Movie review - "The Predator" (2018) **

 A good concept - get Shane Black to have a shot at the franchise - and a colourful cast suffers under the weight of too many plots and too much exposition. They could have started the film like Escape from New York with a bunch of prisoners being transported, then detoured to meet Olivia Munn. That means the film could have focused on its main strength - the by play of the characters on the bus.

(The irony of this being the original script was much longer and coherent).

I wish Arnie had come back to star in it - surely he'd be free now? Boyd Holbrook starts off fine but I'm not sure he's a star. (At the least he's miscast as a "seen it all" experienced sniper solder.) He becomes more annoying as the film goes on, as does the film. 

There's a lot of sacrifice from the gang but because we haven't spent that much time with them it doesn't mean as much when they die heroically (I gather this wasn't an issue in the original script). But I lost track of who was who.

The story gets dumber and also more confusing as it goes along with good predators, cloning, powerful autistic kids and so on. Expanding the lore is fine but I got confused and the Marvelesque setting up sequels etc is just draining. I wish studios would stop trying to be Marvel. By the time of that final coda scene I wanted to yell at the screen - "stop just stop I don't want to see this film any more or any more like it".

There's some Black tropes in there - buddy comedy between Thomas Jane and Keegan-Michael Key, a small kid who witnesses a lot of action (eg Nice Guys, Last Boy Scout). He just should've done Assault on Precinct 13 with the Predator, or made it a buddy detective film with the Predator.

Movie review - "Predator" (1987) ****

I remember with this film you really felt Arnie was going to be different from any old action movie star - this was "elevated genre" despite John McTiernan not having much of a track record. It starts excellently, with its beautiful photography and rousing music and star entrance, a bunch of macho tough guys on a mission.

The cast is a hilarious combo - Arnie, Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, Bill Duke, Sonny Landham and whimpy old Black. Everyone looks like a body builder rather than a regular soldier - apart from Black But the machismo is hilarious (such as Arnie and Carl shaking hands) and most have actual characters to play: Black's is limited to making jokes about big vaginas, but Bill Duke gets to be in love with Ventura, Richard Chavez has mor rat cunning, Weathers gets to redeem himself, Landham goes crazy, . Oh there is a hot native girl who acts as an audience surrogate.

The film has a big benefit from the others in that this one they got to show the monster for the first time.

It switches into a higher plane for the last act when Arnie goes solo against the monster.

Movie review - "Iron Man 3" (2013) ***

The end credits of this are terrific - bright, poppy, comic booky, irreverant, with a bouncy music score. The actual movie isn't up to the fun and pace of these credits but it's still a fun time, with everyone quipping away and Shane Black clearly bringing a lot to the party.

There's a lonely kid who pops up - there's a few in Black movies eg The Nice Guys, The Last Boy Scout - but he's fine. The emotional core of the movie is Iron Man dealing with a stress attack which is different, or was then.

There's lots of quips, some decent twists, some fantastic action sequences (especially the attack on Stark's house), the regular decent effects, the regular overlong bland final action scene, Ben Kingsley is fun once the reveal comes through (was this controversial? It was fun).

I like Rebecca Hall and just bought Gwyneth turning into a superhero; Don Cheadle had an amusing subplot. It was a good time. Not a billion dollar good time but enjoyable.

Script review - "The Nice Guys" by Shane Black and Anthony Bagarozzi

Jaunty shaggy dog buddy detective flick from Shane Black, very much in the vein of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. There's two down and out blokes who can nonetheless punch around - one of them's got a young teen daughter which is reminiscent of The Last Boy Scout.

There's clever reversals, a decent mystery, some charm, well done outbursts of action. This draft is set in the present day, has a role for Michael Sarrazin as himself, and ends with a political assassination - I understand it was changed. Enjoyable romp.

Movie review - "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" (2005) ***1/2 (reviewing)

Saw this in LA with a Q and A from Shane Black, who was in great form, talking about his love for crappy thrillers, his career up and downs, his battle with alcohol, his work to get this film made - he said the crucial thing was Robert Downey Jr was dating Joel Silver's assistant which helped make Silver want to fund the film.

It's a bright, energetic modern day noir with lots of funny narration and detail, a decent plot, and plenty of good actors. Downey Jr is in fine form, as is Val Kilmer, though he seems a little overweight. Michelle Monaghan is warm and funny and lovely as I guess the femme fetale only she isn't.

Sometimes the pacing didn't feel right and it felt like Downey turned into too much of a super hero at the end. I loved the look of LA and the different sort of photography that's used.

Script review – “The Long Kiss Goodnight” by Shane Black

Black re-heating his ingredients mixed up in a different format – a buddy action movie only the lead is a woman, there’s a kidnapping with the baddies torturing the goodies to reveal what they know, government-linked baddies (here, they are CIA operatives looking to increase their budget – little did they know they just had to give the money to Al-Quaeda), a mentor, the hero is a superhero who simply cannot be killed. 

From memory, some changes were made to the final film – here Samuel L Jackson dies (which gives the story more emotional kick… but I can understand why they let him live). Too much dull action at the end (it goes on and on), some very funny bright dialogue – it has a core of meanness to it though. Maybe because Lethal Weapon and Last Boy Scout started with tormented heroes who became nicer – this once starts with a nice hero, who then recovers her memory and becomes tormented, then strives to be nice again. Nasty bits like Sam Jackson having been raped a lot in prison.

Script review- “The Last Boy Scout” by Shane Black

If it worked before why not again – so here is another buddy action film with two guys who hate each other but become friends, one is older, one is more of a killer, one is a family man; there are baddies – an evil overlord and his brilliant henchman, many quips. 

 The second half changed a lot when filmed – here there is a big boat chase scene, the senator is actually killed, there is no football game scene, the big baddy is revealed to be the senator’s son who was the reason why Hallenbeck was kicked out of the secret service (I liked this), rescuing his wife at the end from being killed in a snuff film (this was silly). From memory I preferred the film version.

Script review – “Lethal Weapon” by Shane Black

Terrific fun to read – bright, witty, full of asides. Very easy to digest. The story isn’t that original, even then a typical cop show would do it better (girl kills herself, revealed she was murdered, cops investigate and uncover drug ring, baddies kidnap cops daughter). Even on the page it drags on a bit (that final fight with Riggs and Joshua is dull here too.) The ace in the hole is the character of Riggs – suicidal, funny, super tough and a brilliant killer. Him and his relationship with Murtagh is what helps the piece become something different.

Movie review - "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" (2005) ***1/2

A joyous tonic for those worried about Hollywood's inability to make decent commercial films any more: a funny, clever action-murder mystery with Robert Downey Jnr getting involved in kidnapping plot while on holiday in LA. He runs into a gay private eye (Val Kilmer), an old flame (Michelle Monaghan), a millionaire actor (Corbin Bensen) and other low lives. Plenty of twists and turns, funny dialogue, good work from all the cast. Its fun to see two of Hollywood's bad boys, Downey Jnr and Kilmer, play the buddy leads, and Monaghan is a nice find. Written and directed by Shane Black who had to struggle to get this made - this had to struggle to be made?? It's a commercial film??? Yet it must be admitted - it hasn't been a blockbuster. C'est la vie... all I can say is the audience I saw it with really enjoyed it, and this was several weeks after release, so word of mouth must be good.

Some random things I liked: Shane Black really has to start thinking of other things to use in his movies apart from buddy duos, kidnapping and Christmas; I loved the bit where Monaghan is talking away and Downey is just looking at her boob; the depiction of crazy women in LA is depressingly accurate; Val Kilmer can't afford to put on pounds - he only has to add a few and he becomes unattractive, as here; this remains Monaghan's best role.