Fight Or Flight (2025)

There have been a pleasing number of films lately that feel like a showcase for member of the stunt team community, and Fight Or Flight is another one. It's all about a mercenary (Lucas Reyes, played by Josh Hartnett) who is assigned to track down a terrorist target on a plane. Nobody knows what the target looks like, although people are working on it, but the plane is full of other people also looking to catch them. There's a big bounty on their head. There's also a big bounty put on the head of Lucas. And everyone knows what he looks like.

Director James Madigan and writers Brooks McLaren and D. J. Cotrona may be relative newcomers to their roles, but you wouldn't know that from the final result onscreen. Fight Or Flight is a hugely entertaining way to spend 101 minutes, making the most of a simple premise to deliver fights and bloodshed that will amuse, entertain, and make you wince in equal measure. This is not for the faint-hearted, particularly in a third act that brilliantly escalates both the comedy and the kills.

While the film feels as if it has been string together between a number of inventive fight sequences (which, for all I know, is how it was constructed), it's worth noting that McLaren and Cotrona still do plenty to make you root for our desperate "hero". He has some past error or transgression that has to be fixed, and that also gives us an idea of his moral compass, and the style of the comedy mixes some great dialogue with physical gags in a way that works much better than us just being alongside someone ready with a quip after every kill. The script and direction also have enough style and energy to distract you from the factors used to work within what I imagine was a relatively modest budget.

It helps enormously that Hartnett brings his not-insubstantial charisma to the main role. He's having a lot of fun once again (as he did in the otherwise-disappointing Trap), and he feels very capable when it comes to the fight moves. Katee Sackhoff is the one delivering the mission parameters and instructions via telephone, and she's enjoyably ruthless, while other notable people on the plane are played by Charithra Chandran, Hughie O'Donnell, JuJu Chan Szeto, and Sanjeev Kohli. Julian Kostov is also very good, stuck alongside Sackhoff for most of the runtime, trying to manipulate the whole situation towards the most favourable outcome, which doesn't necessarily mean any good for the survival of our lead, and the majority of other performers look very ready to deal or receive some fatal battery.

There are times when you may want to catch up on all of the movies nominated for the Oscars, there are times when you just want something simple that aims to entertain. I've done the former already this year (well . . . almost). Then I was ready to watch Josh Hartnett punch a lot of people in the face. If only they'd managed some kind of crossover promotional campaign during the long and self-serving speech that Adrien Brody gave when he won the Best Actor award this year then it could have been a glorious blend of both worlds.

8/10

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Shudder Saturday: Don't Knock Twice (2016)

It is often no fun to be as curious and/or optimistic as I am. Along with my need to see everything I can, to form my own opinion on it, it means that I end up quite often disappointed. Which was the case here, after someone reminded me that Don't Knock Twice was available. Nothing about it really drew me in, both the plot and the promotional imagery seemed clichéd and lame, but once it was brought up in conversation, well, I knew I had to see it.

To the surprise of no one, this turned out to be just about as bad as everyone else had already said it was.

The paper-thin plot concerns a young girl (Chloe, played by Lucy Boynton) who knocks twice on the door of a woman believed to have been a child-snatching demon. When she was alive. Bring harassed by people drove her to an early grave, so we are told. Lucy no longer feels safe at the care home she resides in, and so goes to spend some long-overdue time with her mother (Jess, played by Katee Sackhoff), who was useless many years ago while occupying her time with drug addiction. Before you can say "knock, knock" there are bumps in the night, bumps in the day, and jump scares aplenty en route to a finale you will struggle to care about.

Directed by Caradog W. James, who wrote and directed the interesting little sci-fi movie The Machine a few years ago (recently also developed into a TV movie, although I cannot say whether that is a progression or simple remake), Don't Knock Twice is about as far removed from that as you can get. Not only is the premise ill-conceived and paper-thin, it's just poorly handled throughout, with nothing more onscreen than a mix of some poor jump scares and nonsensical plotting.

Writers Mark Huckerby and Nick Ostler have a LOT of writing credits for children's TV shows, which makes a lot of sense. This is something that would play out a lot better if pared down and packaged into an episode of something like Goosebumps or Are You Afraid Of The Dark?

All of this would be easier to tolerate if the cast was good enough to make up for the obvious failings. Unfortunately, it's not. Boynton does her best in her role, and she's the best out of everyone onscreen, while you have a supporting turn from Pooneh Hajimohammadi that requires her to look wide-eyed and alarmed almost as soon as things start to gear up for the second act, and Nick Moran is a detective named Red Herring . . . I mean Boardman, his name is Boardman. But is he all that he appears to be? As for Sackhoff, I have enjoyed her in a couple of roles, but I certainly don't get my hopes up when I see her name listed in any movie credits. Does anyone think she's a good actress, or is her career now maintained thanks to her landing a role in Battlestar Galactica that gained her a loyal fanbase for life?*

This is really not worth your time, even if you're after something that won't require you to concentrate too hard. It has some decent production values, and the benefit of Boynton in a lead role, but there's nothing else here to recommend it.

*And should I check out that show one day?

3/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can get a blu here.

Sci-Fi September: Riddick (2013)

Mixing the expanded ideas of the second movie with the smaller focus of the first movie, Riddick is a bit of a muddle film that doesn't seem to know exactly what it wants, leaving it as the weakest of the Riddick films so far.

Vin Diesel returns to play the main character, this time left for dead on a hostile planet after a series of events that are eventually explained in flashback. He needs to shake off the cloak of civility that he allowed himself to wear for too long, he needs to heal, and he needs to figure out a way off the planet. Inviting some bounty hunters along seems like a good idea. They'll want the price still on his head, affording him the opportunity to steal a ship and make good his escape.

Written and directed by David Twohy, who has worked closely with Diesel to keep this franchise on the right track from the very beginning, there are a lot of moments here that are fun for fans of the character. Seeing him wait for the bounty hunters to arrive, and watching his plan unfold, provides plenty of potential, but it's a shame that the movie then starts to seemingly wind down when it should be building towards some kind of impressive finale.

Diesel is great, once again, in the lead role. He loves the character, and always does well by him. Matt Nable does well with the most interesting supporting character, Jordi Molla is stuck with one cliche piled on top of another, Katee Sackhoff is in the mix to please her fans, Dave Bautista and Bokeem Woodbine both do solid work, and Karl Urban returns in a cameo role that allows the series to maintain a nice line of continuity.

The main problem lies with the script, which is repetitive, unmemorable, and overlong. It takes almost half an hour just to get to the more entertaining aspect of the plot, with the first quarter of the movie proving to be quite a chore to get through.

Then there are the special effects, which are a step down from the second movie. In fact, they also feel like a step down from the first movie. That's due to the fact that some of the insert shots are as unnecessary as they are unrealistic. It feels like a child showing off his new toy while everyone around him realises that Santa gave him the cheap, knock-off version of a popular brand.

Last, but not least, is the general issue with the pacing. I mentioned the first quarter being a chore, but the rest of the film also feels less entertaining than it could be, simply because so many moments are dragged out, or wedged in between other scenes that feel as if they should have been edited out completely.

We'll have to wait and see what lies in store next for Riddick, but I'll be very surprised if the next movie (if there IS a next movie) isn't an improvement on this one.

5/10

http://www.amazon.com/Riddick-Complete-Collection-Blu-ray-UltraViolet/dp/B00GHP8T1Y/ref=sr_1_5?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1410721344&sr=1-5&keywords=riddick

Sexy Evil Genius (2013)

Sexy Evil Genius is a great title in search of a great movie. The film itself isn't bad, but it's yet another in a long line of movies that isn't quite as cool or funny or hip as its creators would have everyone believed. It's a decent distraction for 90 minutes, but nothing worth revisiting, and certainly not one that will be brought up by film fans reminiscing a few years further down the line.

Seth Green, Harold Perrineau and Michelle Trachtenberg play three people brought together by Katee Sackhoff (playing Nikki Franklyn, the sexy evil genius of the title). They have been asked to wait at a bar at a certain time, and they have all obliged. When Nikki eventually appears she is accompanied by a rude and corrupt lawyer (played by William Baldwin). But, more importantly, she also has a plan. A plan that started falling into place as soon as her friends started to arrive at the bar.

Written by Scott Lew, the premise and pacing of Sexy Evil Genius may appear achingly desperate to be cool, but the dialogue isn't actually all that bad. At least, it's not bad during the first half of the movie with the three strangers getting to know one another. Things take a bit of a dip, however, when Sackhoff appears and Lew seems to free himself from his previous self-restraint, investing the titular character with all of the attitude and soundbites stereotypical of so many other movies that have tried to score themselves lots of cool points. It's clear that Lew cares about his creation, and also clear that he cares about her a bit too much, to the detriment of the others who are simply pawns.

Director Shawn Piller doesn't do a bad job at all, considering that the movie is mainly just a group of people talking to one another around a table in a bar. He doesn't really do much to detract from that fact, but he doesn't make it into a tortuous exercise either.

The casting helps a lot, something I never thought I'd say with Trachtenberg onscreen (I'm not her biggest fan). With so few characters holding the attention of viewers for the duration of the movie, they have to be easy enough to like, and they are. Trachtenberg is just the same as she always is, but that works this time. Perrineau is one cool cat, and Green is, well, he is also the same as he's been a number of times before. Again, no problem as it works here. Baldwin is enjoyably sleazy, and the only real weak acting onscreen comes from Sackhoff, but I'm not sure whether that's her fault, as she breaks out the manic tics and tricks, or perhaps the fault of the writer.

Sexy Evil Genius isn't a complete waste of your time, but it doesn't do enough to stand out from the crowd. You may enjoy it for 90 minutes, but you won't feel as if you've missed out on some gem if you end up never seeing it.

5/10

http://www.amazon.com/Sexy-Evil-Genius-Michelle-Trachtenberg/dp/B00B1MJNKE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1389567774&sr=8-2&keywords=sexy+evil+genius