Showing posts with label Crime Drama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crime Drama. Show all posts
Friday, October 11, 2013
Jason Statham is Looking for "Redemption" at the Box Office. This Won't Help...
The original title for this film was "Hummingbird".
That makes even less sense to the movie.
Glad they changed it...
The Story:
Joey (Jason Statham) is former British Special Forces on the run for what he did in Afghanistan. Now homeless and living on the streets, he just wants to get by without getting caught. However, fate always seems to find these people, and soon he finds himself on the run again, and winds up able to clean up his act, and begins working for the local London mob. Stashing away money, Joey, or Crazy Joe begins helping the poor on the streets and a local nun. When one of Joey's only friends winds up dead, Joey decides it is time to seek vengeance, and he'll stop at nothing until it's finished.
Not your typical Statham action film.
So either that makes you jump for joy, or murmur "uh oh".
Count me originally in the "uh oh" camp.
This movie is very much a drama, with splices of action. The story is deliberately paced and I hate to use the word "slow" but it is, but not in a bad way, just in the way that it's a drama, not an action flick.
That said, they do let Statham do the two things he is known best for:
Drive
Kick butt
Just not as much.
But that's okay, what he does works perfectly in the movie, and shows how much he wants redemption for what he's done in life.
He has the perfect opportunity to leave it all behind at the end, but decides that he hasn't earned that right yet, so once again he disappears.
Much like this movie will from your memory after watching it.
Final Grade: C
Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: One of my least likely to ever see from Statham. Again, it wasn't bad, it just wasn't great enough to warrant another spin.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
A Movie About "Alex Cross" Has A Lot To Live Up To...
You sir are no Morgan Freeman!
The Story:
Alex Cross (Tyler Perry), brilliant psychologist and homicide detective is on the trail of Picasso (Matthew Fox), an assassin who is murdering wealthy Detroit businessmen. Of course, when Cross gets too close to Picasso, Picasso makes it personal. Now Cross is determined to take this serial killer down, whether he has to break the law or not to do it.
Meh.
It's a serviceable detective flick, but nothing especially awesome to write home about.
Based on the same character that Morgan Freeman played twice before (Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider), and now I have to rewatch both of those to see if they were better than this one, or simply better because of the Morgan Freeman Factor....
: )
I can't imagine them being any worse.
Anyway, it's not a bad film. Edward Burns tags along as Cross's best friend and partner, and he always does a fine job in whatever role he's in.
However, Cross comes across as almost too smart, out-Holmesing even Sherlock himself. He'll randomly pull a factual nugget as he's investigating and says it so matter of factly that it comes off as pompous, not brilliant.
Anyway, with all of that said, I've seen worse thrillers.
However, I've also seen better. Much better.
Final Grade: C
Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Neither to either.
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