Monday, June 17, 2013
When I first saw the trailer for Jack the Giant Slayer, I literally laughed at how bad it looked. I thought it was going to be an awful retelling of a story that we all grew up with. But then I saw Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters and absolutely loved it. So, after that shocker, I had to give this movie a chance, right? Sadly, this movie wasn’t quite the pleasant surprise that Hansel and Gretel turned out to be.
I don’t think I need to tell you the plot of this movie, because it really is just Jack and the Beanstalk revamped to be a Hollywood blockbuster. So, let me just delve right into my review.
The biggest downfall of this film, to me, was the theme. It seemed really confused about what type of movie it wanted to be. Did it want to be a straight adventure movie, or did it want to be a pseudo-dark comedy? I really can’t tell, but because it couldn’t decide, it really failed on both accounts. Instead of having ridiculous action, and huge set pieces (like any good adventure movie would have), it had huge set pieces with stupid action. All of the action scenes showed someone throw something, then give some sort of corny piece of dialogue that was stale and just awful.
I guess what I’m trying to say is this: the script for this film was horrendous. I feel like the muddledness of the plot could have come from the fact that there were three writers credited for the screenplay, but that is no excuse for what came out. The only good thing that came out of the script was Stanley Tucci’s character. He was hilarious and just campy enough to be fun. But that is literally it. The plot was contrived, and almost seemed like they were forcing themselves to make this old story have some pizazz. I think the problem was that they were trying to distinguish themselves from the story that they knew everyone else was familiar with. Sadly, they failed. 
The direction in this film was one of the stronger aspects of the film. Bryan Singer really knows how to film a movie to make it interesting (at least visually.) I found that a lot of the camerawork was really interesting, and he especially knows how to foreshadow without overdoing it. I really enjoyed the shot that lingers on Stanley Tucci’s satchel. You need no dialogue, but you know something is going to happen there. 
The acting in this movie was pretty awful. Only Stanley Tucci and Ewan McGregor were at all tolerable of the cast. Everyone else was way too stiff. Maybe it had something to do with the script, but I really can’t imagine that it was all the script’s fault.
I guess I should also mention one positive thing about this movie: the CGI. The beanstalks and the giants were really impressive in terms of CGI. The giants were especially awesome. There is one scene where we see an upclose of a giant’s face, and see the nostrils moving...and it just seems so real. It was really impressive, but couldn’t save the movie from all its downfalls.
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This was an interesting adaptation of a well known story, but failed to deliver a serious, well thought out plot, instead going for boring action intermixed with corny dialogue accompanied by less than impressive acting.
Writing: 3/10
Directing: 7/10
Acting: 4/10
Pacing: 4/10
Rewatchability: 2/10
Score: 4.0/10
