First Reviews For JACK THE GIANT SLAYER Now Online

Bryan Singer's (X-Men, Superman Returns) fantasy epic will be released this Friday, and critics have begun posting their reviews on the film. What do they think so far? Find out after the jump.

By PaulRom - Feb 27, 2013 11:02 AM EST

Filed Under: Fantasy

To say the least, expectations for Warner Bros.' Jack The Giant Slayer have not been particularly high. After the release of the trailers and posters, many have said that the Bryan Singer-directed fantasy epic will be a John Carter-sized failure for the studio (and with the film tracking a mere $30M domestic opening right now, that may be true). However, the first reviews for the movie are now online, and it is currently at 69% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 16 reviews. So far, the general consensus is that Jack The Giant Slayer's action/visuals and acting are fine, but there are virtually no surprises in the film's story. Below are segments from some of these reviews, and feel free to check them out in their entirety.

Jack the Giant Slayer is cheeky without being too obnoxiously cutesy. While the look of it is medieval, the vibe seems more current, but it’s not so anachronistic as to be self-referential and subversive along the lines of a Shrek, for example. In that regard, it actually ends up being pleasingly old-fashioned.

There aren’t a whole lot of surprises here — if you know the story, you know what happens — although Jack the Giant Slayer features several inspired visuals, including an incredibly cool scene in which several beanstalks sprout in an unexpected direction. Hoult and Tomlinson are fine together — there’s nothing outlandish about either of their performances — but they do have a nice chemistry with each other. - Associated Press

Fee-fi-fo-fum, this fairy-tale retread is pretty dumb. Feeding the recent appetite for revisionist screen fantasies (Snow White and the Huntsman, Mirror Mirror, Once Upon a Time), Jack the Giant Slayer feels, unsurprisingly, like an attempt to cash in on a trend, recycling storybook characters, situations and battle sequences to mechanical and wearyingly predictable effect. A disappointment coming from the usually more distinctive Bryan Singer, the Warners release will struggle to score the mammoth returns needed to recoup its not-inconsiderable budget, with an indifferent 3D conversion unlikely to offset f/x fatigue even among the youngish audience being targeted. - Variety

Is The Hobbit: There and Back Again next summer too soon to hope for it? In fact, the latest example of this syndrome, Jack the Giant Slayer, isn't bad in and of itself; it's well made, attractively cast and has some lively as well as ghoulish moments. But a castle fit for a king to anyone who can find an original or singular element to this handsome reupholstering of the English folk tale, a version notable for its fine visual effects and vastly multiplied population of giants. Postponed from its original summer 2012 opening date, this Warner Bros. release, with just a week to itself before Oz flies up against it, looks to perform reasonably well -- but maybe not well enough, at least domestically, given its Brobdingnagian budget.

Working on at least as big a scale as he has on his X-Men and Superman films, Singer confidently handles the combat and big action scenes in what plays as an energetic, robust, old-fashioned romantic adventure yarn; simply in terms of efficient storytelling, clear logistics and consistent viewer engagement, Jack is markedly superior to the recent Hobbit. - The Hollywood Reporter

Jack the Giant Slayer is not flush with surprises. We are never too much in doubt that man will somehow triumph over giant, or that the brave commoner will win the approval of the blue bloods. But there is something to be said for the simple satisfactions of a familiar tale well told. By the standards of today's bombastic "event" movies, this is a refreshingly modest endeavor—one in which the main event is the skillful holding of our attention, all the way from "Once upon a time" to "Happily ever after." - Village Voice

As Hollywood continues to shake its new moneymakers (live-action fairy tales), let's hope none of them get any worse than Jack the Giant Slayer, a derivative bore of a blockbuster with virtually no redeeming factors. Based on Jack the Giant Killer and Jack and the Beanstalk, but ditching both titles because the former is too confusing and the latter isn't cool enough, this epic waste of $190 million plunders the grab bag of overused plotlines, failing to put its own stamp on much of anything. - Slant Magazine

Jack The Giant Slayer can’t seem to decide whether it wants to play its hand as a lithe, sweeping fable or a more grounded action-adventure with legendary accessories.

Peddling pat celebrations of valour and perseverance, but marked by distressingly humdrum characterisations, director Bryan Singer’s Jack The Giant Slayer arrives as a piece of showcase entertainment for the continued advancement of in particular facial motion-capture, putting its characters through an effects-laden steeplechase that squeezes out some synthetic bedazzlement unattached to much in the way of deep or transportive feeling. - Screen Daily

Jack The Giant Killer stars Nicholas Hoult, Stanley Tucci, Ian McShane, Eleanor Tomlinson and Ewan McGregor. The film is set to hit theaters March 1st.

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19 Comments

FightAs0ne - 2/27/2013, 12:13 PM

Don't need reviews to tell me don't go see this lol

toco89 - 2/27/2013, 12:36 PM

They said the same about Hansel and Gretel and its more than covered its budget in the US alone, and more than tripled it worldwide cuz it was a solid flick. This one will probably at least do a bit better than cover its budget.

SpideyQuad - 2/27/2013, 12:51 PM

Grif, does the soundtrack play that little "dink" sound when you're supposed to turn the page?

CavEl - 2/27/2013, 12:58 PM

Man of Steel will remake the 190 million wasted on this shat.

CavEl - 2/27/2013, 1:04 PM

Also...[frick] YOU, Singer!

Gmoney84 - 2/27/2013, 1:05 PM

A college buddy of mine saw an advanced screening of this and he said he was pretty good and the effects were solid. And he's usually very negative about most thing so it must be pretty good.

shamo - 2/27/2013, 1:19 PM

69 on RT's a pretty good score. but still, i have no interest in seeing this movie. but i'll pirate it when it comes out.

IIIAdamantiumIII - 2/27/2013, 2:52 PM

I would like to know what drugs grif is on.

HelaGood - 2/27/2013, 3:45 PM

dont need to see it to know its gonna be bad... the CGI alone is horrrrrrrrible

BlackPhillip - 2/27/2013, 4:21 PM

jCam is a douche!

beane2099 - 2/27/2013, 5:42 PM

I saw the review where someone actually made a "Fe-Fi-Fo-Fum" pun in their review and I was done. Did the critic in variety feel good about going with that? Feel clever did they? Anyways, the movie looks blah so I ain't surprised.

NoJobBOB - 2/27/2013, 9:14 PM

@FightAs0ne

Dunno why but that gif is hilarious lmao.

I keep seeing this movie's commercials on tv and all and Im just not sure if I want to see it. I'll wait a few more weeks before I decide. :/

Newbus - 2/28/2013, 10:30 AM

"Jack The Giant Slayer can’t seem to decide whether it wants to play its hand as a lithe, sweeping fable or a more grounded action-adventure with legendary accessories.

Peddling pat celebrations of valour and perseverance, but marked by distressingly humdrum characterisations, director Bryan Singer’s Jack The Giant Slayer arrives..."

Humdrum characterisations sounds a lot like his Xmen films.

First Reviews For JACK THE GIANT SLAYER Now Online

Bryan Singer's (X-Men, Superman Returns) fantasy epic will be released this Friday, and critics have begun posting their reviews on the film. What do they think so far? Find out after the jump.

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