Summer Movie Quick Reviews

Summer’s been busy. A lot busier than in past years. To that end, I decided to give a couple of quick reviews to some summer movies that fell by the wayside. These are ones I couldn’t possibly think of that much to say about them, but still felt like giving my two cents worth. Well, maybe one cents worth.

From the trailers, Hancock had so much promise. It was fun to see Will Smith as the grumpy, alcoholic superhero, since he usually plays stand up individuals. The movie started out pretty strong. Sure, a lot of the jokes were in the trailer, so it didn’t catch me by surprise. Hancock making a mess of things while he ‘saves’ people was pretty funny. Jason Bateman, in his Arrested Development persona, trying to help Hancock change his ways was also pretty fun. And then 2/3rds into the movie, there’s a lame twist, and just like someone pulling the wrong Jenga block, the entire film came crashing down. Hancock starts to become too emotional, reactions don’t track with the characters, the plot doesn’t make much sense anymore, and everything is cheapened. It’s too bad. The end of the film left such a bad taste in my mouth, it kind of negated all the good parts. Oh yeah, there was also a bad taste in the beginning: Hancock uses the Lord’s name in vain. I know they were trying to make a point but I expected a little more from Will Smith. I would say, if you’re going to watch Hancock, wait for it on TBS, that way you won’t feel so disappointed when the film falls apart.

I expected a bit more from Wanted. Watching the action unfold, it looked like it was trying to mix ten different action movies together. A little Matrix, a little Mission: Impossible, a little Jumper, a little Fight Club. The movie held my attention but I didn’t really care about what was going on. Angelina Jolie was nice to look at, Morgan Freeman’s voice was nice to listen to, and some of the action sequences looked cool. That’s about it. James McAvoy’s performance wasn’t anything outstanding, nothing like his Atonement work. Actually, what I found funny is that I often confuse McAvoy with Gregory Smith, who played Ephram on Everwood; so it was fun to see McAvoy in scenes with Chris Pratt who played Bright on that same show. When it came to plot of Wanted, it wasn’t anything special. Supposedly it’s based on a comic or graphic novel. Everything was just okay when it came to this movie. Maybe it’s because my mind in was in another place since I watched this film the same day my fiancée was going wedding dress shopping. I don’t know. In any case, Wanted is one to rent on DVD to see some cool action sequences and an okay story.

This is going to take a bit more memory. I had a lot of fun while watching Get Smart. It’s probably because I’m a big fan of Steve Carell. He is able to capture the bumbling, yet well-intentioned character beautifully. I like how they don’t make Maxwell Smart into an imbecile, which could be easy to do. Sure, he makes mistakes but he also has some good ideas here and there. I thought most of the supporting cast was well cast. Anne Hathaway (Devil Wears Prada) did a fine job as Agent 99. Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine) reminded me of his So I Married an Ax Murderer days playing The Chief. The Rock has some very funny moments in the office as Agent 23. I was not a huge fan of the villains played by Terrance Stamp and Ken Davitian (Borat), as they didn’t get to have much fun. I was also put off by David Koechner and Terry Crews who played their agents way too over the top. The plot was accessible, the action scenes were fun and there were some funny lines. This made it pretty good in my books. To be honest, there was also some sad slapstick stuff that didn’t work but my expectations weren’t really high for this film. I would say rent Get Smart if you’re in the mood for something light.