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Knarlinggrimbob
Reviews
Aquarium (2004)
A tense, claustrophobic Orwellian nightmare. But by no means perfect.
"Hell", to paraphrase philosophe and all-round general smart arse Jean Paul Sartre, "is being locked in a room with your friends". "Yeah", adds spacebum and all-round true Brit Dave Lister in Red Dwarf, "but all his mates were French." So sets the scene for Aquarium, the 2004 Frederic Grousset's low-budget (French – obviously – duh!) indie – except for the friends part; as ever when a desperate group of people are brought together in an unlikely scenario, they are all strangers.
Think Cube meets big brother. Six strangers awaken in a room with no idea how they got there. A single camera watches them, from behind which a monotone voice informs them they must partake in a series of tasks, with the last man or woman standing being allowed to leave. The losers won't get to leave because – well, they'll be dead.
As often in survival of the fittest scenarios, the real tension here comes doesn't come from the external threat, but from the possibility of your fellow sufferers turning on you at any second. Can you really work together to solve the problem when someone may knife you in the back any second? That's not to say there's not some fun to be had as the jail master ensures they toe the line. The fact that all of the prisoners can me incapacitated through anaesthetising gas pumped into the room means that any hint of insurrection results in a swift knockout for everyone, the captors enter the room, remove or punish the perpetrator, leave, re-seal the room and then wake everyone up, meaning that that group very quickly submits totally to their "hosts". One character tries to break the camera and awakes to find his finger sitting on the floor next to him. Money can't buy the kind of obedience that gives you.
The inhabitants don't hang about for long. They are swiftly despatched in between bouts of contemplation, bonding, arguing and fighting. Unfortunately, it's difficult to root for any of them as, despite a cursory background, most of the characters remain in 2-D, falling into "shrill harpies" or "shouting angry guy" roles.
The slightly washy visuals betray the low budget, but don't distract as badly as the few jarring edits that could have been avoided by keeping a better eye on continuity.
A tacked on ending lets the film down badly. It's as if Grousset decided at the last minute to try to make the whole film a metaphor for modern living. The final "twist" is fairly predictable and something at the end about a big corporation controlling various aspects of modern living really made no sense and detracts from what is otherwise a reasonably tense thriller.
Jack Said (2009)
Impressive British Film Noir
I saw this last night at the cinema and I'm glad it's out on DVD soon as I'm going to get it and watch it again. I thought for an independent low-budget feature, this was a considerably impressive effort. It may not have the money of Sin City – which is clearly an influence for the graphic novels and the films – but they have worked with whatever they had to achieve great production values.
The opening is a massive nod to its graphic novel roots before bringing us into a slightly more recognisable setting but still retaining its noir elements. Scot Simon Phillips is perfectly cast as the everyman-leading man. It's a nice touch that the "name" in the film, Danny Dyer, supports here rather than leads and the predominantly un-famous cast means that we're seeing characters rather than actors laying characters. That said, the two big names, Dyer and David O'Hara, put in often scene-stealing appearances.
Larger that-life in some parts, the characters are clearly based on the graphic novel approach where everything can be in your face, and it works. Ashlie Walker impresses as the sexy psycho seeking to usurp Daddy and Terry Stone is a combination of menacing and funny as the Guv'nor's second in command, 'The Fixer'. It's also impressive that we've finally seen a British gangster film with very strong female characters. Rebecca Keatley and Rita Ramnani provide the "good" to Walkers "bad" and achieve convincingly naturalistic performances.
There are certainly elements of other gangster and noir films. References to the Big Combo, Reservoir Dogs, Sin City, Pulp Fiction and Get Carter abound, but nothing seems lifted, more occasionally treading were others have already tread (thought this isn't always a bad thing). The plot's MacGuffin – a box with mysterious and never-explained contents – is a film staple seen in Ronin and Pulp Fiction, but this is merely a device to propel events forward. The voice-over is of course classic noir – but it's refreshing to hear it as we see London streets rather than American ones.
I can't think of another British film that has even attempted noir in recent years, let alone adapting elements from a graphic novel, and this is a very worthy effort.
300 (2006)
Graphic Novel made reality
I remember seeing the teaser for this and got VERY excited! As a fan of graphic novels, this was a chance to transfer Frank Miller's genius to the big screen. And they didn't let us down. The graphics are superb. The fighting is brilliantly choreographed. The actors have (embarrassingly for those of us with more rounded stomachs) clearly worked hard to look the part. The deformed character who betrays them seems a little out of place. It did make me think "they're trying to have their own version of Gollum", but ultimately worked within the story. It's a shame that the legacy of this fine film is now tainted by the abysmal "Meet the Spartans.
Jack Says (2008)
Graphic Novels AND Film Noir? - Excellent!
As a fan of film noir and graphic novels, I had to see this film, so I went to Swansea when it was on at the film festival. I'm glad I did.
I'd already read the prequel graphic novel Jack Said, so I guess I kind of had an advantage over the rest of the audience, as I knew the back story. I'm pleased to say the film was as good as the comic.
The lead, Simon Phillips, reminded me at times of a mix between Daniel Craig and Clive Owen, and the female lead Rita Ramnani was great as the... I don't want to give too much away, but let's just say it's nice to see someone actually portray emotions rather than just pouting (Knightly, I'm looking in your direction). The french girl who played Girl X was really good too.
This was such a great story with a REALLY good twist that I genuinely never saw coming. Mike Reid was excellent as The Guvnor and I'm glad his character features in the graphic novel Jack Said too.
Sin City (2005)
Excellent noir
Hey, this was noir for the 21st century! Sure the acting may ham it up a bit, but that's just aping the "hardboiled" style the director was aiming for. Slightly surreal elements - but hey, it's based on a comic! And as a fan of graphic novels this impressed me just as much as 300. Slightly odd choices in the casting actually work. Elijah Wood is creepy. Clive Owen is suitably rugged. (Though still needs to work on the US Accent). Alba equals very sexy. I guess Micky Rourke's continual plastic surgery finally paid dividends! The only part that doesn't really work is the whole "Oirish" terrorist thread - din't really work against the rest of the film.