The Divergent Series: Allegiant

First Hit:  As the second to last film in this series, it moves the storyline along and was watchable.

Series films have become prominent fare being produced by Hollywood. Originality appears to be too risky and studios are banking on a prior successful story-lines, many times with the same actors, to produce dollars.

There are series films that have done well and grow in their story-line and presentation. Some are sequential types of films where the story develops over time (e.g. Rocky). Other use the same actors and/or their characters in new situations (e.g. James Bond films). Two of the latest series sets are The Hunger Games series and the Divergent series.

Both of these film series have heroines, use young actors, but the major difference between film number 3 for both these, is that Divergent is watchable and has a plot, whereas The Hunger Games was barely more than a set-up for the fourth film and virtually unwatchable.

Acting wise there are stronger actors in The Hunger Games however the script and possibly the direction let them down.

In this Divergent film, we find Tris (Shailene Woodley) disliking the change in leadership of their community and with this wants to breakthrough the wall surrounding Chicago to find out what else exists. In a daring escape she and Four (Theo James), Christina (Zoe Kravitz), Caleb (Ansel Elgort), and Peter (Miles Teller), go over the wall and end up in the Bureau of Genetic Welfare where Tris meets and begins working with David (Jeff Daniels).

As the façade of David is exposed, Four heads back to Chicago to help his mother Evelyn (Naomi Watts) sort through the problems of governing a division free Chicago.

Woodley is good enough in this film and I don’t know if it was the script, direction or her abilities that lowered my interest and caring about her character. James was consistent in his role and was one of the better characters. Teller was also very consistent, not only in this film, but through all of them. Elgort seemed amateurish in his portrayal of Caleb. Daniels was sufficiently strong as the antagonist. Watts was OK in a role that seemed unrealistic in its portrayal. Noah Oppenheim and Adam Cooper wrote this mediocre script. Robert Schwentke did a fair job of keeping the film moving along despite the lack of solid substance.

Overall:  This film wasn’t completely lost and hopefully its conclusion in June of 2017 will work better.

Insurgent

First Hit:  I liked this slightly better than Divergent, and that’s about it.

We are back in the structured society of 6 factions: Abnegation (Selfless), Dauntless (Brave), Erudite (Intelligent), Amity (Peaceful), Candor (Honest) and Divergent (which is all traits).

They all live in an area where most the buildings are broken down or in small camps in the woods. There are some who live in well maintained and modern buildings. All of this is behind a circular wall where supposedly nothing exists beyond the wall.

The point seemed to be there was a secret box that when someone figures out how it works, the revealed information helps everyone. To get to the point of the film we’ve got to sit through lots of fighting, bravery, and adventure. Was it interesting? Somewhat. Was it believable? At times barely.

Shailene Woodley as Tris was good and she did a really good job with the various feelings and situations she was put in. Theo James as Four was solid. Kate Winslet as leader of the people Jeanine was good given the lines and role. Jai Courtney as Jeanine’s henchman was OK. Miles Teller as Peter was one of the more interesting characters in this film. Brian Duffield and Akiva Goldsman wrote the partially interesting but convoluted script. Robert Schwentke directed the film with some wonderful visuals but it plodded along with a more convoluted plot than needed.

Overall: This second of the series was good enough to see the next film.

R.I.P.D.

First Hit:  Just didn’t work.

Nick (Ryan Reynolds) is in love with his wife.

He’s a Boston Police Detective and gets tempted to steal some gold they find on a drug bust. He confronts his partner Hayes (Kevin Bacon) about the “rightness” of this. Hayes doesn’t want Nick to turn in the gold so he shoots his partner. Nick dies but ends up with other dead law enforcement officers who are living in this “other sort of world”.

In charge of this group of these dead officers is Proctor (Mary-Louise Parker). Why does this group of R.I.P.D. officers exist? To fight crime of people who really haven’t died and who attempt to make havoc on the world as it is.

Nick gets assigned to a new partner named Roy (Jeff Bridges) who has such a forced accent that it is nauseating. He was wronged just like Nick so there are here to work together to fight the undead. What makes it even worse is that people in the real world see Nick as a old Asian man and Roy as a voluptuous blond.

This story is such a reach and then to add that Hayes is one of these characters who are collecting enough gold to reign havoc on the world is simply an out-of-bounds reach. It is a stupid story although amusing at times.

Bridges is mediocre in this role and his accent is horrible. Bacon is the most amusing and interesting character in the film – his darkness prevails. Reynolds is stuck between a rock and hard place in this role and my guess he wishes he never took it. Parker is the best part of the film; her tongue in cheek approach was fun. Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi wrote this mindless script and Robert Schwentke directed it, and I’m not sure why.

Overall:  A couple of laughs but overall a real waste of talented actors.

RED

First Hit: A silly fun film which showed off the quirkiness of some great actors.

I like films like RED which are a farce but reasonably put together enough to make it fun. I like when the implausible is made plausible enough so that I can sit back and just go for the ride. RED is one such film.

Is any of it plausible? No, but that isn’t the point. The point is to create enough of a plot with some writing which fit the actors range, yet move them enough outside their norm to make it enjoyable.

Frank Moses (played by Bruce Willis) is a retired CIA spook who, years ago, happened to be on a mission in Guatemala where the current Vice President got himself skewed by giving favors to a corporate executive named Alexander Dunning (played by Richard Dreyfuss).

The story begins to leak and a reporter is killed as are others who were on the mission. Moses was on the mission and is now being hunted. He innocently gets hooked up with a Social Security Claims associate named Sarah Ross (played by Mary-Louise Parker) because he likes the sound of her voice over the phone but meeting Moses means she is hunted as well.

To get out of this mess Moses finds others who were on the same mission in Guatemala to warm them that a CIA operative is out to kill them because they know the Vice President’s past. There is Joe Matheson (played by Morgan Freeman) who is dying of cancer, has nothing else to live for and thinks stopping these useless deaths is important.

Then there is Marvin Boggs (played by John Malkovich) who is paranoid, thinks the government is always after him and may mistakenly think a particular person is out to kill him but is often times right. These people are joined by Victoria (played by Helen Mirren) who is steely eyed and ready to kill someone at the drop of a hat (just to keep her finger in the pie).

All these older CIA covert operations people (RED Retired Extremely Dangerous) are out to expose the truth because if they don’t the current CIA will kill them.

Willis is great with his typical sarcastic wit conjuring up a way to resolve the crisis he finds himself. Dreyfuss is fine as the man behind the scenes with money and the stings which are pulling on the VP and soon to be President. Parker is a perfect fit as the girl living in Kansas City who’s never seen or done anything in her life as she gets pulled into the espionage mess and enjoys the change of life. Freeman is perfect as the sound thinker and always ready to do the right thing for the team even if it means pulling a trigger or being on the other end of the bullet. Malkovich is perfect as the right on the edge guy who spent many of his early years in the Army’s LSD program. Mirren was funny in her out of character role firing machine guns and wasting other’s lives. For fun Ernest Borgnine the CIA deep dark records keeper is a joy to see again. Jon and Eric Hoeber wrote this in a funny tongue-in-cheek sort of way while Robert Schwentke made the best of his actors and a tight script that moved things along in a silly funny sort of way.

Overall: It was a romp, easy to watch, predictable and engaging.