Brick Mansions (15A) **
MOVIE STAR Paul Walker, who died prematurely in a car crash last year, had a number of projects in the works before he passed away.
He’s likely to appear in the unfinished Fast & Furious 7 next year. But first he takes the lead in this weekend’s big movie, Brick Mansions - a futuristic action thriller set in Detroit.
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Packed with interesting ideas and strong action sequences, the movie is a poorly paced and flat footed effort that wastes its decent cast.
It also stars French actor David Belle as Walker’s wingman. Belle - who also starred in the original film - is one of the world’s leading practitioners of Parkour.
For the purpose of this movie, that involves Belle’s character kicking butt and jumping around a lot, often to delightful effect.
He and Walker share a decent onscreen chemistry and the action sequences are busy and well co-ordinated. It’s a shame the rest of the movie is such a mess.
Set in Detroit in the future, the plot centres on a corrupt plan by Government officials.
Unable to control crime, the city’s police placed a massive wall around an area known as Brick Mansions, now home to some of the area’s most ruthless criminals.
Among them is Lino (Belle) an ex-con trying to lead an honest life if only he can shake off the crooks who wish him harm.
When his girlfriend is kidnapped, Lino reluctantly joins forces with an uncover cop, Damien Collier (Walker) tasked with flushing out one of the major drugs rings in the area.
The plot’s far plays out far more nonsensical than it sounds and the whole story is very sloppily pieced together. The dialogue’s dumb and not in a fun way and the entire thing feels like a duller version of the original.
Run and Jump (15A) ****
It’s been a strong year so far for Irish film, with movies like The Stag, Calvary and the forthcoming Frank winning praise from film fans and critics alike.
Run and Jump is a worthwhile addition to that list, a drama that handles a tricky subject matter in an unsentimental way - and is all the more moving for it.
When Conor Casey (Edward MacLiam) suffers a stroke, his strong wife (Maxine Peake) and young family resolve to manage these changes in their lives.
But the unusual difficulties that Conor has been left with - he’s prone to aggressive mood swings and obsessive-compulsive behaviour - puts him under the radar of Ted (Will Forte).
The American doctor, an expert in this area, commits to staying with the family to analyse his behaviour in a bid to help the Caseys as well as enhancing his own research. But he finds that taking the clinical approach and not getting involved in the family’s woes may be harder than it seems.
Peake is excellent as the strong, centred mother who gradually realises that her family life and relationship is never going to be the same.
Forte is very good, too, best known for comedic work in 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live, but delivering a quieter performance here along the lines of his recent work in Alexander Payne’s Nebraska. Don’t let this one pass you by.
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