Thriller

Lucy

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Lucy
  • IMDb: link

LucyFalling back on a long debunked myth Hollywood fell in love with years ago that somehow a person only uses 10% of their brain, the latest movie from writer/director Luc Besson casts Scarlett Johansson as a completely unexceptional young woman whose mind is opened up by a designer drug allowing her to access more and more of her “unused” brain. The result feels very much like a script where only a fraction of 10% of a person’s brain power was used to write it.

Unapologetically becoming more and more like The Matrix as Lucy’s intelligence grows and gives her access to the hidden code of the world (which is never adequately explained despite the narration by Morgan Freeman‘s character) and various super powers, Besson’s story never differentiates between the ability to absorb knowledge and knowledge itself. Just because Lucy suddenly has a bigger brain doesn’t mean she still wouldn’t have to learn the knowledge or skills (including advanced computer coding and foreign languages) to properly use them.

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Non-Stop Mediocrity

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Non-Stop
  • IMDb: link

Non-Stop MediocrityNon-Stop is the kind of fast-paced dumb action thriller which Liam Neeson seems to so enjoy making these days. Well-paced, the story about an air marshal aboard a transatlantic flight hijacked by an unknown adversary has all the trademarks of a cliched action thriller including an uber-smart bad guy, protocols which keep putting innocent lives in danger, a down on his luck hero who breaks the rules, the tease of a romantic distraction (Julianne Moore), quick-cut blurry action sequences, plenty of implausible coincidences, consistently dumb choices from pretty much every character, and enough red herrings to feed half a theater full of movie goers.

Trouble begins halfway through the flight when Marshall Bill Marks (Neeson) receives a text message from a hijacker promising to kill a passenger every 20 minutes until he is paid $140 million all while making it appear to both the outside world and the passengers on the plane that Marks is the one responsible for the hijacking.

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Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
  • IMDB: link

Jack Ryan: Shadow RecruitPulled from it’s plumb Christmas Day scheduled release date to be dumped in the middle of the graveyard of January and February, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit came and went without much fanfare. Although pulling in more than $135 million worldwide the movie underachieved based on its original planned release and met with mixed reaction from both critics and fans.

Rebooting the long-dominant Jack Ryan series, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit cast Chris Pine in the role of Jack Ryan. I enjoyed the film, and found it more memorable than either of Harrison Ford‘s offerings or the Ben Affleck 2002 attempt to reboot the franchise.

Bringing in Keira Knightley as Ryan’s girlfriend, Kevin Costner as his CIA mentor, and Kenneth Branagh to do double duty both as the film’s villain and director, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit offers a solid cast for an old school thriller.

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2004 – Spartan

/ / Home Video
  • 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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