A Complete Review of Louis Leterrier's work

Cast : Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Sung Kang, Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson, Nathalie Emmanuel, Helen Mirren, Gal Gadot, Charlize Theron, Scott Eastwood, John Cena, Brie Larson, Jason Momoa, Pete Davidson

What was it about?
Dom Toretto and his family are targeted by the vengeful son of drug kingpin Hernan Reyes.

My two cents:
It turned out to be even more boring than usual with this franchise, I’m afraid. It probably had to do with the fact that, like most of the movies in this franchise, with a running time above 2hrs, it was just too long. In this case, it was even worse because it was only half of the damned story so there wasn’t even a conclusion. At least, the intro which brought us back to the 5th installment (as a matter of fact, ‘Fast Five’ was the only installment which I found enjoyable) was not bad and I thought it was a decent way to introduce Jason Momoa as Dante Reyes. On top of that, Momoa was the only one who was actually pretty good here (and you are talking about a huge cast including 20+ actors and even some Academy Award winners). Indeed, he managed to find the right tone as Dante was some kind of daft cartoon character. Okay, I have to admit that John Cena in cute uncle mode was also pretty good as well. Unfortunately, pretty much everything else was a huge hot mess though. Indeed, at this point, with half of the characters dead and brought back at some point and the impossible ludicrous plots, I really struggled to follow what the hell was going on.

My rating: 05/10

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Cast : Omar Sy

What was it about?
Diakité and Monge are police officers who are complete opposites, and get paired together to uncover an unexpectedly big criminal case.

My two cents:
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My rating: 0?/10

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Cast : Sacha Baron Cohen, Rebel Wilson, Mark Strong, Isla Fisher, Tamsin Egerton, Scott Adkins, Penélope Cruz, Gabourey Sidibe

What was it about?
A new assignment forces a top spy to team up with his football hooligan brother.

My two cents:
To be honest, I'm not surprised that it turned out to be a flop at the box-office. First of all, I really loved 'Borat', in my opinion, it is the best comedy from the last 20 years but, unfortunately, everything Baron Cohen has delivered afterwards has been increasingly disappointing and this flick turned out to be his weakest so far, I'm afraid. I mean, the concept definitely had some potential, Mark Strong was also a great choice to play Baron Cohen's brother and he definitely did what he could with this material. I have to admit that there were a couple of really funny scenes but, eventually, the damned thing never really worked. Of course, I always had a hard time to have fun with a terribly moronic character but that wasn't even the biggest issue with this flick. Indeed, what they really messed up was the action part and I would blame Louis Leterrier. Sure, Leterrier has a decent track record as an action director (see the other movies in this list), it is understandable that the producers chose him but, eventually, he never managed to make it entertaining enough, and, at times, it felt like watching some video game to be honest. Another director like Doug Liman or Paul Greengrass could have delivered some gritty realism which would have provided an interesting contrast with Baron Cohen irreverent sense of humor.

My rating: 05/10

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Cast : Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Mélanie Laurent, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Common, José Garcia, Caitríona Balfe

What was it about?
An FBI agent and an Interpol detective track a team of illusionists who pull off bank heists during their performances, and reward their audiences with the money.

My two cents:
It is still surprising that it managed to be a decent box-office success (a 3rd instalment is even coming soon), even though it wasn't about some super-heroes or some established brand and it wasn't a reboot, a sequel or a remake. In short, it was an original idea and it managed to make some money which is something really rare nowadays. Anyway, eventually, even though I have to admit that it was indeed cute and fun, I can't say it really impressed me though. First of all, the main issue with movies dealing with illusionists is that movies are already an illusion, especially with the current domination of CGI technology. Basically, you can show pretty much anything on the silver screen so it is rather difficult to show an illusion and claim that you have displayed something truly unbelievable and it was pretty obvious in this case. Indeed, the first trick in Las Vegas did work because even though it was far-fetched, it seemed doable. However, everything that happened afterwards was rather ridiculous, even after they tried to explain it. On top of that, it didn't help that the magic stuff was combined with a rather murky plot which barely made sense. Still, if you stop analyzing the story, there were a whole bunch of decent actors involved and I have to admit that it was fairly entertaining.

My rating: 06/10

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Cast : Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Flemyng, Gemma Arterton, Mads Mikkelsen, Luke Evans, Izabella Miko, Nicholas Hoult, Pete Postlethwaite, Elizabeth McGovern, Kaya Scodelario, Jane March

What was it about?
Perseus, a demigod and the son of Zeus, battles the minions of Hades and the Underworld in order to stop them from conquering Olympus and Earth.

My two cents:
To be honest, even though this movie has a rather lame reputation, I don't think it was so bad after all. I mean, from the very beginning until the end, I have to admit that it was pretty cheesy and, very often, it didn't miss much to become really lame but I thought it was eventually watchable. First of all, I hadn't seen the original version at the time so I have no idea if this remake was better or worse (Eventually, after I saw the original movie, both are so completely different after all). Still, I was rather impressed by the interesting cast even if most of them actually gave some rather poor performances. Of course, they were not helped by the weak dialogues but I must say that the story was not bad (better than, for example, 'Prince of Persia' which was also released in 2010). There could have been more attention given to the interesting relationship between Men and Gods but obviously, we were dealing here with a huge special effects extravaganza. And indeed, the special effects were pretty good even if the CGI started to look rather fake after a while. Eventually, before watching such a flick, you shouldn't expect a masterpiece but a popcorn blockbuster and since I had some rather low expectations, it didn't disappoint me.

My rating: 06/10

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Cast : Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt, Tim Blake Nelson, Michael Kenneth Williams, Robert Downey Jr.

What was it about?
Bruce Banner, a scientist on the run from the U.S. Government, must find a cure for the monster he turns into whenever he loses his temper.

My two cents:
Once again, 5 years later after Ang Lee made his 'Hulk' which is still considered as one of the worst super-heroes ever made (I think I is actually one of the best movies in this genre but that's a different story), they tried again to launch a franchise around the big green guy and once again, well, they pretty much failed. I mean, in spite of casting Edward Norton, one of the best actors around at the time, and even though it did receive some better reviews than 'Hulk', it didn't become the massive success they were hoping for. Eventually, even though I did like this movie when I saw it in the movie theater when it was released, each time I re-watch it, I find it less and less impressive though. First of all, even though it seemed awesome at first that such a respected actor like Edward Norton would play Bruce Banner, he wasn’t amazing after all and, above all, he didn’t look anything like the Hulk, especially if you would compare him to Eric Bana or Mark Ruffalo. A bigger problem was the fact that the story was actually rather weak, even weaker than in ‘Hulk’. I mean, sure, the action scenes were badass, the Hulk looked much better than in Ang Lee’s movie, I’ll give you that, but I really had a hard time to care about this tale and I think it is even more obvious if you watch this movie a couple of times.

My rating: 06/10

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Cast : Jason Statham, Kate Nauta, Amber Valletta, Matthew Modine, Jason Flemyng, AnnaLynne McCord

What was it about?
Transporter Frank Martin, surfaces in Miami, Florida and is implicated in the kidnapping of the young son of a powerful USA official.

My two cents:
To be honest, I wasn’t really expecting much from this flick. Indeed, even if I thought that the first installment really had some potential with a nice concept, I thought it was rather disappointing. This time, with this sequel, I thought it was not really better or worse than the first movie. Basically, it follows the same lines: cool action scenes + shallow plot. Obviously, it is not really my kind of thing but it remains watchable and it was fairly entertaining. Back then, I wasn’t really fed up with Jason Statham constantly playing over and over again the same character (the guy definitely needs to try something else by now) and he was definitely bad-ass in this flick. I thought that Kate Nauta was also a pretty neat villain but she didn’t do much after this movie which is too bad. Unsurprisingly, they would eventually come up with a 3rd installment and it was just as forgettable as the other movies in this franchise.

My rating: 06/10

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Cast : Jet Li, Morgan Freeman, Bob Hoskins

What was it about?
A man enslaved by the mob since childhood and raised into behaving like a human attack dog escapes his captors and attempts to start a new life.

My two cents:
Honestly, I wasn't really interested in this flick but since a colleague had it on DVD, I thought I should give it try anyway. First of all, I have to say I have always been rather skeptical concerning Luc Besson. In France, he was very popular as a director following multiple successes such as 'Nikita' (which was indeed great) and 'Le Grand Bleu' and 'Léon' (which both were terribly overrated). Concerning his work as a producer/writer, the end-result was even more mitigated so I wasn't exactly thrilled by this flick at first. Eventually, it was not bad at all though. Indeed, I really liked the concept of this man-dog who protected his master. The action scenes were indeed really neat and Bob Hoskins was also really hilarious and total badass. Jet Li was pretty good as well and, as always, really impressive during the fight scenes, too bad though that Morgan Freeman was rather underused. Unfortunately, as usual with Besson, the whole thing started with an interesting concept but it was not well developed and the whole thing fell into boring sentimentality after a while. Still, it remains a well made and entertaining action flick though.

My rating: 06/10

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Cast : Jason Statham

What was it about?
Frank Martin, who "transports" packages for unknown clients, is asked to move a package that soon begins moving, and complications arise.

My two cents:
Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since I heard a lot of good things about it, I was quite eager to check it out. First of all, I really loved the introduction. The tone was perfect, Jason Statham was really bad-ass and it was an impressive and very well shot action scene (since it is a Besson production, it wasn’t really surprising). But then, unfortunately, it was the only scene that really impressed me... I mean, I have to admit that the rest of the movie was not bad and fairly entertaining, but honestly, I thought it was just some generic action stuff which I have already seen 100 times before. Sure, it was well done but, in my opinion, it was not really exciting and, as a matter of fact, almost boring. It is quite a pity because the whole thing definitely had some potential but, as usual with Luc Besson, they didn’t care much about the story or the concept and just wanted to show some bad-ass action scenes. Anyway, even if it is a decent flick, it is nothing really special but you may end up enjoying it more than I did if you are a huge fan of action movies.

My rating: 06/10

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