Tag Archives: Kidnapping

Escape from New York Review

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This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

This is one of those films that everybody has heard of at some point. It’s a pretty well known thriller from back in the day and having New York as the main setting is always a pretty good idea. I like the idea of the story and this is probably a better way to do the prison break kind of plot than with a standard one. They could have done a little more with the concept but you’ll still have a good time here.

Basically in the future crime has gotten so bad that the world needs more space for the prisons so Manhattan was sacrificed. The entire borough is now used to house all of the criminals. It’s an open air prison without any kind of supervision or police control. The crooks are basically left to their own devices to rule or be ruled. Unfortunately, the government gets sloppy and the president’s plane goes down so he ends up crashing within the city. If he isn’t recovered in less than 24 hours, nuclear weapons will be automatically activated and the world will be doomed. This forces them to send in a guy who used to be a military hero but tuned for some reason appears to be a big criminal now. You can probably guess that there is more to this than meets the eye but he is convinced to help in exchange for a complete pardon. Can he really save the president?

The mission is stacked against Snake (The lead) in a lot of different ways. For starters the government injected him with mini bombs so if he doesn’t save the president within the time frame then he will die. Additionally, chances are very good that the president is already dead with how ruthless the place already is. The odds that he is still okay are super slim but the government won’t care and will still blow Snake up. Snake is also massively outnumbered and will have to be dealing with some really crazy odds. This is also territory that the villains are super familiar with since they’ve had to live here for many years. The situation just keeps getting worse and worse.

Still, Snake couldn’t exactly turn down the job opportunity since he was told in no uncertain terms that he would be obliterated if he said no. This is a government that sanctioned a complete borough prison after all, you can tell that they are not bluffing by any means. Snake makes for a solid lead either way. He’s clearly experiences and knows what he is doing out there. A lesser character would have been absolutely crushed early on by everything happening but he just stays on mission even as characters are blown away right in front of him. He has to put up with a whole lot and you can bet there is basically no gratitude in the end.

As for New York City itself, it really looks like a dystopian backdrop here. There is almost no power since the criminals had to try and work some greenhouse supplies to their benefit with very limited results. Any reasonable person was likely axed off years ago so you’ve only got the crazies at this point. Everyone is extremely insane but at least some are crazy in a helpful way like the cab driver. I would say he was my favorite character from the city dwellers.

He talks about things very nonchalantly but is clearly prepared like when he had the bottles ready to light on fire. He’s been around the block many times and has seen a lot of things. He is clearly scared all of the time but at least he knows a lot of people and how to get around. Even the Duke would probably have a hard time stopping him. The Duke is the head honcho of the whole operation and really calls the shots here. In any situation there will always be one figure who rises to the top amidst the chaos and in this case he was the guy. He doesn’t get to appear quite as much as you would expect though. He’s mentioned a whole lot but it’s really not until the end that he actually shows up. I’d say he live up to the hype reasonably well. You can tell that he’s a real tough character but introducing him early on could have been fun.

This film is definitely more of a thriller than a full action movie either way. Don’t expect a lot of big explosive fight scenes the whole time. Snake can clearly fight and does knock a lot of people out but for the most part this is a stealth mission. He’s got to find the president and so a lot of screentime is really in exploring the city and talking to people to gather intel. I could see this being a really fun video game with how you would explore like that. The desolate ruins of Manhattan with criminals around every corner would really be tense.

The film can be violent at times but not quite as drastic as I would have expected. The film has a fairly dark atmosphere and keeps the tension going but does so without having everything be on screen. You know the situation sucks for everybody within the prison and the film doesn’t have to beat you over the head with the implications of this. You’re curious just what life looks like on the outside but the focus is really on the jail itself which makes sense. Either way there is a ton of corruption as always.

Overall, Escape from New York is just a really interesting film and works well. You’ll be at the edge of your seat the whole time. When I say the film could have done a bit more though, it’s really that the concept of turning a whole city into a prison sounds really interesting to me. I’d like to see a bit more about how it works and that’s where having the Duke show up earlier could help. You’d have to treat the subject carefully but yeah there is a lot of potential there. Here you are really getting a glimpse of the whole thing I’d say. Like Snake you’re really just thrown in there and that does amp up the tension so in that way the decision did make sense.

Overall 7/10

The Call Review

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This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

It’s time for a film involving the 911 operations and how they really have to go through a lot. We hear about a ton of different crimes going on and the whole film is about being in the middle of a tragedy and how the operators ultimately won’t be able to stop everyone. It doesn’t make for the most enjoyable film that’s for sure.

The movie introduces us to Jordan who is one of the best in the business for 911 operators. She’s been at this for a while and knows how to very quickly enter in all of the combinations and do what she has to. Unfortunately she makes a big mistake in one case which causes the victim to be murdered so she transfers out of active duty and into a teaching role. She is pulled back in though when there is a big kidnapping case and Jordan is the only one with the skills to handle the call. Will she be able to save the victim this time or is it game over for her?

I’d say the main issue with this film is that it’s one of those movies that relies a whole lot on shock value. They want to really show just how bad the villain is so we have to watch large parts of his crimes in full detail. The scenes go on for a very long time and it’s all pretty tragic. A film that is more confident in its writing and overall abilities would leave more to the imagination and just hit us with the need to know bits. Instead this film goes all in on this to its own detriment. It doesn’t end up being a film that you would really want to watch at all as you’re ready to turn it off after the opening minutes.

Even the crimes we get over the intercom tend to mainly be rather grisly to remind people how tough the job is. For sure being a 911 operator is not something that would be for everyone. It’s incredibly difficult and high stress. For those reasons it is probably a good idea to have a film on it to remind people of that but this film just lacked any kind of subtlety which put it in a rough position right from the jump. I would say the film really shouldn’t have shown the first crime or at least made more parts of it be off screen. It’s just a real mean spirited intro.

Then for the main part of the film you at least figure Jordan will be taking the villain down before he can do much but he gets away with way too much. When we get to his base it seems like this guy has been in the business for a while which is extra grim dark and the girl was injured a whole lot before Jordan is able to get there. When the villain gets away with this much it just ends up making the end of the film feel like a very hollow victory instead of the full success that it should have been. It’s like something got lost midway through the film rather than it being a big success.

Jordan does her best as the main character and while she did make a huge mistake, it is something that could happen to anyone. She has seemingly had a spotless career up to this point and has handled many calls. Jordan also knew when it was time to leave active duty and did this in a way where she wouldn’t put anyone in danger by freezing up. Ultimately even by the end she was willing to put herself in a lot of danger to help the victim so I can appreciate that.

The ending of the film is going for that classic revenge kind of feel and I do think it’s one of the problems with shock value type films. You basically make the villains so evil and over the top that you can then give license to the heroes to do something equally cruel back to them. It gives the audience vindication and everything. I can see the satisfaction there but honestly the best kind of ending is just shooting the villain and keeping it moving. A quick death and you send a message to the rest of the crooks. It may not be as satisfying in the moment but it helps to prevent the film just getting more and more violent the whole time.

It goes without saying that the film is super violent and has a lot of dark tones so that’s another reason you wouldn’t recommend this title to just anyone. It’s also one of those films where anyone who stands up to the main villain isn’t going to do so well. For example we have someone who tries to call the cops and get attacked but from then on doesn’t look very good at all. You knew he was doomed from the start though and I don’t get how he lowered his guard. A second guy at the gas station even had a weapon and a drop on the main villain but then he lowers his guard to open the door?

Lets just keep this simple, if you see someone had kidnapped a girl you already know he’s deranged. So you don’t need to be looking around wondering what to do. You gotta keep him in front of you and either finish him off or hold him til the cops arrive. Opening the door to try and get the girl out isn’t going to help at all. 9 times out of 10 she is likely going to be in no physical position to help and if anything you just made it tougher because he can grab her as a hostage or something. You have to win the 1 on 1 fight first and then worry about all of that.

Overall, The Call is a pretty terrible movie all around. It’s super cliche’d and predictable the whole time. At most the only unpredictable part is how far the film takes things because I thought it would have at least some basic restraint. Definitely one you will want to skip at all times. There are no real positives to be said about this journey. This kind of plot at least regarding the kidnapping has been done way better in numerous films. This one is just relying too much on that classic kind of shock value that you would expect from a B movie. The whole thing has that forced dark tone about it. I’d definitely wait for a remake someday to iron out all the flaws and make this into a much better film. They can do it….I’m sure they can. It’s hard to get much worse after all.

Overall 1/10

The Vanishing Review

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All right, it’s time for a rather brutal stretch of film reviews so get ready folk! First up we have a title that hits rock bottom. Films about a kidnapping need to be pretty careful as it is. You don’t want to get too grim and especially if you are going for a more realistic angle rather than stylistic. If you have a lot of thrilling fight scenes and a hype climax you can do some things with the genre but the ending is really a huge component. This film fails in all of that and especially with its decision to have the villain appear so often. You really don’t want to see that guy and yet he doesn’t want to get off of your screen.

The movie starts with Rex and his girlfriend Saskia driving towards their big vacation spot. Unfortunately they run out of gas in the middle of a dark tunnel so despite Saskia begging Rex to stay with her, he runs off to find some help/get some gas. He eventually returns and she’s upset but they agree to move on. Unfortunately she is kidnapped immediately afterwards and it happens so fast that nobody even noticed. Years later, people still don’t know what happened but Rex is determined to find her. The kidnapper has been taunting him with letters and Rex is ready to finally catch him.

However, the viewer knows who the murderer is right away. That’s because a massive part of the film is from the villain, Raymond’s perspective. This was a massive mistake if you ask me. Who wants to see this psychotic villain reveling in his victory? We see him go through the process of learning how to kidnap people and how this was all premeditated. The guy wanted to commit the ultimate evil to prove that he could and it’s all pretty twisted. So the movie spends a large chunk getting back to the present where we see the events play out from his point of view. Will Rex be able to catch him?

Well Rex is one of the biggest suckers I’ve seen so that’s going to be tricky. You have a guy who has been sending him notes and when he finally shows up, Rex doesn’t take him down? I’m not saying you murder him of course since you need answers but you definitely knock him out first of all. Then you either take him to the cops if you are confident that you have enough answers or you take him to a secluded area where nobody will bother you and get some answers out of him. Either way in no scenario should this guy be calling the shot anymore.

The usual hostage type defense doesn’t work in this case since it has been years and the odds of her being alive are basically 0. So at this point you’re avenging her. I dare say you don’t even need to find out exactly what happened, just end this guy but if you must know, find that out first. No, Rex decides to just get in the guy’s car and listen to him monologue for hours about how genius his plan was. Can you really imagine listening to the guy who murdered your girlfriend go on for hours and hours without doing anything?

I really didn’t like Rex the whole time but it started even earlier than that. Ditching Saskia in the tunnel was a really lousy way to start things. How could you ever dream of doing that? She easily could have been murdered right there and then. I also feel like that’s the kind of thing that you never really forget. Years could pass and you would still remember that. Of course you would, because that shows what will happen when the chips are down. In a stressful moment he did end up leaving her.’

It’s too bad because she seemed like a nice character. Saskia doesn’t actually get to appear much at all though. Rex ultimately gets a new girlfriend in Lieneke which is very questionable at best. I don’t see how you move on before you’ve got any kind of closure. Particularly with how tragic the ending was here. It just doesn’t make sense. The film seemed to be focusing on how Rex was also going rather insane like the odd scene of him staring at a computer screen and sort of playing something like Pong with Saskia’s names jumping all around the screen and bumping into each other.

I’m all for a character being persistent in something like this. He should never quit and should keep on obsessing until he has answers. It’s just the fact that he makes all of the wrong decisions and lets himself be manipulated. There’s a scene of him essentially offing himself with how ridiculous it is. I dare say that it’s the single dumbest decision I’ve ever seen a main character make. It’s a pretty bold claim but I would absolutely defend it. Lets play this out for a minute.

A guy who self identifies as the murderer and who is clearly insane says he is going to drug you so that you can find out exactly how your girlfriend died. Are you actually going to drink the drugs that he gave you? This guy could not have been any more clear in exactly what was going to happen here. I won’t spoil the ending in case you ever want to watch it but I would advise against that. This is a bottom tier, z grade film and the ending is pretty awful. It makes perfect sense given the scene that just played out but that’s the problem. It’s hard to picture anybody possibly making this decision. It’s flat out nutty!

There’s just nothing to enjoy about this film. It’s a really dreary, dark film with a very small cast and most of the screen time is about the main villain. All of his scenes are just nauseating. I’m glad the film didn’t try to make him sympathetic or anything because that would have really been insane but the ending is completely unsatisfying. It could have done more to condemn the character rather than just doing nothing. We just don’t need to see this guy. Psychotic villains like this don’t deserve to be getting that level of screen time. We know he’s crazy so there’s no other context needed. If you have to show off his ideas then cut all of his screen time for the flashbacks and have him explain things in the car. It would still be a royal chore to listen to but it’s better than seeing that guy.

Overall, This film will have you shaking your head all the way. At no point in the film’s run was it ever enjoyable. Even before the kidnapping the whole scene in the tunnel left things off on the wrong foot. I can’t say that I really had much hopes for the film but even with that, this manages to go under them. A film needs to be enjoyable at the end of the day. That’s the whole point of entertainment and this one was not fun. So stay as far away from this one as you can. There are no benefits to checking it out. Try something a bit more intense like Justice League or something like that.

Overall 0/10

Missing Review

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The first film in the kidnapping series was pretty good so the question was definitely if this sequel would also be solid or would it just sort of do the same things all over again? Well it should feel rather similar in a lot of ways but the actual mystery is very different. I also think the approach of only having the characters appear through phone cameras and computer cams is such a good idea that you could do a lot of these without it getting old.

The movie starts with showing us June’s past and how her father died a while back. Grace has done her best to raise June but is now looking to rebound with another guy named Kevin and so the two of them are going on a trip for a while. June will stay at home with the neighbor as a caretaker. June figures she’ll just throw a huge party in protest but when she gets to the airport to await her mom’s return, Grace never appears. June starts to dig deeper into this and it would appear that her mother may have been kidnapped. The problem is that this took place in a different country and June can’t speak Spanish. Additionally her funds are low and it’s hard to dig up any leads. How can she find her mom?

As this is a mystery film the plot will continue to adapt and evolve as June finds out more pieces to the puzzle. The less you know about the actual story, the more you will enjoy the experience. In that way mystery films do tend to have less replay value than other genres since the main hook is finding out what’s going on. In a rewatch you will of course know all of this right from the jump. The execution is good enough where it’ll be a pretty good watch either way though. The movie does a good job of slowly increasing the tension with each scene and the more June finds out, the deeper the mystery goes. There are a lot of red herrings and misdirects along the way but none that leave you shaking your head. Everything here makes sense.

Sure you can probably find some little things that you can drill into or nitpicks here and there but on the whole it all makes sense. The only scene that did stretch things a bit involved opening the door in a very shady circumstance. So to keep this very vague, if someone knocks on the door and asks you to let him in….the first thing you should do is not let him in and then call the cops. If you want to play it safe you can say that you’re coming to the door or something to stall for time and make it sound like you will open while you call the cops. All very valid strategies here but under no circumstances do you open the door. Yes, that includes if it’s a friend you recognize or a distant family member.

With very few exceptions should you open that door and considering all of the circumstances here I thought it was crazy that the door was opened. It’s the only part where it felt like the film got a little sloppy and should have come up with another scenario. It does lead us to a rather intense climax though. In the climax my only note is what I say for all action films. If you finally get the upper hand on your attacker and knock him down, you really got to finish him off. Yeah you may have some mixed feelings about this but keep in mind that if you’re in a life or death situation, turning your back to an opponent who is only stunned will lead to disaster every time. I’m not saying you have to go lethal here but at least put the opponent in a position where he can’t get up. Break a leg or something but a quick extra blow to the head is probably easier and quicker since you’re not going to be in the best state to calculate your next move. Every time a hero knocks the villain down and turns to run instead I just have to shake my head.

Meanwhile June is a solid main character here. She definitely doesn’t start off as being particularly likable so her character arc is about being more grateful and voicing her concerns instead of bottling everything up. As a result she is good by the end but for the first chunk of the film you just feel bad for Grace the whole time. Well you still feel bad for her by the end too but you aren’t blaming it on June by then. Grace is a good character as well but she definitely kept too many things to herself. Depending on what she had told June earlier she could have avoided large parts of the film.

We could have the whole rebound conversation here as well but I’m going to go for a different tact here instead. Now, I still say the rebound’s not a good idea and going off on a trip and leaving your daughter behind is even more sketchy. No, what I’m going to focus on here is online dating. Yeahhhhhhhh that’s never a good idea. I’m just going to come out strong here and say that you should never even try online dating. It may be a bit jaded of me but as it is you can barely really know someone in real life. Trying to know someone online just adds a whole other layer to it. You have absolutely no idea what the person on the other side is even like.

There’s also already the idea that if someone has resorted to online dating then dating in person hasn’t been working out so well so you’re probably dealing with some issues here. You just can’t believe anything you hear over the computer and when she vanishes Kevin would be my first suspect too. Sure he has an emotional sob story he explains over the computer and he’s been through a tough time but what would make me believe any of it? I’m telling you I’m just too jaded for online dating and a film like this one sort of just underscores the point even more. Whether he ends up being the villain or not, you just think about what could have been.

Actually that does remind me of one more scene that was a bit plot convenient. It involves a shootout that seems to escalate a little too quickly. Especially with the stakes involves you figure that this just wouldn’t happen. It still can and does happen at times in real life so it’s not a big thing, just a small thought. It felt a little convenient and I would have bought into the person tripping a little more readily.

The film is fairly serious the whole time so the brief bouts of humor from Javier and Veena are nice little icebreakers here. Javier is someone June hires to help her find some clues and he really does a good job. The guy is trying really hard and you like his determination because he clearly doesn’t have a ton of money and is trying to earn a little extra on the side. He’s got an old fashioned bike while everyone has a moped so he’s definitely at a disadvantage but doesn’t give up. Then you have June’s friend Veena who is good for moral support. She can maybe be a bit oblivious to context clues like treating the case as if it was a TV episode though.

Overall, Missing is a very solid movie. The mystery will definitely have you engaged and invested from start to finish. There are a lot of twists and turns here and I can safely say that I didn’t guess the whole mystery. It’s a fairly small cast so statistically you have a decent chance of picking out who the villain is but picking it out through logic as opposed to by chance will likely be difficult. The film does give you a fair amount of clues though so the whole thing feels fair. My main gripe with mystery films can be when they just make it up and so this film dodges that completely. You’ll end up being satisfied with the reveal as well as the conclusion. Missing is really a complete package all the way around. I’ll definitely be up for more films in this style. I feel like the next logical step is to have the main character be kidnapped this time but she has her phone or laptop with her and so she can communicate but her gps has been deactivated somehow. So she has to try and find someone to help her but of course it’s tough when you don’t know where you are. Who knows, maybe the studio will consider this idea!

Overall 7/10

All The Money in the World

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This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

It’s time for a film about a pretty big kidnapping back in the day. Now this was a while ago so if you aren’t familiar with the Getty family then you shouldn’t feel bad about it. I know about the people here but nothing about the kidnapping. Can’t say I even knew this was a thing that had happened back in the day so the film does a good job of telling the events here. Naturally I can’t speak to the historical accuracy of everything here but it was a good movie at any rate.

The movie starts with John getting kidnapped after hanging out in a rough part of town. I’m not sure exactly what he was doing there, maybe just trying to prove a point like he was strong or something? Either way it was not a good move in the slightest and just ended up getting him into a lot of trouble. After he is kidnapped, the kidnappers contact his mother Gail for millions of dollars. She has no funds but they want her to contact John’s grandfather Paul. Paul is the richest man in the world and apparently at the time he also became the richest person in the history of the world. So in theory he could pay the fee in an instant but chooses not too and instead hires an ex CIA agent named Fletcher to find and recover John. Fletcher is to work with Gail on this while keeping her out of the loop and as you can expect she is not happy in the slightest. Every minute they don’t pay the ransom is another minute of her son being in danger. Can the heroes win the day?

Paul ends up being one of the main antagonists in the film. Now of course he’s not as bad as the kidnappers for obvious reasons but the film makes it abundantly clear that saving John isn’t one of his priorities. He wants to keep his money at all costs and won’t be giving any out. Now, there are some valid arguments he makes but they all start to slip out of the window as we see more of his true self. So you can’t really defend the guy and he just turned out to be no good. The scene where he tries to shake Gail dry out of any money and taking away her kids showed exactly where his true loyalties lay. money was all that he cared about.

Now before the mask fell off and we saw his true face, here’s why I thought it was reasonable not to pay the random initially. Apparently Paul has over 15 different children around the world and it makes sense that it would inspire a lot of copycat crimes if he was to pay the ransom. He would end up losing his money quickly but more importantly it would also put the children in danger. Additionally, he gets many fake kidnapping letters and constant letters asking for money. Determining if the kidnapping was real and who actually needs help isn’t easy. It is a legitimate problem of being rich. Again, it goes out the window later on but initially it actually makes sense.

Likewise with hiring Fletcher on the downlow. It at least seemed like Paul was trying to get to the bottom of this but ultimately that’s just not how things played out. John goes through a rather tough ordeal for the entire film so there’s not much to say about him. He’s on the run the whole time and just trying to survive. Of course with hindsight you can recommend different options to him but he did well in escaping multiple times and there just wasn’t really anywhere to go.

Meanwhile Gail did a good job the whole time. She tries to earn the money through many different tactics and it’s just hard. She’s going up against everyone since she really doesn’t have a ton of support. Paul doesn’t want to give any money after all and while the general public may help with a kickstarter if this was in 2022, you can’t expect to raise millions of dollars that way. Emotionally she is absolutely taken to the breaking point as well but always stays strong. She keeps it together in public even when the paparazzi tell her to cry. They definitely seem as unhinged as always which seems like a really accurate representation from what I’ve seen.

As for Fletcher, I would say he was the MVP here. A lot of developments would not have been possible without him taking an extra close interest in the case. He was the guy that Gail needed to have her back and he did when the chips were down. Even if it meant putting his job on the line and going against his boss, he helped her out. He’s a very likable guy without a doubt. The guy stands his ground and does what he thinks is right in all situations.

There are a lot of good politics going on here between the characters. For the most part nobody likes each other but you have to put on some kind of a polite pretense or you won’t be getting far at all. Gail does a great job with this when dealing with Paul since I’m sure she would love to just absolutely crush the guy if given a choice. She has to play ball because she needs the money and knows how to play the long game. So she also deserves a whole lot of credit here. Nobody ever wants to be put into this situation and it’s why you won’t have any sympathy for any of the kidnappers. There’s one who tries to be a little nicer but at the end of the day if you’re in this line of work then there is really no hope for you. I know situations can be tough and maybe you’re in the wrong spot but at no point can I find any room to have sympathy for this guy. Some career choices just have no room for that and human trafficking and kidnapping absolutely falls into that.

Overall, This was a very interesting movie. It draws your attention and especially if you don’t know how the events concluded it will get very suspenseful. They pulled no punches with this film and I appreciated that. Now some parts can get a little intense like I would have cut out the ear scene personally. I know that’s likely a big part of the story but it’s the only part that really gets gruesome while this is mostly an emotional mental thriller. Even if John gets out alive by the end, you know that he will never be quite the same after this. You just don’t fully recover when you’ve been through the wringer like that but you hope he will mostly be okay and it still beats the alternative.

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) Review

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It’s time for the remake to the film I just reviewed. When you watch both of these films back to back you can really compare their strengths and see which one comes out on top. Ultimately I would say this one definitely beat the original. Both of them are solid and so I wouldn’t say the gap is big or anything but I was really able to get behind the remake. I felt like the main characters were stronger and with the added time you could do a lot more. Although ironically the villains have almost 0 development.

The film starts with Ben and Jo on vacation with their son Hank. They’ve had a pretty fun time of it so far and have a few more stops left. They nearly get into a fight with someone on the bus though when Hank steals something from a lady. They are saved by the intervention of a guy named Louis who is eager to know everything he can about Ben. He asks a ton of questions and every time Jo tries to ask him something the guy ignores or and asks Ben some more questions. Ben loves talking about himself so this is a fine set up for him. After telling Louis where they are staying, how long they will be staying and where they will go next, Louis leaves.

Jo warns Ben that he’s making some big mistakes with giving all the info away but Ben’s confident he’ll be okay. Louis ends up getting murdered but quickly tosses Ben a note. Ben thinks about telling the police but then he gets a call warning him not to tell them anything or Hank will die. Turns out that they swiped Hank away under the guise of a nice neighbor taking him home. Ben tries to gently break the news to Jo but she doesn’t take it very well. The two of them are going to need to try and track Hank down but it’ll be difficult since they aren’t exactly used to dealing with the underground. All they’ve got as a clue is a location from the note.

Like in the first film we get the return of the Church led by one of the villains. This time they aren’t worshipping the Sun though so it’s not quite as outlandish. It’s interesting because this could have been game set and match for the villains if there was any way to leave the Church without being noticed. Unfortunately for the heroes that isn’t exactly possible. In a small setting like that, everyone notices when you get up and the villains have a plan for everything. It was fun to see the various stare downs in there as well.

This time around we don’t get a big shootout climax. In fact, the climax is very low key with things happening quickly but quietly. The ending just sort of happens as we cut away from what would have presumably been the full climax. It’s a solid ending but I do think the first movie has the edge in that area. I was glad Ben went for the shove at one point since it’s always something I feel more heroes should do. Look, if you are being held at gun point and the guy is at your side instead of behind you, just quickly shove into him.

At that angle he can’t hit you in the head and a heart shot is unlikely. So now you’ve got him on the ground and even if you’re wounded perhaps you can hold him down until someone arrives to help. At the very least Hank is safe no matter what so you’ve accomplished your main objective. It’s certainly a whole lot better than just accepting your inevitable death. Because if you follow this guy into a car or a dark alley that’s all that awaits you. At least this way you have a chance.

Hank doesn’t do a whole lot in this film. He’s just a kid after all so he gets kidnapped and tricked but that’s about it. Jo’s a solid main heroine. I wish she wouldn’t panic quite as much when she learns about Hank going missing but after that initial scene she handles the rest of it pretty well. She was key in helping out at the opera as well as executing the big plan at the end involving her songs. She took a fairly large role in getting Hank to safety.

The same can be said for Ben who does his best to take on this criminal enterprise. He may not have experience but he’s got determination which is important. In this version of the film he’s with Jo a lot more while in the first film he was teaming up with the older fellow. The change makes sense since this way both parents get a sizable role here.

As mentioned before, the villains aren’t very memorable though. You have the old lady who starts to think that maybe she’s on the wrong side here. It’s way too late if you ask me though. She was completely fine with kidnapping the child and it was obvious what would happen to Hank in the end. Getting cold feet now doesn’t make her more heroic. The other villains are mainly just here as part of the story but don’t have a lot of character. At best you have the friend of the prime minister who had an interesting personality. He certainly doesn’t excuse failure a whole lot but as a political head he can’t go around shooting people either so he’s in a bit of a bind.

Overall, This was a pretty solid remake. The writing was very good as expected and I thought the characters were an improvement over the first film except that the villains were not memorable. The film had a little more humor than the first film and it all landed pretty well. One of the better gags was the main characters having to rush out all the time to the confusion of their friends and family who had gone over to have some fun with them. It wasn’t quite the house party they had in mind that’s for sure. I’d recommend checking this one out. Unless you want to compare both titles directly and just want to watch one, I would say this is the definitive version of the movie to check out.

Overall 7/10

The Man Who Knew Too Much Review

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Whenever you know too much it can be tricky. Knowledge is hidden away for a reason after all and when you find out what it is, you’ve just put yourself in a whole lot of danger. It’s something that the lead characters learn quickly here although it’s not knowledge that they tried to learn so you can’t blame them. It’s a pretty solid suspense thriller with a surprisingly action packed climax.

The movie starts with Bob and Jill enjoying a nice vacation with their daughter Betty. Unfortunately Betty does wreck Jill’s chances of winning a shootout though by causing a lot of noise and distractions. She was goaded on by another character but it was still a tragic way to start the day. Bob and Jill head back in to have a good time but then a mysterious person they didn’t know very well hands Bob a letter and quickly gets murdered. Bob is about to tell the police about this when he reads the letter and sees that it’s a threat. If he tells anyone what he knows then Betty will die.

Bob confirms that Betty is gone and so this threat cannot be taken lightly. Bob needs to find these guys and fast so he heads out with Clive. The reason for urgency is that the cops are slowly gaining ground on the villains as well and if they do catch them, the antagonists may believe that Bob spilled the beans and take out Betty. The heroes will have to go to some dangerous places and dark alleys to find them. Meanwhile Jill has to do her best to stop another assassination attempt from taking place.

There’s a lot going on here which is something you always want to be able to stay about a thriller. Bob goes to different places from street corners to dentists to corrupt churches. In the dentist scene I was impressed with how he turned the situation around. Usually when the villain grabs their tube and starts to hit you with the knockout gas, the character will immediately fall to the ground and have no tolerance for the stuff. It’s not a very impressive look for them but Bob was able to rip it off and take the villain down. Now that was impressive.

In general I thought Bob was very good. He did a lot of the legwork in trying to find Betty and put himself in peril many times. He didn’t crumble under the pressure and kept a cool head about everything. His partner Clive also deserves a lot of credit for sticking with him on the adventures. He had a particularly rough time at the dentist’s office and was still able to keep it moving. He was certainly a loyal companion.

Meanwhile you also have Jill doing her best to handle this. We saw in the opening scene that she is good with a gun so the whole time you’re waiting for the payoff on this. Fortunately it does arrive and as the film’s climax is a giant shootout, that makes sense. This way each character got to contribute which was good. Only Betty didn’t I suppose but as a kid there’s not a whole lot she could do. The villains treated her pretty well at least so the experience wasn’t too traumatic.

The climax was extremely explosive though which is still surprising. The villains decide that they won’t go out without a fight and the nonstop shooting between the heroes and villains commences. The police didn’t look very impressive with their counter strategies though. If you see that your guys are going down one after the other you should probably rethink your strategy of plunging forward. They don’t and so by the end of the film a few villains have managed to take down almost 2 dozen cops. That was pretty crazy and I wish we had seen more tactics.

The main villain here is Abbott who looks shifty from the start. I think it’s safe to say that you’ll figure he is the villain almost as soon as he appears. You have the sinister music/atmosphere when he shows up and there aren’t a whole lot of other suspects anyway. Abbott does make for a good villain though. He seems a little insane but that’s not surprising for a villain like this. He’s the brains of the operation and the rest of the villains are fairly expendable to him. He made it pretty far in this plan.

The only character who didn’t seem to have much of a clue the whole time was Louis. I dunno, I suppose the whole thing wasn’t his fault since he had a mission to achieve but it felt like he didn’t act too cautiously. You’d never know that he was a professional agent with the risks he took. The guy thought he was James Bond with how he would party and hang out. I’m mixed on him since a decent amount of that may have been his cover. If he could have taken a few villains down before going out that would have helped.

The film is very strong all around though. The characters are good and the script is really solid. I’ve probably said this a thousand times but I love the good banter in the old school titles with the heroes and villains. There’s always a very fake polite type dialogue going on between them. If you read the text through an emotionless machine you could think the characters were friends but it’s all in how they talk to each other. The pacing is on point as well.

Overall, The Man Who Knew Too Much is a solid thriller. It is pretty tense with the child being kidnapped and all. We also get some rather atmospheric locations like the fake church. The characters balancing their attempts to save their kid while also being subtle or they will put her in more danger was effective. The cops also looked decent here as they were beginning to find Abbott, I just wish they had looked better in the climax. There’s no scenario where running into a stronghold filled with guns is a good idea without some kind of cover. You gotta be ready to adjust and then fight back.

Overall 7/10

Séance on a Wet Afternoon Review

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It’s time to look at an old film about a couple of insane people trying to see what’s worse, being an insane criminal or being a gutless accomplice. The two of them duke it out for the whole film on which character is worse. For my money I’m going with the accomplice because at least the villain is straight forward with this. The accomplice is always offering some justifications and half heartedly saying they should stop. This is definitely a film that drags on for quite a bit so be prepared.

The movie starts with Myra hosting another seance with a group of her friends. Afterwards she tells Billy that it’s time to enact their plan. They’re going to kidnap a kid and will hold her for ransom for a while. Once the cops are unable to turn up any leads she will use her fake psychic powers to tell them where the kid is. At that point she will be rich and famous just like she’s always wanted. Her husband Billy is less sure of the plan but he’s not even sure of his own sanity so Myra sends him to get the job done. Kidnapping the girl is criminally easy because everyone is negligent in this film so once they have the girl Myra gets her plan into action. The only tricky part is that aside from every part of the plan being pretty insane Myra’s own fragile psyche is getting worse and worse. Soon she may not even be able to speak rationally.

Obviously I don’t have a whole lot of respect for these two characters. Myra is portrayed as insane from the start and is just super lucky that she has Billy here. He does whatever she said. Even when she turns off the music and Billy sees her do it, she just says that he did and he accepts this. Billy accepts whatever Myra says to pretty crazy degrees. The whole opening scenes are basically just Myra making a long speech and doing whatever she wants and telling Billy he better agree to it. These scenes are a chore to get through in part because of her but definitely because of Billy.

Billy is one of the most annoying characters in a while because the guy just acts defeated in every single scene. He somehow is able to pull off the kidnapping and stealing the money despite all of this which is a stretch. What kind of designated driver for a super rich family just leaves the car alone and unlocked with the key in the ignition when a stranger is there? The whole thing was super suspect and he should have taken the kid with him. Billy had no real backup plan either so the whole thing was based on a lot of luck.

The villains are also asking to be foiled the whole time by doing things like having a seance with one of the parents while the kid is right upstairs. The room also didn’t seem very sound proof either and the kid should have done something. That would have been a tougher spot but yelling a bit would be ideal. The only good characters here are the parents. I’m glad that the father wasn’t falling for the supernatural nonsense. The Mom gave the main characters a little more of a chance and got pretty emotional but I won’t blame her either since the situation is so intense.

Going back to the plan though, even if Myra did use her “abilities” to find the kid it’s not like the cops would believe her. That would just throw even more suspicion on Myra being the one to kidnap her since she was already making that point pretty obvious early on. At the end Myra even wants to murder the kid and that would really seal her fate. That’s the thing with having main characters like this though, it’s never going to make sense in the end.

Ultimately the film doesn’t go for the ultimate grim ending which is good because that would have been an easy way to hit 0. The ending isn’t bad but it doesn’t help the rest of the film. The whole scene of Myra cracking in the climax as she talks to herself goes on for a very long time and it’s all nonsense so you wish the film would just gloss over it. Since we know she is crazy from the jump I think it’s fair for us to just skip the scenes entirely. You already get the point of the film. The cops did good even if the one detective should have been more confident. I liked the code of how they would pretend to be talking about a car radio while trying to identify Billy as the thief from earlier. The detectives did a lot of beating around the bush and passive aggressive talk but at the end of the day they got the job done and that’s what counts.

Overall, This is definitely a movie that I would advise you to avoid. There’s really nothing positive to say about it. The whole movie is very slow and the main problem here is that all of the focus is on the main two characters and they’re not likable in the slightest. They’re just petty criminals who are also insane and I think it’s pretty much impossible to have a quality film about such leads. The film should have been from the focus of the detective or the cops. That would have made for a much more interesting story at least and the film would have been better off with that change.

Overall 2/10