When Amy Dunne (Rosmund Pike) goes missing, her husband Nick (Ben Affleck) is cooperative with police until evidence starts appearing that suggests perhaps she is not just gone, but dead, and he may not have been the man everyone thought he was. But even this is not what it appears, or is it? No. But is it?
This film did my head in. It’s really long and could have almost been two films, but it is utterly compelling. I look forward to reading some discussions on the sexual politics of this film; whilst watching the film, I tried to figure out if it is misogynistic. At this stage, I think no. There are some awful female characters, who do some nasty things, but I don’t think that in itself is misogynistic. It’s unpleasant, ugly, awful, nasty and horrible, but I think that the fact that it is involving women cannot immediately make it misogynistic. Surely it cannot only be men who do horrible things? I don’t know, I think I need to consider this a lot, and I cannot say whether or not I will change my mind. But I might.
Wrath of the Titans is set in ancient times with the Gods and the Titans getting upset at each other, and that causes a few issues for mankind. Step in Perseus, half-God son of Zeus.
Did you know that Perseus was Aussie? When he’s played by Sam Worthington, he doesn’t get much more Aussie, but that’s not the most ridiculous thing in this film. Shooting lasers whilst riding a flying horse through a lava creature? That’s pretty ridiculous. And so much more.
Aside from Sam Worthington being extremely hot, there’s Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Rosamund Pike and Bill Nighy to name but a few. It’s big and ridiculous and kind of not really worth watching, really.
This is the third in a kind of loose trilogy of end-of-days films made by director Edgar Wright and actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. It’s a trilogy without recurring characters, but Pegg and Frost end up pitted against some kind of mega threat; Sean of the Dead had zombies, Hot Fuzz had a sinister Neighbourhood Watch Alliance and this has robots. Sort of. Feauxbots. Nobots. Something like that.
Gary King (Simon Pegg) is pretty much the most annoying person in the world – a guy in his late thirties who has never been able to beat his best night ever, an incompleted pub crawl with his mates when he was eighteen. So, he gets the gang back together; Peter Page (Eddie Marsan), Steven Prince (Paddy Considine), Oliver Chamberlain (Martin Freeman) and Andy Knightley (Nick Frost). It would end up being just a pretty bad night with the lads until they discover the town’s dark secret.
There was a lot in this film to love. Simon Pegg playing the most awful character ever; a group of nearing middle-aged men attempting to beat a power they don’t understand all the time getting ever more drunk; Martin Freeman and his creepy, creepy forced smile. It didn’t quite have the awesome hilarity and impact of Sean of the Dead, but it was a lot of fun. And I kind of like all the not-too-obvious –but-at-the-same-time-not-too-hard-to-miss things for the fans – like the names and the way they relate to the characters. Or the reappearance of many favourite actors in bit parts.
If you like reading action novels and you don’t know who Jack Reacher is, get yourself to the library or a bookshop and become acquainted. He’s fantastic- ex-military cop with a very strong sense of right and wrong and justice. Since leaving the army, he has become a drifter. He carries little cash and no luggage, and always manages to get into trouble. Big, loud trouble with lots of death and injuries and guns. If you are unsure, he is awesome. I’d highly recommend reading the Wikipedia entry on this character – it’s very detailed. For example: “Physical appearance : Reacher is 6′ 5″ tall (1.96 m) with a 50-inch chest, and weighing between 210 and 250 pounds (100–115 kg). He has ice-blue eyes and dirty blond hair. He has very little body fat, and his muscular physique is completely natural (he reveals in Persuader, he has never been an exercise enthusiast). He is exceptionally strong, has a high stamina, but is not a good runner. He is also, allegedly, quite a handful in the bedroom.”
So, looking at an actor to play a massive strong action man, who would you pick? Bruce Willis? Too short. Liam Neeson? Too old. Chris Hemsworth? Maybe too young, but could pull it off, I reckon. Alexander Skarsgard? Perhaps too pretty. Surely it has got to go to someone big. Who did they get? Tom Cruise. Yup, all 170cms of him. I do really like Tom Cruise in a good action film – I wouldn’t want anyone else to be Ethan Hunt in the Mission Impossible films. But Reacher? Nope. He just couldn’t measure up.
What’s the plot? The film is based on One Shot, which by my calculations is the ninth Jack Reacher book. There has been a sniper attack with six random victims. All the evidence clearly points to one suspect. However, this suspect will not confess, simply asks for Jack Reacher. Reacher arrives in town (having seen reports of the case on the news) with the intention of ensuring the accused is convicted. However, he is employed by the defense to investigate and uncovers a much larger conspiracy.
It’s great as a book, but the problem with the plot in the film is that many of the aspects that are used in it have been seen many times on any number of cop TV shows. Between this and the miscasting of Tom Cruise and Rosamund Pike (she was great but she didn’t work in this role for me), and I just plain disliked this film. Thank goodness there were a lot of running and fighting scenes, or there would have been no point to the film at all.
ireckonthat 