The visual imagination of Bryan Singer's "Jack the Giant Slayer" is something to behold - an ingenious combination of special effects, slick camera work and vibrant colors that are befitting of the beloved fairytale. But no matter how realistic the man-eating giants, or how exceptionally detailed the beanstalk, the almost complete lack of story development eventually limits "Jack" from being more than a bombardment of chaos.
Terrific young actor Nicholas Hoult may be perfectly suited for the title role, giving us the earnest and likable center the film needs, though everything else is a retread of adventure films glossed over with a keen visual eye. Too intense for younger kids and too silly for older ones, "Jack the Giant Slayer" ends up an awkward mix of fantasy elements that undermines some of the best visual effects you'll see in a movie this year.
For a common peasant boy living in a tiny hut, there isn't a whole lot to look forward to other than story time, when one can dream about giants and legends while forgetting about being up at first light for hard manual labor. For a young boy named Jack, stories about giants and magical beanstalks are all he has, as he knows that he'll grow up to be a farmer just like his father. Though such stories tend to be frightening, being frightened is considerably better than being flat out bored, and Jack delves into his fairytales as often as he can - wishing that just maybe they're actually true.
Flashing forward to Jack's life as an 18-year-old, it hasn't gotten any easier. With his father recently deceased and a mother long since in the ground, Jack lives a pitiful existence alongside his uncle, who is kind but also realistic; if Jack doesn't learn to grow up as soon as possible, he'll simply never make it in a cruel, unforgiving world.
When Jack's uncle sends him off to the castle to sell their stock in hopes of patching their dilapidated hut, you can understand why he's a little upset when Jack returns with nothing other than some supposedly magical beans. While the monk who sold them to Jack seemed honest enough, the uncle wisely assumes that his naive nephew has simply been swindled. And even if they do actually have magic inside them, they aren't going to do a whole lot for the leaky roof.
But even though the trip to the castle seemed a complete failure, it gives Jack the opportunity to show his courage by defending the honor of Princess Isabelle (Eleanor Tomlinson). When she's harassed by a bunch of bawdy drunkards, who don't know her identity, Jack takes a punch in her defense and ends up being exactly what she's looking for. Considering how dull her life normally is, she sees something in Jack that she doesn't see in her loving betrothed, the unapologetically loathsome Roderick (Stanley Tucci).
While the expected flames are being sparked between our hero and heroine, the magic beans suddenly come into play, lifting Jack's house into the heavens as the beanstalk grows all the way to the sky. Though Jack managed to escape before getting catapulted alongside his house, he has a bit of explaining to do when King Brahmwell (Ian McShane) comes looking for his daughter, only to find that she is in a peasant boy's house now at the top of a sky-high beanstalk. Brahmwell takes it surprisingly well, but the newly grown up Jack decides that he'll test his fate and start climbing the beanstalk along with the king's men. For someone admittedly afraid of heights, the situation is less than ideal.
Alongside the king's trusty guard Elmont (Ewan McGregor), Jack fearlessly embarks on his journey, leading to encounters with startlingly realistic giants, magical crowns, and many other elements you might expect from a big-budget Hollywood movie crafted out of a fairytale. The screenplay by Darren Lemke, Christopher McQuarrie and Dan Studney recovers from a bare bones and obvious first half, giving us a few clever dilemmas for our heroes to solve while they try to get the princess back to safety.
As in the endearing "Warm Bodies," Hoult again shows an uncanny ability to come off as endlessly trustworthy and earnest - something you can't accomplish simply by dialog. The script may not exactly make chemistry development a priority, though Hoult and Tomlinson make the best of their brief scenes together when they aren't ducking from rubble and hungry giants.
As the sinister future husband of Isabelle, Tucci also seems to have fun spinning his particular brand of delicious evil, pulling off a straight-forward and underdeveloped character that could have been a disaster in less talented hands.
Though the broader themes aren't difficult to predict, "Jack the Giant Slayer" also provides just enough shifts and turns to drag us from one action sequence to the next, and Singer's knack for visual spectacle leads to a surprisingly engaging finale that saves the film from the brink of disaster. A fantasy version of a mystical medieval land is something we endlessly come back to for a reason, as there is something about returning to a time period when magic still seemed very possible. Whether it's classics like "Lord of the Rings," adult-geared retreads like "Game of Thrones" or hilarious spoofs like "The Princess Bride," it's not hard to figure out why audiences love a time period when fantasy and magic were still a very big part of the equation.
In "Jack the Giant Slayer," we get bits and pieces about the interesting world that our hero inhabits, but the filmmakers plunge ahead to the chaos before we get a chance to settle in and enjoy the mystery. For enjoyers of pure visual spectacle, "Jack the Giant Slayer" might just be the perfect little action-adventure to waste a couple hours with. When the visual spectacle starts to wear off, though, all you're left with is a thin story and a few magical beans.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Entertainment News
June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.