FILM REVIEWS: BASTILLE DAY/FRIEND REQUEST/JANE GOT A GUN

Bastille Day

Last week, Criminal had Americans romping around London, all guns blazing. This week, it's the turn of the Parisians in Bastille Day. Richard Madden stars as an American pickpocket who is falsely accused of setting off a bomb in Paris and is tracked down by an expat CIA officer, played by Idris Elba. Soon working together to uncover the real culprits, Madden and Elba rampage through Paris in this fairly enjoyable throwaway film.

It says something that given Paris' recent tragedies, Bastille Day is light enough in touch not to get a little too close to the bone. The film has moments of violence and grit, but knows how to balance those with humour, ultimately aiming for the old-fashioned James Bond demographic rather than the overtly aggressive Insert Name Here Has Fallen franchise. It's not exactly an authentic view of Paris, with our leads as Americans (on top of that, both played by English actors) and this doesn't really pull any new tricks for an action movie but it knows what it needs to do and its functionality, it confidently ticks the boxes. Perhaps in a parallel universe there's a gritty French street-crime/action movie named Bastille Day starring Omar Sy and it would probably be much better, but if this Idris' audition tape for a future as James Bond, he's played it well. Charlotte Le Bon also features. (This Week's Hot Ticket)

Friend Request

About a year ago now, the world was given Unfriended (2015), a horror movie in the found footage tradition using the world of social media as its backdrop. Sure, it was gimmicky but the film's fairly decent execution did mean it was better than expectations had been pushed to believe. Friend Request is forever doomed to live in that shadow of temporarily raised expectations.

The film is from the viewpoint of Laura, who befriends a stranger named Malinda. Malinda seems a little unusual and when she's stood up for a party, she commits suicide and before long more deaths seem to follow with the videos of her victims demises being uploaded Laura's account. Aside from a couple of promising animated sequences, Friend Request is a profoundly flat film. Even by the horror genre's notoriously low standards for character development (and I say this even as a horror movie fan) the gaggle of teen leads are bland and devoid of personality, leaving you longing for the dear departed John Hughes whilst the film's "antagonist" is actually more relatable to a significant chunk of the audience.

Horror movies can often get away with being inconsequential. They're mostly meant to be devoured as a bit of a laugh and a cheap thrill, especially horror on the mainstream but tacking onto a Facebook gimmick (and this is about as close as you can get to using Facebook without lawyers being called in) really calls into question if this film will be relevant in a few years. Of course, with its one-trick-pony approach to jump scares, horror's answer to a fart joke, banal writing and completely careless approach to production, this film will probably lose relevance the moment your eyes leave the screen.

Jane Got A Gun

One of a large number of films whose screenplays have been plucked out of development hell, Jane Got A Gun has had a troublesome production history, with its original director dripping out after the first day of filming. Ordinarily, such a notoriously troubled shoot makes for a bad film and whilst calling Jane Got A Gun a travesty is overstepping the mark, the problems are clear.

Natalie Portman stars as Jane, a woman living on the Old West frontier who is driven to protect herself when a former acquaintance (played by Ewan McGregor) comes to right where he feels he has been wronged. You get a feeling that Jane Got A Gun is trying to claim a radical position. A guns blazing Western with a female lead but it's far from anything new and such a film almost feels more like a Western at home in the revisionist days of the 1960's. Heck, even the title lends itself to a Jane Fonda vehicle of some sort and with premise being drained of its potential power, you're left with an unremarkable effort. Its haphazard production leaves the entire film feeling un-cohesive even with its fairly straight-forward plot and the sepia-tinted cinematography, whilst a nice idea, becomes a little bit of a strain on the eyes.

If you like Westerns, Jane Got A Gun is not going to offend your tastes. The atmosphere that comes with the genre and the sweeping desert vistas are still there and Natalie Portman actually puts in a game performance but this production ultimately suffers from a lack of certainty on whether it wants to be a female-lead barnstormer or something more traditional. That, and the film's unfortunate run of bad luck, has created something a little less than the sum of its parts and really just okay when it could've been great. Also features Joel Edgerton.

FILM REVIEWS (CRIMINAL/EYE IN THE SKY/THE JUNGLE BOOK)

Criminal

In this sci-fi action movie, Kevin Costner stars as a psychotic prisoner, implanted with the memories of Bill Pope, a deceased agent (played by Ryan Reynolds) in order to track down the anarchist responsible for Pope's death. A film that thematically owes a pretty heavy debt to Robocop (1987), Criminal lacks that film's wit or intelligence and instead is a ham-fisted and inept lumbering beast with far more muscles than brains. The film has an unusual London setting; unusual given the entirely non-English main characters, including those clearly written as English and a sense of dialogue so tin-eared that it becomes rather funny, especially the very British responses to Costner's meathead antics (favourites include a kebab shop owner being dissuaded from hitting Costner with a hammer and causing a "kerfuffle" and another passer-by's stunned question "Who punches someone in a patisserie?")

Not quite smart enough to be aware of its own stupidity, Criminal just comes off as a hack job only occasionally lightened by its own amusing stupidity with a somewhat unengaged cast and an all-too-emotional performance from Gary Oldman. Criminal? Yes it is. Also features Gal Gadot, Tommy Lee Jones and Alice Eve.

Eye In The Sky

Tensions run high in this political war thriller where the possibility stop a potential terrorist attack bring its own ethical complications. Drone warfare has long been an intense topic for discussion and controversy, both from the damage it causes and the issues surrounding the impersonal detachment involved in using drones. As the director of the 2013 film adaptation of Ender's Game, Gavin Hood is a smart choice to direct, but rather than play his hand towards the "war being like a video game" viewpoint that is often associated with drones, here a more fraught representation is presented with a strong supporting performance by Aaron Paul, whose scenes amount to the best parts of the film, though Helen Mirren is also excellent as a determined military officer, who is arguably the film's lead.

What could be seen as a modern equivalent to the likes of Fail-Safe (1964) or even Dr. Strangelove (1964), Eye In The Sky really serves more as a conversation starter than as a full-blown exploration of the War On Terror, but it's that same spirit to engage people and have them thinking that should be encouraged and the fact that the film is as effective as it is, is just icing on the cake. Also features Bakkad Abdi, Iain Glen and the late, great Alan Rickman in his last onscreen role.

The Jungle Book

Released in 1967, Walt Disney's animated version of The Jungle Book proved to be one of Disney's most enduring animated features and whilst it had its occasional flaws (notoriously having Beatle-esque vultures singing barbershop because Walt didn't believe the Fab Four's legacy would last), the film's charm and effervescent sense of fun made it a classic. Jon Favreau's attempt at doing a "live-action" (actually more like photo-realistic CG with a live action lead) remake may seem like a folly, but it's easily the best of the recent glut of Disney remakes and may in fact surpass its animated ancestor.

Bringing the darker tone Rudyard Kipling's source material, this Jungle Book stars Neel Sethi as wolf-raised man-cub Mowgli on a quest to leave the jungle and find the man village to save himself and his adoptive family from the wrath of the tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba). Whilst being lovingly faithful to the '67 version, this film's attempt at carving out a new niche opens up the world and provides some great new dimensions to the Jungle Book world, bringing a new sense of majesty alongside a well-chosen cast. Who would make a better Baloo then Bill Murray? Or breathe new life into the sinister snake Kaa than Favreau mainstay Scarlett Johannson? And who doesn't want Christopher Walken to play a giant ape (and, yes, there was such an animal as a Gigantopithecus. Amazing, right?) and whilst Elba's authoritative take on Khan is distinctly different to the sophisticated charm of George Sanders' performance in the animated film, it's a valid interpretation.

Beautifully realised, humbly reverent to its antecedent but also brash and daring enough to go somewhere new, this live action Jungle Book might be a bit too intense for the youngest of children, but its ability to do something admirably new whilst homaging the old is exactly what these new Disney remakes should be doing. Cast also features Ben Kingsley, Lupita N'yongo and Giancarlo Esposito. (This Week's Hot Ticket)

FILM REVIEWS (HARDCORE HENRY/THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY/MIDNIGHT SPECIAL)

Hardcore Henry

One of the most novel action movies in recent memory, this adrenalie-and-blood-soaked Russian action thriller that puts the audience in the driver's seat as "Henry"; a man who wakes from a coma with no voice or memory and new cybernetic limbs who is on a quest to find information on his identity.

The plot is pretty basic (Robocop (1987) without the clever satire would be the best explanation) but the film makes no pretension to being anything but a pseudo-experiment in virtual reality. How much you will get out of the film will hinge in how much you can chime with the protagonist's actions. If you can switch your mind off and just enjoy blood and thrills, it's not without charms but the film's rather unnerving issues with women and gay people definitely leave a sour taste in the mouth. The film might also have one of the worst action movie villain to date, looking less like a Bond supervillain and more like a z-grade Dutch house DJ and Tim Roth is rather wasted in a minor role. Still, Sharlto Copley is on occasion entertaining, especially in a completely unexpected standout sequence that will forever tinge your appreciation for the Great American Songbook. Worthwhile for the curious, otherwise just stay at home and play Goldeneye for the N64. It's not that much different.

The Man Who Knew Infinity

Dev Patel stars in this biopic centred on Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan and his work at Cambridge in the shadow of the First World War. Supposedly ten years in the making, The Man Who Knew Infinity may have gotten its green-light off of the recent success of The Theory Of Everything (2014) given its similar backdrops and tone as well as the film doesn't seem quite as polished as it wants to be. That isn't to say that the film isn't enjoyable. Dev Patel plays off of his innate earnest qualities as Ramanujan whilst Jeremy Irons is his enjoyable foil in fellow Cambridge mathematician G.H. Hardy and the film does go some way to convey Ramanujan's fascination and love of numbers even as the film ticks off of all of the expected tropes for this kind of story. Ultimately, the film itself feels a little too ramshackle and a slightly more polished presentation would probably have done it wonders, but it's fine enough stuff with Toby Jones also making a good supporting part and Stephen Fry turns up for a couple of minutes being his always-charming self.

Midnight Special

Having previously given us Mud, Jeff Nicholls brings the same gritty aesthetic of the American south to this Close Encounters-tinged science fiction film about a young boy with strange powers that become of interest to the US government. Whilst elements of the concept are nothing new (aside from Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977), there are strong parallels to E.T. (1982), Starman (1984) and Looper (2012)) the film pulls them into interesting directions but never fully explains them or provide a satisfying resolution to them. Michael Shannon gives a very good performance alongside the film's child star Jaeden Lieberher, but the promising premise is ultimately spread too thin. Also includes Joel Edgerton, Adam Driver, Kirsten Dunst and Sam Shepard. (This Week's Hot Ticket)

FILM REVIEWS: EDDIE THE EAGLE/HUNTSMAN: WINTER'S WAR/RAN

Eddie The Eagle

Falling somewhere between Cool Runnings (1996) and Billy Elliot (2000), Eddie The Eagle stars Taron Edgerton as Michael "Eddie The Eagle" Edwards; a most unlikely contender for the ski jump at the 1988 Winter Olympics at Calgary. If you're looking for the no-holds-barred definitive account of Edwards' story, you may want to look elsewhere. Eddie The Eagle is a pretty sweeping fictionalisation of Edwards' story, taking the tale of an admittedly unusual British athlete's training for The Games and turning it into a pure underdog story complete with an equally fictitious washed-up former jumper played by Hugh Jackman who becomes Edwards' mentor.

His third feature film, director Dexter Fletcher (probably best known for his acting roles in shows like Press Gang) seems to be carving his own niche as a feel-good, light filmmaker off the back of the undoubtedly eccentric but equally charming Proclaimers musical Sunshine On Leith (2013) and that has issues and assets. The film is undoubtedly fluffy. As fluffy as a rabbit sitting on a giant marshmallow. There's a slickness to the production that definitely edges a little too close to cheesiness and a broad happy-go-lucky silliness that also teeters towards the worst elements of Richard Curtis' work (Tim McInnerny, an actor who I'm rather fond of, is saddled with a somewhat exaggerated snobbish Olympics official) but it's to the credit of the cast and crew that for all its artifice, Eddie The Eagle is still a great film.

You'll watch it knowing that the film is going for your heartstrings and funny bones and will push the limits of tasteful film-making to do it, but like its protagonist, the film somehow pulls this off. The writing is just constructed well enough to go for those beats that respond with an audience. It should be seen as cynically manipulative but instead, it's charming and moving. Somehow, Eddie The Eagle is a film that seems to try too hard to be liked, but rather bizarrely does deserve to be liked, if not loved. Also in the cast are Keith Allen, Richard Benson, Jim Broadbent and Christopher Walken. (Pick Of The Week)

The Huntsman: Winter’s War

Christopher Hemsworth is back in this sequel to Snow White And The Huntsman (2013). Here, we get a little bit more detail on Hemsworth’s backstory and a love with fellow Huntsman (Huntswoman?) Sara, played by Jessica Chastain, separated by the frosty Queen Freya, sister to Charlize Theron’s wicked Queen Revanna and played by Emily Blunt. Whilst the original film tempted with a darker, grittier take on the Snow White tale but ultimately fell short of delivering the goods, Winter’s War delivers much of the same, though re-tooled to appeal to fans of both Frozen (2013) and Game Of Thrones.

The key issue is one of dissonance. A film that desires for tougher meat but never really breaks from the safe fairy tale conventions and a cast that equally seem at odds with how to deliver it. Hemsworth and Chastain do have a little chemistry and could, in a unified film, make their partnership work but their earthier performances are somewhat undermined by the flamboyant set-dressing and even more flamboyant Charlize Theron and Emily Blunt who are too theatrical to truly take seriously. Nick Frost and Rob Brydon are perhaps the best thing in this film as a pair of trolls along for the journey (similar can be said for Alexandra Roach and Sheridan Smith as their female counterparts, though their parts never really get fleshed out to their full potential).

If The Huntsman: Winter’s War knew what direction to take, it could work. Gritty action-fantasy, Princess Bride (1987) influenced parody or just a shameless fairy tale, each could work in their own way but, as is often the case, the film tries to please too many people and probably won’t please enough. Maybe in time, this franchise will find its feet. Also, listen out for Liam Neeson as the narrator and a small supporting role from Ralph Ineson.

Ran

Currently being rereleased following a new 4K remaster, Akira Kurosawa's 1985 epic Ran is widely regarded as the Japanese auteur's last truly great film. Taking its cue from William Shakespeare's King Lear, Ran stars Tatsuya Nakadai as Hidetora Ichimonji, an ageing warlord who proposes to divide his land between his three sons, only for deception and manipulation to lead to war and madness. Whilst Lear is partially the ur text for Ran, the film is fed through Japanese conventions of the Jidaigeki genre (stories set in Japan's feudal period, usually concerned with Lords, samurai and the like) and the country's theatrical tradition of kabuki and noh giving the performances, especially Nakadai and co-star Mieko Harada as a scheming mistress to one of Hidetora's sons. Though Kurosawa was starting to go blind during production, the film is stunningly presented with colourful motifs and sweeping vistas alongside one of cinema's greatest battle scenes and a strong running thread of nihilism.

It's a long film and can be somewhat imposing to people unfamiliar with Japan's history and culture, but it's still a work well deserving of its reverent reputation.