AUDIO: Hear Tim’s review of the film with Tom Barnard on “The KQ Morning Show.” Segment begins 2 minutes in.
“Adrift” (PG-13)
Just in time for hurricane season, Hollywood is reminding movie fans over the peril ahead in “Adrift,” an action adventure melded with a love story based on a harrowing true story from 35 years ago.
Shailene Woodley and Sam Clafin star as Tami Oldham and Richard Sharp, a free-spirited engaged couple who take on a job to navigate a yacht from Tahiti to San Diego as a way to fund their own worldwide sailing aspirations. Their trek takes a disastrous turn, however, when they encounter a rare Pacific hurricane, which ravages their vessel, leaving it sailing adrift with no help in sight.
“Adrift,” while thrilling at times is not necessarily a thriller … there’s no adverting sharks or the like, just the cruel reality of being left with little food and water that becomes the danger, and the disastrous effects that can result from it. Instead, “Adrift” is more of a love story as the film hops back and forth with lots of flashbacks (perhaps too many for its own good), telling how the couple met and the events leading up to the devastating storm.
“Adrift” is just over an hour and a half but it feels longer than that, because, you must remember, there’s an undeniable feeling of hopelessness that comes along with a damaged boat floating aimlessly with nothing but the sight of the ocean around it. Thankfully, Woodley and Clafin both turn in admirable performances to keep the film afloat, along with an inspiring coda detailing the plight of the real-life couple.
Lammometer: 7 (out of 10)
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for The KQ92 Morning Show,” “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC), WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere.
“The Divergent Series: Allegiant, Part 1” (PG-13) 1 1/2 stars (out of four)
A promising big screen adaptation of the “Divergent” book trilogy hits the wall full-force with “The Divergent Series: Allegiant – Part 1,” a dull and predictable first act in the four movie saga. A familiar-feeling tale akin to “The Hunger Games,” “Allegiant” appears to be heading to an even worse big-screen fate than its literary predecessor “Mockingjay.”
Shailene Woodley is back as Tris in the post-apocalyptic city of Chicago, where the city’s residents are no longer divided into five factions based on different virtues: Abnegation (those who are selfless), Amity (peaceful), Candor (honest), Dauntless (fearless) and Erudite (intelligent). The system was an devised to prevent anyone willfully acting out on their own and threatening the other residents of the city.
However, when an uprising against the system (detailed in the second film) yields unpredictable results, Tris and her Divergent companion, Four (Theo James), along with a small group escaped the towering walls of the city to discover high-tech facility housed at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, where they discover they’ve been part of an experiment – and it’s not over yet.
While the first “Divergent” posed an interesting premise and the sequel, “Insurgent,” maintained that promise, “Allegiant – Part 1” has just turned plain silly. Once gritty and engaging, the series makes a jarring shift into a sleek, plastic sci-fi film with the new film, where even the actors seem bored. The acting is terrible and even stalwarts like Jeff Daniels, the architect of the experiment, seems to be phoning in his performance. The filmmakers and actors for “Part 2” have some serious work cut out for them if they’re to salvage the series.
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“Eye in the Sky” (R) 3 1/2 stars (out of 4)
An intense debate over the costs of a deadly but necessary military action plays out in the deeply compelling “Eye in the Sky,” an expertly-directed war thriller by Oscar-winning filmmaker Gavin Hood. Helen Mirren is at her best as Katherine Powell, a no-nonsense British military colonel who after six years ferrets out a group of high-level Al Shabaab terrorists holed up in Kenya. But when the mission turns from capture to kill as it’s discovered two of the members are being prepared for a suicide bombing, a crisis of conscience arises as an innocent 9-year-old girl wanders into the kill zone to likely become a victim of collateral damage.
Aaron Paul also stars as an American drone pilot wrestling with dread as he prepares to pull the trigger on the mission; and Alan Rickman appears in his final big-screen role as decisive British general trying to get the go-ahead on the mission from a group of wishy-washy politicos.
“The Divergent Series: Insurgent” (PG-13) 3 stars (out of four)
The battle of the young adult, dystopian novels-turned-movies continues with “The Divergent Series: Insurgent,” the second in a four-film series that’s trying to keep up with the popularity of “‘The Hunger Games” phenomenon. And while “Insurgent” falls short of those aspirations again, there’s still enough in the movie to warrant fans’ attention.
Shailene Woodley returns as Tris in the post-apocalyptic city of Chicago, where the city’s residents are divided into five factions based on different virtues: Abnegation (those who are selfless), Amity (peaceful), Candor (honest), Dauntless (fearless) and Erudite (intelligent). The system is devised to prevent anyone willfully acting out on their own and threatening the other residents of the city.
Tris is seen as a danger because she transcends the categories as a Divergent, and at the end of the first film, she, along with her Divergent boyfriend Four (Theo James), began to threaten the regime established by the iron-fisted Jeanine (Kate Winslet).
In “Insurgent,” Jeanine has taken to extreme measures, first by eliminating an entire faction on her way to hunting down the Divergents – namely Tris and Four – who are now on the run. Her mission is to capture and eventually kill the Divergents; but first find the most powerful one and put him or her through a series of brutal psychological simulations in an effort to unlock the greatest mysteries of their society.
Unless you’ve recently watched “Divergent” again, it takes a bit of time to re-acclimate to the story and characters, but once the action kicks into high gear, “Insurgent” is a fairly engaging movie. Again, while “The Divergent Series” doesn’t hold a candle to the much more compelling “Hunger Games” films (although it boast much bigger and bolder special effects), there are enough interesting plot turns and unexpected character developments to make you wonder what’s going to happen next.
“The Gunman” (R) 2 1/2 stars (out of four)
Despite a great cast, “The Gunman,” the latest directorial effort from “Taken” helmer Pierre Morel feels, well, like another “Taken” — but this time substituting Sean Penn for Liam Neeson.
Penn stars as Jim Terrier, a contract mercenary who assassinates the minister of mines in the Congo. Asked to flee and leave his life – and girlfriend, Annie (Jasmine Trinca) – behind after pulling off the high-profile sniper job, Terrier returns to the Congo to work for a humanitarian organization eight years later, only to find that his past has caught up with him and somebody wants him dead.
After catching up with one of his former mercenaries, Cox (Mark Rylance), in London, Terrier skips over to Spain to relocate Felix (Javier Bardem) – only to learn that his former friend is now married to Annie. After finding out he was double-crossed by Felix in more ways than one, Terrier finds himself on the run once again, realizing Annie and another old mercenary friend, Stanley (Ray Winstone) are the only people he can trust.
It doesn’t take long for viewers to realize that Penn’s character in “The Gunman” has a “particular set of skills” a la Neeson’s Bryan Mills, and he knows how to use them despite a brain condition that occasionally forces him to stumble and fall. In a few obligatory shirtless scenes, Penn is certainly built up enough to take on the bad guys, and much like Neeson in the first “Taken,” has the gravitas to make his lethal actions seem believable.
Although the film has its share of intense moments punctuated scenes of ultra-violence, “The Gunman” ends up being a fairly predictable crime thriller. There’s no doubt that Morel has a handle on the genre, but in the end it feels like any number of different action films, with the exception being that it’s populated with great actors (including Idris Elba) who are trapped in the doldrums of a limiting plot.
Tim Lammers is a veteran entertainment reporter and a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association, and annually votes on the Critics Choice Movie Awards. Locally, he reviews films for “KARE 11 News at 11” and various Minnesota radio stations.
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