STALINGRAD

When it comes to telling the story of the decisive history-altering Battle of Stalingrad then you would think that a Russian film would capture the true essence of the story. After all, surely native filmmakers could captures the raw emotion and human tragedy involved on screen? Sadly, the answer in this case is no. Right from the very start there are problems, we get a framing story - the purpose of which is seemingly to tie the film in to the modern age. Now I’m not an expert on Russian culture but I would guess that the impact of World War 2 and Stalingrad is still pretty well known. From this framing story we get a narration that runs through the film giving us the characters’ backstories in the most melodramatic manner possible. Another tactical misstep comes in the film’s battle scenes. In an effort to make these sequences stand out the director seems to have taken a page out of, of all people, Zach Snyder’s book. As the film 300 existed in a strange comic-book-come-to-life-like-reality, the bursts of slow motion during the action scenes worked within the film’s context. Why anyone thought the same would work here is beyond me, you can’t go from your comrades sitting brooding about their pre-war lives to scenes with them bayoneting enemy tropes in almost music video style slow motion. The scenes themselves are quite good they just don’t fit in with the rest of the movie. This is shame because the performances are generally good ,the actors are giving their all, however, much like the hard-pressed Russian army on the front lines, unsupported by good script or solid direction. FINAL VERDICT 4/10 fails to live up to either the scope or the human drama of the story it’s trying to tell.

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Unknown 04:02  No comment

THE MONUMENTS MEN

Synopsis: A group of experts are tasked with recovering lost works of art before it is destroyed by the Nazis. Monuments Men deals with the fight to preserve and recover plundered Nazi treasures before they are lost forever. That sounds like a fairly straightforward, if specialised, war movie, the problem is that the film makers don’t seem quite sure what kind of film they wanted to make. To illustrate this point I will post two links at the bottom of this page, one is the first trailer, which takes a comedic tone, and a second trailer which takes a very different tone, focusing on the drama and emotional impact of the story. I think this best illustrates the main problem with the film, it doesn’t know if it’s a high spirited adventure/comedy or a moving war drama. Worse still, the weightings on the comedy side are very sparse, indeed from a comedy standpoint the film is a severe failure. There are some laughs but they are mainly muted with the main comedy set piece being shown in the trailer. If one were to go in with the expectations of the first trailer then you would be severely disappointed. On the dramatic side things are more promising; the film does a worthy job in getting its audience invested in the fate of the stolen art work. Since most of the film’s audience (myself included) will not know a Rembrandt form a Rolf Harris this is vital. Strong chemistry between the principal performers helps this process along, the ‘buddy cop’ vibe is best felt between Bill Murray’s Sgt Richard Campbell and Bob Balaban’s Preston Savitz. Even in its strongest point the film is not without problems, the drama is not consistent - some scenes have you hooked and invested in the quest only for things to come to a screeching halt at other. A plot strand involving Matt Damon is particularly guilty of this dragging on for twice as long as it feels it needs to. This is a shame because when the film gets going it can produce very moving scenes. FINAL VERDICT 5/10 there is a solid foundation that might have been built on here but it feels like the film is lacking in what it might have been. Trailer 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npBafjCCILw Trailer 2- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEj-UyqseU8

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Unknown 03:58  No comment

THE RAILWAY MAN

SYNOPSIS –a haunted veteran sets out to confront his tormentor. Most films that deal with prisoners of war focus primarily on the tortures, both psychical and mental, as they take place; few films look at the long term effects of the treatment and the toll it takes on everyday lives. The railway man tells the true story of Eric Lomax and his long struggle to come to terms with his days as a POW. Much of the Railway Man’s strength lies in its performances; Colin firth gives a powerful portrayal of the older Eric Lomax, whilst Jeremy Irvine shows us the younger Eric, still possessing the youthful innocence that is about to be so brutally broken. Tanroh Ishida plays the young version of Takashi Nagase, the young officer who serves as Eric’s chief tormentor, giving the part a sinister edge as he continues to haunt Eric into the present. Hiroyuki Sanada plays the older Takashi giving a great performance as a man trying desperately to atone for the mistake of his past. The best thing about these performances is that they work so well in sync with each other; you can still see flickers of the young man in the older, haunted Eric. There are flashes of the uncertainty in the younger Takashi that will one day come close to consuming his older self. Also of note is Nicole Kidman’s performance as Eric’s wife, and Stellan Skarsgard as fellow POW Finlay. All of these performances lend the film a great emotional weight which is good because the film has something of a pacing problem. Once we really get into the story things are fine but first we get Eric and Patti’s courtship which (not to sound insensitive) goes on a little too long. Both Kidman and Firth have good on-screen chemistry and these scenes probably could have been shortened without losing any of the film’s emotional impact. The main POW story is delivered in one large segment near the middle of the film which, I personally, think might have been better suited as smaller paced out segments. FINAL VERDICT 6/10 a very powerful story that once it gets started keeps the audience gripped.

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Unknown 03:57  No comment