Jack the Giant Slayer - film review

An action-packed twist on a great English folk tale, starring Nicholas Hoult, has enough magic and monsters to make up for dull dialogue
1/2
22 March 2013

Fairy tales mustn’t be too realistic. For, as the psychoanalyst Bruno Bettelheim argued in The Uses of Enchantment, it is precisely the unrealistic nature of fairy tales that makes it obvious that they are not about the external world but the inner process taking place in the individual. “The child intuitively comprehends that although these stories are unreal, they are not untrue …”

Fairy tales are puzzling, magical, symbolic — and brief. Film versions of them can have these qualities too — but that’s not what the brave new world of unbridled CGI and motion-capture technology tends towards. They encourage full-blown, protracted spectacle, with monsters filling the screen and outstripping the imagination. That’s the approach taken by this new version of one of the great English folk tales.

Jack the Giant Slayer, set in a cod-medieval, sub-Arthurian never-never land, turns the yarn into an action picture, aimed at fans of The Lord of the Rings. Its director, Bryan Singer, made his name with The Usual Suspects but has since made the X-Men series, Superman Returns and Valkyrie, apocalyptic fighting films. The movie, moreover, was made by New Line Cinema, whose features include The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. And, lo, the plot centres on one ring to rule them all — in fact, a magical crown when worn by a human, but a finger ring for a giant.

The film is bookended with dutiful contextualising of its source as a fairy tale told to children. In the pre-credits sequence, cutting back and forth we see little Jack in his cottage and Princess Isabelle in her palace both being told, in verse, the story of how giants once descended to earth and wreaked havoc, until sent back into the sky by brave King Eric and his magic crown. “It’s only a story, Jack, giants aren’t real,” his father comforts him.

Then it is 10 years later and Jack and Isabelle are comely teenagers, pleasingly played by Nicholas Hoult (young, dumb and ever willing) and comparative newcomer Eleanor Tomlinson (pretty as a picture). The King (Ian McShane, pouchy old Lovejoy at it again!) wants Eleanor to marry a nasty knight called Roderick (Stanley Tucci, quite brilliant, camp and malevolent, with lots of hair and some false teeth). But Isabelle is rebellious, wanders off and hooks up with Jack, peasanty but preferable in his distressed leather hoodie that would cost £3,000 in Redchurch Street.

Jack inadvertently drops a magic bean and a monstrous writhing beanstalk, ever so snaky and tentacular, shoots up to the realm of the giants, carrying poor Isabelle with it. A rescue party sets off, led by the king’s top knight Elmont (choicely played by Ewan McGregor as upper-class officer material, brave but dim), accompanied by Jack — and also the deceitful Roderick, who has secretly possessed himself of King Eric’s magic crown with the intention of enslaving the giants and conquering the kingdom with them.

For, in the most decisive revision of the story, there is not one giant up there but great angry hordes of them, all huge, dirty and disgusting with particularly terrible oral hygiene, led by one with two heads (played by Bill Nighy, no less, in a motion capture suit, affecting a Northern Irish accent, for reasons never clarified).

Thumping conflict ensues, upstairs and downstairs. The crown changes hands. Does Jack, low-born though he may be, prove his mettle? I’m not telling.

In the original story Jack learns that he is himself the true heir to the giant’s castle. Here he remains a humble and ardent royalist, telling the princess (a bit of a Kate): “One day you’ll be the queen and will have the power to make the world a better place.” A coda artfully suggests they are the ancestors of our own beloved monarchy. That’s properly creepy.

Jack the Giant Slayer has hopelessly flat dialogue and pointless infliction of 3D. On the other hand, the effects are great and would have stunned us all a decade ago — and the film is remarkably well cast. If you take the kids, you won’t be too bored yourself. It is, however, surely too violent and nasty (the giants chomp on people unpleasantly, an eyeball bursts out) for small children? But maybe they’re all used to far worse these days.

Either way, what this adaptation achieves is to exchange the cryptic insights into the struggle for maturity contained in the original fairy tale for a much more obvious story of derring do and social climbing, serving as an excuse for colossal battles with a load more orcs, the true purpose of the movie. You pays your money …

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in