Review #1,449: 'Bird Box' (2018)

Perhaps it's because the dystopian survival horror has been done to death of late, or maybe it's because John Krasinski's vastly superior and similarly themed A Quiet Place is still fresh in the mind, but there's something strangely hollow about Netflix's latest smash-hit and water-cooler conversation starter. Bird Box became the inspiration for a series of dangerous YouTube stunts that resulted in the social media platform issuing a warning to anyone thinking about taking part in the 'Bird Box Challenge', but sadly, given the film's potential, this is perhaps all it will be remembered for in the years to come. All the pieces are in place for a tense 90 minutes, but Oscar-winning director Susanne Bier's film plays out over a mostly dull 2-and-a-bit hours, with little more than two memorable set-pieces and a strong central performance from Sandra Bullock to hold it all together.

Like an uneasy blend A Quiet Place and The Happening, the planet has been overrun by a mysterious force that causes people to go insane and commit suicide. While the family of Krasinski's memorable horror were forbidden to make any sounds, the players in Bird Box aren't permitted to see. Just one glance at the unknown creatures stalking the streets will cause their eyes to turn a murky purple and instantly seek a way of ending their own life, and when we first meet Malorie (Bullock), she is about to embark on a dangerous journey down river with two children in the hope of locating a sanctuary they heard about over a walkie-talkie. Flash back five years, and the pregnant Malorie witnesses the collapse of society first-hand, as a routine car ride back from the hospital turns into a mindless bloodbath. She escapes into the home of shouty misanthrope Douglas (John Malkovich), and is forced to hole up with a bunch of genre archetypes (played by Trevante Rhodes, Jacki Weaver, Rosa Salazar, BD Wong and Lil Rel Howery, amongst others).

With the doors locked and the windows covered up, it seems like Malorie and her new friends have it made. But for reasons never entirely explained, the creatures don't drive everybody to suicide. If you're crazy, you are instead driven to expose those lucky enough to be hiding out to the mysterious force. It might be an attempt to keep things cryptic, or it may be sheer laziness, but the rules of the game remain frustratingly unexplained. These creatures - who we never see - sometimes announce their presence with a gust of wind, and sometimes not. One person infected will immediately jump out of a window, but another will take minutes to turn, allowing them time to say something meaningful before they croak. The monsters clearly possess the power to move objects, so why don't they at least try to enter homes? We are left to fit the pieces together ourselves, but very little adds up. The likes of Night of the Living Dead and Assault on Precinct 13 sustained a bristly atmosphere by making us care about the characters, but reliable actors like Rhodes and Malkovich are never allowed to be anything more than 'love interest' or 'annoying right-wing nut'. It isn't all bad - one set-piece involving a short car ride to get supplies with only a SatNav computer screen to guide them is wrought with tension - but in the wake of A Quiet Place, which understood the mechanics behind what makes an effective survival horror, Bird Box feels like a missed opportunity.


Directed by: Susanne Bier
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich, Sarah Paulson, Jacki Weaver, Rosa Salazar, BD Wong, Tom Hollander
Country: USA

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,445: 'Bohemian Rhapsody' (2018)

Bohemian Rhapsody started out life way back in 2010, with Sacha Baron Cohen set to star as Queen's hypnotic frontman Freddie Mercury. With band members Brian May and Roger Taylor heavily involved in the development, Baron Cohen eventually left, citing creative differences with the way they wished to approach the story as the main reason for his departure. The years went by, and in 2017, the wheels were well and truly in motion with Bryan Singer in the director's chair and Rami Malek in the lead role. The production was famously dogged with problems, and when Singer was eventually fired for unprofessional behaviour (reports say he was frequently disruptive on set, even failing to turn up for three days straight), it felt like the film would never see the light of day. But Dexter Fletcher filled the vacant director's chair and Bohemian Rhapsody was released to huge box-office numbers, and recently received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Actor, amongst others.

Remarkably, despite the film's difficult production, there's no sign of patchwork or a clash of directorial styles. Bohemian Rhapsody actually has much greater problems, and while anybody looking for an easily-digestible Queen sing-a-long with find much to love here, anybody hoping for a deeper re-telling of one of the music's most enigmatic figures with likely be baffled at the film's eagerness to share the credit and Wikipedia-entry approach to story-telling. We briefly get to see Mercury before he took to the stage, working as a baggage-handler at Heathrow while his parents worry about his lack of academic ambition. His experience as a young immigrant is summarised by a single racial slur, and the film isn't too concerned with exploring this any further. Perhaps screenwriter Anthony McCarten (who wrote last year's similarly formulaic Oscar-baiter Darkest Hour) felt like this would be too much of a drag for the audience, so he quickly moves to Mercury introducing himself to Smile guitarist Brian May (Gwilym Lee) and drummer Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy), coincidentally mere seconds after the band loses its lead singer.

A few montages later and the band now known as Queen (bassist John Deacon (Joseph Mazzello) completes the group) are signed up by manager John Reid (Aidan Gillen) and land a contract with EMI Records. The characters act and talk like they already know how the story turns out, and the film only manages to scratch beneath the surface when dealing with Mercury's relationship with love-of-his-life Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton) and her gradual realisation of his sexuality. The rest consists of band squabbles that always seem to conclude with the writing of a hit song, rock movie cliches like the alcohol-fuelled parties and accelerating ego, and cartoon supporting characters (Mike Myers' meta appearance as EMI executive Ray Foster spectacularly misses the mark). By aiming for 12A/PG-13 certificate, Mercury's story is oddly sexless. For a man that radiated sex and sexiness with every air-punch and pout, the lack of raunchiness adds an unwelcome TV-movie quality. It only really comes alive when Malik is allowed to do his thing on stage, climaxing with an extended Live Aid performance that will have you singing along and waving your arms. It's a great impression by Malik, if hardly a great performance, and it helps reminds us of how great Queen really were and how timeless their sound is. Bohemian Rhapsody has certainly made me a bigger Queen fan, but this isn't the biopic the band deserve. That being said, I haven't come across a single person that agrees with me, so what do I know?


Directed by: Bryan Singer
Starring: Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Joseph Mazzello, Aidan Gillen, Allen Leech, Tom Hollander, Mike Myers
Country: UK/USA

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 #238: 'Hanna' (2011)

11 year-old Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) lives in the wilderness with her father Erik (Eric Bana). He teaches her to hunt, fight, and basically fend for herself. As Hanna grows restless in isolation, she puts in motion a plan that the two have seemingly been planning for years. She pushes a button, alerting CIA agent Marissa (Cate Blanchett) to their whereabouts. While Erik leaves, Hanna waits and is captured. After being questioned, Hanna kills who she believes to be Marissa and escapes her prison. She finds herself in Saudi Arabia where she befriends a hippy-ish English family, where is pursued by Marissa and her hired goons.

If the story of a young, jail-bait assassin kicking the arse of anyone in her path sounds familiar, it would be easy to make comparisons to Chloe Moretz's Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass (2010). But this is a very different animal. Where Kick-Ass was cartoonish and over-the-top in its (very enjoyable) gory action scenes, Hanna takes more of a dramatic route, combined with characteristics of a modern-day fairytale. This approach works both for and against the film, as although its approach is individual and quite refreshing, it is also confused and often slapdash in its execution.

I'll start with the good, which there is plenty of. The cast is splendid - Bana and Blanchett are long established solid actors with an impressive backlog of films so they do what is expected of them. Blanchett hams it up with a ridiculous Southern American accent, and she manages to out-sexy her performance in the recent Indiana Jones And The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). Ronan, who so impressed in director Joe Wright's excellent Atonement (2007), strides confidently through another great performance, mixing steely coldness with a wide-eyed innocence as she struggles with this brave new world full of televisions, lights and kettles. And Tom Hollander, a seemingly strange choice for a heavy, is amazingly horrific as a crowbar-wielding, transsexual strip-club owner with a liking for terrible tracksuits.

While I was expecting an all-out action film before pressing play, I was pleased with the way the film told Hanna's story. Instead of filling it with action scenes, it takes it's time to show Hanna's discovery of the world, and sweet friendship with Sophie (Jessica Barden). When she joins Sophie's parents Rachel (Olivia Williams) and Sebastian (Jason Flemyng), she discovers boys, dancing, and what she has longed for the most - music. Her father regularly read from an encyclopaedia so she can learn the things of the world, but music cannot be truly described in words, and this is one of the main reasons she initially chooses to leave her sheltered life.

Joe Wright, traditionally more at home with period pieces such as Atonement and Pride & Prejudice (2005), struggles with the action scenes. While they are accompanied by a thumping score by The Chemical Brothers, he never really finds a certain style. Sometimes it is fast hand-to-hand to combat filmed on shaky-cam like the Bourne (2002-2007) films; sometimes the camera will be swirling all over the place; one time it is filmed in ultra slo-mo like an operatic tragedy. Wright even attempts something similar to his one-shot Dunkirk scene in Atonement, tracking Bana from a train station into the underground where he disposes of a gang of agents. While it may sound good to differ the style, it does unsteady the tone of the film, especially when played against the quieter, more tender moments.

Hanna is certainly interesting and I would certainly recommend it to anyone looking for something a bit different from the usual action film, but ultimately it becomes nothing more than an appealing oddity. Ronan is certainly an actress to watch, and Joe Wright will have done no damage to his growing reputation here, and will undoubtedly go from strength to strength.


Directed by: Joe Wright
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Cate Blanchett, Tom Hollander, Jessica Barden, Olivia Williams, Jason Flemyng
Country: USA/UK/Germany

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie