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ivan-yergiyev
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Central Intelligence (2016)
It takes two to make a good comedy - little Hart and big Johnson
When I heard that Central Intelligence is going to star Dwyane Johnson and Kevin Hart – I was absolutely sure about watching it in theaters. First trailer confirmed my assumptions – it looked pretty legit to me.
The plot has nothing special in it from the beginning: classic "before" scene from 1996, which introduces us to Calvin Joyner (Kevin Hart) and Bob Stone (Dwyane Johnson). Calvin was a typical guy everyone would love to be friends with and Bob was just someone you wanted to bully all the time. Quick jump to 2016 shows us that Kevin wasted his "potential". However, we see tremendous transformation of Dwyane Johnson's character. He is the Rock now. Wait, is it actually possible to bully the Rock, even in 1996? Anyways, since that we can enjoy great chemistry between Kevin and Bob.
Many people might think: "Oh, another spy movie. I am so tired of it". I am going to tell you one thing – this movie is nothing about spying at all. Well, it is in some way – FBI agents, terrorists and all that. But it is not the main "selling" point of the movie. Thriller and spy part seems pretty straightforward and "easy to predict". But the way it goes to this obvious end is the key. Sweet high-school buddies friendship, bullies jokes and hilarious action scenes – all this is Central Intelligence. What actually amazed me is the fact that even though this film is all about laughing, it kept me smiled during all 105 minutes. Isn't it amazing when a big muscle machine Dwyane Johnson delivers one of the best jokes you would ever hear? Or little Hart doing cool ass moves you have never expected from him. Beyond all that, I was really surprised when I saw Aaron Paul in this movie. While he was more like a cameo, his character still got a few "breaking bad" quotes, if you know what I mean.
Overall, film is centralized on delightful chemistry of two main actors. Usually, it is not enough to keep people entertained. In this case, it is. Another perfect evidence is domestic gross which is more than 120 million dollars. Not bad for a comedy movie, huh? However, this film is not gonna "suit" every viewer. A lot of people aren't going to get jokes, characters motivations and references. But all in all, if you are a guy who does not judge movies too strictly – Central Intelligence is a perfect choice for you. Strong 7/10 for me. Hopefully, I will see Dwyane Johnson in comedies again – he is really great.
The Purge: Election Year (2016)
Still an OK film to watch
To begin with, this is the third part of the movie series called Purge. They all have the same setting, so I highly recommend watching two preceding films before. However, it is not mandatory. So, main idea of the film is that American government wants to reduce violence. Even though their intentions are pretty obvious, the concept of accomplishing the goal is unique. Creating "Purge" night, where every act of brutality and violence including murdering and torturing was allowed, supposed to cut down the level of crime during non-purge nights. Pretty interesting approach, huh? While first two films were mostly about characters who wanted to survive, this movie delivers us a "special" purpose. After so many years of purge, America has finally found an senator who wants to cancel "death" night. Her name is Charlie Roan (Elizabeth Mitchell). On the other hand, minister Edwidge Owens (Kyle Secor) works for the government and wants purge night to continue its existence. Debates, interviews and dialogues - all this we can see during first minutes of the movie. This part is pretty interesting and fits into the "rhythm".
During actual purge night, unlike previous films, we see the goal - make sure senator stays alive. As we all know from Purge: Anarchy, the best guy to do so is Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo). Film provides us with basic plot twists and action scenes. Even though, movie involves intriguing personalities such as Joe Dixon (Mykelti Williamson), Dante Bishop (Edwin Hodge), Laney Rucker (Betty Gabriel) and Marcos (Joseph Soria), directors do not provide us with all needed background information so you can understand their motivation fully. Other characters are mainly considered as a "crowd actors". Film mainly consists of action scenes where we only have couple of minutes to be like "huh, that was intense". After that directors make us to jump into another location. Having a few drama scenes also makes it even a better thriller movie. But it still lacks atmosphere and because of fairly "obvious" goal the ending and plot overall is also pretty clear.
To sum up, I would like to tell that I liked the movie. Despite it is not as well structured as typical good thriller, it gives us an adrenaline we need during all 100 minutes. On the other hand, I would not recommend to continue this franchise as it has said everything it needed to and making another film to "clear" all details is not worth it. Typically, I would give this film 6.5/10 marks which results in 7/10 on IMDb. However, Purge: Anarchy received 7/10 as well, so it is fair to give The Purge: Election Year its honestly earned 6/10 considering it has already gathered more than 70 million dollars domestically.