Review: Solo: A Star Wars Story (UK Cert 12A)

SPOILER WARNING! This review discusses and/or mentions a few important plot points. If you would prefer not to have these spoiled, please stop reading now and come back once you've seen the film.

And so we return to that galaxy far, far away for Solo: A Star Wars Story, an origin story for the titular roguish pilot. From his early days on the mean streets of the shipbuilding world of Corellia, to meeting up with his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca, we follow Han's life as we also find out exactly how he managed to do the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs and how he got control of the Millennium Falcon from Lando Calrissian. 

I should preface this review by saying that I personally don't consider myself to be a massive Star Wars fan. Watcher Rhys is, and his articles on the original trilogy and the prequels make for interesting and informed reading. I've seen them, enjoyed (most of) them, but that's where it starts and ends. I wouldn't go to a midnight screening, for instance. So, there's probably a lot in this film that goes right over my head. The reappearance of a character from the Star Wars prequels, for instance, will have more importance to others. For me, I just went 'oh, that's cool'. That said, I enjoyed the film a lot more than I had any right to, and a lot more than I expected to. 

To say this film had something of a challenging and chequered production would be like saying it's a bit nippy in Antarctica. Original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The Lego Movie, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs) were dismissed from the project after approximately six months into production due to 'creative differences' (ah, that old chestnut). With a vacancy in the director's chair, Oscar-winning director Ron Howard (Rush, A Beautiful Mind) took over to complete the film, although there are rumours of extensive re-shoots as well. So tonally, you could expect the film to be a bit of a mess. Stylistically different. Performances different. To be honest, with some films (I'm looking at you, Justice League) where two directorial styles clash, you can tell where the joins are. There's nothing that glaringly obvious in Solo, so if nothing else the editor can be commended for a bang-up job. 

There was concern in some quarters that the trailers and such didn't feature much of Han in them, and that was a sign that Alden Ehrenreich wasn't up to the task. Utter nonsense. Ehrenreich's performance is really good. Better than good, actually. He's not Harrison Ford (obviously) but it would be folly to try and emulate him. He brings his own energy and his own charm to the role. For me, he takes a while to really grow into the character, but even at the beginning when he's finding his feet, there's the occasional flash of the cocky swagger that Han needs. Following on from strong supporting roles in Blue Jasmine and Hail, Caesar!, Ehrenreich's star is definitely on the ascendant. 

There's a great turn by Woody Harrelson (following his dramatic and Oscar-nominated performance in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) as Tobias Beckett, a mercenary and thief who acts as Han's mentor. For a man whose credo is 'assume everyone will betray you', there's at least a kind of grudging respect between Han and Beckett. Thandie Newton (Crash, Westworld) is great as Val, Beckett's partner, although I was disappointed not to have seen more of her. Jon Favreau (Chef, Spider-Man: Homecoming) gives a nice voice performance as the third member of Beckett's crew, the multi-limbed Rio Durant.

Emilia Clarke (Game Of Thrones, Terminator Genisys) plays Han's childhood friend and love interest Qi'ra. She does well with what she's given, but there are a few missed opportunities to flesh out her character; she's allied to the nominal bad guy with some hints that she's done 'terrible things' but that's never really explored. The nominal bad guy is Paul Bettany (Avengers: Infinity War) who plays the villainous Dryden Vos, to whom Beckett, Han, and the others are in debt to after an initial heist goes wrong. He's supercilious, slimy, but a bit stereotypically evil. 

Donald Glover (Atlanta, Community) was inspired casting to play the young Lando Calrissian. He's got the charisma and the magnetism that Billy Dee Williams has, and he exudes confidence. After Solo, I'd love to see a young Lando spin-off: Glover has the chops to pull it off. Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag, Goodbye Christopher Robin) gives a brilliant voice performance as L3-37, Lando's militant co-pilot robot, warm and amusing in equal measures.  

I have two main criticisms of the film: for certain sequences, the screen was really dark and it was difficult to tell what was going on. Couple that with a bit of nauseating shakycam and some bits were difficult to watch. The other was that the script- by Star Wars legend Lawrence Kasdan and his son Jonathan- doesn't always take chances to expand on characters and occasionally comes out with dialogue that's a bit clunky, a bit obvious or on-the-nose. 

All said though, these minor gripes didn't overshadow the rest of the film. A thoroughly enjoyable space opera romp. 

Rating: 4 out of 5


Tez

Review: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (UK Cert 15)

What would you do if a loved one died and the authorities were lax in their handling of the case? Would you complain to your local politican? Write letters? Or would you hire billboards in your town calling the police out on their inaction? For one grieving mother, that's exactly what she does in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, a darkly comic drama written and directed by Martin McDonagh (In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths)

Eight months ago, Mildred Hayes' daughter Angela was killed in a truly horrific manner. However, the investigation has yet to turn up any credible leads. Tired of no progress in the case, Mildred decides to take matters into her own hands. Hiring three disused billboards on a mostly unused road just outside the town, Mildred puts up a stark message to the Ebbing police to induce them to solve Angela's murder. This sets her on a collision course with the police and other townsfolk who- whilst sympathetic to her plight- see the billboards as unneeded aggression. But Mildred's not backing down without a fight...

Frances McDormand plays Mildred with a mix of steely reserve and brittleness. Still grieving for the loss of her daughter, frustrated with any lack of progress, she sweeps through Ebbing like an avenging (or exterminating) angel, pushing buttons and putting people's backs up. And she could care less. She gives the local reverend short shrift when he comes to appeal to her to take the billboards down (in one of the strongest scenes of the film) and even defends herself against an angry dentist with a well-placed drill to the fingernail. Yet there are moments when the grief overtakes her and you genuinely feel for the character.  It's an absolutely superb performance from McDormand who- with the Golden Globe and Critics' Choice Awards already under her belt- is frontrunner to add a second little gold man to her mantelpiece come March. 

Woody Harrelson gives strong support as police chief Bill Willoughby, fighting Mildred's ire whilst dealing with his own personal tragedy. Whilst he's only in the film for the first half, his presence is felt throughout and he puts in a stoic, funny turn. Sam Rockwell is great as the dimwitted racist Officer Jason Dixon who butts heads with Mildred more than once. An arrogant drunkard momma's boy, Dixon swaggers through the town thinking he's untouchable- until even he crosses a line. It could easily be a one-note performance but there are layers to Rockwell's performance that elevate the character from just an archetypal racist hick. 

Lucas Hedges (so good in Manchester By The Sea) is similarly great as Mildred's son Robbie. Whilst dealing with his own grief, he must also look out for his mother as she wages her war of attrition against the cops, and- for me- gets one of the best one-liners in the film. Peter Dinklage puts in a decent turn as the lovelorn car salesman James, whilst John Hawkes appears fleetingly but powerfully as Mildred's violent ex-husband Charlie. There's also nice performances by Abbie Cornish as Bill's wife Anne, Caleb Landry Jones as billboard letter Red Welby, and Samara Weaving as Charlie's new, younger, dumber girlfriend. 

The script is ferocious, funny, and foul-mouthed, with some stingingly baroque insults thrown around. It touches on issues of race- Dixon is accused of having tortured a black suspect- but doesn't fully explore them (although that would make this a much different film). Whilst there isn't a feeling of definitive closure at the end of the film, there is a sense of an ending as Mildred and Dixon ponder their next moves. Ben Davis' cinematography is superb, especially with the evocative shots of the Missouri countryside- the opening shots of the derelict billboards wreathed in early morning mist is particularly striking- whilst Carter Burwell's spaghetti Western inspired score and a truly eclectic soundtrack (ranging from 'Chiquitita' to 'The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down') adds to the mood of the film. 

Well-acted, well-written, well-directed, it's not difficult to see why Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is hoovering up awards acclaim left, right, and centre. A powerful film. 

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Tez

Review: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part Two (UK Cert 12A)

To nick a quote from everyone's favourite time-travelling physician, 'it's the end, but the moment has been prepared for'. And so we reach the end of The Hunger Games saga with Mockingjay: Part Two.

Picking up almost straight after the end of Part One, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) has been traumatised by her attack by the unstable Peeta (Josh Hutcherson). However, the rebellion against the Capitol continues and Katniss continues to be the Mockingjay, the symbol of the rebellion. Starting with neutralising a threat in District 2, the rebels continue their march toward the Capitol to overthrow President Snow (Donald Sutherland), leading to Katniss' final confrontation with Snow...

It's a frustratingly inconsistent film. There are some great intimate character moments, for instance- the conversation between Peeta and Gale (Liam Hemsworth) about their respective love for Katniss; the wonderful showdown between Katniss and Snow in the greenhouse- but several of the action scenes are muddy and either really badly shot or really badly edited, making it difficult to see who's doing what to whom. 

There's no scene that displays this more clearly than the sewer sequence where Katniss and her team are chased by Mutts (zombie-like creatures with massive teeth). The tense build-up is handled really well- almost playing like a sequence from a horror film (and pushing the boundaries of the 12A certificate)- but once the Mutts attack, the camerawork goes to pot, as does the lighting, and you're left with a morass of limbs. Frankly if Katniss hadn't screamed the name of the person who died, I wouldn't have been able to work it out. I know they're going for a kinetic pace but it's done at the cost of seeing what's going on.

Screenwriters Peter Craig and Danny Strong are mostly faithful to Suzanne Collins' source material. When I first read Mockingjay, at several points, I had a thought of 'how the hell are they going to do this on screen?' Like Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, Mockingjay is dark. In places, really dark (and this is a franchise that starts with the idea of children killing each other for sport). There's a particularly defining moment in the book which, when I first read it, gave me a lump in the throat. That moment is reproduced here and it's a ballsy move by the filmmakers to include it.  

Performance-wise, as all the rest have been, it's solid across the board. Lawrence is as watchable as ever as Katniss, whilst Donald Sutherland's performance has more steel and substance to it than in Part One; he's much less Bond-villain. No complaints either about Julianne Moore who brings a steely determination to the role of President Coin. Josh Hutcherson probably gives his best performance as Peeta, as he struggles to undo the torture he underwent in the Capitol whilst Liam Hemsworth is as dependable as ever as Gale. You can tell what was filmed after the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman- there's a scene at the end where Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) gives Katniss a letter from Plutarch, where it seems obvious that- had Hoffman still been around- Plutarch would have given the news himself.   

Several actors get short-changed in this instalment, although make an impact when they do appear. I'm thinking specifically of Jena Malone, whose acerbic Johanna Mason has been one of the standout performances in the saga, Stanley Tucci and Elizabeth Banks, who is always superb as Effie. You can also add Gwendoline Christie to this list- the Game Of Thrones star pops up very briefly at the beginning as District 2 leader Commander Lyme but gives a suitably commanding performance.

Despite my grousing, the film is not a complete disaster and rounds The Hunger Games saga off competently. But it's exactly that: competent. Not good, not great. Competent. It had the potential to be superb but sadly, for me, that potential hasn't been realised. 

Rating: 3 out of 5

Tez

Out of the Furnace (Cert: 15)

Every year, around the awards season, a film gets released with the kind of A-list actors normally reeled off if you were at the pub and were asked the question, “What cast would you have in your film?” With the exception of Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, it’s unlikely you will see a film in 2014 with as much acting clout as Out of the Furnace. Writer/director Scott Cooper’s follow-up to his Oscar winning debut, Crazy Heart, is another character study set in the back-roads of America, Cooper once again focusing on people who are out-of-place in the country that is supposed to be their home.

Out of the Furnace has a top-rate cast that struggles to fit all of the names on the film’s poster: Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson, Willem Dafoe, Forest Whitaker and Zoe Saldana – all on fine form. Most critics have been praising Bale and Affleck, and deservedly so, as brothers both struggling to make ends meet, frustrated with the lives they are forced to live, but taking out their anger in different ways. Bale, famous for pushing the envelope in films such as The Machinist and The Fighter gives a toned-down, understated performance as Russell Baze, speaking softly and permanently exhausted. Affleck, on the other hand, as Rodney, is the other extreme, his rage constantly threatening to rise to the surface; he is uptight and always anxious.

Special mention has to go to Woody Harrelson, who has built a career on playing villains and anti-heroes with all-sorts going on inside their heads, but with Out of the Furnace he gives one of his very best performances as small-time drug dealer Harlan DeGroat. The film opens by introducing our antagonist, and for almost a minute Harrelson is silent, just sitting there, staring. This is an uncomfortable scene to watch, DeGroat bringing to mind a spring trap getting tighter and tighter. We know he is going to do something to the poor woman sat in his car; you’re just waiting for it to happen. DeGroat thinks he is untouchable, king of his own little empire, but he is more white trash than Don Corleone.

Saldana, while not getting much in the way of screen time, stands head-and-shoulders with the rest of the cast, being given the film’s most moving scene as she tells former boyfriend Bale that she is pregnant with Forest Whitaker’s child, the two of them reflecting on what they could have had if life had turned out differently. It is an honest, gentle scene, admirably played down by both actors.

The problem with Out of the Furnace is Cooper’s script. It’s hard to say what the film is about as the narrative goes in one direction before wildly swerving off somewhere else. Bale is sent to prison for drink driving, his girlfriend Saldana leaving him. Affleck has been chewed up and spit out by the U.S. army, living in limbo and wondering what to do with the rest of his life, descending into the dingy world of bare knuckle fighting. This is followed by the second half, where Bale takes the law into his own hands and wages a one man war against Harrelson. The film feels like a series of sub-plots rather than one narrative that sees its protagonists change in some way. It’s a respectable two hours, but very rarely do you feel engaged with the two lead actors. This should be a weighty, emotionally draining watch, but because Out of the Furnace takes so long to become a vigilante film, trying its hand at different narratives and not spending enough time on any of them, it is nowhere near as sharp or elaborate as Cooper intended.

Out of the Furnace is an angry film, focusing on those living below the poverty line, left behind by the rest of America. Everything that Cooper highlights, small industrial towns lined with boarded up streets, where the only hope is to leave for somewhere else, is all valid, but Out of the Furnace’s message feels more like a murmur than a blood spitting rant. Cooper’s latest is worth seeing for the performances alone but, due to a muddled script, is nowhere near as gristly or heartfelt as it deserves to be.

3 out of 5

Matt

Review: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (UK Cert 12A)

The original Hunger Games arrived with enough hype to rival the London 2012 games. The first big screen adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ ridiculously successful teenage novels, this was to be the beginning of a huge film franchise that would go toe-to-toe with heavyweights like Harry Potter; the brand new Twilight. While the original film made enough money to buy a lifetime supply of Drumstick lollies and then some, the reaction from Collins’ fans, and those who had never picked up the books, was lukewarm. The film was watered down, lacking both the smart observations and brutal violence that made the books so celebrated. I have to hold my hands up and admit that I have never read the books, but from what friends have told me, The Hunger Games is Kinji Fukasaku’s Battle Royale with a heart. The big screen version of The Hunger Games I saw was Battle Royale for the kiddies, with all the satire and teenage slaying removed to conveniently give the film a 12A rating.

It did not take the bigwigs at Lionsgate long to green light a sequel, and here we are with The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. On the plus side, Catching Fire has learnt a few lessons since the original, though it’s unlikely to be troubling the likes of Hogwarts and Co. When the film does get going (which takes a while; it’s nearly two-and-a-half hours and during the first hour very little happens), you rarely stop to breathe, with one impressive set piece after another. Just as before, Jennifer Lawrence proves why she is the go-to-girl for Hollywood’s leading roles and why she totally deserved to win an Oscar.

Again, I’m pointing out that I have not read the novels, and maybe this is what screenwriters Simon Beaufoy and Michael Ardnt have had to work with, but the satire and nods feel as subtle as a brick through a window. The first hour of Catching Fire is virtually scene-after-scene of not so much nods, but head-butts to what’s going on in our world today: those with too much and those with not enough; politicians abusing their power; the public’s consumption for reality TV and how far these shows are willing to go for entertainment. Without sounding patronising, raising these issues is important, but there are contemporary films out there that have been far more successful at highlighting the world’s flaws. In Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go, what made the film so heart-breaking was that at no point do its protagonists even consider an uprising, instead choosing to accept their fate. Also, Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men showed us an alternative future, suggesting that it’s not too big a leap to see Britain becoming a nation of fascists. It wouldn’t be so bad if there was some character development or a narrative to push the film forward, and while there are a handful of scenes, for the most part Catching Fire’s first hour is determined to list the many injustices of this world in as blatant a way as possible.

Catching Fire feels like two films that have been bolted onto each other. You have the plodding first hour followed by the remainder of the film, which makes up for this with CGI set piece after CGI set piece. All of these scenes are brilliantly put together, and you do find yourself worrying about the characters (a scene involving a massive flock of mocking jays is chilling), though this is more because you are watching someone in deadly danger rather than actually caring about them. Jena Malone gets the most intriguing role as Johanna, driven mad by the Hunger Games and what it has cost, both to her and the people she loves. Unfortunately her backstory, the reason why she’s so angry all of the time, is explained away in an all too brief summing up by one of the supporting characters. With Josh Hutcherson’s Peeta, you’re not cheering him on because he is in love with Katniss, or because Peeta is a fully fleshed out character; it’s because he’s so damn nice.

Despite the film’s faults, for most of its running time it is a thrilling watch. When the tributes finally enter the arena it is action-packed and unrelenting, ending on a cliff-hanger that will certainly have me watching part three. There is plenty of bang for your buck here – poisonous fog, giant baboons and tidal waves to name just a few – and Jennifer Lawrence is perfect throughout. Katniss may not be the most complex film heroine, but Lawrence gives it her all, one minute being tough as hell with a bow and arrow, the next being caring and compassionate, letting that tough pretence suddenly slip. You can forgive many of Catching Fire’s problems because Lawrence does such a great job.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Matt

Programme 11: The Hunger Games, Wrath Of The Titans and Guilty Pleasures

Programme 11 is now available to view (click here to view it on VideoMajic.tv)!

We review The Hunger Games and Wrath Of The Titans whilst also discussing films which we class as 'guilty pleasures'- films we shouldn't like or enjoy as much as we do, but we do!

Do you have any cinematic guilty pleasures? If so, and you're willing to admit to them, please let us know in the comments below.

A YouTube link will follow shortly - and podcast versions are available here and here.

Enjoy!

Programme 10: Rampart, Safe House, This Means War, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Programme 10 is a bumper edition, filmed in March 2012, which reviews not one, not two, not three... but four movies! Crime drama Rampart, action-cum-romantic-comedy This Means War, CIA thriller Safe House and British comedy-drama The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel all come under the Watchers' appraising eye. But which did we rate and which did we slate? There's only one way to find out...


In the news, we saw The Avengers change its name, Dr Watson change gender and the Razzie nominations announced.


Click here or here if you would like to have this episode as a podcast!