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	<title>Action &#8211; Film Legacy </title>
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	<description>Are movies better than ever?</description>
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	<title>Action &#8211; Film Legacy </title>
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		<title>Wolfs review: The Cinema of Privilege</title>
		<link>https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/2024/09/24/wolfs-review-the-cinema-of-privilege/</link>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 24 Sep 2024 20:26:22 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Action]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/?p=1183</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[The conmen from Oceans Eleven have aged out of the rackets, lost their girlfriends, and have been forced into real jobs to make ends meet. That’s the basic premise of Wolfs, a lazy bromance that rests on the fading charms &#8230; <a href="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/2024/09/24/wolfs-review-the-cinema-of-privilege/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
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<p class="has-text-align-center"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="600" height="366" class="wp-image-1184" style="width: 600px;" src="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/image-192277-1717128479.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/image-192277-1717128479.jpg 600w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/image-192277-1717128479-300x183.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></p>



<p>The conmen from <em>Oceans Eleven</em> have aged out of the rackets, lost their girlfriends, and have been forced into real jobs to make ends meet. That’s the basic premise of <em>Wolfs</em>, a lazy bromance that rests on the fading charms of its two leads.</p>



<p>At least since <em>Pulp Fiction</em>, the “cleaner” has become a fixture in the hit man genre. It’s a role George Clooney can play to perfection (cf. <em>Michael Clayton</em>).</p>



<p>Grizzled, stocky, nursing a bad back, Clooney’s Jack in <em>Wolfs</em> is reaching the end of his career. Although proud of his reputation, he’s started cutting corners and relying on tricks to get him through assignments.</p>



<p>Like helping politician Margaret (Amy Ryan), stuck with the body of a male prostitute in an expensive hotel suite. Jack is about to go into his routine when they are interrupted by Nick (Brad Pitt), a rival cleaner hired by the hotel’s security chief Pamela (voiced by Frances McDormand).</p>



<p>Turns out the incident was recorded on the hotel’s many video cameras. What’s more, Kid (Austin Abrams), the prostitute, was carrying a backpack filled with drugs. Jack and Nick have to return the drugs as well as dispose of Kid’s body.</p>



<p>Spoiler alert to anyone who hasn’t seen the trailer: Kid isn’t dead, just nearly comatose from a drug OD. When he springs back to life from the trunk of Jack’s car, <em>Wolfs</em> pretends it’s livening up too. There’s a prolonged chase through the streets of a snowy Chinatown Manhattan at night, allowing cinematographer Larkin Seiple many glistening compositions at the expense of momentum and plausibility.</p>



<p>Because if Jack and Nick don’t catch Kid, there’s no more movie. Not that much happens when they do. A stop at an illicit medical clinic. A visit to an ethnic wedding. Empty warehouses. Dark streets. In the meantime Jack and Nick share war stories, forming a grudging respect for each other.</p>



<p>The bantering between Clooney and Pitt is a retread of their <em>Oceans</em> schtick, minus the fabulous supporting cast and intricate enough plotting. Here they’re on automatic, Pitt in particular shambling through his part like he’s done for the past ten years, Clooney putting in just enough effort to keep our sympathy.</p>



<p>Face it, celebrities — no matter how big — teasing each other does not make a movie. Or at least not a good movie. Writer and director Jon Watts (behind the <em>Spider-Man</em> trilogy and a couple of episodes of <em>The Old Man</em>) leans on the meta by pretending that dialogue with “old,” “past his prime,” etc., refers to the leads’ movie careers. But meta doesn’t make a dull plot more interesting. When all else fails, Watts turns to <em>Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid</em> for plot twists.</p>



<p>Reviews like this don’t mean anything to the filmmakers; considering their past successes, they aren’t about to listen to criticism. That’s the cinema of privilege, the sense that filmmakers have earned the right to do whatever they want. Clooney’s by no means the worst example, and for the most part I applaud his choices. He’s capable of better work.</p>



<p><strong>Credits</strong> Directed by Jon Watts. Written by Jon Watts. Produced by George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Dianne McGunigle, Jon Watts. Director of photography: Larkin Seiple. Edited by Andrew Weisblum. Music by Theodore Shapiro. <strong>Cast:</strong> George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Amy Ryan, Austin Abrams, Poorna Jagannathan.</p>



<p>Streaming on Apple TV+ Photo Apple TV+</p>
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		<title>Crescent City review: Murder in Little Rock</title>
		<link>https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/2024/08/20/crescent-city-review-murder-in-little-rock/</link>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Aug 2024 20:34:54 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Action]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[On demand]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/?p=1172</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Powerful casting helps compensate for weak writing in Crescent City, a mean-spirited film noir set in Little Rock, Arkansas. Familiar faces like Terence Howard, Esai Morales, and an effective Alec Baldwin have no trouble navigating the twists and turns in &#8230; <a href="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/2024/08/20/crescent-city-review-murder-in-little-rock/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
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<p class="has-text-align-center"><img decoding="async" width="600" height="400" class="wp-image-1174" style="width: 600px;" src="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/2MJ5882.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/2MJ5882.jpg 600w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/2MJ5882-300x200.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></p>



<p>Powerful casting helps compensate for weak writing in <em>Crescent City</em>, a mean-spirited film noir set in Little Rock, Arkansas. Familiar faces like Terence Howard, Esai Morales, and an effective Alec Baldwin have no trouble navigating the twists and turns in Rich Ronat&#8217;s script. If only they had better material to work with.</p>



<p>Spoiler alert: I&#8217;m not sure director RJ Collins always shows a scene honestly, especially once flashbacks come into play. Alfred Hitchcock famously toyed with unreliable scenes in <em>Stage Fright</em>, but it&#8217;s a tough strategy to justify (and one he abandoned quickly).</p>



<p>So stipulated, <em>Crescent City</em> opens with the drugging and murder of a cheating husband, whose decapitated corpse is discovered by cops Brian Sutter (Terrence Howard) and Luke Carson (Esai Morales). It&#8217;s the third murder in the area, suggesting a serial killer. As a result, their boss, Captain Howell (Alec Baldwin), assigns them a new partner, Jaclyn Waters (Nicky Whelan), a blonde originally from Australia.</p>



<p>Waters is actually an Internal Affairs agent investigating a shooting in which a teenager was killed during a drug bust. Brian, clearly suffering from some form of PTSD, has debilitating fits about the incident. Luke is hiding his own secrets. In a bizarre scene, we watch him rape the hostess of a local bar in a bathroom.</p>



<p>Brian&#8217;s wife is upset that he refuses to go to counseling. She&#8217;d been even angrier if she knew that Brian and Jackie are having an affair. They meet near the spot of one of the murders, and as the story unfolds Brian realizes he is being set up as a fall guy for the killer.</p>



<p>The most interesting thing about Brian is that he isn&#8217;t very bright. (No one is in <em>Crescent City</em>, apart from Baldwin&#8217;s Howell, a profane but clever cop who figures out the plot before his cops do.) Brian presents himself as a father figure with strong religious ties, leading to emotional conflicts that affect his work.</p>



<p>He&#8217;s also not a very good cop, missing glaring clues and giving inept interrogations. Howard adopts a thick accent that makes Brian seem even less intelligent.</p>



<p class="has-text-align-center"><img decoding="async" width="600" height="400" class="wp-image-1175" style="width: 600px;" src="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/2MJ4593.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/2MJ4593.jpg 600w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/2MJ4593-300x200.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></p>



<p>Give credit to the filmmakers for being willing to go darker than necessary. With its corrupt cops, sex clubs, and deserted alleys, <em>Crescent City</em> presents Little Rock as a sort of minor league New Orleans, minus the bayous, food, and music. The atmosphere is moody and decadent enough to satisfy noir fans, but the plot keeps veering into strange digressions.</p>



<p>The filmmakers introduce a sex website with connections to Brian&#8217;s church, but fail to do anything with it. Or with an abuse victim who commits suicide. Or a murder victim from a Sex Anonymous group. Instead we get a couple of reasonably steamy sex scenes, a lot of bickering between Brian and Luke, and more red flags than viewers really need.</p>



<p>Baldwin is quick and efficient, Morales adds welcome depravity to his character, and Whelan somehow manages to fit her Australian cop into a deep South milieu. And Maria Camila Giraldo shines in a thankless role as a cop who turns up at every Little Rock homicide. But <em>Crescent City</em> adds up to less than the sum of its parts.</p>



<p><strong>Credits</strong></p>



<p>Director: RJ Collins. Writer: Rich Ronat. Producers: Denise Loren, Eduard Osipov, Vince Jolivette, David Lipper, Robert A. Daly, Jr. Director of photography Alex Salahi. Edited by Eric Potter. Production designer: Julian Brown. <strong>Cast:</strong> Terrence Howard, Esai Morales, Nicky Whelan, Alec Baldwin, Michael Sirow, Weston Cage Coppola, Rose Lane Sanfilippo, Maria Camila Giraldo.</p>



<p>In theaters, on digital and on demand. Photos courtesy Lionsgate. Top: Howard, Whelan. Bottom: Howard, Giraldo, Morales.</p>
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		<title>The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: dull WWII spy romp</title>
		<link>https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/2024/04/18/the-ministry-of-ungentlemanly-warfare-dull-wwii-spy-romp/</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Apr 2024 19:41:57 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Action]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/?p=1143</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Every now and then Guy Ritchie makes a film in a crisp, focused style that can be utterly beguiling. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is not one of them. Filled with snark, bombast, and empty violence, this WWII actioner is &#8230; <a href="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/2024/04/18/the-ministry-of-ungentlemanly-warfare-dull-wwii-spy-romp/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p class="has-text-align-center"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="400" class="wp-image-1146" style="width: 600px;" src="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/mougw-06894-r.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/mougw-06894-r.jpg 600w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/mougw-06894-r-300x200.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></p>



<p>Every now and then Guy Ritchie makes a film in a crisp, focused style that can be utterly beguiling. <em>The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare</em> is not one of them. Filled with snark, bombast, and empty violence, this WWII actioner is destined for cable filler.</p>



<p>Opening with an acoustic guitar behind melancholy whistling, <em>Ministry</em> evokes both Ennio Morricone&#8217;s soundtracks for Sergio Leone and the type of large-scale WWII blockbusters prevalent in the 1960s. We&#8217;re soon in a screening room with Winston Churchill (an unrecognizable Roy Kinnear) watching newsreel footage of Nazis winning the war.</p>



<p>Ignoring advice from his cabinet to appease Hitler, Churchill orders intelligence leader &#8220;M&#8221; (Cary Elwes) and his associate Ian Fleming (Freddie Fox) to assemble a team that will attack a crucial U-boat loading facility on Fernando Po, an island off the west coast of Africa.</p>



<p>Summoned first is Gus March-Phillipps (Henry Cavill), an imprisoned killer who refuses to obey the rules. He in turn gathers Anders Lassen (Alan Ritchson), a Danish killer expert with knife and bow-and-arrow; frogman and explosives expert Freddy Alvarez (Henry Golding); Irish killer and expert sailor Henry Hayes (Hero Fiennes Tiffin); and killer Geoffrey Appleyard (Alex Pettyfer), a prisoner of the Nazis.</p>



<p>Ahead of them on Fernando Po: spy Marjorie Stewart (Eiza González) and bar owner Heron (Babs Olusanmokun), setting in place a plot to defeat local Nazi leader Heinrich Luhr (Til Schweiger). Believe it or not, Luhr is a sadist who likes to manacle women before having his way with them.</p>



<p>That&#8217;s a lot of exposition, supposedly based on the book <em>The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: How Churchill’s Secret Warriors Set Europe Ablaze and Gave Birth to Modern Black Ops</em> by Damien Lewis, but in fact cribbed from <em>The Dirty Dozen</em>, <em>Casablanca</em>, <em>The Guns of Navarone</em>, and whatever Tarantino the filmmakers screened last.</p>



<p>Take the opening scene, with our heroes sailing in the Atlantic. Boarded by mean Nazis in navy whites, Gus and Lassen joke and tease the villains before killing them all in gory but curiously antiseptic ways. Then Freddy blows up the Nazi destroyer.</p>



<p>The jokes and carnage continue as the ungentlemen break into a Nazi prison, free Appleyard, and continue south. Scores of Nazis die while the heroes barely suffer a scratch. Jaunty jazz accompanies their killing sprees. Lassen has an apparently inexhaustible supply of arrows; his bow vanishes when he no longer needs it.</p>



<p>At least Ritchson (a solid Jack Reacher for two seasons on Amazon) displays some athleticism. He actually looks frenzied in one scene as he hacks at a Nazi with his knife. Cavill strolls through the movie without breaking a sweat, acting with his facial hair. For long passages I forgot Golding was even in the film.</p>



<p class="has-text-align-center"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="400" class="wp-image-1147" style="width: 600px;" src="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/mougw-00387-r.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/mougw-00387-r.jpg 600w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/mougw-00387-r-300x200.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></p>



<p>As for González, she&#8217;s like Margot Robbie in <em>Babylon</em>, a thoroughly modern figure lost in a period outside her understanding. She sings a baffling &#8220;Mack the Knife&#8221; that&#8217;s as much Bobby Darin as Lotte Lenya. Maybe that&#8217;s why Schweiger&#8217;s Nazi is so angry with her.</p>



<p>I enjoyed <em>Guy Ritchie&#8217;s The Covenant</em>, a war movie made with conviction instead of frills. But <em>Ministry</em> harks back to the excruciating <em>Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre</em>. Both are lazy, self-satisfied, time-wasters.</p>



<p><strong>Credits:</strong> Directed by: Guy Ritchie. Screenplay by Paul Tamasy &amp; Eric Johnson and Arash Amel &amp; Guy Ritchie. Based <em>The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: How Churchill’s Secret Warriors Set Europe Ablaze and Gave Birth to Modern Black Ops</em> by Damien Lewis. Produced by: Jerry Bruckheimer, p.g.a., Guy Ritchie, p.g.a., Chad Oman, p.g.a., Ivan Atkinson, John Friedberg. Director of photography: Ed Wild, BSC. Production designer: Martyn John. Edited by James Herbert. Music by Chris Benstead. <strong>Cast:</strong> Henry Cavill, Eiza González, Alan Ritchson, Alex Pettyfer, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Babs Olusanmokun, Henrique Zaga, Til Schweiger, with Henry Golding and Cary Elwes.</p>



<p>Photos courtesy Lionsgate. Opens in theaters April 19, 2024.</p>
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		<title>The plight of test pilots in Born to Run</title>
		<link>https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/2024/03/24/the-plight-of-test-pilots-in-born-to-run/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sun, 24 Mar 2024 14:30:57 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Action]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/?p=1131</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Released theatrically last year, Born to Fly follows pilots undergoing rigorous training in order to test mainland China&#8217;s experimental stealth fighter jet. Deeply patriotic and extremely silly, it&#8217;s propaganda devoid of suspense, humor, and credible characterizations. The screenplay by Gui &#8230; <a href="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/2024/03/24/the-plight-of-test-pilots-in-born-to-run/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
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<p class="has-text-align-center"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="394" class="wp-image-1134" style="width: 600px;" src="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/69171-sinopsis-born-to-fly.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/69171-sinopsis-born-to-fly.jpg 600w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/69171-sinopsis-born-to-fly-300x197.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></p>



<p>Released theatrically last year, <em>Born to Fly</em> follows pilots undergoing rigorous training in order to test mainland China&#8217;s experimental stealth fighter jet. Deeply patriotic and extremely silly, it&#8217;s propaganda devoid of suspense, humor, and credible characterizations.</p>



<p>The screenplay by Gui Gang and director Liu Xiaoshi follows the <em>Top Gun: Maverick</em> template pretty closely. Bookended by dogfights after incursions by foreign fighters into Chinese air space, the movie then introduces us to a military suffering from a raging inferiority complex.</p>



<p>&#8220;The first battle is the final battle,&#8221; an officer warns his students. Other countries help each other out, but &#8220;we are on our own.&#8221; Perfecting a stealth fighter jet is the only way China can protect itself from invaders.</p>



<p>To test the new &#8220;Taishan&#8221; engine, recruits take physical and psychological exercises designed to weed out the weak. Hero Lei Yu (Wang Yibo) competes against rival Deng Fang (Yu Shi) for the top spot, but is too individualistic to succeed.</p>



<p>Forced to fly with team leader Zhang Ting (Hu Jun), Lei becomes resentful. The movie also suggests he might be a bit of a coward when he ejects from a crippled jet. Another crash leads to Zhang&#8217;s death as he heroically steers his jet away from a populated area rather than saving himself.</p>



<p><em>Born to Fly </em>milks this sequence for everything it can get. We see Zhang&#8217;s family before, during, and after the crash, his young son bursting into tears now that he can&#8217;t have noodles with his father. A long funeral service gives everyone else in the cast the chance to cry. (It&#8217;s actually the second visit to a vast cemetery for pilots.)</p>



<p>Lei Yu had quit the group earlier, only to return after learning his lesson by packing parachutes for the true heroes, pilots willing to give up their lives to help others. He&#8217;s badly injured in the Zhang crash, and is nursed back to health by Dr. Shen Tianran (Zhou Dongyu).</p>



<p class="has-text-align-center"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="337" class="wp-image-1135" style="width: 600px;" src="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Born-to-Fly-281_.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Born-to-Fly-281_.jpg 600w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Born-to-Fly-281_-300x169.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></p>



<p>Now a functioning part of the unit, Lei Yu implements his innovation of attaching an anti-spin parachute to the jets. (It&#8217;s the spectacularly non-aerodynamic equivalent of a T-shirt cannon bolted to the back of the jet.) Another near-crash sequence mirrors the beats of a sequence in <em>Top Gun: Maverick</em>.</p>



<p>One more inconclusive dogfight, the hint of a chaste romance between Lei Yu and Shen, and <em>Born to Fly</em> ends with what seem to be recorded transcripts of actual pilots.</p>



<p>It&#8217;s a measure of <em>Born to Fly</em>&#8216;s failure, its lack of imagination, that the filmmakers shoehorn Zhou Dongyu into the thankless role of lovestruck doctor. One of the best performers in cinema, she can&#8217;t do much with such a paper-thin, emotionally demeaning role.</p>



<p>A fixture in propaganda films, Hu Jun is appropriately stalwart as a veteran who leads by example. The other pilots are good-looking but essentially anonymous.</p>



<p><strong>Credits:</strong> Directed by Liu Xiaoshi. Screenplay by Gui Gang and Liu Xiaoshi. Director of photography: Bai Yuxia. Director of lighting: Ma Qingyuan. Original music: Guo Sida. Visual effects producer: Jessica Yang. Visual effects supervisor: Wang Shaoshuai. Production designer: Qin Weili. <strong>Cast:</strong> Wang Yibo, Hu Jun, Yu Shi, Zhou Dongyu, Bu Yu, Zhai Yujia, Wang Zichen, Lu Xin, Qu Zheming.</p>



<p>Released on Digital and Blu-ray on March 26 by Well Go USA Entertainment. Photos courtesy Well Go USA Entertainment.</p>
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		<title>Tak Sakaguchi is the One-Percenter</title>
		<link>https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/2024/03/19/tak-sakaguchi-is-the-one-percenter/</link>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Mar 2024 18:31:19 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Action]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/?p=1118</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[For several years Well Go USA has been one of the best distributors of genre films in the country. But the company finds itself in a bind with One-Percent Warrior (aka One-Percenter), a martial arts adventure starring Tak Sakaguchi. Sakaguchi &#8230; <a href="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/2024/03/19/tak-sakaguchi-is-the-one-percenter/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
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<p class="has-text-align-center"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="338" class="wp-image-1119" style="width: 600px;" src="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/OnePercenter-3840x2160-1.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/OnePercenter-3840x2160-1.jpg 600w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/OnePercenter-3840x2160-1-300x169.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></p>



<p>For several years Well Go USA has been one of the best distributors of genre films in the country. But the company finds itself in a bind with <em>One-Percent Warrior</em> (aka <em>One-Percenter</em>), a martial arts adventure starring Tak Sakaguchi.</p>



<p>Sakaguchi has figured in a sexual assault case involving cult director <a href="https://twitter.com/midnightmes/status/1764318479363322010" data-type="link" data-id="https://twitter.com/midnightmes/status/1764318479363322010">Sion Sono</a> and was <a href="https://twitter.com/midnightmes/status/1767952817476829200" data-type="link" data-id="https://twitter.com/midnightmes/status/1767952817476829200">accused of assault</a> himself. &#8220;Innocent until proven guilty&#8221; is a foundation of the US legal system, but I can&#8217;t deny misgivings about reviewing <em>One-Percent Warrior</em>.</p>



<p>Another reason is that it&#8217;s not very good. Sakaguchi plays Takuma Toshiro, has-been action star shunned by the industry because of his eccentric demands. Now he&#8217;s trying to jumpstart a comeback by shooting a &#8220;pure action&#8221; movie on a remote island at the site of an abandoned zinc mine.</p>



<p>However, rival filmmakers have already arrived, as well as triad gangsters after a fortune in cocaine. At first the fights are just skirmishes, but they quickly escalate to bloody massacres. Toshiro and his underling Akira rescue a gangster&#8217;s daughter, only to face waves of relentless killers.</p>



<p>Meta elements keep multiplying. The camera pulls back at one point to reveal that the entire story is actually taking place on a film set. Is Toshiro imagining his battles? If so, why are villains dying?</p>



<p>Action director Kensuke Sonomura (<em>Baby Assassins</em>) offers several set pieces that consist of bad guys waiting in line for Sakaguchi to take them out. The actor usually defeats them with a single blow, sometimes only tapping them on their shoulders.</p>



<p>The fights take place in corridors, stairwells, warehouse spaces and empty offices. Darkness and undercranking hide much of the action. The set pieces are repetitive to the point of monotony, despite the very obvious talents of Sakaguchi and the stunt players.</p>



<p class="has-text-align-center"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="338" class="wp-image-1120" style="width: 600px;" src="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/OnePercenter-3840x2160-2.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/OnePercenter-3840x2160-2.jpg 600w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/OnePercenter-3840x2160-2-300x169.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></p>



<p>One well-staged encounter with Jeet Kune Do master Ishii Togo builds considerable suspense, but it&#8217;s surrounded by poor, melodramatic plot twists.</p>



<p>The meta elements (including a bit of <em>Fight Club</em> misdirection) aren&#8217;t really worth the effort, and Sakaguchi proves a dour, uninteresting lead. Hardcore fans may find enough here to watch; for others, this is a dank, unappealing exercise.</p>



<p><strong>Credits:</strong> Written and directed by Yûdai Yamaguchi. Action director: Kensuke Sonomura. Director of photography: Ozawa Hiroyuki. Lighting director: Kimura Akio. Edited by Hori Zensuke. Music composed by Kawai Hidehiro. <strong>Cast:</strong> Tak Sakaguchi, Sho Aoyagi, Itsuji Itao, Kenjiro Ishimaru, Keisuke Horibe, Ishii Togo.</p>



<p>On Digital and Blu-ray from Well Go USA Entertainment. Streaming on Hi-YAH! starting April 5. Photos courtesy Well Go</p>
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		<title>Jason Statham back in business as The Beekeeper</title>
		<link>https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/2024/01/10/jason-statham-back-in-business-as-the-beekeeper/</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Jan 2024 22:58:09 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Action]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/?p=1086</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Action icon Jason Statham stars as the titular Beekeeper, an assassin retired from a top-secret, off-the-books branch of government designed to eliminate threats when all else fails. Statham keeps his bees at retired teacher Phylicia Rashad&#8217;s farm. When evil scammers &#8230; <a href="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/2024/01/10/jason-statham-back-in-business-as-the-beekeeper/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
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<p class="has-text-align-center"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="399" class="wp-image-1087" style="width: 600px;" src="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/the-beekeeper-BK_FP_00004__rgb.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/the-beekeeper-BK_FP_00004__rgb.jpg 600w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/the-beekeeper-BK_FP_00004__rgb-300x200.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></p>



<p>Action icon Jason Statham stars as the titular Beekeeper, an assassin retired from a top-secret, off-the-books branch of government designed to eliminate threats when all else fails. Statham keeps his bees at retired teacher Phylicia Rashad&#8217;s farm. When evil scammers steal her money, she commits suicide. That sets Statham off on a mission to kill anyone associated with the scammers. Also blow up their offices. But he can&#8217;t injure innocent civilians or any of the many law enforcement operatives who are soon on his tail.</p>



<p>Set in Springfield and Boston but shot mostly in Great Britain, this is the sort of brain-dead filler pushed into theaters before more &#8220;solid&#8221; material follows in the spring. Twenty years ago Statham (along with Corey Yuen and Luc Besson) changed action movies forever with the <em>Transporter</em> franchise. Its action was tough, physical, and logical, and it was clear that Statham did most of the stunts himself.</p>



<p>Since then he&#8217;s alternated between middling-to-fair action films and better-made comedies like Spy. No other action star among his contemporaries has been as successful for so long, largely because Statham is an outstanding physical performer. Also, he limits his dialogue the way Eastwood did with Leone.</p>



<p>But it&#8217;s 2024, and age has reduced Statham&#8217;s speed and range. He doesn&#8217;t kick as high, spin as fast, or jump as much. His fights are poorly staged and repetitive, mostly knocking a bad guy down while others wait their turn. Every now and then a nice touch emerges, like the kick Statham delivers while passing a groping villain on a staircase. But you don&#8217;t see a lot of combinations, or variations on previous moves. It&#8217;s just one punch after the other.</p>



<p>The Beekeeper moves lethargically, apart from action scenes where Statham kills everyone, sets offices on fire, and flees without a scratch. These bits test credulity. At one point he fights his way up three flights of stairs filled with foes, throws himself out a window, then pops to his feet and walks away.</p>



<p class="has-text-align-center"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="399" class="wp-image-1088" style="width: 600px;" src="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/the-beekeeper-BK_08183_RC_rgb.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/the-beekeeper-BK_08183_RC_rgb.jpg 600w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/the-beekeeper-BK_08183_RC_rgb-300x200.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></p>



<p>Occasionally the script flips to smooth, oily ex-CIA director Jeremy Irons, who delivers his few lines expertly. Minnie Driver shows up twice as the current CIA director. Emmy Raver-Lampman is solid as an FBI agent pursuing Statham, as is her partner Bobby Naderi. Josh Hutcherson hams it up futilely as a drugged-out bad guy.</p>



<p>Writer Kurt Wimmer&#8217;s dialogue is heavy on things like, &#8220;He&#8217;s a beekeeper,&#8221; with many asides about hives. Director David Ayer has a good feel for tension, but less for pacing.</p>



<p>Statham remains a guilty pleasure, and I never tire of watching him administer a beating. It&#8217;s good to see him back in the action genre after misfires like the execrable <em>Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre</em> and what amount to cameos in things like <em>Fast X</em>. But <em>The Beekeeper</em> is little more than a place-holder in his career.</p>



<p><strong>Credits:</strong> Directed by: David Ayer. Written by: Kurt Wimmer. Produced by: Bill Block, Jason Statham, David Ayer, Chris Long, p.g.a., Kurt Wimmer. Executive Producers: Andrew Golov, Thom Zadra, Mark Birmingham. Director of photography: Gabriel Beristain. Edited by Geoffrey O’Brien. Production design by Ben Munro.  <strong>Starring</strong>: Jason Statham, Emmy Raver- Lampman, Josh Hutcherson, Bobby Naderi, Minnie Driver, David Witts, Michael Epp, Taylor James, Jemma Redgrave, Enzo Cilenti, with Phylicia Rashad and Jeremy Irons.</p>



<p><strong>Photos:</strong> Top: Jason Statham stars as Clay in director David Ayer’s THE BEEKEEPER. An Amazon MGM Studios film. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios © 2024 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved. Center: (L to R) Jason Statham as Clay and Jeremy Irons as Wallace Westwyld in director David Ayer’s THE BEEKEEPER. An Amazon MGM Studios film. Photo Credit: Daniel Smith © 2024 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved.</p>



<p>In theaters January 12, 2024.</p>
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		<title>Andy Lau stars in I Did It My Way</title>
		<link>https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/2024/01/10/andy-lau-stars-in-i-did-it-my-way/</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Jan 2024 21:59:03 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Action]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/?p=1081</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Andy Lau continues his remarkable resurgence in the crime thriller I Did It My Way, yet another variation on Infernal Affairs. Lau plays George Lam, lawyer for a drug ring so powerful it has evaded legal consequences for its crimes. &#8230; <a href="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/2024/01/10/andy-lau-stars-in-i-did-it-my-way/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
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<p class="has-text-align-center"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="338" class="wp-image-1082" style="width: 600px;" src="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/IDIMW-Still-1340x754_3.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/IDIMW-Still-1340x754_3.jpg 600w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/IDIMW-Still-1340x754_3-300x169.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></p>



<p>Andy Lau continues his remarkable resurgence in the crime thriller <em>I Did It My Way</em>, yet another variation on <em>Infernal Affairs</em>. Lau plays George Lam, lawyer for a drug ring so powerful it has evaded legal consequences for its crimes.</p>



<p>Battling him is Eddie Fong (Taiwanese star Eddie Peng), a tough, by-the-books cop working under Chung Kam Ming (veteran HK actor Simon Yam). The cops are hindered by corrupt judges and by Lam&#8217;s legal expertise. Both crooks and the police have informers, moles who leak details about payoffs and stings. When loyalty is for sale, no one can be trusted.</p>



<p><em>I Did It My Way</em> is a big production, filled with elaborate sets, massive shoot-outs, and extended chases. The script tries to be up-to-date by incorporating cryptocurrencies, virus-infected social media, and armies of hackers, but its view of the internet is mostly silly montages of lights pulsing through wiring.</p>



<p>Director Jason Kwan, who is also the director of photography, gives the movie a strong, vivid style, with plenty of moody close-ups to go along with the chaotic shoot-outs.</p>



<p>But Kwan can&#8217;t do much with a script filled with obvious twists and reversals, with confrontations that lead nowhere, with a narrative that&#8217;s needlessly complicated and at the same time largely irrelevant to the central drama.</p>



<p>That narrative core is the relationship between Lam and his enforcer Sau Ho (Gordon Lam Ka Tung). Long-time friends who rose through the crime ring together, they rely heavily on each other. With a wife and child, the blue-collar Sau has the life Lam thinks he wants, especially when the lawyer loses his own family.</p>



<p>The relationship between Lam and Sau is by far the most intriguing element of <em>I Did It My Way</em>, primarily because of the work by two exceptional actors. This has been a great year for Andy Lau, who won a lifetime achievement award last November at the Busan International Film Festival. He reunited with his <em>Infernal Affairs</em> costar Tony Leung Chiu Wai in <em>The Goldfinger</em>, and is absolutely brilliant in the show business satire <em>The Movie Emperor</em> (yet to be released in the US).</p>



<p class="has-text-align-center"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="338" class="wp-image-1083" style="width: 600px;" src="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/IDIMW-Still-1340x754_2.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/IDIMW-Still-1340x754_2.jpg 600w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/IDIMW-Still-1340x754_2-300x169.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></p>



<p>But the best performance in the movie belongs to Lam Ka Tung, an actor who has built an impressive resume over two decades, and whose recent work has been revelatory. He was unforgettable as a down-on-his-luck army veteran in <em>Hand Rolled Cigarette</em>, and irresistible as a possibly psychotic spiritual master in last year&#8217;s <em>Mad Fate</em>.</p>



<p>Here Lam&#8217;s hangdog Sau—bitter, resentful, unable to be honest with anyone—is simply heartbreaking. He conveys so much with a look, a drag on a cigarette, the way he slumps his shoulders. Lam and Lau have worked together for years, and have an easy familiarity here that&#8217;s always fun to watch.</p>



<p>Unfortunately, their work is almost erased by the action scenes. Noisy, messy, poorly choreographed, the film&#8217;s shootouts are loud and repetitive without adding enough to the story. They (and Peng&#8217;s weirdly uninvolving cop) drop <em>I Did It My Way</em> from top-notch to serviceable.</p>



<p><strong>Credits:</strong> Director: Jason Kwan. Produced by Li Yaping, Connie Wong, Andy Lau. Director of photography: Jason Kwan. Action director: Chin Ka Lok. <strong>Starring:</strong> Andy Lau, Lam Ka Tung, Eddie Peng Yuyan, Cya Liu, Simon Yam, Lam Suet, Philip Keung, Hedwig Tam.</p>



<p>In theaters January 12, 2024. </p>



<p>Top: Eddie Peng, Andy Lau. Center: Andy Lau, Cya Liu. Photos courtesy Well Go USA.</p>
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		<title>Life is a cage fight in Rumble Through the Dark</title>
		<link>https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/2023/11/03/life-is-a-cage-fight-in-rumble-through-the-dark/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Nov 2023 21:26:14 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Action]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Drama]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/?p=1056</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[You don’t expect a dark, gritty boxing drama from Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, but that’s exactly what Rumble Through the Dark is. Set in a grim world of fight clubs, liquor stores, traveling carnivals, and orphanages, the film &#8230; <a href="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/2023/11/03/life-is-a-cage-fight-in-rumble-through-the-dark/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
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<p class="has-text-align-center"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="323" class="wp-image-1057" style="width: 600px;" src="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/rumble-through-the-heart-5-copy.png" alt="" srcset="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/rumble-through-the-heart-5-copy.png 600w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/rumble-through-the-heart-5-copy-300x162.png 300w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/rumble-through-the-heart-5-copy-150x81.png 150w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/rumble-through-the-heart-5-copy-250x135.png 250w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></p>



<p>You don’t expect a dark, gritty boxing drama from Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, but that’s exactly what <em>Rumble Through the Dark</em> is. Set in a grim world of fight clubs, liquor stores, traveling carnivals, and orphanages, the film batters its characters and viewers with a story of brutal revenge couched as moral uplift.</p>



<p>Adapting his novel, screenwriter Michael Farris Smith starts <em>Rumble</em> with an infant abandoned by its mother, then skips to an illegal fight club where former champ boxer Jack Boucher (Aaron Eckhart) is trying to earn enough money to save his mother’s home.</p>



<p>Self-medicating with alcohol and pills, Jack risks a heart attack with every fight. He’s also losing his memory after repeated blows to the head. Plus he hasn’t paid taxes on his mother’s house, and is deep in debt to fight club proprietress Big Momma Sweet (Marianne Jean-Baptiste). A big score at a local casino might help extricate Jack from his troubles.</p>



<p>But Skelly (Joe Hursley), a bounty hunter hijacks Jack and his truck from a gas station. Their subsequent fight on a highway leads to a stylishly shot crash through a corn field that leaves Jack unconscious and Skelly near death.</p>



<p>Make that dead after a passing carnival operator asphyxiates him in a mercy killing. Annette (Bella Thorne), a tattooed fortune teller in the carnival, finds Jack’s cash in an envelope and pockets it as Jack watches from nearby.</p>



<p class="has-text-align-center"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="337" class="wp-image-1058" style="width: 600px;" src="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Rumble-Through-ZTQtODJhYy00OGJkLWJhZWYtYmQxNWI5OTI3OTFkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjYwMzM1MjM@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Rumble-Through-ZTQtODJhYy00OGJkLWJhZWYtYmQxNWI5OTI3OTFkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjYwMzM1MjM@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg 600w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Rumble-Through-ZTQtODJhYy00OGJkLWJhZWYtYmQxNWI5OTI3OTFkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjYwMzM1MjM@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_-300x169.jpg 300w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Rumble-Through-ZTQtODJhYy00OGJkLWJhZWYtYmQxNWI5OTI3OTFkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjYwMzM1MjM@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_-150x84.jpg 150w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Rumble-Through-ZTQtODJhYy00OGJkLWJhZWYtYmQxNWI5OTI3OTFkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjYwMzM1MjM@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_-250x140.jpg 250w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></p>



<p>The film switches storylines to Annette, an orphan searching for her father. She’s unsure about keeping the money, especially after she’s threatened by tilt-a-whirl operator and ex-con Ricky Joe (Mike McCall). When Jack rescues her from Ricky Joe at a convenience store, Annette thinks he’s been sent as a sign.</p>



<p>Annette tails Jack, learning that his mother suffers from dementia in a nursing home. Clues convince her that Jack is her father. But first Jack has to fight one more cage match to appease Big Momma Sweet.</p>



<p>Directors and brothers Graham and Parker Phillips have a good feel for the film’s backwater bayou milieu. The cinematography by David J. Myrick is appropriately dark and moody, but the directors find ways to highlight the futile desperation in their characters.</p>



<p>That said, Michael Farris Smith’s plotting is too derivative. One or two twists and <em>Rumble</em> could be <em>Nightmare Alley</em>, a Gothic filled with con men and born losers. Take two steps the other way, and this is a Southern-fried <em>Fight Club</em>, complete with pointed messages and telegraphed symbolism. <em>Rumble</em> is compelling enough in a grungy way, but it is not offering anything new.</p>



<p>Aaron Eckhart has made a career out of over-performing in vehicles that don’t deserve him. He’s all sinew and bone here, spitting blood, tearing up motel rooms, hallucinating about his mom. He elevates <em>Rumble</em> considerably, but never quite rescues it.</p>



<p>What about Bella Thorne? Annette reminded me of her title role in <em>Girl</em>, an underrated thriller written and directed by Chad Faust that came out during Covid. There she played someone not especially well-educated, but fiercely committed to her goals. Here she’s equally determined to find some way to connect to Jack Boucher.</p>



<p>Thorne doesn’t have the same level of support in <em>Rumble</em> that she did in <em>Girl</em>, but she does what she’s asked to do the best she can. Like everything else in <em>Rumble Through the Dark</em>, it’s not quite enough.</p>



<p>Opening in theaters through Lionsgate on November 3, 2023.</p>



<p>Photos courtesy Crooked Letter Picture Company.</p>



<p><strong>Credits:</strong> Produced and directed by Graham Phillips, Parker Phillips. Produced by Cassian Elwes, Cleta Ellington. Written by Michael Farris Smith. Cast: Aaron Eckhart, Bella Thorne, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Ritchie Coster, Amanda Saunders, Mike McColl, Christopher Winchester, Joe Hursley.</p>
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		<title>Shah Rukh Khan&#8217;s Jawan: Blockbuster is the latest stage in his comeback</title>
		<link>https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/2023/11/01/shah-rukh-khans-jawan-blockbuster-is-the-latest-stage-in-his-comeback/</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Nov 2023 20:53:15 +0000</pubDate>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/?p=1050</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Shah Rukh Khan is the whole show in Jawan, his second blockbuster adventure in less than a year. Despite a strong supporting cast, Khan dominates the film, performing the kind of over-the-top heroics that have made him a box-office favorite. &#8230; <a href="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/2023/11/01/shah-rukh-khans-jawan-blockbuster-is-the-latest-stage-in-his-comeback/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
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<p class="has-text-align-center"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="337" class="wp-image-1051" style="width: 600px;" src="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/SRK-Jawan.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/SRK-Jawan.jpg 600w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/SRK-Jawan-300x169.jpg 300w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/SRK-Jawan-150x84.jpg 150w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/SRK-Jawan-250x140.jpg 250w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></p>



<p>Shah Rukh Khan is the whole show in <em>Jawan</em>, his second blockbuster adventure in less than a year. Despite a strong supporting cast, Khan dominates the film, performing the kind of over-the-top heroics that have made him a box-office favorite.</p>



<p>Absent from the screen since 2018, Khan made a riveting appearance in 2022&#8217;s otherwise so-so <em>Brahmastra Part One: Shiva</em>, then thrilled his fans in January with <em>Pathaan</em>. <em>Jawan</em> is more of what his base likes: a fearless, swaggering character; gross injustices to be avenged; melodramatic flashbacks; big production numbers.</p>



<p>It&#8217;s narrative is all over the place, rehashing scenes, subplots, and story lines from easily recognizable movies like <em>The Matrix</em> and <em>Fast and Furious</em>. If anything, <em>Jawan</em> has too much plot. A subway hijacking, a corrupt arms dealer, amnesia, girls with guns, farmer suicides, a single mom with a matchmaking daughter, another mom briefly saved from hanging because she is pregnant, military raids, highway chases, and more.</p>



<p><em>Jawan</em> leaps backwards and forwards in time, often for no real purpose. The three screenwriters, including director Atlee, manage to pull everything together by the end, but the ride is a lot rockier than it has to be. The musical numbers feel more like interruptions than integral to the plot.&nbsp; While the action scenes are fun, they, like Khan&#8217;s dancing, are indifferently executed.</p>



<p>None of this matters to Khan&#8217;s fans, who will buy any preposterous twist. Khan survives being shot five times and falling out of a helicopter, for example. He survives being repeatedly smashed in the face with a heavy chain. He survives two-story falls, truck crashes, and a scene-stealing ten-year-old who interrogates him about marrying her mother.</p>



<p>Atlee has helmed several huge Tamil blockbusters, often with Nayanthara, who plays Khan&#8217;s love interest Narmada here. A hostage negotiator with the police, she&#8217;s betrayed by bureaucracy and winds up in jail—like most of the characters who try to defeat oily villain Kalee Gaikwad (Vijay Sethupathi).</p>



<p class="has-text-align-center"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="337" class="wp-image-1052" style="width: 600px;" src="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Deepika-Padukone-Jawan.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Deepika-Padukone-Jawan.jpg 600w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Deepika-Padukone-Jawan-300x169.jpg 300w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Deepika-Padukone-Jawan-150x84.jpg 150w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Deepika-Padukone-Jawan-250x140.jpg 250w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></p>



<p>Superstar Deepika Padukone, who was a memorable foil in <em>Pathaan</em>, doesn&#8217;t show up until the second half of the film, where she plays Khan&#8217;s wife Aishwarya. She is as arresting and effective as always, so good she threatens to tilt the film out of balance.</p>



<p>It says something about the plot that Khan can marry Nayanthara as well as Padukone. In fact, he plays so many roles in <em>Jawan</em> that viewers might lose track. He&#8217;s a prison warden, a bald terrorist, a cigar-smoking soldier shooting machine guns like Schwarzenegger, a tech whiz, a father, son, husband, lover, and conscience of a nation. He is, in effect, the whole show.</p>



<p><em>Jawan</em> is always entertaining, perhaps working best when it is at its most preposterous. Like a big production number in the women&#8217;s prison which lasts from day to night, Khan sporting a half-dozen outfits while sending out seriously mixed signals about criminal justice.</p>



<p>For me, the only honest emotions in <em>Jawan</em> came during a scene where Khan meets ten-year-old Suji (Seeza Saroj Mehta), daughter of his future wife. &#8220;I&#8217;m looking for a papa,&#8221; she tells him in forthright tones. It&#8217;s staged with admirable clarity and simplicity. &#8220;I need a papa to whack my teacher for me,&#8221; she adds, after forcing Khan to admit he dyes his hair. I&#8217;d watch a whole movie with those two.</p>



<p>Jawan is currently streaming on Netflix in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages.</p>



<p><strong>Credits:</strong> Directed by Atlee. Screenplay by Atlee, S. Ramanagirivasan. Dialogues: Sumit Arora. Cinematography: G. K. Vishnu. Edited by Ruben. Music by Anirudh Ravichander. Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Nayanthara, Vijay Sethupathi, Deepika Padukone, Seeza Saroj Mehta.</p>
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		<title>Guy Ritchie&#8217;s The Covenant: a war story with consequences</title>
		<link>https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/2023/04/21/guy-ritchies-the-covenant-a-war-story-with-consequences/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 21 Apr 2023 16:14:11 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Action]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/?p=1010</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[It makes sense to approach Guy Ritchie&#8217;s The Covenant cautiously. The execrable Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre is a glaring example of how lazy and listless the director&#8217;s output can be. Don&#8217;t worry. GRTC is worth your time. It&#8217;s another &#8230; <a href="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/2023/04/21/guy-ritchies-the-covenant-a-war-story-with-consequences/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
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<p class="has-text-align-center"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="400" class="wp-image-1011" style="width: 600px;" src="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/guy-ritchies-the-covenant-I_05588_R_rgb.jpg" alt="" srcset="https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/guy-ritchies-the-covenant-I_05588_R_rgb.jpg 600w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/guy-ritchies-the-covenant-I_05588_R_rgb-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/guy-ritchies-the-covenant-I_05588_R_rgb-150x100.jpg 150w, https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/guy-ritchies-the-covenant-I_05588_R_rgb-225x150.jpg 225w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></p>



<p>It makes sense to approach <em>Guy Ritchie&#8217;s The Covenant</em> cautiously. The execrable <em>Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre</em> is a glaring example of how lazy and listless the director&#8217;s output can be. Don&#8217;t worry. <em>GRTC </em>is worth your time.</p>



<p>It&#8217;s another in a long-running cycle of war movies about US guilt, aiming for something along the lines of <em>American Sniper</em> but slipping closer to the <em>Rambo</em> franchise. Here US Army Sergeant John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal) is rescued from certain death at the hands of the Taliban by his Afghan interpretor Ahmed (Dar Salim). When Ahmed&#8217;s visa to the US is ensnared in bureaucracy, Kinley returns to Afghanistan to retrieve Ahmed and his family.</p>



<p>Gung ho in the extreme, <em>GRTC</em> is more than a genre exercise thanks to committed acting, a stripped-down screenplay (by Ritchie and his usual cohorts Ivan Atkinson &amp; Marn Davies), and Ritchie&#8217;s outstanding filmmaking. He&#8217;s rarely this energized, or this careful.</p>



<p>Gyllenhaal gives a wonderful performance, fleshing out Kinley&#8217;s character even if it means showing the sergeant&#8217;s failings. You can see the soldier&#8217;s response to the violence he encounters in the actor&#8217;s face. Kinley is reluctant to give Ahmed any credit, in part because he&#8217;s suspicious of all Afghans. A former heroin dealer, Ahmed has a much deeper understanding of Afghanistan than Kinley will ever achieve. He&#8217;s also far more brutal.</p>



<p>Ritchie depicts their relationship efficiently, without forcing an emotional connection between the two and minimizing details about their private lives. Then the director stages a superb firefight between American troops and Taliban bombmakers in an abandoned mine. Tense, precise, convincing, the battle makes clear everything that&#8217;s at stake for Kinley and Ahmed.</p>



<p>The two go on the run across some seventy miles of hostile terrain, pursued by replenished Taliban fighters. When Kinley is wounded, it&#8217;s up to Ahmed to drag him across mountain passes to safety.</p>



<p>Shipped back to the States, Kinley spends weeks trying to secure visas for Ahmed, now on the Taliban&#8217;s most wanted list. It&#8217;s the weakest section of the film because it shifts the focus to military bungling rather that concentrating on Ahmed&#8217;s efforts to survive.</p>



<p>Kinley mortgages his business to return to Afghanistan and find Ahmed. Here Ritchie regains his footing, building first-rate sequences that unfold from three separate points-of-view. The ending is especially satisfying, even with a title reminding us that too many interpreters remained trapped and in hiding from the Taliban.</p>



<p>Ed Wild&#8217;s cinematography brings out the scope of Ritchie&#8217;s movie. He builds excellent extended takes while helping the director keep a firm grasp on the geography of the action. James Herbert&#8217;s editing is also very good, although the score by Christopher Benstead can be too on-the-nose.</p>



<p>Do we need another fictional account of a real-life incident from the Afghan war? Maybe not, but <em>Guy Ritchie&#8217;s The Covenant</em> is so well executed that it rises above most of its competition.</p>



<p>An MGM release opening theatrically April 21, 2023. Photo: Dar Salim (left) as Ahmed and Jake Gyllenhaal (right) as Sgt. John Kinley. Credit: Christopher Raphael / Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures© 2023 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved.</p>



<p><strong>Starring | </strong>Jake Gyllenhaal, Dar Salim, Antony Starr, Alexander Ludwig, Bobby Schofield with Emily Beecham and Jonny Lee Miller<br><strong>Directed by | </strong>Guy Ritchie<br><strong>Written by | </strong>Guy Ritchie and Ivan Atkinson &amp; Marn Davies<br></p>
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