The November Man

First Hit:  Albeit an overly complicated plot, it kept me wondering how it would turn out.

There isn’t much about this film that makes it good.

The complicated plot line: Was it about Devereaux (Pierce Brosnan) and Mason (Luke Bracey)? Was it about how the CIA works? Was it about Devereaux and Alice (Olga Kurylenko)? Maybe it was about what being a CIA hit man deals with his/her life? Or was it about age and experience versus youth?

It could have been about Hanley (Bill Smitrovich) the head CIA operative and Devereaux, or was it about Arkady Federov (Lazar Ristovski) the guy trying to win a Russian Presidential election and Alice the girl he raped? There are a couple more I could have mentioned but the point being I never really understood what this film was about.

It is fine to have sub-plots and stories other than the main story, but the main story must be obvious to all – here it wasn’t. One things is for sure, there is a lot of shooting and a lot of bodies are given up for an unknown plot. What was good was Kurylenko’s Alice – she was engaging and created a believable character amongst the film’s lack of clarity.

Brosnan seemed OK but there were too many times that he looked like he was acting a character versus being the character. There was a separation of acting and being that, at times, seemed visible. Kurylenko was good and was fully engaged with her character. Bracey was pretty good as well as the young agent learning  to make choices about his personal and professional life. Smitrovich was very strong as the CIA person only caring about his agenda and what he thinks the US should be doing. Amila Terzimehic was a great unemotional assassin. Michael Finch and Karl Gajdusek wrote a confusing out of focus script. Roger Donaldson directed this with few highlights and mostly just adequate.

Overall:  This will not be a memorable film and needed clarity of plot to work.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

First Hit:  Visually interesting and fun, however the storyline was very week.

This film started out lost and ended up lost. Between these points, it seemed to find a path, get some traction, then get lost with extra crap.

Was this a story about Ava (Eva Green) or Senator Roark (Powers Boothe)? Or was this film about Marv (Mickey Rourke) or Nancy (Jessica Alba)? Or was this film about Dwight (Josh Brolin) or Johnny (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)? Although these stories were all inter-relational, it didn’t have a strong enough focus to keep me fully engaged.

Visually though, at times this film was outstanding. The use of black and white graphics, black and white film, and then adding splashes of color; a dress, hair, lipstick, bottle of booze, whatever – it added the kind of interest to keep me watching the film.

Green was pretty good as the femme-fatal however I think the storyline let her down. Rourke was virtually unrecognizable (probably on purpose) but he was good as Marv the brutish indestructible hard charging protector. Boothe was great to see again and his role was perfect Boothe. Alba had a somewhat minor role and I didn’t like it. She was good, but the role was pretty weak and I lacked the ability to care about her character. Gordon-Levitt was the role I enjoyed the most. I would have rather have the film be about his story more than the side story it ended up being. Brolin was in a hero role and he always does this well even in a weakly scripted film like this. Bruce Willis had an OK role as a ghost that assists Alba with her mission. Dennis Haysbert was fantastic as Manute Ava’s bodyguard. His voice and presence in the film was really strong. Frank Miller wrote a disjointed script and I cannot figure out what the point of the film was. That he promoted this film with his name is egocentric driven and disappointing.  Miller and Robert Rodriguez both directed this film and if the script had been better the film might have been better.

Overall:  Although the visualizations were fun, this film is forgettable.

Into the Storm

First Hit:  Exciting visuals, uninteresting story and the plot, although predictable, was weak.

Pete (Matt Walsh) is a premier tornado hunter. His job is to move his armored truck into position, the tornado’s path, and film the experience including what is in the eye.

His team, including scientific tornado finder Allison (Sarah Wayne Callies), has had a series of bad luck calls and they’ve just missed getting their job done. The pressure is on. Gary (Richard Armitage) is a widowed father and high school Vice Principal. His boys Donny and Trey (Max Deacon and Nathan Kress respectively) are struggling with his parenting skills and style but have taken to his suggestion that they video their lives. They all get caught up in the largest tornado in history which descends on their town of Silverton.

For some comic relief and to give a different slice of life, the film includes two guys who do stupid things and survive all the havoc. I did think the visuals were done really well but I didn't care about the characters. It seemed to be the film was derived because there was great technology available to the producers and storms would be fun to do so; “let’s create some sort of story that includes young people and parents realizing they need to care more about their kids while fighting a common problem."

Walsh is mediocre as the man who needs to get a tornado on film to justify the expense of building his tank like tornado filming truck. Callies’ character was uninspired and not interesting. She feigned to be a weather and climate scientist but nothing about what she said was anything you don’t hear from a weather person on network TV. Armitage appeared to be really be trying to be engaged with his character and film, but that was the problem, you could see his acting. Deacon and Kress were the best parts of the film in their own way. As brothers there was the tension and love which always lives between brothers. John Swetnam wrote the script which had its failings from being interesting. Steven Quale used visuals very well. I loved seeing the funnels starting, stopping and finally coming into fruition. I felt the sense of power of a tornado, having been through one in Oklahoma many years ago. It is tense and powerful and over in a heartbeat.

Overall:  Outside of the visuals I just didn’t get interested in the characters or story. I just wanted to see the tornadoes.

Guardians of the Galaxy

First Hit: Came off as tongue in cheek, overly complicated, funny sometimes, and visually interesting from time to time.

When I watched the preview I wondered how the filmmakers would make one generic white man, one tree, one greenish beauty and one raccoonish fox type set of characters to become “Guardians”.

The complicated part: The filmmakers had a young Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) extracted from earth the night his mother dies by Kraglin (Sean Gunn). Kraglin raises Peter to be resourceful but Peter doesn’t like the way Kraglin lives his life so as an adult he goes on his own. Quill is a curious sort and resorts to listening to music on a portable cassette player given to him by his mom.

Upon finding an Orb with special powers by which the galaxy can be destroyed the enemy of the Galaxy ,Ronan, wants him captured. He gets caught along with a tree called “Groot” (Vin Diesel - voice), Drax (Dave Bautista) a buffed red scarred guy, Rocket (Bradley Cooper – voice) a raccoon/fox animal, and Ronan's daughter Gamora (Zoe Saldana) who has learned her father is bent on destroying a civilization.

OK, now you get it, the film's setup is overly complicated just to get characters into the game. Then to have them be united in their goal was the director’s next step and to do this he used tongue in cheek dialogue and scenes.

The film kept moving into taking itself seriously and then not. I enjoyed some of the Orb visuals along with some of the results of the weapons they used in fights. The outcome was predicted as well as introducing a sequel.

Pratt had a great way of being serious and not serious and carrying off the tongue in cheek way this film was presented. Gunn was good as the guy with an occasional heart. Saldana was strong as the woman who wants to make the galaxy a better place. Her strong body worked very well for the part. Cooper’s voice for Rocket was fun as was Diesel’s voice for Groot. The usage of Groot’s one sentence to express everything was inventive. James Gunn and Nicole Perlman wrote this fun but convoluted script. Gunn created a fun experience but I hope the sequel settles down and brings more of a point to the film.

Overall: This film was fun, it had some great laughs but it could have done more interesting and effective by being simpler.

Lucy

First Hit:  Although highly unlikely and unbelievable, it was philosophically interesting and fun to watch.

Luc Besson (director and writer) has a particular philosophical view of life, our interconnectedness, and that time is the sole component that sets our reality as something we can see, touch or feel.

The premise that we only use 10% of our brain and that if we used 100% or a partial percentage between 20% & 100% we could read others’ thoughts and alter physical reality. How Besson shows us his view is to have a young woman, Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) who starts off as not being too smart, being forced to take a drug that increases her brain usage.

Unfortunately she is given a lot of the drug and ends up having amazing skills to fend off the drug lord Mr. Jang (Min-sik Choi) and his gang who wants their drugs back. Lucy gets in-touch with Professor Norman (Morgan Freeman) who can help her understand what is going on with her, and more importantly, receive the information she is learning about humans, life and the universe.

So what we have is a philosophical story based in an action adventure film. Did it work? Yes, and at times I found myself wanting more of the philosophical part and other times I wanted more action and fun special effects.

Johansson has such an amazing voice and sometimes I lose my concentration on her acting when I hear her, however in this film they integrate well. She’s really good at giving looks of indifference and strength, while using her voice to denote intelligence. Choi’s character is a bit overdone but requires his relentlessness to make this film work. Freeman is believable and really good as the professor that knows most about brain use. Besson wrote an interesting script and it is clear he has strong views about how life works. His direction of this story is strong, making it fun to watch.

Overall:  This is an enjoyable action film with a philosophical twist.