Catching Up on SciFi Movies (Part 18): Terminator 3 / Hugo / In Time
Continuing a trend tailor-made for the Twitter generation, here are my quick takes on a few recently-watched genre-related films.
Quick thoughts follow…
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) – A movie that had some potential in concept. How could it miss, right? Sadly, there were too many contrived and silly parts to call it good, but seeing a terminatrix and witnessing the birth of Skynet saved it from being a complete waste of time. A mediocre film overall and best left out of the canon.
Hugo (2011) – This story of an orphan boy in 1930s Paris looking for his place in the world is engaging, touching and a heartfelt tribute to legendary filmmaker Georges Méliès.
In Time (2011) – In this interesting future, people live in a time-based economy where going broke means dying. The rich are effectively immortal and Justin Timberlake seeks to upset the balance. It moves along at a good clip, but there are a few too many silly moments and it ultimately loses sight of its sf-nal goals and becomes some sort of futuristic mash-up between Bonnie and Clyde and Robin Hood.
I found In Time to be extremely didactic in its politics–enough that I knock off a star or so from my final score. I was entertained, but it hit you over the head with its politics.
And Cillian Murphy owns that movie over Seyfried and Timberlake.