Tag Archives: Richard Wenk

Iron Lion

22 January 2025 By in Movies Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Kraven the Hunter: Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) goes on a lion hunt led by his overbearing and unsympathetic widowed father (Russell Crowe). During the hunt, Kraven is fatally mauled by an almost mythic lion but is saved by a potion, mixed with some of the lion’s blood, given to him by a future voodoo priestess, Calypso. The serum grants Kraven superhuman strength, speed, and senses, which he uses to hunt criminals, poachers, and other enhanced baddies.

Kraven could have been a better film. It’s a 95-minute movie crammed into 127 minutes. The most serious flaws are the CGI effects, the ending, and an excess of unnecessary drama. The subpar CGI disrupts the immersion in an action-heavy movie, while the ending focuses too much on setting up sequels and spinoffs, detracting from the action scenes. Resolving his father issues would have served as a fitting end to the movie, but the writers were likely beholden or burdened by the suits on the business end of the studio lot.

Genre: Action—Adventure—Drama–Thriller

Directed by: J.C. Chandor

Screenplay by: Richard Wenk, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway

Music by: Benjamin Wallfisch, Evgueni Galperine, Sacha Galperine

Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ariana DeBose, Russell Crowe

Film Location: Iceland, London, Scotland

ElsBob: 5.5/10

IMDb: 5.4/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 16%

Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter: 74%

Metacritic Metascore: 35%

Metacritic User Score: 4.5/10

Theaters: 13 December 2024

Runtime: 127 minutes

Budget: $110-130 million

Box Office: $59.5 million

Source: Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, Metacritic. Graphic: Kraven the Hunter Trailer, copyright Sony.

Italian Retirement

19 December 2023 By in Movies Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Fast Charlie

Theaters:  7 October 2023 (Limited)

Streaming:  8 December 2023

Runtime:  90 minutes

Genre:  Action–Comedy–Crime–Drama–Mystery–Thriller

els:  7.0/10

IMDB:  5.9/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics:  86/100

Rotten Tomatoes Audience:  87/100

Metacritic Metascore:  70/100

Metacritic User Score:  6.0/10

Awards: —

Directed by: Philip Noyce

Written by:  Richard Wenk–Based on Gun Monkeys by Victor Gischler

Music by:  Fil Eisler

Cast: Pierce Brosnan–James Caan–Morena Baccarin

Film Locations:  USA

Budget:  $16 million

Worldwide Box Office:  —

Fast Charlie is directed by Australian Philip Noyce whose best work revolves around the action, crime, and thriller genres. His oeuvre includes the 1992 Patriot Games, the 1994 Clear and Present Danger, and the 1999 The Bone Collector. Pierce Brosnan was Noyce’s first choice as Charlie due to gun skills and his acting abilities–Bond, James Bond. Brosnan does seem a natural in this film even though his interpretation of a southern accent is so heavy the vowels just drag into next week with a possible nap needed along the way. Never mind that the actual local New Orleans’ accent is closer to Jersey speak than a Charleston drawl.

Pierce Brosnan is Charlie Swift, a fixer, a concierge as he refers to himself when asked. If a problem requires that people disappear, he’s the man, the hitman to be exact. Charlie’s first hit in the movie is for money. After that they are for honor and revenge with the order being negotiable. Along the way he finally discovers the rational for his dream retirement in the hills and vineyards of Tuscany, Italy.

Brosnan sums up the movie his way, explaining the movie with a bit of inside baseball jargon thrown in for good measure: ‘Charlie is a little bit more of a chamber piece because of the tonality of his life and wanting to be as authentic as possible within the setting. When the curtain goes up, you really are in a specific place and time. It’s a more interior piece. But then of course, you put the gun in his hand, and he has to go shoot people.‘ Not sure what all that means except maybe it describes a swiftly made, low budget action movie that works.

FootnoteA

This is a movie to let go of your world for an hour and a half. There are no big messages to ponder. No hidden meaning to watch for. Just a good story with a no-hole plot, competent to particularly good acting and no extraneous scenes directing. There will be no awards for this flick, but the audience doesn’t care. As Glenn Kenny over at RogerEbert.com succinctly explains, “This is the farthest thing in the cinematic firmament from a world-changer you can imagine, but as an evening’s entertainment, it’ll more than do.“

On a final note, James Caan, 82, Sonny Corleone of The Godfather fame, gave his final performance in Fast Charlie. Filming for the movie began in April of 2022 and Caan passed away in July of 2022. Go out doing what you love. RIP.

References and Readings:

Footnotes:

  • FootnoteA: Pierce Bronsan as Fast Charlie. IMDb. 2023