The Ace Black Movie Blog

Showing posts with label Jon Bernthal. Show all posts

Sunday, 26 October 2025

Movie Review: The Accountant 2 (2025)

Genre: Crime Action Thriller

Director: Gavin O'Connor

Starring: Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, J.K. Simmons

Running Time: 132 minutes

Synopsis: Retired Financial Crimes Enforcement Director Raymond King (J.K. Simmons) is killed while meeting with professional assassin Anaïs (Daniella Pineda) to discuss the case of a missing Salvadorian family. King's successor and protégé Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) seeks help from elusive autistic accountant and trained killer Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck), and their investigation leads to a brutal human trafficking ring and a case of acquired savant syndrome. In need of more firepower, Christian calls upon his brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal) for backup.

What Works Well: This sequel is all about buzzy brotherly buddiness punctuated by bold uncompromising action and techno wizardry, all underpinned by discussions of autism and a mean streak of humour. Director Gavin O'Connor uses the packed agenda to build and maintain strong momentum, the character-building scenes alternating with bone-crunching brawls and high-casualty shootouts. Ben Affleck plays to his stone-faced strengths, leaving Jon Bernthal and Cynthia Addai-Robinson to inject animation. The climactic battle in the Mexican desert is quite epic.

What Does Not Work As Well: Both the narrative ambition and the running time needed a trim, as there is just too much going on. The human smuggling plot is almost lost in the shuffle, the core journey of the Salvadorian family and their gifted son reduced to shorthand.

Key Quote:

Wolff: Do I make you nervous?

Medina: Escaped convict...trained by mob accountants...clients are drug cartels, money launderers, several warlords...

Wolff: Is that a yes?

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

Saturday, 8 October 2022

Movie Review: Those Who Wish Me Dead (2021)

A chase thriller, Those Who Wish Me Dead is a messy combination of fire-devouring-the-land and unstoppable-killers-on-the-loose.

In Montana, firefighter Hannah Faber (Angelina Jolie) is still traumatized by deaths she could not prevent while leading a crew fighting a forest blaze. She is now assigned a fire monitor position atop an isolated tower in the woods. Hannah remains on good terms with her ex-boyfriend and local law officer Ethan (Jon Bernthal), whose pregnant wife Allison (Medina Senghore) runs a survival school.

Meanwhile assassin duo Jack and Patrick (Aidan Gillen and Nicholas Hoult) are hunting forensic accountant Owen Casserly (Jake Weber) and his young son Connor (Finn Little), to retrieve incriminating evidence. With the killers closing in, Connor stumbles upon Hannah deep in the forest. She must keep the boy safe while a massive fire closes in.

Directed and co-written by Taylor Sheridan, Those Who Wish Me Dead unfortunately flash fries all essential elements. The forensic files and scribbled notes triggering large scale mayhem are a barely explained MacGuffin, and Hannah's psychological damage is of the stock variety. Sheridan also spends a lot of time with bad guys and killers-for-hire Jack and Patrick, hinting at a willingness to explore them as people, but never actually gets there.

Instead the film features the expected impressive wall-of-fire visuals, and plenty of stunt performers falling, jumping, driving, crashing, and scuffling their way through routine narrow escape scenes. A lightning storm obstacle course is thrown in just for the sake of more special effects.

A few moments of tender reflection relieve the tedium. Jon Bernthal and Medina Senghore generate a sturdy bond as a couple adept at navigating the rigours of the wilderness. And young Finn Little is excellent as the boy Connor, gradually easing his way towards the drama's centre, and sharing the best scene with Jolie as they seek shelter from the fire in a small creek.

Despite the occasional spark, Those Who Wish Me Dead is more smoke than fire.

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

Tuesday, 9 August 2022

Movie Review: The Unforgivable (2021)

A drama about the search for redemption, The Unforgivable is a human-centred and character-rich story about past mistakes casting a dark shadow on the present.

After serving 20 years for murdering a cop, Ruth Slater (Sandra Bullock) is released from prison. Parole officer Vincent Cross (Rob Morgan) sets her up at a dingy halfway house in Seattle's Chinatown and finds her a job at a fisheries plant, where she meets the amiable Blake (Jon Bernthal). Ruth is determined to find her younger sister Katherine (Aisling Franciosi), who was five years old when the murder happened. Katherine was subsequently adopted and raised by Rachel and Michael Malcolm, who also have a younger daughter Emily (Emma Nelson).

Ruth visits the farmhouse where the cop shooting happened and meets current occupants John and Liz Ingram (Vincent D'Onofrio and Viola Davis). John is a lawyer and offers to help Ruth track down Katherine. Meanwhile, brothers Keith and Steve Whalen are the grown sons of the slain police officer. Keith is furious Ruth is now free and plots a revenge, but Steve has a young family to think about. With emotions running high, the lives of Ruth, the Malcolms, the Ingrams, and the Whalen brothers are inexorably drawn together.

An adaptation of a British miniseries, The Unforgivable is a superbly constructed and unpredictable drama. The screenplay (by Peter Craig, Hillary Seitz, and Courtenay Miles) embraces a diverse set of well-drawn characters propelled by conflicting motivations, and launches them on different trajectories but all headed towards inevitable collisions. Breezy surprises abound: on more than one occasion, initially less prominent characters emerge as key plot participants, upturning expectations.

Narrative strength is derived from a range of emotions all tied to the same incident. Ruth's quest for reunification with her sister only gains resonance as more is revealed about their past. The sons of the slain police officer have every right to feel aggrieved the murderer is free in their community. The Malcolms raised Katherine as their daughter, but also suspect her lingering mental struggles are related to her childhood. Katherine's younger sister Emily starts at the margins but will not stay there, while the Ingrams learn they are living in a house with a past, and are now drawn into a tragedy's next chapter.

Hans Zimmer contributes a soulfully haunting soundtrack to enhance both the emotional twists and the host aesthetics. Mostly filmed in the Vancouver area standing-in for Seattle, the dreary and damp northwest landscape captures Ruth's dour mood. Sandra Bullock is suitably deglamorized and stays faithful to a character hardened by 20 years in prison, but also does not need to stretch much beyond a traditional pain-behind-the-eyes stance.

In an assured feature film debut, director Nora Fingscheidt introduces the characters with both depth and brevity. She demonstrates confidence with brief flashbacks to the pivotal shooting incident and its immediate aftermath while rotating multiple perspectives in the present. Some characters are therefore paused for relatively long periods, but step forward to make an impact on cue.

The complex and ultimately emotionally exhausting drama wraps up in under two hours. The Unforgivable is impressively expansive in scope, marvellously efficient in execution.

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

Sunday, 6 March 2022

Movie Review: King Richard (2021)

A biographical sports drama, King Richard focusses on the father of tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams. Celebrating perseverance, the film serves an equal number of winners and faults.

In the tough Compton neighbourhood of Los Angeles, security guard Richard Williams (Will Smith) and his wife Brandy (Aunjanue Ellis), a nurse, are raising five daughters. From before they were born, Richard planned professional tennis careers for daughters Venus (Saniyya Sidney) and Serena (Demi Singleton). Now the girls are approaching their teens and Richard desperately seeks a professional coach to help their development.

But the family's background, race, and limited financial means are not a natural fit with the tony world of club tennis. Through sheer persistence Richard eventually secures the services of celebrated coach Paul Cohen (Tony Goldwyn), but only for Venus. Brandy compensates by taking a larger role in coaching Serena. Venus dominates at the junior level, but Richard decides on a new path, signing with coach Rick Macci (Jon Bernthal) and relocating the family to Florida. Despite the world-class amenities, Richard cannot stop meddling in Venus' burgeoning career.

Despite a gallant effort, King Richard never overcomes the sense that the story is oriented towards the wrong character, twice removed. Venus Williams is a seven-time Grand Slam winner; her sister Serena is widely acknowledged as one of the all-time greatest tennis players. And yet here is a film where Venus is at best a tertiary character and Serena barely features.

The sisters are credited as executive producers, and the focus on their father's determination and positive influence is well-intentioned, but also embraces elements of a hagiography. The Zach Baylin script only tangentially makes mention of the man's many troublesome antics. Instead the intention is to showcase only the best attributes of a dedicated father, and with such limited ambitions, the running length of 145 minutes is inexcusable.

The unexplained internal inconsistencies are not helpful. Richard turns over every stone to find the best possible coaches for Venus and Serena, and then proceeds to ignore the best advice he worked so hard to secure. This is vaguely justified in the context of a dad seeking a well-rounded education and protecting his daughters from burnout, but also presented as deceptive and ungrateful behaviour.

Will Smith sinks into the role but is barely challenged and remains close to the same self-confident notes throughout. Aunjanue Ellis as Brandy is more nuanced, and contributes an undercurrent of steely resolve in a couple of key scenes. Director Reinaldo Marcus Green is functional, and the tennis match staging is effective.

Thematically, King Richard chronicles the struggle to overcome humble origins, limited financial means, and Compton's reputation as a haven fot street violence. The challenge of raising five daughters in a tough environment propels the narrative, and the film's first half is stronger for it. Once the family relocates to Florida, the only remaining obstacle in Venus' path to success is Richard's obstinance. Perhaps unintentionally, the story drifts towards Venus achieving success despite Richard, and not because of him.

An unpleasant odour of crass commercialism permeates the final act, and the value of a sponsorship contract is somehow placed on a higher pedestal than on-court achievement. King Richard is not meritless, just misdirected.

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

Tuesday, 7 January 2020

Movie Review: Ford v Ferrari (2019)

A motor racing drama, Ford v Ferrari (also known as Le Mans '66) is a story of on-track development and back-room interference as two friends accept the visionary challenge of developing a racing program to compete against the sport's global elite.

It's the 1960s, and CEO Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) is looking for inventive ways to revive the car maker's reputation. Vice President Lee Iacocca (Jon Bernthal) proposes a program to develop a new sports car and compete at the prestigious Le Mans 24 hours endurance race to challenge Ferrari's dominance. Henry sanctions the investment, although Vice President Leo Beebe (Josh Lucas) is skeptical.

Iacocca recruits former Le Mans winner Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon), now a sports car designer, to lead the nascent racing team. Shelby, who had to quit racing for health reasons, in turn convinces British driver and World War Two veteran Ken Miles (Christian Bale) to join the program as lead test driver. While Shelby and Miles make progress developing the seminal Ford GT40, they encounter numerous setbacks, including layers of corporate meddling.

Based on real events, Ford v Ferrari is an old fashioned underdog story, spiked with a corporate suit as a key antagonist and snooty Europeans as smug on-track opponents. Overall writers Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth and Jason Keller neatly line-up good guys Shelby and Miles against a world where broken promises, careerism and out-of-control bureaucracy are obstacles actively working against Ford's self-interest.

Despite the relatively simplistic us-against-them narrative and plenty of mythical hokum about the perfect lap (that speech delivered in the moonlight, no less), director James Mangold delivers a rollicking film. The testing and racing scenes are exquisitely filmed and generate genuine energy, with the climactic Le Mans race featuring breathless and well-constructed racing and interpersonal excitement. The 152 minutes of running time absolutely speed by, often riding on the twin turbo boost of charisma provided by Matt Damon and especially Christian Bale.

Damon's Shelby is the brains of an audacious racing program thrown together with back-of-the-napkin level planning, but it is Bale's Ken Miles who emerges as the emotional core of the film. A mechanic at heart, Miles can read a car's performance like an open book and immediately determine required tweaks to improve lap times. He is also impatient, too honest for his own good and the farthest thing from a slick corporate ambassador.

Miles is provided with a family backstory including feisty wife Mollie (Caitriona Balfe) and a young son. However, all the other characters including Shelby essentially exist only in the context of the racing program, with no added personal depth. The novel concept of replacing the car's entire brake assembly during the race is included, but the film could have invested more time delving into some of the other technical breakthroughs that made Shelby's GT40 a world beater.

And while it is fun portraying Beebe as a nauseating corporate yes-man without an inventive bone in his body but adept at claiming credit for the work of others, the simplification erodes the film's serious drama. On the track it's Ford v Ferrari, but the real challenge turns out to be Ford v Ford.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Saturday, 10 June 2017

Movie Review: Me And Earl And The Dying Girl (2015)

A high school comedy drama about the dangers of friendship and dealing with loss, Me And Earl And The Dying Girl carries an attractively impish attitude to help tackle serious themes.

Greg Gaines (Thomas Mann) is doing his best to cruise through high school unscathed. He maintains cordial but distant relations with everyone and avoids all cliques. Greg's one friend is Earl (RJ Cyler), but Greg even refers to him as a co-worker rather than a friend, since they have been creating amateur short movies together since childhood. Avoiding the cafeteria at all costs, Greg and Earl have lunch everyday in the office of cool teacher Mr. McCarthy (Jon Bernthal).

When news spreads that Greg's classmate Rachel (Olivia Cooke) has been diagnosed with leukemia, Greg's mom insists that he spend time with her. Initially reluctant, Greg and Rachel gradually do become friends, as he helps her through her treatment sessions. In turn, Rachel challenges Greg's philosophy of avoiding close relationships with anyone. Encouraged by attractive classmate Madison (Katherine C. Hughes), Greg and Earl start a project to make a movie just for Rachel. But for a young man who has avoided making friends all his life, getting close to a dying girl will prove problematic.

Riding the momentum of movie adaptations of young adult books dealing with death, Me And Earl And The Dying Girl joins efforts like The Fault In Our Stars and If I Stay in tackling themes of life in the shadow of the big goodbye. The formula is familiar, and features the attractive and likable leads, a soft romance, mildly irritating parents on a slightly different wavelength, and enough irony, sarcasm, and wit to make the difficult final resolution palatable.

Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, adapting the Jesse Andrews novel, throws in an unreliable narrator, a friendship-averse main character, and some laugh-out-loud moments thanks to an inadvertent misadventure with some hallucinogens. But for all its potential Me And Earl And The Dying Girl does get sidetracked. Greg and Earl's hobby of creating amateur short films inspired by movie classics starts out cute but is overplayed, threatening to take over the film. By the time Greg's final film plays its role, the ideas have clearly run out and supposedly deeply meaningful abstract mysticism replaces content.

Also undermining the film is choppy handling of the central relationship between Greg and Rachel. Well before the ending the evolution of their friendship peaks and then stagnates before kicking into reverse, leaving an emotional void in place of momentum as the final act approaches.

The relatively inexperienced cast is decent in relatively straightforward roles. Thomas Mann and Olivia Cooke do their part in portraying teenagers just on the brooding side of adolescence, in his case due to an unwillingness to risk any connections, in her case because of impending death.

Me And Earl And The Dying Girl captures its spirit and content in its title, and does not stray far from what is expected.

All Ace Black Movie Reviews are here.

Friday, 9 June 2017

Movie Review: Snitch (2013)

A muddled action thriller, Snitch tries to remain grounded but offers up an unlikely plot and makes poor use of a decent cast.

John Matthews (Dwayne Johnson) owns and operates a long-haul trucking company. Divorced from his first wife Sylvie (Melina Kanakaredes) and now married to Analisa (Nadine Velazquez), John is shocked when his son Jason (Rafi Gavron) is arrested on drugs charges. Jason was pressured into accepting a shipment by his overseas friend Craig, but is left with no recourse except a long stint in prison unless he helps convict other drug traffickers.

John strikes a deal with District Attorney Joanne Keeghan (Susan Sarandon) to infiltrate a drug gang and help arrest an important trafficker in exchange for Jason receiving leniency. John leans on Daniel James (Jon Bernthal), a new employee with a criminal record, to connect with violent gang leader Malik (Michael Kenneth Williams). John pretends to be financially stretched and offers the services of his trucks to transport Malik's drugs. Despite the help of Agent Cooper (Barry Pepper), John and Daniel find themselves in over their heads when Mexican cartel kingpin El Topo (Benjamin Bratt) is identified as the second party in Malik's transactions.

Directed and co-written by Ric Roman Waugh, Snitch makes some unwise choices. Dwayne Johnson is admirably cast in the central role, but is then asked to portray a relatively docile, by-the-rules character chafing about the injustice of a system ready to throw his son in prison for a relatively minor offence. All credit to Johnson for willing to stretch, but in this context he lacks the screen presence or ability to play a mostly anguished dramatic role.

Snitch then idles and waits for the best part of 100 minutes until John Matthews gets frustrated enough to pick up a shotgun, get behind the wheel of large truck, take justice into his own hands, and teach not one but two heavily armed gangs not to mess with an angry father. By then the film has been tied up in knots made up of rival nondescript bad guys, with small detours to the prison holding Jason and the domestic lives of John and Daniel to fill the time. Neither the script nor the performances of the willing cast are strong enough to build genuine empathy for the characters.

Susan Sarandon mails in her performance as a testy District Attorney. The rest of the cast bite into their roles but cannot overcome mostly stale lines and the overall absurdity of the premise and execution.

Snitch ends with an overdue bang, but by then it's the hollow sound of indifference.