Double Jeopardy

 Double Jeopardy (1999)

Starring Ashley Judd, Tommy Lee Jones, and Bruce Greenwood

Directed by Bruce Beresford

Written by David Weisberg and Douglas Cook

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Divergent

Divergent (2014)

Starring Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ashley Judd, Jai Courtney, Ray Stevenson, Zoë Kravitz, Miles Teller, Tony Goldwyn, Ansel Elgort, Maggie Q, Mekhi Phifer, and Kate Winslet

Directed by Neil Burger

I feel like it's wrong that I didn't hate Divergent.  In reality, it's a bit of a carbon copy of The Hunger Games franchise -- dystopian society in a ravaged United States, different segments of the population broken off into distinct groups, girl savior tries to take down the evil governmental figurehead.  Much to my surprise, however, I found Divergent an interesting enough start of a series of films.  Unfortunately, I'm not quite sure from this point forward how the films progress into something worth watching, but the first flick is at least moderately appealing.

As mentioned, the overarching premise of Divergent is that the residents of the United States -- or at least the residents in the walled city of Chicago -- are broken up into five groups.  Each group represents one of the following qualities -- smart, kind, honest, selfless, brave -- and when teens reach the age of sixteen they must choose which quality they will follow for the rest of their lives after taking a specially designed test that helps them hone in on where they most likely belong.  Teen sister and brother Beatrice (Shailene Woodley) and Caleb (Ansel Elgort) have grown up with parents (Ashley Judd and Tony Goldwyn) who belong to the community of Abnegation which controls the government, but at the Choosing Ceremony, Caleb joins Erudite (the "smart" clique which desires to run the government) and Beatrice joins Dauntless (the "brave" group which is essentially the law enforcement aspect of the society).  Upon joining Dauntless, Beatrice shortens her name to Tris and soon discovers that she may not be cut out for this new life.  However, once you've chosen your community, you're stuck there and if you don't fit, you'll be forced to become homeless out on the streets.

Tris is also faced with the notion that her initial test to determine which group she belonged in came back showing that she was "divergent" -- meaning that she doesn't belong to any one group.  Divergents are not looked upon in a positive light by Erudite leader Jeanine (Kate Winslet) who sees Divergents as too independently-minded and unwilling to kowtow to her wishes.  While Jeanine seemingly has everyone's best wishes at heart, her only goal is to push Erudite to the forefront of the community and she'll stop at nothing to see that happen.

Admittedly, it's all a bit ridiculous.  And it's all a bit of a rehash of The Hunger Games.  However, I did find myself intrigued by the plot.  Yes, Tris's training goes on for a bit too long and a romance with one of her fellow Dauntless colleagues seems forced and unnecessary (at least this early in the game), but I can't really say I was ever bored.  The acting is more than acceptable for a film like this -- meaning a film appealing to a youthful audience who may not care about such things -- and it elevates the flick to a higher level.

As I mentioned above, however, I can't quite see how this storyline carries on for three more films.  Quite honestly, the film concludes in a way that the story could've just ended and I'd have been fine with not discovering anything else about the community.  How they craft a tale that holds my interest in the future will be difficult and seemingly not possible.  I hope I'm proven wrong.  While Divergent isn't quite The Hunger Games in quality, it's certainly head over heels better than the Twilight saga.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Olympus Has Fallen

Olympus Has Fallen (2013)

Starring Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Rick Yune, Dylan McDermott, Finley Jacobsen, Melissa Leo, Radha Mitchell, Robert Forster, and Ashley Judd

Directed by Antoine Fuqua

There's a feeling of "blah" that permeates throughout Olympus Has Fallen.  To me, "blah" doesn't necessarily mean bad, but it certainly doesn't connote anything good either.  There's a blandness here across the whole board from the acting to the story to the direction.  The screenwriters choose a topical enemy here as North Korean terrorists come into Washington, D.C., and wreak huge amounts of havoc on the city itself before honing in on the White House and taking the President (played by Aaron Eckhart), Vice President, and a few other important uppity-ups hostage.  With the terrorists having killed every Secret Service agent in the White House, the Commander in Chief's one chance at survival is Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), the President's former head Secret Service who quit his job after a horrible car accident eighteen months prior left the President's wife (Ashley Judd) dead.  Banning went to work at a different government position to distance himself from the shame he felt after being unable to save the First Lady, but when D.C. comes under attack, he springs into action, kills a bunch of the invading North Koreans and makes his way into the White House where he does his best to get the President and his close confidantes to safety.

Olympus Has Fallen only works when it keeps its focus on Gerard Butler.  Butler isn't given a whole lot to do, but when he's kicking ass and taking names, it's fun to watch.  It's not that Butler's Banning does anything particularly fresh, but he's got a charisma that at least makes things entertaining.  The rest of the film is unfortunately, as previously mentioned, generically bland.  Famous actors -- Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Robert Forster, Ashley Judd -- appear for minutes and then fade into the background making us wonder how in the heck director Antoine Fuqua and the film's producers managed to snag them to appear in the film.

After watching this one, I'm kind of dreading the notion of watching this year's similarly themed White House Down...but now I kind of feel like I have to simply for comparisons sake.

The RyMickey Rating: C-