Run All Night came out in 2015 and is the third Liam Neeson movie from director Jaume Collet-Serra. They really work well together. Liam Neeson plays Jimmy Conlon, an enforcer for the former mob boss Sean Maguire played by Ed Harris. He must choose where his loyalties lie when he must choose between family and the mob boss.
This Liam Neeson character is the most morally corrupt out of all the characters he's plays in this genre but he is one of the most deserving of redemption. Ed Harris's son played by Boyd Holbrook is trying to get in the the crime business and prove himself. Liam Neeson's character has a son played by Joel Kinnaman, who witnessed a murder, The mob bosses son goes after him and Liam Neeson saves his son by killing the mob bosses son in self defense. Joel Kinnaman plays a likeable character and is very charismatic. Liam Neeson has a bad past and has a long history with Ed Harris. Through the entire situation they remember their history but want revenge Liam Neeson killing Ed Harris's son.
Run All Night continues the current trend of the Liam Neeson action genre with the irish background and the disgraced protagonist getting redemption. Liam Neeson wasn't there for his son when he was younger, so he is trying to do what he can now. It won't makeup for a lifetime off bad deeds but the effort is there now. Even though he is friends with the mob boss and the mob boss acknowledges that his son was out of control and did this to himself, he still must avenge him. That makes for an interesting dynamic between Liam Neeson and Ed Harris.
Even playing his lowest character, Liam Neeson is likeable enough by audiences to get redemption and a second chance. He faces a constant struggle throughout the movie to repeat past behaviors or do the right thing for a change. Run All Night is a great addition to the Liam Neeson action genre and another good movie from director, Jaume Collet-Serra. 🍔🍔🍔 and 1/2 🍔
Taken 3 came out in 2015 and is the third and final movie in the Taken franchise. It revolves Bryan Mills played by Liam Neeson being framed for the murder of his ex wife played by Famke Janssen. This movie was made with a plot that is in no way a result of the actions of the previous two movies. Taken 3 isn't really even about Bryan Mills he is a bystander.
Taken 3 is very focused on the ex wife's new husband played by Dougray Scott. It seems he made some bad business deals that caused the investors to retaliate. Famke Janssen is killed and found in Liam Neeson's apartment to make it look like he killed her. So he goes on the run as he is pursued by cops and the people after the Dougray Scott.
In terms of being a bad sequel, the daughter is barely in the movie. Her plot is she is pregnant and is afraid to tell her father. She serves no purpose in this movie just like Bryan Mills. Forest Whitaker plays an FBI agent investigating the murder of Famke Janssen. He is the good agent who believes in honesty and but this is a very generic character. His character isn't very memorable.
Liam Neeson doesn't use his particular set of skills in this movie. In fact this is the furthest from the Liam Neeson action genre formula than any other movie he's made on this list. While he is trying to solve a mystery, he isn't the movie focus and most things that happen to him aren't his doing, but the doing of others. Taken 3 is the weakest entry in the Taken series and the Liam Neeson action genre. It’s completely unnecessary and doesn’t even have Liam Neeson as the main character. But the biggest problem is the movie is just plain boring. 🍔
A Walk Among The Tombstones came out in 2014 and stars Liam Neeson based on the crime novels. Neeson plays Matt Scudder, a former new york city police officer and no private investigator. While Non-Stop was the start of the Liam Neeson characters being disgraced and being redeemed but it places a minor role in the plot, a Walk Among The Tombstones really makes this prominent.
Liam Neeson is called by a drug dealer to investigate his missing wife. Dan Stevens plays the drug dealer in an early and subtle role. There are to people kidnapping women and killing them played by David Harbour and Adam David Thompson. They are both creepy and disassociated from society. There is a constant cat and mouse game with them and Liam.
Liam's character keeps reliving his incident that made him quit the police force over and over in his head. He meets a homeless kid named TJ played by Astro who he lets help him with the investigation. He becomes somewhat of a surrogate father to him and looks after him. This is where Liam's redemption comes into play. Since he was an alcoholic he accidentally shot and killed a little girl. He quit the force after that and started going to alcoholics anonymous. Trying to help this kid is his redemption as the hero.
This movie really plays up the gritty, detective elements. There is mystery, stakeouts, diversations, and research. It takes places in the late nineties, so there are still pay phones and primitive call tracing. It's nice to see old fashioned detective work and following leads.
A Walk Among The Tombstones changes the Liam Neeson action genre from a man with a certain set of skills, to a disgraced hero seeking redemption. Liam does it well and the audience roots for him all the way. He still plays an irish ex cop like in Non-Stop and this will continue into future movies. The generic american name shifts to irish and the particular set of skills become less refined. A Walk Among The Tombstones is a great movie on it's own and a great addition to Liam Neeson's action genre. 🍔🍔🍔 and 1/2 🍔
The movie starts out with a young Shaggy who is lonely. Scooby is a stray dog running away from people and runs into Shaggy and they form a connection. A cop asks Shaggy if the dog is a stray and he says it’s his dog and the cop asks his name. Shaggy comes up with the name Scooby Dooby Doo on the spot, getting the name partly from a box of Scooby Snacks. This part is interesting because it establishes that Scooby Snacks existed before Scooby was born. In the original cartoon, it was assumed that Scooby literally had his own snacks. Cut to Halloween and Shaggy and Scooby are trick or treating and meet Freddy, Velma, and Daphne. The group form a friendship and Mystery Incorporated is born. There is a great montage of the group solving mysteries with a remake of the where are you song and the original cartoon intro is recreated. These beginning scenes are heartwarming and fun.
Scoob! is full of references to the cartoon and other Hanna- Barbera cartoons as well. It seems the movie is trying to setup a shared universe by having Dick Dastardly be the villain and Blue Falcon and Dynomutt help the gang. But unfortunately the movie is more focused on the other characters and big action sequences to pay attention to Scooby and the gang. Fred, Velma, and Daphne are barely in the movie at all. It focuses too much on Blue Falcon who is actually the son of the original. This feels like it should be more about Falcon then Scooby.
The movie tries to force a message about friendship, but it is lazely put in. The movie feels all over the place and that may be attributed to the movies SIX writers. It seems none of the six could focus on Scooby Doo. Sccob! has the same problem that The Addams Family had in my opinion. One of the writers of Scoob! wrote The Addams Family. The movie doesn't know what audience it wants to be for. Now it does succeed the sense that it will draw in the older crowd who knows classic Hanna- Barbera, but only with quick references. It will bring in the late eighties and nineties crowd but with yet again references. Children watching this won't really get a sense of who Scooby, Shaggy, Daphne, Velma, and Fred are at their core. Every previous iteration of Scooby Doo, whether its the original cartoons, live action movies and current cartoons are, at their core, about the gang solving mysteries. Unfortunately, Scoob! isn't about that. Its substituted for big action sequences and other characters holding the spotlight which is disappointing. 🍔 and 1/2 🍔
Non-Stop was released in 2014 and stars Liam Neeson. Director Jaume Collet-Serra returns as director for another mystery plot. Liam Neeson stars as Bill Marks, a former cop and now federal air marshal. When he starts getting texts from someone saying they are going to kill passengers if their demands aren’t met the mystery of who is trying to hijack the flight begins.
Liam boards the plane like any other time. We get to see the crew and passengers and about twenty minutes in he starts getting texts from an unknown person about hijacking. His first instinct is to assume it’s one of the passengers. There’s the theme of mystery that plays a big part and it’s done very well. Julianne Moore plays a passenger that's a little suspicious. She seems like she could be the anonymous hijacker.
Liam tries to figure out which passenger it is by checking peoples phones, replying to the hijacker to see who is on their phones, and keeping people in the front of the plane. At one point Liam is framed for the hijacking and he must prove his innocence by stopping the hijacker. Liam does find some allies in some passengers and the crew. They help him to eliminate suspects.
The hijacker reveals that there is a bomb on the plane and that it will go off in a certain amount of time. This is where most of the action takes place. Eventually the hijacker and motive s are revealed for a surprising twist on who it is, but the motive is not very imaginative. So in terms of the Liam Neeson formula, we've got the american name, the former cop, and mystery element. This is a big step up after the disappointment that was Taken 2. Liam Neeson and director Jaume Collet-Serra are a good team and will go on to do two more movies together. Just like Unknown, Non-Stop is action mixed with mystery and keeps the audience guessing until the end. 🍔🍔🍔 and 1/2 🍔
The orphans send their parents on vacation based on a fabrication to hopefully have them killed. The kids also find a baby and the parents ban them from the house until she's gone. The parents send a nanny to watch the kids while they are gone. The kids go on an adventure to find the baby a home and learn about family. The adventure is filled with great songs sung by Alessia Cara and complemented by great animation. It's interesting to see kids mature enough to go out on their own to find a better life.
Terry Crews plays a candy factory owner that the kids think would be a good home for the baby. He is a willy wonka type, eccentric and kind. Maya Rudolph plays the nanny that forms a motherly relationship with the kids. They both prove to be a good fit for parents of the children because of their caring nature.
Ricky Gervais plays a cat and acts as the narrator of the movie. His performance is fine but nothing special. The best performances go to Will Forte and Alessia Cara and the two oldest Willoughby kids. The theme of family is very present in the movie and also showing that family is who treats you well beyond the traditional family dynamic. This movie is recommended for all ages. 🍔🍔🍔 and 1/2 🍔
Taken 2 came out in 2012 and was an anticipated sequel to Taken. It promised more action and more revenge. This time the father of one of the kidnappers of Bryan Mills daughter is out for revenge. Liam Neeson is back but this time he is shooting more guns and punching less throats. But the tables have turned as this time the daughter must save her parents after being taken.
There is a family dynamic forming as the ex wife played by Famke Janssen is falling for Liam again. They go with him on a job to Istanbul when they get attacked. When Liam and the ex wife get taken, it’s up to the daughter to help them and this is a nice spin on the original dynamic. The character of Bryan Mills is more prone to violence this time around and shoots more than using hand to hand combat which is disappointing.
When Liam is kidnapped he is blindfolded but can hear what’s around him so he can figure out where he is. He gets a phone and calls the daughter and has her throw grenades so he can figure out where he is. This is already ridiculous because of collateral damage. The daughter was nervous about passing her road test in the beginning and near the end she has to drive in a car chase. There’s no way she would be that skilled a driver, especially in all the narrow streets she drove down.
The final fight with the father of the kidnappers is somewhat interesting. Liam talks about that the father still has two sons left and to cherish them. But the father still wants revenge. Liam asks him if the fathers family will still seek revenge and he said yes. He defeats him without killing him but the father pulls a knife in him and Liam kills him and it’s a reluctant kill. Overall Taken 2 is a disappointing sequel since it has its main character more violent and using less of his particular set of skills. As an entry into the Liam Neeson action genre, it doesn’t feature Liam’s skills, or wits, or any mystery to the movie. 🍔 and 1/2 🍔
The Grey was released in 2012 and stars Liam Neeson as a hunter to protect oil workers in Alaska. There are a bunch of colorful characters that he works with and they get on a plane back to Anchorage, Alaska and it crashes. He has to rely on a particular set of skills to survive and this time it's the patterns of wolves. Let's see what The Grey brings to the table.
The Grey doesn't have all the cliches or a Liam Neeson action movie but it has some. Liam Neeson doesn't have a generic name this time. His name is Ottway. This movie really shows his acting skills. There are plenty of times he has to convey emotion without dialogue. His character always quotes a poem has dad told him as a kid. When he sleeps or his thoughts drift, he pictures his wife next to him in bed.
After the plane crashes the survivors regroup and figure out how to survive. Liam explains the wolves are only hostile because the plane crashed in the wolves den which expands miles. The wolves pick off the survivors one by one. Liam has advice but some of the others don't listen and suffer. The Grey also deals with finality and dealing with death. Liam's character has a wife who died of cancer. Another character played by Frank Grillo has had enough of trying to get away and just waits to die.
The ending is the best part of the movie by far. Liam is the only one left alive and he unexpectedly ends up the he heart of the wolves den. He yells at the sky at god asking for a sign and his face shows so much of his journey and the relentless perall. He thinks of giving up but he remembers the poem his father would say. He dumps out what remaining supplies he has left and there are empty wine bottles from the plane and his knife and some tape. He tapes the three bottles to one hand and the knife to the other and breaks the bottles on a rock. He repeats the poem out loud as he is ready to fight for his life and the movie fades to black.
The Grey is a solid entry into the Liam Neeson action movie genre. He realizes on his set of skills and alone in survival by the end. It showcases his range as an actor. Liam is constantly under misfortune. It's not afraid to get really dark. The final scene is intense and open for interpretation. We will see what the next movie has in store.🍔🍔🍔
Unknown is another action movie starring Liam Neeson released in 2011. In this movie he stars as Dr. Martin Harris, who is in Germany with his wife played by January Jones, for a medical conference. He gets in a car accident that causes his taxi to go into a river. He wakes up with no immediate memory. So let’s see how the action movie trends continue. Unknown is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, who would go on to direct three more action movies with Liam Neeson which are Nonstop, Run All Night, and The Commuter.
So the trend of very generic American sounding name continues with the name Martin Harris. Some new elements to the formula are the mystery theme that is featured in a lot of Liam Neeson’s movies. He usually has to figure out who is trying to sabotage or highjack something. So when Liam wakes up from his accident in the hospital, he wonders where his wife is. When he finds her, she doesn't recognize him and claims she never saw him before. She is with another man claiming to be Martin Harris played by Aidan Quinn. They even have pictures together and know the same details about his life. Liam is convinced he is the real Martin Harris. When Liam gets mad he yells and almost barks like a dog. This happens in future movies as well.
He finds the taxi driver played by Diane Kruger. He asks her to help him reclaim his life. They form a bond as they figure things out. They look for a brief case that he had that may have the answers he is looking for. Liam also contacts a friend played by Frank Langella. As the movie goes on Liam figures out the details of what happened to him and why he is actually in germany. His mind is blown when he learns the truth.
SPOILERS! It turns out he and January Jones are hired assassins who assume different identities to blend in and kill their targets. When Liam was in the accident they sent in another person to be Martin Harris as a backup. When Liam crashed he thought he was Martin Harris and now his life has changed. He gets his revenge on the group and Frank Langella. He ends up in a fight scene with the backup Martin Harris and it's a more tactical, hand to hand combat fight like those of Taken. He even gets a throat punch in the fight. Liam wins and he and Diane Kruger get new identities and have their happy ending.
Unknown is a good mystery movie and a good entry into the Liam Neeson action movie genre. It added a lot of new elements that would become staples in his future movies. Liam's performance is good because he has to think on his feet a lot and rely on has wits. 🍔🍔🍔
Taken came out in 2008 and was an unexpected hit. It not only revitalized Liam Neeson’s career, but started a new type of action movie. Since Taken, Liam Neeson has done many action movies and has found his niche. I’d like to welcome everyone to my Liam Neeson action movie review series. We are going to explore common themes in Liam Neeson’s action movies starting with Taken. First is the character name which is usually a very white common sounding name. In Taken his name is Bryan Mills. Then his character is very calm and trying to have a normal life until something happens to bring him out of it. Of course there is the hand to hand combat and throat punching.
Most of us know the plot of Taken where a guy's daughter played gets kidnapped in France and Liam Neeson has 72 hours to get her back. He was an ex CIA agent with a particular set of skills. He has an ex wife played by Famke Janssen and ex wife characters are usually abrasive in these type of movie but this character is so hateful and annoying that the audience really hates her and is happy that Liam Neeson was right about the daughter being kidnapped. Maggie Grace plays the daughter and she does a good job. The daughters friend played by Katie Cassidy, makes a lot of bad decisions like getting in a cab with strangers and staying in a penthouse by themselves. The friend is found dead in a sex worker den and Liam Neeson doesn’t even tell the daughter.
So when the daughter gets kidnapped she is taking to Liam and he uses his skills to have the daughter yell out a physical description of the kidnappers. When they find the phone Liam gives his famous speech then it’s off to France to find his daughter. He finds the kidnappers and works his way up the ladder. When he fights he uses precise moves to incapacitate his enemies. He is always reluctant at first but then does what needs to be done. There is only one instance of Liam punching someone in the throat in the movie. I thought there were more since it’s known as a staple for him in action movies.
Liam has a contact in the French police that helps him throughout the movie only to betray him later on. He finds the group that does the kidnapping of young girls and kills them all. He finds that his daughter was sold into sex trafficking and that’s where he finds the friend who died. He breaks into the French man's house to interrogate him and actually shoots his wife in the arm. This is surprising because it goes against his moral judgement. Shooting the man himself makes more sense because he is guilty of something, but the wife had no idea what was going on. This fits in with the cliche of the old friend betraying the protagonist.
Liam finds the leader of the sex ring and the person who bought his daughter. He jumps onto a boat and stops the guy who appears to be an Arab prince. So he saves his daughter and everyone comes home safe, except the daughters friend. He tries to have a normal life with his daughter and focus on her. Taken is a solid action movie and would inspire many copycats over the years. This would be the start of many action movies for Liam Neeson for the next decade. 🍔🍔🍔 and 1/2 🍔
Angel Has Fallen is the third movie in the series starring Gerard Butler as secret service agent Mike Banning. This time around he is framed for the attempted murder of president Trumble played by Morgan Freeman. Mike starts to get residual pain and trauma and can’t function well. Of course he doesn’t tell anyone about it. This is just one of many cliches in the movie.
Mike meets up with an old war buddy played by Danny Huston. He works for a private military company and talks about the good old days. He is clearly being setup to be a villain but Huston is good at playing villains. His character feels reluctant to hurt Mike but will do what it takes to get what he wants.
After Mike is detained he is interrogated by an FBI agent played by Jada Pinkett Smith. The problem with this character is she is introduced to late into the movie and then the character is killed with no payoff. She didn’t realize Mike was innocent and then tried to help but got killed. Her character was pretty pointless.
Mike relies on other people more in this movie than the previous two movies. Including help from his father played by Nick Nolte. He plays a Vietnam veteran with ptsd and the two have good banter and chemistry. The father helps Mike get back to clear his name. They both have physical and mental healing to deal with which they deal with together. Mike feels more human in this movie then the previous two. It’s a nice send off to the character and the addition of Nick Nolte is funny. Cliches aside, Angel Has Fallen is better than London Has Fallen. 🍔🍔 and 1/2 🍔
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood is the ninth movie from Quentin Tarantino. It is a little different than his previous movies because it’s a little less violent and has a different tone than other movies. It's about an actor named Rick Dalton played by Leonardo Dicaprio and a stuntman named Cliff Booth played by Brad Pitt in 1969 hollywood. It takes place around the time as the Charles Manson killings and sets up a lot of the events that set things in motion.
Tarantino is known for heavy but organic sounding dialogue in his movies. There are a lot good dialogue between Booth and Dalton. They talk about fading careers and and just everyday things. Leo is playing an actor who is worried about his acting ability and Dicaprio is good at pretending to act poorly. After his american career faded Rick Dalton went to Italy to do Italian westerns. Brad Pitt's character Cliff Booth interacts with people from the Manson clan the most out of anyone. After bringing a hitchhiker back to an abandoned movie ranch, Booth gets in an altercation with Manson followers and and makes some enemies.
Margot Robbie plays Sharon Tate, wife of director Roman Polanski and murder victim of Charles Manson. Since she doesn't really interact with any of the other main characters, her story in this movie doesn't feel necessary. It's a storyline, that while it will eventually lead to more events with Manson, we don't see those events in the movie. This movie is almost three hours long and all the Sharon Tate scenes felt like the audience is watching a different movie all together.
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood is a nice addition to Tarantino's library. It had a good pace except for an unnecessary plotline, it shows Hollywood life in the late 60s and actors and stuntmen. It foreshadows the Manson killings and shows Tarantino can write natural interesting dialogue. 🍔🍔🍔
It: Chapter Two is the second part of Andy Muschietti’s adaptation. It features The Losers Club 27 years later as the face Pennywise, played brilliantly by Bill Skarsgard once more. Mike Hanlon played by Isaiah Mustafa has stayed in Derry, Maine for all this time and calls the rest of the losers when Pennywise reappears. Mike Hanlon is the main character for the first act of the movie which is nice, since he didn't have a large role in the first It.
The audience gets reintroduced to the Losers Club now as adults. Beverly is played by Jessica Chastain, Bill is played by James McAvoy, Ritchie is Bill Hader, Jay Ryan is Ben, James Ransone is Eddie, and Andy Bean is Stanley. It's incredible that amazing actors were cast that looked like the child actors. Nowadays when hollywood needs a character of a different age, they use special effects to age them. Back when that technology didn't exist, actors were cast to play that parts and it's nice to see that detail. Every adult actor got the role down so well. They personified the acting traits of the kid actors. Finn Wolfhard even hand picked Bill Hader to play his adult self.
In order to stop Pennywise the Losers Club needs to perform something called the ritual of chud. In order to do that they need to find an object that is personal to each of them. Each character has a flashback to when they were kids of when Pennywise had scared them and as adults they face their fears. The only problem is they do it for every character and it feels like the same scene repeated five times in a row. The only character with any real development is Bill. He is still dealing with the guilt of Georgie being killed by Pennywise. Pennywise exploits this guilt in many creative ways.
In both movies, Bill Skarsgard has done an incredible job playing Pennywise. He can point his eyes in two different directions and just completely transforms as the character. While he isn't in as many scenes in the second movie, the parts he is in are worthwhile. It: Chapter Two is a great adaptation of Stephen King's novel. King even had a cameo in the movie and was happy with the movies overall. This is a great movie but not perfect. 🍔🍔🍔 and 1/2 🍔
Toy Story 4 is the fourth movie in the beloved Pixar series Toy Story. When Toy Story 3 had come out we thought we were done with the journey of Woody, Buzz, and the rest, but apparently there was more to tell.
It’s been a few years and Woody and the gang have been living with Bonny for awhile now but not being played with as much. Bonny goes to kindergarten and makes a new toy out of a spork, pipe cleaners, and popsicle sticks. Bonny names him Forky and he comes to life but since he's made of trash, he thinks he is trash. For a kids movie, a character questioning his own existence is very adult and mature but in a good way. Forky acts as the newcomer to toy story for audiences as Woody explains things about the life of toys. When Forky runs away, Woody makes it his mission to protect Forky for Bonny because he doesn't have Andy anymore or a purpose in life now. All the other toys question Woody's drive to protect Forky. This is really Woody's movie as we see how he deals with becoming obsolete.
While Woody and Forky have so much character development, Buzz has very little. It's almost as if he is dumbed down to the first Toy Story. Since Woody is off dealing with Forky, Buzz has to become a leader and Woody tells him to listen to his "inner voice." This is Buzz's voice recordings which he thinks is his inner voice.
While Toy Story 4 continues the story and gives the characters so much closure, Toy Story 3 already did that. Andy was going to college and the toys didn't know what to do. But when Andy gave them to Bonny, they found a new purpose and had a new kid to play with. While Toy Story 4 was a great movie with important issues, it was an unnecessary movie to make. The fans would have been satisfied with the way things ended with Toy Story 3.
Every Toy Story movie has its villain, whether it's Sid, Stinky Pete, or Lotso Huggin Bear. They all get their comeuppance. Toy Story 4 had Gabby Gabby and she wanted Woody's voice box for her own. She literally rips Woody's voice box out of him. But, at the end she gets redeemed and gets a child of her own. Now all the villains did terrible things to the toys and i don't think Gabby Gabby deserved redemption. I guess the writers wanted all the characters to be redeemable this time but what she did was barbaric. She even has an army of ventriloquist dummy henchman that moved around like a zombie hoard.
Each of the previous Toy Story movies were a technological feet. The was Pixar's first feature film and the first all CGI movie. The second was a more clean and streamlined movie in terms of effects. When the third movie came out twelve years later, the audience finally got to see their beloved characters in high definition and it was the best they ever looked. When Toy Story 4 came out, the computer graphics and photorealism was unlike anything we've ever seen. When water is shown it looks real. When any character moves, especially the dummies, it's incredible and so life like.
All the voice actors bring their top game whether it's Tom Hanks as Woody, Annie Potts as Bo Peep, or Tony Hale as Forky. Toy Story 4 was the continuation we didn't know we needed. We thought the Pixar had taken the characters as far as they could go but we were wrong. Toy Story 4 is the best unnecessary movie ever made. This is the most closure movie characters have ever gotten in a kids movie. Now there doesn’t need to be anymore Toy Story movies and it's time to end on a high note after four great movies. 🍔🍔🍔🍔
Fast and the Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw is a spin-off of the Fast and Furious franchise. It takes place after The Fate of the Furious and features Luke Hobbs played by Dwayne Johnson and Deckard Shaw played by Jason Statham. Their chemistry in the previous movie spend this spin off featuring both characters and it did very well. The characters work well off each other.
So there’s some man made virus that was stolen and it’s up to Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw to get it back. They find out from their governments that they have to work together and protest highly. There’s a British agent Hattie Shaw played by Vanessa Kirby and she holds her own. She kicks butt and is a great lead female character. She is smart and quick on her feet.
The villain named Brixton is played by Idris Elba. He is a former black ops teammate of Shaw and was thought dead. He works for a cyber group with a electronic voice calling the shots. Brixton is genetically enhanced and has a transforming motorcycle. This leads to so pretty good action sequences and slow motion. David Leitch directed Hobbs and Shaw and has previously directed Deadpool 2 and Atomic Blonde. The action scenes a slick and easy to follow. There a lot of good hand to hand combat scenes as well. Both Hobbs and Shaw each get to showcase their talents and fighting styles.
They show the scientist who made the virus played by Eddie Marsan. He gets kidnapped and beat up throughout the movie but he gets his payback. It’s rare to see the smart or scientist character have a payoff. The head of the tech group has a past with Hobbs and may be revealed in a future movie. That only gets the fans excited for that future payoff. While Hobbs and Shaw isn’t the most groundbreaking movie it’s a fun action movie with good chemistry from its main characters, fun action sequences and a ridiculous plot that fits in the franchise. Any fast and furious fan should enjoy this movie. 🍔🍔🍔
Hellboy is a 2019 movie based off the dark horse comic book of the same name. It has no relation to the Guillermo Del Toro movies. This isn’t going to be a comparison, it’s just going to critique Hellboy 2019 on its own terms. David Harbour plays hellboy and Ian McShane plays professor Broom. Milla Jovovich plays Nimue, the blood queen.
Hellboy is adapted from the comics but very directly from the comics. There are a lot of set pieces that are from the comics but in terms of the movies plot feel very random and thrown in for thrills. The plot revolves around Hellboy possibly bringing the end of the world through Nimue’s hand. Since Hellboy is rated r, the movie has a lot of blood and cursing. But it’s not fully necessary because it doesn’t seem natural for the movies plot. The cursing at least doesn’t feel natural and the blood is a computer effect, so it doesn’t look as good.
Hellboy works in the B.P. R. D. or Bureau of Paranormal Research and Development. There are new characters like Alice who can talk to the dead and they can communicate with the living through her. They literally come out of her mouth and it’s creepy and cool looking. While Hellboy 2019 isn’t terrible, it’s kinda forgettable and won’t be remembered in 10 years. 🍔🍔
