Quick

It’s sort of like ‘Speed’ but in South Korea and on a motorcycle. It’s a comedy-action film that’s pretty entertaining all things considered, though it might be a little too long, a little too unfocused and a little tonally inconsistent. The movie mostly overcomes its shortcomings and offers a silly take on motorcycle action flicks.

Ki-su, the former leader of a motorcycle gang, is now down on his luck working as a bike courier in Seoul. He is given a job driving the lead singer of a popular pop-band to a concert she’s performing at, only to discover that it’s Chun-sim, the girl he unceremoniously dumped during his gang-leader phase. She puts on his helmet, only to trigger a time limit - a terrorist bomber has rigged the helmet with explosives, forcing Ki-su and Chun-sim to deliver three packages across town. There are rules – they have a strict time limit of thirty minutes to make each delivery or the bomb will go off. Ki-su’s wristwatch also cannot be more than ten metres away from Chun-sim’s helmet or it’ll explode. If they try and remove either, it will explode. Forced together the two need to race against time to deliver the packages while avoiding explosions, the police and angry gangsters, while the police force try and track down the bomber.

There is some action, some thrills, some stunts and a lot more comedy than you’d probably expect. There are also a lot of explosions. Maybe more than you’d expect (it gets to the point where everything seems like it explodes), and almost every single one of them is used to show characters making ridiculously silly faces. The film is more a comedy than anything else. Instead of the high-stakes action-thriller trappings of Speed, Quick goes for silly slapstick and ridiculous hijinks. It’s comedy-action more than action-comedy. That’s not to say it’s devoid of action – there are a few chases thrown in, but more time is spent off of the motorcycle than on it and a lot more character interplay and comedy is thrown in together.

 

There are some odd tonal shifts. Every scene actually involving the villainous bomber is serious and would fit in a proper thriller. Actually the underlying background plot is pretty much serious business against the comedy silliness of most of the rest of the film. It’s also a bit too long. The finale continues a lot longer than you’d imagine as they throw in some flashbacks to explain and link just about everything together. There are also several threats to overcome all thrown onto each other – at least twice you feel as though the final conflict has been dealt with.

There are some motorcycle stunts, which will seem pretty slow and basic to those who watch a lot of car chase movies, but over the end credits they show the stunt footage which astoundingly shows that pretty much every single stunt went wrong, resulting in a lot of people getting hurt. One stunt woman in particular gets burnt, cut and bruised constantly. The reel at the end is pretty sobering as it shows people getting taken to hospital, getting cut and burnt and hurt in general. What is more concerning is the looks of genuine horror and worry on the faces of the spectating cast and crew when something goes wrong, some who are even on the verge of tears. The bigger motorcycle stunts and explosions are all done with CGI, and it mostly looks fine. Barring one or two dodgy instances of CGI (CGI glass looks insanely fake), it mostly works well.

 

A big aspect of the movie is watching Ki-su and Chun-sim making silly faces as they ride off buildings, away from explosions and through traffic. The two have an odd sort of wacky chemistry – while the film does try to do the whole ‘rekindling the romance’ thing, the two click better when they’re just involved in random hijinks. Without the comedy aspect, Ki-su would make a dull lead – they do try for some drama with both characters, but it doesn’t quite work. For a movie titled ‘Quick’ it certainly takes its time getting around. It’s not exactly slow, with the movie running at a pretty brisk pace over its 110 minute length, but at some points the movie seems to get side-tracked and the desperate race-against-time never feels that important.  

One point of odd interest – as the audience we’re meant to be rooting for Ki-Su and Chun-sim to make the deliveries on time, but every time they deliver one of the packages a bunch of people get blown up and killed. So while the heroes go through some action stunts and silly hijinks, every time they’re successful some people get killed. The movie sort of tries to distract you from this, with most of the victims being gangsters or corrupt businessmen, but it’s still pretty grim when your comedy-action movie periodically has the heroes basically bomb a few buildings full of people.   

In the end Quick is pretty entertaining. It's not the best movie ever but it is a fun time.

Cure

 

A Japanese psychological horror/thriller overflowing with ambiguity and uncertainty. It’s astoundingly effective at being unsettling, and while it seems quite methodical and slow it becomes clear that there’s something else under the surface.

 

Takabe is a Tokyo detective with issues. He’s a cold, almost emotionless man who is struggling with his wife’s slow descent into mental illness. He begins investigating a series of odd murders occurring across the city. Every murderer is different, but the details are the same. Regardless of the cause of death, each victim has a large X cut into their throat. The murderers, all ordinary people with seemingly no connection to each other, all confess when confronted, but are unable to explain or remember why they killed.  

As the investigation continues, it becomes clear that all of the murderers have a single link, an amnesiac man named Mamiya who had come into contact with every murderer shortly before they committed their crime. Mamiya, seemingly confused as to who he is and what is happening, constantly asks circular questions and trying to get people to tell him about themselves. Takabe and a psychology professor begin to investigate Mamiya, finding a link to various forms of hypnotism and mesmerism. As the investigation continues, Takabe begins to have visions and starts to question his own sanity, becoming more aggressive as the investigation continues.

I’ve mentioned previously that Japanese horror films tend to leave things vague and unexplained. While American and most Western horror flicks are far too focused on being obvious and overly explaining what is happening (for example, whenever a horror movie has to explain the ‘rules’ of the monster/curse/horror), Japanese horror tends to be either more subtle or far more ambiguous. It’s not interested in explaining what’s happening, because that’s not the point. The real horror, the real under-your-skin feeling of uneasiness comes from uncertainty – from not knowing.

Cure revels in ambiguity and uncertainty. It leaves you to figure out what’s happening. When it shows you some freaky imagery, it leaves you to interpret it. Cure doesn’t offer any answers. Instead it leaves you with questions you have to try and answer yourself. And that’s how it gets under your skin. As the investigation continues, things get stranger and more concerning, with obscure details coming to light that seemingly change the nature of the film, yet never get delved into. The ending in particular is wildly open to interpretation, offering a few scenes almost abstractly, with no dialogue or explanation.

 

 

There’s an almost clinical sort of grim sterility to the movie. Everything feels cold, soulless and empty, which is likely the point. As it continues, it starts to become unsettling. There’s an atmosphere of uncertainty underneath the coldness that’s almost smothering as it continues. It’s a movie I keep thinking back to and dwelling on, trying to decipher in some way. On surface level it seems pretty standard, and almost plodding in its slow, deliberate pace. But trying to put a finger on why the movie is so strangely unnerving is hard, and trying to make sense of what might have happened is likewise difficult. In that sense Cure works really well as a psychological thriller.

John Wick

 



It’s awesome. Surprising everybody, John Wick turns out to be is a highly entertaining movie that re-establishes Keanu Reeves as a legitimate action star. The movie is great and he’s great in it.

John Wick has just lost his wife to cancer. He’s a stoic, seemingly emotionless man, who seems somewhat lost without his wife. He receives a dog from his late wife, something that helps him start to grieve for his wife. Russian gangsters break into his house, beat him up, smash his stuff, steal his car and, the very worst of it, kill his dog. Big mistake. John Wick is actually a retired hitman with a fearsome reputation. And he wants revenge for his dog. Thus he suits up, arms himself to the teeth and goes on the hunt for the gangsters, one of whom is the jackass son of Viggo, a powerful Russian mobster, and Wick’s former employer.  Soon Wick is slaughtering his way through Russian gangster, rival hitmen and dozens upon dozens of goons.

The plot works well in its seeming simplicity. It seems like a standard action-revenge flick, but it’s a bit smarter than that. Or, at least, it’s been given a smarter treatment. It’s shot exceedingly well and the acting is top notch, even when it veers into over-the-top caricatures (some of the Russian gangsters are a bit silly). The best thing is that everybody else in the movie already knows who Wick is, and rightly fears him. It’s a small detail, but it works really well in selling how the character.

Keanu’s emotionally empty persona works really well here as Wick. He gets his moment two thirds of the way through where he has a furious emotional outburst, and one remembers just how good Keanu is at crazy, angry outburst (Johnny Mnemonic isn’t great, but Keanu getting progressively angrier and more pissed off through it was memorable).

The movie also has an awesome layer of world-building when it comes to showing what a society of assassins might look like, and how it might run. ‘The Continental’, which acts as a private hotel, an exclusive club and an association for hitmen, is conveyed quite well, often subtly. The inner workings and ‘rules’ aren’t explicitly stated but make sense, with a ‘show don’t tell’ style of storytelling (the significance of golden coins doesn’t need to be overtly explained when the movie shows how they’re used). It’s smart without being condescending or obvious, much like most of the rest of the movie.   

The action scenes are awesome, especially since they have a central sort of ‘theme’ to them; close-quarters gunplay/fighting. I’m talking about fighting a guy with a gun who is a foot away from you. Wick is a powerhouse, utilising throws, strikes and rolling kicks to down goons before he finishes them off with a headshot. And it’s never just one goon, it’s usually two or three at a time. The kill count has to be close to seventy, or maybe even past that. Wick kills a lot of people, and thoroughly so. People are shot several times, often in the head, and stabbed a few times too.

There’s just something immensely watchable about John Wick. Not just the film, but the character too. It’s a great mark on Keanu’s career, and the best thing he’s done in ages. John Wick is a highly entertaining movie, the sort that makes you want to see more of it, and it receives my recommendation.