The first thing we need to get out of the way is the fact that 2013's Jack The Giant Slayer is NOT a reworking of the '60s fantasy classic Jack The Giant Killer but, instead, a retelling of the well-known fairy tale of Jack And The Beanstalk.
The movie - working from a screenplay by Darren Lemke, Christopher McQuarrie and Dan Studney - does a fantastic job of sidestepping cliché while still paying homage to fairy tale tropes.
After a marvellous pre-credit bit of worldbuilding, that establishes the mythology of the giants and their relationship with the land of Cloister, our likeable hero Jack (Fury Road's Nicholas Hoult) accidentally exposes a magical bean to rain water - creating a beanstalk up to the kingdom of the giants, Gantua, above the clouds.
He joins an expedition to to rescue the errant princess Isabelle (Poldark's Eleanor Tomlinson), who has managed to get herself trapped at the top of the beanstalk, is led by the captain of King's Guardians, Elmont (Ewan 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' McGregor, doing some fine 'stiff upper lip' acting) and Crawe (Eddie Marsan as the grizzled and worldly sergeant major type) -
Their adventuring party (the whole film has a very Dungeons & Dragons quality about it) includes the treacherous Roderick (Stanley Tucci) - fiancé of the reluctant princess - and his sneaky manservant Wicke (Ewen Bremner) who have their own reasons for wanting to get to Gantua.
Jack The Giant Slayer rattles along with such great pace that you don't notice its almost two hour duration as the story is continually switching up a gear.
Although, in parts, the movie is also obviously quite CG heavy this never distracts from the human story as the characters are so well-rounded and the whole world believable that the viewer is just swept up in events.
Jack The Giant Slayer might be a bit long - and possibly scary - for some children but adults, especially gamers, will love the non-stop action and adventure.
No comments:
Post a Comment