chuck-231

There is an old saying about an elephant looking like an animal that was designed by a committee. This mini-series, while well-acted by a great cast of veteran and newcomer actors, was clearly written and directed by a committee. There are so many plot holes, unanswered questions and technological anomalies that what had the potential to be a truly great story comes off as an awkward pachyderm of mismatched story arcs that wind up being stairways to nowhere. I found it very disappointing that questions that were asked by the characters apparently have to be answered by the audience because no effort was made to answer them by the writer(s). That the director(s) tried to pull a Hitchcock is laughable, because it just looks like they ran out of material, imagination or energy. I have to respect the actors' skill with 5 stars but the other 5 are left blank, like the expression on my face at the end of this mini-series.

While this was clearly not a big-budget, blockbuster, mega-action, summer-release, slug fest, it was a surprisingly good movie. Relative newcomer Jon Foo gives a veteran performance with an excellent display of his martial arts skills and better-than-workman-like acting skills. Sean Astin and Danny Glover have some unfortunately somewhat two-dimensional roles, but Joanne Kelly, who it's nice to see is still finding work after Warehouse 13, brings a Myka Bering-esque likability to her role. For me, the lowest point in this movie is the tiresome Vinnie Jones. If you're not familiar with his work, just watch this movie and you'll have a pretty good handle on it. (yawn) Meanwhile, the story itself is not totally far-fetched and the fight choreography and special effects are definitely up to snuff. All-in-all, it's a good, Saturday afternoon, nothing else to do way to spend an hour and 45 minutes.