Blitz ***

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Posted: 18/05/2011

Ah, the gritty underbelly of South-East London, where every copper is as mean as Jason Statham, every traditional pub has a man with a dog (or two), and every corner has a loony lurking in its shadows. Nathan Parker’s (Moon) adaptation of Ken Bruen’s novel, Blitz, couldn’t get more clichéd if it was a Guy Ritchie crime caper. Thankfully, there’s no cringeworthy ‘apples and pears’ Mockney slang in this – apart from the odd Statham muttering, and the ‘good’ side of the law looks as much of a lost cause as the bad.

This time Statham stays on the ‘right’ side of the tracks, playing tough, alcohol-swigging, maverick copper and man’s man, Detective Sergeant Tom Brant, who (surprise, surprise) doesn’t play by the rules, but gets the job done – somehow. Losing the plot and having to deal with a colleague’s grief and a change of top brass in gay boss, acting Detective Inspector Porter Nash (Paddy Considine), Brant has another woe thrown at him: A serial cop killer called ‘the Blitz’ (Aidan Gillen) is making his killing spree personal. Can Brant get his man by any means necessary? Or will the press in the shape of tabloid hack Harold Dunphy (David Morrissey) get in the way?

Blitz is basically 90+ minutes of ‘bloody’ good, gritty fun masking a familiar storyline, with a pounding soundtrack that, at times, threatens to blast the eardrums. It’s Statham meets The Bill, meets Life on Mars, meets Death Wish, all cranked up with in-your-face attitude that makes no apologies for its content or dubious language. Statham provides the muscle and the non-nonsense set pieces he’s famed for, which seem ever so slightly mismatched in a UK crime drama, but thrill you, nevertheless, that a ‘Frank Martin’ Transporter character is dealing with London’s grubbier life. The clichéd parts seem to openly celebrate the chauvinistic, violence-loving, fast-car-driving shows and films of the 70s, even offering the obligatory, younger WPC ‘floozy’ with her shirt half unbuttoned, flirting outrageously with Brant in the office and calling him a technological dinosaur.

Statham growls and gets away with one un-PC line after another that has you smirking with glee, then thumps, jumps, pounds and crashes his way around London with all the grace of an angry rhinoceros; there is another Point Break-styled chase scene that’s a poorer and short-lived version. His ‘sidekick’ Nash, played by Considine, satisfactorily compliments Brand’s blunt personality, as the more thoughtful, cautious cop but equally as effective. It’s the intriguing Statham-Nash chemistry that provides some of the better dialogue and pause-for-thought scenes in an emotionally-charged film.

Gillen deliciously camps it up as unhinged nutter Barry Weiss, aka the self-proclaimed Blitz, making him dangerously enticing and rather amusing – note Weiss’s Facebook update request. Weiss ropes in porn-loving hack Dunphy, played by Morrissey who seems totally underused in this, and is merely the stereotypical, grubby hack, but in smarter clothing, that other characters get to bounce their best moments off. There’s also a rather pointless tangent that only goes to highlight a previous drugs problem experienced by WPC Elizabeth Falls (Zawe Ashton), and to state ‘nobody’s perfect’ – not even an officer of the law. Tell us something we don’t know… Whether this has more significance in the book, it’s hard to tell in Parker’s working.

It’s only after Blitz ends, and you’ve had your rough-and-ready Statham injection that the plot begins to appear a little flawed and incredulous. Granted, there are so many oddballs in London that pointing out distinctive characteristics of one could prove tricky, but surely someone must recognise Weiss? And topping a garish-shell-suit-wearing weirdo carrying £50,000 in a public toilet in a busy bar, taking the envelope of money, and having it submitted as a personal possession when brought in for questioning would be able to place Weiss at the scene of at least one murder – not necessarily the copper ones?

In fact, you get so engrossed by all the frills and hard-line antics that logic goes out the window, as you are kept thoroughly entertained. That said the film has some shockingly violent moments that, wisely, happen off camera (to get the imagination running in overdrive), such as the policeman hammer attack that changes the film’s tone for a brief second to something more serious, only for it to be dragged back into comedy mode. These bizarre comedy snippets include the ‘plus-sized’ female dancers at a local club – perhaps there’s a new fetish in town we didn’t know about? These weird inserts do serve to give Blitz its quirky Brit eccentricity – just think London Boulevard, another Bruen work.  However, the Americanisms are mixed in – probably to secure US interest in the release, like private meetings in US-style diners, and a police funeral that has obvious similarities to countless US TV/film-portrayed ones.

Overall, a strong body of Brit talent makes sure nothing gets stale in Blitz, as does Elliott Lester‘s tight direction, and keeps proceedings pumping along and interesting. Statham shows no sign of putting his good/bad-boy image to rest, and DS Brant might just become another easy-on-the-eye, money-spinning character in a Bruen-created franchise, like Transporter, for the UK’s leading muscle for hire.

3/5 stars

By @FilmGazer



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Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides ***

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Posted: 18/05/2011

There’s an undeniable buzz of excitement at the thought of Captain Jack Sparrow returning for yet another swashbuckling adventure, simultaneously mixed with a feeling of intrepidation that the Sparrow charm might fail to translate this time around, especially after a four-year break.

Sparrow is still a character with a lot of mileage, and thankfully, Johnny Depp doesn’t divert from the original script. Disappointingly, though, the journey to yet another ‘eternal gift’ of some description still ends up in a cave – and a predictable swordfight that takes a long while getting there.

This time, Jack (Depp) is on the quest to find the elusive fountain of youth, only to discover that his old flame, Angelica (Penélope Cruz), her feared pirate father, Blackbeard (Ian McShane), and Jack’s old adversary Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) are all after the same prize. Who will get there first, though hindered by some dazzling but vicious mermaids? A clash of swords and a splash of magic will decide.

As is the case with many of the trumpeted ‘3D’ offerings of late, even this film shot using 3D cameras still falls short of providing the much-longed-for 3D wows and gasps. Admittedly, there’s the odd sword that threatens to pierce you between the eyes, but the rest is fairly vapid.

What the film-makers appear to have done in a way to divert your attention is pile set-piece onto set-piece, so the majority of the film is awash with optically-unforgiving action that doesn’t allow you the opportunity to seriously register everything that happens in a scene. Indeed, Rob Marshall’s love affair with action sequences begins with a chase through old London town, just so as to set up the return of Barbossa. It’s a shame about the lack of real 3D, especially with the palm-tree acrobatics that could have been more awe-inspiring, but were still fun, nevertheless – thanks to Sparrow’s big personality.

The fondness for the original characters has not lessened, with Depp and Rush firmly in control and as entertaining as the first time around. Cruz and McShane join the cast this time. Cruz sparks and fizzles, but never really sets the screen alight as anticipated; however annoying Keira Knightley was as the shrill Elizabeth Swan, she certainly will be more memorable than Cruz in this franchise. As for McShane, he fits his pirate boots brilliantly, with a mixture of playfulness and dangerous unpredictably as Blackbeard – a family-friendly version of his Sexy Beast days.

On Stranger Tides has some beautiful effects, especially with the mermaid sequences that sandwich one of the funniest, throwaway Sparrow comments of the film. These parts serve as the film’s love-story angle, what with the absence of Orlando Bloom as Will Turner, filled by the toned physique of Sam Claflin as clergyman Philip who is wooed and woos a mermaid called Syrena (Astrid Berges-Frisbey). But it’s a sub-, sub-plot that doesn’t have the dramatic passion of the Turner-Swan affair.

The running gags are still kept going, including who’s going to end up on the deserted island at the end, and like many films nowadays, stay a while, whilst the credits roll for an additional element. It’s still undecided whether this has any benefit to the following events, but it provides a devilish end chuckle.

As a guaranteed box office Top 5, Pirates 4 definitely sets itself up for another. We just can’t get enough of Sparrow himself, though there’s an immense sense of déjà vu and predictability to events throughout this latest film. Sparrow’s like a British institution now – bit like Sparrow Sr. (played by Keith Richards), an indulgent tradition we keep going, even though we can see what’s coming a mile off, without the aid of a compass. Savvy?

3/5 stars

By @FilmGazer



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Attack The Block ***

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Posted: 11/05/2011

Aliens landing on a South London estate are interesting enough to give new domestic schlock horror, Attack The Block, a moment’s consideration. Coupled with a stoned appearance from Anglo-US success Nick Frost (he of the Pegg-Frost partnership behind Paul and Shaun of the Dead) and Spielberg-backed Joe Cornish of Adam and Joe TV fame is bound to attract even more enthusiasm. But as much as Cornish has his more-than-willing plaudits for his first directorial debut – before they’ve seen a single frame in some respects, for those not in awe of the man or his ‘talents’, does this extraterrestrial battle pitched just down the road have enough alien bite to its bark?

The story follows five racially diverse ‘yoofs’, ringleader Moses (John Boyega), Pest (Alex Esmail), Dennis (Franz Drameh), Jerome (Leeon Jones) and Biggz (Simon Howard), who mug nurse Sam (Jodie Whittaker) at knife point on her way home to the same sink estate they all live on. On getting their swag, they’re interrupted by an alien life form crash-landing onto a parked car. After killing and taking their pungent haul to local weed grower/dealer Ron (Frost), the lads realise they’ve bitten off more than they can chew, whilst keeping crazed local drug dealer Hi-Hatz (Jumayn Hunter) at bay. It turns into quite a coming-of-age Bonfire Night they’ll never forget in a hurry.

It’s a bold, colourful and strikingly shot homage to the likes of such films as Frost’s Shaun of the Dead, with the same cynical, deadpan observational humour that allows a bunch of teen muggers to redeem their ways and prove their worth. In that sense, it’s like an infectious, contemporary Dad’s Army, using whatever’s to hand to defend the home turf from energetic, bloody-thirsty, black Honey Monster/orangutan invaders from outer space with fluorescent nashers. You could delve deeper into the racial and social connotations that Cornish may/may not be inferring to – as picked up on in the dialogue by anti-hero of the hour, Moses, a young, troubled black kid with a disadvantaged past, and the lack of authority interest/action in the escalating proceedings. The style also shows Cornish’s affection for Spielberg’s work with an E.T.-crafted scene at the start, involving a lightshow behind a shed housing the intruder and the curious gang.

In fact, like Kidulthood and Adulthood before, Attack The Block initially appears to market itself to a certain demographic, with its predominant street slang. But in all honesty, the spoken word, although funny in itself, once you’ve tuned in, plays a lesser part to the visual goings-on, enough for any audience to understand where the film is heading. Even the middle-class element in the shape of stoner toff Brewis (Luke Treadaway) who gets caught up in the ensuing chaos and alien guts is not a cliché as such, but is allowed to deliver his own witty observations and understanding of a dangerous but ‘cool’ lifestyle and environment he admires.

And in some respects, it’s this admiration that’s the unsettling aspect of the whole affair. Apart from Moses whose character arc is clear, it’s still very difficult to empathise with violent deviants who break into Sam’s flat, threaten her again (using slightly misogynistic language) then ask for first aid after an alien encounter. Admittedly, with good ol’ Blighty spirit in the frame, all walks of life forget their differences when rallying against a common enemy, and this film is a real ‘class diffuser’. But it does require a huge suspension of disbelief at times – alien presence aside – and a massive dollop of absolution, especially as the actual alien parts are brief and more silly than scary. Plus the ‘hero worshipping’ finale doesn’t quite have enough empathy/redemption accumulation to justify its jubilant chanting of Moses name – even if the film does want us to give second chances, without shouting it from the top of the tower block.

Attack The Block is essentially a fun film (that could have been funnier) about human nature, action/reaction to events out of our control, and how we deal with life-threatening scenarios with a potent mixture of fear and humour. Fuelled by a great soundtrack from dance-music duo Basement Jaxx, Attack The Block is right on trend in British cinema now, with Cornish as the new style king lapping up the movie-world adulation, with the hefty backing of heavyweights Spielberg and executive producer Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Grindhouse, Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead). Frost guarantees the mainstream interest – ironic for a Spaced guy with very clear grass roots in the indie film/TV scene.

3/5 stars

By @FilmGazer



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Hanna ****

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Posted: 04/05/2011

After the profound Atonement and whimsical Pride & Prejudice director Joe Wright demonstrates that not only can he bring his trademark subtle tones and emotion to an action film, but also inject humour and dramatic style. Hanna is the outcome, an intelligent action thriller with a pumping Chemical Brothers soundtrack, combining fairy tale with a strong European modernist, almost Bauhaus trait. As a coming-of-age road movie, Hanna, starring The Way Back’s Saoirse Ronan as Hanna, offers an intriguing journey, laced with unexpected bouts of humour that give it a quirky, eccentric edge.

Hanna starts out like many other action thriller out on the unforgiving land, for example Shooter, with a slightly convoluted, but necessary start to show the basic origins of our young heroine, Hanna (Ronan), and her development, both in mind and body. Hanna is raised in a remote environment by her ex-CIA operative and fugitive father, Erik (Eric Bana), to be the perfect assassin – and walking encyclopedia – and always to expect the unexpected, even when half asleep. As in the animal kingdom, when she’s ready, she must fly the nest by pressing a button to signal where father and daughter have both been hiding all these years. Her dangerous mission takes her across Europe to a designated meeting place in a disused amusement park in Berlin, where Erik will find her. Tracked by a ruthless intelligence agent, Marissa (Cate Blanchett), and her sinister henchman Isaacs (Tom Hollander), Hanna finally does what she’s been taught to do, and delivers her own kind of blunt justice.

Unlike Luc Besson’s stroppy ex-addict-cum-assassin Nikita, Hanna is refreshingly focused and resourceful for a teen killer, partly due to the exceptionally mature acting talents of Ronan in the lead, who gives the same attention to detail to her performance, as she does in The Way Back and in Wright’s Atonement. Much like her character, Ronan has developed into quite a force to be reckoned with, and proves such a strong and hypnotic lead that she almost outshines her older co-stars, Bana and Blanchett, in the process. She combines innocence and virtue with a deadlier mindset in a deadpan delivery, captivating us until the end as to the real reasons she’s so special and desirable to the authorities. Ronan also embraces the action sequences head on, and one escape sequence simultaneously shows Wright could make a decent pop-video film-maker for all its artistic cinematography, patterning and chic style.

Blanchett is no stranger to playing strong women, and again, delivers a faultless performance as complex character Marissa who’s like a dangerous chameleon of easy-going one moment and cold-blooded the next. There’s one point in the story where it’s suggested that she’s Hanna’s birth mother, and with Hanna‘s ever-present sci-fi connotations, this inference never quite disappears. Adding an unnerving edge to Marissa’s endless, bloody pursuit is Hollander in a camp psychotic performance that fizzes with dark humour, but that the accomplished actor keeps reasonably contained.

It’s Bana who gets to demonstrate his solid action-man credentials again in one of two awesome set pieces, with some The Matrix-style moves and accompanying camera angles. What the first – set in a Berlin subway – does is spark nostalgic survival moments of Bana in the excellent Munich, but also gives Wright an opportunity to adapt his infamous long and complex tracking shots into an action sequence of breathtaking proportions. The second is a beautifully choreographed chase across a container park that feeds into the architectural Bauhaus design of simplistic patterning and movement, as Hanna nearly comes close to capture.

In stark contrast is Hanna’s exploration of child-like innocence, with the character’s hilarious, almost clinical discovery of the opposite sex and teenage angst, after meeting a travelling Brit family and making her first friend (played by Jessica Barden of Tamara Drewe fame). Coupled with this is the film’s references to the good and bad aspects of fairy tales, including a stylised, if slightly (and unshamedly) over-egged scenario, where Marissa is portrayed as Hanna’s Big Bad Wolf who needs slaying. The end confrontation results in one of the most recent, chilling and memorable child deliveries, said by Ronan: “I just missed your heart”.

To describe Wright’s Hanna as ‘an action thriller’ actually does it little justice, as does the snappily-edited international trailer, in capturing its unique look and feel and scenarios. So, if you’re searching for something out of the ordinary from the genre with a distinctly eccentric European perspective, Hanna is a must-see cult film in the making.

4/5 stars

By @FilmGazer

Water For Elephants ***

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Posted: 04/05/2011

There will inevitably be those weeping into their Sara Gruen novel of the same name after writer Richard LaGravenese’s film adaptation – even though the author swears nothing in the screen version diminishes her best-selling tale. And on the whole, Gruen is right. Water For Elephants recreates the story’s magical, old-fashioned love affair full of colour, beauty, honour and courage that sweeps you up on a journey of optimism and peril, within the fascinating microcosm of a 1930s circus troupe. LaGravenese’s vision indeed stays faithful to the feel of the 2006 book, even if chunks of the latter have been hacked to bring 14 hours reading time down to nearly two, and some characters have been altered.

It’s a tale of forbidden love: Jake Jankowski (Hal Holbrook), a 93-year-old, former circus worker and ex-veterinary student recalls his days at the struggling Benzini Brothers Circus in 1930s’, Depression-era America. A young Jake (Robert Pattinson) falls in love with the circus’s star performer, Marlena (Reese Witherspoon), who happens to be married to the tyrannical and emotionally unstable owner, August (Christoph Waltz), a man who charms one minute and is abusive the next. August thinks he can turn the troupe’s fortunes around after purchasing an elephant called Rosie (played by Tai the elephant). But as Jake and Marlena bond over Rosie’s training and concern over her cruel treatment at the hands of August, they cannot deny their own feelings towards each other, and realise the only way to be free is to run away from the circus, and out of August’s clutches.

For many fans of the book, LaGravenese’s first ‘error’ would be combining the characters of August, who is the head trainer in the book, and the novel’s violent circus owner, Uncle Al. In fact because the casting of Waltz is absolutely spot on, the film character of August is temperamental, menacing and sadistic enough to comfortably merge the two personalities, and deliver all their nuances – as you’d expect from the brilliant Oscar-winning star of Inglourious Basterds. Waltz triumphs once more, and along with his much larger co-star, Tai, lifts the story off the pages, and evokes all the emotion across its spectrum. Yes, the elephant really charms the living daylights out of you in this – even with some CG trickery for some of the abuse scenes. But the stunt moments, where Witherspoon lithely performs with an equally graceful Tai, fully capture the imagination and vibe of a bygone era.

In fact, Pattinson and Witherspoon merely provide the visual beauty and knowing looks, especially the latter, Witherspoon, who seems to capture that timeless, big-screen glamour and intoxicating mixture of fragility and toughness. As a couple in love, the actors’ 11-year age gap does little to distract credibility in their screen union, particularly as Marlena is portrayed as more worldly-wise. Pattinson shows the first signs of leading-man allure from a cinematic era past that, as is the case here, often made allowances for some more wooden acting moments. Indeed, Twilight fans can be guaranteed to get the Edward Cullen swoons again for the very first time after watching him as Jake, who comes up against all odds in the name of love – an act made for Pattinson. It’s grand-hearted, sigh-a-minute Mills and Boon/Jackie Collins-time, but Pattinson does need to lessen the shy schoolboy grins, though, which conflict with his more impressive, serious stand-offs opposite Waltz in this. He still has to shake off the teen-heartthrob angst performance, but is getting there.

As magical love stories go, LaGravenese’s period film is an enchanting watch – part in thanks to the exquisite art direction and cinematography – that stands more than adequately as a standalone film for those who have not read the book. In fact, although set in the 1930s, much like the eternal appeal and romance of Twilight’s vampire existence, Water For Elephants combines nods to a golden screen era, but with all the contemporary relationship gusto of falling for the wrong person. And it keeps things from getting too schmaltzy by keeping proceedings dark and unnerving, thanks to Waltz and the moody and threatening set ambiance. The film shamelessly plays to our love affair with animals, with Tai melting as many hearts as Pattinson in this, that seems to lessen any preconceived ‘violation’ of Gruen’s engrossing original text.

3/5 stars

By @FilmGazer



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Insidious ****

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Posted: 28/04/2011

Effective horror films these days are harder and harder to come by. But it all depends on what you want from the genre? In Insidious, Saw creators Wan and Whannell appear to have collected together all their favourite horror elements from scary classics – namely Poltergeist, The Amityville Horror and The Shining – but not forgotten to add a good dose of humour, with nods to Beetlejuice and even Ghost Busters. It’s a really strange but fixating mish-mash of ghoulish behaviour, but it’s also one of the most effective, jump-out-of-your-skin and hilarious creations out in recent years.

At first Renai Lambert (Rose Byrne) can’t understand why things move around in her new home, or why the baby monitor starts whispering evil nothings to her. Then her adventurous son, Dalton (Ty Simpkins), ventures up into the creepy old attic, falls off a rickety old ladder, and doesn’t wake up the next morning. The doctors are baffled and so is her husband, Josh (Patrick Wilson). They must find the reason why their child is comatosed – and quick. But they don’t have too long to wait for answers when paranormal activity kicks off in the house, and someone keeps making bloody paw prints on Dalton’s sheets. It seems evil spirits are trapping their kid in a realm called The Further, and they must go and rescue him before it’s too late.

What starts out like a creepy Paranormal Activity copycat – minus the videotaping – turns into a totally unpredictable other-worldly journey that not only freaks the living daylights out of you, but has you giggling like a maniac. The latter is simply down to Wan and Whannell following the golden rule of not creating a horror that takes itself too seriously, with Insidious becoming a parody in itself. But don’t think that because the film ‘borrows’ from others that you’ve seen it all before because there is a nice little twist that turns proceedings into some sort of latter-day fairground or theatrical show, and gives a bizarre explanation for all the spiritual phenomenon. Hell, there’s even a Spidey impression by a demon that looks suspiciously like Darth Maul.

This is the key to Insidious; keep you guessing, engaged and entertained. As horrors go, it might not be very dark in nature – even when freaky-looking Barbara Hershey as Mom comes to visit and talks in riddles, but it knows how to set up the jumps well that still catch you off guard at times. Admittedly, there are parts that play out too long, but others are gleefully plan crazy, such as the competitive comedy double act by medium Elise Rainer’s (Lin Shaye, the wrinkly lady from There’s Something About Mary ) ghostbusting sidekicks Specks (Whannell) and Tucker (Angus Sampson), plus Madame Rainer’s gasmask appearance that’s like experiencing a weird acid trip.

The film also ticks the ‘good-looking cast’ box with Wilson and Byrne in the leads, who give as good as they get in trying to protect their young family from spirits dashing from room to room, as well as violently convulsing structures. It’s a family and their young boy at stake, so the outcome has got to be a happy and resolved one – or has it?

Scared? You bet. Entertained? Totally. Insidious comes from accomplished filmmakers who know their genre and what presses the fear and funny buttons. This reviewer would now love to see Wan and Whannell tackle a seriously scary film based on its ‘explanation’ in question – thinking an adaptation of James Herbert’s Nobody True… Not sure about Insidious invoking childhood fears of darkness and demonic nightmares, as some have commented, but baby monitors are definitely the scariest and most evil things ever invented.

4/5 stars

By @FilmGazer

The Veteran ***

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Posted: 28/04/2011

What strikes an instant chord with The Vanguard writer/director Matthew Hope’s The Veteran are real-life newspaper reports of servicemen and women returning from tours of duty and finding a lack of support for civvy life. Then there are the proposed defence cuts in a time when conflicts aboard seem to be escalating. It’s hard not to get emotional or political. But Hope manages to avoid banging the politics drum by concentrating on the ‘survival’ tactics of one lone soldier throughout.

Think Harry Brown with bite: The Veteran follows paratrooper Miller (played by Toby Kebbell) who returns from Afghanistan to his crime-riddled London estate, where he must deal with his own nightmares and adjust to life back home on his own. Through a lack of work and possessing a particular, attractive skill set to a minority, he stumbles into a conspiracy involving his comrade-in-arms, the intelligent services and a gang of local drug dealers, and finds himself fighting an altogether different kind of war.

On the whole, Hope has produced a thought-provoking and truly distressing film about one lost soul’s relentless existence without any apparent hope of fitting back into ‘normal’ life. Sadly, Miller is yet another example of a faceless pawn in the defence game regardless of what his former bravery and actions achieved in a far-away land. However, there are some fanciful scenarios that simply fan the inner-city gang-culture bravado, as well as sillier ones when Miller meets corrupt agents in darkened car parks or derelict buildings. But once you get past the film’s brutal and extreme violence that some will question as controversial – one such fight with a baddie on a boat does shock but serves to portray Miller’s hand-to-hand combat experience, The Veteran does attempt to depict parallels between the worlds-apart war zones of Afghanistan and London. The former we never see, but are suggested by a brief but defining orange sunset scene, where Miller looks out over London’s skyline as a haunting battle soundtrack plays. There’s also a lengthy, energetic video-gaming-styled end shootout that’s quite alarming and makes you question – as in Harry Brown – where the hell the law is while all this is kicking off?

At the heart of The Veteran is the human story of an ex-para shut down to his feelings – a real victim of war. It sees Kebbell in an unfamiliar, deadpan stance, but with that distant glint of madness in the eye that we were first exposed to in RocknRolla. It’s undoubtedly a great performance from Kebbell who defines an exciting and serious character-acting chapter in this stage of his career, and shows why he was a 2009 BAFTA Rising Star nominee. However, even though the actor is making waves in Hollywood with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, this probably still won’t grab studios’ attention, not because of its Brit slant on the subject matter as this has global resonance, but because parts of the story do not match up to Kebbell’s performance and feel like a made-for-Brit-TV feature-length drama, rather than a feature film.

Even though Hope wrote this with ex-SAS soldier Robert Henry Craft in an attempt to raise awareness of the effects of PTSD (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder), this is not so clear, paling into lesser significance to the more ‘exciting’ terrorism aspects. This is a shame as it’s the domestic, post-combat angle that’s the most compelling – we never really get that sense of inner conflict, however well acted by Kebbell. The film does tackle how the war on terror is fractured, ever evolving, and more closer to home, but trying to deal with too many issues at once, and giving too many tangent sub-plots detracts from the film-makers’ initial purpose.

Overall, there is a market for The Veteran in today’s events, and Hope’s effort will not go unnoticed, what with the commendable appearance of Adulthood’s Ashley Bashy Thomas as head gangster, Tyrone Jones, performing opposite Kebbell, and demonstrating some more of the best of Brit talent. The Veteran makes an accurate point about the links between home-grown and wider-scale conflicts, but it does appear to miss out on the film-makers’ psychological intention, in favour of whipping up the fear of terrorism, espionage, and going all gun-ho. In so doing, it’s lost its key message of helping us understand how ex-vets need to re-acclimatise, which is a great shame.

3/5 stars

By @FilmGazer

Cedar Rapids ****

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Posted: 28/04/2011

‘We’re all just selling something’ is the weighty moral of Youth In Revolt director Miguel Arteta’s new coming-of-age comedy, and without the intriguing (and unlikely) pairing of Ed Helms and John C. Reilly, it could be argued that marketing a film about a naïve insurance salesman from small-town, Midwest America who discovers himself on a business trip would be a hard sell in itself. But Cedar Rapids has that endearing indie ingredient: the triumph of the underdog. Who better than The Hangover’s star Helms – who plays respectable but uptight and hapless Stu in the hit 2009 comedy – to take the helm in this buddy story, what with the anticipated forthcoming sequel out in May. Cedar Rapids is not only Helms ‘warm up’ act to the former, but also a solid leading-man effort.

Cedar Rapids sees Helms as 34-year-old insurance agent Tim Lippe who has worked in insurance all his life and has never left his tiny hometown of Brown Valley, Wisconsin. After the controversial death of his company’s top salesman, Tim must travel to the ‘hotbed of debauchery’, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for the annual ASMI insurance convention, with the aim of winning the coveted ‘two-diamonds’ award that his company has bagged three years in a row. However, even though it’s all smiles, hearty backslaps and fun team-building exercises, something rotten lies at its core, and it takes the distraction of a trio of convention veterans (played by Reilly, Anne Heche and Isiah Whitlock Jr.) to make a real man out of by-the-book Tim, as well as expose the convention’s uglier side.

Helms comfortably takes on the kind of good-hearted geek role we normally associate with Steve Carell – Tim is merely a thirtysome clone of Carell’s 40 Year Old Virgin, a lovable man-child full of virtue. As such a character is a rarity in today’s jaded world, there’s always something appealing about getting to see the world still through childlike eyes. For the immature humour in this film to work, though, it requires reminiscing back to the deviant glee of the classroom innocent finally getting their hands dirty.

However, Arteta doesn’t just put Tim up for ridicule, but he gives him a strong set of values that we all aspire to and eventually wins all over, making him more layered than first depicted. In fact, as Tim is the ‘immature kid’ – as highlighted by his odd and slightly uncomfortable sexual relationship with his former teacher, Ms Vanderhei (Sigourney Weaver), we tend to forgive him more as he spins off the rails. Indeed, Arteta’s character isn’t that different from other small-town, wide-eyed ones of past films (including Steve Zahn’s unforgettable role in Management), but he has a disarming charm and a refreshing lack of baggage, so is content with his lot and very easy to like. But Tim is by no means an angel, and like an exploring teen, Helms expertly brings out his silly, serious and fearful side as he encounters the pitfalls of ‘adult’ life.

Helms by no means carries the film alone. Arteta again develops a set of quirky characters that we can really get behind, as they experience their own personal highs and lows. That said Reilly, Heche and Whitlock Jr. to some extent play character types we’ve seen them in before, though merely play to their strengths. Reilly is loud, brash ‘Ziegler’ who’s nursing a broken heart. Heche is independent (but married), adventurous and smart Joan ‘O Fox’ Ostrowski-Fox who is charmed by Tim, and Whitlock Jr. is the voice of reason. Although initially mocking Tim, whilst playing up to certain stereotypes and scenarios in the film that induce a couple of groans, they all learn new things about themselves and each other while stepping out of their comfort zones. It’s their evolution that’s probably more interesting than Tim’s as they reinvent themselves.

Expect the decadent running jokes and lowbrow smutty antics, but moments of sobering clarity, and you’ll not be disappointed with Arteta’s oddball bunch of characters in Cedar Rapids. You do root for all these misfits in the end, even after they show some less than impressive personality traits – and you need to stay for the end credits, as is becoming the norm these days, like some lazy plot after-thought. This crowd-pleaser is not Arteta’s defining piece, but its feel-good nature and big heart bolster your spirits.

4/5 stars

By @FilmGazer

Thor (3D) ***

by

Posted: 28/04/2011

In a time of Norse folklore, where men were men and roared with pride, comes a larger-than-life and humour-rich take on the Marvel comic adventure Thor that doesn’t forget the personal angle in the midst of all its splendid grandeur. This thumping-good-fun romp has a true hero at its heart to cheer on, opting for a lesser-known star to fully capture the imagination in Home and Away’s Chris Hemsworth, rather than someone established like Downey Jr. in Iron Man.

Cast out of the mythical realm of Asgard by his father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins), for waging a war between the gods, Thor (Hemsworth) is sent to Earth to live amongst humans. But scheming brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) wants the throne and all the power, and brews trouble for the exiled warrior. Thor’s time soon comes to defend the human race, becoming our unlikely hero while dealing with his feelings for physicist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman).

Hemsworth fully embodies Thor with all the energy, passion, arrogance and blundering foolery you’d come to expect from a mythical warrior who lands on Earth with a different era’s etiquette. He’s more Superman than Iron Man, without having to go through all the learning processes and adapting to life on Earth in a regular job. Perhaps that’s the appeal of Thor who crash-lands, quickly discovers his feet then gets on with the job of keeping us all safe – in the words of Bonnie Tyler’s epic, we’re holding out for a hero, and he’s dashing and ready for action.

Placed squarely at the centre of this film is the relationship between Thor and Loki. Director Kenneth Branagh and team have thought hard about casting, with Hiddleston as Loki making a striking contrast, both physically and mentally to hammer-wielding Thor, as well as a well-acted adversary. Hiddleston’s cool, calculating nature emphasises the film’s visual dichotomies and opposing but related elements of earth, water and air, bringing the ancient mythology to life.

However, back on Earth, Portman still seems to be in No Strings Attached mode, portraying Jane as a giggly girly type who clearly has something between her ears, but gets shown up by Kat Dennings’ wittily dry Darcy character. Just where’s the Portman fighting spirit we recently witnessed in Your Highness even, when the mean government agents take away all Jane’s hard work? Admittedly, there’s not a whole lot for the Oscar-winning actress to sink her teeth into in such a role, but opting for ‘dizzy female’ portrayal is another thing.

The sets and effects are stunning and help Thor live up to its epic status. However, don’t get too excited by yet another promise of 3D as it adds very little to any of the landscapes – of even the notorious hammer in flight. You may get a little more depth of field at times – where pulling focus in the past used to suffice – such as the beer mugs when Thor goes out drinking with Jane’s colleague, Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård), but it would have been thrilling to see more of the technology at play in the fantasy realm battle scenes, especially with Asgard’s impressive ‘Rainbow Bridge’, Bifrost moments.

You can’t help but feel like Branagh and co have merely created an teaser for the suggested sequel with this film, where all the characters are introduced, but without cooking up too much of a storm. However, Thor 2 would certainly be welcome. And do stay until the end of the credits for news of The Avengers (out 2012), too. There’s definitely more Thor-someness and superhero team playing to come.

3/5 stars

By @FilmGazer