Jack the Giant Slayer (2013)

★ 5.9 1h 54m 5,172 votes IMDb
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The story of an ancient war that is reignited when a young farmhand unwittingly opens a gateway between our world and a fearsome race of giants. Unleashed on the Earth for the first time in centuries, the giants strive to reclaim the land they once lost, forcing the young man, Jack into the battle of his life to stop them. Fighting for a kingdom, its people, and the love of a brave princess, he comes face to face with the unstoppable warriors he thought only existed in legend–and gets the chance to become a legend himself.

Jack the Giant Slayer

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Cast

Nicholas Hoult
Nicholas Hoult as Jack Age 36 · Wokingham, England, UK Nicholas Caradoc Hoult (/hoʊlt/; born 7 December 1989) is an English actor. He has received several accolades, including nominations for a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globes, and a Primetim...
Eleanor Tomlinson
Eleanor Tomlinson as Princess Isabelle Age 33 · London, England, UK Eleanor May Tomlinson (born 19 May 1992) is an English actress. She was born in London, but at a young age, she moved with her family to Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire, England..
Ewan McGregor
Ewan McGregor as Elmont Age 55 · Perth, Scotland, UK Ewan Gordon McGregor (born March 31, 1971) is a Scottish actor. His accolades include a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. In 2013, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Emp...
Stanley Tucci
Stanley Tucci as Roderick Age 65 · Peekskill, New York, USA Stanley Tucci Jr. (born November 11, 1960) is an American actor. Known as a character actor, he has played a wide variety of roles ranging from menacing to sophisticated.
Ian McShane
Ian McShane as King Brahmwell Age 83 · Blackburn, Lancashire, England, UK Ian David McShane (born 29 September 1942) is a Scottish-English actor. His television performances include the title role in the BBC series Lovejoy (1986–1994), Al Swearengen in Deadwood (2004–2006)...
Bill Nighy
Bill Nighy as General Fallon Age 76 · Caterham, Surrey, England, UK William Francis Nighy (born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Known for his work on screen and stage, he has received numerous awards, including two BAFTA Awards, a Golden Globe Award and nominat...

Audience Reviews

Andres Gomez 4/10 Feb 13, 2014
Boring and with low quality animations.
Dark Jedi 7/10 Jan 12, 2018
Me and the kids watched this movie yesterday evening. We all liked it quite a lot. This is a very enjoyable family movie. It is, not surprisingly, a new twist on the old Jack and the Beanstalk story. The basic elements are there, Jack, beans, beanstalks and, of course, giants. A few new elements are thrown in like a Crown to control the giants, a treacherous bastard responsible for the entire mess and a few other things.

The giants are very well done. The CGI is good to very good most of the time. As can be expected, it is the giants that make up this movie. I would say that they are slightly scary (for kids) and rather funny at the same time. Unfortunately the same cannot be said about the human actors. The acting is generally not so good and sometimes downright abysmal. It is rather surprising for such a relatively big production to have such poor TV-show quality acting.

The bottom line is that it is a very enjoyable family movie. If you watch it as an adult I guess you must have a liking for special effects and CGI, which I do, in order to enjoy it.
Wuchak 6/10 Nov 29, 2018
***Medieval fairy tale with a noble hero, a beautiful princess and hordes of barbaric giants***

Released in 2013 and directed by Bryan Singer, “Jack the Giant Slayer” has plot similarities to 1962’s “Jack the Giant Killer” with Nicholas Hoult playing the wholesome farm boy, Eleanor Tomlinson the winsome princess and Ian McShane the king. The rural protagonist slays a couple giants and rescues the royal maiden, but that’s where the similarities between the two movies end. This one lacks an evil wizard and his dark castle, which are substituted by the brutal giants and the colossal beanstalk that leads up to their awesome realm above the clouds.

Despite the almost $200 million spent mostly on the CGI giants & their world, “Jack the Giant Slayer” just isn’t as compelling as “Jack the Giant Killer,” which had super-cheesy effects, albeit charming. Yes, the giants & their realm look superb, as far as cartoonish CGI goes, but more time & money needed spent on the characters and their story to hook the viewer. In other words, despite all the action/adventure and millions blown on CGI, the story’s generally meh.

Nonetheless, the flick’s good enough if you favor CGI-laden films like “King Kong” (2005) and “Avatar” (2009). Hoult and Tomlinson are more-than-worthy as the protagonists with Hoult being reminiscent of Richard Thomas. I just wish the script fleshed them out more and made us care about them and their considerable challenges.

The film runs 1 hour, 54 minutes and was shot in England (Surrey, Norfolk & Somerset). ADDITIONAL CAST: Ewan McGregor plays a knight, Stanley Tucci a royal bastage and Eddie Marsan his inane crony.

GRADE: C+/B-
r96sk 7/10 Sep 11, 2024
<em>'Jack the Giant Slayer'</em> is a perfectly watchable movie. Nothing special, but it does enough.

That's in my opinion, of course. A quick glance at Letterboxd shows a big split in its reception, but the majority - at least in terms of rating - are in agreement with me. The movie does start off a bit slowly, though once it got going I was enjoying it to be honest. It's nowt award-worthy, though it works as a passable fantasy adventure flick.

I dug everyone on the cast, which features many people I like or have at least seen in other productions. Nicholas Hoult and Eleanor Tomlinson (the only one I didn't previously know of) give competent performances and suit each other well enough. while Ewan McGregor and Ian McShane are good value, among others. Ewen Bremner's Wicke is the only iffy character, though Bremner himself narrowly makes it work.

I caught a glimpse of the special effects prior to watching, think it was on one of the movie websites when I was checking if it has sequels etc., and wasn't all that excited about what I saw. However, in the actual film the effects are all satisfactory to be honest. The look of the giants is decent.

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