leotfoster

Great film, so fast-paced it makes every other film out there look slow and old-fashioned. Wonderful to see George Miller back on the Australian road, where he belongs. Charlize Theron is great, Tom Hardy is not bad, but the stunts are really where the film shines. It's hard to think of a better action road movie. It has all the intensity and perversity of the MAD MAX and THE ROAD WARRIOR, but amped up to new heights of craziness. Miller is the real star of the film -- in some ways technology seems to have finally caught up with his early hyperactive camera style, and he takes full advantage of the ability to move wherever he wants, however he wants.

GOOD KILL has such a great subject that it raises the highest expectations. There's a brilliant film to be made about the modern use of drones and the ethical and emotional problems they cause for their land-bound pilots, but GOOD KILL isn't quite it. Ethan Hawke is representative of both the film's strengths and weaknesses. He gives a very controlled and convincing performance, and clearly delivers what the director wanted. But beyond the under-playing and the seriousness of what he's doing, the role doesn't really give us much -- not quite enough insight into him as a person, or into the way his work affects him. It's all a bit too predictable and dutiful, like a magazine article that hits the main points and takes care to give everything a sense of balance. I gave the film an 8 because this is a hard and valuable thing for a movie to do, and it's maybe not fair to dwell on its weaknesses instead of its strengths. But the premise has such promise that you can't help feeling, especially as it goes on, that you're watching a missed opportunity for something really great -- a film that could have been as complex and memorable as, say, TAXI DRIVER.

A PATRIOTIC MAN has an inspired concept: a man with a special blood type is used as a human doping device for the athletes on his national ski team. Director Arto Halonen has made the most of this darkly comic subject, and captures a surprisingly broad and powerful range of emotions, excitement and humor. In a sly parody of a Christ story, the main character gives his blood to bring false glory to the skiers and coaches who use him. The actor playing the lead role gives a wonderful, detailed performance, and the actress playing the woman skier who relies most deeply on his blood provides an equally memorable turn. Throughout the film, Halonen's directorial method is clean and unblinking, with a distinctive style of clear-eyed black humor that manages to be both very funny and very emotional without ever turning saccharine. I know not everybody can see the skill and art that goes into a style like this, which never calls attention to itself, but Halonen's steady, classical technique is relentless in exploring the characters and bringing out the flavor of the story. This kind of directing is, in many ways, much harder than flashier styles, and makes the film more complex and multi-sided than pushier approaches. The screenplay, by Halonen and Jouni Kemppainen, is a marvel. It gathers together a huge cast of characters in a complicated series of athletic and personal events, yet always maintains a straightforward drive and intelligence. The dialogue from start to finish is wonderful: smart, funny, incisive. Overall, the film is very different from anything else out there, and is definitely worth seeking out. Like any movie that has its own style and tone, it gets bigger in your mind when you get away from it and look back on it later. Here's hoping that more of Halonen's films get shown in America in the future, and that he writes more screenplays with Kemppainen.