The puppy screamed "gimmick" the very whole time as we all knew what's going to happen. But Keanu Reeves, short of a "whoa", was back doing what he does best.
What made this movie so fun was that everyone was afraid of the protagonist because he had a reputation. This premise actually has not properly been done yet by Hollywood, where an idiot accidentally awoken the sleeping giant and now he's up and "organising a banquet".
And then we got to step into that world, that hotel where we met others just like Reeves' character, killers for hire like Adrianne Palicki but had to abide by the rules set by Ian McShane. At least that part was interesting.
But also, that's where flaws began to become obvious. There was no reason for Palicki's character to commit "social suicide". And she knee what's coming for her, yet she still seemed unprepared.
The rest of the cast were not so impressive either. Willem Dafoe could have done more damage. John Leguizamo could have had a few more scenes. Michael Nyqvist as the antagonist wasn't juicy or badass enough. Only perhaps Alfie Allen who played the cowardly spoiled brat to a satisfactory level.
But also, in the hands of stuntmen turned assistant directors, and now in their directorial debut, David Leitch and Chad Stahelski, they could not sustain enough high octane scenes to keep things interesting throughout. There was a rollercoaster kind of interest level for the audience.
Also, I felt that under a better direction, Reeves could have given a better performance when and where it counted. Like when he exclaimed that he "might be back", that could have a better comedic effect.
I did admire the screenplay by Derek Kolstad who weaved in some drama as well rather than having it just a full-on shoot-em-out kind of movie. However, the directors couldn't pull it off well enough to give it more merit.
Having said that, I would still welcome a sequel as it seems this movie is doing well enough in terms of audience and critics feedback to garner one.
No comments:
Post a Comment