IT ENDS WITH US***

Absent the controversy surrounding Blake Lively's press campaign, IT ENDS WITH US is a perfectly decently made relationship drama about a woman who finally escapes her husband's domestic violence.  It stars Lively as Lily Bloom  - an on-the-nose named heroine who grew up with domestic violence and is horrified when she realises she is in exactly the same situation. She was swept off her feet by a handsome surgeon (played by director Justin Baldoni) and caught up in a fun friendship with his sister (played by the wonderful comedienne Jenny Slate).  But what at first seem like unfortunate accidents - a reflex slap - a trip down the stairs - eventually become clear as deliberate acts of violence. This is all brought to the fore when Lily reconnects with her childhood sweetheart Atlas (absurd name again!) played by 1923's Brandon Sklenar.  

The film has been criticised for making domestic abuse look romantic or by falsely selling the audience on the content of the film. I am not sure a movie based on a major bestseller can be accused of misleading its built-in audience.  Moreover, it's important to recognise that these stories have a layer of romance and charm and charisma.  Domestic abuse victims are emotionally manipulated into believing that the abuser really does love them. It does start off feeling like a romance. Even in the immediate aftermath of violence there can be declarations of love and promises of redemption.  I also feel that Blake Lively does a really good job of conveying how a strong, smart woman can be gaslit and also start diminishing herself as she pre-emptively appeases her abuser. 

Overall I found this to be a well-made and engrossing film. If anything is unbelievable, it's how fast Lily has the strength to leave her husband. Maybe that can be explained by her childhood experience. But we know that in reality it takes domestic abuse victims a number of times before they finally get the courage and practical support to finally leave, if they ever do.  

IT ENDS WITH US has a running time of 130 minutes and is rated R. It is available to stream.

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE is a disappointingly piss-poor action-comedy from the director of the infinitely more amusing and heart-warming WE'RE THE MILLERS, Rawson Marshall Thurber. It stars Dwayne Johnson as a formerly fat bullied schoolkid turned muscle-bound CIA agent accused of killing his partner (Aaron Johnson) and stealing secret files.  He turns up at the house of a former high school jock (Kevin Hart) now living a banal suburban life as an accountant.  At first, his friend appears to be naive and lovable, but then morphs into something seemingly scary and unhinged, before Hart's character realises that he's actually being framed.  High-jinks ensue.  The problem with this film is that a cameo from Jason Bateman apart, it's not really that funny, and there's no convincing relationship between the two male leads as there was with, say, 21 JUMP STREET.  The result is a film that plods along in a fairly banal way, culminating in a high school reunion that's meant to be cathartic for the former fat kid. But even this wannabe emotional and uplifting moment falls flat. One to avoid. 

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE has a running time of 107 minutes and is rated PG-13. The film is on global release.

JUMPER - weak performances mar neat-O concept

This poster totally sums up the new sci-fi action flick, JUMPER. On the plus side, there are a lot of cool special effects and glamourous locations thrown up onto the screen. The pyramids, the Colisseum, down-town Tokyo, the beaches of Fiji...The heroes of this film run, jump, speed and slide their way through glamourous location after glamourous location. The problem is that the amount of time and care spent on, oh simple things, like character, motivation, plot and narrative arc, are disproportionately small.

It's a real shame because the basic concept is cool. Certain people have the ability to "jump" - to teleport instantaneously to anywhere in the world. These Jumpers are being hunted down by evil Paladins, who think only God should have that kind of power.

Problem is, the Paladins are led by Samuel L Jackson in a daft blonde dye-job that totally subverts his ability to look scary and threatening. Another problem is the lame attempt to inject a bigger story/possible sequel of the "Luke, I am your father" kind. Yet another problem is the fact that our hero, as portrayed by Hayden Christiansen, comes across as whiny and self-obsessed. There's never any suggestion that David will use his powers to save others. Indeed, the only thing he uses them for is to get with his childhood sweetheart. Rachel Bilson is similarly weak in her performance.

The only person who looks remotely like he's having any fun is Jamie Bell. He camps up his cameo role as a fellow Jumper, and almost, but not quite, manages to turn a weak script into something entertaining.

I'd also like to observe that the two kids playing younger version of David and his sweetheart - Annasophia Robb and Max Thieriot - are infinitely stronger performers than their grown-up counter-parts. So if we must have a sequel, might it not be better as a more fully developed prequel?

JUMPER is on release in Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Kuwait, Mexico, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Lorea, Taiwan, the US, the UK, Estonia, Iceland, Norway, Poland and Spain. It opens next week in Belgium, Egypt, France, Denmark, Sweden, Israel and Italy. JUMPER opens in March in Slovakia, Finland, Japan, Turkey, Germany and Brazil. It opens in Argentina on April 3rd.