Review of Bastille Day (2016) by Tvnewsguido — 25 Jun 2016

It took them 20 years to forget how to make a really engaging blockbuster.

This movie is fine. The effects are excellent. The people are pretty. What's lacking here, something that the original had in abundance, is the human element.

This marks a significant change in film making since the mid-90s and is specifically a feature of modern blockbusters.

There is not a single character in this film. There are cardboard cutouts of character types who are given a two-beat backstory that the audience is somehow supposed to care about instantly.

The first ID spent a full half of the movie introducing audiences to the people in the story. It raised the stakes and made the later actiony bits mean something. IDR does none of that and leaves you feeling hollow about the whole affair.