Fee…Fi…Fo…Fum! 2013’s first “giant” action/adventure, “Jack the Giant Slayer”, is a twist on the fairy tale classic – “Jack and the Beanstalk”. While it isn’t entirely Fun or Fancy, and certainly not Free, it’s pretty entertaining.
Set in Medieval times, Jack (played by Nicholas Hoult of “X-Men: First Class” and “Warm Bodies”), lives on a farm with his uncle. As a child, Jack learned the story of the Giants who went to war with humans and were defeated, forcing them to create their own land high above the clouds. The King’s daughter Isabelle (Eleanor Tomlinson) was told the same tale by her mother when she was a young girl. Now grown, Jack goes into town to sell a horse to buy provisions to fix the house. Instead, a Monk gets Jack to trade the horse for some beans, which he says have “magic powers”.
That night Jack drops a bean and it falls through a crack in the floor. Isabelle, looking for some adventure in her life, sneaks out of the castle and ends-up at Jack’s house. And it’s raining. I think you can see what’s coming. The King (played by – who else – Ian McShane) orders his top knight (Ewan McGregor) and his servant (Stanley Tucci) to rescue his daughter, who’s now all the way up at the top of the beanstalk. Jack decides to join the mission to save the princess and take down the infamous, man-eating Giants, who are holding Isabelle captive.
“Jack the Giant Slayer” is directed by Bryan Singer, whose credits include the first two “X-Men” movies as well as “Superman Returns”. He starts things well with the simultaneous backstories of the two main characters. It’s a nice way to get Jack and Isabelle connected even before they meet each other, and get the audience connected to them.
The rest of the film is rather formulaic. The plot provides no surprises or real tension. There are plenty of action scenes throughout the nearly 2-hours, each one plays like an “epic finale”, and they’re certainly not boring. The dialogue, on the other hand, is corny, and the score is a bit over-the-top.
Tucci is one of my favorite actors, but this is a one-note, throw-away role. Hoult and Tomlinson are o.k. together. And the most amazing thing about McGregor’s performance is his hair, which stays perfectly in place throughout all of his battles, chases and death-defying moments with the Giants. Bill Nighy leads the cast of Giants. The creators used motion-capture technology for the Giants’ facial expressions and movements, instead of traditional CGI. And it works. These are the best-looking hideously disgusting creatures to hit the big screen in a long time.
“Jack the Giant Slayer” is rated PG-13 for action/violence and brief language. There are some mildly frightening moments for younger ones. It’s appropriate for kids 11 and up.
On The Official LCJ Report Card, “Jack the Giant Slayer” gets a C+.
The film’s original title was “Jack the Giant Killer”. But Warner Bros. made the name change following the “Dark Knight Rises” movie theater shooting last summer, which is when it was originally scheduled to be released. The studio also cited production issues for the delay, and that normally means a movie is going to be a giant failure when it finally comes out. But this time the delay clearly helped, because it’s the technical look and feel of “Jack” that helps it rise above most of the other fantasy action/adventure films that have come out in recent years, including 2013’s first fairy tale reboot – “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters”.