The Pelican Brief (1993)

I remember when I first read The Pelican Brief, another John Grisham "thriller" that was adapted into a slick Hollywood movie. I wasn't a big fan. And I was bemused by the fact that it did actually revolve around a plot point that concerned penguins. I had the same reaction when I got around to watching the movie.

Julia Roberts plays Darby Shaw, a young law student who comes up with a hypothetical link between some recent deaths that turns out not to be as hypothetical as she may have first thought. Denzel Washington is Gray Grantham, an investigative reporter who could be a great help to Darby, if she can really trust him. Politicians are nervy, but a chameleonic hitman (Stanley Tucci) remains calm as he looks to tie up a lot of loose ends.

Adapted and directed by Alan J. Pakula, a man who would seem to be as good a fit for the material as Pollack was for The Firm, the biggest thing working against The Pelican Brief is the weak source material. It's a decent idea, but the actual details are a bit too dull to hang the plot on, and the tense set-pieces are hampered by the fact that viewers will have a hard time thinking that the entire chain of events has a decent risk to reward ratio.

Roberts and Washington give the star turns they are paid to give, both doing well with roles that need their charisma to make the film even remotely watchable, and Tucci is sadly underused in a role he doesn't really fit. There's the usual great supporting cast though, including Sam Shepard, John Heard, Tony Goldwyn, William Atherton, Robert Culp, Hume Cronyn, John Lithgow, Anthony Heald, Cynthia Nixon, and Jake Weber. Whether you like them or not, many of these performers have very recognisable faces, even if you have to later search online to remember where you last saw them.

I was hoping that this rewatch would give me something else to mention. Me being a bit older, and sometimes a bit more patient, could maybe allow me to appreciate aspects of the film that I completely ignored when younger. But no, nothing here feels worthy of praise. The cinematography feels as dull as the material at times, I have already forgotten every part of the James Horner score, and, as rude as this may seem to say, even the wardrobe choices and production design, and other technical aspects, come across as a bit . . . lethargic and uninspired. It's almost as if the screenplay was putting everyone to sleep, leading to them throwing everything together as quickly and cheaply as possible.

I doubt I'll ever go back to this. Although there are a few Grisham adaptations I have yet to see, I'd put this one very near the bottom of the pile. And that is coming from someone who didn't mind Christmas With The Kranks. 

4/10

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Netflix And Chill: King Richard (2021)

There are two big things that work against King Richard while you are watching it. One is the memory of that Oscar slap "heard around the world", especially when you realise how it underlines why Will Smith gave such a good performance in the role of a man who continues to believe in himself as others dismiss and disrespect him. The other is the fact that this is, ultimately, a film about two of the greatest sportswomen in history . . . told with a focus on the father who guided them to greatness. I'm not saying that the film isn't delivering the truth, or a truth presented to the world by the Williams sisters and their father, but it feels as if some more care could have been taken to show a bit more of the sisters dealing with the choices made by their father.

If you have even the most passing interest in sports, and particularly tennis, then you will be familiar with the Williams sisters (Serena and Venus, played here by Demi Singleton and Saniyya Sidney, respectively). Both hold multiple records, both are formidable athletes, and both have walked their career path with great dignity and a care to keep supporting, and inspiring, many others. And both were able to fully realise their potential thanks to the grand plan created by their father, apparently. This film shows how their father, Richard Williams (Will Smith), created opportunities that allowed them to break into a world that didn't look set to welcome them with open arms, and it's a superb tale of self-belief, staying grounded, and learning as much from any failures as you learn from victories.

The first developed script from writer Zach Baylin, it's easy to see why this would appeal to his sensibilities (especially when he has followed it up with a couple of other standard, and enjoyable, sport movies). There's everything you need in place for a story told within this sub-genre, and you have an idiosyncratic and flawed character in Richard. Director Reinaldo Marcus Green has half the work done from him by the time the cast is in place, and some more of the work done by editor Pamela Martin (because you have to love those transitions that show time passing from the time a tennis ball is thrown up into the air to the time it is forcefully hit over the net). That's not to take away from how he handles the material. He does a very good job, and I am just saying that getting all of the right people in the right positions is a big part of that job.

Smith is very good in the main role, although it's hard to decide whether it's a truly great performance or just something that seems better because of how far removed it is from most of his other onscreen work. Both Singleton and Sidney are excellent as the young Williams sisters, convincing on and off the tennis court, and Aunjanue Ellis does very good work as Oracene Williams, the wife/mother who supports her family at every turn, but also knows when her husband needs to have his perspective changed after too much time spent with his eyes on a distant prize while he makes decisions that start to require a bit more thought and diplomacy. Tony Goldwyn and Jon Bernthal are two main coaches who do their bit to help progress the careers of the sisters, and both give equally good performances (Bernthal particularly enjoyable playing someone much more acquiescent and passive than he usually does), and a mix of familiar and unfamiliar faces pop in to play businessmen, sponsors, spectators, and tennis players (John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Jennifer Capriati, and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario being the other main pros shown).

Despite what works against this, as mentioned in the first paragraph, there are many positives that make it worth your time, not least of which is the feeling of jubilation and satisfaction as some of the end credits are interspersed with real-life footage of the Williams sisters and impressive stats about their sporting achievements. Whether you agree with the main character or not, the successful end result is impossible to deny. And that makes this another underdog story that is impossible not to appreciate and enjoy.

8/10 

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Plane (2023)

I quite like Gerard Butler. He’s a likeable screen presence, he always convinces me that he could take on a horde of enemies, and he’s a fellow Scot. He doesn’t always pick the best films though, whatever the genre (although he is most often found in either romance movies or action flicks). Plane is a film I wasn’t looking forward to seeing. Nothing about the marketing grabbed me. Thankfully, it’s much better than the marketing makes out.

Butler plays pilot Brodie Torrance, due to fly a plane with roughly a dozen or so passengers on board. One of those passengers is a handcuffed prisoner (Louis Gaspare, played by Mike Colter). Flying above some stormy weather, the whole flight changes when the plane is struck by lightning, frying the electrics. Torrance and his co-pilot (Samuel Dele, played by Yoson An) try to do all they can, but the best they can do is try a controlled crash landing. It’s looking like a dive into the water for everyone, but then Torrance spots a small island. Once they have landed, Torrance plans to call for help. Unfortunately, he doesn’t realise that they are now in danger from island inhabitants, a number of separatist “soldiers” who will happily take people hostage and use them to make demands from governments around the world. Everyone is in danger, but Torrance might have a skilled ally in Gaspare. If he wants to risk removing the handcuffs.

Written by Charles Cumming (his first script) and J. P. Davis (who only has a few other writing credits to his name), Plane is an entertaining mix of different elements that work because of the time given to each. The initial crash takes up most of the first act (no spoiler - the tagline mentions it), then you get the survival drama element, and the action thriller, all leading to a thrilling finale that also keeps the plane as a central figure in the plot.

Director Jean-François Richet has proven himself more than capable with this kind of thing before, I highly recommend most of his filmography, and he’s a great fit here. Everything is predictable enough, from the disaster movie moments to the big gunfight battles, but it’s all very satisfying and entertaining throughout, helped by the watchability of the leads.

Butler and Colter are both great in roles that play to their strengths, and they easily carry the movie between them, but An does fine with his fairly bland character, Evan Dane Taylor is an effectively menacing baddie, Daniella Pineda is the experienced stewardess trying to keep people calm, and Tony Goldwyn stealthily steals a few scenes, playing the man who swoops in amongst the airport staff to evaluate the situation and figure out the best way to locate and rescue the lost passengers and crew.

Are you going to feel like you’re missing out if you don’t see Plane? Not at all. It’s a fun film though, and it doesn’t try to be anything other than that. You might even say . . . it’s just plane entertaining, badump-tsshhhh.

7/10

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Kiss The Girls (1997)

I had seen Kiss The Girls some years ago, or had at least seen enough of it to know how everything played out. And then I forgot everything that happened in it. Or so I thought. As the opening credits started to play out, I remembered one or two important plot points, making my revisit a fairly disappointing and pointless experience.

It's not that this is a bad film. It's just a textbook example of this kind of '90s thriller. They may have tried to get a bit darker and edgier after the success of Seven, almost exactly halfway through the decade, but the basic ingredients were the same. You had a smart detective who could think more steps ahead than the other officers around him (and, yes, it was more often than not a male character in the lead), you had a couple of decent players in supporting roles to provide a red herring or two, and also a main villain, and you had a female who either escaped the killer or assisted the detective, or indeed both. Most, if not all, of these tropes can be found in this film, and in films such as The Bone Collector, Color Of Night, Insomnia, Striking Distance (Willis again), and in a few others. The tropes could be subverted for erotic thrillers (e.g. the detective often being the character a couple of steps behind everyone else), and there are an equal number of movies that are notably different (mainly with female leads, such as The Silence Of The Lambs, Copycat, and Blue Steel), but you get the gist of what I am saying.

Morgan Freeman plays Detective Alex Cross, a forensic psychologist who becomes very personally involved in a major case when his niece goes missing. She is one of a number of girls taken by a criminal who goes by the name of Casanova. Helped by local law enforcement (Bill Nunn and Cary Elwes are here, Brian Cox is the Chief), the investigation doesn't seem to be moving forward until one of Casanova's most recent victims (Ashley Judd) manages to escape from his lair. She's determined to help bring her captor to justice, but can she trust her own memories of that traumatic episode?

Based on the best-seller by James Patterson, Kiss The Girls succeeds most in the casting department. The script by David Klass is servicable enough, admirably ticking all of those boxes mentioned above, but a lesser cast would, I suspect, have left this struggling to find an audience. Freeman and Judd are the leads, the former trying to piece together the puzzle while the latter uses her special position to help the investigation maintain momentum. Cox, Nunn, and Elwes all do well enough in their roles, and there's also a small, but impressive, turn from Tony Goldwyn and an even smaller role for the always-welcome Jeremy Piven.

The second theatrical feature for director Gary Fleder (who had previously done some TV work before delivering the highly enjoyable Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead), this is a safe and competent film that creeps close to darker territory at times before deciding not to wade in any further. That fault may lie with the source material, Patterson is certainly one of those prolific crime writers I can imagine does so well because he doesn't scare away all of his readers but I am sure it's easier to describe something grisly on the page than it is to show it onscreen, but it's a shame that neither Klass nor Fleder decided to push things a bit. Even the one moment that shows Alex Cross being affected by someone who gets under his skin hints at missed opportunities, considering how personal the case is for him (something all too easy to forget for most of the runtime).

I don't think I ever saw Along Came A Spider, which sees Freeman returning to the role, and I know I haven't yet seen Alex Cross. I'll be marking them off the list in the next few weeks.

6/10

You can buy a double-bill of Freeman Alex Cross movies here.
Americans can get a blu here.