Dunkirk (4.5/5)

Dunkirk (4.5/5)

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War movie, no matter how good it is, it always has one problem.

By their own nature, war movie are always about decisive conflict between two sides of human political parties.

American and British Empire.

White American and Native Indian.

Allied and Nazi.

Good and evil?

To the audience, when one side is good the other one must be bad. No matter how sympathetic they try to make the 'bad guy' are, we will always pick who's good and bad based on our life and experience.  In reality, war and conflict are much more complicated but no matter how hard anyone try it never really work. In my opinion, no director can tell how complicate war really was in cinema. Quentin Tarantino might (unintentionally) try to put some grey a bit in Inglorious Bastard, where the Bastard are sadistic Allied commando, but we always know who that Nazi is a bad guy. American Sniper might try to portray Chris Kyle as a family man and PTSD survivor, but we also know that it’s a story about US Marine badass who fight evil Arab.

No matter to how hard someone might try, war movie will always be about ‘good’ vs ‘evil’. Simple as that.

Until ‘Dunkirk’ shows up.

Dunkirk is a movie that based on a true story about Dunkirk evacuation in World War II. Where the British soldiers were push back to the beach of Dunkirk and facing disastrous evacuation. The film shifts back and forth between three stories with DIFFERENT perspective of times.

The first story (the mole) was from on infantry perspective as he struggle to evacuate back and forth between Dunkirk beach and the sea.

It expands about 1 week.

The mole

The second story (the sea) was based from volunteer evacuation ship. The crew must made decision and faced their fear as they had to continue their mission along with keeping PTSD stricken soldier (Cillian Murphy) at bay.

This story expands about 1 day.

The sea

The last one(the Air) is a story about a pilot (Tom Hardy- who once again played a ‘guy with a mask with British(?) accent’ role) , who has to shoot down German bombers before they reached Dunkirk while running out of fuel.

This story expands about 1 hour.

The sky

As you can see here, the script timing makes the film a remarkable in itself. Rarely (if ever) there was any film that cover multiple perspectives based on different timeframe and make it seamless like this one had done. This film was an instant classic and would be a case study for many film students to come. It was intriguing, imaginative and a sight to see for those who love cinematography and editing. I couldn’t think of any word to say on how great it is.

The two symbols

The more important however is that this film is a film that finally BREAKS the whole the war movie genre itself. This film is not about a group of soldier fighting each other.

There are NO bad guys in this war movie.

Well, technically the Nazi German/Wehrmacht is a bad guy in this movie. However, this movie went beyond making Nazi a general ‘bad guy’ war movie. You saw their destruction but you never actually see them.  You might see their plane and silhouette but you never saw their face in an entire movie. You know that they exist but you never ever seen them. Christopher Nolan removed those ‘human’ face from them. They came out and attack allied outside the screen.

They are not human…. 

But as we watch from the safety of the screen, we can't say for sure that they are not monster either.  How could we identify something that we can’t see? Are they a ghost? They are not even a character. For the purpose of this movie, the German were served for something different.

They were neither man nor monster but a symbol.

A symbol of obstacle and hardship.

What about the Allied then, were they heroes? Maybe they were but they were not memorable. Not by old school war movie standard. They were heroic but somehow Christopher Nolan seem to remove something ‘extraordinary’ from them. I didn’t see Sergeant Rock and Captain Smooth. I didn’t see Cold Sniper who never misses. I didn’t see Ace pilot who could shoot five plane in a single run. Everything seems natural like I was not watching a movie but a documentary. 

If the Germans were symbol, then the Allied characters were also symbols.

Symbols of humanity by themselves.

As I said earlier, this was not a movie about two human factions fighting with each other.

This is a movie about human internal struggling in a war situation.

True, it’s the German that pushed the Allied to the beach. It was the German that bombed the ship and prevented the evacuation. But this movie is (mostly) not about heroic individual. It’s about humanity facing fear and hardship.  The difficulty that the character has is NOT about the courage fighting with the  German. It’s about the courage they fight the evil that exist within their heart.

The infantries’ worst enemies were not the German troop, but their despair and selfishness. There’s a lot time of time that one of them would have better chances of survival if they left their friend. They never did.

The worst enemy of the boat crew was neither planes nor U-boats, but the uncertainty and loneliness of endless sea.  There’s also fear that come in the form of Cillian Murphy’s character who meant no harm but become mentally obstacle for them.

And lastly, the worst enemy of the pilot was not the German planes. It’s a choice between saving himself and saving other. With low fuel and a high chance to be strand in enemy territory, the pilot needs to choose between duty and his life. 

Aside from last story, no one won this war stories by shooting anyone.

Another face in a crowd and a war in all of us.

All in all, this is a unique war movie that won’t show up again any time soon. It’s a strange creature in itself. It distances us from the character but somehow better for it. Aside from the boat crew, most characters were just a face in the crowd. Just another man in uniform. Someone who was so plain. So unspecial like us.

But what they did was extraordinary.

Not because of these guys had highest killing count but because of they fought their struggle and KEEP at it. Curtain will not be cut after we found accomplished or failure. Tomorrow maybe better or worst. But until the last breath, we must fight our struggle and hope for the better day.

For that is what human is.

That said, I like to end this review with this quote:

“Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.”

 – Winston Churchill.

Note: In case that someone might thought that I sound more 'neutral' to German in WWII. I don't support any action relate to Nazi by any shape and form. Anything that I wrote is only based on I saw screenplay on this movie only.

By all mean, I'm glad that Allied won this war. 

To all WWII veteran, I salute you with all my heart and soul. You fought for all of us and deserve a better world than we currently have.

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awaken (4/5)

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awaken (4/5)

A long time ago in a country far far away....

There was a boy who loved Star Wars. He watch the VHS version that his dad borrow from the video shop. It was a whisper of love that grown into full-time crush when he watch the special edition in the theater. From that day on, he love all Star Wars film. 

While the American are cursing prequel like it was Anti-Christ, the boy did not care. He all the film except for Attack of the Clone and Jar Jar Bink which he love a bit less. He play most of Star Wars videogame and try to read some of the sequel novel after he found out that it existed.

Then the dark time come, creator are run out of idea and the boys realized that Star Wars sequel novel is a book for nerd who have nothing else to read in his life. He decide that Star Wars end at Return of the Jedi(or was it Star Wars:Union-where Luke married a gorgeous tsundere red-head Mara Jade)

Anywho, the boy become a man with jobs and master degree. He never thought that sequel movie would happen. Little that the man know that Disney have a cunning plan to buy Lucasfilm. With JJ Abram at it helm, they have announce to film a sequel trilogy and plan to bring peace to nerd galaxy......

Before there was Abram.

I stop give a damn about Star Wars sequel five years ago.

It’s not that I don’t care about Star Wars. I seriously do. I consider myself to be quite a Star Wars nerd back then. While I didn’t read every book or hoarding myself with action figure, I do play most of the videogame and know quite a bit of what going on behind the scene of Star Wars nerddom.

Thing is there was a sequel in the past. Long story short is that George Lucas give some permission for a Del-Rey publisher to publish a story after Return of the Jedi and after hundred of authors come and gone it was quite a mess.

For some idea on how messy it get. Han and Leia got a kid who turns to darkside. Luke Skywalker got married. New Republic fight against Borg Alien then lost to Empire again 100 years later.

The last time I bother to check the Galaxy was save by a junkie who happen to have last name Skywalker. He fought Sith lord who was an old buff dude who use to hang out with Anakin. That very same Sith lord also have a Sith Twi’lek sidekick who dress like a stripper.

Hell, it's about time......... to quit the franchise.

It is my belief that good story need to have an end. By that point it obviously clear to me that Star Wars become a franchise zombie and everybody that got hook into it will write on whatever they damn please.

So I stop give a damn about ‘sequel’.

Until JJ Abram get into the picture.

As you probably already notice, the internet went nuts after first trailer of Episode 7 came out. Everybody is excited about the film and hail it like one of a greatest achievement of a mankind. I feels a bit skeptic however. The trailers looks good but I'm not really certain on how the franchise will turn into. Disney surely want to run Star Wars as a yearly franchise, a concept that I'm not really fond of.

But now we must focus on the present. The film come out, and there is one question needs to be answer.

Is it good?

The film  review

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awaken is a story of Rey(Daisy Ridley), the young scavenger of desert planet of Jakku. She meets a guy name Finn(John Boyega), a deserted soldier of fascist First Order. They have adventure through galaxy while being chase by Kylo Ren(Adam driver), a ruthless dark side user from the First Order.

And that’s the summary I can provide without spoiler.

The casting is solid. The wooden dialog and acting from the Prequel trilogy are gone. All of newcomer did they job perfectly. Daisy Ridley was great in her first lead role and John Boyega is very convincing in his role as Finn. Oscar Isaac as Poe Cameron, while not have much screen time like his friends, makes every scene he appear count. While his role is best summarized as 'ace pilot', I’m really glad to see we have one return to Star Wars universe.

The main duo

From villain side, Adam Driver gave a great performance as Kylo Ren.  While I personally thought that Kylo ‘coolness’ is debatable, he is definitely not a one-dimension character. Sadly, everybody else from the villain side is forgettable. Maybe except Supreme leader Snoke(Andy Serkis), who probably have more role in a sequel.

The only villain this film really need.

The cinematography of the film is gorgeous and the fight scene is definitely make Age of Ultron seems like a school project. However, most scenery seems to lack some exotic 'not on earth' feeling that always present from the old film. The Alien is there and there's Star Wars architecture here and there but I just feels it a bit too plain and lack of wildlife. I also feels a bit disappoint on soundtrack since the film does not seems to have any unique like in six previous film. Which is pretty sad since this is only things that prequel did it better.

It's a nitpicking of course. Not a big deal, but I just needs to mention it.

The plot of the film is ok, although I feel it a bits rush sometime.  There some part that is so cliché even by Star Wars standard and most of plot element are heavily borrowed from episode4-5.  However, the film does it best when it comes to characterization. It does not use a lot of exposition like the old film and rely heavily on cinematic queue and acting. And fortunately, with a superb acting of the main stars, the film delivers.

However, while some of them details are probably left for artistic license, I can’t help some of them are left of as sequel bait. While I neither condone nor support the ‘make film to hype the sequel’ business model that Disney is doing with Marvel cinematic universe, this unfortunately make the plot considerably weaker as a standalone film.

Overall, it’s a solid film. Force Awaken is a new fresh start in the franchise. While I'm still remain skeptical on whether Star Wars become franchise zombie again, I will be looking forward to see how it goes.

Eat Pray Love 1/5

I'm going to get flak for this.....

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Eat, Pray, Love was adapted from a memoir of Elizabeth Gilbeth. Lizz(Julia Robert) is woman who have it all: nice job, money, and a lovely husband. Yet she still feels empty. The film chronicle her life from divorce and go along Lizz's journey to discover herself from Italy to India and end up with love in Bali.

Sound promising, isn't it?

Well yeah, I admit that they have quite a good cast. Julia Robert is a likable actor and Javier Bardem is good on most movie that he's in. The scenery and camera work are also quite good. But there is one big problem.

The protagonist is unlikable.

Now, I understand that there are many people who suffer a lot of trouble that Lizz has. But for me she's pretty selfish, stubborn, and impossible to satisfy from the beginning. At start, she divorce her husband(Billy Crudup) for reason that he was boring blabbing husband. It's only get worst from that point on because of bad screenplay. The dialog are bland and transition between each scenes are very abrupt. I think understand her a bit but I don't feel any empathy on her at all.

In fact, 'EMPTY' is the word that summarize my feeling about this movie. It might be better if this is make as a miniseries where we can have time to absorb on character thought. But the bad screenplay and trashy dialog from hipster wannabe make the film dry and tasteless.

Do not waste your time with this movie. Just go out and do something. Eat at some good restaurant. Hang out with friend. Do some yoga. Join meditation class. Time is too precious and you should not spend 140 minutes of your life with this piece of eye candy garbage.

1/5 for scenery and shot of yummy spaghetti. I couldn't rate more for Julia Robert's free travel ticket.

Million dollar Arm review 3/5

India.

A country with second largest population on earth. A crowd place surround by culture that are difficult to understand by foreigner.

Some said it was rural and dirty, but beneath it lie some beauty.

And people with potential, who needs to have a chance to shine.

But somehow this film choose to make it about a white guy and his sport film cliche.

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Million dollar Arm is a film base on  real life story of J.B. Bernstein(Jonn Hamm), a sport agent who went to India to find out new talent for baseball league. He put a competition called 'Million Dollar Arm' to find a best thrower and offer the winner a chance to play on major baseball league. There, they found Rinku Singh(Suraj Sharma-Life of Pi) and Dinesh Patel(Madhur Mittal- Slumdog Millionaire), and bring them back to US for training and try to impress the major league.

It might sound like a sport film cliche, but it's ok. I think the film was fine actually. Jonn Hamm is doing ok job on the lead and he twist all his charm that he could. Suraj Sharmais also doing a good job and I found pretty surprising that Madhur Patel can switch from psychotic Salim in Slumdog Millionaire to somewhat adorkable Dinesh in this film. We also have a beautiful shot here and there in Mumbai. The comedic timing are also pretty good.

However, I think the film can be so much more.

Million dollar Arm is one of the film that have potentially good story but fail to deliver because of the wrong perspective. The film should have followed Rinku and Dinesh(the Indians) perspective more than Bernstein(Jonn Hamm's character).

You might think I sound crazy but think about it. Rinku and Dinesh are two Indians boy who never travel abroad, can't speak English, and the 'Million dollar Arm' is the only ticket ticket to their dream. There are a lot of stuff that you can play with them like culture clash, heroic journey and all those stuff. They are the underdog type character that you could root for.

Can't say no to this cool pose.

On the other hand, Bernstein already have a nice house, car, and handsomeness of Jonn Hamm. The only thing that he don't have is a decent girlfriend(who he finally get one at the end).The film mention that he's about to run out of business, but it fail to build any suspends.

Beside, he's Don Draper. 

A nice film, but it could be much more better.

Divergent 2/5

Divergent is a a film about somewhat distopian future where everyone will be divide into group base on their personality at sixteen. There are: Abnegation(selfless), whose work as chicken soup volunteer; Amity(unity), whose work as a farmer; Erudite(intelligent), which consist of scientist and suit guy from politic school;  Candor(unity), which consist of guy from Howard.

And the last one is Dauntless(brave), which suppose to be some sort of soldier but act like roid rage jock running around the street.

The future of law enforcement, marathon jogger.

Those who do not pass the initiation test of their chosen faction will be put into 'Factionless' which is equivalent to homeless.

The story followed Tris, a valley girl born in Abnegation faction. On the day of her aptitude test(which consist of weird dream sequence like Ender's Games ), she was found to be 'Divergent', a person who's not really into all five stereotype. The tester warns Tris not to tell anyone of the test and just choose one for herself.

So Tris choose to be in Dauntless, the path of surrounding with hot guy in tight black leather. After that, the story followed another training from hell, meet some hot guy who will help her through her quest, and uncover conspiracy that will shock the stability of five faction.

As you might notice, the film clearly have some element from Harry Potter(a young boy/girl choose to be in faction),Ender's Game(training from hell and nightmare session), and Hunger Game(Distopian lead lady surround by hot guys). But due to several design element that seriously cater to teenage girl, I found it rather hard to take the film seriously. I guess it's suppose to be social commentary, but for me it sound more like an American college stereotype drama in bigger scale.

See. They want to be serious.

The acting is nothing to be mention about. Shailene Woodley (Tris) was pretty stone for the early film but she did a bit better on emotional scene. Theo James(Four - Tris' mentor/boyfriend) is also stoneface for the whole movie but it works good enough for a stone cold mentor role. But it was Kate Winslet who save the day with role of Jeanine Matthews, Erudite leader and big bad of the role.

Also, I would like to mention one more thing about the film. The fight choreography in this film is better than other recent young adult novel film(The Hunger game, Ender's game, Twilight). Still it have pretty weird stance which I pretty doubt for it effectiveness in real life.

Please consult your boxing class before try this in a bar.
Safety not guarantee.

Not entirely horrible film, but passable.

Robocop (2014) review 3/5

I first met Robocop when I was young boy. It was the third film that I watch. I can't remember what year it is but the time feels different back then. Life is easy with nothing to worry about. I remember watching it and amazing how cool Robocop was with machinegun hand and jetpack. A few week later, I follow it with first and second film. I like the film but did not feel amazed by it back then. I was too young and could not understand the concept of 'Ghost in the machine'

Fast forward several later around two years ago, I decided to grab the Robocop trilogy and watch it for some reason that I couldn't remember. I like the film instantly. Unlike my childish self back then, I found myself prefer first film the most and film the least. The trilogy did remind me of how the movie was back then. The time where cg is hard and difficult. In that time, Robocop doesn't need to be flashy. He need to be slow and robot like since it reflect his mind, the one of person that has been lobotomized so hard that he became robot like. Although I like both sequel to a degree, I felt that there are no need for it since the conflict, a search for Alex Murphy's soul, was already solve in the first film. When he turned around to the camera and said his name is one of the perfect moment in cinema. It show a triumph of human spirit who refuse to be machine.

It's a good film for its time.

Ah, memories.

Now, there's a new Robocop film coming up. Like most people, I first have some pessimist feeling about it. It doesn't seems like original film. There's a lot of recognized actor. There's a lot of CG and action scene. Even Robocop doesn't look like his old self. He's faster, stronger and even paint in black!

That doesn't seems like Robocop to me!

Like a crazy frantic nerd, I wander around the internet. Of course, there some other who have some hope for the film and there are some who did not. But  as a fan, I got to watch it.

And so I did.

And I like it.

The story of the film is quite similar to original. Detective Alex Murphy was badly injured by a car bomb. After his wife Clara (Abbie Cornish) agree to let Omni Corp used his body for their prog ram, he was resurrected as Robocop, a law enforcing machine and Omnicorp biggest product advertisement.

The cast is pretty solid. Joel Kinnerman is doing a good job of portraying Alex Murphy. While many people might think that he could not fit into Peter Weller(original Robocop) shoes, I beg to differ. I think that it would be wrong to compare these two because both actor got different script and different take on Robocop /Murphy. Weller's Robocop was a lobotomized cyborg who gradually regain his humanity while Kinner man's Murphy was a cyborg who slowly became lobotomized as the story progressed.

For the rest of colorful cast, they done a pretty good job. I like Gary Oldman the most since it's different from rest of the role he usually has.  Michael Keaton was good as well as Omnicorp CEO who ask like Steve Job's evil brother. Even he's not Batman anymore, it's funny to see that he still like to 'make it black'. 

Also it was nice to see Jackie Earle 'Rorschach' Haley as well, didn't see him since Watchman.


Still, there are two things that I did not like about the film.

1) Aimee Garcia as Jae Kim. Her role is okay but wasn't the character suppose to be Korean? I did not ask for Lee Young Ae but couldn't they just put cast an actually Korean or at least some Asian?

My eyesight probably bad, but I don't think they can pass at each other.

2) This flicking ending theme.


Seriously, it's a bad idea. You can't end a franchise movie with a well known theme with some random music. It's disrespectful. Like you can't make Star Wars film with an ending song from Justin Bieber album. At least write some original music like all the Bonds film.

My face when I saw the end credit.

I would like to mention also that the action scene are rather dull in my opinion. In most scene, Robocop just ran forward with dual gun and mow the bad guy like an arcade rail shooter. The original film kinda like that too but I never got the 'rail shooter' feel from it. Guess the soundtrack might help.

But aside from that I think it's a good film.

As for the change, I believe it was necessary(except for the ending credit theme). The first Robocop, while not Oscar film, was so good and unique in it own way. If the film use all the old element, it will only retreading all the old concept. It's a no-win situation since the critic and fans will always compare it with the old film. The world have change a lot from the time that the old Robocop was film. While I don't think we are any close to utopia, I think that people are more aware of their right and something in the old film like the OCP's right of Alex Murphy's body is something that is less believable nowadays. Not to mention that the concept is already been used. The viewer and visualize effect have change too. With a superhero film like Iron man coming out several times per year, a sight of slow walking cyborg is not so unique anymore.

Like Murphy, I was struggle throughout the film watching everything change around me. As he feels confuse when he found his new cyborg body, I feels confuse that it was black instead of blue. When he was program to subdue his emotional size, we also have been bombard with what some people think as 'brainless CG movie' instead of 'oldies handmade SFX'. But as the movie goes one, as Murphy seems to adjust of this 'change' and his emotion began to resurface, I ask myself a question.

If he can adjust to the change, while shouldn't we?

Of course, nothing would be the same. But the change is not always come with the bad thing.Old movies, like Murphy's old past are come and gone. Murphy would prefer to get the old life back but he can't have it. It's a thing of the past which will not return. He knows accept the change and fight on. And in the end, he was able to see his wife and child again. He might not be able to do things he able to do but in the end he still regain something.

So why we won't be like him, we would never have a new 'Original Robocop' anyway so why we don't just enjoy the film for what it is. I don't think that it's as good as the original but it's not even half bad. Let's just enjoy our current time and current Robocop for what it is. And if I want to see the old Robocop again...

....I just need to pop in my Bluray.  

PS: Since there are many actor in this film that was in super hero flick. I like to write down a short crazy summary for fun.

"After Detective Alex Murphy(Joel Kinnerman) was badly injured by a car bomb, his body was retrieved by Omnicorp, a company that was run by Batman(Michael Keaton). There he was transformed to an ultimate fighting machine called 'Robocop' by Commissioner Gordon(Gary Oldman). Other cast include Abbie Connish as Murphy's wife. Rorschach(Jackie Earl Haley) as Robocop's trainer, and Fox news host play by Hairy Nick Fury(Samuel L. Jackson)

What I think of Ender's game and problem I have with it: Part 3 comparison with book.

Now for the final part I'm going to compare the film with the book. At first, I think about writing only about the film. But as I thought about it I decide that this article would somewhat incomplete if I did not do comparison with the book. After all, the book got both Hugo and Nabula so I think that it might be a good read. The film might not be super epic but since the book is very popular I guess that it should not be that bad.

There are probably a good reason that US military add the book into officer reading list after all, right?

So I call a good friend of mine and borrow a book from her. I read it for several days and come up with this article. I found both of it to be different. The book did cover some of the part  that I did not like for the film(although a bit partially) but there are some part that I think the film does it better. While the film is a full blown military sci-fi film, the book seems to have more social comment.

So which one of it is better: the film or the book?

Before I make a decision, let me make a few points here. Be warn for the fan, you might not like some of my comment.

By the way, full SPOILER!!


1) The book has more scientific explanation. I'm quite appreciate on detail like time dilation or a small detail around research on the Formic(name of the Alien).


2) The book have minor plot about politic on Earth which doesn't sound different than 80s action movie. American vs Russia, yadda, yadda, yadda. I guess that it's probably because it was written in the 80 too. Those detail is nice, especially the consequence after the war was over. In the book, each country start fighting after Formic war has ended and they try to get Ender to lead their army. It's a nice touch but came out as hearsay since it did not effect Ender in slightest.  So all those nice detail end up too short, too rush up and end up useless in particular.


3) The book have a minor plot about Ender's sister and brother get into politic by..... posting in the internet. They became equivalent to Lacus "Mary Sue" Clyne(From Gundam SEED Destiny) and bring the world peace. In the end his psychotic brother even become the world president. This is ridiculous and I glad that it was cut from the film. I can watch Code Geass or Death Note if I want to see 'genius child take over the world'. At least they have fantasy element and I don't think they are required reading in JSDF(Japan Self Defense Force).

Their dialogue are great anyway, but end up unconvincing for me. I can't take it that serious when it came out from a kid who have zero experience in politic.

Oh, by the way I found idea that Peter, Ender's sadistic brother, become a world peace president is quite weird and unrealistic. It's true that some leader in history are ruthless and I know several bully with leader quality. But the step between psychotic children that dissect squirrel to Gandhi is a little bit too big. These type of leader will always let their bad personally take control and destroy everything if not in check. Peter in the book strike me as smart but unstable person. These person, if they have power will usually stay for awhile, some might go down, some might not, but all of them will always be a controversial figure at very least.

That's something for more politic discussion I guess. But I found this 'Psychopath can bring world peace' crap is pretty hollow.

In my opinion, there are some other books that represent the case better.


4) Unlike the film, the book seems to shift gear from military sci-fi into epic space odyssey in the last chapter. Card really make a good job of his wordsmith here. It was beautiful and I admire that. They put a lot of effort on life after Ender become war hero/xenocide but I feel that it's too much to cover in one chapter.

I'm pretty mix on whether the book or film does it better on this one. Book has more details but seems rush to me since they cover a lot of time from Ender's time at space colony governor to The Alien Messiah. Personally, I think that film capture the point well without going to needlessly detail. It short, concise, and straight through the point.


5) There's a lot of reference to weird stereotype in book: Spanish pride, badass Jewish make best commander. Is it try to be funny or racist? I don't know.


6) I don't get what the hell is wrong with Orson Card. There's a lot of homoerotic subtext in the book. A fight with Ender and Bonzo is already creepy in the film but the book make it sound like something from 'Boys love' fanfiction.

And there also Ender's relationship with his sister Valentine, I got a feeling that their interaction are feels  a little bit too..... romantic.


7) Ender himself is more likable in the film. In the book, he seems to be a smartass sue who seems to know everything. He's smart enough to hack military network and braver than all student combine. Only thing that he seems to be worried of is to become a psychopath like his brother which I'm not sure if he already been one since the beginning. I found myself like Asa Butterfield's Ender more than the one in the book. At least he seems to be more smarter in dealing with people, and seems to be on 'defensive' side when bully pick fight with him.

This make his 'Mary Sue' trait in the movie a little bit less irritable than his book counterpart. At least the film is honest what Ender is and erase those controversial thing (almost) entirely.

Aside from that, I think that Asa seems to have good chemistry with Haylee Stanfield(Petra) and Abigail Baislin(Valentine). They looks pretty adorable together that I wish someone could put them in a romantic comedy already (^  ^). That would make my day.


8) There's a minor character name Han Tzu. I guess Card modify the name from philosopher name 'Han Fei Tzu'[1]. He thinks it's cool I guess.

But it's wrong. Because I don't think that no one would name a child like that.

To clarify, Tzu mean master in Chinese. No one use it for name and it only use for honorific reason. You got to earn it. Sun Tzu, for example, was originally name Sun Wu and have to earn the right to be 'Master Sun'.

Only a crazy and absolutely retard mother would name her child as 'Master Han' from childbirth.

But it's one of Card's thing I guess. He have character name 'Si Wang Mu' in later book too. She probably base on 'Xi Wang Mu', a Chinese goddess. It's ok for most people I guess, but for me it's pretty odd as having a character name 'Virgin Mary' or 'Jesus' .



Conclusion


Overall, I found that the film is slightly better in my opinion(can't believe I said this). Sure, it leave some detail but it focus on the strain and pressure of being a soldier well without being distract by some pseudo half-heart politic discussion. The film keeps only one main point but at least it's direct and more concise.

Still, this does not mean that I like the film. In fact, I found the film is 'not good enough' and full with hidden implication but the book was even worst. You can like it but I'm absolutely wish that no one would take it seriously. It need to be read carefully.

Card might be good with word.

It was beautiful but yet shallow and meaningless to me.


Many people said that this book was about peace. It ain't. It never was and never will be. It's about a lost boys who went to war that they have no understanding. They fight, kill, and destroying a culture. Some of them will regret, they will cry and weep. Their guilt will kick in. They want to help but most of them will help IN THE WAY THEY WANT.

Which is not necessary in the way that those people need.






Side Note:

[1] Han Fei Tzu was one of the most well known Chinese legalism philosophy. The legend said that even the first emperor(Qin Shi Huang, same guy who create the great wall) was impress by his work and base the law system from Han Fei's philosophy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Fei
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/253934/Han-Feizi

What I think of Ender's game and issue I have with it: Part 2 Stupid Warfare.

Now, for the part 2 and a final part. I will focus entirely on warfare strategy in this film.

Before begin I would like to say that I did not actually plan to separate this article into two parts. But as I sit down and thinks it though I found out that the warfare in the story is probably the biggest issue I have with the film. The battle in the film( and the book by extension) are create clumsily and stupid. I hope that no one would take the strategy in either the film or the book seriously. But seeing so much fame and accolade this book,especially that it require to read in US army, have make me decide to elaborate on this matter. I might say that Ender's game is the worst media that trying to portray with warfare seriously. While I think that there are some useful idea like  how to think outside of the box or how to deal with difficult person, it fail on deliver that idea through.

Now I admit, I never went to war and my talent in chess, board game and RTS are limited. My opinion is offer from just a simple guy who know a little bit about history and military tactic. You can take it with a grain of salt.

Now let see what is so wrong with Ender's game warfare.

1) No Intel

In the Ender's game, we are entirely in assumption that Earth have a war with Alien. They attack earth once and earth decide to fight them back. To prepare for war. They create ships. They create Death Star(call Little Doctor in this film). And they are training a super badass kid who will become the best strategist ever!

But they seems know nothing about our enemy.

Seriously, this is one of the things Ender repeatedly say in the film. I understand that this is no spy drama, but the emphasis of 'lack of intelligence' really show that something is very wrong in this fictional military organization. 

In the film, it seem that no one knows anything about alien. The entire research and intelligence section in Ender's game should be fired. While I understand that Colonel Harrison Ford(name Graff in this film) might consider them as a mindless bug. But it was pretty careless to ignore on other Alien 'intel'. How about there generic behavior? How they eat? What are their physical capabilities? And what about their technology? 

The only detail we know about Alien is that they are Hive mind. Blow the queen ship and all minions will be destroy.

And did Ender know that in school? No, he know by repeatedly watch Ben Kingley(who plays Darth Maul older cousin, Mazzer Rackham) propaganda video for thousand time.

"Ender, You will never see it coming."_[1]

To make it worst, old Ben know it the whole time and decide to not tell him directly. Now why no one was teach about that in the officer school. Did Ben Kingsley withheld the information from Harrison ford? Or Harrison Ford decide that killing Alien is too easy and decided not to tell Ender? Seriously, that is 'withheld crucial intelligence' right there. 

As Sun Tzu once said once: "If you don't know others but know yourself, you win one and lose one." This means Military clearly give an unreasonable handicap to alien.

2) Telecommunication and Morale issue.

After Ender graduated from his Nazi boot camp, he was send into(what-he thought) of a battle simulation. There he control the fleet from command center several planet away. It might seems cool and neat idea back then. But as you might know, teleworks is only good in some situation. And in a situation that require close attention like combat, it might not a good idea to issue from planet away. No matter how much advance technology is, you would never be able to get all the detail like you actually be on the field. 

Of course, it depends on commanders style. It probably reasonable for Ender to be away from the field so that he can focus on the big picture. But that also mean that entire battle is depend on the communication system. Which for all the chaotic nature of war, can be disrupt or destroy. 

Ender's greatest enemy._[2]

And lack of communication can also lead to morale issue for the fleet itself. 

Let me ask you a question, what would you do if your old boss leave the office. You might be happy or sad for a few days. But then you got to take order from your new boss. Now, imagine if you never seen him and he's only shouting order at you by one-way phone. You might thinks it absurd but wouldn't you getting crazy if you know that your boss is just a kid whose only work experience is military boot camp and videogame? 

I'm sure I would. I might even consider looking for a new job.

Put that and consider your job is to go fight in a war where your best friend can die at anytime for an order that you would not understand. No one can fight and die for voice with internet connection. Combine all this and we have a textbook example for morale destruction. This will decrease effectiveness of the fleet and at worst: desertion or mutiny.

Not to mention that Ender become disillusion and throw a fight(but win anyway) in the last battle on the book.

3) Platforming warfare.

Now we all know that the military have bad intel and put an unreachable commander in task which will probably create morale issue. We will now begin to see what the warfare in Ender's game like. 

In flim(and even more so in a book), we see that Ender was walking into simulation room. He have five minute briefing then watch the big IMAX screen which all the ship are lining in formation opposite from the Alien fleet. After he battle by moving hand like Tom Cruise did in minority report(which I think it's cool) and issue command to his officer (who also kids around his age). After he win battle, he gave Haylee Stanfield(who plays Petra, Ender's sorta girlfriend) a high-five, go to bed, and fight new battle tomorrow.

Seems like someone laid back on the military research. War is not simple like that.

Warfare, according to the movie._[3]

While everybody in the film keep talking about 'think outside the box', this method discourage them. As you might know from history of warfare, each battle in war do not have specific time. It does not always begin with two force stand on each side and duke it out. It was base on event and coincident. War is uncertain and chaotic and those that expect certainty will only be defeat. 

Did George Washington give the Hassian a time to prepare of battle of Trenton? No.

Did Sam Houston wait until Santa Anna finish his Siesta before begin battle of San Jacinto? Nope.

Did Ender and Alien gave other time to nap? Yep.

It might be understandable that Alien not trying for unconventional warfare. Consider that they reveal to be peaceful. But how come that military in Ender's Game are so simple mind like that. They have no intel so they can't come up with proper strategy and only rely on Ender to give them victory on each skirmish. What about ambush, cutting supply, misdirection, divide and conquer, etc? All these concept are entirely non-existance.

And this is not to mention the issue of supply and manpower shortage which seems to be non-existance in this universe. Every ship seems to be repair and men power replace by the matter of days.

Can't said that really happen in real life.

4) Ender himself.

From all the issue above, we can see how suck it is behind military in Ender's Game. But we did not talk about the boy himself. All we know is that military thinks he is a best candidate, a chosen one and a savior who can save mankind. They manipulate him and do all the backend work to make him focus on the field. It's understandable, but did it work? Is this whole abomination project of abuse and violation of human right work? It's probably work because he win, right? Ender win and it all that matters?

Nope. I don't think so.

Not to mention that this 'genius' first action in training room is point the ray gun at his friend and shoot him.

In fact I would go so far to say Ender Wiggin is probably one of the least talented 'child strategist' in all fiction(or at least the one I have been heard of). He have all the trait of Mary Sue, yet he fails to delivery a crucial ability that great strategist throughout history has.

An ability to defeat large army with small troop and survive.

And ability to make badass boast that delivers._[4]

The film try to make Ender looks smart. I think he did but he absolutely not 'military genius' that everyone seems to praise him for. His strategic reason was sound but it was the execution that seems bizarre and cause heavy casualty. Especially the part that he shield his mini deathstar with star fighter before he 'gasp' blow the Alien planet. In fact, he seems to love this 'meat shield' strategy so much that he use it twice.


Plus, since 'long term strategy' aspect of military and 'supply issue' do not exist in Ender's Game. Ender was force to play straight up 'Skirmish real time strategy' with very limit room for improvising. It's pretty hard for me to consider Ender Wiggin as nothing more than glorified Starcraft or Laser Tag player. He was limited by 'inside the box' warfare and did not have a perfect battle formation to come with it.

And that is the end of the second part of my issue with Ender's game movies. At first I thought that this will be the last part, but in the middle of the article I decide to borrow the book from a friend of mine and read.

So in last and final part, I will talk about the movie compare to the book itself.



PS: Now since I mention Jia Xu(guy in pic 4), I wander if the film might be more interesting if they switch Ender with him or Guo Jia. Any "Colonel sacrifice his head" strategy is welcome (No hate for Harrison Ford though, he's cool. I just don't like Colonel Graff).

Image source:

[1] Walt Disney Motion Picture, Iron man 3, 2013.
[2] Unknown. Taken from http://searchenterprisedesktop.techtarget.com/tip/Deciphering-the-Blue-Screen-of-Death
[3] Blizzard, Starcraft. Taken from http://www.giantbomb.com/starcraft/3025-326/
[4] Chen Mou, The Ravage of Times

The Good, The Bad, and The Weird (4/5)

Today as I browse through Netflix, I suddenly got a feeling to watch this film. The Good, The Bad, and The Weird is a western Korean film(or 'Oriental Western' as title prefer) by Kim Ji-Woon. I remember missing it when it first coming and now I finally got a chance to see it. Now I'm not really that crazy with Korean film, but this is probably one of the Korean film I could watch twice.

Plot:

In a tale that obviously inspired by 'The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly', 'The Good, The Bad, and The Weird' is story of three man: a train robbery -Yoon Tae-goo/The Weird(Song Kang-ho); a hitman- Park Chang-yi/The Bad(Lee Byung-hun); and a bounty hunter - Park Do-won/The Good(Jung Woo-sung). All those three men are binding together when Tae-goo find a secret map that lead to secret treasure hidden in the midst of Mongolian desert. Then he enter the strange partnership with Do-won and together they went to find the treasure while fighting Chang-Yi's gang, Mongolian bandit, and Imperial Japanese army.

Not in this image: truck with machine gun and artillery.

While plot is pretty simple, I found myself lost sometime during the beginning. But this is probably because I don't have any knowledge about 1930 Mongolia and their conflict with the Japanese. I wish that they should put some opening text telling us more about historical background in the beginning.  That would help me a lot.

Also, while the title is 'The Good, The Bad, and The Weird', the important of the each character are actually in reverse. It might make me feel a bit jarring at first but I can adjust it as the plot goes on.


Acting:

The acting in the film is quite good for an action film. Especially Lee Byung-hun(who also play Strom Shadow in G.I. Joe film) who dominate all of his screen time. Of all three, he got the best script and he delivers a role of sadistic Park Chang-Yi perfectly. His sadistic glared and cold attitude serve the character well. It make him unique and totally different from Angel Eye (Lee Van Cleef's character) in 'The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly'.

The Bad

On the other hand Song Kang-ho as Yoon Tae-goo is quite good too. As first he seems to be a carbon copy of Tuco (Eli Wallach's character) in 'The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly'. Not to mention that he plays an idiot action survivor once in 'The Host'. But that's exist only until the final showdown where his character become a total reverse. In the reveal, he deliver the shift of character with a subtle yet satisfied.

The Weird

As for Jung Woo-sung as Park Do-won, sadly he have the plainest script of all three. Do-won is a full carbon of 'The Man With No Name' archetype that Clint Eastwood build his career on. Unfortunately, I didn't feel a 'presence of death' that Eastwood has from him and make him feels overshadow the other two.

Still, as a compensation, he got most of the badass scene in the movie especially the final chase on the desert.

And The Good.

Conclusion:

I totally recommend this film. At least just to get different feel from 'Oriental Western'. At first the pace might be  slowly and confusing, but it will get better as it go on. It has a lot of good action scene which combine by good soundtrack and a good cinematography. No reason to not watch it, either on Netflix or Blu-ray.

Now I feel little bad that I didn't watch it on big screen already.

4/5 stars


Disclaimer:

All of the picture reference in this article are copyright from 2008 CJ Entertainment.

What I think of Ender's Game and issue that have with it. Part 1: The unfortunate Implication

Today I just want back from seeing Ender's game at a drafthouse. It was somewhat fun although I really did not enjoy the first half of the movie. Now, I got late so I totally miss the early part where they explain about Ender's game universe so I might be incorrect at some part.

To summarized: Ender's Game was a story of a boy name Ender Wiggin(Asa Butterfield) who got enroll into some Nazi child soldier boot camp in space. There he was train to become a super armchair commander to flight horde of Hive-mind Alien while fighting real battle with bullies.

As I said earlier, I did not like the film in the first half where they shown Ender got bullied, and see Harrison Ford(which play Colonel Gaffe, Ender's supervisor) became manipulative asshole. But I think the film gets better as it progress as Ender (unrealisticly) learn to become a leader. After that, well... there are some zero gravity fight, Ender fight bully in the shower, some space battle and slight plot twist. Good, but nothing worth thinking over.

The acting is pretty good though, slightly better than most sci-fi standard.

Now I understand that this is probably one of the most beloved sci-fi book so most fan will probably hang me for this. I did not read it and do not have any plan to do so. But I got lot of things I don't like in the film that I feel worth discussion. I will try to focus my thought on the film but in time I might accidentally veer into bashing the book. My apologies if you don't like what I think, but I will stand by my idea.

Here we go, the list of stuff I don't like about Ender's game:

--Spoiler Alert!!----

1) The comparison between Alien and (what author thought) of standard US enemy(Imperial Japan, communist, Muslim, etc.) This is very obvious. And the way that they way that the film treat this issue is somewhat half-heart. In the 98% of the movies we got feed with information that they are bad and they must be destroy, blah, blah.... Good enough for typical Sci-fi.

And in the end, after exterminate them, Ender knows that they might not be bad. Then he make understanding with Alien Queen before he take their last eggs and fly off into horizon to find them a new home. While this probably sound like 'peace' promoting story, I got the exactly opposite message. I message that I got from the film is:

"You can understand your enemy only AFTER you massacre billion of them."


How couldn't I think it that way? Peace and understanding without conversation is a neat idea. But since it came in around last ten minute, it make me wonder if the writer didn't think it through and just put it in to make a good twist. Not to mention that Ender adjust his mood from moping to 'Messiah mode' rather quick. Make him rather a Mary Sue and a apology to mass murderer.

And for the Alien, their only role is to serve as plot device and a base for Ender's moral. Not even a character.

Which I saw in Gundam 00 first, without xenocide part[1].

2) The way the film treat military as a whole.  They try to Military look brutal but effective. All I see is stupidity. All their strategy is depend on Ender, some random kid from nowhere. They treat Ender like the Chosen One from the start. Even before he was send to school. All he need to do is beating a bully and laugh at Harrison Ford. No body got that privilege in real life. Not that quick in the matter of war.

The way they treat their trainee is even worst. The military track their activity(especially Ender) whether they eat or sleep like a creepy stalker. They block e mail and train Ender by manipulate event around him. What is this? A Patriot act in space. Even worst, they promote competition to extreme which I don't think it's effective. Little competition is good but it should come after building team spirit and discipline. Otherwise it will create tension and jealousy among member which manifest in from of Bozo, Ender's bully senior.

And they watch two boys duke it up with this face[2].

And this lead to next part,

3) The way the film treat bully issue. It was too cheap and easy. While this normally lead to suffer and death, the film treat it as another step to badass. When bully happen in this film, no adult in this seems to care and thought of it as 'test of character'.  Fantasy character like Ender  might beat them it into scrap and 'accidentally' kill on of them with no consequence, but it never been that easy in real life. Not everyone survive a bully process, especially in a place like military.

They will either:

A) Been abused until they give up or suicide
B) Gotten rape, maybe by more than one proprietor.
C) Both.

If you don't believe me, just google 'Danny Chen' or watch 'The Invisible War'

Seiously, look for them[3].

Yes, I know what you thinking. You might think this just the way to train soldier right? Rough on them so they are tough. Please keep in mind that those officer are not even hit their puberty. There are child soldier!

And those horrible stuff they put on them are not even worth the effort. In my mind, Ender is not super strategist that everyone thought to be.

Why? Read on next part.

--End of Spoiler!!----

<To be continued on Part 2>


Image source:

1) Bandai, Gundam 00: A awakening of Trailblazer.
2) Sakae Esuno, 'Mirai Nikki'
3) Chain Camera Pictures, 'The Invisible War' (left picture)
     Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, 'Danny Chen' (right picture)