The Graduate "Mrs Robinson you are trying to seduce me!"

Right this review will take us a bit back in time to the 1960s as it will cover a certain popular American film which established the career of one its foremost actors, Dustim Hoffman, which is The Graduate.  So let's have a look at this old classic....

So the story begins with college graduate, Benjamin Braddock (Hoffman) who's parents host a graduation party at their home.  Benjamin however is anxious about his future and doesn't know what to do now that he has graduated and his parents friends and family all swamp Benjamin at the party.  Benjamin overwhelmed by the attention at the party runs up the stairs to his bedroom to get away from it all, but then a woman, Mrs Robinson (Anne Bancroft) who is the wife of his father's law partner, enters and asks Benjamin to driver her home.  Benajmim drives Mrs Robinson home who asks him to come in with her, and she then takes off her clothes and tries to seduce Benjamin, who panics and runs out, just as Mrs Robinson's husband arrives home (played by Murray Hamilton).  Mr Robinson suspects nothing and tells Benjamin that he should try and relax and enjoy his youth and go out with girls and play the field, after this Benjamin leaves.

Some time later Benjamin's parents have him put on one of his birthday presents, which is a scuba diving suit, which they have him demonstrate in front of their parent's friends, and Benjamin dives into the pool wearing the outfit.  Later on Benjamin decides to contact Mrs Robinson and organise to meet at a hotel, which they do although Benjamin is initially very nervous about the idea of the affair, they go ahead.  After a while Benjamin becomes more relaxed as he spends his days during the summer in his parents swimming pool and at night he meets up with Mrs Robinson.  One night during their meetings, Benjamin tries to get a conversation going with Mrs Robinson, but he soon realises they have nothing in common, but Mrs Robinson tells him she studied art at college but was forced to give it up as she became pregnant and married into an unhappy marriage as a result with Mr Robinson.  Meanwhile Benjamin's parents pressure him into going on a date with Mr and Mrs Robinson's daughter, Elaine.  While Mr Robinson is all for the idea, Mrs Robinson given her affair with Benjamin, is totally opposed to it and is angered when Benjamin finally takes her out on a date, after peer pressure from his parents.

On the date however Benjamin decides to be really rude and obnoxious to Elaine to sabotage it, and Benjamin even takes her to strip club.  Elaine leaves the club in tears, and he chases after her and apologises and tells her that the date was his parents idea, and he kisses her and they make up and chat about their plans for the future.  Soon after Benjamim drives over to the Robinson's house to take out Elaine on another date, when Mrs Robinson get's into his car and warns him not to take her out or she will reveal her affair to her husband and Elaine.  Benjamin then decides to beat her to it and races to the Robinson's home and tells Elaine the details of his affair with Mrs Robinson just as she arrives, leaving Elaine upset and heartbroken, she screams at Benjamin to leave, which he does, and Elaine then returns to college at Berkeley.  Afterward Benjamin arrives at the decision that he wants to marry Elaine and tells this to has parents, even though he says that she doesn't like him.  Benjamin then follows Elaine to Berkeley where he pesters her into trying to go out with him, but turns him down.

Some time later Elaine confronts Benjamin at a hostel he is staying in and demands him to tell her the truth about what happened as Mrs Robinson told Elaine that Benjamin raped her.  Benjamin insists she was lying and tells Elaine that he was seduced by Mrs Robinson, which leaves Elaine screaming as she doesn't want to hear it.  At this point the owner of the hostel tells Benjamin to leave due to the disturbance caused, and Elaine tells Benjamin not to leave until he has sorted out what he is going to do.  Elaine then tells Benjamin that she is also seeing another college student named Carl and that she might marry him, but she is still taken by Benjamin.  However before anything else can happen, Benjamin is paid a visit by Mr Robinson who has found out about the affair and he warns Benjamin that he is not to set foot near Elaine ever again or he will prosecute him.  Mr Robinson also forces Elaine to drop out of school and marry Carl and as Benjamin tries to track her down he can't find her at her dorm, but he does learn where the wedding will take place, out in Santa Barbara.  Benjamin then decides to drive out there to try and stop the wedding and win over Elaine if he can.....

The Graduate without a doubt is a modern classic in American cinema and it tells that old story of an affair between two generations, with the naive young college graude in Benjamin and the older, wiser and manipulative Mrs Robinson.  And throughout the film Benjamin becomes more self assured in himself as he at first is nervous and wary of the idea of an affair and later also of the dating Elaine.  Mrs Robinson on the other hand is devious and uses Benjamin to get some action outside her loveless marriage, and is also possessive and protective of her daughter, and when Benjamin takes her out on a date, it forces her hand to try and take Elaine as far away from Benjamin as she can.  But despite the drama between the two characters, The Graduate is also a lot of fun as well and to an extent it is a comedy of mishaps and Benjamin's initial nervousness makes things quite amusing.  This is especially in the opening scene where Benjamin is bombarded by his parents friends and also in the scene where he nervously hangs around the hotel waiting for Mrs Robinson as well as the scene where he is humiliated by his parents as he wears a scuba diving outfit as a wager made between his parents and their friends.

Performance wise is where The Graudate excels as they are top notch and Dustin Hoffman is great in his role as Benjamin Braddock, the young college graduate who is at first nervous and edgy about his future but he soon gains confidence from his affair with Mrs Robinson and ends up falling for her daughter Elaine.  Hoffman was a highly unlikely choice for the role as Robert Redford was the initial choice and Warren Beatty was also considered, and Hoffman hardly befitted the role of a strapping jock graduate, more the college nerd who made good.  Hoffman has plenty of highlights in the film, such as the scene where he takes Mrs Robinson home and she blatantly makes her attempts to seduce him.  And in the scene Hoffman delivers the infamous dialogue "For God's sake, Mrs Robinson.  Here we are.  You got me into your house.  You give me a drink, you put on music.  Now you start opening up your personal life to me and you tell me your husband won't be home for hours.  Mrs Robinson you are tyring to seduce me!".  And there is the scene where they go to the hotel and they go up to the room where Mrs Robinson smokes her cigarette and Benjamin kisses her while she has taken an inhale on her cigarette and she has to wait till her finish and she puffs out!  And later in the scene as Mrs Robinson get's undressed, Benjamin feels her breast, and she doesn't even appear to notice and Benjamin then shakes his head and go over bangs his head against the wall!  Another good scene is where Elaine confronts Benjamin at his apartment in Berkeley and she angrily says "how could you rape my mother?!" and he says "No no no, that's not what happened.  What happened was I took her home and then she poured me a drink and then took off her clothes and I mean she was really naked!" and Elaine screams "I don't wan't to hear it!".  And in the scene where Benjamin and Mrs Robinson meet up and Benjamin tries to get a conversation going rather than just have sex and he finds out how Mr and Mrs Robinson concieved Elaine.  And Mrs Robinson says "It was in his car" and Benjamin asks "What kind of car was it?" and Mrs Robinson says "It was a Ford, Benjamin" and he laughs and says "A Ford!  Goddamn, that's great!  So old Elaine Robinson got started in a Ford!".  And one of the film's most memorable scenes is where Benjamin makes the long drive to Santa Barbara in an effort to stop Elaine's wedding.  And along the way he stops at a petrol station where he uses the phone and he calls the operator and he pretends to be the priest who is to a wedding.  And as he frantically asks the petrol station attendant where the location is he then runs off and the attendant says "Do you need any gas father?!".   Another funny scene is where Benjamin takes Elaine out on their first date and he takes her to the hotel where he regularly takes Mrs Robinson and as he enters the hotel everyone seems to know him and says good evening to him.  And Elaine looks on bewildered and asks does Benjamin know these people and he laughs and says "I don't know them honestly!". 

Anne Bancroft is also great in her role as the seductive and manipulative Mrs Robinson, who starts an affair with Benjamin and is later extremely jealous when he goes out with her daughter Elaine.  Bancroft has some great moments in the film such as the scene where Mrs Robinson and Benjamin meet at a hotel and Benjamin tries to start a conversation with her.  And Benjamin chats awkwardly with Mrs Robinson she reveals that she studied art and was forced to give it up as she became pregnant and later got married.  And as the line of conversation continues Mrs Robinson tells Benjamin he doesn't want Elaine to go out with him but she won't say why and he says "Well I might just have to take her out on a date and find out" and Mrs Robinson grabs him by the neck and says "Benjamin!  Don't you EVER take her out!".  And later when Benjamim is forced to finally take Elaine out on a date he talks quietly with Mrs Robinson when he arrives to pick Elaine up, he tells Mrs Robinson "Look I have no intention of ever taking out your precious daughter ever again, so don't get upset about it!" and she says "But I am.  I am extremely upset about it, Benjamin".  And then there is the scene where Mrs Robinson corners Benjamin in the bathroom, naked, and tells him "Benjamin, I would just like to tell you that I am available to you whenever you want.  I find your very attractive." and the whole time Benjamin cant even look her in the eye and keeps saying "Let me out!".  

The supporting cast are also excellent which includes William Daniels as Benjamin's dad who parades his son around like a star puppy dog but he soon grows tired of his loitering around during the summer.  And this brings up Daniels best scene where he asks Benjamin, who drifts in their pool aimlessly during the days and he asks Benjamin "Just what are you doing, young man" and Benjamin tells him that he is just drifting because it is comfortable to do so.  And Mr Braddock says "So do you want to tell me what was the point of all that hard work?" and Benjamin says "You got me!" and Mr Braddock replies "Now look, Ben!  I know its good for a young man to unwind, but after a while I think that young man take stock of his life and start thinking about getting off his ass!".  Murray Hamilton is also excellent in his role as Mr Robinson, who has two good scenes, the first scene where he tells Benjamin to take it easy and enjoy life as it comes to him and he says "I'm sure you must be real popular with the ladies!" and Benjamin says no quickly and Mr Robinson continues "No?!  To me you look like the kinda guy that has to fight them off?!".  And later in his best scene where he confronts Benjamin in Berkeley after he learns of the affair and he warns Benjamin not to go near Elaine again.  And as Benjamin says to Mr Robinson that what happened between him and Mrs Robinson "meant less than nothing, we might as well have been shaking hands", Mr Robinson says "Well excuse me while I don't shake hands with you!  I think you are filth!  I think you are scum!  You are a degenerate!".

Katherine Ross on the other hand is the weak link in the cast here although her performance is far from bad, her character is not very interesting as she is rather one dimensional in the film.  Regardless of that though Ross does have her moments, such as in the scene where Elaine confronts Benjamin at his apartment and she says "How could you possibly rape my mother!" and as she continues to tell her what Mrs Robinson said and Benjamin gives his side of the story she yells "I don't want to hear about it!!".  And while Benjamin tries to convince Elaine to come with him, she tells him how she is seeing another student, Carl, and she says "I have to see Carl" and he asks why and she says "Well he said he might want to marry me" and Ben angrily says "He WHAT??!".  And later in the memorable scene where Ben arrives at the church too late just as Elaine is about to get married and he witnesses them kiss, he bangs the glass window and yells her name, and she looks up to Benjamin and calls out "Ben!!" as she decides to be with him and they flee the wedding together.

Moving on to the direction, Mike Nichols (who of course also did Closer, which I've already reviewed) who does a terrific job here with The Graduate as he keeps the film's tone with just right amount of drama and humour.  Also worthy of mention is the photography by Robert Surtees which is very striking and he makes great use of a visual technique in two scenes, the first being during the titles where Benjamin is at the airport on a travelator and it looks like he is standing still.  And later on in the scene where Benjamin's car runs out of gas he has to run to the church and during the scene the camera is static and it makes it look like he is running on the spot.  And lastly I have to mention the music score by Simon and Garfunkel, which is great and features so many memorable songs, especially "Mrs Robinson" which is so well used during the scene where Benjamin drives toward Santa Barbara to stop Elaine's wedding.  And also "Scarborough fair" during the scenes where Benjamin pines after Elaine and he follows her to Berkeley.

As for the film's flaws well there aren't really that many to speak about, other than perhaps that the only character that doesn't work so well is Elaine, as I previously mentioned she is a bit bland and one dimensional in the film.  Also perhaps the film's ending (Yep PLOT SPOILER HERE!) in a way leaves things in a rather unsatisfactory resolution where Ben and Elaine run away together from wedding and on the bus they ponder what they have done as a rather rash decision, but it leaves it there for you to imagine what happened afterward.

But apart from that The Graduate is a great modern classic and its still as entertaining to this day as it was on its release.

And so I shall leave it there for now and be back soon with another un.

Adios! 

The Incredibles "That was wicked!!"

Right so here is another post and this one is a little different again as rather than be a live action film this one will be based on an animated feature, so I've gone for one of the best, The Incredibles.  So let's don the superhero outfits and kick some butts (or better yet let's just look at the film's plot, do my usual analysis and that will do it).

OK so the film begin with a family of "Supers" superheroes who after so many years of fighting against crime have been forced to relocate to different places due to lawsuits for the damages they have caused during their crimefighting.  The family fifteen years later are relocated again and they live a quiet suburban lifestyle, with the father, Bob Parr (voiced by Craig T. Nelson) and Helen Parr (voiced by Holly Hunter) formerly known as Mr Incredible and Elastigirl respectively, who both have two children, a shy teenager Violet (Sarah Vowell), and a young cocky boy named Dash (voiced by Spencer Fox).  And both Violet and Dash have super powers as well, as Violet can become invisible and create force field, while Dash can run at an incredible speed.  Bob however struggles to adapt to his civilian life as he works in a boring white collar job and he longs for the halcyon days of his crimefighting.  Bob however still on occassion moonlights his superhero work along with one of his friends, Lucius Best (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson) who was once known as Frozone as the two of them act as vigilantes at night.  But its not long before Bob get's into trouble at his work as he assaults his supervisor, who prevented him from stopping a mugging on the streets, which results in him losing his job.

When Bob arrives home he receives a message on his answer phone from a woman named, Mirage (voiced by Elizabeth Pena) who urges him to become Mr Incredible again as she offers him a mission to destroy a malfunctioning robot called Omnidroid on an island and as a result he will receive a substantial reward.  Bob arrives at the island where he defeats the robot by tricking it into ripping into its own power source.  This encourages Bob to become happier in his personal life and he trains hard to lose weight and get into better shape as he waits for more work from Mirage.  Bob then decides to get his suit repaired after it has a tear, so he goes to visit superhero costume designer, Edna Mode (voiced by Brad Bird) who designs new costumes not just for Bob but for his whole family.  When Bob arrives back at the Island he discovers that Mirage works for Buddy (voiced by Jason Lee) who was a former fan of Bob's when he was Mr Incredible back in the day, and Bob shunned him.  Buddy now goes by the pseudonym of Syndrome, his super villain nickname, but he intends to use his robot to make himself appear to be a superhero, so when he disables the robot in public, he will make himself a hero to everyone and then he intends to sell on his invetions to the public, after which no one will be super.  Bob then sneaks into Syndrome's base at night and finds out to his horror that Syndrome has used previous Omindroid prototypes to murder many formerly retired superheros, in order to perfect the design of his robot.

Meanwhile Helen pays a visit to Edna and finds out what he has been up to and is shocked to find that she has designed costumes for her whole family.  Edna also gives Helen a homing beacon which can tap into Bob's suit and she uses it to locate him, however this results in Bob being captured in Syndrome's base.  After this Helen tells Violet and Dash that she must go after Bob to save him and she takes a plane to fly to the Island.  However during the flight, Helen soon finds she is not alone as Violet and Dash smuggled themselves on board.  And from here the three of them fly out to try and rescue Bob and save the world from the villainous Syndrome and his creation.

There is no doubt that The Incredibles is one of the best animated feature length films ever made and it is a highly entertaining one from start to finish.  And one of the things that works so well about The Incredibles is that it has a good story to tell and its not one that could easily have been easily more goofy, but here you get it is about a family who has gone through real life troubles, albeit on a more fantastical scale.  The film also pokes fun at the whole superhero genre and its great how it even covers the often overlooked complications of superhero work, such as the massive damages done to towns and cities, which would result in lawsuits no doubt for sure.  And in that respect this film is way more realistic than Superman was, as that's something he never has to worry about and it was never addressed in any of Superman films (especially Man of Steel which demands it!).  But then again Superman in his world is a one off whereas in The Incredibles, superheroes were ten a penny.

As for the film's visuals, being a Pixar film, The Incredibles looks absolutely stunning and the characters are all brought to life brilliantly with the animation being top notch and each character taking on a rather amusingly disproportionate physicality, such as Bob having a big upperbody frame but thin skinny legs!  The action set pieces in the film are also superb and there plenty of fun moments in the film such as when Bob first fights the Omnidroid on the island.  Also when Bob is reunited with his family on the island and they have to fight off Syndrome's guards by using their superpowers and Violet and Dash start to utilise their own powers.  Then there is the big showdown with the Omnidroid and the Incredibles in the city as they make it back home they have take it out before it destroys the city.

Getting on to the voice acting the cast are all top notch as well with Craig T Nelson providing a wonderful performance as Mr Incredible, as he plays the part with a sense of heroism, charisma, impulsiveness as well as a touch of arrogance.  Bob is of course a true hero and he is a good hearted decent guy who wants what's best for his family yet he wants to save the world at the same time and he suffers the indignity of having to keep relocating his family whenever he get's into trouble with law for taking on vigilante acts.  Craig has some wonderful moments such as when Bob is in his supervisor's office, and he witnesses a mugging outside the window and he attempts to do something about it, but his supervisor demands he stay or he'll be fired and Bob stops.  Then Bob looks out and sees the mugger escape and he angrily says "He got away..." and as the supervisor "That was close, you almost lost your...." then Bob suddenly grabs his supervisor by the throat and throws him through several walls!  Also later when Bob is reunited with his family and he runs through the woods of the island with Helen and his kids, he says to her "I should have you told you I was fired I admit it.  But I didn't want you to worry.  You keep trying to pick a fight, but I'm still just happy you are alive!".  Craig also has another funny moment in the scene where Bob has to deal with his kids as they chase each other round the living room while they try and have dinner and Helen says to him to intervene and he angrily picks up the table and shouts "You want me to intervene???  OK! I'm intervening!  I'm intervening!".  And one of the nicest moments in Nelson's performance is when Bob comes home from a bad day at work and as he get's out his car (which is way too small for him!) and the door doesn't shut right, he loses the rag and picks it up and nearly throws it away and he turns to see a young kid on his bike look on amazed.  And he says to the boy "Well what are you waiting for??" and the kid says "I dunno, something amazing I guess" and Bob sighs sadly and says "Me too, kid".  The film also features some montage scenes where we see Bob workout use a couple of old train carriages to try and lose weight as he begins to work for Mirage which are funny.  And the scene prior to that where he defeats the Omnidroid on the island is also funny as he carries extra weight and when he is shot out of a capsule to land in the woodland areas of the island, becasue he is fat he can't squeeze himself out of it when he lands, so he has burst the capsule wide open!  And during the opening interview sequence as Mr Incredible, Craig also has some funny lines such as "No matter how many times you save the world, it always manages to get back in jeopardy again.  Sometimes I just want it stay saved!  You know for a little bit?  I feel like the maid; I just cleaned up this mess! Can we keep it clean for ten minutes?!".      

Holly Hunter is also great in her role as Elastigirl/Helen who marries Bob/Mr Incredible and they have a family together, only for Helen to take on the life of housewife as she has to deal with the mundanity of her homelife, that is until Bob starts to get involved in his heroics again.  Speaking for the animated character Helen she has a great scene where she infiltrates Syndrome's base to rescue Bob and she uses her flexible limbs to sneak in through the doors of the base, and at one point she looks at her ass in a mirror and sighs (probably as its not as small and perky as it used to be, but it still looks good here! (sad perv mode off).  Helen has another funny sequence where she finally catches up with Bob on the island and as she sees Mirage hug Bob, and she goes over to introduce herself, we see Helen's long elasticated fist punch her out.  Helen's flexibility also provides some of the film's amusing moments such as when the plane Helen flies toward the island is fired upon by a missile, which destroys the plane, and she turns herself into a large parachute and grabs her kids just in time before it blows.  And as Helen, Violet and Dash land in the water, Helen shapes herself into a liferaft and Dash uses his incredible speed like a speedboat engine to propel to shore.  And after they land Helen warns her kids "Now these guards they don't care if you are kids, they will kill you if they get the chance.  Just don't give them that chance!".   

Jason Lee is also excellent in his role as the villainous Syndrome, and as a kid named Buddy, he was once a fan of Mr Incredible until he was shunned by him, after this he became bitter and twisted and he grew up to try and claim fame as a fake superhero.  Lee's best moment comes when Mr Incredible learns of his nefarious to pretend to become a superhero.  And Syndrome says "Oh I'm real.  Real enough to defeat you!  I'll give them heroics.  I'll give them the most spectacular heroics the world has ever seen!  And when I'm old and I've had my fun, I'll sell my inventions so that everyone can have powers.  Everyone can be super!  And when everyone's super.... no one will be!".

Samuel L Jackson is also great in his role as Frozone, a semi-retired superhero who can create ice from his finger tips and is also a good friend of Bob/Mr Incredible.  Jackson's funniest moment comes when he sees the Omnidroid outside his apartment window wreaking havoc, and suddenly runs around trying to find his superhero suit.  And as he frantically looks for it he argues with his wife and he says "The public is in danger!  You tell where my suit is, woman!  We are talking about the greater good!" and his wife replies in the background "Greater good?  I am your wife!  I'm the greatest good you are ever gonna get!".  And Jackson has another good scene with Nelson when Bob and Frozone are out at night doing some vigilante work, and at the end of the night after a good night's work done, Frozone "Just like old times, huh Bob?" and Bob slaps Frozone hard on the back "Just like old times" and Frozone whinces "Ha ha, yeah.  Hurt then, too!".

In other voice roles, Sarah Vowell and Spencer Fox are both good in their roles as Violet and Dash, Bob and Helen's pesky kids, who turns out to have superpowers of their own.  Dash provides an amusing moment in the film where he get's into trouble at school for using his super speed to place a tack on his school teacher's seat, who makes the mistake of sitting down on it, and when they play it back on the video tapes you can barely see Dash move he's that fast.  Violet also provides some nice moments in the film as the shy girl at school, who even uses her invisibility super power to hide herself from a boy she fancies, but she later gains more confidence after her exploits on the island.  And Violet has another amusing moment where she uses her ability to create and manipulate force fields, to free herself from the force field that traps her and Bob, Helen and Dash, while Bob makes a heartfelt confession to Helen, and Violet in the meantime turns off the force fields.  Elizabeth Pena also provides a nice bit of spice in her role as the sexy Mirage, who handles Bob/Mr Incredible for Syndrome, but she ends up fancying him, only to eventually find herself on the receiving end of Helen's right hook!  And in the scene where Syndrome taunts a desparate Bob into crushing Mirage, in an act of defiance when he is imprisoned in the force field, Bob let's her go, and Mirage later says to Syndrome "Next time you gamble, gamble your OWN life!".

And lastly Brad Bird pitches in by doing the voice of Edna Mode, the costumer designer for superheros.  Bird's high pitched camp delivery is a bit annoying at times in the film, and its almost like he knows he's made a great film here so its almost like he wants to put in a self congratulatory performance as well, which for me is probably the only slightly weak point in the film.  Regardless of that though Bird does have a good scene where Edna speaks to Bob and when she sees him at the securing gate she says "My God, you've gotten fat!".  Also in the following scene Edna amusingly tells Bob about the dangers of making a suit with a cape and the number of superheros who have been killed due to wearing a cape, as they have suffered fates such as being sucked into the engine of an airplane or something similar and Edna yells sharply to Bob "No capes!".  

As for the music score by Michael Giacchino its is very good and he provides a score that is bright and breezy in places and suspenseful and dramatic in others.  Giachhino also makes several nods to the James Bond scores by John Barry as there a few scenes where he provides a Bond-esque quality to the score, such as in the scenes where Bob and later Helen infiltrate Syndrome's base.  In fact John Barry was initially asked to do the score for the film, however he was said to have been reclutant to want to replicate the sound of that period, so Giachinno did the score instead, and utilised the theme from Her Majesty's Secret Service in certain sequences, mainly where Helen uses her body as a raft, while Dash peddles them to shore with great speed.

So as for the flaws.... well this is again one of those rare times where I won't really bother nitpicking because The Incredibles get's so much right its really hard to pick it up on anything much, with the exception of maybe Brad Bird's almost smug self congratulatory performance as Edna Mode, which I've already mentioned.  The only other thing I would say though is that its a bit of a crime that they haven't done a sequel to The Incredibles yet as its been 10 years since it was released and the end of the film left it wide open for a sequel to happen, but so far it hasn't, although the director Brad Bird has since expressed interest in making another film, so maybe we might see it yet.

And that's it for my look at The Incredibles, which to this day remains one of the finest animated feature length films ever made, and its still hugely entertaining, with stunning visuals, a fine soundtrack and excellent voice performances from the cast.

And with that I shall leave it right there and be back soon with another post.

Zdravo!

P.S. That's bye in Serbian, a nod to Novak Djokovic! (of sorts).  Laters!

Closer: "Feel free to call me The Sultan!"

Righty so time for another review and this one will be on the British/American film, Closer, which I will be looking at "closer" in this post (pardon the pun sorry!).  And with that let's do the usual and give this dirty mucker a look... (OK its nowhere near as dirty as Wolf of Wall Street that would take some doing!).

So starting with the story, the film is set in London, and it starts with a young American woman named Alice Ayres (Natalie Portman) who while crossing a busy road is hit by a taxi.  A passer by named Dan Woolf (Jude Law) who's attention was on Alice when she crossed, helps her into a taxi and takes her to the hospital where she is treated and then released.  Dan then walks with Alice around Postman's park, a central park in London and he tells how he is an obituarist, who is aspiring to become a writer.  Just before they part ways Dan asks Alice her name and they soon become a couple.  A year later Dan and Alice are still together, and Dan has written a book about Alice's life and while he is being photographed to publicise the book, he flirts with an American photographer, Anna Cameron (Julia Roberts).  Dan flirts with Anna and the two of them share a kiss, and Dan tries to persuade Anna to have an affair with him, despite telling her he and Alice are in a relationship.  However Alice soon arrives and while she goes to the bathroom, she comes back not long after, having overhead Dan and Anna talk, with Dan having left, Alice becomes tearful as she reveals to Anna she heard them and angrily asks Anna to taker her picture, which she does, which shows a tear in her eye.

A year later, Dan while at home enters a Internet cybersex chat room where he chats to Larry Grey (Clive Owen) who is a British dermatologist.  Dan who is still obssessed with Anna, pretends to be her and teases Larry into thinking he wants to have sex.  Dan agrees to meet with Larry at the aquarium (where Anna frequently likes to go).  Larry turns up at the aquarium and he unwittingly meets Anna and comes on to her but she soon get's that Dan set him up and tells Larry that he is the victim of a practical joke.  Larry apologises to Anna and the two of them share a walk together where Anna tells him that its her birthday.  Larry then buys Anna a balloon as a romantic gesture and the two of them soon become a couple and they refer to Dan as "Cupid" thereafter.  Four months later at Anna's photo exhibition, Larry meets with Alice whom he recognises from the tearful picture that Anna took of her for the book.  At this time Dan finally manages to persuade Anna to have an affair with him, even though during this time Anna and Larry get married.  Dan soon tells Alice of the affair, leaving her devastated and heart broken, she leaves.  Larry also after coming back from a business trip from America get's a confession from Anna that she is leaving him as well, after this Dan and Anna unite as a couple.

Afterwards Larry, heartbroken, wanders into a strip club where he finds Alice working as a stripper, he takes her for a private dance in a room, where he tells he knows her and they have met before, but Alice denies they have ever met.  Larry also demands Alice to tell him her name but she says her name is "Jane Jones" and not Alice.  Larry in their meeting expresses his anger and sadness over his break up with Alice and he also confesses his desire for her, but Alice turns him down.  Not long after this Larry manages to convince Anna to meet up with him one final time, where Anna wants Larry to sign divorce papers.  Larry agrees to but he requests that they have sex together one last time, after which he promises to leave her alone, and Anna agrees.  However after this Dan soon finds out from Anna that she slept with Larry and he takes it badly and leaves her, leaving Anna to go back to Larry.  Dan later meets up with Larry at Larry's surgery, where he pleads with him to let Anna come back to him, but Larry refuses and instead insists that he go to Alice, as he tells him that he found her working at a strip bar and she still loves Dan.  Larry gives the address of the strip bar to Dan, but he admits to Dan just before he leaves the office that while he initally said he didn't have sex with her, that he lied and he did.  Dan soon finds Alice working at the strip bar and they reunite, seemingly happy once again.  However Dan's curiosity for the truth get's the better of him as he insists that Alice tell him what happened between her and Larry, as she initially denies that anything happened.  However as Dan persists, Alice tells him the truth that she did sleep with Larry and she no longer loves him, Dan also admits that Larry told him as well, and even though Alice is surprised by this, it doesn't change her feelings as she tells him to get out, they argue and he slaps Alice.  After the dissolve of their relationship Dan wanders around the park from earlier in the film as he learns a truth about Alice's identity, meanwhile Dan and Anna remain together in their unhappy marriage, and Alice heads back to the US.

Based on Patrick Marber's award winning play of the same name, Closer is an engrossing drama about four people who become entangled with one another in rather unhappy circumstances and the film is for the most part wondefully written and its both morose and witty (Marber also appeared on TV during the 90s on comedy shows such as The Day Today).  And as a character piece, Closer really succeeds as the four characters are hardly angels, and while Dan and Anna appear to be the most morally questionable of the bunch, given they break up their own relationships to be together, Alice and Larry are not entirely innocent either.  This is as Alice lies about her identity throughout the film and Larry also spitefully uses Alice to get even with Dan for causing his break up in the first place.  And its the way in which their fates are woven together and the confrontations between them that make Closer a compelling film to watch and it remains a strong viewing experience given the raw emotions of the characters and the somewhat graphic language they use in the film (and yep there will be a fair few examples of that coming up for which I have to apologise!).

Which brings me onto the performances, and they are all largely excellent, starting with Jude Law who is really good in his role as Dan, an aspiring writer who falls for Alice, but later breaks her heart by having an affair with Anna.  Law has plenty of good moments in the film as well some great dialogue.  Jude's scenes with Natalie Portman are also good highlights as the two of them make a fairly nice couple onscreen.  And in their first scene together Jude has some good lines where he tells Alice about how he writes as an obituarist and he uses euphemisms to describe the type of personality people who have died had, such as "He was a convivial fellow, that means he was an alcoholic" "He valued his privacy: he was gay!" and "He enjoyed his privacy - raging queen!".  And as they are about to part ways on their first meeting, Dan says to Alice "Nice to meet you and remember in our country traffic always comes from the right".  And his scene later where chats online with Larry is hilarious and teases him with some obscene sexual chat is also funny and uses such charming phrases as "I wank about strangers, and they form a cue and I attend to them like a cum hungry bitch" and "Sit on my face fuckboy!" and "I want to suck u senseless" and "All hail the Sultan of twat!".  Jude also has a great scene where he confronts Larry at his office after he finds out that Larry slept with Anna, during which Dan breaks down in tears as he is forced to accept that his chance with Anna is over, and Larry instead tells Dan to go back to Alice.  And just before he leaves Larry asks him if he's still "pissing about on the net" and Dan says "not lately" and Larry says "I wanted to kill you" and Dan replies "I thought you wanted to fuck me!" and Larry says "Now, don't get lippy".  He also shares of strong scene with Natalie when Dan tells Alice that he is breaking up with her and he says "I hate doing this and hate hurting you" and Alice in tears asks why is he then and he says "Because I love her and I think I'd be happier with her.  Deception is brutal I'm not pretending otherwise".

Clive Owen, who played the lead role of Dan in the play, is terrific in his role as Larry, the dermatologist and here he gives one of his best performances.  Owen has some great highlights in the film and his first scene with Dan where they chat on the Internet in cybersex chat room is funny, where Larry furtively looks around the room in case anyone comes in.  And when he meets Anna for the first time at the aquarium and he comes on to her and he says "Feel free to call me The Sultan!" and he then insists that he chatted to a woman online "She was a woman, I had a huge.... she wasn't was she???".  And as the penny drops, Larry apologises afterwards and Anna tells him it was Dan and tells him about his book, which she laughingly says is called the aquarium and Larry outraged says "The prick!  He's advertising!!".  And in one of the film's best and most dramatic scenes Dan confronts Anna about her leaving him.  And Owen has some great dialogue in the scene as well where Larry angrily insists that Anna tell him about her most recent sexual encounter with Dan.  And as he presses Anna on the sex and she asks why its so important he yells "BECAUSE I'M A FUCKING CAVEMAN!!!".  And he follows it up with "What does his come taste like??" and Anna says "It tastes like yours but sweeter!" he says "That's the spirit, thank you for your honesty.  Now fuck off and die, you fucked up slag!".  And in the scene where he meets with Alice in the strip bar and he has a private meeting with her, he pours out his soul to her, but at the same time he asks her some real blunt questions such as "What does you cunt taste like?" and Alice replies "Heaven!".  And Larry also asks Alice in the scene "Do you desire me?  Because I'm being pretty fucking honest about my feelings with you?" to which Alice says she doesn't and he despairs and yells to the camera in the ceiling "What have you got to do to get some intimacy around here?????!!".  Another great scene is where Larry has a confrontation with Dan at his surgery, and as Dan walks in the room he says "I owe you an apology.  I fell in love with her.  It was not my intention to make you suffer" and Dan coldly replies "So where is the apology? Ya cunt!".  And as they carry on arguing and Dan says "You think love is simple.  You think the heart is like a diagram??" and Larry angrily gets up and storms over to him saying "Have you ever seen a human heart?!  Its like a fist, wrapped in blood!  Go fuck yourself!  You writer!  You liar!".  And as Dan is about to leave after Larry tells him he did not have sex with Alice, he stops him and says "Dan, I lied to you.  I did fuck Alice.  Sorry to tell you, but I'm just not big enough to forgive you.... Buster!".

Natalie Portman is also excellent in her role as Alice, the beautfiul young American woman who arrives in London and falls in love with Dan, only to have him break her heart a couple of years later.  Portman also shows Alice to be something of an ambiguous character, as on one hand as Alice she appears to be quite innocent, but in her role as a stripper, she appears far more tough and street wise.  Portman's best moments comes in her scene where Dan breaks up with her and later when she breaks up with him.  And in their last scene she promptly breaks up with Dan as she calmly says "I don't love you anymore. Goodbye." but as Dan tries to reason with their conversation becomes more heated and he asks her why she slept with and she says "Because I desired him!" and he pushes her again and she says "You weren't there!".  Portman also has good scene with Owen when Alice and Dan meet at Anna's photo exhibition and Dan asks her what she thinks of the photos and she says "Its a lie.  Its a bunch of sad strangers beautifully photographed, and all the assholes that appreciate art say its beautiful because that's what they wanna see.  But the pictures make the world seem so beautiful, so... the exhibition is reassuring which is a lie, and everyone loves a bit fat lie".  And during her scene with Dan in the strip club, she takes control of the proceedings very well, and Alice toys with Larry in the scene playfully and she tells him "Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off".  And in one of her lighter moments, Portman also has an amusing scene where she talks to Dan at home while they get ready to go out and she says "So this man came into the cafe today and says "hey waitress, what are you waiting on?".  So I go "I'm waiting for a man to come in here and fuck me sideways with a beautfiul line like that!" and Dan asks what did the man ask for and Alice says "He asked for a cup of tea with two sugars".

And lastly we have Julia Roberts who for me is the weak link in the cast here and while her performance is by no means bad, she just seems a bit miscast in the role.  Roberts plays Anna in a very morose way which makes it difficult for an audience to connect or even understand her, even though that is maybe the point of her character, Roberts does fall somewhat flat at times in her performance.  Nonetheless Roberts does have some good moments, such as her first scene where Anna photographs Dan and he comes on to her.  And later when Larry first meets Anna at the aquarium and as he talks dirty to her, she says "I think you are the victim of a practical joke" and she laughs as tells Larry about Dan.  Roberts also has some good lines, although not as many as her co-stars, such as in the scene where at her exhibition she tells off Larry for being somewhat smug and she says "You seem more like the cat that got the cream.  Stop licking yourself" and Larry looks at her shocked and says "That's the nastiest thing you've ever said to me".  And later in Roberts best scene where Anna rows with Larry and they have the following exchange:

Larry: You like his cock?
Anna: I love it!
Larry: You like him coming in your face?
Anna: Yes!
Larry: And what does it taste like?
Anna: It tastes like yours but sweeter!

(P.S. I must apologise for all this crude language, just remember its all Patrick Marber's fault!).

Finally moving on to the direction Mike Nichols does a fine job here with Closer, as he is no stranger to directing close intimate dramatic pieces, as he has done so before with the likes of films such as Carnal Knowledge (which starred Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel).  Nichols also manages to keep the tightness in the film's more dramatic scenes and the film even in its slower scenes never really drags.  The film's minimalist music score is also quite good by Suzanna Peric, which fits the film's rather morose tone very well.

As for Closer's flaws, well....it does have one or two.  For starters while the script is largely very well written by Patrick Marber, some of the dialogue is a little bit cheesy as well, and has an almost Mills and Boone quality to in places.  This is evident in the scene particularly where Dan finds out that Anna slept with Larry, and she says to him "Don't be mad.  I love you.  I see the love draining away from you!".  And also in the scenes with Alice and Dan, where she first says to Dan "Why won't you let me love you??" before they go out to the exhibition together.  And later in their last scene when Alice breaks up with Dan and she says "I would have loved you forever!".  Even Dan has a rather cringing breakdown in front of Alice in the scene where they meet in strip club and he sobs and says "I love you!  I love everything about you that hurts!".  These moments while they don't ruin the film they do detract a little from the Marber's otherwise excellent screenplay.  Another thing I didn't like about the film was Damien Rice's music, which makes you want to cringe and put in the ear plugs, as Rice's thin high pitched voice can be rather grating to listen to, and it feels a bit too gushy for my liking.  But I guess that boils down to personal preference, but I personally don't like gushy lovey dovey music as I think its a lorra crap.

Anywayyyyy despite those niggles, Closer is still a very engrossing drama, which features some excellent performances and if you haven't checked it out, its worth giving it a go.

And so I will leave it there for the now and I'll be back soon with another review and next time it will be on a cleaner film, promise! 

Ciao! 

The Wolf of Wall Street: "Was all this legal??? Absolutely f***** not!"

OK just for another change rather than review a film from the past, how about one right from the present day and this one is Martin Scorsese's latest film, The Wolf of Wall Street, starring Leonardo Di Caprio and is based on the real life memoirs of Jordan Belfort, a corrupt and flamboyant stockbroker who made his millions in Manhattan.  And with that let's take a look at this clean wholesome family film.....ahem!  OH AND SOME PLOT SPOILERS LIE AHEAD!!!  

Right so the film begins with Jordan (Di Caprio) who flashes back to how his career began as a young stockbroker in Wall Street.  Jordan starts a job at a well established Wall Street firm where his boss, Mark Hanna (Matthew McConaughey) advises him to adopt a lifestyle of sex and cocaine to help get ahead in the business.  As Jordan passes his stockbroker licence exam however, on the first day with the firm as a licenced stockbroker, the worldwide stock crash named Black Monday happens, which leads to Jordan losing his job.  Now unemployed, Jordan ends up taking a job with a Long Island boiler room dealing in penny stocks.  Jordan ends up impressing his bosses with his aggressive selling style and he manages to make a small fortune for himself and his staff.  Jordan soon befriends another salesman, Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill) and together they go into business, along with the help of his parents, who are both accountants and his friends some of whom are drug dealers.  Jordan gives his company a respectable sounding name Stratton Oakmont.  And after an article is written about Jordan in Forbes, hundreds of ambitious business people come to work for him.

As Jordan's success grows, so does his excess, as he becomes addicted to cocaine and other drugs, such as Quaaludes and he regularly has wild parties both at his offices and out of work, involving hookers, sex and of course more drugs.  Jordan then meets Naomi Lapaglia (Margot Robbie) at one of his parties and he ends up having an affair with her, which soon results in him divorcing his wife, Teresa (Cristin Milioti).  Jordan and Naomi soon marry and Jordan also buys Naomi a yacht which he names after her, and they go on to have a daughter named Skylar.  However while Jordan enjoys his decadent and wealthy lifestyle, the FBI start to pay attention to his activities and he is soon investigated by FBI agent, Patrick Denham (Kyle Chandler) who works with this Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to put pressure on Jordan.  And as things progress its not long at all before events spiral wildly out of control in both Jordan's personal and business life.

Based on the memoirs of Jordan Belfort, also of the same name, The Wolf of Wall Street is a very entertaining and at times uncomfortable film to watch, which shows the highs and lows of living a life of rich excess.  Belfort similar to the fictional character of Gordon Gekko from Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street, is a real predator, a hungry guy who is out to make a fast buck wherever and whenever he can.  And while Belfort remains a rather morally despicable character, the film also allows for some really funny moments, where Belfort loses himself in his own excesses and quite often when he is in a drug induced stupour it even produces some of the film's best moments.  The film also doesn't hold back in showing Belfort's rich and decadent lifestyle where at nearly every turn in the film you see Belfort and his male staff up to their eyes in women, having casual sex in the offices, and wild orgies anywhere else they can.  And with this film Martin Scorsese almost certainly has made a real eye opening experience which you won't quickly forget.

Performance wise however is where The Wolf of Wall Street really shines and Leonardo Di Caprio is simply outstanding in his part as Jordan Belfort, the ambitious, egotistical yet somehow charming stockbroker, who makes his millions and lives life like a king.  Di Caprio has various highlights in the film, such as in the scenes where he delivers speeches to his office, as his speeches are really well written and delivered by Di Caprio with such ferocious energy at times you think his head might explode!  One of Di Caprio's best scenes comes when he reveals to his staff that he intends to stand down and let his friend, Donny, take over the business, however during the scene he has a change of heart and he tells his staff "I'm not leaving! They're gonna need to send in the National guard to take me out, cos I ain't goin nowhere!!  The show goes on!!".  Di Caprio also narrates the film as Belfort as well, which allows for some funny dialogue there as well such as in his introduction when he says "My name is Jordan Belfort.  The year I turned 26, I made 49 million dollars, which really pissed me off because it three shy of a million a week!".  He also takes about his drug use openly throughout the film and in his introductory scene he talks about the various drugs he takes: "On a daily basis I consume enough drugs to sedate Manhattan, Long Island and Queens for a month!  I take Quaaludes 10-15 times a day for my back pain, Adderall to stay focused, Xanax to take the edge off, pot to mellow me out, cocaine to wake me back up again, and morphine.... well, because its awesome!".

Di Capiro in the film also displays that he is quite adept at comedy as he has some moments that even are on the verge of slapstick, such as the hilarious scene where he takes very strong Quaaludes that Donnie gave him, but they don't take effect straight off, until some time later when Danny has to go to a pay phone to talk a private investigator.  The PI tells Jordan that the FBI have bugged his house but at that point the Quaaldues kick in and he is rendered useless and nearly a vegetable as he collapses to the floor, he has to crawl and throw himself down the stairs to get to his car, and he eventually get's in the car and drives himself home, wrecking his car in the process!  Also in the scene where they head for Switzerland on Naomi's boat, they get caught in a violent storm, and as Jordan and the others are terrified, he shouts to Donny to get them drugs, and he says "I am not gonna die sober!!".  And another line that comes to mind, which was used in the trailer which is memorable is when in Di Caprio's various moments of breaking the fourth wall, he says to the audience "Was all this legal? Absolutely fuckin not!".  Di Caprio in the film also deserves credit for taking so many risks with his part as he really dares to push his character to the limits of what an audience may find wholly unacceptable, yet he goes with it.  And this is surely proved in one scene where he has a hooker push a candle up his ass! (maybe he pushed it too far there, chuckle chuckle! ;-)).     

Jonah Hall is also great in his role as Donnie Azoff, Jordan's good friend and business partner.  Hall clearly has a blast with his role as Azoff, who is basically just a nutter with no common sense, and he also loves his life of sex and drugs.  Hall has some funny moments as well, such as in the scene where he takes the powerful quaaludes, which kick in while he is on the phone to Jordan and his Swiss banker.  Hall also has some funny dialogue such in the scene where he tells Jordan that he married his cousin "I'm not like gonna let someone else fuck my cousin.  If anyone's gonna fuck my cousin, it would be me!  Out of respect".  Also later in the film he has another good scene with Di Caprio when Donnie and Jordan share about the good old days of their excess and parties, by this time however Jordan is clean and no longer takes drugs and is drinking non-alcoholic beer.  And Donnie says to him "What, so you wanna go inside and blow some lines of baking powder???  Baking soda???  Can't imagine ever not enjoying getting fucked up.  I love it!".  And in perhaps one of the film's most shocking moments when Jordna first meets Naomi at one of his parties, Donnie, while staring lustfully at her, pulls out his cock and starts wanking!  Lovely eh???

The rest of the cast are also excellent, which includes Rob Reiner as Max Belfort's, Jordan's father, who is hot tempered, and his funniest moment comes when he is at home trying to watch The Equalizer and the phone rings and he loses it completely.  Matthew McConaughey is also really good in his role as Mark Hanna, a former Wall Street broker, who introduces Jordan to the wealthy lifestyle in Manhattan.  McConaughey shares a really good scene with Di Caprio, when Mark takes Jordan to lunch and he tells him how it is, and he tells Jordan how many times per week he should jerk off!  "Me, I jack it 12-15 times a week!  Twice a day.  Once in the morning after I work out, once after lunch.  If you don't do it, the stress of this job, you'll explode.  Or you'll implode.  You don't wanna implode!" and he then says "I want to jerk off, but that's not what I do it.  I do it because I NEED to!!".  And at the end of the scene is memorable where Hanna thumps his chest and hums a song "I do" by an African guitarist and singer, Ali Farka Toure, which Jordan hums with him.

Margot Robie is also pretty good in her role as Naomi, Jordan's gorgeous and seductive wife, whom he falls madly in love with at first, but its not long before they drive each other insane due to Jordan's crazy excesses of drugs and sex.  Robie has several highlights in the film, the first that springs to mind is the scene where Jordan and Naomi go out on their first date and they go back to her place, while Jordan waits, desparate to shag her, he receives a message from his wife telling him to call, but at that moment Naomi steps out of her bedroom, completely naked! (very nice indeed!).  Another is the scene where Naomi teases Jordan by showing him that she isn't wearing any underwear under her skirt as she spreads her legs, but she tells him he's not to touch her, and he in turns teases her as he has a small camera planted in one of their daughter's teddy's, which recorded the whole thing!

Kyle Chandler also provides a good performance as the clean cut FBI man, Patrick Denham who investigates Jordan and he shares a good scene with Di Caprio when they meet on Jordan's boat, and during the scene Jordan makes a blatant attempt to bribe him.  And during their chat, Denham is impressed by Jordan's boat and says "Let me tell you something.  This is one of the nicest boats I've ever been on.  And just imagine the hero I'm gonna be back at the office when the Bureau seizes this boat!".  And lastly Joanna Lumley provides a nice change in tone with her performance as Naomi's Aunt Emma, who at one point Jordan meets her in London and they share an initimate moment together where Jordan thinks "Is she fucking hitting on me??" and as he tries to make a small move on Emma, she thinks "Is he fucking hitting on me????!".

Getting onto the direction, Martin Scorsese does a fine job as you would expect here with the film, and despite the film's length at three hours long, it rarely ever drags and in fact the film really does move along at quite a fast pace.  Scorsese also employs all his usual technical skills in his film making which he displays effortlessly here as he has before, along with his film making partner in crime Thelma Schoonmaker, The Wolf of Wall Street is visually quite an impressive movie.  The soundtrack like in fine Scorsese tradition also features a variety of tracks from different artists such as the Foo Fighters, Bo Didley, Malcolm McLaren, Elmore James, Eartha Kit, Romeo Void, and even Ian Dury, and they are all well used throughout.

As for the Wolf's flaws.... does it have any worth mentioning???  Well yes it does to an extent, as the real problem for me lies in the depiction of Jordan's excesses, which are shown in such a graphic way at times you just feel overwhelmed by the endless snorting and shagging you are subjected to on screen.  There are times where it can be funny, but it can also make for some rather uncomfortable viewing at times too, and there is no doubt that this film won't be for everyone, and there are definitely moments where you feel you can't escape what you are being subjected to, as it really does feel like a full blown assault on your senses.  Another problem lies with Jordan's character as at some point he goes from being an almost likeable and mischievious son-so, into an egotistical asshole who eventually goes into full meltdown.  By the end of the film you get that Jordan has been through his personal hell and come out on the other side but at the same time the film's ending still leaves you questioning his moral compass (in reality Jordan has been said to have been clean since 1998).  Although in reality Jordan after all the fuss of his legal problems died down, he went on to become a motivational speaker, which he does to this day.    

So that's it for my review of The Wolf of Wall Street, which is a very entertaining as well as controversial film, which is worth a watch, but it won't be for everyone and its far from subtle, however if you go in with a fairly open mind you might still find it will make you laugh and whince as well.  Also in another stat worth mentioning is it also breaks the record for the most uses of the f-word in any feature film as it stands at well over 500 uses of the f-word, now that's a milestone in itself! (Well actually the documentary film "Fuck" contains the most at 800 but The Wolf certainly takes second place).  

And on that note I shall leave you there.

Byee! 

Resident Evil Gamcube style

OK so just for a change I thought I would do a review on a game and this one will cover one of the great horror classics in modern video gaming, Resident Evil.  This review will however not be based on the original Playstation version released back in 1996 but instead will be based on the 2002 remake for the Nintendo Gamecube, which was on its release was received to much critical acclaim.  So let's load up the guns, edge slowly down those stairs, open the door and see what's inside....

Right so the story is set around a large mansion which members of the STARS (Special Tactics and Rescue Service) Alpha team seek refuse in when they are attacked by some vicious dogs.  The team includes Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Barry Burton and Albert Wesker, and in the game you have choice of playing either Chris or Jill.  Depending on which character you chose some of the other characters may be missing such as Barry if you play Chris, or Chris if you play Jill.  As the player you play investigates the mansion they discover a zombie chomping on the corpse of STARS Bravo team, and the zombie attacks your character, which you can either shoot or stab the creature.  As the gameplay progress your character will also face a series of deadly traps and puzzles to negotiate.  Your character will at certain moments in the game encounter other team mates who have been killed or badly injured.  And one of the characters you encounter, Enrico Marini, tells you one of the team is a traitor, however he is shot and killed before you find out more.  As the character moves on in the game they will eventually find an underground laboratory and they will eventually face the traitor and main antagonist in the game which turns out to be (SPOILER!!!!) Albert Wesker.  Wesker has been working with a biomedical company named Umbrella who are the ones behind all the experimentations with insects and animals found in the game, and they have also devised a creature called the Tyrant.  And from here you must find a way to put a stop to Wesker and his nefarious plans and to save your fellow team mate from their own fate.

At the time of its original release, Resident Evil was a real breakthrough in the horror genre and it took 3D gaming to new visual heights, with its stunning albeit pre-rendered backdrops and its somewhat blocky looking character models.  However one of the most effective things about the original Resident Evil was the way in which it built up the tension and the suspense and it made great use of visual cues such as when you enter it another room, you get a cutaway to a door opening, complete with creaky noises, which adds to the fear factor as to what might behind it.  The remake however of course went on to enhance the original and it has a variety of new aspects to its gameplay as well as different puzzles and the introduction of some new characters such as Lisa Trevor, who has been turned into a genetically mutated creature after years of experimentation.  Lisa is seen in certain sections of the game where you wander around the tunnels and you first encounter her in an outhouse and she proves to be nearly indestructable in the game.  The remake also makes reference to other characters as well in the series such as William Birkin (who appears in Resident Evil 0) and Alexia Ashford (who appears in Resident Evil: Codename Veronica).  And in the remake the atmosphere is very creepy and intense throughout in fact even more so as given its new overhaul it does everything to enhance the terror and horror for that matter. 

As for the actual gameplay this is where Resident Evil really get's to shine as the controls are pretty simple although it has to be said your movement is somewhat restricted due to the nature of the pre-rendered backdrops.  The level of difficulty is determined by which character you play as Chris is the hardest method while Jill is the easier one although it has to be said the remake does pose quite a stern challenge irrespective of who you play.  In terms of the game's combat in the remake, in addition to your usual weapons such as a handgun, shotgun, flamethrower and grenade launcher, you also have defensive weapons that include a dagger, a taser and a stun grenade, which are pretty cool to use.  While both Jill and Chris can use the taser, Jill can only use the taser and Chris can only use the stun grenade, and Chris can use the grenade to cool effect as when a zombie attacks him he can stick it in the zombie's gub and shoot at it to blow the zombies head off (sick but fun!).  You also have access to first aid sprays and herbs to heal yourself from injuries, and if you combine certain herbs they can be used to cure your character if they get poisoned.

Similar to the original the remake also features a game save system where you enter a storeroom and you can save your progress via the use of a typewriter, and you need to keep a stock of typewriter ribbons in order to save each time.  As for storage capacity, Chris can hold only six items but Jill can hold eight at one time and when they go into the storerooms they can swap out equipment as they need it.  The game at certain points may also call for the character to save one of their team mates, Richard, who is poisoned by a giant snake, and you must run to the storage room to get a serum to cure him (although he later get's eaten by the snake in an effort to save your character).  Another really good aspect of the gameplay of both the original and the remake is that given the character you play, you can have different endings to the games and there will be different consquences as a result if you don't rescue your fellow team mates.   

Another great aspect of Resident Evil is also the baddies, to start with the zombies, who in the original were creepy and when they attacked you, they bite you near to the point of death unless you push them off.  In the remake they are even more creep and effective as they will bite you but you can also make a pre-emptive attack by using your defensive weapon to stab or stun them.  The zombies however no matter how many rounds you pump into them will not stay down unless you decapitate them or incinerate their bodies, and if you do neither they come back to live twice as fast and strong as well as angry, which adds to the incredible unease of the remake.  The other enemies also include for example the rabid dogs, who you usually find running around the courtyard and one of the game's showpieces is of course where you run down a corridor in the mansion they without smashing through the windows and you have to kill them or be killed.  Other enemies also include a giant spider (aracnophobics beware!) a giant serpent, biped lizards with sharp claws who can move fast and jump high, and they can even decapitate you if you're not careful!  And lastly there is the Tyrant, the ultimate biological weapon, a large humanoid with pale white skin and a big sharp claw, which can do untold damage.  The Tyrant is of course the toughest baddie in the game although you can actually blow it up with one carefully aimed shot from a rocket launcher.

Getting onto the graphics of the remake, well for their time they were and still are absolutely stunning, as the backdrops look amazing and the character models are superb.  And everything from the visuals of the interior of the mansion, to the griminess of the underground labs and to the grounds of the mansion, it all looks top notch.  The only thing is though the movement of your character is still restricted within the static backdrops so when you control the character and they can only move in one way as the camera angle changes at set times in each room.  But for the remake the visual presentation simply could not be better than it is here and even by today's standards, this is one mighty fine looking video game.  Music wise the score has also been much improved as gone is the cheesy 90s synthesizer music and in its place we have a very creepy and deeply atmospheric score with some real moments of perfect orchestral terror, which can be used really effectively, such as in a scene where your character is in a room and a zombie bursts out of the cupboard!

As for the flaws of the game???  Well yeah OK the remake, and the original for the matter aren't perfect, as for a start it has to be said the static movement in the game is what prevents Resident Evil from being a truly interactive experience.  And as I previously mentioned the character can't really interact with their environment given the pre-rendered backdrops, as you move down a hallway the camera statically cuts between different sections of a room as you go.  The movement of the characters in the remake are also rather sluggish as they run fairly slowly around the mansion, the corridors or anywhere else for that matter.  The puzzles in the game can also be a little frustrating at times as well and given the nature of the game you have alot of running back and forth to do to pick up different things, such as keys, emblems or other items to help you basically unlock new rooms and access other areas.  The storage rooms can also be a bit annoying as well, given that you can only hold so many items at once, and you can't ditch an item, you have to keep it until you reach the storeroom and you have to swap out an item rather than just ditch it, which thankfully in later games you could do instead.  Another problem for me with the remake is the voice acting, which isn't very good and the actors are pretty lame and wooden sounding. They are an improvement on the original though as the original dialogue was pretty chronic and it made the game quite laughable at times.  One such example of the crap dialogue from the orignal is where Barry gives Jill a lockpick and he says to her "And Jill, here is a lockpick.  It might be handy if you, the master of unlocking, take it with you".  Its clear that the Japanese game makers had a rather limited command of the English language! (no offence).

But anyway despite that, Resident Evil the remake is superb game and it builds on the original as its far more creepy and scary as well and the graphics for the game are also first class.  And while the Nintendo gamecube is no longer available, this game is compatible with the Nintendo Wii, so if you fancy giving it a try, you should try and a get a copy off of Ebay and give it a whirl, as you sure won't regret if you do.

And on that note I shall leave you there...... creak........groan.....
                                                                                                        ........
                                                                                                                 .......

OK that's it!

Bye! :->

Get Carter: "Think again, Jack!"

Right well just for a change rather than do a review on another American film, here's one on a British film, and this is a classic which goes back to 1971, Get Carter, a crime film starring Michael Caine.  And with that let's give this old mucker a look....

Soooooo the usual plot summary: the film starts in London where the main character, Jack Carter (Caine) who is a gangster who works for organised crime bosses Sid and Gerald Fletcher, visits his home city of Newcastle to attend the funeral of his brother, Frank.  Carter's real motives of returning to Newcastle are actually to find out how Frank died as he believes the circumstances of his death from an alleged drunk driving accident are somewhat suspect.  After attending the funeral, Carter starts to try and find out some answers as he visits a racecourse to seek out an old acquaintence, Albert Swift (Glynn Edwards) who evades him.  However Carter at the racecourse bumps into another old acquiantence, Eric Paice (Ian Hendry) who works as a chauffer but he refuses to tell Carter whom he works for.  Carter then follows Eric to a country house, which belongs to a crime boss, Cyril Kinnear (John Osbourne) where he burst in on Kinnear while he plays poker.  Carter however learns little and he leaves only to be warned by Eric not to cause trouble between Kinnear and the Fletchers.

Back in town at the bedsit where Jack is staying he is confronted by some of the Fletchers men who want Jack to go home and stop snooping about, however Jack fights them off and chases one of them, Thorpe (Bernard Hepton) and captures him.  Jack takes Thorpe back to his bedsit room, along with one of Frank's acquaintenaces, Keith (Alun Armstrong) who has been helping him keep tabs on anyone looking for him.  Jack then intimidates Thorpe into telling him who sent him and Thorpe gives the name "Brumby" whom Jacks knows as a businessman, Cliff Brumby (Bryan Mosley).  Jack pays Brumby a visit but he discovers that Brumby knows nothing about him, so Jack leaves, believing he was set up.  On returning to the bedsit Jack, Edna (Rosemarie Dunham) the landlord, tells Jack the gangsters came back and took away Keith, and in attempt to keep Edna quiet, he seduces her and they spend the night together.  The next morning, two of Jack's associates from London turn up who have been ordered to take him back, but Jack forces them out of the bedsit by pointing a shotgun at them.  Jack then meets up with his brother Frank's mistress, Margaret (Dorothy White) but he refuses to believe what she has to say about Frank, and at that point the two henchmen turn up again, but Jack evades him.  Jack then pays a visit to Keith, who has been beaten up by the London gangsters, and Jack then pays him some money in compensation, but Keith is furious and as Jack leaves, he shouts at him how Frank warned him about Jack's reputation and that he even had an affair with Frank's wife.  As the gangsters catch up with Frank again, he manages to evade them again as he is picked up by a mysterious woman named Glenda (Geraldine Moffatt) whom he met at Kinnear's place.  Glenda takes Jack to meet Brumby who tells him that Kinnear was apparently behind his brother's death and he offers Jack £5,000 to kill Kinnear, who is looking to take over Brumby's business, but Jack refuses and walks out.  On the way Glenda picks up Jack and they head back to her flat where they have sex.

While at Glenda's flat, Jack watches a pornographic film, which includes Margaret, Albert, Glenda and a young girl named Doreen (Petra Markham) who earlier in the film was revealed to be Jack's niece, this leaves Jack saddened and angry.  Jack then out of fury nearly drowns Glenda while she has a bath and he asks if she knows who the girl was and he reveals to her that the girl was his brother's daughter.  Jack then forces Glenda into the boot of her car and drives off toward a ferry port where he parks the car and travels over the river to find Albert.  Jack then finds Albert at a bookies and he questions him and Albert tells Jack that he told Brumby that Doreen was Frank's daughter.  Brumby then showed Frank the film which incited him to call the police on Kinnear, and as a result in order to keep Frank quiet, Kinnear sent his men to kill him, which included Eric, after this Jack kills Albert by stabbing him in the chest.  Jack is then attacked by the London gangsters, including Eric who has informed Gerald Fletcher of Jack's affair with his girlfriend, Anna (Brit Erkland).  Jack kills one of the gangsters, while the others push the car with Glenda still in the boot, into the water and then escape.  Jack then goes back to confront Brumby and in a fit of rage he beats him and then pushes him off the multi-storey car park to his death below.  After this Jack sets about to complete his revenge by settling the scores with everyone who was involved, which soon leads the film into its climax...

While it wasn't too well received on its release, which was in part due to poor promotion at a time which saw the British film industry in a state of a decline, Get Carter since has become a real classic and deservedly so as it stands as one of the best British crime thrillers in modern cinema.  And while the story is nothing too original in itself, its execution is superb and the film has its share of memorable scenes.  The film also was a real development from previous British crime movies in that attempted to portray a more gritty and realistic depcition of the British crimeworld and of the onscreen violence.  Hodges also researched into the Newcastle crime scene of the time and he also used several hundred extras, all of whom were real locals from the city itself, which helped give the film a very naturalistic feel.

As for the performances the cast are all great here, and Michael Caine is superb in his role as the vengeful gangster Carter, who suspects foul play over his brother's death and is determined to find out what really happened.  And Caine plays Carter with a dry sardonic wit as well as a somewhat cruel indifference towards the violence he commits and even sees in the film, such as in the scene where the car with Glenda in it is drowned, as well as the murders he carries out against Brumby and Margaret.  Caine also has some great dialogue in the film as well and there many examples, such as the scene where he first meets Eric at the racecourse and he takes off Eric's glasses and he says "You know, I'd almost forgotten what your eyes looked like.  Still the same.  Pissholes in the snow!".  Also in the scene where Jack pays a visit to Cliff Brumby's house, Brumby demands Jack to tell him who sent him and Jack replies "You're a big man, but you're out of shape.  With me its a full time job.  Now behave yourself!" and he proceeds to punch and slap Brumby who tries to swing at him.  Caine also has an amusing moment where he seduces Edna the landlord to keep her quiet about the London gangsters paying him a visit at her bedsit, and she asks how he knows she won't call the police and he says "Because I know you wear purple underwear".

Another memorable scene is where two of the London gangsters enter Jack's bedsit room while he is having sex with Edna, the landlord, and he then stark naked, grabs his shotgun and forces them to leave the bedsit as he says "Now then, take me back to London!".  In this scene there is also an amusing old fashioned sign hanging over the bed Jack and Edna are sleeping in which says "What would Jesus say?".  And later as he is about to leave in his car, Jack says to Enda "I'm going to sit in the car and whistle "Rule Britannia!" and Edna asks him will he come back and he says "How can I stay away?!" as he drives off.  Another great moment in Caine's performance comes when he watches the porno film, which includes his niece, Doreen, and he sits tearfully for a moment before he angrily get's up and confronts Glenda and he nearly drowns her in the bath.  And in the scene when he nears the bathroom he asks Glenda if his brother knew about the film, and she doesn't appear to know what he's talking about then storms into the bathroom yelling "YOU LYING BITCH!!!" as he nearly drowns her.  And in the scene Glenda gasps for breath as Jack pulls her up and she tells him she only knows the girl's first name and Jack says "Well her last name is Carter.  That's MY name!  And her father was my brother and he was murdered last Sunday!".  This is followed by another good scene where Jack meets with his old acquaintence Albert Swift, who tells him everything, and as Jack pulls out a switchblade knife, Albert begs with Jack not to kill him and he says "I didn't kill him!" just before Jack stabs him and shouts "I KNOW you didn't kill him!  I KNOW!!".

As for the other performances, Ian Hendry is excellent as the gangster Eric Paice, who works for the crimeboss Cyril Kinnear.  Hendry has some good moments in the film such as the scene where Eric confronts Jack at the ferry port and he yells at Jack "You're bloody finished, Jack!  I've bloody finish you!" and Jack replies "Not till I'm dead, Eric!".  And Eric goes on "You've still got your sense of humour!  I told Gerald about Anna!  He didn't believe me at first, then Peter told him!  But do you still think you'll fancy her when Gerald's through with her face and that?!" and as his men push Glenda's car into the water he says to him "Jack!  Your car needs a wash!".  Hendry unfortunately later died in 1984, as he struggled with alcoholism for most of his adult life.  John Osbourne is also very good in his role as the crime boss, Cryil Kinnear, and his main scene is really good where he plays poker just as Jack bursts into the room, and Kinnear with a dry cynical wit says to Jack "You see how it is, Jack, you just can't get the material!" and he proceeds to taunt one of his players during the game, who ends up losing.

Alun Armstrong also makes his screen debut as Keith, one of Frank's acquiantences and he delivers an excellent performance.  Keith's character however soon falls foul of Jack's gangster associates who beat him up, and Jack later pays him a visit at Keith's flat, as Keith lies flat out on his bed, battered and bruised.  In the scene Jack denies that he knew the gangsters would come back and he gives him some money to compensate and as Jack leaves, Keith yells "Frank always said you were a shit and he were right!  You even screwed his wife didn't you?!  The poor bastard didn't even know if the kid was his!!".  Geraldine Moffat is also excellent in her role as the seductive Glenda, who Jack ends up having sex with and later its revealed she was in the porno film with Doreen.  Moffat's best moment comes, not when she's shagging Michael (although you do get a good view of her! ;)) but when she picks him up in the car and she says "I bet you didn't know you had a fairy God mother did you?!" and she drives him real fast up into a multi-story car park to meet Brumby.  Tony Beckley and George Sewell are also both excellent in their roles as the two London gangsters who arrive to try and take Jack back to London and they share a good scene when Jack, naked, turfs them out of the bedsit, by pointing a shotgun at them.  And in the scene Sewell says to Caine, "Put it away Jack, you know its not loaded" and Beckley laughs and says "The gun he means!".  Glynn Edwards (who was best known for his work in the TV show Minder) is very good in his role as the shifty Albert, who was also in the porno film involving Doreen and his scene with Caine when Jack questions then kills Albert is his best moment.  And last but far from least is Britt Ekland as Jack's girlfriend, Anna, who is the wife of one of the Fletchers.  Ekland doesn't appear much in the film but she certainly makes a memorable impression in her main scene where she indulges in some kinky phone sex with Jack (very nice!) which is interrupted by her husband, Gerald, who asks her "What's the matter you got gut trouble or something??".  And Anna says "No, darling, just doing my exercises" and then quietly says goodbye to Jack, who meanwhile is sitting in the bedsit, with Edna moving back and forth in her rocking chair throughout the scene. 

Getting to the director, Mike Hodges does a great job here with Get Carter and throughout he keeps the film moving well and it rarely ever drags.  Hodges also makes great use of many of the locations in Newcastle with the most memorable being the Trinity square car park, which was used in the scene where Jack meets with Brumby and he later kills Brumby there as well.  The car park itself has since being demolished back in 2010.  Hodges also perfectly captures the grimy and realistic tone of the period and the setting, as well as taking a more realistic view of the British criminal underworld.  The film also has a unique and very memorable score by Roy Budd and the title theme to this day is instantly recognisible.

As for flaws, well for once there aren't really any for me to mention so I might as well not devote an entire paragraph to try and find some.  Although what I will say is the film was later remade in the US with Sylvester Stallone in the lead role, with Mickey Rourke and Miranda Richardson, and unfortunately it was absolutely dire and it fits into that growing bin of pointless remakes of classic films, which should always be left alone.

So that's it for my look at Get Carter which is still one of the great British crime films of the last 40 years or so and if you haven't seen it for a while, or ever seen it for that matter, give it a watch.

And with that I shall leave yee there.            
       

The Fast and the Furious: "I owe you a 10 second car..."

Right OK here's another review coming at you's and this one is another American flick (there are quite alot on here!) and it is on The Fast and the Furious, the first film in the very successful franchise starring Vin Diesel and the now deceased Paul Walker.  So let's get the car revved up, switch on the NOS and get going...!

So the story is set in Los Angeles and it begins with the main character, Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) who is an undercover cop who is trying infiltrate the local street race scene by working at an aftermarket parts shop and making connections in the process.  This is in an effort to try and find a gang who are responsible for hi-jacking cargo from trucks.  While Brian visits a tobacco shop he flirts with a girl, Mia (Jordana Brewster) who works there and is the sister of a locally famed street racer, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel).  When the rest of Dom's team arrive, one of them, the hotheaded Vince (Matt Schulze) picks a fight with Brian over Mia, which Dom breaks up and he tells Brian to get out of there and not to come back.  Brian later however enters a street race with his car and he wagers pink slips for Dom's car, which Dom accepts.  During the race, Brian gains an advantage as he uses nitrous oxide to boost his car's speed, but Dom also uses it and goes to beat Brian and win the race.  Soon after the race the LAPD arrive which forces everyone to flee from the scene, as Dom takes off in his car, he parks it in a parking garage and leaves on foot, however he is nearly caught by the police, but Brian shows up just in time to rescue him in his car.  Dom appreciates Brian's actions and begins to show him respect but he insists he still owes him his car for winning the race.  However while they are driving they unwittingly enter the territory of Dom's main rival, Johnny Tran (Rick Yune) who follows them and forces them to pull over.  After a brief exchange, Tran and his team leave Dom and Brian, but they soon return and blow up Brian's car, which forces Brian and Dom to walk back to Dom's.

On arriving at Dom's house, Dom invites Brian into his home, much to the chagrin of Vince, but this allows Brian to flirt a little more with Mia before she tells him he "definitely needs to take a shower!".  The following day Brian brings a wrecked Toyota Supra to Dom's workshop where he offers his skills as a driver and mechanic.  As Brian get's acquainted with Dom's crew, he becomes romantically involved with Mia, and we meet Dom's other team mates which include his girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), Leon (Johnny Strong) and Jesse (Chad Lindberg).  Brian also thinks that Tran's team are the ones behind the hi-jacks of the trucks cargo and he puts it to his superior officer, Tanner (Ted Levine) as they raid Tran's home and hideout, but they find the parts that Tran has were legally bought.  After this Tanner tells Brian that it has to be Dom that is behind it all, even though Brian is reluctant to see it as he has developed a bond with Dom as well as dating Mia.  Brian then approaches Dom, frustrated at why he is keeping him in the dark about how he has acquired the auto parts and Dom invites Brian to a race event called Race Wars, and Dom says if he proves himself there then they will talk afterward.  During the races however, Jesse races Tran for pink slips and he loses to Tran, and in a panic Jesse flees.  Tran then confronts Dom demanding that he go and fetch his car and he accuses him of narcing him to the police, which angers Dom, who beats Tran in a rage before he is pulled off by his team.  After this we find out that Dom and his team are the ones that are behind the truck hijackings and they decide to go on one more hijack to absolve Jesse's debt to Tran.  As Brian nearby sees Mia argue with Dom, he soon confronts Mia after Dom leaves with his team, and tells her he is a cop and that he needs her help to find Dom as the truckers will be more heavily guarded out on the roads.  And from here the film reaches it dramatic climax as Brian and Mia head out to try and find Dom before he could face his fate on the roads from the truckers....

The Fast and the Furious to this day for me is still a very entertaining and at times thrilling experience and I still think its also the best in the series as the sequels that followed were a bit hit and miss but here the mix of action, drama and fun is just about right.  The story of course it has to be said is a carbon copy of the action film, Point Break, in which the main character is an undercover FBI agent who infiltrates the surfing community to find the gang of surfers responsible for a series of bank robberies.  And the only differences here being its racing gangs and its an LAPD officer who is undercover, and he also ends up unwittingly befriending the gang leader who is behind it all.  But the street race scene does help give the film its own energy and pacing that pretty much equals Point Break's need for adrenaline, only here its a need for speed.

Performance wise things are mostly good here, starting with Paul Walker, who's performance is admittedly a bit wooden here as the undercover cop, Brian O'Conner, who befriends the street racing hero, Dominic Torretto and becomes involved with Dom's sister Mia.  Walker nonetheless does provide the film with some good moments such as in his first scene where he tests out his car at full speed and it spins out of control, and he hits the steering wheel angrily yelling "Shit!!".  Walker also has some good moments with Vin Diesel such as in the scene where Brian turns up at the street race with his car and he says he will race Dom for slips and he says "If I lose, the winner takes my car clean and clear.  If I win, I take the cash and I take the respect!  To some people that's more important".  And after Brian loses the race to Dom he smiles and says "Dude, I almost had you!" and Dom mocks him "Had me??  You never had me.  You never even had your car!".  And during the race wars scene, Walker has some good moments that include when he sees Jesse is about to race Tran with his dad's car, as Jesse says "Don't worry when I win me and my dad can roll together when he get's out of prison" and Brian says "And they'll throw him right back in prison after he kills you!".  And later in the same sequence, Walker has a good moment with Jordana Brewster where he admits to her that he is an undercover cop and he tells her "Right now this isn't about you and me, and if you don't want anything to happen to Dom, to Letty, to Leon, to Vince, you need to tell me where they are right now!  Maybe they might make through the night, but those truckers aren't layin down anymore!".  After having appeared in five out of the six films in the series, Paul Walker unfortunately died last year in a tragic car accident in Los Angeles.

Which brings me onto Vin Diesel who does great in his role as Dominic Toretto, the charismatic street racer, who is at times not all that he seems to be.  Diesel has various highlights in the film such as in his first scene where Brian get's involved in a fist fight with Vince outside his store.  And in the scene Mia yells at Dom to get out there and stop the fight and he says to her "What did you put in that sandwich??" as he refers to a tuna sandwich Mia made up for Brian.  And as Brian stops the fight he holds back Vince and says to him "Relax!  Don't push it!  You embarrass me!" and takes a look at Brian's fake ID and he says "Brian Earl Spilner, that sounds like a serial killer name!  Don't come round here again!".  Diesel also has his fair share of good lines in the film as well, such as in the scene where he mocks Brian after Brian says he "almost had him" and Dom says "You almost had me??? You never had me, you never had your own car!  Granny shiftin not double clutchin like you should.  Ask any racer, any real racer.  It don't matter if you win by an inch or a mile.  Winning's winning!".  Also another good line is when he invites Brian back to his home, which when they arrive, Dom's team mate, Vince objects to and asks why he brought "the buster" back and Dom yells back "Because the buster kept me out of handcuffs!  He didn't just run back to the fort, the buster brought ME back!".  And later when Johnny Tran confronts Dom over Jesse fleeing in the car race Jesse just lost to Tran, as Tran accuses him off narc'ing him out, which leads Dom into decking Tran and yelling "I never narc'd on nobody!  I never narc'd on NOBODY!!".  But one of Diesel's best moments in the film comes in a quieter moment of reflection when Dom shows Brian his father's car, and he remembers how his father, who was a great street racer, was killed in a car race and also the regret he felt about beating one of the fellow racers involved in the race with a wrench sometime later out of rage.  And after he turns to Brian and says "I live my life a quarter mile at a time.  Nothing else matters, not the mortgage, not the store, not my team and all their bullshit.  For those ten seconds or less, I'm free."

As for the other performances, Jordana Brewster is really good as Dom's sister, Mia, who becomes involved with Brian.  Jordana has some good scenes as well, and her first scene in the film introduces her sassy character very well where Brian arrives at the tobacco store where she works and he asks how the tuna is.  And Mia replies "Everyday for the last three weeks, you've been coming in here asking how the tuna is.  Now it was crappy yesterday, it was crappy the day before, and guess what?  It hasn't changed.".  Jordana also has a funny yet cruel moment in the film where Mia flirts with Brian and Vince enters the room, drunk, he tries to make popcorn and he insults Brian, and Mia asks Vince what was the name of a Cuban restaurant they once went to, and Vince smiles and says "Cha cha cha" and Mia turns to Brian and says "Well you can take me there".  Michelle Rodriguez is also good as Dom's girlfriend Letty, who is pretty fiesty and not to be messed with and at one point during Dom's house party he sees a group of girls talking to Dom and she says to them "I smell... skanks!  Why don't you girls pack it up before I leave tread marks on your face!".

In the supporting cast, Ted Levine is excellent in his role as Sergeant Tanner, Brian's supervisor in the undercover operation and his scenes with Walker work really well in the film and offer a nice change in the dynamic of the story.  Levine has some good moments in the film such as where he tries to convince Brian that Dom may be responsible for the hijacks but Brian thinks Dom is too controlled for that, and Tanner then shows him some photos of a man Dom brutally assaulted with a wrench and he says "Oh yeah, Toretto's a real model of self control".  Rick Yune is also good in his role as Dom's arch rival, Johnny Tran, and he has some good moments such in the scene where he viciously questions a man named Ted for the whereabouts of his car's engines and he starts to pump oil all over the man's face and afterward he says to Ted "kiss my shoes" and he kicks him.  And later he has a good scene where he confronts Dom about the SWAT raid on his house, and he says "TORETTO!  SWAT came into my house and disrespected my whole family because someone narc'd me out!  And you know what?!  It was you!!".  And lastly Chad Lindberg is also good in his role as Dom's team mate, Jesse, who is a real car geek, who has great automotive knowledge but also suffers from ADD and he later makes the mistake of racing Tran for pink slips.  Lindberg's best moment comes in the film when Jesse says grace before Dom and his team eat their meal and he says "Spirit.  Thank you for providing us with direct-port nitrous, uh injection, four-core intercoolers, and ball-bearing turbos, and um... titanium valve springs.  Thank you!".

Getting onto the guy who sits in the chair and shouts action, Rob Cohen does a fine job with directing the film as he keeps the pacing of the film nice and tight throughout and he stages the car racing scenes really well.  Cohen also makes a nice use of a visual effect that shows the difference between daytime and night time as during the film in certain points we see the skyline change from day to night for specific scenes, such as when we cut from day time to the night of the first street race early on in the film.  The film's music score is also worthy of note which was composed by BT (no not British Telecom!) an American composer who provides a cool, atmospheric soundtrack for the film which is both electronic and at times orchestral. BT also uses tracks from different artists such as rock and metal arists such as Limp Bizkit, Hoobastank and Dope, which while not all of them are great they are used pretty well in the film.

Sooooooo getting onto that part of the review where I look at the film's niggles and annoyances, does TFATF have any at all????  Well sort of.  It has to be said the film at times is a bit cheesy and it has one or two cringing moments such as the scene where Dom and Letty are getting it on in Dom's garage, and he buries his head in her chest! (Gawd!).  And there is also the scene near the end where Dom and Brian race one another, and Dom get's into his dad's car and as he drives off and after he helps deal with Tran and his right hand man, Lance, the two of them get ready to go at the traffic lights, and when they turn green, Dom revs the car as the front of it rises up as he speeds off!  Its just a moment where you want to bury your head in the sofa (of if you could bury it in Michelle's chest that would be better!).  It also has to be said that the film's plot is hardly original as it is as I mentioned a carbon copy of Point Break's plot right down to the very end (well just about as its not quite the same).  And I also felt that the hijacking sequences are far less interesting than the rest of the action in the film and that it actually has less of an impact on the story than Point Break's bank robbery plotline did.  Although one way in which the film does score over Point Break is the identity of the hijackers isn't really established until later on, as Dom's team don't use their voices, but in Point Break we know Patrick Swayze is behind it right from the get go.
 
Sooooo despite that, The Fast and the Furious is still a very enjoyable action film and for me its still the best out of the five sequels that followed, all of which but the second film (which was directed by John Singleton) were directed by Justin Lin.  And as a quick run down of them I've not really watched Fast 2 Furious, but I've heard it wasn't that good.  Tokyo Drift on the other hand is an improvement, although it doesn't feature any of the original cast in it.  Fast and Furious, which is a follow up to the first film, in which Rodriguez's character Letty has been killed off, sees the old cast reunited, is a good follow up, where Brian finally catches up with Dom, who seeks revenge for the death of Letty and Brian also get's back together with Mia.  Fast Five is not too bad overall and the plot mainly follows Dom assembling a team to pull off a 100 million dollar heist, and it also features Dwayne Johnson aka "The Rock" who puts in a pretty decent performance as well as an FBI agent in Dom's pursuit.  And lastly Fast & Furious 6, which I've not seen either but has been reputed to have received some good reviews and also sees the return of Michelle Rodriguez in her role as Letty, so something must have happened there!   So basically I should try and catch up and watch Fasts 2 and 6 (and the rest of 3 come to think of it as I only watched so much of it).

And soooooo after that exhaustive review I think shall leave yee there for now.

Until the next one, bye for now.