The Films of Peter Berg
Very Bad Things (September 21/07)
Written and directed by Peter Berg, Very Bad Things follows a group of friends - including Christian Slater's Robert, Jeremy Piven's Michael, and Jon Favreau's Kyle - as they find themselves in a whole mess of trouble after a bachelor party goes horribly wrong. Berg has infused the proceedings with an exceedingly dark sensibility that's admittedly a lot of fun for a while, and there's certainly no denying the effectiveness of some of these plot twists (particularly as the filmmaker places the protagonists in increasingly horrific situations). But there does come a point at which the various characters, riddled with guilt and paranoia, begin to ceaselessly argue with one another, ensuring that the film adopts a fairly unpleasant sort of vibe. That being said, Very Bad Things is ultimately redeemed by a finale that's just jaw-dropping in its cruelty towards the remaining survivors - thus clinching the movie's status as one of the more effective black comedies to come around in quite some time.
out of
The Rundown (September 25/03)
Directed by Peter Berg, The Rundown follows a bounty hunter (The Rock's Beck) and a mobster's son (Seann William Scott's Travis) as they put aside their differences and pursue a cache of riches in the Amazon. For a while, it seems as though The Rundown's going to be a whole lot of fun - somewhere along the lines of Lethal Weapon (but not the serious original; the jokey sequels). Even when the movie sours, The Rock manages to keep the viewer at least a little bit interested; though he's not the best actor around, his ample charm easily makes up for his lack of talent. And Scott further distances himself from Stifler, easily stepping into the shoes of this goofy but somehow believable character. Then there's Walken, playing yet another variation on his now-patented "crazy weirdo" role. But, as is always this case, Walken's presence is always welcome and his bizarre speech about the Tooth Fairy might just be worth the price of admission. The Rundown marks Peter Berg's second directorial effort, after '98s phenomenally entertaining Very Bad Things. Berg infused that film with malicious glee, turning it into one of the most enjoyable dark comedies to emerge out of Hollywood in a good long while. But with The Rundown, presumably hampered by a PG-13 rating, Berg unleashes the Michael Bay within and turns each action sequence into an over-the-top spectacle. And because there are so many, this becomes a big problem awfully fast. Finally, towards the end, there's a moment where Beck picks up two shotguns that injects some life into the movie, but it's short lived and the film quickly reverts back to fast cuts and implausible special effects. It really is a shame that Berg wasn't able to include some of the nastiness that made Very Bad Things such a fun flick; there's nothing in this film that sets him apart from the various other action directors working today. But the biggest problem with The Rundown is the lack of chemistry between The Rock and Scott. The potential is certainly there, but the film never slows down long enough for the two actors to establish it. Still, the actors ensure that the movie never becomes all-out boring and The Rock has this ability to elevate even mediocre material to something watchable. He's being called the next Schwarzenegger; let's hope his next movie is something along the lines of Commando or Total Recall.
Friday Night Lights
The Kingdom (November 12/07)
The Kingdom follows a ragtag group of FBI agents - including Jamie Foxx's Ronald Fleury, Chris Cooper's Grant Sykes, and Jason Bateman's Adam Leavitt - as they surreptitiously arrive in Saudi Arabia to solve a terrorist act against American soldiers, with the bulk of the movie essentially playing out like an overlong and overwrought episode of CSI. There's exceedingly little within The Kingdom that's been designed to capture (and hold) the viewer's interest, as director Peter Berg and screenwriter Matthew Michael Carnahan consistently place the emphasis on the agents' increasingly banal investigation. And because the film's various characters are left undeveloped beyond their most superficial attributes - ie Foxx's Fleury is the gruff leader, Bateman's Leavitt is the wacky sidekick, etc - it's virtually impossible to care about their efforts at solving the crime (it's even more difficult to muster up any concern for their well-being once things start to get dangerous). Such problems are exacerbated by Berg's uniformly questionable directorial choices, with his relentless and thoroughly distracting use of shaky camerawork easily the film's most egregious failing (the needlessly overlapping dialogue comes in at a close second, however). The relatively thrilling third-act action sequence isn't quite strong enough to excuse the ineffectiveness of everything that's come before it, and there's little doubt that The Kingdom ultimately comes off as nothing less than a total misfire.
out of
Hancock (November 27/08)
While it's hard to deny the ineffectiveness of both Peter Berg's directorial choices and the film's final half hour, Hancock primarily comes off as an engaging and thoroughly innovative spin on the superhero genre - with Will Smith's admittedly impressive performance certainly ranking high on the movie's list of positive attributes. The storyline - which follows alcoholic superhero John Hancock (Smith) as he reluctantly allows a struggling public-relations expert (Jason Bateman's Ray) to mold him into a traditionally heroic figure - has essentially been crafted to act as an origin story for the central character, yet screenwriters Vincent Ngo and Vince Gilligan brilliantly ensure that Hancock rarely apes the conventions and tropes that one has come to expect with such a tale (ie one doesn't entirely realize that they're watching an origin story until everything's been said and done). It's subsequently not surprising to note that the inherently fascinating premise effectively compensates for the relentlessly unappealing visuals, with Berg's reliance on shaky camerawork and rapid-fire editing testing one's patience virtually from the minute go and ultimately lending certain sequences an all-but-unintelligible sort of vibe. The uniformly strong performances and inclusion of several darkly comedic interludes only cements Hancock's initial place as a far better-than-expected big-budget endeavor, although there's little doubt that the film's momentum takes an almost catastrophic hit following an out-of-left-field twist that occurs at the 54-minute mark. The unpredictable nature of Hancock's third act is rendered moot by its comparatively uninvolving modus operandi, as Ngo and Gilligan essentially transform the proceedings into an entirely different animal - one that is, unfortunately, not even remotely as compelling as its precursor. The end result is an uneven piece of work that's at its best in its opening hour, which is as thrilling and engrossing as anything the superhero genre has cranked out in recent years.
out of
Battleship (May 18/12)
Epically bad in virtually every way imaginable, Battleship follows several one-dimensional characters as they attempt to defeat a squadron of heavily-armed aliens - with the film, impressively (and laughably), incorporating elements from the eponymous children's game. There's little doubt that Battleship establishes its pervasive incompetence right from the get-go, as the movie kicks off with a surprisingly tedious opening stretch detailing the exploits of reluctant hero Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch) - with the character's rote, by-the-numbers arc exacerbated by Kitsch's bland and hopelessly uncharismatic performance. (It doesn't help, either, that Kitsch has been surrounded by non-actors, with Brooklyn Decker and Rihanna's less-than-stellar work perpetuating the movie's decidedly lackluster atmosphere.) It's not until the film segues into its action-heavy midsection that Battleship truly becomes an unwatchable piece of work, as director Peter Berg has infused such moments with an unreasonably over-the-top sensibility that immediately proves both disastrous and exhausting (ie it's all just so meaningless). The overuse of generic computer-generated special effects - ie this stuff feels like leftovers from the Transformers series - ensures that the myriad of battle sequences are akin to video game cut scenes, with the resulting absence of context or excitement playing an integral role in the movie's astonishing (and palpable) downfall. By the time the interminable, seemingly endless climax rolls around, Battleship has definitively established itself as nothing less than an intolerable and flat-out reprehensible waste of time - which is surprising, certainly, given the presence of Berg behind the camera (ie the filmmaker is, after all, responsible for such entertaining fare as Hancock and Very Bad Things).
out of
Lone Survivor (February 7/14)
Though clearly an improvement over the despicable Battleship, Lone Survivor is nevertheless a disappointing, underwhelming actioner from Peter Berg - with the movie's riveting true-life story generally employed to bland and far-from-thrilling effect. The movie, which follows four marines (Mark Wahlberg's Marcus, Taylor Kitsch's Michael, Emile Hirsch's Danny, and Ben Foster's Matt) as they get trapped behind enemy lines during a risky mission, certainly opens with a fair amount of promise, as Berg does a nice job of initially drawing the viewer into the familiar proceedings - although, by that same token, it's clear that the film would've benefited from a more in-depth look at the individual protagonists (ie the four men are, to an increasingly distressing degree, basically interchangeable). The promising atmosphere is perpetuated by an engrossing early sequence in which the central foursome debate the fates of three seemingly innocent bystanders, and yet it's equally clear that the movie begins to peter out almost immediately following that electrifying interlude - as writer/director Berg's less-than-cinematic visual choices result in a lack of thrills that grows more and more problematic as time progresses. (And it doesn't help, either, that it becomes increasingly difficult to discern which characters are where in terms of the movie's poorly-established geography.) The inclusion of a handful of compelling moments within the film's second half - ie one of the soldiers moves higher and higher on the mountain to hopefully get a radio signal - are rendered moot by the otherwise uninvolving, bland atmosphere, while the needlessly padded-out final stretch, which just seems to go on forever, is sure to test the resolve of even the most patient viewer (and this is to say nothing of the seemingly endless closing credits). The end result is a well-intentioned yet hopelessly ineffective thriller that would've been better off with a more talented filmmaker at the helm, as it's becoming all-too-obvious that Berg simply doesn't have the chops to handle big-budget action fare.
out of
Deepwater Horizon (October 12/16)
Based on true events, Deepwater Horizon details the circumstances surrounding the 2010 disaster that befell the title oil rig - with the movie following the various men and women who were working aboard the massive installation when it exploded. It's clear immediately that filmmaker Peter Berg is looking to ape the feel and tone of Paul Greengrass' work, as Deepwater Horizon boasts a documentary-like feel that's heightened by its low-key performances and general lack of context - with scripters Matthew Michael Carnahan and Matthew Sand, in terms of the latter, delivering dialogue that tends to emphasize authenticity over exposition (ie much of this stuff sounds as though it was pulled directly from real-life transcripts). This nuts-and-bolts approach, while lending the proceedings an impressively credible vibe, prevents the viewer from wholeheartedly connecting to the characters or the increasingly perilous situation, with, especially, the movie's first half riddled with realistic-seeming yet entirely uninvolving (and ludicrously complicated) sequences - including a fairly pivotal moment meant to explain what eventually goes wrong with the rig. And although Berg does manage to wring some tension out of the buildup to the aforementioned disaster, Deepwater Horizon, saddled with a collection of one-dimensional mouthpieces, proves unable to generate the thrills one might've anticipated in its action-heavy second half (ie it's difficult to work up any rooting interest in the characters' survival). The emotional closing stretch, at the very least, ensures that the film ends on an admittedly affecting note, and yet it's ultimately impossible not to wish that the remainder of Deepwater Horizon had been similarly engrossing (particularly given the seemingly electrifying nature of the story's true-life origins).
out of
Patriots Day (January 24/17)
Peter Berg's least objectionable movie since Hancock, Patriots Day follows police officer Tommy Saunders (Mark Wahlberg) as he and a host of law-enforcement personnel endeavor to track down the men responsible for 2013's infamous Boston Marathon bombing. It's immediately clear that Berg's penchant for incoherent, relentlessly shaky camerawork is in full effect here, with the filmmaker's aggressively unpleasant visual sensibilities holding the viewer at arms length right from the get-go - although, unlike most of Berg's previous endeavors, Patriots Day at least benefits from an interesting storyline that generally compensates for its inept cinematography. Screenwriters Berg, Matt Cook, and Joshua Zetumer do a decent job of setting up the deadly scenario and the various characters caught in its grip, while the attack itself is handled fairly well by Berg and his director of photography, Tobias A. Schliessler (despite, again, an ongoing inability to wholeheartedly discern exactly what's going on due to restless visuals). From there, Patriots Day morphs into an erratically-paced drama revolving almost entirely around the subsequent investigation into the bombing - with inherently compelling subject matter heightened by a smattering of above-average sequences (including an impressively gripping scene involving the kidnapping of a random bystander). The eventual showdown between the police and the now-notorious Tsarnaev siblings is visceral and exciting, to be sure, but Berg diminishes the impact of this stretch by following it with an astonishingly anti-climactic finale (which is capped off with interminable interview footage with real-life participants in the attack) - with the end result a passable endeavor that probably would've fared better had it been helmed by almost anyone else (ie the movie is decent in spite of Berg's involvement rather than because of it).
out of
Mile 22 (August 14/18)
A typically erratic Peter Berg film, Mile 22 follows a group of elite soldiers (including Mark Wahlberg's James, Lauren Cohan's Alice, and Ronda Rousey's Sam) as they're tasked with transporting a valuable informant (Iko Uwais' Li Noor) to a nearby airfield - with the seemingly simple journey complicated by outside forces bent on ensuring that the convoy doesn't arrive at its destination. There eventually does reach a point at which Mile 22 is, at the very least, watchable, which is no small feat, certainly, given the degree to which the movie's opening stretch manages to alienate the viewer - with Berg's predictable reliance on infuriating visual flourishes (eg shaky camerawork) draining the energy and excitement out of the meant-to-thrill pre-credits sequence. The less-than-engrossing vibe is compounded by an almost total dearth of interesting, sympathetic characters (ie they're all, but Wahlberg's James especially, Type A jackasses), while the narrative, prior to the aforementioned airfield-bound trek, suffers from a needlessly convoluted feel that exacerbates the arms-length atmosphere. There does reach a very specific point, however, at which Mile 22 morphs into a passable actioner, with a violent (yet disappointingly incoherent) fight sequence between Uwais' Li and several goons triggering a second half that's far more propulsive and even exciting than one might've anticipated. The refreshingly brisk running time ultimately ensures that the picture finishes on an unexpectedly strong note (ie what feels like the climax actually is the climax), while the strong conclusion seems to promise a followup that wouldn't exactly be unwelcome - which effectively confirms Mile 22's place as a hit-and-miss endeavor that could (and should) have been much better.
out of
