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n-r-johns
Reviews
The Descent: Part 2 (2009)
Descent 2: Descent is right!
After seeing the first film I was disturbed and intrigued in equal measure. It is a very good effort all round. Although Ritzer says never bother with sequels we know that sometimes a good film is reinforced or even bettered by its follow-up at times. The key question then: Is this as good or better? Um, no. It is a pretty pointless exercise. The acting is fine and I really like the character of Sarah, she is an admirable soul faced with a string of horrible revelations. However, much as I also really like Shauna MacDonald I think Sarah should have remained buried either in the caves or in her internal misery.
The sets are okay also, just as the mutated beasts/humans? are as disgusting as the first time around. The main problem with it all is that it adds nothing and simply feels like the same film dusted down and rolled out again. There is a twist at the end and it does beg some questions, but so what? I didn't care enough about the film to bother reflecting on the meaning of its final punchline. A lazy cash-in best avoided.
Against the Dark (2009)
Against Against the Dark!
This will be a strange review. Objectively this is a terrible film. Two bland locations are used to portray a world over-run by vampire/mutants. There is no real context just a short voice-over by one of the main characters explaining that the world has been overtaken by a virus.
A film made on the cheap, with an appalling script written by a literate infant. At one point a key character is explaining to the others just how bad things are, at least that's what he says he is doing... In truth he is stating the obvious and in fairly mild terms. Later he is wandering around and runs into the vigilante group led by Seagal and he is told that luck is liable to run out! No sh** Sherlock, the guy is locked in a manky hospital with an army of raging mutants inside and out.
The acting is mostly okay, but Steven Seagal is so wooden it is hard to distinguish him from the scenery.Otherwise it's reasonable especially at some have no lines at all, aka attendants one and two :) There is horror and action in good measure but overall the film is a stinker. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
HOWEVER, I don't mind it. In fact I've seen it a few times. The score reflects an objective review not what I think entirely. I like the feeling of being under siege by ravening monsters, I quite like gory scenes and a bit of action. In this sense it's a fair effort for me,largely because I'm weird and easily pleased, but most people will undoubtedly hate it.