My Movie Diary – February 2018 (Part 1)

February is halfway over and here are the movies I saw in that time. . .
(r) = repeat viewing

Wolf Warrior (2015) – A brutally effective slice of Chinese military propaganda, Wolf Warrior comes across as China’s answer to Rambo. I mostly wanted to see this because I plan to see Wolf Warrior 2, the highest-grossing film in Chinese history. Based on this one, it’s easy to see why the Chinese public eats these up. This is pretty much just an above-average action flick, with an added layer of extreme Chinese nationalism. Director/star Jing Wu plays a super-skilled marksman who joins up with the elite Wolf Warriors. They’re some kind of Chinese super-soldiers who are considered the ultimate in fighting prowess. During a training exercise, an international team of mercenaries decides to try and kill Jing Wu. It seems he unknowingly killed the brother of a gangster during an earlier stint in the police force. Is it the smartest idea to try and assassinate a soldier right in the middle of a training exercise, when he’s surrounded by dozens of other elite troops? Probably not, as the Westerners find out to their chagrin. Jing Wu turns in a good lead performance and exudes the kind of natural movie star charisma that goes a long way in these kind of underwritten flicks. The whole last 40 minutes are one long sequence of jungle combat, which is about 20 minutes more than I probably needed. Still, it’s a decent enough flick that’s sure to get you excited about defending the Chinese border.

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) (r) – It looks like I’ll be re-watching a lot of superhero flicks this year, what with my son getting into them and all. Our latest excursion into the Marvel back catalog was Age of Ultron. As with the first Avengers flick, writer/director Joss Whedon did a tremendous job balancing his character-driven storytelling with the demands of hitting all the Marvel Universe marks. In fact, this one’s a bit better at it than the first. The story revolves around Tony Stark’s misguided attempts to create an AI-driven super-consciousness that can defend the planet from all enemies. He ends up creating Ultron, a super-intelligent bit of AI that creates its own metallic body and decides that the best way to defend Earth is by killing all the humans. Seems logical enough. Anyway, it’s up to the Avengers to thwart Ultron’s nefarious plan. The flick is another fun one, kept moving lightly along by the easy-going performances of its leads. The interaction of the various superheroes is well done, with each character’s personality shining through all the mayhem. I especially appreciate the tongue-in-cheek approach that Chris Hemsworth has to his portrayal of Thor. His mixture of absolute confidence and bemusement at the humans around him is delivered perfectly. The after-party scene in which the various Avengers each try to pick up his hammer is good stuff. The coming split between Stark and Captain America is nicely foreshadowed, too. I have no doubt I’ll be reviewing Civil War here before too long, so stay tuned!

Blackhat (2015) – I enjoyed Chris Hemsworth’s turn as Thor so much that I decided to check out this techno-thriller from director Michael Mann. Blackhat has a reputation as being a decent, if overlooked, little flick. I found it to be kind of dumb. Things start out promisingly enough, with Hemsworth playing a super-hacker who’s in jail for stealing millions from a bank’s computer system. It seems that some other hacker is using an old virus he wrote to break into stock markets and nuclear plants. Of course, Hemsworth is the only one who could possibly figure out who it is, so the Chinese and U.S. governments release him from jail to help with the case. If he finds the hacker, he’ll have his sentence commuted. While the flick starts off as a kind of realistic take on high-level hacking, it gets sillier and sillier as it goes. Hemsworth’s felonious hacker quickly becomes a full-fledged super-agent, chasing down leads and getting into firefights with equal aplomb. Look, I know that most hackers look like Thor and wear their shirts unbuttoned to the waist. I have a harder time believing that they’re also master fighters who can single-handedly take on a bunch of Eastern European goons with machine guns. As the action gets more bombastic, reality takes a backseat completely. Hemsworth does a good job with what he’s given, but Blackhat ends up a disappointing mess by the time the credits roll.

Kung Fu Killer (aka Kung Fu Jungle) (2014) – Still on a Donnie Yen high from his stellar appearance in XXX: The Return of Xander Cage, I decided to check out another of his recent starring vehicles. As with Special ID, this one wasn’t so good. Yen plays a kung fu master who’s been imprisoned after he accidentally kills a rival in a duel. When a serial killer starts targeting Hong Kong’s kung fu community, Yen is sprung from prison to help the police catch him. Yes, it’s the same plot device as in Blackhat, and it works just as poorly. Yen is his usual charming, ass-kicking self, but the rest of the flick is pretty weak. The paint-by-numbers screenwriting cripples any chance of engaging with the material. Kung Fu Killer coasts along on Yen’s charisma and ability to choreograph fight scenes, although all the flashy editing and camera tricks make the action scenes impossible to follow or appreciate. The final fight is okay, although it does beg the question: If you were planning to have a big fight with your rival, why would you stage it in the middle of a busy freeway? Sadly, this is yet another lame flick whose only saving grace is Donnie Yen’s undeniable presence.