Spring is officially upon us as of this past Friday, March 20th. The New Beverly has been celebrating the 90's all month and this weekend was screening a traffic titled double feature of Speed and Rush Hour. It was announced last minute on Friday that Rush Hour helmer Brett Ratner would be attending the screening. It's said to have been an informal affair with Ratner talking about the first time stars Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan met, how hard it was to get Michael Jackson's permission to use his music, shared a few directing tips and even mentioned trying to get an Enter the Dragon remake going because he loved the original and Lalo Schriffin's music so much. For some reason reaction has been poor but EtD has already been remade, didn't you see Mortal Kombat? A martial artist enters a mysterious tournament to avenge the death of a loved one, teams up with other fighters with opposite personalities, instead of a muscular Chinese right hand man that kills dudes for fun there's Goro, the four armed prince working for an evil yet manipulative, power-hungry boss. Or when Ninja Assassin was coming out, it was announced that star Rain would appear in an Enter the Dragon update. But when Ninja disappointed at the box office, talk of the new Dragon and Rain's career went away.
Anywho, some friends and I ventured to West Hollywood Saturday for the early show of 1998's Rush Hour and the prime time Speed. It's nice to see the joint cleaned up and concessions are cheap! A Coke and a Twix only set me back $3.50 while popcorn, hot dogs and White Castle sliders are also available. There was a giant Rush Hour poster in the lobby and the pre-show consisted of a 90's Mountain Dew commercial featuring an unknown Channing Tatum. Then, to continue the Chris Tucker theme as stoner/ghetto comedy Friday was screening at midnight, a Dr. Dre music video from the soundtrack played. In it's entirety! Rush Hour follows Hong Kong cop Lee (Chan) as he travels to Los Angeles to find the kidnapped daughter of the consulate while fighting a mysterious crime syndicate. He's teamed up with big mouth LAPD detective Carter (Tucker) and the mismatched duo tick off the FBI and bad guys alike as they figure out the case themselves. It's a classic buddy picture with both leads getting to shine. Chan looks surprisingly beefy in this with a thick neck but classy as well in his black suit and red tie. Trademark acrobatics and "use everything in the room" fight scenes are great along with practical stunts like hanging off street signs on Hollywood Boulevard or falling onto a giant banner from the rafters of the L.A. Convention Center. Also endearing is his chemistry with the up and coming Tucker who's funny, charming and talks too much. Great supporting cast too with Tom Wilkinson, Tzi Ma, Ken Leung, Chris Penn, Mark Rolston, Rex Linn, Elizabeth Pena, John Hawkes and Elizabeth Pena (View In Peace) rounding out a crew of familiar faces and old school professionals. It's Ratner's ability to make a well shot and produced entertaining flick with a solid cast that always keeps me from being a basher. Some people are just jealous of others I guess but if it was so easy to be successful, people would be out living their dreams instead of taking pot shots at others.
Next up was 1994's Speed, one of the surprise hits of that summer. The New Bev is playing True Lies tonight and I think those two would have been a great, summer action double feature. Surprisingly enough, the tag line for Speed is "Get ready for rush hour...". Keanu Reeves, Jeff Daniels, Sandra Bullock and Dennis Hopper star in the intense action flick where mad bomber Hopper exacts his revenge on cop Keanu by rigging a city bus to explode if it goes under 50 m.p.h.. It's a total 90's movie from the cold metal look of Andrei Bartkowiak's cinematography and Mark Mancina's catchy, invigorating yet slightly sad score. I loved the slick, moving shots with cars, motorcycles and choppers moving in and out of frame and the film does a marvelous job of keeping the tension up without wearing you down. There's also a great sense of humor throughout. Keanu is pumped up and heroic, Bullock sassy yet cute, Daniels funny as the older partner, Hopper hammy and eccentric while 4th billed Joe Morton gets to be the cool yet tough commanding officer. The flick goes on for a bit towards the end with a rehash of an earlier ridiculous stunt but for the most part, still a great ride even if improbable if you broke it down. Plus the bus number is 2525 which added together is 50, genius!
The 90's theme has worked out for The New Bev this month with something like 13 sold out shows. Speed was packed as several friends couldn't get in. The Bev is now offering just about half of tickets online with the remaining seats being sold at the door. I'm excited to return tonight for Cutthroat Island and True Lies before Heat next weekend.
Having just expanded across the United States and playing in 954 theaters, The Raid 2 comes riding a festival and word of mouth hype train following the success of 2011's fan favorite, The Raid: Redemption. Picking up after the events of it's predecessor, hero cop and badass fighter Rama (Iko Uwais) is recruited to go deep cover in a bid to take down high levels of organized crime. A 2 year stint in prison gets him next to the son of a feared crime boss and upon release, Rama goes to work for the family. Aggressive expansion, ambitious purpose, turf war with Yakuza and lots and lots of violence ensues.
As an action movie and martial arts fan, The Raid 2 left me with conflicted feelings. Somewhere, in this 140 minute running time is a 95 minute classic. Like many films today, The Raid 2 suffers from in my opinion, being too Damme long and thinking that an extended run time will equal more gravitas. From the 2.5 hour indulgence Django Unchained, the nothing much happens Hunger Games: Catching Fire, five endings Divergent to this, there's a fine line between trying to build an epic and just plain pummeling your audience with low key fluff intended to hype the ending. The last hour is fantastic, if they could have set up the film faster then moved into the final showdown(s), I think you would have had something really special.
Writer/Director Gareth Evans and team again deliver some truly awe inspiring, jaw dropping, cringe inducing, holy shit action set pieces involving cars, fisticuffs, machetes, baseball bats, hammers and more on the streets, in a muddy prison yard, a subway car and warehouses with plenty of broken limbs, maimed bodies and bloody aftermath galore. What Evans is able to capture practically is impressive, you never feel like you're watching green screen or stunt doubles or unable to tell what's happening. Many of the hand to hand sequences are done in long takes with the action clearly discernible. While elaborate choreography is on full display, I feel a lack of simple technical physical prowess is missing. Nary a high kick is thrown but there's the tired, "front kick while leaning back and yelling" for days. While we don't live in an age where high kicking specimens Scott Adkins, Michael Jai White or Jean-Claude Van Damme can headline theatrical films, I missed their acrobatic muscular grace.
For a film this long, there just isn't enough story to sustain the space between action sequences. They might have been aiming to make a gritty, urban, organized crime epic but it's not like we're talking the layered nuance of Heat or The Godfather here. The beats are very familiar and expected, simply highlighted by brutal, brutal action scenes that for me, were almost too much. That was the problem Jackie Chan had in trying to break the Western audience, he was all about the action but we just can't handle that much action with no story or characters, no matter how flimsy. When Chan blended comedy with action, POW! we got enjoyable romps Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon. Action without context or care is pointless. Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, JCVD, Stallone and Arnold all had personality and charisma. They were put into simple situations as underdogs and fought their way out. Deep down we knew they were going to win but we still rooted for them and took the journey with them. Here, Rama's story and characterization is nearly non-existent. We don't really care if he busts these guys or makes it back to his wife and kid who are thrown in to remind us that he's fighting for something. He's already been gone for 2 years, what's a few more months?
Violence in film has always been a hot topic and while it may sound hypocritical that I found one movie too violent than another, I walked away from The Raid 2 thinking, that was too much and feeling a little dirty. While Lee, Van Damme and Arnold's antics inspired me to become a better and more well rounded person. Just the changing of the seasons, I suppose.
