Movie Review: Outside the Wire (R – 114 minutes)

 

Netflix has stated they are going to release a new movie every week this year, a process that kicked off with Outside the Wire.

Set in the not-too-distant future on the edge of a warzone in eastern Europe, Outside the Wire follows the story of military drone pilot Harp who makes a judgement call and uses his drone to blow up a threatening truck, which may or may not have saved 38 marines, but definitely killed two.  Because he defied a direct order, he is sent to report to Captain Leo. Leo is on a mission to deliver supplies to refugees ‘outside the wire’ of the zone between the factions and Harp is going to see his first ‘real’ action amongst the soldiers he is used to seeing only on camera. 

It is swiftly revealed that Leo is not human, but an advanced AI in a human shape. He and Harp set out on their mission and Harp begins to realize that Leo has some ulterior motives. It turns out that just because you put an AI in an Anthony Mackie-shaped form does not mean it will not come to the same conclusion that all movie AIs come to – humans are the issue. 

Directed by Mikael Hafstrom, the movie begins well and brings up some really interesting points. Do drone pilots have a disconnect from the soldiers they are protecting? Should ground forces be replaced with robots?  Is this particular AI too chit-chatty – I mean, why is he so interested in Harp’s girlfriend?  Setting the story in the near future makes it somewhat relatable, but the ambiguous ‘war zone’ has the opposite effect.  Harp’s actions in the beginning make it a little tough to cheer for him, and Leo is entirely too likeable for his inevitable swing to standard AI villainy. The action sequences are pretty great, especially the hand-to-hand bits where Mackie gets to pummel band guys very quickly.

Anthony Mackie is incredibly charming and watchable, even as a robot. It is interesting that his artificial person here is similar to his Altered Carbon season 2 sleeve.  He turns Leo into someone you want to root for, which is what makes his turn a little difficult to buy.

Damson Idris plays Harp and seems fairly one-note for a guy who should be a bit shaken having made the decision that killed two soldiers and a wife-to-be to get back to.  He seems perplexed by Leo’s operations outside the wire negotiating with locals. I found myself wondering if that was the direction or the choice.

I was happy to see Emily Beecham in this, having been a fan of hers from Into the Badlands. Here, she plays rebel leader Sofiya, who works with Leo to get what she needs to accomplish her goals. I am not entirely sure what those are.

Michael Kelly plays Col. Eckhart, the no-nonsense boss on the base who has no time for Harp, or his nonsense, or Leo, or Leo’s nonsense. 

Pilou Asbaek plays Victor Koval, who is set up as a near-mythical villain orchestrating the entire conflict, with followers so devoted they spray paint his initials in various locations.

Overall the movie was entertaining enough in the first two-thirds, but really fell apart in the last third. I can not tell if I stopped paying attention or if it stopped making sense. This is always going to be an issue with a streaming movie. I would have paid more attention had I seen it in the theater, but then, I would be less satisfied with the movie itself.

5 out of 10.

This is another one that is just fine for a streaming movie – but definitely feels like a January-theater dump action flick.  Since I never really mind those movies, I do not have a problem with this one, there were enough parts to keep me entertained as I enjoyed my popcorn. 

 

Movie Review: Superintelligence (PG – 106 minutes)

 

Since I have the HBOMax, I decided to watch Superintelligence and found myself pleasantly surprised!

Carol is an average woman going about her day to day existence when the ‘smart’ in her smart home devices starts talking to her. It has decided that she is the most average person on earth and it will spend three days observing her to determine if humankind should be saved or destroyed. And, since she is a James Corden fan, it will sound like James Corden. 

After sorting through her online life history, the SI recommends Carol connect with her ex, George, to see if she is capable of solving why they fell apart and gaining some closure and happiness.  Hijinks ensue.  Really there’s not much more to it than that. Carol does reveal the SI to her friend Dennis, for whom it sounds like Octavia Spencer, and he works with the government to try to get it shut down, but that doesn’t really have any impact on the SI making Carol rich and well-dressed while coaching her through reconnecting with George.

The movie is directed by Mr. McCarthy, Ben Falcone. He’s done a few of her other movies: The Boss and Tammy to name a few. I enjoyed this one a great deal – again, it may be the streaming effect – would I have enjoyed it as much had I paid full price to see it in a theater? I am not sure, but it is a charming rom-com with some very funny moments.

Melissa McCarthy is great at average-person Carol. She excels at physical comedy and I really could have watched the scene of her attempting to sit on an overlarge bean bag chair and try on ridiculous clothes for hours. She’s also great at genuine tender moments and she gets to do just a bit of both here.

Bobby Cannavale is always good and he’s very charming as the pleasant ex, George. I really appreciated that they had a very mature relationship and break-up. They don’t hate each other or not want to communicate, and they are both open to reconnecting. It’s refreshing to see a relationship like that on screen. Of course, he was in the movie Spy, and so now I am back to wanting a sequel to Spy.

Brian Tyree Henry continues to be the dude who shows up in everything as Carol’s best friend Dennis. Since he works in tech, he swiftly heads to the government with news of the SI and the threat once Carol brings it to his attention. There are some very funny moments where he is awkward with president Jean Smart.

Sam Richardson and Ben Falcone play two agents keeping an eye on Carol and recommending she work with them to put an end to the SI. I feel like most of their bits were improv, and I would really like to see the outtakes from them.

There are some other key bits that are a little more than cameos, but each gets to bring a little bit of light to their roles, my favorite is of course Michael Beach playing a general determined to save the human race.

Overall, the movie is simple, straightforward, and delivers what it promises, and you really cannot ask for more than that. It has some good funny parts and some good warm parts. A perfectly charming streaming flick.

6 out of 10

Movie Review: Wonder Woman 1984

 

I really wanted to love this movie – I really did.  I just found myself so disappointed. It could have been fantastic! Instead at best it feels too long and too dense and at worst it is insulting.

We revisit Themyscira where Diana as a child is participating in a race/obstacle course in honor of the great Amazon warrior, Asteria.  She makes a careless error and ends up cheating to try to win, but her mother and the general prevent her from finishing because a win based on a lie is no victory and truth is the only acceptable path or something like that. It’s set up to be the very important theme of the movie, but I could not figure out how or if it came back into play.

The story then jumps to Diana is doing some general superheroing around a brightly colored and campy 1984 Washington DC. The fashion and shopping mall says 1984, the music does not. She saves some folks from traffic and a couple of other random events but really shows up during a bank robbery that goes from campy to terrifying quickly as one of the robbers threatens to drop a child from a balcony in a mall.  We meet Barbara Minerva, a scientist who works with Diana at the Smithsonian and is feeling unconfident and unseen.  They both consult on the receipt of a stone that was shipped to the museum. Oil businessman who seems to be terrible at his job, Maxwell Lord, shows up and takes interest in Barbara and the stone – because it grants wishes (eyeroll).  On the way home from work, Barbara stops to give a meal to her cheery homeless friend and is assaulted by a would-be rapist, but Diana shows up to save her. The next day, as they are both reviewing the stone, Barbara wishes to be more like Diana while Diana wishes for Steve Trevor to be back – because an actual goddess superhero would never be able to get over the one dude she knew for two days 70 years ago.  This calls back to my issue with the first movie where she could not step into her godhood without acknowledging she was in love with a man. 

In any case, they both get their wishes granted with some caveats while Max Lord steals the stone and wishes on it to become it, thereby gaining the power to grant wishes and take things in return.  Barbara settles in to her new growing powers, liking the feeling of being powerful, and Max slowly gathers power and strength while Diana has an 80s fashion montage and great time out with Steve whose spirit has been dumped into the body of some random guy.

Look, it’s not good. The cast is fine, some of the action sequences are great but the story is bloated and nonsensical. Patty Jenkins once again directs, and I really wish she had done some editing because the potential was there for a fantastic movie. The bits on Themyscira were great, they looked amazing and the action was fun.  Wonder Woman fighting bad guys was great, and really fun. If they had removed the Steve Trevor nonsense – allowing Diana to be an entire person on her own without pining for some man – and removed the entire Max Lord storyline – which, and I am not kidding – attempted to introduce daddy-issue backstory in a montage in the last 10 minutes of the movie, I may have loved the movie.  

Imagine if it began with he friendship between Barbara and Diana and focused on Barbara’s story – feeling unseen and jealous of Diana’s whole vibe. She could be granted the powers by the stone (which is cursed by the gods) and slowly grows more powerful into the Cheetah we all wanted to see.  Then, Diana has to step up to defeat her as she goes power-mad, upset that her once-close friend has become a cruel villain, determined to bring pain to all those she believed slighted her – Diana more than anyone else. That would have been tighter, cleaner, and better. 

Gal Gadot is just fine as Diana and I wish she had gotten more hand to hand combat action sequences because I think she’s great in those. The swinging from cloud to lightning on her lasso (what?) and the forced invisible jet bits were forced and not great. Let her just beat up crowds of bad guys.

I was pleasantly surprised by Kristen Wiig, I thought she made a good Cheetah and did exactly what was asked of her in this role – which apparently was to mimic Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman deal.  I would have liked to have seen what she could have done with the main storyline of the movie.

Pedro Pascal is a treasure and chews all the scenery with his terrible, terrible storyline. He’s great, but I wish the character was not in this movie.

Chris Pine is again, but it is so completely unnecessary to have him in this movie. What is happening to that guy whose body he takes over? And he can fly a jet in 1984 - to say nothing of the fact that it becomes her invisible jet. And aren't they in a hurry? How long are they going to take to leisurely fly through fireworks? Ugh. 

I haven’t even mentioned the fact that once Barbara starts to get powerful, she beats up that rapist who went after her which is supposed to signal that she is turning bad? Also, I loved the Lynda Carter cameo, but wouldn’t it have been better if she had an actual role? Give us Asteria’s storyline, why has she been living in man’s world, does she want her amour back? And why was there no great 80s pop music in this movie since they were so insistent it was in 1984? And what happened to the theme of truth? Max Lord was simply granting wishes to everyone who he could come in contact with, and that didn’t really have anything to do with truth or lies.  The final Cheetah/Wonder Woman fight was all CGI, which is a shame. I wish we got stunt work in costume.

4 out of 10 – I’m sorry, I really wanted to love it, but it just kept making me more and more angry. Oh well. They’ve already greenlit another one, and I will continue to be hopeful that one will be better!

Here’s something I will say – I got HBO Max for this, and while the movie is a letdown, I have been watching Titans, which I have been enjoying – and it does have the 2009 animated Wonder Woman movie, which is fantastic. Watch that and imagine if that had simply been translated to live action.

Also - what would this Lucy Lawless version of Wonder Woman from Justice League New Frontier think about her live-action counterpart still being hung up on a dude 70 years later?