Creed

For F*** Magazine

CREED

Director : Ryan Coogler
Cast : Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashād, Tony Bellew, Graham McTavish, Wood Harris
Genre : Drama
Run Time : 133 mins
Opens : 26 November 2015
Rating : PG13 (Some Violence)

            Michael B. Jordan was the teammate of a rock creature in Fantastic Four, and now he’s under the tutelage of the actual Rocky in this spin-off. Jordan plays Adonis Creed, the illegitimate son of the late legendary boxing champ Apollo Creed. After bouncing around juvenile detention halls and group homes as a kid, Adonis was taken in by Apollo’s widow Mary Anne (Rashād). Adonis dreams of being a professional fighter, but wants to make his own name and not get stuck in his father’s shadow. He moves out to Philadelphia to train under Rocky Balboa (Stallone), Apollo’s rival-turned-friend. Adonis strikes up a relationship with his neighbour, singer-songwriter Bianca (Thompson). Adonis agrees to take on British fighter “Pretty” Ricky Conlan (Bellew), the undefeated title holder. As the pressure mounts and doubts begin to cloud Adonis’ mind, Rocky’s health starts to fail. Adonis has to step into the ring, fighting in the name of his mother, his mentor, his girlfriend, his father and most importantly, himself.

            The theme of legacy is one that permeates Creed both in the plot of the film and behind the scenes. Creed is directed by Ryan Coogler, who co-wrote the screenplay with Aaron Covington. Coogler conceived the idea for the spinoff when he was in film school and pitched it to Stallone, who, understandably protective of Rocky, was initially hesitant to sign off on the movie. Coogler’s father suffered a neuromuscular disorder, and dealing with his father’s mortality sowed the seeds of Creed. After Coogler’s feature film debut Fruitvale Station became a film festival darling, Stallone reconsidered and lent the film his support. Spin-offs to successful franchises can often feel like cynical cash grabs, so just as Adonis has to prove he can stand on his own, Coogler has to prove that there is a point to continuing the Rocky series, which most assumed had come to its natural conclusion with 2006’s Rocky Balboa.

            The first Rocky film is a modern classic, possibly the purest example of contemporary American myth. It’s an honest, straightforward film about a hardworking blue-collar hero with a dream. While some of the later films traded heavily in kitsch, the series as a whole is still a beloved pop culture staple. A strong affection for the movies is palpable in Creed, but Coogler is mostly able to steer things away from feeling slavish to what has gone before. This is very much in the Rocky spirit and it’s not a desecration of any childhood memories, far from it. At the same time, Creed sticks closely to the established sports drama formula, offering practically zero surprises. For the most part, Coogler is able to turn this into a strength and it reads as honouring the legacy instead of lazy storytelling, but the predictable nature of the plot and the characters might make one question if this was an absolutely necessary endeavour.

            Jordan has proven that he’s got what it takes to be an A-list leading man, displaying astonishing athletic prowess and unwavering intensity. The character has to be cocky without being obnoxious; Jordan crosses the line on several occasions but he remains generally easy to root for. In sports, entertainment and other arenas, we’ve seen many children of well-known personalities attempting to strike out on their own to varying degrees of success. There’s always a huge amount of baggage when trying to outrun the looming shadow of a figure such as Apollo Creed, which is something Jordan sells.

As is typical of the genre, Thompson’s Bianca is little more than the designated love interest. There’s the meet cute, they bond over Philly cheesesteaks, a minor misunderstanding or two, a falling out, the whole works. The romantic subplot is the most formulaic element in a movie that is almost entirely formula. Real-life cruiserweight boxer Bellew is an adequately unpleasant bully, albeit far less colourful and memorable than the best opponents in the series.

            Stallone is now the same age that Burgess Meredith, who played Rocky’s corner man Mickey, was when the first Rocky film was released. It makes sense to have Rocky assume the position of a mentor. Of course, there’s the dance of “I just don’t do that stuff no more” before Rocky relents and takes Adonis under his wing, which perhaps mirrors the process behind the scenes between Coogler and Stallone. While it is cool to see Stallone kicking ass and taking names in the Expendables films and late-period efforts like Bullet to the Head, it is just as satisfying seeing him act more his age and taking on a more emotional, less physical role. The scene where Rocky chokes up when talking about his late wife Adrian is pretty moving. This is a different ball game from Bruce Willis sleepwalking through the umpteenth Die Hard, in that Stallone does look like he’s in this for a purpose.

            Filmgoers have become wary of belated sequels/spinoffs to beloved properties after having been burned by everything from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to the recent Terminator Genisys. Even Schwarzenegger’s involvement couldn’t save that last one. Director Coogler comes at Creed from the right angle, spinning a viable if very familiar story with which to bring Rocky back, this time as a supporting character. True, it’s still something of a hard sell, but Creed packs in impactful emotional beats and rousing, inspirational moments and has enough of a driving force behind it.

Summary: Rocky fans won’t be disappointed with how director Ryan Coogler has figured out a way to bring the character back. Creed isn’t particularly ground-breaking, but is earnest and well-made enough to be worthy of ascending those famous steps.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong 

The Expendables 3

THE EXPENDABLES 3

Director : Patrick Hughes
Cast : Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Antonio Banderas, Jet Li, Wesley Snipes, Dolph Lundgren, Kelsey Grammer, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Kellan Lutz, Ronda Rousey, Glen Powell, Victor Ortiz, Robert Davi, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Arnold Schwarzenegger
Genre : Action/Thriller
Opens : 14 August 2014
Rating : PG13 (Violence & Some Coarse Language)
Running time: 126 mins

 “If you’re looking to get the job done/ Be it murder or rescuing ladies/ You cannot do better than old guys/ Who were popular back in the 80s…” so go the lyrics to comedians Jon and Al Kaplan’s musical spoof of The Expendables. Those grizzled guys are back with some young blood to add to the crew. Barney Ross (Stallone), Gunner Jensen (Lundgren), Lee Christmas (Stallone), Toll Road (Couture) and Hail Caesar (Crews) break old team-member Doctor Death (Snipes) out of prison. In the ensuing mission, they encounter Conrad Stonebanks (Gibson), a former Expendable-turned weapons and dealer and war criminal, hitherto thought of as dead. Barney brings in a younger bunch of mercenaries (Lutz, Rousey, Powell, Ortiz), with Spanish Armed Forces veteran Galgo (Banderas) insistent on joining. He is also assisted by Trench (Schwarzenegger), Yin Yang (Li) and Major Max Drummer (Ford), going up against the army Stonebanks has in his pocket.

This entire film series exists as a loving ode to 80s action films, featuring those who starred in said films proving they’ve still got the right stuff. As such, there was something of an outcry over this movie’s PG-13 rating – as the Kaplans put it later on in their song, “PG-13 is for pussies”. This reviewer wasn’t too bothered by that – while bloodless, the body count in this one is still very high. Also, the one f-bomb is given to just the right actor. No, this movie’s problems lie elsewhere. Succeeding Stallone and Simon West at the helm is Australian director Patrick Hughes, known for his neo-Western Red Hill. His direction here is mostly rote and journeyman-like; while competent, the action sequences lack flair or drive. There is a curious dearth of urgency or intensity in this action-thriller, even when an actual ticking bomb is introduced. It’s not like there isn’t a lot of shooting, punching or stuff blowing up, but the film often feels like it’s spinning its wheels, going nowhere fast.

            Why do action film junkies go to the Expendables movies? To relive the glory days of their cinematic heroes. As such, anytime the “Young Expendables” are onscreen, this reviewer was counting the minutes to when the actual Expendables – you know, the guys we came to see – would return. Even without Kellan Lutz, Ronda Rousey, Glen Powell and Victor Ortiz, the roster is already pretty crowded. There’s no time for us to get to know anyone and in place of characterisation, there’s bickering, mutual ribbing and general macho bro-ey-ness. We’re not expecting Chekhov or Mamet but just give us something to hang on to! The action sequences are fine, they aren’t infested with shaky-cam as most contemporaneous action sequences tend to be, but the sub-par visual effects work is carried over from the last two films. If it’s meant to evoke the cheap look of 80s action movies, then that’s the wrong nostalgia bone to tickle.

            The film is at its best when it goes for nostalgia in the right way, with its stars winking and nodding at the audience via references to their past work. Snipes’ character loves blades and jokes about being jailed for tax evasion. Schwarzenegger gets to say “get to the choppa!” Kelsey Grammer’s character makes a crack about ex-wives. However, in-jokes alone do not a good movie make. In spite of the humour, this go-round just seems a whole lot less fun. Indeed, Stallone often looks as though he’s grimacing through a heavy, dead-serious thriller. Nothing in this one matches Chuck Norris spouting his own “Chuck Norris fact” in the second film. Also, Harrison Ford does not say “get off my plane”. That’s a missed opportunity right there.

Mel Gibson is apparently paying penance for his myriad indiscretions by appearing in genre schlock like this and last year’s Machete Kills. He does go crazy-eyed Mad Mel but fails to be as memorable a baddie as Jean-Claude Van Damme was. Somewhere between the writing and direction, the potential for Conrad Stonebanks to be a spectacular bad guy is lost. Jet Li doesn’t bust a single kung fu move. What’s up with that? And yes, Ronda Rousey is a badass UFC champion, but this film is yet another example of “The Smurfette principle”, with one lone woman among a bunch of guys. Where are Linda Hamilton, Sigourney Weaver and Michelle Yeoh?

      
      A good chunk of the film seems to exist as a rather petty raised middle finger to Bruce Willis, with whom Stallone had a falling out with over the former’s salary. It’s a good thing then that Harrison Ford is an upgrade and seeing him chew Stallone out earlier in the film is as exciting as the biggest action scenes are. “I haven’t had so much fun in years,” he says. We almost believe him. Antonio Banderas as the talkative comic relief – that’s an odd choice, but he’s still fairly entertaining. The Expendables 3 never amounts to more than the sum of its parts and even when Kellan Lutz’s stunt double jumps a motorcycle off the tail of a crashed helicopter, it falls short of effectively harkening back to the 80s action films it wants to homage.

Summary: There’s less vim and vigour in this third go-round for Stallone and co. and worse, they have to jostle for screen time with those meddling kids.

RATING: 2.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong

Men of Geri-Action

As published in Issue #50 of F*** Magazine

MEN OF GERI-ACTION

TOP TEN SENIORS WHO CAN KICK YOUR ASS
By Jedd Jong 15/2/14

Liam Neeson, he of the particular set of skills, displays his tough guy prowess once more in action flick Non-Stop. He’s 61. Kevin Costner seems to be following in Neeson’s footsteps in 3 Days to Kill; he’s 59. It turns out that they’re far from the only action heroes who aren’t quite spring chickens to have blazed a trail of bullets and fisticuffs across the silver screen. F*** takes a look at ten such “badass grandpas”. Respect your elders or face their wrath!

SEAN CONNERY

Born: 1930

58 in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

65 in The Rock (1996)

68 in Entrapment (1999)

72 in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)

The original cinematic James Bond is the epitome of rough-and-tumble charm, a sexy Scotsman who only got more badass with age. Connery’s filmography is peppered with memorable parts and he made an oh-so-smooth transition from manly heartthrob to wise, seasoned mentor types. He played Indiana Jones’ dad (despite being only 12 years older than Harrison Ford) but turned down the chance to reprise the role in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull because “retirement ish jusht too damned much fun.” He got all the best lines in The Rock as a legendary former spy and the last man to escape from Alcatraz and he wooed Catherine Zeta-Jones, 39 years his junior, as a debonair gentleman thief in Entrapment. He had a miserable time filming the mediocre The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (“It wash a nightmare”) but was still as cool as ever as legendary adventurer Allan Quatermain. And oh, he almost got the parts of Morpheus in the Matrix films and Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings saga, but declined as he “didn’t undershtand the shcript.”

CHUCK NORRIS

Born: 1940

58 in Logan’s War: Bound by Honour (1998)

60 in The President’s Men (2000)

65 in Walker: Texas Ranger: Trial By Fire (2005)

72 in The Expendables 2 (2012)

Martial artist, actor and former Air Force serviceman Carlos Ray “Chuck” Norris became popular during the martial arts movie boom of the 70s, famously sharing the screen with (and getting defeated by) Bruce Lee in 1972’s Way of the Dragon. Norris created the martial art form Chun Kuk Do and has mostly starred in low-mid budget action vehicles, becoming a favourite of B-movie production house Cannon Group in the 80s. Many of his films were directed by his brother Aaron and were roundly mediocre straight-to-video or made-for-television affairs. He was also the star of Walker: Texas Ranger, which ran on TV from 1993 to 2001. Of course, the resurgence in Norris’ popularity can mostly be chalked up to “Chuck Norris facts”, satirical factoids attributing superhuman feats to the action star. These first started popping up on the internet in 2005, and Norris himself eventually acknowledged the meme onscreen in The Expendables 2 – R.I.P., unsuspecting cobra who bit Chuck Norris. Norris is also a devout Christian and his objection to the swearing in the screenplay almost resulted in a PG-13 rating for The Expendables 2, which was eventually rated R for its violence. Norris still got his way though – of about 100 uses of the f-bomb in the script, only one made it into the movie.

CLINT EASTWOOD

Born: 1930

61 in Unforgiven (1992)

62 in In the Line of Fire (1993)

66 in Absolute Power (1997)

69 in Space Cowboys (2000)

77 in Gran Torino (2008)

He’s the man with no name, the cop with the .44 Magnum, the greatest enemy of empty chairs everywhere: he’s Clint Eastwood, enduring cultural icon, the gold standard of masculinity and a talented, respected filmmaker in his own right. In 1958, Eastwood took on the lead role in the Western TV series Rawhide, but he truly made his mark in Sergio Leone’s 1964 classic, A Fistful of Dollars. Two more films followed in the spaghetti Western trilogy, capped off with The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. In the 1970s, Eastwood’s career soared, as he took on the role of Dirty Harry – and made his directorial debut with 1971’s Play Misty for Me. Eastwood is arguably one of the most successful actors-turned-directors, winning Best Director Oscars for Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby. Unforgiven, in which Eastwood played a former bandit who reluctantly returns to his old ways to pay off his farm, probably marked the point at which Eastwood cemented his position as “badass grandpa”. Like Connery, Eastwood had no trouble with the ladies, romancing Rene Russo (24 years his junior) in In the Line of Fire. He’s got a softer side too, co-composing the soundtracks for most of his films, but when he says “get off my lawn”, you can bet he means it.

MORGAN FREEMAN

Born: 1937

60 in Hard Rain (1998)

68 in Edison Force (2006)

70 in Wanted (2008)

72 in RED (2010)

73 in Oblivion (2013)

He’s the man with the dulcet voice, the go-to narrator who’ll make anything from penguin migrations to the failing war on drugs sound suitably epic. Freeman has carved out a career niche as the all-knowing mentor figure with a twinkle in his eye and while he isn’t the first name that comes to mind when one thinks “action hero”, he’s done more than his fair share of butt-kicking. “Maybe I just gravitate towards gravitas,” he once said. He’s driven Miss Daisy and he’s played God and has also appeared in various action films where he doesn’t get to do much shooting or running (the Dark Knight trilogy, Olympus Has Fallen and Unleashed come to mind). That said, he’s played an armoured truck thief caught in the mother of all thunderstorms, was the coolly vicious head of a cabal of assassins, was an ex-CIA agent labelled “retired: extremely dangerous” and was the leader of a small group of human survivors on a post-apocalyptic earth. And he uttered what is probably the greatest Oscar-related quote ever: “Is there a movie I think I should have won the Oscar for? Yeah. All of them." He’s had his “senior moments”, memorably catching some shut-eye during an interview for Now You See Me, but you can bet that we all get shivers when he yells “shoot this mother**ker!”

SYLVESTER STALLONE

Born: 1946

59 in Rocky Balboa (2006)

61 in Rambo (2008)

63 in The Expendables (2010)

65 in The Expendables 2 (2012)

66 in Bullet to the Head (2013)

66 in Escape Plan (2013)

The Italian Stallion skyrocketed to stardom with 1976’s Rocky, which won Best Picture at the Oscars and garnered Stallone Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor Oscar nominations. However, Stallone wasn’t destined to become a feted method-acting star of prestige pictures, but to become an action hero – which is fine by us. After a string of ho-hum action flicks, Stallone proved he had some fight in him yet when he returned to his two most iconic roles, that of Rocky Balboa and John Rambo, in 2006 and 2008 respectively, also directing both films. 2010 saw the release of the first instalment in Stallone’s nostalgia-driven Expendables franchise, an exercise in getting the gang back together. Witnessing the likes of Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Terry Crews, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger et al sharing the screen was a thrill for fans of old-school action flicks everywhere. 2012’s The Expendables 2 added the afore-mentioned Chuck Norris to the roster and had Jean-Claude Van Damme pulling villain duty. This year, The Expendables 3 will hit screens, boasting a bigger line-up than ever, with Wesley Snipes, Antonio Banderas and Harrison Ford joining the crew, up against Mel Gibson and Robert Davi as villains. Next to his hand and footprints in the forecourt of the Chinese Theatre in L.A., Stallone wrote “keep punching, America!” and with those ever-bulging biceps, he’s certainly taken his own advice to heart.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER

Born: 1947

64 in The Expendables 2 (2012)

65 in The Last Stand (2013)

65 in Escape Plan (2013)

66 in Sabotage (2014)

66 in The Expendables 3 (2014)

You know we couldn’t put Sylvester Stallone on the list without giving a tip of the hat to his rival-turned-best-bud Arnold Schwarzenegger. The bodybuilder/politician/actor is arguably even more of a larger-than-life figure than Stallone is. After all, he’s left an indelible impact on popular culture with roles like John Matrix, Dutch Schaefer, Conan the Barbarian and the Terminator, his endless string of quotable one liners, impressive feats of strength, willingness to (often awkwardly) dabble in comedy and the wonder of seeing political commentators say the words “Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger” with a straight face. Most moviegoers readily forgave him for his personal transgressions that made the news when Schwarzenegger left office and leapt back into movies, which is testament to his enduring popularity. His cameo in the first Expendables film was a taste of things to come, and he was given more screen time in the second outing. Plus, 2013 saw Schwarzenegger and Stallone get a proper team-up movie in the form of Escape Plan. He’s not slowing down this year, with action-thriller Sabotage hitting theatres soon and the third Expendables film following that. Schwarzenegger certainly wasn’t lying when he promised “I’ll be back” – rare for a politician!

HARRISON FORD

Born: 1942

59 in K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)

63 in Firewall (2006)

65 in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

68 in Cowboys and Aliens (2011)

71 in The Expendables 3 (2014)

With two iconic roles in blockbuster franchises to his name, Harrison Ford is one of the biggest movie stars of his generation. The carpenter-turned-actor is both the charming rogue space pirate (who shoots first) and the adventurer archaeologist who favours a whip and a revolver over a trowel. In addition to those landmark genre parts, Ford is a respectable actor in his own right, snagging an Oscar nomination for Witness. Ford is a badass grandpa in real life and not just in the movies, too. An avid aviation enthusiast, he assisted Teton County, Wyoming authorities on two helicopter rescue missions in his Bell 407. No word on whether he has ever said “GET OFF MY PLANE!” in real life. Ford has built a reputation as something of a curmudgeon, due to the wariness with which he regards overzealous Star Wars and Indiana Jones fans. “Am I grumpy? I might be. But I think maybe sometimes it's misinterpreted,” he said. Ford also angrily confronted Indonesian forestry minister Zulkifi Hasan while making a documentary on climate change. Besides a likely return to the Han Solo role for Star Wars Episode VII, Ford will join the Expendables 3 line-up, replacing Bruce Willis (with whom Sylvester Stallone had a falling out over Willis’ pay). Everyone probably agrees that it’s an upgrade.

JEFF BRIDGES

Born: 1949

58 in Iron Man (2008)

60 in Tron Legacy (2010)

60 in True Grit (2010)

63 in R.I.P.D. (2013)

63 in Seventh Son (release delayed to 2015)

Jeff Bridges has been acting for over five decades, coming from a family of actors including father Lloyd, mother Dorothy and brother Beau. To get an idea of the scope of his career, take a gander at this factoid: at 22, Bridges became one of the youngest actors ever nominated for an Oscar, for The Last Picture Show. And at age 60, he became one of the oldest actors to win, taking home Best Actor for Crazy Heart. His most famous role is probably that of Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski in the Coen Brothers’ cult favourite comedy The Big Lebowski, and traces of the Dude can be found in most of his performances since. Bridges suited up as the supervillain Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger, taking on Robert Downey, Jr.’s Tony Stark in Iron Man. He revisited the role of Kevin Flynn from 1982’s Tron in the 2010 sequel Tron: Legacy. By way of visual effects wizardry, Bridges also played Flynn’s physically younger doppelganger Clu. He reunited with the Coen Brothers for the remake of True Grit, taking on the Rooster Cogburn role famously inhabited by the Duke himself, John Wayne. Bridges played a trigger-happy cowboy again in R.I.P.D. (it was a hammier performance). Bridges has completed filming the fantasy action flick Seventh Son, in which he plays a powerful wizard.  The film has been delayed multiple times and will eventually be released in February 2015. Married to his wife Susan for 36 years, Bridges had this to say, “Sticking with a marriage. That's true grit, man.”

CHARLES BRONSON

Born: 1921

63 in Death Wish 3 (1985)

65 in Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987)

66 in Messenger of Death (1988)

71 in The Sea Wolf (1993)

72 in Death Wish V: The Face of Death (1994)

The late Charles Dennis Buchinsky, better known as Charles Bronson, is a bona fide old-school cinematic tough guy, famously describing his appearance as “like a quarry someone has dynamited”. When he died in 2003 at the age of 81, Bronson had left behind a legacy of silver screen badassery in an array of Westerns, war movies and, of course, revenge flicks. Bronson served in the U.S. Army Air Forces in the Second World War and received a purple heart. A memorable early appearance was in the horror flick House of Wax (no, not the one with Paris Hilton. The original!) as the silent henchman to Vincent Price’s sculptor/serial killer. He hit the big time with war movies The Great Escape and The Dirty Dozen, but truly became an icon with the role of vigilante Paul Kersey in the Death Wish films. “Audiences like to see the bad guys get their comeuppance,” Bronson said and boy, Kersey sure gave it to them. Bronson would play the architect-turned-gun-toting-avenger in four more films. Like Chuck Norris, Bronson starred in many low-budget movies for Cannon Films. The notorious British prisoner and bare-knuckle fighter Michael Peterson changed his name to “Charles Bronson” on the advice of his fight promoter, in spite of Peterson having never seen a Charles Bronson movie.

DANNY TREJO

Born: 1944

58 in Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)

65 in Machete (2010)

67 in Bad Ass (2012)

68 in Dead in Tombstone (2013)

68 in Machete Kills (2013)

With over 250 movie and TV roles to his name, Danny Trejo is undoubtedly a B-movie icon, and the guy just keeps trucking. Tough, grizzled and unfazed, Trejo isn’t just putting on a tough guy façade for the camera: he was a teenage drug addict, bank robber and convict before turning over a new leaf as a drug counsellor – in fact, that’s how he got his first acting role in Runaway Train, counselling a kid working on the film when he was approached to be an extra. “I just totally got hooked. I found my calling…For the first half of my life, I went to prison for being a bad guy. Now they’re paying me to be a bad guy,” Trejo said. After years of playing bit parts, Trejo took the title role in Machete, continuing his long-time collaboration with director (and second cousin) Robert Rodriguez. Machete had its origins as a mock-trailer in the throwback exploitation double bill Grindhouse, and it played on Trejo’s image as a violent, nigh-superhuman Federale agent, gifted with the bladed weapon that is his namesake. He has seven films coming out in 2014, ranging from Muppets Most Wanted to vigilante thriller Bullet. Rodriguez has said that he views Danny Trejo as something of a Mexican Charles Bronson and he certainly wouldn’t be too far off.

Homefront

For F*** Magazine

HOMEFRONT

Director: Gary Fleder
Cast:         Jason Statham, James Franco, Winona Ryder, Kate Bosworth, Rachelle Lefevre, Frank Grillo, Clancy Brown, Omar Miller, Izabela Vidovic
Genre: Action, Thriller
Run Time: 90 mins
Opens: 5 December 2013
Rating: M18 (Coarse Language, Violence and Sexual Scene)

When we were taught about the evils of drugs in school and all the horrible things narcotics can do to a person’s body, what didn’t receive as much attention in the classroom were the scary, scary people who manufacture and deal said narcotics. The recently-concluded television series Breaking Bad chronicled Walter White’s journey from regular high-school chemistry teacher to treacherous “cook”. In Homefront, Jason Statham comes face to face with some “cooks” of a slightly different variety.

Statham plays Phil Broker, an undercover DEA agent who gets embedded in a biker gang and orchestrates a violent drug bust, resulting in him becoming none too popular and having to lay low. Broker and his daughter Maddy (Vidovic) relocate to the sleepy town of Rayville, Louisiana. Maddy fights back when she’s bullied on the playground, riling the bully’s mother Cassie Bodine (Bosworth). This draws attention to mysterious new neighbour Broker, which isn’t good news as Cassie’s brother Gator (Franco) is a notorious meth kingpin who operates a meth lab with his girlfriend Sheryl (Ryder). Broker must act when the life he tried to escape returns to threaten him – and his daughter.

Homefront is directed by Gary Fleder, from a screenplay by Sylvester Stallone, based on Vietnam vet author Chuck Logan’s novel. The script, which Stallone had written with the intent of playing the lead in mind, sat on a shelf for a while until he selected Statham to replace him in front of the camera. It’s easy to forget that Stallone was nominated for an Oscar for writing Rocky, so he does have typewriter cred. The script is serviceable, not remarkable by any means, and the more tender moments between Broker and his daughter do come off feeling a little forced.

Cinematographer Theo van de Sande offers up some pretty images of Broker and Maddy on horseback and helps juxtapose the beauty of the idyllic bayou with the nastiness of the backwoods denizens who call it home. Throughout most of the film, Statham shows off his hand-to-hand combat skills and, while quick-cutting and shaky cam is employed during the fights, it isn’t overused to the point of nausea. The film’s conclusion is that of a generic action movie, replete with a car chase, shootouts and pyrotechnics, but it is decently-staged.

Statham has become known as an actor who pretty much plays the same guy in all of his films. While Homefront won’t be the movie he will be remembered for, it gives him a chance to do something a wee bit different – just not too different. Here, he’s more Papa Wolf than vengeful badass and it brings to mind Snitch from earlier this year, in which Dwayne Johnson tried something similar. Mostly though, Phil Broker is the standard-issue Statham tough guy. You might be thinking “What’s a Brit doing in the Bayou?” Fleder said of the decision to have Statham speak as he normally does, “I love the idea of (keeping) Jason's natural British accent because it made him more of an outsider. It made him more threatening as an exotic presence in this town." The tactic is pretty effective. Vidovic doesn’t quite stand out from the many other child actors who have played similar roles in action flicks, but she’s okay.

Franco has proven himself as an interesting actor, having dabbled in everything from writing to directing to creating art to giving guest lectures in addition to acting. He’s also proven he can play an entertaining psychopath and does make for an adequate villain here. He doesn’t go all out with the scenery-chewing and isn’t as terrifying as he could’ve been, but he’s good. Ryder plays against type, more white-trash chick than elegant goth girl, and Kate Bosworth looks threadbare as a redneck mama constantly on edge. Thing is, everyone’s teeth look way too good, given that the characters are meth users.



Homefront isn’t anything we haven’t seen before but it is sufficiently different from Statham’s regular “action flick of the week” output and we get to see him as both protective dad and kicker of ass. Is screenwriter Stallone’s Expendables co-star better in the role than the Italian Stallion himself would have been? It’s hard to say but it’s a casting choice that isn’t a horrible misfire.

SUMMARY: Homefront is conventional but sturdy and Jason Statham is a Papa Wolf any daughter would want beating up the drug dealers to protect her.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong

Escape Plan

For F*** Magazine

ESCAPE PLAN

Director: Mikael Håfström

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Caviezel, Vincent D’Onofrio, Vinnie Jones, Sam Neill, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Amy Ryan

Genre: Action, Thriller

Run Time: 116 mins

Opens: 24 October 2013

Rating: NC16 (Coarse Language and Some Violence)

   

        Sometimes, a movie’s biggest selling point is what two names are next to each other on the poster. Think Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Now, how long have action movie junkies been hankering for the names “Sylvester Stallone” and “Arnold Schwarzenegger” to sit side by side on a stylish one sheet? Yes, they’ve rubbed shoulders on screen in the Expendables movies, but they didn’t get the limelight all to themselves there. Escape Plan offers up the team-up everyone has been waiting for, but was the years of anticipation worth it?

            Ray Breslin (Stallone) breaks out of prisons for a living as the co-owner of Breslin-Clark Security, helping federal prisons identify and tighten weaknesses in their security. He does this with external help in the form of Abigail Ross (Ryan) and “techno-thug” Hush (Jackson). Lester Clark (D’Onofrio), the “Clark” in the company’s name, sends Breslin on a mysterious assignment to test the strength of a top-secret, off-the-books, human rights-violating prison. Unfortunately for him, he ends up double crossed with seemingly no chance of getting out. Smartly-dressed evil warden Hobbs (Caviezel) keeps a firm thumb over everyone in the facility, nicknamed “the Tomb”. Breslin’s only bid for escape is a partnership with fellow inmate Emil Rottmayer (Schwarzenegger), though even then freedom seems far out of reach.

            Escape Plan has an effective, high-concept premise and what seems like a great set-up for an action hero union between the Italian Stallion and the Austrian Oak. It does take on something of a throwback tone, attempting to emulate the action thrillers of the 80s and 90s which the target audience of this film would be dyed in the wool fans of. Production designer Barry Chusid’s sets have a tinge of dystopian science fiction flavour to them and the scary expressionless masks the prison guards wear bring to mind the android police in THX: 1138.

            Unfortunately, the pay-off here is kinda disappointing. For a team-up with such build-up attached to it, the film doesn’t live up to the expectations associated with “Sly and Ahnold, together (for real) at last”. The plot holes begin to stack up after a while and the middle of the film is very much a procedural with Breslin going around piecing together the plan of the title. The greatest action films have at least two or three memorable action set pieces – this doesn’t really have any, most of the action scenes are pretty much brawls in the mess hall. Even the climactic escape attempt doesn’t have the creativity or innovation that a sequence with Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the thick of battle deserves.

            All that said, it truly is nice to see the two living legends working in tandem for the duration of the movie. The two have had a well-documented rivalry that began almost the moment they met, which has eventually turned into something of a friendship and they do share quite the bromance here. Both characters seem to get along pretty well from the get-go, so they aren’t played against each other though they do have a staged fistfight. Ray Breslin is depicted as a genius, putting his deductive and observational prowess and MacGyver-ing skills on display. Arnold’s actually even better here than he was in his post-politics comeback flick The Last Stand earlier this year, clearly having a ball. If you’ve always wanted to see him recite The Lord’s Prayer in German for some reason, this is the movie for you.

            Naturally, he recites said prayer in the presence of Jim Caviezel, best known as Jesus in The Passion of the Christ. Movies of this type require villains you’ll love to hate, and Caviezel could well be the best thing about Escape Plan. Any prison movie needs a sadistic warden and Caviezel does a fine job as a truly despicable character and he is just theatrical enough. Caviezel is known for generally giving one-note performances but he gamely chews up the scenery and spits it out with entertaining relish. Vinnie Jones is a serviceable brawny henchman though we don’t really see a lot of him and Sam Neill plays it straight as the prison doctor whom Breslin has to get on his side, lending a touch of humanity to the overblown macho proceedings even though the characterisation doesn’t make a lot of sense. This reviewer was concerned that there’d be too much 50 Cent in this; thank goodness there isn’t. There isn’t a lot of room for the development of any other inmates besides Breslin and Rottmayer really, though Faran Tahir is good as Javed, a pious Muslim inmate who eventually assists in the breakout.

            If you’re a genre fan, there are things in this film to like and it is adequately entertaining, but at the same time there seem to be buckets full of missed opportunity. Taking these two guys and locking them up seems to restrict what they’re able to do; the nature of the “prison escape” plot prohibiting a truly extravagant, eye-catching stunt or chase. The reveal of the reason Breslin is locked in the Tomb in the first place didn’t sit too well with this reviewer. In the end there’s a degree of escapism and if you lock your disbelief in a cold dark place, you could have a good time with it – and it helps that Stallone and Schwarzenegger do seem to be having a good time too.

SUMMARY: We expected more from the proper teaming up of Rambo and the T-800, but don’t lock this one up and throw away the key – parts of it are fun and Jim Caviezel darn near steals the show.

RATING: 3 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong