Quote:
Originally Posted by ln2
The Covenant.
Wow. I've seen raw hamburger meat do better... well... I'm sure it could do EVERYTHING better than this waste of film. :|
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You couldn't tell that just from the trailer alone? When a trailer, which is supposed to make people want to see it, looks bad then you know it's gunna be awful.
Last film I watched was
Death Trance.
The story itself isn't too deep but the general gist is this - A coffin is stolen from a monastery by Grave (played by Tak Sakaguchi) eventhough it is claimed that no-one could defeat the monks there. The tomb itself contains the Goddess of Destruction who will apparently grant one wish for the person who opens it (but obviously that is not all that will occur).
Grave, in the possession of the coffin, is joined by a mute little girl who continually follows him, whilst giving no indication where they are going or who she is. Due to the coffin finally being removed from the monastery it encourages more rogues and vagabonds to try and take the tomb away from Grave and get their wishes granted.
A trainee monk returns to the monastery and discovers the destruction that has occurred. He is given a unique sword that can only be wielded by "The Chosen One" and sent to find him and stop the tomb being opened.
Most of the reviews, and the marketing campaign, centre around this being "The next Versus". The comparison is an easy one to make. Tak once again plays the self assured, charasmatic lead, Yuji Shimomura (action director of versus) helms the film and alot of stylistic elements are very similar to Versus. However, whilst it's a good attempt it's not quite as entertaining as Versus is.
The action sequences are good but elements of them are underwhelming. It seems like Shimomura has let Sakaguchi, who is an action director himself, take control of the action sequences so they aren't quite as OTT as the sequences that a Shimomura production is famous for. Don't get me wrong, there are still OTT elements (a quickly constructed rocket launcher, batons and swords that shoot bullets) but the action is generally more grounded and kick/punch based. Sometimes the sequences are much more comedy based, even verging on slapstick, which could be a good or bad thing depending on your point of view.
It has a solid storyline that, whilst quite linear, is entertaining and (generally) makes the characters direction seem logical but it could have been given a much more indepth story whilst maintaining the good quality action sequences. If you are going to sacrifice the story then the action sequences need to be top notch ala Ong Bak, Versus etc
Character wise there is pretty much bugger all there in terms of development. Most of the characters don't even have names. I only know the lead is called "Grave" due to the bonus features as he's called "Coffin Man" throughout the film. It's difficult to really empathise with anyone in the film due to their 2d nature. Saying that, visually the characters are well defined and unique and the personalities of the leads are fairly well distinguished.
There are a few things that really ruined my enjoyment of the film. The fist thing is the fact that it's not entirely clear who the little girl is and why she follows the coffin. I have a fairly good idea but she's given even less development than some less prominant characters. The same thing with 2 women, who I think are twins, who are they and why do they occasionally pop up to (seemingly) help Grave? Again, I have a rough idea but the film could do without those 2 characters quite easily.
Although the action sequences themselves are entertaining it seems like there is an obvious, self conscious effort to gradually make each fight more impressive than the previous one. I know this is pretty much common in alot of action films but it seems much more obvious in this one. It's made even more disappointing by the fact that the end fight is very anti-climatic, relying on quick cuts and few special effects with very little actual fighting taking place.
The ending has me in two minds. On one hand I can see what the ending is supposed to signify but it just gives the impression that they were in two minds on how to end it and whether or not to make a sequel. It's too vague and badly executed.
Eventhough it's not quite as entertaining as Versus, I would still recommend it to fans of that film and action films as a general genre.
7.5 out of 10
Linear Mode
