Inferno (2016) - Howard's third Langdon adventure is among the year's worst films

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+ Worst Movie of the Year

 

Star Tom Hanks and co-star Felicity Jones run around in a European city and look concerned on this poster for Ron Howard's Inferno

Robert Langdon awakes disillusioned and tormented by visions of Biblical plagues in Florence, Italy, where a young British woman helps him gather answers concerning a mysterious virus that he may be a carrier of.

 

Inferno is written by David Koepp (Premium Rush (2012)), adapting the same-titled 2013 novel by Dan Brown (Angels & Demons (2000)), and directed by great Oklahoman filmmaker Ron Howard (Grand Theft Auto (1977)). It is the 3rd and last in the Robert Langdon series also consisting of The Da Vinci Code (2006) and Angels & Demons (2009).

Koepp has provided a lazy and wretched script, maybe the low-point of his career, and this film may actually be the career low-point for several of those involved. Inferno is related in what feels like a barrage of speedily edited, flashing shots that implies actual knowledge by throwing Dante and beautiful historical sights into its nonsensical plot. Confusing, boring and marked by mitigating work from no-one, the film never finds a good pace and has inserted, dull, explanatory dialogs again and again.

Tom Hanks (The Post (2017)) appears to be in pain and also resembles a superstar who knows he is in some real junk here, but who goes through with it still - for a hefty paycheck, and a bit of loyalty to his fellow returning filmmaking partners in crime, probably. The other cast members often combat stilted dialog, and Felicity Jones (A Monster Calls (2016)), just as in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), doesn't show what exactly made her get cast in these mega-movies, (her career understandably fizzed out following both films.)

 

Related posts:

 

Ron Howard: Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) - Disney, Howard and Co. drive expensive stick through beloved franchise 

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011) - Stapleton's Corman doc. is among the year's best films (interview subject)

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess
Frost/Nixon (2008) - Howard's political drama is gripping, superiorly acted 
The Da Vinci Code (2006) - Howard's first Brown adaptation is a popcorn thriller hoot  

2001 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
Top 10: The best biopic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
A Beautiful Mind (2001) - John Nash given the Epic Treatment  
EDtv (1999) - Phenomenal cast shine in Howard's witty mega-flop

Far and Away (1992) - Howard, Hollywood's sweethearts visit the old West with dull result (co-writer/director) 
Backdraft (1991) - Howard's giant, stupid Chicago-set firefighter movie 

Grand Theft Auto (1977) or, Crash Bam Boom! 
American Graffiti (1973) or, Cruisin' Modesto '62 (actor)   

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 75 mil. $

Box office: 220 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 2.93 times its cost)

[Inferno premiered 8 October (Florence, Italy) and runs 121 minutes. Hanks reportedly earned 25 mil. $ from his performance in the film. Shooting took place from April - July 2015 in Istanbul, Turkey, Italy and Hungary, including in Budapest. The film opened #2, behind Boo! A Madea Halloween, to a 14.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#5), grossing 34.3 mil. $ (15.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 19.3 mil. $ (8.8 %) and Japan with 14.4 mil. $ (6.5 %). Howard returned with Genius (2017, TV-series) and theatrically with Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018). Hanks returned in The Circle (2017). Inferno is rotten at 23 % with a 4.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Inferno? 

Hell or High Water (2016) - Outskirts men revolt in Mackenzie and Sheridan's excellent crime drama

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+ Best Car Movie of the Year + Best Heist Movie of the Year + Best Texas Movie of the Year

 

Earthy, bright hues color this poster for David Mackenzie's Hell or High Water

A couple of middle-aged brothers rob branches of a small Texan bank with an unknown purpose and get a soon to be retired ranger and his partner on their trail.

 

Hell or High Water is written by Taylor Sheridan (Sicario (2015)) and directed by David Mackenzie (The Last Great Wilderness (2002)).

It is a cool crime drama with affinity for 'the little man', - in this case the man from the country, who hasn't seen the progress of the new millennium but has instead just gotten poorer and exploited by the bank to boot. The film is rich in Texan flavor and characters and is led by four esteemed performances: Jeff Bridges (R.I.P.D. (2013)) and Gil Chesterton (Wind River (2017)) are funny as the friendly-teasing partners; Chris Pine (A Wrinkle in Time (2018)) is a torn up survivor, and Ben Foster (Inferno (2016)) goes head-first into his devil-may-care criminal character who has lost himself in the fringes and knows it, - a formidable performance.

The film is well shot (cinematography by Giles Nuttgens (Grain (2017))) with an eye for wide panoramas (that could make one expect a horse opera) and the big cars that stand out beautifully in this solid man's picture.

 

Related post:

 

David Mackenzie: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

Hallam Foe/Mister Foe (2007) - Bell charms again in Mackenzie's flawed romantic drama

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 12 mil. $

Box office: 37.9 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 3.15 times its cost)

[Hell or High Water premiered 16 May (Cannes Film Festival, Un Certain Regard section) and runs 102 minutes. Shooting took place from May - July 2015 in New Mexico. The film opened #20 to a 621k $ first weekend in 20 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #8 and in 1,505 theaters (different weeks), grossing 27 mil. $ (71.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 2.1 mil. $ (5.5%) and France with 1.7 mil. $ (4.5 %). The film was nominated for 5 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Picture to Moonlight, Supporting Actor (Bridges) to Mahershala Ali in Moonlight, Original Screenplay to Kenneth Lonergan for Manchester by the Sea and Editing to Hacksaw Ridge. It was also nominated for 3 BAFTAs, won an AFI award, won 1/3 Independent Spirit awards, was nominated for 3 Golden Globes and won 2 National Board of Review awards, among other honors. Mackenzie returned with Outlaw King (2018). Bridges returned in The Only Living Boy in New York (2017); Pine in Star Trek Beyond (2016); and Foster in Warcraft (2016). Hell or High Water is certified fresh at 97 % with an 8.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Hell or High Water?

Hostage (2005) - Siri's solid action-thriller

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Bruce Willis looks tough with a gun in the dark during a heavy downpour on this poster for Florent-Emilio Siri's Hostage

A rich family is taken hostage in an high security LA mansion, but LAPD hostage negotiator Jeff Talley finds himself in a horrific dilemma when his own family also gets taken hostage.

 

Hostage is written by Doug Richardson (Die Hard 2 (1990)), adapting the same-titled 2001 novel by Robert Crais (The Watchman (2007)), and directed by Florent-Emilio Siri (A Minute of Silence/Un Minute de Silence (1998)).

Very well conceptualized and entertaining actioner plays well with an impressive pace and cool photography (by Giovanni Fiore Coltellacci (Figurine (1997))). Also a score by Alexandre Desplat (Carnage (2011)) and a game cast help: Bruce Willis (The Jackal (1997)) and Jonathan Tucker (Westworld (2018-20)) and Ben Foster (Here (2011)) as young criminals from hell do well. - Foster especially goes the distance as a disgusting thug and is quite scary.

Siri has seen his Quentin Tarantino and David Fincher's Panic Room (2002) (and much more) as inspiration for this to be sure, and he keeps us engaged for most of Hostage, before the yelling gets tiring, and we look in vain for something concretely meaningful in the film's second hostage drama. The ending is also a bit confusing.

 

 

Watch a 3-minute clip from the film here

 

Cost: 50-75 mil. $ (different accounts)

Box office: 77.6 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.19 times the cost)

[Hostage was released 9 March (Philippines) and runs 113 minutes. Shooting took place from January 2004 - ? in California, including Los Angeles. The film opened #4, behind fellow new release Robots and holdover hits The Pacifier and Be Cool, to a 9.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 34.6 mil. $ (44.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 7.7 mil. $ (9.9 %) and France with 5 mil. $ (6.4 %). The big flop status and return listed above is based on a 65 mil. $ cost, which seems likely (and is the one listed by Bombreport.com). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Siri returned with Intimate Enemies/L'ennemi Intime (2007). Willis returned in Sin City (2005). Hostage is rotten at 35 % with a 5.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Hostage?

Warcraft (2016) - A mildly entertaining war fantasy

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A bearded man and a brutish orc with paint-splattered faces divided by a sword make up this poster for Duncan Jones' Warcraft

Warcraft is the long-awaited computer game adaptation, based on the popular Blizzard Entertainment games and novels, which is the 3rd film for great English director, Duncan Jones (Moon (2009)).

An alarming number of brutal orcs crash into the human world through a portal, but it may be in collaboration that man and orc should have to secure the future.

The good news for WoW (World of Warcraft) fans is that Warcraft isn't as bad as some critics make it out to be, - and the critical video game adaptation ridicule seems to have become somewhat tiresome and ritualistic by now, I think, - and that many fans of the universe seem to be delighted with it.
I have never played the game, but the film only achieved status as an okay time-filler in my opinion. 
The script, by Jones and Charles Leavitt (Seventh Son (2014)), tries to create an ambitious story where we are introduced to, and supposed to care for an orc family, a steadfast, human commander, a human wizard, a human guardian, a half-human/half-orc female, and the king of the humans. Those are many characters, and also too many, I think. I still can't tell you who was the protagonist of Warcraft, a film that clearly should have elected to focus on one of its stories.

The film presents a bombastically sounding, war-crazed universe, (befitting its title, I suppose), with muscular, often ugly characters. The CGI, landscapes and orc designs are mildly interesting. The fantasy universe feels like a thin cup of The Lord and the Rings with such place names as 'Stormwind' and character names as 'Orgrim Doomhammer'. The film has to move fast to tell its wide story, which happens at the expense of scenes, which play out fast, - so fast that characters rarely get to show personality and the locations never get to sparkle or impress any charm. Backgrounds shift again and again, and nothing sticks with you.
The actors do mostly well: Travis Fimmel (Vikings (2013-16)) is intense as the commander, Ben Foster (Rampart (2011)) is engaged as guardian Medivh, (though it takes a minute to get used to his look), and Ben Schnetzer (Pride (2015)) brings a much-needed whiff of lightness and humor to the film as the guardian who might have made a good protagonist. Paula Patton (Deja Vu (2006)) looks fierce while struggling to act and look attractive with massive orc incisors, and Dominic Cooper (Need for Speed (2014)) seems conspicuously uninvolved as the king, especially if compared to Fimmel.
The voice-over in the beginning of the film states that man and orc have fought as long as anyone can remember. The king of men later claims no knowledge of orcs at all. This is another head-scratcher.
SPOILER Finally I was puzzled to see that the film eliminates so many of its characters in the end: Both likable orcs die, the guardian and the king.
Whether we shall see more Warcraft, (which is called Warcraft: The Beginning in many countries so as not to cast any doubt that the companies behind it would like it to be the first in a lucrative franchise), on the silver screen after this venture seems dubious at best, - but of course it is ultimately up to audiences across the world, and their willingness to purchase tickets, - or lack thereof.

Related post:

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2016 in films - according to Film Excess

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 160 mil. $
Box office: 31.7 mil. $ and counting
= Too early to say
[Warcraft premiered May 25 and runs 123 minutes. It has been in development since 2006, with directors Uwe Boll and Sam Raimi earlier in talks to head it. Jones' involvement was marred by his wife's breast cancer in 2013 and his father, David Bowie's death due to cancer in 2016. Filming took place from January - May 2014 in and around Vancouver. Warcraft has opened in much of the world already, but will not open stateside until June 10, going up against other new titles Now You See Me 2 and The Conjuring 2, while also battling the holdover powers of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, X-Men: Apocalypse and Alice Through the Looking Glass. Warcraft is rotten at 18 % with a 4.4 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Warcraft?

Lone Survivor (2013) - Wahlberg and Berg's stout Navy SEAL war movie

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+ Best War Movie of the Year

Mark Wahlberg portrays a tough, real-life Navy Seal in Peter Berg's Lone Survivor

A Navy SEAL team in Afghanistan are sent on a risky mission behind enemy lines to kill a Taliban leader. But the opposition is greater than anticipated, the terrain is exceedingly difficult, and the communication gets severed.

Writer-director Peter Berg (The Kingdom (2007)) makes a gritty, effective movie out of this horrific true story, based on the 2007 novel by Marcus Luttrell (Service: A Navy SEAL at Work (2012)) and Patrick Robinson (Intercept (2010)). The war record that otherwise might be of the kind that would change young men's minds about joining the forces and risking their lives for dubious purposes in faraway, poor parts of the world, becomes a film that immortalizes these men as strong, good, tragic heroes, which doubtlessly impresses new youths to join the ranks. Lone Survivor boasts visceral fight and falling scenes to support its very simple story, (one of a small group of men's fight, death and struggle to survive.) It is a piece of American patriotic war-lore, manipulative and simple but well-made, earnest and without qualms.
Lone Survivor sports a strong cast that heightens it: Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild (2007)), Eric Bana (Black Hawk Down (2001)), Ben Foster (Kill Your Darlings (2013)), Taylor Kitsch (True Detective (2015), TV-series), - and Mark Wahlberg (The Happening (2008)) are all very good here.

Related posts:

Peter Berg: 2013 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED VI]

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
Battleship (2012) - 200+ mil. $ worth of brainless destruction

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 49 mil. $
Box office: 149.3 mil. $
= Box office success
[The rights to the book were sold to Universal in 2007 in a bidding war for more than 2 mil. $. The film was then made largely without studio interference, with key cast members working for scale and producers even putting a mil. $ each into the production. The cast underwent training for the movie; Berg even visited the families of the deceased SEALs and became embedded with SEALs in Iraq for a month, (the first civilian to have been allowed this); and Luttrell and other SEAL's were advisers on the film. Lone Survivor was shot in New Mexico September - November 2012 and received a 25 % tax credit. Several stunt performers were injured during the making of the fall scenes. The movie was screened for several American football teams, gaining word-of-mouth, before its limited release. It opened wide in January at #1 to a 38.2 mil. $ opening weekend domestically, the second-largest January opening ever, behind Cloverfield (2008). It grossed 125 mil. $ in North America (83.7 % of the total gross), with Australia (3.5 mil. $/2.3 %) and the UK (3.4 mil. $/2.3 %) being the 2nd and 3rd biggest markets. The film was nominated for Oscars for Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing, losing both to Gravity (2013). Lone Survivor is certified fresh at 75 % with a 6.6 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Lone Survivor?

The Mechanic (2011) - West's dull, flawed action remake

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Jason Statham looks good hanging in a rope on the poster for Simon West's The Mechanic

Arthur Bishop is the title 'mechanic', a hard-skinned assassin. He gets a job of cleaning up after a bloody leak and kills an old ally. Then he trains the man's son.

It is hard to get engaged in Jason Statham's (Death Race (2008)) protagonist character, SPOILER after he kills wheelchair-bound Donald Sutherland (Virus (1999)) in cold blood. T And the casting of Tony Goldwyn (The 6th Day (2000)) as his boss, SPOILER who of course turns out to be the real villain, is too obvious.
Mechanic is a silly action remake of The Mechanic (1972) with Charles Bronson, SPOILER that ends in a similarly silly, explosive finale.
Ben Foster (Six Feet Under (2003-05)) has one good scene in the film, in which he seduces a huge assassin and then fights him - to the death!
But all in all it is very hard to get involved with Mechanic, a slick and dull film. It is written by Richard Wenk (The Equalizer (2014)) and Lewis John Carlino (The Mechanic (1972)) and directed by Simon West (Con Air (1997)), a prolific Hollywood director who has still to make a good film. He currently has three films in development, among them a remake of The Blob (1958) for next year.

Related posts:
 

Simon West: The Expendables 2 (2012) - An over-packed action hot-air balloon
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess  

 Watch the trailer for the movie here

Cost: 40 mil. $
Box office: 76.3 mil. $
= Big flop
[Mechanic had an 11.4 mil. $ North-American opening weekend and grossed 29.1 mil. $ there (38 % of the total gross). Despite its flop status, a sequel is in post production, Mechanic: Resurrection (2016), again starring Statham and co-starring Tommy Lee Jones, Jessica Alba and Michelle Yeoh.]

What do you think of The Mechanic?