Director:Wally Pfister
Cast: Johnny Depp, Paul Bettany, Rebecca Hall, Kate Mara, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman, Clifton Collins Jr., Josh Stewart, Cole Hauser, Cory Hardrict
Genre:Sci-Fi, Thriller
Run Time:119 mins

In the Pirates of the Caribbean films, Johnny Depp asked “why is the rum gone?” and in Transcendence, he gets to ask “why is the RAM gone?” Depp plays Dr. Will Caster who, along with his wife Evelyn (Hall), is one of the foremost minds in artificial intelligence research. His work has earned the ire of a radical militant anti-technology activist group called RIFT; their operative fatally wounding him. Before Will’s death, he and Evelyn decide to upload Will’s consciousness to a supercomputer, something Will’s best friend Max (Bettany) warns against. As Will in his transcendent form becomes near-omnipotent, Will and Evelyn’s mentor Joseph Tagger (Freeman) works with FBI agent Donald Buchanan (Murphy) to contain and stop Will before he endangers his wife and the world at large.

Transcendence marks the directorial debut of Wally Pfister, winner of a Best Cinematography Oscar for Inception. Perhaps echoing the film’s themes of a wariness of technology in some small way, Pifster is an outspoken critic of shooting on digital format and insisted on shooting Transcendence on 35 mm film. Jack Paglen’s script earned a spot on the 2012 Black List of unproduced screenplays that had garnered the most positive industry buzz. Transcendence is reminiscent of 90s cyber-punk techno-thrillers, bearing shades of The Lawnmower Man, The Thirteenth Floor, eXistenZ, Johnny Mnemonic and The Matrix; also clearly influenced by the works of sci-fi authors William Gibson and Philip K. Dick, both famous for exploring the dynamic relationship between man and machine. Source Code is a recent genre entry that also comes to mind. There’s a bit of Rise of the Planet of the Apes vibe too, with the well-intentioned scientists playing god. While all the above-mentioned films had their outlandish moments (or were outlandish as a whole), Pfister takes great pains to maintain a po-faced plausibility and he is mostly successful.

Pfister’s style as a cinematographer is marked by a clinical precision which curiously didn’t sacrifice too much personality, and that is carried over to Transcendence. As far as directing debuts go, this is an assured first feature and hopefully a sign of great things to come from Pfister. The story has its predictable moments but it makes turns into surprising territory when it matters the most. At the mid-point of the story, Will and Evelyn buy over a dusty, dilapidated town, transforming it into a futuristic cradle of ground-breaking technology, enriching the lives of its residents akin to the forward-thinking pioneer who revolutionises a backward frontier town in a Western. The way in which Evelyn’s love for her husband clouds her judgement is presented compellingly, though there are perhaps one too many spots in which she goes “oh, now you’ve gone too far!” while the story continues apace.

Johnny Depp’s popularity has waned in recent years, moviegoers growing tired of his eccentric shtick and the big-budget bomb The Lone Ranger doing him no favours. You know an actor has played some weird roles when “human consciousness in a supercomputer” is considered relatively normal by his standards. Depp is on good form here, his Will Caster beginning as a loveable just-mad-enough scientist and then progressing into a non-corporeal force of technology without going “the full Skynet”. That’s not particularly easy to play and it is a better career move for Depp than running around with a dead bird on his head.

It might be Depp’s face on the poster (the one that looks like it hasn’t completely loaded) but this is as much Rebecca Hall’s film as it is his. While Evelyn’s characterisation does at times lean towards “female lead being defined by the male character”, she moves the plot forward as much as anyone else does and just like in Iron Man 3, Hall is believable as a scientist and effectively essays a woman struggling with some complex ethical conundrums. Freeman and Murphy’s characters fall squarely into the categories of “mentor figure” and “cop assigned to the case” respectively, but they are as competent as they typically are. Paul Bettany’s part is meatier, as he goes from being Will’s confidant and supporter to being possibly swayed by RIFT’s ideology. As the shady RIFT operative Bree, Kate Mara’s performance brings the likes of The East and The Company You Keep to mind. She’s not the greatest actress but she does lend a degree of sympathetic humanity to what could have been a generic band of bad guys.

Audiences flock to big-budget, spectacle-driven sci-fi blockbusters, but there’s definitely room in the market for techno-thrillers that are smaller in scale but also more thought-provoking, intelligent and carefully-crafted. There are parts of the film that are genuinely chills-inducing – suffice it to say that Cyber-Will doesn’t become a charming, affable Him. Transcendence falls short of brilliance, not digging as deep into its premise as it could have, but it is still engrossing, boasts a top-drawer cast and is satisfyingly cerebral if not mental gymnastics-inducing.

Summary: It’s not quite mind-blowing, but Transcendence is still a well-made, clever and entertaining post-cyber-punk thriller (and the least annoying Johnny Depp has been in a while). Jack in and boot up!

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong

Originally written for F*** Magazine

Alice

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An insane take on the Alice in Wonderland story by director Jan Svankmajer, whose use of stop-motion in tandem with live action makes this a completely unique and compelling version. You will have to have an attention span with this movie because even at a short 84 minutes it is deliberately paced, but it’s worth it.

Mallrats

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The second movie in Kevin Smith’s group of movies featuring those people doing that thing that people do in Kevin Smith movies. Yeah, you know what I’m talking about. With Silent Bod and Jay and all those guys.

The Nut Job
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Animated story about a squirrel that wants some nuts, and will do anything to get them–even robbery! I know, right?

Philomena

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Judi Dench as the titular mother looking for a son that was taken from her fifty years ago. Judi Dench is awesome. I’d watch her fold laundry.

Reality Bites – 20th Anniversary Edition

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Remember when Generation X was all over the place? This was one of those movies that was supposed to define their “struggle.” I think. I’ve never seen it, but I’ve heard about it often enough.

Ride Along

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Ice Cube is a cop who takes his sister’s boyfriend on a Ride Along. Comedy ensues!

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

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Ben Stiller in the classic story of the quintessential daydreamer.

Touch of Evil

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Orson Welles and noirish old movie goodness. One of his best. Must see, as they say.

Some old and some new this week.

The 400 Blows

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The french New wave began with this François Truffaut movie that debuts on Criterion Blu-Ray. A classic

Grudge Match

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They starred in Rocky and Raging Bull respectively, and now Sylvester Stallone and Robert DeNiro butt fists and heads in a boxing movie that finds them both in…slightly advanced years.

The Hobbit 2: The Desolation of Smaug

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Jump back into Middle earth to find out what happens to Bilbo and his Dwarf companions. Here there be dragons or something.

The Night of the Hunter

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Robert Mitchum is a creepy mofo with tattooed knuckles in yet another Criterion release debuting on Blu-ray. If you haven’t seen it, this is the best way you’ll ever get to see it, and you should, because this is a great one.

Take The Raid: Redemption, possibly the greatest action movie ever made, and add in a plot that is part The Godfather and part The Departed and you’ve got The Raid 2, without question the undisputed best action movie sequel ever. Well, until The Raid 3 arrives…

For now, fans of the first installment can be satisfied that this sequel not only blows away their expectations, but will leave them similarly breathless and wincing in their chairs in amazement of the carnage they’ve just witnessed.

First, Director/Writer Gareth Evans takes the more challenging journey of bothering to come up with a compelling storyline to accompany the mayhem and over-the-top violence. Those expecting Redemption’s frantic pace of another action scene every 10 minutes may be initially disappointed that Evans’ restraint in not just creating another battle-heavy film. It’s a dramatic shift from Redemption, but Evans’ decision to opt for more character development pays off as the film progresses and he builds to an INSANE final that is every bit worth the wait.

Picking up almost exactly from where Redemption left off, Rama (Iko Uwais) has survived the tenement battle and is forced to go undercover to keep his family safe. His assignment lands him in a prison where he befriends Uco (a commanding Arifin Putra), son of the powerful crime lord Bangun (Tio Pakusodewo). After establishing his new identity and gaining Uco’s trust, Rama is brought in to Bangun’s inner circle and tasked with keeping Uco safe. That proves harder than Rama anticipates as Uco’s ambitions threaten to ruin his father’s empire and upset the delicate truce between Bangun’s forces and the rival Japanese gang.

On the outskirts stands Bejo (Alex Abbad), a would-be mover and shaker who has grown tired of biding his time to become a main player on the crime circuits. And with an army of deadly assassins including a hammer-wielding woman (Julie Estelle) and baseball bat carrying man (Very Tri Yulisman), he’s got the means to make a serious power grab provided he can find a willing ally before he brings war to Jakarta.

Don’t think this is all amazing fights though as Evans’ script ties in themes of family, honor and ambition to satisfying results despite the film’s 148-min. length. Despite just his second film coming to mainstream audiences, Uwais has now kicked and punched to the elite of all-time movie martial artists, but he proves just as adept in handling the non-action scenes.

The jaw-dropping fight scenes may be the main attraction, but don’t slight Evans’ directorial work. He shoots with a clear understanding that the audience is most impressed by martial arts mastery when they can see the action un-obscured and without a needless amount of quick-edits to emphasize the speed of the actors’ movements. Instead, Evans uses long tracking shots to let the fight breathe and have room to play out without hyperactive editing. With little exaggeration, the fighting is unlike anything you’ve seen since Redemption and makes Evans looks like he’s on an entirely different level than other action directors. Working with a larger budget than Redemption’s reported $1.1 million, Evans adds some new elements including a muddy prison yard fight and a car chase scene done Raid style.

The Raid 2 is about as perfect a sequel you can get with a more involving story added to the crazy relentless action making for an experience that will leave fans exhausted from cheering and anxiously awaiting the next installment.

Marvel Studios films have stayed on the side of over-the-top comic book sized action, but Winter Soldier marks a far more sophisticated turn with darker, mature themes while managing to retain every bit of the larger than life spirit of its predecessors.

After the battle of New York, Captain America (Chris Evans) is slowly acclimating to modern society. He joins his fellow Avenger, Black Widow (the sultry smooth Scarlett Johansson, Her), in working with intelligence agency S.H.I.E.L.D. to aid global peacekeeping efforts, but he’s becoming increasingly leery of S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury’s (Samuel L. Jackson, Robocop) willingness to do anything to keep the peace no matter how many civil liberties and freedoms he may have to cross.

With few friends and even less confidants, Cap strikes up a friendship with Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie, Gangster Squad), a fellow former soldier who can relate to difficulties adjusting to normal life. Mackie is easily the best addition to the Avengers’ franchise since Mark Ruffalo signed on as Bruce Banner/Hulk. Mackie’s enthusiasm is evident even before he assumes his superhero identity and his role in Marvel Studios films should absolutely not be limited just to appearances in Captain America movies. Avengers Director Joss Whedon should rewrite whatever is necessary to work Mackie into The Avengers: Age of Ultron.

An assassination attempt on Fury leads to Cap being considered a person of interest by interim S.H.I.E.L.D. leader Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford in all of his cool and commanding glory), forcing Cap and Black Widow to get off the grid to stay a step ahead of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and the mysterious Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), a notorious assassin with ties to Captain America.

Screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the team behind Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor: The Dark World, pen in essence a super heroic take on The Bourne Identity filled with secrets, betrayals and conspiracies at every turn. It’s not all dark though as there’s still a good amount of laughs and tons of Easter Eggs for comic book fans to revel in throughout.

Perhaps better than anyone that’s worked on the character before, directors Anthony and Joe Russo get what makes Captain America special — he’s a soldier that can handle his own against anyone so this version of Cap is even more impressive than the one battling aliens in Avengers making for some thrilling and creatively staged fight scenes that will have your jaw dropping on more than one occasion.

There’s less emphasis on CGI so the action feels more immediate and less the handiwork of a computer team as the Russos go a bit more old-school with their filmmaking techniques, which is appreciated.

Per the norm for a Marvel Studios movie, the acting is solid across the board with Jackson and Redford as reliable as you’d expect. Evans seems fully comfortable carrying the role now and raises his game a few more notches and has some excellent moments with Johansson and Mackie.

Status quo for the Avengers universe changes dramatically as a result of the film leaving the film on a mini-cliffhanger note. The mid-credits scene, directed by Whedon teases The Avengers: Age of Ultron, but don’t miss the post-credits scene as it’s more relevant to Winter Soldier.

Marvel Studios’ answer to The Dark Knight is tremendously entertaining and likely the superhero blockbuster to beat not just for 2014, but possibly many years to come.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Director: Darren Aronofsky
Cast: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone, Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Douglas Booth, Anthony Hopkins, Leo McHugh Carroll, Nick Nolte
Genre: Drama, Adventure
Run Time: 140 mins

“Survival at sea” movies seem to be making a comeback: over the last two years, we’ve seen Life of Pi and All is Lost, with Unbroken due later this year. Darren Aronofsky delivers his take on what might be the original survival at sea story with Noah. It has been ten generations since the creation of Adam and Eve, and Noah (Crowe) receives visions from God foretelling a great flood that will annihilate humankind, who has become wicked and violent. Noah is tasked with building an ark to shelter one male and one female of every animal during the flood. His wife Naameh (Connelly), sons Shem (Booth), Ham (Lerman) and Japheth (Carroll) and Shem’s wife Ila (Watson) help Noah with his divine mission, but they also witness the torment brewing within Noah. The vicious self-proclaimed king Tubal-Cain (Winstone) refuses to acknowledge the prophecy of the flood and leads his men against Noah. The fallen angels encased in rock known as the Watchers, led by Samyaza (Nolte), protect Noah and his family against the hordes as the waters erupt from the ground and fall from the heavens.

Most book-to-film adaptations are of full-length novels, and the first step in such adaptations is often trimming the material down to size and condensing it. The story of Noah is found in Chapters 6-9 of the book of Genesis in the Bible: it’s a short story that’s told matter-of-factly and this adaptation involves a good deal of expansion. Aronofsky set about making a film that would defy expectations associated with a Biblical movie, while staying true to the letter of the text – something definitely easier said than done. This is a filmmaker whose works include the provocative, disturbing likes of Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan and whose most technically ambitious film was the trippy The Fountain, so there’s no way he was going to play by established rules. Paramount got cold feet when test screenings last year generated controversy, but Aronofsky fought hard for the preservation of his cut of the film. The Noah audiences are getting stays true to Aronofsky’s vision, but it is easy to see why the studio panicked, and the multiple fades to black seem to indicate there’s still some re-editing that happened.

We don’t go to the movies to be preached to and Noah definitely isn’t a woefully laughable production the way Kirk Cameron’s Left Behind movies were. Aronofsky and co-writers Ari Handel and John Logan train the story’s focus on the humanity of the characters. The internal conflict that arises within Noah’s family and the external conflict provided by Tubal-Cain’s onslaught drive the narrative. All the players have their flaws, and oftentimes said flaws get magnified. The Bible is not a pretty book; many of the stories within are raw and hard to stomach. Aronofsky wanted to flesh out the darkness supposedly inherent in the story of Noah and the great flood, so the handling of the Watchers is particularly curious. In this film, they are fallen angels cursed to be imprisoned in stone, so they end up as rock creatures particularly reminiscent of Ray Harryhausen-style stop-motion movie monsters. In the Bible however, the Watchers lusted after human women, co-habiting with them and spawning the monstrous Nephilim; God bringing about the flood to wipe these giants from the earth. That Noah does not pursue this inherently juicy and fantastical story thread is puzzling.

There’s a lot of angst in this film, an understandable storytelling choice as angst breeds drama. Russell Crowe’s Noah is stoic but burdened with his divinely-appointed task, and as interpreted here, is intent that human beings not get a second chance. Russell Crowe certainly does “tough” and “angry” well; while this is a good performance, it’s not anything very new for him. Jennifer Connelly, who was also Crowe’s on-screen wife in A Beautiful Mind, is a dependable voice of reason as Naameh, who tries to reassure Noah that he loves his children and therefore cannot hate all of mankind.

Ila’s deal is that she is she is barren from a childhood injury and feels inadequate that she will not be able to provide Shem with children. Emma Watson attempts to give Ila a personality of her own, but it does seem like she’s defined by her role within the family. Logan Lerman’s Ham is the rebellious middle child, in danger of being swayed by the aggression and power Ray Winstone’s Tubal-Cain embodies. Winstone is as imposing and grizzled as he usually is and does make for a believable opponent to Noah, though he often falls into the position of “designated antagonist”. The slightest hint of levity in the film is provided by Anthony Hopkins’ Methuselah, Noah’s grandfather and a Yoda-type sage and mentor who misses the taste of berries.

Ideally, a film of this genre melds spectacle and intimate story-telling. It would seem that Noah accomplishes both, what with location filming in Iceland and on a purpose-built ark set at New York’s Planting Fields Arboretum, in addition to boasting the most complicated rendering in visual effects house ILM’s history. However, it sometimes feels like Aronofsky was reticent to present a visual epic; that he was so intent on depicting a tense family drama that scenes like the masses of birds flocking into the ark were only included out of obligation. There is a time-lapse-heavy montage telling the creation story and illustrating man’s propensity towards conflict with several inventive touches. Perhaps it’s to do with the tonal approach: there’s a difference between “solemn” and “dreary” and most of the time, Noah leans towards the latter, resulting in a lack of sweeping majesty.

Darren Aronofsky wanted Noah to be “different”, and that it is. Filmgoers should appreciate the fact that a director as talented and as unique as Aronofsky was given around $130 million to tackle a story like Noah, rendering a well-worn story new again. It’s not necessarily going to sit well with the personal beliefs of every viewer out there but then again, that’s part of what sets this apart from the crop of Bible flicks – though it is at the expense of staying true to the source material. While the end result is far from watertight, it is interesting, it is sufficiently thought-provoking and taking a good deal of artistic license, the film explores the text as much as it challenges it.

SUMMARY: Far from the cuddly pleasure cruise drawn in so many children’s picture Bibles, Noah is complex, uneven, patchy but uniquely engrossing nonetheless.

RATING: 3 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong

Originally written for F*** Magazine

Punisher (Brian Bloom, who provides the best voice performance) goes on a ninja-like bad-guy shooting spree and in the process, ruins a carefully laid out S.H.I.E.L.D. operation. To make amends, Nick Fury (John Eric Bentley, a suitable stand-in for Samuel L. Jackson’s Fury), recruits Punisher to team with Black Widow (Jennifer Carpenter) to prevent terrorist organization Leviathan from using S.H.I.E.L.D. tech to create a new brand of super soldier. Because clearly in an operation that requires a certain level of tactful precision, agents able to be a team player and follow orders, Punisher is the first name that comes to mind.

For a film featuring two of Marvel Comics’ most bad-a$$ heroes, Mitsutaka Hirota’s screenplay is far too melodramatic and silly. Punisher isn’t an especially deep character, but this is the second Marvel animated film he’s appeared in and this time he’s got an expanded co-starring role instead of a far more appropriate cameo. With his lack of powers and single-minded obsession with stopping gangsters and common street thugs, he’s a character that’s ripe for a live-action show not a budget-be-damned animation film.

Hirota can’t settle on a tone for Widow’s character either. One moment she’s overly aggressive, the next she’s trying to peacefully resolve conflicts. Of the cast, Widow is the most frustrating to watch because of how inconsistent she’s written. The tacked on romantic subplot, borrowing from Black Widow’s comic book past, is a dud too. It also doesn’t help that the filmmakers over-sexualize her every chance they get. She seriously looks like she’s concealing two missiles in her leather outfit.

Kenichi Shimizu, one of the key animators for Iron Man: Rise of Technovore, makes his directorial debut here and his work reflects both the best and worst of anime projects. The action scenes are dynamic with the final battle especially capturing the mayhem of an Avengers-style epic throwdown. On the other hand, the annoying amount of battles between Punisher and Black Widow; the unnecessary comedic characters; hard rock soundtrack and exaggerated video game-like fights, specifically the numerous punch stand offs, makes it hard to take seriously.

The box-cover image prominently features Iron Man, Thor and Hulk alongside the titular characters and along with Hawkeye, Captain Marvel and War Machine, they come in near the film’s conclusion to help save the day, but alas far too late to rescue the film.

With such a vast collection of outstanding stories in the Marvel Comics library, I’m really hoping that the masterminds behind these animated features stop cranking out these lackluster original stories and just adapt some of the classic Marvel storylines into films. Maybe then we’ll finally get an animated Marvel movie worth watching.

Rating: 3 out of 10

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Remember Keanu Reeves? Well he’s back and teaming up with a whole lotta Ronin in this action spectacle. Whoa.

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

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The sequel to a movie I’ve never seen, because I’m not really a Will Ferrel fan. But that’s me, many people were clamoring for more Anchorman, so here you go, they made a sequel.

Knights of Badassdom

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LARPers practicing their costume nerdery take on real magic and real demons. With Summer Glau and the short dude from Game of Thrones. Summer is my favorite season.

Director:Anthony & Joe Russo
Cast:Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Redford, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan
Genre:Action, Thriller
Run Time:136 mins

He’s the star-spangled man, the embodiment of “the best generation”, the scrawny lad-turned brawny superhero, and he’s back to face the complicated modern age head on. Steve Rogers/Captain America (Evans) assimilates to the 21st Century, keeping up with S.H.I.E.L.D. missions, making new allies and naturally, new enemies. Chief of these new enemies is the Winter Soldier, a shadowy, ruthless killing machine with ties to Rogers’ personal history. Chief of these new friends is Sam Wilson/the Falcon (Mackie), an ex-military paratrooper, therapist in the Veterans’ hospital and an expert in aerial combat, aided by a set of high-tech mechanical wings. S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury (Jackson) and member of the World Security Council Alexander Pierce (Redford) are putting a surveillance program into place that Rogers feels violates the personal liberties of the populous. Soon, Captain America, Black Widow (Johansson) and the Falcon find themselves embroiled in a massive, far-reaching conspiracy within S.H.I.E.L.D.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been carefully plotted and it’s been put together in the canniest of ways, now well into its second phase. Producer Kevin Feige and the executives at Marvel Studios have picked some out-of-left-field choices to direct their films, from Jon Favreau to Shane Black. The brothers Joe and Anthony Russo, best known for directing episodes of TV comedies Arrested Development and  Community, acquit themselves remarkably, handling the big-budget blockbuster spectacle with impressive aplomb. They’ve found an adequate balance between reminiscing about Cap’s glory days and putting him into action in a landscape of government surveillance and covert policing. Thankfully, the social commentary doesn’t feel too clumsy or heavy-handed. They’ve also injected an appropriate amount of humour into the proceedings – one of the items on Rogers’ list of things to catch up on is “Berlin Wall (up + down)”.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier has been touted as taking its cue from 70s political thrillers, classics such as All the President’s Men and Three Days of the Condor (make that Falcon). Indeed, most of the film is set in Washington, D.C. and if one were to break it down, the plot contains familiar tropes from this genre: the protagonist is kept in the dark, he’s made out to be a fugitive, there’s treachery at the highest levels and it’s up to “our man” and his closest associates to stop a dastardly scheme from unfolding. The way it’s constructed in Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely’s screenplay though, it doesn’t feel like we’re going through the motions. As is the MCU trademark, a strong sense of continuity is maintained, so viewers are advised to have seen Captain America: The First Avenger and The Avengers beforehand. There is also a whole bunch of exposition just in case, but it is cleverly done, the main example being a well-designed exhibit at the Smithsonian National Air and Space museum (it probably should be in the National Museum of American History, but okay) on the life and career of Captain America which serves as a visually engaging “re-cap”, if you will.

Chris Evans plays Steve Rogers so well that it’s hard to imagine time when all of us went “really? The Human Torch?!” on hearing of his casting. This film has a character who is idealism incarnate up against a shifting, cynical new world. Captain America is also a character who lends himself well to some sentimentality, so we do get several scenes that shamelessly (and quite effectively) tug at the heartstrings. We also get a run through the 101 ways Cap can use his shield. Rogers has to re-evaluate who he trusts and how he fits in, and the relationship between him and Black Widow is explored, their diametrically opposite approaches to saving the day ultimately complementing each other. Johansson’s role in this film is larger than in Iron Man 2 or The Avengers, and we get to see Black Widow’s friendlier, softer side in addition to seeing her kicking as much ass as ever and busting some very impressive fighting moves.

To comic book fans, the Winter Soldier’s identity is no secret, but some might consider it a spoiler nevertheless. Sebastian Stan isn’t the best actor out there, but he manages to project the brainwashed steeliness of the guy with the cybernetic arm and the character pulls off myriad feats of badassery, never looking un-cool while at it. Anthony Mackie’s Falcon provides Captain America with both support in the battlefield and a welcoming link to the modern world; the film opens with them jogging along the Potomac together. Since Captain America can’t fly himself, teaming him up with a character who can does give action sequences more of a dimension.

Robert Redford’s authoritative presence undoubtedly strengthens the 70s political thriller vibe and even at 77, he cuts a great figure in a waistcoat. Seeing him alongside Scarlett Johansson conjures up thoughts that this might just be a really out there Horse Whisperer sequel. Fans of the comics will be pleased at the introduction of characters such as Batroc the Leaper (real-life MMA fighter Georges St-Pierre), Sharon Carter/Agent 13 (VanCamp) and Brock Rumlow/Crossbones (Grillo). Samuel L. Jackson and Cobie Smulders return as Nick Fury and Maria Hill respectively, Fury getting an action sequence all to himself. In addition to the obligatory Stan Lee cameo, there’s also a small surprise for Community fans. Keep your eyes peeled for a clever Pulp Fiction reference, too.

One of the criteria on which a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie can be judged is “has the status quo changed?” At the end of Winter Soldier, you can bet it has. There’s a colossal upheaval and the stage is set for further adventures. As is de rigueur for these flicks, there are two stinger scenes during/after the credits dovetailing right into The Avengers: Age of Ultron, and particularly tantalising ones at that. While there is a tendency for the film to go into shaky cam mode during the close-quarters fight scenes, the sheer scale of a Death Star-like hangar housing three next-generation helicarriers is quite astounding. However, the 3D effects aren’t exactly noticeable until the Falcon’s mid-air action sequence. As a conspiracy thriller superhero flick, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is entertaining, engaging, exhilarating stuff, delivering character dynamics, wit, thrills and expertly incorporating further elements from the source material, propelling the MCU ever further ahead.

SUMMARY: Hoist the red white and blue because The Winter Soldier is a winner.

RATING: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong

Originally written for F*** Magazine

An elite DEA task force takes down a drug cartel’s safe house only to find someone coming after them in the name of revenge or retribution.

John Breacher Wharton (Schwarzenegger, Escape Plan) has been given the go-ahead to get his team back together after months of inactivity and he wastes little time getting his band, with their delightfully colorful nicknames, back together. There’s Grinder (Joe Manganiello), Sugar (Terrence Howard, The Best Man Holiday), Neck (Josh Holloway, Lost), Pyro (Max Martini, Pacific Rim), Lizzy (Murielle Enos, World War Z) and Monster (Sam Worthington, Wrath of the Titans) and all are itching to settle the score from the cartel mission.

My biggest gripe with the movie is that the cast, Ayer and co-writer Skip Woods (A Good Day to Die Hard) does such a great job building the camaraderie of Brecher’s squad that I wanted to see more of them just hanging out together before they start getting killed off. This may be the one action movie I’d want to see a prequel just to watch the team — especially Enos’ manic Lizzy — on more missions together.

As his team starts getting taken out, Breacher teams up with homicide detectives Caroline (Olivia Williams) and Jackson (Harold Perrineau, Snitch) to stop the perpetrator. Caroline and Jackson’s scenes are a lot of fun with the duo having the easy banter of a TV detective show.

Ayer, who also wrote Training Day, likes to have his characters tainted beyond redemption and this is no exception. There’s a darkness to all of them even the normally affable Schwarzenegger, who carries the brunt of his team’s secrets well, but the script has a lot of humorous moments making the twists even more genuinely surprising.

Beyond character development, Ayer can be counted on to stage peerless cop action scenes. At this point, I’ve come to the realization that there are cop action movies by everyone else and then there’s a David Ayer cop action film. Just as he did in Street Kings and End of Watch, Ayer gives the viewer a gritty, unflinching perspective of trained professionals. It’s hard not to get an adrenaline rush as the team carries out its mission and efficiently takes out bad guys.

The deaths are so sudden (and frequently shocking) that they almost seem brutal, but Ayer isn’t some hack staging the action scenes simply to be gratuitously violent. Instead, he’s providing a non-sanitized view of the actual effects of shoot-outs, car chases and knife fights. If it seems too over the top it may be because Ayer doesn’t care about making murder seem like a trivial matter.

If the final payoff is a bit anticlimactic it’s just because it follows the film’s most exhilarating action sequence even if the finale is an old school shootout.

Sabotage isn’t your typical Schwarzenegger action film, but it’s another thrilling Ayer’s cop drama in his now trademark, gritty fashion that will leave fans entertained.

Rating: 7 out of 10