one genre of film – that’s why it does so well on its own. Gyllenhaal outdoes his work in this year’s Demolition as both the author of the fictional novel of which the film’s themes revolve around, as well as the novel’s protagonist, and what shocked me is that he was able to deliver two completely different performances in one film. Michael Shannon is also scene-stealing as a detective who will go far distances to see justice done, or even do it himself. Adams also delivers a strong emotional connection with the audience as we dig deeper into her character’s past and feelings, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson is unrecognizable and frightening in a role like nothing he’s played before. The cinematography is breathtaking, and the sound editing is gripping and realistic. From the film’s first act, my heart was pumping and I was always on the edge of my seat. Every scene demonstrated the cast and crew’s marvelous talents, and always brought some new feeling or reaction into the film, and in a great way. This is easily one of the most thrilling and unpredictable films of this year. The way the director combines different story-lines and beautiful visuals to create an extraordinary story is haunting but also memorable. The film may sometimes by tough to watch for some viewers, but I found myself constantly intrigued and never pulled out of the film. The ending is also something I did not see coming, leaving me still thinking about how everything so cleverly connects, with the movie’s writing, performances, visuals, and excellent execution adding up to pure cinematic brilliance.

Although I can’t say everyone will enjoy watching Nocturnal Animals, I personally found it to be an intriguing and masterfully done piece of cinema, with strong emotions that are conveyed indirectly and brilliantly to the audience, with strong imagery and fantastic acting that I think most moviegoers may appreciate and love like I did.

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03.15.16
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10 Cloverfield Lane

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10 Cloverfield Lane is a movie nobody had any idea existed until two months ago, when the trailer was released and the movie was no longer kept a secret. The trailers (whose very secretive style comes from producer J.J. Abrams) did not reveal anything about the story but still intrigued me. It was only referred to as a “spiritual successor” to Cloverfield, and never a sequel. We never knew what to expect, and with such an incredible style of marketing, 10 Cloverfield Lane ultimately did not let me down. The thrilling plot buildup always kept me on the very edge of my seat, thanks to spectacular cinematography and directing from first-time feature-length director Dan Trachtenberg. The movie almost felt like a mystery, but much more like a thriller with lots of twists and suspense that kept my eyes on the screen. The cast is outstanding, with a great leading role played by Scott Pilgirm vs. the World‘s Mary Elizabeth Winstead. She conveys her character very realistically, and felt like a terrific protagonist. John Goodman is fantastic in his role as a man who may or may not be a psychopath, and John Gallagher Jr. is also very good in the one other role in the film. There is also a voice cameo in the film that I was not able to catch, but I was informed by the credits, so stay on the lookout for a familiar voice toward the beginning of the movie.

The movie pulled me in from the very moment it started, and I was always guessing how the movie would turn out to be, as many pot points turn out to not be what they seem. The reason I did not mention the plot in the beginning of this review is because it is best to walk into this film without any expectations at all, like I did. The movie’s trailer tells you nothing about the movie’s plot, and I had no idea what the film was actually about. The trailers don’t give you anything about the story, and only teases a few scenes from the movie. I was glad I knew nothing about how the movie would play out or even the basic plot, because part of the great experience sitting through this movie was the suspense and the feeling of oblivion throughout. The movie’s genre and story-line is nothing like Cloverfield‘s, so don’t walk in expecting another found footage film filled with destruction and monster madness. This movie is a claustrophobic thriller with a cast about as large as Gravity‘s, and it’s a much better film as well. My one issue with the movie is that the ending could have been handled a bit better, as it feels like a mystery that can only have two outcomes, and it ends in the one way I was really hoping it wouldn’t. I feel it ended that way for fans’ sake, but it may have been a better film with the other outcome. I did not hate the ending though, it was enjoyable (but also rushed), and leaves a few loose ends for you to guess for yourself. I am so glad I had the opportunity to watch a film like 10 Cloverfield Lane in theaters, it’s definitely worth a watch if you are a fan of thrillers, and want a movie to keep you on the edge of your seat.

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