MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUE NATION

Paramount Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 131 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation from YouTube.
 

In Paramount Pictures Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, Agent Tom Cruise is going after the mysterious Syndicate that is targeting the members of his organization, the IMF - Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, and Ving Rhames.

Starring and Produced by Tom Cruise, this fifth movie to the Mission: Impossible films - which takes place immediately after the movie Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol - is a fun movie with Cruise, Field Operations Director Renner, computer expert Pegg, and agent Rhames reprising their roles from previous films. This is the first Mission: Impossible film where the IMF team is a veteran of at least one other Mission: Impossible film. Of the films that I have seen in this series, this was the most fun. It is curious that before the movie, they aired the James Bond movie trailer SPECTRE. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation is a more fun film than James Bond, with the character relationships providing the fun in Mission: Impossible.

In the movie, Cruise is on the run from the CIA, headed by Chief Director Alec Baldwin, that wants a Senate Oversite Committee to disband the IMF (Impossible Missions Force) after a series of botched operations, and is trying to order Renner to give up Cruise's location. Cruise meanwhile is trying to find Sean Harris. the head of The Syndicate - an international criminal organization - that is escalating a series of terrorist acts as well as targeting the IMF.

During the opening title sequence, which has graphics just like the TV series, there were clips of the movie shown, just like in the TV series of clips of that week's episode. These movie clips did not have any spoilers, but definitely teased what was going to happen in the movie. It was great that the musical theme of the TV show by Lalo Schifrin was all over the movie, which made it feel like a Mission: Impossible episode. Another nod to the TV series is The Syndicate, which was the antagonist organization in the TV series, as well as Cruise receiving his mission briefing from a vinyl record from which the original TV briefings came from.

The movie does have a world-wide feel to the movie as they travel to various countries, just as a James Bond movie does, with locations in London, Vienna, Monaco, Morocco, and Morocco's largest city Casablanca. The movie also had several car chases to make for great action. It is amazing that spies nowadays have to be so electronic savvy when you see all the gadgets that everyone uses. Just as the original TV series and TV series update made use of the latest state of the art technology, the movies do as well.

Operative Rebecca Ferguson was pretty awesome in the movie as someone who you were not sure which side she was on whenever she engaged Cruise. I definitely fell in love with Ferguson as a "bad girl" and I look forward to seeing more of her work.

Cruise hanging off of a plane, an Airbus A400M, was a real stunt with Cruise at an altitude of 5000 feet. The underwater footage is the first film release featuring footage from Arri's new 6.5 Alexa 65 camera. Cruise trained with diving specialist Kirk Krack to hold his breath underwater for three minutes to perform an underwater sequence without any edits trying to defeat a security system.

For the IMAX theatrical release, the movie has a Mission Impossible style SMPTE Academy leader countdown at the beginning of the movie instead of the normal IMAX countdown.

Rated PG-13 for violence, language. Running time: 131 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

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HITMAN: AGENT 47

20th Century Fox

Rated R

Running time: 96 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Hitman: Agent 47 from YouTube.



In 20th Century Fox's Hitman: Agent 47, mysterious woman Hannah Ware, who is searching to find her father Ciaran Hinds and uncover the mysteries of her ancestry, teams up with an elite assassin while another elite assassin is after her.

Based on the video game series Hitman, this reboot movie is a combination of the Bourne films, Dark Angel, and John Wick. Rupert Friend as engineered human being 47 plowing through security reminds me of Jason Statham from the Transporter films. It is interesting to see the juxtaposition between Friend and Zachary Quinto, especially during their fight scenes. I believe Quinto could become a new action star if he wants to go in that direction in his career. Ware is also someone you could be looking out for as an action star.

It is sad that Paul Walker was originally supposed to play Agent 47 before he passed away.

The number of nameless victims in the movie represents the visceral action of the video game, as they are just action figures and not actual characters. There were very few people that you would  actually care about if they were killed. I will admit though, that the action did make me flinch a couple of times. The movie is too urban and inner-city to be a full-blown action film, but is more of an action thriller with the feel of video game action.

It is curious that for a high tech movie, the surveilance cameras that were used in the movie were an obsolete model. We have never used those cameras at work and our building is 15 years old.

There is an after credits scene which sets up a sequel.

Rated R for violence and language. Running time: 96 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

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THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.

Warner Bros.

Rated PG-13

Running time: 116 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of The Man from UNCLE from YouTube.

In Warner Bros. The Man From U.N.C.L.E., CIA agent Napoleon Solo/Henry Cavill must join forces with KGB operative Illya Kuryakin/Armie Hammer to track down a private atom bomb.

Based on the television series The Man From U.N.C.L.E., the movie is Written and Directed by Guy Ritchie. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is set during the height of the Cold War of the 1960's in 1963, soon after the Cuban Missile Crisis. News archive footage from British Pathe, including footage of President John F. Kennedy and World War II and atomic bomb footage, as well as the graphics at the beginning of the movie and throughout the movie reflect that time period. Not only does having the film set during the 60's retain the flavor of the TV series and the spy movies of the 60's, along with the music in the film, the 60's style separates the movie from the current series of spy films set in today's world. It was also nice that they incorporated the theme song from the TV series into the movie.

In a most dangerous time of our history, top CIA agent Solo/Cavill extracts Alicia Vikander, the daughter of Nazi scientist turned US collaborator at the end of World War II Christian Berkel from East Berlin - evading the best KGB operative within three years Kuryakin/Hammer. Vikander's uncle Sylvester Groth works for a shipping company owned by Elizabeth Debicki and Luca Calvani who are Nazi sympathizers and have ties to an international criminal organization that want to destabilize the fragile balance of power and intend to use Berkel to build thier own private atom bomb. Rivals used to working independently - Solo/Cavill and Kuryakin/Hammer are ordered by their governments to work together on this mission, as well as with Vikander to act as Kuryakin's/Hammer's fiancee, in order to locate Vikander's father Berkel and to stop Debicki and Calvani from succeeding in having Berkel developing the nuclear weapon.

I felt that The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is more fun than a James Bond movie in that the comedy comes from the character relationships, rather than the plot. I always felt a lot of the plot in a James Bond movie was contrived. It is curious that Ian Fleming developed both James Bond and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. A couple of the dining scenes reflect the humorous character relationships between Solo/Cavill and Kuryakin/Hammer when they are working together in the field as well as the relationships during the various chase scenes.

I loved the rivalry between Solo/Cavill and Kuryakin/Hammer and how they grew to respect each other. Actually, personally I related to Cavill more to his role as Napoleon Solo rather than Cavill in his role as Superman as Solo uses his criminal talents in infiltration as well as overcoming security systems. It is curious that Armie Hammer was once considered for the role of Superman. Cavill and Hammer did most of their own stunts, which I think was great - especially as Kuryakin/Hammer had more of a temper and Hammer doing his own stunts which would be shown onscreen. With Kuryakin/Hammer having a temper as well as being Vikander's "fiancee" and his relationship with her, it feels that Kuryakin/Hammer is more of the protagonist of the movie during most of the film instead of Solo/Cavill and Kuryakin/Hammer being equal.

I did not recognize Hugh Grant as Commander Waverly  as his hair has changed from the last time I saw him. It is funny that Grant is the only principle character that used his own accent in the movie.

Due to the various languages spoken in the film, such as Russian and Italian, there are subtitles in the movie. The movie has in international feel as it travels from East Berlin, to Rome.

The graphics of the end credits show the dossiers of the agents of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. - United Network Command for Law and Enforcement.

I am looking forward to more of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. films, even hopefully a film of The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.

On a sad note, before the movie started, the theater showed a video of emergency procedures for the theater in case of an event. It is a shame that with events that are happening in today's news that the movie going experience has come to this.

Rated PG-13 for violence, sexual situations, nudity. Running time: 116  Minutes.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of The Man From Uncle on YouTube.



Click below to watch the Comic-Con movie trailer of The Man From UNCLE on YouTube.



Click below to watch a 60's style movie trailer of The Man From UNCLE from YouTube.



Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

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RED 2

Summit Entertainment

Rated PG-13

Running time: 116 Minutes



Click below to watch the Red 2 movie trailer.

In Summit Entertainment's Red 2, in association with DC Entertainment, ex-CIA agent Bruce Willis - who lives a nice domestic life by shopping at Costco - has been brought out of retirement by John Malkovich because a file of an operation that they were involved with back in the 70's in Moscow, Russia during the Cold War has been leaked onto the Internet - and now everyone wants them dead.

In this sequel to Red, based on the limited comic book series created by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner published by the DC Comics imprint Homage, Willis has settled down to a nice homey life with his girl - bored Mary-Louise Parker. Due to it's comic book origins, there were several art graphics of the characters and scenes in the movie.

While Red was great in introducing the characters, I think I like Red 2 better as a movie more for the story and the characters in Red 2 had more characterization to me than in the original Red.

Helen Mirren is still great as a two-gun toting assassin. Mirren's scenes with contract killer Byung-hun Lee were delightful to see. It is rather touching that Lee's late father Jong Kun Lee is listed in the end credits as one of the main cast in the movie for the use of his pictures as Lee's father, especially when he had dreamed of being an actor himself. I liked the rivalness between Parker and Russian agent Catherine Zeta-Jones, both women of Willis relationships with women. Of course Willis was very uncomfortable when they got together. My favorite scenes were the juxtaposition of the action and Willis's and Parker's domestic scenes, or at least of Willis trying to domesticate Parker's action lust. Neal McDonough, Lt. Hawk in Star Trek: First Contact, was great as the bad guy. It is curious to me in that another Star Trek actor, Karl Urban, was the bad guy in the original Red movie. I hope for that the next Red movie that we will have another Star Trek actor as the bad guy. McDonough was practically psychopathic in his zealousness of getting Willis. David Thewlis initially seemed like a great character, but in actuality he did not have much characterization. Thewlis seemed more like a MacGuffin instead of a major character. Anthony Hopkins was quite appropriate as an eccentric scientist who appears to fit right in with all the other eccentric characters.

All of the characters were rather ambiguous as to which side they were on, which is especially distressing when you consider the stakes of what was happening. So it was rather distressing to me when MI6 and the CIA were after Willis and the other Red agents.

I am looking forward to the next installment of Red.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Red 2.



Rated PG-13 for violence and language. Running time: 116 Minutes.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Reviews

 

ZERO DARK THIRTY

Columbia Pictures

Rated R

Running time: 157 Minutes



Click below to watch the Zero Dark Thirty trailer.



In Columbia Pictures Zero Dark Thirty, CIA operative Jessica Chastain conducts a decade long search for Osama Bin Laden after the events of 9/11.

Based on the actual events, and directed by Kathryn Bigelow, this film is more of a drama than a war movie. It is very similar in feel to Argo, especially with Kyle Chandler playing similar roles in both movies, although Argo was a more suspenseful film.

After the opening of 911 calls of 9/11, young CIA operative Jessica Chastain spends her entire career interrogating various detainees to the whereabouts of terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden, or Usamah Bin Laden - otherwise known as UBL. Most of the movie dealt with the years of pursuing leads to Bin Laden, until they finally located the compound where Bin Laden is. Considering how long it took in pursuing those leads during the decade, it made me impatient for the movie to get to the scenes with the U.S. Navy SEALs.

In actuality Zero Dark Thirty was originally about the unsuccessful decade-long manhunt for Bin Laden - and had to be rewritten after the news story of Bin Laden being killed. I think the original story would have been very depressing and unsatisfying to watch for a movie. As a movie, the reality of Bin Laden being killed is more satisfying to experience as a movie-goer. Not that I am promoting killing people, but that the bad guy getting justice was very satisfying in a movie setting. It is curious that the sequence on the raid on Bin Laden's compound is only a few minutes less than the actual SEAL assault. I liked that the stealth Black Hawk helicopters used in the assault came from the secret aerial base Area 51. and the GPNVG-18 (Ground Panoramic Night Vision Goggles) made the SEALs look like bug-eyed aliens. The SEALs added a sense of normalcy to the movie on their downtime. Although I was not happy that the movie did not show the SEALs training on a mock up of Bin Laden's compound.

Zero Dark 30 means the very early morning hours when it is still dark outside and most people are asleep, and is usually said as "oh dark thirty" in the military. This was basically the time when the assault by the SEALs on Bin Laden took place as the assault took place at night.

While the torture scenes in the movie were bad, they were not as graphic as what I have seen in other movies with torture. This was a surprise to me, as due to all the publicity and protests about the torture scenes in the movie, I was expecting something really graphic. I don't know if that means that the U.S. is nicer in their treatment of prisoners than the rest of the world or that Hollywood is pretty sick in making movies. These scenes were especially relevant with a news clip of the President of the United States Barack Obama denying that the U.S. employs torture.

At the end of the movie, during the end credits, there was a dedication to the 9/11 victims and the victims of the various terrorist activities, like the Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing and the Forward Operating Base Chapman bombing, since then.

Rated R for violence, language, nudity. Running time: 157 Minutes.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Reviews

ARGO

Warner Bros. Pictures

Rated R

Running time: 120 Minutes



Click below to watch the Argo trailer.



In Warner Bros. Pictures Argo, Ben Affleck is a CIA ex filtration expert who has to get six U.S. Embassy escapees out of Iran during the Iran hostage crisis. 

Based on a true story, the movie starts out with movie storyboards describing the historical background of Iran - then the movie goes into the story as the U.S. Embassy gets stormed by Iranian protesters during the Islamic revolution of 1979. Six of the Embassy staff sneak out the back of the Embassy during the takeover - and takes refuge at the Canadian Embassy with Canadian Ambassador Victor Garber. 

As the head of the C.I.A.’s Graphics and Authentication Division, producer, director, and star Affleck - as the real life Tony Mendez - was responsible for foreign agents and the agents cover stories. After watching a clip of Battle for the Planet of the Apes from his hotel during a phone call with his son Aidan Sussman who is sitting at home, Affleck comes up with the idea of getting the refugees out of Iran by having them pose as a Canadian film crew making a science fiction movie that needs exotic Iranian locales - so they can fly out of Iran after the "location scouting" trip. With the help of Hollywood makeup artist John Goodman as John Chambers - who had created Mr. Spock's pointed ears, as well as worked on the Planet of the Apes movie series - and Producer Alan Arkin, they create a production studio for the fake science fiction/fantasy film. Arkin takes this project seriously - if the story has a horse, "it's a western, not a science fiction film." I loved what Alan Arkin said, "If I'm doing a fake movie, it's going to be a fake hit." The audience laughed at all the Hollywood jokes. 

The juxtaposition between the intense real-life Iran and the fantasy land of lowest-common denominator Hollywood was quite ironic. The run-down Hollywood Sign, before it's renovation, stresses the fact that this is the time period of 1979. The costumes in Hollywood were straight out of a science fiction convention and were pretty funny, while the Iranian Anti-American protesters were very scary. I wished there was more of the Hollywood aspect in the second half of the movie with John Goodman and Alan Arkin waiting back in Hollywood, at least arranging more of the Hollywood support system needed for the refugees extraction considering how rushed the project was put together.  The Hollywood aspect would have lightened the tension of the intense second half of the film as the Iranians hunt for the refugees, which was very draining for me. Having the refugees not trusting Affleck and the Iranian military searching for the refugees definitely was intense. When refugee "location scout" Kerry Bishe takes location pictures as part of her fake ID job, she gets into a confrontation with an Iranian business owner for taking a picture of his business. This was just one of the intense scenes in the second half of the movie as Affleck is determined to fly the refugees out, despite a problem with their airline tickets. It was fortunate that one of the refugees can speak Farsi. 

Having the Embassy using strip paper shredders instead of cross-cut paper shredders did not make sense to me - especially when they also had a furnace for burning sensitive documents - and of course the use of strip shredders was used to the detriment of the Embassy hostages and refugees. I am sure, after this incident - and the Oliver North Iran-Contra affair - cross-cut paper shredders are part of government facilities now. 

While I understand the storming of the Embassy, there was no real resolution of the U.S. Marines stationed at the U.S. Embassy. It is implied that the Marines were overrun and taken hostage, but you never really saw that. Given the fact that the Marines had a no-shoot-to-kill order - it is sad, but not surprising that the Embassy and the Marines were overrun. 

It was interesting to see the archival TV news clips of the time about the hostage crises, with the nationally famous network newscasters looking so young - as well as seeing the news clips of President Jimmy Carter and U.S. and Canadian government officials. Iran government officials, as well as Iranian women reading statements denouncing the U.S. Embassy and the U.S. and Canadian governments in the aftermath of the incident is still rather disturbing. Affleck had the film processed in a way so that the movie looked like it came from that time period. The Warner Bros. logo used for the movie was the logo used during that time period. 

While in reality, British and New Zealand diplomats also had put their lives at risk to help the American refugees - but I do not recall any mention of them in the movie, so their involvement in the movie was very light.

The crowd in the theater was definitely and older crowd and the theater was pretty full for an afternoon matinee. This was definitely the type of crowd who were around during the Iran hostage crisis. While I remember the 52 hostages, I barely remember the release of the 6 refugees - so this movie was very suspenseful for me as I did not know the refugees story. I loved all of the Star Wars toys on Sussman's bedroom dresser shelves at the end of the movie as they ran the end credits crawl. During the end credits, there was a "where are they now" crawl of the people involved with the incident and a crawl of the involvement along with the Canadian government - as well as a voice-over statement from former President Carter describing the Argo incident. The credits also showed the movie shots being compared with the real-life pictures of the hostage crisis. At the end of the movie, the audience applauded. 


Rated R for violence and language. Running time: 120 Minutes

 Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.
 

THE BOURNE LEGACY

Universal Pictures

Rated PG-13



Running time: 135 Minutes

Click below to watch The Bourne Legacy trailer.

In Universal Pictures The Bourne Legacy, Retired USAF colonel Edward Norton tries to terminate the Program that had created the Bourne Project - which includes several agents, including a very determined agent Jeremy Renner who wants to survive.

In a continuation of the Matt Damon Bourne series of movie sequels, this fourth movie which is based on the Robert Ludlum books, shows that there were more of the Bourne agents than Damon. While Damon was not in the movie, Damon's stock images were used in the movie to show a continuation of the series. Although having a tip that "Jason Bourne" is in town was confusing. You were expecting to see Matt Damon and he is not in the movie. I was wondering if that was a reference to the previous movie that was overlapping this movie, or if he was referring to Renner - and Renner was in the wilderness.

Ed Norton is working with secret government personnel about putting a lid on several covert programs that is in danger of being exposed by Matt Damon and CIA Director Joan Allen - who had a walk-on part, so it could have been stock footage. While in the process of the termination of the agents and the program's assets, Renner escapes with the help of wolves and rescues Dr. Rachel Weisz, who was involved in the medical and psychological evaluations of the program, from her own termination. Together, Renner and Weisz travel to Manila, Philippines where the medical laboratory is - which has the technology to cure Renner from his physical dependence on the cover program's medications which enhanced the chromosomes of the agent's physical and mental abilities.

When I heard the movie was being shot in the Philippines, I thought they were shooting a couple of scenes to give the appearance of traveling around and giving a worldwide presence. There were a few scenes that were shot in other countries to give that sense of world presence, but half the movie was set in the Philippines - with a lot of Pinoys as extras and bit-parts in the movie. As a Filipino, I found these scenes quite enjoyable to watch and was rather proud of the Philippines being shown in a movie. Although, my Filipino friends point out that it is a shame that the movie kept showing the poor/ugly side of Manila instead of the prettier side. They were very disappointed in that portrayal. It makes the Philippines and Manila seem like a poor ugly country instead of the beautiful country it is.

The opening shot is a freeze shot, so you might think that the projector was stuck on that shot until it starts up. As the star of the movie, Jeremy Renner was given much more to do in this movie than in The Avengers. However, Renner was still mostly an action star than an actor in this movie. Norton was appropriately dirty and unprincipled as the man responsible for the Black Operations and his betrayal in terminating the people involved by burning the program to the ground. The movie reminded me a lot of a James Bond movie. While I thought it was a nice action picture, there were several plot holes that got to me, unless the explanations went by too fast for them to register to me. The most immediate one to me - outside of the Jason Bourne tip off - was how did Renner wind up at Weisz's home? I also thought the ending of the movie was a little too pat. It was just a motorcycle chase. While exciting, there was no direct confrontation between Renner and the agent Louis Ozawa Changchien sent to kill Renner at the end of the movie.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 135 Minutes

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Reviews

ACT OF VALOR

Relativity Media

Rated R

Running Time 111 Minutes



Click below to watch the trailer of Act of Valor.



In Relativity Media's Act of Valor, a Navy Seal team goes on a personnel recovery mission to recover an abducted CIA agent Roselyn Sanchez. The SEALs then search around the world for the terrorists responsible for Sanchez's kidnapping before the terrorists bring their terrorism back home to our country America.

Using active duty U.S. Navy SEALs as the Seal team makes the tactics and action of the SEALs incredibly real. We get to see the weapons and equipment the SEALs currently use on combat deployment, as well as seeing the SEALSs support equipment and their support personnel. The use of the Special Operations Craft-Riverine warboats with active duty Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen, or SWCC, was my favorite part of the movie - especially the way the warboats came charging in for the hot extraction of the SEALs. The film took two years to make as the producers had to work around the SEALs deployments. Watching the SEALs in action made me appreciate the SEALs more for all of the sacrifices the SEALs go through for protecting our country - especially when you consider the SEALs motto is "The only easy day was yesterday."

With the movie having assistance from U.S. Navy personnel and the Naval Special Warfare Command, I can appreciate that this movie is an authentic action film as the SEALs, while in the process of making the film, would not do anything in the movie that was not real and authentic - like the infiltration scenes of their objective areas. I am glad they had water operations that the SEALs were able to do in the movie, since they are Navy SEALs. A lot of the SEALs action scenes were first person shooter scenes where you see through the eyes of the SEAL as they look for targets, especially during night vision scenes. It was great seeing the uploaded camera feed from the UAV for the SEALs to use for intelligence. In other movies, this kind of information appears to come from satellite reconnaissance imagery. This kind of information coming from UAV's is much more believable. The graphics of the locations around the world was a nice idea. Then the graphics would then zoom into the location of the scene - but would sometimes zoom in the opposite direction than what you would expect, which was disorientating.

Having the computer graphics of the team members records makes for a cool introductions, but outside of the team leaders, you do not get to know the team as people - and even then, it was hard for me to tell the leaders apart, since they both looked and sounded alike and had no characterization, except for the fact that one was going to be a father. His story and family life was the basis for the framing story in their civilian lives, as their spouses and children sacrifice so much to support them. The SEALs acting, when they were acting instead of being SEALS, was not that great - but then they are SEALs and not actors. Alex Veadov was more relatable to me as the bad guy than with the SEALs acting as characters. What does come across in the film with the SEALs are the SEALs brotherhood for each other - that they would die for each other. The fictional story is pretty much like it came out of today's breaking news headlines - especially since the story is basically an amalgamation of several SEAL operations.

As a Filipino, I was both proud and saddened that the Philippines and Filipinos were involved in some of the action in the movie. Unfortunately, such things can happen in places like the Philippines in the real world.

At the end of the movie, the audience applauded. The film also listed at the end of the movie the members of the SEALs who gave their lives since 9/11. Sadly, as of 2012, there were a lot of names listed of SEALs who gave their lives. There were much more names on the list than I would have thought would be listed. Considering how good the SEALs were when depicted in the intense action scenes in the movie on what they do, it makes you realize how many intense operations the elite Seal teams have been deployed on over the years to accrue that many causalities. No wonder the Seals have such an intense brotherhood amongst themselves. Over the end credits were pictures of Americana and the real-life heroes who protect our freedom.

"To them and those like them. Damn few."

Rated R for graphic war violence. Running Time: 111 Minutes.

Click below to watch the documentary of Act of Valor.



Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Reviews

This Means War

20th Century Fox

Rated PG-13

Running time: 98 Minutes



Click below to watch the This Means War trailer.



In 20th Century Fox's This Means War, top CIA agents Chris Pine and Tom Hardy are best friends - until they compete for the same woman, consumer products tester Reese Witherspoon.

This film has much more action than is typical for a romantic comedy. It helps with the action that best friends, American Pine and British Hardy, are both trained CIA agents - with the resources of the CIA to spy on each other, such as bugging devices and UAV's. Hardy and Pine are also after a bad guy Til Schweiger. The movie was directed by McG, who is known for his action films. The romantic comedy aspect of the film may expand McG's repertoire. I liked that Pine and Hardy actually used the resources of the CIA to spy on each other's dates with Witherspoon - on the pretense of doing a surveillance operation to find bad guy Schweiger. I think I liked Hardy the best between the two stars as Hardy used his CIA training in a paintball game. While there were no James Bond cars, there were car chases.

Naturally Witherspoon is confused as to which of her two dates she should really go for. As a result, Witherspoon gets advice about them from her raunchy best friend Chelsea Handler - who put lonely Witherspoon's profile up on a dating website. Witherspoon only even considers the entire idea of dating after she repeatedly runs across her former boyfriend - along with his fiancee. The romantic comedy aspect of the movie is typical for a romantic comedy, but the action brings the movie up to a new level and actually makes the relationships funnier as tough guys Pine and Hardy try to show their sensitive sides - as well as trying to integrate themselves into Reese's business of a consumer product specialist.

Angela Bassett makes a cameo appearance as Pine's and Hardy's superior in the CIA. Bassett is starting to be typecast as a character who is a superior in secret organizations. Now if only Bassett were given a role where she actually gets to kick butt as a result of being in such typecasting, I would be happy with that instead of just wasting Bassett's talents in such cameos.

Rated PG-13 for violence, sexual situations, language. Running time: 98 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Red

Summit Entertainment
and DC Entertainment

Rated PG-13

Running time: 111 minutes



Click below to watch the Red trailer.


Lonely suburbanite Bruce Willis is wooing his government case worker agent Mary-Louise Parker for his government checks. Soon - a professional hit squad tries to kill Willis in his home. Willis is a former CIA agent who has been declared RED - Retired, Extremely Dangerous. Now Willis must gather his fellow RED agents, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, and Helen Mirren to break into CIA Headquarters to find out who is trying to kill all of them, as well as his girlfriend Parker - who reluctantly gets caught up in the middle of all this mess.

Based on the graphic novel Red, DC Entertainment's Red is a much lighter and more comedic version of the graphic novel from what I hear, although I have not read the graphic novel yet. The mature cast seems to be having a lot of fun in the movie. To see Willis as a tough CIA agent developing a relationship with the young Parker and finally letting someone into his secret agent life is rather touching. Having The Queen of drama, Oscar winner Helen Mirren - wearing an evening gown and firing a machine gun - in an action film was one of the reasons why I wanted to see this movie in the first place and Mirren does not disappoint. As Mirren tells Parker, "I kill people, dear." Even if Mirren does kill people, Mirren is still very much a lady. Malkovich is over the top playing an agent who was given LSD for 11 years. Freeman is not given as much to do in the movie, but he does have his moments.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time 111 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Knight and Day

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

PG-13

Running time: 109 minutes
















Click below to watch the Knight and Day trailer.



In Knight & Day, civilian Cameron Diaz is on her way to her sister's wedding - when she bumps into agent Tom Cruise at the airport. Diaz soon becomes an unwitting accomplice for Cruise. Diax goes on the run with Cruise in Cruise's battle against CIA agents.

This movie is a cute, comedic spy thriller cross between Mission: Impossible  and Wanted. Cruise's off-beat antics makes you wonder if he really is a rogue CIA agent or not as he takes Diaz around the world. As Diaz says, "I just don't know what to believe." Aside from what may be happening to Cruise and Diaz, I just did not get the sense of the real ultimate stakes of their actions - of why this mission is so important in the first place as everyone searches for a newly developed power source. Also, while we may know where the Knight came from in the movie, there is no obvious reason why the movie would be called Knight and Day unless you really reach for the meaning.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 109 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

 Pancho's Movie Reviews

Killers

Lionsgate

Rated PG-13

Running time: 93 minutes

Click below to watch the Killers trailer.



In Lionsgate's Killers, mild, mannered Katherine Heigl meets the man of her dreams, Ashton Kutcher, in France and marries him. When a 20 million dollar contract is put out on Kutcher, Heigl finds out that Kutcher really is not what he seems to be - as "killers" come after them.

This film is a combination of Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Grosse Pointe Blank. Intelligence agent Kutcher craves an ordinary life at home, and treats Heigl like a queen, before Kutcher gets pulled back into the business. Heigl has become trademarked as a ditsy blond, however I miss her in her dramatic roles like in the TV series Roswell. It seems over-the-top that the resources of so many sleeper agents would be sent to keep an eye out for Kutcher as he lives in suburbia. While not everyone is a killer, most of the neighborhood is a sleeper agent and the situation was getting quite funny as a result.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 93 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Reviews