MOVIE REVIEW: THE KING'S MAN

 

One man must race against time to stop history's worst tyrants and criminal masterminds as they get together to plot a war that could wipe out millions of people and destroy humanity.

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Cast: Ralph Fienne, Gemma Arterton, Rhys Ifans, Matthew Goode, Tom Hollander, Harris Dickinson, Daniel Brühl, Djimon Hounsou, Charles Dance

Release Date: December 22, 2021

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Thriller

Rated R for sequences of strong/bloody violence, language, and some sexual material

Runtime: 2h 28m

Review:

The King's Man is one of the strangest and unnecessary prequels in recent memory.  Matthew Vaughn's film is tonally off kilter with the previous entries, deciding to go for a more self serious tone that's sure to confuse fans who come in expecting a loose goofy bit of fun.  Ralph Fienne leads the film ably even if it does feel like he's a in a different franchise all together.  To his credit, Fiennes seems fully committed to the role and he makes the entire thing much more watchable than it deserves to be.  Rhys Ifans seems to be the only one who's aware of the franchise hallmarks and he hams it up as Rasputin.  His character big action sequence is a dizzying death ballet that outlandish, goofy and one of the sole bits of fun in the entire film.  Sadly, he comes and goes far to quickly and are left with a so so WW1 drama that isn't ashamed to steal scenes from Wonder Woman.  Gemma Arterton and Djimon Hounsou do solid supporting work but you get the distinct feeling that the film would have benefited from using their talent far more than it does.  Even worse, the film cast Daniel Brühl and decides to have him do nothing for the better part of the film.  The King's Man is a bizarre follow up that doesn't fit in the franchises tone or spirit and ultimately feels like a bad misstep.

C

MOVIE REVIEW: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

IN THEATERS ON DVD

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN



Typical teenager Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) embraces his incredible destiny after uncovering one of his father's most carefully guarded secrets as Columbia Pictures reboots the Spider-Man franchise with the help of director Mark Webb ((500) Days of Summer) and screenwriter James Vanderbilt (Zodiac). Sally Field, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Martin Sheen, and Emma Stone co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Director: Marc Webb

Cast: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Campbell Scott

Release Date: Jul 03, 2012

Rated PG-13 for Sequences of Action & Violence

Runtime: 2 hr. 16 min.

Genres: Action/Adventure

Review:

The main question most everybody has asked and will continue to ask is why? Why reboot this so quickly after the Raimi trilogy? There’s no good answer other than Sony didn’t want to lose the rights to the franchise, it’s that simple. So taking that question out of the equation and taking this film on its own merits it’s an enjoyable if imperfect redux. Marc Webb’s take is more focused on character interactions and relationships, so it feels more weighty and grounded. The spectacle is there but it feels like it’s more of an afterthought. Webb is more interested in how these character think interact and deal with things. He does a solid job of capturing the turmoil and angst in Parker’s head. Helping him along the way is a perfectly cast Andrew Garfield. Garfield feels like a much better fit than Maguire right from the start. He embodies the smarts and awkwardness of the character and is a lot of fun to watch both in and out of the costume. Emma Stone brings her own charms to the character, bring more depth and texture than you’d expect when you consider her limited screen time. Rhys Ifans make a passable villain but hardly memorable. Martin Sheen and Sally Field come off stiff throughout barely registering occasionally. Denis Leary is underused throughout leaving his character feel kind of pointless. While there are obvious strengths in this iteration it’s not perfect. The plot offers a few new points but for the most part it’s a standard issue origin story and there’s really no reason for it to be as long as it is. At 2 hours plus there are plenty of bits that could have been trimmed to streamline the film. Some of action pieces, a certain part in the school gym is just idiotic, feel out of sync and occasionally awkward. Webb’s inexperience in filming these sequences is fairly evident, it’s hit or miss for the most part with some working very well and others just missing the mark. The 3D version has some strong sequences but outside of these rare instants it’s hardly worth the higher price tag.

B-