Author: Darren Goodhart

High School student Dave Lizewski doesn’t want a normal life. He’s a geek, he reads comic books, spends too much time on his computer and girls don’t dig him. One day, Dave is sitting with a couple of his friends in his local comic shop and ponders the question of why no one has actually really become a super-hero. His friends give him the appropriate responses, but after getting pushed around by a couple of thugs, Dave decides he’s had enough and he’s tired of just standing around and letting this stuff happen. Dave decides to become a super-hero and on his first day out, he ends up in the hospital, having to have all sorts of replacement surgery. Six months pass. Dave has healed with all sorts of metal replacement in his body and some nerve ending damage that basically doesn’t allow him to feel some things, and so Dave gets back on his horse and tries again. This time he succeeds wildly, becoming an internet sensation and calling himself Kick-Ass. He also starts a chain of events that he just can’t get away from.

That’s the basic premise to the latest comic book to movie adaptation, called after it’s title character Kick-Ass. Kick-Ass is an adaptation of the comic book series by writer Mark Millar and artist John Romita Jr. It’s also the latest film from director Matthew Vaughn, who’s certainly delivered the goods in the past with movies like Layer Cake and Stardust. and it’s also a pretty darn good movie, though I do have a problem or two with it.

First though, on the plus side, it absolutely looks terrific. Vaughn’s shooting this with all sorts of bright colors and his screen compositions literally bring Romita Jr.’s art to life on the screen. Some changes have been made that make this differ slightly from the comic. The most notable of these being in the origins of another character inspired by Dave, Big Daddy, which in turn leads to some changes in the ending, but I think the intent of the book is still there on the big screen. That is, I wasn’t crying foul over it at all.

There’s some real moments of pure brilliance up there as well- those moments being Kick-Ass’ first big night where he becomes a sensation, Big Daddy’s inspired comic-book telling of his origin (absolutely beautifully done), a video-taped fight scene which shows Big Daddy in action, the introduction of Big Daddy’s protege, Hit Girl and Hit Girl’s assault on the gang members who capture both Kick-Ass and Big Daddy late in the film. These scenes are really well made set pieces and when they come up, they kick the movie into overdrive.

One of my problems though, and it’s not necessarily with the movie itself, it’s more mine, is that when I initially read the book, I didn’t read it with a laughtrack going on in my head. Now this film, through a lot of it’s absurdity, certainly elicits a lot of big laughs from it’s audience. But as a comic book reader, I pretty much read this with a straight face when it came out, and so it was a little disconcerting for me seeing it this way. This is a black comedy for sure, and a lot of these scenes where the laughs come in the theatre are pretty much straight out of the book. As far as I know, it was by design to get laughs in Millar’s originally script, I just didn’t read it that way. For someone coming into this without having read the comic, this won’t mean anything at all. And for those who have read the book, well your mileage may vary, though I suspect I’m probably a minority on this.

The cast, for the most part is pretty darn good. Aaron Johnson plays Kick-Ass/Dave and this kid is someone to watch in the future and he exhibits a lot of character growth on the screen. Nicolas Cage plays Big Daddy and you can tell that Cage had a lot of fun here, in particular as he’s playing Big Daddy in costume where he’s channeling Adam West as Batman. Mark Strong is certainly effective as Frank D’Amico, our bad guy of the piece. This one’s a little different for Strong, being a more out of control character than what he’s been in the past, but he’s still really good here. The standout of the cast though is Chloe Moretz. Moretz plays Hit Girl and literally whenever she’s on-screen, there’s real magic happening. Hit Girl is an 11-year old who’s been training her whole life for what happens in the movie, and Moretz’s performance is star-making. But the other downside for me here is also in the main cast, and that’s with Christopher Mintz-Plasse who plays D’Amico’s son and also assumes a costumed identity as the Red Mist. Mintz-Plasse screams “stunt-casting” to me (which is certainly played with in the marketing of the movie) just begging for people to say, “Hey, there’s McLovin!” I didn’t think he had any real presence in the film and most of his lines and delivery are pretty flat. Compared to everyone else in the movie and how their work kicks up the adrenaline, MIntz-Plasse puts on the brakes.

So yeah, I have a couple of problems here, but still I thought Kick-Ass delivered and did so with great style. It’s irreverent and extremely violent, so if you’re put off by the violence, then this one isn’t for you. I’m a long-time comic book fan (going on 43 years now) and really appreciate the lengths that Matthew Vaughn went to fairly accurately bring this to the screen. While I enjoyed the film a great deal, I think it’ll have an even bigger appeal to today’s younger fans. They, at least to me, want everything to be a little more in your face and self-referential and they’ll certainly get that with Kick-Ass.

Clash of the Titans tells us the story of Perseus, a young man who discovers that he is the mortal son of the Greek god, Zeus, though he was raised by a normal (and god-fearing) family of fishermen. Through the start of the film, questions are raised of the validity of the gods by Perseus’ father as they’ve been suffering in their trade. Perseus’ family comes to the city of Argos, where a massive defiance of the gods is taking place. As a result of this, Perseus is the only member of his family left alive after the god Hades attacks the city. The gods give the citizens of Argos an ultimatum that they will release the fearsome Kracken upon them unless a sacrifice is made of Argos’ princess, Andromeda. Perseus is given the opportunity to find a way in which to save the city and the princess, and at the same time, looking for his own chance to exact his revenge on Hades.

Clash of the Titans is a remake of the 1981 movie of the same name. the original movie was the last film from legendary stop-motion effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen (and it was a pretty big bomb when it first came out as well). I saw the original back when it came out and I’ve seen it more since then and I have to say I’m a big fan of the film. I also tend to think that the original is ripe for a remake. Now don’t get me wrong, I do think the original is still very enjoyable to watch, but the effects are dated and action movies today have more intensity to them than what they did then, and so something like this could benefit from an updating. I think it does, though from what I’m gathering, I’m probably a minority on that.

This does make a lot of changes to the original in it’s story, giving Perseus a revenge angle instead of the love angle that he had for Andromeda in the original. The mechanical owl , Bubo, gets a nod here but is not serving the same function that it did in the original. Instead that role is filled by a a character named Io who acts as a guardian angel of sorts for Perseus. Hades wasn’t even prominent in the original, so his addition is all new and I think one of the better things about the new movie. And there are more changes as well, and sorry to the purists, but they didn’t bother me.

I thought the effects work was pretty cool. Like Alice In Wonderland, there’s still a certain artificiality to them, which I tend to think is somewhat by design. They give the film, at least to me, a more comic book feel that I found appealing. What wasn’t as appealing though was the use of 3D here. Now it’s pretty well known that this movie was held back from it’s original release date to cash in on the big business that 3D movies are currently generating. It was transferred to 3D and not shot with it in mind, and it’s certainly apparent on-screen. There’s some depth up there, but it’s nowhere near the state of the art and if I had a chance to see this again, I’d probably opt for the 2D version.

But that’s my only complaint with the film. Yeah, it plays fast and loose with the “real” mythology, but so did the original film. It didn’t bother me then and it certainly doesn’t bother me now. It’s solid popcorn adventure from director Louis Letterier who certainly has done well by me in delivering that in his past movies. And a couple of the scenes, again for me, delivered the same thrills as the original. Those scenes being the battle with the Medusa and Perseus’ final defeat of the Kracken.

The cast is very good, with for me the highlights being the casting of Liam Neeson as Zeus and Ralph Fiennes as Hades. Sam Worthington plays Perseus, and I think he does a nice job here. There’s a nice intensity to what he does that’s certainly way more committal than what Harry Hamlin did in the original. Other standouts to me where Mads Mikkelson as Draco, the leader of Argos’ forces who accompanies Perseus on his quest and Gemma Arterton as Io who struck me more with her beauty more than anything else, but she’s still solid in the role.

I certainly recommend the movie, but not in 3D. The only plus that I see to seeing it in 3D is that an audience going to see a movie in 3D is likely to be more attentive to watching the film, rather than be fooling around with their text-messaging. I thought it was a lot of fun, and certainly something that I look forward to seeing again down the road.

In the near future (the time-frame isn’t really specified here), those in failing health and need new organs seek out the services of The Union. The Union offers artificial organs (called Artiforgs) at exorbitant prices with hard sell tactics. There’s just one catch: failure of payment means the company has the full right to take back their product, often with the result being the recipient’s life. The people that do this are the Union’s own Repo Men, and this is the story of one of their own, Remy. Remy, while doing his duties, finds himself the victim of faulty equipment and then in need of the Union’s services himself, needing an artificial heart. Unfortunately for Remy, he can’t make the payment…

That’s the high-concept premise to Repo Men, a movie that I was looking forward to thanks to a pretty good trailer. It’s a shame that it’s end result is a mess.

Let’s start with it’s premise- OK, I can buy the idea of these artificial organs and people paying exorbitant prices for them, but nothing is offered on just how we got to that situation in the first place. Sure inferences with the current times can be made, but they don’t make them and they don’t go into the legalities. Now this wouldn’t have taken much to do, just a few minutes at the start of the movie to put this in perspective would’ve been fine. But that’s not this movie’s concern, it just wants to get moving.

So it does get moving, but then it runs into other problems. These problems are tonal shifts that just don’t gel. From it’s opening, in which we see Remy doing his thing in bloody violent fashion, you get the idea that this is going to be a pretty black comedy, but once things turn differently it starts to take itself way too seriously.

Then, there’s two twists that the movie takes that cheapens everything else that came before it. In most movies, we get one twist like this, and it either works or it doesn’t, but here we have two. One is subtle and one isn’t and both had me thinking they weren’t ever needed.

I’ve heard people looking at the similarities of this and Darren Lynn Bousman’s movie, Repo! The Genetic Opera. I haven’t seen Repo! (though I want to) so I can’t really comment on those similarities. But I saw plenty of similarities to other movies, things like Children of Men, Total Recall, Brazil and an ending fight sequence that’s taken straight from Oldboy. Now I don’t mind movies showing their influences, but it really only works when it’s in the hands of a skilled director who can make it work. I don’t think Miguel Sapochnik has the chops for this.

This really needed to be in the hands of someone like either Paul Verhoeven or David Cronenberg. Verhoeven would’ve ran with the black comedy aspects. Cronenberg would’ve really played with the serious aspects. Either would’ve set their tone and ran with it all the way through. I expect that both would’ve given you enough back story to justify the situations and not raising questions about aspects of the practices.

Jude Law plays Remy, Forest Whitaker plays his partner, Jake and Liev Schreiber plays their boss, Frank. They really do their best to rise above the material, but it just never really comes together. Remy’s not really that sympathetic a character, so it’s hard to give a damn about what happens to him in the end. Both Jake and Frank seem more like they’d be at home in Paul Verhoeven’s version of this movie and so when this moves in to being overly serious, they’re just cartoons. Alice Braga plays Beth, a woman Remy falls for after his troubles begin and she shows another side to the central ideas here. That idea being that people aren’t just getting the artiforgs for their health. That’s about all that this character brings to this. Well, I take that back, she also serves to further make Remy unsympathetic. Remy, at the start of this is a married man with a son. His wife is pretty responsible and is horrified at what Remy does for a living. But Remy’s really good at what he does, and actually enjoys it, until the tables turn and he finds himself on the other end. But then it’s too late for his current relationship, and he falls for Beth, though there’s little given as to why he should, other than he just heard her singing at a nightclub one night.

There’s a decent idea here, but it just isn’t given enough background to make you really believe it. It’s tonal shifts just don’t gel together and you could really care less for it’s main character. In the hands of a more skilled director, this could’ve been a pretty good sci-fi experience but as it stands, Repo Men is a big mess.

A very young Alice Kingsley relates her classic adventure in Wonderland to her father, chalking it all up to a dream, though a mad and wonderful dream. thirteen years later, Alice, who tells us that this is the only dream she’s had, is about ready to make some important life decisions, when she’s beckoned by a white rabbit again to make another trip down a rabbit hole…

This should probably be titled Alice’s Return to Wonderland, rather than Alice In Wonderland as this newest movie from director Tim Burton is more a sequel than anything else. It’s also the sixth time that Burton has collaborated with actor Johnny Depp for a movie and his first foray into the realm of digital 3D.

But is it a good movie? Well, yes and no. On the plus side, it really looks terrific, the visual effects are very nice, though there is an air of artificiality around them (and I expect that’s by design). I like it’s use of 3D, though it’s not essential in seeing this movie (the better effect with some movies in 3D now seems to be a more focused audience more than anything else, and not necessarily inclined to making their own show in a theatre). And I certainly found some amusement in some of the things that they do here, in particular turning Alice into an action hero by it’s end complete with her own Schwarzenegger-esque line when defeating the Jabberwocky.

But where it fails is in it’s ultimate resolution for Alice, which can be seen coming, but then there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just not handled here with much of an impact that really feels satisfying. I found myself saying, “Really? That’s it?” at it’s end And though it’s not a long movie, it’s pacing is meandered at best, though I suppose it can be argued that it, seeming to being a dream to Alice, doesn’t necessarily have to follow the rules of a to-the-point narrative.

The performances are mixed. I tend to think Johnny Depp is here as the Mad Hatter more to mark another chance to work with Burton more than anything else. He’s not bad here, but it doesn’t really stand out as well. Mia Wasikowska plays Alice, and she’s more there to move this along than bringing any real depth to this (of course that can be blamed more with it’s script too). What’s more fun though is Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen and Anne Hathaway as the White Queen. Carter’s really into what she’s doing, even if it is one note, but still she revels in that note. Hathaway is just fun to watch here as she goes through her wispy, princess-y cartoon moves- like Carter, it’s one-note, but also like Carter, you can tell she’s having fun with the one note.

So it both works and it doesn’t. I still had a decent time with this, but I don’t think anyone should have to run out to see it, unless they really want to. It’s sort’ve like those old beer commercials, which you could paraphrase here as “looks great, but less filling” though your own mileage might vary.

Three different officers in Brooklyn’s 65th precinct are dealing with their own desperation. We’re first introduced to Sal Procida, a detective who’s desperation to provide a good life to his family has led to his own corruption, committing murder and willing to steal drug money from various busts. We meet Clarence Butler, known on the street as Tango. He’s a deep cover operative who’s infiltration of street gang life is permeating his own. He’s desperate to get his own life back even though it may come at the cost of the betrayal of a lifelong friend. And we meet Eddie Dugan, a beat cop who’s ready to retire after 22 years on the force. He’s disillusioned from his long experience on the force, with younger officers not giving him any respect and calling him a burnout. In his final days, he’s desperate for some form of respect and finding himself again.

That’s the premise to director Antoine Fuqua’s latest movie, Brooklyn’s Finest. Fuqua is best known for his previous movie of police corruption, Training Day, a terrific film that I think actually gets a little edged out by Brooklyn’s Finest.

Fuqua is real adept at weaving together these three stories. He gives you enough on each character and then knows when to move on to his next. You never really feel like he’s getting lost in these three stories. For the first part of the film, there’s a more leisured pace to seeing their stories unfold, but then at some key points of action, he’ll pick up the pace with quicker cuts to each of the three stories. The flow feels very nice.

It’s for a mature audience to be sure, and not just because of it’s dealings with sex and violence in the film. These characters are really well-drawn, and while their surface stories might give off singular motivations, there’s more to each of these men than just that and it’s there on the screen thanks to some really nice performances.

Ethan Hawke plays Sal, Don Cheadle plays Tango and Richard Gere plays Eddie and all three deliver some exceptional work here. I particularly found myself drawn to Gere and Eddie Dugan’s story the most. Gere’s performance really does feel lived-in and like that of a man who’s withdrawn himself because of things that he’s experienced over time. That doesn’t slight what either Hawke or Cheadle does here. I like how Hawke plays his corruption here which is apart from how it might be conventionally portrayed, he’s riddled with guilt over what he’s done and has an obvious hard time dealing with it. Cheadle’s a powder keg waiting to explode, especially when dealing with his superiors and when it does happen, it’s actually pretty harrowing in it’s own right.

There’s a lot of good support here as well. It’s very nice to see Wesley Snipes in something like this. Snipes plays Cas, Tango’s friend who’s been away to jail and is just now released and getting back into the life. though he doesn’t have as much time on the screen as the three leads, Snipes still does really well here and even with this part, it still feels multi-faceted. Will Patton and Ellen Barkin play Tango’s superiors. Patton is solid, this is the sort of character thing that we’re used to from him. Barkin is a big surprise though and it’s one of the more vicious performances that I’ve seen her do. I can’t tell you how long that it’s been that I’ve seen Lili Taylor in a movie, but it was certainly nice to see her here as Sal’s wife, and while it’s not a flashy performance you can see by her work who’s the rock in this relationship. Brían F. O’Byrne plays one of Sal’s team, who’s basically Sal’s clarity even though Sal doesn’t know it. Shannon Kane plays Chantal, a hooker that Eddie Dugan sees. Dugan thinks she could be one way of him finding something for himself in the world, and she’s certainly adept at giving him that further illusion.

Brooklyn’s Finest is really a terrific movie. The three stories are all handled very well, really making you involved with their characters and the way they come together in the end feels logical, though there is some coincidence to it, it still feels right. For me, this one is one of those that already I’ll have to look back on at the end of the year as one of the best films of 2010. Highly recommended.

In the town of Ogden Marsh, Iowa, strange things are happening. Citizens of the town are turning emotionally strange and violent. The town’s sheriff, David Dutton, and his wife, Dr. Judy Dutton, are doing their best to look into the mystery. Sheriff Dutton starts to make headway with the discovery of a downed plane in a nearby creek. He believes that it’s something there that’s infesting the town’s water supply and soon he finds out he’s right. Almost as soon as he makes the connection, the entire area is put into containment by the military, and then hijinks ensue.

That’s the premise to The Crazies, a re-make of an early 70s film from director George Romero. This new version is helmed by director Breck Eisner, and while it’s well-made, there’s still something that’s a little lacking for me. I’ve never seen the original film, so I can’t really draw any comparisons to that. I see that a lot of people are calling it a “zombie” movie, but it’s not technically. It’s an infestation/virus film, though I doubt that will make much of a difference to the naysayers of horror movies out there.

There’s solid tension here right from the start. It does a nice job at showing this more through the eyes of an everyman and the chaos that would result from that. Where it falters are in areas after the military moves in and a lack of consistency as to just what their presence is. One moment, they’re all over the place and the next they’re mysteriously gone, which seems more for the convenience of moving our main characters forward in the story more than anything really logical. Now I don’t necessarily need there to be a strict adherence to logic throughout a movie like this, and if it’s made with enough of a brisk pace, then normally I wouldn’t even bring it up. Here, though, there are moments when things relax enough that I did question that.

For the most part though, it’s pretty well made. No problem with any of the performances though. Timothy Olyphant plays Sheriff Dutton and Radha Mitchell plays his wife Judy and they’re both rock-solid, as is the work of the supporting cast.

There’s nothing really offensive here though, just a few moments where that paced is relaxed enough to question a few things and some added “hero” moments at the end of the film which are more padding than anything else. Not a bad little diversion, and if you like these sort of films (and I do), then you might have a good time with it. I don’t think this is one though that you have to run right out to see in a theatre and it actually might play better later on for home viewing.

It’s shortly after World War II, and United States Federal Marshal, Edward “Teddy” Daniels and his new partner Chuck find themselves traveling to an island in the Boston Bay called Shutter Island that’s the home to a mental institution that houses the most extreme cases. One of the considered more dangerous patients has escaped their care, and now these two U.S. Marshals have been sent in to investigate, only there way more to Shutter Island than they realize.

Yeah, that description of the initial premise of Shutter Island is really cryptic. I don’t like to spoil movies at all, and hopefully here I still won’t though I’m afraid this review isn’t going to be favorable to Martin Scorsese’s newest movie. But still I don’t want to spoil it, for those that want to see it for themselves.

Now, Scorsese is certainly one of my favorite directors working today, and certainly considered one of the greatest overall working in films, but even the greatest have their failures, and unfortunately, Shutter Island doesn’t really hold up as well as most of Scorsese’s past movies.

The movie certainly looks great, and featuring some pretty exquisite production design by Dante Ferretti, certainly a veteran of making movies look terrific and authentic. That’s readily on display.

And there’s no faulting the terrific cast that’s been put together for this movie. This is Leonardo DiCaprio’s fourth outing with Martin Scorsese, and it’s easy to see why these two have developed a very good working relationship with each other- Scorsese’s movies always have much more going on beneath their surface and DiCaprio has certainly shown that he’s an actor who’s capable of showing much more than surface detail in his performances. DiCaprio is the star here, but he’s backed up with an A-list of talent, including Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow, Michelle Williams and Emily Mortimer. This also features Patricia Clarkson, Ted Levine, Elias Koteas and Jackie Earle Haley in some smaller but key roles into putting together what’s really going on here. And everyone here is good, no doubt about that, I expect they’re delivering exactly what Scorsese wants.

The fault here is in the script and in the very languid pace of the movie. Now I know this an adaptation of a novel (I’ve never read it), and as a novel, it’s unfolding probably works, but as it plays out here, and further because of the movie’s slow pace, it’s pretty easy to see what’s coming and that includes the “secret” of Shutter Island, and as such, it’s revelations don’t have too much impact, or at least they didn’t for me. Now this is being sold as a bit of suspense and a bit of horror, and certainly the trappings are there, but Scorsese has never really been known for fully delving into those realms and his movies more play out as some intense character studies, and that’s certainly the case with Shutter Island. And as a character study, this one is pretty loaded with detail, but because of being able to see where the “twist” was to this in the film’s first half, it’s left with no impact whatsoever.

Your own mileage may vary of course, and as far as I know, this might improve much more for me on a second viewing, but while I found this really well made from a production standpoint, and really well-performed it didn’t quite come together for me in such a way by it’s end where I really cared one way or the other, even though I still admire the detail that went into it.

Actor Lawrence Talbot is summoned to his family home after the grisly death of his brother. And though Talbot is reluctant to return, he finds he must come to face his estranged father, John and search for the answer to his brother’s death, even though he is troubled by his own traumatic past. The answer does await Talbot, as does his terrifying family legacy.

That’s a real nutshell premise to The Wolfman starring Benecio Del Toro and directed by Joe Johnston. I mean with a title like The Wolfman there really isn’t any doubt as to what Talbot will become, is there? No, there isn’t, but the ride along the way is pretty fun to take.

The biggest thing that I like about The Wolfman is that it doesn’t try to make the werewolf genre as “precious” as what the vampire genre does these days (though I do give films like Twilight and others like it their props at least in the fact that their fan base is so willing to come in and embrace it, unlike other genre films which more often than not get savagely attacked their fans even before their release- anyway that’s the way I see it, but I digress…) and instead, it really embraces the whole Universal Horror Film aspect. That’s a real breath of fresh air, and when the film is as artfully made as what Joe Johnston has done here, it’s even better.

While I don’t think this has the impact of more contemporary set pieces as An American Werewolf in London or The Howling (this is a period piece), it still has good moments and good set pieces, and to Johnston’s credit, he moves it all along at a pretty brisk pace.

The visual effects are pretty nice, especially the transformation scenes, which are, at least to me more handled as live in camera and sweetened with some CGI more than anything else. And while the transformation is good here, it lacks some of the impact that you’ve seen in the above-mentioned films, that’s not a knock at the movie by any means, it’s just more a commentary on how far things have come and how so many fantastic scenes are now much more commonplace.

Another thing that I really liked was retaining the name of Lawrence Talbot for our main character. Larry Talbot was the name of the character played by Lon Chaney Jr. all those years ago, and I had no idea that they were going to use the same name here. the thing that really struck me odd though is that, upon hearing this, I started to see some resemblance between both Benecio Del Toro and Lon Chaney Jr., not just physically but also in their cadence. Del Toro’s solid here, though his Talbot is really underplayed, but considering his childhood emotional trauma, that can certainly help explain some of that. He really seems to eat it up, so to speak, when he’s playing the Wolfman though, and for that, I do appreciate it.

He’s backed up with Anthony Hopkins playing his father, Emily Blunt playing his childhood friend and Hugo Weaving as a Scotland Yard inspector who’s come to investigate the savage murders. Now I didn’t know much about this movie in advance, but I did know that Hopkins was playing Del Toro’s father, and sort’ve rolled my eyes at that from the start, considering Hopkins is definitely British and Del Toro is definitely Latin in origin, and figuring this was just going to be some sort’ve cocked-up explanation just to get someone of Hopkins’ caliber in the film. But their relation is actually handled quite credibly in some flashback scenes, and so that became a moot point. Hopkins is solid, as is Blunt, nothing to complain about and nothing that really stands out. To me though, Weaving is solid gold and of all the characters actually seems to have the most fire and passion about him.

In the end, I found The Wolfman to be solidly entertaining and a nice throwback to the heyday of Universal horror films. It doesn’t carry the same impact as some more contemporary set pieces, but it’s still nicely crafted and delivers a nice diversion.

Well, February looks like it’s seeing the resurgence of the buddy action movie with both the releases From Paris With Love and Cop Out. When I saw the trailer for From Paris With Love I just thought that it looked like it could be a fun little diversion, but nothing real special (I wish I could say the same thing about Cop Out, in which every time I see the trailer for that, I cringe just a little more and feel just a little bad that Kevin Smith is making an “Ow! My Balls!” type of comedy by choice- it may be a good movie, but based on it’s trailer, the only way you could get me in the theatre to see it is to tie me to the chair with my eyes pried open like McDowell in Clockwork, but I digress…). In fact, the weather had the potential to be really bad here in St. Louis this weekend, and it looked like there was a chance that it was going to interfere with seeing From Paris With Love and I was pretty much prepared to write it off if that was the case…

Fortunately, the weather turned out to be not bad at all and I did get to see From Paris With Love and man, I’m glad I did.

From Paris With Love is the latest movie from producer Luc Besson and director Pierre Morel who last year gave us Taken (which I haven’t seen yet, though that will change later tonight) and it’s one very entertaining ride.

James Reece is an American in Paris working as the assistant to the United States’ ambassador in France. He performs all of the mundane tasks for the ambassador and makes sure he’s ready to carry out his duties for the day. But Reece is much more, he’s also a lower level espionage operative who performs preparatory tasks for other operatives and he does them really well. He has ambitions to move up in that aspect of his job. He’s also a young man in love and has just become engaged to his girlfriend in Paris, and as he’s ready to celebrate with her, he gets a call that’s going to give him his opportunity to move up, by assisting one of the best operatives the U.S. has in one unorthodox agent named Charlie Wax…

That’s all I’m going to say about the story here, and while there’s nothing really new that’s done here, what is done is done really well and it’s pretty obvious (or at least it was to me) that all concerned were having a hell of a time making this movie. The action is top notch, the character’s are engaging, and while there are aspects to the story a that are a little over-the-top, it’s not in a way that I didn’t want to go on the ride with the film. One of the things that helps with that is the movie’s brisk pace, which certainly puts our heroes in some rough situations that makes them bond pretty quickly and certainly made me watching this give a damn about them.

the other thing that helps is the fact that you have two actors as capable as John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers in the lead roles and their chemistry is really nice. Rhys-Meyers plays James Reece, and he’s pretty stoic in the part, but also pretty engaging. He’s our doorway into this story, and he does a nice job with it. John Travolta… well, I have to say, when I first saw the trailer for this, I did a double take when I realized this was John Travolta as he certainly looks quite a bit different than he has in most of his movies, with his clean-shaven head, and by the trailer, you get the feeling that his Charlie Wax is going to be a wild character, and one that could’ve worked negatively for me. The thing is, when we’re introduced to Wax, he does seem like he’s going to be an unlikeable guy, but by about a half hour in, I was fully taken with him and it’s real evident in Travolta’s performance. You can sort’ve tell when an actor is really having a good time with a part and it’s all over Travolta’s performance here, whether it’s in his line delivery or his genuine joy in the action scenes, it’s there and it’s infectious.

It really is a fun ride, far more entertaining than I thought it was going to be and by it’s end, I was ready to see Wax and Reece together again in another adventure and thinking back to other buddy action movies that I’ve seen, I hadn’t really felt like that since being introduced to Riggs and Murtaugh in Lethal Weapon. and that’s a pretty high compliment to pay to From Paris With Love. This one really took me by surprise and I enjoyed every minute of it. Now I can’t wait to see Taken later tonight…

Tom Craven is a Boston police detective. His daughter, Emma, has returned home to take a little break from her job, seemingly. As Tom and Emma start to reconnect at their home, Emma begins to cough up blood. Tom is ready to rush her to the hospital and as they walk out the front door, a mysterious gunman yells the name “Craven!” and fires at them, killing Emma almost immediately. Boston PD is right on this and they believe it to be someone who has a grudge against Tom Craven, but Tom has his own thoughts on the matter and starts his own investigation leading to a secret life he didn’t know his daughter had and her job, with it’s own equally huge ramifications.

Edge of Darkness is the newest film from veteran director Martin Campbell and star Mel Gibson and it’s of special note for Gibson because it’s his first lead-starring role in eight years. It’s also a pretty darn good little movie.

Previously, Edge of Darkness was a television mini-series (that Campbell also directed), which unfortunately, I haven’t seen so I can’t compare it to that. What’s here though is pretty tight, though Campbell is willing to relax his pace and let it unfold fairly naturally. It’s a pretty dialogue heavy piece, but it also features it’s fair share of action and when that action is used, it’s pretty effective, in particular with a scene where Craven meets with a friend of his daughter’s out on a country road.

It’s a pretty familiar idea for a movie, there’s really nothing here that you haven’t seen before, but that can be said for the vast majority of movies that come out now. That’s fine, I know that it’s a rare thing to find something that’s totally original out there, and it really doesn’t matter to me as well as the parts are all put together in an interesting and compelling way, and I think Edge of Darkness does that.

I’ve been a big fan of Gibson’s ever since The Road Warrior (I didn’t see Mad Max until later), and for me, he doesn’t disappoint. He manages to play a man with nothing to lose quite well, but all along there’s still a mind at work in the part. I hope its not another eight years before we see him again on screen. He’s got some impressive support here, with Ray Winstone playing a government “fixer” named Jedburgh, who even though finds himself at some odds with Craven, also has empathy for what he’s doing. Danny Huston is one of the better actors who excels at playing villains these days and he does just as well as the head of Northmoor, the company for which Emma Craven works for. Bojana Novakovic plays Emma Craven and though she’s here real briefly, she and Gibson do a solid job in establishing a father-daughter relationship.

Edge of Darkness doesn’t really do anything new, but it doesn’t do anything wrong either and presents a relaxed paced thriller and a welcome return to the big-screen for lead actor Mel Gibson, who shows that he’s still as engaging a leading man as he’s ever been, though a few years older. It’s certainly worth seeing, if not in a theatre then at least eventually in it’s home video release.