I saw a lot of movies in January! Here’s the second part of my movie diary for the month:
The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) – Well this certainly wasn’t very good. I’m a sucker for Vin Diesel flicks, so at some point I was going to have to get around to seeing Chronicles of Riddick, despite its reputation as a convoluted mess. It’s a reputation that’s well-earned! The flick follows the further adventures of Riddick, Diesel’s character from the really good sci-fi/horror movie Pitch Black. He’s an intergalactic criminal/fugitive/badass whose eyes have been modified to allow him to see in the dark. While that was a major plot point in Pitch Black, his night-vision abilities don’t really come into play much here. The story (such as it is) finds Riddick caught in the middle of a war between some humanoid races and the nefarious Necromongers, another in the endless parade of space baddies who want to assimilate every planet in the galaxy. Of course, there’s a prophecy that a “chosen one” will end the reign of the Necromongers’ leader. Of course, that chosen one happens to be Riddick. The film plays out as boilerplate space opera as Diesel smashes his way in and out of a variety of semi-coherent situations. None of it’s very engaging or interesting. If there’s one Vin Diesel movie to skip this year, Chronicles of Riddick is it!
The Avengers (2012) (r) – My son’s starting to get into superhero flicks, so it wasn’t going to be long before The Avengers worked its way into the mix. I’ve seen it before, of course, but was happy to check it out again with him. Writer/director Joss Whedon brings a light touch to the proceedings, and the cast brings a lived-in charm to their roles. By the time The Avengers rolled around, most of these actors had a few Marvel flicks under their belts, so everyone seems very much at ease with the shenanigans going on around them. The plot finds Thor’s wayward brother Loki teaming up with some evil aliens to invade Earth. Of course, defeating them is too big of a job for just one superhero, so S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) brings the Avengers together to save the world. The whole thing zips along at a brisk pace, and Whedon does a good job of balancing his light-hearted storytelling with the demands of conforming to the Marvel Universe. He has a lot of balls to keep in the air and manages to do a pretty impressive job. I appreciate the tongue-in-cheek tone, especially in contrast to the DC Universe approach of making everything dark, dull, and overly serious. These are superhero movies, folks, not psychological thrillers! All in all, The Avengers delivers exactly what its audience is looking for. Not a lot of surprises, but at least it’s fun to watch while it’s on.
The Fate of the Furious (2017) (r) – Once the latest Furious flick debuted on HBOGO, it wasn’t going to be long before I was watching it again. One day, in fact! As a fan of the series, I saw the flick last year when it came out, but I’m always more than happy to revisit the ridiculous realm of Dom Torretta and his crew. In this eighth outing (and first without the late Paul Walker), Dom is compromised by evil master hacker Cipher (Charlize Theron) and forced to betray his “family” in a series of wild capers. That leaves Letty, Hobbs, Roman, and the rest to figure out what’s really going on and help save the world from Cipher’s plans for world domination. As with every Furious flick, that means they’re going to need to team up with the villain from the previous movie. This time, it’s special ops killer Jason Statham who changes his stripes and joins up with the crew. No, it doesn’t make any sense that every one of the team’s adversaries eventually teams up with them. But that’s just how it is in Furious-land! Statham is great, of course, and he develops real chemistry with his ‘arch-rival’ Dwayne Johnson (to the point that the next Furious sequel is going to be a spin-off starring their two characters). The highlights of any Furious flick are the action scenes, and Fate delivers the goods in a handful of crazy set pieces. There’s a great bit where Cipher takes control of an army of self-driving cars for some mayhem, and the “cars vs. submarine” finale is another classic bit of over-the-top Furious nonsense. Statham’s gunfight with a bunch of bad guys while holding a baby carrier is another fun scene, even if it was ripped off from the silly Clive Owen vehicle Shoot ‘Em Up. The series has long left behind any connection to the real world, and Vin Diesel’s Dom has moved even further into mythic superhero territory, able to survive literally anything. Fine by me when the results are this much fun. I only wonder how they’re going to work Cipher into the crew for the next flick.
Taken 2 (2012) – Liam Neeson’s retired CIA character Bryan Mills returns, bringing his “particular set of skills” to bear on another gang of Eastern European bad guys. Last time out, he killed a bunch of mobsters who kidnapped his daughter. That doesn’t sit well with the Albanian mafioso whose son was the leader of that gang. He sets a plan in motion to kidnap, torture, and kill Mills and his family. The ruthless villains succeed in nabbing Mills and his wife, but this time his daughter manages to elude capture. Now she’s got to help rescue her parents – with the help of her father and his conveniently stashed cell phone. Taken 2 is a decent enough action flick that delivers a handful of okay fight scenes and manages to develop some sense of tension during the scenes of Mills’ captivity. Look, everyone watching the flick knows that Neeson’s going to escape and get his revenge on all the evil Albanians, so there’s really not a lot of suspense to be had. Still, the flick’s not bad and fans of Neeson’s understated take on the middle-aged action hero will certainly like it.
Resident Evil (2002) (r) – Back in 2002, who would have guessed that this flick would spawn five sequels that would gross over $1.2 billion worldwide? “Movies based on video games” is not a category that delivers a lot of great films or inspires a lot of confidence. Writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson did a really good job with this one, though. (I’m a member of the camp that firmly believes Paul W.S. Anderson to be superior to the more heralded Paul T. Anderson. I’d happily watch Death Race ten times rather than sit through There Will Be Blood once.) The director turns the horror video game into an action-packed zombie romp with just a hint of government conspiracy thriller. Milla Jovavich stars as Alice, who wakes up in a shower with no memory of who she is or how she got there. (She wakes up nude and confused a lot in this series.) A few twists later and she’s working alongside a group of commandos to infiltrate the evil Umbrella Corporation’s “Hive” complex, which has been infested with zombies after an act of industrial sabotage. For me, the secret of Anderson’s success is the way he melds video-game aesthetics with action-movie tropes. The film uses computer maps and graphics to establish Alice’s location in the Hive and hits a series of game-style beats as Alice works her way deeper into the mystery of what’s really going on. I’ve never played a Resident Evil game, but I’ve seen every one of the movies, so Anderson must be doing something right. In the end, Resident Evil is a fast-paced, fun zombie action flick that delivers some memorable scenes of bloody mayhem and set the stage for five more increasingly out-there sequels.
The Equalizer (2014) – Also known as Denzel Washington’s John Wick, The Equalizer is an above-average addition to the “middle-aged killer pulled back into the life” genre. Denzel plays a seemingly normal guy who spends his days working at a home improvement store and his nights at a diner reading books to combat his insomnia. One night, he discovers that a young prostitute he’s befriended has been brutalized by a bunch of Russian goons. Of course, he used to be some kind of super-badass and proceeds to use his dormant skills to exact revenge on the perpetrators. Little does he suspect that he’s tangling with a bunch that’s connected directly to the top echelon of the Russian mob. They send their best man to the States with the mission to take out this thorn in their side. Denzel is his usual solid self, delivering a steady performance as the absolutely stone-faced killer. Watching him blankly stare down a roomful of Russkies is a lot of fun – even more so once he springs into action. The flick takes a bit too much pleasure in the gory violence that Denzel unleashes on the mobsters, with some of the most grisly fight scenes I’ve seen in some time. Chloe Grace Moretz is wasted in the absolutely thankless role of the young hooker, but she does manage to convey the vulnerability that lures Washington back into the vengeance business. Overall, it’s a solid enough little dust-up that sets itself up perfectly for the inevitable sequel.
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