Hours (2013) - Review
Originally published October 2015Paul Walker. I don't know much about him personally, as I have never cared to learn more, but I've heard and read different stories that say he was a great guy, super nice, and extremely generous with all of his success. It's always a shame when a decent person who's willing to share his success with others and use it to improve the world dies. It's also a shame when the death of a movie star known for a ridiculously dumb film franchise overshadows the death of a more significant and prolific figure like Nelson Mandela in our news coverage, but I digress like always.
Regardless, all this doesn't change the fact that I've always thought Paul Walker was a terrible actor whose acting skills are on par with that of an oak 2x4. Where people came up with the notion of him being good in any film is beyond me. The Fast and Furious movies that jump-started (pun intended) his career have only been entertaining when they're ridiculously bad, much like any of his other films like Timeline, or in this case, Hours.
Image: Lionsgate Films
Pros
Entertaining enough for those of us who get a kick out of bad acting, clichés, or bad special effects
Cons
Special effects
Drama is boring
Unconvincing acting
Premise is stretched thin
Did I mention it's boring?
Additional Thoughts
Monologue-driven Emotional Character Drama + Paul Walker = Good movie? No. No, I assure you.
I wanted to watch this movie for a couple of reasons. One was simply disbelief. I couldn't comprehend that anyone thought Paul Walker had what it took to carry a film on his own, let alone one that wouldn't involve action set-pieces and car chases. The other main reason I wanted to watch the movie was because I just wanted to see his attempt at a serious character drama out of curiosity and my own sick sense of humor.
Image: Lionsgate Films
Hours was released shortly after his death, so I think it earned some empathy points from critics and viewers alike, but it doesn't change the fact that Paul Walker's acting is stiff as ever in this one. He does show his ability to cry on camera and I can tell that he's trying, but there's more to acting than scowling and darting your eyes around. Actors like Stalone were able to show they could do some serious acting and convey emotion in a convincing way before becoming an action star who could just cheese their way through a role. Walker, however, is at the other end of the spectrum. He started out in an action series that was bad, but inexplicably successful, and now he's trying his hand at a film that is supposed to weigh entirely on his ability to convey thought and emotion. Thought and emotion are factors that rarely come into play in his Fast & Furious career. His performance has always been wooden, and it still is in Hours, even in his most emotional moments. The script certainly doesn't do him any favors either.
So what about Hours? What of its plot? In a nutshell, Walker's character takes his ultra-pregnant wife to a hospital in New Orleans to deliver their 5-weeks-premature baby while Hurricane Katrina is wreaking havoc. Complications arise during the labor and his wife dies (spoilers). Now, Walker's character (I can't remember his name/don't care) is with his new paper mache baby girl puppet-thing, waiting for her to finish cooking in the little baby respirator/incubator. The doctor tells him that when she can breathe on her own, she can be taken out of there, which should only take a few...Hours. Meanwhile, Katrina is breaking levees and causing chaos, forcing people to evacuate the hospital and thus leaving poor Paul Walker and his animatronic baby in her not-portable respirator box. It then becomes a Castaway scenario where Paul Walker must do a lot of thought-verbalization as he tries to solve the various problems that come with trying to keep his premature Chucky doll alive in the middle of this crisis, completely alone.
Image: Lionsgate Films
And that's it. I don't know what happens in the end because, honestly, I didn't finish the film. I watched till about the part where he was completely alone in the hospital, which was just under the halfway point. I turned it off when my enjoyment of watching the bad acting ran out. As I expected of Walker, he couldn't hold my interest even when I was watching his movie for the wrong reasons. Nonetheless, I may have ended up liking Hours more than I would have had I stuck around for the full run-time
Maybe I'm wrong though. Maybe it gets better later and Walker pulls it all together with the latter half of the film. I'll never know, but I'm okay with that.
Conclusion
It's not a flagrantly offensive film or frustrating to watch, it's just not good, as anyone might expect. If you thought Paul Walker was a good actor (howwww?!), then this might be the emotional swan song you were hoping for. If you're like me, you'll be entertained by his "acting skills" for about 30 minutes, be bored for about 20 minutes, and then shut it off.