Kim Byung-Woo's TAKE POINT: action, betrayal and international naughtiness via South Korea

Don't get involved if you want to stay alive -- the moral of this new film would seem to be -- with either mercenaries nor the governments of the USA, China, North Korea or South Korea. That's what happens to the two heroes of TAKE POINT, written and directed by Kim Byung-Woo, an ever-so-lightly-political action/adventure thriller in which betrayal is epidemic.

It doesn't matter whose side you imagine you may be on, you're still as good as dead.

Our heroes here (one of them takes a rather long time revealing himself) are a South Korean mercenary, now-residing in America with his pregnant wife, nicknamed Ahab (played by Ha Jung-woo, above and on poster, top), and a North Korean doctor (played by Lee Sun-kyun, below) whose job is to tend to the well-being of North Korea's premier, known here as "King."

The two men refer to each other as "Northie" and "Southie"(or so the English subtitles would have it) and eventually, if slowly, begin to bond and grow to respect their opponent for very good reasons. Mr. Lee played the lead role in that crackerjack South Korean crime thriller A Hard Day, and he is every bit as good (with much less to do) in this new film. Mr. Ha -- a staple of more first-rate South Korean films than you can shake a stick at -- is hugely impressive all over again. (That's Jennifer Ehle, below, right, who plays Ahab's American operative.)

The movie itself is manufactured to within an inch of its life, and yet it moves fast enough and is so filled with exciting twists and turns that it should more than keep fans of action, assassination, politics, explosions, and mistrust more than satisfied. The plot has to do with the mercenaries' need to kidnap and keep alive the North Korean head-of-state, and much of the action is seen via visual monitors located all over the place (including different countries) that show only one side of the action. Consequently, it is rare for more than than even a few cast members to share the screen in any particular scene.

So much is always happening simultaneously -- our Southie has to save the life of the North Korean President via everything from CPR to a blood transfusion at the same time as he is directing his team of mercenaries how to get out of ever more dangerous situations -- that the viewer barely has a chance to draw a breath. This makes the movie move like gangbusters. On the down side, however, is the heavily accented English spoken by both our heroes, which is difficult enough to understand that you may wish for the English subtitles to translate, not just the Korean dialog, but the English portion, too.

Yes, the movie is in many ways beyond ridiculous, with the events we see requiring super-human strength, skill and smarts from (and luck for) our two heroes. But if you can so easily accept the sanitized silliness of the latest Mission Impossible nonsense (which, clearly, most of the world did), then Take Point should prove a cakewalk of unusually piquant delight for most action fans. And if the film's finale offers up a nice nod toward a possible united Korea, it's too bad the filmmaker could not have allowed the emphasis to remain on the two men at the closing moment, rather than only on our heroic "Southie."

The film opened this past Friday in California in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas, and will expand eastward across the country in the days to come. To find the theaters nearest you, click here and then click on Find a Theater and then just keep clicking on View More until you've exhausted either the list or yourself.

In VENOM, Tom Hardy delights, while director Ruben Fleischer gets the tone just right

Enough knocking from the critical establishment (32% on Rotten Tomatoes) and the anger of comic book fans who wanted something much darker: The movie of VENOM turns out to be a lot of fast, frisky fun. This is thanks to director Ruben Fleischer (shown below), the smart guy behind Zombieland and 30 Minutes or Less, who understands the importance of proper pacing and, above all, achieving the right tone. He manages both here, and the

result is enormously entertaining -- a great mash-up of not-quite-super-hero, some dark doings and a lot of delightful, off-the-cuff humor. The humor comes courtesy of that wonderfully versatile and uber-watchable actor, Tom Hardy, shown below, along with his alter-ego/alien embodiment that has somehow, via the oddball and not-quite-completely -thought-out plot machinations, embedded itself in his mind and body. Die-hard fans of the amazing Mr. Hardy (TrustMovies is one of these) will feel jealous indeed of that lucky alien!

Owing quite a debt to The Hidden, one of the first and certainly the best body-hopping alien movie ever made, this newer, bizarre and often clashing combo of predatory alien and smart, sexy, laid-back hero is responsible for much of the movie's near-constant chuckles and smiles. As is Mr. Fleischer's understanding of how to pace events and action so that much of the movie's necessary exposition easily goes hand in hand with action, laughs and some pretty nifty special effects.

Along for the wild ride are Michelle Williams (above, left), somewhat underused as Hardy's girlfriend, and villainous Riz Ahmed (below, center, with Jenny Slate, at left, who forsakes her comedic abilities to play Ahmed's assistant-with-a-conscience). After his fine work in Closed Circuit and now this film, Ahmed (of Nightcrawler and The Night Of) shows us how easily and gracefully he can move from good guy to bad.

How the Hardy character and his alien finally bond and make the best of things is great fun to see. After so many stupid-hero movies that beat us about the head with over-done and over-long CGI effects and stories that go on and on and on, how pleasant to view something relatively short (112 minutes), sweet and entertaining that gets so much so right.

From Sony/Columbia, the movie opens this weekend nationwide, and --despite the critical opprobrium and anger of comic book fans -- is going to be a huge success. I eagerly await the sequel which, if the scene inserted into the end credits can be believed, will feature a whacked-out Woody Harrelson as the villian! Playing all over the place, Venom can be found at theaters near you by simply clicking here.

Streaming: Netflix's version of Marvel's DAREDEVIL proves noirish, nifty stuff

After the big-nothing that comprised the earlier version of twelve years ago, the new DAREDEVIL that debuted last week via the Netflix streaming service provides just about everything that the former dud lacked -- from the noirish and dank cityscape, in which bad things keep happening to good people, to the dark, monochromatic outfit our hero wears to hide his identity, to the wonderfully indeterminate time frame in which this story seems to exist.  (Is all this taking place it now, in the recent past, or maybe the near future? We can't really tell nor does it much matter. The place exists as a kind of ever-current depiction of the "big, scary, hugely corrupted city.")

TrustMovies is only now into the fourth episode of the thirteen that incorporate Daredevil's first season, each one coming in between 48 and 59 minutes. The tale -- of a boy, blinded in an accident in which he saved the life of an old man, now grown into a young man who has honed his other senses to their keenest levels so that he has become a lawyer by day (above, left, with his partner, played by Elden Henson) and vigilante by night, working out of Hell's Kitchen in the kind of uber-corrupt city that New York is always threatening to become -- seems a fine one for the episodic-yet-connected sort of series that Daredevil appears to be, at least at this point in its unfurling.

Bingers will probably do the entire first season in a day or weekend. It will most likely take me at least one week, given my episode-or-two-per-day approach. But I'm already hooked -- especially by the casting of Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock, a great "everyman" hero whose open, welcoming face and more-than-fit body makes him seem surprisingly real, but just a little more handsome and sexy (and a lot more alert) than your everyday "everyman." This is a the kind of character, coupled to a performance by the actor, that audiences will root for -- big-time.

Created by Drew Goddard (shown at right), the series makes clear from the outset that we will be fed Matt's backstory, in which his father figures most prominently, in bits and pieces, as is appropriate. The action scenes, of which there are plenty, are done extremely well -- cleverly straddling the line between real and just a little more than that -- while the casting of the female leads, Deborah Ann Wohl (below, right) and Rosario Dawson (at bottom, right) in the initial episodes, provides strength, smarts and pulchritude.

Best of all, perhaps, there are almost none of the increasingly leaden and over-used "special effects" that have rendered the Iron Man and Captain America franchises, for any vaguely intelligent audience, more and more difficult to sit through. Dardevil instead counts on smart plot mechanics, great action, and a top cast of professionals to hold us fast.

The writing (those first two episodes are by Mr. Goddard) is fine for this kind of show -- sharp and intelligent but in a quiet, economical, almost underhanded manner. And the direction of the first two episodes by Phil Abraham (Mad Men and The Sopranos) provides everything we need to become immediately involved and very well entertained.

There is simply so much of what they now call "content" available to view these days, that having the opportunity to see yet another series from yet another provider may not seem like anything special. If Daredevil adheres to the interest, pace and style of these first few episodes, I'd call it a keeper, for sure.

The Andrews' (Lau and Loo) ode to Chinatown gangs, REVENGE OF THE GREEN DRAGONS

Crazily piling into 94 minutes what ought to have been a multi-chapter saga for maybe cable television (or at the very least a two-and-one-half-to-three hour epic movie, REVENGE OF THE GREEN DRAGONS tells the story of two inseparable Chinese immigrant friends, who, in young boyhood -- via the kidnapping of one, followed by the forced recruitment of the other -- grow up to become gang members of the notorious Green Dragons of New York City's Chinatown back in the down-and-dirty (and bloody) 1980s.

Full of action, nasty deeds and enough subsidiary characters to choke one of those Chinese celebratory dragons, the movie certainly does not drag, but by telescoping so many events and introducing so many characters only to have most of them disappear quickly enough to immediately forget, the movie -- co-directed by Andrew Lau (left) and Andrew Loo (right), shown flanking the film's most famous executive producer, Martin Scorsese  and co-written by Loo and Michael Di Jiacomo -- becomes little more than a serviceable action thriller with a slightly exotic Chinatown millieu.

The screenplay is also just serviceable with little memoranble in it save the revved-up action and gore, nastiness and betrayal, and some particularly weary cyncism. If any or all of this had been better fleshed out (and there is nothing to suggest that the writers and directors would not have been up to this task), we might have had a memorable story, well told.

As it is, we have some interesting characters -- the two boys, together with their young men selves (Justin Chon and Kevin Wu, the latter shown at right, two photos above); the young and classy criminal kingpin (Harry Shum Jr.,.just above); and his number one woman-in-charge (a really frightening and excellent Eugenia Yuan, below) -- who hold the screen for this short time and then disappear into the miasma of all the other movies of this particular genre.

As I say, there's plenty of action here, much of it murderous and ugly; the noise-level alone should preclude your dozing off. But by the finale, when the ultimate cynicism unfolds, I suspect you'll be a bit annoyed at the whole been-there/done-that sensibility at work. Which might have been avoided by telling this story in something closer to its full detail. (Yes, that's Ray Liotta -- center, below -- as a casually racist but relatively effective NYC detective.)

From A24 and running a sleek 94 minutes, Revenge of the Green Dragons opens today in New York City at the Village East Cinema and in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Noho 7.
  

The Friend family's BONNIE AND CLYDE VS DRACULA: Nepotism done right!

How disparate indeed are the movies we cover on this blog. Yester-day it was the best we've seen so far this year (Earthwork), and today it's a little number entitled BONNIE AND CLYDE VS DRACULA. What? Yes, and if that title sounds like one of the camp classics of all time, so be it. You can't escape camp with a title like that. The movie, however, is surprisingly straight -- combining the thriller, action, crime, horror and nostalgia genres into something that actually works. And surprisingly well.

Your main questions after viewing this odd concoction (mine, at least) were: How did this movie happen? Did it begin as a joke? Did somebody bet the moviemakers that a good film could not be created out of a title like this? Really: could anyone have wanted to toss Bonnie (Tiffany Shepis, above, left), Clyde (Trent Haaga, above, right) and Dracula into the same film? If so, then I stand corrected. And amazed.

B&CvsD is the product of what I will now call The Friend Family: It was written, directed and edited by one Timothy Friend, so it is he who gets the lion's share of credit for how well the thing works. Sorry, Tim: I could not find a photo of you anywhere on the web -- not, at least, one that I could be certain was of you, the movie-maker, rather than some other Timothy Friend. If someone will send a shot to me, I will include it in this post, for this guy deserves his credit and identification. (That may be Mr. Friend, above, with his back to us. But it might also be the cinematographer, Todd Norris. Good job, Todd: Your movie looks like a million dollars.)

Just breaking: I received a very pleasant email from The Friend Family yesterday, 4/26/2011, along with a photo -- of that missing director -- and an explanation of who is who and how the family fits together.  See bottom of this post for an update....

Listed as a co-producer is a certain Jennifer Friend (below, upside down and in Indian head-dress: don't ask), who also doubles as one of the movie's stars. She plays Annabel, a rather pretty young woman with a few cards missing from her deck. In the role of Dracula is one, Russell Friend (at left), and he delivers one of the sexiest Dracs since Christopher Lee. I wish the film found greater use for him, since everything he does is germane and interesting and is handled quite well. But with all else that's going on here (for a nice change in the horror genre, this film has too much, rather than the usual too little, happening), our Drac is not used to full capacity.

Most else is, however -- and that's what makes the movie such surprising fun. Its writing, direction and acting are strong throughout -- with the dialog much better than that of most low-budget genre films (I'd call it theater-level rather than movie-level); the perfor-mances are on-target, full of energy and believability; and the direction works in service to all of this, while maintaining its own level of smart visuals. (There's a grave-digging scene that's as memorable, in its way, as the one in Hamlet.)

"Do you like my toes, Bud" asks a sexed-up Bonnie to Clyde as they're driving along a back road. She follows this with "Do you like my nose, Bud?, heating him up a bit further. Then she delivers her rhyming pièce de résistance, nearly causing an auto accident. The movie is full of these small touches that amuse, surprise and turn us on, and Shepis and Haaga do a bang-up job as the hard-boiled couple on the lam.

I am not making any claims to greatness for this little film. For all its enjoyability and "smarts," it remains a mash-up of genres about, yes, Bonnie & Clyde and Dracula. Yet, compared to so much been-there/done-that garbage that gets filmed (or video-ed) and then released to theaters and DVD, this one is a clever, alternately shocking and silly (but fun) original.

B&CvsD, from Indican Pictures -- after playing a raft of fantasy/horror fests and some theatrical venues, including midnight showings, outside of NYC -- comes to DVD this Tuesday, April 26. Fans will want to take a look, for sure, while film buffs who appreciate the unusual will probably enjoy it, too.

Update: Shown in the in the photo above, from left to right: Joseph Allen (co-producer, lead gaffer and he composed the musical score), co-producer and co-star Jennifer Friend, and -- finally -- a photo of the director Timothy Friend. Jennifer, who sent the email and is married to Timothy, also tells me that their son Alex has a small part in the film. He plays the young "moonshiner" who gets shot during a heist-gone-bad, and he, along with some of his friends,worked as production assistant on the film.  Further, Russell Friend, who makes such a stirring Dracula, is Timothy's younger brother, and the family is now in preproduction for its next feature film -- which it plans to shoot in the sumer of 2012. I can't wait, and once you've seen what glossy fun it offers with B&CvsD, I wager you'll be eager to see the next one, too.