![]() But there's no denying its powerful result. And the script takes its cues from film clichés as opposed to real life. ![]() The film can be a little too sappy for its own good-cinematographer Ricardo Diaz seems to have mistaken "seeing the light" for an overlit setting. This is something new for director Tom Shadyac ( Liar Liar), who's known for his slapstick humor, but here turns his sights on the truth. Put your own faith in this crowd-pleasing biopic and it will grip you with its urgency, astonish you with its story, and move you anew. If this sounds like another faith-based film, it is. Thanks to his attorney (Greg Kinnear) and an inspirational speech in jail from Morgan Freeman (in Shawshank Redemption mode), Banks (Aldis Hodge) proves that hard work pays off. Despite a daunting succession of failures, many of which would make a lesser man crumble, he finally got his day in court. At just 16, he went to prison, leaving football and his loving mom behind. The movie Brian Banks follows his path to freedom. *** Brian Banks was a football player with a scholarship to USC until he was accused of a rape he didn't commit. Dine-In Progress Ridge 13, Mill Plain 8, Vancouver Mall 23, Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Cornelius, Eastport, Milwaukie, Oak Grove, Bridgeport, Cascade, Cinema 99, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Lloyd, Pioneer Place, Sherwood, Tigard, Vancouver Plaza, Scappoose, St. Keep insisting blood's thicker than water, and the engine's bound to clog. Pinning any sort of emotive backstory upon characters so flimsy can't help but slow momentum, and sustaining such a bonkers plotline at breakneck pace across barely understood scenes of aorta-bursting carnage requires a precision-tuned machinery borne upon soulless posturing. Most of the film plays out like a smarter, stylized distillation of the essential Fast and the Furious tropes, but evidently, even this remote outpost of the shared Dom universe can't avoid mentioning "family" any more than Star Wars films could jettison the Force. Just as Johnson's cartoonish braggadocio blends seamlessly with Statham's patented slow burn, John Wick and Atomic Blonde director David Leitch dials down the brutality for a steady stream of action sequences expertly tailored to his leads' particular gifts. Her actions never feel remotely rational, and throughout the disturbingly entertaining 130 minutes that follow, it doesn't matter. That's as close as we come to plot exposition. Despite the ticking time bomb in her body, she manages to become the eventual love interest of Shaw's counterpart, Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), while hiding amid the crowds of London. Opening with an armored car heist led by ex-MI6 cyborg and self-described "black Superman" Brixton Lore (Idris Elba), we're quickly introduced to Hattie (Vanessa Kirby), Shaw's (Jason Statham) estranged intelligence-agent sister who safeguards the deadliest virus ever engineered by injecting herself with the super-plague. *** Even according to the less than rigorous standards of its franchise, Hobbs & Shaw takes a perverse delight in playing fast and loose and, sure, furious with storytelling conventions. Frank Masi By WW Contributor Augat 5:27 pm PDT ![]()
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