Aloha

This review may contain spoilers!

I've never seen a film so terrible that it doesn't really know how to work inside any real genre before. I would give Aloha a 2.5/10.

I think it's admirable the way this film attempted to convey important cultural messages that surround Hawaii.

Bill Murray, who played Carson Welch, was great as this film's antagonist; he used his natural humour and wit to form an entertaining greedy businessman.

However the best performance in this film came from Alec Baldwin, who played General Dixon. Baldwin's tirades onscreen were some of the high points of the film. In fact he put a lot of effort into creating a character that felt real, who wielded arrogance, rage and contempt in his portrayal.

This film suffered because it attempted to talk about Hawaiian culture but from a perspective that was clearly outside of the issue. The dialogue felt artificial and clunky, none of the plot really followed that well from one thing to the other. In fact the plot itself really dragged on to the extent you were rushing out of the cinema at the first hint of the credits rolling. The cinematography and editing on this feature was boring, it moved the action along but didn't go to any stretch to be creative. The soundtrack itself didn't compliment the film, rather it felt like the director put some some random Hawaiian songs on with his top five songs.

Bradley Cooper, who played Brian Gilcrest, was an awful protagonist; he didn't seem engaged with the piece nor did he feel like he understood the dialogue he was saying. Emma Stone, who played Allison Ng, was a pretty awful casting choice; she displayed moments where was she 'represented' Hawaiian culture but more often than not she seemed like a stranger to the culture she portrayed. Rachel McAdams, who played Tracy Woodside, lacked chemistry with her fellow cast members; she didn't seem particularly invested in the role she had to play within the film. John Krasinski, who played John 'Woody' Woodside, was a rather strange character in the film; his comedic symbolism of man's inability to communicate was a bit of an annoying portrayal than a well thought out one. Danny McBride, who played Colonel 'Fingers' Lacy, had absolutely no screen presence within this film; the importance or even relevance of his character was completely lost upon me. Jaeden Lieberher and Danielle Rose Russell, who played Mitchell and Grace respectively, gave some very basic and poorly acted portrayals; not very good child actors.