Homefront (4/10): Next time let Jason Statham unleash the beast!

"Whatever you're thinking, rethink it."

I can't think of a better actor to deliver a line in a menacing, yet calm way, than Jason Statham does here.  He is one of the contemporary action stars that audiences will go see without hesitation or worrying about the screenplay. The reason is because there are very few actors that can deliver their fight scenes as well as he does. Audiences can feel every punch or kick from Statham without the need of quick edits or shaky camera movements. Unfortunately, the main problem with Homefront is that director Gary Fleder (Kiss the Girls, Runaway Jury) didn't use his action skills as a means to improve the movie, but rather sticked to the usual way of filming action scenes which involve quick edits, extreme close-ups, and shaky camera movements. Why would you have Statham star in your film if you don't take advantage of his well choreographed action scenes? The few action scenes in Homefront could have been shot with a steady camera and less cuts which would have made this a much more enjoyable watch because Statham has a great screen presence and he's always fun to watch. It's too bad that they decided to hold Statham's character back and didn't let him explode on screen. 

Homefront's screenplay was adapted by Sylvester Stallone from Chuck Logan's novel. Sly had intended to use the story for another Rambo sequel, but decided to put it into Statham's hands instead. The premise of the story is very familiar as you have the main character moving to a small town in order to put his violent past behind him (if you think about it, it is what Rambo has always been trying to do, but somehow he's a magnet for violence). Homefront is just another standard action film that follows pretty much every genre convention so it becomes way too familiar to enjoy it as something other than that, but the problem is that Fleder tries to make a more serious film instead of accepting the fact that it is simply a silly and familiar story. By trying to build character and move the story forward, the film loses its steam because it doesn't accomplish neither and ultimately it drags for most of its runtime. The few action scenes aren't entertaining either because of all the hyper editing going on. The film tries to build character and introduce new elements but it doesn't do it well. Take the romance for instance which is introduced, but it never goes anywhere with the subplots it introduces. We know exactly where everything is leading up to so the least you can do is explode Statham's potential instead of underlying his performance. 

Despite the familiar story and the hyper edited action scenes there are some positive elements to Homefront. First of all the cast is solid. Besides Jason Statham, you have James Franco, Kate Bosworth, Winona Ryder, and Frank Grillo starring together. James Franco plays a very different villain. He is a local meth kingpin who goes by the name of Gator. He might be intimidating in his small local town, but we know he is no match for Jason Statham. There isn't a second in this film where we feel Statham's character is in real danger and all we are waiting for is for him to let his rage loose. The small grudges that the people in this town hold are about to be blown out of proportions and they will soon find out that they are completely out of his league. The second positive thing about this film is Kate Bosworth's performance. She is almost unrecognizable in her role here, but she delivers the best performance of the movie. If your a fan, you will want to check this film out, if not then there isn't anything worth your time in Homefront.

My Review: The Iceman (4/10)

"Loving husband. Devoted father. Ruthless killer."

The main issue that I had with The Iceman is that the film never fulfills what it promises in its tagline. The Iceman never seemed like a loving husband or a devoted father. I never felt the chemistry between Michael Shannon and Winona Ryder. Shannon's character was completely detached from his wife, which would make sense considering he was a ruthless killer, but this film promised something different. Someone living a double life with no one ever suspecting him, kind of like what Kevin Costner delivered in Mr. Brooks. That was the film I was hoping to see, but somehow I felt unattached to these characters and this story. I never cared for these people and I felt there was something missing in the way the story was being told. It is a shame because the premise seemed really good and the cast is really talented, but Israeli director, Ariel Vromen, never managed to deliver a thrilling story. As a killer, The Iceman, delivered what I expected. He had no problem killing whoever his target was unless it implied killing women or children. He didn't feel any sort of remorse and all he cared about was not letting his family discover who he really was. It is that family part which I thought wasn't approached well and could have made a difference in a genre like this that is so well known. I didn't feel the balance that this man was supposed to have between his family life and his work, which is what attracted me to this film in the first place. Without that The Iceman felt like an ordinary assassin story. 

The film is based on the true story of Richard Kuklinski (Michael Shannon), a cold blooded contract killer working for the mafia during the 70's. There have been books written about him (The Iceman by Anthony Bruno) and documentaries (The Iceman Tapes directed by Jim Thebaut) which served as a starting point for the screenplay. In my opinion if you want more facts or if its an autobiography you are looking for then check those out because this screenplay only scratches the surface. Richard began working for the mafia as a porn film lab tech. He met the love of his life, Deborah (Winona Ryder), who worked at a local restaurant and an year later they got married. They had two daughters, and no one in his family or circle of friends suspected about his double life. Richard lied about his work with the mafia claiming he worked for Disney dubbing their cartoons, and later when he became a contract killer and started making more money he claimed to be an investor. He was hired by mafia boss, Roy Demeo (Ray Liotta), but when things get complicated he becomes an independent contractor teaming up with the psychotic Mr. Freezy (Chris Evans) making several enemies along the way. James Franco, David Schwimmer, and Stephen Dorff all play smaller secondary roles.

Michael Shannon is a great actor and he has made several mediocre movies worth seeing, but he can't do much here to save this poorly written script that barely explores the psyche of this cold blooded killer because it fails to create tension between his loving family life and his disconnected ability to kill anyone without hesitation. His character is simply one dimensional. At least Shannon has quite some screen time because the rest of the characters in this film are completely cardboard cut out ones. Ray Liotta plays the stereotypical mob boss and there is no backstory to his character. James Franco and Stephen Dorff barely have any screen time and their roles seem like cameos. David Schwimmer plays a rather laughable character, I don't think he was the right person for the role. Chris Evans is a well known actor, but he goes over the top here in his portrayal of the psychotic Mr. Freezy. It is a shame that the screenwriters never managed to create tension between his family life and his profession. They could have used some help from the writers of Dexter which if given the choice I'd rather watch an old episode of this TV show than re watching this movie. The film lacked that balance between the family drama and the mob criminal world. As a character study film it fails as well because the film never explores the psyche of this cold blooded murderer. 

My Review: The Dilemma (3/10)

¨ I'd like to think that something that got you through those 40 years is a little friend I'd like to call honesty. ¨

One would expect that a film starring Kevin James (the King of Queens) and Vince Vaughn would be a hilarious comedy, but The Dilemma takes a very different approach and the movie feels more like a drama than an actual buddy comedy, which is what I was expecting and wish it had been so. The film felt weird at times and some scenes which tried to be funny really didn’t work at all. There are very few laughs in this film, and the drama just didn’t make a whole lot of sense. The Dilemma is just one of those movies in which the main character keeps on making one bad decision after another and therefore building the tension, when everything could have been resolved a whole lot easier. A much more comedic approach could have worked in order for us to ignore the awkwardness of the story. The talents of James and Vaughn were absolutely wasted in this film and I wish they would have given them much funnier material. I agree that it`s hard these days to make a good buddy comedy because we`ve seen it all by now, but I still would have preferred an average comedy than this weak drama that didn’t even make much sense at times. The characters changed personalities like chameleons at times in order to fit the script and carry along with the plot. I was hugely disappointed with the film and I`m still trying to classify as to what genre they were aiming for when they wrote this story.

Ronny (Vince Vaughn) and Nick (Kevin James) have been best friends ever since their college days, now they`ve decided to partner together for their own electronic car design business. Ronny is a good speaker while Nick is the brains in the operation. They are currently signing a deal with an important automobile company that could take their small business to the next level. Nick appears to be happily married with his college sweetheart, Geneva (Winona Ryder), while Ronny has managed to stay single for all these years, but is thinking of proposing to his girlfriend, Beth (Jennifer Connelly). The two couples spend a lot of time together and everyone seems to be getting along pretty well. Ronny`s peaceful world is about to get shaken when he discovers Geneva is being unfaithful to Nick. He discovers her kissing another man named Zip (Channing Tatum) and decides to investigate them. Zip is young, muscular, and covered with tattoos, nothing like Nick who is all brains. This is where Ronny`s dilemma begins because he doesn’t know if he should tell Nick about it or confront Geneva about the issue. Their deadline with the automobile company is approaching and Nick has a lot of work ahead of him so Ronny doesn’t want him to get distracted by this scandal, but he is more concerned about his best friend than any other thing. Ronny begins to make one bad decision after another while trying to confront Zip and Geneva, and his moral dilemma begins to bring him some problems of his own with Beth. He will have to find a way to fix the problem before it`s too late.

The premise isn’t anything new; we`ve all considered the option before: whether or not we should tell our best friend about infidelities in his life. The answer is rather simple, a friend should always tell the truth, they should be honest with each other. There are some things that happen in this movie with the story that actually complicate things a little bit. Winona Ryder`s character is not as sweet as she seems and she has a couple of tricks up her sleeves. Channing Tatum`s character was just weird, the scenes between him and Vaughn were really awkward. Connelly is sweet and lovely as usual, but she doesn’t play a major role. James is a really funny actor, but in The Dilemma he hardly gets any comedic scenes. I didn’t buy the whole car engineer thing. Vaughn plays his usual self, but I really didn’t like his character in this film. Queen Latifah has a small supporting role but she goes unnoticed as well, although most funny dialogues were sent her way. The movie really never finds itself and Ron Howard wasn’t able to blend the comedy with the drama. I wish he would have made a comedy instead of trying to focus on the darker moral aspect of the film which leaves us with a cheesy finale anyway. For a dark moral movie, they come up with a rather predictable and lazy ending. I really didn’t like this film at all and wouldn’t recommend it.

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