Defiance (2008) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written October 12th, 2017*

"Fuck Zwick"

While a solid war film, Zwick's clunky sentimentality and script gets in the way of what could have been a great war film. Daniel Craig is great as the lead, once you get past his accent. There is also some decent and visceral action, it's a shame it's ruined by some strange creative choices. There's a set-piece where the Jewish rebels have to steal medicine for their camp and it's done in this really strange slow-motion that made me think my disc might have been scratched. It was so out of place.

I did like the morality side of things. These rebels were portrayed in a very grey area, which is a risky move in a film about Jewish people fighting back in World War 2. They could have gone completely one sided, but it definitely helped the film by having these murky morals.

This script had some really cringey and bad lines too. At one point Daniel Craig's love interest tells him "You saved me", to which he responded "No. You saved me". Brutal. There's some more lines like that spread throughout, not that I remember much of it. 

Also, featured the obligatory "Lead actor is in an explosion, gets up and sees the chaos around him while the noise is droned out by ringing". Lame.  


I have a feeling revisiting Blood Diamond and The Last Samurai as an adult might be a bad idea at some point. Zwick is not a very good director. Defiance is still far from his godawful low point of a Jack Reacher sequel though.

6/10 Dans

Defiance is out now on Blu-ray and DVD
Watch the trailer below:

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

Allied (2016) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written November 25th, 2016*

"Casablanca 2"

I was looking forward to this, despite my reservations. I wasn't a huge fan of Zemeckis's last R-rated effort 'Flight', which was a heavy handed 2 hour anti-alcohol advert and it feels like I've had to watch the Allied trailer about 30 times in the past month. 

This fictionalized World War 2 romance was an excellent piece of work from Zemeckis and easily his most mature work in a while. Tense, engaging and packed a lot of emotional weight with its ending. Which are all things I didn't expect from Allied.

I was taken back by its slow pace. If anyone was expecting this to Mr and Mrs Smith meets Inglorious Basterds, then just don't bother. This was a deliberately paced drama with a little bit of action thrown in. There's a wide variety of locations. The first act takes place in Casablanca, while the rest of the film takes place in London. While the scenes in Casablanca looked beautiful, the change of scenery to WW2 era London was welcome. There is also some lovely period production design and costumes, which made me really feel like I was watching a film from the era.

The relationship between Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard (Who both give great performances) feel real and genuine, despite taking a little time to get there. The two had real chemistry that made everything all that more impactful. Honestly, the ending I didn't expect to work as well as it did on me, but by the end I was very invested and felt dead inside after. In a good way.

My only real complaints are the predictability of the plot (There's only really one way could have gone) and sometimes Zemeckis's digital photography is glaringly obvious in some scenes that looked horrifically green screened. That said, while the story is predictable, it is no less engaging. And while the action is far and few between, the few set-pieces are well shot and pack a visceral punch. It feels odd seeing violent scenes in a Zemeckis film, but I guess he's branching out now.


Allied is a slow-burn, but a totally worthy World War 2 drama about doomed romance. Excellent lead performances, well-shot and the ending really is one of the bleakest and most heartbreaking things I've seen this year.

8/10 Dans

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

Follow us:
Twitter: @FigmentReviews, @DanBremner96 and @ArronRoke91
Instagram: @DanBremner96 and @ArronRoke
YouTube: Figment Reviews 
Letterboxd: Dan and Arron
Facebook

Dunkirk (2017) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written July 22nd, 2017*

"War. Redefined" 

Holy motherfucking shit! 2017 has been an insane year for cinema so far this year. From Trainspotting 2 to Logan to Baby Driver, it seems to be the year that keeps on giving, Dunkirk is another masterpiece to come from 2017. 

Christopher Nolan is a director I love an adore. All his films have been excellent for me (Except Dark Knight Rises. Fuck that film), he's one of the greatest directors of our time and he's just delivered his best film since The Dark Knight and one of best war films ever made. I know this sounds like hyperbole, but I assure you, it is not.

Dunkirk tells its story in such a unique way, I really wasn't sure what to expect. We get the air, land and sea viewpoint of the events. The event in question being the evacuation of British and French soldiers surrounded with their backs against the ocean on the Dunkirk beach. We're told this through a variety of different characters and time periods that inter-cut throughout the week.

One of the things that had me worried with Dunkirk was its short run-time and lack of character and story. This isn't a film where you follow a fully defined character's story. This is an experience, a visceral, heart-pounding and powerful vision that Christopher Nolan throws you into the middle of. Being just over 100 minutes long also means this doesn't outstay its welcome, being perfectly paced. I was as surprised as anyone when this was announced it wouldn't border a 3 hour run-time, but it still feels like a full experience with its brief length.

Despite not having much to each character, every actor does a fine job. Even One Direction boy Harry Style's fits in wonderfully and doesn't feel out of place at all. Cillian Murphy is excellent as a soldier who is rescued from the ocean by an equally fantastic Mark Rylance who is commanding a small boat heading to Dunkirk to help rescue the stranded soldiers. Lastly, Tom Hardy is also great, even though his dialogue is a little muffled by his mask as he is a spitfire pilot. I would like to rewatch this with subtitles at some point.

Now onto the technical aspects. Shit. Dunkirk is a technical masterpiece. An experience like no other. Everything looks beautiful and feels real, the precision and realism on display is groundbreaking. It's not gory and violent like Hacksaw Ridge or Saving Private Ryan, but creates its atmosphere in other ways. The screen is filled with tension from top to bottom. The sound design is insane, see it as loud as you can. Hans Zimmer's score is one of the best of his career. The incorporation of a ticking clock into the tracks created some of the anxious moments I've ever experienced in cinema.

There's no Hollywood to this film. There's no over the top explosions. No "Fuck yeah!" moments when the good guys turn the table and win. It's just told how it is in the most realistic way possible. The dog-fighting might just be the greatest aerial battles ever put on screen. I loved the way planes didn't explode when they were shot down, they just start smoking and slowly smash into the water in such a cold and clinical way with no glamorisation. It's incredible.

This film is pure dread and tension. The German threat is always off-screen and simply referred to as "The Enemy", giving it an even more unsettling sense. The Enemy could refer to anything, that impending sense of doom, death or whatever you fear, but you know it's coming, making for such a unforgettable experience.

Dunkirk is Christopher Nolan's masterpiece. A unique, powerful war film that defies the conventions and brings some new, beautifully made and classic. Nolan, you are god. I think the Oscars can probably stop their search now.


Bonus points for the mention of Woking (The town I work in)

10/10 Dans

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

Follow us:
Twitter: @FigmentReviews, @DanBremner96 and @ArronRoke91
Instagram: @DanBremner96 and @ArronRoke
YouTube: Figment Reviews 
Letterboxd: Dan and Arron
Facebook

Hacksaw Ridge (2016) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written July 16th, 2017*

"War is Hell"

Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge is certainly one of the better World War 2 films I've seen recently, but it's not without its problems. While Gibson delivers one of the most visceral war experiences on screen since Saving Private Ryan, he sadly blows his load on over the top, patriotic cheesy bullshit the film spent so long trying to avoid until its ludicrous final 5 minutes.

When I say Gibson delivers a visceral World War 2 experience, I mean it. Once the second half kicks in as we hit the battlefield, Hacksaw Ridge becomes one of the most disturbing, horrifying and grotesque visions of war I've ever seen. Gibson pulls no punches. Men are torn in half, burnt and turned into mushy puddles of flesh in a harrowing prolonged scene that introduces us to war. Gibson directs all the war imagery with the utmost precision I would expect from such a talented director.

Where the film faulters however is the first half before we get to the war. I'm not saying the first half is bad, it's just full of odd moments that are at odds with its second half and Andrew Garfield's lead character can be frustratingly annoying at times.

For the most part Andrew Garfield is very good, but a few times he slips into his mentally challenged portrayal of Peter Parker from the Amazing Spider-Man series. It feels weird to say, but it's true. He becomes weird, stuttery and a little slow. He also gets a little creepy around his love interest, despite some genuinely sweet scenes between them.

I know a lot of the film's themes surround faith and the compromises you need to make to help make a difference despite your beliefs, but Garfield's Desmond Doss annoyed me to a real extent. He's based on a real person, I understand, but the film hit breaking level points of my toleration for him. Doss refuses to even touch a weapon as he is a pacifist, which was just infuriating. He wants to be a medic and save people rather than take lives, but the way he goes about it with his overly humble sense of superiority made me want to punch him.

There are at least some more memorable characters that came off better. Vince Vaughn was surprisingly good as the hilarious commanding officer who stole every scene he was in, as was Hugo Weaving as Doss's alcoholic father who adds a lot to why Doss is why he is.

It's also a shame that Gibson decided to go full cringy "America, fuck yeah!" in the closing scenes, as the film avoided that for almost the entire runtime. The last scenes are a monstrosity of slow-motion American pandering and silly stuff like Garfield slapping a grenade in mid-air in slow-motion (I did not make that up) while the Japanese are easily defeated in a way I can only describe as "Gratuitous" and possibly offensive.

I feel like I'm talking pretty negatively about Hacksaw Ridge, but I actually liked it quite a lot. Mel Gibson is one of the few actors turned directors that can deliver excellent films with a gorgeous visual style and Andrew Garfield is a very good despite my complains. Hacksaw Ridge is one of the most graphic and visceral depictions of war made so far, I'd say it's worth checking out, especially if you're into war films.

8/10 Dans

Hacksaw Ridge is out now on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

Follow us:
Twitter: @FigmentReviews, @DanBremner96 and @ArronRoke91
Instagram: @DanBremner96 and @ArronRoke
YouTube: Figment Reviews
Letterboxd: Dan and Arron
Facebook