In Bruges

© 2008 Ray Wong

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"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.

p1Ray (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.

p2Wallowing 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.

p3Colin 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.

p4The 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.

p5Writer-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.

p6Also, 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.

p7McDonagh 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.

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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

Vantage Point

© 2008 Ray Wong

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Five years since the Iraq War, American filmmakers are finally questioning whether violence is the answer to the conflict in the Middle East. Last year we have a slew of war- and terrorism-related movies such as The Kingdom and Rendition that met with box office disappointment -- perhaps Americans are not ready to face those questions yet. However, Vantage Point is a thriller that hits closer to home, with an assassination of the President at the core.

v1Security 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.

v2Meanwhile, 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?

v3Dennis Quaid (Smart People) is in top form here as Agent Barnes. After playing the President in American Dreamz, he gets to play a secret agent who protects the President. He has good intensity and the physicality for the job. He also succeeds in playing the role with the depth that a role like this don't normally calls for. Matthew Fox (We Are Marshall) has a relatively smaller but pivotal role as Barnes' partner. However, his role is so underwritten that he doesn't really have much to work with.

v4Forest Whitaker (The Great Debaters) gets to play a gentle man again, a character caught in the middle of something big and is forced to rise to the occasion. If Quaid's role is the soul, Whitaker's is the heart of the action-packed film and he gives a winning performance. William Hurt (Mr. Brooks) also gives a solid performance as President Ashton, a man who must make tough decisions as his life is put in danger. Sigourney Weaver (Infamous) has relatively less to do as the news producer, who really has nothing to do with the plot.

v5Writer Barry Levy (Kung Fu) has weaved together a taut thriller with an interesting Rashomon-style structure: the plot is revealed from up to eight points of views, and each time we see something different to help us figure out the puzzle. As the "flashbacks" continue to play over the crucial 23 minutes, the action becomes more and more intense, as the bad guys are revealed and their plans are shown in action. This creates great suspense and tension, albeit sometimes artificial. I mean, it can be irritating to see Barnes witness something important, only to have that "something" revealed to us 40 minutes later. To his credit, Levy successfully portrays the good and bad guys with more depth than usual, giving us something to empathize. It also isn't completely predictable at first who the good or bad guys are and what they want. However, the film becomes a more standard thriller, 24-style, once the different points of view merge toward the climax.

v6As 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 Crash, but not in a good way.

v7Fortunately, director Pete Travis (Omagh) keeps the pace fast enough that we have no time to ask these questions. Travis has successfully crossed over from TV to film to give us a fantastic thrill ride. He also takes Levy's challenging structure and gives it great coherence. Granted, after a few such "flashbacks" the audiences start to groan. When you really think about it, the plot is actually rather simple -- it has more to do with revealing the puzzle than solving it. In a way, it reminds me of Rendition: the jumping timeline reveals the different players and pieces the puzzle together, but it has less to do with how the characters themselves do the piecing.

v8Even 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.


Stars: Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt
Director: Pete Travis
Writer: Barry Levy
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of intense violence and action, some disturbing images and brief strong language
Running Time: 90 Minutes

Ratings:

Script – 7
Performance – 7
Direction – 7
Cinematography – 8
Music/Sound– 6
Editing – 8
Production – 8

Total – 7.5 out of 10

Jumper

© 2008 Ray Wong

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We all love our superheroes, and if they can teleport themselves to anywhere they want, all the better. In this X-Men knock-off, Jumper tries to fill a gap between the heavy dramas in the Fall and the upcoming blockbuster summer season.

j1David 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.

j2Trying 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.

j3Hayden Christensen (Awake) proves once again he can't act. He has perhaps three different expressions throughout the film and he fails to give the character any depth. In fact, his character comes off as whiny, annoying, and impotent, not the kind of "hero" we expect. Christensen is often overshadowed by Jamie Bell (Flags of Our Fathers), who steals every scene he's in. Griffin is the true hero in this movie!

j4Samuel L. Jackson (Resurrecting the Champ) can play the part of Roland in his sleep. It's the same ruthless, aggressive characters he does so well. Unfortunately, his character is a one-note caricature. Rachel Bilson (The Last Kiss) is annoying as Mille. She and Christensen are truly made for each other -- they make an irritatingly superficial couple. I have absolutely no sympathy for the pair and find their part of the story boring, bogging down the plot to some cheesy dialogue and romantic subplot. In comparison, Max Thieriot (The Astronaut Farmer) and AnnaSophia Robb (Bridge to Terabithia) did much better as the young David and Millie respectively. And Diane Lane (Untraceable) is totally wasted as David's mother.

j5The screenplay by David S. Goyer (Batman Begins), Jim Ulhls (Fight Club) and Simon Kinberg (Mr. & Mrs. Smith) is a typical comic-book script that may delight the Comic Con crowd. Given their collective past achievements, I'm astounded to see how lame the screenplay is. The characters are thinly developed, and the plot is full of holes, and the story is clichéd. While the concept of teleporting superhumans is a beautiful one, the execution is another matter.

j6The story is very one-note, basically "X-Men meets Fugitive." We don't necessarily expect depth in such a fantasy-action film, but we do expect good twists. Jumper is so predictable, down the to cheesy ending that is clearly a set up for sequels. In fact, the entire film feels like a long pilot for a TV series.

j7In all fairness, however, director Doug Liman (Mr. & Mrs. Smith) gives the film some really cool visuals. The most entertaining part of the film is when David and Griffin are teleporting all over the world. Lounging on top of the Sphinx in Egypt or surfing in Fiji. A double-decker bus crashing into the middle of a desert. These are exciting and make us wish we could do the same thing for real. The production design is marvelous. And Griffin really is a cool character -- if only they would make him the main guy.

j8Unfortunately, even Liman, who was fantastic with Mr. & Mrs. Smith, couldn't save this movie from its flat story, huge plot holes, and poor acting. Despite some entertaining moments, I wish I could jump to somewhere else while watching this movie.

Stars: Hayden Christensen, Samuel L. Jackson, Diane Lane, Jamie Bell, Rachel Bilson, Michael Rooker, AnnaSophia Robb, Max Thieriot
Director: Doug Liman
Writers: David S. Goyer, Jim Uhls, Simon Kinberg (based on Steven Gould's novel)
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of intense action violence, some language and brief sexuality
Running Time: 88 Minutes

Ratings:

Script – 5
Performance – 6
Direction – 7
Cinematography – 7
Music/Sound– 7
Editing – 6

Production – 7

Total – 6.0 out of 10

Fool's Gold

© 2008 Ray Wong

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Treasure hunt films seem to be a rage right now, especially after the success of the National Treasure series. Now add a romantic comedy re-teaming Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson, and we have a cocktail mix of flavors. But is it any good?

p1Benjamin 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).

p2The 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.

p3Matthew McConnaughey (We Are Marshall) is right in his element playing another hipster buffoon with a hard body and athletic skills to spare. Handsome, golden and muscled, McConaughey has the ability to engage us either in heart-felt dramas such as We Are Marshall or a goofball comedy such as Fool's Gold. Here, he's all charm, good looks, and zaniness. Kate Hudson (You, Me and Dupree) plays it smart (but cute) as the distraught ex-wife with a brain who still holds a torch to the love of her life. It's a standard role for Hudson, who does it very well. The actors do share immense chemistry together, as they proved in the hit How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days.

p4Donald Sutherland (Reign Over Me) is very likable as the affable millionaire who has nothing to do but to frown over his celebutante daughter, played zealously by Alexis Dziena (Havoc). They make one of the most unlikely but interesting father-daughter pair. Ewen Bremner (Death at a Funeral) has a small and throwaway part as Ben's Ukrainian partner. Ray Winstone (Beowulf) has fun playing Ben's ex-mentor and rival Moe, and Kevin Hart (Extreme Movie) takes on the Cuba Gooding Jr. school of acting, giving us an over the top performance as the obligatory villain.

p5Written by John Claflin (Anacondas 2), Daniel Zelman (Anacondas 2) and Andy Tennant (Ever After), the script is as scatter-brained as the characters. It has an interesting high-concept premise, but the execution is full of cliches and the plot is convoluted. It's as if the writers had decided to throw as many things as possible into the pot and see what cooks. It can't decide whether it should be an action-adventure or a romantic comedy, and the story suffers because of this lack of focus.

p6At 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.

p7It doesn't help that director Tennant (Hitch) seems to have given up trying to make this film coherent. It jumps from one subplot to another and the tone or style seem contradictory. Granted, the actors have great chemistry together, but there's really not much character development. And that's okay, if the plot holds our interest. It does have everything: romance, adventure, mystery, comedy, action... but Romancing the Stone it isn't. While the cinematography is gorgeous (how can you mess it up with the beautiful Caribbean locales?), the direction and editing are choppy, and the pacing is off: it moves too fast at times and too slow at others.

p8With its likable stars and beautiful locales, Fool's Gold is a marginally entertaining adventure that may appeal to the younger crowd who doesn't like to use their brains at the movies. Otherwise, the film is all plastic, hardly golden at all.

Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Kate Hudson, Donald Sutherland, Alexis Dziena, Ewen Bremner, Ray Winstone, Kevin Hart
Director: Andy Tennant
Writers: John Claflin, Daniel Zelman, Andy Tennant
Distributor: Warner Bros.
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for action violence, some sexual content, brief nudity, and language
Running Time: 113 Minutes

Ratings:

Script – 5
Performance – 6
Direction – 6
Cinematography – 8
Music/Sound– 6
Editing – 7

Production – 8

Total – 6.1 out of 10

The Eye

© 2008   Ray Wong

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I often question why it's such a fad to remake Asian horror films (some call them J-Horror but they are not always from Japan). Sometimes the remake is better than the original, but more often than not they aren't, and the original isn't all that remarkable to begin with. The Eye is a prime example of the latter.

photo1Sydney 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.

photo2The 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.

photo3Jessica Alba (Awake) is a beautiful actress, but she has yet to convince us that she is a good actress. Unfortunately, she fails in The Eye. She is not able to rise about the material and give us a character that feels real and three-dimensional. Her portrayal doesn't have any depth. It's a pity. As her unbelieving doctor, Alessandro Nivola (Grace Is Gone) doesn't fare any better. His character is a combination of cliches. Nivola has nothing to do than running around looking incredulous and smug. There is no chemistry between Alba and Nivola either.

photo4Parker Posey (Superman Returns) is totally wasted in the film as Sydney's sister. The history and relationship between them are flimsy and unconvincing, and then Helen simply disappears for almost the rest of the film. Her character is a complete throwaway.

photo5The support cast also includes Rade Serbedzija (Shooter) as conductor Simon McCullough, Fermanda Romero (Carts) as a Mexican woman named Ana Christina Martinez whose fate holds the key to the mystery, and Rachel Ticotin (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) as Ana's mother. They're all fine actors with not much to do.

photo6Based on the Hong Kong horror film Jian Gui, and written by Sabastien Gutierrez (Snakes on a Plane), the script is a by-the-book westernized adaptation of the original. The problem with the script and the story is that it has more to do with moods and actual plot. The pace is slow, and there is simply not much going on. The dialogue is tepid and the action flat. There are not enough forward movement and conflicts to keep us interested. On top of it, there is almost no character development. We're expected to accept everything on face value. The story is basically a big set up for the finale, and what a manipulative set up it is, making the climax feel more comical than dramatic or emotional.

photo7Directors David Monreau (IIs) and Xavier Palud (IIs) also lend their hands in creating this slow-moving, pretentious film. It takes the movie over 40 minutes to get to the core of the story, and then the characters just meander with nothing much to do. They also employ really cheap and cliched tricks to try to scare the audience, and the result is just laughable. The ending just looks like a bad TV movie of the week. I'm not impressed at all.

photo8I 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 The Eye needed were a good script and a visionary eye, both missing in this case.



Stars: Jessica Alba, Alessandro Nivola, Parker Posey, Rade Serbedzija, Fermanda Romero, Rachel Ticotin
Directors: David Moreau, Xavier Palud
Writers: Sabastien Gutierrez (based on Hong Kong film Jian Gui)
Distributor: Lionsgate
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for violence, terror and disturbing content
Running Time: 97 Minutes

Ratings:

Script – 5
Performance – 6
Direction – 5
Cinematography – 6
Music/Sound– 6
Editing – 6

Production – 7

Total – 5.8 out of 10