Run All Night: Film Review

Run All Night: Film Review

Cast: Liam Neeson, Ed Harris, Joel Kinnaman, Boyd Holbrook
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra

There's a grizzly broody weariness around Neeson as he reteams with his Unknown and Non-Stop director for another entry into the older action genre with Run All Night.

Neeson is Jimmy the Gravedigger a former enforcer for Ed Harris' Shawn Maguire. When Jimmy's estranged son Michael (a simply scowling Kinnaman) witnesses the murder of two Albanian gangsters by Shawn's son, Danny, it's up to Jimmy, who's versed in the ways of the old, to ensure Michael doesn't spill the beans. But when Jimmy shows up on Mike's door after years away, not only is the son not pleased to see the father, but it sets a chain in motion which sees both men forced on the run, with the might of the mob, a bounty hunter (played with steely determination by Common) and a detective determined to nail Jimmy for prior unpunished sins on their trail....

Run All Night has an urban grit to it and a wearied sheen that's eminently watchable.

Once again, Neeson whores out his very particular set of skills to the genre, but there's something of a right fit about this role that doesn't see the heroics of Bryan Mills channelled pointlessly. Equally the scenes Neeson shares with Harris crackle with the reality of the passing of time and are tinged with the sadness of regret about the circumstances the two find themselves in.

Director Collet-Serra keeps the action predictable and taut as the plot plays out; but it's a lack of real warmth that could cause some to disconnect from Neeson's aged performance - and certainly will see many finding Kinnaman's character too aloof and simply bitter. Equally, street kid Legs is wasted serving only a deus ex machine purpose when the story heads down a cul de sac with nowhere to go.

Ultimately Run All Night may not have the crackle it needs to be massive, but a combination of Neeson's empathy, Harris' subtlety and plenty of grit give this movie more of an edge than you'd initially expect.

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Jimi: All Is By My Side: Blu Ray Review

Jimi: All Is By My Side: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Madman Home Ent

With a pedigree that includes being written and directed by 12 Years A Slave's John Ridley andAndre Benjamin of Outkast playing Jimi Hendrix, you'd expect the promise of Jimi: All is By My Side to deliver.

And it certainly does that - to a large extent.

Taking in Hendrix's early life and times as a R'n'B backing guitarist where he was spotted by Keith Richards' girlfriend Linda Keith (Imogen Poots), Andre Benjamin inhabits the role completely. With Keith acting as a kind of puppetmaster, Hendrix starts his rise to fame and fortune. However, along the way, he meets Kathy (an impressive Hayley Atwell, who turns in a nuanced performance) causing friction between the three of them.

"Identity is a wonderful thing - I encourage you to have one" is uttered very early on in this piece, which doesn't shy away from showing Hendrix as more of a lover than a fighter, thanks to his relaxed hippyesque vibe proffered by Benjamin. Ridley mixes music with snapshots of 60s swinging London to impressive directorial effect and delivers one shocking moment that exposes Hendrix's true nature and his attitude to Kathy.

It's this touch that really shakes Jimi: All Is By My Side and it's a calculated move by Ridley to ensure it has maximum effect as Hendrix's lack of self-belief and potentially drug infused paranoia boils over. Ridley chooses to use the women to help place focus on Hendrix, while Benjamin's musical prowess ensures that the talent isn't wasted on the screen.

However, his relationship with Keith simply dramatically fizzles out in a purple haze of jealousy and fades off the screen. It's a touch which proves divisive in the narrative as it feels unfinished and unformed. Unlike Hayley Atwell's Kathy, whose arc is horrifically complete and thematically satisfying in the worst possible way.

Really though, these two are the only two relationships which are fully explored; with band matters and management sidelined in favour of the talent shining through. Perhaps the closest Ridley gets to shining some kind of light on Hendrix is in a phone conversation with his father that's split with shots and photographs of their lives and gives a bit more insight into their fractured relationship.

Ridley's done the best he can with a film that was blocked by the Hendrix estate, but thanks to the performance of Benjamin this one year biopic snapshot just borders on successful; the music is electrifying, even if some of the human element is a little more downbeat in terms of tempo.

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Austin Powers: Blu Ray Review

Austin Powers: Blu Ray Review

Rating: PG
Released by Vendetta Films

It's Mike Myers' crowning glory; his secret agent spoof that masterfully skewered Bond and its ilk forever.

There can't be many who don't know the plot; basically, Austin Powers is cryogenically frozen and thawed out to take on his nemesis Dr Evil (also played by Powers) as he tries to take over the world.

Laugh out loud funny and amusing when it really shouldn't be; as well as puerile and childish, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery is still a comic gem no matter how old it is. Spot on understanding of the genres as well as the comic timings of all involved make it work - and continue to work.

Recommended to blow the comedy cobwebs away without a shadow of a doubt.

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Helldivers: PS4 Review

Helldivers: PS4 Review

Platform: PS4
Released by Arrowhead Game Studios

It's Starship Troopers, the console version in this shoot'em'up co-op game.

Set in 2084, Super Earth is now under threat, its carefully balanced managed democracy facing a fearsome foe in a war.

Thankfully, you're part of an elite unit known as the Helldivers, a gung-ho gun toting group who head down to the various planets, under threat, shoot some bugs and try to save the day. Along the way, there are tasks to perform, such as setting up weapons systems, capturing posts and then being extracted before it all goes to hell in a hand-cart as the bugs threaten to overwhelm you.

And that's really it for this game.

Except to say, whether it's one player or co-op, it's a lot of silly, bitesize fun, with levels taking very little time to complete.

Tactics are an important part of Helldivers, with simple maps betraying the effort that's actually needed to achieve your mission goals and to ensure you end up back in the skies, ready to fight the next battle.

Sure, there's your basic weapons, such as your guns and grenades (all of which only have a limited amount of ammo), but part of the pleasure of Helldivers comes from organising weapon drops and ensuring you use your guns to maximum impact and effect.

Controls are fairly simple - as are the graphics - but none of the core gameplay is sacrificed for the basics. Dualshock controls are nicely used, and reloading your weapons is easy enough, but discarding incomplete ammo clips is not the smartest way to use your shooters, with ammo being more of a rarity than you realise.

Fortunately, you can activate drops, by using the D pad in a series of controls a la Parappa the Rapper (up, down, left, right in various combos). Sounds easy enough, right? Try it when you're surrounded by creatures, out of ammo and then you can see how the challenge emerges. Plus, you have to be careful when activating drops, as quite simply, they can fall your way and leave you squished like the bug you're trying to oust.

With limited re-spawns, missions that seem deflatingly easy suddenly become infinitely harder when your attempts to survive see you squished because you weren't paying attention to the drops, or the rescue craft lands atop you. To have to start all over again, having lost your life, your XP and your strategies is a major niggle....but hey, that's war, right?

Equally, the multiplayer side of things means you have to be on top of your game. I've played a couple with offsiters in Helldivers, and while a lack of headphones and chatters makes strategy hard with others, but the game functions equally well in either mode.

Totally disposable fun, Helldivers is a great piece of shooty fun that challenges a little more than you would have expected, but rewards in equal measures.

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Oddworld: New and Tasty: PS4 Review

Oddworld: New and Tasty: PS4 Review

Developer: JAW
Platform: PS4 as part of PS Plus Subscription

Every once in a while a gem from the past is unearthed, dusted down and released quietly.

So it was with the re-release of Abe's Oddysee onto the PlayStation 4 - a game that I utterly adored but could never clock when I was younger.

I had secretly been hoping this game would be part of the PS Plus Subscriber service at some point, so I was delighted to see it was there in the March offering, along with the premiere of Olli Olli 2 and Valiant Hearts.

Originally released on PS1 back in the late 90s, this spit and polish sees you taking the role of Mudokon Abe, a cleaner in a factory that's about processing food. However, Abe's working late one night when he discovers that the menu is made up of a lot of the alien races around him, and with supplies dwindling, his race is next on the chopping block.

So, Abe escapes in this side scrolling platformer and sets out to free the rest of the slaves from the factory, as well as himself. But his journey takes a dangerous and mystical turn thanks to a prophecy which he appears to play a part in.

Oddworld was always a great place to be part of and this remaster and rebuild is no exception.

Simplistic controls belie the devious element of the game and the lateral thinking which needs to be employed as you negotiate hazards, avoid mines, critters trying to kill you and various traps all around. Armed with no weapons, only a sense of logic and some stones, as well as the ability to occasionally chant and possess your foes, Oddworld requires a lot of thinking and rewards immensely for its puzzles.

Beautifully remastered for its HD spit and polish, Abe's worlds now thrive with life and dimensions; smoke billowing clouds are now denser for hiding and the 3D depth sees the game bristle with danger and colour.

But at the heart of it all, Oddworld was always about the gameplay, the story and the head-scratching puzzles which it has to be said, often resolved themselves in the simplest way - it was well ahead of the curve in 1997 and remains so today.

Anyone who's serious about platform puzzlers needs to own this now and if it's part of your sub to PS Plus, you have no excuse for owning one of the best games ever created.

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The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies: Blu Ray Review

The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Warner Home Video / Roadshow Home Ent

And so the unexpected journey comes to a much expected end.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies feels like the most workman-like of the franchise though, with it having to resolve a myriad of plot-threads, tie the film to the Lord of the Rings and also end it on a high.

Opening with Smaug's desolation of Laketown and then seeing him off in relatively quick time thanks to Bard the Bowman's shenanigans, Jackson seems keen to give the film a roaring blast of action before it kicks into a web of plotting, politicking and planning ahead of a major fight at the end.

With Smaug dispatched and several of the main characters of Laketown crushed asunder, the focus shifts onto Thorin (Richard Armitage) and his succumbing to "dragon sickness" and the corruption within the gold as he essentially initiates a stand-off by threatening to go back on his word as the forces amass around the King under the mountain in his stronghold.
But as Gandalf soon realises, Thorin's insane gambit is threatening to destroy all of the unity between elves, humans and dwarves; and that could prove detrimental as the Orc forces amass...

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is considerably lighter on plot than the previous outings, with all roads essentially leading to a mammoth confrontation toward the end that recalls Jackson's prior Rings outings in terms of action, spectacle and relative excitement (even though placing Legolas occasionally in peril is dramatically pointless given how he figures in the LOTR trilogy).

There are character moments within, though, noticeably fewer than what's gone before and with some of the residents of Laketown (including the Master's squire who appears to have wandered in from a pantomime rather than channeling more of the weasel) throwing in some relatively ropey acting / dialogue, some of these flaws unfortunately stand out a little more than in prior outings.

Conflicts between  Orlando Bloom's Legolas and an icy Lee Pace's Thranduil, the resolution of the love triangle between Evangeline Lilly's Tauriel, Legolas and Being Human Aidan Turner's Kili, and Thorin's face-off with just about everyone who comes near him as well as the orc Azog are all thrown into the mix and vehemently stirred asunder before boiling over.

Freeman's Bilbo appears less on the screen this time - likewise the majority of the dwarves - but he once again shows why he's the perfect actor for the Hobbit. A simple look, twitch of his face can tell more than a thousand words and is used to maximum effect throughout. Equally, it's Armitage who steps up to the plate this time with the dragon sickness malignancy adding a much needed dimension and giving him the dramatic weight that's needed as we head to the end sprint.

Newcomer Billy Connolly makes an impression as the Glasgow kiss-touting cousin Dain of Thorin and proves to be the perfect tonic to lots of portentous talk and foreboding; Hugo Weaving, Christopher Lee, Cate Blanchett, and Ian Holm all appear, giving the movie the chance it needs to lead into the Lord of The Rings series and imbuing it all with an continuity that's needed for its conclusion.

The inventive action sequences as Jackson's camera sweeps across giant plains do much to impress and showcase the technical prowess of all involved, providing a scope that's befitting of the scale of what's occurring and Jackson's not lost his eye for spectacle with Legolas's escape from a falling bridge showing there's visual creativity still left to be had in the series as he moves the figures around like a war master toying with a giant open-world set of goodies and baddies.

In among the bluster of the blockbuster trappings and once the dust has settled on the incredible action sequences, the overall feeling is that The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies thrills and frustrates in equal measures.

Tauriel's sidelined as the love interest in this, which is a frustration given how much she stood out as a point of difference during The Desolation of Smaug; Bard the Bowman simply disappears from proceedings once his usefulness is dramatically spent and the majority of the Company of Dwarves (with the exception of Ken Stott's Balin and Richard Armitage's Thorin) is simply set-dressing, lacking the emotional edge that was so evident in the last film as it built to its crescendo. This time around, it lacks the cohesion needed to push the series into air-punching rousing territory as it ends.

Spectacular it may be, and an achievement from Sir Peter Jackson and his team it undoubtedly is, but The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies brings the series to an end in a relatively uneven fashion. As a standalone film, it just misses the mark due to some dramatic constraints, but as part of a series, it proves a fitting send-off to Middle Earth.

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It Follows: Film Review

It Follows: Film Review

Cast: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Olivia Luccardi
Director: David Robert Mitchell

A terrifically old school suspenseful horror from the director of The Myth of the American Sleepover, you wonder how the likes of It Follows has not been done before.

Following a young bunch once again, director David Robert Mitchell is the story of Maika Monroe's Jay, who sleeps with her new boyfriend Hugh.

Only to be then chloroformed when there should be cuddling afterwards.

When she awakens, she's told by Hugh that an unseen something will now start following her and she has to avoid it - but that the only way to permanently get out of this pursuit is to sleep with someone else and pass the curse on.

But if the person who's been affected with the curse is killed, the creature stalks its original victim.

With a premise like that, you'd expect a somewhat trashy movie as the teens sleep their way around, promising plenty of loose sex and even looser morals.

But what actually transpires is a terrifically well-delivered, technically taut horror that makes great fist of an ominous soundtrack, perfect locations and slow seeping shots to create an atmosphere of utter dread within. At least one reveal of the thing following Jay is utterly terrifying and creatively executed, thanks to a combination of perfect timing, soundtrack and plausibility as well as tapping into one of those most horrific fears with you since the dawn of time.

The cast's fairly impressive too - once you get your head around the fact that in many ways, this is an old school horror where potential victims don't exactly make the wisest decisions. But that's not to dismiss it as retro or tacky in any way shape or form.

The relationship between Jay and her sister, as well as her first boyfriend Paul (who's happy to help relieve her of the curse) is excellently handled and the growing sense of dread is brilliantly executed throughout. Once the paranoia sets in the psychological effects are easy to understand, eminently watchable and smartly dished out. Even Jay's initial reticence to pass it on (one character remarks it should be easy for her as she's a girl) gives way to a sickening sense of inevitability for her own sanity.

Monroe is the right mix of naive and love-struck at the start, but once the horror starts to set in, her gradual descent into full-on terror and near breakdown is a compelling, if horrifying one.

Sure, you could argue this is a large metaphor for STDs and teen sex, but it's more than that. Mitchell's executed a classic horror that incorporates the terror of a faceless stalker. Wisely choosing to ignore the need for explanation for what exactly is going on, how it all began (perhaps fertile ground for another movie) and concentrating simply on delivering dread and terror, It Follows' MO is atmosphere and successful jump frights, deftly transcribed to the screen that channel a primal simple fear - something's coming for you and you can't escape it...

It Follows more than delivers on those - and don't be surprised if after seeing this, you walk home checking over your shoulder a couple of times.... 

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