Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Posted on June 8, 2014 by Craig Micklewright

Viewed – 08 June 2014 Pay-per-view

I never saw the previous, highly regarded Jack Ryan movies; the Alec Baldwin starring The Hunt For Red October, the Harrison Ford vehicles Clear & Present Danger etc. Something about their overly serious approach to CIA espionage action always had me leaning more towards Mission Impossible or the James Bond franchise for my escapism. Now in the wake of his credible turns in the recent Star Trek reboots, pretty-boy actor Chris Pine steps into the shoes of a more rookie Ryan, in this origin tale to Tom Clancy’s famed character.

I’ll admit the casting of the likeable Pine drew my attention and well, I can be a sucker for a good action thriller. Here we also get Kenneth Branagh, another actor I have admired, albiet in a typical English-thesp cast as the bad guy turn, as a Russian terrorist attempting to over throw the U.S. economy. I was hoping Hollywood had grown out of such casting by now. He is also the director so maybe he only has himself to blame for that. Pine however has Keira Knightley as his girlfriend who gets caught up in proceedings when she follows him to Russia fearing his secretive goings-on are hiding an affair. This is fairly formulaic stuff, and isn’t helped by a chemistry-free pairing of Pine & Knightley, whose relationship is given no weight due to the fact their casual hook-up during a prologue hospitalization is glossed over. Costner also offers little more than his presence and a mentor vibe (which seems to be his thing these days, see: Man of Steel). Thankfully Branagh’s villain is fairly decent and charismatic. The biggest problem though is that we’re presented yet again with a thriller more interested in fancy rapid-fire editing, it’s pounding score and a great deal of espionage mumbo-jumbo than conveying a plot that is easy to follow or characters and situations we can care about. Doesn’t help either that what action there is, is fairly limply handled and over before you can get into any of it.

For Chris Pine fans, its worth seeing, and I expect we’ll see a more polished sequel down the line. Yet I’ll hazard a guess for Ryan enthusiasts … you’re probably better off with the books. Everyone else, this is simply a glossy but otherwise by-the-numbers thriller – and not a particularly surprising one at that.

Verdict: 2 /5

Star Trek Into Darkness

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Craig Micklewright

Viewed – 03 September 2013 Blu-ray

Although far from calling myself a Trekkie, I have enjoyed the movies and grew up with a brother who is quite passionate about them along with the various TV shows. When learning that director J J Abrams was bringing the franchise up to date with an all new, younger cast – I could understand why fans were somewhat nervous what the creator of Lost may do with their beloved saga. Rest assured though that 2009’s Star Trek was a resounding success and with a (mostly) perfect cast breathing new life into very old characters – I came away rather impressed.

This second outing had much to prove – could Abrams nail it twice in a row? The simple answer to that is … yes. We return to the crew of the Starship Enterprise who get caught up in a terrorist attack on Star Fleet and accept a mission to hunt down a rogue officer who seems responsible. Joining the likes of Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Simon Pegg this time is British actor Benedict Cumberbatch as the mysterious terrorist, who brings no shortage of sinister intensity to his role and really gives Kirk & co a run for their money.

The big-budget FX laden look of this is just gorgeous, set-design and locations all adding a wow factor (including London). Pegg has a little more to do this time around as engineer ‘Scottie’ and Quinto’s Spock is just excellent, capturing the spirit of the character as well as adding a few quirks of his own. Yet the sultry Zoe Saldana is a little side-lined, as is John Cho’s Sulu. Although not a big fan of Chris Pine, I think he is a perfect Kirk, arrogant but charming just like Shatner in his heyday, and the friendship between him and Spock is really well observed. For me the frequent nods and winks to Star Trek of old got a bit much, (“I’m a doctor, not a torpedo technician!”) bordering on satire, but were still fun. Also the script borrows a little too much from the older movies, yet still manages to make it work regardless … especially towards the end.

So a worthy sequel that in some aspects surpasses the last movie, whilst also managing to be a fine tribute to the Trek legacy as a whole. Recommended.

Verdict: 4 /5

Simon Pegg Pranks the ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ Film Cast (laughingsquid.com)
Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto & More Take ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ Hotness To Japan (socialitelife.com)
Chris Pine & Zachary Quinto: ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ Japan Premiere! (justjared.com)
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) (canadiancinephile.com)

This Means War

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Craig Micklewright

Viewed – 02 July 2012 Online rental

Cartoon faced Chris Pine (Star Trek) and walking muscle Tom Hardy (Warrior, Inception) are two highly trained CIA assassins who fall for the same woman, Reese (the jaw) Witherspoon, and soon find their friendship put to the test as they attempt to sabotage one another’s chances. Meanwhile a terrorist who survived an earlier mission is hell-bent on revenge.

Director McG (Terminator Salvation, Charles Angeles) has crafted an immediately ‘fun’ concept here with a likable cast and plenty of humour, romance and action. Although his flair for pop-corn thrillers livens up the movie with some beautiful sets, slick cars and cool gadgets, he seems most at home with the entertaining love triangle. Witherspoon is equal parts sexy and ditsy and has always been a favourite, whilst the two male leads are perfectly cast; Hardy playing the more in-touch-with-his-feelings type, whilst Pine is the charismatic womanizer with all the right moves. At times the action, which should have been the highlight, seemed forced and to be honest distracting – McG’s approach making me feel like the movie had been put into fast forward every time something kicked off. Add to this a clichéd villain that was all but an afterthought – and this often felt like a movie playing a tug of war with its own ideas.

So as you can probably imagine, it’s the banter between the three principal players where this shines (the dialogue positively bouncing off the screen), and it was still very entertaining. Just a shame McG felt the need to pad it all out with a weak terrorist subplot and badly handled action.

Verdict: 3 /5

Star Trek

Posted on November 17, 2009 by Craig Micklewright

Viewed – 15 November 2009 DVD

So how do you go about re-inventing a franchise that had not only grown stale years ago, but was always something of a geek fanboy guilty pleasure? Well firstly step forward hotshot TV producer and director J.J. Abrams, fresh off immeasurable respect from Lost and the third (and in my opinion, best) movie in the Mission Impossible franchise. Now add to the mix a hot new cast of young, up and coming stars such as Zachary Quinto, John Cho and Simon Pegg, amongst others, and everything is in place for a great movie.

This is more of a prequel to the Trek movies & cult TV show than a direct sequel, and what with the baton having past to the Next Generation crew long ago, it was a great idea to revisit the old characters, back when they were fresh out of the academy and wet behind the ears, compared to the confident, assured presences of Shatner, Nimoy and co. A young Kirk, as played by Chris Pine is a cock-sure, arrogant kid with little aspiration to be captain of a starship, until an old friend of his father’s persuades him to join Star Fleet. At this time we also meet Spock (Quinto) who when his home world of Vulcan is attacked, turns to Star Fleet to train and work on a star ship so to have a chance for revenge when the time comes. In between, the two iconic characters meet up with other crew members any Trekkie will remember (with a newly sexed up Uhura), and before long, at least for me, it began to feel like the Trek of old.

The new cast, especially Pine do bring a breath of fresh air to the well-worn characters and offer new insights into their personality without feeling too removed from what went before. Zachary Quinto, most famous as boo-hiss villain Sylar in Heroes is excellent and captures much of what Leonard Nimoy brought to Spock for decades. Saying that, Nimoy also crops up in an extended cameo as old Spock (something to do with time travel), and really chews the scenery. Casting-wise the only real let down is Eric Bana, unrecognisable as Romulon nutjob Niro, and delivers nothing but a one-note vengeful bad guy that has nothing on, for instance, Ricardo Montalban’s Khan in Star Trek 2. And the less said about Chekov, the better.

Thankfully though the effects work, set design, action and score are all first class, with Abrams’ direction adding plenty of style, wit and dare I say it, panache to the movie that delivers a great pop-corn experience and an assured starting point for future movies.

Verdict: 4 /5