Ghostbusters

The new take on the Ghostbusters, the film that every fanboy has loved to hate since its inception and the most disliked trailer on youtube (really guys?), has finally landed and it’s definitely a mixed bag that, as a massive fan of the original (who isn’t?) left me ultimately feeling a mix of nostalgia and conflict. Ghostbusters (a.k.a. Ghostbusters: Answer the Call) is directed by Paul Feig and stars Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones as the new face of the busting crew. After a falling out in their teenage years, Abby Yates (McCarthy) and Erin Gilbert (Wiig) reunite to investigate a haunting at a local historic house that, in turn, leads to the pair combining forces with Jillian Holtzman (McKinnon), Abby’s kooky and slightly unstable assistant, with Patty Tolan (Jones) joining them along the way. From here, the group must attempt to stop a full-scale spook-pocalypse from descending on New York before its too late.

The positives: As a person who (unpopular opinion!) had no problem with a female-lead Ghostbusters cast, I really enjoyed the character’s relationships and the quick, witty banter between them was well written (nice to see a film with a lot of positive female friendship that didn’t involve someone getting jealous about a guy). Standouts by far were Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon who brought the thunder for this movie and ultimately gave us the most entertaining characters, which is ironic as I was expecting that from the big names of Wiig and McCarthy. There were definitely a few chuckles here and there, and more than a few homages and cameos from the original cast that pop up when you least expect them to, which was a nice touch. The special effects were well done and the spooks were much, much scarier this time around. I particular loved how the film took jabs at the fact that it had such a negative reception from die-hards fans, especially those who had a problem with the fact that they were women, and doesn’t try to take itself too seriously. As a side note, the new ghost-busting equipment is also seriously badass.

The negatives: One of the big issues that I had with this film had to be the villain. Although I understood the premise of why he was written i.e. to be a foil against the Ghostbusting group, he essentially could have been played by anyone and was overall pretty bland. The final end standoff that we saw in the trailer was really the only time he shone. While the film was on the whole funny, some of the humour lost its flavour by being taken that one step too far, for example with their receptionist Kevin (played by Chris Hemsworth). We know he’s a bit of an idiot (okay, a lot of an idiot) within the first few moments of his character’s arrival, and I liked that he was a parody of some of the ridiculous characters women get cast as in order to be eye-candy, but Kevin’s cartoonish actions can only entertain an audience for so long before it starts to get old and I’m not entirely convinced Hemsworth was the right casting choice. My last concern has to do with the pacing in this film: it tended to lose its momentum in places and lose my attention, however when I tuned back in not much had happened, which isn’t the best sign for such a highly anticipated film.

The film is ultimately nowhere near as bad as people were wanting it to be, but also not nearly as good as I was hoping it would be, and would possibly have been better as an homage in itself to Ghostbusters rather than a fully fledged ‘busters movie. It had its funny moments and I loved the whole girl power aspect (I’m sure there will be many tiny Ghostbusters this Halloween) but there was definitely room for revision and improvement and I wish that it had been able to stand on its own a little more. On the plus side, the kids are gonna love it and let’s face it, its no longer about our childhood, its about theirs.  

In the Heart of the Sea

Herman Merville’s novel Moby Dick has an interesting film history, with the last notable adaptation of the epic being the 1976 John Huston film with Gregory Peck – Unless you count Moby Dick: 2010. Now the disaster-master Ron Howard has had a crack at it with In the Heart of the Sea – which tells the story of the sinking of the whale-ship Essex, which was one of the inspirations for the novel.

In the early 19th century, whale-oil is in hot demand, used to fuel the lights and industry of the era. Nantucket, Massachusetts is one of the centres of whale-oil production and one of its most profitable ships, The Essex has just been restored and ready to go out hunting. Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth) is an experienced first mate who is due to be given his first command, but is disheartened to find out that he is only being offered his usual position because a Captain George Pollard, Jr (Benjamin Walker) has been assigned to the Essex. Pollard is part of a long-line of naval royalty and Chase feels that he is not experienced enough to command the vessel. Their relationship is off to a rocky start. 

After a series of unsuccessful months out at sea, the Essex crew is getting weary, but know they can’t return until they’ve “filled their belly” with oil. After a visit to South America, the crew learn of a mythic field of whales as far as the eye can see, so they set sail in the hope that they can finally bring their journey to an end. Although they also hear of a ‘monster’ whale that lurks in those fields, capable of sinking an entire ship. 

This is a fast-paced film overall and is split up into several distinct sections. The close-up action shots and detailed edits build a sense of tension that keeps you on the edge of your seat, however at times this works against the plot and makes it difficult to understand what’s happening. As Nickerson says, the story of the Essex is about two men, Own Chase and Captain George Pollard, Jr. and really the plot focuses on how their relationship evolves over the course of the disaster. Their polarizing backgrounds and lifestyles play out the classic class-war tale but ultimately this is a simple story about men trying to survive at sea whilst a ‘monster’ whale hunts them down. 

With the flourish of recent films that see characters surviving at sea (Life of Pi and Unbroken notably), we’ve seen a lot of CGI development put toward the ocean. Considering this is a major Hollywood release and that Howard made significant use of CGI in Apollo 13, it’s surprising that the sea and background landscapes sometimes can’t hold up to the level set by recent films. The scenes set in thriving 19th century Nantucket in particular, struggle to convey the complexity of the surroundings. 

Chris Hemsworth and Ben Whishaw both give admirable performances, although their accents don’t quite hold up throughout. Brendan Gleeson has a similar problem, although in his few short scenes he manages to out-act the rest of the cast. Cillian Murphy is sadly underused and Benjamin Walker’s character development feels slightly forced, although Waller is certainly one of the more interesting characters to see evolve as the situation unfolds. A stand-out for me was Tom Holland as the young Thomas Nickerson, who captures the conflicting fear and excitement with surprising finesse.

In the Heart of the Sea is a solid action film that keeps you interested throughout. Its skillful composition and editing construct a compelling story, however its occasionally confusing direction and questionable acting decisions hold the film back.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

I think it's safe to say that Marvel Studios have gotten themselves to a safe enough place to be comfortable and confident in the movies they are making. The latest films have been branching out into various genres (political thriller with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, comedy sci-fi with Guardians of the Galaxy) and they have now reserved the main Avengers movies for the generic beat-em-up that most superheroes become. Despite this, Age of Ultron isn't entirely a slugfest and does try to take a softer approach with a few of its characters.

The movie starts right in the middle of an intense action sequence, with the team of the Avengers (Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, The Hulk and Hawkeye) assaulting a fortress in the European country of Sokovia in an attempt to retrieve the sceptre of Loki from Hydra (see Captain America: The Winter Soldier). Once Tony Stark gets his hands on it, he realises that the sceptre possesses the technology to develop complex artificial intelligence, something that he and Bruce Banner have been interested in developing for a while. But Stark's plans for this AI program, named Ultron, goes awry and the program soon goes rogue with plans to destroy mankind. It's up to the Avengers to, you know, save the day.

In this film, we get to have a closer look some of the characters outside the big three (Thor, Cap, Iron Man) and it is slightly refreshing. The relationship between Black Widow and Hulk is explored and heavily hinted at being romantic and Hawkeye is revealed to have a wife and children, a fact that surprised not only the audience, the characters in the film. These smaller arcs are somewhat refreshing and satisfying.

There is a lot of assumed knowledge that comes with watching this film. Not only are you expected to have done your homework and be completely up to date with the Cinematic Universe, but you are also expected to have some knowledge of what is happening in the comic books or else you will be left in the dark as to who some of these new characters are. This film introduces us to three new heroes on top of the villain, whose storyline does make sense. The new characters are the Maximoff twins, Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) and Pietro (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) (otherwise known as Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver). We of course saw a much better version of Quicksilver in X-Men: Days of Future Past, but that is beside the point. We also are introduced to Vision (Paul Bettany), who is another advanced cyborg imprinted with Tony Stark's manservant Jarvis' own AI.

This movie is definitely the kind that moves from action sequence to action sequence with a little talking in between, just enough so you know what's going on. And it's pretty impressive too. The action is enough to keep you amazed at what's going on. There is also an array of humour in the movie, enough for everyone to have a laugh.

Most of the performances are pretty stock standard, as all the actors have gone way too deep with these characters. The ones that stuck out the most for me were James Spader (Stargate) lending his amazingly authoritative and terrifying voice to Ultron and Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch, although her accent did drop a few times. Of all the Avengers, Chris Hemsworth probably gave the best performance. His outsider status as an Aussie probably helps him get in the mindset of the god Thor.

Ultimately this film is incredibly entertaining and isn't extremely taxing. Fans of the movies will get all sorts of excited and people with limited knowledge of this things will still enjoy the large scale of the film.