69: THE RUNNING MAN

 

STARRING: Glen Powell, William H.Macy, Lee Pace, Michael Cera, Emilia Jones, Daniel Ezra, Jayme Lawson, Sean Hayes, Colman Domingo and Josh Brolin. Written by Michael Bacall and Edgar Wright. Directed by Edgar Wright. Budget $130 million. Running time 133 minutes. 

How strange in the same week two films turn up both based on original films made in 1987 and in both cases the originals directed by Paul Michael Glazer and John McTiernan were vastly superior. Although, that said both of these films, this and Predator Badlands, on which more in the next review, ain't so bad. 

This one sees Ben Richards (Glen Powell), the Running Man of the title sign up for a brutal TV show called The Running Man that sees contestants trying to survive on the run for 30 days while they're tracked down by five hunters and the entire population of these United States of America. Ben is a good father to a very poorly daughter, and whose wife is forced to work triple shifts in a hostess bar to make ends meet. Ben been blacklisted for caring too much about his co-workers and is convinced by Josh Brolin's Dan Killian to take part in the show. And so begins the running. It's obvious that Glen is being positioned as the next Tom Cruise, whom he resembles, even if his eyes are too close together, so it's no wonder we get to see how well he runs, and run well he does. From one over the top action scene to the next in an escalating series of encounters with the show's Hunters, lead by Lee Pace. All the time, Ben is portrayed to the baying audience is the villain of the piece with no compassion for the multitude of collateral damage he leaves in his wake.

However the longer he runs the more popular he becomes and although once hated he becomes the face of a growing ground swell of rebellion that threatens to bring the establishment to its knees in fiery retribution. 

And that's in really. It's good fun, it's more satirical than the original and the sense of growing rebellion works well. Also because it doesn't have to make its lead character a super-bad-ass action hero it feels a little more grounded. Along the way Ben runs into several characters who help him run and survive until the enviable final act showdown with Gillian on live TV. 

This doesn't quite nail the ending but it's entertaining enough, although it features almost none of the glorious visual flair that Edgar Wright is known for and is rather pedestrian to be honest. That said, Powell is entertaining as the lead, and so is Michael Cera who really seems to relish the role he's given.

All that said, this won't be round for long, making a dreadful $17 million in its opening weekend, so if you want to see this on the bigscreen don't leave it too long. 

7/10 

68: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III

 

STARRING: Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Billy Crudup, Michelle Monaghan, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Keri Russell, Maggie Q, Laurence Fishburne and Simon Pegg. Written by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and J.J. Abrams. Directed by J.J. Abrams. Originally released in 2006. Budget $150 million. Box office $398.5 million. Running time 126 minutes.

Super-agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), now retired from active service, spends his days training future Impossible Mission agents and his evenings with his super-nurse fiancee Julia Meade (Michelle Monaghan). However when one of his favourite agents Lindsey Farris (Keri Russell) is abducted by super-baddy Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman) while on a mission, Ethan is coxed back into active service by his boss Declan Gormley (Billy Crudup) to lead a rescue mission and bring her back alive. 

Sadly Ethan fails and Lindsey is killed remotely by a tiny bomb hidden in her head, which in turns a series of events that will see Ethan run his little socks off across the globe, from Berlin to Rome, South Korea and China, to abduct Davian, capture something called the Rabbit's Foot, rescue his kidnapped super-nurse fiancee and clear his name and avoid Laurence Fishburne (I.M.F boss)'s army of 'not quite as good as Ethan' spies.

After the awfulness of Mission: Impossible II film, which had been directed into the ground by John Woo whose overuse of white doves, ludicrous motor cycle stunts and Dougray Scott really screwed the pouch, even if the film did become the highest grossing film of 2000 with a world wide gross of $546 million.

ANYWAY, I:M2, as it was known was shit and I hated it. This outing, however, I absolutely bloody loved! It's packed with superb stunts, great action beats, a tightly written and gripping script, and most importantly the best villain of the entire series in Owen Davian played with perfection by Philip Seymour Hoffman. If I had a quibble, and it's a minor one, then it would be Simon Pegg who sticks out like a dirty great big sore thumb. What bugs me mainly is that he goes on to appear in all of the following I:M outings and he's too much the comedy foil.

There are so many excellent action sequences in this film it's hard to pick a favourite, but the Florida Keys attack is outstanding, as is the brilliant Vatican extraction. Oh, and the attack on the disused Berlin factory is also great. Damn it, the whole film is knock-out!

I was lucky to see it on the big screen a couple of weeks ago but sadly it's gone already so if you didn't see it then maybe it'll come back, if it does go and track it down, it's damn fine!

10/10