Stars Sullivan Stapleton, Charlie Bewley, Diarmaid Murtagh, Clemens Schick, Joshua Henry, with Ewen Bremner and JK Simmons Directed by Steven Quale It must this summer's theme as here we have another heist film, at least, in spirit. There's a horde of Nazi gold in a very secure place and this elite team of soldiers, Navy SEALS to be precise, decide to undertake this task of covertly retrieving the gold for altruistic purposes. Naturally, there is some form of resistance. Set during the Bosnian conflict, the SEAL team led by Matt Barnes (Sullivan Stapleton of TV's StrikeBack and Blindspot) decide to help a local obtain the gold for her humanitarian organisation in order to rebuild her country. Due to their previous mission where they had to 'kidnap' an enemy general, the rest of that general's men are also after them, and to solve this little problem, Rear Admiral Levin (JK Simmons) has ordered them home. This leaves the team a few days to pull off the retrieval from a vault located in a submerged village at the bottom of a lake. So going through the motions is planning the 'heist, recruiting whoever is necessary for assistance, obtaining the gear and dodging their commander before the proper heist begins. Therein lies the fun as the push and pull among the team work the problems and deal with the logistics of their covert mission come into play. The characters are mostly a colourful bunch with JK Simmons bringing the laughs as the tough, no-nonsense Admiral. Stapleton channels a lighter persona here compared to his other TV characters, but delivers with the action when called upon. The mix of characters help, although some may be viewed as cliches. Director Steven Quale, who previously helmed the disaster flick Into The Storm, handles the dramatics and the action fairly well, given that he's cut his teeth under one James Cameron. That probably also helps with the extensive under-water scenes that are beautifully filmed here. Still, coming from Luc Besson's EuropaCorp production line (the likes of Taken, 3 Days to Kill, From Paris with Love, and so many more action flicks), this is an entertaining and fun bit of escapism. Rating: ***/5 Find the best online deals here. | Barnes and Noble | Google Play Store | Book Depository Discover more about the books here. Please Support.
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Stars Dylan O’Brien, Michael Keaton, Sanaa Lathan, Taylor Kitsch, Shiva Negar, with Scott Adkins and David Suchet Directed by Michael Cuesta This might be some attempt at making an American James Bond like franchise, what with the 15+ books featuring Mitch Rapp as source material This origin story is was the 11th book and the fact that the books is a source material shines through in the pacing of the movie and the flow of the story. But that’s not really a fault against the movie. The movie open with Mitch (Dylan O’Brien) proposing to his girlfriend on a beach, who in no time is shot down in a terrorist attack. We skip 18 months later and Mitch has managed to train himself in MMA and firearms to highly proficient levels all the while infiltrating the same terrorist group responsible for his girlfriend’s death. Talk about commitment. When his opportunity for revenge is taken away by the intervention of the CIA, Mitch is given the opportunity to train up properly with Stan Hurley (Michael Keaton) as part of a covert team. In the meantime, there’s a little problem with some weapons-grade Russian plutonium going missing. And that’s when things really get cooking. Performance-wise, O’Brien manages to play Rapp with a stoic determination, almost an emotionless killing machines that any military unit would love to have. Whether that works for you as a viewer will have to be a personal choice. Keaton brings a little more as the no-nonsense Hurley, the kind of tough guy you hope Rapp would be, but as a noble act, they do well in their scenes together. Then we have Taylor Kitsch pulling bad-guy duties, and doing fairly well. Michael Cuesta last delivered the very solid drama Kill The Messenger, and he manages the drama here well enough, relying more on the music to underscore the scenes. His handle on the action is fairly solid too with great assist from the legendary Vic Armstrong to deliver some tight and engaging action beats be it fights or chases. The delicate balance between the two aspects however leaves something to be desired, particularly the pacing. While it is clear that certain beats have to be hit where the plot is concerned, the drama and the action are somehow separated and detached from each other, particularly with the major high-stakes set-piece towards the end. It is clear that there were some pre-production problems going on just from the story structure alone. Ultimately, the movie manages to hold itself together and deliver a reasonably entertaining time-waster, and perhaps the sequels, if any, may fair better now that the teething problems are out of the way. Rating *** /5 Find the best online deals here. | Barnes and Noble | Google Play Store | Book Depository Discover more about the books here. Please Support. Stars Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Riley Keough, Katie Holmes with Katherine Waterston and Daniel Craig Directed by Steven Soderbergh Steven Soderbergh returns to the big screen with another heist film that crackles with some great performances from unexpected places, particularly one James Bond in particular, Daniel Craig. While the first half - that being the set-up - leaves something a little more to be desired given its pacing of going through the motions to set things up, the pay off is tons of fun once the heist gets going. It starts when Jimmy (Channing Tatum) loses his job due to the company’s fear of liability, and his ex-wife (Katie Holmes) informs him her new husband will be shifting his business to another state. It means he’ll see less of his daughter, Sadie (Farrah Mackenzie), but getting a lawyer to fight this would mean having money he doesn’t have. He ropes in his brother Clyde (Adam Driver) into a plan to rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway with the assistance of the incarcerated Joe Bang (Daniel Craig). While Bang points out that neither Jimmy nor Clyde appear to have the intelligence to actually pull off a heist, the plan seems simple enough to execute with some additional assistance. Of course you want to root for this bunch of misfits and oddballs thrown together with a few additional peripheral characters there (Seth McFarlane, Sebastian Stan, Katherine Waterston) to muddy the waters. The performances are solid with barely a bum note with Craig (being ‘introduced’ in the credits) showing off some remarkable comic timing and snarky tones, an utter far cry from the suave James Bond he’s probably become known for. Seth MacFarlane also shines through the crazy wig and moustache, continuing to prove he’s more than the voices of his cartoon characters (not that many take him that seriously; just look at the critical reviews of his new TV show, The Orville). Soderbergh handles everything else as deftly as he’s done, from the family drama to the little quirky bits of humour peppered throughout the movie, keeping the pace moving along and not letting it dwell too long on the maudlin. The entertainment level is high and the payoff is quite satisfying for this kind of heist, even when the Soderbergh brings in another major star at the last minute for the inevitable final act investigation bit. For some, it may not be the action-packed robbery one might desire, but this is very much what one would expect from Soderbergh and his stars, pure and solid entertainment. Rating: ***1/2 / 5 Find the best online deals here. | Barnes and Noble | Google Play Store | Book Depository Discover more about the books here. Please Support. Stars Ryan Reynolds, Samuel Jackson, Elodie Yang, Salma Hayek with Gary Oldman, Joaquim de Almeida, and Richard E Grant Directed by Patrick Hughes The movie’s conceit is in itself something of a gimmick. How or why does a hitman need a bodyguard? Well, what we end up with is a wannabe Midnight Run, complete with a nice little twangy electric guitar permeating through the second half of the movie, seemingly riffing on Danny Elfman’s score. Ryan Reynolds is the straight guy here, a professional bodyguard named Micheal Bryce, whose career has hit the skids when one of his clients was assassinated. Samuel L Jackson is the hyper-talkative hitman, Darius Kincaid, already in custody and is supposed to be taken to The Hague to testify against a ruthless despotic ruler, Vladislav Dukhovich (Gary Oldman). So that’s how the set-up works. When Interpol’s own officers get taken out in an ambush directed at Kincaid, Bryce gets called in by his ex-girlfriend (Elodie Yang) to deliver Kincaid to the Hague from London. Cue the shenanigans Director Patrick Hughes made the fairly excellent Red Hill before the adequately testosterone laden The Expendables 3. He continues to mange the action set-pieces here with some skill, delivering some solid chases throughout the film, a highlight being the Amsterdam sequence involving cars, motorcycle, and a speedboat. Hughes seems to also have a handle on his cast, although it may seem that corralling the likes of Reynolds and Jackson might be quite a task; they really seem to run riot and have fun with their roles. Still, the movie predictably entertains and the characters are what they are be it cliches or caricatures. It falls into the typical mismatched buddy comedy that we got lots of in the mid 80s, which also goes to say that if you want a really good version of this movie, go for Midnight Run. Otherwise, you’d be checking this out as a fan of either Reynolds or Jackson, or if you just want some time-killing entertaining action. Rating: **1/2 / 5 Find the best online deals here. | Barnes and Noble | Google Play Store | Book Depository Discover more about the books here. Please Support. |
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