Film Review: Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation

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Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. Rated M (action violence). 132 minutes. Written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie.

When an action-packed adventure story about undercover secret agents racing against time to save the world works well, the result is often irresistible. When it works as well as it does in this fifth film in the Mission: Impossible series, it’s also a fantastically entertaining night at the movies.

Even though Rogue Nation is just shy of two and a half hours long, McQuarrie’s involving screenplay, his incisive direction and Eddie Hamilton’s (Kingsman: The Secret Service) superb editing, ensure that almost every perfectly-paced sequence delivers high stakes suspense and thrills in equal measure.

Following on from Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011), Impossible Missions Force (IMF) special agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) believes he can prove the existence of the Syndicate, a top secret terrorist organisation that is wreaking havoc around the globe.

With his trusted colleagues Benji (Simon Pegg), William (Jeremy Renner) and Luther (Ving Rhames) joining him in the hunt for the Syndicate’s leader, Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), Hunt also finds himself in the company of mysterious special agent Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson), whose task is to either help Hunt succeed, or kill him before he can.

The role of Ethan Hunt fits Cruise like a glove. He first played the ingenious, never-say-die Hunt in Mission: Impossible (1996), and any doubts about whether he is still up for it are instantly dispelled in Rogue Nation’s astonishing opening sequence.

Pegg’s Benji gets all of the comedy, which he delivers with his now trademark, engaging goofiness, but it is the little-known Ferguson whose performance as the elusive Ilsa is fabulous. The script ensures that you never really know whether the formidable Ilsa can be trusted, and the captivating Ferguson will keep you guessing through each of the film’s entirely rewarding plot twists and U-turns.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Far from the Madding Crowd

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Far from the Madding Crowd. Rated M (mature themes and sex scene). 118 minutes. Directed by Thomas Vinterberg. Screenplay by David Nicholls. Based on the novel by Thomas Hardy.

The reliable old adage ‘they just don’t make them like they used to’ could be effortlessly applied to this gorgeous cinematic adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s 1874 literary masterpiece.

Stunningly photographed by cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen, the rural English locations are both beautiful to look at, and in perfect service to the heart and soul of this classic story about the feisty and extremely capable Bathsheba Everdene (Carey Mulligan) and her three very different suitors, each of whom wants her as his wife.

Gabriel Oak (Matthias Schoenaerts) is a shy and reserved young sheep farmer who in one tragic evening, loses his entire flock and ends up being evicted, penniless, from his farm. Inadvertently left at the altar by his intended bride Fanny (Juno Temple), Sergeant Frank Troy (Tom Sturridge) carries the weight of the painful legacy of rejection heavily on his shoulders. William Boldwood (Michael Sheen) is, like Gabriel, an unassuming but wealthy landowner, whose palatial country estate is next-door to Bathsheba’s.

While she receives outstanding support from the leading male cast, Mulligan (The Great Gatsby) is fantastic in the demanding role of Hardy’s extraordinary heroine, after whom The Hunger Games’ equally determined Katniss Everdeen is named. Beginning as a seriously not-to-be underestimated young woman fighting for equality and respect, the consequences of her choices trigger the chain of events that tragically alter the course of each of their lives.

Vinterberg masterfully guides Nicholls’ pared-back but compelling adaptation of the novel, which will introduce a whole new generation to this classic romantic drama – who will possibly be shocked to discover just how little has changed for women in the world since 1874.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Paper Towns

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Paper Towns. Rated M (sexual references). 109 minutes. Directed by Jake Schreier. Screenplay by Michael Weber and Scott Neustadter. Based on the novel by John Green.

The previous cinematic collaboration from Green, Weber and Neustadter was the hugely successful tear-jerker The Fault in Our Stars (2014), directed by Josh Boone. For this adaptation of Green’s earlier novel, Schreier takes over the directorial responsibilities, and does a simply perfect job of delivering this charming film to the screen.

Seeming to arrive out of nowhere, without the usual multi-million dollar marketing blitz, Paper Towns is about a young man, Quentin (Nat Wolff), and his fascination with his feisty, independent neighbour, Margo (Cara Delevingne), with whom he has been in love with for years. Sadly, Margo has never felt quite the same way about Quentin, and it is this classic contradiction that practically everyone will relate to on some level.

Having driven her around their neighbourhood on an entertaining night of revenge-inspired shenanigans that also serves to bring them closer together, the following day Quentin is surprised to discover that Margo has disappeared. Certain that she has fallen in love with him, Quentin believes that Margo has left a trail of clues to help him find her. With best mates Ben (Austin Abrams) and Radar (Justice Smith) in tow, Quentin sets out to find Margo and declare his undying love.

Wolff is excellent as the vulnerable young suitor who can barely find the words to describe his feelings for Delevingne’s equally good Margo, while Abrams’s over-sexed Ben guarantees some great laughs, ensuring that the film doesn’t get bogged down in doom-laden introspection.

Paper Towns also stands out from a number of other recent contributions to the ‘young adult drama’ genre by being a refreshingly intelligent, involving experience of fine, weapon-free storytelling.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Magic Mike XXL

Magic Mike XXL. Rated MA15+ (strong coarse language and sexual references). 115 minutes. Directed by Gregory Jacobs. Screenplay by Reid Carolin.

In the three years since Magic Mike (2012), Mike (Channing Tatum) has realised his ambition of running a custom-made furniture business. Even though he is living the dream, his small business is struggling to cover its costs, and in no time at all he finds himself back as one of the Kings of Tampa for one final performance at a national strippers convention.

Before it finds its rhythm and reason, the sequel meanders along with long scenes about the circumstances in which the guys reunite. Missing, a little too obviously, is Matthew McConaughey’s Dallas, who has disappeared off to Europe. Also absent is Alex Pettyfer’s Adam, whose rite of passage from a tortured 19-year-old protégé to stripper superstardom formed the basis of Carolin’s engaging screenplay for the first film.

Fortunately, McConaughey and Pettyfer’s absence gives Carolin the opportunity to shine the spotlight back onto Tatum, who dances up a storm and is more than capable of carrying the film. He receives excellent support from the returning Joe Manganiello as Richie and Matt Bomer as Ken in particular, who also get more to play with this time around. Manganiello’s scene when he is dared to make a bored, convenience store shop assistant smile, is great fun.

But where Magic Mike XXL departs significantly, and most successfully, from the first film, is the way in which its female characters are given more depth and purpose within the story. Jada Pinkett Smith’s fascinating Rome essentially ends up replacing Dallas as the troupe’s MC, while Andie MacDowell is wonderful as divorcee Nancy, a woman who, along with her close circle of friends, discovers that their wild and untameable passions are far from extinct.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Terminator Genisys

Terminator Genisys. Rated M (science fiction violence and infrequent coarse language). 126 minutes. Directed by Alan Taylor. Screenplay by Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier.

The mighty Terminator series of films, which began with James Cameron’s The Terminator (1984), can easily be credited with having influenced an entire generation. Not only did Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “I’ll be back” enter the popular vernacular, there was the inspired premise of his T-800 model robot being sent back in time to kill Sarah Connor, who was yet to give birth to John, the boy who would eventually grow up to destroy the robots’ nuclear-powered weapon of human annihilation, Skynet.

Kalogridis (the brilliant Shutter Island) and Lussier’s screenplay wisely holds fast and true to the original premise, but adds an additional layer of mind-bending time-play that evolves from an early blink-and-you’ll-miss-it scene involving John Connor (Jason Clarke).

John is again leading the armed resistance fighters, including Jai Courtney’s Kyle Reese, in a battle to destroy Skynet. Similarly, Schwarzenegger’s terminator is sent back to 1984 to assassinate Sarah (Emilia Clarke), and Kyle volunteers to go back and make sure she survives. But it is when John, who hadn’t been born yet, suddenly arrives back in 1984 and comes face-to-face with Sarah and Kyle that things really start to get new and interesting.

As much as Genisys is a refreshing take on the original’s storyline and the origins of Skynet, it is actually all about Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is a particular kind of cinematic royalty. While it makes no sense that ‘Pops’, (his older terminator character who now protects Sarah) meets his younger self in terminator mode, the face-off scenes between the younger and older Arnie are, like the rest of Taylor’s assured handling of this hugely entertaining adventure, an absolute treat.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Ted 2

Ted 2. Rated MA15+ (strong drug use, crude humour, sexual references and coarse language). 116 minutes. Directed by Seth MacFarlane. Screenplay by Seth MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild.

No doubt as a result of the sensational box office success enjoyed by the original Ted (2012), MacFarlane’s perverted, talking teddy bear with a toxic drug habit is back for a good deal more of exactly the same, mostly crass and tasteless, shenanigans.

Ted 2 begins with Ted (voiced by MacFarlane) marrying his sweetheart Tami-Lynn (Jessica Barth). When the couple decide to start a family, his best mate John (Mark Wahlberg) offers to be the sperm donor. Unfortunately, Tami-Lyn is unable to conceive, so the couple decide to adopt a child instead. But when Ted discovers he is unable to adopt because he is legally classified as ‘property’ not human, lawyer Samantha (Amanda Seyfried) takes on the fight to have Ted’s civil rights recognised by the courts.

Just like the first film, the CGI Ted is a marvellous creation, and the extent to which you might manage to forget that he is a computer generated character says a lot about how successful Ted (and MacFarlane’s brilliant voicing of him) actually is.

But as it is with every project MacFarlane (Family Guy, A Million Ways to Die in the West) is involved with, your perception of the quality of the entertainment will depend on how you feel about his particular style of humour. At its best, Ted 2 boasts some momentary flashes of MacFarlane’s typically razor-sharp wit, mixed up with some potent and timely observations about the essence of equality.

Unfortunately, it also takes a deadly serious amount of time (just shy of two hours) to lazily and sluggishly insult, ridicule and humiliate everyone and everything in its path.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.