Mad Max: Fury Road

When I first discovered that they were rebooting the Mad Max franchise my immediate thought was great, I have another little factoid that I can file away in my overflowing “things I will instantly forget about” cabinet.  I can only assume this is what happened as I don’t actually remember registering that a new Mad Max film was being made until I saw the trailer a few weeks ago.  The trailer was probably the most memorable moment from my trip to see The Avengers: Age of Ultron.

It will shock no one when I confess to not having watched the original Mad Max films.  I have even become too lazy to pretend that they are in my “to watch” pile.  They aren’t.

PLOT:  The world has gone to hell and mankind has been reduced to living in a desert wasteland ruled by Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne).  Max (Tom Hardy) crosses paths with Furiosa (Charlize Theron) who is sneaking Joe’s wives out of the city.  When Joe finds out he takes his fury on the road (see what I did there) and will stop at nothing to reclaim his property.  END PLOT

The plot of Mad Max: Fury Road isn’t exactly a head scratcher but it doesn’t pretend to be.  The basic premise is there and once everyone sets off on the road the action takes over.  Despite a simple plot there are some brilliant unexplained moments such as the weird human milking parlour and the flaming guitar guy but these all add to the craziness rather than distract from it.  Sometimes style, when it is done right, matters much more than substance.

Once we get on the road the action scenes are tense and genuinely exciting. I can only imagine that James Wan is watching Fury Road somewhere thinking damn, that’s how you make a movie about people driving cars.  The action is crazy and felt like a return to man-made action sequences rather than CGI super-moments.  I’ve suddenly realised that I have missed this type of action.

Unlike standard dystopian futures Fury Road wasn’t sapped of colour and managed to make a sandy environment look as pretty as it was harsh.  I was thirsty just looking at it.  Fury Road was gorgeously shot and it probably deserves another viewing to take the spectacle all in.

Tom Hardy is one of those actors who is always watchable but is at his best when he doesn’t have many lines.  Hardy is great as Mute Max and grunts his way through the film with ease.  Hardy may be playing the title character but this is Charlize Theron’s film.  Theron manages to be the films biggest badass and its emotional core and she does it without breaking sweat.  Hopefully this is the start of a resurgence for Theron as she is an actress that I want to love but never seem to enjoy the films she stars in.  Nicholas Holt has added another fine performance to his resume and my inner nerd rejoices.

The trailer for Mad Max:  Fury Road did its job well and got me all riled up for a film that hadn't appeared on my radar.  I was not disappointed.  Mad Max:  Fury Road was great fun and for a summer action flick it was unexpectedly refreshing.  It gets 8/10.  Fury Road is a cinema film - whether or not it holds up on bluray remains to be seen.  It will get a fair shot though.  This is more than most films get these days.

Jack the Giant Slayer

My interest in Jack the Giant Slayer was non-existent until I noticed Stanley Tucci in the trailer.   Tucci is one of those actors who can transform a film with nothing more than a cameo so my curiosity was piqued.

Nicholas Hoult’s status was high after Warm Bodies and Brian Singer gets the benefit of the doubt because of X-Men.

Jack the Giant Slayer couldn’t fail. Could it?

PLOT:  Jack (Nicholas Hoult) swaps his horse for some beans and unwittingly grows a huge beanstalk which joins earth with a land filled with man eating Giants.  After Princess Isabelle (Eleanor Tomlinson) gets kidnapped by the giants Jack, Elmont (Ewan McGregor) and Roderick (Stanley Tucci) set off to rescue her.  As Jack and Isabelle climb down the beanstalk they are followed by the giants who are determined to go to war.  END PLOT

Everyone knows the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, a popular fairy tale that can be read in about 5mins.  The idea of stretching this story over the course of a 114min (IMDB) film was a major mistake.

The plot is paper thin and straddles along the line between old fashioned and lazy.  The premise of an overbearing father sending a team of manly men to rescue a damsel in distress just doesn’t work anymore, at least not on such an obvious manner.

Brian Singer has proved that sometimes short children’s stories should remain as they were intended.  A trip to the editing room to trim the film down to a 90min family film would have removed the dud and unfunny filler scenes which brought the film to a halt. 

Nicholas Hoult is fine as Jack and has a quintessentially British charm.  I am paying him a compliment but he needs to choose his next couple of roles very carefully as there is a change he may evolve into Hugh Grant albeit a less creepy version. Eleanor Tomlinson as Jack’s love interest is fine in a thankless role.

Stanley Tucci is restrained and not allowed to steal the show.  This was a wasted opportunity.

The supporting characters are a tale of two Ewans.  Ewan McGregor, with hair styled so perfectly that it will cause Jason Bateman is exhale sarcastically when he sees it, is great fun as Elmont.  McGregor is clearly having great fun and it comes across very well on screen.  Ewan Bremner as Roderick’s lackey falls flat on his face and is embarrassing to watch.

The giants looked impressive but their overly Northern Irish accents meant that they were more annoying than sinister.  It is hard to take a threat seriously from a group of people who sound like they are from a housing estate in Belfast regardless of their height advantage.

Overall the effects were decent but the film didn’t come to life until the Giants clambered down the beanstalk and attacked the city.  Unfortunately by this stage it was too late as the only thing I was interested in was leaving the screen.

Jack the Giant Slayer doesn’t work as it is too predictable to be considered an epic tail and takes itself too seriously to have any tongue-in-cheek humour.   It gets a 4/10.

 

I am now terrified that Brian Singer is going to ruin X-Men.  This is not something I ever thought possible.

Warm Bodies

 

The success of Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland prove that when in a capable pair of hands zombie comedies can work very well.

As my attentions have been focused on this year’s Oscar baiting offerings it feels like Warm Bodies has sneaked into the cinema under the radar.

Warm Bodies is of course based upon a novel which my uneducated mind has not read.

PLOT:  The zombie apocalypse has been and gone leaving in its wake hoards of shuffling zombies.  Zombie R (Nicholas Hoult) stumbles upon a group of survivors and surprises himself by having feelings for Julie (Teresa Palmer).  R saves Julie from being eaten and the two hide out in R’s aeroplane home.  As the two bond, R slowly starts to return to his human form however the violent “Bonies” and Julie’s father (John Malkovich) have other ideas about their friendship.  END PLOT

What immediately sets Warm Bodies apart from regular zombie films is that the story is told from the point of view of the zombie.  This turns out to be more entertaining than expected thanks to the narration by Nicholas Hoult.

The love story between R and Julie manages to be sweet without, for want of a better description, straying into unbelievable territory.

­Nicholas Hoult is excellent as R and makes for a very capable lead.  Hoult cannot use R’s dead and unblinking eyes but manages to convey human emotion through facial twitches which makes it impossible not to route for him.

Teresa Palmer appears to be a hybrid of Amanda Seyfied and Kristen Stewart but this turns out not to be a bad thing.

The supporting cast of John Malkovich, Rob Corddry, Dave Franco and Analeigh Tipton provide adequate back up in their limited and under developed roles.

The zombie effects are basic but Warm Bodies is not aiming for the gritty realism of The Walking Dead.  It is almost unfortunate that the Bonies are cheap CGI but the action scenes towards the end were surprisingly tense so in the end it didn’t particularly matter.

There are plenty of giggles scattered throughout, some of which are courtesy of brilliant musical cues, but the overall tone is just so happy it is impossible to watch a second of the film without grinning like an idiot. 

Warm Bodies won’t be in the running for the best film of 2013 but it is a strong contender for the sweetest.  It gets 8/10.  Nicholas Hoult is a face we should all get used to as his career is beginning to pick up some momentum.

X-Men: First Class

Last night finally marked the return of X-Men to the big screen. After the major disappointments of X-Men 3 *shudder* and Wolverine I did not err on the side of caution and deployed full scale excitement mode despite the cautious advices of the other 2/3 of The Nerdy Trio.

In fairness: any excuse for not working is acceptable to me

PLOT: Back in the days of yore, before Toads got struck by lightening, Rogue became a whiney little bitch and Cyclops became criminally underused, Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) were involved in a bromance to which all future bromances shall be forever compared to. The two become friends and create the first team of X-Men in order to defeat Sebastian Shaw.
The Hellfire Club spend the first 2/3 of the film running back and forth between America and Russia trying to upgrade the Cold War into a Flaming Hot War. During the final act Sebastian suddenly remembers that he has the power to start the nuclear war himself and is promptly defeated by the Xavier and Magneto.
Xavier and Magneto continue the merry dance of being best of friends/greatest of enemies. Mystique finally gets a decent amount of screen time but almost strays into whiney Rogue territory. Havok is most definitely the most interesting Summers and I discover that my hatred of January Jones runs deep. END PLOT

I was ridiculously excited for this film and it is my pick for summer blockbuster of the year so my hopes were high. I went into X-Men 3 with delirious levels of excitement and came out of the screen with worryingly suicidal levels of disappointment. I think we were all grateful that X-Men: First Class ended much more positively.

Professor X and Magneto are a strange characters as they are so familiar yet also completely unknown. It was nice that we went back to their younger days and got an insight into their backgrounds - Charles with his rich upbringing and Erik and his torturous time in the concentration camps.

Charles is the never flinching voice of hope throughout each X-Men film and although he is the most consistent character it is Magneto who is the most interesting as he is the one with the inner conflict. X-Men: First Class is essentially the telling of how Magneto joined the dark side.

James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender were fantastic choices for Xavier and Magneto. They are both great actors and did not bring shame to the performances of Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan.  The two played off one another really well whether it be in the more light hearted scenes such as the traditional “bring the team” together montage or the emotional moment when Xavier brought a happy memory out of Magneto's buried subconscious.

Fassbender proved that he can act in Spanish, German and French but his English accent did slip a few times. There were several occasions when Magneto became very Irish and during one particularly mean moment of badassery he appeared to be possessed by Batman and deployed a level of growl to his voice that would scare the shit out of Christian Bale. He is fantastic and dare I say it - slightly better than McAvoy........

Kevin Bacon rocks back onto the big screen as Sebastian Shaw and does a good job. I can't think of a stand out moment though as he basically walked around and looked quite smug in his dashing suit.

The special effects were all fine. There were a few nice little moments with Banshee and Havok learning to use their powers but the big set piece was reserved for the Magneto vs. Submarine battle.

The original X-Men Trilogy suffered greatly as Wolverine and Storm got FAR too much screen time and other characters who should have been given more to do (Cyclops and Nightcrawler) were relegated to the background.

In X-Men: First Class the screen time seemed to be spread out a lot better and although there is a distinction between leading and secondary cast I didn’t feel like any actor forced their way to the front of the queue ala Hallie Berry.

This is the summer of reboots and I think with X-Men: First Class we now have a reboot which worked and can be followed up with a new wave of X-Men films which will hopefully be as strong as this one.

X-Men: First Class will not be everyone’s idea of a great film but these are characters I grew up with a kid. I absolutely love watching them in film. It gets my first 10/10 for the year. There are flaws yes - we got a bit too much Cold War stock footage and no one can be forgiven for hiring January Jones but I don’t care.

I have fallen in love with these characters all over again.


****

I have added to my original review as a friend thought that the CGI looked a bit dodgy in parts and as I didn't bother to cover it at the time I've decided to add it into my review.

I thought that the CGI was fine for the most part.  If I were to pick a fault it would be the character of Beast who did look bad - even X-Men 3 did a better job.  According to Wiki the budget is in the region of $120million so maybe they should have done better with the budget.  I read that there were quite a lot of reshoots so perhaps time became a factor.

Matthew Vaughn hasn't directed many films, but I do like the Vaughn/Goldman partnership which also brought us Kick-Ass and Stardust (another Vaughn film where the effects are poor), so I hope that his ability to work with big action set pieces which require CGI improve.

Did it dampen my love of the film? That would be no! It still gets 10/10.