THIS MOVIE TRIES TOO HARD TO BE GOOD
I like Angelina Jolie, but in this movie, it seems as though she tries to be a bit too cool. I’m not sure if it’s bad directing or bad acting, or just plain bad ideas, but for me, it doesn’t work. The storyline is extremely simple, just enough to create an excuse for a movie. A father, who is a forensic auditor, uncovers the truth and now he and his son are on the run from assassins, and it’s up to Hannah (Angelina Jolie) and Ethan (Jon Bernthal) to save the day. For me, this movie kinda felt like a bad version of Cliffhanger.
There’s a lot of holes in the movie that don’t get filled. For example, throughout the entire movie, we have no idea who’s calling the shots for the assassins. We get to meet the head honcho, Arthur, who is played by Tyler Perry, but we never find out who is, what’s he hiding, and why he wants our protagonist dead. There’s no backstory to any of the characters as well.
I really do feel as though there’s a lot of story here because the movie was based upon a book. And there was just so much story, so many lost opportunities, that seemed to be left out.
Just the summary of the book sounds a lot more interesting than the movie:
“When fourteen-year-old Jace Wilson witnesses a brutal murder, he’s plunged into a new life, issued a false identity and hidden in a wilderness skills program for troubled teens. The plan is to get Jace off the grid while police find the two killers.
The result is the start of a nightmare. The killers, known as the Blackwell Brothers, are slaughtering anyone who gets in their way in a methodical quest to reach him. Now all that remains between them and the boy are Ethan and Allison Serbin, who run the wilderness survival program; Hannah Faber, who occupies a lonely fire lookout tower; and endless miles of desolate Montana mountains. The clock is ticking, the mountains are burning, and those who wish Jace Wilson dead are no longer far behind.”
I wouldn’t see this movie in the theaters because it’s not that great. But it’s good to watch if you have HBOMax.
I will buy the book, though.
GRADE: C
Steve Young
