Film Review: JACK REACHER (2012)

Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Writers: Christopher McQuarrie (screenplay), Lee Child (based on the book “One Shot” by)
Running time: 125 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Action/Crime/Thriller
UK Release date: 26^th December 2012

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 25^th August 2013.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE UNINTENTIONAL SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I was aware that this one got a bit of a rough time from the critics on release but I decided I would give it a look anyway. It’s not that I’m a fan of the ‘Jack Reacher’ novels, I’ve never read one and anyhow, as I recall, that was a major problem for some of the critics; they were fans of the novels. As it turned out, it was neither as good nor as bad as I was expecting. Here’s a very brief summary before I give you my thoughts.

When a random shooting takes place in a public area and five people are killed, the district attorney, Rodin (Richard Jenkins) and the chief investigator, Emerson (David Oyelowo), want quick justice. A man is arrested, Barr (Joseph Sikora), and there is seemingly overwhelming evidence against him. When asked to write out a confession, he writes just three words; “Get Jack Reacher”. The police try to track him down but he seemingly doesn’t exist. So imagine there surprise when Reacher (Tom Cruise) walks in and announces himself. It turns out he knows Barr from his days working for the Military Police but makes it clear he is not there to save him. Nonetheless, he ends up investigating the incident alongside Barr’s lawyer, Helen Rodin (Rosamund Pike). It soon transpires that Barr had been set up; but by whom and to what end?

The film starts off very stylish, looking every bit the classic cop movies of the 70’s and 80’s. Sadly it does not keep this early promise and soon slips into the usual cliché‘s that have haunted many more recent cop films. I found it very hard to connect with any of the characters, although all the performances were very good. I did particularly like Werner Herzog as The Zec, a particularly shady character; other than that it was pretty mundane. I found it a bit bloated and over-long although it did pick up towards the end.

SteelMonster’s verdict: RECOMMENDED (Just)

My score: 5.8/10.

IMDb Score: 7.0/10 (based on 115,573 votes when this review was written).
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0790724/

MetaScore: 50/100: (Based on 35 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 61/100 (based on 168 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 68/100 (based on 99,058 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jack_reacher/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Official Site: http://www.jackreachermovie.com/
Trailer:

Film Review: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL (2011)

Director: Brad Bird
Writers: Josh Appelbaum (written by), André Nemec (written by), Bruce Geller (television series “Mission: Impossible”)
Running time: 133 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Action/Thriller
UK Release date: 26^th December 2011

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 23^rd December 2012.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

The Mission Impossible films have had a few highs and lows over the years and I’m very pleased to report that this one is a bit of a high! We have all the usual elements, an impossible mission; great stunts, make-up, costumes, locations etc and the obligatory totally implausible plotline. And despite all this we have a film that, for the most part, works (with a little suspension of belief of course). Here’s a very brief summary before I give you my thoughts.

When terrorist, and all round bad guy, Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist) blows up the Kremlin the finger of suspicion points at the IMF team in the locality led by Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise). The IMF Secretary has no choice but to enforce the ‘Ghost Protocol’ which means the team is effectively disavowed by their own government and are to the tried as criminals. Of course this doesn’t happen and Hunt, along with his team; Jane Carter (Paula Patton), Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and William Brandt (Jeremy Renner). Set out to track down Hendricks who has stolen the launch codes to some Russian nuclear missiles. Of course, a Russian agent, Anatoly Sidorov (Vladimir Mashkov) is also after the codes, and Hunt for good measure. I’ll leave it there or I may give too much away and the IMF team will be after me!

A film that takes the audience from Budapest to Moscow to Dubai to India and maybe a few other international destinations in-between! There is some spectacular looking stunt work and some cracking effects; hats off to those guys! All the performances were very good with Tom Cruise playing Ethan Hunt with his usual aplomb. It was nice to see a little comic relief provided by the inclusion of Simon Pegg; the comedic two-and-fro between him and Jeremy Renner was particularly amusing. Maybe the plot might have been a little over-complicated, but over all I found it a pretty enjoyable watch.

SteelMonster’s verdict: RECOMMENDED

My score: 7.5/10

IMDb Score: 7.4/10 (based on 181,886 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1229238/

MetaScore: 73/100: (Based on 38 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 94/100 (based on 207 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 85/100 ‘Liked it’ (based on 102,135 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mission_impossible_ghost_protocol/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
Ethan Hunt: Light the fuse.

IMF Secretary: The President has initiated Ghost Protocol. The entire IMF has been disavowed.
Ethan Hunt: So what happens now?
IMF Secretary: Now, I've been ordered to take you back to Washington, where the DOD will label you as a rogue extremist and hang the Kremlin bombing on you and your team. Unless, you were to escape somewhere between here and the airport, having assaulted Mr. Brandt and me.
Brandt: Sir?
IMF Secretary: You would then illegally scrounge whatever material you could from a backup supply cache that I've overlooked. The same cache where your team are waiting for further orders.
Brandt: Sir, you may want to...
IMF Secretary: You will then disappear, and this conversation never having taken place, your intentions would be unclear. But if any one of your team is caught or killed, they will be branded terrorists, out to incite global nuclear war.
[handing Ethan a USB drive]
IMF Secretary: Your mission, should you choose to accept it.

Benji Dunn: [explaining Ethan's gloves] Easy way to remember: blue is glue.
Ethan Hunt: And when it's red?
Benji Dunn: Dead.

[repeated line]
Benji Dunn: [to Brandt] And I catch you.

[last lines]
Recorded Voice: Good evening, Mr. Hunt. 36 hours ago, there was a breach in our military's communication network. Now, an emerging terror organization known as The Syndicate has control of our entire drone fleet. Their targets unknown. Your mission, should you choose to accept it...

LINKS:
Official Site: http://www.missionimpossible.com/
Trailer:

Film Review: EYES WIDE SHUT (1999)

Co-Writer/Director: Stanley Kubrick
Running time: 159 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 18

Genre: Drama/Mystery/Thriller
UK Release date: 10th September 1999

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 17th July 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

This was Stanley Kubrick’s last film and I thought it an apt one for my 400th review. It’s maybe not his greatest work, but you can still see the hand of the master in this one. His attention to detail is second to none and you’ll struggle to find anything out of place in any shot. As for the plot, well, it’s all very psychological and quite complicated, but worth sticking with. If you’re bothered by nudity, which few people are these days, but even so, this one may not be to everyone’s taste. I’ll attempt to give you a brief summary and then some of my thought afterwards.

Bill Harford and his wife, Alice, live together with their daughter, Helena, in an apartment in New York. They are quite well off, Bill is a doctor and they enjoy many of the good things in life. And yet they are not happy. After an argument about sexuality, Bill sets out (to put it in basic terms) get laid. Events conspire against him and he fails, but a conversation with a friend, a musician, Nick Nightingale, leads him to a very strange party. Everyone is wearing cloaks and masks and it seems almost everyone is having sex. One of the women there tries to warn him that he may be in danger and he makes to leave, but too late, he is called before their leader to explain himself. Here I will leave my brief summary… Thought I’d leave you on a bit of a cliff-hanger this time.

At two hours and forty minutes, this is one of the longest movies I’ve seen. It has a very slow and deliberate pace that, at times, can be a little annoying, but stick with it. To be honest, I had to take a little fifteen minute break in the middle or I wouldn’t have made it to the end. The pay-off in the end may not be to everyone’s liking and some my even see it as a let-down, but I thought it was ok.

As far as performances go, well, Tom Cruise proved that he can do more than stupid action/spy movies as Dr. William 'Bill' Harford. And Nicole Kidman put in a great performance as his wife, Alice. Sydney Pollack was good as Victor Ziegler and Todd Field was also decent as Nick Nightingale.

This film has gained a bit of notoriety for the sex scenes in it and, yes, there are sex scenes but there’s nothing that breaks any decency laws. I found the film hard going in places but stuck with it. The music is really great too; just listen to the music playing in the background in places and you’ll hear some melodies you might just recognise. It’s probably the least favourite of the Kubrick films I’ve seen to date, but it’s still worth a viewing (if you can clear a long enough time-slot)… Recommended.

My Score: 7.3/10

LINKS:
(RT = Rotten Tomatoes)
IMDb Page: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0120663/
RT Page: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eyes_wide_shut/
Official Site: http://eyeswideshut.warnerbros.com/
Trailer:

Film Review: VALKYRIE (2008)

Director: Bryan Singer
Running time: 114 mins (approx)
Certificate (UK): 12

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 31st January 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

This film tells the story of a failed attempt on the life of the German leader during World War II, Adolf Hitler. The attempt was not made by the Allies, but rather people within his own military. So the setting is Germany, towards the end of World War II in 1944 where a group of men have decided they have had enough and want to salvage what they can before Germany falls to the imminent allied invasion.

We begin in North Africa, where a German Colonel, Claus von Stauffenberg has orders to march on, but is more interested in saving the lives of his troops. Unfortunately their column is attacked and he is badly injured, losing a hand, some fingers from the other hand and an eye. On his return to Germany, he is stationed at military HQ in Berlin. Here he is approached by Major-General Henning von Tresckow and General Friedrich Olbricht to join them in their plot to assassinate Hitler. He agrees, but finds some of their other conspirators, being non-military, not to his liking. Eventually he comes up with a plan to use ‘Operation Valkyrie’ to secure Berlin after Hitler has been killed. The plan relies on the cooperation of General Friedrich Fromm, who is loyal to Hitler. They decide to go ahead anyway, and re-write Valkyrie to suit their purposes. Von Stauffenberg is given the job of getting Hitler to sign the order, which he eventually does. With everything seemingly in place, they just have to carry out the assassination. This is where things start to go wrong for the conspirators. I will leave it there; I don’t want to give too much away now…

A very well made film with an excellent cast, plenty of excitement that kept me enthralled throughout. I guess, because it was based on real events, and I knew the eventual outcome, it took away some of the mystery from the story. Very good performances from all of the leading cast, Tom Cruise as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, Kenneth Branagh as Major-General Henning von Tresckow, Bill Nighy as General Friedrich Olbricht, Tom Wilkinson as General Friedrich Fromm, Carice van Houten as Nina von Stauffenberg, Thomas Kretschmann as Major Otto Ernst Remer, Terence Stamp as Ludwig Beck and Eddie Izzard as General Erich Fellgiebel.

Over all, quite an exciting film if you don’t know the eventual outcome, though the excitement is tempered somewhat if you do. Some excellent performances, in particular a mention for Tom Cruise, who put in one his best IMHO. Also, it’s nice to see a World War II film from the German point of view for a change.

My score: 7.4/10

LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0985699/
Official Site: http://valkyrie.unitedartists.com/
Trailer: http://uk.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK/video/imdb/vi3544383513/

Film Review: JERRY MAGUIRE (1996)

Writer/Director: Cameron Crowe
Running time: 132 mins (approx)
Certificate (UK): 15

Watched on Sky+ Friday 2nd October 2009.

PLEASE NOTE: POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

Set against the sleazy world of sports promotion, this is a love story that, for me, didn’t quite work. It may surprise you to know that, although it’s been out for over twelve years, this is the very first time I’ve seen it. The film has been sitting on my Sky+ hard drive for about a week and I finally found a spare two and quarter hours to watch it. It wasn’t all bad, it was, for the most part, very enjoyable, but I just thought there was no chemistry between Jerry and Dorothy. I could see what Writer/Director Cameron Crowe was trying to convey, but what I saw on the screen just didn’t seem to work. Anyway, here’s a bit about the plot and then I’ll continue.

Jerry Maguire is a very successful sports agent; he represents the interests of many top stars from all kinds of sports. One night, while at a convention, he decides to write down everything he thinks is wrong with the business, he calls it his ‘Mission Statement’. Not only does he write it down, but he has it printed and distributed to everyone at the convention. Here we are introduced to Dorothy Boyd, a single mum and an accountant at the same firm as Jerry, who is moved by his statement (and also looking for the right man for her). The consequences of his ‘Mission Statement’ are dire for Jerry, not only does he lose his job and, eventually, his fiancée, but also all of his clients, except one, Rod Tidwell, a footballer (of the American variety). When Jerry leaves the firm, the only one to go with him was Dorothy, because she believed in him. They work together and eventually a deeper relationship grows between them. If you want to know more, I guess you’ll have to watch it for yourself; it’s far too long for me to give you the whole plot!

As I said at the beginning, I wasn’t entirely convinced by the romantic element of this film. There is, however, a lot of comedy in it which is really well written and very well executed by the cast. Speaking of the cast, an excellent performance from Cuba Gooding Jr. as Rod Tidwell, he really threw himself into the role, and it showed. Good performances from Tom Cruise as Jerry Maguire and Renée Zellweger as Dorothy Boyd. Honourable mentions go to Kelly Preston as Avery Bishop, Jerry O'Connell as Frank Cushman, Jay Mohr as Bob Sugar and Bonnie Hunt as Laurel, Dorothy’s sister. Over all, an entertaining comedy with a romantic twist that didn’t quite work… for me.

My score: 6.5/10

LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0814022/