Netflix And Chill: 21 Bridges (2019)

I'm slightly annoyed that it took me this long to finally watch 21 Bridges, mainly because it finally showed me a performance from the late Chadwick Boseman that really showed him delivering fantastic work. I enjoyed his Marvel turn, pretty much everyone knows that he played Black Panther in a number of movies (including, of course, Black Panther), but I didn't really see anything else from him that made me take notice of his acting chops. 21 Bridges, as mired in predictability and cliché as it is, is lifted by Boseman's performance, especially in a couple of scenes that have him sparring with the equally great J. K. Simmons.

Boseman plays a New York detective named Andre Davis. Following in the footsteps of his father (who died when he was a child), Davis strives to be a good cop. Even while being investigated for a shooting, he stands firm on his record. He has had to shoot people when there was no other choice, but he insists that every one was justified, a "good" shooting. When a big theft goes wrong, two drug thieves kill a number of cops, and Davis is put on the case. He wants to bring the two to justice, but there are others, including Captain McKenna (Simmons) who would much prefer the two to be shot on sight, sparing the relatives of the dead cops a long and painful trial. Davis doesn't work that way though, and he's even less inclined to shoot first and ask questions later as details of the case start to add up to more than just a robbery gone awry. The routes in and out of Manhattan are blocked, and the clock is counting down fast for the robbers, who won't know that Davis is their best chance at making it through the night alive.

Written by Adam Mervis and Matthew Michael (brother of Joe) Carnahan, this is a very enjoyable, standard, thriller. The pacing is perfect, with the robbery and some subsequent gun battles punctuating the ongoing detective work being carried out by Davis, and there are plenty of opportunities throughout the film for the viewer to get one step ahead of the main characters. This is arguably a big weakness within the script, but it still delivers a bit of tension, albeit in a different way. Anyone watching this is just wondering how long it will take certain characters to realise certain truths, and what confrontations will stem from those realisations.

Director Brian Kirk doesn't really elevate the material, relying on his cast to deliver some of the better lines from the script. He also doesn't mess things up, however, and that can be just as important when helming something as entrenched in crime movie tropes as this is. Kirk has faith in his cast, but it's a shame that he didn't get some better people to fill out some of the smaller supporting roles. Seeing some more faces like Keith David (who plays a Deputy Chief) would have helped enormously, even if they were just in for one small scene.

The leads more than make up for any weaker elements though. Boseman is believable, matching the tough attitude of his character with an intelligence and diplomacy that makes Andre Davis the one cop you would want alongside you if things were going from bad to worse at great speed. Sienna Miller plays Frankie Burns, partnered alongside Davis for the night, and she is very good in her role, playing someone who is looking to both crack the case and help get the suspects an immediate death sentence. Simmons has given many great performances in his career. This may not be up there with his very best, but it's much better than you might expect for the type of character he's portraying, arguably more effective in the more placatory moments that he has in between shouting at people. Stephan James and Taylor Kitsch play the two thieves, with James by far the better of the two, possibly as much to do with the script as it is to do with his performance, and there are a few other players who do decent work while they get caught in the crossfire (including Alexander Siddig, Louis Cancelmi, and Gary Carr).

Distinctly average in terms of the plotting, 21 Bridges is treated like so much more than that by everyone else involved, both behind and in front of the camera, and Boseman and co. turn it into a surprisingly riveting viewing experience.

7/10

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Prime Time: The Covenant (2006)

Directed by Renny Harlin and written by J. S. Cardone, The Covenant is a fun and vapid tale of young sorcerers battling one another as they face a major threat on the way to gaining their full powers once they reach adulthood.

An opening text tells you about the Sons Of Ipswich, descendants of the most powerful families in the area they live, gaining powers at the age of 13 before they fully “ascend” at the age of 18. Caleb Danvers (Steven Strait) is the nominal leader of the four young men, and he is the first one due to turn 18 soon. There’s jealousy and anger in the group, especially when some misuse their power, a power that is addictive and damaging, and things get more strained with the arrival of two newcomers, a young woman (Sarah, played by Laura Ramsey) and a young man (Chase, played by Sebastian Stan). And someone is using powers to cause trouble, but who is it?

Harlin is someone I have mentioned before as a director who consistently delivered fun movies for a number of years before then losing his touch and helming movies that felt far removed from his better outings. As much as many may deride, and even hate, The Covenant, I have always thought it was a blast. Cardone’s script is predictable and just the right level of silly, taking time, for example, to allow the main characters to shout “Harry Potter can kiss my ass” as they take their car up in the air while they evade police. It will make you cringe at times, but it's better than any script used in Cardone's own directorial efforts, I can tell you that much.

The cast are all attractive youngsters, picked for how they look in the different groups, and probably how they work in scenes that have then shooting balls of energy from their hands (a special skill that Strait also displayed in the enjoyable Sky High). Nobody stands out, not even Strait or Stan, but they fit perfectly with the cool and glossy aesthetic of the movie. It may be a film with supernatural moments dotted throughout almost every scene, but this is not aiming to create any scares. Thrills, yes, but no scares.

There’s an energetic soundtrack, ready to pop up whenever it takes Harlin’s fancy, the CGI isn’t too bad, masked by the blue/grey colour scheme a lot of the time (it isn’t great, but it is serviceable), and you get decent pacing from start to finish. It is a teen movie, unashamedly so, and definitely aiming to appeal to people who have enjoyed the massively popular hits of supernatural pop culture touchstones from the past few decades (Potter, Buffy, Charmed, Supernatural). It doesn’t even entirely work in that regard, yet it makes itself almost impossible to find boring and unlikeable. Which is a statement I know will just encourage responses from anyone who found it boring and unlikeable.

I have watched this a few times over the years. I would happily watch it again. I know I am in the minority, but this is my review and I’m not suddenly going to start to pretend that I have any sense of shame.

7/10

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American Assassin (2017)

Based on the novel by Vince Flynn, with a script worked on by four people (including Edward Zwick), and starring quite a lot of people you couldn't exactly class as leading names in the movie business, American Assassin is a bit of a hard sell. I didn't even know if it was going to be a thriller or more of an action movie when I started watching it. It turns out to be an enjoyable blend of the two, and actually throws up one or two good surprises along the way.

Dylan O'Brien plays Mitch Rapp, a young man who has survived a traumatic incident and is now motivated to spend his time trying to infiltrate and destroy terrorist cells. Just when he thinks he is about to succeed, about to get his revenge, he is beaten to the punch by a U.S. Special Forces team. But every cloud has a silver lining. Mitch is delivered into the hands of Stan Hurley (Michael Keaton), a man who will train him to become part of an elite team, ready to continue the war on terror with a new, interesting bag of tricks. And Mitch, as well as his fellow soldiers, will need to remember everything they have been taught as they are tasked with finding a bunch of nuclear material that may already have been assembled into a powerful weapon.

After a wild opening sequence, American Assassin immediately settles into something a bit more low-key and interesting than you might be expecting. It's a film that both delivers the action beats and also keeps prodding at the psyches of the main characters, heroes and villains (with it sometimes being hard to differentiate between the two).

Director Michael Cuesta does a decent job of things. Some of the action is a bit choppy in places, and there are moments that feel far too heavy-handed and obvious, but it's all done with good intentions and attempts to convey information without ever feeling too patronising. The script feels smart and sharp, even while working through scenes in snippets of movie-grade reality (if you know what I mean).

O'Brien is fine in the lead, and it's good to see another movie like this without a muscular ass-kicker in the main role, and decent support comes from Sanaa Lathan, Shiva Negar, Taylor Kitsch, and even Scott Adkins, but the main draw here is Keaton, who lends his weight to something that would otherwise never be seen outside the confines of a bargain bin selection.

I can see why some will watch this and be disappointed. It doesn't always go for the easy option, and some of the action beats will feel too brief and messy, while Cuesta and the writers (Stephen Schiff, Michael Finch, Marshall Herskovitz, and Zwick) do their best to show that fights can be won by brains as well as brawn, but the way it at least tries to do something a bit different is why I ended up enjoying it so much. I hope others end up in agreement with me.

7/10

Out this week in the UK, people can pick up the Bluray here.
USA people can pick it up here.