Posts Tagged ‘Annabelle Wallis’

Mutiny

Director: Jean-Francois Richet

Cast: Jason Statham, Annabelle Wallis, Adrian Lester, Steven Blades, Chaneil Kular, Roland Muller, Ramon Tikaram

Running Time: 1 hour 35 minutes

Film Rating: 6 out of 10

Action tough guy Jason Statham follows up his marginally better spy film Shelter with Mutiny directed by French director Jean-Francois Richet.

Mutiny follows the story of bodyguard Cole Reed who is protection detail for Thai shipping tycoon Tibu Campallo played by Ramon Tikaram who is about to hand over the reins of his shipping business to his slippery son Kameron played by Chaeil Kular.

When a lavish night out in Bangkok goes horribly wrong, Cole boards the Artemis container ship leaving the port and along with Angie Ellis played by Annabelle Wallis (King Arthur: Legend of the Sword), they both discover human cargo on board the ship. The crew of the Artemis are gangsters lead by the vicious captain Marko Madsen played by Roland Moller.

The brawny Cole Reed is not deterred by the amount of men on board but more about how to free the kidnapped people on board. Teaming up with Angie, Cole take on the crew while a nearby American naval vessel in international waters suspect foul play after receiving a distress call.

Captain Adam Spencer suspects that there is a problem on board the Artemis. Spencer is played by British actor Adrian Lester (The Day After Tomorrow, Mary Queen of Scots) but Reed has the action in hand as he attempts to find out who Madsen is really working for.

Mutiny is a standard action film, thin on dialogue and character development but the film does expertly make use of the location, a container ship with it’s vast spaces and labyrinthine interior. The poster does show Statham hanging off the edge of the ship with a gun. There is definitely danger being promised and it is delivered.

The gorgeous and gritty Annabelle Wallis makes a lovely compliment to all the tough guy action which is often gory and relentless. Unfortunately there is no love interest between Angie and Cole Reed which does not create an urgency for their predicament. Always sexualize your characters just a little.

Mostly set in Bangkok and on the Artemis container ship, Mutiny is an average Jason Statham action thriller which gets a film rating of 6 out of 10.

It’s an enjoyable action film which definitely attracted an audience on a Sunday afternoon at the cinema. Recommended viewing.

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

Director: Guy Ritchie

Cast: Charlie Hunnam, Jude Law, Eric Bana, Djimon Hounsou, Astrid Berges-Frisbey, Aidan Gillen, Freddie Fox, Annabelle Wallis, Craig McKinley, David Beckham

Despite the miserably wet and cold weather, I popped off one Sunday evening to see director Guy Ritchie’s highly anticipated film King Arthur: Legend of the Sword featuring Pacific Rim star Charlie Hunnam who embodies all the muscular traits of a young would be king who has to fight his tyrannical uncle. That uncle is played by Jude Law (Wilde, Sherlock Holmes) as the vicious Vortigern.

Vortigern who has been seduced by far darker forces betrays his brother King Uther played by Eric Bana (The Other Boleyn Girl) and even murders his own wife. Talk about sibling rivalry.

Arthur who grows up in a pre-medieval London brothel soon learns to fend for himself against unsuspecting invading Vikings and toughens up enough to become a muscular young man who is selected to return to Vortigern’s castle to stand in line with a queue of brawny lads hoping to be able to pull the sword out of the stone.

That legendary sword Excalibur is rightfully pulled out by Arthur and Vortigern identifies his nephew as his true threat and plans to execute him in a spectacular fashion in front of all his ragged followers who out of fear have sworn fealty to a bloodthirsty deranged king.

Fortunately Arthur has some allies who are determined to shape his royal destiny including the sorceress The Mage played by Spanish star Astrid Berges-Frisbey (I, Origins) and Bedivere played by Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond) who both assist Arthur in avenging his father’s death and claiming his rightful place at the Table.

In King Arthur, Guy Ritchie employs all his trademark dexterous narrative techniques with lots of witty dialogue that he displayed in the Sherlock Holmes films while deftly maintaining the pace of a legendary action blockbuster, making this one of his biggest studio films.

Hunnam is perfectly cast as the dashing yet brawny King Arthur while Jude Law is suitably vile as Vortigern who believes the only way to quell the masses is through fear.

Whilst King Arthur: The Legend of the Sword could have used a romantic subplot, it remains a mythical and muscular popcorn film which shies away from resorting to loads of gore in order to keep the age restriction fairly low at PG 13.

Audiences should watch out for the deadly archer Bill played by Aiden Gillen last seen as Littlefinger in HBO’s Game of Thrones and the duplicitous maiden Maggie played by British star Annabelle Wallis soon to be seen in the Tom Cruise action remake of The Mummy.

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is an enjoyable action film heavily influenced by such hit series as Vikings and Game of Thrones but does not punch above its own weight and Ritchie keeps his quirky directorial style to a minimum unlike his previous spy caper The Man From Uncle.

With Hunnam’s box office star power on the rise and Guy Ritchie set to direct more Arthurian sequels, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword gets a rating of 7.5 out of 10.