Far Cry (2008)

I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

FAR CRY is the film version of a popular video game that I know nothing about. However, I do know something about the career of infamous German director Uwe Boll, a man responsible for the likes of BLOODRAYNE and ALONE IN THE DARK, and commonly thought of as one of our worst modern directors. I'm pleased to report that FAR CRY is by far the best Boll film I've thus watched; it's no masterpiece, that's for sure, but it's reasonably entertaining, unlike the majority of his output.The film contains all of the ingredients usual for a Boll-style B-movie: an ensemble cast of fading faces, lots of low rent action, some cheesy effects and the like, and plenty of cliché. However, this time around that mix is quite fun. Til Schweiger, the German actor who rose to international prominence after his part in Tarantino's INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, is fine as the likable and humorous hero, and Emmanuelle Vaugier and Natalia Avelon are suitably attractive female co-stars.This film is a German/Canadian co-production which is quite convincing when it comes to the styling. The action scenes are fairly well done and certainly you often see B-movie shoot-outs that are done far worse than the ones here. Some of the old-timer actors playing tough guys include Don S. Davis, Craig Fairbrass, Udo Kier, Michael Pare, and Ralf Moeller. The plot is your usual nonsense about a mad scientist creating an army of super soldiers and the one or two soldiers we do get to see here are pretty impressive, coming across as a zombie version of the ones in UNIVERSAL SOLDIER. Anyway, FAR CRY is no great shakes as a film, but it is a reasonably entertaining B-movie nonetheless.

It's hard to believe that a movie adaptation of a well-known action/sci-fi PC/video game could be so horribly screwed up and not even close to the premise and plot of the game. About the only similarities are some of the names (Jack Carver, Valerie, Dr. Krieger), an island locale, and intense fire-fights and action scenes. The similarities end there and only there. The rest of the movie was a re-imagination which would have been better left in the shred bin than ever being taken to film. In fact, the game's plot and story was far better than this piece of trash screenplay. *** SPOILER ALERT - READ ON IF YOU HAVE ALREADY SEEN THE FILM OR DON'T CARE ***For starters, Jack Carver is played by an under-built Til Schweiger who is actually a German in the film. This is ridiculous to get the main character totally wrong. Jack Carver from the game is an American and is much more buffed than Til's Carver portrayed in the film. Plus, hearing Til's high-pitched, accented voice in place of the deep, tough American Jack from the game grated on my ears the entire film. CASTING EPIC FAIL!Second, Valerie was also mis-cast and her character resembled nothing like the one in the game. This Valerie was a soft, helpless dame compared to the beautiful but tough Valerie in the game. There was also no connection to the CIA in the film as there was in the game, so yet another reason her character was ill-portrayed. Having her as just a reporter really dumbed down the plot even more.Third, NO TRI-GENS! Instead we get a cheesy reboot of albino-looking Universal Soldiers. The Tri-Gens were one of the scariest elements of the game, and to remove them from the plot entirely was one of the biggest mistakes they made with this film. It turned the plot from a tense action/sci-fi/horror plot into just another mindless action, fire-fight, explosions romp. It's a consideration that perhaps they didn't have the funding to do the Tri-Gens properly with all the extra special effects that would have been required. Either way, they should have canned the film until they could include one of the central elements from the game.Fourth, they got the island locale right but that's about it. The island resembled nothing of the lush, tropical environment of a remote Pacific island. Instead it was off the coast of Washington state: hardly a believable location for a mad scientist's genetic experiments! The poster for the film is extremely misleading since it depicts white sand beaches, wind-swept palm trees, and an attack helicopter - elements that were totally absent from the film. In fact, the movie's poster is about the closest it came to resembling the game.Fifth, the entire story was mucked up from start to finish. About the only similarity was Dr. Krieger developing genetic experiments on an island (and only just off the coast of Washington state!). Everything else was a total cluster. Jack's guiding CIA contact throughout the game, Doyle, was completely missing in the film. I suppose they axed his character when they axed the idea of keeping the CIA involved as part of the plot. This required a total re-write of the story to become another "my Uncle needs me!" idiotic plot. The added characters like Max and Chernov and the other mercenary leader were moronic. Their acting and dialogue was below elementary, and they added nothing to the film. Sixth, from the point-of-view of the screenplay there was little to be praised in this film. Whole scenes should have been edited out of this film that added nothing to the tense action atmosphere that should have pervaded the film. The whiney couple at the beginning and end of the film, the arguing scene between the dock-master and his "wife?", the idiotic and whiney food delivery man, the entire 20 minutes of Jack running from a super-soldier, the forcibly inserted "sex" scene between Jack and Val (which was totally unnecessary and made no sense), the meaningless dialogue between Krieger and Val, the pointless scene between Krieger and the visiting general, and on and on I could go.In summary, there was little this film got right. As a movie in and of itself, it ranks among the lowest of the D action flicks. As an adaptation of the game, it was a farce that should have never left the screenwriters' table. I cannot even believe that CryTek agreed to this film being made. It was such a departure from the game's plot and a horrible misrepresentation of it. Avoid wasting an hour and a half of your time and watch something else! Better yet, go play Far Cry the game and you'll have a much better experience.

I watched this movie fully aware of how bad it could be. After all, it's based on a video game that I played half of and got bored with.I was in no way even close to prepared for how bad this movie would be. The acting was some of the worst I've EVER seen. The directing was pathetic. The story was unbelievable. In short, there's NOTHING that was good about this film.Don't get me wrong: I love action movies with horrible plots. I can tolerate mediocre acting if it's fun. This movie wasn't. The jokes were bad, the accents were bad, the fight scenes were bad, the very premise of the movie was bad, the plot development was bad.Don't waste your time: you'd be far better off expanding your horizons and checking out some foreign language action movies (excepting, of course, french ones, because they don't know how to fight!). If you're looking to make the next MST3K movie, this is it.

When I saw this movie I wasn't aware that is was a based on a Video Game as I don't play that stuff. So I am a little less biased than some others.After the first five minutes I expected a dumb predictable action flick based on a lot of explosions and tough characters. And the plot is lame and stereotypal.1) Dr. Krieger is a reincarnation of Mengele. He has created genetically modificated brainless Super Soldiers. 2) He has a sadistic Russian assistant. The Iron Curtain may have raised, but those ex-commies are never to be trusted, are they? 3) Our herion is an ambitious young reporter, who always Knows What the Right Thing Is To Do. 4) Our hero is an alcoholic ex Special Force, who gets involved against his will.Still after some 20 minutes I was intrigued; I had a few laughs. When Mr. Food Guy was introduced I really began to enjoy myself. Far Cry contains a hilarious escape scene. When the mutants were loose my girlfriend, with whom I watched, as so often asked the crucial question: Who is fighting against who?Exactly. That scene is total chaos. It is reminiscent of the classical tart throwing scenes of slapstick; in fact it is a modern update. My favourite part is when one of the mutants starts pulling the chain on which Jack is hanging.In my opinion Far Cry is a comedy, a spoof if you prefer, and not a bad one. Even in its worst scenes, at the beginning, it does not take itself seriously at all. I refer to the waking Jack up scene by shooting a bell with a rifle. The main flaw of Far Cry is that it doesn't have enough silly jokes in the first 20 minutes, busy as it is with getting into the story.