Quick takes on The Gray Man and other films

Breaking, based on a true story (and fairly accurate from what I understand, as far as Hollywood films go) is about a marine veteran who is facing homelessness after he doesn’t receive his latest VA disability check. Brian Brown-Easley is feeling like the system is failing him, ready to toss him out on the street, and so he takes matters into his own hands. Brian walks into a bank with a homemade bomb in his backpack. He lets all the workers and customers go, except for 2 people: the bank’s manager and assistant. They offer to give him money, but he says he doesn’t want the bank’s money; he wants the money that is owed him from the VA. Brian wants to get his story out. He wants news outlets to pick up the story, before the inevitable happens. Brian knows that as a black man, the odds are that he’s not getting out of this alive, and he didn’t expect to when he walked into the bank that day. He just wants people to know about the injustice of the system. John Boyega is sensational as Brian, showing that he has real acting chops and isn’t just a face in the latest Star Wars trilogy, but the movie as a whole is just alright. Some big moments, but the story (even if it is all true) is a bit light. The film does have the distinction of being of the last films with Michael K Williams before his untimely death. I think there is one more in post-production out there that is coming.  ★★½

Bodies Bodies Bodies is a horror film with a comedic twist, and unfortunately it is that twist that holds this film back. It stars a group of twenty-somethings who play a set of young adults who were childhood friends, all raised in an affluent neighborhood. They are starting to go their separate ways, but throw a big party at one of their parents’ houses on the eve of an incoming hurricane. Sophie has been out of touch with the group for a little while, but goes to the party anyway, with her new girlfriend Bee, an immigrant from Russia who comes from a working class family. The house is David’s parent’s; he was Sophie’s best friend when they were younger, but they seem estranged now. His girlfriend is Emma, who has a beef with Sophie, and also present is Alice and her much older boyfriend Greg, and single girl Jordan. Another former friend, Max, was supposed to be there, but he left before Sophie and Bee arrived, after an argument with David. Tense feelings from the very beginning lead to Sophie trying to rekindle the fun the group had as kids, so she suggests they play their old favorite game of Bodies Bodies Bodies. A “killer” is chosen at random, they shut off the lights, and the killer then has to hunt the house until he/she kills, at which point the lights come back on and the “survivors” try to identify the murderer. All is well and good until people really start dying, and the storm kills the lights for good. The film becomes a gore fest, with over-the-top humor that seems to be geared towards the gen-z crowd. It seemed a bit much to me, almost like the film couldn’t decide what it wanted to be. The scary parts were generally good for the most part, but it does devolve into the same schtick of “did you do it?” “No, you did it!” routine that these kinds of films always become. The whole “horror comedy” genre has grown in the last few years, but it is hard to blend the two aspects well. ★★½

Sometimes I watch a movie that the critics hated, and have to wonder if they were watching the same film. As a whole, they didn’t like The Gray Man, but for a pure action flick, it doesn’t get much better. In the early 00’s, a man in prison (name never given, portrayed by Ryan Gosling) is visited in prison by a CIA agent named Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton). Fitzroy gives the prisoner a chance at a new life; he’ll be given his freedom in exchange for becoming a CIA operative, a man who will live “in the gray.” It is implied that the man, who will go by the codename Sierra 6, was jailed for murdering a bad man, and that is what Fitzroy intends to use him for in the future. Fast forward to present day, and Sierra 6 has been very good at his job in the last 20 years. His latest mission though goes sideways, and before he kills the target, the quarry states that he too is in the Sierra program, that he is # 4, and perhaps 6 doesn’t know who he’s working for anymore. Fitzroy has been retired for awhile at this point and the program is currently being run by a man named Carmichael, who perhaps didn’t have the scruples that Fitzroy had. Before he dies, 4 gives 6 a flash drive with purportedly damaging evidence against Carmichael, and just like that 6 becomes Carmichael’s number one target. Carmichael hires CIA-dropout Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans, who was kicked out for not playing by the rules) to hunt 6 down. On the run with no one to trust, 6 has to find out what is going on. He reaches out to Fitzroy, who provides what help he can, but this only leads to Hansen and his team kidnapping Fitzroy’s niece for leverage. Hansen will stop at nothing to kill his man, including huge shootouts in cities across Europe, no matter the damage to the CIA. The action in this film, and there is a ton of it, nearly nonstop, is as good as you’ll find today, and I was swept up in 6’s plight to rescue the niece and take down the “real” bad guys. Critics complain that the movie is cliche and the plot tired, but why mess with the tried and true when it works? Writers/directors the Russo brothers showed they know action from their time with Marvel on the Captain America and Avengers films and don’t disappoint here. Though it saw only a limited theatrical release and mostly seen on Netflix, this is the kind of film that deserves to be seen on the big screen, and that’s where I’ll make sure to catch the sequel. ★★★★½

Stars at Noon is one of two films celebrated director Claire Denis released in 2022; the other, Both Sides of the Blade, is also on my to-be-seen list. I’m lukewarm to Denis so far. I haven’t seen her most renowned films yet, but I saw High Life a couple years ago, and was underwhelmed. Unfortunately Stars at Noon is only marginally better. Trish (Margaret Qualley, who has been very busy the last 4 years but who I recognized immediately from the Netflix series Maid) is an American stranded in Nicaragua with the COVID outbreak. As we learn after awhile, she likes to scream from the mountaintops that she is a journalist, but after a phone call to her editor, we find she maybe isn’t a very dedicated one. Broke, Trish has been prostituting herself for American dollars, which is the only solid currency currently accepted (most places won’t even accept Nicaraguan currency due to its super-low value), and her only hope of catching a flight home. She meets up with an English businessman named Daniel, who seems to be a bit clueless of the currently politically charged environment in the country. Trish has to basically spell it out for him that the people he is talking to are Costa Rican cops, and there is possibly a coup developing in the country, as elections keep getting pushed back and there’s a lot of animosity between the people/governments of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Daniel does have secrets though. He’s supposed to be a businessman involved in the oil industry, yet he carries a gun and seems to be being investigated by the US state department. Trish is sort of a bad hero to root for. She comes off as an entitled American Gen-Z’er who belittles the native population and thinks that things should just happen for her because she’s an American. And, call me stupid, but I never caught why exactly Daniel was in trouble or what he was running from. So many unanswered questions. Having said all that, the film is absolutely beautifully filmed, and Denis is one of those directors who allows scenes to develop, letting the actors breathe. This slow pace will infuriate some, but I like the approach. ★★★

I really want to like The Stranger, which oozes menace and has a terrific feel, but I just can’t, for reasons I’ll explain. The film takes place in Australia and is a police procedural film about a sting operation to ensnare the man who killed a young boy 10 years ago, a murder that has gone unsolved. You don’t know that this is the plot in the beginning though. First we meet Paul and Henry, two strangers who meet seemingly by chance. They become friends, and Paul introduces Henry to the criminal organization in which he works, and specifically, fellow criminal Mark. When Paul messes up and needs to leave the country, the organization proves it has the clout to make that happen, giving him a new identity and everything he’ll need to survive. As is stressed to newcomer Henry, they take care of their own, as long as you are honest and forthright when called upon. What Henry doesn’t know is the entire crime family, and everyone working in it, are undercover cops. They are convinced Henry is the man who killed that kid all those years ago, and are in a long con to get him comfortable and trusting to them, so that they can eventually get him to admit to the crime. The movie is almost completely psychological, including Mark’s fraying nerves as he begins to have nightmares as the case continues on, and becomes increasingly more protective of his own son at home. Sounds great, but in practice, the film takes a really long time to get anywhere. The mood is right, the colors and camera work are right, everything in the setting is perfect, but the execution was just too slow for my tastes for a film like this. Could have been a lot better. ★★★

• TV series currently watching: Tales of the Walking Dead (season 1)
• Book currently reading: Star Wars A New Dawn by John Jackson Miller