3 Days to Kill

Posted on February 20, 2014 at 6:00 pm

Kevin Costner is back, big time, with five scheduled releases this year. It’s only February, and this is his second big spies-and-shoot-outs action film of 2014, following Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. This one, from writer Luc Besson and director McG (“Charlie’s Angels”) seems inspired by Liam Neeson’s annual series of middle-aged action films (“Taken,” “Taken 2,” next week’s “Non-Stop”). This will not go down as an especially memorable entry in the filmography of Costner or Besson, but it is a big improvement over Besson’s previous middle-aged star action film, From Paris With Love, with John Travolta, also set in Paris. Costner reminds us why he is a movie star with ease and likability that is a perfect on-screen match for Besson’s trademark mash-up of intense action, gooey sentiment, and goofy comedy.

Costner plays Ethan Renner, a long-time CIA operative. He is not a spy. He is an assassin. He is sent in to kill people, presumably bad guys, and he is very good at it. But when we meet him chasing after a bad guy known as “the albino” and clearly not feeling well. It turns out he has cancer. A doctor tells him to get his affairs in order and crisply thanks him for his service to the CIA.

Ethan returns to his apartment, where a large family of sweet-natured squatters from Africa have moved in and repainted his bedroom. Under the law, squatters cannot be evicted until spring, plus one of them is a young pregnant woman, so he lets them stay. Ethan contacts his estranged-but-n0t-divorced wife, Christine (Connie Nielsen) and his teenaged daughter, Zoey (Halliee Steinfeld) to spend time with them while he can. And then Vivi (Amber Heard), a CIA operative who dresses like Lady Gaga, makes him an offer he can’t refuse. If Ethan will take one last job, she will give him an experimental drug that could cure his cancer and give him more time.

Ethan races around Paris, alternately torturing the director of a high-end limo service to get information about the whereabouts of The Albino’s accountant and asking him for parenting tips, giving his daughter lessons in bike-riding and, with the help of that accountant, a recipe for spaghetti sauce, hallucinating due to the effects of the experimental drug and swigging vodka as an antidote, and doing some very bad things to some very bad guys. A lot of it makes no sense, but let’s face it, that’s not why we’re here.

Parents should know that this film has extensive spy-style action peril and violence. A character is an assassin and many other characters are injured and killed with guns, chases, explosions, fights, some disturbing images, mortal illness, drinking, smoking, drugs, some nudity and suggestive dancing, non-explicit childbirth scene, and some strong language.

Family discussion: Is Ethan a good dad? How did the theme of fatherhood come up in different ways throughout this film?

If you like this, try: “The Professional” and “The Transporter”

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Pompeii

Posted on February 20, 2014 at 6:00 pm

In 79 AD Mount Vesuvius erupted, wiping out the city of Pompeii. Director Paul W.S. Anderson, who gave us movie versions of “Resident Evil” and “Mortal Kombat,” presents the story as a video game. If what you are looking for is special effects and well-staged action, or even buff bodies, you’re all set. But those who are looking for history, meaningful drama, character development, or good dialog — well, they weren’t paying attention a moment ago when I mentioned the director of game console-to-movie theater movies and Paul W.S. Anderson. It is basically “The Legend of Hercules” with a volcano.

“Game of Thrones'” Kit Harington plays Milo, who as a child saw his entire community brutally slaughtered by the vicious and corrupt Roman soldier Corvus (an imperious Kiefer Sutherland). Milo escaped by hiding in a pile of dead bodies. He is later captured and sold into slavery, where his outstanding fighting skills bring him to the attention of a purveyor of gladiator battle-to-the-death entertainment. He travels to the big city of Pompeii to compete in the arena there. Along the way, he sees a beautiful young woman named Cassia (Emily Browning) and he impresses her by putting her injured horse out of its misery. Cassia is returning to her parents (Jared Harris and Carrie-Ann Moss) after a visit to Rome, where she attracted the attention of Corvus, now a high-ranking Senator. But Milo has attracted her attention. In an example of dialog that could have come out of a middle school slam book, a character says, “I never saw you look at any man the way you looked at that slave.”

Milo is set to fight the enormous and powerful Atticus (“Thor’s” Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), who can earn not just his life but his freedom with one more win in the arena. They end up forming an alliance like that of Kirk Douglas and Woody Strode in the classic “Spartacus.” Meanwhile Corvus is attempting to extort Cassia’s hand in marriage from her father, who needs the support of Rome for his building project.

And all of this is about to be trumped by a nearby mountain and some seismic movement of the earth. There are huge sinkholes and then there is an ocean of burning lava and chokingly thick ash. Every element of the lives of the Pompeiians is turned upside down as all societal restrictions are removed and all anyone wants to do is stay alive. Well, you’d think that, but unfortunately the storylines that have already more than overstayed their welcome drag on, interfering with what we really want to see — the special effects — and jettisoning any possible remaining legitimacy of the plot.

Harington is very good as Milo and he and the excellent Akinnuoye-Agbaje make the fight scenes exciting and compelling. Sutherland has a nice sneer (I could not help remembering his bully in “Stand By Me.”) The special effects, especially in 3D, are impressive. But the movie is dragged down by its cheesy storyline.

This is not the first movie version of the story of Pompeii and it will not be the last. Pliny the Younger’s eyewitness description of what happened when the volcano erupted excerpted in the opening moments of the film, is still more vivid and powerful than any version yet put on screen.

You might hear the Shrieks of Women, the Cries of Children, the Noise of Men: Some called aloud for their Parents, some for their Husbands, and knew them only by their Voices; some bewailed their own Share in the Calamity; and others that of their Neighbours; some wished for Death from the Fear of Dying; many lifted up their Hands to Heaven; a Multitude disbelieved all the Gods, and looked upon the Time to be the last eternal Night, that has been prophesied. Some improved the real Dangers by feigned and imaginary Fears; others gave it out, that this House at Misenum was fallen, that was burnt; both falsely, but they met with Believers. A Glimpse of Light appeared, that did not show us the Return of Day, but the Approach of the Fire that threatened us: The Fire indeed, stood at a Distance; then the Darkness revived, and after that, a plentiful Shower of Ashes and Cinders: We rose up now and then and shook them off, otherwise we should have been covered and oppressed with the Weight of them. I could boast, that neither a Sigh, nor a complaining Expression dropped from me in the midst of these Alarms; but I was supported by this Consolation, not very Reasonable indeed, but natural enough, to think that all the World perished with me.

Parents should know that this film has extensive sword and sandal-era violence including the slaughter of a village, a child seeing his parents get killed, a horse put down, and many gladiator fighting scenes with many characters injured and killed. Also, natural disaster violence destroys an entire city with some disturbing images and there is a brief sexual situation (slaves as prostitutes) and reference to a brothel.

Family discussion: Why didn’t Milo want to say his name? What kind of culture finds gladiator fighting entertaining?

If you like this, try: read up on the real history of Pompeii and watch classics like “Gladiator,” “Ben Hur” and “Spartacus”

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Posted on January 16, 2014 at 6:01 pm

There are three conclusions to draw from this reboot of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan character. First, it plays like an infomercial for NSA access to, well, pretty much everything. Second, no matter how attractive the actors and how thrilling the score, there is no way to make it exciting to watch someone banging on a keyboard and staring intently at a computer screen as the “loading” indicator creeps along. Third, when spy movies run out of other ideas, they conclude that the fate of the United States and the rest of the world is not enough to hold our attention, so it must be time to kidnap the hero’s girlfriend.

Chris Pine (“Star Trek’s” Captain Kirk) takes over the role of Jack Ryan from Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, and Ben Affleck to play Tom Clancy’s egghead action hero, Jack Ryan, PhD. Bringing him up to date, we see him as a student at the London School of Economics, helplessly watching the terrorist attack of 9/11 on television, then enlisting in the Marines, being shot down, saving two of his men despite the gravest of injuries, and then, in rehab to learn to walk again, meeting two people who will change his life. One is Cathy, a pretty med student (Keira Knightly, with an American accent). The other is a guy in a suit named Harper who recruits Ryan to work for the CIA, deep undercover…on Wall Street. I really liked the idea that the government would recognize the threat to national security from the too big to fail financial institutions, but it turns out that isn’t it. Ryan was sent to Wall Street to spy on the same old bad guys we always spy on, Russians, this time trying to manipulate our financial markets.

Director Kenneth Branagh’s biggest mistake was in the casting of the villain: Kenneth Branagh. We know he’s evil because he has a sleek, spare, shiny black office and he sits there grimly, listening to an ethereal aria and beating up a guy who was clumsy in giving him a shot. Branagh seems to enjoy playing bad guys — most recently in “The Wild Wild West,” “Rabbit-Proof Fence,” and “Pirate Radio.” He’s better at playing the uptight bureaucratic type (or the self-important type as he did in “My Week with Marilyn”) than the larger-than-life bad guy needed for a Bond-style film. In fairness, the screenplay, originally written as a stand-alone and then adapted for the Jack Ryan character, lacks the Tom Clancy magic that makes his stories so absorbing, the authenticity of the technological details and the depth of character. Compare this pallid Russian bad guy and his generic compatriots to the superbly crafted, complex Soviet characters in “The Hunt for Red October,” from Sean Connery’s captain to Joss Ackland’s diplomat. The other big problem is the increasing ridiculousness of the storyline. The United States has such a crackerjack team in Moscow that we can send in the espionage equivalent of magic elves to secretly remake a luxury hotel room that has been shattered in a shoot-out/fight/drowning so that in less than a couple of hours it is like new, with just a little wet grout (and of course the removal of the dead body) to show that anything had been changed. And yet, when they need to do the one thing any spy team should learn on day one, breaking into a secure location, the only one who can do it is our boy Jack, the PhD from Wall Street? Once the break-in takes place, it just gets silly, with a lot of intent people banging on keyboards and getting instant access to thousands of data sources and a series of increasingly implausible bang bang with even less plausible banter. Ryan is the increasingly implausible Swiss Army knife of superspies, equally adept at hand-to-hand combat, stunt driving, and hacking.

You’ve got to grade January releases on a curve, and by that standard, it barely passes muster. In any other month, it would be strictly wait for DVD.

Parents should know that this film includes extensive scenes of spy-style peril and violence including chases, crashes, and explosions, guns, knives, drowning, fights, and terrorism, references to painkiller dependency and abuse and alcohol abuse, and brief strong language.

Family discussion: Does this make you feel differently about how much access the government should have to private data? What qualities make a good spy?

If you like this, try: the other Jack Ryan movies, especially “The Hunt for Red October,” and Alfred Hitchcock’s “Torn Curtain”

The Legend of Hercules

Posted on January 9, 2014 at 11:20 pm

Director Renny Harlin has made a Hercules epic with drab, washed-out cinematography, poorly staged action scenes, incompetent acting, bad hair, terrible computer effects, and dialogue that lands more heavily than the title character’s punch. Even at just over 90 minutes it feels much too long. Harlin is way too fond of halting the acting with a slo-mo pause or freeze frame. By the last half hour it was worse than repetitive; it was an infuriating tactic for prolonging the end of the film. Talk about adding insult to injury.

In the first of two 3D Hercules movies scheduled for 2014, “Twilight” hottie Kellan Lutz plays the legendary strong man. Instead of sticking with the perfectly good Labors of Hercules storyline that has captivated audiences for thousands of years, this movie goes straight for the generic sword and sandal epic — there’s the Tessarakonteres with galley slaves whipped to row harder, the battle scenes with soldiers wielding swords and shields, the combat to the death in an arena with thousands of the least persuasive computer-generated audience members ever. There’s some argle bargle about whether our hero will accept his destiny and there’s a love story. There’s even, heaven help us, a going into battle pep talk so beyond Lutz’s capacity that he sounds less like a demigod than like he’s ordering a round of beers for the fellows.

Hercules is the son of Queen Alcmene and Zeus, the leader of the gods. Alcmene has already had a son with her husband, the cruel despot King Amphitryon (Scott Adkins). She prays to Hera for help, and the goddess gives her permission for her husband, Zeus, to give Alcmene another son, who will be half-god and will bring peace back to the kingdom. Amphitryon knows the boy is not his.

We skip ahead 20 years to see Hercules (Lutz) frolicking with the beautiful blonde Princess Hebe (Gaia Weiss). They are in love, but she is pledged to his angry and jealous half-brother, the heir to the throne. Soon, Hercules is sent away on a mission that will turn out to be a trap. He is taken prisoner, sold into slavery, and forced into gladiator-style combat to the death.

The actors were cast for their muscles and fighting skills rather than their acting. That would not be so bad except that they are called upon to spout clunky dialogue in fake — and highly variable — English theater-style accents. But what really takes all the air out of this balloon is its very premise. If Hercules has super-powers and the protection of his Olympian father, it dissipates any dramatic tension or sense of genuine peril. And when the crowd goes wild and starts yelling “Hercules! Hercules!” it is impossible not to think of Eddie Murphy, and wish he would show up to pick up the pace.

Parents should know that this movie includes sword and sandal-style epic action with a extensive fighting and battles, characters injured and killed, also murder and attempted suicide, sexual situation and some sexual references.

Family discussion: Why did Hercules resist his destiny? Why did he give up his special powers for the final battle?

If you like this, try: the original “Clash of the Titans” and Russell Crowe’s “Gladiator”

Contest: Journey to a Christmas Star

Posted on December 21, 2013 at 2:17 pm

Norway’s most beloved Christmas story is directed by Academy Award nominee Nils Gaup. It is the story of a courageous girl who sets out on a hazardous journey across a gorgeous winter wonderland to find the Christmas Star in order to free the kingdom from a curse and bring back a long lost princess. She makes some friends along the way, including Father Christmas, but some mighty foes try to stop her.

I have a copy to give away! Send me an email at moviemom@moviemom.com with Star in the subject line and tell me your favorite star or constellation. Don’t forget your address! (US addresses only). I’ll pick a winner at random on December 31, 2013. Good luck!