Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

***/****     PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD’S END (PG-13)

In the summer of 2003, Walt Disney Pictures’ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl landed in theaters as a fun, cinematic thrill-ride about Will Turner, a blacksmith who teams up with the eccentric pirate Jack Sparrow in an effort to save the governor’s daughter Elizabeth Swann. The film went on to gross over $305 million at the box-office, and led to the follow-up film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest in 2006. A movie that was more about style than substance, but enjoyable nonetheless, the second film follows Sparrow, Swann and Turner as they race to recover the heart of Davy Jones, hoping to avoid enslaving Sparrow’s soul to Jones. And now less than a year after Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest set box-office records and grossed over $423 million, comes Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End — a film that easily trumps this month’s other releases to take the crown as 2007’s first entertaining summer blockbuster.

This time around, Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) has formed an alliance with the Flying Dutchman and Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) to take over control of the seas and to rid the world of pirates once and for all. But Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) and Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) have also formed an alliance and set sail to the end of the Earth to rescue Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from Davy Jones’ locker.

The three are soon aided in their quest to rescue Captain Jack in Singapore by Captain Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat) and his band of Chinese pirates. Once they are able to successfully rescue Sparrow, the group joins forces with the Nine Lords of the Brethren Court in an effort to fend off the pending doom from the East India Company and the Flying Dutchman, while Turner battles to rescue his imprisoned father “Bootstrap” Bill (Stellan Skarsgard).

Lengthy and plot-heavy, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End fails to capture the surprising magic displayed in the franchise’s first film, but director Gore Verbinski (The Weather Man, The Ring), writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio (The Legend of Zorro, Shrek) and the movie’s fantastic ensemble have managed to outdo the second film by conjuring up an immensely entertaining action-adventure flick that can be quite confusing, but somehow remains exciting. And after a slight slow and tedious start, the movie nicely builds to an energetic and climactic finish.

But the real success of the entire Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy is based around the astonishing technical achievements the series has created. The franchise is very stylistic and visually stimulating, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End wonderfully captures the incredible visual effects, cinematography, art direction, make-up and costume design that helped make the first two films a joy to watch, while Academy Award winner Hans Zimmer’s (The Holiday, The Da Vinci Code) original score also helps add to the intensity of the movie’s numerous fight sequences.

The weakest performance in the film unexpectedly comes from Depp (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Libertine) as the beloved Captain Jack, who has now been weighed-down by a script with a large amount of slapstick-like actions and forced one-liners that urge Depp to go increasingly over-the-top in his portrayal of the unusual Sparrow. Knightly (Domino, Pride & Prejudice) gives the most striking performance in the movie, with her character of Elizabeth Swann asked to carry several key scenes in the film, and Keira excelling in the role. And while the romantic plotline between her and Will Turner is still prevalent, that story at least gets rewarded with an eventual payoff.

Despite the movie’s complicated storylines and 168-minute running time, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is still a satisfying spectacle that is sure to delight any fan of the series.

The Breed

1/2-a-star/****     THE BREED (R) 

Considered to be one of the greatest horror film directors of all-time, Wes Craven helmed countless genre favorites like the original The Hills Have Eyes, Nightmare on Elm Street and Swamp Thing. Craven and writer Kevin Williamson were also the driving force behind the recent decade-long resurgence in horror movies with their 1996 hit Scream. But the 67-year old Craven has also found his name attached to the some of the worst horror films of the last few years, including Dracula 2000, Feast and this year’s unintentionally-funny flick The Breed.

The story follows John (Oliver Hudson) and his younger brother Matt (Eric Lively), along with three of their college-aged pals, who decide to spend a weekend vacation on a remote island at a log cabin where their deceased uncle used to live. The friends spend most of their time lounging around on the island, catching some much needed rest and relaxation, before vacationer Sara (Taryn Manning) is bitten by an unprovoked stray dog.

While attending to her wound, Matt recalls a story about a compound a mile from the cabin that used to train attack dogs, only to be forced into closing down because of a rabies outbreak. Soon, Matt and his friends find themselves trapped in the log cabin that has quickly become surrounded by numerous rabid dogs, with all five desperate to find their way back home before they are all viciously and fatally attacked.

Brought to the big-screen by first-time director Nicholas Mastandrea, The Breed is an unfocused and disjointed film. A former associate producer and assistant director on a number of recent Wes Craven movies, Mastandrea’s hideous directing along with Robert Conte and Peter Martin Wortmann’s (Who’s Harry Crumb?) shoddy script and Giulio Biccari’s shabby cinematography all amount to one of the more deeply flawed scare flicks of all-time.

The action sequences involving the dogs are very comical, with the canines in The Breed proving to be less frightful than the beast on the other side of the fence in the kiddie-flick The Sandlot. None of the characters in the movie are truly developed and therefore are unlikeable as your typical frat boys and sorority sisters who spend the majority of their time soaking up the sun while guzzling extreme amounts of alcohol and discussing only trite sexual scenarios.

Michelle Rodriguez (BloodRayne, TV’s Lost) is the only actor in the film that possesses any type of screen presence, but is underutilized and is placed in too many preposterous situations. Manning (A Lot Like Love, Hustle & Flow) also suffers from a lack of development, with her character Sara only recognizable for her whiny nature. Hudson (Black Christmas, TV’s Dawson’s Creek), Lively (TV’s The L Word) and Hill Harper all trade off one-liners and turn in equally hammy performances.

An ill-conceived film from start to finish, The Breed is an embarrasing picture that offers nothing new for fans of the horror movie genre.

Georgia Rule

 

**/****     GEORGIA RULE (R)

Despite her negative reputation in the media, Lindsay Lohan is a remarkable young actress who first made audiences take notice in the fun and refreshing teen comedy Mean Girls. Lohan has stumbled a bit in subsequent adolescently-geared projects like Herbie: Fully Loaded and Just My Luck, but she has also successfully separated herself from her teen queen image by taking on supporting roles in Robert Altman’s A Prairie Home Companion and Emilio Estevez’s Bobby. Lohan continues her dramatic turn in director Gary Marshall’s latest film Georgia Rule.

Lohan stars as Rachel, a reckless teenager sent by her mother Lilly (Felicity Huffman) and stepfather Arnold (Cary Elwes) to live with her grandmother Georgia (Jane Fonda) in a small-town in Idaho for the summer before her freshman year of college. Rachel immediately begins her visit on the wrong foot, foolishly seducing the ignorant and innocent Mormon boy Harlan (Garrett Hedlund), and dropping an unexpected bombshell in a conversation with her new boss, local veterinarian Simon (Dermot Mulroney).

Rachel disposes of the fact that she has been sexually abused by her stepfather Arnold since she was twelve-years old, which shocks and worries her grandmother Georgia. Georgia alerts Rachel’s unaware mother Lilly about the ongoing abuse, but Lilly has a hard time trusting her wild child based on Rachel’s careless behavior over the years.

Georgia Rule sparked a ton of media attention in the summer of 2006 when Morgan Creek Productions CEO James G. Robinson’s warning letter to Lohan about her discourteous, irresponsible and unprofessional conduct on the set of the movie was endangering the quality of the picture. Yet Lohan, who was recently named the hottest woman in the world by Maxim magazine, turns in the best performance in the film and the best performance of her young career.

Certain elements in the movie seem catered to Lohan’s heedless and well-publicized lifestyle, but Lindsay’s ability to change from facetious to angry and then to vulnerable is striking, and her performance stands-out as one of the better female performances so far in 2007. In only her second-film in sixteen-years, Fonda’s work as Georgia is much better suited for her style and her age than her absurd performance in 2005’s Monster-in-Law, while Huffman’s (Transamerica, TV’s Desperate Housewives) character is oftentimes clownish and the weakest of the bunch.

The supporting characters are also enjoyable to watch, but they feel underdeveloped and hackneyed in Mark Andrus’ (Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Life as a House) insipid script. And despite the strong acting, director Marshall (The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, Raising Helen) struggles trying to find an adequate tone for the movie, with many of the comedic moments intended to offset the dramatic turns ultimately falling flat.

A dramedy about three generations of women and their relationships with each other, Georgia Rule is a sleazy made-for-Lifetime movie that is partially saved through the casting of its stars Fonda, Huffman and Lohan.

Shrek the Third

*.5/****     SHREK THE THIRD (PG)

2001’s Academy Award winning animated flick Shrek told the story of an ogre looking to regain his swamp land by bringing the beautiful princess Fiona to the dastardly Lord Farquaad, only to find that he has instead fallen in love with the princess. The 2004 follow-up film Shrek 2 received two Academy Award nominations and featured newlyweds Shrek and Fiona paying a visit to Fiona’s parents, only to have their marriage nearly torn apart by a mean-spirited Fairy Godmother who desperately wanted to see Fiona marry Prince Charming. The sharp-witted films became critical darlings and grossed over $700 million combined. The franchise continues with the release of Shrek the Third, which will be another box-office success, but lands in theaters as a comedic dud.

Princess Fiona’s (Cameron Diaz) father King Harold (John Cleese) has passed away, leaving Fiona’s husband Shrek (Mike Meyers) next in-line to become the King of Far Far Away. Shrek is noticeably reluctant towards become the new King, as he desperately wants to return to his swamp land, so he and his pals Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) decide to recruit Fiona’s high school social outcast of a cousin King Arthur (Justin Timberlake).

While Shrek and his friends begin their journey towards convincing the disinclined Arthur to become the new King, Princess Fiona is at home with family and friends preparing for the birth of her and Shrek’s first child. But Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) unexpectedly returns to Far Far Away land and eventually overtakes the King’s castle, with plans to finally kill Shrek once he returns.

Unable to land an appropriate comedic or emotional punch, Shrek the Third pales in comparison to its predecessors. The original Shrek was fresh, funny and was presented with a unique emotional charm. Shrek 2 lacked the same sweet and heartfelt nature delivered in the first film, but found ways to still make a witty film for kids and adults, specifically with great attention payed to the movie’s numerous amusing characters. Shrek the Third brings back those same characters, while adding in a couple of new ones, but the loveable and absorbing qualities are now virtually nonexistent.

The movie’s plot and narrative are extremely thin, and the film monotonously moves along through sporadic laughs and very little story or character development. The trilogy’s once refreshing take on the typical fairy tale structure has moderately lost its appeal, and this picture aims incredibly low in comedic value with several jokes sure to make the kiddies giggle and the adults groan. In fact, Shrek the Third feels like the type of movie that the previous two installments in the series would have openly lampooned.

The overall look of the film is of course enjoyable to witness, and Donkey and Puss in Boots once again manage to sneak-in a couple of lines that even the adults can’t help but smirk at. And while most of the returning characters feel stale, newcomer King Arthur and the mockery of John Hughes-like teen comedies that ensues from his introduction stands-out as one of the few original highlights in the course of the movie.

An enjoyable but disappointing movie that will fail to meet exceedingly high-expectations, Shrek the Third treads already chartered waters while offering audiences nothing new or exciting.

Seraphim Falls

***/****     SERAPHIM FALLS (R)

John Hillcoat’s 2006 Australian-Western The Proposition starred Guy Pearce and Ray Winstone in the best western film in well-over a decade. A compelling and well-acted movie, The Proposition was a refreshing change of pace in the crowded environment of indie-dramas. Now with the release of this year’s equally engaging Seraphim Falls from first-time feature film director David Von Ancken, we may be seeing a revitalization of a forgotten genre.

Gideon (Pierce Brosnan) is a grizzly-looking trapper who gets shot in the arm in the woods by would-be assailant Carver (Liam Neeson). Gideon manages to elude capture though, fleeing through the cold, wintry wilderness. Gideon stumbles upon a log cabin where a young woman named Charlotte (Shannon Zeller) nurses his wounds and provides him with a place to relax, but Carver and his gang of hunters remain hot on Gideon’s tail, as they follow his foot-prints in the snow and his blood-stained trail.

It turns out Gideon is an ex-Union Captain who three years ago during the Civil War ordered the house of Confederate Colonel Carver be burned to the ground because of his lack of cooperation. But Gideon’s actions unintentionally resulted in the death of Carver’s wife and baby, both of whom were accidentally left inside of the burning home. In a vengeful move, Carver has now placed a bounty on Gideon’s head with hopes of being able to exact some revenge.

Unlike most modern-day westerns, Seraphim Falls is light on the action and delves more heavily into the characters and the hunt, in a similar manner to that of John Ford’s The Searchers. Von Ancken’s picture has a great awarness about itself, holding your attention with its gorgeous photography and an intriguing pace, centering around the gradual self-discovery among two complex characters who could have easily fallen into overused good guy-bad guy roles.

Pierce Brosnan (The Matador, After the Sunset) turns in the best-performance of his career as the suppressed Gideon. Brosnan’s gritty and emotional work was a joy to watch following his disappointing seven-year run as James Bond. Neeson (Batman Begins, Kingdom of Heaven) is not quite as strong, as he plays the spiteful Carver oddly subdued. Xander Berkeley (Fracture, North Country), Angie Harmon (Fun with Dick and Jane, Agent Cody Banks) and Anjelica Huston (Material Girls, Art School Confidential) all make small appearances in the film, but none of their contributions add much to the overall story.

The movie does suffer a bit from some lazy writing from first-time screenwriters Von Ancken and Abby Everett Jaques, with artificial dialogue and occasions of exposition where important elements are just spoken instead of shown. And Seraphim Falls eventually loses steam, as it starts struggling with finding a satisfying conclusion.

An early-year release that will inevitably get lost in the shuffle at year’s end, Seraphim Falls is a solidly-crafted genre piece sure to appease fans.

Amazing Grace

*/****     AMAZING GRACE (PG)

William Wilberforce was a wealthy British politician who drew the ire of some of his fellow governmental leaders when he actively campaigned for the abolishment of the slave trade in the 18th century. A young idealist, Wilberforce led an important movement in history that was just as much a spiritual journey for William as it was a personal achievement. Michael Apted’s 2007 movie Amazing Grace is a historical biopic about Wilberforce’s monumental campaign, but unfortunately its presented as an overly preachy and tiresome film.

Ioan Gruffudd (Fantastic Four, King Arthur) plays the role of William Wilberforce, a deeply religious man and an ambitious young politician in the House of Commons in 1787. Wilberforce’s good-friend William Pitt (Benedict Cumberbatch) is on the verge of becoming the Prime Minister of Great Britian, and persuades Wilberforce to lead the parliamentary campaign for the abolishment of the British slave trade. But while Wilberforce is gradually able to build some support in the House of Commons, each of the bills that he introduces to abolish the slave trade are ultimately defeated.

Years later, Wilberforce becomes reinvigorated with the idea of ending the slave trade in his homeland through a conversation he has with Barbara Spooner (Romola Garai), a woman he is reluctantly set-up on a date with. With support from a small pocket of his peers already established, Wilberforce decides to bring forward a new anti-slavery bill, hoping his countrymen will now vote to make a remarkable moral change that he has fought over a decade for.

A well-meaning film, Amazing Grace feels like one of those dreadful historical films you are subjected to sit through in a social-science class, rather than a film you would plunk down hard-earned cash for to see on the big-screen. The movie has numerous defects, but the most painful is the screenplay from Academy Award nominee Steven Wright (Dirty Pretty Things) which clumsily moves about without taking the time to provide some emotional depth to the events or the characters.

The film discusses a landmark moment in history, but its didactic dialogue and pretentious nature takes the audience completely out of the film, with the end results lacking significance. Amazing Grace never adds any complex discussions into the picture and refuses to delve into the minds of those who oppose Wilberforce’s abolitionist movement. Instead, the scenarios and situations are painted with a rather dull black-and-white brush.

Gruffudd eats up screen-time without displaying any charisma, and is only likeable from the point of his character’s convictions. Cumberbatch (Starter for Ten) has an incredible screen presence, but his character gets lost in the shuffle as the narrative progresses through the years. Albert Finney (A Good Year, Big Fish) and Rufus Sewell (The Holiday, The Illusionist) make periodic appearances throughout, while Garai (Scoop, Vanity Fair) is a breath of fresh-air in her minimal role.

Not at all involving, Amazing Grace has its heart in the right place, but blunders on its way towards telling an important tale.

Breaking and Entering

**/****     BREAKING AND ENTERING (R)

Academy Award winner Anthony Minghella has established a reputation for himself as one of the better screenwriters and directors in Hollywood today. Minghella’s 1996 breakout film The English Patient garnered nine Oscar wins, including a Best Director trophy for Minghella. The Academy Awards also nominated Minghella for Best Adapted Screenplay for both The English Patient, as well as his 1999 follow-up film, the five-time Oscar nominated The Talented Mr. Ripley. Minghella continued his successful track-record with 2003’s Cold Mountain, which garnered seven Academy Award and eight Golden Globe nominations. But Minghella’s streak of tremendous performances comes to hault with the release of this year’s imperfect but still appealing film Breaking and Entering.

Jude Law (The Holiday, All The King’s Men) and Robin Wright Penn (Nine Lives, White Oleander) star in this British drama as Will and Liv, a depressed couple whose relationship is beginning to come apart at the seams. Will is a landscape architect who has a tough-time managing with Liv’s autistic daughter Bea (Poppy Rogers), while also dealing with a rash of burglaries at a community restoration project of his in London.

Will begins surveilling his development at night, when he spots fifteen-year old Bosnian Miro (Rafi Gavron) breaking into his company’s building. Will pursues Miro back to his home, and returns later in the week with clothes to be tailored by Miro’s mother Amira (Juliette Binoche) while he investigates Miro’s background. But Will gradually begins a modest friendship with Amira, that soon spirals out of control into an unexpected, sordid love affair.

A well-shot and well-acted movie, Breaking and Entering is an interesting film that suffers from tedious storytelling and a poorly designed narrative. Even at two-hours, the picture tries to accomplish too much at the expense of the proper attention needed for certain sub-plots and moments, suddenly taking the film’s cheaply written characters down unreasonable and paltry paths.

Law, Wright Penn and Academy Award winner Binoche (Bee Season, Cache) all do a commendable job given the material, and the three wisely avoid exaggerating the drama and they somehow present pleasing characters in unlikeable situations. The most striking performances come from newcomers Gavron and Rogers who are strong in their complicated roles, and manage to keep pace with the film’s three incredible leads.

The impressive ensemble also includes Martin Freeman (Confetti, Shaun of the Dead) as Will’s business partner Sandy, and Ray Winstone (The Departed, The Proposition) as Bruno Fella, the detective investigating Will and Sandy’s recent workplace break-ins. Both are enjoyable, but ultimately meaningless in their short-lived screentime. Vera Farmiga (The Departed, Running Scared) also makes an occasional appearance throughout the movie in the unintentionally laughable role of a prostitute who joins Will on his stake-out of his company.

A rewarding film not without faults, Breaking and Entering’s positives thankfully outweigh its glaring negatives.

Premonition

*.5/****     PREMONITION (PG-13)

Sandra Bullock joined her 1994 Speed co-star Keanu Reeves in last year’s time-warping romantic comedy The Lake House. Despite the flick’s numerous logical flaws, The Lake House was a bearable film, thanks to the on-screen chemistry of Bullock and Reeves, and because of Sandra’s underscored and enjoyably subdued performance as Kate Forster. Combined with her recent work in the Academy Award winning Crash and 2006’s unseen Infamous, it appeared Bullock’s career was on an upswing. That is, until the release of this year’s by-the-numbers, surly psychological thriller Premonition.

Bullock stars as Linda Quinn Hanson, a stay-at-home housewife and mother of two awaiting the return of her husband Jim (Julian McMahon) from a business trip. But, instead of his return, Hanson is informed by Sheriff Reilly (Marc Macaulay) that her husband was involved in a fatal car accident the day before. Hanson falls asleep that night, attempting to come to terms with her husband’s untimely passing, only to discover the next morning that Jim is alive and well.

Each new day involves Hanson living her life in a week full of moments either preceeding or following her husband’s death, in a non-sequential order. The random way in which she lives out the week makes her life in the present difficult, as she struggles to piece together the reasons for the strange appearance of Jim’s mysterious co-worker Claire (Amber Valletta), the surprising scratches-and-cuts found on her daughter’s face, and whether or not she can alter the course of events to prevent her husband’s death.

Surprisingly methodical, Premonition is smartly-structured but is arduously written and acted in a B-movie fashion. The movie’s expected twists-and-turns are well-timed, and never feel utterly ridiculous in an already preposterous story. But unfortunately much of the film’s desired tension intended to be developed through the story’s mishmash of sequences never works, because the shocking results are actually easy to predict.

And movies that center around a character’s ability to jump back-and-forth through the passage of time are beginning to feel redundant, with this release, as well as The Lake House, Deja Vu and Next all occuring within one-year of each other. And among the group, Premonition is by far the worse film to tackle the topic, failing to create any sort of suspense, excitement or reason to care for the individual’s caught in the crossfire.

Bullock is the one redeeming actor in the entire film, managing to capture your attention despite having to bumble around through an uninvolving picture. McMahon (Fantastic Four, TV’s Nip/Tuck) is never allowed to develop as a character, as he merely chews up screentime and tosses out rancid dialogue in order to advance particular scenes. And Valletta’s (Hitch, Raising Helen) time as Claire contained a lot of promise, but was ultimately reduced to a stale and stagnant role.

Premonition is a movie that relies solely on the performance of Bullock, but is also an obvious leap backwards in Bullock’s career.

Caffeine

1/2-a-star/****     CAFFEINE (R)

Independent filmmaker Kevin Smith’s Clerks and Clerks 2 are hilarious coming-of-age stories involving identifiable slackers dealing with outrageous workplace conflicts while outwardly sharing their Generation-X cynical views of the world to anyone willing to listen. The films are certainly low-brow, but carry with them a competent, observant nature towards relationships, friendships, dead-end jobs and the struggles of finding ones place in this world. Regardless of the fact that Clerks was cheaply made by a clueless crew and a cast of no-names and never-wills, the film’s method for success has been imitated more than once. The latest feigned attempt is the British coffee shop comedy Caffeine.

Rachel (Marsha Thomason) is the manager of the local coffee shop, The Black Cat Cafe. Rachel recently severed her personal and professional relationship with her co-worker/boyfriend Charlie (Callum Blue), after she discovered he cheated on her with two women. The cafe’s short-handed staff attempts to cope with another busy workday, but their focus is constantly derailed as they fail to perform required daily tasks and instead begin sorting through personal issues.

Eventually the day strays far away from those on the job, as the waiters and waitresses struggle to handle a dining area cluttered with eccentric characters, including a chronic masturbator, an ex-female porn star, a cross-dressing lawyer and a wacky gun-touting grandmother. Rachel tries her best to restore order and keep the coffee shop operating flawlessly, while prepping for a visit from a highly-interested, prospective employer.

The type of movie that likes to pretend it has something profound to say, but in all honesty is a movie without meaning, significance or purpose, Caffeine is a low-budget comedy destined to collect dust on a video-store’s DVD shelf. Despite the film’s kooky characters, Caffeine pales in comparison to a comedy like Waiting… because it doesn’t travel the potty-mouth and gross-out route, and is rather tame in its offensiveness. And Caffeine isn’t afforded an Empire Records-like opportunity where years later you can rediscover stars like Robin Tunney, Liv Tyler and Renee Zellweger before they were famous, because Caffeine already features recognizable characters questionably performing at an all-time low.

Mena Suvari (Factory Girl, Rumor Has It…) and Breckin Meyer (Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, Rebound) star as two of the shop’s employees, but their talents are completely wasted by having to play second-fiddle to another person in their established sub-plots. Katherine Heigl (The Ringer, TV’s Grey’s Anatomy) is featured in the film’s most enjoyable side-story about a recently single woman set-up on a rotten blind date, while her ex-boyfriend and his slacker pal witness the entire scenario from afar. But Heigl is also wasted in the role, asked to react more than deliver.

And the biggest flaw of the film is the vapid story and narrative from first-time screenwriter Dean Craig. None of the people or circumstances in the flick are relatable, and no important foundation is ever built. The story is told very loosely, never attaching itself to one character or one particular story, and instead opting to clumsily try and piece the remnants together in the movie’s hurried final act.

An utterly boring and dull film, Caffeine is a movie full of forced moments and a story that rings entirely false.

Spider-Man 3

**.5/****     SPIDER-MAN 3 (PG-13)

The most successful comic book franchise in movie history, director Sam Raimi originally brought Marvel Comic’s Spider-Man to life on the big-screen in the summer of 2002. The People’s Choice Award winner for Favorite Motion Picture detailed the life of nerdy high school student Peter Parker as he is bitten by a genetically modified spider and gains spider-like abilities that he uses to thwart the crime committed by evildoers. In 2004’s Teen Choice Award winner Spider-Man 2, Parker is a conflicted hero at odds with his best friend Harry Osborn and struggling in a relationship with the object of his desires Mary Jane Watson, all while still trying to protect the streets of New York City. Now Raimi, Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco and company are back in Spider-Man 3 — the first summer blockbuster of 2007.

This time around, Spider-Man has become a beloved, iconic hero in New York City and Peter Parker’s (Maguire) life away from the tights is also favorable, with his connection with Mary Jane (Dunst) having evolved from a simple adolescent infatuation to a budding, adult relationship. Parker’s friendship with Harry (Franco) remains on the rocks, as Osborn still blames Spider-Man for his father’s death in the original flick, but a head injury results in Harry suffering a case of amnesia, failing to remember his ongoing issues with Peter.

But the personal achievements for Parker are short-lived, as new hot-shot photographer Eddie Brock (Topher Grace) threatens Peter’s position with The Daily Bugle newspaper and his beautiful college lab partner Gwen Stacey (Bryce Dallas Howard) begins to form a wedge in the relationship of Parker and Watson. Professionally, Spider-Man is forced into fighting Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church), an escaped convict who is turned into a creature made entirely from sand in a radiation testing zone, while also engaging in battle against a couple more unexpected villians.

Spider-Man was a campy and fun film that set a wonderfully good-natured tone for the series. Spider-Man 2 was a darker and deeper character study that managed to maintain a strong combination of the amiable fun experienced in its predecessor. Spider-Man 3 is still the visual spectacle fans have come to expect based on the previous two films, but this time around the campy style gives way to deliberately cartoonish moments and a large amount of the narrative is convoluted and ill-conceived.

Surprisingly, the movie feels like it is trying to accomplish too much in 140 minutes of screen-time. In the prior films, Peter Parker’s association with Harry and Mary Jane was richly detailed, and the appearance of Spider-Man’s archenemies were well-integrated into the plotlines. But Spider-Man 3 lacks those cohesive moments and attempts to juggle too many stories at once. Like the previous films, the movie does an admirable job in separating itself from most comic book adaptations by trying to provide a clear basis for character motivations and actions, but unfortunately some key elements are muddied in order to advance the movie forward to another impressive visual display.

One of the biggest flaws in the Spider-Man trilogy has been the contemptible acting showcased by the film’s lead players Maguire (The Good German, Seabiscuit), Dunst (Marie Antoinette, Elizabethtown) and Franco (Flyboys, Annapolis). The three were outshone in the original movie by Willem Dafoe, in Spider-Man 2 by Alfred Molina and throughout the entire set of films by J.K. Simmons (The Astronaut Farmer, Harsh Times). This latest outing is no different, with Topher Grace (In Good Company, TV’s That 70’s Show) and Bryce Dallas Howard (Lady in the Water, Manderlay) both adding a bit of respectability to the film by delivering splendid performances in their underdeveloped roles.

And for those who love action, Spider-Man 3 is filled to the brim with tremendous and intense battle sequences, and this latest movie features the best visual effects work in the entire trilogy. A true technical achievement, the distinct costume design by Academy Award winner James Acheson and Katina Le Kerr is very well-done, and even without extraordinary compuser Danny Elfman on board, the original music by Christopher Young (Lucky You, Ghost Rider) adds a lot to the film.

While Spider-Man 3 fails to outdo the first two films in the trilogy, it is still a welcome addition to the popular series that continues to outperform and excel against all other comic book franchises.