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Archive for February, 2013

Iconoclastic, take-no-prisoners cop John McClain, for the first time, finds himself on foreign soil after traveling to Moscow to help his wayward son Jack – unaware that Jack is really a highly-trained CIA operative out to stop a nuclear weapons heist. With the Russian underworld in pursuit, and battling a countdown to war, the two McClanes discover that their opposing methods make them unstoppable heroes.

I have lost count as to what number of the Die Hard franchise this is. It is the typical Die Hard movie with John McClain goes on a simple mission and turns it into an explosive extravaganza. We have a new character here, John’s son Jack (John, Jr) who I don’t remember having seen or mentioned in any of the other of the series. Jack is played by Jai Courtney who had a run on the Starz series Spartacus. He played Varros and lost his life at the hands of his friend and fellow gladiator, Spartacus. You may also remember him as one of the principal antagonists in the recent movie, Jack Reacher.

In the beginning, it seems like half the movie is taken up by an extensive road chase. Many of the dialogue overdubs during all the explosions are designed for dramatic humor, but actually seem out of place. The continual back and forth between father and son is a bit juvenile. In the end, as you would expect, the McClains conquer the foe in grandiose style after falls and jumps that would kill anyone but Superman. With Courtney’s hair so short, there is a “strong family resemblance” between him and the aging Bruce Willis. Will Courtney fall heir to the Die Hard franchise? He would be a good choice.  He certainly is athletic, well built, and would possibly have more appeal to a younger generation. It would provide a good tag line for continuing the series.

Not the most exciting movie in dialog or plot line, but if you like explosions and gun fire, then this is certainly 1 hour and 38 minutes of entertainment for you.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Emily Taylor, despite being reunited with her husband from prison, becomes severely depressed with emotional episodes and suicide attempts. Her psychiatrist, Jonathan Banks, after conferring with her old doctor, eventually prescribes her an experimental new medication he’s consulting on, Ablixa. However, its side effects on Emily prove increasingly serious with Emily sleepwalking until she kills her husband in that state. With Emily plea bargained into a mental hospital commitment and Dr. Banks’ practice in ruins, the case seems closed. However, Dr. Banks cannot accept he was at fault and investigates to clear his name. What follows is a dark quest that threatens to tear what’s left of his life apart even as he discovers the diabolical truth of this tragedy.

The movie starts out very typical and predictable. It gets a bit boring until about 45 minutes into the movie when the Channing Tatum character gets murdered. Once you get the no-talent stripper out of the picture, the plot develops and just when you are about to get board with what you feel is a predictable conclusion it flips and actually perks up your interest. For those of you who can remember the Alec Baldwin and Nicole Kidman medical thriller, Malice, you will see great similarities in the plot development. This is just on a slightly different slant.

The movie is watchable and provides good entertainment if you can overlook the fact that Channing Tatum is a no-talent lummox.

Rating: 3 out of 5.