Wild Card

Wild Card - Dir. Simon West (2015)

There’s a set formula to nearly every Jason Statham action film. The British bruiser generally plays a stoic anti-hero with a rigid code of honor and woe to anyone who attempts to violate his rules. The Transporter, The Mechanic, and Parker are good examples of the prototypical Statham vehicle. One of the rare occasions in which Statham broke from said formula was Steven Knight’s Redemption. Statham did his finest work in the somber tale of a homeless war vet, his romance with a kind-hearted nun, and an investigation into the murder of another transient. Yes, Statham laid serious beatdowns to an assortment of baddies, but the fight scenes weren’t elaborately staged and were always in service of the story.

Wild Card is an unsuccessful attempt to once again give audiences something more than a standard Statham punch-a-thon.

Wild Card is based on the 1985 novel Heat by William Goldman, the legendary scribe behind All the President’s Men, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and The Princess Bride. Heat was previously adapted into a box office flop that starred Burt Reynolds and featured a revolving door of directors including Robert Altman and Dick Richards, who was punched out by Reynolds. Goldman tries his hand once more with Statham in the lead and Simon West (Con Air, The Expendables 2) in the director’s seat.

Statham is Nick Wild and he’s a more credible protagonist than Reynolds as Nick “The Mex” Escalante. Wild makes his home in the underbelly of the Vegas Strip, the parts that are tucked away from the gaudy tourist traps and glamorous suites for high rollers. Wild’s Vegas is a purgatory where ambitious travelers failed to earn the riches necessary to live out their dreams. In Wild’s case, he’s got his eye on Corsica. Unfortunately, he’s also an inveterate gambler who loses any money he earns from assorted odd jobs. Wild’s latest problems involve Holly, a former flame working as a prostitute who is beaten to a pulp by volatile gangster Danny DeMarco (Milo Ventimiglia). When Wild helps Holly exact revenge on DeMarco, it leads to problem after problem.

Wild Card won’t be highlighted anytime soon by the Las Vegas board of tourism. This is a film far from the glitzy hotels with gloomy skies and lonely nights. The supporting cast is layered with noted actors like Jason Alexander, Stanley Tucci, Anne Heche, and Sofia Vergera. These are mostly glorified cameos and it’s almost disappointing to see someone of the caliber of Hope Davis appear in a handful of scenes as a blackjack dealer. In fact, the women in Wild Card are all waitresses, hookers, and the like. On the other hand, these casting coups accentuate this version of Vegas as a depressing way station where someone can easily lose himself or herself.

This is an intriguing premise to find Jason Statham. Unfortunately, none of the filmmakers felt truly invested in making Wild Card a Sartre-esque tale of existential entrapment. Moments of melancholy are brief as the movie breaks out into a bar room brawl. Wild Card features two significant fight scenes, neither of which are particularly memorable in spite of choreography by Corey Yuen.

Wild Card was quickly shuffled off into obscurity following a limited theatrical run. This is a film confused about its own existence. It’s one that’s not quite a drama and not quite an action flick. Recommended only for die-hard Statham-ites.

Rating: ** (*****)

Vice

Vice - Dir. Bryan A. Miller (2015)

Bruce Willis has a pretty good track record when it comes to science fiction. 12 Monkeys, The Fifth Element, and Looper have all been great films, but 2009's Surrogates was instantly forgettable. Vice won't exactly be a bright spot on Willis's resume or anyone else's. This is direct-to-video dreck that remorselessly rips off Westworld and Blade Runner. There's a little bit of Total Recall in here too and the filmmakers surely would have cribbed more from Philip K. Dick had they added an extra zero to the budget.

The former Moonlighting star plays Julian Michaels, the impresario behind Vice, an exclusive resort where the high-paying clientele whatever debauchery they desire. Thanks to the latest advances in robotics and genetic engineering, Vice is staffed by "residents," life-like androids implanted with false memories, but real emotions. They can bleed and feel pain in order to make the experience more realistic should someone choose to live out their most violent fantasies. That's where maverick police detective Roy Todesky (Thomas Jane) comes in. Todesky believes that Vice only fans the flames of depravity. The lines between reality and fiction are blurred and visitors of Vice start getting freaky in the real world.

Kelly (Ambyr Childers) is a resident programmed to be a bartender when she's gunned down by a visitor. While undergoing a routine memory reset, Kelly becomes self-aware as she relives every one of her deaths. After Kelly escapes from the facility, Michaels orders his forces to capture her before everything he's built begins to unravel.

Vice posits the age-old hypothesis over how violent media (specifically video games) affect someone's ability to distinguish between reality and fiction. The Vice resort is essentially a live-action version of Grand Theft Auto, an open world game that encourages players to commit all manner of crimes. If you were expecting any sort of intelligent discussion on the subject in Vice, then prepare for disappointment. This film is way more concerned with gunfights and explosions. Besides, the issue was already raised in Neveldine/Taylor's Gamer. When the guys who made the Crank films do a more subtle job with social commentary, you know you're in trouble.

The script by Andre Fabrizio and Jeremy Passmore (San Andreas) is bogged down by leaden exposition while consistently taking the least interesting path forward. Despite her male co-stars receiving top billing, Ambyr Childers is actually the protagonist of the picture, except she spends much of the movie as a damsel in distress or the recipient of overlong explanations. When Kelly receives a Matrix-style upgrade and you anticipate she'll finally jump in on the action, she throws a couple punches and that's it. Also, if you're hoping for an ultimate showdown between John McClane and The Punisher, prepare for another disappointment. Willis can barely muster an iota of energy for his role to the point he's practically narcoleptic. Jane, at least, seems to realize the B-grade material he's taken part in and hams it up accordingly.

Vice is the type of film where someone can deliver a line like, "You're 'this' close to losing your badge," without a hint of irony. It's a derivative chore and one would be better served watching the movies Vice rips off rather than the movie itself.

Rating: * (*****)

Dracula Untold

Dracula Untold - Dir. Gary Shore (2014)

"Sometimes the world no longer needs a hero, it needs a monster."

Origin stories and reboots are all the rage in Hollywood. A shared cinematic universe has become the latest trend ever since Marvel Studios shattered box office records with the creation of their one that mimics the comic book source material. It's not surprising that movie producers would want to jump on the Marvel bandwagon. They essentially combined multiple franchises into one uber-franchise. This leads us into Universal's latest attempt to revive their classic monsters, which were hugely successful back in the 30's and 40's. The idea of bringing Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the Invisible Man, the Mummy, and all the others together in a clash of the macabre certainly sounds amazing on paper. However, Universal hasn't exactly had the best of luck in bringing these characters to the modern era. The last time Universal teamed their monsters together was Van Helsing, which doesn't inspire a tremendous amount of confidence.

Dracula Untold mixes history with fiction in a story set long before the events of Bram Stoker's famed novel. Vlad Tepes (Luke Evans) is the prince of Wallachia in the region of what is now known as Romania. As a boy, Vlad was conscripted into the Ottoman Empire and trained as a ruthless soldier under the Turkish sultan. He slaughtered thousands, including women and children, to earn the nickname Vlad the Impaler due to his brutal method of dispatching victims.

Vlad has since left that life behind him to rule his land in peace with his wife, Mirena, and son, Ingeras (Art Parkinson). However, tranquility is not in the cards when the Turks and the sultan Mehmed II (Dominic Cooper), once Vlad's adopted brother, come stomping into Wallachia. The Sultan demands 1000 boys to be handed over to the Ottoman Empire along with Ingeras. Left with an impossible choice, sacrifice their sons or refuse and be slaughtered by a vastly superior army, Vlad seeks desperate help from a Master Vampire (Charles Dance) who dwells in a cave atop Broken Tooth Mountain.

Dracula Untold has an uphill battle remaking Dracula into a tragic hero. Let's face it, if a guy impales so many people that he becomes known as the Impaler, he might not be sympathetic. Screenwriters Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless (the upcoming Gods of Egypt) conveniently gloss over this minor detail to craft Vlad into a brooding avenger in the mold of Batman. The bat analogy is apropos Vlad is able to transform into a flock of the nocturnal creatures as he tears through dozens of his enemies. Unfortunately, most of the film's action sequences occur at night and most of the set pieces are lost in the darkness. Not that we're missing much, a bloodless, PG-13 vampire flick isn't much fun and first-time director Gary Shore doesn't bring a lot of style to the proceedings.

Luke Evans has tremendous shoes to fill when it comes to inheriting the role of Count Dracula. There's Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee, Gary Oldman, and even Frank Langella. Evans is certainly suited for this version of Dracula the tortured, action hero though he never quite goes for the jugular. Current Cronenberg muse Sarah Gadon takes on the thankless role of Dracula's wife, whose transparent role is to spur her husband onto his path of vengeance with her death. Dominic Cooper doesn't convince as the power-hungry Mehmed. On the other hand, producers shamelessly cater to the Game of Thrones crowd with the additions of Art Parkinson, Paul Kaye, and a scene-chewing Charles Dance.

Drinking the creature's blood, Vlad will be given the powers of a vampire for three days. Should he stave off his thirst for human blood, his humanity will be restored. However, if he were to give in, then he would be cursed to live forever as a vampire.

Dracula Untold is a muddled mixture of horror, fantasy, and action while trying to take a Christopher Nolan approach to revamp (no pun intended) an iconic character. The film's final coda is a clumsy effort to set the stage for further franchises ala The Avengers. In the end, "Dracula Untold" was a tale not worth telling in the first place.

Rating: ** (*****)

Lucy

Lucy - Dir. Luc Besson (2014)

Say what you will about Luc Besson, but he's one of the few filmmakers who has regularly showcased strong female protagonists. From a waifish Natalie Portman in The Professional to Anne Paurillaud's street urchin turned assassin in La Femme Nikita to the genetically superior Leeloo in The Fifth Element, Besson has a strong track record even if he's become a one man factory churning out cinematic junk food. His latest work stars Scarlett Johansson, who has become a bankable action heroine thanks to her portrayal of Marvel's Black Widow. Interestingly enough, Marvel has yet to capitalize on her popularity by giving the Widow her own solo picture. Other studios aren't as hesitant, DreamWorks has snatched ScarJo up to headline their live-action remake of Ghost in the Shell while the box office success of Lucy further cemented her star status.

Besson has so much fun with the concept of Lucy that it doesn't matter to him in the slightest that it's built on a complete fallacy. His screenplay hinges entirely on the myth that human beings only use ten percent of their brain. Ten percent is about all you need to enjoy this one.

Johansson is the eponymous Lucy, a gorgeous American studying abroad in Taipei, Taiwan. Her sleazy boyfriend ropes her into delivering a suitcase to a Korean gangster by the name of Mr. Jang (Choi Min-sik). Next thing you know, the boyfriend is dead and Lucy is forced to become a drug mule. The suitcase contained pouches of an experimental drug called CPH4, one of which is sewn into her stomach. If that weren't enough, a particularly volatile henchman repeatedly kicks Lucy in the gut causing the drugs to leak into her body.

Rather than overdose, Lucy gains increased intelligence and enhanced reflexes, which allow her to quickly dispatch her captors. As she accesses more of her higher brain functions, Lucy gains further abilities including telekinesis, telepathy, and the power to travel through time and space. She has no qualms in shooting a surgery patient because he wouldn't have survived anyway. Lucy also needs to inject the rest of the CPH4 as her body begins to lose molecular cohesion.

Considering how ludicrous Lucy gets, it makes absolute sense for Besson to cast Morgan Freeman as Professor Exposition. Okay, his character's actual name is Samuel Norman, but his sole purpose of being is to explain Besson's shaky science with some semblance of credibility. Sometimes that means positing the theory that dolphins access more of their brains to gain the ability of sonar. Also along for the ride is Amr Waked as a French police officer assisting Lucy in rounding up the drug dealers. There's not much to his character though it's cool to note Waked got the call from Besson while he was hip deep in the Egyptian protests of 2013. The ethnically diverse ensemble is complete by the always entertaining Choi Min-sik, best known for his intense performance in Park Chan-wook's Oldboy.

The role of Lucy suits Johansson well and it's one that is a wild departure from her more critically acclaimed turn in Under the Skin. Although both are steeped in science fiction, Under the Skin is about an alien trying to understand humanity while Lucy is about a woman slowly losing her humanity as she evolves. Besson helpfully keeps track of Lucy's power with intermittent percentages. Perhaps, an energy meter out of a Nintendo game would have been more visually interesting. Either way, the film drops any dramatic tension as Lucy edges closer to omnipotence. When she can render a roomful of men unconscious with a wave of her hand, what danger do a bunch of mobsters with machine guns pose?

Bonkers is the best way to describe Lucy, a movie that goes from shootouts and car chases to a wacky amalgamation of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Akira. Throw in a healthy dose of Luc Besson's pseudo-philosophy an hour and a half of dumb, Euro-trash fun.

Rating: ** ½ (*****)

The Guest

The Guest - Dir. Adam Wingard (2014)

Director Adam Wingard has been making a name for himself on the horror scene with segments in the anthology films V/H/S and V/H/S/2. However, it was You're Next, a unique take on the home invasion thriller, that earned Wingard rave reviews. The majority of critics responded positively to its mixture of scares, dark humor, and over-the-top kills.

Wingard is back with The Guest, another genre bending film that's part-action, part-thriller, and an homage to the cult classics of the 1980's. The movie announces its intentions right off the bat with a synth-pop soundtrack (tunes by Sisters of Mercy, Front 242 & Clan of Xymox) and an opening title font straight out of a John Carpenter picture.

The Guest opens with a lone figure jogging in the middle of nowhere. This is David (Dan Stevens), a soldier recently released from a military hospital after serving in Afghanistan. He is paying respect to the family of Caleb Peterson, a deceased comrade from his tour in the Middle East. Before Caleb died, he made David promise to check in on his family. Although Anna (Maika Monroe) is a bit wary, the rest of the Peterson clan is more than welcoming to the handsome and humble young man. David becomes a surrogate son to Mrs. Peterson (Sheila Kelley), a drinking buddy to Mr. Peterson (Leland Orser), and a protector to little brother Luke (Brendan Meyer). When he sees Luke has been bullied, David quickly dispatches the tormentors with Jason Bourne-style efficiency.

In spite of David's good looks and quiet charm, Anna remains suspicious, especially when details from his back story don't check out. Then, there's the private security firm who are alerted when Anna pokes around too closely.

The Guest posits a scenario where the Terminator and Michael Myers aren't inhuman monsters, but an exceedingly handsome Adonis with a sympathetic story. The Petersons don't think twice about letting in someone with his All-American good looks into their home. Ironic since Dan Stevens is British. For those only familiar with Stevens as the pale and gaunt Matthew Crawley on Downton Abbey, his appearance in The Guest will be quite the surprise. Just as it is to Anna when a buff and toned David emerges from a steamy bathroom with only a towel wrapped around his waist. He's Captain America from the dark side. There's a sinister aura to David, but you don't want it to be true. He beats up bullies, dispenses sage advice, and provides Mrs. Peterson a shoulder to cry on. Surely, he's the hero of the film.

Wingard starts things off with a slow burn until the third act when the story goes completely off the rails and becomes an old school action flick. In fact, Wingard and screenwriter Simon Barrett toyed with the idea of including the Cannon Group logo much like Tarantino attaching the Shaw Brothers' logo to Kill Bill. The plot twists in The Guest are the type of absurd contrivances that might have popped up in the works of schlockmeisters such as Albert Pyun or Renny Harlin. The final act only gets better with the addition of Lance Reddick as a hardass military officer on the hunt for David.

This is when Wingard takes a page from the John Woo playbook as armed men storm the Peterson home. The troops unload their machine guns without ever reloading while Reddick's long, flowing trenchcoat ruffles against the wind in slow motion. David even draws a pair of automatic handguns as he's framed by laundry blowing back and forth. You half expect a flock of doves to glide into frame. Wingard puts a cherry on top with a climax set inside a hall of mirrors ala Lady from Shanghai and Enter the Dragon.

The Guest might stretch the boundaries of believability, but damned if it isn't a good time. Wingard has crafted an enjoyable blend of black comedy, action, and horror.

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

The Equalizer

The Equalizer – Dir. Antoine Fuqua (2014)

It's been well over a decade since director Antoine Fuqua and Denzel Washington first collaborated on Training Day, a movie that earned the latter an Academy Award for Best Actor. While Washington has been churning out a combination of action and drama, Fuqua's output hasn't been quite as fruitful. He's helmed a couple of arguably decent action flicks (Shooter, Olympus Has Fallen) and some forgettable fare (King Arthur, Brooklyn's Finest). Now, the pair has teamed up for the second time for a film that is most definitely not Training Day.

The Equalizer is based on the 80's television series about Robert McCall (originally played by Edward Woodward), a former CIA agent, who became a freelance troubleshooter for anyone in need. Think of him as a one man A-Team. Washington easily steps into the role with McCall's background much more mysterious this time around. What we do know is that he's retired from his former life and now living in a Spartan, one bedroom Boston apartment. He's the manager at a Home Mart (a Home Depot-esque megastore) and offers kindly advice to those around him. He spends many sleepless nights drinking tea and reading all those novels people tell you to read at a 24hr diner straight out of Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks." There, McCall befriends a young girl named Alina (Chloe Grace Moretz) who is forced to work as a prostitute for particularly nasty Russian gangsters.

McCall quickly dispatches with the villains after Alina is nearly beaten into a coma. Too late does he find out that they weren't lowly pimps, but integral cogs in the east coast arm of the Russian Mafia. The powerful head of the organization, Mr. Pushkin (Vladimir Kulich), sends in his chief enforcer Teddy (Marton Csokas) to clean up the mess. Meanwhile, McCall keeps himself busy dealing with a stick-up man and two dirty cops.

The Equalizer isn't about shattering genre conventions, but wallowing in them in the best possible manner. This is the type of movie where cargo ships and oil tankers explode as Denzel calmly walks away without ever looking back. He dispatches bad guys quickly and efficiently with the fighting style we've seen plenty of times in the Taken and Bourne films. In a nice touch, McCall generally uses whatever is handy to kill his enemies. This is especially spotlighted during the climax inside the Home Mart, which plays out like an R-rated version of Home Alone.

While the action is fun, there's no flair to it. Fuqua's direction is surprisingly pedestrian. Even the sequences where McCall goes into Equalizer-vision, slowing things down and assessing the situation, were done far better by Guy Ritchie in Sherlock Holmes. Only occasionally do the visuals pop, such as when Fuqua references Rear Window in a scene where Teddy claims another victim. The screenplay by Richard Wenk (The Mechanic, The Expendables 2) doesn't grasp the concept of subtext. The novels McCall reads, like The Old Man and the Sea and Don Quixote, serve as obvious commentary for the various acts of The Equalizer.

At 59, Denzel doesn't look his age at all. Along with Liam Neeson, he's got the presence and instant credibility to serve as an action hero. Here, Denzel dials it down and underplays the role to enhance the character's cool demeanor and ordered lifestyle. It's a stark contrast to Marton Csokas playing it as an old school, menacing Bond villain with tattoos of devils across his torso. Melissa Leo and Bill Pullman are a welcome sight as they pop in quickly as McCall's former CIA handlers. There's definitely a Taxi Driver element to the friendship between McCall and Alina, but Chloe Moretz disappears for a majority of the movie when it decides death and destruction are more interesting.

The Equalizer is a perfectly acceptable compliment to similar action movies such as Man on Fire, Taken, and Jack Reacher. The basic elements are enjoyable enough to forget that Fuqua and Denzel do little to transcend clichés.

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

The Purge: Anarchy

The Purge: Anarchy – Dir. James DeMonaco (2014)

The Purge was one of the surprise hits of 2013. Produced on a meager budget of $3 million, it went on to rake in over $89 million worldwide. The general consensus from critics was that the film had an interesting premise that was never fully realized.

In the near future, United States has been restored by the New Founding Fathers of America, who have instituted the annual Purge. For 12 hours out of the year, all crime, including murder, is legal. The NFFA expound the virtues of the Purge for lowering crime rates, unemployment, and poverty. Of course, they fail to mention that the poor are easy prey while the wealthy remain safe and sound in their mansions. The first film established the parameters of its high concept with Ethan Hawke as the patriarch of an upper middle-class family with a high-tech security system under siege when they give sanctuary to an injured stranger.

The Purge: Anarchy expands upon the world beyond the walls of a single suburban home and into the streets of Downtown Los Angeles. It shows just how everyone participates in the Purge, or at least, tries to survive it. The homeless hunker down in the subway tunnels praying no one finds them. The elite one-percent don't even leave their homes to purge, not when they can simply order take out. Human beings are delivered directly to them to be hacked to bits by machete. Or they're rounded up and hunted in an arena like a homicidal version of lasertag. Meanwhile, a fiery revolutionary named Carmelo Johns (Michael K. Williams) hacks into broadcast signals to spread his message of bringing down the New Founding Fathers.

For Eva Sanchez (Carmen Ejogo) and her daughter Cali (Zoe Soul), the Purge means they board up the windows and hide in their apartment until the night is over. Shane and Liz (played by real-life married couple Zach Gilford & Kiele Sanchez) are more concerned about how to tell their family that they are breaking up. However, a creepy gang of masked thugs have cut their fuel line leaving them stranded in the city just before the Purge commences. Sgt. Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo) is fully prepared for the Purge. He's bulletproofed his muscle car and loaded it with a stockpile of weapons. The Sarge is on a mission of revenge against a man who killed his son in a drunken driving accident.

Their paths cross when a government-sponsored death squad busts into an apartment complex and drags Eva and Cali onto the streets for execution. Turns out, people aren't killing the lower classes in large enough quantities so the NFFA have sent out their own squads equipped with body armor, automatic weapons, and surveillance equipment tapped into the city's traffic cameras. Sarge becomes the reluctant protector for this frightened quartet

Writer/Director James DeMonaco is clearly influenced by the works of John Carpenter with The Purge owing a debt to Assault on Precinct 13. Not surprising since DeMonaco penned the script for the 2005 remake. Anarchy is reminiscent of Escape From New York as well as The Warriors. Don't worry, there's no need to see the first film to understand the sequel. Edwin Hodge, who played the stranger, is the only returning cast member.

DeMonaco gets to play with triple the budget of the previous movie though that's still barely a drop in the hat compared to big Hollywood blockbusters. Yet, Anarchy looks impressively slick with DeMonaco setting the mood with several slick aerial shots of the city at night. And there's a lot of other cool imagery to compliment them, such as a pair of 18-wheelers roaming the empty highways for unsuspecting targets. A woman, armed with a machine gun and a bullhorn, expounds the wrath of god as she picks off random passersby. At one point, the protagonists drive by a dazed girl covered in blood and looking just like Carrie. One character jokes, "Maybe he deserved it," when he sees a stock broker strung up in the banking district. By the way, the banks have moved their money to undisclosed locations in preparation for the Purge.

Beneath the visuals is a story that lacks any nuance. DeMonaco hammers home his message with the subtlety of the Gatling gun used by the main antagonist. The rich and powerful are preening Caucasians dressed in tuxedos or prep school uniforms while the resistance fighters are obvious allusions to the Black Panthers. Shane and Liz are the least interesting of the protagonists, mostly there to state the obvious when they aren't serving as the bickering Bickersons. At least Eva and Cali grow beyond their designation as damsels in distress. Frank Grillo really is the anchor of Anarchy. As the Sarge, he's Charles Bronson, Kurt Russell, and the Punisher all rolled into one. It's a shame he wasn't able to take the lead in Joe Carnahan's proposed remake of Death Wish, Grillo is a throwback to the action heroes of gritty 70's era action flicks.

The Purge: Anarchy is a marked improvement over its predecessor. This is a lean, mean action movie harkens back to the exploitation genre of the 1970's.

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

Sabotage

Sabotage - Dir. David Ayer (2014)

Arnold Schwarzenegger hasn't exactly had the best of luck since making his return to feature films. His starring roles in The Last Stand and Escape Plan didn't light up the box office. In fact, Last Stand seemed to disappear from theaters almost as soon as it arrived. That's a shame because it was a fun, little action movie, which is more than could be said for Sabotage, an ensemble piece from director David Ayer. Ayer has been known for shining a gritty spotlight on law enforcement with films like Training Day, Harsh Times, Street Kings, and End of Watch. This time, he turns his attention from the LAPD to the Drug Enforcement Agency.

Arnold stars as John "Breacher" Wharton, a head of an elite team of DEA agents. Wharton became known for bringing down the infamous leader of a Mexican drug cartel. However, in revenge, the cartel had Breacher's wife and son tortured to death. Breacher's team consists of a bunch of foul-mouthed, hard-drinking agents with nicknames that make them sound like G.I. Joes. There's Smoke (Mark Schlegel), Tripod (Kevin Vance), Pyro (Max Martini), Sugar (Terrence Howard), Grinder (Joe Manganiello), Neck (Josh Holloway), Monster (Sam Worthington), and his wife Lizzy (Mireille Enos).

During a raid on a cartel safe house, Breacher and his team steal $10 million and stash it down a sewer pipe. But, when they come back for it, the cash is gone. The unit spends the next several months on the sidelines while under investigation. Just as they are reinstated, someone begins murdering the agents one by one in gruesome manner. Is the cartel looking for revenge or is the killer someone within?

Arnold should be commended for stepping slightly out of his comfort zone. He's not the invincible hero we've seen him play countless times before. There's weariness to his character, one who is burdened by his almost mythical reputation, which could be seen as a meta-comment on his real life. The rippling muscles are gone, but the size and bulk are still there as Arnold resembles a weathered human bulldozer. Breacher is the darkest character Arnold has played and he's in perfect company. None of the protagonists are very sympathetic. In fact, they're all scumbags. They drink, curse, and don't seem to value life. Thus, we're hardly invested in the half-hearted, Agatha Christie murder mystery at the heart of the film.

The screenplay by Ayer and Skip Woods (who brought us Swordfish and A Good Day To Die Hard) seems more preoccupied with gruesome deaths than with creating any compelling characters. We see a man nailed to the ceiling with guts and blood spilled all over the floor, but no logical explanation as to how the killer got from point A to point B. A climactic car chase is nothing short of gratuitous when it turns into a scene from Grand Theft Auto as innocent bystanders are splattered across a windshield. The movie was previously titled Breacher and Ten, but the studio eventually settled on the generic sounding Sabotage, despite there being no examples of actual sabotage in the story.

Actors like Harold Perrineau and Josh Holloway are in so few scenes that you wonder why they bothered to show up at all. Sam Worthington has fallen far from Pandora. Not only is he barely in the movie, he's also barely recognizable with his shaved head and braided goatee. He and co-star Joe Manganiello look like they were trying out for Sons of Anarchy and took a wrong turn. The best performance in Sabotage belongs to Mireille Enos whose Lizzy is a hot mess, drug-addled due to her extensive undercover work. She's the sole woman on the team and plays it fierce as a way to overcompensate amidst the ocean of testosterone. She's hardly a glowing example of a strong female character and neither is Olivia Williams as an FBI agent assigned to the murders. Her character leaps into bed with Breacher in a wholly superfluous scene. Williams is a fine British actress, but her attempts at a Southern drawl yield embarrassing results.

Even the most ardent aficionado of Arnold actioners will have a hard time finding anything redeeming in Sabotage.

Rating: * (*****)

The Expendables 3

The Expendables 3 - Dir. Patrick Hughes (2014)

Menahem Golan passed away on August 8^th at the age of 85. Most of you might not know his name, but you definitely know his work. Golan directed The Delta Force with Chuck Norris and Over the Top with Sylvester Stallone. Golan was better known as a prolific producer who took over Cannon Films in 1979 with his cousin Yoram Globus. Together, they churned out  movies like Missing in Action, Death Wish II through Death Wish 4, American Ninja, Masters of the Universe, and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Sure, they weren't classics, but their output became synonymous with the 80's action era.

Stallone has found a way to keep that genre on life support with The Expendables series. Each film sees Stallone assemble an all-star cast of action heroes for two hours of explosions, mayhem, and bloodshed. These movies are heavy on testosterone, but the scripts are light on plot, characterization, and wit. Still, the franchise has kept afloat as we now get set for The Expendables 3.

Barney Ross (Stallone) and his team of Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Hale Caesar (Terry Crews), Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), and Toll Road (Randy Couture) are dropped into some anonymous Eastern European country. In a wild opener, the team rescues Doctor Death (Wesley Snipes), a founding member of the Expendables who has been imprisoned for years after a failed assassination attempt. Doc proceeds to hijack a transport train and crash it into the prison, likely killing hundreds of guards and inmates, just to get revenge on the sadistic warden. There's no rest for the wicked as Ross and company are tasked with taking out a notorious arms dealer, who is revealed to be Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson), another founding member. Stonebanks was seemingly killed by Ross after turning to the dark side.

The Expendables barely escape with Hale Caesar suffering life threatening injuries. Not wanting to see anymore of his comrades dead, Ross puts together an all-new team with of fresh faces. Meet Smilee (Kellan Lutz), Mars (Victor Ortiz), Thorn (Glen Powell), and Luna (Ronda Rousey).

The Expendables has largely traded on nostalgia. In particular, the sequel featured the novelty of Jean-Claude Van Damme as a Euro-trash villain and the trifecta of Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Stallone sharing the screen and mowing down wave after wave of faceless henchmen. Sadly, Expendables 3 seems to have forgotten about the elements that make the whole endeavor work. Yes, Stallone has added several notable names to the roster, but they aren't expected stars like Steven Seagal or Jackie Chan. Wesley Snipes makes his return to the screen and he's clearly enjoying the opportunity. There's a meta-moment when Snipes jokes that he was serving time for tax evasion. He's got great charisma as does Antonio Banderas as the loquacious Galgo, who is overly eager to join up with the Expendables.

When Willis split over a disagreement in pay, Harrison Ford stepped in as the new CIA handler Max Drummer. Ford is at crotchety level 11, growling and snarling every piece of dialogue. However, he's still Harrison Ford and the best one-liners they can come up with is, "That's gotta hurt." Chalk that up to a screenplay by Stallone and the team of Creighton Rothenberger & Katrin Benedikt, who also penned Olympus Has Fallen. Mel Gibson finds himself in the same boat. He chews the scenery whenever he gets the chance as the villain, who's not as cartoonish as Luther Voz in Machete Kills.

One nice surprise is Kelsey Grammer, an actor not exactly known for action roles. But, it's been the summer of Frasier with Grammer also appearing in X-Men: Days of Future Past and Transformers: Age of Extinction. Grammer plays Bonaparte, a facilitator that assists Ross in recruiting young blood.

Therein lays the primary problem with The Expendables 3. People came to see the big stars, not a bunch of newbies. Expendables: The Next Generation barely has the chance to develop any sort of personality other than one is a tech expert and one is a woman. Speaking of which, UFC's Ronda Rousey is a welcome change for this overwhelming sausage party, but she gives wooden line readings for the few bits of dialogue she's given. Stick with punching dudes in the face. Kellan Lutz plays a down-and-out soldier with an anti-authority issue, which never gets brought up again. The whole idea of bringing them in makes no sense. Barney Ross doesn't want his friends to die, but has no problem getting people he just met killed? And the more time we spend with them, the less we do with actors that are actually interesting.

After the slam-bang prologue, the movie lulls into a slumber as it introduces the new characters and puts them into danger so the old guard can come to their rescue. At over 2 hours long, the third installment is the lengthiest off the trilogy and there was just no need for those additional twenty minutes. The movie doesn’t pick up until the third act when Expendables of all ages join forces to battle Stonebanks and the entire army of a fictional Slavic country. Since this is PG-13, limbs aren't chopped off and human bodies aren't blown to bits. Just because Expendables 3 isn't R-rated, doesn't meant the body count has lessened. Hundreds of soldiers are gunned down, blown up by grenades, or impaled by throwing knives. Almost everyone gets their own moment to shine, from Rousey using MMA moves to snap limbs to Lutz pulling a Steve McQueen by jumping a motorcycle. Ford busts out his piloting skills by flying a chopper into the combat zone with Arnold and Jet Li riding shotgun. By the way, Jet Li pops up for about five minutes and all he does is fire a machine gun, despite being one of the greatest martial arts stars in movie history. And while Arnold doesn't bust out another "I'll be back," he does reprise his famous line from Predator, "Get to da choppa!"

Stallone and Schwarzenegger share a quiet scene in which the two contemplate retiring from the gun-for-hire business. You could also take it as commentary on their acting careers. Neither man has lit up the box office the way they did back in the 80's. They aren't slow down either with Stallone set for Rambo V and Arnold working on Terminator: Genesys and Legend of Conan. They might not be ready to hang up their combat boots, but maybe it's time to put The Expendables out to pasture if this is the best they can do.

Rating: * ½ (*****)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Dir. Jonathan Liebesman (2014)

Heroes in a half shell…turtle power!

Thirty years ago, two down on their luck artists named Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman when one of them drew an anthropomorphized turtle holding martial arts weapons. That idea grew into a black and white comic book titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The issue was a parody of the top selling series of the time, Daredevil, X-Men, and Teen Titans, which featured ninjas, mutants, and teenagers. The tone of the comic aped the grim and gritty style of the 1980's. It was violent with the Turtles killing their enemies and their chief adversary, Shredder, was stabbed, tossed off a roof, and blown up by a grenade. Surprisingly, somebody thought this was a great property for kids. The Turtles were licensed to Playmates who turned them into the catchphrase spewing, pizza munching stars of a family friendly cartoon. They became a merchandising juggernaut and over the next two decades were featured in three live-action films, a CG animated movie, and a myriad of cartoons and comics.

The Turtles are gracing the silver screen once more courtesy of Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes. Yes, the same Michael Bay who assaulted your senses with four mind-numbing Transformers pictures. Bay isn't sitting behind the camera this time around as he's turned the directorial reins over to Jonathan Liebesman, who previously helmed Battle: Los Angeles and Wrath of the Titans. Not that it matters, Bay's fingerprints are all over Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as evidenced by the lowbrow humor, nonsensical action sequences, and blatant product placement. Sure, Pizza Hut was expected, but did we truly need a massive billboard for Project Almanac, another Platinum Dunes production?

Megan Fox, who made tabloid headlines by badmouthing Bay, has evidently kissed and made up as she takes on the role of April O'Neil, intrepid reporter for Channel 6 News. April and her love struck cameraman Vernon Fenwick (Will Arnett) are stuck covering fluff pieces while New York City is terrorized by a criminal organization known as the Foot Clan. A group of mysterious vigilantes have been fighting back to protect the citizens of the Big Apple. April discovers these heroes are super-strong, humanoid turtles who have learned ninjitsu from their rat master Splinter (Danny Woodburn, voiced by Tony Shalhoub). These Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles just happen to have surprising ties to her own past.

Splinter and the Turtles were lab animals for an experiment conducted by April's late-father and Eric Sacks (William Fichtner), who were using a mutagen with the potential to cure all disease. Now, Sacks is in league with the Foot and their shadowy leader, The Shredder (Tohoru Masamune), to unleash a biological weapon on the city in order to sell a cure derived from the Turtles' blood. At least, I think that was the grand scheme, considering it's basically the same one already seen in The Amazing Spider-Man and the last two Transformers. Bad guy attaches device to the top of a skyscraper, stuff explodes, and the good guys dangle precariously as the building topples. The script by Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec (with rewrites by Evan Daughterty) doesn't bother to elaborate.

Franchise devotees were in an uproar when rumors emerged that the Ninja Turtles were going to be of extraterrestrial origins. Thankfully, that plot twist was tossed away. And while the Turtles' origin is slightly more convoluted than necessary it remains true to the TMNT mythology. Contrary to early script leaks and interviews, William Fichtner's Eric Sacks is not Shredder, who remains a formidable foe of Japanese descent. However, it wouldn't be surprising to learn these were last-minute changes to alleviate fan criticism. If nothing else, Eric Sacks is clearly an anglicized variation of Shredder's real name Oroku Saki. Really the actor playing Shredder is inconsequential as the character spends the majority of the movie as a digital effect. He resembles a rejected design of Drift, the samurai caricature from Transformers: Age of Extinction, with Ginsu knives coming out of his hands. The Turtles themselves are re-imagined in a more realistic manner, a complete 180 from the cartoonish suits made by the Jim Henson Company for the original movies.

Ninja Turtles attempts to tread a thin line between realism and cartoony. The filmmakers want a grounded approach ala Christopher Nolan. Hence, you get Turtles that are less adorable and the Foot as paramilitary troops instead of purple-clad ninjas. However, there's no denying the inherent silliness of the concept, especially when you watch a giant talking turtle riding around on a rocket-powered skateboard. The writers seem to have no problem poking fun at the characters and offer a semi-apology when Michelangelo shouts "Cowabunga." At the same time, there's the incessant desire to explain every recognizable Turtle trait as if we absolutely needed to know why the Turtles love pizza or how the Turtles became martial arts masters. Apparently, Splinter simply found a tattered instructional guide. It's the Ratatouille philosophy, anyone can be a ninja. On the other hand, they avoid trying to explain how a turtle living in the sewers could build high-tech devices with holographic displays.

A lot of thought must have gone in to weaving the Ninja Turtles' backstory, but a miniscule amount of effort was given to create three dimensional personalities for the characters. If you remember the original cartoon theme song, you'll know exactly who each Turtle is. Leonardo (Pete Ploszek, voice by Johnny Knoxville) is the leader, Donatello (Jeremy Howard) is the computer expert, Raphael (Alan Ritchson) is the hothead, and Michelangelo (Noel Fisher) is a party dude. By the way, Donatello isn't just a nerd; he's the 21^st century archetype who speaks like Jesse Eisenberg and wears thick glasses. Evidently, mutagen can give you super-strength and enhanced intelligence, but not 20/20 vision.

There are times when the Turtles fade into the background in favor of April's story, much like how the Autobots were bit players in the annoying life of Shia LeBeouf. For her part, Megan Fox isn't bad, she's just wooden and most of the time she's only called upon to stare with wide-eyed puzzlement. It's no spoiler to say that William Fichtner is revealed to be a villain because you don't cast William Fichtner to play a kind-hearted philanthropist. Whoopi Goldberg pops up as April's boss Bernadette Thompson while Abby Elliot appears in two droll scenes as April's roommate. Long-time fans might be pleased at the inclusion of Minae Noji as Karai, a character who has been depicted in some incarnations as Shredder's daughter.

If you thought Will Arnett would bring the funny, think about as the majority of his humor falls flat. Most of the film's gags revolve around how everyone, man or turtle, lusts after Megan Fox. Throw in a fart joke and a few tired references to internet cat memes and Lost and you’ve got yourself Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The only genuine moment of amusement comes from a scene when the Turtles ride an elevator to their showdown with Shredder. Michelangelo beatboxes as his Turtle brothers as percussive instruments as if they were auditioning for Stomp.

The action sequences are actually fun with the centerpiece being a wild chase down a snow-covered mountain. The humans hang on for dear life inside an out-of-control 18-wheeler while the Turtles use their shells as sleds and offensive weapons, turning themselves into living cannonballs. When Splinter leaps into the fray, it's reminiscent of Yoda finally cutting loose in Attack of the Clones.

Early on, the film hints at the mutagen may have come from outer space in a foreshadowing of Krang, the alien brain from Dimension X. Nothing about the latest Turtles picture makes me yearn for a sequel so the producers could screw up Casey Jones, Rocksteady, and Bebop. I wouldn't say Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is as stale as day-old pizza because day-old pizza can still be pretty good. The movie is clearly targeted to the young kids who will buy the action figures and the Ninja Turtle pajamas. Older fans will find that these turtles are an empty shell of their former selves.

Rating: * ½ (*****)

Transformers: Age of Extinction

Transformers: Age of Extinction - Dir. Michael Bay (2014)

"A new era has begun. The age of the Transformers is over…"

Oh, where to even begin with this movie. We might as well start with the plot, such as it is. Transformers: Dark of the Moon concluded with the heroic Autobots repelling a Decepticon invasion that left Chicago devastated and 1200 humans dead. Age of Extinction picks up five years later as the American government has cut all ties with the Autobots. CIA agent Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammer) heads up an off-the-books operation that involves hunting down all Transformers, regardless of whether they are Autobots or Decepticons. The robots are harvested for parts and shipped to Joshua Joyce (Stanley Tucci), the brilliant head of a technological conglomerate. Joyce has discovered an unstable metal dubbed "Transformium," which he and Attinger plan to use to create their own army of Transformers. In order to gather more of the metal, Attinger has struck an alliance with the bounty hunter Lockdown (Mark Ryan). In exchange for capturing Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen), Lockdown will give Attinger the Seed, a terraforming device that would create Transformium.

In Texas, Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) is a down-on-his-luck inventor who is struggling to pay the mortgage on his farm and send his daughter, Tessa (Nicola Peltz), to college. He purchases a rundown semi-truck hoping to find something salvageable. The exasperated Tessa can only remark that he's just turning junk into other junk, which could be a perfect metaphor for this entire franchise. The truck turns out to be Optimus Prime and his presence alerts a CIA strike team led by the remorseless Savoy (Titus Welliver). Now classified as fugitives, Optimus and the few remaining Autobots must protect their new human allies.

The human protagonists from the previous movies are gone and forgotten with nary a fleeting reference. Not that the new characters are an improvement, they are all just as bland and uninteresting. Sure, Mark Wahlberg is a better protagonist than Shia LaBeouf, but his being an inventor bears no little impact on the plot. He never invents anything to defeat the Decepticons, he just grabs an alien gun and shoots stuff. On the other hand, producers are wise enough to fill the supporting cast with actors like Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer, and Titus Welliver to lend some legitimacy to the ridiculousness. Grammer and Welliver play standard issue cardboard villains, but Tucci has fun hamming it up as an evil Steve Jobs. If you didn't get that reference, there's a black and white portrait of Tucci in a turtleneck sweater hanging prominently in the background.

As Michael Bay's latest ingénue, Nicola Peltz isn't given any opportunity to differentiate herself from Megan Fox or Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. Peltz is dressed in cutoff shorts just like Fox and even uses a tow truck to assist the Autobots during the climax. There are plenty of shots from between her legs as the camera leers at her thighs and buttocks. The way Michael Bay fetishizes Peltz feels dirty when you consider that her character is 17, despite the actress being 19 in real life. However, that's nothing compared to the sequence in which Bay justifies statutory rape. Tessa's boyfriend, Shane (Jack Reynor), a 20-year old Irish race car driver, pulls out a copy of a "Romeo & Juliet" law allowing the two of them to be together since they dated before he turned 18. Yes, one of the heroes in Age of Extinction, is a creep who carries around a photocopy of a law that allows him to have sex with an underage girl. In a film about giant robots from outer space, why is this subject even being broached?

Congratulations to Michael Bay for hitting all new lows though the usual trademarks of a Bay production are present here. We have the rampant misogyny represented by the fact that nearly every female character in the movie is thin and impossibly gorgeous. The only exception is the sassy, overweight black woman who serves as comic relief. Aside from Peltz, the only other actresses who receive any significant screen time are Sophia Myles as a geologist and Li Bingbing as an executive in Joyce's employ. They are just as one-note as everybody else in the whole series and both women appear and disappear whenever it's convenient for the plot. Li Bingbing's inclusion and an entire third act set in Hong Kong is a blatant attempt to pander to Chinese audiences, who have become increasingly vital to the wallets of studio executives. The product placement throughout Age of Extinction is equally forced with actors shoving Bud Lights and Beats speakers into your face in full IMAX 3D. One would think Bay was doing this with a hint of irony, but it's hard to tell anymore. Next, we have racist caricatures in the form of Drift (Ken Watanabe), an Autobot modeled after a samurai who speaks in Haikus composed of broken English.

Just as he couldn't be bothered to come up with unique personalities for the humans, screenwriter Ehren Kruger couldn't be bothered to do anymore with the Autobots. Hound (John Goodman) fulfills the exact same role as Ironhide that of the grizzled war veteran while Bumblebee gets surprisingly little screen time given his popularity. Lockdown is the most interesting villain in the series, a Transformer who owes no allegiance to either the Autobots or Decepticons. He works for the mysterious Creators (the Quintessons?) who originally built the Transformers as slave labor. Also, long-time fans might be pleased to hear Frank Welker return to voice Megatron who has now been upgraded to Galvatron ala Transformers: The Movie. The designs of the Transformers have also been improved so that the viewer can actually differentiate one robot from the other. The biggest additions to the robotic roster are the fan-favorite Dinobots. Prepare for Devastator-sized disappointment, folks, you will have to wait over two hours into the movie before the Dinobots appear, despite them serving as lynchpins of the marketing campaign.

If you're wondering how Kruger spent his time during the script writing process, it certainly wasn't crafting scintillating dialogue. Nobody was expecting David Mamet in a Transformers picture, but you'd think Kruger would at least put a modicum of effort beyond, "Take that bitch" or "Do you have a warrant?" "My face is my warrant." And it's always thrilling to hear Optimus Prime, the noble warrior that he is, running around rooftops screaming, "I'll kill you."

SPOILERS: At the end of the movie, Optimus shoots off into outer space with the aid of rocket boosters in his feet, which begs the question why didn't he use them before, instead of turning into a truck to slowly save the day? Also, he threatens to kill the Dinobots unless they join forces with him. Then, Optimus lets them loose on the Chinese countryside because it's always a great idea to have mechanical dinosaurs running around completely unfettered.

Story has never been Michael Bay's strong suit. It's traditionally been incidental to the visuals. The last three films suffered from action sequences that descended into incoherent visual noise, but Bay's camerawork seems to grown more patient in Age of Extinction. This allows Bay to make good use of 3D imagery, particularly during a set piece wherein the Cade and Tessa dangle precariously from grabbling cables high above Chicago, a city which shows no evidence of serving as ground zero for an alien invasion a few short years ago. Bay takes a page out of Terrence Malick's playbook by shooting the farm scenes at golden hour with actors silhouetted against the backdrop of a beautiful orange sky. The beauty is almost undone when you realize Bay's idea of small town Texas is a Bostonian, a surfer dude, an Irishman, and a girl who struts around the rural countryside in high heeled boots.

Transformers: Age of Extinction runs two hours and forty-five minutes, a punishing length filled with inane dialogue, illogical plot developments, and relentless stupidity. Revenge of the Fallen still stands as the worst of the bunch, but it has the excuse of being rushed into production during the writer's strike. Age of Extinction has no excuse. However, none of that will mean a damn thing because audiences still eat these movies up with a spoon. The fourth Transformers film scored over $300 million worldwide during opening weekend. If you enjoy Transformers, then more power to you. Personally, I find it sad that this is a resounding success while Edge of Tomorrow, a far better written blockbuster with one of the strongest female characters in recent memory, was a box office flop.

Rating: ** (*****)

Edge of Tomorrow

Edge of Tomorrow - Dir. Doug Liman (2014)

Live. Die. Repeat.

If you ever thought Groundhog Day would be infinitely improved if it had explosions, robotic mech suits, aliens, and a massive body count, then Edge of Tomorrow is the movie for you. The latest action opus starring Tom Cruise was based on the novel All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, which was also adapted into a manga by Viz Media.

The Earth has been invaded by an alien race known as the Mimics. Nearly the entire continent of Europe has fallen to the relentless extraterrestrials. The United Defense Forces hope they will be able to turn the tide with new high-tech exoskeletons. Major William Cage (Cruise) is a glorified publicist for the military. His job is to sell the war and boost enlistment numbers. However, he's never been in combat and when General Brigham (Brendan Gleeson) orders him to the combat zone, Cage attempts to blackmail his way out. Brigham has him arrested, stripped of his rank, and labeled a deserter.

Sent to the frontlines in Normandy, Cage is exposed to the blood of an Alpha Mimic and gains the ability to reset time. Whenever he dies, he goes back to the morning when he awakens at the forward operating base in Heathrow. Of course, nobody will believe him with the exception of Sgt. Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt), alternately nicknamed the "Angel of Verdun" and the "Full Metal Bitch. Vrataski has become the face of the military propaganda after leading the human forces to their first victory against the Mimics. As it turns out, Vrataski had temporal powers too, which were lost following a blood transfusion.

Edge of Tomorrow might be the best video game movie ever made that's not actually based on a video game. The screenplay by Jez and John-Henry Butterworth (with a rewrite by Christopher McQuarrie) plays with video game conventions by allowing their protagonist to respawn and begin the level all over again. This allows Cage to train indefinitely under the tutelage of Vrataski. He attempts to survive while saving his fellow troops through trial and error, memorizing situations and enemy movements. Despite some sequences being repeated, the movie never feels repetitive. The filmmakers find unique methods to double back over specific scenes to convey new information or show it from a different perspective. They are able to keep the audience on their toes by keeping them guessing as to whether or not Cage has done this a hundred times or just once.

The budding relationship between Cage and Vrataski serves as the heart of the film, a love story that doesn't fall into the standard issue clichés. They share a bond due to circumstances only the two of them could understand, the burden of dying and watching others die countless times. Vrataski is one of the best female characters to be featured in a major blockbuster in a long while. Emily Blunt is more than up to the task to simultaneously portray fierce and vulnerable, not to mention she's drop dead gorgeous. Meanwhile, Cage fits into the two personas that Cruise has excelled at for decades. Cruise isn't ashamed to start Cage as a smarmy and cowardly individual. This is the smirking, cocksure pretty boy we've seen before in Top Gun, Rain Man, The Color of Money, and many more. With Vrataski's help, he transforms into the steely action hero from Mission: Impossible and Jack Reacher. While the supporting cast has a few colorful characters, only Bill Paxton's Master Sgt. Farell stands out. He's a good ol' boy from Kentucky with a sharp tongue and little patience for shirkers.

Doug Liman cut his teeth on low-budget comedies Swingers and Go, before emerging as an incredible action director with The Bourne Identity and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Unfortunately, production problems on those pictures along with the failure of Jumper left Liman struggling to hit a home run. He does so with Edge of Tomorrow, which he'll follow up with a big-budget version of Splinter Cell. Liman's direction is energetic and enhanced by the gritty cinematography of Oscar winner Dion Beebe. There's a clear homage to Saving Private Ryan with the chaotic invasion of Normandy and it's no coincidence the movie was released on the battle's 70^th anniversary. Aliens is briefly referenced when Farell and his J Squad are surrounded by blips that happen to be coming from underneath their position. The digital effects are realistically rendered and the Mimic designed as undulating masses of tendrils ala the squiddies from The Matrix Reloaded.

There's a surprising layer of humor to Edge of Tomorrow that adds to the overall experience. Cruise becomes a human Wile E. Coyote as the film finds interesting ways for him to die. At one point, Cage tries to roll away only to be crushed by a passing truck. When he suffers a debilitating injury, Vrataski casually puts him out of his misery with a bullet to the head.

Edge of Tomorrow is easily the best blockbuster to emerge during this summer's always crowded marketplace. There's action, drama, and comedy built around two stellar performances from Cruise and Blunt. It's a shame the movie hasn't gained any traction at the box office likely due to the general public being burnt out on Tom Cruise. Or maybe it's the generic title, which sounds like the name of a daytime soap. Edge of Tomorrow deserves to be seen by a wider audience.

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

Godzilla

Godzilla - Dir. Gareth Edwards (2014)

“The arrogance of men is thinking nature is in their control and not the other way around.”

He was an entire nation’s anxiety about Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the atomic age distilled into one giant monster. His name was Gojira or Godzilla, as he is more commonly known. His debut film in 1954, released by Toho, spawned dozens of sequels, comic books, action figures, video games, and a host of knockoffs though only Gamera, created by Daiei, would come close to rivaling the big guy’s popularity. Though there’s a general awareness of Godzilla in the States, he doesn’t have the prolific presence he does in Japan. The original movie was released in the U.S. with American actors (such as Raymond Burr) edited in. There was an awful animated series from Hanna-Barbera, which featured the annoying presence of the ultra-cutesy Godzuki. Of course, nobody could forget the disastrous 1998 remake by Roland Emmerich, as much as we want to. So, the bar wasn’t set too high for the new 2014 attempt from Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures.

Warner surprised Comic-Con attendees in 2012 with a specially made Godzilla teaser utilizing ominous voice-over by Robert Oppenheimer (“Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds”). To direct, WB chose Gareth Edwards whose previous film, Monsters, was made on a budget of $500,000 with Edwards personally editing and creating visual effects on a laptop. Just how does he fare with a budget over 300 times bigger?

Godzilla starts promisingly enough with newsreel footage of bomb testing and redacted documents. From there, we’re taken to the Philippines in 1999 where scientists Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and Vivienne Graham (Sally Hawkins) are called to investigate a mining collapse. There, they discover a massive skeleton and two egg-shaped pods, one of which has just hatched. The creature, eventually dubbed a MUTO (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism), makes its way to the Janjira nuclear power plant in Japan. The MUTO causes a violent earthquake as it feeds on the power. Plant supervisor Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) orders an immediate evacuation, but is forced to watch his wife Sandra (Juliette Binoche) die while attempting to shut down the reactor.

In the present, Joe has become obsessed with the tragic accident that the government has written up as a natural disaster. His son, Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), has tried to move on with his life. He’s a bomb disposal expert in the Navy with a beautiful wife Elle (Elizabeth Olsen) and a son named Sam (Carson Bolde). Ford is forced to fly to Japan when his dad is arrested for trespassing. Together, they break into the plant to retrieve research from their old home only to discover a research facility has been built around a cocoon.  A fully formed MUTO springs forth and Joe is killed in the resulting chaos. The other MUTO, a female kept at a repository outside Las Vegas, has also hatched with the two creatures looking to mate and breed. Their presence has awakened an alpha predator in Godzilla, who has slumbered deep beneath the ocean.

Edwards proves he is up for the daunting task of revamping Godzilla. Godzilla still remains relevant as a metaphor for the destructive power of Mother Nature thanks to the Fukushima meltdown, Hurricane Katrina, and the Indian Ocean tsunami, among other recent disasters. Spielberg is a clear influence on Edwards’ directorial choices (Ford Brody? C’mon!) as he teases and teases the ultimate reveal of the King of the Monsters almost to the point of frustration.  The first glimpses we see of Godzilla in the film are back spikes cutting through the Pacific Ocean and passing underneath naval ships. Just as Godzilla tussles with a MUTO, Edwards boldly cuts to news footage of the wrestling match of the century. When Edwards finally lets go of the reins, the action is everything you want from a monster movie. Godzilla whips a MUTO against a skyscraper with his tail and breathes atomic fire. And Godzilla’s eardrum shattering roar must be heard through an IMAX sound system. There are great beats throughout Godzilla, such as a chain reaction of explosions at a Honolulu airport or the sight of red smoke trailing a squad of paratroopers.

Godzilla stumbles when it comes to character development. The screenplay is credited to newcomer Max Borenstein, but featured rewrites from David S. Goyer, Drew Pearce, and Frank Darabont. This is a surprising fact given just how thin the characterizations are. Everyone is a standard archetype from the scientists and soldiers to Elizabeth Olsen as the wife worried for her husband’s safety. Olsen’s beautiful and expressive eyes are perfect to look up in fear at the mere sight of Godzilla. Yet, she’s wasted in the movie along with her fellow female cast members: Juliette Binoche, who’s barely in the thing, and Sally Hawkins, who’s only there to spout exposition. While the trailers make it appear that Bryan Cranston is the main protagonist, he’s merely a supporting character, which is a shame because his loony conspiracy theorist is one of the highlights. The lead goes to Aaron Taylor-Johnson, a fine actor playing one of the blandest heroes to date.

Godzilla starts off strong and packs a powerful third act, but everything in between is shaky. However, the film remains the type of pure spectacle you have come to expect from a summer blockbuster.

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