Triple Frontier: Money As A Motivator

Triple Frontier is an action film directed by J.C Chandor. The plot sees a group of former soldiers who are hard up for cash, head down to Brazil where they plan to rob and kill a local drug lord that one of their member has spent years tracking.

Netflix’s action films are a mixed bag, with more bad than good, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by this. The thing I liked most was the classic rock soundtrack, right from the off when I heard it I knew what I was in for and I think it was a great accompaniment.

The performances are all faultless, Oscar Issac, Ben Affleck and Charlie Hunnam all do a great job and are convincing soldiers. Affleck is probably the weakest of the main trio, as there are moments where he looks like he is just there to get paid, however when it gets to the more emotional moments he shines. There is a scene when they’re trying to escape by helicopter, but the cash is going to weigh down the chopper, so they need to ditch and Ben Affleck’s character won’t give up even a single dollar, the emotion in this scene made me stand up and take notice.

The action was all fairly standard there was nothing that blew me away or really impressed me hugely.

Overall, a surprisingly strong action film with great performances from its trio of leads.

Pros.

The soundtrack

The leads

Ben Affleck’s helicopter scene

The tension

Cons.

The action itself was very by the numbers

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Old Guard: Missing Something

The Old Guard is an action fantasy film directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood. The plot sees a group of immortal warriors get a new member. However, at the same time sinister forces gather to expose their existence to the world and use them for evil experiments.

I had such high hopes for this film, I had it on a few minutes after it dropped on Netflix and I have to say I have not been this disappointed for a film in a long time.

There were cool aspects to the film don’t get me wrong, but my issue with it is that it does not capitalise on these in any meaningful way and instead uses them for style over substance thrills. A good example of what I am talking about is the central mythology of these immortal beings, there are so many questions, so many implications and the explanation we get is incredibly lacklustre. This is most likely set up for a sequel.

Moreover, I enjoy seeing Charlize Theron in these very action heavy roles, she has a great physicality and is a very believable ass kicker, however I would have liked something more from her performance here. Much like a lot of other things in this film, it doesn’t matter if the character has motivation or is interesting as long as they’re constantly doing and saying cool things. It gets boring and repetitive fast.

Overall, this film let me down in a lot of different ways, it has its moments, but is severely missing something.

Pros.

Theron’s fighting prowess

It has interesting ideas

Cons.

It never builds on or does anything interesting with these ideas

Theron’s character lacks any kind of personality

It gets boring and samey quickly

1.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Anna: A New Start For Luc Besson

Anna is a spy film directed by Luc Besson. The plot sees Anna (Sasha Luss), forced into a world of calculating intelligence officers and kill or be killed mentalities.

The first half an hour of this film is brutal to sit through, honestly I need to say that now because if I didn’t and you went straight into it then you might turn it off before it gets good. Yes, that is right despite an incredibly dull opening half hour the other hour and a half is surprisingly strong.

The plot jumps around a lot in time which is normally a problem for me, but here I enjoyed it. Besson uses the time jumping narrative to show all of the backstabbing and double dealing, which builds a nice sense of tension and suspense throughout the film that expertly comes to a head in the film’s final act.

Luss is a memorable lead, she nails the physicality maybe even better than Theron in Atomic Blond and is a very believable assassin. However, where her character suffers is in the personality department, in that she doesn’t really have one she is quite bland and charmless. In terms of charm her performance is blown out of the water without question by Cillian Murphy as the charismatic head of the CIA. Murphy as well as Helen Mirren make this film what is it.

Overall, if you can get past a diabolical first half an hour you will find a very enjoyable spy thriller that has no reason to be as good as it is.

Pros.

Sasha Luss

Cillian Murphy

The time jumps

The action

Cons.

The awful first half hour

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Last Boy Scout: Back When Bruce Willis Cared

The Last Boy Scout is an action movie directed by Tony Scott. The plot follows disgraced secret serviceman Joe (Bruce Willis), as he uncovers a conspiracy that covers everything from professional football to the Government.

This film reminded me what a Bruce Willis action movie could be, he has such a great presence and can play the hardboiled hero character better than anyone else. The amount of chemistry he has with Damon Wayne’s cant be stressed enough either, they’re a great duo. The sad thing is though that this film reminded me just how far Willis has fallen.

Outside of the acting this film is a mixed bag for me, there are plenty of great action moments that are super cool and instantly epic, but there are also a lot of moments that just come across as needless, vulgar and frankly off-putting. I won’t harp on about it for too long as I know the 90’s was a different time, but there is some quite unpleasant stuff in this.

Overall, if dumb action is what you want then look no further, it is a spectacle of explosions, loud noises and witty one liners, I was entertained for the most part and I am sure you will be too. However, if you’re looking for something deeper this film won’t be for you, I only watched it a few nights ago and the plot is so weak I have almost entirely forgotten it, also the language used is quite tasteless at times so if you’re easy offended then again look away.

Pros.

Great action

The Willis Wayne dynamic

The one liners

Cons.

Very outdated

The plot is non-existent

2.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Lost City Of Z: Madness Under The Sun

The Lost City Of Z is a historical biopic directed by James Gray based on the book of the same name by David Grann. The plot follows the life of legendary British explorer Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam), as he searches for what he calls ‘Z’, a lost civilisation located somewhere in the Amazon.

I had high expectations going into this, I have read the book and I enjoyed it. This film very much captures the spirit of the book whilst also changing key parts. An example of such a change is the ending, in the book Grann concludes that Fawcett and his son Jack (Tom Holland in the film), were killed by native tribes. Whereas the film ends on a happier note and suggests that they might still be alive living amongst the natives.

For the most part I enjoyed this film, I think it told the story of Fawcett’s life and disappearance well. I thought Hunnam was a solid leading man, he convincingly pulled off the soldier turned explorer look and never broke my belief. He was however upstaged in the acting department by Robert Pattinson who played Fawcett’s faithful right-hand man Henry Costin. Pattinson clearly lost himself in the role and was borderline unrecognisable, another great performance by the young actor.

My main issue with the film was how long it was, at almost two and a half hours this film feels like a slog. It frequently lost my interest and felt incredibly self-indulgent.

Overall, a solid adaptation that has a very issue.

Pros.

A faithful recreation

The performances

The twist on the ending

Cons.

It is too long

It is badly paced and therefore boring

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

How To Train Your Dragon 2: Hiccup The Horrible

How To Train Your Dragons 2 is an animated action and adventure film directed by Dean DeBlois. The plot sees Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), and the rest of Berk come under attack by a man who styles himself as the one true dragon master who sets his sights on taming an ancient all-powerful dragon and conquering the world.

I really enjoyed the first How To Train Your Dragons, I thought it had great emotional beats and set up a dense world. However, to me this film is a step backwards in a lot of ways. The emotional beats don’t hit as hard as they did in the first film, the death of Hiccup’s father does not make you emote as much as the almost death of Toothless in the first film, which says all you need to know.

Another thing I didn’t like about this film was the characterization of Hiccup, he goes from an unsure kid with a good heart in the first film, to a cocky, know it all, who blatantly thinks he knows better than everyone else and whose bad actions leads to terrible outcomes.

Moreover, this film makes the world feel far less big than it did in the last film, the villain and the new characters introduced in this film make the world seem to be only as big as the Viking territories. If the villain came from somewhere else entirely in the world that maybe had other fantasy beasts then they could have successfully built on the worldbuilding of the first.

Overall, this film is disappointing.

Pros.

I liked some of the new characters

It furthered the first films story

Cons.

The emotional beats weren’t as strong

The world feels very small

Hiccup is unlikable

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

King Arthur: The Legend Of The Double Edged Sword

King Arthur, Legend Of The Sword is a fantasy action film directed by Guy Ritchie. The film serves as a reimagining of classic Arthurian lore and envisions the Once and Future King as a street tough raised in a brothel destined to overthrow the evil king.

This film is a mixed bag, there was some stuff I really enjoyed and some stuff I thought was outright bad.

I enjoyed the world and the mythology this film sets up, it does not shy away from magic and shows off magical powers in quite a few sequences. Sadly the time slowing effect of when Excalibur is used in battle looks awful and like something out of a video game cut scene, so again very much hit and miss.

Moreover, Charlie Hunnam makes for a great King Arthur and has a lot of great lines and moments, his is easily the best performance in this film, but that is because pretty much everyone else isn’t trying; here’s looking at you Jude Law. I would like to see Hunnam in more of these sort of leading man roles in the future I do believe in the right hands he has a lot of potential to be explored.

This is very much a Guy Ritchie movie it has his style and fingerprints all over it, if you have ever seen one of his films before you know exactly what I mean. Very much like a lot of things in this film this too proves to be a double-edged sword. In the early parts of the film where Arthur runs a street gang it works very well and fits together, however as the story becomes more in line with the traditional depiction and more fantastical it starts to stand out for all the wrong reasons, proving to be quite out of place and jarring to watch.

Overall, a valiant effort to try something new, but only parts of it work out, incredibly hit or miss at the best of times.

Pros.

The world/ worldbuilding

Hunnam

The Ritchie tone in the first act.

Cons.

The terrible sword effects

Most of the cast are not even bothering to try

The Ritchie tone in the second and third acts

The fact that it doesn’t come together very well at all.

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

Kung Fu Panda 3: Mastering Your Craft

Kung Fu Panda 3 is an animated martial arts film directed by Alessandro Carloni and Jennifer Yuh Nelson. The plot sees ancient bad guy Kai (J.K Simmons), break free of the spirt world and return to the mortal plane hell bent on stealing the chi of every Kung Fu Master thereby destroying his old nemesis Oogway’s (Randall Duk Kim) legacy once and for all. There is only one Panda who can stop him.

I enjoyed this film quite a bit, it might have been my favourite since the first. I enjoyed the intensely personal journey at the heart of the story. Though you have all this end of the world end of kung fu stuff going on all around, the heart of the film is Po (Jack Black), coming to terms with you he is and finding his place in the world.

I think the journey that Po goes on, the inspiration for the series, is masterfully done and is a true achievement for the creatives involved. The progression feels natural and earned, when Po meets his birth dad Li (Bryan Cranston), it feels earned after all the soul searching he did in the second film. Truly his is a masterpiece of storytelling across multiple films and a beacon for how to do sequels.

I also enjoyed that the focus was not souly on Po, yes, he is the main focus, but this film gave those around him the chance to shine as well and shine they do.

Overall, this is the perfect end to the trilogy and feels like a much-deserved end, the character work and development is nothing sort of a master class and Black nails the emotion.

Pros.

The journey

The ending

The emotional heart at the core of the film

Giving the side characters a chance to shine

The voice acting

Cons

The villain is a bit weak, but it is such a minor issue.

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Monsters Vs Aliens: Who Cares? Clearly Not Dreamworks

Monsters Vs Aliens is an animated action film directed by Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon. The plot sees aliens attack Earth and the only people who can turn the tide and save the planet are a group of government sponsored monsters.

I had been looking forward to watching this film for some time, saving it if you will, but my oh my was I disappointed when I put this on. Other than the clearly 50’s inspired premise and design which I enjoyed and appreciated; I thought this film was aggressively average.

Nothing about this film stands out, the premise is played out you have seen it before and better. The character arcs are a retread of the same old tired clichés, there is nothing new to them. The cast though star studded does very little to leave an impression and the roles feel like they could be played by anyone.

Another thing that bothered me about this film was the animation. I have been watching a lot of animated films recently, so maybe I am hyper focused, but there is something off about the backgrounds in this film. They look bad unrendered or out of focus or something, I can’t quite describe it but they are noticeably bad and they really bring you out of some scenes; especially in the opening 10 minutes.

Overall, you will lose nothing if you don’t watch this film and you will gain nothing if you do, so don’t bother.

Pros.

I enjoyed the 50s theme

Cons

The cast is wasted

The jokes aren’t funny

The bad backgrounds are distracting

You have seen it before

1/5

Reviewed by Luke

Underwater: The Threat Came From Beneath The Waves

Underwater is a science fiction film directed William Eubank. The plot sees an underwater research centre become under attack by a strange unknown type of sea life.

I go back and forth on Kristen Stewart as an actress, sometimes I think she is good and worthy of all the praise she gets; other times I think she struggles with even basic emoting and can’t convince me of anything. However, I will give her praise here, she commands this film, her performance is striking and in some ways very reminiscent of Sigourney Weaver in Alien. This film would be far less good without Stewart in it.

Despite, feeling a little too overly familiar this film managed to keep me engaged throughout. It used the environment and tension to great effect and had a few great sequences that will stuck in my mind long after the film has ended. My one critique in this regard is the way some of these high-tension kinetic scenes are shot. The cinematography of these scenes makes them hard to see; which therefore makes it hard to tell what is going on. An example of my point is midway through the film one of the team is pulled out of their suit, but you don’t realise that you just see a lot of blood, you don’t realise what happened until one of the characters tells you. That is a big problem in my book.

Also T.J Miller is in this and he is every bit as grating as you are imagining. Horror/ dark science fiction films don’t need comedic relief.

Overall, a solid disaster film boosted tremendously by a great performance by Kristen Stewart.

Pros.

Stewart

The tension

Keeping me engaged in a played-out idea

Cons.

The characters outside of Stewart’s lead are one note

It is hard to tell what is going on

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke