Movie Review Lock Out

Lock Out (2012) 

Directed by Steven Saint Leger, James Mather

Written by Luc Besson, Steven Saint Leger, James Mather

Starring Guy Pearce, Maggie Grace, Peter Stormare 

Release Date April 13th, 2012 

I’ve been somewhat obsessed with the TV ad for “Lockout” that praised the Guy Pearce starring action film as “Diehard Meets Blade Runner.” There are so many things wrong with this particular piece of praise that it’s difficult to narrow them all down. Most glaringly wrong is the disservice this overwhelming bit of critical puffery does to “Lockout.”

Comparing the fun, modestly entertaining, far from terrible “Lockout” to the awesomeness of either “Blade Runner” or “Diehard” puts far too much weight on the shoulders of what is a good but far from great sci-fi action movie. Comparing “Lockout” to both of those films combined is just outright cruelty; there is simply no way that any movie, especially “Lockout,” can live up to that standard.

Former CIA Operative Snow (Guy Pearce) was apparently in the wrong place at the wrong time when a powerful friend was murdered. Suspected of the killing himself, Snow is staring down a trip to the new multi-billion dollar space prison where madness from the station’s cryo-stasis whatnot machines awaits most, if not all who are sentenced there.

It would take, oh I don’t know, the President’s daughter Emily (Maggie Grace, “Lost”) getting kidnapped aboard that space prison for Snow to get out of this predicament. And whaddaya know, the President’s daughter is kidnapped aboard the space prison and only Snow can brave the newly unfrozen, madness addled prison population to rescue her before her dad is forced to blow the space prison out of space.

As my description demonstrates “Lockout” has a classically goofball sci-fi set up filled with enough stock villains and henchmen to fill 20 seasons of the old “Batman” TV series. The one thing that keeps “Lockout” from devolving into camp is star Guy Pearce who plays a slight variation on the wisecracking anti-hero we’ve come to know and be bored by in countless action films past.

It helps that Pearce is such an unexpected action star. In his best work, “L.A Confidential,” “Memento,” and “The Proposition,” Pearce used his thin frame and actorly flourish to sell audiences that he could survive just about any punishment. In “Lockout” however, Pearce is muscled up, heavily armed and wearing the standard issue stubble required of all modern anti-heroes.

The transformation is surprising and yet Pearce maintains some of the steeliness that made his earlier roles so memorable. His wisecracks have a little extra juice in them as if they weren’t just par for the action movie script course. Pearce twists his lines and tweaks the punches in a way that is similar to how Johnny Depp takes everyday dialogue and makes it sound like something no one has ever said before.

Pearce alone is worth the price of a ticket for “Lockout;” without him the film would likely be a droning bore of clichés. Maggie Grace is an attractive girl but saddled with the role of damsel in distress who occasionally gets to look tough, she’s as stuck as any other actress would be. The role is so standard at this point that even Meryl Streep with a complex accent couldn’t distinguish it.

In the end, the critic who claimed that “Lockout” was “Diehard meets Blade Runner” has done more to aggrandize his or her self than to praise the movie they seem to greatly admire. No film could live up to that standard and claiming the movie does rise to that standard is a disservice to the film’s true merits. A very fun, charismatic performance by Guy Pearce is thus lost as fans focus on the lack of “Blade Runner” and or “Diehard” qualities.

Movie Review: Dylan Dog Dead of Night

Dylan Dog Dead of Night (2011) 

Directed by Kevin Munroe 

Written by Thomas Dean Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer

Starring Brandon Routh, Sam Huntington, Anita Briem, Peter Stormare, Taye Diggs 

Release Date April 29th, 2011

Published April 30th, 2011

Detective Dylan Dog (Brandon Routh) has a dark and disturbing past. Yet, as we listen to his bemused voiceover narration, ala classic detective movies of the 40's and 50's, he's remarkably well adjusted. Dylan used to be a paranormal investigator and more importantly, the one human being standing between humans and the undead.

Vampires, Werewolves and Zombies

In the universe of Dylan Dog, settled perfectly in the haunted streets of New Orleans, vampires, zombies and werewolves are real and living mostly peacefully among humans. When one of the undead got out of line it was Dylan who stepped in to investigate and correct matters. However, when things got personal and someone Dylan cared about was murdered he walked away.

Now, Dylan is being called back to action after the murder of a smuggler who has brought to New Orleans a deadly device that could mean the end of human and undead kind. With his trusty sidekick Marcus (Sam Huntington), a zombie after being attacked early on by one of the film's big bad guys, Dylan must re-enter his former life and stop a possible apocalypse.

Noir Mystery meets Horror movie monsters

The premise of "Dylan Dog," which is based on a wildly popular (in Europe) Italian comic book by Tiziano Sclavi, is a tribute to classic noir murder mysteries. Brandon Routh doesn't exactly embody hard boiled detective ala Humphrey Bogart but Routh's off-hand voiceover and quirky approach to the role give the film flavor if not the most accurate homage to classic noir mystery.

The notion that vampires, werewolves and zombies live among us is not new, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," which gets an almost subliminal shout out in "Dylan Dog," carried a similar premise on television to great success. That "Dylan Dog" came along first, the comic book began in the mid-eighties, matters little, the movie is clearly influenced by Buffy and pales in comparison.

Superman Returns wasn't Brandon Routh's fault

So, the noir homage is weak and the premise isn't new, what's left to like about "Dylan Dog: Dead of Night?" The only thing I can recommend is star Brandon Routh. Unfairly maligned for the failure of "Superman Returns" Routh is a clever and handsome actor with a great sense of humor, a strong instinct for deadpan line delivery and the physical presence to dominate a scene.

My affection for Brandon Routh is limited to liking his performance but not the movie in which it's trapped. The premise about one person standing between the world of the undead and the rest of everyday society is derivative and the homage to noir mystery is weak at best. The direction is at times sloppy, as is the script which attempts to honor the comic book but doesn't have enough detail to make any of the references meaningful to anyone but a very small cult.

Maybe catch "Dylan Dog: Dead of Night" on cable someday, late on a Saturday night when there is absolutely nothing else on worth watching.

Movie Review Premonition

Premonition (2007) 

Directed by Mennon Yapo 

Written by Bill Kelly 

Starring Sandra Bullock, Julian McMahon, Nia Long, Kate Nelligan, Amber Valletta, Peter Stormare

Release Date March 16th, 2007

Published March 16th, 2007

Sandra Bullock's star has dimmed a great deal since the days when she was touted as replacing Julia Roberts as the queen of romantic comedy 12 years ago thanks to 1995's While You Were Sleeping. In this decade she has had only one legitimate hit movie, Miss Congeniality, that was sold on her star power. On the surface that would seem to reflect badly on Ms. Bullock.

In fact, however, there is a more complicated and interesting reason for her seeming decline. Sandra Bullock made the conscious choice not to be pigeonholed by her rom-com persona. Thus why she has made such eclectic and low key choices as  28 Days, Murder By Numbers and her small ensemble turn in the Oscar winner Crash. None of these movies has done anything for her box office reputation but they are, at the very least, risky and interesting choices.

For her latest film, the thriller Premonition, Bullock returns to big budget, mainstream, starring roles and chooses a most unlikely and uneven film choice. Premonition is a shallow, time shifting weepy about a woman who loses her husband over and over again until we in the audience aren't sure if we are cheering for Bullock to save her man or for the husband to finally disappear for good.

In Premonition, Sandra Bullock stars as Linda Hanson, a suburban mom of two lovely pre-teen girls (Shyann McLure and Courtney Taylor Burress). Her home is well tended, she runs everyday and keeps in great shape and yet there is something tearing at the fabric of her perfect suburban sprawl. Linda's husband Jim (Julian McMahon) has grown distant since the birth of their daughters and Linda doesn't know what to do about it.

All of that however, goes out the window when Jim is killed in a car accident. On his way to what he said was a job interview, though there is fair suspicion that Jim was meeting with another woman. Linda and her family are devastated, that is, till the next morning when Linda wakes up to find Jim in the kitchen making breakfast for his daughters.

Was it just a nightmare or a premonition? That becomes the point of the film as day after day Linda awakens to different days of the week and different realities before and after Jim's death.

Directed by German auteur Mennan Yapo, in his American debut, Premonition rolls out a time space continuum crossed with Groundhog Day plot and proceeds to beat it into the ground with repeated ridiculousness, lost and found plot lines and inconsistencies you could drive a semi truck through, oh sorry Jim.

The script by Bill Kelly, who has written nothing since the 1999 comedy Blast From the Past, is a mess of unfinished ideas and pointless existentialism. This is a film that is desperate to be deep but is far too lazy to figure out just what is deep or compelling about this plot. The story cannot even adhere to its own basic logic by connecting the various plot strands that either hang unfinished or simply peter out due to lack of interest.

Sandra Bullock has always had the ability to earn and keep an audience's sympathy and that is still the case; even in trash like Premonition. Even playing this ditzy, overwhelmed character who is blessed with all of the same knowledge that we in the audience are but refuses to make much use of it in her ever increasingly dire situation, Bullock somehow retains our sympathy.

The problem isn't Sandra Bullock, it's a bad script and a director more interested in camera histrionics and moody, gray skied atmosphere than in telling a smart compelling story. I must admit, director Mennan Yapo is a talented scenarist. With his best friend and cinematographer Torsten Lippstock, Yapo delivers some very interesting and unique visuals. His liberal use of handheld cameras gives the story a chaotic urgency that would have served well in a more coherent story. Unfortunately coherence is the last word I would use to describe the abysmal mess that is Premonition.

Sandra Bullock's best days at the box office are behind her but at least she still makes interesting and risky choices. Unfortunately, starring in Premonition isn't a choice that pays off well. Incoherent, ludicrous and outright irritating, this time twisting flick lacks the chills, thrills or even the modest entertainment value necessary for a successful film.

Sandra Bullock will walk away from Premonition still a sweetheart, still a presence who can win and hold your sympathy. It's the movie around her that suffers from its many plot holes and structural flaws.

Movie Review Nacho Libre

Nacho Libre (2006) 

Directed by Jared Hess

Written by Jared Hess, Mike White, Jerusha Hess

Starring Jack Black, Peter Stormare, Moises Arias 

Release Date June 16th, 2006 

Published June 15th, 2006 

Jared Hess broke big with his debut feature Napoleon Dynamite. The cult that has grown from Napoleon has raised the stakes on Hess's young career. Expectations for his future success are huge and his follow-up, new to DVD, Nacho Libre is just the kind of oddly humorous, entirely offbeat, flick we might have expected.

Teaming Hess with another rising cult star Jack Black and his pal;writer Mike White is the kind of wonderfully inspired comic combination that Napoleon fans could have dreamed. Nacho Libre is a rare sort of movie made for a cult audience by cult figures. Whether the film can reach beyond the cult is a big question.

In Nacho Libre Jack Black stars as Ignacio, an orphan who grew up in a monastery and became a monk. He's in charge of the food which is just a notch below the kind of gruel described in a Dickens novel. Serving food has never been first and foremost on Ignacio's mind. Even as a child he was drawn to the dramatic spectacle of the Mexican wrestling ring and the masked heroes known as Luchadores.

One night the orphanage's food is stolen; Ignacio decides the only way to get the money to feed the children is to wear stretchy pants and become a luchadore. To do this he seeks out the very thief who stole the food, a skinny naif named Esqueleto (Hector Jimenez). With his speed and surprising strength, Esqueleto is the perfect partner for the newly dubbed Nacho.

Of course becoming a luchador is not easy. In fact Nacho and Esqueleto make a regular habit of getting their butts kicked by every possible combination of luchadore, fat, skinny even lilliputian luchadores. On the bright side they are paid even when they lose. The question becomes will the fame of the wrestling world go to Nacho's head or can he remain a humble monk and win the heart of a beautiful nun, Sister Encarnacion (Ana DeLa Reguera). Or can he possibly do both.

The plot description sounds far more straightforward than it actually is. In fact most of the comedy does not come from the oddball wrestling scenes but rather from Jack Black's unique persona. To get the humor of Nacho Libre you must be a fan of Jack Black and familiar with the kind of madcap insanity that entertains him.

Indeed it seems that much of the premise of Nacho Libre and the idea of Jack Black playing an outsized mexican wrestling champion extends from an idea that maybe only Jack Black and writer Mike White thought was funny. Then came director Jared Hess who took the unusual premise and filtered it through his deadpan comic perspective and the idea became even less accessible.

Esoteric doesn't begin to describe the humor of Nacho Libre. Sure there are plenty of the pratfalls and physical humor that Jack Black specializes in, but much of the film is an earnest examination of a man and a dream to become a luchadore. The humor then comes from Jack Black playing a character whose dream is to become a luchadore and if you don't think that is funny then Nacho Libre is not the movie for you.

To enjoy Nacho Libre you have to enjoy Jack Black and his manic energy, odd gesticulation and in this film, a funny accent. The story of Nacho Libre is earnest and oddly straightforward, the humor comes from Jack Black being a Mexican wrestler. I found it funny, but I can understand where some people might not.

For me, as a fan of Jack Black's strange sense of humor, his odd tics and verbal dynamics, Nacho Libre is a terrifically funny film. If however you are uninitiated to the cult of Jack black then Nacho Libre may be a trying experience, a series of earnest, deadpan examinations of the very odd life of an odd man who wears stretchy pants and dreams of leaping off the top rope. You have to smile at that last description to be part of the audience of Nacho Libre.

Movie Review: Bad Boys 2

Bad Boys 2 (2003)

Directed by Michael Bay 

Written by Ron Shelton, Jerry Stahl 

Starring Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Gabrielle Union, Peter Stormare, Theresa Randle 

Release Date July 18th, 2003 

Published July 17th, 2003 

Director Michael Bay cut his teeth on innovative music videos and commercials until his 30-seconds-at-a-time style caught the attention of producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson. In Bay, the producers saw a director who fit perfectly their MTV-style films; movies filled with hit soundtracks, quick edits, pretty girls, and massive explosions. For his part Bay was malleable, without a hint of the headstrong behavior that would take a film's authorship from the high-profile producers. 

The music video style of bay was very evident in his first Bruckheimer/Simpson collaboration, 1994's Bad Boys. Now, a mere nine years later, Bay continues in the same whipsaw, bombastic style that made him Bruckheimer's pet director and makes Bad Boys II yet another Bruckheimer assault on the intelligence of the American film-going public.

That they reteamed Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, the stars from the original Bad Boys, is the end of the praise I can give the makers of Bad Boys II. It is Smith and Lawrence's snappy chemistry that provides the film's only moments of pleasure. However, even the charming sass of the leads can't save this loud, dumb disaster.

Smith and Lawrence are again Miami narcotics cops Mike Lowery and Marcus Burnett. Mike is still the player, the dog, the trust fund baby, while Marcus is the hard-working family man forever henpecked by his loving wife Theresa (Theresa Randle; reprising her role from the first film, though only in a cameo). Mike and Marcus are tracking a shipment of ecstasy supposedly being shipped in from Cuba.  We are told that since September 11, 2001, security on the ocean has gotten tighter and the drug dealers are adapting quickly, finding new ways to ship drugs into America. In this case, a Cuban dealer named Johnny Tapia (Jordi Molla) is shipping drugs and money inside dead bodies.

Not only are Marcus and Mike after Tapia, so is the DEA, lead by Marcus's sister Sydney (the ungodly hot Gabrielle Union). Mike and Sydney have a little secret they have been keeping from Marcus; they secretly hooked up about a month earlier and the relationship is getting serious. While Sydney goes undercover inside Tapia's organization, Mike and Marcus try to protect her while compiling evidence to arrest Tapia (or, more to the point, find an excuse to shoot him.)

Indeed, in the Bay-Bruckheimer world, cops don't arrest people, they compile enough evidence for a justifiable homicide. The script is clever enough to call attention to the carnage with a running gag about Marcus's being in therapy and no longer wanting to kill people. Smith's hotshot Lowery has no such qualms about violence, taking shoot-first ask-questions-later to new heights; he makes Dirty Harry look like an expert in police procedure. 

Now, I'm not asking for realism, but some level of professionalism isn't out of the question. If police want to get upset about their portrayal in rap music, where is their outrage about their portrayal in Bad Boys II? Here, Cops are portrayed wanton cowboys who leave as much carnage in their wake as the bad guys they collar? Why is that acceptable but portraying cops as abusing their power out of line? It can't possibly be that Cops like being portrayed as Bad Boy cowboys is it? 

At a bloated two hours, 37 minutes, Bad Boys II is an interminable jumble of massive explosions and flying bullets. And while Michael Bay may feel that this is his specialty, being good at it doesn't make it entertaining. As he does in Armageddon, The Rock, and Pearl Harbor, Bay delights in blowin' stuff up good and may in fact have collected more bullets and explosions than ever before in Bad Boys II. Like an overlong Motley Crue video, Bad Boys II whips forward with jump-cut edits, fiery explosions, and busty stripper chicks, including a naked dead girl the guys stop to ogle while searching for evidence. Classy. 

I have a lot of goodwill for Smith and Lawrence and would love to see them work together again, but on a different project. In Bad Boys II, their quick, jokey banter is completely overwhelmed by Bay's over-the-top obsession with pyrotechnics.

Movie Review: Windtalkers

Windtalkers (2002) 

Directed by John Woo 

Written by John Rice

Starring Nicolas Cage, Adam Beach, Mark Ruffalo, Peter Stormare, Christian Slater, Noah Emmerich

Release Date June 14th, 2002 

Published June 13th, 2002 

War is hell and now so is watching war movies. The drive towards more realistic violence have made for some very hard-to-watch films. Saving Private Ryan set the standard, followed by films like Enemy At The Gates, We Were Soldiers, Black Hawk Down and most recently John Woo’s Windtalkers. Though it purports to be about Navajo Indian code talkers, Windtalkers as they were called, the film is actually about violence and war movie clichés. 

Nicolas Cage stars in Windtalkers as Joe Enders, a borderline crazy marine. When we are first introduced to Joe he is attempting to hold a position that is, to the rest of his platoon, already lost. Joe’s entire platoon is killed but he survives and returns to battle with a new assignment. Joe is to ship out to Saipan where he and his platoon will protect the military's new secret weapon, a pair of Navajo Indians whose native language is used as code to transmit Japanese troop movements without the Japanese being able to spy on it. 

The Navajo soldiers are Ben (Adam Beach) and Whitehorse (Roger Willie). Rounding out the platoon is your typical cast of recognizable character actors whose names become interchangeable though their faces are semi-recognizable. Christian Slater, Mark Ruffalo, Peter Stormare, and Noah Emmerich, amongst others, are the interchangeable soldiers.

Director John Woo is the absolute wrong choice to direct this film. With his penchant for stylistic violence, Woo forgets that the story is the code talkers and not video game style pyro technics. Adam Beach and Roger Willie get the short shrift from a story that would be better served by a smaller budget and a more centralized script. If the film would have focused more on the development of the code and the Navajo characters the story would be far more interesting. Of course it would have been far less commercial.

My guess is that the original story was about the code talkers but producers with dollar signs in their eyes got a hold of it, signed on big name star Cage and big name director Woo and put aside the real story in favor of one that played up Cage’s character. Once again, typical Hollywood greed ruins a good story. Navajo Code talkers were real, and the code they created helped the U.S win the war in the Pacific. There is a really good story to be told about them, Windtalkers is not it. -