Film Review: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015)

Copyright: Warner Bros. Pictures

It's always great to see artist evolving, even if this process alienates some of their old fans. Guy Ritchie is definitely prone to evolution, but it�s obvious that the same process for him takes place in phases. His first phase started in 1998 with the cult classic Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, after which he developed his contemporary London crime phase. The same had some good films and some average ones, but it nonetheless ended with RocknRolla in 2008. 

After this, Ritchie moved the setting of his new phase backwards one century and developed two Sherlock Holmes films, which were both successful and impressive action flicks, having in mind the serious overuse of the original material in pop culture. Now, with The Man From U.N.C.L.E, the third phase of Guy Ritchie has begun and it brings style and substance on a completely new terrain for its director.

Sure, the film has nicely dressed, charming and witty main characters who are accustomed to guns, violence and far-fetched plans, but this time, it is all located in the 1960�s chic Europe, divided by the Cold War. In spite of their home agencies rivalry and feud, one US and one Soviet agent have to work together to stop a development of a diabolical plan that would place a nuclear weapon in hands of practically anyone.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is laden with style on all levels, from the costumes to the shots Guy Ritchie takes in a manner similar to 1960�s classics like the movie Point Blank. This can be seen in the way characters move both when it comes to their gestures and their positions in the frames. The film�s director was always willing to invest a lot of energy in the visual aesthetics of his works, but here, the idea is even more prominent and gripping. Yet, he manages to keep things unburdened by this, which is clearly shown in the quick and comic-like editing of the commando raid near the end of the movie, and the broken bike confrontation that quickly follows.

Here, Ritchie is ready to peel the onion of style and very effectively show the essence lying below it, where dangerous men are willing to kill for their mission, no questions asked. At the same time, like the ending segment of the boat sequence shows, the comedy essence is also never too far away. On a side note, with films like Spy and Kingsman: The Secret Service, it appears that the world is in a mini spy comedy Renaissance.

The cast of the film also works exceedingly well together. Henry Cavill looks like he was born to wear perfectly tailored suits and places inside of them a character that is the optimal combination of a slimeball and a kind of normal guy how was forced to work in the same area. Opposite of him, Armie Hammer as Illya continues to do his brand of characters (who are so serious that they are unintentionally funny) really well. The main female lead, Alicia Vikander, also does a nice job as Gaby, the East German car mechanics turned drafted spy.

As the movie glides through picturesque locations and the tension mounts, the audience is free to enjoy The Man From U.N.C.L.E.  as a new take on the classic James Bond film, minus the retro science fiction gadgets. It never bores and never meanders from its set goal of being a fun and stylish action comedy. Because of it, I�m really looking forward to seeing what Ritchie will do with his upcoming Knights of the Roundtable: King Arthur.

Crowdfunding Push: Thunder Chronicles Epic Fantasy Film

Thunder Chronicles Epic Fantasy Film crowdfunding project is definitely very self-explanatory. As the title suggests, it's aiming to raise money for the production of one of the first (if not the first) epic fantasy films which will be entirely created in the region of Southern Serbia. The project's official Indiegogo page states:

Dark goddess Morana and her bastard son, lord of blizzards Mrazlo Mecavnik bring eternal winter in Sorabya lands. The gods send rune in the tunnels of time and chose young warrior Zvezdan (Starborn) of Wildern to kill the evil lord and save his land. His companions are wizard Saladin from Devil Hamlet, leader of ancient, secret Order of Thunder chroniclers, werewolf outcast Kraguly the Damned, Elven druid Vilindar, Peruns son, half/god Zlot and Dwarven rogue Runvid the Pickpocket. They will travel across the devastated lands, to find flame sword Thunderfang and win in the biggest battle of the ancient world.  If they succeed, they will save the land of Sorabia from icy and dark destruction by his hand...

The film is based on a book written by Milos Petkovic, now already a veteran of Serbian epic fantasy fiction. At the same time, the project is really ambitious because, alongside of it, an entire new production house was created. The company called Thunder Production, hopes to ignite a small but potent film industry in the same region. I think this initiative is solid, mainly because like the regions of Check Republic after the collapse of the USSR, this part of the world has a huge cinematic potential which is completely untapped by the western movie industry. As far as the Thunder Chronicles Epic Fantasy Film, the campaign is looking for a hefty $50,000 and is currently passed 1% of its goal.

Check out the Thunder Chronicles Epic Fantasy Film Indiegogo page and see if you can help.

If you're looking for exposure for your film-related project, contact me right here.

Film Review: Child 44 (2015)

Copyright: Lionsgate

There are a lot of hard, fake-sounding Russian accents in this film. Imagine as if every male character tried to sound like an actor from the original C&C: Red Alert game � we�re talking weird emphasis on random words and a tendency to overly dramatize everything being said, because, apparently, that�s how people talked back in the dark days of the USSR. 

Its director Daniel Espinosa leaves this to be the strongest impression of the Child 44 film, which meanders through its characters and the soviet state that was organized, according to the film, in a very incoherent manner.

Its case is not helped by the fact that Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman lead a great cast, or the fact that Noomi Rapace once again creates an unusual and engaging character. This story of the film was moved to the big screen from a Tom Rob Smith�s novel by the same name. 

Like in his novel The Secret Speech, Smith analyzes the post-war soviet society to the level of the most miniscule details, which ultimately serves the story of the book. This gives the narrative both an environment-as-a-character feel, but also provides a twisted, but a logical motivation for many protagonists of his stories.

In the film, this makes the presented USSR only into an intangible bureaucratic hell, which is more confusing than scary � who is subordinate to whom and who is trying to get rid of Tom Hardy�s character � it�s all too convoluted to be truly entertaining and at the same time, it stopped me from creating a connection with the characters. Finally, all of this steals the story away from the series of murders that should be its backbone.

In a sense, presenting USSR in the early 50�s often comes out as a weird alternative history in which Nazi Germany won the war and simply told its visual graphics department to exchange the swastika for a red star. In Child 44, this notion is obvious and unlike Citizen X, which made me root for the investigators, turns all the characters into frightened and confused jerks in their own right. Because of this, the only thing I could say to Daniel Espinosa is � too bad, comrade.

Film Review: Good Kill (2014)

Copyright: IFC Films

A long time ago (speaking in video game industry terms) Ron Perlman declared in the opening segment of the Fallout franchise - war, war never changes. While the same might be true in a metaphysical sense, in a purely practical one, war definitely changes. 100 years ago, people still expected to charge the opposing forces using cavalry with real horses and real sabers (once such charge even took place in 1939 when the Polish forces carried this out in desperation). Today, however, people in the Western nations, especially the US, exchanged animals for a much more potent combat sidekick � robots.

Good Kill is about these killing machines, but it�s even more about a deep-rooted longing and ways how people get either lost in it or find a way out of it. The movie follows Ethan Hawke as Major Thomas Egan, a US pilot who was forced to exchange his F16 for a Predator drone.

Even though he is no longer deployed overseas, but does all his killing from an air-conditioned unit on an airfield near Las Vegas, Egan still feels as if a big chunk of him was ripped out when he was �grounded�.

While the days go by and Egan and his team plant hellfire seeds of death and destruction all over the world, he sinks into a dark place where all purpose is lost and ideals that were shaky at best become nonexistent. As Egan brilliantly puts it to his commanding officer, why are all the teams even wearing their flight suit when they are simply sitting in front of computers and pressing buttons.

Good Kill was directed and written by Andrew Niccol, whose interesting vision still continues to produce unusual movies which might not be grabbing as the run-of-the-mill AAA war-related production, but instead open personal questions. Like his old film Lord of War, Niccol seems really grounded in reality, no matter how gritty or unflattering it might be. Here, his cast supports the same vision really effectively, especially through Hawke and Zo� Kravitz, playing a young newcomer in the world of drone warriors.

As the real skies above places like Pakistan become more saturated with actual Predator drones, it is good to have films like Good Kill. They dare to try to make some sense of the rise of the killing machines, even if the answers are not geopolitical but instead takes place in a single man�s broken heart.

Film Review: Final Girl (2015)

Copyright: Cinedigm

Part proxy renege fantasy, part action film, Final Girl is a type of story that tries to produce a smooth visual experience, but offers very low amounts of substance. If follows Veronica, a specially trained killing machine who is planted in the midst of a group of young psychopaths who kidnap girls and hunt them in the forest as their own wrapped form of entertainment.

Veronica enters the pack and begins killing the killers and hunting the hunters. Sadly, this is the entire Final Girl film. As a narrative, it looks more as a draft of a story than the story itself, because it appears to be lacking any divergence from a single line plot. Of course, like Mad Max: Road Fury clearly showed, there is nothing wrong with a one-liner films, but only if they have a strong delivery. 

Even though Final Girl starts off in a somewhat intriguing manner, showing the young Veronica being interviewed by her future handler (played by the always creepily intense Wes Bentley) the intrigue does not last. The director Tyler Shields soon tries some interesting shots where he places characters really close to a background surface like a wall and shines a strong spotlight on them.

But then, the movie movies to a forest, where the action includes some whiskey laced with a hallucinogenic drug. Here, Shields gives us some half-cocked tense moments and drug-induced trips which seem to belong in a more ambitious student film. The only semi-impressive thing from that point on are Abigail Breslin (as Veronica) and Alexander Ludwig as the leader of the psychopath pack. The end comes fast and leaves almost no impression at all.

Final Girl includes some interesting moments and Tyler Shields should not be written off. But, as a whole, the film is utterly forgettable, aside from the fact that it shows that Abigail Breslin is now all grown up.