Without further ado, here’s the final installment of My Movie Diary for January. This is the part of the month where I actually saw a few flicks I really liked!
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016) – The sixth and final entry in the surprisingly long-lived Resident Evil series picks up (kind of) from where the previous flick left off. Milla Jovavich’s Alice is in a burned-out Washington, D.C., the last survivor of a climactic battle between the living and the T-virus zombies. Events conspire to get her headed back to the place where it all started: the Umbrella Corporation’s Hive complex in the ridiculously-named Raccoon City. It seems that there’s been an airborne anti-virus all along, hidden deep inside the underground site. Alice has 48 hours to get to the Hive and release the anti-virus or humanity will disappear. Once in Raccoon City, Alice finds a last group of human survivors to team up with. They fight off Umbrella Corp. stooges, break into the Hive, etc. The whole thing’s kind of a rehash of previous, better entries in the series, but it does deliver some decent zombie-bashing fun. All of the remaining mysteries are wrapped up, including who exactly Alice is supposed to be. Parts of the big reveal contradict what’s been said in previous editions, but I guess the filmmakers figure no one’s really paying that much attention. They also leave themselves an out at the very end, so whether this is truly “The Final Chapter” or not remains to be seen, especially in light of how much money this flick made. If you’re a fan of the series, check it out, but newcomers would be better off starting somewhere else. Some of those middle editions are pretty darn good.
Unbreakable (2000) – It took me a long time to get around to seeing this one, despite rave reviews from several of my friends. My general M. Night Shyamalan skepticism steered me wrong in this case, though. Unbreakable is a really good movie, a vision of what a superhero origin story would look like if it actually happened in the real world. Bruce Willis turns in a solid, understated performance as David Dunn, a man who emerges without a scratch as the only survivor from a disastrous train wreck. That’s strange enough, but things escalate into true weirdness soon enough, when comic book uber-geek and art gallery owner Elijah Price gets in contact with him. Price is convinced that Dunn is the person he’s been looking for his whole life: a real-life superhero. For those out there who still haven’t seen the flick, I don’t want to give too much away, because the twists and turns the story takes are really the most fun part of the movie. Suffice it to say that even though I thought I saw it coming a mile away, the ending still surprised me in a way that few films have. Samuel L. Jackson’s turn as Elijah Price ranks with the very best of his career, bringing pathos and nuance to a character who could have easily emerged as a cut-out cliché. I think it’s also one of the last times he didn’t just show up on set and play “Samuel L. Jackson.” Good stuff.
Wheelman (2017) – And I thought Baby Driver was the only good getaway driver flick from 2017! This tightly-wound Netflix original stars Frank Grillo in the best role of his career as the nameless Wheelman of the title. He’s hired to drive the getaway car for a bank heist, but things quickly go sideways and he finds himself in the middle of an elaborate double-cross. Soon he finds that his 13-year-old daughter and estranged ex-wife have been placed in danger by the folks pulling the strings. The flick is a uniquely claustrophobic action movie, with probably 85% of it taking place inside the Wheelman’s car. We’re trapped in that tight space right along with Grillo throughout, as he fields cell phone calls from his family, the mob, and an assortment of mysterious characters. There was a point about halfway through where I thought the plot was going to just end up a convoluted mess, but they pull everything together in a taut, exciting finale. There are just enough car chases and whatnot to keep action fans happy, but the real strength of the film is Grillo’s mesmerizing performance as the Wheelman. Since we’re trapped inside that car with him for the whole flick, a weak or unbelievable performance would have sunk the movie. Instead, Grillo’s intensity keeps your eyes glued to the screen as you watch him maneuver his way through one hell of a bad night.
XXX: The Return of Xander Cage (2017) – The original XXX was not good. Its attempt to kick off a new action series were hampered by some terrible plotting, worse acting, and forgettable fight scenes. So here’s something I really did not expect to be writing: XXX: The Return of Xander Cage is actually pretty good. The filmmakers breathe new life into the series by basically turning it into that other wildly popular Vin Diesel series. The Furious formula of exotic locales, multi-racial and gender-equitable cast, hip-hop soundtrack, and wild stuntwork is on full display here, with the minor twist that the stunts are based on extreme sports rather than cars. The story begins when Diesel’s Xander Cage is pulled out of retirement to help find a MacGuffin called Pandora’s Box. It seems that this glorified cable box is capable of bypassing any security system in the world, launching missles or dropping satellites out of orbit. It’s up to Cage to assemble a team of rebellious ne’er-do-wells who can unite to get the bad guys and save the world. Sound familiar? It’s all just an excuse for wild action scenes, and Cage delivers the goods on that front, for sure. Donnie Yen steals every scene he’s in, clearly having a blast playing Xander’s rival for the Box. It’s about time someone gave Yen a decent role in an English-language flick! As anyone who reads my reviews knows, I’m a big Fast and Furious fan, and I’m shocked to say that I found this flick to be every bit as entertaining as the last few entries in that series. There’s probably a bit too much ogling of some of the female stars, and Diesel should stop trying to convince us that he’s an irresistible ladies’ man (especially when he’s wearing his ridiculous fur coat). Still, I liked the movie quite a bit more than I expected to, and I’m glad that it was a monster hit everywhere else in the world. We’ll be seeing the XXX crew again before too long, I’m sure. Surprisingly, I’ll be looking forward to it.
Special ID (2013) – After watching Donnie Yen steal the show in XXX: The Return of Xander Cage, I felt like watching one of his starring vehicles. Special ID wasn’t the greatest choice. Yen stars as an undercover cop who’s deep, deep into his role infiltrating a local triad. When one of his gangster “friends” decamps to mainland China, Yen is sent after him. There’s a lot of double-crossing and intrigue about who knows Yen is undercover, and absolutely none of it is all that interesting. Yen manages to hold the whole thing together through sheer charisma, displaying the smiling self-confidence and light touch that makes me think of him as a kind of modern kung-fu Cary Grant. He’s always a delight to watch, even in his less-successful outings (like this). When the flick puts aside its inane plot and just focuses on the action, though, it really does deliver. Yen has a handful of great fight scenes, including one at the very end of the flick that’s brutally effective. That fight comes at the conclusion of a truly great car chase that features some amazing, really dangerous-looking stuntwork. Look, this is not a good movie, but if you’re an action fan and you have Hulu, do yourself a favor and fast-forward to the action scenes. They’re a lot of fun, but the rest of Special ID is well worth skipping.
The previous two installments for January can be found here: Part 1 | Part 2
More good stuff—thanks!