Film Review: Robin Hood

"There's Been Whispers Of A Thief. He's Got Our Commoner's Looking Up, Seeing Hope..."

With the unintentional hilarity which ensued during last year's dire attempt to recreate one British legend in the form of Guy Ritchie's King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, in which a cameo from David Beckham was one of the better aspects of the movie, Hollywood's obsession with re-hashing well versed tales of adventure and heroism continues with yet another adaptation of Robin Hood, succeeding Ridley Scott's mediocre 2010 version as the most contemporary telling and one which utilises the talents of Taron Egerton (Kingsman: The Golden Circle) in the titular role. Directed by Otto Bathurst, a British filmmaker famous so far for his acclaimed work on the likes of Black Mirror and Peaky Blinders, and based on a debut script from Ben Chandler and David James Kelly, Robin Hood circa 2018 somehow manages to leapfrog in front of Guy Ritchie's work of nonsensical silliness with relative ease in terms of cinematic woefulness, channelling an off-kilter tonal mix between Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins and Monty Python and the Holy Grail as it attempts to redefine the age-old tale with a strange stylistic decision which seems to cater particularly for audiences who are simply after a slice of mindless fun. Unfortunately for Bathurst and co, Robin Hood isn't a movie which can be branded with such positivity, bordering instead more on the edge of being totally irredeemable as it slogs its' way through a two hour incoherent mess featuring awfully slim characters, a laughably bad script and feeling that once again a supposed future cinematic franchise dies spectacularly with its' first attempt. Whoops.

Opening with a cockney-geezer voice-over which instructs its' awaiting audience to forget everything they know about the tale of Robin of Loxley and be amazed at a fresh new take of the historic legend, hilariously, such a statement is ultimately completely contradicted almost immediately thanks to one of the most lazily constructed and cliched scripts not only this year but in living memory. Introducing our central hero as a toffee-nosed, obnoxious ruling class beefcake who quickly chooses to swap allegiances after four years of war, Egerton is charming to an extent but ultimately feels wickedly miscast as he is simply directed to portray a hooded version of his character from Kingsman, awful accent and all, and therefore loses all sense of belief in a performance which at times crossed into the realm of on-screen pantomime. Joining him on this list of miscastings, Jamie Foxx's (Baby Driver) role as a dodgily accented prisoner of war turned teacher is the American's worst on-screen appearance in recent history, whilst joining in on the pantomime sensibility of the film is surprisingly Ben Mendelsohn (Rogue One), an actor who aside from slowly being typecast as the turn-to Hollywood sneering villain, pulls off the most OTT and overly camp lead villain performance since Eddie Redmayne in Jupiter Ascending. With woefully directed action set pieces which include a jaw-droppingly misjudged opening scene set in a Iraqi inspired third-world war zone, automatic crossbows and all, and a penchant for utilising the "art" of slow-motion to paint over the pants choreography which seems directly inspired from similar tactics used in King Arthur, the latest version of Robin Hood isn't just bad, it's a lazy, pointless and amateurish so-called "blockbuster" which makes Guy Ritchie look like the reincarnation of Stanley Kubrick. Avoid like a CGI arrow to the chest. 

Overall Score: 3/10

Film Review: Baby Driver

"The Moment You Catch Feelings Is The Moment You Catch A Bullet..."

Of all the rare successful exports of sunny, sunny Dorset, director Edgar Wright is undeniably up there with the best the South West has had to offer within the 20th century, and whilst his humble beginnings with the likes of the Simon Pegg starring Spaced gave Wright the opportunity to begin his venture into stardom through the medium of televised entertainment, his crowning jewel is indeed the triage of movies within the so-called "Cornetto Trilogy", a series of successful movies which began all the way back with Shaun of the Dead in 2004 and continued with Hot Fuzz and The World's End in 2007 and 2013 respectively. Emerging once again into the cinematic spotlight, Wright returns with Baby Driver, a star-studded action comedy led by the likes of  Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey and Jamie Foxx, and a movie which overtly revels in a superbly crafted jukebox soundtrack, a collection of musical accompaniments which acts as the cornerstone for both the narrative and the development of the film's titular leading character, resulting in a blockbustingly entertaining thrill ride which features all the tricks and twists you expect from an Edgar Wright film, albeit one which is slightly lacking in a similar level of charm which has encompassed his earlier work. 

With an opening set piece which sets the standard for the rest of the action ahead, the audience is swiftly introduced to the life of Baby (Ansel Elgort), an ultra-skilled, high-speed driver who alongside suffering from a hard case of tinnitus, is caught under the thumb of Kevin Spacey's crime boss, Doc, a softly spoken, calculating Joe Cabot figure who forces him to carry out heist after heist in order to pay off a substantial debt. Using music as both a blockade to its' leading character's ailment alongside acting as a bedrock of carrying out the film's narrative, Baby Driver is undeniably an audience pleasing joy-fest, one which wins on a surreal number of levels through its' constant supply of rib-tickling humour, brilliantly measured OTT acting and action set pieces which prioritise practicality and stunt work over the CGI overkill which tends to encompass many so-called contemporary blockbusters. I mean really, who can beat a high-speed car and foot chase played out to the backdrop of Hocus Pocus by Focus? Whilst the ending set piece does seem a little too far-fetched and overlong, one which makes the final shootout of Hot Fuzz look like the lowest key fight scene ever, Wright has managed to bag himself another cinematic success, using his love of cinema and sound to create a film which will no doubt be as big a hit with audiences as it has been with critics, a rare combination to say the least.

Overall Score: 8/10

Film Review: Sleepless

"Whatever You're Aiming At, Make Sure You're Prepared To Kill It..."

Whilst I enjoy B-Movie action trash as much as the next man, with a vast amount of films I consider to be my cinematic "guilty pleasures" each having an embedded sense of action-packed silliness at their very heart, Sleepless, directed by Swiss filmmaker Baran bo Odar and starring Jamie Foxx in the leading role is the type of bullet-ridden garbage which really makes you wonder whether any of the people involved in the creation of such a masterstroke of mediocrity really wanted to go through with its' release. With a sloppy and cliched narrative at its core, gridlocked around some god-awful dialogue and drowse inducing set pieces, Sleepless is an obvious and cheap attempt to recreate the recent success of films such as the underground sensibility of the first Taken movie and the gritty and violent representations of action in films such as John Wick and The Raid, but with nothing whatsoever original or interesting to note, Sleepless is a grade-A shipwreck of a movie which although isn't as head-bashing in retrospect, is still a film which makes The Rock look like Citizen Kane. 

After playing two sides of the law for almost two years in a supposed deeply disturbing and tension-filled undercover operation to bring down the top dogs of Las Vegas's drug scene, Jamie Foxx's Vincent Downs becomes a red-laced target for Dermot Mulroney's high-stakes businessman Stanley and Scoot McNairy's Rob Novak, a highly strung criminal drug-lord with serious daddy issues, after stealing a large quantity of cocaine with corrupt police officer partner Sean Cass, portrayed in almost non-existent fashion by the annoyingly named T.I. What follows for a seemingly never-ending 90 minutes is endless chase scenes, an overkill of unnecessary violence and one of the worst character introductions I have ever seen when Gabrielle Union's character is crow-barred into the concluding act in the most pitiful and woefully written way possible. With an ending which sets up the possibility of a potential sequel, Sleepless ironically and inevitably is the type of movie which has the confounded effect on its' audiences which completely contradicts its' meaningless title with Odar's first high-profile release more likely to send you into fits of snoring rather than keep you entertained and feel like you've spent your well-earned money well. 

Overall Score: 3/10