Atomic Blonde (2017)
DIRECTOR: David Leitch
CAST: Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, Sofia Boutella, John Goodman, Toby Jones, Eddie Marsan, Til Schweiger, Bill Skarsgard, Roland Moller
REVIEW:
Atomic Blonde plays out like a blend of the convoluted, labyrinthine Cold War intrigue of a John Le Carre novel with the kinetic action of a Jason Bourne movie, but the level of style and panache director David Leitch brings to the material, and the entertainment value of Charlize Theron kicking ass and looking stylish while doing it can’t quite make up for a murky, muddled plotline that’s difficult to follow. Continue reading
Blood Father (2016)
DIRECTOR: Jean-Francois Richet
CAST: Mel Gibson, Erin Moriarty, Diego Luna, William H. Macy, Michael Parks
REVIEW:
One suspects this gritty but generic action thriller would have been direct-to-video if not for the presence of Mel Gibson, but while Blood Father is an unexceptional, sporadically involving Taken variation that never really rises above its B movie level, it provides an adequately diverting entry in its genre for those who have eighty-eight minutes to kill and aren’t too demanding. Continue reading
Criminal (2016)
DIRECTOR: Ariel Vromen
CAST: Kevin Costner, Gal Gadot, Gary Oldman, Tommy Lee Jones, Jordi Molla, Antje Traue, Alice Eve, Michael Pitt, Ryan Reynolds
REVIEW:
Criminal uses a ridiculous premise as a launching pad for a generic action flick that generates neither interest nor excitement, at least not in more than fleeting spurts. For a movie that often apes the Jason Bourne series, with a sci-fi twist thrown in, Criminal offers none of the compulsive entertainment value. Continue reading
London Has Fallen (2016)
DIRECTOR: Babak Najafi
CAST: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Charlotte Riley, Radha Mitchell, Melissa Leo, Robert Forster, Jackie Earle Haley, Alon Aboutboul, Waleed Zuaiter
REVIEW:
2013’s Olympus Has Fallen wasn’t any kind of great movie, but it was a surprisingly enjoyable Die Hard knock-off with enough hardcore action to satisfy fans of the genre. But while an entertaining enough diversion, it wasn’t a movie that particularly cried out for a sequel, and London Has Fallen has the hallmarks of a sequel that was slapped together because the original did well at the box office, not because the filmmakers (with Antoine Fuqua replaced in the director’s chair by Babak Najafi) had any fresh or innovative ideas. London Has Fallen is tired and generic with a low energy level. For undemanding, mindless diversion, it might still be adequate, but those seeking those qualities would be better-served just re-watching the first one (or better yet, the granddaddy of them all, the original Die Hard). Continue reading
Spectre (2015)
DIRECTOR: Sam Mendes
CAST: Daniel Craig, Lea Seydoux, Christoph Waltz, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Dave Bautista, Andrew Scott, Monica Bellucci, Rory Kinnear, Jesper Christensen
REVIEW:
After taking iconic super spy James Bond back to the nitty, gritty basics in 2006’s Casino Royale and 2008’s Quantum of Solace, the “new” rebooted 007 film series slowly worked familiar Bond ingredients (Q, Moneypenney, the Aston Martin, more liberal use of the Bond theme) back into the mix with 2012’s Skyfall, and now with Spectre, director Sam Mendes and star Daniel Craig, reuniting from Skyfall, have brought Craig’s Bond full circle with his most “traditional” outing yet. Of Craig’s four Bond films, Spectre has the most “classic Bond” feel, but admittedly part of the strength of Casino Royale and Skyfall was that they eschewed the conventional Bond formula, or at least used it with restraint. Spectre is entertaining, but it lacks the freshness of Casino Royale and the emotional depth of Skyfall. In resurrecting the shadowy global domination organization Spectre, last seen as a recurring villain in Sean Connery’s Bond films of the ’60s, the “classic Bond” pieces have nearly all clicked into place, but the movie lacks a certain spark. There’s a by-the-numbers feel here that makes Spectre an entertaining Bond adventure but, unlike Casino Royale and Skyfall, not one that transcends the genre. Continue reading
Terminator: Genisys (2015)
DIRECTOR: Alan Taylor
CAST: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jai Courtney, Emilia Clarke, Jason Clarke, J.K. Simmons, Matt Smith, Byung-hun Lee
REVIEW:
WARNING: THIS REVIEW WILL REVEAL “SPOILERS” OF THE FILM’S PLOT
Much like several other once-mighty film franchises from the 1980s and 1990s, including the Alien and Predator series, the Terminator just doesn’t know when to quit. 1984’s The Terminator was a solid launching pad, and 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day, like its predecessor helmed by James Cameron, stands to this day as one of the best sci-fi action thrillers ever made, and represented the franchise at its peak. Unfortunately, like Alien, everything was downhill after #2. Cameron’s two installments told a self-contained story with a beginning and end. Cameron moved on and Hollywood should have too, but as is so often the case, a property is never left well enough alone when studios smell profits to be made from an iconic brand name. 2003’s Rise of the Machines was serviceable diverting action entertainment but a marked step down, and 2009’s Terminator: Salvation was a superfluous side tangent to nowhere, and now in 2015, just when most people probably thought they’d heard the last of Terminators, the intrepid Connor clan, Judgment Day, and Skynet, Genisys has come along and attempted to bring things full circle by hearkening back to the glory days of the first two episodes. Unfortunately, despite all its playing on nostalgia and callbacks, Genisys does not represent a return to form. In fact, it’s a muddled and convoluted episode, marred by bad casting and questionable narrative choices, and comes across like mediocre fanfiction. “Ah-nuld” may once again utter the words “I’ll be back”, but neither he nor the film makes that an exciting prospect.
Taken 3 (2015)
DIRECTOR: Olivier Megaton
CAST: Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker, Maggie Grace, Dougray Scott, Famke Janssen, Leland Orser, Sam Spruell
REVIEW:
WARNING: THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN “SPOILERS”
Taken 3 is what might be expected from an unnecessary sequel in a mediocre action franchise that arguably never needed sequels to begin with. 2009’s Taken was the best of these movies—and even then, it wasn’t that great—with each follow-up offering diminishing returns on the modest premise, and now #3 (directed like its 2012 immediate predecessor by original helmer Luc Besson’s protege Olivier Megaton, while Besson remains credited as a co-writer and producer) is the least of the three. Devotees of this series, or those simply looking for a fleeting diversion, might find it distracting enough to hold their cursory attention for a couple hours, but it’s a generic and forgettable action flick that offers nothing memorable.
Continue readingJack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)
DIRECTOR: Kenneth Branagh
CAST: Chris Pine, Keira Knightley, Kevin Costner, Kenneth Branagh
REVIEW:
Has any film character, apart from the continually recast James Bond, been rebooted as many times as Jack Ryan? Originating in Tom Clancy’s Cold War international espionage novels and then played onscreen first by Alec Baldwin, then Harrison Ford, the CIA operative was rebooted as a fledgling new recruit—and transported into the present day—with 2002’s The Sum of All Fears, where he was played by Ben Affleck, and now he’s been rebooted all over again, with Shadow Recruit doing what Casino Royale did for James Bond and starting the character completely fresh with no connection to the previous films. Clearly Kenneth Branagh and the studio is hoping for Shadow Recruit to be more successful at kickstarting a new Jack Ryan franchise than the previous attempt at a reboot, The Sum of All Fears, which spawned no sequels, but only time will tell. Clancy fans might grumble about Ryan being removed from his Cold War origins, but taken on its own terms, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is a smoothly diverting action thriller that represents a worthy fresh start for the long-running character. Continue reading
Olympus Has Fallen (2013)
DIRECTOR: Antoine Fuqua
CAST: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Rick Yune, Dylan McDermott, Morgan Freeman, Melissa Leo, Radha Mitchell, Angela Bassett, Robert Forster, Cole Hauser, Finley Jacobsen, Ashley Judd
REVIEW:
Olympus Has Fallen isn’t up to the level of the original Die Hard, but together with Air Force One, it’s one of the better “Die Hard-style” action movies that have come out over the years. In fact, it’s a better pseudo Die Hard movie than the fourth Die Hard. Kinetic action sequences and a high violence quotient set this one above the lesser wannabes. It’s not great filmmaking, but it’s serviceable high-stakes hardcore action that serves up a couple hours of diverting entertainment. Continue reading
Elysium (2013)
DIRECTOR: Neill Blomkamp
CAST: Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, Diego Luna, Wagner Moura, William Fichtner, Faran Tahir
REVIEW:
Elysium is a tense, engaging sci-fi action thriller with an intriguing premise that’s good for almost two hours of entertaining escapism, but it’s also a film that wets the appetite while leaving us wanting more. Continue reading