[VANFLAMESFAN]

So I went to the sneak preview last night. I went with super low expectations as it looked like maybe one of the worst movies ever made. While it wasn't the worst, it definitely wasn't all that good.

There were plenty of things that irritated me about the movie, but having said that, it did hold my interest for the majority. Some things I couldn't get past were:

Terribly mis-cast: Marlon Wayans is just a bad actor and how he got this gig is beyond me. He was there for comic relief, but was NEVER FUNNY!!! Sienna Miller, while looking smoking hot in the movie, couldn't pull off the bad chick. Channing Tatum was meh as Duke. Dennis Quaid was very ordinary, but this movie didn't really call for tour de force performances.

Bad Special Effects: I really have no idea where they spent their budget. The effects for the most part were really cheesy and didn't look good at all. Some of the aerial shots and fighter jets were very poorly done and looked really mickey mouse.

The plot was very simple, the dialougue was very pedestrian, but I think this was by design. I truly believe they were on the right track with trying to make the tone similar to the old cartoons.

The one thing that really irked me though was the ridiculous technology they tried to implement. Before the movie, they threw out the line of "In the not too distant future......" I could be wrong, but I don't believe this was in the cartoon. Correct me if I'm wrong, I was very young. But by saying it was in the distant future, to me, seemed like a total cop out to get away with some of the absolute crap they wanna get away with. The Super Suits you see in the preview is only a part of the problem. Their gadgets make James Bonds look medieval. I have no problem letting my imagination do lots of work, but the makers of this want you to go to a totally different level. It's ridiculous.


Overall, I give this a very generous 5.5/10.