Film Review: Godzilla: King of the Monsters

"Our World Is Changing. The Mass Extinction We Feared Has Already Begun. And We Are The Cause. We Are The Infection..."

With Gareth Edwards having the chance to bring the infamous sight of cinema’s most versatile monster to the big screen once again in 2014’s visually stunning, Godzilla, Legendary Entertainment’s so called “MonsterVerse” was thus born in an attempt to choke audiences and critics alike with yet another extended universe. With the so-so success of Kong: Skull Island back in 2017, this week sees Godzilla: King of the Monsters be released, acting as the second chapter in the fire-breathing legend’s repertoire before taking on Mr. Kong himself in Godzilla vs. Kong next year. With Edwards choosing not to return for a second outing, the directing mantle is instead handed to Michael Dougherty (Krampus) who along with an endless digital effects and explosives budget, has the absolute pleasure to work with an absolute top-notch, A-list cast, with the likes of the returning Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water) and Ken Watanabe (Batman Begins) joined by the ever-reliable presence of Vera Farmiga (The Conjuring) and Kyle Chandler (Manchester by the Sea) for a movie which in all honesty, completely wastes the army of talent involved as it pummels you to death with endless carnage, ear-grating dialogue and a central story which rivals Geostorm for having the stupidest screenplay of the past five years or so.

Whilst it may be slightly highbrow to head into a Godzilla movie wanting something much more than just two plus hours of entire cities being dismantled by gargantuan, irresponsible titans, the fact remains that Edwards' own interpretation of Godzilla was first and foremost primarily interested in its' characters, with his movie essentially a family drama which just happened to include world destroying monsters, and whilst Dougherty's movie seems to have similar desires, woeful characterisation and exposition heavy dialogue means that in terms of an empathetic level, his movie is completely lifeless and unengaging come the forty minute mark when the army of superb acting talent is left behind in favour of endless and ridiculously overblown set pieces. With the likes of Farmiga, Chandler and the now heavily typecast, Charles Dance, all wasted, with the latter essentially playing a high-tech version of Tywin Lannister, the only two redeeming features of the piece is rising star, Millie Bobby Brown, of Stranger Things fame, who with her extended level of screen time undoubtedly gives the best performance of the lot, and of course, the monsters themselves, with the titular 'Zilla, the three headed Ghidorah and the beautiful Mothra all actually incredibly well designed, resulting in a couple of epic shots which deserve to be witnessed on the biggest screen possible. Whilst King of the Monsters doesn't hit the sordid lows of Roland Emmerich's version, Dougherty's vision is a messy, palm-inducing two hundred million dollar B-movie which should be a guilty pleasure but instead, is immediately forgettable.

Overall Score: 4/10

Film Review: Long Shot

"I’m Going To Try And Conduct Myself In Such A Way That Does Not Risk Global Humiliation..."

Mixing together the almighty and Oscar winning talent of Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road) with erm, Seth Rogen, (The Interview) Long Shot is the latest from American filmmaker, Jonathan Levine, who reunites with Rogen after their work together on the 2011 comedy drama, 50/50, for a romantic comedy which attempts to balance political and social satire with a well-worn tale of unlikely and improbable love. Based around a screenplay from the double-act of Liz Hannah and Dan Sterling, famous for their individual work on the likes of The Post and The Interview respectively, Long Shot is that rare sight in contemporary cinema, an American comedy which actually works, and whilst the central romance at the heart of the story does indeed venture into gargantuan levels of cliche come the end of the almost two hour runtime, Levine's movie works predominantly elsewhere, with a mix of knowing, and at times, strikingly unintentional, modern-day satire, pleasantly supplementing a likeable and utterly charming core relationship, one which gleefully bursts with volcanic levels of chemistry and pushes the final product into something which although might not be at all memorable, is rather enjoyable.

Coined in the trailer by one of the film's supporting actors, the one and only, O'Shea Jackson Jr., (Straight Outta Compton) as having a very familiar central narrative to that of Garry Marshall's 1990 classic, Pretty Woman, Levine's movie at least jumbles up the profession of the leading characters, with Seth Rogen's Fred Flarsky not exactly the first person to come to mind when it comes to the prostitution business, with him instead being landed with the role of an idealistic, rough-edged journalist with a penchant for thinking out loud, a character trait of which soon finds him unemployed and penniless. Enter Theron's Charlotte Field, the highly popular Secretary of State with eyes for the presidency who in her earlier teenage years used to babysit a young and lovestruck Flarsky, and the two suddenly reconnect after Field utilises Flarsky's innovative written word to boost her appeal to the American public. With worldwide trips on the menu, the two suddenly become attached to each other by the hip, resulting in the film's central and heartwarming romance, and with an abundance of hilarious set pieces, including one of the best inverted sex scenes in cinema history and a heavy night on the town which results in a majorly mistimed hostage negotiation, Long Shot goes along way to make you care for the film's characters, and even with a runtime which does slightly drag come the final act, Levine's movie is a solid slice of American comedy cheese with added Charlize Theron. 

Overall Score: 6/10

Film Review: Den of Thieves

"Keep Your Eyes Open. Every Cop In The Country Is Going To Be Looking For Us..."

Being an avid hater of most things which bear the name Gerard Butler in the closing credits, the release of Den of Thieves unsurprisingly accompanied a heavy sense of sadness at potentially spending yet another two hours sat in a screening which results in time ultimately being well and truly wasted, and with London Has Fallen screenwriter, Christian Gudegast, on directorial duties for the very first time in his career, it's not exactly hard to imagine why on entering the auditorium in preparation for Gudegast's movie, my heart became just a tiny bit heavier. Whilst I'm more than adjusted through years of movie-going experiences to sometimes accepting and devouring a slice of humble pie, Den of Thieves is unebelieavably the sort of movie which raises above the sordid expectations set upon it in a somewhat miraculous fashion and leaves you shamelessly declaring out loud how wrong you were in the first place, a movie which presents itself as a slick, if sometimes silly and overly cliched, action romp which although is nothing entirely original or groundbreaking, still manages to be a worthwhile trip of high octane guilty pleasure. Praise the lord, we have a miracle. 

Focusing on two teams either side of the law, each with their own questionable moral compasses and a penchant for steroid infused workouts, Den of Thieves undeniably pays a significant homage to Michael Mann's 1995 crime masterpiece, Heat, in more ways than none, with the narrative essentially switching Al Pacino for Gerard Butler (300) and Robert De Niro for Pablo Schreiber (Orange Is The New Black), and whilst on paper such a switch seems similar to swapping Ferrari for Nissan, Gudegast's penchant for style and solid eye for action set pieces and well orchestrated heist scenes means that within a overly similar tale of cops and robbers, the debutante's movie packs a significantly entertaining punch and manages to hold your attention throughout its' bulky two and a half hour runtime. With Butler actually managing to not be entirely god awful, with even the staggeringly underplayed bad boy lifestyle in which his character partakes failing to undermine his performance, and the rest of the high profile cast including O'Shea Jackson Jr. (Straight Outta Compton) and Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson (Southpaw) all giving a solid case for their inclusion, Den of Thieves is undoubtedly one of the surprises of the year, and even with a "I gotcha!" style ending which wouldn't have gone amiss in Hustle, Gudegast's movie is actually pretty darn good, and for someone who was sharpening their knife going into it, that's damn fine praise indeed. 

Overall Score: 7/10

Film Review: Ingrid Goes West

"Hashtag: I Am Ingrid..."

In a week in which every single cinema in the county has been asked to cram its' screens with the toxic waste of Justice League, thank the heavens for a film in the ilk of Ingrid Goes West, an interesting, blackly comic contemporary stalker drama with a cracking lead performance from Legion star, Aubrey Plaza as the titular social media obsessed Ingrid Thorburn. Directed and written by big time debutant Matt Spicer, the movie depicts an Instagram fixated dreamer who relocates to Los Angeles after the death of her mother in order to seek out Elizabeth Olsen's social media star, Taylor Sloane and become part of her excessively independent lifestyle which she shares with Wyatt Russell's hipster husband, Ezra. Beginning with an opening act which straight away highlights the aggressive nature of Ingrid's obsession and to what end she may go to in order to combat her rage and discomfort at being isolated in a world riddled with people's wishes to be noticed, Ingrid Goes West goes on to explore the contemporary issue of social media excess and the notion of a life based solely around the viewing of society through a small shiny screen.  

With Black Mirror vibes aplenty and the likes of Single White Female a sure inspiration, with a name drop in the narrative necessary to cement such, Spicer's sure footed direction allows the movie's key players to bring all round top notch performances, from O'Shea Jackson Jr's Batman obsessed screenwriter to Billy Magnussen's hateful steroid fueled junkie, all of whom acting as catnip for Plaza's character's downfall into complete and utter obsession with a character who is the epitome of everything wrong with society's quest for avocado on toast and early twentieth century sociological literature. Whilst Spicer's movie does involve elements of jet-black comedy and ironic societal comments, most of Ingrid Goes West's healthy ninety minute runtime is played particularly straight faced, accumulating in a concluding act which although is admiral in what it's attempting to say, doesn't exactly pay off, but with a brilliantly kooky and unpredictable leading performance from Audrey Plaza, Ingrid Goes West is a highly enjoyable ideas laden social drama which reminds that you don't always need a big budget to win an audience around. 

Overall Score: 7/10

Film Review: Straight Outta Compton

California Dreamin'

Let's get this out of the way first before any problems or missteps arise within this review of F. Gary Gray's new film Straight Outta Compton. when it comes to the rise of prominent hip hop in the early 1990's, N.W.A, and the story of their own personal rise and fall, I am not exactly the most well-informed person regarding such, with my only reference for music of that particular genre being the wonderful GTA: San Andreas (Thank god for Radio Los Santos). Pitiful I know, but whilst I was only aware briefly of the impact of the N.W.A in the 1990's, Straight Outta Compton proved to be an eye-opening biographical epic focusing on the early outset of the group and their titular debut album, focusing most prominently on our "heroes", Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, and Eazy-E. Although the key concept of the movie may indeed not be for everyone, with me being classed as an outsider myself, Straight Outta Compton proved to be one of the most incredible journeys in film I have witnessed this year, following in the footsteps of The Social Network in telling a story not exactly with widespread appeal, but resulting in something rather brilliant. 

What makes Straight Outta Compton work so well is the effortless fashion in which our young actors portray their characters on-screen, with Jason Mitchell's Eazy-E in particular being one of the many standout performers, whilst Paul Giamatti as the slimey corporate megalomaniac, Jerry Heller, doing exceptionally well in trying to be as shadowy and ambiguous as he possibly can. With all the on-screen cameos featuring actors portraying younger versions of famous faces such as Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur however, characters were so-often lost and forgotten about within the space of minutes, resulting in minor plot threads seemingly going awry, suggesting that sometimes the scope of Straight Outta Compton was in fact too big to handle, resulting in a film that wants to say more, but ultimately can't due to restrictions on its' time length, something of which was already too long to say the least at a mortifying two and a half hours. 

Of course the music is great, with track after track being blasted out through the cinema speakers, and even though my minor hip hop knowledge was brought to the table, it didn't stop me from enjoying every single beat, rap and lyric that boom-boxed it's way onto me at a volume turned way past eleven, whilst the concert scenes were managed triumphantly, unlike the misogynistic portrayal of women that unfortunately crept up on occasion throughout the course of the film's runtime. The acting is wonderful, the story, inspiring, and although Straight Outta Compton has some rather dashing flaws, I indeed enjoyed it more than I thought I would, and probably more than I should, with N.W.A locking firmly in my playlist for the next couple of weeks or so. 

Overall Score: 8/10