USA 2013
Starts March 14
Directed by: Bryan Singer
Writing credits: Darren Lemke, Christopher McQuarrie, Dan Studney
Cast: Nicholas Hoult, Eleanor Tomlinson, Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci
Length: 114 minutes
In Bryan Singer's humdrum rendition of the classic English folktale, Jack (Lemke) is a naive young boy who is bamboozled into trading his family's horse for a bag of beans. When he unwittingly grows a beanstalk through his house (and conveniently loses a hot princess (Tomlinson) in the process), he finds himself embroiled in a centuries old war between giants and humans.
Jack the Giant Slayer is yet another example of how the genre of action adventure films has reached a rut. Yet again, there are the same overused tropes. The damsel in distress (the princess is, of course, kidnapped in order to further the plot/character development of the hero), a villain with good publicity (when everyone believes the villain is a good guy of high standing and is shocked to find out that all along he was being evil) and even a bit of the invincible incompetent (when the hero survives everything despite having no real skills; it’s all about luck.) These are just some of the major clichés of the film, and really they are pretty common for most of the action releases lately.
It has gotten to the point (for this critic at least) that every action film is almost snooze-worthy because it is so predictable. There is following a certain formula, and then there is being completely unimaginative. Considering that film is supposed to be an art, it is pretty clear that those making action films have given up on even trying to stretch boundaries and test new waters. Maybe the reason for such unsatisfactory ticket sales for these types of films is a direct reflection of how exhausted the audience is of paying so much money to see sub par creations. I know that I, for one, am reaching my limit as well. ()