‘Fast X’ falls Below Box Office Expectations. Find out why

The movie was released on May 19, 2023. This movie is the sequel to Fast 9 which was released in 2021. Fast X is the eleventh movie of the Fast and Furious franchise. The movie was directed by Louis Leterrier and the screenplay was written by Justin Lin and Dan Mazeau. The cast includes:

Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto

Jason Momoa as Dante Reyes

Alan Ritchso as Aimes

Rita Moreno as Abuelita Toretto

Michelle Rodriguez as Letty Ortiz

Brie Larson as Tess

Sung Lang as Han Lue

Tyrese Gipson as Roman Pearce

Jason Statham as Deckard Shaw

Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto

John Cena as Jakob Toretto

Daniela Melchior as Isabel Neves

Scott Eastwood as Little Nobody

Nathalie Emmanuel as Ramsey

Ludacrisis as Tej Parker

Plot summary:

The opening sequence of the movie starts with a reference to the Fast Five movie where Herman Reyes, don businessman of Rio De Janeiro is shown. He had hidden all the robbed money in a police station and now Dom and Brian pull the box full of money by their cars from the police station While Herman was chasing Dom, Dom drifts his car in such a way that Herman’s car gets struck with the almirah full of money that Herman loses all that money and his life too. Now Dante is fully determined to take revenge against Dom by making his family hell. Now the story begins from here as Fast X.

 

A scene is shown where a car is drifting furiously on the road and viewers assume that it is Dom but actually, it is his son who is called Brian or Little B by his father. Now Dom has his family reunion in Hollywood, Los Angeles, and there whole of his family is shown. Dom is seen spending quality time with his wife Letty when they are planning their next baby but suddenly there appears an injured lady who is Cipher(from Fast Eight). In that part, Cipher killed Dom’s wife Elena. Dom wants to kill her but Cipher adds that even his life is in danger and the enemy’s enemy seems to be a friend. Dom doesn’t understand her analogy and asks her to explain where the story goes to flashback. Cipher tells that she was working on a device that would hack everything, be it vehicles, satellites, and even big nuclear weapons. But Dante comes there and takes everything from her by making security to his side as he had made their family members hostage. Dante has the main motive of destroying Dom’s family. Since Cipher had lost everything so she came to Dom to ask for help since Dante was their common enemy.

 

Dom now contacts Little Nobody and asks when half of his team will come back from the mission in Rome. But Little Nobody tells that he had not sent them on any such mission. Actually, it was Dante’s tactics to put them into the trap where they have gone to take a device that doesn’t even exist in control.

 

Now the scene shifts to Rome where Tej Parker, Ramsey, and Roman are seen. They are seen trying to steal a  device from a big truck taking help from Han. Han throws a lot of smoke from his car whereas Roman makes the drivers blind by the luster of his golden car. On the other hand, Parker and Ramsey try getting into the truck. But the truck and the vehicles are under the control of Dante. At this time, Parker and Ramsey understand that there is no device as told by Little Nobody but instead, a very big bomb installed by Dante. At that very moment, Dom enters to help his family. Dom somehow manages to stop the truck but the big spherical bomb falls off the truck and starts rolling all over the town. He tries his best to save the town from the bomb and finally leads the bomb to a lake. The bomb blasts but its intensity is reduced by ten percent. But it has still caused a huge explosion in the town. Letty has been arrested by the police. Dante wanted to defame Dom and his family and wanted the police from all over the world to chase them.

 

Now a new character is introduced in the movie. His name is Aimes and he works for Little Nobody. We can see Little Nobody's daughter too in the scene whose name is Tess. She tells that when Dom and his family started doing the normal robbery, her father felt that they can help him with the country’s security and hence he hired them. Now that they are going through a hard time and since their security is at risk, she would definitely help them. But Aimes tells that since they have violated the laws, they should be kept in prison. They now have a conflict of ideas and hence they go different ways. Aimes has the motive of sending Dom and his family to the jail whereas Tess has the motive of saving them anyway.

 

Now, the scene in Rome is shown where Dom is seen talking with Queenie who used to be a villain. Now she has become his friend and she assures Dom that he will save his family anyway. Aimes now tells his security that since Dom is in Rome, so his family must be in Los Angeles. Hence he asks the security to catch his son and his sister there. And hence the team moves to Los Angeles for capturing Little B and Mia but they try their best to hide from them. And suddenly Jakob enters the scene and saves Little B. Tess and Dom meet in a bar where they drink Belgian beer.

 

In one scene Tej Parker, Ramsey, Roman, and Lue are still in Rome. Roman, fortunately, helps all of them escape to London they get there sitting in a container having aftershave spray. On the other hand, Jacob and Little B are heading toward the safe place in Los Angeles where Dom had told them to go. On the other hand, Letty is sent to the black side of Nobody’s agency for interrogation. Tess comes to meet her and makes a plan for how to save her.

 

Dom on the other hand goes to a party place where he got the information that Dante is. Dante arrives there and some people start pointing the gun towards Dante while others towards Dom. Since it would cause a lot of casualties, they don’t kill each other but rather plan a race and whoever wins will do what they want. The race starts between Dom, Dante, Isabel (Elena’s sister), and the race promoter. Dom would have easily won the race but doesn’t do so because he gets to know that Dante has fitted a bomb in Isabel  and the race promoter’s car. So he doesn’t speed up. He saves Isabel  by strongly hitting the car and making the bomb drop. Although her car dropped, she is safe now.

 

Now the scene shifts to Letty and Cipher where they are taken to some other place. Jakob has now reached the airport with Little B. Now Dominic and Isabel  are seen talking to each other. They remember Elena and get emotional. On the other hand, Parker, Roman, and, Ramsey have reached London along with Han Lue. They get into a shop to buy guns, cars, and gadgets for the upcoming mission. But the problem is Dante had already emptied each of their bank accounts. Letty and Cipher on the other hand are making a plan to escape but in the meantime, they start a fight among themselves too. Isabel  says to Dom that his sister had some files about the details of the property of Herman Reyes. They get the location of the same police station which was heisted by them years back. With the hope of finding Dante there, Dom goes there. Aimes comes his way but is blocked by the locals who are Dom’s friends but Aimes fights with them easily. Now the scene shifts towards Jacob and little B. They  get into the plane but realize that they have been followed by Dante’s men there too. So they make an escape through a glider ship.

 

Now the scene in London is shown where Han Lue makes a plan to talk to Deckard Shaw who may help them in getting things. Since Han Lue and Deckard Shaw didn’t have good terms so they start fighting with each other. At the same moment, Aimes’s men come to capture them but they make an escape anyway. They also get to know that Dante has emptied their accounts and given money to the serial killers who once used to be friends with Dom’s family but are behind their lives now.

 

On the other hand, Dominic has reached  that very police station where he gets a call from Dante who tells him how he ruined his father’s life. Aimes’s team has reached the place and Dom is now under their arrest. They are on the way to take him to the black side but they get stopped by a missile by Dante and he creates a scene there. They get into a fight and now Aimes is also on Dom’s side to catch Dante. Now Aimes’s team and Dom’s team are collectively working to capture Dante.

 

On the other hand, Jakob has reached Portugal with Little B.  Jakob shows him a car tank too. In the next scene Parker, Roman, Han Lue, and Ramsey get into a plane to come to Dom but Dante had already fitted the bomb there too, and as a result, they are shown as if they lost their lives in that explosion. Meanwhile, Dante has known Jakob’s location and hence he goes with the team to capture them. Jakob and Little B are seen firing Dante’s team. Dom has also reached the scene where is seen giving his best to save them. But Dante somehow takes Little B into his car. And here in order to save Little B, Jakob gives up his life by blocking the way by gliding the car. With full effort, Dom saves his son from Dante. But Dante had some more plans to destroy them. Two trucks are seen approaching them from two directions. So Dom makes his car jump into the river and both of them are safe. But here also Dante has put the bombs on the grand canyon. And the story closes here for the next sequel where it will be shown how he will fight against Dante. On the other hand, Letty and Cipher escape to Antarctica where Gisele comes to help them. At the end credit it is shown that when Dom took the almirah full of money from Herman, it was not Dom who shot Herman. It was Hobbs who killed him. So Hobbs is shown as the next target of Dantey and the further is expected to be shown in the next sequel and the movie comes to an end.

 

Page’s review:

Fast X seems to be an action-packed movie. Dante’s  (Momoa’s) acting is on point, he is hilarious at times too but during fight scenes I expected him to show more fighting actions and be more harsh. He sometimes reminded me of his character Flip from his fantasy movie Slumberland. On the other hand, being a fan of the Fast and Furious franchise, it made me a little dissatisfied that I won’t be able to see Jakob as he loses his life in this movie. Also, many people like Parker, Roman, Ramsey, and Han Lue are shown as if they are no more which disheartened me. But overall the movie keeps the viewers engaged and desperate to watch the next sequel. 

12 Angry Men

This crime drama movie was released in April 1957. This Oscars-nominated movie was directed by Sidney Lumet and the screenplay was written by Reginald Rose.

The cast includes the following actors:

Henry Fonda as jury member eight

Lee J. Cobb as jury member three

Joseph Sweeney as jury member nine

Martin Balsam as a jury member one

Ed Begley jury member ten

John Savoca as the accused young boy

Jack Klugman as jury member five

Jack Warden as jury member seven

John Fiedler as jury member two

E.G. Marshall as jury member four

Edward Binns as jury member six

Robert Webber as jury member twelve

Plot summary:

The opening sequence of the movie displays a country courthouse in New York where the judge speaks to the jury members saying that after knowing all the case details, it’s time for the court to take the decision. And the court needs the opinion of the jury for that and they are given some time. This case is actually a murder case where a 12 years old boy is accused of killing his father by stabbing him with a knife. Now the jury has to decide whether the boy is guilty or not. Now all the jury members come to a room where they sit together and discuss the case and their decision.

 

The first two witnesses nearly convince the jury that it was the boy who killed the man and he should be proven guilty. One of them says that he saw from his window that the boy was attacking his father with a knife. Another man says that he saw the boy shouting at his father telling him that he will kill him and he even saw the man falling on the ground and the boy running from the scene. According to the old records of the boy, he seems to be a bit violent. A few days ago, he had bought a knife similar to the one which was stabbed on his father’s body. The knife is presented to the jury. But the fingerprints were removed from that knife.

 

At first, all the jury members take the case very lightly, especially jury number seven who is in a hurry to go and watch a basketball match. Early voting begins when all the jury members accept that the boy is guilty except jury number eight. He thinks that we can’t reach the decision without having further discussions in the case. He asks the second witness and brings another knife also just as same as that knife which means that the knife is common. Now the secret voting happens once again and now one more voter that is jury member nine says that he also thinks that the guy is not guilty because he too thinks that more discussion needs to be done before deciding.

 

The discussion begins. Jury number eight says that due to the noise of the train passing through the house where the murder happened nothing is audible and he tells that witness number two must have heard something else. After this, jury member five too changes his vote supporting the boy as not guilty. Similarly, jury member eleven says that if the boy has murdered his father, then he will not come to take the knife back from which the fingerprints are already removed. Jury member eight adds that many times people verbally tell that they will kill someone else but this literally doesn’t mean that they are really going to kill them and these are the words that come out of anger and nothing else. Jury members five, nine, and eight now start questioning the witness now which furies jury member eight and they get into a fight. And as a result, he tells jury member eight that he will kill him. And hence the point of jury member eight is proved that people tell such words out of fury. Although jury member three told that he really didn’t have an intention of actually doing it.

 

After listening to this jury members two and six changed their vote. And hence now half of them think that the boy is guilty and the other half jury members think that they are not. Jury member four has a doubt about what the boy told during the hearing and he thinks that the boy didn’t tell what really happened that night. And hence to prove him wrong jury member eight takes a memory test of him asking him what he did a week ago. It becomes difficult for him to remember things. And hence he tells that as it became difficult for jury member four to remember things from the past, the boy too probably has forgotten some details.

 

Jury member two adds that since the boy is smaller than his dad in height hence it must not be possible for him to stab his dad with the wound spreading from top to bottom. Jury member three experimentally shows how this is possible by showing stabbing gestures toward jury member eight. But jury member five shows that a stabber who knows how to use a knife will always stab from bottom to top.

 

 Jury member seven who had to go to watch a match finds that his match was canceled and hence he changes his vote too and his actions make jury member eleven angry. Now the voting starts one more time when jury members one and twelve change their vote too. Now nine of them are for ‘not guilty’ and three are for ‘guilty’.

 

During all these jury member ten becomes angry at all the other jury members but jury member four calms him down. Jury member four tells that the first lady witness saw the boy stabbing his father from the other side of the road. Now jury member twelve comes again for ‘guilty ’ after hearing him. Now jury member four starts pressing at the mark made on his nose due to his spectacles. Looking at that jury member Nine suddenly remembers that the lady about whom they are talking also had a similar mark but she had not worn the specs in the court. Jury member eight adds that the lady was sleeping during the incident and hence was not wearing the specs. And it is not convincing that she put the specs at that very moment to look at the incident and hence she must have seen something else.

 

After this all the jury members except jury member three support for ’not guilty’. Jury member three becomes angry and starts shouting at each of them. He also remembers his relationship with his son and starts crying and tells " Not guilty". Now all of them are supporting ‘not guilty’. All of them come out of the room to give a decision. Jury member eight helps jury member three to calm down and put on his coat. And hence finally, the boy, who was nearly considered guilty before is now proved not guilty. Outside the court, jury members eight and nine are seen shaking hands and introducing themselves for the first time, and walking their own way.

Pulp Fiction

Pulp Fiction is a crime drama movie. It is one of the best cult classic movies to be ever made. Regarded as one of the greatest movies of all time by a number of critics, it covers a story containing crime drama. It won the award for Palme d’Or (Cannes 1994) and the Original Screen Play award (OSCAR 1995). It was released in the year 1994. The movie was produced by Lawrence Bender.

Written and Directed by: Quentin Tarantino

Cast:

Tim Roth as Pumpkin

Amanda Plummer as Honey Bunny

Laura Lovelace as Waitress

John Travolta as Vincent Vega

Samuel L. Jackson as Jules Winnfield

Phil LaMarr as Marvin

Frank Whaley as Brett

Burr Steers as Roger

Bruce Willis as Butch Coolidge

Ving Rhames as Marsellus Wallace

Paul Calderon as Paul

Bronagh Gallagher as Trudi

Rosanna Arquette as Jody

Eric Stoltz as Lance

Uma Thurman as Mia Wallace

Plot Summary:

The opening scene of the movie shows a scene where people are dining. Two robbers come into the small dinner and take out their guns.

Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield who are the two lead characters of the movie come to an apartment to take a briefcase with their associate, Brett. They are hitmans (those who kill for money). They have come to take the briefcase for their boss, Marsellus Wallace who is a gangster. While Vincent was checking the contents of the briefcase, Jules shoots one of the associates of Brett and kills him. Brett starts to utter a passage from the bible trying to deceive Vega and Jules, but they both shoot Brett and kill him instead.

They now come to a bar to deliver the briefcase to Wallace. They have to wait for some time as the boss was bribing a boxer, Butch Coolidge to die in the upcoming game. The next day, Vincent buys some heroin from Lance and injects it. As Wallace was out of time, Vincent had to take care of Wallace’s wife Mia Wallace for some time. They have dinner in a 1950s-themed restaurant. They participate in a dance-off contest and win the contest. They come back home with the trophy. While Vincent was using the bathroom, Mia finds a heroine from Vincent’s overcoat and uses it thinking it is cocaine. Vincent finds overdosed Mia lying on the sofa and takes her to Lance’s home in a hurry. Then, an adrenaline shot beside the heart of Mia wakes her up.

Butch Coolidge betrays Wallace and kills the opponent boxer instead. Then, he and his girlfriend Fabienne are shown in a hotel room, where they start planning to run away from Wallace. Butch finds out that the watch that his father has given was missing. His girlfriend had forgotten to pack the watch. He is angry with his girlfriend and goes away from the hotel to retrieve the watch. When he reaches home to take the watch, he finds a gun kept at his kitchen counter and also hears the sound of the toilet flushing. Vincent comes out from the bathroom and butch shoots him and kills him. While Butch was waiting for the traffic lights to go green, Marsellus sees him and his Butch are injured in an accident. Marsellus chases butch down to a store. The store owner Maynard catches both of them and locks them inside a basement. A security guard named Zed joins Maynard. Zed takes Marsellus to another room to rape him. They leave Butch with a man who was wearing a costume. Butch escapes and kills the man. He was about to escape from the place but decides to save Marsellus instead. He takes a katana (a type of long knife) from the store and goes to save Marsellus in the other room. Butch kills Maynard and Marsellus kills Zed with Maynard’s shotgun. Marsellus tells Butch that they are at peace with each other until Butch does not spill out about Marsellus’s rape to anyone. Marsellus leaves Los Angeles forever from now on. Butch goes to pick up his girlfriend Fabienne in Zed’s chopper biker.

In the earlier scene where Jules and Vincent kill Brett, another man comes out from the bathroom and heavily shoots them. But, fortunately, none of the bullets touch either of them and they then kill the other guy. Jules believes that to survive in that situation is not less than a miracle but Vincent doesn’t agree to that. While Jules was driving, Vincent unknowingly shoots Brett’s associate Marvin and kills him. They hide the car in Jimmy’s house. Jimmy who is a friend of Jules says to them that they should clean up the mess before his wife returns back home. Jimmy is portrayed in the movie by the director himself, Quentin Tarantino. Marsellus sends his cleaner Winston Wolfe to Jimmy’s place. Wolfe insists Jules and Vincent clean the car and hide the dead body in the trunk of the car and take the car to a junkyard. Vincent and Jules change their clothes in Jimmy’s place and go to get some food for dinner. There, Jules explains to Vincent that he wants to get out of his criminal life. He believes that their survival earlier in the movie was a sign to retire from crime.

While Vincent was in the bathroom a couple who were shown to be dining in the first scene of the movie are shown. The girl’s name was Honey Bunny and the boy’s name was Pumpkin. They rob the people of the dinner. Jules then shows the briefcase which they got from Brett’s place and points them a gun to stop them from robbing the place. Honey Bunny is frightened and points her gun toward Jules. Then, Vincent comes out from the bathroom and points his gun toward Honey Bunny. This is a classic example of a Mexican Standoff (a strategy where everyone is pointing a gun toward each other and the strategic tension starts rising until the situation is settled). They let the robbers take the cash and leave. Vincent and Jules also leave the dinner taking their briefcase.

This is the ending scene of the movie.

The chronological order:

The story of Pulp Fiction does not run in chronological order. Here, three stories that are tangled with each other are shown simultaneously.  The movie begins at dinner and also ends at the dinner. In the movie, we are shown about six to seven different sequences. The correct chronological order of the movie is shown below.

 Flashback from Butch’s young life: where he is given the watch by his father.

The present: the car scene where Vincent and Jules are in a car. This scene is followed to Brett’s house, taking the briefcase and the death of Brett’s associate Marvin in the car 

Jimmy’s place: cleaning the car and going to dinner.

The dinner: the scene from the beginning and end of the movie (the scene with the couple).

 The bar: Vincent and Jules take a briefcase to Marsellus. Vincent and Butch see each other and the scene ends.

Vincent buys heroin from Lance and all the preceding incidents with Mia Wallace.

The scene with boxing matches up to the point where Butch kills Vincent in the apartment.

The ending scene: Butch and Wallace are locked down in the basement from where they escape. The ending scene is the one where Butch picks up his girlfriend on the bike.

The Dark Knight

The movie was released on 18th July 2008. The cast of the movie includes:

Christian Bale plays  Batman, Bruce Wayne in the movie

 Joker is portrayed by the OSCAR-winning actor Heath Ledger

Gary Oldman as James Gordon, Batman's companion

Aaron Eckhart  (Harvey Dent)

Morgan Freeman  (Lucius Fox)

Michael Caine  (Alfred Pennyworth)

Maggie Gyllenhaal  (Rachel Dawes)

Written by: Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer, and Jonathan Nolan

 Directed by: Christopher Nolan

 Plot summary:

The opening sequence of the movie displays a group of robbers in clown masks breaking into a bank. But as they finish the burglary in the bank, they are seen killing each other too. The mastermind behind this is one of the robbers named Joker who separately convinces each of the robbers that the fewer the people, the larger the portion of money shared. As a result of his plan, only Joker is left at the end of the robbery. On the other hand, it is shown how peaceful and safe Gotham City has become due to the presence of  Batman as the city’s villains are afraid of doing anything wrong.

 After getting informed about the recent robbery, Batman goes to talk to a police officer named James Gordon. They make a plan of capturing all the black money of the underworld from five different banks in the city. They ask Harvey Dent, the judge of the city to help them in the mission and give details of the banks where the black money is kept. But the underworld is already informed about the mission so a man named Lao takes all that money from the city before the police arrive there and flees to Hongkong. He informs the other members of the underworld by appearing on tv.  But the same Joker appears on the scene and warns them that Batman would catch them from any corner of the world and hence he must be killed. He offers a deal that he can kill Batman if he is given half of the share of the money they have. One of the guys from the underworld becomes furious listening to him but no one could do anything because he shows his jacket full of grenades. Joker leaves the place giving them his number with the deal still on.

Batman, James Gordon, and Harvey Dent find out that the black money had already been shipped. They get shocked at how the underworlds found out they were raiding the banks. They suspect that some government officials must be working in favor of the underworld. They also get worried that the Chinese government wouldn’t allow them to take Lao out of the country. Batman asks Harvey if he can make Lao spill the truth if Batman brings Lao back from China. Harvey with full optimism and hope accepts that he can do that anyway. Despite the high security and advanced defense of the Chinese government, Batman is able to take Lao back to Gotham City. Lao tells them that he won’t disclose where the money is but will give the details of each and every one involved. As a result, a lot of mischief gets caught. Harvey gets to file a case against 539 such people involved in illegal black marketing business. Now the batman starts killing people too. He kills many individuals dressed as Batman who aspire to be like Batman. Bruce(who is Batman), being a very successful businessman throws a grand party and invites Harvey Dent and his girlfriend Rachel too. During the party, he gets informed that Joker was going to come to kill Harvey Dent because Harvey had put a lot of criminals behind the bar. So Bruce passes Harvey unconscious and takes him to save him from the Joker. As expected Joker breaks into the party and tortures everyone asking where Harvey is. Rachel tries to stop Joker from doing that but Joker throws her out of the window. Bruce, coming out in the suit of Batman successfully saves Rachel. But unfortunately, Joker kills the police commissioner and the judge who was going to decide the case against those 539 black marketing businessmen. The next target of the Joker seems to be the mayor of the city. James Gordon saves the mayor from the shot and gives his life.  Harvey Dent at the same time gets to know that the next target of Joker is Rachel. He alerts Rachel about this and tells her to stay at Bruce’s penthouse as it is the safest place. Batman asks one of the bad men where Joker is but he tells Batman that Joker would come there himself to find him if he removes his mask. Harvey Dent on the other hand furiously tries to find Joker asking one suspect but the guy doesn’t tell anything. Harvey tried to decide the guy's fate by tossing a coin when Batman shows up and asks him not to do so. He adds that he would disclose his face tomorrow in the conference because he thinks he himself is the root of Joker’s wrongdoings. At the conference, people were also outraged against Batman because they too blame Batman for Joker’s actions. But at the moment of disclosure, before Bruce could come out of the crowd Harvey Dent discloses himself as Batman. And he gets arrested as he was silent about his identity when a lot of people were killed by Joker. Harvey Dent being taken to a safer place for interrogations gets attacked by the Joker. Fortunately,  Batman arrives and successfully saves Harvey. Batman doesn’t kill Joker because it seems to be out of his ethics. Batman gets unconscious while saving Joker from the bike crash and as a result, Joker gets to attack Batman. The heroic moment occurs as James Gordon appears and takes Joker to gunpoint. James Gordon was thought to be killed but it was actually their plan to help capture Joker. The public also gets to know that Harvey Dent is not the real Batman. On the other hand, James Gordon gets promoted as a police commissioner due to his heroic action at the pivot moment.

Harvey Dent is sent safely to his place but later they get to know that he has not reached the home but instead has been captured by  Joker’s people. Batman tries his best to make Joker tell where Harvey was. But Joker remains unaffected by any of his tortures. Joker tells that he never has any intention of killing Batman but wants to break the ethic of Batman of not killing anyone ever. Joker adds that Rachel, too has been under their captive and he can save any one of them. He plays a game by giving the opposite location of Rachel and Harvey Dent. And as a result, Harvey Dent gets saved by Batman but Rachel dies in the blast. Harvey gets whole one side of their face burnt. Joker flees from the prison and takes Lao with him too. He takes control of all that black money and burns it along with Lao. At the same time, it is shown that one of the employees in Bruce’s office knows that Bruce himself is Batman. But Joker threatens him not to disclose anything.

 Joker meets Harvey at the hospital, urges him to seek retribution for Rachel's murder, and turns him to the dark side. Harvey now assumes his identity as  ‘Two Face’. Joker explodes in the same hospital but no one is killed because they had already kept every patient in a safe place. Harvey flees from the hospital. Harvey kills many innocents after losing their minds in the grief of Rachel.

 On the other hand, a threatening tape is played saying that the whole of the city will be under Joker’s fist. Everyone wants to leave the city. Batman spots Joker through a sonar device in a building where he has kept a lot of individuals hostage. Batman cleverly saves each of them. At the same time, a scene is shown where Joker has been kept hostage by innocent people on one ship and criminals on another. He tells them that he is going to blow each of the ships, but they can save themselves if they decide to blow the people from the other ship by pressing a button. But it is seen that people from none of the boats decide to blast the other and it outrages  Joker as he fails to take humanity off the people. Now the Joker tries to blow both the ships off but Batman saves him from doing so by throwing him off the building. But Batman saves Joker from dying as it is out of Batman’s ethics. Joker tells Batman about the evil reality of Harvey Dent and how people would lose trust in humanity if they get to know how Harvey has taken the lives of the innocents. They take Joker to the mental asylum.

 Now Harvey is seen taking James Gordon’s family hostage. He has assumed Gordon is the reason for Rachel’s death. He tries to decide Gordon’s son’s fate by tossing a coin. Batman tries to convince Harvey that it was Joker’s plan to manipulate him to turn evil but he doesn’t listen at all. He even shoots Batman.  When he tries to kill Gordon’s son, Batman saves Gordon’s son but Harvey Dent dies falling off the building.

 James Gordon becomes sad realizing that the public would stop believing in humanity and goodness if they get to know that even an ideal person like Harvey has taken the lives of the innocents. So Batman decides to take the blame on his shoulder. In a public conference, they declare Harvey a hero. As a result, citizens of Gotham assume Harvey Dent is their hero and Batman is a villain.

 In the ending scene of the movie, it is shown that Rachel had left a letter for Bruce stating that she was going to marry Harvey. Although Bruce loved her, she can’t accept him as  Batman and she knew that he would never change that for her. She had given the letter to Alfred, Bruce’s worker but he burns it because he feels that there is no meaning in delivering the letter now.

 The movie was a super success and one of the best superhero movies. The budget of the movie was 185 million Dollars while the box office collection was 1 billion Dollars.

The Godfather III

**The links for 1^st and 2^nd part has been attached below:

The story begins by showing Michael living in New York for the past 7 years. He is one of the most powerful mafia now but he has a lot of guilt in him. He has guilty of killing his brother. He donates all his money to charity. His two children don’t live with him anymore as he sends his kids to live with his wife. He has not met with his kids for the past 7 years. Due to his charitable works, he is honored by the church of New York.

He sends his children a letter saying that he sends them away to focus on their studies but should meet often as they are a family. He wants to be a family man now and recognizes the value of a family. He wants their family to be there while he is honored in the court. His son and daughter come to the church during the ceremony and so does his wife Kay. Michael’s son insists on leaving studies of law and becoming a singer instead. But Michael wants his son to complete law saying that his future would be secure after completing law. After completing law, his son could help him in the family business but he refuses to help Michael and leaves the room. The movie shows the argument between Kay and Michael now. They argue about Fredo’s death. Kay reveals that even his son knows about the death of Fredo. She also says that she did not come to the church but came because his children still want him. Michael wants their family to be one and says so to Kay. Kay agrees to Michael's request to not involve Antony (Michael’s son) in the family business. Michael agrees to this. Kay then leaves and returns back to the party.

At the party, there is a new character, Joey Zasa. He is a big businessman in New York where the Corleone family used to rule once. The Corleone family has left the mafia business in New York completely, due to which Zasa rules over New York now. He comes to Michael for help. Vincent Corleone who was the son of Sonny from his unmarried wife works for Joey Zasa. He also comes in to meet Michael and ask for help. He is like Sonny, very hot-headed. Zasa and Vincent have an argument and want to kill each other which Michael denies. Michaels asks them to make peace and hug each other. While hugging each other Zasa whispers in Vincent’s ear that he is a bastard. Hot-heated Vincent bites off his ear and the guards separate them. Michael is very disappointed and sends both of them out of the room. Michael wants Vincent to leave with him for some time to see his working style. He could keep Vincent to himself if he likes his working style.

Vincent returns home and is sleeping with a girl. Then, he suddenly realizes that there are some people entering his apartment. He sends the girl to fetch some water. Two people enter the apartment and grab the girl. Vincent kills one of them. After asking for several times to the other one, he says that Joey Zasa had sent him to kill him. Vincent goes to his aunt Connie. Connie takes Vincent to Michael and he is very much disappointed in him. He orders him to only do what he says.

Michael now goes to the church seeking help from the father of the church. The father of the church controls all the monetary activity of the church but he is robbed by his friends. So, he asks Michael for help. Michael agrees to give him six hundred million dollars and help him. But, Michael also wants something from the church. There is a company named Immobiliare (a very big European real estate company) whose 25% share is with the church. Michael wants to buy the entire share from the church. Michael now is not in any type of illegal activity like casino. He has already sold all of his previous companies. So, Michael decides to buy a 25% share of the Immobiliare company. He has bought the company for his children. Michael talks to his daughter Mary Corleone and tells her that he will help her with the business and he wants his son and daughter to do this kind of business. His daughter and his relationship start to grow from now on.

Michael holds a meeting with all the fellow casino owners and provides them all with a cheque as a reward for their service in the casino. Now, Michael holds only legitimate business. Here in the meeting, Joey Zasa is also present. Zasa is not given any reward in the meeting which makes him angry. He says that Michael is an enemy of his from now on and all the other members should choose between Michael or Zasa from now on and leave the meeting. Don Altobello who was the Godfather of Michael’s sister Connie was also present in the meeting. He always supports Michael and leaves the meeting saying that he will try to make peace between Michael and Zasa. Suddenly the whole place starts to shake and intruders from a helicopter start shooting everyone in the place. Most of the leaders in the room die and some escape alive. Vincent helps Michael at the time and they two along with Michael’s bodyguard escape. All the other leaders who survive join Zasa from now on.

In a conversation between Connie and Michael, Michael explains that Zasa is not that intelligent to make a plan this big. He thinks, there must be someone else with Zasa and they partnered up and carried out the attack. Then, one of the iconic moments of the movie where Michael says,” Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in” is shown. He knows that there is someone else with Zasa. Then suddenly Michael has a diabetic attack and is hospitalized. He realizes that Don Altobello who always tried to show that he was one of the most trusted advisors of Michael was behind the attack. Vincent now wants to take revenge on Zasa for the attack and Michael’s sister angrily tells him to do whatever he wants.

Kay, Michael’s divorced wife comes to visit Michael in the hospital. She tells him that his son is doing very well in singing and has a debut in Opera in Sicily. Michael is very happy with this fact and says he will come to Sicily anyhow. Mary and Vincent now start to fall in love.

Vincent goes to take revenge on Zasa and shoots him and kills him. Michael is very angry with Vincent and orders him not to do so from now on. Vincent tries to defend him by saying that Connie had agreed to his plan to take revenge on Zasa and also Zasa would have killed him at that time, so he had to shoot Vincent. Michael explains his relationship with Sonny, Vincent’s father. He says that Sonny loved him very much but they two were never on the same side. Sonny was a hot-headed person and never thought about anything before doing so. He says, this was the reason for his death and he doesn’t want the same to happen to Vincent. Vincent now agrees with Michael and says he will not do so from now on. He also says to Vincent that Mary is his cousin and he should stay away from him as her life was in danger with him.

The movie now shows Sicily, where all the Corleone family members are gathered for the Opera event. Michael and Vincent make plans. The plan is that Vincent should be close with Don Altobello and know about his plans against Michael. Vincent starts doing so from now on. He gains the trust of Don Altobello and now is a member of his crew. Don Altobello takes Vincent to meet a politician from Italy who is also a chairman of Immobiliare company. Don Altobello and his companion’s plan was to dissolve Michael from the Immobiliare company and take all his money. Now, Michael knows all about their plan.

Due to old age, Michael is now emotionally weak and does all his work according to his father Vito. Michael has regrets about his past deeds and now wants to do something for his family. He does all the work keeping his family safe from now on. He goes to a father and tells him about all his bad deeds which make him less guilty. Michael and Kay also meet in Sicily. Michael explains to Kay that he always used to love her and will never forget her and so does Kay. He also explains to Kay about all the bad deeds he has done. Now, Michaels improves his relationship with his family.

Don Altobello sends a hitman to kill Michael in Sicily. They first kill Don Tommasino. He was the one, where Michael was staying during his visit to Sicily. Michael is very sad due to the death of Don Tommasino. Vincent talks to Michael and says that Don Altobello has hired a hitman and he is already in Sicily. Vincent asks Michael permission to kill the hitman but Michael denies saying he will forever be stuck in this mess if he does so. But Vincent does not want to get out of the mess in fact and wants power. Michael asks Vincent to make a promise to stay away from Mary. Vincent agrees to the proposal. Michael then makes Vincent the Godfather and he could do anything that he wishes to do. Vincent now has all the power and is a mafia leader now.

The day of the Opera performance is here. All his family members are present in the show. The hitman whom Don Altobello has hired to kill Michael is also present in the theatre. The hitman fails to kill Michael in the theatre. In the other scene, it is shown that Vincent orders to kill Fredrick, who was the one to oppose Michael to get into the Immobiliare Company. In the opera, Connie gives poison to Don Altobello. Don Altobello dies while watching the Opera. Don Lucchesi (the Italian Politician) is also killed now in the movie by Vincent’s men.

The pope who agreed to give ownership to Michael of the Immobiliare Company is killed. Then a new pope in the church is made. The new pope is the one with whom Michael had confessed all his wrongdoings earlier. He is a good pope and agrees to give the ownership to Michael but he is soon killed by poisoning his tea. Michael's bodyguard kills the one who poisons the new pope. Now, all the big dogs who were conspiring against Michael have been killed in the movie. But the hitman, who was hired to kill Michael, is still alive. The opera is now completed and Michael and his family members are gathered with the press outside the theater. The hitman shoots Michael outside the theater. Vincent finds the hitman and shoots him and kills him. Now, it is shown that the bullets that the hitman had fired toward Michael had struck his daughter Mary and killed her. Michael screams like a madman due to Mary’s death.

The ending scene of The Godfather III shows an old-aged Michael who is sitting outside in a chair in Sicily. He falls off the chair and dies of old age. This scene completes one of the greatest trilogies to be ever made, The Godfather.

The Godfather I-------https://popcorn36o.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-godfather-i.html

The Godfather II----https://popcorn36o.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-godfather-ii.html

The Godfather II

The Godfather II is one of the greatest crime drama movies to be ever made. It was released in 1974. It is 3 hours and 20 minutes long. It still has a 9.0 rating on IMDb and is ranked number four place. It was nominated for 11 OSCAR categories out of them which it won six awards. The movie also won OSCARS for Best Picture or Director and also for best-adapted Screenplay. It is the prequel and sequel both of the movie Godfather I released in 1972.

Written by Mario Puzo

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

The cast of the movie is listed below:

·       Al Pacino as Michael

·       Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen

·       Diane Keaton as Kay

·       Robert De Niro as Vito Corleone

·       John Gazel as Fredo Corleone

·       Talia Shire as Connie Corleone

·       Lee Strasberg as Hyman Roth

There are a lot of characters like in the 1^st part of the movie. A description of some of the main characters of the movie is given below:

Vito Corleone

Portrayed as the head of the mafia gang and a powerful gangster in the 1^st part. In this movie he is shown as an Italian immigrant at 1^st and how he established himself as the mafia leader in a new country (in New York). He has four children as shown in the 1^st part, Sonny, Michael, Fredo, and Connie. Sonny is already killed in the 1^st part.

Michael Corleone

The youngest son of Vito. He is the most powerful mafia figure in America in the past 7 years after he kills all the mafia leaders. He is shown as a family and family business head in the movie. His rise and fall are shown in the movie.

Tom Hagen

He was adopted by Vito. He is also a consigliere. It means he is a glorified lawyer of the mob family. He works under Michael now.

Fredo Corleone

After, Sonny’s death he is the eldest son of Vito. He is thought of as a foolish and irresponsible one of the family. He thinks that of himself also. Here, it is shown that he used to be sick all the time in his young life also. Maybe, that is why he was weak and was not handed over the family business.

Kay Corleone

She is Michael’s wife. She did not know about Michael’s family business in the 1^st part but now is quite familiar with it. She doesn’t like it and has to be separated from Michael.

Hyman Roth

He is a gangster who does legitimate gambling in Las Vegas. He is a business partner of Michael but also his enemy. He works with Fredo and tries to remove Michael from leadership and also kill him.

Frank Pentangeli

He is one of the capos of the Corleone family. He wants permission to kill the Rosetto brothers at first. After that, his whole life changed.

Senator Pat Geary

He is a corrupted person. He becomes the center point of America and the Cuban family for the Corleone family.

Story of the movie:

As this is both the prequel and sequel of the movie The Godfather, both the timeline is shown side by side in the movie.

The Prequel:

The movie begins with young Vito. The year is 1901. Vito is 9 years old at that time His father was insulted by mafia Chief Don Ciccio. After that, his father was killed in Corleone Sicily. Vito runs to New York with the help of one man on a ship. He registers himself as Vito Corleone in Ellis Island in 1901.

The movie moves forward, and the year is 1917. Vito is already married. He loses his job because of Don Fanucci. Don Fanucci places one of his nieces for the job instead. He is invited by Peter Clemenza to take part in a robbery which Vito does not know at that time.

The movie again moves forward, and the year is 1920. Vito and Carmella have two more sons Fredo and Michael at that time. Vito attracts Fanucci’s attention and joins Fanucci. He bullies Vito and his friends and asks for money. Vito’s friends Clemenza and Desio give him the asked money. But, Vito insists that he can make him an offer Fanucci can’t refuse such that he can pay less money than asked.

During, a neighborhood festival he sneaks upon Fanucci up to his apartment and kills him by shooting him. After some time, Vito becomes a respected figure in his community. A widow comes for his help in his apartment. He goes to talk to the apartment owner of the woman who refuses him. The owner asks around about Vito and finds out that he is one of the most respected persons in the community. So, he agrees to keep the widow woman in his apartment. Vito and his friends establish an olive oil business by the name of Genco Importing. They become even more successful.

The story moves on, and the year is 1923. He goes to Sicily for the 1^st time after his migration to New York. He and his partner go to meet Don Ciccio to expand their olive oil business. Don Ciccio is not known about Vito’s identity. He tells him about his identity and kills him. But his friend is injured while they run away.

The story is further moved ahead of time, and the year is 1941. It is December 7^th, Vito’s birthday. The family members are gathered in the dining room to give Vito a surprise. Michaels says that he has left college and has joined the Marine Corps. Sonny becomes quite angry and slapped Michael. Only Fredo supports him at that time. Vito walks in the door and everyone gathers to wish Vito except Michael. The prequel of the movie is ended here.

The Sequel:

The year is 1958, Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Family dons Michael has many meetings during his son’s ceremony. Frank Pentangeli is terrified as he rejects Michaels's offer. Michael is attacked in his own home so he flees from Nevada. Michael finds out that, Roth was the one who had tried to kill Michael. He meets Roth in Miami but Roth disagrees about it. In New York, Frank Pentangeli tries to make peace with the Rosetto family. But, Rosetto's family tries to kill him.

Roth, Michael, and some of the other business partners have a meeting with the head of Fulgencio Batista about their Cuban business in Havana. There is a revolution in Cuba. On, the evening of New Year Michael tries to kill Roth and his right hand. But, Roth escapes at the time. Police then kill Michael’s bodyguard. Michael also finds out that Fredo has also betrayed him by involving with Roth. Due to rebel action, Batista is no longer in power now.

Michaels returns back home and finds out that Kay has had a miscarriage. The Senate committee formed in Washington DC is interrogating the Corleone family. Frank Pentangeli agrees to speak against Michael in court as he thinks Michael has betrayed him. He is also placed in witness protection.

Fredo comes back to Nevada and tries to justify him to Michael. He says that he helped Roth for something but Roth ignored him. He shows anger towards Roth. He also agrees with the fact that Roth and Fredo were involved in a plot to kill Michael. He also bargains by saying that senate lawyer Questadt is working under Fredo’s payroll. Michael responds to Fredo by saying that he is not his brother anymore but also tries to keep him alive until their mother is alive. Michael tries to kill Frank Pentangeli but he can’t reach him as he is guarded.

Michael brings Frank Pentangeli’s brother from Sicily to manipulate him. He then changes his terms and says something else in court. He says that he does not know the Godfather, Michael Corleone to make him safe now. The committee is adjourned now.

Kay now confesses to Michael saying that, her miscarriage was in fact an abortion because she did not want to raise their kids in a criminal background. Michael is very angry with this and takes custody of his children and removes Kay from his house himself.

Michael’s mother dies in the movie and it looks like Michael has forgiven Fredo for his betrayal. Michael sends Rocco (one of the capos of the family) to kill Roth in the airport during his flight back to New York from Israel. Tom Hagen did not agree to the plan but Michael denies Tom. Roth is killed in the airport and Rocco is also killed in the airport by police officers. Frank Pentangeli commits suicide in a bathtub as Tom manipulates him to do so. Fredo is also killed in the lake after that.

The movie ends by showing Michael sitting alone in his backyard.

The Godfather I

The Godfather is one of the most amazing Italian Mafia Crime movies. In fact, it is one of the most amazing movies of all time. The movie was released on 1972-03-24. The movie contains a great cast of actors. The actors are:

 

Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone

Al Pacino as Michael Corleone
James Caan as Sonny Corleone

Richard Castellano as Clemenza

Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen

Sterling Hayden as Captain McCluskey

John Marley as Jack Woltz

Richard Conte as Barzini

Diane Keaton as Kay Adams

The movie was written by Mario Puzo and directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

 

The opening scene of the movie is the wedding of Don Vito Corleone’s daughter Connie. During the wedding, Vito is dealing with the requests he gets in his office as no man can deny a request for his daughter’s wedding. Tom Hagen is his family lawyer. He was adopted by Vito who treats him as his son. Sonny is his eldest son who is also with him. Michael is his youngest son who is out of town. He is a world war hero.

 Vito is granting all the wishes in the office and comes out after some time from the office to have a dance with his daughter. The scene changes and the real action of the movie begins.

 Michael comes home for his sister’s wedding. He comes home with his girlfriend Kay Adams. He is a very restless character as seen in the movie.

The Sollozzo family wants to do business with the Corleone family. They propose a request to Vito. But, the business was of Narcotics. Vito does not want to do business in narcotics. So, he denies the offer. The Sollozzo think this is disrespect and they do not like it. So, they make plans to kill Vito.

One afternoon, Vito goes grocery shopping. He is shopping for fruits with one of his oldest vendors in town. Then, the gangsters of the Sollozzo gang come and ambush Vito. He is then shot but fortunately, he survives.

Vito is then hospitalized. Sonny is very hot-headed and wants to go and kill the Sollozzo family as soon as possible but he can’t. Michael goes to visit his father in the hospital but sees that the guards are not present and the Sollozzo family is planning to kill his father in the hospital. So, he resolves the problem by killing Captain McCluskey who was one of the Sollozzo gang police officers. Vito is finally fit to go to the hospital and is sent home. Michael wants to kill the Sollozzo family and asks his father to arrange a meeting with them. Finally, a meeting is arranged between them and he takes a gun with him to a restaurant. Michael then kills them in the restaurant alone and walks out.

 This makes Michael one of the most wanted gangsters in New York, so he is sent to Italy, their hometown. There in Sicily, he falls in love with the Sicilian beauty and wants to marry the girl. So he marries the girl. But their marriage is short-lived because a bomb planned for the assassination of Michael in the car strikes his wife.

 

Back in, New York Sonny finds out that the husband of his sister Connie always beats him. He doesn’t like it. So he gives a warning but still, the husband beats her. So, hot-headed Sonny goes to kill the husband alone. But on the road, he is stopped by the gangsters and is killed right there on the road.

 As Vito is already old and can’t handle business he wants to bring back Michael from Italy. He arranges to bring him back from Italy. Michael is very angry as his brother was dead. During his visit to New York, he goes to visit his old girlfriend Kay who was in New York.

 Michael wants to kill all the gang leaders of New York and to be the undisputed leader of New York. Then Michael and Kay marry in the movie and have a son. Michael makes a plan to assassinate all the mafia leaders of the 5 big families of New York at last in the movie. The plan is conducted during his son’s baptism program as he will not be a suspect and will be safe inside the church. All the big five family gang leaders of New York are killed in the movie at the last and Michael is the new leader of the New York family now.

 We come to an end in the movie. This is one of the greatest movies of all time and everyone should watch the movie. For, the review of The Godfather II, please click the link: https://popcorn36o.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-godfather-ii.html