Gone (15)

Amanda Seyfried plays the desperate Jill in this tense thriller which revolves around a simple but much travelled storyline of abduction. Jill believes that the man who kidnapped her years before has returned and taken her sister. Seyfield is convincingly paranoid and struggles to make the police believe her as her original abductor was never found and it is surmised that it is all going on in her head. Detective Powers, Daniel Sunjata (Dark Knight Rises), the man who takes Jill’s ear bashings, is tired of this apparent irate girl and fobs her off. Jill will not give up and takes on her own law busting investigation.  

This film is all about the beautiful Amanda Seyfield. She is on the screen for much of the time and the clues which make up her journey are carefully followed. We see through her eyes, experience her paranoia and pain as the dark secrets and the horrid ordeal, she went through, are revealed. She takes it all in her stride, at times battling with an unoriginal, drab script.

Gone could work on many levels though. We have a history which could introduce doubt over the state of the main character’s perceptions. Was she really kidnapped? Who is this mysterious and overly helpful Detective Peter Hood played by a creepy Wes Bentley (The Hunger Games)? Who is the villain? But ultimately the big build up has a disappointing ending, despite Seyfried trying to do her best to make something of it. By the time we arrive at this conclusion though we realise we have been gripped and that the relevantly inexperienced director, Heitor Dhalia, works well with Seyfried and delivers a marketable product.

65/10

Battleship (12A)

This all out, full steam ahead, family film directed by actor turned director Peter Berg suffers from an identity crisis. The reference to the board game Battleships is misleading as it could imply a ship vs. ship situation when in fact it heavily focuses on something completely alien to the board game...aliens. There is no modern wartime epic, country against country, and instead you will find an intergalactic conflict set sometime in the near future when the human race has developed a technology which allows them to beam a message light years into space. This has a knock on effect of calling forth an aggressive humanoid species who hope to take control of our beautiful green globe.

Standing in their way, other than thousands of tonnes of battleship, are the brothers Hopper. We meet the older responsible Commander Stone, Alexander Skarsgård (True Blood) and younger irresponsible Lieutenant Alex, played by the roguish, rising star Taylor Kitsch (John Carter). Kitsch spends much of his time wrestling with his love for Sam, Brooklyn Decker, the Admiral’s (Liam Neeson) daughter and the need to take responsibly and kick some alien but. Sometimes he carries it off at other times you let him get away with it. Then the action takes over and with an edge of humour it really works.

This film has been designed to be family entertainment, in an explosive way, as well as throwing in some subtle references to a popular board game when they have to use beacon readouts to pin point the enemy when their radar is knocked out. But let us not get away from the fact that it is a big and bold Science Fiction movie and that for some shameful reason this has tried to be covered up. This trend has come from the recent renaming of ‘John Carter from Mars’ to just ‘John Carter’. This film is a celebration of big screen action and yes it won’t win any Oscars but it is a lot of fun and one that children all over the world will be allowed to watch again and again because, let’s face it, the parents won’t mind.

79/100

The Three Musketeers (12A)

In this busy remake of the repeatedly remade The Three Musketeers we have a strong cast of recognisable genre actors. We have the trio of Matthew Macfadyen (Robin Hood, 2010) as Athos, Luke Evans (The Raven) as Arimus and Ray Stevenson (Thor) as Porthos and as a group they are excellent, each seizing upon the clichéd aspects of their fictional characters and not over doing it. Then comes the fourth musketeer Logan Lerman as the arrogant D’Artagnan and even after his experiences as Percey Jackson, in Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief, he fails to convince for much of the time, the fine gloss of this youthful American somehow out of sync with the rough to extravagant French setting.

The English Director, Paul W.S. Anderson, brings along a number of external influences to this film. His obvious casting of his wife Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil) as villainess Milady de Winter, who excels at the action sequences but falls short on the acting, and his casting of English actors and notably the comedian James Corden as Planchet, who’s style of comedy sits awkwardly in the flow of the story. But this trusty and put upon side-kick follows the four Musketeers as they seek to recover a diamond necklace to save the Honour of Queen Anne and prevent war in Europe.

There are two problems with this updated version though, aside from the sudden invention of incredibly manoeuvrable airships. Orlando Bloom as the Duke of Buckingham fails at being a baddy and only achieves a poor imitation of Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow and Christoph Waltz (The Green Hornet) as Richelieu is weak. Aside from this when the Musketeers are on screen they are entertaining and this just about holds the story together.

56/100

A Thousand Words (12A)

A toned, young looking, Eddie Murphy is the main feature of this one concept comedy directed by TV producer and relatively experienced Film Director Brian Robbins. Robbins has a connection with Murphy and understands his visual and vocal dexterity, which is evident in A Thousand Words, and he has also worked with him on Norbit and the slightly funnier Meet Dave.

In this straight forward film the character Jack McCall relies on his ‘gift of the gab’ to sign up authors for a publishing company but he has his priorities all mixed up and it takes a magic tree and a spiritual leader played by a strangely hippy like Cliff Curtis (Sunshine) to trap him in what appears to be a magic curse where upon if he should utter more than a thousand words he will die. He has to then think very carefully about what he says to his wife Kerry Washington (Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer) and his colleagues.

As concepts go this one seems like an interesting premise but the problem is, and it is a big one with a film about words, is the script. Time and time again we understand that Murphy cannot say anything because the utterance of any words would shorten his life but when face with the need for just a couple of important words he fails to deliver. Surely a few well placed words is not too difficult to work out and it just frustrates the viewer rather than making them laugh.

The tragic nature of his curse is demonstrated, and Murphy show his talent, but this intimacy is short lived and we are again treated to the character’s, poorly directed, surprisingly volatile anger and the unfunny drama, after all this is a comedy. The one character who comes out of the film with much credit is Clark Duke (Kick-Ass), as Murphy’s PA, who is forging a bumbling sidekick type persona which is paying his acting career dividends.

42/100

The Raven (15)

This dark murder mystery sees the relatively inexperienced James McTeigue (V for Vendetta) direct the gothic world of Edgar Allan Poe, the famous American Poet, whose short stories of grizzly horror are the inspiration for the twisted criminal. This means that Poe has an insight into the proceeding crimes and is therefore enlisted as an advisor to Detective Fields, aptly played by Luke Evans (Immortals) who is charged with hunting down the maniac.

The ever popular John Cusack plays Poe and asserts his usual, complex charm in the role. He plays the frustrated alcoholic writer with style, whose love for the beautiful Emily Hamilton, excellently played by Alice Eve, is his only positive driving force. But soon this comes under siege as the villain targets her and his ultimate goal is revealed. The poet must become hero and rescue his beloved.

Set in the nineteenth century we are treated to a range of dramatic sets and at times the film boarders on theatrical, Phantom of the Opera springing to mind in a number of sequences, or a crack of lightening might be thrown in to emphasis a dramatic moment. This does become a weakness though as it is over played and the real strength of the film can be found in the torment shown by Cusack and Eve when faced with desperate situations; a sense of intense intimacy as the odds mount up against them.

McTeigue has worked as assistant director on many films and has directed only four but offers a film of intrigue and captures something macabre which is true to the original works of fiction which Poe dreamed up. It also draws upon fact and the bizarre way in which the film concludes is a neatly worked explanation for the Edgar Allan Poe real life mystery.

71/100

The Grey (15)

Liam Neeson, who is enjoying huge popularity after is surprise hit Taken, heads up this bleak drama slash action film about a group of oil workers and low downs who crash in the Alaskan snowy wastes with no hope of salvation. If the cold and starvation aren't enough to deal with they are being hunted by a pack of very angry wolves and have to fight for their lives against these impossible odds. 

Aside from the motley crew of characters the landscape is very much a central figure in this tail, the bleak savannas are beautiful but total encompassing as the blizzard sucks in the solitary bodies. Director Joe Carnahan uses a number of devices to increase the tension. Powdery snow instantly starts to cover exposed victims and although at times bloody the harshness of a scene is dampened by the instant frosting creating a sense that there are two assailants work at work here; wolves and the cold.

Dermot Mulroney (Zodiac) plays Talget and Dallas Roberts plays Hendrick but they have very little character development to sink their teeth into and the only character who stands out other than Neeson himself is the agitated Frank Grillo as Diaz who hams up the role in a successful attempt to break up the monotony as the film slowly moves along.

This is largely the problem with The Grey. At times we have the slow tragic events drawn out and because the characters have not connected with the viewer it is very difficult to sustain an interest. Yet the wolves themselves are savage and mystical, keeping you entranced when they appear and the land demonstrates an awesome nature which is captivating.

62/100