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7 Boxes
✚ NEW 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE | C If anyone has spent the last seven years wondering what was going on in the background of the original 300 while Gerard Butler and his band of impossibly buff Spartans were engaged in slo-mo slaughter, the answer has belatedly arrived. Turns out there was a naval B-team close by, also engaged in piercing, crushing, mangling and disassembling each other’s bodies in shimmering, gracefully choreographed mayhem. Noam Murro does a convincing Zack Snyder impression as director, creating an airless fetishization of balletic violence as garishly pretty as an airbrushed van. This time the endless battle arrives in 3-D, which allows for a lot of Rorschach blood spurts gushing from dismembered limbs, which often lends Rise of an Empire the feel of a lava lamp rather than a film. A Gallagher routine with chiseled abs in place of watermelons, it cries out for an actual arterial spray to douse the first few rows in a bloody splash zone. The original had novelty and the charisma of Butler on its side, before he squandered that potential on a string of dreary rom-coms. The sequel is redeemed only by Eva Green as the feral Artemisia, attacking the scenery with Spartan ferocity and once again understanding that over-the-top villainy is the only proper reaction to this kind of nonsense. Sullivan Stapleton is no match for her as the heroically toned Themistokles, though he does hold up his end of a ridiculously brutal sex scene that may be the most violent thing in the film. —Shaun Brady (Wide release)
7 BOXES | B+ Victor (Celso Franco), the resourceful teenage hero of the 24 | P H I L A D E L P H I A C I T Y PA P E R |
M A R C H 6 - M A R C H 1 2 , 2 0 1 4 | C I T Y PA P E R . N E T
Paraguayan action-suspense film 7 Boxes, wants a cell phone with a camera. He gets the opportunity to earn enough money to buy one — all he has to do is deliver the titular seven boxes. Of course, this task is not as easy as it sounds; obstacles and subterfuge all lie in Victor’s path. Moreover, the contents of the boxes are illegal, and sought by both the police and a pushcart operator who thought the job was his. Nimbly directed by Juan Carlos Maneglia and Tana Schembori, this fast-paced film, which unfolds over the course of one day, sacrifices character development for gritty atmosphere. But this should not bother viewers who become engrossed with the plot and all its delicious twists. As Victor and the other characters experience various reversals of fortune, 7 Boxes turns into a ramshackle but nonstop thrill ride. Maneglia and Schembori infuse their simple story with pulse-pounding chase sequences and unexpected deaths that keep Victor — and viewers — on tenterhooks. This frenetic thriller benefits from Franco’s ingratiating performance as well as the few moments when it slows down and the video-obsessed Victor stops, only to be awestruck by what he sees on TV. —Gary M. Kramer (The Roxy)
THE BAG MAN | D A ridiculous attempt at a stone-faced crime thriller, David Grovic’s marble-mouthed movie would have benefited from a little intentional levity, as laughter seems to be the most efficient way to power through it. World-weary hit man Jack (John Cusack) lands a gig with crime boss Dragna (Robert De Niro) to transport a leather bag to a remote motel, with explicit instructions not to peer inside. The contents of this sack are meant to serve as a Pulp