This was a fun action-comedy (with more emphasis on the comedy than the action). There were some comedy gags that didn't work or drug on for too long, but there were also a handful of genuinely hilarious moments that made up for them. At times I wouldn't be able to hear a couple lines of dialogue because the audience was still laughing at a previous joke.
Both of the lead actors are passable, with Kevin Hart doing most of the heavy lifting, going full out and earning every laugh. Ice Cube plays the straight man competently, but perhaps plays it a bit too straight at times (in some scenes I was confused as to whether the scowl he wore was perpetually there, or was an actual reaction to something happening in the scene). I also enjoyed an appearance from Laurence Fishburne who can do no wrong right now, as he is starring in "Hannibal", the best show on television.
There was a nice sequence near the end of the film that I felt would have sufficed as an actual climax. It combined the elements of action and comedy well, but then the film went on for another fifteen minutes, featuring the real "final showdown" that didn't quite live up to what had come before. The film didn't necessarily drag as a result of these extra fifteen minutes, but could have benefitted from a little tightening.
This movie was pretty awful. I wouldn't recommend paying to see it in theatres. I wouldn't recommend renting the DVD. I wouldn't even recommend watching it on cable. But if you come across it while channel surfing at two in the morning some day, you might have some fun with it. As bad as the film was (and it was bad), I can't say that I didn't enjoy myself while watching it. I'll admit that if I'd actually had to pay for my ticket, it might have been a different story.
The action scenes range from incompetently shot, to decent (but not spectacular), to absolutely ridiculous. Near the end of the film, Hercules' sword is struck by lightning, turning it into a long lightning whip that he uses to wipe out an opposing army. I could only shake my head at the absurdity of it all. The film makes almost no attempt to be faithful to the actual myth of Hercules, mainly just using the character for name recognition.
Some of the actors acquit themselves well, taking the material more seriously than it deserves. Unfortunately, the weak link is Kellan Lutz in the lead role. He never makes more than the most superficial acting choices, and is impossible to take seriously from the moment he first appears on screen.
While technically a better film than "The Legend of Hercules", I did not enjoy "The Nut Job" as much, as it was merely bad and did not rise to the level of "so bad it's good".
The film tells a frustratingly generic story. Animated stories about non human characters always have the potential to set up an interesting world. "The Nut Job" features a community of animals living in a park, but this community is never truly explored or made to feel unique. Instead, we spend most of the film following an unlikeable protagonist through a story that never really gets into high gear.
There are a few cute moments, but nothing is ever really that funny. It's not that clever the first time a character says a variation of "That's nuts!", but when the movie uses that same joke for the fifth time, it becomes truly tedious. There are so many better animated films out there. This is definitely one to skip.
In my next post, I'll revisit my January goals and we'll see how I did.
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