Battle Royale 2: Requiem (2003) - Review

Review:

*Originally written November 15th, 2016*

Jesus Christ. Where do I begin with this atrocity? I love the first Battle Royale, it's one of my favourite films. While I have brief images in my head of this sequel from when I was very young, I had never seen it fully. After rewatching the original yesterday, I thought now would be a good time to amend that. What a mistake.

The story of Battle Royale 2: Requiem intrigued me, and I really like the idea of it. The survivors of the first film start a terrorist movement against the government for what they had to go through. The government responds to this by altering Battle Royale a little and rounding up another classroom of teens to assault the terrorists. Sounds great, I'm glad they didn't rehash the first story, but the results are awful.

Not a single one of these kids are memorable. I never once cared when they died. The performances are all horrific too, especially the insanely over the top bad guy, who I loathed every minute on screen. I know the first wasn't exactly an in depth character study, but at least some of that cast were memorable and had some depth. It was nice to see some of the original characters pop up in the story through present day and flashbacks, it's just I wish they did something better with them.

My biggest problem is just how flawed his whole exercise was. The explosive collars are now paired together, so when one of them dies, they both die. What a stupid idea this was. The governments plan for taking down a group of terrorists is to send in soldiers that die two at a time? Why? That's so, so stupid.

Requiem still carries that OTT manga style gore from the first one, but it has none of the impact when you don't care for any of the events that unfold. A lot of the action is poorly done too, a lot of ugly and dirty shakey-cam and an increase on cheap looking CGI blood. The first major action scenes completely riffs off Saving Private Ryan's Normandy beach scene, but when it's done this badly, it feels like an insult.

I wish I hadn't bothered with this. A completely soulless and awful cash-in on the first and just terrible all round. I will add this film runs at 135 minutes, which is absurd for such a relatively simple concept. Honestly, just watch the first one again instead.


2/10 Dans

Battle Royale 2: Requiem is out now on DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

Follow us:
Twitter: @FigmentReviews
Instagram: @FRFigmentReviews
YouTube: Figment Reviews 
Letterboxd: Dan
Facebook

Come and Find Me (2016) - Review

Review:

*Originally written November 28th, 2016*

Aaron Paul is an actor I adore. He was part of the heart and soul of Breaking Bad and gave one of the finest performances in TV history, but he really needs and deserves better film roles.

Come and Find Me is a dumb, uninspired and bland thriller. Paul's girlfriend goes missing one day and he's goes on a year long search to find her, but she wasn't who she says she was. This whole thing goes to such silly places that I wasn't expecting. 

It feels like the second film to riff on Gone Girl this year (Along with the painfully average The Girl on the Train), but once again it is nowhere near engaging as David Fincher's deranged masterpiece. This is a fairly cheap and by the numbers VOD thriller.

Paul gives a reliable performance as always, but everything feels so dull and it gets more stupid till it reaches boiling point with a very unsatisfying ending. Sometimes VOD films can give you hidden gems, other reasons it shows why it didn't make it to theatres. Come and Find Me is another one of those films that it's not surprising it didn't hit theatres.


Come and Find Me is a disappointing thriller and a waste of the talents of Aaron Paul, who really should just stick to TV unless he gets a decent film role. Because as it stands, his best post-Breaking Bad role is Need for Speed....


3/10 Dans

Come and Find Me is out now on DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

Follow us:
Twitter: @FigmentReviews
Instagram: @FRFigmentReviews
YouTube: Figment Reviews 
Letterboxd: Dan
Facebook

Triple Frontier (2019) - Netflix Review

Review:

*Originally written March 13th, 2019*

A rare Netflix Original Film that is actually damn great. I was intrigued by this due to the cast and crew involved. I remember very little about it, but I remember liking J.C. Chandor's A Most Violent Year. My only worry about this was the fact it was a Netflix Original. They obviously have a tendency to completely waste a talented filmmakers time by releasing what seems like a low-effort, straight to video release. Just look at Dan Gilroy, who went from the masterpiece Nightcrawler to the Netflix Original Velvet Buzzsaw. 

Thankfully, this wasn't the case, Triple Frontier is a gripping action thriller that slowly builds its character and plot to familiar places, but is no less engaging thanks to the strong performances from the cast, great action and compelling, no nonsense script. It's a pretty simple script, a group of ex-servicemen come together to rob a drug lord in South America for millions of dollars so they can all leave their dead-end lives behind. Things escalate and things don't go to plan as they have to fight their way out of the country with whatever money they can carry.

It's simple, but effective stuff, made better by the fact I have a huge soft-spot for heist films, but this goes above and beyond the solid, if messy, similarly budgeted heist films of recent years (Den of Thieves and Triple 9 come to mind). Thanks to J.C. Chandor's effective direction, every moment of the actually heist is a tense affair with some cold and brutal violence mixed in their too, plus some good morality plays from the characters were a welcome addition.

I did appreciate the time built towards building the characters before the actual heist takes place. Being an ensemble cast, some of the characters get sidelined a bit as the focus is mostly on Ben Affleck, Charlie Hunnam and Oscar Isaac.  All three do a fantastic job, Affleck in particular as the rugged and weary soldier trying to turn his life around as he slowly gets more greedy once he sees the stakes of what he's got himself into. Hunnam is someone who has never really managed to find much success outside of Sons of Anarchy, like most TV actors going into film, thankfully, this is by far his best film role I've seen to date from him. Then Isaac is still a massively charismatic presence that I was surprised to find out pretty much leads the film and carries the most screen-time. 

One of things rare and always welcome from a Netflix film is how much this actually looks like a real and cinematic film, unlike most of their other releases that look more in line with high budget TV than an actually film, mostly due to the gross, high-key lighting. Triple Frontier looks pretty gorgeous, making the most of its lush, South American setting. Watching this in 4K with Dolby Vision was a treat in itself, I wish Netflix would start releasing films physically, as I would happily own 4K copies of this, Beasts of No Nation, Apostle and Roma. 

As an action film, this also works extremely well. The set-pieces are cold, brutal and pack a hell of a punch. Nothing feels gratuitous or over the top. There's no moment of bombastic heroics or Rambo like actions, it's just brutal and when people die, it's with no fanfare or sentimentality, they just drop dead and it feels cold and realistic. It was obvious from the get-go that not everyone makes it out here alive, but even knowing that, it was still a surprise to see what characters actually don't make it.


Triple Frontier is one of Netflix's best original films to date. A gorgeous, brutal heist thriller with a great cast who all have their time to shine. Netflix films are actually starting to get better, for the most part.

8/10 Dans

Triple Frontier is streaming now on Netflix worldwide
Watch the trailer below:

Follow us:
Twitter: @FigmentReviews
Instagram: @FRFigmentReviews
YouTube: Figment Reviews 
Letterboxd: Dan
Facebook

Apostle (2018) - Netflix Review

Review:

*Originally written October 12th, 2018*

It's a rare thing to get a good Netflix Original film, it's even rarer to get a great one. Despite the inclusion of Gareth Evans, Dan Stevens and the atmospheric trailers, I had my reservations about Apostle. Netflix have the supreme talent of wasting excellent crews on films that end up being utterly mediocre. To my surprise, Apostle is one of Netflix's best films and one of the best horror films of the year so far.

Thomas Richardson (Dan Stevens) finds himself on a remote island populated by a cult run by Prophet Malcolm (Michael Sheen) as he attempts to find his kidnapped sister as he uncovers the more insane and disturbing goings on on the island. There's clear inspiration to The Wicker Man here, but with Evans kinetic direction, it feels like a Wicker Man homage on crack.

I was unsure at how Evans would do with horror after doing so well with action. Thankfully though, he is a very safe pair of hands, his direction reveals some shocking and horrific moments of brutality and he really knows how to build suspense and create an atmosphere. The design of the island is gorgeous, filled with some incredible cinematography. This is one of those Netflix films that actually looks like a film too, not a glorified, made-for-TV film with a budget. It also looks fantastic with Netflix's 4K output. I really wish they'd release some of their films on UHD. 

There's a slow build up to the action and gore heavy second half, but it's all worth the wait. Evans stretches every moment of tension out as long as he can without it feeling unwelcome. I could argue the film is a bit too long, but I was pretty engrossed most of the time to argue that. I just wish I got to see this on a big-screen and not at home. I imagine I would have loved this even more in a cinema.

Once things do kick off in the second half, it is extremely nasty and grotesque. When people die in this film, they die. There are some utterly vile and painful to watch kills in Apostle and it really justifies that lovely 18 rating it got the UK. Evans does not shy away from any of the brutality, even some of the close to martial arts stuff is pretty brutal. It's not quiet as frantic and choreographed as The Raid 2 for instance, but it's a very welcome addition to a horror film.

Where Apostle does falter a bit is with its characters, there's not really a lot there in terms of character. Dan Stevens does a wonderful job with his performance and with some of the more physical stuff, but I just there was more there with his character. His motivation is pretty sound and easy to get behind, but some forced flashbacks are a bit shoe-horned in to flesh out his character, but don't always work.

Some viewers might find things a little too weird and ambiguous with the goings on in the cult.  The final shot is bound to raise questions and leave the viewer wondering what the hell just happened (As it did with me), but it made me want to rewatch it again in the future. World building and mystery is definitely something Apostle does very right.


Apostle isn't without its problems, but for a Netflix Original film, it is damn excellent. A dark, brutal and involving mystery horror with gorgeous direction and a solid lead performance from Dan Stevens. I'll always just wish I got to see it in cinema though. 

8/10 Dans 

Apostle is streaming now on Netflix worldwide
Watch the trailer below:

Follow us:
Twitter: @FigmentReviews
Instagram: @thesurprisingadventuresofdanb
YouTube: Figment Reviews 
Letterboxd: Dan
Facebook

The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) - Film Review

Review:

Netflix surprised everyone at the 2018 Super Bowl, not only did they release a trailer for the untitled Cloverfield film (Now titled 'The Cloverfield Paradox'), but they also made the shocking announcement that the film was released and ready to watch that same day. It's a ballsy move that certainly raises questions and sets an interesting precedent on how films are released, but after watching it, it's easy to see why this was released on Netflix rather than theaters. 

The Cloverfield franchise itself has been a very interesting one. First we had a found-footage monster film that sparked a new age of mystery (I was only 11, but I remember all the hype and excitement of the viral marketing. People guessing what the monster would look like etc), it was the golden age of internet film fandom, back when IMDB had message boards, remember those? That came and went, with rumblings about a sequel which never surfaced until 2016, when a trailer was dropped for 10 Cloverfield Lane, which was releasing only a couple of months after the trailer was shown. 

I was hugely excited for this. I liked the idea of these little anthology horror/thrillers taking place in the same world. Now it's a shame that the series may have just faded into nothingness with this extremely disappointing dud of a sci-fi thriller. Once you look a little closer into the troubled production of Cloverfield Paradox, you start to see why this was released the way it was. It went over budget and Paramount were sure it would flop, so they sold it to Netflix for a small profit and cut their losses there.

On a space station titled 'Cloverfield' a group of bland scientists discover that the Earth has disappeared after an experiment goes wrong, weird shit goes on and things go pretty much how you'd expect. This isn't a problem, I'm fine with formulaic films as long they at least have some character or something to grab you. It's just there's nothing here.

Despite it's $50 million budget, it looks like garbage. This doesn't look like a film, aside from a few visual flourishes, this looks like an expensive TV pilot, and I'm not sure how this happened. I watched the first episode of Netflix's Altered Carbon recently and despite being a TV show, it actually looks more like a film than this does. It feels like some Asylum knock-off of Life (Which was a fairly generic sci-fi horror in itself, but it at least had fun with it).

The cast are nothing, vastly underwritten objects that spout poorly written exposition in ways that get more and more laughable. Chris O'Dowd does bring some fun to proceedings, but his character gets more irritating once you realise he is nothing more than comic relief and absolutely nothing beneath the surface. I'm a week removed from this film and I'm failing to recall anyone's name. 

Things happen in this film without any real explanation. We're told "Parallel Universes are colliding", but this doesn't explain why so much happens, including some outrageous coincidences. Some cool stuff does happen though, the stuff with the hand was morbidly funny in an odd way and last shot of the film is pretty easy to figure out early on, but it still brings back a familiar face and gets me a bit excited for the future of the series, despite the problems this film has caused.

While most of the events take place on the space station, a side-plot (That goes absolutely nowhere) takes place on Earth during what we assume is the first Cloverfield. I was all for this, but the story line is aimless, pointless and leads to nothing. Making me wonder why an extra 20 minutes was added to this mess in the first place. I know this had reshoots to tie it in to the Cloverfield brand, so I assume this was shoehorned in to pay some fan service. It doesn't work.

One of the biggest problems here is the attempts to over explain things for the franchise. They couldn't just let them happen with no explanation, they had to come up with some lame reasons why the events of the first and second films happened, who cares? A giant monster attacks a city, we don't need a franchise to explain why. 


I saw it the day it was announced, which is the most interesting thing about this mess. We're only in the third Cloverfield film and it seems like they've already ruined it in this bland, poorly written mess. Here's hoping 'Overlord' is better than this.

4/10 Dans

The Cloverfield Project is streaming now on Netflix UK
Watch the trailer below:

Follow us:
Twitter: @FigmentReviews and @ArronRoke91
Instagram: @thesurprisingadventuresofdanb and @ArronRoke
YouTube: Figment Reviews 
Letterboxd: Dan and Arron
Facebook

Den of Thieves (2018) - Film Review

Review:

I had no expectations for Den of Thieves, a mediocre heist film released in January starring Gerard Butler and 50 Cent, much to my surprise I really enjoyed this throwaway crime-thriller for better or worse. If nothing else, it was great to see Butler give a decent performance.

There's not a lot to the story (Despite the absurd length), cops vs criminals and it all collides leading up to a daring heist the criminals are planning. Only this time the cops are corrupt. It's nothing special or particularly interesting, but I have a real soft spot for both heist films and films about corrupt cops.

Gerard Butler is far and away the best part of this whole thing. His performance is odd, fascinating and unhinged. There's moments of brutality and he's actually quite funny too. Although I'm not entirely sure if I was laughing at the film or with it. This is the sort of role Butler was born to do, not those awful rom-coms or family dramas he seems to get roped into. 

For a first time director, Christian Gudegast does an insanely good job and shows real promise as a director. He films action extremely well, the set-pieces have shades of Michael Mann in them while retaining it's own gritty and visceral style. There's not actually a lot of action here, but Gudegast manages to create tension within most of the scenes (One of the final scenes reminded me quite a lot of the highway scene in Sicario, although obviously not as effective). 

For the problems, the script is a total trainwreck, it's utter trash. Which makes me sound like I hated it, but I actually had a lot of fun with just how bad some of the lines were and the big twist at the end is one of the most outrageous things I'm likely to see from a 2018 film. I was in disbelief at that sequel-baiting final shot.

With such a big ensemble cast of characters, everyone aside from the two leads are very underdeveloped. Butler and O'Shea Jackson Jr. steal the spotlight, but everyone else is just left as blanks. Pablo Schreiber (Pornstache from Orange is the New Black) is just wasted in a forgettable villain that does not earn any of the emotional payoff it thinks it deserves towards the end. Most of the emotional payoffs are actually laughably bad (One involving a single tear drop was outstanding).

Being nearly two and a half hours does this whole thing no favours either, this is barbarically overlong and the could have used some serious trimming in the middle during the build-up to the heist. There's a really breezy action-film here, but at 140 minutes, it is a bit of a slog.


Den of Thieves is what it is, a January throwaway action film with some incredibly directed action, a committed performance from Gerard Butler and it's just a fun trashy time overall, it could have just done with some trimming and a better script. Really hope to see a spin-off starring Gerard Butler's 'Big Nick' though. 

6/10 Dans

Den of Thieves is out now in cinemas in the UK
Watch the trailer:

Follow us:
Twitter: @FigmentReviews and @ArronRoke91
Instagram: @thesurprisingadventuresofdanb and @ArronRoke
YouTube: Figment Reviews 
Letterboxd: Dan and Arron
Facebook

The Commuter (2018) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written January 31st, 2017*

For better or worse, The Commuter is exactly what you'd expect from a Liam Neeson action-thriller directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. Their previous collaborations Unknown, Non-Stop and Run All Night have all been perfectly serviceable genre films that entertain and deliver exactly what they're meant to, which is not a bad thing. The Commuter is a blast.

Liam Neeson plays an ex-cop shoved in an extreme situation involving his daily commute on the train. After a woman offers him a large some of money to point out who on the train doesn't belong, he's pitted in a conspiracy with twists and turns that just don't stop till the end.

This is hardly high-art, it's essentially fast-food cinema, you enjoy it a hell of a lot, but you feel it dumbs you down. There are obvious comparisons to a previous film Neeson and this director did, this is pretty much Non-Stop, but on a train. Collet-Serra has definitely improved as a director with each film he's done with Neeson. While Run All Night is probably my favourite of their films, this is a close second.

It opens with a really cool and visually interesting montage of Neeson's daily routine done in a very impressive style. It's much more than I expected from a film like this. It sets everything all up very well, Neeson noticing the regular commuters before things kick-in, building his motivation to take the money and go along with the offer. It all works.

There are extreme lacks in logic, as one would expect and the film very literally goes off the rails in the final act, but I'd be lying if I couldn't overlook these things, as I was having so much fun with it. The twists are mostly obvious and telegraphed very early, that said, I was still very much into the mystery and got wrapped up in the whole thing. There is some some very awful dialogue here and there, to the point where I laughed out loud at the cheesiness of it all and Patrick Wilson's character is named 'Alex Murphy' for some reason and he doesn't even turn out to be Robocop.

Even at the age of 65, Neeson still kicks ass in a lot of great action scenes littered throughout. The action is pretty quick and brutal, edited nicely and packs a punch. A far cry from the incoherent mess of Taken 3's choppy action. I feel I need to mention Liam Neeson smashes a man's head with a guitar. What more could you want?


The Commuter is exactly what you'd want and expect from a Liam Neeson action film, which is no bad thing. Whether you're laughing with it or at it, there is so much fun to be had with this. I hope Collet-Serra and Neeson continue to work together for a long time.

7/10 Dans

The Commuter is out now in cinemas in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

Follow us:
Twitter: @FigmentReviews and @ArronRoke91
Instagram: @thesurprisingadventuresofdanb and @ArronRoke
YouTube: Figment Reviews 
Letterboxd: Dan and Arron
Facebook

Downsizing (2017) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written January 31st, 2018*

What a waste of potential. Downsizing has a unique and original idea behind, but one that is squandered after a promising first act. Things quickly go downhill as the characters get more annoying and the situations become more aimless and boring.

I never would have thought a film about shrinking humans to try and save the planet could be see bland. The jokes are exactly what you'd expect and it's brutal. After Matt Damon gets shrunk he checks his penis to make sure it's in proportion to his body, it's that sort of thing. All the real jokes are in the trailer and the film is played straight for the most part, apart from bizarre and unfunny jokes about the word "Fucking" instead, most of the film is played relatively straight. 

Most of the time I was just annoyed about the quirkiness of it all and the film is nowhere near as smart as it believes it is. There's a few lines about the humans impact on the environment, immigration and if little people should have the same rights as fully grown human beings. Any potentially interesting story-line is wasted in place of a boring romance that descends into a grating final act. If I had the choice, I probably would have walked out. 

I need to get my biggest gripe out the way, Hong Chau's character, a Vietnamese woman with one leg who becomes Matt Damon's love interest for the remaining two acts of the film. She is brutal. What shocked me is that the actress was actually Vietnamese and she took this role, as she's written as this frankly tasteless and annoying character that comes off as just a huge bit racist. It feels like a Team America archetype brought to life. 

It's not all bad though, there are some things to like, Christoph Waltz is fun in his role as a party hard European and has a lot of likeable charm. Then there is a lot of creativity on display here, we've come a long way from Honey, I Shrunk the Kids in the ability to create convincing effects for shrinking people and in all honesty, it looks pretty good. That's it though, the rest of the film is garbage. Matt Damon is fine I will say, completely fine, nothing special, but he does okay.


Downsizing is a complete waste of potential, a fascinating sci-fi premise that starts well but ends up as one of the worst films I've seen so far this year. A huge misfire from Alexander Payne.

3/10 Dans

Downsizing is out now in cinemas in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

Follow us:
Twitter: @FigmentReviews and @ArronRoke91
Instagram: @thesurprisingadventuresofdanb and @ArronRoke
YouTube: Figment Reviews 
Letterboxd: Dan and Arron
Facebook

Ratchet and Clank (2016) - Film review

Review:

*Originally written May 3rd, 2016*

I was fairly excited for Ratchet and Clank when it was first announced back at E3 a few years ago, I'm a huge fan of the video games, so I was praying to god that they could make a good film out of it. With the creative team behind the video games working on the film, I was hoping that this could be the adaptations that breaking video game movie curse. It sadly wasn't.

Based on the first game in the series, Ratchet and Clank tells the story of Ratchet, a mechanic and last of his species who dreams of bigger things and wants to join the Space Rangers, a universe defending team. He gets his chance at this when he meets Clank, a small robot with information about an insane villain who wants to destroy the universe or something.

This franchise was always Pixar brought to life in video game form, so it was pretty ripe for an animated film. So it is such a shame that this fails to capture that magic that Pixar usually conjure. The look of game is captured pretty well. The animation does look pretty and the characters and design all look excellent.

Maybe I'm just getting old and cynical, but this was just a pretty run of the mill kids film filled with lame humour and childish gags. I know this is a kids film, but in all honesty, the target audience is people my age (18-20) who grew up playing the games. I'm not saying that it needed to be full of swearing and violence. I just expected funnier jokes than the cheap slapstick we got here.

It tells the same story the first game and the new one (Which is much better than the film). The voice cast from the game all the return, which was nice, including some voice work from Sylvester Stallone and John Goodman. 

The characters are the only real thing that saves the film from utter garbage. Ratchet and Clank are likeable as ever and Captain Qwark is still hilarious and everything that comes out of his mouth is gold, he's basically Zapp Brannigan from Futurama. 

This whole thing just felt like a cheap and cynical ploy to promote the new game. There's no heart or soul to this film at all. It runs at 90 minutes, but still feels so much longer. I wanted it to end so many times throughout.

One of the things that makes Ratchet and Clank so great is the creativity of the weapons, but there is nothing here apart from some guns that make no more than a cameo. All the action itself is flat and uninventive with no emotional weight either. It was all just so bland.


Ratchet and Clank isn't the video game movie adaptation you were hoping for, which is just a shame. It's just a cheap and cynical cash-in to promote the new game. The director of this is also directing the Sly Cooper film, my faith in that has dwindled.

4/10 Dans

Ratchet and Clank is out now on DVD in the UK

Watch the trailer below:

Follow us:
Twitter: @FigmentReviews and @ArronRoke91
Instagram: @thesurprisingadventuresofdanb and @ArronRoke
YouTube: Figment Reviews 
Letterboxd: Dan and Arron
Facebook

Edge of Tomorrow (2014) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written May 13th, 2015*

Edge of Tomorrow always surprises me with each watch. I doubt many people asked "What would Groundhog Day be like as a sci-fi action film?". But amazingly, the concept works far better than it should.

It's insanely entertaining and a brisk 2 hour watch with an excellent performance from Tom Cruise who plays against type here as a coward Major who is forced into a battle and obtains the ability to repeat the day every time he dies after an encounter with an "Alpha Mimic". I was surprised at just how funny this was too, Cruise manages to balance both comedy and bad-ass action hero both effortlessly.

Cruises character builds more as the film goes on, going from an incompetent soldier who doesn't even know how to turn the safety of his weapon to a bad-ass who doesn't even have to look when killing an alien. It's almost like a video game, it even feels like a video game at times. It'd probably go as far as saying this is the best video game movie ever made, except it's not based on a video game.

The design of the mech-suits and aliens are really creative and so much better than alien designs we've had from recent films (Battle: Los Angeles). The action is inventive and fun, the opening scene that was very reminiscent of D-Day, but with aliens and soldiers in mech-suits. The whole dying and coming back to life thing could have made for some very repetitive action and scenes, but they manage to keep it interesting all the way through from beginning to end.

Emily Blunt provides the highlight of the film as the 'Full Metal Bitch' a hardened soldier who helps Cruise as she went through what he did at some point. She manages to outshine Cruise at points, making for a compelling co-lead, delivering some great action too.


The only thing that lets Edge of Tomorrow down is its ending, which in all honesty doesn't make much sense. That aside, It is one of the best and most enjoyable blockbusters of recent years. A sequel has also been announced, but I'm not entirely sure what the point would be?

9/10 Dans

Edge of Tomorrow is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

Follow us:
Twitter: @FigmentReviews and @ArronRoke91
Instagram: @thesurprisingadventuresofdanb and @ArronRoke
YouTube: Figment Reviews 
Letterboxd: Dan and Arron
Facebook

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written May 15th, 2015*

Some background with me and the Mad Max films: I had never previously seen a Mad Max film before December last year, I picked up the Blu-ray box-set and cracked on the first one. I was vastly disappointed, it was an ugly, incoherent mess of a film. The car chases and action were excellent for its day, especially taking into account the shoe-string budget, but the story was muddled and disjointed to the point where we had to check Wikipedia to see what had happened.

Thankfully Road Warrior was a vast improvement, with a story that you could actually follow and action scenes that were some of the best for its time, It still had it's problems but it was very watchable. It kinda felt like Evil Dead, the first was messy, but the sequel allowed the director to create the vision he wanted with a bigger budget. Now the last entry, Beyond Thunderdome was another mess, but it had its moments, it starts of all well, but eventually went to this strange family-friendly place that felt like Spielberg meets Lord of the Flies, which created a weird film that was tonally disjointed from the previous two.

Now after 30 years, Mad Max is back with Tom Hardy in Mel Gibson's seat as the titular anti-hero and the results are the birth of one of the best action films made in the past decade or so.
While not a reboot or remake of the first, Fury Road is a hybrid of a sequel and reboot, the past events of the last 3 films are all canon, but it feels like a completely new story and you really don't need to watch the first 3 to understand.

Fury Road places a reluctant Mad Max helping Furiosa (Charlize Theron) get Immortan Joe's (Hugh Keays-Byrne) sex slaves away from him and to the safety of the 'Green Land'. This is essentially the whole story that's told over a 2-hour chase scene.

It works perfectly. The action scenes are some of the most perfect I've ever seen on film. Apart from some weather effects (Which does look incredible) there is an outstanding reliance on practical effects and a very minimum and restrained use of CGI. I was amazed at how they filmed a lot of this, there are cars and trucks being totaled and blown up with the actors clearly in a close proximity. This film is true film-making at its finest.

The action scenes are accompanied by an excellent score which was composed by 'XL Junkie' (Yep). The music works its way into the film through a guy playing a guitar that's part flamethrower on top of one of the vehicles. Fury Road is filled with demented genius like this, the character and set designs are all excellent. The idea of having Mad Max as a human blood-bag for Nicholas Hoult for the first 40 minutes or so of the film was a risky idea that payed off.

Surprisingly, for a film called 'Mad Max' the lead character does not say much and spends a third of the film tied to a car with a muzzle attached to him. Which works fine, as Charlize Theron's character was great to watch, an amputee with a robot hand steals the show more than Tom Hardy, that's an achievement right there.


Perfectly paced, easy to follow and featuring some of the best action ever put on screen, Mad Max: Fury Road is a strange masterpiece in creative film-making that is so unique and different from anything that is released these days, that it has to be seen. 

10/10 Dans

Mad Max: Fury Road is out now on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

Follow us:
Twitter: @FigmentReviews and @ArronRoke91
Instagram: @thesurprisingadventuresofdanb and @ArronRoke
YouTube: Figment Reviews 
Letterboxd: Dan and Arron
Facebook

In Bruges (2008) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written January 26th, 2018*

It's been a while since I've seen In Bruges and when I last saw it, I was far too young to appreciate how truly great this hilarious, violent and horrific crime-comedy was. After seeing Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri recently, I knew the time was right to finally revisit this.

And it was worth it, this was far better, meaningful and more funny than ever remember it being. Yes, it's violent, foul-mouthed and mean-spirited at times, but it does have a beating heart at the centre of it with the two lead, morally confused hit-men played by Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. 

After two hit-men fail a job due to the accidental death of a bystander, they are ordered to lay low in the Belgium city of Bruges. Much of the film is just these two characters exploring the city while discussing their feelings of regret and guilt surrounding their work, and it works very well. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about Colin Farrell as an actor overall, but he nails it here as the conflicted hitman who caused the death of a child. Brendan Gleeson is also great here as the more focused and more member as the duo, which surprises me as Gleeson is an actor I usually associate with atrocious British crime films, so it was nice to see him pop up one one that was actually good.

By far the most memorable performance was Ralph Fiennes as the boss of the two hit-men, he plays it utterly psychotic and it is just a pure joy to watch every scene he's in. He reminded me a lot of Ben Kingsley's character in Sexy Beast. There's something about his performance that adds a lot to what could have been a one-note psychopath, but Fiennes really manages to bring complexity to the character.

The titular city of Bruges is actually a really gorgeous place too and made for some gorgeous cinematography. The city in surreal and fairy tale like. I always appreciate a film that takes place in a sleepy town that mixes chaotic, extreme violence and bizarre scenes that include a dwarf on ketamine. I'd forgot just how violent this film was too, there is some really extreme stuff here, especially in the last act, which it builds to perfectly.

Even with its dark subject matter, it's extremely funny too and filled with a ton of memorable lines and jokes. There are some fantastic pay-offs to throwaway scenes that are there if you pay enough attention to the dialogue, it almost reminded me of Edgar Wright. I'm sure I'll find even more to love on rewatches with In Bruges. 


Martin McDonagh's debut film is a triumph and so far, the strongest film in his career, a darkly funny, brutal and often touching story of two hit-men in Bruges. I can't wait to watch this again.

10/10 Dans

In Bruges is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

Follow us:
Twitter: @FigmentReviews and @ArronRoke91
Instagram: @thesurprisingadventuresofdanb and @ArronRoke
YouTube: Figment Reviews 
Letterboxd: Dan and Arron
Facebook

Loving (2016) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written February 8th, 2017*

I wasn't massively excited for Loving, the trailers made it seem very Oscar baitey, but I did love Jeff Nichol's other film from 2016 'Midnight Special' so I went in with some expectations. And Loving was far more meaningful and heartfelt that I imagined it would be.

It tells the story of a shameful time in American history. An interracial couple are treated awfully, arrested even purely for the fact they of a different race. It is disgusting and blood boiling seeing and knowing people who love each other were treated like this for such nonsensical reasons.

One of my worries about this is how unsubtle I thought it would be. I imagined the audience would be beaten over the head with the theme of this, but it didn't. It all felt real and the opposite of flashy. It's engaging and meaningful, but quiet and poignant at the same time.

This is mostly due to Joel Edgerton's performance, who was great. He was really quiet, mumbled and subdued. There's no moments of over the top rage and anger, it's all restrained and made it far more believable. Ruth Negga was also fantastic as the wife, really earning her nomination with her sad and strong performance.

I really wish the film dedicated more time to developing the couples relationship. There are some really strong and genuinely moving moments, like a brief scene with them sat on the sofa together laughing at the TV that really got me invested in their love, but there's not a lot of this and most of the film focuses on the variety of different obstacles they have to go through in order to make their marriage legal with the help of a lawyer who takes their case for free.

What I really loved is how unsentimental and unmanipulative this felt. Films like this tend to bash you over the head with big emotional moments, but here it all felt earned and natural. The end is a real gut-punch that I didn't see coming and just a sad bit of reality added to what this couple had to endure. It just left me feeling dead inside.


Loving is a powerful and understated drama with fantastic lead performances and real emotional weight. A really pleasant surprise I didn't see coming.

8/10 Dans

Loving is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

Follow us:
Twitter: @FigmentReviews and @ArronRoke91
Instagram: @thesurprisingadventuresofdanb and @ArronRoke
YouTube: Figment Reviews 
Letterboxd: Dan and Arron
Facebook

The Lego Batman Movie (2017) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written February 14th, 2017*

Batman films have had a rocky road these last few years. I wasn't a big fan of The Dark Knight Rises, Batman V Superman was a mess and the recent animated films weren't great. 2014's Lego Movie on the other hand was a pleasant surprise in a way no one expected and Will Arnett's Batman stole the show, so it was inevitable he would get his own film. I wasn't the most keen on this idea, but somehow they not only topped The Lego Movie, they also managed to make the best Batman film since The Dark Knight.

The story starts The Dark Knight in an interesting place. In denial about his loneliness, he raises an orphan he accidentally adopts at a charity auction and has to stop The Joker from releasing all the villains from 'The Phantom Zone'. It's an incredibly simple concept, which lasted a breezy 100 minutes (Beautiful).

This really captured what made The Lego Movie truly great. It has a heart and all the characters are great. We really care about this Bruce Wayne/Batman who has vulnerability and humanity under his snarky ego and obnoxiousness, far more to root for than Ben Affleck's psychotic kill crazy Batman. Will Arnett is also great as the voice, I'm not entirely sure how to judge voice acting, but I'd say Arnett bought a lot to the role.

Michael Cera also made for a wonderful Robin, who was adorable and annoying in an endearing and lovable way. Cera's voice captures that always at 11 optimism personality of the character. The animation of his facial expressions were great, especially the way his eyes enlarged behind his glasses. It made it impossible not to love this character.

I won't list every cast member, because the array of voice actors on display here is insane. I will say that Zach Galifinakis wasn't the most memorable as The Joker, I liked the design of his character, but he did not leave as much of a lasting impact. The cameos from the other villains were much more enjoyable. The spoof of Dark Knight Rises Bane was particularly inspired, complete with mocking Sean Connery like accent. 

There is an outrageous amount of villains here, nearly every single Batman nemesis you can name is here, and even a display of Warner Bros. characters make appearances from the 'Phantom Zone'. I won't spoil them, but think in the vain of The Lego Movie, I was not expecting any of the out of DC villains to show up here. 

As self-referential and meta as the humour is, they make every prior Batman film canon in Lego Batman's universe. There is an insane amount of references to other Batman films and DC in general. There was always so much on display with all the gorgeous stop-motion animation going on, so it was hard to digest it all in a single viewing. They even go as far as mocking the critically panned Suicide Squad and Batman v Superman in a few quick throwaway gags.

The animation itself really is beautiful. It does a lot of creative and inventive things. Warner Bros really are doing an incredible job with their Lego universe right now, and as great as it was, it was really depressing to see that a Lego Batman film is far better than anything they're trying to do with their actual DC films universe. I wish Zack Snyder had half the creative talent of the guys working on the Lego movies.


Lego Batman is pure joy. Fast, inventive, extremely funny and heartfelt. One of the best on-screen outings for Batman ever.

9/10 Dans

The Lego Batman Movie is out now on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

Follow us:
Twitter: @FigmentReviews and @ArronRoke91
Instagram: @thesurprisingadventuresofdanb and @ArronRoke
YouTube: Figment Reviews 
Letterboxd: Dan and Arron
Facebook