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Showing posts with label idris elba. Show all posts
Showing posts with label idris elba. Show all posts
Thursday, May 6, 2010
When assignment goes terribly wrong Clay and his special ops team “The Losers” fake their own death and go rogue, hiding out in South America until they can find a way to take out the man that tried to kill them Max. When Aisha appears on the scene she offers The Losers a chance not only to go home, but a way to find Max an kill him.
The Losers is one in a long line of comic book adaptations, and Sylvian White does not shy away from this, even using panels from the book in the opening credits sequence. The film is funny, action packed and full of stars that I like – so it took me awhile to identify what I thought was off about the film, and I finally realized it came down to two things: the tone and the ending.
The film, like the book is an action comedy. This is something that is deceptively hard to do, especially when your main characters are basically assassins and with the exception of Joss Whedon or Phil Alden Robinson, I can’t think of many people that can do that tone really well. While I enjoyed the comedy and the action in The Losers I couldn’t shake the feeling the whole time that I was at times watching two separate films that didn’t seem to fit together very well. Then there’s Max…the villain…he needed an image and dialogue makeover because not only was he really not villainous or funny but I found him downright cheesy – straight out of a B movie.
Then there’s the ending. I understand The Losers is a series and they’re probably hoping to turn the film into a franchise if they can, but the ending bothered me. The only thing I can think to describe it is that the ending felt so intentionally open ended; there was only a half resolution and nothing was really wrapped up. On top of that there continued to be post-ending sequences over the credits – while funny, they didn’t fit.
What did work greatly about this movie was main cast. Every one of the “Losers” was cast perfectly. I am a huge fan of Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Zoe Saldana so I am always willing to watch either of them for two hours, and in this film they both kick some major butt. Then there’s Chris Evans, also known as the new Captian America, and that man is charismatic as hell and the only one that could pull off that level of comedy, geekiness and bravado in one character.
The Losers is enjoyable. But it struck me as the popcorn of comic book movies. I almost feel as though the writers should have pulled away from the source material just a little to make sure the film felt like a complete movie, not just the first part of a series.
Director: Sylvain White
Writers: Peter Berg & James Vanderbilt
Clay: Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Aisha: Zoe Saldana
Jensen: Chris Evans
Roque: Idris Elba
Pooch: Columbus Short
Max: Jason Patric
Cougar: Oscar Jaenada
The Losers is one in a long line of comic book adaptations, and Sylvian White does not shy away from this, even using panels from the book in the opening credits sequence. The film is funny, action packed and full of stars that I like – so it took me awhile to identify what I thought was off about the film, and I finally realized it came down to two things: the tone and the ending.
The film, like the book is an action comedy. This is something that is deceptively hard to do, especially when your main characters are basically assassins and with the exception of Joss Whedon or Phil Alden Robinson, I can’t think of many people that can do that tone really well. While I enjoyed the comedy and the action in The Losers I couldn’t shake the feeling the whole time that I was at times watching two separate films that didn’t seem to fit together very well. Then there’s Max…the villain…he needed an image and dialogue makeover because not only was he really not villainous or funny but I found him downright cheesy – straight out of a B movie.
Then there’s the ending. I understand The Losers is a series and they’re probably hoping to turn the film into a franchise if they can, but the ending bothered me. The only thing I can think to describe it is that the ending felt so intentionally open ended; there was only a half resolution and nothing was really wrapped up. On top of that there continued to be post-ending sequences over the credits – while funny, they didn’t fit.
What did work greatly about this movie was main cast. Every one of the “Losers” was cast perfectly. I am a huge fan of Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Zoe Saldana so I am always willing to watch either of them for two hours, and in this film they both kick some major butt. Then there’s Chris Evans, also known as the new Captian America, and that man is charismatic as hell and the only one that could pull off that level of comedy, geekiness and bravado in one character.
The Losers is enjoyable. But it struck me as the popcorn of comic book movies. I almost feel as though the writers should have pulled away from the source material just a little to make sure the film felt like a complete movie, not just the first part of a series.
Director: Sylvain White
Writers: Peter Berg & James Vanderbilt
Clay: Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Aisha: Zoe Saldana
Jensen: Chris Evans
Roque: Idris Elba
Pooch: Columbus Short
Max: Jason Patric
Cougar: Oscar Jaenada
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
I am a fan of Guy Ritchie. Snatch is one of my personal favorite movies and I think Mickey is just one of the best characters committed to celluloid in the past few decades. I have been in a Guy Ritchie funk since Snatch came out; sure he did Swept Away and Revolver but neither one of those films got much love…and Swept Away was just ripped apart by everyone. In short, Madonna killed Guy’s career. Those of us that have had that opinion about the Madonna/Guy marriage of course find it funny that Rocknrolla has come out at roughly the same time as the announcement of Guy and Madonna’s split. We’ve all been hoping that this split signals the return of Guy Ritchie to the cinema he does so well.
Rocknrolla is vaguely similar in concept to some of Guy Ritchie’s other films. It takes an odd assortment of characters all somehow involved in the criminal underground in Britain and their paths interconnect and try to pull them all down a ugly and dangerous spiral that will end in their deaths. In this outing One Two, Mumbles and Handsome Bob are the Wild Bunch a trio of moderately successful thugs. Stella is creative accountant to Uri who gives work to One Two under the nose of Uri who is trying to use Stella’s skills to get money to Lenny. Lenny is a blue-collar thug if you will who makes his dime off real estate scams and doesn’t see his way of doing things as old. Archie is Lenny’s enforcer who is trying to track down Lenny’s step son Johnny, a supposedly dead junkie/rocker managed by Mickey and Roman. There is really no way to truly sum up this film’s plot. But if you’ve seen a Ritchie film you can put the pieces together and figure out at least the style that the story will be told in.
While I enjoyed Rocknrolla it is by no means a typical Guy Ritchie film. All the elements are there, and you enjoy watching all the pieces get put in place and whacked back out of order. However, the prevailing feeling that I got out of this film is that Guy is stretching; it’s been eight years since Snatch came out and it feels like Guy is a little unsure of himself. This is not a bad thing however, the film is enjoyable, well done and something that no one except Guy Ritchie could do. It put me in a mood where I enjoyed the film and I know going out of it that Guy is coming back and his next movie is going to be even more like the Guy Ritchie I know and love.
One of the things I do love about Guy Ritchie’s films is that he takes at least one actor in every film that I love and makes them play a character that I couldn’t picture them in. In Snatch that is Brad Pitt and Mickey. In Rocknrolla that is Gerard Butler. I adore Butler and while One Two isn’t as out there of a character as Mickey I just didn’t quite see Butler as a fit in Ritchie’s world – I was wrong. Butler is fabulous.
Go support Guy Ritchie. He doesn’t really need the money, but I want him to keep making gangster movies because that is his genre.
Director & Writer: Guy Ritchie
One Two: Gerard Butler
Mumbles: Idris Elba
Handsome Bob: Tom Hardy
Johnny Quid: Toby Kebbell
Roman: Ludacris/Chris Bridges
Uri: Karel Roden
Councilor: Jimi Mistry
Stella: Thandie Newton
Mickey: Jeremy Piven
Archie: Mark Stong
Lenny: Tom Wilkinson
Archie: People ask the question... what's a RocknRolla? And I tell 'em - it's not about drugs, drums, and hospital drips, oh no. There's more there than that, my friend. We all like a bit of the good life - some the money, some the drugs, other the sex game, the glamour, or the fame. But a RocknRolla, oh, he's different. Why? Because a real RocknRolla wants the f---ing lot.
Rocknrolla is vaguely similar in concept to some of Guy Ritchie’s other films. It takes an odd assortment of characters all somehow involved in the criminal underground in Britain and their paths interconnect and try to pull them all down a ugly and dangerous spiral that will end in their deaths. In this outing One Two, Mumbles and Handsome Bob are the Wild Bunch a trio of moderately successful thugs. Stella is creative accountant to Uri who gives work to One Two under the nose of Uri who is trying to use Stella’s skills to get money to Lenny. Lenny is a blue-collar thug if you will who makes his dime off real estate scams and doesn’t see his way of doing things as old. Archie is Lenny’s enforcer who is trying to track down Lenny’s step son Johnny, a supposedly dead junkie/rocker managed by Mickey and Roman. There is really no way to truly sum up this film’s plot. But if you’ve seen a Ritchie film you can put the pieces together and figure out at least the style that the story will be told in.
While I enjoyed Rocknrolla it is by no means a typical Guy Ritchie film. All the elements are there, and you enjoy watching all the pieces get put in place and whacked back out of order. However, the prevailing feeling that I got out of this film is that Guy is stretching; it’s been eight years since Snatch came out and it feels like Guy is a little unsure of himself. This is not a bad thing however, the film is enjoyable, well done and something that no one except Guy Ritchie could do. It put me in a mood where I enjoyed the film and I know going out of it that Guy is coming back and his next movie is going to be even more like the Guy Ritchie I know and love.
One of the things I do love about Guy Ritchie’s films is that he takes at least one actor in every film that I love and makes them play a character that I couldn’t picture them in. In Snatch that is Brad Pitt and Mickey. In Rocknrolla that is Gerard Butler. I adore Butler and while One Two isn’t as out there of a character as Mickey I just didn’t quite see Butler as a fit in Ritchie’s world – I was wrong. Butler is fabulous.
Go support Guy Ritchie. He doesn’t really need the money, but I want him to keep making gangster movies because that is his genre.
Director & Writer: Guy Ritchie
One Two: Gerard Butler
Mumbles: Idris Elba
Handsome Bob: Tom Hardy
Johnny Quid: Toby Kebbell
Roman: Ludacris/Chris Bridges
Uri: Karel Roden
Councilor: Jimi Mistry
Stella: Thandie Newton
Mickey: Jeremy Piven
Archie: Mark Stong
Lenny: Tom Wilkinson
Archie: People ask the question... what's a RocknRolla? And I tell 'em - it's not about drugs, drums, and hospital drips, oh no. There's more there than that, my friend. We all like a bit of the good life - some the money, some the drugs, other the sex game, the glamour, or the fame. But a RocknRolla, oh, he's different. Why? Because a real RocknRolla wants the f---ing lot.
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