Red Eye (2005)

United States, 2005
Cast: Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, Brian Cox
Director: Wes Craven
My Rating: *** / ****

Wes Craven was one of that director who has always - obvious or subtle - stay in the genre he chooses, which is inducing or involving the act of thrilling, or simply known as 'thriller'. By the fact, one could always expect tensions if (s)he went to the teather knowing that (s)he would watch a film that directed by Wes Craven. Red Eye was no exception. With the classic main ingredient to make a thriller, which is damsel-in-distress, Red Eye was quite enjoyable as a thriller. Even i think, it was probably among the best thriller ever came out of Hollywood's kitchen without involving the act of re-making the other's idea over the years. Well, subjectivity holds. But for now, that's what i believe.

The title Red Eye here means literally. Rachel McAdams plays as Lisa Reinert our heroine, our damsel-in-distress who happens to had to take a last flight back to Miami from the relative's funeral she had to attend, due to the bad weather (thus, red eye flight). What she doesn't know, what we, as audience, expected from the beginning that there was this certain fellow with the most unlikely name, Jonathan Rippkin (Cillian Murphy) who had every intention to gives her horror. Hence, to turns her peaceful life into havoc, best known as damsel-in-distress situation. For what or why does Jonathan chooses to threaten her life, i would leave the issue open for you to enjoy yourselves.

Red Eye was clearly divided into three parts. The first part, was obvious, a preambule where the introductions made and the curtains open. I found that the movie tend to drag itself up to a point that i almost convinced that i'm watching one of those romantic-comedy movie. Here, Lisa first met up with Jonathan and unknowingly offered herself into his charming trap. Even i, as a man, could see the inevitable relationships between the two. Now, this is a testimony to how good the casts (Ms. McAdams and Mr. Murphy) had been. And this is really the ultimate strength of this movie.

The second part, the longest, and of course, the best part, was begin when the plane that took off our heroine and our villain shook of due to the turbulence caused by the weather. As a continuation of the first part, the second part obviously reveals the core of the apple which skin has been peeled off. What i liked most about this part was that it really a show-offs from our two main casts since the terror were not attributed to a gun, or any other weapon, but by words. And even though that Mr.Murphy was rather far off from the definition of Mr. International of Mystery, he was everything you'd get from a chilling personality with cold eyes that indicates he was up to no good. The last part, was begin the moment our plane hit the runway lane home. Here, the conclusion began to wrap up itself and ended in a physical showdown between our two casts, those standard-ized end to a thriller-flick as teached on Thriller 101 in - i dont know - perhaps every University with Film-Making as one of its major. Lisa with her agility, and enough wise to made a crucial decision, and Jonathan with strength but unfortunately (or fortunately, depend on which side you took) blinded by his rage.

The movie, or the thriller, works well because of the two main casts. In fact, i was very disappointed with the other casts whose fortunately doesn't had that much spotlight as of our two main casts. Rachel McAdams, well, mark my words, she's going to be a great actress, time permits. She was a nasty girl, impersonates Rob Schneider's soul in Hot Chick (i was captivated by her dimples at the time), she was the meanest baddass girl in the entire school in Mean Girls, she was a beauty in a serious romance drama, the Notebook, she was a girl who made Owen Wilson's went crazy in a comedy romance, Wedding Crashers, and now this, a damsel-in-distress in a Wes Craven's flick. Her short CV has already expand her horizon of capabilities since, in those movies, she always shines even sometimes, out-shone the main cast (Lindsay Lohan, for example, gosh.. how i hated this girl), and none of her role at those movies were similar to one another. Cillian Murphy, however, even those that he's a perfect cast for the maniacal role of Jonathan Rippkin, his role has been (almost) typical. Well, much like Crispin Glover, who apparently would never had a role that differs than ones he has been doing. It can't be helped though, since his facial expression was unique and perfectly fit for one of those role as someone who emits terror, or suffers from it.

Azumi 2: Death or Love (2005)

Japan, 2005
Cast: Aya Ueto, Yuma Ishigaki, Chiaki Kuriyama
Director: Shusuke Kaneko
My Rating: *1/2 / ****

Unintended success achieved by certain movie, almost usually led to a sequel. Why, of course, why bother to waste time and effort to think of a fresh idea, while we could expand the idea from before, with certain reasonable logic to expect that at least the fan of the preivous idea would return to see a sequel, no matter how crappy it does in the end.

Azumi, though i dont know wether the success it achieved was unintended or the actual idea of a sequel has been established prior to the release, was one of those movie with shallow-sequel - well, most of the sequels nowadays are usually shallow - that follows.

Taking the spot where the original movie ended, Azumi, a female - of course, she had to be a cute one, or nobody would waste the time to see it - assassin, with the only companions alive that she had, continued her mission to assassinate certain lord in order to brought an overlong civil-war to an end.

Now, i could summed up the movie with a simple analogy that watching this movie feels like playing an adventure slasher-action video-game but without a joystick. Hence, the unlimited control to the player movement and the outcome would be reduced to zero. On the first Azumi, we were given a joyous adventures of Azumi and - if i remember correctly - her four companions throughout the feudal Japanese era which suffered because of a civil war. However, in Azumi: Death or Love, the spotlight was ever set on Azumi herself and no others. So throughout the movie, there were too many shots of Azumi - too many that it goes ever downward to BOW-RING -, while the story progresses as those of video-games previously mentioned. Azumi made her journey, from stage to stage, to fight a silly enemies whose ever goes stronger - or dumber, i dont know which - as the plot very-very-linearly advances, and ultimatelty, in the end, our heroine fought with the big boss himself. Well, actually the plot was very similar to many other actions involving samurai swords. Even Kill Bill which your reviewer here love the most, had the same plot. Put a heroine on a mission, put a vicious villain on her path, before finally she clashes with the big boss. So, what's wrong with Azumi: Death or Love?


Everything in Azumi: Death or Love was wrong to my eyes. The scenes were alternating between actions and crappy soap-opera dramas. So, after a not-too-shabby-but-far-away-from-good sword-clinging actions, the movie dragging itself to a lowly conversations between the casts which usually talked about nothing of importance but takes more time than to prepared a boiled noodle. Then, there were not enough reason to do this or to believe that on this movie, which in turns, also contributed very well to dragginess of the movie. For example, when the only Azumi's companion left from the first sequel told her to go and abandon the mission, with speech about how he didn't gave a damn on the mission they supposed to be done, bla, bla, bla. If i was in Azumi's position, knowing my companion by heart - as suggested on the movie, both of them -, i would believe that he would had the determination which impossible to deny. Not after what he's been through. But yet, Azumi believed him just like that. That was plain stupidity of her. And yet, in the end, she doesn't want to be blamed for the aftermath of it. A selfish heroine in a supposedly light-weight action movie? that won't do. But otherwise, hadn't it runs too long, the movie was enjoyable. If only they cut at least thirty-minutes of it. One hour and fifty-one minutes for such a simple movie was much-much too long. And quoting Ebert, "No good movie is too short nor too long".

In the end, i think, Azumi: Death or Love would only be satisfiable to those who had a passion to Aya Ueto, the actress who played Azumi. Also appears on this movie was Chiaki Kuriyama who were, unfortunately, far less formidable than her previous role of Go-Go Yubari on Kill Bill: Volume I.

Jumbled Images

Just wanted to do a bit of nostalgia with Quentin Tarantino's first film which i loved. "Reservoir Dogs".




Also, probably, in my list, the best film in the 90's. "The Shawshank Redemption".

Killing Me Softly (2002)

United Kingdom, 2002
Cast: Heather Graham, Joseph Fiennes, Natascha McElhone, Ulrich Thomsen, Amy Robbins
Director: Kaige Chen
My Rating: *1/2 / ****

Some actress has physical attractiveness that earned her the word 'sexy' - sometimes with adjective 'red-hot' as its prefix - given by the audience as a part of image she had been built. And that, in turns, made some - if not many - men, would have a certain desire to watch her movies however bad the movie turns out to be, for a mere guilty-pleasure achieved by devouring her presence on screen. For me, that certain actress was known by the name Heather Graham.

Here's a simple fact about Ms.Graham, some of which had a great responsibility in leading me into the member of a cult devoted to praise her as a Goddess on screen. She's blond, white, rather misplaced eyes but somehow that part of her captivating me the most, twice and a half on her role - with the half being her role in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Sagged Me - she played as a hooker (with of course, involving as less fabrics as it is possible to be weaved into clothes which she wore on screen), and at the very least, even if not necessarily a good actress, she was among the decent ones.

In Ms.Graham's cult, like any other cults, there are some certain items which made sacred. Its mere rumor of presence would kindled the desire to 'learn' about and finally, to own. And in Ms.Graham's cult, 'Killing Me Softly' was one of the certain-sacred-item with the highest sacred-level. And after three years of longing, i finally got my hand to it. FYI, this movie was only aired on theatres in Europe, it didn't even made to the U.S' theatres, for a reason i didn't know. But with the seducing movie-poster and a rating of NC-17, you'd know what to expect from this movie.

To say that i didn't enjoy Ms.Graham presence on screen would be a big lie, as i, with lust, practically bore my eyes on screen every single frame that features Ms.Graham. Ah, to talk about desire. But, of course, the issue on it was not very relevant with the purpose of this site, especially with this article, hell, rent a porn instead. And even though that i very much loved Ms.Graham's character, doesn't necessarily that i'd love the whole movie on its entirety.

Everybody - except, maybe, a person with marchosist-sadistic disorder - won't like torture, either it's physical or mental. Neither am i. And ironically, 'Killing Me Softly', literally 'Killing Me Softly', that at some point, i'd yell.. "Hell! Kill Me Hard instead". Ms.Graham was Alice, an American in London working as a classy, executive web designer (hmm. i'd never know that there ARE web-designer who had his/her own room, thrice the size of a cubicle with a window that overlooked the street, and a private door, as well as private telephone / fax line, well, that's another issue). She lived with Alex, a normal everyday's Joe, a typical of Londoners, who had a daily-routine involving of subway, white-collar shirt, and of course, beers and a football match every weekend. They had a relationship with a sense of safety and commitment - though not bounded yet by marriage, but of course, from the very first minute we knew that the relationship would be marred. Otherwise there would be no show for the how, won't it? (don't mind the last word, just trying to para-phrasing).

The culprit was Adam (Mr.Fiennes). One day, on her way to work, Alice met eyes with him on the street, and there it goes, as simple as walking, the morality of human came to naught when like animals, the two strangers become one, even before Alice know the man's name. It was pretty intense, funny, and easily deserves an NC-17 rating. Fast forward a bit, both of them become lovers, and many characters then thrown in, like Joanna who instantly out of nowhere appeared as Alex-Alice's bestfriend who lectured Alice about 'You leave him only for a good sex?', and also Adam's sister Deborah (Natascha McElhone), the community in which Adam belongs, Adam's editor, and Adam's ex-girlfriend(s). Well, it seems now Alice had her wonderland. Was it? Well, of course not.

The movie, after the series of sexy-scene, turned abruptly into a thriller. I wasn't really prepared for it. But sadly, the surprises weren't surprising at all. It wasn't hard at all to know the truth behind the thriller. I even used the word 'know' to indicate the absence of guessing since there wasn't any guessing involved. You just know the fact. Any good thriller usually involving a guessing from the audience. Because if guessing was needed, you'd get a reward in the end wether if you guessed right or wrong. But, 'Killing Me Softly' which suffers from the absence of guessing would in turn gave no reward in the end. Alas, the only consolation from this so-called thriller that it only matters to us, the member of the cult, that Ms.Graham had her role on this. And that's just about it.

Joseph Fiennes however, was a decent actor. He was giving a palpable role in the Shakespeare in Love. And even though his role on this flick was not as good as his role on the Shakespeare, he gave a decent performance as a possessive man whose act almost always puzzling and sometimes emanate fear - or it had been intended - to the audience and to his associate on screen, Ms.Graham. But as good as it may be, however i wanted to circling myself at length to praise her and his role, in the end, everything goes full circle as it was always back to the simple fact that, "If a thriller need not guessing, that thriller can't be good."

Sin City (2005)

United States, 2005
Cast: Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Jamie King, Brittany Murphy, Benicio Del Toro, Nick Stahl, Elijah Wood, Michael Clarke Duncan
Director: Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller, Quentin Tarantino ("special guest director")
My Rating: **** / ****

Finally, after several months waiting in vain for this movie to get aired on local theatres, i get ahold of viewing this nasty, probably the most violent movie that i ever witnessed in the last couple-of-years. Not in the theater though, since - understandably - the censorship won't allowed for this kind movie to get aired. Well, all for the good reasons. For i think, it was a Sin to cut this movie from the Mr.Rodriguez' original "shot and cut".

I've anticipated this movie from the beginning of the year. The star-packed casts, some of which my personal favourites (Mr.Willis, Mr.Owen, Mr.Del Toro), an eccentric director, the story it based upon, and never the least, the sort of publications which this movie had received (for example, Mr.Rodriguez resigned himself from DGA to settle over dispute with DGA - Director Guild Association - about Mr.Miller's credit as co-director). All the more reason to wait for this movie which widely-known even before it was officially released was that it going to be shot in black-and-white.

The movie was shot in black-and-white alright. But not entirely so, since there are some solid colors sprayed here-and-there, the red dress of a whore, the blood, Becky's blue eyes, Goldie's golden hair, Junior's yellow skin, and so forth. But even though the gray, black-and-white colors were dominant, the feels of watching it won't be the same as watching the movies which colors were not yet invented to invade silver screen thanks to the kinetic cinema-works and - i dont know how to exactly pin-point the fact - a modern feeling that flows from it.

Sin City was based upon a graphic-novel - a most likely used term to name a single-story comic book, in order to increase its degree of importance - by Frank Miller with the same title. To be more precise, it based upon three of the series. "Sin City", "Big Fat Kill", and "The Yellow Bastard" with an addition of excerpt from "The Customer Always Right" with Mr.Hartnett as The Man that took forty seconds of the opening and the ending sequence. But the main story was based upon the first three titles i mentioned.

My favourite story of the three was the one that based upon "Sin City" which told a mis-shapen, bulky, and ugly 'monster' named Marv (Mr.Rourke). Mr.Marv had known more than enough hate and dis-respect during his life - also amplified by the comment made by Dwight (Mr.Owen) - that when Goldie (Ms.King), a red-hot porstitute (in Sin City, there are very limited options of job for young girls) came to him with (almost) genuine kindness and respect, Marv felt like he has been touched by an angel. Until when he wakes up, to found her body laid death beside him. Knowing that somebody had framed him, he pursues anybody who had responsible for it. To get even, and perhaps to make a profit out of it. His pursues end to Kevin (Mr.Wood), a maniacal cannibal, an effective killing-machine, swift and silently deadly, and also had a mis-directed faith toward certain religion. The show-down between the two was i think the best during the film. With result in utterly horrifying moment in which Marv told us in narrative voice-over, "He never screams". I guarantee that you'd never seen Frodo Baggins represented in Mr.Wood's character not even on a fraction of seconds during this movie. And that was a testimony on how good Mr.Rodriguez did to this movie.

The second story was about a guy, Dwight, he had something in his past, something wrong that urges him to change his appearance with plastic-surgery (rumor had it that the story of what been wrong that urges him to undergo a plastic-surgery will be told in "Sin City 2" which scheduled to begin filming on January 2006). He tried to settled down by dating a quite-'normal' bartender, ... (Ms.Murphy) but only to cross-path with abusive, violent, and killing-tendency (or so he had thought of him) ex-boyfriend, Jackie Boy (Mr.Del Toro). To make long story short, Dwight ended-up chasing Jackie Boy as far as to the district where police nor mob dared to enter, Old City. The police, and the mob had a mutual agreement with the local prostitutes, led by Dwight's girl-friend, Gail (Mrs.Dawson) who ran things on Old City. But soon, the tides of event bring the local prostitutes' reign of Old City, and Gail's life, to an end. Now, Dwight had to save Gail (for his own reasons) by merely made a "Bif Fat Kill".

The third story, which involves one character to become a center of all the mishaps on this two-hours-ten-minutes flick, Nancy (Ms.Alba), had a time-span of eight years. It began as the movie began and ended as the movie ended. Even though not necessarily in chronological term. Hartigan (Mr.Willis) was probably the last really good-cop in the City. On the eve of his very last day as a cop, he badly injured Junior (Mr.Stahl), a phedophile, who happens to be the son of the senator that had its power clawed deep in the city, in order to save an 11-years old girl, Nancy. Hartigan was eventually framed for the crime done by Junior and served in jail unless he signed a confession about his 'crime'. Only one thing kept him sane (and away from signing the confession), a letter sent by Nancy (under the agreed pen-name 'Dorothy') every Thursday for eight years. In the other hand, Junior who wants Nancy in order to get even with Hartigan and as a payback for what he had done to him, desperately wanted to 'pleased' her. And so, after he suspected that Dorothy was perhaps this Nancy, he kept her letters, and left Hartigan wondering on her safety and all. Until one day, two months after the letters from Nancy 'stopped', Hartigan signed for the confession and released. Naturally, the first thing he did, was to look for Nancy. But when he had found her, he knows (for a little bit too late) that a trap has been set, and he had entered it. For Junior has intended to let him free in order to led him to Nancy.

On the first several minutes, i felt rather disturbed with the way Mr.Rodriguez literally translates every box of the comic to screen. All with stylish characters, long-coat that flapping like bat-wings every time the characters ran, constant gloom of midnight, and often rain, voice-overs, and of-course the black and white of the pictures. But, when Mr.Rodriguez had constantly fed the picture in the same manners, all the disturbance feeling was rather gone, to be replaced by absorbance and vividly horrid images of Sin City. I found myself totally sucked in its atmosphere. It was just like reading a comic book. Thus, it made Sin City the best adaptation of comic book so far as i can recall.

And i just simply love the way the movie doesn't get half-heartedly to display such brutality, all kind of dismemberments, breasts, and probably every thing that deserves R rating from MPAA ever imagined (no sex-scene in this movie though). The fact that the gore displayed in a two-tone color didn't soften the effect of it, on some scene it did so well, that in spite of soften, it emphasizes the horror, that i could still remember the horror left by it (for instance, Kevin's (Mr.Wood) last moment). That was freaky. Really freaky.

Even with the tight-packed star cast, this movie doesn't suffer from the "star-spotlight-cast" which desperately tried to shove up one character due to his / her star-ness. It was all thanks to Mr.Miller. As this movie was shot directly based on the comic that he had wrote, no stars, or characters had an attention more than he / she should have. And it sums up to a very enjoyable experience in cinema.. if you able to withstand the violence, that is.

My personal favourite characters are Kevin (Mr.Wood) and Miho (Ms.Aoki). Both characters never speaks, and both characters were actively involved in the ugliest disrememberment events depicted on the film. Like, when Dwight says to Miho that the bodies won't fit in his trunk so she had to do the knife-work ("Yesshhh", said Gail with disgust), or of course, when Kevin stares Marv in the eye with his wicked smile during the very last seconds of his life. Damn.. that scene haunted me. Even now. It gave chills to my spine.. brrr...

This movie currently on top of my shorlist of 'Best Movie of 2005', surpasses the recently #1, 'Batman Begins'.

Tiba-tiba...

Gw pengen kuliah lagi. Dua hari terakhir ini gw duduk kembali di kelas, mendengarkan teman-teman gw sidang SP dan TA. Very enlightning, gw banyak belajar hal baru dari situ. Passion gw untuk kembali belajar, riset, dan seterusnya kembali menyala-nyala. Udah. Cukup sudah gw berkubang di comberan fiksi ini, dan saatnya untuk kembali ke sekolah..

The Island (2005)

United States, 2005
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi, Sean Bean, Djimon Honsou, Michael Clarke Duncan
Director: Michael Bay
My Rating: **1/2 / ****

Gw berangkat nonton film ini dengan informasi mengenai Ewan, Scarlett, Michael Bay, dan sedikit premise dari inti film-nya. So, imagine my surprise when i see names of the casts flashes before the movie really begins. Coba lihat, ada Steve Buscemi, yang selain Bennicio Del Toro adalah aktor spesialis aktor pendukung favorit gw, ada Sean Bean yang baru kemaren gw tulis bahwa dia adalah salah satu tokoh antagonis yang gw sukai, Djimon Honsou, aktor yang kemunculannya di beberapa seri Alias selalu membuat gw bahagia, dan Michael Clarke Duncan, aktor raksasa dengan seringai khas yang juga gw sukai. Man, all that with Ewan, and Scarlett, i gotta love the movie. Tapi apa lacur, karena filmnya diarahkan sama sutradara destruksi masal, Michael Bay, gw tidak berharap banyak sama film ini, selain jadi selingan untuk membuang ekses dua jam dari waktu gw.

Film ini dengan jelas terbagi menjadi dua bagian yang menurut gw, satu sama lain kontradiktif. Bila suka sama bagian yang satu, most likely tidak (atau less) menyukai bagian yang lain. Dalam kasus gw, gw suka bagian pertama, yaitu dari ketika awal film sampai ketika Lincoln Six-Echo (Ewan McGregor) dan Jordan Two-Delta (Scarlett Johansson) naik kereta menuju ke L.A.

I'm a sucker for a science-fiction. Tapi itu bukan berarti gw menyukai secara membabi-buta semua hal sci-fi. Gw malah akan sangat kesal apabila ada karya sci-fi yang terlalu menggurui, atau menganggap dirinya begitu penting sehingga merasa para penonton tidak akan paham sepenuhnya apabila tidak disuapi dengan ide dari sci-fi yang disajikannya. Mangkanya gw sebenarnya tidak berharap terlalu banyak terhadap sci-fi yang diangkat oleh bagian pertama dari film ini mengingat bahwa it's a summer movie, and Michael Bay who directed it. Tapi ternyata, walaupun tidak sepenuhnya memuaskan, bagian pertama (which is the sci-fi part of this movie) bisa piqued my curiosity.

Lincoln Six-Echo dan Jordan Two-Delta adalah dua orang dari sebuah komunitas tertutup yang dibangun in a near future where supposedly seluruh Bumi sudah terpopulasi oleh sebuah wabah. Komunitas ini yang menjaga para survivor ini dalam kehidupan yang teratur, higienis, dan serba rapih. Di komunitas ini, ada sebuah permainan lotere yang pemenangnya mendapat kesempatan untuk pergi ke "The Island" satu-satunya pulau di muka Bumi ini yang belum terkontaminasi wabah tersebut, dan mendapat titel sebagai surga terakhir di Bumi. Well, paling tidak itu yang dua tokoh kita dan ribuan manusia lainnya di komunitas tersebut diijinkan untuk tahu oleh pengelola komunitas ini, Merrick (Sean Bean). Sampai pada suatu ketika, bahaya yang paling ditakuti oleh semua komunitas tertutup lahir dan tumbuh dari seorang Lincoln Six-Echo, curiosity.

Sampai di sini, gw tertarik sekali sama isu-isu moral yang kemudian punya potensi untuk muncul dari sini. Dan gw senang karena Michael Bay tidak memvisualisasikan isu-isu ini secara verbal sehingga emosinya bisa lebih keluar dari layar. Yah, tapi itulah, ketika akhirnya Lincoln Six-Echo dan Jordan Two-Delta mengetahui kenyataan di balik komunitas tertutup tersebut, dan karena mereka menanggapinya less frantic dari yang sebelumnya gw harapkan, gw bersiap-siap untuk bosan karena sudah jelas bagian pertama yang menarik itu berakhir dan mari-kita-mulai-pemusnahan-masal-khas-film-aksi-Hollywood bagian kedua dimulai.

Action-nya sendiri a o-kay, formula yang sama diulang-ulang, persis seperti yang pernah dibilang smaa salah satu kritikus yang gw lupa namanya, sori pak, tapi intinya sih dia bilang semua filmmaker itu hanya buat satu film dan lantas diulang-ulang. Jadi tentu saja kita sudah bisa menebak seperti apa aksi yang dibawa sama Michael Bay di sini. Ada car-chase, ada helikopter, bergantungan di sisi gedung pencakar langit, api, batu-batu, peluru, dan seterusnya. Gw sendiri malah bertanya-tanya, aftermath dari disaster yang disebabkan oleh sepasukan tentara elit yang memburu Lincoln dan Jordan tentu menewaskan banyak orang, tapi Lincoln atau Jordan kelihatannya tidak punya simpati secuil pun sama mereka, padahal, di bagian pertama, dan sedikit menjelang akhir film, secara tersirat Lincoln punya pendapat mulia bahwa semua makhluk hidup mesti dihargai, tapi, kenyataannya? i dont know, but i felt it was so very wrong, and very contradictive.

Penyelesaian filmnya sendiri terlalu disederhanakan, series of fortunate events you may say, gw bener-bener gedeg kenapa Lincoln bisa punya rencana yang senekat itu dan benar-benar hanya bertumpu pada luck doang, dan kenapa karakter Djimon Honsou yang supposedly bekas tentara elit pasukan khusus Perancis bisa setolol dan seceroboh itu? tidak masuk akal.. secara keseluruhan, endingnya mungkin akan memuaskan bagian kedua dari film ini, tapi bagi gw yang lebih menyukai bagian pertama, gw sama sekali tidak puas, selain karena terlalu sederhana, sudah gw singgung di paragraf sebelumnya, endingnya bagi gw sangat kontradiktif dengan premis-premis yang disiratkan oleh script di bagian pertamanya. Tapi tentu saja, karena ini film blockbuster, summer, arahannya Michael Bay, penonton pasti akan datang ke bioskop untuk mencari hiburan ringan yang membuat semua tokoh utama senang, bukan film-film thoughtful yang bikin pusing macam THX 1138 atau malah 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Untuk cast-nya sendiri sih gw ga ada masalah. Seperti gw bilang, gw suka nyaris semua aktor-nya. Scarlett was my currently no.1 favourite young actress berkat peran-perannya di film sebelumnya yang sangat berkarakter. Cuman sayangnya, gw agak menurunkan penilaian gw karena di film ini dia ikut2an mainstream dengan beradegan mesra sama Ewan. Ewan? well, he's okay. Steve Buscemi, duh, gw udah suka banget sama aktor ini ketika melihatnya di Fargo. Sean Bean, dia memang paling cocok untuk memerankan peran2 semacam ini. Bisa-bisa akan jadi stereotip nanti, dan malah akan mematikan karirnya karena semua orang terlanjur percaya bahwa dia memang hanya bisa berakting untuk tipe peran semacam itu. Djimon Honsou, no comment, he's as cool as devil, dan Michael Clarke-Duncan, yang walaupun cuman tampil di dua adegan, mampu mengantarkan adegan paling kuat, dan paling memilukan di sepanjang film ini.

In short, walaupun gw terlalu sering mengerutkan kening di sepanjang bagian kedua (karena merasa ada yang salah dengan logika gw), gw cukup terhibur ketika nonton film ini. Walaupun akhirnya ketika gw keluar dari bioskop, gw baru merasa menyesal kenapa dengan deretan aktor-aktor yang kuat seperti ini, filmnya bisa terasa sangat hambar, dan tidak berkesan.