Review #1,404: 'The Quick and the Dead' (1995)

By 1995, the western genre had all but disappeared completely from our cinema screens. Black-and-white tales of cowboys and Indians in America's Old West was the stuff your granddad would watch on television during the day and claim they just don't make 'em like this anymore. They didn't stop completely however, with the likes of Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man making an earnest attempt to infuse the genre with a psychedelic, folksy edge, and George P. Cosmatos' Tombstone turning the events at the OK Corral into an explosive action thriller. Some, like Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, while adding a more sombre tone, successfully stuck the traditions of the genre, while others, like Sam Raimi's The Quick and the Dead, simply took an old-fashioned premise and ran with it. If you're looking for revisionism or an interesting take on an iconic time in America's history, then The Quick and the Dead ain't the film for that, but you may just find yourself having a bit more fun that you expected.

The town of Redemption was once a thriving community, but it now rests in the hands of the ruthless mayor and former outlaw John Herod (Gene Hackman). Herod enjoys a nice house while taxing his citizens 50% on any money they make, and apparently relieves his boredom by hosting a quick-draw contest every year. Gunslingers from all across the country arrive to take part - but God knows why, given the obviously high risk of death - including the mysterious Ellen (Sharon Stone), who shares a history with both the town and Herod himself. Also in town is Kid (Leonardo DiCaprio), a cocky teenager with a steady hand who also believes he is Herod's unacknowledged son, and a repentant outlaw-turned-preacher named Cort (Russell Crowe). Cort is dragged into the contest against his will by Herod's cronies, and the boss man is seemingly angered at his former associate's new anti-violence stance. There's backstory and melodrama, but it's all just an excuse for a series of stand-offs in a town where it always seems to be high noon.

While subverting expectations by enlisting a woman to play the central gunslinger, Raimi may as well have cast a broom in a wig, as Stone struggles to convincingly brood and frown and maintain any kind of interest in her character. Faring considerably better are DiCaprio and Crowe, who were just a few years off Titanic and Gladiator and the global stardom that followed. Their charisma and star quality are as clear as day, especially when they share a scene with the one-note Stone. For a film that boasts a wonderful supporting cast (Roberts Blossom, Tobin Bell, Keith David, Lance Henriksen and Gary Sinise are just some of the familiar faces), they all cower in the shadow of Gene Hackman, who somehow manages to turn some truly atrocious dialogue into Shakespeare. Yet the real star is Raimi's crazy camera lens. Before he was bringing Peter Parker's swinging exploits vividly to life in Spider-Man, he was crash-zooming on the faces of readying gunslingers and capturing daylight through a bullet-hole in the belly. It's silly, outrageous and wonderful. The problem is everything that comes in between, from the dreary central hero to the unengaging backstories.


Directed by: Sam Raimi
Starring: Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobin Bell, Roberts Blossom, Kevin Conway, Keith David, Lance Henriksen, Pat Hingle
Country: Japan/USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,236: 'The Mummy' (2017)

Alex Kurtzman's The Mummy marks the arrival of Universal's 'Dark Universe', the studio's attempt at re-branding its flagpole monsters from the archives as a kind of flawed superhero team who will no doubt be brought together to face off a big bad sometime in the future. With a plan to introduce the likes of Dracula, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man and The Phantom of the Opera, The Mummy seems an odd choice to start, given the recent not-so-well received trilogy starring Brendan Fraser that kicked off as recently as 1999. It's a humongous task, but one need only look at the success of Marvel to learn that billions of dollars can be raked in if enough care is taken when building the expansive world from the ground up, teasing the characters and events to come while telling a satisfying self-contained story at the same time.

But one can also looks at DC's venture into universe-building to see how it can fall flat on its face, although it now thankfully seems back on track after the success of Wonder Woman. The Mummy makes the grave mistake of laying all of its card on the table, trying to be everything from a horror to an old-school adventure to a Tom Cruise blockbuster, while never convincing as any. Tying this new world of gods and monsters together is Russell Crowe's Dr. Jekyll, the Nick Fury who will eventually unite the team under a secret society called Prodigium, the Dark Universe's version of S.H.I.E.L.D. Shortly after he introduced, he fails to get to his drugs on time and turns into Mr. Hyde, a type of evil Ray Winstone only with super strength, in a scene that verges on the downright embarrassing. Is it not enough to simply mention the name and let the audience generate their own excitement? No, as The Mummy aims to be nothing more than a show-all, CGI-reliant Michael Bay movie that throws so much shit at the screen that it becomes impossible to care about anything you're seeing.

Tom Cruise plays Nick Morton, an unconvincing cheeky-chappy antique hunter-cum-thief who also works for the U.S. Army in some capacity. He's in Iraq with his assistant Chris (comic relief Jake Johnson), and it isn't long before the town around them is torn apart in a hail of bullets. In a stroke of luck, they uncover a massive Egyptian tomb for Princess Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella). Nick just wants the loot, but as eye-candy archaeologist and exposition-machine Jenny Halsey (Annabelle Wallis) informs us, the discovery is big news. Nick's impatience gets the better of him and he accidentally releases the tomb in a splash of mercury and CGI spiders. It's love at first sight for Ahmanet, who takes an instant liking to Nick's botoxed face and wants him as a vessel for the return of Egyptian God Set. And so begins her vague plan to destroy London with an army of CGI monstrosities and fart clouds, as she sets out to recover a ruby found in a recent excavation.

The Mummy is made all the more frustrating by offering tiny glimpses of the film it should have been. A stand-out plane crash set-piece and an impressive performance from Boutella (who was a badass in Kingsman: The Secret Service and stole the show in Stat Trek Beyond) hint at an exciting and modern adventure-horror movie, but the script by David Koepp, Christopher McQuarrie and Dylan Kussman seems more concerned with pandering to a mainstream crowd and bending the story to the strengths of its lead actor, despite this being one of his worst performances. It switches between horror, comedy and action, often within the same scene, cramming in baffling exposition and universe-building on top. 1999's The Mummy had many of the same problems, but the first film at least had a goofy charm. What this means for the franchise going forward is anyone's guess, although things to seem to be moving forward despite this film's critical and commercial failures. But will anyone seriously want to see a stand alone film about this interpretation of Dr. Jekyll?


Directed by: Alex Kurtzman
Starring: Tom Cruise, Annabelle Wallis, Sofia Boutella, Russell Crowe, Jake Johnson
Country: USA

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,074: 'The Nice Guys' (2016)

Long before the term 'bromance' was coined, 80's and 90's action cinema was treating audiences to buddy movies, stories centred around a crime that would pull two opposite side of the spectrum together, causing them to disagree and bicker before finally learning that team-work is key. While desperate TV stations are attempting to re-boot various famous titles from this era with usually awful results, writer/director Shane Black is still around to remind us what made these movies so great to begin with. After all, he was behind some of the best of them - Lethal Weapon (1987) and The Last Boy Scout (1991) - and he's proving there's still plenty of life in the genre yet with The Nice Guys, one of the funniest films so far this year.

Naturally, a convoluted plot brings together the two heroes of the 70s-set story. One is a grizzled fists-for-hire, Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe), who pays his bills by warning grown men who should know better to stay away from underage girls, traditionally with a knuckle-duster to the face. The other is Holland March (Ryan Gosling), a terrible private investigator who takes jobs from dementia-ridden old ladies who pay him to find the missing husband often resting behind them in an urn above the fireplace. His precocious daughter Holly (Angourie Rice) may also be a lot brighter than him. Despite their flaws, Healy and March are 'nice guys', and when their paths cross searching for a missing porn star, they decide to get to the bottom of a strange sequence of events because it's simply the right thing to do.

There's a conspiracy-laden plot to keep things ticking along, and Black has fun trying to unravel it along with our heroes. The film begins with a young boy finding his father's porn stash and sneaking a peak at centrefold Misty Mountains (Murielle Telio), before a car crashes off the road and into his backyard. Lo and behold, the driver is Misty, and the kid covers up her naked body as she dies. March is put on the case by the actress's aunt, and is soon on the tail of young runaway Amelia Kuttner (The Leftovers' Margaret Qualley), who is somehow caught up in all this mess. Only Amelia doesn't want to be found, so she pays Healy to get March off her back. Of course, the deliberately implausible story that brings our two heroes together - and what comes after - is simply an excuse for Crowe and Gosling to exercise their sparkling chemistry.

I've never seen Russell Crowe appear to be having so much fun as he does here, and he shows off some impressive comedy chops as the lovable lug who will always put himself in harms way to protect the vulnerable. Even more surprising is Gosling, an actor who hasn't really capitalised on the promise of his iconic role in Drive (2011), but who embraces the goofy scumbag-ness of his inept but endearingly well-meaning single father, a man we first meet inadvertently slashing his own wrist open while trying to routinely break in through a window. Yet the biggest plaudits go to Shane Black himself who, after a blip with Iron Man 3 (2013), is back to his Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) best. He delivers a fast-paced, intelligent and laugh-out-loud comedy thriller, with one or two genuine shocks thrown in for good measure.


Directed by: Shane Black
Starring: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice, Matt Bomer, Margaret Qualley, Kim Basinger, Yaya DaCosta
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #946: 'L.A. Confidential' (1997)

Curtis Hanson's L.A. Confidential is a now long-established movie classic, regularly featuring in the various Top 100 lists drummed up by magazines and websites. But despite the impeccable performances from the film's three leads and writers Hanson and Brian Hengeland's firm grip on the labyrinthine plot, something about the film has never quite sat right with me. Don't get me wrong, I still think this is fantastic cinema and I've adored the few James Ellroy novels I've read (L.A. Confidential is adapted from the third book of his 'L.A. Quartet'), but some corny dialogue and flat cinematography weigh down what is ultimately an absorbing character piece.

There are a million stories in the city and it is the job of Sid Hudgens (Danny DeVito), the editor of trashy magazine Hush-Hush, to find them. Celebrity cop Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) works on the side as 'technical advisor' for cop show Badge of Honor and is paid by Hudgens to bust celebrities in all sorts of compromising situations. It's Christmas, and Bud White (Russell Crowe) is buying liquor for the station when he stops by a house and beats on a man for doing the same to his wife. At the station, ambitious young cop Ed Exley (Guy Pearce) is determined to live up to his father's reputation and refuses to be drawn in to the various exploits of his corrupt colleagues. When a group of Mexicans are brought in for assaulting two officers, the drunken officers assault them and the story hits the newspapers.

It's difficult to summarise the plot as the film is always moving forward, putting many pieces into play to the point where you struggle to figure out how it will all link together. The main crux of the film lies with a massacre at a diner called the Nite Owl, where many are killed along with White's ex-partner Dick Stensland (Graham Beckel) and a girl White met at Christmas. She looked beaten up, but Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger) assured him it wasn't what he thought. Also, with her at Christmas was Pierce Patchett (David Strathairn), a millionaire who runs an agency of hookers made to look like movie stars by plastic surgery. After the incident with the Mexicans, Exley becomes despised by his colleagues for testifying against those involved, particularly angering White after Stensland was shown the door, and forcing Vincennes to testify by threatening his work on Badge of Honor.

Acting out almost like vignettes, the various pieces of the puzzle stay apart for the majority of the film, and it's difficult to figure out what the plot actually is. But the way all these elements ingeniously blend together at the end is the film's main strength. Somehow, Hanson also manages to retain his grasp on the film's trio of complex leads, who are all heavily conflicted and psychologically scarred in some manner. Even Exley, who is a determined straight-arrow, concludes that circumstances often call for one's dark side to be embraced. It's a film noir more invested in the driving force at the core of its central characters than any crime committed, and a crime story more focused on the politicking of the higher-ups and the corruption that comes with it. Despite the occasional wobble, L.A. Confidential is still thrilling cinema 18 years on.


Directed by: Curtis Hanson
Starring: Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe, Kevin Spacey, James Cromwell, Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito, David Strathairn
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #669: 'Man of Steel' (2013)

Dumping the light tone of the original Richard Donner Superman films (1978/1980) and their ridiculous sequels, as well as Bryan Singer's failed reboot, Zack Snyder's Man of Steel adopts the Christopher Nolan approach. With Nolan as producer and co-writer, this is Clark Kent seen through the eyes of a steely, saturated lens, with Henry Cavill's somewhat stoic and monotone Superman battling inner demons as well as General Zod (Michael Shannon). It's a typically long, convoluted modern blockbuster, but Man of Steel prevails thanks to some surprisingly dedicated focus by Snyder, who abandons the slo-then-fast-mo stylings of 300 (2006) and Sucker Punch (2011) for something much more grown-up.

The movie begins on Krypton, where Jar-El (Russell Crowe), delighted with the planet's first natural birth in centuries in his son Kal-El, pleads with the leaders to help save the planet from inevitable destruction. Enter the usurping Zod, who is leading a coup to overthrow the leaders and re-establish Krypton as a real power. Zod is furious at the birth of Kal-El aka Clark Kent, but Jar-El manages to blast his son off into space towards Earth before Zod overpowers him. Cut forward some years and Kent is working on a fishing vessel, at ease with his powers. When the military discover an alien craft in the Arctic, Kent infiltrates the mission and discovers his origins from the preserved conscience of his father. Meanwhile, Zod is approaching Earth with plans to use the planet to re-create Krypton.

It's clear from the off that this is no regular superhero origin film. Snyder manages to somehow bring a grounded realism to Krypton - giant human-carrying dragonflies and all. We then skip Kent's entire upbringing to witness his natural inclinations for good as he saves some oil rig workers from certain death, displaying the powers he is now at ease with. Through some beautifully realised and melancholy flashback scenes that evoke the style of Terence Malick, Kent's parents (played by Kevin Costner and Diane Lane), gradually teach him that he is different and has a much greater purpose than he could imagine. Costner is superb in these moments, bringing an old-hand, gravel-voiced weight that I have never seen from him before. Similar to Snyder's Watchmen (2009), these flashbacks are peppered throughout the film, yet don't damage the flow of the central story.

Where the film fails is in the action-heavy climax that lasts for pretty much the entire final hour. Zod and his cronies battle Superman and smash each other to a pulp. It's very similar to the climax of Thor (2011), that also had impossibly strong super-beings battle ten tons of shit out of each other because, well, what else can they do? Buildings collapse, explosions litter the screen, but there's very little tension. It switches the action between Superman and the Daily Planet, where Laurence Fishburne's Perry White serves no purpose other than to save some people from falling rubble. Perhaps it's setting the scene for future instalments, but they seem rather intrusive here.

The same could also be said about Amy Adams' Lois Lane, who is a spunky, determined character diminished to a simple love interest for Kent without any real chemistry. Of course she's important to the Superman universe, but there is no real dimension to her persona. Michael Shannon, however, is reliably excellent in his role, and his Zod incarnation is by far the most interesting thing about the film. He's a sympathetic bad guy akin to Tom Hiddleston's Loki, to the point where you can fully understand his reasoning. The man plans on genocide, but this was the role he was raised to play, and his determination to re-establish his race is certainly understandable. You can even see that Superman knows this, but he always knows that he must destroy him, whatever the odds.

Overall I was extremely impressed by Man of Steel, and its flaws can certainly be forgiven. This is a mature movie with underlying themes. Superman is God, an indestructible force (to us mere humans) that possesses too much power to be at ease with, even when he assures them that they are on the same side. The religious metaphors are embarrassingly obvious at times, but it's a thought-provoking sub-theme and a nice alternative to the crash-bang-wallop of the action scenes. Although it's not up to the ridiculously high standards set by Christopher Nolan, this can sit nicely alongside his Dark Knight trilogy (2005-2012) in the re-imagining of DC's universe.


Directed by: Zack Snyder
Starring: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Diane Lane, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Antje Traue, Laurence Fishburne
Country: USA/Canada/UK

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #604: 'Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World' (2003)

One of the best failures to launch a franchise in film history, Peter Weir's beautiful sea-faring epic, Master and Commander, was overshadowed commercially by that other ship-based film to come out the same year, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. While Gore Verbinski's box-office smash was a lot of fun and managed to re-create the sense of comedy-adventure perfected in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) (while making billions with its sequels for Disney), Master and Commander goes about its business quietly, creating tender scenes of human interaction alongside some magnificent sea-battles of its own. So the novels of Patrick O'Brian are seemingly destined to remain an untapped resource in cinema, but there is still plenty to enjoy here as a stand-alone film.

During the Napoleonic wars, captain of the HMS Surprise, 'Lucky' Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe), has been given the task of pursuing French privateer Ancheron, and to 'sink, burn, or take her as a prize'. When one of the crew hears the distant sound of bells one night, the Surprise is taken unawares by the immense power of Ancheron, which is near twice the size of Surprise, and wields much more firepower. Almost fatefully damaged, Aubrey takes the Surprise and retreats into the fog to repair the damage, only to be attacked and pursued again. They reach the Galapagos Islands, where Aubrey predicts Ancheron will head to in order to attack Britain's whaling fleet, and will allow time for the ships doctor Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany) to walk the islands to gather specimens and notes on the wildlife.

After the exciting opening that shows the almost complete destruction of the HMS Surprise, Weir takes us in close quarters with the various levels of the ship's hierarchy from the mates who lie packed like sardines inside the ship being fed on gruel and rum, to the spacious quarters of the captain and his lieutenants. Drinking wine and eating steaks in what looks like a grand dining room of aristocracy, Aubrey and his immediate underlings are certainly privileged. This is mirrored in the scenes of Jack and Stephen playing violin together, and while these moments are key to understanding the close friendship between the two despite them clearly being men of differing values, it also shows their upper-class backgrounds. The shipmates are less so. They are happy being rewarded for good work with double-helpings of gruel, but have an almost necessary brutish nature that becomes apparent when they begin to bully Midshipman Hollom (Lee Ingleby).

As well as portraying the societal structure of Britain within the confines of a ship, the film is also about the trappings of power. Jack and Stephen's philosophical discussions about this subject when Jack's hand is forced for the survival of the ship, causes Stephen to compare Jack's behaviour to Nero. Jack argues that the men require discipline and a strong hand to follow while Stephen advises that such an attitude can lead a man to be seduced by the trappings of power. There is also the matter of Jack's pride. At what point does duty end and ego begin? The pursuit of Ancheron will surely lead to the Surprise's demise and the death of its crew, but the men will follow 'Lucky' Jack no matter what.

Don't be fooled though, Master and Commander offers scenes of relentless action, with the Academy Award-winning cinematography and sound editing coming together to form scenes that are as beautiful as they are breathless. The hand-held camera gets deep into the action, as cannonball's smash through the ship, sending razor-sharp splinters into the air and taking men's limbs with them. 14-year old midshipman Blakeney (Max Pirkis) loses an arm in the opening battle, and his idolising of Jack and Stephen forms the heart of the film. Jack is strength and leadership, Stephen is calm and thoughtful, characteristics on opposite sides of the spectrum, but Blakeney wants to be both. Sometimes it can feel crammed with too many ideas, but Master and Commander is a terrific film, and, like a lot of Weir's back catalogue, manages to be as thoughtful as it is gripping.


Directed by: Peter Weir
Starring: Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, James D'Arcy, Max Pirkis
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie