Not The Flick of The Day: The Last Stand

Shit Sandwich.

Flick Of The Day: The Sweeney

Oi you diamond geezer? Fancy a trip to the flicks? I've got the one for you if you can Adam and Eve it and all for under an Ayrton Senna. You should go and have a butchers at today's flick of the day, The Sweeney. So hop in your Jam Jar or a Sherbert Dab and head to your local purveyor of home entertainment so you can feast your Mince Pies on this big screen adaptation of the 70's British cop show.

The Sweeney

Ray Winstone, a man never afraid of playing the gangster, stars as Jack Regan a member of the old Sweeney Todd with a yearning for a Barney and a Bang Up and a proclivity for finishing his sentences with "We're the focking sweeney, son!" and "You're nicked mate!". Regan leads a group of old school cops with a penchant for clichéd dialogue and the sexual politics of a bygone era. Regan's main partner in (stopping) crime is George Carter played by Ben Drew while their unit is overseen by Frank Haskins played by Damian Lewis in upper class fop mode. Between extended scenes of Regan's illicit affair with a married woman in an impossibly palatial high rise Holiday Inn, he gets around to some actual police work. Granted this mainly takes the form of police chases, beating suspects and saying his catchphrase "We're the focking sweeney, son!" but he gets it done. Of course things can't go on like for this forever eventually a crime is committed and Regan and Co are forced into some investigative work.

There is nothing wrong with an enjoyable well made action picture. All too often I find myself being accused of being unable to enjoy simpler pleasures such as this in favour of obscure foreign language pictures and independent American cinema. However this is not the case, a well made action film can tick many boxes on the entertainment form. Unfortunately for all concerned, The Sweeney is not such a film. As much as I like Ray Winstone and his honest performances, this film is a terrible waste of his talents. The script is awful, plumbing every possible cliché to drive the film onward. The story is boredom punctuated by car chases. There is nothing original, everything feels like something you've seen before in better movies. It's big action scene, an extended shoot-out in the centre of London feels ripped off from Heat. The bad guys were rubber masks reminiscent of Point Break. 

This of course begs the question why was this film made? The Sweeney TV show ran for 3 series between 1975 and 1978 starring John Thaw, better known as Inspector Morse and everybody's favourite misogynistic wife beater Dennis Waterman. However that was more than 30 years ago, who was crying out for the jump to the big screen?  As with so many of these ill advised adaptations, it is something perhaps best left untouched. Nostalgia is popular because it shows us the rose tinted view of how things used to be. You never remember the crap elements, only the sunny days. Starsky & Hutch, The A Team, The Brady Bunch, The Dukes of Hazzard, Charlies Angels, Bewitched, Miami Vice, all awful television shows made into worse movies. You can add The Sweeney to this list. You're focking nicked son!

Flick of the Day: The Dark Knight Rises

For better or worse, comic book adaptations have largely come to dominate the list of Summer box office titans over the last decade since the release of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man in 2002. This film, an adaptation of perhaps the most commercial of the comic book superheroes spawned two sequels and even a reboot this Summer. Perhaps an unexpected consequence of its success was to set off somewhat of an arms race between the two publishing empires Marvel and DC who have come to dominate the genre. Each Summer since the year of Spidey, there has been at least one major release from the pair. From the awful (Daredevil, Hulk) to the interesting (Iron Man, X-Men), Marvel has been the more dominant of the two with a four year cycle of films culminating in this Summer's tent pole release Avengers Assemble. Perhaps the last laugh may go to DC Comics who have garnered critical acclaim for Christopher Nolan's series of Batman films culminating in today's flick of the day and last in the trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises.

The Dark Knight Rises

Perhaps the most pleasing element of Nolan's approach to the Batman character has been the intellectual legitimacy which he has garnered for the genre and for his own work. Nolan's Batman is an adult creation who endures in a relentlessly downbeat Gotham, and a world away from the witty quips of an Iron Man or other more child friendly creations. After the success of the previous instalments in the series 2005's Batman Begins and the Heath Ledger dominated The Dark Knight in 2008, hopes were unnaturally high amongst the near-rabid fan base. 

Opening 8 years after the events of the previous film, we find ourselves in a much changed Gotham. Thanks to the Harvey Dent Act, crime has dropped to an all time low under the auspices of Commissioner Gordon, played again by the great Gary Oldman. Meanwhile Bruce Wayne has retired into seclusion, a Howard Hughes like tragic figure who hides in the shadows of his vast mansion while his Batman alter ego has not been seen since the death of Dent at the end of the previous film and has taken the blame accordingly. However there is a storm brewing in the shadows of Gotham, a mysterious cat burglar named Selina Kyle is making herself known. Kyle is played by the surprisingly adept Anne Hathaway. Also stepping into the complacent Gotham is the terrorist Bane played by a bulked up Tom Hardy. Bane is the very antithesis of Bruce Wayne's moral code,a masked man who wishes to see Gotham brought to its very knees and is introduced to us in a spectacular opening scene. The cast is rounded out by the ever reliable Michael Caine reprising his role as Alfred and Joseph Gordon Levitt as a young police officer with an independent streak while Marion Cotillard is underused as a wealthy social campaigner.

Without delving too deeply into the plot, suffice as to say Christian Bale's mournful Bruce Wayne is forced to don the black cape once more to defend the city once more but will he still be up to it or will Bane prove too much for him? The films moves from one stand out scene to another while still managing to detail the moral turmoil at the heart of the tale.

Despite coming in at an ass numbing 2 hours and 45 minutes, the film doesn't seem to lag at least I never felt my mind wandering. There is much to enjoy here from a visual perspective and as with so much of Nolan's best work, there is a subtle subtext at work here. Bane appears to be less the kind of unthinking Lucifer that was Ledger's Joker and more of a crusading villain attempting to return Gotham to its own year zero. There are some interesting references to corrupt bankers and the evils of wealth but they are not fully followed through and merely exist to hang Bane's psyche on.

Again without giving anything away, the ending is an enjoyable piece of storytelling which ties up the looses ends nicely while delivering the kind of emotional punch and what if analysis seen in Nolan's Inception. The wide and varied cast deliver in their respective roles with a special mention for Michael Caine, who as Alfred is the moral core of the film attempting to rein in Bruce's need to satisfy and save. Caine will be 80 next March and is still delivering performances that wow. As noted, Marion Cotillard is largely underdeveloped given her pivotal role in the film though perhaps this was intentional. Nolan's direction is never heavy handed  and hits all the right notes in the set-pieces while the score from Hans Zimmer serves to enhance the action with its terrible Sturm und Drang giving the piece an epic feel. And the film is epic if nothing else, the breadth of the story and the moral complexity of the characters is unlike anything previously attempted in a comic book adaptation. 

While not hitting the heights of perfection which so many fans had unreasonably hoped for, this is a strong ending for Nolan's trilogy and nicely finishes out the tale which began uncertainly in 2005. Bale is undoubtedly the best actor to have taken on the role of Batman and his broody intensity was well matched with Nolan's attempts to take the character down the dark road to which it is best suited. Arguably Nolan's best work has been outside of Batman with Inception and The Illusionist. I look forward to his next work. So then in conclusion, not perfect but a very enjoyable film all the same.

Flick of the Day: Safe House

Once upon a time in a far away place full of Stallone's, Van Damme's, numerous James Bond's and even the odd Michael Caine, producing an average action thriller was entirely acceptable in the movie making business. Sure as night follows day, average would be enough to deliver a handsome box office return. Then along came the joint creation of Robert Ludlum, Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass that was Jason Bourne and in one fell swoop changed the landscape of the genre. Bond became blonde, boundaries were pushed and average was no longer acceptable. Pity then, if you can find it in your heart, the makers of today's flick of the day Safe House.

Safe House

Ryan Reynolds is the star of the show as Matt Weston, a low level CIA functionary who looks after a safe house in Cape Town. Keen to move up he spends his days keeping the place clean and pestering his mentor David Barlow played by Brendan Gleeson for a promotion. One day he gets an unexpected new guest, a rogue agent named (and this could only happen in this movie) Tobin Frost played by the always a good guy apart from this and Training Day, Denzel Washington. Tobin has given himself up to the authorities after a career of selling out information has led to him running for his life from a gang of unknown operatives on the streets of Cape Town. Of course as is the way with these things, this gang follows him to the safe house and after an entertaining gun battle Matt and Tobin are on the run. As the small army of gunmen chase them, Matt struggles to keep Tobin alive while trying to get to the bottom of why he is being chased and who they are.

It is unfortunate that the movie going public have become so demanding in terms of genre pictures like this for while it doesn't break any new ground, there is much to enjoy here. Some of the actions scenes are quite spectacular, particularly an exciting chase scene through a township. The twist in the tale is obvious enough with the usual Hollywood hint of it being the one guy nobody mentions but it's well played out all the same. As to the performances, all are passable without being overly memorable. Ryan Reynolds comes across as too much of a pretty-boy for his role but then that's hardly his fault while Gleeson and Sam Shepard bring some heavyweight acting talent. Vera Farmiga is criminally underused in a role that is fleshed out only enough to allow a twist in the plot.

Washington is playing a role he has played on numerous occasions over the past few years in a slew of largely forgettable action pictures, many of them directed by Tony Scott. It's not a bad persona and this film is a cut above those pictures.

Tobin Frost: I think you need to consider how your safe house was attacked in the first place. That house was a secure location. Whoever crashed it, they were invited. Someone told them, someone you know... 
Matt Weston: You're not gonna get in my head. 
Tobin Frost: I am already in your head!

All in all, this is really not a bad film by any means, it just doesn't cover any new ground. Despite that it is enjoyable, there are some excellent action scenes and the South African location is a good selling point and the cast deliver decent performances where they can. Worth a look in these post-Bourne times.

Flick of the Day: The Raid: Redemption

According to Homer Simpson "Everybody knows Rock achieved perfection in 1974". Whatever about the truth of Homer's assertion, everybody knows that the action genre reached its high point with the release in 1988 of John McTiernan's Die Hard. Since then there have been derivatives, there have been sequels and there  have been high concept action pictures galore along with the usual direct to DVD tripe starring the fallen idols and the never been but along the way the genre has become moribund and worst of all dull. Perhaps today's flick of the day is redemption then in the unlikely form of an Indonesian film directed by a Welshman Gareth Evans, The Raid.

The Raid

In the slums of Jakarta, there is a 12 storey building controlled by a ruthless gang lord. On the orders of the higher ups, a 20 man Swat team begin a dawn raid on the building with the aim of taking down the bad guys. Of course as is so often the case with these things, their arrival is expected and they quickly become bogged down and the body count rises. In some spectacular action scenes, the remaining members of the team must fight their way through 15 floors to get their man and escape with their lives. There are a few twists along the way but ultimately it is one extended battle. Each of the characters brings their own baggage, the leader Rama has a pregnant wife at home and a brother he hasn't seen in years while the gang lord Tama has bought every cop in town to keep himself safe.

No discussion of this film would be complete without noting the incredible level of violence that prevails throughout. Much like the hardbitten action cinema coming out of South Korea and Hong Kong over the last few years, this films wears its lust for blood on its sleeve. In general I am not a fan of excessive violence unless it forms a necessary part of the tale and in this case it does. Whereas the likes of Drive are violent for no apparent reason other than some pretentious commentary on society, The Raid is a violent tale of violent men and all the better for it.

The real strength of the film is the choreography of its fight scenes. Incredible isn't the word, I have seen nothing like it. One particularly gruelling scene climaxed to cheers and applause in the cinema where I saw it. Fast paced and balletic, they are gripping throughout. The film has been a real audience winner wherever it has appeared, winning the audience award at the recent Dublin International Film Festival. There is not much else that can be added really. It's stupid, violent and a lot of fun. After  the last few years, it may just be the shot in the arm, the action genre needed. 

Flick of The Day: Attack the Block

For all the money invested in Hollywood action pictures, there are far more turkeys produced on these massive budgets than works of entertaining cinema. A cursory glance at the work of Michael Bay would surely validate this point of view. Over the last few years there have been a number of highly regarded box office success stories produced on budgets that Mr Bay would surely use up in a single flashy but pointless stunt. Films that put all the money on the screen and produced big budget action on a small scale. A couple of obvious examples would be Gareth Edward's Monsters, District 9 and Shaun of the Dead. Today's flick of the day, Attack the Block is another such film. The début feature from English director Joe Cornish, it successfully tells the story of aliens invading a South London council estate with more wit and charm than many big budget flops.

Attack the Block

A group of inner city teens from South London led by Moses, played by newcomer John Boyega, are wandering the streets generally acting in a thuggish manner. While they are in the middle of robbing white person in the ghetto Sam played by Jodie Whitaker, a ball of fire appears in the sky and destroys a nearby car. As Sam flees, the boys investigate and discover a life form not of this world. The gang quickly slay the creature and take this corpse to the top floor of their tower block, home of the local drug dealer. However it soon becomes apparent that the creature is not alone as more of them begin to appear in the night sky, the light unnoticed in a sky filled with fireworks for Guy Fawkes night. These new creatures are much more vicious, black shapeless beasts with razor teeth. As panic grips the streets, Sam crosses paths with her muggers and together they vow to battle for their tower block in a fight to the death to save the human race.

While this is by no means a classic, it manages to be far more fun than so many of its more po-faced bigger budget brethren. The main criticism's of it is that is neither scary enough to stand as a thriller, nor funny enough to be a comedy and is merely a weak combination of the two. That said, it is an entertaining ride that doesn't hang around long enough to be irritating. 

Sam: We should call the police. 

Pest: You'd be better off calling the Ghostbusters love.

Cornish shows himself to be a director of no little talent. He has a keen eye for a shot, the opening tracking shot sets the scene and the surroundings perfectly. He handles the rest of the film competently and with a better script could have produced something special.

The young cast are well chosen and inhabit the roles of hooded menaces quite well. John Boyega stands out as the groups leader Moses giving a strong performance though it is a big ask to expect us to adopt him as our hero given we have previously seen him rob a woman at knife point. Perhaps if Cornish had been more adventurous in his script rather then attempting to soften the edges of his street thugs as the film goes on, it might have made for a better film but it is an enjoyable romp all the same.

Ron: Even if it is an alien invasion, they're four foot high, blind and got kicked to death by a bunch of kids. We got nothing to worry about.

Simon Pegg's other half Nick Frost puts in an entertaining turn as perma-stoned comic relief Ron and giving an other wise largely unknown cast a spot of gravitas.

All in all then a strong enough debut feature from Joe Cornish with plenty of promise. While not a great film, there is enough here to entertain and enjoy. Some fine action set pieces are held together by god forbid character development. Worth a look.