Tag Archives: 2.5 stars

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

Image

Genre: Comedy

Director: Adam McKay

Writers: Will Ferrell & Adam McKay

Cast: Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, Steve Carrell, David Koechner, Christina Applegate, Meagan Good, Dylan Baker, James Marsden, Greg Kinnear, Kristen Wiig

Running Length: 119 minutes

Synopsis: With the 70’s behind him, San Diego’s top rated newsman, Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell), returns to the news desk in “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.” Also back for more are Ron’s co-anchor and wife, Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), weather man Brick Tamland (Steve Carell), man on the street Brian Fontana (Paul Rudd) and sports guy Champ Kind (David Koechner) – all of whom won’t make it easy to stay classy… while taking the nation’s first 24-hour news channel by storm.

Review: It is now undeniable that the original Anchorman (way back in 2004) has become a cult classic, chock-full of quotable quotes and finding an extended life in home video. The fact that it took almost ten years for the sequel to be made means that there’s a fair bit of pent-up demand for the movie (myself included, being a fan of the first installment). Although Anchorman 2 remains a very entertaining movie, there are more misses this time round, and an overly long running time means that Ron Burgundy and crew nearly outstay their welcome.

No one who willingly enters a theatre to watch Anchorman 2 would be surprised by what the film has to offer – essentially it’s more of the same, and that’s mostly a good thing. There are some side-splittingly hilarious sequences in the film, and much like the first movie there are some truly unfunny skits as well. The biggest problem Anchorman 2 presents, however, is that it’s running at almost two hours, and the places where the film falls flat feels much longer (and more painful) this time round.

It’s clear that Will Ferrell had employed his clout in Hollywood to amass a truly impressive list of cameos in Anchorman 2, albeit mostly contained in the finale which is a retread of a scene in the first Anchorman (and honestly, it was better the first time). Set in the early 80s, the film boasts an excellent retro soundtrack that would be instantly familiar to anyone acquainted with the period. Attention to detail also seems pretty spot on, and thus the film not only hits the funny bone but also plays into a nostalgia factor.

Amidst all the tomfoolery, the film actually makes a pretty astute comment about broadcast news that remains valid to this day. It’s not all low brow and juvenile humour, but the same can be said of the original Anchorman so it’s really not that surprising. However, the true intent of Anchorman 2 is clear: to strive to be a funny movie. Even though it’s not a great movie, it does manage to deliver a good number of laughs. And ultimately, that’s all it really needs to do to get a pass.

Rating: * * ½ (out of four stars)

Standard

Perfect Mothers

Image

Genre: Drama

Director: Anne Fontaine

Writer: Christopher Hampton, based on “The Grandmothers” by Doris Lessing

Cast: Naomi Watts, Robin Wright, Ben Mendelsohn, Xavier Samuel, James Frecheville

Running Length: 111 minutes

Synopsis: A pair of childhood friends and neighbours falls for each other’s sons.

Review: Perfect Mothers is one of those movies with a pretty high “ick factor” – after all, it is about two lifelong female friends who fall for each other’s sons, which almost toes the lines of incest. However, viewers who can see beyond this point will find a movie that has strong visuals, is relatively well directed (although the film would have worked better with a tighter edit) and boasts some very strong central performances, particularly that of Robin Wright. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but at the very least it’s a beautiful movie to look at.

French director Anne Fontaine chose to film Perfect Mothers in Australia, and the cinematography is lush and sun-drenched, with an almost dreamy quality that at times seems at odds with the more serious tone of the screenplay. There are plenty of beach scenes – perhaps a little too many – and plenty of bare skin for audiences to ogle at. Although based on a novella named “The Grandmothers” (by the late Doris Lessing), both Robin Wright and Naomi Watts are simply a little too shapely and youthful to convince as grandmothers, more like women coping with a mid-life crisis.

However, what cannot be denied is that there are some very good performances to be found in the film. While Naomi Watts is given the somewhat flashier role (which she performs capably in), Robin Wright is the one that truly stands out with her restrained performance, perfectly nailing the vulnerabilities of her character without having to resort to theatrics. For the younger set, Xavier Samuel also puts in an excellent job as Lil’s son, wounded repeatedly by those he loves the most, and bridling with a silent rage that seems to intensify as the movie progresses.

 It’s tempting to dismiss Perfect Mothers outright simply because it deals with quite a taboo subject – is it right to lust after your friend’s son (and vice-versa)? It is definitely true that the film can’t really hit the right note in handling the subject matter, at times being overly melodramatic, and at other times coming off as being a little too flippant about the whole thing. There is more than a handful of unintentionally funny sequences, and given how serious the screenplay seems to want to be, very jarring and damaging to the tone of the movie. However, credit has to be given that at least Anne Fontaine managed to craft a decent film out of the subject matter – in less capable hands this may very well have come off as a much worse movie.

 Rating: * * ½ (out of four stars)

Standard

Escape Plan

Genre: Action

Director: Mikael Hafstrom

Writers: Miles Chapman and Arnell Jesko

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Caviezel, Faran Tahir, Sam Neill, Amy Ryan

Running Length: 116 minutes

Synopsis: One of the world’s foremost authorities on structural security agrees to take on one last job: breaking out of an ultra-secret, high-tech facility called “The Tomb.” Deceived and wrongly imprisoned, Ray Breslin (Sylvester Stallone) must recruit fellow inmate Emil Rottmayer (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to help devise a daring, nearly impossible plan to escape from the most protected and fortified prison ever built.

Review: This is the first real lead pairing of 80s action stalwarts Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and while it’s not entirely a case of too little too late, Escape Plan will likely appeal more to moviegoers who are familiar with the duo’s bodies of work (pun unintended) in the 80s and early 90s. Despite featuring two lead actors that are over 65 years old and a ridiculous, hole-ridden storyline, Escape Plan still manages to entertain, although some serious editing should have been made to the almost 2-hour running time.

There’s almost no real plot and character development in Escape Plan, so essentially all one needs to know is that both Stallone and Schwarzenegger’s characters have been wrongly imprisoned and need to stage a prison break. The only twist in this tale is that Breslin is an expert in breaking out of prisons, and even this “escape-proof” prison will fall to his machinations. Yet, it takes almost a full half hour to lay the groundwork for Breslin, before the audience is introduced to Rottmayer, and the film rambles aimlessly along for almost another half hour before things truly kick into gear. For throwaway entertainment like this, that’s one hour too long to wait. 

Escape Plan does not have a strong storyline at all, and its contrivances can almost be too ridiculous to overlook. However, the lead actors are very likeable, and display enough chemistry to make this pseudo buddy movie work. The only thing that gets in the way is that both Stallone and Schwarzenegger are obviously geriatric (I say this with a lot of love and respect for both actors), and it seems that director Mikael Hafstrom is actively trying to let the audience think that they are still in their 40s. It doesn’t work, and frankly, tests the audience’s ability to suspend disbelief to near-breaking point. Implausibility aside, this is definitely a movie that will be found in the “Guilty Pleasures” category, and is entertaining enough (just barely) to make it worth the price of admission.

Rating: * * ½ (out of four stars)

Standard

Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon

Genre: Action

Director: Tsui Hark

Writers: Tsui Hark and Chang Chia-Lu

Cast: Mark Zhao, Angelababy, Carina Lau, Feng Shaofeng, Lin Gengxin, Ian Kim, Chen Kun

Running Length: 133 minutes

Synopsis: The young Dee (Mark Zhao) arrives in the Imperial Capital, intent to become an officer of the law. He becomes embroiled in solving the mystery of a “sea dragon” that had attacked the Imperial Navy, and also the mystery of another sea monster that seems bent on attacking a courtesan (Angelababy) and anyone around her.

Review: Tsui Hark’s second 3D outing after 2011’s Flying Swords of Dragon Gate (which I felt that was an unmitigated disaster of a movie), Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragons is the prequel of the successful 2010 movie Detective Dee: Mystery of the Phantom Flame, but devoid of any returning actors other than Carina Lau, reprising her role as Empress Wu Ze Tian.

The fresh faced cast is sure to appeal to a younger audience, but the bloat of the movie very nearly obliterates everything positive in the film. It is, after all, supposed to be a fun movie, but Tsui and Chang assemble a plot with so many different plot threads, many unsatisfactorily resolved, that the movie very nearly implodes under the weight of the narrative. The fact that a pretty straightforward tale takes over two hours to resolve is a sure sign that more prudent editing would have made Young Detective Dee a more palatable film.

That doesn’t mean the film is without its merits. The action choreography is top notch, and Tsui Hark does give these moments more than adequate screen time. The use of stereoscopic cameras in the filming of the movie should also mean better 3D effects, but Singaporean audiences will not know better as the only version airing in the cinemas seems to be the non-3D digital release. There’s great attention to detail in the film’s lush set design and opulent art direction, and while the computer generated imagery is still quite visible and occasionally jarring, it never detracts entirely from the rest of the movie.

Already facing the challenge of being much less charismatic than Andy Lau, Mark Zhao is simply unable to muster up enough screen presence to even make his Detective Dee stand out from the rest of the cast. The rest of the cast is similarly unremarkable, and even Carina Lau seems to be present to only up the star power of the film. Young Detective Dee also gets a bit too cute at times, imbuing Dee with what apparently seems to be X-ray vision and some very farfetched equipment (most notably, a horse that can travel faster underwater than on land). While suspension of disbelief is a must in such films, the level to which it must be done for this film makes it an almost impossible task except the truly forgiving, 

Perhaps the biggest problem with Young Detective Dee is that, despite being a movie about an intriguing mystery, telegraphs the answer from a mile away. There is no real mystery about the sea dragon nor the investigation of the case, and even the reveal is so long drawn out that the actual solution brings little joy. It always spells trouble when the b-roll spliced into the end credits feel more interesting than what ensued in the two hours prior.

Rating: * * ½ (out of four stars)

Standard

2 Guns

Genre: Action

Director: Baltasar Kormakur

Writer: Blake Masters

Cast: Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg, Paula Patton, Bill Paxton, Fred Ward, James Marsden, Edward James Olmos

Running Length: 109 minutes

Synopsis:  For the past 12 months, DEA agent Bobby Trench (Washington) and U.S. naval intelligence officer Michael Stigman (Wahlberg) have been reluctantly attached at the hip. Working undercover as members of a narcotics syndicate, each man distrusts his partner as much as the criminals they have both been tasked to take down. 

When their attempt to infiltrate a Mexican drug cartel and recover millions goes haywire, Trench and Stigman are suddenly disavowed by their superiors. Now that everyone wants them in jail or in the ground, the only person they can count on is the other. Unfortunately for their pursuers, when good guys spend years pretending to be bad, they pick up a few tricks along the way.

Review: 2 Guns is not a movie that strives to make much sense – in fact, one can say that the overplotted and clichéd script is actually the biggest negative of the film. What one can expect from the film, however, is great performances from the two leads, and an easy chemistry between the duo that’s of utmost importance in a buddy cop movie. That alone will not be able to elevate 2 Guns into a great movie, but at the very least it’s worth its price of admission. 

The less that is said about the plot, the better – 2 Guns has an extremely convoluted plot, featuring way too many vanilla villains (say that fast three times) for its own good. The “buddy cop” dramatic device literally takes forever to set up, and although the interaction between Wahlberg and Washington is what sells the movie, the water is muddied with too many inconsequential plot threads that serve nothing but pad out the running time of the (not very long) movie. To add insult to injury, 2 Guns tries to wrap everything up nicely with a bow tie, but the journey to the denouement takes such implausible turns that it needs a full disengagement of one’s sense of logic to accept the plot developments.

Fortunately, Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg make the proceedings much more bearable. Their banter is great and although the dialogue tends to branch off into the inconsequential, it’s consistently fun and the pairing works well enough.  And although the villains are not really menacing (even when doing some Very Bad Things), the trio of Bill Paxton, Edward James Olmos and James Marsden do manage to make a passing grade at least. Paula Patton, unfortunately, gets the role of the perfunctory hot chick with nothing much to do, but she does look amazingly hot while doing it so that’s a bonus for the target demographic.

There are no pretenses about what type of movie 2 Guns is – it’s not meant to be a serious commentary on corruption in the government, nor is it meant to be a taut thriller. It is meant to be an enjoyable, disposable buddy cop movie that moviegoers would not need to invest too much of their brain power when watching. If viewed from this perspective, then the film doesn’t do much wrong, even though the movie would have largely faded from memory on the trip back home from the cinema.

Rating: * * ½ (out of four stars)

Standard

The Wolverine

Genre: Action

Director: James Mangold

Writers: Christopher McQuarrie, Mark Bomback, Scott Frank, based on Wolverine by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Famke Janssen, Rila Fukushima, Tao Okamoto, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Will Yun Lee, Hiroyuki Sanada, Hal Yamanouchi

Running Length: 126 minutes

Synopsis: Based on the celebrated comic book arc, this epic action-adventure takes Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), the most iconic character of the X-Men universe, to modern day Japan. Out of his depth in an unknown world, he will face a host of unexpected and deadly opponents in a life-or-death battle that will leave him forever changed. Vulnerable for the first time and pushed to his physical and emotional limits, he confronts not only lethal samurai steel but also his inner struggle against his own immortality.

Review: The Wolverine is somewhat of an anomaly in the roster of summer blockbusters – although this is the sixth time Wolverine has featured in a movie, the film’s only name actors are Hugh Jackman and Famke Janssen, with the rest of the cast being relative unknowns. And despite what the trailers might have suggested, this is actually a rather intimately shot film, with only a handful of action set pieces in  itstwo-hour plus running time. While the storyline is undoubtedly engaging, and the film as a whole is definitely superior to the dreary X-Men Origins: Wolverine, it remains to be seen if the film’s box office would be impacted by mismatched expectations of the audience.

The Wolverine comes off to a pretty slow start – the initial exposition takes up more than half an hour before any true action is witnessed on screen, by which time it’s abundantly clear to audiences that this movie is trying to be more than just the typical summer action blockbuster. Credit must be given to Mangold for trying to delve deeper into the psyche of Wolverine and what makes him tick, but it isn’t always very successful. All the Jean Grey visions in particular are cheesy and cringe-worthy, but there are moments of introspection that feel as though he has succeeded somewhat.

Apart from this, The Wolverine is a pretty formulaic superhero movie offering up few surprises. There’s the obligatory (in this case, extremely obligatory) romantic interest, the typical action sequences, and the final showdown. The finale is particularly disappointing, because the villains seem to pose very little threat to the heroes and are quite quickly dispatched. Wolverine’s loss of his super healing powers (much vaunted in the slew of trailers and pre-publicity) also don’t manage to make too much of a difference. Thankfully there is at least a refreshing take on the typical “brawl atop a speeding train” sequence, since it happens on a bullet train travelling at 300km/h, which changes the rules of combat and physics somewhat.

Placing Wolverine in a foreign locale does also help to shake things up a bit. Apart from Wolverine, Jean Grey and Viper, every other character of note are Japanese, often speaking in their native tongue. This is an interesting gambit for a summer film, since subtitles are popular amongst the typical movie-going crowd, but suffice to say it being of the X-Men universe will ease the discomfort somewhat. Mangold and the writers do play quite hard and fast with the canon of the story arc the movie is based on, which may annoy the hardcore Marvel and X-Men fans, but otherwise there’s really nothing glaringly out of place with the plot. X-Men fans would be particularly pleased with the coda just after the first segment of the end credits, which alludes to the already-announced X-Men: Days of Future Past, coming our way summer of 2014.

Rating: * * ½ (out of four stars)

Standard

The Great Gatsby * * 1/2

Genre: Drama

Director: Baz Luhrmann

Writers: Baz Luhrmann and Craig Pearce, based on the novel of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Elizabeth Debicki, Isla Fisher

Running Length: 143 minutes

Synopsis: The Great Gatsby follows Fitzgerald-like, would-be writer Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) as he moves to New York City and takes up residence next door to a mysterious, party-giving millionaire, Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy (Carey Mulligan), and her philandering, blue-blooded husband, Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton). Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the super rich, their illusions, loves and deceits.

Review: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is widely regarded as one of the most important American novels of the 20th Century, and largely considered unfilmable, with previous attempts not really hitting the mark. Unfortunately, despite being a very beautiful movie, Baz Luhrmann’s attempt is also a misfire, falling into a rare category of film where its parts are greater than its sum total.

If you’re looking for a visual spectacle, The Great Gatsby delivers in spadefuls in its first reels. In true Baz Luhrmann tradition, the party sequence is visually dazzling, and the use of 3D makes the entire experience feel even more surreal. The beautiful costumes (designed by the houses of Prada and Brooks Brothers), gorgeous jewellery (by none other than Tiffany & Co) and excellent set design and art direction makes the viewing experience an opulent, decadent and highly enjoyable one, reminiscent of the visual excess of Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge.

However, once the visual novelty wears out, there is very little to keep the viewer vested. Although the performances are mostly adequate (save Tobey Maguire’s terribly, terribly bland portrayal as Nick Carraway), none of the characters will be easy for audiences to identify with as they are essentially all flawed beings. Leonardo DiCaprio performs admirably as Gatsby, despite being forced (mystifyingly) to punctuate almost every sentence with “old sport”, and Carey Mulligan impresses in her small number of scenes, but many of the peripheral characters are nothing more than window dressing.

The pacing of the film is also very uneven, with parts of the movie being glacially deliberate and extremely out of step with the more exuberant sequences. The Great Gatsby would have benefited immeasurably with a more judicious edit and tighter running time. Luhrmann is respectful of the source novel, even quoting passages verbatim, but at times this just makes the film feel like an inferior knockoff of Luhrmann’s own Romeo + Juliet.

And, perhaps most surprisingly for a Baz Luhrmann film, even the visuals outlive their welcome. The 3D which was used to great effect in the first hour seems to have been forgotten in the second hour, and other than some terribly amateurish floating narrative text peppering the flashback sequences, there’s really nothing that makes 3D viewing experience significantly improved from the 2D one.

Baz Luhrmann should be given credit for attempting a project as difficult as The Great Gatsby, and there certainly are glimpses of genius in the way he approached the source material. However, this is a film that’s mired by a large number of small imperfections, frustratingly close to greatness yet falling short. It functions well as counter-programming to the summer blockbuster season, but isn’t exactly the breath of fresh air I was hoping to get from the film.

Rating: * * ½ (out of four stars)

Standard

Ice Age 4: Continental Drift * * 1/2

Genre: Animation

Directors: Steve Martino, Michael Thurmeier

Writers: Michael Berg, Jason Fuchs

Voice Cast: Ray Romano, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Queen Latifa, Peter Dinklage, Jennifer Lopez, Keke Palmer, Wanda Sykes

Running Length: 85 minutes

Synopsis: The trio from the previous Ice Age movies returns – Manny the wooly mammoth, Diego the sabretooth tiger, and Sid the sloth – embark upon their greatest adventure after cataclysm sets an entire continent adrift. Separated from the rest of the herd, they use an iceberg as a makeshift ship, which launches them on an epic seafaring quest. Manny and the gang are challenged like never before to become heroes and do the impossible, as they encounter exotic sea creatures, explore a brave new world, and battle ruthless pirates. And Scrat’s reunion with his cursed nut catapults him to places no prehistoric squirrel has gone before.

Review: There really isn’t much reason for this movie to exist, and it shows – although Ice Age 4: Continental Drift is superficially entertaining with a plethora of funny and cute animals, the plot is virtually nonexistent and the social message feels tacked on. It has been a decade since the first Ice Age, and yet the franchise does not seem to have improved with time, with a large part of the film feeling like nothing more than a rehash.

The entire concept that Ice Age 4 revolves around also feels like an uneasy marriage – having the main characters duke it out on a newly formed ocean on “ships” made from icebergs feels almost too human for a bunch of creatures in the Ice Age. The additional subplot involving Manny the wooly mammoth’s rebellious teenaged daughter is even more uninteresting, and the way it plays out and resolves itself is very perfunctory.  

Credit to be given where it’s due though, Ice Age 4 looks great (like almost every computer animated film these days), and the usage of 3D is rather impressive, especially for younger audiences. Scrat, the iconic squirrel chasing after his acorn, is still as entertaining as ever, providing much needed diversion from the clunky main plots. Many of the new characters are actually more interesting than the original Ice Age gang, with the most memorable being Sid the sloth’s grandmother, wonderfully realized by Wanda Sykes.

Special mention must be given, however, to the best part of the show, which actually occurs before the start of Ice Age 4. Do not miss out on the excellent short film The Longest Daycare, starring Maggie of The Simpsons – the four and a half minute short is brilliant, packing more creativity, wit and heart than the entire movie that follows. For Simpsons fans like me, this short film alone is worth the price of admission.

Rating: * * ½ (out of four stars)

Standard

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter * * 1/2

Genre: Action

Director: Timur Bekmambetov

Writer: Seth Grahame-Smith, based on his novel of the same name

Cast: Benjamin Walker, Dominic Cooper, Anthony Mackie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rufus Sewell, Marton Csokas, Jimmi Simpson

Running Length: 105 minutes

Synopsis: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter explores the secret life of one of the U.S.’s greatest presidents, and the untold story that shaped that country. Producer Tim Burton and director Timur Bekmambetov reimagine Lincoln as one of history’s greatest hunters of the undead.

Review: Given the names of the visionaries that are backing Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, it’s truly a surprise that the end result is such a middling movie. It’s almost as though producer Tim Burton and director Timur Bekmambetov (Daywatch, Wanted) couldn’t make up their mind whether the subject matter functions better as a satire or a straight up horror/action film, and the eventual execution, whilst perfectly serviceable, lacks the qualities to be memorable in any way.

One would assume that with a concept of turning the president of the USA into a vampire hunter, the film would be quite “out there”, but the tone is far more serious than it should be. The first half of the movie is the better half, with the “origins story” of how Abraham Lincoln becomes an axe-wielding vampire slayer, but once the narrative moves toward marrying fact (Abraham Lincoln: President) and fiction (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter), it starts to falter.

It doesn’t help that the vampire hunter premise already feels tired after the first two reels, and becomes multiple variations on the same (old) theme. The acting is pretty much mediocre throughout, with Benjamin Walker being the biggest offender – he has absolutely no charisma as Abe, and when the film ages him with somewhat dodgy makeup, it becomes even harder to look past his subpar acting chops.

With Bekmambetov helming the camera, it’s almost a given that the visuals will be impressive, and for the most part they are (although the 3D implementation feels half-baked). In fact, if not for the great action set-piece near the end, involving a train heist, hand to hand combat and a burning bridge, the second half of the movie would have been pretty much a downer.  This becomes one of the few redeeming points of the movie – but whether it’s enough to justify the price of entry would depend on one’s threshold for the chaff that makes up the remainder of the film.

Rating: * * ½ (out of four stars)

Standard

The Vow * * 1/2

Genre: Drama

Director: Michael Sucsy

Writers: Abby Kohn, Marc Silverstein, Michael Sucsy

Cast: Channing Tatum, Rachel McAdams, Jessica Lange, Sam Neill

Running Length: 105 minutes

Synopsis: A car accident puts Paige (McAdams) in a coma, and when she wakes up with severe memory loss, her husband Leo (Tatum) works to win her heart again.

Review: Despite a “based on true events” premise, The Vow is about as rote a romantic drama as it gets. In fact, it almost seems Nicholas Sparks had a hand in it, even though that’s not actually the case. This is a movie squarely targeted at the women, and its box office success in the US is testament to the power of this demographic. Unwilling husbands and boyfriends will no doubt be dragged to the cinema to catch this, and while it won’t be an entirely moot outing, it’s hard to imagine any (straight) men getting into this movie.   

The best thing about The Vow is Rachel McAdams, who puts forth a great performance despite the limiting material here. There is, however, little real chemistry between her and Channing Tatum, and as a result their tortured romance post-trauma never comes across as being quite believable. Channing Tatum is obviously here as a pretty face and body, and although he tries hard to emote (with uneven results), Tatum would be most remembered for his multiple bare-bodied scenes here, including one where he shows off his bubble butt. Jessica Lange and Sam Neill seem to be downgrading their career trajectories by appearing in a film like this one, but at least Lange gets one good scene out of the movie, essentially out-acting every other cast member in those few minutes.

The Vow isn’t afraid to come across as being a cheesy melodrama, and it embraces both aspects with aplomb. In its own way, that’s a charming thing to do and The Vow works well as a date movie. Unfortunately, those looking to vesting more emotion into the movie may find themselves somewhat disappointed – very little is done with the premise of the movie, and eventually the script writes itself into a corner with no way out. The Vow avoids some of the expected clichés – no second bump on the head to magically restore Paige’s memory, for example – but the scribes add nothing in to replace the void. There’s no pat denouement apart from an end title card detailing the outcome of the real life couple, but at least Michael Sucsy has managed to resist injecting forced tragedy into the tale, unlike how a Nicholas Sparks novel/movie would have panned out.      

Rating: * * ½ (out of four stars)

Standard