Crime thriller

WIDOWS

Cert 15 129mins Stars 3

An Oscar winning director has reinvented a famous TV heist series and left me feeling robbed.

Lynda La Plante’s famous 1983 series saw a trio of widows deciding to pull a criminal raid for themselves after their gangster husbands are killed during a robbery.

Brit director Steve McQueen has transferred the story from white London to racially diverse Chicago, a city as crime ridden and corrupt as it was in the days of Al Capone.

And in crossing the Atlantic McQueen has used his art-house sensibility to turn it into a bleak and sombre slog, in a similar manner to his previous film, 12 Years A Slave.

This is far removed from the glossy fun of Sandra Bullock’s recent caper, Ocean’s 8. Even with plot twists from co-writer Gillian Flynn which are as preposterous as those in her 2014 hit film, Gone Girl, this lacks the necessary sense of gleeful mischief to carry them off.

There’s no faulting the performances of Viola Davis, Elizabeth Debicki and Michelle Rodriguez as the wives who are pushed towards criminality, and there’s serious strength of depth in the supporting cast which includes Colin Farrell, Cynthia Erivo, Daniel Kaluuya, Jacki Weaver, Robert Duvall and Liam Neeson.

It all starts very promisingly with ten minutes of kisskiss bangbang, and there are some bravura scenes, such as a tense interrogation in a gym, and a wonderfully staged conversation in a car.

But there are too few scenes with this type of energy to sustain our interest, and it’s a long plod to the heist.

From Turner Prize-winning artist to Hollywood glory, McQueen has explored the issues of violence and emotional isolation, and this essay on the failures of the American Dream contains many cynical swipes at the dehumanising nature of capitalism. 

And as McQueen fails to resolve the tension between between following his artistic muse and finding a tone which suits the trashy source material, he unfailingly leans towards the former.

And McQueen is now so expert at making us experience the alienation of his characters, we unintentionally become detached from the drama, leaving us wallowing in the women’s considerable grief and despair.

 

GOOD TIME

Cert 15 102mins Stars 4

From Twilight heartthrob to serious indie actor, Robert Pattinson’s ongoing mission to stretch his talent continues in this tense, sad, bleak, and blackly comic crime thriller.

Now aged 31 he brings a magnificent feral charisma to Connie, a sleep deprived desperado who has to raise $10,000 bail money to spring his mentally challenged brother from the notorious Riker’s Island prison.

Shooting on location in New York adds to the sense of urgency, while a strong 1980’s vibe is projected by the presence of Jennifer Jason Leigh, electric colour scheme, a synthesiser-heavy soundtrack and Pattinson’s bleach blonde hair.

Meanwhile the spirit of this character driven fraternal love story has undertones of classic 1970’s cinema such as Al Pacino’s Dog Day Afternoon.

The script by co-director Josh Safdie offers caustic comment on the ineffectual nature of government machinery, and how mainstream entertainment has always centred on violence and the macabre.

Far from a good time, I had a great time.

 

Dog Eat Dog

Director: Paul Schrader (2016) BBFC cert: 18

Nicolas Cage and Willem Dafoe play a pitiful pair of ex cons in this vicious crime thriller. A kidnapping job offers a big pay day but life for the dim crims goes south when the wrong guy gets shot.

An agitated colour scheme, fractured editing and spiralling camerawork create a paranoid bad trip of a mood. Cage’s droll delivery and riffs on Humphrey Bogart add black comic notes to the confidently trashy and nihilistic sleazefest.

Strippers, swearing, shoot outs, drugs and dead bodies feature heavily as the script skewers the myth of the heroic American outlaw.

Adapted by Matthew Wilder, it’s based on book by Edward Bunker, a real life jailbird turned novelist who played Mr Blue in Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs (1992).

Director Paul Schrader’s 1970s heyday saw him write the Martin Scorsese classics Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. He also directed the Richard Gere starring critique of Hollywood, American Gigolo (1980). This never hits those exalted heights but it suggest there’s life in the old dog yet.

★★★☆☆

@ChrisHunneysett

 

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back

Director: Edward Zwick (2016) BBFC cert: 12A

Tom Cruise returns as homeless hero Jack Reacher and the entertainment is as solid as the hero’s punches in this sequel to 2012’s action thriller.

The veteran superstar’s star intensity, physical presence and light comic ability raise this above the ordinary. Always better when playing opposite strong women, Cruise enjoys himself immensely being buffeted by a pair of sparky female costars.

Cobie Smulders plays a kick ass army major and the super confident scene stealer Danika Yarosh is a 15 year old street wise urchin. The three develop a fractious family dynamic which powers the film along in its quieter moments.

While on the run for murder the threesome must unravel a plot concerning corruption and conspiracy in the army. A New Orleans halloween party adds colour to the many fist fights and car chases.

Based on Lee Child’s best selling novel Never Go Back, this is a competent and enjoyable adaptation, but as a film it lacks the epic sweep of director Zwick’s other Cruise vehicle, The Last Samurai (2003).

There’s a patriotic defence of the integrity and symbolism of the US military uniform, references to the difficulties facing females in service and a discussion of gender roles in parenting. Which not many action movies attempt to do.

★★★☆☆

@ChrisHunneysett

 

War On Everyone

Director: John Michael McDonagh (2016) BBFC cert: 15

This sleazy, cynical and violent black comedy gets down and dirty in the war on good taste.

Drugs, double crosses, beheadings, strip joints and porn films feature in the story which goes isn’t afraid to visit very dark places. How much you enjoy it will depend hanging out with Michael Pena and Alexander Skarsgard as the pair of corrupt police detectives.

They star as sharp suited cops chasing a million dollars in cash which has gone missing from a crime scene. And they have no intention of turning the loot in when they get their hands on it.

These likely lads are called Bob and Terry, the former is a committed family man, the latter a hard drinker with a glad eye. This reference to the 1970s TV show is just one of many, very knowing pop culture in-jokes scattered through the script.

Another is having Brit actor Theo James sending up Hollywood typecasting as an English master criminal. An exasperated Paul Reiser plays their angry Lieutenant back at the station while Tessa Thompson and Stephanie Sigman add heart, charm and glamour.

Though the action takes place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the cine-literate story should really be set in LA. It’s dizzyingly stitched together with references to musicals, sci-fi, westerns and cop thrillers, all mixed up and strung together to make a surprisingly satisfying whole.

Though it takes time for us to adjust to the films unique groove, and at times the tone veers about like the boys’ flash car in hot pursuit, the pace never flags.

Profane discussions about movies, art and philosophy litter the dialogue while jokes about police brutality and racism are no less funny for being topical. The opening gag involving a mime artist is inspired. As a bonus the brilliant songs of Glenn Campbell are used throughout.

John Michael McDonagh is the fiercely independent minded writer and director of Cavalry (2014) and The Guard (2011) and once again he takes no prisoners with the audiences sensibilities. War On Everyone is ambitious and sharp but its shock and awe approach may not to everyones taste.

★★★☆☆

@ChrisHunneysett

Hell Or High Water

Director: David Mackenzie (2016) BBFC cert: 15

With scorching violence, bone dry humour and a social conscience, this hard baked heist movie is an extraordinary ride into the dark heart of the new wild west.

Jeff Bridges is magnificently grizzled as Marcus, a cantankerous Texas Ranger leading his Native American partner in pursuit of a pair of likeable bank robbers.

This finely balanced construction contains a timelessness and an immediacy as mythic archetypes canter across the cruel climes of current economic conditions. The four lead characters suggest reincarnations of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid being pursued by The Lone Ranger and Tonto. And the film is frequently and intentionally entertaining as that sounds.

This acidic exploration of the American Dream touches upon the ownership of oil, land, money and its effects on life chances and family legacy. It reaches deep into the history of the nation to bring forward a lament for the state of the Union.

The of setting of Hell Or High Water is the macho world of dirt poor West Texas. An irony free world of cowboy hats, casinos and cattle drives, where every male of age carries a gun and drives a 4X4. Long shadows are cast by absent mothers and wives.

The action sequences are fast slaps to your face and the morally complex script bites with the venom of a rattlesnake. The melancholy tone is layered with lyricism via the earthy soundtrack provided by Aussie songsmiths Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. The cinematography of Giles Nuttgens captures the rust and neglect of abandoned farm machinery, symbols of a poverty line existence.

Director David Mackenzie’s last offering was the vicious prison drama Starred Up (2014). Once again he demonstrates his keen ear for dialogue, sharp nose for a story and an astute eye for an image.

Mackenzie references the crime movies Touch Of Evil (1958) and Rififi (1955). He does it not to demonstrate his own knowledge, pad the film’s length or to distract the audience during a lull. There are no lulls in this film. The references are chosen for thematic sympathy and used sparingly and appropriately.

Bridges’ turn is also a modern day riff on Rooster Cogburn, the US Marshall from the remake of True Grit (2010) for which the actor was Oscar nominated. Plus the star’s presence recalls the actor’s early career where he sparred with in Clint Eastwood in Michael Cimino’s crime road trip Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974). That film was based on Captain Lightfoot (1955) which also concerned a pair of highwaymen brothers.

The tremendous script by Sicario (2015) scribe Taylor Sheridan so acutely observes human behaviour  it could have been penned by the late great Elmore Leonard, the writer of novels from which sprung the films 3:10 To Yuma (1957 & 2007) Mr Majestyk (1974) and Out Of Sight (1998).

Marcus is partnered with Alberto, a native American officer played with a wearied reservation by Gil Birmingham. Knowing Marcus is days away from retirement, Alberto chooses to dismiss his casual racism as office banter.

Thieves Toby and Tanner are played by the film’s other excellent double act, Chris Pine and Ben Foster. They’re on a stealing spree from the very banks which are threatening to foreclose on their ranch. And they’ve only a couple of days to raise the cash. After every job they bury the getaway car, an exercise laden with grave portent.

Best known as Star Trek’s Captain Kirk, Pine’s leading man looks and easy on-screen charm often obscure his talent. He plays Toby, the younger, more bright and reflective of the siblings, an estranged father who owes months of child support.

Neither pair are abundantly blessed with great intelligence or skills and this ordinariness helps to incubate an empathy for all four protagonists.

Elegiac, bleak, funny  and always accessible and commercial, come hell or high water, you have to see this movie.

★★★★★

@ChrisHunneysett

 

Nerve

Director: Henry Joost, Ariel Shulman (2016) BBFC cert: 15

A high risk game of dare puts the life of a high school student at stake in this zippy and intelligent techno-thriller.

Despite being directed by the makers of the woeful third and fourth movies in the Paranormal Activity franchise, Jessica Sharzer’s sometimes heavy handed script unexpectedly provides a timely critique of the dangerous power of the internet.

There’s a focus on data theft and online anonymity which magnifies malign peer pressure and allows for cowardly cyber bullying.

Emma Roberts and Dave Franco are thrown together after signing up to play the latest social media craze, Nerve. Strangers pay to watch online as Vee and Ian compete for followers.

Filming themselves on smartphones as they perform increasingly outrageous dares for greater amounts of cash, the pair thrill to the instant celebrity, money, romance and adrenalin rush the game provides,

But as kissing escalates to tattoos, theft and violence, the duo find the potential of rich rewards are countered by dire consequences for those who try to leave the game.

As the action powers about the nighttime streets of New York, the charm and chemistry of the leads are maximised as they bounce pleasingly off each other.

It’s great to see Juliette Lewis back on screen albeit in a slight and underwritten role as Vee’s mother. Emily Meade and Miles Heizer offer solid support as Vee’s friends.

Sadly the script short circuits towards the end with a couple of gags shamelessly stolen from a couple of rather more successful cinematic gamblers.

★★★☆☆

@ChrisHunneysett

Suburra

Director: Stefano Sollima (2016)

This stylish and epic thriller is a lurid neon vision of modern Italy drenched in the traditional local virtues of ambition, power and corruption.

It’s covers fictional events in the five days prior to the real life resignation of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in the midst of a national debt crisis 12 November 2011.

The overdose of an underage prostitute threatens to derail a lucrative land deal and results in a bloody gang war.

Politicians, businessman and mobsters become involved in kidnap, blackmail, murder and a shoot out in a shopping mall.

Filippo Malgradi’s corrupt politician, Elio Germano cowardly pimp, Giulia Elettra Gorietti’s hooker, Greta Scarano’s junkie and Claudio Amendola’s enforcer are some of the memorable characters in this brutal, sexy and skilfully told tale.

★★★★☆

@ChrisHunneysett