I admire and respect stunt coordinators and choreographers in action films. In the era when CGI is everywhere, it's hard to awe the viewers anymore. There ain't nothing they'd never seen before. It's quite common to have a movie full of stunning visuals conceived in front of a computer, so you better step up your game in some other areas if you happen to be a movie with no excuse to overuse CGI and you want to compete. Ever wonder why Jackie Chan needs to work so hard to design and perform all those dangerous stunts and moves? Do you enjoy those moves, even when you're not too happy with the movie itself in general? Exactly my point.
Which bring us back to the subject of this review: Brick Mansions. An action film that knows it's place, the movie presents one action sequence after another, and it's clear that the one who designs the stunts really put his heart into it. All the moves are designed diligently to be unique. It's no small feat. You think any bare-hand punching between the hero and the villain can satisfy the audience nowadays? You have to make them move and jump and run and chase in very cool way, and if your audience don't let out a gasp of admiration you are considered failed. This is where Brick Mansions excel, in no small part thanks to the stunt designer and the actors of course, especially David Belle who plays Lino. By this time all of us should already know this movie is Paul Walker's last, and most of us walked into the cinema more or less feeling sentimental for him. We ended up not able to take our eyes off the unknown face of David Belle. That's a surprise.
As it turns out, the movie itself is only mediocrely made. The stunt moves might be unique but the structure of the film is not. It checks every box of typical elements an action flick should have, no more and no less. It's a textbook action film. You have your hero with self-righteous cause and your hero with personal vandetta, you have your corrupted police officers, your evil politicians, your black drug kingpin who talks as if he's Kanye West doing his rap, and you also have your sexy fiesty chicks. What's missing?
Act 1: Lino is chased by the gang members. He runs, he jumps, he swings, he moves so swiftly he never knocks over any obstacle along the way except the one he intends to, like the gang members he conviniently takes out in one punch. The best stunt in the movie happens in the first 10 minutes during this sequence. Lino moves so fast that most of the actions happen in a blink of an eye. He swings into a room immediately after he jumps, he punches the bad guys so hard they drop to the floor within seconds. He swings like he's a gymnast. That makes a good action sequence.
Act 2: Paul Walker's turn. He fights the minions of the bad guy before towing along behind the bad guy's fast moving car. He makes his way into the car and punches the bad guy before eventually crashes his car into the police station, getting the bad guy arrested. Paul Walker has the relatively less fancy action sequence, but nevertheless it's still impressive. He has done this undercover stint enough to make it so familiar for a moment we thought we were watching a Fast & Furious movie.
Act 3: Two heroes meet, briefly fight before working together. Act 4: Two scantily clad chicks fight and pull each other's hair. Act 5: Heroes and bad guys fight, and fight, and fight. Act 6: The true culprit is revealed, and the movie comes to an end. Everything is done according to expectation (or at least what the director thinks the audience expect), and everything is tightly fit into 90 minutes, no excessive of talks and no pulling back of fighting. No time for a break, and we don't need one either.
We have one last chance to see Paul Walker in the upcoming Fast & Furious movie which he didn't get the opportunity to finish. Brick Mansions is not a perfect action film, it is at most a satisfactory one. Through it we lament what a loss Paul Walker's passing is, but through it we also witness the birth of a new action star. Arnie, Sly and Jason are not young anymore, it's time to pass down the beacon to David Belle.
Rating: B
No comments:
Post a Comment