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The Expendables 4 (2023)
Expend4bles (2023)
Expend4bles (2023)
Directed by Scott Waugh
Cinematography by Tim Maurice-Jones
Movie Review | Hidden Strike (Waugh, 2023)
I haven’t really kept up with Jackie Chan’s career for the last decade and a half, but decided to give this a look as I’m once again getting into a Jackie mood (which is definitely preferable to the Uwe Boll mood I willed myself into for the last week to get over a cold), and I’d heard this was one of his better ones in quite some time. I will say that the first half hour is pretty rough going. I’m used to modern movies having ugly digital cinematography and abusing CGI, but this one was actively painful to look at. This is set in a fictional Middle Eastern country (I’m assuming the same one as Iron Eagle; I understand it was originally supposed to be Iraq before it got shelved for several years), meaning that we get a lot of scenes in the desert, and there isn’t a single one that looks to actually have been shot outdoors. The vehicles are largely overly shiny digital models rendered with CGI that reminded me of Beast Wars. There’s a fight scene in a bus where the background looks so fake and the camera swirls so impossibly that it looks like you’re watching a diorama get flushed down a toilet. And worst of all, Jackie looks tired and sad and has zero chemistry with the actress playing his daughter. The only bright spots are John Cena, who retains his charisma.
Thankfully things get a lot better after the first act when the movie finally puts the two stars together, to the point that you wonder if a different director stepped in. The action scales down from CGI goop to something resembling physical reality, keeping the action close to these characters. The movie is good at coming up with ways that the two can interact during these scenes in ways that feel essential: passing ammo to each other, giving each other hand signals while they sneak around, etc. There’s even a bit of the classic Jackie fight scene magic in how the surroundings are exploited. And maybe after the mostly humourless first third I was looking for anything resembling comedy, but I think there are a good number of actual laughs here as both of the boys get to be goofy and self deprecating. I’d like to think John Cena warmed up Jackie’s withered old heart.
So I wouldn’t call this a great movie, but once I got past the horrendous first third, this sticks closely enough to the boys and keeps all the boring drama stuff to a minimum that I had a good enough time.
New promotional poster for The Expendables 4
NEED FOR SPEED, dir. Scott Waugh (2014)
requested by anon
Act of Valor (2012) Directed by Mike McCoy & Scott Waugh, Cinematography by Shane Hurlbut "Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about his religion. Respect others in their views and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life. Beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and of service to your people. When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home."
Hidden Strike (2023)
Directed by Scott Waugh
Cinematography by Tony Cheung
