"Fast Five"

Runtime:2 hr. 10 min.

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, intense sequences of violence, language and intense sequences of action

Cast: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Dwayne Johnson, Tyrese Gibson, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges,  Matt Schulze, Kang Sung

Director: Justin Lin

"Fast Five" is the latest entry in the inexhaustible "Fast and the Furious" series and while it takes great pride in action sequences, its absurdity eventually transforms it into more of a comedy.  I'm sure the target demographic won't see it that way, but that's how I took it.  I don't mean that as a potshot.  After all, finding humor in an action flick is better than not finding humor in a comedy.

So, how does this new addition compare to the earlier films in the series?  Are you kidding me?  I can't even recall the names of all of them, let alone their semblance of plots.  And it really doesn't matter.  The movie is an excuse to bring together characters from the earlier movies into another centrifuge of cinematic virility.  It is what it is.

After busting their leader, the brooding Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) from police custody during a prison transfer, the gang finds themselves in Rio de Janeiro.  Here, Toretto and his partner-in-crime, former federal agent Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker), along with Toretto's-sister-and-O'Conner's-newly-pregnant-girlfriend Mia (Jordana Brewster), participate in the heist of several high-end automobiles being transferred via train.  They more or less pull it off, but are now pursued by a crime boss named Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida) with ubiquitous influence over the entire city of Rio, including the police force.  One of the stolen cars came embedded with a microchip of valuable importance.

It's a little disconcerting, I suppose, to have car thieves as your heroes, but the movie cunningly sidesteps this by having the Brazilian authorities under the corrupt thumb of an uber-wealthy yet paranoid villain.  (How paranoid?  This guy actually makes his henchmen shield their eyes before opening his vault using a hand-print scan locking mechanism.  Yeah, you read that right.)  Both groups are being hunted by a muscle-clad federal agent named Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson).  Toretto and O'Conner decide to pull off one last job.  One that would wipe out Reyes' entire fortune and set them all up for life.

Reyes' money sits in a vault at police headquarters, and the team conjures up a plan to infiltrate.  Part of said plan involves, if I understood this correctly, an escape route where a car would have to travel so ridiculously fast that it would be undetectable by a high definition digital video camera.  Say what?  Harry Potter's invisibility cloak is more credible.

The plan leads to a thunderous, blistering pell-mell of a climactic chase that laughs in the face of physics... where every force is unstoppable and no object is immovable.  To steal the money, Toretto and O'Conner bust through a police barricade in two Chrylser SRTs, attach cables to the vault itself, literally dislodge it from the building, and steer it through the streets of Rio.  (In the world of "Fast Five," gravity is no match for a good set of whitewalls.)  They never lose control of their automobiles during the chase, even as the vault zigzags behind them.  Apparently, the vault came embedded with its own anti-lock braking system.

Toretto and O'Conner are pursued by the entire Rio police force but are guided through the streets with the help of Mia, who sits before a laptop in a remote building.  She relays instructions, and seems to know exactly where they should turn to avoid any obstacle imaginable, the closing distance of the pursuers down to the millisecond, and the precise cutoff routes of the police even before the police know.  Unless she's instant messaging God, I'm curious as to what that laptop is logged onto to provide her with such accurate reconnaissance.

I didn't find the absurdities objectionable, just funny.  The director is Justin Lin, who burst onto the indie film scene with the remarkably powerful drama "Better Luck Tomorrow" but has since scaled back his ambition to helm big-budget action fare.  He keeps the pace up and packages together some nifty but goofy chase scenes.

As a lead-in to the summer action movie season, the film more or less works.  It delivers what it promises, even if it doesn't promise much more than rapid-fire action.  As for myself, I can't quite recommend it, as its base level action competency is at the service of nothing more than to justify the totally radically awesome trailer, dude.  My lack of a recommendation is actually a compliment in disguise.  The filmmakers know their target audience, and I am not it.  The bottom line is this... if you're hungry for some nonstop action, this one will give it to you in droves.

* * 1/2  out of  * * * *  stars

"Arthur"

Runtime:1 hr. 50 min.

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, some drug references, language and alcohol use throughout

Cast: Russell Brand, Helen Mirren, Greta Gerwig, Jennifer Garner, Geraldine James, Luis Guzman, Nick Nolte

Director: Jason Winer

NOTE:  Circling back to review one missed during my vacation.

It's too easy to bash a remake for not being the original.  While this new version of the comedy "Arthur" isn't as effective as the 1981 version with Dudley Moore, it isn't awful.  And for its first hour, anyway, it's actually quite funny.

The key difference, I think, rests in the two lead actors.  It's not so much a question of one being more brilliant than the other.  The disparity is evidenced in the genesis of each actor's style of humor.  Despite abhorring the nickname "cuddly Dudley," Moore was nonetheless inherently lovable.  His genial personality could never be suppressed regardless of the drunken, loutish actions of characters like billionaire sybarite Arthur Bach.  It was that winsome persona that made us love him even while laughing at his antics.

Russell Brand is a very skilled comedian as well, although the effectiveness of his humor is entwined with his knack for testing the boundaries of comic taste.   Brand's approach to comedy serves him well early on, but when the success of your story hinges on your protagonist's fluent charm, your leading man had better possess it in spades.  Moore's personality was effortlessly inviting.  When he scaled back on the jokes, our sympathy for his dilemma never dissipated.  When Brand scales back here, the movie's pace deadens.

Perhaps I'm being unfair to Brand.  After all, he does put forth a solid effort in what can only be described as the most thankless of tasks.  Remakes of great movies invite all manner of saliva-drenched polemic.  It's a tribute to his gleeful exuberance that the film stays afloat as long as it does.

The billionaire playboy's flamboyant skylarking has become commonplace for the urban elite.  We meet Arthur Bach as his Batmobile replica leads a convoy of patrol cars in a high-speed chase down the streets of Manhattan.  After being pulled over, the officers are not surprised to see the uber-wealthy smart ass and his driver Bitterman (Luis Guzman) inside, both cloaked in superhero gear.

Arthur spends his nights awash in a sea of licentious behavior and his days plunked in his bathtub to rid himself of the previous night's residue.  The rest of the time he spends conjuring up ways to spend money he doesn't know what to do with.  (After winning an auction bid for the suit worn by Abraham Lincoln during his second inaugural address, he proceeds to wear the outfit as he exits the auction house.)

Arthur's day-to-day existence falls under the watchful yet increasingly exasperated eye of his trusted "nanny" Hobson.  Helen Mirren takes over the role from John Gielgud, who managed to convey a rooting adoration for Arthur behind the most iron-clad, implacable poker face I think I've ever seen in the movies.  There's no replacing Gielgud, but Mirren is inspired casting nonetheless.

Arthur's antics have begun to impact the business dealings of his mother (Geraldine James), who summons her son to her office for a chat... a rare occurrence.  ("Ah, hello Vivienne..." Arthur greets her.  "I remember you when I was living in your womb.")  She lays it out for him.  He needs to be kept in line, and the first step in this implementation will be to marry her business-savvy but uptight colleague Susan Johnson (Jennifer Garner).  If he refuses, he'll be cut off from the family fortune.

He loves the money, loves ostentatious horseplay, but detests the idea of being forced into marriage.  His situation becomes more complicated when he actually meets a woman he genuinely has feelings for, the sweet but somewhat melancholic Naomi (Greta Gerwig) whose unrealized dreams of being an author and a need to provide for an ailing father haven't dampened her innocence or hopes for a ray of light at the end of the tunnel.  Gerwig offers up a skilled combination of disbelief and surrender toward Arthur's charming yet splashy attempts to woo her.

The director is Jason Winer (ABC's "Modern Family").  Peter Baynham's screenplay adaptation contains a fair share of witty zingers.  The movie did make me laugh early on, but as the familiar story arc took control, I felt my sympathy for Arthur and my interest in his situation dwindle in the second half.  You just can't manufacture the kind of lovability Moore so easily possessed.  It's a good try, though.

* * 1/2  out of  * * * *  stars

"Jane Eyre"

Runtime:  2 hrs, 1 min.

Rated PG-13 for some thematic elements including a nude image and brief violent content

Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell, Judi Dench, Holliday Grainger

Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga

For some, the human heart is forever summoned down its own via dolorosa toward the pain that lies in the soul of another.  Such is the case for young Jane Eyre (Mia Wasikowska).

After being sent to a reformatory school by a loathsome aunt (Sally Hawkins) too sclerotic in her assumption that her niece will rise to little more than a nuisance, Jane learns diligence and tractability.  Her belly, however, houses a fire that continues to rage despite being bedewed by the reality that her curiosities for anything beyond her line of sight will never be satisfied.

Jane's skills as a governess have brought her to Thornfield Manor in the employment of Edward Fairfax Rochester (Michael Fassbender).  She immediately befriends the manor's loyal, salt-of-the-earth housekeeper (Judi Dench).  Rochester is away for months at a time, and meets Jane in the gloomy and fog-filled forest upon one of his returns.

Rochester senses a painful past in Jane, and she intuits a hoard of dark secrets locked inside his being.  The man is decadent, tormented, and most assuredly hiding something.  Jane does her best to keep up a barrier of class order cognizance yet her eyes betray her attraction.  Rochester picks up on this, and consistently attempts to elicit emotional reactions one wouldn't expect from a servant.  Their fireside chats are like fencing duels; words taking on the roles of lunges and maneuvers.  The mutual attraction becomes too powerful to resist, which leads to the discovery of some truly harrowing secrets.

There have been a multitude of film adaptations of Charlotte Bronte's gothic romance novel, and this one holds its own.  Director Cary Fukunaga and screenwriter Moira Buffini employ similar techniques that Bronte herself found useful.  Most notably in revealing bits at a time, enough for us to realize the precarious destination in the heroine's journey, but spilling the dreaded secrets only after emotional tolls have been traversed.

The narrative distinction here is the jumping back and forth in time, as the story opens with Jane stumbling away from Thornfield, is then discovered and cared for by a kind though somewhat dour clergyman (Jamie Bell).  From there, the story shifts back to various points in Jane's past, where we see the genesis of her naivete toward the dark side of human nature.

Accented by Adriano Goldman's hauntingly shadowed cinematography and Will Hughes-Jones' magnificently rich production design, the film is a triumph of gothic mood.  If the pace seems to revel in its languor, that's to be expected.  The evocation of atmosphere isn't something that can be rushed.  This is a love story bedeviled by emotional wretchedness, yet it accepts and even somewhat respects its gloom, rather than molding it into a clunky plot device that needs to be overcome.  Jane's love for Rochester is bred from pity, not fear.  That's an important distinction for successful gothic love stories.

Mia Wasikowska's physical attractiveness is drastically reeled in here, making her facial expressions revealing to the point to emotional nakedness.  Her performance is an endless joust between the past she longs to hide and a possible future she longs to realize.  She's an ideal choice for the role of Jane.

As Rochester, Michael Fassbender skillfully adds a potent dose of cynical reasoning to his surreptitious actions.  ("Since happiness has eluded me, I may as well seek simple pleasures," he confesses.)

Judi Dench creates a servant supremely loyal to Rochester despite his cruelly dismissive reactions to her presence.  She senses the flaws in his character that Jane cannot.  And in a small but crucial role, Sally Hawkins is unrecognizable as the despicable aunt.  She's playing a character the polar opposite from her star turn in Mike Leigh's "Happy-Go-Lucky."

This is the kind of tortured love story that vampire-obsessed teen romance dramas today seem to want to be, but fall short.  The distinction lies in the celebration of the dark side of human nature.  Teen romances today, even the so-called "darkest" ones, are too fascinated by the mysterious to embrace its nature.  Here's a film that espouses the torment that fuels the romance.  This adaptation taps into the unbridled power gothic romances--when done well--can hold over us.

* * *  out of  * * * *  stars

"Win Win"

Runtime:1 hr. 46 min.

Rated R for language

Cast: Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Bobby Cannavale, Jeffrey Tambor, Alex Shaffer

Director: Tom McCarthy

In the films of writer/director Tom McCarthy ("The Station Agent," "The Visitor"), characters are thrown together via serendipitous means, and end up learning significant lessons about themselves and others.  "Win Win" is a comedy/drama that follows a similar pattern, although the hero unknowingly orchestrates his situation by venturing into dubious ethical territory he nonetheless deems necessary.

When we first see Mike Flaherty (Paul Giamatti), he is jogging on a dirt road.  Two elderly runners pass with ease.  He slows down... his need for exercise belied with every labored breath.  The exhausted jogger stops, glances about with a facial expression that echoes perhaps the most perplexing of middle-aged philosophical queries... what is the point of this shit?

That sequence establishes the nature of Mike's situation with remarkable ease.  A small time attorney by day and a high school wrestling coach by night, he resides in a comfortable New Jersey suburb with his devoted, resourceful wife Jackie (Amy Ryan) and their two daughters.  We learn he is under tremendous stress bred from an increasing inability to keep his business solvent.  He needs money.

The biggest pleasure in his life is coaching despite the fact that his team is the worst in the district.  It's the nature of wrestling... stalking, grappling, gaining leverage, exploiting an advantage.  He applies a similar mentality to his financial situation upon learning that being the caretaker for a court-appointed elderly client named Leo (Burt Young) who has been abandoned by his drug-addicted daughter could net him $1,500 a month.  He tells the judge he will care to his needs at the man's home, but instead checks him into an assisted living facility and pockets the money.

Complications arise when the old man's grandson Kyle (Alex Shaffer) arrives.  With mom in rehab and granddad in assisted living, the boy has nowhere to live.  He is temporarily taken in by Mike and Jackie.  As it happens, Kyle is a wrestling virtuoso.  Mike, his best friend Terry (Bobby Cannavale) and his assistant coach Vigman (Jeffrey Tambor) waste no time in enrolling their new protege in school.  The team needs him.

Both areas of Mike's life have seemingly taken an upturn.  That is, until Kyle's mother Cindy (Melanie Lynskey) comes calling for both her son and her father.  Mike suspects that she's only out for her father's money.  He may be right, but his suspicions are offset by the realization that he himself is engaged in a strikingly similar form of egregious behavior.

The film's success doesn't rest in plot points, but in the main character's gradual understanding of the dubiousness of his actions.  That we see the life lesson to be learned before Mike does isn't a flaw in the filmmaking.  It's kind of the point.

Mike is not a bad man; he's just gotten too skilled at personal justification.  (His idea of cutting back on smoking involves purchasing cigarettes, removing one, lighting it, and throwing the remaining pack away.  It's amazing what we can convince ourselves of.)  He doesn't tell Jackie about the extra "income" because, as he puts it, he "doesn't want to freak her out" about their financial woes.  The real reason is that he fears her intractable moral center.

One of the movie's best moments involves a courthouse confrontation between Mike and Kyle's mother.  She demands both the money and her son.  Mike counters with an offer... she can keep the money if she doesn't take Kyle away with her.  It's almost maddening how each one clings to the reasoning in his/her arguments without sensing the pain those arguments inflict on the other.

Paul Giamatti is a consistently likable personality on screen.  That's crucial here.  He creates a character we refuse to judge, as we're a bit too cognizant of making our own bad decisions in the face of economic hardship.

"Win Win" doesn't quite have the resonance of McCarthy's previous works, and the ending seemed a bit too neat, involving one character's arbitrary change of heart.  Still, this is a smart piece of filmmaking that forgoes preaching about the flaws in others to force us to confront the flaws in ourselves.

* * *  out of  * * * *  stars

"Water for Elephants"

Runtime:2 hr. 0 min.

Rated PG-13 for moments of intense violence and sexual content

Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, Christoph Waltz, Paul Schneider, Jim Norton, Hal Holbrook

Director: Francis Lawrence

The Depression-era traveling circus serves as the backdrop for the love story in "Water for Elephants."  It's not the most powerful or original of love sagas and the lead actors don't have the most electric chemistry, but the movie works because of its ubiquitous attention to the details of its setting.  A lesser romantic drama would keep the lovers apart by forced screenplay contrivances.  With destitution waiting to throttle the lifeblood coursing through the veins of anyone without means, it's understandable that the circus' star performer wouldn't want to run away with the kind young veterinarian who has captured her fancy, even if it means escaping the clutches of a brutally jealous husband.

Based upon the novel by Sara Gruen, the movie opens in the present, with an elderly man (Hal Holbrook) recounting the tale to a young carnival manager (Paul Schneider) intrigued by this stranger who houses a sea of historical knowledge regarding the big top.

The year is 1931.  Jacob Janikowski (Robert Pattinson), the son of Polish immigrants, is nearing the completion of his veterinary degree at Cornell University.  In the midst of his final exam, however, he is called out of the room, informed that both parents were killed in an accident.  With his family home now possessed by the bank (his father needed the funds for his son's tuition), Jacob wanders along the railroad tracks with a single suitcase in tow... no real plan, just headed to Albany in the distant hope of finding employment.

His life takes a fateful turn when he jumps onto a passing train.  The locomotive is dragging its cars to the next town for yet another show.  This is the Benzini Brothers Circus.  He befriends one of the circus' humble workers named Camel (Jim Norton), makes himself useful the first day performing menial tasks, then offers his services as a veterinarian to August (Christoph Waltz), the circus' imperious ringmaster.  ("I'm sure Ringling Brothers has their own veterinarian on staff," Jacob avers.  The mere mention of his competition makes August's blood boil.  If Ringling Brothers has one, he cannot be outdone.)  He hires Jacob.

Jacob's humane approach to his craft clashes with August's fierce need to keep his business solvent, as reminders of possible famine are omnipresent.  When the circus' star horse comes down with an incurable ailment, Jacob suggests putting him down.  August will have none of it.  ("I can see your profession requires you to care for the animals and you don't want to see them suffer.  I respect that," August tells Jacob.  "But what that tells me is that you've never seen men suffer.")

August somehow manages to finagle enough funds for the purchase of the circus' newest (and boldest) attraction... a performing elephant named Rosie that appears weathered and worn from being purchased, sold, and purchased again and again.  August orders Jacob to work with the show's star performer... his own wife, the radiant Marlena (Reese Witherspoon).  The attraction is immediate.

Marlena is talented and beautiful but aloof, though we know her reserved demeanor toward anyone but August protects her from the potential rage of an overly-possessive husband and boss.  She and Jacob grow close, yet she refuses to run away lest she return to the lonely streets survived as an orphaned child.  It's not so much a devil-you-know versus a devil-you-don't thing, as she's acquainted with both demons.  It's just that the hellfire doesn't scorch as bad from inside the circus tent.  It's the life she chose.  But the possibility of a happier existence beckons, and it's only a matter of time before August senses her desire to retreat.

I'm not sure if Robert Pattinson is truly limited as an actor or if the "Twilight" franchise only makes it seem that way, but he's a solid choice for Jacob.  He's able to convey a steady idealism in the face of economic hardship bred from his love of animals and a longing for recently-deceased loved ones.

The movie really belongs to Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz.  Witherspoon plays Marlena as a cool customer whose prudent approach to social interaction was amassed from maturing alone on the streets amid all manner of unscrupulous personalities.  It's interesting to watch how she mollifies August in trying situations.  "It's okay, darling.  I'm here.  I'm right here," she whispers to him while they slow dance, after a heavily intoxicated August takes a forceful grip on her chin.  The nature of their relationship is established immediately.  And Waltz makes August more than just an aggregate of violent tendencies... he conveys a quiet desperation and a self-disrupting pride that manages to unweave the fabric of everything in his tenuous control.

The film was directed by Francis Lawrence, a former music video director who helmed the Will Smith post-apocalyptic sci-fi adventure "I Am Legend" and the forgettable special effects-fest "Constantine" with Keanu Reeves.  For a filmmaker who seems to revel in CGI effects, he opts here to rely on the rich production design of Jack Fisk and Rodrigo Prieto's lush cinematography to bring Richard LaGravenese's solid script adaptation to life.  (Although there is a terrific special effects number late in the film, as various dangerous animals escape their cages.)

While not an epic romance, the film is nonetheless an effective love story skillfully told against a backdrop of seemingly inescapable desperation.  It's a movie that clings like a vise to its idealism.  "Running away to join the circus?" the old man considers late in the film.  He shakes his head.  "I'm coming home."

It doesn't get much more idealistic than that.

* * *  out of  * * * *  stars

"Rio"

Runtime:1 hr. 36 min.

Rated G

Cast: Anne Hathaway, Jesse Eisenberg, will i am, Jamie Foxx, George Lopez, Tracy Morgan

Director: Carlos Saldanha

The smartest thing animated movies can do, I think, would be to forgo 3D altogether.  But since pecuniary greed dictates that this simply will not happen, the next best thing is to offer audiences the opportunity to view them in 2D.  If studios are a little too avaricious to make good artistic decisions, they should give the moviegoing public the chance to make those choices for them.

With animation being inherently colorful and vivacious, the only thing 3D does is dampen the very qualities that distinguish them in the first place.  Images are always less crisp and a film's color palette takes a hit with the added dimension.  Plus, I can't imagine parents enjoy the prospect of paying an additional fee for glasses that their little ones probably won't keep on their head throughout the duration of the movie.

"Rio" takes place--obviously--in Rio De Janiero during the Carnival of Brazil festival.  It's as colorful as any movie out there.  Twentieth Century Fox made the wise decision to offer the movie in both 2D as well as 3D.  By all means, look for the 2D.

While it doesn't possess the dry wit of "Rango" or the sentimental resonance of Disney Pixar, it is nonetheless colorful, briskly paced, and at times genuinely funny.

The story opens with a cheerful musical number involving all manner of exotic birds in the jungles of South America.  But before the curtain can fall, so to speak, the performing avifauna are captured, caged, and shipped to the U.S.  While en route to their forced habitat, one of the cages falls from a truck on the frozen tundra of Moose Lake, Minnesota.  Inside the cage is a baby blue macaw.  He is discovered by a girl and raised in the most domesticated surroundings.  As a result, the macaw never learned to fly.

Cut to years later.  The girl has matured into a book store owner named Linda (Leslie Mann).  The macaw, appropriately named Blu (Jesse Eisenberg) has become so acclimated to his surroundings that the bars of his cage are a comfort.  One day, a South American bird expert named Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro) stumbles into the store upon seeing Blu in the window.  He is captivated.  Tulio convinces Linda to take Blu down to Rio with him and attempt to mate, as the species is becoming extinct.  Linda reluctantly agrees.

To a domesticated bird, Rio is a revelation.  Fascinating and scary.  He is placed into an artificial habitat with a female macaw named Jewel (Anne Hathaway).  It's a rough start.  Blu is a little too intimidated to mate, while Jewel wants only to escape.  Despite being "egged on" to the task with a strategically-placed disco ball and a Lionel Ritchie tune, the mating doesn't take place.  In the dead of night, the two birds are kidnapped by smugglers and shackled together.  (A nice little reference to "The Defiant Ones.")

They eventually escape the smugglers, but remain chained together.  As Blu can't fly, the two are reduced to running as a means to escape... a tall order for a bird.  ("Remember, inside leg.  Then outside leg.  Inside-outside, inside-outside, inside-outside!  Faster!  FASTER!")  With the help of a couple party-going feathered friends (Jamie Foxx and Will i Am), an exasperated toucan named Rafael (George Lopez), and a whiny bulldog named Luiz (voiced by the equally whiny Tracy Morgan), Blu and Jewel embark on an adventure to free themselves, and return Blu to his worried owner.

What keeps the movie from the highest echelons of animation is the lack of a sentimental arc, but it does attempt to make up for that with some decent comic bits.  Rafael has managed to father umpteen kids, and finds himself at the end of his rope of sanity.  ("Put your brother down!" he chastises two little ones as they toss an egg.)  The film gets a lot of humorous mileage out of its villains as well.  The head smuggler is accompanied by the two dumbest henchmen in Brazil, the only thing separating their respective levels of intellect is one's ability to outsmart the other in rock-paper-scissors.  ("No, no, you got it wrong.  Scissors cuts rock!" cries one.  "Damn.  How do you always win?" laments the other.)

There are comic bits aplenty along with some decent musical numbers, though they do seem awfully short.  (My favorite involved a team of thieving monkeys.)  The film isn't groundbreaking animation, but it is fun, vibrant, and much too colorful to be dampened by the 3D effect.  Seek out the 2D.  It's less money for more enjoyment.

* * *  out of  * * * *  stars

"Scream 4"

Runtime:1 hr. 43 min.

Rated R for strong bloody violence, language and some teen drinking

Cast: Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Rory Culkin

Director: Wes Craven

I guess it boils down to how you choose to see it.  Wes Craven's "Scream 4" can be viewed either as a) a shameless money-grab for the studio and a desperate attempt to revive the career of an iconic director who hasn't had a box office hit in years, or b) a skilled shameless money-grab for the studio and a desperate attempt to revive the career of an iconic director who hasn't had a box office hit in years.

That the movie is skilled comes as no surprise.  The mind of Wes Craven houses more knowledge of the horror genre than any torture-porn cinema specialist can hope to comprehend.  Craven is no Hitchcock, but he appreciates him.  Personally, I don't consider "Saw"-style torture-porn art.  I don't find it offensive, just self-indulgent.  Horror film artisans like Craven cater to their audiences.  Torture-porn artists cater to themselves.

Sadly, Craven's track record the last couple of decades has been spotty at best.  His previous film, "My Soul to Take" barely registered as a blip on the box office radar.  And not since 2005's "Red Eye" with Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy did Craven enjoy at least modest monetary success.

"Scream 4" brings back the main players from the first three.  Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) has returned to her hometown of Woodsboro, where her interminable road of terror first materialized.  She is on a book signing tour for her story (or stories) of survival.  (Amazing that it took her character three movies before finally deciding to profit from what she had to repeatedly endure.)  Dewey Riley (David Arquette) is the town sheriff, and is married to reporter Gail Weathers (Courteney Cox) who has surrendered her own career in lieu of penning a novel, although writer's block is torturing her more than any B-grade movie psycho ever could.

As with most sequels, some "new blood" needs to be introduced.  The film acquaints us with Sidney's cousin Jill (Emma Roberts) and appears to be molding her into the "new" Sidney.  Jill arrives onto the genre doorstep with the horror movie prerequisite best friend in tow... a sassy, uber-confident chick named Kirby (Hayden Panettiere).

A gaggle of quirky, disposable adolescents are ushered into the series, including a nerdy slasher flick trivia expert (Rory Culkin) and a progressively pretentious goofball (Erik Knudsen) who records every second of the high school experience via a video headset and streams it online, claiming everyone will be doing it years from now.  It's not long before bodies begin to pile up, everyone's a potential suspect, and only by revisiting the "rules" of the slasher genre can the heroes solve the crime.

I still remember the opening scene in the first "Scream" with Drew Barrymore being psychologically tormented by a gleefully demented stalker as her boyfriend's life hung in the balance.  The superlative skill displayed in that scene was a death grip on my attention.  The second film demonstrated similar aptitude, though wasn't quite as memorable.  The same went for the third.  "Scream 4" is, at the very least, competent.   But what flowed like a river of thrills seems more laborious this time around, despite containing scenes that do work.

Craven incorporates some hit-and-miss inside jokes, and he and writer Kevin Williamson take a few shots at torture-porn.  The opening is a series of cameo-imbued movie-within-a-movie moments as characters talk about the ineptitude of certain flicks before being butchered themselves.  As more murders are uncovered, characters try to solve them not by ordinary means, but by contemplating how certain slasher films handle similar circumstances.  Two patrol officers (Anthony Anderson and Adam Brody) base their entire philosophy on this premise.

Despite the skill on display, I can't bring myself to recommend the movie.  Maybe the point here is to introduce a whole new audience to the "Scream" franchise.  What really struck me was how tired and weathered Neve Campbell, David Arquette and Courteney Cox appear in the film.  Their demeanor reflected my reaction.  I think I've been through this enough times.

I doubt I'm spoiling anything by stating that the aforementioned leads all survive.  But during the movie, I had a thought.  What if the killer took out all three and got away clean?  Not only would it be bold and unpredictable, but based on how worn out Campbell, Arquette and Cox seem by this series, we could consider it a mercy killing.  Just a thought.

* *  out of  * * * *  stars

"The Conspirator"

Runtime:2 hr. 3 min.

Rated PG-13 for some violent content

Cast: Robin Wright, James McAvoy, Tom Wilkinson, Evan Rachel Wood, Kevin Kline, Alexis Bledel

Director: Robert Redford

Fear is a powerful combatant. 

Robert Redford's "The Conspirator" is a thoughtful, nuanced, intriguing yet deliberately-paced courtroom drama that tells the true story of Mary Surratt, arrested along with seven others accused of conspiracy in the assassination of President Lincoln and the attempted murder of Secretary of State William Henry Seward on April 14th, 1865. 

The military tribunal was the stage that housed an array of atrocities, though the movie never breaks itself down into simplistic vilification or judgment.  That would be too easy.  The iniquities perpetrated were bred from the womb of paranoia, fury, and heartache.  The film's greatest strength is that it never allows us to get comfortable.  We're appalled by the unfolding events, yet we somehow never feel superior to the movie.  That's a staple mark of intelligent filmmaking.

A devoted southern wife of a drunken, debt-ridden husband recently deceased, Mary Surratt (Robin Wright) operated a boarding house to support her children.  It was here where the accused conspirators held various meetings.  Among them were gunman John Wilkes Booth (Toby Kebbell), Seward assailant Lewis Thornton Powell (Norman Reedus) who was tried under the name Lewis Payne, and Surratt's own son, John (Johnny Simmons). 

John was the only conspirator who managed to evade the massive manhunt, and it's a widely-held belief that Mary was arrested solely to be used as bait to bring her son to justice.  Secretary of War Edwin Stanton (Kevin Kline) seemed perfectly willing to let the mother hang for the crime.  It's an unfortunate truth that the perception of justice can be every bit as effective as actual justice when the preservation of one's country is on the line.

Newly-minted lawyer Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy) reluctantly agrees to represent Surratt before the tribunal at the behest of his mentor, U.S. Senator and former attorney general Reverdy Johnson (Tom Wilkinson).  Still licking emotional wounds from his time on the battlefield, Aiken houses a contempt for the accused shared by his fellow soldiers.  As he dives into the task of courtroom defense, however, Aiken comes to realize the evidence of Surratt's involvement is circumstantial at best, and doesn't come within a mile of reasonable doubt. 

The thing that finely separates fear and paranoia is the absence of common sense.  Mary Surratt was arrested under suspicion of harboring sympathies for the confederacy.  When a southern woman is brought before a military tribunal for suspicions of sympathizing with confederate ideals, the obvious has now taken on the role of sacrificial lamb to national anxiety. 

Exactly what Mary Surratt knew is awash in a sea of complexity, though, as she holds strong animosity toward the union, and even confesses to knowledge of a kidnapping plot.  But the movie ultimately argues that the military tribunal existed beneath the weight of Stanton's influential thumb, and his predilection for shifting the hearing's direction toward a particular outcome extirpated any possibility of a fair trial. 

The events of April 14th, 1865 threw the country into an ominous whirlwind of social apprehension.  The movie depicts some forms in obvious ways, like how numerous witnesses fabricated testimony primarily out of fear of being accused themselves.  Suspicions are shown in subtler ways, too... 

Early in the movie, Aiken combs the boarding house for information, asks Surratt's daughter Anna (Evan Rachel Wood) for a ledger listing the occupants.  She retrieves it from behind a desk, as it has been hidden away.  "Anything else you're concealing?" Aiken scoffs.  It never occurs to him that given recent events, any boarding house would shy away from being up front regarding individuals who may have taken refuge.  In a later courtroom scene, Reverdy Johnson contests the idea of a tribunal being the fairest way to try his client, to which a tribunal member remarks that Johnson is a resident of Maryland... a "questionable" state whose loyalties may be a bit harder to discern. 

The performances are remarkable.  Robin Wright plays Mary Surratt with an implacable poker face born not from ulterior motives, but from the harsh reality that her only social connections can be summoned by reading the motives of others.  I like how she forms a bond with the initially apprehensive Aiken by asking questions she already knows the answers to, inflaming his suspicions, then putting him at ease.  "Have you ever loved something greater than yourself?" she inquires in one scene.  Aiken is flabbergasted.  "I've spent the last two years fighting for something greater than myself, so don't you dare--"  She cuts him off, grasps his wrist, looks him square in the face and replies softly but pointedly, "then we are the same."

James McAvoy skillfully imbues in Aiken a passion that sometimes overcomes his cognizance.  He knows what's right despite being under tremendous pressure to accept what's wrong.  His passion for a fair trial grows by the minute, even if he isn't fully aware of what's driving that passion.  By the movie's conclusion, it's easy to see why Reverdy tapped him to represent the accused.

The proceedings seem an exercise in vengance over justice, though both Kevin Kline as Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and Danny Huston as prosecuting attorney Joseph Holt are careful not to make their characters too bloodthirsty.  Kline plays Stanton with a detachment not unlike that of a general hunched over a map, plotting his next move.  The possible violation of the accused's rights is a mere distraction for him, as he's too busy scanning the blueprint to patriotic restitution.  Huston plays Holt as more haughty than vengeful.  Whenever Aiken objects during testimony, Holt throws his hands into the air, as though someone just rewrote the entire courtroom rulebook on the fly.

I also admired the performances by Justin Long and James Badge Dale as Aiken's closest confidants.  Their roles are small but vital to the underlying theme of the film.  Neither man holds a blood lust toward the conspirators, yet both struggle to understand Aiken's passion to defend Surratt to the end.  Their perceptions mirror attitudes that permeate middle America today.  It's easy to know when our own civil rights are being violated, but it's crucial to realize when the civil rights of others are being doused in the name of patriotism. 

Aided by Kalina Ivanov's remarkably detailed production design and Newton Thomas Sigel's effectively dark, dusty cinematography, Robert Redford has brought to light a piece of history that slides easily into the fabric of issues confronting us today.  His previous film, "Lions for Lambs" was a noble effort, but it lacked an identifiable theme and was left repeating all-too-obvious platitudes regarding our involvement in Iraq.  "The Conspirator" is a smart, skilled, raw reminder that the rights and responsibilities handed down by our Founding Fathers cannot merely be owned.  They have to be earned.

* * *  out of  * * * *  stars

"Your Highness"

Runtime:  1 hr. 42 min.

Rated R for violence, strong crude sexual content, pervasive language, some drug use and nudity

Cast: Danny McBride, James Franco, Natalie Portman, Toby Jones, Justin Theroux, Zooey Deschanel

Director: David Gordon Green

I think director David Gordon Green was going for a kind of "Pineapple Express" from the inside out.  If Dale and Saul from that film clunked their haze-filled melons together and hammered out a movie, it may look something like this. 

"Your Highness" is a bold, raunchy, hit-and-miss medieval comedy that leaves no stone, rock, pebble, and boulder unturned in an effort to extract every molecule of humor from its premise.  If the movie falls short, perhaps that's due to the unfortunate truth that cinema management does not dispense weed prior to entering the theatre.  I guess there's a glass ceiling on the effectiveness of some comedies when you're not in possession of the prerequisite grass.  Oh well.

The plot, such as it is, involves two brothers named Thadeous (Danny McBride) and the effeminately-named Fabeous (James Franco).  Fabeous is the nobler of the two, while Thadeous spends his days sulking, insulting the accomplishments of his warrior brother, and ordering his man-servant Courtney (Rasmus Hardiker) to make funny faces for his amusement.  ("Never triangle face!  I hate triangle face, it scares me!") 

Fabeous has just returned from yet another quest, and is set to marry his beloved Belladonna (Zooey Deschanel).  During the wedding ceremony, however, she is kidnapped by an evil warlock named Leezar (Justin Theroux) determined to lose his virginity.  Fabeous must now embark on a quest to save the woman he loves.  The listless Thadeous has no intention of joining the fight, but is ordered to by their father (Charles Dance).  Along the way, they meet up with a fellow warrior named Isabel (Natalie Portman) who harbors her own animosity toward Leezar.  ("That hatred had been burning in my beaver for years!" she confesses.)  They join forces.

The screenplay is by Danny McBride and Ben Best, although much of the dialogue was improvised.  This is familiar territory for Green.  Both "Pineapple Express" as well as his teen romantic drama "All the Real Girls" were largely improvised.  I imagine a healthy portion of his other work was made up on the fly as well.  He relies on an organic method of collaborative artwork, encouraging much more input from his actors that most directors. 

There are jokes aplenty, though not all hit the mark.  I can't put my finger on why... comedy is fickle like that.  Some humorous bits appealed to me, others fell flat.  I did, however, admire the unencumbered effort toward ribald outlandishness.  Humor is a rough trade, so your best bet is going all in.  Green and his actors thrust themselves into the movie balls deep.  With pride. 

The film gets whatever mileage it can from pushing the comic envelope... everything from a creepy oracle who trades visions for hand jobs to a Baby Huey-type gangster running his own quasi-erotic Thunderdome to a minotaur with a monster erection and all outrageous innuendo in between... the movie is willing to throw any bits of comic potential at the castle wall and see if it shticks. 

Danny McBride is a decent enough comedian, though I find I like him better in smaller doses.  James Franco manages an admirable lack of self-awareness, even in a scene where he dons the most flamboyant codpiece imaginable.  My favorites were Zooey Deschanel, who can play a scene bound and gagged yet somehow summons a facial expression that gets a laugh,  and Justin Theroux who miraculously keeps a straight face when explaining his plans for impregnating Belladonna for the procreation of a dragon.  ("I've been practicing, and if your vagina is anything like my hand, there won't be a problem.")

I don't know.  I laughed a few times, but not as much as I hoped.  "Pineapple Express" pulled me along with its high tide of reefer madness.  The moments of humor that exist here are separated by fight scenes that seemed to extend longer than most, especially for a comedy of this sort.  Not enough humorous bits hit the mark for me to recommend it.  But if you're game for a movie that tests the comic limits of taste, you'll get what you're expecting...

...and a little weed wouldn't hurt.

* *  out of  * * * *  stars

"Hanna"

Runtime: 1 hr. 51 min.

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some sexual material and language

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Tom Hollaner, Olivia Williams, Jason Flemyng, Jessica Barden, Cate Blanchett

Director: Joe Wright

"Hanna" gets itself right so effortlessly that it's a wonder how so many other films get themselves wrong with comparable ease.  The movie is part action and part mystery with a narrative propelled forward by character revelations rather than action sequences.  The film does boast some pretty impressive fight scenes and chases, yet doesn't prop itself up with them.  This is a rarity... a chase picture that takes an interest in its characters.

As the story opens, we see a young girl hunting in the frigid woods of Finland.  Her name is Hanna (Saoirse Ronan).  She lives with her father, Erik (Eric Bana) in an isolated shanty as far from civilization as one could imagine.  At first we suspect Erik might be a survivalist.  Later, however, we see him reading to Hanna from an encyclopedia and having her memorize a false identity and fictitious background by rote.  She's being prepared for re-entry into normal society.  We know they're on the run, most likely from some form of government entity and have been living in the wild since Hanna was a baby.  She has become a remarkably skilled fighter and can get the most out of any lethal weapon at her disposal.

Hanna believes she's ready to experience civilization.  Erik isn't sure, but leaves the decision up to her.  Her choice exists in the form of a beacon.  Once the switch is flipped, her father explains, the government will find their way to the backwoods door.  She considers it, then flips the switch...

The beacon captures the attention of Marissa Veigler (Cate Blanchett), a fiercely determined CIA operative whose pertinacity toward mission completion takes on the form of lifestyle meticulousness.  Her attire, her living quarters, and even her demeanor are mannered to perfection... a reflection of her ravenous appetite toward the domination of an opponent.  (When we first see her, she is brushing her teeth with unusual vigor... a predator preparing to feast on fresh meat.)

Meanwhile, father and daughter split up and agree to rendezvous at a specific location before the government bangs down the cabin door.  Hanna is taken into custody, whisked away to a remote location for interrogation.  She escapes after a sortie of assaults on the unsuspecting CIA agents.  (Her lethality is offset by her innocent appearance.)  After fleeing the scene, she hides by blending in with a vacationing family, and befriends a precocious teen (Jessica Barden).

Veigler, needing assistance from outside the CIA, hires a colorful, sweatsuit-clad former colleague and rogue assassin named Isaacs (Tom Hollander).  Isaacs' presence in the story is a little head-scratching, as he doesn't seem a particularly skilled taskmaster.  Instead, he comes off more like a second-rate bouncer employed by a third-rate nightclub.  The assassins nonetheless keep up the pursuit, as Hanna slowly comes to an understanding of her true identity.

The truth about Hanna isn't exactly enshrouded in mystery.  We're able to take the information imparted to us during the course of the story and deduce her origins with relative ease.  Yet despite that, I never felt too far ahead of the plot.  The screenplay by Seth Lochhead and David Farr doesn't toss a slew of red herrings our way, nor does it ply us with a cacophony of explanation at every turn.  It reveals bits of information in measured doses, not just in the case of Hanna but also with Veigler.  She obviously has very personal attachments to this particular case, yet the film wisely doesn't spell them out for us.  Veigler is as much a mystery as Hanna.

The movie works as action, but the performances elevate it to something more.  Saoirse Ronan has a tough task here, but pulls it off well.  She plays Hanna as a mystery to herself that seems incapable of being solved.  Her re-introduction into society is both revealing and confounding.  Eric Bana's performance works as a window into Hanna's past.  At one point early in the film, Hanna asks him "what does music feel like?"  His facial reaction speaks volumes... at that moment we realize he doesn't fear for her safety, but for her happiness.  And Cate Blanchett makes the villain role more than just colorful... she imbues it with texture and depth.  Veigler's detailed approach to her work masks a personal well of self-loathing.

The movie was directed by Joe Wright, who directed Ronan in "Atonement" and helmed the Jane Austen film adaptation "Pride and Prejudice" with Keira Knightley.  Switching gears from period pieces to action fare isn't as easy as it seems.  (Marc Forster found out the hard way while taking on the Bond film "Quantum of Solace.")  Wright employs a wicked, kinetic energy to the action sequences, yet is careful not to overdo it.  There are as many thoughtful, introspective moments as rapid-fire, frenetic fight sequences.  Rarely are chase pictures this deliberate in their pacing.

One can argue that the movie does end rather abruptly.  The revelations were intriguing enough that it did make me long for an epilogue of some sort.  But the film is content to be what it is... a smart thriller not only skilled enough to appeal to our senses, but confident enough to appeal to our brains.

* * *  1/2  out of  * * * *  stars

"Insidious"

Runtime:1 hr. 42 min.

Rated PG-13 for violence, thematic material, terror, brief strong language and frightening images

Cast: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye, Ty Simpkins, Angus Sampson, Barbara Hershey

Director: James Wan

The key to successful horror isn't so much the fear, but the despair.  At one point in "Insidious," a young mother, scared and heartbroken over her eight-year-old son's slippage into a medically inexplicable coma, sits quietly at her piano.  Her infant daughter sleeps upstairs.  A baby monitor rests atop the piano.  Some crackling is heard from the device.  She picks it up.  Listens.  Through the static, very faintly, a creepy, guttural voice says... "There's nothing you can do." 

That kind of despair is elemental to successful horror.  It engages our empathy for the protagonists' situation.  The difference between the ambitious and the indolent in cinematic horror isn't hard to spot.  The first "Paranormal Activity" had an ingenious narrative technique, gave us a sympathetic couple fearful yet somewhat resourceful, and was devilishly patient.  "Paranormal Activity 2" focused solely of the narrative technique, gave us a shrill, whiny protagonist, and couldn't let the Boogie Man out of the closet fast enough.

"Good artists copy.  Great artists steal."  So said Pablo Picasso.  (Or T.S. Eliot, if you prefer the literary take on the same sentiment.)  The line of demarcation there seems to be the definition of whether an artist is confident enough in their own ability to get away with the theft.  Director James Wan ("Saw") is nothing if not confident.  "Insidious" is far from stellar, steals quite a bit, but is pieced together and packaged well enough to keep its head above water.

As with any haunted house tale, the movie introduces us to a nice, normal suburban couple named Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai (Rose Byrne).  Or at least, they're normal to this type of story.  They've just moved, and she isn't taking to the change nearly as well as he seems to be.  It helps that Rose Byrne has one of those perpetually pained facial expressions.  Her somber eyes make you constantly want to ask if everything is okay.

After her son (Ty Simpkins) falls into a coma, Renai begins to notice all manner of creepiness in their new home... strange noises and ghostly figures outside the windows.  Josh tries being sympathetic, yet has a hard time accepting the possibility of the paranormal.  They finally move, but "whatever it is" has followed them.  A team of ghost hunters are summoned, led by Elise (Lin Shaye).  Elise straddles the line between the typical and the weird.  She's a cross between the nice woman next door and a teacher at Hogwarts.  Some revelations from the past are uncovered, and a plan to bring their son back is hatched.

The movie doesn't transcend its genre, but it's skilled enough to honor it.  Director Wan is somewhat patient, and is able to convey elements of the paranormal without resorting to it's-only-the-cat type trickery.  The film has a lot of fun with dimensional lines of sight.  I liked the scene where Renai thinks she sees a ghost walking outside past a window in the other room.  Before she has a chance to investigate, the figure crosses again... this time before the window, inside the house.  Wan also gets a lot of nerve-jolting mileage from things like one of those burglar alarms so piercingly loud you're compelled to strike the alarm before the intruder.

Even some bizarre bits of humor are tossed in, most notably in the team of paranormal investigators.  Some of their equipment seems like it could have been plucked from the back of Murray, Akroyd, and Ramis' Ecto-mobile.  The movie also boasts a seance of sorts unlike any I've seen before.

The first half is better than the second half, where the film's production design elbows into the narrative.  The weakest part of the movie is the climax, where it feels like an homage to Wan's "Saw."  I don't know if that was intentional, but I hope it wasn't.  Tipping your hat to yourself is a dangerous play, even for the genre elites.  With the shots his career has taken lately, I'm not even sure Wes Craven can get away with that anymore.

I give the film a marginal recommendation for the same reason I gave "Sucker Punch" and "Drive Angry" tepid recommendations... because the movie knows what its target demographic is, and successfully caters to those specific viewers.  Holding movies to different standards at first seems unfair, until you acknowledge that subjectivity is inherent in any human reaction.  Of course, it can't apply to any movie... the film must be skilled enough to at least hold my interest.  James Wan is both skilled enough in his filmmaking and cognizant enough of those who would most appreciate that skill.  There's nothing wrong with that.

* * *  out of  * * * *  stars

"Source Code"

Runtime:1 hr. 33 min.

Rated PG-13 for some violence including disturbing images, and for language

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright, Michael Arden

Director: Duncan Jones

The man awakes in a state of bewilderment. He sits aboard a commuter train shooting toward Chicago. He knows who he is but not how he got here. The man is Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal), a military pilot recently deployed to the Middle East. Aboard the train, however, he is cloaked in civilian attire and sits across from a lovely young woman named Christina (Michelle Monaghan). She believes him to be someone else... a history teacher named Sean Fentress. What's going on here? Stevens struggles to come to terms with this new "reality" only to have a bomb detonate inside the train a mere eight minutes after he awoke.

Instead of being hurled into an afterlife, Stevens jolts awake again, this time inside a cold, dark pod of sorts. He sits strapped into a cockpit chair, though is unable to free himself. Various digital readouts and video screens bestrew the pod's interior. Stevens doesn't know how he got here, either. He is contacted via video link by a military officer named Goodwin (Vera Farmiga). She calculatingly conveys to him the situation... he is on a mission. A bomb has already obliterated a train in the early morning hours (yep, that train) and a threat has been levied against the civilians of downtown Chicago. Another bomb is set to go off. Through a mind-bendingly complex creation called a "source code," Stevens can teleport into an alternate reality and take control of a particular body for the last eight minutes of his life. The source code is the brainchild of a twitchy scientist (Jeffrey Wright). Stevens' mission is to re-enter the source code over and over--at eight minute intervals--until he is able to uncover the bomber's identity.

Amazingly, the above doesn't give too much away. "Source Code" is a terrific sci-fi thriller that revels in its unpredictability. That it boasts an intriguing premise isn't unusual; many films can stake claim to that. But while mediocre movies lazily accompany their premises with standard story arcs, this one skillfully reveals layer after layer at a rapid-fire pace, engaging our curiosity to maximum effect. It's interesting how Stevens is able to uncover clues to one "reality" while roaming through the other. I love that the weapon of choice here is the human brain.

Moviegoers include anyone, but movie-lovers are ardent geeks. I certainly am. The best films cater to the lovers. I suppose cynics can attack the plausibility in "Source Code," although it makes me wonder why those cynics would even bother attending movies in the first place. The film offers explanations of the science involved, and a lot of it went right over my head. I didn't mind. The description of the code sounded good enough to me, and the fact that we're actually given smart, resourceful characters strengthened my interest.

Playing a man whose own personal redemption has been cruelly placed at the opposite end of a tortuous maze, Jake Gyllenhaal offers a much more nuanced performance than one might expect. A combination of anger, defiance, and intelligence, he also conveys a sense of longing and desperation. The story finds time for scenes of poignancy you wouldn't expect in this kind of thriller. Michelle Monaghan has the role with the least arc, yet she makes the most of it. Behind penetrating hazel eyes and an unflinching need for the truth, she represents the only salvation left for Stevens.

Vera Farmiga gives a subtle yet strong performance as a military officer who knows how to follow orders but can't help sympathize with Stevens' emotional plight. There are revelations late in the movie about her work environment that make you wonder how she does this job without going insane. Jeffrey Wright brings a mad scientist guise to the role of Dr. Rutledge, a genius whose pride overrides his accomplishments.

The director is Duncan Jones, who made the 2009 science-fiction drama "Moon" with Sam Rockwell. He demonstrates the same kind of mastery shown by Andrew Niccol in "Gattaca" and Alex Proyas in "Dark City." There is no extravagant visual style here, but the effects the film does have are put to good use, underscoring the madness inherent in the hero's dilemma. The script by Ben Ripley forgoes a standard linear plot line in favor of a complex narrative web that somehow never loses its way.

If there's one possible drawback, it may be in the movie's final fifteen minutes, where a 180 degree twist is thrown into the mix without a real explanation for how that twist was possible. Even that didn't bother me. Am I overpraising?  Not to me.  And I don't care.  It may not be for everyone, but "Source Code" is a marvelous science-fiction thriller that specifically targets those movie-loving geeks. And I'm ALL geek.

* * * *  out of  * * * *  stars