Chris At The Pictures: rebecca ferguson

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Thursday, 26 July 2018

'Mission: Impossible - Fallout' - Review

ving rhames 7/26/2018 12:04:00 am 0

★ ★ ★ ★ ½

One doesn’t often clamour to declare a franchise’s sixth instalment its finest hour - unless you happened to be me in the immediate aftermath of Revenge of the Sith - and yet, here we are. Mission: Impossible - Fallout leaves no nail unchewed in its quest to outdo every previous instalment (nay, every action movie released in the last decade) with minimal digital trickery and maximum physical impact.

The plot (largely surplus to the requirement of whichever death wish Tom Cruise fancied living out during that day’s filming) finds Ethan Hunt and company (Cruise, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames and Rebecca Ferguson) in pursuit of stolen nuclear material. Given Ethan’s propensity for going rogue, he’s lumped with the CIA’s favourite blunt instrument, August Walker (Henry Cavill).

With both the CIA and a shady organisation known as The Syndicate on their tail, how do they intend to do all this? “I’ll figure it out” is the general mantra adopted by Hunt, his put-upon comrades, and director Christopher McQuarrie. And figured it out, he has. Every set piece - whether it’s a motorcycle chase into oncoming traffic in Paris, a rooftop pursuit in London, or an actual HALO jump performed thirty thousand feet in the air - surges with unbelievable adrenaline, each more thrilling than the last. Even in a standard cinema, the IMAX footage (including said skydive) shines brightest of all, the lack of stuntmen in Cruise’s stead laid beautifully bare.

Cruise - who broke his ankle in a comparatively minor stunt, leaping between rooftops (just another day at the office!) - continues to display levels of physical aptitude suited to a man half his age, but his portrayal of Hunt still stands even when removed from the sheer spectacle. With a history such as his, our favourite IMF operative is an understandably twitchy presence who smiles little and frets often, fueled by the desire to prevent nightmares of his lost love, Julia (Michelle Monaghan), from becoming reality.

Cavill, by contrast, is statuesque and supplied with a resolute workman’s grin. Justice League died so his moustache could live, and it proved a necessary sacrifice. Ditching the clean-shaven boy scout look serves him well in a role that seems tailor-made for his physical prowess and roughshod charisma, not least during a furious bathroom showdown that calls to mind the most chest-shattering moments of Gareth Evans’ The Raid 2.

Whilst images crunch the bones, pulses are pounded by Lorne Balfe’s score, which hits the ground running from the opening logos and barely pauses for breath. It’s not packed with memorable cues (the Lalo Schifrin original theme is given some fancy reworks), but Balfe should be commended for his ability to deliver music to match the mayhem.

As is standard practice for the franchise, this entry suffers from a convoluted plot, and works best when it sheds the scheming and puts pedal to metal. McQuarrie and Cruise know that in a post-Mad Max: Fury Road landscape, simplicity is key. With an action sequence involving a fleet of trucks, cars, explosions and flamethrowing guitarists now embedded in the moviegoing consciousness, there’s no further you can go (besides maybe filming the entire thing in outer space). It’s time to go back to basics, and maybe the greatest victory of Fallout is achieving the highest possible stakes with the simplest image: a man clinging to a rope. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to survive the final thirty minutes without gripping onto your seat, stuffing your knuckles into your mouth or simply swearing out-loud in disbelief: impossible? I’ll say.

Monday, 16 October 2017

'The Snowman' - Review

tomas alfredson 10/16/2017 08:25:00 pm 0

★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Why does this film exist? Why did Michael Fassbender waste his talents on this sodden snowdrift of a script? Didn't they draft in the editor of Goodfellas to try and salvage it? Did they hand the Avid to a blind chimpanzee halfway through? Why is Val Kilmer, a real human being, less convincing than the CGI Peter Cushing in Rogue One? What’s with the giant clumsy iPad thingies the police are carrying around? What were those glowing pin badges? Do they exist in real life? Where can I get one? What’s the subplot concering Oslo’s bid for the Winter Olympics all about? Why does Charlotte Gainsbourg dry-humping Michael Fassbender have all the erotic frisson of two stacked chairs? Who was that random woman who got snapped topless by JK Simmons? Where did she go? Is she okay? Did the Snowman killer get her? Why do the snowmen left at crime scenes look so glum? Are they okay? Why is Hot Butter’s ‘Popcorn’ played twice and then never heard again? Why is Toby Jones in this? Is he okay? Surely the director of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is better than this? Am I actually supposed to take ‘Harry Hole’ seriously as a character name? Why is his hair several inches longer in one scene? Why does his apartment have dry rot? Is that a cheap bottom gag? Did they ever get rid of the mould? Why did Hole’s cleaner bring his puppy to such a grimy job? IS THE DOG OKAY?!

Friday, 14 April 2017

'Life' - Review

thriller 4/14/2017 04:08:00 pm

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Jake Gyllenhaal returns to B-movie cinema in this weightless but efficiently gruesome space creepie. A team of astronauts and scientists on the International Space Station are thrilled when a probe dispatched to Mars returns laden with samples, one of which could demonstrate proof of life on the red planet. One such sample contains a miniscule but motionless organism. Being characters in a creature feature, they inevitably decide to inject it with nutrients, poke it with an electrical prod, and generally fiddle about in a way that can only lead to much yelling and crunching.

With the creature loose on the station, the film becomes an episodic series of chase sequences intercut with light musings on the nature of life, as the various inhabitants of the ISS (Gyllenhaal, Ryan Reynolds, Rebecca Ferguson et al) attempt to prevent ‘Calvin’ from reaching Earth.

With the basic premise and top-of-the-line visual effects taken into consideration, yes, it’s little more than Alien and Gravity blended together…but the resulting milkshake goes down well with a large popcorn. Gyllenhaal brings his A-game, even to what may seem a step down from his recent string of varied, comparatively arthouse roles, and Ferguson continues to build on a promise of stardom. Reynolds is rather less impressive, but for plot reasons as opposed to lack of ability. Hiroyuki Sanada (as in Sunshine, playing an awestruck astronaut who can’t catch a break) never gives a bad performance, and is suitably intense.

In short, they’re all good company when Calvin gets bored of them all moping about the Challenger disaster (a huge misstep in an otherwise amiable script) and decides to start separating various limbs and vital organs from their bodies. The creature is an effectively creepy amalgamation of several we’ve seen before and the gore is visceral and plentiful: picture the grisliest bits of Prometheus and you’re in the right ball park.

I really want to talk about the ending – because it’s the one part of the film that draws out anything more than a plaintive “Yeugh!” or shrill gasp – but all I can say without dropping spoilers is that you’ll never find a more jarring use of Norman Greenbaum’s Spirit in the Sky. It’s like tacking Peter Genesis’ Carpet Crawlers onto the epilogue of The Fly. Again, I’m referring to another piece of sci-fi because there’s barely a microbe of original thought present in Life. But that's not a slight: it’s schlocky and slimy and all kinds of stupid… and I had a ball with it.

Saturday, 22 October 2016

'The Girl on the Train ' - Review

the girl on the train 10/22/2016 10:09:00 pm

★ ★ ★ ½ ☆

Emily Blunt rescues this pulpy whodunit from its more clunky moments with a remarkable central performance. She stars as Rachel; an unemployed, alcoholic divorcee who – on her daily train journey to nowhere – catches a glimpse of a woman she’s watched from the tracks many times before. Only this time, she’s kissing a man who isn’t her husband. When the woman, Megan, goes missing, Rachel becomes entangled in the investigation, much to the concern and suspicion of her ex-husband, Tom (Justin Theroux), and his new wife, Anna (Rebecca Ferguson).

For the first time in an age, I came to this adaptation having actually read the source novel. Paula Hawkins’ potboiler – relying so much on the written thoughts of its three central characters – does not immediately scream ‘movie magic’, but the way in which the main narrative hangs on a single image (Megan and her mysterious lover seen through the window of a speeding train) is decidedly cinematic.

When attempting to picture the morose, eternally-intoxicated and allegedly unalluring Rachel, the visage of Emily Blunt does not immediately spring to mind. However, there is so much conviction in her voice and a real effort to tone down the Hollywood glamour that the whole façade is surprisingly effective, thanks not least to some subtle but effective make-up and prosthetics.

While Blunt’s casting may have raised objections and quizzical responses, the secondary characters are an array of undoubtedly excellent casting choices. The master stroke is Luke Evans as Scott, Megan’s skittish husband. Evans’ earnest vocal inflections speak to Scott’s sincerity, but his bulky, somewhat thuggish physicality ensures he remains a prime suspect. Edgar Ramírez carries a similar disposition as Megan’s therapist, Kamal Abdic, while Ferguson acts everyone else off the screen with eyes that are simultaneously burning but restrained.

It’s amazing how little is lost in the commute from page to screen. The largest alteration is the move from Britain to the US, but Blunt retains her accent (a conscious effort, one imagines, to make the transition smoother). The lack of an internal monologue (save for small spats of necessary narration) is hardly felt, and the slightly episodic feel slowly oozes away as the flashbacks become less frequent. There are also some neat visual elements introduced, too: Rachel draws what she sees, rather than keeping a written diary, and a statue in the park towards the end reveals the tale’s true form. Not a crime thriller, not a mystery, but a story about the struggles of three women.

The cinematography itself is – there’s really no other word for it – cool. It’s an enticing, blue-grey affair that occasionally brings to mind Jeff Cronenweth’s work on Gone Girl, but remains grounded in Rachel’s story by employing ‘the drunk aesthetic’. Objects a certain distance from our heroine’s viewpoint become fuzzy, and jumpy editing emphasises the small moments lost in the process as she is buffeted about by onlookers and events alike.

Besides the many twists and turns of the story, perhaps the biggest surprise is a completely counterintuitive score from Danny Elfman, completely free of his idiosyncrasies but still supremely effective. Perhaps the fact that it’s so different from his usual style (a style that I readily admit became stale for me some time ago) makes me more inclined to praise it, but having listened to it separately since seeing the film, I strongly disagree.

While it’s not without some languor and a fair share of flimsy dialogue, The Girl on the Train is constructed with more than a little panache and keeps its focus securely locked onto the three women at the centre of the story. With a keen and unique technical approach, this is certainly a more praiseworthy and gripping experience than the extended Eastenders episode referred to by others.

Friday, 7 August 2015

'Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation' - Review

tom cruise 8/07/2015 12:43:00 pm

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation finds agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his cohorts returning from another successful operation to find that the IMF has been permanently dissolved. A terrorist opposition force known as the Syndicate commits to destroying the remains of the IMF, and Hunt must retain the loyalty of his team and earn the respect of a mysterious Syndicate infiltrator in order to bring the enemy down.

This is what the film pretends to be about: what it actually is constitutes an ever-ridiculous series of action scenes starring Tom Cruise, held together by the wavering strings of what was once a discernible story. As is the prevailing problem with many of its contemporaries, Rogue Nation has a plot that twists and turns and dodges around here, there and everywhere too fast for the audience to get a proper grasp before throwing them into yet another jaw-dropping feat of danger and death.

What’s weird is that the film-makers clearly know by now that Cruise is a reliable money-spinner and sheer vehicle of charisma, but spend most of the film treating Ethan Hunt more like a ragdoll than a fully-fleshed character. Whatever their faults, previous films in the series have at least added something to the character and his mythos, but now he’s just there to be tossed around the various high-octane set pieces that – whilst deftly entertaining in the moment – never amount to more than elaborate distractions from the increasingly higgledy-piggledy plot.

The supporting acts offer much more: the dynamic between Pegg, Rhames and Renner is as fresh and diverting as ever, and I grew a little soft spot for Alec Baldwin as the CIA chief running around after the bunch like an exasperated parent trying to rally Haribo-fuelled school-children. But the true star of the film is up-and-coming Swedish actress Rebecca Ferguson as double-agent Ilsa Faust, a deadly and sleek combo of old school femme fatale and modern Bond girl. She joins Mad Max’s Imperator Furiosa on the growing list of badass action heroines of 2015 as Ethan Hunt’s rival-turned-partner in crime.

For all my complaints about the paper-thin connections between the set pieces and the narrative, the former are certainly something to see. The now famous stunt in which Cruise clings to the side of a real plane as it really takes off is marvellous on a sizeable screen, and the heavily-marketed sequence of underwater chaos manages to swim the distance unscathed by the slightly wobbly CGI work. These are the sections of the film that really stand up, and it’s hard not to be massively enthralled as Joe Kramer’s top notch score gives boisterous, brassy oomph to the proceedings.

Especially considering its place as the fifth instalment of a franchise, Rogue Nation is certainly an enlivening blockbuster. But if you’ve been exposed in any way to the extensive marketing campaign, there’s nothing here to really blow your mind. With another sequel surely green-lit, Cruise and co.’s next mission to entertain – should they choose to accept it – may prove to be more than a little impossible.

Chris At The Pictures