'Those Who Wish Me Dead' A Review

 Those Who Wish Me Dead is a thriller about smokejumper Hannah(Angelina Jolie) who, after a difficult mission, is stationed at a fire watch tower and encounters a young boy Connor(Finn Little) on the run from two mob assassins, Patrick(Nicholas Hoult) and Jack(Aidan Gillen), after his father uncovered an extensive criminal/political conspiracy and was killed.

Jolie isn't well cast here and although she puts in commendable effort the character is drawn too thin and the plot too derivative and garish to garner/maintain much interest. Little is decent but he too is given little to do save for run, cry, and appear baffled. Hoult plays his killer with virtually no emotion or investment, a choice, but makes for a pretty boring villain. This paired with Gillen who also goes minimal makes for very little menace and tension. Overall the cast are all good actors but they are almost universally miscast.

After writer/director Taylor Sheridan's back to back success with Sicario and Hell Or High Water is has yet to recapture that magic. Here although rural Montana is the setting it has relatively little personality, the CGI fires distractingly and clearly fake, the action is minimal and uninspired, and although there is certainly a decent story within the script the end result is banal and feels like something that was written 15 years ago and has sat on a shelf since. Too many characters and too little focus create an inability to connect with what's going on save for the surrealist pregnant woman Medina Senghore who is only a tangential character.

Flat and uninspired.

Currently in theaters and streaming on HBO Max.

Don't See It.

Daily Reprieve

Perspective

is a choice

gift or hardship

a daily decision.

'Army Of The Dead' A Review

Army Of The Dead is a zombie/heist/drama about a group of former military who helped battle the zombie outbreak in Las Vegas which was subsequently quarantined. Some time later Scott(Dave Bautista) is approached to infiltrate the zone and recover $100s of millions before Vegas is hit with a tactical nuke. He reassembles his team and the adventure ensues.

Bautista has proved he can carry a movie first in Guardians then in Stuber and My Spy and he does his best here but is hamstrung by a bloated, poorly paced script, that lacks focus. The supporting cast is stunning- Omari Hardwick, Ana de la Reguera, Matthias Schweighöfer, among others- but across the board are given little to nothing to do and flounder in the quagmire of a story they find themselves in.

Writer/director Zac Snyder may have a specific visual style that he simply repeats but it is almost always a saturated smorgasbord when not overly shadowed and it's a pleasure here. But he seems, over the course of years and his questionable successes, become virtually incapable of editing particularly in regards to narrative. There is unquestionably a good movie in here somewhere and the instinct to return to his Dawn Of The Dead roots is a good one but the story simply has too many characters, time is misspent on unbelievable or irrelevant character development, never lands on a consistent theme or genre, and the action set pieces are mostly underwhelming. What's left is a sprawling mess.

Despite obvious talent involved a lack of focus renders all the spectacle banal.

Currently in theaters and on Netflix.

Don't See It.

'Wrath Of Man' A Review

Wrath Of Man is an action/revenge movie about a mysterious man H(Jason Statham) who gets a job at an armored car service with ulterior motives. After he swiftly foils an attempted robbery it becomes clear he is looking for someone in particular. There's then an extended flashback flushing out H's backstory then in the third act the group he is looking for is the focus.

Statham has got presence, its undeniable, and it's a treat to see him in all his stoic, almost terminator-esk, glory for the first portion of the story. But the second act which flushes out his character falls flat, despite his efforts and third act, bafflingly abandons him almost entirely. The supporting cast is stacked with serious talent- Holt McCallany(underutilized), Josh Hartnett(virtually unused), Niamh Algar(underutilized)- to name a few, the list goes on. The one glaring error is Scott Eastwood who's bonafides, other than his paterfamilias, are non-existent. The cast is great but they are all almost unilaterally misspent, hamstrung by terrible pacing and a needless non-linear structure.

Visually dark and rich, with uneven action sequences(some great, some boring), and a weird but appealing retro score there's a lot of potential here as there almost always is with writer/director Guy Ritchie but it simply sags after the first, genuinely exciting, 20 minutes into a predictable plod.

1/6 of a great film 5/6 of an incredibly lackluster one.

Currently in theaters.

Stream It.
 

Fat Kid

Ultimately, I'm grateful

the bullying

gave me the fortitude

to endure it

the judgement

developed my humor

the first line of defense

the poor self-esteem

taught me conversation

interest in my fellows

but the rage

like me

simply ate.

'The Paper Tigers' A Review

The Paper Tigers is an action/comedy about a group of friends who bonded learning martial arts as kids from their Sifu but became estranged. Now into middle age the friends reunite to investigate the untimely death of their Sifu. Danny(Alain Uy) a struggling divorced dad who has left his fighting days far behind him is initially reluctant but after attending the funeral with Hing(Ron Yuan) the two reconnect with their third, Jim(Mykel Shannon Jenkins) and delve back into the world they had left behind.

All in all the cast is wonderfully refreshing, full of lower profile actors but with undisputed talent. Uy is the defacto lead and is able to balance the comedy and action with some impressive pathos. Yuan, one of if not the biggest name in the cast, is saddled with the majority of the film's exposition but conveys it with little noticeable effort while simultaneously filling the role of the heart/conscience of the trio. Jenkins also does solid work although he has the least depth of the three his presence and chemistry with the other two serve to elevate their dynamic. He does have a nice scene where the reason for the group's split is revealed where he's able to play a bit more emotion. The supporting cast is equally solid with the stand out being Matthew Page as Carter, the groups former teen advisory, which isn't necessarily a good thing, Page goes exceedingly broad in line with something like Kung Pow! Enter The Fist it isn't a deal breaker but it is pretty odd when compared to every other cast member. 

An indie film with a limited budget and shoot it makes the best of it's on-location Seattle setting and it's relatively grounded premise. The fight choreography is exciting but mostly realistic, the comedy effective if middle-aged in its target, but the real success is its sincerity. Perhaps more time could have been spent on the trio of main characters as substantial time is spent on the central mystery but the result is satisfying and although the pieces may seem familiar the end result feels fresh.

A unique tonal alchemy- Cobra Kai meets Wild Hogs with a dash of Taken- that entertains and emotes if not in equal measure.

Currently available for rent on most VOD platforms.

Rent It.

'Chaos Walking' A Review

Chaos Walking is a scifi movie about an earth-like planet 'New World' that causes male human's thoughts to manifest physically and verbally an affliction they call 'Noise'. Todd(Tom Holland) is a resident of settlement Prentisstown run by the power obsessed Prentiss(Mads Mikkelsen). When Viola(Daisy Ridley) crashes, part of the second wave of settlers, Prentiss detains her to prevent her communicating with her ship.  Todd helps her escape and the two head off to find operational communication equipment.

Holland brings his tried-and-true earnestness to bear but it is muddled by the minimal characterization in the script as well as the intriguing if ultimately odd way the Noise is conveyed and utilized. Ridley is game and clearly puts the effort in but she's also constricted by a lack of character dimension and the two, although they have decent chemistry, don't have much room to breathe given the chase nature of the plotting, story is frequently sacrificed for pacing. Mikkelsen is a delicious villain but is underutilized and underdeveloped. There are some impressive members in the supporting cast- Cynthia Erivo, Ray McKinnon, David Oyelowo- but are mostly under deployed.

Crisp visuals and clear ambition when it comes to how the Noise is portrayed help a story that has some intriguing ideas, clear potential, decent worldbuilding, but stumbles when it comes to the script, momentum takes priority over building depth of character.

Minorly diverting scifi fare that could have been better.

Currently available for rent on most VOD platforms.

Stream It.