REVIEW: G-Force

 REVIEW: G-Force

Originally published in 2016, here are my thoughts on G-Force.

Disney have had so many live-action hits recently that it's hard to forget some of them haven't been quite that good. Case in point: G-Force. A film that had a strong concept for a family film (who doesn't want to see secret agent guinea pigs?) but weak execution. Whilst G-Force merchandise was hard to avoid at the time, thankfully it seems to have been pretty much forgotten. And quite right too.

The film follows a guinea pig called Darwin (Sam Rockwell) who leads a team of secret agents: martial artist Juarez (Penelope Cruz), weapons and transportation expert Blaster (Tracy Morgan), cyber-intelligence mole expert Speckles (Nicolas Cage) and exploration agent fly Mooch (Dee Bradley Baker). When the team investigate the home of businessman Leonard Saber (Bill Nighy), the business owner of Saberling Technology and a person who has been under FBI investigation for a while, unit leader Ben's (Zach Galifianakis) superior Kip Killian (Will Arnett) finds out about the unauthorised mission and shuts the secret service down, instead deciding to use the intelligent animals as experiments to be killed. They manage to escape and end up in a pet shop, Blaster and Juarez are sold to a family, whilst Speckles ends up in a rubbish truck after pretending to play dead and Darwin manages to escape with his new friend Hurley (Jon Favreau) when Mooch informs them of where the other agents are. Eventually they manage to reunite and successfully stop Saber's home appliance invasion.

This is a deliciously wacky idea yet G-Force doesn't play to any of the madcap insanity that should come from the story's bonkers premise. Instead it is lazy and most of the 'jokes' (if you can call them that) consist of basic toilet humour. Whilst I imagine the film would be loved by pre-school children, for older viewers it makes for a frustrating experience. Jon Favreau lends a voice to one of the movie's guinea pigs but it feels like he would have been a better fit to direct than Hoyt Yeatman.

Hoyt Yeatman is more known within the industry as a visual effects supervisor on films such as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and E.T. The Extra Terrestrial so it is bizarre that they chose him to direct this film, especially when he had only directed one film before G-Force - the four minute IMAX film Asteroid Adventure. He clearly wasn't experienced enough for this movie and still wouldn't be today, given that he unsurprisingly hasn't directed since (although he is set to direct a film called Voyager 3D at some point, although five years' after this review was originally written and according to IMDB it is still in development). What's also not surprising is that the best directed sequences are the special effects. The special effects in this film are extremely convincing and the VFX scenes well-directed. The action sequences are never dull to watch and show the potential that the movie could have had with a better director and better writer.

You see, the dialogue isn't up to scratch either. Comrac and Marianne Wibberley wrote the screenplay together for this film, although it feels more like they wrote a bunch of generic jokes and phrases rather than put any thought into the movie. There's nothing particularly original about anything spoken in the film; probably the most imaginative piece of dialogue is 'one more word like that and I'll turn you into a smoke-side of bacon'. It doesn't seem as though the writers were invested in the film idea or concept; they probably weren't ideal matches for the film in the first place seeing as they tend to write movies geared towards an older audience such as Bad Boys 2 and National Treasure.

Thank God, then, that I saw this film at the cinema in 3D. It's not the best use of 3D but it is very enjoyable and there are a few moments where some of the effects pop out of the screen (the hamster ball chase being one highlight). This film was clearly made with 3D in mind and is pretty much the only part of the film's creative process that doesn't feel half-hearted. It isn't enough to save the movie but it did make me feel better about paying the price of admission for this film when I saw it at the cinema in 2009. Again, it shows that Hoyt Yeatman is more used to dealing with visual effects than directing a feature-length movie. If he had been working as a visual effects supervisor instead, I have a feeling G-Force may have fulfilled the potential of its premise.

The lip-synching of the animals is perfect with the actor's voices also. Everything is synched nicely with the movement of the animals' mouths and it feels more like Babe lip-synchronisation than Cats & Dogs. The cast give it their all; Sam Rockwell is well-cast as Darwin and gives a certain energy to his performance that's somewhat infectious and Nicolas Cage is a lot of fun as Speckles (later in the film revealed to be a traitor) , which neatly plays to his strengths). A pre-LEGO Batman Movie Will Arnett is good as his human character Kip Killian and Bill Nighy is memorable as Leonard Saber. Nobody feels like they are phoning in their performances despite the film's bad quality and it seems like they are putting more effort into the film than the production crew. 

Overall, G-Force is a film with a great cast, good 3D and strong visual effects, however this isn't enough to save a creatively redundant movie. Whilst it has a strong premise, the film feels lazy and half-arsed. The wacky concept of secret agent guinea pigs is never fully realised and instead G-Force is full of lame childrens' jokes that only toddlers will find amusing. The decision to get a visual effects consultant to direct the film is bizarre, especially when they had a fully capable director among the film's cast. If Jon Favreau had directed G-Force, then it may have stood a chance. Their decision to go with Hoyt Yeatman instead results in one of Disney's worst live-action movies with terrible dialogue by Comrac and Marianne Wibberley. 'Secret agent guinea pigs' is nowhere near as fun as it sounds.

What are your thoughts on G-Force? Let me know in the comments.