A Reflection of Time Well Spent

By Philip Navarrette, Cleburne Times-Review, Texas

Jul. 8–Like many around the country, last week’s Fourth of July holiday gave me some personal time to concentrate on endeavors I’d been putting off.

But while that meant home improvement or going shopping for most people, I accomplished a quest that’d been about three months in the making.

That’s right, friends. Me, the father of a 4-year-old and a 10-month old, was finally able to make it to a theater with my wife and see a summer blockbuster movie. And not just one — five.

Regrettably I wasn’t able to see everything I’d possibly wanted to, and some films fell through the cracks. But on the whole I’m very pleased with what my wife and I were able to accomplish with the precious free time that was mercifully granted to us.

So without further ado, here’s a list of what I saw and my overall impressions:

“Iron Man” — Absolutely brilliant. Robert Downey, Jr. breathes life into this comic book franchise and elevates it from just another superhero movie to one that stands on its own. Forget that it’s from Marvel. It’s realistic enough to be believable but fictional enough to be fun. This film is what the “Fantastic Four” and “Daredevil” movies wish they could be. The best of the five films I saw.

“Wanted” — This shoot’em up action romp is exactly that. Bloody and bullet-ridden like the “Matrix” crossed with Quentin Tarantino’s unflinching style, “Wanted” banks on fancy special effects and spectacular stunts rather than plot or realism. Fun, but not for everyone. And can you really bend a bullet around an object? No, but it sure looks cool.

“Hancock” — This film was a bit of a surprise. Because it garnered mediocre reviews, I wasn’t expecting much. So to find out that this movie actually has a plot — with a twist, no less — was a huge plus. Will Smith shouldn’t count on any award nominations, but the performance was still fun and easy going, true to his style. A few slow downs and plot holes take away from the whole film experience, but overall it was two hours well spent.

“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” — The fourth installment of the celebrated Indiana Jones films isn’t as great as its predecessors but still good. That said, if you haven’t seen the first three movies, it takes away from the experience because you have no attachment to the characters. A pretty good flick if you’re an Indy fan. If not, it’s just sub-par.

“The Incredible Hulk” — This was the most polarized film I saw. Being a Hulk fan and comic book aficionado, I liked it a lot. My wife did not. There were times when I was sitting in the theater completely lost in the Hulk character, watching the rage and confusion burning in his eyes and fueling his strength and destructiveness, knowing there was no way for any mere mortal to stop this beast. My wife, on the other hand, was more concerned about exactly what triggered the Hulk’s transformation and didn’t really care who or what he smashed afterward. It’s definitely no “Iron Man” but still fun especially if you’re down with the rage.

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