Guns in every medium

I've been watching quite a few films recently, all thanks to aXXo.

The night before last featured Die Hard 4, otherwise known as Live Free or Die Hard, running me through exactly the sort of mindless action film you'd expect to cash in on the Die Hard name. Of course if you excluded the name John McClane the film had absolutely no relation to any of the previous Die Hard titles, replacing all of the directional and plot styles that fans had come to love in the series for all the high budget blasts rolled out in every cash cow, seen in the fact it was directed by Len Wiseman whose only other notable direction is Underworld.
The fact isn't necessarily that the film is trite and unoriginal, utterly relying on big spectacular special effects, but that it's trite and unoriginal as a 21st century action film. The original Die Hard's plot was lead by absolutely stereotypical German terrorists, but that was the style at the time and is what is now associated with the Die Hard series. That is almost 20 years old now and is a type of film we will never see again, so I think it would have been better for everyone if they had left the Die Hard series as it was, changed a few of the main characters names and released Die Hard '4.0' as an entirely original film with us -the viewing public- none the wiser.
That having been said, despite the ridiculously increasing levels of absurdity throughout the film it was an enjoyable experience, but not one I am planning on revisiting any time soon.

Last night's movie was Smokin' Aces, another shoot 'em up that quite surprisingly managed to deliver something original.
The story is laid out as multiple groups of professional killers all move in to take out Buddy 'Aces' Israel simultaneously, providing a very attractive premise. Although the film will never completely sit well with me as it is lead by Jeremy Piven, Ben Affleck and Ray Liotta, three actors I really have to exert effort to tolerate. Yet at the same time Alicia Keys contributes a very entertaining performance, not often seen from such musician trying their hand at acting.
As expected the film leads up to a very large twist, quite predictably, yet not not disappointingly as the film pulls no punches. Plenty of main characters on both the good and the bad side die from quite early on in the film, and things do not end happily ever after.
My only real complaint would be that the film feels quite sparse, as the first half builds it up to be the most epic confrontation of professional murderers in the history of time, yet when the bullets start to fly things go sour and end all too soon, leaving you to feel like you've just been cheated out of all the real action.
That aside, the film is an entertaining number, and if it wasn't for the relatively unspectacular script and forgettable action scenes I'm sure it could have been a film that would've been remembered.

On the otaku front I have started watching Cowboy Bebop again, as I believe I have shamefully only seen the entire series once, and in doing so I have truly been reminded of how absolutely excellent this anime is, and of how freakin' spectacular the music is. Definitely one of my favorite titles, really awesome stuff.

By night I have been reading the brilliant Horus Rising, which has clearly reminded me of why Dan Abnett is my favorite author, his writing is simply spectacular and so incredibly skilled it has motivated me to buy Double Eagle, a stand alone novel set in the Sabbat Worlds Crusade and based on a chapter about a bomber squadron in the Gaunt's Ghosts book, The Guns of Tanith.
But I don't think I'll be reading it particularly soon, as the latest Gaunt's Ghosts novel Only in Death is due for release next month, which I will hopefully be able to buy in London's Forbidden Planet at an Abnett book signing.
I hope Double Eagle arrives soon though, as I ordered a handful of other books with it and am quite eager to get my read on.