2012. Dir: Christopher Nolan. Starring: Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anne Hathaway. ●●●○○
Last week I admitted to being lazy, this week I'm going to admit to being a coward. I've been holdign back on my The Dark Knight Rises review because my opinion may be unpopular. So here we are, three weeks too late, I didn't much like the closing chapter to Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. I felt it to be an ambitious, glorious piece of film-making sadly let down by an overstuffed, incoherent and dull plot. It is both an improvement and a let down compared to Nolan's previous work and I only hope he pares down his narrative fancies for whatever non-chiropteran project he works on next.
Seven years have past since the thrilling climax of The Dark Knight when Bale’s Batman took the fall for Harvey Two-face Dent’s murderous rampage and Gotham has radically changed. The Dent act, which allows draconian charging for organised syndicates has virtually destroyed the Falcone family interests and created a crime free zone, whilst an arrest warrant sits over Batman’s head. Bruce Wayne, with no crime to fight, has sunk into a deep depression, brooding over the death of Rachel Dawes and shut off from all society; an effort to create a cold fusion generator macguffin was thwarted when a Hungarian scientist pointed out how easy it was to turn it into a bomb and the entire R&D budget has been sunk in keeping the device, handily stored under the city, leaving Wayne industries close to insolvency, all in all things are not looking good for Batman.
Yet something under the city is stirring, gangs of youths are disappearing into the sewers, lulled by the promise of jobs still denied to the Gotham underclass. A few switched on cops led by aging Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) and angry young pup (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) are imagining the worst and wondering when the bat signal will once again need to be turned on. Even sophisticated jewellery thief Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) knows enough to spout warnings of a war coming, an inexorable tide that will bring the rich and powerful of the city tumbling to the streets. Yet even Kyle isn’t completely prepared for the changes, because it’s no campaigning Victorian with concerns about social harmony, nor is it the financial meltdown the real world has experienced, Gotham has a more substantial foe, international terrorist and towering brute Bane (Tom Hardy in a mask) is about to reveal himself as Gotham’s reckoning.
Two paragraphs of exposition on and I’ve yet to mention other key characters brought forward from previous movies (Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy) and new batch (Marion Cotillard, Matthew Modine, Tom Conti, Ben Mandelsson) all of whom almost have story arcs of their own to get through, even if the arc precludes the possibility of character development. Inevitably many of actors get shafted in the screen play, we've seen plenty of Morgan Freeman's witty and taciturn technogeek, and not just in this trilogy, but Marion Cotillard who really should make an impact in order to justify her ropey romance with Bale and her third act journey, yet Miranda Tate is always a cypher to the audience, seemingly there only to give the fanboys something to shout about at the end.
Instead of the supporting cast Nolan turns the camera back on the Batman, returning to the story of a scared orphan falling down in order to learn how to get up, an angry child emotionally scarred by his parents untimely death and his battle to clean up the streets. It's thematically linked to the first film in that examination of Bruce Wayne's psyche and the surrogate parental relationships formed with butler, Alfred, and Liam Neeson's Ra's al Ghul and the infamous League of Shadows.
Against this most introspective of comic book hero's it takes a really special performance to steal the limelight, and alas Tom Hardy's Bane whilst superficially fulfilling the flipside to Wayne - a man who started with nothing intent on destroying the world order rather than protecting it not to mention the yin and yang of their masks - is given so little to do about from a couple of rousing, only just decipherable speeches and a chance to pummel the Batman. Indeed Bane is able to build an army and mount a revolution yet the audience aren't given a chance to understand what makes his men follow him, not just into battle but also to a sacrificial alter.
When considering the film I find myself constantly returning to Bane, his plan and his motives. Each time I confuse myself more and more, did Bane want to stir up a revolution to overturn corrupt capitalist society, or was the whole thing a ruse to get Batman so riled up he crawls out of a hole? Doesn't Bane and his key accomplices know the bomb will explode? Did Nolan not think it would be interesting to see the results of Bane's tyrannical overthrow, or was a montage of the rich being thrown out of their hotels enough to satisfy? It's not even as if the politics of the film hit the zeitgeist, Bane doesn't represent the 99% as he's pushing not for equality of opportunity and social justice but another kind of inequality. Even the attack on Gotham's own stock exchange isn't to break the bank but to make some high value transactions of his own. It's the filmic equivalent of Robespierre and Idi Amin keeping the masses in place by routinely executing the old order and redistributing wealth with reckless abandon.
Thank God for Anne Hathaway, from the moment she appears on screen her cat-burglar (geddit???) steals every scene, by turns vulnerable, playful and vindictive, she's the proof Nolan could help create significant, rounded female characters (sorely missing from most of his back catalogue).
Technically this film delivers in spades. Wally Pfister knows how to use IMAX cameras like no-one else in the business, there were times I was as giddy as a school-girl watching the camera work. Lindy Hemmings costumes, always a highpoint of the series once again impress, from the stylish duds of Gotham's partying rich to Gary Oldham's cardies and from the utilitarian suggestion of cat to Anne Hathaway's suit to Bane's coat, which I fully expect to see everywhere this winter.
Overall though I have to say it doesn't matter how much I try to big up the successes in The Dark Knight Rises, the bar was simply too high to climb. Flawed and unwieldy this is not the closing episode any of us wanted and I can really only recommend it to fans of the Batman.
Thursday, 9 August 2012
The Dark Knight Rises
Thursday, 29 September 2011
Warrior
2011. Dir: Gavin O'Connor. Starring: Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Morrison and Frank Grillo. ●●●●○
Friday's double bill was unusual in the strengths of one film were the weaknesses of the other, so yesterday I reviewed a film that was perfectly made but soulless and today I have a film that is arguably a bit of a dog's dinner however is all heart. I've always admitted that my feelings guide me and much as my brain so I have to admit that Warrior is to me the superior movie. It's story is weak, riddled with cliches and the running time could stand to be cut significantly, but I cried a couple of times and cheered (internally) when appropriate so based against it's own aims the film is an astounding success.
Opening on a rundown church in a working class area of Pittsburgh we witness a shambolic old man walking from the basement to his car, doughy and creased it takes a few moments before we recognise him as Nick Nolte. He gets in his car and starts playing an audio cassette of Moby Dick, it's a crutch, a reaction that allows him to cope with life as a recovering alcoholic, but it's also a guide to where this tale is going. What is the great white whale of Nolte's story, is it a relationship with his sons, his alcoholism itself, or a desire to win at all costs.
On his return home we meet son number 1, Tommy (Tom Hardy), beefed up beyond any of his previous turns, appearing hunched under the weight of his trapezius muscles, and bitter at his old man, launching into verbal attacks at his failure as a father, loosely describing his addiction and the abusive affects. Hardy is a ex Marine and former wrestling champ, hiding from his past, angry at the world and looking for any excuse to vent his aggression.
Cut to son number 2, Brendan (Joel Edgerton), family man, physics teacher and all round nice guy, who can't afford his mortgage who - refusing to move back into an apartment (I really don't understand that motivation) - ready to return the ring, engaging in Mixed Martial Arts as a desperate move to bring some money into the house.
If you hadn't already guessed where the plot is going then you've probably never seen a sports movie or even watched the trailer, and I want spoil it here, but a major MMA tournament bursts into the frame and in unlikely and character-suited twists of fate both brothers are recruited into the 16 contenders.
The fights are expertly handled, gripping and pounding, even to a MMA novice like myself I was glued to the screen, twisting and contorting with the action. Each fight had it's own narrative, each round underlining the traits of our two brothers. Whether it's the knock-out rage of Tommy, or the slow steady technical bouts from Brendan, the former's a wildcard, the latter an underdog.
Is success at the tournament the White Whale? And if so who's whale is it? We're flipped between the ambitions and loyalties of these three men, united by family and mutual distrust. Each unable to let go of the past, each using their collected pain to dish out violence.
Of the men Edgerton has the least to work with, his character seems too bland to compete and the stakes don't appear high enough - just deal with a smaller house and stop wasting money on the latest "stuff". Hardy is superb, bristling with energy squinting past his lowered forehead, he has the dangerous impulses of a coiled snake, unafraid to show the darker sides of the character as well a touch of vulnerability in the climatic battle scene. The main praise has to go to Nolte though, here giving something close to career-best work, grizzled and repentent, training Hardy whist choking back the grief from his son's refusal to acknowledge their past we feel for his evident change of heart whilst being revolted by his history.
Masanobu Takayanagi is a cinematographer to watch out for, shooting mainly handheld and with a murky palette we become accustomed to the intimacy of the cage long before the fights start. Can't wait to see what he does with Liam Neeson starrer The Grey.
Gavin O'Conner proves again that he's a fine director of male centric dynasties, here building on his fine work on Miracle and Pride & Glory, but he needs to pass scripting duties over to others. We were constantly reminded of how shit the childhood of the brothers was in the clunkiest dialogue that with some fine tuning and a better understanding of what actually happened growing up and why Hardy is ready to move on might have improved the technical as well as the emotional aspects of the film.
I can recommend Warrior to all film fans, regardless of their thoughts and experiences of MMA, but strongly advise that you take a couple of tissues to help you through the end.
Wednesday, 21 September 2011
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2011. Dir: Tomas Alfredson. Starring: Gary Oldman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy and John Hurt. ●●●●●
It's a rare thing for cinema to transport the audience into another time and place for the duration of an entire movie. Sure a costume, flick of cigarette or particular line reading has the power of evoking a period but for the feeling to last for two hours is a special achievement. It is immensely gratifying that Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy completely immerses you in cold war paranoia of the early 70's, not just through garish wallpaper and and donkey jackets, but through structure and storytelling. Emulating the pacing of early Coppola or Friedkin this thrilling non-thriller may become one of the most essential additions to the spy genre.
"There is a mole, right at the top of the circus." So say bitter old-school Control (John Hurt - musky and paranoid) and brutish bag-man Ricki Tarr (Tom Hardy) his stoicism losing to a desperate bid to get out of the game, even officious civil servant Simon McBurney is beginning to believe it. So much so that 'retired' agent George Smiley (Gary Oldman) is called back to the circus - be prepared for a lexicon of MI6 shorthand - to uncover the mole, to hunt down the source of the rumours and, if necessary, identify and bring to account whichever of the most senior spooks has turned traitor. The prime suspects, who've been allocated codenames from the popular children's rhyme, are Tinker (Toby Jones), Tailer (Colin Firth), Soldier (Ciaran Hinds) and - missing a couple of possibilities - poor man (David Dencik) with Smiley himself as a unlikely fifth candidate.
To say anymore would spoil the tension bubbling through the actual plot, with bluff and double bluff Smiley uses a determined mixture of flat foot detection and psychoanalysing body language to fit together the conflicting evidence. Don't go in trying to figure out the culprit, the same subterfuge that obscures the truth from Smiley will stand in your way but instead concentrate of the subtleties of the filmmaking, of the minor gestures. It is in these undefinable moments, tactical conversations, moving folders in libraries, shared glances at parties, that the masterpiece shows itself.
Film fans used to the high-octane car chases and hand to hand combat of the Bond and Bourne spy franchises will be unused the to unflashy world of real espionage, a world that novelist John le Carre knows well from his own days in the service, but it's the down-at-heel workaday nature of the job that gets the blood pumping when necessary. Brief bursts of gory violence occur off-screen, petulance is the only cause to raise voices, the characters within pine for the glory days of the Second World War when the battle lines were clearer, cleaner, not hidden in murky shadows.
Oldman gives the performance of his lifetime, disappearing under thick rimmed specs and owlish complexion his tendency to steal the scenes is leashed as swoops on the outskirts of the screen, gently allowing the other actors show their worth, giving the characters the freedom to display their tells. The entire supporting cast is first rate too, with special mention going to Kathy Burke as former surveillance expert with a suspicious mind and Benedict Cumberbatch as Smiley assistant, spying on his own and underlying the themes of sacrifice and misplaced loyalty that seep through the production.
The design of the movie is grubby and drab, reflecting the austerity of the low-growth pre-EEC Britain and the inherent murkiness of the cold-war. Every surface is covered in a sheen of cigarette tar and once bright wallpaper and carpets look limp and ageing in the backgrounds of unkempt flats and liberal boarding houses.
In spite of this the movie belongs to director Tomas Alfredson, coming hot off childhood vampire fable Let the Right One In, he proves here his steady eye and tension building pacing are the real deal. He's gambled with a high-profile remake exploring themes the original wouldn't have dared to consider and taken this complex and dense plot yet made it so delicious to follow we accept and understand every facet of the story.
There is no question that I recommend this movie to any filmgoer. A superb piece of work that deserves your patronage.
