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JT (287 KP) rated Takers (2010) in Movies

Mar 10, 2020

Takers (2010)

2010 | Action, Drama

5.0

(3 Ratings)

Movie Rating

The bank heist, it’s been done to death in Hollywood over the years but it still seems to be a film favourite. You’d be hard pressed to find a really bad one out there and most of the ones that I have seen have been exceptional films.

Of course they all follow a very similar pattern. Group steals money, plan one last job which will inevitable go wrong where someone will get double crossed and not everyone walks off into the sunset with the money.Its a no brainer really and only an idiot could really mess up that style of plot.

Takers is no different from any other before it, the cast here seem to be a bit mismatched in places. There are real life rappers Chris Brown and T.I. aka Clifford Joseph Harris Jr., eye candy favourites Matt Dillon and Paul Walker with Brit Idris Elba making it the most unconventional mix of cops and robbers ever.

The film’s highlights are the well choreographed set pieces including a decent hotel gun fight, a hiest that goes wrong leading to more gun play, and an impressive chase through the city. Even the opening does well to set the story and character back grounds.

Where the film let’s itself down, through no fault of its own, is the way in which we are always one step ahead of the plot. This is just down to all the hiest films we have seen before and we’re pretty much going to make our own assumptions as to what is going to happen and who is going to get away with what at the climax.

There are a couple of wasted back stories which do little to the film such as Matt Dillon’s corrupt partner or Idris Elba’s crackhead sister. Zoe Saldana is a virtual unknown in this and pops up from time to time doing nothing but enlighten the screen with her clear beauty.

It’s never going to compete against the big boys such as Heat, Point Break or The Town, but it does well enough to hold the attention for 90 minutes or so.

Kudos

Gareth von Kallenbach (977 KP) rated Wrath of the Titans (2012) in Movies

Aug 7, 2019

Wrath of the Titans (2012)

2012 | Action, Sci-Fi

6.2

(14 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Sequels often struggle to live up to the expectations set by their predecessors. Wrath of the Titans delivers. Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, and Ralph Fiennes reprise their roles as Perseus, Zeus, and Hades in this continuation of the Clash of the Titans remake from 2010. They’re joined this time by Rosamund Pike, who portrays the strong, female love interest as the beautiful Queen Andromeda.

Perseus has settled down to become a fisherman with his son. His wife has been written out of the story — either by design or because the actress was not available. She seems to be dead for no particular reason. Perseus has chosen to live life as a mortal, despite his father, Zeus (Neeson), offering him a seat of power on Olympus. Early in the movie, Zeus comes to his son and asks for help, telling him something big is coming. Only Perseus, a demi-god, would have the strength to ensure humanity’s survival.

The rest of the story involves Perseus’s journey to save the world from the reawakening of Chronos. Mythology geeks and fantasy buffs will appreciate the severity of this situation.

While the makers of this film certainly didn’t reinvent the wheel, or even attempt to one-up their previous film, they surely succeeded in making an entertaining screenplay. In short: if you liked the first, you will like this one. It has all the action, sword-swinging, flying-horse-riding, and titan-killing you would expect from the series. The CGI is impressive, and the 3D effects were not too objectionable.

One scene in particular stuck out as ill-conceived. The kiss at the end of the film felt forced. There was very little romantic build-up throughout the movie, so it felt as if the filmmakers included the kiss because moviegoers expect to see romantic resolution. Perhaps this is one of the several endings they filmed, at which point they let focus groups make the call. Either way, it felt awkward.

As I said before, if you enjoyed the first, seeing the second is worth your time and money.

Kudos

Gareth von Kallenbach (977 KP) rated The Lincoln Lawyer (2011) in Movies

Aug 7, 2019

The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)

2011 | Drama, Mystery

7.3

(9 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Mick Haller (Matthew McConaughey) is a criminal defense attorney who works out of his Lincoln Town Car in Los Angeles, hence the title of the movie and book “The Lincoln Lawyer” by Michael Connelly. Mickey defends all kinds of criminals and all he expects from his clients is that they pay him. While he may be a rather shifty lawyer, he is a loving father to his daughter Hayley (Mackenzie Aladjem) and he obviously still cares for her mother Maggie McPherson (Marisa Tomei).

Now although he has many clients, none are really big money clients. That changes one day when Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe), a rich Beverly Hills playboy, is arrested for assault & attempted rape and he wants Mick to defend him. At first Mick believes that he will be able to easily get his client acquitted, but as he and his investigator Frank Levin (William H. Macy) dig deeper, they discovery disturbing information about the case and it’s possible link to another.

In his quest to win the all mighty “Not Guilty” verdict, Mick has many obstacles (both professional and personal) placed before him that he must successfully navigate around, and treachery hiding in the shadows that he must bring into the light or else he may lose more than just a case.

While the entire cast was incredible, Matthew McConaughey and Ryan Phillippe gave equally amazing performances (this is especially true for any scene that they were both in). The characters were well-developed, believable and for the most part likable, heck I even liked the biker Eddie (Trace Adkins). The storyline was intriguing with a twist or two that I did not see coming and it also had some very nice humor sprinkled in. I did find that in a few scenes the dialogue seemed to be a bit unnatural for what was going on but it didn’t really detract from the overall scenes in question. Personally I hope this film does well enough that they make a sequel (I believe the book’s sequel is The Reversal) because I would like to see more of these characters in action.