Reacher Season Three, on Prime

[Jack] Reacher looks a lot like Paul Bunyan, or his ox, Babe, but he is more of a lone wolf by temperament. He is also skeptical of bureaucrats and government officials, despite having run the Army’s special 110^th Investigative Unit. Nevertheless, he agrees to go undercover for the DEA. The circumstances involved are unusual, dicey, and embargoed. Regardless, Reacher takes on the dangerous assignment, but the bad guys will be the ones in trouble throughout the third season of creator Nick Santora’s Reacher, adapted from Lee Child’s novel Persuader, which premieres tomorrow on Prime Video.

As viewers of season one and season two know, Reacher often generates quite a high body-count, but he lives by a code. Fortunately, one of his initial duties for Zachary Beck presents no moral qualms for Reacher. He regularly serves as the bodyguard for Beck’s son Richard, who has no involvement in his father’s smuggling business. Just what Beck smuggles is not exactly clear. That is one of the reasons why DEA Agent Susan Duffy convinces Reacher to infiltrate Beck’s operation. She also hopes to rescue her informant who worked as a domestic in Beck’s fortress like mansion.

Recher also has personal reasons for agreeing. He suspects an old enemy from his past might be in business with Beck. Reportedly, his target has amnesia, so maybe he won’t remember Reacher if they even come face-to-face—or maybe he will. Obviously, this is a tough gig, especially since Beck has Paulie, a neanderthal henchman who is even bigger and stronger than Reacher.

For backup, Reacher only has Duffy, who is one of the good guys even though she is a Red Sox fan (try doing the math on that one), her soon-to-retire mentor Guillermo Villanueva (whose back, knees, and arches are on the verge of collapse), and Steven Elliott, the rookie who botched the paperwork for a warrant, landing them in the bureaucratic wilderness. Of course, Reacher’s old comrade Frances Neagley will always back-up her former commanding officer, but he wants to protect her from his suspected nemesis.

All three seasons of Reacher are rock-solid and reasonably faithful to Child’s books. In this case, Reacher’s complicated relationships with the Becks, father and son, elevate what might otherwise seem like a relatively simple infiltrate-and-bust thriller. Aside from the imposing Ritchson (who still convincingly looks the part of Reacher), Anthony Michael Hall most stands out this season for his surprisingly complex portrayal of Zachary Beck. He is not exactly what we assume, which adds considerably to the drama.

Air Force One Down: Protecting the President from Terrorists & Environmentalists

Fictional "Astovia" sounds a lot like Estonia, especially when characters say it quickly. Instead, it probably ought to sound more like Azerbaijan, except oil-rich Astovia is trying to democratize and turn towards the West. Rather logically, the President of the United States wants to encourage that process, but he is opposed by a paramilitary Astovian warlord and anti-petroleum extremists in his own administration. Fortunately, he has rookie secret service agent Allison Miles guarding him when his presidential ride is hijacked in James Bamford’s Air Force One Down, which releases this Friday in theaters.

Maj. Miles has always been patriotic, so when her Uncle Sam Waitman finally recruits her for the Secret Service, she leaps at the chance. That is right, he is “Uncle Sam.” It is a name that suits him—and she is her uncle’s niece. She still instinctively salutes recently elected President Edwards (codename: “Falcon”), even though she is skeptical of his privileged background. Nevertheless, Waitman constantly reminds her and their colleagues: “they serve the chair, not the man.” Miles will get her chance to serve both when she is attached to Edwards’ state visit to Astovia, to sign the petroleum treaty. Astovia gets political stability and we get affordable petroleum, so, of course, Vice President Hansen is opposed, as are others in the administration.

As fate would have it, Miles has her first flight on Air Force One exactly when “General” Rodinov launches his attack. Since Waitman was taking her on a tour to soak up how cool it is, they happen to be the only agents not liquidated. They also happen to be the most likely to foil his plans. Soon, Miles must bail out with Falcon, to take their chances, in the Astovian countryside. There is also the matter of the traitor, who compromised Air Force One.

Air Force One Down is a VOD-action thriller that finally understands its key market demographic. It never insults the Secret Service agents and military personnel who serve and protect the office of the president. Viewers might guess the no-so hidden Judas, but it is refreshing screenwriter Steven Paul does not serve up yet another military coup (which would be derivative of films like Seven Days in May and also besmirch our Armed Services).

The cast is also far stronger than you might expect. Anthony Michael Hall perfectly exudes Waitman’s hardnosed dignity. Katherine McNamara and Ian Bohen have surprisingly good chemistry as Miles and Falcon. McNamara shows off some strong action chops, handling most of the fight scenes. However, even though Falcon is not Harrison Ford in Wolfgang Petersen’s Air Force One (which this film still isn’t), he is no pushover either. In this case, viewers can buy his Air Force background (before he returned to the good graces of his well-heeled family).

Halloween Kills: The Michael Myers Film for Our Time

This is truly a Michael Myers film for the Biden years. The chaos we watched unfold in the Kabul airport and the anarchy we try to ignore every day at the border has come to Haddonfield. It is Halloween, 2018. Myers has survived Laurie Strode’s death trap and is killing people with impunity. Sheriff Barker is powerless to stop him and incapable of restoring law and order as the town slips into panic and paranoid violence. Only those who previously survived Myers’ prior attacks can hope to stop him now in David Gordon Green’s Blumhouse-produced Halloween Kills, which opens Friday in theaters nationwide.

The action picks up immediately where Halloween 2018 left off. Strode is on her way to the hospital, believing she finally put an end to Myers once and for all. Unfortunately, at this time, he is actually hacking his way through the firemen that were dispatched to the blaze consuming Strode compound.

This being Halloween, a group of survivors from the original 1978 horror night have congregated to commemorate those who died and toast those who saved them, including Tommy Doyle and Lindsey Wallace, the kids Strode was babysitting, now all grown-up. When word reaches them of Myers’ fresh killing spree, they decide to find him and kill themselves. Obviously, it is easier said than done, but Doyle turns out to be a good recruiter for vigilante patrols. Of course, Strode is convinced he is coming for her, but her granddaughter isn’t so sure.

In some ways, Halloween 2018 would have made a really satisfying conclusion to the franchise, having retconned the other inferior sequels and reboots into the stuff of fake news and urban legend. However, it probably was unrealistic to think it would be so easy to kill off a bogeyman like Myers. Unfortunately, Halloween Kills is conspicuously a middle film that obviously sets up the already-announced third movie in the sequel trilogy, so there is not a heck a lot of closure when the credits roll.

On the other hand, Kill continues to echo the 1978 film in ways that deepen the tragic resonance of the Michael Myers mythos. The return of his survivors is more than just fan service (but it is that too, especially Kyle Richards reprising her old role as Lindsey and Charles Cyphers making his first film appearance since 2007 as Sheriff Leigh Brackett, now a security guard at the hospital—and they are both quite good). Rather, their reappearance personifies the degree to which the community remains traumatized by Myers’s crimes, even forty years later.

Jamie Lee Curtis and Will Patton are both dependable as ever playing Strode and Officer Hawkins, but since both are largely sidelined from the film due to serious injuries suffered they in the previous film, a good deal of the load falls on Anthony Michael Hall, who is really terrific as Doyle. It is a gritty tormented performance that gives the film depth and a real edge.

Aftermath: Contractors Doing What They Do

Tom Fiorini deals with contractors all day, so he can’t be a shrinking violet. The housing magnate has done very well for himself, but he is about to lose everything. We know, because he tells us in media res. It all started with a bit of workplace trash talking. Labor relations hit an all-time low in Thomas Farone’s gritty thriller Aftermath (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

Fiorini is a cold and unreasonably demanding boss. We know, because his foreman tells us so. Still, everyone on his construction site stays, because work is heard to find in upstate New York, especially for an ex-con like Tony Bricker.  Bricker is a sub-contracting framer, not a mason. Initially, he up-manages Fiorini fairly well. It is the foreman he has issues with—so much so, he takes a swing at him right in front of Fiorini. When said foreman mysteriously disappears shortly thereafter, suspicion naturally falls on Bricker.

Assuming the worst, Fiorini sacks Bricker. Words get heated, threats are made, and circumstances quickly escalate. The two detective working the missing person case are not much help, but at least the sheriff is on Fiorini’s side. In fact, the old lawman is much more effective than the dodgy muscle Fiorini hires to intimidate Bricker. Frankly, they only make matters worse.

Clearly, this film has been kicking around for a while, since it is billed as the final film of Chris Penn, who died in early 2006. Penn was always a reliable character actor and his work as Bricker is consistently forceful. However, one cannot help wondering if his unfortunate passing partly explains why the third act is considerably patchier than the hour or so that comes before it.

Aftermath is also notable as part of Anthony Michael Hall’s more successful-than-you-realize career reinvention. The kid best known for wearing panties on his head in John Hughes movies is now a rather credible hardnose. Roles like Fiorini and Jack, Du Pont’s troubleshooter in the disappointing Oscar contender Foxcatcher should solidify his professional evolution. Hey, this is America, anything can happen here.

In a case of stunt-casting gone bizarrely right, Tony Danza chews the scenery quite entertainingly as King, an off-the-books gun dealer and freelance fixer. However, Leo Burmester upstages everyone as the cantankerous sheriff. On the other hand, Law & Order alumnus Elisabeth Röhm is wastefully underutilized as Fiorini’s largely disinterested and uninteresting wife, Rebecca.

Aftermath is definitely aiming for a dark, Blood Simple-A Simple Plan vibe, but it ends on a note so pitch black, it is a real buzz kill. Again, you have to wonder if that was the original plan or a salvageable solution. Still, for those who enjoy indie thrillers inspired by the likes of the Cohen Brothers and Tarantino, it is worth checking out just to watch Penn, Burmester, Hall, and Danza playing off each other. Recommended accordingly for jaded viewers, Aftermath opens this Friday (11/28) in New York, at the Quad Cinema.