Tusk is a 2014 Kevin Smith film that just wasn't that entertaining. It's about an annoying podcaster who goes to interview a young guy in Winnipeg who had cut off his leg with a samurai sword. Like The Star Wars Kid the Kill Bill Kid became an internet sensation. Justin Long and Haley Joel Osment are a couple of podcasters who are as annoying as anything like that could be. They do hurtful comedy mixed with noisy Top 40 AM disc jockey shtick. Justin goes to see the Kill Bill Kid and arrives at his house as they are holding his funeral. Via some more sloppy writing Justin connects with Michael Parks. He's a wheel chair bound man with some interesting stories. He drugs Justin and turns him into a walrus. Michael was ship wrecked back in 1959 and he was befriended by a walrus on a deserted island. He wants to recreate that special time when he made friends with a walrus. Not happy just to get a walrus he kidnaps people, hacks their legs off, cuts out their tongues, and sews them into a walrus skin made from other peoples dead bodies. Sadly Michael is not very skilled as a surgeon. It's all rather unpleasant and it's more torture than horror. Haley and Justin's girlfriend Génesis Rodríguez have been having an affair behind Justin's back. He deserves it, he's turned into a douchebag as he's become more famous. He's not the nice nerd he was when they fell in love and he's been dicking his podcast listeners.
Haley and Génesis get a frantic phone call from Justin before he gets done over as a walrus. They come looking for him. They don't get any help from the police but they do get help from Johnny Depp. He plays a crazy French ex-cop from Quebec. He's got a terrible accent, hardly anyone in the movie does anything other than a skewed Canadian accent. Justin makes fun of his girlfriend in some flashbacks, she's Spanish and he uses a stereotypical Latin accent to poke fun at her. She doesn't sound like that at all but that's part of the reason she's fallen out of love with him. Justin is just a creep and there isn't much of anything for me to like about him so I don't feel any sorrow for his predicament. Haley and Génesis get to Michael's house and there's Justin, all fucked up. We complained a lot about the story and the script and much of the movie. A lot of people complain about it on the internet, it scores a 5.5 at the IMDb but that's way too high. I'd give it a 4 but only if they had filmed it in Canada. Nope, it's Charlotte, North Carolina and LA, so only a 3 for you Mr Smith. I liked Kevin when he was making pointless movies about stoners and pop culture. I'd give it a miss knowing what I know now.
Compared to Tusk, Taken 3 was a much better film, Not great, it's certainly the weakest of the three Taken films. but still mostly entertaining and watchable. It's directed by Oliver Megaton who directed Taken 2 and Transporter 3. This is his fourth feature film and he's gotten a bit better at directing than he was in Taken 2. Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen wrote all three films in the series. This time some scumbags have killed Liam Neeson's wife and framed him for the murder. Liam is nearly caught at his house but escapes. Forest Whitaker is the police Inspector that goes after him. They are always just a half step behind. Maggie Grace is Liam's daughter and she's in danger too. There's plenty of car chases, gun shooting, fights, explosions and major collateral damage to the city of Los Angeles. If you liked the previous two you'd probably like this one for the most part. It's just not as interesting or fresh as the first one was. I'd watch the series again down the road, sometimes I like a mindless action film with a bit of payback heaped on the baddies. If you are only going to watch one Taken movie, watch the first, it's got some great locations and the action is even more interesting.
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