The Place Beyond the Pines

The Place Beyond the Pines - Dir. Derek Cianfrance (2013)

"If you ride like lightning, you're gonna crash like thunder."

Derek Cianfrance debuted as a filmmaker with 1998's Brother Tied, but didn't gain widespread notice until his second feature, "Blue Valentine," an intimate and heartbreaking story of a dissolving marriage. Cianfrance's latest movie, The Place Beyond the Pines, is a much more ambitious effort that re-teams the writer/director with Blue Valentine star Ryan Gosling.

Place Beyond the Pines is a generational drama told in three parts about the sins of the father passing on to their sons. The tale begins with an uninterrupted tracking shot of Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling), the main attraction at a traveling carnival. Luke and his partners, the Heartthrobs, ride their motorcycles around and around within the confines of a caged sphere, an apt allusion for Luke's vagabond life. That is, until he runs into old flame, Romina (Eva Mendes), and discovers they had a son together. Luke decides to stick around. In his own words, "I wasn't around my dad...look at the way I turned out." However, his job prospects are slim and the only work he can get is fixing cars at a low-rent body shop run by Robin (Ben Mendelsohn, once again cast as a sweaty lowlife). Looking to score some fast cash, Luke and Robin cobble a plan to rob banks with the former hitting hard and fast before escaping on his bike. There, Robin will be waiting with a box truck to scoop up Luke and make their escape.

The second act changes gears as we follow Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper), a squeaky clean beat cop who crosses paths with Luke, now dubbed the 'Moto-Bandit.' Avery's newfound notoriety catches the eye of veteran detective Peter Deluca (Ray Liotta). Soon, Avery finds himself in a dirty world where he's forced to take payoffs and steal evidence from police lockup. The story leaps forward fifteen years in the third act to focus on Jason (Dane DeHaan) and AJ (Emory Cohen), the respective sons of Luke and Avery. Jason has a lot of questions about the father he never knew while AJ feels ignored by his dad, who is in the running for New York's Attorney General. The two become friends not knowing the improbable connection they share.

Cianfrance announces his bold vision for Place Beyond the Pines right from the beginning with that memorable tracking shot courtesy of DP Sean Bobbitt, who also shot similar sequences for Steve McQueen on Hunger and Shame. Gosling commands attention with every scene he's in, despite the fact that he plays a slight variation of the taciturn loner seen in Drive. Gosling's smoldering charisma is so undeniable that the film suffers when he disappears. This is no slight on Bradley Cooper, but his character isn't nearly as interesting and his travails are fairly formulaic. The movie does improve in the third act with the arrival of Dane DeHaan, who bares more than a resemblance to a young Leonardo DiCaprio. DeHaan has quickly established himself as one of Hollywood's top newcomers due to his work on Lawless and Chronicle. His performance here is strong and carries the final section of Pines while Cohen overplays his hand with a thick Long Island accent. Eva Mendes is also terrific as the glammed down Romina. Well, at least as glammed down as Eva Mendes can get.

The Place Beyond the Pines is an uneven effort by Derek Cianfrance, but the writer/director has nothing to be ashamed about. There's a melancholy lyricism to the movie, which is handsomely shot and littered with emotional performances and naturalistic dialogue.

Rating: ** ½ (*****)

Kick-Ass 2

Kick-Ass 2 - Dir. Jeff Wadlow (2013)

Scotsman Mark Millar is one of the top writers currently in the comic book industry. He's able to find a unique slant to traditional superhero tropes. Millar's magnum opus, Superman: Red Son, is a brilliant look at what would have happened if baby Kal-El had landed in Stalin Russian instead of Smallville, Kansas. Millar's talent as an author is frequently lost by his proclivities for being a provocateur. His works, such as Wanted and Nemesis, are known to frequently use profanity and violence for shock value. Millar has also come under fire for his cavalier attitude towards the depiction of rape. This leads us to Kick-Ass, which initially debuted as an 8-issue mini-series in 2008 and gained notice for Hit-Girl, a 10-year old vigilante described as a cross between Rambo and Polly Pocket. Hit-Girl casually cursed like a sailor and eviscerated bad guys with a variety of deadly weapons. When it came time to turn the comic into a live-action movie, director Matthew Vaughn raised the $30 million budget himself when studios balked at the violence and the young age of the character that caused most of it. The first Kick-Ass film didn't do blockbuster numbers, but it did enough off a modest budget to warrant sequels.

Kick-Ass 2 is based on the second mini-series and the Hit-Girl spin-off that bridges the gap between the two stories. Some time has passed since the events of the previous picture in which geeky Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) donned a green wetsuit to moonlight as the superhero Kick-Ass. He mostly got the crap beaten out of him while pint-size dynamo, Mindy Macready aka Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz), did all the real damage. Dave has hung up the tights, but dons them once more to escape his dreary existence as a high school senior. His past exploits as Kick-Ass have inspired dozens of other New Yorkers to put on their costumes, including Dave's best friend Marty (Clark Duke), now known as Battle Guy. Together, they join Justice Forever, a superhero team founded by Col. Stars & Stripes (Jim Carrey), a grizzled ex-mob enforcer who went legit after finding Jesus.

Now that he's playing in the big leagues, Dave receives further training from Mindy, but the sparring sessions end when her guardian and late-father's former partner, Marcus (Morris Chestnut), catches her in costume during a Ferris Bueller race to the house. Forbidden from being Hit-Girl, Mindy must acclimate to civilian life and dealing with one of her most fearsome foes ever, mean high school girls. Meanwhile, Dave's archenemy, Chris D'Amico (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), vows revenge and transforms himself into the Motherfucker, the world's first supervillain. He gathers his own team of thugs and killers led by a buff KGB assassin dubbed Mother Russia (Olga Kurkulina).

There were mixed message with Kick-Ass. It wanted to deconstruct the superhero genre and show real world consequences to costumed crime fighting. Then, it ended with the title character flying around on a jetpack and blowing a man up with a bazooka. Still, it was a fun action movie that hung on a bravura performance from young Chloe Moretz. Kick-Ass 2 is just a mess.

Matthew Vaughn had a flair for action, but he only serves as producer for the sequel. The reins are handed over to writer/director Jeff Wadlow, whose uninspiring resume includes Cry_Wolf and Never Back Down. Somehow, he's also managed to land X-Force as his next picture. Wadlow has no knack for action, employing the same choppy approach that too many American filmmakers adopt. A sequence where Mindy clings to a van full of mobsters is the movie's most poorly constructed set piece. Close-ups of Moretz in front of a green screen are embarrassingly obvious.

Kick-Ass himself has regressed as a character. He's less competent and less interesting in Kick-Ass 2 with his primary motivation being boredom. No, the true star of the sequel is Hit-Girl. Moretz manages to convey all the heartbreak that comes with bullying and adolescent awkwardness. However, Wadlow has embraced Millar's preoccupation with juvenile humor. Any emotional payoff from that storyline is tossed out in favor of a sight gag involving projectile vomiting and diarrhea. In fact, any time Kick-Ass 2 tries to inject some semblance of gravitas; it's undercut by jokes done in poor taste. Two deaths are expected to be taken seriously, yet the movie has such a casual attitude toward death that we feel nothing, except maybe nausea. Mother Russia brutally kills several police officers to a rock version of the Tetris theme and an attempted rape scene is played for laughs. This is tame stuff compared to the source material, which featured a gang rape, children being gunned down, and a decapitated dog.

It's also a shame that Kick-Ass 2 doesn't fully utilize its fantastic supporting cast. An unrecognizable Jim Carrey gives his liveliest performance in years in the small role of the Colonel. Carrey really disappears into the part thanks to some prosthetics and thick New York accent. Taking on these character roles can really revitalize his career. Too bad they aren't in better movies. John Leguizamo and an exuberant Donald Faison are wasted along with Iain Glen from Game of Thrones in a throwaway cameo.

Kick-Ass 2 is an out and out disappointment rife with abrupt tonal shifts and sloppy storytelling.

Rating: * ½ (*****)

The Lone Ranger

The Lone Ranger - Dir. Gore Verbinski (2013)

Nobody expected Pirates of the Caribbean to be a hit. It was a movie based on a ride at Disneyland. The star, Johnny Depp, was a respected actor, but not a box office draw. Plus, the last pirate movie to hit screens was the abysmal Cutthroat Island, a notorious flop that hastened the demise of Carolco, the production company responsible for Terminator 2 and Basic Instinct. Pirates was not only a triumph, it spawned one of the biggest money making franchises in movie history. Each of the three sequels is ranked in the top 20 of highest worldwide grosses, plus Depp received an Oscar nomination for his memorable portrayal of Capt. Jack Sparrow.

While Hollywood has produced several quality Westerns over the last several years (3:10 to Yuma, Django Unchained), it wasn't a genre considered to be a huge attraction. Disney was looking to change that perception with The Lone Ranger. They put the Pirates band back together including Depp, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, director Gore Verbinski, composer Hans Zimmer, and screenwriters Ted Elliot & Terry Rossio (with a rewrite by Justin Haythe).

The Lone Ranger and his faithful sidekick, Tonto, debuted on a 1933 radio drama, but his most popular incarnation is the ABC television series that aired from 1949 to 1957 with Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels in the lead roles. The least popular version would have to be The Legend of the Lone Ranger, a live-action film released in 1981 to capitalize on the success of the Superman movies. Legend was a critical and commercial failure and immediately sank the career of its star, Klinton Spilsbury, who never acted again. Spilsbury was no Christopher Reeve. He upset many crewmembers with his egotistical behavior, his drinking, and a mediocre performance that led producers to dub over his voice. Disney's Lone Ranger was also plagued with production woes. Filming was delayed due to the studio wanting to trim the bloated budget of $225 million. They cut it down to a mere $200 million. Not that it mattered because the picture wound up spending the difference and then some. Remember when Westerns didn't cost the GNP of a small country because all you needed was a horse, a desert, and a guy with a gun?

John Reid (Armie Hammer) returns to his dusty hometown of Colby, Texas after studying law back east. His brother, Dan (James Badge Dale), is a member of the Texas Rangers and Colby's primary lawman and is married to John's former girlfriend, Rebecca (Ruth Wilson). Progress is about to transform Colby into a vital hub thanks to the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad overseen by tycoon Latham Cole (Tom Wilkinson). The Reids and a team of Rangers set out into the desert to capture a recently escaped outlaw named Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner). An ambush by Cavendish and his gang leaves everyone dead, except for John who is rescued by Tonto (Depp), a Comanche on his own mission of vengeance.

Anything unique Verbinski and Depp had to say about the Western, they told it all in the delightfully quirky Rango. The Lone Ranger is painfully formulaic in spite of Verbinski quoting from the works of John Ford and Sergio Leone. He even throws in a visual reference to The Flight of the Red Balloon. The beautiful shots of Monument Valley aren't nearly enough to distract from a bloated runtime of nearly two and a half hours. Borrowing from Little Big Man, Verbinski employs a framing device in which an elderly Tonto, posing as a mannequin in a traveling sideshow, recounts his tale to a young boy. These sequences are one of many that attempt to deal with America's bloody history and the indignant treatment of Native Americans, along with Chinese rail workers. However, the movie never digs deeper into those topics because it is a Disney movie. Thus, we get a brutal scene where a Comanche tribe is massacred by machine gun fire that is completely undercut by Laurel & Hardy-style slapstick involving the Ranger and Tonto on a seesaw cart. There's no payoff to the sideshow scenes either. Too bad Sony has the rights to the Green Hornet, otherwise the kid could have been revealed to be Britt Reid, the Hornet's alter-ego and Dan's grand-nephew.

The tonal inconsistencies are a major problem beyond the failed blend of violence and humor. Throughout the picture, the Ranger is a source of derision in spite of the studio's desire to make him into a modern, bad-ass character. There's a constant mocking of the Ranger iconography with people asking, "What's with the mask," as a bad running joke. When the Ranger shouts his catchphrase, "Hi-yo, Silver! Away!," Tonto emphatically tells him to never do it again.

The Lone Ranger falls into the same trap of many origin stories in that the protagonist doesn't become the hero we know until the end. The final act is the best part of the movie with a pair of runaway trains on parallel tracks. It's the same type of outlandish set piece that the Pirates series did so well. The film is almost invigorated when the Ranger's theme, the William Tell Overture, finally kicks in and the masked man rides to the rescue of Rebecca, who is in full Perils of Pauline mode.

Although the movie is entitled, The Lone Ranger, Johnny Depp's Tonto is the obvious star. Depp tries to recapture the magic of Jack Sparrow with another idiosyncratic performance, but there isn't anything particularly memorable about his Tonto. The same goes for Armie Hammer, who was great in The Social Network, but is given nothing but the blandest material to work with. As brothel owner, Red Harrington, Helena Bonham Carter seems to have wandered off a Tim Burton set and is more than welcome though she could have been easily cut.

The Lone Ranger is an indulgent mess that failed to achieve a fraction of the success of the first Pirates movie. In the end, it will go down as another costly failure for Disney alongside Mars Needs Moms and John Carter.

Rating: * ½ (*****)

White House Down

White House Down - Dir. Roland Emmerich (2013)

Roland Emmerich sure gets a kick out of destroying Washington DC. He famously blew up the White House in Independence Day then wiped out the entire city with a massive tsunami in 2012. Emmerich isn't done with the nation's capital yet as he presents White House Down, the year's second film depicting the President's home under siege by terrorists.

Instead of Gerard Butler, we get Channing Tatum as John Cale, DC police officer and former Iraq War vet working security detail for the Speaker of the House (Richard Jenkins). He's a perennial underachiever and an absentee father. Cashing in a favor from his boss, Cale gets an interview to join the Secret Service and takes along his daughter, Emily (Joey King), hoping the young political junkie will be impressed by a VIP tour of the White House. Cale flops during the interview with Agent Carol Finnerty (Maggie Gyllenhaal), but gets a chance to prove himself when a team of mercenaries and white supremacists infiltrate the White House and capture President James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx). The baddies are led by Emil Stenz (Jason Clarke), an ex-Special Forces operative, with assistance from turncoat Martin Walker (James Woods).

While Olympus Has Fallen cribs far more from Die Hard, White House Down borrows only a few elements. Its protagonist not only has a similar name to John McClane, he spends most of the movie running around in a dirty tank top. One of the villains (Jimmi Simpson) listens to "Ode to Joy" as he hacks into NORAD. White House Down isn't as self-serious as Olympus either as Emmerich recognizes the inherent silliness of it all. This is a movie where even the nerdy tour guide gets a kill a bad guy and everything comes down to a nuclear weapon and an edge-of-your-seat countdown. Yes, White House Down goes down some incredibly stupid roads, such as a car chase on the south lawn or when the presidential limo just happens to have a rocket launcher hidden in the back seat. Also, what genius decided to mount a covert assault by sending attack choppers through the DC streets in plain sight of any traffic camera or cell phone? Screenwriter James Vanderbilt (Zodiac, The Amazing Spider-Man) practically draws a bright, bold arrow each time a plot element is introduced for a later payoff. Do you think President Sawyer's pocket watch from Abraham Lincoln will be important later on?

Tatum is a welcome antidote to the grim-faced Butler. He ably carries the film on his broad shoulders by playing the lovable lunkhead we've come to know in 21 Jump Street and Magic Mike. He's helped by the fun chemistry he shares with Jamie Foxx as the idealized Obama, who ushers in world peace, dismantles the military-industrial complex, and looks good in a pair of stylish Air Jordans. Jason Clarke doesn't get much to do as the ruthless Stenz though you can easily picture this being the eventual path of his character from Zero Dark Thirty. James Woods is at his slimy best though Emmerich wastes a stacked supporting cast that includes Maggie Gyllenhaal, Richard Jenkins, Lance Reddick, and Michael Murphy.

Drowning in effects-laden action and ham-fisted jingoism, White House Down is an unmistakable product of Emmerich's brand of summer shlock.

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: *** (*****)

The Wolverine

The Wolverine - Dir. James Mangold (2013)

He's the best there is at what he does and what he does isn't very nice.

Wolverine first appeared in the final panel of Incredible Hulk #180 and matched his claws up against the Hulk's gamma powered fists in the very next issue. But, it was his appearance in Giant Size X-Men #1, when he became a full-fledged member of Marvel's premiere mutant team, that truly launched him into the pop culture stratosphere. Since then, he has stood as one of Marvel's most popular and enduring characters. His past was shrouded in mystery and his no-nonsense attitude clashed with the squeaky clean morals of his more colorfully attired peers. It's no surprise that the big screen version has gained equal popularity. A huge part of that is owed to his portrayal of Hugh Jackman, who was virtually unknown before he was cast by Bryan Singer in the first X-Men movie. To think, he almost didn't get the part. Russell Crowe's name was originally bandied about before Dougray Scott was chosen. However, Scott had to drop out due to filming Mission: Impossible II, Jackman popped the claws, and the rest is history. Now, Jackman sports the epic mutton chops of everyone's favorite Canadian superhero for the sixth time in The Wolverine.

The Wolverine is a title meant to signify the filmmakers' desire to capture THE definitive version of the character on screen. This latest installment serves as an apologia to the critically derided X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which suffered from too many characters, shoddy special effects, and a poor attempt to shoehorn Wolverine's origin into the movie continuity. Rather than a prequel, The Wolverine is a direct sequel to X-Men: The Last Stand, another mess of an X-film that also met with a poor response from fans.

The Wolverine opens during WWII with Logan as a POW outside of Nagasaki. Thanks to his healing factor, he manages to survive the atomic explosion and saves the life of a guard named Yashida. In the present, Logan lives a solitary life in the Canadian wilderness, haunted by memories of Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), who he was forced to kill during Last Stand. Wolverine's hermit existence is interrupted by Yukio (Rila Fukushima), a former orphan and current employee of Yashida (Haruhiko Yamanouchi), who has since become a captain of industry and now lies on his deathbed. Upon arriving in Japan, Logan is shocked by Yashida's proposal to take his healing factor and allow our hero to grow old and live a normal life. Logan also stumbles onto a whole mess of political and corporate intrigue involving Yashida's granddaughter, Mariko (Tao Okamoto), who stands to inherit the entire company. The Yakuza are after Mariko and it seems her father, Shingen (Hiroyuki Sanada), and fiancé (Brian Tee) want a piece of the pie too. Then, there's the Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova), a mad scientist with her own agenda for stripping Wolverine of his mutant powers.

The Wolverine is a refreshing change of pace from the usual comic book movies where entire cities are reduced to rubble. The movie is surprisingly light in action and heavy on introspection. The script credited to Scott Frank and Mark Bomback (who rewrote an initial draft by Christopher McQuarrie) used the 1982 mini-series by Chris Clairemont and Frank Miller as a springboard to explore the title character's existential crisis. While superheroes bemoaning the burden of their powers have become cliché, it fits Wolverine perfectly. Director James Mangold (who replaced Darren Aronofsky) draws on a variety of inspirations including film noir, spaghetti westerns, and Japanese masters like Kurosawa and Mizoguchi. The tender romance between Logan and Mariko blossoms when they seek sanctuary in a seaside town will immediately bring forth thoughts of Ozu.

Jackman makes the noir and western comparisons apt by giving a performance that evokes Clint Eastwood and Robert Mitchum. He's the gruff tough guy smoldering with rage and ready to explode in a violent fury. Practically stealing the show is newcomer Rila Fukushima as Wolvie's pixie punk sidekick. With her large and expressive eyes, Fukushima looks like a Japanese Christina Ricci or a girl who just stepped off the page of a well-worn manga. Forget about more X-Men movies; give us the adventures of Wolverine & Yukio. Perhaps, take them to the isle of Madripoor?

The Wolverine isn't entirely about soul searching and belly gazing. Mangold, who gave us the excellent remake of 3:10 to Yuma, puts together several solid action sequences. The highlight sees Wolverine doing battle against Yakuza thugs on top of a speeding bullet train. We also witness the amazing visual of Wolverine being turned into a human porcupine when he takes on a clan of ninja archers. Yukio gets in on the fun with a swordfight against Hiroyuki Sanada, who is terrific for the limited part he plays.

Where Wolverine goes off the rails is during the third act when all the character work is tossed away in favor of mind numbing spectacle. It's as if someone forgot they were supposed to make a comic book movie and threw in a giant robot samurai. Meanwhile, the Viper is thrown into the mix without much thought with Khodchenkova (who was quite good in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy) sounding like she should have gone after moose and squirrel instead of Wolverine. The story only requires a cursory knowledge of the franchise. In fact, being steeped in X-Men lore may be a curse and not a blessing as it reveals numerous hiccups in continuity. For one thing, how does Logan suddenly have all his memories?

Third act aside, The Wolverine differentiates itself from the majority of recent comic book films by not relying heavily on tired tropes or expensive effects.  Just be sure to stay through the first half of the credits to see a teaser for X-Men: Days of Future Past.

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

Red 2

Red 2 - Dir. Dean Parisot (2013)

Still retired, still extremely dangerous.

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

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

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

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

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

Rating: ** (*****)

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: * (*****)

Admission

Admission - Dir. Paul Weitz (2013)

After cutting her teeth as a performer and head writer for Saturday Night Live, Tina Fey went on to create her own sitcom in 30 Rock, which was inspired by her time on the venerable variety show. Though it was never a huge ratings grabber, 30 Rock garnered a loyal following, critical acclaim, and numerous awards. As Liz Lemon, Fey added her own twists to the tried and true archetype of the working female trying to balance her professional and personal lives. Unfortunately, Fey takes several steps back in the depressingly formulaic Admission.

Fey stars as Portia Nathan, an admissions officer at Princeton University. Her job is her life, even if it involves passing judgment on wave after wave of potential students. Things are thrown into turmoil when Portia's boyfriend, Mark (Martin Sheen), leaves her for another professor (a scholar of Virginia Woolf, no less) he accidentally impregnated. At the same time, Portia is asked to visit an alternative school in New Hampshire by its founder and former collegiate classmate, John Pressman (Paul Rudd). While visiting Pressman's Quest School, Portia meets a variety of unusual characters including Pressman's adopted son, Nelson (Travaris Spears), and a prodigy by the name of Jeremiah Balakian (Nat Wolff). Adopted by grocery store owners, Jeremiah did poorly in public school, but possesses remarkable intelligence and owns a ventriloquist dummy named after René Descartes. According to Pressman, there's a strong possibility that Jeremiah might be the son Portia gave up for adoption when she was a student.

The prospects look good for a comedy headlined by Tina Fey and Paul Rudd. You expect witty banter and some sharp, off-the-cuff one-liners. In other words, you expect a completely different movie. Admission is a dull affair that saps any personality away from the usually hilarious Fey and Rudd. The movie, based on a 2009 novel by Jean Hanff Korelitz with a screenplay by Karen Croner (who also adapted the Meryl Streep melodrama One True Thing), trades on the stale formula we've seen countless times in other romantic comedies. Fey is the type-A female professional with Rudd as the unconventional love interest. There's a healthy mix of slapstick tossed in for good measure such as an awkward encounter in a cramp car and a scene where the leads bond during the messy birth of a calf. The dialogue is blunt and it is clear neither Fey nor Rudd were able to spice it up with their own ad-libs. At times, the script veers into a satire about college admissions and the ridiculousness of distilling a young person's entire life into a standardized essay. Sadly, this satire lacks any bite and takes a backseat to rom-com conventions.

Admission was directed by Paul Weitz, who previously directed American Pie and About a Boy with his brother Chris. While his first film as a solo act, In Good Company, was a success, the rest of his work have been misfires like American Dreamz, The Vampire's Assistant, and Little Fockers. They can sit on the bottom rung alongside "Admission." One of the only memorable flourishes in the movie involves candidates appearing before the admissions board and dropping through a trap door when they are denied.

Admission is saved from being a complete dud by some of its supporting cast, such as Wallace Shawn playing the type of role you expect from Wallace Shawn. Lily Tomlin is terrific as Portia's mother, a radical feminist with her own unusual ideas about motherhood. Plus, Martin Sheen essentially reprises his role as the boorish Wesley Snipes from 30 Rock.

Despite conquering television, Tina Fey has yet to receive the one lead role that would cement her status as a bona fide movie star. Considering her best film yet is "Mean Girls," which she wrote, Fey is going to have to make it happen herself. Right now, Hollywood is just handing her bland comedies like Baby Mama, Date Night, and Admission. She deserves better.

Rating: * ½ (*****)