Tag: Idris Elba

Movie Review – ‘Hobbs & Shaw’ – #FAMILY First

Directed by David Leitch
Written by Chris Morgan (story and screenplay) and Drew Pearce (screenplay), based on characters created by Gary Scott Thompson
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby, Eiza González, Eddie Marsan, Helen Mirren, Cliff Curtis, Eliana Sua, Lori Pelenise Tuisano, Joe ‘Roman Reigns’ Anoa’i, Josh Mauga, John Tui
Soundtrack: Tyler Bates

So, the franchise of crazy big heist/street racing movies that began with a simple Point Break-with-cars premise that revolved around stealing DVD players is now getting spin-offs?

You know what? I’m fine with that.

After Furious 7, I really didn’t need another full-blown Fast & Furious movie, but we got Fast 8 anyway, which in the end was passable, but I’ll probably never watch it again.

Hobbs & Shaw, on the other hand, while it has some problems, never took me to a place where I said, “You know, I think I’m done with this.” I know that sounds like a back-handed compliment, but, after Fast 8, I really just needed something that was consistently fun, which Hobbs & Shaw delivers (sort of like Solo following the frustrations of Rogue One and The Last Jedi).

As you might glean from the title, this movie is essentially Tango & Cash on steroids, with a good bit of classic James Bond/modern Mission: Impossible mixed in for good measure (not too surprising given writer Drew Pearce worked on Rogue Nation).

Its only real downfall is twofold: some ham-fisted messaging about teamwork, and its length (which is ballooned by some cameos that are fine unto themselves, but questionable as to whether they needed to make the final cut). As much as I love Fast Five, it also set the precedent that these movies all need to be 130 minutes long, which they don’t, but Hobbs & Shaw leans into that anyway (in contrast, Tango & Cash clocks in at a comparatively lean 104 minutes).

Still, by and large, Hobbs & Shaw is reasonably well-executed and a lot of fun, no doubt because of the chases and explosions and punching (I mean, that’s why we’re here), but also thanks to the lead performances. The Rock and Jason Statham are everything we’ve come to expect from them (some of the quipping is a bit much, but forgivable), but the true savior of the film is Vanessa Kirby, who’s smart, charming, and properly humorous when necessary (like what I think Captain Marvel was going for, but failed), but also handles the action surprisingly well (a la Colin Firth in Kingsman).

Not a life-changing film by any stretch, but if you need an action fix that isn’t just all headshots all the time, it’ll do just fine.

Rating: ★★★½ (out of five)

Movie Review – ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ – The Gang’s All Here

Directed by Anthony Russo & Joe Russo

Written by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely (screenplay), based on the comic book story by Jim Starlin, George Pérez, & Ron Lim, based on characters created by Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby, Joe Simon, and Jim Starlin

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Don Cheadle, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Tom Hiddleston, Idris Elba, Peter Dinklage, Benedict Wong, Pom Klementieff, Karen Gillan, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Gwyneth Paltrow, Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Chris Pratt, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Jacob Batalon, Isabella Amara, Florence Kasumba, William Hurt, Terry Notary, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Carrie Coon, Michael James Shaw

Soundtrack: Alan Silvestri

It all comes down to this.

(Until Ant-Man and the Wasp comes out in ten weeks, which I’m actually more hyped for, but whatever.)

Eighteen movies in ten years have all been building up to the conflict to end all conflicts (until the next one).

The Infinity War.

So, what do we got?

Well…that kind of depends on the question.

As far as its purpose, which is the joining together of multiple sub-franchises to form, more or less, a single, cohesive story, I think this film does an admirable job of hammering the puzzle pieces together, but it’s not seamless enough to transcend the limitations of adapting one medium to another.

To put it another way, there’s very little about Infinity War that’s bad on its own; pretty much every scene unto itself works just fine, but I don’t think it cuts together well.  Frankly, I found the whole thing rather overwhelming (perhaps a second look would be worthwhile, but I’m not sure).

One big problem is that the audience is expected to carry too much into the movie (metaphorically speaking).  I’ve seen every MCU film, I assume most people who are going opening weekend have as well, but most of the emotional payoffs in Infinity War rely on you to remember why they’re important, and, as good a memory as I have, I just don’t have that kind of RAM for this, and as such a lot of the emotion of the movie fell flat for me (not to mention there haven’t been many real consequences in the MCU to this point, so…yeah, I’ll just leave it there).

Second, and I know I’ll be in the minority here because it’s the point of all of this for a lot of people, but there’s too much mind-numbing action, which I don’t normally find myself saying about these films.  I like action fine, I can even enjoy nonstop action when it’s done right, but let me ask you this:

If two CG characters are fighting each other, why does the camera need to shake so much?

One positive I will mention, because I didn’t hate this movie and want to end on a good note, I actually liked Thanos as a character.  Sure, he’s a villain who must be stopped, but at least he has an ethos and isn’t just another bitter revenge dude.

Other than that, hardcore fans will probably eat this one up, but I’m not convinced it has that much staying power for general audiences.  Check it out if you want, especially if you’re pot committed to the MCU, but don’t feel bad about seeing it at a discount.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

P.S.
Shoutout to Alamo/Mondo for the swag.

Movie Review – ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ – Kiwi Fried Goodness


Directed by Taika Waititi
Written by Eric Pearson and Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost, based on the comics by Stan Lee & Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Hopkins, Benedict Cumberbatch, Taika Waititi (voice), Rachel House, Clancy Brown (voice), Tadanobu Asano, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Luke Hemsworth, Sam Neill, Cohen Holloway, Matt Damon
Soundtrack: Mark Mothersbaugh

To be honest, I’m a bit superhero-ed out right now.  I don’t think I’ll be able to get up for Justice League, or Black Panther, but I’ve got just enough in the tank to be excited for this, because it’s a known fact that the Marvel Cinematic Universe benefits from getting a little wild from time to time.

Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man: Homecoming: all a bit nutty, a bit weird, and all wonderful (and all helmed by non-“name” directors, who Marvel came to terms with before shooting); and as I well know, if you really want to get your freak on, you pass things off to Taika Waititi.

Director of such films as What We Do in the Shadows, and the criminally underrated Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Taika Waititi knows how to provide his audience with a good, fun time, without making a complete farce of things (not unlike Edgar Wright, though they are definitely not the same; growing up on opposite sides of the globe will have that effect), and Thor: Ragnarok is no exception.

This is not to say that we have a perfect film on our hands (for one thing, I’m not sure it stands up entirely on its own, which I’m something of a stickler about), but it’s definitely worth the price of admission.

The strength of Thor: Ragnarok lies largely in its tone and its humor (shocker, I know), to the point that the action bits are probably the least interesting thing about the movie.

Of course, none of this would work without quality performances (including a bit of a scene-stealer from Waititi himself).  Chris Hemsworth, if he wasn’t already, seems perfectly comfortable in his Thor suit; same for Tom Hiddleston as Loki; Cate Blanchett is clearly having a blast (and is darkly fetching); Idris Elba does fine with what little he has; Tessa Thompson makes for an interesting addition; Karl Urban brings a surprising amount of gravitas to what could easily be a throwaway role; Mark Ruffalo is Mark Ruffalo (in the same way that RDJ is RDJ); but the man himself, Jeff Goldblum, is truly the straw that stirs the drink (so much so that one of my disappointments is that he’s not in the movie more).

Thor: Ragnarok won’t work for everybody, I recognize that (I already said it wasn’t perfect); not everyone will jibe with its particular sense of humor, but, by-and-large, I think most people will experience this as the fun romp it is

After all, you don’t want to be taking all this comic book stuff too seriously now, do you?

Rating: ★★★★☆

P.S.
Of course there are stingers; why are you asking?

Movie Review – ‘The Dark Tower’ – Ignorance is Bliss

Directed by Nikolaj Arcel
Written by Akiva Goldsman & Jeff Pinkner and Anders Thomas Jensen & Nikolaj Arcel, based on the novels by Stephen King
Cast: Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Taylor, Claudia Kim, Fran Kranz, Abbey Lee, Jackie Earle Haley, Dennis Haysbert, Katheryn Winnick, Nicholas Hamilton, José Zúñiga
Soundtrack: Junkie XL

Good versus Evil.

Or something.

Look, I’m going to level with you.  I don’t know anything about Stephen King’s Dark Tower books, or anything else about where the story of this film comes from.  All I really know is that it’s a movie, so that’s all I can judge it as.

Actually, one thing I do know is that The Dark Tower is writer/director Nikolaj Arcel’s Hollywood debut, after a quartet of features in his home country of Denmark, culminating with his breakout movie, A Royal Affair (solid period drama; worth watching), which was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 2013.

The Dark Tower, however, I have concerns about, if only because it’s a wide release film that’s not a comedy that clocks in around only ninety minutes.  Maybe I’m overreacting, but the first thing that comes to my mind is 1998’s The Avengers, which was drastically edited down after poor test screenings, leading to an incomprehensible final cut that absolutely tanked at the box office.

I’m also concerned it could be like The Forbidden Kingdom, which was shamelessly marketed as a Jackie Chan vs. Jet Li marshal arts film, but in reality was essentially a children’s movie.  Lies!

So, what is The Dark Tower?

Well, I can say with certainty that it’s not the worst movie ever made.  It’s not even the worst movie of the summer (I also wouldn’t call it a children’s movie, despite a child protagonist).

In fact, I’d call it solid entertainment; roughly a mix of The Matrix, Thor, and Guardians of the Galaxy.  Not that The Dark Tower is nearly as good as any of those, but it’s passable.  If not for the recent run of quality summer pictures, I might give it a higher recommendation, but it’s low priority compared to Baby Driver, Spider-Man, War for the Planet of the Apes, and Dunkirk (not to mention Detroit, although that’s a different kind of movie).

It’s not perfect.  It feels like a reverse Hobbit situation where they’re trying to pack too much into too little (ninety-five minutes for a story like this just isn’t enough time), but it’s far from a total train-wreck.  I was never horribly confused as to what was happening or who each character was.  Sometimes bits of dialogue here and there felt a little silly (in a John Carter sort of way), but I wouldn’t say there are any outright bad performances.  I thought Matthew McConaughey was an interesting villain (in his cool, laid back fashion), and Idris Elba worked great as a disillusioned white knight out for revenge.

Also, based on the fact that there were a few Stephen King Easter eggs that I as a casual observer noticed, I’m going to guess this movie is chock-full of them; which, assuming you’re not horribly offended by this adaptation of his work, should be fun for fans of the author.

Other than that, the action (what little there is) is fairly well executed, there are some nice NYC bits (like, real, actual New York City), and a little bit of fish-out-of-water humor for levity’s sake.

So, yeah, I liked it.  I can’t promise that you’ll like it, and if you’re a fan of the books you’ll probably have reason to hate it, but for me, going in totally blind, I thought it was fine.

It’s not worth full price, and it’s not worth seeing before a lot of other movies this summer, but it’s a fine matinee choice.

Rating: ★★★½ (out of five)

P.S.
No stingers.