Jack Reacher

A nanny – Chrissy – who stayed back for a week more because one of the most important person in the world – the six year old she takes care of – wanted her to stay back for her seventh birthday.

A middle aged cleaner at a hyper market –Vida – who is struggling to make ends meet but wants her son to watch a basketball game as a birthday present and was on her way to the stadium to buy tickets.

A stoic owner of a construction company – Oline – who hates her business but takes over the reins of a dying enterprise when her husband kicks the bucket – deep in debt.

A husband – Darren – who leaves home in the morning after a fight with his wife but apparently wanted to make it up to her and bought flowers on the way to work (funnily).

A woman – Nancy – who is about to celebrate her 10th wedding anniversary and has just picked up an expensive watch as a present for her husband and is walking down the pier without any care in the world.

What is common to all of the above? James Barr. A twenty something Iraq return sniper. Who has probably lost his bonkers and one fine morning decides to drive down to a desolate building facing the pier, pay for his parking and take all 5 of them out over a couple of minutes tops.

In the bargain, he leaves enough evidence at the scene of the crime that points towards him. And in a matter of 16 hours gets caught by the cops. When asked to confess, he simply writes on a piece of paper – CALL JACK REACHER (Tom Cruise).

Based on a book titled – One Shot – by Lee Child, Jack Reacher is the story of the protagonist of the same name who is an army investigator. He sees something amiss where everyone else sees an open and shut case. He doesn’t care much for the law but only about what is right and wrong. And goes to great lengths to protect the right. Much like a super hero but only human.

Written for the screen by Christopher McQuarrie (Known more for writing – Usual Suspects / Valkyrie), JR is definitely not McQuarrie’s best to date. He builds up the suspense extremely well for certain and leaves you waiting for the story to move to the next angle. The first few minutes have no dialogues and yet a lot spoken – very well done. But somehow, it doesn’t come upto the level of excitement that a Valkyrie or Usual Suspects generates.

A tough act to follow for certain but it could have been – with some right casting. Rosamund Pike seems over anxious to prove a point and looks very unconvincing throughout the movie. Tom Cruise is surprisingly composed but average – which is the best he can get to. And the support cast doesn’t contribute too much either.

In short, well written, reasonably directed, good story line but falls short primarily due to performances. Despite that, definitely worth a watch. 7 on 10. Make it a part of your weekend.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1158194201/

Wrath of The Titans

Remember Clash of the Titans from nearly 2 years back. The One directed by Louis Leterrier (Transporter 1 & 2)? The one where a Greek man by the name of Perseus (Sam Worthington) finds out that he is no ordinary human being. That he is the son of the great God Zeus. And that makes him a demi god. He then goes on a great adventure to save the world and kill the mighty beast called Kraken. Remember?

Well I wouldn’t be surprised if you don’t but I wouldn’t be surprised if you did either. Clash of the Titans was as my close friend Sandy says, “Pop Greek Mythology”. What made Clash even more Pop was known as “Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief”. But they were both that kind of a movie. Imminently enjoyable when you watch them but with not much shelf life. Well the news is that, Wrath of the Titans is the much awaited sequel and is probably a bit better and maybe a bit more memorable than the first one.

What started off in the Clash has moved a decade and Perseus has decided that he wants to have nothing to do with the Gods or godliness or anything that is prefixed with the “G” word. He wants to move back to the “F” word. OK now don’t get all excited we are talking of the word called “Fisherman”. He is peacefully settled on a coastal village with his son Helios (John Bell). That’s when his father Zeus (Liam Neeson) decides to come back and ask him for help. He doesn’t reveal much but expects Perseus to trust him and leave his son to save the universe once again. This time from the Supreme God Kronos – the father of Zeus, Posiedon (Danny Huston) and Hades (Ralph Fiennes).

I must accept that Wrath of the Titans is definitely better made that The Clash of the Titans. The Clash also had its thunder stolen by Percy Jackson who was I would guess more contemporary (or pop as mentioned earlier). The Wrath doesn’t have that problem lurking around for certain. The Wrath also sees a change of directors and for the first time probably, the direction to a sequel is distinctly better. Jonathan Liebesman doesn’t waste too much of time building up the story and doesn’t leave you short of action at just the right moments.

The use of special effects this time around is also much better. Especially the quality of the 3D which I thought was probably the best since Tintin last year. The recreation of the larger than life demons and the aspects such as Hephaestus’ (Bill Nighy) maze to the underworld prison of Tartarus is simply superb. This one has to be seen on the big screen to get the real impact. Without the effects, there is not much to the movie. Definitely worth a dekko for this weekend. 6 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3446710553/

Johnny English Reborn

There are a variety of genres of humour in the world. One such brand which I typically avoid like the plague is the one dished out by Rowan Atkinson in Mr. Bean. Although I believed the genre called “Johnny English” was far more tolerable as compared to Mr. Bean – based on my previous experience. Let me at this stage clarify that I am not a Johnny English fan either. It is only my love for movies and the fact that I have made reviews my passion that dragged me to the screen. And did I mention the lack of any other option which had the same convenience of timing when you have the option of running a triple header from 7 pm to 1 pm. The one in between was Johnny English Reborn and I just went with the flow. With what followed, I was actually pleasantly surprised and pleased. Sometimes one gets lucky I guess.

Rowan Atkinson continues with his bungling ways in the sequel but over a period of time, I guess these bungling ways seem quite endearing – or should I say, these bungling ways have evolved to make themselves endearing and a bit funny to the avid movie goer. Johnny boy is called back from exile by his boss played by Gillian Anderson to get to bottom some fishy business. The agent from MI7 is quick to report on duty and heads off to Japan where he discovers the involvement of the secret group called Vortex which is planning to kill the Chinese Premiere during his talks with the British Prime Minister. Vortex is a lethal combination of 3 secret agents – one each from the KGB, CIA and MI7. Will Johnny manage to get to the bottom of all this and manage to redeem himself of what happened in Mozambique (or was it Mauritius) 8 years back. Only time will tell the story. If you are able to sustain the Johnny English brand of comedy that is.

Now don’t get misled by the last statement. JER is a much better made movie that the first one that released in 2003 which I believe I saw in Sterling Cinema when it wasn’t a multiplex. The humour has distinctly improved to stuff that is more classic British humour. Add to that a touch of Bond and the class of the humour is distinctly superior to previous Mr. Bean attempts – more often than not… so don’t get ahead of yourself and assume that you will find nothing wrong at all. Quite a few gaffes actually but you would lose them because of the looks of one Rosamund Pike – who would actually qalify as probably the only perso in the world who has now acted n both an original Bond movie and its spoof. Interesting piece of trivia to close out the review of a 5 on 10 movie. That’s all I can give JER. Sorry for misleading you to believe that it was better.

Trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi293772313/

Fracture

Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling) is an up and coming attorney @ law. He works on crucial cases at the District Attorney (DA) office and has a 100% track record – especially at the tough ones. Little does he know what is going to hit him over the next few weeks – A 50+ year old problem called Ted Crawford (Anthony Hopkins)


Mr. Crawford is a successful engineer who has smelt a fish about his young, extremely attractive wife, Jennifer (Embeth Davidtz). Most of us would have probably felt this gut wrenching experience, doubled up and died. But not Ted. Ted needs to ensure that his deepest darkest fears are confirmed or not (hopefully). He leaves work early one day and drops into an inconspicuous little motel in outskirts of the city to find Mr & Mrs. Smith (Jennifer) having a romp in the pool.


His fears being confirmed, Ted returns home and waits for Jennifer to get back home. A few hours later and few cold blooded dialogues later (no one else can be that cold blooded on screen than Hopkins) and shoots her in the face.


Now Mr. Smith goes by the actual name of Detective Robert “Rob” Nunally (Billy Burke) who, as bad luck would have it, lands up being the lead detective on the case. It would seem that he doesn’t have much on his hands coz Ted confesses to the crime @ the scene and is promptly put behind bars, pending trial.


Willy, in the meantime has landed up a great job in a leading law firm thanks to the recommendation of Nikki Gardner (Rosamund Pike). However, before he leaves for good, he has one small case to take care of – that of disposing off a deranged man who has killed is wife and has confessed to it as well. Piece of Cake right….. Not as much.


Mr. Crawford, true to his profession in a manner of speaking, seems to have engineered his wife’s killing and is not about to give up without a fight. He does just enough to ensure that the young Willy Beachum is enticed enough to take up the case against him who Ted decides to defend himself. What follows is a brilliantly crafted murder mystery which holds you to the screen for the next 60+ mins. Like a good 10 round World Boxing Championship match where one is a super experienced crafty fighter and the other who has raw energy and strength on his side.


Gregory Hoblit (Director – Fallen, Hart’s War, Frequency and also NYPD blue) sure had his work cut out for him when he signed on Hopkins for the role of Ted Crawford. But I have this feeling that it was not too challenging. Just run through the role with Hopkins and he delivers yet another one of his masterpieces – but then with Hopkins, every one is a masterpiece to say the least.


Ryan Gosling is good in his performance of the young, raring to go attorney who has not learnt to give up. The rest of the cast really doesn’t have much of a presence but kinda do what was expected.


Like Hoblit’s previous attempts, this one centres around just a couple of characters backed by a really really strong story line.


Playing on one of the movie channels (cant remember which one) in June / July. Worth a dekko. I give it 6 on 10.