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Business News/ Mint-lounge / Features/  Film Review | Jack the Giant Slayer
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Film Review | Jack the Giant Slayer

A farmhand and a princess save the world from monstrous hairy men with awful teeth

A still from the film Jack the Giant SlayerPremium
A still from the film Jack the Giant Slayer

Bryan Singer’s fantasy adventure Jack the Giant Slayer is based on the English folk tale Jack the Giant Killer, with a nod to The Lord of the Rings stories—instead of a ring, there’s a crown to rule them all.

Jack (Nicholas Hoult) is a farmhand who is fascinated with the legend of how the ancestors of his current ruler (Ian McShane) freed the kingdom from the terror of giants. Of course, nothing ever disappears forever in fairy tales, so the King’s evil minister (Stanley Tucci) unearths the crown that controls the giants and has restricted them in a netherworld between heaven and earth for centuries. The minister, who, for no reason other than script-writing contrivance is engaged to Princess Isabel (Eleanor Tomlinson), is waiting for an opportunity to grow a new beanstalk that will allow the giants to come down to earth and eat up all the humans, so that he can rule over whatever is left behind.

Doesn’t make sense? It’s not supposed to. But the scenario does allow for silly jokes that have to do with spilling the beans and barking up the wrong beanstalk.

Like so many films of its ilk, Jack the Giant Slayer is all about delivering computer-aided gimmickry to undemanding viewers and keeping the 3D industry alive (the movie has been released in 2D, 3D and IMAX). The opportunity to show off the visual effects comes when Jack, Isbabel and the kingdom’s general (played by Ewan McGregor with a cupcake haircut) find themselves in the lair of the giants, who are lumbering creatures with moss- and dirt-encrusted faces and rotting teeth. The by-the-numbers screenplay includes the usual near misses with the monsters (McGregor nearly becomes a human pie), the clever escape and the eventual invasion of the kingdom, which involves so much destruction that it’s no surprise that the suggested sequel is likely to be set in the present day.

The very young leads are enthusiastic, but uncharismatic, while the senior cast members phone in their performances. Director Bryan Singer is efficient and bloodless, and brings in the whole thing within 115 minutes. He keeps boredom at bay, but fails to create a sense of wonderment.

Singer’s mixed-bag directing career includes The Usual Suspects, two of the X-Men films (and one more in the pipeline), Valkyrie and Superman Returns. He hasn’t made anything as exciting or fulfilling as The Usual Suspects in years, and it’s fair to predict that he isn’t going to any more. Singer has been more interested in fanning his fanboy flames, which usually involves tonnes of somebody else’s money, and immersing himself in never-ending franchises. Since Jack the Giant Slayer ends with the de rigueur promise of a sequel, Singer has enough with which to occupy himself for the next few years—and to stay far away from such genuine filmmaking adventures as The Usual Suspects.

Jack the Giant Slayer released in theatres on Friday.

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Published: 01 Mar 2013, 05:02 PM IST
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