Review: Southpaw

Jake Gyllenhaal and Forest Whitaker carry this boxing film higher than its fairly average pedigree would normally allow.

Billy Hope is at the top of his game in professional boxing, but when a terrible incident sees his wife shot and killed, he finds himself unable to cope with the loss and risks losing his daughter too. Can he prove himself to both her and those around him before he loses everything?

I purely wanted to see Southpaw because of leading star Gyllenhaal and his physical transformation for the role of a heavyweight boxer. He is proving time and time again now that he throws himself into the role, and the film opens with relish; showing Gyllenhaal as a terrifying storm in the ring who's reckless fighting style has him bloody and bruised before he can destroy his opponents.
The first half of this film is a bloody, bleak and quite oppressive experience. The word "endurance" came to mind several times and I imagined that this was thematically deliberate; the audience experiencing the struggle with Billy while his character battles far worse injuries than any he takes in the ring.

This hard opening, watching a simple man's life being systematically destroyed was a struggle at times, and not just because of its content but because I found the characters a little shallowly written at first. Even when things go wrong, I didn't feel much emotional attachment to those suffering the consequences.

But, after the first half the film develops into the more formulaic boxing film storyline (yes, there is a training montage!) and while this might sound like a bad thing, I actually became a lot more sensitive to their emotions at this point.
There are a couple of scenes between Gyllenhaal and his new trainer Wills played by Forest Whitaker that are very powerful and meaningful. Gyllenhaal does not disappoint in any of his scenes, seamlessly going from simple brute to mellowing father extremely well. He also shares scenes with his daughter, played by young Oona Laurence (who was a very good child actress!) which are also very emotional and intense.

The film ends much stronger than it began, a slow boil weighed down with obvious foreshadowing and a weak, unmemorable script. But if you power through the stiff, unrelenting start, it becomes a gritty story of finding one's self-respect and inner strength.

Review: The Last Stand

Even with the simplest premise imaginable, Arnold Schwarzenegger's newest solo outing is surprisingly good fun.

Now sheriff of a lazy, backwater town, Ray Owens (Schwarzenegger) used to be an LA cop and soon finds his old skills required once more when a drug lord makes a prison break for the Mexican border and only his small town stands in the way.

Directed by Kim Jee-Woon (director of The Good, The Bad and the Weird, which I highly recommend by the way! Very oddball) The Last Stand benefits first and foremost from its good sense of humour.
One cannot help but compare to Stallone's solo reprisal Bullet to the Head that came out this year, and unlike Stallone's preachy, testosterone fueled medodrama, Schwarzenegger's film feels a lot more entertaining and ever so slightly self-aware. He only complains that he's old once. Once! Plus his lines aren't completely cheesy (he doesn't even say "I'll be Back", in fact he says: "I'll be right back", twist!) and my favourite was surely: "You make us immigrants look bad," with the stony irony only Arnie can deliver.
Strangely, Arnie is teamed up with a bumbling, insecure lot of small town police officers (shades of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's Hot Fuzz) who include Johnny Knoxville. Wait, what? Knoxville is zany, but it only makes Arnold's grim facade more amusing by proxy.

It isn't the most original of stories. There is a parallel story involving Forest Whitaker's FBI trying and failing to stop the drug lord's escape, but it feels a little repetitive and there's no surprise in the payoff (except possibly the most underplayed "twist" I've ever seen). The soundtrack is average, the sound effects are stock, and there's even a romantic couple thrown in for good measure just to tick all the necessary boxes.

But, for a "welcome back Arnold" vehicle, it is great fun. You can tell he is happy to be back and doing his own thing, with plenty of subtle undertones for an ex-Governor. Recommended for action junkies and (obviously) Arnie fans.

Just... do more of your own thing, Arnold. While I've not seen Escape Plan yet, I can safely say The Last Stand is better than The Expendables film (the first one, definitely) it probably helps that Stallone wasn't directing here.

 

Review: Repo Men

So I've spent months tracking down this film, this gory near-future thriller, yet Repo Men doesn't quite do as much as it could have.

Jude Law and Forest Whitaker are two ex-soldier buddies working for The Union as “Repo Men”. The Union is a corrupt government repossession organization, but instead of just housing repossession and other regular things, this future involves body parts. Have a failing lung? Get a new one and simply pay for its service. Stop paying for any reason and the Repo Men will find you and take whatever it is back.

The story begins and investigates Law's character's dividing loyalty between his dangerous, bloody work and his family. He wants out, yet his colleagues don't want him to give up with the skills he has. After an accident with a client, he finds his world turned very much upside down...

The premise of Repo Men is quite compelling, if a bit ludicrous, and as a science fiction fan I was curious. The film has rapid pacing, which is good; it chucks you around with a simple plot and predictable twists and turns. The gore involved is very sickly and can make you squirm at times.

My problems with it though... is its tone. This film doesn't have a clear identity to me; it goes from playful black comedy (the Repo Men enjoying their day-to-day work) to very straight and sincere, taking its reality as genuine. The latter makes the film's climax (what could only be described as scalpel-fetish? Surely the most talked about scene in the movie...) both sick and more than a little silly.

I was quite disappointed, this is no Looper, Minority Report or even In Time. The soundtrack is uninspired and the visuals are (except for a couple of short moments) drab and uneventful. When the plot is quite standard and the twists this deliberate, there isn't much else; I'd say Repo Men is for Science Fiction fans only.

Review: The Great Debaters

A simple but compelling story based off true events about overcoming racial prejudices in the 1930s with an intellectual perspective.
How intellectual? Well, maybe not quite as rigorous or risky as it could have been with the ideas involved.


Directed by and starring Denzel Washington as a college professor in Texas leading four children in a national debate team, going on to challenge Harvard University's own team. However his own intense political views and determination could threaten the lives of his students.


I cannot say I was greatly surprised by any of the turns of events in the film, and while a great cast do provide the perfect emotional performances, I wasn't as moved here as I have been in other films of this genre.
The film gathers its emotional strength by having younger, more vulnerable actors involved, and this is very effective (especially alongside Washington's crusader) to a point. Forest Whitaker also turns in a good performance as well as his son, who plays the youngest debater on the team, but unfortunately, his role was the most transparent. While the other three took the debate spotlight through the entire film, his character was relegated to the sidelines, even deemed unfit to debate before an audience. Hm, I cannot think what the climax of this story will be. Nope, no idea.


It does its best to be a moving, provocative story, and it does have great tension in particularly dark scenes, but if you let it sink in it feels a little too... deliberate; an intellectual properly made palpable for mass consumption. Was it bad? No. It is a good movie, and I suggest you watch it if you like these sorts of dramas (or are a fan of Washington) it just doesn't feel as challenging or intense as it could have been.

Additional Marshmallows: Wait... Oprah Winfrey was the Producer? What?