The American

Up until now, director Anton Corbijn’s career has revolved around the music industry. With a CV dominated by documentaries and video compilations of Depeche Mode, U2 and Metallica, and his first feature film Control (2007) biographically depicting the life of Joy Division front man Ian Curtis, The American represents his first foray away from his comfort zone. And of course, having George Clooney on board as your lead role is hardly a bad start.

Adapted from the 1990 Martin Booth novel “A Very Private Gentleman”, The American follows Jack (Clooney), an American assassin who is forced to lay low in the small Italian town of Castlevecchio, following a surprise attempt on his life during a morning excursion in a remote Swedish cabin with Ingrid (Irina Björklund), a girlfriend of his. Laying low in Italy is not as straightforward as it may seem however, with Jack instantaneously moving to the nearby town of Castel del Monte, taking on a mysterious job for his boss, discovering that every town has its secrets, and of course finding time for the obligatory love story.

One of the first thing that we notice (aside from Björklund’s modesty), is the determination of Corbijn to create the most beautiful looking piece that he possibly can. He achieves this in style, with the picturesque establishing shots highlighting the beauty of the scenic landscape available. These postcard visuals also serve a purpose in terms of the story, acting as an obvious contrast to the dangerous and imperfect life led by Jack. The impressive locational visuals also act as a constant reminder of the opening sequence, where danger lurks within these idyllic surroundings.

In fact, we see these surroundings quite often. Devoid of any visible life, they act as the canvas from which Corbijn paints a masterpiece of emptiness. The towns that we see have few inhabitants, the restaurants likewise, and with little to no traffic for the most part it appears as though Clooney’s has plenty of space within which to disappear. Considering his own lack of possessions- a backpack and a Fiat Tempra provided by his boss Pavel (Johan Leysen), it should not prove all that difficult. The emptiness exuded by the location and his lack of possessions is further channelled through Jack, who has decided to opt out of his profession in exchange for a normal life, and love in particular, which evades him.

During his trip to the local brothel, Jack becomes besotted by local hooker Clara (Violate Placido), following an encounter of love, and not lust as one would expect. Clara is a curious character, a free spirit who appears surprisingly intelligent and with a knowledge of the outside world: depicted through a single comment regarding “small town people” during a meal with Jack, and of course her very advanced handle of the English language. Despite warnings from Pavel not to let anyone become close to him, Jack has found his love interest, amidst a whole lot of suspicion- she could quite easily be an assassin herself.

The American is not an entirely different project from Corbijn’s previous works, as it is a slow paced character driven piece, looking at Clooney’s life as closely and as intimately as any self respecting biographer would. This slow pace initially serves a very fine purpose. For quite a while it seems as though someone is always watching, our protagonist can never be sure who to trust, and we await a major incident, ANY major incident, to occur. As time passes though, the film grinds to a standstill, with very little happening in the way of entertainment, leaving a longwinded mid film lull. This forces us to engage more with Jack and considering the film in entitled The American, and Clooney plays said American, it is less than surprising that our sole focus is on him, and nothing else.

Clooney’s character is perfectly crafted, and his appearance as the suave, discerning gentleman that we have seen throughout his Hollywood career allows a him to be one of the most likeable hitmen in cinema history, notably because he is portrayed so innocently. Never does he kill unless he is threatened, he is always the victim. Never do we see him partake in a hit, he is the assassin without the assassination. Haunted by his profession, he wants freedom, he wants love, he wants peace, quiet, beauty and butterflies.

Despite this he still has a job to do, however sceptical he may be, and his final task involves the construction of a highly specific and customised rifle. This process leaves us in no doubt as to the great level of expertise at which he operates. He is an exceptional craftsman, slowly and almost painstakingly making each construction, and each adjustment, throughout the course of the film. Although this is again longwinded and perhaps takes up too much screen time, the rifle is central to the how to the story plays out, and it also offers a further glimpse into the demeanour of Jack: professional, talented, dedicated, and intelligent.

Aside from Jack and Clara, and the female assassin for which Jack fashions the rifle, the only other character of note is a local priest, Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli), who acts as the all-seeing eye and an apparent beacon of wisdom with which Jack interacts. Although it is not a bad thing to have such a minimalistic cast, it adds to that constant barren feeling that lingers from scene to scene.

The American is neither a masterpiece nor is it an embarrassment. It is a fantastic looking film, not only for the landscape on show, but also for the very deliberate use of monochromatic lighting- reds for the lusty brothel, yellows under the night time street lights and blues for the local coffee shop; there is no doubt that Corbijn has a strong artistic eye. Likewise, his biographical background allows him to create an intriguing and likeable protagonist. Having said that, the pace is simply too slow at times, and not everyone will be content with the emptiness on show from beginning to end.

Rating:

3/5

Skyline

Skyline tells the story of Jarrod (Eric Balfour) and Elaine (Scottie Thompson), who fly to Los Angeles to meet Terry (Donald Faison), a friend of Jarrods. After a night of partying, they awake during an alien invasion, and all the madness that ensues. Directed by the Strause Brothers (Colin and Greg), a little clue as to the standard to be expected comes in the form of their only previous feature length film, Alien vs Predator : Requiem. Essentially, as fans of science fiction and both the Alien and Predator franchises, they took what they liked from the previous films and spliced them together, believing that they could re-energise a franchise with untold potential. Unfortunately, they failed. Miserably. So miserably in fact that their lack of imagination saw them lift shots directly from the original films and re shoot them. And if misery loves company, then Skyline is AVP:Requiem’s best friend.

From beginning to end, it seems as though we’ve seen all this before. It feels all too familiar, probably because it is. Beginning with the Cloverfield- esque late night party sequence that sees humanity enjoy their last moments of uninhibited freedom before the invasion, the highly technical alien beings descend upon earth and terrorise the city as in War of the Worlds, governed by an Independence Day type mothership. The humans fascination with the beauty of the light on show (remember Sunshine?), leads them to waltz into their own destruction, hovered up by alien pods, the kind recently seen in Terminator: Salvation.

Having said that, there is some originality and thought behind how the alien race functions; after the humans have been abducted and then deposited onboard the mothership, we eventually discover that they are essential to the expansion of the alien race, who are, perhaps, intent on colonization.. This is never built upon however, and like most aspects of the film it feels under developed.

Much too often are introduced but not developed, for example when Jarrod speaks of his apparent development of super human power, which he has retained from his initial exposure to the light in an early part of the film. It neither becomes a figment of his imagination, nor does he really exhibit power that would suggest him to be the genuine last, great hope of humanity which is alluded to by the dramatic execution of the dialogue in the first place.

Despite drawing inspiration from some of the great (and not so great) science fiction films of our time, Skyline fails spectacularly at seriously electing itself into the genre, instead becoming more or a comedy as time passes. The entire film eventually seems to become a parody of itself, even down to the very final scene with a depiction of what is meant to be an heroic finale. Unintentionally, of course.

What is even more disappointing about the film itself is that it threatened to be what War of the Worlds couldn’t. With the humans appearing hopeless and ultimately unlikely to be salvaged by basic earth borne bacteria, the outlook is extremely grim this time around. The portrayal of the extinction of our race is a rare commodity in cinema, and the boldness of suggesting this could well have allowed this to become a science fiction classic. Not to mention the fact that the race itself looks very impressive, with much of the airborne creations in particular beautifully crafted and could potentially have become a genre favourite.

Overall though, Skyline is a farcical attempt at piecing together a sci-fi blockbuster, and it fails to a massive extent having promised so much.

Rating:

1/5

The Social Network

It came out of nowhere. Millions of people are talking about it. And it could be talked about for years to come as a very clever successful venture. No, not Facebook, but rather the Facebook film. Or The Social Network, to address it by the proper title. For those unfortunate people who have been left out of the loop, The Social Network tells the story of Mark Zuckerberg, one of the founding members of excessively popular networking site Facebook. Or rather it tells the story of how he ended up embroiled in a couple of high profile, high stakes court cases as a result of “his” creation.

It is important to mention from the off that Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) does not sponsor, condone, appear in, or promote this film. Not only that, but he has been quoted as stating that he movie got a lot of stuff wrong and random details right, illustrated by the fact that Facebook was not invented as a revenge mission on a girl who had just dumped him. With this information in tow, it is not entirely sure whether we are watching a biopic or a fictional drama.

That said, regardless of what genre it falls in to, The Social Network opens with an incredibly stark portrayal of Zuckerberg- belittling his supposed then girlfriend Erica Albright (Rooney Mara) by suggesting that because she attends Boston University and not the prestigious Harvard like himself, she would never “get to meet people she otherwise would not meet” unless she stuck by him. Needless to say he gets dumped unceremoniously, with her having the final say; “you're going to go through life thinking that girls don't like you because you're a nerd. And I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that that won't be true. It'll be because you're an asshole”. Ouch.

The story itself is seamlessly interwoven between two separate law suits- one of which involving the Winklevoss twins: Cameron and Tyler (Armie Hammer and Josh Pence), and the other Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield)- and a series of flashbacks, it is expertly crafted. For a film which threatens to be quite boring from a reading of the synopsis, it moves at quite a steady pace, all the while shot in a manner which we have come to expect from director David Fincher. It is dark, very dark. Poorly lit rooms and shadowy walls all point towards a visual representation of the loneliness of a now single Zuckerberg throughout his journey, his only solace at times coming from the eerie illuminating glow of a computer screen.

Eisenberg’s character isn’t portrayed any better as the film continues; quite the opposite. He’s an asshole, as we were told. He is intelligent, but maybe too much so. Genius? Probably, but with no social skills- even though he is actively trying to change that. He is blunt, ignorant, self centred, scheming, vengeful... but for some reason likeable. His humour lacks delivery but the punch lines excel. He doesn’t care for money, preferring respect amongst peers. And even though he betrays his best and only true friend, he still redeems himself to some extent in the final scene, showing that he is human after all. And humans make mistakes.

He is also emotional, charismatic, complex, driven, all of which displayed in one tender scene at a time when Zuckerberg should be attending an after party having reached one million members. The complex amalgamation of traits on display could in fact win Eisenberg an Oscar, at the very least announcing himself well and truly on Hollywood’s A-list. His performance is so commanding that the other characters remain on the periphery struggling to be noticed. Andrew Garfield’s wild emotional breakdowns are brushed aside, and Justin Timberlake’s appearance as Sean Parker (co-founder of music sharing client Napster) who appears to set the Facebook juggernaut in motion, is a little self indulgent and not at all as memorable as his previous roles in Alpha Dog and Black Snake Moan. Not to mention the incredibly repetitive and annoying Winklevoss’, or “Winklevii” are Zuckerberg creatively addresses them.

Perhaps one of the great achievements of The Social Network is the mixture of characters. There are real world professionals in the fields of law and education. There is royalty, students, college jocks, friends, enemies, popular people, unpopular people, girls, guys and the inevitable ex girlfriend. Essentially, it is an amazing visual representation of the real world social network, and the links between different people.

Overall this is an excellent portrayal of the rise and rise of an unlikeable person within a world full of different people and different personalities, and a world where a simple idea can be worth billions of dollars, but not (to paraphrase the excellent film poster) without making a few enemies along the way.

Rating:

4/5

The Hole In 3D

Family move into new house. Children find a trap door in the basement. They proceed to unleash (extremely moderate) hellish fury. Inner demons. Boring ghost town. Teen crushes. Yawn.

Before the opening credits roll, The Hole has been badly pitched, in glorious 3D. Apparently this is a 15A film, and according to the IFCO website, it can be seen by children of 15 or older, or by children younger than 15 once they are accompanied by a parent or guardian. Recent films which have been awarded a 15A rating include The Hurt Locker, Paranormal Activity and Shutter Island, and to consider this in the same bracket is something of a joke, especially when the supposed target audience would spend hard earned money to see this in the cinema. For example, I wouldn’t ever have bothered if I thought it was a children’s horror film, as I’ve far more respect for my mind than that.

A by-product of a children’s film (albeit one which includes miniscule amounts of blood, and walking dead people to supposedly bump up the rating), is the stereotypical characters. Of course, there’s the troubled teen Dane (Chris Massoglia), who feels isolated having moved into a new area. Then there’s the neglected younger brother Lucas (Nathan Campbell) , craving attention from somewhere within his family. There’s the hard working single mother Susan (Teri Polo), struggling to juggle her life with her family commitments, and finally Julie (Haley Bennett), the hot girl next door type, quite literally.

And of course, stereotypical characters fit into stereotypical roles. For example, Dane believing that Julie already has a boyfriend, when in fact she’s just pretty popular with everyone. Said girl also having a dark secret that haunts her, because of which she’ll need comforting (death of someone close). Lucas, the young sibling having a silly childhood fear (clowns). And the mother having to work hours that allow her children to be left alone to get up to all kinds of mischief.

Stereotypes are no excuse for a poorly constructed plot, however, and that’s pretty much what has been presented to us. Plot elements are not elaborated on, and singular fleeting references to events are not enough to carry the weak developments that occur. For example, when confronting her biggest fear, Julie announces that she knows what she must do. I’m not so certain the writer’s did, as she ends up at an abandoned carnival climbing atop a derelict rollercoaster ride, where her friend died many years previously. Most of these elements were mentioned in passing at one point or another, meaning it’s not so much confusing, but more smacking of a disregard for conventional storytelling.

The major attraction with The Hole has got to be director Joe Dante, famous for Gremlins, Small Soldiers and Innerspace. With some impressive work on his CV it seems impossible to attach himself to an entirely terrible film, and this proves to be the case as he reprises his mogwai-loving heyday in the form of a psychopathic clown, which bears more than just a passing resemblance to a gremlin through its movement and demeanour. It would be difficult to review The Hole without also mentioning the only other stand out scene, where the previous dweller of the family home, a paranoid old man by the name of Creepy Carl (Bruce Dern) finally gets consumed by his fear in a beautifully executed sequence.

Finally, I have refrained from mentioning 3D. This is because when it is visible, it is awful, and a perfect advertisement for the industry as to why not to put every available film in 3D. Combined with the other serious flaws, there is little worth seeing in The Hole, and it should be avoided.

Rating:
1/5

Cyrus

Despite a promising beginning, there’s really not a whole lot to write about when it comes to this offering from The Duplace Brothers, their first with anything other than a miniscule budget. Cyrus tells the story of John (John C. Reilly), whose life is a shambolic mess following his divorce seven years previously. Yes, seven years. Upon hearing that his ex wife Jamie (Catherine Keener) is to re-marry, she convinces him to join her and her fiancé Tim at a party. The usual antics occur; he makes a fool of himself chatting up random women, gets disgracefully drunk, and somehow meets a lady called Molly (Marisa Tomei) who makes him feel like himself again. While he’s urinating in the bushes. Apparently, she likes his honesty.

Following this John becomes curious as to why his new squeeze keeps sneaking off in the middle of the night. His obsessive tendencies take over and he follows her home, only to fall asleep in his car. Exploring her premises the following morning, he encounters Cyrus (Jonah Hill), and the story, supposedly, begins in earnest, becoming a battle of wits between John and Cyrus with Molly as the ultimate prize.

Initially the most noticeable thing about Reilly, is that we have seen it all before. The lead role that he occupies feels suspiciously like it was written for Will Ferrell, with the character of John portraying an amalgamation of Ferrell’s finest moments, from his post-canine depression of Anchorman to his Frank the Tank escapades of his Old School days, Reilly flounders and is generally unfunny, predictable, and downright frustrating to watch as he becomes a diluted figure with little to interest us about him.

His is not the only performance deserving of criticism though, and as the star attraction of the piece it is even more disappointing that Jonah Hill fails to live up to expectation, barely forcing a handful of laughs throughout the entire film. This is very unfortunate given his extremely creepy role and the potential that is there for exploitation. Despite this he has a strong presence on screen, with the audience never quite sure what is coming next or what direction his emotionally charged character will take.

In his defence, perhaps Cyrus demands too much of Hill. The teenager and his mother have an exceptionally strong bond, and at times it is easy to forget they are related. This leads to an incestuous undertone while making Cyrus look like a perverted teenage predator, preying on his mother’s willingness to love him and raise him as best as she possibly can. One scene in particular in their home, which occurs as Molly showers before bed, feels strange given the age of Cyrus if nothing else. Added to this the duality of his character, toying with both Molly and John as he wishes throughout and conveying his emotions as such, while still trying to remain a comic figure, seems a lot to ask of anybody.

Overall the storyline feels fresh, if predictable. For the most part it is well executed, and the drama aspects succeed. The comedy side of things leaves the whole piece down, with too many moments that are not as funny on screen as the writers may have envisaged, and too many set pieces feeling laboured. For large parts it is drab, probably down to the lack of input from Hill, and that is disappointing because so much more could be expected.

Rating:
2/5

Devil

“From the mind of M. Night Shyamalan”. What more reason would you need to see Devil? After all, his filmography includes writing and directing such “classics” as The Village, Lady In The Water and The Happening, and added to that Signs, Unbreakable and the Sixth Sense, which all for the latter have audiences divided. There’s a story doing the rounds that an audience at a screening of Inception burst into laughter when they saw his name advertised during the trailer for Devil. Promotional advertising at its finest.

Just to clear it up, the story itself was conceived by Shyamalan, and adapted to a screenplay by Brian Nelson (who did the same job on both 30 Days of Night and Hard Candy), so things sound a little better when you search for the truth. More so when you realise it is directed by John Erick Dowdle, whose previous feature film was the decent Quarantine. Although that didn’t reach the heights of the original, it shows that there is potential in his work.

Devil is build up from a simple premise. Essentially an old wives tale, we are about to witness the "devil's meeting", where a group of people each with an evil heart the devil comes to haunt and eventually kill people who have sinned in the past. The logistics of this are explained throughout by narrator Ramirez (Jacob Vargas), a devout religious type, recounting the tale as it had been passed on by his mother as a youngster.

From the off we can see that Dowdle is going to offer something unexpected. In a nausea-inducing series of inverted shots, we enter a typical American city where we witness a suicide, in dramatic fashion. We are told by Ramirez that a suicide would initiate the coming of the devil, and all of his evil ways. Clearly this opening sequence heralds this, showing us the change in reality within his presence, and it is a visually astounding sequence.

We are introduced to our characters very early on, and all very quickly one after another, from the Detective who will obviously attempt to sort the issue out (a charismatic Chris Messina) to the generic fivesome that end up in the elevator itself. The five trapped individuals are given very generic in the credits, a mechanic, a guard, a salesman, a young woman and an old lady.. This is surely to make us feel as if we’re familiar with these everyday characters from or own lives, and it works well as we know what to expect. That is of course, until their dark pasts slowly make themselves known through the course of the film.

One of the features of Devil is the use of snappy and clever editing, utilised to great effect in providing some shocks throughout, but also in displaying the devil’s supernatural powers and the confusion that it causes to those watching. Included in this is the audience itself, as the tension is built up slowly. As well as this, the story develops well throughout, and it keeps us guessing as to what will happen next.

As the first film in the Night Chronicles, Night intends for the series to continue and subsequent films to be produced by his company Blinding Edge Pictures. He has said that “Ideas I didn’t get to direct for whatever reason and I can get amazingly talented filmmakers to come in and interpret them”, and as long as he stays away from egotistical scripting and directorial duties then we can all look forward to his second offering.

The credit for Devil should go to the people who wrote and directed it, and certainly not the producer who took the idea and the major plot twist from an Agatha Christie novel (And Then There Were None). It is short in length, but it feels just right as the characters are developed enough within that time, everything is explained very well throughout. Overall this is an accomplished piece of filmmaking even though it’s not perfect- the outcome in particular is too predictable, but that’s forgivable as the build up is executed quite well. Overall a simple concept, providing a sort of minimalistic horror film, to an extent.


Rating:
4/5

Let the Right One Alone

Without a doubt Let the Right One In was one of the films of last year, and the remake (entitled Let Me In (Låt den rätte komma in) was inevitable. Unfortunately. Looking first at the director and screenplay writer, Matt Reeves directed Cloverfield, which I enjoyed and found well done, but from an original idea with nothing to really work from. The relationships were paper thin and really only there as a minor sub plot.

It is a completely different scenario for Let the Right One In, where relationships are central, delicate and humane, and obviously there is an entire film to work from and remould. From the trailer, it already seems as though the feel of the original has been lost. Moving from the ideal setting of an isolated Swedish town to a slightly busier New Mexico town makes it look as though the locations are busier, even down to the more varied and threatening landscape as opposed to the quaint plains of Sweden.

The casting of Let Me In is impressive, with two child stars who have potentially huge futures ahead of them playing the lead roles- Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road) and Chloe Moretz (Kick Ass). Hopefully they can at the very least replicate the brilliant performances of the two original actors, although there is a fear that over production for the viewing pleasure of a mainstream audience could detract from the simplistic manner in which the friendship was developed and maintained. Already from a two minute trailer Abby (Moretz) talks too much, and Moretz herself has a confident appearance on screen and this looks as though it will shine through. That would be fine if her character was not meant to be of the silent subdued type, but time will tell and show her versatility.

If Asian remakes are anything to go by, Let Me In could be awful, and miss the point of the original completely. And with a remake planned for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and its sequels, the worry would be that Scandinavia’s finest works are potentially about to be butchered. More worryingly though is that it points to a complete lack of ingenuity in Hollywood, with the focus on making money as opposed to producing fresh ideas. Where is the creativity gone?

Resident Evil: Afterlife

For those not familiar with the series, Resident Evil began as a video game. Initially known as Biohazard upon its release in Japan, it was renames after it was made known that this title could not be trademarked in the United States, and it appeared on the screens of numerous Sony Playstations some time in 1996. The game was heralded as a triumph, bringing a new brand of “survival horror” to gaming systems. The original followed the story of a small special ops task force as they tried to solve the mystery of a series of bizarre murders on the outskirts of Raccoon City, and the horror that they encountered along the way.

Fast forward fourteen years and the franchise is well into double figures in terms of video game releases, and the fourth studio film, Resident Evil: Afterlife has just been released. Having written all four movies, Paul W.S Anderson returns to direct his second of the series, his first since the screen debut of the franchise. Considering this is the same director who has brought us Mortal Kombat, Alien Versus Predator and Death Race, its no surprise that this latest offering is less than impressive.

Anderson seems determined to under-utilise the materials at his disposal. The Resident Evil series has amazing potential, it could easily have been as dark, atmospheric and tense as Alien, while also being every bit as gory as any hack and slash film that you could imagine. Instead, none of these characteristics are utilised to their full potential, with the focus instead being placed on mindless gunfire and a plethora of zombie killings, without the spectacular geysers of blood.

The movie franchise basically picks existing characters and drops them around Alice (Milla Jovovich)on an alternate route through the same horror witnessed in the games. Essentially she is trying to sort out the Umbrella Corporation, who have manufactured a bio weapon called the T-virus, and caused the zombie virus upon its release, which has been the case for the previous three films as well. One of the noteworthy aspects of this sequel is the pretty decent summation offered in the second scene as to what has gone on before, which allows the casual viewer to turn up and watch it without any background info.

Unfortunately, for anyone who has seen The Matrix, some sequences will feel a little all too familiar, in particular one action scene, where Alice fends off a hoard of Umbrella security guards in a narrow corridor. This feels very reminiscent of the exploits of Keanu Reeves, not to mention the obvious similarities in showing off the technology available. Whereas The Matrix had “bullet time”, Resident Evil: Afterlife has full use of the James Cameron designed Fusion Camera System, which explains the overkill of slow motion shots. Although effective at times, the use of slow motion detracts from the whole film as an experience. It feels as though every time you become accustomed to what is going on, the atmosphere of the piece is murdered spectacularly.

The action scenes themselves are quite good, although at times the reliance on the ridiculous should be diluted, and more realistic scenarios portrayed, which would no doubt enhance the overall feel of the film. Having said that, a lot of thought clearly went in to the choreographing of the action sequences, with a very impressive one in particular seeing both Claire and Alice take on The Executioner, a giant hooded man (well, at one stage), who wields a giant cross breed between an axe and a hammer. A formidable opponent seen in Resident Evil 5, is only enhanced by the 3D technology and the floundering females.

Speaking of characters, it appears as if it’s not just the director who seems to enjoy abusing the potential of the franchise, as the acting is just as bad at times. For someone with vast experience of the genre, Milla Jovovich performs at a particularly low level. At times her displays of both "emotion" and "intensity" are nothing short of laughable. Considering the story is focused on her, it’s not too much to expect a performance of some decent level at least, although in her defence she manages a pretty good snarl every now and then. At least Ali Larter provides some more credible talent, reprising her role as Claire Redfield, providing a decent effort in the kind of femme fatale role that she is well used to by now. Her fictional brother Chris Redfield (Wentworth Miller) is cast very well, and does his best as another fearless type, even if his leadership qualities and characteristics in general seem a little watered down from what we should expect.

The casting was also kind to the character of Albert Wesker. Played by Shawn Roberts- dressed darkly, blending in with the shadowy backgrounds and plotting sinister plans behind his pitch black glasses- Wesker is looks exactly as he should. Unfortunately, a black cape and robotic movements again evoke Matrix-inspired nostalgia, and it’s hard to ignore the Agent Smith qualities on display, not to mention his seemingly indestructible physicality. Unfortunately many of the other characters are both irrelevant and utterly pointless with respect to the story. Too many of them are expendable, with no notable skills or abilities that could be utilised in forging a way to their goal.

There are still some cool moments, as expected. Anderson is not completely oblivious to the wants and needs of a watching audience, and this is reflected by drawing in money each time he revisits the franchise. The plot twist involving “Arcadia”, a disease free haven, and the events that unfold when this occurs is intriguing, and it feels as though so much more could have been done. And of course, there is the 3D, which is spectacular at times. Regrettably, this is another extremely flawed chapter in a great series. With similar flaws affecting it’s prequels, one cannot hold out much hope for the future under the current regime, especially given the ending, which sets us up for a direct sequel (confirmed by Jovovich on behalf of her husband Anderson). What the series really needs is a complete makeover, and a reboot with a different director, a different writer, and fresh ideas.

Rating:
2/5

Fish Tank

As the title suggests, Fish Tank is to be looked at. It is to be looked at because it’s the second film from Andrea Arnold, following her terrific debut feature length film Red Road in 2006. It is to be looked at because it depicts the laboured existence of so many teenagers in modern society, and because it depicts this in a manner that few others could achieve. It is to be looked at because it is harsh, grim, and real. In a nutshell, we follow 15 year old Mia (debutant Katie Jarvis) as she struggles with her life in a working class London suburb, and in particular the various emotions associated with being a young teenage girl. And she really puts on a show.

The story goes that Jarvis was spotted by a member of the crew while arguing with her boyfriend at Tilbury Town railway station, the one used in the film itself. She was also unemployed and had dropped out of school. Essentially, she’s not acting at all, this is as real as it gets. Perhaps because of this she is able to provide incredible displays of powerful emotion, the kind of performance that almost saw her land the part of Lisbeth Salander for the impending remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Of course, there’s always a reason for such heightened emotion, and Mai’s life is fraught with tension. Her mother Joanne (Kierston Wareing)is a middle aged slut, openly throwing boozy parties and unashamedly bringing men back to her dingy apartment whenever suits. Her younger sister Tyler (Rebecca Griffiths) treats her with typical sibling disdain, to which she gladly reciprocates. She appears to have no friends, and as a result she is left out of any ongoing activities with the other girls her age- a clear cut example of this occurs in the opening scene, where she innocently watches the other girls dancing. Her very presence causes friction, and as her volatile temper spills over she headbutts another girl, who we later discover has suffered a broken nose.

The arrival of Connor (Michael Fassbender) in her life, as she dances in her pyjamas to a music video on television early one morning, sparks a change in the young girl. The teenage crush is obvious, but given that he is more than twice her age, not to mention her mother’s new boyfriend, there’s a sense straight away that there will be trouble ahead. She is infatuated with him, and his free spirited ways, and does whatever she can to spend more time with him, whenever possible. In turn, he offers her everything that she has been lacking- a friend and a father figure all in one, even encouraging her to push for her dream of becoming a dancer, going as far as providing a video camera to record herself to answer a job application.

There is always a sense that this is hurtling towards the obvious, and hints as to Connor’s motives are not hidden by Arnold. Instead, she focuses on the emotional development of Mia, or lack thereof, for the most part. Although Connor brings out the best in Mia- showing her a happier and more fun-filled life, her destructive, spontaneous and thoughtless tendencies still shine through, including an on-off relationship with a genuinely interested young lad, and an awkward scene in which she extracts her own form of revenge on Connor.

Throughout the film however, Arnold ‘s greatest achievement is her depiction of the world in which Mia lives, and how relative it is to her. Personal relationships aside, there is a sense that there is a betrayal of the real world, a failure in what it can provide for Mia. Within the cramped confines of her estate she is comfortable, she knows her surroundings and what everything stands for, such as the ability to practice her dance routines within the quiet confines of an abandoned apartment and even down to her mother’s lifestyle choices there are no secrets here. Visually we are aware of this quite often also, with many of the estate shots feeling quite restricted spatially, particularly within the apartment itself.

Contrary to this, the real world outside of the poky suburban “Fish Tank” in which she lives, causes her much danger. From grazing her ankle while walking in a lake within an open plain, to the emotion pain that she receives having visited Connor’s very un-cramped semi-detached two story home later on in the film, the openness of the real world appears too much for Mia. It is this failure to understand the complexities of the world around her which enslaves Jarvis’ character, and leaves her lost. Ultimately, Fish Tank is to be looked at because this portrayal of the world in relation to a modern, troubled teenage girl is intriguing, realistic, and very, very accomplished.

Rating:
4/5