Quibi's Die Hart Review

The latest game news from IGN - one of my fave channels ever - check it out Die Hart is available for download on Quibi. This is a review for all 10 episodes.  [poilib element="accentDivider"] Die Hart is Quibi's new series, which by Quibi rules means a feature-length movie dosed out in 8 minute bites. It stars Kevin Hart as a fictionalized version of himself attending a hard knocks "action star school" in an attempt to impress a director who sees him as a potential leading man. As a meta-comedy, Die Hart held a lot of of promise, but after 10 episodes of muddled execution and little laughter, it's only a modest misadventure. Die Hart's "real" world, in which Hart is a movie star often relegated to being Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's sidekick, strangely picks and chooses what it takes from reality. Hart's career is intact but his marriage is not. Tom Cruise is real, John Travolta is not (as Travolta plays action school coach Ron Wilcox). Overall, it makes sense for Hart to play himself, and not a differently-named star who just so happens to have a lot in common with Hart, but the rest of the decisions regarding what remains intact from our world, what's heightened, and what's totally surreal is inconsistent. And it hurts the comedy in the end. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/06/die-hart-official-red-band-trailer"] Funnily enough, it's Hart who feels the most grounded here in Die Hart, as he's playing someone surrounded, at all times, by incongruous lunacy. The series wants to play off of Hart's bread-and-butter shrillness but because everything about the premise is absurd, Hart, understandably, questions every single thing he encounters. Ron's school is preposterously dangerous (you do find out why, ultimately) -- filled with real fire, bullets, and aluminum baseball bats to the head -- and it's clear that Hart is being targeted for humiliation and gaslighting from the get-go. Game of Thrones' Nathalie Emmanuel plays Jordan King, an actress who joins Ron's school and serves as an uneasy ally to Hart in Hart's quest to prove that Ron is up to...something. Hart thinks Ron is hiding secrets, perhaps about a murdered drug dealer, but what any of that has to do with the fact that Ron runs a weirdly hazardous training camp is anyone's guess. Again, by the end, everything gets explained, but because the viewer never buys Ron's school as being a real thing (because Hart never does), and because Hart often feels like it's all a joke being made at his expense, the full reveal doesn't land quite right. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/20/die-hart-exclusive-red-band-clip-what-is-your-motivation"] Without trying to spoil the various twists, Die Hart borrows generously from an acclaimed comedy from 20 years ago. Of course, that's a long enough time to afford a new take, or a refresh, of a clever premise, but Die Hart never tonally finds its mark. The big curtain drop at the end certainly explains why, along the way, nothing makes sense, but the series suffers a bit because of its reliance on" Kevin Hart in peril" as its crux for comedy. Which is exactly also...what's being criticized about Kevin Hart? Aside from tonal bumpiness, the production here is a solid and the performances are on point. Hart, as Hart, gives it his all while Emmanuel turns in a prime performance as his more-than-capable sparring partner. Travolta, too, gets to have some fun after a decade of relative irrelevance (American Crime Story notwithstanding) and it's good to see him, basically, take on The Rock's role here. You know, if we're looking for the lead character who puts Hart through the wringer. Also playing himself, in perhaps the most enjoyable element here, is Josh Hartnett, who shows up as a suave and confident graduate of Ron's school. Hartnett's presence also gives the series its best quick gag. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=quibis-movie-and-tv-shows-reviewed&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"]

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