A genre that has recently been all the
rage in Hollywood are retellings/updates of classic fairy tales. Last
year, there were two 'Snow White' themed films ('Mirror Mirror' and
'Snow White and the Huntsman') and earlier this year there was
'Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters', a film that was delayed about a
year before it finally hit theaters in the dead month of January. The
latest film of this 'genre', 'Jack the Giant Slayer', is another film
that was pushed back from an earlier release date. Originally titled
'Jack the Giant Killer', this Bryan Singer-helmed fantasy film, based
off of both the Cornish fairytale of the same name as well as 'Jack
and the Beanstalk', was originally supposed to hit theaters in the
summer of 2012 but was pushed back to March 2013 in order to give the
filmmakers more time for post-production and marketing. It was also
renamed 'Jack the Giant Slayer', most likely to reach out to a wider
audience. But how about the film itself?
Like in the fairy-tales it is based on,
the film follows the titular Jack (Nicholas Hoult), a young farmhand
living with his uncle. One day, when Jack goes to the nearby kingdom
in order to sell his horse to earn money, he receives some beans from
a monk in exchange for the horse, who warns him 'not to get them
wet'. Later that night, he is visited by Isabelle (Eleanor
Tomlinson), the princess who Jack 'rescued' earlier that day in the
kingdom. Soon enough, the beans get wet and a giant beanstalk emerges
from the ground, and Isabelle is dragged up it while Jack is left
behind. In response, he joins forces with the King's elite guard, led
by Elmont (Ewan McGregor) on a mission to find the princess. However,
it turns out that this beanstalk serves as the gateway between the
human world and a world of giants, who are keen on conquering the
mortals below.
The best way I can describe this film
as a whole is that if you don't go in with very high expectations,
then you will have a better time with it. That is because, when you
look at it, Jack the Giant Slayer has a fairly simple story. It's
your basic tale of an unexpected hero who fights enemies and saves
the princess that has been done before. So, that means that the movie
is at a disadvantage because you can kind of tell what's going to
happen. Still, despite that, the movie is very entertaining. It could
have used a bit more humor though as the humor that is there in the
film is really nothing more than a couple of cheap one-liners and
puns. It also doesn't help that most of the giants' (except Bill
Nighy, who plays one-half of a two-headed giant) actions are mostly
played for laughs. They pick their nose, fart, burp, and so on.
They're not really as threatening as the filmmakers want them to be.
But on the bright side, the cast does a
solid job, especially Nicholas Hoult as Jack, who is quickly becoming
one of my favorite actors having already done a great job earlier
this year in 'Warm Bodies'. Like in that movie, here he is charming,
engaging, and very likable. The other two main leads, Tomlinson as
Isabelle and McGregor as Elmont, are also very engaging and likable
and Hoult and Tomlinson have solid chemistry. Finally, Stanley Tucci
steals the spotlight whenever he's on screen as the villainous
Roderick. Probably the only member of the cast who's rather underused
is Ian McShane as the King, who's not given much to do until the end.
So all in all, Jack the Giant Slayer may be a simple story, but the
film is backed up by a enthusiastic cast and is entertaining to the
point where you'll enjoy it. But like I said, don't go in expecting
too much because otherwise you are not going to like it. I'm still
not a big fan of all of these new updates to classic fairy tales, but
out of all that I have seen so far, this one is the best.
Rating: 4/5
No comments:
Post a Comment