Jack The Giant Slayer review
So, I finally got to see Jack The Giant Slayer.
It was pretty good, for the type of movie it is. Not groundbreaking by any stretch, but perfectly serviceable fare and better than other fairytale adaptations that were thrown our way recently. Just to make an example, I wasn’t actively rooting for the death of any character bar the villain.
In fact, there were a lot of good characters, both in alignment an execution. Jack the hero and his love interest the princess don’t reserve any surprises and do their job pretty well (and incidentally, Nicholas Hoult is both adorable and hot, I want more of him not in Beast guise), in fact they manage to play their assigned roles in true fairytale style without resulting grating.
However, the true surprises are the King and Elmont, two characters that do defy expectations. The King’s first scene sees him insisting that his daughter marry a guy she doesn’t wish to marry and stop sneaking out of the palace: you are inclined to categorize him as a hardass who doesn’t understand his child and tick off the box saying “Bad Guy”. Elmont is The Ace knight who looks down on the humble hero and therefore will eventually turn out to be either a fool of another bad guy, or at least an adversary.
The King turns out to be a Good King, the type of guy who listens to what people say, is perfectly willing to do his share of hard labor in a crisis and, when push comes to shove, will put the good of his kingdom above all else including personal feelings. Sure, he wasn’t ecstatic at his daughter making eyes at a peasant, but when the peasant repeatedly proves himself he can deal with it.
Elmont takes a bit to be favorably impressed, but eventually he too can recognize a guy with valor when he sees one and he too can put the general good above his own. He’s ok with not being the Hero, as long as he can fulfill his duty.
And understand, the narrative doesn’t frame this as them having to eat Humble Pie and recognize the error of their ways. The narrative is clear that these guys are great people who could have been the heroes of another story and who just had to know our guy Jack a bit better to admit he was a worthy man.
The movie also surprised me by having the purported Big Bad done away with half an hour still to go and then having a pretty awesome ending beyond the Happily Ever After (which, ok: it was also a potential sequel hook, but it was done in a pretty ingenious manner.)
My only quibble was the resolution of the battle. After all that “the princess will become queen one day” foreshadowing, and since the crown belonged to the Royal Family, I fully expected to see Isabelle coming out with the crown on her head to subdue the giants.
I realize the hero is Jack, but after all he had already slain three giants and recovered the McGuffin. He’d done his part. I’d have liked the ending much more if they’d had Jack make to put the crown on his head, stop, turn to Isabelle and hand her the crown with an appropriate sentence (“Time to become Queen”, “I think this actually belongs to you”, whatever.) After which they could still have strolled out hand in hand to own the giants, just a bit more like partners rather than Hero and Love Interest.
Still, this is a personal quibble and a minor one. All in all, I have to say it was an enjoyable time.
It was pretty good, for the type of movie it is. Not groundbreaking by any stretch, but perfectly serviceable fare and better than other fairytale adaptations that were thrown our way recently. Just to make an example, I wasn’t actively rooting for the death of any character bar the villain.
In fact, there were a lot of good characters, both in alignment an execution. Jack the hero and his love interest the princess don’t reserve any surprises and do their job pretty well (and incidentally, Nicholas Hoult is both adorable and hot, I want more of him not in Beast guise), in fact they manage to play their assigned roles in true fairytale style without resulting grating.
However, the true surprises are the King and Elmont, two characters that do defy expectations. The King’s first scene sees him insisting that his daughter marry a guy she doesn’t wish to marry and stop sneaking out of the palace: you are inclined to categorize him as a hardass who doesn’t understand his child and tick off the box saying “Bad Guy”. Elmont is The Ace knight who looks down on the humble hero and therefore will eventually turn out to be either a fool of another bad guy, or at least an adversary.
The King turns out to be a Good King, the type of guy who listens to what people say, is perfectly willing to do his share of hard labor in a crisis and, when push comes to shove, will put the good of his kingdom above all else including personal feelings. Sure, he wasn’t ecstatic at his daughter making eyes at a peasant, but when the peasant repeatedly proves himself he can deal with it.
Elmont takes a bit to be favorably impressed, but eventually he too can recognize a guy with valor when he sees one and he too can put the general good above his own. He’s ok with not being the Hero, as long as he can fulfill his duty.
And understand, the narrative doesn’t frame this as them having to eat Humble Pie and recognize the error of their ways. The narrative is clear that these guys are great people who could have been the heroes of another story and who just had to know our guy Jack a bit better to admit he was a worthy man.
The movie also surprised me by having the purported Big Bad done away with half an hour still to go and then having a pretty awesome ending beyond the Happily Ever After (which, ok: it was also a potential sequel hook, but it was done in a pretty ingenious manner.)
My only quibble was the resolution of the battle. After all that “the princess will become queen one day” foreshadowing, and since the crown belonged to the Royal Family, I fully expected to see Isabelle coming out with the crown on her head to subdue the giants.
I realize the hero is Jack, but after all he had already slain three giants and recovered the McGuffin. He’d done his part. I’d have liked the ending much more if they’d had Jack make to put the crown on his head, stop, turn to Isabelle and hand her the crown with an appropriate sentence (“Time to become Queen”, “I think this actually belongs to you”, whatever.) After which they could still have strolled out hand in hand to own the giants, just a bit more like partners rather than Hero and Love Interest.
Still, this is a personal quibble and a minor one. All in all, I have to say it was an enjoyable time.