Out to own today:
Bastille Day a.k.a. The Take
 | “Welcome to Paris,” Karen Dacre (Kelly Reilly) Idris Elba is better than this naff sub-1980s throwback action thriller, which tries to recapture the lean no-nonsense excitement of DIE HARD, 48 HOURS and MIDNIGHT RUN. Surprisingly inept filmmaking comes from director James Watkins, who made one of modern cinema’s top horror movies, THE WOMAN IN BLACK. Shaking the camera so you cannot see what is unfolding, and then editing fast to make doubly sure, marks his lack of confidence in combat choreography. In the age of THE RAID and MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, surely we now live in a world where that incompetent style is no longer on the roster? [To read more, click here.] |
SPL 2: A Time for Consequences a.k.a. Kill Zone 2
 | “I will not sacrifice other people’s lives to save my daughter,” Chatchai (Tony Jaa) A martial arts movie that actually cares about narrative, rather than storytelling as an excuse just to link fight sequences, SPL2, bravo. The three good guys are kept behind the audience in terms of information revelation. Sometimes it is the reverse, we are drip-fed details tantalisingly. Keeping protagonists at arm’s-length, regardless of character morality/motivation, was utilised dexterously by INFERNAL AFFAIRS and its remake THE DEPARTED. One wonders why the technique is not used more often? (Arm’s-length here of course does not apply to being punched in the face.) [To read more, click here.] |
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