"The Damned Irish!"

Here we have a trailer, perhaps the final trailer to Indy's latest film, well, one of his two latest films "The Fighting Irish", or, more accurately, "Ricochet Fight 2: The Fighting Irish", as it is a sequel to Indy's action-fest. Seeing this, I am interested if this follows a similar formula.

SMASH OPEN.SHOT OF:

HIGH- TECH LOOKING BUILDING

SHOT OF:

CALLOWAY (Pierce Brosnan) WALKING DOWN THE HALL. He turns to face the camera.

NARRATOR (OS)
Irish Secret Service.

Already, we are provided with basis of the story, and what strikes me as odd is how simply it has came to us. It is apparent this is a "cop" film (well, Secret Service, but they all follow the same rules, or same lack thereof). Seeing the first "Ricochet Fight", we know what kind of things we are in for, and where all of this is leading; and that makes it somewhat formulaic. I sense that it will start with either a hiring or some form of commission to help the Service; after an intro, of course. The character will be skeptical, but will eventually accept, Then, we will be left with action scenes to pave the road through a story designed by chasing and chasing, a never ending mouse hunt. And did I get this all through a man turning around with sunglasses, a line, and the previous film as a source? Yes, I did.

SHOT OF:

Field operatives run through an exploding warehouse.

NARRATOR (OS)
So secret, you didn't even know it exists.

This is the type of absurdity that I can only expect this film to be filled of. Does the government have secrets? More so then a high school girl. Do they lie? They'd make the polygraph test needle do jumping jacks. However, it is a cliche of the genre to have the government involved in some secret wing, or branch, that ends up being meddled in affairs such as this. Knowing this, I can predict many cliches coming out, though not always in a bad way. Of course, with my plot predictions above, I can sense the usual canon of choice words, guns that need no reloading and explosions thrown like firecrackers. However, as the first film was "dumb fun", I see this in similar light. If the first was "Dumb and Dumber", then this can only be "Dumb and Dumberer". Let's hope the misspelling is intentional.

Includes...SHOT OF: A mechanic disabling a bomb. COLOR TINT FREEZE FRAME.

NARRATOR (OS)
Anti-terrorism squad.

SHOT OF: Middle Eastern Town- Car Bomb explodes. COLOR TINT FREEZE FRAME.

NARRATOR (OS)
Foreign Policy Assistance.

Now, these are included for a reason besides showing us the factual basis for this Secret Service. It is also not in here to make a relevant point, but simply to convince. It wants to make us assume that the film knows what it is doing, and then we will, unabashedly, sit back and enjoy it. Only the skeptic viewer criticizes, and its job is to take that curious nature out of us and leave us with stripped bone entertainment. While this is not a bad thing in the least, I do hope that some meat is left on the bones, as most viewers are not ones to go for bare pickings.

SHOT OF:

Beach. Several uniformed people jump out of a car, armed with submachine guns. A guy in sunglasses jumps out of his armchair, pulling out a gun. The soldiers begin firing. COLOR TINT FREEZE FRAME.

NARRATOR (OS)And enhanced deportation.

Note the fact that everyone is in sunglasses. Now, I know that they, in fact, do where sunglasses, mostly. And also that it isn't intended to come off as "cool", but the fact that the director actually includes the fact in there is worthy of mentioning. Why not state "wearing a suit" or "wearing underwear", or even "wearing his prizes size ten's". It is because he wants our attention drawn to that detail, as sunglasses, as we all know, stand as a common symbol for the secret service, a cliched symbol, but still. Thus, I just thought that would be nice to notice, as this film is really hitting all the common themes, leaving us thoughtless, and leaving our brains turned off. However, it does look like it can be fun at times in this trailer.

SHOT OF:

OFFICE BUILDING. Calloway puts his fist on the desk, and looks up.

CALLOWAY
We want you to help us, Nathan.

We pan over to NATHAN JACK (Simon Pegg), sitting in a chair in a crumpled suit.

JACK...Right.

Ah, here it is; the hiring scene! So blatantly put forth, we have the gruff boss and the naive, nervous man employed to help. I often wondered why the men who were picked to help the most secret organizations in the world were always coming off as stupid; but then I realized the answer. They can;t have some professional, or a man of stunning intellect help out; why, that would be too realistic, and too easy! For enjoyment sake, the characters personalities are stretched out so far as to be exaggerated and what should be a colorful character can so often become obnoxious. As of yet, however, I see no such annoyance to speak of here, not overtly so anyways, so I just throw those words out as caution.

CUT TO: Hotel Lobby. CRAIG KILBURN raises a machine gun. COLOR TINT FREEZE FRAME.

TITLE ON SCREEN: THE TARGET: CRAIG KILBURN.

CALLOWAY (OS)He's a corporate terrorist. Uses his funds to blow stuff up.

Is that the technical way of putting it? But seriously, that is something else. When characters talk in this script, they do not talk to each other, but to the audience, and audience it assumes wants things handed to them on a silver platter, and thus, everything is put simply; very defined. Somehow turning big government into a fifty page trailer.

SHOT OF: Board Room.

Nathan Jack and Craig Kilburn shake hands.

KILBURN
Glad to have you with us.

CUT BACK TO: Office Room.

JACK...
You want me to do WHAT?!

CALLOWAY
Stop the bombing. It's very simple.

"It's very simple". Yes, it is, at least put that way anyways. I note the capitalization of "what", and that is something I noticed in the last few movies Indy has made; unusual grammar ("haha", "swear words fifty times too fast, just informally written). Of course, in a text messaging era, this is self-designed, whether the director meant to or not, to appeal to the type who like an easy read. After all, if we spend so much time on text messages, what is fifty pages of it?

Begin Music: "Souljacker pt.1"- The Eels.

SINGER
OH YEAH!

I just wants to say that this bit made me smile, as it comes off as quite random. It is the script telling us, "look how cool this is".

SHOT OF: Jack jumps and tackles the Priest over the reservoir.

SHOT OF: Jack leans out of a minivan and shoots his handgun.

SHOT OF: Jack slides over a sushi bar, spilling stuff all over.

SHOT OF: Jack kicks Foucan in the face.

SHOT OF: Jack pulls a gun and points it at the camera.

A few action fast scenes, as so common in trailers, that are supposed to make us sit up and drool in anticipation. Well, I am not drooling, and it isn't because I have a dry mouth. These scenes start to seem repetitive after the second gun shot, and as they go on, their vagueness only increases their diminishing quality. Of course, I cannot harp on them too long, as I must admit, I see why they are there, I just think a stronger foundation at the first half of the trailer would make them more acceptable.

JACK

Ba-boom.

THE FIGHTING IRISH

And how can they not go out with a bang, making another line which can't help but to bring a smile to my face, as I am going to be interested how and when that fits into a script about a man with his life in danger. Though, realism seems to take little part here, so that is to be expected. After all, it's just those "damned Irish"!

COMING SOON.