Proving he’s not a one-hit badass, Liam Neeson leverages the fisticuffs he picked up as Ra’s al Ghul in Batman Begins to beat the sense out of some Algerian thugs who have kidnapped his daughter in Pierre Morel’s Taken. Clean-cut and unassuming, Neeson’s Bryan Mills is inescapably reminiscent of Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne. But anyone hoping for the next sensible spy tale to follow that ground-breaking trilogy should probably continue to hold their breath. Taken is admirably in-your-face, satisfyingly (if not surprisingly) blunt and lensed like the best of them, but it lacks in the nuance and depth that might turn it into a genre mainstay. Nevertheless, Neeson has clearly broken the mold for ass-kicking fathers.
The other period battle vying for your attention takes place in 709 AD, and involves an ancient Viking village, a downed space traveler and the beast he’s hunting called a Moorwen. While Outlander surrounds the hunter Kainan, adapting to his Old World environment and continuing his mission, what you really want is to see and learn more of the Moorwen — mainly because that’s the only part of the film director Howard McCain got right. Kainan bonding with the Vikings, the accessory special effects and the progression of the plot are all boring and at times disappointing. The film’s sole noteworthy accomplishment is bringing this intriguing alien beast into the genre. Interestingly, McCain was a writer on Rise of the Lycans, and that film’s director, Patrick Tatopoulos, worked on creature effects for Outlander.
Rise of the Lycans is certainly new territory for the Underworld story. Gone are the latex and leather trappings of the first two films, and in their place, chain-mail and armor. It’s less sexy and less urban this time around, which were two appealing hallmarks of the series. Lead actress Kate Beckinsale is gone, as well, though she’s replaced by the, dare I say sultrier, Rhona Mitra. The story and medieval setting is definitely a different taste, but something that we can gladly sink our teeth into all the same.
Well before the release of writer/director David Goyer’s The Unborn, the Dark Knight-scribe talked of a possible sequel to the dybbuk scare — an opportunity, he said, to go deeper into the origins of the spirit haunting lead Odette Yustman (Cloverfield). Now that the film has come forth, any idea of continuing the story should be aborted posthaste. With its [...]
A wedding is usually one of the hardest passages a couple can expect to weather in a relationship. Having just gone through one myself, I can readily attest. But you don’t expect that trial to hold true for best friends — that is unless said friends plan simultaneous dream weddings at New York City’s Plaza [...]
