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gran torrino

Inferno and I were at a loose end after having a crappy pub lunch so we decided to stuff this one in the DVD player. Its been out for a while and I thought it looked cool in the trailers, so I was rather optimistic… after all, how often is it that Clint Eastwood fails to deliver?

Grand Torrino is the story of an old Korean war vet by the name of Walter Wakowski, played by Eastwood. At the start of the film, we realise he has just said goodbye to the only thing he ever gave a damn about, his loving wife. It doesnt take him long to realise that he is surrounded by a world that has changed since the glory days of the 50’s. His family are a bunch of stuck up, self obsessed shit wipes and the local neighbourhood is running down hill faster than Steven Hawkin with a broken wheelchair. A family of Vietnamese has moved in next door to him and constantly seem to erk him by just existing. Soon however he finds himself helping the young son from next door from falling into the trap of getting involved with a gang. He “reluctantly” befriends his neighbours and finds that, for all their differences, they are more like the old ways than most white Americans these days. After his “unique” getting to know you phase, Walt actually quite takes to the young lad who he first meets as he is trying to steal Walts car, a ford Gran Torrino. He helps him find work and generally pushes him on his way to becoming a man… He also rubs the local Vietnamese gang up the wrong way when they try to take young Tao into their gang, he shoves his US Army issue M1 Grand into their faces and blurts out a stak of well thought out racist slurs and threats. The more he gets to know his new friends, the deeper he gets into this new trouble, but it all seems to make him feel more alive than he has since the glory days!

Now this wasn’t the film I was expecting… I thought it was gonna be a out and out vengence movie, with old Clint doing the Dirty Harry Shtick one more time for the road. But instead this movie is a sort of tale of how urban life has changed in the US and how some of that change is good but most however is for the worse. Walter is a symbol for the old America, failing to move with the times, but still has something to teach the new America.

There is no real action in this film at all really, but Eastwood seems to hold your attention non the less. He maybe in his 70’s now but he can still do that grizzly “you better think twice before messing with me” lines with recless abandon.

For me it was missing a sort of “Big moment” a “stand alone scene” that you will always remember… maybe that’s for the good but none the less it could have done a little more.

Verdict: 7/10

Not what I expected, there is life in the old dog yet.

The Punisher MAX: Girls in white dresses

As should be abundantly clear, here at Fightrunner HQ, we are the Punisher’s biggest fans. And although the movies in the past have generally been a bit of a let down, the comics almost always come up with the goods, especially if we are talking about Max titles. I have read a good few and most of the best ones are written by the main man Garth Ennis himself, so when I saw that this was written by another dude, I wondered to myself if this newbie had the balls to make old Frank Castle as gritty as the mad Irishman did.

“Girls in white dresses” is set in a small Mexican town where the local girls are being systematically abducted and then subsequentaly dumped a few weeks later with their eyes and lungs missing. The distraught townsfolk have heard only in folklore that there is a man from the north that will do what needs to be done and go where the police are to afraid to dare… You guessed it, Frank Castle, AKA: The Punisher. They manage to track him down and eventually convince him to help them get their loved ones back and make the bad guys pay…

Making Bad people pay is what the Punisher is all about!!!! And boy do they get it in this book. Frank beats, shoots, stabs and explodes his way up the criminal food chain in order to get to the bottom of this one. In true Punisher Max style, the violence is brutal and fairly graphic… MAGIC!!! I love nothing more than seeing the king of vigilantes chain five drug dealers ups by their feet and pound the living shit out of them until they spill the beans!

The art in this is quite stylised and it works well with the gritty realistic storyline and the general mood of the Punisher Max series. Never really come across this artist, “Laurence Campbell” but he has made an impression on me. His grainy style and sharp lights in the deep shadows really brings out the bleakness of the situations Frank finds himself in.

The Writer too is a new one to me, “Gregg Hurwitz”, but I swear to god if he had jacked a few more bizarre sex scenes in there, you would be forgiven for thinking it was Ennis Himself… In fact, Ennis is quoted on the cover saying “This is The Punisher, all right. This is how it’s done”. So with approval from the big man, how can you go wrong?

If you like your comics dark, gritty and brutal… Bobs your uncle!

VERDICT: 8.5/10

Like hitting a piñata with a grenade launcher… effective and fun!

Punisher MAX Volume 1 : In the Beginning

You’ve got to hand it to Garth Ennis he has a knack for re-booting popular comics and even resurecting some. As you know the fightrunner have a soft spot for the punisher and with this title Garth Ennis took the Punisher to new heights.

The MAX label is basically Marvel for adults and as such the Punisher feels right at home here. The first change is that the timeline is now fixed and Frank Castle is now in his 50’s as opposed to the fresh faced version seen in the regular marvel run. But with the MAX series we finally get to the see the punisher in full swing and these comics feel more real and grittier.

Beginning with a bloody flashback to the murder of Frank Castle’s family and followed by an even bloodier assault on the mob, Frank finds himself hounded to become the CIA’s own personal hitman, and none other than Frank’s long thought dead partner Micro is here trying to convince Frank to do it. All of this leads to a shocking , violent conclusion that you just can’t put down. The final few panels are heartbreaking to read and some up the genius of Ennis’ work on the character.

The violence and gore are amplified 100 times here but it never ever feels like its done for cheap thrills same with the swearing, like I say if any other comic had the MAX treatment it would feel like shock tactics but here it feels like the punisher is in familiar territory. The artwork here is amazing throughout and perfectly compliments the dark tone of the subject matter at hand whilst also striking a chord for the more emotional parts and even helping the black humour along.

For sure if you are a casual comic reader this won’t be your cup of tea but for anyone else this is nirvana. A bleak, violent, dark, gory piece of genius and a great start to a series. Don’t know about you but I’m up for more!

Rating 9/10

Miss this and you deserve punishment

X-men Origins : Wolverine

After a good year for the comic movies last year with Iron Man, Dark Knight and Incredible Hulk all showing what can be done when a comic movie sticks to the source material. We get arguably amongst you comic fan boys the most popular anti-hero getting his very own movie. Hugh Jackman made this role his own the mixed X-men trilogy playing the role right on the money so a full length feature focusing on him should get the nerves tingling. So with that the fightrunner team gathered for our weekly assualt on the Vue cinema in Aberdeen.

And on paper things look good we see the early days of wolverine and his brother sabertooth some 145 years ago and then through some intriguing shots we see them fighting in all the major conflicts of the past century until present day where they are employed by the mysterious General Stryker to join a band of mercs who also posses special abilities. During a mission in Nigeria Wolverine has a crisis of conscience and retreats to a simple life as a lumberjack in Canada living out a wholesome life with a school teacher. Sabertooth then murders his girlfriend and Wolverine agrees to take part in the Weapon X programme with Stryker to get his revenge, it is here that he gets his Adamantium skeleton and wolverine as we know and love him is born.

On paper it all sounds good and for the first 15 minutes things look promising as the band of mercs including Ryan Reynolds as one of my comic book faves Deadpool (or the character who will become him later) and Reynolds nails this role and at the start i had very high hopes but then the film goes awry. The plot just becomes a very disorganised mess punctated by some decent fight scenes and dodgy CGI. The whole movie feels rushed and the makers were 50/50 on wether to keep true to the comics or try the best please everyone route and keep clear from the source.

Point in case is the later appearance of Deadpool or what the writers have made Deadpool into and this is not Deadpool in anyway. The whole appeal of this character was the “merc with a mouth” and in the opening Reynolds hits it perfectly but at the end Deapool can’t talk. What the fuck? Its like spider-man with no webs, superman no lasers from his eyes, hulk not smashing you get the picture. Now I’m not  fan boy and will allow movie makers a little licence when bringing a comic character from the page to screen but to fundamentally change such a popular character in such a way is a crime.

Another sticking point is the very crap CGI employed at times like the scene where wolverine is checking out his new claws in a bathroom looks just shite. I have no idea why they didn’t just use prop claws as they would have done the job. But like i say there is some entertaining action and an array of marvel characters are ticked of the list but it feels like that  they are trying to satisfy the comic book spotters in the audience. But this film is way of the mark for casual and hardcore viewer alike as the plot twists that come just don’t shock or excite. But the movie gains some points with the Fightrunner team for a brief Patrick Stewart cameo.

Rating : 4/10

Not the Dogs Bollocks , just a dogs dinner.

I ended up seeing state of play on Friday night at the local cinema. It wasn’t my choice honest – I wanted to see Wolverine. Reading reviews this film was supposed to be an electrifying thriller, a rollercoaster ride of a film. Think I must have seen the other version of this film. It was dull, boring and nothing that gave this film any glimmer of hope.

Plucky report  “Cal McCaffery” played by Russell Crowe links two seemingly unrelated murders to the nations senior political figures. The film follows him as he pieces the clues together. The information is drip fed – SLOWLY. The twist at the end I guessed in the first five minutes and the hardest thing about this film was trying to stay awake.

The acting is standard, nothing worthy of oscars, or the coveted fightrunner praise. I am no fan of Ben Affleck who delivers his usual performance, as does Russell Crowe. Under utilised Helen Mirren does add a few minor comedy moments which seem to waken up the audience up as they are starting to fall asleep.

There is a rather useless hitman, who pops up from time to time in the film. Then decides to get himself killed at the end of the film which I didnt quite understand. Wheres Frank Castle when you need him.

There is more depth in a puddle than there was in the characters in this film. The characters are so one dimensional.  There was nothing that drew the audience in, nothing that I related to in the film. Just absolutely terrible.

This film is definitely one to miss. A waste of time, a waste of money and a waste of talent. This is the most boring thrillers ever made. Worse than a straight to video release.

Rating:  -1/10

Miss this at all costs – even as a sat afternoon film on five.