3 Short Paragraphs (Or Not): Freelance

2023, Pierre Morel (Banlieue 13) - Netflix

"I am in the mood for something dumb," I said as she queries why I have clicked on this. I have said this enough that it could probably become a tag. But as the credits opened, I saw Morel's name and I also thought, "Wait, don't we like Morel?" We do. I have written about a number of his movies here, but strangely enough, no post for Taken, not even a rewatch.

Another tag thought occurred the other day, wherein I rewatch all the movies I have previously commented on or questioned, "Why don't I have a post for _______." But at the same time I am saying, "Why look for an excuse to rewatch when you have hundreds on your to-be-watched list?"

Also, "clicked" ? Is there a better term for what you do when you press a button on a remote control that activates an icon on a smart TV ? Essentially the remote is the mouse for the TV...

I am not entirely favourable in my write-ups of Morel but I guess they are the dumb movies I am looking for at the moment. BUT there were shades of a decent movie in here, but were over-shadowed by the pablum-ization required to make this a mid-range hit in America? Hit is stretching it, but if Uwe Boll made a career out of making movies purely for the in-flight movie market, then making movies purely for the "short theatre run + streaming" is a business model... I guess?

Mason Pettits (John Cena, Peacemaker; [also, #IYKYK]) was a lawyer who hated being a lawyer so quit to become an Army Special Forces soldier. Weird pivot but if you look like John Cena, sure why not. He finds purpose, finds happiness (happy killing people, sure why not) until a failed mission kills a bunch of his squad mates and fucks up his back. So, back to the lawyer career, family, house in the suburbs; unhappiness.

Until his old Army commander Sebastian Earle (Christian Slater, Mr. Robot)  calls him. Just seeing Slater on the screen, in this role, I predicted, "This is the man who will betray him." Earle offers him an easy protection job -- escorting discredited reporter Claire Wellington who is seeking career resurrection through an interview with south-of-America dictator, Juan Venegas. Based on depicted maps, I still couldn't tell if the fictional country was in South America or Central America, but it was your classic pseudo-Latin, semi-tropical country run by a foppish, brash, charismatic dictator. And Venegas just happened to be subject of Pettits failed mission.

Duh duh duh duhhhhh....

Of course, ten minutes after arriving in the country, they are ambushed by rebels during a coup / assassination attempt and Pettits has to defend the man he hates, technically protecting Claire, killing all the Bad Guys. Good Guys? If this is an Evil Dictator, wouldn't his enemies be the Good Guys? And that's the crux of the movie. As Pettits tries to lead Claire to a safer place, with the dictator tagging along, we learn he isn't such a bad guy. I guess, at first, he was happy that foreign interference could prop up his government, giving him full control, while exploiting all the country's resources, but eventually he realized he did want to protect "his people" and started manipulating the situation. He knew that if he betrayed his exploiters directly, he would just be replaced by another puppet leader, so instead  he stuck around to build a charade, doing their bidding but also helping the "rebels" and helping his people as much as he could. The interview was supposed to be the point where he would reveal that to the world, and begin turning things around, while the eyes of the world protected him from further interference.

That was the shade of the decent movie -- a decent, fun plot. Alas, it was mired in a boring, run-of-the-mill chase & shoot-em-up. And so many dumb scenes. Dumb dumb dumb. At points I wondered whether I was watching a video game adaptation, tossing me back into memories of Uwe Boll. One weird quirk, which almost derailed my brain, my sense of confidence in reading movies such as this, was that Earle didn't betray him, but even the depicted plot wanted to make you think he did. It was a prime thread to the story that probably got lost in edits and re-writes, a send-up of our expectations.  Maybe Purple Suit interference?

But I guess I got what I wanted?