Belle

 

Summer Season is well under way so kudos to the individual who had the good sense to release Belle in the week between two of summers big hitters – 22 Jump Street and How To Train Your Dragon 2.  The release date fell in a quiet spot so the opportunity to see Belle was not one to be missed.

PLOT:  Set in the late 1700’s mixed-race orphan Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) is sent to live with her uncle, Lord Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) after her father (Matthew Goode) is killed at sea.  Despite receiving a significant inheritance from her father Belle’s status in society is defined by her colour and gender.  During her first season in London Belle befriends John Davinier (Sam Reid) a young lawyer who his campaigning against the slave trade, a topic close to her heart.  END PLOT

The plot of Belle is based upon a painting which marked the first time a black woman was painted on equal footing with a white woman.  Thank you Wikipedia.  This marks the most research I have ever carried out for a movie review and normal service will now resume.

Belle is technically a “forbidden love” drama and follows the usual beats until the violins start to sweep with great ferocity and the happy ending occurs.  What makes Belle stand out from the usual Nicholas Sparks style drivel is the setting. The familiar rich vs. poor trope is there but in Belle the topics of race and gender are the key themes.

The script is decent although some of the best moments are the unspoken ones such as the judgemental looks directed at Belle from the English aristocracy and Belle's dignified reaction to them.  The film doesn’t shy away from the racism Belle suffered but the theme is handled with subtly and not laid on with a trowel.  

Despite the love story being at the heart of the film the snippets of information we were treated to in respect of the Zong Massacre became more interesting than the main plot.  The Zong Massacre is a story similar to Amazing Grace which unfortunately hasn’t yet been told.

Relative newcomer Gugu Mbatha-Raw is excellent as Belle as is Tom Wilkinson however it is Miranda Richardson and Tom Felton who steal the show with their performances of Lady Ashford and her son and heir James Ashford.  They capture the prejudiced attitudes in respect of social standing and colour to perfection.  Tom Felton is officially typecast as the villain but he makes it look so easy.

The costumes are gorgeous with Belle and her cousin Elizabeth wearing some amazing dresses and the scenery and sets are typical fare.  There were times when the score was intrusive with the violins being overly enthusiastic at emotional moments – less would have given so much more.

Overall Belle is a very good drama which successfully juggles a love story surrounded by racial and social prejudices. I would have preferred a bit more historical context and wanted more information about the Zong Massacre but I appreciate that this was always background issue.  Belle gets a 8/10.  More films like this would not be unwelcome.

Summer Season can now resume.

The Lone Ranger

 

The Lone Ranger has finally arrived and I thank the gods for this.  If I had to sit through the trailer one more time I could not have been held responsible for my actions in a court of law.  It feels like the trailer has been played in the cinema at least once a week since the dawn of time.

The bandwagon of hatred may have rolled down my way this week but I promise you I didn’t jump on board brandishing my pitchfork and torch.  My dislike of The Lone Ranger began with the teaser trailer which I hated from the off and my long running love-to-hate relationship with Johnny Depp.

The trip to see The Lone Ranger on opening weekend was inevitable.  It was to prove to myself that it was possible to go to the cinema without that trailer being played.  This thought process happened fairly recently with Flight.  The trailer for Flight played for years prior to the film’s release and I went to see it with a “thank the gods it’s over” attitude.  Flight turned out to be an amazing film.

Despite my premeditated hatred of the The Lone Ranger I was daring it to “pull a Denzel”. 

PLOT:  In 1869 John Reid, a newly deputised Ranger, rides out with his older brother to capture Butch Cavendish, (William Fichtner) a notorious outlaw.  The Rangers are ambushed and John watches his brother get brutally murdered.  John is saved by Tonto (Johnny Depp) and the mismatched pair form an unsteady alliance to bring Cavendish to justice. END PLOT

As The Lone Ranger is an origins story focusing on John/Tonto’s first adventure is perfectly acceptable. The major mistake was to have an older Tonto retelling this particular tale to a boy in 1933.  The only purpose it served was to add unnecessary length to a never ending film. 

The technique highlighted the weaknesses in the script as when the Comanche Chief was telling John the tale of Tonto’s childhood we had a flashback scene within a flashback.  It also made the film feel extremely disjointed with the main storyline being brought to an abrupt halt to watch a random child eat peanuts in 1933.  At one stage the jump forward to 1933 was signalled by Johnny Depp mugging into the camera.  The framing device should have been cut completely. It was an absolutely terrible idea.

Metaphor.  No caption required.

The tone was as disjointed as the plot.  Hammer and Depp appeared to be going for slapstick whereas every other cast member played it straight.  This left us with cartoon humour against a gritty Wild West backdrop.  

The attempts at comedy failed for the most part and I found myself being more embarrassed than amused – this isn’t to say that I didn’t smile.  There were a few moments when a smile sneaked out thanks to the antics of the horse.

As soon as Armie Hammer realised that he would be relegated to the sidekick in his own film he should have got on the horse and rode off into the sunset.  Given the origins theme it was fine to let the Ranger have his coming of age moment.  Unfortunately the Ranger spent the film stupidly bumbling around only to come good in the last ten minutes when he became an expert rider and could use a whip better than Indiana Jones.

Hi Ho Silver, take me to my dignity!

The casting of Johnny Depp as Tonto wasn’t a mistake.  The mistake was giving Depp the lead role and an extended amount of screen time as with Johnny Depp less is always more.  It wasn’t as excruciatingly bad as I predicted but it was by no means an enjoyable watch.  My neck muscles are now the size of The Rock’s from cringing so hard. 

One of them is talented, amusing, and entertaining. The other is called Johnny

The supporting cast were all fine in their very limited parts.  William Fichtner as Cavendish was excellent as was James Badge Dale (Dan Reid; a much more interesting character than John).

The Lone Ranger had a staggering budget of $250million (IMDB) so the funds were there to create some spectacular action scenes but like everything else it didn’t quite work.  The opening train crash sequence was ridiculously silly however the shoot-em-up battles looked good.  The mishmash of cartoon and grounded action clashed as the film couldn't get the balance right.

I will admit that the final set piece on the train was great fun.  It was fast paced, well choreographed and genuinely amusing.  There is an argument to be had that at one stage the horse defied both the laws of gravity and physics but I can let this go.  The ten minute train ride was the best part of the entire film.

The Lone Ranger had potential and many opportunities to succeed but it refused to take them.  The film could have worked as a solid 90min action comedy however the film was such a bloated mess I have had to resort to visual aides to describe it.  Thank you Monty Python.

The Lone Ranger gets 4/10.  The combination of Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp is as arrogant as the Burton/Depp partnership is stale.  If heads have to roll at Disney it deserves to be theirs. 

Don't listen to the bad reviews Johnny.  If you don't hear them they can't possibly be true.

Now if you will excuse me.  I am off to watch and enjoy John Carter.............

The Debt

It felt as though the trailer for The Debt had been floating around the cinema for most of the year.  The film finally arrived as did the knowledge that despite having seen the trailer countless times I didn’t really know what the film was about.

PLOT:  It is 1997 and retired Israeli spies Rachel (Helen Mirran) and her ex-husband Stephan (Tom Wilkinson) attend their daughter’s book launch which chronicles their success in capturing and killing former Nazi war criminal Dr Vogel (Jesper Christensen).  All is not what it seems and we are told through a series of flashbacks with a younger Rachel (Jessica Chastain) Stephan (Marton Csokas) and their colleague David (Sam Worthingon) what really happened on their mission.  END PLOT

The plot of The Debt is fine right up until the last act when we leave the past completely and the focus is placed on the older Rachel and Stephan trying to get themselves out of their own mess.  Helen Mirran and Tom Wilkinson are more than capable of taking centre stage but with the story petering out and the tension all but gone there is nothing that even actors of their talent can do with such a watery ending.

The film comes to life whenever the three Jewish spies are holed up in the house with Dr Vogel who slowly but surely starts to get under their skin.  The best scene in the entire film is between Dr Vogel and David which was tense and downright unsettling.

It is actually quite frustrating that all the good work in the flashbacks was undone by such a poor ending.  The film was written by Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn who normally can’t be faulted with their scripts but they clearly lost interest at the end of this one and just plumped for the most clichéd and unsatisfying ending they could think of.

The cast can’t really be faulted with everyone, especially Chastain and Christensen all putting in decent performances. I felt sorry for Worthington as you could tell he was trying but his character's back story was poorly dealt with and in the end didn't really go anywhere which left David the weakest character in the entire film. 

The Debt is worth a look and gets a decent enough 7/10.  Unfortunately it loses its direction towards the end and essentially descends from a decent thriller into a couple of OAP's  fighting in a bathroom.