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First watch for me of this Idris Elba starring actioner. It also stars Richard Madden (King In The North Rob Stark from GoT), Charlote Le Bon, Kelly Reilly and Jose Garcia. The film had the unfortunate circumstance of being released around the time of the Nice Bastille Day truck/lorry attack and was consequently pulled from theatres in France. It was later released on home video with the new (& far less memorable) title of The Take. Elba plays Sean Briar, a tough as nails CIA agent. He's tracking Michael Mason (Madden), a suspected terrorist in a bombing attack in a Paris suburb who was caught on security cameras. Unbeknownst to the authorities, Mason was a victim of circumstance. A petty thief, he had just stolen a bag carrying the bomb from Zoe (Le Bon) before it went off. Briar tracks down Mason, finds out the truth, and the two off them set off to find Zoe and the people who put her up to the attack. Their search leads them to a conspiracy by a renegade faction of the French police, who were attempting to use the bombing as a distraction to divert attention from a bank robbery they intended to commit. Needless to say 'man of action' Briar is able to take down the whole operation, with a little help from Mason.
This film is quite forgettable. It has that cheap Euro (trash) thriller feel to it. Underdeveloped characters abound with terrible accents spouting unwitty banter. In fact, this film proves that not all Brits can pull of an American accent (Elba isn't all that great with it, and neither is Madden or Reilly). The action is ok, with a vertiginous rooftop Paris chase being a highlight. Still, it's not especially memorable & reminds me a bit of the 2015 Brosnan/Jovovich starring Survivor. Both films have great casts, but could have been much more than they ended up being. Elba is highly charismatic however, and is still quite watchable, even in something as characterless as this.
One of my favourites. What a soundtrack!
You've got to admit, @bondjames, that "pinky promise" scene was funny to no end. :))
Saw this in the cinema when it came out. One of my favourites.
PRISONERS
Wow, this film is totally believable in every aspect, thanks to the actors, Villeneuve and whoever wrote it. Very unpleasant much of the time, but the way the story buids, you get sucked in and never know what happens next. And that ending...
Also, I want him to do a Bond film.
For a moment I thought I was watching Bodie in The Professionals as Elba tore through the place. It has a feel similar to that 70's tv show in places.
He is one heck of a presence, I have to admit. Machismo in spades. Madden looked like a wuss next to him.
I caught most of this on TV last night. Not nearly as bad as I remember it being but still not as great as it could've been. If I remember right, the sequel was far worse. I'm looking forward to the reboot staring Alicia Vikander.
Clearly they're basing it off the new games.
So far I have only seen this and Arrival, but the others are on my watchlist.
Pacino, Depp, Madsen, ... are exquisite in this delicious crime thriller. Well-made film!
GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS
An incredibly well acted Broadway adaptation, this. I had a lot of fun with it.
I actually do prefer Alicia's casting over Angelina Jolie's. Though, Jolie was almost perfect casting for Laura from the old games. Hurley would've been amazing as well and she had the body for it, more so than Jolie.
I just like the new direction they've taken Laura and I prefer the more realistic version of her.
As for Vikander's Lara, the live action version of the 2013 rendition of the character that I personally despised, I wish its fans luck. I'm not really excited about it. But, I'll see it someday just to know what it's like.
@ClarkDevlin, I like your suggestion of Elizabeth Hurley, that is, if a Tomb Raider film had been made in the 1990's. For a Tomb Raider film in 2017, I would have gone with Alison Carroll.
Allison Carroll did an oustanding job for Lara in Underworld, I'd have loved her in the role had 'that' Lara delivered herself to a 2017 Tomb Raider film today.
It's typical of Hollywood. Now is when they decide to make Lara like the games, it couldn't have have happened pre-reboot*.
* Sarcasm.
I had to look up Allison Carroll and she's absolutely stunning! She could easily play Laura if they went with the old version of her.
I think the Tomb Raider film is simply going where the Bond films have gone back to recently: the women aren't there to be gawked at as their sole purpose, they have actual personalities beyond being objects for men's crude entertainment. I don't think hiring a capable actress for a role that requires a sense of personality is a bad thing, nor do I think it's a pre-requisite that a woman's breasts need to be twice the size of her head for a true Lara representation to be realized. The character was a bad side effect of the sex sells mantra, and clearly wasn't emphasized much as a character as she could've been beyond the obvious eye candy.
I don't care for the character or how she's written across the board nor have I ever seen the interest beyond the sexual bait, but I would happily accept films that treated her like an actual character and not a stick with two balloons attached. I am sure there are plenty of pornos out there to see the original Lara at work in.
Yeah, it's good isn't it. Well written and directed, the cast all do great work, and Deakins' cinematography and Johannsson's score are excellent. I need a re-watch...
GAVIN HOOD
Eye In The Sky (2015)
I watched this for the cast (Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, Barkhad Abdi, Alan Rickman), but it was so good I immediately checked who did it. Gavin Hood? Okay, what else has he done...
Rendition (2007)
Like with Eye In The Sky the cast (especially Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon) would have been enough recommendation to me, really. I liked this even more. Another fascinating modern story about people and politics. I loved the way this was structured and cut. That moment when you're watching a movie and realize how what you've been watching until then actually fit together, and you go "oh god..." Wonderful work.
Ender's Game (2013)
Bloody awful.
Tsotsi (2005)
Best foreign language picture Oscar winner. A story about a young man who steals a car, then finds a baby on the back seat. I liked this a lot. The dvd also had an earlier short film The Storekeeper (1998) which I quite liked as well.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
I wasn't going to watch this at first, but then I thought might as well. Too over-the-top action packed, to the point of boredom, and very forgettable.
Clearly Tsotsi, Rendition and Eye In The Sky are the type of movies Hood should concentrate on, he excels in those political, social and human complexities.
Well said! The new Tomb Raider games actually give Laura real depth and I'm sure the new movies will have that too.
They're interesting game montages to watch, that's for sure. The developers really put the lass through the ringer, and they don't hold back on those kill animations!
I don't even know where to begin. It's my second time watching it and even though I enjoyed it more than my first viewing (which was four years ago), as well as having laughed a lot at some scenes (that were mainly sped up), I still wonder...
Were the people who wrote, directed and authorized this script to film on some sort of a drug that is a mixture of marijuana and steroids? I mean... Really? If they wanted comedy, they should have hired Blake Edwards to do it, instead of doing "Ten times the What's New, Pussycat?".
And it was utterly stupid of the person who rejected that other serious script by Ben Hecht. Overtly stupid.
That's all.
My head hurts already, I can't go any further to dismantling this, I'm afraid.
I've never doved in and watched this one. Mostly because I see this reaction is the common one. ;)