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Toronto Sun
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
Stow your tray tables and brace for comedy in ‘Fight or Flight'
Published May 09, 2025 • 3 minute read Josh Hartnett stars in "Fight or Flight." MUST CREDIT: Csaba Aknay/Vertical Entertainment Photo by Csaba Aknay/Vertical Entertainme / Csaba Aknay/Vertical Entertainme Some actors are best left to weather outside until they've properly aged, like firewood or a good Scotch. (Humphrey Bogart being the ideal example.) Josh Hartnett was something of an It Boy at the turn of the millennium, with lead roles in 'The Virgin Suicides,' 'Pearl Harbor,' 'Black Hawk Down' and more. Then, like with many It Boys, his career cooled. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Two decades on, Hartnett's in his mid-40s and popping up again, as a serial-killer dad in M. Night Shyamalan's 'Trap' (2024) and, this week, in the ratty, fizzy action comedy 'Fight or Flight.' An actor who once seemed a passable carbon copy of the young Tommy Lee Jones has apparently decided he has little left to lose, and it's made him … interesting. He's grumpier, wearier, wilier. He's having FUN. 'Fight or Flight' gives Hartnett ample room to play. An unrepentant B-movie with a Grade A concept – the star plays a former Secret Service agent who has to find and arrest an unknown terrorist on a plane full of assassins – the film takes what could have been grim going in the hands of, say, Steven Seagal and gives it an antic, often hilarious spin. Yes, it's violent in arcs and spurts of increasing absurdity, but the frenetic pace, slaphappy fight choreography and committed performances keep 'Fight or Flight' teetering on the edge of farce. If the John Wick movies were played for laughs, they might look something like this. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Hartnett's Lucas Reyes is bottle-blond, burned-out and washed-up in Thailand when the movie opens, but he's the only one on the ground when his higher-ups in America need someone to catch the Ghost, a brilliant international hacker-terrorist who's boarding a red-eye to San Francisco. The Ghost's identity is unknown, so he could be anybody on the plane, but Lucas's job, once he sobers up from his latest bender, is to find the terrorist and bring him in alive. Unfortunately, the Ghost has a $10 million bounty on his head and a travel itinerary that just went public on the dark web, which means that some, or most or all of the agent's fellow passengers aren't tourists on their way to the City by the Bay. Josh Hartnett and Charithra Chandran in 'Fight or Flight.' Photo by Csaba Aknay / Vertical Entertainme Helmed by James Madigan, a second-unit director moving up to the big chair, from a screenplay by Brooks McLaren and D.J. Cotrona, 'Fight or Flight' is high-spirited junk, too full of itself at times but mostly content to work out every last variation on a theme: How do you kill someone on an airplane? The assassins come in baroque waves and are dispatched in the same manner, from a pompous actor-hitman (Marko Zaror) to a lady 'apex predator' (Nóra Trokán) to Chinese gangsters and Italian mobsters and a lot of hulking guys played by actors named Tíbor and Gábor and István. (The movie was filmed in Hungary.) This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Not everyone on the plane is out for blood. The flight crew includes an officious prat (Hughie O'Donnell), an OCD newbie (Danny Ashok) and Isha (Charithra Chandran of TV's 'Bridgerton' and 'Alex Rider'), who becomes Lucas's ally, social conscience and impromptu medic. The Ghost has a few ringers on the flight, as well, including a trio of lady samurai because – well, just because. Believable? Not in the least. Enjoyable? Surprisingly so, once you hop on the wavelength of giddy, exhausted overkill along with Hartnett's increasingly woozy hero. 'Fight or Flight' juggles not only chain saws but also ice axes, small in-flight butter knives, a clarinet wielded with lethal force, and a vial of toad venom that briefly causes Lucas and the movie as a whole to hallucinate pretty fireworks where other characters see geysers of blood. On its way to an ending that's both preposterous and the only logical way out, the filmmakers broker the notion that not ALL international hacker-terrorists might be bad people, and that some of the shadowy figures who move between the worlds of national intelligence and Silicon Valley might be measurably worse. But that's taking 'Fight or Flight' more seriously than it deserves. 'How much more f—ed up can this get before it qualifies as f—ed up?' someone asks here. The answer: a lot. – – – Ty Burr is the author of the movie recommendation newsletter Ty Burr's Watch List at – – – RATING: Three stars Read More Toronto & GTA Columnists NBA NFL Ontario
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Good Day Atlanta viewer information: March 5, 2025
Atlanta - "In The Lost Lands": Superstar wrestler-turned-actor Dave Bautista says he's channeling his "inner Clint Eastwood" in the new epic fantasy "In the Lost Lands," opening in theaters on Friday. Directed by "Resident Evil" filmmaker Paul W.S. Anderson and based on a short story by author George R.R. Martin (whose books inspired the hit show "Game of Thrones"), "In the Lost Lands" tells the story of witch Gray Alys (played by "The Fifth Element" star Milla Jovovich), who's forced to journey through a dark and dangerous landscape alongside Bautista's sharpshooting drifter. Says Anderson of the film's obvious Western influence, "When I read 'In The Lost Lands,' it was two things. One, it was an adult fairy tale; it's got a story that tells you, 'Be careful what you wish for.' But then, also, I felt that the story really followed a lot of tropes of the Western." Adds Bautista, "When I started reading [the character] Boyce, I was like, 'He's a cowboy; this is a Western.' That was the way I approached it. That was the way I thought of the whole film, you know? He's a gunslinger." For Jovovich, meanwhile, the key to finding Gray Alys was less Old West and more Ancient Greece. "I've always been a huge fan of mythology," says the actress. "And, for me, Gray Alys really represented a mythological creature come to life. "In the Lost Lands" opens in theaters nationwide on Friday, March 7 from Vertical Entertainment; to hear more from the film's director and stars, click the video player in this article. Jennifer Coolidge stars in the dark comedy "Riff Raff": Fresh off a pair of Emmy wins for her scene-stealing work in the HBO Original Series "The White Lotus," Jennifer Coolidge returns in another ensemble project filled with twisted relationships and uncovered family secrets. Coolidge stars in the dark comedy "Riff Raff" from Roadside Attractions, alongside a powerhouse cast including Ed Harris, Gabrielle Union, Pete Davidson, and Bill Murray. Coolidge plays Ruth, the foul-mouthed ex-wife of an ex-criminal (Harris) — and while most of her lines are outrageous (and unrepeatable on a news website), the actress says audiences aren't even hearing the worst of it! "There was a very, very filthy line in this movie," says Coolidge. "It was such a funny moment, but incredibly crude. And I was like, 'Oh, are we going to do it?' And I don't know how they decided, or did I decide I couldn't do it, whatever…but now I have regrets. Because it really crossed the line, and I think we should have maybe left it in. But, you know, it was filthy. Filthy." "Riff Raff" is playing in theaters nationwide now. Author Lawrence Cappello discusses his book "On Privacy": Most of us have seen news reports about workplace surveillance, cyberstalking, ransomware attacks, and facial recognition and ignore them willfully, but know deep down that our privacy is disappearing in the face of wondrous technological marvels. It is never too late to protect your own privacy, even for those who don't want to live off the grid without cell phones or internet access. Casting Call with Tess Hammock: There are films and TV shows that are looking for extras and leads. There are also career opportunities with big brands. Tess Hammock has all the information. Kelli Ferrell, the new cast member of "Real Housewives of Atlanta," gives a preview of the upcoming season: Ferrell grew up with a passion for both food and fashion. She moved to Atlanta in 2013 to pursue a degree and career in fashion merchandising and design, but went on to create Nana's Chicken & Waffles in 2016 (after manifesting it on her vision board). Kelli will get candid about family, her divorce, business and more on the new season of the popular Bravo show. Tune in this Sunday at 8 on Bravo. Eggless brunch with Lazy Dog Restaurant: Chef Daryl Webb from the Peachtree Corners location stopped by the Good Day kitchen to make his Mountain Berry Pancakes. To find their hours of operations and their menu, click here.
