Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to everyone on Ciao! many thanks for all the r/r/c's I've received ...
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to everyone on Ciao! many thanks for all the r/r/c's I've received throughout the year! RIP Holly, Christmas wont be the same without you...
Member since:27.07.2006
Reviews:243
Members who trust:91
When I saw that this film was going to be shown on Channel 4 recently, I thought I had to tape it, for a laugh if nothing else. I had been slightly interested in seeing it previously but I could tell it was a rather daft movie, put it that way! and I didn't think it would justify being bought on DVD. I think I made a good decision there, as I turned out to be correct.
- The Story -
Mr and Mrs Smith, as if you didn't know, stars Brad Pitt as John Smith and Angelina Jolie as Jane Smith. The movie starts out with them at a marriage counselling session, being asked about their relationship. All seems normal but of course they each have their own rather large secret that their keeping from each other and they talk about how they feel that they don't talk about things very much, there's a kind of a funny line at one point that goes along the lines of 'what do you call it when you don't talk about things anymore?' 'Marriage.'
Anyway John is asked about when he first met Jane and we're shown their first encounter some 5 (or, as Jane insists, 6) years ago, in Bogota in Columbia. The chemistry shown here is pretty strong and of course that continues right through the whole movie. I'd imagine alot of people went to see or buy this movie due to the off the set gossip/talk of the two actors real life relationship, rather than for the movies story itself, it would be hard to review this movie without at least briefly mentioning that.
Then the movie comes back to the present day and it follows John and Jane living their secret lives as assassins, with John having his sort of assassin HQ computer system hidden in his rather normal looking office where he's thought of as being the owner of a construction company. Jane is shown as having a rather more powerful and substantial cooker than you may expect in the couples home, one that when the correct combination is entered, will bring forward trays full of weapons. So its clear that they are trying their best to lead normal lives and to hide their dark occupation from their partner and the outside world.
However, things change when both John and Jane get a request to 'take out' the same person and when John messes up Janes assassination attempt on the hit, well surprisingly enough
she's pretty mad and becomes determined to find out who it was that suddenly appeared and tried (unsuccessfully) to take him out, in doing so ruining her assassination attempt. She couldn't see him in much detail at the time but records a view of the person using her sort of night vision binoculars and she uses this, back at her base/HQ, to try and identify the unknown competitor assassin.
It isn't long before she realises that it is indeed her husband and similarly, John noticed Jane at the time too and also had to go and research who it was that messed up his attempt and again he traces her down and discovers her secret. This causes big problems and at first they both try to out bluff the other, back at home by discussing how was work? anything interesting going on? and so on. One not realising that the other was perfectly aware of their secret and vice versa.
Soon the guns come out blazing and they run away but they can't stay away for long, their chemistry is strong and they track each other down and threaten to kill the other through different means (for example, John gets trapped in an elevator (lift) and Jane threatens to cut the cable, if he doesn't disappear and stay quiet) but of course they manage to survive and eventually they get back together, their chemistry is just too strong for them to stay apart and they now have to decide what to do, as it turns out that alot of money is on their heads, the people or companies they both work for have decided that its far too risky having two trained assassins as partners and they want them both 'out of the picture'. So they decide to try and fight back.
- My Thoughts -
Thats pretty much the basic story, which is pretty laughable really. This definately isn't an exercise in realism but hey, how many people particularly want that when they go to the movies or go to see a film? I thought it was still pretty enjoyable, if not very daft, in a high action drama/comedy way.
There is a fair amount of violence and particularly gun use present in this movie, which of course is pretty much necessary and a pretty obvious element, given the story but I thought its worth mentioning as its shown in quite a blase way and I wouldn't recommend this movie be shown to kids, though it is rated 15 anyway, which is about right.
I thought the movie didn't really take itself seriously and rightly so, it definately has a sort of a slapstick feel about it. The acting was solid, which I fully expected and there's a good amount of eye candy, with Angelina Jolie for the guys (there's one particular scene where she's dressed up in a dominatrix costume, which im guessing will interest/excite alot of men) and Brad Pitt for the women, though personally I prefer Vince Vaughn, who also appears in this movie as John's friend Eddie, another assassin who lives with his mum (which is a fact that John teases him about).
This is probably a film more for the guys I would have thought, with the gun blazing action scenes and the presence of Ms Jolie, though thats not to say that women can't or won't enjoy it too. There are some fairly farcical moments and its definately true to say that again, this movie shouldn't be see as being all about a solid story because it isn't really, more will be interested in seeing what was talked about in the press at the time as being the start of Pitt & Jolie's relationship in real life. There is definately chemistry to be seen there, whether its just good acting, eh, ill leave that up to you to decide.
The movie is perhaps a little slow to really 'get going' but once it does, it stays there, if you know what I mean. At the end of the movie, there's a long drawn out shooting match between John & Jane and any number of rival assassins who want the bounty on their heads.
Will they get out of it alive? do you really care? well, you can make your own mind up about that! it really is rather over the top and I suppose part of its daftness is that in a way it does take itself a bit too seriously but hey, it works alright as something fairly diverting to watch to while away an evening. The special effects (explosions etc.) are pretty good and there are some nice visual shots, I can imagine this movie would look good on a large, widescreen TV, if you have a good quality large screen then it would probably look good on that.
- Is it Worth getting the DVD? -
Its worth renting or waiting and watching it on TV if its repeated (I believe when it was shown on Channel 4 last Sunday, that was the network premiere, it will probably be shown on some channel around Christmas time as a rough guess, or sometime in the future). I don't think its the kind of movie that you'd really want to watch all that often, so I wouldn't recommend buying it on DVD, though having said that, there are plenty of pretty cheap second hand copies for sale on Ebay and Amazon marketplace (etc.), so it shouldn't cost too much to get a copy.
If your interested, I searched online and found that the following extras can be found on the DVD, so maybe use this to decide if you'd really want the DVD or not:-
Audio Commentary By Director Doug Liman And Screenwriter Simon Kinberg Audio Commentary By Producers Lucas Foster And Akiva Goldsman 3 Deleted Scenes Making A Scene Teaser Trailer Theatrical Trailer Inside Look The Transporter 2
So it looks like their trying to advertise another movie on it, thats helpful lol you don't get a great deal extra, unless you really enjoy audio commentaries, so I still reckon that its not really worth buying on DVD but again, of course, its up to you.
- Conclusions -
Its fairly diverting and kind of good for a laugh but other than that but not much more, in my opinion. I agree with others who say that it lacks substance. Personally, I'd say wait for it to be repeated on TV or rent the DVD if your interested, buy the DVD only if your a big fan of Pitt or Jolie or/and you know you'll really enjoy it and want to add it to your DVD collection anyway, you should be able to find second hand copies for sale online through sites like Ebay and Amazon UK Marketplace pretty easily and cheaply.
Personally, I saw that there was quite alot of chemistry between Pitt and Jolie which some women might be fascinated about and really enjoy the movie because of that but it isn't really 'my thing' I guess, hence the lower rating. I just don't see myself watching it again. Anyway poor Jennifer Aniston eh? but as far as the movie plot is concerned, its an interesting basic plot but it felt as if the story, as it develops, became a bit too predictable and it felt like they didn't really try to make it more interesting. Especially with the ending, it felt a bit slap dash, I thought and so I think its alright for the genre, it works as a fairly diverting movie with some good special effects and so on but im sure there are better movies of this type out there too. The actors should be capable of making movies a bit more substantial than this, I believe.
I know its a bit ironic considering the fact that I do indeed like a good action movie and I also do enjoy good action comedies but it still just didn't feel like it worked properly, to me. I think part of it is because it seemed that the characters took things so seriously, yet it was clearly a bit of a far fetched and at times really rather daft story, a daft story played pretty seriously - ehh, it just didn't really work entirely, in my opinion. Having said that, I did still like it as a basic diverting action movie, it just is flawed in my opinion.
I hope this review helps you decide if you'd like to see this movie or buy the DVD, thanks for reading!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
Production Year: 2007 - Action/Adventure - Director: Paul Greengrass - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring:Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, Joan Allen, Edgar Ramirez, David Strathairn, Paddy Considine, Albert Finney
Production Year: 1977 - Action/Adventure - Director: Clint Eastwood - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring:Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, William Prince, Bill McKinney
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
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