I rewatched this after a friend lent me the book. Stormed through it in a couple of hours, even though I hated the film the first time I saw it and was generally unimpressed by the premise.

So, the rewatch. I found myself laughing a bit more than I did the first time round and was generally more open to it. Perhaps the biggest problem of the film, unlike the book, is that it takes itself too seriously. The film is a good effort, but it falls short, mostly in the writing and the dialogue.

Perhaps one of the better video game adaptations I've seen. Timothy Olyphant pulls off a convincing performance, even if A) he isn't David Bateson and B) his mouth moves independent of his voice as if he's in a dubbed martial arts movie.

The Letterboxd poster for this SUCKS.

I've often knocked this film in the past. My propensity to dismiss Michael Bay as "dumb Hollywood" was ignorance of the highest order.

I finally sat down and properly watched one of his films. Do you know what I admire? The narrative doesn't stand still. It is constantly moving, the writing is sharp, humorous and entertaining.

I'll have to watch The Rock or Armageddon at some point. The combination of a rough week and illness has probably swayed my hard-line stance on Bay.

Also, damn the haters. I can never get enough Shia LaBeouf.

Inception wasn't intelligent and it wasn't explorative. The themes it dealt with have been explored already (obviously the Matrix is an influence, anything related to solipsism in theme). Nolan has masqueraded complexity as depth, and it has fooled the pseudo-intelligentsia. It's a glorified bank-heist... structual complexity is no replacement for actual characters and decent writing. Too much bloody exposition.

Anyone can understand the rules of chess, y'know? But not everyone is receptive to Shakespeare. It's like the worked example in an instruction manual and it never really improves. Particularly cringeworthy was the cliffhanger, I wonder who saw that coming.