The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is one of those films that on paper looks perfect.  The trailer then came along and ended up being a master class in trailer making.  The promise was there but I just couldn’t muster up any interest in the film.

In order to remain consistent I will confirm for the record that I have not read the book. 

PLOT: A naïve and doe eyed Nick (Tobey Maguire) moves to New York to make his fortune.  Nick befriends the flamboyant Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCapio).  Gatsby is known to all but known by none and rumours of his wealth spread like wildfire throughout New York.  As Nick gets to know the real Gatsby it transpires that Jay is in love with Nick’s cousin Daisy (Carey Mulligan).   Gatsby and Daisy spend the summer together however as the season comes to an end telling Daisy’s husband Tom (Joel Edgerton) about their affair has tragic consequences.  END PLOT

The plot of The Great Gatsby is more complex that it appears with social and class themes bubbling away underneath a traditional forbidden love story.  I was never bored but I could feel my mind beginning to wander on several occasions.  The running length of 142mins (IMDB) was a good half hour too long.

Leonardo DiCaprio is undoubtedly one of the best actors of our generation and as Jay Gatsby he does not disappoint.  Gatsby’s shy awkwardness and nervous clumsiness evolve into obsession and sudden bursts of anger towards the end of the film and DiCaprio handles the small changes in Gatsby with ease.

DiCaprio is the star of the film but he is equalled by Joel Edgerton an actor who is slowly but steadily making a name for himself.  Carey Mulligan has made a career of underacting and I have loved her for it but in The Great Gatsby the flighty nature of Daisy gives Mulligan much more to do than usual.

The weak link is Tobey Maguire and he manages to derail the film with his wide eye performance and cringe worthy narration.  Maguire is the biggest casting mistake is recent memory – what the hell was James McAvoy doing when auditions were being held?  To say that Tobey Maguire is awful is an understatement.

The Great Gatsby is directed by Baz Luhrmann and has all the hallmarks of his previous offerings.  The sets and costumes are gorgeous but there were occasions when the setting overshadowed the storytelling.  The extravagance thankfully takes a backseat in the final act when the drama is increased. 

The film is much better than a style over substance argument but it just wasn’t the modern masterpiece that it was aiming to be.  The Great Gatsby gets 6/10.  Unfortunately you could watch the trailer for The Great Gatsby and get the same reward as watching the 2hour spectacle – if not more.

Star Trek Into Darkness

If we ignore talent and the ability to write a coherent sentence without grammatical errors one of my greatest weaknesses as a blogger is my inconsistent rating system.  I rate my films based on my mood at the time of writing rather than being objective – it means that more often than not bad films score ridiculously high and great films score a lot lower than deserved. 

Prior to writing this blog I went back and read my review of Star Trek and was shocked to find that I had given it 10/10.  This has thrown me completely as I have never considered watching the film since I viewed it in the cinema.

 

Despite my apparent love for Star Trek I had little interest in Star Trek Into Darkness.  I was always going to see it in the cinema but it is more out of loyalty to Summer Season than the Starship Enterprise.

 

PLOT:  After an attack on Starship Command Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) is sent to the Klingon world of Kronos to track down John Harrison aka Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch) the terrorist responsible.  Khan is brought on board the Enterprise however when Admiral Wallace (Peter Weller) arrives in the USS Vengeance it becomes clear that both Khan and the Admiral are keeping secrets.  END PLOT

 

I have no knowledge of Star Trek but my ignorance of this particular world is my greatest ally as I have nothing to compare this film to. 

Once Star Trek Into Darkness settles down the plot unexpectedly plays out like a thriller with Kirk trying to work out whether he should trust Khan or the Admiral.  It flows well but despite the 130min (IMDB) it felt like nothing much actually happened.

There was nothing in Star Trek Into Darkness that wasn’t urgent – whether it be capturing Khan, feeling from the Admiral or saving the Enterprise.  The vast majority of the film was spent running away from an ever present threat of danger but Star Trek Into Darkness had no tension whatsoever.  I am not green enough to believe that the Enterprise would crash or Captain Kirk was in danger.  The drama was there; unfortunately it was handled in the most predictable ways possible.

 

The strongest aspect of Star Trek Into Darkness is the cast.  Chris Pine is excellent as Captain Kirk and is matched by Zachary Quinto as Spock.  The two lead the film with ease and have an obvious chemistry. 

Simon Pegg’s fame is still growing which accounts for his extra screen time.  Pegg is good fun as Scotty and provides most of the comic relief but he was in danger of becoming irritating.

The supporting cast are fine but Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin and John Cho feel very underused.

 

There was much internet excitement over the casting of Benedict Cumberbatch as the villain.  I wish I could say I felt the same but I have never watched Sherlock although he did make an excellent William Pitt.  Cumberbatch the best thing in the entire film and he really commits to his grandiose performance.

Star Trek Into Darkness had an enormous budget of $185million (IMDB) but the action and effects felt very average.  There were a few decent fights between Khan, Kirk and Spock but the jaw dropping set pieces you expect from such a large budget were not there. 

I knew that Star Trek Into Darkness would be hard to review as I realised before the halfway point of the film that I just didn’t care.  Star Trek Into Darkness isn’t a bad film but it offers nothing new to the casual viewer with no pre-existing affection for the franchise.  It gets 5/10.  

Fast and Furious 6

The Fast and the Furious franchise confuses the hell out of me purely and simply because I love it.  I probably shouldn’t, but I do.  It baffles me that we have are now on film number6.  The fact that the films genuinely get better with each instalment makes the situation all the more ridiculous.

In terms of my favourite summer blockbusters it has always been between Pacific Rim and Fast and Furious 6 (herein after referred to as Fast6) to be at the top of the list.

PLOT:  Dom (Vin Diesel), Brian (Paul Walker) and the gang are happily living in non-extradition countries following their heist in Brazil (Fast5).  Their crime free lives are interrupted when Agent Hobbs (The Rock) offers them all full pardons if they help catch Owen Shaw (Luke Evans). The team head to London but Shaw is a step ahead of them with every rev of an engine.  Things become personal between Dom and Shaw when it becomes apparent that Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) is alive and working with Shaw.  END PLOT

The Fast films are not famous for their intricate plotting.  This isn’t a criticism as they are heavy on fast cars and action which is what we all pay to see.  Unfortunately with a running length of 130mins (IMDB) Fast6 becomes a tad too long and it loses some of the fast paced mayhem that we have come to expect.

The return of Letty is the main problem as far too much time is spent on the character.  Letty wasn’t that interesting to begin with and Rodriguez’s special brand of acting, in which she always appears to be mentally computing really hard sums while smelling something bad, makes this subplot drag.  The promise of a full pardon and a return to LA was enough motivation for Dom and his crew to return.  Letty should have remained dead.

The main plot is the basic “stop the villain from stealing components to make a weapon that will destroy the world” caper.  The technology and science are thankfully kept to minimum.  It is all preamble to the car chases and rightfully so.

The action is fast, slick and totally in keeping with the Fast franchise.  There is more hand-to-hand combat this time around but the car action doesn’t take a back seat.  The car chases are standard fare and if you can look past the fact that the finale takes place on a suspiciously long runway it is very well put together set piece.

Character development isn’t something that the Fast films attempt but it doesn’t matter as we know the characters and if we are honest with ourselves; have affection for them.

Diesel, Walker and Jordana Brewster owe their careers to Fast and Furious and although they are never going to be bothering the Oscars they are as solid as ever.

The Rock is a very welcome returnee and although Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Sung Kang and Gal Gadot are also back it doesn’t feel like a case of the-gangs-all-here-itis.  There is plenty of humour from the supporting cast and the banter between Gibson, Ludacris and The Rock caused a respectable amount of giggles.  Family is a key theme in Fast6 and it pays off at the end of the film when there are a few shocking moments and, as a fan of the characters, I felt them.

Luke Evans is a decent villain but is hampered as his screen time is minimal; again, if the Letty subplot wasn’t shoehorned in I think Evans would have been given a lot more to do.

It would have taken a lot for me not to enjoy Fast and Furious 6.  This was probably one of the easiest trips to the cinema I’ve had in quite a while as I knew exactly what I was going to get and I got it.  There are arguments to be had about the top speed of a tank but this isn’t the blog that is going to make them.

Fast and Furious 6 didn’t disappoint and it will in all likelihood be viewed again in glorious 2D before it leaves the cinema.  Fast7 is coming next year and Fast6 laid the groundwork for anticipation levels to be ridiculously high before I had left the screen. 

Fast6 gets an 8.5/10 – it won’t be the best film of the year but the franchise knows its strengths and plays them well.

Dead Man Down

 

The only reason I went to see Dead Man Down was because a gap appeared in the listings between Iron Man 3 and Star Trek 2.  The person in charge of release dates chose wisely and earned his pay cheque.

PLOT:  After witnessing her neighbour murder a man from her apartment window Beatrice (Noomi Rapace) blackmails Victor (Colin Farrell) into killing the drink-driver who left her with facial scars.  As an uneasy alliance grows it becomes clear that Victor isn’t a cold hearted killer but a grieving father/husband who is waiting for the opportune moment to exact revenge on their killer, his employer Alphonse (Terrence Howard). END PLOT

The familiar plot is hampered by a ridiculously slow pace and for a film that clocks in at 118mins (IMDB) this was a major problem.  The lack of pace means that there was no tension and it's the first time in quite a while that I been bored in the cinema.

Colin Farrell tries hard to save Dean Man Down but the task is just too great.  Farrell is a good actor trapped in a vicious cycle of shite blockbusters that no one likes and Indie films that no one watches.  Unfortunately for Farrell, Dean Man Down is a hybrid of the two and is a shite film that no one will watch.  Not even the extended set piece of Colin hoovering his apartment with his top unzipped could raise my interest.

 

Noomi Rapace is riding the wave of the Millennium Trilogy very well but when it comes to film choices she has never done anything mildly interesting and Dead Man Down is no exception.

The action scenes are non-existent with the final battle being nothing more dramatic than a shoot-out in a mansion. *Yawn* I got secondary boredom from recalling the memory.

My review of Dean Man Down is shorter than usual (thank the gods I hear you mutter) because there is absolutely nothing to say. It’s a familiar premise rehashed in the most boring way possible.  If your script isn’t ground breaking at least have the common decency to blow shit up instead.  Dead Man Down gets 3/10. 

I will admit that the “try to spot the WWE wrestler” challenge kept me occupied but it was game over the second he spoke.