SIDE EFFECTS

Jude Law in a tense moment

SIDE EFFECTS (2013). Director: Steven Soderbergh.

Emily (Rooney Mara) welcomes her husband, Martin (Channing Tatum) home from jail after his incarceration for insider trading, but the changes in her life depress her and cause her to attempt suicide. A sympathetic shrink named Dr. Banks (Jude Law of Alfie) prescribes a new drug recommended by Emily's previous analyst, Dr. Siebert (Catherine Zeta-Jones). When Emily apparently slaughters her husband while sleepwalking, it is not only the drug that is called into question, but Dr. Banks himself. As he finds his life unraveling, he uncovers disturbing information about Emily -- maybe she wasn't sleepwalking when she murdered her husband? Or is he clutching at straws? Side Effects is a twisty thriller, with a good idea and interesting sequences, but it's not that well done all told. One of the characters sort of comes off like an old-fashioned evil lesbian [perhaps for no other reason than to show some girl-on-girl action]. Jude Law and Mara give good performances, but the most impressive is Zeta-Jones [Ocean's Twelve], with Ann Dowd also making an impression as Martin's concerned mother. This modern version of the old Lauren Bacall thriller Shock Treatment is quite contrived but has a satisfying conclusion and a nice score from Thomas Newman.

Verdict: Always read the label. **1/2.

THE SON OF NO ONE

Channing Tatum and Ray Liotta

THE SON OF NO ONE (2011). Written and directed by Dito Montiel.

Young cop Jonathan White (Channing Tatum) was "involved" in two murders in the projects when he was a boy, and now his past has come back to haunt him. A newspaper reporter (Juliette Binoche) is getting notes from someone claiming that these two deaths were covered up and a cop is going to be in trouble. White tries to find out who is sending these letters, but his childhood buddy Vinnie (Tracy Morgan), who knows the truth, assures him that he's told no one. Then the reporter is murdered not long after White goes to talk to her ... This could have made an interesting thriller, but Montiel's meandering approach and mediocre script -- not to mention all the switching back and forth from 1986 to 2002 -- only add up to tedium. Ray Liotta and Al Pacino are wasted in the smaller roles of cops, while Tatum's performance, even when you consider his character is suppressing emotion, is at times borderline zombie; he seems clueless as to how to play the character. Even the most humble "B" movie from the forties is put together with more smooth finesse than this. Tatum was also in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Pacino had a supporting role as himself in Jack and Jill the same year.

Verdict: A poor excuse for a suspense film. *1/2.

G. I. JOE: RETALIATION

London gets obliterated by Cobra Commander

G. I. JOE: RETALIATION (2013). Director: Jon M. Chu.

In this follow-up to G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, the president of the United States has been replaced by a double, the evil Zartan (Arnold Vosloo), a lieutenant in the Cobra organization. While the Cobra operatives who were captured and imprisoned in the last film manage to break out, an operation to wipe out the "Joes" -- a crack fighting unit whose main opponents are Cobra Commander and his gang of terrorists -- nearly succeeds in obliterating the entire team; Duke (Channing Tatum) is one of the casualties. Fortunately, the survivors -- Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson), Flint (D. J. Cotrona) and Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki) -- join forces with grizzled General Joe Colton (Bruce Willis) -- to take down the "president" before he and the Cobra Commander can cause havoc and mayhem throughout the world. Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee) is a Cobra agent who decides to help the Joes when he realizes how much he's been manipulated by Zartan. Unless you're a G. I. Joe fanatic, Retaliation can be confusing, but there are some genuinely impressive stunts and FX work, especially the chilling destruction of London by the Cobra Commander's special missiles. [This obliteration of a world capitol seems pretty much forgotten by the movies' end -- huh?] The acting is serviceable for this kind of stuff, nothing more, although Jonathan Pryce does manage to impress as the president and his duplicate. Like the previous film, this is sometimes too frenetic for its own good. A bit with some weird mechanical bugs is notable.

Verdict: For Joe fans mostly. **1/2.