Reviews of SF/F Movies 2011

Well, working for Fantasy-Faction is a tough, tough job. Not only do I have to read tons upon tons of fantasy novels, but I also made a pledge to play more video games and watch more movies. Yes, I bet now you are feeling sorry for me and wishing there was something kind you could do to ease my pain.

Sadly, you can’t. I’ve spent the last few months watching the top 12 films that could be referred to as either fantasy or science fiction. It was a hard, hard task – but someone on the Fantasy-Faction staff team had to do it.

Why, you may ask? Well, science fiction/fantasy films tend to be either a huge hit or a huge miss when they hit the big screen. You get epic films that really do the genre justice (Lord of the Rings) and then you get the terrible, terrible films that knock the genre back 10 years (Golden Compass).

Hopefully this guide will inspire you into buying a few DVDs or hitting your local cinema sometime soon. I’m not going to give you summaries or spoilers – simply give you my lasting impressions – I think this is the best way about approaching this type of mass-review. Hope you agree. Oh, and if you have seen any of the films and agree/disagree with my mini-reviews I’d love to hear from you. 🙂

Sucker Punch

Fantasy-Faction Score: 2/10

Remember about 2 minutes ago when I said some films knock the genre back 10 years? This could be one of them films. I can’t explain to you my disgust at this film. Basically, they trick you. They have filmed about 15 minutes of action and paid for that same amount of CGI (15 minutes total). Then, they have surrounded it by some completely bizarre, completely ridiculous story-line.

Some girl is in a mental asylum. Every time she dances she is transported into a fantasy world where she is anything from a kick-ass ninja in the past, to a steampunk/mecha type character in an alternative future.

Sounds awesome right? Well, it would be if she was there for 80%-90% of the time. Sadly, she is in this world for about 5% of the time and the rest of the time she spends in this weird asylum that is just cringe-filled to watch.

Super 8

Fantasy-Faction Score: 4/10

Wow…what were these guys playing at? Two of the most talented producers/directors of our time and they screw a joint project up. It seems they said, “What can we do?” and Speilberg said, “Well, once I did this,” and J.J. Abrhams said: “Well, I once did this”. Then someone from the coffee-brewing crew must have shouted over and said, “Why not just combine those two ideas? No one will ever know!”

Well, sorry guys, we did. You basically took Cloverfield and you mixed it with The Goonies and E.T. Don’t deny it! You did it and it was horrible to watch.

Basically, huge train crash and some kind of monster escapes from the train. It seems the Air Force is trying to cover stuff up and then quickly weird things start happening around town. These 6 children who are filming a movie at the time the train crashes witness the whole thing and get caught up in the events. The ending can be seen a mile off and generally it’s just a lazy money-making movie. 🙁

Cowboys and Aliens

Fantasy-Faction Score: 5/10

Terrible movie. They basically got the biggest named stars they could think of and then went about giving them as much face time as possible, without actually forming a decent plot. The ending is confusing and seems rushed. The aliens are awful; you never bloody see them for a start. The action is few and far between. Generally an over-hyped film I am sorry to say.

Captain America

Fantasy-Faction Score: 5/10

Worst marvel film in a few years. This film – VERY similar to Cowboys and Aliens was just too simple. The film basically got a normal person, made him a hero and made him do a pretty obviously accomplish-able task. It wasn’t a terrible, terrible movie and had it come out in 2002/2003 it would have been pretty good. But in today’s overcrowded action-hero movie market it was just too simple.

Its saving grace really was that it was just a set-up and explanation as to how Captain America, from WW2 era, got into the future to meet up with the Avengers in 2013/2014 – so that is one to look forward to.

I Am Number Four

Fantasy-Faction Score: 6/10

One of the better mid-budget films of the year. A young guy with a mysterious past comes to town. He has secrets – don’t they always? Meets a girl – unique huh? And quickly becomes an outcast in his school. When people come looking for him, his uncle wants to up and move (again). But no. No more! No more moving. He is going to make a stand! He is going to embrace these powers (such as feeling and electricity) and fight the people who look to ruin his life!

Again, not very original, but a rather decent film to watch with the girlfriend (or prospect girlfriend?). It has good effects, likeable characters and will leave you interested enough to watch a sequel (should they make one).

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Fantasy-Faction Score: 7/10

Better than the last one. Pirates 3 in my opinion was awful. I always worry about a franchise when the main characters begin dropping out. I wonder if they took a look at the script, tutted and walked away. However, I think with Pirates, Jack Sparrow has always been the main character and it worked pretty well without the others.

When Jack finds another chance to live forever – he decides the opportunity to hunt it down is too good to give up. Although at times it feels a bit too much like a camp comedy, it is highly enjoyable and has just the right amount of action and adventure to seem far, far shorter than it actually is.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Fantasy-Faction Score: 7/10

Too many now. Was my reaction upon having seen it. Transformers 3 felt far, far too much like Transformers 2. In-fact, I have trouble remembering which happened in which and to be honest. It doesn’t matter – they are that similar. They switched the main supporting character around and added a few new robots, but essentially the evil ones are still trying to kill the good ones. The evil ones have massive guns and always look strongest until something awakens stronger and wins it for the goodies. I hope this formula ends soon. I really do!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Fantasy-Faction Score: 8/10

Well, Harry Potter 7 Part 1 was terrible. And let us be honest, we expected it to be. Number 6 wasn’t great and 7 Part 1 was always going to be a setup for the final part of the biggest movie franchise ever. Film 7 Part 2 though surprised even those who expected it to be good. It was better than good, it was superb. The battle scenes at the end were some of the best CGI ever and the characters really came together. It was emotional, it was action packed and it was just generally brilliant.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Fantasy-Faction Score: 8/10

Surprisingly good film. I actually loved the last Planet of the Apes film, the one in the early 2000s. I know you lot all hated it, but I liked it. I thought this one would be the same kind of thing – but no, it was completely different. What amazed me though, was even as completely different to the others as it was, it was still amazing.

The CGI was unbelievable, but more than that, the story-line was perfect. In fact, I would go as far to say that other than Source Code, this was the best storyline of 2011. The film is only an hour and a half and yet they completely packed it full of emotion and activity. Literally there is a complete transformation of all the characters and the plot shifts as far as you would expect it to within 3 hours, let alone 90 minutes. Certainly one you need to see.

Source Code

Fantasy-Faction Score: 8/10

Futuristic sci-fi movie, but very cool. Basically, a guy can go back in time and live about 10 minutes of anybody’s life. When a train crashes and the police need to catch the person who caused it, the guy is sent back to find out who crashed the train and why – with the aim to stop another accident. He obviously only has these 10 minutes(ish) and once they are up he dies as the person did and is thrust back into the future. He must re-live this loop time and time again.
The movie was great, the effects were stunning and the acting was truly unbelievable.

Thor

Fantasy-Faction Score: 9/10

Most original Marvel movie to date. Not simple men – this time we had ‘gods’. Not based on Earth either – based on another planet/reality far superior to ours. Thor was a cool marvel character and he pushed boundaries. I personally am sick (as you can tell from my Captain America review) of these movies that Marvel publishes under their name knowing they will sell. I mean Spiderman 1/2/3 were a good example of what can happen if you keep relying on the same formula – people get bored and so do the actors!

When you walk away from Thor, you walk away thinking that Marvel has a lot more to offer than just these stereo-typical man turned hero type stories and that is rather exciting.

X-Men: First Class

Fantasy-Faction Score: 9/10

Best film of the year so far. Storyline was brilliant, effects brilliant and most importantly tons of twists and turns. Although this film was another Marvel movie – which a I’ve just said, makes me nervous, it worked. Perhaps because the setting changed and we are truly interested in how X and Magneto become X and Magneto.

I walked away from this movie hoping there are more X-men movies, completely the opposite to what I was thinking following X-men 3.

Known Omissions:

Green Lantern – I was on holiday at the time it was released and missed it. 🙁
Conan the Barbarian – Not out at time of release

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Well, there you have it guys! Hope you had fun reading through my praises and rants – hopefully you take two minutes to leave a comment and let me know if you agree/disagree with my scores. 🙂

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