Last night it was another Cineworld Unlimited Screening and a chance to check out the new movie The Machine starring Bert Kreischer and Mark Hamill before its release in UK cinemas on the 31st of May.
A middle-aged American man known for a wild story involving Russia and his 1999 party boy days is suddenly thrown back into the country in a fight for his life in this action-comedy.
Bert Kreischer faces a familial crisis and the arrival of his estranged father when the ghost of his booze-soaked past arrives: a murderous mobster hellbent on kidnapping Bert back to the motherland to atone for his crimes. Together, he and his father must retrace the steps of his younger self in the midst of a war between a sociopathic crime family while they attempt to find common ground.
Now I have to say that I may be one of the few that had never heard of Kreischer and so I wasn’t too sure about The Machine, but the one thing that did appeal to me was that Mark Hamill was in the movie and this was my reason for wanting to see the movie.
After hearing about the movie and seeing the trailer I headed over to Netflix to check out some of Kreischer’s standup shows that are on the platform to get some kind of idea of what I was heading out to see at my local Cineworld, the comedy is not my type of thing but it would be interesting to see how the movie would play out.
The movie brings Kreischer’s standup show The Machine to the big screen to give us an idea of what the movie is based upon, with the story on the standup show about partying with the Russian Mafia and that’s the story that holds the movie together and is the premise of what the movie is going to be about.
As an action movie, The Machine works well and there are some great set pieces that have some nicely choreographed fight sequences and also some nice camera work where we move from the present to the past that look great.
This is a very much tongue-in-cheek movie and there were some moments when it did remind me of Nic Cage’s brilliant The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. But for me, the comedy element of The Machine really didn’t grab me and there was really only one moment when I did find myself smiling but I didn’t get to the point that I was laughing loudly or even laughing at all, yes there were a couple of people that found the movie hysterical, but maybe that’s down to the different sense of humour that we all have.
As I mentioned earlier Mark Hamill stars alongside Bert Kreischer and plays his dad, this for me was probably the best thing in the film, I loved how Hamill took to the role and how he played against Kreischer.
If you like Kreischer’s standup routines then The Machine is probably going to appeal to your comic side and you may find the comedy hidden in there, if you like action movies then there is plenty in the movie to keep you interested for the 1h 52m runtime. It was the action that kept me in my seat throughout the movie and not the “comedy”.
I’m not sure if I would have rushed to see the movie if I hadn’t had the opportunity to see it at the Cineworld Unlimited Screening, it’s really not my “cup of tea”, but it may be something you would love, we all have our own opinions at the end of the day.
So if you are a fan of Kreischer then this is a movie you may want to go and see, it’s worth seeing just for Mark Hamill’s role and that’s what sold it for me.
the Machine is in UK Cinemas on May 31st.
Light on the comedy, full on with the action!
Movie title: The Machine (2023)
Movie description: Bert's drunken past catches up with him 20 years down the road when he and his father are kidnapped by those Bert wronged 20 years ago while drunk on a college semester abroad in Russia.
Date published: May 26, 2023
Country: UK
Duration: 1h 52m
Director(s): Peter Atencio
Actor(s): Bert Kreischer, Mark Hamill, Jimmy Tatro
Genre: Action, Comedy
Summary
If you are a fan of Bert Kreischer’s standup then this movie may appeal to you.Â
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
