”Fragments” is slow and broken, good acting, good premise… but overall a disappointment.

Forest Whitaker, Kate Beckinsale, Guy Pearce, Jennifer Hudson, Dakota Fanning, Jackie Earle Haley, Josh Hutcherson, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Embeth Davidtz are a very good group of actors showing their craft… but they are not enough to make this movie the hit *it could have been*.

“Fragments” is ultimately a victim of its own style – too many characters – too little time to develop them well and tell everybody’s story.

PS – This movie is rated “R” for violence, adult themes, and language.

 (My spoiler-free review)

“Fragments” (aka “Winged Creatures”) features a great cast of talented actors… which got me to rent it soon after it became available… with all of the main cast mentioned above putting on an acting clinic with their performances.

Whitaker is great as a troubled bad luck guy who finally finds good luck, Beckinsale pulls off a character that you’re forced not to like, Fanning delivers a performance that is good but jarring, Hudson and Pearce and the rest suffer from not enough screen time to really appreciate their work.

There are good production values with framing, symbolism, lighting, and the style of storytelling is not a bad formula – it just may have been the execution of the style that left me a little disconnected from the characters.

There’s a central theme the director seems to be trying to point us to, but then there’s another them, then another… its stylistic… but causes confusion for the audience.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

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“The Hurt Locker” an intense and methodical journey through the dangerous streets of Iraq, pitting a U.S. bomb squad unit against a deadly dangerous non-stop series of bombs intended to kill American troops.

A lot of war movies try to put you in the middle of the action, but where those movies fail, this movie excels, with its gritty feel and shooting style with lots of shots off the shoulder documentary-style, the audience is in the middle of it all, peering around corners… seeing what the soldiers see… and don’t see.
My spoiler-free review:

Set in Baghdad, Iraq in 2004, this movie gives us a glimpse of the tensions of soldiers trying to keep the peace and protect each other amongst the foreign and treacherous urban landscape.

While his bomb tech unit teammates use constant caution to keep everyone safe, the new guy, Staff Sergeant James, is a reckless loner that does things his own way, but is also very good at his job.  Jeremy Renner shines as SSG James, bringing the multitude of layers to a complicated character…. and doing it with even more flair and expertise than the last movie role I saw him in (as troubled officer “Gamble” in 2003’s “S.W.A.T.”).  As SSG James throws caution and protocol to the wind, he is in constant conflict with his by-the-book unit.  Renner genuinely deserves Oscar nomination consideration for this role.

In addition to Renner, Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty are solid with nice additions of minor roles for Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, and Evangeline Lilly.

Another character that is well developed is the landscapes of Iraq: from the busy chaotic streets to the barren desert with its intense heat… the geography becomes a character that also impacts the story and the other characters.

I give this movie props for its methodical nature… taking the time to let a scene play out, unlike most military action dramas where a gun fight or action scene happens then quickly cuts to the next scene, “The Hurt Locker” moves at a slower rate, letting the scene breathe and take its time… much like the work of a bomb tech… it does not detract from the movie, it makes it stronger.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

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(RE-POSTING from 8/30/08)

Here’s a movie to keep on a short list for Academy Award considerations… This intense story of international espionage and counter-terrorism is full of twists and intrigue… and with a solid cast of actors – it should be your first choice of the new movies to see this weekend !!!

“Traitor”

(2008) (rated: PG-13 for intense violent sequences, thematic material and brief language ) (1 hr, 54 min)

Starring: Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Said Taghmaoui, Neal McDonough, Jeff Daniels

Genre: Drama/Thriller

The Plot: When straight arrow FBI agent Roy Clayton (Pearce) heads up the investigation into a dangerous international conspiracy, all clues seem to lead back to former U.S. Special Operations officer, Samir Horn (Cheadle).

MY TAKE (spoiler free):

Don Cheadle is a very good actor. No seriously, think about the characters he’s played… a Brit in the “Ocean’s Eleven” movies, an old roomate of Adam Sandler’s in “Reign Over Me”, Henri Moore in “After the Sunset”, an Oscar nomination for Best Actor as a hotel manager in “Hotel Rwanda”, a police detective in “Crash”, and small, but great roles in ”Swordfish” and “Traffic”.

“Traitor” doesn’t take long to get going… (more…)