The Avengers 2012

Released Year: 2012

Directed by Joss Whedon

Casted by:

Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man

Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America
Mark Ruffalo as Dr. Bruce Banner / Hulk

Chris Hemsworth as Thor

Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow

Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton / Hawkeye
Tom Hiddleston as Loki

Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury
Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill

Story:

Nick Fury, director of the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D., arrives at a remote research facility during an evacuation. The tesseract, an energy source of unknown potential, has activated and opened a portal through space, from which the exiled Norse god Loki steps through. Loki takes the tesseract, and uses his abilities to control the minds of several S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel including agent Clint Barton, and physicist consultant Dr. Erik Selvig in order to aid in his getaway.

In response to the attack, Fury reactivates the Avengers Initiative. Agent Natasha Romanoff  is sent to India to recruit Dr. Bruce Banner, while Agent Philip Coulson, approaches Tony Stark and requests that he review Selvig's research. Fury himself approaches Steve Rogers with an assignment to retrieve the tesseract from Loki. During his exile, Loki encountered the Other, an alien conqueror who in exchange for the Tesseract offers Loki an army of the alien race the Chitauri in order for him to subjugate Earth.

Rogers, Stark and Romanoff travel to Germany to apprehend Loki, who is recovering iridium needed to stabilize the Tesseract's power and demanding that the civilians kneel before him. After a battle with Captain America, Loki surrenders and is escorted back to a S.H.I.E.L.D. plane. However, Thor, Loki's adoptive brother and the Norse god of thunder, arrives and attempts to free Loki to reason with him. Stark and Rogers confront Thor, and Loki is eventually returned to the Helicarrier, a high-tech, flying aircraft carrier, and placed in a cell designed to hold The Hulk.

The Avengers are divided, both over how to approach Loki and the revelation that S.H.I.E.L.D. plan to harness the tesseract's power to develop weapons. Fury admits that the events in New Mexico a year before made S.H.I.E.L.D. aware of extraterrestrial life, some of whom may see Earth as a target. The decision was made to produce weapons with the tesseract as a means of deterrence. As the group argues, Barton and Loki’s other possessed agents attack the Helicarrier, disabling its engines in flight. As Stark and Rogers attempt to restart the damaged engines, Banner transforms into the Hulk, despite Romanoff's best efforts to calm him down, and runs amok inside the ship, fighting Thor. During a fight with Barton, Romanoff discovers that a blow to the head — powerful enough to knock Barton unconscious — is enough to break Loki's mind control. Loki escapes, killing Agent Coulson as he does so, and Thor and the Hulk are each ejected from the ship.

Fury uses Coulson's death to motivate the Avengers into working as a team. Stark and Rogers realize that simply defeating them will not be enough for Loki; he needs to overpower them in a very public way so as to validate himself as ruler of Earth. Using a device built by Selvig, Loki opens a portal to the Chitauri fleet over Manhattan, summoning a Chitauri invasion.

The Avengers rally in defense of New York, but quickly realize they will be overwhelmed as wave after wave of Chitauri descend upon Earth. With help from Barton, Rogers and Stark evacuate civilians, while Banner transforms into the Hulk again and goes after Loki, beating him into submission. Romanoff makes her way to the portal, where Selvig, freed of Loki's control, reveals that Loki's staff can be used to close the portal.

Meanwhile, Fury's superiors attempt to end the invasion by launching a nuclear missile at Manhattan. Stark intercepts the missile and takes it through the portal toward the Chitauri fleet before running out of power and plummeting back to Earth, but the Hulk catches him as he falls. Thor escorts Loki and the Tesseract back to Asgard, while Fury notes that the Avengers will go their separate ways until such time as a new world-threatening menace emerges.

In a post-credits scene, the Other confers with his master about the attack on Earth.

 L² Scored: 8/10

L² Comment:

I suppose to dislike this movie, i suppose not to watch this movie in cinema; but i love this movie and i watch it in cinema too :P At first when i saw the trailer, i thought that it was some rubbish film which they put all the superheroes together just for the sake of making a profitable movie, but this is good, real good... Beside having all those action scene about fighting with intruder from out of earth, there are some comedy scenes as well... Only thing i m dissapointed is, Mark Ruffalo look kinda old in this film... i still prefer Eric Bana as Hulk.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

 Released Year: 2011

Directed by David Fincher

Casted by:

Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist
 Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander
Christopher Plummer as Henrik Vanger
Stellan Skarsgård as Martin Vanger
Joely Richardson as Anita Vanger / Harriet Vanger

 Story:

 Mikael Blomkvist, co-owner of Swedish "Millennium" magazine, has just lost a libel case brought against him by crooked businessman Hans-Erik Wennerström. Meanwhile, Lisbeth Salander, a researcher and computer hacker, has compiled an extensive background check on Blomkvist for a job that Swedish magnate, Henrik Vanger wants him to perform.

In exchange for damning information about Wennerström, Blomkvist agrees to investigate the disappearance and possible murder of Henrik's grandniece, Harriet, 40 years ago. While hunting for clues, Blomkvist uncovers a notebook filled with information that may help explain Harriet's disappearance.

Salander, who is under state legal guardianship due to diagnosed mental incompetency, is appointed a new guardian, lawyer Nils Bjurman. He abuses his authority to extort sexual favors from Salander and then forcibly rapes her. She eventually regains control of her life by blackmailing Bjurman after stunning him with a taser, raping him with a dildo, and marking him as a rapist with a tattoo on his chest and stomach.

Blomkvist hires Salander to further investigate the notebook's content, and she uncovers a connection to a series of murders that occurred from the late 1940s to the mid 1960s. During further investigation, Salander and Blomkvist become lovers. Henrik's brother Harald identifies Martin, Harriet's brother, as a possible suspect. Meanwhile, Salander makes increasingly revealing connections between Harriet's disappearance and the entire Vanger dynasty.

Blomkvist breaks into Martin's house to look for more clues, but Martin catches him. Martin brags about his crimes, but denies killing Harriet. Salander arrives, surprises Martin and saves Blomkvist. While Salander is tending to Blomkvist, Martin flees. Salander, on her motorcycle, pursues Martin in his SUV. He loses control of his vehicle on an icy road and dies when it catches fire.

As more connections are made about the Vanger family, Blomkvist deduces that Harriet is still alive, living under a false identity to hide from Martin. Blomkvist confronts Harriet, who describes the generations of abuse within the Vanger family and Martin's knowledge of her involvement in her father's death. Finally free of her brother, thanks to Salander and Blomkvist, Harriet returns to Sweden and tearfully reunites with Henrik.

As promised, Henrik gives Blomkvist the information on Wennerström, but it is not helpful. Salander responds by hacking Wennerström's computer and presenting Blomkvist with the necessary incriminating information about his activities. This evidence vindicates "Millennium" and destroys Wennerström.

Salander also hacks into Wennerström's bank accounts and transfers two billion euros into her own accounts. During this time, Wennerström is murdered. On her way to give Blomkvist a Christmas present, Salander sees Blomkvist and his longtime lover and business partner Erika Berger walking together happily. Heartbroken, she throws the gift away and rides off on her motorcycle.

 L² Scored: 7.5/10

L² Comment:

 Everyone is cheering for this 2011 hit movie from Steven Zailian's novel. I have no time to read the novel even though my friend borrow me the novel for almost 2 months, so i watch the movie instead. The whole movie is nice, brutal and kinda violence... but the thing is, i feel that the movie is a bit too long and draggy... 

Rooney Mara is the shine of this movie based on her outlook and acting, Daniel Craig in another hand is as hot as before and more delicious i should say :)

Sound of Colors 地下鐵

Released Year: 2003

Directed by 馬偉豪 Joe Ma

Casted by:

梁朝伟 Tony Leong as 旭明 Ming

杨千嬅 Miriam Yeung as 海约 Yue

张震 Chang Cheng as 钟程 Cheng

董洁 Dong Jie as 董玲 Ling

Story:

Ming is an owner of "Love shop" which match up couples, but he has been cheating his customer. In one incident, Yue help him out by pretending as Fiona. Yue is blind and his father ask Ming to help her out on matching a guy. Ming one day get blind too and luckily Yue was there to help him out and teach him the skills of being a blind person. As time goes by, both of them fall in love and decided to get together but Ming's blindness recover. Yue feel like she's a burden for Ming and decided to leave him. Ming and Yue play a faith game, if they manage to meet each other in the subway train with Ming's eyes close then they will get together. In the end, both of them were take good care by faith and be together.

In another hand, Cheng and Ling are both in Taiwan. They also fill up their love story through the subway train.

 L² Scored: 5/10

L² Comment:

This movie are divided into 2 parts, one Hong Kong and one Taiwan. For me, i prefer the Hong Kong part which was acted by Tony Leung and Miriam Yeung. Their story is more touching yet memorable compare to another part from Taiwan.

Leaving Me Loving You 大城小事

 Released Year: 2004

Directed by 叶伟信 Wilson

Casted by:

黎明 Leon Lai as 周谦 Qian
王菲 Faye Wong as 小月 Yue

 Story:

Qian is a mobile doctor who went around to save people while Yue is a graphic designer. Both of them love each other and live in Shanghai, but one misunderstanding cause them to break up and went into separate path from each other. A birthday of both of their client make them get back together again. Qian can't let go of Yue and decided to move near to her. Time prove that they still love each other and faith bring them back together.

 L² Scored: 2/10

L² Comment:

Its kind of a boring love movie i should say~ Having Faye Wong in every movie is a mess!!! Beside being like a walking stick, she doesn't know how to act at all~ one word, boring :P

Wrath of the Titans

 Released Year: 2012

Directed by Jonathan Liebesman

Casted by:

Sam Worthington as Perseus
Rosamund Pike as Andromeda

Bill Nighy as Hephaestus

Édgar Ramírez as Ares

Toby Kebbell as Agenor

Danny Huston as Poseidon

Ralph Fiennes as Hades

Liam Neeson as Zeus

 Story:

 Ten years after he defeated The Kraken, Perseus, the demigod son of Zeus, now lives as a fisherman with his 10-year-old son, Heleus. One night, Perseus is visited by Zeus, who tells him that the powers of the gods are fading and the walls of the underworld prison of Tartarus are breaking due to the lack of devotion from humans and states they will need the world's armies to combat the potential threat, but Perseus shows little interest and refuses to get involved. Afterwards, Zeus travels to Tartarus to meet with his brothers Hades and Poseidon, and his son Ares. He tells Hades they must forget the past and unite to rebuild Tartarus, but Hades orders his minions to attack. They severely injure Poseidon, and Ares betrays Zeus over showing Perseus more affection, taking him prisoner and stealing his thunderbolt. Hades and Ares plan to drain Zeus' power to revive Kronos, the father of Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon, in exchange for the two to remain immortal. The walls of Tartarus break, unleashing monsters into the world.

After slaying a Chimera that attacks his village, Perseus takes Heleus to the Mount of Idols, so they can speak to Zeus, but the dying Poseidon arrives instead. He informs Perseus that Hades and Ares are holding Zeus in Tartarus, and tells him to meet with his demigod son Agenor to find the fallen god Hephaestus, who knows the way into Tartarus. Poseidon gives Perseus his trident before succumbing to his injuries and crumbling into dust. Perseus flies on Pegasus to the campsite of Queen Andromeda's army. Andromeda has imprisoned Agenor for stealing crown jewels, but Perseus has him released.

Perseus, Andromeda, Agenor, and a group of soldiers set out at sea to find Hephaestus, with Agenor explaining that Hephaestus created the three great weapons that Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon wield: Zeus’ Thunderbolt, Hades' Pitchfork, and Poseidon’s Trident, and that together they form the Spear of Triam, the only weapon that can defeat Kronos. Agenor uses Poseidon's trident to direct the boat to Hephaestus's island, where they encounter three Cyclopes who attack them. When Perseus shows them the trident, they lead the group to Hephaestus, the smith god, stripped of much of his godly power after siding with Hades after he betrayed the Olympians ten years prior. He explains that he has a map to navigate the path into Tartarus. He leads them to the door into the Labyrinth, where they are attacked by Ares after a soldier prayed for him to come. Ares kills most of the soldiers while Hephaestus opens the door. Hephaestus then sacrifices himself so that Perseus, Andromeda, and Agenor can enter the door before it closes.

Agenor tries to use the map to direct them, but the labyrinth continually shifts. Perseus gets cut off from the group and encounters and kills a Minotaur. Eventually, The group reunites at Tartarus. Meanwhile, Zeus has been almost entirely drained of power and close to death as Kronos starts to awaken. Zeus apologizes to Hades and asks his forgiveness as he forgives Hades for his actions. Hades has a change of heart and finally decides to help Zeus and the human army, but Ares intervenes. Perseus arrives and uses the trident to free Zeus. As they are escaping, Ares throws Hades's pitchfork into Zeus's back. Perseus, Andromeda, Agenor and Hades carry a weakened Zeus down to the base of the mountain where Andromeda's army is gathered. Perseus combines the trident and Hades’ pitchfork, but he still needs Zeus's thunderbolt, which Ares still has. Perseus prays to Ares, challenging him to a fight at the Temple of Gods, which Ares accepts.

At the temple, Perseus finds out Ares has kidnapped Heleus, who was brought to watch Perseus die. Ares easily subdues Perseus, but is distracted when Heleus tries to challenge him by pointing a sword at him, giving Perseus the opportunity to subdue him. Perseus then destroys Ares with Zeus's Thunderbolt and combines the gods' weapons into the Spear of Triam. Meanwhile, Andromeda's army is subdued by Kronos' army of Makhai, but a redeemed Hades and a revived Zeus use what power they have left to defeat the army, who have murdered almost all of Andromeda's men. Kronos then appears and starts to destroy them, in which Zeus and Hades defend them and at the same time are giving Perseus the opportunity to fly right down Kronos' throat. Kronos lets out one last blast, and Zeus takes the brunt of the force to protect Hades. Perseus throws the Spear into Kronos' stomach, destroying him once and for all. Perseus meets with Zeus and Hades. Zeus commends Perseus for his courage, stating that the time of the gods is over before turning to dust. Hades is now human, though he states he might be better as one before walking away. Perseus reunites with Andromeda and kisses her. Knowing that there are still Titans to battle, Perseus decides to train Heleus to be a soldier.

L² Scored: 3.5/10

L² Comment:

This is much more worth than "Clash of the Titans 2010", first of all, i cannot stand Sam Worthington's ugly hair style; secondly, the storyline is a bit sucks~ i even fall asleep in the cinema. The 3.5 is for all the effect of the movie, and i really hope there is no more sequel to torture us anymore. 

Hugo

 Released Year: 2011

Directed by Martin Scorsese

Casted by:

 Asa Butterfield as Hugo Cabret
Ben Kingsley as Georges Méliès
Chloë Grace Moretz as Isabelle

Sacha Baron Cohen as Inspector Gustave
Helen McCrory as Mama Jeanne

Michael Stuhlbarg as René Tabard

Jude Law as Hugo's father

 Story:

 In 1931, Hugo Cabret, a 12-year-old boy, lives with his widowed father, a master clockmaker in Paris. Hugo's father takes him to see films and his father particularly loves the films of Georges Méliès. Hugo's father dies in a museum fire, and Hugo is taken away by his uncle, an alcoholic watchmaker who is responsible for maintaining the clocks in the railway station Gare Montparnasse. His uncle teaches him to take care of the clocks and then disappears. He is later discovered to have drowned.

Hugo lives between the walls of the station, maintaining the clocks, stealing food and working on his father's most ambitious project: repairing a broken automaton, a mechanical man who is supposed to write with a pen. Convinced the automaton contains a message from his father, Hugo goes to desperate lengths to fix it. He steals mechanical parts to repair the automaton, but he is caught by a toy store owner, Papa Georges, who takes Hugo's notebook from him, with notes and drawings for fixing the automaton.

To recover the notebook, Hugo follows the shopkeeper to his house and meets Isabelle, an orphan close to his age and Georges' goddaughter. She promises to help. The next day, Georges gives some ashes to Hugo, referring to them as the notebook's remains, but Isabelle informs him that the notebook was not burned. Finally he agrees that Hugo may earn the notebook back by working for him until he pays for all the things he stole from the shop.

Hugo works in the toy shop, and in his time off manages to fix the automaton, but it is still missing one part—a heart–shaped key. Hugo introduces Isabelle to the movies, which her godfather has never let her see, while she introduces Hugo to a bookstore whose owner initially mistrusts Hugo. Isabelle turns out to have the key to the automaton. When they use the key to activate the automaton, it produces a drawing of a film scene, signed by Georges Méliès. Hugo remembers it is the film his father always talked about as the first film he ever saw (Voyage to the Moon) and Isabelle recognises the signature as being the name of her godfather, Papa Georges and the two of them take it to her home for an explanation.

Hugo shows Georges' wife Mama Jeanne the drawing made by the automaton, but she will not tell them anything and makes them hide in a room when Georges comes home. While hiding, Isabelle and Hugo find a secret cabinet and accidentally release pictures and screen boards of Georges' creations - the noise attracts Georges, who is deeply upset and throws Hugo out, feeling betrayed.

The bookseller refers Hugo and Isabelle to a book on the history of film and are surprised that the author, Rene Tabard, refers to Méliès as having died in World War I. Tabard himself appears, and the children tell him that Méliès is alive. Tabard, a devotee of Méliès' films, owns a copy of Voyage to the Moon. Then Hugo convinces Tabard to go to Georges' home. That night Hugo dreams of being run over by a train when trying to retrieve the heart key from the rails, a sequence that ends in a re-creation of the Montparnasse train accident. When he wakes up, he hears a loud ticking sound and discovers it is coming from his own chest, at which point he suddenly turns into the same form and shape as the automaton, but then awakens for good.

Hugo, Isabelle and Tabard go to Georges' home, and at first Jeanne tells them to go before her husband wakes. However, Jeanne accepts their offer to show Voyage to the Moon when Tabard compliments her as the beautiful actress in Georges' films. As they finish watching the film, Georges appears and explains how he came to make movies, invented the special effects, and how he lost faith in films when World War I began, being forced to sell his films as chemicals to get money, and opening the toy shop to survive. He also believes the automaton he created was lost in the museum fire and nothing remains of his life's work.

Hugo goes back to the station to get the automaton, to surprise Georges, but he is cornered by the station inspector and his dog. Hugo escapes and runs to the top of the clock tower and hides by climbing out onto the hands of the clock. Once the inspector is gone, he runs for the exit with the automaton, but he is trapped by the inspector and the automaton is thrown onto the railway tracks. Climbing onto the tracks, Hugo is almost run over by an approaching train when the officer saves him and detains him as an orphan without a guardian. While Hugo pleads with the officer, Georges arrives and says Hugo is in his care. The officer lets him go.

At the end of the movie, Georges introduces a tribute ceremony to his movies with Tabard announcing that over 80 films have been recovered and restored. Georges thanks Hugo for his actions and invites the audience to "follow his dreams".

 L² Scored: 7/10

L² Comment:

A very interesting movie based on the novel of Brian Selznick. And the actor are chosen well for this film. Basically everybody acted well, even Jude Law who appeared a short while can steal our glance away. Pretty much like the young actor, Asa Butterfiled. I think in the coming future, we will see some big film from this kid~ good luck.

War Horse

 Released Year: 2011

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Casted by:

Jeremy Irvine as Albert Narracott

 Emily Watson as Rose Narracott 

Peter Mullan as Ted Narracott
Celine Buckens as Emilie

Niels Arestrup as Grandfather
Tom Hiddleston as Captain Nicholls

 Story:

 In Devon, England, a boy named Albert Narracott watches the birth of a thoroughbred foal and watches with admiration the growth of the young horse, galloping through the fields at his mother's side. Much to the dismay of his mother, Rose, his father, Ted, buys the colt at auction, despite a friend pointing out a more suitable plough horse for his farm. The desire to spite his landlord, Lyons, and retain his pride, are the apparent motivations for Ted to make higher and higher bids for the colt. The high cost of the horse (30 guineas) means he is unable to pay rent to Lyons, who threatens to take possession of the farm if the money is not paid by the autumn. Ted promises to meet the deadline, suggesting he could plough and plant a lower, rock-filled field with turnips. Albert names the horse Joey and devotes much time to training him. Albert's best friend, Andrew Easton, watches as Albert teaches his colt many things, such as to come when he imitates the call of an owl by blowing through his cupped hands.

Ted, who has a bad leg from a war injury, is frequently shown drinking alcohol from a flask he carries. Rose shows Albert his father's medals from the Second Boer War in South Africa, where Ted served as a sergeant with the Imperial Yeomanry. Ted was severely wounded in action, and received the Distinguished Conduct Medal for bravery under fire. She gives Albert his father's regimental pennant, telling Albert that his father is not proud of what he did during the war, and that he had thrown the flag and medals away, though Rose saved and kept them hidden.

Albert trains Joey for the plough and, to his neighbours' astonishment, prepares a stony hillside field to plant with turnips. However a rainstorm destroys the turnip field, so to pay the overdue rent (and without telling Albert), Ted sells Joey to Captain Nicholls, a young cavalry officer, as World War I breaks out. When Albert finds out, he confronts the officer and begs for him not to take the horse. Nicholls promises he will take care of Joey as his own horse and hopefully will return him after the war. Albert tries to enlist in the army, but is too young. Before the captain leaves with Joey, Albert ties his father's pennant to Joey's bridle.

Joey is trained for military operations and deployed to France with a flying column under the command of Captain Nicholls. Cavalry charges, once a major form of warfare, are now hopelessly obsolete when faced with machine guns, as Captain Nicholls and his fellow cavalrymen discover after they charge through a German encampment. Nicholls is killed along with most of his fellow cavalrymen, and the Germans capture the horses.

Joey becomes attached to Topthorn, a black horse with whom he trained for his military role. The two horses are used to pull an ambulance wagon driven by two German soldiers, Gunther, and his 14-year-old brother, Michael. Gunther gives the pennant to Michael as a good-luck "charm" when he is assigned to the German front, despite being too young to fight. Gunther ignores an order to remain behind and await call to a later position. Unable to persuade his brother to remain behind, Gunther rides Joey and brings Topthorn along on his escape so he and his brother can ride them to Italy, at this time still neutral. One night, German soldiers discover the absent without leave brothers hiding in a windmill and execute them by firing squad for desertion.

After the two young Germans are shot, Emilie, a young French girl who lives at the farm with her grandfather, finds the two horses inside the windmill. Emilie suffers from Osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease), and is not allowed to ride the horses for fear of falling. Later, German soldiers arrive and confiscate all food and supplies from the property; Emilie hides the horses in her bedroom to avoid them being taken by the Germans to fight. Emilie's grandfather allows her to ride Joey on her birthday, and she gallops the horse up a hill, adjacent to the farm. When Emilie does not come back immediately, the Grandfather worriedly runs up the hill. On the other side of the hill, the Grandfather discovers that Emilie has run into the grasp of the German soldiers who were at the farm earlier. The German soldiers take the horses, but the grandfather keeps the pennant.

Joey and Topthorn are put to the task of pulling German heavy artillery, an exhausting task which kills horses quickly. The two horses are, however, put in the care of the German Private Friedrich who loves horses and who tries to help them survive.

The story moves forward to 1918, where Albert has enlisted and is fighting alongside Andrew in the Second Battle of the Somme, under the command of Lyons's son, David. After a British charge into no-man's land, Albert, Andrew, and other British soldiers miraculously make it across into a deserted German trench, where a gas bomb explodes, filling the trench with the white chemical fumes of mustard gas.

Meanwhile, Joey and Topthorn have survived years of hard service in the German army – much longer than most horses last – but Topthorn finally succumbs and dies from exhaustion, while Joey and Private Friedrich comfort him, pleading with him to not lie down where he will be seen and subsequently shot, until Friedrich is ultimately dragged away from Joey by other German soldiers. Cornered by an advancing tank, Joey escapes and runs into no-man's land where he gallops through the devastating destruction of the Somme and gets entangled in barbed wire. From their respective trenches both British and German soldiers spot Joey in the mist, although disbelieving at first that a horse could have survived the battle. Colin, a British soldier from South Shields, waving a white flag, crosses No Man's Land at Joey's side to try and coax him to the British side. Peter, a German soldier from Düsseldorf, comes over with wire cutters, and together they free Joey from the barbed wire. They flip a coin to decide who should take possession of the horse; Colin wins, guiding Joey back to the British trench, having formed a strange friendship with the soldier from Düsseldorf, on the enemy side he has been instructed to kill.

The film shifts back to Albert's perspective, where Andrew has succumbed to the gas attack, but Albert has survived, temporarily blinded with bandages covering his eyes. He is recuperating at a British medical camp when Colin brings Joey in looking for a veterinary surgeon to heal the wounds from the barbed wire. Albert is told about the miracle horse rescued from no-man's land. The army doctor instructs Sgt. Fry to put Joey down due to his injuries, but when Fry is about to shoot, the owl call he learned from Albert as a colt catches Joey's attention. Albert is led through the troops to Joey, again sounding his call, and Joey hurries to meet his long-lost friend. Albert explains he raised Joey, and his bandages still covering his eyes, gives an exact description of his horse's markings, confirming his claim. Joey is covered in mud, so the veterinary surgeon refuses to accept Albert's statement, but is quickly corrected when soldiers wash away the grime, revealing the four white socks and diamond blaze on Joey's forehead.

Armistice brings the end of the war and Albert's eyesight is restored. He learns only officers' horses will be shipped home, while Joey and the others are to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. The soldiers gather funds to help Albert buy Joey, but during a bidding war with a French butcher reaching 30 pounds, a bid of 100 pounds is entered without revealing who placed the bid. Approaching the auction ring is an older gentleman, Emilie's grandfather. No other bid is placed and he is shown taking ownership of Joey. The grandfather implies that Emilie has died, and after hearing about the miracle horse, her grandfather walked three days to get Joey back for the sake of Emilie's memory.

Albert pleads with Emilie's grandfather for the horse, but the old man remains stoic in his auction win. As the grandfather walks away, Joey breaks free and goes to Albert. As he watches the horse and the young English soldier, the grandfather pulls the military pennant from his pocket and asks Albert if it means anything to him. When Albert tells the old man that it belongs to his father, the grandfather has a change of heart. First he gives Albert the campaign pennant, then moments later, gives him Joey, saying it is what Emilie would have wanted. In the end Albert rides Joey back to his family's farm, hugs his parents, and returns the pennant to his father.

L² Scored: 8/10

L² Comment:

Multiple nomination film and it did won some best film & best cinemotography award, a movie based on a children's novel by Michael Morpurgo. This film is quite nice, i love the way how the story is sectioned, but in the end, the horse return back to his first owner's Albert. A very touching movie and i actually feel that the horse can act :P