While ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ already has the box office locked up once again for this weekend, two new movies, each appealing to a different target demographic, will fight to draw audiences looking for an alternative. One is a wild fantasy film of familiar origins. The other is a female-led R-rated comedy hoping to capitalize on Mother’s Day weekend.
The bigger of the two releases is ‘King Arthur: Legend of the Sword‘, Guy Ritchie’s first foray into making an action epic. The highly stylized origin tale takes the story of the street rat who pulled an impossible sword from a stone and yanks out all the stops. This version of the pre-king Arthur’s story is insane and insanely shot. Imagine a Robin Hood-like plot with the dialogue and comedy of ‘Snatch’ and a berserk visual style that resembles a high-octane videogame. This won’t appeal to everyone and undoubtedly has the potential to disappoint anyone who doesn’t like the sound of that combination, but it put a gigantic smile on my face. The risky recipe worked for me, but that won’t be the case for all. Warner Bros. currently has a six-film story arc in mind for ‘Arthur’, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this ends up being a stand-alone – especially after Ritchie’s last delightful flop, ‘The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’.
The next wide release makes me laugh mostly because of its title. ‘Snatch’ was Guy Ritchie’s first commercial success, and this weekend’s female comedy is titled ‘Snatched’. Coincidence?
‘Snatched‘ stars acquired taste Amy Schumer as a recently-dumped woman stuck with travel plans that were supposed to be with her now-ex-boyfriend. Unable to cancel the reservations, she opts to go on the trip anyway and bring her mom (Goldie Hawn) along for the adventure. Once in paradise, the unlikely pair get caught up in a dangerous plot that they have to find their way out of. I’m no fan of Schumer and the plot sounds obnoxiously bad, but two aspects have piqued my attention. Goldie Hawn is a comedic gem and I’d love to see her on the big screen again, and director Jonathan Levine typically makes movies that entertain. Is that enough to get me out to see ‘Snatched’? Nope, but it’ll be on Blu-ray by the end of summer and I’m fine with waiting until then.
Doug Liman has a new film out in limited release. Playing on 541 screens, ‘The Wall‘ (not to be confused with Matt Damon’s Chinese epic ‘The Great Wall’) stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson and John Cena as two soldiers pinned down by a sniper who has them in his sights. The modern warfare picture gets its title from the small wall that they’re trapped behind. With the tension coming from an unseen villain and the entire film taking place at one location, I have a feeling that this film will have a hard time drawing audiences.
