21 Jump ST
HHH
Dirs: Phil Lord, Chris Miller
With: Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill
Running time: 109 minutes
HUNKY Channing Tatum and the not-so-chunky-any-more Jonah Hill play a pair of undercover cops going back to high school in this blissfully daft comedy.
Based on the American television series of the same name (no, I'd never heard of it either), Tatum and Hill are Jenko and Schmidt, two hopeless rookies given one last chance to redeem themselves by infiltrating a drug ring in the local high school.
Michael Bacall and Jonah Hill's script cleverly subverts expectations, with Jenko the jock finding himself the odd one out in the slacker-dominated high school of today, while sensitive, once-bullied Schmidt is now king. Phil Lord and Chris Miller's picture doesn't know when to quit when it's ahead, but lots of movie in-jokes, a nicely over the top performance by Ice Cube as a police captain, and some ace interplay between Hill and Tatum make this worth the leap.
Stay alert for a special guest star appearance.
Contraband (15)
HHH
Dir: Baltasar Kormakur
With: Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale
Running time: 109 minutes
BALTASAR Kormakur's heist thriller is largely set on a cargo ship, and like a cargo ship, you can see the twists coming a mile off. That leaves Mark Wahlberg , inset, to carry the day as the one-time smuggler now attempting to lead the quiet life in New Orleans with the wife and kids – until his dopey young brother-in-law gets into trouble.
Cue a trip overseas, lots of switcheroonies, and Wahlberg showing off his pecs and abs now and again, more for old times' sake rather than any plot reasons.
Kate Beckinsale frets well as the wife left at home to worry, Giovanni Ribisi (Avatar) does one of the worst southern bad guy impersonations ever, while 3:10 to Yuma's Ben Foster confirms he's the new Wahlberg in the making.
A tasty, popcorn movie – if you can ignore the predictability.
Cleanskin (15)
H
Dir: Hadi Hajaig
With: Sean Bean, Charlotte Rampling
Running time: 108 minutes
THIS tale of suicide bombers operating in London makes the old Death Wish movies look like orgies of political correctness.
Sean Bean is Ewan, a troubled veteran brought in by the secret services to do what is deemed necessary after atrocities take place in the UK capital.
When grizzled old Ewan is not dispatching bad guys he has Charlotte Rampling, playing the least convincing spook since Penfold in Dangermouse, blowing smoke in his eyes and spouting pseudo spy jargon about clean up operations and tradecraft.
Laughable stuff, if it wasn't for the wall to wall stereotypes, the dodgy acting, the general bad taste and some appalling scenes, many of them involving women.
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