Great reviews a mystery...

Rating: 1/10 (24 November 2013)

I am at a complete loss as to why this movie has garnered such good reviews...
My wife and I saw the movie last night inside a packed theater. Upon the appearance of the credits following the movie, we overheard many fans of the first film lament how they found the sequel to be both boring and tedious. I must agree. While I was not a huge fan of the 1st film, I did find that it held my interest most of the time - despite having cringe-worthy dialogue and gaping plot holes. That said, I decided to give the sequel a chance after reading review-after-review praising the new film, most stating that the sequel was significantly better than the first. Say what?
Along with my fellow movie-goers, I found the first 2/3 of the movie to be an exercise in staying awake - bad dialogue (again) and even less character development than the first movie - all adding up to "I don't care what happens to these people!" Only when Donald Sutherland, Philip Seymour Hoffman or Woody Harrelson were on screen was I able to stifle a yawn - they're just fun to watch. Too bad their screen time was minimal...
The last 1/3 of the movie was far more interesting than the first 2/3 yet it seemed to be a replay (plot-wise) of the 1st movie. Curiously enough, I have watched several movies from the 1970's and 1980's with very similar plot-lines (some made-for-TV) that better held my attention and had significantly better dialogue. Perhaps if the time and money spent on over-the-top CGI and special effects was instead invested in creating a tight script with charismatic actors playing the leads, the result would be far more satisfying.