Film Review: Fury

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Fury. Rated MA15+ (strong war themes, violence, blood and gore and coarse language). 134 minutes. Written and Directed by David Ayer.

Verdict: A gruelling saga about the horrors of tank warfare.

Fury begins as World War 2 enters its increasingly urgent final stages, the Allies are now deep inside Germany on the march to Berlin, and its stark opening sequence gives absolutely nothing away about what is to come.

A battle has obviously been fought, but it’s impossible to know who might have won. A fatigued Sherman tank commander ‘Wardaddy’ (Brad Pitt) appears from within a smouldering tank, Fury’, and kills a dazed survivor who is riding past on his white horse by plunging a knife into his eye. It is a brutally efficient moment, full of intense hate, with which Ayer signals that his film is not going to be an easy ride. Ever.

Returning to a makeshift command centre, Wardaddy and his crew Boyd (Shia LaBeouf), Grady (Jon Bernthal) and Trini (Michael Peña), report that Fury’s gunner has been killed. Replacing him is a recently enlisted, young administration assistant Norman (a superb Logan Lerman), who will soon find himself trapped in an unrecognisable world that will change him forever.

In precisely the same manner in which Steven Spielberg took us deep within the Normandy Landings in Saving Private Ryan (1998), Ayer’s forensic examination of the horrors of tank warfare refuses to do us any favours whatsoever. The relentless battle set pieces are astonishingly realistic, and the exceptional performances from a cast who are obviously deeply engaged with the uncompromising material, are almost obsessively captured from every possible angle.

Fury is a deeply unsettling, chaotic film to watch. Just how difficult it becomes to experience will simply be a question of whether or not you have the stamina.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: World War Z

World War Z. Rated M (horror themes, violence and infrequent coarse language). 116 minutes. Directed by Marc Forster. Screenplay by Matthew Michael Carnahan, Drew Goddard and Damon Lindelof. Based on the novel by Max Brooks.

Verdict: Just makes it over the line thanks to a fine performance from a desperate Brad Pitt.

For a genre famous for gruesome, low-budget films – such as those mastered by the founding father of ‘the zombie movie’ George A Romero with his Night of the Living Dead (1968) – this over-produced epic has struggled to make it to the screen. Reports of radical re-writes and re-shoots have plagued its journey to the cinema, and while it is certainly not a disaster, its flaws are obvious and many.

Former United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) has worked in some serious trouble zones around the world. When the human race is threatened with extermination by a plague of zombies, Lane is handpicked to lead the race to find the source of the outbreak, and identify a possible defence against it.

As one expects from the classy Pitt, he throws himself into the chaotic proceedings with real flair and dedication – and in less capable hands, the film would have been far less effective than it is. There is no doubt that this is a star turn, and he receives excellent support from Daniella Kertesz, whose Israeli soldier Segen accompanies Gerry on the final stages of his mission to halt the zombie onslaught.

While Foster (Quantum of Solace, Finding Neverland, Monster's Ball) has made vastly superior films to this one, his eye for both spectacle and intimate human drama ensures that World War Z maintains a certain kind of equilibrium that is ultimately what holds the film together in a modestly satisfying manner.

Cinematographer Ben Seresin (Unstoppable, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen) has us spending far too much of the time in the dark (possibly to make up for the below par visual effects), but the early sequences in Philadelphia and later in Jerusalem, where the zombies swarm over the Israeli’s defensive walls, are spectacular.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Killing Them Softly

Killing Them Softly. Rated MA 15+ (strong violence, drug use, sexual references and coarse language). 97 minutes. Written and directed byAndrew Dominik. Based on the novel Cogan's Trade by George Higgins.

Verdict: Andrew Dominik takes on the gangster genre and wins with this audacious take on contemporary American crime and poverty.

Dominik (Chopper, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) reunited with the star of Jesse James – Brad Pitt – works wonders in the bleak, poverty-stricken film about consequences. In this case, the consequences of a robbery carried out by Scoot McNairy’s fragile Frankie (pictured) and Ben Mendelsohn’s deluded Russell – a couple of inexperienced young hopefuls who aspire to a better life.

Film Review: Happy Feet Two

Happy Feet Two. Rated G (very mild sense of threat). 103 minutes. Directed by George Miller. Screenplay by George Miller, Gary Eck, Warren Coleman and Paul Livingston.

When Happy Feet (2006) won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film in 2007, it came as no surprise to anyone who had seen it. The story of Mumble (voiced by Elijah Wood) the little tap-dancing, misfit penguin was a captivating visual and musical treat. Without his ‘heartsong’ (the unique song that penguins sing to attract a mate), Mumble’s adult life within the penguin colony would be one of loneliness and despair. This simple and effective storyline powered an immensely engaging film about difference – even managing to incorporate a powerful environmental theme without turning audiences off. And the final scene of Happy Feet is the birth of Mumble and Gloria’s (voiced by the late Brittany Murphy) baby Erik – who is the undisputed the star of Happy Feet Two.

Voiced by Ava Acres, Erik is the epitome of cute – and while Erik’s travails are similar but less compelling than Mumble’s were in the first movie, they are the sequel’s pulse. Matt Damon and Brad Pitt voice the Laurel and Hardy-esque pair of Krill – Bill and Will – while Robin Williams returns as the scene-stealing Ramon and Alecia Beth Moore (better known as Pink) takes over the role of Gloria in fine voice, with her “Bridge of Light” the absolute musical highlight.

When an ecological calamity isolates the emperor penguin colony from their food source and leaves their baby penguins exposed to the feared seabird predators (the skuas) – the plot to free them becomes protracted and, ultimately, tired and tiring. The sequences involving Bill and Will (while stunning in 3D) serve primarily as distractions from the main game, and with only a couple of exceptions, the film deliberately steers well away from involving drama. The story of Sven (Hank Azaria) – which takes up a good third of the film – feels desperately over-worked, while the subplot involving Bryan the Elephant Seal (Richard Carter) and his children is beautifully done.

Ultimately, Happy Feet Two still dazzles with its singular visual finesse, even if the overall result is one of a heavy-handed, unevenness that makes it a shadow of its predecessor and a good deal less memorable.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Moneyball

Moneyball. Rated M (coarse language). 133 minutes. Directed by Bennett Miller. Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Based on the book by Michael Lewis.

Well-made films, that there has been a diabolical dearth of this year, are becoming increasingly rare beasts. In their place, we’ve had mostly empty-headed and soulless action flicks and laughter-less romantic comedies. A kind of Diet Cinema.

So it’s almost impossible to know whether the superbly scripted, directed, designed and acted Moneyball is really the cream-filled, strawberry jam-topped lamington it feels like – or whether it shines more luminously in comparison to most of the green bean salads we’ve been served up this year.

General Manager Billy Beane’s (Brad Pitt) baseball team, The Oakland Athletics, is failing. His best players are being poached by other clubs with offers of more money than the club’s owner can match. With the help of a super-smart mathematics nerd Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), Beane sets out to play the man, not the salary cap.

Based on a true story, Zaillian (Schindler’s List, Gangs of New York) and Sorkin’s (The Social Network, The West Wing, A Few Good Men, Sports Night) screenplay achieves the almost impossible task of making the behind-the-scenes machinations of a baseball league absolutely compelling. Focussed on personal as much as professional ambitions, Mr Miller (Capote) elicits outstanding performances from his cast – with Pitt delivering one of the least showy and most involving performances of his career.

Jonah Hill (Get Him to the Greek) is superb as his jovial baseball and software-addicted sidekick, while Chris Pratt (pictured) is equally good as Scott Hatteberg, one of the washed-up players given a second chance to shine on the team.

Ultimately, what absolutely works about Moneyball is the grand and timely theme of believing that goodness – if not greatness – can sometimes be found in people who others have discarded as worthless.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.