SMOKIN’ ACES

Directed by Joe Carnahan
Starring Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia, Alicia Keys, Ray Liotta, Jeremy Piven, Ryan Reynolds
Distributed by Speedy Video Distributors

IN an explosive clash of the police, hitmen and mobsters, Joe Carnahan delivers this show-stopping action movie that has bullets coming out of guns like rain during the monsoon season right from the start.

It begins with the Mob offering a million dollars for Buddy Israel, a sleazy Las Vegas entertainer and FBI snitch who is hidden under police custody.

The money sees all kinds of crazy and clever hitmen trying to outdo one another for the bounty.

This is a straight-forward version of a Quentin Tarantino film and by that, I mean it’s linear — there’s no going back and forth in time because a viewer like me is always lost in that time-travel.
The brigade of assassins are introduced in the beginning, so there is no question of confusion.

The star of this movie has got to be Reynolds, the FBI agent who first learned about the money and followed the drama from the beginning, only to have the table turned against him.

You’d appreciate his transformation from an honest agent to a disillusioned member of the good guys, trying to piece together the whole episode while still looking for justice.

There’s no special feature in this DVD, but with a story like this, you don’t need any. It’s seat-gripping adventure as it is. — SL

Rating: HHHH

TSUNAMI THE AFTERMATH

Directed by
Bharat Nalluri
Starring Tim Roth, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sophie Okonedo and Samrit Machielsen.
Distributed by Alliance Entertainment (M) Sdn. Bhd.

With its 186 minutes running time, and HBO and BBC backing, one suspects that this film could have been originally made for TV. And this is 186 minutes of highly emotional not to say traumatic TV that that is offered here.

Based on the 2004 tsunami that devastated parts of Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India, this mainly fictitious story is set in and around Phuket, and follows the horrors, hopes and despairs of several families, individuals, in particular a journalist (Tim Roth), in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.

The producers state that the film is a work of fiction, albeit based on interviews with those whole lived through the tsunami and other research.

Not a sentimental film or Hollywood-style “disaster movie”, but a blend of several very moving and believable stories at an individual level; families losing children, husbands losing wives, some of the survivors coping with critical injuries, also the response of the media, the tourism industry and the foreign embassies.

This is not a movie filled with special effects, huge waves in scenes lasting tens of minutes, and miraculous tales of survival.

But all in all a realistic film. It avoids sensationalism, or just playing on raw emotion. Rather, it tells a story of hope, despair, sacrifice, and coming to terms with unimaginable tragedy, from the point of view of tourists and Thais alike. — JH

Rating: HHHH

RENDITION

Directed by Gavin Hood.
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon, Peter Sarsgaard, Alan Arkin, Meryl Streep.
Distributed by Speedy Video Distributors Sdn Bhd.

RENDITION is that innocuous sounding word chosen by those in Washington to cover kidnapping, transporting and imprisoning people without any due legal process. That is exactly what this thriller with a very strong political message is about.

A young professional man of Asian origin is stopped at airport immigration and then disappears.

His wife awaiting his return knows nothing, and the authorities in her home in the United States offer no help.

Fortunately she has contacts in Washington, and through them begins to realise that he is being held in another country under a CIA “rendition” plan.

The story follows his battle, whilst undergoing physical and mental torture, to prove his innocence of having terrorist links; and his wife’s struggle, to get the government to admit that they are effectively holding him (in another country) and to release him.

The feeling of terror, helplessness and abandonment felt by the husband is palpable.

Do not miss the very sobering documentary “Outlawed”, also on this DVD (27 minutes of interviews with innocents who were held, those in the US government who instigated this scheme, and others in the UN and human rights organisations who oppose it).

Do watch this film and the documentary too. They have far more importance than as mere entertainment. The film has a good, tightly written plot and a quality cast. — JH

Rating: HHHHH

DEAD SILENCE

Directed by James Wan
Starring Ryan Kwanten, Amber Valetta, Donnie Wahlberg, Bob Gunton
Distributed by Speedy Video Distributors

Dead Silence is a safe watch during the wee hours. It’s entertaining but not scary, which is already saying something because there are some horror movies which are neither.

This movie is about Mary Shaw, a deranged ventriloquist who kills children to make the perfect ventriloquist dummy. I’ve always had a bad feeling about those dolls anyway. They look scary.

For me, the most exciting bit about this film is seeing Donnie Wahlberg (now with receding hairline) who was once part of the super-famous late 1980s boy band New Kids on The Block. If you are old enough, you will know the group.

He plays a police officer investigating a murder and half of the time when he’s on screen I’d be imagining him singing Hangin’ Tough with the other boys.

This DVD packs quite a bit of special features including alternate opening and endings and the making of the movie. They make interesting watch, although I must say they don’t give more excitement or depth to the story. — SL

Rating:HH

HHHHH Excellent
HHHH Very Good
HHH Good
HH Fair
H Poor