Director Joe Carnahan is best known for his last block buster action flick which was most well received. It was called The A Team. Packed with edge of the seat action sequences and a pace that was quite difficult to keep up with, The A Team was every boy’s dream come true – a man movie in the truest sense of the word. Carnahan should have stuck to that formula when he moved on to direct The Grey.
Don’t get me wrong. What he does very well is create a huge fear of probably the largest of all canine species – the Alaskan Wolf. He builds it in a manner that borders on being super eerie and spine chilling. The villain in this movie is not a human being but a hungry bunch of wolves who find themselves with a juicy target – a bunch of humans who are all but shattered because their plane crashed into the middle of nowhere. Middle of Nowhere for us humans but for the wolves it’s their home and when fresh meat arrives – they feast.
And if it the irony in the world was not sufficient, one of the survivors of the crash is Ottway (Liam Neeson) who is actually a wolf tracker by profession and suddenly finds himself in a position that is totally unfamiliar. He has turned from being a tracker to being the one who is tracked. Not just unfamiliar but scary as hell. Would the wolves be able to sense the fact that here is a man who actually takes most of their kin away? And would they, if they sense it, focus their energies on getting him by putting their collective might behind running Ottway and the others to the ground? Whether the former is true or not is immaterial because the latter is.
The Grey is a movie that joins a list which doesn’t release in this country along with the rest of the world. It has taken over 6 months to find its way here. But when you see it, one can probably understand the reason for the delay or skepticism from the distributors. There is, as the name of the movie suggests, a lot left to the interpretation of the audience – especially the end which I thought was really well done. Something that the average Indian audience doesn’t take too kindly to.
Add to this, while Liam Neeson is the central character, he doesn’t really have the clear mantle of the hero. It is the joint effort from 7 men who are trying their best to survive against nature. And compared to the A Team, this moves at a snail’s pace with some action sequences thrown in as garnish. Overall, a good movie but nothing really mind blowing. I give it 6 on 10. Watch it if you can.
Trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2672533017/
Showing posts with label Joe Carnahan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joe Carnahan. Show all posts
Sunday, 10 June 2012
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
A Team
In the early 80s Stephen J Cannell and Frank Lupo came together and created an action adventure was then made into a TV Series. It featured 4 Vietnam Veterans framed for a crime they did not commit and who help people when on the run from the Army. Well the TV series completed nearly 100 episodes. Joe Carnahan’s silver screen version is either a prequel to the TV series or probably the first few episodes.
Col. John “Hannibal” Smith (Liam Neeson) leads a team of 4 on high risk missions that the army is otherwise not too thrilled to take up. The A Team as they are called include Lt. Templeton “Faceman” Peck (Bradley Cooper) who is one heck of a handsome womanizer. The number of women I have heard swooning on him is unimaginable. I have always found him to be despicable. But then my opinion is influenced by the fact that most characters he has played before this are not stuff that one can look up to. However, my opinion counts for little since the women still seem to be obsessed with the guy.
Next in line is “Howling Mad” Murdock (Sharlto Copley), a nutty doc who can also fly almost anything. Rounding up the A Team is Bosco B.A. Barcus (Quinton “Rampage” Jackson) whose first love is his GMC Vandura Van – one mean looking all terrain vehicle.
The A Team is contacted by a CIA agent who goes with the name of Lynch and reveals that a billion dollars of counterfeit cash is being moved out of Baghdad very soon. He also informs them that the insurgents in possession of the cash also have the treasury plates that are used to manufacture the currency. The mission – Steal the cash and the templates and return them back to the government. Somewhere here is when Agent Charissa Sosa (The oh so hot Jessica Biel), also a CIA agent comes in. Being Peck’s ex-girlfriend or the one that got away, she does not have too much of respect for Peck or the team. She however, gets in touch with Peck to warn him and the A Team to stay away from the plates. Much against the Commanding Officer, General Morrisson’s (Gerald McRaney) wishes, Hannibal accepts the assignment, recovers the plates and the money only to be blown away by the ruthless Brock Pike (Brian Bloom) who works as part of a security team called Black Forest.
As they see their efforts being blown to smithreens, they also realize that the only person who could have vouched for them, Morrisson, has also been pretty much disintegrated. The army, for obvious reasons find them guilty of treason and puts them all into prison for a period of 10 years.
Six months later, Lynch visits Hannibal once again and informs him that the plates are being sold by Pike to an Arab of whom the CIA know nothing of. With Lynch’s support, Hannibal escapes from prison and in due course gets his team out of their respective hell holes in quick time. The only way they can redeem themselves is of course by getting back the plates. Do they manage to get them? Watch it to find out.
Liam Neeson, as always turns in a super performance as Hannibal. I for one am pleasantly surprised at his ease of transformation to action oriented roles. First Taken and now A Team. The rest of the team Brad Cooper, Copley and Jackson are very good in their respective roles. Jessica Biel, although extremely hot, is more like good looking furniture. She does not have much of a role to write home about.
Joe Carnahan never really had any great movies before this one unless you count Smokin Aces which is the only one I have heard about. Not sure how it was either. However, A Team would make me want to at least have a dekko. The movie is very slickly made with good effects where required. Unlike K&D, this one does not have any blue screens that look like blue screens.
The A Team completely fulfils the dearth of man movies in the recent past. Non Stop slickly done action which includes all kinds of stuff like crashing planes, blowing buildings and most of all flying off a plane in a tank!!!!! All ye men out there… WATCH IT… clearly 6 on 10!!!!!
Col. John “Hannibal” Smith (Liam Neeson) leads a team of 4 on high risk missions that the army is otherwise not too thrilled to take up. The A Team as they are called include Lt. Templeton “Faceman” Peck (Bradley Cooper) who is one heck of a handsome womanizer. The number of women I have heard swooning on him is unimaginable. I have always found him to be despicable. But then my opinion is influenced by the fact that most characters he has played before this are not stuff that one can look up to. However, my opinion counts for little since the women still seem to be obsessed with the guy.
Next in line is “Howling Mad” Murdock (Sharlto Copley), a nutty doc who can also fly almost anything. Rounding up the A Team is Bosco B.A. Barcus (Quinton “Rampage” Jackson) whose first love is his GMC Vandura Van – one mean looking all terrain vehicle.
The A Team is contacted by a CIA agent who goes with the name of Lynch and reveals that a billion dollars of counterfeit cash is being moved out of Baghdad very soon. He also informs them that the insurgents in possession of the cash also have the treasury plates that are used to manufacture the currency. The mission – Steal the cash and the templates and return them back to the government. Somewhere here is when Agent Charissa Sosa (The oh so hot Jessica Biel), also a CIA agent comes in. Being Peck’s ex-girlfriend or the one that got away, she does not have too much of respect for Peck or the team. She however, gets in touch with Peck to warn him and the A Team to stay away from the plates. Much against the Commanding Officer, General Morrisson’s (Gerald McRaney) wishes, Hannibal accepts the assignment, recovers the plates and the money only to be blown away by the ruthless Brock Pike (Brian Bloom) who works as part of a security team called Black Forest.
As they see their efforts being blown to smithreens, they also realize that the only person who could have vouched for them, Morrisson, has also been pretty much disintegrated. The army, for obvious reasons find them guilty of treason and puts them all into prison for a period of 10 years.
Six months later, Lynch visits Hannibal once again and informs him that the plates are being sold by Pike to an Arab of whom the CIA know nothing of. With Lynch’s support, Hannibal escapes from prison and in due course gets his team out of their respective hell holes in quick time. The only way they can redeem themselves is of course by getting back the plates. Do they manage to get them? Watch it to find out.
Liam Neeson, as always turns in a super performance as Hannibal. I for one am pleasantly surprised at his ease of transformation to action oriented roles. First Taken and now A Team. The rest of the team Brad Cooper, Copley and Jackson are very good in their respective roles. Jessica Biel, although extremely hot, is more like good looking furniture. She does not have much of a role to write home about.
Joe Carnahan never really had any great movies before this one unless you count Smokin Aces which is the only one I have heard about. Not sure how it was either. However, A Team would make me want to at least have a dekko. The movie is very slickly made with good effects where required. Unlike K&D, this one does not have any blue screens that look like blue screens.
The A Team completely fulfils the dearth of man movies in the recent past. Non Stop slickly done action which includes all kinds of stuff like crashing planes, blowing buildings and most of all flying off a plane in a tank!!!!! All ye men out there… WATCH IT… clearly 6 on 10!!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)