Released: May 1983

Director: Richard Marquand

Run Time: 134 Minutes

Rated PG

Cast:
Mark Hamill: Luke Skywalker
Harrison Ford: Han Solo
Carrie Fisher: Leia
Billy Dee Williams: Lando Calrissian
David Prowse/James Earl Jones: Darth Vader
Ian McDiarmid: The Emperor
Alec Guinness: Obi-Wan Kenobi

When Star Wars was released in 1977, it sent shock-waves throughout the entertainment industry.  Nobody had ever seen a movie like this before.  Influenced by 1930 serials and Akira Kurosawa films, Star Wars had the perfect balance between humor, action and intelligence.  It was a fairly smart movie that came out of nowhere and took the world by storm.  George Lucas changed the way movies were made with that one movie.  He felt that the methods and technology at the time weren’t really good enough for what he had envisioned, so he crafted his own.  Nobody had used the camera the way George did or used models the way he did.  The result, along with an amazing musical score by John Williams, was a movie that became a phenomenon.  It shattered records and won several Oscars.  In 1980, the follow-up film, The Empire Strikes Back was released.  To everyone’s surprise it actually ended up being a better film than the original.  It took the best elements of Star Wars and dialed it up.  It was a darker and more mature film.  It was proof that a sequel could outdo the original film in every possible way.  In 1983, a third and final film would bring the epic saga to a close.  Return of the Jedi was released, and while it wasn’t as good as the first two, it was still an amazing film in its own right and gave the audience a very satisfying conclusion to the trilogy.

Return of the Jedi begins on Luke Skywalker’s home planet of Tatooine as R2-D2 and C3PO are making their way to the palace of the notorious gangster, Jabba The Hutt.  They’ve been sent by Luke Skywalker to secure the release of Han Solo, who was given to the bounty hunter Boba Fett in Empire Strikes Back.  Infiltrating the gangster’s hideout is Leia, who after freeing Han from his carbonite prison, is enslaved by Jabba.  Enter Luke who attempts to negotiate the release of Han but ends up being tossed into a pit with a ravenous monster.  Killing the monster, Luke and his allies are taken to the Dune Sea.  They are to be thrown to the Sarlacc, a voracious monster that lives in the desert.  Successfully rescuing his allies and killing Jabba, Luke makes his way back to Degobah to resume his training under Jedi Master Yoda.  At the same time, The Emperor is paying a visit to his new Death Star which is still under construction.  He plots with Darth Vader to turn Luke to the dark side of the Force and destroy the Rebel Alliance once and for all.

When Darth Vader revealed that he was Luke’s father, it shocked audiences to their core.  The most evil villain is the hero’s father?  Nobody saw that coming.  Most of the crew and cast members had no idea.  It was a well-kept secret.  It’s regarded as one of the most surprising twists in a movie.  Because of that, there’s a lot more at stake than just freeing the galaxy from the Empire’s rule in Return of the Jedi.  Luke believes that there is still some good left in his father, and he wants to save him.  The film gives a little more background on who Darth Vader used to be before he fell to the dark side.  His name was Anakin Skywalker and was regarded not only as one of the greatest pilot in the galaxy but was also one of the most powerful Jedi that had ever lived.  Return of the Jedi has a twist of its own: Leia is Luke’s sister.  Unfortunately, you can’t really look at Empire Strikes Back the same way again.  Now that you know that Leia is a Skywalker, seeing her kiss Luke in the previous film comes across as a little creepy.  One of the big things that makes these movies work are the characters, and that’s where the Original Trilogy shines.  The characters are unique and compelling.  Luke may have come off as a little whiny in the first two movies, but he wasn’t unbearable.  In fact, in Return of the Jedi, he’s a Jedi and he’s behaving like it.  Mark Hamill’s performance is fantastic.  Now, you can’t forget Harrison Ford as Han Solo.  I don’t know if there’s anything I can say about Harrison Ford that hasn’t already been said.  He’s one of my favorite actors, and he’s headlined two of the biggest movie series in history.  Han Solo isn’t as much of a rogue in Return of the Jedi as he was in the original, but he’s still awesome.  Carrie Fisher is a revelation as Leia.  She’s actually given a lot more to do in this one, both emotionally and physically.  Fisher balances Leia’s strengths with her vulnerabilities with ease, making for an incredibly compelling performance.  Billy Dee Williams IS Lando Calrissian.  He’s as charming as ever, but also given more responsibility.  One of the new characters is The Emperor played by Ian McDiarmid.  We finally get to meet the brains behind the Empire.  McDiarmid is one of the most underrated actors of his generation.  He knows how to play a bad guy, and The Emperor is a vicious son of a gun.  He’s a Sith Lord and master of the dark side.  He and Darth Vader are responsible for the near-extinction of the Jedi Order and the destruction of the Old Republic.

These are story-driven movies, so it also helps to have the story drive the action.  The action in the film is simply put: Epic.  Luke’s rescue of Han Solo towards the beginning of the film show’s the character’s growth as a Jedi.  He’s far more comfortable with it and a lot more powerful, and we get to see what Luke can do as a Jedi.  The scene is reminiscent of the old pirate movies where people are boarding each other’s ships.  It’s very much a swashbuckling adventure at this point.  It’s not just Luke that gets to show off, but Leia gets to show what she’s made of too.  Leia was NEVER your typical damsel-in-distress.  She could always handle herself.  It’s the climactic battle between the Rebels and the Empire that’s the centerpiece of Return of the Jedi.  It’s actually three different battles taking place at the same time.  The first is the war on Endor where the Ewoks are involved.  The Ewoks are kind of a divisive subject even today.  People often compare the Ewoks to The Phantom Menace’s Gungans.  I don’t think that’s a fair comparison, because the Ewoks are furry and somewhat adorable.  The Gungans?  Not so much.  It is kind of silly to see storm-troopers get pelted with arrows.  But it’s still an exciting sequence.  The next one is the gigantic space battle.  Take the space battle from the original film and crank it up to a thousand.  It’s one of the best battle sequences I’ve ever seen, and it’s done without CG.  It’s incredible thrilling because you get to see the battle from the pilots’ perspective.  It’s crazy-awesome.  The last one is the lightsaber duel between Vader and Luke.  People argue that the lightsaber battles from the Prequel Trilogy are better.  In terms of choreography, I would agree.  When it comes to pushing the story and focusing on the characters, the Original Trilogy has the upper hand.  When Luke fought Vader in Empire Strikes Back, he was fighting his father’s killer.  In Jedi, he’s fighting his father.  It’s far more personal then any of the other duels in the series.  This is a father and son fighting it out.  The choreography is still solid.  It’s probably my favorite lightsaber duel ever.

The film isn’t perfect however.  The one character that people really thought was cool was Boba Fett, the bounty hunter.  He isn’t given much screen time, but he is pretty awesome.  Unfortunately, he goes out like a punk.  That’s not very becoming of one of the galaxy’s most notorious bounty hunters.  The other issue is the musical number that George Lucas thought would be funny to have.  It’s not.  It’s irritating.  The Special Editions make it worse with poorly-done CG and ham-fisted delivery.  Stuff like that doesn’t belong in Star Wars.  One of the most egregious additions to the Original Trilogy happened for the initial DVD release of the films.  This a spoiler alert, so if you haven’t seen the film, unlikely, stop reading.  You still here?  Good.  In the DVD release, the ghost of Anakin Skywalker was initially played by Sebastian Shaw.  For the DVD release, he was digitally replaced by Hayden Christiansen, the actor who played the actor in Episodes II and III of the Prequel Trilogy.  George Lucas’s explanation for that is that Anakin was fairly young when he fell to the dark side, and Anakin essentially died when that happened.  It’s a retarded explanation to be honest, and quite frankly it was a needless addition to what is otherwise a very solid finale.  I tend to be a bit more forgiving of these additions, but I can understand why people prefer the pre-Special Edition films.  Return of the Jedi gets a strong 8.5/10.  The whole trilogy gets a perfect 10/10, simply because it is one of the best trilogies out there.

On a side note, I’m writing on Christmas Day, so I hope everybody has had a safe and happy holiday.  So, happy holidays and be safe out there.

Lone Survivor is based on actual events described in detail in the book of the same name by the only survivor of a Navy Seal team inserted behind enemy lines: Marcus Luttrell.  Obviously, spoilers will be unavoidable.

Released: January 2014

Director: Peter Berg

Run Time: 121 Minutes

Rated R

Cast:
Mark Wahlberg: Marcus Luttrell
Ben Foster: Matt “Axe” Axelson
Taylor Kitsch: Michael Murphy
Emile Hirsch: Danny Dietz
Eric Bana: Erik Kristensen

“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”

The United States Special Forces contain some of the best and brightest that our armed forces have to offer.  From the Navy SEALS to Delta Force, these organizations train and house some of the best soldiers on earth.  These guys are sent in when something really needs to get done.  In the summer of 2005,  Operation Red Wings was put into effect to disrupt the activities of the local anti-coalition militia in Afghanistan.  Their main target was a man by the name of Ahmad Shah.  He was the leader of the pro-Taliban forces in the area.  A team of four Navy SEALS were inserted behind enemy lines to scout the area and locate the target.  Unfortunately, their position was compromised and they were ambushed by Shah’s militia.  LT. Michael Murphy, SO2 Matthew Axelson and SO2 Danny Dietz were killed in action in the ensuing firefight.  Only Navy Hospital Corpsman Second Class Marcus Luttrell survived.  16 other special forces soldiers were killed when their helicopter was hit by an RPG.  Lone Survivor is based on the first-hand account of Marcus Luttrell.

I’m going to avoid talking about the story of the film, because it was ripped right from the headlines.  Anything I say about Operation Red Wings is going to pale in comparison to the actual reports of what happened 9 years ago.  As with any film that’s based on real life, you are pretty much going to know the outcome going in.  Lone Survivor is not just a story about Marcus Luttrell, but also about the team he was a part of.  These were guys who were pretty normal folks with not so normal skill sets.  The relationship between these guys is simply put: brotherhood.  They were brothers, not by blood, but by circumstance.  The courage that these soldiers exhibit isn’t just in how they dealt with the firefight, but in their choice of occupation.  The training that Navy SEALS are required to go through is extraordinarily difficult and takes a person of equally extraordinary will-power and physical prowess to succeed.  In fact, at the very beginning of the movie you get to see some of this training.  It’s actual footage of real soldiers training to be SEALS.  The people who make it through this ordeal are changed forever in ways that we, as civilians, can never understand.  Like-wise, the way these guys related to each other and the way they fought together is something that only a person who has been through that hell can grasp.

It’s important in a film like this to show the relationship between the characters, especially during extreme situations.  It gives us a glimpse into a world that is pretty much hidden from the rest of us.  In order for it to work you have to have top-notch talent to really get that relationship right.  You have to understand, these characters were real people, who lived and died fighting as a team.  Mark Wahlberg inhabits the role of Marcus Luttrell, the only survivor.  Wahlberg is a fantastic actor, and he really does a good job here.  Taylor Kitsch surprises me here.  I never really though of Kitsch as that good of an actor, but he comes across as a bad-ass and a leader.  He really gets it right.  I’ve always dug Ben Foster as an actor.  He has a tendency to play some pretty quirky characters, but he always puts his best effort into them.  He disappears into the role like you wouldn’t believe.  Emile Hirsch plays Danny Dietz, the youngest member of the team.  Eric Bana plays LTCD Erik Kristensen.  Bana is reliable as always, and is usually a good choice for a role like this.  To get ready for Lone Survivor, the actors underwent grueling training course.  Not only that, but they also spent time with the families of the soldiers in that team.  They wanted to learn more about the soldiers that they were going to portray, and do their best to show that to audiences.  It’s clear that Lone Survivor was a special project for director Peter Berg, who first read Marcus Luttrell’s book while making Hancock.  It was important for him to really get it right, and I think he did a marvelous job.

This is a war movie, through and through.  The action is visceral and hard-hitting with some very spectacular stunt-work.  It was important for the filmmakers to show that these guys were caught in a no-win situation with no way out.  If they were going down, they were going to take as many of the Taliban with them as they could.  Despite knowing the outcome of the film, you can’t help but wanting these guys to be able to survive and make it home.  The tension throughout the battle is palpable and it has you on the edge of your seat.  Lone Survivor doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to the violence.

Lone Survivor is a story of courage and sacrifice.  These guys put everything on the line to protect our way of life from those who would see it destroyed.  I watched some of the special features on the DVD that I got, and it has interviews with the cast and crew.  It also has interviews with Marcus Luttrell and the family members of the soldiers that were killed in action.  It’s absolutely heart-breaking for the family members who have endured losses, but they also wanted this story told.  Putting that into context with the actual movie, it’s hard to sit through.  It’s emotional and inspirational at the same time.  As civilians, I don’t think that we truly understand what it really takes to defend our nation and the sacrifices that are required.  The ones who do understand are the families of those killed in action and the people who survive.  It is to those who gave their lives for our freedom and those that survived that I dedicate this post.  Marcus Luttrell established the Lone Survivor Foundation in 2010.  The intention was/is to provide the same kind of environment that helped heal Marcus.  More information can be found below.  Out of respect for the men and women who gave everything they had in service to this nation, I won’t give a score to this movie.  It’s a great movie, with excellent performances.  It needs to be seen at least once.  It’s an extraordinary story.  Putting a number to Lone Survivor just doesn’t feel right.

For more information regarding Operation Red Wings, The Lone Survivor Foundation, and Marcus Luttrell:

The Lone Survivor Foundation

Marcus Luttrell

Operation Red Wings: This is a Summary of Action on the operation.  This page is also part of the website made by the United States Navy to commemorate Lt. Michael P. Murphy’s service.  It’s worth taking a look.

Released: August 2014

Director: Jonathan Liebesman

Run Time: 101 Minutes

Rated PG-13

Cast:
Megan Fox: April O’Neil
Will Arnett: Vernon Fenwick
William Fichtner: Eric Sacks
Tohoru Masamune: Shredder

As a kid, I used to spend a lot of time in front of our TV watching cartoons.  During the mid-to-late 80s and early 90s, cartoons were at their best for my generation.  We had Transformers, G.I. JOE, BraveStarr, and Thundercats.  But one of the coolest cartoons featured some of the most unique characters I’ve ever seen in TV show: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  You had awesome characters like Shredder, Krang, Dr. Baxter, and April O’Neil as part of the whole deal, but it’s the turtles you want to watch.  Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello are the titular heroes.  Each character had a unique personality: Leo was the leader, Mikey was the party animal, Donatello was the geek, and Raphael was the rebel.  Their teacher?  A rat named Splinter.  The Ninja Turtles were originally based on comics by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.  The turtles have gone through NUMEROUS incarnations over the past 30 years.  From comics and TV shows to feature-length productions, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a staple of my generation’s childhood.  When I heard that Michael Bay was producing a new Ninja Turtles movie, I almost panicked.  Then I realized he wasn’t actually directing it.

The film opens as reporter April O’Neil is on her way to get an interview for a potential story when she notices a group of thugs are breaking  open cargo containers.  Believing them to be the notorious terrorist organization known as the Foot Clan, she attempts to get closer when she notices a mysterious figure starting to cause havoc and knock the thugs into the water.  Attempting to tell her boss and co-workers about what she saw, her account is met with criticism.  Witnessing people running out of a building, she investigates only to captured by the Foot Clan.  Not one, or two, but FOUR large figures show up and proceed to pummel the living daylights out of the thugs.  Following them up to the roof, April finally gets a good look: Four large talking turtles.  Somewhere else, the leader of the Foot Clan, the Shredder, learns about the turtles and orders them captured.  The story is anything but original.  It just serves moving the film from one action sequence to another.  It’s serviceable.

There are a couple of elephants in the room that I would like to address.  The first issue is with the pre-production of the film.  It was rumored that Michael Bay wanted to have the turtles come from space.  That was apparently one of the first rough drafts of the screenplay.  The backlash to that was extraordinary and forced the filmmakers to wisely reconsider.  People were pissed that their favorite turtles were going to be aliens.  Thankfully, that’s not the case.  The explanation for them is fairly logical if not cliche.  Another issue is the design of not just the turtles, but Splinter as well.  The turtles are much larger than they were in previous films, and they are CG, but each one has very unique look and outfit.  Leonardo has a samurai-style outfit while wielding two katanas.  Donatello sports glasses and electronic equipment with an extendable bo-staff.  Michelangelo wields to nanchukus, while Raphael sports twin sai.  Each one is unique with their own personalities.  Splinter’s design is definitely different, and he’s also CG.  The first two Ninja Turtle movies utilized actual costumes and animatronics courtesy of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.  This was during the early 90s, so CGI wasn’t part of the program yet.  You know what?  The original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie is probably one of the best action movies of the 90s, and it does so without the use of visual effects, it’s all done in camera.  The next issue was the villain.  It was clear early on that William Fichtner was going to be a bad guy, but nobody was sure if he was actually going to be the Shredder.  He’s not.  They found Tohoru Masamune to play Shredder.  I’m honestly glad that they did.  The Shredder in the previous movies and the comics and shows was Oroku Saki who was a ninja from Japan who became a criminal and founded the Foot Clan.  It was inferred that Splinter and Shredder had a history, which was explored in the original film.  In the new Ninja Turtles, there’s no such history which kind of eliminates the tension between the characters.  The look of The Shredder has remained mostly consistent throughout the years with his iconic helmet and blade-clad outfit.  In this new movie his armor is still retains the familiar look, but it updates it with mechanical blades.  As a result, the character is CG when he’s in uniform.  That leads me to the final elephant: The visual effects.  While this is a live-action film, most of the main characters are CG.  The technology we have today allows for some really incredible visuals, and the way the use it in Ninja Turtles isn’t bad.  In fact, at times it looks almost photo-realistic.  The problem is when there is a lot of action(and there is), it can get pretty jumbled and confusing at times.

The action is surprisingly decent.  Utilizing new animation technology, director Jonathan Liebesman has managed to actually make some pretty awesome action sequences including one that takes place a mountain-side.  It’s pretty thrilling.  What makes it work is the interaction between the turtles.  Each turtle has his own personality and they end up bouncing off each other fairly well.  Mikey can be pretty funny at times, and creepy at others.  Is the movie perfect?  Oh, no.  It is not.  I don’t really like Megan Fox as April O’Neil.  I never liked her as an actress anyway, her performances are wooden and unconvincing.  Although, if they had cast Kristen Stewart, I would have the same complaint.  Will Arnett is kind of forgettable.  Whoopi Goldberg?  Really?  I like Goldberg, I really do, but she really comes across as unlikable.  Was that intended?  I have no idea.  You can also tell that Michael Bay has his fingerprints all over Ninja Turtles, even though he didn’t direct.  It shows with some of the editing and some of the action sequences late in the film.  I understand that CG may have been needed with the new design of the turtles, but some of the sequences look like a cartoon.  I certainly understand people who have a preference for the old costume-style turtles, and I do too.  But people really came out swinging against this movie saying the turtles are ugly and don’t need to be CG.  Of course, you’ve got the crowd that says, “MICHAEL BAY IS RAPING MY CHILDHOOD!”  They said that about the Transformers movies too.  Really?  I’ll be honest, I’m not as familiar with the comics as much as I am with the original TV cartoon and the first four movies.  I’m clearly not as hardcore as some people are, apparently.  I just don’t feel that the new Ninja Turtles is the abomination that many are saying it is.  I don’t think it deserves that kind of hate.  Is it perfect?  No.  Is it better than the original movies?  It’s not better than the first two, but it is a damn sight better than Turtles III.  Honestly, I enjoyed the new movie.  It has a sense of humor and doesn’t take itself seriously.  It’s paced pretty well, and it doesn’t overstay its welcome.  It’s also a visually spectacular film.  It just stumbles at certain points.  At the end of the day, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles gets a solid 8/10.  Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go!!