JACK THE GIANT SLAYER opened Fri., March 1, 2013. Stars: Nicholas Hoult, Eleanor Tomlinson, Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, Bill Nighy, Warwick Davis and Ian McShane. Director: Bryan Singer ("The Usual Suspects", "X-Men", "X2", "Superman Returns").
A modern fairy tale in which the long-standing peace between men and giants is threatened as a young farmer (Hoult) leads an expedition into the giants' kingdom in hopes of rescuing a kidnapped princess.
A lot of important people keep saying many wonderful things about Bryan Singer and his work. There's never a reason given but some of them can be substantiated by "The X-Men" and "X2" which were superb. However, that can't erase the disaster that was "Superman Returns". It's not easy to ignore the fact that this was the most horrifyingly dull superhero film ever. It was actually worse than "Superman 4: Quest for Peace" which nearly killed that franchise.
Now, Singer seems intent on destroying fairy tales as well. While there are some interesting scenes in "Jack", they didn't save this from being anything other than a project that should've been straight-to-video (barring the possibility of not filming it at all). The dialogue and storyline aren't even better than any episode of "Scooby Doo".
So much talent is completely wasted in favor of special effects shots that they become the focus and the acting an afterthought. So far, the best of the 'fairy tale' films is "Red Riding Hood" and that's mostly because of Amanda Seyfried. Perhaps Warner Brothers studios will reconsider hiring a director who can make a flying man boring. At least it wasn't a stupid pile of crud about an exorcism. (There's your silver lining).
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