Bruce Willis injured and Helen Mirren going lethal in this clip from RED
Sep 10
Check out Bruce Willis doing his classic in-pain-but-still-tough routine (complete with huffs, puffs and grunts) while Helen Mirren tends to him in this fun clip from their upcoming action comedy Red, co-starring Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Mary-Lousie Parker, directed by Robert Schwentke (The Time Traveller’s Wife).
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the surprisingly funny and intense trailer for Red, which has been adapted from a successful graphic novel (that’s a comic book) by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner.
Red opens 15 October, 2010 in the U.S., and a few days later on the 28th for fellow Aussies keen to check it out.
New pictures of old spies: RED images
Aug 23
Red has an impressive cast. If Bruce Willis or Helen Mirren don’t hook you, then odds are that John Malkovich and / or Morgan Freeman will. These are big actors — larger than life, you could say — and it’s about time they got to wear costumes and wield props to suit their stature.
All I know about Red is that it’s based on a comic book and the three-letter title stands for “Retired — Extremely Dangerous.” So I guess Red is the answer to all those Bourne and Bond films where the young folks get all the espionage-y action: time for the middle-agers to take a swing.
We get Red on 28 October 2010; UK gets it on 22 October; US gets it bright and early on 15 October.
images courtesy of Collider
(Click to embiggen)
THE EXPENDABLES review
Aug 14
There’s only so much tolerance I can have for a film that misfired on what it aimed to achieve (see what I did there?). The Expendables wanted to bring big action back to the big screen, recalling the glory days of Stallone and company. What it needed to do was rise above those glory days and usher something refreshing and new while giving those classic actioners a wink from behind the lens. To become what everyone anticipated was possible—a new beginning in the action genre, OR the ultimate, most brilliant ensemble action film ever made—The Expendables needed to do a hell of a lot more than just follow the blue print from the 80s. It’s a shame it didn’t follow through.
It’s all here. Big guns, big fights, big arms, square jaws, car chases, explosions, sexy ladies in distress and, of course, witty one-liners. There’s even a bad guy ‘monologing’ at the end to complete the package. It’s all been done before and there’s nothing revolutionary for The Expendables to hang its hat on.
That’s not to say this celebration of testosterone needed to be anything more than it is. For the blokes, the burly men who only go to the cinema on very rare occasions, the action delivered in The Expendables is all they require. I’m pretty sure the home DVD and television markets are geared for this audience in particular. They can pause this whenever they want, take a phone call, miss entire chunks of the film and catch up to what’s going on in about 1 minute and totally not give a fuck. I don’t know if that’s incredibly stupid or remarkably clever.
The plot is a no-brainer: army of bad guys in a foreign country, go kill em, save the girl, blow everything to smithereens in the process. Hell, use a plane to explode a dock if you have to, just blow shit up.
What made this film so attractive and promising was the cast. If I’m to believe the trailer, this was going to bring action heavyweights Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Willis, Lundgren, Li and Rourke together for one seriously explosive party. One could rightly feel ripped off that Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger make one-scene cameos and don’t have anything much to do with the overall film. Thankfully I knew this was the case before taking my seat, but I’m guessing the majority of this film’s target audience would take the trailer on face value.
The real lead cast here is Sylvester Stallone (also co-writer and director), Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren and Jet Li. They each do what is required, nothing more. Who needs drama when you’ve got arms the size of trucks and silky-smooth, perfectly choreographed martial arts skills?
Sly is that gritty guy you’ve seen before. Needs a shave, slurs when he speaks, smokes a cigar and becomes the hero of the movie by overcoming the odds to save the girl (no, no spoiler warning for you—it’s plain as day, people).
‘Who really cares?’ kind of spoilers in this para: Statham gets by on his charm and accent, and is even given the handy Storyline-B part of the script where he fancies a girl for a scene and proves his love to her by beating the shit out of a basketball team in another. The last time we see her or hear anything about the relationship is at around the 70 minute mark of the film. This entire B-plot is completely useless.
REAL spoilers in this para: Dolph’s character was very lost and a glaring misstep for an already weak script. He goes against the group from the very opening act, is kicked out, betrays them, gets shot by Sly in a big confrontation, survives, and winds up chummy with the gang again in the final scene. Like, fuck you, Expendables! I may be stupid but I’m not that stoopid.
Mickey Rourke had a chance to act (you know, really act, not just run, punch and shoot shit) when he delivered a monologue about a life he could have saved, but didn’t. This scene was supposed to underline the theme of the movie, which I think is ‘don’t let regret have a chance to get the better of you’, and I’m certain was written as an afterthought to the guns, blood and explosions. But again, that’s okay because that’s what this audience paid to see: Guns, blood and explosions. And baby, The Expendables definitely delivers on those.
It was entertainingly violent, yes. No denying that. Some of the kills are very impressively choreographed—but also incredibly fake, often beyond believability. The choice to seemingly have no blood on set and re-create splatters digitally was a poor one; especially considering how advanced CGI effects are these days. The fake digitized gore in every big action scene cheapened film even further.
The Expendables tries to keep its cardboard characters witty and charming, but most of the humour fell on deaf ears in my particular (full) cinema. I must admit I laughed aloud once: when Stallone gustily referred to Stone Cold Steve Austin’s hairdresser (Steve Austin is bald, you see. Hilarious). Now, I laughed out loud like a jackass, and so did the rest of the audience, but I can’t help thinking we laughed at that moment because it was so awfully lame and uncomfortable; and for all the film was trying to do, we felt like we had better give a little back at that point in time. We felt obligated.
The testosterone is dripping from the screen from the opening shot of The Expendables, and doesn’t stop dripping until the final frame (save for Rourke’s attempt at a weeping monologue right in the middle of a fucking action film and a girly closing poem from Staham). Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like this kind of action movie isn’t around anymore because audiences grew weary of a genre becoming more and more insulting to their intelligence. I know that’s certainly the case in my book.
Ultimately, The Expendables is nothing more than a forgettable action film. And that’s fair, because that’s all it ever set out to be.
The Expendables
The ultimate final RED poster and a fun new trailer
Jul 31
Summit have released the ultimate final poster for their action comedy ensemble romp RED starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren.
I have no idea where this film came from and I like it that way. The cool posters and increasingly funny trailers have taken me by surprise and I’m definitely looking forward to this being a fun time at the cinema (whenever they announce an Australian release date, that is…). Bruce Willis’ action presence, John Malkovich’s psycho-crazy, Morgan Freeman’s slick voice and Helen Mirren being way out of her depth holding a big ass gun– all combined with a fun premise– RED appears to good to pass up. At least in my book.
Check out the RED Comic-Con trailer, final poster and synopsis below.
RED opens in the States on 15 October 2010
Frank (Bruce Willis), Joe (Morgan Freeman), Marvin (John Malkovich) and Victoria (Helen Mirren) used to be the CIA’s top agents – but the secrets they know just made them the Agency’s top targets. Now framed for assassination, they must use all of their collective cunning, experience and teamwork to stay one step ahead of their deadly pursuers and stay alive. To stop the operation, the team embarks on an impossible, cross-country mission to break into the top-secret CIA headquarters, where they will uncover one of the biggest conspiracies and cover-ups in government history.
SUCKER PUNCH character banners have fascinating backgrounds
Jul 23
Men love watching women dress up and prance around for their titillation. Americans love weapons and violence. Combining both of these together, Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch is almost guaranteed to be a huge financial hit.
Despite recklessly harming the cause of feminism, what is Sucker Punch really about? Slashfilm (in addition to providing these images) has helpfully summarised the plot thus:
The film stars Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Emily Browning, Scott Glenn, Vanessa Hudgens and Jamie Chung. The film follows Emily Browning’s character, Babydoll, who is confined to a mental institution from which she fantasizes an alternate reality. Browning and the other girls seen here are all wards of the institution … Snyder has said many times that the film will be a dark, violent fantasty full of guns, action and monsters.
A mental institution, you say? Good, good, I remember how much fun I had with Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis in one of those in 12 Monkeys. The backgrounds on the banners (look past the women, if you can) are all different and potentially exciting: there’s Far East architecture, some Lord Of The Rings-looking thing, Nazi-era Europe, the future, and what looks suspiciously like the surface of Mars / [insert fictional planet name here]. This sets the scene for some era-hopping, genre-bending episodic storytelling, and could potentially be rather interesting.
One thing that bugs me, though, is why a female mental patient would fantasise an alternate reality full of heavily-armed, scantily-clad women. And giant robots. And outer space. Seems a little more like a teenaged male fantasy to me.
Zack Snyder aims to punch your sucker on 25 March 2011, in the States; we’ll probably get it within a month or so of that.
OPINIONS COUNT