Gerald Butler

Hunter Killer (2018)

Hunter Killer (2018)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(Netflix Streaming, December 2019) As a quick look through this web site will reveal, I spent a substantial part of the 1990s and 2000s reading military techno-thrillers (including many submarine thrillers) and I have kept a lingering affection for the subgenre, even if it hasn’t been particularly served well on the big screen. There’s usually one submarine thriller every year or two, and I probably saw all of them. Lately, both Phantom and Black Sea had their issues, but neither were the kind of slam-bang contemporary military thriller that the genre deserved. Hunter Killer, on the other hand, is almost exactly what I was looking for: A slick movie version of those submarine technothrillers, blending military valour with pulse-pounding action sequences in the service of a plot riffing off today’s headlines. (Well, maybe yesterday’s headlines: The US president here is a competent blonde woman while the Russian president is a likable and humane statesman. But nobody would believe the current reality in fiction.)  The crux of the plot has to do with a coup in Russia, and American forces lending a hand through a submarine crew in the water and Special Forces operatives on land. Gerald Butler stars as an unorthodox sub captain, the kind of square-jawed hero so prevalent in those kinds of novels. A capable cast of supporting characters (Gary Oldman is unrecognizable as always, but also Michael Nyqvist, Common, Linda Cardellini and Toby Stephens) helps flesh out a cheerfully plot-driven film, which has a major submarine battle in the firth thirty minutes and then goes on to other, bigger action sequences. It’s all familiar and cool and highly enjoyable thanks to Donovan Marsh’s direction, even though I suspect that people without my accumulated baggage of experience with the subgenre may not react so positively. As for me, though, I got almost exactly what I was looking for in that kind of movie. Butler has earned quite a bit of critical scorn for his choices, but in most of his recent films (Den of Thieves, Geostorm, the Has Fallen series), I find that he’s playing a very kind of specific role in a very specific sub-genre, and that he’s pretty much perfect for what the filmmakers are looking for. I can’t guarantee that other viewers will find in Hunter Killer the same kinds of thrills that I did, but I’m surprisingly happy that it exists, and that it brings to the big screen the kind of expansive thrillers that I like.

Den of Thieves (2018)

Den of Thieves (2018)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(Netflix Streaming, December 2019) As someone who has spent the last few weeks playing through (and really enjoying) Grand Theft Auto V, I was perhaps better predisposed than most to enjoy this somewhat generic take on heist movies. Set in Los Angeles and featuring a crew of ex-military personnel planning very sophisticated robberies (sometime under cover of hostage taking), Den of Thieves inevitably brings back to mind such classics as Heat and Dog Day Afternoon, only to feel far more generic. It doesn’t help its case by making the law-and-order side of the characters feel as repellent as the criminals—Gerald Butler stars as a cowboy cop who open boasts that his gang wear badges, and isn’t above intimidating his soon-to-be ex-wife’s friends with a gratuitous psycho-cop routine. Whom to root for in this movie isn’t obvious, until the last few minutes make it clear that the film has a twist ending in mind. (Well, roughly the same twist ending than most heist movies have with a dash of a hidden mastermind thrown in.)  While slickly made with the latest in digital drone technology allowing for some impressive shots, Den of Thieves feels both too long and too short: Writer-director Christian Gudegast wastes time on things that won’t be really important (such as the protagonist’s rotten personal life), and yet feels too short by not developing what could be used to make stronger characters. The protagonist’s divorce arc takes all of three or four scenes and ends at the psycho-cop routine sometime in the second act. Why bother? If you settle on the film being too long, then it could have been recut to focus on the decent action sequences. For action junkies and GTAV enthusiasts, there’s always a thrill in seeing good live-action set-pieces, and if Den of Thieves doesn’t always know when to stop and condense, there is at least one sequence (the traffic-jam shootout) that I fully expect to be reused in the next Grand Theft Auto. Not every movie has to be a classic—some can simply go through the motions and still be satisfying if that’s the kind of thing you’re looking for, and that’s how I choose to assess Den of Thieves—Methadone to Heat’s pure heroin, but still good for most heist movie cravings.

Geostorm (2017)

Geostorm (2017)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(On Cable TV, August 2018) Don’t tell anyone, but I do have a soft spot for those dumb catastrophe movies that run on a stream of special-effect sequences. Geostorm really isn’t anywhere close to being an exemplar of the form, but it’s enough to scratch that itch. The setup, with its runaway weather-altering satellites in a rigid grid, makes zero sense … but that’s irrelevant as it’s merely meant to enable a series of distinctive action vignettes. Gerald Butler is the lead here, his square jaw and dubious ability to pick good movie projects being all we need in a protagonist. Dean Devlin has his first solo directing job here (although reshoots three years later under another director kind of sabotage this achievement), which makes sense considering that he, alongside Ronald Emmerich, had a hand in similar global-destruction projects such as Independence Day and Godzilla. Alas, for all of the destructive joy found in Geostorm as it targets Hong Kong, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, Mumbai, Moscow and Dubai (and an entire space station), the plot has trouble keeping up with the spectacle. We’re soon stuck in a familiar morass of rogue American officials, conspiracy theories, out-of-control systems and rote character dynamics. The actors don’t do much to help: Butler is his usual reliable self, with Ed Harris and Andy Garcia also doing their best, but Abbie Cornish continues to be distinctively boring. Only Zazie Beetz distinguishes herself in a small role. Still, that’s not much, and seeing the disjointed result only makes one wish for a tell-all documentary showing what prompted the reshoots and how they tried to patch Geostorm into its final form. Otherwise, the film does better as a battle between spectacle and stupidity, as very little effort is made to even make the mayhem halfway plausible. Considering that we’ve seen a lot of these movies lately, Geostorm may have worked as an almost-parody camp version of those films … but it chose to attempt a straight version, and the very middle-of-the-road result speaks for itself.

The Bounty Hunter (2010)

The Bounty Hunter (2010)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(On Cable TV, October 2015)  I may be seeing too many movies lately, because it seems to me that I’d already seen The Bounty Hunter before even seeing it.  I suppose that having Jennifer Aniston and Gerald Butler play close to their usual screen persona doesn’t help, nor does a basic by-the-number hybrid plot between romance and gentle crime comedy.  It feels a lot like the latter One for the Money, or like most movies in which Butler plays a likable cad, or all movies where Aniston simply recites lines in her endearing personality-free way of hers.  There isn’t much to distinguish The Bounty Hunter from countless other similar films, and if the result does have an acceptable forward narrative rhythm (as in; it doesn’t feel as it’s too much effort to watch it once it starts), that doesn’t necessarily translate into much more than a very marginal recommendation, mostly to those who think that they’ll enjoy that same kind of material. 

The Ugly Truth (2009)

The Ugly Truth (2009)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(On TV, March 2015) There’s a fine line between being irreverent and obnoxious, and The Ugly Truth often walks on the wrong side of it.  The premise has a bit of sparkly potential, as a TV producer meets an abrasive shock-jock with a specialty in realpolitik relationship advice.  The rest is straight out of the romantic comedy playbook, with generally likable performances from Katherine Heigl and Gerald Butler in the lead roles, neither of them straying too far from their usual screen persona.  The problem is Butler’s love-burnt cynical character, who too-often comes across as repellent –the script makes a point to present an even worse replacement character near the end, but it’s a bit too late by that point to make a difference.  The script has a dearth of amusing or memorable moments, often needlessly twisting itself into familiar shapes in order to deliver even-more familiar payoffs.  The material plays vulgarly blue a bit too often, without payoffs either in sexiness or humor. (Surprisingly or not, this often-crass, even-more-often-misogynistic script was penned by three female screenwriters.) It often feels like wasted material: wasted lead actors, wasted effort, all in the service of something that doesn’t rise above mediocrity.  Still, and this is an important “still”, The Ugly Truth has the advantage of working within a congenial sub-genre: Romantic comedies, even when they are not very good, are usually just likable enough to pass the time pleasantly.  So it is that The Ugly Truth barely gets a passing grade on the strength of a formula perfected in better movies, and actors that are capable for much better.

Machine Gun Preacher (2011)

Machine Gun Preacher (2011)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(On Cable TV, August 2014) It feels vaguely improper to take apart a film as well-intentioned as Machine Gun Preacher.  It is, after all, the inspiring story of a junkie criminal who finds religion and embarks on a quest to save children in war-torn Africa.  How can you possibly criticize something like that?  But as noble as Machine Gun Preacher can be, its intentions don’t matter as much when the film itself proves to be so disappointing.  Even at nearly two hours, much of the film feels like a half-baked sketch, filled with diversions that are never explored and not particularly good at hitting its specific emotional targets.  Gerald Butler gets another thankless role as the titular preacher, with a script that doesn’t do much with the various ethical issues of seeing an ex-criminal taking up arms in the cause of peace.  A few secondary characters voice objections (as in “you should focus on your family first”, as in “if you take up arms, you may become part of the problem”), but those are ignored or blown away like so many troublesome subplots.  What’s maddening is the amount of material at the edges of the film, begging to be used more effectively with just a little bit more introspection.  The subject matters deserves better than this strange mix of gritty drama and action-movie heroics –to say nothing of the uncomfortable way Africa is saved by Yet Another White Hero. Machine Gun Preacher feels as if good intentions were mangled by Hollywood story meetings and possibly someone with a hankering to make an exploitation film along the way.  The result just feels limp despite its potential, and badly serves its inspiration.

Law Abiding Citizen (2009)

Law Abiding Citizen (2009)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(In theatres, October 2009) There’s been a curious lack of straight-up thrillers in theatres recently, but it’s not overcooked, under-thought efforts like this one that are going to revive interest in the genre. Nominally the story of a grieving father whose vengeance efforts against a pragmatic DA become excessive, Law Abiding Citizen never manages to convince us of the superiority of the hero against the villain. Gerald Butler’s scary-smart vigilante is so compelling (especially alongside Jamie Foxx’s dull protagonist) that we never completely stop rooting for whatever he’s doing. The ending feels like a defeat at the hands of an undeserving hero, and a particularly dumb one at that: No one in their right mind would take the chances leading to the final detonation. But then again, much of Law Abiding Citizen is preposterous to begin with, what with an omniscient villain, nick-of-time plans, unbelievable contrivances and more Hollywood conveniences than you’d believe. What’s worse, perhaps, is that Kurt Wimmer’s script is not without a few good moments (the “cell phone scene” is a pure shocker; Philadelphia is fine; the ramifications of the villain’s day-job are worth a film in themselves) while Gary F. Gray’s direction makes a generous use of pans, helicopters, smooth transitions and crane-mounted cameras. There’s a sheer anarchistic glee in seeing a city’s judicial system being taken apart for pure vengeance, so you can imagine the disappointment when it all fails to cohere in anything better than an average pot-boiler thriller. This is one of those films where the trailer is quite a bit better than the actual film, and not just because hero and villains are so obviously mismatched.