Review #1,267: 'The Dark Tower' (2017)

Adapting a series of beloved novels spanning thousands of pages and countless characters and worlds into a consumable stand-alone movie was never going to be an easy task. Over the years, many names have been attached to developing Stephen King's Dark Tower novels, including the combined efforts of J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof during their Lost days, and Ron Howard. When it became apparent that these novels were indeed unfilmable, they understandably bailed, and the film found itself in limbo once again. After 10 years of rewrites and personnel changes, The Dark Tower finally arrives in the hands of Nikolaj Arcel, the director of fantastic Danish period drama A Royal Affair. Reports of heavy re-shoots and a frustrated cast was never a good sign, and while it isn't quite the incoherent, tumour-inducing non-entity of Josh Trank's Fantastic Four, The Dark Tower will leave fans of the novels shaking their heads and newcomers scratching them.

The final result is a stuttering mess of disconnected scenes loosely held together by a baffling plot that seems to throw in every fantasy element except the magical kitchen sink. We have a western without the West, a fantasy without the fantastical, and a familiar 'Chosen One' thread fronted by a forgettable child actor. In part a sequel to King's novels and an origin story of sorts, The Dark Tower doesn't know what it is, and increasingly throughout the film it feels as though the studio just stopped trying in the hope that it would eventually make its money back from book fans and teenagers hungry for some fantasy action. Scenes play out with seemingly no connection to what came before and -although I don't know if I was just imagining it or simply looking for something to distract my attention from the sheer tedium of the plot - actors' lips seemed to have been altered by CGI as the script was re-written after scenes were shot. You may also find yourself jolting awake every 5 minutes at the sound of Idris Elba's magical guns.

Eleven year-old Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor) possesses the 'Shine', a power of shady definition but one which allows him to subconsciously peer into other worlds. In his dreams, he has visions of a giant dark tower, an evil man in dressed in black intent on bringing down the tower, and a mysterious gunslinger. He draws his visions and hangs them on his bedroom wall, so naturally his mother and douchebag stepfather think he's crazy and arranges for him to spend some time away in a psychiatric facility. He runs away to find a building from his dreams (which just happens to be in his home city of New York), and finds a portal which transports him to the apocalyptic wastelands of Mid-World. There, he quickly encounters the gunslinger from his dreams: A man named Roland Deschain (Elba) who is part of an ancient order of knights who carry out justice with guns forged from Excalibur. He is also visited by the man in black, a sorcerer named Walter Padick (Matthew McConaughey) who aims to harness children's screams in order to topple the Dark Tower holding all the worlds together.

When the film isn't trying to explain everybody's backgrounds to the audience through endless exposition, it expects us to simply accept this nonsense. I haven't read King's books, but it carries a reputation as being a complex and detailed piece of work requiring audience investment to drink in its slow-build approach. Arcel's movie opts to cram as much as it can into just 95 minutes, without dedicating anywhere near enough time to properly explain the universe's mythos. For a film so short and convoluted, it's almost impressive how boring it manages to be. Elba, like he does in most franchise-building, big-budget affair, seems to huff his way through the film with his eyes half-closed as though he is waiting for his next 'serious' project. McConaughey at least injects some energy into his poorly-developed bad guy, although he may just be happy he's not making horrible rom-coms anymore. It's scant praise for a movie that feels nothing like a final product, and more like a bunch of outtakes found in a bin and glued together with Pritt Stick by a janitor with a penchant for generic fantasy CGI.


Directed by: Nikolaj Arcel
Starring: Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Taylor, Katheryn Winnick, Jackie Earle Haley
Country: USA

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,260: 'Thor: Ragnarok' (2017)

One of the fairest criticisms aimed at Marvel's now 9 years in-the-making Cinematic Universe is that mastermind Kevin Fiege has worked out the perfect superhero blockbuster formula and has stuck with it. It's a cookie-cutter approach, so much so that entries like Iron Man, Ant-Man and Doctor Strange seem almost indistinguishable on paper. The MCU has now raked in over $13 billion at the box-office, so it's clearly doing something right. But recently, Marvel have deliberately selected directors capable of leaving their fingerprints, such as Ryan Coogler being handed the task of tackling the Africa-set Black Panther (due next year), and Kiwi filmmaker Taika Waititi - a choice met with both confusion and sheer excitement on its announcement - to handle the Norse apocalypse. Although I enjoyed 2011's Thor for all its Shakesperian campiness, 2013's sequel The Dark World was mediocre at best, and the God of Thunder was in major need of a kick up the arse.

In fact, the sight of 'the strongest Avenger' receiving a boot up the backside wouldn't look out of place in Waititi's bright, 80's-inspired cosmic wet-dream. Marvel's have always peppered the heroics with humour and sight gags, but Thor: Ragnarok represents the first time they have opted for full-blown comedy with an occasional action scene in between. Waititi was clearly hired for this very reason, and anybody who fell in love with vampire comedy What We Do in the Shadows and last year's surprisingly touching Hunt for the Wilderpeople will find plenty of laughs here. The director's goofy, playful sense of humour can be found all over Ragnarok, and anybody concerned that this will be to the detriment of taking the film's end-of-the-world premise seriously can be rest assured. Characters are offed or mutilated without pausing for breath, and the climax changes the universe of the MCU forever. The good guys also face their most formidable threat yet, the Goddess of Death herself, Hela (a striking Cate Blanchett).

We first meet up with Chris Hemsworth's Thor as he lies chained-up and imprisoned by fire demon Surtur, after having spent the last two years travelling the cosmos searching for those pesky Infinity Stones. When he finally arrives home, he finds his mischievous brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) posing as their father Odin (Anthony Hopkins), allowing Asgard's many enemies to gain more power as a result. They travel to Earth and, with the help of Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), locate their father, who is apparently waiting to die in Norway. He warns his sons that Ragnarok is coming, as is their sister Hela. After a skirmish that sees the hammer Mjolnir destroyed, Thor is blown into space and lands of Sakaar, where most of the universe's garbage ends up. He is captured by scrapper Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) is forced to become a gladiator for the amusement of the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum). Here he meets his old friend Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), who has been in Hulk form for the past two years and clearly enjoying his life as a celebrity warrior.

Waititi promised a buddy road-trip through the cosmos and that is exactly what we get. Hemsworth has always had a gift for comedy and he is given free reign here, with the bulk of the dialogue made up of improvisation. Ragnarok is truly daft and care-free, even finding the time to squeeze in jokes about masturbation and a wormhole called 'The Devil's Anus'. The director himself also shines on camera as well as behind it, lending his voice to the gently-spoken rock monster Korg, who steals every scene he is in. There are weaknesses: Not all the jokes land, and Blanchett's Hela comes across as a one-note distraction from the events on Sakaar, where Thor, Loki, Valkyrie, Banner and a Jeff Goldblum at his most Goldbumiest are having a much better time. But when Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song kicks in near the end, you'll be too busy punching the air to care about such flaws. Very much like how The Winter Soldier finally nailed Captain America after a stumbling start, Ragnarok elevates Thor from the runt of the litter to one of the leaders of the pack, reminding us just why he's called the God of Thunder.


Directed by: Taika Waititi
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Tessa Thompson, Mark Ruffalo, Jeff Goldblum, Idris Elba, Karl Urban, Anthony Hopkins
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,097: 'Star Trek Beyond' (2016)

I'm not a 'Trekkie' and I doubt I ever will be. The Next Generation played regularly on television when I was young but I never took to it, as I was too busy getting lost in The X-Files. Like most people, I enjoyed roughly half of the original movie series that starred the likes of William Shatner and Patrick Stewart, but was completely won over by J.J  Abrams' reboot/remake/alternate timeline effort in 2009, and it's sequel Into Darkness in 2013. With Abrams abdicating for that other nerd-heaven franchise beginning with the word 'star', I had little interest in seeing Justin Lin's Beyond after seeing the trailer, which made the movie look like it had little to offer in the way of originality.

What eventually made me want to see were those slightly trippy, wonderfully colourful posters, which offered a dazzling throwback quality not seen in Abrams' strobe-heavy, more 'grounded' vision. After seeing the film, this retro feel is precisely what makes Beyond such an enjoyable experience. Lin of course was the man to turn the Fast and Furious franchise from cult car porn teetering dangerously close to straight-to-DVD to a multi-million dollar powerhouse capable of attracting the talents of Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, and delicately handling an ever-expanding ensemble between the ludicrous set-pieces. Lin's experience with a big cast and bigger budget, combined with co-writer Simon Pegg's obvious affection for Gene Roddenberry's original series, results in a winning combination of character, heart and explosive action.

After spending three years of a five-year mission drifting in space, Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) of the U.S.S. Enterprise is struggling to find meaning in his work. If there is truly infinite space left to explore, then where does it all end? Docking at Starbase Yorktown, Kirk recommends that his Vulcan friend Commander Spock (Zachary Quinto), current mourning the death of his older self (in a touching moment that references the passing of Leonard Nimoy) takes over as captain upon the completion of the current mission, When the Enterprise is called into action after they receive a report of a stranded ship on a distant planet, they are ambushed by Krall (Idris Elba), a scaly being with a serious grudge against Starfleet. With their ship destroyed, Kirk, Spock, Bones (Karl Urban) et al must rely of their basic survival skills to defeat Krall and return home.

The 'Beyond' of the title seems almost ironic, or a working title somebody forgot to change. In terms of plot, this is the most unambitious entry into the Star Trek canon in memory, and certainly doesn't go beyond anything we've seen before. However, this is all perfectly fine when the chemistry between the actors is this good, with Pegg and co-writer Doug Yung clearly having fun with Spock and Bones' bickering in particular. While the likes of Zoe Saldana (as Uhura) and John Cho (as Sulu) are oddly sidelined, and Elba doesn't get anywhere near the screen-time his sheer presence deserves, there's the welcome introduction of Sofia Boutella, who appeared in Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), as alien freedom fighter Jaylah.

The standout set-piece is without doubt Krall's initial attack on the Enterprise. The astonishing special effects lend an almost operatic quality to seeing an iconic piece of pop-culture crash and burn, completely tearing it to shreds in spectacular fashion. Such a bravura display of CGI trickery is then in contrast to what we see when the characters touch down to a seemingly barren planet. Often it feels like a gust of wind could cause the set to wobble, and this is no doubt a wink to the charming set design of the originals. This juxtaposition of thoroughly modern blockbuster and kitschy nostalgia works extremely well, and will no double please the hardcore fans unimpressed by Abrams efforts. While it may not boldly go where no other Star Trek movie has gone before, there is a delight to be had in simply watching these beloved characters interact. Isn't what made the original so popular in the first place?


Directed by: Justin Lin
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Idris Elba, Sofia Boutella
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,072: 'The Jungle Book' (2016)

Disney's animated version of Rudyard Kipling's collection of works The Jungle Book was released just one year after Walt Disney's death, and kick-started a period of mediocrity for the company that produced some of the most beloved films of all time (until its reemergence as a powerhouse once again in 1989 with The Little Mermaid). They now dominate the marketplace, and it would be easy to despise the multi-billion dollar corporation if much of their recent output just wasn't so good. While they are certainly progressive and forward-thinking (Zootopia was a fascinating social study of our times), they continue to hark back to their Golden Age with live-action versions of Sleeping Beauty (2014's Maleficent) and Cinderella (2015), and now one of their most adored works, The Jungle Book.

Jon Favreau's re-imagining of Wolfgang Reitherman's classic follows much of the original's narrative. Mowgli the "man-cub" (Neel Sethi) is a young boy living in the jungle, raised in a wolf pack and watched over by the wise and respected panther Bagheera (Ben Kingsley). The arrival of Shere Khan (Idris Elba), a terrifying Bengal tiger with a hatred of man, alerts Bagheera, who whisks Mowgli off into the deep jungle, where the youngster befriends lazy and care-free sloth bear Baloo (Bill Murray). Encountering many dangers along the way, including the hypnotic anaconda Kaa (Scarlett Johnansson) and giant orangutan King Louie (Christopher Walken), Mowgli must decide whether or not his place remains with the friends who raised him, or with his own kind.

While it's hardly Christopher Nolan territory, Favreau's version of the story is certainly darker. Rather than trying to replicate the upbeat tone of the original, it cuts out the majority of the songs and keeps things more grounded, or at least as much as a film featuring talking animals can be. It achieves this with some simply astonishing effects - so good that it's easy to forget or even tell you're watching CGI - and pitch-perfect voice acting. Elba will no doubt terrify any young viewers, and understandably so, but the film belongs to Murray and Walken. They get the two songs in the film (The Bare Necessities and I Wanna Be Like You) and are easily the most memorable characters. Phil Harris and Louise Prima would have surely approved.

Yet the question hovering above the head of Jon Favreau's The Jungle Book, as it does with many remakes, is the reason for its existence. The 1967 version charmed youngsters for decades so is this a pointless attempt to bring the story to a new generation of children? Have children become so spoiled with computer generated effects that they would be unable to see the charm and wonder in something so painstakingly and thoughtfully hand-drawn? It's a depressing thought, and one that bothered me for a while after seeing the film. With any hope, this will inspire kids to seek out the original and love it for all that it is, for Favreau's film is exciting and often astonishing to look at, and certainly the best of Disney's recent live action re-dos.


Directed by: Jon Favreau
Starring: Neel Sethi, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong'o, Scarlett Johansson, Giancarlo Esposito, Christopher Walken
Country: UK/USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,033: 'Zootopia' (2016)

Cute, talking animals are, of course, nothing new when it comes to Disney. Whether they are an anthropomorphic swash-buckler or a wide-eyed human's sidekick, I couldn't name one of Disney's animated output that didn't feature a cuddly creature. Their latest, Zootopia, may seem much more of the same then, with it's richly-imaged world of upright rabbits, polar bears, hippos and the like, all living together in harmony in the titular metropolis. You can put away your preconceptions however, as Zootopia is without doubt the corporate giants bravest and most relevant picture to date, and one with a strong message for its young audience that will hopefully rub off on at least a few viewers.

Young, determined bunny Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) grows up in the rural Bunnyburrow, a small town in a larger world where predators and prey have evolved to live together peacefully. Her parents hope she'll grow up to appreciate the quiet life of selling carrots and raising a family, but she has other ideas, and hopes to one day travel to the big city of Zootopia to become a police officer. Despite facing prejudice due to her gender and her size, she eventually graduates from Police Academy top of her class, and is soon in Zootopia fulfilling her dream. But when she arrives, her colleagues instantly doubt her ability as the precinct is traditionally made up of more formidable animals, and is quickly assigned to parking duty by Chief Bogo (Idris Elba).

Frustrated at the clear-cut discrimination, Judy decides to be the best parking attendant there ever was. It is while she is stamping every vehicle with a ticket the second they're in violation that she learns that prejudice goes both ways, meeting the seemingly down-and-out fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), the exact kind of prey Judy suffered physical harm from as a child. Her suspicions turn out to be true, and Nick is indeed a 'sly' fox, but comes to learn that he acts like a fox because society treats him and expects him to be like one. Begging for a chance at something more challenging, Bogo gives Judy the task of tracking down missing person Mr. Otterton with an ultimatum that she must resign if she fails. Suspecting his street-smarts may be of an asset to her investigation, Judy blackmails Nick into helping her, and uncover a series of bizarre incidents where predators are returning to their primal state.

While it may sound like a heavy-handed educational piece on the folly of racism and pre-judgement, it actually isn't, as Zootopia is also an explosion of imagination for the vast majority of its 110-minute running time. Judy's arrival at Zootopia, as she is whisked through an array of eco-systems, designed to sustain the many different kinds of inhabitants, is a complete joy. While some jokes fail to hit the mark, like the Godfather gag that may have been funny thirty years ago, others are ingenious. It may seem obvious to employs sloths at the DMV, but the scene is still laugh-out-loud even though they played it in it's entirety in the trailer. But Zootopia isn't memorable for its comedy value, but the way it delivers its message. Without being preachy or overly-sentimental, the film actually feel frustrated at society. We have surely evolved past pretty prejudice and stereotyping, so what drives the hate? The film hints at fear induced, which is a bold statement on its own.


Directed by: Byron Howard, Rich Moore
Voices: Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, Nate Torrence, J.K. Simmons
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #995: 'Beasts of No Nation' (2015)

Since its release consecutively in cinemas and on Netflix - who hold the distribution rights - Cary Joji Fukunaga's Beasts of No Nation has been caught up in controversy. Feeling the traditional 90-day exclusivity to cinemas was being breached with Netflix subscribers also able to stream online, many cinema chains boycotted the film and reduced its circulation to selected independent theatres. This non-traditional form of release could also be blamed for its omission from the Academy Awards, with Idris Elba's Best Actor snub the most glaring eyebrow-raiser in the #OscarSoWhite debate.

Of the film itself, Beasts of No Nation is an intermittently excellent portrayal of child soldiers in an unnamed African country that works best when focusing on innocence lost and the relationship between narrator Agu (Abraham Attah) and his Commandant (Elba), yet hampered by pacing issues and an exhausting running time. Fukunaga has proven himself to be a skilled director already with Sin Nombre (2009) and the first season of HBO's True Detective, with the latter's awkward second season certainly feeling his absence, but while Beasts can be commended for ambition, he is perhaps not ready to join the big boys just yet.

One of the movies biggest strong points is the cinematography, done by Fukunaga himself. With a bleached colour palette that evokes old war photography, Fukunaga finds a way to keep the film grounded in reality while delivering delirious set-pieces. In one particularly memorable sequence, Agu and his comrades, all hallucinating from drugs, raid a village as the visuals turn a trippy purple, heightening the insanity and horror of the senseless brutality on show. Elba really is terrific too, careful to keep his monstrous character toned-down and believable. He is fair and unforgiving, tender and brutal, and his boys worship him. Attah as Agu is equally impressive, and the moments in which the Commandant's veil begins to break is when the film is at its most dramatically powerful.

The main question I had with the movie is why make this movie now? For the most part, Beasts is a series of war atrocities in which only Agu, the Commandant and Agu's mute friend Strika (Emmanuel Nii Adom Quaye) are distinguishable in the crowd, so if the point is that various countries within Africa are routinely devastated by revolutions and government overhauls driven by personal greed or ambition, then I would point you in the direction of Johnny Mad Dog (2008), Jean Stephane Sauvaire's powerful piece tackling the exact same themes. The funny beginning and the gut-churning middle is where the film is most effective, but Beasts drags in its final third, struggling to round up Agu's story in a digestible running-time.


Directed by: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Starring: Abraham Attah, Idris Elba, Kurt Egyiawan, Emmanuel Nii Adom Quaye
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #685: 'Thor: The Dark World' (2013)

One of the surprising successes to come out of Marvel's (now Disney's) ever-increasing catalogue of superhero CGI-fests, was 2011's Thor. Somehow Kenneth Branagh managed to avoid any possible silliness in the story of the super-powered, bleach-blonde Asgardian God battling against his greasy-haired brother and save Earth from destruction. Thor tended to stay away from the gold-plated, computer-generated tedium of Asgard and told a slightly comedic fish-out-of-water tale that was both charming and, even surprisingly, emotionally complex. The sequel, directed by HBO veteran Alan Taylor, spends less time on Earth and more time zapping around the other worlds that make up the universe's Nine Realms.

In a backstory-heavy introduction, we learn that a powerful 'Dark Elf' Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) was the leader of a powerful race that tried to use an energy source called the Aether to plunge the Nine Realms into darkness, but was overthrown by Thor's (Chris Hemsworth) grandfather, Bor. With Malekith defeated, Bor hides the Aether in a stone column, establishing a new era of peace across the Realms. On present-day Earth, Thor's old flame Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) accidentally discovers the Aether, which is absorbed into her body. Malekith, who has being lying dormant for years, is re-awoken by this event and seeks the Aether for himself, but not before Thor manages to whisk Jane back to Asgard.

It's a typically McGuffin-riddled story that Marvel have managed to turn into a multi-billion dollar franchise, that simply allows the superhero to get from point A to point B in order to face the new big baddie in town. The Dark World is a loud, convoluted and epilepsy-inducing mess of huge battles and CGI landscapes, but, even if you can't get your head around the ridiculous, head-spinning plot, it's sure entertaining. But what The Dark World lacks is the tongue-in-cheek charm of the first film, insisting on making the story and tone 'darker', and moves the action to the sickly world of Asgard.

What it does boast, is the return of the superb chemistry between Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston, the latter as the imprisoned Loki, forced to reflect after the near-apocalypse of The Avengers (2012). It has been reported that Loki's involvement was beefed up significantly post-production, and his sneering, malevolent, yet wounded presence is welcome, especially when Thor is forced to team up with his brother to tackle Malekith. This, however, came at the expense of Eccleston's pointy-eared menace, whose back-story and screen-time were reduced so harshly that you almost forget he's there. Portman's Jane Foster is still, unfortunately, a bland bore, mad at Thor for not calling in two years. He was saving the world, love.

Ultimately, Thor: The Dark World is sporadically fun, punctured by moments of CGI tedium and head-spinning exposition (usually delivered by Anthony Hopkins' bored-looking Odin), that often evoke the unnecessary complexity of the rather painful Pirate of the Caribbean sequels. When the portals start appearing and the wrestling Thor and Malekith begin to throw each other between different worlds within the Nine Realms, I held my hands up and just gave up. And maybe this is the approach to take - just simply let it play out in front of your eyes, enjoy the charisma of Hemsworth - who delivers another delightful performance - and pray that someday Marvel will give Loki his own movie.


Directed by: Alan Taylor
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Christopher Eccleston, Idris Elba, Kat Dennings, Stellan Skarsgård
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #671: 'Pacific Rim' (2013)

There has always been a clear distinction between director Guillermo del Toro's art-house Mexican productions and his more audience-pandering Hollywood movies. Not just in quality, but also in tone. His native efforts have produced the haunting The Devil's Backbone (2001) and his masterpiece Pan's Labyrinth (2006), which both leaned towards the director's love of fantasy and folklore as well as meditations on war and childhood. Pacific Rim, his latest big-budget Hollywood production (following cancellations and delays on his work on The Hobbit and At the Mountains of Madness) is probably his most 'Hollywoody' to date. It's big, loud, stupid, but also quite fun, with del Toro harking back to his childhood days watching Japanese kaiju movies.

Earth is under attack from giant monsters dubbed as 'kaiju', who rise out of the Pacific Ocean from a portal to devastate anything in their path. Humanity fared well in their war against this new threat, building giant robots named 'Jaegers' to battle the kaiju's, until the attacks became more frequent, and the monsters larger and deadlier. The Jaeger's need to be powered by two pilots - one to represent the left side of the brain and the other the right. But the pilots are also required to be 'drift compatible', as once in the 'drift', they share each other memories, instincts and pain. We first meet ace pilot Raleigh (Charlie Hunnam) battling a kaiju with his brother. His brother is killed, and Raleigh is washed up on shore and helps in the construction of a giant wall to keep the creatures out.

Four years later, and the Jaeger programme is being shut down. Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba), the commander of the Jaeger's, takes the programme underground. He persuades Raleigh to re-join the programme, and introduces him to Mako (Rinko Kikuchi), a beautiful woman who clearly shares a link to Stacker. Also working on the programme are comic relief characters Dr. Geiszler (Charlie Day) and Gottlieb (Burn Gorman), two bickering scientists who are studying the kaiju and their emergence in different ways. Raleigh demands to be teamed up with Mako, who he is clearly drift compatible with, and the two must learn to work together before the final assault.

It's a lot of plot to take in, but this has a hefty 131 minutes to explore it in. Del Toro manages to create a lot of back-story that is crammed in to the twenty minute prologue, but it's all a lot of twaddle to give the movie a reason to stage some gargantuan action scenes. With a movie like this, you come to see the action. We want to see giant robots smash the shit out of giant monsters, and del Toro certainly delivers on that front. There's no elegance in the fighting; they just pummel each other with giant fists and, every now and then, some acid and giant saws. Cities are devastated, thousands are (presumably) killed and tourist sites are made out of the results. The CGI is frankly astonishing, and watched in high definition especially, the film looks beautiful.

Yet as much genuine heart del Toro puts into the action scenes, he fails wholeheartedly in the moments in between. There is no character development and no original plot devices, just another messiah story with a heavy section in the middle dedicated to the preparation for the moment everyone is waiting for. This is as soulless as they come, and although its easy to say that the lack of plot and character is expected of a film like this, the movie doesn't have any star power to add any charisma to the proceedings. Independence Day (1996), as much as I detest the film, at least had Will Smith to keep us amused between the sickening lashings of cheddar, and Armageddon (1998) had Bruce Willis. Pacific Rim has Idris Elba, who certainly tries his best with his Henry V speeches and dashing suits, but he's second fiddle to Charlie Hunnam, who just doesn't cut the mustard.

There's also the distraction of Day and Gorman, who are undoubtedly the most annoying and unfunny comic-relief double-act since those twin racial stereotypes in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009). The reason for their existence points to giving del Toro's favourite actor Ron Perlman a reason to be in the film, and although Perlman's presence is always welcome, his sub-plot proves to be a distraction to the central storyline. Perhaps del Toro simply needed to make a movie after a few years of delayed and failed projects, so a little self-indulgence can certainly be forgiven, especially if the results are as entertaining as this. But it just begs the question of why del Toro doesn't put the same heart into his mainstream movies as he does his arthouse films.


Directed by: Guillermo Del Toro
Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Max Martini, Robert Kazinsky, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman, Clifton Collins Jr., Ron Perlman
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #495: 'Prometheus' (2012)

In the past fifteen or so years, there has been plenty of talk of Ridley Scott returning to the world he created in his masterpiece Alien (1979), be it a sequel, a prequel, or a spin-off of some manifestation. Since the early 2000's, Scott has had a script entitled Prometheus, a story that would set out to depict the origin of the Alien species, but along came the dire Alien Vs. Predator (2004) and the project sort of went out the window. But Scott's interest was never completely lost, and in 2009, the script was re-written to form a plot that would be set in the same universe, but following its own story and mythology, and would attempt to delve into humanity's creation, taking inspiration from wall paintings, ancient scripture, and the religions of ancient civilisations.

Archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) discover an ancient cave painting in Scotland that they believe as final proof of alien astronauts visiting the planet, to be received and worshipped as gods by long-dead civilisations. Forming a map to a distant constellation they believe to hold the answers, Shaw, Holloway and a crew of geologists, soldiers, corporates, and android David (Michael Fassbender), set out on a two-year trip to reach it. When they awake, they wander into a large structure where they find the dead body of a large alien, lying untouched for thousands of years. They believe this to be an 'Engineer' - one of our creators. Unbeknownst to the crew, David takes a sample of a strange black fluid they find covering a set of strange cylindrical blocks and begins his own secret research.

While this has received general unfavourable reviews from the critics, I have admire Ridley Scott's decision to avoid the obvious and tackle a much more existential, thoughtful approach to an ambitious story. After the massive success of the Alien franchise (now a mockery of itself with recent ...Vs. Predator incarnations), expectations would be that the famous beasties would make an appearance to appease fan-boys and audiences wanting to be spoon-fed shit they've seen before. But Prometheus is very much a completely new vision, and Scott has created an old-fashioned space opera that harks back to the philosophical pondering of the golden age of sci-fi, and one that opts for suspense and atmosphere rather than blood, guts and killer aliens.

Yet while the approach is extremely admirable, the film over-reaches itself, struggling to contain the massiveness of its ambition into a feature-length running-time (I would have much preferred a patient, three-hour film), and inevitably becomes a bit of a bumbling mess. It asks far too many questions that it can't (and doesn't) answer, leading to many scenes and occurrences that become downright confusing, and makes some plain odd decisions (why employ Guy Pearce to play an old man? What's with the Janek (Idris Elba)/Vickers (Charlize Theron) sex-talk scene?). Things becomes so baffling, that during its sagging middle section, I found it difficult to work out exactly what the film was trying to be, as the action ground to a halt and Scott's attention goes from one thing to the next, never really falling on a subject as its focus.

If the film has one ultimate saving grace, it would be in Michael Fassbender's phenomenal performance as the android David, who styles himself on Peter O'Toole after spending two years watching Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and appears to know far more that he is letting on. He is so good, that his co-stars suffer in comparison. While I found Noomi Rapace's career-making performance in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2009) to be as excellent as I was made to believe, here, she struggles to make an impact. Her character is bland, and doesn't have the charisma or the action-hero chops of Sigourney Weaver's Ripley to be a credible lead, and Charlize Theron, playing the corporate bitch-in-charge, can't raise her character above that of a faceless stereotype.

However, I found the films philosophical aspects irresistibly fascinating, and Scott takes ideas and theories published in the 1968 novel Chariots of the Gods? by Erich von Daniken, that attempted to apply scientific research to the author's own theoretical studies to argue the existence of alien visitors, documented in artifacts such as the Egyptian Pyramids and Stone Henge, ancient artwork from many global civilisations, and texts including the Bible. It's just a pity the film can't hold this plus the many other plot strands together to make a coherent movie. The visuals are absolutely stunning however, from the cold interiors to the even colder alien landscape, Scott blends gaunt, minimalistic restraint, with stunning explosions of CGI wonder. Hardly worth the wait, but certainly worth your time.


Directed by: Ridley Scott
Starring: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green, Guy Pearce
Country: USA/UK

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #60: 'Thor' (2011)

As Marvel's mega-budget Avengers (due 2012) film draws ever closer, the stand-alone origin films are slowly coming to an end. Only Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), starring Chris Evans, remains to be released. So Thor arrives, amidst a worry that a portrait of the God of Thunder arriving on Earth after being banished from his kingdom in the sky may look a bit silly, especially when played by actors rather than drawings in a comic-book. But Marvel's track record has been good so far, and even very good, in the case of the first Iron Man (2008) film. Their left-wing choices for both actors and directors, and bold decisions have made for interesting viewing, and it's no different here.

King of Asgard, Odin (Anthony Hopkins), sits proud on his throne after defeating the Frost Giants of Jotumheim and bringing peace to the Nine Realms. He has two strong warrior sons, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston), one of which will eventually succeed him. But when Asgard is breached by Frost Giants trying to take back their precious Casket of Ancient Winters, seized by Odin, Thor invades Jotumheim with a small band of warriors including Loki, and starts a new war. Odin, livid with Thor's defiance, banishes him to Earth and takes away his all-powerful hammer Mjolnir, deeming him unworthy. When he arrives on Earth, confused and powerless, he is taken in by a scientist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), while Mjolnir sits in the desert, moulded to a rock, awaiting the touch of someone worthy of it. Meanwhile, back on Asgard, war is afoot and Odin lies near-death, while Loki starts to act suspiciously.

This may all seem ridiculous and silly, and it is. The opening ten minutes, which condenses the history of Asgard and its war with the Frost Giants, is a confusing and silly blur of CGI and narration. My hopes of another Marvel triumph were somewhat dashed, but thankfully, with the arrival of Chris Hemsworth as Thor, and a bit of character development, the film started to become the enjoyable romp that it is.

Marvel's choice for Thor, Chris Hemsworth, whose CV consisted of a main character in Australian soap Home And Away, and a cameo as Captain Kirk's dad in the Star Trek (2009) reboot, is a stroke of genius. He has the charm, acting chops, comic timing, the physical presence to actually convince as a God. He was born to play this role, it seems. He juggles between irresponsible, immature and arrogant in the first half, to show off his skills as an action hero you can truly root for in the second. And when the film calls for him to play the fool, he pulls that off too.

The choice for Kenneth Branagh to take the directing reigns was a strange one. A director who is most at home directing literature, namely Shakespeare, would not have been my first choice to direct a blockbuster that could easily go tits-up if mishandled. Yet Branagh handles the duties with a natural flair and confidence. The film goes back and forth from Thor's growing humanity on Earth and his relationship with Portman, to Loki's evil plotting on Asgard without ever losing focus of the story at hand or the large collection of characters.

Overall, this is just a fun film, never taking itself too seriously, yet always maintaining a respect for the source material. The undoubted star to emerge from the film is Hemsworth, who I'm sure will go on to have a successful career. I'll be looking forward to see his character again in the Avengers film, which arrives sometime in 2012. Special mention should also go to Tom Hiddleston, who arrives from the London stage after winning several awards to play a menacing and pleasingly complex villain.


Directed by: Kenneth Branagh
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Ray Stevenson, Rene Russo
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie