Review: Jack the Giant Slayer ★★★

Jack the Giant Slayer is the latest fairy story to get a modern makeover, following films like Snow White and the Huntsman and with a proposed Cinderella film on the horizon. Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, X-Men) was the man in the director’s chair for this adaptation and whilst it cannot be called a triumph, it will certainly not disappoint its target audience.

Everyone knows the story of Jack and his magic beans that sprout into a beanstalk with vines twisting into the sky, where the giant bone-cruncher inhabitant awaits the young lad. Singer’s film takes a slightly different direction with this story, although its core remains very similar. Jack (Nicholas Hoult of About a Boy and Skins fame), instructed to sell his uncle’s horse, returns with ‘magic beans’ (or ancient relic beans if you believe Singer’s adaptation), which end up getting wet and bam, hello beanstalk. But wait, did the princess end up getting caught in the beanstalk as it shot up into giant land? Yes. Does she need rescuing by our farm-boy hero? You bet.

One giant can’t be that hard to defeat when you have all of the king’s army ready to fight to the death to save the beautiful princess (played by Eleanor Tomlinson). Shame, then, that Bryan Singer decided to make the land at the end of the beanstalk awash with giants hungry for human; and so the story continues in true fairytale fashion with a predictable plot point involving the King’s sinister advisor Roderick (Stanley Tucci) and some monumental effects, paid for by an extraordinary budget.

Let’s get down to the flaws, of which this film has quite a few. Firstly, the opening scene is horrible. It features a young Jack being told a ‘fictional story’ about King Eric the Great who defeated the giants when they tried to take the kingdom from him. Sounds fine but Singer made the story a voiceover for a bizarre re-enactment of the events in a graphic style that can only be likened to an early noughties’ video game! It may have been an attempt to emulate the classy graphics of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 when they regale us with the story of the deathly hallows but it was horrible.

Another quarrel is the use of 3D in this film, which was pointless. As someone who isn’t a fan of 3D in the first place, to see it used so pointlessly was irritating. It detracted from the colour of the film and literally didn’t add anything, even as a gimmick.

Another element of the film that I struggled with was the humour. There were few laughs when Singer intended there to be laughs and the jokes were childish to a point where it just wouldn’t appeal to an audience over the age of about 10. This is fine if that is his target audience but the film carries a 12A rating, meaning that he hoped to bring in an older audience as well as a younger one; his jokes and the pantomime nature of some of them (especially Roderick’s bumbling sidekick) may well put the older audiences off.

Even more strained than the comedy was the relationship between Jack and Isabelle (Hoult and Tomlinson). Both are incredibly talented young actors but their on screen chemistry was about as believable as the storyline. It was forced and impossible for the audience to buy into.

All of these flaws aside, the film actually moves past its incredibly weak beginning and becomes quite enjoyable. Whilst the romance and jokes fall a little flat, it is easy to lose yourself in the grand scale of the film and the action sequences are spectacular. There are a couple of scenes that up the tension and do genuinely engage the audience, including a fantastic scene with a giant attempting to cook a Ewan McGregor pie, and the final battle sequence leaves very little to be desired. There’s also a short but very funny turn from Eddie Marsan, who shows his acting quality in what felt like a very short 45 minutes or so.

The film ends on a note of absolute genius from Singer, which actually left me leaving on a high. It’s a flawed film but it’s also good fun and, in parts, Singer shows some creative genius. I would recommend it so long as you go in aware that it is a family film; for Jack the Giant Slayer is, after all, a fairytale film.