FILM REVIEW OF ''HOSTILES" (2018)

Good westerns are few and far between nowadays.  “Black Mass” writer & director Stuart Cooper’s cavalry vs. the Indians western “Hostiles” (**/12 OUT OF ****), co-starring Christian Bale and Rosamund Pike, ranks as above-average.  Not only does “Hostiles” resemble John Ford’s greatest western, “The Searchers” (1956), starring John Wayne, but it also pays tribute to Ford’s farewell film, “Cheyenne Autumn” (1964), with its revisionist sentiments about the ghastly treatment of Native Americans. Ford enjoyed a rewarding career in Hollywood depicting the wholesale slaughter of Native Americans in his popular John Wayne cavalry epics: “Fort Apache” (1948), “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” (1949), and “Rio Grande” (1950).  Ultimately, Ford performed an about-face where Indians were concerned with “Cheyenne Autumn.”  Similarly, critics are comparing “Hostiles” to Clint Eastwood’s final oater “Unforgiven” (1992), and its sentiments about killing. Eastwood’s western image evolved from his portrayal of an amiable cowboy in television’s “Rawhide” (1959-1965) to a ruthless bounty hunter in Sergio Leone’s bloodthirsty Spaghetti westerns before the actor made his characters contemplative in “The Outlaw Josey Wales” (1976), “Pale Rider” (1985), and “Unforgiven” (1992). “Unforgiven” constituted a meditation on violence where it is depicted as anything but glamorous.  Director Stuart Cooper wastes too time on these two themes: the annihilation of Native Americans and the repulsion for bloodshed.  Unfortunately, “Hostiles” ponders these profound themes rather than entertaining us with unforgettable action.  Nothing happens for long stretches as the cavalry ushers a notorious Indian chief from New Mexico to Montana, where the government has decided that he may die in honor.  During that long trek, the cavalry encounters other murderous Native Americans as well as some wholly despicable Caucasians.  Clocking in at a dreary 135 minutes, this scenic horse opera seems as apologetic as it is saddle-sore. 

“Hostiles” unfolds on the frontier in 1892 with a sudden, suspenseful Indian attack on peaceful New Mexican homesteaders.  Murderous Comanche raiders wearing war paint descend upon Wesley Quaid (Scott Shepherd of “Side Effects”), his wife Rosalee (Rosamund Pike of “Die Another Day”), and their teenage daughters with little warning.  Not only do these ferocious savages kill Wesley without difficulty, but they also gun down Wesley’s two daughters, Lucy (Ava Cooper) and Sylvie (Stella Cooper), as they flee behind their mother into the woods.  Miraculously, Rosalee evades the hostiles, even though she has her newborn cradled in her arms.  She hides in the woods while the Indians burn their house down and then ride away.  Tragically, Rosalee realizes afterward the baby in her arms is dead, too.  She bundles the bodies back to the burnt house and covers them up as if they were asleep.  The scene shifts to a faraway U.S. Cavalry fort.   “3:10 to Yuma” actor Christian Bale plays Captain Joseph Blocker, an unrepentant, Indian-hating cavalry officer.  He shares the sentiments of Civil War-era General Phil Sheridan, who said: “The only good Indians I ever saw were dead."  Colonel Abraham Biggs (Stephen Lang of “Avatar”) summons Blocker with orders for him to take a dying Cheyenne, Indian Chief Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi of “Last of the Mohicans”), and his family back to Montana.  According to Colonel Biggs, Yellow Hawk is dying from cancer, and President Harrison has granted the chief’s wish to die in his ancestral lands.  

Initially, Blocker is not ecstatic with those orders, and he refuses to accommodate the colonel because he abhors Indians generally and Chief Yellow Hawk specifically.  We learn throughout “Hostiles” that Blocker has been slaughtering Indians for twenty years.  He has taken part in atrocities galore, and he has no qualms about killing Native Americans.  Nevertheless, Biggs points out, if Blocker doesn’t carry out the Presidential order to resettle Yellow Hawk that he will have to convene a court-martial.  Moreover, Blocker will lose his Government pension.  Miserably, Blocker agrees to shepherd Yellow Hawk to Montana.  No sooner has Blocker’s small patrol left the fort than he orders his sergeant to shackle Yellow Hawk.  He doesn’t trust him.  Eventually, they encounter the grief-stricken, traumatized Rosalee, and Blocker’s troopers bury her dead for her.  Afterward, Rosalee accompanies the escort.  Before they reach Montana, Blocker and company will tangle not only with the same Comanches that wiped out Rosalee’s family, but also hostile white ranchers and trappers.  At first, Blocker doesn’t change his attitude toward Chief Yellow Hawk.  By the time they reach their destination, the cavalry captain experiences a change of attitude.  Yellow Hawk wins Blocker’s respect.  When a pugnacious white landowner demands that Blocker get off his sprawling acreage or he will kill them, presidential order notwithstanding, Blocker no longer has any qualms about killing his own kind.  Incredibly, Rosalee undergoes a similar change, and she sympathizes for the chief and his plight.  When the final showdown comes between Blocker and the rancher, Rosalee pitches in to help, demonstrating her accuracy with a repeating rifle.

Stuart Cooper, who also helmed “Crazy Heart” (2009) with Jeff Bridges and “Out of the Furnace” (2013) with Christian Bale, penned the “Hostiles” script from an unpublished story by the late writer Donald Stewart, best known for “The Hunt for Red October.”  Basically, “Hostiles” is an average oater, bolstered by a sterling cast.  Bale couldn’t be better, neither could his co-stars, especially Rosamund Pike, Rory Cochrane, and Stephen Lang. Ironically, despite its apologetic attitude to Native Americans, Cooper makes little use of Wes Studi and Adam Beach.  Whatever the reason, an interesting episode where Yellow Hawk and his son sneak out of camp to kill the Comanches harassing them has been confined to expository dialogue rather than an action scene.  Studi and Beach look noble, but they remain on the sidelines.  “Hostiles” is also predictable.  Inevitably, we know Captain Blocker is going to change his attitude, show grudging respect for the Indians, and then butcher whites for interfering with his mission.  “Hostiles” suffers too from dialogue mumbled, campfire scenes unnecessarily murky, and stretches where even the scenery doesn’t relieve the monotony.

FILM REVIEW OF ''JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE" (2017)

Dwayne Johnson won’t win an Oscar for Jake Kasdan’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” (*** OUT OF ****), but he portrays a riotous character far from anything he has done before this body switch saga.  Basically, the Rock ridicules himself with a straight-face throughout this PG-13, 119-minute, action-adventure escapade that rarely takes itself seriously.  As captivating as the Rock is as a khaki-clad Indiana Jones fortune hunter, co-star Jack Black overshadows him with his own bizarre character.  Just as “Orange County” director Jake Kasdan lets Johnson poke fun at himself as a nerd cringing inside the physique of a bodybuilder, he has taken it a step farther with Jack Black who ends up in the body of female character.  Scratching your head yet?  These are examples of the sidesplitting shenanigans that underline this frivolous film.  Abetting Jack Black and the Rock in this superficial slapstick are comedian Kevin Hart and actress Karen Gillian.  They inhabit characters with whom they share zip.  These likable characters make the preposterous premise entertaining.  A mysterious videogame console uploads four high school teens and turns them into their gaming avatars.  Each comes equipped with skills designed to aid them in an epic scavenger hunt. The time frame of the hunt depends on the participants’ luck.  Not only do a quartet of writers--Chris McKenna, Jeff Pinker, Scott Rosenberg, and Erik Sommers--segue this sequel to director Joe Johnston's earlier “Jumanji” (1995), but they also have reimagined it for contemporary audiences with no patience for board games.  “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” amounts to sheer, harebrained hokum from fade-in to fadeout.  Everything about this farce is far-fetched. Nothing slows down the headlong momentum, however, during these madcap melodramatics.  Like the original Robin Williams movie, this “Jumanji” contains a similar frame story, but the writers spend more time on the subsequent story about the four high school kids. Superior computer-generated imagery in some truly outlandish scenes surpasses the primitive CGI in the 1995 film.  You’ll never forget the crocodile scene!  Moreover, a clever premise allows our heroes and heroines to cheat death like immortals! 

“Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” starts on the beach where the 1995 movie heroes buried the board game.  In the prologue, a teen digs it up and takes it home.  While he is asleep, the durable board game repurposes itself into a video game console.  When he plays it, the game hijacks him from his cozy bedroom to an alternate dimension.  Twenty years elapse, and the main characters are introduced.  Principal Bentley (Marc Evan Jackson of “Kong: Skull Island”) busts beanpole gamer and germaphobe Spencer Gilpin (Alex Wolff of “My Friend Dahmer”) for plagiarism.  Spencer wrote an academic paper for his friend, star football player Anthony 'Fridge' Johnson (Ser'Darius Blain of “Camp X-Ray”), that Spencer had earlier submitted as his own to his gimlet-eyed History teacher.  Meanwhile, an annoyed teacher catches self-absorbed, social media-addicted Bethany Walker (Madison Iseman of “Laid in America”) on her smart phone during an exam.  Finally, an introverted nobody, Martha Kaply (Morgan Turner of “Remember Me”), refuses to exercise during P.E., and she winds up in Bentley’s office.  Bentley lets them off the hook with detention.  Sounds like “The Breakfast Club?”  Not for long! They must clean up a room littered with trash.  Fridge stumbles onto that mysterious console.  The four students decide to play this mysterious “Mortal Combat” game.  Instead, they are morphed into it and emerge on the far side as their avatars.  Pusillanimous Spencer is now expedition leader Smolder Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson) with massive muscles.  Towering football champion Fridge finds himself shrunk drastically into pint-sized zoologist Moose Finbar (Kevin Hart of “Central Intelligence”) who dreads everything.  Much to her horror, sexy Bethany takes the form of obese, balding, middle-aged Professor Shelly Oberon (Jack Black of “King Kong”) whose expertise is maps.  Shy Martha becomes butt-kicking martial arts sensation Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillan of “Guardians of the Galaxy”) with a flair for ‘dance fighting.’

“Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” doesn’t stray far from the vintage Robin Williams “Jumanji.”  In the original, the son of a shoe manufacturer played the haunted board game, and he vanished into it like so much paranormal dust into a board.  Unfortunately, he didn’t escape from the magic board game universe as easily as he wanted.  After he returned to reality, he contends with a big-game hunter from the past stalking him in his hometown.  The hunter traded in his antique rifle for a fully automatic assault rifle and lays waste to modern society as he searches for the hero.  Later, a stampede of enormous zoo animals trashed the town.  Nevertheless, the son triumphs over adversity.  The “Jumanji” sequel differs in some respects from its predecessor.  More characters play the game, and teamwork pays off as their best strategy.  They are dropped from the sky into the jungle “Predator” style and ponder the three hashtag tattoos on their wrists that indicate their number of lives. Indeed, our heroes and heroines can die a couple of times, heightening the suspense, when their heroics aren’t amusing us.  The best thing about the new “Jumanji” is its gallery of sympathetic heroes and heroines. Smolder Bravestone, Moose Finbar, Professor Shelly Oberon, and Ruby Roundhouse are as charismatic as the actors and actresses.  They are riddled from within by the guilt of their real-life counterparts.  For example, you’ll laugh at the Rock when he cowers before Kevin Hart. Remember, the man inside Smolder is Spencer, and Spencer is a medicating nerd. The scene where Bethany coaches Ruby about the rudiments of flirting is hysterical.  Happily, Kasdan and his writers have given everybody a scene or more to shine. Ultimately, the success of “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” is such that Jake Kasdan’s comic cliffhanger may constitute more than a sequel but also a reboot!  “Jumanji” has coined $883 million plus worldwide from a $90 million budget.  No studio would dare produce such a blockbuster and sit on a franchise. 

FILM REVIEW OF ''SCORCHING FURY" (1952)

Rick Freers’ “Scorching Fury” (** OUT OF ****) has been described as one of “the worst westerns of the 40's and 50's.”  Indeed, this 63-minute, B-movie suffers from a bare-bones budget, and a cast of little known actors and actresses.  Nevertheless, several factors distinguish it as an oater worth watching if you crave westerns.  First, the filmmakers have lensed the action primarily on location without any reliance on obvious back projection.  You’ll see a few scenes set in the typical western town.  Phyllis Coates of the 1950’s era “Adventures of Superman” television series makes a cameo in the Tucson scene. Later, two scenes take place in a sheriff’s office and a bank. Meantime, everything else happens in the wide-open spaces. Second, if you pay attention to the dialogue, co-scribes James Craig and Richard Devon cover all the traditional themes of a horse opera.  They do a competent job of parceling out the exposition among the various characters, most of it conveyed during the campfire scenes. The theme of friendship is discussed in some detail since the two heroes were friends to start out but have drifted apart in their quest to capture the villain.  Commenting about the villain’s lack of qualms about resorting to violence, one character observes, “With that .45 in his hand, he was a tall piece of lightning.” Third, although the characters are sketchy, the actors breathe a modicum of humanity into them.  Interestingly, Richard Devon made his cinematic debut here as a good guy in a white hat who went on to portray low-down, no-account skunks in “3:10 to Yuma” and “The Comancheros.” Fifth, Freers generates some suspense by concealing the identity of the villain until the climactic showdown.  The only thing that we do know about Ward Canepa is he wears spurs the jingle, is a southpaw with a six-shooter, and has on stripped britches.  The chief shortcoming of this western is the obligatory cavalry versus the Indians subplot, with footage that looks like it might have been appropriated from another bigger budget sagebrusher.  Ironically, the heroes, the passengers, and the villains are never aware of the tribe on a rampage because the cavalry repulses them.  Furthermore, no mention in made about then in the dialogue among the passengers.  Initially, Freers cross-cuts between a lone Indian eavesdropping on the passengers around a campfire to it appear that the Indian is near them, but we never see the Indian and the passenger’s campfire in the same shot. 

“Scorching Fury” is a traditional law & order western with a surprise or two.  A gang of outlaws with bandanas over their faces waylay a stagecoach in the middle of nowhere.  Not only do these outlaws clean out the strongbox, but they also take anything of value from the passengers. Were this not enough, they cut the team of four horses loose and stampede them. A fourth horseman appears and blasts holes into a water barrel kept in the boot of the coach.  The quartet of bandits leave the passengers unarmed, without water, and on foot.  The passengers consist of Mrs. Harrison (Audrey Dineen of “Medic”), singer Cara Emmons (Peggy Nelson of “Camilla”), her guitar-playing accompanist, Lockwin (Eddie McLean of “Riders of the Pony Express”), and a young couple Drew (Allen Windsor of “The Purple Gang”) and Louise Macurda (one-time only actress Twyla Paxton), and they follow the advice of a deputy sheriff, Kirk Flamer (Richard Devon of “Magnum Force”), who was riding with them to Boone City, California. They set out to find a suitable camp site for the evening. When the musician suggests that they walk to the nearest stagecoach substation, Drew points out that it lies about 15 miles away.  While the passengers are making the best of a bad predicament, Kirk gets chummy with Cara and recounts the events that occurred in Tucson when his old friend Clint Rust (William Leslie of “The Horse Soldiers”) and he rode into town on a jackass.  Later, the two men decided to visit Adobe Wells where Clint’s uncle was the town sheriff, Sheriff J.D. (Rory Mallinson of “Dark Passage”), and he persuaded them to serve as deputies along with a third person, Ward Canepa (Sherwood Price of “Ice Station Zebra”), who was extremely proficient with firearms. J.D. assigned each of them to ride shotgun on different stagecoaches to thwart a recent crime wave of hold-ups.  The coach that Ward was dispatched to guard never arrived at its destination.  Eventually, J.D., Clint, and Kirk locate it.  They find the driver is dead and the gold shipment gone.  Worse, Kirk shows J.D. and Clint a deputy sheriff’s badge that he found beneath the driver’s body.  Clearly, the badge incriminates Ward Canepa as an outlaw.  Kirk and Clint ride separate trails to track down Ward.  Unfortunately, Clint’s uncle tries to foil a daylight bank robbery, but he doesn’t know Ward is hiding behind the front door.  Ward shoots J.D. six times and then laughs maniacally.  

Clint quits his job as a deputy and plans to exact personal revenge.  Ward catches him out in the open and shoots his horse, forcing Clint afoot.  Eventually, Clint finds Kirk and company. Kirk tries to convince his friend to pin his badge back and stick to the letter of the law.  Ward infiltrates the campsite, but the musician wounds him in the shoulder.  Despite his wound, Ward maintains in control of the situation and challenges Clint to a duel.  A ritualistic, count-to-ten, face-to-face showdown ensues.  Sure, the production values are nothing to brag about, but “Scorching Fury” isn’t as abysmal as some critics contend.  Indeed, it reminded me of the rugged succession of westerns that Budd Boetticher would direct with Randolph Scott in largely mountainous locales with Burt Kennedy’s atmospheric dialogue.  The title refers to the way Clint feels about Ward as much as the situation that Kirk and the stagecoach passengers find themselves in after they have been abandoned without water in the desert.

FILM REVIEW OF "BRIGHT" (2017)

Clearly, Netflix wants to go toe-to-toe with Hollywood, and they are challenging it with their own provocative, slam-bang, $90-million, pulp-fantasy-thriller “Bright” (*** OUT OF ****), toplining Will Smith and Joel Edgerton as a rare pair of LAPD beat cops.  Although Smith plays a human, Edgerton is cast as an Orc!  Essentially, “Suicide Squad” director David Ayer has taken his superb police procedural “End of Watch” (2012) and retooled it as something like director Graham Baker’s “Alien Nation” (1988) with the fantastic beings from Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” franchise.  Clocking in close two hours, “Bright” conjures up non-stop action, nail-gnawing suspense, unbearable tension, complete with surprises and revelations galore.  Smith is as charismatic as ever, but he isn’t mimicking his “Bad Boys” character Mike Lowery, a role that he plans to reprise in two forthcoming sequels: “Bad Boys Forever” and “Bad Boys 4.”  As veteran patrolman Daryl Ward, he is mired up to his neck in devastating debt, and his chief aim in life is to survive long enough to get his pension.  Meantime, Ward finds himself in a predicament like nothing any policeman has confronted.  The world of “Bright” is as gritty, violent, and racially charged as 21^st century America, but this imaginative epic takes place in an alternate universe where far-fetched creatures, such as Orcs, Fairies, Elves, and others have been co-existing with humans since the dawn of time.  Were it not for these extraordinary characters, “Bright” would amount to little more than another foray in urban crime.  Sadly, this inventive hokum suffers from two shortcomings.  First, predictable plotting undermines the outcome because Ayer and “Victor Frankenstein” scenarist Max Landis paint themselves into a corner. Second, the filmmakers provide only the most basic backstory about this bizarre new world.  Meantime, the original “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” actress Noomi Rapace keeps things exciting as a demonic elf who tries to ice our heroes, while Edgar Ramirez is equally as tenacious as another kind of Elf with a badge. 

Patrolman Daryl Ward (Will Smith) isn’t ecstatic about having an Orc as his partner.  In the alternate universe of “Bright,” Orcs are savage, toothsome creatures who resemble a a synthesis of olive-skinned albinos and ghoulish vampire of the 1922 silent horror classic “Nosferatu.”  Basically, Orcs are blue-collar, bottom-feeders who stick together inseparably and rank beneath the most woebegone ethnic groups ravaged by poverty and racism.  Nick Jakoby (Joel Edgerton of “Smokin’ Aces”) is a typical Orc, and his fellow Orcs display nothing but contempt for him.  Since they have no use for him, Nick has no use for them.  Indeed, Nick has always dreamed of wearing a badge.  Imagine his surprise when his dream comes true, and the LAPD hires him on the grounds of diversity.  Meantime, Daryl is desperately trying to hold onto his job.  Unfortunately, riding with Nick is no bargain as Daryl discovers when out of nowhere a shotgun-wielding Orc blasts him with a shotgun.  Fortunately, Daryl survives, but he isn’t happy that he must resume riding with Nick.  Ward’s irate fellow police officers heap endless criticism on him for tolerating Nick. They argue that he should charge Nick for incompetency, so the LAPD will fire the rookie.  Daryl’s fellow officers fear that if Nick proves himself as a valuable contribution to the force, more Orcs will follow.

Word has spread like wildfire around Los Angeles about a virulent league of Elves known as the Inferni. Moreover, these Elves have been toiling to resurrect a renowned ‘Dark Lord’ warrior to subjugate mankind.  Legend has it the Inferni can with a magical wand deemed "a nuclear weapon that grants wishes." The Inferni are ranked as ‘bright’ because they can wield this wand.  Furthermore, accounts claim there may even be some humans who can brandish it.  Meanwhile, anybody else who dares to touch it is doomed to incinerate themselves before they can realize their dreams.  Daryl and Nick stumble onto a wand one evening in a hood when they respond to a shooting and find themselves in the middle of a supernatural showdown.  They help a renegade young Elf, Tikka (Lucy Fry of “Mr. Church”), who has slain another Inferni with that deadly incandescent wand.  Dumbfounded by these circumstances, Daryl summons his watch commander, Sergeant Ching (Margaret Cho of “One Missed Call”), and his fellow patrolmen, to make sense out of this uncanny situation.  No sooner have they arrived than the police see the wand as an answer to all their troubles.  Furthermore, they conspire to kill Daryl and Nick, so nobody will know how they acquired the wand.  Daryl turns the tables on them, then Nick and he realize they are now being stalked by a more formidable Inferni, Leilah (Noomi Rapace), who wants the wand and is prepared to kill anybody who gets in her way.  Indeed, Leilah is ten times more powerful than Tikka, and Leilah’s posse is pretty much indestructible, too.  If Daryl and Nick don’t have their hands full enough, they must contend with a crippled gangsta, Poison (Enrique Murciano of “Collateral Beauty”), who needs the wand, so he can walk again.  Poison rules an army of trigger-happy, machine-gun toting thugs.  Adding to the complications is another Elf, Kandomere (Edgar Ramirez of “Point Break”), a government agent who supervises a Federal Magic Task Force that wants the mysterious wand, too.

Director David Ayer rarely lets our embattled buddy cops catch their collective breath as they run a gauntlet consisting of the ruthless Inferni, Poison’s homicidal hellions, and corrupt LAPD officers.  Before everything works out for them, Daryl and Nick must dodge barrages of bullets and discover that the wand can resurrect the dead.  Ayer intersperses the careening car chases, harrowing shootouts, and high-octane explosions with plenty of exposition, so we learn little by little the amazing powers of the wand and the various characteristics of the heroes and villains. “Bright” delivers more than enough wattage to keep audiences enthralled before its obligatory feelgood ending