Year: 2013
Genre: Action thriller
Director: Mark Steven Johnson
Plot: Two former soldiers, one Serbian and one American, wage war against each other in the forest.
The gist: With the pairing of John Travolta and Robert De Niro, what could go wrong? Well, a lot apparently.
The story is as basic as it gets: a Serbian soldier goes to the States to find an American soldier who had shot him during the Serbian war many years ago, but failed to kill him. The two men then play a game of cat and mouse, each of them taking turns becoming the aggressor and the target.
The film has its moments, but it never quite rises above its made-for-TV movie quality.
The good: A couple of torture scenes come off looking solid enough, which involve arrows, a string through a leg and even waterboarding. The scenery was well filmed by DP Peter Menzies Jr.
The bad: De Niro sports an inconsistent Southern accent, while Travolta exaggerates his Serbian accent. The film, while mercifully short, takes too much time to get going as we have to watch the duo talk about their personal lives while listening to Johnny Cash. Their dispute also ends rather meekly, which is the ultimate disappointment.
Verdict: With the kind of calibre involved, one would expect a classic, but no such luck here. There's not enough action or thrills here for it to qualify as an action thriller. Skip this. (5/10)
Year: 2013
Genre: Romantic fantasy
Director: Richard LaGravenese
Plot: In the deep south, a boy longing to escape his little town falls in love with an outcast girl with strange powers.
The gist: The comparisons to Twilight are unavoidable. Two good looking youths fall in love, both outcasts in their own way, one of them has a huge secret, and their love will be put to the test etc. Now, I'm one of those people that actually appreciated Twilight more than most, so it's probably because of that, I found Beautiful Creatures to be charming in its own way.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not partial on these kinds of films. Sometimes they can suck too. Mortal Instruments is a fine example of this. But I have to say, Beautiful Creatures manages to entertain more often than not despite its imperfections.
The story follows Ethan Wate, a kid in the south who meets a girl that seems to appear in his dreams often. Her name is Lena Duchannes and she is a caster, which is a nicer way of calling her a witch. They fall in love despite resistance from the townsfolk and her uncle Macon. On her upcoming 16th birthday, her destiny of either being chosen by the light or the darkness will be revealed. The chances of her going to the darkness is higher if she stays with Ethan, so says Macon. So what's gonna happen?
The good: Alden Ehrenreich and Alice Englert work well together on screen. Their portrayal of Ethan and Lena are quite convincing. Ehrenreich in particular deserves some points for giving his character the right level of humour and awkwardness. Viola Davis is also solid in her role as Ethan's guardian. The deep south setting as well as the filmmakers' move to not take things so seriously (unlike Twilight) also works in its favour.
The bad: Emma Thompson is badly miscast as the townsfolk's spokesperson on spreading hate towards Lena and her uncle, and as Lena's mother Sarafine when possessed. I can see she put in a ton of effort, but she's just not right for the role at all. Jeremy Irons' southern accent is also rather shaky and Emmy Rossum doesn't get enough screen time as Lena's bitchy cousin Ridley.
Verdict: It's really not as bad as it looks. Forget the Twilight comparisons and lukewarm box office takings. If you like love stories with some charm and magic, this is worth a shot. (7/10)
