Film Review: The Informer

"The General Is One Of The Major Importers Of Fentanyl. We're Going After Him..."

If ever there was a movie which had me sold on the trailer alone, The Informer is exactly that. Presented as a prison crime thriller produced by the gritty minds behind the superb one-two of Denis Villeneuve's, Sicario, and the action series of the decade, John Wick, The Informer, at least on a production level, definitely had a lot going for it heading in. Helmed by Italian filmmaker, Andrea Di Stefano, an actor turned director responsible so far for the little seen, Escobar: Paradise Lost, starring Benicio Del Toro, and based upon the 2009 novel, Three Seconds, from the Swedish crime-writing team of Anders Roslund and Borg Hellström, The Informer is an English speaking adaptation which sees Joel Kinnaman (Suicide Squad, Altered Carbon) as Pete Koslow, a former decorated war veteran turned criminal who escapes the confines of prison after making a deal with Rosamund Pike's (Gone Girl) FBI Handler as part of a complicated plot to bring down the renowned Polish drug baron known as "The General". 

With a tonal sensibility which includes as many laughs as a night time funeral, The Informer presents itself upon the darker range of the thriller genre, harbouring a rather depressing nihilistic viewpoint pretty much throughout in a similar vein to the likes of Sicario, albeit a movie without the technical nuance or strange, ambiguous mystery which made the Villeneuve original so damn good. Instead, the central plot involving Koslow, his family and his role within the war between the cops and the drug dealers is too cliched and tacky to come across as anything other than mechanical, resulting in a rather aggravating sense of patting myself on the back when particular plot twists and discoveries brought themselves to the forefront of the plot without any real sense of shock or enjoyment as the entire audience could see such developments walking into the movie. Whilst Kinnaman is his usually reliable self as he plays the "wounded soldier" role which his recent past performances have all seemed to have based upon, the muddled and shallow plot doesn't allow for anyone else to particularly shine, with the likes of Pike and Clive Owen resorting to bit-part players within a plot that really could have done with a bit more umph, and whilst expectations may have been unjustifiably high heading in, The Informer is well made but boy is it bland. 

Overall Score: 5/10

Film Review: Suicide Squad

"Seriously, What The Hell Is Wrong With You People...?"

Whilst we bask in the sweltering heat of the British summer, where anything over 10 degrees celsius encourages everyone to take their tops off and bathe in layers upon layers of sun protector, there still remains the favoured few who would much rather sink into the dark, cool surroundings of the cinema and escape into the minds of filmmakers for two hours or so, away from the pain-inducing sight of the sun and away from the sweaty masses of the general public and vast displays of chest hair. Anyhow, with Batman v Superman still sitting in my mind as perhaps one of the biggest cinematic comic flops of recent years (Fantastic Four included) the DC Extended Universe rolls on and this week gives us the hotly anticipated Suicide Squad, yeah, that's right, that film with the strange looking Joker and the one that has been plastered on every single screen for about two months continuously in some Nazi-esque propaganda fashion in order to not allow us to go without seeing some form of advertisement for at least 24 hours. With Batman v Superman still ringing through my mind like a hot poker, surely Suicide Squad is exceedingly better? Well, sort of, but not much, with Suicide Squad being a much more enjoyable experience in some sense but one that still contains a rafter of issues, some of which bear similarities to Batman v Superman and some that are brought upon itself from the latest offering of DC live-action mehness. 

If you're finely tuned into the world of comics, surely everyone is aware of the notion of the Suicide Squad in some form or the other. Although not strictly a fan of the literature form of such, I was first introduced to the team within Arrow in which we see one of the first live-action portrayals in one measly episode which gave the run-down on what the SS do and simply, how they do it. Now hitting the big time, the first major live-action display of the SS has been helmed by David Ayer, writer of the Oscar winning Training Day and director of movies such as End of Watch and Fury. So in terms of directorial choice, you would think Ayer would be the correct choice; a director attributed to dark, nihilistic action movies with a knack of not being swayed by the aspect of the twisted sense of togetherness of a team through sins of violence and crime, yet too many times through the film it felt as if we were back in the land of Zak Snyder. Limited characterisation followed by action set pieces with unbelievably cringey dialogue and a final act in which laughable CGI is meant to make the film include some sense of epic conclusion. Does it work? Not at all, yet the fault cannot be left solely at the feet of Ayer, with studio interference surely playing a part somehow. I mean a film this messy cannot be made without prodding and poking from a range of different areas, no more so than those throwing the money at it in order to see it succeed in one way or another.

So we've established problems with Suicide Squad that have been seen in previous DC Universe entries, yet one major problem that was extremely evident that I cannot say to have seen before is the unforgivable crass nature of the treatment of Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn in the movie. Although Robbie herself is one of the few saving graces of the movie, with her kooky, crazy and yet sympathetic portrayal giving the first cinematic appearance of the character some form of justice, the way in which she is portrayed and wooed upon through costume design and camera angles is downright creepy. I can understand that the fundamentals of the character within the comics is one of a femme fetale nature, but to portray her in this fashion is just wrong on so many levels. Adding to the displeasure of the film is Jared Leto's Joker, a character in which had so much exposure over the films' tiresome advertisement campaign and then ultimately is in the film no more than five minutes, a decision so utterly stupid giving how much anticipation there was for the character that you don't even get a full sense of Leto's portrayal. Because of which, the jury is out when it comes to Leto. Who knows, if we get more than 5 minutes with him next time maybe he will be the definitive Joker? Doubt it. 

Overall, Suicide Squad is a slightly more enjoyable DC flick than Batman v Superman, but one that still has a wide range of problems inherent in the extended universe so far. Although Robbie is the standout, Smith also gives a good interpretation of Floyd Lawton/Deadshot, yet acting talent alone cannot prevent Suicide Squad from being yet another achingly poor showing from Warner Bros. With a soundtrack so bipolar following throughout and a sense of absence when it comes to a directorial stamping, Suicide Squad may indeed do well at the box office like its' predecessors, but it still isn't the film I, and probably many others, were indeed looking for. Marvel, it's your batting next. Cumberbatch is calling. 

Overall Score: 4/10

Run All Night - Liam Neeson, at it again! - Quicky Review

For an actor with an Oscar under his belt, Liam Neeson appears to have just given up caring. Whether its his agent or the fact that he is looking for something to do rather than hang around the retirement home watching Loose Women on daytime. Run All Night is one of these films. It seems as if Jaume Collet-Serra has one heck of a hard-on for trying to recreate Taken but with the same actor. In his 6 movie directorial roles, 3 of those have Neeson as the poster boy all playing the same action man role. The Taken formula has become so blistered and bruised by the constant beatings that I may have to call the Samaritans.

My presence at the movie theatres has been somewhat less frequent this year so I can't judge many, however, Run All Night has to be the worst film I've seen all year. It will sit on my list of awful movies in a fairly moderate position, not quite overtaking anything Seth Rogen or Franco have anything to do with.

Run All Night is the story of a drunkard gangster whose worth to society is the killing of other mobsters. Its been rather quiet for some time it appears and shit goes to pop when his estranged son witnesses a murder by the mob bosses son and flees. Neeson kills the mob bosses son to save his son from being kill by the mob bosses son. This is probably the most interesting part of the film in a story sense. So once Neeson kills the mob bosses son, he calls the mob boss and tells him he killed his son. The mob boss (Neeson's now former friend) decides to kill him, his son and his sons family. Sounds exciting, right? No. Its just a dull catch and mouse chase with an ending you could have predicted from the moment Liam Neeson was handed the script. If you want mindless entertainment, you won't find it here.

With acting worse than a small budget hentai, Neeson is as convincing as Kristen Stewart "happy". The rest as just as dull and extremely overzealous, visual transitions are a mixture of stock footage suddenly zoomed in to look realistic but looks like utter dogshit. If you'd like to get close to characters, understand what pushes them or experience their raw emotions, you also won't find that. Many of them appear only to fade away. Sway in on screen with a glancing photobomb to then run off giggling. Joel Kinnaman was more convincing as Robocop than an actual human while Ed Harris spoke like a king but walked like a peg-legged zombie.

If you want to laugh at something that actively tries to be good, you could probably watch this. I wouldn't recommend seeing the movie in the cinema or DVD until its either being thrown at you for free or the supermarket throws them into the bin as only one person bought the DVD out of the 10,000 copies they ordered. 5/10 for something that you can laugh at, a 4 would equal it to This Is The End, so that isn't fair to put it in that bracket. IMDB's 7.3 rating and Rotten Tomatoes 60% amaze me, obviously, if you feel otherwise, leave a comment and let us know what you thought!

Robocop - Quicky Review - SPOILERS

A remake of a hugely popular trilogy that plummeted harder that a rock from the top of the Empire State Building as time went on has just been released. The re-envisioned Robocop pays homage to a much loved franchise that many of my generation remember from childhood but in a new light. Seeing that I probably watched them 15+ years ago, I've lost a lot of memory of the films so I can't credit the films that far.

So jumping straight in, consider that the movie is built upon a sci-fi action classic and desires to follow the trend, however, the movie doesn't feel to much like a sci-fi. Understandably, the idea of a robotic human seems very sci-fi but set 20 odd years from now, the world hasn't really changed. People are still driving Fiat 500's and Volkswagen station wagons. With the advancement in human biotics and robotics, none of the potential has moved into any other industry and actually aid the entire world. It's hard to get a real feeling that the world has developed and I'm in a futuristic setting when cars have replaced stylish alloy wheels for bin lids. In all honesty, I wouldn't class this as science fiction, simply an action movie. But once again, an action movie is trying to create sub plots and stories to create emotions and it is well out of it's depth. To convey emotion, it takes a good script, good acting and a good narrative. Action movies can't provide these. It began with the partnership with his cop buddy who was just shot and then trying to create a family bond between Alex Murphey (Joel Kinnaman) and his son but then completely abandoning them later down the line. The son only appears 3 times and nothing concrete is done to show a connection.

Looking at the action, it is alright. Nothing truely wowing. At points questionable, such as the explosion that in reality would have killed Murphey but immediately after, left him with all of his limbs with minor burning to then have them all removed! His condition was that of a minor burn victim and after a giant explosion, no one battered an eyelid. The wife walked down and then ran back in a few minutes later, the son never appeared in the first vision and neighbours just thought their partners had ripped a rather large one in bed. The rest of the action was simply mediocre.

I'm lacking much enthusiasm for the movie. Pumped to be reintroduced to a childhood hero, I felt rather let down. The incessant need to create connections, is truly useless. Paying Samuel L. Jackson to play a role that isn't even necessary and use Kinnaman for the major role when his acting leaves you wondering if he's always that boring, not to mention that they needed to use Jackson and his iconic "motherfucker" to grab a laugh from the audience. Then casting Jay Baruchel, who I don't like very much and just want to poke him with a stick while repeating "Hey, awkward". Probably the only sufficient actor was Gary Oldman but he looked rushed and looked to have only been given his lines 2 minutes before. All together it tried too hard on so many levels that shouldn't have been the primary focus, thus neglecting the others that truly needed the work.

Although a shoddy movie with a poor character development and acting, the visual aspect of the movie was gorgeous and action had moments in which it was enjoyable to watch. Sticking with the lower end of reviews, I feel the 6/10 is a good representation.