Director: James McTeigue

Writer: Ryan Engle (Screenplay) Jaime Primak Sullivan (Story)

Starring: Gabrielle Union, Billy Burke, Richard Cabral, Ajiona Alexus, Levi Meaden, Seth Carr, Mark Furze

Plot: A woman fights to protect her family during a home invasion

Tagline – Payback is a Mother

Runtime: 1 Hour 28 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Entertaining Home Invasion Film

Story: Breaking In starts when Shaun Russell (Union) takes her children Jasmine (Alexus) and Glover (Carr) to her father’s estate after his death, the weekend is meant to be to prepare the house for sale. The weekend takes a dark twist when four thieves Eddie (Burke), Duncan (Cabral), Sam (Meaden) and Peter (Furze) have broken in, searching for a secret safe.

With Shaun locked out and her children being held captive by the thieves, she will do anything to save her children, not caring what the men want, this does become a battle of a mother that will do anything versus thieves that won’t stop for anything.

Thoughts on Breaking In

Characters – Shaun is a mother of two children that is tidying up the affairs of her late father, she thinks her weekend will just be tidying up his house, but she soon shows that she has a few skills picked up from her father, she will play a cat-n-mouse game with a group of thieves that are holding her children hostage, Shaun will prove herself as somebody smarter than the thieves, showing a mother’s love will overcome any plan. Eddie is the leader of the thieves, he remains calm and in control, even if his men can get out of hand, he only wants the money, getting pushed into difficult decisions. Duncan is the loose cannon of the thieves, he doesn’t want to leave any witnesses to the crime they are committing. Jasmine is the eldest daughter that needs to protect her little brother from the situation, even if the two have a bickering relationship.

Performances – Gabrielle Union in the leading role is great, she brings us a strong powerful mother that isn’t going to let any man take advantage of her family. Billy Burke does bring the required calmness to his character which is everything needed, with Richard Cabral bring his own unhinged character to life to just about step away from the generic normal one. Ajiona Alexus and Seth Carr fill the children roles which in the works very well as they feel like they could easily be brother and sister.

Story – The story here follows a mother that will do anything to get her children to safety after their home gets invaded by a group of criminals searching for money. This is a home invasion film, it doesn’t need to break away from the normal in anyway, we know the formula, with this one putting the spin on the mother being separated from her children, we have the discussion of power between the criminals and mother, which is an important scene. We see how the mother might have a few more tricks up her sleeves that first thought. This is everything you expect without needing to make anything complicated, making it an easy watch.

Action/Crime – The action is restricted because of the separation between the characters, but when we need it, we get action we need, the crime story does follow how the thieves operate, though we don’t learn everything about the father’s situation in the criminal world.

Settings – The film is set in one location which is the house that has the ability to hold people out or keep people in, this helps build the battle between mother and thieves.

Scene of the Movie – Losing control.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not truly learning about the Shaun’s father previous life as a criminal.

Final Thoughts – This is a by the book home invasion film, it does give us plenty of entertainment and is above the average in the sub-genre.

Overall: Home invasion above the rest.

Rating

Director: Hoon-Jung Park

Writer: Hoon-Jung Park (Screenplay)

Starring: Min-sik Choi, Man-sik Jeong, Sang-ho Kim, Eun-woo Le, Ren Osugi

Plot: While the Kingdom of Korea is under occupation by the Japanese, an old and experienced hunter is challenged by the hunt of the last tiger.

Runtime: 2 Hours 19 Minutes

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

Verdict: Difficult Watch

Story: The Tiger: An Old Hunter’s Tale starts as we see how the Japanese have taken part of Korea, the soldiers are being killed off in the forest though, not by people, but by tigers. Goo-gyeong (Jeong) is charged with taking a team to hunt down the tigers.

Facing a tiger smarter than they had come up against before, the task falls on lone hunter Chun Man-duk (Choi) a hunter with decades of experience who has countless kills to his name to free his son.

Thoughts on The Tiger: An Old Hunter’s Tale

Characters – Chun Man-duk is a brilliant hunter, he knows the forest and will catch anything he sets his mind too, he has respect and will not resort to traps to capture the animals. Goo-gyeong is the man tasked with tracking down the tigers, he uses the traps and catches all bar the alpha that uses its intelligence to stay ahead of hunter. He puts countless lives at risk to capture this tiger.

Performances – Min-sik Choi seems to be an actor I am watching a lot recently, he is a wonderfully talented actor and h shows his range he once again. Man-sik Jeong is also great at the military man leading a hunt with no remorse.

Story – This story follows the battle between men and a tiger during war time, we follow to hunters, one that uses the dirty tricks, while the other does things with honour. The tiger itself is out for revenge on the people that kill his family. While this is difficult to watch because it is solely based on hunting an animal down, it does try to play into the idea that the mountain will choose who lives and who dies. We get the connection between the tiger and the hunters, which at times comes of a respect and other times pure hatred towards each other.

Action/Adventure/History – The action sequences when tackling the tiger killing as many men as possible are brutal to watch and seem close to the bear scene in the Revenant. The history of this film comes into question as, you are left to wonder if this is based on the real events.

Settings – The mountain setting shows us the scale of the land the tiger could be roaming in, it is filled with beauty and peril around every corner.

Special Effects – The effects are the hardest part of this film, you couldn’t really have a real tiger for this and the CGI job is difficult and you can tell.

Scene of the Movie – Tiger rampage.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The hunting sequences are hard to watch.

Final Thoughts –This is a beauty story even if it is difficult to watch, showing man and animal can leave next to each other in peace, but war tries to take this away from them.

Overall: Thought Provoking movie

Rating