Year: 2017
Director: Jonathan Li
Cast: Zhang Jin, Shawn Yue, Wu Yue, Gordon Lam, Janice Man, Yasuaki Kurata
Plot: A renegade cop goes all out to apprehend a ruthless smuggler attempting to smuggle gold retrieved from a sunken ship.
Review: The Brink is director Jonathan Li's first feature film, serving mostly as assistant director prior to this. While the film isn't perfect, it shows some promise for sure.
Action star Zhang Jin plays Cheng Sai Gau, a cop who follows his own book when executing his duties. After being freed from suspension following his act of accidentally causing another cop's death, he and his partner A-De (Wu Yue) investigate a case of black market gold being smuggled out of a sunken ship by Jiang (Shawn Yue), whose greed is only matched by his ruthlessness. When Jiang kidnaps A-De, Cheng is forced to use his questionable tactics to stop the former, much to the chagrin of his superior, Chan (Gordon Lam).
As an action film, The Brink scores mostly high points. Li successfully executes and films a handful of creative and hard hitting fight sequences, some taking place in locations we don't normally think of, like an open air parking lot, a wet market and an unstable ship being rocked by a storm. Li's uncanny eye for camera movements during these sequences ought to be commended.
The cast perform competently for the most part. Zhang isn't a great actor but he is quite believable as the rebellious cop Cheng, and excels tremendously in the fight sequences. Yue turns in a cold performance as Jiang, which works well when he's trying to torment someone, but not otherwise. The ever reliable Gordon Lam once again does well as Chan, while his SPL Paradox co-star Wu Yue gets less screen time here as A-De, but still gets a few opportunities to show off his fighting skills. Legendary Japanese actor Yasuaki Kurata gets a supporting role as a gang boss but unfortunately doesn't get to fight here.
While The Brink has the right amount of action, violence and grittiness that is reminiscent of the SPL films, its story and characters deserve more exploration. Cheng's penchant for violence isn't properly explained, and his relationship with a young girl he adopted feels tacked on. Jiang's girlfriend, played by Janice Man, has an undying loyalty towards him, but it's not fully explored either. Even A-De's partnership with Cheng, which seems quite crucial considering the lengths the latter would go to to save him, isn't given the backstory it deserves. If Li had given all these more time, the film would be much improved.
All in all, The Brink is an entertaining action film that gives Zhang Jin an opportunity to be the leading man for the first time, but the story itself could be better overall. (7/10)
Year: 2017
Director: Zack Snyder
Cast: Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Henry Cavill, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Jeremy Irons, Amy Adams
Plot: Steppenwolf, an ancient being bent on conquest, seeks the three powerful Mother Boxes, which when combined, will enable him to enslave the planet. With Superman gone, Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince begin recruiting superpowered people to their ranks; the king of Atlantis, a cyborg, and the fastest man alive.
Review: There is a tremendous amount of pressure on Justice League to succeed. After all, it is supposed to be as big a deal as The Avengers, bringing together the greatest heroes of the DC universe in one film. While the DCEU has made a box office killing so far, it has not been a darling of the critics, save for Wonder Woman's recent solo adventure. While Justice League is nowhere near the train wreck Suicide Squad turned out to be, it isn't exactly the epic it could have been.
It starts off well enough; a rousing rendition of Leonard Cohen's Everybody Knows by Norwegian singer Sigrid as the opening credits roll, showing the aftermath of Superman's death. This is probably my favorite part of the whole film, which says a lot about what the rest of the film looks like. Bringing Joss Whedon onboard to finish Zack Snyder's work after he departed due to personal matters may have lightened the previously sombre tone felt in Batman Vs Superman, but personally I didn't care either way. Justice League has a few cool moments, such as Diana coming to the aid of a handful of hostages about to be blown up by a doomsday cult, a chase sequence between the Amazons and Steppenwolf, and a resurrected Superman (yes he returns, don't pretend you didn't know that was going to happen, it's no spoiler) getting into a mini fight with the League. The banter between the League members work for the most part, and Ezra Miller's Flash is actually quite funny, even more so than Tom Holland's Spider-Man or nearly every character in Thor: Ragnarok.
But Justice League falls a bit short on being the superhero epic it could have been. For starters, Aquaman, Cyborg and Flash deserve more time for their characters to develop. Cyborg honestly was the least affected by the lack of time, as his struggle to accept his new form after being resurrected by his father feels genuine. Flash is presented here as an underachiever, living as a petty thief while lamenting his father's wrongful incarceration for murder. I felt there was a lot more about him that Snyder / Whedon could have explored. And Aquaman is just a guy with a rock star attitude spending time saving people from shipwrecks and helping fishing villages, who has his own parental issues. Again, his story is not fully fleshed out.
The action sequences are mostly clunky and filled to the brim with CGI and green screen effects. While using CGI is pretty common in most superhero movies, it felt quite overused here, and it doesn't help that some of it looked weak, none more so than Steppenwolf. His look here is only a couple of notches above the bad CGI in The Scorpion King. Speaking of Steppenwolf, he's pretty much one of the weakest villains I've ever seen in a superhero movie. Unlike the charismatic Loki or the brilliant Joker, Steppenwolf feels like a prelude to a greater villain that will come later.
Acting wise, the cast are mostly spot on. Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot both bring a good amount of gravitas to their respective roles as Batman and Wonder Woman. Ezra Miller is perfect as the comedic Flash, though I wish he was given more to do, including the action sequences. Jason Momoa gives Aquaman plenty of attitude while Ray Fisher brings a subtle performance as Cyborg. Jeremy Irons has much less to do here as Alfred, and J.K Simmons has even less time than Irons playing Commissioner Gordon, sporting a horrible toupee while he's at it. Amy Adams is always welcome as the returning Lois Lane, while Henry Cavill does what he can as Superman, only appearing in the second half of the film. In fact, once he shows up, the rest of the League nearly gets upstaged by him.
In the end, Justice League is entertaining and coherent enough to not be bad, but considering that this should be the DCEU's crown jewel, it should have an epic feel and more "wow that's cool" moments. It's a good movie, but not a great one.
P.S. Stay till the credits finish for two post credit sequences. (7/10)
Year: 2017
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Cast: Josh Brolin, Miles Teller, Taylor Kitsch, Jennifer Connelly, Jeff Bridges, James Badge Dale
Plot: Based on the true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a team of firefighters who battle wildfires across the country, until tragedy befell them in Yarnell.
Review: Most true stories brought to the big screen would focus on a certain event at a specific time, but Only The Brave takes a different route by taking an in depth look at the men who make up the elite Granite Mountain Hotshots, their professional and personal trials, right up to the tragedy at Yarnell Hill.
The first half of the film focuses on team superintendent Eric Marsh trying to get his team certified by the government, as at the beginning, they were largely considered a trainee B team sent in to clean up the mess instead of being at the front line. The second half shows the team doing what they do best after receiving certification, until the fateful Yarnell incident. In between, we witness the team members' personal problems, ranging from unhappy spouses to fatherhood and women trouble etc.
Director Joseph Kosinski, who had directed sci-fi thriller Oblivion previously, paces the film quite well, never letting it stall too long while making sure the dramatic elements are played out perfectly. I am impressed with how Kosinski directs the firefighting sequences as they look very authentic. Director of photography Claudio Miranda deserves praise for capturing the wide skyline and billowing smoke beautifully; there's one scene in the film where he shoots the Hotshots walking in between burnt trees from a bird's eye view, which looks simply marvelous.
The acting is superb all across the board. While James Badge Dale (a popular choice for playing working class heroes) and Taylor Kitsch provide solid support as team captain Steed and senior member Mackenzie respectively, the film mostly belongs to Josh Brolin and Miles Teller. Brolin superbly plays Eric Marsh as a strict but fair man, who has dedicated his life to his job, which puts a strain on his marriage. In that regard, Jennifer Connelly matches Brolin as his wife Amanda, and their relationship comes off feeling very genuine. Teller plays McDonough, a former junkie rebuilding his life by signing up as a firefighter in order to provide for his newborn daughter. He's almost unrecognizable with blond hair, but pulls off the role effectively.
The film does feel less exciting when there's no fire to run towards, and Kitsch's women problems, along with a handful of other juvenile level humor feels more of a distraction than being authentic, but overall it isn't enough to ruin the whole experience. As a biography on courageous firefighters, Only The Brave scores mostly high marks, and ought to be checked out. (7.5/10)
Year: 2017
Director: Jimmy Henderson
Cast: Jean-Paul Ly, Dara Our, Tharoth Sam, Celine Tran, Savin Phillip, Dara Phang
Plot: Three cops and a French-Cambodian exchange cop are assigned to escort a convicted criminal named Playboy to prison. However, they end up getting trapped in the prison when a riot breaks out, set in motion by the leader of the Butterfly gang, who wants Playboy dead before he can expose them.
Review: One look at the film's trailer and it's obvious that Jailbreak was inspired by Asian actioners like The Raid and Ong Bak. While the film isn't quite as good as those films, it still manages to deliver some excitement throughout its 92 minute runtime.
The premise is simple enough; four cops have to protect a white collar criminal from being killed by dozens of prisoners who have been let loose by another prisoner hired by Madame Butterfly, seeking to silence her former associate before he talks. Thus begins the difficult ordeal of the cops who have to fight for their lives against impossible odds.
I must note that unlike The Raid and Ong Bak, Jailbreak is actually quite light hearted in its approach. Director Jimmy Henderson makes several attempts to ellicit laughter from his audience, mostly by having the criminal Playboy run away in fear and do all sorts of things to stay alive. There's also a Hannibal Lecter-like convict who breaks out and starts chewing everyone he gets his hands on. Literally. It's clearly an attempt at comedy, though not all of them work that well.
As for the action, there are some really well choreographed scraps between the four cops and the prisoners, though the ones that really stand out are the one on one fights, the best one being Tharoth Sam versus Celine Tran. Sam nearly steals the show with her skills which are reminiscent of Tony Jaa in this fight alone. Lead star Jean-Paul Ly also impresses every time he is in a fight with anyone. The acting however is a letdown, as the quality ranges from wooden to just average.
Henderson's direction is also rather uneven as the film loses momentum in the second half, whenever he tries to serve the plot and stop the action. In fact, Henderson should be raising the tension and intensity towards the end, but fails to do so properly, resulting in a rather unsatisfactory ending.
All in all, while Jailbreak doesn't have the intensity of The Raid, nor the inventiveness of Ong Bak, it still is a slightly more than decent attempt at delivering an action vehicle from South East Asia. Personally I'd like to see more from these guys in the future. (6.5/10)
