JUMANJI: THE NEXT LEVEL: 2 STARS
There is nothing particularly 鈥渘ext level鈥 about the second instalment of the all-star, rebooted 鈥淛umanji鈥 franchise. It provides pretty much exactly the same level of entertainment delivered by 2017鈥檚 鈥淛umanji: Welcome to the Jungle,鈥 a family-friendly action flick that offered up some good-natured laughs.
The last time around nerdy gamer Spencer Gilpin (Alex Wolff), mean girl Bethany Walker (Madison Iseman), jock Anthony 鈥淔ridge鈥 Johnson (Ser鈥橠arius Blain) and Martha Kaply (Morgan Turner) were assigned to detention. Stuck in a storage room, they found a dusty old Jumanji gaming console. They turn it and the game sputters to life.
鈥淎 game for those who seek to find,鈥 it says, 鈥渁 way to leave their lives behind.鈥
Each clicked on an avatar and were suddenly swept away into the world of the game, plopped down in the Jumanji jungle and in the middle of an escapade. They also looked different. Their teenage selves are gone, replaced by heroic videogame characters. Spencer is now Dr. Smolder Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson), a buff hero, fearless with no vulnerabilities. Martha is warrior Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillan) while Fridge is zoologist Moose Finbar (Kevin Hart). The biggest change was reserved for Bethany who became cryptographer Professor Sheldon Oberon (Jack Black).
The old gang is back, and when Spencer disappears inside the game they follow along, with some new faces in the form of Spencer鈥檚 cranky granddad Eddie (Danny DeVito), the old man鈥檚 former business partner Milo (Danny Glover) and a new avatar played by Awkafina.
Once back in the videogame world of Jumanji they must find Spencer and protect a scared gem, keeping it out of the hands of a merciless warlord played by 鈥淕ame of Thrones鈥欌 Rory McCann. Cue a cacophony of close calls, mismatched body swapping, CGI and silly jokes that feel left over from the 2017 movie.
Like most real-life video games 鈥淛umanji: The Next Level鈥 is most fun when they鈥檙e actually playing the game and not standing around talking about playing the game.
After a deadly first half-hour that reunites the original cast the film briefly picks up speed when the characters land in Jumanji only to discover they aren鈥檛 who they used to be. Moose now looks like Kevin Hart but has Danny Glover鈥檚 grandfatherly personality. Eddie wound up as the muscle-bound Dr. Smolder Bravestone and Professor Sheldon Oberon has adopted Bethany鈥檚 former avatar, Professor Shelly Oberon. The switcheroos provide some laughs, particularly Hart鈥檚 take on Glover鈥檚 deliberate (i.e. glacial) dialogue delivery. He nails it, slowing down his usual mile-a-minute style to milk laughs from lines like, 鈥淛urgen the Brutal. Is that Barbara鈥檚 boy?鈥
Johnson has a harder time replicating DeVito鈥檚 New Jersey twang, especially in the film鈥檚 rare dramatic moments.
The rest of the film is action, herds of ostriches and mandrills attack and there are improbable fight scenes but all are so CGI heavy that they don鈥檛 connect. Instead they offer up roughly the same level of thrills as a theme park ride, which, no doubt this will one day be if it isn鈥檛 already.
鈥淛umanji: Welcome to the Jungle鈥 appealed to audiences with a mix of charismatic actors having a good time in a silly story and inventive action. For the most part 鈥淭he Next Level鈥 goes the way of so many other sequels, replacing the original charm with a story that is larger and louder but not as engaging. 鈥淚 can't believe you came back here on purpose," says Martha. You may wonder that yourself as the end credits roll.
RICHARD JEWELL: 4 STARS
For a short time Richard Jewell was a household name, first for being a hero, then a villain, then a curiosity, a man who was railroaded by the press and the very people he revered, law enforcement. 鈥淩ichard Jewell,鈥 a new film from director Clint Eastwood looks at the man behind the headlines.
Based on the 1997 Vanity Fair article "American Nightmare: The Ballad of Richard Jewell" by Marie Brenner the film stars Paul Walter Hauser as Jewell, a law and order man, who believes in rules and dreams of being a police officer. When he isn鈥檛 studying the penal code in the bedroom of the house he shares with his mother (Kathy Bates) he works security gigs, like patrolling the grounds at Centennial Park in Atlanta during the 1996 Summer Olympics.
When he spots a suspicious package the on-duty cops say, 鈥淚t鈥檚 probably someone who run off drunk,鈥 but Jewell insists they investigate. What happens next few minutes came to define his life.
The abandoned backpack contains three pipe bombs. 鈥淭he biggest I鈥檝e ever seen,鈥 says a bomb expert.
Jewell鈥檚 suspicious nature saves lives and at first he is treated like a hero. Book deals are offered and he鈥檚 on every news broadcast in the country. 鈥淭om Brokaw was even talking about you,鈥 says his mother. But soon the story changes. His socially awkward nature and law enforcement aspirations make him the target of an FBI investigation. They wonder if he manufactured the crisis so he could be a hero.
After a loose-lipped FBI agent (Jon Hamm) spills the story to seductive reporter Kathy Scruggs (Olivia Wilde) Jewell becomes front page news as a false hero with only lawyer Watson Bryant (Sam Rockwell) to help navigate the firestorm of controversy that follows.
Eastwood and screenwriter Billy Ray paint in rather broad strokes. The villains of the piece鈥攖he FBI agents who think Jewell is 鈥済uilty as hell.鈥 and Wilde鈥檚 reporter, not the real-life bomber who is barely mentioned鈥攖wirl their metaphorical moustaches as they work in tandem to prove Jewell鈥檚 guilt, both offering up a cartoonish but entertaining take on their characters.
The heart of the film is closer to the Jewell home. Bates brings some real emotion to the role of a loving mother whose life is turned upside down but, by the time the end credits roll, this show belongs to Hauser and Rockwell. The chemistry, obvious affection and occasional exasperation between the two is winning and authentic.
Rockwell brings his usual offbeat charm to the role of the dogged attorney but it is Hauser who leaves the lasting impression. In what should be his breakout film, the actor, best known for a supporting role in 鈥淚, Tonya,鈥 gives an indelible performance. Jewell is an underdog, a Paul Blart with a heart of gold nearly crushed under the weight of powers far more powerful than him. His growing sense of frustration at his treatment by the FBI comes to a crescendo in a scene that allows him to win back some of the dignity that has been stripped away from him. In Hauser鈥檚 hands a character that could have been played as a bewildered screw-up becomes a likeable man with both pride and a sense of purpose.
鈥淩ichard Jewell鈥 is the best film of 2019 to include a Macarena dance scene. It鈥檚 also a timely and searing indictment of the abuse of trial by media; of how an everyman鈥檚 life was almost ruined at the hands of people who traded on misinformation. Eastwood gives Jewell his due, humanizing a man who was treated like a story and not a person. Unfortunately, Eastwood also takes liberties in the way he portrays the reporter Scruggs, who died in 2001. Playing fast and loose with the unproven accusation that she traded sex for information, he does exactly what the media did to Jewell, point a jaundiced finger at someone who did nothing wrong.
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: 3 ½ STARS
Biopics are a big screen staple. They give us insight to people we鈥檒l never meet and bring history to life but there has never been a biography quite like the Matthew Rankin鈥檚 鈥淭he Twentieth Century.鈥 A heightened look at the life of Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, it鈥檚 part Dada, part Art Deco and utterly unique.
The bizarre biography sees a marvellously deadpan Daniel Beirne as the young Mackenzie King. As a child his mother (Louis Negin) prophesied his political destiny to become the tenth Prime Minister. King鈥檚 road to history significance is a rocky one, marked by romance trouble, chronic masturbation, over confidence, sexual fetishes and an ice maze.
You didn鈥檛 learn any of this in Mr. Parker鈥檚 history class.
Director Matthew Rankin uses a heightened version of his main character鈥檚 biographical details to craft a satire of Canadian identity and masculinity. Like a Heritage Minute on acid the film details King鈥檚 campaign. Instead of policy the film pits politicians against one another in 鈥渢raditional鈥 Canadian pastimes like baby seal clubbing and waiting your turn.
A farce coupled with deep commentary and a heightened yet minimalist style that recalls the films of Guy Maddin by way of German Expressionism, 鈥淭he Twentieth Century鈥 has timely messages about the dangers of empty political rhetoric and the processes by which we elect our leaders.
Rankin casts a wide net here, parodying everything from politics and diffident national outlook to British imperialism and even foot fetishes but does so in a wonderfully surreal way that is equal parts silly and sincere.
