Turning Point 2 Laughing Gor Returns | Laughing Gor之潛罪犯 [ Movie Review ] ★★★

Laughing Gor is quite a "cultural" phenomenon in the Hong Kong entertainment scene. This undercover cop character was a supporting role in a Hong Kong TVB television police drama E.U (Emergency Unit - which was already a third installment to The Academy series). While undercover cops characters and angle had been done numerous times in Hong Kong films and tv series, Laughing Gor managed to gain so much popularity until the character / actor got a movie and drama series spin off.

First was the movie Turning Point that was supposedly meant to chronicle the Laughing Gor's times before the events in E.U. However it wasn't a faithful prequel as there are a few events that contradict with what happened in the television series.

TVB "corrected" those problems by making another spin off television series called Lives of Omission. This new television series became a replacement series that correct the contradiction between E.U and Turning Point. After Lives of Omission, it seems that Laughing Gor is still pretty much sought after and that why there's Turning Point 2 Laughing Gor Returns ( Laughing Gor之潛罪犯 ), a movie that directly ties in with events that occurred in Lives of Omission.

Turning Point 2 starts off with Laughing Gor (Michael Tse) being sentenced to life imprisonment for killing So (Bosco Wong). But for Hong Kong's most beloved undercover cop, it's never that simple. It turned out that Laughing Gor is in a new mission to gather more information on Tai Chit (Chapman To) a former Narcotics Bureau Station Sergeant who admitted to corruption but refused to reveal the identity of his accomplice.

Soon afterwards, a trained psychologist Professor Fok (Francis Ng) is imprisoned for drug dealings. The mysterious Professor is not a simple man. As soon as his jail term starts, he demonstrated his ability in analyzing people and manipulating people's mind. Laughing Gor soon realized that the Professor is interested in Tai Chit too. To add on to his dubious character, Laughing Gor also noticed that So's wife, Paris (Kate Tse) has been visiting Professor Fok and they are in a strange loving relationship.

What is Tai Chit withholding? Who is this mysterious Professor Fok and what is he up to? Why is Paris hooking up with the Professor when she should still be in the mourning for her dead husband. It all adds up to a big confrontation with the new head of police, the drug lord of the golden triangle and a diabolical plan to change the system.

There are a couple of things that I noticed about Turning Point 2 Laughing Gor Returns. The first and foremost would be that this movie relies heavily on the events in Lives of Omission and how it affected characters like So and Paris. Even though there's flashbacks to the last few episodes of Lives of Omission, it can get rather disconnecting. If it's impossible to access the television series, at least try to read up with Wiki page on it.
 
The second thing would be that Turning Point 2 played out like the third installment of Infernal Affairs. In order to move on, it adds new characters in by writing new background stories that wasn't established in The Omission of Life. In a way, it's a major retcon to what's been established, particularly to Laughing Gor killing So at the end of Lives of Omission. Some might like it and some might not. Personally, I thought it was a rather intriguing retcon and it kept me entertained throughout the show.

It's also quite strange that Michael Tse's screen time as Laughing Gor has been dramatically reduced for a lead role. It's filled with unnecessary characters like Carmen (Janice Man), Laughing Gor's handler and comedic performance of MC Jin as Officer Yeung that did very little for the story or Laughing Gor's story. It doesn't help when Michael Tse's co stars, Francis Ng, Chapman To and Kara Hui are stealing the show from the lead. It's like what Anthony Wong, Eric Tsang and Francis Ng (again) did in the first Turning Point movie, out shinning Michael Tse's performance.

In summary, I am still waiting for Michael Tse to impress me with his Laughing Gor character. I am still not getting the hype and popularity of this undercover cop. But that not to say that Turning Point 2 Laughing Gor Returns isn't without it's entertainment value. The retcon was fun to watch and the supporting cast of Francis Ng, Chapman To and Kara Hui are ever reliable in their respecting roles. Turning Point 2 comes recommended and probably highly recommended if you are a fan of Lives of Omission.


Rating: ***

The Darkest Hour [ Movie Review ]

The Darkest Hour tells the story of four young Americans who became stranded in Moscow when aliens that comes in form of energy beings suddenly invaded planet Earth. After escaping extermination, they managed to find other survivors and a way to spot the invisible aliens.

Together with other survivors, they also found a broadcast message that informed them that there's a Russian submarine that would bring them to their nation's submarine. Armed with a homemade weapon that's designed to disarm the alien's electronic force field, they make their way to the rendezvous point that's located in the heavily alien infested area.

As an alien invasion movie, The Darkest Hour was rather bland. The best stuff are already on the trailer and there's nothing in this movie that really top those that were shown. The Darkest Hour is essentially a tour to see Moscow in post-apocalyptic ruins while the American teenagers attempt to find a way back to America. Initially the alien beings in the invisible electric form look impressive but after a while, it became rather boring. The homemade weapon that helped them fight back came about so easily and very little explanation was spent on this equipment.

It's a visual fest but emotionally hollow when we follows the character in trying to survive this massacre. If the alien invasion is so effective, it really make little sense to travel back to their home country when it's a worldwide invasion. But being a formulaic movie, the characters had to do something and the whole point of this movie was to make that impossible attempt to return home. It's not the worst alien invasion movie but it isn't that good either.  Catch it only if you want to watch the extended version of the trailer on a big screen.


Rating: ** 1/2

East Meets West 2011 | 东成西就 2011 [ Movie Review] ★★

The Pitch

Back in 1993, director Jeffrey Lau and a group of well known Hong Kong celebrities of that period, gave us The Eagle Shooting Heroes 东成西就, a memorable parody of Louis Cha's The Legend of the Condor Heroes (射雕英雄传). Folks who had seen it would probably remember the Tony Leung's sausage lips gag, the centipede torture and many more. Needless to say, it was one of Jeffrey Lau's outstanding works in his long history of "Mo Lei Tau" comedies.


Flash forward to today, director Jeffrey Lau is back with another 东成西就 (East Meets West 2011). Although it's not a parody of The Legend of the Condor Heroes, it follows the same format of having an ensemble of the famous stars in the current Hong Kong / China entertainment field. While a handful of them are famous enough to match their 1993 counterparts, the rest are mainly made up of relatively new stars and folks whom I have not heard of. Other than that, it features Kenny Bee, the only actor that appeared on both movies.


Personally, I am a fan of Jeffrey Lau's movies. Even though he had some misses (eg A Chinese Tall Story), he also help created some of the classic Mo Lei Tau comedies from Hong Kong (A Chinese Odyssey, All for the Winner and etc). Although his recent features (Just Another Pandora's Box and The Fantastic Water Babes) were panned by most online reviews that I had came across, I thought they were pretty enjoyable. Here's hopping that Jeffrey Lau would be able to achieve something special with this ensemble that makes this new update East Meets West 2011 worthy of it's Chinese title 东成西就. 


The Plot

Funny Meh?

Xiaoming (Karen Mok 莫文蔚) and her father Ah B (Kenny Bee 锺镇涛) are on the run from debt collectors. It turned out that Jia Jia (Huang Yi 黄奕), Ah B's unreliable wife (who also happened to be Xiaoming's ex classmate and stepmom) had accepted a deposit to set up a concert featuring the Wynners (Kenny Bee's famous Hong Kong pop band from the late seventies to the early eighties). It's an impossible mission as all the members of Wynners (except Ah B) are too busy to perform in this concert.

While the father and daughter are on their way to rescue Jia Jia from Mainland tycoon Zhou Dong (Eason Chan 陈奕迅), they came across a eccentric taxi driver Wen (William So 苏永康) who happens to be fanatic actor wannabe. On their quest to form a musical group, they came across Jade (Sitar Tan Weiwei 谭维维) a rich man's daughter who left the life of wealth for a musical career and her money minded butler Bing (Jaycee Chan 房祖明). Before they could make their way to meet Zhou Dong to rescue Jia Jia, they had a fiery car crash accident with Da Xiong (Ekin Cheng 郑伊健), a mute dumpling chef.

Da Xiong's son witness how these group of individuals became superheroes during the accident and escaped unscratched. He told the survivors that they were seven immortals that's been betrayed and killed by the eighth immortal. The legend has it that they are destined to be reborn as humans with no knowledge of their past and eventually, they would have to fight the evil eighth immortal. Naturally, the kid was dismissed as a liar until they found out about their supernatural power.

I like how you cut my hair ...

Meanwhile, Xiaoming became smitten by Zhou Dong and came out with a wacky plan to hold the "Wynners" concert. Things were going well until a shadowy mysterious figure (Stephy Tang 邓丽欣) came and wreck havoc. In times of distress, the seven individuals transformed into super powered heroes to rescue the concert goers from the destruction.

Could this be the eight immortal that they been waiting for? Will these seven immortals survive the battle with the power hungry immortal when their previous incarnations had failed?


The Perspective

East Meets West 2011 was a major disappointment. I am not sure if there was any creative inputs from the China bosses but since it's Jeffery Lau's name on the writer and director credits, he probably should bare the major bulk of this disparage. In recent years, his movies had suffered from his self indulgence with his sense of comedy and story that interest him. Sometimes, it hits the right spot but in East Meets West 2011 case, it was a horrid waste of time and talent.

But how do you critically review a "Mo Lei Tau" (nonsensical) movie? I am going to compare it with The Eagles Shooting Heroes and Just Another Pandora's Box, two of previous Jeffery Lau's movies.

Both East Meets West 2011 and Just Another Pandora's Box suffered from patchy storyline but what helped Just Another Pandora's Box was that it didn't have to suffered from the overcrowding of "main" characters in East Meets West 2011. There was a central love story of Ronald Cheng's character and the Rose fairy (Betty Sun) with the rest of the stars as supporting characters to that love story. In East Meets West 2011, all the "stars" are laden with their own stories and around the halfway mark, it seemed that the director realized that the movie had to focus on the main love story that revolving between Xiaoming (Karen Mok) and Zhou Dong (Eason Chan). Subsequently all the other subplots were either minimize or abandon.

Nothing for me to do?

Of all the characters that were affected, Ekin Cheng's Da Xiong and Huang Yi's Jia Jia suffered the most. It seemed that there were some build up between Da Xiong, his son and his ex wife but nothing was made up of it. Jaycee Chan had a special appearance / cameo billing but it turned out that Ekin Cheng had less screen time or things to do in this movie.

Ekin Cheng might not be the most talented artist around these days but among this cast, he is one of the most well known and to see his role reduced into a forgettable cameo, it's just kinda sad.

Likewise, Huang Yi's Jia Jia character was destined to have a never ending feud with Xiaoming. After a few squabblers, her character was discarded and were only brought back for some gags. Their resolution came quickly and there was very little emotional impact between the two. It makes one wonder why bother with her character at all. Just another waste of talent.

Are We Stars?

lucky they hide half my face

Comparing East Meets West 2011 with The Eagles Shooting Heroes, the first and foremost thing that's lacking was star factor. Given that Eason Chan, Karen Mok, Kenny Bee and Ekin Cheng are all well know personalities in the Asian region, the rest of the East Meets West 2011 stars are not exactly stars qualities (as compared to their counterparts in The Eagles Shooting Heroes). Who is this Sitar Tan Weiwei? Will Jaycee Chan still have a career in the entertainment business if his father is not Jackie Chan? Is William So still singing? I also wonder if Stephy Tang is popular in the Singapore market?

Movies of such nonsensical nature requires a certain star quality to it. It would allow the audience to like the characters quicker as there's hardly any material in such genre to do such buildup. It also allows comedy to arise from a play in their well known personality. These are stuff that you can't do with a relative bunch of unknown / wannabes / up and coming stars. It's possible to do such nonsensical comedy with relatively unknowns but they must have a strong sense of comedy and comedy performance. As again, it's lacking with those that's picked for this movie.

Beside that, the handling of the characters was a mess in East Meets West 2011. There were just as many characters in The Eagles Shooting Heroes and yet they well woven to support each other stories. In East Meets West 2011, you could remove a few of the characters and it wouldn't affect the gist of this story. That how disposable the characters are in this movie.

Last but not least, what The Eagles Shooting Heroes and Just Another Pandora's Box had that East Meets West 2011 didn't was that most of the characters from the previous spoof comedies were well known. Even though some of the eight immortals names sound rather familiar, I believed that they were mainly characters that made from scratch and it's just difficult to handle so many characters at the same time.

East Meets West 2011 might have been better if the focus was on Karen Mok and Eason Chan's character from the start. Reduce the other star roles into secondary supporting ones like the ones in Just Another Pandora's Box and remove all traces of their background stories. This movie had a fairly good theme of redemption and pure love. It just a pity that it muddled the story with allocating screen time for the stars.


Rating : **

Hong Kong Ghost Stories [ Movie Review ] ★★1/2

The Pitch Touted as the return of Hong Kong horror, "Hong Kong Ghost Stories" features two spooky tales from director Wong Jing and Patrick Kong. From the good o' classic such as Mr Vampire to the crappy cheaply made ones like the Troublesome Night franchise in the nineties, it's been a long time since there's any comedic horror movies from Hong Kong.  But can Wong Jing (King of low brow entertainment) and Patrick Kong ( Director of Mr and Mrs Single) revived this once popular genre for the Hong Kong film industry? Or is this just an excuse to put straight to video quality movie on the big screen to earn some quick bucks? The Plot The first story, "Classroom" is written and directed by Wong Jing. It stars Jennifer Tse (Nicolas Tse's sister making her acting debut) as Miss Yip, a substitute teacher who is returning to the teaching field after breaking up an abusive relationship with ex-boyfriend Chung (Pakho Chow). But she is not getting any break as her new class is unruly and her ex-boyfriend keep pestering her for a patch up. Things got worse for Miss Yip when she saw some of her students going for compensated dates. Her offers to help them were met with threats and acts of defiance from her students. And since this is a horror movie, Miss Yip subsequently got locked up in the toilet with slamming doors and flying blades (courtesy of the exhaust fan). Miss Yip soon discover that this is not your usual unruly class. It's the supernatural horrific type that wouldn't allow Miss Yip "abandon" them. To "entice" Miss Yip more, it seemed that there's a victimized student that would need rescuing. Could Miss Yip survive her class from hell? Patrick Kong wrote and directed the second story "Travel" in a non-chronological manner. It started with the funeral wake of Bobo (Chrissie Chau) that attended by four of her friends (Charmaine Fong, Jacqeuline Chong, Harriet Yeung and Rose Chan). They spent their time playing cards and recounting their first encounter with Bobo and policeman Jack (Timmy Hung) at a recent tour trip to Thailand. Halfway through the wake, Bobo's lover Karl (Him Law) arrived to pay his last respect to the deceased. The four girls quickly befriended him and invited him over for a steamboat dinner to talk about Bobo's last few days at Thailand. Karl then revealed some startling information about Bobo and his wife, Phoenix (Stephy Tang). Things are not what they seemed and it's twist galore with this segment. The Perspective  Comparing these two segments, Patrick Kong's Classroom was much more entertaining to sit through. There were some genuine funny moments that were delivered by the four female friends of Bobo. Ranging from digs at TVB / ATV (the two Hong Kong TV stations) to their rendition of extremely horny predators, the laughs kept coming to distract the rather weak performance from the rest of the cast (especially Chrissie Chau who got top billing here but was noticeably missing most of the time). The climatic twist galore was mildly enjoyable even though it's filled with plenty of plot holes. It could have ended earlier with the strongest twist but it went a little too far with the finale revelation and in the process diluted the impact that it had going. "Travel" won't be the next gem in the Hong Kong comedic ghost genre but it's definitely more enjoyable out the two stories that Hong Kong Ghost Stories had to offer.. Wong Jing's Classroom was rather unremarkable. It's not the worst material that he had put out and neither was it one of his better works. It's like a bland functional time wasting TV program. There's a major twist at the end which was also ridden with plot holes. One of the enjoyable bits of this segment was to see how it tried to justified the revelation with contrived explanations. The other noteworthy aspect of this segment would be that it provides a chance to check out if Jennifer Tse could act or not. Surprisingly, she wasn't as bad as her brother when he had just started out as an actor. Plus she looked like a young Gong Li to me and that makes it easier to follow her role as a protagonist in a rather uninspired horror story. It would be interesting to see what kind of choices she makes for her movie career. Bottom line, both Classroom and Travel are as scary as Hong Kong comedic horror goes (which is to say that it isn't). Not exactly the type of show that you should fork out hard earn money for but it wouldn't be that terrible if one actually like this genre and actually paid for this. If you could wait, I am pretty sure that the cable TV or dvd rental for Hong Kong Ghost Stories would be out soon after it's taken off the cinema screens. Otherwise, it isn't a big lost if you give this movie a miss. Rating: **1/2

The Adventures of Tintin

The Pitch


It all got started with a movie review compared Raiders of the Lost Ark to Hergé The Adventures of Tintin comic books. That review introduced Steven Spielberg to the world of Tintin comics and he became fan of Hergé signature style of drawings.

After decades of attempts to make this movie, Steven Spielberg had decided to make The Adventures of Tintin as a live-action adaptation and asked Peter Jackson if Weta Digital could help create Tintin's faithful dog Snowy with computer generated effects. As a fan of the comics, Peter Jackson convinced Steven Spielberg that the best way to show Hergé's world of Tintin would be through motion capture animation.


But even with two of the biggest current Hollywood filmmakers at helm, would it be enough to attract the audience to watch The Adventures of Tintin on the big screen? Since the late Hergé didn't allowed another artist to draw Tintin, there isn't any new Tintin books for decades. Without a new Tintin product to market, it limits the exposure of this fine comics to the masses, particularly the younger generation. While Tintin has always been a huge success in Europe, it remained a relatively unknown franchise to the America audience. I suspect that many viewers of The Adventures of Tintin might be experiencing the world of Tintin for the very first time.

Personally, I was a casual reader of the Tintin comics back in school days. It would be difficult for me to recall any specific stories from those Tintin comics but I had fond memories of reading Tintin at a super quick pace and was intrigued by the unexpected chain of events. It would be a blast looking forward to what Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson could do to revitalize the Tintin franchise and my memories of this Belgium comic books.

11-11-11 [ Movie Review ] ★★

The Pitch

11-11-11 seemed like a gimmicky way to make a horror movie. Using this date to set up the ominous doomsday scenario just have a desperate feel to it. It might appeal to those who likes to find mystical meaning in numbers. Other than that, there's nothing really of any significant about this date.

It makes me wonder if 11-11-11 would loses it's novelty once the special date had pass. I can't shake off the feeling that this movie would be desperately finding ways to link any form of horror inclination to 11-11-11. Even before watching the movie, It got a "dated convoluted film product" sentiment set against it.

But apparently Darren Lynn Bousman (director of Saw 2, 3 , 4) thought otherwise. Personally I liked his Saw movies and would like to see what he could do after leaving the Saw franchise. Fellow Saw franchise director James Wan's Insidious was impressive and personally I hope that Darren Lynn Bousman could equally good. Let's see what he could cook up for 11-11-11.

The Plot 

Joseph Crone (Timothy Gibbs) is a successful author who lost faith in God when his wife and son died in a fire. After surviving a car crash, he started to notice a trend with the number 11 and it seemed to be plaguing him with nightmares and horrific events. Returning home from hospital, he got a call from his wheelchair bound priest brother Samuel (Michael Landes) and found out that his father was dying. Although they are in an estranged relationship, he decided to travel to Barcelona, Spain to meet his religious dad and brother.

However upon arrival, Joseph began to encounter more weird occurrences involving the number 11. He started to research on this special "number" and discovered that there are some who believed that entities from other realm would be entering earth on 11-11-11. It might even be the end of religion. Not only that, his dad also revealed that both Joseph and Samuel would have a part to play on this predicted apocalyptic date. The atheistic Joseph started to question his lack of faith and wonders if there's some truth with the "religious" prophecies on this date.


The Perspective (11-11-11 Movie Review)

11-11-11 turned out to be a rather weak horror flick as one would expect. With only Joseph as the only main character in the movie, it's not hard to figure out that no harm will come to him for most part of the movie. Therefore for most part of the movie, it's laden with plenty of those silly "spook a moment" scenes that felt cheap scares and pointless.

The subplots and characters were weakly established to bring any emotional resonate to the main story. Joseph's grief and beef with God were so superficially setup that it was cringing to see Timothy Gibbs go through the motion as 11-11-11 required of him. There was a supporting character Sadie (Wendy Glenn) that was supposed to provide emotional support to Joseph and to showcase the power of the other worldly entity. But at the end of the day, I find myself asking what the point of this character.

The whole linkage with the unique date of 11-11-11 felt rather forced and silly. Just imagine part of Joseph's research to the date was watching "youtube" videos of people talking about what they felt and expect would happen on 11-11-11. While some excel in making something out of nothing (eg. The Blair Witch Project), 11-11-11 handling of the special date just drew more attention to how hollow the material they have at hand.

The best aspect of movie was the climatic "twisty" finale. However movie fans should not have any problems figuring it out half way through the movie. It could have been as impactful as movies like Sixth Sense or A Perfect Getaway but due to the lackluster handling of the lead up to the finale, the payout came off as a whimper instead of a bang.

11-11-11 reminded me of the old school scary atmospheric that Insidious had going but it paled in comparison when it comes scarring the audience and providing a satisfactory wrap up in the end. There are some decent scares during the movie but those scares are largely silly and forgettable. The  draggy pace and the revelation of the movie certainly didn't make the wait felt worthwhile either.  11-11-11 didn't had the potential to start with and faltered in many ways that were expected. I don't think this horror movie would be remembered after it's expiry date.  Not Recommended.

Rating: **

Tower Heist [ Movie Review ]

The Pitch

With the ongoing Occupy Wall Street movements and Bernie Madoff pleading guilty in defrauding thousands of investors of their money in 2009, Tower Heist seemed to be the movie to reflect the zeitgeist of the current economic situation in USA. But to make a adventure comedy out of such thorny issues might not be such a good idea. I don't think it would be as distasteful as how a "foreclosure mill" firm mocked evicted homeowners by dressing up as homeless people at their company's Halloween party last year but still it's a reflection of what people suffered in real life and making a comedy out of it requires carefully delicate handling.

The other thing to look out for would be the return of Eddie Murphy in a live action film after the lackluster Meet Dave and Imagine That. Some had hope that it would be a return to form for his comedic career and early reviews had indicate that he is pretty good in this. Personally, the one that I am looking out for would be Alan Alda. I am a big M*A*S*H because of him and it's been an awful long time since I saw him on the big screen.

Last but not least, there's Ben Stiller and director Brett Ratner. Their movies usually entertains me without fail. Additionally with Casey Affleck, Téa Leoni, Gabourey Sidibe (Precious), Michael Peña and Matthew Broderick, it felt like Tower Heist is loaded to be a mini The Expendables. Let's just hope that Tower Heist would be able to better utilize the cast at hand and create an enjoyable heist movie out of it.

The Plot

Josh Kovacs (Ben Stiller) has managed The Tower, one of the most luxurious and exclusive New York residence for over a decade. He is one of the best manager around and kept his staff under strict control. Then unexpectedly, they found out that Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda), the resident at their penthouse was charged with frauds and held under house arrest in the swanky The Tower's penthouse. The Towers staffs are hit the hardest as Josh had asked Arthur Shaw to invest with their pension and it seemed that they are unable to get their money back. 

Facing bankruptcy, Lester (Stephen Henderson), one of their doorman attempted suicide. Outraged by Arthur Shaw's unsympathetic reaction, Josh went on a rampage in Arthur's beloved Ferrari. That act caused Josh, his brother in law Charlie (Casey Affleck) and new employee Enrique (Michael Peña) their job. While drowning his sorrow with Claire Denham (Téa Leoni), the special agent in charged of Arthur Shaw's case, Josh found out that there's a large sum of money that has not been uncovered.

Josh then deduced that the money is hidden in the penthouse and he might know where the money is hidden. Enlisting the help of Charlie, Enrique and bankrupt businessman Mr. Fitzhugh (Matthew Broderick), they decided to rob Arthur Shaw. But realizing that they know nothing about robbery, Josh turned to his criminal neighbor Slide (Eddie Murphy) for help. They also realize that they need someone who can open safe and one of The Tower staff, Odessa (Gabourey Sidibe) happened to come from a family of locksmiths in Jamaica.

With Arthur Shaw getting acquitted soon, Josh and gang must carry out the prefect heist during Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. But the best laid plans don't always go as planned.

The Perspective 

The real fun of Tower Heist began when the rookie thieves commenced their heist. The unexpected chain of events for the heist were thrilling and it was the most suspense that you can get out of a comedic entertainment. The satisfaction level for Tower Heist matches other recent good heist movies Inside Man and Ocean's Eleven. The only thing that marred the enjoyment of Tower Heist was ironically the slow establishment of the characters and events in this movie.

Ironic because it was necessary for the heist to work so well at the end of it. The viewers needed to root for the amateur thieves to make it enjoyable for the many twists and turns leading to the finale. But yet it was a rather bland and tedious build up of characters and the situation leading up to the heist (specially when viewers were already expecting the  blue-collar employees to extract their revenge on the rich crook all along). The movie tried to make it entertaining by infusing humorous bits into the show but somehow it felt like an awkward blend of humor and real life tragedy. It came to a point where it might have been better if it was a serious drama instead. There were some funny bits with Ben Stiller, Eddy Murphy, Michael Peña and Gabourey Sidibe but Casey Affleck, Téa Leoni and Matthew Broderick comedic contribution felt a little bland.

While the comedic elements weren't at it's best, the thrilling secretive robbery was a page turner. It's not a well thought out heist but the fun lies in what went wrong and how they attempted to rectify the problem. The setup for the characters were done "well" enough that viewer will root for them to get achieved their heist so that the "Bernie Madoff" type of villain can have his comeuppance. There's some glaring loopholes in the whole operation but it was entertainingly executed that it didn't matter that much.

Partly another reason why the heist worked so well would be that in real life, those victimized individuals would likely be unable to extract revenge in such manner. In a way, it's pure escapism for those who seek justice in a society that favors the rich.

Among all the stars, I felt that Alan Alda performance stood out the most. In a limited role, he managed to capture the essence of what a "Bernie Madoff" type of con artist might be like. Someone who could befriends folks from all walks of lives, gain their trust and swindle them ruthlessly. The rest of the stars were right for their respective roles but in my opinion, it was Alan Alda that stole the show.

Tower Heist is an enjoyable heist movies. It suffers from a little slow start up but once the heist gets going, it was high octane fun. The heist could get a rather unrealistic and crippled by a couple of loopholes but it's easy to overlook those problems. Recommended.


Rating: ***