X MEN DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

There is some irony in the fact that the film to get the X-Men franchise back on track after the mistakes of X-Men 3 involves time travel to change the mistakes of the past. On paper it seems like a tall order for director Bryan Singer to not only fix the flawed and patchy plot from Last Stand but also to weave in the plot from X-Men First Class. In such a case picking a story involving time travel was actually a fairy shrewd move. It allows the filmmakers to integrate the storylines of the younger and older cast in a smoother fashion. Of course all of this would be completely meaningless were the core plot of the movie not up to scratch. Happily the film does not disappoint in this department. What we get is the culmination of a strand that has been running through all the X-Men movies (even Last Stand) - the battle of ideas between Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart/James McAvoy ) who urges a toleration between humans and mutants, and Eric Lehnsherr aka Magneto (Michael Fassbender/Ian Mckellen ) who wants a war based on survival of the fittest. These two duelling philosophies are what the conflict on the film really boils down to, not fighting robots and explosions (though there are a satisfying amount of these as well). The nightmarish scenes in the future give a vivid picture of what is at stake should the violence of Magneto win out. Though the film is very well made there are a few weak points, the original cast in the future don’t really have much to do except wait for the inevitable ‘doom’ which makes it appear as if they have been wasted a bit. The initial set up feels a tad rushed with the introduction of time travel feeling more than a little random- not to mention the fact the one character is only alive thanks to a pre credit sequence in the much maligned third film. Once it gets going though days of future past skilfully mixes in the drama and action and leaves its audience very much wanting more. FINAL VERDICT 8/10

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Unknown 02:35  No comment

Prisoners

There are few things more terrifying than a child going missing and in Prisoners it becomes even more terrifying when it happens in broad daylight and with the speed it occurs. Two children disappear at the same time and both families are thrown into a nightmarish scenario where the man they suspect walks free and there seems to be nothing to be done through official channels. This alone could be the set up for a good thriller, the film, however, takes this one step further when Keller (Hugh Jackman) kidnaps the man he believes to be responsible for his daughter’s disappearance and begins a brutal regime of interrogation. The film then splits its focus between Keller’s struggle to break his captive (and his struggles with his own conscience) and the efforts of detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) to find the girls whilst working within the system. From here the film takes the audience into the harrowing depths of desperation, anger, fear and redemption. Watching the families fall apart and suffer under the strain is almost more upsetting than the interrogation scenes themselves. The emotional strain is shown in slow agonising detail - Jackman in particular gives a mesmerising performance as a man teetering on the edge of a moral and spiritual abyss. Gyllenhaal gives a more subdued - but just as intense - portrayal of someone on the edge of the system, staying within the rules but being continually frustrated and thwarted by them. Some elements of the plot ring a little hollow; this is mostly due to a lack of elaboration and the dialogue in some scenes feels rather rushed. This does not derail a plot which for the most part keeps its audience enthralled in the story. If some of these plot points were a little more watertight it would help the film feel more complete and give a better feeling of closure at the finale. Overall this is a film that takes on weighty ideas and concepts. It might not succeed in adequately dealing with all of them but it does provide a gripping tale and a great character study in human frailty and evil. FINAL VERDICT 9/10 with great performances and a thrilling plot this will hold your attention from start to finish. NOTE –as there were many elements of the film which I could not discuss for fear of spoiling the plot I have decided to upload a separate article going into more detail.

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Unknown 13:49  No comment

WOLVERINE

When the last cinematic superhero-bubble burst it produced, towards the end, some very weak results (The Phantom). There has been some suggestion that history may be repeating itself with the relatively poor box office performance of Pacific Rim and the fact that all the major heroes have been rebooted several times (Superman, Spiderman, Hulk etc)   This latest offering is certainly not going to do anything to inspire confidence in the future lifespan of such movies.  There have been spin offs from the X-Men trilogy before; the vastly superior X-Men First Class and the faintly ridiculous X Men Origins Wolverine.   Why anyone would want to attempt a repeat of the Wolverine origins story is quite frankly beyond my imagination.

Part of it may be down to Hugh Jackman’s performance as the eponymous character which  has always proven popular with audiences even if they haven’t been too wild about the overall movie (I’m thinking X-Man 3 here).  The set up for this story is promising as the hero is made vulnerable when his ability to heal is taken from him by shadowy forces. Now he has to unravel the conspiracy whilst feeling pain like a normal man. The character is taken out of his element and placed in different country – Japan - with its vastly different culture and attitudes.  Nor is the film simply one action scene after another, a significant portion of the film is given over to plot and characters.

It’s a shame then that with this promising start they chose to do so little with them.  After an initial strong start the film quickly loses its sharp edges and begins to splutter.  One of the main problems is that the characters tend to talk in extremely cliched tones and that caused me to lose interest (count how many times the words ‘honour’ and ‘dishonour’ are used).   It’s also something of a problem that the identity of the dark shadowy puppet master is likely to be figured out by any discerning viewer about halfway through the movie (and that’s being generous).  Some might defend the plot as it’s based on a popular arc from the comics books.  I haven’t read these comic books but my guess is that this is a pretty poor adaption and something must have been lost in the process.  I can't imagine the comic book story being this predictable but it does make for one funny moment when the characters all make shocked faces at something the audience saw coming a mile off.

All of this is a great shame because, as previously mentioned, the action scenes themselves are very impressive - one of the most innovative scene in the film takes place on the roof of a  Japanese bullet train.  The Japanese setting lends itself to some very visually arresting scenes and set pieces – possibly more could have been made of these.    Nor are the performances at fault, the cast deliver their lines with conviction - even when having to deliver some pretty stupid dialogue (we’re back to the honorable and dishonorable lines).

As I said before the set-up of the film had a lot of promise and is definitely a huge improvement over X Men Origins Wolverine, however, it’s my belief that it could have been so much better had more attention being paid to the script.

FINAL VERDICT  5/10  The action scenes are not enough to stop this being  bland and forgettable.

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Unknown 06:23  No comment