Jack the Giant Slayer (2013)
March 7, 2013 5 Comments
Fantasy means breathtaking vistas.
Jack (Nicholas Hoult, who is off to a fantastic year) is a distractible young man, stuck on the fairy tales his father told him. Coincidentally, Princess Isabelle (Eleanor Tomlinson) was also raised on these tales, making her strain a bit under the restrictions of her position. Fate, naturally would pull them together and show that the legends are real as the beanstalk grows, taking Isabelle with it and leaving Jack to accompany knights Elmont (Ewan McGregor) and Crawe (Eddie Marsan) to save her.
No one is acting outside their bounds here. Hoult is awkward and charming, Tomlinson is peppy and beautiful, McGregor is dashing, Stanley Tucci is conniving, Ian McShane is gravely and commanding. This may all be to type but there’s a reason these actors are successful, we like those types and how they play them. This isn’t to say they phone the performances in, just that the actors exude a comfort in the roles and thus inhabit them effortlessly. I would specifically recognize McShane for a truly classic reaction shot later in the film, makes an absolutely perfect moment without any words.
As concerns go, the initial story set-up involves an animated sequence that looks ripped from a video game of a decade past, almost lovable in how poor it looks. Additionally, in the shadow of films like Brave or Snow White and the Huntsman, Isabelle is a bit too much damsel in distress for modern cinema. She seeks adventure and at times dons the armor, but when it comes down to it, the men will be doing the work and having the ideas to save the day. I’d have liked to see a couple moments where her adventurousness is rewarded a bit more.
For as bad as the opening animation was, the CGI for the bulk of the film is pretty solid. One real victory is in the creation of the giants General Fallon (voiced by Bill Nighy) and Fumm (Ben Daniels), who stand out from simply being stock baddies to having subtler motivations that get through to make you feel a bit of sympathy for these beasts, even as you faithfully cheer for the humans. Ultimately, that is the true sign that the film is one that, while being a piece of pure entertainment, is one crafted lovingly and of pure intent.
3.5/5
Good review Bondo. You can’t go into this expecting something clever or full of substance, because it’s fun and that’s about it.
I think we too often forget that fun can be its own virtue.
Completely agree. As you said, sometimes a mindless adventure is what we need. And I think people are too harsh on these types of movies. It’s like they go in looking to find every flaw as the movie goes on. For me, I’ll completely shut off my critic mind until after the movie, so I can just enjoy the ride.
As an example, jist watched Rise of the Guardians last night with my girlfriend. As is customary, we turned to each other afterwards to reflect back on the movie and discuss. But quiet honestly, as I got to talking about it, I didnt want to delve any firther. Rise of the Guardians is also one of those mindless adventures. Sure, I could analyze and examine its many flaws, but in the end that just takes away from it. Beyond the formulaic medicority of it, it was a cute entertaining movie.
People definitely need to get over everything needing to be profound cinema and just enjoy the fun ride on movies like this.
Havent seen it, but I have seen people ripping it apart. I dont expect it to be more than mediocre, but I do imagine it to be a fun ride if I allow it to be and not aim to rip it apart like others did. It’s much like Clash of the Titans remake in that regard. I ended up enjoying it well enough despite it not being at all a great movie, just because it was a fun imaginative adventure.
Rise of the Guardians looked pretty poor from the trailers so I never bothered. Just didn’t see anything appealing in it. It really varies how much I’m willing to let a movie just be entertainment.
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