Review #1,465: 'Bumblebee' (2018)

By the time Transformers: The Last Knight rolled around in 2017, even the most hardcore fans of Michael Bay's Transformers franchise were getting tired of it all. The Last Knight, which was the fifth entry into the series, marked ten years of Bay's butt-numbing, explosion-heavy epics, which substituted the charm of the original 80's television show and toy line for faceless CGI constructs bashing each other to pieces, lame comedy, and an increasingly creepy attitude towards its female actors. Bay teased his departure from the franchise after three movies, but went on to make another two, and it's always been clear that the problem lay with the director's inability to engage the audience on an emotional level and refusal to deliver anything but headache-inducing action and softcore pornography. Eyebrows were raised when Paramount announced that one of its few memorable characters, Bumblebee, would receive his own spin-off. Yet they were significantly relaxed when they learned that Travis Knight, director of the acclaimed Kubo and the Two Strings, would helm the project, and not Bay.

Opening with a battle between the Autobots and Decepticons on their home planet of Cybertron, it's immediately apparent that all this universe required was a fresh pair of eyes. Yes, this sequence isn't much more than a computer-generated smackdown between huge alien robots, but at least we can tell them apart. The Autobot leader Optimus Prime (voiced as ever by Peter Cullen) is leading a resistance against their oppressive foes, but seeing his side are losing badly, Prime sends scout B-127 (Dylan O'Brien) to Earth to set up base for their eventual rendezvous. Crashing down in 1987 California, the diminutive Autobot immediately encounters a unit of government soldiers, led by Agent Jack Burns (John Cena), on a routine training exercise, and is met with open hostility. Left grievously wounded after an attack by Decepticon Blitzwing (David Sobolov), B-127 transforms into a Volkswagen Beetle to lay low while awaiting rescue. Meanwhile, teenager and amateur mechanic Charlie Watson (Hailee Steinfeld), still grieving after the death of her father years ago, finds the rusty banger and decides to repair it as a pet project, hoping to impress junkyard owner Hank (Len Cariou) in the process. But when that final piece slips into place, Charlie finds way more in the piece of junk she names Bumblebee than she was expecting.

While Bay quickly forgot about the fans who loved the cartoons, toys and comic books growing up, Knight eagerly embraces them. Rewinding the timeline back to the 1980s, Knight mixes the inevitable action set-pieces with heartfelt drama, which stems not only from Charlie's relationship with the clumsy yet adorable yellow lunk, but also from her grief and anger that her mother has already moved on. As Bumblebee stumbles around the house trying his best not to break anything, you can't help but think of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. His prat-falls are made funnier because you have grown to love the character, and by evoking such an established 80's classic, Bumblebee engulfs you further in its pure nostalgia trip. Most importantly, there's a sense of fun and playfulness that was lost in the crotch-grabbing and flag-waving of Bay's cinematic haemorrhoids. Charlie and Bumblebee's bonding sessions are sweet and charming, and Steinfeld's performance is undoubtedly key to this. An endearing mix of awkward teenager and highly capable mechanic, Charlie wears vests and listens to The Smiths, and where Bay may have had her in hot pants leaning over a car, Charlie would much prefer to be underneath it. Her character helps paint an even clearer line between this semi-reboot and Bay's parasitic universe, and finally, I'm excited from the next Transformers film again.


Directed by: Travis Knight
Starring: Hailee Steinfeld, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., John Cena, John Ortiz, Jason Drucker, Dylan O'Brien, Angela Bassett, Justin Theroux, Peter Cullen
Country: USA/China

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,430: 'Venom' (2018)

I don't recall ever seeing Tom Hardy attempt comedy, but he's in full Ace Ventura mode in Venom, Sony's latest (and successful) attempt to squeeze the dollars out of what few Marvel characters that remain under their ownership. After failing to reboot Spider-Man and coming to an agreement with Marvel Studios to share the character, Sony have been left with the web-slinger's rogue gallery, and with some kind of anti-superhero universe clearly in mind, they have kicked events off with their most popular villain, the hulking and long-tongued Venom. You may remember the character from the franchise-killing Spider-Man 3 in 2007, and you also may believe you've gone back in time over 10 years when watching this spectacularly dull and frustratingly origin story, which harks back to the dark days of the Ben-Affleck-headlined Daredevil and Tim Story's Fantastic Four.

A spaceship launched by the shadowy Life Foundation crashes down to Earth carrying four symbiotic alien lifeforms gathered from a nearby comet. Three are retrieved by the Foundation's Elon Musk-esque CEO Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) and taken back to their San Francisco research facility for experimentation, but one escapes, latching itself on to an ambulance driver before hopping between various people in an attempt to find a suitable host. Enter Eddie Brock (Hardy), an investigative journalist who trades in exposing and bringing down corrupt organisations. When given the chance to interview Drake, Eddie naturally uses the opportunity to question the entrepreneur about some of the horrific allegations, including experimenting on humans. The interview is cut short, and soon Eddie finds himself fired and split from his fiancee Anne (Michelle Williams). He sees the chance to redeem himself when a disgruntled Life employee gives him access to their labs, which turn out to be holding cells for symbiote testing on the homeless. The rest you can guess: a symbiote finds its way onto Eddie and he spends the rest of the film dealing with newly-acquired powers (and taste for human heads).

Marvel Studios have got the formula down to a tee, endearing superheroes to millions of new fans who had never touched a comic-book in their lives. It's somewhat sad to see Venom try to take the genre back more than a decade, when many studios were under the impression that the only way an audience will buy into a world of superpowers is through forced humour. The MCU balances humour and drama in a way that almost guarantees your emotional investment, and if you're going to go for all-out comedy like Ant-Man or Thor: Ragnarok, y'know, make it funny. The sight of Hardy cooling down in a lobster tank or flashing expressions of gormless confusion for nearly two hours does not make for pleasing entertainment. The actor is incredibly bad, and his choice to go with a mumbled accent and hunched posture means that his character fails to convince as a journalist with serious credentials. The remainder of the cast don't fare much better, although its hardly their fault. It's a thankless role for Williams, who is given little to do other than playing the role of Eddie's conscience, and Ahmed has no dimension to play around with as the stock soulless corporate type. The climax is a forgettable smack-down featuring two indistinguishable CGI creations, something The Incredible Hulk did far better ten years ago. Despite all of this, Ruben Fleischer's bland fossil of a film raked in over $800 million worldwide, so I'm afraid a sequel is inevitable.


Directed by: Ruben Fleischer
Starring: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Scott Haze, Reid Scott, Jenny Slate, Melora Walters
Country: USA/China

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,423: 'Mission: Impossible - Fallout' (2018)

Over the course of twenty-odd years, Tom Cruise has clung to the side of an aeroplane as it soared into the sky, had a knife held millimetres away from his eyeball, and ran down the side of the world's tallest building, all for the sake of the Mission: Impossible series, a franchise that no-one would have dreamt would still be packing cinema screens two decades later when it began back in 1996. Cruise's enthusiasm for putting himself at genuine risk of death has seen these movies continuously trying to outdo each other, and the sixth in the series, Christopher McQuarrie's Fallout, is not only the most ambitious in scale and clinical in its execution, but may also just be one of the finest action pictures ever made. I never believed the sight of Cruise running across the outside of the 119th floor of Dubai's Burj Khalifa would ever be topped, but Fallout delivers not one but two superior set-pieces, and that's not even mentioning the rooftop-hopping that saw Cruise break his leg and carry on with the scene. 

Ethan Hunt and his Impossible Mission Force team are tasked this time with intercepting three plutonium cores in Berlin before they fall into the hands on an organisation called The Apostles, a terrorist group made up of survivors from The Syndicate. Joined by Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg), the team fail in their mission when Hunt refuses to let one his own die. As the terrorists make off with the plutonium to sell to a mysterious buyer called John Lark, Hunt receives a dressing-down from CIA director Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett), who is furious at their failure to secure the weapons of mass destruction. She forces Hunt to take on CIA operative August Walker (Henry Cavill) as a shadow, and the odd couple head off to Paris to track down Alanna (Vanessa Kirby), an arms dealer they believe has connections to Lark. Double-crosses and high-speed chases ensue, as well as Tom Cruise's trademark run, as all paths start to lead back to Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), the formidable villain from last time.

Christopher McQuarrie is the only director to have returned for a second stab at the Mission: Impossible gig, and the choice seems odd given how lacklustre Rogue Nation proved to be. But whatever he failed to grasp last time around he confidently nails here. McQuarrie and Cruise pull out all the stops, executing everything from a terrifying night-time sky-dive to a helicopter chase that sees Cruise plummet from the chopper's rails to the cargo swinging 40 feet below like veteran masters of the genre. The sheer risk and danger of some of the stunts pulled off here is gobsmacking, and Cruise can now comfortably sit alongside the likes of Jackie Chan as one of the greatest action stars ever. Cruise isn't the only star of course: Cavill particularly impresses as the deadpan slugger with a moustache so impressive it manage to cock up Justice League's re-shoots. Rhames and Pegg, who are both given larger roles than usual, can now banter like colleagues who have worked with each other for four movies, and reliable support is given by the likes of Rebecca Ferguson, Alec Baldwin and Michelle Monaghan. At two and a half hours, it can be argued that there's at least one climax too many, but I doubt anyone will be checking their watches. 

Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie

Starring: Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Angela Bassett, Vanessa Kirby, Michelle Monaghan

Country: USA/China/France/Norway

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,393: 'A Prayer Before Dawn' (2017)

Opening with a shot of the muscly, pale-skinned and heaving back of our protagonist, Jean-Stephane Sauvaire's A Prayer Before Dawn - his first feature since the eye-opening Johnny Mad Dog in 2008 - begins and ends with British newcomer Joe Cole, and the talented young actor dominates every scene in between. Best known for his role in Peaky Blinders, Cole delivers a performance of pure ferocity, and if there's any justice, this will do for him what the likes of Bronson and Starred Up did, respectively, for then up-and-comers Tom Hardy and Jack O'Connell. Based on Billy Moore's brutal memoirs of his time served in one of Thailand's most unrelenting penitentiaries, the film tracks his journey from the only Westerner in his cell with a target on his back to Muay Thai champion. While it may dabble in the tropes of the prison and boxing genres, it never really relaxes into either, making for an unsettling and visceral two hours.

Rather than opting for a comfortable, straight-forward narrative, Sauvaire prefers to capture the sweaty, overbearing atmosphere of Moore's new lodgings, heightening the sound design so every breath sounds like it's coming from your own head, and every punch rattles your brain. David Ungaro's cinematography makes the most of the tight, damp spaces, as the inmate's bodies pile over each other like sardines in their overcrowded cells. The film feels almost like an invasion of your personal space, and the fact that Billy sticks out like a sore thumb only increases the feeling that danger lurks around every corner. Billy's physicality and willingness to fight may save him from regular beatings and even earn him a level of respect amongst his heavily-tattooed, dead-eyed cell-mates, but he is still forced to watch the gang-rape of a young newcomer to remind the Westerner of his place. Although the story leads up to a climactic fight, it avoids cliche by offering no sense of build-up. Billy simply must fight in order to survive the night and battle his own pent-up demons.

Without a main character to carry your interest, A Prayer Before Dawn may be too much to bear. But Billy, whose reasons for being in Thailand in the first place and dealing the drugs that landed him in the slammer aren't explored, is a true force. Never asking for your sympathy, Billy struggles with heroin addiction - fed to him by a prison guard played by Only God Forgives' Vithaya Pansringarm - and is more than willing to beat somebody half to death to earn his fix. The rage that drives him comes from deep within, and his anger and self-destruction carries us along with him. Even when he is finally allowed to train in the gym, thanks for a routine cigarette bribe, his tendency to self-sabotage sees him almost screw up everything he's worked for. Billy also finds solace in a ladyboy named Fame (Pornchanok Mabklang), who is in prison for murdering her father and is kept in a separate part of the prison for obvious reasons. They form a bond through shared feelings of misplacement, and these scenes offer a reprieve from the unrelenting harshness of Billy's everyday routine. It's a tough watch, but there's always much to admire in a film that can leave you so mentally and physically exhausted.


Directed by: Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire
Starring: Joe Cole, Pornchanok Mabklang, Vithaya Pansringarm, Panya Yimmumphai
Country: UK/France/China/Cambodia/USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,383: 'Central Intelligence' (2016)

The buddy-action-comedy movie was born in the cocaine-pumped 1980s, and should have been put to rest for good when they stopped being funny around the time Lethal Weapon 4 was released in 1998. But when you take two bankable stars and place them together side-by-side, studios cannot resist the pull of the buddy movie. What they don't realise however, is that the sub-genre is very tricky indeed, and the only good example in recent years that springs immediately to mind was helmed by the guy who really kicked the whole thing off - Shane Black's The Nice Guys. I'm sure there are others, but these films are mainly lazily-written and clumsily-plotted, mainly because it's easy to make money from them as long as you have two likeable stars to splash across the poster. Central Intelligence is one such movie that leans too heavily on the charisma of its leads - Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson - failing to make the most of what is actually an intriguing premise.

Back in high school, Calvin Joyner (Hart) was an all-star athlete, homecoming king, and all-round decent fella. Fast forward twenty years and he is working as a forensic accountant, watching the youngster he once schooled get promoted above him and having it all rubbed in his face by the obligatory office douchebag. Out of the blue, he is contacted via Facebook by somebody named Bob Stone, and Calvin curiously accepts his friend request. Bob turns out to be Robbie Weirdicht (Johnson), the once-chubby kid who was humiliated in high school when he was thrown buck-naked into an assembly hall during Calvin's honorary speech. Robbie, however, has grown up to be The Rock and is now tall, muscular and confident, although he is still goofy. He loves unicorns and fanny packs, and worships Calvin ever since the most popular guy in school was the only one to feel sympathy for Robbie by handing him his sports jacket to cover up. They meet for drinks and have a good time, but when the CIA come knocking on Calvin's door the next day, it becomes clear that Bob isn't everything he appeared to be, and may in fact want Calvin's help with tracking down a shadowy criminal known as the Black Badger.

There are some darker, more interesting paths director Rawson Marshall Thurber (Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, We're the Millers) could choose to explore here, but Central Intelligence turns out to be the very definition of formulaic. It actually stars off well, with Hart and Johnson proving to be a highly watchable pair who share great chemistry, and both actors playing against type. When the shaky, poorly choreographed action sequences kick off, they fall back into familiar routines, with Johnson effortlessly disposing of bad guys and Hart shrieking as chaos ensues around him. The comedy becomes uncomfortably forced, and proves that improvisation isn't as easy to direct as Hollywood seems to believe it to be. Someone like Larry Charles or Adam McKay would have likely made much more out of this, but in Thurber's hands the tone shifts wildly, and the actors' energy levels change vastly from one scene to the next. The likes of Amy Ryan and Jason Bateman are wasted in forgettable roles, and as soon as you see who plays Bob's former partner via flashback (there's a sub-plot questioning Bob's mental stability and ultimate goal), you'll likely unravel what little mystery the film flirts with. Hart and Johnson won't be harmed by this, as they simply aren't the problem here. The problem is the flat direction, tiresome plot and unforgivably boring action scenes.


Directed by: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Starring: Kevin Hart, Dwayne Johnson, Amy Ryan, Danielle Nicolet, Jason Bateman, Aaron Paul
Country: USA/China

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,376: 'Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation' (2015)

One of the aspects of the Mission: Impossible franchise that really helps separate it from the conveyor belt of action/spy/thriller movies that hit our cinema screens and streaming services every year is the idea of introducing a new director for each new entry. Such an approach helps prevent fatigue from Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt and whatever team he assembles, and gives each film its own feel without disrupting the flow of the series. Brian De Palma riddled his movie with unbearable moments of tension, while John Woo favoured slow-motion gunplay. J.J. Abrams introduced a darker tone to the proceedings, only for Brad Bird to lighten the tone while packing more of a physical punch. They aren't all great, but you can at least recognise a style. Christopher McQuarrie was the choice to envision part five, and with him he brings a bland, by-the-numbers style that infected his previous movie, the Tom Cruise vehicle Jack Reacher.

What also has helped this series to survive over the years are set-pieces built around real stunts and genuine danger. In this regard, Rogue Nation doesn't disappoint, although it clearly blows its load far too early. If you've seen the trailer, you'll know the film's signature jaw-dropping moment involves Tom Cruise clinging to the side of a plane as it takes off, the ground behind him shrinking rapidly with each passing second. Simon Pegg's Benji Dunn frantically bashes an iPad while Jeremy Renner's returning William Brandt barks panicked directions over loud-speaker, and it's all edited to guarantee maximum thrills. In fact, the entire first half of the film manages to maintain this exciting pace, delivering a high speed motorcycle chase and a stealthy mission in the Vienna Opera House. Plot has never been the strong suit of this franchise, and things grind to a halt when McQuarrie decides to slow things down for the finale. A plot involving the kidnapping of 'the British Prime Minister' (played by Tom Hollander) and a shadowy organisation called The Syndicate are plot devices straight out of James Bond, and it often feels like Rogue Nation is simply trying to be America's version of Britain's most popular fictional spy.

McQuarrie does have some aces hidden up his sleeve however, and the biggest of these is Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust, a fellow spy working within the Syndicate for her own dubious reasons. While her character shares no chemistry with her lead co-star, she makes a fantastic impression in the action stakes as she repeatedly crosses paths with Hunt, and hordes of bad guys, in the field. Cruise does share great chemistry with Simon Pegg however, and although the Shaun of the Dead star is little more than comic relief and the guy who can push a few buttons on his laptop and open any door in the world, his screen time with Cruise helps to humanise Hunt, which is important in a universe looking to turn its hero into an unstoppable super agent. It's a perfectly passable two hours, but will likely fade from memory mere seconds after the credits have rolled. Unlike the lit fuse during the opening credits, Rogue Nation fails to explode into life, fizzling out when the film starts to think that this series can be anything more than a bunch of people chasing a McGuffin and having to retrieve a few things in spectacular fashion along the way. Woo's effort remains the worst in the series, but Rogue Nation lacks an identity. While the first hour is certainly fun, it often feels like McQuarrie is auditioning for a different franchise altogether.


Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris, Alec Baldwin, Tom Hollander
Country: China/Hong Kong/USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,373: 'Mission: Impossible III' (2006)

The third instalment of the Mission: Impossible franchise took a while to get off the ground. Originally trusted to director David Fincher (which would have been fascinating to see), the Fight Club director opted out when another project caught his eye, so the reigns were passed to Joe Carnaghan, who had his supporting cast ready to go before a dispute with the studio resulted in his departure also. In stepped J.J. Abrams, who faced the difficult task of reviewing the previous movies' vastly different tones in order to settle on which Ethan Hunt he wanted to bring to the screen. Quite wisely, he went for a bit of both. This was the intuitive, opportunistic Hunt from Brian De Palma's well-staged original, rather than the trigger-happy super-agent from John Woo's effort. Yet he still retains an edge, and Abrams sets out his movie's darker tone from the get-go, as we start during the third act with Hunt in precarious situation with Philip Seymour Hoffman's big bad.

Hunt (Tom Cruise) has left the IMF in favour of a normal life with his bride-to-be Julia (Michelle Monaghan). He has kept the extent of his work for the government quiet and seems to be enjoying being a regular Joe, but his head is soon turned when fellow IMF agent John Musgrave (Billy Crudup) contacts him regarding his former protegee, Lindsay Farris (Keri Russell), who has gone missing in the field while investigating an arms dealer named Owen Davian (Hoffman). Hunt accepts the job and assembles a team (consisting of the returning Ving Rhames, as well as Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Maggie Q) to track her down, but when the mission goes spectacularly wrong, the group are left to track down an item known as the 'Rabbit's Foot', a device capable of global catastrophe. With the head of the IMF (Laurence Fishburne) breathing down his neck and Davian proving himself to be a ruthless and cunning foe, Hunt and the rest of his troupe face their most difficult task yet.

He may have been third choice (although he was cherry-picked by Cruise himself), but the then up-and-coming Abrams proved to be the perfect director to steer the series back on course without upsetting the tone. He finds a perfect balance, delivering spectacular set-pieces that Cruise is, as always, keen to sink his teeth into, as well as re-establishing the team element and tasking them with missions that require a combined effort, and not just Cruise blowing away bad guys in slow-motion. De Palma's original may have been spectacular on occasion, but this third instalment is probably the best of this opening trilogy. There is also an uncomfortable atmosphere throughout, and this is mainly down to Hoffman's spectacular turn as Davian. He is a one-note big bad, and hardly physically intimidating, yet Hoffman's dead-eyed delivery oozes menace, and when he threatens the lives of those closest to our hero, we completely accept that he's capable of butchering the innocent in his pursuit for riches and power. It's hardly new territory for the action genre, but Abrams should be credited with reinvigorating a franchise still going strong 22 years after it introduced itself.


Directed by: J.J. Abrams
Starring: Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Billy Crudup, Michelle Monaghan, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Keri Russell, Maggie Q, Simon Pegg
Country: USA/Germany/China/Italy

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,343: 'Pacific Rim: Uprising' (2018)

It's been five years since Idris Elba's brilliantly-named Stacker Pentecost cancelled the apocalypse in Guillermo del Toro's ultimately disappointing Pacific Rim. The 2013 film promised giant robots vs. Kaiju from one of the most visually arresting directors in the business and certainly delivered on that front, only it was spattered amidst an unnecessary convoluted mythology, questionable comic relief, and dull-as-cardboard characters played by equally dull actors. It barely registered domestically, but managed to quadruple its takings overseas, performing well in China especially. This, it would seem, is enough to justify a sequel not many were crying out for. Pacific Rim: Uprising also comes with extra baggage, with del Toro stepping aside for Steven S. DeKnight, who is perhaps best known for his TV work Spartacus and Daredevil.

Ten years have passed since Pentecost closed the inter-dimensional breach joining out world to that of the Kaiju. Many of the big cities still lie in ruin, and the landscape is littered with the skeletons of huge perished monsters. Pentecost's son Jake (John Boyega) feels more at home stealing Jaeger parts and selling them on the black market, as opposed to following in his hero father's footsteps. An encounter with Amara Namani (Cailee Spaeny), a young Jaeger enthusiast who illegally constructs smaller, but highly functional, Jaegers of her own, leads Jake back to the military base he was kicked out of years ago. After a talking to by his sister Mako (Rinko Kikuchi), Jake is eventually talked into helping train young pilots by his old friend/rival Nate Lambert (Scott Eastwood), just in time for the shady Shao Corporation's announcement that they have created a fleet of self-operating Jaegers. Naturally, this anger the pilots, and even more so when one of the new robots starts attacking Sydney. 

Uprising predictably falls into the sequel trap of making everything bigger but not necessarily better. While it doesn't shroud all of the action in night like the original, there's a sluggishness to the smack-downs that lack of heft of del Toro's hand. It's essentially a mash-up of Star Wars, X-Men: First Class and Transformers: The Last Knight, almost like a corporate hand has plucked out elements from more successful franchises in the hope that China will still lap it up and fail to notice the similarities. Del Toro's film was far from perfect, but it still had an auteur's touch, laying out a tangible and colourful world full of the director's quirks. Here the characters exist in a collection of post-apocalyptic cliches, not helped by a script (credited to four screenwriters) that fails to inject any sort of urgency to the story or dramatic weight to the characters. Boyega is always great, but after his success with Star Wars and impressive turn in Detroit, he really should be seeking out roles that will allow him to flex his acting muscles. It ends with a scene pleading for another sequel, but much like the recent Independence Day sequel, which closed with the same hopeful promise, I doubt any fan petitions will be started anytime soon.


Directed by: Steven S. DeKnight
Starring: John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Cailee Spaeny, Burn Gorman, Charlie Day, Tian Jing, Rinko Kikuchi
Country: USA/China/UK

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,265: 'Ghost in the Shell' (2017)

Hollywood remakes of beloved foreign-language movies are rarely a welcome idea, but Ghost in the Shell seemed particularly doomed from the get-go. Alongside the cries from fans claiming the industry has officially run out of ideas, and from those who hold the original close to their heart and fail to see any other purpose in a remake other than to allow the fat cats to count the green, the announcement of Caucasian Scarlett Johnansson's casting in a role originally voiced by an Asian actor generated all-too familiar claims of 'whitewashing'. Tempers were only inflamed when it was rumoured that Johnasson's appearance was to be digitally-tweaked to make her appear more Eastern-looking, an idea that was quickly abandoned. Predictably, Ghost in the Shell arrived in cinemas back in March to underwhelming box-office.

As a result, I approached Rupert Sanders' 2017 re-do with a sense of trepidation and caution, knowing full well that it would lack the philosophical musings of the Masaume Shirow manga the story originated from, and the big questions raised by Mamoru Oshii's landmark anime adaptation. After all, this is a blockbuster wannabe starring one of the most in-demand actresses around, so of course the makers will feel the need to dumb everything down to suit a mainstream audience (even though Christopher Nolan has proven more than once that a film can be complex and intelligent and still rake in the cash). It is perhaps thanks to my low expectations that I found much to enjoy with Ghost in the Shell. Like the 'shells' depicted in the film, it's certainly hollow and jittery, but as a piece of entertainment, I was never bored, and the visuals offer plenty of colour and detail to distract from the straightforward plot.

Taking inspiration from everything from Shirow's manga, Oshii's 1995 movie and its 2004 sequel, and the hugely popular spin-off series, certain scenes will certainly feel familiar while the story of a shady corporation turning human beings into weapons against their will feels like it could be lifted from most Blade Runner-inspired science-fiction movies of the past couple of decades. Major (Johansson) is the first cyborg to employ a fully mechanised body with the mind, or 'ghost', of a human. Her employer, Hanka CEO Cutter (Peter Ferdinando), decides to use her in the fight against cyber-terrorism, which has become a real problem since the majority of the population have now been cybernetically enhanced. She works at Section 9 with her gruff partner Batou (a bleach-blonde Pilou Asbaek) and boss Aramaki ('Beat' Takeshi Kitano), and they are forced into action when Hanka finds itself under attack from a mysterious hacker named Kuze (Michael Pitt).

Oshii's 1995 incarnation tackled big themes such as humanity and identity, offering explosive moments of action to allow some relief from the head-scratching central plot. The result was one of the best animes of all time. Sanders' Ghost in the Shell has much smaller ambitions, and feels very much like a product of the post-Matrix world we now live in, even though the Wachowskis were mainly inspired by Oshii's film. It works only as spectacle, and this world of spider-legged geisha robots and giant animated advertisements really does catch the eye. The action, while hardly breaking down barriers, has a physicality behind it, and the punches and bullets land with a force that really pushes its 12A certificate to the very limits. As the lead, Johansson has proved time and time again that she is accomplished with the physical demands of such a role, and she gives Major a hunched, stompy awkwardness, despite the blandness of the character. It will never justify its existence to the die-hard fans of the original, but Ghost in the Shell 2017 offers enough visual panache and energy to engage those curious enough to check it out.


Directed by: Rupert Sanders
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Pilou Asbæk, Takeshi Kitano, Juliette Binoche, Michael Pitt
Country: UK/China/India/Hong Kong/USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,251: 'Transformers: The Last Knight' (2017)

A few years ago, after the Shia LaBeouf-starring Transformers trilogy came to a close with Dark of the Moon, Michael Bay made the welcome announcement that he was to leave the franchise he'd been working on day-in day-out for the past 5 years, causing critics - and film buffs forcing themselves to endure such cinematic waste - to rejoice in the process. This, of course, wasn't true, as he came back to the series to helm Age of Extinction in 2014, this time starring the considerably buffer frame of Mark Wahlberg. I don't remember much of what happened - other than incoherent special effects bashing each other and blowing things up - but there was certainly no extinction, and whatever happened in that film inspired Bay to explore new stories in the Transformers universe. And so here we are with number five - The Last Knight.

He's tricked us before into believing that we were finally moving into a world free of Bay's Transformers movies, so there's no reason to believe his new claims that The Last Knight will indeed be his last foray into the stories of the Autobots and Decepticons (although its always been much more about the humans). There's a Bumblebee spin-off starring Hailee Steinfeld already shooting, and the climax here certainly leads us to believe that there's even more to come. The Last Knight runs at a whopping 149 minutes (which is actually one of the shortest in the series), and every one of those minutes feels like a lifetime as Bay amps up everything the majority of people have come to hate about the franchise. Huge planets are smashed into each other, characters share awkward and painfully unfunny banter, and the camera leers so much at the franchise's latest hotty (a professor who dresses like a stripper played by Laura Haddock) that you almost long for the acting talents of Megan Fox.

Wahlberg returns as Cade Yeager, the inventor-turned-outlaw who still hasn't realised how ridiculous his name is, and now sports an equally ridiculous haircut. Following the events of the previous film, all Transformers have now been declared criminals, and the Transformer Reaction Force has been set up to eradicate the alien robots. Only more are arriving on Earth every day, so Optimus Prime has travelled back to his home planet to confront his maker for answers. Yeager is protecting many of the surviving Autobots at his junk yard, but soon finds himself caught up in events when a strange alien talisman attaches itself to his arm from the ship of a dead Transformer. Giant horns have emerged from the ground in various locations throughout the world, and it all somehow ties into a tale going back to the time of King Arthur and Merlin (the latter played by a game Stanley Tucci). Decepticons want the talisman for some reason, and by this time I'd given up.

The first hour is spent trying to explain the plot to the audience, while the rest is spent exploring aimless sub-plots, one involving a tough orphan child living in the ruins of a previous battle, designed to appeal to the young crowd. Within the first twenty minutes, it shamelessly rips-off Game of Thrones and Stranger Things, TV shows of a quality Bay could only dream of creating. By the time Anthony Hopkins shows up to collect his pay cheque, you'll be too worn out to tolerate his bumbling, exposition-tool shtick. Bay isn't interested in correcting the mistakes he has been criticised for in the past: The Last Knight is custom-made to appease the audience who willingly pay to see this migraine-inducing nonsense every couple of years. Yet judging for the film's rather uninspiring box-office take, even they are getting tired of it. With the exception of 2007's sporadically enjoyable first film, this franchise has left me angry, outraged, depressed and physically sick, but never had I felt indifferent. The Last Knight left me feeling nothing at all, other than incredibly sleepy.


Directed by: Michael Bay
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Anthony Hopkins, Josh Duhamel, Laura Haddock, Isabela Moner, Stanley Tucci
Country: China/Canada/USA

Rating: *

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,244: 'Wonder Woman' (2017)

It's incredibly sad to read about how many milestones Wonder Woman touches on, especially in this day and age where a high-profile Twitter user must consider every message they post to the world in fear of being racist, sexist, homophobic, or just plain insensitive. Despite the influx of superhero movies since Marvel kicked off their Cinematic Universe in 2008 with Iron Man, and despite the abundance of long-standing and hugely popular female superheroes existing in the comics, and despite audiences calling out for a female-led superhero film ever since Scarlett Johansson donned the leathers as Black Widow in Iron Man 2, studios have failed to deliver one in 12 years. Perhaps the studios were scared they would have another Elektra on their hands, but that movie failed because it was terrible, and was a spin-off from the also-terrible Daredevil.

The DC Extended Universe, in the face of the critical mauling they received last year with the double-whammy of Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad, can only be applauded for taking the much-overdue 'risk' of launching a female-led franchise with Wonder Woman, a movie that not only represents so much in terms of moving cinema out of a stone-age mentality and into the modern world, but surpasses all expectations in a time of superhero overkill. Wonder Woman is, above all, charming, funny and exciting, and will hopefully help steer the DCEU back on track after an incredibly wobbly start. Making her introduction in Batman v Superman and emerging as one of the few positive things to be said about Zack Snyder's overblown and poorly-constructed smack-down, Wonder Woman begins in the present day but flashes back to the time glimpsed in the black-and-white photograph sent to her by Ben Affleck's Batman, when World War I was in full flow and her heart was won by a spy named Steve.

The young Diana grows up on the island of Themyscira, a beautiful hidden paradise created by Zeus to be a home for the Amazons, a tribe of fierce female warriors tasked with protecting the world from the Greek God's evil, warmongering brother Ares. Diana's mother, Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen), attempts to shield her from the horrors of war and forbids her to practice combat, while her auntie Anitope (Robin Wright) realises her potential and trains her in secret. Zeus left the islanders a gift, a weapon called the 'Godkiller', which will prove decisive when the battle with Ares finally stirs. Cue the arrival of Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), an Allied spy who stumbles on the island while fleeing the Germans. He brings death and war with him, and the Amazons want to kill him before Diana intervenes, revealing he saved her life. The tribe want nothing to do with a war waged by man, but Diana suspects Ares may be puppet-master behind the conflict that has taken millions of lives. Against her mother's wishes, she travels with Steve to London, where he reveals to his superiors German plans to release a devastating new mustard gas created by General Ludendroff (Danny Huston) and Spanish chemist Dr. Maru (Elena Anaya).

The word 'man' carries a special significance, and director Patty Jenkins carefully weaves this idea into the film without rubbing it in your face. As well as the violent, dangerous 'world of men' lurking across the waters, there is also No Man's Land, the stretch of mud and rubble separating the two warring fronts. This is a place that no man can hope to survive, and this sets up the triumphant moment seen in the trailers in which Diana deflects machine-gun fire with her bracelets and shield before taking out anybody daft enough to stand in her way. This scene is made all the more powerful by Gal Gadot, who puts in a terrific performance despite her lack of acting experience and puts all the doubters to rest, proving to be just as savvy with comedy as the action. The fact that we care so much about her also means that the CGI-heavy climax, which seems to be trend with DC, can almost be forgiven. Thanks to well-written character development and some charming chemistry between Gadot and the ever-brilliant Chris Pine, there is a real emotional investment that was lacking in DC's previous misfires. In terms of origin stories, this doesn't rewrite the rule-book, but the importance and significance of Wonder Woman should not be underestimated.


Directed by: Patty Jenkins
Starring: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Connie Nielsen, Robin Wright, Danny Huston, David Thewlis, Elena Anaya
Country: USA/China/Hong Kong/UK/Italy/Canada/New Zealand

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,220: 'Kong: Skull Island' (2017)

The title of this latest movie to feature cinema's most famous giant ape, King Kong, refers to the beast's misty and unexplored home in Indonesia, or the Pacific Ocean, or the Indian Ocean, depending on which incarnation you happen to be watching. It's a world known to movie fans to be full of prehistoric or unnaturally gigantic monsters, and things are very much the same in Jordan Vogt-Roberts' entertaining big-budget update. Anyone fearing a retread of the story told back in 1933 and never bettered since can relax, as Kong: Skull Island is less interested in exploring the incredibly fragile relationship between man and nature than it is with smashing helicopters to pieces in front of a gorgeous sunset.

Both a follow-up to 2014's Godzilla and a build-up to the upcoming smack-down cross-over between two of the big screen's most famous abominations, Kong carries on the tone by making its human characters infinitely less interesting than the big guy we all came to see. Early trailers and posters before the film's release teased a tone akin to the great Vietnam War movies, especially Apocalypse Now, but there are little similarities other than the famous shot from Coppola's movie of helicopters flying by a setting sun and the 1973 setting. This is big, dumb fun, and little more, but that is by no means a bad thing. Peter Jackson tried earnestly back in 2005 to tell the traditional story with a mixture of heart and spectacle, with mixed results. It climaxed with the ape's relocation to the mainland and his tragic end at the top of the Empire State Building, but here, once government agents/scientists Bill Randa (John Goodman) and Houston Brooks (Corey Hawkins) seal the required funds and hit the island, we never leave.

At just shy of 2 hours, Skull Island struggles to handle the unnecessarily expansive cast of characters, and boy are they bland. Tom Hiddleston's British Special Forces captain James Conrad (an obvious nod to Heart of Darkness author Joseph Conrad) is the closest thing we have to a lead, but this is only because he is handsome and warns the others of danger. They are escorted by Samuel L. Jackson's Preston Packard, a Lieutenant Colonel in charge of a helicopter squadron called the Sky Devils whose idea of scientific study is to bomb the shit out of the island upon arrival. Among the rag-tag bunch of monkey-food soldiers are the grizzled Cole (Shea Whigham), and Jack Chapman (Toby Kebbell, who also performs the motion-capture for Kong), an eager-to-please young buck with a questionable American accent. In a somewhat baffling move, they also invite photojournalist Mason Weaver (Brie Larson) on a mission you would expect the Army to want to keep quiet.

At one point, I counted three concurrent storylines. Supporting characters such as John Ortiz's Nieves and Tian Jing's San are played by familiar faces but serve absolutely no purpose, and only John C. Reilly's stranded World War II veteran Hank Marlow brings any heart and soul to the story. Yet, Roberts knows how to make carnage look incredibly cool, and this is the meanest, leanest and biggest Kong to date. Helicopters are torn to shreds, a giant octopus (living in fresh water?) is brutally devoured, and soldiers are swallowed whole - Kong doesn't have time to share a tender moment with a beautiful woman lying in his palm. When the action shifts away from the puny humans and to the titular powerhouse, the film is so damn exciting that you can, for a short time, forgive the film's many misgivings and cliches. It's unlikely that the 1933 original will ever be topped, so it's pleasing that Kong: Skull Island at least makes an attempt to try something a little different. For a B-movie dressed up as an A-movie with only one memorable character who isn't simian, it certainly entertains.


Directed by: Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, John C. Reilly, John Goodman, Corey Hawkins, Toby Kebbell, Shea Whigham
Country: USA/China/Australia/Canada

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,199: 'In the Mood for Love' (2000)

The second of an unofficial trilogy by Chinese director Wong-Kar Wai which started with Days of Being Wild (1990) and concluded with 2046 (2004), it would be difficult to describe and appreciate In the Mood for Love without using the words beautiful, sumptuous and erotic. For a film trying to capture the pure eroticism and sweeping romance of the meeting between lost souls, there is precious little dialogue or conventional narrative, with Wong instead choosing to tell this story through gorgeous visuals and, to steal a word from the film's English-language title, an overbearing sense of mood. Continuing with the semi-improvised, free-flowing approach that brought him international success with the likes of Chungking Express (1994) and Happy Together (1997), In the Mood for Love is an achingly romantic experience, and may just be his finest work.

Set mostly around a cramped apartment block in 1962 Hong Kong, the central 'love' story is between Mr. Chow (Tony Chiu-Wai Leung) and Mrs. Chan (Maggie Cheung), who, along with their spouses, rent a room in neighbouring flats. They regularly eat alone at night as their other halves call to say they are working overtime, and they both suspect infidelity. eventually coming to the conclusion that Mrs. Chow and Mr. Chan are indeed having an affair. Despite the ever-presence of the pleasant Mrs. Suen (Rebecca Pan) and her mahjong-playing friends, the couple feel isolated and alone, often venturing out to the nearby noodle stand to purchase a meal for one. The two start to bond through imagining and even re-enacting how their spouses met and courted each other, while insisting their own blossoming relationship remains platonic. But feelings are developed and suppressed, with things intensifying when they begin work on a martial arts serial, renting a hotel room to escape the gossiping of neighbours.

The era in which the film is set not only gives the opportunity for some exquisite costume design (Mrs. Chan's colourful dresses radiate sensuality), but also offers the chance to reflect on a more conservative, socially-conforming time. While the couple refuse to allow their friendship to boil over into romance, there are still whispers and raised eyebrows. With this kind of secrecy and restraint forced upon them, they are made to pass each other on the street with barely an acknowledgement, and this is where Wong's style becomes the substance. Sexual tension is captured by the brush of a hand, a sideways glance, and even the dipping of meat in hot sauce. In the film's most effective scene, they pass each other on a stairwell, barely daring to offer the other a glance, just as the rain starts to lash down to bring them together under shelter. Where most films will have their characters lay their romantic cards on the table, Wong says so much more with repressing as much as possible, climaxing in a haunting final scene set amongst the ruined temples Angkor Wat in Cambodia.


Directed by: Kar-Wai Wong
Starring: Maggie Cheung, Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Ping Lam Siu, Rebecca Pan
Country: Hong Kong/China

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,117: 'Jason Bourne' (2016)

While Tony Gilroy's rather fumbling The Bourne Legacy (2012) informed us that was 'never just one', the theatrical poster however failed to realise that there would be just one audiences would remember. That, of course, is Matt Damon's Jason Bourne, thanks to Doug Liman's enjoyable first entry and Paul Greengrass later taking the reigns and simultaneously lifting the franchise to a whole new level. Legacy, the Jeremy Renner vehicle, entertained fleetingly but ultimately suffered from its need to expand a universe which was built around Damon's presence and physicality and Greengrass' kinetic action, and so, in losing the series' two main draws, the film felt like another routine action thriller.

It seemed like Damon and Greengrass were done with the world of Treadstone and sleeper agents, but they are both back on board for the fourth entry, the somewhat unimaginatively-titled Jason Bourne. 9 years have passed since the original trilogy was wrapped up beautifully with The Bourne Ultimatum, with amnesiac henchman learning his true name (the less cool-sounding David Webb) and confronting the big bad seemingly behind the brutal training/brain-washing regime that morphed Bourne into the serial killer he cannot remember he was. So, the fourth (or fifth?) entry is the sequel that nobody, including fans, were really asking for, and this was reflected in its underwhelming box-office takings. You would think Damon and Greengrass were brought back into the fold because they had something fresh, but Jason Bourne sits comfortably in the formula that previously brought huge success.

It is so familiar in fact that I could swear I was watching the same scenes of wrinkled government operatives barking orders at underlings in a monitor-heavy CIA office while they watch Bourne vanish before their eyes, only with Tommy Lee Jones instead of David Strathairn and Alicia Vikander instead of Joan Allen. This time around, the super soldier is forced to leave his life of bare-knuckled fisticuffs in Greece when Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles), now working underground as a whistleblower, uncovers information from the CIA of Bourne's Treadstone recruitment and the death of his father. The hack alerts the head of CIA's cyber-ops division Heather Lee (Vikander) and CIA Director Robert Dewey (Jones), who hire an 'asset' (Vincent Cassel) to finally put Bourne to rest. However, Lee believes he could be brought back into the fold and put back to work.

The overbearing sense of familiarity with the story, locations and characters cast a dark cloud over what is essentially a reasonably entertaining and well-photographed slice of action cinema. Damon broods in front of a mirror, a saggy-faced suit becomes increasingly frustrated at Bourne's elusiveness, and a decent actor is wasted as a dead-eyed bad guy assassin (although he is given a history with his prey here). The feeling of repetitiveness really hangs a question mark over the world-buildings potential of the series, as well as just why Damon and Greengrass felt the need to return to a story that doesn't really drive Bourne's story forward. As a stand-alone work, this is a movie that excites with bruising action scenes and never bores throughout its 2 hour running-time, with Damon inevitably impressing. As an anticipated Bourne sequel, it's a passive shrug. The Bourne Redundancy would be a more appropriate title.


Directed by: Paul Greengrass
Starring: Matt Damon, Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel, Julia Stiles, Riz Ahmed
Country: UK/China/USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,111: 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows' (2016)

The heroes in a half-shell return once again to anger children of the late 80's/early 90's who continue to voice their displeasure as the pop culture icons of their youth are turned into soulless, CGI monstrosities with the sickly, music video aesthetic of producer Michael Bay. This time, it would initially appear that Bay and his cronies have learned from their mistakes by introducing characters from the beloved animated TV series, which at least acknowledges the fans the franchise originally catered to. But this is Michael Bay, who is so satisfied with his own brand of consumerist, money-grubbing blockbusters that he would never do anything as gracious as actually try to make a half-decent movie.

A year after their battle with the evil Shredder (here recast as Brian Tee), the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Leonardo (Pete Ploszek), Raphael (Alan Ritchson), Donatello (Jeremy Howard) and Michelangelo (Noel Fisher), are still living in the sewers, hiding from a public who are unaware of their part in saving the world. Annoying introduced with title cards that label them as 'Raph' and 'Mikey' etc. - which raises the question of just how capable the film-makers believe their target audience are of remembering names with more than two syllables - the turtles are once again indistinguishable from one another apart from the one personality trait that here wholly defines them. They are more central to the plot than last time, but they prove to be as equally off-putting as their human counterparts.

The plot revolves around Shredder escaping from prison and employing genius scientist Baxter Stockman (Tyler Perry) to assist him in opening a portal to another dimension, where the mutant brain Krang (Brad Garrett) is plotting to take over the world. Journalist April O'Neil (Megan Fox, doing little else other than changing from one sexy outfit to the next, sometimes in the same scene) catches wind of the plan and approaches the Turtles for their help. Only former cameraman Vernon Fenwick (Will Arnett, visibly regretting ever agreeing to take the role) has taken all the credit for the Turtles heroics and is living the life of a celebrity, so the pizza-loving foursome must reveal their existence to a horrified public and suspicious police chief Rebecca Vincent (Laura Linney).

Other than a sub-plot involving Leonardo honing his leadership skills, Out of the Shadows spends most of its time explaining its nonsensical plot and pacing towards the inevitable thingamjig-beaming-into-the-sky climax. Despite claiming to be directed by Dave Green, this is pure Bay, and anyone who despises the shallow output of the film-maker once compared to Hitler by Megan Fox will find nothing at all to appreciate here. It's the same pornographic, vacuous vision seen in all of the Transformers movies, featuring the same stock meat-head types Bay was so in love with in the likes of Pain & Gain (2013) and 13 Hours (2016), and peppered with soul-crushing product placement. It wouldn't be so bad if it was even occasionally entertaining in a switch-your-brain-off kind of way, but it isn't, it just made me want to jam an ice-pick into my ear.


Directed by: Dave Green
Starring: Megan Fox, Will Arnett, Pete Ploszek, Alan Ritchson, Jeremy Howard, Noel Fisher, Laura Linney, Stephen Amell, Tyler Perry, Brian Tee
Country: USA/Hong Kong/China/Canada

Rating: *

Tom Gillespie