A pair of action movies with a healthy dose of plot armor.
The Beekeeper
When the kind landlady of a quiet beekeeper (played by Jason Statham) becomes the victim of cyber crime, said beekeeper goes on a murderous rampage of revenge. It helps that he's also ex-spec ops and loaded to the brim with plot armor. While the story is very similar to his other film, A Working Man, this one is better plot wise. Thumbs up!
Jurassic World Rebirth
Even in the universe of Jurassic World the resurrected dinosaurs are now old, boring news and as the modern climate is actually fatal to them the remaining dinos only exist near the equator on islands mandated that no human should ever go to. Of course, greedy scientists hire a team of equally greedy mercenaries (one of whom is played by Scarlett Johansson) to do just that... and for some stupid reason the script writers just had to inject a family with children as well to fill a tick box in the plot sheet. It's an ok and very pretty movie, but it would have been better if it was just mercs vs the dinos - and if they could just go weapons free instead of treating them like poor puppy dogs like they do each movie.
Showing posts with label Jason Statham. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jason Statham. Show all posts
Tuesday, 11 November 2025
The Beekeeper and Jurassic World Rebirth
Sunday, 22 June 2025
Sully, A Working Man
Two movies I watched with my guests!
Sully
After performing an emergency water landing of a passenger plane in the Hudson River, Captain Sully (played by Tom Hanks) faces the aviation review board who question if that was the correct course of action after simulations project his damaged flight being able to make it to two airports all while most of the public treats him as a hero. This "based on true events" film is a mostly talking one with heavy use of flash backs, but it is still pretty cool all up.
A Working Man
A retired soldier who now works in construction (played by Jason Statham) tries his best [not very hard at all] to leave his life of killing behind but when ridiculously over the top bad guys show up to mess with his place of business, what else can a guy do but blow them all away with high powered weaponry? Yep, this flick is one of pure "Statham taking out the bad guys" action with very little plot and set dressing to go with it. An easy one to turn off your brain and enjoy. :P
Friday, 17 April 2020
Hobbs & Shaw
When a lethal virus goes missing it's up to two unlikely partners Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), who have partnered before, to retrieve it from a cybernetically enhanced assassin. Much like the other Fast & Furious movies which spawned this spin-off, there is a mix of fast cars, violence, and ludicrousness. Is that a word? If not, I need the word that describes fat tribal guys beating up highly trained spec-ops teams. Yeah, that word.
Entirely predictable, this one is definitely only for turn off your brain action buffs as there's more on the "beating people up" than car racing. The plot is so shallow there's not much else to say other than Vanessa Kirby is hot? I give it 2.5 surprise Ryan Reynolds out of 5. Probably not going to watch it again.
The perils of being a panty inspector.
Entirely predictable, this one is definitely only for turn off your brain action buffs as there's more on the "beating people up" than car racing. The plot is so shallow there's not much else to say other than Vanessa Kirby is hot? I give it 2.5 surprise Ryan Reynolds out of 5. Probably not going to watch it again.
Sunday, 25 October 2015
Double Statham: Parker and Wild Card
Parker
How the movie does not end at the "van scene", I do not know.
Jason Statham is a professional heister, but after being teamed up with a crew that doesn't uphold their end of the bargain he hunts them down to teach them a lesson. Like, don't screw up killing a guy because he might be upset at that if he actually survives. Yep, that happens in this movie. Fortunately there are pretty nice and brutal action sequences in this flick but there's one glaring problem with it: JLo. Yep. While I don't mind her acting ability or screen presence it's just the way her character is written that makes it smell like they went "Hey, let's put in Jlo!". Why?
This also results in Statham putting on a ridiculous Texas accent for a part of the film (undercover purposes you know) and it is ... really bad? I'm being polite here. It's a pity since the first act (that has no Jlo) is pretty engaging, then it sort of drops to a lower gear when she appears. All up I give it two firing pins out of five, can only recommend it to Statham / JLo fans, and wouldn't want to watch it again.
~~~
Wild Card
Jason Statham is a "security specialist" in Las Vegas who has an aversion to firearms. Again, thanks to his skills there are some nice action sequences to be had here even if some fight segments are sped up, it still works. Also there are lots of decent actors that have more or less cameo roles in the flick and the use of country music works well given the setting.
While this does have a bit of action the movie is actually a character piece to which the action plays second fiddle, and it actually makes for a good change. Statham's character has a pretty basic goal all up, and it soon becomes clear that he's actually his own worst enemy. Probably helps that this is based off a book. I also have to commend the editing work here as they manage to really make the most of the run time and by that I mean off the top of my head I can't say they should have cut "x" which I normally do. It's a pretty clean and entertaining piece of work, and one I give two and a half cards out of five to.
Would I watch this one again? Yes!
How the movie does not end at the "van scene", I do not know.
Jason Statham is a professional heister, but after being teamed up with a crew that doesn't uphold their end of the bargain he hunts them down to teach them a lesson. Like, don't screw up killing a guy because he might be upset at that if he actually survives. Yep, that happens in this movie. Fortunately there are pretty nice and brutal action sequences in this flick but there's one glaring problem with it: JLo. Yep. While I don't mind her acting ability or screen presence it's just the way her character is written that makes it smell like they went "Hey, let's put in Jlo!". Why?
Because she's nice eye candy?
This also results in Statham putting on a ridiculous Texas accent for a part of the film (undercover purposes you know) and it is ... really bad? I'm being polite here. It's a pity since the first act (that has no Jlo) is pretty engaging, then it sort of drops to a lower gear when she appears. All up I give it two firing pins out of five, can only recommend it to Statham / JLo fans, and wouldn't want to watch it again.
~~~
Wild Card
Jason Statham is a "security specialist" in Las Vegas who has an aversion to firearms. Again, thanks to his skills there are some nice action sequences to be had here even if some fight segments are sped up, it still works. Also there are lots of decent actors that have more or less cameo roles in the flick and the use of country music works well given the setting.
But he looks so harmless...
While this does have a bit of action the movie is actually a character piece to which the action plays second fiddle, and it actually makes for a good change. Statham's character has a pretty basic goal all up, and it soon becomes clear that he's actually his own worst enemy. Probably helps that this is based off a book. I also have to commend the editing work here as they manage to really make the most of the run time and by that I mean off the top of my head I can't say they should have cut "x" which I normally do. It's a pretty clean and entertaining piece of work, and one I give two and a half cards out of five to.
Would I watch this one again? Yes!
Monday, 21 September 2015
Safe House / Safe
Safe
Getting killed is bad business.
A little Chinese girl who happens to be very gifted with numbers is kidnapped and used by Chinese mobsters in the USA to "count" for them. She is eventually also given important information that makes her a target not only by the rival Russian mobsters but also to the corrupt police force. Jason Statham, who manages to piss off the Russian mobsters right at the start of the film, runs into her by coincidence and decides to protect her because he's the protagonist, and that's what protagonists do.
Good stuff first: Statham is in good fighting form here, and racks up a decent body count. The little actress (Catherine Chan) is also very good and not annoying in any way. It's also nice to see Reggie Lee (Sgt. Wu from Grimm) here, and while the film ends somewhat abruptly it fits in well and doesn't become dragging at any point. Worst part is the start, which is unnecessarily messy and convoluted with all the sudden cuts. It's a good example of misuse of timeline as it only serves to be annoying.
All up it's an average action flick that doesn't require much thinking, and I give it two bullets out of five. Would I watch it again? A solid maybe. It's really neither here nor there. Guess I'm playing it Safe?
~~~
Safe House
Making house keeping look awesome.
Ryan Reynolds is a "house keeper" for a CIA safe house, which is made out to be a very boring and lonely post. This all changes when a highly wanted criminal (Denzel Washington) is brought in for safe keeping, resulting in all hell breaking lose. Despite the title and the setup, very little of the movie is spent in a safe house which is good as the script keeps everything in flux, in turn keeping the characters and the audience on their toes.
There are also good action sequences with shooting, hand to hand and the mandatory "car chase if movie is not using heavy CGI". Acting wise it also gets a thumbs up from me, though it does suffer a little from a few plot holes and "but he could have done -x-" moments towards the end. I give this film three and a half guest rooms out of five and can easily recommend it to action fans. I would also happily watch it again.
Getting killed is bad business.
A little Chinese girl who happens to be very gifted with numbers is kidnapped and used by Chinese mobsters in the USA to "count" for them. She is eventually also given important information that makes her a target not only by the rival Russian mobsters but also to the corrupt police force. Jason Statham, who manages to piss off the Russian mobsters right at the start of the film, runs into her by coincidence and decides to protect her because he's the protagonist, and that's what protagonists do.
Does he look like someone you want to piss off?
Good stuff first: Statham is in good fighting form here, and racks up a decent body count. The little actress (Catherine Chan) is also very good and not annoying in any way. It's also nice to see Reggie Lee (Sgt. Wu from Grimm) here, and while the film ends somewhat abruptly it fits in well and doesn't become dragging at any point. Worst part is the start, which is unnecessarily messy and convoluted with all the sudden cuts. It's a good example of misuse of timeline as it only serves to be annoying.
All up it's an average action flick that doesn't require much thinking, and I give it two bullets out of five. Would I watch it again? A solid maybe. It's really neither here nor there. Guess I'm playing it Safe?
~~~
Safe House
Making house keeping look awesome.
Ryan Reynolds is a "house keeper" for a CIA safe house, which is made out to be a very boring and lonely post. This all changes when a highly wanted criminal (Denzel Washington) is brought in for safe keeping, resulting in all hell breaking lose. Despite the title and the setup, very little of the movie is spent in a safe house which is good as the script keeps everything in flux, in turn keeping the characters and the audience on their toes.
Good thing too or it would be a boring movie.
There are also good action sequences with shooting, hand to hand and the mandatory "car chase if movie is not using heavy CGI". Acting wise it also gets a thumbs up from me, though it does suffer a little from a few plot holes and "but he could have done -x-" moments towards the end. I give this film three and a half guest rooms out of five and can easily recommend it to action fans. I would also happily watch it again.
Saturday, 12 September 2015
The Fast and the Furious: Five to Seven
Fast Five
Only one way to quit being a criminal, and apparently that's by doing a big crime.
Carrying on right after the fourth installment, the crew are now all wanted by the police - more so when a "botched job" gets a number of DEA agents killed. Having had enough of this BS the FBI decides to send in their best hunter (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) and his team to hunt down those dastardly thieves once and for all. To make matters more interesting, the same botched job also pisses off another wealthy bad guy who is out for blood to get back what is his. Deciding it's time to quit the criminal life, Dom (Vin Diesel) plans one last big heist and assembles a team composed of characters from all the previous movies. For me, especially having watched everything in sequence, this is pretty cool.
It then turns into a little bit like Ocean's Eleven, only with more cars involved and while it also makes for a longer movie it also makes it better! They've added a ton more violence, fighting and gun play here and while they've slowly been upping the kill count I think this one certainly holds the highest so far. While there is less actual racing, the few races present actually have more meaning or are more interesting than the previous ones. I quite liked the cop car one as that was the most level playing field the characters have had for awhile.
I suppose I should also mention that there's a fair bit of Portugese in the film being set in Rio and all, and that Gal Gadot is hot, but the important part is that I give this movie four tires out of five and would definitely watch it again. I even watched all the credits this time to watch the CGI race at the end! All up, this sequel better than the initial outing!
~~~
Furious 6
Where the writers thought... what other vehicles can we throw in there?
Best FBI hunter man (The Rock) is hunting another band of thieves in fast cars, this time with a more military background, but since they are too slippery for him (seriously, does he catch anyone on his own?) he is forced to ask help from the now "retired" Dom and his team. To help convince him he does have an interesting hook - one of Dom's old pals is working for the competition. That, and pardons for his crew if he gets the job done. I quite like the opening credits to this one as it has snippets from all the movies that have come before.
With most of the cast returning from the previous movie, it's pretty cool that they get to combat a rival team this time who are driving modified F1s, and it's refreshing that they aren't going up against "another cartel boss". Luke Evans is a welcome and more hands on bad guy from the previous bunch and while there's certainly still killing and shooting, there's less of that than the previous flick and more focus on hand to hand here. I was most impressed with Gina Carano's fights in particular. Once again there is also awesome CGI and a high volume of vehicular destruction also gets the thumbs up from me.
Despite all this there are quite a number of negatives for me - the main one being some ridiculously over the top action sequences that break suspension of disbelief. There's also an unnecessary trip by one character into "danger" which is basically filler and could have been cut out. I should also mention that the chicks in the London street racing scene are the most conservative so far, which could be a plus or minus depending how you look at it. Ultimately I score this film three and a half tires out of five and... yeah, I'd still watch it again. :P
~~~
Furious 7
The first movie that actually happens after Tokyo Drift.
The big bad brother of the bad guy from the previous movie is the main bad now, and has sworn vengeance on Dom and his team (most of whom return again here). For me he is even better villain than his brother since he mostly works alone, and he's Jason Statham! His intro scene is bloody fantastic. Unfortunately, for a supposedly ultimate deadly assassin he makes ever increasing faulty judgement calls. The main one probably being warning his mark that he's coming for him.
Yes, there are car chases here - and again with new vehicles to chase and be chased by them combined with over the top BS CGI physics that I was hoping they'd steer away from but it's almost on the same level as last time. At least the hand to hand combat is epic, this time with Ronda Rousey and Tony Jaa showing off their skill. It's really the flaws of Statham's assassin that get me because ... gah... logic!? Just be sneaky and you'll win! Anywho, I still give it three and a half tires out of five like last time since it was pretty entertaining and yeah, I'd watch it again.
I also was quite touched by all the feels for Paul Walker near the end there, possibly because I watched all the movies in sequence. At the same time I was impressed that they managed to make the rest of the film with body doubles, CG replacements and voice and film snippets for his character. That did get it some bonus points from me.
Only one way to quit being a criminal, and apparently that's by doing a big crime.
Carrying on right after the fourth installment, the crew are now all wanted by the police - more so when a "botched job" gets a number of DEA agents killed. Having had enough of this BS the FBI decides to send in their best hunter (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) and his team to hunt down those dastardly thieves once and for all. To make matters more interesting, the same botched job also pisses off another wealthy bad guy who is out for blood to get back what is his. Deciding it's time to quit the criminal life, Dom (Vin Diesel) plans one last big heist and assembles a team composed of characters from all the previous movies. For me, especially having watched everything in sequence, this is pretty cool.
I'd be worried too if The Rock got me in a headlock!
It then turns into a little bit like Ocean's Eleven, only with more cars involved and while it also makes for a longer movie it also makes it better! They've added a ton more violence, fighting and gun play here and while they've slowly been upping the kill count I think this one certainly holds the highest so far. While there is less actual racing, the few races present actually have more meaning or are more interesting than the previous ones. I quite liked the cop car one as that was the most level playing field the characters have had for awhile.
I suppose I should also mention that there's a fair bit of Portugese in the film being set in Rio and all, and that Gal Gadot is hot, but the important part is that I give this movie four tires out of five and would definitely watch it again. I even watched all the credits this time to watch the CGI race at the end! All up, this sequel better than the initial outing!
~~~
Furious 6
Where the writers thought... what other vehicles can we throw in there?
Best FBI hunter man (The Rock) is hunting another band of thieves in fast cars, this time with a more military background, but since they are too slippery for him (seriously, does he catch anyone on his own?) he is forced to ask help from the now "retired" Dom and his team. To help convince him he does have an interesting hook - one of Dom's old pals is working for the competition. That, and pardons for his crew if he gets the job done. I quite like the opening credits to this one as it has snippets from all the movies that have come before.
With most of the cast returning from the previous movie, it's pretty cool that they get to combat a rival team this time who are driving modified F1s, and it's refreshing that they aren't going up against "another cartel boss". Luke Evans is a welcome and more hands on bad guy from the previous bunch and while there's certainly still killing and shooting, there's less of that than the previous flick and more focus on hand to hand here. I was most impressed with Gina Carano's fights in particular. Once again there is also awesome CGI and a high volume of vehicular destruction also gets the thumbs up from me.
Good luck catching this!
Despite all this there are quite a number of negatives for me - the main one being some ridiculously over the top action sequences that break suspension of disbelief. There's also an unnecessary trip by one character into "danger" which is basically filler and could have been cut out. I should also mention that the chicks in the London street racing scene are the most conservative so far, which could be a plus or minus depending how you look at it. Ultimately I score this film three and a half tires out of five and... yeah, I'd still watch it again. :P
~~~
Furious 7
The first movie that actually happens after Tokyo Drift.
The big bad brother of the bad guy from the previous movie is the main bad now, and has sworn vengeance on Dom and his team (most of whom return again here). For me he is even better villain than his brother since he mostly works alone, and he's Jason Statham! His intro scene is bloody fantastic. Unfortunately, for a supposedly ultimate deadly assassin he makes ever increasing faulty judgement calls. The main one probably being warning his mark that he's coming for him.
They finally find an excuse to dress up!
Yes, there are car chases here - and again with new vehicles to chase and be chased by them combined with over the top BS CGI physics that I was hoping they'd steer away from but it's almost on the same level as last time. At least the hand to hand combat is epic, this time with Ronda Rousey and Tony Jaa showing off their skill. It's really the flaws of Statham's assassin that get me because ... gah... logic!? Just be sneaky and you'll win! Anywho, I still give it three and a half tires out of five like last time since it was pretty entertaining and yeah, I'd watch it again.
I also was quite touched by all the feels for Paul Walker near the end there, possibly because I watched all the movies in sequence. At the same time I was impressed that they managed to make the rest of the film with body doubles, CG replacements and voice and film snippets for his character. That did get it some bonus points from me.
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