Aylmer to Zazzoo and Beyond: Bruce Willis

Showing posts with label Bruce Willis. Show all posts

Sunday, July 28, 2013

RED 2 - Review

RED 2
(2013 - July 19)
Action | Comedy | Crime
1 hr. 56 min.

Rated: PG-13 Pervasive action and violence including frenetic gunplay, some language and drug material. Common Sense Media says OK for kids 14+. Read more on child suitability
Grade: C

Director: Dean Parisot
Writers: Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber, Warren Ellis (characters), Cully Hamner (characters)
Stars: Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Mary-Louise Parker | See full cast and crew

In RED 2, the high-octane action-comedy sequel to the worldwide sleeper hit, retired black-ops CIA agent Frank Moses reunites his unlikely team of elite operatives for a global quest to track down a missing portable nuclear device. To succeed, they’ll need to survive an army of relentless assassins, ruthless terrorists and power-crazed government officials, all eager to get their hands on the next-generation weapon. The mission takes Frank and his motley crew to Paris, London and Moscow. Outgunned and outmanned, they have only their cunning wits, their old-school skills, and each other to rely on as they try to save the world—and stay alive in the process.

RED 2 (Retired, Extremely Dangerous Part 2) in case you are confused about the title, is the follow up to the 2010 hit RED. Red 2 had a better opening weekend besting RED by about $7 million exceeding $28 million. RED cost $58 million to produce and brought in $199 million plus, you do the math, was there any doubt there would be a sequel?

I saw the first film in this franchise, yes, RED 3 is on the way, and I wasn't particularly impressed. I can't suspend belief enough to accept that these retired people would be able to function as they are portrayed in the film, that much they could so easily best and out smart much younger and fitter agents with similar training.

Nor is the dialogue all that clever, its all old stories rehashed and consequently the humor, for me anyway, falls flat. Since smug Smart Alec quips are the intended strength of these films, it doesn't quite achieve its goal.

RED 2 has assembled an impressive group of talent. The cast is very capable, it just doesn't have that much to work with. Many of its stunts, though impressive, are outside of the realm of believability. It is, however, pretty much free of nudity, vulgar and profane language which is a plus in my humble opinion.

On the set with director Dean Parisot

Cast

Bruce Willis John Malkovich

Frank Marvin

Helen Mirren Mary-Louise Parker

Victoria Sarah

Byung-hun Lee Catherine Zeta-Jones Anthony Hopkins

Han Cho Bai Katja Bailey

Sunday, March 31, 2013

G.I. Joe: Retaliation - Review

G.I. Joe: Retaliation
(2013 - March 29)
Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi
1 hr. 40 min.

Rated: PG-13 Intense sequences of combat violence, brief sensuality, language and martial arts action. Common Sense Media says OK for kids 13+ Read more
Grade: C-

Director: Jon M. Chu

Writers: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick

Stars: Dwayne Johnson, D.J. Cotrona, Channing Tatum | See full cast and crew

In the continuing adventures of the G.I. Joe team, Duke (Channing Tatum), second-in-command Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson), and the rest of the Joes (D.J. Cotrona, Byung-hun Lee) face a two-fold threat. Not only is their mortal enemy COBRA rearing its ugly head again, but there is also a threat from within the U.S. government: There might be an impostor in the White House. Meanwhile, Snake Eyes (Ray Park) is on a search for inner peace but learns that his nemesis, Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee), is still alive.

It's going to be a rough time in Washington D.C. this year. The White House is under siege again, there was the recent Olympus Has Fallen, now G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and the upcoming White House Down (and of course that doesn't even include the present occupant).

I just had a very hard time getting interested in this one. Five minutes into it and I was thinking, if I were at home and this was on TV I would have already switched channels. Lucky for Channing Tatum, he gets to exit the film early on, I suspected that he would somehow make a return before the end of the film but no, he was gone for good. Too bad I had to sit through the entire film to verify that fact.

I wasn't (and I still am not) familiar with all the G.I. Joe characters and I had difficulty following the story, who are the good guys, who are the bad guys, who honestly cares? I'm cognoscente that my apathy contributed to my inability to learn the players and follow the story but, suffice it to say, this was not the movie for me.

I never owned a G.I. Joe doll, er...action figure, I never had the G.I. Joe fever.

The scenes in the mountains with people flying around and fighting on zip lines was so ludicrous that I had to leave briefly for a popcorn refill. I am also put off by the lack of value placed on human life in this type of film.

The good guy's lives are highly valued and worthy of extracting revenge but the bad guy's lives (and very often innocent bystanders) are nothing more than fodder like in a video game.

If you are in to the G.I. Joe characters and stories you may enjoy this film but I don't think it contains that much interest for those who aren't. The production values are good, the script is weak and formulaic, the acting is nothing to write home about so don't expect any Oscar nominations.

There is a lot of martial arts action (if you like to see people fighting and doing impossible things), lots of guns going bang bang and lots of things blowing up as is standard fair for this type of film

I did cut this movie some slack for exercising restraint when it came to the use of profanity, also there was no sex and no nudity, save a couple of bare chested men and the distorted reflection of the backside of a woman while changing her clothes.