Double Bill Mini Musings: Super Soldier Punch-ups and Fruit-based Technology...

Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning:
What's it about?
Fourth film in the official Universal Soldier franchise. A man wakes from a coma to avenge the death of his family, leading him towards an underground group of former government soldiers: clones who may or may not be brainwashed.
Who would I recognise in it?
Scott Adkins, Jean-Claude Van-Damme, Dolph Lundgren.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
The link to past movies is fairly loose at best, and Van-Damme and Lundgren are both barely in the movie. I was pleasantly surprised by the third film (also directed by John Hyams), which reignited the franchise with gusto. With Luke Deveraux reborn as a dangerous - perhaps even murderous - Colonel Kurtz-a-like, it takes a little getting into, but with a focus on the revenge-driven motives of Adkins' grieving widower/father, Day of Reckoning hooks you in. The direction and photography are impressive, the budget can't have been particularly big, but they get a lot of bang for their buck. The blood-soaked explosions of detailed choreography are all-the-more impressive in wide shots that are, for action movies, held for quite a long time. Adkins' and the army of stunt performers are afforded ample screen time to show off their bone-crushing credentials in battles that are oftentimes as wince-inducing as they are effectively brutal. Climaxing with a gory, bullet-riddled, punch/kick/stab/shoot 'em up that clearly takes thematic and stylistic inspiration from Apocalypse Now, we're again reminded of just how tenuous the links are to origins of Universal Soldier. The story and plotting could have used some work, but the stunning action and razor sharp directing successfully paper over any narrative cracks. It's time for the franchise to now cut ties with Van-Damme and Lundgren, reaffirm the UniSol back story, and move forward with Adkins as the new carrier of the franchise - that certainly seems to be the intention. Good.

Click "READ MORE" below for the Apple man's biopic...

Jobs:
What's it about?
Biopic concerning the Apple Computers icon Steve Jobs, from his barefooted college days through to his 90s resurrection as returned leader of the company he founded.
Who would I recognise in it?
Ashton Kutcher, Dermot Mulroney, Josh Gad, Lukas Haas, Matthew Modine, J.K. Simmons, Ron Eldard, and others.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Opening with Kutcher's Jobs introducing the iPod for the very first time, there's an air of hero worship that threatens to derail proceedings and allow it to become nothing but praise. However, relatively soon, we see some of the darker sides of his character - stuff that, frankly, might very well make you think very lowly of him - but there's an undeniable fascination to the idea of, not just a single man, but a team on the cutting edge. However, in some ways Jobs' co-founder Wozniak is the more interesting character in this film - standing just a step behind the public face of Apple as the man whose vital technological know-how has tended to fall into the shadow of Jobs' leading persona. Sadly though, despite flirting with areas of intriguing character study, the film eventually descends into a fairly heartless series of boardroom goings-on. The focus drifts from the half-way point and you can't help but wonder if there's plenty of story going untold. Another element that grates are the numerous 'epiphanies' that land like thundering boulders and feel unreal - like deliberate movie plotting, rather than moments of life-like happenstance. Kutcher stretches himself in the lead, but like with many aspects of this biopic, you can't help but recognise that it's failing to grasp onto something greater. In many ways the film is sorely lacking. Whatever your views on the man, "jOBS" certainly doesn't feel like the definitive telling of this particular story. Alright.