A_Different_Drummer

For Browning fans. Now in her late 30s, she is only getting better, and in this film -- which relies on her charisma to keep it moving -- she is starting to give off an Audrey Hepburn vibe. Lately, his reviewer has been keeping a list of "under-exposed" actors -- actors who, for reviewers of the future, will be considered to be have under-used through their careers. The odd thing is that most of the names on this list are Aussies -- Eric Bana, Joel Edgerton, and of course Browning. Browning's performance as "Dead Girl" in American Gods remains one of the most memorable of the period. The plot here is a loose riff on the time-traveling hot-tub story, and it is not as polished as it could be. But Browning keeps the film moving, and viewers engaged. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

First of all, it is a hard film to like and, given the talent both in front of and behind the camera, it should not be. It almost failed the 20 minute test (where you walk away if the film does not hook you in 20 mins) because it is dull as dirt for the first 19 minutes. And the writing team does not seem to grasp that, if the protagonist suffers, so does the audience. There is a lot of suffering here to go around. On the other hand, Penn is brilliant, nails the character. And there an unforgettable trope (even for jaded film reviewers) where a smiling chatty woman in an amusement park approaches Penn as if she is an innocent bystander and he suddenly smacks her into next week. As she drops unconscious, the audience sees the hidden hypo in her fist .. and gets it. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

In 2012, Statham's career was peaking and he was being placed in progressively wilder and more extreme movies. This script is one of the nuttiest of all, basically a Luc Besson movie without Luc. If I were to list all the paradoxes and contradictions, we would be here all day. Even this cynical and shopworn reviewer was astonished at how quickly the "backstory" was run just after the opening credits, in a series of clips, and BANG the action starts. Overall, I preferred that approach to the current fascination with jumping back and forth in time, without subtitles, leaving the viewer to guess what the timeline is. It is a fun film, raising mindlessless to new heights. Here in 2025, trust me, we could use more films like this. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))