Red 2

Red 2 - Dir. Dean Parisot (2013)

Still retired, still extremely dangerous.

DC Comics may be owned by Warner Brothers, but a few properties sometime slip through their fingers. Red was a 3-issue mini-series by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner and published by DC imprint Wildstorm. The source material was about a retired CIA agent seeking revenge after his former employers order his death. Summit Entertainment bought the rights, perhaps to diversify their portfolio from the sparkly vampires and YA novel adaptations. Screenwriters Erich and Jon Hoeber turned the original comics into a zippy team-up of A-list actors and they do so again with the sequel, Red 2.

Bruce Willis returns as Frank Moses, a retired operative looking forward to living some semblance of a normal life with his girlfriend, Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker). He's content to shop for frozen shrimp and power washers at Costco, but Sarah yearns for the globe-trotting action she witnessed when they first met. She gets her wish when a document posted on Wikileaks purports the involvement of Frank and Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich) in a Cold War operation code-named Nightshade, wherein an experiment nuclear weapon was smuggled into Moscow. Once again, a seedy faction within the CIA wants Frank dead and they've sent their best man, Jack Horton (Neal McDonough), along with Korean assassin Han Cho Bai (Byung-hun Lee) to do the deed. Not to mention the British and the Russians want to get their hands on the device by any means necessary.

Part of the appeal of the Red films is the chance to see A-list actors known for serious fare participating in a lighthearted action movie. Red 2 knows which side its bread is buttered and relies solely on its ensemble. There aren’t many joys in life to match the sight of Helen Mirren wielding a sniper rifle or pouring acid into a bathtub to dispose of a corpse while in ritzy eveningwear. John Malkovich also has fun as the unhinged Marvin Boggs. The ranks are bolstered by veterans Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Edward Bailey, the device’s inventor, who has spent decades locked away in an insane asylum and Catherine Zeta-Jones as a sultry femme fatale. Byung-hun Lee, one of the newer faces to American audiences, gets some great action sequences, including one where he beats up several cops while handcuffed to a glass door. He’s a welcome addition since his co-stars aren’t nearly as nimble.

The script by the Hoebers can hardly muster any sort of surprising twists or substance whatsoever. On the other hand, the picture moves at such a rapid clip that you hardly have the time to lament such things. Title cards utilizing comic book art in Hamner’s style help to remind us that we are watching a cartoon come to life.

Red 2 is absurd and thinly plotted, but it helps that the cast is comprised of actors who can lend weight to such weightless material.

Rating: ** (*****)

Captain America: The First Avenger

Captain America: The First Avenger - Dir. Joe Johnston (2011)

"What makes you so special?"
"Nothing. I'm just a kid from Brooklyn."

If the interpretations of Mayan calendars turn out to be false and the world doesn't end in 2012, fanboys will rejoice as they'll be able to witness the glory of The Avengers, in which Marvel's greatest superheroes join forces for the first time in live-action. Before the premiere comic book team (sorry, Justice League) makes its debut, Marvel Studios must place the pieces into play. They laid the foundation with Iron Man and continued to build upon it with The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2. This summer, Marvel Studios had the daunting task of breathing life into two of their more challenging characters. One was a Norse god with a magical hammer. Thor was successfully realized in an epic fantasy with just the right amount of fish-out-of-water humor. Next up was Captain America, a product of World War II jingoism that leapt from the minds of creators Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

The character made his debut in Captain America Comics #1, published by Marvel (then known as Timely) in March of 1941, a year before Pearl Harbor plunged the United States into WWII . The cover famously depicted Captain America punching Adolf Hitler right in the face. It would be easy to ridicule his unwavering patriotic beliefs, his star-spangled spandex, and a garish code-name. William Klein did just that with the absurdist Mr. Freedom, a biting Cold War satire of American culture. Yet, Captain America: The First Avenger deftly deals with those issues without a hint of cynicism and celebrates the Captain's old fashioned values.

It is 1942 and a 98-pound asthmatic named Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is rejected from enlisting in the Army for the umpteenth time. His best friend, Sgt. James "Bucky" Barnes (Sebastian Stan), tries to console him, but Rogers simply wants to serve his country. He gets his chance when Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) chooses him as part of a clandestine super-soldier program. The project's overseer, Col. Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones) has serious doubts about this human toothpick, but Dr. Erskine believes in him and so does British liaison, Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell). Thanks to Erskine's serum and vita-ray procedure, Rogers is transformed into a buff beefcake with strength, speed, and agility beyond those of normal human beings. Erskine takes the secrets of the process to his grave when a Nazi saboteur (Richard Armitage) murders him immediately following the experiment.

The assassin was sent by Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving), the recipient of an early version of the serum, which gave him super-strength, a crimson cranium, and the nickname of The Red Skull. Schmidt has formed his own splinter group called Hydra, which employs high-tech weaponry powered by the Tesseract (or Cosmic Cube to the comic book fans), a mystical object said to be from Odin's treasury. Knowing Rogers is their only super-soldier; the government hones his identity as a symbol of national pride as he performs in propaganda reels and USO shows. Dressed in a wool costume, the Captain pleads for citizens to buy war bonds while leggy dancers belt out a show tune penned by lyricist David Zippel and Alan Menken, the composer of classic Disney movies like The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. In a clever meta-textual gag, the comic book character becomes a comic book character with issues of Captain America being read by children and servicemen alike. The Captain eventually makes his way to the frontlines where he battles Hydra alongside Bucky and the internationally diverse Howling Commandos.

There has been a glut of comic book films this year and Captain America lies somewhere in the middle of the pack. It's leaps and bounds above The Green Hornet and Green Lantern, but it's not as strong as Thor or X-Men: First Class. Much like Thor, the story is rushed with the filmmakers primarily concerned with setting up The Avengers than crafting a stand-alone picture. Just when you think you've reached the midpoint of Captain America, you're actually at the climax. There's a lot stuffed into this origin story that introduces numerous characters and builds subplots for later movies. Minor spoilers: Captain America is bookended with the discovery and revival of the Star-Spangled Avenger after spending decades in deep freeze. That's a lot to handle for a single two-hour film. So much so that the movie employs three montage sequences to pare down the narrative. But, the strengths of Captain America outweigh its weaknesses.

Director Joe Johnston has bounced back from last year's critically derided Wolfman with an exciting, four-color adventure that recalls the most underrated comic book adaptation, The Rocketeer, which he also directed. Captain America has a vintage quality that the captures the tone of Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Republic movie serials that inspired it. Not much of a surprise as Johnston studied under the tutelage of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg as a special effects artist on Raiders and Star Wars. There is even a sly Indiana Jones reference ("The Fuhrer digs for trinkets in the desert…"). Johnston isn't a strong action director, but the battle sequences in Captain America are exciting, despite an anti-climactic finale. There's a Where Eagles Dare-style raid in the Alps and it's a joy to see Cap slinging his shield. The screenplay was written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (The Chronicles of Narnia) with an uncredited rewrite by Avengers director Joss Whedon. Though it tends to fall on the bloated side, the script has plenty of sharp humor and the kind of wicked one-liners that could have only sprung from the Whedon's mind.

The production design is impeccable. It doesn't attempt to faithfully replicate the period, but replicate an exaggerated Marvel-ized version of the times, which could only be described as Art Deco Retro-Futurism, what people of the past thought the future would look like. The highlight is an early staging of the Stark Expo from Iron Man 2 with a mannequin of the Golden Age Human Torch (one of Marvel's first heroes) on display. This isn't the WWII from Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers, but a PG accounting with Hydra foot soldiers vaporizing their enemies with chrome-plated laser cannons.

Chris Evans takes on his toughest and highest-profile role to date as the title character. Evans is already known to comic book fans as the Human Torch in Fantastic Four and the skateboarding Lucas Lee in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. As Johnny Storm, Evans brought a charismatic flair to the otherwise abysmal Fantastic Four. The same can be said for his role in another comic book adaptation, The Losers. Evans had turned down Captain America multiple times before revealing he was simply afraid of playing the part. It's lucky he changed his mind as Evans is excellent in the role. Not only does he have the All-American good looks to play Captain America, he brings the right amount of gravitas. Using the magic of CGI, Evans begins the film as a scrawny weakling constantly beating up by bullies, but never backing down. He is actually more interesting as Steve Rogers than he is as Cap, partly because the majority of Cap's scenes are action-driven rather than dramatic. The most refreshing trait of the character was the fact that he didn't go through an obligatory character arc. The majority of recent comic book films revolve around an arrogant protagonist who must learn humility and responsibility en route to becoming a bona fide hero. Steve Rogers is honorable and virtuous throughout First Avenger, yet that didn't make him any less compelling. Secondly, Cap doesn't treat his newfound powers as a burden. Thus, he does not go through the clichéd turning point of quitting only to take up the mantle again after ten minutes.

The supporting cast is equally good with even the smallest role performed memorably. Hugo Weaving is villainously over-the-top as Cap's arch-enemy, employing the distinctive inflections of eccentric auteur Werner Herzog to his cartoonish German accent. The make-up is excellent too, making the Red Skull a hideous by-product of Aryan genetic engineering. Toby Jones plays the Red Skull's right-hand man, Arnim Zola. Jones subverts the cliché of the sycophantic henchman by injecting a sense of apprehension in the face of the Skull's overwhelming evil. Tommy Lee Jones essentially does Tommy Lee Jones as the Captain's gruff and grizzled commanding officer. Dominic Cooper also turns in a great performance as Iron Man's father, Howard Stark, a Howard Hughes-esque playboy industrialist.

This isn't Captain America's first film. The character was previously brought to life in a pair of 70's made-for-TV movies with Reb Brown as a motorcycle helmet wearing Captain America. There was also a direct-to-video cheapie with Matt Salinger (son of J.D. Salinger) as rubber-eared Captain America who fought an Italian Red Skull. Captain America: The First Avenger is the version fans have been waiting for.

Rating: *** (*****)

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li - Dir. Andrzej Bartkowiak (2009)


Legend of Chun-Li takes the Batman Begins approach in its realistic reboot of the Street Fighter franchise. Usually in a reboot, you’re supposed to make it better, but the new and improved Street Fighter is actually even worse than the Van Damme vehicle. The previous Street Fighter achieved a transcendent Batman & Robin level of awfulness that it could be enjoyed in a Mystery Science Theater 3000 type of way. There is no joy with this latest installment which gives us the much-needed back story of a video game character.

Smallville’s Kristin Kreuk takes on the titular role of Chun-Li, one of Street Fighter's few female combatants. She is re-envisioned as a piano prodigy trained in wu-shu by her father who is eventually kidnapped by the villainous M. Bison (Neal McDonough). This time around, Bison ditches the red military uniform for a tailor-made business suit. Bison is an Irish orphan left behind to grow up on the streets of Bangkok. Despite living in Thailand nearly all his life, he still has an Irish accent. Or at least, it’s supposed to be an Irish accent. I think Neal McDonough went to the Kevin Costner school of accents to learn it. Chun-Li grows older (and less Asian) until she receives a mysterious scroll that sends her to Thailand in search of a martial arts master named Gen (Robin Shou in yet another video game role). Previously living a pampered life, Chun-Li struggles on the streets until Gen decides she’s ready for the requisite training montage. She gets plenty sweaty and dirty for those of you into that sort of thing. Once that’s over and done with, Chun-Li can work on taking down Bison’s criminal syndicate, Shadowloo.

Don’t look for any appearances from Guile, E. Honda, or Sagat. The only other characters from the video game in the film are Bison’s henchmen, Balrog (Michael Clarke Duncan) and Vega (Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas). There’s also a subplot involving Moon Bloodgood as a Thai detective teaming up with Interpol agent Charlie Nash (Chris Klein).

If not for the titles, nothing in the film screams out, Street Fighter, and not just because we never hear anybody shout, “Shoryuken” or “Tiger Uppercut.” Chun-Li wears a blue dress and puts her hair up in buns for a lesbian nightclub dance scene (don’t ask). She also busts out the Kikouken and a variation of the Spinning Bird Kick as a nod to the game. That’s about it. All the color of the games has been sapped for the adaptation.

For a film called Street Fighter, there isn’t as much fighting as you’d expect. What action there is has been shot as blandly as possible by Bartkowiak whose stellar filmography includes Cradle 2 the Grave, Romeo Must Die, Doom, and Exit Wounds. His streak of crappy films remains unbroken.

Screenwriter Justin Marks has recently become the wunderkind of genre films. He’s been tasked to write the scripts for new versions of He-Man and Voltron as well as the comic book adaptations Hack/Slash and Supermax (starring Green Arrow). Chun-Li is his first produced credit and I can only hope his skills have greatly improved since this sad effort. The film’s worst sin is treating its audience as a bunch of idiots with the attention span of a goldfish. The movie is dotted with narration by Kreuk which helpfully points out all the nuanced, multi-layered motivations and emotional turmoil that we just couldn’t figure out for ourselves.

While nobody expects award-winning acting in a video game movie, special attention MUST be called to the acting of Chris Klein which is so horrendous that it borders on some type of twisted performance art. Klein sports stubble in a tough guy cop role that straddles the thin line of parody, falling somewhere between Sonny Crockett and Nic Cage. Klein’s mind-boggling line readings will likely pop up on YouTube as a video response to Cage’s infamous “Ah, not the bees, not the bees” performance in the ill-advised Wicker Man remake.

Rating: DUD