Release: Heartstone

 

Heartstone

Genre: Superhero/Action/Adventure

Director: Ridley Scott

Cast: Gerard Butler, Cillian Murphy, Emilia Clarke, Drew Galloway, Laura Fraser, Ryder Allen, Vivian Lyra Blair

Budget: $100,000,000

Domestic Box Office: $102,894,019

Foreign Box Office: $185,463,048

Total Profit: $8,420,902

Reaction:  Heartstone is not a big hit like superhero films, but this film still turned out to be a whole lot more successful that writer Jacob Jones' last original superhero effort (The Saints) - surely thanks to the star power of the likes of Butler, Murphy, Clarke and director Ridley Scott.

"While Gerard Butler's performance and Ridley Scott's imaginative direction were enjoyable, Heartstone proved to be a challenging film to engage with due to its increasingly absurd plot. The character motivations and actions became perplexing, leaving me questioning their purpose. Personally, I found the film to be a disappointment, although it may appeal to a different audience with varying tastes." - Daphne Stone, Nerdist

"Heartstone is a severely flawed film, that I'm sure I'd like less the more I dissect it. But in simple terms of entertainment value, Heartstone has something to offer. For every really good scene, there will be a scene that leaves you scratching your head, but more works than doesn't (albeit slightly). I like Gerard Butler in every-man roles (even if the actors playing his family don't deliver much for him to work off of). Cillian Murphy's villain role is severely underwritten (and honestly doesn't suit his acting style very well), but he wrings everything he can out of the pages he was given." - Michael Carthage, Associated Press

"I wanted to like Heartstone as I want writers to feel encouraged to try new genres, but I simply could not get on board with this one. Heartstone feels like a board game with missing pieces (and some pieces from the wrong games). The script features several seemingly random tonal shifts (going from cutesy to dramatic without warning) and characters/actors who feel like they're acting in radically different movies from each other. Heartstone was probably a couple of drafts away from working as a story. I sense that writer Jacob Jones wanted to do something a bit different from other superhero films, but instead of trying something innovative the story seems to dip into old cliches (that have been ditched for good reason by the better modern superhero films." - Gregory Fletcher, Los Angeles Times-Journal

Rated PG-13 for adventure violence and some language