Ride Along

Ride Along - Dir. Tim Story (2014)

Is there anything new to say about the buddy cop movie? Recent attempts like The Other Guys and 21 Jump Street brought the laughs by lampooning the genre and satirizing action movies in general. Ride Along is perfectly happy to coast on every convention established since 1982's 48 Hrs. Not a surprise since Kevin Hart has long aspired to having a career like Eddie Murphy and comparisons between the two have been made by many. Hart is perfectly cast as the fast-talking comedic foil while Ice Cube steps into the Nick Nolte role as the stern and short-tempered straight man.

Hart is Ben Barber, a high school security guard in Atlanta who loves playing first person shooting games. He's just proposed to his beautiful girlfriend Angela (Tika Sumpter) and been accepted into the police academy. Ben should be content with his life if not for Angela's other brother James (Cube). James is a hard-nosed detective who doesn't believe Ben is worthy of marrying his sister, let alone becoming a police officer. In an effort to get rid of the little runt, James decides to take his prospective brother-in-law on a ride along. Ben seems ready to throw in the towel when he's forced to deal with a biker gang, a mouthy pre-teen, and a lunatic in a supermarket. Yet, Ben provides improbable help in James's investigation into a mysterious crime lord known only as Omar.

Just as The Heat did with Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock, Ride Along relies almost solely on the chemistry between Ice Cube and Kevin Hart. Despite featuring four screenwriters in the credits, the script doesn't bother to do anything clever with a recognizable premise. Their idea of comedy involves quoting lines from Training Day and an opening car chase (with Ice Cube driving through a fiery explosion) appears to have been lifted right out of Other Guys. While director Tim Story has shown a knack for character-based comedies (Barbershop), he has a distinct lack of flair for action (Fantastic Four).

It's left entirely up to the leading stars to keep the audience's interest intact as the lackluster plot plods along. Hart is a bit like Chris Tucker with proper restraints. He knows when to play it to the hilt, but knows the right moments to dial it back. His manic energy is a strong contrast to the stoic Ice Cube, who ironically portrays the type of cop Cube railed against in his NWA days. Bruce McGill co-stars as the exasperated superior that's become a genre requirement along with John Leguizamo and Bryan Callen as fellow detectives. Laurence Fishburne manages to kick Ride Along up a notch when he makes a third act appearance as the enigmatic Omar.

Ice Cube struck a nerve when he took to social media to complain after he and Kevin Hart failed to win the MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo. They lost to Vin Diesel and Paul Walker. Sorry, but Cube must have an overinflated opinion of himself. His supporting work in Jump Street was much funnier. As it stands, Ride Along is a pedestrian comedy strictly for fans of Cube and Hart.

Rating: ** (*****)

Contagion

Contagion - Dir. Steven Soderbergh (2011)

Steven Soderbergh is one of the few filmmakers working today who rarely repeats himself. He is as comfortable at making big Hollywood spectacles like the Ocean's series as he is with idiosyncratic low-budget projects like Bubble and The Girlfriend Experience. He's also delved into film noir in The Good German (one of my favorite films of 2006) and straight out action in the upcoming Haywire. With diseases of the week like Mad Cow, H1N1, SARS, and bird flu constantly making headlines, it appears to be the perfect time for an epidemic movie.

Contagion begins on Day 2 as Beth Ernhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow), an executive with a mining corporation, returning to her home in Minnesota after a business trip in Hong Kong. She's looking worse for wear to which she blames on jetlag. Soon, she collapses on her kitchen floor, foaming at the mouth and going into convulsions. She dies shortly at the hospital to the horror of her husband, Mitch (Matt Damon), who demands answers, but gets none. Beth isn't the only victim as a socialite in London, a businessman in China, and a student in Tokyo all die from this mysterious new disease. This new virus, dubbed MEV-1, is a strain researchers have never encountered before and they struggle to create a cure as millions are infected.

In the vein of Traffic and other hyperlink films, Contagion juggles an all-star cast and a myriad of plotlines. Matt Damon is the emotional core as the everyman just trying to survive after losing not only his wife, but his stepson as well. He takes the role of overprotective father to the extremes as he attempts to shield his teenage daughter, Jory (a strong screen debut by Anna Jacoby-Heron). Laurence Fishburne appears as Dr, Ellis Cheever, the head of the CDC who attempts to contain the disease and public opinion. He is stymied in his efforts by Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law), a hostile blogger who turns sentiment against the government with his conspiracy theories while pushing a holistic cure. Behind the scenes, he's secretly profiting from the manipulated demand.

Soderbergh eschews genre conventions by taking a clinical and procedural approach to the subject matter rather than a sensationalistic approach. Shot in a cold, gray color palette, Contagion deals in the mathematics and hard facts of the outbreak, showing how quickly the virus would spread, the fatalities, and even the harsh realities of how long a vaccine would be distributed. No surprise, if you're not rich and/or white, you're kind of screwed. Expected imagery such as hospital wards filled with sick patients and mass graves appear in Contagion, but Soderbergh shoots them in a nonchalant manner. He is more interested in the minutiae. As MEV-1 spreads through touch, the camera lingers on ordinary objects such as door knobs, credit cards, and a bowl of complimentary peanuts. The mundane aspects of the virus make it all the more frightening, Just as Jaws made you afraid to go in the water, you might not leave the house without sterile gloves and a breathing mask after watching Contagion. The way in which basic services break down is also chilling. Delivery of essential supplies ends when the teamster unions call it quits. Doctors and nurses walk away from their jobs for fear of becoming afflicted. Also, don't bother calling 911. When Mitch tries to call after spotting armed men, he is answered with an automated message. "You have selected regicide. If you know the name of the king or queen being murdered, press 1 now!"

Soderbergh and screenwriter Scott Z. Burns (who also wrote The Informant!) don't get on a soapbox by launching into tirades about government or the pharmaceutical industry. The majority of characters are portrayed on an even keel. Dr. Cheever is an honest though flawed official while members of the military and Homeland Security are shown as folks just trying to do their job. Yet, the bad apples are still present. As the CDC's Dr. Erin Mears, Kate Winslet is forced to deal with bureaucrats who are more concerned about budgets than treating the ill. Looters and rioting are par for the course. There is also an underlying indictment against the rapid rise of global industrialization, another virulent plague striking modern society. I won't spoil the ending, but the fact that a multinational corporation inadvertently causes the catastrophe is something to chew on.

Not all the storylines in Contagion are winners. Law's Krumwiede feels out of place with the docudrama approach of the film. His storyline is meant to symbolize how disinformation and panic are just as contagious as any pathogen, especially in an era where social media has so firmly integrated into the way we live. But, his character is handled in a very cartoonish manner. He has crooked teeth, for goodness sakes. The only thing missing is a handlebar mustache. Blogging is handled in an outdated manner as if the script had been written four or five years ago. Krimwiede loudly proclaims that print media is dead when a paper is dismissive of his findings. There is a wonderfully clever line spoken by Elliot Gould (as a research scientist) when he rebukes that blogging is just "graffiti with punctuation."

Marion Cotillard is also given the shaft as a doctor from the World Health Organization dispatched to Hong Kong to track down the path of the MEV-1. She is later kidnapped by a colleague who is desperate to receive the vaccine for his rural village. Cotillard is only given a short amount of screen time and then disappears for most of the picture until it's convenient to remember she's still around.

Soderbergh has assembled an impressive cast where even the smallest supporting roles are played by actors of note such as Gould and John Hawkes as a janitor at the CDC's headquarters. Damon and Winslet give two of the most stirring performances in the film. Paltrow's time is short. She doesn't even survive the trailer. However, her early death puts the audience on alert that nobody is safe, no matter how famous they are. Ironically, the best performance in Contagion belongs to an actress who isn't as well-known as her colleagues. Jennifer Ehle, who played Geoffrey Rush's wife in The King's Speech, has won rave notices (and deservedly so) for a scientist working tirelessly to develop a cure.

Contagion also features a pulse pounding score from Cliff Martinez, who also composed the synth score for Drive. Throbbing electronic sounds form the backbone of Martinez's music, which will set the view on edge.

As the disease ravages the Earth, populated metropolises give way to desolate urban landscapes reminiscent of a zombie movie. While Contagion has the feel of sci-fi flicks such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers and 28 Days Later, it is an ultra-realistic, post-9/11 version of Outbreak. Contagion is creepy, enthralling, and will certainly skyrocket sales in Purell.

Rating: *** ½ (*****)

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