THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN 2

I have to admit that when The Amazing Spiderman came out in 2012 I was slightly sceptical, it just seemed like such a cynically quick turnaround after Toby McGuire trilogy. I was, however, pleasantly surprised to find that the reboot was well thought out and (crucially) well-acted and at the very least did much to banish the image of Peter Parker dancing round a club to soft jazz. Andrew Garfield’s Spider Man injects the movie with a good dose of humour and wisecracking which is a very good thing because a lot of this film deals with consequences of past choices and relationship troubles. These two tones could have clashed and made the film feel uneven but luckily director Marc Webb (no really) knows when the jokes and wisecracks need to stop and when they can be advantageous. In many ways this film belongs just as much to Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy as it does to Garfield’s Spider Man. Her choices influence events as much as his and her character makes a nice change from the usual ‘damsel in distress’ types that the character might have fallen into. It helps that Garfield and Stone (sounds like a detective agency) have such great chemistry together and play off each other so well. This also helps with the script’s clunkier moments where corny dialogue can be made less painful when said with some conviction. Facing off against Spidey in this outing is disturbed loner Max (Jamie Foxx) who is given electrical powers in a work accident (and you thought you had a bad day at the office). Foxx’s performance makes sure that once swathed in CGI lightning he does not degenerate into a special effect. As a villain it has to be admitted that he somewhat lacks motivation (he doesn’t even have an evil laugh) but his character is still enjoyable and the fights between hero and villain are visually thrilling. Final VERDICT 8/10 On the whole this is an extremely well made sequel. It remains to be seen if a planned third film can avoid the pitfalls of previous Spider Man films.

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Unknown 06:31  No comment

NEED FOR SPEED

Synopsis: A street racer sets out to clear his name Video game adaptations have not had the best track record cinematically, from the infamous Super Mario brothers to the dull Doom, filmmakers seem to have continuing trouble in translating across the medium. There is an irony here as video games themselves have taken on characteristics of movies with orchestral soundtracks and cinematic cut scenes. If it seems that I am delaying reviewing Need for Speed then it is because there is very little to say about it. True, we do not have another Doom on our hands - but it’s close. The car chase action is passable, I suppose, but when you compare it to films like Fast and the Furious it all seems a bit blasé. Not enough certainly to disguise the cliché storm that erupts into the movie’s plot. Now clichés can be done well, after all the previously mentioned Fast and the Furious contains plenty; the key to this is having the characters interesting enough to keep the audience invested in what happens to them. Need for Speed fails utterly in this - the characters are bland and their motivations laid so bare that you might as well have a big shining thread from A to B with the words ‘CHARACTER ARC’ on it for each one. What this means is that when moments of contrived insanity occur rather than grin and cheer, caught up in the moment, the audience is more likely to roll their eyes at the ridiculousness of it all. As mentioned the race scenes are well done, so it’s not a total washout, it just feels that with more effort they could have done so much for with the adaptation from game to screen. FINAL VERDICT 5/10 Need for a more well-thought out plot.

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Unknown 04:29  2 comments

NOAH

What do you get if you take the Old Testament, Kabbalah texts, Eastern mysticism and Gnostic gospel accounts and throw them all in a blender? The answer is Darren Aronofsky’s Noah. Even if you think you’ve heard the story before it has to be said that Aronofsky will have something to surprise you. Whether it’s the six-armed stone giants, the biblical rocket launchers or ancient version of chloroform is up to you. Don’t except the Voice of God to come booming down from the heavens or even whisper to someone in a dream, God in this case is “sir-not-appearing-in-this –picture.” Why would Aronofsky go to the trouble of including all these strange and disparate elements? Simply as a vehicle to get his message -that man’s principal duty is to care for the environment –across. Now I’ve nothing against films with a moral or a message, it usually means that the filmmaker will have more passion invested in the project as it’s about their personal beliefs. In the case of Noah though it appears to be very much ‘message first, plot second’. This puts strains on the third act in particular which descends into a bit of a mess (several people at the screening I was at walked out). There are two things that are the film’s principal assets; the first is the flood scenes themselves which are brutally uncompromising in showing the devastating result of the deluge, the moans of the doomed echoing round the arc are haunting not just to Noah and his family but also to the audience. The second is Clint Mansell’s score which manages to rouse feeling of grandeur and scale to bolster the on-screen action (or lack of it). One of the main thing that drags the film down, for me, is that Noah is such an erratic and often unsympathetic character. Obviously we want real people and not cardboard cut-outs from the children’s illustrated bible, but as a central character I just found him to behave so randomly that it took away from seeing him as a real person . Naamah, Noah’s wife, on the other hands, is a far more interesting character and is played well by Jennifer Connelly who is badly underused. One has to wonder if the film would have worked better from her point of view. FINAL VERDICT 5/10 Good set pieces but overall it disappoints.

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Unknown 11:10  No comment

THE LEGEND OF HERCULES

Synopsis –A retelling of the story of Hercules as he fights to claim his rightful place Whenever I see a film based on Greek myths or other world legends I am always amazed at how the miracle and medium of cinema can be used to make these ancient stories so utterly boring. This film is a prime example of an exciting legend turned into mildly enjoyable mediocrity. Problems occur right from the start with the approach of reinventing or reimagining the story - just to be clear, reinventions can be exciting and breathe new life into a story - but not this time. Reinvention in this case consist of a plot that would have been a cliché back in the days these stories were first told - (“He fights for the love of a woman” - oh come now Hipricus that is so 500 BC). None of the interesting creatures from Greek myths turn up, except for a supernatural lion that is dispatched rather easily. Here’s a hint - when your main character is the son of Zeus and has Hulk- like strength, don’t put him up against men with swords – it’s not too difficult trying to work out who’s going to win. It’s not that the Legend of Hercules is a disastrously bad film, the action scenes are well put together (albeit heavily influenced by 300), and I can’t say I was particularly bored but could have been so much more, well, epic . Given that this was always going to be a spectacle-driven film, where’s the spectacle? Even the final battle consists of about fifty people on each side – that’s about the usual amount of people involved in a pub fight in Glasgow on Saturday night. In short, this film will entertain but just not half as much as it could have FINAL VERDICT 5/10

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Unknown 12:18  No comment