Eye in the Sky

“You tell us when to go to war, we conduct the war, and then you deal with the consequences”

In 2014, Andrew Niccol’s Good Kill opened up a contemporary subgenre for war films, which is now being build upon with Gavin Hood’s drone thriller Eye in the Sky, starring Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, Alan Rickman and Barkhad Abdi.

Colonel Katherine Powell (Helen Mirren) is leading a secret drone reconnaissance mission against a known terrorist group and in particular, a rogue British citizen turned terrorist. On the ground, she’s in communication with local Kenyan undercover agent Jama Farah (Barkhad Abdi) and with her superior in Whitehall Lieutenant General Frank Benson (Alan Rickman). Over in the U.S, drone pilot 2nd Lieutenant Steve Watts (Aaron Paul) has just taken control of the aircraft and is in communication with the Colonel. The situation quickly disintegrates as the terrorists move location and the orders change to kill. But when a local Kenyan girl suddenly enters the equation, the question of collateral damage comes into play.

Gavin Hood’s last two films; X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Ender’s Game were monsters, with budgets well over $100 million. Eye in the Sky is a much smaller, taughter and more intelligent thriller that could have so easily fallen into tedious territory. Instead, it embraces its subject matter and - thanks to writer Guy Hibbert - presents a much more morally ambiguous take on drone warfare than you would at first think. Where Good Kill hid the ethical dilemma of drone warfare behind a pilot’s souring relationship with his family, this film puts it right at the forefront, with the military legalities and political disputes all focusing on the potential collateral damage of the situation when a young girl selling bread enters the kill zone. But Hood makes a concerted effort to justify, or at the very least explain the reasoning for both firing the deadly missile or for not. What we get is a denouement similar to Gus Van Sant’s Elephant, unsure what to make of the final outcome it forces us to consider the impact long after the credits roll.

Eye in the Sky is a masterclass in taking a simple story with simple production values and using those elements to build tension from the get go. You will never be more stressed out watching a girl selling bread than you are here. Certainly its ability to hold your attention through what is essentially an hour and a half of phone conversations is down to the abilities of its four key leads. Helen Mirren brings a fiery rage to the film, with her Colonel acting in a front-lines mindset despite being in a small English bunker. Her much more reserved superior brings poise to the situation thanks to a balanced, memorable performance from the late great Alan Rickman. Aaron Paul’s all-too brief scenes mark certainly his best dramatic appearance since hanging up the gas-mask, and Barkhad Abdi is slowly making clear that he won’t be typecast from his Captain Phillips role.

There are certain elements of the film that are less believable, the Kenyan intel use insect and wildlife drones to capture information discreetly and whilst I understand this technology is in development, I doubt even the U.S military have it engineered to the level that is portrayed. Iain Glen makes an appearance, dealing with various foreign ministers whilst tackling a bout of food poisoning, which feels like it’s supposed to be some kind of weird, unnecessary comic relief. Some of the political figures also seem to be blown out of proportion, getting hysterical at every opportunity. I can understand the emotional contour they’re trying to create with this but it can come off as overly-dramatic. However none of these small issues were really enough to harm what is ultimately a very strong piece of filmmaking.

Eye in the Sky is the sort of film you wish for as a reviewer, one that pops up with little anticipation and takes you by surprise. It’s a well-developed, well-acted, insightful and utterly tense example of how small-budget films can be extremely effective, and a great contemporary addition to the war genre. Do yourself a favour, go see this over Batman v Superman.

A Little Chaos

You've gotta love Alan Rickman. I mean, who doesn't like Alan Rickman? Well, now Alan Rickman has directed his second feature A Little Chaos, written by (in part) Alan Rickman and starring, among others Alan Rickman. Alan Rickman.

The King of France, Louis XIV (Alan Rickman) is making extensive changes to the Palace of Versailles, including a huge landscaping plan to vastly improve the palace gardens. Louis has put André Le Nôtre (Matthias Schoenaerts), a man that is very much following in his father's footsteps, in charge of the project, with several other designers competing to supplement his designs. One such landscaper is Sabine De Barra (Kate Winslet), who dismisses the structured approach of Nôtre in favour of a more chaotic design. Nôtre rejects her plans at first, but soon he decides that a little chaos could be exactly what the palace gardens require.

There have been a lot of period pieces set in both pre and post-revolutionary France, often  large in scale and covering years, if not decades of history. A Little Chaos on the other hand is about a relatively insignificant, yet still beautiful construction in the gardens of Versailles, and its narrow scope is refreshing. The world is a microcosm of the era, with not only the male-led hierarchy an indictment of its time but a subtle dichotomy between the beauty of the garden projects and the diseases and suffering that was occurring at the time. A point which is hardly touched upon until the final stages of the film, where it's laboured just a bit too much in one scene. There's also a back story for Sabine which is revealed slowly in flashbacks throughout the film, a structure which I found a bit irritating with ultimately, not much of a pay off. 

The plot is well rounded, with a good balance of character development and well..uh landscaping. I have no real idea how historically accurate it is, I know that the outdoor ballroom exists at Versailles but nothing about its construction. However I personally found it very interesting and liked the specificity of the story. For those who like the sweeping historical epics though, this may not appeal. Sitting at just under two hours, I did feel that it could probably have been cut down to ninety minutes. It's not excessively slow but I did find myself looking at the time at a couple of points. It develops at quite a good pace but towards the end it felt like it was trying to tie-up a whole lot of loose ends from diverging plot structures that probably didn't need to exist in the first place. 

The acting all round is fantastic. Kate Winslet is always able to draw empathy from the audience and playing Sabine is no exception. The trauma that Sabine's experienced in her past may not work very well in furthering the plot, but she's clearly a passionate and driven woman. Also it's nice not to see Winslet bare all on the screen again...well sort of...there is a very PG-13 sex scene. Matthias Schoenaerts, as the only character with anything resembling a French accent, brings some mystery to André Le Nôtre, and Alan Rickman proves his worth as a character actor, bringing out the eccentricities of Louis XIV whether they were historically there or not, that's right, he Rickmanizes (If it's not a word, it should be) Louis XIV. One scene in particular, a conversation in an enclosed garden between Sabine and Louis, elevates Louis' personality immensely.

The visuals are very impressive, especially the sweeping landscape shots, and the set design and costuming has the flare of such a powerful aristocracy. There's a sway towards simplistic montages in A Little Chaos but they don't ever become too tedious. A Little Chaos has flaws, but it's charming nonetheless. It's well written and has great performances. Also, don't forget Alan Rickman.

80's Action Movie: Die Hard (1988)

I think the secret to good Bruce Willis acting must have been in his hair. Also the simplicity of having one man fighting off twelve terrorists rather than an army of goons like a video game is much more believable.

Apart from Pulp Fiction, this is the only role Willis has done that I like (admittedly I haven't seen that many). His portrayal of tough New York cop John McClane isn't as contrived as I thought it would be. His reactions to the situations he finds himself in seem genuine enough. The wisecracks he spouts are just about on par with the ones said by James Bond, so that also scores points in my book.

The other performance that has ensnared me is Alan Rickman (Professor Snape in the Harry Potter series) in his debut performance in a film as terrorist leader (or is he?) Hans Gruber. Rickman's performance is bafflingly good for someone in his first movie role. It feels like a performance from a veteran actor and yet he does a better job on his first go than many distinguished Hollywood actors have given in other films.

Another thing I love about this film is the overall vibe of the film. It hasn't dated like many other action films from the 80's, nor does it have that cheesy feeling that was so prevalent in any film from the decade. Instead it has a sort classy style, the fashion is not too horrendous and the decor is not too garish to distract this modern viewer from the story. (Although I did grow up thinking a stretch limousine like the one in the movie was the coolest thing possible. It has a TV in it!)

And I like this story. It's simple yet when you look at it closely there are some deep layers. A group of so-called terrorists break into a Los Angeles corporation building to steal $640 million in bearer bonds. (See, they were kind of bank robbers after all). But of all people to be trapped in the building with them is the aforementioned New York cop, who really doesn't take kindly to being taken hostage and begins his one man war on the bad guys (but this one man war is much more believable and realistic than in Commando, trust me).

See, this one man war does have guns and it does have explosions, but apart from one massive explosion, all the fighting is relatively small and contained (and I use relatively lightly, there's a lot of property damage done). The setting of an office building really helps this along.

Verdict: Actually a very decent action movie that isn't too over the top.