Alien 5 – The Return of Ripley… and Hicks?

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2015-03-19

You are all no doubt aware of the recent news that Hicks and Ripley, played by Michael Biehn and Sigourney Weaver respectively, is making a return to the Alien franchise some 20 years after the last main entry, 1997’s Alien Resurrection. For the sake of cleanliness and good taste we’ll ignore the existence of the two Alien VS Predator movies. There are good reasons to be excited by this news, and just as many reasons to look upon this project with a much deserved sense of caution.

First, the positives. What is so important about the announcements so far is the return of two of the key cast members who both defined the franchise and in particular the events of James Cameron’s 1987 sequel to the film that started it all back in the late 1970s. Having such recognisable names making their return, especially after such a long gap, is nothing short of exciting and it adds credence to the plans to resurrect the series. Second is that this would look like it’s intended to be a return to form for the franchise, which hasn’t been in the rudest of health since Alien 3 was released in 1992, dogged by misunderstandings and disagreements behind the camera, and an apparent lack of understanding for what this almost inadvertent;y created franchise’s core aims should be. This could be a minor reboot for the world of the Xenomorph, particularly if Blomkamp can bring it back to something on par with those first two films. I’ll settle for a close third if need be.

The potential negatives are just as notable. Will this new film gloss over the third and fourth Alien films? Some may say this is a good idea, but there are just as many who disagree. While Alien 3 isn’t anywhere near as bad as is frequently suggested (Charles Dance, Paul McGann, Charles S Dutton – what’s not to like?), it also spoilt the good will of many a fan by bumping off Hicks and Newt in the opening sequence (sorry – spoilers!), throwing away all of the character development of Aliens and, perhaps much worse, destroying the surrogate family dynamics between Ripley, Hicks and Newt (and, at a push, Bishop’s head) before we even had chance to experience it. This was made worse by them then abandoning Ripley on a planet full of male criminals. All played by Brits. Go figure.

There is also the fact that Blomkamp hasn’t exactly been firing on all cylinders since he made District 9, and the cinema going audience will only maintain their patience with such admittedly minor missteps for so long. The man has a lot of talent and equally as many solid ideas, but after Elysium and Chappie failed to live up to expectations, there is a lot riding on this new Alien film. Of course, with it being an already established franchise may just work in its favour, and it certainly doesn’t hurt that Weaver is willing to return to the franchise that has, if not made her name in the film world, has certainly played a big role in defining it. Likewise, it will be great to see Biehn back on the big screen. His vocal work in video games Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon and Aliens” Colonial Marines aside, his CV hasn’t looked too healthy in recent years. In fact, you can probably scrap Colonial Marines from that list as it’s a terrible game.

This would be the point where I soil myself.

I for one am looking forward to the new film, no matter what direction they take the story in. I don’t have a problem with writing Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection out of continuity (to allow space for this new film’s existence) because it’s not as if those films are being taken out of circulation – they are still there if you want to watch them, and you are more than welcome to ignore the continuity of the new film if you insist on it – assuming they go in that direction, of course. What is more important to me is how they establish Hicks’ return and, more importantly, if they can still provide a solid piece of entertainment no matter which side of the continuity fence you sit upon. Suffice to say, I will observe any future news updates on this project with interest. It’s still very early days, but I have high hopes for this one.

I was going to do a shoutout to Michael Biehn’s Instagram page, but as that appears to have disappeared from the internets, maybe I won’t. Very interesting. Very interesting indeed.

Movie Soundtrack Highlights – Mortal Kombat Theme

By

Simon Prior

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2015-03-15

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I have for as long as I can remember been a fan of the Mortal Kombat theme, more so than the game itself because I have never been much of a beat em up/fighting game fan. I dabbled with the genre in years gone by – Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Killer Instinct, ClayFighter, Street Fighter 4 many years later and, of course, Mortal Kombat – but I can’t ever say it was something I went out of my way to enjoy, lacking the dexterity and patience to master combos in order to win fights. Well, with the exception of Noob Saibot – I somehow managed to figure out his special moves leading him to becoming my character of choice.

The theme from Mortal Kombat is and will forever be a classic. And that’s not just because of the hit YouTube video from erstwhile creative types Smosh, but because it captures a particular era in video game and music history. For me, it represents my life from around the age of 10 or 11, which I define based almost exclusively on the video games I had access to at that time. Transitioning from the Super Nintendo over to the original Playstation, we owned the Mortal Kombat Trilogy and despite my general lack of interest in that genre, I ended up playing it quite frequently.

The film, which I did not watch until much later when my inner film collector decided to stick his head above the parapet, may not have been anything more than some cheesy action fun but it, much like the theme song, captured the tone of that era perfectly. I’ll always have fond memories of the game series and this song in particular for being capable of taking me back to the mid-90s – sadly not in a time travelling sense.

You may not want to watch the music video if you’re planning on watching the film any time soon as it gives away most of the fight sequences in a 3.5 minute span. Alternatively, use it as an excuse for not having to sit through the entire film. Your call!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjQ7jJx9PJk

Chappie (2015)

By

Simon Prior

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2015-03-14

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Twitter Plot Summary: A defective robot police droid is given consciousness, but is then raised by criminals.

Neill Blomkamp had a slight misfire with Elysium, his follow-up to the much lauded District 9. Returning to his home turf of Johannesburg seemed like a good idea, bringing things back to basics and highlighting the divide between people who have opportunities to progress in their life and those who do not. If there’s one way to describe Neill Blomkamp’s films, it’s that he is a man who is always keen to explore ideas in a sci-fi setting.

To sum up Chappie, you could easily get away with saying it’s the story of a sentient robot that goes mano a mano with Hugh Jackman’s mullet. There’s much more to it than that of course, but as a tagline it does the job rather nicely. There’s elements of both of Blomkamp’s previous films here, namely the science fiction robot storyline and the Johannesburg setting. But there are also elements plucked from other franchises. From the trailer and a frankly excellent 10 seconds of the final movie is the intro sequence to the 1980s He-Man cartoon, but more pronounced is the heavy overtone of Robocop’s Detroit, somewhere that at least once had the same dystopian feeling as Johannesburg appears to have now.

And amongst those loving close-ups of Mr Jackman’s party hard hairstyle we get a story set five minutes in the future where human police officers have been replaced with robots, resulting in a gradual decrease in crime in the area. Not that you’d guess this from the motley crew of criminals we are introduced to, there are that many of them, and so blatantly out in the open, that it makes you wonder if the switch to a robot police force has really been effective. There’s some fun use of a MacGuffin that allows the company’s software to be updated on their droids, but this is made all the more amusing thanks to some laughably bad security. For a weapons company they sure do need some help in securing their assets.

"Whose idea was it to give me this mullet?" — “Whose idea was it to give me this mullet?”

Deon (Dev Patel), Chappie’s creator, manages to infuse the youthful Chappie with the basics of a moral code, a primitive version of Asimov’s Laws of Robotics. On the downside is that he is looked after, primarily, by rappers Die Antwoord, Ninja and Yo-Landi, who play themselves. They are, sadly, the weakest aspect of the entire film but that’s not down to their performances alone – they happen to be acceptable if not spectacular in that respect. Having given it a try, their music isn’t too bad. I know, I surprise even myself by saying that.

And what can be said about this film without referring to Sharlto Copley’s performance as Chappie? Given the high quality of the CGI, it can be sometimes hard to believe that Copley is live on set and acting everything out, but he’s there in every frame, bringing life and youthful innocence to Chappie’s every move and action. Jackman is a great antagonist as the mulleted rival to Dev Patel, a clear alpha-male personality subtly subverted by his choice of hairstyle. Slightly less satisfactory is Sigourney Weaver’s appearance as the owner of the weapons company, Tetravaal, where Chappie was designed and created. Her role amounts to an extended cameo, and other than making a moderately amusing escape from her office late in the story, does nothing but bring her usual level of excellence to what amounts to a rather small role.

Despite his promise as a director, Chappie is another slight misfire from Blomkamp. Tonally it shifts from Short Circuit levels of comedy to darker, Robocop-esque territory. The shift is so varied that the story never quite gels together, and no amount of great performances (and some average ones) or impressive CGI is going to help overcome that.

Score: 3/5

Wild Strawberries (1957)

By

Simon Prior

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2015-03-13

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"What do you see, old man?" "An old man. And er... that's it. Ahem." — “What do you see, old man?”
“An old man. And er… that’s it. Ahem.”

Twitter Plot Summary: An elderly professor takes a road trip to pick up a doctorate, yet finds himself contemplating his life, mistakes and regrets.

Getting old is something that we must all come to terms with. Knowing that we only get one roll of the dice, you have to ensure that you live your life to its fullest extent, because there’s no reset button if you get to the end and have regrets or the belief you have not achieved your life’s goals.

Such is the theme at the centre of Wild Strawberries, one of the many great existential works from director Ingmar Bergman. Charting the life of Dr Isak Borg (Victor Sjöström), he takes a trip down memory lane, albeit a memory lane that isn’t always filled with happy memories. In other words, exactly the same as real life.

Sjöström is the key piece that links everything together, a splendid performance from a man in the twilight years of his life alongside his character. His character Isak Borg is due to receive a Doctor Jubilaris from Lund University 50 years after he received his original doctorate. On his journey he is joined by his daughter-in-law Marianne (Ingrid Thulin) and, for a time, the travelling trio of Sara (Andersson), Anders (Sundquist) and Viktor (Bjelfvenstam), Sara reminding Dr Borg of the lost love from his youth. Marianne is going through a difficult time herself, what with being pregnant and having to contend with the aloofness of her husband, Dr Borg’s son. Even here, it is clear what an impact he has had on the people around him, something that continues to be felt and ripples through time.

In some respects you could compare Wild Strawberries to Dickens’ A Christmas Carol given its journey into the main character’s past. The method of revisiting his past is completely different to Ebenezer Scrooge, but the comparison remains valid all the same. But what does it amount to, in the end? It’s clear that Bergman is discussing in detail the different perspectives behind secular and religious thought – he even goes so far as to make it blatant by having Anders and Viktor argue over it constantly. All of the characters that Dr Borg meets are in essence either reflections of his past or his personality, making this an intensely personal journey in more ways than one.

She had to resist the urge to draw something rude on his forehead.

But it also suggests that, no matter your religious leanings, we only have a finite amount of time in this world and it’s best to make the most of what you have rather than descend into a damaging existence of remaining distant from the people around you and growing old with regrets. It also plays rather nicely with the notion of memory and how it can be triggered through scent and smel. The title is a reference to a wild strawberry patch near Dr Borg’s childhood home and holds particularly happy memories for him, leading directly to an immediate flashback to those days.

What can we take away from all this, apart from the fact it’s all in Swedish? Well now. It seems the prevailing attitude that misanthropy and emotional coldness is a bad thing, as is keeping yourself at arm’s length from anyone and everyone. Negative emotion will only get you so far, you’re better off flipping that around into a positive at the earliest opportunity. You’ll end up feeling better about yourself, and it will be of benefit to those around you too. Bergman is one of those rare directors who perfectly captured the idea of what it means to be alive and translated it into a clear and meaningful narrative.

Score: 5/5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RzOCwer-gc

Age of the Dragons (2011)

By

Simon Prior

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2015-03-12

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How do you disguise the fact Danny Glover was only available for 2 weeks? This!

Twitter Plot Summary: The story of Moby Dick adapted so that it’s a dragon Ahab is hunting. Danny Glover goes full panto villain.

Imagine, if you will, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick adapted to star Danny Glover and Vinnie Jones and transferred to a world in which the whale of the original has been replaced by a dragon. Just let that settle in for a moment. Got all that? If you’re not aware of the original tale, Captain Ahab seeks to destroy a white whale that caused the destruction of his ship and the loss of one of his legs. Here, the story has been amended slightly so that the white dragon killed Ahab’s sister and horribly burned him in the process.

Sometimes – in fact, quite often – films come along that defy logic and a reason for existence, but on paper at least the idea of adapting Moby Dick into a fantasy film does have a certain logic to it. Okay, so the big tank the crew drive around in is an odd contraption, but it is a story that lends itself to a grandiose fantasy adaptation.

With that being said, there’s something disconcerting about watching Vinnie Jones deliver a serious monologue about the life of a dragon hunter. You expect him to either smirk/grimace his way through it (as he has done many times in the past) or deliver a performance akin to his performance as the Juggernaut in X-Men: The Last Stand. That is, knowingly awful.

It probably goes without saying that it’s not very good, yet surprisingly isn’t a complete waste of your time. The production values are sufficiently high to disguise the fact it’s a necessarily cheap production, and some tinkering with the colour correction (most likely in something like Adobe After Effects) is often enough to hide any concerns about the locations, sets or costumes. The dragons are the real letdown, well animated but hardly blending with the live action footage, but given that they are used infrequently it’s not as jarring as you might expect.

Danny Glover has never seemed more grizzled than he does here as Ahab, and that’s including his time spent making the Lethal Weapon films. If he was too old for that sh*t in 1987, by the time this was released in 2011 he should’ve been in a retirement hoke for grumpy old men. In this case his performance is so over the top he’s only one step away from being a full-on pantomime villain, but in the context of this story it doesn’t feel out of place. It certainly gives you something to talk/laugh about at least, which can’t really be said for the rest of the film.

Meanwhile the chap playing Ishmael (Corey Sevier) is so vanilla as the cut price Colin Farrell he appears to be that he barely makes an impression. It’s possible that, when looking back at this film, you now picture Colin Farrell in the Ishmael role rather than Sevier. in fact he’s so forgettable that he’s not even referenced on the DVD cover, instead usurped by Glover (obviously), Vinnie Jones, Vinnie Jones’ chin beard, and the obligatory attractive lady played by Sofia Pernas. Now he knows precisely how Bill Pullman feels.

Score: 2.5/5

It Follows (2015)

By

Simon Prior

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2015-03-11

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"You told me we were going to Pizza Hut!" — “You told me we were going to Pizza Hut!”

Twitter Plot Summary: A teenage girl is given a curse, and is followed by a invisible force. If it catches her she dies. She has to have sex to get rid of it.

We’re suffering from a dearth of original horror films at the moment. With last year’s excellent The Babadook aside (one of my Top 10 films for all of 2014, fact fans), with many modern directors choosing to exploit the tried and tested “quiet/BANG” formula – case in point, anything made by James Wan. Ever. In light of this, it’s a genuine delight when something entertaining and, above all, scary, is produced. Step up It Follows, now is your time in the spotlight.

As you may (or may not) have read from my earlier blogging exploits, I was a latecomer into the world of horror, starting with the older, relatively tame horror films and working my way up to the likes of The Human Centipede and the extreme end of torture porn horror films. There’s only so far you can go in terms of extreme imagery, so it stands to reason that the horror film as we know it will look back on successes of the past and try to emulate whatever worked 30-odd years ago. Hey, if it worked for John Carpenter then it might work for us, right?

Jay (Maika Monroe) is a likeable, attractive teenager. She’s good looking enough to be spied upon by the local boys, yet not so up her own backside that she’s unlikeable to us mere mortals. She’s met this guy who seems like a thoroughly nice chap, but of course this proves to be a cunning ruse on his part. On their date they decide to sleep together in his car. As she sits there, content, he knocks her out with some chloroform or similar and next thing she knows, she’s tied to a chair in an abandoned factory being slowly approached by a naked lady. On that point – this might have been deliberate, but there is a lot of female nudity in this film, less so on the male nudity. There’s a big cliche right there. No pun intended. It turns out that the curse is transmitted to other people through sexual contact, and he’s now passed it to her – kind of like the ultimate STD. The options are to either sleep with someone else and pass it on to them, or to keep it and forever be on the run. The moral quandaries caused by this point alone are vast in scale, playing with our concepts of what constitutes normal relationships and subverting the idea of promiscuous teenagers.

Monroe played second fiddle in The Guest to the sublime Dan Stevens, but here she gets top billing as the girl who finds the malevolent spirit following her wherever she goes. She’s got a solid group of friends around her, including her younger sister Kelly (Lili Sepe), the slightly geeky Yara (Olivia Luccardi) and male friends Paul (Keir Gilchrist) and local ladies man Greg (Daniel Zovatto). Don’t expect parental support any time soon – the absent parent cliche is in full effect.

Doddering old woman or supernatural menace? Either way, it's not good. — Doddering old woman or supernatural menace? Either way, it’s not good.

This a world in which horror cliches are subverted yet also just as frequently upheld. The premise at its core is a strong one for certain. There’s something inherently creepy about the idea of a nonspeaking, relentless force constantly on your tail, more so because it never runs, only walks in a slow and deliberate manner. In this respect it can be likened to the classic non-sprint edition of your typical zombie, albeit in this case there’s only one of them, only you (and the previously infected) can see it, and destroying the brain is only a minor inconvenience. There are of course various moments in which the rug could potentially be pulled out from under you, throwing in red herrings just to make you think the menace is nearby when in fact it’s just somebody walking through the area. The fact the thing can look like anyone adds another layer of confusion to proceedings. Is that really your friend, your sister, your mother, or is it something more evil out to get you?

This would all be less than spectacular without the soundtrack, masterfully provided by Disasterpiece and evoking the back catalogue of horror maestro. (well, perhaps not so much recently) Dario Argento. It couldn’t be more 80s in style unless it decided to crack out the Rubik’s Cube and proclaim Wham! as being the best pop group of all time.

By the end, we’re left clueless as to what the thing that follows them really is. No explanation is provided, only that if you die it will return back down the chain to the person who infected you, killing indiscriminately as it goes. It’s best left this way I think, to explain away the motives and reasons for the being’s existence would spoil much of the fun. Why give an explanation when it’s more fun leaving it to the audience’s imagination?

Of course, the answer for ridding yourself of the creature (besides having sex with an unwitting victim) is simple: as it never seems to be comfortable with crossing an ocean, just take a sojourn across the globe every 6-12 months and see how it copes with that. Problem solved.

Score: 4.5/5

Brick Mansions (2014)

By

Simon Prior

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2015-03-10

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"I'll keep this for later. Nobody will notice if I leave it here..." — “I’ll keep this for later. Nobody will notice if I leave it here…”

Twitter Plot Summary: Paul Walker steps into future dystopian territory and beats up some bad guys. There’s a parkour chap as well. He’s French.

Opening with an impressive parkour-infused action sequence, Brick Mansions takes place in a dystopian future where a housing development is threatened with destruction by a conglomerate who want to give the area a facelift, and a criminal overlord who wants to launch a nuclear bomb. Given that this is the near future and set in Detroit, there’s the obvious link with Robocop that is never exploited. Perhaps for the better in the grand scheme of things, as Brick Mansions never feels comfortable outside of its very many action sequences.

After that opening sequence, where a man who looks like Game of Thrones’ Littlefinger shows us his moves, we’re introduced to the slightly maverick cop Damien Collier, played by Paul Walker. He’s due to go undercover inside the Brick Mansions estate, walled off so it bears more than a passing resemblance to John Carpenter’s New York. We need a Snake Plissken cameo alongside Robocop just for the sake of amusement, it seems.

Walker was never known for his extensive acting range, however the material here puts the emphasis on his action skills which is a fair trade. It’s a shame that his career and, obviously, his life were cut short, as there’s an indication in Brick Mansions that he’d hit upon a winning formula in terms of which films he was choosing to appear in. This might not be Shakespeare but it appeals to a very specific subset of the movie-going audience and he could have had a lucrative career exploiting that particular niche.

The action sequences are presented well, although there is perhaps too much emphasis on needlessly fancy camerawork, coming across as if director Camille Delamarre has been overdoing the sugary snacks in the editing suite. At least there are plenty of them in order to make up for the almost complete lack of story. If you removed the action sequences there would be nothing more than a paper shell left over – and nobody likes watching vacuous bags of nonsense. Unless you’re one of the many who enjoyed/endured Transformers: Age of Extinction of course.

"Aren't you the guy from Game of Thrones?" "NON!" — “Aren’t you the guy from Game of Thrones?”
“NON!”

There’s something equally as unsettling about the audio mix, where even when the characters are stood outside their voices echo as if they’re in a room designed to be the exact opposite of one of those soundproofed chambers. This is something you either acclimatise to or spend the rest of the film questioning the reasons behind it. Was it a particularly noisy location they’d chosen to shoot at? Did the person responsible for recording the live sound forget to turn the equipment on?

This is a world where much of the criminal underworld suffer from Stormtrooper Syndrome – namely that they couldn’t hit a very large fish in a very small barrel even if they had a laser guided missile for a weapon. Seriously, when it comes to shooting at the good guys they are more than hopeless. Visually, the walled-off Brick Mansions estate features an array of colourful characters whose dress sense seems one part Mad Max with one part District 9. This is certainly no bad thing.

Brick Mansions really is nothing more than style over substance, but sometimes you don’t need much else. For its lack of decent characterisation and wafer thin story, it is a relatively solid action film that gets by on its frequent moments of kinetic energy and somewhat insane plot.

Score: 3/5

Movie Soundtrack Highlights – Monty Python: Always Look On The Bright Side of Life

By

Simon Prior

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2015-03-08

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That's not pain, that's joy. — That’s not pain, that’s joy.

I had originally planned to use this as yet another song inspired by my niece, but thought that if I did that I’ll end up pigeonholing myself into only covering songs from films that she likes – certainly not a bad thing, but it does limit the scope of this feature somewhat.

So, to go in completely the opposite direction, I have chosen a song from one of my all time favourite films – Monty Python’s Life of Brian. The film is no stranger to controversy, having been banned in several locations and subsequently wasn’t first aired on UK television until 1991, some 12 years after its cinema release.

But taken in isolation, it’s a song that delights in the madness that is living and dying, telling the listener that death is inevitable, that life may not always work out as you expect, but after all of that we have to make the most of the time that we’re given.

In the context of the film, it’s all the more amusing given that it’s a classic musical number being performed by a group of people all being crucified. If you don’t laugh at the juxtaposition of the song with the imagery then… well, clearly you don’t like Monty Python’s humour.

The song would later go on to enjoy a new lease of life (pun mildly intended) when it was released as a single in 1991 and became a favourite across football grounds in Britain.

Awaken (2015)

By

Simon Prior

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2015-03-03

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"Do you like my hat? It's quite expensive." — “Do you like my hat? It’s quite expensive.”

Twitter Plot Summary: Billie Kope wakes on a tropical island and finds herself being hunted by a mysterious black ops unit.

This is an advanced review of the film, which is due for release later in 2015.

Awaken gets right into the story as Billie (Natalie Burn) awakens on a beach with no memory of how she got there. Very quickly she encounters a group of people living on the island who arrived in similar circumstances to herself, and a group of military types who are hunting her and the others for reasons that will later become apparent.

The cast is jam packed with big names, many of whom have previously made careers out of genre films. Vinnie Jones of course has previous experience with this sort of thing, having played the bad guy in WWE Films’ The Condemned, but then there are the likes of Darryl Hannah, Robert Davi and Edward Furlong to bulk up the celeb counter.

Furlong is nicely kooky as one of the kidnapped island residents, and Daz Crawford entertains as a British military man who has spent a long time on the island evading his kidnappers. The remainder of the supporting cast are a little less memorable thanks to the big names that surround them, but there are solid performances from the likes of Jason London and Michael Copon. Meanwhile erstwhile stunt co-ordinator Benny Urquidez (he’s been in loads of things) has a brief stint as Billie’s father in a series of flashbacks.

Vinnie Jones has done well for himself in the acting world, but his character, Sarge, doesn’t go in the direction you would expect and feels like a lesser presence in the story as a result. So much more could have been made of him, but then it is interesting to see a villain dealt with in this manner because it plays against your expectations. With that said, the final fistfight between Billie and Generic Bad Guy would have perhaps been improved had it been against Sarge instead.

"What do you mean there's another English tough guy in the cast?!" — “What do you mean there’s another English tough guy in the cast?!”

The story lacks energy to begin with as characters are introduced and it struggles to keep the pace up, bogging down with a significant amount of dialogue explaining the reasons for the island’s existence, but this soon picks up and the early pacing issues are quickly forgotten about as the action stakes increase. There are perhaps too few action sequences and a little too much in the way of expositional dialogue for things to really kick into a higher gear, but this is counterbalanced by decent performances and, when they take place, well structured action sequences.

At its core the idea of organ harvesting is an entertaining one, as is the Lost-style island setting in which events take place. While the early moments may be heavy in exposition, the slow reveal of why everyone is on the island is developed nicely.

By the end credits it has thankfully turned into a solid and respectable action thriller, although it would have perhaps done better to draw more focus on Billie and her sister a little earlier in the plot and ramp up the action stakes to keep the pace up. With that said, the emotional parallels drawn between Billie’s search for her missing sister and Darryl Hannah’s concern for her sick daughter are handled with an appropriate level of pathos. There is potential for a franchise to be built around the Billie Kope character as Burn has demonstrated that she’s more than capable of handling action sequences, and it’s nice for once to see a strong female character at the centre of an action narrative.

Score: 3/5

Movie Soundtrack Highlights – Survivor: Eye of the Tiger

By

Simon Prior

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2015-02-22

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Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger has entered into popular usage in my social group thanks to a brief incident several months ago at one of our regular pub quizzes. But before we get to that, there is a small amount of back story to provide.

One of my friends, Holy Duck Fudge, joined our group for a trip to York in November 2013. On the journey to that hallowed place, Survivor’s most notable track Eye of the Tiger randomised on my iPod and resulted in the two of us performing a falsetto duet of the song, much to everyone’s amusement. Fast forward several months to our regular Thursday night pub quiz, where Captain Will (as I call him) joins us, and we start talking about that trip to York.

There’s usually music playing in the background of the quiz between rounds and questions, and that night was no different. As is often the case, we broke out into song – in our falsetto voices – and carried on for a few more seconds until we realised the music had cut out a few moments before. Cue much more merriment and amusement all round. Since then, Eye of the Tiger has ended up on the quiz playlist and makes an occasional but much welcome appearance.

It also helps that it’s a great song from two entertaining Rocky movies, namely Rocky III and Rocky IV. It has a very specific anthemic quality that is liable to pump up an audience’s energy and it has a catchy hook to keep you singing it for days on end. In other words a perfect song for a sports-related movie where competitiveness and trying to be the best is paramount.

And it’s exactly these qualities that led to Captain Will and I singing along to it in the first place. Sometimes you just have to do these things.

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