Australian Penthouse

Bad Teacher

Director: Jake Kasdan
Stars: Cameron Diaz, Lucy Punch, Jason Segel, Justin Timberlake, John Michael Higgins
Sony Pictures

WHEN it comes to Hollywood comedies, there are two main varieties: Type A is the kind that attempts to appeal to as broad an audience as possible, hedging its bets with safe humour and inoffensive jokes to attract everyone from kids to grandparents and maximise the potential for high returns; whereas Type B is directed at adults of the not-too-old and none-too-young varieties. Such comedies include a wide range of humour and often try to push the boundaries of an audience’s comfortability in order to reap laughs. They offer a broader palette of comic material to work with because they aren’t restricted by petty concerns such as lower ratings, that can render a comedy impotent and otherwise deny its true potential.

Paradoxically, Bad Teacher attempts to strike a middle ground between these two core archetypes. Even Australia’s Classification Board seems to be confused how to classify this film, giving what would normally fall under an MA15+-type comedy a lower M15 rating (usually reserved for Type A comedies), despite the presence of drugs, boobs, sex and plenty of good ol’ fashioned f-bombs.

Cameron Diaz takes a foul-mouthed turn as Elizabeth Halsey, a junior high teacher who does the bare minimum to get through the day. When her opera-loving fiancé dumps her, Elizabeth is forced back to the teaching job that she loathes. From here, her plan is simple: save enough cash to get a boob job and score herself a wealthy beau so she can spend his money and never work again. When new teacher Scott Delacorte (Justin Timberlake) arrives at her school, Elizabeth has to compete for his attention with goody two-shoes nemesis Amy Squirrel (Lucy Punch), while shooting down the advances of gym teacher Russell Gettis (Jason Segel).

The premise alone is ripe with comedic potential, but the execution is more awkward than hilarious, with a constant shift in tone between Type A and B comedy types. The major problem with this is that Type A comedies are usually resolved by some form of redemption for ‘bad egg’ characters. Although predictable, the better comedies from this category dedicate a decent chunk of screen time to this inevitability so that the protagonist’s character arc doesn’t feel forced, rushed or otherwise out of place.

Type B comedies can swing wildly with the intent of reaping laughs from anywhere and everywhere don’t necessarily need such endings. The moments where Bad Teacher falls apart were when the storyline opened doors to subplots that weren’t resolved, leaving the overall ending to the film rushed and more confusing than satisfying.

While the trailer seemed to boast the lion’s share of comedic moments—as well as funnier alternate takes—thankfully, a fair share of gags do work. When Elizabeth is at her worst, Diaz owns the character in a pleasant turn that shows she has more comedic skill than simply playing the sweet and innocent ‘straight man’. Timberlake and Segel also do a great job with what they’re given, but have little screen time between them and fewer gags than the two female nemeses of Bad Teacher. Unfortunately, Diaz’s counterpoint, Punch, takes on an absurdist persona for Amy Squirrel that’s eerily familiar to her ex-girlfriend routine in Dinner for Schmucks—she had me cringing more than laughing at her over-the-top performance.

The biggest disappointment with Bad Teacher is how confused the collective talent appears to be with the overall direction of the film. If Bad Teacher had trod a mature, Apatow-like path with its funny premise and the tone hinted at in the trailer—instead of trying to jump between two different comedy archetypes—the end result would have been a whole lot funnier and less bipolar.

BAD TEACHER is in cinemas July 21

Review: Nathan Lawrence

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Director: Michael Bay
Stars: Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, John Turturro, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Patrick Dempsey and Leonard Nimoy

Paramount Pictures

There’s something about the Transformers franchise that immediately throws you back to your youth as you watch these mechanical monstrosities come to life and embrace your inner child. In the case of director, Michael Bay, perhaps it’s time to tighten the reins on the pubescent teenager and let the adult take control for a while. Transformers: Dark of the Moon is an overly long teenage boys delight choosing style over substance and populated with enough scantily clad, mini-skirted extras to put Victoria’s Secret and Sports Illustrated out of business.

This third installment of the series led many to believe, through the teaser trailers, that Michael Bay had abandoned the borderline racist “street” transformers and horrible dialogue that completely destroyed the previous outing, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and would herald a return to what made the original film such a success, namely amazing special effects on display as big robots bashed the crap out of each other, with comedy interwoven from human cast members and sexy ladies gallivanting about in the background. Sadly, this is not the case with the plight of the Transformers almost playing second fiddle to a human love triangle as the director tries to cram as many shots of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley down the viewers throat.

The story opens with a jaw-dropping sequence illustrating the final war on the Transformers’ home world of Cybertron and a mysterious ship crash landing on the moon. This provides the catalyst for the late 1960s space race as each superpower endeavours to get to ship first and claim it as their own. This is beautifully shot, as is every CGI scene, with even a rendering of JFK making a guest appearance. Deep within the bowels of the ship lays a dormant Autobot named Sentinel Prime (Leonard Nimoy) who holds the key to victory over the Decepticons. So far, so good, but then the flick takes a turn for the worse and engages the human element to its detriment.

Picking up with Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), it seems he’s a little down on his luck. Apparently saving the world twice doesn’t even guarantee you a government job and he’s on the hunt for a little financial security. His previous love interest played by Megan Fox has been jettisoned in favour of Carly (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley) who may be stunning to look at, but lacks the necessary acting chops. What makes matters worse is that Michael Bay has given her more dialogue than almost any other character evoking hysterical laughter from the audience as she delivers her lines, for all the wrong reasons.

The film truly jumps the shark when the focus becomes more about Sam’s insecurity and jealously towards Carly’s boss Dylan (Patrick Dempsey) and Michael Bay’s ridiculous obsession with allegedly wise cracking mini-transformers as comic relief, that fails just as stupendously as it did in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. At this point the audience has lost any interest in the human characters barring a solid performance by Shia LaBeouf, some hilarious moments by John Turturro reprising his role as Simmons, strongly supported by the always solid Ken Jeong and an all too short look in by Alan Tudyk. Focusing on the human comedic element worked wonders in the original with Anthony Anderson and John Turturro creating the right balance between action and comedy, but now it’s left to unfunny robots you just wish would die on film, but you know never will.

What follows is another two hours of the same, with the Transformers filling in as almost an afterthought as Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson reprise their roles and become the bland focus of the human resistance against the Decepticons. The action sequences are beyond amazing. There’s no questioning Michael Bay’s eye for detail on that front, it’s just the drivel the audience has to swallow to get to that point that’s the problem.

By the end of Transformers: Dark of the Moon you’ll be applauding the ridiculously over the top action and cringing at almost everything that surrounds it. It runs nearly an hour too long and will have you welcoming the credits. Michael Bay has proved he is an excellent action sequence director, but he really needs a little restraint. I long for the days when the only robot in disguise in a Michael Bay film was Nicolas Cage.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon opens nationally in cinemas on 30th June.

Review: Dave Kozicki

Super 8

Director: JJ Abrams

Stars: Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler, Riley Griffiths

Paramount

That Super 8 begins with a funeral—the mother of 12-year-old protagonist Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) has died in a tragic acciden—rather than a hint of the fantastic events to come immediately sets it apart as an adventure movie that wants you to care about its characters more than it wants to seduce you with special effects. Not that there’s any shortage of those, but they come later, and it is this death that emotionally underpins the rest of the story and creates in Joe a mature-yet-needy character who typifies the sometimes painful journey into adulthood.

Suburban life goes on in fictional Lillian, Ohio, and Joe’s father Jackson (Kyle Chandler), the local deputy, decides it might help them both to deal with the loss if he sends his son away to baseball camp. He doesn’t understand it when Joe explains he’d rather stay and help finish the zombie flick his friend Charles (Riley Griffiths) is making to enter in a film festival—which is why the boys, along with three other buddies and 14-year-old leading lady Alice (Elle Fanning), end up sneaking out to shoot a scene for their super 8 masterpiece at a deserted train station.

As you probably know from Super 8’s heavy promotional campaign, the group witnesses – indeed, barely survives – a suspicious train crash that quickly has the US Air Force swarming over the area. Warned their lives may be in danger if they tell anyone, the kids struggle with the knowledge that something is very wrong in their quiet community, and worse, it’s being covered up. As materials, pets and people begin disappearing, Joe and co. are forced into action. Meanwhile, Deputy Lamb conducts his own investigation into why the military has taken over his town.

What follows is a wonderful mix of coming-of-age tale, adolescent love story and monster-movie-within-a-monster-movie set in the more technologically innocent time of 1979, when imagination was still as important as information. Writer-director JJ Abrams has surpassed his previous best effort, the 2009 reboot of Star Trek, in crafting just under two hours of escapism with heart. Much has been made of Steven Spielberg’s involvement as producer and rightly so—Super 8 evokes the same big-screen magic found in the legend’s early works and rarely felt since.

Newcomers Courtney and Griffiths are very good in their roles, as are the other boys in the gang. However, it’s Fanning (younger sister of Dakota) who really impresses, as a girl with a troubled home life, a sweet disposition and a star quality even an amateur auteur can’t fail to capture.  That her father and Joe’s don’t want their children socialising could have led to corny situations/dialogue. Could have— doesn’t. Abrams is too smart for that, handling the parental conflict, as well as a romantic rivalry revealed part-way through the film, with a refreshing sensitivity.

Watching Super 8, you may be reminded of Spielberg classics such as E.T. and Close Encounters, as well as The Goonies, which he wrote but didn’t direct. There are also echoes of Stephen King’s novella The Body (better known by the title of its big-screen adaptation, Stand By Me) and his hefty novel It. In terms of Abrams’ own work, there’s an obvious connection to Cloverfield through the plot device of eyewitness footage. And there’s even a hint of Transformers in the SFX department, although thankfully that’s where the similarity between the two ends.

Not only is Super 8 about the joy of consuming cinema, it’s about the joy of creating it. Cinephiles will be aware that both Abrams and Spielberg began their careers behind super 8 cameras, albeit decades apart. In fact, at the age of 15, Abrams and an equally talented pal, having gained attention for their film-making through a newspaper article, were hired by Spielberg out of the blue to restore a couple of his 8mm prints. Perhaps the coolest bit of homage here, though, is that, like Charles in the story, the young Spielberg staged wrecks for his pictures using model trains.

There’s going to be a lot of discussion about this exciting, funny, touching and nostalgic flick, so try to see it before some blabbermouth on the internet spoils any of the surprises. Grab a Coke and a carton of popcorn, nestle down and remember what it was like to be 12 years old, when the world was full of mysteries waiting to be solved and the silver screen had lost none of its lustre, not yet relegated to just another medium in an entertainment-saturated society. And whatever you do, don’t exit the theatre as soon as the credits roll or you’ll miss a delightful coda.

Super 8 is in cinemas from June 9.

The Round Up (La rafle)

Director: Rose Bosch
Stars: Jean Reno, Mélane Laurent, Gad Elmaleh, Mathieu Di Concerto
Paramount Pictures

WORLD War II remains the most popular era for Hollywood to mine when it comes to creating epic war films. Much like with zombies, studios don’t have to justify to audiences why the Allies are fighting their Axis foes. We all know that Nazism is evil.

And while the Holocaust has been touched on in war films—even fully explored in movies such as Schindler’s List—it’s often in terms of an ‘us versus them’ dichotomy, where the Allies are a fully righteous force fighting against the genocidal Nazis. The Round Up offers a retelling of a real-world event which  shows that not everything was so black-and-white.

From the outset of the film, historical footage shows Nazi soldiers, officers and even Hitler himself, surveying their newly conquered land, France. The black & white footage fades into colour as an occupying soldier films his friend on a merry-go-round. Nearby, a child glares at the soldier, a school bag held across his chest. The soldier looks at him, confused, but quickly moves away when the boy lowers his bag to reveal the Star of David sewn to his jacket.

A baker and his wife joke about how it will make the ‘riffraff’ easier to spot now that the Jewish people are forced to identify themselves with the Star. This theme continues throughout The Round Up, with the French populace torn seemingly between the foreboding concerns of marginalising a race of people and buying into the marginalisation with Nazi-like fervour.

The story follows many characters, mostly Jewish families—the majority of whom don’t seem overly concerned as more and more freedoms are taken away from them. Perhaps more disturbing are the parts of the story that focus on the French president and his various adjutants who make a deal with the Devil in order to retain some semblance of power. The Nazis plan to herd the Jewish people East for extermination, however, French authorities insist on using its home police force to round up the Jews in order to fight its fading authority.

Because the Nazis want to hide their genocidal intentions from the rest of the world, they stress the importance of speed and secrecy. Hundreds of police converge on Jewish residencies in the small hours of the morning to round up entire families. Originally, the Nazis said they didn’t want women and children, but French authorities insisted they keep families together in some perverse sense of humanity.

Initially, tens of thousands of rounded-up Jewish families are detained in a velodrome in squalid conditions—there aren’t enough toilets, water is scarce, and there is only one Jewish doctor, David Sheinbaum (Reno), to take care of them all. Annette Monod (Laurent), a newly graduated nurse, is sent to assist Dr Sheinbaum against the relentless waves of people who need medical attention. She forms a bond with Dr Sheinbaum and a small boy, Nono (Di Concerto). When the Jews are eventually moved from the velodrome, Annette insists on accompanying them.

The incarceration of the Jews is intercut with discussions between the French president and his primary aid about ignoring the out-cry regarding humanitarian concerns, Hitler and his inner circle. Interestingly, writer/director Rose Bosch attempts  to  humanise the infamous dictator, particularly via his warm interactions with children. This, of course, makes Hitler all the more terrifying—one moment he’s laughing with a child and the next discussing the specifics of genocide.

Eventually the French Jews are moved to an internment camp where small moments of hope, such as the French commandant allowing the prisoners to dance to music, serves only to add to the tragedy of their fate. Some themes of The Round Up will be familiar to those well versed in the history of this time, but the movie remains an effective, albeit demanding, drama that examines why anti-Semitic beliefs were not the sole province of the Nazis during the 1940s, and how this affected the lives and behaviours of average French citizens.

THE ROUND-UP is in cinemas from May 5,

Review: Nathan Lawrence

Your Highness

Director: David Gordon Green
Stars: Danny McBride, James Franco, Natalie Portman, Justin Theroux, Zooey Deschanel, Damien Lewis, Charles Dance

Universal Pictures

Picking up the mantle for stoner comedies, director David Gordon Green brings his (and McBride’s) trademark flair to sword and sorcery epics in Your Highness.

With a keen eye for action, as seen in the explosive finale of his previous jaunt Pineapple Express, Green favours higher production values than most comedy spoof peers.

I applaud the direction he’s taking in injecting a serious approach to producing comedy, something that is evident in Your Highness.

Brothers and heirs to the throne, Thadious (Danny McBride, Eastbound & Down) and Fabious (James Franco , 127 Hours) couldn’t be more opposites. Fabious is beloved by the people, a fearless warrior who is betrothed to the young virgin, Belladonna (Zooey Deschanel, 500 Days of Summer). Thadious is a boorish lout who frequents bordellos, drinks excessively, shirks responsibility and blames others for his own inadequacies.

When foul-mouthed sorcerer Leezar (Justin Theroux, Mulholland Drive) kidnaps Fabious’ bride to have his wicked way with her, the princes are charged with a vital quest to rescue the damsel in distress and bring the transgressor to justice. With Thadious reluctantly in tow, the two brothers set off to rescue the would-be princess and pick up a dashing young warrior woman who may just turn the tide in their favour.

The role is hardly a stretch for Danny McBride, who reunites with long-time collaborator David Gordon Green. Through McBride’s rise Green has been there directing most of his vehicles, be it Pineapple Express or the wickedly funny HBO series Eastbound & Down. Staples of their brand of comedy involve extremely wrong situations, surprising character growth and laugh out loud moments, and this style translates well across to this medieval adventure.

The chemistry between Franco and McBride seems a little off at times, a far cry from the easy going banter seen in Pineapple Express, with Franco playing the straight man this time around, though it is hardly a deal breaker. They are both likeable enough and the polar opposite reactions to numerous messed up situation create some of the biggest laughs of the movie.

The surprise is Natalie Portman’s stunning and brazen turn as Isabel, a no nonsense mercenary seeking revenge for her father’s death. It’s a delight to see the well-known dramatic actress take a comedic turn, and do it well. She is a fantastic counterpoint to McBride with the two bouncing well off each other.

With an epic plot, tight production, strong special effects and solid performances all around, Your Highness is a laugh and a half, with perhaps some of the wrongest moments ever seen in a comedy. If you’ve got a passing interest in fantasy, Danny McBride or Natalie Portman in a thong, do yourself a favour and check it out.

Your Highness opens May 5, 2011.

Review: Dave Kozicki

Incendies

Director: Denis Villeneuve
Stars: Lubna Azabel, Mélissa Désormeaux Polin, Maxim Gaudette, Rémy Girard
Hopscotch Films

FOREIGN films can be difficult to translate successfully across borders, aside from the subtitles. While some countries produce quality films without Hollywood’s prevalent clichés , it is unfortunately easy for dramatic films to get mired in the context of cultural misunderstandings.

Incendies is the exception.

The story begins with adult twins, Jeanne (Poulin) and Simon Marwan (Gaudette) having their recently deceased mother’s will read to them by notary, Lebel (Girard). The twins are confused to discover that their mother has left them with the duty of delivering an envelope to a brother they never knew they had, and another to the father they believed to be dead.

Simon chooses to believe that it’s a posthumous example of their mother’s eccentricity, but his sister Jeanne is compelled to grant her dying wish. She leaves for the Middle East to attempt to unravel the mystery of her long-lost kin.

As Jeanne slowly uncovers the fragmented pieces of her mother’s past, the storyline jumps back in time to reveal the tragic life of the twins’ mother, Nawal Marwan (Azabal), firsthand. As Nawal attempts to flee with her refugee lover, the father of her unborn child, he is killed by her brothers. She narrowly escapes the same fate for shaming the family name, but her son is taken away from her soon after his birth and taken to an orphanage.

Nawal is sent away to the city to live with her uncle and his family where she is educated and works on a student newspaper. Tensions rise between the Muslim refugees and militant Christian sects, with violence and subsequent reprisals breaking out. Nawal uses this as the motivation to seek out her son.

As she dodges between warring factions, Nawal exchanges her cross for a headscarf in order to board a bus. The bus is stopped by a militant Christian sect and Nawal witnesses a faith-destroying atrocity. As she continues the search for her missing child, Nawal offers her services to an opposing warlord and guns down a political figure, landing her in the kind of prison that would struggle to ever receive the blessing of the Geneva Convention.

Jeanna is, understandably, increasingly shocked with each discovery about her mother’s past and finally manages to enlist the support of her brother after a particularly heavy revelation. When the twins reunite, they discover more sordid secrets that lead to a harrowing resolution to a spiralling narrative.

The faux politics of the film are deliberately ambiguous and may prove confusing, but they’re secondary to the core narrative of Nawal’s life story. Incendies is a slow burn but the jaw-dropping and mathematically-defying final revelation is well worth the ticket price.

Incendies is in cinemas 21st April, 2011

Review: Nathan Lawrence

Thor

Director: Kenneth Branagh
Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgård, Anthony Hopkins, Rene Russo, Colm Feore
Paramount Pictures

MARVEL Entertainment is racing against the clock to introduce the necessary comic book characters to cinemagoers before the scheduled 2012 release of The Avengers. In order to make that film happen, Marvel must first familiarise audiences with key members of the team. We’ve already met Tony Stark/Iron Man twice, both films also introduced Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson). The Hulk/Bruce Banner character was rebooted to fit more neatly into the new Marvel universe (apologies, Ang Lee), leaving two key members of The Avengers team to be introduced: Captain America/Steve Rogers and Thor.

While Captain America is scheduled to make his onscreen appearance in July, Thor reveals his flowing blonde locks this week. Thor tells the story of  the titular character and exactly how a comic book god from Norse mythology can fit into the far-fetched-yet-grounded Marvel reality of mere mortals such as Tony Stark and Bruce Banner.

Marvel Entertainment tries hard to make their subject matter as believable as possible in the vein of Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins. While the two Iron Man films and The Incredible Hulk followed the same tonal approach as Nolan’s Batman, Thor struggles to ground the thunder god and his Asgardian brethren as believable characters in a contemporary world.

While the script attempts to explain this away with an offhanded remark about how magic and science are one and the same in Asgard, the soft-and-blurry explanation leaves a lot to be desired on the believability front. Couple this with jokes relating to how farcical it is that mythological beings are believable and Thor delivers a somewhat shaky job of handling a character set to stand beside much more believable superheroes.

Australian actor Chris Hemsworth does a fantastic job in portraying the arrogant deity who is in sore need of a lesson in humility. Unfortunately, his character arc—which is central to the plot of the film—is a tad undercooked and too reliant on the Hollywood staple that romantic interest is the best way to inspire positive change in a protagonist.

Natalie Portman is typically solid in her portrayal of Thor’s love interest Jane Foster,  showcasing her diversity via impressive comedic timing. Portman has believable chemistry with Hemsworth; it’s just a shame that more attention wasn’t given to expanding on a love story between a mortal and an immortal, particularly given how much the plot relies on it.

But who goes to a Marvel Entertainment film looking to be moved by the drama, right?

While not quite able to hit the trifecta of strong characters, great comedy and the just-he-right measure of drama a la Iron Man, Thor still provides a lot of heart. If anything, Thor is the funniest of the Marvel films to date, finding a groove of consistent comedy that makes it more akin to Transformers in terms of its action/comedy balance than previous Marvel offerings. Seemingly everyone is a comedian in Thor, but the majority of jokes work well, helping smooth over the movie’s regular attempts to make the audience take the material seriously.

There’s a healthy smattering of action sequences balanced out between epic set pieces and some good ol’ fashioned fisticuffs, and the special effects are sufficiently wowing, while the diversity of Thor’s hammer weapon is impressive.

What isn’t impressive is another failed use of post-conversion 3D that reeks of a cheap attempt to earn extra dollars  rather than provide a more immersive experience (a la Avatar). In certain scenes I took my glasses off and could see that the filmmakers hadn’t bothered to convert the entire film to 3D.

For those enjoying the linked universe mentality of the so-called Marvel Cinematic Universe, you’ll have to strain a bit harder to discover your Easter Eggs. There are casual dialogue references to other Marvel superheroes such as Bruce Banner and Tony Stark, but while there is a cameo appearance of a character from the Marvel universe, you’ll have to be relatively well versed to know it and understand the significance of this character’s presence in the film. Stay after the credits to be rewarded with an extra scene—one of the more obscure post-credit sequences to date.

Thor may not stand side-by-side with the accessibility and entertainment of the Iron Man films, but it has enough engaging action and plenty of laughs to make it well worth the price of admission; just don’t be fooled into seeing it in 3D.

THOR IN CINEMAS 21^st April

Review: Nathan Lawrence

Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Matt Damon, Cecile De France, Thierry Neuvic, George & Frankie McLaren, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jay Mohr
Village Roadshow

Two horrific catastrophes intertwine the fates of three unlikely individuals and change their lives forever. Continue reading “Film Review: Hereafter” »

Faster

Director: George Tillman Jr.
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Carla Gugino, Lester Speight, Moon Bloodgood, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Tom Berenger

Sony Pictures

In one of the establishing scenes of Peter Berg’s action-comedy Welcome to the Jungle, veteran Arnold Schwarzenegger tells upcoming rookie, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, to “have fun” before continuing on his merry way. I’ve always seen that to be the passing of the baton from the old guard to the new, heralding Johnson as the next big thing. At the very least it was a solid start to an acting career, with the former WWE wrestler entertaining us all and cementing his position as a viable action hero. After proving he had acting chops to boot with his bit part as a gay enforcer in Be Cool, his star seemed on the rise. Then something horrible happened.

In a move that most actors save for the twilight of their career, he relegated himself to the all ages genre, starring in family friendly vehicles like The Game Plan, The Gridiron Gang, Race to Witch Mountain and The Tooth Fairy, leaving the blockbuster action film far in the rear view mirror. His hilarious–though all too short–appearance alongside Sam Jackson in The Other Guys produced a glimmer of hope that he would return to the fray, and now in George Tillman Jnr’s Faster, he’s back with a vengeance.

After a bank robbery goes south, wheelman Driver (Johnson) is set up, left for dead in a pool of his brother’s blood and incarcerated. Ten long years in prison leave him with but one festering thought in his head: Revenge. Cold, calculated retribution against those he feels have wronged him and his family. From the moment he leaves the penitentiary he’s on a mission, evident as he sprints out of the gates to his waiting muscle car and six-shooter. Peeling out, he hits his destination and administers a dose of his righteous justice, eliminating one of the conspirators wordlessly in a crowded office, before moving on to shuffle the remainder off their mortal coil.

Two obstacles stand in his way: A mismatched pair of law enforcement types, Cop (Billy Bob Thornton) and Cicero (Carla Guigino), hot on his trail with their own agenda, and an unhinged hitman, Killer (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) who always gets his target–though this time may have bitten off more than he can chew.

The plot is hardly rocket surgery, but its economy affords director George Tillman Jr. (Notorious, Men of Honor) the opportunity to leave his own gritty stamp on the genre and coax a surprisingly conflicted performance from his lead. Johnson’s Driver is a remorseless killer of those few deserving his wrath, but he is far from heartless, wrestling with each kill though it brings him closer to the orchestrator of the double cross.

Dwayne Johnson is fantastic in the role of Driver, showing enormous sensitivity in a role he could have easily played by numbers, and is by far the highlight. If you can imagine, he’s packed on even more muscle and resembles some sort of human tank, an imposing juggernaut that can’t be deterred from its path.

The supporting cast play admirably to their strengths, with light comic relief coming easily from the banter between Cop and Cicero, as well as the bluetooth therapy sessions Killer engages in whilst on the job. It was a treat to see Lester “Terry Tate Office Linebacker” Speight on the big screen, with the brouhaha between his character Baphomet and Driver more closely resembling two charging rhinos. No prizes for guessing who comes out on top.

As far as action blockbusters go, you really couldn’t ask for more. It’s a revenge flick with a twist; it’s solidly paced, well acted, interestingly shot, and a triumphant return to glory for the lead. Welcome to The Rock!

Faster opens nationally February 3^rd.

Review: Dave Kozicki

The Next Three Days

Director: Paul Haggis
Stars: Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Liam Neeson, Lennie James, Aisha Hinds
Roadshow Films

HOT off the rather underwhelming re-teaming of Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott in their attempt to repeat the epic scale of Gladiator in yet another Robin Hood remake comes this under-the-radar film from acclaimed writer/director Paul Haggis. It’s refreshing to see the still-talented Crowe step away from big-budget blockbuster wannabe films and into the shoes of an “everyday man” character.

The opening scene of The Next Three Days acts as both foreboding and consequential in regards to what is to come. John Brennan (Crowe) drives a car with a look on his face somewhere between determined and failure as an unseen passenger gasps their final dying breath.

From here, the story jumps back in time to a dinner with John and his wife Lara (Banks) who are on a double date with John’s brother and his wife. It doesn’t take long for the pleasant dinner conversation to turn sour between the two wives, and it’s up to the respective husbands to ferry their partners away.

The next day, John and Lara are going through what seems to be the regular morning routine: John plays with his son, Luke, at the breakfast table, while Lara is multitasking as only a mother can, trying to make sure the day is off to a good start. Not long after their family self-portrait—an apparent daily task introduced by Lara—police officers burst through the front door and arrest Lara, claiming she is wanted for the murder of her boss.

Haggis moves quickly to the crux of the film but also makes sure to show that John and Lara are very much still in love, that they both have a healthy connection with their son and that there is a strained relationship between John and his father.

After Lara’s arrest, no time is wasted on the various court proceedings that eventually lands Lara in the slammer. Instead, the story fast-forwards a few years down the track when Lara’s final appeal is falling through. It quickly becomes clear that there is no accessible legal recourse that will get Lara back to her family.

John continues to visit his wife regularly and refuses to give up hope; in fact, he believes so fervently in his wife’s innocence that he’s never actually asked her whether she is innocent. But the years inside are clearly taking their strain on Lara. Luke no longer talks to her during prison visits and when she hears that the final appeal has been rejected, she tries to kill herself.

This is the final straw for John and he knows he has to step outside the law to free his wife.

What follows is the bulk of the film that shows not only the meticulous planning and various steps involved in breaking his wife out of prison, but also the transformation of John from everyday loving husband to a zealous spouse who has to be prepared to get blood on his hands to reunite his family.

Crowe doesn’t oversell this transformation, either. Instead, he presents a believable transformation of a law-abiding citizen who is against a wall without options. He’s trying to be an attentive father, a strong husband and act as the glue that holds everything together; but life isn’t throwing him any golden tickets.

What beings as some library research into prison escapes and one-on-one time with Damon Pennington (Neeson), a man who has escaped from prison multiple times, quickly becomes into a moral trial to see how far John is willing to push himself to get what he wants. Using YouTube to learn how to make a ‘bump’ (skeleton) key or how to break into a car with a tennis ball seem innocent next to driving through shady neighbourhoods to buy fake passports. And then there is the way that John chooses to get his hands on some quick cash—a crucial step in the escape plan.

Although slow moving at times during the lengthy planning section of the film, there are plenty of interesting character-testing moments. An attractive single mother shows an interest in John while their children play together, John’s planning phase hits several hurdles such as a violent mugging and John’s estranged father discovers the fake passports while John is collecting his son.

The final act is where the plan unfolds, and definitely worth the plot’s preceding slow boil. Crowe has shown many times throughout his career that he’s more than capable of carrying a film, and he doesn’t disappoint here. Except for the odd dumb moment—John tests a bump key while at the prison and is let off without consequence—The Next Three Days offers a different spin on the prison escape story with believable and engaging dramatic elements, as is expected from Haggis.

The Next Three Days screens from February 3

Review: Nathan Lawrence