Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

I wasn't as excited about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice as most people who know me would probably have expected me to be. I think this is largely down to me getting older and not getting excited about upcoming films the way I used to. I do also think however that it was partly due to the fact that I didn't love 2013's Man of Steel, I'm not really a big Zak Snyder fan and, at least initially, I wasn't keen on the casting of Ben Affleck as Batman.

Gradually, as the release date approached, I became slightly more excited. In retrospect I think this was exactly the right amount of excitement for this film because Batman v Superman turned out to be a good, but not great, superhero film, worthy of moderate but not significant excitement. That said, I do not consider the film and its cast have been given the credit they are due.

Batman v Superman is 2 hours 31 long, in other words, long but not long for a superhero movie. The movie managed to keep me entertained for the whole of those 2 and a half hours and there were a variety of well-choreographed action sequences and cool special effects. Unlike many films of that length, there weren't any long periods where nothing happened, although that positive actually leads on to what I would say is the biggest negative of the film (which I will discuss later).

Probably the most interesting aspect of this film is the political element. The movie borrows many of its ideas from its source material, Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns which culminates in a battle between Superman and Batman. The reason for the conflict in Zak Snyder's film (and in the graphic novel to a similar extent) is the question, how can powerful vigilantes be allowed to run free in a modern democracy and in particular, the view that each of our two superheroes has of the other. Bruce fears Clark because he could destroy the entire planet just like that if he wanted to. Clark disapproves of Bruce's aggressive and merciless approach to the criminals he apprehends. The film cleverly manages to develop and justify these seemingly hypocritical attitudes of our two leads.

There are a decent number of action sequences in this film which can't be said for all superhero movies (*cough cough* Iron Man and Captain America). The eponymous showdown between the Bat of Gotham and the son of Krypton is pretty cool. I even found myself believing that Batman could stand a slim chance of beating Superman (OK, well, not being killed immediately by him).

That said (spoiler alert if you haven't seen all the trailers), when we come to the big battle between Batman and Superman and the real monster of the piece, what ensues feels very generic and familiar. The creature itself looks like someone has tried to merge the face of Michael Shannon's General Zod onto the cave troll from the Lord of the Rings. It's pure fisticuffs, eye lasers and lassoes with nothing particularly new or inventive.

It's not just the final battle that felt familiar either. Many of the scenes involving Bruce Wayne (especially the flashbacks to his tragic past) felt like Zak Snyder had watched Batman Begins and then re-shot it scene for scene except with Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan as Thomas and Martha Wayne. 

The biggest weakness for Dawn of Justice was for me its haphazard editing and the way the film seemed to jump too quickly from scene to scene, often without any apparent segway. Particularly early on in the movie, there is a lot of cutting back and forth between different characters and settings. Very few scenes last for more than a couple of minutes. On top of this, there are a lot of dream sequences that appear at first to be real and, rather than having the dramatic effect sought, just served to confuse me and my film-viewing companion.

Although Batman v Superman had a number of issues, I think many of its critics are going to have to accept they have "egg on their face" because Ben Affleck as Batman was really good in this new superhero flick. Zak Snyder is no fan of subtlety and many of the scenes with Clark and Lois felt over-dramatic and a tad camp (not that that is completely out of place in this kind of film) but I thought Ben Affleck captured well the tortured, disillusioned character of Bruce Wayne in a very understated way, using the acting skills that made him so good in Gone Girl.

I did genuinely enjoy the movie and not only the political story and Ben Affleck as Batman. Henry Cavill essentially is Superman, Jesse Eisenberg is a decent Lex Luther and Gal Gadot is pretty cool in the few scenes we see of her as Wonder Woman. I have moderately high hopes now for the Justice League film.

Deadpool

 

The Merc with a Mouth has finally got his own feature-length film. Deadpool has been a long time in the making. Ryan Reynolds has been waiting to do a proper Deadpool movie since before 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine in which Reynolds first played the quick-mouthed anti-hero. X-Men Origins was less than well received and, whilst Reynolds showed  glimpses of a potentially strong performance as Wade Wilson, the film-makers for some reason decided to take away Deadpool's deadliest weapon: his mouth. 6 years later, Deadpool has been eagerly anticipated by nerds everywhere. After all this time, can it possibly live up to the hype?

For me the answer is a pretty strong "yes".

In a time where it seems like a new superhero movie is coming out every month, where the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) and DC are battling it out to be the darkest, edgiest superhero franchise and where, on top of all that, Sony and Fox keep churning out films starring the Marvel heroes that they managed to bag before MCU got hold of them, it’s not so easy to produce a film starring spandex-clad warriors that feels fresh. Whilst it is perhaps "not as anarchic as it thinks it is" (to steal a phrase from Mark Kermode), Deadpool probably succeeds better than any other superhero movie (apart from Kick Ass if you count that) at giving us something different.

I'm sure you'll have heard already that Deadpool is not your average superhero.  The film-makers keep telling us this, critics keep telling us this and, in fact, the eponymous hero tells us himself on a number of occasions throughout Deadpool.  This is a superhero film that from start to finish throws epic gore and foul language at us, to the extent that one questions why it only has a 15 rating. The most odd (and most talked about) feature of this film however is the amount to which it breaks the fourth wall (i.e. winks at the audience). If you can't imagine how this works, think of anything you've seen Kevin Spacey in (OK, so maybe just American Beauty and House of Cards).

There are multiple references to Ryan Reynolds' career and the not-so-great success of his previous superhero outing, The Green Lantern. There are also, more unusually, multiple references to Hugh Jackman. I'm not so sure how much the latter counts as breaking the fourth wall but it didn't half make me laugh! Some people will inevitably find the film's constant referencing to its lead actor, limited budget and its place within the superhero movie universe incredibly annoying. I however think it worked very well and enjoyed a bit of a change. One of the moments that most made me laugh was a point in the film where I started to question a particularly contrived meet-up between Deadpool and the two X-Men we see in the film and, before I could finish my critical thought, Deadpool himself basically says "gosh, that's a bit contrived".

There are jokes aplenty in this film, not just in the fourth-wall breaking and this is a film which, if it makes you laugh once, it will keep you laughing from start to finish. Literally, the opening and closed credits are crammed with humour. And this is where the casting becomes so genius. Comedies are really where Ryan Reynolds comes into his own (Two Guys and a Girl, anyone?) and his sense of humour has always been highly sarcastic and childish. If you then take into account his face and body, Reynolds really was born to play this part. On top of that, you have Wade Wilson's best friend and geeky sidekick, played by T J Miller, who is one of my favourite comedic actors at the moment.

This film is far from perfect, don't get me wrong. There are some awesome action sequences (see car chase which is cleverly interspersed throughout the movie), but the film falls into the same trap that the first Captain America and all of the Iron-Man films fell into in that the final fight, the big finale, is a bit dull and generic. This may be partly due to the fact that the film's villain (evil bald British guy) is also a bit generic. Although to be fair, we are warned about this in the opening credits which name him as "A British Villain".

Another problem (if you can really call it that) with Deadpool is it's just not as "outside the box" as it likes to think it is. Wade's main goal is to get his life back on track so that he can get his gorgeous girlfriend back. The movie begins with an origin story and ends with the aforementioned battle between good and evil, Wade Wilson v the British Villain. And whilst Wade may be a bit of an anti-hero, at the end of the day he only kills and maims bad guys. He's clearly not a bad guy himself or Professor X wouldn't keep trying to recruit him.

Yes, Deadpool is not perhaps the daring, rebellious movie it was set up to be and there are some points where improvements could be made, but all in all, this is a very funny, very entertaining film with a great lead actor and I eagerly anticipate Deadpool 2!

P.s. I just have to mention the bit with the hand. Love it! You'll know what I mean when you watch the film. 

One to watch (because you can't avoid him): Domhnall Gleeson

You can't avoid Domhnall Gleeson this awards season but then, why would you want to? He's brilliant!

Gleeson (son of actor Brendan Gleeson) stars in a number of the films that are up for awards this year: Ex Machina, Brooklyn and The Revenant. On top of that, he is one of the main villains in the new Star Wars trilogy: General Hux.

The first film I think I saw Gleeson in was 2010's Never Let Me Go. The first time I really noticed him was in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I- also of 2010 - in which he starred as Bill Weasley alongside his father who plays Mad Eye Moodey. Since then, Gleeson's career has sky-rocketed to the point that it feels like I can't go more than a few months without seeing Gleeson in a film.

But I don't mind, because Gleeson is an incredibly talented and diverse character actor. If you need convincing, watch either Frank or Ex Machina, two amazing films with amazing performances from Gleeson. I'm convinced his career has nowhere to go but up and I am sure there are awards in his future. So watch this space!

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Any Star Wars fan will know the thrill of sitting in the cinema and seeing A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… appear on the big screen in front of you, just before John William's masterpiece soundtrack blasts out of the screen at you. The Force Awakens is a great Star Wars film, from the moment those words flash up on the screen in front of you until the end credits. 

The Force Awakens is set several decades after Return of the Jedi. The Empire is gone and the Emperor  and Darth Vader are dead, the Sith with them. However, things haven't changed much since A New Hope as The First Order, a new political organisation, is trying to fill the void left by the Empire and to take control of the galaxy from the Republic. The Resistance  (today's version of the Rebel Alliance), led by Princess (or should I say General) Leia, is the only thing standing in the way of total control by the First Order.  

You really have to give J J Abrams credit, he may not know original Star Trek but he knows his original Star Wars! Watching The Force Awakens feels like you're watching the fourth movie in the original trilogy; the only give aways are the fact that Han Solo and Chewie have some grey hairs and the special effects are about 20 years better. Having said that, Abrams has obviously put a lot of trouble into making these movies appear as if they were filmed at the same time as the original trilogy. He intentionally steered away from the more modern, stylised look of the prequels, for example, going back to more basic, rougher lightsaber battles. And it doesn’t hurt that he's brought back Han, Chewie, Leia and, of course, the Millennium Falcon.

There are some very good new additions to the case as well. Daisy Ridley and John Boyega are fun as the new young leads, Rey and Finn, and Oscar Isaac is charismatic as ever as Poe Dameron, the best pilot in the Resistance.  But my favourite new addition by far is Adam Driver, who stole the show for me as the tormented villain, Kylo Ren. Driver has a tremendous presence which makes him worthy of inheriting the role of Star Wars villain from the awesome Darth Vader. Ren's mysterious past is certainly the most interesting thing in The Force Awakens and I can't wait to see how his storyline develops. Oh, and I can't forget the wonderful Domhnall Gleeson, who plays General Hux, a high-ranking officer in the First Order.  

It's not just the style of The Force Awakens that harks back to the 1970s/80s films. Many elements of the story reflect those of the original films. Daisy Ridley's character is a scavenger living alone on a desert planet, swept up in the war between the Resistance and the First Order. Kylo Ren, our masked villain, has been seduced to the dark side by a mysterious lord and is now torn between the light and dark side of the force. The main plot revolves around the Resistence, the descendants of the Rebel Alliance, and their struggle against the rising First Order. There are those who will criticise this film for being unoriginal and a mere re-hash of the old movies. I disagree with this critique! When you watch The Force Awakens, as I said, it feels like watching the fourth movie in the original trilogy; Abrams has captured the spirit of Star Wars and what makes it a great franchise. It does not however feel like watching a New Hope all over again. The scenes are different and the characters are different. 

In fact, the only part of this film that I'm not quite sold on is Ren's master, Supreme Leader Snoke, an entirely CGI creature voiced by Andy Serkis. I feel he would be more of an impressive character if he weren't CGI but we'll see if I change my mind as he inevitably features more heavily in later instalments.

In short, go see The Force Awakens if you haven't already; it's brilliant!

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

The fourth and final Hunger Games film has arrived: Mockingjay Part 2. The new film follows the second half of the third book and sees Katniss head into the Capital for a final fight to end the civil war between the Capital and the rebels. It would be a pretty hard film to follow if you hadn't watched the previous 3. Mockingjay Part 1 felt a bit slow, being only half of a book and the first, less eventful half. Mockingjay Part 2 however has some of the best scenes of the Hunger Games franchise and is one of the best films I have seen this year.

I am a big fan of Suzanne Collins' books and I have been really impressed with all of the Hunger Games films, which have kept true to a clever and exciting story. The cast includes some of Hollywood's best up and coming (don't even get me started on how great Jennifer Lawrence is) and also well-established actors: Woody Harrelson, Julianne Moore,  Philip Seymour-Hoffman, and so on. I had high expectations therefore for this final instalment and I was not disappointed! Mockingjay Part 2 is as thrilling, moving and thought-provoking as the book on which it is based.

The Hunger Games is intelligent teen fiction and this is an intelligent film. The story is highly politically-driven. Panem clearly represents an alternative version of the USA; a country where the rich (who are all concentrated in the Capital) live absurdly extravagant lives, relatively ignorant to the  extreme suffering of increasingly poor districts. When they are exposed to the suffering, during the annual televised Hunger Games, they are highly amused by it. The corruptive nature of power is brilliantly portrayed by both Coriolanus Snow, President of Panem (Donald Sutherland), and also Alma Coin, leader of the rebellion (Julianne Moore).

The Hunger Games  trilogy is full of wonderful, complex characters, who are not just black and white heroes and villains. This is perhaps best portrayed in the final scenes with Sutherland and Moore, who are both mesmerising in these films. The characters are far more three dimensional than you would expect from this kind of fiction. The Katniss/Gale/Peeta love triangle is no repeat of the Bella/Edward/Jacob triangle in the Twilight films.

These are, in summary, intelligent, fun films and I would urge anyone who has not watched them to seriously consider doing so. If for no other reason than the awesomeness that is J-Law.

The Martian

I've been a bit disappointed with blockbusters this summer, in fact with films in general. Avengers 2 came out aaaages ago. Mad Max: Fury Road was epic and Jurassic World was really fun and, well, was another Jurassic Park movie, but since then what has there been...? Ant-Man was this summer's  superhero movie (if we ignore Avengers: Age of Ultron which was, as I said, aaaages ago) and it was a bit meh TBH. Yes, everything Paul Rudd does is wonderful, but when there are so many brilliant superhero films coming out these days, Ant-Man didn't do anything particularly special or different. Definitely a stupid move letting Edgar Wright go. Anyway, the point is,  for the first time in months there is a better than average blockbuster in the cinemas and it's The Martian. Thank you, Matt Damon, Ridley Scott.

The Martian starts with astronaut Mark Watney (Damon) being left behind on Mars when his crew (who are doing some sort of science-y stuff on Mars) have to abandon the planet due to a dangerous storm. Watney is knocked out by some equipment and appears to have been killed and only revives once his crew mates are already long gone. Watney has no way to contact earth and it is 4 years until the next mission is due to arrive on Mars. The Ares III mission (Watney's mission) was only supposed to remain on Mars for a few months and so he has limited rations. If he wants any chance of surviving, he has to figure out how to make what he has last for several years at least. As he says, he is "going to have to science the shit out of it". NASA soon discover Watney is still alive and the film flips between earth's greatest scientists trying to figure out how to keep him alive/get him home and Watney doing impressive science stuff on Mars, like devising a way to grow crops on a planet where nothing grows and how to create water. To keep himself sane in the solitude, Watney relies heavily on dark humour.

This film is a lot of Matt Damon talking to himself and making corny jokes (mostly shown through a video diary he is making). Luckily, Matt Damon is super likable and has a subtle charisma which means that he can carry a film like this mostly on his own and pull off potentially lame lines like "Fuck you, Mars!" You get really sucked into the world Watney is building, feeling really great when something goes right and really frustrated when things go wrong. I felt very distressed as the film went on, food started to run out and Matt Damon got more and more emaciated. I may have shed a few tears...

The supporting cast on earth and in the spaceship that has left Mars is also very impressive: Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kristen Wiig and Sean Bean, to name but a few of the familiar faces. Arguably however their collective talent is slightly wasted as most of the screen time is taken up by Damon and the rest is divided between a large supporting cast. But they all play their roles well and make what is quite a long film where not much happens a very entertaining watch.

In this kind of film, it's obviously the ending that's most important: does he get rescued? Will he see earth again? The ending reminded me very much of how I felt watching films like Gravity (inevitable comparison) and 127 Hours: hands clutched to my face in tense anticipation!  I don't want to give away too much so I'll just say the ending delivers.

So yeah, all in all, a good blockbuster, one of the better ones I've seen this year. But now I'm going to have to wait until the final Hunger Games film and the new Star Wars for anything else exciting.