Populasian: July 2023

Friday, July 14, 2023

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One - 不可能的任務:致命清算第一章

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (不可能的任務:致命清算第一章) is an 2023 film. The movie stars Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, and Vanessa Kirby. In this installment, Hayley Atwell, Esai Morales, and Pom Klementieff join the fun.

A sub is tricked by an AI and attacks itself. The AI gets on the loose and starts a global bidding war. Ethan Hunt and his IMF team try to track down this AI they call the entity. Along the way, they come around several buyers that want this. Can Ethan get to the bottom of this?

This was a pretty good Mission Impossible film. I had just finished watching Mission: Impossible - Fallout (不可能的任務:全面瓦解) before going to this. Fallout was so good that maybe I shouldn’t have watched it before Dead Reckoning. Dead Reckoning was good in its own right. It takes a AI bend on storytelling. I think the Mission Impossible series has already pushed modern technology themes. In this story, its back to the train and has many intense scenes on the Orient Express.

Tom is Tom Cruise and he doesn’t do any different here. Tom runs and runs again. With death defying stunts and lots of characters trying to get control. Tom plays Ethan Hunt up to be the guy that gets the job done, but not without some scratches.

This is a must watch if you are an Mission Impossible fan.

Wednesday, July 5, 2023

The Villainess - 惡女

The Villainess (惡女) is an 2017 film out of South Korea. The movie stars Kim Ok-vin and Shin Ha-kyun. The movie has been on Amazon Prime Video for much of pandemic, but I only recently decided to watch it.

The story begins with a massive fight in first person perspective. When she's done destroying everyone, she is recovered by a mysterious organization that gives her a second chance. Because she's pregnant, she decides to stay put and raise her daughter there. After years of training, she is given a chance at freedom if she is successful at a mission. The mission includes her daughter living a normal life. As this is developing, we find out her past and how she became such a skilled killer. It starts with her father who owed money but was killed for it. And from there, she was connected to another group of killers. When she goes on assignment, her old group finds her. Can she save herself, her daughter, and get freedom from her two killer groups?

This was a very action packed film. South Korean films have been able to consistently put out these dark noir action movies. This was something that HK and Japanese films well until 2010 or so. Since then, the output from SK has out paced HK and Japan. Thailand and Indonesia have put out films, but they are not as film noir.

The movie was very complicated because of the 4 storylines that rammed into each out over and over again. Luckily I was watching via Amazon Prime and could rewind. Sometimes the subs just scroll too fast.

Worth a watch if you're looking for an action packed film. If you're looking for feel good story, look elsewhere.