Movie Review - The Salvation

The Salvation (2015)

Starring Mads Mikkelsen, Eva Green, Eric Cantona, Mikael Persbrandt, Douglas Henshall, Michael Raymond-James, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Jonathan Pryce

Directed by Kristian Levring

"Out of the wreckage of the Danish defeat in the war of 1864, Jon and his brother crossed the Atlantic to forge a new future for themselves.  For seven years, they struggled to get a foothold in an unfamiliar land.

Seven years in which Jon longed for his wife, Marie, and their son.  Seven years of a family apart.  The year is 1871.  The country, America."

And with that somewhat oddly-worded opening, The Salvation begins its revenge-filled tale.  Unfortunately for Jon (Mads Mikkelsen), tragedy strikes as soon as his wife and young son come to America when a pair of men kill the new immigrants.  Jon swiftly does away with the two men, but his saddened emotional state doesn't have much time to deal with his actions as the brother (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) of one of the men Jon killed decides that the standard Old West dictum of "an eye for an eye" must be followed and begins to seek out Jon to end his life.

Westerns aren't really my cup of tea and The Salvation doesn't do much to change that notion.  It kept my attention for the most part, but the whole story has a heaviness (inherent in its plot, I realize) that makes it a bit difficult to truly enjoy.  Mads Mikkelsen is solid, nicely conveying his character's grief-stricken motivations, but much of the rest of the cast seems to be chewing up the scenery a little bit more than is necessary.  This one proves to be fine, but doesn't have a truly compelling reason for me to highly recommend it.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Red Dawn

Red Dawn (2012)

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Josh Peck, Adrianne Palicki, Isabel Lucas, Josh Hutcherson, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Directed by Dan Bradley

As a conservative, I probably should be falling head over heels for the remake of Red Dawn, a jingoistic Republican fantasy with a rallying cry for American freedom.  Hell, there's even a line in the film about a lesser military spending leading to a weakened national defense thereby allowing the North Koreans to invade the northwestern corner of the nation (or maybe all of the US...that was never really made clear), run rampant over the local governments, and begin the process of forcing us Americans to our knees.  But the fact remains that Red Dawn is an awful movie.  Horrible dialog.  Disappointing acting.  Poorly edited.  You name it and it was likely pretty pitiful.

The biggest problem isn't with the overarching story of the North Korean takeover of the US, but with the insignificant and poorly explicated character relationships.  Right off the bat, we're supposed to feel for brothers Jed and Mack Eckert (Chris Hemsworth and Josh Peck) because Jed's been off in Iraq and has left Mack at home.  I guess the separation caused some issues to develop, but their dad (Brett Cullen) tries to bring the two boys together.  And, of course, the story forces them to bond and become best buds.  There are two incredibly tired and hastily perfunctory love stories thrown into the mix as well, neither of which are developed enough to provide even a modicum of reason for them existing.  [I won't even get started on actresses Adrianne Palicki and Isabel Lucas and their "acting" here...although I will ask the public if Ms. Lucas was trying to hide her Australian accent or if her character was supposed to be from The Land Down Under because that Aussie lilt more often than not made its presence known.]

The whole thing really is a mess with there being nary a technical or story-based aspect that truly shines.  The one bright spot of the film is that Hemsworth actually proves to be moderately adept at carrying a film.  I was somewhat impressed with his role in Thor and this proves that there may be some type of slight star quality present to carry a crappy action movie here or there in his future.  He's pretty much wasted here, however.

It's fairly obvious to see why this one was held in limbo for over two years and just finally found a release.  I think that the concept would actually permit a good movie to be made (maybe the 1984 original is solid -- I've never seen it), but the sun should've set on this version of Red Dawn before it even got off the drawing board.

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - Texas Killing Fields

Texas Killing Fields (2011)

Starring Sam Worthington, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chloe Grace Moretz, and Jessica Chastain

Directed by Ami Canaan Mann

Admittedly, I only watched Texas Killing Fields because 2011 was the year of Jessica Chastain and I figured I'd give as many movies of hers a shot that I could.  Good Lord...not only was this the worst of the five Chastain movies I've seen thus far, but this is one of the worst movies released last year period.  Weaving a tale about a series of unsolved murders in Texas City, Texas (apparently based loosely on true events), Texas Killing Fields focuses on three cops -- Sam Worthington with a sometimes unintelligible mumbling country accent, Jeffrey Dean Morgan as a cop with a conscience, and Jessica Chastain as the stereotypical take-no-prisoners tough as nails female officer -- and their investigation into the killings.  Along the way, various storylines are thrown at us that have no discernible connections, manage to bog down the movie with a heaviness and emotional emptiness the likes of which I haven't seen in a movie last year, and fail to come together at the conclusion in any satisfying manner.

Director Ami Canaan Mann (daughter of director Michael Mann) is no whiz behind the camera.  The film looks alright, but the pacing is so mind-numbingly boring and the movie is so choppily edited that while it seemed to be in chronological order, it very well may have been told in some oddly spliced together manner because, quite frankly, scenes failed to make any sense when placed next to one another.

The RyMickey Rating:  D-

Movie Review - Watchmen (2009)

Starring Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson, and Carla Gugino
Directed by Zack Snyder

This is one of those movies (embarrassingly like Twilight) where even though I know it's bad, I still kind of like it. There's plenty of problems, and, honestly, not a ton to fawn over, but it still doesn't fail for some reason.

I read the graphic novel earlier this year as part of the Book-a-Week Quest and it holds no place in my heart, that's for sure. Not that it was bad, but I'm not geeking out over it.

Since the comic means nothing to me, my first problem is that the movie is much too long, retaining way too much of the superfluous storylines. It really feels like everything could be whittled down to an hour and forty-five minutes instead of two hours and forty-five minutes. Cut out the ridiculously awful sex scene aboard the "owl ship." You could truncate the first 50 minutes down to 20 easily. And the end felt a tad drawn out, too.

The acting was pretty darn awful -- Malin Ackerman, in particular. Good Lord, at first I thought it was just the dialog she had to spout, but towards the end, I realized it was her. And nobody (with the exception of Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach) was really any good.

Despite the fact that I felt the beginning was filled with lots of nothing, I was interested because of Zack Snyder's direction. Unfortunately, the direction became flat after the first hour.

So, with all the bad, why the heck did I like it? I'm not sure. I guess it stems from the fact that the premise in and of itself is kind of nifty. I like the idea of a group of "superheroes" being shunned by the public, trying to regain their image. I liked the interesting question that the film raises -- is it okay to kill some to save others? And, despite the fact that it was really long, it didn't feel like nearly three hours...I mean, don't get me wrong...like I said above, it's way too long...but it wasn't Funny People or Public Enemies long, if you get my drift.

The RyMickey Rating: C