Point Break - Movie Review

Who's In It?

Teresa Palmer, Luke Bracey, Edgar Ramirez and Ray Winstone What's It About? Johnny Utah is an ex-motocross star turned FBI agent who infiltrates a group of extreme sports criminals committing stunts to avoid arrest. Any Good? The film opens on an overly-long dirtbike scene (I was late to my seat and it still dragged on a few minutes too long) and it was from there I realised this remake was 15 years too late. The premise of the original was Johnny Utah joins a group of surfers in the early 90's - perfect time for a surfing movie because extreme sports were a thing then. It seems no-one told the writers of the remake that extreme sports all but died in the early 2000's, because the entire film feels like a "Hey Teens! Look at us be hip!" board meeting. She looks like a heroin addict! The criminals remind me of Homer Simpson when he decided he was a hippy, made up to look dirty all the time - even when getting out of water for some reason. Their mission is to "give back" for the waves they surf and other radical things, but it just comes off as ridiculous when they're partying on giant boats and buildings carved into mountains. The film isn't necessarily awful, it's just so out of touch with the demographic at which it's aimed that it just comes off as awkward. The criminals are also idiots and their daring heists look like hair brained schemes when they sky the contents. The scenery could have wowed if not for the omnipresent grey filter, but there was some genuinely unnerving shots involving huge mountains that just about pull back some credit. It's ridiculous, but not a bad time killer movie. Rating:

Delivery Man - Movie Review

Who's in it? 

Vince Vaughn, Chris Pratt, Cobie Smulders, Simon Delaney & Jack Reynor

What's it About? 

Vince Vaughan plays a forty-something slacker dodging a debt to the mob and pretty much all responsibility for everything else in his life. Ditched by his newly pregnant girlfriend he comes home to the news that a mix up at the sperm bank twenty years prior has resulted in his copious 'donations' being used for hundreds of women and resulting in 533 children - 142 of whom are now suing to reveal his identity. 

Ooh look the original movie Starbuck is on Netflix for free!

Any Good? 

I'm always a little dubious about Hollywood remakes, French thriller Anything for Her was annihilated in Three Days Later and 2010's Let Me In was never going to reach the coat tails of Swedish original Let the Right One In but when the same writer and director of a movie (Ken Scott) personally remakes his own film Starbuck just two years later then it's side-eyes all 'round. 

For my part though, I like Vince Vaughan (Wozniak) and that's pretty much a prerequisite going into Delivery Man as there are very few scenes in which his broad shoulders don't take centre stage. Fans of his quick talking, irreverent style of wit might be a little disappointed that there is only brief glances at real humour here, though laugh out loud when they appear. 

I call it casual/casual - ALL the best disbarred lawyers are wearing it

To its credit though as a competent dramedy with humour, heart and only brief glimpses of schmaltz, Delivery Man holds its own. Some relationships could have benefited greatly from a little more fleshing out and Cobie Smulders is woejussly underused but her character serves to show the more responsible side to Wozniak's underachieving attitude. 

Wozniak's mission to become a guardian angel of sorts to one child at a time though is where the movies real (if slightly far fetched) strength lies. Chances are a drug addiction won't be suddenly cured by getting a job in retail in one such instance but we're talking about a movie about a man with 533 children here - it was never meant to be believable. 

There's one behind us right now, isn't there?

For those not familiar with the original movie, this will be a treat. Touching on identity issues, drug abuse, disability, acceptance, feelings of involuntary fatherly love and a sudden sense of protectiveness, this flick does so with heart, peppered with dry wit and humour so that it never weighs itself down. 

For all his faults Wozniak is a likeable oaf, with the majority of his offspring seeming to have inherited that trait. I can't help but feel that Ken Scott missed a trick in not turning Starbuck into a TV series instead, with Wozniak helping one child per episode - I would've watched that but we got this instead. While it won't win any awards or even be that memorable in six months time, if you're looking for a pleasant 100 mins of feel good film reel this flick delivers. 

Watch out for Irish lads
Simon Delaney & Jack Raynor
both holding their own here. 


Rating:

The Sweeney - Movie Review

Who's in it? 

Ray Winstone, Ben Drew, Damian Lewis & Hayley Atwell

What's it About? 

Based on the 70s TV London based cult classic, The Sweeney is brought to the big screen by Nick Love with the help of some authentic cockney names in Winstone and Drew (Plan B). 

Any Good?   

The Sweeney are The Flying Squad of London's Metropolitan Police, tasked with cracking down on violent crime and armed robberies. They’re loud, cocky, and vicious and, if the cases we're shown are anything to go by, very, very bad at their job.

The style of the movie largely relies on sweeping glass and steel shots of London, while they’re beautifully done and almost futuristic, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was the opening scenes of The Apprentice they’re so disjointed from the film itself.

Regan (Winstone) is the hardened head man and a law unto himself, his sidekick Carter (Drew) and the rest of his special ops team are housed in a swish crow’s nest of Scotland Yard with all mod cons. While Winston and Drew have an unmistakeable chemistry on screen they really didn’t have much to work with. Drew delivers his lines so painfully slow, you'd be forgiven for thinking he was inebriated but you have to give it to the guy, he’s not bad when it comes to fisticuffs. The gung ho ways and abysmal record of their squad attracts the attention of Internal Affairs, who are just waiting for a reason to shut them down. The wait isn’t very long.

England’s capital is basically deserted for the duration, which again beggars belief. There’s a monumental hot pursuit and shoot out on an almost empty Trafalgar Square with just enough passers by to be pushed violently to the ground by both the fleeing criminals and the cops themselves, by the third time, it had become farcical. It would appear that The Sweeney have been trained at the Storm Trooper Shooting Range as London town is shot up in relentless gunfire but not one bullet reaches its target. Think Hot Fuzz not Miami Vice.

The plot is convoluted, the cases needlessly complicated and for the life of me I couldn’t get excited about a Serbian Georgie Burgess as the bad guy. While Nick Love is renowned for his cockney gangster offerings, unfortunately this time round he didn't think to bring either a decent story or a coherent script to the table.

The Sweeney is somewhat enjoyable but it borders on parody far too often. It’s outdated and overplayed with enough product placement to warrant its own accompanying catalogue. It would have made a decent TV special but for a big screen outing it's a meh from me.

Rating: