Movie Review John Wick Chapter 4

John Wick Chapter 4 (2023) 

Directed by Chad Stahelski 

Written by Shay Hatten, Michael Finch 

Starring Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, Donnie Yen, Laurence Fishburne, Bill Skarsgard 

Release Date March 24th, 2023 

Published March 24th, 2023 

John Wick Chapter 4 wastes no time in getting our favorite killing machine into action. After a brief introduction to where John's been hiding since we last saw him, action shifts to the Middle East where John Wick, in full black suit in the desert, is killing people while riding on horseback. The scene is key first for getting John Wick into action mode and for giving him a key piece of information. As John executes a nameless baddie, he's informed that the only peace he shall ever have will come in death. This sets up the plot of the movie: Will John Wick live or die? 

The plot is driven by John Wick's continuing desire to be allowed to live a normal life. He just wants a dog and a house and a muscle car for a quiet retirement. Unfortunately, the many, many people John Wick has killed since he took vengeance over the murder of his beloved dog, means that John may never stop being pursued by killers eager to grab a 20 plus million dollar bounty on his head. That bounty comes courtesy of a mysterious cabal known collectively as 'The Table.' You can assume that the table is much like the one in Godfather 2 where the heads of families sit and carve up portions of the world. 

Thus, John Wick's task, though seemingly impossible, is to kill his way through the table. Thankfully, his efforts thus far have led the leaders of the group to consolidate power inside one man, The Marquis (Bill Skarsgard). Kill the Marquis and John Wick will earn his freedom from the table. Naturally, this task is more complex than simply killing one man. Standing in John Wick's way is an old friend, a man chosen by The Marquis as his proxy in any direct combat with John Wick. That man is Caine, the blind master, played by Donnie Yen. John Wick and Caine have been friends for years but with the life of Caine's daughter hanging in the balance, the blind master has no compunction about killing his longtime friend. 

I love the lore of John Wick. I love how the universe maintains a very specific and yet uncomplicated logic. In this universe, there are suits that are made of Kevlar, these suits have an almost magical quality. They make the wearer impervious to most weapon attacks. Getting thrown off a roof, shot, or tossed down some stairs are things that can slow someone down. But, if you are wearing a Kevlar suit, you are protected from serious impacts, meaning bones won't break, and bullets may collect on the surface but not penetrate. A sword or a knife may still be an issue. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review: Contagion

Contagion (2011) 

Directed by Steven Soderberg

Written by Steven Soderbergh

Starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne, Marion Cotillard

Release Date September 3rd, 2011

Published September 3rd, 2011 

Director Steven Soderbergh has described "Contagion" as an Irwin Allen style disaster movie. For those not up on their B- movie history, producer-director Irwin Allen presided over some of the most celebrated disaster movies in history from "The Swarm," to "The Towering Inferno" to "The Poseidon Adventure."

Only horror movie mavens have produced as many dead bodies on the big screen. The Irwin Allen comparison is apt. Allen's formula, a major catastrophe populated with a galaxy of well known stars, is essentially what "Contagion" attempts to be. The only difference is that Soderbergh's level of skill prevents "Contagion" from drifting toward the kinds of caricature that Allen's characters often became.

"Contagion," at first, stars Gwyneth Paltrow as Beth, just another woman on a business trip in China. However, after a layover in Chicago, Beth has returned home to her husband, Mitch (Matt Damon,) and their son, and has fallen ill. It's mere days before Beth is dead. Meanwhile, a video has spread across the internet of a man falling ill on a bus in China.

That man was with Beth in China and now both are dead. Soon, a man in Chicago has fallen ill. A woman in Kiev who had brief hand to hand contact with Beth in Hong Kong has died and her family is infected. Back in Minneapolis, Beth's son has died and her husband is presumed ill while his daughter is returned from her mother's and isolated.

At the CDC Dr. Ellis Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) and his team begin retrieving data and attempting to piece together the spread of the virus. In Hong Kong WHO Dr. Leonora Orantes (Marion Cotillard) has a key piece of evidence from the security camera at the Hotel/Casino where Beth stayed. The video tracks the very start of the spread.

In Minneapolis Dr. Mears (Kate Winslet) attempts to organize the CDC response as the virus spreads like wildfire. Soon, however, because a hotel worker went to work while sick, Dr. Mears falls ill. Soderbergh's "Contagion" has no respect for Awards or star-power as the Oscar winners seem to be the first to fall.

There is a calm and precision to "Contagio"n that is both comforting and limiting. Soderbergh has taken pains not to allow the film to cause massive panic attacks ( though I would urge hypochondriacs not to see Contagion) yet in doing so he contains "Contagion" into a box that prevents it from being as affective as it could no doubt be.

I don't want "Contagion" to cause a panic ala Jaws depressing beach traffic in the summer of '77 however, it's fair to say that "Contagion" has the opportunity to be more fear inducing and thus a more viscerally satisfying than it is. As it is, "Contagio"n could almost be considered hopeful, in its way.

Many critics of "Contagion" have wondered about the character played by Jude Law. Law portrays a blogger who finds a chance to profit off of the spread of the virus by promoting a Government conspiracy and an herbal medicine that he claims is a cure. When there is a run on the herbal medicine, Law cashes in on the stock jump of the company that makes it.

The character however, is vague in purpose. At different moments he ranges from rambling street preacher to Alex Jones style maniac before eventually being taken seriously before yet another final and strangely vague twist. Jude Law's performance is not up for question, he's highly committed and engaging but the character never finds his footing.

"Contagion" is an artful pseudo-documentary in the hands of a master director. Steven Soderbergh's command of this story takes what could have been sensational and exciting--in a terrifying B-Movie way--and makes it thoughtful, cautionary and occasionally moving. It's nice to see a director who though he demonstrates the worst of humanity at times, allows the best of humanity to rise as well.

There is a surprising and unexpected hopefulness at the heart of "Contagion" that keeps it from tipping into something merely intended to terrify. The hope is needed at the end when the film flashes back to the start of its outbreak and reveals the modest and completely plausible series of events that began the outbreak. So simple and so horrifying.

Movie Review: Armored

Armored (2009) 

Directed by Nimrod Antal

Written by James V. Simpson

Starring Matt Dillon, Columbus Short, Jean Reno, Laurence Fishburne, Skeet Ulrich

Release Date December 4th, 2009 

Published December 4th, 2009 

Streaming Rental via Amazon Prime 

Armored is the latest attempt by Hollywood to look engaged and aware of the current economic condition. At its center is a character making less than a living wage and about to lose his home and the desperate lengths he considers going to in order to save everything.

Columbus Short stars in Armored as Ty a former Iraq war veteran who returns home to a crumbling neighborhood and a teenage brother to take care of. The bank is looking to foreclose on Ty's house and the only job he can get is a part time gig as a guard working for an armored car company.

Ty's pal Mike (Matt Dillon) got him the job and does what he can to help him out. Mike has a plan, with the help of 4 other guards they will set up a robbery of their own trucks. 42 million dollars can go a long way toward solving Ty's problems but he only agrees to go along after a threat by child services to take his little brother away.

The plan comes off without a hitch, initially. Hiding the trucks in an abandoned industrial building the crew begins off-loading the cash when Baines (Laurence Fishburne) spots a homeless guy hiding in the building. He kills the guy and Ty realizes that things have gone too far. He locks himself in one of the trucks and sets off the alarm to try and draw attention. A cop (Milo Ventimiglia) does arrive and he too is shot. 

Ty makes an effort to save the cop and stop the bad guys and that is where Armored gets its juice. Directed by Nimrod Antal, Armored gets off to an exceptionally slow start but once it picks up some speed it gets pretty entertaining. Columbus Short is a likable actor who holds the screen well as well as our hero. Matt Dillon as the villain is backed up well  by Laurence Fishburne, Skeet Ulrich and Jean Reno.

As for how timely Armored is? The idea of a guy willing to rob an armored truck to save his house is more of a motivational conceit than a comment on our times. Armored isn't much related to our current economic conditions as it as a coincidence. This film has been made a few times before and could work just as well in a prosperous economy; there's always someone who’s struggling.

Armored is an old school action flick with good chase scenes, gunplay and a strong hero. Director Nimrod Antal takes a little while to get things going but the final act moves fast toward a satisfying action flick conclusion. If everything is tied up a little too neatly; call it a function of modern pop entertainment, modern audiences hate a down ending.

Movie Review: 21

21 (2008) 

Directed by Robert Luketic

Written by Peter Steinfeld 

Starring Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, Laurence FIshburne

Release Date March 28th, 2008 

Published March 27th, 2008 

Ben Mezrich’s book Bringing Down The House is a hectic, heady mix of glitz and brilliance. A group of MIT students developed their skill for counting cards and took their act to Vegas where they broke the bank for more than 7 figures. The movie 21 dramatizes the story of the brainiac card sharps and as directed by Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde) the glitz and glamour are in place, unfortunately, minus the brains.

Jim Sturgess stars in 21 as Ben Campbell a shy, nervous, soon to be MIT grad who will need a good deal of financial help to get him to his goal of attending Harvard Medical School. Opportunity then falls in his lap when he impresses a professor named Mickey Rosa (Kevin Spacey) with his math skills. Rosa happens to be the brains behind the underground MIT Blackjack team.

Using a unique and complicated card counting system, this smarty-pants team takes on Vegas and walk away loaded down with cash. Soon Ben is a high roller with more than enough to pay for his med school trip but the lure of greed and the lifestyle of Vegas keep him coming back for more.

His high roller status captures the attention of a longtime Las Vegas security facing extinction in the age of biometrics. His name is Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne) and his maintains his tenuous position in the high stakes world of Vegas by doing the one thing computers can’t, dishing out vicious beatings to card counters before chasing them out of the city.

As soon as he is on to Ben’s game the movie gains a little bit of energy. Sadly the battle of wits and wills between Sturgess and the ever so intense Fishburne is a no contest. Young Jim Sturgess is an attractive young actor with a hip floppy hair cut of the Maroon 5 variety but a presence he is not, especially compared to Fishburne who’s basso profundo voice is more than enough to blow Sturgess off the screen.

Paired in romance with the waifish Kate Bosworth, Sturgess co-creates one of the wussiest romances of any movie since Eric Bana sulked his way through another Vegas based wet blanker Lucky You opposite Drew Barrymore. Ms. Bosworth, who showed so much spunky potential in the 2003 beach movie Blue Crush has since squandered her shot at stardom in a series of downbeat roles.

Meanwhile her multi-time co-star Kevin Spacey, whose literally made some of the same mistakes as Ms. Bosworth (Beyond The Sea, Superman Returns), actually returns to form a little in 21. Of this underwhelming cast in this underwhelming story, Mr. Spacey is the lone standout. Showing the kind of intelligence, wit and guile necessary to pull off this scam, Spacey’s Mickey is the only character you can buy as a card counter taking Vegas for a ride.

The script from writer Jim Steinfeld waters down and mainstreams the grittier, more ethnic origins of Ben Mezrich’s book. For one thing, the leaders of this group of Blackjack con men were Asian, not the model pretty anglos of 21. The change of ethnicity is so nakedly commercial, the inherent racism and ignorance so offensive that author Mezrich would have been commended for taking his name off the project, as was rumored during production.

Director Robert Luketic has a real knack for flashy, colorful visuals and is quite at home with the glitz and glamour of modern Vegas. Unfortunately, the pretty colors and flashing lights can’t distract from the puddle deep characters and predictable innocence corrupted, innocence regained storyline.

That kind of soft headed approach works for fluffy fair like Luketic’s terrifically chirpy Legally Blonde and underrated teen romancer Win A Date With Tad Hamilton but with the more crafty, suspenseful story like that of 21, Luketic’s style fails on every level and becomes tedious without the likes of Reese Witherspoon in a bunny costume to lighten the mood.

Visually dazzling and shot glass deep, 21 overstays it’s welcome at over 2 hours of stops and starts, weak attempts at romance and weaker attempts at suspense. Wasting a comeback performance by Kevin Spacey in favor of the floppy haired good looks of Jim Sturgess, 21 hits when it should stay and busts big time.

Movie Review Predators

Predators (2010) 

Directed by Nimrod Antal 

Written by Alex Litvak 

Starring Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Walton Goggins, Laurence Fishburne

Release Date July 9th, 2010 

Published July 8th, 2010

The idea of Adrian Brody, the Oscar winner for “The Pianist,” as a mercenary action hero does not sound promising. Known for his gaunt, lithe, boney physique and offbeat taste in films, Brody doesn't leap immediately to mind as the man to take the reigns of a franchise that originated with the testosterone heavy likes of Carl 'Action Jackson' Weather, Jesse 'the Body' Ventura and the ultimate muscled action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger.

This fact makes Brody's unusual success in “Predators” such a delight. With an ironic wink, a comic growl and an actor's commitment Brody nails the role of an unnamed mercenary dropped into an alien game preserve to play out a sci-fi version of Richard Connell's “Most Dangerous Game.”

Seven bloodthirsty killers find themselves falling from the sky with only moments to open an unusual looking parachute. The 8th man is a doctor (Topher Grace) and he is something of an anomaly against the 7 who are made up of a mercenary soldier (Brody), a South American freedom fighter (Alice Braga), a Mexican drug dealer (Danny Trejo) a Russian Special Forces soldier (Oleg Taktarov), an African mercenary (M. Ali), a death row inmate (Walton Groggins) and a member of the Yakuza (Louis Ozawa Changchien).

The mystery of the doctor character will be revealed eventually but first this ragtag band of characters must work through some highly inferential and often expositional dialogue while we in the audience engage in the “Predators” drinking game, which involves guessing the order in which the killers will be killed. Fun game if you bring alcohol to the theater.

Now, my irreverence might indicate that I didn't like “Predators” but au contraire, I actually loved Predators. This is some of the most fun you will have at a theater this year. Some of the joy may not be intentional on the part of director Nimrod Antal and writer-producer Robert Rodriguez but there is an undeniably intentional level of cheese, especially from star Adrien Brody.

Taking to heart the fact that no one sees him as an action hero, Brody bulks up a little and lays on a thick growl to sell the tough guy persona. That it kind of works is, I think, part of the joke. Brody is ingenious in Predators bringing an actor's flourish to one dopey action hero role. It is a brilliantly, wonderfully, odd performance and the main reason “Predators” is so much goofy fun.

There is more than a little cheese and winking irony in “Predators” plus a guy gets his spine ripped out (Awesomely). What more can you ask from a completely over the top action and effects spectacular? “Predators” may not be great cinema but it is a terrifically fun summer movie.

Movie Review: Bobby

Bobby (2006)

Directed by Emilio Estevez 

Written by Emilio Estevez 

Starring Laurence Fishburne, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Hunt, Lindsay Lohan, Demi Moore, Elijah Woods

Release Date November 17th, 2006

Published November 17th, 2006 

For most of its 2 hour and 10 minute runtime Bobby is a bad movie. The dialogue stilted. Extraneous characters crowd each other for screen time and lame montages remind us that the film is set in the 1960's, as if the death of Bobby Kennedy weren't enough of a reminder. That said, the last 20 minutes of Bobby take on the emotional equivalent of a giant boulder rolling down a hill. Somehow after all of the bad dialogue and bad characters, we find ourselves invested in the tragedy of it all.

Most of it is our own emotion about how Bobby Kennedy may have changed the world had not Sirhan Sirhan changed it in an entirely different way. There is no denying however, that what writer-director Emilio Estevez does with these last 20 minutes is powerful, affecting work. If only he could have done that with the whole film, I could actually recommend it.

On June 6th 1968 a joyous crowd of supporters and hotel employees awaited the arrival of Bobby Kennedy, the man many believed would be the next president of the United States. Kennedy established his California headquarters at Los Angeles' famed Ambassador Hotel and it was expected that night he would be there to celebrate his victory in the California Democratic primary. Indeed Bobby Kennedy did win the primary but moments after delivering his victory speech, Bobby joined his brother John in the annals of history, gunned down by an assassins bullet.

Emilio Estevez's Bobby is not about Bobby Kennedy and is only tangentially about the assassination. For the most part Bobby is a reassembling of the moment in 1968 when Kennedy was killed. Calling together a Love Boat sized cast of stars, Emilio Estevez wastes much time finding something for everyone to be doing rather than relating them all to the death of Bobby Kennedy.

The cast is far too large to detail who everyone is, Estevez himself can barely make time to give name to each of his many characters, better still to list just some of the Fantasy Island cast of Bobby. Sharon Stone, Lindsey Lohan, William . Macy, Nick Cannon, Heather Graham, Helen Hunt, Martin Sheen, Laurence Fishburne, Joshua Jackson, Shia Le Beouf, Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, Anthony Hopkins, Christian Slater, Harry Belafonte and even a role for director Estevez as well.

With a cast this large; all Estevez can do is create a revolving door where characters are brought on screen at random and quickly shuffled off before we get to know to much about them. Many of the minor subplots created for these stars could, with great ease, be excised with no damage to the movie, and some edits would even improve the movie.

Take for instance Ashton Kutcher who plays a drug dealer who sells LSD to a couple of Kennedy volunteers. The LSD montage that follows is like a reminder that these things took place in the sixties. In case we may have forgotten, Nixon was the enemy, vietnam was bad and an LSD trip is always accompanied by psychedelic rock music and goofy camera angles. These scenes could be cut from the film and the only change to the movie would be removing Kutcher's name from the movie poster.

The same could be said of Kutcher's real life paramour Demi Moore. Moore plays a fading caberet star who performs in the Hotel night club. Her function is allegedly that she will be the one to introduce Bobby Kennedy that night. However, when the scene comes, Moore is nowhere to be found. Estevez uses historical footage of Kennedy taking the podium and delivering his speech.

Moore and Estevez's own role as her husband in the film are two more characters who could be easily eliminated to clear up some of the clutter that is the cast of Bobby.

The one actor who gets enough screentime and invests that time well is Freddie Rodriguez. The former Six Feet Under star plays Jose a young busboy who had planned on seeing Don Drysdale set the consecutive shutout record that night when he was told he was needed at work. When Bobby Kennedy was lead through the kitchen he came face to face with Jose and suddenly next to him, but unseen by him, a man with a gun. As Kennedy lay on the floor Jose is their comforting him.

The real Jose was named Juan Romero. He was just 17 years old, which makes the 31 year old Rodriguez an odd choice for the role. However, verisimilitude is not a big part of Bobby. Estevez changes the names of many of the people involved including those of the people who were also shot in the spray of bullets fired by Sirhan Sirhan. Why Estevez chose drama over historical accuracy is curious but inconsequential.

The best thing about Bobby is the ending of the film which manages to corral a few of the films many extranneous characters and turn a few of them into important players. Elijah Wood plays a newly married young man who ends up in the kitchen near Kennedy when he is shot. Helen Hunt as the trophy wife of Martin Sheen also ends up in that kitchen. Heather Graham and Joy Bryant in the ballroom deliver strong reactions. And Nick Cannon as a Kennedy volunteer with dreams of a job in the White House captures the emotion of the moment just after Kennedy was taken from the hotel.

These characters finally take on meaning as they become our emotional stand ins. The overwhelming emotions they express allow us identification and the opportunity to share in the grief of this history changing death. The reactions of these characters are played beneath the audio of one of Robert Kennedy's wonderful speeches about the devastation of violence and the promise of the future.

Is the movie cheating a little using Kennedy's speech to comment on his own assassination rather than crafting something of it's own? Yeah, maybe, but it works. So does the few moments of historic footage of Kennedy greeting throngs of people who lined up to see him wherever he went. Audio from his many speeches open and close the film making you wish that Estevez had simply made a documentary of this footage and audio rather than attempting to remake Crash with Bobby Kennedy.

Crash is indeed the template for Bobby. An expansive cast, plots that revolve and collide with one another and a moment of devastating connection. The difference is that Crash is more focused and far better written than Bobby. Crash writer-director Paul Haggis managed to place his cast in a context that was at once believable and dramatic. Emilio Estevez fails to create characters and situations that exist beyond types and what they represent of 60's culture. There is no emotional context until the last 20 minutes when the death of Bobby Kennedy draws some but not all of these characters into the same movie.

The ending of Bobby is undeniably powerful, but, for the most part, most of Bobby is simply a bad movie. Put in all the starpower you want, you can't magazine cover your way into a good movie. Bobby is stilted and awkward and meandering and despite the great ending, and the terrific work of Freddie Rodriguez, Bobby is far too messy and unfocused for me to give it a pass.

Movie Review: Akeelah and the Bee

Akeelah and the Bee (2006) 

Directed by Doug Atchison

Written by Doug Atchison

Starring Keke Palmer, Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett, Curtis Armstrong

Release Date April 28th, 2006

Published April 27th, 2006

On the surface Akeelah and The Bee is the inspirational tale of a young girl overcoming the odds to make it to the national spelling bee. However, the real driving inspiration for the film is the continuing educational strife in the inner city that see's gifted students, like the one portrayed in the film, being left behind in schools ill suited to nurture their gifts.

Akeelah and The Bee may indeed play a little like an After School Special on steroids but its deeper message gives the film depth and the lead performances of stars Keke Palmer as Akeelah and Laurence Fishburne as her coach help Akeelah and the Bee become more than the sum of its plot. Akeelah Anderson (Palmer) is an 11 year old overachiever in the Crenshaw school district in Los Angeles. Having been skipped ahead a grade, she is expected to be the schools star in terms of academics.  Unfortunately, Akeelah is floundering. She has been missing classes and is failing.

Things begin to turn around for Akeelah when her principle, Mr. Welch (Curtis Armstrong), forces her to enter the school spelling bee. Mr. Welch has invited his friend Dr. Joshua Larabee (Fishburne), a professor at USC and former spelling champion, to observe the bee and especially Akeelah. When Akeelah wins the bee she is offered the chance to train with Dr. Larabee in hopes of making it to the national spelling bee.

At home Akeelah is living with the loss of her father, he was killed when Akeelah was only 6 years old, whose love of words drives her own love of words. Her mother (Angela Bassett) is hard working but absent. Her oldest brother Devon (Lee Thompson Young) has joined the military while her other brother Terrence (Julito McCullom) has joined a gang. The specter of violence is inherent in the neighborhood though not prominent in the film.

The inadequacy of her school curriculum has limited Akeelah's ability to learn. Worse yet, the prevailing attitude of the people in her life, that education is a fixed, white man's game, has infected her own attitude. She must discover her love of learning or she will not succeed.

Akeelah and The Bee addresses a real hot button issue in inner city schools by directly addressing the prevailing attitude among African American youths that education is a white mans game. Many young African Americans have come to believe that the game is fixed against them in terms of education, so why bother with schools. This is not an unreasonable attitude. In fact, it's supported by how little financial support appears to be given to inner city schools as opposed to schools with predominantly white attendance. 

That this attitude can prevail upon even someone as gifted as Akeelah is an issue that political and community leaders across the country, but particularly in the inner cities, must address and soon before another generation is lost. Every year it seems that the education budgets go up and yet inner city schools remain looking rundown and short on cash. Where is this money going and why isn't more money the answer as so many conservative critics have preached.

Akeelah and the Bee doesn't dig quite that deep into this issue. The requirements of mainstream filmmaking requires that the plot stay closer to its characters and their personal stories rather than becoming a documentary. The films accomplishment is raising the issue for you and I and everyone else to address and deal with..

Laurence Fishburne's performance as Dr. Larabee is a return to form for him after drifting through the Matrix sequels and Biker Boyz, simply picking up paychecks. His arrogant, authoritative performance, softened by Keke Palmer's Akeelah, captures the complex emotions of a man who has succeeded in the face of similar, if not more difficult circumstances than Akeelah. I call the character arrogant because he is, but it is the kind arrogance that one earns through achievement. Some people simply have the right to be a little arrogant and that is part of Fishburne's complicated and heavily shaded performance.

Fishburne's performance early in the film is so good that the backstory he is saddled with proves unnecessary in making this character, and the dramatic choices he makes later in the film, work. The backstory, I'm sure, was meant to further humanize Dr. Larabee but because it is so contrived and is used as such an obvious dramatic device it plays far too melodramatic.

The real key to Fishburne's performance may just be the performance of his co-star, 13 year old Keke Palmer. Giving a performance that is easily comparable to Keisha Castle Hughes Oscar nominated performance in Whale Rider, Palmer nails Akeelah's initial hopelessness and sadness as well as her feistiness and innate gifts. Akeelah is a sweetheart character but she is not above childish behavior and petulance and Palmer combines these traits into a fully formed young character.

Palmer and Fishburne develop terrific chemistry that carries us over many if not all of the films minor structural problems, including Fishburne's unfortunate backstory and a stretch of the picture that gets a little too into the uplifting vibe of a TV movie. The montage sequence of Akeelah inspiring her entire neighborhood is more than a little played out.

I think I may have made Akeelah and The Bee out to be heavier than it really is. Writer-director Doug Atchison is not merely using this film to preach, he leaves plenty on the screen for entertainment purposes. For instance, Akeelah gets a boyfriend, Roman (George Hornedo), who she meets along the way to the national spelling bee. The pre-teen romance is very charming and not overdone.

Also the films final minutes at the national spelling are so well put together that there is real drama. The scenes are perfectly paced and develop in surprisingly suspenseful manner. Akeelah and the Bee is far from perfect but as a conversation starter on very important issues and as an entertaining character piece, the film is more than worth the price of admission.

On a side note, Akeelah and the Bee is the first film from the Starbucks Film company. Yes that Starbucks, the coffee people. It is a little disconcerting when you first see that Starbucks logo pop up in the opening credits but no one in the film is seen drinking Starbucks coffee so the synergy is thankfully not blatant. It is nice to see a major corporation putting its cash to good use and not merely crafting a film as an ad for their product.

Movie Review The Matrix Reloaded

Matrix Reloaded (2003) 

Directed by Lana and Lily Wachowski 

Written by Lana and Lily Wachowski 

Starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Hugo Weaving, Carrie Ann Moss, Harry Lennix, Jada Pinkett Smith, Randall Duk Kim 

Release Date May 15th, 2003 

Published May 14th, 2003 

You know a film is a true cultural phenomena when people show up dressed as the film's characters. Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and now add to that The Matrix. Numerous guys dressed as Neo or Agent Smith, even a couple girls dressed as Trinity. No Morpheus, the dressing up thing seems to be mostly a white people thing.

The question is, is The Matrix worthy of such a following? If the reaction amongst the four sold out shows on opening night at my local theater is any indication, it won't matter what pop critics like myself say.

The battle for humanity continues in Matrix: Reloaded as Neo (Keanu Reeves) awaits a message from the Oracle that will advise him on his next move in the war against the agents of the Matrix. Before that message, Neo, along with Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and Trinity (Carrie Ann Moss), are called back to Zion to deal with the robot army that is digging towards the last human city. It's up to Morpheus to convince the people in charge that waiting for the Oracle is just as important as defending Zion. According to him, if prophecy is true there will be no need to defend Zion because the Matrix will be no more.

Standing against Morpheus is Commander Lock (Harry Lennix) the leader of Zion's military and the man who is now with Morpheus' ex, Niobe (Jada Pinkett Smith). Lock is more pragmatic than Morpheus and does not believe in the prophecy. Niobe seems uncertain either way. When the message from the Oracle is received, Neo reenters the Matrix and is told to seek out the mystical Key Maker (Randall Duk Kim) who can lead him to the Architect, the man who created the Matrix.

The Key Maker is being held by a rogue computer program called The Merovingian (Lambert Wilson). He is a program that was to be deleted by the Matrix but has escaped and hides out with other deleted programs, including his wife Persephone (Monica Bellucci) and the Twins (Adrian and Neil Rayment). Once they are able to get the Key Maker, he will lead them to the center of the Matrix where the Architect resides, only Neo can get there. According to the prophecy once he does, the Matrix will crumble.

Before all of this, Neo must first overcome a series of prophetic dreams in which he watches Trinity die. Oh, and there is also the problem of Agent Smith. Now free to roam the Matrix as a rogue program, Smith has developed the ability to copy himself infinitely, an ability he takes full advantage of in the fight scene that is the film’s center piece (Dubbed “the burly brawl” by the effects team). In the brawl, Neo fights off hundreds of Agent Smith's before simply flying away as he did at the end of the first film. The flying ability is something Neo puts to good use in Reloaded as he is still developing the talents that make him the One.

The best part of Matrix: Reloaded is the same thing that signified the original, its awe inspiring special effects. I already mentioned the burly brawl, and there is also a spectacular chase scene that reportedly cost a good portion of the film’s budget and 45 days of shooting. That’s longer than many entire films.

My favorite scene, however, is the opening fight scene with Trinity fighting off an agent as she flies through a window. The scene is repeated three times in the film as part of Neo's prophetic dream. Carrie Ann Moss looks so cool and so tough it makes the film for me. Especially cool is the gun barrel close-up as she falls out of the window and the use of bullet time that was made famous in the original.

Then there are the Twins, billed as Twin 1 and Twin 2. They seem like either ghosts or demons and have the ability to turn to smoke and fly through walls with an effect quite similar to the ones used in X2 for Alan Cummings’ Nightcrawler.

What's not so great is any scene that slows down for dialogue. The first forty minutes of the film, aside from Trinity's spectacular opening and Neo's brief battle with upgraded Agents, is surprisingly low key and heavy on dialogue, especially when we finally arrive in Zion. While there, Morpheus delivers a long-winded “win one for the Gipper” speech. Then there is a protracted rave scene intercut with Neo and Trinity having sex. Nothing wrong with the sex but I didn't go to see Keanu's butt, I came to see him kick butt.

The scene with the Oracle is the most tedious, though highly anticipated by fans who believe the film’s metaphors. It's nothing against the late great Gloria Foster but her Oracle's habit of answering a question with a question becomes annoying fast. I said in my review of the original that the film reminded me of a college student who studied philosophical quotes but not actual philosophy. In Reloaded that same college student is working those quotes into conversations but still hasn't studied what they really mean. The film's mythos is still vague enough for as many interpretations as you can think of. Though I think the sex scene should put to rest the Christ comparisons, unless there is an unknown bible passage where Jesus bangs Mary Magdalene.

As I said though, you see The Matrix for the action and on that level the film delivers big time. Using its big budget to improve upon the original effects, Reloaded surpasses the original and becomes one of the single greatest visceral action films ever. On par with the groundbreaking action of Terminator 2 and before that Star Wars, both the effects champions of their times.

Writer-Directors Lana and Lily Wachowski have created a special effects extravaganza. While I wasn't drawn in by its thin philosophical and metaphorical script, I am hotly anticipating Matrix: Revolutions just to see if they can top the special effects and edge of your seat excitement of Reloaded.

Movie Review: Biker Boyz

Biker Boyz (2003) 

Directed by Reggie Rock Blythewood

Written by Reggie Rock Blythewood 

Starring Derek Luke, Laurence Fishburne, Orlando Jones, Djimon Hounsou, Lisa Bonet, Brenden Fehr

Release Date January 31st, 2003

Published January 31st, 2003 

How many actors have been hailed as the next big thing? Hundreds maybe thousands. How many of them turn out to be for real? Two, maybe three. Derek Luke, coming off his successful debut in Antwone Fisher, is getting that buzz right now. Does he deserve it? Maybe. But what is certain about Luke is that even if the buzz about his star potential wears off he can fall back on his acting, which is unquestionably strong. His first big budget rollout, the motorcycle racing picture Biker Boyz, isn't nearly as good as it's star but is greatly improved by his acting presence.

Luke stars as Kid, the son of a mechanic (Eric LaSalle in a minor cameo) who is a member of California's most successful bike-racing gang, The Black Knights. Kid's dad is the head mechanic for the King of Cali, Smoke played by Larry Fishburne. The title King of Cali signifies that Smoke is the top motorcycle racer in all of California. Kid is an apprentice member of the Knights until one fateful night when Smoke is challenged by a racer named Chu Chu (Terrence Howard) and during the race an accident kills Kid's dad.

Kid drops out of the Black Knight's but doesn't give up riding bikes. A few months after his father's death Kid is back on the underground-racing scene running a scam with a buddy named Stuntman (Brendon Fehr). The scam is that Stuntman pretends to be drunk and Kid, using his previous connections in the underground, tricks someone into believing the drunk guy has challenged him. However, after Kid is spotted with Stuntman, he is called in front of the leaders of the underground racing gangs who inform that if he is caught running a scam in their midst he will be killed. Only Smoke keeps them from killing him right then. 

Kid and Stuntman decide they are going legit and want to challenge Smoke for the King of Cali crown but to do that they must start their own gang and thus the Biker Boyz are born. Kid's riding attracts a large group of followers including a smoking hot tattoo artist named Tina (Meagan Good).  All of this is leading to a race between Kid and Smoke, but not before the film turns in a melodramatic twist that tests the audiences patience and the script's believability. The melodrama is on par with the lamest soap opera at a point in the film where the audience just wants to see the cool bikes and the racing.

Director Reggie Rock Blythewood too often let's Biker Boyz meander into the dramatic subplots involving Kid's mother (Vanessa Bell Calloway) as well as Smoke and Kid's father, when he should be taking advantage of the exciting race sequences.

Unfortunately, the racing sequences aren't even that exciting. Kid's first race has a great moment where Kid stands up on the bike and crosses the finish line first after entering the race well after it started. However, there just isn't enough racing. There are plenty of shots of motorcycles and shots of the gangs riding there bikes in formation down city streets. Still, none of these scenes evokes the energy that made the Fast & the Furious a fun and exciting ride.

One of the films biggest mistakes is it's soundtrack, which employs slow silky R & B tunes that suck the energy out of the racing scenes. In the films climactic race scene the filmmakers go with an orchestral score instead of a more appropriate rap or heavy metal tune. The orchestral score is sleep inducing and derivative. It's the same kind of orchestral flourish that accompanies the winning moment of a sports movie.

The films cast is populated by numerous recognizable faces in small roles including Orlando Jones, Lisa Bonet, Tyson Beckford, Lorenz Tate, Djimon Hounsou and Kid Rock. At times, there are so many recognizable faces it's like a Hells Angel's version of the Love Boat.  Larry Fishburne is beginning to show his age, looking paunchy and tired throughout most of the film. Let's hope he gets his energy and intensity back for the Matrix sequels later this year. 

No such problem for Derek Luke who brings the film an energy it desperately needs. His chemistry with love interest Meagan Good is strong and sexual. Luke is Biker Boyz's one great asset and I don't want to imagine what the film would have been like without him. Biker Boyz has been compared with The Fast & the Furious but the comparison isn't favorable. Fast & the Furious was big, dumb and loud but it had this energetic quality, a sort of kitschy machismo that made it funny and exciting. Furious used it's implausibilities to make the film funny in a stupid unintended way. 

Biker Boyz on the other hand is quiet in comparison. It wants to be taken seriously as a drama rather than capitalize on the hyper kinetic racing scenes and MTV-style editing that made Furious so much fun. Biker Boyz needs less melodrama and more adrenaline. Pump up the soundtrack and drop the subplots. Hire one of those X-Games directors and let racing be the film's focus and maybe Biker Boyz could work.  As it is though it's a dull film that provides a good vehicle for Derek Luke to show off his talent. Still, it isn't as good as it could have been. 

Movie Review: Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer

Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) 

Directed by Tim Story 

Written by Don Payne, Mark Frost

Starring Chris Evans, Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis, Ioan Gruffaud, Kerry Washington, Julian McMahon, Andre Braugher, Laurence Fishburne 

Release Date June 15th, 2007 

Published June 14th, 2007 

What is so disappointing about The Fantastic Four and the sequel Rise of the Silver Surfer is that director Tim Story shows a great talent for big time action scenes. The first film had a pair of impressive action and effects scenes that showed the potential of the series. Rise of the Silver Surfer builds on that with bigger and better effects, especially the stunningly rendered CG Surfer.

The big effects and big action act as unintentional commentary on the non-action, non-effects scenes. As great as the action is, the acting, dialogue and storytelling of Rise of the Silver Surfer are sloppy, slipshod and at times embarrassing.

As we rejoin the story of the Fantastic Four, Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffaud) AKA, Mr. Fantastic is about to wed Sue Storm (Jessica Alba) aka The Invisible Woman. Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) aka The Thing, is Reed's best man and Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) aka The Human Torch is walking his sister down the aisle. Well that was the plan but as the media circus swirls about; a bigger threat has hit the earth.

A silver alien on a surf board is disturbing the environment of the entire planet, creating giant holes all over world. Reed quickly discovers that this is not the first time the Silver Surfer has attacked a planet, his arrival has lead to the end of a planet within 8 days. With the Silver Surfer comes the arrival of a planet eating entity called Galactus.

To stop the Surfer and Galactus the Fantastic Four will have to team with their enemy, a fully recovered Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon) who was the first to make face to face contact with the Surfer. Naturally, Victor has designs on the Surfer's planet destroying powers.

In Rise of the Silver Surfer director Tim Story delivers pretty much the same results he delivered with the first Fantastic Four movie, big action and effects with ill-conceived character bits and shockingly dull witted dialogue. It's an odd result considering that Story came to the Fantastic franchise after directing the smart, funny, character driven comedy Barbershop.

The results become even more curious when you see the script credited to Mark Frost; the same Mark Frost who teamed with David Lynch to create the complicated, layered and slighly loopy Twin Peaks. The talented director and writer seem to never be on the same page in Rise of the Silver Surfer. Frost's twisted approach to the characters combines a fifties style earnest heroism with an attempt at being hip and modern and it fails rather miserably.

As for Tim Story, he directs as if unconcerned about the characters and their awkward, embarrassing moments. Story's sole concern is the action and effects and his attention to detail is really impressive on that front. The effects and action are as impressive as anything in Spiderman 3 or Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. The blockbuster comparisons end their however because where those blockbusters are as character driven as they are effects driven, Rise of the Silver Surfer is an effects only enterprise.

The Silver Surfer, voice of Laurence Fishburne, is a tremendously successful special effect. The CG creation is seamlessly integrated with the human cast to the point where the Surfer suffers as much as the real actors, this awful, awful script. Yes, the Silver Surfer is a bit of a letdown when he speaks, with his windy ethereal voice and vaguely menacing pronouncements. Still, as a special effect, as an example of how the world of CG technology has progressed; the Silver Surfer is among the most impressive things you will see at the movies this year.

As for the human cast of Fantastic Four, the same issues that plagued the first film continue to plague this film. Jessica Alba remains super hot but still miscast as the too young Sue Storm. Ioan Gruffaud continues to be a charisma free leading man noticeably uncomfortable as a comic book superhero. And Michael Chiklis; though he is physically perfect for the role of The Thing, his comic moments are as awkward as the punchlines he's supposed to deliver.

The only one who seems perfectly cast and comfortable with even the goofiest dialogue and most embarrassing attempts at humor and earnestness is Chris Evans. Achieving just the right mix of cheeseball self awareness and cocky attitude, Evans' Johnny Storm is the one character who makes something of this regrettable mess. It helps that Johnny is the only one of the four whose subplot has some juice.

When Johnny confronts the Surfer for the first time he has his molecules scramble to the point where if he touches one of the other Fantastics he switches powers with them. His impulsive nature and desperate need to get his power back leads to more trouble in conflicts against the Silver Surfer but, of course, when the time comes he gets to prove himself. In a terrific showdown with Victor Von Doom, Evans's Human Torch gets the biggest and best action moment of the movie.

The less said about Julian McMahon's fey Victor Von Doom the better. McMahon's performance is by far the most embarrassing of anyone.

The fact is that after a somewhat disappointing domestic launch for the original Fantastic Four many thought the series was through. Somehow the film managed to find a large international audience and the pot of gold proved to be enough to overcome the creative bankruptcy. How unfortunate that the creative bankruptcy continues and engulfs another potential franchise in Rise of the Silver Surfer.

Now, not one but two legendary Marvel comics are wrapped up in one mediocre movie franchise.

Movie Review The Matrix

The Matrix (1999) 

Directed by The Wachowskis 

Written by The Wachowskis

Starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie Ann Moss, Joe Pantoliano 

Release Date March 24th, 1999 

Published March 24th, 2019 

Keanu Reeves returns to the big screen this weekend in the new science fiction flick Replicas. That film has Reeves playing a scientist crossing ethical boundaries to use cloning technology, or something of the sort, to bring back the wife and child he lost to a car accident. The premise is interesting but the trailer includes an attempt to pretend critics like it by boasting in ads about a “92%” rating on RottenTomatoes.com that simply does not exist. As of this writing, Replicas has only one critics review, a negative review, in Spanish. 

That said, even if Replicas is a bad movie as my instincts are telling me, I won’t hold it against star Keanu Reeves. After all, there is still John Wick 3 to look forward to this year and an all new Bill & Ted movie that appears to have a clever revival idea behind it is also still to come. Most importantly, Keanu will always be Neo from The Matrix. The 1999 sci-fi action blockbuster The Matrix heralded the beginning of the end of the era when blockbusters based on original ideas were all the rage and visionary filmmakers with new ideas appeared to have a place in Hollywood.

That era is over, likely brought to the close by the very visionaries, The Wachowski siblings, whose film, The Matrix, became the last of the great original franchises. Big budget originals such as Cloud Atlas and Jupiter Ascending may have been the death knell for any original, big budget adventure without a built in audience, comic book, or novel, behind it but I don’t hold that against The Wachowski’s. I may hate both of those original flops but at least they were trying something original and bold.

In the era of the remake, reboot or comic book based blockbuster originality needs to be cheered even when it fails spectacularly as The Wachowski’s recent features have. Honestly, we should have a GoFundMe campaign or create some sort of ‘Too Big to Fail’ scam in order to fool studios into thinking those failures were hits so people like The Wachowski’s can get more chances to create something as bold and original as The Matrix was in 1999.

The Matrix stars Keanu Reeves as a part time drug dealer and full time office drone living a mundane existence. I called him a drug dealer but his trade is more in outlaw software that has the effect of getting people high. Neo himself has no use for such thrills. His life is lived in the secret places of the internet where, as a hacker, he tracks the strange movements of a vigilante named Morpheus (Larry Fishburne) whose hacking skills have led to rumors even Neo can’t begin to make sense of.

One night Neo’s work catches the attention of Morpheus and his cohorts and they reach out via Morpheus’s second in command, Trinity (Carrie Anne Moss). Trinity warns Neo that ‘Agents’ may be on to him, a warning that Neo or Thomas Anderson in his world, fails to heed. At his office the next day, Neo is cornered by Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) who threatens him if he won’t help the agents find Morpheus.

With the help of Morpheus, Neo makes a dynamic and improbable escape from the agents. When Neo meets Morpheus he is offered a choice that became and has remained a meme or metaphor for seeing the world in a different way. Neo is offered a Red Pill that will wake him up to The Matrix and reality and the Blue Pill which will allow him to remain in his current place in the world, ignorant of reality.

Neo, of course, chooses the Red Pill and soon awakens in a pod, naked and covered in goo. His brain stem has a plug in it and his lungs are being operated by a machine until he removes the plug in a scene of modest but highly effective body horror. Neo is picked up by Morpheus’s ship, the Nebuchadnezzar where he will recover and eventually be taught about The Matrix, the machine of which he was a prisoner.

In the real world, humans are batteries within a massive machine and reality is fed to them via the subconscious. To fight The Matrix, Morpheus and his crew hack the system and work to disassemble the machine from the inside, one part at a time. Morpheus believes Neo may be a mythical savior with the power to bend The Matrix to his will and bring an end to a war most of humanity doesn’t realize is being fought, a war between man and machine.

It’s been nearly 20 years since The Matrix arrived in theaters and the film still feels like a fresh commentary on modern society. In fact, a coterie of conspiracy theorists believe that our reality is trending more toward a Matrix-esque reality due to our ever-growing dependence on the online world. Much like ‘The Red Pill’ has become a meme that has been co opted in myriad different metaphorical forms, The Matrix itself remains a strong and singular commentary on modern society.

Part of what keeps The Matrix fresh is Keanu Reeves. While some consider Reeves’ blank slate performance to be flat and unaffected, I have always felt that the film effectively deploys Reeves’ perceived flatness. Reeves is a rather perfect audience surrogate. We can project upon his blank, open, face, our own personas and interpretations. Some might consider that a flaw in that he doesn't stand out and stand on his own but, for me, Reeves’ empty vessel quality is part of the film’s appeal.

Reeves is a terrifically physical actor whose wiry frame is not so muscular as to make him un-relatable but not so average that he isn’t believable as he transforms into a karate master in the world of The Matrix. Truly, Reeves is ideal casting for Neo as he can be what most of the audience wishes we were, a handsome, world saving, bullet dodging karate hero. If Reeves played the role with a great deal of charisma he’d risk standing apart from the audience rather than standing in for us.

While I wish Keanu Reeves had more movies like The Matrix on his resume than say, Destination Wedding or Replicas, at the very least he will always be our Neo, the hero so open to interpretation and impersonation that he is all of us and none us all at once. Will Smith was initially sought for the role of Neo as The Matrix was entering production but he would have been all wrong for it. Neo isn’t a quippy, believable, world-saving, comic book hero, he’s an Everyman and while Reeves may be super handsome, his blank slate has an every man quality that is iconically Neo from The Matrix.

Movie Review: The Matrix Revolutions

The Matrix Revolutions (2003) 

Directed by The Wachowskis 

Written by The Wachowskis 

Starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie Ann Moss, Gloria Foster 

Release Date November 5th, 2003 

Published November 4th, 2003 

I was not of an age of reason when Return Of The Jedi was released. I did not understand the historical significance of Godfather Part 3. Now, years later and hopefully much wiser, I see those two films for what they are, the weakest films of two historically brilliant trilogies. So it should come as no surprise that the third film in The Matrix franchise, that one Critic I know called “Our Star Wars” is the weakest film of the three. Matrix Revolutions may not have anything as disappointing and sad as Ewoks in it, but its many flaws are almost as egregious.

Picking up exactly where The Matrix Reloaded left off, Revolutions begins with Neo on an operating table, comatose. Across from him is Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), now in human form having just sabotaged a number of Zion's defenses. From here we learn that Neo is trapped in between the Matrix and the real world. With the advice of the Oracle (Mary Alice, taking over for the late Gloria Foster) and under the protection of Seraph (Collin Chou), Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and Trinity (Carrie Ann Moss) enter the Matrix to save Neo.

To re-enter The Matrix and rescue Neo, Morpheus and Trinity must battle the Merovingian (Lambert Wilson), an all powerful evil inside the machinery of The Matrix, and track down a new character called The Trainman (Bruce Spence). This is done in no more than 20 minutes into the movie and we are once again out of the Matrix and headed for Zion. First however we must wade through another 20 minutes of dull exposition before we reach the first of the films to major set-pieces, the battle for Zion.

Here is the odd thing about the battle: it takes place without Neo, Morpheus, Trinity or any other character that we have come to identify with The Matrix. This major sequence leans entirely on Nona Gaye's Zee and Clayton Watson as The Kid. There is also plenty of screen time for Nathaniel Lee as Captain Mifune, and though he is quite the badass fighter, we have had no time to invest anything in his fate until now. Without the major players involved, the battle for Zion feels like a completely different and far less involving film.

Once major fighting in The Battle for Zion halts in we get another agonizing 20 or so minutes of dull exposition as we wait for Neo and Trinity to make their way to the machine city and Neo's final showdown with Hugo Weaving's Agent Smith. There is a good deal of dialogue along the way meant to build Smith into the ultimate evil which I found deeply confusing because wasn't the Matrix itself the ultimate evil? Now, because the movie needs someone for Neo to punch, Agent Smith steps into the lead villain role and we lose the innate conflict of the first films in the trilogy, or at least that goes very much on the backburner in favor of ugly CGI fight scenes. 

Whether or not the Matrix is destroyed you will have to see for yourself and hopefully you will find something in it that I did not. This was an odd experience for me because I had given up on the metaphorical and philosophical ideas behind The Matrix after the slick, stylish The Matrix Reloaded showed the series to be merely about special effects. Yet as I watched Revolutions I couldn't help but search for those mythical metaphors and an inkling of the philosophy that so many said lay in the heart of the trilogy. To my disappointment, I was right. The philosophical roots of The Matrix are just not there and without that, The Matrix Revolutions and the franchise in general nothing but cold sterile computer generated special effects.

Movie review: The Mule

The Mule (2018) 

Directed by Clint Eastwood 

Written by Nick Schenk 

Starring Clint Eastwood, Bradley Cooper, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Pena, Dianne Wiest, Andy Garcia 

Release Date December 14th, 2018 

Published December 13th, 2018 

Clint Eastwood’s career has been thought dead before but never by this critic. Never, until now. After suffering through his ‘experimental’ 15:17 to Paris earlier this year and now the misbegotten, The Mule, it feels as if Eastwood’s career as an auteur director is unquestionably over. Gone are the days of Unforgiven, Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby, deliberate and painstaking mood pieces that mixed character and drama brilliantly. 

Now we have movies like The Mule where the diminishing returns of Eastwood’s cranky old racist character have finally reached their ugly nadir. The Mule is Eastwood at his most tone deaf, and I’m not talking about his political incorrectness, this is a full fledged failure and not some political screed. The Mule isn’t merely proudly un-PC, it’s downright anti-intelligent. Where Eastwood used to be able to make up for story flaws with strong film-making, his ear for dialogue has gone deaf and his eye for visual flair is nearly blind. 

The Mule stars Eastwood as Earl Stone, a famed grower of Day-lilies. There is no need to remember this detail, it will play no role whatsoever in the movie. It’s an extraneous detail that plays like a failed rough draft that was never corrected in rewrites. That explanation may also work to answer Eastwood’s embarrassing early scenes in which he attends a flower show and delivers non-sequitur dialogue that would make Tommy Wiseau wince in recognition.

Earl chose flowers over his family, choosing the flower show over attending his daughter’s wedding The movie is so clumsy in detail that it makes it seem as if Earl has shown up at the wedding, he’s at a bar where there is a wedding party, before cutting to his having missed it and not speaking to his daughter (Alison Eastwood) again for more than a decade. He somehow manages to have a close relationship with his granddaughter, Ginny (Taissa Farmiga), though how he managed that without speaking to his daughter for most of the girl’s life is another clumsy detail in a series of dropped plot threads. 

Again, none of this matters to the central plot of The Mule. Yes, Earl’s strained relationship with his family, including his openly antagonistic relationship with his ex-wife, Mary (Dianne Wiest), is supposed to inform his character’s decisions in the main plot but the story is so muddled that he could have jettisoned the family story and it would not have altered the main narrative one iota. The Mule is shockingly lazy that way. 

The main plot of The Mule finds Earl down on his luck with his flower farm in foreclosure. Desperate for money, Earl accepts a shady job from a lowlife friend of his granddaughter. The job involves getting paid big money to drive drug shipments from Texas to Earl’s home city of Peoria, Illinois. Earl is perfect for the job because as an old white man driving a pickup truck, he is the single least likely person on the planet to get pulled over. That's not intended as trenchant observation of Police corruption however, that's more this writers observation than anything the movie characters have considered. 

No joke, he drives without a seat belt on for most of the movie and is never in danger of being stopped by police This could be a great opportunity to examine privilege and stereotypes but Eastwood shows no interest in exploring why an old white guy seemingly never has to worry about being questioned by authorities. Instead, the film appears to be a comic drama about Eastwood singing country songs in the cab of his truck while delivering load after load of illicit drugs. 

There is, I guess, some danger in the plot. The drug dealers threaten Earl’s life a lot and wave guns around a lot but he doesn’t react to any of it, as if age means that you don’t fear death or being beaten by drug dealers anymore. As much as money is his motivation, boredom could also play a role in Earl’s choice to become a mule. There appear to be no stakes on the line for Earl who uses his advanced age as an excuse to do whatever he wants. 

Perhaps that’s meant to be funny, Earl’s give no you know what attitude. Indeed, Eastwood could have been playing for laughs but there is nothing in Eastwood’s direction that indicates he’s being anything less than serious about this story. Just because it is terribly clumsy doesn’t mean it isn’t also dour in that way that bad melodramas are always dour as a way of seeming more dramatic than they really are. 

The Mule is downright dreary as it trudges to a finish that is unpredictable only because it is so messy it’s impossible to predict where we are headed. The film has no narrative momentum, it has no forward motion at times, scenes start, linger and peter out before being replaced by another. The scenes of Eastwood driving and singing along to old country and pop songs are endless and repeated to a torturous degree. 

Eastwood’s decline as a director is stunning. I won’t attribute it to his age because I still believe him capable of delivering a good movie. I think the issue is that he no longer cares for making movies. It’s my feeling that he likes keeping busy and collecting paychecks. 15:17 to Paris and The Mule are movies from a filmmaker who has nothing better to do and decided that making a movie with his buddies is a good way to pass the time.  Here’s hoping Mr. Eastwood had a better time making The Mule than we did watching it.