Aylmer to Zazzoo and Beyond: Taylor Kitsch

Showing posts with label Taylor Kitsch. Show all posts

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Savages - Review (updated)

Savages

(2012)

Crime / Drama / Thriller

130 min.

Rated: R Pernicious Profanity, graphic sex, extreme and graphic torture and sadistic violence

Rating: D

Director: Oliver Stone

Writers: Shane Salerno (screenplay), Don Winslow (screenplay and novel), Oliver Stone (screenplay)

Stars: Aaron Johnson, Taylor Kitsch and Blake Lively, John Travolta, Benicio Del Toro , Salma Hayek

Super entrepreneur pot growers, Ben and Chon, face off against a Mexican drug cartel who has kidnapped their shared girlfriend as leverage to force the duo into joining the cartel.

This film should have been rated NC-17. The profanity is pernicious and constant, the sex scenes are graphic and in poor taste, the scenes of torture and gratuitous violence is raw, graphic and will be offensive to most viewers. This unnecessary over the top warped viewpoint of society, that everyone in government, the military, police enforcement and business is corrupt has been the hallmark of Oliver Stone's directorial career.

I left the theater wanting the two hours and ten minuets of my life back. There isn't a single redeeming quality in any of the characters in this film. There is nothing sympathetic, nothing to like about any of them. They are, to the very last one, amoral, self centered, egotistic, greedy, vile individuals with no concern of how their actions might affect anyone outside of their myopic and depraved circle of friends.

Ben and Chon

The only reason this film escapes an 'F' rating from me is that some of the acting (with one glaring exception of Blake Lively) and the technical and production values of the film are up to standard.

Chon (Taylor Kitsch) and Ben (Aaron Johnson)

It starts out with O (Blake Lively) narrating, 'Just 'cause I'm telling this story doesn't mean I'm alive at the end of it. It's that kind of a story where things just got so out of control'. I should have fled the theater right after that stupid set up line for a supposedly clever surprise ending. This is a truly tedious 'thriller'...typical Oliver Stone work.

Elena

Ben, Denis and Chon

Mr. Stone's way is to soil the reputation of every institution and individual portrayed in his films, we have Chon (Taylor Kitsch) is a dishonorable Navy Seal drug cultivator and distributor who employes his willing Seal buddies to help him bomb and kill his oponents; Ben (Aaron Johnson), his friend and partner is a 'brilliant botanist' marijuana cultivator/entrepreneur/distributor the two are supposed to be the 'oh so cool' Bill Gates and Steve Jobs of primo-cannabis dude; O (Blake Lively) is the jaded 'spoiled rich kid' shared whore of the two friends and business partners (sorry, that's supposed to be the girlfriend in an open, sensitive, non-judgmental, optimal, ideal adult relationship of fornicators), together this trio is supposed to be representative of the norm in an American society which Mr. Stone loves to portray in decline; Dennis (John Travolta) is the obligatory corrupt, 'on the take' DEA agent; Elena (Salma Hayek) is the beautiful, sophisticated, ruthless, blood thirsty, vengeful and sadistic King Pin of a Mexican drug cartel, but let us not forget she is also a concerned, loving and sensitive mother and widow (I didn't believe for a moment that she would be capable of keeping her sadistic henchmen under her control).

Chon (Taylor Kitsch)

Elena (Salma Hayek)

Any respect for the mostly talented actors signed on to this project has been tarnished. Blake Lively is simply awful, there is nothing about her portrayal of O that would justify the undying loyalty of Chon and Ben (Think of Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan in the Twilight series, what did Edward (Robert Pattinson) or Jacob (Taylor Lautner) see in her?). Selma Hayek is beautiful and some reviewers are saying that she will surely be nominated for an Oscar for this performance...Really, are you serious? Her Elena is a caricature of the evil villain, think Mike Myers in Austin Powers, I kept waiting for her to put her little pinky finger to the corner of her

Lado (Benicio Del Toro)

mouth and demand a ransom of 'one million dollars', and then we have Lado (Benicio Del Toro) the double crossing villain with loyalty to no one but himself, who frequently twists his mustache like Dudley Do-Right's nemesis, Snidely Whiplash from The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show or some heartless landlord in a community theater melodrama.

O and Chon

Frankly, I don't consider this depraved and despicable movie worth the wasting of any more time writing about it. I have generally, as of late, avoided Oliver Stone films due to the pervasive anti-American, amoral, didactic preachiness that permeates the majority of his films. Oliver Stone moves up a notch on my personal 'Don't Go' list'.

Cast:

Taylor Kitsch Aaron Johnson Blake Lively
Chon Ben O

Benicio del ToroSalma Hayek
Elena Lado

Monday, May 28, 2012

Battleship - Review

Battleship

PG 13

Runtime: 131 min.

Rating: C-

Director: Peter Berg

Writers:

Stars:

A fleet of ships is forced to do battle with an armada of alien origins or lest the world fall prey to a global takeover and the end of mankind.

Based on the Hasbro board game (although you will be hard pressed to find the connection except for the title 'Battleship").

The Plot

In 2005, NASA discovers an extrasolar planet with conditions similar to Earth. On the chance that it contains intelligent life, NASA transmits a powerful signal from a communications array in Hawaii, which will be boosted by a satellite in orbit. Around the same time, the talented but undisciplined slacker Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch) attempts to impress a woman by getting her a chicken burrito, the result of which sees Alex breaking into a convenience store and being tasered by the police. She, Samantha Shane (Brooklyn Decker) is the daughter of Admiral Shane (Liam Neeson), who is the superior of Commander Stone Hopper (Alexander Skarsgard), Aex's older brother. Tired of Alex's lack of motivation and fear of losing his own career, Stone forces him to join the United States Navy.

By 2012, slacker Alex is a lieutenant and the Tactical Action Officer aboard the Arleigh Burke class flight I destroyer USS John Paul Jones, while Stone is the commanding officer of USS Sampson. Alex is also in a committed relationship with Samantha and wants to marry her, but is afraid to ask her father for permission. During the opening ceremony for the RIMPAC naval exercises, Alex brawls with Japanese officer Captain Nagata (Tadanobu Asano), the latest in a string of incidents that could result in his discharge at the end of RIMPAC.

Samantha, a physical therapist, accompanies retired Army veteran and amputee Mick Canales (Gregory D. Gadson) on a hike on Oahu to help him adapt to his prosthetic legs. Meanwhile, five alien ships arrive in response to the NASA signal. One ship collides with an orbital satellite and crashes in Hong Kong, the four others land in the water near Hawaii. Sampson, John Paul Jones, and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Kongo class destroyer Myōkō investigate, but are trapped when one of the ships erects an impenetrable force field around the Hawaiian islands. The destroyers attempt to establish contact, but the aliens open fire in response to a warning shot fired by the American destroyers: Sampson and Myōkō are destroyed, killing Stone. John Paul Jones is damaged with the commanding and executive officers killed. Initially attached to Sampson, Alex, who was one of the few out to take a closer look at the alien vessels, now boards John Paul Jones and takes command as the most senior officer left on the ship. Although initially wanting to attack the alien ships in retaliation for his brother's death, Alex is convinced to break off and recover survivors from Myōkō, with Captain Nagata among them. This act prompts the aliens to call off another attack. Since the barrier prevents the use of radar and sonar, Nagata reveals that they can use tsunami warning buoys around Hawaii to track the alien vessels' movements.

During a night-time battle, the aliens and the humans exchange pot shots, with the John Paul Jones sinking two alien ships but unable to lock onto the third. An alien soldier is recovered from the water; from the brief contact with the alien, the humans determine that the aliens are very sensitive to sunlight. Alex uses his ship to lure the alien vessel close to shore, where he and Nagata shoot out its bridge windows at sunrise, then proceed to fire at the alien vessel full force. Both ships are destroyed in the ensuing battle.

Because the ship that crashed in Hong Kong was their communications ship, the aliens take over the NASA array and begin modifying it to signal their home planet. Samantha and Mick avoid detection and run into a fleeing NASA scientist. Believing that a larger invasion might be imminent, the scientist acquires a radio which Samantha uses to warn Alex. He had planned to destroy the array with his ship, but since John Paul Jones has been destroyed, the survivors are forced to return to base and acquire the only available naval vessel, the USS Missouri. Although a museum ship, Alex and his crew are able to reactivate Missouri with the aid of the retired veterans preserving her. The battleship engages the alien ship and destroys its barrier but ends up with only one high-explosive shell remaining. Alex uses it to fire on the array, but before the defenseless Missouri can be attacked one more time, fighters from the RIMPAC fleet (which scrambled to attack as soon as the barrier fell) arrive and eliminate the alien ship. The NASA array explodes, destroying the aliens and their equipment.

Back on shore, the naval personnel, along with Mick, are honored for their actions in defeating the aliens. After the ceremony, Alex asks Admiral Shane for his daughter's hand in marriage; the admiral refuses, but invites him to talk about the matter.

In a post-credits scene set in rural Scotland, three school children and a handyman break open a car-sized object that has apparently fallen from the sky. They run off in terror after seeing an alien hand reach out and grab the opening.

The PROS:

Really and truly, not much. The visual effects, maybe. If the Transformers series was too intellectually challenging, Battleship may be for you. Kitsch gets to show off his macho mettle against a hostile alien invasion the centerpiece of the film and provides a background for elaborate visual effects and plenty of loud, fiery explosions. That may be enough to please undiscriminating action fans, but it's asking a lot to compensate for all the dumb dialogue and sophomoric predictable plot.

The CONS:

Really and truly, almost everything. It takes forever to get started. I was checking my watch 10 minuets into it. The 131 minute run time felt more like 231. The script is an exercise in cliché. The screenplay is cheesy, the characters are cardboard and unbelievable. It can't decide what type of movie it wants to be, Romance, Si-Fi, Patriotic War Epic, Racial Equality and Women's Rights...blah, blah, blah, blah, blah! At times it felt like I was sitting through an old Soviet Socialist Glorious Government Workers Equality propaganda epic.

They try to throw in some sort of homage to every group they can possibly think of, like an attempt to make you feel guilty it you knock the film. Tedious and annoying. Despite all the main the characters being played by 'beautiful people' they are also all distinctly one-dimensional. Even the tough military veteran who’s lost his legs, and his will to live (played by real-life amputee Gregory D. Gadson), was turned into a living cliché. Saying it could have been worse isn't much of a compliment.