Downsizing

Alexander Payne's social satire Downsizing is one of those films whose premise sounds extremely interesting but isn't effectively explored to any compelling extent. It's an ambitious concept, but it comes off jumbled and confused, failing to grapple with the many themes it tries to juggle. Some of it manages to stick (as things tend to do when you throw a bunch of ideas at a wall), and the film manages to tread some very unexpected terrain, yet still manages to be a long, tedious, seldom gratifying drag.

When scientists discover how to shrink humans to five inches tall as a solution to over-population, Paul, played by Matt Damon, and his wife Audrey, Kristen Wiig, decide to abandon their stressed lives in order to live in wealth and splendor at the acclaimed downsizing resort, Leisureland. However, the decision to downsize doesn't prove to be the salvation that Paul was expecting. 

As far as Alexander Payne satires go, which are generally fairly pointed, Downsizing is as dull as he's ever been. All of the film's lackluster stems form the half-baked and fairly directionless screenplay full of soft and doughy concepts that are never given an opportunity to truly rise. Payne never chooses a side to stand on concerning the environmental issues central to the film, which would've likely worked to the film's benefit. Instead, it tries to straddle this odd bipartisan line; on one hand, it's saying that we should be more globally conscious, and on the other, it's saying that the planet is already too far gone and any efforts to mend it are essentially fruitless. It tries to come off as a think-piece, but its central message (if it even has one) becomes increasingly more and more unclear as the film meanders on. 

The film may've worked better as an ensemble film, but the known names it manages to cram in (like Kirsten Wiig, Jason Sedeikis, Laura Dern, Neil Patrick Harris, and James Van Der Beek) aren't around for much more than a bat of an eye. Narratively, we're stuck with Matt Damon's vanilla everyman character, who never manages to be anything more than boring, for the entirety of the film. Luckily, Christoph Waltz and Udo Kier have much bigger roles than the rest of the cameo performers, and they really help to give the film some redeeming quality.

The series of unexpected narrative and tonal shifts the film undertakes can very easily throw a viewer out of the story. The biggest of these are with Kirsten Wiig, who isn't in the film as much as trailer and synopsis suggest, and with Hong Chau, who plays Vietnamese refugee Ngoc Lan Tran. Both of these shifts are vital to a viewer's potential enjoyment. If you're unable to get behind the film after Wiig's short exit or Chau's bizarre accent and character rendering, the film may irritate the hell out of you. I was fine with Wiig not being a more permanent fixture in the story, but I teeter-tottered back and forth on Chau's performance. Her portrayal of the character didn't really work for me, but her performances did lead to a few laughs, which the film desperately needed more of. The film tried to cover too much ground and got lost somewhere along its journey to find an ending. The unforeseen narrative turns or the amount of ideas the film flings out may be enough for some viewers, but I personally found its lack of focus and convoluted central message to be extremely frustrating. It left me with a lot of questions.

All things considered, Downsizing is not a total disaster. There are some interesting concepts that are halfway explored in the film, a handful of genuinely comical happenings, and some decent cinematography, particularly in the Norway portion of the film; however, it's too all over the place to warrant a recommendation. If you're curious about the film, watch it for free or on demand — you're less likely to feel cheated or disappointed.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

Hollywood is always looking for old properties with nostalgia value. It seems they are always looking to take a new approach to something that has a built-in fanbase, and director Jake Kasdan is just the latest filmmaker tasked with doing exactly that, with his revamped reimagining of 1995's Jumanji, now subtitled Welcome to the Jungle.

In this version of Jumanji, we follow four high school kids who, over the course of their day and for one reason or another, find themselves sent to detention. The Geek, Spencer, and the Jock, Fridge, are former best friends who get in trouble because Fridge had Spencer do his homework. The Outcast, Martha, refused to participate in gym class and talked back to the teacher. Finally, there's the Princess, Bethany, who refused to turn off her phone during a quiz. While in detention, they come across a decades-old video game called Jumanji, and as they begin to play, they are transported into the world of the game and transformed into their avatars within it.

Spencer becomes archaeologist Dr. Smolder Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson), Fridge becomes zoologist Franklin "Moose" Finbar (Kevin Hart), Martha becomes "killer of men" Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillan) and Bethany becomes a middle-aged male scientist named Professor Sheldon "Shelly" Oberon (Jack Black). Despite their differences, all of them must learn to work together to navigate their way through the dangers of the jungle and to complete a mission to lift a curse on it, so that they can return back home.

The result has elements of an action movie, a body-swap comedy and a video game movie. Yet the film is able to bring the best out of all of these elements, which is a credit to the tremendous cast that has been assembled. A geek trapped in the physique of a bodybuilder is a hilarious concept, and Johnson does a terrific job with it. Likewise, Gillan does a great job cause pulling off her fight scenes while simultaneously hating the impracticality of her outfit, and Hart does a really good job playing the sidekick to Johnson's character, transforming from jock to vertically-challenged in tremendous fashion. But the heart of the film is seriously Black, whose character is so fun-loving and goofy, and who also has a great arc as he comes to terms with how he has been treating others.

Needless to say, Hollywood has a troubled past when it comes to making good video game movies, so it is interesting to see Welcome to the Jungle take this type of approach. The film makes good uses of such gaming concepts as life bars, levels, NPCs and attributing various strengths and weaknesses to each character, with the latter in particular leading to a number of funny gags throughout the movie, such as when Fridge discovers that one of his character's weaknesses is cake, and then has an explosive reaction when he comes across a piece of pastry later on in the film.

But the issue with video game movies is that the plot is usually very weak and is mainly secondary to the action. And in this regard, Welcome to the Jungle is no different from the rest. The script by Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner is there to solely to set up the jokes and the action sequences. Furthermore, the film tries to establish its big bad villain in John Hardin Van Pelt (Bobby Cannavale), an explorer driven mad by the supernatural powers of the jungle, but it all just comes across as very cheesy and as not much of a real threat. Van Pelt is your typical mustache-twirling villain and doesn't have much substance to him.

That said, even though Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle has a paper-thin plot with a lackluster villain — which has become the norm in blockbuster filmmaking — the movie is able to rise above its shortcomings. With a great cast, good comedic moments and quality action sequences — not to mention a positive lesson about being true to yourself and accepting others — this is a video game movie that's worth the price of admission.