I saw Stealth with Jamie Foxx the other day. All I can really say is that the film is a let down on several levels… but no one will be surprised to hear that. However, it also commits one of the worst marketing sins many movies are guilty of… pretend like an actor is in it more than they really are.
You know what I’m talking about. I remember back when Mission Impossible 2 was coming out, and the trailers boasted “Starring Tom Cruise and ANTHONY HOPKINS”. Yeah right… imagine my surprise when I saw the film and found out the Hopkins only had about 3 minutes of screen time. Stealth does the same thing. Foxx had this to say:
Talking about his part in Stealth, Foxx says, “I’m not even the lead in it. I’m the guy who makes a couple of jokes and then I die. It’s the classic black role.”
The marketing makes it look like Jamie Foxx is the lead actor in the film. When in reality he only has about 10 minutes of screen time in the entire movie. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining that his character didn’t have a bigger roll, I’m complaining that the marketing made it look like something it wasn’t. Evil.
who is the asian actress who’s jamie foxx’s love interest in Stealth??
1) Steven Seagal was good in Exec Decision, and it was both a surprise and good gutsy move in the story. While I’m still hoping for Seagal to get over himself and stop his ego trips so we can really have a fairly decent comeback for the action star (and folks, don’t get into an ageism issue- Chuck Norris in his 60’s and he hardly looks it. Then again, Norris stays in shape). Concerning the plot in “Stealth”, I’m surprised that they didn’t offer Seagal a part. The ‘CIA/military conspiracy’ theme that crops up in the film, while crudely handled, is right up Seagal’s alley.
2) About Jamie Foxx. He’s got no right to sound off badmouthing the film. If he thought the role he was given was stereotypical, then why was he a party to it? Yes, he’s a good actor. Yes, he deserves better. But before “Ray” “Ali” and “Collateral” there was junk like “Bait”. Also, he had more screen time than ten minutes.
3) I midly liked the film, but I also felt most of the promos on E! and MTV etc. spoiled too many scenes and surprises. Then in the film itself, there were the dumb-dumb jokes, some forced exposition, and if Foxx wants to gab about “his stereotypical” role, how about the actress who plays his Thai one night stand love intrest? That’s the ten minute role, folks. Just more thankless.
4) Audiences are sending a message. It has little to do with Jamie’s character or the actor.
It’s got nothing to do with other fine actors such as Jessica Biel, Josh Lucas or Joe Morton.
It has to do with the rock video style of filmmaking is losing its luster; the higher prices of tickets, popcorn and parking means people love style, but they want substance. I also think WD Richter (Buckaroo Bonzai) and his script got mangled in production.
5) Why would an AI fighter plane listen to Itunes as it flies?
6) Why couldn’t Sony just…get ahold of one of Dale Brown’s novels? Flight Of The Old Dog, Hammerheads etc.? Imagine if “Stealth” were played up more like inspirations from Brown or Tom Clancy. The film would be so much better if it had a brain. When I see a fluff piece on “the greatest, biggest explosion ever made for a film- so darn big you could see it from space, and had to call people not to be alarmed’, I’m thinking either a) bull***t, or b) you could have saved money by going forced perspective model and be just as effective.
Reminds me of Executive Decision when it was all like “Kurt Russell and Steven Segal, fuck yeah!” and then Segal bites it like 5 mins into the movie.
Nitpick time: You keep spelling it “roll” when it’s actually “role.”
Good stuff otherwise, though.
This project looked terrible from the get-go. I can’t think of anything worse than a computer controlled jet going ‘bad’ while those humans it was intended to replace have to take it down. I remember some line about humans being able to make moral judgements while a computer can’t. Hmm, I’m sure glad soldiers out there frequently make sound moral choices…
I can’t even believe that someone would think making this film was a good idea. Who green-lighted this???!!! Why must the powers that be make horrible decisions about what films to make??? Can it be true that there were no interesting or innovative, or even hald decent stories around that could have been made into a film instead of this? ugg