The Happytime Murders (2018) Movie Review

THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS (2018) MOVIE REVIEW

When I first heard about the concept for this film, it was hard for me not to be excited. An idea like this simply screams money. Despite this however, the film is not having a good time at the box office currently raking in $10 million domestically, $30 million short of its $40 million dollar budget. Even with Melissa McCarthy signing on board in order to get some main stream credit, ironically it seems that her inclusion is one of the reasons that Happytime Murders is bombing both financially and critically. 

In a world where humans and puppets co-exist, the cast of an old 80's sitcom begin to be murdered one by one. Former cop turned private eye puppet is now forced to work together with detective Connie Edwards (Melissa McCarthy) as they try and solve this mass-murder mystery. As stated before, the concept for this film was incredibly intriguing to me and for the most part handles the story well enough, at the beginning at least. The movie starts off really strong and gave me great promise for the remainder of the runtime. Unfortunately this was not meant to be. After the 30 minute mark you quickly realise what type of movie you're in for. Repetitive humour and frankly just a boring road to the film's underwhelming crescendo. Despite these negatives, the movie does have one glaring positive. Throughout we see that, not so subtlety, that puppets are perceived as a lower class of citizen which on paper should be handled well but unfortunately feels incredibly forced and just boring. And in the end, thats what the film is. Boring. 

In terms of the humour, the film goes implements the lowest common denominator as this puppetry production relies on the use of drug and sexual humour non-stop. Good humour can balance this type of humour well and still prove to be an enjoyable experience. But when the movie expects gross out humour to work for every single joke at every single second, it becomes repetitive. And quite frankly, the movie feels ironic when it becomes as lifeless as the puppets they are trying to bring to life. 

Despite all these negatives though, I must give credit where credit is due. When you have director Brian Henson, the mind behind multiple Muppets movies, the puppetry is sure to be excellent. And for the most part, the puppets truly do feel alive and blend in perfectly in this prejudice driven puppet show. But when it comes down to it, is the movie funny? And for my money, it just wasn't. Despite the fact that it started off strong, the humour just got too repetitive for my liking and too predictable of a plot to be taken seriously as a noire murder mystery. If you are a true fan of Muppet style movies or even a fan of Melissa McCarthy, you may find some satisfaction in a movie like this. For me, it was a comedic rollercoaster. Starting off promising and on a high, but soon went down and down until it came to a complete stop.

OVERALL

3 / 10

Skyscraper (2018) Movie Review

SKYSCRAPER (2018) MOVIE REVIEW

Dwayne Johnson is easily one of this generations most recognisable and well-respected personalities in film today. With multiple accolades and film roles under his belt, Johnson has become a household name for those looking for a good time at the cinema. Despite this, every actor has that one botch in their career that they are going to look back on with despair and regret. His latest venture, Skyscraper, could very well be a more forgettable role in the wrestling icon's acting resume.   

Our story begins with our protagonist Will Sawyer as it is shown how he became an amputee through a military mission gone south. Following this, we are transported to present day Hong Kong where Will is given the job of assessing the safety of the world's largest skyscraper called Pearl. However things, of course, are not what they seem as a group of criminals infiltrate the skyscraper and look to destroy the structure by way of explosions. With Sawyer's family trapped inside the Pearl after he left the building for an errand, Will must fight his way back into the collapsing building and save his family and stop the terrorists from getting away. Now right off the bat if you think you've seen this movie before, it means you have. It's called "every generic action movie before it". Skyscraper clearly shows elements of Die Hard sprinkled with a touch of any movie where the protagonist is being framed for something they clearly did not do. What I'm trying to convey is that the movie isn't breaking any new ground. It's not winning any awards or scoring any points for originality. Despite this, I will give Skyscraper the benefit of the doubt and say it was a good choice to give the main character a prosthetic leg. During alot of the action, despite how unrealistic it is, the fact that our hero is an amputee, it makes the audience that much more invested in his crisis. Not too much more though.

Now we have an established story, how does the acting and character work hold up? Well not too well if we are being honest. At no point during the film did I feel the family was in any real danger. At no point did I really care what the villains motivations were. And when it is explained what their motivation is, I didn't care. There was no emotional attachment to any of these characters because they did not express any emotion and never felt like they were in any serious danger. A great example of this is when the Sawyer family realise they have the evacuate the building. Keeping in mind that the two children are borderline ten years old, neither of them are scared. They are not even worried one bit about what will happen if they don't escape, they simply ask what is happening and go about their escape like they were being forced to go shopping. Speaking of forced, there is a secondary side plot happening where the authorities believe that Will is the real terrorist which could not have been more of a forced plotline. There was zero reason for this to be included into the film besides the fact they needed filler to make the runtime. Lastly, the villains are some of the most generic antagonists shown on screen in recent memory. Their motivations are non-existent besides for one person who is, spoiler alert, killed off at the start of the movie. When making a good plot, you have to realise that the pro and antagonists are just as necessary as getting right as each other. This is why films like Star Wars and Dark Knight movies have become so popular. Because they have such rich characters on both sides of the spectrum. Here our main hero is a military amputee who is a carbon copy of John McClane and our main villain is someone so forgettable I don't even remember their name. Or what they look like, or like I stated multiple times, what their intention was. 

Overall, Skyscraper is not a good movie. The story makes no sense, their is no emotion given to any of the side characters. Dwayne Johnson is the only person really trying in this movie which I guess is one of the movies up sides. But besides this, this sad excuse for an action movie had one job, to entertain me. And when a movie makes me almost leave the cinema, you know it is not entertaining me or anyone for that matter. 

OVERALL

3 / 10