The Revenant

"I ain't afraid to die. I've done that already."

                                          

A man wakes and pushes himself out of his frozen, half-covered grave. He is injured and left for dead in the cold, harsh winter of the wild American frontier. He crawls across the ground in obvious agony to the snow-covered corpse of his loved one, the last of his family. He checks the corpse for breath or a heartbeat before laying on the chest and vowing to never leave. The camera, low to the ground, pushes in on this broken man and as his breathes become more ragged and heavy, the camera fogs. The scene transitions to an aerial shot close to a patch of thin clouds, high over the snow-capped mountains and plains of the rugged, brutal countryside as time and space pass. These clouds then become the smokey, slightly nervous breath of the murderer. A man, as tough as the land, who inhales his pipe while his companion nearby is unaware of the man's crimes. He is contemplative, eager to survive this moment and willing to do anything but to survive he must keep his companion alive without alerting him to his crime. The murderer and his companion are unaware that the injured man is hell-bent on revenge and hunting them across the wilderness.

Alejandro González Iñárritu won Best Picture last year with Birdman, Or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance, a comedic-drama about the decayed mind of a star actor that was most presented in one take thanks to some nifty digital editing, In 2015/2016 he and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki return for The Revenant, a breathtaking journey through the uncharted American frontier that has made headlines throughout the year due to its troubled production. Moving the entire production from Canada to Argentina to follow the weather, overblown action scenes and shooting in harsh wilderness and natural light. The Revenant stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson and Will Poulter as prominent members of a band of hunters during America's early days who, after their camp is destroyed by Pawnee Native Americans and their hard-earned cargo of animal pelts lost, are forced to march across the frozen mountains and tundra's back to the safety of their frontier fort. Meanwhile the Native American tribe search and hunt for their chief's missing daughter.

The concept of breathing is the central thematic concern of the film, whether that be the physical embodiment of it, the emotional significance of it or even the psychological motivation such an innate part of life can provide within the perils of such a brutal environment. The score invokes the concept with percussion and low tones briefly swelling, booming and dissipating like heavy breaths, or higher more tense tones emulating hyperventilation in some action scenes. The transitions and editing within and between scenes uses the setting to its fullest, specifically bodies of water, to add the feeling of breathing through editing besides just communicating the advancement of time, and this extends to Iñarritu repeatedly using the emergence of characters from womb-like positions to echo the first breaths of life. Breathing is an integral part of the performance of the antagonistic leads DiCaprio and Hardy, often used instead of dialogue and feeding into the simplistic manner of this well-told story. Hardy again especially puts in another fine performance this year disappearing into the role of Fitzgerald, and this certainly is exemplified in his scenes with the other leads such as DiCaprio's silent skilled survivor, Poulter's youthful moralist and Gleeson's passionate, rational and tested noble captain who all often run foul of Hardy's brutal simplistic logic, lack of scruples and antagonism fueled by his desire to live in spite of those around him. The performances of the cast, the film's production design and costumes are flawless, brilliant and brutal, creating unique characters, and are never stock in appearance or performance but the true star of the film is the cinematography of Emmanuel Lubezki who, if all is right with the world, should take home his third straight cinematography Oscar because of his work on this film.

Iñarritu and Gonzalez collaborated last year on the Oscar-winning Birdman and enough of the camera styles of that film are evolved within The Revenant to warrant the connection between the two films. While far from a single-take film there is plenty of single-take scenes and digital editing, "invisible cuts" achieved through matching moments and using digital editing software to manipulate and create the appearance of an unbroken moment, within large moments and the low-angle, diagonal close-ups on faces that made Birdman such a stand-out visually. But The Revenant is bolstered by a camera that almost breaks the fourth wall, that uses the breath-taking scenery and natural light to un-matched effect, and pushes digital film-making forward with its enviable clarity. Simply put, this is easily the best looking film in a good long while. Some of the landscape, establishing and aerial shots could be directly compared to the westerns of Sergio Leone and his unparalleled eye for capturing the location, while others appear as though directly taken by a seasoned wildlife photographer. Certain moments of action and tension are tastefully shot in one take, but the night shots prove especially beautiful with incredible scenes captured supposedly without artificial light sources. Lubezki committed to using the ALEXA 65 camera on the shoot and the results are instantly and emphatically apparent.

On the downside The Revenant does feel its 156-minute run-time with more than enough scenes of birth-like emergence and hairy men breathing heavily while hungrily devouring meat, Hardy's voice again borders on impenetrable at moments, a multi-lingual exchange has its immersion destroyed by the necessity for the subtitles to tell the audience that they're in French, and the final shot is a bit of a cop-out. But that hardly matters, The Revenant is worth the hype on the strength of the cinematography alone, and the reality that behind that is an intense, affecting, tragic story by a director in his prime, a brilliant cast and skilled crew (with a perfect score to boot) makes The Revenant a must-see film.

Legend

It seems amazing that we still get a kick out of a single actor playing two separate characters. All the things superheroes and action stars can do seem pretty normal, but put two Tom Hardys on the same screen at the same time and everyone is baffled. Make them fight and we all lose our collective shits. But apart from this novelty value, is Legend offering us much?

In late 1950s London, the Kray twins, Ronald and Reginald (Tom Hardy) are gangsters on the rise. Reggie is seen as the brother that is more level headed, whereas Ronnie is an unrestrained psychopath, having been released from a psychiatric ward at the beginning of the film. They have a stranglehold on the East End of London and are looking to expand across the river, but are hampered by rival gangster Charlie Richardson (Paul Bettany). Meanwhile, Reggie is courting young Frances Shea (Emily Browning), with whom he is enamoured with greatly. In the background, Ronnie and Reggie are trying to snare a deal with the mafia that will put them on top.

That's the problem with this film, the main action that the film should focus on is relegated to the back seat. This movie should be a violent portrayal of how the Krays came to rule London instead of a twisted romance between Reggie and Frances. There is a missed opportunity as well in not delving into the police investigation that brought the Krays down. One thing I will give the film credit for is its frank and honest portrayal of Ronnie's homosexuality. It makes no bones about Ronnie's admission of it either.

Tom Hardy has had an interesting career path. If this film had come after 2008's Bronson and RocknRolla, I would have thought that he was setting himself up as a British gangster actor and that would have made sense. But in this post-Fury Road world where he is being set up as superstar of tomorrow, doing a film like this doesn't make much sense to me. Although I say that, his performance (or performances) do dominate, and he is incredibly charming in both roles. The best thing I could say is that there is a definite difference in the way he plays them, right down to their difference in physicality.

The other performances in this movie fail, not because the acting is bad, but because the characters aren't very interesting. Emily Browning's Frances just seemed like a flat and boring person and that made her scenes hard to watch. The Krays' business partner is played by veteran actor David Thewlis, but just serves to explain exposition. Christopher Eccleston could have done better if he was given more to do, but he floated in and out too rarely for me. Taron Egerton was a shining light in all this as Ronnie's lover and is present in nearly every scene he was in. I didn't even know Paul Bettany was in it until I had to write this review.

Look, this movie is a bit of a disappointment if you're going to watch it with expectations. If you're watching it for Tom Hardy, you might like it.

Ed's Thoughts - Mad Max: Fury Road

Jack made some compelling arguments against the latest Mad Max film in his full review. As I enjoyed it a fair bit more, I thought I'd give some of my opinions.

A harsh desert landscape, a worn-out interceptor and a familiar man with a different face. The fourth instalment in the Mad Max series, Fury Road, has taken thirty years to get here, and it doesn't mess about. This barren and hostile world is unfettered, ferocious; fuelled by blood and a metric butt-tonne of petrol. The plot is simple, just like the first two, and every single frame is utterly beautiful. I've struggled through many modern action flicks, and I despise the Michael Bay 'splosion-fest model of filmmaking so everything here should be wrong. But it's oh so right.

Fury Road has everything that I look for in contemporary action: isolated settings, eccentric characters and a unique style of filmmaking that only comes around once in a blue moon. Miller harks back to a sorely missed era of filmmaking by utilising primarily practical effects, composited together with minimal CGI to create some visually incredible stunts. Take a look at this glorious B-Roll footage to see what I mean. Yes some of the explosions and crashes are ridiculous, and that definitely changes the level of realism that may be expected from the previous films, but at the same time this is still very much a Mad Max film. Other old-school effects like speed ramping to create the illusion of extreme motion, really do make this feel like a good old 80s action flick.

I do find it a bit sad that Max takes a step back in this film, but I actually thought that Imperator Furiosa was a well fleshed-out, very likable character and really didn't mind that she took the centre stage, along with her equally badass War Rig. The minimal plot was easy enough to follow, without too much exposition, and the blend of the rolling story with impeccably choreographed visual sequences make Fury Road almost operatic in design. It's a highly visual story and when done well, that is an undeniably powerful form of movie making.

Mad Max: Fury Road gave me a slap in the face more powerful than the strongest caffeinated drink (or other...substances...) and I was fixated from beginning to end. It's action-meets-arthouse and everything in between, and easily the best film of the year thus far. I want to hug George Miller for giving this series another shot...but I'd probably get arrested.

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Mad Max franchise has been a wholly Australian series of films. Yeah, Tina Turner was in Beyond Thunderdome, but we try to forget that. The movies focus on Australian's love of cars and our harsh, unforgiving outback. But Fury Road doesn't quite live up to the sleek vision created by Dr George Miller all those years ago and instead drowns in unbelievable landscapes and physical violence that seems out of place.

In the harsh post-apocalyptic world that has come, Max (Tom Hardy) has been captured by the followers of the cult leader Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne). Joe's top lieutenant Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) has been sent out to get oil from the nearby Gastown. It is soon revealed that Furiosa has stolen away Joe's harem and he sends out his armies to get them back. Max is sent along with Nux (Nicholas Hoult), who needs Max's blood to survive, but Max soon joins up with Furiosa to help her on her quest.

Now before I get started with any of my thoughts on the movie, I want you to know that I understand that this is supposed to be a mindless bit of entertainment. But that's the thing. Both Mad Max and Mad Max 2 were fun, but they were also better than this. They had simple story-lines with not too much in depth backgrounds going on. Here you are constantly confused by who characters are and what relationship they have to others (let alone figuring out what some of them are).

Miller attempts to capture the brilliance of the second film and leave all that Thunderdome business behind him. And it works to a certain point. Max has minimal dialogue in this movie, just like in that film, and the plot kind of revolves around oil. It takes a lot of time to figure out what exactly is happening in this movie and when you do figure it out, it seems a little disappointing.

Another big thing that I found in this movie is the violence. No, not that I was expecting it to be a peaceful film, but that it is the wrong kind of violence. These movies rely very heavily on car crashes and bashing into each other at high speeds with the occasional gun being shot (careful, you don't want to waste that ammo), but there is an inordinate amount of physical violence taking place. If I want to see hand-to-hand combat, I will watch literally any other action movie. I don't need to see Max get into fisticuffs with anyone, because the mere threat of him punching you will make anyone back down. And what about those car explosions? These are way too over the top. The appeal of the original films was seeing car accidents that were realistic because they were based on Miller's experiences in the Emergency ward of a hospital. Now it just seems like you throw a whole bunch of kerosene in there and that will appeal to audiences.

The acting in the film is pretty minimal. Tom Hardy does his best Mel Gibson impersonation and only gets an Aussie accent half the time. Charlize Theron does play a tough bitch, which is cool, but there isn't great characterisation on her part. Hugh Keays-Byrne is shouty enough, but fails to either scare or excite. Nicholas Hoult's character is a little weasel that is neither here nor there. Joe's harem gets screen time, but no time to properly act because look out, there's a truck exploding.

This is one that you either watch or you don't. It is littered with references to the original films (but don't worry, assumed knowledge isn't needed), as well as references to other classic Australian films, which you will get if you have seen them. Definitely a movie that you watch to chill out to or be revved up by. Your choice.

Let's take a look at the Suicide Squad cast

I know that the casting of Suicide Squad isn't exactly news, DC Entertainment has been slowly releasing the news of who is going to be in the movie steadily over the past few weeks, but I thought that now we have a fair few names attached to the movie, it would be a good opportunity to talk about the movie as a whole.

I can imagine a fair few of you are probably thinking who or what is the Suicide Squad. This group is made up of super-villains from the DC universe who are made to do missions by the government that the regular superheroes won't do, mainly because they involve killing dictators, terrorists, drug barons or any similar bad guy. I also say they are made to do this because if they don't achieve their directives, they are killed by an explosive bracelet on their wrists.

This team is made up of some members who may seem familiar and others that sound like I'm just making them up. But let's have a look. First is someone who everyone should know due to her popularity. Harley Quinn (AKA the Joker's girlfriend) is going to be played by Aussie actress Margot Robbie, known for her lead role in The Wolf of Wall Street. Harley Quinn is a beloved character and it will be interesting to see Robbie's interpretation.

Next on the list is the assassin Deadshot, a frequent enemy of Batman and is known to never miss one of his targets. He will be played by Will Smith, a choice that is strange for his famous face as Deadshot's face remains covered in bandages.

Aussie actor Jai Courtney will play Captain Boomerang which is good because we wouldn't want to see an American playing an Australian character. Captain Boomerang is known for using a vast array of deadly boomerangs, much in the same way Hawkeye from The Avengers uses different arrows. I am really excited about the roles that Courtney has been doing of late and I know this will be a good one for him.

Tom Hardy will play the operational leader of the Suicide Squad, Rick Flag. As far as I can tell Flag is just a mentally unstable soldier, but watching Tom Hardy in a role like this should be fun. Model turned actress Cara Delevingne will play the witch of the group, Enchantress.

Jared Leto has been cast to play the Joker, which could be a good or bad thing, I'm not sure. I'm also not sure of how this will play into the plot. The Joker isn't a member of the team and could possibly be a target of the Squad.

Now we get into rumour territory. Apparently Oprah Winfrey's name has been put out there to play the leader of the group, Amanda Waller. I think it would be a lot of fun to see Oprah in a movie like this, rather than the ultra-serious roles that she normally plays. Another name that has been thrown into the mix is Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, but I'm not sure what to think of that.

The Drop

The film industry is certainly in love with crime...uh, crime movies that is, with far too many gritty scripts launching themselves at the genre from all angles, yet never really differentiating themselves from the last. So how about the latest instalment, Michaël R. Roskam's The Drop? With the late James Gandolfini in a lead role, displaying his criminal-acting prowess for the last time, I was certainly keen to find out.

Bob Saginowski (Tom Hardy) works as a bartender in his cousin Marv's (James Gandolfini) bar. Once owned by Marv, but purchased by Chechen criminals, the bar operates as a front for money-laundering, having packages dropped off regularly. Whilst Bob and Marv try to stay out of the underhand business, the bar proves to be trouble for the cousins, beginning with an armed robbery that leaves the pair in debt to their Chechen employers.

Meanwhile, whilst walking home one evening, Bob finds an injured pit-bull abandoned in a bin and is helped by Nadia (Noomi Rapace), who owns the house, to nurse it back to health. Bob agrees to take the dog and names it Rocco, which is fine, until the dogs owner comes looking for Bob.

I have to admit, I became rapidly disinterested with this rather simple, yet still somewhat far-fetched plot. It's not like The Drop is particularly similar to most crime films, but it doesn't really bring much new to the genre either. There were some funny moments here and there, but generally I found that it just progressed a bit too slowly for my liking.

Tom Hardy continues to prove that he's an adept and talented actor, especially with his previous film Locke, and he's certainly great here too, albeit with a sometimes questionable Brooklyn accent. James Gandolfini also gives a strong final performance, though I found it difficult to imagine him as anybody other than Tony Soprano. Rapace wasn't bad as Nadia, though she could have probably been developed more as a character, and other than that, almost all of the supporting roles play idiots.

Continuing the trend of dark, gritty crime films, The Drop has a dull colour pallet, that envisages Brooklyn as one of the most dreary places on earth. The interesting use of camera angles and tracking shots in some of the montage sequences were refreshing, but generally The Drop doesn't have anything new to offer in the image department.

With strong performances from Hardy and Gandolfini, and some visually compelling sequences, The Drop is far from a bad film. There are plenty of interesting plot elements that differentiate it from the average crime feature, but its slow pace failed to keep me particularly interested.