Review #1,374: 'Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol' (2011)

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol continues the series' trend of introducing a new director with each new instalment, hoping that a pair of fresh eyes will prevent the franchise from growing stagnant. A few eyebrows were raised when it was announced that J.J. Abrams' successor would be none other than Brad Bird, director of such animated classics The Iron Giant, The Incredibles and Ratatouille, with what would be his first live-action picture. However, it becomes clear early on that Bird is more than up for the task, with his background in colourful animated efforts (including one of cinema's all-time best superhero adventures) perhaps inspiring him to make something all the more physical. This fourth entry is the most action-packed yet, and carries a hell of a punch, with one jaw-dropping set-piece in particular blowing any stunts from the previous films completely out of the water.

IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is spending time locked away in a Moscow prison, keeping tabs on Bogdan (Miraj Grbic), a fellow inmate who may posses vital information on a man known as 'Cobalt'. With Cobalt now in possession of a file containing Russian nuclear launch codes, time is running out, so agents Jane Carter (Paula Patton) and the recently-promoted Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) break him out in order to infiltrate the Kremlin and gather information on their mysterious target. During the mission however, a bomb is detonated, leaving the Kremlin in ruins and Hunt and his team, who are the main suspects, disavowed by their government. Despite IMF's reputation lying in tatters, the agency Secretary (Tom Wilkinson) tasks Hunt with continuing his hunt for Cobalt, who has been revealed to be Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist), a nuclear strategist who feels that an extinction event is long overdue.

If there is a major flaw in Ghost Protocol, it's Nyqvist's villain. While Philip Seymour Hoffman was brought in last time to truly jangle the nerves, Hendricks isn't given enough screen-time or a clear enough motivation to make much of an impression, despite being played by a damn fine actor. This does, however, open more space for the team itself, who are eventually joined by intelligence analyst William Brandt (Jeremy Renner). Their mission takes them across the globe, and eventually to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, where of course Hunt must scale the highest building in the world in the most vertigo-inducing sequence ever captured on film. With Hunt wielding only a pair of high-tech suction gloves to save him from certain death, Bird uses every camera angle and editing technique to make it a moment to dread for anybody with a fear of heights. Once again, Tom Cruise does all of his own stunts, demonstrating why he one of the most respected actors around, despite the inherent craziness of his personal life. It's basically none stop action surrounding the flimsiest of McGuffins, but when the fights and stunts are choreographed so spectacularly, it's easy to forgive the picture's flaws and simply go with it.


Directed by: Brad Bird
Starring: Tom Cruise, Paula Patton, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Michael Nyqvist, Léa Seydoux
Country: USA/United Arab Emirates/Czech Republic/Russia/India/Canada

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,195: 'A Royal Affair' (2012)

A Royal Affair opens with a melancholy Princess Caroline Matilda of Great Britain narrating as she pens a letter to her unseen children. Flashing back in time, she is a young and beautiful teenager about to be shipped off to Denmark to marry her cousin, King Christian VII of Denmark, giggling and dreaming about what her new life will be like with a man who sounds like the ideal husband. It would seem that we are in very familiar costume-drama territory, and director Nikolaj Arcel's film makes sure to include all the factors that make the genre so appealing to some: the beautiful young bride; an unknown kingdom; handsome period costumes; a bastard child; and a love affair that is passionate but ultimately doomed. Yet a careful, character-driven approach ensures that A Royal Affair doesn't boil over into overwrought hysterics. What emerges is a tense tale of political intrigue and terrific performances, and a fascinating history lesson to boot.

As the Princess, played by Alicia Vikander, arrives in Denmark, she immediately encounters her husband not as the gallant artist she expected, but as a nervous man-child, giggling to himself while hiding behind a tree. The King (Mikkel Boe Folsgaard) is a puppet on a throne, and quite clearly mentally deranged. He doesn't take much of a liking to his new Queen, and prefers to spend his free time getting drunk in the company of big-breasted prostitutes. Her optimism is quickly turned into bitterness, and is pleased when her husband decides to take a year off his duties to tour Europe. Shortly after his return, German Johann Struensee (Mads Mikkelsen), a skilled yet humble doctor, is recruited as the King's personal physician. He instantly forges a strong bond with the mad King, who is pleased to have a man of stature and intelligence by his side amidst his stern, old-fashioned council. Struensee's influence in court grows, but he finds himself caught up in a dangerous love affair with the Queen that could mean both of their heads should they be discovered.

This being 18th century Denmark, the King is surrounded by a council of religious old men looking to keep the country firmly in the Dark Ages. Struensee is a believer in the Age of Enlightenment, a progressive philosophical movement spearheaded by the likes of Voltaire and Rousseau. The Queen also shares his liberal views, and their love story isn't so much about their own sexual impulses but a driven and united desire to illuminate their country. Realising just how great an influence he is on the King, the doctor quickly sets about abolishing oppressive laws such as capital punishment, the torturing of suspects, and censorship. This immediately puts him at odds with the ruling aristocracy, who view him as a foreigner destroying their fatherland, and they waste no time looking for a way to expel him from court. It's alarming just how familiar it all sounds with the general one-step forward, two-steps back nature of politics. The three leads are all strong, with Mikkelsen in particular convincing as the reserved man of Enlightenment. By avoiding dramatic melodrama, A Royal Affair succeeds as a simmering portrayal of social disintegration and an intimate, intellectual love story.


Directed by: Nikolaj Arcel
Starring: Alicia Vikander, Mads Mikkelsen, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, Trine Dyrholm, David Dencik
Country: Denmark/Sweden/Czech Republic/Germany

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,146: 'Anthropoid' (2016)

Although the emergence of the superhero genre and the re-emergence of the Star Wars franchise as a global phenomenon have turned audience's attentions towards conflict on a more galactic scale, film-makers still find a fascination with World War II and the smaller-scale, almost forgotten acts of heroism that occurred amidst the bloody madness. Whether it be soldiers on the front-line or the chess-playing at the very top, audiences also remain keen, and their frequent presence at the big Awards suggests that there is still a wealth of material to explore. The story of Operation Anthropoid has been told before, but never with such a grasp of the scale of these men's mission, and all the horror and hesitation that comes with it.

Sean Ellis' Anthropoid chooses to focus on two men - Josef Gabcik (Cillian Murphy) and Jan Kubis (Jamie Dornan) - from Czechoslovakia's government (now in exile) as they are parachuted back into their homeland during the German occupation. That same night, they are taken in by two fellow freedom fighters who offers them shelter from the harsh weather. They turn out to be betrayers and blood is spilled before Gabcik and Kubis flee to Prague. The stock footage shown on early establishes the context: With Czechoslovakia left without allies following the Munich Agreement, the Nazis quickly invaded. crushing any acts of rebellion with swift executions and routinely torturing suspects for information. Czechoslovakia was a very dangerous place to be in 1939.

Our two heroes have arrived in their homeland with one goal - to execute Reinhard Heydrich, the high-ranking Nazi official who masterminded the Final Solution and was dubbed the 'Butcher of Prague'. They touch base with their fellow freedom fighters, who all have a clear picture of the repercussions the country will face should the operation go ahead. This was never an assassination intended the win the war, but to make a global statement of their intent to fight the oppressive threat. It may be for the greater good, but it also means that thousands will die. This conflict is reflected in the two main characters. Gabcik is steely-eyed and determined to follow his orders through no matter what the consequences, while Kubis is the younger romantic, hoping to live long enough to see a better world.

Anthropoid is keen to study the effects such selfless heroism can have on a person, and the men many and women taking part in the operation do so with shaky hands, self-doubt and trepidation. Ellis keeps things incredibly reserved and low-key for much of the built-up, perhaps a little too much, but this time is spent enveloping you its paranoid and dangerous world, where a slip of the tongue in the presence of the wrong person could mean torture and brutal death. I must admit that I wasn't familiar with the ins-and-outs of the story before going into the film, so the climactic stand-off against a hail of Nazi bullets and pipe bombs in the Orthodox Cathedral was an exciting and emotional experience. It's all shot with a grainy, brown-y tinge by Ellis, who also acts as cinematographer, and helps to give the film a lived-in feel, avoiding the ugly sheen that plagues many a period piece.


Directed by: Sean Ellis
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Jamie Dornan, Anna Geislerová, Charlotte Le Bon, Toby Jones, Harry Lloyd
Country: Czech Republic/UK/France

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,077: 'The Bourne Identity' (2002)

Few could have expected the affect Doug Liman's adaptation of Robert Ludlum's novel The Bourne Identity would have on action cinema, and on the career of star Matt Damon, when it was released back in 2002. This well-crafted, relatively low-key action thriller takes the done-to-death spy-with-amnesia story and runs with it, avoiding the lure of throwing in Michael Bay-esque explosions and wisely keeping things grounded, as shady government types in dull black suits stare at computer monitors and make demands to their younger cronies that they have the information they require 'yesterday'.

In the Mediterranean Sea, a fishing vessel picks up a man near death with two bullet holes in his back. The on-board doctor tends to his wounds and pulls a small device from his hip, which reveals a Swiss bank account number when activated. The man has no memory of who he is, and so heads to Zurich to recover a safe deposit box that contains multiple identities, a wad of cash in different currencies, and a gun. He opts to go by the name on his American passport, Jason Bourne, but soon finds himself chased by a shadowy agency called Treadstone, seemingly led by the ruthless Conklin (Chris Cooper). Evading capture at the American embassy, he pays pretty German lady Marie (Franka Potente) to drive him to Paris in the hope of discovering who he is and who is after him.

Jason Bourne can now be spoken in the same breath as James Bond, and in fact makes the British super-spy seem ridiculous in comparison, especially the Pierce Brosnan incarnation. Bourne is infinitely more interesting because he is conflicted, tortured by a past of mass-murder and seeking to make amends for his actions. While the action scenes thrill in a refreshingly unspectacular way, it's Bourne's tender relationship with Marie that generate the most sparks. Potente is lovely in the role, and her naturalism and chemistry with Damon is the film's biggest positive, and there are smart turns from Cooper and Brian Cox as the grumpy old agency men and Clive Owen as a dead-eyed fellow assassin. While it may pale in comparison to the bar-raising Paul Greengrass sequels, Identity is still a nifty thriller with characters to actually care about.


Directed by: Doug Liman
Starring: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles
Country: USA/Germany/Czech Republic

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #958: 'Snowpiercer' (2013)

Studio interference is certainly nothing new in the movie business, but it's sickening to think that, with all the disastrous films that have been the result of suits sticking their noses into an artists vision, an experienced and extremely successful studio head like Harvey Weinstein can demand edits on a finished product that had already tested well with audiences. And so, Snowpiercer limped onto the big screen in selected cinemas and performed well with the small audiences that were actually able to see it, and is still unreleased in many countries, including here in the UK.

The English-language debut of genre director Joon Ho Bong, Snowpiercer mixes post-apocalyptic spectacle with social and political commentary with equally mixed success. Set on board of the eponymous, self-sufficient train that navigates the globe once every 365 days in a world thrown into a new ice age by our attempts to halt global warming, our scruffy hero Curtis (a steely-eyed Chris Evans) has spent the last 17 years cramped inside of the lower-class carriage. Fed nothing but 'protein bars', which consist of questionable ingredients, and occasionally having their young children taken from them by armed guards, Curtis, along with leader Gilliam (John Hurt), plan a revolt.

The revolt will hopefully lead them to the front carriage, where the upper classes live in luxury and with plenty of space. Backed by his loyal second-in-command Edgar (Jamie Bell), Curtis plans to release security expert Namgoong (Kang-Ho Song) to aid his path through the many carriages, eventually gaining control of the engine held sacred to most. However, their progression is met with resistance by Minister Mason (Tilda Swinton), a Margaret Thatcher-type who demands social order with a small army of masked men with an assortment of nasty weapons, and who answers only to the train's creator, Wilford (Ed Harris).

Snowpiercer is at its best when at its most ferocious. A carriage fight involving Mason's terrifying guards and Curtis's beaten-down group of peasants, played out mostly in darkness, is a moment of nightmarish horror. Evans, having done little of note since he became Captain America, gives it his all throughout, showing us the darker side of his persona now so synonymous with the clean-cut and morally righteous Steve Rogers. However, these injections of ferocity switch to outright comedy within the blink of an eye. Ho Bong has always been good at mood shifts - the swings from comedy to tragedy in his Memories of Murder (2003) is what made the film a masterpiece in my humble opinion - but Snowpiercer struggles to blend these moments together.

Almost immediately after the bloody battle, Curtis finds himself in a classroom teaching 'train babies', where we learn the history of the train and how they are being taught to worship the 'sacred engine'. It is filmed with a Terry Gilliam-esque absurdity, all bizarre angles and close-ups of an over-the-top Alison Pill as the violence turns into slapstick, jarring with the brutality that came before. For the most part, this is grim stuff, and Ho Bong is keen to keep reminding you. Along with the heavy violence throughout, we also get a monologue about eating babies that is too ridiculous to be taken with a straight face. There are some interesting comments regarding the use of fear and chaos to control a populace at the end, but the film doesn't seem to know when and how to finish. A very hit-and-miss experience.


Directed by: Joon Ho Bong
Starring: Chris Evans, Kang-Ho Song, Ed Harris, John Hurt, Tilda Swinton, Jamie Bell
Country: South Korea/Czech Republic/USA/France

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #919: 'Child 44' (2015)

The idea of a thriller/murder mystery set in the 1950's Soviet Union, where to be accused is to be found guilty and the majority of the population live in state of constant paranoia, starring such acting powerhouses as Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, Gary Oldman, Paddy Considine and Jason Clarke, who have all starred in some damn fine movies over the past few years, would make one assume they were in for a guaranteed masterpiece. Based on Tom Rob Smith's 2008 novel, the first of a trilogy, Child 44 the film is overstuffed with disconnected sub-plots, mud-brown grimness, rushed storytelling. and a smorgasbord of thick Russian accents delivered by a mostly European from a variety of countries apart from Russia.

Beginning in a war-town Ukraine where starvation has wiped out a bulk of the population, young Leo Demidov (Hardy) escapes an orphanage and into the arms of a sympathetic soldier, who adopts him and gives him a home. Years later, and Leo is a war hero, having his picture taken raising the flag of the U.S.S.R. over Berlin, and has a beautiful wife in Raisa (Rapace). While the country lives in fear, Leo and his comrades dine in fine restaurants. He is an obedient soldier, hunting down and capturing suspected traitor Anatoly (Clarke), but also shows restraint and empathy in his work, trying to convince Anatoly to confess to escape his inevitable torture and execution, and dressing down fellow soldier Vasili (Joel Kinnaman), a known coward from the war, when he executes a peasant couple in cold blood.

Vasili, who rises through the ranks to become understudy to Major Kuzmin (Vincent Cassel), becomes Leo's nemesis. When Leo is called in to investigate a gang of citizens suspected of working against the state, Raisa is implicated, possibly by Vasili as a grudge against the man who humiliated him in the field. Leo must face a choice of giving up the woman he genuinely loves, or handing her over and maintaining his social position. Meanwhile, the child of one of Leo's friends is murdered, and may possibly be connected to other murders that have happened in the vicinity. But the higher-ups fails to acknowledge the murders, as serial killers can only be the product of capitalism, and there are no murders in paradise. Leo, refusing to hand his wife over, is sent to take a demeaning position in Volsk, operating under the command of General Nesterov (Oldman), where more bodies are found.

Child 44 has all the ingredients for an intense whodunit and character study from a time and place rarely depicted by mainstream cinema. I haven't read Smith's book, but judging from the critical praise and awards lavished upon it, director Daniel Espinosa, best known for action fare Easy Money (2010) and Safe House (2012), seems to have only skimmed the back cover, forgetting to add anything resembling tension or believable character development. 2006's German masterpiece The Lives of Others created an overwhelming sense of fear and paranoia within its characters, but Espinosa seems to be more invested in rushing his way through the plot to get to an end that is in no way satisfying. The performances, despite being burdened with thick Russian accents (though the cast generally stay on the right side of those Compare the Meerkat adverts), are solid, although Oldman and Considine are wasted. At 137 minutes, the film feels long when it should feel short, and you get the idea that this may have worked better as a mini-series, where better care could have been taken to tell the story with the patience it deserved.


Directed by: Daniel Espinosa
Starring: Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, Gary Oldman, Joel Kinnaman, Vincent Cassel, Paddy Considine, Jason Clarke
Country: USA/UK/Czech Republic/Romania/Russia

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #188: 'Faust' (1994)

There has been numerous stage and film adaptations of Goethe's tragedy Faust, where the eponymous hero sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for the Devil serving Faust during his time on the Earth, as long as upon death, Faust will serve him in return in Hell. F.W. Murnau's 1926's Faust is probably the most acclaimed film adaptation, whilst Istvan Szabo's 1981 masterpiece Mephisto transformed the setting of the play to WWII-era Germany. I would imagine that there has never been such an imaginative and unpredictable interpretation than animator Jan Svankmajer's 1994 effort. Combining live-action, stop motion animation, and puppetry, the Czech's various talents come together to make a surreal, and brilliant, piece of art.

The film begins as Faust (Petr Capek) finds a map on a train that leads him to an abandoned theatre. When there, he accidentally creates a clay baby that develops quickly from a foetus into a fully formed baby. It quickly starts shifting its face into adults, as the Devil starts to attempt communication with Faust. He destroys the baby, and ends up unwillingly on a stage, in costume, accompanied by large wooden puppets who act as the supporting characters. The play and reality start to blend together, as even when our hero pops outside for a cigarette, the puppets follow dressed in human's clothes. The play/story goes on, as Faust plays with his new powers, and is frequently influenced by the Devil.

It's quite hard to write a formal review about a film that had its impact on me a couple of hours after the credits have rolled, and some scenes where I genuinely did not know what was happening. It plays out like a sort of medieval Punch and Judy show, with some strangely creepy characters. It's undoubtedly quite childish and playful, but at the same time it is dark and complex, and more than anything else, frequently surreal.

In my favourite scene, the Fool character who is reading Faust's textbook discovers that he can the Devil whenever he likes and dismiss him just as quickly. When dismissed, the Devil quickly legs it out the door, dressing himself up in an overcoat and hat and passing the smoking Faust in the street. As he is called back, he is forced to shed the clothes and rush back to the stage to make a explosive entrance. He goes back and forth for about 5 minutes. I couldn't help but laugh at the sheer absurdness of it all.

While quite not as stunning as Alice (his 1988 Alice In Wonderland adaptation), Faust does constantly surprise, entertain, and bewilder.


Directed by: Jan Svankmajer
Starring: Petr Capek, Jan Kraus, Vladimír Kudla
Country: Czech Republic/France/UK

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #146: 'The Baader Meinhof Complex' (2008)

The late 1960's and early 1970's were a turbulent time throughout the world. Protests raged in nearly every major city, against American Imperialism; their occupation of Vietnam, and the middle-east situation, and the fight of the Palestinians; and of course civil rights. In West Germany, Ulrike Meinhof (Martina Gedek) is a journalist who is disillusioned that her published writing is not effecting change. She begins to get involved in the left-wing politics of the (mostly student) protesters. After discovering that her husband is having an affair, she takes of with their two daughters and joins the 'cause' full-time.

Andreas Baader (Moritz Bleibtreu) and Gudrun Ensslin (Johanna Wokalek) are living a pseudo-bohemian lifestyle after being released from prison for arson on a department store. They are also recruiting refugees of the right-wing police state they are living in; political prisoners, and runaways from homes/prisons. On their return to West Germany, Baader and Ensslin stay with Meinhof and she becomes part of the Red Faction Army (RAF). After some Iranian training, they begin a series of bank robberies, then begin bombing German Authorities property and US military sites located throughout Germany.

This results in the 'founding members' all being incarcerated. The film proceeds with a trial that is made a mockery of and the growth of the RAF (whilst Baader/Meinhof/Ensslin are imprisoned and falling apart as they break each other down psychologically, bickering) outside, whose violence escalates, and the concern of the 'Innocent by-stander' looses any meaning. This was a massive terrorist campaign that was to be titled German Autumn. It was a few years after the debacle of German authorities, in the handling of the terrorist hostage situation at the 1972 Munich Olympics, and this was an opportunity to show that they have learned from their mistakes, so the response is severe.

Directed by Uli Edel (Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989), Body of Evidence (1993)), displays some of his common themes in the terrorist group. He often parallels sex and violence; how closely entwined the two things often are in reality (but most often in art). The film is at times exciting and thrilling; it represents the facts of the story well without heavy exposition. The characters represent the generation after the end of World War 2. These were the children of the Nazi's. What these people saw in American Imperialism (which we are still living with today), is that it is intrinsically fascistic in it's blind "democratic" view-point of world domination. Perhaps more politically motivated, the characters often become almost incomplete. The RAF were often portrayed quite sympathetically, despite that fact that some of the acts were seemingly motivated with death in mind. In the real event the Baader-Meinhof Gang were almost celebrated by the German people much in the same way that Dillinger or Bonnie and Clyde were in the prohibition era America. But apart from the few lags in narrative, this was an entertaining crime drama.


Directed by: Uli Edel
Starring: Martina Gedeck, Moritz Bleibtreu, Johanna Wokalek
Country: Germany/France/Czech Republic

Rating: ****

Marc Ivamy