New movie reviews in brief: Demolition, Hardcore Henry, Sleeping Giant
CBC's Eli Glasner cuts through the cinematic clutter and shares new releases that are worth your time
Demolition
Director Jean-Marc Vallée does it again in this full-blooded tale about man who decides to deconstruct his life after an accident. Jake Gyllenhaal is funny and soulful as widower Davis, pouring out his heart in letters to a vending machine company.
The key is this collaboration between a director and an actor both looking to explore and push themselves to emotional extremes. Gyllenhaal crackles with charisma as the man confronting his hollow life. Naomi Watts nicely underplays the role of the flaky Karen, the employee who answers Davis' letters. Judah Lewis, as Karen's son, is a revelation: a young man lost, in his own way. Together, these two dudes make a wonderful mess.
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Sleeping Giant
Though set against Northern Ontario's looming cliffs and open water, the real landscape of director Andrew Cividino's first feature is the inner terrain of the teenage male. Sleeping Giant revolves around the fitful friendship of Adam, Riley and Nate — bored kids looking for trouble and who find it in this slow-release story.
Unspoken assumptions and secrets threaten to spill over in this artful debut. A lush, percussive score and the quietly expressive Jackson Martin as the shy Adam help make Giant worth watching
RATING: 4 out of 5 stars
Hardcore Henry
A story of a cyborg on the run, Hardcore Henry is billed as the first feature-length film shot in the style of a First Person Shooter video game (imagine Call of Duty set in Moscow's underworld).
Made by Russian director Ilya Naishuller and a rotating cast of stuntmen with GoPro cameras strapped to their heads, Hardcore Henry is seen through the eyes of a man who wakes up on the operating table by a woman who claims to be his wife.
Soon Henry is skydiving, scaling buildings parkour-style and getting in touch with his inner cowboy. While sometimes difficult to watch (Note: don't sit close to the screen if you're prone to nausea), the execution is fearless. Ricocheting from a highway motorcycle chase to a brothel brawl, the movie can feel like a series of video game levels at times and Henry's unstoppable nature makes the mayhem monotonous.
Fortunately, the recurring presence of Sharlto Copley as the cyborg's inventor adds a much-needed sense of zaniness to the unrelenting violence. Though the storytelling is about as flimsy as the walls the hero smashes through, Hardcore Henry offers viewers a thrill ride that will leave their fingers twitching for the pause button.
RATING: 3.5 out of 5 stars
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