Everest

I love a good disaster movie, and I absolutely loath a bad one so Baltasar Kormákur's Everest had a lot riding on it for me. Based on the events surrounding the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, the film's stellar cast, chilling story and international production promises a unique and visceral experience. As with all biographical films, if you don't know the story, don't read up on it before going in. Needless to say though, people are gonna die.

Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) is a professional mountaineer whose business, Adventure Consultants aims to get people to the summit of Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world, and back down again as safely as possible. It's the start of the 1996 season and Hall is leading an expedition of eight clients, including Texan doctor Beck Weathers (Josh Brolin), journalist Jon Krakauer (Michael Kelly) who's documenting the trip, and Doug Hansen (John Hawkes) a mailman who is on his second attempt to climb the mountain. Hall says goodbye to his pregnant wife Jan (Keira Knightley) and the expedition gets underway.

At base camp they meet up with Helen Wilton (Emily Watson) who is managing the Adventure Consultants' tent, and Caroline Mackenzie (Alicia Vikander), the expeditions doctor. Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal) is running another expedition and is technically a business rival of Hall's. However, since they both aim to summit on May 10, the two decide to team up the expeditions and work together to reach the summit. However, a string of delays and encroaching bad weather ensure that the expedition ends in disaster.

Everest's rocky beginning hints at a relationship-focused but cliche-driven plot. Conversely, its subtle ending is the perfect close to a relentless, spine-chilling, brilliant film. Full disclosure: I saw this one in 3D, which I'm normally not a big proponent for. Its often either too distracting or not effective. However, here it captures the immense scale of the deadly mountain, the depth of the black crevasses, the ant-sized humans tackling an impossible task. The mountain is the star of this movie, it "has the final word", it's the ultimate antagonist. Full credit to DoP Salvatore Totino (Frost/Nixon) and the effects teams on this film for capturing the sheer beauty of such a deadly place. Each sequence is gripping and utterly realistic. At no point could I not suspend my disbelief. The true success of this film is its focus on spectacle, its ability to create an atmosphere and put the audience right in the action. 

Everest divides its time between the seemingly successful training/ascent and the tragic descent. All the while developing its ensemble of characters as we watch on hopelessly. The minutiae of the ascent, little things that ultimately see the characters set up to fail, are presented in an almost documentary-like style. No blame is laid, no message pressed about the fragility of human ambition. Kormákur simply presents the events as they unfolded and we're taken along for one hell of a ride. It's amazing how littered with A-list actors this film is, many of whom get very little screen time. Strong character development is sadly limited to a couple of the key roles, and at times - especially when they're into the 'death zone' and totally rugged up - it's difficult to work out who's who and what their individual slice of the story arc is. 

Jake Gyllenhaal gives a small but lively performance, and Brolin is well-rounded as Beck. Hawkes's Doug Hansen is one of the more interesting and fleshed-out characters, an amateur climber with a quiet persona and a lot of heart. The absolute standout though has to be Jason Clarke in the lead. Clarke has always had a lot of misses for me, especially in his Hollywood roles, but returning to his native tongue (well, New Zealand is close enough to Australia) has certainly paid off, because this is his best performance to date. He portrays Hall as a gentle, kind-hearted man who puts the safety and concern of his clients above all else. He's so good that all you really want towards the end is for him to survive. 

The women however, are left with generally unfulfilling roles. Emily Watson is fantastic as usual, and you really feel for her as she tries to manage the disaster from the base camp, however most of her screen-time she's left trying to communicate to people through a radio. Alicia Vikander does what she can as the expedition's doctor but she too is unable to do much from the base camp. Robin Wright has an unbelievably small role as Beck's wife, similar to Keira Knightley, who can't pull off the greatest of New Zealand accents but is responsible for one half of the film's most heartbreaking conversation toward the end, so she should still get some credit. 

Whilst there are some great portrayals from a stellar cast in Everest, and I think a lot of reviewers are downplaying the character development, this is still a film that's driven by spectacle. Its slightly emotionally-detracted style avoids cliche whilst still doing justice to a thrilling story that captures the essence of the human condition and transports you to the frosty Himalayas. Everest leaves you with both the desire to endeavor to climb it and at the same time, the tragic gut-necessity to stay as far away as possible.

Terminator Genisys

As an avid fan of Terminator 1-3, and somebody who personally didn't really mind Salvation (which is saying something), I have been of course eagerly awaiting the release of the latest instalment in the kickass time-travelling cybernetic organism series Terminator Genisys, no matter how poorly it has been first received by critics. It's now Alan Taylor's (Thor: The Dark World) shot at the franchise and it begins full-circle, with a different take on the events of the first film.

In 2029, the human Resistance, led by John Connor (Jason Clarke) seek to destroy Skynet's super-weapon, a time machine that will allow them to effectively win the war. By the time they arrive, Skynet has already sent the T-800 back to 1984 to attack Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke). John sends Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back to protect her, but as the machine begins its process, Kyle sees John get attacked by another of the Resistance fighters (Matt Smith) and simultaneously receives memories from an alternative version of his twelve year-old self.

The T-800 arrives back in 1984 and confronts a group of punks for their clothes, just as he did in the original movie The Terminator, however Sarah Connor and a reprogrammed T-800 known as Guardian (Arnold Schwarzenegger) - and affectionately referred to as "Pop" by Sarah - turn up and destroy the T-800, altering the original timeline. Similarly as Kyle arrives, the two turn up to rescue him from an attacking T-1000 (Lee Byung-hun). After consulting Kyle's flashbacks from his alternative self, Kyle and Sarah travel to 2017 whilst Guardian waits 33 years for their arrival as they attempt to prevent the new Judgement Day from happening...again.

Dealing with the often-confusing concepts of time travel can really screw with the audience' heads, and is one of the core constructs of the Terminator franchise that has remained largely unexplored. Yes, the leads are almost always trying to change the future and prevent events from happening, but in Genisys the characters are negotiating an altered timeline and are shifting through time. No, this isn't a crossover with Back to the Future - despite the lovable reference to the 80s style Nike shoes from the first Terminator - but is a change in focus that attempts to breathe new life into the series, whilst remaining true to its roots. For the most part, it achieves this. It's a relatively easy to follow plot that promises new adventures with the same old Terminator vibe. The classic 'arrival' sequence from The Terminator is mimicked beautifully here even without a digitally de-aged Bill Paxton, and I must say, the CG/prosthetic effects utilised to bring young Arnie back are much better than the attempt in Salvation. It's genuinely like watching an alternate version of the first film. 

There are constant references for fans to enjoy from the first films, and not just the obvious one-liners and beautifully cheesy attempted smiles. The T-1000 is back! Hoorah! The clichés are embraced - If you like predicting character's lines, you'll love this - and whilst it follows the core formula of many of the previous films, even down to the classic terminator v terminator finale, there's enough substance for it to be both intriguing and endlessly enjoyable. Moving away from Salvation, they choose not to introduce numerous new and uselessly specific terminators and stick with the tried and true classics, other than the compulsory badass new model. The one thing I can't work out is why they have T-800 models - effectively their soldiers - driving trucks? That might be a gap in my fan knowledge base but with all the computerised UAVs and whatnot that they have, surely the machines are capable of putting in a small microchip to drive their vehicles! 

The one area that the film is somewhat let down in is casting. I don't quite understand Hollywood's obsession with hiring British and Australian actors and making them put on poor American accents. Out of the actors for Sarah Connor, John Connor, Kyle Reese, the T-800 (Guardian), T-1000 and the T-5000, the only American citizen is Arnold Schwarzenegger?? There's also a question of likenesses. The plot harks back to the original films, and Jason Clarke and Jai Courtney are passable as Michael Edwards and Michael Bien respectively, but Emilia Clarke is much more of the Sarah Connor Chronicles era. Also, Matt Smith's role could have easily allowed for a British persona instead of his terrible American accent. J. K. Simmons's character, who is essentially the fall guy that everybody passes off as a nut job, was actually very likeable I found, despite his small screen time, which just goes to prove that he really deserved that Oscar!

Terminator Genisys revamps the Terminator franchise and embraces the past films that everybody loves. The action is visceral and only occasionally over the top. It sets up for the customary sequel of modern Hollywood high concept films, and for once, I'm genuinely excited. The bad reviews? I guess haters gonna hate, but this is ultimately a movie for the fans.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

The Planet of the Apes franchise has had a bit of a checkered history. It is generally agreed upon that Tim Burton's remake of the original 1968 classic was terrible, but prior to that there was a short series of films that directly followed the original, these being Beneath, Escape, Conquest and Battle (all with the of the Planet of the Apes suffix). Of these movies, only Escape from the Planet of the Apes was good. So I think we're kind of lucky that 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a success, especially after the franchise had died two times over.

Dawn begins a decade after Rise which ended with the hint of a virus which only affected humans was about to spread. Well this 'simian flu' (as it's called in this movie) spread and wiped out the majority of mankind. Caesar and the apes from the first film are living in a colony outside San Francisco. A group of humans led by Malcolm (Jason Clarke) stumble upon this group while trying to find a hydroelectric dam in the area and become the first humans to contact the colony. This contact, combined with distrust between the two groups, eventually leads to violence.

The evolution of the world between the last movie and this one is really amazing. The fall of human society while the ape one flourishes is a fantastic contrast. The humans don't want to return to the time just after the fall of society because they were no better than animals, while all that the apes want is a safe community where they can live.

Again there are references to previous Apes films. The opening scene is one of the apes hunting some deer. These techniques are the exact same that they will use to hunt humans in the original film. They now have horses, which is their preferred mode of transport in the original. Also the name of Caesar's wife(?) is called Cornelia, a homage to Cornelius the chimpanzee who helped Taylor the lost astronaut. There is however, no sign of the eventual status quo that we know the planet will eventually fall into, with the orang-utans as the leaders.

This cast almost reads as a who's who of my favourite actors. Aussie Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty) leads the human cast superbly and his relationship with Gary Oldman pulled at my heartstrings at times. Keri Russell, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Kirk Acevedo (my all time favourite actor) round out the human cast.

But the most praise has to go to the actors who play the apes. Motion capture technology has come so far in my lifetime and it's only going to get better. Andy Serkis (Caesar) is so good at this now, it's second nature to him. His performance is unbelievable in this movie as are the others. Toby Kebbell (RocknRolla) and Judy Greer (Arrested Development) are also great, especially being the first time they've both done this.

Verdict: A great follow up to Rise of the Planet of the Apes and the series can only get better from here.

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby showcases the glamour of the Roaring Twenties in New York, but also explores the dark seedy underbelly of the people who lived during that time.

The story follows young writer Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) moves to New York and gets caught up in the extravagant world of his neighbour, the enigmatic Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), a mysterious businessman with an undying love for Nick's cousin, Daisy (Carey Mulligan). Daisy lives with her husband Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton) on the other side of the bay to Nick and Gatsby. Carraway endeavours to find out more about Gatsby, his background and his fierce love for Daisy.

The relationship between Gatsby and Carraway is an interesting one. Nick is enamoured with Gatsby and not just his lavish lifestyle as many people who attend his parties are. It is interesting to note that early on, Buchanan makes reference to Carraway's voyeuristic tendencies.

The performances by DiCaprio and Maguire are quite amazing. DiCaprio plays this long sense of loneliness perfectly and Maguire's Carraway evolves from a naive, wide-eyed believer in life into a cynical person of the world around him.

Although Daisy's character is central to the plot and Mulligan's performance was superb, I felt as though her character was just a facilitator for confrontations between the male characters. I also felt as though there was no character development on her part. Relative newcomer Elizabeth Debicki shines as Jordan Baker, a professional golfer and friend of Daisy. She is one to look out for in the future.

Normally I am not a fan of Baz Luhrman's overindulgence (the only other film of his I enjoyed was Romeo + Juliet), but here it works. The film is visually stunning and does have a great ethereal feeling to it. However, when shots would pull back from the foreground and reveal a CGI horizon in the background, I did feel a bit removed from the world. Likewise, there are a few scenes in which the film looked like it was running at a faster frame rate, that while extremely subtle, through me off.

One aspect of the film that I thoroughly enjoyed was the soundtrack. I was a bit skeptical when I heard that Luhrmann was going to use hip-hop because 'it currently shares the same status that jazz held in the 20s', but he integrated it seamlessly into the film so that it was unnoticeable next to the jazz tracks.

Verdict: Despite some visual issues and character flaws, I felt as though this was an enjoyable look at drama in the Twenties. And it had one hell of a soundtrack.

Zero Dark Thirty

First off, this is not a propaganda movie for the US, glorifying their operation to kill Osama bin Laden. It does tell the story, but it also shows the pain felt by both sides and that it wasn't just some clean in and out operation.

The story picks up two years after 9/11, with a young CIA operative (Jessica Chastain) is witnessing her first interrogation of a detainee at the hands of her new colleague Dan (Jason Clarke). Her character, Maya, has just been transferred to the US embassy in Pakistan, tasked with finding information about top al-Qaeda personnel. The detainee that they are interrogating has links to Saudi terrorists. They soon trick him into divulging information about Abu Ahmed, an old acquaintance, who, through information they can piece together from other detainees, is the courier between bin Laden and Abu Farraj al-Libbi, a ranking officer within al-Qaeda.

Many years later, Maya is able to set up a meet with the detained Abu Farraj, only to find that he is hiding the existence of Ahmed, which Maya interprets as Ahmed being a person of extreme interest. Her senior officer at the embassy (Kyle Chandler), believes Maya should focusing on bringing in known terrorists and be trying to find out where the next global attack will be, so that they can protect the homeland.

Over the next couple of years a lot of things happen in Maya's life. She survives a bombing at the Islamabad Marriott Hotel, her friend Dan is reassigned to Washington and her friend and co-worker Jessica is killed in a botched attempt to try and bring in one of bin Laden's inner circle that she had been spearheading. Whilst trying to find any information on Abu Ahmed, Maya comes across an interview with a detainee who says that he personally buried the man they know as Ahmed, his real name being Habib Sayeed, all the way back in 2001. This seems to have defeated Maya, until a junior officer in her office finds information from the Moroccan intelligence community saying that that man that was buried was actually the brother of the courier. His name is Ibrihim Sayeed and they are able to trace his phone number with the help of Dan. Before Maya can go anywhere with this information, she is attacked coming out of her home by insurgents and subsequently sent back to Washington.

Once they find Sayeed, the operatives are able to trace him to a compound in Abbotabad in Pakistan. Through continued surveillance, Maya soon believes that bin Laden himself is residing within the compound. This belief is not shared by her seniors, who deliberate on the risk of sending in a team to take out the occupants. The CIA chief (James Gandolfini) soon decides that sending in a team to the compound would be beneficial, as whoever this mystery man is, it would be a good idea to take him out.

So Maya is sent to Afghanistan, where she is to oversee the mission to the compound. A SEAL team is put together and with the latest in stealth helicopter technology, they fly into Abbotabad to assault the compound. One of the helicopters loses power and crash lands within the walls of the compound. The team goes in and obliterates the three men who are in there, including Osama bin Laden, whose body they take with them. They also take any hard drives and intel that they can get their hands on. Once they are back at base, the team is welcomed with open arms by everyone, whilst Maya is left to contemplate what she is to do with her life now that her goal that she has been working on for a decade is completed.

Katheryn Bigelow has put together a movie that pulls no punches. Whilst it's hard to tell what actually happened in the events leading up to the operation at the end of the movie, most of the events revolve around real bombings and the detaining of real life individuals. The casting of the movie is amazing.  None of the actors have huge star power, so they are believable in the roles that they play. Jessica Chastain is brilliant as Maya and you can really see that following through with this mission means everything to her. Jennifer Ehle is great as Maya's friend Jessica who really wants to show her friend that she wants to do her best on this mission. Mark Strong plays Maya's boss in Washington and really wants to believe that bin Laden is in Pakistan.

I found the torture scenes at the beginning to be confronting, but that is how matters were handled and it is a brutal and honest truth. The water-boarding scenes, in particular, were pretty full on. The mission at the end is shown to be a far from clean mission, resulting in the loss of a state of the art helicopter and civilian casualties that should have been avoided.

The film opens with a black screen where we hear the various radio chatter that happen on 9/11, including one iconic 911 call from one of the towers. The film also has news footage from various attacks throughout the decade, as well as press conferences from both George W. Bush and Barack Obama. These give insight into the world that was happening around the events of the film.

Verdict: Spanning almost a decade, this film shows that the events leading up to the death of Osama bin Laden were not as easy as some might of thought. Although I was not a huge fan of The Hurt Locker, I think Katheryn Bigelow has done a much better job this time around.