Jogo Perigoso

Watched as a full film on Prime rather than a short episodes. Standard action film, nothing too cerebal but good fun, felt a bit like a modern day Running Man.

If it didn't have Hemsworth and Waltz in it, this'd be a 3.9 star rated low budget it is, the star power is making people rate it much too high. It's not just the plot holes, like wouldn't the hero plan his last day on Earth a little better, maybe scout locations, pick those with best odds of survival rather than run off at random? The biggest problem this movie has, they spent so much on the two big guns they couldn't afford decent villains so we're stuck with hopelessly cast sub par actors and to make it even worse, the villains are just bad. The icing on the cake is the Quibi format, it just kills what little cinematic pleasure there might be left. Best skipped and forgotten about.

What begins as an intriguing premise careens into total implausibility when it jumps the shark at the confessional. While I enjoy Christopher Waltz's smarmy villainy and Liam Hemsworth's dashing persona, they are not enough to redeem this cat-and-mouse escapade. Don't waste your time.

This isn't a show, it's a movie that no one was willing to distribute so Quibi purchased it for the original content. Then Quibi took a 2-hour movie and chopped it into 15, 7-8 minute "episodes", releasing 1 "episode" each weekday for 3 weeks. If I sound annoyed about spending 3 weeks to watch a mediocre movie then you're more perceptive than the people at Quibi. Movies and tv shows are typically written in 3 acts. A 30-minute show is actually 22-minutes of content after you remove the commercials, so divided by 3, each act is about 7-minutes. This format can work for tv. Do you like watching movies 7-8 minutes at a time? Maybe it's ok if I've seen the movie before, but it's hard to remember or care about the characters and their story. 7-8 minutes is barely enough time to form any emotional connection to what's happening. I think it could work if they drop the entire "show" at once, edited into the same 7-8 minute pieces, and then allow the viewer to stop or keep going. Releasing one "episode" per weekday takes that choice away from the viewer who might actually enjoy the movie, story, acting, etc more if they were able to view it as the filmmaker intended. All in all, the film isn't bad. It's corny (dialogue) and unoriginal (Running Man), but Waltz is awesome in everything and it's still a fun ride. Just prepare for this roller coaster to stop every 7 minutes and not start again for 24-72 hours (because weekends).

I enjoyed it. Each episode had plenty of action or suspense to keep you engaged. But this format has to keep high engagement to keep you coming back daily for 3 weeks.

However, I can't say I'm a fan of the Quibi format of 7-9 min daily episodes, or just waiting for the series to complete then binge watching. It makes for good bathroom viewing, I suppose, or if you need a quick break for the day. I don't think I'll be continuing with Quibi beyond the trial when there's already so many online viewing options. Quibi seems to be great for our attention deficit culture.