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3 Action Films for Spring Open
By Sandra Olmsted
Besides Cinderella, which had another great weekend at the box office, the other film that did well last weekend was another film with a woman in lead role, and this one was the action flick The Divergent Series: Insurgent. The box office take for the two other action films, The Gunman and Run All Night, both with male leads, have been disappointing, to say the least, but only one of these deserves to be ignored by action flick fans.
Director Robert Schwentke’s The Divergent Series: Insurgent suffers some from being bridge between the first in the franchise and whatever comes next. However, unlike some second installments which generally lack a strong climax, Insurgent has lean run to a respectably exciting climax despite the implausible premise. Schwentke ups the stakes for Tris (Shailene Woodley), who scavenges through a ruined, futuristic Chicago to survive.
What she really needs are answers as why her family sacrificed themselves to protect something — but what? She has one ally, Four (Theo James), and the duo, now fugitives from Jeanine (Kate Winslet) and her power-grabbing Erudite tribe, must confront the consequences of past choices, search for the truth, and fight for the future of their world. Cast includes Octavia Spencer, Naomi Watts, Miles Teller, and Zoe Kravitz. Insurgent, a Lionsgate release, is rated PG-13 for intense violence and action throughout, some sensuality, thematic elements and brief language and runs 110 minutes.
In The Gunman, Sean Penn stars as Terrier, an NGO worker with a dark past. When he returns to the Congo, where he assassinated a government minister years before, he finds himself on the run and now the target of an assassin. Performances bordering on tongue-in-cheek by Javier Bardem, Jasmine Trinca, Ray Winstone, Idris Elba, and Mark Rylance and globe-trotting across Africa and Europe help, but a lack of action film conventions and the muddled, if lofty, political themes drag the story down. Unfortunately, Penn’s vanity project attempt at becoming a middle-age action hero falls short despite having director Pierre Morel, of Taken fame, at the helm and a solid cast.
The Gunman, an Open Road Films release, is rated R for strong violence, language and some sexuality and runs an interminable 115 minutes.
In Run All Night, director Jaume Collet-Serra proves he can handle action material and use star Liam Neeson’s on-screen personality to an entertaining effect. Neeson plays aging hit man Jimmy Conlon once known as The Gravedigger. After a life time of killing for his longtime friend, crime boss Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris), Jimmy finds out that Mike (Joel Kinnaman), the son he abandoned long ago, is now the target of a hit. Meanwhile, an old foe, police detective (Vincent D’Onofrio), wants to solve 30 years of murders by cuffing Jimmy. However, it’s Jimmy’s own conscience and his fondness for the bottle that may prevent him from saving his son and himself during this all nighter. Collet-Serra keeps the characters in motion during the long night; however, it’s his ability to infuse every scene with an emotional tenue that gives the film intensity despite the boilerplate story,. Run All Night, a Warner Bros. release, is rated R for strong violence, language including sexual references, and some drug use and runs a fast 108 minutes.
The Divergent Series: Insurgent, The Gunman, and Run All Night are all in theaters now, but The Gunman and Run All Night are likely to leave theaters soon. Fans of action film should catch Run All Night and The Divergent Series: Insurgent on the big screen.
