Arsenal

The Ultimate Movie to Come Out of the Entourage Show Universe

Opening:
Let me just say that I love Entourage and I enjoy for what it is, but I couldn’t help but notice that this movie would fit in perfectly on that show as a “fake” Hollywood picture because of the overall ridiculous nature of the film. Let’s get reel and break this down.

Plot:
A man attempts to rescue his kidnapped brother from a southern mobster.

Directing/Writing

Pros:
At some points, it so bad it’s enjoyable. But those are in spurts and not throughout.

Cons:
In order to break this down, I must go by specific sections, starting with the story, characters, and writing. The story itself is very basic and doesn’t offer anything new to a “mob, crime thriller”. With that said, it feels disjointed with no substance to anything happening with the characters or action. Some of the plot points are very dumb and some feel like they contradict to some of the characters themselves. The writing is laughable sometimes, especially given Cage’s over-the-top performances, and very generic given some of the forced line delivery by some of the actors. The characters aren’t very developed and, if they are, it feels like they are scratching the surface of them and not exploring any of the relationships. Since they aren’t developed well you ultimately don’t care about their safety or care in general. Some characters are in the background or in a few scenes and it feels like the director posed importance on them, but they never feel important. The overall direction is poor and feels like three different movies and never comes together as a whole. And the one thing that serves this movie injustice is the overtly, gratuitous violence, incredibly out of place slow motion scenes, and the overblown color correction to make it look like a student project. I don’t mind if the violence is graphic but it needs to serve the movie.

Acting

Pros:
To be honest, everyone isn’t terrible but not very good either. I am somewhere in the middle on the performances, yes, even Cage, so I will put the performances in the pro section. The actors look and sound committed but the material made them look bad. And this is a personal issue but after seeing Entourage, Adrian Grenier has been cursed because all I see is his character Vincent Chase; once again, not his fault, just an issue of mine. And shout out to Todd Jenkins in the film, I have worked with the guy in a couple projects and he was an awesome actor and great guy.

Cons:
None.

Cinematography

Pros:
None.

Cons:
I don’t mind handy-cam, look at the Bourne franchise, when it’s used correctly but the camerawork was very shoddy and comes off as amateurish. However, there were a few tripod shots that were very good. They should have gone that route. I understand the handy-cam argument to put you in the situation and make the story grounded, but this was too much. The lighting is overblown and never finds a balance between the outside and inside scenes. The colors are all over the place and never mesh well with the situations making it look like poor lighting and color gel choices.

Editing/Special Effects

Pros:
I guess at an hour and a half it’s bearable? Regardless if I hate the violence, some, and I mean some of the effects and blood were effective.

Cons:
The climax of the film feels rushed giving any tension made throughout the film to have no impact for the overall experience. Everything else prior was pretty boring, given my lack of any connection to any character or the choices they made. Most of the characters are either dumb or extremely unlikeable to make the flow of the film to trudge along at a snails pace.

Overall:
There is nothing more to say, skip it. If you want a movie at 2 a.m., while drinking, with a group of friends, I would suggest it.

Grade: D+
(Review by Chase Lee)