Armageddon, 1998

Armageddon, 1998 

Director: Michael Bay 
Cast: Bruce Willis, Liv Tyler, Billy Bob Thornton, Ben Affleck

Stage: Home TV selection, a holiday day

Armageddon in short: It is just another day at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a few astronauts were repairing a satellite until, out of nowhere, a series of asteroids came crashing into the shuttle, destroying it. These asteroids also decimated New York soon thereafter. Then, NASA discovered that there is an asteroid roughly the size of Texas heading towards the Earth, and when it does hit the Earth, the planet itself and all of its inhabitants will be obliterated, worse, the asteroid will hit the Earth in 18 days. Unfortunately, NASA's plans to destroy the asteroid are irrelevant. That is when the U.S. military decides to use a nuclear warhead to blow the asteroid to pieces. Then, scientists decide to blow the asteroid with the warhead inside the asteroid itself. The only man to do it, is an oil driller named Harry Stamper and his group of misfit drillers and geologists. As he and his drill team prepare for space excavation... 



 Preps: Bruce per se. Don't need to say more. There is energy in the piece by default if you know he's in. Something he changed with Die Hard and let the trace in our hearts. Plus, superb cast. Have seen this several times and am aware of its faults. However, no action like saving the world, that can brighten my evening. 



  Reality: Storyline is similar to tons of pieces on the topic. Something is flying towards Earth and it will cause a great crash, up to the extention that it will blow the hell out of us and make us all freeze to death, if we somehow survive the crashing. Now, obviously you know that US has a backup plan and yes, Bruce is the man to save the world. Drilling oil, this is the US back up plan. Now, as we have seen Die Hard already, we know he can save the world and I believe the average viewer doesn't have anything against it. The crew, the training, preps, everything is upside down, but the curiosity speeds up as the movie delivers to the very end. Will they make it or die trying :) Another jewel in this piece is the music. Aerosmith gave a good taste to the movie, as well as some other performers. Crash itself and stages before it comes to the crash, are equipped with some nice pieces of instrumental music. Plus, we get to see how Nasa is supposed to work inside out. A special mentioning also goes to the effects of some crashings of the tall buildings and impacts some of the stones that are falling down, are depicted and vividly shown. Some great deeds are shown, as a some token just before they go on the mission. The day when you know you could end it dead and saving the world (which doesn't really bring redemption to your soul given you are dead and cannot inhale the fresh air anymore. Who wants to be a dead hero anyway. However, in this mission it is clearly shown what kind of assignements we sometimes need to cope with, even though we don't like them or accept them truly. Love between his daughter and one of his crew members is shown loveable and a bit naive. Still, it is a perfect role for Liv. I haven't seen her truly in some serious casts (in the sense she fits in the roles of sensitive dames, depressive women, touching spirits, etc. She feels fragile and should cast also in movies that support this. On the other hand, Willis as her dad, is the antipod in every cell he posesses. " I address you as the citizen of humanity", the glorious words of US president before he lets the wild 14 bunch on stage. No doubt, they will succeed. With a bitter taste of some lost souls. But what would a true heroic US movie be without fallen heroes, right;) ?  


My personal rating: 6,0 (solid adventure, no hard feelings when you leave it in the middle to get something from the fridge. On the other hand, Willis rocks the boat as hard as he can to escort you to the end of this piece).


Armageddon on IMDB

The Fifth Element, 1997

The Fifth Element, 1997
Director: Luc Besson
Cast: Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman


Stage: Home theatre, late Saturday TV screening

The Fifth Element in short: Two hundred and fifty years in the future, life as we know it is threatened by the arrival of Evil. Only the Fifth Element can stop the Evil from extinguishing life, as it tries to do every five thousand years. She is assisted by a former elite commando turned cab driver, Korben Dallas, who is, in turn, helped by Prince/Arsenio clone, Ruby Rhod. Unfortunately, Evil is being assisted by Mr. Zorg, who seeks to profit from the chaos that Evil will bring, and his alien mercenaries.



Preps: Seen this already, in fact several times. I love it, as it really poses something extraordinary with unique idea of destruction of the world, being put on screen, with more than enough entertainment.


Reality: As said, this is one of my favourites of all times. There are several points I need to make with this movie, because the story is unique and can be depicted in so many ways, however only few of them are so original and extraordinary as this one.
Luc Besson really nails it again, the images he created, are beyond belief. Plus, he successfully embedded the portray of the hero (of past) into the present in the movie. I am speaking of Bruce Willis, with the same role we have been seeing for some time on screen, but in rare cases it works as good as in this one. The all-time hero, on the quest for saving the world. The similar one as in Die Hard, Armageddon and several more. In this case, the protagonist of the habits people have, the yearning (for love), fight until the last breath, and the fact that the luck shows up at the back of the brave ones (yeah :) ).
In any case, the successful portraying of alternative Earth/Heaven, with the lucky prize contest and the weirdo Ruby Rhod (superbly played by Chris Tucker) - you can just die of laughter when watching him. On the other pole, Milla Jovovich, as the angel which will serve us as a tool to defeat evil. The innocent creature, that comes up to speed with our history and things we do in the most effective way. In some way or up to some extent you can tell how a perfect foreigner would see us from a different perspective. From non-burdened history.. and with the eyes of someone that doesn't have a clue what an Earth person is. The images we can see can trouble our mind for at least some time. Plus, the screening itself and the learning process is really funny. Obviously, like any Earth person would, also Willis finds his angel whom he wants to marry and cherish until the rest of his life. Obviously she falls in his arms and at the end, we have a Hollywood ending. Who could resist Bruce anyway, right? :)
The music in the movie is brilliant, also one of my favourite soundtracks of all times. Eric Serra as the composer, accompanied with some good artists, like Khaled, Lionel Ritchie. Absolutely above average and worth having at home.

The movie itself is unique and something really special, works in many environments and in this sense can be really universally shown. No extra praise upon US nation, just a surreal image of what the future might be in some weird imagination. It will make you think. And you will enjoy the escape with Bruce and Milla. Obviously, the world is saved in the last moment, but the irony behind it remains.

Leeloo: Everything you create, you use to destroy.
Korben Dallas: Yeah, we call it human nature.




My personal rating: 9,0 (one of my favourites of all times. I adore the idea, music, the delivery with the cast, mmmmm. Love to see it every now and then).


The fifth Element on IMDB

Hostage, 2005

Hostage, 2005
Director: Florent Emilio Siri
Cast: Bruce Willis, Kevin Pollak, Jimmy Bennet, Ben Foster



Stage: Home theatre


Hostage in short: Jeff Talley, a former LAPD hostage negotiator, has moved himself away from his failed career outside of Los Angeles, and away from his wife and daughter. When a convenience store robbery goes wrong in his turf, the three perpetrators move in on an unsuspecting family. But the family's father has a secret which might compromise his kin, and one of the criminals is about to jump over the edge. Jeff Talley has to get everybody to survive the night......if he can.


Preps: Hm. Nothing more interesting to do on a Sunday evening. So I check out the TV offering. Bruce Willis is always a treasure to a girl's heart. And sore eyes :)


Reality: Well, this is another piece in line with several similar, to this topic. Panic room (to name one of the ones I saw recently) is a similar movie, but more profound in the way the burglars get into the house. This one happens more or less by accident - because of a line of some events that seem more or less usual. Three guys running around in a wagon, trying to entertain themselves, pull off a stage act of them trying to frighten a young teenager, but end up with them being in a house in a role of a burglar, taking hostages and not really knowing what they are trying to get. A juvenile burglary, it seems at the front end. Still, they find troubles or, better put, the troubles begin when one of them shoots a cop.
After that, it's a downfall. All sorts of people have a part in this piece. Turns out the victims are a bad guy's family. So you are feeling with the pain of losing children, family, on the other hand you are satisfied that at least once someone that is doing wrong, is getting robbed.

A secondary story is running in the backgrounds. Willis as a cop/negotiator/specialist, who once lost a child's life at negotiations, still trying to get over this. (How obvious) he will fall into this scene again. This time the bad people also pressing to his family. I thought there was an unwritten rule that you cannot be a negotiator/specialist AND have a family. Because they will always find them and press on your feelings for them. So no surprises here, in this piece. Obviously they press on soft spot that Willis has for the family and make him bend the rules a bit with the rescue.

The piece is a solid action. No special surprises. Willis as always, wins the game, wins the dame and rescues everybody. And the bad guys get wasted. Or die in the process. The three burglars end up dead after their little game. The "FBI" people don't get hurt in a deep sense. But the director gives a good feeling of corruption in their ranks, as you watch this piece.

A good Sunday entertainment and action. As said, always a pleasure watch Willis in one of the "Die Hard" roles. Unfortunately, there is only one Die Hard. Even in that fourology (or were there already five?), well, the first two are the best, after all they lose their breath when they breed to number 3,4.


My personal rating: 6,0 (a solid, action-full, entertaining piece. No real depth, but a good action rating).


Hostage on IMDB

Red, 2010

Red, 2010
Director: Robert Schwentke
Cast:Bruce Willis, Mary Louise Parker, Karl Urban



Red in short: When his idyllic life is threatened by a high-tech assassin, former black-ops agent Frank Moses reassembles his old team in a last ditch effort to survive.

Stage: Home theatre
Preps: I only knew about the cast and some recommendation scheme I can see on the web. Something new from the Willis support team, I guess. Well, I love the guy, hence I don't hesitate to see this.


Reality: Well, I am truly dissappointed. It's a mixture between Mission Impossible, some James's Bonds and some other action movies that sell stories they cannot backup in physical point of view (i.e. that they are genuinely unbelievable). So you have Willis running around and any attempt of killing him ends up desperately for his rivals or competitors "on the dark side". I need to stress out that it seems nevertheless that Willis casts greatly in action type of movies and this one also suits him like a good quality tuxido. Since we all know about his saga Die hard, we cannot expect anything less. But unfortunately, also anything more. For all the scenes, I can merely express my dissatisfaction with the fact that everything has already been seen on screen and that adrenalin unfortunately doesn't exceed my expectations (really low, if I might add, at the beginning). The scenario is predictable, the turnovers are seldom, overall it's not a great action movie, however, Willis adds his part like a professional.

Unfortunately it remains a puzzle to me, why is it that great and respected actors really decide to go along with something like this. I am sure that movie bread is hard to produce, but.. getting to a crew no matter how bad the movie is.

By the way. RED stands for Retired & Extremely Dangerous. I thought it was a good gig :)





My personal rating: 3,5 (well, even though the main actor is hard and really dies hard, seems that he's a bit worn out and maybe pushed into another action movie. Nevertheless - the plus points go to the well executed "tough guy" scenario




Red on IMDB
Red official pages

The Expendables, 2010

The Expendables, 2010
Director: Sylvester Stallone
Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis



The expendables in short: A team of mercenaries head to South America on a mission to overthrow a dictator.


Preps: It's the premiere in Ljubljana, a must see, because of the fabulous cast and the topic. It just seems good when you see the trailer, and it is definitely worth a shot. Maybe it turns out the way Ocean's 11 did.

Stage: Local Kino Dvor event



Reality: If Ocean's eleven was a splendid idea and a good performance in terms of cast, directing, script, stage, etc, well, the Expendables is nothing like this. It was one of the disastrous pieces I chose to see and spend some time on. The only thing I was impressed about was the amount of good actors, that were in this movie and the fact that the oldies (Arnold, Willis, Stallone) actually stood on the stage together (Imagine Rambo fighting Kindergarten Cop as we did when we were really young). The fact that all of the Rambo sequels were in my opinion better than this one (and I don't like either of the sequels of Rambo) tells a story.

It is maybe a good idea to combine a movie with good cast and some strong explosions, but nothing (and I mean nothing) can really substitute the lack of the story, music, scenery, everything else. I thought about leaving the stage and getting a beer, because I couldn't stand the macho scenes, in which without a shadow of a doubt, the only purpose can be to shoot as many bullets as possible, destroy as many buildings as you can find on the way and tell stupid jokes alongside. I couldn't bare the lame scenario and I couldn't listen to Stallone, because I constantly looked at his facial make-up, which I found repulsing and non-repellent to attraction of the viewer(I mean here that the make up was so poor that I kept on looking at his face, instead of watching the movie).

If I could give 8+ points to Ocean's eleven because of all exclusive elements that the movie posessed, I cannot bare to come up with more than 1 for this disaster. Yes, they all showed up in one place. Yes, they destroyed everything, the whole set exploded zillion times. And yes, the movie involved one great looking woman that kinda needs to be protected against villains. But that's it. No real enthusiasm when seeing this and definitely, none left when it finally ended. Maybe some actors should leave the director's seat to a real director. And choose scripts more wisely. It's not all about appearing again on the big screen, even though the best make-up artist made you look 10 years younger and did a facial lift.

The last thought.. I was actually glad to see Stallone with a gun. I think the genre suits him best. But he would need to decide, what to do - act or direct. Rare persons can do both great.



My personal rating: 1,0 (just for the sake of the cast. The movie really sucks and I strongly recommend you find something else to do or go for a beer :))

Expendables on IMDB
The expendables home page

Cop Out, 2010

Cop Out, 2010
Director: Kevin Smith
Cast: Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan, Juan Carlos Hernandez



Cop Out in short: A comedy about a veteran NYPD cop whose rare baseball card is stolen. Since it's his only hope to pay for his daughter's upcoming wedding, he recruits his partner to track down the thief, a memorabilia-obsessed gangster.


Stage: home theatre

Preps: Hmmm, seeing Bruce again would be nice. I have seen not so impressive trailer on this piece, however, due to respect I have for Willis' work, I tend to see everything he produces. Hence, the decision is fallen. How bad can it be?


Reality: It can be worse than you expect afterall. Bruce Willis is out of his shape in the piece, striving to get at least some attention of the viewer. The script must have been written in five minutes, as it doesn't give anything besides some weird comedy scenes, that I don't find half that amusing as the actors did. The cast is awful and the story doesn't achieve my blood stream even a bit.

I always am suspicious about movies that have the smell of cheap, yet beneficial to the older actors that still want to be a part of the game. I am used having Willis in more adult roles, and less making fun of himself. I think he never wanted to participate in this movie - at least that's the energy his character shows in Cop Out. I am sorry to say this is one of more disastrous pieces that Willis showed his face in. I didn't watch it till the end, because I thought there might be a better way to spend my time. I don't recommend it, however, to the viewers that enjoyed light humour comedies and for non-demanding audience, this might bring some fun. Sure didn't do the trick for me.


There were several comical moments, this is one of them (the quote):

Paul Hodges: Why did you smack me?
Jimmy Monroe: I was in the moment and the moment said smack ya.



My personal rating: 1,0 (just for the sake that I saw Die Hard hero again, even though in one of the worst roles ever).


Cop out on IMDB

Cop out Home page