Movies: Turkey Day Trifecta

Thanksgiving Weekend Movie Review-a-palooza! Let us begin:

Bolt

This is one of the first Walt Disney Animation features to bear the mark of the Pixar-Disney merger. Producer John Lasseter, after becoming Disney's Chief Creative Officer, reportedly changed much of the story and tone of the movie, to great effect. What might have become yet another soulless CGI kids film is now a competent entry in the Disney stable.

It's about a dog named Bolt who believes he has super powers, but is actually just playing the role of a superdog on a TV show. The premise is part "Truman Show," part "Toy Story":



It's not Pixar-good (the second and third acts don't break any molds), but it doesn't really aim to be. See it in 3D if possible - I have a feeling that a lot of my enjoyment of "Bolt" stems from the slam-bang opening sequence; the chases and explosions are just more viscerally satisfying when they seem like they're right in front of you.

Rating: 7/10 (6/10 in non-3D theaters)

Live Free or Die Hard

Sly Stallone isn't the only one to revive long-dead action movie franchises. In "Live Free or Die Hard," the fourth entry in the series, Bruce Willis stars as John McClane. He's thrust into a new crisis against new foes...but has the world changed too much for Mr. McClane to matter?



The big controversy here is that the rating of "Live Free or Die Hard" is PG-13, meaning the violence and profanity had to be toned down considerably. But really, I don't think that decision hurts the film as much as its reduction of McClane's character into little more than an emotionless killing machine.

The first film succeeded because it was about an average NY cop against 12 well-armed, well-trained opponents. In this one, you never once feel like John's in any real danger, and as the action setpieces ramp up into absurdity, it turns what should be an edge-of-your-seat ride into just another big-budget spectacle. Additionally, there's a serious case of Generic Villain here - someone should just cast Alan Rickman again as Hans Gruber's twin brother or something and be done with it.

Rating: 5/10

Bad Boys

A lot of people underestimate how hard it is to make a good action movie, so it's sobering to look at the first "Bad Boys" as a case study. Here we have two gifted comic actors (both of whom had popular sitcoms at the time the movie was in production), a famous action director, a script that hits all the usual buddy cop points ("Lethal Weapon" redux), and even Joe Pantoliano. Can't miss, right?




Even with all the trappings, though, the meat of an action movie - fight scenes, chase scenes, shootouts, big stunts - is sadly lacking here. Michael Bay would refine his craft a bit in "The Rock," but compared to the real action greats, he's still got a lot to learn. The final shootout in "Bad Boys," for instance, lacks coherent geography (a strength in James Cameron films), pacing (Peckinpah's specialty), and emotion (John Woo's specialty).

Rating: 5/10