The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017) * *

 

Directed by:  Patrick Hughes

 

Starring:  Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Gary Oldman, Elodie Yung, Joaquin de Almeida, Salma Hayek

The Hitman's Bodyguard is a buddy movie with loud, loud explosions, car chases, and some lapses in credulity.    With all of the property damage and mayhem, I thought I was watching an Avengers or Justice League movie.    This is a movie in which, after everything is resolved to the plot's satisfaction, no mention of the trail of destruction getting there is made again.    To whom do the insurance companies send the subrogation paperwork?    How exactly is the death of a hired goon handled by the legal system?   By my count, Jackson's Darius Kincaid and Reynolds' Michael Bryce are responsible for at least as many deaths as the villainous dictator Dukhovich (Oldman) stands trial for at The Hague.

I know, I know.   I'm overanalyzing.   I'm supposed to sit back, have a good time, and let the absurdity go.    If you are able to do that, then I commend you.   The Hitman's Bodyguard isn't an awful film.    It is simply a movie with no surprises which is more concerned with the action than the characters.     The best buddy movies, like 48 Hrs, Lethal Weapon, etc. have people with intriguing personalities and they crackle with energy.    The Hitman's Bodyguard has action to spare, but this doesn't substitute for energy.    The actors attempt to inject the story with some life and occasionally succeed on the sheer force of their personalities.   

As the film opens in London, Michael is a top-notch bodyguard for hire with shady, but wealthy clientele.   No matter to Michael.    The money rolls in and his reputation for keeping his clients alive grows.    Until one day in which one of his clients is assassinated after seemingly boarding his plane to safety, and then Michael's world falls apart.    The film picks up two years later, in which we see Michael taking on coked-out, paranoid attorneys as clients and his reputation in the crapper.     How do we know Michael has fallen on hard times?    He was impeccably clean-shaven in the film's opening scenes and now has stubble and messy hair.    Plus, he is urinating in a bottle while waiting to retrieve his client.   

Meanwhile, across town at Interpol headquarters, Michael's former flame Amelia (Yung) is in charge of accompanying a key witness, our hitman Kincaid, to The Hague to testify against Dukhovich, a former Belarusian dictator being tried for crimes against humanity.    For reasons which I'm sure have little to do with international law, Kincaid must appear at The Hague no later than 5:00pm the next day or else the charges against Dukhovich will be dismissed.     This plot point was likely inserted to create a deadline and the inherent suspense which goes along with it.    If the prosecution's case hinges on a hitman's testimony, then it has no case. 

No matter.   Amelia's caravan of protection is wiped out by Dukhovich's thugs and Amelia and Kincaid are forced to hide out.    Amelia calls her old boyfriend Michael for help.    Michael, still carrying a torch for her, reluctantly agrees.    He is less than thrilled about having to escort Kincaid, with whom he has crossed paths often in the past, to The Hague, but gosh darn it, he does.    The thugs remain not far behind, mostly because of a leak in Interpol hierarchy assisting Dukhovich.    Interpol must not be stocked with any decent detectives because they can't seem to figure out the identity of the traitor even when it is painfully obvious from the jump who it is.

The Hague itself doesn't seem to have much prisoner security either.    Dukhovich, when he is not in the courtroom, is seen hanging out in what looks like a five-star hotel room.    He can pretty much run the show from there.    Shouldn't dictators up on such grievous charges be in a jail cell?    And should he be allowed to have access to a cell phone?    Gary Oldman gnashes his teeth and exists to spew hateful things and chew scenery.    Oldman has played so many villains of this type, he should have his own wing in the Movie Villain Hall of Fame.     I liked him better when he played the quiet, yet tough and resourceful Commissioner Gordon in the Dark Knight trilogy.   

Michael and Darius start out with hostile dislike, which moves along to a guarded truce, followed by confessions, a momentary chasm in their newfound friendship, and then topped off by a healing of their rift and teaming up to thwart their common enemies.     Along the way, they encounter so many bullets, fights, and cars chasing them that it is a wonder they don't develop PTSD.     And, like many movies like this, the baddies can rain bullets down upon Michael and Darius without even grazing them, while Michael and Darius fire one bullet and kill their attackers.     What a huge waste of money to supply these thugs with top-of-the-line cars, guns, and ammo when they can't hit anything.

Reynolds dials down his trademark snark enough to be somewhat vulnerable, while Jackson seems to be enjoying himself a lot.    Maybe too much for a guy the whole world is seemingly after.   I'm not sure what to make of the movie's attempts to make Darius a misunderstood good guy complete with, gasp, principles.    Salma Hayek appears in a few scenes as Jackson's foul-mouthed, hitwoman wife in jail in the Netherlands, who is so intimidating she can force her cellmate to stand in the corner facing the wall for hours at a time.    She may even be tougher than Darius, but not necessarily funnier.  

The Hitman's Bodyguard has a higher body count than all four Lethal Weapon movies combined and a property damage bill which must rival The Avengers.    It does nothing to stand out from those films or even elevate itself above the traditions of the genre.    It is content to be, well, merely content. 













 

 

 

The Great Wall (2017) * *

Directed by:  Zhang Yimou

Starring:  Matt Damon, Willem Dafoe, Pedro Pascal, Tian Jing

Thank goodness The Great Wall of China was built to keep out those pesky CGI monsters that plagued China in the 10th century.    Every sixty years, these green, four-legged meanies attack The Great Wall and the Chinese army is charged with fending them off.    Two European mercenaries (Damon and Pascal) stumble into these battles, with Damon joining the army while Pascal schemes with another white man (Dafoe) to escape the Wall.  

The Great Wall is a video game masquerading as an action film.    The monsters, known as "Tei Tao", attack in droves and are subsequently blown to smithereens by the weaponry of the day.    The Tei Tao are big, ugly thingies which scream and have lots of teeth.    They belong more in the Jurassic Park universe than this one.     The Tei Tao attack in waves during various points of the movie, with some even managing to climb over the Wall.     But, there is a way to kill the species, and that is to kill the Tei Tao queen.     If this sounds at all familiar, it is because that is the way you ultimately win any video game since the invention of Super Mario Bros.    You fight off creatures with increasing levels of difficulty until you impregnate the lair of the head honcho and slay him/her/it.

The humans in The Great Wall aren't much more interesting than the Tei Tao.    There are generals who go about their business solemnly.     William (Damon) discovers the true meaning of loyalty by electing to aid the army in their fight against the Tei Tao.    His traveling buddies not unreasonably want to escape the Wall and strike out on their own, but with the Tei Tao lurking around this may not be the wisest move.     Imagine William's misfortune to come across the Wall right as the Tei Tao was all set to make its appearance after sixty years of dormancy.     If he were just a few months later, then he wouldn't have had to deal with this crap.

The Great Wall is not leavened by humor or a sense of goofy fun.    It goes about its business with plodding seriousness.     The movie runs about 90 minutes, but plays much longer.    Director Yimou wants The Great Wall to play like a classic action epic, but how seriously are we expected to take all of this?    We have humans vs. vicious green monsters.     There is talk of how, if the Tei Tao succeed in taking the Wall, will soon take over the rest of the world.     It is fortunate most people believed the world was flat in the 10th century, so maybe they can rest easier dreaming of the Tei Tao falling off the edge of the earth.  

The Dark Tower (2017) * 1/2

Directed by:  Nikolaj Arcel

Starring:  Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Taylor

The Dark Tower is a defeated movie.   There is a curious lack of energy which dooms the film from the start.    Sometimes, from the opening frame, you can tell a movie is a clunker.    This is one of those movies.    The characters are not ones we grow to care about much.    Aside from present day New York, the film takes place on a desolate planet which acts as the middle ground between our planet and another which houses the dark tower of the title.    It seems the tower can be destroyed by the thoughts of psychic children (not adults, children), which are harnessed into streams of fire which hit the tower causing earthquakes throughout the solar system.    But only the truly powerful psychic children can destroy the tower with their harnessed thoughts.    The evil Man in Black (no not Johnny Cash), played by Matthew McConaughey, has a team of computer geeks (yes, computer geeks) who assist him in locating these children so he can kidnap them and use their powers to destroy the tower.  
What will happen if the tower is destroyed?    I am glad you asked.    According to The Gunslinger (Elba), who is the last of a group of (men?) (aliens?) who protect the universe from The Man in Black's diabolical scheme, the tower acts as the source of a force field which holds evil aliens at bay just outside our universe (or is it solar system?) which are dying to come in and take over.    The Man in Black wants to unleash the dreaded interlopers onto our world by destroying the tower.    Does he get a bonus of some kind for helping the evildoers?    Is he going to be made President of the new world order?    He surely is invested in their success for whatever payoff he will derive from his actions.

The Man in Black can cause instant death by merely waving his hand or, if he is in a playful mood, performs Jedi mind tricks on others and wreaks havoc for his amusement.    It is odd that The Gunslinger, armed with merely an old-fashioned revolver, can possibly kill The Man in Black with a bullet, even if the bullet is said to be taken from the same metal that created the Excalibur sword from the King Arthur legend.    It just seems wrong that a gunshot could kill someone with such heavy-duty powers.    It also seems wrong that the Man in Black would need a computer team to locate people.    Do the computer guys use Google Universe?  

The world of dark towers, gunslingers, and a Man in Black haunt the dreams of 11-year-old Jake (Tom Taylor), who naturally can't convince anyone of the reality of his visions.     Through use of a portal found in a dilapidated Brooklyn home, Jake portals to the aforementioned middle planet where he comes across The Gunslinger, who is itching for revenge against the Man in Black for killing his father years ago.    The Gunslinger is inexplicably immune to the Man in Black's powers, so he doesn't just fall over dead.     The Gunslinger roams a planet which seems stuck in an Old West time warp and Lord knows The Man in Black wouldn't be caught dead there, so fortunately Jake comes along to bring The Gunslinger into present day New York.    Someplace The Man in Black might actually hang out. 

Yes, the entire story of The Dark Tower is silly, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the movie has a solemn pall hanging over it; a gloom that presses down on everyone from which the movie can't recover.    No one seems to be having any fun, not even the villain even as he delivers one-liners.    Elba seems to be portraying The Gunslinger as more of a duty.    Tom Taylor just doesn't register much as the movie plods along grimly.    I also find it funny that The Man in Black and The Gunslinger, who have all of these supernatural powers, have real names like Walter and Roland respectively.     The Man in Black sounds foreboding and mysterious.    Walter does not.  

Detroit (2017) * * *

Directed by:  Kathryn Bigelow

Starring:  John Boyega, Anthony Mackie, Algee Smith, Will Poulter, Jacob Latimore, Hannah Murray, Kaitlyn Dever

Reflecting on Kathryn Bigelow's two most recent films (The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty) and now Detroit, I marvel at their technical superiority and strong acting, but yet I'm still held outside. Her movies know how they are supposed to look and spare no expense in looking right, but I find I'm not all in emotionally.    The subject matter of Detroit has easy-to-connect parallels to today's society, in which racism, prejudice, and police brutality (and sometimes even killing) still exist to alarming degrees.    Stories of rioting have been in the news for decades.    The stories of these ills grab headlines.    People protest, talking heads appear on talk shows, and columnists express their outrage, but the needle doesn't move substantially.    How do I know?    This nation elected a President based on a campaign built largely on prejudice, xenophobia, and fear.    In 1967 Detroit, things weren't much different.

It is difficult to watch Detroit and not explore your own feelings on these subjects.   I can't imagine Bigelow and frequent collaborator, screenwriter Mark Boal, made the film without understanding how relevant its themes are today.    The connections are direct and intentional, which are part of the film's strengths.    The police offers and National Guardsmen in Detroit clearly trample the civil rights of the suspects they detain on the night of July 25, 1967.    We see how the race riots which started on the early morning of July 23 after an illegal speakeasy was busted begin.    There is massive looting and destruction of property.   The national guard was brought in to assist the weary police.    Detroit attempts to create an atmosphere with a prologue depicting the massive migration of blacks to the North, followed by the migration of whites to the suburbs, which led to marginalization of blacks in the urban areas since jobs and money fled to the suburbs too.    The bust of the speakeasy appears to be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

Detroit shows us how such tensions can cause the worst in people.    The rioting and looting are wrong, as are the police officers who shoot people running away from a crime scene in the back, plant evidence, try to keep their lies straight, and murder and terrorize other suspects they interrogate. The suspects detained at the Algiers Hotel after police and National Guardsmen descended on it after a black man fires a starter pistol (but is mistaken to be a sniper) to scare police are indeed harassed, beaten, and in three cases, murdered.    Others witness the crimes but do nothing to stop them.    One of them is security guard Melvin Dismukes (Boyega), who tries to act as an intermediary between the suspects and cops in hopes that cooler heads prevail.    As he later goes on trial himself, it is apparent Dismukes should have not tried to be a hero and stayed away.

The three white police officers who do the terrorizing are young, clean-shaven, and seriously warped by prejudice.    Led by Officer Phillip Krauss (Poulter-in a chilling performance), the men abuse their power in an attempt to determine if the suspect Krauss shot in the back and planted a knife on was indeed the man a sniper.    (He wasn't).   The suspects include two young white girls (Murray and Dever), who were discovered by the police in another room with a black army veteran (Mackie) as they rounded up the hotel denizens.    The idea of two white girls hanging out with a black man, even a Vietnam veteran with an honorable discharge, incenses the three officers to the point of rabid anger. The girls did not commit any crime, nor did the veteran, but in the officer's minds the girls betrayed their race because, in their warped minds, their visit to the room had to be sexual in nature.  

The scenes involving Krauss' illegal detention of the suspects are wound up, but not as tensely as one would expect.    They are shown, but yet we don't feel much about them except for some muted outrage.    Is it possible, with round-the-clock media coverage of police shootings and White House scandal, that I am on outrage overload?    Possibly.   I would recommend seeing Detroit as a way to test your own feelings on the societal ills presented here.    It inspires thought, but doesn't quite cross the line into true greatness.    I am not certain if it is Bigelow or me that doesn't allow that to happen.  

Sleepless (2017) * *

Directed by:  Baran bo Odar

Starring:  Jamie Foxx, Michelle Monaghan, David Harbour, Dermot Mulroney, Tip Harris, Scoot McNairy, Octavius J. Johnson, Gabrielle Union

Sleepless isn't poorly made, but is just there.    The performances fit the material and everyone does a professional job, but the film never involves us more than superficially.     There is a promise for a better movie in here somewhere, but Sleepless doesn't find it.    It is content with being okay; a mostly forgettable January release which shows up in theaters right after the Oscar contenders and Christmas blockbusters have already started their runs.

I confess I had to peruse different film reviews to recall the film's plot.    Las Vegas detective Vincent Downs (Foxx) and partner Sean Cass (Harris) chase down and beat up drug dealers and then steal their cocaine stash belonging to a powerful casino owner (Mulroney) and a fearsome drug lord (McNairy).    It is no surprise that the men want their stash back and kidnap Vincent's son (Johnson) to ensure Vincent returns the cocaine unharmed.      McNairy gnashes his teeth with intensity, while Mulroney is somewhat reasonable as a casino owner in way over his head.     At first, we think Vincent is a crooked cop we don't sympathize with because he chose to be a crook himself.    But, there is more and I won't reveal any spoilers.  

On Vincent's tail is Internal Affairs cop Jennifer Bryant (Monaghan) and her partner Doug Dennison (Harbour), who are in charge of rooting out corrupt cops within the Las Vegas PD.    They are slow to discover what we learn soon enough about Vincent, who pays an extreme price with the breakup of his family over his career decisions.     It is hard to believe Vincent would let things go to those lengths just to hide...., but never mind.   

Vincent spends the bulk of the movie attempting to rescue his son from the mobsters and avoid the IA cops.     He is in a pickle, but thankfully his nemeses are rather generous given the circumstances and allow Vincent one hour to produce the coke, which gives him more than enough time to plan his son's rescue.     We also know because we have seen movies before that another character is pulling the strings from behind a curtain and we aren't especially shocked to learn his or her identity.

If I sound less than enthusiastic about Sleepless, it is because I am.    It isn't bad enough to allow me to dig my teeth into a scathing review, nor is it good enough for me to be effusive with praise.    The movie leaves us with a cliffhanger suggesting a sequel will one day be in the works.     If you consider how many uncalled for reboots and sequels pop up all the time, would we be aghast to see a trailer in about two years for Sleepless 2?    They should have Vincent move to Seattle and call the movie Sleepless in Seattle.  

The Insider (1999) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Michael Mann

Starring:  Al Pacino, Russell Crowe, Philip Baker Hall, Christopher Plummer, Diane Venora, Michael Gambon, Debi Mazar, Stephen Tobolowsky, Lindsay Crouse

The tobacco industry settled $246 billion in lawsuits in the late 1990's thanks in large part to the testimony of whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand, a former Brown & Williamson executive interviewed on 60 Minutes.    Getting the interview on the air was the result of exhaustive investigative journalism and legal maneuverings for CBS, Big Tobacco, and Wigand himself, who had to violate a corporate secrecy agreement he signed when he was fired from his position.

The Insider takes the on the tone and pace of a thriller with many moving parts.    Wigand is played by Russell Crowe (in an Oscar nominated performance) as a man seething with anger over being fired for butting heads with his superiors and maybe suffering from paranoia and delusions.     He is not an easy man to like, but he does a risky and courageous thing by going on 60 Minutes to lay out the lies told by the tobacco industry about the safety of its products.     People by and large knew cigarettes were bad, but what the public may not have known were the steps taken by Big Tobacco to ensure its customers became addicted.     Big Tobacco was forced to place warning labels on its products after the proof of their danger became incontrovertible.      Despite the rise in the cost of tobacco products, people still purchase them in record numbers; the money spent being only one of the terrible costs of their use.

Pacino plays Lowell Bergman, a 60 Minutes producer who works with Mike Wallace (Plummer) to get the story and coax Wigand into going on television.     Wigand has understandable qualms about becoming a whistleblower and part of his motive is surely personal.     Bergman, perhaps in crusader mode, believes the story will shed light on a public health issue.     CBS balks at airing the interview due to the possibility of Big Tobacco suing the network and thus threatening a proposed lucrative sale of CBS to another entity.     Bergman attempts to work around Wigand's secrecy agreement, including a brilliant idea to have Wigand testify to a grand jury in one lawsuit against Big Tobacco.   The thinking is once Wigand is compelled to testify, the secrets are out and thus 60 Minutes is free to air the interview without legal repercussions.

The Insider takes us through this maze of legality and morality without confusing us.    It also doesn't paint Wigand as a hero, but a flawed person with a past who still possesses a tremendous amount of inside knowledge which is dangerous to Big Tobacco.    We feel the tension press down on Wigand as he decides whether to meet with 60 Minutes.    He clearly wants to, but he also senses people hired by Brown & Williamson may be following him and making not-so-subtle threats such as placing a bullet in his mailbox.   Did Brown & Williamson ever do such a thing?    The truth will never be known.   

Director Mann moves things along (with liberties taken with the story as expected with any movie "based on true events") and it depicts men like Bergman and Wallace as tireless crusaders for the truth, even at the expense of corporate profits.     We see Bergman's dogged determination and knack for getting around road blocks, such as leaking stories to the Wall Street Journal about how CBS caved to corporate interests over the public's need to know about the dangers of tobacco.    He cares more passionately about the story than the financial interest of his employers.    The Insider wisely doesn't paint CBS as greedy villains.    We see what is on the line for them and in many ways, we can understand why they may pause at airing such a potentially explosive piece.   

The Insider tells a gripping story and gives us a unique view of how difficult and frustrating investigative journalism can be.    It takes dedication, a superhuman ability to take rejection, and some creative ways to see through the morass of bullshit to get to the other side.    When I watch 60 Minutes now, I think of The Insider. 

The Lego Batman Movie (2017) * 1/2

Directed by: Chris McKay

Starring:  (voices of) Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Jenny Slate

I was no fan of The Lego Movie (2014); it was chaotic and made little sense.    It was a mixed bag of humor, satire, and populated with so many characters it was easy to lose track of them all.    But, at least it provided an explanation for the chaos.   I haven't written a full review of the film, but I would give it two stars.    I liked the Batman of the first film (voiced by Will Arnett) and I figured a sole focus on just Batman would like The Lego Batman Movie more palatable than its predecessor.    It did not and it isn't.    The Lego Batman movie is a dizzying mess; the filmmakers must have believed they must flood the screen with colors, characters, and action or we would somehow become bored.     We grow bored with the endless action sequences, in-jokes, and self-awareness anyhow. 

Batman's arch-nemesis The Joker (Galifianakis) is trying for the umpteenth time to destroy Gotham as Commissioner Gordon retires and turns the reigns over to his daughter Barbara (Dawson), who will eventually become Batgirl.     The Joker assembles each of Batman's nemeses over the years in a consolidated effort to rid the world of Batman.     The plan doesn't work, but The Joker is more hurt that Batman doesn't consider him his arch enemy than he is by another failed plan.    Batman adores the adulation of the public, but returns to the Batcave with no one to share his success with except for his loyal butler/father figure Alfred (Fiennes). 

The Joker soon surrenders himself and his gang to the new commissioner and now, with no crime on the streets, Batman is a man without a purpose.     He has grown so used to his loneliness that he all but rejects his newly adopted son Robin (Cera), who idolizes the Caped Crusader.     When The Joker hatches his latest plot from behind bars, Batman refuses the help of his allies, preferring to be a loner and do all of the heavy lifting himself.  

My plot description may seem sensible to you, but the movie is an overcrowded, wearying free-for-all with little direction.     The movie almost seems as if it is afraid to slow down, but the effect is pure overload.     Is it possible that with eight different Batman films which have been released in my lifetime (not counting the Lego Movie and Batman's cameo in Suicide Squad) that I am just tired of yet another incarnation?     Even with attempted levity and satire, Batman is still Batman and there are only so many spins you can put on his story.     At least The Lego Batman Movie didn't revisit yet another depiction of Bruce Wayne's parents being murdered and Bruce's evolution into Batman.     I'm surprised they didn't try to squeeze that in.