lonysimbasa
About a year ago, I wanted to bring Gary Paulsen's Hatchet to the big screen. Unfortunately, Julie Corman beat me to it by 25 years. Fortunately for me, it's bad. I was going to watch and review this, but my computer was lagging. I then went on to what I thought was probably worse. The sequel, White Wolves: A Cry in the Wild 2. (Dramatic Music). Usually, sequels are not as good as the first movie, a lot are downright terrible. According to IMDb, the movies actually get better as time goes on. A Cry in the Wild, 5.4/10. White Wolves, 5.8/10. White Wolves II, 5.9/10. And White Wolves III, 6.4/10. This is probably the only franchise where they do.Plot - 22 years after the events of the first movie, Brian Robeson, or Jake B. for some reason, is now either a schoolteacher or camp counselor. Judging by what time of the year it is, counselor. He brings along 5 kids for a hiking trip, including his adopted little brother Benny, Zack Morris, Sloan from Ferris Bueller, Amy from Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, and Young Tom Hanks from Big. They manage to make it to the top of mountain, but Mr. B falls off. Now, they're main objective is to get back and get Mr. B a hospital. Not bad, if it weren't for how they started up the plot. Tom Hanks starts dancing on the top, nearly falls, and almost gets Mr. B killed. What a dumb***. Also, it doesn't feel complete. They're only in those woods for about a day. In the first movie, Brian was in the woods for 52. There's no real sense of danger. It also has nothing to do with any of the sequels. 5/10Acting - Most of the actors often switch from bad to okay. The best actor has got to be Matt McCoy as Mr. B. He sounds exactly like a school teacher and never once is ear-piercing in the movie. Amy O'Neill who plays, get this, Pandra, is by the far the most garbage actor and has the worst name. There's this one scene where she talks to Benny and manages to stretch out the word find. She is just putrid, never once is she at least decent. This is more noticeable in the second half of the movie, as I originally thought David Moscow, Adam, was the worst. He sounds incredibly unbelievable in the first half, and at one point starts rapping out of nowhere. Like he thinks he's Vanilla Ice (it is 1993). The other 3, worst to best are Ami Dolenz as Cara, Marc Riffon as Benny, and Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Scott. Like I said, the actors switch from bad to passable. Scott and Mr. B are the best. There's also this one woman who says, "There they are!", and it is just laughable. 5/10Set Design/Location Shoot - The movie is shot on location in the great outdoors. It would be great, but it doesn't feel big, and the camera-work doesn't really focus on it. It could be because they didn't have enough money to show what could be massive. 8/10Cinematography - Nothing great, it's okay. 5/10Soundtrack - For a movie I thought I was going to hate, the soundtrack did not feel something scratching up against a chalkboard. There isn't a lot of music though. 6/10Script/Dialogue - It's actually quite good. It's not Shakespeare, but it is real. There's quiet moments and the dialogue isn't at cheesy. The teenagers speak like teenagers. They even say things like s***, d***, and h***. There aren't any really stupid moments in this movie, except for when Adam causes Mr. B to fall of the cliff. I will say that the parts of the script that talk about Benny's Dad are pretty cliché. I like how they gave Mr. B the scene in the cave where he talks about his time in the wilderness. It gives us the one of the only connections to this and the first movie. That's also realistic, as there aren't any real points where he can talk about this time. It would just sound like exposition. 7/10Characters - There is not much to these characters. They're pretty cliché and the only ones who get any semblance of a backstory are Pandra, Mr. B, and Benny. Scott is demonstrated to be a control freak when Pandra and Benny leave without them. Adam is a dumb***. I'm still thinking about that mountain dance. Cara is by far the most uneventful character, she's just the sister, the pretty girl. Benny is the bad boy who smokes and doesn't have a loving father. Pandra is the girl who wants to do something by herself. I really do not have anything to say about these characters. 3/10 Overall - It's okay, there's nothing special about this movie. It's pretty obscure, and you must be one of the select amount of people who've watched this if you're reading this. There is also a part of the movie, where a bear attacks the teens and they are guided by a white wolf. The movie I think is trying to let us believe that they're the same bear and wolf from the first movie, but that doesn't make any sense. The average lifespan of an arctic wolf is 7 years, 20 in captivity. Matt McCoy was 35 when this movie was released. That means about 22 years have passed. Also, is this the same wilderness as before, because I've never seen the first movie or any of the sequels. And another thing, why is his name Jake B. if he was named Brian Robeson in the first movie. I'm taking away .02 points for these reasons. I'm honestly glad I saw this movie, as I'm all for obscure. 5.55142857143/10, rounded is 5.55/10, rounded is 5.6/10, rounded is a solid 6/10.
helpless_dancer
Not a bad production [but certainly, not good], and the scenery was splendid, but this was a re-make of a tired old storyline. A group of teens [a couple of which looked 25 or so] head for the mountains for a several days long trek. Naturally things go awry as a terrible tragedy befalls the group. As the gallant crew struggles to overcome their sticky situation, they are hindered by rugged terrain, wild critters, and raging rivers. The only bright spot for them was a mysterious white wolf who appeared when things got really desperate. The mutt didn't really do anything, just hung around lending wolfly moral support, I suppose. Many of the action sequences were choppy, unrealistic formula stuff no different than any other in this genre. The younger set should be able to overlook this and thoroughly enjoy the picture...I couldn't.
