John Wick (7/10): Keanu Reeves is back doing what he knows best

“People keep asking if I'm back and I haven't really had an answer, but yeah, I'm thinking I'm back.”

John Wick is as predictable and formulaic as the other 99% of revenge action flicks out there, but what makes this stand out is how well the action scenes are choreographed and what a breath of fresh air it is to see the action take place without all the extreme close ups and fast edits which never allow you to enjoy them. John Wick was directed by two former stunt men, Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, who seem to have a grip at what they’re doing because they don’t take any of the fun away from the action scenes. Derek Solstad’s screenplay is pretty straightforward. We are introduced to the main character, John, who is grieving over his recently dead wife. She leaves him a cute puppy which will help him during this grieving period, but a group of young Russian mobsters break into his home one night to steal his car and in the process they kill the dog. That brings John to his breaking point and we discover pretty soon that he is no common man. He was once a feared hitman who later retired after meeting his wife. Now he is set on getting his revenge and the action begins. John is the typical hero we can route for and identify with for his loss, while the villains are ruthless and deserve to be punished. We’ve seen all this in almost every other revenge film, but what makes this one stand out and feel fresh is that the action scenes are stylized and energetic. So despite having a predictable plot you are entertained with some of the coolest action scenes of the year. This is no Raid 2, but it does get the job done. There is one particular action scene that takes place in a nightclub that is fantastically choreographed. These are the strongest moments of the film, but if you are looking for an original plot look elsewhere because this is very predictable. There are some interesting elements that Solstad introduces in this world where the mobsters have a series of codes and rues that they follow giving it sort of a video game vibe to it at times.

In order for the action scenes to work for a film like this where they aren’t cutting the scenes every second you need to have an actor who can pull them off. They found the right one with Keanu Reeves who definitely knows his stuff. He delivers in every action scene with some fantastic choreographed moves. The mobsters build him up as someone they fear and respect, and once you see him in action you believe it. He also delivers during the quiet moments as well despite not having the best dialogue to work with. He was made for these roles and delivers. The supporting cast is excellent as well. Alfie Allen (from the Games of Thrones series) is getting typed cast as the hateful villain who behaves like a child at times. His father is played by the excellent Michael Nyqvist, who John Wick used to work for. He knows his kid made a mistake but tries to protect him nonetheless putting a generous reward on John’s head. Willem Dafoe, Lance Reddick, and Adrianne Palicki get some screen time as well and they were a lot of fun. The way everyone treated John when they realized he was back in business was also another nice touch that the directors made and help lighten the mood at times. This was an extremely entertaining film with some of the best action scenes of the year despite all of its predictability. Stahelski and Leitch succeeded in making this predictable story feel fresh and if you are a fan of Keanu Reeve’s work you will not want to miss this.

My Review: Hercules (6/10)

“Are you only the legend, or are you truth behind the legend?”

Hercules was one of those rare cases where I was glad the film was nothing like the trailer was portraying it as. From the trailers I was expecting yet another Clash of the Titans sort of fiasco, but I was pleasantly surprised the film took an entirely different approach. Instead of portraying the Greek mythology as something completely accepted in this world, it actually is just a myth that some have more trouble than others in believing. 

Hercules is one of those silly action films that rarely work for me. I tend to find these sort of action packed movies where there is very little character development dull and boring. Surprisingly however, the action sequences looked impressive and somehow I was engaged by the characters. For the first two thirds of this 90 minute film I was on board with the breezy and light hearted action, but unfortunately the final act included an uninspired twist that didn’t work for me. I felt like the film rushed to the conclusion and tied things up too neatly. Hercules has many flaws and lacks depth but it makes up for all of this with some slick visuals, engaging action sequences, and an impressive lead performance from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Brett Ratner won a lot of enemies when he ruined the X-Men franchise for many fanboys, but he has also made some entertaining and decent films like Red Dragon and the first Rush Hour. Hercules may not be a great film, but it was much better than I anticipated and I had a decent time with it despite being predictable and pretty straightforward. 

Perhaps the best thing going for Hercules is the lead performance from The Rock who completely drives this film and engages us with the title character. He is an action star with a lot of charisma who happens to sell the funny moments as well. Ian McShane also deserves his share of credit for the comedic moments of this film. He is great in his secondary role as one of Hercules’s sidekicks who also seems to have the ability of foreseeing his own death. Rufus Sewell, Aksel Hennie, Ingrid Bolso Berdal, and Reece Ritchie each deliver as part of Hercules’s faithful companions and despite not having any depth to them whatsoever I still managed to care for each one of them. The greatest weakness of the film might be the lack of a strong villain and a somewhat unbelievable twist. All in all, Hercules is decent enough to give a mild recommendation from my part.

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.

My Review: Snow White and the Huntsman (5/10)

¨Lips red as blood. Hair black as night. Bring me your heart my dear, dear Snow White.¨

This is as close of a Tim Burton version of Snow White then you`ll ever see (even if Tim Burton himself directs one). The visual style of the film is pretty dark, but fascinating. It stands out in the film, but what the movie has going for it visually, it lacks story wise. The movie dragged for very long periods of time and moved really slowly. If it weren’t for the great visuals I might have not made it through this original version of the classic story we`ve all seen hundreds of times before. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was Disney`s first feature length movie and one of my favorite classics. I recall the darkness of it involving the evil witch, but I also remember the sweetness of Snow White and the playfulness of the seven dwarfs. Director Rupert Sanders does a very good job at setting the dark mood thanks to the strong performance from Charlize Theron, but he fails to capture the sweetness and innocence that embodies Snow White. As much as I like Kirsten Stewart, she really never convinced me as Snow White and that is my greatest complaint along with a lack of a better or more engaging storyline. This film was written by Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock, and Hossein Amini (the screenplay writer of my favorite film last year: Drive), but despite being beautifully shot and having great visuals it lacked a bit more heart in the story and a better conclusion. Despite moving so slow during most of the story, it seems to finish rather quickly and abruptly at the end. The movie does have some positive things however, such as Chris Hemsworth`s performance and some of the great actors playing the dwarfs.

We are all familiar with Snow White, although this film does take several liberties and takes us different places (despite having several of the same characters and lines from the original like ¨Mirror, mirror on the wall who is fairest of them all? ¨).  Snow White is played by Kristen Stewart who`s a princess until the day her mother dies and her father remarries Ravenna (Charlize Theron). Once Ravenna becomes Queen she murders Snow White`s father and locks her in the towers. The evil Ravenna begins to rule and the kingdom grows very dark. She`s a witch with eternal beauty thanks to the hundreds of girls she`s killed. Their hearts are the secret to her youth and beauty. She rules along with her brother Finn (Sam Spruell) who is more like her servant. Once Ravenna discovers that Snow White`s beauty is a threat to her powers she sends Finn to bring her in order to kill her, but Snow White manages to escape and hides in the dark forest. That is when Ravenna hires the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) to go after her and bring her back, but once the Huntsman meets Snow White he decides to protect her instead. Snow White`s childhood friend, William (Sam Claflin), hears she`s still alive and also begins searching for her in order to protect her and overthrow the evil Queen. Along the way Snow White and the Huntsman run into some dwarfs (played by such great actors as Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Nick Frost, Eddie Marsan, Toby Jones, and Johnny Harris) who also decide to protect her from the evil powers of the Queen and so the journey continues.

 I actually enjoyed some of the supporting characters in this film. The actors that played the dwarfs brought a lot of comedy to an otherwise very dark and serious film. Chris Hemsworth was the other actor who brought some comedic relief to the table, and perhaps my favorite character of the film (reminding us as to why Thor was so good despite the ridiculous plot). The film had its entertaining moments, but I just felt it too dark of a picture for my enjoyment and really wished it would have had a better ending. Was it better than I expected it to be? Yes, but that doesn’t mean it was good either. Kristen Stewart is a beautiful actress, but she didn’t fit the role of Snow White, she is not the typical sweet actress, there is some darkness in her as well. This is not a kid’s version of Snow White and is mostly for adults, but I still was left with an empty feeling from the theater as if something were missing. I didn’t have a terrible time with this film; I would give it a 5.8, almost enjoyable.

http://estebueno10.blogspot.com

My Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (8/10)

¨What can I say Gibbs? It`s a pirate`s life for me. Savvy! ¨

The fourth film of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has finally arrived and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. I was reminded why I had grown to love Jack Sparrow so much after the previous two sequels had lowered my expectations a bit. I`ve enjoyed all four movies, although none has topped the original one. The good thing about On Stranger Tides (the title taken from Tim Powers’ novel which this film is loosely based on) is that it’s the closest and most similar to Gore Verbinski`s first film The Curse of the Black Pearl. The following sequels seemed to get more complicated and loose some of the focus of what made the first film so great: the characters. On Stranger Tides goes back to the basics and has a much simpler story reminding us that there is no need to complicate the plot when the truly entertaining thing about these movies are the characters. One may argue that two of the most important characters are missing in this film: Elizabeth Swan and Will Turner, but in my opinion Jack Sparrow and Barbosa are truly the central characters. This film lets us focus entirely on Sparrow and that is fine enough with me, while Barbosa takes an interesting and comical approach in this movie. Screenwriters Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio are back for the fourth time and I´m glad they decided to keep things much simpler and entertaining. This time around the man that was missing was the captain of the original three Pirate movies, Gore Verbinski, who was replaced by Rob Marshall (director of Nine and Chicago). I must admit this is my favorite Rob Marshall film now and the second best in the franchise.

Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is back again for another adventure. When his friend Gibbs (Kevin McNally) is about to be hung in London, Jack shows up to rescue him, and in his possession he has the map to the fountain of youth. While in London he hears a rumor that Jack Sparrow is looking for a crew for his new ship. But that can`t possibly be true because he is Jack Sparrow and he doesn`t even own a ship. It appears a woman from Jack`s past is behind this, Angelica (Penelope Cruz), a con-artist who will do anything to get Sparrow to take her and her father, Blackbeard (Ian McShane), to the fountain. Sparrow apparently still has feelings for her, but he doesn’t really want to take them, so he is forced on board the Queen Anne`s Revenge anyway. The ship is protected by zombies who obey Blackbeard`s every command, but that isn`t Sparrow`s only worry: the waters are infested by dangerous mermaids who lure the sailors into the deep sea to be eaten. Blackbeard is an evil man, as one of his Christian missionary prisoners, Phillip (Sam Claflin) points out to him. Angelica is worried about a prophecy that her father will soon be killed by a one legged man, and that`s why she`s in such a rush to get to the fountain before anything happens to him. Sparrow has no intention in saving Blackbeard. Barbosa (Geoffrey Rush) is also after the fountain of youth, although he isn`t a pirate any more. Now he is working for King George and his men. So the race to the fountain of youth begins with several dangers on its way.

This film is character driven, the story really doesn`t have to be all that complicated and that is fine with me. It`s purely entertaining and fun. Jack Sparrow is his usual self again and I just couldn’t get enough of him; he is always great and funny. Out of the four films this is probably the least funniest. I didn’t laugh a whole lot like I remember laughing in the other movies, but I still had a great time with the action and adventure. Geoffrey Rush is probably the funniest character in this movie showing a different side of Barbosa. Newcomers Sam Claflin as Phillip and Astrid Berges-Frisbey as Syrena seem to be the next Will and Elizabeth for the franchise, although they didn’t get too much screen time. My least favorite character was probably Angelica, I didn`t like her character at all. Ian McShane played a decent villain. The best thing about On Stranger Tides is that the film centers on Jack Sparrow and we get to see plenty of him. The action sequences are really well choreographed and the visuals are great. The scenery is also beautiful. Before this film I wasn’t so excited about seeing another Pirates movie, but this one left me wanting more. This is not one of those intellectual films, but it is what a summer popcorn movie should be like. It`s not perfect at all, but it is entertaining and reminded me a lot of the original.

http://estebueno10.blogspot.com/