Reminiscence (2021)

 

Director: Lisa Joy

Notable Cast: Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Ferguson, Thandiwe Newton, Daniel Wu, Cliff Curtis, Angela Sarafyan, Natalie Martinez

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm a sucker for strange and off-beat projects that attempt to do a lot of things. If they have an A-budget and attempt to slam multiple genres together, then even better. A-budget B-movies are my favorite and I refuse to just write them off even if they miss the mark.

 

Reminiscence is exactly that kind of movie. Big cash on the screen, strange combinations of genre work, and a film that regularly punts logic to the curb for the sake of embracing an oddity or two. Even with its many, many flaws, I found myself quite enjoying the weird of it all. 

 

Tomb Raider (2018)

Director: Roar Uthaug

Notable Cast: Alicia Vikander, Daniel Wu, Walton Goggins, Dominic West, Kristin Scott Thomas, Derek Jacobi, Nick Frost, Jaime Winstone

As a long, long time fan of the game franchise, when Tomb Raider was rebooted for a much more serious, brutal, and darker game, it was a refreshing change of modernization for the games and it embraced a cinematic and emotional quality that could be translated to film. The original Tomb Raider films are silly fun, hardly anything worth noting outside of that, but a film version of this latest game reboot should be a fairly easy adaption, right? Judging by this latest attempt at jump starting a blockbuster franchise, it’s not. Tomb Raider is a rather lifeless spin on the classic character and series, failing to resonate on any level beyond mild curiosity, and simply goes through the motions of what some mid-level corporate entity thinks an audience wants from a watered-down adaption of Tomb Raider. There are moments where the film shows its potential, but most of those are hammered into the trailers and the film fails to utilizes some of its more interesting aspects. It’s not a bad film, not on the surface, but it’s a film that’s so bland that it will easily be forgotten within weeks or months past its initial release.

Sky on Fire (2016)

Director: Ringo Lam

Notable Cast: Daniel Wu, Zhang Ruoyun, Joseph Chang, Zhang Jingchu, Amber Kuo, Fan Guang-yao, Wayne Lai, Philip Keung, Cheung Siu-fai, Ying Batu

Despite mixed reviews, Ringo Lam’s comeback action thriller Wild City was still a decent return that showcased a director who was trying to blend his classic Hong Kong action chops with a slightly more modern approach. When it was announced that his next film would be Sky on Fire, going with a title scheme that would indicate a throwback to previous films from the golden age of Hong Kong cinema like City on Fire, Prison on Fire, or School on Fire, there is obviously a lot of expectations that come with that. Partner it with some solid marketing and Daniel Wu to anchor the lead, this film had momentum to go with those initial expectations too. So perhaps it’s not all that shocking that Sky on Fire comes off as disappointing in the end. Sure, this is a film that attempts to recreate the Ringo Lam style of yesteryear with its plentiful action and design, but it’s a film that ultimately rings off as a hollow recreation rather than a film that belongs in the same echelon. There are moments, sparks if you will, where one can see it start to reclaim the style, but it doesn’t have enough emotional resonance and effective narrative flow to make it work.