Tag: Action

REVIEW: ‘Pan’

Director:
Joe Wright
Cast:
Hugh Jackman
Levi Miller
Garrett Hedlund
Rooney Mara
Rated: PG

In the latest adaption of the story featuring a boy who never grows up, Levi Miller is tasked with playing the legendary character Peter Pan. In “Pan,” Peter starts off his journey growing up in an orphanage with less than stellar conditions making up his surroundings.

It all changes, though, when he is whisked away by a group of pirates who are kidnapping orphans.

The pirates, who operate massive flying ships, bring Peter to Neverland and that’s where he comes to meet Blackbeard (Jackman), the leader of the bandits who is using kidnapped orphans to dig for the precious commodity, crystallized fairy dust. Peter decides to get away from the whole situation and does so with the help of a young man named Hook (Hedlund).

Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘Pan’”

Sicario review

Director:
Denis Villeneuve
Cast:
Emily Blunt
Benicio Del Toro
Josh Brolin
Victor Garber
Rated: R

“Sicario” is directed by Denis Villeneuve, who helmed my favorite picture of 2013 “Prisoners.” The director returns for another dark film with “Sicario,” which follows an FBI agent named Kate Macer (Blunt) who joins up with an elite government task force to fight the drug war on the southern U.S. border.

Kate quickly finds out that the team, led by agent Matt Graver (Brolin) and an expert hired by the government named Alejandro (Del Toro) don’t exactly operate within all the boundaries of the law.

Continue reading “Sicario review”

No Escape review

Director:
John Erick Dowdle
Cast:
Owen Wilson
Pierce Brosnan
Lake Bell
Claire Geare
Sterling Jerins
Rated: R

“No Escape” stars Owen Wilson who plays a father relocating his family to an undisclosed county in Asia for a new career opportunity. Upon arrival, Wilson’s character Jack, his wife Annie (Bell) and their two daughters make their way to a hotel and, despite some reservations, settle in to their new home.

The peace of the first few moments with the family is quickly shattered, though, as a revolution begins and rebels with anti-western motives start attacking the hotel. The film then follows Jack and his family’s attempt to get away from the hostile city and find safety.

Continue reading “No Escape review”

Fantastic 4 review

Director:
Josh Trank
Cast:
Miles Teller
Michael B. Jordan
Kate Mara
Jamie Bell
Toby Kebbell
Reg E. Cathey
Rated: PG-13

The latest reboot of “Fantastic Four” starts off in 2007 with the protagonists Reed Richards and Ben Grimm as young kids building a teleporter in their garage. Flash forward seven years and Reed (Teller) and Ben (Bell) are still working on the science project, with Reed being the brains and Ben being the assistant.

It isn’t long before Reed’s skills are noticed by Dr. Franklin Storm (Cathey). Reed is soon brought in to work on a major teleportation project, partnering with Storm’s children Sue (Mara) and Johnny (Jordan) as well as another young genius named Victor (Kebbell). Just when the group cracks the code on teleportation, though, an incident occurs which results in the whole group getting mutated abilities.

Continue reading “Fantastic 4 review”

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation review

Director:
Christopher McQuarrie
Cast:
Tom Cruise
Jeremy Renner
Simon Pegg
Ving Rhames
Rebecca Ferguson
Sean Harris
Rated: PG-13

Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt in the fifth installment of the “Mission Impossible” film series and this time, he’s looking for a syndicate of spies that is causing chaos around the world.

It seems like Hunt has met his match with these new enemies, and on top of that, his agency, the IMF, gets shut down for the events of Ghost Protocol (Part 4). This once again leaves Hunt without many resources at his disposal, making the challenge that much greater.

Continue reading “Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation review”

Southpaw review

Director:
Antoine Fuqua
Cast:
Jake Gyllenhaal
Rachel McAdams
Forest Whitaker
Oona Laurence
Rated: R

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Billy Hope in “Southpaw,” a boxer who holds a title belt and is undefeated. Hope is a fighter that isn’t afraid to get bloody and he often takes a beating in the ring. With his undefeated record, Hope has experienced a great adult life, however, after a tragedy happens, he is sent into a downward spiral.

To get his life back on track, Hope relies on the help of trainer Tick Wills (Whitaker), not just to improve as an athlete, but as a person.

Continue reading “Southpaw review”

Ant-Man review

Director:
Peyton Reed
Cast:
Paul Rudd
Michael Douglas
Evangeline Lilly
Corey Stoll
Rated: PG-13

In Marvel’s Ant-Man, Paul Rudd plays Scott Lang, a man who has just been released from prison for breaking into a high security business in which he used to work for. At the same time, Dr. Hank Pym (Douglas), a brilliant mind who invented a suit which can adjust size and strength, finds out his old company is going to use that technology to make a new, dangerous weapon.

As Lang finds himself falling back into his ways of theft in order to make enough money to be a better father to his daughter, Pym decides to give Lang a better opportunity. With the help of Pym’s daughter, Hope, the old scientist mentors Lang to use the suit to steal and dispose of the weapon to create a safer world.

“Ant-Man” had a bit of a rocky road in getting made since the project had to change directors along the way. The result is a movie that for the most part is good, but still had some noticeable areas that felt a bit disjointed.

Continue reading “Ant-Man review”

Terminator Genisys review

Director:
Alan Taylor
Cast:
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Jason Clarke
Emilia Clarke
Jai Courtney
PG-13

“Terminator Genisys” is the fifth installment of the evil machine franchise, however, this movie largely ignores the events of the third and fourth films.

“Genisys” starts off in the late future with the leader of the human resistance John Connor (Jason Clarke) finding out that the machine program Skynet has sent a terminator back to 1984 to kill his mother Sarah (Emilia Clarke). To stop the terminator, John sends Kyle Reese (Courtney) back in time also to bring the machine down.

Up until this point, the plot mirrors that of the original “Terminator.” The similarities end, there, though, not only because this film lacks any of the suspense of the original, but also because it turns out, Sarah has been aware of Skynet since her childhood and has her own Guardian terminator (Schwarzenegger).

Continue reading “Terminator Genisys review”

Jurassic World review

Director:
Colin Trevorrow
Cast:
Chris Pratt
Bryce Dallas Howard
Vincent D’Onofrio
Ty Simpkins
Nick Robinson
Rated: PG-13

“Jurassic World” takes place 22 years after the disaster at Jurassic Park on the island Isla Nublar. At this point, the company InGen has successfully reintroduced dinosaurs to a controlled environment and the island has become a fully functioning theme park. The only issue for the staff is a dip in the number of visitors.

To bring in new guests and bump sales, an operation is done to create a new dinosaur attraction by combining multiple bits of DNA. The plan backfires, though, and to help get the situation under control, Claire, the parks’ director played by Bryce Dallas Howard, calls in Owen, a former member of the Navy, played by Chris Pratt, who has trained raptors.

Continue reading “Jurassic World review”

REVIEW: ‘Spy’

Director:
Paul Feig
Cast:
Melissa McCarthy
Jude Law
Rose Byrne
Jason Statham
Rated: R

Melissa McCarthy plays Susan in “Spy,” a CIA mission analyst who has remained at the agency’s headquarters for most of her career. From her desk, Susan monitors other agents, mainly an operative named Bradley (Law) to keep a watch for potential threats.

Susan’s whole world begins to shift, though, when Bradley is killed in the line of duty by an arms dealer named Rayna (Byrne). On top of losing a great agent, the CIA learns that Rayna has uncovered the identities of other operatives. In order to bring her down, Susan steps up to take on a field mission for the first time.

Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘Spy’”