The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is one of those films that on paper looks perfect.  The trailer then came along and ended up being a master class in trailer making.  The promise was there but I just couldn’t muster up any interest in the film.

In order to remain consistent I will confirm for the record that I have not read the book. 

PLOT: A naïve and doe eyed Nick (Tobey Maguire) moves to New York to make his fortune.  Nick befriends the flamboyant Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCapio).  Gatsby is known to all but known by none and rumours of his wealth spread like wildfire throughout New York.  As Nick gets to know the real Gatsby it transpires that Jay is in love with Nick’s cousin Daisy (Carey Mulligan).   Gatsby and Daisy spend the summer together however as the season comes to an end telling Daisy’s husband Tom (Joel Edgerton) about their affair has tragic consequences.  END PLOT

The plot of The Great Gatsby is more complex that it appears with social and class themes bubbling away underneath a traditional forbidden love story.  I was never bored but I could feel my mind beginning to wander on several occasions.  The running length of 142mins (IMDB) was a good half hour too long.

Leonardo DiCaprio is undoubtedly one of the best actors of our generation and as Jay Gatsby he does not disappoint.  Gatsby’s shy awkwardness and nervous clumsiness evolve into obsession and sudden bursts of anger towards the end of the film and DiCaprio handles the small changes in Gatsby with ease.

DiCaprio is the star of the film but he is equalled by Joel Edgerton an actor who is slowly but steadily making a name for himself.  Carey Mulligan has made a career of underacting and I have loved her for it but in The Great Gatsby the flighty nature of Daisy gives Mulligan much more to do than usual.

The weak link is Tobey Maguire and he manages to derail the film with his wide eye performance and cringe worthy narration.  Maguire is the biggest casting mistake is recent memory – what the hell was James McAvoy doing when auditions were being held?  To say that Tobey Maguire is awful is an understatement.

The Great Gatsby is directed by Baz Luhrmann and has all the hallmarks of his previous offerings.  The sets and costumes are gorgeous but there were occasions when the setting overshadowed the storytelling.  The extravagance thankfully takes a backseat in the final act when the drama is increased. 

The film is much better than a style over substance argument but it just wasn’t the modern masterpiece that it was aiming to be.  The Great Gatsby gets 6/10.  Unfortunately you could watch the trailer for The Great Gatsby and get the same reward as watching the 2hour spectacle – if not more.

Zero Dark Thirty

 

My love of Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker meant that anticipation levels were high for Zero Dark Thirty.  The fact that it starred Jessica Chastain added to the excitement.

As I do not have access to CIA Intel I cannot say for sure if Zero Dark Thirty is an accurate account of the hunt for Bin Laden.

PLOT:  CIA agent Maya (Jessica Chastain) has been tasked with finding the location of Osama Bin Laden however she is hampered by a never ending stream of false leads and changing political attitudes   Maya eventually finds a suspicious compound in which she believes Bin Laden is living.  After convincing her superiors Joseph (Kyle Chandler) and George (Mark Strong/hairpiece) to launch an assault on the compound Maya must wait to see if Osama Bin Laden has finally been captured.  END PLOT

The hunt for Bin Laden was a slow process with Zero Dark Thirty spanning the course of (around) nine years.  The film is broken into chapters with each section having its own label and story to tell.  I didn't mind the labels but it made the storytelling feel slightly choppy.

There is a shift in tone in the final act as the film practically ignores Maya and focuses on the raid of Bin Laden’s compound.  The raid lasts for a good 30mins and is filled with tension from start to finish.

In a very short space of time Jessica Chastain has become a very firm favourite.  I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing Chastain in many films but I can already see that she has a skill of being the best thing in each picture.  Chastain’s Maya looks permanently exhausted but relentlessly continues in her search for Bin Laden.

Chastain is given a few scenes in which to shine but her performance is more understated than I expected it to be.  I expect her to win the Oscar but there is a part of me that can’t help but think that Naomi Watts got the opportunity to do a lot more with much less screen time.

Jason Clarke’s character Dan is more interesting than Maya.  Dan is responsible for the interrogation of the prisoners and flits between torture and compassion with a weary jobsworth's attitude.  Clarke, like Chastain, escaped from the god awful Lawless with his dignity intact and once again he has proved to be a very capable supporting player.

The rest of the cast – Mark Strong, Kyle Chandler and Joel Edgerton are all fine with what little they are given to do.  There are plenty of other familiar faces but they come and go without ceremony and I cannot remember any of their characters' names.  Zero Dark Thirty has a surprisingly large and very underdeveloped cast with the minor characters being brushed to the side and forgotten about without a second thought.

A special mention must be given to Reda Kateb who played Ammar, Dan’s torture victim, as he was on the wrong end of some very intense scenes.

Zero Dark Thirty has some dark moments and scenes with waterboarding and humiliation will always be uncomfortable viewing.  The torture of Ammar was hard to watch because the scenes felt real and the performances of Clarke and Kateb were so strong.  It was violent but it got the balance between uncomfortable and engaging perfect.

It is hard to believe that the budget of Zero Dark Thirty was only $40million (IMDB) as the film felt like a much larger production.  The cinematography was similar to The hurt Locker and looked purposefully drained and sapped of colour.

Zero Dark Thirty is a slow burner but not one second of the 157min (IMDB) running length is felt as I was engrossed from start to finish.  It is an excellent film and deserves another watch – but the length and content means that it will not be a regular visitor to the dvd player.  8.5/10.

Lawless

The trailer for Lawless was enough to convince me that a film was worth a look.  This method of choosing films has a downside as it can lead to some major disappointments.  Lawless was one of those disappointments.

PLOT: Set during the Prohibition Act Forrest Bondurant (Tom Hardy) and his two brothers Howard (Jason Clarke) and Jack (Shia LaBeouf) set up a successful moonshine business. After Forrest is injured in an attack ordered by Deputy Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce) it is up to Jack to oversee the family business. END PLOT

Lawless is based on the novel by Matt Bondurant, Jack’s grandson, but as I have not read the book I have no idea whether or not the film was an accurate portrayal of events.

The main story arc focused on Jack Bondurant however this was book-ended by opening and closing sections which focused on Forrest Bondurant.

The sudden disappearance of Forrest for large sections of the film went unexplained and was very noticeable. I will concede that Forrest was injured but he was recovered before he disappeared.  There was no reason for his absence or for Jack taking over the family business and both points went unexplained.

Clocking in at 116mins Lawless was already quite long but I can’t help but wonder how heavily edited the film was as at times it felt very uneven and disjointed.

Despite the promise of the trailer Lawless was nothing more than a coming of age story for Jack Bondurant.

I am not a fan of LaBeouf and in Lawless he proved that he has two methods of acting – whining weasel and obnoxious arse.

The casting of LaBeouf in the lead role was a serious miscast as the character of Jack Bondurant required a young actor who could pull off an easy charm. Unfortunately LaBeouf is naturally devoid of any charisma and made the Jack extremely dislikeable throughout the entirety of the film.

I still can’t form an opinion on Tom Hardy but in Lawless he didn’t look comfortable. Hardy came across as awkward and dealt with his limited dialogue by adopting a weird grunting purr and he didn’t suit Forrest’s wardrobe at all.  If it wasn't for Hardy's few moments with Jessica Chastain he would have been as miscast as LaBeouf.

Guy Pierce is always hit or miss and unfortunately he bordered extremely close to miss. I would have appreciated less screen time for Pierce in place of more for Gary Oldman.

Jessica Chastain and Mia Wasikowska are two talented actresses but they were both relegated to the background. Despite hints of a back-story with Chastain’s Maggie it was never developed.

There were several violent scenes which were quite gruesome to watch however they almost felt like an after thought and the same could be said for the language.  I am not against violence or swearing in films but in Lawless they just felt forced.

Lawless was never going to be a classic but poor casting and dodgy editing helped to highlight its faults. It gets a 4/10. There was potential but it was squandered at every opportunity.