The Bullet Vanishes

Title: The Bullet Vanishes

Director: Lo Chi-leung

Released: 2012

Starring: Nicholas Tse, Sean Lau, Yang Mi, Boran Jing, Wu Gang, Liu Kai-chi, Jiang Yiyan

Plot: Song Donglu (Lau) an eccentric detective and expert in criminology is teamed up with Guo Zhui (Tse) who has a reputation for being “the fastest gunman in Tiancheng”. The pair soon finding themselves trying to solve a series of mysterious shootings at a bullet factory were no bullets can be found.

Review: I’m not sure what it is about Asian cinema but it’s not only proven to be a surprising source of great Westerns such as The Good, The Bad and The Weird and Miike Takashi’s Sukiyaki Western Django especially for someone like myself who never cared for the Western genre. The other surprise has being these Sherlock Holmes style mysteries which we saw so memorably reworked in Detective Dee and the Phantom Flame and now here with this film which takes place in a sumptious vision of 1930’s China.

While our lead might not own a deer stalker hat or even smoke a pipe, there is an unquestionable Holmes like air to Detective Donglu who is introduced testing out one of his theories by hanging himself so that he can compare his own injuries to that of the victim. We also get to see him trying to understand how Fu Yuan (Yiyan) a woman convicted of killing her husband pulled off the murder as he demonstrates as keen a mind for criminology and the criminal mind as he does for detection.

His partner Guo Zhui on the other hand is on first appearances more of the muscle of the pairing and while he certainly gets to demonstrate some impressive shooting skills, he also comes with an indepth knowledge of firearms and balistics which certainly come in handy in this case especially in figuring out how the owner of the bullet factory was able to win a round of Russian roulette refered to here as “Fate of the Heavens” and makes up one of several mysteries that the film presents over the course of it’s runtime including a locked room mystery. At the same time director Lo Chi-leung even brings his gunslinger knowledge to the action scenes as memorable seen during a shootout were he must work out the range of the badguy during a tense stand off.

Of course when it comes to these kinds of mysteries there is the tendency to provide far fetched explanations to solve the mysteries being presented and thankfully Lo Chi-leung never resorts to such thing as every mystery has for the most part a logical explanation. That being said if the solution for the Phantom bullets actually would work or not if unclear but certainly it atleast seems plausible. Still it’s an intoxicating blend of mystery and action that we get here and which works only the better due to the skills set of the films two detectives.

Heading up the villain quota for the film is Liu Kai-chi as the factory owner Boss Ding a truly odious cigar smoking villain who is more than happy to send his thugs to impose his will on not only his workers but anyone who opposes him and certainly Lo Chi-leung wastes little time in establishing just how ruthless he is as the film opens to him forcing a female worker he has accused of stealing bullets to play him in a game of Russian roulette or “Fate of the Heavens” as he refers to it as and what will be seen as the catalysis for the phantom bullet murders which start befalling his men. Even with such an obvious lead villain the film still manages to work in numerous other twists as it soon become clear that this is a mystery that goes a lot deeper than Boss Ding’s questionable business practices.

Sadly while we do get a lot of strong male characters, here the female cast are rarely given as much to do, other than to pop in and out of the story to provide a clue or uncover a piece of evidence to keep the story running. That being said Yang Mi is great as the fortune teller Little Lark. Sadly used to lesser effect is Yumiko Cheng as the coroner who for some reason also keeps an Ostrich in her lab, the reasons for frustratingly never being revealed.

A gorgeous looking mystery if one which will no doubt draw comparisons to Guy Richie’s take on Sherlock Holmes, despite the film constantly proving that it’s able to stand on it’s own merits even if it does choose to break up the pair just when I was looking forward to hopefully getting a series of adventures with them which is sadly dashed in what very much felt like was a tacked on epilogue to the story as Lo Chi-leung opts for one last twist instead of ending the film at it’s logical end point. Despite this what remains is a fun mystery complimented by action scenes which are as often as inventive as the detection methods.

Atomic Blonde

Title: Atomic Blonde

Director: David Leitch

Released: 2017

Starring: Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman, Til Schweiger, Eddie Marsan, Sofia Boutella, Toby Jones, Roland Møller, Jóhannes Jóhannesson             

Plot: It's 1989 and days before the collapse of the Berlin Wall, MI6 agent Lorraine Broughton is dispatched to recover a microfilm that contains the details of every intelligence agent on both sides of the Cold War active in Berlin, only to soon discover that she’s not the only one who wants to find it.

Review: I’m frequently surprised by what films are adapted from graphic novels with “Road to Perdition” and “A History of Violence” being prime examples and this is certainly the case for this film which is adapted from “The Coldest City” by Antony Johnston which has since the release of the film been renamed “Atomic Blonde” to strengthen the connection to the film.

While the idea of Charlize Theron being an action star might seem like a new direction for her career following on from show stealing turn as Furiosa in “Mad Mad: Fury Road” but at the same time it could be argued that she’s had this edge to her career since turning up in the problematic yet surprisingly not terrible remake of “The Italian Job” or “Promethus” were she’s seen doing push ups when she leaves her cryo-pod while her fellow crew mates are too busy throwing up. Needless to say much like Linda Hamilton she really is the hidden gem of an action heroine as she certainly proves here as she teams up with Director David Leitch who here minus his “John Wick” co-director Chad Stahelski is clearly attempting to continue in his efforts to re-invent the modern action movie.

While it might be sold on the premise of being a female John Wick a moniker that is almost as cringe-worthy and lazy as Hayao Miyazaki being refered to as the “Disney of Japan”. Sadly this really is not we ultimately end up getting here despite Theron efforts to really deliver something special and to her credit she really is one of the few remarkable things about this film, more so when her performance was the only thing I really wanted to save while the rest of the film just left me wanting to just tear it down to the studs and start over.

For Theron this film is something of a passion project and from her performance it’s certainly clear with her training for the film which saw Theron not only cracking two teeth but also sparring with Keanu Reeves who at the time was also gearing up for “John Wick 2”. When you see them results of her hard work on screen you really have to commend her hard work especially when it adds a sense of realism to her performance. More so when it comes to the action scenes which much like “John Wick” certainly have a kinetic flow to them as well as a touch of realism as her character is frequently beaten up and blooded from each encounter while being shown taken ice baths to deal with the injuries so that she can drag herself through to the completion of her mission. If anything it was these action scenes that I wanted to revisit more than the confusing plotting surround them.

The idea of setting the film during the cold war might seem refreshing it really doesn’t give the film much outside of providing a significant event to set the finale against. More so when going into the film I had no idea that it was even supposed to be set in the late 80’s instead believing that I was going to be watching Theron kicking ass in a post Soviet Russia especially seeing the random ass get up of fellow agent David Percival played here by an underwhelming James McAvoy who I ended up wishing they’d cut from the film or better still just have Joaquin Phoenix reprise his performance from “Buffalo Soldiers” whose character is what Percival essentially is once you remove the spy antics. Sadly due to his significance to the plot we are lumbered with him.

Elsewhere we get do get smaller and more effective performances from Toby Jones who plays Theron’s MI6 superior and much like John Goodman who plays his CIA counterpart is someone I never really tire of showing up in surprising places like this, but here he is really one of the few performances that I wanted to see more of here.

Ultimately the downfall of the film can be found in the plotting which packed with double agents and the inevitable double and dare we say triple crosses end up turning into a confused mess as the relevance of certain characters becomes all the more questionable the more twists that are added while others such as Sofia Boutella’s French agent Delphine are given things to justify their presence in the story which in the case of Delphine seems mainly to provide an unrequited lesbian sex scene between her and Theron which like so much of the padding here added nothing to the story bar some brief titillation, even though the film makers have been quick to defend her role as being a way to humanize Theron’s character despite the fact we are shown numerous shots of her pining for her lover and fellow agent we see being killed at the start of the film.

Soundtrack wise it’s as predictable as to be expected as the usual 80’s pop hits are dusted off because seemingly we can’t have any mention of the cold war without Kaleida’s “99 Luftballons” working its way in there while George Michael’s “Father Figure” just feels miss placed.. We do get a couple of highlights in David Bowie’s “Cat People (Putting out fire)” being used to the same effect it was in “Inglorious Bastards” with our female ass kicker putting on her make up while “London Calling” by the Clash works equally well.

Ultimately this is a forgettable spy thriller with some memorable action scenes which much like Theron’s performance will no doubt be one of the few things you remember about it when it’s over. Certainly this is a character I would see developed or dispatched on a less confused plot as this was far from the introduction it deserved.

xXx - Return of Xander Cage

Title: xXx: Return of Xander Cage

Director: D.J. Caruso

Released: 2017

Starring: Vin Diesel, Donnie Yen, Deepika Padukone, Kris Wu, Ruby Rose, Tony Jaa, Nina Dobrev, Samuel L. Jackson, Toni Collette

Plot: Extreme sports hero Xander Cage (Diesel) has been living in self-imposed exile since being recruited by the government's “xXx” program, only to be brought back when a weapon known as Pandora’s Box capable of crashing satellites is stolen by Xiang (Yen).

Review: The original “xXx” released back in 2002 is something of a guilty pleasure for myself as it not only managed to combine extreme sports with James Bond style hijinks, but also freshen up the spy genre which had certainly lost its edge with “xXx” giving us a louder and flashier and generally over the top take on material much like we’d got with “True Lies”. Sadly while the series certainly looked like it had potential to spawn a number of fun adventures for the character, the tepid “xXx: State of the Union” essentially killed the franchise dead as the combination of heavy CGI and a charmless and generally loud Ice Cube make for a forgettable experience while Vin Diesel went on to growl about family a whole bunch in the “Fast and Furious” franchise

Of course the idea of Vin Diesel returning to the series was certainly welcomed by myself not only because he is one of the more underrated leading men of the action genre, but also for how he truly made the character of Xander Cage, an extreme sports caricature more of a believable creation even adding tattoos to the character which paid homage his own D&D characters. Sadly in the fifteen years have passed since his last outing and with the Riddick saga not really connecting with the audiences the way that I think he would have liked, its clear that Vin Diesel viewed this return as more of a backup option.

No doubt due to the success of the “Fast and Furious” franchise this time Xander isn’t saving the world alone as we now find him being lumbered with a team of uninspired creations which include sharpshooter Adele Wolff (Rose), stuntman / getaway driver Tennyson “The Torch” (McCann) and errr DJ Havard “Nicks” Zhou (Wu) while Nina Dobrev is on hand as the CIA weapons specialist Becky essentially replacing the Agent Shaver character from the first two films. All of these characters being introduced with freeze frame flashes as pop trivia cards appear longside them, just incase anyone was keen to know that Adele’s gamer tag is “Lady Boner”. Of course none of this flash can disguise the fact that all of these additions much like their enemy counterparts are all bland cutouts, overworked in their background details in a vain attempt to make them seem more hip than your average spy. Instead all we end up with though is a bunch of irritating caricatures than anything resembling a fully developed let alone likeable character.

The other issue we get is that every time you have any two characters together it turns into an ego contest as they constantly seem to be wanting to prove who is the most extreme, be it via a game of hang grenade hot potato or the the excruciating tattoo story scene between Xander and Serena (Padukone) as the claims they make grow ever more ridiculous including her claiming that she climbed the Millenium Eye naked. Perhaps this was to add more sex appeal to a character who spend nearly the whole film in various states of undress, but instead just left me rolling my eyes.

These scripting issues continually plague the film which doesn’t take the gap between films into account, meaning that Vin Diesel ends up coming off like the dad trying to show how hip he is to the young kids, which might have been fine if there hadn’t been that 15 year gap and as such ends up with Xander coming off frequently akward throughout even though its clear that Diesel is attempting to charm the audience through the material. These issues aside Xander is very clumsily written here, devoid of any of the charm which made him such a likeable character in the original, let alone the fact that he was able to succeed were his spy counterparts failed because he wasn’t some trained spy and relied on instinct, his skills and general Playstation training. This time round he’s too much of a spy and generally too knowledgable of the espionage world especially for someone whose supposed to have removed themselves from this world. Another issue is the lack of a decent bad guy, an issue which also hindered the previous sequel and here its pretty much the same problems again, when surely it shouldn’t have been too hard to come up with another Eurotrash villain than just leading us in one big circle which the changing face of evil here ultimately creates.

The action scenes are enjoyable enough throughout, though nothing comes close to matching what we got in the original film, especially with the use of CGI being so heavy it really becomes hard to distinguish the few moments when we do get practical effect work. Even with two fantastic martial Artists like Donnie Yen (stepping in for Jet Li) and Tony Jaa in the cast they end up feeling squandered here with Caruso shooting them so close and choppy that their abilities never really get chance to shine through, which for the established fans of their work will only prove the more frustrating. Equally squandered is Samuel L. Jackson who here bookends the film and is removed far too quickly just to establish the introduction of his replacement Jane Marks (Collette)

Sadly still not the sequel to the classic original we wanted especially when proves to be just as forgettable as the previous film.

Terminator Genisys

Title: Terminator Genisys

Director: Alan Taylor

Released: 2015

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, J.K. Simmons, Dayo Okeniyi, Matt Smith, Courtney B. Vance, Lee Byung-hun

Plot: When Kyle Reese (Courtney) is sent back in time to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor (Clarke) only to find himself on an alternative timeline were Sarah is already a capable warrior and even has her own terminator “pops” (Schwarzenegger) while the threat of Skynet remains ever more present than before.

Review: Since the release of the phenomenal “Terminator 2: Judgement Day” the Terminator franchise has found itself for the most part floundering and in dire need of some kind of direction to drive the franchise forward. True these attempts have meant that we got to see Judgement day happen (Rise of the machines) as well as a disappointing attempt to set an entry in the post apocalyptic future (Terminator Salvation) whose scripts from its troubled development promised more than we ultimately got, but then what can you expect when you allow McG to direct the movie.

Now rather than doing the logical choice of just driving a dump truck of cash to James Cameron’s house and beg him to return to the franchise instead this time Alan Taylor steps up to direct who is best known for directing TV with his most noteworthy film credit being “Thor: The Dark World” which now the fans of the Marvel cinematic universe have gotten over the initial shine of getting comic book movies and proclaiming their love for everything the studio puts out regularly rank it as one of the worst films to come from the studio. So hardly the most reassuring credential going into this film, but hey Arnold was returning so that’s a postive….right?

Knowing what the fans had made of this entry ahead of time my expectation was kind of at a low, especially when the trailer had hardly done anything to grab my attention. Of course it was a big suprise when 40 mins into the film I found myself really enjoying myself as we got to see the final battle against Skynet being won and Kyle being set back in time, all things we’d heard about in the previous films and only now were getting to see actually happen. Even when we get into the alternative 1984 and see an older version of Arnold’s terminator battling his clone I was digging the homage, especially when so much care was being taken to replicate the scenes from the original film. And then we time travel again to 2017 and things started to become unglued.

For some reason once we take that leap forward the film really starts to fall apart and almost feels like the first half was directed by someone else and that Taylor was brought in by the studio to finish the film as its almost jarring how suddenly the quality of the film drops and all we’ve done is make one jump in time.

One of the biggest issues comes with the latest Terminator development which this time sees John Connor being replaced by a nanobot Terminator the T-3000 which might have worked a lot better as a plot device had the trailers not given away this major twist and as such it ends up coming off flat and devoid of any kind of emotional response that might have been there. As a villain though he brings nothing new to the table outside of having some slightly different abilities and when the end game is to blow up Cyberdyne again you can’t help but feel alittle frustrated to see the franchise still going in circles.

On the plus side Arnold is still as fantastic as ever in his iconic Terminator role even bringing a few new elements to the role this time as this time he plays Sarah Connor’s guardian Pops, perfectly working in the fact that he is much older than the last time he played the role, as its revealed that the flesh covering his robot exoskeleton can age, a concept which came from James Cameron when the producers approached him about rebooting the franchise. This is further added to by Pops showing signs of old age as his joints start to seize and give out and it really adds to the character while proving to be the one thing to justify all this timeline hopping madness.

The action is fun as always with Arnie showing that despite his age he can still throw down with the best of them as we get plenty of terminator on terminator violence with Pops saving the pair from a variety of terminator models including a new version of the T-1000 played here by Lee Byung-hun who even mixes things up slightly by including the ability to throw metal spears which makes for a nice touch especially when so much of his scenes feels like we are watching a rehash of Terminator 2 which also rang true during the helicopter chase. The T-3000 meanwhile gets old quick especially not having any real powers compared to the previous terminators we have seen. Yes he’s good as the unstoppable presence, but compared to Byung-hun he just falls flat when you compare the two.

The other issue here is that Emilia Clarke and Jai Courtney have zero chemistry together which is already supposed to be akward from the start seeing how they are destined to be together which certain parties know from the start with Pops amusingly asking Sarah if they’ve “bred” or not. But looking at this pair you can see them never getting together, while the introduction of the adult John Connor on their timeline just comes off confused and akward with a stupid plot idea only seeming the worse as this pair attempt to interact with their adult child.

Its frustrating as this film certainly has its moments with the first 40 minutes really being promising. It’s just a shame that it all falls apart from there. While it might be an improvement over parts Rise of the Machines and Salvation this really could have done with a stronger script let alone not feeling like it was borrowing from the second film so much. As such approach with caution.

American Ultra

Title: American Ultra

Director: Nima Nourizadeh

Released: 2015

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Topher Grace, Connie Britton, Walton Goggins, John Leguizamo, Bill Pullman, Tony Hale

Plot: Stoner Mike (Eisenberg) is content with his life in the backwater town of Liman, West Virginia were he works as a convenience store clerk with plans to propose to his longterm girlfriend Phoebe (Stewart) despite his plans being constantly self-sabotaged by his panic attacks. Little does he know that he’s also a sleeper government agent, whose just been reactivated when his former handler (Britton) learns that he is to be eliminated by her rival Yates (Grace) as part of a clean up program. 

Review: What is it about Max Landis that seems to instantly irk certain members of the critical / blogging community? Is it because he’s perhaps had more doors opened to him due to his father being cult director John Landis or the fact that he so openly flaunts this blood connect rather than taking a pen name like Joe Hill (Son of Stephen King)? What ever the reason the mere mention of his name being attached to a project for some reason seems to raise the same kind of destain that M. Night Shyamalan or Eli Roth being attached to a project does.

Personal gripes aside though its hard to see why Landis creates this kind of reaction, especially considering how his body of work as both a writer and director of the rather fantastic shorts “The Death and Return ofSuperman” and “Wrestling Isn’t Wrestling” have shown him to be one of the more original if occasionally unfocused minds currently working since he burst onto the scene with his script for “Chronicle” and this is what we find again with this film.

One of a number of scripts sold on the back of the success of “Chronicle” here he teams up with Director Nima Nourizadeh who previously directed the millennial party movie “Project X” and this time gets to build upon those brief moments of chaos and carnage with the first stoner action hero who might also be the most dangerous man with a spoon!

An interesting concept and one certainly added to with Landis’ unique style as we are introduced to Mike who despite being a stoner isn’t exactly a slacker as he holds down a job working at the local convenience store working on his comic aswell as towards being able to propose to his girlfriend Phoebe who he sees as being the best thing in his life, who he is also paranoid will leave him especially when he self-sabotages their planned trip to Hawaii with his panic attacks.

While the expected path for the film to take would be to have Mike suddenly turn into a badass once he’s activated and all his skills implanted in him by the Ultra program become available to him. But unlike the likes of “The Long Kiss Goodnight” what we get instead is Mike suddenly finding himself able to defend him using his implanted skills and knowledge while at the same time having no clue as to why he is able to do any of it. This was something I found to be kind of jarring the first time I watched the film were for some reason it didn’t seem to sit with me. Upon re-watching it though this time with knowledge of what to expect I found that the experience this time much more enjoyable.

Of course Eisenberg himself much like Topher Grace is far from your traditional action hero and that itself is part of the charm here to see him utilising household objects to maim opponents or pulling off far fetched trick shots using a frying pan to ricochet a gunshot into his target. Its outlandish for sure but there is something so enjoyable in watching these action scenes unfolding, especially with Eisenberg able to tap into this cold and unflinching side whenever his training kicks in and he enters into what could almost be considered a badass autopilot. Balancing out these burst of violence though is his believable relationship which sees him reuniting with former co-star and onscreen love interest Stewart which was certainly welcome after how well they played off each other in “Adventureland” and it was great to see them being able to recapture that chemistry here aswell.

Topher Grace gives a fantastic villainous turn as CIA Agent Yates whose Napoleon complex has him acting the tough guy by hiding behind the many resources available to him, while certainly riding on a power trip gain from his position. This means that we get to see him flying off the handle frequently while refusing to admit even to himself that the situation is quickly escalating out of his control, let alone the clean up operation is really a thinly veiled cover for him wanting to get back at his rival agent Lasseter.

The action throughout though is fantastic especially with Mike often switching off as his training takes over, while the bursts of graphic violence scattered throughout certainly keep things interesting while reminding the viewer that Mike isn’t doing a lot of these things because he can, but because its been what he’s been re-wired to do. At the same time Yates has his own group of killers to match Mike’s skills including Walton Goggins aptly named Laugher who constantly giggles to himself as he goes about his work. Still like we saw in “Chronicle” and “Mr. Right” Landis really knows how to write an original action sequence and this is once again the situation here, though the black light room fight was probably a misstep as it soon becomes something of a migraine to sit though.

Despite having some colourful characters the film does at times feel like it pacing is more plodding than it should be, especially when it comes to the sections based around Mike’s past which certainly could have benefited from being more streamlined than an excuse for trippy visuals. This kind of distracted writing has plagued a lot of Landis’ scripts and again its the same case here but when this film is working its a lot of fun. Perhaps if Nourizadeh had been able to clean up Landis’ script this might have been something a lot more special than it ultimately ends up being but at the same time there is still enough there to make it worth giving a watch even if its not the film it could have perhaps been.

Big Game

Title: Big Game

Director: Jalmari Helander

Released: 2014

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Onni Tommila, Felicity Huffman, Victor Garber, Ted Levine, Jim Broadbent, Ray Stevenson

Plot: When Air Force One is shot down by terrorists President Moore (Jackson) his only hope of survival lies with the 13 year old Oskari (Tommila) who is on a hunting mission to prove his maturity to his kinsfolk, only not to find himself instead aiding the President to escape the terrorists now hunting them.

Review: After giving the world a truly unique take on the Father Christmas mythos with his debut film “Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale” which itself built on his short films “Rare Exports Inc.” and “The Official Rare Exports Inc. Safety Instructions” Finnish director Jalmari Helander shared with the world his unique world view were Santa was less the jolly fat man but rather a horned beast incased in a block of ice, while his elves were a bunch of naked old guys. Now four years after his memorable debut he takes a stab at the action genre while still carrying across many of the traits which made his debut so memorable.

The most expensive film to be produced in Finland with a budget of $10 million this is a film which for whatever reason seemed to disappear as quick as it appear on the release radar leaving me entering into this film with a sense of trepidation, especially when compared to “Rare Exports” which it seemed the blogging community were keen to discuss unlike this film which no one seemed to be talking about. Thankfully I shouldn’t have worried as Helander once again has delivered a film which is similar to “Rare Exports” in so many ways as Helander gives us his take on the action genre.

In much the same way that his take on Christmas was unique the same could be said for his take on the action genre which not only gives nods the action / adventure movies of the 80’s and early 90’s which arguably shot through what almost feels like the lens of a family film, alas one with terrorists and gunfights. Still thanks to a committed cast which see’s him bringing back cast members from “Rare Exports” aswell as casting American actors like Jackson who arn’t afraid to work with more unique material like this.

Opening to Oskari as he stands before the hunter wall of fame, showcasing the boys who’ve take the same right of passage he’s about to embark on were 13 year old boys from the village are sent into the Finnish wilderness to hunt by themselves, the photos all showing his predessorts all proudly posing with their kills including his father he idolises. Oskari on the other hand is not quite the hunter as we soon discover as he struggles to pull back on his bow a worrying sign when the trail is designed as a test of proving a young boys maturity into manhood. This kind of tough upbringing we saw in his previous film and once again its the same relationship we see between the gruff father figure who hides a softer side and his son which might be off putting to some, but this is the enviroment in which Oskari is growing up were life is tough and childhood fleeting as young boys are expected to be able to hunt skills the trial is designed to test.

It’s certainly far from your usual setup for this film, especially when you consider that featuring kids is usually the kiss of death for most action fans enthusiasm, but perhaps because of how Oskari is introduced its certainly less of an issue here even though Oskari still gives us a few moments of being a wise ass kid, using a cup and string phone to initially talk to Moore in a scene which actually was pretty charming and no doubt equally has a lot to do with Jackson’s ability to commit to the most random of material as highlighted by the 174 credits he currently has on IMDB at the time of writing this review.

Jackson’s Moore himself is an interesting character racked with concerns over his declining popularity, let alone his own concerns over being able to perform as a president and while his character might have benefited from more development the charisma of Jackson once more carries the character across. At the same time he’s played off against Secret Service agent Morris (Stevenson) along with the pychotic and insanely rich Hazar (Kurtulus) whose schemes are less about holding the President hostage and in keeping with his personality is more focused on hunting Moore for sport with the intention of having him stuffed and mounted as the ultimate hunting trophy.

While you might expect to know the direction the film will be heading, throughout the brisk run time Helander constantly manages to catch the audience off guard, which might be slightly disapointing to those who saw the trailer and went into the film expecting more of action fest, when here the action comes more in bursts with the focus being largely on the friendship between Moore and Oskari, while the frequent switches between humour and drama happen so often it can be hard to really latch onto any one mood for the film. The action scenes we do get though are enjoyably outlandish including a refrigerator escape sequence which makes the much lauded one from Crystal Skull seem quite plausible in comparison as we watch Oskari and Moore tumbling down the mountainside following the exciting chase through the woods as Hazar attempts to transport his prize off the mountain side inside said refrigerator. The ending though only up the ante further with Helander ending on a huge setpiece involving an ejector seat, a bow and arrow and an exploding lake!

While the action might be kept to the most part to the mountain side we do get the obligatory cuts to the pentagon crisis room were an enjoyable Victor Garber does a lot of hand wringing as the vice president and Jim Broadbent basically steals every scene he’s in as the head of the Terrorist Intel Unit while somehow managing to make a sandwich last the whole film, let alone showing a rare darker side we haven’t seen since “Art School Confidential” and one I would love to see more of. Yes at time these scenes can feel like throw away exposition but thankfully they do lead up to something bigger by the finale in a rather shocking twist that comes seemingly out of nowhere.

As with “Rare Exports” its hard to say who exactly the audience is for this film and with such a strange family adventure vibe running throughout the film, combined with Helander’s general refusal to commit to any one tone I’ve found myself refering to this as a “Starter Action Movie”. The kind of movie you could show the kids as a gateway into the genre before you show them the Schwarzenegger / Stallone / Van Damme classics. More so when this film is free of the usual bad language and ultra-violence you might not want to expose the kids to, still if we can have starter horror movies why not the same for action movies?

Commando

Title: Commando

Director: Mark L. Lester

Released: 1985

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rae Dawn Chong, Dan Hedaya, Vernon Wells, James Olson, David Patrick Kelly, Alyssa Milano, Bill Duke,

Plot: Retired Commando John Matrix (Schwarzenegger) has settled into an isolated life with his daughter (Milano), only to find himself being forced to carry out a political assassination when his daughter is kidnapped. Now Matrix has eleven hours to rescue his daughter from her kidnappers.

Review: Having launched himself into the public conscious with the Conan movies and “The Terminator” with this film we really started to the see the foundations of the Arnie formula starting with his introduction in this film consisting of close up shots of his muscular frame which only seem to make everything seem bigger and more impressive than it is. Even the chainsaw which looks pretty tiny when we see it, looks like its 6 ft long in its vanity shot.

The opening shot of Schwarzenegger carrying a log over his shoulder is such an iconic shot and feels almost like the studio introducing a major star being introduced  and it could be considered so seeing how compared to the films which came before it, it’s tonly very different with Schwarzenegger trading in the sword and sorcery antics of his early films (Conan / Red Sonja) being changed out for one liners and heroic gunplay which would become the foundation of the classic Schwarzenegger movie formula. Its only on rewatching the film that you also realise just how bonkers that opening title sequence is as we go from shots of the all powerful, man of the earth to shots of Matrix and his daughter getting ice cream and hand feeding a deer, which while important to show the life that Matrix has made for himself since his retirement from the special forces tonely is just such a random switch.

The plot itself is paper thin and really only serves to guide the audience from one exciting moment to the next, especially when Matrix has to do very little work to find his way to the villain Arius’s (Hedaya) hideout on the fictional Val Verde which was also referenced in both “Predator” and “Die Hard 2: Die Harder” which like this film needed a Spanish speaking country like Cuba or Nicaragua but at the same time wanting to avoid any potential diplomatic issues. Sadly the film really lacks a defined villain so it ends up that the henchmen here are actually more interesting than Arius with of course the most key being Vernon Wells “Freddie Mercury on steroids” Bennett another stone cold psycho as Wells channels the same kind of driven intensity which made “Wez” in “Mad Max 2” such a memorable villian, though the questionable fashion choices remain present as here he trades in his ass-less chaps for a chain mail vest! His knife fight with Schwarzenegger though at the finale is the stuff of action movie legend.

Of course the Arnie formula isn’t quite perfect at this point as Matrix is not only shown as being the muscular badass but also capable to superhuman feats of strength such as the ability to tear phone boxes out of the ground or throw nine mall security guards through the air. The strength element is always played down usually with Schwarzenegger’s body size being more of a key element than any kind of strength. These moments as a result end up being pretty jarring when they occur though this film more than nails is the ridiculous elements of heroic gun play which in turn would form the blueprint for the action movie genre.

The action scenes are unquestionably the best parts of the film and only build as the film goes on from a hotel room fist fight with Bill Duke’s green beret (he eats them for breakfast) hanging David Patrick Kelly (who looks comically short throughout) off a cliff. The grand finale being the now legendry shootout with Arius’s personal army which see’s Matrix not only getting to pull out all the “War Toys” but also fire countless bullets without ever having to reload but also find something to turn into a weapon regardless of how cornered he appears to be. The body count alone for this finale might be one of the largest ever filmed.

The other noteworthy aspect of this film and certainly its most overlooked come from Rae Dawn Chong’s unlikely sidekick and air hostess Cindy who is initially unwillingly coerced into helping Matrix get his daughter back only to turn out to be surprisingly resourceful let alone perhaps the first ever member of the “Girls with Rockets” club by taking out a police truck with a rocket launcher. Why is it so rare to see women firing rocket launchers or similar in films? Certainly its a question which came to me when I was on the “Exploding Helicopter Podcast” discussing “Hard Ticket To Hawaii” and lead to me creating a list on Letterboxd to log every film this happens (feel free to name your ideas) so its safe to say thats this film should also get a credit for being so forward thinking to have her weld such a traditionally male weapon with just as much competence as her male counterpart….even if she does initially have it the wrong way around.

A fun side note is that originally this film was going to have a sequel which would have been a reworked version of “Die Hard” and seen Matrix being hired to head up a security team at the big corporation were his daughter is also working as a lawyer. Matrix would make up a team of the toughest and most dangerous people he knows only for them to turn out to be inline with the company he’s working for which is really just a front for illegal arms deals. Matrix of course ending up to fight through all the people he hired to rescue his daughter again which sounds like a great plot but at the same time its hard to argue against how “Die Hard” ultimately turned out. Who knows maybe this will be the plot of “Expendables 4”

For mindless fun this is unquestionably one of the key Schwarzenegger films and one whose cult status has only increased in recent years. Here though we get everything we want from an Arnie movie and while it might not be perfect there enough mindless violence and action to make for the perfect popcorn movie.

12 Rounds 3: Lockdown

Title: 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown

Director: Stephen Reynolds

Released: 2015

Starring: Dean Ambrose, Roger Cross, Daniel Cudmore, Lochlyn Munro, Ty Olsson, Sarah Smyth, Rebecca Marshall, Toby Levins, Bill Dow, Sharon Taylor, Matthew Harrison

Plot: Detective John Shaw (Ambrose) returning from recently being shot while on duty in an incident which claimed the life of his partner, he has little time to settle back into work when he accidentally uncovers incriminating evidence about fellow detective Tyler Burke (Cross) who soon locks down the precinct with his team of dirty cops leaving Shaw alone to get the truth out.

Review: The second of the “Action Six-Pack” series from Lionsgate and WWE Studios after the Soska Sisters prison drama “Vendetta” the script for this film originally titled just “Lockdown” was nothing to do with the previous “12 Rounds” films, but with the studio clearly keen to have another franchise to go alongside their ever popular “Marine” series the script was reworked to create this second sequel to the Renny Harlin original which stared John Cena. Unlike the previous two films though which saw their hero being forced to complete 12 challenges, this film does away with the concept entirely and instead goes with the much more literal 12 rounds which Detective Shaw has in his gun to take on the dirty cops now hunting for him.

When it comes to the WWE Films its always with a sense of impending dread and hesitation that I often find myself entering into these films with. More so when it means being faced with Wrestlers not being able to carry the charisma of their ring personas over to the screen. There was a brief period were this issue was countered by the films featuring the wrestler in a supporting role as seen with the likes of “The Call” and “Dead Man Down” but lately they seem to be drifting back to the original model of having the wrestlers play the lead roles. True we have had several wrestlers who’ve proven themselves capable of carrying their films such as The Miz and to an extent Kane but at the same time we’ve also had the clumsy comedy of Triple H in “The Chaperone.

When it comes to Dean Ambrose whose ring persona is that of a deranged lunatic you’d expect to see him cast in a role like Riggs from “Lethal Weapon” and despite seemingly being introduced as the sort of cop who plays by his own rules end up coming off like more of a John McClane styled character especially when this film boils down to what is essentially Die Hard on a budget. At the same time Ambrose might not be the worst wrestler turned actor but at the same time here he never seems to ever get out of first gear with his persona which generally just stays on one level throughout the film. At the same time his character is barely developed throughout the film, despite plot points being scattered throughout the film such as his responsibility over the death of his partner we never really get a feeling of him being a fully developed character especially when outside of this fact we don’t get to know anything really about him.

Roger Cross’s dirty cop Burke on the other hand is an almost cartoonish villain seemingly modelled after Alonzo Harris from “Training Day” who somehow has a whole mini-army of fellow dirty cops who he can not only bring in at a moments notice, but are somehow able to lockdown the whole police station with minimum amount of hassle, let alone how easy Burke is able to convice everyone that Shaw is the dirty cop which would be easier if he was the loose cannon kind of cop you’d expect Ambrose to be playing, but when he’s been viewed as the good cop who just wants to make a difference it makes zero sense that he could be so easily framed.

Another issue the film has is that Shaw never has someone to play off like McClane had Al in the original “Die Hard” and instead leaves us with scenes of him muttering to himself and Burke barking orders and generally voicing his frustration at constantly being thwarted in his attempts to take out Shaw. We do get the rookie office Taylor (Smyth) who seems to be introduced to fill this role for Shaw and perhaps in some way help redeem him for getting his partner killed, but sadly she never gets to play much more than a bargaining chip between Burke and Shaw.

Thankfully the action scenes here really make up for a lot of the flaws in the film with Reynolds crafting exciting scenes of both gun play and general hand to hand combat with Shaw showing the same kind of inspired thinking on his feet which made John McClane such a memorable action hero as seen here by him convincing the bad guys he’s gone into the vents when he’s actually hiding out in the same room.We also get a unique use for a taser which really needs to be seen.

While the plotting is pretty standard and by the numbers it largely works and plods along nicely throughout while being broken up with decent bursts of action. However it is let down by the final act which sees the inclusion of a much unneeded double cross which should have been cut out as it not only has zero effect on the plot but doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense.

On the whole this is like so many of the WWE Studio films in that its disposable yet entertaining and if anything much like “Sausage Party” I’m actually kind of concerned by how much I enjoyed this one, though hardly a breakout role for the acting career of Dean Ambrose. Still compared to the dreck being churned out by the likes of the Sci-fi channel you really could do a lot worse than giving this a watch.

Dragon

Title: Dragon

Director: Peter Chan

Released: 2011

Starring: Donnie Yen, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Wei Tang, Jimmy Wang Yu, Kara Hui, Wu Jiang

Plot: Liu Jinxi (Yen) is a papermaker living a quiet life in Liu village until one day when he kills two bandits attempting to rob the general store. Despite being regarded as a hero by the village he raises the suspicion of detective Xu Bai-Jiu (Kaneshiro) who begins to suspect that Liu is not who he says he is.

 

Review: While his name might leap out to most but Director Peter Chan certainly as a producer has been responsible for some of the best titles of 90’s and 00’s Hong Kong cinema including “The Eye”, “Three Extremes” and “The Warlords” he even produced the underrated John Woo movie “Heroes Shed No Tears”. Here though he equally proves himself once more to be no slouch in the directing chair either with this visually stunning martial arts movie which not only plays like Cronenberg’s “A History of Violence” set in 1917 but also provides yet another showcase for the jaw dropping martial arts skills of Donnie Yen who also handles the action choreography here.

While the film does have a pretty big twist, if you’ve seen “A History of Violence” you will know what to expect here, but just to cover ourselves lets just say *spoilers ahead*

As with its Cronenberg counterpart when we meet Yen’s character of Liu he is just a family man living a simple quiet life in the village with nothing to give us any indication that he is anything than just another villager working at the paper mill. Of course this is another story much like “First Blood” were it would be a much shorter film if it wasn’t was for the persistence of one sheriff in this case detective Xu who is seemingly half Rottweiler as once he gets it into his head that Liu might not be who he seems, he hounds him mercilessly. Even when the local magistrate tells him to let it go he continues his investigation which only becomes all the more ludicrous as it goes on with him believing that Liu is secretly a martial arts master and hence attempts to test him by knocking him off a bridge and hitting him with a knife believing that he would be able to defend himself using his Chi ability.

Of course when we do get the big reveal things quickly spiral out of control with Xu no doubt wishing that he hadn’t poked this beehive with Liu being revealed to be the former second-in command for the psychotic warrior clan the 72 Demons. Detective Xu’s belief that no criminal can change their ways brought about by an incident in his past really adds to this twist as from the audiences perspective we just want Liu to live his life hassle free but Xu at the same time maintains that nagging issues of if he could really have changed. Still Chan decides that the best way to show this in the film is by having Liu’s former clan show up looking for him which is also lead by his father played here by the legendary Jimmy Wang Yu who here is on top evil form.

Despite being a Donnie Yen movie, here the action is for the first half actually pretty restrained with his showdown with the two bandits being the sole action scene we get. This is hardly a disappointment though as like all the action sequences here it is stunningly shot and only added to by the replays we see Xu playing out in his head as he tries to figure out who Liu really is. When the 72 demons show up though the action seriously ramps up though despite seemingly being setup to have Liu and Xu taking on the 72 demons instead Donnie Yen restrains the action so that its kept to small groups and intricate choreography which really pays off while complemented further by some inventive camera work which only adds to these sequences.

The final showdown between Donnie Yen and Jimmy Wang Yu really is a piece of fanboy wish fulfilment to see these two masters finally squaring off. The fact that Yen is fighting him one armed really only adds to the sequence by giving us a homage of sorts to Yu’s role as “The One Armed Swordsman”. How he comes to loose said arm is perhaps one of the more random and baffling aspects of the film but by the time we get to this final showdown your hardly caring about such minor issues. Jimmy Wang Yu here though is on top evil form and the tension is really cranked up in the build up to this showdown which only make the pay off only the more sweet.

A fantastic martial arts movie combined with enjoyable thriller elements make this a film well worth checking out, while Peter Chan’s eye for detail and use of slow motion really only heightens the film above being just another run of the mill kung fu movie while making you wonder why Donnie Yen still hasn’t been snapped up by the Hollywood system the same way as his predecessors but then do we think he would get the freedom to make films like this there like he does within the Hong Kong studio system.

Escape From New York

Title: Escape From New York

Director: John Carpenter

Released: 1981

Starring: Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, Isaac Hayes, Harry Dean Stanton, Adrienne Barbeau

Plot: Following a 400% increase in crime in 1988, Manhattan has been turned into a maximum-security prison. However when Air Force One is hijacked and crashed into Manhattan leading the President (Pleasence) to be captured by “The Duke” (Hayes). Now its down to former special forces soldier Snake Pliskin to rescue him in 22 hours or the explosives planted in his neck will explode. 

 

 

Review: One of the key films of John Carpenter’s early filmography it also marks the start of his collaborations with Kurt Russell, which would not only see Russell playing some of his most memorable roles as it always seems that both of them where at their best when they are collaborating. Of course it was a pairing which almost never came to be as the financial backer AVCO Embassy Pictures had wanted to cast either Charles Bronson or Tommy Lee Jones for the role of Snake, with Carpenter especially concerned that Bronson was both too old for the role as well as fearing that he would take over the film production. Russell though was equally an unlikely choice seeing how at this point in his career he was best known for his roles in Disney comedies than anything close to the tough guy action role he gets to play here. 

 

Unquestionably Russell embodies the role of Snake who is every bit the 80’s action hero with that eyepatch and vest combo, let alone the awful snake tattoo on his stomach and yet somehow he manages to make Snake come across like the total bad ass he is as he snarls his way though pretty much every encounter while using the quiet moments to light another cigarette. Right from the start though its clear that he has no loyalty to anyone but himself and no doubt had he not had explosives put in his neck it’s likely he would have made his escape at the first opportunity rather than do anything to help the government he long lost any faith in. 

 

Despite the title here St. Louis, Illinois stands in for New York due to the budget limitations while Carpenter taps into a vibe similar to Walter Hill’s “The Warriors” with his vision of a rundown Manhattan where the gangs and criminals have been left to govern themselves with “The Duke” standing on top of the pile as he cruises around the streets with his gang in his heavily customised ride complete with chandeliers on the bonnet as Isaac Hayes plays the character like something out of a blaxploitation movie as much like with “The Warriors” here Carpenter clearly has created for himself within the walls of this prison a world where he can toss in any number of random or colourful ideas he wants including throwing in a Punk Jim Jarmusch.

One of the most surprising aspects of this film though is in the pacing for while it might promise a none stop action fest, Carpenter actually restrains himself when it comes to the action slowly building the tension of Snake sneaking around the ruins of the former city as he tries to locate the president. At the same time this also means we get to see him find alliances with Ernest Borgnine’s taxi driver “Cabbie” aswell as as the Duke’s advisor “Brain” (Stanton) though its always clear that Snake’s interest are always with what is going to benefit him first. Carpenter should also receive credit for setting up what we assume to be a potential ally for Snake only to have her suddenly snatched away by the frenzied gang who have taken over the sewers. 

 

However by pushing “The Duke” so late into the film it does feel at times like we never get to see him as the credible threat that Carpenter would like him to be, for while he might command the respect of his followers he feels like he is lacking development for his character especially in terms of backstory and how he came to be on top of the pile. That being said Hayes has enough presence as he recycles his “Truck Turner” performance to make such things a minor issue here. 

 

Once the action starts though there is a lot of fun sequences throughout the film as Snake battles gang members including being forced into a battle to the death with real life wrestler Ox Baker. We also get a down to the wire chase across the bridge out of Manhattan with the Duke hot on their tails. Of course if there was any doubt about Russell being able to handle the action scenes, they are soon squashed here as he throws tasty looking punches at goons or engages in heated gun battles as he embodies the character who refreshingly compared to a lot of his 80’s counterparts is surprisingly grounded in reality and works perfectly in this world. 

 

A fun ride throughout and its fun to remind ourselves of how great these early Carpenter films where, while at the same time giving a truly iconic action hero who sadly he wasn’t able to capture the same magic with the second time round with “Escape From LA” but viewed for its own merits its unquestionably a fun romp from a master firing on all cylinders.

Wanted

Title: Wanted

Director: Timur Bekmambetov

Released: 2008

Starring: James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, Terence Stamp, Thomas Kretschmann, Common, Marc Warren, Konstantin Khabensky, Dato Bakhtadze, Chris Pratt, Kristen Hager, Lorna Scott

Plot: Wesley (McAvoy) is an office clerk in a dead end job, who discovers that his recently murdered father was a member of an a group of master assassins known as “The Fraternity”. Now he is offered a chance to take his father’s place as they hunt for his father’s killer.

 

Review: After exploding onto the scene with his genre bending double header of “Night Watch” and “Day Watch” which saw the forces of light and dark battling in modern day Russia, it was only really a matter of time before director Timur Bekmambetov got called up to bring his unique and highly visual style to the Hollywood system, even though he’d technically already made this back in 2001 with the Roger Corman produced remake of “The Arena”.

 

Based on the cult graphic novel by Mark Miller and J.G Jones of the same name this is one comic book adaptation where its best to have no connection to the source material which was set in a world where the Supervillians had won their secret war with their superhero counterparts leaving them free to run the world free from interference. Sadly this was all scrapped from this film adaption which was crafted instead as a project for Angelina Jolie who was coming to the end of her contract with Paramount with plans for a third “Tomb Raider” movie being stuck in development hell. Miller though was happy with the end result, even remarking that the previsualized footage had raised his expectation for the film adaptation. 

 

When we meet Wesley at the start of the film he is your usual office drone, being constantly beaten down by his overbearing boss popping anti-anxiety meds for his panic attacks, while his girlfriend cheats on him his supposed best friend Barry (Pratt). It’s clear he’s going nowhere fast until his life is thrown into chaos by the arrival of Fox (Jolie) especially as it comes with an accompanying pharmacy shoot out and high speed chase with his father’s killer and fellow assassin Cross (Kretschmann).

While he might be far from the most likely candidate to be an assassin, it seemingly doesn’t matter seeing how his father’s legacy soon has him being recruited to take his place in “The Fraternity” lead by Sloan (Freeman) and did I mention that they get their targets from the mythical “Loom of Fate” which like the COG’s in “Minority Report” identify targets before they have the chance to cause create “Evil and Chaos”. An addition in this reworking that makes me wonder how exactly anyone thought it was a logical idea but its the one we are going with here, which is made only the more comical by how seriously everyone seems to be playing things. 

 

It’s this crash course in assassin skills which makes up much of the first half of the film and also where the film is the strongest as Wesley learns marksmanship, hand to hand fighting and knife skills most of which involves him having the living hell beaten out of him by his fellow assassins. At the same time he also learns to tap into his adrenaline to give him superhero levels of strength, perception and speed. These later skills adding a surreal edge to the action as Bekmambetov seemingly takes this as a cue to craft any kind of bonkers and over the top action sequence he can think of. However once we get into the pursuit of Cross the film kind of loses its way and becomes a more traditional action thriller, if a totally over the top one with a train based chase sequence and exploding rat based finale ensuring that its still memorable even if the pacing isn’t as tight as the first half.

McAvoy is completely believable as both Wesley the office drone and the bad ass assassin despite initially being turned down for the role due to not having the traditional leading man look or build and while Ryan Phillippe was considered for the role and no doubt would have been equally interesting to see in the role, there is something so likeably about McAvoy that you can’t help but cheer him on as he finally snaps telling his boss what everyone actually thinks about her, before smashing a keyboard across the face of his former best friend as the displaced keys (and his tooth) spell out “Fuck You”. Angelina Jolie meanwhile slips effortless into her action heroine persona with the changes she brought to the character only adding to Fox rather than detracting such as her now largely silent persona through to the smaller details like the binary code list of targets she has tattooed on her arm making it easy to forget the fact that in the source material she looked more like Hallie Berry as its a role she unquestionably owns here. 

 

The supporting cast are equally great thanks to the colourful characters they play with Konstantin Khabensky making his English language debut as “The Exterminator” reuniting with Bekmambetov after working on both Night Watch and Day Watch together with Bekmambetov seeing his casting as a way of having a familiar face on set and along with his fellow Russian Dato Bakhtadze who plays the knife expert “The Butcher” providing some of the best moments of the film, while both Common and Marc Warren clearly seem to be relishing having more meaty supporting roles than they are used to playing. 

 

The real star though here though are the action sequences which give zero thought to their plausibility with Bekmambetov it could be argued using ideas he had left over from Night / Day Watch only with none of the supernatural elements to cover for this kind of randomness. That being said there is something so fun about watching a car chase in which a Porsche barrel rolls over a police blockade or watching Fox and Wesley play a game of capture the flag on a moving train. Perhaps because they are shot so care free and clearly within the confines of this universe than any kind of reality its never a push to accept any of this and just enjoy the ride. Shot with a mixture of crisp focus and gratuitous slow motion, while there might often be a lot happening in these actions scenes its easy at the same time to follow what's happening, while the ending might be the most gratuitous scene of gunplay since "Hard Boiled".

While I might not have liked the film much on that original viewing, upon returning to the film though I discovered that viewing it on its own merits there is a pretty fun popcorn action flick to be found here in the vein of “Shoot-em Up” or “XXX”. Yes it might not be the most realistic of films but when its this much fun who really cares?

Under Siege 2

Title: Under Siege 2: Dark Territory

Director: Geoff Murphy
Released: 1995
Starring: Steven Segal, Eric Bogosian, Katherine Heigl, Morris Chestnut, Everett McGill, Brenda Bakke

Plot: Having retired from the Navy Casey Ryback (Segal) is now working as a chef in his own restaurant, while following death of his brother he plans to take his niece Sarah (Heigl) on vacation in an attempt to reconnect with her. Things however don’t quite go to plan when the train they are on gets hijacked by ex-CIA programmer Travis Dane (Bogosian) along with his hired mercenaries with plans to blow up the Eastern seaboard by targeting a nuclear reactor hidden beneath the Pentagon.

Review: While rewatching this film for the umpteenth time I was suddenly hit with the realisation that this might actually be my go to action movie, a position unsurprisingly held previously by “Die Hard” whose legacy has been in many ways tainted by its oversaturation in pop culture, let alone hipsters citing it as their favourite Christmas movie.

Following on from the equally great original, here the sequel trades up the Naval Warship for a cross country train which also has the great touch of being in an area of zero radio coverage known as “Dark Territory” and despite the initial reservations when I saw this about how exciting a train could be as a setting especially one which wasn’t out of control, it somehow really works with director Geoff Murphy truly utilising the setting while film also marked his last mainstream release after “Young Guns 2” and “Freejack” before moving onto doing 2^nd unit work for the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

Casey Ryback is really the closest that Segal has come to getting a trademark character and compared to the interchangeable hero roles he plays in his other films, it only makes it all the more sad that this would be the final outing for the character, despite Segal maintaining that they are working on a third film which I can only assume would take place on a plane seeing how between this film and the original they already covered boats and trains. That being said we kind of already had that movie with “Executive Decision” a film which crushed many fanboys at the time as Segal didn’t get quite the leading role the poster promised. Still despite having put on weight since his previous outing leading to Segal wearing a girdle the character of Ryback here really hasn’t lost a step as we re-join him to find he’s still the same killer combination of badass and chef!

While Ryback has to once more deal with a group of trained mercenaries, this time lead by a bleached  Everett McGill; what really makes this film stand out is just how great a villain Eric Bogosian makes as Travis Dane a role which was also offered but turned down by both Laurence Fishburne and Jeff Goldblum the later of which I would have also have liked to have seen. At one point Gary Busey was set to return despite being blown up in the first film and was rumoured to have fallen out with Segal after he defended Erika Eleniak from his persistent advances. However thanks to Busey’s “Pay or Play” deal he was paid his full $750,000 salary which Segal as producer had to ironically pay without Busey working one day on the film.

Bogosian here essentially steals every scene he’s in as he embodies the role of Travis, a former CIA hacker / programmer who after feeling he was wrong by his former employers plans to use the Earthquake generating Satellite to wipe out Washington D.C and much of the Eastern seaboard. At the same time he’s a focused maniac constantly working it seems two moves ahead of everyone else as he foils with ease any attempt made to regain control of the satellite. Interestingly he also has no kind of combat skills and never even picks up a gun as he prefers to hide behind his henchmen lead by Penn (McGill) who he lets get on with dealing with Ryback while he plays mind games with the government.

While it might in many ways just relocate the plot of the first film, there is still a lot of fun action throughout the film with Murphy really managing to make the most of what would on first appearances appear to be a very limited setting but somehow Murphy really manages to make the most of the training setting as the action not only takes place inside the train, but also on top and underneath as well as a brief spot of “Cliffhanger” inspired action off the train aswell. Despite Segal being known for his Aikido skills here the action is instead more based around heroic gunplay and honing his inner MacGyver and in many ways foreshadowed the path. We do however get a tasty looking knife fight between Ryback and Penn to fill the required big showdown requirement while it was nice to see that they didn’t have Travis suddenly turn into a secret badass in the finale.

An incredibly fun action film and one certainly helped by its quick pacing and colourful villains which help to cover for the shortcomings the film has such as Segal limited acting range and Katherine Heigl’s equally bland performance as his niece which seems to only have been included to add some kind of emotional connection to the story. Still despite this there is much to enjoy here as in many way it surpasses the original while providing a rare highlight for this period of Segal’s career and one which he has long since fallen from.