After a month of papers and labour, I finally return to make a review for the blog! Another thing that has been stopping me from making reviews is that I haven't watched any new movies for the entire month of November out of disinterest. In fact, the only new film I saw was this summer blockbuster in a second-run theatre out of boredom. Like most people, I rolled my eyes upon the announcement of the project. However, many people managed to praise this film as a good time, so I hoped at the very worst, it would just be an average adventure film. Let's just say that it's far worse than it can accomplish.
Positives:
- Emily Blunt as Lily. Blunt surprisingly works as both an action-packed female heroine and a pawn to some of the comedic antics. While I don't think everything from her character works, particularly the dramatic and the feminist agenda, I think the character is a pretty solid co-lead.
- The cast in general. While the characters have issues that I will address, the actors attached do their best in having fun or hamming up their performances that it almost averts your attention from how badly-written the characters really are.
- The cinematography by Flavio Labiano. While his work needs improvement during the action scenes, Labiano has some creative shots in the establishing and tracking moments of the film that offers flair to an otherwise bland movie.
- The score by James Newton Howard. While his offering is one of his more weaker ones due to the generic sounds from the genre, Howard does his best to make the music above-average and nice to listen to.
- The story. While an adventure surrounding a group of characters trying to find a magical healing tree for their own benefits in the Amazon sounds like fun, it tries too hard to copy the formula of "Indiana Jones", "The Mummy", and most transparently, "Pirates of the Caribbean." The latter inspirations are very apparent with the introduction of cursed undead beings, an evil empire trying to get power for their own, and said magical MacGuffin getting destroyed because of a random rule or variable. It's just really hard trying to get lost in the adventure when said adventure is trying way too hard to be three notable movies at the same time. It also doesn't help that the tree in question is inconsistent in its rules. Not only can stone people "consume" a petal to remove their curse, but the tree manages to bloom one final petal just when they establish that it just died a few minutes ago!
- The tone. The comedy rarely gets laughs and the film, for the most part, doesn't take itself seriously compared to the films it inspires, because Disney likes light-hearted, family-friendly fun. The only laughs are ironically the exact same puns that are used for the ride, which is not saying much in the writing department. However, when things do need to get serious, it feels out of nowhere or laughably executed. There's a scene where Lily's brother talks about being gay while not directly saying he is that, while a nice moment, feels randomly placed because his sexuality never comes back in the story. There's also a flashback sequence that explain's Frank's role with the conquistadors and the curse, where he tries to defend the local tribe. Again, this should be a very dramatic moment, but for some reason, they chose this action-packed music in what is otherwise a serious scene.
- Dwayne Johnson as Frank. While Frank's character is not bad in trying to make a likeable asshole who has his moments of selfishness and heartfelt connection, Johnson is very miscast for this character. Johnson just can't play that type of character, because he's far too charming of an actor. If an actor like Bruce Campbell was chosen, the character would be far more effective and loveable than he is now, because Campbell has proven that he can play those type of selfish yet likeable roles. It also doesn't help that Johnson's figure and size is very over-the-top to take seriously when his employer holds him by a leash and that he's the only one from his conquistador group that looks like they bench-press.
- The villains. Jesse Plemons as Prince Jochman is clearly having a lot of fun with the role, but the character is too much of a joke that you can't take him seriously. There's only one moment in the film where they treat him like an actual threat by killing a bunch of guys with a sword, but by the climax, he becomes a pathetic wanna-be villain that doesn't even get killed by one of the leads, but by the comic relief side character! On top of Jochman, the film also feels the need to force the cursed conquistadors as villains too, who are cursed to stay close to the river and have became hybrid creatures of the elements. Not only are they just a copy-and-paste trope from the cursed pirates from literally all of the "Pirate of the Caribbean" films, but their motivations are also random in whether or not we should relate to them. The leader, Don Aguiree, wanted to find the tree in order to save his ill-ridden daughter, which should make him a character that would do anything, even murder, to save his child. However, his daughter never comes back in the narrative and his motivation as a cursed soul doesn't reflect that same motivation. This added level of complexity just made Don Aguiree an even worse villain, because he doesn't feel like a defined character whatsoever. What's worse about all of this is that there's simply too many villains for what is a simple adventure. If the film chose one or the other, they could develop one of the villains far more to be compelling and memorable and save the other for a sequel. Instead, they tried to have too much ambition in having "cool" villains and completely fail both of them.
- The side characters. While there's not too many to list, they all suck in their portrayals. Jack Whitehall as MacGregor, Lily's brother, has his moments as the bumbling idiot, but the film forces in the gay scene and him being able to fight off the villain competently that it makes his character inconsistent. It also doesn't help that MacGregor is the same supportive brother character that "The Mummy" had with its female love interest. Paul Giamatti as Nilo, Frank's harbourmaster, doesn't do much other than be the jerk character that gets a bit of karma instead of just dying. Like I mentioned earlier, it just doesn't make sense why Nilo seems to have control over this immortal, muscle-bound man, instead of being a bit cowardly. Lastly, there's Veronica Falcon as Trader Sam, the chief of the Puka Michina tribe. The chief serves as a complete foil to Frank's plan to ditch Lily, since she can speak English, and the chief herself is played up for laughs when she ditches MacGregor to be taken by Jochman instead of participating in the climax. The "wittiness" of modern Disney movies is just really cringe the more it forces itself into a narrative or character.
- The direction by Jaume Collet-Serra. I have nothing against Serra as a filmmaker as I have enjoyed his earlier work and I'm looking forward to his work on "Black Adam." However, his skills are completely nowhere to be found in this movie, since it feels like it was made on committee. Because of how generic jungle adventures are, the film looks generic to boot. Instead of taking inspiration from films from the early 20th century that the film attempts to homage, it's instead taking inspiration from more modern productions, which makes it feel older than ever. Watch "Orphan" and this back-to-back and try to see if this was made by the same director. When directors can't put an ounce of their motif or talent in a blockbuster film, it's insulting for both the viewer and the filmmaker. And it's not like the film is poorly directed, but it just feels like anyone could have made it, which isn't good for a visionary like Serra.
- The visual effects. For a film that costs $200 million to produce, the visual effects are not the best way to show where the money has gone into. It's strange because big companies like ILM and Weta Digital were involved in the CGI, yet it looks like it could have been made twenty years ago! I understand that studios don't want to use real animals or prosthetics anymore for their own silly reasons, but the best thing you can do is at least make them look good.
- The action sequences. Adventure films usually don't have the best action in comparison to other genres, but they make up for it by the unique set-pieces and choreography. "Jungle Cruise" however drops the ball when it comes to action. The hand-to-hand combat is shot and edited poorly and isn't doing anything unique. The submarine chase is a bit creative, but its placement in the film and the execution isn't nearly as fun as it could be. Even with the introduction of the cursed conquistadors, the action sucks because either the people fighting the villains completely fail at fighting these creatures or Frank just dominates all four empowered men with just his fists alone and no special abilities. The action doesn't impress because it's either not creative enough or fails to do the most creative elements justice with the action.
"Jungle Cruise" should have been a harmless yet forgettable adventure romp with the biggest stars of the industry today. Instead, it somehow manages to be one of the worst films of the year! While Lily is a fun character, the actors are doing their best in their respective roles, the camerawork by Labiano is decent from time to time, and the score by Howard is better than it has any right to be, this can't save an insultingly lazy film. From its story being too in nature to other films of its kind, the humour missing far more than hitting, the serious moments being too out-of-place or mismatched in a very goofy movie, Johnson as Frank is painfully miscast, the villains are too silly to be taken as a serious threat, underdeveloped and forced to share screen-time with one another, the side characters are cliched tropes or too goofy to take them seriously as characters, the CGI is below-average for a high production cost and top-notch animation studios attached, the action sequences are boring from a lack of creativity and bland choreography, and the direction by Serra is so automatic that I wouldn't be surprised if Bob Chapek himself directed it. It's actually dumbfounding that they are going to do a sequel because I can't imagine how you can improve a film like this, let alone the fact that people actually think that it's a good movie in general.
Verdict: 3.5/10. Pretty bad, but not quite as insultingly awful as "Mortal Kombat". Still not recommended to watch when you can watch so many better adventure romps.
No comments:
Post a Comment