Jack the Giant Slayer (2013)
TOMATOMETER
Critics Consensus: It's enthusiastically acted and reasonably fun, but Jack the Giant Slayer is also overwhelmed by digital effects and a bland, impersonal story.
Critics Consensus: It's enthusiastically acted and reasonably fun, but Jack the Giant Slayer is also overwhelmed by digital effects and a bland, impersonal story.
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Movie Info
"Jack the Giant Slayer" tells the story of an ancient war that is reignited when a young farmhand unwittingly opens a gateway between our world and a fearsome race of giants. Unleashed on the Earth for the first time in centuries, the giants strive to reclaim the land they once lost, forcing the young man, Jack (Nicholas Hoult) into the battle of his life to stop them. Fighting for a kingdom, its people, and the love of a brave princess, he comes face to face with the unstoppable warriors he … More- Rating:
- PG-13 (for intense scenes of fantasy action violence, some frightening images and brief language)
- Genre:
- Drama , Action & Adventure , Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Directed By:
- Bryan Singer
- Written By:
- Dan Studney , Darren Lemke , Christopher McQuarrie , David Dobkin , Christopher McQuarrie Dan Studney
- In Theaters:
- Mar 1, 2013 Wide
- On DVD:
- Jun 18, 2013
- US Box Office:
- $65.2M
Cast
-
Nicholas Hoult
as Jack -
Eleanor Tomlinson
as Isabelle -
Stanley Tucci
as Roderick -
Ewan McGregor
as Elmont -
Ian McShane
as King Brahmwell -
Eddie Marsan
as Crawe
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Critic Reviews for Jack the Giant Slayer
All Critics (193) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (100) | Rotten (93) | DVD (1)
Forget that Giant Slayer feels photocopied and is entirely unnecessary. It's just not exciting.
A mash-up of old-school heroism, pantomime villainy, starstruck lovers and post-'Shrek' archness, it's more exhausting than exhilarating.
It's fast, rousing, and blessedly brief - under two hours instead of, say, nine in three bladder-straining installments.
Unlike Peter Jackson with the overstuffed The Hobbit,[director Bryan]Singer shies away from the epic and settles for entertaining. Sometimes that's more than enough.
Not awful, not wonderful, Jack the Giant Slayer is a midrange fairy tale epic that's a lot more ho-hum than fee-fi-fo-fum.
Jack the Giant Slayer is slight, but consistently amusing.
Underwhelming, as you might expect, but it's quite possibly the best Jack and the Beanstalk film you could imagine the studio system producing. Whatever that means.
Despite its many flaws, Jack the Giant Slayer is not a bad film, but rather a disappointing one
When you make a movie this awful, with no hint of useful self-awareness, you're not proving a point--you're giving up.
When it really gets going, and especially in the last 30 minutes, it's passable as matinee fodder.
If this is the new baseline for kid's fantasy films, and not freaking Wrath of the Titans, we're in very good shape.
Jack the Giant Slayer is a quick and simple action adventure that comes loaded with plenty of laughs and CGI spectacle.
If anything "Jack the Giant Slayer" proves it's about time we begin inventing new fairytales.
Director Bryan Singer, who made The Usual Suspects and earlier X-Men movies, does a bit of good-hearted slumming with this CGI-heavy fantasy.
Although a fairy tale, the movie is presented as a big-budget, special-effects blockbuster that plays as much like Clash of the Titans as a Disney cartoon. That places a lot of limitations on audience.
Jack The Giant Slayer is an entertaining family adventure, with moments of tension and humour in equal measure.
dull and perfunctory
Apparently spent most of its 'giant' $195 million budget on lavish, impressive special effects and nary a tinker's nickel on the ho-hum script.
The cast seem stilted, even a bit surprised, to find themselves in the fictitious land of Cloister, dressed in panto regalia with dreadful hair-dos, no doubt under orders to deliver their lines with a touch of deliberate theatricality.
Thanks to the marvel of digital visual effects and the clear influence of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings, [director Bryan] Singer does a terrific job showing us just how realistic a battle set in a fantasy world can look.
... a clever yet gentle twist on a familiar story, and one that multiple generations can share.
Between the magic beans or a ticket to this film... maybe take the beans.
The family audience deserves better than this.
Singer is more concerned with old-fashioned storytelling than chasing a target audience's fleeting fads.
You don't know Jack. And, I'm not so sure you want to get to know him, because he's a bit on the bland side.
Audience Reviews for Jack the Giant Slayer
Super Reviewer
Prepare for a giant adventure.
Good Fun Movie! "Jack The Giant Slayer" will reasonably divide critics and audiences, but if I had kids, I would have no problem taking them to see this. It's a fun little adventure that kids and open-minded adults will get a kick out of. It was refreshing to find a non ironic, non meta straightforward telling of this story, with some elements of charm and humor. The script is well written, the acting is better than good, and it moves along at a pretty lively pace. Not a classic, but good. It might have been better a little shorter, but that can be said of most movies these days.
Sent to the market by his uncle to sell their horse and buy thatch for their roof, Jack meets the beautiful Princess Isabelle whom he rescues her from ruffians. He returns home only with a handful of beans given to him by a monk who claimed they were sacred but that does little to impress his uncle who tosses them away. In the night the Princess arrives having run off to keep from marrying Roderick who is clearly only interested in becoming king. Soon the beans take root with a giant stalk carrying away the princess and Jack's house. He soon sets off on an adventure with the king's guards to rescue the princess only to find that a mythical land filled with giants really exists.
Super Reviewer
Maybe not for everyone, but I enjoyed this. I found this a rather entertaining new take on an old fable, complete with some humor and monstrous bad guys who need to be 'cut down to size'. A satisfying ending, to boot. Don't expect a particularly cerebral story here; after all, it is a fairy tale...
MoreSuper Reviewer
"Fe-fi-fo-fum"
Ahh yes, time for Hollywood to once again churn out yet another rendition to an old fairy-tale and give it that desperately needed "Hollywood flavor".
...Kidding.
The victim to Hollywood's incessant attempt to destroy yet another classic tale: Jack and the Beanstalk.
It's everything that I was coming to expect: gratuitous on CGI, poor screenplay, and a trade-off of stellar storytelling for heavy action. "Jack the Giant Slayer" looks like one of those movies that, sure, has Hollywood's backing, but neither would be a good movie or a box-office powerhouse. Especially after seeing the ratings hitting just near-shy of fresh, this live action rendition of a classic folk tale never caught my attention, but to my surprise, "Jack the Giant Slayer" is 2013's guilty pleasure.
Unfortunately, that's where all the surprises come to a screeching halt. You can't get a much more Hollywood movie than "Jack the Giant Slayer", and you know what? That's perfectly fine. Don't expect Oscar-worthy performances even when we got the likes of acting veterans Ewan McGregor and Stanley Tucci. But what truly makes "Jack the Giant Slayer" shine is that though the film is hefty on CGI, the story itself has just enough action injected into the source material's narrative that brings a quality of an entertaining adventure movie into life. It's not too much and not too little. And because the original source material remains a classic fairy tale because of its compelling storytelling nature, "Jack the Giant Slayer" seemingly manages to stand on its own two feet when the action dies down.
I'm not saying that you should go out and watch it immediately. "Jack the Giant Slayer" is a passable cable movie viewing because of its entertaining nature -- just don't come with high expectations. I could shred this movie to pieces of all the things it doesn't do right, but what it does do right is entertain audiences, whether through the cathartic action or when it unravels the universe of the fairy tale. Perhaps that's all the average joe may be looking for at the movies.
Super Reviewer
Jack the Giant Slayer Quotes
- Cook Giant:
- Never get any good humans these days.
- General Fallon:
- I am now your king, now follow as I lead.
- Roderick:
- Shuh. Can't you see i'm talking to giants now.
- Young Jack:
- Father? Could you read a bit of it for me please?
- Young Jack:
- Fee Fi fo Fum does not where the thunder cracks.
- Jack:
- It's Jack!
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