Movie Review - The Gunman

The Gunman (2015)

Starring Sean Penn, Ray Winstone, Mark Rylance, Jasmine Trinca, Idris Elba, and Javier Bardem

Directed by Pierre Morel

***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

While not as awful as the poor reviews made it out to be, the biggest flaw of The Gunman is that it lacks originality.  After initially attempting to play out like an environmental/sociopolitical message movie (and seeing that it was co-written by Sean Penn, that's not a big surprise), the film thankfully shifts to an all-out action piece.  While that change of pace is certainly welcome (because the preachy heaviness of the film's opening minutes isn't amusing in the slightest), it's also the center of the flick's problem.  Director Pierre Morel also helmed Taken, and The Gunman feels like that film's sibling as an older man seeks revenge against people who are out to take him down.

Sean Penn is Terrier who in 2006 was a member of a assassination team who killed Congo's Minister of Mining and then is forced to go into hiding to prevent his identity from being revealed.  (The mining aspect is where the political and environmental concepts rear their heads, but that's fortunately abandoned rather quickly.)  Eight years later, Terrier is working for an African mining company when a group of vigilantes arrives at his worksite intent on killing him.  Terrier escapes, but must set out to find who wants him dead and why they've waited so long to do him in.

Surprisingly, Penn is capable of being the action star, bringing a bit of inward turmoil to Terrier that we don't often see in flicks like this.  That said, the character doesn't quite feel as developed as he should be.  Sure, he's given some odd quirks and a dire medical diagnosis that he must overcome, but I lacked a connection to his plight that could've come from a bit more deepening of the character.  The action sequences are well shot and well-paced, but I began to lose interest in the film's final act which is never a good sign for a film in this genre.  The supporting cast -- Ray Winstone, Javier Bardem, Mark Rylance -- is solid and certainly add to the quality of the film, but in the end The Gunman doesn't quite develop into the piece it could've been.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

Starring Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Adam Scott, Kathryn Hahn, Shirley MacLaine, and Sean Penn

Directed by Ben Stiller

There's a lot to admire about Ben Stiller's directorial effort The Secret Life of Walter Mitty in which the daydreaming title character -- a photography manager at Life magazine -- ponders all kinds of fantastical adventures that showcase his imaginative romantic and heroic sides.  However, once the unique direction and pleasant acting are pushed aside, you're left with a film that admittedly has a lot of heart, but very little story and substance.  While the technical achievements and unique execution of the film are stellar, I found myself wishing that the film was about twenty minutes shorter which would've certainly condensed the simplistic story down to a length that would've been more successful.

At the film's outset, Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller) has just discovered that Life magazine is shutting down its print edition and many of its employees will be given the pink slip by incoming transitional manager Ted Hendricks (Adam Scott).  When Life's premiere photographer Sean O'Connell (Sean Penn) sends Walter a new set of photos, he also includes a letter (which he also forwards to Life's bosses) stating that Picture #25 exemplifies the "Quintessence of Life" (or perhaps the "Quintessence of Life") and should be given prominent placement on the cover of the magazine's final print issue.  The problem -- Walter never actually received Picture #25 or, if he did, he seems to have misplaced it.  Obviously, with his job on the line, he can't reveal this to Ted who wants to see the picture ASAP.  So, with the help of his crush Cheryl (Kristen Wiig), Walter sets out to find where exactly the elusive Sean O'Connell is located in order to try and track down Picture #25.

As previously mentioned, Walter is a huge daydreamer and prior to heading out on his mission to find Sean, his simplistic and lackadaisical life is only ever brightened by the vivid imaginative creations in his mind.  These fantasies are cleverly realized by director Stiller although they begin to wear thin prior to Walter setting out on his trek.  Once on his journey, Walter's daydreams nearly become realities as he's forced to find bravery in himself that he never knew he possessed.  While that message came through loud and clear -- and I found it refreshingly simplistic yet surprisingly grown-up for a PG-rated film -- the outrageousness of certain aspects of the plot dragged down Walter's tale.  His journey to become more courageous, outspoken, and self-assured didn't resonate as much as I would have liked.

As an actor, Stiller is fine (although I think part of the aforementioned lack of resonance does stem a little bit from the fact that he makes his character's emotional journey seem a little too obvious), but the real star is Kristen Wiig who is utterly charming as Walter's crush Cheryl.  Anytime she was on the screen, I found myself smiling and truly rooting for Walter to succeed.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Gangster Squad

Gangster Squad (2013)

Starring Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Nick Nolte, Emma Stone, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi, Robert Patrick, Michael Peña, Mirielle Enos, and Sean Penn

Directed by Ruben Fleischer

Los Angeles.  1949.  Gangster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) and his goons have taken control of everything and everyone.  The cops.  The politicians.  The drug dealers.  Even a good cop like Sgt. John O'Mara (Josh Brolin) is being told by his superiors to let Mickey be.  However, police chief Bill Parker (Nick Nolte) hasn't been bought by the mob and he commissions O'Mara to form a gangster squad of cops under the table to infiltrate all aspects of Cohen's shady dealings.

I must say that two-thirds of the way through the "based on a true story" Gangster Squad, I was digging the slight buddy comedy-retro action vibe that was going on amidst O'Mara and his cronies played by Ryan Gosling, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi, Robert Patrick, and Michael Peña.  There were enough hints of humor, drama, and action that it made each scene leading up to the final act interesting enough to not feel so derivative of movies past.  However, when the final act kicks in and the Gangster Squad actually comes face to face with Cohen, the film falls apart for me.  The action scenes prove to be bland and the big showdown with Cohen himself is a bit of a letdown.  No one was ever going to say Gangster Squad was fantastic, but it had potential that it somewhat squanders in the end.

However, the film has a real solid cast going for it.  I wanted to dislike Sean Penn immensely because I can't really stand the pretentious guy in real life, but he makes a decent bad guy here, and Mirielle Enos brings just enough of a stock character to life in her role as O'Mara's wife, helping to humanize and give a more well-rounded portrayal of her husband.

The stars, really, are Josh Brolin and his gang.  Brolin's actually the lead here (despite the fact that I thought this was going to be Ryan Gosling's show all the way) and he steps up to the plate in a role that, in a better written film, may have had potential to be something really special.  Still, as it stands now, he's completely compelling and makes his quiet scenes with Enos have just as much meaning as the ones with his cop buddies.  And it's in those scenes with his cronies that the film really springs to life.  Brolin, Gosling, Ribisi, Patrick, Mackie, and Peña really make each other better and play off each other quite well.

Like I said, though, the film flounders in the final act.  Perhaps it's because the film's end was reshot after 2012's horrible Aurora, CO, movie theater shooting and the whole thing just didn't come together, or perhaps the screenwriter just didn't have a solid way to conclude the flick.  While the first two-thirds certainly aren't perfect (a love story between Gosling and Emma Stone should've really been left on the editing room floor), Gangster Squad is a fun ride for about seventy minutes and a bit of a letdown in its final thirty.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - The Tree of Life

The Tree of Life (2011)

Starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain, and Hunter McCracken

Directed by Terrence Malick

Misfortune befalls the good...not just the bad...We are often uprooted like a tree...But we must go on.

Right off the bat, let me just say that I don't think I'm smart enough to watch The Tree of Life and fully understand it.  It's a movie that is in need of Cliff's Notes in order to fully get what director-writer Terrence Malick was trying to get across in his dream-like visual style.  In that respect, does anyone really want to go to a movie and feel like they're back in high school reading things like Shakespeare or Chaucer where you can't help but think you learn more by reading the notes that accompany the main works than the actual work itself?  I'm sure were I to watch the movie again, more details that seemed like they were throwaways in the initial viewing would take on more meaning.  Of course, any second viewing of a film reveals things that weren't noticed the first time, but I'm not sure where I stand on the notion that you should have to watch a film a second time in order to understand it's overarching themes.

It's not that I came away from The Tree of Life completely lost...I get that it's a film about grief, about relationships between children and their parents, and about faith.  I understand that at its core is the notion that death is simply a part of life that shouldn't be feared, but rather accepted.  And as I sit here typing out this review, I'm actually growing more and more appreciative of the film and the rather beautiful way it tackles these issues.  [I'm particularly impressed at the way it doesn't shy away from this notion of an all-powerful being (ie. God) and his role in Life.]

However, despite all this, I did find a major problem with the actual plot of the film -- yes, there is a plot, if you can find it amidst the interesting camerawork and incessant (though rather eloquent) voiceovers.  At its heart, The Tree of Life looks at the relationship between father and son and, in this film, we are supposed to take away that Mr. O'Brien (Brad Pitt) is much too harsh to his three boys, including Jack (Hunter McCracken) whom the film tends to focus on.  However -- and this is the major issue I have with the movie -- I never got the sense that Brad Pitt's character was a bad guy...in fact, there were moments where I felt he was oddly affectionate for what the viewing audience stereotypically thinks of when it comes to a 1950s father.  He wanted what was best for his sons and tried to show them how to be the best boys they could be.  Ultimately, this "tumultuous" relationship proved problematic for me because I never really got a sense as to why Jack was so angry with his father (and, in turn, his mother [played by Jessica Chastain] for putting up with what he felt were his father's faults).  The scars that the father left on his sons didn't seem legitimate.

I simply don't think this is a flaw that I'd be able to overcome on repeated viewings, but I can see myself taking on repeated viewings of this nonetheless.  I'm over a day removed from my initial watch and I still find myself thinking about the movie certainly because of the very vagueness that I critiqued in the opening paragraph.  I found much of the film beautiful to look at and I found the highly spiritual content welcoming and rather thought-provoking...SPOILER...the final scenes in which an adult Jack (Sean Penn) wanders around a heaven-like environment in which he learns that his family is still living on a different spiritual plane were particularly spiritually invigorating.  END SPOILER  However, in a film dealing with grief and the pain that comes along with that emotion, there is an odd detachment from the characters here.  I was never really moved by what I saw onscreen via the characters themselves, but the visual images were oftentimes quite thought-provoking.

Acting is decent overall with Brad Pitt continuing his rather positive year thanks to this and Moneyball. Jessica Chastain is seemingly in everything this year, but this is the first movie I've seen of hers and while she was perfectly adequate as the mother, I'll have to refrain from saying that she's the new "It Girl" as she is called in some parts.  Hunter McCracken was fine in his first acting role, but as I've mentioned before, I find the character a flawed one insomuch as I couldn't quite figure out why he despised his parents as much as he did.

Still, The Tree of Life is an interesting watch.  Kudos to Terrance Malick for creating a dream-like atmosphere containing minimal dialog and interesting camera cuts and movements.  It's for the visuals and the spirituality angle that would cause me to watch this again...and I just might in the near future.  I'll end with a rather simplistic, but beautiful quote from the flick that stuck with me for some reason post-viewing:

The only way to be happy is to love.  Unless you love your life will flash by.

The RyMickey Rating:  B