Bland s*** vs Entertaining s***.
Hitmans bodyguard
A great promotional campaign is followed up with a dumb, intermittently entertaining slice of forgettable dross from the director of Expendables 3, which is pretty much the same in terms of quality, and Red Hill which is a masterpiece. The plot has been pretty much summed up in the trailers, a professional bodyguard must protect a Hitman who is due to give evidence against a Ukrainian dictator (Gary Oldman). The buddy buddy banter is present as one would expect, however its all let down by a cliche ridden script that is almost predictable to the point of tedium. It's all slight, fluffy nonsense but the fact its so unexceptional is partly what put me off.
Dark Tower
So, did the critics get it wrong? Yes and no. From a technical perspective the film is pretty shoddy. Its clear the production was 'troubled'. There's some inexplicably bad ADR, especially in scenes with Matthew Mcconaughey as the man in black. There's some real plot holes in the film, perhaps because I never read the books I'm missing something, but there's stuff that made me wonder if I was missing something.
That said, the film is fun. Sticking the out with a 90 minute running time was actually one of the best decisions made. It's hard to get pissed with a film that careen's through at a breakneck pace to it's conclusion. Overall I liked the film in spite of it's numerous problems. Once upon a time it would be the sort of mad sc-fi/horror/fantasy junk that would be discovered on home video. Think Ladyhawke, Krull, Lost in time and stuff like that.
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