The Avengers

It has taken four years, five films and one hell of a marketing department to get the Avengers, one of Marvel’s biggest and longest running team of superheroes, to finally assemble on the big screen. That kind of anticipation can be potentially harmful to a review, where the writer can easily succumb to the hype, objectivity flies out the window and the readers are left with a fanboy’s ramblings about how awesome the movie in question is.

But you know what? Believe the hype. Joss Whedon’s The Avengers really is that good. It’s a fan’s wet dream and a ridiculously fun action flick, whilst also being surprisingly accessible to audiences who might be unfamiliar with these iconic characters. It is, to put it simply, the blockbuster to beat this year, which means the Dark Knight and the Amazing Spiderman have a huge shadow to step out of.

As opposed to other franchises marred by convoluted storylines (the kind featuring pirates and transformers), the set-up for The Avengers is mercilessly straightforward: bad guy is leading an alien invasion to Earth, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes must assemble to save the day. That’s all you need to hook your audience and there is beauty to behold in such simplicity, especially for a film that has the unenviable task of tying in four separate franchises.

Admittedly, Joss Whedon (whose background rests in cult TV shows) does take his time with a few dialogue scenes in the first half, leading you to wonder whether he’s aware he can’t postpone the big action sequences to next week’s episode. But with dialogue this good, he is instantly forgiven, for The Avengers is easily the funniest film Marvel has made so far – any Whedon fan who recalls Angel and Spike’s priceless bickering will know that the prospect of Iron Man ripping into Captain America and Thor (or rather, “Capsicle” and “Point Break”) is rib-tickling to say the least.

Considering he’s the character with the biggest franchise of the four, there was always the risk of Iron Man hogging the spotlight but thankfully that is not the case – Joss Whedon’s experience with handling large casts on Buffy, Firefly and Dollhouse ensures everyone gets their chance to shine. Robert Downey Jr is on fine form as ever as the afore-mentioned shell-head, who is becoming more valiant with each film but still retains his winning wit and sarcasm. Chris Evans’ Cap is the latter’s polar opposite, a noble hero whose unfamiliarity with modern day pop culture make him a source of amusement, while Chris Hemsworth brings some welcome exotic flair to the table as space viking Thor, despite arriving relatively late to the party.

What’s immensely pleasing however is that, after two so-so films and an overwhelming sense of indifference from worldwide audiences, it is the Hulk who steals the show and will win you over. Eric Bana was too intense, Ed Norton too bland, but Mark Ruffalo proves to be the perfect Bruce Banner: shy, sensitive but with a glimmer of recklessness in his eye. It also helps that his facial features are mo-capped onto the green goliath, meaning you actually recognize Banner in the Hulk. Not only does he get the best line in the whole film (seriously, the awesomeness scales are going to need redefining), he also gets some of the funniest moments.

And what about those action scenes mentioned earlier? Not only do you get some fan-pleasing hero on hero scraps in the film’s earlier stages, Whedon has also come up with the mother of all smackdowns in the final half hour. To sum up its scale, ingenuity and cathartic ability to wow you is nigh impossible, so let’s just say that Spiderman 2’s train bust-up and X-Men First Class’ Cuban Missile Crisis scenario have got nothing on this.

But enough with the fan boy rambling. Go online, book a ticket now and get down to your local cinema asap. If you're going to watch the Avengers assemble, you're going to want to see them do it on the big screen.

5/5        

Titanic 3D

In case you are thinking this is just a cheap cash-in, then here’s a thought for you: if George Lucas reformats Star Wars on a decennial basis, why shouldn’t James Cameron be allowed to re-release a 3D version of the film that earned him a shipload (as a bet, this review will try cram in as many nautical puns as possible) of Oscars? After all, like the afore-mentioned saga, this is the kind of movie that was made to be watched on the big screen.

So how does Titanic measure up fifteen years after its original release? Well, it is as touching and visually immersive (pun n°2) an experience as it was back in 1997, but the 3D conversion reveals a handful of CGI shots that now look surprisingly outdated. In a post Avatar world, even a mildly distracted viewer will notice the soulless digital stand-ins patrolling the ship’s deck in that majestic shot of the ship venturing into the Atlantic Ocean. But this is hardly a gripe, just a mere observation on how much technology has matured over time.

What 3D can’t tarnish is the central romance steering (pun n°3) this epic drama. To this day Jack and Rose are still one of the most amiable screen couples of all time and it’s not hard to see why. Their youthful features (DiCaprio and Winslet were only 22 and 21 at the time of filming) made them a pairing teenagers could idolize and look up to back in the late ‘90s – remember Leo mania? – while older viewers embraced the film’s old-fashioned romanticism that harked back to Hollywood’s Golden Age. The whole “rich girl falls for poor boy” scenario is admittedly not the most original, but given the period and location setting it does feel thematically appropriate.

One thing a lot of people forget however is that, after what feels like an hour and a half of Love Boat on a bigger budget, Titanic’s second half makes a cracking good action flick. With Cameron at the helm (pun n°4), floods make a chilling substitute for explosions and towering funnels come crashing down on passengers thrashing about in the cold Atlantic waters like a god’s clenched fist. There’s even a shoot-out and a slow motion running sequence.

The director also makes ingenious use of the second act to showcase his leading lady’s transition from helpless upper class brat to feisty heroine – the shot of a drenched Rose wielding an axe, as she bravely trudges through the ship’s flooded narrow corridors is as iconic an image for on-screen feminism as the sight of Ripley in a mechanical exoskeleton taking on the Alien Queen.    

Titanic may still be a three hour chick flick to which everybody already knows the ending, but it is also a film with hidden layers and of many depths (aaand pun°5). If you were one of the millions that fell in love with Jack and Rose back in 1997, now’s a good time to fall for them all over again.

4/5     

Headhunters

Let the Right One In. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. In a Better World. And now Headhunters. No doubt, it’s been a good few years for Scandinavian cinema, with Morten Tyldum’s adaptation of Jo Nesbø's international best-seller also generating enough positive buzz to get Hollywood to greenlight a remake.

Roger Brown (Askel Hennie) is a moderately successful headhunter who screens applicants for executive roles. However, he also harbors a dark secret: in his free time he is a skilled art thief who specifically targets his most affluent candidates. When he learns that his latest client, the suave Clas Greve (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), has inherited a Rubens, Roger thinks this is his golden opportunity to pull off his final heist. Unfortunately for him Clas happens to have an even darker secret: he is a former counter terrorist operative with a shady agenda. And he does not take kindly to those who get in his way.

If the premise sounds somewhat implausible in a vaguely amusing sort of way, that’s because it is. While Headhunters is widely being marketed as a thriller – and there is enough Hitchcockian tension and the odd splash of blood to justify the decision – it is essentially a pitch black comedy. Roger has to endure all sorts of nightmarish scenarios as he tries to outrun his relentless nemesis, some ranging from horrid (there’s an icky homage to Slumdog Millionaire) to the downright bizarre (a segment involving a tractor and a pit-bull may well register as 2012’s most inappropriately funny scene).

The fact that most of the entertainment derives from Roger’s desperation probably says a lot about Nordic humour, but the filmmakers are not insensitive to the point of completely undermining the protagonist’s dilemma. When Roger starts weeping as he shaves off his hair (for reasons too convoluted to explain in this review) in the cold Norwegian woodland, you stop laughing and genuinely feel his anguish. The fact that you end up rooting for a character like Brown (whose Anglo-Saxon name is never explained, in case you are wondering) is completely down to Askel Hennie’s bravura as a leading actor.

Intriguingly, Headhunters also works as a case study on the male psyche. Roger, who already resembles a Ron Weasley/Steve Buscemi hybrid, is the poster boy for short man syndrome: an individual so affected by his diminutive stature that he goes to great lengths to gain the respect and reputation he feels he needs so bad to hang onto his trophy wife (Synnøve Macody Lund). When the tall and impeccably chiseled Clas steps into the picture, the alpha male to Roger’s beta male, the latter is instantly threatened by his mere presence. The fact that Roger tries to first impress him with his business talk and subsequently steal from him is a consequence of his overwhelming inferiority complex.  

Not many thrillers come with scripts this good or prompt debates this compelling. Headhunters manages both and boasts a star-making performance from Hennie, which makes this a must-watch for all film buffs.

4/5  

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