Peak pulp adventure.
The charm and morality of the character, combined with a deeply appealing visual flair and top notch swashbuckling make this the greatest comic book adaptation of the 90s. The script sees the humor in its source material without making a complete joke of it and has mature characterization despite being PG in 1996, lol.
There are films just as good, if not greater which use comic book films as their source material, but the Phantom is undoubtedly…
The first instance of the "gritty reboot"? That would be an oversimplification though, as while being a very mature film, the Living Daylights has plenty of beauty, fun and levity. Its antagonists may lie more on the underwhelming side, but make no mistake: Dalton's first outing as Bond otherwise boasts characterization, action and a theme song that triumph and outclass many of the films it precedes and follows. What we see here is Bond as he is depicted in the…
As crazed and manic as its protagonists, but so sickeningly stylish.
This World, Then the Fireworks really sticks out in the way the story is told. You have the typical noir plot devices here and there, even the genre staple narration by Billy Zane’s character, but that’s where anything typical ends. The film opens up with one of the most deranged scenes I’ve ever seen, just absolutely depraved stuff, and so from there, nothing is quite normal. It only makes…
A gory, charming and surprisingly funny epic.
Siskel calling this "psychopathic Star Wars" cracks me up. The violence and quasi-Nietzchean undertones of the character's journey could lead you to the conclusion. Me though, I found this to have plenty of heart and humanity, with the same sense of fantasy escapism that Lucas' films did. I feel as though the ending of the film cements this is as a cautionary tale of any Ubermensch aspirations.
The structure of the film is…
