Iceland Holiday Day 1

Hellooo everyone!

It has been raining here all day. Definitely autumn in England. The other night we were sleeping with the window open, and it got down to a balmy minus 3 degrees celcius. Crunchy grass the next morning. :D

Shout out to Michael, Cindi, Steph and Chris who I caught up with yesterday. Was great to get into London and catch up with all of you. Driving around London was an experience in itself... I imagine a bit like Sydney, lots of one way streets all over the place, and it is not that well sign posted. But after living out here in the country for a few months, it was quite and adventure to be in the big city! The number of shops, restaurants and bars around made my heart flutter with excitement!

Now, back to the Iceland trip.

31/10/2007 cont...

This is what happens at Heathrow after a 5am start to the day

Finally at the boarding gate - Iceland Yay!

Despite feeling seedy on the plane due to the self inflicted lack of sleep because of the last minute tax return saga, the flight was relatively quick (3 hours) and easy (no problems and food was served!). On arrival at the airport we caught the "Flybus" to Reykjavik (40-50mins) with a stop off at the Blue Lagoon.

It's cold out here - someone get me inside....please!

The Blue Lagoon is an entrepreneurial exercise taking advantage of the natural geothermal pools in the area and turning them into a day spa... and it was the perfect thing to do after the stresses of the last few days.

Gideon - handling the cold weather a little better than me - outside the Blue Lagoon

The Blue Lagoon is basicaly one huge pool filled with milky azure coloured water which contains minerals that are supposed to be good for the skin. On contemplation of visiting the lagoon we had decided against having any treatments due to the cost. However, friends who had visited Iceland only the week before recommended a massage. Although it cost about 30 pounds each, the 10 minutes massage was heavenly.

There was something magical about being there in the bath-like water as the steam rose into the crisp air and the sun set leaving a dusky sky.

We went straight from the Blue Lagoon to check in at our apartment, then headed out on a tour to find the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis). Both of us were really looking forward to it, photos would indicate that the Lights light up the sky with an amazing bright green veil.


Having assumed that we would spend most of the tour on the bus, we weren't quite dressed for it. After about an hour of driving and stopping intermittantly, we finally stopped at a carpark far away from the city lights of Reykjavik. There, we stood in icy cold temperatures for an hour waiting for the lights to start and our appendages to drop off. To begin with it just looked like really pale white cloud on the horizon. With clear skies it was perfect weather to see the Northern lights, but the half moon was extremely bright and made it difficult to see the subtleties.

Can you see it? Can you?

After an hour of freezing our fingers off, so to speak, we had seen some hazy cloud-like wisps moving around slowly and it was time to go home somewhat disappointed.

On the way back to the city, we made one last stop on the side of the side of the road, and lo, there was some sort of green wisp growing and moving as if someone was painting a squiggle in the sky. Pretty cool - but anywhere near as spectacular as the pictures. Still, it had been quite a successful start to the trip.

Hanging out in Watchfield

30/10/2007

Hola! Como estais? Estoy estupenda!

There's someting about airports and aeroplanes that are condusive to blog writing. Perhaps it is the waiting-around-with-nothing-else-to-do-factor or perhaps it is the being in confined spaces factor. Maybe if I learnt how to signficantly disable an elevator I could become a novellist of fine literature...or myabe of Mills & Boon.

Finally getting excited now! Gideon and I are off on our first proper European holiday! (Wales doesn't really count - very belated blog entry still to come). One of the few places that we were both very keen to visit was Iceland. Very much looking forward to experiencing the stunning waterfalls, lava encrusted landscapes, lakes and glaciers. I think my interest in Iceland has been nurtured somewhat by watching those unaffordable machines of beauty roaring around the island on Top Gear - that show is good for all sorts of things. who doesn't want to know whether it is possible to sail a car across the English Channel?! Best of all, I now know how to spell "Reykjavik" without cheapting.

Well, it has now been a week since I went cold turkey and got off the drugs. Finally the headachesare gone, I thought they would never end. I have a newly earned respect for those people who get migraines.. it would almost be worth decapitating oneself. So it will be back to some serious job hunting once this weekend is over... I need to work. Being at home every day (all day - wasiting time - unbelievably I seem to run out of time to do things (damn Facebook!)), is making me cranky and has exposed just how paitient and supportive Gideon is.

The last 24 hours have also been a bit of a frazzle. In addition to packing and researching excursions for Iceland, I had left my tax return ot the very last possible day, typical. Why do we have to fill in tax eturns? In this day and age, why can't all the transactions just be traced back to a central office via our TFN's? I guess that path starts to cross the line of barcoding or big brother. Anyway, the night before last I went through my pile of paperwork looking for the plastic evenelope of tax statements and documentation that I had carried in my hand luggage all the wayfrom Darwin to Melbourne to London to Swindon, only to find that it was missing. Holy flying drumsticks Batman! Luckily, with anticipation that I would be so stupid, I had recorded some of the required figures back in July and with a last minute call back to Melbourne, the dreaded tax return was completed in the the nick of time. Phew.

Don't get me wrong though, despite my complaining, life is pretty sweet. Even though England is so similar to Australia in many respects, things like that continual grey skies and the 5pm sunsets, now that the clocks have been turned back, are something of a novelty for the moment. I'm still on an extended "holiday", there is a great opportunity to travel, and we have made some new friends.

Here are some snap shots of us hanging out:

Surprise!

Pizza and board games at my surprise birthday party.

Clare, Claire, Jon, Shaun & Gideon.

Gideon & Shaun get ready to bat for the Australian's at the Foster's Cup.

Unfortunately the Australian's got whooped by the Internationals.

Owen & Jane enjoy the beautiful sunshine and the game in their matching tops.

Everyone with the compulsory beer after the match.

Japanese Night

Clare and Claire -

Master sushi chefs

Recreation of the infamous Ogg incident -
Shaun managed to break one of the two wine glasses we brought with us with an Ogg.
Shaaaauuuuwwwnn!!

All dressed up for Trafalgar Night - my first Mess Dinner
Owen, Clare, Jon, g, Gideon

Trafalgar night is a celebration of the Battle of Trafalgar.
There were all sorts of Naval traditions such as the passing of the port decanter down the table for toasting, the roast beef being paraded around the room and the ships made out of chocolate.

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Movie Review
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Ratatouille: 4/5

In a nutshell: A case of the extreme warm and fuzzies.

Brief Synopsis: French rat with an unusual palate for good food and a talent for cooking seeks his fortune in Paris.

It is definitely of Pixar quality, and many will just love it. For me, it was excellent, but missing the more adult wit and spark of some of its predecessors such as Monster's Inc, Finding Nemo and especially the Incredibles. It does leave you wanting to go hug lots of people. Definitely entertaining and definitely one for the kids.

*Bonus Interesting fact: In the version of the movie to hit British screens, the food inspector is voiced by Jamie Oliver. Not so for the US version, and therefore probably not for our Australian compatriots either.

The coolest of phones!

Well, it has been two weeks now, and I am still getting headaches that make me want to sleep all day. This last week has been tough, the headaches have made sleeping difficult, which has made me stay awake half the night and want to sleep all day, which has thrown my sleeping pattern out completely and made me feel more sick. But after endeavouring to stay awake all day, things seem to be getting back on track. The doctors have said that it is likely that the headaches will continue for 3-4 weeks... so all I can say is, "bring on the ibeprofen"! Makes up for all those years of not getting headaches. Good thing I'm still out of work at the moment!

So what else is going on at the moment?

Well - not much really. Afterall, I'm spending most of my time sleeping or trying to sleep. Am enjoying some of the peculiarities that are unique to England. Last night we had scotched eggs for dinner - yummy! Yesterday on TV they showed the top 50 video clips featuring Take That or Take That members! Now, you'd never get that in Australia. I didn't even think they would be able to find 50! But I should have known that about half of them were Robbie Williams videos.

Lots of catching up to do... here's something I meant to post ages ago...

I have the coolest new mobile phone (well, I've had it for over a month now, so it's not that new)... It's the Sony Ericsson W580i. Take a look at this beauty:

I went into the phone shop thinking that I'd like a Samsung flip phone - that's what I've had before and generally, they are small and pretty phones! Basically I had three requirements - MP3 player, compact and pretty. Very girly requirements, but that is what I wanted. The salesman was a cool dude and he picked one phone from their stock to recommend to me. And what do you know, he was right on the money! Once I saw it, there was no other phone that I wanted! What clinched it for me was that the salesman said that it was the phone that he wanted to get for himself. As it is a Sony Ericsson, it has a Walkman quality MP3 player, and a pretty good quality camera. The interface is pretty and simple to use, although learning to text on a new brand of phone always takes a while.

There are two other things that make it really cool.
1. One of the imbuilt games is Sims2! A somewhat watered down version, but it kept me occupied for a few days!
2. This is the coolest GIMIC ever!.... When you are listening to the Walkman MP3 and you don't like the song you are listening to, you can press the walkman button and shake the phone, and it will change the song for a randomly chosen song from your library!! How COOL is that!!!??

Now for some movie reviews:

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MOVIE REVIEWS

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Atonement: 3/5

Cast: Kiera Knightly (Bend it like Beckham, Pride & Prejudice), the very handsome James McAvoy (Becoming Jane, Last King of Scotland)

In a nutshell: Touch on the slow side for me... and... Is it possible for Kiera Knightly to look bad?

Brief Synopsis: After misinterpreting events, a young girl wrongfully accuses an innocent young man of crimes and sends him to prison and war, separating him from the love of his life, her sister. Follows these characters over time and the consequences of that accusation.


Similar to other lost love stories during wars such as A Very Long Engagement or Cold Mountain (a personal favourite), it takes two very likeable characters and pitches them against all odds and prevents them from being together. Kiera Knightly looks devine in the period costumes, but does not really have much acting to do. James McAvoy, is servicable - he still doesn't convince me as a good leading man - but there is something about him that is still adorable - must be those baby blues. Despite all these ingredients, and some very tight direction and storytelling, I still found this one a little slow.




Shoot 'em Up: 3.75/5

Cast: Clive Owen (Children of Men, Closer), Monica Bellucci (Matrix Reloaded, L'Appartement), Paul Giamatti (The Illusionist, Sideways)

In a nutshell: More awesome action that you can poke a stick at

Brief Synopsis: Man finds himself protecting a baby against some full on gangster dudes and some serious gunfire.

This is one movie that is destined to be a cult classic. This movie just doesn't stop. When you think they have exhausted all avenues for more super cool gun fighting scenes, they come up with something else! In attitude, it reminds me of a Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs, just without the intricate story telling and twists and turns. Totally fun, humourous, entertaining and seat rivetting. Loved it!

So, this is what happened on our trip to York...

So we drove for over 5 hours on Friday evening, and made it to York around 8.30pm. Gideon's grandparents had waited up for us to have dinner, and we have an extremely pleasant traditional meal of Friday fish and chips. Our plan for the weekend was to spend some time with Gideon's grandparents, and spend Saturday being tourists in York. Instead, the weekend ended being a little more subdued.





We had a glass of champagne with dinner. I don't know if it was the champagne or something else I had eaten that day, but shortly after dinner, I fainted in the kitchen, banging the back of my head on the floor and giving Gideon's Gran a right scare. After that it was straight to bed for me to sleep off that alchohol nausea that I sometimes get. That night wasn't much fun. I couldn't get comfortable, and I had a pounding headache, and throwing up was definitely on the cards. Unfortunately, what was to be a lovely weekend away, improved only slightly. I spent the rest of the weekend in bed feeling sorry for myself and nursing a sore head.

What a sorry state of affairs. Anyway, for those who are worried, I'm feeling much better now. Very big thanks to Gideon's grandparents and Gideon for taking good care of me this weekend. I'm almost back to normal except for a headache and a black eye!

This is me this morning...

It's like instant makeup!!

By the way, how cool is this top that I'm wearing. Huge hugs and kisses to the Haynes (Andrew, Katherine and cute little Zoe) for bringing it all the way from Boston! Here's a close up of what it says on it:

Hot, Baby, Hot!

Check out my brand new car seat covers!

Even the troll likes them!

Big thanks to the gang - Rob, Sonia, Tania, Paul, Sophie, Geord & Geoff for sending them all this way!

Cars in the UK

In all the excitement of actually publishing a blog entry... I forgot that I had wanted to talk about cars in the UK. So this is just a bit of a postscript to my last blog I guess.

While looking to buy a car here, as with anything else that you become "expert" in, we really started to notice other cars on the road.

The English car population seems to have a completely different demographic to that in Australia. In particular, having come from Darwin, where every second vehicle on the road is good Aussie ute or truck of some sort, there is none of that here. Being so close to Europe and with much narrower streets, I don't think I have seen Commodore or Falcon here, instead there are a lot more luxury cars. Especially in the Shrivenham area, it is common to see a Jaguar or a Porshe. Our local pub always has a Lotus parked in the back... not sure if it is theirs. There is also a very high incidence of Mini's... Swindon is where they assemble them. :)

The strangest thing for me is that number of brands that actually make station wagons that I have never seen in the Australia. Volvo, BMW, Mercedes, MG station wagon! Jaguar station wagon! Ridiculous!

The Little Peugeot and the Magic Roundabout

FUNDAMENTALY SCRABULOUS!

So... my latest addiction is Scrabulous!!! It's Scrabble over the internet. Well, mainly Facebook, but I believe you can do it via email. If anyone wants a game, feel free to let me know!!! If you are already on Facebook, you need only download the application. If you are not, then you should join! Alternatively I think we can do it via the website.

SO... I THINK I CAN DANCE

My other addiction is So You Think You Can Dance! I just watched the whole third season in 3 days! I know it has started showing in Oz not that long ago. It's definintely worth a watch if you have not seen it before. The things these dancers can do, is just phenomenal. I guess as a try-hard dancer, it is easy to have an appreciation for the natural talent and the work ethic that the contestants have. The choreographers are also world class. Gideon hates the judges and the comments... but for me, their expertise also gives you more of an appreciation of the sheer skill involved...and, unlike Idol or X-Factor (which as just started up in the UK... Danii Minouge is on the panel!), the judges don't spend the whole time quibbling amongst themselves and making stupid comments.

Speaking of "so you think you can dance"...the last couple of Wednesday's we have been out dancing on Chapel Street.... just like at home! We have been going to Ceroc classes (modern jive) in Swindon, and it has been quite fun. There were some reasonable dancers there, and it was a beautiful dance floor. Just perfect for spinning :D *sigh*

THE LITTLE CAR THAT COULD

Well, it's really old news now... but I wanted to talk about my car!!! For the first time I actually own a car! It's a 1998 Peugeot, blue, with a kicking stereo!... and most importantly, adjustable seats! Don't laugh... that was actually one of the main determining factors in me finding a car... I just didn't fit into any of them... that and the automatic factor... yes, this retard still can't drive a manual (hmmmm... is that politically incorrect?).

Our little Peugeot, in our little driveway, in front of our little garage.

DRIVING IN THE UK

Driving in the UK has been entertaining, and can take some getting used to.

It started the first time we drove into Swindon in our hire car. We got on the motorway and saw lots of circular white signs with a big black diagonal line through it. In Darwin this used to mean open speed limit... we were pretty sure this was not what they meant here. In fact it actually means that all local restrictions have been removed, and therefore you can go at the standard maximum limit which is 70 miles an hour on a motor way. Duh... how obvious!?! And what's with the miles? The only reason I can think of that they have not switched over to the metric scale is that it would just be too expensive to replace all of the existing distance and speed limit signs.

And what about the roundabouts? They are everywhere! Actually, I have to admit that they work extremely well, but it takes some getting used to. One has to be very careful to be in the right lane on entering a roundabout, otherwise one will end up going in completely the wrong direction! The brilliant thing about the roundabouts though, is that if you happen to take a wrong turn somewhere, there is always a roundabout nearby so that you can make a U-turn.

We actually live in a small village outside of the main Swindon area, so we don't have much cause to go in there all that often. Swindon itself is an industrial town, so there is nothing that exciting about it. One thing I do love though is "The Magic Roundabout". The first time we arrived in Swindon, we were most amused when the GPS actually said "take the third exit at the Magic Roundabout"... and then we did some major panicking when we realised that we would have to go through it! Originally called 'County Islands', it is one massive roundabout that is surrounded by five small satellite roundabouts. Apparently, much research and development was invested in finding the most efficient way to manage such a large junction, and this was the hairbrained scheme they came up with! Surprisingly, it is actually quite easy to navigate, and it works a treat! I love it!

The road sign you see as you approach the Magic Roundabout.

An ariel view of The Magic Roundabout.

Our own little burrow

The weather for about the last week has been pretty average, especially for summer, although some would say nothing unexpected for England. We were lucky to move into our new house in the midst of a run of lovely weather. It really makes things look all the more happy and exciting!

It's a 3 bedroom (or really 2.5 bedroom) fully detatched house (quite rare in this country, I am told) with a garden, garage (tiny!) and shed. Although a little dated and a bit cheap on the inside (somewhat a renters house), it's not bad at all. Not quite as new and shiny as some of the other houses that some of the other couples have, but then again, it's not an old cottage in which you have to bend down to get through all the doorways (well... that was never going to be a problem for me!), which some of the others do have! It will definitely do the job, and it is already becoming home sweet home.

If you would like to see our location on Google Earth, let me know, and I'll send you through a link. In the meantime, here are a few happy snaps:

The Front


Inside the front door.
It's cool having your mail delivered right into your foyer 6 days a week!


The down stairs amenities...

combined with coat closet.


Our somewhat retro kitchen, combined with laundry.
Nice view of what all the neighbours are doing from the kitchen sink.

Professor Plum, with the lead piping, in the "conservatory".
+
the hardest futon sofa you will ever cross.


View of the backyard from the "conservatory"/sunroom.

After some concerted unpacking,
Gideon takes it easy on one of our three sofas in the lounge.

Random things we did on the way here

Happy Bank Holiday Long Weekend to all!

We considered driving all the way to Scotland to try and catch a glimpse of the Edinburgh festival, but after our trip to Wales last weekend (blog entry to come), we decided to stay and relax at home, maybe do some local sight seeing and enjoy all the new tv channels we have now that we finally got BT Vision.

After a week of horrid weather, summer finally decided it was about time to make a reappearance. Today was the perfect day to check out the Shrivenham Fete.

Me, and some other locals, at the fete, armed with the Patricia Cornwell book I garnered for one pound.

Mmmm... freshly made fairy floss. That's what it's all about!

Now, going back a few weeks... here are some things we saw when we first arrived in London.

Caught up with some old friends from Melbourne.
Bad photo, but there is Kim, Isaac, Rob S, Steph, Michael, Cindi and a few others.

Hanging out at our hotel room at the Millenium Gloucestor.
These are the free pajamas we got from Qantas, they are supposedly designed by Morrissey!

The National Museum of Natural History

Cool dinosaurs... well, their bones anyway, inside the National Museum of Natural History.

Gangster Gideon outside the Australian High Commission on Fleet Street.

The Nightingale.
We stayed at this hotel just outside Swindon for about five days while sorting out a place to live and a car. The first night we were supposed to stay here did not happen because during a change of management, someone forgot to pay the power bill and they had no power! Then, on our second night there, someone somewhere cut a power line and we had to have cold showers. Then on our third night there, the power was still off, which meant that the water pumps in the hotel were also not working and we had no showers or flushing toilets! Not the most memorable of hotel stays.

High Street Shrivenham (the main drag)

Very cute cottage I passed somewhere in Shrivenham. : )

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MOVIE REVIEW

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The Bourne Ultimatum: 4/5

Cast: Matt Damon (The other Bourne Movies, and Team America... no not really), Julia Stiles (Save the Last Dance), David Strathairn (Good Night, Good Luck), Joan Allen (The Snow Storm)

In a Nutshell: Continues the high standards set by its predecessors.

Brief Synopsis: Jason Bourne continues to search for his mysterious past while trying the allude the CIA who are hot on his trail.

It is a completely different movie to Die Hard 4.0, but as a point of reference, I enjoyed Die Hard a smidgen more. Die hard, while being a little more ridiculous and unbelievable, has humour and a bit of a swagger! Still, The Bourne Ultimatum is an excellent action movie, with an intelligent plot (thankyou Mr Ludlum) and a talented cast. Although, I wonder if Bourne's character is a little one dimensional, even though he has amnesia as an excuse. The shaky, supposedly realistic, camera style used in the Supremacy is used here too, and it still annoys me. However, some of the choreography in the action scenes is outstanding, almost jaw dropping, and overall it is a very very good movie.

UK Part 1 - Moving in

Terrible, terrible, terrible.


That's me. :p


Apologies to those who have been checking, but have had no release or satisfaction.


It has been weeks since my last post and that was right in the middle of the flight to London. So much has happened, there is so much catching up to do! Be warned... it is going to be one big blog fest, with no niceties, no politeness or ettiquette. There will be breaking of chronological rules and all forms of thoughts in dribs and drabs. In short, it will be one big brain fart.

Gideon and I have pretty much settled down now into our own little house and the peacefulness that is Shrivenham. It is not that close to London, and sometimes it really feels like we are in the country. Shrivenham itself, has one main drag, High St (every suburb has a High St), and there we have the essentials, eg. one bank, a post office, hairdresser, barber, a couple of Indian restaurants, a great little Italian joint, a couple of mini supermarkets, a hardware store that also sells stationery and lollies for 2p, and a Chinese Takeaway that also does takeaway fish and chips. Oh, and of course, a British town wouldn't be complete without a local pub... in fact, we have three.

We have already become regulars at the Prince of Wales. In our first week here, I think we were there every single day. It's a cosy little pub complete with friendly owners and staff, an expansive and original menu, a Mini parking spot at the rear, board games, trivia on a Tuesday nights (impossible for us Aussies... we won some chocolate as we came well ands truly last with a grand total of 22 points), and free wireless internet. Once or twice, we even sat in the car with our laptops in order to do some web research! This Thursday the others are going to one of the other pubs in Shrivenham, the Fat Dog, but I'll be catching up with Amy in London, so I won't be there.

Gideon has already been going to uni, this week is his second. "O'week" is next week, but he has had a couple of review weeks to try and remember some maths and other things, as well as to settle into the uni. I've had some fun stealing some of his maths revision so that I can have a go at trying to remember some of my Yr 12 maths... it's terrible... I couldn't even remember completing the square or integration by parts! I'm pretty lucky, as his "dependant", I get a pass to go into the Defence Academy whenever I like, which means I can also use some of the facilities, like the gym and the language centre.

My aim for this week and next week is to get some work... we will see how it goes. In the meantime, I will try my best to update my blog properly. There are lots of photos to come!

love g xoxo


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MOVIE REVIEWS
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Hair Spray: 3.5/5

Cast: Nikki Blonsky, John Travolta (Grease), Michelle Pfiffer (Grease 2), Christopher Walken (Weapon of Choice music film clip), Queen Latifah (Chicago), Amanda Bynes (She’s the Man), James Marsden (The Notebook), Zac Efron (High School Musical), Allison Janney (West Wing).

In a Nutshell: Absolutely nutty!

Brief Synopsis: In 1962 a plump teenager dreams of being of singing and dancing on the Corny Collins Show and becoming Link’s girlfriend. Her path is the elitist and racist manager of the tv studio and her perfect daughter.

The movie musical version of a stage musical version of a non-musical movie, it throws in satirical, bordering on ridiculous, humour with heaps of fun and a touch of seriousness dealing with issues such as integration and female image consciousness. One can’t help feeling that this whole movie is about taking the piss, and yet you sense there is more to it, an extreme intelligence under all the singing and dancing… a little like Team America. However, unlike Team America, I am still unsure if Hairspray really carries it off. It is a little hit and miss in some places and on many occasion I turned to Clare, my movie compatriot, in order to make a “What THE?” face. Still, that itself is certainly a special brand of comedy.


The Simpsons Movie: 2.5/5

Cast: As per The Simpsons TV series.

In a Nutshell: Like a three part series of Simpsons episodes.

Brief Synopsis: As per The Simpsons TV series, with an environmental twist

Perhaps the reason for why this movie has been so long coming was that no matter how you do it, apart from making the animation 3d or using real life actors (which would completely suck), it was always just going to be like one long episode. Thus, there is nothing particular special about this. Having said that, the movie keeps all of the characters, the humour and the tongue-in-cheek that we are used to from the television series, and thus it is still a good watch. I just don’t know that it is worth seeing it on the big screen.


Die Hard 4.0: 4.0/5

Cast: Bruce Willis (the 3 other Die Hards), Justin Long (Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story)

In a Nutshell: Kicking arse well and truly for the fourth time.

Brief Synopsis: John McClane somehow finds himself attempting to save America against a virtual terrorist who threatens to shut down America at the flick of a few switches.

John McClane does it again. Damn it was good. Smart arse comments, shrapnel, kicks, punches and pieces of very large vehicles flying everywhere! The storyline is a pretty good platform on which to base a high paced action movie, and it is exploited at all costs. Unfortunately there are one or two scenes that are just ridiculous. But mostly, there are some amazing, close to implausible, scenes that are just plain cool.