Zach Snyder is the better Michael Bay

Rating: 8/10 (25 March 2011)

Walking into this movie, I had mixed expectations.
With Zach Snyder directing, I knew I was going to get plenty of action with so much slow-mo that it would probably kill me. I was correct with that assumption.
Beyond that, the movie seemed like it had a great premise, and in combination with Snyder's directing style, I thought it could be a damn good movie.
Now after seeing it, I am slightly conflicted. So I will just break it down into different points.
CG/Action: HOLY BALLS WHAT IS GOING ON! OH MY GOD THAT IS SO CRAZY WH.. OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! So in other words, it was pretty amazing. Action was great, with good uses of slow-mo though there was definitely too much of it, and with any movie with too much slow-mo, you get 1 or 2 unnecessary shots of something flying through the air with a slow-mo close up, or some kind of slow-mo battle hit on something/someone. And overall, it was used too much, and I was fully expecting a lot of slow-mo.
Not even talking about the action, just the landscape, the scenery and all that jazz. It was still pretty impressive. The worlds they give you when you are in Baby Girl's mind are creative, expansive, detailed and a little bit breathtaking, though the action makes it too fast to be out of breath for long.
Acting: This was really hit or miss. Baby Girl really didn't have much acting to do with all the action scenes she was in. She could pull off the action scenes (while getting me excited in more ways than one), but off the actions scenes, there were a few good, and a few bad. The other girls, again had a lot of action scenes, so those were choreographed well, but out of them, just some good and bad. Blondie has a moment where... Well, if you have ever seen Happy Gilmore, there is a seen where he is about to get hit with a car, and someone screams "HAPPY LOOK OUT AH!!!" but it comes out as "HAPPYLAGADAH!". If you don't know what I am talking about, watch the movie again =p. It was funny, which went completely against what the scene was going for.
Again, it was hit or miss.
Concept/plot: From what I understood of the movie, the concept seemed pretty good. Some girl getting locked away for some reason, and she had to go into her mind for some reason to escape. During/After, I loved the concepts presented. How the whole escaping your mind thing came into play, the important plot points that fueled the whole thing, they were all intriguing and interesting. I don't want to give anything away, so I will be vague, but the ideas themselves are very captivating. Fused with the plot, you have a grand idea for a movie. Not necessarily unique, but still something that can make a great movie.
The execution of it all was disappointing though. Well, that is misleading. They did it in ways that were good, but there was so much more they could have done with it. They left out points that would make parts of movie much better, and they had a few parts that could have been changed or done differently. Give the concepts to a director such as Peter Jackson or Martin Scorsese, and it could have been done beautifully. Zach Snyder, though I like him, he doesn't make the most phenomenal movies with compelling plots.
Actor/Actresses: Well, mostly actresses... Yeah everyone was gorgeous, beautiful, and most of the guys in the theater were probably turned on through most of the movie, through a combination of explosions and revealing clothing. I have no complaints.
Overall, I think it was a good movie. Expect a lot of the appeal to be in the action, but the plot isn't totally devoid of worthiness. There are some cool points, decent acting and intriguing ideas, and in the genre of action, Zach Snyder is definitely does it better than Michael Bay, but don't expect another Inception.