Wesley Snipes

Wildcats (1986)

Wildcats (1986)

(In French, On Cable TV, December 2019) As far as I can determine, Wildcats is essentially Private Benjamin in an inner-city high school football context: a quirky blonde (Goldie Hawn) being thrown into a man’s world where she gets to overcome prejudice, grow as a person, and prove herself worthy. Add a little bit of inspiration for the disadvantaged students, and you’ve got every single uplifting teacher movie included in the mix as well. It’s a comedy, but it’s more annoying than amusing to get through. Of note: Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson both make their film debut here in minor roles. Goldie Hawn is certainly in her element, carrying the film as the star vehicle that it is. Otherwise, well, there isn’t much to say: Wildcats is a film on autopilot, obvious from the get-go as to how it’s going to end. There’s been better and worse movies along the same ideas, but you’d have a tough time picking this one out of a line-up.

Money Train (1995)

Money Train (1995)

(On Cable TV, July 2019) There’s a clear attempt in Money Train to duplicate some of the easy chemistry between Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson in White Men Can’t Jump: the banter attempts to be as fast and knowing, with two transit cops (also foster brothers) teaming up to rob a train carrying the cash receipts of a particularly busy week in the subway. There are a few subplots, one of them involving a serial killer played by Chris Cooper, and another with a stunning Jennifer Lopez as a romantic interest. Money Train didn’t get good reviews back in 1995, but time may have been kinder to it in that we get to see a few known actors looking great as their younger selves, and because such mid-budget action movies are getting increasingly scare now compared to the mid-nineties. Speaking of which, the film is becoming a period piece with every passing year—among other things, cash has almost disappeared from the New York Subway system. Still, there are annoyances: our designated heroes aren’t particularly admirable most of the time, and there’s some weirdness in seeing the film go all-in in them planning a robbery of citizen dollars. (That’s when creating an evil boss becomes important, but now we’re stretching contrivances.)  It does amount to a decent watch today, even though it doesn’t quite pack the punch of White Men Can’t Jump or many of the better action movies of the time. I’d suggest pairing it with the 1970s The Taking of Pelham 123, but Money Train probably wouldn’t sustain the comparison.

White Men Can’t Jump (1992)

White Men Can’t Jump (1992)

(On Cable TV, July 2019) Hustling and basketball—it doesn’t take much than that to get a strong premise for a sports comedy. But what sets White Men Can’t Jump above similar movies is the addition of capable actors such as Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes, both at the top of their physical condition, as well as Rosie Perez in one of her best roles. Venice Beach as seen from the bottom rung is interesting, but not as much as the characters trying to hustle their way out of there. Writer-director Ron Shelton has an uncanny grasp of dialogue, athletic ego and not-so-friendly competition—White Men Can’t Jump is never as good as when it’s following our two protagonists on the basketball court, inventively trash-talking their way through their own hustles. The basketball sequences are thankfully convincing. Rosie Perez is also a joy as a motor-mouthed bookworm whose wildest dreams come true through sheer determination. I’m not so happy about the ending of the film (in which a serious conversation could have prevented its bittersweet conclusion) but much of White Men Can’t Jump is still quite a bit of fun to watch.

Murder at 1600 (1997)

Murder at 1600 (1997)

(On TV, October 2015)  The nice thing about viewing films of a certain vintage is that they can often capture qualities that even skilled admirers can’t quite get.  1997 is now far away enough from 2015 to accumulate a nice patina of historicity, and viewing thrillers of the era can bring back great memories… especially middle-grade examples of the form such as Murder at 1600.  I still remember the over-the-top tough-guy trailer narration (“An address that changes all the rules.”) and seeing it today, the silliness of its best/worse moments (as in: shooting at a helicopter with a handgun and actually managing to hit it) is more charming than infuriating.  Wesley Snipes is, bluntly, not the best choice as the tough cop who gets to investigate a murder at the White House: He’s got the machismo down pat for the action sequences, but it’s hard to actually believe him as a top-notch detective.  But if you think that’s a problem… then you don’t understand the panache of the film.  Murder at 1600 is ridiculous, but unapologetically so, and more than fifteen years later this becomes endearing.  I’m not sure, though, that I would have said the same had I reviewed the film back in 1997.

Chaos (2005)

Chaos (2005)

(On Cable TV, September 2012) I’m constantly amazed at the number of decent films that fly under my radar.  I had years where I saw more than 70 movies in theaters, and will probably see that many even this year when I’m deliberately avoiding theaters to stay at home watching on-demand movies; I keep up with the trade news and have a fairly reliable mental database of whose in what; I like Jason Statham a lot… why is it that I completely missed seeing Chaos when it came out in 2005?  I can’t explain it… but I can enjoy it, because even on the small screen, Chaos is a decent middle-of-the-road crime thriller.  Featuring Jason Statham, Ryan Phillippe and (briefly) Wesley Snipes in one of his last roles before his 2006-2009 eclipse, Chaos has the advantage of a strong opening and a decent middle section before turning repetitive and overlong in its final act.  There’s playfulness in the way the opening crams a film’s worth of plot in a credit sequence, and then in the way is plays along with traditional genre elements during its first half.  Chaos’ biggest problem is that it doesn’t quite know how to deliver a third act –although, fortunately, it manages a good final scene as a kicker.  Statham is as reliable as always in a solid policeman role, whereas Philippe plays a familiar but ill-fitting young-wunderkind protagonist.  (Snipes, meanwhile, shown up for a while and disappears except when the film needs a scare or two.)  Still, there’s a lot to like about some of the film’s thematic content: As a big fan of James Gleick’s Chaos, I was overjoyed to see the non-fiction science book get a prominent role in a crime thriller.  Still, I think that Chaos will work better for viewers who are receptive to crime-thriller genre elements and the ways they can be blended, recombined and subverted.  It may not be a film for the ages, but it’s good enough at what it does, and it confirms that few actors can be as effective action heroes as Statham.