This movie had been released in the US theaters since more than 2 weeks ago but it was only premiering in Indonesian theater on Wednesday. As I had been catching up with the movies released earlier, I just got the chance to see it yesterday. My wife was having a small get together with her family so she was not able to accompany me. OK, will go on with the movie now.
Brief Story Line
Stu (Kumail Nanjiani - Men In Black: International, Silicon Valley TV series etc) was a part time Uber driver who also worked at a retail store. While looking for a customer, he was connected to a police detective Victor (Dave Bautista - Final Score, Master Z: Ip Man Legacy etc) who was trying to catch his old foe, a major drug lord named Tedjo (Iko Uwais - Mile 22, Headshot etc), despite being asked to stop by his captain McHenry (Mira Sorvino - Mimic, Human Trafficking etc).
Things were getting out of hand for Stu as Vic forced him to run around the city while he was eager to comfort his personal love interest Becca (Betty Gilpin - A Dog's Journey etc). On the other hand, Vic was also having problem in his relationship with his daughter Nicole (Natalie Morales - Battle of the Sexes, The Grinder TV series etc).
So what would happen to Vic & Stu and could he get the five stars he wanted so bad? Find them all in this quite fun action comedy movie.
End of Brief Story Line
When I saw the trailer of this movie, I thought this look like a lot of fun and I would be laughing out loud throughout the whole film. However, as it turned out, it was not bad and I got few laughs as well, but it was not hilarious enough for me. I am not sure why people were saying the chemistry between Kumail Nanjiani and Dave Bautista was great, cause I personally found them to be just average. Only when the movie was almost getting to its climax that I was finally convinced of their really odd buddy "relationship". Probably because Vic was not aggressive enough towards Stu and Stu was not frightened enough of Vic (I felt he was a bit too calm for a person being forced to drive around town).
The early part of the movie was actually pretty awesome with major fight scenes that I was delighted to see. And since I already knew that this was an action comedy, it did not come as a surprise to me that there were not abundant fight or action sequence. The rest of the fight scenes were adequately done and obviously there would be some amount of comedy as well, so it was not the totally gruesome violent bloody fights, but still they were not suitable for kids. Add the crude jokes and nudity scene (at least I think there was cause obviously it was cut by Indonesian censorship body) you got yourself an R rating film.
For an action comedy movie this one was quite entertaining but I could not help think that it could have been better. Perhaps if they could add more action, or more Iko Uwais screen time and reduce the not so important scenes involving Vic's daughter? I also felt the twist rather strange. It indeed surprise me but there was no earlier hint of the possible twist so I thought it was a bit unnecessary. And maybe if they made their characters more like what I mentioned above.
Aside from those 2 main cast plus Iko Uwais, this film also had few other support roles like Karen Gillan (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle etc) and Jimmy Tatro (American Vandals TV series) as Stu's obnoxious co-worker/supervisor Richie who provided few fun moments. The rest of the cast did not give me a lot of impressions despite having quite a lot of screen time. I already said that the action was not bad. The fight scene between Bautista and Uwais were pretty awesome, though I thought it was not long and violent enough. The sound effects were wonderful. To my surprise it had a Dolby Atmos effects which was perfect as I saw this movie in a cinema with such system without knowing it.
Overall this was a movie just for fun. It had its moments but not up to the high standard I had hoped for. The idea was pretty great, and if the execution had been better, this movie could be more successful. As it stands by the time I wrote this, the film did not do so great commercially, but seeing it had a modest USD 16 million budget, it should not be that big of deal. I myself had an average good time, but unfortunately not the greatest. There were not a lot of time where I really laughed freely except towards the end while the action were adequate but not spectacular. So if you are looking for a really wonderful action comedy movie, this might not be to your satisfaction. And if you come to see Iko Uwais in action, you might be disappointed as he did not have that much screen time. But if you are OK with everything I highlighted earlier, then you are welcome to give this a try. The choice is yours.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
The early part of the movie was actually pretty awesome with major fight scenes that I was delighted to see. And since I already knew that this was an action comedy, it did not come as a surprise to me that there were not abundant fight or action sequence. The rest of the fight scenes were adequately done and obviously there would be some amount of comedy as well, so it was not the totally gruesome violent bloody fights, but still they were not suitable for kids. Add the crude jokes and nudity scene (at least I think there was cause obviously it was cut by Indonesian censorship body) you got yourself an R rating film.
For an action comedy movie this one was quite entertaining but I could not help think that it could have been better. Perhaps if they could add more action, or more Iko Uwais screen time and reduce the not so important scenes involving Vic's daughter? I also felt the twist rather strange. It indeed surprise me but there was no earlier hint of the possible twist so I thought it was a bit unnecessary. And maybe if they made their characters more like what I mentioned above.
Aside from those 2 main cast plus Iko Uwais, this film also had few other support roles like Karen Gillan (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle etc) and Jimmy Tatro (American Vandals TV series) as Stu's obnoxious co-worker/supervisor Richie who provided few fun moments. The rest of the cast did not give me a lot of impressions despite having quite a lot of screen time. I already said that the action was not bad. The fight scene between Bautista and Uwais were pretty awesome, though I thought it was not long and violent enough. The sound effects were wonderful. To my surprise it had a Dolby Atmos effects which was perfect as I saw this movie in a cinema with such system without knowing it.
Overall this was a movie just for fun. It had its moments but not up to the high standard I had hoped for. The idea was pretty great, and if the execution had been better, this movie could be more successful. As it stands by the time I wrote this, the film did not do so great commercially, but seeing it had a modest USD 16 million budget, it should not be that big of deal. I myself had an average good time, but unfortunately not the greatest. There were not a lot of time where I really laughed freely except towards the end while the action were adequate but not spectacular. So if you are looking for a really wonderful action comedy movie, this might not be to your satisfaction. And if you come to see Iko Uwais in action, you might be disappointed as he did not have that much screen time. But if you are OK with everything I highlighted earlier, then you are welcome to give this a try. The choice is yours.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
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