FILM REVIEW OF "JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT" (2014)

Chris Pine follows in the footsteps of Ben Affleck, Harrison Ford, and Alec Baldwin as the fourth actor to breathe life into Tom Clancy’s best-selling, literary hero Jack Ryan.  Happily, Pine handles himself well both in the action scenes as well as the dialogue interludes.  Sadly, neither freshman scribe Adam Cozad nor seasoned “Jurassic Park” scenarist David Koepp provide Pine with anything quotable.  Meanwhile, Pine’s chief adversary, played by Shakespearean trained thespian Kenneth Branagh, lacks not only memorable lines but also intimidating scenes.  Branagh’s best bad guy scene shows him sticking a white LED light bulb into the leading lady’s mouth.  Dreadful consequences, he warns our emaciated heroine, will ensue if he shatters the bulb in her mouth.  Meantime, as director, Branagh regales us with beautiful scenery both urban and rural, inevitable automotive chases continents apart, immaculate shoot-outs between Russian and CIA gunmen, and our hero in close-quarters combat with adversaries.  Branagh doesn’t orchestrate these activities with his usual finesse.  Essentially, the $60-million dollar “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” (** OUT OF ****) qualifies as a derivative espionage thriller with most of the clichés intact.   One of the worst clichés involves slender Keira Knightley posing as a helpless damsel-in-distress.  You know from the moment that you see her that she is going to be the tennis ball heroine who gets swatted back and forth between the hero and the villains.  The wicked Branagh plots an appropriately horrific 9/11 attack on Manhattan that will set off another devastating global economic depression.  Branagh’s millionaire Russian villain hopes this geopolitical strategy will destroy America.  Comparatively, Batman’s arch foe Bane pulled a similar stunt in “The Dark Knight Rises.”  If it succeeds in doing nothing else, “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” resurrects the long dormant enmity between the Russians with a retro-Cold War agenda and the United States.
 

For the record, “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” doesn’t pick up the narrative thread where either “Clear and Present Danger” (1994) or “The Sum of All Fears” (2002) faded out.  “The Hunt for Red October,” “Patriotic Games,” and “Clear and Present Danger” constituted the first series of Jack Ryan’s cinematic escapades.  Incidentally, Paramount tampered with Clancy’s literary chronology because the novel “Patriotic Games” preceded “The Hunt for Red October.”  Meanwhile, “The Sum of All Fears” (2002) amounted to a franchise reboot with Ben Affleck.  Director Kenneth Branagh’s spy saga has no connection to the previous four films.  Moreover, the filmmakers didn’t adapt a Tom Clancy novel to serve as the basis for “Jack Ryan.”  The bestselling author passed away in October 2013.  Reportedly, Paramount Pictures hired Adam Cozad to rewrite his own screenplay "Dubai" and convert the hero into Jack Ryan.  Branagh and scenarists David Koepp and Cozad have retained our hero’s financial background and his terrifying helicopter accident.  Since this is another ‘origins’ reboot, Paramount has altered the dates.  Indeed, renegade Russians are behaving like their Communistic ancestors before the empire collapsed in 1989.  You might go so far as to describe this movie as a retro-Cold War saga pitting Uncle Sam against the Russian Bear.  

The first time we see our protagonist Jack Ryan (Chris Pine of “Star Trek”) he is catching forty winks on a bench.  Ryan has enrolled as a student at the London School of Economics.  As he is ambling back to class, Jack notices a commotion around a television set.  The year is 2001, and the unbelievable has happened to the World Trade Center.  Stunned by this tragic turn of events, Ryan joins the Marine Corps and becomes a jarhead lieutenant.  Narrowly, he escapes death when enemy mortar fire brings down the helicopter that he is riding in over Afghanistan.  Badly smashed up from the attack, Jack struggles to walk again.  A pretty physical therapist, Cathy Muller (Keira Knightley of “Domino”), enters Jack’s life and motivates him to keep on trying.  Jack and Cathy know they are made for each other, but their jobs create tension and suspicion.  CIA Agent Thomas Harper (Kevin Costner of “No Way Out”) recruits Ryan after our protagonist proves he can walk again.  Harper sends Jack back to school for a Ph.D. in Economics.  Harper never takes his eye off Ryan.

A decade later, Harper plants Ryan as an agency mole on Wall Street to ferret out possible terrorist activities in the financial community.  Suspecting that Soviet Afghan war veteran Viktor Cheverin (Kenneth Branagh of “Hamlet”) has been manipulating finances with evil designs, Jack flies to Russia to confront him.  Jack’s life changes irrevocably after he lands in Moscow.  Harper watches over Ryan like a guardian angel from the shadows.  A first-rate sniper, Harper has no qualms about shooting anybody who interferes with Ryan.  After their initial meeting, Viktor invites Jack to dinner at a restaurant across the street from his headquarters.  At the last minute, Jack’s fiancée Cathy surprises them both with her presence.  Cathy fascinates Viktor so much so that he forgets about Ryan.  While Viktor flirts with Cathy, Ryan burglarizes Viktor’s computers to get the goods on him.  Of course, the Russians get wise to Ryan, but he escapes without incriminating himself.

The best thing about “Jack Ryan” is that Branagh maintains headlong momentum despite all of the predictable, standard-issue, melodramatics.  Unhappily, most of what occurs here has been done before with greater flair by the James Bond spectacles and the Jason Bourne thrillers.  The final scenes in New York City generate a modicum of suspense as our hero tangles with a committed terrorist who wants to blow Wall Street to smithereens.  Again, we’ve seen this kind of hair-raising nonsense too often for it shake us up.  Kevin Costner seems squandered in a co-starring role as an agency spook who recruits Jack.  Vic Armstrong and his colleagues perform several tough stunts, but “Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit” suffers from an overwhelming sense of déjà vu.  This is probably the least entertaining Jack Ryan outing.

A FILM REVIEW OF "A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD" (2013)

Before I saw “A Good Day to Die Hard,” I remembered “Die Hard 2: Die Harder” as my least favorite film in the Bruce Willis franchise. Now, “Max Payne” director John Moore’s “A Good Day to Die Hard” (** OUT OF ****) has acquired that dubious distinction.  This fast-paced, but formulaic, 98-minute actioneer should have gone the straight to video route.  Nobody would have missed it.  I’ve seen better Bruce Willis epics go the straight to video route.  Although it boasts some sensational, larger-than-life stunts, the fourth “Die Hard” sequel qualifies as a Spartan saga with little to distinguish from its straight t0 video competition.  The film generates little charisma and lacks a strong villain like previous “Die Hards.”  Indeed, it appears that Twentieth Century Fox has inserted the Bruce Willis/John McClane hero into a raw-edged, generic thriller about a tense father and son relationship.  Unlike the first two “Die Hard” movies, the action doesn’t occur at Christmas, and McClane isn’t confined to one setting as he was in the first two “Die Hards.”  “A Good Day to Die Hard” is more like “Die Hard with a Vengeance” and “Live Free or Die Hard” since the hero remains at large.

“A Good Day to Die Hard” takes place almost entirely in Moscow.  The Russian villains are former political allies who are prepared to kill each other.  Chaganin (Sergey Kolesnikov of “Cold Souls”) is a clean-shaven, natty, high-ranking politician with influence galore.  The other is a wealthy bearded dissident, Komarov (Sebastian Koch of “Unknown”), who bides his time in jail playing chess.  Ultimately, one of these villains wants what the villains in “The Expendables 2” wanted: weapons grade uranium.  As Detective Lieutenant John McClane, Bruce Willis returns in fine form to thwart the evil villains.  Sadly, scenarist Skip Woods doesn’t give Willis any clever wisecracks.  Consequently, for lack of anything better to utter, Bruce says, “I’m on vacation,” at intervals.  Ironically, he isn't on vacation.  He does utter his personal motto once when he pulls his biggest stunt to save his son’s life.  He performs feats of derring-do to assist his estranged son.  Basically, Bruce is the whole show.  The only other actor you may recognize is Cole Hauser.  Cast as the expendable CIA partner, Hauser gets caught in the cross-fire.  The remainder of the cast is largely unknown.  Jai Courtney resembles Sam Worthington of “Avatar” fame, but he radiates little of Worthington’s charm.

Our indestructible hero, Detective John McClane, is shooting targets on the NYPD firing range when he learns that his son Junior (Jai Courtney of “Jack Reacher”) has been imprisoned in Russia.  What the elder McClane doesn’t learn until later is John McClane, Jr., works as a spook for the Central Intelligence Agency.  Naturally, McClane flies off for Moscow after an obligatory moment with his daughter, Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead of “Live Free or Die Hard”), with whom he remains on good terms.  The last time we saw Lucy, she was struggling with the villains in “Live Free or Die Hard.” Aside from Winstead reprising her role, there is little here to associate with the franchise.  When our heroes get a quiet moment to reminisce, they mumble forgettable dialogue. They are better off blasting away at the opposition or dodging both bullets and explosions.  McClane still has a thing or two that he can teach his son, but their relationship doesn’t advance very far.  They lack camaraderie, and Junior is one of those sons who could die and not be missed.

Everybody is after the elusive Komarov who claims to have an incriminating file on the wicked Chaganin.  You see, Chaganin is campaigning for the position of Defense Minister.  Komarov had a deal with the CIA, specifically Agent John McClane, Jr., before everything went chaotic.  Chaganin will do anything to dispose of Komarov, and he dispatches a gang of gunsels led by Alik (Rasha Bukvic of “Taken”) who hates Americans.  The younger McClane shoots his way into prison and then during a raid on the courthouse, Komarov and he get together.  John confronts them, and Junior puts a pistol in his face.  No, he isn’t happy to see his father.  Meantime, Alik and company are breathing down Junior’s neck.  A demolition-derby automotive chase ensues with some spectacularly orchestrated car crashes.  Junior and Komarov are desperately struggling to elude Alik, while John tags along close behind trying to run interference when he has the chance.  As it turns out, Komarov hasn’t been entirely honest with Junior about the mysterious file he has on Chaganin.  Eventually, we learn that Komarov has a daughter with her own pistol and an attitude.  The Komarovs betray our heroes and grab a helicopter.  They are bound for the sinister ruins of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant when Komarov has stashed the file.

Sadly, the villains in “A Good Day to Die Hard” aren’t memorable.  Nobody here is both as deadly and debonair as Alan Rickman was in the original “Die Hard” or Jeremy Irons in “Die Hard with a Vengeance.”  After father and son reconcile themselves somewhat, the best they can do is dodge more bullets and hope for the best.  At one point, after surviving several close scrapes, McClane scrambles aboard the villains helicopter and commandeers a vehicle stashed inside the chopper.  The villains are about to riddle yet another office building with machine gun fire where Junior is hiding.  Our stalwart hero cranks up the vehicle inside and drives it out of the cargo bay.  This action tilts the helicopter backwards at a precipitous angle so its machine guns miss their intended target.  This destruction of the helicopter qualifies as the best of the fireball explosions in “A Good Day to Die Hard.”

“Swordfish” scenarist Skip Woods doesn’t give us a lot to get attached to in this installment.  The surprises aren’t very surprising, and the filmmakers struggle to do anything that hasn’t been done before, like blowing up the above-mentioned helicopter.  No matter when you see it, “A Good Day to Die Hard” has nothing good about it.

FILM REVIEW OF ''THE DARKEST HOUR" (2010)

 “Right at Your Door” director Chris Gorak’s apocalyptic science fiction actioneer “The Darkest Hour” (** out of ****) qualifies as initially provocative but incredibly anti-climactic. Freshman scenarist Jon Spaihts formulated his outlandish script about a “War of the Worlds” invasion of Earth by invisible predators from a story that “Dante's Peak” scribe Leslie Bohem and first-time writer M.T. Ahern penned with him. If you’ve caught the trailer for this half-baked hokum, you know it pits a quartet of trendy, American, twentysomething guys and gals in Moscow against aliens determined to wipe out civilization while they extract all of our mineral resources. Basically, humans cannot see these extraterrestrials, but they have no trouble seeing us. These elusive aliens atomize anybody in sight without warning. If they don’t outright zap you, they snare you with a neon-like electric bolt noose and then vaporize you in a shower of dust and sparks. Despite the lethal edge which they have over humanity, these anonymous antagonists aren’t invincible. “The Darkest Hour,” as its Winston Churchill inspired title insists, charts a catastrophic course for the future of mankind. Our handsome heroes and beautiful hellcats have to figure out how to make these extraterrestrials visible before they can terminate them with extreme prejudice. Sadly, Gorak and company don’t outline the parameter in this alien procedural about what these aliens either can or cannot do. After an impressive warm up act which introduces these unusual aliens, “The Darkest Hour” collapses in the middle and then at fade-out comes to a screeching anti-climax. Indeed, “The Darkest Hour” paints humanity into a corner similar to the 2010 alien invasion opus “Skyline,” but the survivors here stand a better chance in the long run. Fortunately, mankind proves that the aliens are not indestructible. Of course, it is far too early to determine whether or not a sequel for “The Darkest Hour” will materialize where humans triumph over the aliens.

Software designers Sean (Emile Hirsh of “Into the Wild”) and Ben (Max Minghella of “The Social Network”) have been pals since they met in elementary school. Their mothers served together on the same PTA, and Ben’s mom prompted her brainy son to associate with Sean. Now, Sean and Ben are business partners. They have developed a seminal social website that points out the best party places on the globe. Our heroes are flying into Moscow to pedal their software with the help of a shrewd Swedish businessman. They are about to land when smart aleck Sean tangles with a Russian flight attendant over the probability that his cell phone could disable the electronics of an aircraft and make it crash. No sooner do our internet entrepreneurs set foot in the conference where they plan to pitch their application to investors than their Swede partner Skyler (Joel Kinnaman of “Easy Money”) informs them he has stolen their idea. Summoning security, Skyler gives our guys the boot. Sean and Ben wind up in a bar to get sloshed when they encounter two American tourists, a photographer, Anne (Rachel Taylor of “Transformers”) and her assistant, Natalie (Olivia Thirlby of “Juno”), who have followed them on the Internet. Adding insult to injury, Skyler shows up at the same bar. No sooner have our heroes chugged a few drinks than the lights go out. Curiously, everybody ventures outside for a dazzling light show comparable to the aurora borealis. Objects that resemble shimmering golden jelly fish plummet to Earth by the millions. A Moscow cop probes one with his nightstick, and he disintegrates into a cloud of dust. The crowd scatters frantically as these jelly fish aliens explode other humans one-by-one. Sean, Ben, Anne, Natalie, and Skyler lock themselves inside a walk-in fridge at the bar.

Several days later they emerge to find Moscow a place of desolation. Sean and Ben are plundering a police cruiser for equipment when an alien spots them. Any time they pass electrical devices, such as lights, car horns, cell phones, etc., the aliens activate them. Our heroes conceal themselves under the cop car, and the alien miraculously misses them. Afterward, our heroes venture out only during daylight. Naturally, they find the American Embassy in shambles, but they spot a life in a nearby skyscraper. A young Russian teenager, Vika (newcomer Veronika Ozerova), has holed up with an eccentric middle-aged Russian engineer, Sergei (Date Atbakhtadze of “Wanted”), who has constructed a cage of metal bars and chains inside his apartment to shield their own human electrical fields from the aliens. Moreover, he has also designed a “Ghostbusters” type microwave gun which can stun the aliens. Sadly, Sergei manages to prove that his weapon works, but the batteries don’t hold a charge long enough. Meanwhile, our heroes escape with the gun and head for a Russian submarine in the Moscow River which is broadcasting an evacuation signal. Sean and company link up with a militia group. The militia look like a bunch of medieval warriors with 21st century firepower. They wear makeshift suits of chain mail which consist of keys and car tags. They have even decked a horse out in similar regalia. Reluctantly, the militia agrees to escort our heroes and heroines to a rendezvous with the sub despite the heavy presence of the invisible aliens. Predictably, not everybody survives the gauntlet of aliens between them and the submarine. Ultimately, our heroes learn how to kill the aliens.

The best thing about “The Darkest Hour” is the aliens. The worse thing is we’re told squat about them. These extraterrestrials never communicate with humanity in the form of either warnings or ultimatums. Worst, since no friendly aliens live amongst us as in “Cowboys and Aliens,” we have no clue about why they have invaded Earth. A Russian militia leader speculates that the aliens have come to deplete our mineral resources and kill us in the process. Once the heroes create their microwave weapons, Gorak gives us little more than a glimpse of these enigmatic aliens. Essentially, they look like black shiny skulls with loops of chains gyrating around them. They cannot see through windows, and they have trouble operating over bodies of water. Gorak and his writers take their subject matter far too seriously and never take advantage of the goofy way the aliens appear or the crazy way that humans drape themselves with metal objects to shield the electrical energy. The 3-D version of “The Darkest Hour” has little edge over the flat, 2-D version. Meantime, neither breaks any ground where alien invasion movies are concerned.