Category Archives: Thriller Reviews

Mar 1 2012

Colombiana

Viewed – 01 March 2012  DVD

Sometimes, It’s worth going on instinct and not listening to reviews when it comes to a movie.  That may be a strange thing to say as a reviewer myself, but we don’t always get it right.  Or we expect too much.  This can be said for this stylish thriller written by French filmmaker / producer Luc Besson and starring the very beautiful Zoe Saldana (Avatar).

Zoe plays a Colombian girl named Cataleya (yes, not Colombiana) who witnesses her parents get killed by gangsters, and vows revenge.  Travelling to Chicago and being brought up by her uncle, she soon becomes a professional assassin and plies her trade in hope that one day, she’ll find her father’s killer.  This is nothing new, and for Luc Besson, he trod very similar ground in the cult favourite La Femme Nikita.  Yet Zoe Saldana makes for a great ice-cool killer and the various hits are executed with panache (including a very cool Police Station sequence).  Supporting cast are mostly bland, no-name bit part actors who fit the Colombia-heavy stereotype and don’t do much more than look bad-ass and fire lots of guns.  Besson’s chosen director Olivier Megaton (Transporter 3), name sounding like a Transformer aside, delivers a slick-looking experience and is obviously in love with his leading lady (who can blame him?).  The plot does rely on a few too many conveniences though, and some stuff  is very sloppily written, like the frankly bonkers way Cataleya’s identity gets discovered … yet overall this was fast, fun and satisfying – just switch off that brain, and you’ll have a ball.

Verdict:  3 /5

Feb 16 2012

The Roommate

Viewed – 15 February 2012  Blu-ray

Before you even sit down to this, you know what’s going to happen.  It’s one of those thrillers that has almost become a sub-genre of its own – the _____ from hell (fill in blank with baby sitter, nanny, flatmate, girlfriend etc).  Movies like Fatal Attraction and Single White Female made this easy fodder for Hollywood, and there’s been dozens of carbon copies over the years.  So what’s this one all about?

A girl arrives at University, and soon falls for the local hot drummer and befriends the local hot chick.  Then her roommate turns up, who seems all sugar and spice, until she grows jealous of the girl’s other friends, boyfriend and pretty much anyone who gets in the way … and soon turns into a nutter.  There is nothing here that hasn’t been done before, and better.  The cast is full of pretty stereotypes, the cool teacher who turns out to be a letch, the cool best friend who may or may not be a lesbian … and the seemingly nice roommate who clearly has a few screws loose.  Yet none of these characters are presented with any actual depth.  Just why the roommate is a nutcase is not explained, other than a suggestion she may be skitzophrenic or have bi-polar disorder, and the main character’s sister died, supposedly giving her some sort of characterisation, but it’s never elaborated on.  Oh and something horrid happens to a kitten – that’s just wrong!

To be fair the movie is shot with a degree of style, has a decent soundtrack and given less formulaic material, I am sure the director could come up with something much more memorable.  Yet as it stands, this occasionally entertaining (in a movie-of-the-week kind of way) movie just doesn’t have enough to make it stand out in a crowded genre, and therefore doesn’t come with my recommendation.

Verdict:  2 /5

Feb 4 2012

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Viewed – 03 February 2012  Blu-ray

In the run up to the awards season, this has become one of the most talked about movies around.  With a heavy weight cast of top British thesps and a gritty cold war storyline, this is the movie many people are putting all their hopes in.  Call it this years The King’s Speech, if you like.  Adapted from the novel by John LeCarré … Gary Oldman stars as a former M16 agent who is persuaded by an old friend to come out of retirement in order to investigate the possibility of a Russian mole in the organization.  The movie jumps back and forth between time lines and shows us the history behind such suspicion after former boss John Hurt sends field agent Mark Strong to Budapest in hope if discovering the identity of the mole from a Russian contact.  In the present, Oldman must piece the clues together and line up the suspects, whilst uncovering a wealth of shady dealings.

For such a talked about movie, I admit to finding it extremely difficult to follow.  It is told in such a vague and scatter shot way, that I kept hoping for a narration to fill me in on who is who and what’s what.  But no, this is the sort of movie where you the viewer are left pretty much in the dark, and everyone on-screen seems much more well-informed.  Sometimes people would say things and the other person would look shocked, whilst I would respond with ‘huh?’.  I don’t know.  Other movies have played the trick of showing you something, making you believe its one way, then later revealing it wasn’t quite what you thought.  That can be cool, but here it was simply frustrating.  Gary Oldman is very good as the veteran MI6 agent ‘Smiley’ but doesn’t ever really have a moment to stand out, neither does John Hurt, who apart from an acceptable performance, is barely in it.  I actually warmed much more to underrated actor Mark Strong, as I felt his story was the most intriguing, but like everything here, it never really delves enough to totally satisfy.

Tomas (Let The Right One In) Alfredson’s direction, on a technical level is sublime and very stylish.  He makes the mostly London-set locations look gorgeous, and there’s no doubt he’s a genuine talent.  However the material he has been given is confusing, a little too sure of itself and ultimately … boring.  Really, when a movie can be summed up as two hours of stiff upper collar British chaps sitting in rooms looking confused, that can’t be good, can it?

Verdict:  2 /5

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Feb 3 2012

Strange Days

Viewed – 02 February 2012  Blu-ray

German import review

Kathryn Bigelow may be more known these days for her Oscar-winning war movie The Hurt Locker, but once upon a time, she was one of the coolest directors around, responsible for the likes of vampire classic Near Dark, Keanu Reeves & Patrick Swayze thriller Point Break, and also this much underrated techno-thriller.  Based on a story by her then husband James Cameron (Terminator 2, Avatar) this tells the story of former cop turned dealer Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes) who instead of pedaling drugs, peddles ‘clips’; fragments of other people’s experiences recorded by a black market device known as the squib, and sold in clubs to rich business men.  He offers people the chance to experience things they would not normally experience, such as sex or armed robbery.  He’s the santa clause of the subconscious.  However, when a famous politically-themed rapper is murdered, events spiral out of control as a desperate hooker and two psychotic cops become involved and soon Lenny is racing against time to piece together the clues, as the clock ticks ever closer to the millennium.

At the time this was released (1995), there was much speculation about what the new century would bring, what would change, the millennium bug and everything that came with it.  Several other movies followed similar themes, but none did it in such a stylish, controversial and accomplished way as this.  The story tackles themes of racial tension, sex, violence, technology and love with intelligence.  At times some of the dialogue is a little too cool sounding to be convincing, and it does get quite complicated during its 2hr 20 minute running time.  Also some of the more controversial moments, like a first-person-perspective rape sequence, sit uneasily within the otherwise ‘cool’ vibe.  Yet the performances from not only Ralph Fiennes (playing against type), but also Angela Bassett, Tom Sizemore and a wonderfully sleazy Juliette Lewis (showing off a powerful rock chick persona) impress regardless.  Yet above all this is Bigelow’s show, and her direction is classy and confident.  She’s an incredible action director and with a daring but brilliantly written script to bounce her (ahead of its time) camera-trickery and booming soundtrack off, this remains one of those movies, that for me … made the nineties.

Strange Days hasn’t always been treated the best, with an almost bare-bones DVD version previously, boasting a pointless 40 minute commentary from the director and a non-anamorphic widescreen transfer … and at the time of writing, has yet to get a major release on Blu-ray.  Thankfully German label Kinowelt Home Entertainment has seen fit to release the movie as part of their Blu Cinematech label, in deluxe gate-fold packaging and with behind the scenes featurettes, a music video and a photo gallery.  Best of all the movie has been treated to a decent HD transfer that really upgrades the movie from previous releases, even if the mostly night time setting stops the picture from really popping.  The rock soundtrack sounds nice and punchy though and dialogue and effects are crisp throughout.  This is the kind of respect the movie has been sorely missing for years, and for now makes it the only edition worthy of your money.

Verdict:

(the movie) 4 /5

(the Blu-ray) 3.5 /5

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Feb 1 2012

The Grey

Viewed – 31 January 2012  Cinema

In recent years, Irish-born actor Liam Neeson has enjoyed a resurgence in mainstream popularity following the hit kidnap thriller Taken.  Now Neeson is the new poster boy of cool, and with this man vs the elements plane crash drama, he’s not pitted against terrorists, but that of nature itself.

As one member of an oil drilling team, Neeson must use his skills as a hunter to survive the harsh wasteland of the Alaskan wilderness, following a horrific plane crash.  As the group of men battle the raging blizzards and try not to freeze to death, they must also try to outwit a pack of wolves that begin to hunt them, and are soon picking the men off one by one.  What got to me about this movie was not the setting, nor the wolves, but the realistic emotion on display as the surviving men bond, open up about their families, and change over the course of their journey.   In many ways it touched me, which I wasn’t expecting.  Neeson of course is brilliant, lending real weight to the story; hung up on thoughts of his wife and the responsibility he finds thrust upon him.  Aiding him are several recognisable faces and the different characters are all well realised.  The wolf attack scenes are done well, even if some close-ups give away their animatronic counterparts, but this is barely noticeable.

Director Joe (The A Team??) Carnahan’s movie is expertly shot however, making the harsh Alaska setting quite beautiful at times, and there’s many clever camera tricks and subtle effects to enhance key moments, like the very real plane crash.  Smatterings of humour also work well to break up the tension, and along with a ballsy ending that will linger in your head (and heart) for a good while afterwards … this was powerful and surprising.  A must see.

Verdict:  5 /5

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