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Reviews
The Gray Man (2022)
Half of Six seems apt...
Now I am going to start with a reference not all may get, but this film reminds me of The Big Hit with Mark Wahlberg... Premise and cast could be good, but what happens if you let directors off the leash like this, a maddening mash up of clichés and genres.
The Gray Man is essentially the love child of Bourne Identity and a massive lump of cheese. Every line, every sequence is a cliche ridden ride that never feels like you actually went anywhere.
The actors are all good, I know they are I've seen them in other things, but somehow they have made them bad actors, which is an incredible skill.
Also, whoever let the directors have a drone needs to have a long hard look at themselves.
The Suicide Squad (2021)
Makes the Ayer (studio enforced cut) one look like a masterpiece
Now, I had qualms about the Ayer one when he was forced by the studio to make it funnier as I think they should have let him have the freedom to do what he wanted. But letting Gunn have freedom was like letting a toddler have sharpies on a new painted wall.
I would have marked this lower, but there were some redeemable parts. Harley Quinn was good, the intro was good. It was funny to see bloody body's ripped apart or shot to start with, but after two hours of the same thing it gets tiresome.
I won't spoil the plot, but it becomes like a lovechild of the expendables and Doctor who. Which is fine, if it wasn't the suicide squad. It lacked darkness and spite, instead was trying to hard to be funny whilst blowing people's limbs apart.
I came out of the cinema not really knowing what Gunn was trying to do.
Plenty of people have enjoyed it, and that shows the film was aimed for mass appeal which maybe is what the studio wanted. But for me, I will never watch another one of this new Disney wannabe DC drivel.
Many will disagree, but I am now going to watch the Ayer version and appreciate what we had before Gunn got hold of it. But I don't blame Gunn:
'If you let an infant drive a car and it crashes, you don't blame the infant, you blame the parents who allowed them to drive' .
The Foreigner (2017)
Like a Jackie Chan inspired episode of Spooks
If you aren't accustomed to Spooks, it's a British series about MI5 Spies. Many of the episodes focused on the IRA, and if Jackie Chan (or Quan) had been recruited in an episode, this is what the result would have been.
The Foreigner is much more a thriller than an action film, and Jackie Chan's screen time is not as much as you'd assume, but it actually makes it a better film as it shows a guy caught up in a world he is not part of(albeit one he can destroy with some crazy marine training), rather than a traditional revenge film which follows the revenge seeker. The film is centred around Pierce Brosnan's character and the mirroring of trying to sort the mess a terrorist attack causes, but from the other end of the snake.
The filming is classically British, and the explosions may not live upto purists standards, but make no mistake, this is an amazing film. The plot twists will keep you hooked and the cat and mouse genre is refreshed by a really great script.
It's a shame this isn't coming to British cinemas, but at the same time, I am glad I watched it on a TV, as it felt like a great episode of Spooks (MI-5 http://imdb.com/rg/an_share/title/title/tt0160904/) and no-one will ever be able to tell me that is a bad thing.
Complicit (2013)
Very good drama, pace may be a bit slow for some
To me this was a very good piece of British drama. Understated yet intense, with enough suspense to keep you intrigued to the very end.
The plot is fairly simple. A MI5 agent suspects a person of interest he has been following is about to initiate an act of terror against Britain. The MI5 agent follows him to Egypt where the potential terrorist has been arrested. Then begins a game of cat and mouse about whether the suspect is a terrorist or not and is the MI5 agent right? Simple, but expertly done.
David Oyelowo is a fine leading man as he is in most things. Brooding with a wounded puppy dog look. But the show is stolen by Arsher Ali as the terror suspect. He acts the character brilliantly and he keeps you guessing until the end as to whether he is or not.
Like I said in the title, the pace may be slow for some. But it is shot beautifully, with some expert directing. This is not zero dark thirty, but it has the feel of a true reflection of what actually tracking a terror suspect would be like. Thoughtful and measured.
Cass (2008)
Interesting biopic, not such good acting
This film was of a real interest to me as it was produced by the same producer as Green Street, and having watched it I feel more informed, if a little frustrated.
The film centres around the character of Cass Pennant, a real life hooligan and 80's icon for hooliganism. Adopted into a white family, in an age of racism and violence, Cass finds his natural environment in the place where you would have thought he would be the biggest victim.
The script is based on Cass Pennants book 'Cass', and you can't help but feel it was copied and pasted from novel to script. The main problem is that this could have been one of the best football thug films if they had managed to get decent actors. Not that they don't do a good job, its just not great. Nonso Anozie is pretty good as the main character Cass, its interesting to see a generally soft natured character flip out now and again in a hooligan film instead of the typical hot-headed cockney. The rest of the cast however don't support him very well, and it seems as though they are forcing the drama rather than acting in a biopic.
Overall though, its an interesting insight into a real character in hooliganism, how he ended up, and kept going back, in the hooligan 'business'. If you are looking for another rise of the foot-soldier or a football factory type film, then this may not be for you.