Columbia Pictures’ action-comedy movie “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” is set to play in cinemas in mainland China from June 22, it was announced on Thursday.
Starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, the film is the fourth in the nearly 30-year-old Bad Boys franchise. It sees the titular Miami cops investigate corruption in the police force after their late boss is accused of colluding with a foreign mafia. But the tables are turned and the pair have to go on the run while still trying to solve the case.
The film releases in a multitude of international territories from June 5 and in North America from June 7. The China date, only two weeks later, is in keeping with recent trends that give Hollywood titles near-synchronized outings in the Middle Kingdom and a modicum of marketing runway.
Many Hollywood films have struggled in China in recent years. Last year, non-Chinese films accounted for...
Starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, the film is the fourth in the nearly 30-year-old Bad Boys franchise. It sees the titular Miami cops investigate corruption in the police force after their late boss is accused of colluding with a foreign mafia. But the tables are turned and the pair have to go on the run while still trying to solve the case.
The film releases in a multitude of international territories from June 5 and in North America from June 7. The China date, only two weeks later, is in keeping with recent trends that give Hollywood titles near-synchronized outings in the Middle Kingdom and a modicum of marketing runway.
Many Hollywood films have struggled in China in recent years. Last year, non-Chinese films accounted for...
- 5/30/2024
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
This summer, detectives Mike Lowery (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) return for their biggest and baddest adventure yet: Bad Boys: Ride or Die!
The pair will go from Miami's finest to the city's Most Wanted when they discover that their former Captain has been posthumously framed for a crime he didn't commit, ultimately landing in enemy crosshairs themselves. With their backs now against the wall, they'll have to do whatever it takes to unravel a massive conspiracy and save the day before the clock hits zero.
In addition to Smith and Lawrence as the titular Bad Boys, the supporting cast features Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Nuñez, Eric Dane, Ioan Gruffudd, Jacob Scipio, Melanie Liburd, Tasha Smith, Rhea Seehorn, Tiffany Haddish, John Salley, DJ Khaled, Dennis Greene, Joyner Lucas, and Joe Pantoliano.
Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (Ms. Marvel; Snowfall; Batgirl) return to helm the upcoming sequel...
The pair will go from Miami's finest to the city's Most Wanted when they discover that their former Captain has been posthumously framed for a crime he didn't commit, ultimately landing in enemy crosshairs themselves. With their backs now against the wall, they'll have to do whatever it takes to unravel a massive conspiracy and save the day before the clock hits zero.
In addition to Smith and Lawrence as the titular Bad Boys, the supporting cast features Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Nuñez, Eric Dane, Ioan Gruffudd, Jacob Scipio, Melanie Liburd, Tasha Smith, Rhea Seehorn, Tiffany Haddish, John Salley, DJ Khaled, Dennis Greene, Joyner Lucas, and Joe Pantoliano.
Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (Ms. Marvel; Snowfall; Batgirl) return to helm the upcoming sequel...
- 5/17/2024
- ComicBookMovie.com
Will Smith is back to throwing hands — for good, this time — in Sony’s first trailer for its new “Bad Boys” movie. Along with the trailer, we got a title: “Bad Boys: Ride or Die.” Hell yes.
Smith and his sidekick Martin Lawrence are back up to their old antics in the June 7 film. Four years removed from “Bad Boys 3,” in what we’ve all just colloquially called “Bad Boys 4” to this point, Smith’s Mike Lowrey is still a badass. Lawrence’s Marcus Burnett, well, he has a lot going on — including tummy issues. (A word of advice to Marcus: ginger ale is only a magic elixir if you forego the Skittles and convenience-store hot dog.)
The storyline goes a little something like this: Joe Pantoliano’s Capt. Conrad Howard is either dead or just being framed for a string of crimes he did not commit. He...
Smith and his sidekick Martin Lawrence are back up to their old antics in the June 7 film. Four years removed from “Bad Boys 3,” in what we’ve all just colloquially called “Bad Boys 4” to this point, Smith’s Mike Lowrey is still a badass. Lawrence’s Marcus Burnett, well, he has a lot going on — including tummy issues. (A word of advice to Marcus: ginger ale is only a magic elixir if you forego the Skittles and convenience-store hot dog.)
The storyline goes a little something like this: Joe Pantoliano’s Capt. Conrad Howard is either dead or just being framed for a string of crimes he did not commit. He...
- 3/26/2024
- by Tony Maglio
- Indiewire
Sony Pictures has released the official trailer for the action comedy Bad Boys: Ride or Die, which will be opening in theaters on June 7, 2024.
The movie is a follow-up to the 2020 release Bad Boys for Life, which grossed $425.5 million worldwide, with $206.3 million coming from North American theaters and $220.2 million from international markets.
Sony Pictures describes Bad Boys: Ride or Die as follows: “This Summer, the world’s favorite Bad Boys are back with their iconic mix of edge-of-your-seat action and outrageous comedy, but this time with a twist: Miami’s finest are now on the run.”
The cast includes Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Nuñez, Eric Dane, Ioan Gruffudd, Jacob Scipio, Melanie Liburd, and Tasha Smith, with Tiffany Haddish and Joe Pantoliano.
Adil & Bilall directed the film, which Chris Bremner wrote. Jerry Bruckheimer, Will Smith, Chad Oman, and Doug Belgrad produced it. Barry Waldman, Mike Stenson,...
The movie is a follow-up to the 2020 release Bad Boys for Life, which grossed $425.5 million worldwide, with $206.3 million coming from North American theaters and $220.2 million from international markets.
Sony Pictures describes Bad Boys: Ride or Die as follows: “This Summer, the world’s favorite Bad Boys are back with their iconic mix of edge-of-your-seat action and outrageous comedy, but this time with a twist: Miami’s finest are now on the run.”
The cast includes Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Nuñez, Eric Dane, Ioan Gruffudd, Jacob Scipio, Melanie Liburd, and Tasha Smith, with Tiffany Haddish and Joe Pantoliano.
Adil & Bilall directed the film, which Chris Bremner wrote. Jerry Bruckheimer, Will Smith, Chad Oman, and Doug Belgrad produced it. Barry Waldman, Mike Stenson,...
- 3/26/2024
- by Mirko Parlevliet
- Vital Thrills
2025 will mark the 30th anniversary of the first film in the Bad Boys action franchise – but they’re not waiting around another year to release a sequel. Sony Pictures is set to celebrate the 29th anniversary of the first movie by giving Bad Boys 4 a theatrical release on June 7th (a date that puts it direct opening weekend competition with The Crow remake). With that date right around the corner, a trailer for Bad Boys 4 has arrived online, and you can check it out in the embed above! The trailer reveals that the film has officially been titled Bad Boys Ride or Die.
The new sequel sees Will Smith and Martin Lawrence back in the roles of Miami narcotics detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett, and they’re joined in the cast by Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Núñez, and Joe Pantoliano. New additions to the cast include Eric Dane,...
The new sequel sees Will Smith and Martin Lawrence back in the roles of Miami narcotics detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett, and they’re joined in the cast by Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Núñez, and Joe Pantoliano. New additions to the cast include Eric Dane,...
- 3/26/2024
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Jacob Scipio is headed back to the “Bad Boys” universe.
Scipio, who most recently starred opposite Pedro Pascal and Nicolas Cage in the meta adventure “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” will reprise his role as Armando Aretas – the estranged son of Will Smith’s Miami-Dade police detective character Mike Lowery.
Scipio appeared in 2020’s “Bad Boys for Life,” the action film led by Smith and Martin Lawrence. Further plot details are currently under wraps.
The fourth film also features Paola Núnez, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig and “Euphoria’s” Eric Dane. The original “Bad Boys” earned $141 million at the global box office, while the 2003 sequel “Bad Boys II” totaled $273 million. “Bad Boys for Life” outgrossed its predecessors with a combined $426.5 million. The new film will open June 7.
Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are returning to direct from a script by Chris Bremner Jerry Bruckheimer, Smith through his Westbrook banner,...
Scipio, who most recently starred opposite Pedro Pascal and Nicolas Cage in the meta adventure “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” will reprise his role as Armando Aretas – the estranged son of Will Smith’s Miami-Dade police detective character Mike Lowery.
Scipio appeared in 2020’s “Bad Boys for Life,” the action film led by Smith and Martin Lawrence. Further plot details are currently under wraps.
The fourth film also features Paola Núnez, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig and “Euphoria’s” Eric Dane. The original “Bad Boys” earned $141 million at the global box office, while the 2003 sequel “Bad Boys II” totaled $273 million. “Bad Boys for Life” outgrossed its predecessors with a combined $426.5 million. The new film will open June 7.
Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are returning to direct from a script by Chris Bremner Jerry Bruckheimer, Smith through his Westbrook banner,...
- 3/2/2024
- by Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
Sony is seemingly asking Lionsgate, “Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do now that Bad Boys 4 is coming for you?” It was recently reported that the John Wick spin-off, Ballerina, starring Ana De Armas, will be undergoing extensive reshoots, which will push the release date back from June 7, 2024 to June 6, 2025. According to John Wick star Ian McShane, “They’re new-shooting for Ballerina. You know, it’s like, they’ve gotta protect the franchise. […] And they wanna make it better cause they have to protect [the franchise].” However, Lionsgate, in need of a summer release, would move The Crow reboot, which comes from filmmaker Rupert Sanders and stars Bill Skarsgård, into Ballerina‘s original release date.
Deadline now reports that Sony is gunning for the same release date for their Will Smith and Martin Lawrence buddy-cop action-comedy sequel. Bad Boys 4 was originally slated for a premiere on June 14, but after the news...
Deadline now reports that Sony is gunning for the same release date for their Will Smith and Martin Lawrence buddy-cop action-comedy sequel. Bad Boys 4 was originally slated for a premiere on June 14, but after the news...
- 2/27/2024
- by EJ Tangonan
- JoBlo.com
Red One, the mystery Christmas movie from Dwayne Johnson and his Seven Bucks Productions and screenwriter Chris Morgan, is set to hit theaters worldwide on Nov. 15, 2024.
The Amazon MGM Studios’ epic holiday action comedy is based on an original story from Hiram Garcia, president of production at Seven Bucks Productions. Jake Kasdan directed the movie from a script by Morgan.
Fast and Furious scribe Morgan worked with Johnson on four Fast movies as well as the Johnson-led 2019 spinoff, Hobbs & Shaw. The ensemble cast alongside Johnson includes J.K. Simmons, Lucy Liu, Kiernan Shipka, Bonnie Hunt, Kristofer Hivju, Nick Kroll, Mary Elizabeth Ellis and Wesley Kimmel.
Amazon has already signaled its push into theatrical movies and the dating of Red One underlines how it has its sights on the holiday corridor starting just before Thanksgiving next year. Seven Bucks also set up Red One at Amazon to take advantage of branding and...
The Amazon MGM Studios’ epic holiday action comedy is based on an original story from Hiram Garcia, president of production at Seven Bucks Productions. Jake Kasdan directed the movie from a script by Morgan.
Fast and Furious scribe Morgan worked with Johnson on four Fast movies as well as the Johnson-led 2019 spinoff, Hobbs & Shaw. The ensemble cast alongside Johnson includes J.K. Simmons, Lucy Liu, Kiernan Shipka, Bonnie Hunt, Kristofer Hivju, Nick Kroll, Mary Elizabeth Ellis and Wesley Kimmel.
Amazon has already signaled its push into theatrical movies and the dating of Red One underlines how it has its sights on the holiday corridor starting just before Thanksgiving next year. Seven Bucks also set up Red One at Amazon to take advantage of branding and...
- 12/20/2023
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive, Updated: The latter half of the 2024 theatrical release schedule just got a shot of testosterone as Amazon MGM Studios and Seven Bucks’ epic Christmas action comedy Red One just set an exclusive global theatrical release for Nov. 15, 2024.
Similar to other committed Amazon MGM theatrical titles of late, i.e. Air and Saltburn, Red One will have a theatrical window before streaming on its ultimate home, which is Prime Video.
By releasing Red One theatrically on November 15, Amazon MGM Studios is looking to take advantage of the traditionally lucrative holiday corridor before Thanksgiving. Rival wide releases on Nov. 15 include Warner Bros. Robert De Niro mobster movie, Alto Knights and Lionsgate and Kingdom Story’s The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. I hear that the movie has tested twice and scores were through the roof. This was in the last week, we understand. The original testing of the movie over the summer...
Similar to other committed Amazon MGM theatrical titles of late, i.e. Air and Saltburn, Red One will have a theatrical window before streaming on its ultimate home, which is Prime Video.
By releasing Red One theatrically on November 15, Amazon MGM Studios is looking to take advantage of the traditionally lucrative holiday corridor before Thanksgiving. Rival wide releases on Nov. 15 include Warner Bros. Robert De Niro mobster movie, Alto Knights and Lionsgate and Kingdom Story’s The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. I hear that the movie has tested twice and scores were through the roof. This was in the last week, we understand. The original testing of the movie over the summer...
- 12/20/2023
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
“Better Call Saul” breakout Rhea Seehorn will be joining Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in the untitled fourth “Bad Boys” film, TheWrap has confirmed. Details of her character – and anything else pertaining to the plot of the movie – are being heavily guarded but no doubt will occur somewhere in Miami.
Seehorn played lawyer Kim Wexler for 60 episodes on Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould’s “Better Call Saul,” a spinoff of the popular “Breaking Bad” that is the rare example of a spinoff being just as good (if not better) than the original.
Seehorn has also been in several movies, everything from the Tim Allen version of “The Shaggy Dog” back in 2006, to the Netflix horror movie “Things Heard & Seen” with Amanda Seyfried (from “American Splendor” filmmakers Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini), but this fourth “Bad Boys” will definitely be her biggest movie yet.
Also Read:
‘Better Call Saul...
Seehorn played lawyer Kim Wexler for 60 episodes on Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould’s “Better Call Saul,” a spinoff of the popular “Breaking Bad” that is the rare example of a spinoff being just as good (if not better) than the original.
Seehorn has also been in several movies, everything from the Tim Allen version of “The Shaggy Dog” back in 2006, to the Netflix horror movie “Things Heard & Seen” with Amanda Seyfried (from “American Splendor” filmmakers Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini), but this fourth “Bad Boys” will definitely be her biggest movie yet.
Also Read:
‘Better Call Saul...
- 5/24/2023
- by Drew Taylor
- The Wrap
Exclusive: Two-time Primetime Emmy nominee Rhea Seehorn has boarded the fourth installment of the $841M grossing Bad Boys franchise.
Bad Boys for Life‘s Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are directing from a script by Chris Bremner, the storyline of which is under wraps. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, Ga for the Sony production.
Seehorn joins a cast that includes Paola Núnez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ioan Gruffudd and Alexander Ludwig.
Jerry Bruckheimer, Will Smith for Westbrook, and Doug Belgrad are back producing; with Lawrence, James Lassiter, Chad Oman, Mike Stenson, Barry Waldman and Jon Mone serving as EPs.
Seehorn starred on 61 episodes of Better Call Saul as attorney Kim Wexler and girlfriend of Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman, a role which earned a Primetime Emmy Supporting Actress Drama nomination last year. She also received a Primetime Emmy nod in 2022 in Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series for Cooper’s Bar.
Bad Boys for Life‘s Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are directing from a script by Chris Bremner, the storyline of which is under wraps. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, Ga for the Sony production.
Seehorn joins a cast that includes Paola Núnez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ioan Gruffudd and Alexander Ludwig.
Jerry Bruckheimer, Will Smith for Westbrook, and Doug Belgrad are back producing; with Lawrence, James Lassiter, Chad Oman, Mike Stenson, Barry Waldman and Jon Mone serving as EPs.
Seehorn starred on 61 episodes of Better Call Saul as attorney Kim Wexler and girlfriend of Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman, a role which earned a Primetime Emmy Supporting Actress Drama nomination last year. She also received a Primetime Emmy nod in 2022 in Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series for Cooper’s Bar.
- 5/24/2023
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Sony‘s Bad Boys 4 is getting a casting shakeup as Tasha Smith replaces Theresa Randle as Marcus Burnett’s (Martin Lawrence) wife, also named Theresa. Randle plays Theresa in the first three Bad Boys movies. Plot details remain a mystery, though we should learn more soon, as the film is in the process of shooting.
Will Smith and Martin Lawrence announced their excitement for the sequel during CinemaCon, saying they’re four weeks into filming the action-packed follow-up to 202’s Bad Boys For Life. Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah return to direct. Chris Bremner is writing the script, with Jerry Bruckheimer, Will Smith for Westbrook, Doug Belgrad, and Chad Oman producing. Martin Lawrence, James Lassiter, Mike Stenson, Barry Waldman, and Jon Mone executive produce.
Before the Covid pandemic threw the world into chaos and lockdown, the third movie in the Bad Boys franchise, Bad Boys for Life, banked over $426M worldwide.
Will Smith and Martin Lawrence announced their excitement for the sequel during CinemaCon, saying they’re four weeks into filming the action-packed follow-up to 202’s Bad Boys For Life. Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah return to direct. Chris Bremner is writing the script, with Jerry Bruckheimer, Will Smith for Westbrook, Doug Belgrad, and Chad Oman producing. Martin Lawrence, James Lassiter, Mike Stenson, Barry Waldman, and Jon Mone executive produce.
Before the Covid pandemic threw the world into chaos and lockdown, the third movie in the Bad Boys franchise, Bad Boys for Life, banked over $426M worldwide.
- 5/3/2023
- by Steve Seigh
- JoBlo.com
Tasha Smith will join Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in the latest installment of Sony Pictures’ “Bad Boys” franchise.
In “Bad Boys 4,” Smith will play Theresa, Marcus Burnett’s (Lawrence) loving and devoted wife, a role previously inhabited by Theresa Randle in the first three “Bad Boys” films. Plot details for “Bad Boys 4” have been kept under wraps.
Smith is best known for her roles as Carol in the drama series “Empire,” Ronnie Boyce in HBO’s Emmy-winning series “The Corner” and Angela in Tyler Perry’s “Why Did I Get Married?” She has also directed episodes of “Our Kind of People,” “Mayor of Kingstown” and “Bel-Air.”
Smith is repped by Greene Talent & Fox Rothschild.
The “Bad Boys” series stars Will Smith and Lawrence as Miami-Dade detectives Mike Lowery and Marcus Burnett. The fourth film also features Paola Núnez, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig and “Euphoria’s” Eric Dane.
In “Bad Boys 4,” Smith will play Theresa, Marcus Burnett’s (Lawrence) loving and devoted wife, a role previously inhabited by Theresa Randle in the first three “Bad Boys” films. Plot details for “Bad Boys 4” have been kept under wraps.
Smith is best known for her roles as Carol in the drama series “Empire,” Ronnie Boyce in HBO’s Emmy-winning series “The Corner” and Angela in Tyler Perry’s “Why Did I Get Married?” She has also directed episodes of “Our Kind of People,” “Mayor of Kingstown” and “Bel-Air.”
Smith is repped by Greene Talent & Fox Rothschild.
The “Bad Boys” series stars Will Smith and Lawrence as Miami-Dade detectives Mike Lowery and Marcus Burnett. The fourth film also features Paola Núnez, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig and “Euphoria’s” Eric Dane.
- 5/3/2023
- by McKinley Franklin
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Ioan Gruffudd (San Andreas) has closed a deal to join Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in Bad Boys 4, the newest installment in the hit series of buddy cop action comedies from Sony Pictures.
Details as to the plot of the film are under wraps, though the past three have followed the investigations of Miami Pd Detectives Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) and Mike Lowrey (Smith), netting over $841M worldwide in total, with each installment topping the gross of the last. Sources tell Deadline that Gruffudd will play Lockwood, a high-profile attorney running for election.
Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah have returned to direct, after helming third chapter Bad Boys: For Life, and are working from a script by Chris Bremner. Others returning from Bad Boys: For Life, as previously announced, include actors Paola Núnez, Vanessa Hudgens and Alexander Ludwig.
Jerry Bruckheimer has returned to produce, along with Smith for Westbrook,...
Details as to the plot of the film are under wraps, though the past three have followed the investigations of Miami Pd Detectives Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) and Mike Lowrey (Smith), netting over $841M worldwide in total, with each installment topping the gross of the last. Sources tell Deadline that Gruffudd will play Lockwood, a high-profile attorney running for election.
Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah have returned to direct, after helming third chapter Bad Boys: For Life, and are working from a script by Chris Bremner. Others returning from Bad Boys: For Life, as previously announced, include actors Paola Núnez, Vanessa Hudgens and Alexander Ludwig.
Jerry Bruckheimer has returned to produce, along with Smith for Westbrook,...
- 4/28/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Brit actress Melanie Liburd has been cast in Columbia Pictures’ upcoming fourth Bad Boys title in what The Hollywood Reporter understands is a leading role.
The as-yet-untitled movie — which reunites stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence with their Bad Boys for Life directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah — is currently in production (Smith and Lawrence spoke to CinemaCon from the set in Atlanta via a taped message during Sony’s opening night presentation Monday). Liburd joins the film as a character called Christine.
The movie — the next instalment in a Bad Boys franchise that has so far amassed more than $840 million across three titles ($426 million from the third film alone) — is the latest significant credit on a growing résumé for Liburd, who had a major role in the third season of This Is Us and first and second seasons of Power Book II: Ghost. She has a recurring role...
The as-yet-untitled movie — which reunites stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence with their Bad Boys for Life directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah — is currently in production (Smith and Lawrence spoke to CinemaCon from the set in Atlanta via a taped message during Sony’s opening night presentation Monday). Liburd joins the film as a character called Christine.
The movie — the next instalment in a Bad Boys franchise that has so far amassed more than $840 million across three titles ($426 million from the third film alone) — is the latest significant credit on a growing résumé for Liburd, who had a major role in the third season of This Is Us and first and second seasons of Power Book II: Ghost. She has a recurring role...
- 4/27/2023
- by Alex Ritman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Sony’s CinemaCon presentation kicked off Monday evening in Las Vegas with a little help from Mike Lowrey and Marcus Bennett.
The leads of the Bad Boys franchise — played respectively by Will Smith and Martin Lawrence — added some star power to the festivities, even if it happened to be remote via a recorded message from the set.
“Wassup, CinemaCon!” Smith said after he and Lawrence exited a black Porsche against the backdrop of a row of production trailers. “The Bad Boys back in the building. We on set and we are so sorry we couldn’t be there with you.”
Smith went on to say that they just started shooting as he was briefly interrupted by his co-star who requested that he correct the intro by saying that they are, in fact, not sorry that they couldn’t be inside the Colosseum tonight. “We had to be here, Will,” Lawrence noted,...
The leads of the Bad Boys franchise — played respectively by Will Smith and Martin Lawrence — added some star power to the festivities, even if it happened to be remote via a recorded message from the set.
“Wassup, CinemaCon!” Smith said after he and Lawrence exited a black Porsche against the backdrop of a row of production trailers. “The Bad Boys back in the building. We on set and we are so sorry we couldn’t be there with you.”
Smith went on to say that they just started shooting as he was briefly interrupted by his co-star who requested that he correct the intro by saying that they are, in fact, not sorry that they couldn’t be inside the Colosseum tonight. “We had to be here, Will,” Lawrence noted,...
- 4/25/2023
- by Chris Gardner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Eric Dane will join Will Smith and Martin Lawrence for a fourth film in Sony Pictures’ Bad Boys franchise.
Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are returning to direct from a script by Chris Bremner, which sees the previous cast from Bad Boys: For Life, including Paola Núnez, Vanessa Hudgens and Alexander Ludwig, returning for the fourth installment.
Jerry Bruckheimer, Smith through his Westbrook banner, and Doug Belgrad are back producing; with Martin Lawrence, James Lassiter, Chad Oman, Mike Stenson, Barry Waldman and Jon Mone serving as executive producers. Plot is being kept under wraps. Dane is expected to play villain in pic.
Dane can currently be seen in the Emmy nominated HBO series Euphoria starring alongside Zendaya. He was nominated for a 2022 Hollywood Critics Association TV Award for “Best Supporting Actor in a Broadcast Network or Cable Series, Drama” for his performance in the show; and the series was...
Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are returning to direct from a script by Chris Bremner, which sees the previous cast from Bad Boys: For Life, including Paola Núnez, Vanessa Hudgens and Alexander Ludwig, returning for the fourth installment.
Jerry Bruckheimer, Smith through his Westbrook banner, and Doug Belgrad are back producing; with Martin Lawrence, James Lassiter, Chad Oman, Mike Stenson, Barry Waldman and Jon Mone serving as executive producers. Plot is being kept under wraps. Dane is expected to play villain in pic.
Dane can currently be seen in the Emmy nominated HBO series Euphoria starring alongside Zendaya. He was nominated for a 2022 Hollywood Critics Association TV Award for “Best Supporting Actor in a Broadcast Network or Cable Series, Drama” for his performance in the show; and the series was...
- 4/10/2023
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
Bad Boys 4 is pulling out all the stops by inviting fan-favorite characters back to the franchise for another action-packed thrill ride! According to Deadline, Vanessa Hudgens will reprise her role as Kelly in the sequel starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. Smith and Martin confirmed Bad Boys 4 is happening via an enthusiastic Instagram post in January. Bad Boys 4 is in pre-production at Sony Pictures, with Bad Boys for Life directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah returning to shoot the sequel. Plot details remain a mystery. However, Chris Bremner wrote the script, and cameras will roll in the coming months.
Before the Covid pandemic threw the world into chaos and lockdown, the third movie in the Bad Boys franchise, Bad Boys for Life, banked over $426M worldwide. Altogether, the Bad Boys franchise earned $870.7M globally. In other words, there’s no reason not to make another sequel (and...
Before the Covid pandemic threw the world into chaos and lockdown, the third movie in the Bad Boys franchise, Bad Boys for Life, banked over $426M worldwide. Altogether, the Bad Boys franchise earned $870.7M globally. In other words, there’s no reason not to make another sequel (and...
- 3/14/2023
- by Steve Seigh
- JoBlo.com
Exclusive: Vanessa Hudgens is set to reprise her role as weapons expert Kelly in Bad Boys 4 with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.
Smith and Lawrence revealed earlier this year that they’re reteaming for a fourth Bad Boys movie, which is in pre-production at Sony Pictures with Bad Boys for Life‘s directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah returning to helm from a script by Chris Bremner.
Related Story ‘Bad Boys 4’ In Pre-Production; Will Smith & Martin Lawrence Celebrate On Social Media Related Story Oscars TV Review: Ceremony Tries To Move Past The Slap With Conventional But Cheery, History-Making Night Related Story Oscars Break With Tradition As Halle Berry Fills In Presenting For Banned Will Smith
Plot details are being kept under wraps, but we hear the film will start filming within the next few months.
Before Covid shut everything down in March 2020, the third movie, Bad Boys for Life,...
Smith and Lawrence revealed earlier this year that they’re reteaming for a fourth Bad Boys movie, which is in pre-production at Sony Pictures with Bad Boys for Life‘s directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah returning to helm from a script by Chris Bremner.
Related Story ‘Bad Boys 4’ In Pre-Production; Will Smith & Martin Lawrence Celebrate On Social Media Related Story Oscars TV Review: Ceremony Tries To Move Past The Slap With Conventional But Cheery, History-Making Night Related Story Oscars Break With Tradition As Halle Berry Fills In Presenting For Banned Will Smith
Plot details are being kept under wraps, but we hear the film will start filming within the next few months.
Before Covid shut everything down in March 2020, the third movie, Bad Boys for Life,...
- 3/14/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
National Treasure: Book of Secrets, the but-of-course sequel to the 2004 Jerry Bruckheimer Films/Jon Turteltaub blockbuster National Treasure, is a letdown. It contains all the elements from the original film, which was a kind of Da Vinci Code on steroids crossed, rather charmingly, with American History Trivial Pursuit. But that's the problem: It's virtually the same movie with new locations. Oh, plus Helen Mirren. Not a bad addition, but the popcorn fun is gone.
Not that it will matter. Industry trackers insist those surefire boxoffice elements will propel Book of Secrets to an even higher international gross than the original's $347.5 million.
The film jets from one major historical monument of Western civilization to another with Nicolas Cage's Benjamin Franklin Gates racing against time to solve an ancient puzzle for essentially no real reason. This yields well-photographed tourist sites, several cliff-hanging sequences -- a few literally that -- and a capable returning cast playing now-familiar roles in an action-fantasy.
Yes, action-fantasy is all you can call a film that abandons any semblance of reality. Take a major set piece: If you are going to stage a slam-bang chase sequence with cars smashing aside all objects, inanimate or human, guns blazing and no care for life or limb, the one city where this will not work is London: 9/11 cameras are everywhere on its tiny, pedestrian-choked streets and lanes, and security is the most stringent in Europe. Yet director Turteltaub stages a sequence that tries to outdo Bullitt, The French Connection and all the Bourne movies combined in the heart of London without a single bobby showing up. Right.
The story, more a blueprint for stunts than a coherent tale, was cobbled together by the husband-wife team of Marianne and Cormac Wibberley with the story credit divided among the Wibberleys, Gregory Poirier, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio. The central notion, derived from the original National Treasure, is that those dastardly Masons buried secret codes and puzzles -- treasure maps, as it were -- into major American documents, monuments and even furniture. Only Cage's Ben Gates can penetrate their secrets.
This one centers on the assassination of President Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth. Wouldn't you know a Gates ancestor named Thomas was at the center of the action on April 14, 1865, and that the assassination was really about treasure maps and Mason secrets rather than the most heinous criminal act in American history.
Since a new piece of evidence brought forward by Ed Harris' rather suspicious Mitch Wilkinson appears to implicate poor Thomas Gates in the assassination, this is cause alone for Ben to spring into action. Which in turns ignites the burners of Jon Voight as Ben's eminent (though technologically challenged) professor-father Patrick; Mirren as his mom, who for plot convenience can translate ancient Indian texts; Diane Kruger as ex-girlfriend Abigail, who for plot convenience happens to be a history archivist; Justin Bartha's Riley, a techno-whiz who can break into any place, no problem; and Harvey Keitel as the FBI agent who cannot decide whether to arrest Ben or pin a medal on him.
The story requires Ben and company to jet to Paris to examine a Statue of Liberty replica in the Luxembourg Gardens, break into Buckingham Palace, then the White House Oval Office, kidnap the president (Bruce Greenwood), ransack the Library of Congress and finally discover an American Indian archeological site implausibly located under Mount Rushmore. Here much of the cast -- in a repeat of the earlier film's climax in catacombs beneath Manhattan -- hang from decaying ladders and dodge falling debris in an underground space the size of the Grand Canyon.
But the thrill is gone as everyone is slavishly following an action memo dictated by marketing concerns and boxoffice demographics rather than cinematic invention. No credible reason is ever given for the huge race. There is no ticking clock here other than Mitch and his goons being hot on Ben's trail, again for no logical reason. Family honor is one thing, but are you really going to destroy half of London and kidnap the American president over that?
Tech credits are polished.
NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films present
a Junction Entertainment production
in association with Saturn Films
Credits:
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Screenwriters: The Wibberleys
Story by: Gregory Poirier, the Wibberleys, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio
Producers: Jerry Bruckheimer, Jon Turteltaub
Executive producers: Mike Stenson, Chad Oman, Barry Waldman, Oren Aviv, Charles Segars
Directors of photography: John Schwartzman, Amir Mokri
Production designer: Dominic Watkins
Music: Trevor Rabin
Costume designer: Judianna Makovsky
Editors: William Goldenberg, David Rennie
Cast:
Ben Gates: Nicolas Cage
Riley Poole: Justin Bartha
Abigail Chase: Diane Kruger
Patrick Gates: Jon Voight
Emily: Helen Mirren
Mitch: Ed Harris: Sadusky: Harvey Keitel
President: Bruce Greenwood
Running time -- 123 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Not that it will matter. Industry trackers insist those surefire boxoffice elements will propel Book of Secrets to an even higher international gross than the original's $347.5 million.
The film jets from one major historical monument of Western civilization to another with Nicolas Cage's Benjamin Franklin Gates racing against time to solve an ancient puzzle for essentially no real reason. This yields well-photographed tourist sites, several cliff-hanging sequences -- a few literally that -- and a capable returning cast playing now-familiar roles in an action-fantasy.
Yes, action-fantasy is all you can call a film that abandons any semblance of reality. Take a major set piece: If you are going to stage a slam-bang chase sequence with cars smashing aside all objects, inanimate or human, guns blazing and no care for life or limb, the one city where this will not work is London: 9/11 cameras are everywhere on its tiny, pedestrian-choked streets and lanes, and security is the most stringent in Europe. Yet director Turteltaub stages a sequence that tries to outdo Bullitt, The French Connection and all the Bourne movies combined in the heart of London without a single bobby showing up. Right.
The story, more a blueprint for stunts than a coherent tale, was cobbled together by the husband-wife team of Marianne and Cormac Wibberley with the story credit divided among the Wibberleys, Gregory Poirier, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio. The central notion, derived from the original National Treasure, is that those dastardly Masons buried secret codes and puzzles -- treasure maps, as it were -- into major American documents, monuments and even furniture. Only Cage's Ben Gates can penetrate their secrets.
This one centers on the assassination of President Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth. Wouldn't you know a Gates ancestor named Thomas was at the center of the action on April 14, 1865, and that the assassination was really about treasure maps and Mason secrets rather than the most heinous criminal act in American history.
Since a new piece of evidence brought forward by Ed Harris' rather suspicious Mitch Wilkinson appears to implicate poor Thomas Gates in the assassination, this is cause alone for Ben to spring into action. Which in turns ignites the burners of Jon Voight as Ben's eminent (though technologically challenged) professor-father Patrick; Mirren as his mom, who for plot convenience can translate ancient Indian texts; Diane Kruger as ex-girlfriend Abigail, who for plot convenience happens to be a history archivist; Justin Bartha's Riley, a techno-whiz who can break into any place, no problem; and Harvey Keitel as the FBI agent who cannot decide whether to arrest Ben or pin a medal on him.
The story requires Ben and company to jet to Paris to examine a Statue of Liberty replica in the Luxembourg Gardens, break into Buckingham Palace, then the White House Oval Office, kidnap the president (Bruce Greenwood), ransack the Library of Congress and finally discover an American Indian archeological site implausibly located under Mount Rushmore. Here much of the cast -- in a repeat of the earlier film's climax in catacombs beneath Manhattan -- hang from decaying ladders and dodge falling debris in an underground space the size of the Grand Canyon.
But the thrill is gone as everyone is slavishly following an action memo dictated by marketing concerns and boxoffice demographics rather than cinematic invention. No credible reason is ever given for the huge race. There is no ticking clock here other than Mitch and his goons being hot on Ben's trail, again for no logical reason. Family honor is one thing, but are you really going to destroy half of London and kidnap the American president over that?
Tech credits are polished.
NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films present
a Junction Entertainment production
in association with Saturn Films
Credits:
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Screenwriters: The Wibberleys
Story by: Gregory Poirier, the Wibberleys, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio
Producers: Jerry Bruckheimer, Jon Turteltaub
Executive producers: Mike Stenson, Chad Oman, Barry Waldman, Oren Aviv, Charles Segars
Directors of photography: John Schwartzman, Amir Mokri
Production designer: Dominic Watkins
Music: Trevor Rabin
Costume designer: Judianna Makovsky
Editors: William Goldenberg, David Rennie
Cast:
Ben Gates: Nicolas Cage
Riley Poole: Justin Bartha
Abigail Chase: Diane Kruger
Patrick Gates: Jon Voight
Emily: Helen Mirren
Mitch: Ed Harris: Sadusky: Harvey Keitel
President: Bruce Greenwood
Running time -- 123 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 12/21/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Hyperkinetic cinematography, staccato editing, saturated colors and hipster-cool characters aren't enough to put across this twisted tale of real-life people in a fictionalized crime caper. What's missing from this trickster's Reality Show called "Domino" is any sense of reality. It looks and acts like "Ocean's Thirteen", as director Tony Scott borrows freely and unashamedly from Oliver Stone, Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino, Elmore Leonard and Guy Ritchie.
Thanks to dynamic performances by Keira Knightley, Mickey Rourke, Edgar Ramirez and a strong cast -- sometimes all but buried beneath irksome stylistic flourishes -- this dark and absurd melodrama certainly has raw energy. As is the case here, a bad movie is sometimes more watchable than a mediocre or just-OK movie. So one can anticipate strong business for this nonstop actioner from New Line, especially among young males.
The movie is inspired by the turbulent life of Domino Harvey, who died June 27 in West Hollywood at the age of 35, the victim of a suspected drowning after a drug overdose. The beautiful daughter of the late film star Laurence Harvey, Domino made her living as a gun-toting L.A. bounty hunter. Richard Kelly's screenplay, in Scott's words, "manufactured the story but left the characters as real, breathing people."
Not quite true. Before her death, Harvey was reportedly unhappy with a story that wrote out any mention of her drug use or bisexuality. More crucially, the movie resolutely avoids examining the sadness of a life, begun in privilege, that found its only excitement in the adrenaline rush of banging down doors with a shotgun in hand. Scott's movie merely wants to exploit that life, putting the movie on a par with "The Jerry Springer Show" and a reality TV program, both comically portrayed in the movie.
"Domino" begins at the end of a big case gone horribly wrong. Knightley's tattooed and bloodied Domino tells her life story in prison to a criminal psychologist (Lucy Liu, in a successful against-type casting). Her narrative rushes through her father's death -- when she was 4 -- her failures at boarding schools, a sorority, in modeling and as a socialite. By the time her mother, ex-model Pauline Stone, marries Hard Rock Cafe founder Peter Morton -- everyone's name other than Domino's is fictionalized -- Domino is bored and restless in Los Angeles.
An ad for a seminar recruiting bounty hunters catches her eye. Her future boss, the tough ex-con Ed (Rourke), immediately sees the advantages of having an English-accented blonde in his band of brothers that includes sullen Choco (Ramirez), who adores her, and Alf (Rizwan Abbasi), an Afghan driver obsessed with demolition.
Implausible adventures follow, including one in which Domino extricates her fellow hunters from a tense situation by performing a lap dance for a gang leader. Corny motifs run throughout the movie, too: Domino sees the deaths of goldfish as signs from above. And she likes to flip coins in the air while murmuring, "Heads, you live. Tails, you die."
Then a producer (Christopher Walken) of a reality TV show and his harried assistant (Mena Suvari) approach the bounty hunters about starring in a show called "The Bounty Squad". The movie's funniest gimmick has "Beverly Hills, 90210" stars Ian Ziering and Brian Austin Green play themselves as the show's hosts.
A plot contrivance finds the squad's longtime bail bondsman (Delroy Lindo) and his girlfriend (Mo'Nique) desperate for a quick $300,000 needed for a life-saving operation for a granddaughter. This sends the Bounty Squad into a fateful, blood-soaked caper that involves a stolen armored car, Mafia money, a Las Vegas billionaire and an FBI investigation.
At one point, the Squad unwittingly winds up on hallucinogenic drugs in the desert. When Tom Waits abruptly materializes as a Wanderer from above, the whole movie goes on one bummer of an acid trip.
Under Scott's direction, his crew finds so many ways to annoy, from the manipulated color scheme and jarring cinematography to TV commercial-style editing. A soundtrack of hip-hop, rap and a few oldies is the only truly hip, edgy thing about this movie.
DOMINO
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema and Samuel Hadida present a Scott Free Prods./Davis Films production in association with Metropolitan Filmexport
Credits:
Director: Tony Scott
Screenwriters: Richard Kelly
Story by: Richard Kelly, Steve Barancik
Producers: Samuel Hadida, Ridley Scott
Executive producers: Lisa Ellzrey, Toby Emmerich, Victor Hadida, Barry Waldman, Zach Shiff-Abrams, Skip Chaisson
Director of photography: Dan Mindel
Production designer: Chris Seagers
Music: Harry Gregson-Williams
Costumes: B.
Editors: William Goldenberg, Christian Wagner
Cast:
Domino Harvey: Keira Knightley
Ed: Mickey Rourke
Choco: Edgar Ramirez
Alf: RIzwan Abbasi
Claremont Williams: Delroy Lindo
Lateesha: Mo'Nique
Taryn Mills: Lucy Liu
Kimmie: Mena Suvari
Mark Heiss: Christopher Walken
Pauline Stone: Jacqueline Bisset
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 133 minutes...
Thanks to dynamic performances by Keira Knightley, Mickey Rourke, Edgar Ramirez and a strong cast -- sometimes all but buried beneath irksome stylistic flourishes -- this dark and absurd melodrama certainly has raw energy. As is the case here, a bad movie is sometimes more watchable than a mediocre or just-OK movie. So one can anticipate strong business for this nonstop actioner from New Line, especially among young males.
The movie is inspired by the turbulent life of Domino Harvey, who died June 27 in West Hollywood at the age of 35, the victim of a suspected drowning after a drug overdose. The beautiful daughter of the late film star Laurence Harvey, Domino made her living as a gun-toting L.A. bounty hunter. Richard Kelly's screenplay, in Scott's words, "manufactured the story but left the characters as real, breathing people."
Not quite true. Before her death, Harvey was reportedly unhappy with a story that wrote out any mention of her drug use or bisexuality. More crucially, the movie resolutely avoids examining the sadness of a life, begun in privilege, that found its only excitement in the adrenaline rush of banging down doors with a shotgun in hand. Scott's movie merely wants to exploit that life, putting the movie on a par with "The Jerry Springer Show" and a reality TV program, both comically portrayed in the movie.
"Domino" begins at the end of a big case gone horribly wrong. Knightley's tattooed and bloodied Domino tells her life story in prison to a criminal psychologist (Lucy Liu, in a successful against-type casting). Her narrative rushes through her father's death -- when she was 4 -- her failures at boarding schools, a sorority, in modeling and as a socialite. By the time her mother, ex-model Pauline Stone, marries Hard Rock Cafe founder Peter Morton -- everyone's name other than Domino's is fictionalized -- Domino is bored and restless in Los Angeles.
An ad for a seminar recruiting bounty hunters catches her eye. Her future boss, the tough ex-con Ed (Rourke), immediately sees the advantages of having an English-accented blonde in his band of brothers that includes sullen Choco (Ramirez), who adores her, and Alf (Rizwan Abbasi), an Afghan driver obsessed with demolition.
Implausible adventures follow, including one in which Domino extricates her fellow hunters from a tense situation by performing a lap dance for a gang leader. Corny motifs run throughout the movie, too: Domino sees the deaths of goldfish as signs from above. And she likes to flip coins in the air while murmuring, "Heads, you live. Tails, you die."
Then a producer (Christopher Walken) of a reality TV show and his harried assistant (Mena Suvari) approach the bounty hunters about starring in a show called "The Bounty Squad". The movie's funniest gimmick has "Beverly Hills, 90210" stars Ian Ziering and Brian Austin Green play themselves as the show's hosts.
A plot contrivance finds the squad's longtime bail bondsman (Delroy Lindo) and his girlfriend (Mo'Nique) desperate for a quick $300,000 needed for a life-saving operation for a granddaughter. This sends the Bounty Squad into a fateful, blood-soaked caper that involves a stolen armored car, Mafia money, a Las Vegas billionaire and an FBI investigation.
At one point, the Squad unwittingly winds up on hallucinogenic drugs in the desert. When Tom Waits abruptly materializes as a Wanderer from above, the whole movie goes on one bummer of an acid trip.
Under Scott's direction, his crew finds so many ways to annoy, from the manipulated color scheme and jarring cinematography to TV commercial-style editing. A soundtrack of hip-hop, rap and a few oldies is the only truly hip, edgy thing about this movie.
DOMINO
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema and Samuel Hadida present a Scott Free Prods./Davis Films production in association with Metropolitan Filmexport
Credits:
Director: Tony Scott
Screenwriters: Richard Kelly
Story by: Richard Kelly, Steve Barancik
Producers: Samuel Hadida, Ridley Scott
Executive producers: Lisa Ellzrey, Toby Emmerich, Victor Hadida, Barry Waldman, Zach Shiff-Abrams, Skip Chaisson
Director of photography: Dan Mindel
Production designer: Chris Seagers
Music: Harry Gregson-Williams
Costumes: B.
Editors: William Goldenberg, Christian Wagner
Cast:
Domino Harvey: Keira Knightley
Ed: Mickey Rourke
Choco: Edgar Ramirez
Alf: RIzwan Abbasi
Claremont Williams: Delroy Lindo
Lateesha: Mo'Nique
Taryn Mills: Lucy Liu
Kimmie: Mena Suvari
Mark Heiss: Christopher Walken
Pauline Stone: Jacqueline Bisset
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 133 minutes...
- 10/20/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Like a stolen car driven into a chop shop during the dead of night, "Gone in 60 Seconds" has seen all of its major components stripped away. Gone are logic, character development and nuance; this is moviemaking pared to the bare essential of movement. But having streamlined this admittedly commercial vehicle for a fast boxoffice payoff, its producers have astonishingly failed to deliver the anticipated jolts and thrills. How can a movie about an auto-theft ring contain so few car chases?
Starring no fewer than three Academy Award-winning actors -- Nicolas Cage, Angelina Jolie and Robert Duvall -- and directed by video and commercial director Dominic Sena, "Gone" is an action movie without much action. So much footage is devoted to the design of the "boosts" -- the recruitment of thieves, tracking down of cars and establishment of their exact locations -- that there is time for only one substantial car chase during the final reel.
Disney can shrug off negative reviews for this Jerry Bruckheimer production as the cost of doing action-movie business. But what should worry the studio are downbeat reactions from young males disappointed with its PG-13 rated mildness and lack of hot action. Shots of parked cars just won't cut it with this bunch, so those huge opening-weekend grosses may take a dive once word-of-mouth gets around.
The film is based on a 1974 cult movie of the same name made by the late H.B. "Toby" Halicki, a Southern California car collector and junkyard owner. There wasn't much of a story in Halicki's indie film, but it featured a 40-minute extravaganza of revved-up chases and car wrecks, a giddy, what-the-hell destruction derby unequaled by any studio film.
How ironic is it that this new Hollywood version shies away from such profligacy? Its most conspicuous waste comes in forcing three Oscar winners to take a back seat to overpriced sports and luxury cars.
Cage plays a reformed car thief dragooned back into his old life when his kid brother, Giovanni Ribisi -- who has followed in his brother's footsteps -- messes up a big order. Unless Cage steals 50 cars in one night, malevolent businessman Christopher Eccleston will kill Ribisi. Cage recruits several old buddies including Duvall, Jolie and Chi McBride to perform this automotive mission impossible.
Screenwriter Scott Rosenberg throws every conceivable roadblock into Cage's path: auto-theft task force police detective Delroy Lindo, who vows to nail his arch nemesis; a rival gang of auto thieves murderously determined to enforce its territorial imperative; Ribisi's youthful teammates, who do more harm than good; and even a key-eating dog that must be force-fed laxatives to extricate three vital keys.
Rosenberg paints his characters in only primary colors, without moral shading or intriguing personality tics. Similarly, his setups reek of the obvious. If a license plate reads SNAKE, you can bet a snake is coiled up inside the car. And character backstories emerge at strange times, holding up rather than fueling the narrative drive.
Sena -- who made one previous foray into feature directing with 1993's "Kalifornia", an uneven though often-tense road drama -- fails to find his footing amid Rosenberg's haphazard dramaturgy. He never sustains a pace that would build dramatic conflict.
Technical contributions are adequate for the genre but not outstanding. Even the major chase is accomplished more in the editing room than on set as stunts are pieced together with quick cuts from hundreds of camera angles.
The movie's cars dominate like prima donnas that must be coddled rather than driven hard. Consequently, the stars are turned into supporting players, stuck with trying to make sense of Rosenberg's comic-book melodrama. Cage is in nearly every scene, while Jolie is scarcely in the movie. Yet their impact is the same: They are here to make love to their automobiles, wax rhapsodic about engine parts and get teary-eyed over gleaming pieces of chrome.
As a result, minor actors in
single-dimensional roles stick out much more, such as English professional footballer Vinnie Jones as a mute strongman or James Duval's hapless though happy screw-up.
Ultimately, the film indulges in the wrong sins. It feels sluggish and tired when it should suffer from too much fuel-injected pep.
GONE IN 60 SECONDS
Buena Vista Pictures
Touchstone Pictures
and Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Producers Jerry Bruckheimer, Mike Stenson
Director Dominic Sena
Screenwriter Scott Rosenberg
Executive producers Jonathan Hensleigh,
Chad Oman, Barry Waldman, Denice Shakarian Halicki, Robert Stone, Webster Stone
Director of photography Paul Cameron
Production designer Jeff Mann
Music Trevor Rabin
Costume designer Marlene Stewart
Editors Tom Muldoon, Chris Lebenzon
Color/stereo
Cast:
Memphis Raines Nicolas Cage
Kip Raines Giovanni Ribisi
Sara "Sway" Wayland Angelina Jolie
Detective Roland Castlebeck Delroy Lindo
Atley Jackson Will Patton
Otto Robert Duvall
Raymond Calitri Christopher Eccleston
Kenny Chi McBride
Running time -- 119 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Starring no fewer than three Academy Award-winning actors -- Nicolas Cage, Angelina Jolie and Robert Duvall -- and directed by video and commercial director Dominic Sena, "Gone" is an action movie without much action. So much footage is devoted to the design of the "boosts" -- the recruitment of thieves, tracking down of cars and establishment of their exact locations -- that there is time for only one substantial car chase during the final reel.
Disney can shrug off negative reviews for this Jerry Bruckheimer production as the cost of doing action-movie business. But what should worry the studio are downbeat reactions from young males disappointed with its PG-13 rated mildness and lack of hot action. Shots of parked cars just won't cut it with this bunch, so those huge opening-weekend grosses may take a dive once word-of-mouth gets around.
The film is based on a 1974 cult movie of the same name made by the late H.B. "Toby" Halicki, a Southern California car collector and junkyard owner. There wasn't much of a story in Halicki's indie film, but it featured a 40-minute extravaganza of revved-up chases and car wrecks, a giddy, what-the-hell destruction derby unequaled by any studio film.
How ironic is it that this new Hollywood version shies away from such profligacy? Its most conspicuous waste comes in forcing three Oscar winners to take a back seat to overpriced sports and luxury cars.
Cage plays a reformed car thief dragooned back into his old life when his kid brother, Giovanni Ribisi -- who has followed in his brother's footsteps -- messes up a big order. Unless Cage steals 50 cars in one night, malevolent businessman Christopher Eccleston will kill Ribisi. Cage recruits several old buddies including Duvall, Jolie and Chi McBride to perform this automotive mission impossible.
Screenwriter Scott Rosenberg throws every conceivable roadblock into Cage's path: auto-theft task force police detective Delroy Lindo, who vows to nail his arch nemesis; a rival gang of auto thieves murderously determined to enforce its territorial imperative; Ribisi's youthful teammates, who do more harm than good; and even a key-eating dog that must be force-fed laxatives to extricate three vital keys.
Rosenberg paints his characters in only primary colors, without moral shading or intriguing personality tics. Similarly, his setups reek of the obvious. If a license plate reads SNAKE, you can bet a snake is coiled up inside the car. And character backstories emerge at strange times, holding up rather than fueling the narrative drive.
Sena -- who made one previous foray into feature directing with 1993's "Kalifornia", an uneven though often-tense road drama -- fails to find his footing amid Rosenberg's haphazard dramaturgy. He never sustains a pace that would build dramatic conflict.
Technical contributions are adequate for the genre but not outstanding. Even the major chase is accomplished more in the editing room than on set as stunts are pieced together with quick cuts from hundreds of camera angles.
The movie's cars dominate like prima donnas that must be coddled rather than driven hard. Consequently, the stars are turned into supporting players, stuck with trying to make sense of Rosenberg's comic-book melodrama. Cage is in nearly every scene, while Jolie is scarcely in the movie. Yet their impact is the same: They are here to make love to their automobiles, wax rhapsodic about engine parts and get teary-eyed over gleaming pieces of chrome.
As a result, minor actors in
single-dimensional roles stick out much more, such as English professional footballer Vinnie Jones as a mute strongman or James Duval's hapless though happy screw-up.
Ultimately, the film indulges in the wrong sins. It feels sluggish and tired when it should suffer from too much fuel-injected pep.
GONE IN 60 SECONDS
Buena Vista Pictures
Touchstone Pictures
and Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Producers Jerry Bruckheimer, Mike Stenson
Director Dominic Sena
Screenwriter Scott Rosenberg
Executive producers Jonathan Hensleigh,
Chad Oman, Barry Waldman, Denice Shakarian Halicki, Robert Stone, Webster Stone
Director of photography Paul Cameron
Production designer Jeff Mann
Music Trevor Rabin
Costume designer Marlene Stewart
Editors Tom Muldoon, Chris Lebenzon
Color/stereo
Cast:
Memphis Raines Nicolas Cage
Kip Raines Giovanni Ribisi
Sara "Sway" Wayland Angelina Jolie
Detective Roland Castlebeck Delroy Lindo
Atley Jackson Will Patton
Otto Robert Duvall
Raymond Calitri Christopher Eccleston
Kenny Chi McBride
Running time -- 119 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
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