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All Prologue (S02E06)

Airdate: July 6th 2003

Written by: David Simon Directed by: Steve Shill

Running Time: 56 minutes

For much of its second season, The Wire deliberately navigates treacherous waters of narrative stagnation. The intricate machinery of the Baltimore docks, the simmering tensions within the stevedores’ union, and the slow-burn investigation by the Major Crimes Unit often feel mired in procedural minutiae, yielding frustratingly little tangible progress. Plotlines meander like the polluted currents of the Patapsco River, with weeks seeming to pass within the narrative without significant advancement. Yet, precisely at the season’s midpoint, All Prologue masterfully subverts this perceived inertia. It functions as a deceptive clearing of decks, where several seemingly disparate strands of unfinished business are abruptly, sometimes violently, concluded. Characters tie loose ends with a finality that feels less like resolution and more like the tightening of a noose, culminating in a closing scene of such profound, chilling brutality that it instantly ascends to the pantheon of the series’ most unforgettable and devastating moments.

One such thread being forcibly closed belongs to Jimmy McNulty, the series’ nominal protagonist, whose professional nadir defines this season. Haunted by his promise to Assistant State’s Attorney Ilene Nathan to deliver Omar Little as a witness against Bird for the murder of William Gant, McNulty’s efforts finally bear fruit. Omar, characteristically defiant and disdainful of courtroom formalities – mocking the requirement for a tie, his own criminal pedigree, and the sheer improbability of his presence at Gant’s murder – ultimately perjures himself with brazen confidence. When the slick, morally bankrupt defence attorney Maury Levy attempts to eviscerate Omar’s testimony, the stick-up man’s raw street intelligence and magnetic charisma prove devastatingly effective. He doesn’t just survive cross-examination; he dismantles Levy’s smug authority, winning over the jury through an undeniable, almost theatrical authenticity that exposes Levy’s artifice. The resulting guilty verdict against Bird would undoubtedly delight Judge Phelan, for whom Gant’s murder – a witness killed after testifying in his court – was a deeply personal affront to the law’s sanctity. McNulty, therefore, secures a rare, tangible victory, a flicker of competence in an otherwise bleak professional landscape.

Yet this courtroom triumph is rendered bitterly ironic against the backdrop of McNulty’s simultaneous, crushing failures. His inability to identify one of the Jane Doe victims pulled from the harbour represents a profound personal defeat. When Medical Examiner Frazier coldly informs him that her body will be dissected in medical anatomy classes, McNulty’s visceral reaction – tearing up the photograph he’d clung to as a potential link to her family – speaks volumes. This moment crystallises his utter professional despair. Trapped in the Marine Unit he despises, his career lies in ruins, pushing him seriously towards resignation. This desperation fuels his clumsy attempt to reconcile with his estranged wife, Elena. A date and fleeting intimacy offer a glimmer of hope, but Elena’s subsequent rejection – declaring it a "one-time thing" and forbidding him from staying – underscores the totality of his isolation.

Elsewhere, the Sobotka clan grapples with its own toxic loose ends. Ziggy’s crippling drug debt to Cheese, Proposition Joe’s volatile nephew, threatens to spiral into violence. Nick Sobotka, attempting a more diplomatic path, seeks intervention from The Greek’s organisation, now bolstered by the chillingly efficient Israeli enforcer, Eton Ben-Eleazer (Lev Gorn). Vondas, displaying a surprising pragmatism, commends Nick for refusing his initial offer to simply "take out" Cheese, valuing the less violent solution. Shielded by Vondas’s men, Nick brokers a deal directly with Proposition Joe. The agreement not only settles Ziggy’s debt but includes restitution for the car Cheese wrecked. Ziggy’s response, however, is pure, self-destructive folly: he literally sets the cash alight inside the bar. This reckless flaunting of unexplained wealth ignites Frank Sobotka’s justified fury, highlighting the precariousness of their entire operation – the illicit funds cannot be displayed without inviting scrutiny. Nick, meanwhile, takes a significant step deeper into the criminal world, accepting part of his future payment for the stolen chemicals in drugs, setting the stage for future trafficking.

Frank’s anger at Ziggy’s stupidity is profoundly justified, for unbeknownst to the union, the investigative net is tightening. While Herc and Carver continue their futile, drug-market-focused blundering – largely irrelevant to the docks conspiracy – Prez and Kima Greggs pursue a more fruitful avenue, leveraging contacts among strippers to identify trafficked Eastern European women who might connect to the bodies. It is Beadie Russell, however, whose meticulous, often overlooked work proves pivotal. Recognising the systemic nature of the smuggling, she steers the investigation towards cargo checkers and computerised shipping records, advocating for the painstaking analysis of specific vessels, cargo lines, and dockworkers. Her methodical approach represents the first genuine, systemic understanding of how the smuggling operates, moving beyond random hunches towards concrete evidence – a stark contrast to the Major Crimes Unit’s earlier scattergun tactics.

Amidst this gathering storm, D'Angelo Barksdale appears to be the sole character genuinely striving for redemption. Determined to sever ties with his criminal past, he makes the painful decision to tell his mother, Brianna, that he must face his prison sentence alone, cutting off all family contact and former associates. He actively pursues a new path: flushing drugs, securing a library job, and participating in literary classes led by the writer Richard Price (in a meta-touch, a future Wire staff member). His insightful analysis of The Great Gatsby, particularly his grasp of Jay Gatsby’s doomed yearning, reveals a mind awakening to its own trapped circumstances and the elusive nature of the American Dream he once chased. D'Angelo seems poised for a genuine transformation, a rare glimmer of hope within the show’s relentless pessimism.

This fragile hope, however, is meaningless to the cold calculus of Stringer Bell. Viewing D'Angelo’s potential for future cooperation with law enforcement an intolerable "loose end" threatening the Barksdale organisation, Stringer activates his Washington connections. He commissions Mugs (Dakota Anderson), a prison inmate, to eliminate D'Angelo. The murder is executed with chilling efficiency: D'Angelo is lured into a false sense of security, strangled, and his death meticulously staged to resemble suicide. This act isn't impulsive violence; it’s corporate restructuring, a brutal application of Stringer’s "business" philosophy where sentimentality is a fatal liability. The life D'Angelo fought to salvage is extinguished not by street chaos, but by the deliberate, detached order of the organisation he sought to leave.

All Prologue isn't devoid of fleeting, almost jarring moments of levity that feel like brief respites, perhaps even fan service. Bunk Moreland’s hangover-induced misery during a debrief provides dark comedy, a reminder of the detectives’ human frailty. McNulty’s absurd attempt to seduce Elena by stripping a mannequin in her real estate office, followed by their brief, ultimately futile sex encounter, offers a glimpse of his desperate, misguided charm. Yet, the episode’s undeniable comedic and narrative highlight is Omar’s courtroom takedown of Maury Levy. Despite his lack of conventional polish, Omar, armed only with street wisdom and unflinching honesty, dismantles the series’ most despicable character – Levy, the epitome of amoral legal cunning who treats justice as a commodity. Omar’s victory, achieved through sheer force of personality and truth-telling against Levy’s manipulative artifice, cemented his status not just as iconic, but as the show’s most beloved figure, a folk hero who outwitted the system from within.

This carefully cultivated, almost deceptive lightness makes the episode’s conclusion utterly shattering. While The Wire had dispatched major characters before (like Wallace in Season One), those deaths often felt like inevitable conclusions to established arcs. D'Angelo’s murder, however, strikes with the force of a lightning bolt from a clear sky. It occurs precisely when he seems on the cusp of redemption, making it profoundly more tragic and shocking. Director Steve Shill renders the assassination with cold, documentary-like precision: the assassin’s clinical manipulation of D'Angelo’s trust, the flawless execution, the seamless cover-up, and the mundane return to the prison population. There’s no dramatic music, no lingering shot; just the horrifying banality of institutionalised murder. The episode ends not with discovery, but with unbearable suspense – D'Angelo’s body lies undiscovered, the audience left to ponder the devastating ripple effects through the Barksdale organisation, his grieving family, and the indifferent streets of Baltimore. This stark, unresolved finality is one of the series’ most powerful and haunting scenes.

The resonance of this scene deepened chillingly years later. The meticulous staging of D'Angelo’s death as suicide – the positioning, the lack of struggle, the official narrative quickly accepted – became an unnervingly apt template referenced in public discourse surrounding the death of financier Jeffrey Epstein in a supposedly secure federal facility. While Epstein’s case involved vastly different contexts, the methodology depicted in All Prologue – the quiet, professional elimination disguised as self-harm within a controlled environment – provided a sinister, readily understandable framework for public suspicion. It became a stark, real-world example of life imitating art, underscoring The Wire’s unnerving prescience about how power operates in the shadows to eliminate inconvenient truths, making D'Angelo’s fictional demise feel tragically, disturbingly prophetic.

RATING: 8/10 (+++)

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Muy buenas mi gente bella de la plataforma, espero que tengan un gran dia, seguimos con la revista rememorando las histrias inolvidables de la tv Venezolana, vamos al articulo.

Mariana de la noche fue una telenovela venezolana producida por Venevisión, escrita por Delia Fiallo, y transmitida alrededor de 1975-1976. Dirigida por Grazzio D’Angelo y producida por Tabaré Pérez. Protagonizada por Lupita Ferrer y José Bardina, con los antagonismos a cargo de Martín Lantigua e Ivonne Attas.

-Título: Mariana De La Noche. -Canal: Venevisión. -Año de transmisión: 1975-1976. -Guionista Original: Delia Fiallo. -Director: Grazzio D’Angelo. -Productor: Tabaré Pérez. -Protagonistas: Lupita Ferrer (como Mariana Montenegro), José Bardina (Ignacio Lugo Navarro). -Antagonistas Martín Lantigua (Atilio Montenegro), Ivonne Attas (Marcia Montenegro). -Tema musical: Instrumental “Emmanuelle” de Fausto Papetti.

Mariana Montenegro es joven, romántica y vive en un pueblo minero del sur de Venezuela. Tiene fama de estar maldita: dicen que todos los hombres que se enamoran de ella terminan sufriendo accidentes fatales.

Es huérfana de madre, vive con quien cree es su padre, Atilio Montenegro, un hombre poderoso dueño de minas; sin embargo, existen secretos sobre su origen y la verdadera relación paterna con Mariana.

Atilio tiene otra hija, Caridad (“Chachi”), que sufre de celos y envidia hacia Mariana. También están sus hermanas: Isabel, amable, y Marcia, vanidosa y despiadada.

Aparece Ignacio Lugo, un periodista que asume una identidad falsa (“Nacho Luna”) para acercarse a la mina, entra en conflicto con la reputación, los secretos familiares, y desarrolla una relación amorosa con Mariana. Las intrigas giran en torno al secreto del linaje, los engaños, la maldición autocreída, el embarazo, el robo del niño, falsas pretensiones, y la huida de Mariana ante la sospecha de la maldición.

Mariana de la noche combina melodrama clásico con toques de superstición, leyenda y misterio: la “maldición”, el rumor, lo sobrenatural bordea lo emocional. Eso le da una atmósfera distinta a muchas novelas de la época que se quedaban sólo en romances o familia.

Lupita Ferrer demostró gran capacidad interpretativa en este papel de mujer atormentada, idealista, vacilante entre temor y amor. José Bardina brinda el contraste como galán fuerte y justo, pero atrapado por el secreto y el engaño.

Los antagonistas: Marcia y Atilio aportan tensión intensa, el primero por su ambición, el segundo por su doble papel como protector-tiranizador y guardián de secretos. La ambientación en pueblo minero aporta un entorno opresivo, que sirve para aumentar el dramatismo.

Mariana de la noche es una de esas telenovelas que dejan huella por su mezcla de romance, mito y tragedia personal. No solo entretiene, sino que logra provocar emociones fuertes con sus giros dramáticos: el pecado del engaño, la culpa, el deseo de escapar del destino, el amor que sana y también hiere.

Considero que esta novela representa bien un punto medio entre los melodramas más tradicionales y los que ya querían experimentar con elementos más oscuros, misteriosos y simbólicos.

Bueno mi gente espero les guste y sea de su agrado este articulo donde rememoramos un poco de lo que fue esta telenovela. No se pierdan las siguientes ediciones para mas contenido de este tipo y seguir recordando nuestras historias dramaticas. Mil bendiciones para todos.

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Free for All (S01E04)

Airdate: October 20th 1967

Written by: Paddy Fitz Directed by: Patrick McGoohan

Running Time: 50 minutes

Patrick McGoohan’s The Prisoner arrived on 1960s television screens not merely as a programme, but as a defiant rupture in the established order of broadcast entertainment. Its very existence represented a bold refusal to be corralled by the easily defined genre conventions that dominated the era – the first three episodes alone pivoted dizzyingly from intense psychological drama through Cold War spy thriller tropes into outright science fiction. With the fourth instalment, Free for All, McGoohan, serving as star, executive producer, writer (under pen name „Paddy Fitz”), and director, sought to broaden the Village’s conceptual scope yet further, venturing headlong into the treacherous terrain of political satire. It was, undoubtedly, his most ambitious narrative leap to that point in the series. Yet, for all its audacity, Free for All stands as the first significant misstep, a complex, often bewildering episode whose potent central idea is ultimately undermined by its own execution, failing to land with the precision and power of its predecessors.

The episode commences with the introduction of a new Number Two, portrayed by Eric Portman. He informs Number Six that, in its perverse mimicry of the outside world, the Village holds elections, and suggests Six should stand as a candidate. Should he win, Number Two coyly implies, Six might even succeed him. Reluctantly, seeing a potential chink in the Village’s armour – perhaps a platform for escape or leverage – Six agrees. He is then assigned an assistant, the enigmatic Number Fifty-Eight (Rachel Herbert), an eccentric woman who either cannot or pointedly refuses to speak English, communicating only in a stream of Slavic-sounding gibberish while shadowing his every move with unnerving, cheerful devotion. The campaign unfolds with Six positioning himself as the champion of freedom, railing against the Village’s inherent tyranny. Yet, his message falls on deaf ears; prospective voters remain indifferent, seemingly oblivious to the very concept of liberty he espouses. After another predictably thwarted escape attempt, Six undergoes a grotesque scene where the Labour Exchange manager (George Benson) subjects him to a crude form of brainwashing, compelling him to parrot meaningless, vacuous promises. Later, discovering Number Two illicitly imbibing in a hidden cave, Six hears his rival’s whispered confession of hatred for the Village – a fleeting moment of apparent kinship. But this proves another trap. Drugged once more, Six is coerced into participating in the election he subsequently wins with suspicious ease. As he ascends to assume the role of Number Two, poised to incite rebellion among the villagers, Number Fifty-Eight delivers a stinging slap and reveals herself as the true Number Two. Six is then viciously beaten by her underlings, the brutal lesson delivered: the entire electoral charade was an elaborate, sadistic psychological operation designed solely to break his spirit and extract the elusive secret he guards.

McGoohan’s intention here is clear and potent. He seizes upon the election premise, a detail established in the very first episode (Arrival, not as mere plot device, but as a scalpel to dissect the real-world political systems the Village satirically reflects. His view of Western-style democracy, as modelled by the Village’s regime, is scathingly unflattering. The election is presented as an absolute sham, its result preordained and easily manipulated. More damningly, it is revealed not even as a hollow ritual, but as a deliberate instrument of psychological torture – a means to degrade and control. The fundamental differences between candidates are rendered utterly meaningless. Six’s genuine appeals to freedom and individual liberty are ignored; the villagers only endorse him when, brainwashed, he repeats the same empty platitudes as his opponent, behaving like a herd of compliant sheep. McGoohan reserves particular contempt for the media apparatus sustaining this illusion. The Village’s newspaper, Tally Ho, features reporters who brazenly and deliberately misquote Number Six, twisting his truth into propaganda that serves the regime – a stark commentary on media complicity in manufactured consent.

This cynical vision was likely forged in the specific political climate of post-WW2 Britain. McGoohan appears to critique the era’s stifling "Butskellite" consensus, where the Labour and Conservative parties pursued largely indistinguishable economic and social policies, rendering electoral choices between them feel increasingly hollow and meaningless for the average citizen. While Free for All would have resonated powerfully with 1960s British viewers familiar with this political stagnation, its core anxieties feel startlingly prescient today. In an age marked by extreme public cynicism towards electoral processes, where blatant media manipulation, the weaponisation of social media algorithms, the banning of candidates, the annulment of results under dubious pretexts, and the revolving door of ostensibly opposing parties relentlessly pursuing near-identical destructive policies have become commonplace, McGoohan’s vision of democracy as a controlled spectacle for psychological management feels less like dated satire and more like an uncomfortably accurate prophecy.

Regrettably, McGoohan’s ambitious political thesis founders on the rocks of his own stylistic choices. His writing and direction for this episode lack the taut control evident in earlier instalments. Instead of sharp political allegory, the style veers into the excessively grotesque and surreal, firmly embedding The Prisoner within the psychedelic excesses of the late 1960s – a move that ultimately dilutes the political message. The dialogue often feels stilted and unnatural, failing to carry the weight of the ideas. Key plot points, particularly the middle-section escape attempt, feel contrived and predictable, seemingly inserted merely to inject artificial action into proceedings that would otherwise rely solely on dialogue and psychological tension. This stylistic overreach makes the episode confusing where it should be clarifying, obscuring the sharp political critique beneath a layer of bewildering imagery and illogical sequences. The very elements meant to heighten the satire – the absurdity, the surrealism – end up muddying the waters, making the episode feel more like a psychedelic head-trip than a focused political dissection.

Amidst this uneven execution, Rachel Herbert’s performance as Number Fifty-Eight stands out as a masterclass in unsettling ambiguity. Her portrayal of the excessively cheerful, gibberish-speaking assistant is brilliantly sinister. The constant, unnerving smile and incomprehensible chatter create profound disquiet; her very presence feels like a violation. While her eventual unmasking as the true Number Two delivers the episode’s most shocking moment, few viewers are likely to be genuinely surprised. Herbert imbues the character with such palpable, underlying menace from the outset that the revelation feels inevitable, a testament to her skill in conveying threat beneath a facade of absurdity. It is perhaps the episode’s strongest element, a flicker of genuine brilliance in an otherwise muddled endeavour.

At the end of the day, Free for All remains a fascinating, deeply flawed artifact. McGoohan’s ambition to dissect the machinery of democratic illusion was bold and, in retrospect, remarkably foresighted. The core concept – elections as psychological manipulation rather than genuine choice – is arguably The Prisoner’s most enduringly relevant political insight. Yet, the episode’s failure lies in its execution. Overwhelmed by its own psychedelic tendencies, hampered by weak dialogue, and burdened by confusing, contrived sequences, it stumbles where it should stride. It lacks the crystalline focus and visceral impact of previous episodes. While its thematic resonance with contemporary democratic crises is undeniable and chilling, Free for All ultimately serves as a cautionary tale about ambition outpacing artistry. It is a vital, if deeply imperfect, chapter in The Prisoner’s legacy – a reminder that even the most potent ideas can be lost when drowned in surreal excess. McGoohan aimed for the jugular of political complacency but, in this instance, landed a glancing, confusing blow. The Village’s election was indeed a sham; unfortunately, the episode itself risks becoming one too – a hollow spectacle of missed potential.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

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Overview

A master thief is wooed by his ex-girlfriend and the FBI to pull off an impossible heist with his international crew on a 777 passenger flight from London to Zurich.

My review

When I saw Kelvin Hart, It caught my attention but I had to read what the story line was about and observed that this movie wasn't one of those movies, where he is featured to be the comedian. He really delivered and played his role as expected. Few funny scenes here and there but Kelvin delivered. I guess his face was used to sell the movie. But, excluding the marketing techniques employed, Kelvin blew my mind. I never knew this side of him even existed.

The movie "Lift" starring Kevin Hart begins with a thrilling scene where Hart's character, Cyrus Whitaker, leads a team of skilled thieves in stealing a one-of-a-kind NFT (non-fungible token) at an art auction in Venice. The NFT, created by the anonymous digital artist N8, is secured by Cyrus for $20 million, triggering a complex plot to kidnap the artist and boost the NFT's value.

Cyrus and his team use their skills to steal the NFT and later kidnap the artist, manipulating the market to increase the NFT's value to $89 million.

The movie follows Cyrus and his team as they take on a new challenge: stealing $500 million in gold from a passenger plane at 40,000 feet. With the help of Interpol agent Abby Gladwell, played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Cyrus must navigate the complexities of the heist while dealing with the consequences of his actions.

Vote

I vote this movie 98.5 percent. It is a must watch. If you haven't seen the movie you can check it out on @netflix and other movie uploading platforms. You won't regret it, I infact don't consider it as a waste of time

• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13345606/
• Platform: MAX

Rottentomatoes Rating

As every movie we need at least a minimum story to connect all the pieces and this one posses that same structure and at lets present something about the characters, first we meet is Beth a guitar technician who discovered is pregnant and for that reason she decide to visit her sister Ellie and her three nephews, yes Ellie is a single mom who is struggle to give a good life to her children with her work as tattoo artist. This family live in a old and creepy building with other few neighbors because is a building that will be demolished soon but that is not so important. When Beth arrived to Ellie´s house, her sister have a complicated relationship and more from the side of Ellie because she felt that her sister hasn´t be there when she needed her most while they are talking an earthquake hits LA and damages the building, Ellie´s children where in the parking garage returning from buying pizza and with the earthquake a big hole opens in the ground, this is the part that at first got me confuse, let me get something straight Im not the biggest fan of the franchise so I just happen to watch the movie out of curiousity but I also watched the 2013 one, there are other 3 movies within the franchise. I really don´t know why in horror movies more with kids they always instead of run from some unknown shit they decided to take the adventure card and play like boy scouts making something stupid and bringing the evil to the house, you are watching like please stop it!!!, inside the fucking hole Danny, Ellie eldest son; find some shit that you know he should not grab including a creepy book with rear teeth, the book is called Naturom emonto and what he doe?, take it to his house, so smart. Obvious should exist a way why the evil arrived to the house but how precisely is than a earthquake open a hole and theres some idiots kids who decided that get inside that hole was the most exciting thing to do, well I don´t buy it but I don´t have to because that is part of the story now and it won´t change so that truth is that is not something critical because after all its exciting what comes up next.

Considering that this is a stablished franchise I do appreciated that this movie handle the whole Evil Dead mythology without making it feel like a retread of what we have seen before. If you have seen the previous movies or not I will tell you that the book used before was the Necronomicon but in this one is one of the three books called the Naturum Demento, at first I was asking myself why the book was different and is because is another book, with creepy teeth and cover of human skink and that is the book Danny took to his house, when he try to open it he couldn´t but he cut his finger with one of the books teeth making a few drops of his blood fall into the book, after that happen the book open to him but couldn´t read because was in some sort of ancient script but he saw creepy drawing on it, he also took three old vinyl records and decided to play the first one, the person talking was the father Littleton, he was the person who passed most of his life studying the book and documenting his research so into his mission was this father that also read the incantation of the book and recorded them, when those incantations played in Danny´s house everything went to hell, the evil force was unleashed and went straight for Ellie in the elevator and possessed her in this really uncomfortable scene where cables wrap around her neck and she is basically getting strangled while floating in the air, when she comes back she is not mom anymore she was something else entirely and that was when the movie really starts to get nasty.

At first I didnt recognize very well who was playing Ellie, with all the destress around the scene but then remember her, fkn Queen Aslaug from Vikings, this is one of my favorite tv series of all time, just pure gold and most of the actors did a great job, Aslaugh on Vikings in fact at first was consider a witch and also a bit extremist on their religion so this possessed role fits her very well. I was hooked once I recognize Alyssa, she trully kill it, similar to Vikings, a lonly mother with three kids, her husband left them but she is a fighter here too, she has a family that depends on her but in this story the one possessed had no chance against the evil, she is the most evil creature of all, scaring you with those screams, her look is so creepy, the way she look at you like trying to eat your soul, it was hard seen how that lovely woman in a reincarnated demon that only wants to kill even her kids, here you know that the director doesn´t hold back when it comes to violence, murdered, blood and horror. Theres is a scene when Ellie´s bites out a guys eyeball called Gabriel and then spits it across the fkn hallway into Jake's mouth, his son. It was a reference to the Evil Dead 2 but in this movie feels different because the tone was more serious here and felt nasty. Im also glad that they went with ton of practical effects and not all CGI, from what I read online they used over 1700 gallons of fake blood with the elevator scene alone using close to 1500 gallons, practical effects always make things look more real even though you know its all fantasy.

#skiptvads, #inleo, #hive, #evildead, #horror, #deadites, #gore, #blood, #chainsaw, #necronomicon, #possession, #motherhood, #apartment, #family, #sisters, #deadite, #cronin, #sutherland, #sullivan, #elevator, #earthquake, #cheese, #grater, #violence, #claustrophobic, #demonic, #carnage, #survival

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Fate Continues Even After Death. What would you do if after death you found out that all souls who betrayed will be punished and sent to hell. But you need to pass so many trials to be reincarnated...

Honestly, this movie shook me in ways I didn’t expect. The movie kicks off in a way that already makes your chest heavy: a firefighter, Kim Ja-hong, dies in the line of duty. Normally, you’d think, “Ah, sad but straightforward.” But no—this film spins death into this whole afterlife adventure that feels like a courtroom drama mixed with an epic fantasy. The moment Ja-hong is taken by these three guardians into the afterlife, I already knew I wasn’t just watching a movie, I was about to be taken on an emotional journey.

Gang-rim, Haewonmak and Deok-choon are all guardians who possess their own strength. Gang-rim is stern and unemotional, the type of leader who will have you sitting to attention. Haewonmak? He has a feel of the witty, sarcastic that breaks tension, yet conceals a dimension. And Deok-choon, you see, dear me, she is the center of the three, tender but strong, loving yet willful. They lead Ja-hong through the seven hells that are symbolized by sins as betrayal, indolence, injustice, violence, murder, deceit and filial impiety.

Now, this is where it gets wild. Every hell is a kind of a trial in a courtroom and the life of Ja-hong is being torn apart bit by bit. It is not simply you sinned, you did not sin--no, no, it is a messy business, has a lot of layers, all of our human contradictions. To illustrate, in the Hell of Violence, he is tried on the killing of individuals that happened when he was a firefighter. However, the next moment you can guess how much he gave up, how he literally placed other people in the forefront and then suddenly the boundaries between guilt and innocence become indistinct. It was like watching the soul of a person being dissected, when I watched those scenes, and I found myself thinking, “Had I been naked in front of the world like that, what dark secrets would come to the light?

The images, how about God, are something different. Imagine massive, scary scenery, rivers of fire, high-pitched judges and monsters that appeared to be right out of a nightmare. Despite all that messiness, there has to have been some beauty in the telling of that tale, the afterlife is not portrayed as a realm of unescaped retribution but rather more as a kind of reckoning, a realm where truth just cannot be kept in the shadows.

But not even those grand trials are the punch of it--it is in the little human details. Similar to how the mother and brother of Ja-hong are introduced to the story. You would imagine this is his life journey all by himself but then you are wrong, his life and decisions extend to theirs. My chest tightened the moment I noticed the amount he presented without telling anybody; the sacrifices, the shame he was carrying, the things that he never told anybody. One scene broke me, it is when his mother's problems are shown, and all the miseries she had to go through only to not break the family. That is when I needed to put the movie on pause, breath, and cry sincerely. It struck me because on occasions our parents experience storms that we cannot exactly see until it is too late.

And then there’s this twist. I will not even tell you it struck me in the face. At the moment when I believed Ja-hong to be the pure soul who will be reborn, you make me realize that he has darker secrets than the guardians think. It is then that the movie ceases to be simply a story of his experience but is now also about the guardians. Particularly Gang-rim--you feel this hard cold surface begin to fissure. He is not an accidental case, a random escort and he has his goals, his losses. It is then that the film ceases to be merely one about Ja-hong, but humanity in general.

A connection between the guardians and Ja-hong turns out to be one of my favorites. It begins as they treat him as another victim that has to be driven somewhere like a case, but it gradually becomes evident that the relationships are developing, feelings flowing, and even the beliefs that they hold are being challenged. As with Haewonmak, initially he is merely making sarcastic remarks, but his empathy comes out. And Deok-choon, every time she defends Ja-hong with her whole heart, I couldn’t help but feel protective of her. It reminded me of those friends who always see the good in you even when you can’t see it yourself.

But this is where my weakness really lies: the theme of filial impiety which is in other words the way you treat your parents. That part stabbed me deep. The relationship of Ja-hong with his mother grounds out to be the test in the trial. And when all this happens, I had to reflect on myself, and ask myself, do I truly value my parents enough? Do they realize how much I love them, or will it break out only after I am gone? It is the type of question this movie compels you to sit down and ask.

My feelings were mixed by the time it came to the climax of anger, sadness, relief, even gratitude. The finale did not simply serve to set Ja-hong into place, but also opened a window into the backstories of the guardians and alerted me that this was not merely another film, but rather the establishment of a bigger one upon which I was going to rest. The spectacle to the raw human emotion ratio was so high that when the credits ended, I simply sat there and stare processing all that.

Honestly speaking, it was not only the spectacular images of hell or the courtroom drama that I was particularly impressed with. It was how the film was able to reduce the human imperfections and still find a way to say: You are more than you do wrong. You’re more than your sins.” It is that message and is packaged in such a spectacular story that made this movie memorable to me.

I did not walk away, After the Gods: The Two Worlds, without more than being entertained, but this book not only opened its pages in spots to which I had not thought any light to be necessary. It gave me the idea about my regrets in life, my family, the unuttered sacrifices, and what is actually important when everything is taken away. That is why, in the event I should gist anyone about this film, I would say that it is not about gods, or the afterlife, or trials. It is about us--us and our decisions, our secret wounds, and that question always: if you were judged for your life today, what story would be told?

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Welcome 💖 Bienvenidos

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Cuando vi que Evans iba a dirigir otra película de acción después de The Raid y The Raid 2, me dieron muchas ganas de ver Havoc y obviamente mis expectativas estaban por las nubes, pero la realidad es que esta cosa no llegó ni cerca de lo que esperaba y eso que sabía que no iba a ser una película centrada en la historia sino más en la acción pura. Tom Hardy hace lo suyo como siempre, el tipo tiene presencia y carisma para hacer una película solo, pero aquí me pareció que estaba haciendo lo mismo de siempre, esa voz rasposa y esos gestos que ya conocemos de memoria y no es nada nuevo realmente. La trama de la peli es muy básica y predecible que ya en los primeros minutos sabía como iba a terminar todo, es todo sobre un detective corrupto que tiene que rescatar al hijo de un político a la vez de que está tratando de desmontar toda una red de corrupción, pero te digo que la historia no tiene ni una sorpresa no hay ningún cambio interesante que te mantengan pegado a la pantalla. Lo que más me molestó fue que nunca sientes que los personajes principales están en peligro real, siempre sabes que van a salir bien librados de cada situación por más imposible que parezca y eso es algo que mata toda la tensión que una película de acción necesita para funcionar, cuando los protagonistas son casi que invencibles ya no hay una emoción verdadera.

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Las escenas de acción tienen momentos decentes no voy a negarlo, me gustó esa persecución en carro del inicio que está bastante bien hecha, algo que me chocó es que la cámara se mueve demasiado y esto hizo que fuera difícil seguir lo que está pasando de hecho a veces sentá que me mareaba un poco. Evans demostró con The Raid que sabe hacer acción de una manera limpia y brutal, pero aquí parece que quiso hacer algo diferente y el resultado no funciona igual de bien, tal vez es por la presión de trabajar con nombres más grandes o por las limitaciones de Netflix, pero definitivamente no está al nivel de sus trabajos anteriores. Los efectos especiales de Netflix siempre me han parecido raros, tienen esa calidad digital que no se ve para nada real y en Havoc se nota bastante en algunas escenas donde se supone que deberías sentir el impacto pero terminas riéndote de lo falso que se ve todo. Quelin Sepulveda hace lo que puede con su personaje pero está limitada por un guión que no le da mucho con qué trabajar, Forest Whitaker aparece poco pero es el que se ve más comprometido con lo que está haciendo de todos los actores. La parte visual tiene sus momentos, se ve como el amibiente sucio y de callejero y eso es algo que le queda bien a este tipo de historias pero no alcanza a crear esa atmósfera opresiva que es característica de las películas anteriores de Evans.

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Yo creo que Havoc tenía potencial porque y quedó enterrasdo bajo decisiones de producción mediocres y un guión que parece escrito por un novato. La premisa básica podría haber funcionado si hubieran desarrollado mejor a los personajes y si hubieran tomado más riesgos, pero en lugar de eso es una simple película de acción como cualquier otra que se olvida cinco minutos después de terminarla, una de esas que pones en segundo plano mientras haces otras cosas. Evans sabe dirigir acción, pero aquí es como si estuviera dirigiendo con las manos atadas, sin la libertad creativa que tenía en sus proyectos independientes anteriores y eso es algo que se nota en cada escena porque nunca alcanza esa intensidad visceral que yo por lo menos esperaba de él. Los diálogos están llenos de clichés con cosas que ya se han escuchado mil veces antes en otras películas similares, y los personajes toman decisiones estúpidas solo para crear situaciones de peligro que se siente demasiado artificial. Justin Cornwell hace un trabajo decente pero su personaje está tan mal desarrollado que nunca llegas a importarte realmente si vive o muere, lo mismo pasa con el resto.

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El ritmo de la película está bien durante la primera hora porque mantiene un buen balance entre el desarrollo de personajes y partes de acción, pero después como en la segunda parte todo se acelera demasiado y termina siendo apresurado, como si tuvieran que resolver todo rápidamente para no exceder el tiempo de duración. Las peleas en los lugares cerrados funcionan mejor que las persecuciones en carro, me gustó esa escena en el nightclub que recuerda un poco a los mejores momentos de The Raid, pero lo chimbo es que esas escenas sufren del problema de la cámara que se mueve mucho y es difícil apreciar bien. Evans siempre ha sido increíble dirigiendo peleas mano a mano pero aquí parece se enfocó más en los tiroteos y la acción con armas, y yo creo que no es su fuerte, le queda mejor la brutalidad física y visceral. Tom Hardy se defiende bien en las escenas de pelea pero me pareció que no se exigía mcuho fue como si estuviera cumpliendo un contrato más y eso se nota sobre todo cuando lo comparas con actores como Iko Uwais en The Raid que parecía que se estaba jugando la vida en cada escena. Los malos de la película son demasiado equis, unos tipos cualquiera que existen solo para darle a Hardy alguien con quien pelear, nada interesante ni sus motivaciones ni la personalidad.

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Bueno al final Havoc es una película más de Netflix de esas que están para llenar el catalogo, si la quieres ver te digo que solo sea un domingo aburrido porque después nunca te vas a acordar de ella. No es que sea terrible pero tampoco es buena se queda como en ese limbo de la mediocridad donde la mayoría de las pelis de streaming terminan, me parece que no tiene mucha chispa de creatividad ni nada original que la haga destacar. Evans demostró con sus películas anteriores que puede ser uno de los mejores directores de acción pero aquí parece que se conformó con hacer algo seguro y comercial, perdiendo toda esa energía salvaje que mostró en sus trabajos independientes. Esperaba mucho más de Havoc pero supongo que no todas las apuestas salen bien y a veces los directores que admiramos tienen que hacen cosas que no nos gustan, yo le doy un 5.5/10, Havoc cumple su función básica pero no es lo que yo esperaba ni está al nivel de The Raid, creo que es exactamente lo que no quería que fuera una película de Gareth Evans después de tanto tiempo esperando su regreso al género de acción.

[ENGLISH VERSION]

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When I saw that Evans was going to direct another action movie after The Raid and The Raid 2, I really wanted to see Havoc and obviously my expectations were sky high, but the reality is that this thing didn't even come close to what I expected and I knew it wasn't going to be a movie focused on the story but more on pure action. Tom Hardy does his thing as usual, the guy has the presence and charisma to make a movie on his own, but here it seemed to me that he was doing the same as always, that raspy voice and those gestures that we already know by heart and it's nothing new really. The plot of the movie is very basic and predictable that already in the first minutes I knew how everything was going to end, it's all about a corrupt detective who has to rescue the son of a politician at the same time he is trying to dismantle a whole network of corruption, but I tell you the story doesn't have a single surprise there is no interesting twist that keep you glued to the screen. What bothered me the most was that you never feel that the main characters are in real danger, you always know that they are going to get out of every situation no matter how impossible it seems and that is something that kills all the tension that an action movie needs to work, when the main characters are almost invincible there is no real thrill anymore.

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The action scenes have decent moments I won't deny it, I liked that car chase at the beginning that is quite well done, something that shocked me is that the camera moves too much and this made it difficult to follow what is happening in fact sometimes I felt that it made me a little dizzy. Evans proved with The Raid that he knows how to do action in a clean and brutal way, but here it seems like he wanted to do something different and the result doesn't work as well, maybe it's because of the pressure of working with bigger names or the limitations of Netflix, but it's definitely not up to the level of his previous works. Netflix's special effects have always seemed weird to me, they have this digital quality that doesn't look real at all and in Havoc it's quite noticeable in some scenes where you're supposed to feel the impact but you end up laughing at how fake everything looks. Michelle Dockery does what she can with her character but is limited by a script that doesn't give her much to work with, Forest Whitaker appears little but is the one who looks the most committed to what he's doing of all the actors. The visuals have their moments, it looks like the dirty, streetwise amibient and that's something that suits this kind of story but it doesn't manage to create that oppressive atmosphere that is characteristic of Evans' previous films.

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I think Havoc had potential because it was buried under mediocre production decisions and a script that feels like it was written by a rookie. The basic premise could have worked if they had developed the characters better and taken more risks, but instead it's just a simple action movie like any other that you forget about five minutes after you finish it, one of those that you put on the back burner while you do other things. Evans knows how to direct action, but here it's like he's directing with his hands tied, without the creative freedom he had in his previous independent projects and that's something that shows in every scene because he never reaches that visceral intensity that I at least expected from him. The dialogues are full of clichés with things that have been heard a thousand times before in other similar movies, and the characters make stupid decisions just to create situations of danger that feels too artificial. Justin Cornwell does a decent job but his character is so poorly developed that you never really get to care if he lives or dies, same goes for the rest.

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The pacing of the movie is okay for the first hour because it keeps a good balance between character development and action parts, but then as in the second part everything speeds up too much and ends up being rushed, as if they had to solve everything quickly to not exceed the running time. The fights in the closed places work better than the car chases, I liked that scene in the nightclub that reminds a little bit of the best moments of The Raid, but the bad thing is that those scenes suffer from the problem of the camera that moves a lot and it's difficult to appreciate well. Evans has always been amazing at directing hand-to-hand fights but here he seems to focus more on gunfights and gun action, and I don't think that's his forte, he's better at physical and visceral brutality. Tom Hardy does well in the fight scenes but it seemed to me that he didn't demand much of himself, it was as if he was just fulfilling another contract and that shows especially when you compare him with actors like Iko Uwais in The Raid who looked like he was playing for his life in every scene. The bad guys in the movie are just too X-rated, just some random guys who exist just to give Hardy someone to fight, nothing interesting about their motivations or personality.

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Well in the end Havoc is just another Netflix movie that is there to fill the catalog, if you want to watch it I say just a boring Sunday because after you will never remember it. It's not that it's terrible but it's not good either it stays like in that limbo of mediocrity where most streaming movies end up, it seems to me that it doesn't have much spark of creativity or anything original that makes it stand out. Evans proved with his previous films that he can be one of the best action directors but here it seems like he settled for making something safe and commercial, losing all that wild energy he showed in his independent works. I expected a lot more from Havoc but I guess not all bets turn out well and sometimes directors we admire have to do things we don't like, I give it a 5.5/10, Havoc fulfills its basic function but it's not what I expected nor is it on the level of The Raid, I think it's exactly what I didn't want a Gareth Evans movie to be after so long waiting for his return to the action genre.

TranslatedwithDeepL

Posted Using INLEO

Posted Using INLEO