The Secret Scripture

The Secret Scripture appeared in the cinema listings despite having no visible advertising campaign.  The fact that it was not Kong: Skull Island was enough to convince me that it should be my film of choice. 

PLOT:  After being assigned to evaluate Rose (Vanessa Redgrave), an elderly patient who has been incarcerated in a mental institute for over forty years, Dr Grene (Eric Bana) finds himself listening to her story.  Rose tells Dr Grene of her love affair with Michael (Jack Reynor), the inappropriate attentions of Father Gaunt (Theo James) and the events leading up to her being arrested for killing her new born son.  END PLOT

The plot of The Secret Scripture is a familiar tale of forbidden love, this time set in rural Ireland in during World War Two.  The action jumps back and forth from present day to 1942, although the film only really comes to life during the flashbacks.  The love story between Rose and Michael is sweet but their time together is little more than a brief dalliance which lasts no more than a few weeks.  It may have been true love but the only emotion I felt during the entire film was anger at the corruption of the local priest, judgemental nuns and the complete lack of compassion the church used to show young Irish women.  It was a dark time and it will always be an uncomfortable topic.  Unfortunately, The Secret Scripture did not deal with these plot points in any great depth.

Vanessa Redgrave was excellent as the elderly Rose and Rooney Mara held her own playing the younger Rose.  On paper Mara seemed like an odd casting choice but she proved to be more than capable.  Despite being Australian, Eric Bana’s accent appeared to be channelling an American attempting to conquer the Northern Irish accent.  The Northern Irish accent is a tough one to crack, and although Bana’s isn’t the worst I’ve heard, it wasn’t particularly successful.

Theo James is not an actor I am familiar with and his performance has not inspired me to pay attention to his career.  Scowling and staring while scowling is not character development.  I would have liked his character to have been held accountable for his actions.  The explanation that the church does what the church does was probably realistic but it was not satisfying.

The supporting cast, which included the underused Aidan Turner, was made up of vaguely familiar faces.  It was nice to see that Pauline McFlynn has finally grown into Mrs Doyle.

The Secret Scripture is a gorgeous film and Ireland looks exactly how you would expect it to in the 1940’s.   It captured the period well with woollen clothing, thatched roofs and dance halls all being present and correct.  The film was set in May and it looked appropriately cold.

The biggest problem with The Secret Scripture is that I felt like I had seen it all before.  The running time was only 1hour 48mins but I caught myself looking at my watch as I already knew how the film was going to end – the plot twist was not well written, hidden or revealed.  The story needed to be meatier and was saved by the performances of Redgrave and Mara.

Overall The Secret Scripture is a fine film which just about killed an evening at the cinema. It gets 6/10.  The Secret Scripture is worth a look on Netflix on a rainy Sunday afternoon or if you are wanting to avoid a noisy blockbuster.  

It's disappointing that it is instantly regrettable.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

 

The Mortal Instruments is Hollywood’s latest attempt to kick-start a franchise based on a series of bestselling young adult novels. The only difference between The Mortal Instruments and duds such as Beautiful Creatures is that I have read the books, not once, but twice.  I am fully aware that the books are not particularly original but I do have a genuine affection for them.

I discovered about an hour before I went to see the film that Cassandra Clare had adapted her own Harry Potter fan fiction and “created” The Mortal Instruments.  I had originally written several paragraphs outlining my dislike of fan fiction and my lack of interest in the Harry Potter franchise.  I may have used the word “betrayal” several times.  I deleted these paragraphs because they don’t change the fact that when I read the books I enjoyed them.

Unfortunately for us all this is going to be one of those annoying compare and contrast reviews. I  apologise in advance for the length but the blog is called Mundane Rambling for a reason.

 

Here goes.

 

PLOT:  After Clary Fray (Lily Collins) finds her home ransacked and her mother Jocelyn  (Lena Headey) missing she meets Jace Wayland (Jamie Campbell Bower) a Shadowhunter who excels in hunting and killing demons.  Clary reluctantly accepts Jace’s help to find her mother and discovers that her family history contains some very dark secrets.  END PLOT

 

The City of Bones isn’t original and the teen romance, werewolf and vampire themes are familiar but having said that the books are a very good read.  I had always said that the books were begging to be made into a film and I believe that due to the way they were written this was Cassandra Clare’s ultimate goal.

 

The plot moves along at breakneck speed and despite a running time of 2hours 10mins the film is rushed and lacked subtle little moments such as Alec’s glances at Jace which would have given the characters more depth.  A deeper understanding of the angels vs. demons mythology would also have been welcome.

There were quite a few changes from the book – some worked and others did not.

The decision to omit "Simon the rat" was correct.  The idea works on paper but it would not have transferred well to the big screen.  It also meant that we got to see more of Simon (Robert Sheehan) and this is not a bad thing.

Shadowhunters having an English accent did throw me slightly but it didn't take longer than the two minute the trailer for me to accept this.  It separated the Shadowhunters from Clary and Simon and drummed home the point that Clary was not one of them. 

The biggest mistake was to ruin one of the most important plot threads.  The twist that Clary and Jace are brother and sister is one of the main storylines.  I suppose, in an attempt to simplify the story for non-readers, I can understand why we were made aware that this is a lie straight away.  Jace Wayland goes by four different surnames during the series so his story arc does get messy! 

The problem was the execution.  Hodge suggesting the idea to Valentine diminishes Valentine’s cleverness.  Valentine is intelligent (albeit in a very misguided way) but that one line by Hodge weakened the character.  If this deviation from the book was necessary Valentine should have been the one to instigate it.

I didn't mind that the final section took place inside the Institute – this is probably the biggest geographical difference from the book.  The film had a relatively small budget so I can see why they kept their sets to a minimum.

The sets were gorgeous and both the Institute and the City of Bones looked great.  I always imagined the Silent Brothers to be short so it was weird to see them being portrayed as tall. 

On a budget of $60million the effects were basic but decent.  The CGI was better than an episode of Supernatural so the special effects get the benefit of the doubt.

The best effect was the flower opening scene in the roof garden however a very sweet little moment between Clary and Jace was ruined when I was slapped in the face by a very loud and cheesy love ballad.

The set pieces were fine with the battle in Hotel Dumort and the fight between Jace and Valentine being surprisingly well choreographed.  The action department can consider this a job well done.

The casting of Lily Collins and Jamie Campbell Bower did not bother me in the slightest and the two young actors were excellent as Clary and Jace. 

Robert Sheehan (Simon) was perfectly cast although I would have liked to have seen some witty tee-shirts.  Jemima West (Izzy) got more screen time than expected however Kevin Zegers (Alec) was short changed.  Alec didn’t have much to do in the book but he was almost completely ignored in the film.  Alec needed more interaction with Jace but the Parabatai concept was dropped and this ruined their bond.

Lena Headey was spot on as Jocelyn Fray and managed to look like a bitch while sleeping.  I think I love her.

I always thought the casting of Aidan Turner was slightly odd purely because he is too young to play Luke.  The makeup department died his hair slightly grey and I got over it.    Godfrey Gao as Magnus Bane looked the part but he is not a good actor.  I love Magnus so hopefully Gao can grow into the role.

The major misstep was Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Valentine).  Aside from being a poor actor he is physically too small to capture Valentine's intimidating persona.  I imagined Valentine as being a cross between Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Disney’s Hades so I was always going to be disappointed.

(any excuse I know)

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones is by no means perfect and I worry that the film is not good enough to create a fan base of its own. 

It will be interesting to see how well City of Bones performs at the Box Office.  As Sigourney Weaver has already been cast as the Inquisitor (I read it as Helen Mirren) it bodes well for the franchise continuing but money talks – it needs to perform well for a second film to be made. 

As a fan of the book I have mixed feelings.  The cast (for the most part) and the sets were spot on however there were some dud moments.  The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones gets a generous 6.5/10. The film could easily have been better.

The potential is there but it cannot be squandered in City of Ashes because quite frankly I am more interested in seeing City of Glass.