Sorority Row

Sorority Row
On September 17, I went to the local Cinemark Movie Theater to watch the movie Sorority Row with some friends. The movie began by introducing five Theta Pi sorority sisters who throw a wild pajama party at their house. The five girls named Cassidy, Jessica, Ellie, Claire, and Megan are found plotting a prank to get back at a Garrett who cheated on one of their sorority sisters. Megan pretends to have drunk a cup of alcohol that contained a “ruffee” slipped by Garrett, and he plans to hook up with her. Megan starts pretending to have a seizure and fakes her own death. With the help of the sisters, Garrett brings Megan to a steel mill and plans to drop her down a mineshaft. While the girls jokingly mention that the air needs to be released from her lungs or else she will float to the top, Garrett stabs her chest with a tire iron, actually killing her. The sisters panic and decide that the best plan of action is to drop her body down the mineshaft and vow to never mention of the incident again.
The movie progresses by introducing a serial killer who murders each of the sorority sisters soon after the one year anniversary of the death of Megan. All the girls receive a text message with a picture of a hooded figure holding a bloody tire iron the night of another huge sorority party. The night ends tragically as all the sorority sisters except Cassidy are brutally murdered by this hooded figure who hunts each one of them down individually. The stalker turns out to be Cassidy’s boyfriend, Kyle, who murdered the other sisters so she wouldn’t get into trouble if the truth was ever revealed.
Although the movie was entertaining and kept my attention throughout the entire film, it lacked realism. I prefer to enjoy horror movies that can be real or are based on truth because it makes me feel like the events could happen to me. Instead, this movie focuses on ignorant sorority girls running away from a hooded villain who uses a tire iron to kill them. For instance, in one scene, the dead body of Megan is hung in one of the showers in their sorority house. One of the girls responds by panicking and screaming, while the other just states, “Wow, Megan doesn’t look very good anymore.” I understand that the writers were trying to exemplify the attitude of the girl who said that by employing a sarcastic line, but I cannot see any college girl ever replying to a dead body like that. Secondly, in their defense against the murderer, one of the girls runs over a Garrett over and over until he is dead because they thought he was the assassin, and she exits the vehicle un-phased that she just murdered someone, who actually turns out to be innocent. The sorority sisters lack all common sense when it comes to running from villain. They run into dark places by themselves, and seem unaffected by the fact that some of their best friends have been murdered that day.
I would not recommend seeing Sorority Row to anybody, unless they solely wanted to watch a movie for the entertainment of watching good looking college girls run from a mysterious villain.

Rush Hour 2 Critique

On Monday, September 14, I watched the movie Rush Hour 2 directed by Brett Ratner, starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. The movie is a sequel to the original Rush Hour, featuring two mismatched detectives fighting gangs in Hong Kong, China. Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker) heads to Hong Kong to visit his partner Chief Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) to enjoy a relaxing vacation. Inspector Lee is assigned to a case that becomes personal after Lee discovers it involves his father’s murderer and Triad gang leader Ricky Tan. While Carter is interested in partying and meeting exotic ladies in Hong Kong, Lee becomes involved in police work and drags Carter into the drama.
The film effectively balances intense fighting scenes with legend Jackie Chan and comedic situations with the hilarious Chris Tucker. Detective Carter dances, fights, and talks himself into trouble throughout the movie, but never ceased to make me laugh hysterically. In one scene in particular, Inspector Lee enters a night club to find a lead to Triads that may have been involved in a bombing of the U.S. Embassy. However, Carter thinks that the two are out for the night to find women and party. At a club infested with Triad gang members, Carter is ashamed of an awful karaoke performance of Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop.” While Lee is searching the club for gang members, he walks back in the club lobby only to find Carter eccentrically dancing and singing the same song. The women in the crowd eventually get on the stage and dance with Carter while all the Triad men just sit there and critically gaze. The irony of the situation combined with Carter’s ignorance and performance results in a masterful comedic scene.
The fact that Carter and Lee have such polar opposite personalities and style of fighting and communicating with each other makes their partnership so hilarious. Jackie Chan adds the action side to the movie, while even Chris Tucker is involved in most of the fights, except his role is a little more comedic. Their interactions with each other seem so real because although sometimes they do not get along, they actually do care about one another.
In conclusion, Rush Hour 2 is one of my favorite movies I have ever watched, and I would recommend for anyone who enjoys watching comedy or action films to view this movie. Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan do an excellent job balancing out each other in the movie, and Brett Ratner worked wonders by creating equilibrium of hilarity and conflict in the film.