"Shoot first; Sightsee later" is the tagline for In Bruges. In a way, the film is a promotion for in Bruges, Belgium, packaged in a quirky, comedic thriller.
Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) are first-time visitors to Bruges, a picturesque old Belgian town. While Ken is fascinated by the history of the place and tries to enjoy himself, Ray clearly doesn't want to be there at all. He just wants to go back to London. The problem is, he can't. And the fact is, they're both hit-men on the run. We later learn that, on his first hit job, Ray accidentally killed a young child.
Wallowing in guilt and self-pity, Ray is a complete mess. Ken somehow takes Ray in and treat him like a son he never had. One evening, they stumble onto a film set, and Ray meets Chloë, a cute production assistant. Ray's interest level in the city changes as he becomes enamored of Chloë. All is well until Ken receives a phone call from their boss, Harry (Ralph Fiennes). It seems that Ray and Ken aren't sent to Bruges for sightseeing after all.
Colin Farrell (Miami Vice) is an interesting actor who tends to take on unconventional leading-man parts. As Ray, he shows a lot of vulnerability, charm and humor. However, his character isn't necessarily likable. He's coarse, crude, ignorant, and whiny. After a while, his self-pitying portrayal kind of gets on my nerves. In contrast, Brendan Gleeson (Beowulf) is calm, mature, fatherly and just as charming in different way. Gleeson plays the role well enough and makes us care for him, and by proxy makes us care for Ray as well. Gleeson and Farrell do very well playing off of each other -- one that feel that their relationship is genuine.
The rest of the quirky cast includes Ralph Fiennes (Bernard and Doris) as the hot-tempered boss with a strange way of looking at things; he plays the role with good, creepy intensity. Eric Godon (Nothing Sacred) is subtly funny as a somewhat fey but wise "weapon guy." Clémence Poésy (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) is interesting as Ray's object of affection, who actually is hiding a secret. Jordan Prentice (Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle) plays a self-aborbed American actor who is also a dwarf. Finally, Thekla Reuten (Lost) leaves an impression as the headstrong innkeeper.
Writer-director Martin McDonagh's (Six Shooters) script reminds me of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. The characters are rather colorful and diverse, and the plot has an absurdity to it. Not to mention the wisecracking dialogue and witty interplay between the characters. It all sounds very good on paper. But in practice, the plot moves so slowly that at times it's like watching paint dry. At 107 minutes, it feels like 200. Between the funny scenes and action, there are often a long null in which the characters don't really do anything. It gets particularly tiring as Collin Farrell continues to act depressed and irritated.
Also, quirky for quirky's sake doesn't always work. The colorful characters are interesting, and there are many interesting moments, but the plot does get too implausible and too bizarre, especially when there's no clear motivation on the characters' part. I mean, one minute one character is trying to kill another, and then the next thing you know they're having a heart to heart chat. It's hard to sustain my disbelief.
McDonagh does have an good eye. Bruges looks picture-book cute in the film, and McDonagh makes very good use of the locations. It's not to say the setting is itself a character, however; it's merely a location. Still, there are some really nice imageries and the mood is right. I really the romantic undertone despite all the blood and violence, and the sense of absurdity is a nice tough. I just wish he hadn't gone overboard with the plot (especially the final plot twist -- it simply feels too deliberate and preordained), and the film could have been trimmed by 30 minutes.That way, we'd been more likely to be in stitches rather than in boredom.
Stars: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Eric Godon, Clémence Poésy, Thekla Reuten, Jordan Prentice
Director: Martin McDonagh
Writer: Martin McDonagh
Distributor: Focus
MPAA Rating: R for strong bloody violence, pervasive language and some drug use
Running Time: 107 Minutes
Ratings:
Script – 5
Performance – 6
Direction – 6
Cinematography – 7
Music/Sound– 7
Editing – 6
Production – 7
Total – 6.1 out of 10
Security is tight when President Ashton (William Hurt) attends the global war on terror summit in Spain. Agent Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid), who took a bullet for the President just a year prior, is back on the job. Unfortunately, a gunman successfully shoots the President and sets off a bomb in the town square, killing many. Trying to make sense what happened, Barnes searches for clues with the help of TV news producer Rex Brooks (Sigourney Weaver). Then he sees something that makes him realize something is very wrong.
Meanwhile, Howard Lewis (Forest Whitaker) is a divorcee who captures crucial information on video in the middle of the mayhem. He then witnesses a brutal killing of a Spanish cop under an overpass. What is happening? Who are behind the assassination and what do they want?
Dennis Quaid (
Forest Whitaker (
Writer Barry Levy (
As with any thrillers, there are plenty of plot holes to cover Spain. For example, the security seems to be incredibly loose, even after the President has been shot and a few bombs have gone off. Then there are some nagging questions about the motives of certain characters that are unanswered. Why are they doing this? What is the purpose of the plan? It's difficult to talk about these plot holes without giving spoilers, so I won't. Also, the plot seems contrived once we figure out what is happening, and there are too many coincidences -- the intersecting plot lines make me think of 
Fortunately, director Pete Travis (
Even with its flaws, it is a taut, suspenseful and intense thriller with an important moral question at the core. Don't look for deep meanings, though. What is important is that it's top-notch entertainment from our vantage point.
David Rice (Hayden Christensen) is an introverted teenager who accidentally discovers that he has the ability to teleport himself to anywhere and through anything. He decides to leave home to seek his adventures. He arrives in New York and learns to harness his power, and soon finds himself robbing banks. He lives a really good life until Roland (Samuel L. Jackson) tracks him down. Somehow, Roland knows about the "Jumpers" like David, and he's out to destroy them.
Trying to outrun Roland, David returns home to retrieve his belongings and sees his high school crush Millie (Rachel Bilson), now a bartender. They fall in love and David wants to show her around the world, but he can't tell her his secrets. When Roland and his men find David again, David realizes he's putting Millie in danger. While trying to escape Roland, David meets Griffin (Jamie Bell), a fellow Jumper who is fighting back with every trick he's got. David decides he needs Griffin's help so he doesn't have to run anymore.
Hayden Christensen (
Samuel L. Jackson (
The screenplay by David S. Goyer (
The story is very one-note, basically "
In all fairness, however, director Doug Liman (
Unfortunately, even Liman, who was fantastic with 
Benjamin Finnegan (Matthew McConaughey) is a penniless treasure hunter on the verge of discovering the legendary "Queen's Dowry" -- 40 chests of gemstones, pearls, and gold lost at sea in 1715. His personal, however, is a mess: his wife, Tess (Kate Hudson), is divorcing him, and he owes gangsta-rapper Bigg Buny (Kevin Hart) a lot of money. Driven by a recent find, Ben is determined to find a new sponsor to back his expedition. He finds his target in bored tycoon Nigel Honeycutt (Donald Sutherland).
The problem is, Tess works on Honeycutt's yacht as a stewardess. When Tess finds out about Ben's scheme, she's at once intrigued and furious. Not to mention she finds herself feeling jealous when Ben blatantly flirts with Nigel's Paris Hilton-like daughter, Gemma (Alexis Dziena). Somehow they convince Nigel to sponsor their treasure hunt. But when Bigg Bunny finds out what they're up to, they engage in a vicious race to claim the discovery of the Queen's Dowry.
Matthew McConnaughey (
Donald Sutherland (
Written by John Claflin (
At times, I feel lost and have no idea where the plot is heading. There's also a long exposition telling us the important story behind the Queen's Dowry, but it's so confusing that my brain just turns to Jello (big mistake, since it has a lot to do with the plot). The dialogue, of course, is cheesy but I expected that. Still, the scatter-brained script leaves me confused and irritated.
It doesn't help that director Tennant (
With its likable stars and beautiful locales, 
Sydney Wells (Jessica Alba) is an established violinist living in Los Angeles. She's also blind: she damaged her corneas at age 6 when she and her sister Helen (Parker Posey) played with firecrackers. With the advancement of medical technology, Sydney is given another chance with a cornea transplant.
The operation is a success. As Sydney adjusts to the world around her, with the help of Dr. Paul Faulkner (Alessandro Nivola), now that she can see again, she begins to experience strange visions. Shadowy shapes come in and out of her vision, and she's seeing things that aren't real. At first her sister and Dr. Faulkner believe Syndey is just having a difficult time adjusting. Soon, her erratic behavior and conviction that something is wrong start to concern them: she's endangering herself. She believes that she's suffering from a condition called cellular memory, and that she's inherited the memory and vision of the donor, and she can actually see dead people and what happened to them when they died. She needs to find out what happened to her donor, so she can understand what's happening to her.
Jessica Alba (
Parker Posey (
The support cast also includes Rade Serbedzija (
Based on the Hong Kong horror film 
Directors David Monreau (
I have to give kudos for them for keeping the story intact, however, and for making it relevant to the American audiences by setting it in Southern California and Mexico. Still, I have to ask: Why remake such a pretentious dud in the first place? I found the original boring and unremarkable, and I was hoping for a miracle in this remake. I guess I'm naive. What