Movie Review: ‘Jack The Giant Slayer’

Movie Review:  ‘Jack The Giant Slayer’ BY IAN TAN

Bryan Singer’s ‘Jack The Giant Slayer’ is the latest offering in the recent fairytale-turned-movie genre series. Unlike the other fairytale adaptations, ‘Jack The Giant Slayer’ does not take itself too seriously nor does it try to tamper too much with its source material as the other films of its kind have (Hansel and Gretel as… witch hunters?). And that’s part of what separates it from the others. Whether this helps benefit the film or not is the question.

The narrative of the film is simple and easily understandable, quickly introducing us to the young farm boy Jack and Princess Isabelle. The latter, who gets entangled in the infamous beanstalk of the fairytale story is elevated to heights unimaginable, leaving Isabelle’s father, King Brahmwell, sending our main heroes, Jack and a later to be revealed villain up the beanstalk to rescue the damsel in distress from whatever dangers (giants, perhaps?) that lurk up above. And so begins the adventure…

The actors do a marvelous job with their roles, and looked like they had quite a fun time with their characters, absorbing themselves into Bryan Singer’s fantastical world. Nicholas Hoult (Warm Bodies, X-Men: First Class) does a fine job as the good-hearted farm boy turned hero Jack, bringing a sense of innocence, a craving for adventure and charm to his interpretation of the fairytale character. He and Eleanor Tomlinson, who plays Isabelle, share good chemistry with each other and help provide the audience charming albeit thin main characters. Ewan McGregor is good as always, playing the likable knight Elmont, who is my favourite performance in the film. Stanley Tucci is again, so good at being bad, playing the buck-teethed traitor Roderick. The ensemble cast never fails to capture our attention, bringing out more charisma and personality to their characters than the script seems to have provided them with. The film’s characters are portrayed in a rather cartoony manner but are never too over-the-top or unbelievable; and certain character arcs are quite predictable as the story progresses but are nonetheless delivered well by each actor on screen.

The action sequences are also well choreographed and almost every set piece is just gorgeous to look at. The entrance to the Giants’ cave might bare some resemblance to ‘Temple Run’ though (those who’ve seen the teaser poster, you know what I’m talking about). Nothing’s too morbid or dark like most fantasy-adventure movies are nowadays (Snow White and The Huntsman, we’re looking at you), which is a plus for viewers looking for a more light-hearted retelling of a fairytale, and Bryan Singer definitely knows how to create an adventure.

The weak point of the movie, unfortunately, are the giants themselves, who are the least interesting characters in the film, which is a pity for director Bryan Singer who’s known for interesting and well developed character dynamics (see ‘X2: X-Men United). The CGI work is probably the weakest part of this movie. Every special effect seen in this movie looks like a special effect, and the giants fail to seamlessly fit in to the live action world as they look a tad bit too animated, as if they came out of a DreamWorks animated film. This creates a sort-of disconnection especially when it comes down to the climactic battle where most of the shots of giants seem to have been animated separately from the ‘human’ shots, reducing the believability of the onscreen action. The movie’s saving grace though, is its talented cast, which help bring the realism of things up a notch, but only by a little.

Another hiccup about ‘Jack The Giant Slayer’ would probably be its editing and predictable/ generic fairytale character archetypes. The first half of the movie seems a little rushed, shifting from scene to scene a bit too quickly without fully developing certain characters or situations; neither does it explore more plot threads that could have expanded the film’s mythos. It’s played out well enough, but could’ve been better. And weirdly, it seems that bulk of the script from the first half of the film, which might have contained more backstory for characters and events, was taken out for the final cut of the film for the sake of a fast-paced, action-adventure-fantasy thrill ride that favoured entertainment value more than actual depth to its story and characters. It kind of feels like a Joss Whedon project given to Michael Bay, without the military of course, and just gave me that feeling like there was supposed to be more behind what I saw.

All that aside, the movie doesn’t take itself too seriously and neither should we. Most often, ‘Jack The Giant Slayer’ provides audiences with a fun, March movie-going experience with good performances all round and a laugh every now and then. I wouldn’t fully recommend a cinema viewing though, (‘Oz: The Great and Powerful’ would probably be a better cinematic experience) but it would make for a nice buy on DVD/ Blu-Ray for the family to watch at home. And I’d like to think that the drawbacks of ‘Jack The Giant Slayer’ are mainly due to Bryan Singer’s busy schedule with his next venture into the X-Men universe with ‘Days of Future Past’. Hehe…

6.9 out of 10 stars