Richard Jewell

Richard Jewell (2019)

Starring Paul Walter Hauser, Sam Rockwell, Jon Hamm, Olivia Wilde, Nina Arianda, Ian Gomez, and Kathy Bates

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Written by Billy Ray

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B+

Movie Review - Meadowland

Meadowland (2015)

Starring Olivia Wilde, Luke Wilson, John Leguizamo, Elisabeth Moss, Ty Simpkins, and Giovanni Ribisi

Directed by Reed Morano
***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

In Meadowland, a typical stop at a gas station convenience store ends in horror when the young son of Sarah and Phil (Olivia Wilde and Luke Wilson) is snatched out of the bathroom right under their noses.  Panic sets in and unfortunately over a year later, their boy is still nowhere to be found.  Phil, a police officer, has succumbed to the fact that his son will likely never be returning, while Sarah, a middle school teacher, will not face the possibility that she will never hold her son again.  Unable to really connect with one another, they find other outlets to try and find relief, but relief doesn't equal happiness.

With some wonderfully nuanced performances from Olivia Wilde and Luke Wilson (two actors who I must say that I may never have appreciated as much as I did in this film), it's a bit of a shame that about halfway through Meadowland starts to fall apart.  Watching Sarah and Phil's initial devastation is heartbreaking, but as they begin to explore opportunities that give them a little joy, director Reed Morano's film doesn't really know where to go story-wise, ending in such an awkward and unappealing way that a good chunk of the goodwill it harbored in the very good first half is nearly diminished.

This is Morano's first film and there's certainly potential in the young director.  He got two great turns from his two leads and I think the fault lies more in the script (also from a debut screenwriter) than his direction.  While I'd like to recommend it (and the rating below infers a slight recommendation), Meadowland is really only worth watching for Wilde and Wilson -- there are better films about parental grief than this one.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - The Lazarus Effect

The Lazarus Effect (2015)

Starring Mark Duplass, Olivia Wilde, Donald Glover, Evan Peters, and Sarah Bolger

Directed by David Gelb

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

If you've seen the Scarlett Johansson flick Lucy, there's certainly no reason to watch The Lazarus Effect which is essentially a horror version of that film.  If you haven't seen Lucy (and really you're missing nothing if you haven't), there's still no reason to watch The Lazarus Effect because besides an ending that perks up the thrill quotient after a decidedly bland and surprisingly boring first hour, the conclusion fails to really make a whole lot of sense and ends things hugely disappointingly.

Here, a group of scientists headed by engaged couple Frank and Zoe (Mark Duplass and Olivia Wilde) create a manipulated serum of cells that through injection and electrical stimulation have the effect of being able to bring the dead back to life.  After years of unsuccessful attempts, the team succeeds in bringing back to life a dog, but they discover that the newly resuscitated canine is utilizing huge portions of his brain, making him overly aggressive and violent as he's unable to control his emotions.  Needless to say, following an unfortunate accident, the team doesn't just stop the experiment with the dog and instead find themselves using it for more a more advanced carbon-based life form which may yield some truly frightening results.

The overarching question of this film (and Lucy for that matter) is what happens when humans -- who typically use only 10% of their brain capacity -- are given the opportunity to utilize much more than that.  Whereas Lucy somewhat succeeds in answering this question through the format of an action film, The Lazarus Effect as a horror movie isn't nearly as successful.  The biggest reason for this is that it's utterly boring for the film's first sixty minutes.  Part of the reason I was intrigued with the flick was the cast who I thought may elevate this beyond your typical cliché-ridden genre pic, but the quintet listed up above just sputters out scientific mumbo-jumbo for the film's first twenty minutes and then spends the rest of the first hour debating whether to continue with their now successful experiment.  In a better film, the tension between the scientists may have been intriguing, but here it amounts to nothing but absolute boredom.

Unfortunately, when the film delves into horror during its final twenty minutes (although its eighty minute runtime should seem short, it feels interminable), it's more laughable than anything else and that's never a good thing.  There are no scares whatsoever with the film throwing out one horror cliché after another trying to get something to land successfully.  Nothing does.

The RyMickey Rating:  D-

Movie Review - Third Person

Third Person (2014)

Starring Liam Neeson, Mila Kunis, Adrien Brody, Olivia Wilde, James Franco, Moran Atias, Maria Bello, and Kim Basinger

Directed by Paul Haggis

I've always said I'm a fan of movies that attempt to interweave multiple storylines with an overarching theme.  Third Person is one such film, but it fails so miserably as it attempts to fill its bloated 135-minute runtime with three tales of loss that feel so poorly thematically connected that I couldn't help but wonder why Oscar-winning screenwriter-director Paul Haggis was ever given the green light in the first place.

One piece of the triad deals with Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Michael (Liam Neeson) who has secluded himself in a hotel room to finish penning his next masterpiece.  When his lover Anna (Olivia Wilde) surprises him, we realize that the relationship between these two lost souls is tenuous at best.  Then there's Julia (Mila Kunis), a mom whose son has been taken away from her by her ex-husband Rick (James Franco) after a horrible accident almost left their child for dead...or was not an accident at all?  Finally, Scott (Adrien Brody) is a sneaky businessman who steals upcoming suit designs from ritzy high-fashion designers in order to make cheap knock-offs.  While in a bar in Italy, he meets Monika (Moran Atias) who is struggling to find the money to pay off a gangster who has kidnapped her child...but is this all a con?

None of those stories really sound all that interesting on their own and when put together, they amount to a whole lot of depressing nothingness.   The male actors fare a bit better in the ensemble as most of the females are written so poorly that Kunis, Wilde, and Atias really couldn't do a thing to help forward their characters' plots or dimensionality.  Man or woman, though, I found myself completely removed from the variety of plights on display rather than being pulled in and invested.  Quite frankly, Third Person is a bit of a mess.

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - The Longest Week

The Longest Week (2014)

Starring Jason Bateman, Olivia Wilde, Billy Crudup, Jenny Slate, and Tony Roberts

Directed by Peter Glanz

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

Throughout a large chunk of debut director-screenwriter Peter Glanz's comedy The Longest Week, I found myself with the embryonic beginnings of a smirky smile, but it never really came to fruition even once.  The pieces were sort of there for success -- Glanz borrows heavily in stylization from 2000s era Wes Anderson and in writing from 1970s era Woody Allen -- but nothing ever quite fits into place enough to elicit laughs or other emotions.

A love triangle, The Longest Week tells the tale of ladies' man Conrad Valmont (Jason Bateman) who after years of living on his rich parents' dime is kicked out of his ritzy New York City apartment when they suddenly plan on getting divorced.  Conrad heads over to the abode of his friend Dylan (Billy Crudup), but on the subway ride meets Beatrice (Olivia Wilde) and instantly falls for her.  Later that evening at an art show, Conrad discovers that Beatrice is Dylan's new girlfriend which creates a conundrum for Conrad as to whether to pursue his newfound infatuation.

Despite adequate attempts to breathe life into the script by the trio of aforementioned actors, The Longest Week simply doesn't quite land in the way that the writer-director wants.  While I do think there's a clever absurdity there in the eye and the pen of Peter Glanz, he doesn't achieve it in his debut.  While I'd certainly take a look at his next feature, The Longest Week disappoints.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Movie Review - Rush

Rush (2013)

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Brühl, Alexandra Maria Lara, and Olivia Wilde

Directed by Ron Howard

Ron Howard's directed a lot of good films over the years, but with the exception of Apollo 13, I'm not quite sure I've ever looked at his movies and thought he was a brilliant director.  While he creates good stories often with very nice family dynamics, he's not exactly known for his edge-of-your-seat, exciting direction.  Rush changes that.  To me, the stand out factor in Rush -- what elevates it beyond your typical sports flick -- is what Ron Howard brings to the table.

There's a palpable excitement that runs almost throughout the true story of the rivalry between 1970s Formula One race car drivers James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth), the ladies man, and the focused and serious Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl).  The two started out competing against one another on the Formula Three level, finding each others' very different attitudes towards racing almost repulsive.  Then, in 1976, they found themselves duking it out for the Formula One cup with Lauda needing to prove his 1975 Formula One cup victory not a fluke and Hunt attempting to showcase that he wasn't just the chauvinistic party boy that many in the racing world thought him to be.  The rivalry between the two was intense and made for a very interesting and exciting competition.

As I mentioned, I always felt like Ron Howard was very good at focusing on a story's intimate moments -- the connections between characters -- and that's certainly proven once again here.  Both Hemsworth and Brühl imbue Hunt and Lauda with a vicious rivalry, but also with an aire of respect for one another.  Recognizing that they mutually push each other to better results, I found their relationship uniquely depicted and compelling, and thanks to two fine performances by Hemsworth and Brühl, the rather simple story is elevated beyond what I expected especially considering the subject matter that I initially assumed would be completely unappealing to me.

In addition to the quieter moments, Howard steps up his game with Rush as he and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle craft a retro-looking depiction with modern sensibilities.  Auto racing isn't my cup of tea in the slightest, yet Howard makes the multiple races all feel unique, placing us into the cars for some, following from behind on others, and mixing the vantage points up often enough to keep the viewers on their toes, yet completely unconfused about what is being shown.  Considering how similar all the racing cars look, it's a feat in and of itself that Howard makes these races comprehensible to a racing novice like me, but making them tension-filled edge-of-your-seat moments is another coup altogether.  The fact that we can't even tell where the "real" and the "special effects" begin and end is a credit to all involved.  Rush gives us a new Ron Howard who proves that he may have more up his sleeve than I ever thought he did before.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013)

Starring Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi, Olivia Wilde, Jim Carrey, James Gandolfini, and Alan Arkin

Directed by Don Scardino

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is one of those comedies with characters who have no basis in reality, are sometimes funny in their idiocy, but then become completely unbelievable when the script attempts to make them "more real" and "give them heart" by the film's end.  When you've created a character who bears no resemblance to an actual human being (as is the case in the title character played by Steve Carell), I have a tough time connecting...which is fine if you're going to make the character dumb and keep them dumb (which is a hard task to accomplish and still make them interesting to watch for two hours).   However, on the flip side, making a character over-the-top, unbelievably stupid, and a callous jerk and then expecting me to believe that they can become an incredibly intelligent and caring individual is a bit of a stretch that hardly ever works...as is evident here.

As a kid, Burt Wonderstone was a bit of a loner, but on one of his birthdays his mother bought him a magic kit and his life forever changed.  Burt partnered with his childhood friend Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi) and the duo rose to fame as two of the most famous magicians of all time, earning a coveted headlining spot on the Las Vegas Strip playing to sold out crowds night after night.  The world of illusions is changing, however, and when the David Blaine/Chris Angel-esque Steve Gray (Jim Carrey) pops up on the Strip filming his tv show, the stuck-up Burt and the polite and slightly timid Anton are in for a rude awakening.  As Steve performs crazy acts like cutting open his skin and holding in his urine for a week all in the name of magic, Burt and Anton are pushed to the wayside in favor of this newfound form of illusion.

I laughed a few times during The Incredible Burt Wonderstone and despite my aforementioned qualms about stupid characters, Steve Carell does manage to play them quite well.  It's not his fault that during the film's second half, the screenwriters try to do a 180-degree turn for his character and attempt to make him intelligent and kind overnight.  It just doesn't work and neither does attempting to shoehorn in a romance between Carell and his "beautiful assistant" Jane (played by Olivia Wilde) who despised Burt one day and then loved him the next.

As much as I liked Carell, I disliked Jim Carrey.  While Carell can play someone over-the-top and still make them watchable, Carrey plays over-the-top in such an obnoxious way that it gets old very quickly.  That's been his MO for years, however, so it's not like it's anything new.  Rather surprisingly, with comic "greats" like Carell and Carrey in the mix, the actor who actually comes out on top in terms of comedy is Steve Buscemi.  There's a charm he carries when he's doing comedy that makes him relatable and enjoyable to watch.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Drinking Buddies

Drinking Buddies (2013)

Starring Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick, and Ron Livingston

Directed by Joe Swanberg

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

Kate and Luke (Olivia Wilde and Jake Johnson) work at a brewery together.  They're good buddies who constantly flirt with one another, yet remain only friends because they each have a significant other -- Kate's been dating Chris (Ron Livingston) for eight months, and Luke's been with Jill (Anna Kendrick) for years.  While each couple seems happy together, it's obvious that Kate and Luke have an attraction to one another and a friendship that seems destined for romance.  This connection is further explored when the two couples take a trip to Chris's cabin in the woods for a "couples weekend" and Chris and Jill also find themselves compatible with one another, leading to a quartet that is ripe for break-ups.

The problem with Drinking Buddies is that the relationships between all four of the central characters are much too obvious.  There's no subtlety present -- we know right off the bat Kate and Luke are more compatible than Kate and Chris, and it's obvious that Chris's book-smartish nature fits more with Jill's demeanor.  Since the unraveling discord of the relationships never comes as a surprise, the suspense of the story is who will take the plunge and kiss off their significant other first...and that's just not a gripping enough story as presented here, effectively making the ninety-minute runtime feel longer than it should.  While the cast tries to sell the story (with dialog that seems improvised...and that's not necessarily a good thing), the supposed comedy that is Drinking Buddies  didn't cause me to laugh much at all.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Her

Her (2013)

Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Chris Pratt, and Olivia Wilde

Featuring the vocal talent of Scarlett Johansson

Directed by Spike Jonze

Full disclosure:  I watched Her immediately following shoveling a ton of snow and my tired body and rattled brain likely wasn't ready for the serious tone displayed by writer-director Spike Jonze.  While I appreciated the somewhat depressing look at love and intimacy presented by Jonze, I'm fully aware that a second viewing a few years from now may give me a greater appreciation of the film -- or may simply confirm my feelings that Her is good, but nothing more than that.

Joaquin Phoenix is Theodore Twombly, a thirtysomething guy who works as a writer of sorts.  You see, the film takes place in presumably the not-so-distant future and Theodore gets hired by regular folks to pen love notes or write personalized letters to their significant others.  (Odd, but kind of ingenious in the way it furthers the "lack of personal connection" in relationships that the film wants to highlight.)  Having just separated from his wife Catherine (Rooney Mara) and going through some rough divorce proceedings with her, Theodore downloads a new operating system for his computerized devices that is programmed to carry on conversations with its user.  Named Samantha (and voiced by Scarlett Johansson), the app quickly becomes a huge part of Theodore's daily life and, perhaps despite his best efforts, he becomes romantically attached to it/her.

Perhaps the reason for my lack of utter enjoyment of Her is the fact that I can't help but think that it paints a rather grim picture of our future.  While I loved Jonze's rendering of our country's upcoming years (set design and costumes were really top notch -- not too futuristic, but just enough to make their points), it's ultimately a bit disheartening.  While I think the film attempts to aim for your heart, it never really struck me there.  Phoenix is quite good as the lovable, though inherently sad Theodore, and it's incredibly easy to see why he fell for the sultry voice of Johansson, but despite their relationship being surprisingly believable, it was a tiny bit flat.  Perhaps that was the point, however -- a relationship with a "thing" rather than another person is going to be lacking that intimate connection.  (And see, as I type this, herein lies why I probably should watch this again...I'm liking it more as I ponder the film's conceptual ideals.)

With a great supporting turn from Amy Adams (is it wrong that I found her geeky character here much sexier than her alluring turn in American Hustle), Her is worth a watch, but I will admit that I'm a bit surprised it cracked the Best Picture list of nine.  Then again, as I mentioned, perhaps I wasn't in the right mindset and it may need another viewing in time.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - The Words

The Words (2012)

Starring Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Dennis Quaid, Olivia Wilde, Ben Barnes, Nora Arnezeder, and Jeremy Irons

Directed by Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal

There was maybe potential for The Words in terms of concept.  Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper), a down-on-his luck writer whose latest work he's toiled over for years is rejected by multiple publishing agencies, visits Paris on his honeymoon with his wife Dora (Zoe Saldana).  While there, Rory purchases an old messenger bag from an antique shop only to discover when he returns to the States that inside the bag is one of the most well-written novels he has ever read...and it just happens to be unpublished.  Appearing to have been written decades prior, Rory decides to act as if the newfound novel is his own and, after handing it over to a publisher, finds astounding success with the book propelling him to near superstar status in the book world.  It's all rather unfortunate then when an old man (Jeremy Irons) confronts Rory in Central Park one afternoon and proclaims that he wrote the novel.  As the old man (who remains nameless) tells Rory his life story that led to the creation of this amazing work, we witness golden-hued flashbacks of the old man as a young man (Ben Barnes), his wife (Nora Arnezeder), and their struggles that they faced back in World War II-era France.

Not that the above story would have been anything overly special, but it would've made for an okay flick that while corny and overly sentimental still might have been successful to a certain degree.  However, the screenwriters (who are also the directors) end up making The Words a story-within-a-story-within-a-story and the most "outside" story is ludicrously tedious and completely unnecessary involving Dennis Quaid as an author reading Rory Jansen's story at a press event while being essentially stalked by a young chippie (Olivia Wilde) who wants to get in his pants.  As we discover that Dennis Quaid's character wrote a novel about Rory Jansen (so essentially, Dennis Quaid's character wrote the film we saw involving all his fellow actors), the movie is attempting to be meta and it just fails miserably.  The screenwriters were simply trying to add another layer that didn't need to be added to what should have been a simple and straightforward story.

Nice performances by Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana are somewhat negated because that extra layer makes their tale lack any resonance by the film's end which is a bit of a shame.  While they certainly weren't going to win any awards, they deserved a bit better.  I will admit that I was completely tired of Bradley Cooper around this time last year, finding his roles in things like The Hangover and Wedding Crashers had outstayed their welcome and turned him into an actor I couldn't stand.  However, with his Oscar-nominated turn in Silver Linings Playbook and this solid turn in The Words, he's becoming a bit more tolerable to me.  Faint praise, I know, but it's a definite turn in the right direction.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Butter

Butter (2012)

Starring Jennifer Garner, Ty Burrell, Olivia Wilde, Alicia Silverstone, Rob Corddry, Yara Shahidi, and Hugh Jackman

Directed by Jim Field Smith

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

For some reason or another, Butter got trashed by the critics upon its very limited release earlier this year.  While it's a skewering of sorts of Midwestern conservatives, it's only a mild roasting and from this conservative's perspective, there are times when we deserve some slight jabs aimed our way.  I think maybe some felt Butter didn't go far enough, but I thought it was a surprisingly amusing comedy with some decent performances and a pleasant enough script that never overstays its welcome at any point.

In Iowa, butter carving is a huge pastime, taking a coveted prime spot at the State Fair.  For the past fifteen years, Bob Pickler (Ty Burrell) has been the champ, creating such memorable carvings as the holocaust-themed Schindler's List sculpture in 1995 or this past year's epic The Last Supper.  However, the governing board of the butter carving contest has told Bob that the time has come for him to relinquish his crown and allow someone else to have an opportunity to succeed.  While Bob agrees, his wife Laura (Jennifer Garner) is disgusted with the notion, afraid that she is going to lose the high profile awareness that comes with her gig as the wife of the best butter carver in Iowa.  Laura sets out at becoming an expert carver herself and all would seem to be going according to her plan until ten year-old Destiny (Yara Shahidi) decides to enter the competition.  A young African-American girl living with her new foster parents (Alicia Silverstone and Rob Corddry), Destiny discovers that she is fantastically adept at carving the yellow dairy product and sets up quite a showdown between herself and Laura.

There are some nice performances peppered throughout.  Jennifer Garner was over-the-top, but the role required that level of insanity to a certain degree, and I think she has proven with this and a few other roles that she's a nice comedienne.  Ty Burrell is actually nicely subdued and I found it a welcome change of pace for the sometimes frantic (though very funny) character he plays on Modern Family.  Yara Shahidi was great despite the fact that the screenwriter wanted to make her "wiser beyond her years."  Oftentimes that can prove excruciatingly annoying, but Shahidi was able to reel it in a bit and at least act like a kid.

Surprisingly, the best role in the whole flick comes from Rob Corddry and no one is more shocked than me to be saying that.  Corddry plays Destiny's foster dad Ethan and there's something incredibly natural when he's onscreen with young Shahidi.  His character never talks down to this kid who's been shipped from foster home to foster home because he knows she's been through a lot in her short life.  He recognizes that she's young, but he treats her with respect and kindness.  Considering other things I've seen Corddry in, I was shocked that he had this simple, down-to-earth, "dad" character in him...so big kudos to him.

Butter isn't some fantastic film, but I had a heckuva good time with it.  Granted, there are some faults -- Hugh Jackman pops in more than halfway through in a role he likely did as a favor for someone and Olivia Wilde plays an Asian stripper who, while quite funny, felt a tiny bit out of place -- but overall, this is well worth the ninety minutes it'll take you to watch it via Netflix's streaming.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - In Time

In Time (2011)

Starring Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy, Vincent Kartheiser, and Olivia Wilde

Directed by Andrew Niccol

In Time takes us to an Earth in which money doesn't exist, but instead time is the most precious commodity around.  Here, humans are given twenty-five years of existence, but when their twenty-sixth year rolls around, they stop aging and a digital-type clock implanted into their forearm clicks on with a decreasing timeclock of one year.  Everything we normally pay money for is paid for with time -- a cup of coffee, for example, takes four hours off of your clock (and your life).  You're paid for labor in hours as well, so it's not as if you're absolutely dead in a year.  In fact, just like our current monetary system, there are some very wealthy people with hundreds -- even thousands -- of years to go.

With such an intriguing concept, it's a shame that writer-director Andrew Niccol shifts focus halfway through the movie into an updated Bonnie and Clyde/Robin Hood reboot with Justin Timberlake as the "poor" Will Salas teaming up with the "wealthy" Sylvia Weis (Amanda Seyfried) to redistribute Sylvia's father seemingly infinite stash of time to the less fortunate.  Things were going so well until we drifted down this path we'd seen before and it's unfortunate that the unique premise is watered down to something we've seen time and time again.

Surprisingly, Timberlake more than holds his own in this film.  While I don't think he'll ever be mistaken for a great thespian, he definitely embodied the character and abandoned his celebrity persona.  Granted, he still needs some work (one scene in which he's forced to cry just proves laughable), but overall, I think he's got some talent in the acting department.  Ms. Seyfried, on the other hand, I'm not so sure about.  It's not that I dislike her as an actress, but in the last few films I've seen her in she seems to be simply phoning in her performance.  She doesn't bring any depth to her character here and it's a little bit disappointing, although I'm not sure whether it's her fault or the fault of the script.  She's walking on thin ice at this point...her next film may make or break her for me.

Still, this is rather fun film (which also contains a nice performance from the heretofore unmentioned Cillian Murphy as a futuristic "cop" who is in search of the two "criminals") and it's worth giving it a chance.  I'm sure this was a case of low expectations making something appear to be a bit more promising than it actually is, but In Time wouldn't be a waste of your time should you choose to watch it.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Tron Legacy

Tron: Legacy (2010)

Starring Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, and Michael Sheen

Directed by Joseph Kosinski

Mindless entertainment is perfectly fine sometimes.  I don't need everything I watch to be "awards-worthy."  But, on the other hand, "mindless entertainment" does have the responsibility of being entertaining.  I mean, the entertainment aspect is inherent in its name.  I'm not saying Tron: Legacy wasn't entertaining...I just can't help but feel that it could have been better than it was.

Perhaps my major problem with Tron: Legacy is that the action scenes seemed somewhat disjointed from the rather engaging and unique story going on around them.  When Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) inadvertently gets sucked into the virtual gaming world that his father Kevin (Jeff Bridges) created over a decade ago, the young man finds himself on a quest to find his father whom he believes to be trapped in the game as well.  The father-son relationship/dynamic between Bridges and Hedlund worked (I realize this isn't a popular opinion as this was trashed in a lot of reviews I read).  Unfortunately, the action scenes (while thoroughly entertaining) seemed placed in the film only to showcase the 3-D, which, while good, didn't reach Avatar levels in terms of execution.

I understand there innately needs to be some kind of conflict in order for a film to work, but as soon as Sam is trapped in the game, he forced to play a part in some giant futuristic gladiator-style tournament set up by the "ruler" of the gaming world Clu (also played by Jeff Bridges).  In a scene that seems to take forever, Sam battles against faceless robots using light sabers, light rings, and computerized motorcycles. It all looked cool and it was all well done, but I couldn't help but think that it was placed in the film simply because it looked neat.  The film sets up a nice competition of power (of sorts) between Clu and Kevin, but the first twenty minutes in the computer world are simply this game that means absolutely nothing in terms of the grand scheme of the film.  Ultimately, the story came together in a way that worked, but it's once again an action film that didn't need a lot of its action.  It would have been much more successful had certain scenes been deleted.

I realize I'm perhaps being a tad harsh because I did find it better than your average actioner.  I liked Jeff Bridges quite a bit and his duel roles allowed him to play both sides of the spectrum with equal gusto.  I also didn't have any problems with Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde (who plays Kevin's computerized assistant Quorra) who, while both given some silly things to say, were more than adequate in their roles.  And in terms of acting, Michael Sheen was hamming it up as futuristic club owner Zuse.  While the extravagance should have felt completely out of place, I couldn't help but love the over-the-top nature of it, injecting the film with some much needed humor (in fact, it probably won't be surprising to see Sheen on my list of 2010 Best Supporting Actors which I'll post some time in February).

In terms of production values, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Daft Punk's scoring which I thought was probably one of the best scores I've heard this year.  The pumping bass did more to help the mood of the film than any of the computer-generated special effects did (although they were certainly up to snuff as well).

While the film was certainly left open for the possibility of a sequel, I appreciated that it felt wrapped up as well.  I'm not against seeing another Tron, but I'm a little hesitant.  What I enjoyed about this one was the backstory of getting to know these characters and how they got to this point in their lives.  I worry that a sequel will simply be about the action, and in this film, those scenes didn't quite work for me as well as I would have liked.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+