Tag Archives: Movie Review

American Ultra

I saw American Ultra just one day after seeing Hitman: Agent 47and the similarities between the two are misleading:

  • AmericanUltraSuper-agents with amazing abilities
  • Physics-defying stunts
  • Protagonist who is unaware of their latent super-agent abilities
  • Mentor who helps them unlock those abilities
  • Everybody wants to kill the protagonists because of who they are, rather than anything they’ve done

I say “misleading” because that list might make you think they’re the same movie. They’re not. American Ultra is far better. It didn’t clear my Threshold of Awesome, but that’s a different scale than the one I’m using when I say “better.” American Ultra says things—interesting and important things—about the human condition. It revels in gun play like any spy movie does, but it does so in ways that let us count the cost. Also,  it’s funny. Not all the time, but at the right times.

The result is that this is not the sort of over-the-top spy movie that fans of spy movies sit down for, and that’s where my other scale comes into play. This movie was better, and more fun, than Hitman: Agent 47, but came nowhere near being as much fun as Kingsmen: The Secret Service or Spy on my fun-o-meter.

Eisenberg and Stewart were perfect in their roles, and while I’ve seen Eisenberg shine before, this marks the first time I’ve felt that way about Kristen Stewart.

American Ultra enters my 2015 list at #16,  a spot from which it really was quite close to climbing the final steps across the Threshold of Awesome. Close, but not quite.

Hitman: Agent 47

HitManAgent47Hitman: Agent 47 does nothing to set itself apart from other action movies, and is kind of predictable from start to finish. Still, it didn’t actually disappoint me, so it enters my list at #17, safely above the Threshold of Disappointment.

Rupert Friend’s performance as the titular 47 is pretty good, but he wasn’t given much to work with. Zachary Quinto was great, but under-utilized. Hannah Ware was awesome, and kept the movie fun and interesting. I enjoyed the way the story was told through her eyes, and I suspect that this same story with a less skillful actor in her place would have been unwatchably dull.

There are far too many things wrong with this film for me to catalog them. I had fun in spite of them. Your mileage will almost certainly vary.

UPDATED TO ADD: Armed with a pair of coupons, I saw this movie Monday morning, soda in one hand, and popcorn in the other, for $2.50. At that price it would have been difficult to disappoint me. Had I burnt $20 and a Friday night on it, this review might have had a completely different tone.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Henry Cavill’s “Superman” is not nearly as entertaining a hero as is his “Napoleon Solo” in The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

TheManFromUncleMy oldest daughter and I took in the movie Friday night, and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. subsequently leaped onto my 2015 rankings and took spot #3. It could have taken the #2 slot from Avengers: Age of Ultron if its third act had treated us to more of the awesome banter from the first two acts, but the misstep was a small one, easily forgiven.

Two standout items from The Man From U.N.C.L.E.: outstanding visual storytelling during the action sequences, and brilliantly twisty dialog during the talky bits. As added bonuses, Henry Cavill redeemed himself from that Superman role I was so disappointed in, and Armie Hammer redeemed himself from that Lone Ranger role that I’m still trying to forget.

Does there need to be a sequel? No, but I left the theater happy in the knowledge that there could be, if only in the imaginations of the folks who see the film.

 

Fantastic Four

I’m afraid I don’t have anything nice to say.

For the record, I have zero problems with a black Johnny Storm. The actor did a great job with what he was given, and nothing felt forced. So let’s get that out of the way. I also don’t have problems with the many violations of Marvel canon. A movie should be allowed to be its own thing, working freely within the space it stakes out, whether it’s being adapted from a best-selling novel, a beloved short story, or a comic book.

FantasticFourNo, my problem with this movie is that I was bored. A lot. I nearly fell asleep at the 75 minute mark. I actually regretted the decision to see it, with real regret for the lost time AND the fact that I was going to have to think about this movie AGAIN in order to write the review.

The best metaphor I can think of for this movie is that it is akin to the output of a cargo cult. The film makers have all these artifacts of the great comic book adaptations that have visited their island in the past, they have collected the flotsam that has washed up on their shores, and now they have built something that they think looks like a movie in the hopes that they can summon a magic that they do not understand.

(Note: I’m using the trope version of “cargo cult” here. The real thing is more complex, I know.)

Many of the right pieces are in this movie. They are not connected correctly, and some key pieces are missing, so the result feels counterfeit, and kind of insulting. The film adaptations of The Fantastic Four that we got from this same studio in 2005 and 2007 were much better, and they were not very good to start with.

It’s remotely possible that this film will be enjoyable in a throw-popcorn-at-your-TV kind of way in a few months, but please don’t invite me to your house for that party. I cannot sit through it again.

Fantastic Four enters my list below the Threshold of Disappointment, sitting pretty at #20. The only reason it isn’t all the way at the bottom is that I expected it to be kind of bad, while I had high hopes for Furious 7. So yeah, it’s my fault I didn’t enjoy it.

Fantastic Four was bad because my low expectations were not low enough.