I heard a lot of people complaining about the length of this film. They're silly. That's all I have to say. The length was fine, typical even, for a DiCaprio film. You're in it the whole time. The only instance in which you worry it might be too long is at the end when you hope against all hope that it really is the end and poor Leo can get some well deserved rest! Man! His character goes through some shit!
If you see a million films a year like me, you probably watched the first official trailer for this about 20 times, each time feeling like, "Wow that looks intense but what the shit is it about?" Then you see the second and third trailer and you think "Okay, now I get it." And while that's great and all, the trailers give literally everything away. The whole story. It's not even possible for me to spoil the movie with my review because the trailers have done that for you.
Leo is traveling with a group of guys collecting pelts on behalf of a fur company. During this time frame, tensions are high between Native Americans and white settlers and it's pretty much all out war every time the two groups meet. Leo's character actually lived with the Pawnee Indians (and yes I got excited thinking about Pawnee from Parks & Rec, sue me.) and had a baby with one of their tribe. Shit goes down and Leo and his son end up alone and joining up with the white men to make some money and hopefully stay out of trouble.
Well, sadly, trouble finds our dear Leo wherever he goes. He gets into a fight with a bear and while the bear ultimately loses, he finds himself on the edge of death. To make matters worse, Tom Hardy, tired of taking care of Leo's injured ass decides to betray him He kills his son and leaves Leo for dead in a shallow grave in the forest in the middle of winter.
Surprise, surprise, our boy LD survives and now Tommy is totally fucked.
I'm summarizing here. But that's the gist of the film. The acting was great and the film itself was beautiful. The fact that it was released in the height of the winter season was genius on the studios part because audiences, at least on the East Coast, are totally feeling for Leo's character. Dude looks like he'll never be warm again.
13 Hours
I don't like movies like this because everyone asks you how you liked it and you feel like a total piece of shit for giving it a good review. It's like criticizing the Diary of Anne Frank. Sure it was written by a teenager, but she and her family were killed by Nazi's and you're an asshole if you couldn't get through the book without dozing off.
This really happened and people really died and communication was really shitty and things could have gone so much better and everyone could have lived.
But dammit, this film was incredible. I almost feel like Michael Bay was hoping this would be his American Sniper, it was shot with the same kind of care and concern and heart. It's also the only Michael Bay film I've ever seen in which you're not bombarded with stupid tight camera shots that make it impossible for you to figure out what's going on. Sure, explosions are cool Mike, but it would be great if I could decipher just what the fuck it was you were blowing up. You spent how much on visual effects? Well that was money down the drain because I couldn't tell a Mazda from a tank with that extreme close up you're so damn fond of!
But again, we didn't find any of that this time around. Again, I feel like a jerk talking about how great this movie was because of the subject matter but it really was awesome. I think the writers did a pretty good job keeping politics out of it too. They simply addressed the true events that unfolded. There wasn't any finger pointing, everyone involved was doing what they believed was right and unfortunately things just didn't work out that way. Much like American Sniper, you leave this film feeling so sorry for our men and women overseas because they live everyday not knowing if their surrounded by friend or foe and that not knowing makes everything a million times harder.
Ride Along 2
Just as funny as the first film, Ice Cube and Kevin Hart are great together. A good amount of action and a whole lot of crazy situations leave you feeling good and hoping for a Ride Along 3.
I feel like I don't need to say much more. If you like Kevin's films then this one is for you. If you don't, skip it. But if you're looking to sit back and relax and have a good chuckle while you're killing some time, give this one a shot, you'll be glad you did.
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