MortalFrailty Reviews

Gone Baby Gone (2007)

Keeps you guessing, in a good way.

[8/10 · 21 March 2019]

This is a crime drama thriller done right. I absolutely adore crime drama movies & thrillers ever since I saw Heat in theater as a 15yo kid and The Game (17yo). The game has some flaws, but I'd argue that Heat is a cinema masterpiece the likes of which few attain because of the magical combination of acting talent, excellent script/plot, action scenes executed so realistic and raw, and cinematography and a soundtrack all worth mentioning.

I digress- Gone Baby Gone (2007) came along before Prisoners (2013), but does a fantastic job of melding the realistic, gritty look and sound of Boston. Ben Afleck later went on to do The Town, which is also a good Boston crime drama, but he has a better combination here of more suspense, tighter writing, and a really good storyline that will keep you guessing- in a good way!

Ben's brother, Casey Affleck shines in this role, and embodies the disgruntled Boston kid who's trying to make an honest buck and get out of the life he was doomed to live as most Bostonians (as depicted well in this, The Wire, The Town, etc.). Every actor and actress cast here fits the part well and adds deeper layers to the simple plot. Ed Harris brings his A game as always, a great supporting role by MIchelle Monaghan, who is finding crime drama's a comfortable zone with True Detective, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Machine Gun Preacher), and Morgan Freeman (who borderline plays a believable role as a police captain that isn't just Morgan Freeman being Morgan Freeman). It was also cool to see a handful of The Wire (heralded as one of, if not the, best TV crime dramas) alum appear here as they fit right in.

Just when you think the movie is wrapping up and the plot has taken a turn you expect, it veers off course.

8/10 stars for an enjoyable thriller that examines what it truly means to do what's right, and living with the choices we make: good or bad.

Mojave (2015)

Not great, but still more interesting than most films these days...

[7/10 · 20 March 2019]

This film reaches for some dark corners of the dramatic universe, has some superb acting talent involved, cinematography above par, but a story that doesn't quite hold up.

Pros: Oscar Isaac, Garrett Hedlund, Walton Goggins. I've yet to see anything that these actors didn't disappoint in (with exception of the Star Wars movie sequels with Issac's Poe Dameron...). These actors give performances worth viewing, if you can deal with the plot.

There are some moments of visuals and cinematography where they mesh to provide brief glimpses into what could have been a great modern thriller, btu they don't quite linger.

Cons: The writing. William Monahan has given some us some phenomenal works in film, such as The Departed or Body of Lies; however, he can be hit or miss with works such as Kingdom of Heaven or Edge of Darkness, which are arguably successful (with the former) and loved by some. Mojave doesn't quite attain the level of drama it is trying to evoke, but it comes close.

I give this a 7/10 for the surprise cameo roles and the potential this one had to be a great thriller classic. The score & tighter writing could have brought this score much higher. I still enjoyed the movie though, and didn't fast forward like some other stinkers that are ranked 5/10 stars here on IMDB.

Triple Frontier (2019)

The Best Netflix Original Movie Yet.

[8/10 · 13 March 2019]

Netfix has a lot of good original TV shows, but very few good original movies.

Triple Frontier, however, breaks that mold and gives a powerful flick with a great cast, huge budget, great special effects, and solid writing.

Pros: some meaningful and noticeably great cinematography with lots of jungle, mountain and village/favela environments that are reminiscent or similar crime drama/military flicks such as Sicario or City of God (Cidade de Deus). Here, we have a lot of scenery that we've seen before in similar set movies, but we god some interesting angles and shots beyond the usual- nothing stellar, but great nonetheless.

The cast is solid with red hot star Oscar Isaac (Drive, Ex Machina, Annihilation, Star Wars sequel trilogy), who continues to deliver intense and memorable performances in whatever he appears in, as the lead in a special ops role close to retirement who is seeing the writing on the wall for his deteriorating physical ability and lack of rewards/long-term pay-off for his years of military service and private sector work. He gathers his former spec ops buddies to lay out a plan (off the book, they come to realize) to make a lot of money, take out a drug lord, and put their unique skill set to use to get some retirement money they feel they've 'earned' over the course of their dangerous, war-torn lives.

Ben Affleck (Batman DCU universe, The Acountant, Argo, The Town) co-stars in a role that has a great character arc who has tried to put his military and private security background to rest, yet is coming up short in the 'real world' with a failed marriage, disappointing his daughter, and hating his real estate job that he sees as fruitless. Ben has become comfortable in dark roles as a man who's seen his fair share of killing and violence, and he pulls it off again here. He's reluctant to get on board with this potential secret mission, but eventually helps prepare a plan to successfully navigate this highly difficult mission where the risks are high and potentially deadly and criminal if they are caught. Ben's character eventually dives in head-first and becomes the most eager to grab as much cash to help his bills, college for his kid, and divorce costs.

The rest of the cast here is very strong: Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy, Papillon, Pacific Rim) is getting better with his English accent and is more believable as a tough guy/military role as he continues to play these characters, and he gets more screen time he to shine as the conscience of the group who can't help but keep track of numbers (kills, military recruiting speeches, missions, etc). Garrett Hedlund also continues to shine in his performances- I've always dug his charisma in his roles, like in Tron: Legacy, Death Sentence & Mudbound. Hedlund play's Hunnam's younger brother, a military guy turned MMA fighter who tends to enjoy the thrills of fighting, flashier liefstyle, and is the youngest in the group of experienced warriors. Pedro Pascal nicely rounds out the main cast as the military pilot of the group- a man seeking to put the wars and killing behind him as he focuses on his family and young child. Like the rest though, he cananot help but be lured by a job that could prove very rewarding for his life outside military and private contracts. We don't get any performances that are groundbreaking here, but we get believable character-driven parts that fulfills the plot perfectly.

The writing is strong, and the unique premise for this heist movie is not the logistics and means of pulling off the score, but also killing a drug lord if possible, rescuing some locals wrapped up in the drug life (Isaac's inside connection to the intel he has for the mission), and literally escaping with more money than they imagined being inside this target location. The realistic issue of transporting the amount of weight ($250 million... just what they take) is presented as an absolute ongoing issue as the men struggle with their vehicles, animals, on foot, and later injuries and running low on supplies and energy. They realize that the initial plan and scope of the mission is more than they intended, and the greed pushes some of the characters to forego their training and instincts in making rash or quick decisions that later come back to bit them in the end. The main characters are written well and their military actions with regards to motions, maneuvers, and lingo are also believable for the most part.

The special effects are great here- the budget is noticeable with large scale environments, huge scenes with extras and military hardware that are all realistic and closely detailed by what seems to be some military advisors behind the scenes. There are good chase scenes, sprawling and beautiful environments, and I will add a somewhat memorable score (something Netflix originals tend to really struggle with).

Cons: Very few here! The characters momentarily fall into tropes of movies past with similar circumstances, but the writing saves them from being completely stereotypical. The movie progressed in ways I did not expect, and yet I was not disappointed, which is a testament to the writing and cast performances. I feel like some key cinematography that changed some camera angles for close-ups or lingered in some important moments (like the village elder in a precarious position who cannot help but go along with the situation in front of him) would've made this film even better and help it to go down as not just one of the best Netflix films but something that would grow beyond it.

I gave it an 8/10 stars and definitely recommend this for anyone who likes these actors (they all deliver) and really likes crime dramas, war movies, heist films, and suspense.

Mine (II) (2016)

Don't Step on this Trap of a War Movie

[4/10 · 12 March 2019]

If you enjoy war movies and military films, you will be enticed to check this out as I did on a day off. Boy did I regret it! I had seen this pop up in my recommended movies due to recently seeing The Wall (also a simple concept war film that's pulled off significantly better), Hold The Dark (another Netflix original that attempts to copy Wind River with some slasher/horror elements, but fails, with does have some interesting war backstory sprinkled in), and Kilo Two Bravo (the real war movie based on a true story, with lots of land mines, that you want to watch instead of Mine).

The Pros: A character-driven story of what a trained marine could go through mentally and physically while stuck putting pressure on a land mine after seeing his buddy get killed right in front of him by the very same thing.

This movie has some decent special effects, from the sandstorms to the pyrotechnics and other CGI. The feral dogs that attack our main character soldier, Mike, are iffy in some brief parts but they are kept in the dark ala The Grey with Liam Neeson.

The Cons: The interesting story of 1 man standing on a bomb for the majority of the film falls flat on the lack of acting chops of Armie Hammer. If this movie had a different, better caliber lead, this film would've been much better as it relies almost completely on Armie's character of Mike to carry the narrative in flashbacks and his struggle to stay awake, stay balanced keeping pressure on his foot, and surviving dehydration, hallucinations from sun stroke/heat. Armie's acting just isn't enough to carry this film as a result as he's a rather 1 dimensional good-looking face with stiff acting versatility.

The acting of all the side characters don't fare any better and therefore the movie just feels like the cheap, straight -to-dvd/Redbox release that it is, basically.

The writing is sub-par. The things that Mike does throughout his ordeal of standing on a mine are ridiculous, simply put. SPOILER: Mike is shown at the end to take the step of faith to get off the mine after being shot several times (yes, multiple shots from an AK or high-powered rifle), after being bit by rabid dogs, and being dehydrated & suffering from likely heat stroke (why is he not wearing his scarf over his head or his dead buddy's hat to shield the sun?), but it is revealed the mine was actually a tin can all along. As a result, we are not really shocked because the numerous times that Mike falls, stands, gets shot, stumbles, throws punches at his hallucinations of his abusive father, etc. all would trigger the mine time and again if this were a real thing. Now, suspension of disbelief is one thing, as we do this in many movies when reality is stretched, but if you're a war movie buff, you just can't buy into this as Mike time and again does something physically that would cause the pressure to set off the pressure detonation.

I gave it 5 out of 10 stars for some moments of creativity in what the character could possibly experience while in this limited position and hostile environment, but as it dragged on, I just felt compelled to watch The Wall or Kilo Two Bravo again instead.