Thriller

2004 – Spartan

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  • Title: Spartan
  • IMDb: link

“Where’s the girl?”

Spartan

Ten years ago today David Mamet‘s thriller Spartan opened in theaters starring Val Kilmer (in one of his best roles) and a relatively unknown actress (Kristen Bell) only months away from her career breakthrough as a spunky teen detective. Although my favorite Mamet scripts are his satires (State and Main, Wag the Dog), Spartan is an underrated gem that received neither the box office nor critical success it deserved.

Kilmer stars as a member of Delta Force tasked with finding the President’s daughter (Bell) before anyone realizes the young woman is missing. As with other Mamet thrillers, the plot offers twists and turns in a slowly unraveling mystery involving white slavery, kidnapping, family secrets, and questionable orders that costs several good people their lives and careers.

As you would expect from a Mamet film, the supporting cast is top-notch including Derek Luke as Kilmer’s junior partner, Clark Gregg, William H. Macy, Tia Texada, and Ed O’Neill.

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3 Days to Kill

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: 3 Days to Kill
  • IMDB: link

3 Days to KillIt would be easy to simply call 3 Days to Kill as a bad movie and move on, and I certainly wouldn’t blame anyone one for doing so. The inconsistent thriller concerning the final mission of dying spy Ethan Renner (Kevin Costner) dealing with apartment full of an extended family of squatters, reconnecting with his estranged wife (Connie Nielsen) and daughter (Hailee Steinfeld), and working for a sexy spy (Amber Heard), immediately after promising his wife he was done with the the agency, to find and kill a target known only as The Wolf (Richard Sammel), is one hell of a B-movie mess.

Costner, who has had some notable voice issues earlier this year causing him to pull out of planned appearances, could give Christian Bale‘s gruff Batman voice a run for its money with his gravel monotone performance here. Despite making assurances he’s given up the life, and without explaining to his wife and daughter how killing dozens of people where they live in Paris might come back to haunt them, Renner agrees to slowly kill his way to The Wolf and his top lieutenant The Albino (Tómas Lemarquis).

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Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

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  • Title: Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
  • IMDb: link

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

It’s been more than a decade since the last movie based on Tom Clancy‘s thinking man’s action hero Jack Ryan opened in theaters. Far from a box office bomb The Sum of All Fears still failed to relaunch the franchise with Ben Affleck in the starring role. 11 years later Hollywood tries again with Chris Pine taking over the role in a Jack Ryan origin story that is the first of the five films to not be based off one of Clancy’s novels.

Although it plays with the timing of various important events, the screenplay remains close to Ryan’s origins from the Clancy novels. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit offers a quick look at the series of events that led him from earning a Doctorate in Economics to his stint in the Marine Corps and his eventual injury and recruitment into the CIA by Thomas Harper (Kevin Costner). The film also spends quite a bit of time developing the relationship between Ryan and Cathy (Keira Knightley), a phsycial therapist earning her medical degree who helps in his recovery and rehabilitation following the helicopter crash that nearly left him paralyzed.

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Prisoners

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  • Title: Prisoners
  • IMDB: link

PrisonersPrisoners is an infuriating movie that wastes the strong set-up of the raw emotions of families going through the kidnappings of their young daughters in favor of a descent into average thriller territory that continues twists and turns long after you’ve given up caring. Had the film stayed with the themes of emotion and loss and how far one will go for answers when the lives of their children are at stake, rather than force an unnecessary whodunit twist ending involving puzzles, complicated motives, and elaborate reveals, director Denis Villeneuve‘s film would have been much better off.

Hugh Jackman and Terrence Howard star as fathers who face the hard reality of their daughters disappearing on lazy weekend afternoon. Although convinced the police have the right man in custody, a mentally-retarded Paul Dano, Keller Dover (Jackman) becomes increasingly agitated when the police release the man from custody.

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Embrace of the Vampire

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  • Title: Embrace of the Vampire
  • IMDb: link

Embrace of the Vampire

Released in 1995 during what can only be descried as actress Alyssa Milano‘s naughty phase, Embrace of the Vampire was one of a handful of movies Milano starred in to shake-up her image, leave the role of Samantha Micelli from Who’s the Boss behind, and move forward into more adult roles. Even as a B-movie erotic thriller Embrace of the Vampire is far from successful. The goofy attempt at serious melancholy vampire story is far less memorable than the amount of skin the actress flashed in the film.

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