This is an enjoyable Summer action vehicle that’s held together by Scott’s taught action direction, witty dialog, and effective performances by Washington, Travolta, and Gandolfini.
All in Thriller
McG's TERMINATOR SALVATION
This is a worthy continuation of the Terminator franchise. There’s enough new stuff here to keep your attention, the action is spectacular, and the characters are sufficiently differentiated to create some dramatic tension despite being frequently out-staged by the savage action sequences.
The “invisible aliens among us” story has been done many times before. This one focuses less on wild histrionics than continually escalating terror.
Timur Bekmambetov's “WANTED”
Talk about no redeeming social value! But it’s great fun.
Halfway through I thought about stopping but I’ve decided to give this movie another chance after reading the Netflix reviews.
This non-political story about a young terrorist-in-training takes place in a series of backwoods training camps in India, culminating in the travel and preparation of a young teenage female to blow up herself, and a target official selected by her mentors, in a crowded public place.
Steven Spielberg's MUNICH
That the issues raised by this faux history of events kicked off by the massacre of Israelis at the 1972 Olympics are still so relevant is a testament to Spielberg’s intelligence and sense of morality.
It also helps that he’s a terrific film-maker who is willing to attack complex topics in an intelligent, personal, and thoughtful way.
Robert Schwentke's FLIGHTPLAN
This tightly plotted thriller pits Jodie Foster against the disappearance of her character’s little daughter on a giant super-jumbo airliner in midair. Playing a jet aircraft engineer who helped design the aircraft where most of this midair plot takes place, Foster pits her innate intelligence and cunning against both the disappearance and her natural instinct to panic.