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Reviews (37)
06 Jan, 2011
Hellboy 2 - The Golden Army (DVD)
There’s a good chance that, of all the many dozens of superhero movies released during the last few years, Hellboy is the one you haven’t seen. A protagonist who’s a big red demon? Not a single A-list star (unless you count John Hurt, which sadly few do)? A director who, at the time of Hellboy’s release in 2004 was best known for the so-so superhero sequel Blade II and shoddy monster movie Mimic?
Of course, for those who were aware of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy comics and of Guillermo del Torro’s track record of cult Spanish-language movie inventiveness, the marrying of the two was as near a perfect selection as you could wish for. Del Torro may be all the rage now, following his massive success with Pan’s Labyrinth, but he’s been making similarly unusual films for years – most notably 1993′s intriguing vampire flick Cronos and 2001′s Spanish Civil War ghost story The Devil’s Backbone, a semi-precursor to Pan’s Labyrinth. If you looked past the obvious (the shoddy plotting and often less than convincing acting), even Blade II and Mimic had their moments – notably the fantastic sense of design that went into the various monsters on display, and the all-pervading sense of gloom and dread.
Monsters, gloom and dread – what better qualities for a film about a demon raised by Nazis who goes on to battle evil through the latter decades of the 20th century? You can certainly see why they picked del Torro to direct – and he ended up producing one of the most underrated superhero flicks ever made. Yes, it has its flaws – the pacing is a touch slow in places, and the storyline chosen for the film version may not have necessarily been the best from the comics’ back catalogue – but the visual inventiveness was at times staggering, backed up by a wonderfully charismatic central performance by cult favourite character actor Ron Perlman. That it has managed to get a sequel may be a surprise, having only grossed $99 million worldwide on a $60 million budget, but it is a welcome one.
But enough – the cult credentials have been amply demonstrated. Why should a non-geek want to check out a film starring an actor they’ve probably never heard of about a superhero they know nothing about when they haven’t seen the first film in the series – and especially when the main villain is played by one of the twins from cheesy 80s pop sensation Bros? Simple: this is far and away the most visually stunning movie of the summer, with a sense of design unlike anything you’ll have seen outside of a del Torro film – and with a plot that will suck you in to its bizarre alternate world in a way you haven’t experienced for years.
Plus, of course, it’ll give you a handy taster of what to expect from del Torro’s next big cinematic offering – because he’s been chosen to fill Peter Jackson’s shoes on the two Lord of the Rings prequels due out in 2011 and 2012. An appointment that was only made, it should be noted, after completion of this movie. Which is just about the highest praise you could wish for. No studio in their right mind would trust such a massive franchise to anyone unless they had complete faith in them – and Peter Jackson was never going to hand his baby over to someone likely to mutilate it.
30 Mar, 2020
Allotment life
Using these on the allotment to build climbing arches. They're great value, strong and durable. Out of 200 only one bent out of shape while being knocked in. Would recommend and will use again.
06 Jan, 2011
X-Men Origins - Wolverine (DVD)
The film begins in 1840s Canada, when a young James Logan (aka Wolverine) and his half-brother Victor Creed (aka Sabretooth) discover that their future paths are inextricably connected. Cue the film’s best sequence: a gallop through key military conflicts — the American Civil War, Dunkirk , the Vietnam War – until the pair of them are shown trussed before a firing squad and awaiting execution.
They’re saved by General Stryker (Danny Huston), a genial war-man who recruits them for a covert-ops unit called Team X. They end up in Nigeria in pursuit of a mysterious rock-like material for which they’re meant to be willing to destroy anyone, innocent or guilty, who gets in their way. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) refuses and retires to the Canadian Rockies where he lives in bliss with his girlfriend Kayla (Lynn Collins). Inevitably, along comes Sabretooth spoiling for blood. The rest is mayhem.
The rest is also tedium. Hugh Jackman is fine enough, a slice of prime beefcake who’s able to take out hordes of on-rushing enemies but also gives the impression that he’d be as happy changing baby nappies. It’s a good, multi-demographic-appeasing combination.
The trouble is that the film clearly aspires to be a dark, brooding origin story in the style of Batman Begins (2005). Wolverine is meant to loathe his extraordinary strength: “You’re not an animal,” Kayla urges him. But he doesn’t seem especially revolted with his powers so much as indifferent to them. There’s no genuine tension or visceral anguish to dramatise this supposed conflict within him.
Schrieber, who never quite convinces in the sober, preppy roles he usually plays, is jolly enough to watch as he grimaces and growls. Collins, an ethnically indeterminate cross between Carla Bruni and Jessica Biel, is pretty compelling. But neither these two, nor any of the other actors – Dominic Monaghan as electricity-generating Bradley or Taylor Kitsch as floppy-haired Remy LeBeau who can manipulate any material into a weapon – get enough killer scenes.
In fact, the screenplay by David Benioff and Skip Woods is an arhythmic mess, full of holes and elisions so that, even on the lowest-common-denominator basis of helicopter chases and acts of decapitation, the film doesn’t have anything like the power it should.
It’s been claimed director Gavin Hood (2005’s Tsotsi), who saw the story as an exercise in post-traumatic-stress psychology, suffered the indignity of having Richard Donner of Superman fame brought on to make the final product more “kick ass” and blast-intensive. It ends up a compromise, a ghastly hybrid, a film that appears to have pirated and wrecked its own potential.