A disspointingly vacant movie which should be compressed into 20 minutes and turned into the start of a much better action flick.
Monthly Archives: June 2008
Jumper
Jumper is such a shame, a movie that could have been so good, and yet turned out to be so vacant. It’s a promisingly simple concept, young kid finds he can teleport about, uses it to have fun, discovers it has consequences, meets a girl, runs from the bad guys. Usually I enjoy simple concepts done well, small casts and a tight plot.
But Jumper is vacant and flat. It’s 88 minutes of average prologue. Oh it’s reasonably exciting, and the action scenes are done well, some of them pretty nice. But the characters are underdeveloped, the story is far too short, and the small cast is both tiny and uninteresting.
Samuel L. Jackson is totally wasted, and the best performance is from Jamie Bell. There’s no serious tension and despite the amount of time spent setting things up, no real feeling of concern about whether the characters live or die. It’s essentially a prologue and setup for a sequel, which is a real shame.
Dissapointing.
Half way through 2008 …
… six months to go.
The Incredible Hulk, Wanted, Hancock, Hellboy II, Journey to the Centre of the Earth (maybe), The Dark Knight, The Lost Boys 2 (straight to DVD), The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (maybe), Babylon A.D. (maybe), City of Ember (maybe).
Lots to watch.
Iron Man
It would be wrong to say that Hollywood only delivers big blockbusting movies that appeal to the lesser emotions, but it would be right to say that sometimes Hollywood manages to deliver big blockbuster movies that are gripping, visually impressive and exciting to watch. Iron Man is really entertaining.
Iron Man avoids the mistakes of so many comic book conversions and bad sci-fi movies. The story is simple and yet engaging, that simplicity ensures there aren’t any moments where you wonder what happened, what’s going on or why something is happening. That simplicity also provides a good structure to keep the story moving at all times with a good pace. The effects don’t obliterate the excellent performances from the main cast either. Downey’s performance is superb, full of charisma and character. Maybe he’s a little over the top, but this is a comic book hero.
So anyway, it’s exhilerating, interesting and exciting, the visuals are stunning and crisp and the sound track was moving and thrilling. I really enjoyed Paltrow’s performance as a counter-point to Downey. There aren’t any huge guffs in the plot, we know who the good guys are and we find out who the bad guys are, and righteous justice is delivered to all who deserve it.
A visual feast, without being overly busy on-screen, and thoroughly entertaining.
Iron Man
Totally complete sci-fi comic book action movie with an excellent performance from Downey supported by a simple but solid script, superb effects and brilliant score.
Charlie’s Angels
A stlylish, slick and enthusiastic action movie with charisma and balls, Charlie’s Angels makes up for a light fluffy plot with some high quality action sequences and a fast relentless pace.
Shrek
Fantasically funny computer animated movie with excellent performances, witty dialog and something for kids and adults alike.
Road Trip
A solid comedy in the American Pie mold with some memorable performances and some serious laugh out loud moments.
Rush Hour
A typical buddy-cop movie for fans of Jackie Chan or Chris Tucker (are there any?) only.
Aliens (Special Edition)
The additional footage extends and enhances what is already a genre-defining action sci-fi flick and although these days the movie looks dated it’s impossible to deny the impact it had on subsequent films, giving it a deserved place in movie history.