A couple of weeks back I watched Resident Evil: Afterlife and RE: Retribution which were easily my favorite two of the series to my own surprise. Aside from gimmicky 3-D movie type shots of flying this or that I really had no complaints when consuming them as fun action movies. Remains very hot in Afterlife and the whole fight scene with the big dude with the axe-hammer and the water going everywhere and the sawn off shotguns was just the right kind of ridiculous bullshit. I generally liked Afterlife a bit better, which was surprising because I thought I'd like it the least of all. Retribution was really a blast too, especially how they tried to shoehorn in every major sci-fi plot device into one movie, but it grabbed me just a bit less. Was hoping to have finished the RE series by now but my buddy is in quarantine after a COVID outbreak at his work so it'll have to wait.
This past weekend was heist/crime movies with my partner. First up was:
Heat [dir. Michael Mann, 1995] - this is one of those movies I've been wanting/meaning to watch since I was 12 and madly in love with action movies. As a kid I never watched it because my dad didn't like it so he wouldn't rent or buy it on VHS, as an adult, the presence of Al Pacino is a big deterrent. Plus finding time for a 3hr movie is tough. But not it's finally done and I can say... it's pretty good. On the plus side the movie looks great, the shootouts are loud as FUCK, there's some really tense moments and tricky camera work that frames things in a way that prohibit the viewer from seeing everything at once. Basically all of the action parts of the film rule. But on the flipside 90% of parts with Al Pacino have me laughing or cringing at the ridiculousness on display, especially the boring family drama stuff. It's fucking stupid. Even if he's supposed to be the most arrogant prick cop ever, it still feels like he's overdoing it.
I can really appreciate the "ambition" of this one to give a sprawling, even if relatively simple story, all the room it needs to breathe and do its thing. It's full of crime movie pathos and predictable endings, but Michael Mann lets it all play out till the end, including every trope along the way.
Final verdict, it was a great movie to watch on my big-ass TV with sound going full volume on a Saturday night, but I don't think I'll watch it again for a long long time.
PS - I finally understood what Rockstar Games was trying to do with GTA up through GTA V when the finally nailed the heist mission thing. this movie is feels like a huge influence on so many modern action video games that aren't Call of Duty.
Second was:
The Usual Suspects [dir. Bryan Singer, 1995] - my partner had never seen this so it felt like a natural follow up to Heat. Even though I've seen this one many times I still think it holds up well. The premise is solid and the dialogue is pretty good aside from silly parts. The whole inner myth building of the movie and escalating intensity works pretty well. The ending feels just a bit overdone re-watching now, but I think the movie earns it well enough. Also young Benicio del Toro really cracks me up. It's also a '90s nostalgia trip.
