In comparison this year, you've had After Earth (Will Smith is in it...but isn't the star??), The Lone Ranger (Johnny Depp as a native American?), and a slew of other unremarkable movies that have graced our cinemas.
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| "I miss Thor" |
Even Iron Man 3 seemed somewhat underwhelming, after having seen Tony Stark team up with the rest of the Avengers gang to save New York from Loki and his evil alien army. After that, you were always going to be left wanting more, and although Robert Downey Jr has done an amazing job at bringing to life an otherwise mundane character, you do get the sense that he's sadly coming to the end of the road.
There was however one movie this year that gripped me, that had me smiling from start to finish, and was relentless in pace: Star Trek into Darkness. The brilliance of this movie seems to have been overlooked by a large number of "Trekkers", who felt that it didn't feel like Star Trek, and that the occasional homage to 'The Wrath of Khan' was embarrassing. Well to say i disagree is an understatement. I've seen TWOK, and although i did enjoy it, i thought the acting was so hammy a dog would try and lick the TV, the antagonist was merely good, and the (SPOILER) death of Spock was totally preventable, and seemed to have been added in purely for Leornard Nimoy to have more negotiating clout for the next film.
Into Darkness however had so many brilliant moments that had me on the edge of my seat: The space dive, the shootout on Kronos, the battle aboard the Leviathan, the final chase through Star Trek academy.
But the best thing about Into Darkness without a doubt is Benedict Cumberbatch. I'd previosuly seen him give a fantastic portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, and was aware of his ability to portray a sense of power, but this was on another level.
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| A Villain to route for |
In a similar way to Heath Ledger's legendary performance as the Joker, you do get a sense of genuine terror when Cumberbatch is on-screen, and you can tell by the look in his eyes that he is highly motivated to carry out his objective no matter what the cost is to human life.
There were also strong performances from the returning cast aswell: Chris Pine did a fantastic job once again of re-invigorating the role made famous by William Shatner. In this movie in particular, he displayed a vulnerability, brought on by the revelation that he is indeed fallible, and in making mistakes can result in the death of not only himself but of his "family", the crew of the Enterprise. Zachary Quinto also had an evolution of his character this time around, struggling with relationship issues with both his romance with Uhura, and his bromance with Cpt. Kirk.
Across the board i felt the performances were fantastic, a notable inclusion of Simon Pegg, who had a more vital part to play this time, and definitely brought to light some of the moral conflicts that Cpt. Kirk was forced to face with.
Looking ahead to the rest of 2013, we have a few more possible contenders for film of the year, such as Thor: The dark World, The Hobbit 2 and Ender's Game, but i think honestly the only film that could snatch Blockbuster of 2013 for me could be Anchorman 2. I absolutely loved the first movie, and if anything can beat the Sci-Fi awesomeness of Star Trek, its Ron Burgundy. Stay classy Guys and Girls.
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| "You look good, I mean really good!" |
