Skyfall

First Hit:  Action and more action but without much thoughtfulness.

Don’t get me wrong – Daniel Craig as 007 – James Bond, is at least neck-to-neck, (if not ahead of) with Sean Connery as my favorite Bond.

Whereas Connery’s Bond was sophisticated and debonair; Craig’s Bond is more rough and movement oriented. Therefore this film is more or less strictly an action film versus a thinking man’s Bond film.

Like the immediate predecessors, this film begins with a long sequence prior to the opening credits. In this case we are led to believe that James is killed. We all know this wouldn’t be true or else why would we have another 135 minutes left of film to watch?

This sort of telegraphing happens throughout the film; we know that arch enemy Silva (played by Javier Bardem) will only be killed in the end, and no matter how many times Bond has the opportunity throughout the film it will only happen in the end.

What was surprising was M’s (played by Judi Dench) involvement in the story. And in some ways I liked this touch. I liked that we involved other characters including M’s boss Gareth Mallory (played by Ralph Fiennes), Eve (ready for it) Moneypenny (played by Naomie Harris, and a new Q (played by Ben Whishaw).

The newish versions of old characters were introduced reasonably well which bridged the old Bond to the new Bond. However, this film just seemed to be just a series of action sequences stringed together with some dialogue. However, Silva’s character created an appropriate level of disturbed presence to move Bond to the next level of action.

Although many of the action scenes were amazingly put together, I thought the subway (tube) coming through the hole in the ceiling to be incorrect. The sequence is too long and the train would have stopped moving forward long before it did and it wasn't appropriately slowing down as it hit objects in its way. This would have been different in real life and therefore it didn’t come off a real crash.

Craig is a favorite Bond of mine and he’ll do more good Bond films if his natural intelligence is developed as well. Here he is superb in the action sequences. Bardem is appropriately spooky and devilish in his actions. Dench is strong but a feeling tired in this role. Harris is nicely interesting in her role as Eve, one of Bond's paramours. Whishaw is good and appropriately nerdy as the new Q. Fiennes, works out well as M’s boss and his slow engagement into the story works very well. Neil Purvis and Robert Wade wrote an action script and not one exemplifying Bond’s intelligence. Sam Mendes, showed a strong hand at creating interesting action scenes (motorcycle chase), helicopter use (both on the island and Skyfall), and the wonderful nostalgia of first using the new Jaguar (M’s car) to the old DB5 (Austin) with ejection seat button and machine gun headlights.

Overall: If you want to watch a lot action – go see this film.

The Man with the Iron Fists

First Hit:  Spoof or not – who knows but generally I couldn’t wait for it to be over.

I like spoofs and I like interesting, artistic, and fun kung-fu films. This film is none of these things. Why start an older Chinese time period film with a swear-word ridden rap song?

OK spoof, but then it doesn’t spoof enough so I think, OK not a spoof. Oops, wrong again, Jack Knife (think Mack the Knife and Jack the Ripper) played by Russell Crowe back to spoof. Nope, wrong again it is a true heart story of a Blacksmith (RZA) saving money by making weapons for bad people, and giving the money to his hooker sweetheart.

Spoof/odd Kung-Fu film/serious story, who knows and I can tell you neither does RZA who writes and directs this hodge-podge mess. The fun part was watching Lucy Liu as Madame Blossom in a nearly mirrored reprise of her earlier Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill 1 role, O-Ren Ishii.

The overly complex plot with undefined characters, just so RZA can display lots of blood spurting everywhere, eyeballs flying out of skulls, limbs being severed and heads rolling was, in the end, tiring.

Crowe was wasted energy in this role. RZA tried to create himself as a learned man coming from both slavery and a monks training – poorly conceived. Liu was the best thing in this film to watch and stole all scenes she was in. Eli Roth and RZA wrote an ill-conceived screen play because they couldn’t decide what kind of film to make. Direction by RZA, although there were some wonderful shots, didn’t really seemed interested in conveying a cohesive direction and thought.

Overall:  I wouldn’t know who the audience is for this film and the small audience in the theater reflected the mess on the screen.

Taken 2

First Hit:  Almost as good as the original film which many follow-ons cannot claim.

With Liam Neeson getting older, I wondered if he’d be able to deliver on another intense action thriller.

As divorced CIA agent Bryan Mills, he’s about to go to Istanbul for a short 3-day protection job. Before his trip he's spending time with his daughter Kim (played by Maggie Grace) and assisting her with her driving test. He’s, as you might imagine, very controlling and deliberate.

When he goes to pick up his daughter he gets the chance to talk with his former wife Lenore (played by Famke Janssen). She is unhappy and Mills is sensitive to her unhappiness. Yes, he misses her. When he discovers she and Kim cannot go on their trip to China together, he offers them a trip to Istanbul. They take him up on his offer and that is this film's set up.

The people he killed in the previous Taken film because they stole his daughter are after him and his whole family. They are revengeful – this, for me, is the stupid part of the film. However without this revenge there is no film.

Once the killers take Mills and his wife, then the game is on and here is where Mills skills and Kim’s insistence to help her father create a way to kill the perpetrators and save their family.

The action is swift and precise and this alone makes this film come together.

Neeson is wonderful and believable as both a father and action agent. He can do both very well. Janssen was very good as his lost former wife. Grace was great as the daughter willing to help her father. Rade Serbedzija as Murad the primary perpetrator was excellent at embodying the philosophy of revenge. Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen wrote a good screenplay. Oliver Megaton directed the action in an adequate way, although the fight scenes were a little too staccato to watch to make them feel real. It is a way to hide poor action choreography.

Overall: The action was good. And as a follow-on to the original film, this one bodes well.

Looper

First Hit:  A film that had me thinking about the story the morning, which bodes very well for it.

While the film attempts to draw one in about time-travel, it is the strong acting and inventive story that makes it work well.

Joe (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) puts aside any feelings he has about assassinating people because; it makes him a good living, the people are from the future – so they’ve already had a life (30 years more than if he were to kill them in real time), and it pays for his drug habit, which is one way he escapes caring much about his actions.

The way this works is that only organized crime, which lives 30 years in the future, has the ability to send people back to the past to be killed. The future world sends notice to Abe (played by Jeff Daniels), who is in the present (or past world) to have a “Looper” (one who assassinates) ready to kill whoever arrives at the designated spot from the future.

The Looper's payment for the kill comes with the person killed in the form of silver strapped to their backs. As a film viewer, you could get caught up in the time dilemma by wondering how the film explains both the past and future existing in the same moment of time, but I strongly don’t recommend bothering with it, especially if you wonder why only crime organizations uses time travel. 

If you buy into the story as the film presents it, the time travel phenomena the director takes us through is used to share meaningful parts of the story. And the meaningful parts of the story are about loving someone and how that love drives us to act in ways of honor and dishonor.

The future or Old Joe (played by Bruce Willis) comes back to change his future destiny because of love and Young Joe finds love with Sara (played by Emily Blunt) and her son Cid (played by Pierce Gagnon) and wants to see them live on.

Gordon-Levitt once again shows why he is being a frequently sought after actor – he’s excellent here as Young Joe and carries just enough of Willis’, Old Joe, look and feel to make it believable. The one thing that did bug me was Willis’ ear lobes and Gordon-Levitt’s ear lobes are very different (but they got the injured top part of the ear just right). Willis, is as he does of late, provide an intelligent, relaxed performance that is believable. He’s very good. Blunt, despite a wobbly accent, is outstanding and continues to show me why she is one of my favorite actresses. Daniels in a limited role is perfectly wonderful and takes scenes over when he is in them. Gagnon as Blunt’s child is creepily and charmingly fantastic. Piper Perabo (as Suzie) is wily and wonderful as Young Joe’s favorite hooker. Rian Johnson wrote a strong character script and although the requirement of parallel realities existing at the same time wasn’t handled real well – this film isn’t about time travel and he directed this cast in a strong story about love and redemption.

Overall:  The title of the film detracts from a film that is full of excellent acting and an intriguing story.

The Cold Light of Day

First Hit:  Poorly constructed story with mostly pitiful acting.

Will (played by Henry Cavill) is meeting his family for a sailing trip on the Mediterranean.

His parents Martin (played by Bruce Willis) and Laurie (played by Caroline Goodall) have rented a boat for themselves and their sons Will and Josh (played by Rafi Gavron) and Josh’s girlfriend Dara (Emma Hamilton).

The boys view their dad as a difficult man, especially as a culture coordinator for an embassy. In a fit of anger Will dives off the boat and heads to town. Upon his return, the boat is gone and he soon discovers that the police are not really interested in helping him.

With his mom, brother and Dara kidnapped, Martin decides to let Will know that he is really CIA and there are enemies after him for a briefcase he stole a few weeks earlier. Martin’s boss Carrak (played by Sigourney Weaver) is a bit twisted and seems to be on the wrong side of equation. Will soon dies and the story becomes about how his oldest son will save the day.

The script does not create any real excitement nor does much of the acting, which seems pressed at best.

Cavill is about as lackluster as can be and this is a huge red flag in anticipation for his role as the man of steel next year. Willis, as he can and does often, steal scenes he is in and when he dies, the film dies with him. Gavron and Hamilton have minor and uninteresting roles. Goodall does her best as the concerned wife and mother, but there is nothing worth showing up for. Weaver is absolutely bad as the twisted CIA boss and she needs to quit taking parts like this. Scott Wiper and John Petro wrote an ill-conceived script which was poorly executed by director Mabrouk El Mechri.

Overall: A complete waste of time and so poorly acted by Cavill, worries will crop up about his Clark Kent role in the upcoming Man of Steel.