What’s It About
Lilith, an infamous outlaw with a mysterious past, reluctantly returns to her home planet of Pandora to find the missing daughter of the universe’s most powerful S.O.B., Atlas. Lilith forms an alliance with an unexpected team – Roland, a former elite mercenary, now desperate for redemption; Tiny Tina, a feral pre-teen demolitionist; Krieg, Tina’s musclebound, rhetorically challenged protector; Tannis, the scientist with a tenuous grip on sanity; and Claptrap, a persistently wiseass robot. These unlikely heroes must battle alien monsters and dangerous bandits to find and protect the missing girl, who may hold the key to unimaginable power. The fate of the universe could be in their hands but they’ll be fighting for something more: each other
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
Another movie based on a video game that will mainly attract fans of both the movie’s main characters and the video game itself, but even the most devoted fans will struggle to appreciate this chaotic failure. It’s a jumble of mindless action sequences, irritating characters, and shameless imitations of “Star Wars” (the classic princess-rescue storyline), “Mad Max” (thrilling rides and eccentric characters), and “The Fifth Element” (striving to obtain a unique key) movies. Cate Blanchett puts in considerable effort to deliver an engaging performance as the bounty hunter character Lilith. However, the mere presence of well-known celebrities cannot rescue this lackluster disappointment. The cast includes Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Cate Blanchett. Blanchett and Hart lead a group of misfits and outlaws thrown together on Pandora’s planet. Initially, at odds with each other, they eventually join forces to confront the real villain, a corporate overlord named Atlas (played by Edgar Ramírez), who appears as a generic character from any random movie. Lilith (Blanchett), a bounty hunter, is assigned to locate the daughter (Tiny-Tina) of a ruthless business tycoon and weapons manufacturer, as she is believed to hold the key to unlocking a vault containing immensely powerful secrets. Tiny Tina (played by Ariana Greenblatt) is abducted and then rescued by a fast-talking outlaw named Roland Greaves (played by Kevin Hart). It appears that most individuals on the planet are in some way seeking access to the Vault, a legendary repository hidden somewhere on Pandora that contains all the valuable secrets of an ancient, now-extinct race of superior beings. The mythology also includes whispers of a coming messiah who will finally open the Vault and bring peace to the planet. The remaining team members include Claptrap, an irritating, one-eyed, one-wheeled robot voiced by Jack Black. He claims he was put into a deep sleep 36 years ago and reactivated specifically to assist Lilith, which seems rather convenient. Claptrap possesses a few robot skills, engages in nonstop banter, and attempts to provide comic relief. Krieg serves as the muscle of the group. He sports a hockey mask and a questionable breathing apparatus. Lastly, there’s Tannis (Curtis), a scientifically inclined individual who has had a connection to Lilith and her mother from earlier times. Together, they construct the most lackluster imitation of the Guardians of the Galaxy I have ever seen. Amid numerous dreary junkyard settings and underground hideouts, they find flimsy reasons to stage pointless shootouts with local psychotic henchmen amusingly named “psychos.” Despite all the chaos, there’s a complete absence of blood, making the action sequences oddly sterile. None of the actors are given the opportunity to convey more than just one or two traits in their characters, resulting in a lack of deep connection with them.
OUR RATING – AN EXPENSIVE RIP-OFF 4