Tag Archives: Action

Mel Gibson, Apocalypto

By Steen | January 27, 2007

Mel Gibson is clearly fascinated by violence and blood. Just as, even if implicitly, The Passion of the Christ showed how civilization was born in blood, so does Apocalypto show how civilization dies in blood.
The film opens with a quote: “A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.” [...]

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Martin Campbell, Casino Royale

By Steen | November 29, 2006

The new Bond film is great. It really is more a reinvention/revigoration of the novel than the 21st film in the franchise. While Daniel Craig isn’t perfect as Bond, he is definitely the best match for the specific type this film is, since Sean Connery, and since this film is closer to the novels, Craig [...]

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Lee Wiseman, Underworld Evolution

By Steen | March 13, 2006

Underworld Evolution is the sequel to Underworld, also directed by Lee Wiseman. It is a very direct continuation of the first film, and in this way it also continues the storyline established by the first film. We learn more of the history of vampires and werewolves, which is in fact one of the film’s stronger [...]

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Peter Jackson, King Kong

By Steen | December 20, 2005

As some of my friends noted, this is really Lord of the Rings 4, stylistically speaking. This really shouldn’t be regarded negatively, since Peter Jackson has an amazing ability to blend different styles and yet make them his own and combine them into a unified look and feel. As so many other newer directors he [...]

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Michael Bay, The Island

By Steen | September 2, 2005

The Island is sort of two films in one, but it is not better for it. It is clearly inspired by George Lucas’ THX 1138, but while no one can accuse Lucas of being emotionally cogent, he makes it work to his advantage in creating the future society, but Bay seems interested in having his [...]

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