Fight Club

Fight Club

Directed By: David Fincher

Written By: Jim Uhls (Based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk) 

Produced By: Art Linson, Cean Chaffin, Ross Grayson Bell 

Cast: Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter, Meatloaf, Jared Leto

Plot: An unnamed narrator forms an unusual group with an equally unusual soap maker, that changes his whole perspective on himself, and the life we lead.

Since it's release, Fight Club has become both influential and controversial in many ways. It's scenes of violence inspired many young men around the world to start their own Fight Clubs, and sparked off several individuals into creating havoc in their local neighborhoods, mirroring some of the acts seen in the film. It has been described as 'visceral' and 'eye opening'. The film is rather stylised, making it look quite dark and grimy, giving us an insight to what the narrator feels his life is like. 

Edward Norton portrays the unnamed narrator in his bland world, and his performance is superb. It can be narrowed down to three sections; the first part is where we see how sad and lonely he is, and how he feels that his life has no purpose. The second is how he learns to change, and become something more, to give his life a purpose. And the final part sees him fulfill this, but taking into account his experiences. Norton is able to make these three parts slip together with ease. 

Brad Pitt's performance as the pyschotic, but intelligently philosophical Tyler Durden is astounding. He comes across as a charismatic, mysterious character. We as the audience aren't quite sure what he has done or been through, but he comes across as a substitute father-figure for our narrator. This is because he tells him things and teaches him certain lessons that the narrators absent father should have. This in fact becomes a regular theme throughout the film, as Tyler becomes a father figure and an idol for many young men throughout the country due to 'Project Mayhem'.

Helena Bonham Carter's portrayal of Marla Singer is a rather interesting one. She can flip between smart, kind, caring crazed within a matter of seconds, a rather impressive feat. If a little typical of Carter's performances. The final twist in the plot will leave your brain reeling trying to work it out. The way in which David Fincher unveils the big reveal is visually impressive and very intelligent. 

Fight Club is one of the most astounding, cunning, inspiring films ever to have been created, and is a work of art.

9.5/10

Written By Eammon Jacobs

Disturbia

Disturbia (2007)

Directed By: D.J Caruso
Written By: Christopher Landon, Carl Ellsworth
Produced By: Jackie Marcus Schaffer, Joe Medjuk, E. Bernett Walsh, Ivan Reitman

Cast: Shia LeBeouf, David Morse, Carrie-Anne-Moss, Sarah Roemer, Aaron Yoo

Plot: When kale (LeBeouf) is placed under house arrest for attacking a teacher, he finds himself with nothing to do. To entertain himself, he spies on his surrounding neighborhood, and starts to suspect that one of his neighbors is a serial killer.

Disturbia is an adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 film, Rear Window, which basically has the same premise, a man confined to his apartment after an accident and spies on his neighbors, to find that one of them is a killer. Whilst the film doesn't gave an original storyline, it's content differs greatly from Hitchcock's classic. The film starts with the tragic death of Kales father, sparking off various 'Daddy issues' for the character and essentially setting the story up. Shia LeBeouf had plenty of room for emotional development on Kale, but I feel that he squandered this. The peak of his emotions is limited to the excellent punch to the Spanish teachers face in the opening twenty minutes. 

Another negative about Shia LeBeouf's performance is that he plays the same character in every movie that he features. The smart yet rebellious teenager, who's laddish charm always gets the girl (I.e the Transformer movies). He is however quite amusing, and has some genuinely funny moments, but he has become too generic. His sidekick/bestfriend (Aaron Yoo) and his love interest (Sarah Roemer) are also typical teen movie characters, but their performances are fairly respectable. 

I was quite impressed with the acting of the serial killer (David Morse). He came across to the audience as quite calm, sophisticated and intelligent whilst also being quite sadistic and unhinged. For the first three quarters of the film, it is a smart, well thought out, slightly different thriller. The way the three friends set up shifts with the video cameras is quite smart, perhaps a little bit Scooby-Doo for a 15 rated film. The finale of the film was slightly reminiscent of various horror movies (Scream, Halloween etc), but was quite pacy.

I was impressed with the intensity and intelligence of the film, but I feel that they could've done alot more to make the film different from the generic horror-slasher features. 

6/10.

Written by Eammon Jacobs

The Thing (2011)

The Thing

Directed By: Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.
Written By: Eric Heisserer

Produced By: Marc Abraham, Eric Newman

Cast:Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Ulrich Thomsen, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Eric Christian Olsen

Plot: A mixed group of Norwegian and American scientists discover a massive Alien ship underneath the ice of the South-Pole. It's pilot isn't dead as first believed, and starts assimilating itself into the group, causing paranoia and suspicion.

I'm going to be completely honest. The film is essentially a remake of the John Carpenter, 1982 classic horror, but it's the prequel story of the Norwegian Scientists of the first film. But as a stand alone film, it is remarkable.The plot is fairly substantial, with minor character development, which in an ideal world, would be expanded on, but with the majority of the cast being Z-list foreign actors who are bound to be killed off anyway, we're not going to complain. 

The first 20 minutes of the film are a little bit slow, building up the tension of what the scientist's have found, and what they plan to do, but then after this, the situation unravels, and the trust between what appears to be a close knit group of colleagues, fades away, and all hell breaks loose. Visually, "The Thing" itself is quite impressive, with the high standards of CGI today, the creature is both terrifying and revolting to observe. There are several moments in the film, where I genuinely felt terrified, and even though we've been here before (If you've seen the original that is) It's quite refreshing to have an expansion on the cold, unsettling situation that the original created.

But, the film lacks originality in places. There are several attacks that are so similar to the original, they could've easily been part of a remake. Also, some of the solutions the team come up with for fighting The Thing are nearly a 21st Century copy of John Carpenter's masterpiece. The film also pays homage to another creature feature, Alien, with a face hugger copy-cat. (If you haven't seen Alien, watch it, and you'll immediately understand) Elizabeth-Mary-Winstead does come across as an Ellen Ripley style character (Female lead in Alien), she's quite sassy, but intelligent, there aren't many characters like that in movies lately, but something a little bit more different would've been appreciated.

The only other downfall to the film, is that if you've seen the original, you know how it all ends. This almost ruins it for the viewer, as an unpredictable ending is always better than one we already know before we've even watched it. But as i mentioned earlier, as a stand-alone film, it's brilliant. The killings also surprised me, for a 15-rated certificate, it was rather gory, more than expected. It's an interesting one, it's ruined if you've seen the original, but as a film by it's self it's quite intriguing.

Written By Eammon Jacobs

Immortals

Immortals

Directed By: Tarsem Singh

Written By: Mark Canton, Ryan Kavanaugh, Gianni Nunnari

Produced By: Vlas Parlapanides, Charley Parlapanides

Cast: Henry Cavill, Freida Pinto, Luke Evans, Mickey Rourke, Isabel Lucas, Kellan Lutz

Plot: King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) declares war against the Greek Gods after his family dies from disease, and goes in search of the Epirus Bow, able to kill the Gods themselves. The Gods choose Theseus, as their defender against Hyperion and his gigantic force.

The film is visually outstanding, with vast CGI landscapes, and an army that is overwhelming just to look at, this is quite obviously from the creators of 300 (About 300 Spartans fighting a gargantuan army, familiar?) I spent half of the film in awe at the magnificent effects, and the stylisation of the piece. However, I wasn't missing out on a terrific storyline. There wasn't enough depth into any of the characters, and the motive for some of their actions aren't especially justified.

The only character I really connected with, was Luke Evans' portrayal of Zeus. His rage and compassion seemed to be the only real emotion throughout the film. The rest of the cast seemed to be slightly wooden, and out of place. I also feel that Hyperion is exaggerated slightly. He's excessively violent against people he doesn't need to be. Henry Cavill seems to be trying to fit into the rather large shoes of Gerard Butler from 300, the speech towards the end of the film is rather reminiscent of Butler's performance. This isn't necessarily a negative issue, but some originality would be better received.

But the film does have some positives, there are several points where the audience itself feel empowered by what is happening on screen, alas, these moments are few. The film is full of fight scenes and epic battles (even if half of it is CGI), some of which are extremely impressive. There are also a few scenes, one in particular, that are very unpleasant, and will make every man watching, cross their legs and squeal. Overall, Immortals is an over violent film, with impressive special effects, it isn't going to be a classic, but maybe remembered for the stylisation alongside 300.

Written By Eammon Jacobs.

The Rum Diary

The Rum Diary

Directed By: Bruce Robinson

Written By: Bruce Robinson (Based on the book of the same name by Hunter S. Thompson)

Produced By:Johnny Depp, Graham King, Christi Dembrowski, Anthony Rhulen, Robert Kravis

Cast: Johnny Depp, Aaron Eckhart, Amber Heard, Michael Rispoli, Richard Jenkins, Giovanni Ribisi

Plot: Paul Kemp is a journalist, with no real home, tired of America, he finds work at a failing newspaper in Puerto Rico. He becomes addicted to two things; Rum and a woman named Chenault.

The film is based upon Hunter S. Thompson's novel of the same name, and whilst it misses out some of the parts in the book, it easily maintains the unpredictability of Thompson's style of writing. Johnny Depp is quite convincing as the rum soaked journalist, but is slightly stale in places. For example, towards the end, Kemp becomes empowered to save the newspaper, and the way he describes his superiors as "Bastards", doesn't seem entirely fitting for the character. But Depp comes across as quite a complex character, so in that sense, he has truly portrayed Paul Kemp, in the style that Thompson would be proud of.

I was quite impressed with Aaron Eckhart's performance of Sanderson, the property developer who isn't all that he seems. The way he can flip between being a powerful, but helpful friend, and then the jealous raging schemer. There are a few moments that are strangely reminiscent to "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas". A film that was originally a book also written by Hunter S. Thompson (Depp also starred) The film is quite odd in places, usually involving Giovanni Ribsi's character, Moburg. But Moburg is very amusing throughout the whole film, and lightens the mood in serious situations.

The film also depicts the end of the "American Dream", as we see the Americans living in Puerto Rico realise the dire state that the island had fallen into. Kemp experiences this first hand, and attempts to try change this. The film does drag on slightly, and would maybe better as an hour and a half feature rather than two hours, but it's not a major negative. The atmosphere of the location makes the audience feel out of place, going hand in hand with Depp's character's situation. The film is well crafted, intriguing and enjoyable.

Written By Eammon Jacobs

The Debt

The Debt



Directed By: John Madden

Written By: Matthew Vaughn, Jane Goldman, Peter Straughn

Produced By: Matthew Vaughn, Kris Thykier, Eduardo Rossoff

Cast: Sam Worthington, Helen Mirren, Jessica Chastain, Tom Wilkinson, Ciaran Hinds

Plot: Alternating between 1966, and 1997, the film follows three Mossad agents trying to kidnap a Nazi war criminal, and put him to trial.

The film is based on what might have happened if Mossad agents had looked for Joseph Mengele in the 1960's. The film is about getting justice for the millions of people who were put through hell, and the hatred that they felt for the men who committed these terrible acts of murder and torture. This hatred is clearly personified through Sam Worthington in what would be his most emotional performance to date. The way in which he acts towards "The Surgeon Of Birkenau", shows us the hatred, and animosity felt by the millions affected.


The main distraction throughout the whole film, is the differences between the two sets of actors in each time period. They simply do not correlate with each other. For example, Sma Worthington and Ciaran Hinds' character. Ciaran does not look like an older version of Worthington whatsoever. 
Even though this is a small aspect of the film to criticise, it is very distracting when we are
trying to remember that this is still the same character just alot older.


With the recent wave of retro spy features hitting the cinemas lately, i have to say that The Debt
would probably be one of my favourites. It's pacey and suspenseful, but has a lot of heart in it too.
I'm not really a fan of romantic sub-plots within films, but i rather liked the 'love triangle' between
the three agents. It was almost a breath of fresh air from all the hatred to "The Surgeon",
and even though it ended sadly, it would've been quite nice to see them all have their happy 
ending. 


I won't reveal the main ending, but i feel that it was rounded off in the correct way. I feel that Sam
Worthington's character's morals have been fulfilled at the ending, and we see who can, and can't
deal with this. If a little slow to start with, this is worth a watch.


Written By Eammon Jacobs

Alien

Alien

Directed By: Ridley Scott

Written By: Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shussett

Produced By: Gordon Carroll, David Giler, Walter Hill

Cast: Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt, Henry Dean Stanton, Veronica Cartwright, Tom Skerritt, Ian Holm, Yaphet Koto

Plot: When a Deep Space mining ship receives a signal from an unknown planet, they are completely unaware of the danger they have let themselves in for.

Originally, Alien was poorly recieved by critics, and religous zealots viewed this piece of horrific art, as work of the Devil. It isn't too hard to understand the reasoning behind this, as the Alien (or Xenomorph) slaughters the crew in an all manner of nasty ways. But, Ridley Scott has used a brilliant technique of not actually showing us the brutal deaths, but leaves it to our imagination. This makes the whole experience ten times scarier, some have even called it the "proto-type" for the slasher film genre.

The film has become infamous because of it's "chest burster" scene, which is both shocking, and quite disturbing, and is one of the greatest deaths in Cinema. The film is almost revenge on the string of 1970's films which had female characters sexually exploited by male monsters. The face-huggers method of implanting the eggs have been compared to male rape, this time by a terrifying monster with an almost "phallus"-like head. 

The film is completely terrifying, and claustrophobic. The set is very dark and moody, with shadows covering everything, leaving many places for the horrifying monster to emerge. There are several moments throughout the feature where I truly felt terrified and almost helpless. In the 1970's, it was very rare to have a female antagonist (hero of the film) and Sigourney Weaver does a brilliant job of being the first female badass in film.

Eammon Jacobs