Tuesday Releases: Getaway & RED 2

November 26, 2013 / Leave a Comment

NOVEMBER 26TH, 2013

RED 2 // Just as ridiculously over-the-top as the first installment, “RED 2″ sees all the main players return from the previous film and enter into another chase against their own government. Bruce Willis and Mary-Louise Parker return as Frank Moses and Sarah Ross, left to their own devices, living an unexciting life until John Malkovich’s Marvin returns with some news that leads them on an international race against time, facing off with Helen Mirren, Neal McDonough, Byung-hun Lee, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Anthony Hopkins. The fun with “RED 2″ is the multiple story-lines playing out at one time, allowing for one to forget certain threads, causing highlights when characters reemerge surprisingly and bring a suspenseful nature to the film, especially including Byung-hun Lee’s role as hitman, as he pops up unexpected on several occasions. The action is sub-par and doesn’t quite match that of the original film. The humor is also there but often lands flat, apart for some reoccurring jokes, like the stealing of Lee’s private jet and Marvin’s wacky nature. Everyone pulls off believable roles, save for Parker, who sticks out like a sore thumb through most of the film and does not quite match the dynamic that the rest of the characters share. With some standard twists and your run-of-the-mill action-comedy rigamarole, “RED 2″ captures and holds attention but doesn’t offer anything more than another notch in the post of graphic novel turned films.

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THE CANYONS // Not intellectual but ultra sexual, “The Canyons” takes a down-and-out Lindsay Lohan and delivers a novelty in the form of nudity and sensuality. Gone are the days of “Herbie Fully Loaded” and “Mean Girls”, Lohan has completely obliterated her former Disney charm and has set on a course of rehab and full on nude scenes. And from a very heterosexual man, I cannot completely complain. Lohan is the driving force in this film, directed by Paul Schrader, known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, and written by author Bret Easton Ellis of “American Psycho” fame. For an actress returning from quite the hiatus, Lohan grabs a hold of this role and never lets go, commanding attention as the sexpot girlfriend whose open sexuality and conflicted feelings between two men turn the Hollywood love triangle dynamic on its head. Reminiscent of Soderbergh’s casting of pornstar Sasha Grey in “The Girlfriend Experience”, Schrader brings on male pornstar James Deen, who actually surprises as being an okay actor. Only flashing the moneymaker in one scene, he relies on dialogue and attitude to get him through the film and even though most of his deliveries are flat, the Hollywood bravado rings through. The story is nothing new, with a jealous boyfriend (Deen) keeping tabs on his girlfriend (Lohan) and finding out she has a secret lover (Nolan Gerard Funk). The unraveling eventual leads to a violent conclusion that slams a giant dot on the exclamation point that is this film. In the case of being memorable, “The Canyons” definitely is, with the reemergence of Lohan in her sexual prime. However, on the scale of being a good film, this remains entirely entertaining but extremely lacking and without Lohan, would likely be absolutely worthless.