Jigsaw: Film Review

Jigsaw: Film Review

Cast: Callum Keith Rennie, Matt Passmore, Laura Vandervoort, Tobin Bell
Director: The Spierig Brothers

Seven years after the last outing for the slightly insane and warped logic of John Kramer, the Saw series returns with an attempt to dust off the legacy and restart the whole thing as we get asked to play a game again.

This time around, and once again treading familiar ground, Daybreakers and Predestination directors The Spierig Brothers bring their take to the grubby grimy series.

A group of apparently unconnected people, five in number, wake up inside a barn, with Ned Kelly-esque buckets on their head and chained to a wall. As the chains fire up, they're headed towards buzzsaws whirring violently away. Suddenly, the voice of John Kramer offers them a chance to redeem themselves....

Elsewhere with the discovery of the bodies, a group of detectives begin a quest to try and save them before it's too late.

With its truth will set you free ethos and its emphasis a little more on redemption, Jigsaw goes back to the series' roots in some ways, as the twisted games play out.

It's good to see that rather than simply concentrating on the torture porn, Jigsaw presents a course of logic that at least makes some sense to the reason why Jigsaw came to be - rather than simply imperil people for no real reason.

The problem is that due to lack of any reason to care about the five placed in danger and a distinct lack of tension makes Jigsaw difficult to invest in; the traps this time feel rote and lack a degree of deviousness that previous installments had going for them.

A lot of time is spent in a medical lab as well, giving this a feel of CSI: Saw rather than anything else. And despite a twist at the end (unsurprisingly), Jigsaw feels slightly redundant if it's trying to reboot the franchise and kick it all off again.

Ultimately, like most Jigsaws over time, this one is missing a few pieces, meaning that the final product feels unfinished and only hints at what could have been.

Win a copy of Spider-man Homecoming!

Win a copy of Spider-man Homecoming!

To celebrate the release of  Spiderman: Homecoming out on October 11(Blu-Ray & DVD), you can win a copy here!

About Spider-man Homecoming

Thrilled by his experience with the Avengers, young Peter Parker returns home to live with his Aunt May.

Under the watchful eye of mentor Tony Stark, Parker starts to embrace his newfound identity as Spider-Man.

He also tries to return to his normal daily routine -- distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just a friendly neighbourhood superhero.

Peter must soon put his powers to the test when the evil Vulture emerges to threaten everything that he holds dear.

To win a copy thanks to the Sony team, all you have to do is email  your details to this  address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com or CLICK HERE NOW!

Include your name and address and title your email SPIDEY!
Competition closes November 20th

Cars 3: Blu Ray Review

Cars 3: Blu Ray Review

That a large thread of Cars 3 is spent with Owen Wilson's Lightning McQueen's dilemma over how to stay relevant in the face of zippier competition can't be lost on those of us who feel that Pixar's Cars franchise has critically struggled.

Never quite firing on all cylinders, the series is back to relative amiable form in this latest which sees Lightning McQueen's old racing ways fail to have him against new tech and cars like Jackson Storm (Hammer). In a nod perhaps to how Formula 1 these days is all about the technology rather than the driving, McQueen's forced to go back to basics and attend an upskilling centre run by Fillion's Sterling and under the tutelage of Cruz (Alonzo).

But will it be enough to help McQueen to both move on and win again?

There's a definite feeling of passing the torch here in the overly literal trappings of Cars 3.

With a nod to the past and Paul Newman's racer as well as the embracing of the newer way of doing things, and avoiding the fear of the new, Cars 3 hits the ground running, even if it does feel like it could ease up on some of the messaging that's ramraided home repeatedly.

However, its desire to champion women and give girls the feeling of empowerment is something akin to what Patty Jenkins Wonder Woman has already achieved this year. By forcing Cruz to embrace her dream and never settle for second best, the film's desire to ensure the right message gets out there is both bold and admirable.

Sure, the racing looks slick and there's an undeniable sheen in the polish that the animation carries, but there's little else under the hood for Cars to roll out except its amiable intentions and fair aspirations. Everything looks great and there's no sign that Pixar's decided to drop the quality for the third of the series in terms of the animation, but the relatively straight story-telling means it's one of the more humour free entrants into Pixar's canon which is a real shame.

All in all, Cars 3 is nothing more than pleasant - with its simple story worryingly showing there's maybe less in the tank, but its important message it gets the job done on the track but it's far from the convincing victory it really should have been. 

Gran Turismo Sport: PS4 Review

Gran Turismo Sport: PS4 Review

Platform: PS4
Developed by Polyphony Digital

The Gran Turismo brand is still in tact on PlayStation.

Synonymous with solid simulations, the 2017 entry is one that makes the most of what it's already got and ensures the grunt of the PlayStation is capitalised on.

It's the same as it was - and the same as most car simulations are these days; race tracks, build your skill base up, accrue points and XP, spend money on cars and generally progress through the ranks.

But Gran Turismo Sport manages to do all this and still looks beautiful.

Whereas DriveClub claimed a higher ground in terms of making cars look like a work of art, GT Sport concentrates more on the handling of these beauties rather than ensuring vistas and environments are sparkling too.

It does make a case for a little old school racing simulations in many ways though, as its intentions are clearly all about the cars, whereas others, such as the Forza series, manage to make it about the environments just off the track as well.

Perhaps the biggest fault is any kind of truly dynamic weather system, meaning some races feel a little static in some ways and out of step with what's currently around.

However, there is a lot of beauty in GT Sport's motors.

Lovingly crafted and beautifully rendered, the cars are the star of GT Sports - and at the expense of a more single player campaign, the online mode is where the game's spent a great deal of its time. Whilst you may never crash entirely out in a race (there's yet to be a car seen despite plenty of scraping up against the railings) and there it lacks a degree of reality, it's the technical side of the game which flourishes.

And nowhere is this more evident than in the VR version of the game.

Nervous after DriveClub's VR made this reviewer want to hurl within seconds, it's pleasing to report that the VR experience is exceptional. Several burn outs around the tracks soared by without a hint of nausea and while the inner race experience is a static, the experience is second-to-none.

Cruising through Tokyo and its streets from the inside of the helmet is thrilling and shows that one year after launch VR is finally getting the bits that flawed its last 12 months right.

Ultimately, while GT Sport can feel a little more of a technical beast than an arcade thrill, it's still showing no signs of slowing against its competitors. It may need a little tweak under the hood for its next reveal, but this is still a series that's vying strongly for pole position despite a growing field of competitors.

Murder On The Orient Express: Film Review

Murder On The Orient Express: Film Review

Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Daisy Ridley, Dame Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Josh Gad, Derek Jacobi, Penelope Cruz
Director: Kenneth Branagh

It's fair to say no-one loves Kenneth Branagh on the screen as much as Kenneth Branagh does behind the camera in the latest version of Murder On The Orient Express.

And while the lavish, star-studded affair looks sumptuous in its vistas, it narratively stutters to a halt around the same time the famed Orient Express derails.

For those unfamiliar with Agatha Christie's novel and the plot, it centres around the great Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (Branagh, complete with hair lip) who tries to take some rest on a trip but finds himself called upon to solve a murder mystery on board the famed Orient Express.

When Johnny Depp's Ratchett is found stabbed to the death in his compartment on the train, it seems like everyone on board has some kind of motive to be involved.

However, the deeper Poirot delves, the more puzzling the case seems - can the self-professed greatest detective solve the mystery before the snowclad train begins its journey again?

While Murder on The Orient Express is lavishly shot on 65mm, and starts off dizzyingly with Poirot solving a case at the Wailing Wall (involving a priest, an imam and a rabbi, as the old joke apparently goes), the film comes a bit of a cropper when it starts to try and crack the conundrum.

It becomes clear that there are too many in the ensemble to give the film the time it needs to breathe - with a cast that numbers the likes of Michelle Pfeiffer, Daisy Ridley, Josh Gad, Dame Judi Dench and Sir Derek Jacobi to name but a few, the narrative groans under the strain of not enough time for any of them - other than Poirot himself. And some, such as Penelope Cruz's religious mouse get nary any oxygen needed to breathe any life upon the screen.

As a result, everyone becomes a bit of a once-over-lightly character - be it Depp's spiv-like villain or Dench's sneering Russian aristocrat.

It's not helped by the fact that the central mystery requires reams of exposition as the final reveal unmasks the culprit and motive.

To be fair, it's not Branagh's fault, merely the source material - and whilst most of the screen time is devoted to Poirot's bizarre chortling at Dickens or picking up his borderline OCD autistic tendencies, Branagh does also manage to imbue some wearied sadness into his eyes as he tries to escape the right and wrong of life.

Whilst his Poirot is perhaps not as iconic as David Suchet's portly moustachioed investigator, this one has a little more depth than perhaps you'd expect - and certainly doesn't have the flashiness of the modern day Sherlock Holmes, as depicted by Benedict Cumberbatch.

Perhaps therein lies an element of the problem as well - this is a film that's very much of its time, a period piece that has none of the accoutrements of a modern day adaptation other than perhaps a smattering of Hollywood's current glitterati. It's a curio on that front then, and one which modern day audiences may struggle with the pacing of (it goes distinctly off the boil in the middle).

While the film throws a cursory mention of a problem on the Nile in its conclusion, hinting at more for Belgium's greatest detective, one of the more infamous cases from the pen of Agatha Christie leaves you with a sad feeling of indifference.

Unfortunately, it's almost as if this Orient Express has been slightly derailed by narrative leaves on the line as it departs the cinematic platform.

The Evil Within 2: PS4 Review

The Evil Within 2: PS4 Review

Developed by Tango
Released by Bethesda
Platform: PS4

The latest nightmare to haunt your dreams and hitting the gaming world is Bethesda's generally terrifying, but occasionally familiar The Evil Within 2.

Three years after the events at Beacon Mental Hospital in The Evil Within, you get to play Sebastian Castellanos again in the third person horror thriller.

Having left the Krimson City Police Department to uncover the truth about the mysterious organization Mobius, Sebastian's consumed by dreams about the death of his daughter Lily in a house fire. 

When he discovers her death was faked, things take a turn for the macabre....

The Evil Within 2 is disturbingly brought to life - it's almost like a psychological Saw movie writ dangerously large on the screen, with some extra jolts thrown in for HD fun.

Ticking off many of the horror genre tropes and jump scares, the game's got an edge that's as compulsive as it is gut-wrenchingly tense. From a cat who gives you gel to level up to mirrors that take you places you'd never expect, the game's desire is to freak you out and in several places, it does this well.

However, it's in the execution of the game that it really stands out.

Some balletic and kinetic horrifying imagery aside, the art within and the scenes that play out are generally the stuff of nightmares. It sounds cliched to say it, and while the reliance on typical horror scares may put some off, The Evil Within 2 really is a game to play alone.

There are elements of Resident Evil mixed in with Silent Hill pepper a lot of this and there are perhaps influences of the short lived PT mixed in as well.

Maybe the dialogue seems a little corny in places and there are hints that perhaps it goes for hoary rote cliches, but to be honest, it's hard to put The Evil Within 2 down. From its stealth skulking to its moments of body horror, there's more than enough to keep fans of this particular gaming genre more than happy.

Tense and scary with a story and mystery that's anchored in the personal, The Evil Within 2 has more success than its first outing - namely because, like it or not, you're involved from beginning to end.

Detroit: Film Review

Detroit: Film Review

Cast: John Boyega, Will Poulter
Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Reuniting Zero Dark Thirty's team in the form of director Kathryn Bigelow and writer Mark Boal proves in part to be potent for Detroit.

Centred around the summer of 1967 and the riots which hit the Detroit African American population, Bigelow's film finds its focus in one pivotal moment - a motel raid which spirals out of control, and police abused their power.

Boyega plays a security guard, treading a dangerous line between keeping the cops on side and sympathising and saving others from being caught in the riot; whereas Poulter plays a cop, whose momentary lapse early on when he shoots a fleeing man in the back seems to set his moral compass distinctly awry.

The film uses its NYPD Blue style shaky cam to good effect early on, throwing you slap bang into the middle of the riots and the urgency and danger of the situation. But the film hits the skids to centre its actions on the Algiers Hotel, and sacrifices the space it's created for a claustrophobic and unflinchingly difficult section within.

Against a backdrop of Motown uniting people and then suddenly dividing those caught within, the discomfort is palpable, even if one of the cops within the actual event feels like a lazy stereotype. It's a shame given the work done in the run up to the event with Poulter's character feeling a little more multi-faceted than his closeted hatred would demonstrate.

While the back half of the film and its PTSD approach and subsequent trial feel a little more disjointed and discombobulated, its first half, warzone and all,  is painful watching  made ever more disgusting by the fact this is no fiction, but a reality that occurred.

Detroit's searing strength lies in its mid-section execution, an interlude of pure hatred and abuse of power that's so tautly executed, it feels like a modern day horror sequence, guaranteed to leave you with your mouth agog in horror.

Ultimately, it's the little moments and the ripples of after effects in Detroit which make it, for the large part, so compelling.

Perhaps timely given the social divides we currently face and equivocally appalling, Detroit's light-the-touch-paper-and-stand-back execution of events makes it a livewire event that slightly fizzes in the back third.