Tag Archives: Channing Tatum

Fighting (DVD)

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At first, the trailers for Fighting didn’t interest me at all.  Being a huge MMA fan, I feel that movies like this tend to serve as ammunition for detractors of the sport. While the action depicted in the movie is nowhere near what goes on in the world of sanctioned MMA, the general uninformed public can easily be misled to believe the two are quite similar. When the movie arrived on DVD, I decided to give it a shot.

Although the title gives away most of the movie’s plot, Fighting is actually a decent flick.  Shawn McArthur, played by Channing Tatum (GI Joe, Step Up) is a hustler living on the New York streets trying to make money to survive.  After a group of thugs tries to rob him, Shawn successfully defends himself by fighting his way out of it. This catches the eye of Harvey Borden (Terrence Howard), a street hustler who also happens to be connected to an underground fighting ring. Harvey later approaches Shawn to fight, with the proposition of making big money. As Shawn racks up victories, we discover more about each character that reveals they may not be who they seem at first.

The plot is pretty standard and predictable, however there were a couple of minor developments that caught me by surprise. The acting is fairly solid. Tatum does a decent job here and he manages to tone down his swagger just enough to become a likeable character. Terrence Howard is great in this movie as well, however it is a performance we have seen before from him, and perhaps done better by him. Howard is an amazing actor when given the right push, however he doesnt really have much opportunity to flex his acting muscles in this film. Zulay Henao, who plays Shawn’s love interest in the film, looks amazing.  I don’t remember her acting ability to be anything outstanding, but her ability to look hot definitely deserves to be mentioned.

Fighting isn’t anything groundbreaking, but if you’re looking for a rental to keep you busy for an hour and a half it is pretty solid. It’s not a bad flick and it proved to be more entertaining than I thought it would be.

GI Joe : The Rise of Cobra (Theaters)

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Since they first announced they were going to make a live action GI Joe film, I had mixed feelings. The announcement came hot on the heels of the massive success of the first Transformers film, with GI Joe being the obvious candidate for the next Hasbro franchise with cash cow potential. I loved the cartoons, the comic book, and even the toys but it always seemed a bit second rate to me compared to the Transformers franchise. After watching the movie, I feel that the film also feels a bit second rate in comparison.

The plot is fairly straight forward. An arms dealer, Destro (he actually had a name in the film but it doesn’t matter- he is Destro just without the metal head) has developed warheads that release nano mites capable of devouring anything in their path until they are deactivated. When it comes time for the warheads to be delivered, the delivery is hijacked. We soon find out that the warheads were hijacked by Destro’s organization and that he  plans to use them in his quest for world domination. It is up to an elite military unit, GI Joe, to find the warheads and stop Destro….and that’s pretty much it. There is a minor twist involved, but most people will see it coming from a mile away.

If this is your first exposure to the GI Joe universe, you will be confused as all hell. There is little to no introduction given on any of the characters and everything that happens just sort of happens without rhyme or reason. This is actually not too bad as you definitely have to suspend all disbelief for this film and come in ready to watch things explode and not think about it all too much. The movie is action packed and the settings are all pretty cool, ranging from an arctic snow base to an underwater fortress. Some of the underwater CGI is a bit too obvious and has too much of a cartoonish vibe to it.  I know this is a movie based on a cartoon, but the other settings all had a sense of realism to them, so the underwater sequences seem to stand out a bit more and seems inconsistent with the feel of the rest of the film.

As far as the casting goes, I didn’t really have any complaints. There wasn’t really much background or development given to any of them so it didn’t matter too much who played who. The one character that bothered me a little bit was Channing Tatum’s Duke. I remember Duke to be really clean cut and all American. Tatum’s Duke possesses enough of Duke’s physical characteristics, but I felt his portrayal was a bit too street for me.  His line delivery reminded me of John Cena on WWE.  Tatum doesn’t do a bad job, but his swagger just seems a bit out of place in his role.

Perhaps the coolest characters in the flick were the two ninjas. Byung hun-lee is excellent as super model / ninja StormShadow. I’m not sure if he was a super model in the movie, but when he wasn’t in his full ninja gear he definitely gave off a Zoolander type vibe. Ray Park is  equally cool as Snake eyes, the other half of the ninja rivalry. The only problem I had with Snake Eyes was with his costume design.  Snake Eyes is mute, yet for some reason they decided to add lips to his costume.That’s right- a cool ass ninja in all black with lips like Jay-Z.  Why they did this- I have no idea, but it really distracted me everytime he showed up.

If you go into this movie expecting some cool action sequences and special effects, you won’t be dissappointed.  However, if you go in expecting anything more you’re going to find the movie falls a bit short. I’m interested to see what my son thinks of the movie, since I’m sure most 9 year olds will think it is one of the coolest movies ever made. I can’t lie- I did enjoy the film, but there were just too many moments when it became way too campy for me. 

I realize that the source material isn’t exactly the deepest, but did they really have to try to awkwardly incorporate EVERY single catch phrase from the original cartoons? The movie reminded me a bit of the Fantastic four movies of recent years. Both franchises have the potential for greatness, but the actual flicks just seem to be missing that certain element that would make them excellent. The bottom line is that if you just want to be mindlessly entertained and enjoy a little bit of nostalgia at the same time, GI Joe is your movie.

Public Enemies (Theaters)

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When I first heard that Michael Mann was directing a flick based on the bank robbing exploits of John Dillinger, I knew it was definitely one to watch for. I love Mann’s directing style, his incredible attention to detail and accuracy, and the overall authenticity that goes into each of his projects. Not to mention the fact that he has directed both ‘The Last of the Mohicans’ and ‘Heat’, which rank up there on my all time favorite films list.  Throw in Johnny Depp as the lead character with Christian Bale playing his FBI nemesis and you’ve got all the makings of another excellent movie.

 The movie starts with John Dillinger escaping from prison and making his way back to Chicago.  He immediately puts to use all the knowledge he had gained from prison as he and his crew start hitting banks all over the country. His exploits gain him public fame, as the entire nation is suffering from an economic depression as a result of the corrupt banking system.  He is viewed as a type of Robin Hood, however not everyone shares the positive perception of Dillinger. FBI (back then it was still just the Bureau of Investigation) Director J.Edgar Hoover views Dillinger as his ticket to get the FBI on the map. Hoover seeks to set up federal guidelines for the pursuit and punishment of criminals who commit crimes across state lines and he wants to position the Bureau as the organization in charge of all of this. 

Hoover’s plans create more problems for Dillinger, as the mob fears Dillinger’s actions will bring additional attention on to them.  Robbing banks is viewed as a thing of the past, as the mob is far more profitable from its underground gambling ring than it ever was from robberies.  Hoover has named Dillinger ‘Public Enemy Number One’, making him the most wanted man in America. To make matters worse, Hoover has tasked unrelentingly persistent Agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) with bringing in Dillinger and his gang- dead or alive.  In spite of all this, Dillinger still manages to find love along the way in the form of Billie Frechette, a former coat check girl whom Dillinger becomes instantly smitten with.  A good portion of the movie manages to focus on the relationship between the two of them, which helps to convey who Dillinger was as a person and not just his public persona.

 The cast as a whole is rather good. Christian Bale receives next to top billing in this film, although his character only appears in roughly one fourth of the movie. Sadly, Bale is given relatively little to do, other than pursue Dillinger. However, for a man as persistent as Melvin Purvis, Bale plays his character with a lack of intensity.  His portrayal was not bad by any means, I just felt overall that his performance failed to convey the passion and determination of someone as dedicated as Purvis, which is a shame since we know Bale is capable of so much more.  Billy Crudup (who played Dr. Manhattan in Watchmen earlier this year) does an excellent job of portraying FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. When you see Crudup and hear his voice, you really feel like you are watching some old news footage from the 1930s.  I felt his portrayal was spot on and he really brought the FBI director to life.

Then there is Dilllinger’s love interest, Billy Frechette, played by Marion Cotillard. She does a good job in her role, although nothing too memorable. Her chemistry with Depp’s Dillinger was great and you really felt like they cared for one another. This will sound bad, but she just didn’t seem pretty enough to me. Dillinger could have had his choice of women, yet he chose her. However, she didn’t really convey anything that made her special to me.

Dillinger’s gang was even less memorable. I followed the movie pretty closely when I was watching, but at times I was hard pressed to figure out who the hell was so and so. When I watched ‘Heat’ for the first time, I distinctly remembered each fictional crew member even if I didn’t know their names. In this film, none of them really stood out even though they were based on real life semi famous people in history.  The only one who stood out to me was Baby Face Nelson, portrayed excellently by Stephen Graham. He had a real psychopathic quality to him and you never knew when he would erupt and just start killing people. Other than him, the rest of the gang may as well have been portrayed by extras.

This brings us to the man himself, Johnny Depp as John Dillinger. Depp is excellent in this role, as he usually is. He does an excellent job of conveying everything about Dillinger, from his swagger to his emotions. While I originally pictured Dillinger to be a bit more flashy than Depp’s portrayal, he manages to find a solid common ground between the real man and his myth.  Johnny Depp always manages to convey a sense of inner turmoil, and his portrayal of Dillinger was no different, adding depth and realism to such an iconic figure.

Overall, I thought Public Enemies was a great film, but nowhere near what I thought it’s potential would amount to. While the previews make it look like an action filled bank robbery flick, the movie is really a story about the last months in the life of a famous man whose real persona was only really known by a few select people. While the film itself took quite a few liberties with the real life events, it is very enjoyable. I highly recommend this movie, but only if you are prepared to go see a film focused on the character of John Dillinger rather than a movie about his bank robbery shoot outs.