24, but Samuel L Jackson plays Jack Bauer.
"24 but with Samuel L. Jackson? That sounds foolish." Thought I as I stepped into the theatre that rainy Tuesday. "Well I'm paid to review movies... May as well have some fun and buy movie pop-corn." Even after all these years as a film critic I've never really wanted to waste movie on the popcorn. It's very good at my local theatre but I think it's over-priced. I sat down in my favorite seat [4J] and prepared myself to be annoyed by over-hyped action film #24 [Oddly the 24th such film that I figured would fit this category. I did amuse myself with this for a while.]
The film opens with a surprising lack of anything happening. Simply watching Jack [played by Mr. Jackson] preparing for his day at work. It would appear that fighting terrorism isn't as exciting as one might think. After several moments of Jack Jackson brushing his teeth and finding his shoes he arrives at work. I personally felt cheated at this point. "Hey!" I thought to myself "If we're gonna see him brushing his teeth and shaving why can't we see his drive to work?" I amused myself through a stilted dialogue sequence by imagining the aggressive Samuel L. Jackson driving an "punch buggy".
Suddenly I noticed something. Mr. Jackson's performance was without any of the usual shouting that he has become famous for. Instead he played a calm and collected man who seemed to care more about helping others than with his own personal satisfaction. Not really something I expected. Eventually the terrorists do show up [The Lead Terrorists played by Nicholas Cage and George Lucas oddly enough.]
For what it's worth the plot, while generic, is accomplished very positively. While the first half of the film appears to be simply tacked on as a prologue to an assortment of violence that Samuel L. Jackson must combat the second half of the film is filled to the brim with excellent performances [Except for an un-named man who assists George Lucas' character during the climatic battle. When I checked the credits he was uncredited. However checking IMDb I found that he was played by none other than Al Pacino! I can only imagine Mr. Pacino appeared in the film after a rather lengthy root canal and dose of laughing gas.]
So in the end I have to admit that I found the movie to be entertaining though a little confusing. I've never seen the 24 TV show that I assume this movie was based off of. However this movie has made me consider it. In the end though I can only say that I'd recommend this film if you want to see a decent, if not altogether deep, flik.
As an after-thought however I find it important to mention that Adam Sandler appears in this film about half-way through in what is the absolute best scene of the film. His acting is devoid of any of his usual laziness. For a glorious 3 minutes we get too see Mr. Sandler panic and try to escape a burning building only to be shot by George Lucas when he does. Usually I would find this sort of thing mean-spirited but after my review of "Jack and Jill" last week I felt rather validated. I have since forgiven both Lucas and Sandler for all films prior to this one due to this one scene. The feeling of forgiveness was accented by the pop-corn which, for those of you curious, the butteriest and most delicious pop-corn of my life.
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Topic: Just had the best idea on Earth (Read 2009 times)