Stars Kit Harrington, Emily Browning, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jessica Lucas, Joe Pingue, Sasha Roiz with Carrie-Anne Moss, Jared Harris and Keifer Sutherland Directed by Paul WS Anderson The tag on the poster there says “No Warning, No Escape” although history might actually disagree. Then again, for anyone stepping into the cinema without any knowledge of what they’re getting into, that tag might be equally prophetic unless you’re willing to waste the money you spent on the ticket. Still, this IS a Paul WS Anderson film, the guy who gave us the Resident Evil series and that steampunkish Three Musketeers movie a couple of years back. There’s your warning, you serious movie-goers. This wasn’t exactly a must-see, but I was curious to watch it, simply “just because” and no other reason to it. Really. I generally knew what I would be in for, and perhaps, if we did have a 3D presentation here, it might have been a little more fun. The “fun” to be had, unfortunately was more in the story, the performances, and the dire-logue. This is a B-grade mash-up that has Titanic, Gladiator, a little of The Horse Whisperer, a hint of Conan mixed into the disaster movie mold. For one thing, once that volcano gets going, director Anderson could give Roland Emmerich a run for his money. That’s not a spoiler, it’s called Pompeii and it’s there on the poster. Watching a movie like this and not knowing the volcano is going to blow is like watching Titanic and not expecting the ship to sink. The movie opens like a Conan movie where a tribe is slaughtered by Romans, led by Corvus (Keifer Sutherland) and a young boy, who survives the massacre, is captured into slavery. After that, instead of going to Conan route, it slips into Gladiator, as the young boy is now Kit Harrington (taking a break from the Game or Thrones shenanigans) with washboard abs. The Celt, as he’s called, is then taken to Pompeii where conveniently meets rich girl, Cassia (Emily Browning), whose father (Jared Harris) has to deal with Corvus in order to secure financing to make Pompeii a more glorious city, even with Vesuvius grumbling in the background. Who else can see what’s coming next? The casting is unusual, to say the least. While they do try as best as the can, Harrington seems a little lost, Browning’s doe-eyed vulnerability seems misplaced and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as a fellow gladiator who befriends the Celt feels like a low-rent Djimon Hounsou. You really can’t help but draw comparisons there, which is unfair to Akinnuoye-Agbaje who is about the second best performer on the screen. Jared Harris and Carrie-Anne Moss do okay, but it’s Keifer Sutherland who’s obviously having a ball, completely breaking away from his Jack Bauer days. If anything, it’s worthwhile for Sutherland alone, but the volcano spewing disaster all around does make some great cinematic visuals. Then there are the few fight scenes, especially a sword fight towards the end that stands out for me. But I like that sort of thing, much like the rooftop sword fight at the end of Anderson’s The Three Musketeers. Fans of Anderson’s work may find this quite different from anything he’s done before although the visual flourishes are there, as is the staging of the action set-pieces and the focus more on the visual aspect than the acting itself (this goes all the way back to Mortal Kombat and Event Horizon). But there is the attempt at a more dramatic material than he’s usually associated with, much like what Roland Emmerich did with Anonymous. At least he’s heading back to wrap up the Resident Evil series, and dare we hope, the sequel to The Three Musketeers? Rating: **/5
0 Comments
Stars Paul Walker, Genesis Rodriguez Directed by Eric Heisserer Earlier in 2013, Paul Walker had a fairly small movie, Vehicle 19, where he spent most of the screen time alone acting against a phone. It was something of an experimental movie where the camera barely left the vehicle as the story unfolded within and around the titular vehicle. It wasn’t a great movie, but it wasn’t bad, but it did show that Walker was willing to take certain risks where acting was concerned and probably give fledgling or upcoming directors a chance. The same could be said for Hours, written and directed by Eric Heisserer. Like with Vehicle 19, we have Paul Walker carrying a majority of the movie alone within a locked off location, in this case, a hospital. Nolan Hayes (Walker) and his pregnant wife, Abigail (Genesis Rodriguez) check into a hospital just as Hurricane Katrina is about to make landfall in New Orleans. Abigail dies as she gives birth to a premature baby that has to be kept in a ventilator. As New Orleans suffers the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina, Nolan has to struggle to keep his baby alive when the power to the hospital inevitably gets cut off. That’s the gist of the whole movie. Suffice to say, Walker does deliver a solid dramatic performance that it underscores the fact he left us way too soon. The desperation of the situation comes in the form of a failing battery in the baby’s ventilator that can’t hold a charge for more than a few minutes, numbers that dwindle with each manual recharge from a hand cranked generator. The ticking clock factor works well, especially when it’s enhanced by the situation that any form of help may not turn up in a long while. Heisserer’s script does skate on thin ice, but he manages to keep pace and tension going a fair bit. There are stretches that might test the credulity of the “ticking clock”, such as the brief flashback sequences and Nolan running about to try to find some other way to help his baby. The atmosphere is not as claustrophobic as it could be but the use of light does seem to be effective enough to convey the atmosphere of the situation. Still, not great, but not bad either, and it is effective enough for the most part where these movies are concerned (see Ryan Reynolds in Buried). It is a worthy turn from Walker that would make us wonder what else we miss out on. Rating ***/5 Stars (vocally) Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Will Ferrell, Liam Neeson with Charlie Day, Jonah Hill, Cobie Smulders, Channing Tatum and Morgan Freeman Directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller Yes, it is exactly what you think it is. A huge movie length advertisement for Lego building blocks, complete with model numbers popping up on screen. But let’s just tackle it as a movie, shall we? As the song goes, “Everything is Awesome!” For the kids and Lego enthusiasts, it’s going to ring true throughout the entire running time. The movie itself has a standard hero’s journey where an ordinary ‘guy’ has to step up to save the universe as they know it. Our hero, Emmet (Chris Pratt), even has a sidekick, WildStyle (Elizabeth Banks), a roguish type partner in Batman (Will Arnett) as well as a wizened wizard type, Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman) to help him discover his inner strength along the way. Writers and directors, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs), manage to turn a huge majority of the cliches on their heads with witty dialogue and hilarious set-pieces. They play with filmic conventions, make use of various Lego models in innovative ways while ripping apart a majority of known characters. There are a majority of DC Comics characters - probably courtesy of parent production company, Warner Bros, who own the characters - and sadly, no Marvel characters to play counterpoint. It was just as much fun to have Dumbledore and Gandalf share a moment. Star Wars fans even have their moments, complete with cameos by Anthony Daniels and Billy Dee Williams. The cast is extremely game, obviously evidenced by Liam Neeson playing the Good Cop/Bad Cop - one cop with two faces and personalities, as well as playing that character’s father. Arnett delivers a pretty good Batman, supposedly a ‘master builder’ who only works with black bricks (and sometimes, very very dark grey). He even has his own song. Suffice to say, there is a ton of imagination going on screen, and the combination of stop-motion and CG animation blends fairly well together. The designs of the Lego models on display are amazing as well as the production design and the action choreography, decently utilising the 3D environments. The energy and humour is infectious although there is a moment that might be an issue to some viewers. While it might stay through to the overall idea of playing with Lego, narratively, it is a bit of a jarring moment that does shift the perspective of the overall story. Yet, at the same time, it would make complete sense within the context of the ideas, wordplay, the mixture of worlds as well as the simplicity of the story itself. In that, it make the movie utterly suitable for the entire family. Rating: 3 1/2* out of 5 Stars Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Abbie Cornish, Jackie Earle Haley, Jay Baruchel, Jennifer Ehle, Michael K Williams and Samuel L Jackson Directed by José Padilha For anyone who grew up in the 80s, the original RoboCop is a gloriously violent and heavily satirical look at a specific era in time. The movie itself is quite dated although as a ‘brand name’ it did survive well into the next century be it with the sequels through the 90s, the cartoon series, a TV series, another TV mini-series (RoboCop: Prime Directives) as well as a mini resurrection in comics. All before this new incarnation and reboot even arrived. For this new movie to succeed tho, one really has to forego the original movie and try to take this one on its own merits. Easier said than done since Basil Poledouris’ iconic theme does thump away over the opening title and (if you sit through the credits) close the movie as well. Still, composer Pedro Bromfman does utilise the theme throughout the movie. The choice of José Padilha as the director is clear. His previous action films did tackle the issue of cops and violence (the two Elite Squad movies) while having an outsider’s view of the American aesthetics that permeate throughout the story, much like with Paul Verhoeven and the original flick. There are certain touchstones between the two movies as well, not just in dialogue but some action beats.The drug factory bust being an obvious action highlight. Some of the original dialogue is cooped in different ways. The edgy satirical humour of the original is nowhere to be seen or heard. While the family aspect was done away with in the original movie, it becomes more relevant here as it is the anchor for Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) once he undergoes his transformation. Kinnaman himself delivers a decent performance, particularly fluctuating between the human and robot personas that flip during the course of the story. Although, try as he might, there seems something lacking on the human side of things, and the outfit - particularly with the headpiece in place - doesn’t help matters in terms of his performance. Still, the effort in terms of a physical performance has to be noted and can almost match to that of Peter Weller’s performance in the suit. Of course, given the technological edge the 2014 edition has, a little more flexibility is expected and excused (making way for a more CG take on the character.) Unlike with the original, the cops are not run by corporation this time so the dynamic of the overall situation is different. The political edge is focussed on drone warfare, something a little more relevant in today’s world than just corporations taking over of businesses and services. Then there’s the media aspect, which is boiled down to just a single commentary type show with one host (Samuel L Jackson) delivering a single and one-sided rhetoric on the drone warfare issue, which makes it sound like he’s sponsored by the very corporation manufacturing the drones and robots. The point isn’t driven as well as it could be though, as I said, it’s fairly one sided. The movie does well enough on its own merits but it also doesn’t help the cause of the ongoing efforts to remake such ‘classics’ of the 80s. The action beats are solid, the effects are quite stunning in some cases (like when the RoboCop armour is stripped away to reveal what is left of the man inside) and the performances are acceptable for the most part. Padilha does give us a decent balance between the drama and the action, and in doing so, delivers a solid enough movie to enjoy. Fans of the original may disagree, likely having a preference for that one. Rating: 3/5 stars Stars Aaron Eckhart, Bill Nighy, Miranda Otto, Yvonne Strahovski, Jai Courtney and Bruce Spence(!) Directed by Stuart Beattie Maybe the obvious could be stated here. This is NOT a Frankenstein movie. It does do a “Cliff Notes” version of the original fable in the opening five minutes, more to establish the character of the creature itself more than to actually tell the original tale. Anyone not familiar with the text may be asking a few questions at this point as to the creatures’ motives and general outlook on life, not that the subsequent action beat does anything except to kick off the basic plot for the whole movie. So what we have is that Frankenstein’s creature (played gamely by Aaron Eckhart) being caught in the middle of a supernatural war between demons and gargoyles - who occasionally look like stone angels. Apparently, the demons want the creature for reasons explained later in the movie. After learning about the situation he’s in from the Gargoyle Queen (Miranda Otto), who also names him “Adam”, the creature decides it’s none of his business and prefers to be left alone. He does grab a couple of fighting sticks and leaves, but those pesky demons just won’t leave him alone. In any case, up to 200 years pass and he gets pretty handy handling those heavy metal batons in dispatching the occasional demon, and decides enough is enough, time to take the fight to them here in the present day (convenient). Now, really, what were you expecting from a movie that’s advertised as “From the producers of Underworld” coming out in the seasonal dumping ground that had the likes of Underworld, Priest and Legion, not to mention Outlander? For me, it’s exactly what I expected to be, so maybe I wasn’t as entirely disappointed as many others (it would seem, based on the slew of negative reviews I’ve read thus far). Perhaps the cast list would have elicited some higher expectations. After all, Eckhart isn’t really someone one would expect to play Frankenstein’s creature. Miranda Otto has been in some respectable films and then there’s Bill Nighy who hardly disappoints. Then again, Nighy does flit about various projects from high profile stuff like playing Davy Jones in the Pirates Of The Caribbean sequels and appearing in the Harry Potter movies, but he’s also played the vampire king in the Underworld saga. As for Eckhart… maybe he wanted a comic book franchise of his own after appearing (and dying) in Christopher Nolan’s Batman series. Too bad he doesn’t have more range to play with beyond brood, look angry or annoyed and basically punch things. And yes, I, Frankenstein is based on a comic book, and it plays its sensibilities straight out of the graphic novel. The movie is very much a comic book come to life in a decent way, not as a spectacular adaptation, like the Marvel movies for example. This is basically a “time waster”, something you’d catch on cable / satellite TV if you notice it while channel surfing. You might wish it dared to do something more, but perhaps it’s the lack of human characters to empathise with. One might find it odd that aside from Yvonne Strahovski’s very human and young-ish scientist trying to replicate Dr. Frankenstien’s original experiment, and her dispensable assistant, there aren’t any or many humans around. Even with the bombastic, destructive, almost epic-feel finale, there isn’t a human cost - which was fine. The human perspective in such movies tend to cause more problems (see Green Lantern, which really should have stayed in space once Hal got to Oa) than simply provide a window into the supernatural world. At least it had one really cool stick fighting (kali, maybe eskrima) sequence which is such a rare thing to see in films. That really grabbed my attention. Otherwise, approach with caution. Rating: ** 1/2 /5 |
Archives
December 2017
|