VANTAGE POINT

Dennis Quaid, Eduardo Noriega and Richard T. Jones

VANTAGE POINT (2008). Director: Pete Travis.

During a summit on terrorism with western and Arab leaders, the president of the United States (William Hurt of Mr. Brooks) is apparently shot when he addresses the crowd in the square. Moments later there's an explosion. The film then repeatedly goes back in time to show what happened just before, during and after the crisis from the viewpoint of several different characters: secret service agent Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid of Legion); tourist Howard Lewis (Forest Whitaker); a mother and her little girl; and others. Eventually the details of the plot are revealed, as well as its architect and the traitor who is helping the conspirators. Richard T. Jones and Matthew Fox are other agents; Eduardo Noriega is a man caught up in the conspiracy; and Sigourney Weaver [Death and the Maiden] is a news director. Vantage Point holds the attention and is an interesting idea, but it doesn't have any real resonance.

Verdict: Okay thriller with some suspense. **1/2.

THE CHALLENGER DISASTER

Professor Feynman (William Hurt) confronts a general

THE CHALLENGER DISASTER (2013 telefilm). Director: James Hawes.

If you're expecting to learn anything about the people who died when the Challenger exploded in 1986, be forewarned that most of their names aren't even mentioned. Instead this TV movie relates how Professor Richard Feynman (William Hurt of The Village), a physicist, was called in to sit on a panel investigating possible reasons for the disaster. Things are complicated by bureaucracy, the missile's "crazy engineering," as Feynman puts it, and the fact that NASA seems to be in conflict with the Air Force. Is it possible the former was warned not to launch the challenger missile in temperatures below 53 degrees, and did so anyway? A man named Macdonald (Robert Hobbs) comes forward to offer compelling and damaging evidence, and then disappears. Feynman, who is dealing with serious cancer issues of his own, cuts through the red tape and cover-up at a televised press conference (some of which is shown at the very end of the movie). Hurt's portrayal of the professor is perhaps overly rumpled and fussy in an attempt to add a little flavoring, but he basically gives a solid performance. Brian Dennehy [The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone] is fine as the head of the commission, as is Hobbs as Macdonald, and Bruce Greenwood [Nowhere Man] as General Kutyna.

Verdict: Small-scale but effective. ***.

MR. BROOKS

Kevin Costner

MR. BROOKS (2007). Director/co-writer: Bruce A. Evans.

Earl Brooks (Kevin Costner) is Portland's Man of the Year, a respected family man and very successful businessman -- but he is also the serial killer known as the Thumbprint Killer, who shoots couples and arranges their bodies in "romantic" poses. He has an invisible alter ego named Marshall (William Hurt), who encourages him to commit murder even as Earl tries to stay on the straight and narrow. For the first time he makes a mistake by murdering a couple in front of a window, and a man calling himself Smith (Dane Cook) has taken photographs of the crime. But Smith doesn't want money -- he wants to go along on Brooks' next kill! Another complication for Earl is that there just may be another serial killer in his family, and there's a dogged lady detective (Demi Moore) on his trail. While Mr. Brooks has a few interesting twists, it isn't for a moment believable and there's not enough suspense to keep you on the edge of your seat. The performances are quite good -- Costner and Hurt are excellent, while Moore gives a showy if not entirely convincing portrayal of the cop -- and Marg Helgenberger and Danielle Panabaker are fine as Earl's wife and daughter, respectively; Cook also does well as the slimy, repulsive Smith. Morally ambiguous, to say the least. Despite the subject matter, there's very little gore in the film except for a climactic killing.

Verdict: Enough with the serial killers already! **1/2.

THE INCREDIBLE HULK (2008)

THE INCREDIBLE HULK (2008). Director: Louis Leterrier.

The second big-screen Hulk movie is better than the first, although it's still no world-beater. The film begins in Portugal, with Bruce Banner (Ed Norton) -- the alter ego of the Hulk -- on the run from government agents. Frankly, I have no idea what people who wandered into the movie theater with friends and aren't familiar with the character would make of it, as only ambiguous flashbacks ever really tell who Banner is or how he turned into a giant green monster with muscles. [I watched this with a friend, who is not a comic book fan, who turned to me and said "I've been watching this for two hours and I still don't know what it's about." For the record, back in 1963 in the first issue of The Incredible Hulk comic book, Bruce Banner was mutated when he was caught in the explosion of a gamma bomb. He turns into the Hulk whenever he gets angry or agitated.] Banner's girlfriend, Betty Ross, is played by Liv Tyler [another pretty Hollywood actress who has deformed her face with misshapen collagen lips]. Banner eventually comes to blows with an old comic book adversary, the even-more-hideous Abomination, a former soldier well-played by Tim Roth. William Hurt is fine as General Ross, who is out to capture or kill Banner/Hulk at any cost. Unlike in the old comics, Banner has absolutely no concern for any innocents who might get killed when he's on a rampage -- he's utterly self-centered. Good FX, but it all becomes rather wearisome long before the conclusion. Tyler and Norton give good performances.

Verdict: Enough with the Hulk already! **1/2.

THE VILLAGE

THE VILLAGE (2004). Director: M. Night Shyamalan.

This tedious film should have been entitled Hoaxes, for the massive hoax that alleged thriller director Shyamalan keeps playing on his audiences. The Sixth Sense was a fairly credible, if derivative, horror film, and Unbreakable, despite its obvious flaws, was at least unusual. Signs was a big shaggy dog story with some tense moments and a really dumb ending. But The Village takes an interesting premise and gets too clever – or rather not clever enough – for its own good. Never has Shyamalan appeared more over-rated than with this picture.

SPOILER ALERT: We're led to believe that this is a period film and that the action takes place in an early American village. The people in the village are afraid to ever leave because they must walk through a wooded area where monsters (”those we don't speak of”) supposedly dwell. Halfway through the film we learn that the monsters were sort of cooked up just to keep people from leaving. At the end of the film – although to most viewers this will come as no surprise – we learn that the story actually takes place in the 21st century (big whoop – hasn't Shyamalan ever heard of the Amish, for instance?) Apparently a group of people who lost loved ones to big city crime were so disheartened that they decided to “drop out” and go back into the “past” and a simpler era. [The fact that there is not a single Black, Hispanic, or Asian person in the village makes us wonder if this is a satire on white flight or merely inherently racist?] At the end there's some dialogue which tells us that the government prevents planes from flying overhead – but why? None of the original “settlers” seem that rich or influential. If some people want to drop out, fine, but why would the government aid or give a damn about them? Even more peculiar is the fact that the character played by William Hurt lets his – get this – blind daughter go off into the woods to get medicine, never giving the poor girl even a hint of what she's going to find when she gets to the other side. The one person chosen to go through the woods is blind? Supposedly compassionate, Hurt's character must be the worst father in the world. There are some eerie, well-directed, if derivative, scenes in the movie, and many others that are simply awkward. Some of the acting is quite stilted, but heroine Bryce Dallas Howard (the blind Ivy) makes a good impression. She and Joaquin Phoenix have a splendid scene wherein they confess their mutual love on a porch. William Hurt has one big moment succumbing to passion and anger in which he is quite good, but otherwise his acting is unimpressive. Sigourney Weaver is miscast but she, too, has her moments. Adrian Brody is excellent as the mentally deficient Noah. A lot of people found this film to be charming and romantic – it does play like a fairy tale – but there just isn't that much to it. Shyamalan had better come up with something better than bad feature-length Twilight Zone episodes if he wants to keep getting financing from the studios. Even if he had simply made a real period piece with settlers fighting off “those we don't speak of,” it would have made a better film than this.

Verdict: The movie is being hyped as being “like the best of Hitchcock.” Don't you believe it! *1/2.