Paul Walker ruined the film, Bro
339979
This was an "okay" movie.  I would have given it three stars had they done one simple thing, eliminate Paul Walker's character.  I haven't read the book, but it seems to me that this character was added as an afterthought simply for Walker's star power.  Normally I would overlook this, but Walker was a constant distraction.  Are we to believe that the son of a Scottish academic turned out to be a California beach bum?  He resembles an overly macho Ted Theodore Logan (Keanu Reeves in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure) who throws around the word "bro" like Ted threw around "dude".  We find this character in of all places, an archaeological dig in France.  He had no skills essential to the mission, nor did he seem to affect the plot in any way whatsoever.  He was an altogether useless and out of place character.
Reeves was stuck in the character of Ted for a decade until The Matrix.  Like Reeves, Walker is stuck in the role as Brian O'Conner from Fast and the Furious, and unless he learns how to act his career will quietly diminish as his boyish good looks fade.
I can't totally overlook the film just because of the shortcomings of a single actor, but he just got too much camera time....and too little attention from the writers.  This is far from one of Richard Donner's better works.
3855943
On paper, it sounds great -- Frank Miller directing an adaptation of "The Spirit," based on the work by one of his heroes, Will Eisner.

On screen ... it's something else. Largely a poor extension of the flashy green-screen techniques used in Miller/Rodriguez's "Sin City," but primarily just a huge disappointment. Big misstep for Miller, who's responsible for some historic comic book moments; this flop may well muddy the waters for "Sin City 2" and it's simply not a proper adaptation of Eisner.

Too goofy to take seriously, too sanctimonious and solemn to be much fun, "The Spirit" is to Eisner's source material what the original "Casino Royale" was to the Bond saga. It also openly steals, or unwisely apes, elements from films as disparate as "Kill Bill Vol. 2," "Demolition Man" and even "Sin City" (the Spirit didn't wear Chucks, but SC's Dwight did).

Visually: Nearly every frame is striking. It's clearly a film directed by an artist. Samuel L. Jackson throws himself into the mix with palpable relish. The ladies look very nice and I actually didn't have as much of a problem with Gabriel Macht as lots of other critics did.

But it's hard to care much about the movie, hobbled above everything else by some of the worst pacing I've ever seen in a genuine studio motion picture -- Scene after scene serve their purpose and then continue to drag on and on and on and on and on, repeatedly reiterating or expanding on what we already knew before we were told. Too long almost by half, this is an action movie that doesn't have a clue when to just shut up and move on.

Seeing a bad movie by a bad director is one thing, but seeing a bad movie by a creative force like Miller is even more dispiriting (that's honestly not a pun, just the only word that fits).

To make matters worse, "The Spirit" DVD also contains one of the worst, most self-congratulatory commentaries I've ever heard, an unapologetic gush-fest from Miller and one of the film's producers.

The only noteworthy feature on the disk is "Miller on Miller," a fascinating but scattered interview with the man himself on the history of comics.
1212320
I was on a good run watching a bunch  of movies...until this dreck! This thing was made in 1979 and given the cast should have been pretty good but instead it is a bunch of Hollywood actors getting together and acting badly, very badly. The biggest offender is Telly Savales, dear God but he was terrible. The idea of who is a follower of his and wants to sink the ship gets old so fast. Me I would have said just sink it with all aboard and you would have spared me seeing this.
2755484
Sorry I just don't like Aaron Taylor Johnson. He really ruined the movie for me. His character and acting in this film was below mediocre and sub par. I'm tired of the whole military / call of duty / masculine men bad boys in these movies. Stop advertising the military and call of duty in film today. We have to move away from it
3247384
I saw "Comin' At Ya!" in the theater when it was released in 1981. Remembering that it was highly entertaining, if cheesy, I happily threw down my cash for the DVD release. If you're thinking about buying it, three words: Don't do it.

Rhino has converted the film to the red/blue 3D process (as opposed to the polarization process--if you've seen the 3D movies at Disneyland or Universal Studios, you know what I mean), and the results are horrible. Not only does the 3D not work, but the red and blue lenses ruin the color (red/blue 3D is better suited to black and white movies or monochromatic comic books). I gave up the glasses after ten minutes, muted the colors on my TV, and fast-forwarded to the fight scenes. (The two best actors in the movie are Tony Anthony and his shotgun.)

I'm very disappointed with Rhino for even releasing the DVD with the shoddy 3D. It's as if someone said, "Yeah, the 3D doesn't work, but who cares? They'll buy it for the gimmick." If you absolutely must see it again, rent it or con a friend into buying it. Because it is absolutely not worth the money.

As for the movie itself--c'mon, rubber bats on wires; flaming arrows; spears bouncing along on half-taut wires as they come "right at you"? That's what 3D was made for. The director uses every excuse to throw things at the camera, and then some. Most of them defy logic. But it might make a good party game to predict what object on screen is going to come at you next.

"Comin' At Ya!" is pure 3D cheese, and I loved it. Just don't expect good 3D.
2267432
How to ruin two perfectly good movie creatures...let 'em duke it out on Earth in a time before any of the other alien movies were made and have the king of jacking up a movie direct it.  Anderson, you really have get another job.  I think after this poorly done movie he hasn't any options left.  The characters were no-namers (Exception of Waylon), the PG-13 rating took away something at all the other movies had (I don't care if a bunch of 12 yr.-olds want to watch it!!!), the action was blurry and few a far between.  But the one good thing about it was it was over in less than and hour and a half!  If you have any respect for any of the original movies, do not watch this!  If you are a Paul WS Anderson fan, you have something seriously wrong with you.
1703070
What Frank Miller does here is akin to his treatment in the monumental failure, The Spirit. Without the magic of Tarantino on their side, the film was cursed from the start, after numerous technical setbacks, the death of two stars and numerous projects on Rodriguez's behalf. The result is not a second installment in Miller's acclaimed series, but a half-assed attempt at a Blockbuster sequel that casts shame upon its proceeding film. The page-to-screen effects that made the original film a visual masterpiece now appear cheesy and overdone. The arrangement of stories from both A Dame to Kill For, and Just Another Saturday Night (Booze, Broads & Bullets) appear beside two Miller originals written for the film, each just as empty and meaningless as the last. As usual, Jessica Alba is nothing more than eye-candy who manages to insult the buxom written version of Nancy even more if possible. As it whole, the film seems to have closed the door to any possibility of a third and final Hell and Back adaptation which formerly rumored Johnny Depp to be cast as Wallace. Perhaps the biggest shame of it all is that Miller has done it all to himself, taking what could have been a masterpiece and murdering a dream to be left behind with the other slew of victims from his yarns. The 3/5 is merely a courtesy for the seven wonderful graphic novels Frank Miller has given us. Overall one of the most overwhelming disappointments of the last few years.
4219002
This is awful. Simply awful. The effects on Mighty Joe Young were laughable back in 1998, and looking at them now after seeing the glory that is Peter Jackson's King Kong... no. Just... no. Bill Paxton also needs to be banned from acting. Hell, even CONGO was better than this tripe!
637824
I will have to chime in with the rest of the Vine reviewers on this one and state the obvious even further: along with an interesting story ruined with a horrible way to make a film (handheld tremors to the maximum) - they made it even worse by filming the documentary the same way!

The premise has a dark and film worthy stance on a serial killer having some form of redemption by the end, but the director made some very poor decisions and alienated a large group of potential followers with his poor creative process.

There could have been a chance to really describe his intentions in the making-of, but instead I was even more irritated with how he chose to have his behind the scenes maker shoot it in similar fashion. A few stars for the story, none further for the extras or film quality.
3231969
Watched Prometheus again a few nights ago (spoilers ahead): it sucked much less than the first time when I watched it in the theater, mainly because of the existence of a deleted scene where the Engineer actually has a brief conversation with old Weyland before commencing to violence. I really hate that Scott felt the need to delete this from the theatrical release in order to, I presume, just make the whole thing more cryptic and mysterious - or rather, just far less comprehensible and enjoyable. Another deleted scene drew out the suspense (otherwise non-existent) of the Engineer looking for the last remaining crew member near the end. No idea why that one was deleted either, as it established a much more deliberate, less haphazard pacing at the end of the film.

Plotholes still abound, and the romantic chemistry (or rather the complete and utter lack thereof) between the two lead scientists was thrown into even starker contrast this go-around, particularly when the gruesome death of one and the consequent hysterical reaction of the other as she witnessed it utterly failed to evince any sympathetic emotion whatsoever. I recall thinking "I *want* to care, I really do."

But certain other scenes such as that gargantuan fiery ship falling out of the sky in a slow majestic roll somehow go some way toward making up for the emotional and narrative lacunae. It's just a sci-fi movie after all, not high art nor some grand statement on Life, the Universe and Everything as the "engineered" hype would have it. Scott said in an interview prior to release "This movie is all about everything. I come from the All About Everything school." Feel free to get over yourself, Sir Ridley! And just let us enjoy your work for what it is.

I should also state that, though my connection could easily have supported 1080 or 720p (I bought an instant rental), for some reason it streamed at a far more degraded resolution. And I could find no way to fix that, as Amazon automatically determines the best resolution for your connection speed (or so they say). Phooey.
2717118
Wow ! what a waste of money , the only reason this did so well is because Paul Walker died ,the story line was a joke , to much unrealistic BS, for example : A highly trained assassin uses  a machine gun w/grenade launcher on a bullet proof car , and cant seem to hit the car with a grenade when its only 10ft away from him , the girl jumps on to the car to escape and the assassin drives up and slams the  car with his , Vin Diesel doesnt stop his car to let the prize in the car , he also slams cars with the guy while the girl hangs on the hood  phhhht !  thats only 2 examples of the many in the movie .....For a guy thats supposed to be the deadliest assassin the british have to offer he sure does screw up alot ..........
3187487
It was a mess of a movie, utter horse piss....but that statue.  Touche' Paramount, Touche'.  You just made me want to buy a blu-ray for a movie I didn't like.
2389125
I thought Michael Bay's insult that was Transformers was bad. Somehow the bar was lowered further, it's now subterranean and insulting.

There is not one redeeming moment in this movie. In fact, the movie should be burned. Stereotypes and insults more fitting to a movie before the Civil Rights act in 1965.

And that doesn't even bring up the waste of film used for everything that wasn't completely insulting.
249908
So. Awful.

... And I really love Paul Rudd, but this was just bad.
363630
Alternate reality or not, this film is not true to the fabric that made the original Star Trek the benchmark and the inimitable saga of the quest to go where no man had gone before. It just seems way off target and all wrong. This is not thinking man's science fiction. It is simply an unbridled and aimless action film with no clear dramatic cohesive elements. The characters' names have renamed the same, but little else was retained. The biggest disappointment and actually quite annoying was the alternate version of Spock. Zachary Quinto's Spock is all wrong. His portrayal of Spock is downright weird. It was absolutely fantastic to see Leonard Nimoy return as Spock from the original plane of reality. In effect this shows just wrong the concept of this film feels. Karl Urban performance as McCoy was somewhat successful and he did try to throwback to the original concept of the character. Bruce Greenwood as Captain Pike fared best. I think this is just an awful film. With the exception of Leonard Nimoy, Karl Urban and Bruce Greenwood the entire cast acts like they had a chip on their shoulder. They are rude, loud, and arrogant and constantly play a game of one-upmanship with everyone they interact with. This is not Star Trek.
838262
this was the best movie out of the whole series. it is a shame what happened to Paul Walker cause he was a really good actor and a great person in life. he will be missed
RIP Paul Walker
we will miss you brother
3611309
After watching I, Robot, I had a strange urge to go out and buy, buy, buy!  Could it be all the shameless ads that were not so subtly placed in the movie's script?

The movie, loosely based on Isaac Asimov's book of the same name, has as much to do with the book as well I have as much to do with anyone else named Nikki.

Will Smith, having decided that after losing the Oscar to "the other black guy", he needs to return to the shallow blockbusters that made him famous (ie. Independence Day, Men in Black) stars in this forgettable mess of a 90 minute advertisement.  Wouldn't it have just been easier to skip the extras, other actors, special effects and just have Will prance around in converse shoes, drive his Audi and hawk all the other merchandise that glutted this film?

Oh Will, do you actually read scripts anymore or do they just throw you the big bag of money and the free kicks and you ride off in your Audi, rapping about how you don't curse.  You've sold your soul, my friend.  How does it feel?