Review: Lucy

by. Joe Moss
★★★

An existentialist trip with a twist, Luc Besson's "Lucy" easily reminds me why I love his movies. This movie may not be for everyone--like many Besson films--but if you are able to sit through 90 minutes of a scientific/theological discourse on humanity, evolution, the big-bang, the time-space continuum, and Einstein's Theory of Relativity all rolled into one, then you are in the right place. And, when you leave...MIND BLOWN!!

Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) finds herself involved with the wrong guy at the wrong time. He convinces her to take a "briefcase full of papers" to Mr. Jang (Min-Suk Choi) in a posh hotel in an unknown location in South Korea. An easy $500 turns into a nightmare afternoon of kidnap, implantation, and drug overdosing. Lucy is forced to be a mule for a new drug that will blow the minds of kids in Europe. But things get REALLY interesting when the drug implanted in her abdomen begin to leak into her bloodstream.

Simultaneously, as Lucy is getting the high of her life, at a science symposium concerning brain research and theory, Professor Norman (Morgan Freeman) is waxing philosophical on the advances and intrigue of the human brain. He is providing a well balanced theoretical discussion on what the human brain has done evolutionarily, while indicating the shortcomings of our existence compared to other species. The room is abuzz with resounding questions and philosophy fathoming how humanity would handle use of more than 10-15% of their cerebral cortex. Professor Norman feels that the key to truly understanding humanity and the

intricate workings of the mind lie in our ability to surpass 20% --the mark set by dolphins' cerebral usage.

The film is a metaphor for the progression though human life, and what we are supposed to do WITH said life. Why are we here? What is our niche on the planet...the universe....time? We see an innocent babe (Lucy....a beautiful homage to the first complete human-like Australopithicus skeleton uncovered in Ethiopia's Afar Triangle by Donald Johanson and Tom Gray) who is thrust into the evil world and has to learn to adapt and survive. She has been provided with the ultimate knowledge and has unlocked the mysteries of universe with the consumption of the apple (the drug) and is ostensibly thrust from the Garden of Eden to face the horrors of what life has become. Does she wallow in self pity, or does she right the wrongs committed and try and fix what humanity has become. No spoilers, but I will say that by using 100% of the cerebral cortex, Lucy transcends life as we know it and truly BECOMES...omnipotent (maybe not the right word...maybe more universally introspective) in her struggle against the devil (Mr. Jang).

This film never lost my interest. While the plot development is simple, and the characters are few, Luc Besson does an amazing job posing questions that make the audience interact with the film as it plays. There are plenty of the typical humorous moments mixed into to allow the comic relief, but immediately following he makes you THINK. I found myself questioning many things that I felt I have known for years to be true. While I understand that much of what he presents is pure conjecture and maybe even utter BS, it was a fun journey. He is able to provide hidden symbolism throughout the film that now...only hours after I have seen the film...I am beginning to understand. I have had to allow this film to digest in my mind before writing this review. There was not quick write here.

Luc Besson gathered his team of old for this project. He had Thierry Arbogast as the cinematographer (beautiful) and Eric Serra created the hauntingly melodic soundtrack. This trio made this feel like a Luc Besson film of old--innovative plot, great sound and great cinematography. AND the film was produced by Marc Shmuger who was responsible for one of mine and Trevor's top film of last year, The Spectacular Now.

As much as I loved this film, I can see that many may be put off by the subject matter. And I did not give it 4 stars simply because some of the action sequences did feel very Matrix-like in their progression and implementation (Thanks Wachowskis for affording me that adjective). But I hope that many of you will see this film and be reminded of The Fifth Element meets The Big Blue as was I.

Review: Now You See Me

by Trevor Kirkendall

★★

Caper films are fun. Even when they’re bad. That’s the simplest explanation I can give for my feelings toward “Now You See Me.” It’s always entertaining when you see a complex scheme pulled off in a film and you’re not quite sure how they got away with it. But when the movie strays off its mark and tries to be something its not, that’s when things come undone. Its the same type of thing that plagues many of Hollywood’s films today. It’d be so nice if the studios just spent a little more of their hard earned cash in the story department, but that’s a long winded conversation for another time.

Four street corner magicians – J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher) and Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) – are all rounded up by an unseen and unknown individual as the movie begins. Together, they form magic act dubbed The Four Horsemen.

One year later, they are all very famous magicians performing nightly in Las Vegas thanks the backing of millionaire Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine). One night in front of the their live audience, they bring up a man on stage who assists them in robbing millions in euros from a bank in France. This catches the attention of the FBI. Agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) is assigned to investigate the magicians with the help of a new agent at Interpol, Alma Dray (Mélanie Laurent).

With no evidence to hold them down, the Four Horsemen are released to continue their magical bank-robbing extravaganza. Rhodes, Dray and the rest of the FBI are shadowing them the rest of the way. They’re also being followed by Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman), famous debunker of magic tricks looking to cash in on exposing how the Four Horsemen pull of their seemingly inexplicable tricks.

What starts as a typical caper film quickly collapses when it tries to add too much to an already crowded screenplay. I’m all for layers in a story that makes it more complex and compelling, but its unnecessary when it starts to take away from the substance of the primary plotline.

On its surface, “Now You See Me” is a typical heist film, much in the same vein as something like “Ocean’s Eleven.” The vast difference between the two films is that “Ocean’s” established a plot, established a motive, gathered the characters together and showed them pulling off the heist. “Now You See Me” works the same way, but feels horribly unnatural.

Motive, for example, is established - at the end. By that time, interest and empathy had dwindled away. Not to mention, the film has shifted its primary focus from the Four Horsemen to the FBI and back again at least two or three times. Its hard to connect with a story when the story itself doesn’t know what it wants to be or who its hero should be.

I feel like this film was put together with too much haste, and that the only reason for making it was to gather a wide range of talented actors and actresses. I never knew who I was rooting for watching all of them on the screen at the same time. None of these actors have ever really played a villainous role so its difficult to see any of them in a negative light, particularly when the screenplay is written with humorous dialogue every other line.

No one seems to flex their acting talents to the best of their abilities. At times it almost feels like Mark Zuckerberg is doing magic tricks alongside Woody Boyd. No one brought anything new to the table that we haven’t already seen from other movies or TV shows.

There’s just too much of a disconnection from beginning to end. And just like all caper movies, the ending is the revelation; how did they do it? While any questions that might pop up throughout the movie seem to have an answer, the big reveal is comically head scratching.

But “Now You See Me” isn’t a total waste. As a sucker for heist movies such as this, I did find the majority of this film relatively enjoyable. The heist is pulled off, money is stolen and you’re left there wondering how. They show how its done, and you’re left amazed. And unlike “Ocean’s Eleven” which shows one heist with one big reveal at the end, “Now You See Me” shows three separate heists. Sure they’re using visual effects and CGI to make the tricks seem real, but that’s what magic is anyway. Just a bunch of illusions to make things look like something unexplainable just happened.

The real magic is how such a large group of talented group of actors were all talked in to performing in such a dull and poorly written film. As entertaining as some parts may be, “Now You See Me” is just another example of how Hollywood still likes to put all their flair before their stories. 

Review: Olympus Has Fallen

by Trevor Kirkendall

★★

The White House is under siege in “Olympus Has Fallen” and the fate of the world is on the shoulders of one very badass dude. And no, it’s not Jack Bauer. “Olympus Has Fallen” is the first of two movies we’ll see this year that feature the White House falling to the hands of enemy combatants (see also “White House Down” later this summer).

Gerard Butler plays Mike Banning, a member of the Secret Service who was once President Ben Asher’s (Aaron Eckhart) head bodyguard. He was relieved of the post, or maybe he quit – the film never does explain this very well, after an accident leads to the death of Asher’s wife (Ashley Judd). He now rides a desk at a different government agency.

One regular evening in Washington, the President is welcoming the South Korean Prime Minster when a large-scale attack is launched on the White House. The attack is led by the sinister Kang (Rick Yune) a former North Korean citizen now working for the South Korean government who has apparently been planning this attack most of his life.

With the White House under enemy fire, Banning picks up a gun and walks right in through the front door, somehow managing to miss every bullet being fired across the lawn. Everyone else dies, except him. In the secured underground bunker, Kang is holding the President hostage, along with the Vice President (Phil Austin), the Secretary of Defense (Melissa Leo) and other White House workers.

One by one, the highly trained Banning begins picking off members of Kang’s army while taunting Kang himself over wireless communication devices, a la Bruce Willis in the original “Die Hard.” He receives his instruction from the Speaker of the House (Morgan Freeman), who is acting as president, the Secret Service Director (Angela Basset) and the Army Chief of Staff (Robert Forster).

As long as the guns are blazing, “Olympus” is not a painful bore, but is rather enjoyable. Director Antoine Fuqua has already proven himself competent action director. His 2001 film “Training Day” was one of the better police thrillers of the previous decade. He continues to show he has the ability to capture high-octane moments on film, and create tension throughout these sequences.

 His downfall here lies in the screenplay, and that is not his fault. Written by first-timers Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt, “Olympus” suffers from rehashed and overused plot devices. Their screenplay is filled with minor subplots that do nothing to advance the story. They are in place to try and create empathy toward our protagonists. The problem is they do not work; they only drag the film along in order for it to clock in right at two hours.

Empathy for Mike Banning never really catches. He’s supposed to be set up as a typical man living in the big city in 2013. He’s obsessed with his job, too obsessed to even notice his wife (Radha Mitchell). President Asher is the same way, although he is president so he needs to be obsessed. That’s the problem with writing presidents in film; you never can truly empathize with him. There are only five men in this world who probably can.

The villains have their own sets of demands, of course, but they don’t seem to justify storming into the White House or killing random innocent civilians either. Their demands are predictable, and don’t even think about trying to take the White House back from them because they already know exactly what the American military will be planning, and they have planned for this. They do have an endgame, too, and its laughable. It revolves around a classified government program. So classified that Gerard Butler doesn’t even know what it is, but not so secret that Korean terrorists found out about it and know exactly what they need to do in order to access it. Hans Gruber and motley crew were more sinister than these guys.

The biggest victim of this botched screenplay is the dialogue. Anytime a character throws his or her head back looking toward the heavens, closes his or her eyes, clenches his or her fists while pumping them into the air and letting out a sorrowful “NO!!” at the top of his or her lungs while the orchestra plays a sappy arrangement, I have to question the writer’s sanity in choosing such overused trash. And I have to feel bad for the actor or actress who has to stand there on set and film that scene over and over again. In this case, the victim was Aaron Eckhart. I’m sorry, Aaron Eckhart.

As long as no one is talking and everyone is just shooting at one another, “Olympus Has Fallen” does its job of being adrenaline pumping action flick. But the lack of substance found in this screenplay really makes the film suffer. And it really does suffer! Since it’s a first time screenplay, I think we can chalk up the issues to that. Not everyone can knock it out of the park on their first step up to the plate.