I was able to make it out and see the much anticipated movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. I am giving the movie 3 stars, although I was almost tempted to give it 2. What saved the movie was that Brad Pitt and Vince Vaughn were actually pretty good in it. I also tend to like Brad Pitt in movies, so that helped as well. This movie was ok, there were some funny scenes and I always tend to like movies about assassins. The best part of the movie was surprisingly the best "minivan" chase scene ever. (Note to my sisters: even after this movie minivans will still never be cool) I was just pretty disappointed, especially knowing the previous work by director Doug Liman (IE: The "Bourne" movies) and seeing the trailers. This movie looked really good and I really wanted to like it, but it just let me down. As always there are spoilers ahead, read at your own risk.
The plot is very basic which is actually fine with me, but there is a really lame attempt at a plot twist near the end. The story revolves around the two main characters John and Jane Smith, a boring married couple living in suburbia. Come to find out each of them is actually a highly trained assassin, although neither of them know that about each other. I thought that the dynamic between these characters was cool and would make the movie fun, but it just didn't deliver. They just made them too boring, I guess it was supposed to be funny how boring they really were but it was, well, just boring. John and Jane are sent to kill the same person and end up making an attempt to kill each other, although they are unaware of their identities at the time. Assuming their identities were now exposed they each are given an ultimatum by their respective companies to kill each other or they would in turn be killed by the companies. Doing research to find out who each other is, they in fact find out that their respective spouse was the one trying to kill them. From here on out there is a lot of them trying to kill each other. They come to find out that this was all planned, it wasn't an accident they were sent to kill the same person. In fact each of their companies wanted them to kill each other, they thought that two competing assassins, married and living in the same house was a bad idea. Yes, that's the attempt at a plot twist. As you might have guessed, they band together in an attempt to save their lives. Which in turn, makes their marriage much better and they live happily ever after.
Another thing against this movie is that it was hyped way too much. I liked the trailers and thought the movie looked really good, I was excited to see it. The publicity spawned by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's alleged affair just shot the hype through the roof. Proof in the fact that it made over $50 million on opening weekend. I did have high expectations, but for me none of it had to do with the hype. I happen to like all of the actors involved in the movie as well as the director, so maybe moviegoers with lower expectations will like it more. However Brooke seemed to feel pretty much the same as I did.
The last thing I expected from this film was slow pacing, but it was really slow moving. The movie really dragged and honestly a lot of it was really boring. There is just a lot of scenes with lame dialogue and repetitive action as well as banter between both of the main characters. As you would probably expect from a movie like this there is a lot of funny dialogue, delivered really well by Brad Pitt and not so well by Angelina Jolie. I thought there were some funny scenes, including as mentioned before, the very funny chase scene with the minivan. The actions scenes were really not very well done, there is a lot of blurry and dark scenes. I really expected the action to be creative and fun, due to the previous Doug Liman movies, but it was really mundane and repetitive. A lot of the action was insanely ridiculous and things happened like cars flipping and exploding with really no reason, so it was hard to figure out what was going on.
As far as acting goes Brad Pitt rarely disappoints and he really doesn't in this. I think that Brad does a good job with the character and I thought he delivered his, poorly written, dialogue well. But it definitely not on par with really any of his previous performances. Angelina Jolie was just not very good in this, she is normally a good actress but it seems she was only cast in this role for "eye candy". She always seemed to be wearing something that was "distracting" from her performance and the camera just zeroed in on her lips way too many times. The dialogue was not written very well and she really didn't save it, she was boring in delivering her lines and she just wasn't believable. The best acting in this movie was by Vince Vaughn, he was hilarious with the comedy lines and just did a good job. His character is small, playing Eddie, who it's hard to tell is either John Smith's boss, friend or co-worker. I was disappointed that his screen time was limited, he should have had more.
The Bottom Line... Mr. and Mrs. Smith is pretty good, there are some funny lines and a good chase scene involving a minivan that just made it fun. Unfortunately the movie is really slow, the action is mundane and really hard to see, and the acting is just ok. If you were planning on seeing this movie, I would still recommend that you do. If you were questioning on whether to see this or not, you can probably miss it or rent it on DVD later. Either way, when you do see it, lower your expectations and you will probably enjoy it. Rated PG-13 there is violence, and quite a bit of sexual references as well as some questionable clothing worn by Angelina Jolie. I would even be a little bit weary of a 13 year old seeing this entirely due to a few sexually charged scenes. Despite the fact that I didn't like it much, there is a lot of moviegoers out there seeing it, enough that I expect there to be a sequel.
If you have or haven't seen Mr. and Mrs. Smith, whether you agree with me or not, make sure to let me know what you think. Post a comment.
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