Mad Max: Fury Road

Hello dear reader. So it's time for what is my ninth review of what is turning out to be a rather good cinematic 2015. We've had snipers a sniping, drummers a drumming and even wrestlers a wrestling. I'm sure when people start to look back at this year it will be forever remembered as a twelve month period where 'more is more' worked. Script quality has improved, There seems to be a much better control system in place for what gets given the green light and then of course there's the money, moolah, dough, coinage, or if you prefer it in the old fashioned terminology, box office take. Fast & Furious 7 and Avengers: Age of Doodah have already taken enough money to keep their respective studio executives in cocktails and caviar for the foreseeable future. In general receipts are steadily increasing across the board and from animation through to independent, there has never been a better time to be a fan of the silver screen. And of course, let’s not forget that we are only just taking our first steps into what is traditionally 'Blockbuster Season.' Mission Impossible, Jurassic World, Terminator Genisys and even a Minions film have yet to grace our screens. Long story short, there will be a lot of bums on seats this summer and those of us who do enjoy regular visits to our multiplexes are likely to consume our own weight in Pepsi and popcorn. There's also some 'shaken, not stirred' tuxedo action and a small independent film about stars that has something waking up due at the end of the year if you happen to like your films in franchise form...       

Now I must confess that I was never a very big fan of the original Mad Max trilogy. As films go, they are all solid three out of five outings. The first one in 1979 is ok and is at best, is a poor man’s revenge movie. The second is basically a version of the magnificent seven on wheels and the third film? Well trying to hang a tag on that is tricky. IMDb says that it’s about ‘a former Australian policeman who is rescued by a tribe of children when he is banished from a desert town and sent into the desert to die by the town’s evil queen.’ Now apart from the use of the word desert twice in one sentence you’d be forgiven for thinking that that was a Disney film at first glance. Those of you who have seen it will know that it isn’t but it does have the obligatory music tie-in that you now have to have with all things ‘Mickey.’ We don’t need another hero belted out by Tina ‘Nutbush City Limts’ Turner over the end credits is actually one of the high points of the film. Again, I do feel I should point out that it’s not a film I actively dislike. It just never really captured my imagination and on the whole the three films have always just left me cold.
So where does that leave the new Mad Max: Fury Road film? Well basically it leaves it in a very good position. It’s been thirty years since Mel Gibson’s last outing as Max and as the saying goes ‘Time cures all ills.’ This film is not a sequel and it’s not a prequel either. You can call it a reboot if you are one of those people that need labels, but that’s not really one hundred percent accurate either. Tom Hardy has now taken on the mantel of Max and you could say it’s a very inspired piece of casting. In the same way that Heath Ledger being cast as the Joker raised several eyebrows throughout Hollywood; Mr Hardy wouldn’t have been at the top of most people’s lists when it came to looking for a replacement to the now out of fashion Gibson. Sure Hardy can do action and can also bulk up as and when he’s required to do so but he can also act and act well when he’s asked to do so. Roles in Inception and Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy are just two great examples of what he can do when his part is script driven and not reliant on action and special effects.          

So that brings us to the film itself. Where to start, where to start…
Well at its most basic and fundamental level it’s a two hour chase movie with a half time change ends and attack the other way feel to it. It really is that simple. Although simple does not even come close to describing what George Miller has brought to the screen here. We have very strong characrters, including a full on female co-lead played by Charlize Theron who gets equal billing on screen with Mr Hardy. A vehicle budget that seems to be endless and visual pallet that is at times breath taking. The story of Fury Road is one of the right guy, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

The plot that this one hundred and twenty minute maelstrom is hung upon is as follows…
Theron’s character, the fantastically named ‘Imperator Furiousa’, decides that she’s had enough of the local head honcho ‘Immortan Joe’ and the way he runs the Citadel (think Milton Keynes, with less roundabouts and a hosepipe ban). So whilst out on a run to collect some bullets and gasoline in the War Rig, Furiousa takes off in the wrong direction with a very precious hidden cargo on board. Joe, played by Hugh Keays-Byrne doesn’t take to kindly to this course of action and sends his entire fleet of vehicles after her and HIS War Rig. Now it should be pointed out that Max, who has been captured by a gang of ‘Lord of the Flies’ wannabes, ends up being strapped to the front of one of these vehicles in what I can only describe as the fastest bloodmobile you’re ever likely to see this side of a sober mind. Things of course don’t go well and before you can say ‘oh look, Max & Furiousa seem to be battling for the same team’ they end up battling for the same team.
And that basically is the premise for the movie. Furiousa has a plan to get her cargo to the safe and promised ‘green land’ and Max, not wanting to have anything to do with his previous captors, decides to help. Mostly because he has no other options available to him but largely down to the fact he is a man in pain. A man haunted by a past that won’t leave him alone and by visions that jar at his humanity. Max is very much a man of few words; he prefers to let his actions do his talking for him. He never seems out of control and always seems to have a plan to deal with whatever is thrown in front of him. Imagine a hurricane with Max conducting proceedings from its calm and tranquil centre, whilst all around him there is chaos and destruction. Good versus bad in a fight to the death. A winner takes all post-apocalyptic fairy tale gone bad if you will.

As for the action sequences themselves, well they certainly will be unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. We have custom machines that quite simply look like the stuff of nightmares. Monster trucks on steroids and cars on tank tracks, to name but a few. Tribes and clans who live by their own and set of rules. A sort of ‘We’re here, we’re fear, get used to it’ kind of deal.   I’ll finish up by saying this. If you are yet to see Mad Max and it’s on your to-do list, I recommend you see it on the big screen. Or if you are going to wait for it to show up on your telly box, please watch it in HD if you can. Your eyes will thank you for it later. It has a very good ensemble cast including Nicholas Hoult, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and the aforementioned Hugh Keays-Byrne, who was also in the first Mad Max film as Toecuter. It’s also the first action film to come along in a very long time that has very strong female characters. It has even drawn criticism in some quarters for doing so. But to those who you who don’t like a level playing field I say this “I myself will carry you to the gates of Valhalla… you will ride eternal, shiny and chrome!” Or to put it another way, grow the f%#k up.
George Miller has already confirmed that there will be a sequel to Fury Road called ‘Mad Max: The Wasteland’ which should, fingers crossed, be with us at some point in 2017. All I will say to that is “Oh what a day, what a lovely day!”

Twitter Review:

Fury Road is a game changer. A V8 in a world of bland hybrid wannabe contenders to the throne. A reboot with a twist of clever
#WhoYou?MeMax

Useful Links:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392190/?ref_=nv_sr_1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEJnMQG9ev8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woHTUsl66BY
http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/review.asp?FID=137658

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Hello dear reader, well here it is. The only film review that matters. The only opinion that counts and the only ego that has yet to discover humility, how to be humble and more importantly prescription medication. Here in all its glory is my appraisal of what will probably go down in history as the second biggest box office draw of the year. The first being a long time ago in a galaxy far far away…

So it’s been a while since the first Iron Man film back in 2008 and a lot of water has flowed under the Marvel Cinematic Universe Bridge since then. We've had ten films, eleven including this one, and we've seen everything from Black Widows to Pepper Potts and a one eyed leather clad leader who didn't like the idea of dying too much. So, for those of you who aren't fully versed in what the hell has happened and how we got to where we are now you have two options. Firstly you can give up a weekend, sit down and binge watch all that has come before or you can go for option 2 which basically requires you to just sit back, follow my advice and read the following sentence. ‘Please comply with the instructions in Option 1.’

Right, now hopefully everyone is now up to speed and I don’t have to spend the next ten thousand words telling you about story arcs, who now loves who and why the Hulk seems to look different every time I watch him in a film. So, if you’ll permit me, I’ll get down to business.

When Joss Whedon went to Comic Con in 2013 and played a short teaser trailer that announced the title of the second Avengers film would be called ‘Age of Ultron’ two things happened. Firstly the assembled masses ‘lost their shit’ and secondly it broadcast to the world that Marvel penultimate film of phase two was going to be a big one. Ultron for those that are not aware of his back story is a sentient robot that was created by Scott Lang or Ant-Man as he’s better known to the world in the comics. However in current Marvel ethos Ultron is the creation of Tony Stark. An experiment gone wrong if you will. Ultron has similar traits to the Terminator. It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, remorse or fear. And it absolutely will not stop until he has completed what he believes is necessary. However instead of being voiced by an Austrian Oak that has about as much acting charisma as breeze block, Ultron is voice by James Spader. An inspired piece of casting from Mr Wheedon and apparently the only actor he wanted for the role. Mr Spader does do dark and menacing very well. For those of you have seen the TV show The Blacklist you’ll know exactly what I mean. He apparently got a standing ovation from the rest of the assembled Avenger actors after completing his first scene on set. For what is basically a motion capture and voice performance its right up there with Andy Serkis and his Golum. Who, by the way, also gets some screen time as a rather annoying weapons dealer with a very suspect South African accent. That’s Andy Serkis you understand, not Golum. As far as I’m aware Disney haven’t bought Marvel the rights to go and play in Middle Earth, yet. 

So, Age of Ultron starts with the whole gang chasing down the last remnants of Hydra and has them attacking a strong hold in Eastern Europe. Inside is Loki’s sceptre but more importantly and unknown to the good doers gang, also the twins Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are hidden within its walls. Now for legal reasons these twins cannot be referred to as X-Men. Do you understand that? Under no circumstances are you to even think about calling them X-Men. They are ‘Enhanced’ humans and do not bare any resemblance to any characters you may have seen in the Twentieth Century Fox franchise that’s been around since 2000 or any Marvel Comics you may have come across over the previous decades. (They are X-Men, just mention it in hushed tones). The twins, are played by Aaron Taylor Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen, which is a little uncomfortable on the eye as they played husband and wife in last year’s Godzilla. They are the linchpin that holds the movie together and without them all the protagonist angst would fall squarely on the shoulders of the nine foot tall robot with the anger management issues. Scarlet Witch has the ability to manipulate people’s minds and their thoughts. This causes problems for all of the Avengers she comes in contact with and ends up driving wedges between them. Very big wedges in the case of Iron Man and the Hulk. And of course Quicksilver, as we saw in last year’s X-Men: Days of Future Past (please remember that their not X-Men) runs around faster than Usain Bolt after a six pack of Red Bull.

Age of Ultron is a complicated film. Its storyline is very much one of those blink and you’ll miss something. At a hundred and forty one minutes it is currently the longest film Marvel Studios have unleashed into the world but at times it does feel like there are bits missing. Whereas the first film Avengers film seemed to be very well balanced and cohesive, Age of Ultron doesn’t seem to be the sum of its parts. It suffers from the same problem that other superhero films have had in the past. There’s just too much going on at any one time. Apparently the first cut of the film was just north of three hours long and for a long time the IMDb page for Age of Ultron had Tom Hiddleston rocking up as Loki and being part of the fun and frivolity. However his name is now absent and although Idris Elba turns up as Heimdall in a very odd dream sequence thingy you do get that feeling that if Mr Whedon had been brave enough to go the full ‘Peter Jackson’ on this film and actually release the longer cut it may, in the long run, have been the better option.

Honourable mentions in the supporting cast category should also go to Don Cheadle returning as War Machine, Cobie Smothers as Maria Hill and Anthony Mackie as Falcon. The latter being criminally under used but that maybe something that is rectified should the longer cut ever make the light of day. The other actor that’s worth a mention is Paul Bettany. For those of you in the know, you’ll appreciate as I do that Mr Bettany has been paying his dues, and then some, in the previous three Iron Man films and in the last Avengers film as the AI Jarvis. In Age of Ultron he actually gets physical things to do. Now I’m not going into spoiler territory here as it’s a big deal but it turns out that Paul Bettany is a rather large gentleman (quiet at the back there, this is a smut free blog). He towers above Robert Downey Jr who as it turns out is on the shorter side of the superhero height scale. I do fear that Mr Bettany maybe on a hiding to nothing with his new role though. In the Avengers universe his new existence does now seem to be reliant on an infinity stone. A stone that I’m pretty sure is going to end up in the infinity gauntlet at some point in the not too distant future. I hope I’m wrong but my get tells me I'm not.

I would like to go on record and say that I really liked this film. It is fun when it needs to be and has a script that is full of the witty one-liners you’d expect from a Joss Whedon script. As you've probably seen from the numerous trailers, there is more than enough action to shake a stick at and Ultron is a great baddie that (spoiler alert) we could well be see again cropping up in the not too distant future. But the main problem is that its a four star film when Kevin Feige and everyone else at Marvel Studios were probably hoping to knock it out of the park with a solid gold five star bat. As I mentioned at the start Age of Ultron will almost certainly make the kind of money that would even make Bill Gates look up and pay attention. The first Avengers film is currently the third highest grossing film of all time, clocking in at an impressive 1.6 Billion dollars and it’s probably made as much again in merchandising (A little hat tipping required there in the direction of George Lucas).

But cinema goers are an odd breed. Just when studio executives think they've got their audience figured out they go and do something inexplicable and throw in a curve ball in from the cheap seats. For example, the most recent Fast & Furious film broke through the one billion dollar mark in seventeen days. That’s faster than Avatar, Titanic and the first Avengers film did it and it currently occupies the number four spot on the all-time top grossing films chart doodah after just five weeks on release. And at the time of writing this shows absolutely no sign of slowing down anytime soon. 

In closing I’ll say this. We've known this film has been coming for a while now. Hell, we've known exactly what the Marvel Studio film release schedule is going to be like for a while now. They've mapped out their entire superhero calendar up until the beginning of 2020. Which now includes a two part Avengers 3 film split over the summer of 2018 and 2019. My issues with Age of Ultron are that this is a flag pole ‘event’ movie that needs to stomp its footprint down in a Marvel Cinematic Universe with authority and conviction. However its footprint is not a giant leap for superhero kind, more of a washed out imprint in the sand as the tide comes in. 

Again I think I should add more to the plus column that I've not mentioned yet. There are strong female characters here that with a few exceptions are written very well. There's a great scene early on in the film where Tony Stark and Thor are playing a fun game of 'Who has the best girlfriend'. Sadly both Pepper Potts and Jane Foster are missing in action. I can only hope the reason for their omission wasn't based on money. The Stan Lee cameo is actually quite funny. The Hulkbuster suit is something I want to put on my Amazon wish list, there are definite and positive steps being taking to come up with fresh ideas for the future and there are already tensions in play for next year’s Captain American: Civil War.

I do however have some concerns over what happens next. I’ve had this nagging doubt for a while now that keeps on chipping away at the back of my brain that I may be getting slightly bored with the whole superhero film franchise and what could be an fatigue and over saturation problems with the entire genre. My much bigger concern is that maybe everyone else is as well. If there are bumps in the road ahead for the entire ‘get cape, wear cape, fly’ and spandex brigade then this could be disastrous for DC  and Warner Brothers as they've only just got their Justice League ball rolling in the direction of the silver screen. There is a distinct possibility that next year’s Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice movie could well yet evolve in to what they call in the wrestling world as a ‘triple threat’ match that has a much more powerful adversary to deal with, the Audience. And if that happens there will only ever be one winner.

In the Red corner…

Twitter Review:

Good but not good enough. Long but not long enough. Buy into Marvel's Avengers but please check the sell by date.

#FeedMeMore

Useful Links:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2395427/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr5rzSMNmRM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqkR0SwFN_4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI3ncqDE5Do

http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/review.asp?FID=137804

John Wick

Hello dear reader, well it’s that time again. It’s time to regale you with a story of retribution, death, violence and cute little puppies. The film in question, as you probably all too aware from the bloody great poster above, is John Wick. It’s a film that takes its aggression and carnage and turns them all the way up to eleven. But before I amuse you with stories of hitmen, hotels and baddy Russians I feel I need to go back a few years and start at the beginning.

Over the last five or six years there has been a growing trend in Hollywood to make revenge movies. Someone in tinsel town obviously realised that that particular cash cow hadn’t been flogged to death yet and after what must have been a very long and in depth meeting (yes, that is the sarcasm claxon you can hear in the background) they’ve been pumping them out ever since. We’ve had Liam Neeson playing Bryan Mills in Taken. A trilogy that should have been stopped after the first movie in my humble opinion. Robert De Niro tried the genre in 2011’s Killer Elite. Sean Penn, or captain grumpy as I like to call him, got his best hand cannon out and went to work in The Gunman. The list goes on and on. Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino, Michael Caine in Harry Brown, Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained.  Hell, even the last Fast and Furious movie falls into the revenge melting pot. The point I’m trying to make is that in the same way that Sequels and reboots seem to be in fashion at the moment, I think the revenge franchise is well and truly grabbing onto the bronze medal position with both hands and is very unlikely to let go anytime soon.

So that brings us back to Keanu Reeves in John Wick. Now even by his own admission Mr Reeves isn’t the greatest actor in the world. It’s unlikely that there will be an Oscar statuette adorning his mantelpiece anytime soon but the one thing he is good at is action films. He can phone these kinds of performances in, and some would argue that he does, without breaking too much of a sweat. Where’s the proof I hear you ask after such a malicious accusation? Well your honour I would like the following to be entered into evidence for the prosecution. Point Break, The Matrix Trilogy, Speed and Constantine. Now before any or indeed all of you Bill and Ted fans rise up against me and send the ’69 Dude’ army to wipe me off the face of the planet I would also like to enter the following for defence. My own private Idaho is by far and away the best performance I have ever seen Mr Reeves commit to the silver screen.  It is head and shoulders above anything else he’s ever done. It’s moving and very poignant. I’d also like to say that I personally have nothing against the man and the aforementioned Point Break does, depending on what sort of mood I’m in, make it into my top ten films of all time.

John Wick is the story of a man who falls in love with a woman who he thinks is too good for him given his past actions. A woman who makes him realise that there is more to life than being a professional hitman and then promptly retires from the killing business and settles down for the quiet married life and to live happily ever after. The preverbal spanner in the works comes along in the form of a terminal illness and before you can say ‘don’t die within the first ten minutes of the film’ the wife goes and dies within the first ten minutes of the film. This understandably leaves John Wick very upset and heartbroken. However the wife in question has organised a little gift to be delivered after the funeral so that John is not left alone. The gift turns out to be a puppy and with the cuteness button firmly depressed the film continues to plod along. Now the second and much bigger spanner that then turns up are the nasty Russians I mentioned earlier.  Now these pesky East European rapscallions come across John in an out of town petrol station and with the swagger that comes with thinking you’re untouchable enquire how much John’s beautiful 69 Shelby Mustang would cost to buy. Now Mr Wick tries to inform them to the best of his charming abilities that the car is not for sale, firstly politely and then fairly bluntly. John drives away and believes that he’s never likely to ever see these three annoyances again. Unfortunately for John they find out where he lives and then promptly break into his house after sunset and then set about beating him black and blue, killing the puppy and then stealing his car. This understandably leaves John the wrong side of irked and he then sets about hunting these guys down, who indecently have Lilly Allen’s brother Alfie Allen fresh from Playing ‘Man without penis’ in Game of Thrones, or if you want his real character name ‘Iosef TaraSov’ amongst their ranks and without wishing to go too far into spoiler territory let’s just say that Mr Wick is very good at his job.

John Wicks Reputation as a man that gets the job done has almost attained legendary status. When he was active as a Hitman he was a man that hit hard. A man that didn’t take any unnecessary risks and a gentleman that was so good at his chosen trade that he could well have attained a gold medal if killing had ever made it into the Olympics. This reputation is further fortified by the fact that when the Russian trio that stole John Wicks car take it to the local ‘fence’ garage to get rid of it the gentleman in charge of the garage, once he realises who the car belonged to, punches Mr ‘no willy’ Allen in the face.
John Wick is a film that doesn’t take itself too seriously but that said it does do what it needs to very well. It has a tight and sharp script that almost but not quite dips its toes into the black comedy genre. Its directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch are both established stunt men and regarded by Hollywood as being the best at what they do. They both have worked with Keanu before, most noticeably on the Matrix trilogy. They know how action scenes should work and more importantly they know how to shoot them. Some on the set pieces in this film are breath taking. There’s a shootout in a night club that is as good, if not better than, the nightclub fire fight that Michael Mann brought us in Collateral. Its action is choreographed properly and almost stylised to perfection. It has martial arts, attitude and a plethora of on screen weapons that are used to dispatch victims in a quick and timely manner including guns, vehicles and even household items.
What John Wick also has is a very good supporting cast. John Leguizamo, Willem Defoe and even Ian ‘Lovejoy’ McShane rocks up as a hotel owner that has a very strict set of house rules. Without taking up too much screen time they underpin the story and help move the narrative on when required.

John Wick is a breath of fresh air when you consider what has come before it. My only niggle is that we here in good old blighty have had to wait the better part of six months for it to arrive on our shores. I’m pretty sure there will be a sequel and I’m pretty sure that as long as Keanu, its directors and screenwriter Derek Kolstad return it will be a film worth watching.
So if you like to plant your flag in the action revenge category and you think that Taken is a good film. Please go and watch John Wick and see how these films should be done properly.

Twitter Review:
‘It’s not what you did son. It’s who you did it to…’
#WreakMyRewengey

Useful Links:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2911666/?ref_=nv_sr_5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0BMx-qxsP4
http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/review.asp?FID=139014