And boy do I miss them. They say they don't make them like they used to, but this film proves that cliché wrong. I really enjoyed this film. It wont win any awards and the direction was dull and generic. The action scenes were filmed in that annoying fast action fast editing way that confuses more than entertains. That style makes you wonder if their directors think that if you confuse and bewilder your audience, perhaps while they are feeling lost and confused, it artificially makes the main character seem more heroic; a hero who of course suffers not from any such disorientation, whose every move is always certain, confident and instantly laudable.
Its an action style that I find annoying. You don't really know where everybody is in relation to each other. Compare that style to the simple informative way David Fincher directs an action sequence. He is a director that loves to make sure the audience knows where everyone is. This heightens the tension in great movies like Panic Room and Fight Club. Owing to the fact that he also takes time to develop character and you can see why he is a cut above the rest. If this film was directed the same way, this would be a modern classic. Judged only by its action scene qualifications, its a derivative forgettable film with a water thin plot. Action sequences only have meaning if you give a damn about the characters involved. The same rules apply to horror films. And thats where the greatness of this film lies.
The casting of Jackson and Reynolds lifts this out of mainstream mediocrity. The quick witted chemistry they share is fantastic. If you liked Reynold's laconic attitude in Dead Pool and Samuel L Jackson's frantic tough guy role from Die Hard with a Vengeance (Die Hard 3), you will love this movie!
The rapid fire lines they deliver are so brilliant that I suspect most of it was improvised, because surely no one can write the kind of mayhem you hear these guys utter, spit and ferociously scream at each other. They work so well together that I hope to see them team up in the future. This movie deserves a spot among the great buddy films of the 1980s. Its a Lethal Weapon for the new Millenia. Eight fast paced chuckles out of ten.
Its an action style that I find annoying. You don't really know where everybody is in relation to each other. Compare that style to the simple informative way David Fincher directs an action sequence. He is a director that loves to make sure the audience knows where everyone is. This heightens the tension in great movies like Panic Room and Fight Club. Owing to the fact that he also takes time to develop character and you can see why he is a cut above the rest. If this film was directed the same way, this would be a modern classic. Judged only by its action scene qualifications, its a derivative forgettable film with a water thin plot. Action sequences only have meaning if you give a damn about the characters involved. The same rules apply to horror films. And thats where the greatness of this film lies.
The casting of Jackson and Reynolds lifts this out of mainstream mediocrity. The quick witted chemistry they share is fantastic. If you liked Reynold's laconic attitude in Dead Pool and Samuel L Jackson's frantic tough guy role from Die Hard with a Vengeance (Die Hard 3), you will love this movie!
The rapid fire lines they deliver are so brilliant that I suspect most of it was improvised, because surely no one can write the kind of mayhem you hear these guys utter, spit and ferociously scream at each other. They work so well together that I hope to see them team up in the future. This movie deserves a spot among the great buddy films of the 1980s. Its a Lethal Weapon for the new Millenia. Eight fast paced chuckles out of ten.