The Guard - Film Review

A novel slant on the 'fish out of water cop' story, one that focusses on the bumpkin defacto partner and plays out as a bantering, rambling dialogue laden black comedy amidst a back story of drug trafficking and duress, The Guard is a fresh, surprising slice of fun from John Michael McDonagh.

On the sleepy, largely Gaellic speaking West coast of Ireland, local Garda (Policeman) Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) goes about his dull, dysfunctional days like a Bad Lieutenant played for laughs, more interested in procuring some drink and drug for lonely nights and fancy dress hookers for his day off than he is locking down crime scenes. His mother (Fionnula Flanagan) has just been put in a home, and a new recruit (Rory Keenan) is getting on his nerves. And then the narcotics ring shows up.

Boyle, the laconic fool it seems, is thrust upon FBI Agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) as the Fed attempts to track down the gang, and the cringe worthy clashing of cultures commences. Meanwhile, the bad guys themselves (played by Liam Cunningham, Mark Strong and David Wilmot) go about bribing of killing any of the local law enforcement who threaten their operation, bringing them to Boyle's door. Inconvenient for him, since he just wants to be left alone.

As you may well expect from McDonagh (brother of In Bruges' maker Martin), though the plot sounds plenty heavy and crime thriller based, The Guard rarely ventures into serious territory, and even then the exposure to the audience is minimal. This is a comedy, ultimately, though one based on an only slightly altered realm of reality where everyone has hysterical conversations and musings. Drug dealers rack their brains for philosophical quotes, local kids are experts on federal agencies, it's all par to the course.

With a couple of notable, and merited exceptions, the hilarity of the film comes from it's dialogue, full of recurring jokes, double take bafflement and inappropriate casualness, not to mention misconstrued racial slurs and ignorant assumptions. Though Boyle is seen by many as the idiot of the piece, his disdainful approach to life puts him in better stead than the men with guns who seem themselves as better. When it comes to plotting, the film takes an approach which is somewhere between western and noir only for long enough to satirise both, and then get back to
its eccentric heart.

Continuing his long overdue ascension from Hollywood supporting character actor supremo into unconventional leading man, Brendan Gleeson is wonderful here as Boyle, a bizarre and unruly, yet somehow amiable, protagonist who drives the film's shambling story. Though he is on paper unpleasant and morally bankrupt, in practice he is a genial oddball who constantly surprises by being highly effective in his job, at least in the long run.

Gleeson is given great comic foil by Don Cheadle, Hollywood A-picture actor who deliberately stands out like a sore thumb, sent to a comparative back water where the view on Americans is dim, and casual racism is prevelant though not especially malicious. Though Cheadle has to spend much of the film's duration in a perpetual state of bemusement, he still manages to bring a rounded character to Everett, a humanity which could easily have been done without. Iniatially dumbfounded by Boyle from the start, he slowly grows to appreciate his unlikely partner's outlook and enjoy his company. As a double act, unlikely though it is, they are perfect.

The villainous trio of Cunningham, Strong and Wilmot enjoy themselves as the drug traffickers, humourously self aware and often pretentious about their role in proceedings. There's also some nice supporting work from Flanagan, Katarina Cas and Dominique McElligot in hugely varying roles.

But the real joy of The Guard is its attitude, taking a traditional crime story and treating it with very wry, very Irish, humour and giving it real heart in the process, sweary and drink filled though it may be, happy to play into stereotypes and occasionally trapsing into the realms of Coen-esque farce. As a comedy, it succeeds wonderfuly, boasting an intricate and intelligently funny script, but it has more charm and brains than a laugh inducing vehicle. Tongue may firmly be in cheek, but eyebrow is crooked ironically.

As Gerry Boyle says, "That's for me to know, and you to find out".


9/10

Suicide Room - Film Review

For his first foray into cinema, writer-director Jan Komasa taps into adolescent plight with everything from social networking obsession to sexual confusion and self harm, right on to virtual escapism and macabre ritual bonding.

In Suicide Room (Sala Samobojcow) we follow young Dominik (Jakub Gierszal), a relatively popular rich kid on the verge of finishing high school, life priveleged and care free. That is, until a traumatic and angst ridden incident with a fellow male student leaves him a social pariah and laughing stock. Experiencing a mini-breakdown, he runs the full gambit of emotions and exiles himself to solitary confinement in his bedroom.

During one of his episodes of despair, he by chance meets a mysterious girl online, an internet addict named Sylwia (Roma Gasiorowska-Zurawska) who introduces him to an avatar based role playing game called the Suicide Room, frequented by disillusioned and dangerously grim minded souls. Through this forum, and via web cam conversations, Dominik forms a strong emotional tie with Sylwia, and also begins to alter his perception of life, becoming more insular and yet more anarchic too, self destruction fuelled by perverse kinship. Meanwhile, Dominik's parents (Agata Kuleszka and Krzysztof Pieczynski) find themselves dealing with the crisis neither is prepared for, as they fail to comprehend their son's downfall.

Komosa, showing audacious confidence for a filmmaker previously only known for TV movies and shorts, here reigns in what sounds like a bleak, modest tale and instead blows it up into a multi-spectral tragedy that in places borders on modern sattire. Not only is Dominik's meltdown extremely visceral, but the seductive power of the suicide room is played out with attentive care, putting us into the mind of the teenage protagonist. The ideals are suitably contradictory, yet played straight, never highlighted as key marks of the confusion and alienation.

While Dominik's harsh, pain ridden journey is of course the film's focus, a healthy amount of attention is paid to the parents subplot. Rather than being cliched, overwrought do gooders, they are self obssessed business first types who cannot get their head around their son's behaviour, so sure that throwing money at him during his whole life is emotionally sufficient. When he falls apart, they don't know how to handle the situation, either by action or words, and act as enablers to their son's rebellion while protecting their own image. Ego and social ladder climbing plays a part in much of the film's characters.

Pretty searing in its delving look into the affluent subcultures of the well off young and older alike, Suicide Room treats the patrons of the titular community with sensitivity and empathy, indulging their attitudes and viewpoints. This is particularly true of Sylwia, an enigmatic and alluring, yet tragic figure hidden in darkness or behind a 3D character, and is played down to a tee by Gasiorowska, a stand out.

Though Dominik is far from a sympathetic lead, who is frankly an asshole before his inward fall, the source of the good will towards him from the audience is purely down to a powerful, utterly commited turn from Jakub Gierszal. He winds his way through the spectrum of emotions, from smug and arrogant smarm to dishevelled, screaming wreck, never once hamming it. Much of his angst and desperation is truly hard to sit through, for all the right reasons.

The spry pacing and momentum Komosa brings is both exciting and engaging, and his story bars no holds. Yet, for all it's downer beats and painful sentiment, Suicide Room doesn't simply tug at heart strings and play it's own visual violin. It's a sad story, undoubtedly, but not a depressing film, which is quite something. And for all it's bordering, it's a pretty simple one too, about growing pains and identity crisis. Something anyone who was once young (which should probably be everyone) should no doubt appreciate.

8/10

The Dark Knight Rises - Preview

When Gotham is ashes, you have my permission to die.

It's a cinematic event as much as it's the big, new shiny adrenaline pumping ride, and such is the hype and anticipation posed by Rises that fans pour over every small detail, cram into IMAX screens to catch it's trailers, and debate endlessly about everything from hidden villains to deaths, to backstories. And although release is still over six months away, there is a palpable sense of significance.
The final chapter in the Nolanverse Batman trilogy, the Dark Knight Saga as it is now officially called, will be a big deal.

And in an attempt to appraise those without the investigative obssession of the fanatics, here I have tried to collate everything you need to know about the film everyone has taken notice of.

See The Dark Knight Rises Official Trailer

See The Dark Knight Rises Teaser Trailer


The Story

-We have started the fire...
-The fire rises.

It is eight years after the Joker's reign of terror and Harvey Dent's descent into madness. Peace has lasted, Gotham free from the clutches of chaos and destruction.

But that tranquil peace is shattered by an impending storm, at the front of which is terrorist/mercenary Bane (Tom Hardy).

Arriving with a bang, the bombing of a football game, and leading his own militia of fanatic loyalists, Bane conducts a revolution as he exposes the corruption of those who govern, causing the people of Gotham to rise. While Commissioner Jim Gordon's (Gary Oldman) GPD are overwhelmed by the fighting in the streets, the caped crusader picks up his cowl once more for his grimmest battle yet. It seems, however, that he may have help in the form of another vigilante, of a feline vareity...

The Details

- Now is not the time for fear. That comes later.

Bale, Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Nestor Carbonell (as Mayor Garcia) all reprise their roles, while aside from Tom Hardy the other new faces are Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Joseph Gordon Levitt as John Blake and Matthew Modine as Nixon, both Gotham Police Department officers, and Marion Cotillard as Wayne Enterprises executive Miranda Tate. Interestingly, Josh Pence, who provided body double work for the Winklevoss brothers in The Social Network, will star as 'Young Ra's Al Ghul', suggesting the use of flashbacks ala Batman Begins.

Meanwhile, James Newton Howard has dropped out of co-composing duties, so Hans Zimmer will be working solo on the score, at least for the most part. Hundreds of film fans will appear in the film, or more specifically their voices will. Zimmer enlisted a chorus of competition winners to put together the Bane chant of "de-shay, de-shay, bah-shah-rah, bah-shah-rah".

The script has been co-penned by the Nolan brothers, Christopher and Jonathan, and Wally Pfister will once again turn his brilliant visual eye to the cinematography, which will contain far more IMAX work than was present in the previous film. Aesthetically, Gotham and the set pieces that take place in it will never look better. Filming has taken place in various locations, from New York (for a spookily familiar sounding Wall Street riot) to the Highlands of Scotland.

The Characters

The dark knight is naturally the focus of the battle ahead, both physically and spirtually as he comes to terms with his existence while using every inch of strength he has to tackle his foe. But he is not alone in his fight, and will have some help at least.

He will also have some truly deadly enemies...

Bruce Wayne/Batman

-The Batman has to come back.
-What if he doesn't exist anymore?
-He must....he must...

Eight years is a long time, and though it's not clear what pointy ears has been doing during that plot hiatus, it's pretty certain it's not been a particularly happy time. Bruce Wayne is in bad shape, and the Batman is a distant memory for most.

When war comes to Gotham, in the form of Bane, Bruce is completely unprepared for the ferocious attack.

He's back at home in the rebuilt Gotham manor with his mentor/surrogate father/scribe/friend Alfred (Michael Caine), and still putting on the playboy act as a deception. But it's unlikely his identity will remain secret for much longer...


Bane

-Nobody cared who I was until I put on the mask.

The big bad, in so many ways.

A dangerous mercenary and terrorist, boasting both incredible physical strength and audacious intelligence, Bane has turned his attention to Gotham, and plans to tear it down by the seams. He is a brutal, ferocious monster of a man.

Unlike previous incarnations, Bane does not gain his powers from the mask, but instead anaesthetic for the pain he suffers constantly, the results of a traumatic injury earlier in his life. As of yet, the nature of this, or much of anything about his backstory, is unknown.


Commissioner Jim Gordon

-The mayor's gonna dump him in the spring.
-But he's a hero.
-A WAR hero. This is peace time.

The good cop, the shepherd, Gordon is in very serious trouble. On the verge of losing his position, he is the first line of defense as Bane's spreading fire strikes the city, and is one of the first to fall. Ailing in his hospital bed, he begs and prays for Batman to return and to save them all from the rising evil.

Selena Kyle/Catwoman

-There's a storm coming, Mr Wayne...

Alluring and dangerous, Ms Kyle speaks the words of a revolutionary and stalks the streets as a feline. The dangerous foreshadowing of her warning to Bruce at a masquerade ball fills the hero with concern, and marks her as a possible advesary, or ally.

As is the case with much of the Batman backcatalogue, it is hard to tell whether the lady is a goodie or a baddie, and in the tradition of precedent, will likely fall somewhere in between, and anti-hero anti-villain. She may help Bruce escape imprisonment, and will be seen straddling the batpod with lustre.

Possibly a successor, possibly a soulmate.

John Blake and Miranda Tate


The wild cards of the story, with doubtlessly significant purpose, are GPD officer John Blake, assigned to special duties under Gordon, and Miranda Tate, an executive at Wayne Enterprises who takes special, perhaps romantic interest in Bruce.

It is hard to tell at this stage whether they are crouching dragons or simply straightforward characters free from the open air of comic book history.

The Others

Alfred, the pillar in Bruce Wayne's life is still undertaking his own mission to protect him, but is beset by worry and concern, convinced he has failed. Lucius Fox will continue to help Batman's quest, on the technological front, but with the caped crusader's true identity being sought, Fox is in a more dangerous position than ever before.

Nixon is a high flying cop working under Jim Gordon, who finds himself on the front lines as the rising is initiated, while Holly Robinson (Juno Temple) is a close friend and potential follower to Selena Kyle.

What to Expect

-Deshay, deshay! Bashara, bashara!
-What does that mean?
-Rise.

Given the scale of the story, it's not exactly a surprise that the film will contain some truly huge event set pieces and ambitious action, as well as undoubted emotional strife and huge characterisations.

The film's prologue introduces us to Bane, and in some style. The antagonist allows himself to be captured by the CIA, and then stages a daring, audacious mid-air escape, capturing a scientist in the process. This, like the released bank robbery opening from The Dark Knight, gives us maximum thrills and through actions and well chosen words lets us get to know the villain quickly. It's quite a first impression.

Much of the rest regarding the plot and events is gleaned from the trailers or second hand info from the crew or witnesses to on-set filming. A football pitch will be destroyed during a game by explosives set by Bane and his men, getting everyone's attention. Afterward, Bane will introduce himself to the crowd, call on the citizens of Gotham to rise, and introduce an as yet unidentified figure who is "the tool of [their] liberation". Later, or perhaps before, he will reveal the secret behind the events of the previous film, announce Harvey Dent's killing spree and expose Gordon and his ilk for their lies.

During the film we will also see Batman in daylight for the first time, taking on Bane hand to hand in the midst of a mass riot, and will be introduced to what appears to be a tumbler (new saga Batmobile) that is capable of flight. Gordon will be hospitalised, left hopeless and despairing, and Bruce Wayne will be unmasked and locked up by Bane. As part of his master plan, the arch-nemesis will also release convicts from Gotham's prison and give them weapons to spread chaos. Scenes of the city's elite being attacked and dragged out of their mansions will feature. And, naturally, we will see the legend end.

Theories & Speculation

-Why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.

As you would expect, the rumour mill is going into overdrive, as are the imaginations of many an armchair filmmaker.

The very presence of any incarnation of Ra's Al Ghul suggests that the League of Shadows, the first film's antagonists, will return here in some form. It has been suggested that Bane is in fact working for them, as his mission is to turn Gotham to ashes, very similar to the intention Ra's had before he was killed. It is also believed in some quarters that Miranda Tate is in fact Talia Al Ghul, daughter of Ra's. And to top all that off, Liam Neeson has reportedly been seen on set.

Another suspicion, far less likely, is that John Blake will turn out to Robin, despite Nolan's insistence that the famous sidekick has no place in his trilogy. Being more pragmatic, it would be a fair compromise to suggest he could well turn out to be a successor. After all, why would such big name actors like Marion Cotillard and Joseph Gordon-Levitt appear in insignificant roles?

But the biggy concerns Batman, and his fate. This film, and this final conflict, resolves the saga, and it will not be followed up. In the comics, Bane is most famous for 'breaking the bat', or more accurately breaking his back. It has been speculated that the man seen in the trailer walking with a cane is in fact Bruce Wayne, left crippled by his first battle with the masked collossus. Will Bane prove too strong? Will this trilogy end with Wayne, and his alter ego? That possible death has been mooted, and is entirely possible.

The End

After all, it would bring the story to a full arc, and present the final, unwinable battle as Bruce becomes only Batman, and then falls as his symbol rises, holding back the flames as he does.

On July 20th, we'll all find out.

If you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, you become something else entirely.
A legend, Mr. Wayne...