Queen & Country

Oh Dear, this is a stinker! Only 2 couples in at the Curzon, Victoria last night. The rest of the world must have known something we didn't. The other couple lasted 30 minutes.......we gave it another 15 or so before deciding it was beyond redemption and that we had better things to do with the next hour. We presume it ran on to an empty house. Dreadful, clunky script and dialogue, cut-out cartoon characters playing simple stereotype roles, wooden, stilted acting, very weird accents (Caleb Landry Jones apparently occupying a class and region of his own devising). Sometimes I thought we had stumbled into an episode of Porridge or maybe Dad's Army. Caleb seemed to be channeling Oliver Reed at his overacting worst, combined with Norman Wisdom or maybe Lee Evans. Sorry, but this was shameful and shouldn't have been allowed to escape onto the screen. Was this a case of Emperor's New Clothes? Was no one prepared to stand up to Boorman at any stage and say "enough"? Was this posted in as a contractual obligation? Yes, I respect the career, but this was a sad sign off and not worthy. This is one that the cast, pretty much without exception, will wish they could deny being involved with and will look at from behind their hands when its inevitable Christmas TV showing comes round in a year or 2. 1 star if I'm generous.

Hope and Glory was delicious, sweet, sad and charming. This sequel, well, seems like a sequel in name only.

Some characters from the previous movie show up, but only in very, very minor and brief, non consequential roles.

The main story is a little boring and uneventful, like a bland episode of MASH. Pity, I really wanted to like this movie. There just isn't a lot of meat on the table.

Tasmin Egarton was GORGEOUS as was Vanessa Kirby. Callum Turner and Caleb Landry Jones did a very good job with what they had, there just wasn't much of a story.

The movie didn't just end as much as run out of script... I was actually surprised when the end credits appeared.

Sad. I wanted more.

Writer and director John Boorman introduced us to some of these characters back in 1987 with the marvellous war time tale – 'Hope and Glory'. Bill is now ten years old and has been sent off to do his National Service – only we are now involved in the Korean War (which still limps on to this day – peace never having been formally agreed). He and his mate Percy though end up stuck in base camp teaching the typing pool.

Life in the camp is far from fun and games and the strict Regimental Sergeant Major and Sergeant Major make their life a bit of a hell – so they create diversions, shenanigans and go chasing the girls near the base by way of diversion. However, as with all diversions – whether on camp or elsewhere – there will be consequences.

Now this is a very well made film, period detail is great etc. The make up is all good and the acting is generally very good. Caleb Landry Jones as Percy Hapgood though struck me as miscast – his accent is unplacable (perhaps as he is American?); he does the emotion well but seems a bit unhinged – which may indeed have been the point. David Thewlis is probably the most stand out performance as the irritatingly unlikeable Bradley – and shows how broad his acting abilities are. Overall though a very good film and if you were a fan of the original, then you will probably want to see – but the jokes are much thinner on the ground here, but it still has a vibrancy that evokes the time and the passion in an endearing way.

The post-war period often seems like a bit of a black hole for films. Aside from the films made at the time which dealt with the issues the population faced, most notably Italian Neorealism, contemporary films prefer to explore the actual conflict themselves. More drama is to be found there. But while World War II was 'the' war, the conflict never really stopped, and Britain still had mandatory military service at the age of 18, with deployment to Korea for their civil war a real proposition. This is what John Boorman focuses on for what is probably his final film, and a sequel to his most famous work, the 1987 mildly autobiographical piece Hope And Glory.

We are told the story of Bill, a young boy in the first film. He has grown up into quite the strapping young fellow, and he received his notice for mandatory army service. There he quickly befriends Percy, and a bond forms. But this bond is hardly the centre of the film. It stretches far beyond that, as Bill deals with the army, love and his family. This is all well paced handled by Boorman, who is probably best known, aside from Hope And Glory, for directing Deliverance.

The acting is quite spotty on a case by case basis, Callum Turner does very well as the protagonist Bill Rohan, but you can't help but think he was constantly being overshadowed by a couple of doses of overacting. Being manic or excitable is all well and good, but there occasions where people were channelling their inner Joker or Harley Quinn. On the subject of acting, David Thewlis (of Harry Potter fame) is present and he is phenomenal, one of my favourite acting performances of the year.

Furthermore, the script isn't perfect either. There were too many logical inconsistencies, especially early on, where background character information is introduced in very lazy ways, usually dialogue. It's frustrating to see two characters talking to each other about things they clearly already know, and that it's only for the audience's benefit.

What is best about the film is that it tells the story of war really well. This was something a film like Fury really fell short at, relying on clichés to tell a heroic story. Even though there are very few scenes of combat, Queen And Country definitely gets right what Fury got wrong, showing the horrors of war, what it does to people and how anyone can be a victim or a casualty. That goes a long way in my book.

Read more at rabsi1.weebly.com/film/

Writer/director John Boorman set a high standard for his war memoirs with his beautifully scripted and acted HOPE & GLORY in 1987. That original bears little resemblance to this off center amateurish sequel QUEEN & COUNTRY. We wonder where the wonder went.

In the hilarious highlight of HOPE AND GLORY 9-year-old Bill Rohan rejoices in the destruction of his school by an errant Luftwaffe bomb. QUEEN & COUNTRY picks up the story nearly a decade later as Bill - Boorman's alter-ego - (Callum Turner) begins basic training in the early Fifties, during the Korean War. Bill is joined by a trouble-making army mate, Percy (Caleb Landry Jones). They never get near Korea, but engage in a constant battle of wits with the Catch-22-worthy, Sgt. Major Bradley (David Thewlis). Richard E. Grant is their superior, the very, very, infinitely put-upon, aptly-named Major Cross. The boys begin noticing girls (Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Vanessa Kirby – Bill's sister - and Tamsin Egerton) but that does little to help this thin plot.

Boorman is responsible for it all and though it has a few nice moments, it is a cake that falls.