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: * (*****)

Sharknado 2: The Second One

Sharknado 2: The Second One - Dir. Anthony C. Ferrante (2014)

Once upon a time, they were known as the Sci-Fi Channel. Then, they became SyFy and attempted to diversify their programming with reality shows and WWE wrestling. Throughout it all, one thing has remained constant with SyFy and that is the cheesy, made-for-TV monster of the week movies. D-list celebrities like Antonio Sabato Jr. or Lorenzo Lamas are forced to do battle with mutated insects are monsters resurrected from the prehistoric age. The majority of these movies treated themselves deadly serious, despite the fact that they were met with a round of chuckles. It took a while before SyFy got in on the joke and the tipping point was probably Sharknado.

Improbably, the low-budget picture about a tornado full of sharks launched itself into the pop culture stratosphere. No surprise that a sequel, Sharknado 2: The Second One was immediately greenlit.

In case you missed it, Sharknado featured Ian Ziering (of Beverly Hills 90210 fame) as Fin Shepard, a surfer who saved Los Angeles from the threat of a tornado that had swept through the Pacific Ocean and spread bloodthirsty sharks throughout the city. Fin even managed to win back the heart of his ex-wife April (Tara Reid). The sequel begins with Fin and April on a flight to New York City as part of their book tour for the best-selling How to Survive a Sharknado. Suddenly, the plane hits bad weather…bad weather filled with man-eating sharks. Faster than you can say, William Shatner, Fin spots a shark on the wing, but nobody believes him. Heck, he hardly believes it himself. How can the same thing happen to the same guy twice?

The weather becomes even deadlier as two tornadoes threaten to converge in the heart of Manhattan. Fin must not only save the city, but his family as well. His sister, Ellen (Kari Wuhrer), and niece, Mora (Courtney Baxter), are visiting the Statue of Liberty while her husband, Martin (Mark McGrath), takes in a Mets game at Citi Field.

Sharknado wastes no time in getting the carnage going. Whereas the first film had to introduce the protagonists and the concept of the sharknado, the sequel starts right away with sharks being scooped up by Mother Nature. The prologue is basically Sharks on a Plane though Ian Ziering never shouts, "Get these motherf'n sharks off my mother'fn plane." What a missed opportunity. There's a lot more ridiculousness to follow with Martin and his son immolating sharks with super soakers filled with napalm. Or how about Tara Reid replacing her left hand (which was bitten off by a shark) with a buzzsaw?

The popularity of the original Sharknado meant that numerous celebrities were knocking on SyFy's door, each one looking to be a part of the film. Sharknado 2 includes cameos by Wil Wheaton, Andy Dick, Kurt Angle, Kelly Osbourne, Biz Markie and Jared from Subway. You've also got Matt Lauer, Al Roker, Kelly Ripa, and Michael Strahan all portraying themselves. The movie is loaded with just as many winks and nods to other movies and TV shows. Judd Hirsch has a brief role as a cab driver in a reference to his role on Taxi while Robert Hays captains another doomed flight ala Airplane. Fin's family is named Martin and Ellen Brody with Billy Ray Cyrus popping in as a doctor named Quint.

By no means is Sharknado 2 a cinematic classic. The special effects are horrendous and most of the actors are just as bad with Tara Reid being particularly wooden. The screenplay by the gloriously named Thunder Levin makes several sad attempts at fleshing out his one-dimensional characters. Levin wastes valuable shark chomping time with an unrequited love story between Ziering and Vivica A. Fox.

Rating: ** (*****)

Under the Skin

Under the Skin – Dir. Jonathan Glazer (2014)

Jonathan Glazer made a name for himself directing commercials and music videos for bands like Radiohead and Jamiroquai. His video for "Virtual Insanity" earned four MTV Video Music Awards. His feature-length debut was 2000's Sexy Beast, a remarkable crime film dominated by an award winning performance from Ben Kingsley. His follow-up, Birth, met with mixed reviews and even received boos at the Venice Film Festival. Almost a decade later, Glazer has finally released his third picture, Under the Skin, a minimalistic sci-fi flick with Scarlett Johansson in the lead.

As a member of the Avengers, Johansson is the sultry Black Widow, but in Under the Skin, she plays a different sort of black widow. She is an unnamed alien who has taken human form. She trawls the streets of Glasgow, Scotland luring men into her van. These unsuspecting males are so enamored by this otherworldly beauty that they don't sense anything amiss. Not even when they are taken to a room with jet black walls and they sink into a viscous liquid. What happens next is quite horrifying.

Under the Skin is loosely based on a novel by Michel Faber. The source material was a satire and the irony of the human race treated as cattle for an alien species was emphasized. For the film version, Glazer scrapped away any trace of humor for an eerie story with an air of mystery. Glazer wisely avoids delving into the origins of the extraterrestrials. There is no voiceover narration or internal monologues to spell out every emotion or motivation. Exactly why they collect the humans is never explained, but it's clear they view us as nothing more than hogs to be led to the slaughter. This becomes particularly clear in a chilling sequence in which a crying baby is left alone on a beach, completely ignored by Johansson and her male handler (professional motorcyclist Jeremy McWilliams).

The country of Scotland is equally portrayed as equally otherworldly, a realm of perpetually gray skies and inhabitants with indiscernible accents. The gloomy landscape is effectively scored by Mica Levi who utilizes a recurring theme of creepy and screeching violin strings.

Johansson might not seem like it, but she is perfectly cast as the seductress from outer space. However, this isn't a 1950's drive-in movie. She doesn't vamp it up and though there are a handful of nude scenes, there's nothing sexy or erotic about them. Through her character, Glazer explores the hot button topics of gender politics, sexual identity, and body image.

One of the reasons for the long gap between films was Glazer's need to wait for technology to provide hidden cameras of the highest quality. Clad in a fur coat and black wig, Johansson would drive through Glasgow picking up random pedestrians. Many of these men had no idea they were the woman twice named "Sexiest Woman Alive" by Esquire. Glazer had them and other non-actors sign agreements to appear in the movie. Let's face it; if a man attempted to flirt with unsuspecting women while behind the wheel of a serial killer van, it would not end well. There would be flashes of Silence of the Lambs, followed by frantic calls to the police. Yet, men seem to have no problem hopping into the van with Johansson, regardless of the horrific fate awaiting them.

Make no mistake; Johansson won't be confused with Natasha Henstridge in Species. There's nothing overtly sexual about her character nor is there any malice in her actions. She is simply performing a duty that seems necessary for the survival of her kind. Yet, there is a prevailing discomfort she feels while trapped within her gooey flesh. She never quite grows accustomed to her new body and many people will probably sympathize. Of course, she'll eventually start to question her question her purpose as the pangs of human emotions seep through. The turning point comes when she encounters a shy, young man with facial disfigurements, played by Adam Pearson who suffers from neurofibromatosis.

Many reviews have brought up Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey in comparison to Under the Skin. However, I'd liken Glazer's picture to Nicholas Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth on a shoestring budget. Glazer has essentially crafted a B-movie with haunting, arthouse aesthetics. Under the Skin is easily one of the best films of 2014.

Rating: **** (*****) 

Divergent

Divergent - Dir. Neil Burger (2014)

"You're different. You don't fit into a category. They can't control you. They call it Divergent."

Summit Entertainment has the magic touch when it comes to turning young adult novels into blockbuster movies. While other studios have struggled to launch one franchise, Summit has been raking in the dough with Twilight and The Hunger Games. Now, the sparkly vampires have been put to pasture and the adventures of Katniss Everdeen are drawing to a close. Don't shed any tears; Summit already has their next money making machine with Divergent, based on the best-selling book series by Veronica Roth.

In the future, war ravaged mankind, but society settled into harmony by dividing its people into five different factions. Survivors have settled into the city of Chicago, now surrounded by a great wall that shields them from the untamed world. Candor is devoted to truth, Erudite to intellectual pursuits, and Amity to joy. Dauntless are the brave thrill seekers who serve as the city's security force. Abnegation is selfless. They live modestly and serve as the city's civic leaders. When the time comes, the city's children must choose their faction. Whatever their choice, they must remain in that faction, even if it means never seeing their families again. As they say, faction before blood. Those who don't fit in or wash out become factionless, the equivalent of being

Like most teenagers, Beatrice "Tris" Prior (Shailene Woodley) isn't sure where she belongs. She was born in Abnegation and her father (Tony Goldwyn) is a member of the faction's ruling council. During an Inception-style aptitude test, Tris discovers that she doesn't fit into one category, but all of them. She is Divergent and they are considered a danger to this utopian society.

At the Choosing Ceremony, Tris selects Dauntless and undergoes the rigorous training in hand-to-hand combat and knife throwing under the supervision of the sadistic Eric (Jai Courtney). Tris grows closer to another trainer, the handsome, but initially distant Four (Theo James). Together, they uncover a conspiracy by Jeanine Matthews (Kate Winslet), leader of Erudite, who plots to use members of Dauntless to stage a coup and overthrow Abnegation.

Divergent will immediately draw comparisons to other YA adaptations as it shares many familiar concepts. The idea of factions and a choosing ceremony will recall the houses and sorting hat sequences of Harry Potter. Psychological tests involving virtual reality simulations are reminiscent of Ender's Game. At the center of it all is a special young girl who must save the entire world just like The Hunger Games and The Mortal Instruments. Not that there's anything wrong with that. It's nice to see Hollywood so willing to produce big blockbusters with a strong female protagonist. Without a doubt, women and teenagers are the core audience for Divergent, but other demographics might be drawn to the story.

Yes, there is a romance between Tris and Four, but it is not the central thread. More importantly, Tris is not utterly defined by her love life. She's not constantly pining for the brooding bad boy. There's enough action here to capture the attention of the males in the audience. As they did with The Hunger Games, Summit and Lionsgate hired a director known more for drama than action or sci-fi. In this case, Neil Burger, who also helmed The Illusionist and Limitless, was tapped to steer the first entry in the franchise. Burger's set pieces aren't spectacular or stylish, but he doesn't chop them into incoherence the way Gary Ross did in Hunger Games.

Divergent falters by building a foundation on top of a shaky concept. The idea of factions works as a heavy-handed metaphor for bullying, conformity, and teens struggling to find their place in the world. Yet, the notion makes less sense upon further inspection. Someone can be intelligent, but not selfless or brave? If you're happy, does that mean you can't be truthful or smart as well? Candor is the least fleshed out faction in Divergent. At least, Amity is shown to farm the fields. Maybe this is because telling everyone they DO look fat in that outfit isn't very cinematic. The pacing of Divergent takes a dip in the middle section as the film devotes a lot of time to exposition and training exercises.

On the other hand, Summit has rounded up a fine collection of young actors to elevate the staid material. Shailene Woodley is a natural in the lead role and there's good chemistry on-screen between her and Theo James. Miles Teller and Ansel Elgort, Woodley's love interests from The Spectacular Now and The Fault in Our Stars, co-star with Teller as a mean-spirited rival and Elgort as Tris's brother Caleb. There's also Zoe Kravitz as fellow Dauntless member Christina and Jai Courtney makes a great impression as the cocky and cruel Eric. Not faring as well is an assortment of established thespians who are clearly set up for larger roles in the sequels. That means Ray Stevenson, Maggie Q, Mekhi Phifer, Ashley Judd, and Tony Goldwyn aren't given a lot to do in their handful of scenes. At least, Kate Winslet gets to sink her teeth into a rare villainous role as the icy Jeanine.

At a runtime of 140 minutes, Divergent could have used a tighter pace and judicious editing as too much time is spent on building the perplexing world and its myriad of rules. Then again, I'm not the target audience. Devotees of the books will no doubt be thrilled to see all their favorite characters breathed into life.

Rating: ** (*****)

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

Riddick

Riddick - Dir. David Twohy (2013)

"You're not afraid of the dark, are you?"

Before he became Dominic Toretto, Vin Diesel was Richard B. Riddick, an escaped convict with special eyes that allowed him to see in the dark. The anti-hero was introduced in Pitch Black, an effective B-movie where Riddick and a motley group of survivors fought for their lives on a desert planet. Pitch Black was enough of a hit that Diesel took a larger role in crafting more of the character's backstory. The result was The Chronicles of Riddick, a gothic space opera with five times the budget of its predecessor. Diesel obviously dipped into his experience playing Dungeons & Dragons to turn Riddick into the last remaining member of a warrior species known as the Furyans. The bloated mythology introduced Elementals, Necromongers, and the Underverse to deaf ears as "Chronicles" became a critical and commercial failure.

Riddick was put on the shelf, but Diesel believed in the property enough that he negotiated for the rights from Universal in exchange for a cameo in The Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift. Diesel's passion was such that he mortgaged his home to help raise the money needed to complete the third film, simply titled Riddick.

Riddick ditches the elaborate fantasy elements and returns to his roots as a badass killing machine. In a nod to King Conan, Riddick has grown weary of the throne as Lord Marshall of the Necromongers. Betrayed by the ambitious Lord Vaako (Karl Urban), Riddick is stranded once again on a desolate planet populated by a vicious menagerie of beasts.

The first act of Riddick resembles a Heavy Metal version of Wall-E with Riddick raising some sort of Doberman-hyena hybrid while battling H.R. Giger-inspired scorpions. Riddick fights his way across the wastelands to a remote outpost in order to activate a distress beacon. The signal alerts two rival teams of mercenaries looking to cash in on the substantial bounty on Riddick's head.  There's a skuzzy, patchwork team headed up by Santana (Jordi Mollá) and muscle-bound Diaz (WWE's Dave Batista) and a sleek, militaristic unit led by Boss Johns (Matthew Nable) and sexy sniper Dahl (Katee Sackhoff). At this point, Riddick plays out like a horror film with the mercs being picked off one by one by a killer hiding in the shadows. Once the third act rolls around, the movie becomes a redo of Pitch Black as Riddick and his adversaries are forced to join forces in order to escape.

You get exactly what's advertised with Riddick. Writer/Director David Twohy offers up a straightforward action flick with Diesel growling in that deep, booming voice of his. There's not much in the way of subtlety here. Twohy establishes Santana as a sadistic scumbag by having him shoot a female prisoner (pop singer Keri Hilson) in the back as she flees. Don't worry the bad guy gets what's coming to him in the form of the grisliest decapitation outside of a Takashi Miike picture. It's also difficult to take the filmmakers' attempts at presenting a strong female character in Dahl seriously when she gratuitously appears in topless or when Riddick charmingly offers to go "balls deep" on her. Thankfully, Sackhoff's performance is good enough to crawl out from underneath such crude material.

Riddick is a marked improvement over the second installment and certainly more enjoyable than some of this summer's bloated blockbusters (The Lone Ranger, R.I.P.D.), It won't be considered classic cinema, but fans of Riddick and Vin Diesel will be satisfied.

Rating: ** (*****)

The World's End

The World's End - Dir. Edgar Wright (2013)

Shaun of the Dead is widely considered to be one of the best zombie movies of the modern era. Yet, it also works as a great romantic comedy that just happens to have zombies in it. Hot Fuzz wasn't just a clever send-up of overblown action movies; it could also be enjoyed as a straight up action flick with car chases and stylish gunplay. Now, writer/director Edgar Wright teams with actors Simon Pegg (who co-wrote the screenplay) and Nick Frost once more to cap off his Cornetto Trilogywith The World's End. Once again, Wright isn't content to play around in one genre. The World's End is a wonderful mixture of drama, comedy, sci-fi, and 70's paranoia cinema along the lines of The Wicker Man or Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Andy Knightley (Frost), Steven Prince (Paddy Considine), Oliver Chamberlain (Martin Freeman), and Peter Page (Eddie Marsan) were the best of friends while growing up in the small town of Newton Haven. The glue that held the clique together was Gary King (Pegg), a real force of nature whose thirst for life was infectious. Time passed and everyone grew apart. They all left Newton Haven to become working professionals with the exception of Gary King, who hasn't changed at all in the past two decades. Unsatisfied with adulthood, Gary longs to relive the glory of his youth and the time he almost completed the "Golden Mile," an epic pub crawl through a dozen bars. In spite of bad blood between Gary and Andy, the gang gets back together to finish the Golden Mile, but find out the hard way that sometimes you can't go home again.

The World's End deftly explores various themes of disillusionment and middle-age malaise. While the characters appear to be successful, they aren't entirely happy. The meek Peter is the most obvious answer. He's clearly buckling under the pressure of working for his father-in-law and still harboring the effects of childhood bullying. Steven still pines for his unrequited love, Sam (Rosamund Pike), Oliver's younger sister who had a one-time fling with Gary in a men's room. Gary has had tremendous difficulty battling his addictions, which he masks underneath layers of braggadocio. There's also an aura of melancholy throughout the movie stemming from how much Newton Haven has changed since the protagonists moved away. The small town charm has vanished and been replaced by corporatized homogeny, a phenomenon sharply referred to as "Starbucking." That sense of nostalgia is wonderfully conveyed through a grainy prologue shot in 16mm of the gang in their high school days and a soundtrack of 90's Britpop (Primal Scream, The Stone Roses, etc.). Alone, these plot threads would have been more than enough to craft a satisfying dramedy. However, Wright throws in an additional twist that kicks The World's End onto a whole other level.

Nobody in Newtown Haven seems to remember the great Gary King. Has he really changed that much? No, you see, it's because the entire town has been taken over by robot duplicates from outer space. This allows Wright to stage several bar brawls infused with the type of choreography generally reserved for Hong Kong action films. Highlighted by fluid camera movements, the fights are innovative without forgetting that these are ordinary blokes engaging in fisticuffs. This is such a slick and gorgeously shot film, you'd never believe it was made with a budget of only $20 million.

The performances are strong all around, but Pegg and Frost are easily the highlights of The World's End. In previous outings, Pegg has played the straight man to Frost's overgrown man-child. Here, the dynamic has been flipped to fantastic results with Pegg injecting a surprising amount of pathos to the character. He probably won't get a lot of recognition during awards season, which would be a shame. As Gary, Pegg manages to walk a thin line between being a lovable scoundrel and a delusional jerk. If The World's End has any weak spots, one would be that Rosamund Pike, the only significant female in the picture, deserved more screen time along with Pierce Brosnan, who makes only a brief cameo.

Edgar Wright is one of the most exciting and original directors working in movies today. The energy and passion that he brings to his films is undeniable. The World's End is another cinematic triumph and one of the best pictures of 2013.

Rating: *** ½ (*****)

The Purge

The Purge - Dir. James DeMonaco (2013)

"Blessed be the New Founding Fathers for letting us Purge and cleanse our souls, Blessed be America, a nation reborn."

2013 was quite the year for Ethan Hawke. In August, he starred in Getaway, which received some of the worst reviews of the year. Earlier in the year, Hawke also starred in Before Midnight, the third picture in Richard Linklater's critically praised trilogy. While Getaway garnered a paltry 3% on Rotten Tomatoes, Before Midnight landed an impressive 98% and will surely find its way on numerous best-of year end lists. Not to be forgotten is The Purge, a low-budget thriller that came out around the same time as Before Midnight. Although the reviews were lukewarm, The Purge did take in over $87 million at the box office. Quite the haul considering the release date was sandwiched in between Fast and Furious 6 and Man of Steel with Iron Man 3 and Star Trek into Darkness still going strong.

The Purge takes place in the year 2022 as America sees crime rates and unemployment at an all-time low. This is attributed to an annual event known as 'The Purge,' a 12-hour period in which all crime, including murder, is legal. Well, almost all crime. Weapons of mass destruction are off limits and high-ranking government officials are not to be touched. Other than that, anything goes.

Thanks to the Purge, James Sandin (Hawke) has done extremely well for himself by selling high-tech security systems. He's sold quite a few to fellow residents in his affluent suburban neighborhood, enough to build a new addition to his spacious McMansion. As the Purge commences, Sandin puts his home on lockdown and settles in for a quiet night with the wife, Mary (Lena Headey), and kids, Charlie (Max Burkholder) and Zoey (Adelaide Kane). However, Charlie notices a wounded man (Edwin Hodge) outside the house crying for help. Against his father's protests, Charlie lets the stranger in and sets off a deadly chain of events. A gang of masked assailants come knocking to demand the Sandins hand over the "homeless pig" or they will tear down the gates and kill everyone in the house.

The Purge was written and directed by James DeMonaco, who was previously a screenwriter on The Negotiator and the remake of Assault on Precinct 13 that also starred Hawke. As a siege and home invasion picture, The Purge has a lot in common with the original Assault as well as The Strangers with Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman. It has all the hallmarks of a B-movie, but DeMonaco seeks to elevate the material with some heavy-handed political rhetoric. The country is under the sway of a group called the New Founding Fathers, an obvious analogue for the Tea Party, and participating in the Purge is seen as a patriotic duty. Of course, the easiest targets are the poor and disenfranchised, such as the stranger, who happens to be black and a veteran. The villains are young, white, and led by a handsome gentleman (Rhys Wakefield) with blue blooded affectations and a prep school uniform.

Wakefield gives a creepy performance and his gaunt frame makes him look like the perfect candidate to play a Batman villain. Hawke and Headey are also good, but the acting and the concept aren't enough to shake off the silliness.

The Purge requires a little suspension of disbelief. Just because people are allowed to cut loose for one day a year, doesn't necessarily mean they'll be law-abiding citizens are the other 364 days. Also, the characters behave in foolish ways that seem to be dictated by whatever is required to progress the story. Characters decide to split up like a bunch of teenagers in a slasher flick. The second act consists of the Sandins searching their home and arguing over what to do with the stranger. At least, the climax is action packed as a free-for-all erupts between the wholesome nuclear family and the bloodthirsty invaders.

The Purge won't be mistaken for serious cinema though it does work as a solid genre piece. The story is simplistic and, at less than 90 minutes, the film moves at a brisk pace.

Rating: ** (*****)

Pacific Rim

Pacific Rim - Dir. Guillermo Del Toro (2013)

"Today, we face the monsters that are at our door. Today, we are cancelling the apocalypse!"

Robots vs. monsters, is there anything else you need to know? For those of you who grew up watching Voltron and Robotech, Pacific Rim is the movie you imagined in a fever dream while playing with your action figures.

In the near future, a dimensional rift has opened up at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean allowing enormous creatures known as 'kaiju' to invade our world. To fight these monsters, humanity banded together and built massive robotic suits they called 'jaegers.' The jaegers are so enormous that they must be piloted by two individuals connected to a neural bridge referred to as 'the drift.' Jaeger pilots are treated like rock stars and two of the best are Yancy (Diego Klattenhoff) and Raleigh Beckett (Charlie Hunnam). A disastrous battle between their Jaeger, Gipsy Danger, and a kaiju near the Arctic Circle costs Yancy his life and leaves Raleigh a broken man.

Five years later, the United Nations attempts to shut down the jaeger program in favor of building giant walls around their coastal cities. When that plan fails miserably, jaeger commander Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) recruits a reluctant Raleigh back into the suit and pairs him up with Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi), who lost her parents as a young girl to a kaiju rampage.

It's clear from the get-go that director Guillermo Del Toro has been dying to cut loose after spending years on projects (The Hobbit, At the Mountains of Madness) that never came to fruition. With Pacific Rim, Del Toro merges his unique vision with his love of anime (Neon Genesis Evangelion is an obvious influence) and Toho monster flicks to create one of the best summer blockbusters in recent years. His direction isn't without flaws. The visuals are muddled by setting most of the action at night and underwater. The climax is particularly troubling because the final kaijus look extremely similar and they aren't any more menacing than the ones seen before. However, when Del Toro turns it on, he goes for broke. The best sequence in Pacific Rim is the near-20 minute battle set against the neon glow of a Blade Runner-esque Hong Kong. Another triumph for Del Toro is the enthralling and heartbreaking flashback in which a terrified Mako is left alone in a decimated Tokyo as a kaiju roars overhead. Pacific Rim shines in IMAX 3D. No, the 3D doesn't improve anything, but the screen size and enhanced surround sound are perfect for the metallic mayhem.

The screenplay by Del Toro and Travis Beacham never drops itself to the willfully lowbrow levels of Michael Bay's Transformers franchise. Pacific Rim might paint its characters in the broadest strokes possible, but there's nary a homophobic or misogynistic bone in its body. What Del Toro and Beacham have done best is the world building that only hints at the rich history behind it. Take for example the character of Hannibal Chau (played eccentrically by Ron Perlman), a black market dealer in kaiju organs. Apparently, bone powder from an extra-dimensional beast is a cure for erectile dysfunction. Chau's headquarters in Hong Kong appear to have been built around a fallen kaiju's skeleton.

Charlie Hunnam doesn't exactly light up the screen in the lead role, but he does a fair job and gets assistance from a game supporting cast. He has some good scenes with Rinko Kikuchi while Del Toro and Beacham never allow the two to fall into the clichéd romance. Idris Elba plays the hardass drill sergeant we've seen countless times before, but he does it pretty damn well. His St. Crispin's speech will undoubtedly be heavily quoted. Stealing the show are Charlie Day and Burn Gorman as a pair of diametrically opposed kaiju scientists. Day is brash and high-strung while Gorman looks and acts like a latter-day Jeffrey Combs.

Pacific Rim is Saturday morning cartoon brought to life. A pure fanboy fantasy that blasts the rest of the summer slate right in the face with a robot rocket punch.

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

R.I.P.D.

R.I.P.D. - Dir. Robert Schwentke (2013)

Now that the Fast & Furious is nearing the end of the road, Universal is desperately searching for a big money making franchise. Other studios have had massive success with comic book adaptations, but with Marvel and DC locked up by Disney and Warner Brothers that leaves lesser known properties from independent publishers. That's not necessarily a bad thing. An obscure black & white comic titled Men in Black was turned into a billion dollar franchise with movies, an animated series, and tons of toys. Universal obviously had visions of dollar signs dancing in their heads when they snatched up the rights to the similarly themed, R.I.P.D., published by Dark Horse. Both comics are about a clandestine agency charged with protecting the Earth from otherworldly forces. In MIB, they're aliens. In RIPD, they're "Deados," fugitive spirits who have refused to pass into the great beyond. That's where the resemblances end as MIB is leaps and bounds beyond RIPD when it comes to originality.

Boston detective Nick Walker (Ryan Reynolds) is uneasy about pocketing the gold he and his partner, Bobby Hayes (Kevin Bacon), have just found at a recent drug bust. Rather than see the gold taken into evidence, Hayes kills Walker during a raid. Due to his one moment of weakness, Walker is drafted into the Rest in Peace Department, which consists of the greatest lawmen who ever lived. Walker must serve his time with RIPD or take his chances with the higher powers. He is paired with Roy Pulsipher (Jeff Bridges), an ornery gunslinger from the Wild West, and uncovers a conspiracy to build a weapon that will unleash the dead into the world of the living.

The screenplay by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi (Clash of the Titans) with a story credit by David Dobkin (who was previously attached to direct) is shamelessly derivative. RIPD clearly attempts to follow in the footsteps of MIB and Ghostbusters while borrowing also from Beetlejuice in its depictions of a bureaucratic afterlife. However, none of these ideas are ever fully realized. In a running gag, Walker and Pulsipher have cover identities while on Earth. Everyone around them sees only an old Asian guy (James Hong) and a smoking hot model (Marisa Miller). The filmmakers get a little mileage out of the joke with Bridges fending off advances from horndogs and Walker attempts to contact his wife (Stephanie Szostak) in a pair of scenes with half-hearted poignancy. However, the bit is quickly cast aside for a series of mind numbing car chases and explosions. Despite a budget of $130 million, the special effects are horrendous with Deados rendered as murky, lumbering blobs. The 1997 effects of MIB are far superior to the lackluster efforts here.

Ironically, RIPD opened opposite another comic book movie, Red 2, and was directed by Robert Schwentke, who helmed the first Red. While Schwentke doesn't have a masterful command of action, he did maintain an energetic tone in Red that is completely missing from RIPD. The fact that the characters are already dead and suffer no ill effects from being thrown off a roof or hit by a bus means there is never any sense of danger or suspense.

RIPD's one saving grace is Jeff Bridges, who essentially reprises his role of Rooster Cogburn with the addition of a Colonel Sanders goatee. Bridges plays it to the hilt and has some fun scenes opposite Mary-Louise Parker, who brings her own spin to the tightly wound precinct captain. There's also a welcome twist on the usual buddy cop formula with Walker's fresh-faced rookie as the straight-laced one of the pair and Bridges' wily veteran as the loose cannon. Also, kudos go to Kevin Bacon's agent for keeping his client's presence such a secret. Bacon is surely thankful.

RIPD died almost as quickly as its protagonist and continued to beat on a dead horse for another ninety minutes.

Rating: * (*****)

The Host

The Host - Dir. Andrew Niccol (2013)

Whether you like it or not, author Stephenie Meyer created a worldwide phenomenon with her Twilight series. The books were adapted into a hugely successful film franchise as Twi-hards turned out in droves to watch Kristen Stewart choose between the hunky werewolf Jacob or the pale, sparkly vampire Edward. Meyer looked to catch lightning in a bottle once more with her follow-up novel The Host, which has been turned into a big-budget picture by Open Road Films and Universal.

The Host falls firmly into the realm of science fiction, but continues many of the themes Meyer tackled in Twilight, specifically teen romance and a female protagonist trying to find her place in a topsy-turvy world. The Host is basically Invasion of the Body Snatchers for tweens as the Earth is invaded by alien beings known as 'Souls.' The Souls quickly possess the majority of the human population with only a few scattered pockets of resistance. Among those still free is Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan), whose father chose to kill himself rather than be taken. Melanie has survived on the run alongside her younger brother, Jamie (Chandler Canterbury), and boyfriend Jared Howe (Max Irons, son of Jeremy Irons). Unfortunately, she is captured on a supply run by a Seeker (Diane Kruger) and implanted with a Soul known as Wanderer. Melanie's spirit remains strong and she resists Wanderer's attempts to access her memories to discover the whereabouts of other free humans.

Melanie and Wanderer enter into a reluctant symbiosis as they evade the Seeker and journey to Melanie's home in the Arizona desert. There, her Uncle Jeb (William Hurt) has transformed a vast cave system into a self-sustaining sanctuary. Jeb takes Wanderer in and nicknames her Wanda in spite of everyone's protests and firm belief that Melanie is dead. The plot thickens when Wanda develops feelings for the hunky Ian O'Shea (Jake Abel).

The crux of the story revolves around the odd love triangle in which two girls share one body. It’s a credit to the abilities of Saoirse Ronan (who was cast after producers saw her in Hanna) that she is able to argue with herself less silly. This is certainly a Herculean task given the hoary dialogue Ronan is forced to speak, such as "Kiss me like you want to get slapped." The tangled romance loses more credibility given that Melanie/Wanda's love interests are a couple of cardboard cutouts from an Abercrombie & Fitch display. The movie slowly atrophies once it focuses on the young and the beautiful as they moon for each other.

The Host doesn't get off to a bad start. Director Andrew Niccol, who also helmed Gattaca and In Time (along with the underrated Lord of War), knows how to handle slick sci-fi. Niccol sets the right atmosphere by immersing us into the sleek, utilitarian society of the Souls with their chrome sports cars and minimalist shops simply named "Store." However, once The Host settles into the desert caves, the story slows to a crawl as we are introduced to a number of uninteresting characters and their equally insipid relationships. On the positive side, Melanie is a stronger and more independent heroine than Twilight's passive and mopey Bella. Also, you can always count on actors like William Hurt, Frances Fisher, and Diane Kruger to bring some gravitas to even the most lackluster material.

If you're going to watch a movie titled The Host, skip this Stephenie Meyer adaptation and go for Bong Joon-ho's monster movie instead.

Rating: * (*****)

Oblivion

Oblivion - Dir. Joseph Kosinski (2013)

The year is 2077 and Earth has been ravaged by a war with an alien race known as the Scavengers. The invaders struck the first blow by destroying the moon and devastating the planet's climate. The humans deployed nuclear weapons to defeat the Scavs, but at the cost of rendering Earth nearly inhospitable. The remnants of humanity are migrating to the Saturn moon of Titan. This is all explained with painstaking detail in the opening narration of Oblivion.

Tom Cruise stars as the live-action version of Wall-E, Jack Harper, not to be confused with Jack Reacher. Harper and his partner/lover Vika (Andrea Riseborough) have stayed behind to be the "mop-up crew." They are tasked with repairing robotic drones that hunt down Scav stragglers and protect massive machines converting Earth's seawater into energy for the new colony. Both Harper and Vika have had their memories wiped as a security measure lest they be captured by the Scavs. Yet, Harper is plagued by dreams of a life before with a teeming New York City and a beautiful woman (Olga Kurylenko). Unlike his dutiful partner, Harper waxes nostalgic about old Earth and ventures off his usual patrol route. He's found a tranquil getaway within a hidden valley where he shoots hoops and listens to vinyl records.

During another routine repair, Harper finds a crashed ship that is decades old and carrying several human passengers in stasis. One of them happens to be Julia, the woman from his dreams. When the drones open fire on them, Harper embarks on a quest to discover the truth about the war and his own identity.

Oblivion is the second feature film from Joseph Kosinski, who previously directed Tron: Legacy. Kosinski has proven to be capable of creating stylish sci-fi worlds though he has a weaker handling on story. Oblivion transplants many of those same new age ideas with a stronger screenplay by Kosinski, William Monahan, Karl Gajdusek, and Michael Arndt. However, it is no less derivative. The story is full of Twilight Zone-style twists while paying homage to a laundry list of classic sci-fi films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Silent Running, The Omega Man, along with recent releases like Moon. Harper and Vika operate in the ruined remains of the Big Apple with the Statue of Liberty sticking out of the ground ala Planet of the Apes. Morgan Freeman appears in an outfit he apparently borrowed from Laurence Fishburne's Matrix wardrobe. And much like Morpheus, Freeman seeks to open Harper's eyes to the truth. Even the superb score by French electronic band M83 is reminiscent of Daft Punk's soundtrack for Tron: Legacy.

The movie progresses at a casual pace after a bloated opening overloaded with exposition. This allows the viewer to feast in the sumptuous visuals crafted by Kosinski, cinematographer Claudio Miranda, and their special effects team. Oblivion was filmed in Iceland and they've captured the natural beauty of the pristine landscapes. Though it isn't a rip-roaring action flick, Oblivion does feature a few well-executed set pieces, one of which sees Cruise flying his sleek airship through a canyon with drones hot on his tail.

It's no coincidence that Cruise once again takes on the role of a skilled pilot. His Jack Harper isn't too different from the characters he's portrayed in Top Gun, Minority Report, or Mission: Impossible. He's the loyal trooper who eventually bucks authority when it conflicts with his beliefs. Cruise is strong, but doesn't make much of an impression. Morgan Freeman would have to have a really bad day to turn in a weak performance while Game of Thrones' Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Zoe Bell are underutilized as his followers. Acting accolades should definitely go to Andrea Riseborough who portrays Vika with a heartbreaking vulnerability along with a stern iciness. She's the best thing in an otherwise lackluster picture, just as she was in Madonna's half-baked W.E. Melissa Leo has some fun as Sally, Harper and Vika's command officer, who only appears as a face on a screen. There's something obviously sinister about Sally's sunny, down-home disposition.

Oblivion is certainly worth catching on the big screen (or at least on Blu-ray) for the eye candy and the aural feast of M83's score. However, the story is far too familiar to be wholly satisfying.

Rating: ** (*****)

Resident Evil: Retribution

Resident Evil: Retribution - Dir. Paul W.S. Anderson (2012)

Trying to make sense of the convoluted mythos of the Resident Evil film franchise is a more daunting task than attempting to complete the games on the highest difficulty level. Even the architects of the series, writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson and his wife/starlet Milla Jovovich, can’t tell what the hell is happening. That hasn’t stopped them from soldiering on with a fifth film, Resident Evil: Retribution.

Proof that Anderson has sacrificed substance at the altar of style is found in the opening credits, which play out in reverse, slow-motion 3D. Picking up where Resident Evil: Afterlife left off, Alice (Jovovich) and the survivors on board a cargo freighter are attacked by forces of the Umbrella Corporation led by a brainwashed Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory). From there, Jovovich gives the audience a recap of the series so far. Next is a prologue out of Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake with Alice as a suburban housewife married to Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr) with a deaf daughter named Becky (Aryana Engineer). As the zombies slaughter everyone, Alice awakens naked (save for a convenient towel) in a holding cell where she's tortured by Valentine. Suddenly, Alice is freed by Ada Wong (Li Bingbing) and former archenemy Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts), who has been usurped from his position as Umbrella boss by the malevolent A.I. from the first movie, The Red Queen (Megan Charpentier).

Alice learns she is trapped inside a massive research facility beneath the Arctic where Umbrella has recreated major cities around the world to test their biological weapons on unsuspecting clones, including good and evil versions of past characters like Rain Ocampa (Michelle Rodriguez) and James Shade (Colin Salmon). Meanwhile, an assault team consisting of Leon Kennedy (Johann Urb), Barry Burton (Kevin Durand), and Luther West (Boris Kodjoe) is dispatched to rescue Alice and Ada.

Retribution scores a minor victory in the fact that it comes closest to replicating the video game experience more than any other game adaptation. The protagonists collect items and weapons in order to advance from one level to the next with helpful map graphics to orient the viewer. It's about as thrilling as watching someone play video games while hogging the controller. The barebones plot shamelessly rips off Aliens with Becky fulfilling the role of Newt to Alice's Ripley in a vain effort to inject some heart into this hollow action flick. The connections between each installment are tenuous with Anderson hitting the reset button whenever he feels the need. Alice has superpowers then she doesn't. Not that it matters either way since she has no problems defeating hordes of the undead with gravity defying flips, all while dressed in a tightly buckled leather outfit. It still provides more protection than Ada Wong's combat attire of a slinky evening gown and strappy high heels.

At least, Anderson keeps the pace brisk and action packed so as not to call attention to the thin plot or the clipped dialogue recited in increasingly wooden fashion by the cast.

Resident Evil: Retribution is more visually impressive than its predecessors, but no less dull or derivative. Only the most hardcore fans of the series will be entertained, especially by an open ending that threatens us with additional mind-numbing sequels.

Rating: * (*****)

Dredd

Dredd - Dir. Pete Travis (2012)

I'm not completely against reboots and remakes. There are some properties that deserve a second chance. One of them is Judge Dredd, who first appeared in the long running British comic book anthology, 2000AD. The series was set in a dystopian future under the totalitarian rule of the Judges, reflecting the prevailing mood amidst the height of Thatcherism. Dredd himself was a grim and unquestioning servant of the Judge System. He never removed his helmet, owing to his nature as a faceless representation of the law. The 1995 feature film was undone the moment Sylvester Stallone took off the helmet. He ceased to be Judge Dredd and was merely Stallone ("I ahm da law.").

Released under the auspices of Disney's Touchstone banner, Judge Dredd ground the property through the Hollywood machine and churned out a formulaic actioner full of cliches. Gone were the violence and the political commentary, replaced by comic relief sidekicks, romantic interests, and a hammy as hell Armand Assante. In the rich oeuvre of the Italian Stallion, it's no Demolition Man. At least, the production values were high. Judge Dredd did feature strong practical effects, marvelous set designs, and gaudy costumes designed by Gianni Versace. The new Dredd isn't nearly as flashy.

Dredd is set in a dystopian future where the most of the world has been rendered uninhabitable by nuclear war. The survivors of this Cursed Earth live in massive city-states, including Mega City One, located on the Eastern Seaboard. The megalopolis stretches from Boston to Washington D.C. and is policed by an overwhelmed force of Judges with the most infamous being the Judge known as Dredd (Karl Urban). Dredd is paired with a rookie named Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), who has flunked the battery of tests required to be a Street Judge. But, her potent psychic powers, a result of the surrounding radiation, make her an invaluable asset.

Dredd and Anderson respond to a triple homicide at the 200-story tall Peach Trees housing complex and arrest a small-time drug dealer named Kay (Wood Harris). Kay is simply a cog in the machine of Madeline "Ma-Ma" Madrigal (Lena Headey), a scarred crime lord manufacturing a designer drug known as Slo-Mo, which allows the brain to experience reality at 1% speed. Ma-Ma locks the entire building down and unleashes all her minions to kill the Judges.

On the surface, the story of Dredd bares a remarkable resemblance to The Raid: Redemption, one of the best action movies in recent years. However, Dredd doesn't match up to the fight sequences of The Raid. In fact, Dredd tends to get repetitive with one shootout after another and multiple bodies being thrown off high ledges. Director Pete Travis (Vantage Point) does bring a visual flair to the proceedings with help from Oscar-winning cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle (Slumdog Millionaire). For once, there is a logical reason for the inclusion of slow motion shot at 2500fps on the digital Phantom Flex camera. The slow motion is stunning and highlighted by a saturated color palette. The 3D effects are well done with shattered glass and splattered blood drifting out of the frame towards the viewer. They aren't enough to justify the extra cost of a 3D ticket, but you won't feel completely ripped off. The filmmakers have adapted the look of Dredd into a grittier world rooted in reality. Mega City One is a sprawling landscape of urban decay reminiscent of Children of Men and District 9. The uniforms of the Judges are bulkier and more militaristic in nature. And it wouldn't be Judge Dredd without the presence of the Judges' standard issue Lawgiver, a sidearm with biometric safeguards and programmable ammunition.

Screenwriter Alex Garland is known for crafting smart sci-fi flicks with 28 Days Later, Sunshine, and Never Let Me Go on his resume. At one point, he wrote the script for a Halo picture that came to fruition. Dredd isn't exactly as thought-provoking, but it remains faithful to the source material while working within the limitations of a mid-range budget ($45 million). Dredd doesn't delve deeply into the mythology of the comics. Instead, it serves as an introduction while following the formula of a cop drama ala Training Day. The film's measly opening weekend take of $6.3 million may have put the kibosh on Garland's proposed sequels that would have involved more ambitious elements, such as the Cursed Earth and Judge Death, a malevolent being that deemed life as the ultimate crime. A few Easter eggs have been thrown in to please the hardcore fans, including references to Fergee Memorial Park and Chopper the graffiti artist.

The character of Judge Dredd is a difficult one to pull off properly. He is unyielding authority, not a character that goes through a lot of introspective soul searching. Thankfully, Garland never attempts to humanize Dredd. Karl Urban plays the character to a tee, despite having his face obscured by Dredd's trademark helmet. Urban gives him a gruff and gravelly voice without going over-the-top in a Christian Bale sort of way. The film's requisite emotional arc is imparted on Psi-Judge Anderson, who sees the world in shades of gray in contrast to Dredd's myopic, black and white view. Olivia Thirlby is an unlikely candidate to co-star in an action pic, but she ably embodies the heart of the movie. Well, as much heart as a movie where people are skinned alive can allow. Lena Headey is also good as Ma-Ma, a rare instance in which the lead villain is female, though you wish she could have been given more to do.

In terms of comic book franchise reboots, Dredd isn't Batman Begins. It's more like Punisher: War Zone, a stylishly violent improvement that doesn’t fully realize the potential of its property.

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

Total Recall

Total Recall - Dir. Len Wiseman (2012)

Philip K. Dick is one of science fiction's most renowned and prolific authors. His works have been adapted into feature films numerous times with varying results. While it didn't exactly capture the spirit of the original short story, "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale," Total Recall has etched its place in the movie history as a classic action film. And so it goes that Hollywood combs its own past successes in search of a quick buck.

The remake is set during the tail end of the 21^st century in a world ravaged by global war. The only countries left standing are UK, now known as the United Federation of Britain, and the former Australia, now called the Colony. Instead of Austrian powerhouse Arnold Schwarzenegger, we have Irish bad boy Colin Farrell in the lead role of Douglas Quaid, an unassuming factory worker from the Colony. He and hundreds of other blue collar joes commute to and fro aboard the Fall, a massive transport system that tunnels through the center of the Earth. Quaid is listless about his mundane life, despite being married to the gorgeous Lori (Kate Beckinsale). One day, he decides to visit Rekall, a company that purports to realize your deepest fantasies through implanted memories. Just as the technicians at Rekall are about to put Quaid through the procedure, they discover his mind is already full of false memories. Armed gunmen burst into the building shooting everyone before Quaid guns them down with shocking ease.

Quaid learns he may actually be an agent for the resistance against the corrupt Federation chancellor Vilos Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston). His "wife" Lori attempts to kill Quaid at every turn and the only one who may be able to save him is a beautiful freedom fighter named Melina (Jessica Biel).

Mars and mutants are no more as the remake keeps its feet firmly planted on Earth. In place of exotic, red sands, we have a futuristic cityscape paying homage to Blade Runner (another Dick adaptation) and Terry Gilliam's Brazil. Due to rampant overpopulation, the Colony looks like a dozen Hong Kongs built on top of each other. Technology has yielded innovative devices such as a cell phone implanted into the palm of your hand and an army of robotic police sentries. In fact, Quaid works as a riveter ironically building the very automatons that will oppress his people. The robots serve a secondary function as a method to sanitize the violence of its R-rated predecessor to a palpable PG-13. Quaid rips the arms off a machine rather than a human being and doesn't spout a witty one-liner afterwards.

Paul Verhoeven's Total Recall was marked by gratuitous nudity and over-the-top violence. It possessed a satirical take on America's culture of consumerism and capitalism, which was also heavily present in Robocop. Len Wiseman's remake lacks any of the campy charm Verhoeven injected in favor of a pedestrian actioner that could have rolled off the same assembly line as its robot police force. Wiseman, who previously helmed the first two Underworld films as well as Live Free or Die Hard, is a decent action director, but one without an innovative bone in his body. Two of the major set pieces involve a flying car chase and a parkour inspired foot race through the rooftops of the vertically stacked Colony. Neither of them offers genuine thrills though the CGI is impressive. One sequence that could have been unique was a zero gravity shootout that is all too brief. Wiseman even cribs from the JJ Abrams playbook by punctuating Recall with obtrusive lens flare.

Fans hoping for a more faithful version of the source material will be disappointed. The screenplay was written by Kurt Wimmer (Equilibrium) and Mark Bomback (Unstoppable) with an uncredited rewrite by James Vanderbilt (The Amazing Spider-Man). All three authors skew too closely to the first film and never blur the line between reality and fantasy. The original Recall suffered through nearly fifty rewrites and at one point had David Cronenberg, whose forte was mind fucking the audience, attached to direct. While Verhoeven's Recall merely touches upon the possibility that Arnold may still be at Rekall, the remake never offers anything more than a straightforward narrative.

For his part, Colin Farrell gives a solid performance, but plays it too cool at times. He's always in control of the situation and never as befuddled as Arnold. Whether or not that was an intentional choice by the former governor, I'll leave it up to you. Kate Beckinsale isn't as sultry as Sharon Stone, but she's far more ruthless. Lori is Cohaagen's primary enforcer and pursues Quaid with the dogged determination of a T-800. Jessica Biel doesn't leave much of an impression and Bryan Cranston is rather wasted in his scant role as the villain. The same goes for Bill Nighy as clandestine revolutionary Matthias.

Total Recall or Total Rehash? In spite of some significant changes, the new Total Recall is almost step-by-step a straight remake of the original film, but without any discernable personality. All the three-breasted hookers in the world can't help them there. If you haven't seen the original movie, you may find the remake to be a passable action flick.

Rating: ** (*****)