FILM REVIEW OF ''JOHN WICK: CHAPTER TWO" (2017)

Hollywood makes out two types of sequels.  First, those sequels that aren’t as good as their forerunners.  Second, those sequels that surpass their predecessors. Basically, sequels are either better or worse than what spawned them.  “John Wick: Chapter 2” (***1/2 OUT OF ****) belongs to the second category.   Stunt double Chad Stahelski and scenarist Derek Kolstad respectively return as director and writer for the bullet-riddled bloodbath “John Wick 2,” and Keanu Reeves reprises his role as the invincible, sharp-shooting assassin who doesn’t aim to please.  No, Wick’s new pet pooch doesn’t die in this installment.  Moreover, no other animals are harmed.  Anybody who saw the original “John Wick” knows the villains spoke in awe about John Wick’s lethal use of pencils.  Appropriately enough, Stahelski stages a pencil scene for the sequel, and you will have an entirely new respect for yellow number two pencils.  We’ll have to see if something like this doesn’t ultimately winds up as merchandise to advertise the franchise.  This unbreakable pencil preserves its point throughout a slam-bang combat encounter that would shatter a regular pencil.  Audaciously preposterous, hopelessly predictable, but thoroughly captivating nonsense, “John Wick 2” pushes everything to the limit except the number of lines uttered by Keanu Reeves.  Tired of gun shy, shoot’em ups that confine their mortality rates to single digits? “John Wick 2” boasts a triple-digit body count with an alarming number of head shots.  Typically, our bruised and battered hero pumps two slugs into an adversary’s torso and then polishes them off with one in the noggin.  When he exhausts his ammo, he resorts to battlefield salvage and appropriates another man’s weapon so he can keep on killing. Meaning, if you require discretion in the depiction of violence, you may have complaints about this exciting, atmospheric, and elegantly lensed action thriller with lots of colorfully illuminated settings.  Incidentally, “John Wick 2” reunites Reeves and “Matrix” co-star Laurence Fishburne for a couple of scenes. Were it little more than the original, “John Wick 2” wouldn’t be as memorable, but it is something more with some imaginative tweaks that its predecessor lacked.

“John Wick: Chapter 2” picks up where the previous epic ended.  Since Wick has acquired a new dog, he searches now for the car that his enemies stole, and the film opens with an over-the-top, car-smashing, body-crashing encounter in a rival mobster’s garage with our hero relying on wits, fists, and martial arts.  Like a respectable sequel, “John Wick 2” reminds us what was at stake in the first film as well as the character of our hero.  A relative of the mobsters who shot Wick’s puppy dog and then beat him senseless, Abram (Peter Stormare of “22 Jump Street”) is preparing to clear out since he fears Wick is coming after him next.  While Wick dispatches Abram’s army of thugs and mechanics, Abram’s eyes bulge with abject terror, and Stormare gives a great performance by his reactions to the arrival of his adversary.  When they finally meet after our hero has cleared a gauntlet of killers, Wick pours Abram a drink and proposes peace with a toast.  The two gulp their liquor and forge an armistice.  Abram bids Wick a happy retirement.  Naturally, however, nothing of the sort is going to happen either for Wick or the audience.  In a bit of backstory, we learn that John Wick indebted himself to a treacherous, high-ranking mobster, Santino D'Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio of “Loose Cannons”), with a blood oath marker so he could retire and live peacefully with his wife Helen.  Now, after wrapping up his revenge, Wick discovers to his chagrin that Santino is calling in that marker!  Although Wick is in no position to refuse an assignment from Santino, he refuses to accommodate Santino because he is weary of all the shooting and killing.  A disappointed Santino leaves Wick’s house and then shoulders an awesome incendiary weapon and fire-bombs our hero’s house, blasting Wick off the premises but not killing his dog.  Resigned to his fate, Wick sits down with Santino and agrees to carry out one final mission.  The evil Santino wants the seat on an international crime council that his late father willed to his older sister, Gianna D'Antonio (Claudia Gerini of “Deceit”), and he stipulates that our hero must ice her.  Off to Rome flies Wick where he acquires an arsenal that James Bond would envy, a dark tailor-made, bullet-proof suit, and the blueprints to infiltrate Gianna’s inner sanctum and surprise her.  What Wick doesn’t plan for adequately is Gianna’s steadfast bodyguard Cassian (Common of “American Gangster”), and these two titans tangle in a blood and guts tango that ends abruptly after they crash into the sacred Continental Hotel in Rome, run by Julius (Franco Nero of “Django”), where mobsters must cease and desist because it represents the equivalent of a gangland church that grants amnesty.  At this point, Wick realizes that the scheming Santino has double-crossed him.  Santino points out he wouldn’t be much of a brother if he didn’t avenge the murder of his sister.  When his own gunmen cannot liquidate Wick, Santino offers a $7-million-dollar bounty, and hitmen from every corner of the globe swarm after our resilient hero.

Aside from Keanu Reeves’ typically stoic performance, “John Wick: Chapter Two” features a sturdy cast, with Ian McShane reprising his role as Winston, the manager of the New York City Continental Hotel--where mobsters are prohibited from fighting with their adversaries, and Lance Reddick as the accommodating desk clerk Charon.  John Leguizamo appears briefly as the body shop repairman who helped Wick locate his Mustang, and Bridget Moynahan appears in a flashback as Wick’s late wife Helen.  Director Chad Stahelski, who once earned his living as Keanu Reeve’s stunt double, need never look back.  Slated to helm the new “Highlander” reboot, Stahelski keeps things thumping throughout this two-hour plus neo-noir thriller.  The hall of mirrors scene where Wick stalks Santino rivals the original scene in Orson Welles’ iconic thriller “The Lady from Shanghai” (1947).  

FILM REVIEW OF ''SECRET IN THEIR EYES'' (2015)

“Pretty Woman” superstar Julia Roberts shatters her glamorous image in the grim but surprising police procedural thriller “Secret in Their Eyes” (*** OUT OF ****), co-starring Academy Award winning actress Nicole Kidman, Oscar nominated actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Emmy-nominated actor Alfred Molina.  This occasionally gripping but often conventional film is a remake of the superb 2009 Argentinean opus “The Secret in Their Eyes.”  Scripted originally with a man in mind, Roberts’ steps into the rewritten supporting role as a grieving single-mom who happens to be a veteran detective determined not only to take the law into her own hands but also exact vengeance on the suspected murderer of her daughter.  Furthermore, the man in the Argentinean movie was not a pistol-packing policeman, but a statistics-minded bank clerk!  Reportedly, “Shattered Glass” writer & director Billy Ray rewrote the role specifically for Julia Roberts.  Incidentally, Ray is best known for scripting movies such as “Flightplan,” “Captain Phillips,” and “The Hunger Games.”  Of course, it remains to be seen whether Julia Roberts’ loyal fans will accept the “Erin Brockovich” actress as a plain-Jane, tomboy with a sadistic streak.  In contrast, murder mystery aficionados who thrive on grisly melodramas may have a tough time imagining Roberts as such a demented soul.  Mind you, entertaining as this formulaic American crime saga is, it isn’t as imaginative as its distinguished predecessor that took home the Best Foreign Film Oscar in 2010.  Appropriately enough, the director who helmed the inspired original film, Juan José Campanella, served as the executive director for “Secret in Their Eyes.”  Presumably, Campanella must have conferred his blessing on the Hollywood adaptation by supervising it as an executive director.  

FBI agent Ray Kasten (Chiwetel Ejiofor of “American Gangster”) has been reassigned to Los Angeles.  He has been dispatched to assist a special anti-terrorist task force in the aftermath of New York City’s 9/11 catastrophe.  Ray has grown chummy with two investigators, Jess Cobb (Julia Roberts) and Bumpy Willis (Dean Norris of “Lethal Weapon 2”), but District Attorney Martin Morales (Alfred Molina of “Spider-Man 2”) and gimlet-eyed Detective Reg Siefert (Michael Kelly of “Man of Steel”) infuriate him.  Morales has just recruited a new deputy D.A., Claire Sloan (Nicole Kidman of “Australia”), who is an statuesque blonde.  Everybody, particularly Jess, soon realizes Ray is infatuated with Claire.  Claire remains as cool as a glacier as she moves around Ray.  Nevertheless, she is doesn’t entirely ignore him.  Meantime, Ray has been conducting surveillance on a mosque when a report reaches him about a Jane Doe corpse in a nearby dumpster.  Everybody assembles at the mosque where the police have set-up a crime scene.  Ray is the first detective to gaze into the dumpster.  Horror overwhelms him when he recognizes the corpse; the dead girl, Carolyn Cobb (Zoe Graham of “Boyhood”), is none other than Jess’s daughter.  Distraught beyond description, Jess climbs into the dumpster and cradles her dead daughter in her arms.  

Eventually, Ray ferrets out an enigmatic suspect, Marzin (Joe Cole of “Offender”), on the basis of a company picnic photo.  The villain is shown staring at Carolyn in the picture.  Later, Ray discovers that Marzin had been hanging around the mosque.  Inevitably, Ray clashes with an abrasive Morales about his conduct.  Ray is an defiant FBI agent who ignores boundaries when they interfere with his objectives.  Launching his own investigation, Ray refuses to share either evidence or leads with the detectives assigned to the case.  Ray provokes Morales’ wrath because the loose cannon FBI agent has been neglecting his prime directive. He is supposed to monitor potential terrorist threats to Los Angeles.  Morales threatens to notify the FBI about Ray’s insubordination and have him recalled.  Nothing Morales does, however, derails Ray’s obstinate search for Carolyn’s murderer.  At one point, Claire finds herself drawn into his investigation.  Together, they expose Marzin as the killer, but events beyond their control prevent them from prosecuting this dastard.

“Secret in Their Eyes” inherited its flashback-riddled narrative structure from the original.  The remake unfolds 13 years after Carolyn’s unsolved murder as Ray shows up Los Angeles to convince Claire—now the District Attorney— that she must reopen the case because he has new evidence about the identity of the suspect.  Comparatively, in the original, the hero revisited his old stomping ground 25 years afterward because he is using Carolyn’s homicide as the subject for a novel.  The two films switch back and forth between past and present with nimble abandon.  This hopscotch technique could confuse audiences accustomed to straightforward chronological yarns. In this respect, the American version takes advantage of these incessant shifts in time to accentuate the suspense and the surprises.  Whereas the Argentinean cop was not personally acquainted with the murder victim, the FBI agent worked closely with the daughter’s mother as a colleague. 

The American remake suffers primarily from the changes that Billy Ray has made with certain characters.  First, the incendiary FBI agent explodes like a powder keg and emerges as his own worst enemy.  The investigator in the original rarely lost his temper.  Second, the hero’s partner in the Spanish film mustered greater charisma than the hero’s crippled counterpart in the remake.  Third, the hero’s antagonist boss is neither as eloquent nor as profane as the hero’s superior in the original.  Fourth, the motive for the hero to return in the remake is more contrived than the hero’s reappearance in the first film. Fifth, a “Gone in 60 Seconds” stolen car chop-shop scene qualifies as hopelessly gratuitous with its standard-issue shootout.  Despite the flawed characters and the uneven scenes, the remake successfully duplicates more scenes from the original than it wrecks.  The best example occurs when Kidman and Ejiofor collaborate to dupe the villain into confessing his crime.  Unfortunately, Kidman and Ejiofor generate little chemistry as a couple supposedly attracted to each other. Altogether, “Secret in Their Eyes” doesn’t surpass its infinitely superior predecessor “The Secret in Their Eyes.” Nevertheless, Julia Roberts manages to broaden her acting repertoire.

FILM REVIEW OF ''WARM BODIES" (2013)

When Hollywood started making zombie movies, filmmakers used voodoo as the means of controlling the dead.  The first genuine zombie flick, "White Zombie" (1932), featured Bela Lugosi of "Dracula" infamy as a sinister zombie master who owns a sugar cane plantation and exploits zombies as his labor force.  While most zombie movies were set in the West Indies, Hollywood didn't confine its sub-genre of the horror movie strictly to the Caribbean.  For example, "Revolt of the Zombies" took place in Cambodia.  Nevertheless, standard-issue zombie movies, such as "King of the Zombies" (1941), "I Walked with a Zombie" (1943), and "Zombies on Broadway" (1936), clung to the traditional Caribbean setting.  Meantime, "Revenge of the Zombies" (1943) occurred in Louisiana.  A fiendish Nazi scientist toiled to forge zombies to supplement the ranks of Hitler's Third Reich.  Occasionally, exceptions to the rule cropped up, like the first Caped Crusader serial "Batman" (1943) where a devilish Japanese spy on American soil converted individuals into mindless zombies by means of electricity. Apparently, nobody felt like experimenting drastically with the zombie formula, aside from relocating them beyond the West Indies.

Pittsburgh-based writer & director George A. Romero reimagined the zombie formula in 1968 with his classic chiller "Night of the Living Dead." Ironically, nothing like a global apocalypse had spawned zombies until Romero conjured up such a notion.  Romeo's zombie slayers aimed for the head when they shot zombies.  The next change came about courtesy of the Italian-made epic "Nightmare City" (1980) where zombies no longer lurched about but now ran like track superstars.  Aside from this minor formula tweaking, the biggest difference in post "Night of the Living Dead" zombie sagas has been the use of either an apocalypse or a virus to trigger an outbreak of zombie-mania. Just when you thought zombie films were stuck in a rut, Hollywood brought Seattle-based writer Isaac Marion's novel "Warm Bodies" to the screen, and movies about the undead will no longer will be the same. Simon and Schuster published the inventive book in 2010. 

"50/50" writer & director Jonathan Levine's adaptation of Marion's "Warm Bodies" is surprisingly captivating. A comparison between what occurs on screen and in Marion's book suggests Levine took minimal liberties with the source material.  This innovative makeover of a moribund genre takes matters beyond anything that either "Zombieland" or the "Resident Evil" franchise has tried in terms of permutation.  Basically, "Warm Bodies" takes zombie movies to the next level that gore-hound purists may not appreciate.  Levine doesn't pile up gratuitous amounts of blood and gore with shocking revelations to keep you stimulated.  Sure, zombies feed on the living, and they prefer the brain as an entrée. 

Nevertheless, Levine doesn't make a spectacle out of gut-munching for the sake of gut-munching. He obscures the feeding frenzy to accommodate a PG-13 rating.  First, the "Warm Bodies" zombies consume brains to experience the memories of those they've slain.  They just don't eat brains for no reason.  The idea you can derive knowledge from the consumption of an opponent's gray matter is fanciful.  Some cultures have argued eating the heart of an antagonist imparts strength to the victor.  Second, "Warm Bodies" has classified zombies as either good or bad.  Previously, all zombies were bad.  Creating a division between good and evil zombies endows the genre with greater sophistication.  In the "Warm Bodies" universe, bonies are the bad zombies.  Bonies are zombies who tear the skin off their bodies and resembled mummified skeletons. They move like lightning and they are treacherous.  They feast on the living as well as some of the dead. They are reminiscent of Ray Harryhausen's sword-wielding skeletons in the 1963 fantasy "Jason and the Argonauts."  Following Marion's lead, Levine has appropriated virtually everything else from the genre but cleverly has reconstituted the subject matter. 

Basically, Levine has synthesized the traditional zombie movie with a romantic comedy.  Like its literary source material, "Warm Bodies" makes allusions to Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet."  Indeed, there is even a brief balcony scene, though nothing like the Shakespeare version.  Our hero, a zombie known only as R (Nicholas Hoult of "X-Men: First Class") because he cannot remember his name, has spent most of the last eight years gnawing on humans.  When he doesn’t join his dead pals, like M (Rob Corddry), for group hunting trips, he enjoys his vinyl collection on a stereo in a derelict commercial jetliner.  You see, he holes up in an abandoned plane.  All the zombies congregate at the local airport.  Similarly, zombies in both George Romero's "Dawn of the Dead" (1978) and Zack Snyder's 2004 remake gravitated toward a shopping mall. After they became zombies, they were drawn by memories of the good times that they had had when they shopped together there.  Our lovesick zombie falls big-time for a young female zombie fighter, Julie (Teresa Palmer of "I Am Number Four"), after he chomps her boyfriend Perry’s brain.

Perry (David Franco), Julie, Nora (Analeigh Tipton), and others had left their heavily-fortified camp to scavenge the zombie infested outskirts of their fallen city for medical supplies.  When the zombies storm the medical supply room, R kills Perry, chews his brain, and feels smitten by Julie since he is seeing her from Perry’s perspective.  Incredibly, these sentiments of love reanimate his heart.  Now, R swears to protect Julie from the rest of his kind.  He escorts her back to his jetliner, and they grow to love each other.  According to this imaginative premise, biting into brains has the side effect of giving the undead a cerebral blast from the past.  If you shun run-of-the-mill zombie movies, "Warm Bodies" may change your attitude toward Z-pictures. This off-beat epic unites the living and the dead as allies in their collective war against the wicked bonies.  The happily ever after ending may curdle in the mouths of zombie purists. Nevertheless, "Warm Bodies" qualifies as the best thing that has happened to zombie movies since George A. Romero.