thekarmicnomad

This is one of those films where the trailer straight up tells you exactly what is going to happen - because the plot is completely stupid and pointless.

Mark Wahlberg is recruited by an old girlfriend who is now a member of a specialist organisation. She choices him because... Oh, it really doesn't matter.

The missions starts off well but then goes array.

Cars blow up, bad guys get gunned down and knocked off motorcycles.

Several times the good guys get caught in a predicament they have no means of escaping - but then escape anyway.

Cars blow up, bad guys get gunned down and knocked off motorcycles.

Big-Bad guy gets on Zoom to explain to the evil plan to everyone.

Cars blow up, bad guys get gunned down and knocked off motorcycles.

Mark takes his top off and Halle does some high kicks in skin-tight leather pants.

Cars blow up, bad guys get gunned down, and knocked off motorcycles.

Film ends.

Me and my wife watched this between playing on our phones and taking occasional naps.

It sounds like I am throwing a lot of shade at this film but to be fair this is what it was designed to be.

This was inoffensive, action packed and you could follow it using less processing power than required to tie your shoes.

If you are in to action films with a smattering of comedy and romance then you will probably love this.

We watched this on a dull Sunday evening and it did the job.

A film that does what it is designed to do but I didn't get excited about it.

I was around for the first movie and I wasn't impressed at the time, but I have warmed greatly to it over the years.

Now, for reasons known only to Hollywood, we have a sequel.

This is a fun attempt that ramps up the action - but didn't work for me on a few levels.

This is twice as expensive as the original but obviously the money does not go as far today.

The production is lower compared to the original.

Most sets are cheap and over-lit, the camera wobbles around and there are so many small errors like badly directed extras and shoddy edits it makes this feel like a kids Saturday morning show.

This feels like it is aimed at a very young audience and I found it jarringly unfunny and lacked all the charm of the original.

A lot of the jokes are just silly - people falling over or waving their hands in the air shouting.

There is a lot of adlib humour where people say dumb abstract things or narrate what is happening in a silly voice.

It is unclear what the actual story here is - the levels of animosity between the girls isn't really justified and everything could have been sorted out with a quick chat.

Rather than the characters learning something by viewing life through another's point of view they just talk it out in a number of tedious adlib therapy sessions. "Oh your mum died and that made you sad?" There is no point for the body swaps and how it happens is laughably clumsy.

The female cast is very strong and they all play their parts well but there really isn't a lot for them to do. The male lead is awful but then his character is a dry slice of toast that just pops up now and then to remind us he still exists.

This is not an awful movie but it is carrying a lot of expectations from the original.

I may be too old and haggard for this and perhaps a younger generation will enjoy it - but I expected more.

I was not expecting a lot from this but I was surprised.

I grew up watching Airplane and Naked Gun and I loved it - but looking back they were a little silly and exhausting.

You could watch those movies time and time again (great when there was not much TV) and notice something new but the constant barrage of jokes could get a bit much.

For the remake the number of jokes has been reduced: from say five a minute down to about two.

Liam Neeson is great here as he brings a certain layer of gravitas to the role that makes the jokes land heavier (I think Leslie Neilson was the same before type cast) and Pamela Anderson seemed like a strange choice but she is amazing here and again adds a bit of weight.

The film is, not surprisingly, absolutely ridiculous.

The old jokes of taking chairs and rabbit punching people in the balls are still there but extra layers have been added like nods to the old films and some modern cinema references - the film resolves around something literally called "PLOT device"

This was great fun and didn't out stay its welcome.

If you don't like the originals, you probably won't like this - but will find it more bearable.

I had great fun with this (my wife fell asleep) and I would happily watch it again on a plane or on a rainy Sunday.