Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

Back in 1995, Robin Williams starred in a film that had an original story, was reasonably good, included a lot of CGI’d excitement, and was well-received by audiences in general.  However, that film aged pretty quickly, with the special effects looking dated within that decade, yet still held a special place in most people’s hearts especially after the loss of Robin Williams in 2014. 

 

When it was announced that there was going to be another movie—although it wasn’t said whether it’d be a sequel or a reboot—I thought it was unneeded and didn’t think it would stand a chance with today’s audiences.  Sure, special effects have advanced in the intervening years since the 1995 original, but the board game aspect of the story and wild animals running rampant angle wouldn’t cut it.

 

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was released last December (2017) and although it received some very favorable reviews, I had no desire to go out to the local theater to see it (choosing instead to see The Last Jedi or whatever else was playing back then).  But time passed, the movies I’d been seeing lately on Netflix weren’t really doing it for me, so I decided to see this one purely for shits-and-giggles.

 

So what did I think of it?  First…let me give you the breakdown of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle…

 

In a brand new Jumanji adventure, four high school kids—Spencer (Alex Wolff), Fridge (Ser’Darius Blain), Bethany (Madison Iseman), and Martha (Morgan Turner)—discover an old video game console and are drawn into the game’s jungle setting, literally becoming the adult avatars they chose—Smolder Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson), Franklin “Mouse” Finbar (Kevin Hart), Professor Shelly Oberon (Jack Black), and Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillan).  What they discover is that you don’t just play Jumanji—you must survive it.  To beat the game and return to the real world, they’ll have to go on the most dangerous adventure of their lives, discover what Alan Parrish left 20 years ago, and change the way they think about themselves…or they’ll be stuck in the game forever, to be played by others without break.

 

Now, the film appears to try and pick up right where the 1995 film left off, but I think there’s a bit of a discrepancy here.  At the end of 1995’s Jumanji, after the game is tossed into the ocean, I believe the board game washes up on a beach in France, with the box halfway submerged in sand.  A couple of girls are walking up to it, speaking French, so it’s assumed the game made the voyage all the way to that country.  In this new film, it’s the same setup, only it’s been washed up somewhere in America.  Maybe the French girls were vacationing in America…?  It’s just an observation…I don’t mean to digress.

 

Aside from that, the story shows us that the game was found by a father who gives the game to his son, Alex (Mason Guccione), who dismisses it, mumbling to himself that nobody plays board games anymore.  With that said and seeing how the teen chooses to continue playing video games, it prompts the board game to transform into a video game console.  After he notices this, he plugs it into his television and turns it on, grabbing the joystick as he looks at the screen.  The film then cuts to the outside view of Alex’s window as we see a flash of light that tells us something has happened in the room…but we don’t know what.

 

So…as the story goes on, we start at present day, centering around four characters—two are likable, the other two are not—and how they end up together in detention, which sets them up to find the Jumanji game (which has made its way to the school’s basement somehow) and to be absorbed into it.  I do like that angle, having it become a video game that sucks in the main characters.  It’s a breath of fresh air and at least the movie shows that it’s not just a cookie-cutter reimagining of the first film.  The teens’ actions certainly sum up what most of us Gen-Xers had done throughout the 80s and 90s—being totally engrossed in video games. 

 

Once the teens get immersed into the game and the avatars are revealed, that’s when the fun begins.  Seeing the main character of Spencer finding himself to be Smolder Bravestone was amusing, especially when the real Spencer’s traits show through.  Watching and hearing The Rock repeat “don’t cry” to himself over and over when he first finds himself to be in this new jungle world was pretty funny.  Even more comical was to see the character of Fridge—a huge high school football player—end up as the diminutive avatar of “Mouse” Finbar.  The laughs really start to come when you see Jack Black embody the character of Bethany within the avatar of Professor Shelly Oberon.  Finally, the introverted teen Martha turns into the kick-ass Ruby Roundhouse.

 

I like the certain tropes they throw in to show you that our protagonists are really in the game by presenting the video game side characters in a loop, repeating certain directions and explanations, not interacting but just a program to get the players through to the next level.  Also, the way each character finds the way to display their strengths and weaknesses was a nice touch.

 

If you look back on the last few lines of the synopsis, it really doesn’t ring true when watching the movie unfold.  The only thing Alan Parrish (Robin Williams’s character in the 1995 film) left behind was a jungle shack that he’d built with his name carved in a piece of wood.  The shelter is of little importance in the movie and is glossed over fairly quickly.  Sure, they discovered it…in a way…but it has no bearing on the story.  The last line on the summary…?  I won’t give away the characters’ dilemma, but it sure isn’t what’s said there.

 

If there was anything I didn’t like was the choice for the villain of the game—Van Pelt (Bobby Cannavale).  Though I don’t mind him in most parts he plays (he’s actually really good in Ant-Man), I didn’t think he had what it takes to be the dark and over-the-top villain he sets out to be in this film.  Also, another aspect the filmmakers had gotten right tended to bite them in the butt at times.  The featured rule of having side characters within the game have limited conversations with the protagonists were sometimes broken—sometimes not engaging with the characters freely, but sometimes they did. 

But these are just nitpicked observations and really don’t take away from the fun you’ll have while watching this.

 

Directed by Jake Kasdan (Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Bad Teacher, Sex Tape), he really turns the adventurous story into a fun popcorn flick.  Though I’m sure Kevin Hart and Jack Black were probably hard to rein in, Kasdan takes this ensemble cast and makes them work together cohesively.  He takes advantage of the chemistry worked within this group, both in the teens and the game avatars, and brings the story together very well, never letting the action let up for too long and nary a lull is felt.

 

What makes the film even more entertaining is the music by Henry Jackman, who has scored the films of Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class, Captain America: Civil War.  The music in Civil War was especially memorable and really brought that movie’s feelings up front as the battles between friends raged on.  With those other music compositions in mind, it’s very obvious this man knows how to put feeling into a movie.

 

Let’s get right to it and let me give you my final “bit” on Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle…

 

As I’d mentioned, the fun is felt all the way and the laughs keep coming.  Whether it’s Jack Black doing his best impression of a millennial teenaged girl or Kevin Hart using self-deprecating humor, you’d be remiss if you thought this film was boring.  On the contrary, it doesn’t let up and keeps the action going throughout with a lot of comedy.  Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was—and always will be—a perfect action star with a little modest wit sprinkled in here and there, yet shares the screen time with his co-stars equally.  The movie is funny, action-packed, over-the-top, and just a great movie to sit and watch while turning off your brain.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

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Big Driver

As I may have said countless times when reviewing a Stephen King adaptation, I am a huge fan of the author's works and love most of the movies made from his books.  Since before the recent rash of films adapted from his novels, there were quite a few that weren't really worth a look.  Believe me, there were some so terrible, I didn't have the heart to review them here, let alone admit it to myself.

However, starting with last year's It, King's work seemed to turn into a new branch of a gold mine, giving us quite a few flicks—albeit, Netflix originals—and a sequel to the aforementioned It and a few other rumored productions that may start up soon.

Recently, I had dove in to a short story collection of Mr. King's, titled "Full Dark, No Stars," to see about reading the first story contained within before the movie version was released on Netflix.  The story, "1922," was pretty good and well written.  So much so, that I decided to read all the stories in the book, one right after the other—"Fair Extension," "A Good Marriage" (which also has a film adaptation that ran on Netflix, but I've yet to see), and "Big Driver."  That last novella was actually the second story in the book, but I'd left if for last, choosing, instead, to read the other two first—"A Good Marriage" because I was familiar with the actors in the film and wouldn't have a tough time visualizing the characters in my head, and "Fair Extension" due to the length of the story itself (32 pages).

Somehow, and I can't remember where I'd read it, but I saw that "Big Driver" was made into a movie.  Now, this story, in no way, is anything supernatural or a full-fledged horror story, but it does contain something that would be horrible to anyone who'd have the misfortune to experience such a frightening and life-changing ordeal.  Just the fact that it was a Stephen King adaptation, I knew I had to see it as soon as possible, and checking Netflix, seeing it was available on DVD, I had it sent to me right away.

Before going into this film, let me give you this very short synopsis for Big Driver...

A famous mystery writer, Tessa (Maria Bello), sets out for revenge after a brutal sexual assault.

As I'd looked into the film, before it arrived in my mailbox, I noticed something that lowered my expectations for it and it was the fact that the film was first televised on the Lifetime Network, so I knew the subject matter was going to be altered a bit.  Reading the story before seeing this movie conjured up scenes like what I'd witnessed in the I Spit on Your Grave remake a few years back, which made the payback easily something you could cheer for as you see the heroine of the story get her revenge.  I knew Lifetime would not show the movie as it was intended, from book-to-film, so I held little hope that the movie would be any good.  Another letdown, in the form of checking the IMDb score, was that the film received an average of 5.6 out of 10, so I really didn't think I'd be able to finish the film.

Though, on the plus column, the film had a few recognizable faces—one was an actress from a previous Stephen King adaptation, another was an Oscar winner, and one was a music icon.  I'm speaking of Maria Bello (from Secret Window), Olympia Dukakis (Oscar winner for Moonstruck), and Joan Jett (music legend inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015).  With this cast in mind, I was more than willing to give the flick a try.

So...as a whole, the film plays out like the novella, condensed, of course, like most films are when based on a book.  Watching it with Stephen King goggles, I enjoyed it thoroughly and thought it was an above-average adaptation.  It's when I try to see the film as a King novice, especially looking back at it and re-experiencing it again in my mind, that I may see some problems or confusion.  For instance, in the book, the lead character of Tessa is introduced to us as the author of a successful string of books that centers around a group of old women who identify themselves as the "Willow Grove Knitting Society," a small congregation that solves crimes.  The leader of the group, who Tessa identifies with the most, always comes to the forefront of her mind, especially when she tries to think her way out of a jam.  It's conveyed in the book as just Tessa's imagination coming forward, much like the GPS voice talking to her...it's very obvious that she's using these figments of her imagination to help her out in some way.  But sitting back and trying to live vicariously through a King beginner, watching the movie unfold as it does, I have to wonder if all this is obvious.

Although I had put the movie down, initially, as a Lifetime movie and automatically figured it may be dumbed down, one aspect I'd like to point out is that the filmmakers didn't feel the need to wash out the colors of the movie so that it looks like a bleak story from the get-go.  The cinematography looks great, with a lot of visual style here and there.  The start of the film gave us a bird's eye view of Tessa setting out on her journey to the speaking engagement she's set to participate in and another shot in the second act had it down to a worm's eye view when Tessa is at her most vulnerable.  It may have been a subtle context shown by the director or cinematographer...or maybe they were just lucky with those shots.

As it says in the synopsis, the story is about Tessa being brutally attacked, and it's very uncomfortable to see.  Even though I mentioned that the movie is a Lifetime production, the act of the Good Samaritan turning rapist is still very graphic in nature, there's no getting around that as the act is a motive for Tessa's actions later.  The language and material, naturally, had to be written with the afternoon audiences in mind, no four-letter words or nudity involved in this one, but the message gets across.

In the book, there is a lot of dialogue going on within Tessa's mind, giving us what she's thinking and cluing us in on her strategy and feelings towards her plans.  You may or may not be able to get this from Bello's performance, but I think it wasn't conveyed well enough where—in the book—Tessa gets to a very low point where she accepts death; in the film, however, I don't think that comes across too well.

Everyone's performances are good enough to make the situations believable (except to hear the rapist say "How about I screw you?" instead of what he actually says in the book), but let's face it—this film wasn't destined to be an Academy Award Contender.  It's simply a mystery thriller, surrounded by horrible circumstances, but it's all wrapped up as a nice revenge story.

Surprisingly, this is not director Mikael Salomon's first dip into the Stephen King adaptation universe.  Although he has many credits to his name—more than 50 as a director—his first King film was 2004's Salem's Lot television movie remake.  He also directed two episodes of "Nightmares & Dreamscapes: the Stories of Stephen King."

Finally, I think this would've been a nice flick to include a little Stephen King cameo, perhaps during the scene where Tessa finds herself at the biker club...but I didn't see him anywhere in this film.

Anyway...let's get right down to it.  What's my final "bit" on Big Driver?

The film starts off as your usual Lifetime movie, with girl talk between friends, an author speaking at a library, but soon takes a turn for the rape/revenge sub-genre.  It's neutered a bit, but the point is driven home, with our main heroine being driven to vengeance very quickly.  The film is short and to the point, no lessons learned, no messages given, just and eye-for-an-eye standard movie.  If you're a Stephen King fan and like to see how his books translate to film, the movie is worth a watch.  Would I purchase this to add to my Stephen King collection?  Probably not.  Would an average moviegoer, with no knowledge of King's stories, enjoy this?  Hard to say, but I'm thinking they wouldn't.  I guess if you're a fan of the leading ladies, maybe so, but I'd wait until it's re-runned on Lifetime or some other channel.

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Deadpool 2

Prepare for the second coming...


The surprise hit back in 2016 from Fox (“the studio that killed Wolverine”) pretty much proved itself worthy of a sequel in the first day of its release back then.  With the money it made, making its budget back in probably the first few hours of screenings, the studio would have to be a bunch of “ass-hats” to not throw money at—and greenlight—a sequel right away. 

 

What helped the sell?  Ryan Reynolds.  If it wasn’t for his portrayal of the titular character of Wade Wilson—which shouldn’t be that difficult seeing as the writers of most of the comic book series currently use his comedic wit as a template for the hero—that movie wouldn’t have been as successful as it had been.  Even before there was any mention of a movie being in development, when reading a “Deadpool” comic book, I couldn’t help but picture Reynolds speaking the parts and cracking wise throughout the storyline.

 

No one wants to talk about the first time Reynolds portrayed the character of Wade Wilson (not even Reynolds himself) back in 2009 in the film X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but there was a bit of excitement when it was learned that he’d be featured in that movie.  As the movie played out and people came to understand how the character’s depiction had turned out, that’s when comic book aficionados became upset and lost even more faith in Fox.

 

However, all the wrongs have been made right, we’d gotten a movie with a decent origin, finishing off with an after-credits stinger that went right out and announced a sequel, going as far as telling us that the character of Cable would be in it…comic book fanboys went nuts.

 

So here we are, after nearly a year of constant promotions, starting with the hilarious short that played before the Logan film last year, we get the sequel…Deadpool 2.

 

I’ve got to say, I’m a little surprised that the film is titled so simply, not giving us a subtitle, but opting for the sequential number of 2.  I thought there’d be something funny to go into this movie, like a subtitle mocking some other movie or an MCU movie or maybe even something from the DCEU, like Deadpool V Cable: Martha Martha Martha…?  But what’s in a title, right?  It’s the finished product that makes or breaks the bank…the title could’ve been something lame like Deadpool Returns, so it really doesn’t matter if it has a cool title.

 

As I gather my thoughts and piece together everything I saw on the opening weekend, let me give you the synopsis of Deadpool 2…

 

Foul-mouthed mutant mercenary, Wade Wilson—also known as Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds)—brings together a team of fellow mutant rogues—Domino (Zazie Beetz), Zeitgeist (Bill Skarsgård), Bedlam (Terry Crews), and Shatterstar (Lewis Tan)—to protect a young boy (Julian Dennison) with superpowered abilities from the brutal, time-traveling mutant, Cable (Josh Brolin). 

 

The above summary is definitely shortened and streamlined to save you from any spoilers because there is a lot of funny surprises that you’ll have to see fresh and for the first time.  However, unlike most movies these days that ruin some of the story for you by showing most of the action and jokes in the trailer, Deadpool 2 shows you different takes of the scenes which gives us revelations and fresh takes that we haven’t seen.  Although, in this sequel, it’s a bit jarring to go from slapstick scenes to more serious notes in the story, but it all comes together in a very stimulating style.  Most filmmakers would not be able to accomplish this, nor would they have the courage to try.

 

Character by character…

 

Of course, Ryan Reynolds—back in that red and black leather number—kicks ass just as much as he had in his first outing (not the X-Men Origins: Wolverine film, but the 2016 standalone).  The laughs are constant, with Reynolds’ humor showcased throughout, breaking the fourth wall, interacting hilariously with the straight characters, showing his awareness that he’s in a movie. 

 

Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) is here once again, acting as Wade’s anchor to calm him down from the constant quips and to bring the movie to a more serious tone when they’re together.  We don’t get too much of her character within the story, and it’s for good reason…you’ll see once you experience the film.

 

T.J. Miller’s “Weasel” is not featured as prominently as he was in the first film—it may be due to Miller’s off-screen issues, it may not—but he does have some funny interactions within the film, as Wade’s assistant in the X-Force interviewing scenes and in one particular scene where Wade is recovering from a pretty critical injury…which gets a lot of laughs here.

 

Now, the character every comic book geek was waiting for—Cable (Josh Brolin).  The first film was bold enough to give us that bit of info during the after-credits scene in the first film—as Deadpool parodies the end of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, complete with robe and background set design, he flat out tells the audience the sequel will include the character of Cable.  However, at that time, no one was cast as the cybernetic-armed mutant.  Though many names were thrown about, Josh Brolin was the one who’d won the part and he delivered in spades, giving us the look and mannerisms we’d come to expect—well, at least us comic book fans anyway.  Brolin embodies this character and I loved everything about his depiction…well, except for his height…which wasn’t a problem until near the end of the movie when he’s walking alongside Reynolds, who’s a good three inches taller than him.

 

As for the rest of the cast, back for the ride are Blind Al (Leslie Uggams), Dopinder (Karan Soni), Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) and Colossus (voiced by Stefan Kapicic).  But new to the Deadpool franchise are Firefist (Julian Dennison), Domino (Zazie Beetz), Yukio (Shioli Kutsuna), Shatterstar (Lewis Tan), Zeitgeist (Bill Skarsgård), Bedlam (Terry Crews), and Peter (Rob Delaney).  I’ve left off a few other characters because they’re a good jolt added to the film, so I don’t want to spoil it for you.

 

Although director Tim Miller gets a lot of accolades for what he was able to do with so little in the 2016 film, he decided not to come back for the sequel (probably because he’s working on the Terminator reboot set to be released next year).  So, the director’s job went to David Leitch, who really doesn’t have that much in the way of directing movies, but has had quite a career in stunt work for films.  Leitch’s first directing gig was for the highly acclaimed John Wick, followed by Atomic Blonde before coming on board for Deadpool 2. 

 

So, let me just give you my final “bit” on Deadpool 2...

 

The sequel is just about as funny and entertaining as the first, with a bit more action and a lot more characters involved.  As we’ve seen in the trailers, the “X-Force” team is initialized and we’re more than likely going to get a movie soon, featuring these team members and maybe more added to the mix.  You won’t have to sit through all the credits to see some scene that’ll clue you in on a sequel because there is none.  But the start of the credits features some humorous animated stills and in between the middle of the credits are some hilarious scenes that are surprisingly comical.  As in the first film, the strong language and graphic content are not suitable for young children, but there isn’t any nudity or sexual situations here, so you can feel comfortable watching this with teens…or at least allowing yours to see it.  A few shocks are to be seen here, especially for comic book fans, so just get out there and see this before it leaves theaters.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

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