Iron Man 2

After the triumphant first installment, the pressure was on for Jon Favreau to deliver a sequel that was bigger and better than the original. Bizarrely enough, Iron Man 2 does not suffer from an overload of action, but from an emphasis on chatter: you could literally trim out at least 20 minutes of dialogue from the second half. Mickey Rourke makes a strong candidate as the film’s big bad, but his Whiplash gets lost in the plethora of superfluous support characters. Thank god for RDJ’s comedic chops and the film’s riveting climax, in which Iron Man and sidekick War Machine pack more heat than the Terminator on a hot summer’s day.

3/5

Iron Man

In the summer of 2008, just when the world was bracing itself for the advent of the Dark Knight himself, along came this surprisingly exhilarating comic book adap. The light-hearted ying to Christopher Nolan’s heavyweight yang, Jon Favreau’s Iron Man was a character few were familiar with yet managed in the space of a few weeks to seal his position as the mainstream’s new favourite Marvel superhero, second only to Spiderman. This is entirely thanks to Robert Downey Jr, whose Tony Stark is a protagonist like no other: witty, sardonic, charming and who always does the right thing, just not the right way. A brilliant first instalment to a new superhero franchise.

4/5   

The Hunger Games

“Oh, great: ANOTHER teen novel adaptation!” is probably what you were thinking when news broke out that Suzanne Collins’ popular novel was getting the big screen treatment (unless you happened to be a fan of the book, of course). But before you write off The Hunger Games as disposable teenage entertainment, you should really give director Gary Ross, Jennifer Lawrence and company the benefit of the doubt, for they have crafted together something that never quite reaches the scale of Harry Potter, but definitely trumps the lacklustre Twilight Saga.

The film is set in a dystopian future where an opulent, grandiose city known as The Capitol reigns over twelve impoverished districts. Every year, two teenagers of each district are randomly picked to take part in the Hunger Games, a televised show in which young players must fight each other to the death. Twenty four go in. Only one comes out. When her young sister is unexpectedly selected, Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) impulsively volunteers to take her place in the arena.

As far as set ups go, it’s a killer (pun firmly intended). Playing out like an episode of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! gone irrevocably out of control, there are times when watching The Hunger Games feels like sitting through the most bizarre and in bad taste reality TV show ever commissioned for prime time viewing… and that is exactly the point.

With the presence of sponsors, mentors, make-up artists and TV hosts trying to get “awwws” out of audiences, it’s hard not to think of the real life parade of bland talent shows (especially the one with the big X in the title) where contestants employ all sorts of manipulative tricks to get viewers on their side. It’s these segments behind the scenes that make The Hunger Games really stand out, purely because they reveal the machinations that go into of reality TV entertainment.  “You're supposed to be star crossed lovers” warns Woody Harrelson’s quirky mentor at one point “We can work with this!”.

Driving this whole sci-fi satire on contemporary culture is up and coming starlet Jennifer Lawrence. It’s not hard to see why she was sought after for the title role, as the protagonist shares a lot in common with Winter’s Bone’s Ree Dolly, for which Lawrence was Oscar nominated. Both characters are young girls who have had immense responsibilities thrust upon their frail shoulders and both aren’t afraid to make difficult decisions when it comes to survival. In Lawrence’s hands, Katniss is a poignant, strong and far more inspiring female figure than Bella Swan or Hermione Granger will ever be. It’s just a shame that Josh Hutcherson, perfectly fine as Peeta, the fellow contestant who pines for Katniss, is completely overshadowed by the bravura of his female co-star.

Unfortunately the actual Hunger Games are a disappointingly uneven and underwhelming affair. It’s not easy matching the novel’s levels of violence when you have a 12A certificate but, nut-jock Cato aside, the battles in the arena barely muster the brutality of a paintball game. Which is a shame, because while the acting is strong, a little bit more action wouldn’t have hurt either.

Still, there is a chance to improve on that in the far more apocalyptic sequels Catching Fire and Mockingjay. Whether those will be made is all down to the first film’s opening weekend figures at the box office. May the odds be ever in its favour.

3/5

21 Jump Street

There is a moment of pure brilliance at the start of 21 Jump Street. Following a botched arrest, Officers Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) are summoned by their senior officer, who informs them they have been reassigned to a cancelled undercover program from the 80s. “People have no imagination these days, so they keep recycling stuff from the past and hope nobody will notice” he quips nonchalantly. It is a moment so ridiculously meta and defiant, it deftly sets the tone for the rest of the movie.

The genius behind 21 Jump Street the movie is that it realises the premise behind 21 Jump Street the TV show was always a bit daft to begin with. The Johnny Depp starring crime drama had a bunch of youthful-looking cops pose as teenagers and infiltrate local high schools to investigate abuse and drug trafficking. The Jonah Hill scripted adaptation takes the same ludicrous premise and plays it for laughs. Unsurprisingly, it goes down a treat.

And boy, is it funny. Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller easily have the best comedy of 2012 on their hands and that is mainly because they’ve pulled off the enviable task of delivering a film that effortlessly manages to mock and pay homage to its source material in equal measure. If your two cops are trying to infiltrate a drug ring in high school, might as well have them trip out on drugs to hilarious effect too, right?  

Any Judd Apatow fan will know by now that Hill can do this kind of comedic shtick (the kind that is endearingly juvenile yet never feels too forced) in his sleep by now and Ice Cube does indeed steal every scene he appears in as police captain Dickson (“The kid OD’d on HFS and is now dead. And because he’s white, everybody actually gives a crap”), but the real surprise here is Tatum.

Because he’s so often cast as a mumbling Ken doll in tosh like Dear John and The Vow, there is an underlying fear he may stink the whole film up the moment he first appears on screen as a jock frustrated with his reputation for being a dumbass. But playing against type has done wonders for the former stripper. He emerges as a funnier and unexpectedly more relatable character than Hill’s loser desperately seeking a second chance in the high school popularity stakes.

If there is one thing that tarnishes the film’s nigh immaculate record is its resolve to crank up the violence to gory levels in the second half. It may be intended for laughs, but somehow gushing neck wounds and severed appendages don’t sit well with the yuks and gags that came before. It just goes to show that 21 Jump Street makes a brilliant comedy, but tries too hard as an action flick.

And while it is neither a big secret nor a huge spoiler that Mr Depp turns up for an obligatory appearance (21 Jump Street did launch his acting career, after all), you will never guess when and in what capacity. The reveal itself is nothing short of side-splitting and is quite possibly one of the best cameos in history. Seriously, it is that good!

4/5   

John Carter

Via the power of a mystical amulet, Civil War vet John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) is transported to the red, rocky landscapes of Barsoom, where he gets unwillingly caught up in a global conflict between the planet’s multiracial inhabitants. Pixar’s Andrew Stanton makes a decent first stab at live action and there may well be an audience out there who wants to see Kitsch leap around canyons in a kilt, but John Carter also suffers from a severe case of deja-vu. Coming off as an overwhelming blend of Star Wars, Avatar and Flash Gordon, Stanton’s flick is unlikely to stick in minds once the end credits roll.

2/5