Up first this week is The Dive. Have you seen 47 Meters Down or its sequel? What about The Reef or its sequel? Well then you’ve pretty much seen The Dive. The only thing that really separates this film from others in the “hot women trapped in the ocean” genre is there really wasn’t any animals/sharks involved. This is about two sisters who haven’t seen each other in a while who go diving. One sister gets stuck under a rock and the other must go back for help. There is limited oxygen in the tanks, sometimes one has to free dive and I think the ending is a bit ambiguous, but maybe I’m misinterpreting it or putting more into it than I should be. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, heck I’ve named 4 similar movies already, but it’s an easy enough watch. The backdrop (when on land) is beautiful and the two actresses do their best to hold your attention. It’s good for a watch, but I can certainly see myself forgetting about it until there’s a sequel in a few years.
Second we have 3 Days in Malay which is set during World War II. I liked the story and the acting/action was decent enough, but the CGI/VFX was iffy at best. There is a ton of post production muzzle flash and explosions and one soldier looks like he was vaporized. It’s about a group of Marines who must hold down one area which is overrun by the Japanese. It definitely won’t be compared to Saving Private Ryan or Dunkirk. It’s a straight-to-video action flick with names like Rampage Jackson, Cowboy Cerrone and Louis Mandylor. There is some decent action I just wish it had better production value because a lot of it looks super fake. The story is fine if not overly familiar, but the post production work is what really brings it down. No one is going to win awards for their acting chops, but I’m ok with that if the action and story hold up. I don’t know if I’d watch it again and you probably won’t like it if you only watch blockbusters and war movies with A-list talent.
Third we have The Night of the 12th. I liked this a lot right up until the ending. This award winning French film is about a young woman who is murdered on her way home. The police investigate after finding her body and at first get different stories. She was supposed to be staying at a friend’s house according to her parents, but she left and was walking home before she was killed. More and more suspects pop up as her life is unraveled and the police find out she had many lovers who all could have been involved. After years of going nowhere they set a trap on the anniversary of her death, but even that leads nowhere. It’s a taut thriller with solid performances which keeps you guessing. Unfortunately the ending didn’t help any. I’m not saying every film needs to be wrapped up in a bow, but I didn’t like the ending at all. The lead investigator was good as was most of the cast. It’s a little under two hours long, but didn’t feel long or slow. Nor did it feel rushed. It won a bunch of awards overseas and I can see why despite not loving how it ends.
Next is Passion, the first film from director Rysuke Hamaguchi. It’s about the lives of friends, all interconnected and a bit deceitful. One couple announces their engagement at dinner and it snowballs into just how connected they are. It’s a perfectly fine film, I just didn’t connect with the characters. These types of movies don’t tend to do much for me when I have nothing in common with the characters. I’m older than them. I’m beyond that stage of life so I really didn’t care about any of them. It’s well made and well acted so you can completely understand how Hamaguchi ended up with an award worthy filmography, but the story didn’t resonate with me. But if you are a fan then you will want to add this to your collection.
From Mill Creek Entertainment comes Double Danger: Waist Deep and Drop Squad. Waist Deep definitely wanted to feel like a Fast & Furious movie with Tyrese Gibson as an ex-con trying to go straight, but his son is kidnapped in a carjacking and it’s off to the races from there. It’s easy to watch, but feels like a thousand other movies in the same genre. I had never seen Drop Squad before and if watched as satire it’s pretty genius. It’s about an organization that takes fellow African-Americans and tries to reprogram them into better African-Americans. There’s an ad executive who uses racial stereotypes in ads (like fried chicken or malt liquor) and the organization thinks he’s making the culture look bad. They even battle with each other fighting over what tactics are better. It’s funny especially watching it today, but also has a lot to say about racial issues.
Last we have Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Season 3. This came out a bit ago, but I got it recently. Season 3 is a classic spy thriller storyline with an old Soviet nuclear device possibly back in action. I really like John Krasinski in the lead role because it’s quite the departure from his Jim character in The Office. This version of Jack Ryan is closer to Harrison Ford’s portrayal and gives a nice backstory to the character being a prequel series to the films overall. The 8 episode season brings together all the characters we like, Jack, Greer (Wendell Pierce), Mike (Michael Kelly) who’s in the private sector, and more all dealing with assassinations, possibly World War III and the return of the Soviet Union and Jack doing things on his own terms while they try to rope him back in. I hadn’t seen the series in a while so it was a nice return to Jack Ryan. I still haven’t seen Season 4 so I’m curious to see where that goes after binging this over the weekend. I like the show, its destinations and smart writing. Maybe some of it isn’t believable or authentic, but I’m fine with that.
The Nerds Templar 