G.I. Joe: Retaliation

 Movie Posters where people cease to look human

So, for some reason, 4 years ago a friend and I decided to go and see the first GI Joe movie, as kids we would play with the toys (only, in the UK, the toys were known as Action Force) and the cartoon was also a favourite of ours, so, what the hell, we saw the first movie! We walked away smiling like a pair of fools, sure it wasn’t going to be at the top of strokey chinned critics best of the year awards, but we loved it.

After 4 years, including a year delay, here comes the sequel, YO JOE!!!!!
The sequel sees the return of Channing Tatum as Duke and Ray Park as Snake Eyes plus a few others from the first movie, but centre stage this time is Dwayne Johnson (yeah The Rock) as Roadblock, D.J. Cotrona as Flint and Adrianne Palicki as Jaye. Not only all that but....Bruce motherfunking Willis as Joe himself! Ray Stevenson is bad guy Firefly with returning Byung-hun Lee as Storm Shadow also one of the host of villains on show. I really like Stevenson, his Punisher War Zone movie was brilliant.

Come on, be honest, it's really Michael Dudikoff in there isn't it

So the plot sees the Joe’s now established as the worlds leading military force, having to battle Cobra off the radar. The President, who in the last movie was replaced by Zartan in disguise, falsely sets the Joe’s up as a terroist threat and launches an attack on our heroes. Zartan sets about getting Cobra commander released from his prison cell and taking over the world, but with the Joes diminished how will they be able to save the world? maybe the original Joe might have a few ideas.

When he can't be bothered to walk from his trailer to set you can always call on weird mouthed CGI computer-game Bruce Willis to help you out!

So the acting is pretty good and people seem to be having fun with their characters, Johnson and Stevenson in particular, and of course Johnson looks the part as an army hero. I didn’t see the movie in 3D so I have no idea if the delay in converting to 3D was worth it. The story is a fun one with a genuinely disturbing scene for us Brits. Director Jon M. Chu does a pretty good job and balances the movie right and for his first action movie he didn’t do a bad job. The Ninja fights are edited a bit quick at times, probably more the editors fault, but overall I think it was pretty high quality directing, especially when you consider his last movie was a concert movie for Justin Bieber!
Oh how I hate you Bieber, you’ll never know how much. But its a lot.....really a lot.

Ooooh look at The Rock wielding his big weapon

Overall the movie reminded me a bit of a comic book version of a Mission Impossible movie, it may be a bit overlong for this type of film, but if you go in wanting to be entertained you should enjoy it. Johnson is a charismatic lead, the action is great and a lot grittier than the first movie, plus it has Ninja’s, and if you don’t like Ninja’s, let face it, you’re not truly appreciating life are you?

Hot chick. Check. Big gun. Check. Why aren't I watching this right now?

Its not going to live on in your memory as the greatest movie or action movie of the year, but its good fun nonetheless. Well I enjoyed it, but of course, I’m a Doctor of ACTION!!!
- The Doc

End Of Watch

So I really like police action movies and here is a new one written and directed by David Ayer, whose past credits include Training Day, which he wrote, and Street Kings, which he wrote and directed.  Ayer has a ton more on his CV that I also really enjoy.
It's split between found footage type camera and regular camera aka normal movie, so there is not an abundance of shaky cam.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena play Police officers, partners on duty and also best friends. We follow them over a period of time and there seems to be a genuine friendship onscreen. From each call out they start getting more well known throughout the LAPD and become the golden boys. With their careers progressing along with their personal lives nothing can go wrong. Every call out getting closer to a bigger fish in the pond, the boys have to start watching their backs.

I can't believe you got me to shave my head by saying you'd shave yours and then you didn't ahahahahaha!

The acting in this movie is first class, everyone from the top billed cops to the smallest speaking role are fantastic.
A particular stand out scene is a routine raid on a party where Gyllenhaal and the local drug lord have a few words and then a long stare at each other, the stare speaking louder than the words.

Pena Didn't know what to make of Gyllenhaal's experimental dance troupe

This movie is very well written and directed. Ayer seems to be the go to guy for LA cop movies but that is for a good reason, in my opinion the guy is a real talent. There is a fair amount of action in the movie ranging from fist fights to extremely well staged gunfights, the shaky cam really didn’t affect my enjoyment. That could be that it is not all found footage type storytelling.
The movie is very well paced, doesn’t drag and held my attention throughout.

See this movie for the acting, the action, a great story about friendship and what you’d do for a mate. I’m a big fan of David Ayer and his next movie is TEN starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. I get the feeling it will launch Ayer into the big big time and give Arnie his first non franchise hit in years but I hope The Tomb does it first.

I give End of Watch a huge huge thumbs up.
- The Doc

Welcome To The Punch - EXCLUSIVE Dr.Action preview prescription

I have just been to see an advanced screening of Welcome to the Punch release date 15/03/13 for the uk
It stars James McAvoy and Mark Strong with support from David Morrissey and Peter Mullan. It's the second movie from Eran Creevy.

So as a British, ahem, gentleman, let me first tell you that this is a British action thriller, yes British, so thats pretty great in itself. What do I think of the British movie industry? frankly and honestly? I can’t stand it. Ok if I liked kitchen sink dramas, East End cockney gangster movies and romantic comedies starring the latest dope, I’d love our film industry, but I don’t.
Lets not forget our endless need to make meaningful tosh to win awards and our actors who, seemingly, crave so much to win them, that's right Colin Firth I’m talking about you.
Its not so much the movies, its the ambition, why can’t we break free from the norm?
Step forward Mr Creevy, time to make an original action thriller thats not a remake of an old tv show (The Sweeney)

Thank god the missus convinced me to take that dance class

So here's a brief summary of the plot, McAvoy plays policeman Max Lewinsky who is hot on the heels of master criminal Jacob Sternwood, after a chase Sternwood manages to escape. Flash forward three years, Lewinsky is still reeling from not getting his man. When Sternwood is forced to return to London following an incident involving his son, Lewinsky just might get the chance to finally right his mistake. The plot is quite a bit more complex than that, but if I was to go on, I’d ruin it for you wonderful people.

Strong, Mark Strong... professional villain in EVERY film EVER

So it has a pretty good plot, but its an action film and we're an action blog and so the burning question is: how is the action?
Well for a start, for a Brit movie, the action set pieces are extremely well staged, its mainly gun fighting set pieces, and it looks fantastic. Stylish slow motion action, then full on machine gun fights that would not look out of place in a Hollywood movie, and better than a fair few of them. The themes and action throughout the movie reminded me a bit of early John Woo, and that is no mean feat, I for one absolutely love Woo’s The Killer and Hard Boiled.

why is the pipe on fire again?

shut up, it looks cool

Creevy has made London look stylish again, no kitchen sinks in site. Acting is first class also, McAvoy and Strong give strong performances and Andrea Riseborough, who I didn’t recognize from anything, also stands out as McAvoy's partner, and gives it her all. Everyone is pretty great in it.
Writing is also great from Eran Creevy, not just his directing, and he has made a great story with enough in the tank to keep you engaged and, of course, with awesome action.

sorry, who are you again?

So, in short, go see it, support British cinema and see a talented writer/director explode onto the action scene. My faith in a tiny pocket of the British film industry has been restored and made me think, hey we can make action look great. I hope Creevy makes an exciting follow up action movie, we need to give him the money to do it now before Hollywood inevitably calls and give him the keys to the action castle.

- The Doc