Directed by: Antoine Faqua
Screenplay by: Richard Wenk
(Michael Sloan & Richard Lindhiem wrote for the TV series this movie is based on)
Rated: R
Release Date: September 26, 2014
The Hook: Former government agent, an early retirement, helping out good people
Plot: As mentioned in The Hook, Bob is a government agent (CIA to be exact) who is trying to live a normal, everyday life in the city. He goes into this dinner to read and eat in the wee hours of the night and meets a young prostitute who hopes to live her own life one day. She gets mixed up things, through no fault of her own, and Bob isn’t happy about that. He tries to buy her out of her contract so she live and do as she pleases, but that doesn’t make her “boss” happy and he’s arrogant enough to make Bob very angry. And then the fun begins … naturally.
If some guy walks into my home office, without fear or nervousness, and asks to buy out one of my employees just because, I would immediately ask myself why. I may not be scared because I’m the queen of my domain, you know?, but I would ask myself why? Why does this guy seem so confident? Why isn’t this guy scared? What might he know that I don’t? I would be cautious until I know more, until possibly, I know who this guy is.
But bad guys don’t seem to ask why. Which is why they usually loose in the end.
Anyway, this plot has been done before, I know, but it was still entertaining. It’s got bone and structure and its own personality. I’ve never seen the TV series so I can’t compare or contrast the two, but I like this movie. It’s got enough action, although there is a part where it slows down enough for me to notice. It was only a for a minute or two, but it was noticeable.
Camera technique and angles were pretty good. There are some parts in this movie where the camera kind of follows Denzel in slow-mo and there’s all kinds of things going on in the background, like an explosion or water raining down. Anyway, I call it the Mark Wahlberg shot because in Shooter there were all these scenes where Wahlberg is filmed walking in slow-mo and such and I thought “They could’ve tighten up these shot a bit” because it seemed to go on a second or two too long. Well, there’s a reason we see that kind of work in this film … same director! (duh! 🙂 ) I had to laugh at myself. It made sense. Anyway, the camera work wasn’t too bad and it didn’t mess with the story so win-win.
Acting was good too. It’s the first movie I’ve seen Denzel in since Two Guns (2013) and that’s the last movie he made so it was nice to see him again. Chole Grace Moretz (Hugo, and, much more recently, If I Stay) did a good job as well. I’m glad to see how far she’s come. I think she’s pretty good. I loved Ralphie’s character, played by Johnny Skourtiz who I haven’t seen before. And Bill Pullman is in this one, if only for a few measly minutes. I haven’t seen him on the big screen in a long time so it was nice surprise. Overall, not bad.
So, it’s a good movie. I recommend giving it a chance if you’re a fan of action and crime thrillers. I probably won’t add it to my DVD collection, but I’m happy to know that I could rent it (which I probably wouldn’t really do) or possibly watch in on Netflix when I want to.