Film Review: In the Heart of the Sea

In the Heart of the Sea. Rated M (survival themes). 122 minutes. Directed by Ron Howard. Screenplay by Charles Leavitt. Based on the book ‘In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex’ by Nathaniel Philbrick.

When a director as good as Howard sets sail for the high seas, we have an almost watertight guarantee that gripping drama will ensue. After all, with A Beautiful Mind (2001), he achieved what many considered highly improbable, by turning the study of mathematics into an Oscar-winning masterpiece.

His Apollo 13 (1995), about the battle for unlikely survival aboard a severely damaged spacecraft, remains an infinitely watchable film. And then there was the fantastic Rush (2013), the director’s first outing with Heart of the Sea star Chris Hemsworth, when the rivalry between Formula 1 champions James Hunt (Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl) resulted in one of the most compelling films of that year.

If Heart of the Sea fails to reach the heights of Howard’s previous adventures that have also been based on true stories, it’s because the ‘survival at sea’ (or anywhere for that matter) genre is packed with vastly superior films, of which Ridley Scott’s White Squall (1996), Wolfgang Petersen’s The Perfect Storm (2000), and Peter Weir’s Master and Commander (2003) are just three examples.

This is not to say that the tale of the whalers aboard the ill-fated Essex, including First Mate Owen Chase (Hemsworth), the privileged Captain Pollard (Benjamin Walker), and Second Mate, Matthew Joy (Cillian Murphy), is not an interesting one. The problem lies in the fact that with the exception of the brilliantly realised confrontations with the massive ‘demon’ white whale, every other scene, circumstance and conflict at sea and on land has a doom-laden sense of wearying familiarity – as though we’ve seen and heard it all before.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Avengers: Age of Ultron

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Avengers: Age of Ultron. Rated M (action violence). 141 minutes. Written and Directed by Joss Whedon. Based on the comic books by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Verdict: An exhausting, action-packed sequel that barely stops to draw breath.

Avengers: Age of Ultron, the long-awaited sequel to The Avengers (2012), pits our heroes against arch foe Ultron (voiced by Boston Legal’s James Spader), who has harnessed the power of vibranium to create a weapon of mass annihilation. The other new villains are the results of Baron von Strucker’s (Thomas Kretschmann) human experiments – twins Pietro (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), who has the gift of superhuman speed, and Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) who can control the minds of everyone she comes in contact with.
 
From the chaotic opening sequences, Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Avengers) slams his foot onto the accelerator and rarely lets up. Apart from the spectacular big action set pieces, there are some great laughs (mostly at the expense of Chris Hemsworth’s mighty Thor), and a delightfully played romance between Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha and Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner/The Hulk.

Also back in the mix are the duplicitous Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) up to his usual tricks, and the ever-earnest Captain America (Chris Evans) who still pines for the love of his life, Peggy Carter (a neat cameo from Hayley Atwell). Thor is beginning to feel more and more distanced from the uncontrollable mayhem on Earth, while Clint (Jeremy Renner) is also becoming less enamoured with the dangerous life of a super-hero, which only serves to take him away from his wife Laura (Linda Cardellini) and their two children.

Ultimately, like a long overdue catch-up with a gang of old mates, the time we spend with our ever-reliable superheroes gives us the precious opportunity to step outside our increasingly unpredictable and demanding world, and into a time and place where everything is almost exactly as it should be.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Thor: The Dark World

Thor: The Dark World. Rated M (action violence). 112 minutes. Directed by Alan Taylor. Screenplay by Christopher Yost, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.

Verdict: A severe case of thunder-less sequelitis.

If there is a constant dilemma in our wonderful world of cinema, it’s the catalogue of problems associated with ‘making the sequel’. In the case of this follow-up to the terrific Thor (2011), those problems are many and obvious – resulting in an unsatisfying outing in the company of Chris Hemsworth’s love-struck God of Thunder.

Equal parts romantic comedy and Star Wars/Lord of the Rings wannabe, The Dark World begins with Thor’s bitter nemesis Loki (Tom Hiddleston) disinherited and locked away for the rest of his life by the stroppy Odin (Anthony Hopkins). Meanwhile, on Earth, Thor’s clever girlfriend Jane (Natalie Portman) stumbles upon a mysterious portal where she becomes consumed by the powerful substance ‘Aether’, which the evil Dark Elf Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) wants so that he and his Dark Elf warriors can destroy everyone and everything.

Markus (Captain America: The First Avenger, The Chronicles of Narnia films) and his collaborators have fashioned a superhero-by-the-numbers screenplay that, while boasting some welcome comedic banter, remains steadfastly ordinary.

Taylor (episodes of Sex and the City, The Sopranos, Mad Men, Game of Thrones) follows suit, and with the exception of a brilliant slap-down sequence involving Thor, Malkeith and some inter-planetary trickery, The Dark World never manages to feel as though it’s holding together. It is helped by some flashy visual effects (particularly a powerful funeral sequence), and Thor’s home planet of Asgard is superbly realised by production designer Charles Wood (Wrath of the Titans).

Hemsworth, once again, looks every inch the part but suffers as a result of the script’s many inane moments and sloppy pacing, while Hiddleston clearly relishes his return as the entertaining Loki. The sequences on Earth play out with an almost moribund sense of familiarity that it becomes impossible to take any of it seriously.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group

Film Review: Rush

Rush. Rated MA 15+ (injury detail and coarse language). 122 minutes. Directed by Ron Howard. Screenplay by Peter Morgan.

Verdict: A riveting tale about knowing why, and when, to stop.

Some films, on paper at least, simply shouldn’t work – and this relatively obscure story about Formula 1 drivers James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl) is a classic example. Locked in a death-defying battle over 30 years ago for racetrack supremacy, the English Hunt and the Austrian Lauda are like chalk and cheese. One (Hunt) is a privileged playboy, hell-bent on instant gratification and any cost, while the other is a master of self-discipline who believes that any kind of off-circuit, self-serving indulgences only disrespect the spirit of the sport.

In the hands of anyone else but Howard, it’s difficult to imagine this film being as engaging as it is. The time, like the cars, flies by, and just as he did with the fantastic A Beautiful Mind (2001) and Frost/Nixon (2008), Howard focuses closely and unwaveringly on the human condition and delivers a thrilling tale of tenacious and uncompromising rivalry.

Howard has built his directorial reputation by masterfully crafting character-driven films – stories about people experiencing life-changing events that require extraordinary, almost super-human responses (Cocoon, Backdraft, Apollo 13), but without the capes, shields and assorted gimmicks. Morgan (Frost/Nixon, The Queen, The Last King of Scotland) is the perfect match for Howard’s deceptively modest storytelling ambitions, and his excellent screenplay is all lean, uncluttered cinematic torque.

Anthony Dod Mantle’s (127 Hours, Slumdog Millionaire, The Last King of Scotland) cinematography will delight race fans, especially since no facet of the engineering masterpieces Formula 1 cars are (or what it takes to drive one) is left unexplored. Mark Digby’s (Dredd, Slumdog Millionaire) production design beautifully recreates the 1970s, with outstanding attention to colour and detail.

Hemsworth (who is undeniably on a roll) and Brühl (Good Bye Lenin!, Inglourious Basterds) are both excellent as the leads, and it is a credit to everyone involved that as you walk away from the cinema, it might be almost impossible to decide who, if anyone, really won.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Snow White and the Huntsman

Snow White and the Huntsman. Rated M (fantasy themes and violence). 127 minutes. Directed by Rupert Sanders. Screenplay by Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock and Hossein Amini.

Verdict: The long and winding road that leads to a palace.

While it is certainly a stunning film to look at, Snow White and the Huntsman takes too many detours and far too much time to wend its way through what is a very familiar story of a princess feted to rise up against a murderous Queen and regain the throne she was ruthlessly denied.

Similarly to Tarsem Singh’s gorgeous looking Snow White-lite take earlier this year (Mirror, Mirror) Sanders’ equally-sumptuous affair boasts Dominic Watkins’ (The Bourne Supremacy, United 93) extravagant production design and Colleen Atwood’s (Alice in Wonderland, Memoirs of a Geisha) picture-perfect costumes. Melbourne-born Greig Fraser (Caterpillar Wish, Bright Star, Let Me In) cements his international reputation with outstanding cinematography that captures every essence of the film’s many challenging and constantly changing moods and locations.

The writers and Sanders, making his feature film debut, make what turns out to be a near-fatal error by mistaking ‘long’ for ‘epic’. What they risk in the process is undermining the film’s many great qualities, which other than in the design departments and some inventive sequences (especially the scenes set at the lakeside commune where the once-beautiful women have fled from the evil queen’s life-draining hunger for their beauty), are the spirited performances and a flawless visual tapestry of creative splendour.

Chris Hemsworth (Thor) does his best work to date as the grieving Huntsman, while Charlize Theron (Prometheus, Monster) goes for broke from start to finish and never misses a trick. Kristen Stewart (Twilight’s Bella) flexes her acting muscles in ways that have not been required of her in the Twilight franchise, and the fact that we never really care about her fate is the fault of the wandering and didactic screenplay – not her spirited charge through the leading role.

The actors who play the dwarfs (including Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone and Nick Frost) have been digitally manipulated to the size of a dwarf which works for a moment – before you begin to realise that the film is almost beginning to sink with too much trickery at the expense of being something we might have actually been a good deal more engaged by. Apparently, and there’s no prizes, there’s going to be a sequel. Please let it be over in half the time. If that.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.

Film Review: The Avengers

The Avengers. Rated M (action violence). 142 minutes. Written and directed by Joss Whedon. Based on the Marvel comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Verdict: A truly joyful and joyous cinematic smorgasbord of laughs, action and an outstanding ensemble at play.

In precisely the same way as an all-you-can-eat smorgasbord is likely to satisfy every appetite, so too does Mr Whedon’s (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) Marvel superhero mash-up that gleefully ticks every ‘superhero action movie’ box on its way to a dazzling final confrontation between the invading alien Chitauri forces and our team of superheroes.

When Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth, pictured above, left) adoptive brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) hijacks the Tesseract (an energy source being developed to supply Earth with an abundant supply of energy), he uses it to create a portal connecting Earth to outer space – where his Chitauri army are waiting to attack.

With the impending battle likely to decimate the human population, Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate (SHIELD) director Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) assembles the Avengers – Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Dr Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans, pictured above, right), and Thor – as the only hope of surviving the impending slaughter.

It is an unmitigated delight to watch this outstanding ensemble (which also includes Clark Gregg’s Agent Philip Coulson and Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton/Hawkeye) at play in roles that fit them like gloves, while production designer James Chinlund’s (Requiem for a Dream) superb contribution includes a spectacular Helicarrier (SHIELD’s state-of-the-art flying aircraft carrier) and the Chitauri’s brilliant, giant fish-like spaceships.

Working perfectly in sync with Mr Wheldon’s fine (and unexpectedly hilarious) script, cinematographer Seamus McGarvey (Atonement, The Hours) and editors Jeffrey Ford (Captain America: The First Avenger) and Lisa Lassek (The Cabin in the Woods) bring extraordinary levels of skill to the proceedings – especially the big, action set-pieces which are often astonishing in the breadth of their vision and the pace at which they unfurl before us.

With a sneaky post-credits snapshot of the impending sequel, now is the time to familiarise yourself with the Marvel Universe if you haven’t already – even if it is difficult to imagine how much better it could possibly be.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Captain America: The First Avenger

Captain America: The First Avenger. Rated M (action violence). 124 minutes. Directed by Joe Johnston. Screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. Based on the comic books by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

Don’t let the title confuse you. While Captain America might be ‘the first avenger’ (he first appeared in comic form in 1941), it’s actually the fifth instalment in the Marvel Comics’ ‘cinematic universe’ which will culminate in next year’s eagerly-anticipated The Avengers in which each of the Marvel superheroes will finally appear together. (Fans should note that there’s a sneak peak at what’s in store in a snappy post-credits sequence.)

The set-up has been intense, with Robert Downey Jnr blitzing the field in Iron Man and Iron Man 2 (with Iron Man 3 underway), several attempts at getting The Incredible Hulk right (Mark Ruffalo gets the big green guernsey in The Avengers), Chris Hemsworth’s formidable Thor, and now Captain America.

It is 1942, and evil villain Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) is in possession of a super-powerful energy source which he has refined into a weapon of mass destruction. To avert cataclysmic disaster when Schmidt unleashes his plan for world domination, the Americans have been refining their own creation of a “super-soldier” – hand-picking the skinny young try-hard Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) to become their Captain America prototype.

Johnston (The Wolfman, Jurassic Park III, and Art Director on the Star Wars films) does a solid enough job, even though Captain America suffers from a feeling of being over-edited – with the surprisingly clunky, jumpy action sequences, in particular, never realised with the same flair as those in either of the Iron Mans or Thor. The overriding sense is one of nervous anxiety that the whole thing is ultimately going to collapse into an unforgivable shambles.

What holds it together is Evans’ (Fantastic 4, Sunshine) star turn in the title role and an equally committed supporting cast including Weaving (whose metamorphosis into The Red Skull is a highlight), Hayley Atwell (a sublime Peggy Carter), Tommy Lee Jones (romping through as leader of the American Armed Forces, Colonel Phillips) and Dominic Cooper (perfect as Howard Stark). The digital trickery that reduces Evans’ to his pre-serum geek is brilliantly achieved – and one of the many occasions littered throughout Captain America when it is hard to believe your eyes. And this film has just enough of those moments to ensure it takes its rightful place in the Marvel superhero-dominated world.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.