My Review: Jack the Giant Slayer (3/10)

"Why is it that people always scream before they die? Do they think it's gonna help them?"

Jack the Giant Slayer is yet another forgettable Hollywood film that should have remained in our memory as the fairy tale we always imagined. This film makes the Snow White one look like a masterpiece, but the truth of the matter is that these films don't really work on the big screen, and much less when you try making a darker version of the known tale. The effects might be interesting, but they don't do anything for a fairy tale which has much more power in the imagination of a child. I really hated every minute of this movie despite it having some great actors and cool visual effects. The story is just terrible and I was never drawn into it. Kids might have a great time, but adults will certainly have a hard time enjoying this action tale. It is a shame because Bryan Singer is a great director who probably is responsible for the super hero boom in Hollywood for his work in X-Men and X2. He also directed one of my favorite films, The Usual Suspects, but lately I've been having a hard time enjoying his movies. I hope he returns to his roots soon and gets back on course because he is a talented director. This film just felt lazy and I was really bored with its action pieces. I wasn't impressed at all.

Centuries ago humans were in war with a race of giants, but that was a long time ago and now it is only a legend. A farm boy named Jack (Nicholas Hoult) grew up listening to these stories of how the Great King Erik defeated the giants and sent them back to their home in the skies. One day he is sent to the market by his uncle to sell his horse since they are going through financial difficulties, but Jack decides to help a monk and gives him the horse in exchange for some magic beans. Furious about the exchange, Jack's uncle throws the beans out, but that night Jack has an unexpected visitor. The princess, Isabelle (Eleanor Tomlinson), shows up at his door after having escaped the castle in search for adventure. While the two are talking it begins to rain and one of the fallen magic beans begins to take roots and transforms itself into a giant stalk carrying Jack's house to the skies. The King (Ian McShane) sends his men to climb the stalk and search for the princess. Along these men are his guards: Elmont (Ewan McGregor), Crawe (Eddie Marsan), Wicke (Ewen Bremner), and Roderick (Stanley Tucci) who clearly has a hidden agenda and wants to become King himself. These men are about to discover that what they thought was a legend is a reality they are about to face if they want to save the princess.

Stanley Tucci and Ewan McGregor are great actors, but I honestly don't understand why they accepted to make this project because the screenplay was really terrible. We even got to see Ian McShane and Eddie Marsan in yet another fairy tale after seeing them last year as the dwarves in Snow White. In all honesty I have to say that I hated this film and perhaps it may be due to the fact that this genre is really not working for me. I know several critics liked this film, but I felt it had a really weak script and depended entirely on the action sequences which I found boring and exhausting. I couldn't care less for Jack or the princess and really found the lead performances rather weak. Hoult does a much better job in Warm Bodies where he doesn't need too much charisma since he's playing a zombie. I will never be watching this film again.