sundayterritorian.com.au REVIEW SUNDAY Movies · 2020-04-29 · movie where Meryl Streep reigns...
Transcript of sundayterritorian.com.au REVIEW SUNDAY Movies · 2020-04-29 · movie where Meryl Streep reigns...
www.sundayterritorian.com.au Sunday, January 19, 2014. Sunday Territorian. 43
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Moviessundayterritorian.com.au sundayterritorian.com.au SUNDAY REVIEW
VERDICT: JACK RYAN: SHADOW OF HIS FORMER SELVES
Left Pine-ingfor any hope
Chris Pine and Keira Knightley star in the new action film Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT
105 minutes (M)
Director: Kenneth Branagh
(Thor)Starring: Chris Pine, Keira
Knightley, Kenneth Branagh,
Kevin Costner
Reviewer: Leigh Paatsch
HH
Chris Pine and Kevin Costner in a scene from the film
ALL that the new Jack Ryanshares in common with thecrafty CIA operative in themany best-selling books bythe late Tom Clancy is thename Jack Ryan.
All those Jack Ryan movieswhere the likes of Alec Bald-win (The Hunt for Red Oct-ober), Harrison Ford (PatriotGames, Clear and PresentDanger) and Ben Affleck (TheSum of All Fears) saved theworld from politico psychos?
Never happened.Not now that Mr Ryan
(played by Chris ‘‘the youn-ger Captain Kirk’’ Pine) hasbeen given a radical reboot upthe backside.
In Shadow Recruit, our manJack is still in the employ ofthe CIA, and destined tosmother a super-sinister con-spiracy with just seconds tospare. The rest of the movie,however, rejects the Clancycanon in favour of reposition-ing Ryan as a junior-leagueJames Bond who somehowfinds himself in a Mission: Im-possible sequel.
The end result is kind ofwatchable, kind of laughable,and completely disposable: apulpy pulse-raiser that is al-
ways in a hurry to get no-where in particular.
Before the opening credits,we are rushed through an all-new backstory for Jack.
As a student, he saw the9/11 attacks on TV. Switchedcareers to become a Marine.Served in Afghanistan. Aircrash left him having to learnhow to walk all over again.
Long spell in rehab earnedhim a dish of a doctor as gir-lfriend (Keira Knightley), anda come-be-one-of-us courtesycall from a veteran CIA re-cruiter (Kevin Costner).
Smash-cut to a decade later.Jack is working undercoveron Wall Street as a financialanalyst, looking for terroristsmoving money between ban-kers and brokers.
Jack gets a whiff of somedodgy dealings coming out ofRussia, and is sent in for a clo-ser sniff. Turns out that somerogue Russki cash cowboysare gearing up to profit from
an imminent terrorist attackon Manhattan. So Jack moo-ches about Moscow at maxi-mum speed, drowning awould-be assassin in his hotelbath, hosting a surprise visitfrom his lady love, and get-ting in the face (and on thenerves) of the devious corpor-ate mastermind (KennethBranagh) behind the big-bomb investment scheme.
Got all that? Good. Doesn’treally matter if you don’t.
All you really need to bringalong to this clattering pile ofcinematic junk is the abilityto read the digits on acrummy LCD timer attachedto a machine that goes‘‘kaboom!’’ You won’t miss itbecause the device gets sev-eral of its own close-ups at theend of the picture.
Nevertheless, its perform-ance is still less mechanicalthan everyone else in themovie (especially thecharisma-challenged Pine).
VERDICT: NO TURNING BACK FROM A ONE-WAY STREEP
Meryl ahead by a CountymileAUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY
130 minutes (MA15+)
Director: John Wells (TheCompany Men)Starring: Meryl Streep, Julia
Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Chris
Cooper, Benedict Cumberbatch
Reviewer: Leigh Paatsch
HHH
Meryl Streep reigns supremein August: Osage County
MUCH more entertainingthan it should be. Far less en-lightening than it thinks it-self to be.
You are now entering Aug-ust: Osage County, a dazzling,frazzling schmozzle of amovie where Meryl Streepreigns supreme.
The mad majesty ofStreep’s performance exertsa powerful force field that of-ten neuters the potent ensem-ble cast employed to keep hercompany. You want a show?Meryl’s gonna give you one.
Based on the epic 2008Pulitzer Prize-winning playby Tracy Letts, August:Osage County certainlycomes armed with some seri-
ous narrative ammo, butdoesn’t always know whichway to aim it.
Nevertheless, you will of-ten feel the need to duck forcover whenever Violet We-ston (Streep) enters the fieldof vision. This is not a wom-an to be trifled with. Thoughshe is fighting an advancedstage of cancer, a cripplingaddiction to pills and someobvious mental health is-sues, it is best not to handle
Violet Weston with care.Now that Violet’s long-
suffering husband (SamShepard) has died — prob-ably by his own hand —everyone must edge closer tothe widow in her time ofmourning than they prefer.
It isn’t long before Violet istearing verbal strips off any-one who dares express theircondolences in a manner shefinds unacceptable. As Vi-olet’s rebellious eldest daugh-ter Barbara, Julia Robertsgets the best chances to standtoe-to-toe with Streep.
Other supporting players,such as Ewan McGregor (asBarbara’s estranged hus-band), Abigail Breslin(Barbara’s moody teenagedaughter) and Juliette Lewis(Barbara’s capricious youn-ger sister) fight a losing bat-tle with their sketchy parts.
However, when all is saidand done, all roads throughAugust: Osage County lead toyet another dynamic displayfrom its leading lady.
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JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT (M) ●SUN - WED 1.00, 3.20, 9.00PM
SAVING MR BANKS (PG) ●SUN - WED 10.20, 12.50, 6.20PM
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ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND CONTINUES (M)SUN - WED 1.10, 9.30PM
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