Glass (2019) - Cinema Review

Review:

*Originally written January 22nd, 2019*

After nearly a decade of complete trash, then making a huge comeback with both The Visit and Split, M. Night Shyamalan seemed to have finally got his groove back as a director. Sadly, this belated follow-up to Split and Unbreakable is nothing but a soaring disappointed of mishandled ideas, outrageous plot-twists and inane use of established characters.

Following on from the events of Split, Glass finds David Dunn (Bruce Willis) on the trail of Kevin Crumb "The Horde" (James McAvoy) as he's back on the path of kidnapping and eating college girls. The two quickly find themselves locked up in a psychiatric hospital that also contains Elijah Price (Samuel L Jackson) as they're all treated by Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson), who specialises in cases of grand delusion involving people who believe themselves to be superheroes.

There is so little of this that works that it blows my mind this managed to get made. Shyamalan completely shits the bed with these characters we've seen grow since the series inception with 2000's Unbreakable. Everything feels like something out of a rough first draft, the dialogue is clunky and the execution of the twists are barbarically stupid and nonsensical.

The most intriguing aspect of this follow up is how things have changed for both David Dunn and Elijah Price since the events of Unbreakable, and it turns out its not much. Dunn is still donning his rain poncho and has become a local legend in the form of a vigilante in Philadelphia with the help of his son as he fights crime by night and runs a security store by day. While Price spends the first half of the film sedated and not saying a word.

A big question mark around this was Bruce Willis. This is a man who has not put effort into a role since Looper all the way back 2012, his career has pretty much involved him sleepwalking through straight-to-DVD action films since, with the exception of a Death Wish remake that somehow got a theatrical release last year. Annoyingly, Willis still seems to be in sleepwalking mode here, just spouting out his lines like he really doesn't want to be here. He just looks tired and fed up of life, but it's just such a shame he couldn't put effort into finishing off the story of one of his most acclaimed cult roles. 

Then there's Samuel L Jackson, who does finally spring to life in the latter half of the film, essentially playing a campy comic-book villain who has lost all the nuance and weight of the Price we knew from Unbreakable. This is mostly due to the annoying script that constantly has Price mostly just talking about being in a comic-book and how what's happening in the story relates to where we would be in a comic-book. The whole things gets played out very fast and just keeps going until the film ends.

What's most frustrating about this whole experience is the flashes of potential brilliance that Shyamalan teases us with that ultimately goes nowhere. There's a smart, interesting dissection of the superhero genre buried in here somewhere, it's just a revised script and some better editing away. His visual style is all over the place too, some of the shots and colour design look fantastic, but when it comes to action, Shyamalan creates some deeply uninvolving action that lacks any sort of impact.

There is at least some bright spots involving James McAvoy, who is clearly having far more fun with his role than anyone else here. He effortlessly channels an insane amount of characters with his gonzo physical performance that is just pure joy to watch, despite the context being utter nonsense. While he is billed as one of the three main characters, he certainly takes up most of the screen time as Jackson doesn't even make an appearance until about 40 minutes in and Willis pretty much disappears for the entire middle of the film.

Anya Taylor-Joy's Casey is also a welcome addition, returning to her role from Split after being the only survivor from her encounter with The Horde. Then they just go and derail the whole thing by making her the only person who seems to calm Crumb down, and making her feel sympathy and a connection with Crumb, despite nearly being murdered by him and suffering days of abuse and psychological torture. It's just such a bizarre and misguided direction to take the character and it doesn't work in the slightest.

In the more shallow end of criticisms, it starts off entertaining enough, but grinds to a halt as we spend so much time in the asylum with these characters as they're treated for their delusions in increasingly frustrating and pointless scenes as we all know where it's all going and we know for a fact these characters are what they say they are, so spending so much time having a character try and convince them they're just normal people with mental health issues is just a chore.

Then it all comes crashing down such an anticlimactic showdown that brings all the characters to such shockingly unsatisfying conclusions that pretty much undo all the good work the previous two films have down and makes you wonder what the hell was the point of all this. Maybe expectations were too high, but also it was just Shyamalan becoming a borderline parody of himself as he delivers such hilarious awful plot-twist one after the other in the last 20 minutes or so. 

I won't spoil anything, but one of the twists is something that many people had pointed out just after Split had been release and something I thought had already been confirmed, so seeing it played out as a huge twist just felt weird to me, especially as it was something I thought was pretty well known for nearly 2 years now. Then the last 3 main twists are so stupidly left-field and derailed a film I was already very on the fence about to begin with.


2019 has got its first huge disappointment and it's only January. This is not boding well. Glass is a huge mess on all fronts, barely saved by James McAvoy's scene stealing performance, but derailed by pretty much every other aspect of the film. Such a shame to see this series come to a bitterly insulting conclusion. Wack. 

4/10 Dans

Glass is out now in cinemas in the UK
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X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written May 18th, 2016*

"Apocalyptic"

I am baffled by the mixed reviews X-Men: Apocalypse has been getting. Honestly, I am so confused. I've always found the X-Men franchise to be the most consistent of the superhero franchises at the moment, sure it's had its lows (The Last Stand and Origins: Wolverine), but in terms of cinematic film-making and meaningful storytelling, I've always felt this series has rose above the rest.

The ninth installment in the X-Men franchise takes us to 1983, set 10 years after the events of Days of Future Past. The oldest known mutant 'Apocalypse' awakens in the current day and vows to cleanse the Earth of life with the help of 4 mutants, so it's up to Professor Xavier, Mystique and new group of teenage X-Men to stop them.

I was a bit suspect with this, considering the reviews, some even said it was worst than The Last Stand, so I didn't know what I was in for, but to be honest, I thought it was great. Hell, it might even be my favourite film in the series so far.

I loved the new cast. It's the same characters we know from the original trilogy, but young and still getting to know their powers. Although the events from this film has made the timeline with these films an utter train wreck. I know Days of Future Past had the time travel stuff, but it's all so confusing, and that doesn't even include where Deadpool fits into this universe.

The strongest part of these new X-Men films has always been Michael Fassbender's Magneto, which was once again, amazing. His earlier scenes were extremely strong, emotionally resonant and oddly powerful when they needed to be. It's just shame he spends the second half of the film as a background sidekick to the inferior and less compelling Apocalypse.

The rest of the returning cast are great too, James McAvoy and Jennifer Lawrence are reliable as ever, but Evan Peters completely tops himself as Quicksilver once again by having one of the best and funniest scenes from any comic-book movie which managed to top his scene from the last one and make a mockery of the MCU version of Quicksilver, which is just laughable in comparison.

I was a bit disappointed by the setting. First Class captured the swinging '60s pretty well and Days of Future Past made use of its '70s setting, Apocalypse on the other hand does nothing with the '80s. Aside from a couple of music choices, this felt like it could have been set in any era. It was fun to see the younger mutants come out of a screening of Return of the Jedi, even taking the oppurtinity of taking a meta jab at The Last Stand by adressing "The third one is always the worst".

On the main villain side of things, Oscar Isaac, a very competent actor is wasted as Apocalypse. There were some things I liked with him. His voice was very intimidating and I the way he killed people was pretty cool at times. There's just no real motivation here for his character compared to say Magneto, who we've seen be torn down by humanity, so we can understand why he does what he does, Apocalypse is just wanting to destroy the world because well, I'm not too sure to be honest? Something about mankind having technology that can destroy them or something?

I was surprised at just how violent this was too, it really pushes boundaries at what a 12A/PG-13 can get away with. People are stabbed, decapitated and melted in pretty graphic ways and things get pretty grizzly and quite bloody when a certain X-Man makes a cameo in a brief but memorable scene. 

The action was pretty great though. I've always loved this series ability to have all these characters with different powers combine in fun and different ways. While the main action doesn't hit till the end of the film, it really worked. We've seen the massive, city-wide destruction before in superhero films, but here it feels like the actual stakes matter with characters we care about. It also helps that these films actual look and feel like real films, as opposed to the MCU's televisual look. 

I don't mean to take jabs at the MCU, but notice how they manage to tell a story without every other scene used to try and set-up other films. It's nice to have a franchise where each film can be watched as its own thing, sure they all connect, but you can pick any of these films up and they tell their own self-contained story.


Despite the mixed reviews, I found X-Men: Apocalypse to be another excellent entry in the X-Men franchise with another powerhouse performance from Michael Fassbender, great action, genuine emotional depth and characters you actually care about.

8/10 Dans

X-Men: Apocalypse is out now on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
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Atomic Blonde (2017) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written August 9th, 2017*

"Go Atomic"

Atomic Blonde is not what I expected at all. I was expecting a non-stop action film in the vein of John Wick (It's directed by one of the two John Wick helmers), instead, what I got was a violent, slow-paced and kinda messy spy thriller with some action sprinkled in. I did really enjoy Atomic Blonde, a lot in fact, but it had its problems.

The biggest problem is its story. The overall plot is fairly simple. An undercover MI6 agent (Charlize Theron) is sent to Berlin during the Cold War to investigate the murder of a fellow agent and recover a missing list of double agents. It seems like simple stuff on paper, and it is, for the most part, but in the final act things got insanely convoluted and I had no idea what was happening. A lot of twists are thrown at you very quickly and I didn't have enough time to entirely process them, leaving me confused by the end. A rewatch is in order, it would help to have subtitles too.

Everything else though was fantastic. I had a blast with Atomic Blonde. It was "good shit". Despite my confusions, the film was paced insanely well and had me involved the whole time. It was a lot darker than the trailers made it out to be and I appreciated that. 

While it isn't as action packed as John Wick, David Leitch does an amazing job with the action on display. It's hard hitting, brutal and very violent. The centerpiece scene that is one long 9 minute take through an apartment building then a car chase was spectacular. Easily one of the best action scenes of the year. I loved the way the characters slowly got worn down through the scene and got out of breath, barely able to make any moves. It was great.

Charlize Theron does a fantastic job with the action. There wasn't a lot to her character, but she was sexy and bad-ass enough to carry the film. She did a lot of her own stunt-work and it really shows throughout. I really do hope to see her continue to do action roles, because she is excellent at it.

James McAvoy was also excellent as the Theron's contact in Berlin. Funny, sleazy and pathetic. It was very similar to his role in Filth (which you should really see) where he also played a corrupt cop. The rest of the supporting cast were fine. John Goodman pops up in a fairly thankless role as he seems to do a lot lately.

I was a bit worried about the visual style based on the trailers, but Atomic Blonde is a gorgeous film. Despite taking place in 1980's Berlin (It looks bleak as hell), it still managed to be bright and beautiful with a vibrant color pallet with strong neon blues and reds. I also loved the neon spray paint for the titles and scene transitions.

Being set in the '80s, there is a huge variety of pop music from the era, from David Bowie and New Order and even slowed down German covers of songs you may know well, it was all gravy to my ears. I even really liked Tyler Bates score, which invoked The Neon Demon score to me for some reason.


Atomic Blonde might not excel with its storytelling, but for the most part its an insanely fun and violent ride with excellent turns from Charlize Theron and James McAvoy. One of the best action films of the year.

8/10 Dans

Atomic Blonde is out now in cinemas in the UK
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Split (2016) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written January 16th, 2017*

"Unleash the beast"

I had high hopes for Split. I am a fan of Shyamalan, despite this triple whammy of garbage in the form of The Happening, Avatar: The Last Airbender and After Earth. He luckily made a comeback in 2015 with The Visit, so I was expecting this to be another part of his comeback, which it was. Split is not what I expected, I was expecting a more "fun" film, but instead it's a slow-burning and tense film that explodes into utter nonsense and chaos. Which I loved.

A lot has been said about James McAvoy's performance as someone split personality disorder who kidnaps 3 teenage girls and keeps them locked up until he's ready to unleash his final personality 'The Beast'. It's clearly evident that McAvoy is having the time of his life. The focus is on a few of his 23 personalities, each creepy, unsettling and at times funny, in their own way. This is also the second time McAvoy has performed in drag since 2013's excellent 'Filth'. I've got a soft spot for seeing actors in drag, so this was a joy.

Split is at its most entertaining when we see McAvoy having fun with his different roles. At some point in the film I realized, this wasn't to be taken seriously and enjoyed it all the more for it. Despite that, there are some genuine moments of tension and unsettling scenes. I was suprised at some of the uncomfortable places they go with these young girls.

Out the young girls that are kidnapped, the only one who leaves an impression is Anya Taylor-Joy who I only really know from The Witch, but she's great here. I'm not entirely sure what her arc or what we were meant to take from it. There's some self-harm in there that in the end, might send the wrong message. There's also interment flashbacks where we learn about her childhood and why she's the way she is. I'm not entirely sure about some of M. Night's earlier work, but his last film had similar themes to do with daddy issues. So that seems to be popping up in his films lately.

With the direction, M. Night has made a gorgeous film filled with tons of beautiful shots and camera work. The disgusting factory the girls are kept in is visually interesting and led way for some very unsettling and claustraphobic scenes. The score is also really good and elevated the feeling. It reminded me a little of Sicario.

M. Night is a man known mostly for his twists. Some good (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable) and some downright moronic (The Happening). I won't spoil it, but in the chaotic final scenes things get a little silly, weird and supernatural, which I'm not too sure how I feel about. But the final twist is definitely one I didn't see coming and makes me very excited for Shyamalan's future films. I'd also recommend watching some of his earlier films to understand the twist. That's all I'll say.

Split is another film to add to M. Night Shyamalan's comeback, and to be honest, I might even go as far to say that M. Night is competely back. A tense, fun, beautifully shot thriller that features two great performances from James McAvoy and Anya Taylor-Joy.
  
8/10 Dans

Split is out now on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
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Filth (2013) - Film Review

Review:

Filth is a stunning character study of one of the most tragic, despicable and disgusting anti-heroes in film history. From the hazy direction that makes the film look like a hangover in itself to James McAvoy's powerhouse performance.

You know a performance is good when you still care about such a horrible character after all the awful, disturbing and disgusting things he does. I'm not joking when I say McAvoy's performance is one of the best of all-time. The fact that this performance wasn't nominated for an Oscar shows just how out of touch and what a joke the Oscars are. McAvoy gives the performance of his life here and it's more or less forgotten.

The best way to describe Filth is a Scottish version of The Wolf of Wall Street, but far more interesting and tragic, and in all honesty, better. It's fast-paced and wonderfully depraved in the best way possible. The dark comedy is often hilarious, even if it as at the expense of horrible people doing terrible things.

James McAvoy giving the performance of his life

The music choices here are all fantastic, even a cover of Creep by Radio Head that closes the film in one of the biggest gut-punches of an ending I've seen in such a long time. Clint Mansell's score is also fantastic, it perfectly lends itself to the depraved insanity happening on screen.

While the background characters are arguably underdeveloped, I didn't have a problem with this. It was all about McAvoy's Bruce Robertson at the heart of it all. His strange, unique and hazy story is unlike anything I've ever seen before. The murder mystery story at the centre of the film is borderline incompherensibe, but above all, this was a character study of a deeply troubled and pathetic man.

Filth is an incredible piece of indie-drama that is disgustingly unknown and deserves far more recognition that it has got. This is honestly the only film where you'll laugh and feel oddly sorry for a drug-addicted, racist and paedophile police officer.

10/10 Dans

Filth is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK. It is also streaming on Netflix.
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