Movie Review: Devil

First, five people are riding in an elevator together and it gets stuck. Then, they find out one of them is the devil. Great. No one on the building crew can figure out why the elevator is stuck in the first place – the mechanics seem fine. Then, {cue dramatic music} horrible things start happening. Of course, the people begin accusing each other of being the culprit. Each of the five has issues that we slowly learn about as the story progresses. The five are:

• A temporary security guard (Bokeem Woodbine) who works in the building and who has a police record.
• An irritating mattress salesman (Geoffrey Arend) who immediately begins getting on everyone’s nerves.
• A young woman named Sarah (Bojana Novakovic) who is caught in some lies.
• An older woman (Bojana Novakovic) who is a thief.
• A nervous young guy named Tony (Logan Marshall-Green) – no one is sure why he is even in the building.

Periodically, the lights in the elevator go out and every time they do, something bad happens. It’s done in classic Shyamalan fashion: the lights go out and you see quick flashes of what’s going on, and you hear shuffling sounds and lots of bumping around, but you can’t tell what it is or who’s doing it. These scenes are actually well done. Very thrilling.

Detective Bowden (Chris Messina) is brought in to try and solve a different mystery but soon ends up working on the elevator situation. Ramirez (Jacob Vargas) is a security guard who thinks something demonic is happening, although no one believes him initially.

Devil is more of a thriller than a horror movie, and it is very psychological. It is really not as bad as I feared it might be. The story unfolds in such a way that you are left guessing all the way to the end of the movie, although the ending does leave something to be desired. I give this movie two and a half Slurpees out of five.

* Devil * Director: John Erick Dowdle * Starring: Chris Messina, Bokeem Woodbine, Geoffrey Arend, Jenny O’Hara, Bojana Novakovic, Logan Marshall-Green * Writers: Brian Nelson (screenplay), M. Night Shyamalan (story) *  Time: 80 minutes * Rated PG-13 * Horror/Mystery/Thriller * Trailer *

Upcoming Release: Tron Legacy

I recently watched the original Tron. Honestly, I really can’t remember whether I saw it when I was younger or not. It seems like something I would have seen, but it didn’t really seem familiar as I watched it. Anyway, it was released in 1982 and here’s a brief synopsis:

Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) is a video game programmer who works for ENCOM. Rival programmer Dillinger plagiarizes Flynn’s games then locks Flynn out of the system. When Flynn tries to hack the system, he is sucked into it. He is able to redeem himself by participating successfully in digital games as gladiator Clu, with help from Tron/Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner).

I can see how this movie would have been considered cool in 1982, with it’s vivid colors and video game look. Of course, watching it now, it’s looks pretty hokey but I thought it was a clever idea.

Enter Tron Legacy, which picks up some 30 years later. Bridges and Boxleitner are back as Kevin Flynn and Alan Bradley. Kevin Flynn’s son Sam (Garrett Hedlund) tries to find his long-lost father (who has been in the game this whole time) and ends up being sucked into the game himself. Together, Sam and his father team up to fight their way through the digital world.

Tron Legacy is set for release on December 17, 2010. Prepare for some great special effects, 3-D, and sound! I will be posting much more information about the movie between now and release so stay tuned.

* Tron Legacy * Director: Joseph Kosinski * Starring: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde,  Bruce Boxleitner * 2010 * Not Yet Rated * Soundtrack * Action/Sci-Fi/Thriller

Devil

Well, as I reported about a month ago, M. Night Shyamalan is co-producing a new movie coming out on September 17, 2010 called Devil.  According to IMDb, the plot of Devil is:

A group of people trapped in an elevator realize that the devil is among them.

The directors are Drew Dowdle and John Erick Dowdle and the cast includes Chris Messina, Geoffrey Arend, Logan Marshall-Green, and Bojana Novakovic. The movie starts Friday, September 17, 2010 and it is rated PG-13.

I just saw the trailer on TV for the first time.  Here it is:

Movie Review: Salt

CIA agent Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) just wants to get home and hang out with her husband, when a Russian defector shows up at CIA headquarters. He accuses Salt of not only being a spy but also informs the agents that Salt has plans to assassinate the Russian president. His story is believable enough that Agent Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is immediately suspicious of Salt and wants to question her, while Salt’s colleague, Ted Winter (Liev Schreiber) defends Salt’s innocence.  Salt, realizing things don’t look good for her, seizes an opportunity to escape and goes on the run, determined to prove her innocence.

Thus begins 90 minutes of action: cars chases, gun battles, hand-to-hand skirmishes, and lots of jumping off of things onto to other things. Salt is very creative in finding ways to stay ahead of the other agents while she struggles to clear her name. There are more than one MacGyver moments. But… who is Salt?  Is she really a Russian spy?  Is she dedicated to the U.S.?  There are enough plot twists to keep you guessing until the very end.

One aspect I found amusing was how Salt would pick up items along the way that she needed, clothing or whatever, without drawing any attention to herself and without breaking stride.

Now, in order to buy Salt, you have to believe that a woman as small as Angelina Jolie could beat every man she comes across in hand-to-hand combat. Yes, she is well trained, but so are the male agents.  But, at least they didn’t make it look easy; she has to grit her teeth and jump off of walls for leverage.  You also have to believe that all these well-trained agents are really bad shots when they’re trying to take down someone on the run. However, I guess you can say that about any of these type movies – because if the main character is shot, it’s pretty much over.

Once things get going, Salt is action until the end, but the storyline is not quite as strong as the action (rent one of the Bourne movies if you want that); however, it certainly was entertaining and held my attention throughout.  I give Salt three out of five Slurpees.

* Salt * Director: Phillip Noyce * Starring: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor * Writer: Kurt Wimmer * Time: 100 minutes * Rated PG-13 * Action/Thriller * Trailers *

M. Night Shyamalan producing “Devil”

M. Night Shyamalan is co-producing a new movie coming out on September 17, 2010 called Devil.  According to IMDb, the plot of Devil is:

A group of people trapped in an elevator realize that the devil is among them.

The directors are Drew Dowdle and John Erick Dowdle and the cast includes Chris Messina, Geoffrey Arend, Logan Marshall-Green, and Bojana Novakovic.

Here is the trailer for Devil: