Spoiler Warning!
Jack the Giant
Slayer is a frustrating movie to watch. Sitting in the theatre I could see the potential
it had to be a really fun and interesting film but it just missed the mark so
many times.
So Ewan McGregor plays
another Obi Wan Kenobi(ish) role. Jack
is a poor boy who wants to be a warrior but also falls for the princess (who
will one day be Queen). And
then drones Giants attack.
Really this movie is predictable and disappointing through and through.
Plot
In the Original
story, Jack is a poor, stupid farm boy who turns into a capable thief. In this
movie he is a sweet kid, with big dreams, and a lot of luck. The Giants are no
longer hapless victims of theft who meet an untimely demise but are now
villains who wish nothing more than to escape their skyward prison and
destroy/eat all mankind. Most of the story is driven by the need to rescue
Princess Isabelle who, through unfortunate circumstances, has ended up at the
top of the beanstalk and has been captured by the giants. Jack becomes her
unlikely hero after they face a continuous stream of enemies.
Characters
Again the
"empowered princess" theme is paraded around for the audience but
that is a complete sham. Just because you put a princess in armor it doesn't
mean she is empowered. All Princess Isabelle (Eleanor Tomilson) does is run
around screaming "Jack" all the time and while she is an excellent
damsel in distress, she is far from empowered. I hate to say it but Kristen
Stuarts Snow White was better than this Princess Isabel. Mirror Mirror wasn't a
great movie but at least Snow White (Lilly Collins) actually did something, the
girls were clever and learned how to fight. This movie would have been a great
chance for both Isabelle and Jack to grow into heroes. The movie starts with
her being told that one day she will be a powerful Queen and leader, later she
half-heartedly rebels against her father and begs to be allowed to be strong
and independent. With all that build up and promise she never actually delivers
on any of it. She runs into trouble, gets saved, then she gets captured, gets
saved, gets captured again, and then she gets saved again. She doesn't even
wear the all powerful crown at the end! That's it for her. As the only real
female character in the movie she really doesn't stand up or stand out at all.
Jack (Nicholas
Hoult) is the same old story of a boy with big dreams, his head in the clouds,
and yet no means to get what he desires until he gets lucky one day. He
accidentally runs into the princess in town, the princess accidentally shows up
at his house, he just happens not to get killed through most of the movie, and
the princess just happens to fall in love with him. It amazes me that he is
supposed to be the hero of this movie when he is just such a lackluster
character. Nicholas Hoult is a pretty man who no doubt will send many little
teen girl hearts ablaze and I am sure that will fill some seats in theatre, but
otherwise I can't really see the appeal of Jack. Jack just is a sweet kid with
good intentions and a lot of luck but doesn't seem to be anything special.
Elmont (Ewan
McGregor) is the Princess's protector and ends up being a bit of a role model
for Jack. Honestly I liked his character better. Instead of a Jedi Knight with
a funny rattail, he is a Knight with a funny mustache. If there had been a
character that was a Jack & Elmont hybrid then this entire movie would have
been much more enjoyable. Elmont has the attitude of a protective older brother
towards the princess but everybody I saw the movie with liked him much more
than Jack and actually said they would have preferred to see him end up with
the princess (if she had to end up with anybody at all). This guy really seems
to do the bulk of the Hero work in the movie; he is the man with plan, he is
brave, and his armor looks pretty damn cool/sexy. I would have liked it some
much better if there were a Knight's Tale kind of twist to the movie where poor
farm boy Jack somehow tricked his way into being a Knight and the Princess’ protector.
Roderick (Stanley
Tucci) is an ok villain but this certainly isn't Stanley Tucci at his best. He
is only the villain through part of the movie and not a very good one at that.
In fact I think the entire movie would have been just fine without his
character altogether. He really
wasn't needed.
Sadly, the Giants
fell a bit short too. First of all I was bothered by the fact that there were
no female Giants. Basically the Giants lived in an all male prison in the sky
which might account for why they were so cranky. Maybe if they could just get laid every once and a while they
wouldn't be so hell-bent on killing the humans. And why do the giants really need the beanstalks? Their cloud
kingdom has a crap loud of natural resources so am I supposed to believe they
couldn't make a rope ladder or anything? I did like the two headed giant. His second head was a funny guy, but I wish he was more of
the focus as the main villain than Roderick. It would have been great to have more of a back-story on him,
it seemed like his character and story had a lot of potential.
Overall, this
movie had potential but everything just missed the mark. Save your money, wait
for the rental or when it comes out on T.V.
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Contributing writer: Rainbow S. Coan
Rainbow Coan is a Sci-fi and fantasy movie/T.V enthusiast and all around nerd. Her hobbies include playing StarCraft II (mainly as Terran), reading Sci-fi & fantasy books, and playing games on Xbox. She has a Zombie Apocalypse survival plan and identifies strongly with Hobbits. Her favorite game of all time is King's Quest 6.
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