This Means War review

             A chick flick for guys too? Well certainly that is the general aim for the post-valentine’s day release of “This Means War”.  Directed by McG, “This Means War” wants to be the ideal date movie. We have car chases, shootouts and Bourn-esque fisticuffs for the boys and a high concept love triangle for the girls. The movie features Chris Pine and Tom Hardy, probably most well-known to the world as the new Captain Kirk in 2009’s “Star Trek” reboot and the anticipated villain Bane in this summer’s upcoming “Dark Knight Rises”. Both actors share a few things in common; neither of them are movie stars yet--despite being involved with money making franchises--both are charismatic good looking men who haven’t really broke into the role of the romantic lead, and lastly, both of them have some serious nerd-cred due to their involvement in the aforementioned franchises.  So what does McG do to widen their appeal? He has thrown them in a rom-com action highbred with Reese Witherspoon, who has the unlucky job of bringing in the entire female portion of the audience who has never been to Comicon.       

                Chris Pine and Tom Hardy play FDR Foster and Tuck, longtime best friends who both happen to work as special-op spies for the CIA. Reese Witherspoon plays Lauren Scott, a single 30-something that just can’t seem to get back into the dating world (yeah, I had a hard time with this one too). Lauren’s obnoxiously crass and wildly intrusive sister makes her an internet dating profile, and after she notices interest by the recently divorced and handsome Tuck (Hardy), she decides to try it out. Not long after Lauren and Tuck’s first date she runs into FDR (Pine) in a video store, where he tries to pick her up with his sexy knowledge of Hitchcock movies (No, really…This is actually in the movie). It doesn’t work but eventually he follows her to her job, where she is a product researcher (Get it? It’s clever because she has to decide on the quality of competing products.*wink wink*). There, he basically forces a date out of her by threatening embarrassment. Eventually the men find out they are both trying to date the same chick, and even though she doesn’t know they are competing for her love, she has to pick them based on their strengths. Being trained CIA  operatives who have too much money and downtime, Tuck and FDR play a game of “Spy vs. Spy” where they use their secret-agent training, to sabotage the each other (Yes , they play the song) while bugging every apartment and date to glean information from Lauren to better their odds (Nope, not creepy at all).

                Making his ridiculous name with movies like “Charlie’s Angels” and “Terminator Salvation”, McG is the type of director who sits beside the style-over-substance and bro-centric likes of other filmmakers such as Brett Ratner (Rush Hour, Tower Heist) and Michael Bay (Transformers, Bad Boys). And like those guys he is the kind of director who is loved by the studios for making disposable genre fodder that can easily win its weekend, but who is equally hated by critics for pandering to the lowest common denominator. “This Means War” might be his best movie yet, and that’s not really saying much. Though the movie has its moments of pop-corn friendly entertainment and something approximating charm, ultimately the screenplay’s desperation to pull in both demographics leaves the characters empty and the plot locked into a no-surprises track down cliché express.

                Not too unlike the “Twilight” franchise we have a female wish fulfillment fantasy where a rich classy single lady has two handsome men literally fighting for her. This Lauren character, played as well as possible by Witherspoon, becomes increasingly unlikable as she seems quite ambivalent to the idea of lying and cheating on both men throughout the whole movie. And as far who she picks in the end, well I won’t spoil it, but I will give you a hint. See if you can notice which male lead gets more screen time, more character development, and more dialogue. But at least unlike the odious “Twilight Saga” this movie has a sense of humor about itself, and a really good cast who does their best to elevate this pathetically pedestrian material.  In the long run this is the type of movie that you will most likely come out of feeling okay with because it has been carefully designed to do exactly that. It’s a quick hour and a half of brain-candy and will be digested and forgotten just as quickly. 

Grade: C-

Originally Published by The Basic Alternative/Feb-2012

Chronical review

               Today on a very special episode of Degrassi, our clumsy teens survive a radioactive explosion they uncover deep within the ground. Soon they begin to develop superpowers and make a pact to tell no one about it. Actually, all snark aside, the subject of this February release is something refreshingly ambitious and most of the way successful, considering it was released during the time of the year when most genre movies are at best forgettable and at worst barely-watchable. “Chronicle” is the debut film by the 25 year old director Josh Trank and the 26 year old screenwriter Max Landis (son of “American Werewolf In London” director John Landis).  Though neither of them have been working in the industry long, with this weekend-winning calling-card they prove to be a young creative force to be reckoned with.

                The film revolves around three high school friends who share a secret together.  The main character Andrew, played by Dane DeHaan, is a bullied nerd from a troubled family. Being misunderstood and disenfranchised, Andrew decides he is going to film all of his daily experiences, no matter how mundane or humiliating they might be. His popular cousin Matt, whom he commutes to school with, seems to be his only friend, but even he doesn’t seem to want Andrew around too much. This all changes the night they get exposed to radioactive energy from a glowing structure they find behind a barn-rave with the senior class presidential nominee Steve.  After the explosion the camera jumps a few days into the plot, where we see the three teens practicing their new telekinetic powers in the back yard with a baseball. Quickly, they learn that the more they use their powers the stronger they become, and like Spiderman has taught us, “with great power comes great responsibility”.  However, if you’re a disaffected dweeb who has to dodge bullies every day, then it might be more power than one can be responsible for.

                This movie aims to cover a lot of ground and it wants to address many issues. Of course there is the obvious reinterpretation of the superhero/supervillian concept. Max Landis’s script spends a great amount of screen-time within the mind of the main character. As we watch Andrew transform into a megalomaniac we buy into it because we have followed him so closely for so much of movie.  The film also evokes some post-Columbine undertones just below the surface of the science fiction plot; a depth I was not prepared for and was pleasantly surprised by. The film also explores a kind of naïve bonding between young adolescent males. As they ignore the women in their lives to explore and experiment with their powers together, they seem to be exploring something else within the subtext. Whether overt or suggested, it’s the layers within “Chronicle” that gives it the extra nudge of effort and consideration that we usually don’t get in special effects movies anymore. However, with that said, the movie is not without its problems too.

                Every now and then the center of consciousness changes within the film, making the unfortunate framing device of the found footage conceit less believable. These kinds of multiple perspective shifts become increasingly jarring as the movie goes.  (Here is pro-tip for young filmmakers who want to explore this style; if you have to introduce another character who also happens to film everything she does, then you are probably overreaching.) In fact at times it becomes obnoxious and mechanical to see how many ways they can come up with having a camera in the scene. Sometimes it works and sometimes it feels like they are trying to solve a writing problem. Also, there a few places where the CGI leaves a little to be desired, especially when basic things like Lego’s and rubber balls aren’t always convincing. Lastly, the word ‘dude’ pops up a bit more in the dialogue than I would prefer.   Though not without its flaws, “Chronicle” is a thoughtful science fiction movie that taps into teenage angst in a unique way.  Successfully it connects its central characters with the type of outsider’s who pay to read comics like X-Men for the much needed support and familiarity. Here is a movie that doesn’t win its audience with star power or a franchise affiliation, but with solid storytelling. Though the roots of “Chronicle” are evident, it seems to be doing the same old thing in a fairly new and inventive way.

Grade: B

Originally Published in The Basic Alternative/Feb-2012