Film Review: X-Men: Days of Future Past

X-Men: Days of Future Past. Rated M (science fiction themes, violence and infrequent coarse language). 131 minutes. Directed by Bryan Singer. Screenplay by Simon Kinberg.

Verdict: A hypnotic return to form for the X-Men series.

Boasting ambitious storytelling on an epic scale, matched with superb visual effects and an outstanding ensemble of actors all at the top of their game, this instalment of the X-Man franchise is an often brilliant, and always engrossing, addition to the big screen adventures of Marvel’s X-Men.

Faced with extinction at the hands of an undefeatable foe known as Sentinels, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is sent back to the time these formidable creatures were invented by Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage). At this juncture, Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) had shot and killed Trask, which brought about the rise of the Sentinels who were created to exterminate the mutants in revenge for his murder. Charged with altering to course of history, Wolverine must reunite the young Charles (James McAvoy) with the younger Erik (Michael Fassbender) to ensure that Mystique doesn’t make the same mistake again.

Kinberg’s (Sherlock Holmes, X-Men: The Last Stand) screenplay manages to tell what might have been a collision of plots, subplots and character-based exposition extraordinarily well – to the point where even those who haven’t caught up with this successful series won’t be left wondering what on earth is going on. There are even some great laughs, particularly when Quicksilver (Evan Peters), is recruited to help Erik escape from a maximum security prison, deep within the Pentagon.

Singer (X-Men, X-Men 2, Superman Returns) and frequent collaborator, cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel, capture every moment of the story with supreme confidence. Unusually for this genre (and this series in particular), there is never a moment where it threatens to take itself far too seriously. Instead, X-Men: Days of Future Past plays out at a furious pace from the first frame, and the emotionally-charged awareness of all that is at stake makes for an extremely rewarding, big screen experience.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Godzilla

Godzilla. Rated M (science fiction themes and violence). 123 minutes. Directed by Gareth Edwards. Screenplay by Max Borenstein.

Verdict: A triumphant return for our megastar Kaiju.

Since his first appearance in Ishiro Honda’s Gojira (Godzilla) in 1954, the megastar Kaiju (strange creature) has starred in 31 films, and returns to the big screen this year to celebrate his 60^th birthday – and what a spectacularly gob-smacking celebration it is.

Sounding mostly like a symphonic concert, courtesy of Alexandre Desplat’s (Zero Dark Thirty, Argo) majestic score, Edwards’ brilliant ode to the monster movie genre (with particularly obvious references to King Kong and Alien) is an often astonishing achievement.

One of Borenstein’s many masterstrokes is the way he incorporates Godzilla into the story, and the less you know about the reasons for his appearance, the better. The outstanding cast, afraid no-one will notice them if they don’t take the emotional content of their performances up to an equally radioactive level, go for broke with the florid material – with Borenstein unafraid to dispense with them as and when the story demands it. The early, heart-breaking sequences where Bryan Cranston’s (Breaking Bad) Joe parts company with his wife Elle (Elizbeth Olsen) set the ruthlessly efficient tone for all that is to follow.

It is the screenplay’s brutal lack of sentimentality that powers Edwards’ grand vision of total annihilation as prehistoric foes go head-to-head for supremacy. On their battleground, humans don’t matter.

Edwards (who made the under-rated Monsters in 2010), cinematographer Seamus McGarvey (The Avengers) and Western Australian-born production designer Owen Paterson (The Matrix, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) have created an entirely absorbing, big-screen experience, which is edited to perfection by Bob Ducsay (Looper, The Mummy).

Don’t be at all surprised that as you make your way home from the cinema after this immersive experience, you’ll be expecting our heroic Kaiju to rise from the ocean to see you safely home.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: The Amazing Spider-Man 2

The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Rated M (action violence). 142 minutes. Directed by Marc Webb. Screenplay by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Jeff Pinkner.

Verdict: A bloated Spider-Man outing that both rewards and tests our patience.

Given the saturation of superhero films, avid movie-goers could be forgiven for waking up in the middle of a dream starring the big, flickering Marvel logo. The studio’s output can only be described as prolific, and the trend for their films to run way too long is perfectly encapsulated in this Spider-Man sequel, which balances precariously on the edge of riveting human drama and an experience you might also find yourself waking up in the middle of.

What keeps it interesting is Andrew Garfield’s return to the title role. Garfield, like Captain America’s Chris Evans, constantly threatens to out-class the material, and his tortured, soulful Peter Parker gets as much screen time as his daredevil, smart-mouthed Spider-Man.

Cinematographer Daniel Mindel (Star Trek) unleashes a frenetic combination of moods and tones, while Webb places us firmly at the heart of all the action. What emerges, though, is the distinct impression that Garfield is more at home deep within the drama than the acrobatics, which accounts for the beautifully played scenes between Peter and Emma Stone’s perfect Gwen Stacy, Sally Field’s divine Aunt May, and Dane DeHaan’s outstanding performance as Peter’s childhood friend Harry Osborn/Green Goblin.

Jamie Foxx’s Electro starts out brilliantly, but ends up with far too much screen time, most of which is too effects-heavy to ever be totally convincing or as interesting when compared to the characters that remain resolutely human in the face of all the tedious, electrically-charged chaos and destruction. When DeHaan’s more relevant and invigorating Goblin eventually turns up, it unfortunately feels like someone has just served you up your nineteenth helping of apple pie and ice-cream.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Divergent

Divergent. Rated M (science fiction themes and violence). 139 minutes. Directed by Neil Burger. Screenplay by Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor. Based on the novel by Veronica Roth.

Verdict: A new young force to be reckoned with makes her debut.

Like The Hunger Games, Divergent bursts vividly onto the screen with a crystal clear intention: to win the hearts and minds of its devotees who have catapulted 25-year-old Veronica Roth’s award-winning trilogy onto the prestigious New York Times best-selling list. As obvious as the comparisons are (The Hunger Games’ Katniss is closely related to Divergent’s Beatrice ‘Tris’ Prior), the success of the novels and their respective cinematic incarnations has created a force to be reckoned with.

At the centre of this compelling genre are determined and independent young women who take extraordinary risks to forge their individuality and purpose in life. In Divergent, a post-apocalyptic world is a divided into factions, in which humans of similar personalities are cloistered away from each other. There are the clever people who populate ‘Erudite’ and the peace-loving hippies of ‘Amity’, but it is the fearless avengers of ‘Dauntless’ who attract the attention of the restless and ambitious Tris (Shailene Woodley). As soon as she has the opportunity to choose her own faction, Tris leaves the respectable family home and begins an adventure that will challenge everything she knows, and thought she knew, about the world in which she exists and her place in it.

Woodley (who was excellent as George Clooney’s eldest daughter in The Descendants) is great as Tris, and manages to beautifully encapsulate the central character’s foibles, strengths and over-riding curiosity about the strange new world she has literally jumped into, feet first. Theo James is perfect as the mysterious ‘Four’, while Jai Courtney (A Good Day to Die Hard) brings Eric, the cruel trainer of the new Dauntless initiates to life equally well.

Burger (Limitless), Daugherty (Snow White and the Huntsman) and Taylor (Game of Thrones) have kicked off this trilogy in energetic form, and even though it eventually limps over the finish line, the promise of all that is to follow in the next two movies (Insurgent and Allegiant) is smartly and tantalisingly defined.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Rated M (action violence). 136 minutes. Directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo. Screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.

Verdict: Another successful outing for Captain America.

This sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) reunites writers Markus and McFeely and introduces new directors, the Russo brothers (Arrested Development). It is a mostly happy union at the helm of one of Marvel Comics’ cinematic universes, helped enormously by the return of the regular cast members and Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America in particular.

Evans is a fine actor, and the time this film takes to explore Captain America’s past is extremely rewarding. Rogers’ reluctance to be a pawn in SHIELD’s defensive plans against future terrorist attacks (three monstrous Helicarriers capable of destroying millions of ‘targets’ at a time) is countered by the realisation of who the ‘Winter Solider’ (Sebastian Stan) really is, providing Evans with an opportunity to bring a superhero with a conscience to life beautifully.

The big action set pieces are fantastic, and even though they are over-edited, they still stand up. The Russo brothers have opted for less CGI and more live action, which lends the film a gritty realism that results in the central conflict being much more effective than the effects-heavy, boom-crash-destruction finale. The car chase sequences are brilliant, with the stand-out being the scenes when SHIELD’s Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) fights for survival after being ambushed by the Winter Soldier and his rogue warriors on the streets Washington D.C.

While it’s great to see the venerable Robert Redford strolling through the film as SHIELD leader Alexander Pierce, it’s the high-impact, energetic performances of Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker) as Falcon and the fabulous Scarlett Johansson’s return as Natasha that provide Evans with valuable support.

The two sequences during the closing credits guarantee we will be seeing a good deal more of Captain America, which based on the quality and entertainment value of this latest outing, is something to look forward to.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.