Capsule reviews by Bob Ignizio
I'm
trying to get caught up with the films I missed this year before
making my obligatory “Best of the Year” list. Most were
reviewed by other writers here on the Cleveland Movie Blog, but a
handful slipped through the cracks for whatever reason. So to what
degree I can, I'll be reviewing some of these films we missed the first time around that are now
available on home video. First up, a trio of “B” action flicks:
THE RAID: REDEPMTION,
LOCKOUT, and SAFE.
LOCKOUT
Producer Luc
Besson continues his quest to become the modern day king of Euro
schlock cinema with LOCKOUT,
a cheap but reasonably fun knock off of John Carpenter's ESCAPE
FROM NEW YORK. Instead of Kurt
Russell as Snake Plisken, we get once promising actor Guy Pearce as
“Snow”. And instead of being sent into a New York City turned
prison colony to save the President's daughter, he's sent to a space
station to save the president's daughter, here played by Lost
alumni Maggie Grace. LOCKOUT
also has a subplot about Snow trying to clear his name for a murder
he didn't commit. Vincent Regan and Joseph Gilgun are fun as the
brothers leading the inmate revolt, but they can't compensate for
Pearce, who's no Kurt Russell. Still, if you're in the mood for this
kind of trashy old school sci-fi/action B movie, LOCKOUT
should kill an hour and a half fairly well. 2 out of 4 stars.
THE RAID: REDEMPTION
THE RAID: REDEMPTION is
a non-stop fight-fest directed by Gareth Huw Evans, a Welshman who
now calls Indonesia home. The premise concerns an Indonesian SWAT
team that stages a raid on an apartment building controlled by
vicious drug lord Tama (Ray Sahetapy). It doesn't go well, and the
surviving cops must fight their way through floor after floor of bad
guys to survive. Basically this is 90 minutes of people shooting,
punching, and stabbing each other. It's like watching somebody else
play Mortal Kombat, only without the depth of characterization. The
fight scenes are well choreographed and shot, but the entertainment
value is minimal when you don't have any characters to really care
about. I'm enough of an action junkie that I was able to get some
enjoyment out of the film, but not that much. 2 out of 4 stars
Note: The Blu Ray
of THE RAID: REDEMPTION includes both the original score and
dialogue audio tracks as well as an English dubbed version re-scored
by some guy from Linkin Park. This review is based on the original
version.
SAFE
There
really aren't that many modern day Enlish-speaking action heroes who belong on
the same level as guys like Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Eastwood, and
Willis. In fact, Jason Statham is about it. So while SAFE
is a pretty typical “burned out cop gets a lease on life by
protecting a little kid on the run from gangsters” movie, Statham's
presence manages to lift it above mediocrity. His charisma and
prowess in the fight scenes make the cookie cutter plot seem... well,
not fresh, but at least not as rancid and moldy as it really is.
Credit is also due to writer/director Boaz Yakin(FRESH,
REMEMBER THE TITANS).
Well, at least the director part of that equation. Probably because
he wrote this schlock, Yakin tries his best to make this a really
good movie. He doesn't quite succeed, but he does at least manage to
deliver a fun grade B action flick, and that's good enough in my
book. 2 1/2 out of 4 stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment
We approve all legitimate comments. However, comments that include links to irrelevant commercial websites and/or websites dealing with illegal or inappropriate content will be marked as spam.
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.