ALEXXANDAR REVIEWS: Even Morgan Freeman Can’t Save ‘Vanquish’ | Local news

“Defeat” (Action / Crime: 1 hour, 36 minutes)

With: Morgan Freeman, Ruby Rose and Patrick Muldoon

Director: George Gallo

Rated: R (intense violence, profanity, sexual material and drug use)

Film Review: Morgan Freeman is an Oscar-winning actor. He is a superb legend of cinema. He’s always good at his roles. Freeman maintains his superior intellectual acting style, but it’s a terrible movie, giving the actor little to portray.

Known as the American Police Commissioner, retired police hero Damon (Freeman) enlists Victoria (Rose), a single mother of a sick child, to carry out several large sums of money fundraisers.

Victoria was once a Russian drug smuggler and she wants to leave this life behind. However, she has no choice as Damon is holding his daughter hostage. To complete her duties, Victoria must revert to her former mercenary skills.

“Vanquish” is a poorly written screenplay by director George Gallo (“Bigger”, 2018) and co-writer Samuel Bartlett. The characters are poorly developed. This mainly exists because the story makes it seem like it begins in the middle of a story.

Character associations are scattered bits and pieces that are never explained well enough for these people to be cared for. The protagonists, Freeman and Rose, are bad people, and the motivations of the antagonists are equally unethical and confusing.

The film plays out like an action noir film. In such films, all of the characters have less than honorable lives which usually take place during the night scenes. They are usually all corrupt people where the intentions of at least the main characters are good. “Vanquish” has those aspects, but he doesn’t have much else.

Rating: F (This film will not beat its competing films.)

“SAS: Notice rouge” (Action / Crime: 2 hours 03 minutes)

With: Sam Heughan, Ruby Rose, Hannah John-Kamen, Tom Hopper and Andy Serkis

Director: Magnus Martens

Rated: R (strong / bloody violence and blasphemy)

Movie Review: “Red Notice” stars handsome action star Sam Heughan acting like James Bond, lots of action, and a nasty, wily villain in the form of a seductive Ruby Rose.

The movie entertains of course, but it’s also a typical action movie. It’s also seedy at times, periodically appearing as a comedy.

An international notice, a red notice is one of the six color codes to find the whereabouts / arrest of a person wanted by a judicial court or an international tribunal with plausible extradition.

Interpol is issuing a Red Notice for Grace Lewis (Rose), her family and the group of mercenaries working with them. Grace and her team evade law enforcement and the British government for a time. It resurfaces, leading the takeover of a train bound for France under the Channel.

Tom Buckingham (Heughan), a British military special forces officer, is on the train. Buckingham goes on vacation to Paris to propose to Dr Sophie Hart (John-Kamen). Buckingham must do what he can to stop the terrorists while they wait for reinforcements.

Magnus Martens is primarily a teleplay director. He directs “Red Source” as if it were several chained television episodes. Unlike a television series, it does not have multiple episodes to develop the characters in Andy McNab’s novel, “Red Notice”. Many of the characters have little substance and their associations are less.

The action sequences are engaging but the story is lacking. It’s not convincing as a tale involving terrorism, the government, and a romantic couple on a romantic getaway.

Rating: C (Here is your opinion.)

Adann-Kennn Alexxandar has been a film critic for over 20 years for the Valdosta Daily Times.