Brick Mansions

Starring: Paul Walker, David Belle, RZA, Gouchy Boy, Catalina Denis, Ayisha Issa, Carlo Rota, Andreas Apergis
Directed by: Camille Delamarre
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
2014

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: An undercover cop (Paul Walker) enters the dangerous Brick Mansions area to stop a bomb from exploding.

Review:

Tim: Brick Mansions is noteworthy because it's the final completed performance from Paul Walker (although not his final role) before his tragic, untimely death. I lament the fact that his last full performance is in such a terrible movie. I wanted to like this film, but I really, really disliked it. It's a total disappointment.

I place a great deal of blame on director Camille Delamarre. He was making his feature film directorial debut, and boy, did it show. The movie looked fine given its budget, but it didn't have much else going for it. The character development was nonexistent. It was as if Delamarre couldn't be bothered with that aspect of the film (which is the most important). I never cared for a single second about any of the characters because we didn't get a chance to really learn about them or connect with them. The only purpose for having humans in this film was to have someone to look at during the action sequences. Delamarre clearly had no idea what he was doing and most of the blame has to rest on his shoulders.

I thought Paul Walker was fairly decent in the role. He should have been, as he's played the undercover cop in quite a few other films. I didn't like that he went back to the same well again, but I guess he was playing to his strengths. I felt like Walker was actually trying to give a good performance, he just had no idea his director would completely and utterly fail him. The rest of the cast was lackluster. RZA isn't a great actor and I never bought his villain-with-a-passion-for-cooking. It just seemed so out of place and forced. David Belle has some sweet parkour skills, but is lacking in the acting department. The rest of the cast was either average or sub-par. You don't watch this movie for the cast.

There's a few decent action sequences throughout the film, Delamarre does have a sense of how to create nice looking action scenes. Unfortunately, they too often stray into the absurd and farfetched. Plus, there's no suspense because we don't care about the characters and the plot is fairly predictable. I had almost no fun watching the action unfold on screen.

Brick Mansions is the English remake of a popular, well-received foreign film. They should have left it alone, because there's almost no trace of whatever made the original so well-liked. This was a rushed attempt with talentless (or close to talentless) people behind the camera.I wanted to like this movie for Walker's sake, but there was no way I could. This is a really, really bad movie.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 4.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: District B-13