Cruise, Denzel and Wahlberg light up screens on this weekend's streaming menu. Are they worth watching however?
Once upon a time there were three movies. They each competed for the attention of the audience. And, just like the three little pigs, they each built a plot, filled a cast and created entertainment that’s meant to stand attract attention, convince you it’s worth your time and fought against the short attention span of streamers.
One movie is built on a flimsy script, hoping flashy effects would hold it together across a long, very long running time.
Another leaned heavily on star power and the director’s clout, but the story was like a rollercoaster, paced to bore.
But the third, despite the formula being somewhat tried and tested, was an adventure that never saw the pause button depressed for a popcorn, pee or take the dog out break.
It’s not as if we haven’t seen this movie before.
The plot of Flight Risk is a star witness, who doesn’t really want to testify, hauled back from a far-flung place to spill the beans on the baddies on trial.
An agent is sent to collect him, but there’s a mole in the agency. This time, the US Marshals. And, as events unravel, there’s a stream of action and suspense that eventually ends with a kind of happy ending.
Ending up with a happy ending
The film stars Mark Wahlberg and is directed by Mel Gibson. But this ain’t no Lethal Weapon franchise or Braveheart epic.
Flight Risk, streaming on Showmax, is light, weekend entertainment that doesn’t demand too much from its audience except to watch and indulge.
It’s action all the way, and while Gibson’s direction is a bit wishy-washy, you can forgive almost all the flaws in the flick because it’s got the one thing that makes this little piggies’ house withstand the wolf at the door.
It has entertainment value, and, as Goldilocks would say, its running time of around 90 minutes is just right. Especially after a Springbok win.
Piggy in the middle is Tom Cruise’s epic, almost three-hour-long movie, Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning. It’s available for rent on Apple TV.
There’s no doubt that Paramount spent money not dissimilar to the budget of a small island nation to make this film, and Cruise’s stunts are absolutely breathtaking.
The scenery, a lot of it shot in South Africa, is spectacular as a backdrop. But the plot and the pace of the film are a bit flimsy, just like the piggy’s house made of wood.
It looks solid, but it’s just a deep breath, and it can be blown to bits.
Copied and pasted from an A-Team episode
Because while it’s solid as entertainment value, the movie’s ending feels as if it were copied and pasted from an eighties A-Team episode.
Wooden and winky, Cruise could have done better than to rush the last part before the credits.
This, while the first hour of the film feels like wading through a morass of muddy puzzle pieces that don’t quite make sense as to why some of the scenes and flashbacks are there in the first place.
If there is another Ethan Hunt instalment coming, at some point, they’d have to really spend more time on the plot and a bit less on indulging the legend of Mr Cruise.
But Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning is not as disappointing as the first little piggy’s straw hut.
Worse still, is that it’s got a foundation that’s so solid that the illusion of strength across all aspects plays out well, until you press play.
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There is no doubt that Spike Lee is an absolute genius. Denzel Washington, who leads the cast, is a power actor. Mostly. Highest 2 Lowest on Apple TV is a remake of the 1963 Japanese movie High and Low, which was based on the 1959 novel King’s Ransom by author Ed McBain.
It’s a mixed-up movie that had a strong plot, but was miserably boring in all the wrong places despite Washington’s best performance in years.
Washington’s good performance in an average movie
Washington is David King, a music mogul who built a successful empire.
On the day King is set to finalise an important business deal, he receives an anonymous call from a kidnapper demanding $17.5 million for the return of his son, Trey.
King alerts the police and, with his wife Pam, decides to pay the ransom despite the risk to his business.
Soon after, however, it emerges that the kidnapper mistakenly abducted Kyle, Trey’s best friend and the son of King’s driver and close confidant, Paul Christopher.
And that is the story, apart from the fact that they eventually secure the safe return of Kyle and catch the perps.
In between there are moments of Lee’s cinematic genius, but not enough to make the movie noteworthy.
It feels as if Lee made this film not because he was passionate about the project, but because he wanted to get it done.
And audiences risk falling asleep during some parts because of that. It’s a solid foundation that balances a house of straw.
High 2 Low could have been so much stronger and better. But it isn’t.
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