‘No Escape’ movie review

Every so often a movie will come along that unexpectedly floors you. Out of all the movies I’ve seen this year so far, ‘No Escape‘ fits that description sublimely. I’d not heard a lot about the movie before seeing it. Sliding under the radar like it did certainly worked to its advantage. Owen Wilson plays Jack Dwyer, a man relocating his family halfway around the world to Thailand to take on a new job with a water company there. Upon his arrival, he is befriended by Hammond (Pierce Brosnan) a British citizen who is there for some fun and apparent debauchery. Upon stepping out in an attempt to find an American newspaper the next morning, Dwyer instead finds himself literally caught between a group of armed police in riot gear and the same rebel soldiers who had assassinated the Prime Minister of the country the previous day.

Frantically making his way back to the hotel in which he and his family are staying, Dwyer sees Americans being hauled out of the building and executed in the street. He manages to make his way to his room where he helps his wife Annie (Lake Bell) and their 2 daughters to the relative safety of the roof where a small group of residents are holed up. This moment’s respite from the danger is short-lived. From one harrowing escape to another, the thrills keep coming and we are right there with the family as we see to what lengths people will go just to survive. With the help of Hammond and his compatriot “Kenny Rogers” (Sahajak Boonthanakit), the Dwyers barely manage to hang on as they are stalked at every turn. Struggling to keep his family safe and fighting to stay alive, Owen Wilson delivers a fantastic performance as the besieged American with no choice but to make it “another 10 steps.”

Pierce Brosnan, for me, is always stellar and I will say that I almost enjoy seeing him more in these roguish types of roles a la ‘The Matador‘ and ‘The Tailor of Panama‘ than in his more smooth, panache, days as 007. However, the stand out performance for me was Lake Bell. Having just seen her last week in Netflix’s ‘Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp‘ in a very comedic role and then watching the equal levels of both strength and vulnerability she masterfully flips between  in ‘No Escape’ was a reminder of just what kind of acting chops this lady possesses.

The writer and director of this adrenaline filled nailbiter is none other than John Erick Dowdle who brilliantly directed ‘Devil‘ (which I also loved) and he was the writer and director of ‘Quarantine‘. This man knows how to build suspense, tension & anxiety and that talent is on full display during the course of the film’s blazing fast 103 minutes running time. (Emphasis on the word “running.”) The movie was so tense that the wife of one reviewer had to leave the screening about half-way through. I asked how she was after the film and she said “I just couldn’t take the tension any longer.” This quote seemed to mirror what I actually kept thinking about throughout the film. How much would you endure? How far would you go and to what lengths would you push yourself to keep the people you love safe and get them to sanctuary? The cast of the movie is spot-on in their portrayal of the range of emotions that I can only imagine one would encounter in such a situation and the director does a perfect job of heightening the frenzy with each new obstacle that presents itself. For how quietly it slipped in towards the tail end of summer, ‘No Escape’ may easily be the most intense thriller of the year!

‘American Ultra’ movie review

I will admit that I was very skeptical going into the screening of this film. Nay, I was downright positive that I would not like it. After all, I’m not a huge Kristen Stewart fan nor am I that big on Jesse Eisenberg for that matter. So perhaps it was my low expectations or maybe it was simply the fact that the film delivered firmly on all fronts, but I ended up sincerely enjoying ‘American Ultra.’

The movie starts off with Jesse Eisenberg’s character, Mike, scarred, blood-soaked and in chains at a local law enforcement facility. He then flashes back to the beginning of the trouble when he and his girlfriend Phoebe (played by Kristen Stewart) are trying to leave town for a Hawaiian vacation, but Mike can’t seem to leave due to a panic attack. It starts out seemingly like a run-of-the-mill, stoner / star-crossed lovers movie for the first 10 minutes or so. Then, it takes a turn. Victoria Lasseter of the CIA (played by Connie Britton) had trained Mike as an experimental government asset (Operation: Wiseman) but when the program proved to cause psychosis in the subjects, she terminated the experiment and wiped the memory of the project from Mike’s brain. He was then given a new identity and ended up living with his CIA handler who fell in love with him (aka: Phoebe).

Young upstart agent Adrian Yates (Topher Grace) takes it upon himself to eliminate Mike to show that his new experimental program is superior to Operation: Wiseman and also to curry favor with his superiors. Lassiter gets to Mike first and “activates” him using a key phrase to trigger his programming. Action and hilarity ensue as Mike begins to realize exactly what he is and what he can do. In a series of ‘Chuck’ like flashes, Mike cuts a swath through the lethally trained assassins sent to kill him by Yates and the CIA. This whirlwind of madness is backed by perfectly delivered performances from both Tony Hale as Lassiter’s CIA associate and John Leguizamo as Mike’s dealer.

One of the things that made me like this movie was that it reminded me a little of ‘From Dusk Til Dawn‘ in that it starts out as one kind of movie and then it quickly becomes something different. I also had just completed rewatching the aforementioned ‘Chuck‘ on Netflix so it did also remind me of that a bit with Mike “flashing” every time he was threatened (If you don’t know the reference, go watch ‘Chuck’. You’re welcome.) While I do think the movie had great action scenes, a decent amount of comedy and some nice “feel good” moments, it’s hard to say that it did any of them exceptionally well. It was almost as if there was no firm consensus on what type of movie it should be and so it tried being a few different ones. But then again, is that part of what made the film so enjoyable? Is the slightly all-over-the-road feel that the movie had intentional to go along with the underlying marijuana theme? If so, then Bravo! Job well done! At the end of the day, there is one thing for certain: ‘American Ultra’ is STILL a better love story than ‘Twilight.’

‘Fantastic Four’ movie review

Well…. They may want to rethink the title. ‘Mediocre Four’ would be more apt. I wanted to like this movie. I really, really did. I love comic books and I love movies so it should be a no-brainer that I would like this movie. At the end of the day, a reboot wasn’t necessary as I actually enjoyed the 2005 version of this film more than this most recent offering. Let me point out that nothing I am going to say in the course of this review could be considered “spoilers” since the film is kind of spoiled by it’s very nature. Where do I begin….

For those who are unfamiliar, The Fantastic Four were created in November of 1961 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and basically began the Silver Age of comics. A group of four friends gain amazing powers after being bombarded by cosmic rays during a scientific mission into outer space. Over the years, this origin has been updated in it’s telling but the premise has basically remained the same. In this most recent theatrical release, the updated story is that the group has been working on a way to transport organic matter to another dimension. After a successful test with a monkey, the project is put on hold so that the U.S. Government can take over and use it. Upset by this turn of events, Victor Von Doom (Toby Kebbell), Reed Richards (Miles Teller) and Johnny Storm (Michael B. Jordan) decide that they should be the first ones to cross over to this other dimension. Gearing up and joined by Reed’s childhood friend Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell), the group makes the journey but are nearly killed while exploring this new world. All of them make it back except for Doom who is apparently killed before Sue Storm (Kate Mara) is able to bring them home. The “attack” by the other planet affects each of the group in a different way. Reed can stretch his malleable body, Johnny can set himself on fire, fly and shoot flames, Sue can become invisible, create force fields and… can also fly (?) and Ben is coated in alien rocks making him super strong and nearly invulnerable. In a plot too convoluted to explain, Doom is brought back, attacks everyone and decides to go back to the other dimension and suck the Earth into it with him thus killing everyone on the planet. He is stopped after the new team go after him and beat him following a rather ridiculous, anti-climatic battle and then return home. **SIGH**

While the casting may not have been very good, the acting itself was very solid all around. Obviously doing an origin story for each character would have been difficult in an ensemble film such as this and so only the early days of Reed Richards and Ben Grimm were shown. Franklin Storm (excellently played by Reg E. Cathey) was the pillar that supported this film both in terms of the story as well as with his substantial acting presence. That is pretty much all I have to say as far as the positive aspects of the movie. Now onto the gaping flaws…..

Let me start with Victor Von Doom. In the world of comic books, there are few villains who can rival Doctor Doom as far as power, gravitas and sheer bad-assery. He is the monarch of the fictional nation of Latveria, a super genius, master strategist and also has a vast knowledge of mystical energies and magical powers. In the movie he was shown as little more than a jealous rival, a petulant genius and, once he attained his “powers”, kind of a mashup of various villains. There was no attraction for his character and he almost felt like just someone they included into the early part of the movie because “We have to include Doctor Doom.” and then didn’t really know what to do with him after that.

Besides the overall disjointed feeling that the movie had to it, there was just no heart to it at all. The film felt hollow with no urgency or way to connect with the characters for the audience. The one exception, again, being the scenes between Franklin Storm and his son Johnny. (So for all of those people out there complaining about an African-American being cast as Johnny Storm, it might be worth noting that he was the character I felt was the most relatable of the ensemble!) The inattention to detail also puzzled me. For example: They can make a flame-proof suit for the Human Torch and clothing that can disappear for Invisible Woman, but they can’t make pants for The Thing? Also, when they get their own base at the end, they don’t go back to The Baxter Building, they aren’t given Four Freedoms Plaza, they don’t even move to Pier 4. Nope! They are given a mountain based facility called Central City. Central City?!?! Like the place where The Flash calls home?!?! C’MON!!!

Overall, it was one big disappointment. In fact, this was just barely a notch above being an Ang Lee’s ‘Hulk‘ sized disappointment. You can’t pin the problems on any of the actors either. This was a result of bad writing, poor direction and inattention to the most basic of details. If Fox is even halfway smart about things, they’ll broker a deal with Marvel / Disney in the same fashion that Sony did with Spider-Man to help salvage the mess they’ve made with yet another reboot attempt before going ahead with their sequel that they’ve already got in the works due to be released in 2017. As far as going to the movies this weekend, you’re better off getting the 2005 version at Redbox or Amazon Live instead of wasting your money on this.