Movie Review: SEEKING JUSTICE

SEEKING JUSTICE

2012
R


"I represent an organization that loves this city, and we're tired of watching it go to hell."
-- Simon

Seeking Justice is a 2012 action thriller directed by Roger Donaldson that centers around a story of drama and misdirection in New Orleans. On her way home from her orchestra's practice, the young Laura Gerard (January Jones) is viciously attacked and raped by an unknown man. She is rushed to the hospital where her husband Will (Nicolas Cage) soon joins her by her side. As he reels from the situation, he is approached by a mysterious man named Simon (Guy Pearce) who tells him that he and his organization can "take care of" the man who assaulted Laura, and in return, Will would only owe the organization a small favor somewhere down the road. Will reluctantly agrees and soon learns that the man has been killed. While Laura recovers from her injuries, Will is approached by the organization with the assignment to murder an alleged child pornographer. He goes along with the plan but chickens out at the last minute; however, the man he had followed still manages to die. In the aftermath, Will is held accountable for the man's death, but he soon learns that the recently deceased was actually an investigative reporter who had been trying to expose the organization for its real identity. This spurs Will onto a wild goose chase as he tries to fight against the men who have been ordering him throughout the film.

I can honestly say I knew nothing of this film as I entered the theater. My mother had mentioned to me that she had seen a trailer for the film and that it looked intriguing, so I agreed to accompany her to the theater. Sometimes, going into a film blind is the best way to experience a new motion picture because you cannot go in with any predisposed notions about the trailer, the cast or the crew. That being said, I do have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with the effort that Seeking Justice puts forth.

The screenplay doesn't necessarily offer anything terribly new, but it does enough to hook the viewer into the storyline and keep them engaged and guessing until the film's final moments. It throws a few twists and turns that I wasn't really expecting, and for that, I have to applaud its effort. It's difficult to bring something completely original to the table in today's cinematic landscape, and although we've seen all these pieces before, I felt as though the screenwriters succeeded in placing them in a different sequence than is the norm for an action thriller. The film's pacing is a little bit scattered. At times, it seems very fast-paced, but at other times, it seems to drag on and on, and you start to check your watch in wonder of how much longer it might take to reach the end credits. If there's any knock against the screenplay, it's the story's pacing, but I realize a lot of that may have to do with the direction than with the screenplay.

The acting is serviceable, but it's really nothing to cheer. Cage offers a better performance than is his standard fare in the past few years, but with how bad he's been recently, that's really not saying much. Still, his character is only laughable once or twice throughout the course of the film, so that's a step in the right direction, I suppose. Jones offers a decent performance as well, but I personally thought her character was a tad bit under-utilized. I thought a little more depth could've been added to Laura Gerard throughout the film, but for what she's given, Jones does well. If anyone steals the show, it's Pearce, whose villain is equal parts intelligent and deranged. It seems in today's cinematic society that many of the antagonistic characters seem to have a warped sense of reality and justice, and Pearce's character fits that mold quite well. Fortunately, he fills the character's shoes and runs with the insanity, and it makes for quite the performance.

I'm sure there won't be a ton of people rushing to their local theater to see Seeking Justice, and I can't necessarily recommend it wholeheartedly. Still, if you have a passing moment, it might be worth the watch. It offers mindless entertainment, and although it's an ultimately forgettable film, I don't think you'll really come out of it all that disappointed. It's better than the rest of the critics are giving it credit, so if you can begin to believe this critic, then you just might enjoy this one.

Movie Review Summary
Grade: C
1 Thumb Up

Movie Review: X-MEN: FIRST CLASS

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS

2011
PG-13

X-Men: First Class is a 2011 superhero action film directed by Matthew Vaughn that serves as a prequel to the 2000 film X-Men and its subsequent sequels. The film opens in the mid-1940s, giving a little exposition for our two male leads: Charles Xavier (to be played by James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr (to be played by Michael Fassbender). We then fast forward nearly twenty years to the early 1960s, where Erik has spent the majority of his life looking to avenge his mother's death by the hand of a man named Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon). Meanwhile, Charles is finishing his doctoral dissertation about genetic mutation in humans while living with his seemingly-adopted "sister" and friend Raven (Jennifer Lawrence). On the night of his dissertation presentation, Charles meets a woman named Moira MacTaggart (Rose Byrne), who tells him of a matter of major security: Shaw is dealing with the Russians in order to start what looks to be a third World War. Charles and Raven accompany Moira to stop Shaw's plan and meet Erik in the process. After learning that each of them is a mutant, the three agree to join forces with the CIA in order to put a stop to Shaw's plans. By recruiting a number of mutants from around the United States, Charles and Erik assemble a crackpot team to do battle against Shaw and his loyal followers, all in the hopes of preventing a massive nuclear war that could wipe out the face of humanity.

When I first heard about plans to produce a prequel to the X-Men franchise, I can honestly say that I was a little unnerved. I had never been a huge fan of the X-Men films, but I had thoroughly enjoyed all of them (the Wolverine spin-off included, if only for Hugh Jackman's charisma). As the cast list slowly started to trickle through the grapevine, however, I found myself becoming more and more anxious for the film's release. With stellar actors like McAvoy, Fassbender and Bacon headlining the cast, I assumed we'd be in for a pleasant treat. Still, taking a story back to its roots can be a daunting task, and I've seen some "origin" stories simply crash and burn. Fortunately for us, First Class is, as one of my readers so blatantly put it, "a first class movie."

Let's start with the acting since I've already mentioned it a little bit. McAvoy proves to be the perfect fit for a young Charles Xavier, in my opinion. He brings the grace and the attitude that Patrick Stewart brought to the role in previous films, and he doesn't forget to turn on the charm now and again. It's a different look at Xavier, however. We get to see him as a young man who, despite all of his ambitions, desperately wants to fit into society as a normal individual. Fassbender was an equally good choice to take over the role of a young Magneto. His character is benefited by one of the larger character arcs in the film, giving Fassbender the opportunity to strut his stuff a little bit more than the rest. Although his Irish accent starts to slip out a little bit towards the end of the movie, he mostly stays on an even keel and provides a strong and surprisingly emotional performance. Recent Academy Award nominee Lawrence gives a decent performance, but having seen her in Winter's Bone makes it a little difficult for me to believe her as Raven/Mystique because the characters are so glaringly different. It took me a little while, but I finally fell into her character and could believe her in that role. And what can I say about Kevin Bacon? If anyone's stealing the show here, it's him. He and Fassbender work their multilingual magic throughout the film; the difference, however, is that we all knew that Fassbender could rock it. When Bacon started spouting in German and Russian, I was simply blown away. He gets a lot more screen-time in the first hour of the film, but he makes the most of what he's given. Kudos, Mr. Bacon. I tip my hat to you.

Now, I could go on and on about every character in the film, but we're really being given a solid performance from every featured actor. And boy do we have a laundry list on our hands, folks. There's so many recognizable faces in this film that it was difficult for me to wrap my head around it all. Be on the lookout for the likes of Oliver Platt, Zoë Kravitz, January Jones, Olek Krupa and Michael Ironside. Oh, and there is one cameo that I'd rather not mention because it's probably the funniest part in the film. I'll leave it for the people who've already seen the film to know what I'm talking about.

In addition to the stellar acting ensemble, we're also getting a solid screenplay to bring the story to life. As I said earlier, it's almost like an origins story, in that we're getting a lot of the back story on our two main leads, and it's telling us how we get to the events that take place in the original X-Men film. I personally have always been rather fond of films that take true historical events and warp them a little bit, twisting them into an alternate reality (i.e., the entirety of 2009's Inglourious Basterds). This time, we're getting a crack at the Cuban Missile Crisis, a moment in U.S. history that could have easily spelled the certain doom of America. Fortunately, it never panned out extremely violently, but this screenplay takes a look at how it might have turned out had mutants been involved. It's a clever twist on history, and it makes for an interesting concept. That being said, the real meat of the screenplay comes in the exposition and the back-story for both Charles and Erik. While Erik's is a little grander and more drawn out, getting the in-depth look at the driving forces behind their personalities is quite a treat for the viewer.

Now, there's been a TV spot running around with a review that said that X-Men: First Class is better than 2008's The Dark Knight. I'd like to quash that right here and now: First Class is a great film, but it doesn't come close to touching the brilliance exhibited by Christopher Nolan's second Batman flick. So please, let the comparisons stop there. I'm not saying that First Class isn't good - it just doesn't reach the bar set by The Dark Knight. Still, I personally believe that First Class is the best X-Men film to date. As I said earlier, I was never huge on the previous films, but I always found them entertaining. This one, however, is another another plane entirely, and I mean that in the best way possible.

Movie Review Summary:
(I'm going to start giving my "score" for each film I review in addition to its grade. For a breakdown of how I "score" films, take a look at my grading system.)
Score: 8.5
Grade: A-
2 Thumbs Up

Movie Review: UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN

2011
PG-13

Unknown is a 2011 action thriller directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. It tells the story of Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson), a botanist on his way to Berlin to speak at a biotechnology conference. He and his wife Liz (January Jones) arrive in the city but accidentally leave Martin's briefcase at the airport. When he catches a cab to go back and get it, he gets into an accident that leaves him in a coma for four days, after which he cannot remember many of the events of the accident. As he starts to piece together his whereabouts, he remembers that his wife will be at the hotel. Martin goes to find her but finds that she seemingly doesn't know him and is with another man (Aidan Quinn) who also claims to be Dr. Martin Harris. Because the real (or his he?) Martin cannot provide any type of identification, he's thrown out of the hotel. After returning to the hospital, he's attacked by an unknown man but escapes. Perplexed, Martin finds a private investigator (Bruno Ganz) and the taxi driver from the crash - a girl named Gina (Diane Kruger) - to help him put all the pieces together.

Although I had planned on watching Unknown at some point in time, I didn't really have the intention of paying to see it in theaters. However, my friend Vivian and I decided to go see a movie and agreed to see whatever film was starting next, as long as it wasn't Hall Pass (because I saw it earlier today) or Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (because we're both afraid it might actually be good). Hence, we watched Unknown. I had heard about the mixed reviews going in, so I didn't really have much in terms of expectations. And sadly, it couldn't even meet the low bar I had set.

I'm going to start with the film's positives then go into the problems I had with it. For starters, there's actually a good storyline within the film; however, there's a very fine line between a "storyline" and a "screenplay," but more on that in a moment. The basic plot is effective, albeit a little slow in the early going. For the first ninety minutes, I was bored out of my mind. There wasn't much in terms of action, the story seemed rote and predictable, and all I wanted to do was fall asleep. Fortunately, the story kicks into overdrive in the last twenty to thirty minutes, actually providing a decent little twist. Sadly, it's not enough to save the film, but it was a valiant effort, I suppose.

The acting also isn't all that terrible. Jones and Kruger are easily the highlights of the film, both with their acting as well as their looks (c'mon, they're both gorgeous - get off me). But I'm sure there's few people going to see this movie without wanting to see Liam Neeson get down like he did in 2008's Taken. Don't get your hopes up, people. He has a couple of "fight" scenes, but the first was shot so shakily that I started to get dizzy, and the last is so anti-climactic that I couldn't really get into it. Oh, and then there's his acting when he's not fighting, but that goes into my biggest issue with the film...

Dialogue. Unknown has dreadfully terrible dialogue. Now, a good screenplay comprises of two facets: a good storyline or plot, and strong, realistic dialogue. Unknown has a decent - albeit flawed - storyline, but the dialogue is absolutely atrocious, especially for Neeson's character. The other characters have somewhat realistic dialogue, but something about Neeson's delivery accentuated just how terribly-written his character actually is. Well, his dialogue, at least. There's a couple of lines that had me on the verge of tears with laughter, but one towards the end of the film drove the last nail in the coffin. As the two Martin Harris's engage in battle, Neeson says, "I remember how to kill you...asshole." I know you can't know how bad the line is without actually seeing it, but something about Neeson's delivery of the line - with a deliberate pause between "you" and "asshole" - was the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak. Both Vivian and I were laughing. That's not really a good thing when you're trying to create an effective action thriller.

As much as I love Liam Neeson, I can't by any means recommend Unknown. I'm still not sure why he decided to reinvent himself as an action star, but I just hope it's not some kind of warped response to the passing of his wife, the late Natasha Richardson. I mean, this man is an Oscar winner, but now he's settling for this drivel. It's too bad, really. He has so much talent, but it doesn't come out in Unknown. Don't waste your money.

Movie Review Summary:

Grade: D+
1.5 Thumbs Down