Olympus Has Fallen

First Hit:  Despite big holes in the plot and feasibility, it was entertaining enough.

It is hard for me to believe that a big, prop driven, slow plane such as the one that riddles Washington DC with Gatling gun bullets, could and would get as far as it did.

If our defense system consists of two jets (with follow-up planes as well) and they cannot figure out how to shoot down this big slow plane at the outset then… oh we wouldn’t have had a film. Anyway, the timeliness of this film about a North Korean dissident Kang (Rick Yune) trying to teach the US a lesson about the Korean Peninsula made me smile just a little.

The film sets the audience up by showing the close relationship between Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), President Asher (Aaron Eckhart), and his family (wife Margaret – Ashley Judd and son Connor – Finley Jacobsen). Through no fault of his own Mike gets excused from the protecting the President by protecting the President.

When the Korean’s storm the White House, Mike gets back into action and does what he can to save the President, his country, and to save his own life. Another hole in the story is that when the President is shot, and everyone knows there are no more bad guys, no-one rushes into the White House to assist the wounded President – they waited until Mike and Asher slowly made their way out of the rubble – all for drama.

Butler is OK at portraying the troubled agent – but it wasn’t a stretch at all. Eckhart was OK as the President doing the Presidential and honorable acts by letting his Secretary of Defense give up her code to keep her alive. Judd was fine in her small role. Yune is good as the dissident. Morgan Freeman was very good as Speaker Trumbull who ends up being the President in Charge. Angela Bassett as Secret Service Director Lynn Jacobs was good. Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt wrote a script that had an interesting concept but too filled with holes. Antoine Fuqua directed this with the idea of fantasy not reality.

Overall:  It might be something to watch on a rainy Sunday afternoon at home, but not worth the money to see in the theaters.

Dead Man Down

First Hit:  I was pleasantly surprised that the story was different than I thought it would be – it was about revenge and maybe revenge not being the; be all end all.

Alphonse (Terrence Howard) is having his organization being picked apart, person by person. He’s being sent clues of small square sections of a larger picture.

The picture shows who's doing the killing. Part of his crew of people, who take over buildings and get rid of people who try to hang on in the building, is Victor (Colin Farrell). The crew forces people out of buildings and re-rents them for higher rent.

Although Victor seems engaged with the group, he has other things going on but has gained Alphonse’s trust. From his apartment he can view another section of the building that has a resident to whom we waves at from time to time.

This resident (Beatrice played by Noomi Rapace) convinces him to go out with her one evening and she tells him she wants him to kill the guy who drove into her car which caused massive facial scars. She wants revenge. But why would he do this? She has a film of Victor killing someone and is it using blackmail.

As the film unfolds we learn more about Victor and why he’s doing what he’s doing and his ultimate plan.

Farrell is, as usual, very strong as the troubled, focused man and here he wants revenge. Howard is very good as the frightened but powerful leader of a bunch of thugs. Rapace is phenomenal as the damaged woman who slowly is letting herself care. I loved how the subtle movements in her face brought forth such a plethora of feelings and emotions. Dominic Cooper was strong as Farrell’s thug friend. Isabelle Huppert was wonderful as Valentine, Rapace’s mother.

Overall: Being pleasantly surprised was good and overall the film delivered a satisfying result.

Snitch

First Hit:  That Dwayne Johnson didn’t break out into a fist fight and violent rage added to this films intrigue.

Johnson  has shown in numerous films he has some range. Here, because of this size and build, I expected him to beat the crap out of his antagonists, but he didn’t.

Playing John Mathews in this film as a once divorced father of two children. His son Jason Collins (Rafi Gavron), by his first wife, gets into trouble and his integrity won’t let him rat out someone else for a lighter prison term. Seeing his son beaten from an altercation while in prison, Mathews decides to assist the government’s prosecutor Joanne Keeghan (played by Susan Sarandon) catch a bigger fish so that he can get his son’s sentence reduced.

To do this he befriends Daniel James (played by Jon Bernthal), an employee who has a felony history. Through this connection he finds himself in the think of a drug deal. How he decides to make the deal work for everyone requires him to create his own plan to save his family.

Johnson does a really good job of not using his size and bulk to make the role work; he uses his head and heart to make his character real enough. Gavron does a very good job of being the forgotten son that also wants to do right. Sarandon is OK as the prosecutor. Bernthal is really good as the guy who’s trying to do right for his family. Barry Pepper is wonderful and powerful as a federal agent. Melinda Kanakaredes is almost a bit over dramatic as Johnson’s first wife. Justin Haythe and Ric Roman Waugh wrote a fairly strong script from what based as a true story. Waugh also directed this film and generally it was well paced.

Overall:  Entertaining and shows Johnson’s willingness to continue to grow as an actor.

A Good Day to Die Hard

First Hit:  More or less, it was aimless, thoughtless and died hard.

I’ve seen and enjoyed most all of the Die Hard films. There was a personality created in them through Bruce Willis as John McClane, the script, and the situation in which these two things came together.

In this fourth incarnation I found myself not caring, looking around the theater and waiting for the film to end. It was overstuffed with car chases, shoot-outs, and special effects (helicopter sequence at Chernobyl).

The basic storyline was that McClane didn’t know his son Jack (played by Jai Courtney) was a CIA operative in Russia (thought his son was a lost soul, dealing or using drugs in Russia). John goes to help his son and gets caught up in Jack’s job which is to find out and capture the guy who is going to smuggle nuclear weapons out of Russia.

The story complicates itself with the poorly written part of a wayward daughter double crossing her father, and John and Jack trying to reconcile their relationship.

Willis is the only occasional bright spot in this film with his usual McClane quips. Courtney is OK as Willis’ son but there is little chemistry to make it seem real. Sebastian Koch (as Komarov) is not very believable as a Russian scientist who is on the outs with the Russian Premier. There was nothing that made me believe that Yuliya Snigir as Irina was Komarov’s daughter. Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Willis’ daughter Lucy was OK and was aspect of the film, in her brief parts, that worked. Skip Woods and Roderick Thorp wrote a lazy script that focused on what sort of shooting and chase sequences can we put in. John Moore wasted my time (and probably yours) by trying to put this story on the screen.

Overall:  The worst of this otherwise reasonably entertaining group of Die Hard films.

Parker

First Hit:  Direct, no surprises and not very entertaining.

There isn’t much of a point to the film besides, don’t double-cross Parker (Jason Statham). If you do you’ll get yours – because he always does what he says he’s going to do.

Hurley (Nick Nolte) is his girlfriend Claire’s (Emma Booth) father. Hurley sets up a robbery job for Parker with guys he’s worked with in the past. However, these guys, led by Melander (Michael Chiklis) double-cross Parker and attempt to kill him. Thinking that Parker is dead, they go on about their business.

However, Parker is not dead and heads to Miami to deliver pay-back. There he meets a real estate agent named Leslie (played by Jennifer Lopez). Overall, the film might have worked better without Leslie’s part, because she didn’t bring much added value (except maybe box office draw and maybe some humanitarian actions by Parker) to the overall film.

The best part of the film, for me, was the interaction between Parker and Claire. There was a sweetness and hopefulness that made their relationship work.

Statham did what he does best, play rough and determined. The occasions of compassion towards Lopez and Booth were nice. Nolte feels like he’s not embodied a character in anything recently including this film. He’s saying lines in his gruff way, but there is no depth to his acting which he was great at doing early in his career. Booth was exquisite and one of the better aspects of the film – I enjoyed watching her and her expressions. Chiklis was alright as the double crossing thief. Lopez was good in an unnecessary role. She does well on the screen but I found her character distracting from the point of the film. John J. McLaughlin wrote a mediocre screenplay. Taylor Hackford directed some good action sequences, but the overall film didn’t hold together really well.

Overall: If you like Statham this is his typical kind of film and it is OK and not great as an action film.