Somers Town

Director: Shane Meadows
Starring: Thomas Turgoose, Piotr Jagiello & Ireneusz Czop

Following on from the critically acclaimed This Is England, director Shane Meadows follows its success with a smaller, quieter film about friendship across cultural differences that further demonstrate his keen eye for true-to-life characters and situations.

Originally meant to be a short film, created in part to commemorate the building of Eurostar’s international terminus at St Pancreas, whilst Meadows prepared for his next big picture, soon expanded into a touching film about two alienated boys developing a friendship despite different cultural backgrounds. Moving from his usual filming locations in the Midlands, Meadows shows he is just as comfortable working in the even more mixed neighborhoods of London as Nottingham runaway Tomo (Turgoose) forms a friendship with Polish immigrant Marek (Jagiello) who also finds himself often alone in London as his father works on building the terminus with Eurostar.

Meadows again tackles such topics as inner city, working class communities and the lifestyles of their residents with an eye to racial attitudes yet handles them in a natural, somewhat subtle manner. Marek is the son of a Polish immigrant who, while possessing a keen grasp of the English language, is something of a loner, spending his days taking photographs, mostly of the French waitress at a local café. Marek’s father, a single father, is rarely available, working long hours and more content with spending his free time with friends that his son, it is the lack of communication between father and son that distances them both. Enter Tomo; Tomo arrives in London having left Nottingham behind. Claiming to have nothing back there for him to return to he too is a loner with family issues. After a rough first night where he is mugged, his need for company and shelter leads him to seize upon Marek, initially in a bullish manner reminiscent of the attitudes of his attackers the night before (on a side note, the most negative aspects of the London neighborhoods appear due to English nationals, combating the accusations that immigrants face that it is they that harm communities). Tomo’s dependence on Marek for support soon changes those initial, negative, attitudes and the company he in turn provides for Marek develops into a friendship, albeit a secret one kept from Marek’s father.

Thomas Turgoose, having made his debut in Meadows’ This Is England, develops further as an actor here, coming more into the spotlight as the main, English speaking character. His performance is a strong one, displaying Tomo’s vulnerability as well as his need to convince himself and others of his ability to survive independently. Piotr Jagiello is likewise impressive as the quiet, unassuming Marek who has been forced to live alone but lacks the confidence to voice his feelings to his father or to share his life with others. Even Marek’s father is well presented by Ireneusz Czop, who knows he is neglecting his son but, like Tomo, has difficulty admitting his failures and reaching out to his son to give and receive support, instead throwing himself into his work. It is then the effect that Tomo and Marek have on each other that leads to a confrontation after Tomo introduces Marek to alcohol after the waitress they care for, and formed a friendship with, leaves them and unable to process their reactions soberly, drink and are found by Marek’s father. This, initially uncomfortable, confrontation becomes the incident that pushes all three characters to assess their lives and how they relate.

Ending on a sequence filled with hope, uncharacteristic for Meadows, Tomo and Marek end the film as stronger people and Eurostar get their sequence promoting their service’s ability to keep people connected. Overall, this is a short, yet strong effort from Meadows and demonstrates his versatility as a director. Its messages about friendship may be familiar ones, but they are well represented within Somers Town.

Rating: 4/5

Get Smart

Director: Peter Segal
Starring: Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway & Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson

An entertaining comedy adapting the 60s Television series which also serves as a good vehicle for Steve Carell to demonstrate his comedy style.

Based on a 60s TV series starring Don Adams which regularly spoofed the conventions of the spy genre, Get Smart the film sometimes feel like it is late in arriving. Having already seen many 60s and 70s TV shows adapted for the big screen and coming years after the Austin Powers films had already spoofed the spy genre, Get Smart really shouldn’t be as entertaining as it is. Some of the gags involving gadgets and sophisticated covert operations seem plainly obvious while the film’s plot and its twists and turns likewise feel familiar and are somewhat predictable. However, what Get Smart does have is good casting.

Steve Carell, having been popular as the star of the US version of British TV Comedy The Office, is ideal as the choice to play Maxwell Smart, the earnest, if inexperienced Agent put out into the field for the first time after years working as an analyst. His inexperience and the mistakes it causes and even the solutions it brings work well with Carell’s nervous manner, especially as Carell chooses to avoid caricature by playing the role straight rather than consciously acknowledging the conventions of the spy or spoof genres when they present themselves. Performed somewhat seriously means Smart’s reactions to his situations feel fresh even if the situations and solutions themselves are not.

Carell is not the only smart casting choice in Get Smart. As fellow agents we have Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as the ultra-skilled Agent 23 who is both the perfect secret agent yet also a nice guy but is also, for most of the film, played seriously and therefore avoids becoming a spoof version of James Bond. In addition to Johnson, and the partner to Carrel’s Maxwell Smart, is Anne Hathaway as Agent 99 who manages to make her agent both confident and capable in skills yet vulnerable enough emotionally to be won over by Smart’s good nature and desire to prove himself. Alan Arkin also appears as Smart’s boss, a smart, likeable, if grumpy character whose deadpan delivery of his character’s seen-it-all weariness is yet another flavor of comedy that work well. The only slightly disappointing performance comes from Terence Stamp as leader of the villainous group CHAOS, whose performance, while not over-the-top, lacks any real depth.

While the casting is good, the plot is fairly standard and quite predictable but the action sequences are well paced with some above average CGI and helped by Carell’s performance and the film moves briskly from one action sequence to the next with many gags littered in between that you rarely have time to notice some of the plot holes or acknowledge the familiarity of some gags and scenes until much later. Get Smart’s story also benefits from fleshing out the characters of Smart and Agent 99 where lesser comedies would satisfy themselves with caricatures.

Overall, the lack of originality in some areas prevent Get Smart from being a great comedy but it is still entertaining thanks to a strong leading performance by Steve Carell and several smart casting choices in the supporting roles.

Rating: 3/5

You Don't Mess With The Zohan

Director: Dennis Dugan
Starring: Adam Sandler, John Turturro & Emmanuelle Chiriqui

What starts off as a comedy version of Spielberg’s Munich by way of Austin Powers quickly loses steam early on resulting in Adam Sandler’s most inconsistent, and unsatisfying, film to date.

Adam Sandler is not an actor who is known for producing or starring in sophisticated comedies but he can sometimes deliver comedies that entertain beyond the usual toilet and sex humor that often dominate his films. The Wedding Singer, Big Daddy, Happy Gilmore; these are Sandler films that have included either sharp observational humor, genuine humanity or madcap lunacy to the standard Sandler template and succeeded in entertaining more than expected. You Don’t Mess With The Zohan, Sandler’s latest effort, starts out strong. Sandler plays Zohan, a top Mossad agent who, while fighting terrorists and seducing women, harbors a secret desire to become a hairdresser. Sandler makes Zohan the Israeli equivalent of Austin Powers while poking fun at dated Western influences in Israel (80s fashion and 90s Mariah Carey being shown current trends 10-20 years after their height of popularity in the US) and also adding some broad gags at Jewish culture from the region (a running gag throughout the film involves the various uses of Hummus).

However, Zohan wishes to escape to America to pursue his dream of becoming a hairdresser so, during a fight with his main rival Phantom (Turturro), Zohan fakes his death and flees to America. Once Zohan gets the opportunity to realize his dream, the story and the jokes begin to run out of steam. What starts as a mildly amusing gag involving Zohan’s ‘hands on’ hairdressing style and its popularity with his older female, grows less amusing as it, along with other running libido gags and appearances by Rob Schneider, become part of the limited running gags employed too frequently at the expense of fresher, more effective humor. The plot too, once Zohan gets his chance to cut hair, stumbles trying to justify its extended running time by throwing in a predictable love interest in Zohan’s boss and a sub-plot involving a greedy developer wanting to replace the community with shopping centers before Zohan’s enemy, Phantom, arrives to end Zohan’s life for good. The latter conflict improves the film towards its conclusion as old gags are dropped for more action and some, not too subtle, statements about the differences between the Arab/Israeli relationship in US communities but it does not quite make up for the overlong mid-section.

Performances in You Don’t Mess With The Zohan are a mixed bunch. Sandler’s performance as Zohan, while one-note, fulfills its purpose as the naïve, yet likeable hero while Turturro is entertaining as Zohan’s nemesis. Emmanuelle Chiriqui is wasted as little more than likeable boss/love interest and Rob Schneider merely annoys with yet another of his poorly performed supporting roles consisting little more than putting on a funny accent and spouting catchphrases.

Overall, You Don’t Mess With The Zohan is too long and disappoints too often to be more than mildly entertaining. It’s early energy and over-the-top action gives the film a strong start and there are some good jokes that hit their mark later but many don’t and the potential it had to be better is wasted resulting in a lower than average comedy.

Rating: 2/5

The X-Files: I Want To Believe

Director: Chris Carter
Starring: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson & Billy Connolly

Six years after The X-Files television series finished its nine year run, Mulder and Scully return for their second big screen adventure. While The X-Files: I Want To Believe offers some satisfying moments and performances for longtime fans of the show, there is little present to justify its presence as a big-screen film.

The X-Files television series, a cult phenomenon, ended in 2002 after nine years of the investigations of Agents Mulder & Scully into supernatural and extra-terrestrial phenomenon. While the stars of the show had moved into supporting roles during the series final two seasons and the edge of the show losing its effectiveness towards the end, The X-Files was still one of the best received and remember television shows of the 1990s. So, six years later, creator Chris Carter reunites with show stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson for a new case. The storylines of the television show usually focused on either government conspiracies involving extra-terrestrials, the supernatural (including ghosts and monsters) or serial killers (often with an unusual/supernatural element). Having satisfied its overarching storyline involving aliens and the government within the television series, Chris Carter has wisely chosen not to revisit that conspiracy and focus the plot of this film on more human horrors involving the supernatural, this time represented by a psychic ex-priest.

The storyline, involving a kidnapped FBI Agent, dismembered body-parts discovered in ice and an ex-priest having psychic visions regarding the Agent and her captors is interesting and generally well presented and feels right at home amongst similar storylines from the television series’ history. However, its strengths as the storyline worthy of the television series is also one of its weaknesses as a film as the plot and events are developed as an episode of the show would be developed without fully taking advantage the big screen format. Unusual since the advantages of the big screen were used effectively in 1998 when The X-Files was first adapted for the big screen half way through the television series’ run. Had this been released as a movie for television it would likely be better received as expectations in terms of budget, action and scale for a big screen adaptation would go unsatisfied by this film. Instead, Carter adds an unnecessary sub-plot involving a dying boy at a hospital Scully works at distracts from the film’s central storyline whilst serving to separate Scully from Mulder for lengthy segments throughout the film. This sub-plot itself is ultimately left open ended and is only tangentially related to events elsewhere in the film. This sub-plot is more suited for a television episode that can afford to indulge in soap-opera drama but slows the film down too much which is a problem given that this film is also our first adventure with Scully and Mulder in six years.

On the acting front there are many good performances. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson slip comfortably back into the roles that made them famous and deliver solid performances in spite of the film continuing the romance between the two that was better served in the early years of the television series as a more platonic romance than the relationship it inevitably became. Duchonvy leads the cast well, receiving most of the spotlight (though sporting a terrible beard during the first third of the film) but is supported well by Billy Connolly who delivers a restrained and tortured performance as the ex-priest with an unsavory past who is receiving visions that can help solve the case, and Amanda Peet is likeable as an FBI Agent leading the investigation whose commitment to covering all angles brings her to involve Mulder and Scully in the investigation.

Overall, this would stand as a better than average episode of the television series but an extended sub-plot, an anti-climatic resolution to the main storyline and little use of the big screen format leave The X-Files: I Want To Believe somewhat unsatisfying as a film, especially as a film that reunites us with the cast of the television series. A film mostly for long-term fans of the show but not recommended for new or casual fans but don’t expect big things, just an extended episode of the series.

Rating: 2/5 for film fans or 3/5 for X-Files fans

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

Director: Rob Cohen
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello & John Hannah

After a seven year absence, The Mummy franchise is revived but despite adding new elements, it fails to make good use of them or to include the sense of fun from the previous installments.

2008 would feel like an appropriate time to return to The Mummy franchise. With Indiana Jones returning to the big screen after a 19 year absence, this would be a good time to return to the 1999/2001 The Mummy franchise that was, in spirit, Indiana Jones-lite with a bigger budget. Following on from Indiana Jones’ lead, this new installment fast forwards the action and characters to a post WWII period with them older, wiser and looking for the glory of their earlier years. On paper, the plot and ideas within sound good, taking to action from Egypt to China and bringing in Martial Arts legend Jet Li as the villain.

Unfortunately, director Rob Cohen (known for action but new to this franchise), fails to make good use of the new locale, or of Jet Li. In what begins as an interesting back story to the legend of the Dragon Emperor and how he becomes a Mummy leaves the Emperor (Jet Li) as a Mummy encased in stone. A walking special effect with little visible emotion for most of the film, we don’t get to see the Emperor in the form of Jet Li again until the film’s climax which itself includes several poor CGI transformations that recall the poor visualization of The Scorpion King from the end of the second Mummy film. Also, considering Jet Li’s considerable Martial Arts skills and the inclusion of star Michelle Yeoh as one of the Emperor’s enemies, actual use of Li and Yeoh’s skills in this manner is limited to a few short sequences near the climax and are often sidelined to focus on hordes of CGI rendered undead soldiers. The storyline too quickly becomes too predictable and lacks and real depth into the personalities of its new cast members or in developing any new motivations for its villains or in how to defeat the villains.

Returning cast members Brendan Fraser and John Hannah as hero Rick O’Connell and his brother-in-law Jonathan are the most entertaining elements in this new installment. However, both get less opportunity to impress on screen as they share the screen-time with less interesting characters. With Rachel Weiss choosing not to return to the franchise to play Evelyn O’Connell, the film suffers from Weiss’ absence. Choosing to replace Weiss with American actress Maria Bello unfortunately leaves the character uninteresting. Lacking to the perky charm of Weiss and simultaneously struggling with a bad script and a bad English accent, Bello fails to breathe any real life into the character of Evelyn this time around and Bello’s performance also lacks the chemistry with Brendan Fraser’s Rick O’Connell that was present before when the role of Evelyn was held by Weiss. Another poor performance comes from actor Luke Ford, who plays the role of, now older, Alex O’Connell, the son of Rick and Evelyn. For a role that has been built up to share equal screen-time with Fraser’s Rick and set up also as a possible inheritor of the franchise for possible future installments, Ford plays the role too serious, too straight and lacking the energy and enthusiasm that Fraser has brought to his own leading man/action hero.

As if a CGI Mummy/statue, a recast wife/love interest and a charisma free heir to the action hero throne weren’t enough of a distraction from the films best feature of Brendan Fraser, Fraser also shares screen-time with CGI Yeti’s, two-dimensional henchmen and a climax that sees a huge battle between hundreds of undead soldiers battling the Dragon Emperor’s own army that, while showcasing some decent CGI, offers nothing new to compete with similar battles seen in blockbusters since The Lord of the Rings films raised the standard. The choice of locale is similarly underdeveloped with the director happy to have the environment look like China or Hong Kong without making the effort to make it feel like China and Hong Kong.

Overall, there are too many errors in judgment in the development of this installment of The Mummy franchise to make the film enjoyable. Fraser and Hannah do their best but some poor CGI, bad casting and plotline choices and failure to make better use of its China locale leaves The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor too unsatisfying not only in competition to Indiana Jones but also in comparison the rest of The Mummy franchise.

Rating: 1/5

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Director: Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair & Doug Jones

Hellboy returns, along with director Guillermo del Toro, for a sequel that improves on the original. However, what Hellboy II lacks in plot it more than makes up for on character and lush visual design.

It is satisfying to know that the first Hellboy film achieved enough success to warrant a sequel. The film, like its hero, always seemed like a harder sell for non-comicbook reading audiences to like. Unlike other superheroes or superhero films, its star is not human nor has any human alter-ego for when he isn’t battling the forces of evil. Hellboy is a freak, a demon and ugly but he also has charm and is certainly human in personality. It is this charm that helped win over readers and audiences to Hellboy. That and plenty of action and impressive visual design.

Much has changed this time around. The first film was a satisfying introduction to the character of Hellboy and his friends. However, while a good job was done to help audiences get to know Hellboy, the story demands of delivering an origin story in addition to a plot for Hellboy to foil meant we didn’t get to spend quite as much time getting to know Hellboy as we’d have liked. That changes with Hellboy II, as director Guillermo del Toro spends as much time getting to know and love Hellboy and his friends as he does advancing the plot. So good are the moments we spend with our cast between battles that the plot suffers somewhat as a result yet it will be the character moments you will remember most and talk about after the film has ended. Drunken escapades involving a musical interlude between Hellboy and his friend Abe are just one of the highlights in this regard as is a hilarious argument between Hellboy and new cast member Johan Krauss that results in a memorable, locker room, fight scene.

In addition to more personality and character development in Hellboy II, director Guillermo del Toro returns to the Hellboy franchise following the recent critical success of his fantasy film Pan’s Labyrinth. While Hellboy II won’t win over many of the intellectual crowd that praised Pan’s Labyrinth, it will certainly win over fans of del Toro’s visual style. Dealing with creatures of fairytale in the storyline of Hellboy II, del Toro builds a beautiful world of fantasy that co-exists alongside our own. Creatures such as the troll Mr. Wink and the menacing Tooth Fairies arrive fully realized like the twisted cousins of their Pan’s Labyrinth counterparts and more unique creations such as a Plant Elemental that attacks Hellboy in the film’s halfway point set-piece are as beautiful as they are dangerous. New locations are similarly well designed such as the Troll Market that is full of blink-and-you’ll-miss-it details and feels like the fantasy film equivalent of the Mos Eisley Cantina in Star Wars while an increased budget allows for Hellboy’s government headquarters to now bustle with life reminiscent of the headquarters of Men In Black.

What Hellboy II has in terms of strengths however, sometimes puts a spotlight on the film’s weaknesses such as its plot and villains. The storyline of on elfin prince wishing to regain control of his realm and wage war on the humans that have forced his people into hiding seems fine at first glance and the legendary ‘Golden Army’ which he intends to revive to accomplish this feat seem threatening enough, the manner in which this feat is achieved is fairly standard. To revive the Golden Army requires the collection of pieces of a crown and locating the home of the army, as such it is fairly predictable that some pieces fall into the hands of our heroes and they then need to prevent the prince, Nuada, from obtaining them. While this results in some impressive action sequences and special effects, the route the storyline will take is still somewhat predictable and the solution to stopping the ‘Golden Army’ in the finale is a little anti-climatic. Also, with such well-developed characters as Hellboy, Abe Sapien and Liz Sherman, the film’s villain, Prince Nuada, is underdeveloped and feels little more than a one-note villain. Luke Goss delivers a decent performance as Nuada, but given the lack of material to work with; his performance and his character still stand out as amongst the weakest in the film with even more personality given to the Tooth Fairies than to Nuada.

Overall, Hellboy II is still great entertainment. While its actual storyline is not much of an improvement over the first film’s, the attention to detail, the action and, most of all, the character development in Hellboy II not only improve upon that of the first film but also make’s up for Hellboy II’s own shortcomings. Hellboy II is well worth your time and enjoyment and while it might not achieve the critical or commercial success of other superhero films in 2008, it is certainly stands out as one of the most fun.

Rating: 4/5