Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning
Plot: When his wife and daughter are murdered, John (Scott Adkins), suffering from memory loss due to a coma, tracks down Luc Deveraux (Jean-Claude Van Damme), the man responsible for the homicide.
Review: “Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning” should come with a warning label. It should read, “Warning: May cause seizures, conspiracy theories and uncontrollable fits of machoness!” Nobody is going into this expecting a tour de force and unforgettable plot. All they want are manly action sequences and they get that. They’ll also be given the aforementioned seizures (caused by epileptic drug use on the soldiers), which results in conspiracy theories (the government brainwashing people, more specifically it’s soldiers).
Those expecting Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren to appear frequently will be disappointed. Though they play a pivotal role in the storyline itself, they’re nothing more than glorified boss battles. John Hyams uses this to his advantage. He builds to their showdowns and, when they come, it’s hard not to pump your fist in the air!
Most of the film is devoted to Scott Adkins. He’s on screen for nearly every scene. He’s given the standard “loss of memory” fare and runs through the motions commendably. I found him to be a bit stiff when it came to being menacing, but solid when it came to the actual dramatics (I felt for him as he constantly had to fight the images of his wife and daughter being murdered in front of him). It’s usually the other way around in these types of films. He handles himself well when it comes to the fights, which is all that really matters at the end of the day.
As for the fights, they’ll make trigger-happy action aficionados squeal with delight! Hyams loads the films with car chases, fist fights, knife duels, gunfire and explosions (though I’m actually struggling to recall many, so it’s possible I’m infusing the one depicted on the poster into the film). The highlight being a car chase between John and one of the soldiers that winds up ending at a sporting goods store. This scene (as well as many others) utilize bats in a way that would make Steve Borden proud!
While the story itself may be threadbare, it moves by at a fast pace. The film’s one hundred and fifty four minute runtime seems to expire shortly after it begins. This means that, while the dialogue scenes are average, they don’t bring the film to a screeching halt. They give the entertaining action sequences strings to balance off of, which will make action fans very happy!
Final Rating: B
Compliance
Plot: A prank caller impersonating a police officer convinces a fast food restaurant manager that one of her employees stole and is in trouble with the law. Informing her the entire police force is tied up, he demands she, as well as others, to strip search the employee, which slowly turns ugly.
Review: Before I begin my review, I must state that I do not mean to insult anybody involved in the actual events that inspired this film. For nearly a decade, a male would call into grocery store and fast food chains across the United States impersonating a police officer. He did in fact convince managers and workers to strip search and abuse a fellow employee solely because she was in trouble with the law (who were all conveniently preoccupied). Given certain people’s situations and stress level, I’d like to give anybody involved the shadow of a doubt.
With that being said, it’s really hard to believe someone would fall for such a lame prank. No police officer in their right mind would allow a civilian to strip search a suspect and/or cause that person harm (in this case, a spanking at one point). Especially considering said suspect is innocent until proven guilty. The victim herself wouldn’t be forced to strip, though it’s understandable in their position why they would. Forced with the task of going to prison for a crime they didn’t commit or avoid that (temporarily) by conducting a strip search on the premises is tantalizing, so to speak. It’s just that this situation would never happen with the actual police involved.
I’m going to get past my feelings on the actual subject matter. I don’t want to offend anybody who was unfortunate to be involved in these situations and pass judgment. I’m here to pass judgment to Craig Zobel’s film, which is a tedious bore. I was only able to do brief research on the subject and all I’ve gathered is that these incidents existed. I wasn’t able to dig up if physical assault was involved or if said incident lasted for the duration of an entire night. For all I know, he could be making things up on the fly. This is a fictionalized account, after all.
The problem with “Compliance” is that it doesn’t work as a film. There’s little suspense you can build in having a woman accused of a crime and being strip searched by her manager because of it. The film begins to repeat itself to pad out it’s ninety minute runtime. This includes having other coworkers and even the manager’s fiancé refuse to partake in the act, yet never telling the manager that the “police officer” wants them to constantly strip search her. Not to spoil anything, but the person that finally puts a stop to this is the most unlikeliest of them all (and apparently the smartest). It’s maddening how long it takes for any of these people to use common sense.
The film is dreadfully slow and painfully dull! The actors are passable and I’ll give Zobel credit on camera manipulation and adding some flair to the proceedings. And the score evokes a somber tone. It all doesn’t matter in the end. Any talent involved is being wasted in a project that would be better served for a short (which it was previously). Even then, this subject matter doesn’t lend itself to the cinematic world. The incident(s) should have been left alone!
Final Rating: D
Safety Not Guaranteed
Plot: When Kenneth (Mark Duplass) puts out an ad asking for a partner to time travel with him, magazine columnist Jeff (Jake M. Johnson) recruits two interns, Darius (Aubrey Plaza) and Arnau (Karan Soni), to tag along with him to report on it. They originally think it’s a joke, but Darius begins falling for Kenneth and takes him seriously.
Review: All I ever hear from people is how there are no good ideas left for film. More specifically, how everything is adapted into a film or inspires one. I always argue that adapting a piece of work or being inspired by something, no matter how trivial, is not an issue. It’s all in how the film is crafted. If the writer(s) and director(s) can weave a good tale out of it, then I don’t care how the story came to be.
A great example of this would be “Safety Not Guaranteed”, Colin Trevorrow’s latest film (working off of the script by Derek Connolly, who wrote Colin’s last directorial effort “Gary: Under Crisis”). The idea came from a joke classified ad in Backwoods Home Magazine in 1997. John Silveira was a writer there and had to include last-minute filler. This quick faux became a huge sensation after it appeared in the “Headlines” section on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”. Trevorrow and Connolly took inspiration from something so minimal and crafted a genuinely heartfelt story out of it! They also gave Silveira a cameo and credited him as “Time Travel Consultant”.
The film isn’t so much about time traveling as it is in the characters. Namely Kenneth and Darius. Their meeting is almost out of a Hollywood romance, except not as glamorized. Both grew up as outcasts and are generally looked down upon currently. Darius is a lonely intern living at home with her father (Jeff Garlin) who only takes the job with Jeff to get experience. Kenneth is a lonely man living with regret, hoping to travel back in time to make his current situation better. While she went looking for a story and he went looking for redemption, they ended up finding each other.
That’s a cheesy way of describing it, I know. I promise it’s not that cheesy in the film (it’s not cheesy at all, actually). I’m just a softie who was won over by this film’s love story that I turned into a lame romance novelist. You can tell the minute these two meet that they’re going to fall for each other. It’s not so much in predictability as it is in the two having an instant connection. Trevorrow lucked out in getting two actors with tremendous chemistry together. The fact that they play lovably shy people is another plus!
There wasn’t once a part in this film where I wasn’t rooting for these two to get together. Even when the film was going through the motions and hitting familiar elements, I was still hooked. That, more than anything, is the mark of a fantastic director! The fact that he also throws a few curveballs in and actually makes you guess where the story is going is laudable! I didn’t see the ending coming and, though it’s not exactly how I would have ended it, I can’t deny that it works.
He does run into a wall when trying to flesh out Jeff’s character. We learn the real reason he organized this work trip is to see an old fling, Liz (Jenica Bergere) and hopefully reconnect with her. While this is a decent way to get the characters from Point A to Point B, it becomes distracting when Trevorrow focuses a bit too heavily on them (even if briefly) and gives them too strong of a turn of events. While I appreciated the effort, it felt like too much baggage for a supporting character, basically proven since there’s no true resolution to their issue. I began to think Jeff should have had his own separate story. The way to handle a supporting character is how they did it with Arnau. Give him a small goal (working up the courage to talk to a woman and getting laid) and conclude it.
While Jeff’s story was distracting, I do understand Trevorrow was trying to drive home the point of how strong love can be. I feel he did just fine in developing Darius and Kenneth and didn’t need to hammer the point home. I was on board with them from the moment they met until the end. I even looked past finding it hard to believe that Darius would be such an outcast. Mainly because it’s played off well in both the script and Plaza’s performance and I knew going in I had a crush on her and figured that was playing a factor. My crush grew even bigger for her after this and my interest in Trevorrow’s career did, too!
Final Rating: B+
Sexual Chronicles of a French Family
Plot: When Romain (Mathias Melloul) is caught masturbating in biology class (on a dare), his entire family opens up about their sexual life. This includes his parents’ need for contraception, his grandfather’s fling with a prostitute, his brother’s bisexuality and his adopted sister’s active sex life and boob job. All the while, Romain struggles with his virginity.
Review: I never thought I’d criticize a film for having too much sex, yet here I am. Let it be known that it’s not gratuitous . Explicit, yes, but it serves a point. Pascal Arnold and Jean-Marc Barr’s intention is to examine sexuality and how people cope with it. They end up going gung ho with the sex scenes, which unintentionally dilute the message.
That’s not to say this film is a failure. Far from it! It’s still a solid little film that goes get apart it’s message. Just not as strongly as I had hoped. When the characters are having conversations about sex, the film is at it’s strongest. This does more than the actual sex scenes in putting across their feelings on the subject. The grandfather’s explanation on why he fools around with a prostitute (mainly because of loneliness after his wife passed away) is rather poetic.
The main focus of the film is Romain. He’s the one that initiates all of this, after all. The film opens with him complaining that his family is too benign. He wishes sex would be brought up solely to spice things up. In a case of “be careful what you wish for”, he gets that wish after masturbating in class. This is thanks to peer pressure (there’s a contest in school where a select person must masturbate and film it in class without getting caught which is a depressingly believable scenario) and his crippling struggle with his virginity. Like any eighteen year old male, sex is all that’s on his mind. He craves it, yet is seemingly the only one not getting any. In his twisted state of mind, partaking in this contest would help his reputation. Then again, he never counted on getting caught.
While that sounds like the plot to a sleazy comedy (which, if an American remake were to surface, I’d see it taking that direction), it is actually heartfelt. There’s a touching scene where Romain and his father discuss his virginity at dinner where he breaks down. It’s a perfect encapsulation of peer pressure and the burden of hormones!
Had Arnold and Barr focused more heavily on the character’s emotions, the film would have been stronger dramatically! While I understand why they thought continually showing sex scenes would drive home the point (which they originally do before being struck by repetition), it winds up a distraction from the drama. Their message is still there, but it’s not as impactful as it should be.
Final Rating: B-