I love Ryan Gosling. I love Zombieland. I think Micheal Pena is one of the most underrated actors working right now. I don't know what happened. No Wait Yeah I do this is one of the laziest most sterile scripts that I've witnessed in recent memory. This feels like a studio executive went up to a script generator and typed in "Undercover cop movie" and it printed out the Expendables but with cops . Then he read it and put in " Undercover Cover Cop movie set in classic Hollywood".
To get the positives out of the way, the movie has a great aesthetic. It's beautiful, colors pop out nice and saturated. The actors here are all solid. Nobody is really embarrassing themselves, aside from being in this movie, from their performances and some of them even manage to deliver some pretty cheesy lines really well. The pacing here is pretty good almost too fast, but i'll come back to that. The action is nothing to speak of it's just there. The Direction leaves a lot to be desired, unlike the atmospheric classic hollywoods movies this rips off which have a slow focused camera work to them this is shot like any other action movie. Ruben Fleisher is definitely an actor's director he is able to get decent to good performances from actors, and I don't want to right him off just yet.
The Ugly. This movie is so generic. Even worse it's predictable. I've noticed a slew of genre movies recently that take a traditional typical story and it's clichés and turn them into tropes and strive to make them better. Lincoln Lawyer, 21 Jump Street, End Of Watch, take traditional story and plot points and make them better and inventive . This movie relishes in it's clichés, but not enough to make fun of them. The first thing the villain does it kills somebody. No nuance or tension he just kills somebody. The next scene is the cop whose too dedicated to his job making an arrest he shouldn't as his partner advices him not to. The scene after that he goes into the chiefs office. Had it been more over the top, I was laughing hysterically at some parts not intended of course, I could've enjoyed it more, but it's not smart at all. It even could've been like Sherlock Holmes 2009 or Pirates, but no it's fine being a standard action movie.
The Bad. This movie is written by Will Beall who is currently writing the Justice League movie that is set to come out in 2 years. Yeah, after the reviews for this movie come out and the box office take Justice League will find a new writer. I have nothing but contempt for this guy. This script has no meat it has stock characters with great actors. Once again if this was Edgar Wright or Joss Wheedon they'd get some dimension or have a lot of heart or be really funny, but no. The team consists of The Overdedicated cop, The guy who never misses, The guy who uses a knife, The tech guy, and the Newbie. There either needs to be Character development with a mediocre story, or Story Development with stock characters. This has neither. In every scene you get force feed exposition. If Tyler Perry directed an action movie it'd be like this. No subtly.
****SPOILERS*** There was a line so corny I didn't realize how bad it was Until I left the theatre. Sean Penn is the bad guy, whose scene can't end without someone being killed or yelled at, and he says to his henchmen who execute some one " You know the drill". Then they pickup a drill and kill him with it.. I couldn't make that up **** SPOILERS OVERE
This movie is a bologna sandwich. It's the yellow starburst of movies. Although It is more enjoyable then the Expendables, I couldn't tell you why it's the same idea big cast no effort, This movie is something you watch at a friends house. This is the perfect movie for one night at Redbox. All the people who don't watch 2 movies a day will enjoy it and think it's a good movie. All the smart people can have some friends over with some beers and laugh and make jokes about it and play " Name what movie that scene was stolen from". Basically an alternative go watch Mad Men or L.A. Confidential or go play L.A. Noire much more rewarding.
To get the positives out of the way, the movie has a great aesthetic. It's beautiful, colors pop out nice and saturated. The actors here are all solid. Nobody is really embarrassing themselves, aside from being in this movie, from their performances and some of them even manage to deliver some pretty cheesy lines really well. The pacing here is pretty good almost too fast, but i'll come back to that. The action is nothing to speak of it's just there. The Direction leaves a lot to be desired, unlike the atmospheric classic hollywoods movies this rips off which have a slow focused camera work to them this is shot like any other action movie. Ruben Fleisher is definitely an actor's director he is able to get decent to good performances from actors, and I don't want to right him off just yet.
The Ugly. This movie is so generic. Even worse it's predictable. I've noticed a slew of genre movies recently that take a traditional typical story and it's clichés and turn them into tropes and strive to make them better. Lincoln Lawyer, 21 Jump Street, End Of Watch, take traditional story and plot points and make them better and inventive . This movie relishes in it's clichés, but not enough to make fun of them. The first thing the villain does it kills somebody. No nuance or tension he just kills somebody. The next scene is the cop whose too dedicated to his job making an arrest he shouldn't as his partner advices him not to. The scene after that he goes into the chiefs office. Had it been more over the top, I was laughing hysterically at some parts not intended of course, I could've enjoyed it more, but it's not smart at all. It even could've been like Sherlock Holmes 2009 or Pirates, but no it's fine being a standard action movie.
The Bad. This movie is written by Will Beall who is currently writing the Justice League movie that is set to come out in 2 years. Yeah, after the reviews for this movie come out and the box office take Justice League will find a new writer. I have nothing but contempt for this guy. This script has no meat it has stock characters with great actors. Once again if this was Edgar Wright or Joss Wheedon they'd get some dimension or have a lot of heart or be really funny, but no. The team consists of The Overdedicated cop, The guy who never misses, The guy who uses a knife, The tech guy, and the Newbie. There either needs to be Character development with a mediocre story, or Story Development with stock characters. This has neither. In every scene you get force feed exposition. If Tyler Perry directed an action movie it'd be like this. No subtly.
****SPOILERS*** There was a line so corny I didn't realize how bad it was Until I left the theatre. Sean Penn is the bad guy, whose scene can't end without someone being killed or yelled at, and he says to his henchmen who execute some one " You know the drill". Then they pickup a drill and kill him with it.. I couldn't make that up **** SPOILERS OVERE
This movie is a bologna sandwich. It's the yellow starburst of movies. Although It is more enjoyable then the Expendables, I couldn't tell you why it's the same idea big cast no effort, This movie is something you watch at a friends house. This is the perfect movie for one night at Redbox. All the people who don't watch 2 movies a day will enjoy it and think it's a good movie. All the smart people can have some friends over with some beers and laugh and make jokes about it and play " Name what movie that scene was stolen from". Basically an alternative go watch Mad Men or L.A. Confidential or go play L.A. Noire much more rewarding.