Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightening Thief (2010)

What I expected:

Rick Riordan has written a series of five wonderful and funny young adult books featuring Percy Jackson and the Olympians. The series does not rival Harry Potter in writing craft or sheer wonder, but it is a fun ride and a great way to learn about Greek mythology. My daughter and I have enjoyed these books together and we wanted the movie to be just as wonderful. However, my heart was filled with dread when I learned that Chris Columbus was the director.

What I got:

I pretty much got exactly what I expected, which is a real shame. Chris Columbus should not be allowed near our favorite books. He was in charge of the early Harry Potter movies, and even if the magic was nicely portrayed, the acting was just horrible, especially from the kids. The Lightening Thief suffers from the exact same problem. The art direction is gorgeous, the special effects are what they should be and a fine cast was assembled, but he still manages to make an almost unwatchable mess out of it all, and fall way short of what it could have been.

The story is fairly straight forward, even if they did leave out most of the funny stuff from the books: Percy Jackson is the son of Poseidon but doesn’t know it. He is growing up in NYC with his single mom and her jerk boyfriend (Joe Pantoliano, who cannot be made to suck, even by the likes of Chris Columbus.) On a school fieldtrip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art Percy finds out that he is a demi-god after a fury threatens his life. She is working for Hades (god of the Underworld) and they believe that Percy has stolen Zeus’ lightening bolt, which he has not. His best friend Grover is revealed to be a satyr protecting him and Grover whisks Percy away to camp half-blood and safety. After finding his place at the camp, Percy accepts the quest to go find the lightening bolt and to bring it back to Zeus on Mount Olympus which is now located above the Empire State Building.

The cast is very strong. It features Uma Thurman as Medusa, Pierce Brosnan as Chiron (the trainer of heroes,) Rosario Dawson as Persephone (Hades wife) and the always delightful Catherine Keener as Percy’s mom – just to name a few. Unfortunately, these talented actors are slumming it here. All of them are capable of so much more. It is as if Columbus went with the first take of every scene without any exploration whatsoever. He specializes in the significant stare and it is on full display here. Pierce Brosnan is especially afflicted, and not just because he is literally acting with a horse’s ass.

The young actors playing Percy (Logan Lerman) and his best friends Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) and Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario) are all too old to be given the child actor treatment, which is clearly what Columbus did to them. I would venture to say that they as well could do so much more.

If you take your kids like I did, they will probably enjoy themselves, even if you, as a sentient human adult, may have trouble doing the same. Restroom breaks and popcorn runs can be your friend here. Just remember: You are doing it for the kids. You may have to repeat that more than once.

Niels Hansen is the co-owner of Hansen Creative Services, a graphic design firm near Columbus, Ohio which specializes in employee communications and small business marketing.

Dark Target (2010)

What I Expected:

I honestly didn’t know what to expect of Dark Target. I knew it was an action movie produced here in Columbus and that the talent was local. I assumed the budget was meager and I also knew that the director, William Lee’s, last movie was a zombie flick called Demons Rising and I hoped that wouldn’t be the tenor of this one.

What I got:

Let me say up front that I was impressed. Dark Target offers some really good acting, a good script and cast and crew that obviously poured their heart and soul into the project.

On the other hand, it is obviously not the product of a slick Hollywood studio and you have to allow for that when it comes to some of the technical aspects of the movie. That is especially true of the special effects. The gunfire muzzle-flares and the resulting flying blood splatter are very cartoonish but could easily be remedied with a bigger budget and some higher-end post-production. It is also obvious that the crew just came off making a zombie movie. Some of the violence and gore is clearly rooted in that aesthetic but it doesn’t overwhelm the action. The actual language is also quite raw and it seems at times unnecessarily so.

Overall the camera work is quite nice. William Lee uses interesting angles and editing to make the movie exciting and to pull you through the scenes. Shaky-cam is not my favorite style, but in this case it helps keep the energy raw and to communicate the on-edge quality of the story itself.

It centers around an ex-CIA operative, Daniel Kane (Brian Spangler-Campbell,) who tries to get away from spying after he accidentally shoots his best friend in the line of duty. He quickly gets pulled into a sinister plot where rogue agents led by Commander Baker (Kim Carey) are trying to alter the racial makeup of the country through wholesale execution of blacks. Kane allies himself with a drug-kingpin (Rebecca Moore) and a former CIA doctor (Jennifer Stepp.) Together they take the fight to Baker and his rogue band of sadists.

Dark Target is a nice showcase for some strong Columbus actors. I was especially impressed with Jennifer Stepp as Doctor Mia Camara. She is stunning on screen and commands any scene that she’s in. Brian Spangler-Campbell is also very strong in the lead role and his combat skills are quite impressive. The same is true of Duane Gamble, Jr who plays one of the rogue agents. Kim Carey is wonderfully demented as Baker and Lonnie Gary gives us her all as his partner and lover. I also enjoyed Gavin Herscher as the evil Dr N’Kame. He was very convincing as a heartless sociopath.

It is great to see that Columbus can put out such a strong movie and that we have such talent right here in town. Dark Target is not for everyone but if you’re willing to give it a chance it will reward you for it.

Niels Hansen is the co-owner of Hansen Creative Services, a graphic design firm near Columbus, Ohio which specializes in employee communications and small business marketing.

Pirate Radio/The Boat That Rocked (2009)

What I Expected:

When you put Philip Seymour-Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh & Emma Thompson in a blender with a storyline about larger than life outlaw DJs, it is safe to assume overacting will ensue of almost biblical proportions. Throw in the fashion and style of the 60’s and you can expect a fine concoction of “yuck,” but with a great soundtrack.

What I got:

Sometimes I wish counter-culture docu-dramas would not play to type quite so much, and be better than I expect them to be.

Unfortunately, Pirate Radio is not one that even tries. Instead, it manages to take the story of one of the most important moments in popular entertainment in Britain and make it both small and uninteresting. This was the time of sex, drugs and rock-n-roll and none of that danger and excitement makes it onto the screen. If what they did was dangerous and rebellious against society, it sure is hard to detect in this sad piece of self-indulgent camera holding.

The story is simple enough. In the 60’s Rock-n-roll was hot, yet BBC failed to program it, thus making a niche for pirate radio stations that broadcast from ships off the coast of England. They were not technically breaking the law at first, and provided a broad audience of all ages the music they craved. This was a huge milestone in music broadcasting, and formed the model for music radio to this day. The British government did not appreciate what they perceived to be immoral filth and they eventually outlawed the pirate stations.

How it is possible to make this topic seem dull is a bit of a mystery, but Richard Curtis somehow manages. He has been the writer behind such uneven material as Mr. Bean’s Holiday, both Bridget Jones movies and Love Actually. This is his second attempt at directing – Love Actually, being the first – and he should have stopped while he was ahead.

The pacing is slow and the characters almost sleep walk through it all; even the “dangerous” ones. What this movie really needs are likeable characters that you can care about and villainous ones that you can dislike in equal measure. Unfortunately, everyone seems almost comatose and that is despite the marvelous overacting!

My expectation of spectacular overacting was met on all fronts. Emma Thompson is probably the one who overdoes it the least, followed by Hoffman. Branagh and Nighy just can’t help themselves, and I’m not sure whether to blame them or not. When you go to one of their movies you know what to expect and it’s really not their fault if you then don’t like it.

The music is the real unsung hero of this movie and it helps keep you engaged enough that you don’t abandon ship halfway through – even if you should. I wanted Pirate Radio to be so much more, but it met my expectations in every way.  This boat does rock, but it is just difficult to care. Pity.

Niels Hansen is the co-owner of Hansen Creative Services, a graphic design firm near Columbus, Ohio which specializes in employee communications and small business marketing.

The Ugly Truth (2009)

What I Expected:

Pitting the sexes against each other is not really my idea of romance, so when it is billed as romantic comedy, I cringe a bit. On the other hand Katherine Heigl seems to have a good nose for picking decent roles and she is funny, so I was willing to give The Ugly Truth the benefit of the doubt. Gerald Butler on the other hand is best known as the phantom in Phantom of the Opera or King Leonidas in 300 – neither role really a comedy… hmm.

What I got:

Katherine Heigl plays Abby, a hard-driving TV producer who has no idea how to get a man, while Gerald Butler plays Mike – a misogynistic self-help guru for men, who is peddling “the ugly truth” about the sexes. They clash the moment he is hired to work on the morning TV show she produces. When he overhears her talking with a prospective date on the phone, Mike bets her that he can coach her to get the man on the other end into her bed with his insight into the male psyche. Needless to say it works, and many (and sometimes funny) complications arise, especially as he falls for her in the process.

Nothing really new here, except, that The Ugly Truth is a fairly sweet take on the battle of the sexes. Much more so than you might have expected from a modern comedy, especially one about lies and deception. This one falls somewhere between 27 Dresses and Knocked Up, – which were both very enjoyable previous efforts by Ms. Heigl. That Gerald Butler proves to be a comedic talent is certainly a bonus. The chemistry between the two of them is never truly believable, but their “battle” is still fun to watch.

As date-movie themes go, I would caution the guys to tread lightly here. It would be easy to fall into the trap of taking the side of the ugly truth-er, but I suspect you would do so at your peril, if you want the date to end “well.” He is a pig, and even if you secretly agree with some of his techniques, don’t let it on too much.

And ladies, you too should be careful not to express your disgust too loudly, if you want the date to end “well.” Not all men are this much of a pig, but we are still fairly basic creatures, and picking an argument over our worst qualities, really isn’t very romantic. Unless you are into angry, make-up sex, in which case, by all means duke it out after the movie.

The nice thing about The Ugly Truth is that there is something in it for both men and women. It is not really a chick-flick, while certainly not a guy-movie either. It is a reasonably fun comedy that you can enjoy together with plenty of laughs, beautiful people and a good, relationship affirming morale. No really, it is actually not a chick-flick. Trust me guys.

PS: As a designer, I really appreciate the use of the Helvetica toilet people in the poster. Very nice!

Niels Hansen is the co-owner of Hansen Creative Services, a graphic design firm near Columbus, Ohio which specializes in employee communications and small business marketing.

My Life in Ruins (2009)

What I expected:

My Big Fat Greek Wedding was the surprise hit for Nia Vardalos back in 2002. It was charming, delightful and silly and it poked gentle fun of the stereotypes about Greeks to perfection. Since Nia hasn’t had a big movie, so it stood to reason that My Life in Ruins would try to return to that same comic gold ore and former glory – very likely to less effect.

What I got:

If you like the idea of Greece and are charmed by the stereotypes Greeks think you have about them, then this can be a very enjoyable movie. It may help if you like some light summer stock as well. If not, you really shouldn’t bother.

Rarely do you see a movie that plays on so many stereotypes so predictably as My Life in Ruins does: “Greeks are never on time; they are loud; their plumbing doesn’t work; they argue and haggle over everything…” Did you give up yet? If not, then by all means, read on:

Sooo – since you like that sort of thing, this is a fairly enjoyable romp around the Greek isles. It features a cast of characters that seems to have been lifted from a 60s travel comedy – led by Nia Vardolos as Georgia, the American history professor who finds herself tour-guiding in Greece because she lost her job and her mojo – also known as kefi.

Throughout the movie the supporting cast helps and hinders her in her quest to regain her kefi. I’m not going to bother crediting them, except for Richard Dreyfus, who has finally found a role that is beneath him. He plays one of the tour members – “the funny one,” we are told – and he proceeds to be largely unfunny, However,  he is the main protagonist for the budding love affair between Georgia and Poupi – yes Poupi – the driver of the bus. Normally I would not give that much away, but if you are still reading, you are obviously comfortable with the formula.

Nia Vardalos is a significant comedic talent with good timing and great facial expressions strong enough for the stage. She is especially good with disbelief and exasperation (stereotypically Greek perhaps?) and she does uses them to good effect.

That the movie isn’t funny should be blamed mostly on the writing. Mike Reiss is the writer, and he comes from a TV cartoon background of great shows like The Simpsons and The Critic, but he has no sense of what it takes to make a MOVIE funny. His vignette humor relies too heavily on the one-liner and even those aren’t really that funny.

Despite all those shortcomings what sneaks up on you if you dare sit through My Life in Ruins is exactly the kefi. There is an infectious charm to the whole thing and it is tenuously held together by that exact joy of life. The scenery is nice and you find yourself wanting to go – if not with this particular group of people! It is also a very “clean” movie with not a hint of bad language and hardly any sexual humor. Certainly nothing to justify the PG-13 rating. You can watch this with a 6 year old – and they may even find it funny.

Niels Hansen is the co-owner of Hansen Creative Services, a graphic design firm near Columbus, Ohio which specializes in employee communications and small business marketing.

Jennifer’s Body (2009)

What I expected:

Megan Fox in a school uniform. That’s what the poster promises, and I was more than ready for that!

Ok, really, what I expected was a hopefully funny horror movie with some hot teenagers and a thin plot. This was obviously a Megan Fox vehicle, and as such I really didn’t expect it to be much else.

What I got:

Most of the better horror movies have some element of humor to them. Otherwise, you can’t really sit through two hours of scares and gore. Or, so I would like to believe. Jennifer’s Body tries to deliver on both scores, and it does OK. It is not tremendously funny, but some of the dialogue is quite amusing. It is also not overly scary, which works nicely for me. I don’t do well with the truly scary horror movies, and I don’t like it when they don’t resolve themselves in a good way.

What pleasantly surprised me about Jennifer’s Body was that Megan Fox did not suck. Since her only real claim to fame prior to this was her roles in the two Transformers movies, there was not much to go on in terms of what to expect of her. She did a really credible job as the hot, full-of-her-self, turned-evil title character Jennifer.

When we first meet Jennifer, she is the BFF of Amanda Seyfried’s character, Needy, who is the plain friend of the gorgeous Jennifer – a common pairing in high school friendships to ensure all the attention stays on the hot one. Together they go to see a band play at a bar and before the night is over, Jennifer has become evil. Or at least beyond high-school-evil, to quote the movie tag line.

This is where I started to like the movie best. Instead of two hours of endless running from the unstoppable evil, Jennifer’s evil only manifests when she has not fed on young man-meat in a while. The rest of the time she is still herself, if a little more callous than before. What this allows the writer Diablo Cody, of Juno fame, to do is play with both Needy’s mind and by extension ours. Needy knows something is badly wrong with Jennifer, but since it doesn’t manifest very often, it takes her a while to put it all together. I found this construction much more enjoyable than the traditional “run-scream-run” formula of the genre.

If you cared about The O.C. you may recognize Adam Brody as the lead singer in the band, who gets to try his hand at being an evil, occult leader. Johnny Simmons is the love interest of Needy. He is still looking for his big break, and I don’t think this is it either. However, he does bear a striking resemblance to Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker, so maybe there is hope for him. Then again, maybe not…

Amanda Seyfried did a nice job as Needy. We saw her previously in Mamma Mia, where she was the cute daughter looking for her dad to walk her down the aisle. Jennifer’s Body added some much needed range to her resumé as well.

I enjoyed Jennifer’s Body, and I give the director Karyn Kusana (Æon Flux and Girlfight – which were both very enjoyable as well) and Diablo Cody credit for being willing to stray from formula and create a “horror-lite” movie that allowed the characters to have more depth and be a bit more interesting than is typically the case in horror. And I think you will find the ending very satisfying.

Niels Hansen is the co-owner of Hansen Creative Services, a graphic design firm near Columbus, Ohio which specializes in employee communications and small business marketing.

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

What I expected:

The first Transformers movie was so much better than anybody expected it to be, that I had my hopes up for the sequel. Not that sequels tend to shine, but lately Spiderman 2 and The Black Knight have given lie to the common wisdom that they automatically have to suck. So I was hopeful.

What I got:

Boy was I wrong!

It is not often that you see this much effort being expended to crate such a pile of junk. Waterworld was a masterpiece compared to Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. This is the second time in a few short months that Shia Lebeouf has found himself headlining a clunker of a movie. Last time it was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I have ranted before about how Steven Spieberg should know better. This time it is Michael Bay, who should have known better. But maybe that is too much to ask of someone whose career has consisted largely of making effects-rich, insight-poor remakes of great horror movies like Friday the 13^th, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Island, The Amityville Horror… need I go on? All with less brilliance than the originals, but jam-packed with special effects.

So what is wrong with this movie? Everything! It is a frenetic mess, with a barely discernable storyline, and robots that are constantly in motion – for no apparent reason. And I’m not talking about the cool transforming thing that they do. No, all their parts seem to be moving ALL the time. Not that I expected to meditate to it, but there is never a moment when something is not moving. Honestly! Other films manage to be exciting, without falling into this trap., but this one seems to have been put together by a bunch of monkeys hopped up on Rock Star drinks.

The very lovely Megan Fox has a way with resting on a motorcycle that I like but beyond that she basically runs around mindlessly the rest of the movie. John Tuturro does his best paranoid crazy impression, which may or may not be a stretch for him. We have certainly seen that from him before. Kevin Dunn and Julie White hit bottom portraying Shia’s white-trash parents. They take their acting cues straight out of the Beverly Hillbillies and oh, isn’t it hilarious that these hicks find themselves at College? Please!

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen is a prime example of “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” And no they shouldn’t have! Uh huh! At least in Waterworld they kept it to their fake island and it could be scuttled afterwards to hide the evidence. This thing spread its mess across the globe and into space. Nothing is sacred and no special effects stone was left unturned – all in the service of what?

I will watch just about anything. And I have. Believe me. And I can honestly say that Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. The worst is still Druids (starring Christopher Lambert), but this one comes close.

Niels Hansen is the co-owner of Hansen Creative Services, a graphic design firm near Columbus, Ohio which specializes in employee communications and small business marketing.

Watchmen (2009)

What I expected:

Let me say off the top, that I have not read the graphic novel, so if I sound like I don’t know what I’m talking about, that’s why. As a consequence, I had very few preconceived notions about what to expect. I tend to like movies made from comic books, and noir also tends to suit me. The characters are obviously complex and flawed (always good.) so all in all I was optimistic.

What I got:

Should you have to read the book before you see a movie? Normally, I don’t think so. I recognize that in many cases you get more out of the film if you know the backstories of all the characters before you go in. Harry Potter would be a prime example of where that works well. The Golden Compass is another where the movie cannot possibly capture the richness of the book world.

Conversely, The books of The Chronicles of Narnia might bore you to tears and turn you off to the point that you never make it to see the movies. Disney’s The Lion, The Witch & the Wardrobe is a prime example of a movie that far outshines the book and I would suggest that Lord of the Rings did the same for Tolkien.

That being said, I think a movie should be able to stand on its own. The narrative should reveal enough essential material to the viewer that you get a fully contained experience from the movie itself.

Unfortunately, I did not get that with this movie. I found the plot confusing and the issues unresolved. It didn’t help that the cinematography was dark, grainy and gloomy to the point where I could not tell what was going on.

Frank Miller (Sin City, The Spirit)  does a nice job of the modern noir genre, but unfortunately Zach Snyder who created this one does not. His previous movie was 300, which was also grainy and confusing. I guess you find something you do well, and you stick with it?

Even the CGI work seems oddly off kilter. Dr. Manhatten (Billy Crudup) is the glowing blue guy and I’m sure he is not supposed to seem human, but he just looks fake. I know that is often the case with glowing figures in comic books, but movies can do better than this.

I did enjoy several of the performances in the movie. Jeffrey Dean Morgan does a wonderful job as the creepy degenerate The Comedian. I also enjoyed the mother-daughter superhero interplay between Silk Spectre (Carla Gugino) and Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman.) You just don’t see nearly enough of that. I think the only other time I have seen that idea is in The Incredibles. Malin Akerman also does a nice job of wearing the Spandex! She is a perfect combination of Xena Warrior Princess and Catwoman. Yum.

If you loved the graphic novel and as a result find this movie a worthy extension of that world, more power to you. Personally, I think the material deserved better than what it got from this movie.

Niels Hansen is the co-owner of Hansen Creative Services, a graphic design firm near Columbus, Ohio which specializes in employee communications and small business marketing.

American Harmony (2009)

What I expected:

It is not often that you get to see a documentary that stars your best friend. American Harmony gave me that chance, and I was very excited to see MY best friend, Brian O’Dell, larger than life on the big screen. Brian is a championship level barbershop quartet and chorus bass singer, and over the years my family and I have become his most adoring fans. Step aside girls! He’s ours! Brian has a fantastic voice and is the nicest guy you’d ever meet, so I fully expected him to get LOTS of screen-time.

What I got:

American Harmony is a documentary about the Barbershop Harmony Society and the world of international championship barbershop singing. Right away you are deep inside a specialized sub-culture, which can be really fascinating or really frightening.  Let’s go with fascinating in this case…

It starts out with some fun historical footage to get you in the mood. The host is “Awesome Joe” Connelly, who is a very enthusiastic spokesperson for the art form. I met Joe when he came to coach Brian’s chorus, The Alliance, here in Columbus. The Alliance always does really well, and Joe was there to help them kick it up a notch, which he can definitely do and does in the movie as well.

American Harmony follows four quartets as they make their way to the 2006 international barbershop competition in Indianapolis. Each year the competition is in a different city, and because it was so close that year, my family went on the road to be Brian’s groupies. His quartet, Matrix, finished number 9 that year, which is fantastic and earned Brian some much deserved screen time, if not the main spotlight.

2006 ended up being an interesting year for the society. One of the quartets, Max Q, was the hands down favorite, but two other quartets of young, up-and-comers were breathing down their necks. It was Max Q’s to lose, and the competition was neck and neck. One challenger was OC Times, a quartet that brought smoldering heat and plenty of attitude. The other was Vocal Spectrum, with flawless technical singing but they were not so much with the sex appeal. Their tenor, Tim Waurick, has an amazing ability to hold a note, which they used to great effect. The tension between the three quartets makes for a pretty interesting story, and I will not give away the outcome here, other than to say that it is controversial to this day. What I can say is that the movie is peppered with appearances by Brian – six in all. (OK, so not technically “starring”) If you know where to look you can’t miss him. His quartet even gets their own still at one point! Woo Hoo!

The competition is neck and neck throughout, and we get to know the personalities of the key quartet members quite well. The film crew had remarkable access behind the scenes and it is fun to see what goes on behind the curtain, if you have been in the audience and seen the public part of the show.

The fourth quartet the movie follows is Reveille. This group of seasoned professionals had sung together for 30 years and they helped pioneer the comedy-quartet genre in the society. Their story is heartbreaking as their tenor, Roger Payne, contracted brain cancer, and was receiving chemotherapy throughout the season, causing him to at times forget the music! They were such a tightly knit group, and you can’t help but admire the way they carry each other through. They really show what strong friendships barbershop can engender.

American Harmony is a nice look behind the scenes of competitive barbershop. My only lament is that it could have used some “More O’Dell.” I think that should be T-shirt, like “More Cowbell” just louder. Who wouldn’t wear that?

Niels Hansen is the co-owner of Hansen Creative Services, a graphic design firm near Columbus, Ohio which specializes in employee communications and small business marketing.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

What I expected:

Anytime Marvel lends its franchise to moviemaking, you expect the effects to be spectacular, the dialogue predictable and the characters flawed and tortured by some childhood trauma.  They have had a good streak of hits lately with Spiderman, Ironman and Fantastic 4 – so they know how to make a superhero movie. The X-Men movies have all solidly delivered on this same formula.  However when you get to sequel number 4 and your are now telling “Origin” stories, I think being skeptical and nervous is in order. My expectations were as a result rather low.

What I got:

The benefit of having low expectations is that they are easily exceeded. Wolverine does that in spades! It is cinematically gorgeous (which is true for most superhero movies at this point) and the storyline is easy to follow, unlike say, The Watchmen.

It is a fairly straight forward story of two boys, who find out they both have special powers, one of them kills his real father (by accident) and they must then flee the law. They grow up to become Logan (Wolverine) played with a gleam in his eye by Hugh Jackman, and Victor (Sabretooth) played by Liev Schreiber. They like a good fight, and we see them as soldiers in all the big wars: the Civil War; WWI and II; Korea and Vietnam. So obviously, they are special. And oh they are also almost unkillable, which will come in handy later in the story when they fight each other – after having a falling out.  So far we are 5 minutes into the movie… and we have 102 minutes left, not counting the credits – where a couple of scenes are inserted for the geeks.

The tempo only slows down to allow for developing the love story of Logan and Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins, whom you may have enjoyed as Dawn in the True Blood TV series). Yet you don’t ever find yourself truly out of breath. The situations and effects are all familiar, like an old favorite blanket. The story is rich enough to keep you interested, and absurd enough to keep you smiling. Danny Huston brings a true bad guy in Colonel Stryker to the party, and Will.i.am delivers a very sympathetic portrayal of John Wraith. Both add important humanity and inhumanity to it all. Ryan Reynolds once again disappoints, not just once by twice in the dual roles of Wade Wilson and Deadpool. At least Deadpool doesn’t talk…

Is this a great movie? No, but it IS very enjoyable. I was very pleasantly surprised.

I’m sure we will be treated to other installments in the Origins series. Personally, I look forward to getting to know more about Storm, Jean Grey, Rogue and Mystique. I may be showing my WOMEN-in spandex bias here, but I think we can all agree that two hours of Ian McKellen’s Magneto in spandex is something to be missed?

Niels Hansen is the co-owner of Hansen Creative Services, a graphic design firm near Columbus, Ohio which specializes in employee communications and small business marketing.