Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) - Movie Review

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs which is also known as Ice Age 3 is the third installment of the Ice Age animated films. Ice Age 3 is available in 3D and continues from Ice Age: The Meltdown.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Manny and gang in "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs"
Manny and gang in "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs"

Manny (Ray Romano) and his new wife Ellie (Queen Latifah) are expecting a baby and parenthood has made Manny anxious. Diego (Denis Leary) meanwhile feels that it’s time to move on as his laid-back life has taken a toll on his stamina. Sid (John Leguizamo) starts to wish for a family of his own and trouble ensues when he steals some dinosaur eggs from an underground cave and begins treating them like his own.

When the mother T-Rex finds her eggs are missing, she goes on a rampage and when she sees Sid and her baby dinosaurs, she carries them back to an underground world where dinosaurs roam free. Manny and his gang embark on a dangerous mission to rescue Sid while dodging dinosaurs and danger that lies ahead. Along the way, they meet a weasel known as Buck (Simon Pegg) who hunts dinosaurs as pastimes. Buck leads Manny and the herd to rescue Sid and surely, an unforgettable adventure ensues.

Like the earlier installments, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs also features Scrat, the saber-toothed squirrel who is obsessed with acorn. This time around, a flying squirrel known as Scratte joins Scrat in his madness for acorn but although they are in love after a period of chasing after acorn, eventually Scrat leaves Scratte for acorn.

While the adventures are shifting away as the herd ages, there are still plenty of action as the herd goes into a dinosaurs world and brave the danger in order to save Sid. Scrat also gets more screen time as he’s well-known for being nuts over nuts. Overall, it is a good family adventure film.

My ratings: 7 out of 10.

Popularity: 1%

Movie Reviews in Just Three Words

ThreeWordsMovie.com

ThreeWordsMovie.com is a movie review site I started in April 2009. Unlike most movie review sites (including Yowazzup.com), ThreeWordsMovie.com only does movie review in three words. It’s as simple as that. There are no long-winded review, just a sweet and short review in three words — mostly adjectives.

Please visit www.threewordsmovie.com and have a look!

Popularity: 1%

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) - Movie Review

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is the sequel to 2007’sTransformers with Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox having recurring roles.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Unlike the first movie, in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, director Michael Bay brings to back to 17,000 BC to relate us to a tale of Transformers first encounter with mankind. The movie proceeds with the present where the Autobots, led by Optimus Prime team up with the US military to combat the Decepticons hiding out on Earth.

Although the Decepticons leader, Megatron is dead and his corpse is lying underneath an ocean secured by the US Navy, through smooth coordination from hacking into the satellite to retrieving the remaining AllSpark pieces, the Decepticons manage to relieve Megatron and yet, another plot to destroy Earth is conceived. In fact, Megatron’s master, The Fallen wants to destroy both the Earth and the Sun. Incredibly ambitious.

Megan Fox in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"
Megan Fox in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"

Back to the humans, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) has a considerably major role in the second Transformers film, yet his sexy and sultry girlfriend, Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox) appears once awhile with him flashing her lovely assets even more frequently than the first film. Although the movie has better plots and storyline this time around, at times, Michael Bay seems to be wanting to outdo every major blockbusters which were shown in the past couple of years. This would more or less include the Indiana Jones with pursuit of rare artifacts in Egypt, Da Vinci Code with the mystery-solving puzzle, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian with the mention of The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Jumper with the teleportation through “space bridge” to Egypt, and many more.

Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf running for their lives in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"
Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf running for their lives in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"

Of course, the movie also introduces a bunch of new robots, including the twins Skids and Mudflap, the Constructicons which eventually combine to form Devastator, Soundwave and many more. The movie even introduces a Pretender robot, which camouflage as a human to seduce Sam.

Bumblebee in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"
Bumblebee in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"

Overall, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen does not really disappoint at all with plenty of actions and some funny jokes with the inclusion of funny sidekicks such as John Turturro and Ramón Rodríguez. However, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen does not really satisfy as well, because at the end of the film, the feeling of awe was there, but not the satisfaction.

My ratings: 8 out of 10.

Popularity: 1%

Blood: The Last Vampire (2009) - Movie Review

Blood: The Last Vampire is a live-action movie adapted from an animated series of the same name. The movie stars Korean actress Jun Ji-Hyun, who adopted an English screen name Gianna Jun.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Gianna Jun in "Blood: The Last Vampire"
Gianna Jun in "Blood: The Last Vampire"

Saya (Gianna Jun) is a 400-year-old half human-half vampire who hunts full blooded vampires. Her dad was a vampire hunter as well but was killed by the greatest vampire, Onigen (Koyuki). Vow to avenge her dad’s death, Saya joins a coveted government agency to hunt down vampires with the goal to eventually meet Onigen.

Saya disguises as a Japanese student in an American military school in order to find the demons hiding there. In the process, Saya kills Linda and Sharon, two demons who disguise as students in the school. The slaughter is witnessed by Alice Mckee (Allison Miller), the daughter of General Mckee (Larry Lamb). Alice reveals what she has witnessed to her dad but to no avail since the cleaners manage to disguise themselves as CIA.

Utterly disappointed, Alice goes out hunting for the truth when the sky goes dark but is surrounded by vampires. Alice runs for her life and is saved by Saya, who manages to wipe out all the vampires without even a scratch.

Alice returns home only to find her dad is dying and the government agents try to kill her as well. Alice finds Saya in a motel downtown as her last resort as she has nowhere else to run. Together, they steal a military truck and escape into the jungle as both of them are wanted by the military. While in the forest, they encounter demons which can fly, although with Saya’s abilities, they manage to fend off the demons.

Although the truck plunges down in the end, both of them somehow survive the fall. When Saya finally encounters Onigen, she realizes Onigen is her mother and all the while she kills vampires, she’s becoming more vampirish rather than becoming more human. In the end, Onigen willingly lets Saya to kill her so she would become her.

While the special effect department did a really great job, the character, Alice added some flaw to the film. Although Alice is human, she’s more invincible than Saya. In fact, the only time she bleeds is when she fed her blood to Saya to relieve her. Anyway, Blood: The Last Vampire is still enjoyable to watch, especially if ones like blood.

My ratings: 8 out of 10.

Popularity: 1%

Monsters vs Aliens (2009) - Movie Review

Monsters vs Aliens is a 3D animated film featuring the voice of Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett, Rainn Wilson, Kiefer Sutherland, Stephen Colbert, and Paul Rudd.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Susan and her Monsters friends in "Monsters vs Aliens"
Susan and her Monsters friends in "Monsters vs Aliens"

On the day Susan Murphy (Reese Witherspoon) is getting married to weatherman Derek Dietl (Paul Rudd), she is hit by meteorite. When she gets into the aisle, she grows into a giant Susan. The military arrive as they are alerted by the meteor and capture Susan. She is sent to a top-secret facility led by General W.R. Monger (Kiefer Sutherland) and given a nickname “Ginormica”. In the prison, she meets other monsters: B.O.B. (Seth Rogen), a brainless, gelatinous blob; Dr. Cockroach Ph.D. (Hugh Laurie), a mad scientist who turns into a cockroach; the Missing Link (Will Arnett), an amphibious fish-ape hybrid and Insectosaurus, a giant grub that is even larger than Susan. The monsters are contentedly locked in the facility for the past 50 years but Susan feels incredibly isolated and wishes to return to her old life.

An alien called Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson) is in the search for quantonium, the most powerful source in the universe and he finds it in Earth and thus deploys a gigantic robot to find and extract from its source, Susan. As the robot refuses to make peace after an attempt from the US President (Stephen Colbert), the President of the United States orders an attack on the robot. As all the attack from the military proves useless, General Monger convinces the President to use his top-secret monsters to fight the robot instead. The monsters agree with the promise of freedom if they succeed. Susan and the monsters manage to defeat the robot on the Golden Gate Bridge with her new-found strength.

Susan returns to her hometown and introduces her family to the monsters, but the monsters are rejected after causing panics in the party. Meanwhile, Derek breaks up with Susan, claiming she overshadows his career. Susan is devastated but realizes that becoming a monster has changed her life and Derek is just a selfish jerk. Susan is abruptly abducted by Gallaxhar and along the way kills Insectosaurus when he tries to save Susan. On the ship, Susan manages to release herself from captive and chases Gallaxhar, only to end up in the machine which extracts the quantonium from her body, making her normal again. Gallaxhar continues to use the quantonium to clone himself into armies so he can invade Earth.

With the help from the General, B.O.B., Dr. Cockroach and the Missing Link invade Gallaxhar’s ship and rescue Susan, in the process, activate the ship’s self-destruct sequence. Susan is separated from her monsters friends who are trapped inside the ship. In an attempt to save her friends, Susan embraces the quantonium and transforms her into a giant again allowing her to save her friends. The monsters are rescued by General Monger on the back of the revived Insectosaurus, who had transformed into a giant butterfly.

Overall, the film is amazing and is definitely catered for children and maybe some adults. If you love good-humored fun and Nickelodeon’s cartoons, you will love this flick.

My ratings: 7 out of 10.

Popularity: 1%

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) - Movie Review

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (also known as Night at the Museum 2) is the sequel to Night at the Museum. Ben Stiller leads the cast again with Owen Wilson and Robin Williams reprising their roles.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Ben Stiller and Amy Adams in "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian"
Ben Stiller and Amy Adams in "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian"

Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is a successful man, he’s the CEO of his own company, which invents things like Glow-in-the-dark torchlights. Larry has George Foreman (as himself) as the guest star of his own invention TV Show.

The Museum of Natural History, the place where the first Night at the Museum movie was based is closed for upgrades and renovations. It was already two years since Larry leaves his night guard job. Out of curiosity, Larry steps into the museum to check out what happen. His former boss tells him that the museum will be using high-tech technology to beam the exhibits to life instead of showcasing wax figures. The existing exhibits will be moved into federal storage at the Smithsonian Institution instead.

Larry attempts all possible ways to save the exhibits but to no avail. When he receives a call from Jedediah Smith (Owen Wilson), whom tells him that the capuchin has stolen the tablet which brings things to life and therefore, everything in the world’s largest museum complex has come to life. In order to save his friends, Larry breaks into the prohibited area of the Smithsonian Museum to save the world.

Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams) who flew on her non-stop solo flight across the Atlantic joins Larry in his adventure to prevent Kahmunrah, a wacky evil Pharoah (played by Hank Azaria) from activating the tablet to resurrect his armies.

While attempting to save the old exhibits which are held captive by Kahmunrah, Larry and Amelia encounter many new exhibits including Al Capone (Jon Bernthal), Ivan the Terrible (Christopher Guest), Napoleon Bonaparte (Alain Chabat), The Thinker and Abraham Lincoln (both played by Hank Azaria as well).
Even Sesame Street’s Oscar the Grouch and Star Wars’ Darth Vader are not spared as they want to join Kahmunrah in his evil’s bid, but both are deemed unqualified by the Pharoah.

Larry and Amelia develop some feelings for each other while trying to save the exhibits. Larry has sold his own company to fund the The Museum of Natural History and once again, the exhibits are back to its original place. The museum is even opened at night and the exhibits themselves act as tour guides. The boss of the museum doesn’t have a clue that it’s not technology but the exhibits really come alive. Larry encounters a lost tourist whom assembles Amelia and the movie ends with Larry acting as tour guide for the lost tourist. Shortly after the credits appear, the sailor who finds Larry’s cellphone in the exhibits picture frame is seen called by his mom as "Motorola".

Overall, the movie is hilarious and fun to watch as the visual is stimulating. Somehow, the excitements end there. Kahmunrah, as an evil Pharoah, is wacky and at times, funny and not at all terrifying while Al Capone, Ivan the Terrible and Napolean Bonaparte are not ruthless enough. A good film for the family.

My ratings: 7 out of 10.

Popularity: 1%

Angels & Demons (2009) - Movie Review

Angels & Demons is the sequel to The Da Vinci Code film where Tom Hanks reprises the lead role of Professor Robert Langdon.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Tom Hanks and Ayelet Zurer in "Angels & Demons"
Tom Hanks and Ayelet Zurer in "Angels & Demons"

Professor Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) is once again being called upon to solve the kidnapping of four Cardinals from the Vatican City and a possible bomb threat.

Langdon believes it’s the work of the Illuminati, based on his expert interpretation on the events. Dr. Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer) is also being called upon to help the investigation as the anti-matter stolen from the LHC project is from her lab. Vetra makes known that the bomb can wipe out an entire Vatican City and even part of Rome. The secret Illuminati has warned to kill each of the Cardinals every hour from 8pm. And when the clock struck at midnight, the bomb will go off.

While Langdon and Vetra, together with the Vatican City police travel around Rome to find clues in churches, Father Simeon and other followers stay put inside Vatican City. Unlike Da Vinci Code, in Angels & Demons, Langdon seems to be the one who’s asking questions and the only person who’s able to answer them as well.

Overall, the movie lacks actual dialogs like it’s in a hurry to get to the conclusion. Angels & Demons also lacks the inquisitive and thrill of a mystery and crime-solving film. The actors are not convincing enough with the exception of Ewan McGregor whom plays a priest, Camerlengo Patrick McKenna, of whom his father was the previous Pope. Camerlengo is young but intuitive and wise and looks innocent until the very end of the movie where the truth unfolds. Like The Mummy and National Treasure franchises, it gets boring and loses its appeal when the sequels are made.

My ratings: 6 out of 10.

Popularity: 1%

Star Trek (2009) - Movie Review

Star Trek is the origin story of Captain James T. Kirk, Spock and the crew of the USS Enterprise before they had boldly gone where no man had gone before. The film stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Chris Pine as Captain James T. Kirk in "Star Trek"
Chris Pine as Captain James T. Kirk in "Star Trek"

Star Trek begins its journey with Captain George Kirk (Chris Hemsworth) taking over U.S.S. Kelvin as acted captain after its original captain, Captain Robau goes on board Romulan’s ship. Captain Kirk is ordered to autopilot the ship after evacuating the ship, however, due to limited resources, the ship is not able to autopilot itself and thus, Kirk sacrifices himself by staying in the ship. His wife is giving birth in one of the capsules ejected from the ship when he is in the ship colliding with Romulan’s spacecraft and he saves 800 lives. Captain Robau is killed by Nero (Eric Bana), the Romulan villain when Robau tells Nero he doesn’t know of a man named Spock.

Back in the future, in Iowa, young James T. Kirk (Jimmy Bennett) is a rebellious teenager. He drives an old vintage car at a very high speed and is even chased by the officer until he has to jump out from the car when it reaches the edge and falls off the mountain. When James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) grows up, he picks up a fight with some Starfleet cadets over a girl named Uhura (Zoe Saldana). Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood), the captain of the Enterprise whom has stopped the fight invites Kirk to enlist himself in Starfleet. He mentions Kirk’s dad whom has saved 800 lives by being the captain of the starship for only twelve minutes.

James T. Kirk shows up the next day and together with Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy (Karl Urban) and many others enlist themselves as they aboard U.S.S. Enterprise. Kirk tries to pass the Kobayashi Maru test by cheating after failing it three times. The test is devised by no other than Spock, a half-Vulcan and half-human (after his father married a human). When called for an emergency action onboard the newly created U.S.S. Enterprise to battle Romulan villain, Nero, Kirk is left out as he is being suspended for cheating. His buddy, Bones fakes a medical emergency to get Kirk on board the Enterprise.

Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto in "Star Trek"
Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto in "Star Trek"

In the Enterprise, Kirk realizes the starship is in danger when he remembers the past occurrence and tries to warn Captain Pike, but he is initially being ignored. However, when Uhura and Spock support his statement, Captain Pike begins to trust Kirk. On a mission to land on board Romulan’s ship, Captain Pike promotes Kirk into the First Officer while Spock takes over as acting captain. Kirk, Sulu (John Cho) and Chief Engineer Olsen (Greg Ellis) try to land on the giant drill belonging to the Romulan but Olsen does not land successfully and is killed in the process. Despite eliminating the enemies on the drill, Kirk and Sulu fail to save planet Vulcan as Nero manages to release a red capsule into the center of planet Vulcan, which transforms itself into a black hole absorbing planet Vulcan. While Spock manages to save his family, he has lost his mother and 6 billion Vulcans have perished.

Back in the Enterprise, Kirk disobeys Spock’s order and is expelled from the ship into a deserted planet. There, he has to run for his life when a huge monster gives him a chase but he’s safe when another man scares the creature away with a torch — that man happens to be future Spock. Then the older Spock (Leonard Nimoy) shows Kirk how he ends up in the deserted planet. He is unable to prevent a sun from going supernova and destroying the Romulan home planet in the process, thus, he is blamed for the tragedy by a Romulan miner named Nero. Spock then brings Kirk to an abandon starfleet where he meets Scotty (Simon Pegg), an engineer with a Scottish accent. His knowledge of teleportation is not perfect and the aged Spock just knows the equation and thus, Kirk and Scotty manage to teleport themselves into the Enterprise.

Kirk challenges Spock’s instability and takes over as captain of the Enterprise when Spock punches Kirk before he resigns. When the Romulan sets their target to Earth, Kirk and Spock set their feet onto the vengeful Romulan ship and together, they manage to destroy the Romulan and save planet Earth.

Overall, Star Trek is surprisingly delightful to watch despite not being a Trekkie fan. Zachary Quinto gives an outstanding performance as Spock. Nonetheless, Chris Pine is also brilliant in portraying a young captain in James T. Kirk and together, these two actors give Star Trek a new breathe of life. Marvellous.

My ratings: 9 out of 10.

Popularity: 1%

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) - Movie Review

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a superhero movie based on the fictional character Wolverine. it is the prequel to the X-Men film trilogy. The film stars Hugh Jackman as Wolverine/Logan/James.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine"
Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine"

In 1845 James Howlett sees his dad (Peter O’Brien) killed by Victor Creed’s dad (Aaron Jeffery). Furious, James kills Victor’s dad by using bone claws which extend from his hands. Before Creed dies, he tells James that he is also his son as James and Victor escape.

As they grow up, James (Hugh Jackman) and his half-brother, Victor (Liev Schreiber) are seen battling for the US in the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War. In Vietnam, Victor attacks and kills his superior and is sentenced to death together with his brother. They survive the firing squad due to their regenerative abilities and are imprisoned. William Stryker (Danny Huston) then approaches the two mutants and offers them to join his Team X, which consists of other mutants — Fred Dukes (Kevin Durand), John Wraith (will.i.am), Chris Bradley (Dominic Monaghan), as well as expert marksman David “Agent Zero” North (Daniel Henney) and blade-wielding Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds). The brothers join the group, and Stryker sends it to search for the source of adamantium in Nigeria. After an incident where Stryker orders the team to kill innocent civilians, Logan refuses and leaves the team.

A few years later, Logan works as a logger in Canada and lives with his girlfriend Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins). When Victor hunts down and kills Bradley, Stryker locates Logan to warn him someone from the now-disbanded Team-X is out to kill the remaining members. Logan refuses to help and as a result, his love interest is murdered by Victor. Logan hunts down Victor for revenge but is easily defeated. Stryker offers Logan help to kill Victor by infusing Logan’s skeletal system with adamantium. After the procedure, Stryker orders to erase Logan’s mind but Wolverine hears it and escapes the premise nakedly.

When an elderly couple sees Wolverine running around naked and goes into their barn for shelter, the old man enters the barn discreetly with a rifle only to end up offering Wolverine clothes, food and shelter. The next morning, the elderly couple are shot dead by Agent Zero. Wolverine flees in a motorcycle and eventually kills Agent Zero. Wolverine locates former teammates, John Wraith and Fred Dukes, seeking to learn about the whereabout of Stryker’s secret island only to find out Creed and Stryker are working together to roundup mutants and keep them in the island for experiments. Dukes reveals that a mutant named Remy LeBeau a.k.a. Gambit (Taylor Kitsch) had escaped from the island and would know the location. Wolverine learns that Team X had been tasked with capturing mutants, which was the reason why Wraith had left the group.

Wolverine finds Gambit in a bar only to be blown out of the bar by Gambit’s deck of cards. Outside the building, he sees Victor who has just finished off Wraith. With his adamantium claws, Logan manages to defeat Victor but is attacked by Gambit. Victor flees realizing he can’t match Logan’s superior ability. Gambit tries to escape but Wolverine manages to pin him down and persuade Gambit to take him to Stryker’s secret island.

Gambit flies his private plane won from gambling and drops Wolverine off at the location, Three Mile Island. In the lab, Wolverine confronts Stryker and learns Silverfox is still alive — she had earlier faked her death to lure Wolverine into becoming Weapon X because of her deal with Stryker who promises he would release her captive mutant sister Emma (Tahyna Tozzi) who has the ability to turn her skin into diamond. Wolverine leaves the premise disappointedly but when he hears Silverfox screams, Wolverine goes back and attack Victor and once again, easily defeats him. Silverfox convinces Wolverine to release her sister and other captive.

Stryker prematurely orders Weapon XI to be activated to kill Wolverine. Weapon XI is formerly Deadpool and consists of other mutant powers, including Cyclops’ optic blast, Wolverine regenerative ability, Deadpool’s martial arts ability and Wraith’s teleportation ability and retractable adamantium blades from his arm. Wolverine orders Silverfox to bring the young mutants to safety while he stays on to fight Weapon XI. Silverfox is injured during the escape while the other mutants manage to escape in Professor Charles Xavier’s (Patrick Stewart) helicopter.

When Weapon XI almost kills Wolverine, Victor appears and saves him. Together, they manage to defeat Weapon XI when Wolverine cuts off Weapon XI’s head with his adamantium claws heated with powerful optic blast. Wolverine is shot by the head by Stryker with adamantium bullets which makes him unconscious and wakes up with amnesia. Although Silverfox manages to use her power of persuasion to make Stryker walk away, she dies from bleeding. Gambit then returns to tell Wolverine that the young mutants are safe, but due to the amnesia Wolverine does not remember anything. When the cops arrive, Wolverine decides not to follow Gambit and flees the scene.

Before the ending credits, Stryker is seen walking until the armies stop him and he is wanted for investigation for murdering General Munson.

Overall, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a successful X-Men film far better than the X-Men trilogy as the movie doesn’t just focus on the mutant abilities and although there are less fighting scenes, the movie has a strong storyline of the origins of Wolverine and before the formation of X-Men.

My ratings: 7 out of 10.

Popularity: 1%

Crossing Over (2009) - Movie Review

Crossing Over is a movie about illegal immigrants of different nationalities fighting for the green card. Starring Harrison Ford, Crossing Over was released on a limited theatrical release in the United States on February 27, 2009 and is slated for a DVD premiere on June 9, 2009.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Harrison Ford and Alice Braga in "Crossing Over"
Harrison Ford and Alice Braga in "Crossing Over"

Harrison Ford plays Max Brogan who leads immigration officers into routine busts in Los Angeles to collect illegal immigrants working factories and depot them back to their own countries. Along with his partner, Hamid Baraheri (Cliff Curtis) and the other officers, Max Brogan’s job involves little humanity.

During one of the crackdowns, Brogan finds Mireya Sanchez (Alice Braga) hiding behind a rack of clothes. He initially decides to let her get away but fellow officer sees her and voila, there is nothing he can do about it. Even when Mireya begs Brogan to find her son and brings him back to Mexico, Brogan cruelly rejects her. Behind the scenes however, Brogan is a man with conscience as he comes back to collect the piece of paper he garbles earlier containing the address of Mireya Sanchez’s son. Throughout the movie, Brogan never cease finding the status of Mireya as she didn’t return home to Mexico.

Everyone struggles to achieve legal status in the film. While some like Aussie actress Claire Shepard (Alice Eve) attempts to get her document illegally by having sex with an immigrant officer, Cole Frankel (Ray Liotta), others like Gavin Kossef, an atheist Jewish musician has it easier as he pretends to be an Orthodox to get his green card.

Ashley Judd plays Denise Frankel, wife of Cole Frankel and works in the children welfare department. Contrary to Cole, her job is to take care of the children whether they are immigrants or citizens of the United States.

Overall, the movie touches on sensitives issues such as religion and race but it evens it out by playing a melancholy tone as some manage to get green cards while others have to be deported and some even ends up dead.

My ratings: 6 out of 10.

Popularity: 1%