Review #1,281: 'Good Time' (2017)

Whether he likes it or not - and I suspect the latter - Robert Pattinson will always be synonymous with Edward Cullen, the sullen and handsome vampire with impressive hair from the Twilight series. He caught many people's attention with his brief appearance in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but Twilight turned him into a global star and the subject of much adoration from screaming teenage girls. It's an image few actors hoping to be taken seriously wishes to be lumped with throughout their entire career, and Pattinson has been making a noticeable effort to distant himself from the teen idol image ever since 2012's Breaking Dawn - Part 2 with the likes of Cosmopolis and The Rover. Yet despite Pattinson's commendable performances, neither were particularly brilliant films. However, his latest, Benny and Josh Safdie's Good Time, is very good indeed.

Taking inspiration from journey-into-night films like Martin Scorsese's After Hours and sharing the urgent pace of the techno-thrillers of the 1990s, Good Time is a huge explosion of energy. Taking place over the course of an eventful and increasingly weird 24 hours, we open not with Pattinson's petty criminal Connie Nikas, but his mentally handicapped brother Nick (co-director Benny Safdie). Nick is undergoing a psychiatric evaluation, but is quickly pulled out of it by Connie, who takes no time to convince his impressionable brother to help him rob a bank. In the grand tradition of movie heists, the robbery goes wrong when the bag of money explodes red dye all over the brothers. Nick is caught but Connie escapes, and the former is sent to Riker's Island. With a mixture of street-smarts and pure desperation, Connie sets out to raise the bail money, and later - after Nick is placed in hospital following a violent attack - to break his brother out.

Good Time is an experience best enjoyed by simply going with the flow. Like Connie, the film feels like it doesn't know where it's going, and that's part of the thrill. Connie proves himself skillful at talking his way out of the increasingly dangerous situations he finds himself in, but proves completely inept at decision-making. His journey takes him from borrowing money from his sort-of girlfriend (played by Jennifer Jason Leigh), to an encounter with a mother and daughter, and later to a fairground to retrieve a bottle of acid worth $10,000, where an honest security guard played by Barkhad Abdi awaits him. The story occasionally gets away from the Safdie brothers, but things are quickly helped back on track by some jet-black humour, impressive supporting performances from Buddy Duress and newcomer Taliah Webster, and, at its very centre, Robert Pattinson, who pulls you into wanting to see the night out with him despite his character's utter loathsomeness. The title is supposed to be ironic, but Good Time is one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had this year.


Directed by: Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Benny Safdie, Taliah Webster, Buddy Duress, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Barkhad Abdi
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #707: 'Captain Phillips' (2013)

Not a lot hinges on whether you know the outcome of Captain Richard Phillips' true-life run-in with a small crew of Somali pirates in 2009, as, like director Paul Greengrass's other tale of real-life heroism in the face of a terrorist threat, United 93 (2006), the film gathers up enough tension to keep you on the edge of your seat. It's not as good as United 93, as the film often struggles to keep things exciting in the long moments between the action, but Tom Hanks has more than enough presence to carry the film, and here gives possibly his best ever performance. Which makes it all the more surprising that Hanks - usually a darling with the Oscars with sentimental drivel such as Philadelphia (1993) and Forrest Gump (1994) - has missed out this year.

Captain Phillips (Hanks) is waved off at the airport by his wife Andrea (Catherine Keener in a one-scene cameo) as he flies to Oman to take command of the Maersk Alabama, that he soon realises will take him around the Somali Peninsula. Sure enough, on the Somali coast, they are chased by ambitious pirate Muse (Barkhad Abdi) in a skiff, with a crew consisting of hot-head Bilal (Barkhad Abdirahman), nervous Najee (Faysal Ahmed) and young first-timer Elmi (Mahat M. Ali). They protect the ship for as long as they can, but the pirates are soon on board demanding payment. Phillips offers them $30,000, but it won't be enough for the ruthless warlords who employ Muse, so they take Phillips for ransom.

One of the main reasons why Captain Phillips works so well is that Phillips himself comes across as a true hero. Not a gun-toting, vest-wearing action hero, but an everyday guy who probably enjoys a comfortable suburban lifestyle with his family when he's not at sea. He's over middle-aged, slightly portly and not particularly handsome, but most importantly he's real, and a underdog to truly root for. In the time spent in the lifeboat as Muse and his crew head back to Somalia with their prize - with Navy SEALS in tow - allows Phillips and Muse time to slowly share experiences. Muse, fabulously portrayed by the Oscar-nominated Abdi, is a simple guy as well. It's just that in his country, poverty doesn't allow for any legal trades to be a wise option, so rather than plundering the sea for the fish that American ships have already hoovered up, they steal and kidnap.

But Greengrass is wise enough not to over-egg these scenes, or even allow us to sympathise too much with the pirates. But he allows us to understand them, to see things from their perspective. What they do is wrong and evil, yes, but when your country is governed by violent warlords and your life depended on coming back with something of real value, it's no surprise that they do what they do. And as the gravity of the situation dawns on the pirates, the film becomes a treadmill of heart-pounding small moments, where every second could either offer up a small opportunity for Phillips to escape or fight, or it could mean that he will never see his family again. Muse and his crew have done this before, but they are ill-equipped, desperate and twitchy.

As exciting as all those moments are, the film's most powerful scene is at the end, as Phillips breaks down whilst being medically treated by the American military. Up to this point, Phillips is kept at a distance, seeing very little of his true character before the pirates arrive. Hanks gives a devastating, improvised performance in this moment, as he struggles to process and comprehend the ordeal he has just been through. For an action film especially, this is an immensely powerful scene, and it re-enforces the human tragedy of the story. A riveting film overall, and proves again that Greengrass can't be matched in portraying a real-life incident with such heart, realism, and thrills.


Directed by: Paul Greengrass
Starring: Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdirahman, Faysal Ahmed, Mahat M. Ali, Catherine Keener
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie