The biggest obstacle this movie will be facing is it almost seems too ambitious for its own good. There are several different types of "powers" that individuals can have in this movie. For a list of those powers and description, it may be easier to read the CONCEPT page for the movie. It helps to understand some of what can be done.
Watching this movie, you feel like you've been hit by a "Wiper," an individual that can temporarily or permanently wipe your memory. There's almost a haze as you try to follow everything that is going on and has been going on. We do get a little history lesson on the Division, the government group harvesting those with the special abilities for their own means (that information is also found on the concept page).
The premise of the movie involves a high ranking member of the Division, Agent Henry Carver (played by Djimon Hounsou) trying to retrieve a woman, Kira (played by Camilla Belle), who survived a test drug meant to augment her powers and escaped the facilities. A young teen, Cassie (played by Dakota Fanning), who is a Watcher, seeks out Nick (Chris Evans) in Hong Kong to save the woman and find the drug that can take down the Division and also save Cassie's mother. Nick, himself, escaped the Division's grasp ten years earlier after his father was killed.
Another gripe is when two "Sniffers" arrive asking Nick questions in trying to find Kira. A sniffer has the ability to read the history of an item, such as what went on around it, by...sniffing the object. This isn't fully explained and could seem a little odd if you hadn't read the prequel comic book by Wildstorm. These sniffers investigate without any back up. You would think the Division would send more than just a couple of sniffers with guns. Maybe sending just one sniffer along with someone that has more offensive and defensive powers would have been a better idea.
Surprisingly with all the powered characters in the movie, we don't see any Phasers, Shifters, Porters or Changers. In the comic it's mentioned that some of those abilities are more rare so maybe that's the reason. It could have helped to make things easier for Hounsou's character. If this mission was so vital to the survival of the Division, you would think they would send in every trained agent they could to retrieve Belle and the drug.
With all these gripes, it's still not a bad movie. I was entertained for the most part. There did seem to be too much going on even though the basic premise wasn't that complicated. The concept of the "evil" government agency hunting down the oppressed lead characters isn't anything new. The delivery was decent. The effects were a little hit-or-miss at times but overall worked (seeing Chris Evans as a human pinball machine was fun). I don't think we really needed the feelings of affection between two of the characters and the convenience of all the help Evans' character was able to get just felt too forced. It's a good movie to pass the time as long as you don't have too high of expectations. I applaud the filmmakers for taking a chance and trying to create a new universe of characters. I would like to see more "new" ideas being made rather than Hollywood simply relying on the same old comic book franchises.
Log in to comment