This is a new crime thriller from one of the most prolific B-movie directors of our time: a British former stuntman and screenwriter. Jesse Johnson ("Triple Threat", "Casualty", "Collectors", "British Psycho").
In addition to productivity, Jesse is also noticeable in that his films are quite diverse and have their own individual style, although they were all shot for 3 kopecks, which significantly affects the overall quality. The filmmaker gained popularity primarily thanks to his collaboration with the modern icon of hand-to-hand action films Scott Adkins, with whom he has already made six films. On the last two, Johnson decided to digress from the topic of martial arts and made a rather interesting and original military action film "Ave Maria" (2021), and now - his new brainchild "White elephant" (thanks for not being green). Well, one can only praise him for trying to develop.
PLOT OF THE MOVIE "White Elephant"
Former Marine Gabriel Tancredi (Michael Rooker), now a criminal, breaks his own code to save police officer Vanessa (Olga Kurylenko), who witnessed the crime. Now Vanessa is being hunted by the people of mafioso Arnold Solomon (Bruce Willis), for whom Gabriel works.
REVIEW
Looking at such a stellar cast of the film, one can exclaim, “Wow! Jesse has grown to films with such a number and level of stars - hammer!” But, unfortunately, while watching the film, you involuntarily come to the conclusion: it is not he who has grown up to them, but they have sunk to him... With all due respect to Jesse, his best niche is simple action films with martial arts category "B" with self-irony and humor, since even in his niche he does not “take out” everything as a director. Remember at least the highly anticipated "Triple Threat" with a dream cast that did not find the proper response from the viewer.
But what happened to "White elephant"? What turned out to be a rather confusing, meaningless, sometimes slow crime action film with shootouts, with small references to Westerns, which Jesse apparently watched in his youth, and with a bunch of stupid scenes and moments that can really make you laugh with their absurdity and staging. For example: there is a noisy shootout in the hotel courtyard with the participation of people armed with machine guns - a real war. And suddenly a man comes out onto the street, onto the battlefield with a menacing gait and says: “Are you completely confused by the coast here?” He sees that there is a shootout with machine guns and shotguns, but he tells them as if it’s punks with firecrackers that are preventing them from sleeping at night. Honestly, I had a good laugh at this moment, it’s a pity that making the viewer laugh was not the director’s idea.
The film continues the modern trend where almost all the characters are criminals and scoundrels, this is nothing new here. There are no particularly interesting characters that evoke sympathy either, everything is very standard. The only relatively positive hero is the character who is always “strong and independent” Olga Kurylenko (“Quantum of Solace”, “Hitman”, “Max Payne”), but her character is completely uninteresting because of her banality and lack of development. The main character in Johnson's last film "Ave Maria" was more interesting. Yes, and purely subjective, Olga Kurilenko I don’t like it either in form, or in content, or in its characters. Especially against the backdrop of all these degenerate American trends of aggressive feminism and LGBT.
Does the film's cast save it? Knowing what films he has starred in so far Bruce Willis (the last 20 pieces) one shouldn’t have expected anything more from this film, but nevertheless it is the best of the worst in his modern career, which he is rumored to have already ended due to health problems. So... this film, apparently, is one of the last in which we can look at the legend of the genre, once - one of the most famous and best actors in Hollywood with a gorgeous filmography. But unfortunately, this is not the note on which we would like to see off such an actor, since in the latest films we see only a shell of his former self. There was no trace left of his charisma. This is what haphazard selection of projects does to actors' careers. But maybe his health really had such a strong impact on the general condition of the actor and constant filming anywhere is a necessary measure. So this film can be treated as a heartfelt send-off to a tough nut to crack.
In addition to Bruce, the film is trying to pull out the legendary John Malkovich ("Con Air", "In the Line of Fire") playing a mafia lawyer and Michael Rooker ("Cliffhanger", "Back to Back", "Guardians of the Galaxy"). In principle, they manage to give the film a couple of points, since these are really old-school, charismatic and experienced actors. The cast of the film is probably the main advantage "White Elephant". If there were no names in their place, the film would be a complete disaster. And so, simply - the bottom from which you can get a kind of pleasure. And despite all the plot twists and turns of the film, they all lead to the same thing - shootouts. That’s what the film is about, because the dramatic component doesn’t take away, as they say.
ACTION
The action here is typical Jesse Johnson, when martial arts are not present, there are only bloody shootouts in the style of Tarantino and one fight, filmed poorly. In general, nothing special, but not complete garbage, I've seen worse. On the plus side - real old-school pyrotechnics depicting damage from bullets, which, basically, everyone now draws on computers and which looks eye-popping and unnatural. If only someone was responsible for the action Garett Evans ("Raid 1-2", "Gangs of London"), the film certainly would have been much better, since good action is the basis of the genre. But, alas, Jesse is not Garrett.
SUMMARY
Jesse's films sometimes remind me of the level of films Alexander Nevsky and can make you laugh with their direction and some creative decisions. It looks pretty cute, but it’s still impossible to watch without laughing. Sometimes Jesse shoots quite maturely, and sometimes like a teenager who has seen enough films and started shooting “his own movie” with the first camera his parents gave him. In general, he is a controversial director, but he certainly deserves attention and, in principle, I like his film, it has its own charm.
Would I recommend watching the film? There are many more ways to spend time interestingly or usefully...
3/5
Yuri Dudin
Especially for Fight-Films.info
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Tags: White elephant, Bruce Willis, Jesse W. Johnson, John Malkovich, Michael Rooker, Olga Kurilenko
Tags: White elephant, Bruce Willis, Jesse W. Johnson, John Malkovich, Michael Rooker, Olga Kurilenko
You can watch it once
The film is not bad, but the recent "City Hungter" is better in terms of action.
To be honest, there is no particular principle... when there is more time, an “old man” is added, when there is less time...
Not a bad idea. But I don’t understand something, on what basis are profiles added? And legends...