Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Regardless of the quality of any film I am easily lured in by slick trailer and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (hereinafter referred to as MI4) definitely had one of those. 

PLOT:  Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team of Benji (Simon Pegg), Jane (Paula Patton) and shifty Brandt (Jeremy Renner) find themselves framed for blowing up the Kremlin.  With nuclear war pending Ethan and his team must travel to Dubai and Mumbai in order to track down the terrorist.  END PLOT

The plot of MI4 is standard fare with the tried and tested Russian terrorism/nuclear threat storyline being recycled once more but let’s be honest – nobody is going to see MI4 for complex storytelling.   Aside from a few lags in pacing which induced several brief moments of boredom the plot did a decent job of moving us from one exotic and action packed location to another.

The set pieces were impressive especially Ethan scaling the Burj Khalifa building.  The main strength of MI4 is that despite all the futuristic technology such as camera fitted contact lenses it keeps its action reasonably grounded.

The score is the familiar MI theme and pops up regularly throughout the film with my favourite moment being the extended opening credits sequence.

I am not a fan of Tom Cruise and I will never understand why other people are (that's the real mission impossible).  In MI4 Cruise deploys his evil dead eyes and fake white smile in their usual manner.  Cruise isn’t getting any younger and as the sacrificial ritual to keep him looking radiant is no longer working it was necessary to introduce a potential young replacement for Ethan in the form of 40 year old Jeremy Renner.

I like Jeremy Renner (just as well as he is appearing in a couple of blockbusters in 2012) and he was good fun as Brandt.  The problem is Renner is at least ten years too old – cast someone else in that age range and reboot.  

Simon Pegg kept to his usual shtick which was amusing in parts but he is always weaker without Nick Frost.

Josh Holloway got his arse of a Hawaiian beach for a little cameo and Ving Rhames phoned in a one scene performance and earned the easiest $7.7million in history (IMDB).

The most intriguing thing to come out of MI4 is the discovery that Brad Bird is very capable of directing a live action feature.  It is easy to compare aspects of MI4 to The Incredibles but this is no bad thing.

Mission Impossible:  Ghost Protocol was a fun experience which required me to do nothing more than disengage my limited brain functioning capabilities and tag along for the ride.  Mission complete.  7/10.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Cinema died a slow and painful death in early December thanks to those sparkling vampires that shall not be named but luckily Santa came early and brought the Christmas blockbusters; the first of which being Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

I enjoyed Sherlock Holmes as much as everyone else as it was an unexpectedly good film but the first time I viewed the trailer for the inevitable sequel it did absolutely nothing for me.  The trailer was a grower and I warmed to it enough to be excited for the second instalment, although it has to be said that this was my first cinema trip of month so I was also experiencing withdrawal symptoms.

PLOT:  Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Junior) takes time off from designing urban camouflage disguises in order to stop his new found arch-nemesis Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris) from starting a war between to nameless countries; suffice to say they speak both French and German.  Watson (Jude Law) is getting married and Sherlock interrupts his honeymoon trip to Brighton and drags him to Switzerland (which frankly looks like something out of Middle Earth) in order to stop an impending war.  Holmes and Watson are helped by Holmes’ older brother Mycroft (Stephen Fry) and gypsy rebel Simza (Noomi Rapace).  The winner of the  two hour chess game is announced.  END PLOT??

For the first fifteen minutes of A Game of Shadows I was honestly worried as the pacing was ridiculously slow.  The entire opening sequence consisted of a sub-plot involving Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams) which added nothing to the film.  Luckily the film perked up immediately after the Adler scenes ended. 

If you take a step back and look at the script of Sherlock Holmes it is extremely basic.  The films strength lies in its near perfect casting.

Once Holmes and Watson appeared on screen together the pacing of the film sped up, the rapport was better than the first film and the homoerotic subtext was hilariously yet purposely unsubtle.

RDJ manages to keep Holmes on the right side of ridiculous and Law deserves some sort of award for best drunken fall of the year.  The banter between the two allows for some decent laughs.  The line “I am so overt I am actually covert” has already been borrowed adopted stolen as my own.

The chemistry and the strength of the bromance is the big draw in Sherlock Holmes but credit has to be given to Jared Harris who is excellent as the intelligent villain Moriarty.  Harris and RDJ also have some zingy and fast paced scenes with the tension increasing with each meeting.

The battle of wits between Moriarty and Holmes stays that way and although there are some good set pieces the main show down is essentially a “Holmes Vision” construction of how a boxing brawl between the two will unfold.  The “Holmes Vision” is overused throughout the film but what stops the finale from becoming repetitive is the introduction of “Moriarty Vision” in which we also are shown Moriarty’s imagining of the pending fist fight which plays in tandem with Holmes’.

The action ranges from a very decent bar fight which has a wonderful Irish Jig playing on top of it to a machine gun blasting chase through a forest.

The forest chase was chock full of slow motion shots and explosions.  This set piece looked and indeed sounded amazing but the only place the scene will hold up is in the cinema itself unless I seriously upgrade my surround sound although if ever there was an excuse to do so....... 

The film clocks in at just over two hours and despite the very poor opening I got what I paid to see – the Holmes and Sherlock double act.  When the two were on screen together I could have sat on for hours.

The ending of the film was extremely predictable although can it really be considered predictable whenever you cannot actually see what (or who) it is you are looking for?  I think it was clever and perfectly in line with the cheeky tone of the film.

Sherlock Holmes:  A Game of Shadows won’t be to everyone’s taste, there are faults and it is not going to win any awards but I don’t care – it was great fun and it deserves a generously festive 8.5/10.  Expect the sequel to become a trilogy. 

Fermat's Room / La Habitacion de Fermat

Fassbender Season is on hiatus until Fassy gets around to making more films therefore I am stuck for something to review.  The time of year would suggest a Christmas Season but as I am short on Christmas dvds and the funds to purchase them I am making do with what I have.  It is now Spanish Season which means I will finally get to watch and review the Spanish Guillermo del Toro films which I have been putting off due to a justified fear that I will not be able to give them the praise they deserve.

Spanish Season starts with Fermat’s Room and will continue on until at least February which coincides with the return of the second half of The Walking Dead.

PLOT:  Four mathematicians answer the challenge of Fermat (Federico Luppi) and agree to meet at a secluded location under the pseudonyms Hilbert (Lluis Homar), Pascal (Santi Millan), Galois (a very attractive Alejo Sauras) and Oliva (Elena Ballesteros).  Shortly after they have eaten dinner Fermat receives an urgent call and he has to leave the party.  As the group await his return they realise they have become locked in the room.  They are given mathematical puzzles which must be solved within one minute otherwise the walls start to close in on them until they work out the correct answer.  Between puzzles they try to work out Fermat’s motive and it soon becomes clear that all is not what it seems.  END PLOT

Fermat’s Room is the equivalent of Saw without the blood.   I do appreciate that this may not make it sound like the most appealing film in the world especially if you hate the Saw franchise as much as I do.  Fermat’s Room is similar to Saw in the sense that a group of apparent strangers are placed in a room and forced into solving puzzles in order to survive – this is where the similarities end.

Fermat’s Room is not violent in the slightest.  There is no blood and there is no gore.  Instead of blood and gore we get consistently rising tension and stress levels.  As the room begins to shrink claustrophobia and panic sets in and the victims start to turn on one another as the truth slowly begins to unravel. 

The premise of Fermat’s Room sounds silly when written down but the film does work.  I don’t think the ending will satisfy everyone as it doesn’t end in a crazed last man standing battle but I liked the relatively quiet ending as it suited the characters.

Aside from Luppi I don’t know the cast at all but there was a really strong mixture of old and younger actors who all played well off one another.  The cast kept an admittedly ridiculous premise very grounded and they played it very real. 

Despite the film essentially taking place in the one room there were some decent shots and camera work – the bird’s eye view of the room closing in was actually a nice moment and as the tension arose the camera movement sped up quicker than a music video which again helped to enhance the urgency.

The mathematical puzzles are difficult enough that I couldn’t work them out for myself but easy enough for the mathematicians to explain quickly once they were solved.  The running time is just shy of 90mins and this coupled with the one minute time allotted to solve each puzzle gave a real sense of urgency which heightened the tension and stress levels of the characters even more. The pacing is fast which suited the film perfectly.

Fermat’s Room is by no means perfect as once the film ends it is very easy to start picking holes in the plot but with most thrillers you just have to buy into what you see in order for the film to work. 

Fermat’s Room is a very decent low budget thriller which is most definitely worth a second viewing.  It gets a very solid 7.5/10. 

The Walking Dead: Pretty Much Dead Already (Spoilers)

After an amazing start to season two there is no disputing the fact that it noticeably dipped in quality with the obvious weak links being Cherokee Rose and Secrets.  I was nervous about the mid-season finale especially after seeing the spoiler photograph which had been circling the internet. 

PLOT:  The episode opens with an ominous shot of the Walker filled barn which is now defying the basic rules of geography by being is in the background of almost every shot.  Glenn (Steven Yeun) announces to the group that there are Walkers in the barn and the news does not go down well with Shane (Jon Bernthal).  Shane discovers Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) is pregnant and is promptly told that he is *not* the father although he begs to differ.  Maggie (Lauren Cohen) gives Glenn an egg hat. Carol (Melissa McBride) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) continue their awkward yet adorable friendship.   Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn) senses trouble and attempts to hide the guns by basically wandering into the forest and remaining stationary until he is discovered with relative ease by Shane.  T-Dog (Irone Singleton) wanders into frame and I need an explanation as to his whereabouts.  Is T-Dog having some mini adventures off screen that the viewer is not privy to?  As Rick (Andrew Lincoln) is off on a Walker reconnaissance mission with Hershel (Scott Wilson) Shane uses the opportunity to deliver a motivational “kill them all” speech in his typical steroid-esq fuelled manner.  The barn door is open and a staggering number of Walkers emerge. The hunt for Sophia (Madison Lintz) is finally over.  END PLOT

If Chupacabra is Daryl’s episode and Secrets is Loris then it is only fair to say that Pretty Much Dead Already belongs to Shane. 

Shane is the most intriguing and controversial character on the entire show.  His apparent craziness isn’t as clear cut as it first appears as although serious questions have to be asked about his methods his goal has always been to protect the group and more specifically Lori and Carl.  Jon Bernthal absolutely killed it this episode.  Shane’s reaction to the news that Lori is pregnant is my favourite Shane moment of the entire show - his subtly shaking hands were a brilliant touch.  

The relationship between Rick and Shane is becoming much more strained.  There were a couple of nice paralleling moments in the episode with Shane telling Lori that “Rick isn’t cut out for this world” which shows that Shane sees Rick as being weak.  This was flipped around by Dale later on in the episode with Dale telling Shane that “You belong in this world” which shows that Shane is losing his grip on humanity. 

I always liked the fact that tv Shane has outlived his comic book counterpart and it is definitely worth mentioning that his story arc has become the most intense and dramatic.

Daryl and Carol’s continuing friendship continues to blossom and although their screen time has been quite limited for a couple of episodes they make the most of what little time they get.  Their silent reactions and flinches speak volumes about their past.  They both deserve more in the 2^nd half of the season.

It is interesting that the arcs I am buying into the most; Shane, Daryl and Carol are not from the comic book.  I am not sure if it’s because they are new to me or if they are quite simply better than the source material – either way if season two keeps the momentum going with these three characters I have high hopes.

As a self confessed spoiler whore I knew how the hunt for Sophia would end as soon as a photograph of Walker Sophia started circulating on the internet several days before the episode aired in America.  There were debates about whether or not it was fake but from the moment I saw it I knew it was real – and I wasn’t happy about it.

The hunt for Sophia lasted for so long I expected an earth shattering pay off and after seeing the photograph I couldn’t help but feel disappointed. I never get tired of being proved incorrect about my hunches as the reveal of Sophia and the attack on the barn was probably the best 10mins of The Walking Dead so far. 

Madison Lintz got more time as Walker Sophia than regular Sophia and this worked as it allowed each character a reaction shot and the softer part of me thinks it’s sweet that she got an extended moment to shine.   The death of Sophia is a big departure from the comics as she is one of the few original characters still alive.

Sophia in the comics plays a big part in Glenn and Maggie’s relationship as they essentially adopt her.  Although I am sadder than expected about the death of Sophia I could never see this comic book thread developing on the show and that is because of Glenn.

Of all the characters Glenn is the one that remains the least developed as he hasn’t changed in the slightest since season one nor has he been given any back story.

The way Steven Yeun delivers his lines reminds me of I-Carley or some other zippy Nickelodeon sitcom that I have been forced to watch by the younger members of my family.   Whenever Yeun is not attempting to be dry witted he can be watchable – Glenn asking Maggie’s permission to shoot was a surprisingly respectful touch. 

Perhaps they are keeping Glenn as the kid of the group in order to allow him to have his coming of age moment.  The problem is we are already going through this development with Rick who is a much more important character than Glenn.  It worries me that when his moment comes I wont care as he is nothing more than a background player.

There was always going to be some action in the mid season finale and it did not disappoint.  The Walker action was very organised, controlled and a far cry from the pandemonium of the Atlanta camp attack.  It was an excellent way to show the development of the group and have them work together as a relatively complete unit. 

Pretty Much Dead Already didn’t end on a major dun dun dun cliffhanger but it cut to black perfectly.  Next year each character from Carol to Shane and Hershel will all have to deal with the aftermath in their own unique way and I for one cannot wait to see how this all plays out. 

The quality of The Walking Dead is so high that when it produces filler episodes they become nothing more than that and are instantly forgettable.  Pretty Much Dead Already shows that when it is in the notion The Walking Dead can be a very gripping and tense drama.  This episode was a welcome return to form and it scores a 9/10.

Pretty Much Dead Already made for great tv and I realised just how involved with these characters I have become.

Performance of the week:Jon Bernthal

Annoying character of the week: Glenn

Zombie kill of the week:Rick on Sophia

Daryl line of the week: "Stupid Bitch"

Still getting used to positive feedback he lashed out at Carol after she tried to bond with him. He later apologised.