Inception

Inception - Dir. Christopher Nolan (2010)


”You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.”

Christopher Nolan certainly wasn’t afraid to dream big. Originally pitched to Warner Brothers back in 2002, Nolan spent almost eight years developing the intricate $200 million action-thriller, Inception. Nolan applies the blockbuster approach of The Dark Knight with the mindfuck methodology of earlier films like Memento to this high concept take on the heist movie.

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Dom Cobb, a world-class thief who has taken corporate espionage to a new plane of existence. He doesn’t break into bank vaults, he breaks into dreams. Known as “Extraction,” Cobb hooks his slumbering victims to a Matrix in a suitcase in order to steal their deepest secrets or sacred ideas. Cobb and his right-hand man, Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), have failed their latest extraction on wealthy businessman Saito (Ken Watanabe). However, Saito is impressed enough that he hires them for the impossible task of “Inception,” where an idea is planted into someone else’s mind.

The mark is Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy), who will inherit an energy conglomerate from his dying father (Pete Postlewaite). Saito wants the son to break up his company thereby preventing a near-monopoly that would squeeze out Saito’s own corporation.

So Cobb assembles his team consisting of Arthur; Yusuf (Dileep Rao), a chemist who is an expert at sedatives; Eames (Tom Hardy), a forger who impersonates others inside the dream; and newcomer Ariadne (Ellen Page), an architect charged with crafting the world of the dream. Nolan gets a little playful in naming her after the character from Greek mythology who led Theseus out of the labyrinth of the Minotaur.

Sharing dreams with Cobb, Ariadne discovers the dangers that have leaked out of his subconscious. Cobb is a wanted fugitive who has left behind his children by fleeing the States. His troubles stem from the death of his wife Mal (Marion Cotillard). She lives on in his mind, but twisted by his own guilt, she attempts to kill Cobb and his team at every turn.

The second act of Inception follows the formula of other con game movies like The Sting or Ocean’s Eleven. The team plan and practice their scheme. The third act involves creating a multi-layered dream world to ensnare their target. These dream worlds aren’t as surreal as the ones seen in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It’s less Charlie Kaufman and more Michael Mann with a dash of M.C. Escher. The movie isn’t nearly as confusing as one would expect. Nolan helpfully provides more than enough exposition to keep everything clear. Therein lays the film’s biggest weakness.

The majority of the dialogue is entirely functional in that characters are simply explaining things to each other. As the eager newcomer, Ariadne serves as a stand-in for the audience. She’s there to be introduced into Cobb’s world so that we are as well. It feels a bit insulting for Nolan to hold everyone’s hand at each step. We don’t really get to know any of the characters beyond the genre archetypes of fresh-faced rookie or nerdy tech guy. One of the film’s best scenes is a quickie involving Arthur stealing a kiss from Ariadne. It’s a rare moment in which the characters are allowed to simply be themselves.

The strengths of Inception lie in its original concept and spectacular visuals. Nolan is like the cerebral Michael Bay. He’s a master at creating widescreen spectacle, yet there is substance to the style. There are some amazing images to be found here, from a crumbling cityscape to a Parisian boulevard that is literally folded in half. Nolan still struggles with crafting coherent action sequences. A car chase through the rainy streets of downtown L.A. isn’t nearly as thrilling as the chase from The Dark Knight and a James Bond-esque battle at a snowy fortress is disorienting. On the other hand, a gravity defying fist fight in a hotel hallway is well done. Nolan and long-time editor, Lee Smith, deftly intercut the various dream layers during the climax. Neither are Nicholas Roeg, but they get the job done.

The ensemble cast is excellent all around with Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt providing a pair of great supporting performances. Ignoring G.I. Joe, Gordon-Levitt is easily at the top of the heap when it comes to young actors working today. Watch him in this along with Brick and The Lookout, if you don’t believe me. For the second time in a row, DiCaprio plays a tortured widower. He’s the glue that holds the film together, playing well with the other actors. The exceedingly gorgeous Marion Cotillard is pitch perfect as the film’s femme fatale. If DiCaprio is the Batman of Inception, then Cotillard is his Catwoman. You know, I wouldn’t mind seeing Cotillard in black leather leotards and cracking a bullwhip. Either by coincidence or design, Nolan throws in a nod to her Oscar-winning turn in La Vie en Rose by utilizing Edith Piaf’s “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien” at a key moment.

After suffering through the inane schlock of last year (Transformers: ROTF), it’s refreshing to see that 2010 has brought us films like Green Zone and Inception, action dramas with a brain. Inception does get bogged down with exposition, but it’s saved by a great cast and stunning visuals. Even with a runtime of 148 minutes, it moves at a brisk pace. It is definitely the shortest 2 and a half hour movie I’ve ever seen.

Rating: *** ½

The Last Airbender

The Last Airbender - Dir. M. Night Shyamalan (2010)


I have defended M. Night Shyamalan in the past. The filmmaker put himself on the map with the slightly overrated The Sixth Sense, a supernatural thriller known more for its twist ending. Shyamalan followed that up with the underrated Unbreakable, an excellent take on the superhero in a real world setting. I liked Signs well enough, despite its silly contrivances. Then, along comes the pedantic The Village, the masturbatory ego trip Lady in the Water, and the downright idiotic The Happening. Though his writing left much to be desired, Shyamalan’s direction was more than competent in terms of composing dynamic shots and sequences. After watching The Last Airbender, I officially take back every nice thing I’ve ever said. Shyamalan is a hack.

The Last Airbender is based on the hit Nickelodeon animated series which ran for three seasons. Created by Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the cartoon was heavily influenced by martial arts films and anime. Shyamalan decided on directing a live-action version because his kids were huge fans. Daddy owes them an apology.

The Last Airbender is set in a fantasy world where mankind is divided by elemental tribes. They are the Air Nomads, the Water Tribes, the Fire Nation, and the Earth Kingdom. In each tribe, there are individuals who have the abilities to control their native elements. In every generation, there is an Avatar, a powerful individual who is able to control all four elements. The latest Avatar is Aang (Noah Ringer), a young boy who runs away from his temple after learning of the heavy burden he must carry. He and his flying buffalo, Appa, are caught in a storm and frozen in ice for a hundred years. Aang is eventually found by Katara (Nicola Peltz) and her brother Sokka (Jackson Rathbone), members of a Water Tribe.

In the years since his disappearance, the Fire Nation has declared war on the other tribes and wiped out all the Air Nomads save for Aang. Our heroes must travel north where Aang can study under the tutelage of powerful waterbenders. Many in the Fire Nation wish to capture him. One is Prince Zuko (Dev Patel), the exiled son of the Fire Lord Ozai (Cliff Curtis) who must capture the Avatar to return home. If this point isn’t clear, Zuko makes sure to repeat it in every single one of his scenes. Nipping at Zuko’s heels is Commander Zhao, played by former Daily Show correspondent Aasif Mandvi who must be the least intimidating villain in a long while.

The main problem behind this adaptation is that it is based on the entire first season of the animated series, meaning they’ve crammed 20 episodes into an hour and forty three minute movie. There is just far too much going on. The film is reminiscent of the worst aspects of The Phantom Menace. Scenes occur in the most random manner without adherence to any sort of logical story progression. Character development is tossed to the wayside. The dialogue is delivered in the most wooden manner ever. Not that it matters, the majority of it is simply exposition. There is endless exposition as characters explain everything to each other and the audience. It is a neverending abyss in which there is no escape.

Shyamalan is clearly in over his head directing a big-budget blockbuster. If he ever knew how anything about mise-en-scène, he’s forgotten. He must have attended the George Lucas School of Directing. Shyamalan seems completely incapable of staging even the most rudimentary action sequence. The animated series featured a light tone with plenty of humor and a rich world inspired by the creations of Hayao Miyazaki. Think Princess Mononoke. The world of the Shyamalan’s movie has almost none of the humor or the vividness of the show. He’s created a drab and dark world. He can’t seem to coax any sort of decent performance from his actors. As the lead, Noah Ringer may be able to pull off the martial arts maneuvers, but he can’t convey any sort of emotion. He’s like a deer in the headlights with his bugged out eyes.

I’m not even going to mention the controversial whitewashing of the main characters for which the film has earned the derisive nickname, The Last Racebender. A lot of Asian actors are probably sighing in relief at not being cast in this abomination. Rumor has it Paramount has sunk nearly $300 million into the picture (including marketing), but Shyamalan’s turgid and unimaginative work assures this will truly be the last airbender.

Rating: DUD

Predators

Predators - Dir. Nimrod Antal (2010)


The original Predator remains a classic action film. It starred two future governors in Jesse “The Body” Ventura and Arnold in all his one-liner glory (”Stick around!”). Throw in Carl Weathers, great character actors like Bill Duke and Sonny Landham, and Lethal Weapon scribe Shane Black and you’ve got a testosterone heavy ensemble ready. The reputation of the first picture was tarnished by a less than stellar sequel and a pair of ill-advised Alien vs. Predator crossovers. Predators looks to right old wrongs.

The film is based on an old spec script written by Robert Rodriguez back in the mid-90’s. Screenwriters Alex Litvak and Michael Finch used that as a template with Rodriguez serving as producer and Nimrod Antal as director.

Predators literally drops the audience into the thick of things along with the protagonists. We watch Adrien Brody, as a no-nonsense mercenary, plummeting towards a dense jungle. He runs into an assortment of highly-trained soldiers and ruthless killers. They include a sniper for the Israel Defense Forces (Alice Braga), an enforcer for the Mexican drug cartels (Danny Trejo), a death row inmate (Walt Goggins), a Russian spetsnaz troop (former UFC fighter Oleg Taktarov), a member of a Sierra Leone death squad (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali), and a silent gangster for the Yakuza (Louis Ozawa Changchien). Topher Grace is the only one who sticks out like a sore thumb as a nerdy and seemingly harmless doctor.

They quickly realize they are stuck on an alien gaming preserve, being hunted by the Predators armed with advanced technology such as cloaking devices and cheesy infrared scanners.

Less than successful sequels generally verge too drastically from the previous picture. In such cases, a third film will go back to formula. Back to the Future was mainly about the love story between Marty McFly’s parents with time travel a secondary plot point. The sequel was all about time travel turning it into a cluttered and confusing mess. Though set in the Old West, Back to the Future III again focused on a love story involving Doc Brown. Predator 2 tried to change things up by placing the Predator into an urban setting. Predators returns them to the jungle in slightly different fashion.

Those of you who’ve seen the first Predator will find many familiar elements to the threequel. There’s a scaredy Latino woman and a big dude with an even bigger Gatling gun. One character challenges a Predator to a knife fight while another covers himself in mud. Composer John Debney borrows heavily from the musical cues of Alan Silvestri’s original score.

The film wastes no time in kicking off the action. There are no opening credits, no text crawl or exposition. It keeps things simple as well. You won’t even learn most of the characters’ names unless you read the end credits. They have no time for introductions and the audience doesn’t need them. They are fodder for the Predators so we are spared any lengthy back stories. Instead, the filmmakers keep the focus on the action as we get several great sequences. Hungarian director Nimrod Antal made his debut with Kontroll, following that up with the horror flick Vacancy and last year’s underrated Armored.

Antal directs in an old school fashion staying away from modern techniques like shaky cam and breakneck editing that only serve to confuse the action. Antal also forgoes heavy CGI, using it only as a way to accentuate practical effects. Predators was shot on location in Hawaii and the real jungles are a positive antithesis to the Day-Glo garishness of Pandora. The film is hard R too. It’s appropriately violent, but not overly gruesome.

Adrien Brody may seem an unlikely action hero. He’s not as physically imposing as Arnold, but he’s more than believable as a tough guy. The other actors do well in their roles as well with Topher Grace bringing some understated comic relief. Walt Goggins is also there for comic relief, but in an over-the-top fashion. His good ol’ boy character very similar to the one he played on The Shield. Laurence Fishburne chews up his scenes and spits them out in an all too brief role as a soldier who’s been on the planet a little too long.

Predators may not reinvent the wheel, but it didn’t need to. This is the kind of good, dumb fun that’s been lacking in today’s action film. The only missing ingredient would be quotable lines like, ”I ain’t got time to bleed,” and ”Stick around!”

Rating: ** ½

MacGruber

MacGruber - Dir. Jorma Taccone (2010)


"Fifteen seconds, MacGruber..."

Who ever thought Saturday Night Live would be a fertile source for movie ideas? The Blues Brothers and Wayne’s World have been the only decent films based off SNL characters. You can go on and on about the show’s failures, such as Night at the Roxbury, The Ladies Man, and Superstar, just to name a few. Despite numerous failures, they try again with MacGruber, a parody of the 80’s television series MacGyver. Like MacGyver, MacGruber (who was revealed to be his illegitimate son) attempts to defuse a bomb using common household items, but is always done in by his own incompetence and insecurities.

The film opens in Rambo III fashion with MacGruber (Will Forte) living a life of peace in a monastery in Ecuador. He is approached by his former commander Col. Faith (Powers Boothe) after the villainous Dieter von Cunth (Val Kilmer) has stolen a nuclear missile. Cunth is also responsible for murdering MacGruber’s wife (Maya Rudolph) on their wedding day.

Returning to action MacGruber recruits an elite team of WWE wrestlers to combat the terrorists. Only MacGruber accidentally blows them up with some homemade explosives. Instead, he’s stuck with Vicki St. Elmo (Kristen Wiig), an old friend now working as a songwriter who holds a torch for our hero, and the straight-laced Lt. Dixon Piper (Ryan Phillipe). Together, they must overcome their differences and stop Cunth from destroying Washington, D.C.

MacGruber was basically a one-note joke played over a series of three 90-second skits on his native show. The script for the film was penned by Will Forte, SNL staff writer John Solomon, and director Jorma Taccone who also helmed the digital shorts, Lazy Sunday and Dick in a Box. The creative team doesn’t try to stretch out the thin concept of the character. They pad it out by turning the picture into a parody of 80’s action films and 80’s culture in general.

MacGruber seems to be stuck two decades ago. He’s perennially clad in a checkered work shirt, khaki vest, mullet, and big aviator sunglasses. There’s a running joke with him carrying around an old school tape deck from his car. MacGruber makes love to Vicki in a Top Gun-esque montage set to Mr. Mister’s “Broken Wings.” The soundtrack also includes Toto’s “Rosanna” and Eddie Money’s “Take Me Home Tonight” for all the one-hit wonder fans. Unfortunately, the minds behind the movie don’t have the wit to maintain a continuous tone.

One moment MacGruber is portrayed as an utter stumblebum who is completely delusional about his prowess. The next moment, he’s ripping people’s throats out. Other jokes give lowbrow a whole new meaning. One gag involves MacGruber distracting his enemies by prancing around nude with a celery stick jammed up his ass. No, seriously. To their credit, the writers keep the obvious Cunth jokes to a minimum.

Kristen Wiig brings her usual nonplussed brand of humor to the film and Powers Boothe is always dependable as a character actor, but there’s not much either actor can add to the moronic proceedings. Poor Maya Rudolph is completely wasted. At least, Val Kilmer seems to have some fun.

Rating: *

Brooklyn's Finest

Brooklyn's Finest - Dir. Antoine Fuqua (2010)


Director Antoine Fuqua began his career by helming music videos for artists such as Prince, Usher, and Coolio. He graduated to feature filmmaking with Chow Yun-Fat’s debut in Hollywood, The Replacement Killers. Fuqua scored big with the gritty cop drama, Training Day, which was bolstered by an Oscar-winning performance from Denzel Washington as the dirty cop to end all dirty cops. Fuqua returns to the urban drama with Brooklyn’s Finest, featuring three separate storylines set in the projects of Brownsville in Brooklyn, New York.

Fuqua reunites with Training Day star Ethan Hawke for the first storyline. Hawke is Det. Sal Procida who finds an honest cop’s salary isn’t covering the bills. He’s got three kids, a pregnant wife (Lili Taylor) with asthma and twins on the way, and a house that’s too small with mold in the walls. In order to make ends meet, Sal has been taking money from drug busts. When we first meet him, he puts a bullet into the head of one criminal before robbing him.

Don Cheadle is Det. Clarence “Tango” Butler, an undercover cop who’s been out in the field too long. All he wants is a cushy desk job and a chance to get his live back. That chance may come when Tango’s old friend, Casanova “Caz” Phillips (Wesley Snipes), is released from prison. The feds and Tango’s C.O. want him to set Caz up in a sting operation so they can boot him back to the penitentiary for no other reason than he’d be a big bust. Tango is deeply conflicted as Caz had saved his life and genuinely seems to want to go straight.

Richard Gere is Eddie Dugan, a uniformed cop and veteran on the force. He’s led an unremarkable career and is only days away from retirement. He finds solace at the bottom of a whiskey bottle and in the arms of a prostitute (Shannon Kane) who is the furthest thing from Julia Roberts. The brass wants Eddie to mentor a few rookies and he’s reluctant about it. Eddie’s advice to his first rookie is ”…eyes open and keep walking.” The rookie is disgusted with Eddie’s utter apathy to the job, but Eddie has absolutely no desire to be a hero.

The cast also includes Will Patton as Tango’s commanding officer, Ellen Barkin as a federal agent, Brian F. O’Byrne as Sal’s partner, and The Wire’s Michael K. Williams as one of Caz’s partners in crime. The screenplay was penned by first-timer Michael C. Martin who was a train conductor for the New York subway. He was still working his day job up until a week before shooting.

There have been quite a lot of these multi-tiered pictures in recent years. Crash, Syriana, and Babel are probably the most high-profile while other films like The Air I Breathe, Powder Blue, Crossing Over, and The Burning Plain failed to garner similar critical acclaim. Brooklyn’s Finest will likely fall into the latter category.

Brooklyn’s Finest is essentially a collection of nearly every cop movie cliché. At first glance, the only thing missing is the perpetually angry police captain. We have world weary cops, religiously conflicted cops, dirty cops, clean cops, experienced cops, rookie cops, etc. The film lacks any sort of nuances or deeper layers. The stories run parallel to each other though Fuqua and Martin toss in a few obligatory scenes where the characters bump into each other, both figuratively and literally. All three plot threads build to a contrived conclusion in which the trio of main characters arrives in the same neighborhood at the same time to meet their fates.

Brooklyn’s Finest treads into more than familiar territory. The acting is strong and the most interesting scenes feature the always-dependable Don Cheadle and Wesley Snipes who play well off each other. Snipes hasn’t starred in a theatrical release since Blade: Trinity and this is a welcome return. It is unfortunate the material is so weak and formulaic.

Rating: **

The Crazies

The Crazies - Dir. Breck Eisner (2010)


The Crazies has a lot going against it. First, it’s a remake. Hollywood has been remaking old horror films like there’s no tomorrow and the majority haven’t wowed audiences. Second, it’s a remake of a movie that wasn’t so great to begin with. In this case, it’s George A. Romero’s 1973 film of the same name. Romero’s Crazies has never been as well regarded as Night of the Living Dead or Dawn of the Dead. Third, the new Crazies was directed by Breck Eisner, the son of ex-Disney CEO Michael Eisner. The younger Eisner made his directorial debut with the big-budget flop Sahara

In spite of all that, The Crazies succeeds beyond expectations. It’s one of the rare remakes that actually improves upon the original. It’s easily one of the best horror movies of the year.

The Crazies is set in the small town of Ogden Marsh, Iowa, which is smack dab in the heart of Middle America. It feels like another day in the sleepy town until Rory Hamill (Mike Hickman) walks onto the field of a high school baseball game with a loaded shotgun. Later, Bill Farnum (Brett Rickaby) sets his house on fire with his wife and son still inside. Sheriff David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant) discovers a downed military aircraft in the swamps and realizes the water supply has been tainted. He eventually learns the plane was carrying a biological weapon nicknamed “Trixie.” The virus causes insanity in its victim and eventually death.

The military swoops in and begin rounding up the town’s citizens without a single word of explanation. Children are ripped from their mother’s arms while those who attempt to escape are gunned down mercilessly. Sheriff Dutton just wants to escape the military cordon with his pregnant wife, Judy (Radha Mitchell). Along with Deputy Russell Clank (Joe Anderson) and Judy’s receptionist Becca (Danielle Panabaker), they must avoid the infected, the army, and even a few folks who weren’t that nice to begin with.

Though Romero was best known for his zombie movies, The Crazies wasn’t technically one of them even if it contained many of the same tropes. Nobody comes back from the dead and the infected don’t crave flesh.

As with Romero’s other films, social commentary played a big role in the original Crazies. The picture was his reaction to the ongoing Vietnam War and the My Lai Massacre. The remake downplays the heavy handed message, but still portrays the military and the government as the primary villains. Romero’s version also told the story from the perspective of the townsfolk as well as the army in the form of one sympathetic officer. Eisner and screenwriters Scott Kosar and Ray Wright wisely keep this from the point of view of the people. The soldiers are as much of a faceless horde as the psychotic crazies. The individual disappears behind a gas mask and a hazmat suit. Meanwhile, there is an underlying theme of big brother is watching you in the form of constant surveillance from spy satellites.

Focusing on the Sheriff and his companions keeps the film on a smaller, intimate level. We become invested the journey of this ragtag group of survivors. The filmmakers also avoid bogging down the movie with long-winded scenes of exposition. As the town doctor, Judy Dutton gets a few quick, explanatory bits to answer questions about the virus, such as is it airborne? However, anybody who’s seen any halfway decent zombie flicks or disease movies, such as Outbreak will already have it all figured out.

Eisner directs The Crazies with a slick hand giving us several creepy sequences. They won’t scare the pants off you, but they are pretty damn exciting. This includes a spooky ride through, of all things, a car wash. The best scene in the film involves Judy and Becca in a room full of infected patients, all of them strapped to gurneys. A crazy slithers in scraping a pitchfork against the floor. He begins stabbing the others while the women watch helplessly in horror.

Eisner does overplay his hand when it comes to the score and the repeated use of harsh string chords. You know the kinds that are struck whenever a hand suddenly reaches out from the shadows to grab one of our protagonists.

The Crazies is a tremendously entertaining movie. This is a horror film that relies on true scares rather than out and out gore. It is a breath of fresh air after bad remakes like Nightmare on Elm Street and the endless stream of Saw and Final Destination sequels.

Rating: ***

44 Inch Chest

44 Inch Chest - Dir. Malcolm Venville (2009)


Don’t take the title of this film the wrong way. 44 Inch Chest is not about a buxom starlet by the name of Chesty Larue or Hootie McBoob. No, this film is all about men. Manly men. Manly men who speak with British accents. That’s how you know someone is a badass when they speak with a tough British accent.

44 Inch Chest comes to us from director Malcolm Venville and screenwriters Louis Mellis and David Scinto who penned the amazing gangster pic Sexy Beast. That film gave us Ben Kingsley in his anti-Gandhi performance as a maniacal criminal who refuses to take no for an answer. Kingsley isn’t anywhere to be found, but Ray Winstone is back with an all-star collection of English hard men. You’ve got Ian McShane, John Hurt, Tom Wilkinson, and Stephen Dillane. Prepare to choke on the testosterone.

Chest opens stylishly and succinctly sets the tone for the rest of the picture with Winstone as Colin Diamond laying nearly-catatonic amidst the wreckage that was once his home. Harry Nilsson’s cover of Badfinger’s “Without You” plays on a loop. Colin’s wife, Liz (Joanne Whalley), has dropped a bombshell on him. She doesn’t love him anymore and is leaving him for another man.

He returns home from work when his wife, Liz (Joanne Whalley), drops a bombshell on him. She’s no longer in love with Colin and she’s leaving him for another man. Colin runs a gamut of emotions from despair to remorse to anger. From there, he does what any man would do. Colin rounds up a group of his buddies to abduct the man having an affair with his wife. Archie (Wilkinson) is the most level-headed of the bunch, a nice guy who still lives with his mother. Archie’s polar opposite is Peanut (John Hurt), a misogynistic and homophobic septuagenarian on a constant conniption fit. Playing as a foil to Peanut is Meredith (McShane), an ultra-sophisticated and gay gambler. Finally, there’s the suave Mal (Dillane) who may or may not have had his own fling with Liz.

The unfortunate individual that is the target of Colin’s hatred is a hunk of beefcake only referred to as Loverboy (Melvil Poupaud). He never says a single word in the movie, but he’s young, handsome, and, dear lord, he’s French. The gang has Loverboy locked up in a wardrobe before tying him up to a chair where he’s subjected to verbal and physical abuse.

That’s the loose summary of the plot. The main narrative is broken up with various flashbacks and fantasy sequences. The most bizarre and disturbing moment has to be seeing John Hurt’s head on Joanne Whalley’s body. Another wonderful sequence finds Meredith smoothly recounting a winning night at the casino. The dialogue is one of the highlights of the film. Everyone speaks with hard R words that sound like David Mamet filtered through Harold Pinter.

The title evokes images of men bowing up with their chests puffed out. For Colin, it’s all about regaining his manhood after the utterly emasculating dissolution of his marriage. Each of the friends he’s gathered seems to represent different aspects of his psyche. Some cool and collected others hot-headed. However, much of the male bravado is a showy falsehood. Never is this more evident than in Peanut whose bark is far worse than his bite. The façade shatters when Peanut launches into another of his profanity-laced tirades and his dentures drop out of his mouth.

Let us not forget the woman at the center of all the controversy. Joanne Whalley looks exceptionally gorgeous in this film. Surrounded by wafting cigarette smoke and clad in a slinky, black dress, she looks like the femme fatale out of a classic film noir.

44 Inch Chest is a mixed bag. The dialogue is sharp and the acting is excellent with McShane and Hurt being particularly entertaining. However, Chest can’t shake the feeling of being little more than a play in front of the cameras. The script also feels a little light then padded out to be feature length.

Rating: ** ½

The Karate Kid

The Karate Kid - Dir. Harald Zwart (2010)


The original Karate Kid was an important part of the childhood for anyone who grew up in the 80’s. Who didn’t think they could be an ultimate fighting machine by standing on one leg? It was a quintessential underdog story and great tales like that don’t drop out of the sky. This is probably why studios love remaking them so much. It’s a lot easier than coming up with something new and original.

For those of you living under a rock all your lives, Karate Kid starred Ralph Macchio as Daniel, a New Jersey teen transplanted to Southern California with his single mother. There, he is subjected to beatings by bullies from the Cobra Kai dojo. Under the unconventional tutelage of Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita in an Oscar nominated performance), Daniel-San learns karate after a series of montages set to 80’s power rock in order to confront his tormenters.

The remake lowers the ages of the main characters. Nobody actually practices any karate either. At one point, the film was listed under the more appropriate title of The Kung Fu Kid.

Will Smith’s son, Jaden, stars as Dre Parker, who moves from Detroit to Beijing with his mom, Sherry (Taraji P. Henson). Dre has said farewell to everyone he knew to become the proverbial stranger in a strange land. A young girl (Han Wenwen) playing violin at the park catches his eye, but their budding friendship attracts the unwanted attention of Cheng (Wang Zhenwei) and his gang of martial artists. As members of the Fighting Dragons, their ruthless instructor, Master Li (Yu Rongguang), imparts on them a philosophy of no mercy and has no problem slapping the boys to get his point across.

Dre is saved from another beating by the aloof and taciturn, Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), the handyman at their apartment complex. In order to protect him from the bullies, Han must instruct Dre in the ways of kung fu in order for him to battle the Dragons in an open invitational tournament.

One of the most iconic moments of the original film involved Daniel’s realization that he was learning karate through menial tasks like waxing and painting. The remake takes a different approach, but the revelation lacks the same impact. Perhaps it’s due to the burden of knowledge. We’re already familiar with the whole routine. The villains are also equally lacking. The generic thugs of the 2010 production aren’t as strong as the Cobra Kai baddies.

Jaden Smith isn’t as bland, but he doesn’t have a strong enough presence in the lead. Luckily, he has older and wiser actors to carry the burden. Taraji P. Henson has become thoroughly dependable following Benjamin Button and her star-making performance in Hustle & Flow. She’s excellent here as well melding the right elements of heartfelt and humor. Jackie Chan brings a surprising amount of gravitas to the role of Dre’s mentor. Chan has been moving into more dramatic fare in his increasing age.

Harald Zwart, who previously directed reviled pictures like One Night at McCool’s and The Pink Panther 2, helms Karate Kid in a workman like manner. Shooting on location, Zwart wisely utilizes the streets of Beijing and the picturesque Chinese countryside to the film’s advantage.

Over 25 years later, The Karate Kid is still highly regarded. It’s doubtful that the remake will be as well remembered decades later. This new Karate Kid is formulaic and filled with the usual cheesy clichés about getting up after life knocks you down. It’s also far too long at 2 hours and 20 minutes. Yet, it still turns out better than expected thanks to the work of Chan and Henson.

Rating: ***