{"id":1517,"date":"2019-01-26T22:13:03","date_gmt":"2019-01-26T22:13:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/?p=1517"},"modified":"2019-02-06T22:14:45","modified_gmt":"2019-02-06T22:14:45","slug":"film-review-in-like-flynn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/film-review-in-like-flynn\/","title":{"rendered":"Film Review: \u2018In Like Flynn\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"VarietyLogo1\"<\/a>A jauntily old-fashioned adventure that plays like the nautical equivalent of a picaresque road movie, \u201cIn Like Flynn\u201d offers a fanciful glimpse at the pre-fame formative experiences of Old Hollywood luminary Errol Flynn, indicating that the future star of \u201cCaptain Blood\u201d and \u201cThe Adventures of Robin Hood\u201d engaged in a fair share of death-defying derring-do long before he swashed a single buckle on screen.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s based on Flynn\u2019s 1937 book \u201cBeam Ends,\u201d which was inspired (or so he claimed) by the Tasmanian-born actor\u2019s real-life exploits. But even though this handsomely mounted Australian-produced movie is labeled in the opening credits as \u201cA Mostly True Account of the Hollywood Star\u2019s Early Adventures,\u201d it\u2019s quite obvious that the credited scriptwriters \u2014 a quartet that includes Luke Flynn, the protagonist\u2019s grandson \u2014 liberally laced their scenario with material borrowed from, ahem, works of fiction. To put it another way: There are dollops of \u201cJaws\u201d here, allusions to Peter Jackson\u2019s \u201cKing Kong\u201d there, and bits and pieces of the Indiana Jones franchise everywhere. Not that there\u2019s anything wrong with that, you understand. At least, not if the mix is as tasty as this one turns out to be.<\/p>\n

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\nEfficiently engineered by veteran Aussie director Russell Mulcahy (\u201cHighlander,\u201d \u201cRazorback\u201d) to achieve a hugely satisfying balance of seriocomic action sequences and sometimes boisterous, sometimes sentimental male bonding, \u201cIn Like Flynn\u201d introduces its title character, played by charismatic up-and-comer Thomas Cocquerel, as an impossibly self-confident 21-year-old rascal serving as guide and guardian for a comically obsessive Hollywood filmmaker (Dan Fogler) shooting location footage in a Papua New Guinea jungle. The expedition ends prematurely with a hairsbreadth escape from a band of bloodthirsty natives, and a promise by the director, clearly impressed by Flynn\u2019s heroics, that someday he will summon the young man to La La Land.<\/p>\n

But until the director makes good on that promise \u2014 well, a fellow has to find something to pass the time, right?<\/p>\n

Back home in Sydney, Flynn recruits two longtime friends \u2014 Rex (producer and co-scripter Corey Large), a burly Canadian, and Dook (William Moseley), a refined but game young Englishman \u2014 to swipe a derelict fishing boat from Achuan (Grace Huang), the queenly ringleader of a drug-smuggling outfit. Their goal: to sail back to Papua New Guinea and search for gold. But the three men are rudely interrupted in their endeavors by the boat\u2019s real owner, Charlie, a salty seadog flamboyantly played by Clive Standen as a smudged carbon of Robert Shaw\u2019s Quint from \u201cJaws.\u201d (Similarities between the two characters are cheekily underscored during a scene involving \u2014 you guessed it! \u2014 a shark.) Apparently for want of anything better to do, Charlie gruffly agrees to throw in his lot with the trio, and the lengthy journey across the Coral Sea begins.<\/p>\n

As it turns out, the hunt for gold serves merely as a McGuffin. The movie focuses primarily on the interplay between the four lead characters in close quarters on the water \u2014 the aforementioned shark is the least of the dangers they face during their voyage \u2014 and their shared misadventures during an extended stopover in a port where Flynn is reunited with one of the many girls he has left behind (Isabel Lucas); threatened by a colorfully corrupt mayor (David Wenham); and forced to face the fury of Achuan and her underlings. The madcap mood of the piece turns appreciably darker late in the game, but don\u2019t worry: Everything ends on an upbeat note with a finale that features, as a welcome treat for movie buffs, a wink-wink allusion to the real-life filmmaker who helped ignite Flynn\u2019s superstardom.<\/p>\n

Mulcahy cleverly employs Old Hollywood visual tropes (wipe-transitions to bridge scenes, animated dots on a map to indicate a journey\u2019s progress, etc.) and the period-appropriate rousing musical score by David Hirschfelder to enhance the 1930s flavor. But the movie\u2019s chief asset is Cocquerel, who evidences more than enough graceful physicality, roguish ladykiller charm and devil-may-care brio to be persuasive as Flynn. He seals the deal with his nimbly raffish delivery of such character-defining dialogue as \u201cI have a genius for living \u2014 it\u2019s the consequences I\u2019m not so well-versed in.\u201d Cocquerel all but winks at the audience when Flynn tells a friend that their shared adventure \u201cwouldn\u2019t make a half-bad picture.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s audaciously funny. And absolutely right.<\/p>\n

Film Review: \u2018In Like Flynn\u2019<\/p>\n

Reviewed online, Houston, Jan. 23, 2019. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 96 MIN.<\/p>\n

PRODUCTION: (Australia) A Blue Fox Entertainment release of a 308 Enterprises presentation of an ILF Au Films production. Producers: Corey Large, James M. Vernon. Executive producers: Joan LeSeur, Felipe Dieppa, Luke Flynn, Gary Ousdahl.<\/p>\n

CREW: Director: Russell Mulcahy. Screenplay: Marc Furmie, Corey Large, Steve Albert, Luke Flynn, based on the book \u201cBeam Ends\u201d by Errol Flynn. Camera (color): Peter Holland. Editor: Rodrigo Balart. Music: David Hirschfelder.<\/p>\n

WITH: Thomas Cocquerel, Corey Large, Clive Standen, Dan Fogler, William Moseley, Isabel Lucas, David Wenham, David Hennessey, Grace Huang.<\/p>\n

View this article at Variety<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A jauntily old-fashioned adventure that plays like the nautical equivalent of a picaresque road movie, \u201cIn Like Flynn\u201d offers a fanciful glimpse at the pre-fame formative experiences of Old Hollywood luminary Errol Flynn, indicating that the future star of \u201cCaptain Blood\u201d and \u201cThe Adventures of Robin Hood\u201d engaged in a fair share of death-defying derring-do
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