The Gentlemen

First Hit: A few scenes were to fun watch, but as a film, it was poorly constructed.

I’ve never seen a Guy Ritchie film that I thought was constructed with thoughtfulness and skill. He either attempts to cover too much ground or is more inclined to use pop and dazzle to engage the audience.

In this film, he has to use narration throughout to create, set up, and deliver the story. He hides his inability to write a good screenplay by making the narration of his story part of the storyline his characters say to each other.

Specifically, watch most of the scenes between a dirt-digger detective and reporter Fletcher (Hugh Grant and Ray (Charlie Hunnam). Ray is the right-hand man and consigliere for Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey), the weed lord of England. Because Fletcher is attempting to blackmail Mickey and Ray, he explains the whole story to the theater’s audience by reading the screenplay with Ray.

This is the main issue with this film. Having to rely on this narration to provide a lot of the movie’s context is troubling. However, I will say the way it is done here is better than having an unknown voice over-explanation.

The story as I saw it, was that Mickey wants to sell his vast marijuana growing and distribution empire to Matthew (Jeremy Strong). The reason for selling was unclear and unconvincing. Matthew is a wealthy eccentric Englishman who is intrigued with the possibility of buying this empire for $400M. However, it is a lot of money, and to drive the price down, Matthew engages “Dry Eye” (Henry Golding and a term used for Asians). Dry Eye makes an offer that Mickey scoffs at, but because the offer to sell to Matthew was supposed to be secret, Mickey is now on guard.

Then the story adds complexity because we learn that Matthew and Dry Eye are working some sort of side deal to assist each other in reducing the price, but each plans to screw the other as well.

Adding to this is Fletcher, who, through his detective work, documents all the goings-on between all the parties, which led to the script he reads from. His hopes are to sell the screenplay to Mickey and Ray for $20M so that Mickey and Ray will know all the subversive planning that is going on to drive the price down.

The most fun part of the film is when we have scenes with Coach (Colin Farrell). His group of boys is caught raising havoc in one of Mickey’s underground farms, so he owes Mickey and Ray. The payback to Ray and Mickey are amusing and fun to watch.

Confused? One could be, but this convoluted story is kept on track by the narration scenes. This saves the film from being a total disaster and it also makes it a poorly constructed film.

Anyway, there are lots of side plots and stories in this movie, including Mickey’s wife, Rosalind Pearson (Michelle Dockery). She’s supposed to be the most magnificent woman in the world, but it is only in the eyes of the beholder. There is the newspaper owner who hired Fletcher. There is Lord George (Tom Wu), head dragon, heroin distributor who crosses Mickey.

The movie has lots of twists that are used for creating interest and complexity, and in some cases, it works, but mostly it doesn’t.

McConaughey's role in this makes me wonder. At times he selects fantastic parts like in film Dallas Buyer’s Club and other times, he chooses roles like this one. He does it well enough, but it’s really a role of false, blustery, and cool-man behavior. Hunnam is outstanding as Ray, Mickey’s right-hand man. Grant is oddly compelling as a bad guy. I’ve not seen him recently, and seeing him here was fun. Farrell is brilliant as the Coach of a group of guys and honest to his word. Actually, I liked his character and role the best of all. Dockery is okay as Mickey’s wife and auto builder entrepreneur. Strong is mediocre as the wealthy and odd Englishman who wants to buy Mickey’s empire. Golding is formidable as Dry Eye, a youngish Asian who wants to make his mark. Wu was perfect as the wry old heroin distributor. Ritchie wrote and directed this film, and as I’ve indicated, Guy has little to offer in the realm of filmmaking and his background in music videos is where his talent may lay.

Overall:  Although entertaining at times, being so convoluted the required narration means the story and film needs additional work.

Serenity

First Hit: As a thriller it was average, but as the characters begin to question everything and reaching the end of their roles or usefulness, it became more obvious about how this story was unfolding.

The film starts with Baker Dill (Matthew McConaughey) fishing on his boat Serenity based at Plymouth Island. He, his vessel, and his deckhand Duke (Djimon Hounsou) were chartered by two drunk guys who want Dill and Duke to help them catch fish.

However, they hook up “The Big One,” Dill takes over the pole and attempts to reel in “The Big One.” They get it close to the boat but end up losing the fish. The charter guests are pissed because they didn’t get to catch the fish themselves. Dill is obsessed with catching “The Big One.”

There is a strangeness to the way Duke talks with Dill, and it is even stranger when Dill visits Constance (Diane Lane) for a quick roll in the hay, and then she pays him. Then she asks about her cat.

Dill needs money, and he thinks Duke is terrible luck, so he fires Duke. Dill then starts fishing alone for sailfish at night and trying to catch “The Big One” during the day. Although he’s successful with the night fishing, he’s not making any progress on his real goal, to catch “The Big One.”

One day Karen Zariakas (Anne Hathaway) shows up, and we learn she is his ex-wife and that the son he had with her, Patrick (Rafael Sayegh) is the same boy Dill telepathically communicates with and the audience has gotten a glimpse constantly typing at a computer in some unknown spot.

Karen wants to give Dill (AKA John to her) 10m dollars cash if he kills her current husband, Frank (Jason Clarke) who beats her and Patrick. Dill refuses and Duke continue to reminds Dill about following the righteous path of the Lord. Karen says her husband is coming to this remote island anyway and that she’s arranged for Dill to take Frank out on a charter. She hopes that Dill will get Frank drunk and toss him overboard and let the sharks eat him.

This is the set up for the film’s story, and it takes a while for it to gel.

In the meantime, there are plenty of hints for the audience about the surrealism of this story. These hints include the bar tender’s actions and words, the silent old man sitting at the table in the bar, the fishing store proprietor always saying everyone knows everything about everybody, Constance and the way she acts, and a new character who sells electronic fish finders, Reid Miller (Jeremy Strong). These hints include oddly controlled dialogue, references to being on this island and nowhere near a mainland, Reid walking around in a suit, the traffic light dance Dill does every morning, and The Doc (an unknown or seen character).

I enjoyed parts of the film with out-loud laughter, but I was the only one laughing in the theater maybe because I was the only one who figured it out or everyone else was bored. I liked that I felt the boy’s intensity when the film showed his eyes against the computer screen full of code.

McConaughey brought his standard look and feel to the role. It wasn’t anything unique. Hathaway was OK. The scenes where she succumbs to her husband's demands were intense, but other times her performance didn’t carry the power it needed to. Lane had a small, yet pivotal role and was good. Clarke was well suited to the part of cruel husband and general jerk. Strong had an interesting character because he seemed so out of place, and I didn’t get why he was in the story although he was a great sounding board for Dill. Sayegh was outstanding by expressing his intent through his eyes as we saw them on the computer screen. Hounsou was terrific as the good angel in the film, trying to keep McConaughey on course. Steven Knight wrote and directed this film. I can see why he got the talent he got to star in this film, but somehow the execution or the lack of additional depth in the story made it only mediocre.

Overall: The film has its moments, but somehow it doesn’t quite add up to the film it could have been.

White Boy Rick

First Hit: The best part of this film is that somewhere there is a true story behind it; just not very well represented here.

Rick Wershe Jr. (Richie Merritt) is a young, somewhat quiet, and cocky fifteen-year-old boy being raised by a single dad Richard Wershe Sr. (Matthew McConaughey) along with his sister Dawn (Bel Powley).

Richard has a slightly twisted view of raising his kids surely because his parents Grandpa Ray (Bruce Dern) and Grandma Verna (Piper Laurie) are a real piece of work as well. The grandparents yell from their front porch at their son, who lives across the street and spend a lot of time criticizing how Richard is raising his kids.

Film starts with Richard and Rick coming home from a gun show where they purchase fake AK-47s to resell with home made silencers. Upon reaching home, they find Dawn high on heroin while being pawed by her much older dealer black boyfriend.

From here the film dives into Rick wanting to be a dealer, gets caught up with the FBI coaxing him too turn and become an informant by letting him keep the profits of his dealing. The FBI only want Rick to turn over the bigger fish. Part of their leverage is that they lay off Richard’s creating illegal silencers for the guns he resells.

We watch Rick become a big-time dealer in Detroit, help gets his sister get clean, but then makes mistakes and eventually ends up in jail.

Merritt was good as Rick in that he showed a inner strength along with a vulnerability. McConaughey was so-so as Rick’s dad. I don’t think he fit well with this role and his odd attempt to have a Detroit, northeastern, accent didn’t work very well. Dern was entertaining as a crotchety self-righteous old man. Laurie was equally crotchety until Dawn decided to come clean and spend time with her. Powley was very strong as a girl raised by a man who had no idea on how to raise a daughter and got herself together later in the film. Close to the best acting in this film. Brian Tyree Henry was strong as Police Detective Jackson. Jennifer Jason Leigh (as Agent Snyder) was excellent as the FBI Agent trying to flip Rick. Rory Cochrane was very good as FBI Agent Byrd working with Agent Snyder to flip and help Rick. RJ Cyler as Rick’s friend Rudell “Boo” Curry was excellent. He moved through this film convincingly. Andy Weiss and Logan Miller wrote an OK screenplay. Yann Demange directed this story, and it seemed a disjointed and unclear.

Overall: This story could have been told more effectively.

The Dark Tower

First Hit:  Story lacked punch and was not compelling. Having seen “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power” and witnessing the real life demise of our planet, followed by watching a film where the falling of some tower in some unknown place will destroy the world seemed silly.

In addition, two of the three main characters were either miscast or poorly directed. The Man In Black (Matthew McConaughey) looked like he step right out of his Ford Lincoln Continental commercial and into this role. Both his attitude and look said this every time he came on the screen.

On the other hand, the guy saving all the worlds from The Man In Black, Roland Deschain aka The Gunslinger (Idris Elba) seemed to carry the energy that I would have contributed to the man trying to destroy the worlds.

The third character Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor) was the only one of these three that kept true to his role, a young boy, with dreams that foresaw the pending calamity if something isn’t done.

However, gathering up and shooting bright smart children’s energy at the Dark Tower to collapse it, seemed dumb to me. Although I know this story comes from a series of well-read and popular books, how it plays out in this film attempts to make everyone’s imagination and internal interpretation the same. And this interpretation lacked soul and was not compelling.

In essence, since Jake’s father died in a fire, protecting and saving others, Jake’s has dreams of the children being harvested, The Man In Black using them to collapse the tower and world. He also dreams about The Gunslinger who is, alone, trying to save the world.

The physical world is supporting his dreams because each time a child’s energy is shot at the dark tower an earthquake happens on earth and he feels it.

In the waking hours Jake draws his dreams and although psychologists keep telling him their “only dreams”, Jake is convinced it’s all real. When The Man In Black sends his earthly New York agent Sayre (Jackie Earle Haley) to collect young Jake, he escapes and finds himself going through a portal where he meets The Gunslinger.

McConaughey is just too slick, smarmy, and straight out of a high end commercial to make this role work. Elba is good, however I’m not sure he needed to be so dark spirited in this role. It was almost like he and McConaughey could have switched roles. Taylor was very good and I thought he did a great job of being both strong and naive. Haley is always strong in his roles and here is no exception. He gives it his all. Katheryn Winnick as Jake’s mother was good but I’m not sure it is believable that she would send Jake away. Akiva Goldsman and Jeff Pinkner wrote the screenplay, which I didn’t find very compelling. Nikolaj Arcel was the director and as I’ve previously stated I didn’t think the film worked very well.

Overall: I have heard that this was supposed to be the first in a series of films based on these books, I’d recommend that they re-think this strategy.

Gold

First Hit:  Hard to engage with a film when you don’t like the main character.

There is very little about Kenny Wells (Matthew McConaughey) that is likeable. He’s smarmy in the way he looks, how he acts, and his intentions. Granted the film lets the audience believe he might have changed in the ending scene, however, there’s enough to believe differently.

Supposedly this is based on a true story, however after reading about the real story; “loosely” is probably the best possible description. However, that isn’t the point of this review, therefore I will not spend time on the differences between the real story and this story.

In this film, Wells is drinking and smoking so much of the time I could almost smell the smoke and alcohol laden odor coming through the screen. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing; however, for the main character to be so unappealing made it hard to get into the film. I’m not sure why McConaughey had to gain so much weight and have such thin hair on top of his head, but these things didn’t help his unshaven, scraggly tooth looking character. It was almost as if he wanted to make himself as unappealing as possible.

The way he treated his longtime girlfriend Kay (Bryce Dallas Howard) was horrendous. She loved him and supported him through his destruction of his Dad (Craig T. Nelson) and grandfather’s company Washoe Mining. It gets so bad they work out of a bar.

Kenny gets the idea from a dream to hook up with Michael Acosta (Edgar Ramirez) and find gold in Indonesia. Unbeknown to Wells, Acosta has salted the drilling core findings and because Wells believes they’ve found gold, he revives Washoe Mining and sell millions of shares as they go public.

This film also involves the family of the Monarch in Indonesia. When the monarchy and other investors discover that this has been a hoax, everything falls apart.

The scenes of the jungle and drilling operation were well done. The boardroom scenes were, at times, powerful, and the use of the bar as Washoe’s office was very telling of the whole film and Wells’ personality. The one thing the film did do very well was show just how fleeting wealth can be.

McConaughey was OK as Wells. He had great handle on the maniac part of a gold prospector, but everything else felt very overdone and took away from the film instead of adding to it. Howard was strong as Wells longtime girlfriend. She was appropriately supportive and loving. The scene in the hotel after the company went public on the stock trading floor, was very well done. Ramirez was great as the geologist and Wells gold prospecting partner. His engagement and support, with a slight questionable edge was wonderful. Patrick Massett and John Zinman wrote a wonderful script. I loved some of the lines, however it was McConaughey and director Stephen Gaghan's misguidance for the main character that hurt this film. I liked the sequence of the scenes and many of the sets were very well done, but being put off by the main character who is in virtually every scene can and did hurt this film.

Overall:  I liked the story of greed, gold and how it played out, but without someone or something to care or think about, it felt lifeless.