By Troy Ribeiro
FILM: Brick Mansions
CAST: Paul Walker, David Belle, Gouchy Boy, Catalina Denis, Robert Fitzgerald Diggs (RZA)
DIRECTION: Camille Delamarre
Here’s another film after Transcendence that is established in a dystopian setting. But unlike Transcendence, this one is an action film, packed with Parkour thrills, a bit of romance and city politics.
Set in the hard-to-conceive near future — 2018, a news clip bookends the account that summarises the situation at Brick Mansions, an impoverished ghetto, a land of undesirables that is infested with the underworld activities in the outskirts of Detroit.
The initial high-octane action by an ex-convict Lino (David Belle) wrecking a drug deal that is controlled by a ruthless gangster-cum-drug dealer Tremaine Alexander (RZA) and then using his Parkour skills to escape the thugs chasing him, is the precursor of the events to follow. It is one of the classiest exploits that sets the ball rolling.
The narration of the saga starts off with a bomb along with a timer device being stolen by gangsters. They then hold the city to ransom by threatening to blow it up.
Detective Damien Collier (the late Paul Walker) of the Detroit Police Force is sent as an undercover cop to ferret out Tremaine from Brick Mansions. This is a chance he would not want to miss, since Tremaine had gunned down his father years ago. In fact, Damien is cautioned by his grandfather that, “revenge and justice are not the same thing”. Nevertheless, Damien is on the mission.
So in a planned scheme, he befriends Lino and together they undertake the mission to defuse the bomb and avoid calamity. Once the motivations are established, most of the time is spent with the principle actors running around a giant complex pulping the villains. Everything that follows is fast and furious. The volley of punches, the car chases, the stunts and explosions make up for a bulk of the screen time.
Paul Walker as Collier is earnest in his histrionics. He delivers every line with conviction and also handles the character’s intensely physical aspects with ease. He is ably supported by David Belle. In fact, David steals the show with his agile and swift run-jump-punch acrobatic movements. Together, they share an instant and easy-going chemistry although they hardly speak for most of the film.
But it is the rapper-turned-actor RZA as Tremaine who is the surprise package. He supplies the requisite threat with bluntness delivering messages of deficiency and societal disparity and yet transcends the character to a graph that you will not hate.
Catalina Denis as Lola, Lino’s ex-girlfriend and Ayisha Issa as the sadistic, leather-and-chain clad Tremaine’s side-kick are the competitive female counterparts, who hold their stead.
The razor-sharp editing with quick jagged cuts makes the action look so fluid and continuous that it is a treat to the eye. The camera-work especially the low and top angle shots that are frequently used giving this film an eclectic field.
The script, by writer-producer Luc Besson, is a remake of his 2004 successful French thriller District B13, which in turn has the main plot of the city being bombed, borrowed from the 1981 released film, Escape from New York.
Unfortunately this adaptation has glaring blunders. To start with, at the very onset the setting is mentioned as a 20-acre area which makes the district just a small piece of land. Then, the place is sparsely populated and finally there is no mode of telecommunication projected in the film.
Overall, for first-time director Camille Delamarre, Brick Mansions carries the uncanny stamp of a hastily-made mediocre Luc Besson film. However, it is indeed a great tribute to Paul Walker as it is his last film. He died on November 30, 2013 in a car accident. - IANS
DVD courtesy:
Kings Electronics, Doha
The mommy madness
By Rick Bentley
FILM: Moms’ Night Out
CAST: Sarah Drew, Sean Astin, Patricia Heaton, Trace Adkins, Abbie Cobb, Logan White
DIRECTION: Jon and Andrew Erwin
This family-friendly film starts out with promise. Allyson (Sarah Drew) is a budding mommy blogger. She’s got plenty of fodder for her online commentary as the mother of three young (and out-of-control) children who gets little help from her husband (Sean Astin) because he’s gone a lot for business.
Allyson reaches a boiling point with the mommy madness and demands a night off to have a quiet dinner with other beleaguered mothers.
This is where the Jon Erwin and Andrea Gyertson Nasfell script falls into a deep coma. There’s no life to any of the adventures that happen when the night goes bad. Most of the comedy feels like a rehash of scenes from cheesy cable movies.
The main problem is that none of the moms are interesting. Patricia Heaton sleepwalks her way through the role of Sondra, the preacher’s wife with a shady past, while Andrea Logan White’s portrayal of the nerdish Izzy is so dull she would make a wallflower look exciting. Abbie Cobb is supposed to play the bad girl of the group, Bridget, but she’s got little to do except run around and shout “Where’s my baby?”
The males in the cast are far more interesting. Kevin Downes — also one of the film’s producers — turns in a more entertaining performance than all of the females combined.
To be fair, it’s the script that keeps tripping up the actors. A lot of the jokes — like mentioning the police in a tattoo parlour and watching everyone run — get repeated. There’s no surprise that a rough-and-tough biker (played with surprising skill by country singer Trace Adkins) ends up being the person who dishes out the words of wisdom to pull the movie back to its roots.
And, for a film that wants to be family friendly, there’s an odd disregard for the safety of the children. One baby gets passed around to strangers like a joint at a concert, while another pack of youngsters gets bounced around in a van during a high-speed chase. — The Fresno Bee/MCT
Tension on track
FILM: Born to Race Fast Track
CAST: Brett Davern, Beau Mirchoff, Bill Sage, Sharon Lawrence
DIRECTION: Alex Ranarivelo
Ever since the commercial success of 2001’s The Fast and the Furious, street racing movies have been a recurring subject for filmmakers. Born to Race is the latest in such ventures.
Danny Krueger is a 20-year old drag racer who plays by his own rules. After winning a scholarship to the prestigious Fast Lane Racing Academy, Danny finds himself competing against some of the fiercest young drivers in the world.
Tension soars on and off the track, and a terrible incident leaves Danny without a racing partner. Facing dismissal from the academy, Danny is forced to team up with an old rival. The pair must learn to set aside their differences as they vie for rookie spots on a professional racing team.
DVDs courtesy:
Saqr Entertainment Stores, Doha