The World's End

With 2004's Shaun of the Dead, director Edgar Wright and co-stars and real-life friends Simon Pegg and Nick Frost put themselves on the pop culture map. Three years later, the trio proved they were no flukes, releasing the equally funny and the underrated 2007 flick Hot Fuzz. Well, it took the three of them a couple years -- as in six years -- but they've released the third movie in their unofficial trilogy, 2013's The World's End.

It's been 20 years since Gary King (Pegg) and his four friends celebrated their last day of college with an epic pub crawl, the Golden Mile, that tries to cover 12 different bars around Newton Haven, the town they all grew up in. The celebration went awry though, Gary and Co. only making it about halfway through the crawl. Now in his early 40s, Gary never really moved on with his life -- ever the partying college student -- and now he wants to do one thing above all else; finish the Golden Mile. Gary meets up with the rest of his friends who's he drifted away from over the years, Oliver (Martin Freeman), Steve (Paddy Considine), Peter (Eddie Marsan) and even Andy (Frost), his former best friend he had an epic falling out with, and convinces them all (some more willing than others) to reunite and try to pull it off. It's been years though, and there's something going on in Newton Haven that none of them could see coming.

I really liked both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz so when I read there was another film in the works from Wright, Pegg and Frost, I was excited to see where it went. Then, I saw the trailer which I'll link to below at the end of the review. It starts off decent enough if in some familiar territory about college friends reuniting to take on the world in a way. And then it happened in a flash. SPOILERS STOP READING SPOILERS The quintet stumbles onto some sort of alien replacement invasion, the town they grew up in drastically changed in ways they could never have anticipated. What?!? My first thought was simply "That looks incredibly dumb," but then I realized I had a similar thought about both 'Shaun' and 'Fuzz.' The third time wasn't the charm here, the talented trio coming up short with their third film.

What's the biggest detriment to its success? Quite simply, I didn't find it very funny. It just doesn't have enough laughs to recommend. Sure, there are some funny moments spread out over a 110-minute flick, but not enough to sustain the energy throughout. I thought too -- trying to go in with an open mind -- that the genre-bending story of five college buddies reuniting with a possible alien invasion was oddly brilliant in an out of left field, random fashion. It never molds together though, never finds that right balance between the two and in the end falls short because of it. At different points, it reminded me of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (loved it) and more recently, The Watch (hated it). I wanted to like it just because of the talent assembled working together, but I didn't. It's a comedy without the laughs unfortunately.

If there's something that helped me get through 'World,' it is the casting. Even with a script that wasn't necessarily entertaining, the talented cast makes the most of it, specifically the quintet. Pegg as Gary King starts off as a truly obnoxious character (intentionally so), one I was worried would single-handedly handicap the story. As we learn more about him, he's still pretty grating, but there's a certain idiotic charm to his quest to complete the Golden Mile. Not surprisingly, the best thing going is the dynamic between Pegg's Gary and Frost's Andy, a more than frayed former friendship as Gary left Andy out to dry years before, his drinking/partying/drugging breaking up the friendship. Now, Andy either wants to give him one more shot, whether it's to end it once and for all or to see if Gary has changed. The dynamic among the five is fun, Freeman's Oliver a buttoned-down real estate agent, Marsan's Peter a beaten down husband, and Considine's Steve going through a bit of a mid-life crisis.

The best moments come from the group, Pegg and Wright's script effortlessly showing what a friendship would be like this. The group has plenty of history, the script giving them plenty of chances to show off that subtle comedic timing, the dialogue pretty snappy throughout as these friends must band together to get through that hell. Also look for Pierce Brosnan as a former teacher, Rosamund Pike as a former love (oh, yeah, love triangle!), and Bill Nighy providing his voice in a key role late as things come together.

I'm disappointed. I wanted to like this movie. I did like the cast. There is a charm, a style with its goofy cuts and hyper-fast editing and zoom-ins on random objects, but it gets bogged down. Not enough laughs, the message in the finale trying desperately to save things. The finale does provide a good twist in its random darkness which provides a bit of a saving grace but not really enough to save it overall.

The World's End (2013): **/****

Jack the Giant Slayer

Let's give credit where it's due. Disney has done its best to make fairy tales at least moderately politically correct, but there's something that is often odd, unsettling and pretty uncomfortable about them. Weird to dulled down to....well, movies have gotten their greedy paws on the genre again, making them action movies? From Snow White to Jack and the Beanstalk, they're all ripe for the picking, like 2013's Jack the Giant Slayer.

Living in the kingdom of Cloister, a young farm boy, Jack (Nicholas Hoult), has grown up idolizing the legend of an ancient king, Erik, who saved the kingdom from the wrath of man-eating giants. Unfortunately, living with his uncle on his small farm in the countryside, Jack doesn't seem destined for any sort of heroic deeds or royal crown. Selling his uncle's horse though in town through an odd set of circumstances, Jack comes into possession of a bag of small beans....powerful beans (oh no!). That night, Jack is stunned to find the king's daughter, Isabelle (Eleanor Tomlinson), on his doorstep, but in a driving rain, he loses the beans and they immediately sprout up, blasting away to the skies....with Isabelle in tow. The next morning with help from the king, his men, the Guardians, and the treacherous Lord Roderick (Stanley Tucci) along, Jack climbs up the immense beanstalk to the land between Heaven and Earth where the giants reside. Can they rescue Isabelle in time?

A solid performer at the box office upon its release this spring, 'Jack' earned almost $200,000,000 in theaters. It's easy to see why. It takes a familiar story -- Jack and the beanstalk -- and has some fun with it, injecting a whole lot of energy via lots o' action and cool characters. Getting it to theaters proved to be not to easy, but director Bryan Singer does a very capable job in the end. It's tightly paced, running an action-packed 114 minutes, and never gets too bogged down in any one scene or character. If there's flaws....and there are....it's hard to have too much of an issue with them because we're onto the next scene with the snap of a finger! Composer John Ottman's score is a good one too, a big, booming fantastical score that fits in well with the non-stop action.

Box office success considered, it's all that more impressive because there isn't one huge headlining star here. There's no one that screams out "GOTTA see this!!!" Good actors just the same, but no sure thing. Start with Hoult, the young English actor who holds his own as the titular Jack. He's a teenager growing up, not some muscle-bound hero. Most importantly, Hoult's meek nerdiness plays well, and he's very likable. One of my favorite actors currently working, Ewan McGregor is clearly having some fun as Elmont, the captain of the king's guard, a tried and true and very capable warrior. The always fun, always reliable Ian McShane isn't given a ton to do as King Brahmwell, the aging ruler who worries for his daughter's well-being but must measure it against the well-being of the Kingdom and his people, but it's Ian McShane, just go with it. The same applies for Tucci, a great actor who makes the most of his part as the greedy, power-hungry Lord.

Playing the damsel in distress who...........gasp.......likes Jack (how could this be?!?), Tomlinson is decent as Isabelle, but she simply isn't given enough to do. Shallow guy mode, but she's a cute princess so that's good. Eddie Marsan plays Crawe, Elmont's fellow guard and a longtime friend, while Ewen Bremner is a solid backup villain as Wicke, Roderick's equally treacherous accomplice.

Enough with the positives, bring on the negatives! As fun as some of the characters are, you don't always feel especially connected to them. It's a fun, diverting script but the focus seems to be entirely on big, broad strokes of characters and the spectacle of what we're watching. Character development? Eh, overrated. My biggest concern (on top of those things) was what I'd seen in trailers, what appeared to be an overindulgence of computer-generated special effects. Yeah, I was spot-on there. While it was filmed in the English countryside, it never feels/looks like it. Just about every scene feels like a very polished, very at a distant CGI shot. It gets repetitive, and the giants look tolerable I suppose, but it's not the highest of quality CGI. Bill Nighy lends his voice talents to play General Fallon, the leader of the vengeful giants. For me at least, CGI is best used in small doses that fits in effortlessly with a story. Not the case here where basically the complete visual look of the movie depends on the CGI.

That said, I thought the movie was a lot of fun. The backstory of how the giants ended up in their purgatory above the clouds is pretty cool, and the adventures to said purgatory provide for some cool backdrops to the story. It's always fun, always exciting, and the finale with the giants descending on Cloister and Brahmwell's castle is quite the wrap-up. Sure, there are times I wish it connected a little more, giving us more investment in the characters or the story. 'Jack' can be a little heartless, feeling like we're watching from a distance at times, but I'm not going to get too analytical here. It's fun. Enjoy it, and DONE.

Jack the Giant Slayer (2013): ***/****

Wild Target

You don't need to be a huge star, a huge name to be popular with audiences. Take Bill Nighy, a British actor who's starred in Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Valkyrie and countless other movies. How many moviegoers could actually pick him out of a lineup? He's an immensely talented actor as he shows in 2010's Wild Target.

A middle-aged man living outside London, Victor Maynard (Nighy) lives a quiet, dignified life. There's a catch though; Victor comes from a long line of hired killers and assassins. He's good at what he does, and there are no assassins better than him. He's managed to keep his identity and appearance hidden over these many years, working through middlemen and phone calls. Victor has now been tasked with killing Rose (Emily Blunt), an accomplished thief who duped a well-connected mobster, Ferguson (Rupert Everett), out of $900,000 with a fake Rembrandt. Ferguson wants her dead, and Victor intends to oblige. Tracking her down though, Victor instead sees one of Ferguson's henchmen about to kill her....and shoots him instead. Rose already knew she was in trouble, but she mistakes Victor for a police officer. Now, he's protecting the girl he's supposed to have killed already.

This is going to sound immensely stupid, but I've got to say it just the same. Now, obviously this is a British-made movie -- both cast and crew -- that was filmed on location in England. But any-hoo, this is a very, very British movie. The humor goes two ways. Some is incredibly dark, subtle stuff. Chasing Rose, Victor walks into a fitting room, fires blindly into the room, hits a target, realizes it isn't Rose and simply walks away. It's played for laughs, but for the most part it works. If you're going to do a movie about a hired killer, go really dark or really goofy and stupid. For the most part, director Jonathan Lynn leans toward the dark, but it's pretty funny dark. There's also some far goofier humor that reminded me of some Benny Hills antics, and that's not always a good thing but more on that later.

The best thing about this flick was Nighy as hired assassin Victor Maynard. The highly skilled, loner hired assassin is a familiar character that's been in hundreds and thousands of movies. It is a familiar part, but Nighy makes it his own. The history helps as we learn his family is a long line of accomplished killers, his father teaching him the tricks of the trade as he grew up while his mother (Eileen Atkins) similarly helped, but now she just worries about him and why he doesn't have a wife. Victor is the prim and proper Englishman, a quiet, dignified and distinguished gentleman....who just happens to kill people. He lives in a quiet, perfectly manicured country house where dust and dirt are mortal enemies, even his furniture covered in plastic. He has no real friends though, living his own isolated life, making his post-hit predicament a tad more interesting.

And here comes some of that British humor, almost all of it good. We get a flick with three people on the run and a long line of people pursuing them. Some parts are better than others, but they're all having a lot of fun. Blunt is one of my favorite actresses, and she's a great counter to Nighy's button-down killer. She's a kleptomaniac, stealing things non-stop. Her more brash, colorful personality bristles at the all-business Victor, and their scenes together produce some really funny moments. Also on the run is Tony (Harry Potter's Rupert Grint), an apparently homeless young man who witnesses the shooting and oddly enough, becomes Victor's apprentice. Everett is underused as the humorous but sinister Ferguson with Gregor Fisher as Mike, his much-maligned, much-beaten up henchmen. Also worth mentioning is Martin Freeman as Dixon, a brutal, sadistic killer with no qualms about his victims, and his dimwitted henchmen Fabian (Geoff Bell). Lots of characters, lots of fun, some better utilized than others.

'Wild' packs a whole lot into a 98-minute movie. The first 45 minutes are pretty frenetic with chases and shootouts and twists and turns. The second half of the movie slows down a little too much for my liking as Victor, Rose and Tony retreat to his isolated country home. We get to know the characters better as they bond on the run, but the pacing drags in a big way. Mostly though, I liked this flick from beginning to end. It's fun watching Nighy's Victor improvise on the fly, especially as he wavers between helping and killing Rose. Funny, quirky movie that doesn't try too hard and while it treads the fine line, it isn't too cute.

Wild Target (2010): ***/****

Total Recall (2012)

Oh, goodness, here we are again. I swear Hollywood has no originality. N-O-N-E at all. Remakes are one thing when an original calls for it. If the original doesn't live up to its potential or is in a situation where a remake would benefit it, then so be it. That of course, is not the case. Hollywood ain't interested in potential or what should have been. Instead, it's all about the $, and that's all you really need to know about 2012's Total Recall.

It's near the end of the 21st Century, and following a global war, little exists of the world we know now. The only habitable regions are the United Federation of Britain (UFB) and the Colony (Australia). Problems have arisen in this new society as a possible invasion looms, the UFB and its governor (Bryan Cranston) threatening to attack the resistance. Among the citizens is Doug Quaid (Colin Farrell), a factory worker who lives with his wife, Lori (Kate Beckinsale), but he's frustrated with his life and starting to question certain things. He wakes up at night with memories of vivid dreams so he investigates, going to Rekall, an experience via software that allows you to "obtain" memories. What awaits Doug is a complete surprise. He has a hidden past that even he is unaware of, and it's a past that involves the government, the governor and many more secrets.

So if you're not aware, this basic story was first used in a film in 1990's Total Recall starring the Govern-ator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger. It's an above average sci-fi epic that overcomes some general cheesiness to be a pretty good movie despite some special effects limits. It's also not completely fair to say this is a remake because it is based off a short story by author Philip K. Dick, but for all intensive purposes....that's just what it is. So yes, this 2012 version is its own movie. It tweaks certain things to make it "Its own movie," but does it really matter? Sorry to go all Old Curmudgeon on you loyal viewers, but I can't help. Some 22 years have passed. Did we really need a remake of a movie that yes, is pretty good, but is it anything more? Nope, and that's what I find frustrating.

Well, the movie was remade so no point crying over spilled milk. The biggest improvement are the incredible advances made over the last 20-plus years in CGI and basically anything associated with computer visuals. The 1990 Recall has a somewhat cheap look, but that's not the case in director Len Wiseman's film. A look at a futuristic dystopian society in the right hands is a fast ball down the middle. The UFB and the Colony are ultra-cluttered, buildings seemingly piled on top of each other as they tower up to the sky. The CGI is incredible, and the story itself presents some very interesting premises. The concept of Rekall itself is pretty cool, implanting memories that seem real. Means of transportation especially stand out, including an expressway of sorts with hover cars floating and moving far above the city. The biggest standout though is the Fall, a way of getting from Britain to Australia in just 17 minutes, a free-falling train that literally falls through the Earth via gravity, reversing its gravitational pull near the core. Scientifically implausible? I'd assume, but it's pretty cool.

If you seek this movie out, I'll recommend it for one main reason; the action. Done on an impressive scale and handled about as ideally as possible, I came away very impressed with the action. Always a bonus, the action varies in type, not limiting itself to one chase scene after another. The highlight has Farrell's Doug running from government forces with Melina (Jessica Biel) and eventually ending up trying to escape courtesy of the hover car expressway. Police and government forces are in high pursuit in action scene that will hopefully get the adrenaline pumping. So without expressing and explaining every little thing about the action, just know that's it the best thing going here and a real highlight.

What isn't as impressive is the acting/characters. Farrell is one of my favorites regardless of the movie, but this isn't his best work. Chalk up part of that to the script which doesn't do him much in the way of favors. His Doug Quaid is full of mystery and confusion -- what and/or who exactly was he previously? -- but it's never a truly well-written character. The more interesting parts of Quaid are the things we eventually find out about him. Biel is necessary but pointless eye candy, around because a movie of Farrell running around would be dull. Beckinsale is a movie stealer as Lori, seemingly the perfect wife but she's got secrets of her own. She ends up being a villain that is surprisingly effective in its ability to keep us guessing. Cranston is Cranston, imposing and intimidating with a touch of slime and greed. Also look for Bokeem Woodbine as Quaid's work friend, Bill Nighy as a resistance leader and John Cho in one scene as a Rekall specialist. 

My biggest takeaway from this 2012 remake was pretty blase, even a little mediocre. It's far from good but never really amounts to anything good, above average or memorable. Like so many remakes, it just isn't necessary. It tries to do enough to distinguish itself from its predecessor, but for anyone with even a few working brain cells and/or ability to remember anything, this movie will come across as nothing more than an average, enjoyable time-waster.

Total Recall (2012): ** 1/2 /****

Wrath of the Titans

Released in 2010, Clash of the Titans was your pretty standard big budget, CGI-filled blockbuster with a huge if wasted cast. Read my review from last fall HERE if curious. It was entertaining enough in a generic blockbuster sort of way, interesting in the moment but fairly forgettable after that. If that's not a recipe for success, I don't know what it is. Enter stage left, the unnecessary sequel, 2012's Wrath of the Titans.

It has been 10 years since half-God, half-man Perseus (Sam Worthington) helped save the world from the warring gods, defeating the Kraken and preserving peace. But now the gods are at it again, all sorts of hellish creatures and demons escaping from the underworld. Now Perseus lives with his son, Helius (John Bell), and wants nothing to do with the situation, even when Perseus' father, Zeus (Liam Neeson), asks him for his help in defeating the enemy. When Zeus is betrayed by his own brother, Hades (Ralph Fiennes), and his son, Ares (Edgar Ramirez), god of war, only then does Perseus join the fight. Even the half-god, half-man has no idea what awaits him this second time around.

Here's my problem both with this movie and the movie industry in general. Yes, this will sound stupid, naive and did I say 'stupid'? Novel concept, but basically movie's are based off the $ they generate, right? The 2010 Titans was a pretty solid, self-contained story with ridiculous amounts of CGI, some halfway decent characters, and a solid cast. Not to say it was a classic -- it most definitely was not -- but it was enjoyable enough. Generic, a little dull at times, but good in that inoffensive sort of way. I'm doing a hell of a job selling it, aren't I? There were no unsolved stories, no real mystery so why make a sequel? You guessed it. 'Clash' made almost $500 million worldwide. So away we go with a sequel, and yes, I realize I'm shooting my theory in the foot because I'm admitting I paid to see it. I like movies. Sue me.

'Wrath' is basically the same exact movie as 'Clash' except with a few new characters, new love interest, and a wide assortment of weird, cool and odd mythological characters. My hope writing the review of 'Clash' was that with a sequel, characters would get to develop some and a possibly longer run-time would allow the movie and story to develop and breathe...a lot. No such luck, the sequel actually clocking in at seven minutes less (99 to 106) and still somehow managing to feel longer. Go figure....anyways, it's the same formula. Video game-like action, cardboard cutouts of characters, far too much reliance on CGI, and no real interest in a story. It's all disappointing because just like 'Clash,' 'Wrath' certainly has the potential to be really good. It's there. It just needed to be worked with even a little.

Getting little to no help from a script, the cast does their best to work things out. I still believe Worthington is a budding HUGE star just waiting for the right role. He's a bright spot again as Perseus, the hero fighting for his father and son, willing to throw it all on the line. It could have used more of his subtle humor in an otherwise deathly serious movie. A little campy humor couldn't have hurt. Neeson again is awesome as Zeus, Fiennes excellent as the sneering, waffling Hades, and Danny Huston plays Poseidon, the three most powerful Greek gods. Rosamund Pike steps into the love interest part, playing Andromeda, a female general and kick-ass fighter while Bill Nighy gets to be quirky and eccentric as Hephaestus, the scientist/creator of the weapons of the gods.

The best thing going for 'Wrath' is the casting of a quasi-sidekick for Perseus, Toby Kebbell playing Agenor, son of Poseidon so another half-God, half-man roaming the countryside looking for trouble. He injects some much needed energy into a sometimes surprisingly slow-moving story as the roguish anti-hero. Kebbell has some fun with the part, not playing it so straight-laced and button-down. It doesn't have to be physical humor, but something to lighten the mood up a bit, and Kebbell does it well. His exchanges with Worthington's Perseus provide some of the movie's better highlights. Can't say I'm excited for a third Titans movie, but if it's on the horizon, I hope Kebbell returns.

The shame of it all is that 'Wrath' has a chance to be good. We get creature fights with a fire-breathing, two-headed hell-dog straight from Hades, a trio of Cyclops warriors, a running fight with a Minotaur through catacombs and labyrinths that all look alike, and an epic showdown with Kronos, one of the first God/Titans who's been imprisoned for years. Now he's released as a gigantic, immense creature made of rock and spewing lava. Pretty cool finale with him facing Perseus. There's nothing to tie it all together though. The CGI looks good, but gets tedious quickly. The story drifts from episode to episode, and the characters aren't particularly interesting. Gotta go with the same rating as 'Clash.' Lots of wasted potential, but you can certainly do worse.

Wrath of the Titans <---trailer (2012): ** 1/2 /****