Thank You For The Wind That Shakes The Pirates
What a truly awful title for this post. I will never do anything like that again.
One of the things I thought I would do when considering how to fill the blog was to write reviews of the films I see, to give a sense of the kinds of things I respond to. I am normally at the cinema a couple of times a week. Typically, for various reasons I haven't been to the cinema in three weeks! I can't remember the last time I experienced such a cinematic drought. Thankfully the drought was alleviated by a downpour this weekend. I saw Thank You For Smoking, The Wind That Shakes The Barley and Pirates of the Carribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest. Here goes...
Thank You For Smoking is painfully dull. From the trailer I thought it might be good but at the same time there was a sense that it may not quite happen. Understatement of the year. The script, by Jason Reitman, based on the novel by Christopher Buckley, falls flat at every turn. I really can't be arsed going into much detail. Suffice to say, not only is it nowhere near as biting as it thinks it is, it fails even at raising a smile. Gags are signposted, predictable and unfunny. Moments that attempt quirky or worse still "cool" irritate. The cast, let by Aaron Echkart, do their best but are ultimately undermined by pedestrian writing and directing. More than anything however, it's a bitterly disappointing opportunity missed. And why is it every time I go to the cinema these days I see that pesky kid Cameron Bright?
Next up and much better was The Wind That Shakes The Barley, Ken Loach's Palme D'Or winning take on the Irish Civil War. Set predominantly in West Cork in 1920, the film stars the ever gorgeous Cillian Murphy as Damien, Padraic Delaney as his less gorgeous but you still wouldn't say no older brother Teddy. Would you say no? Hmmm... I've been single a long time and maybe I'm losing perspective. A quick google picture search confirms that in fact I would say no. Apologies for the facietiousness. The film is set during the height of English occupation in Ireland when, to bring order back to a defiant population, Lloyd George, the then English PM, sent over a group of soldiers, the Black and Tans, so-called for the colours of their uniform, to suppress the population. Atrocities by the Black and Tans are well documented throughout Irish history but the English are perhaps less aware of them and it will be interesting to see how they respond to the film. Damien is a young, intelligent lad about to embark on a bright future as a doctor in England. At the start of the film, Damian witnesses a friend beaten to death in front of his mother by the Tans. At the train station about to leave Cork, he witnesses yet more violence and so he joins his eldest brother Teddy and a band of locals in the fight against the occupation. The film expertly documents the nature of the guerrilla warfare, with the Irish rebels outnumbered, outgunned and always in danger of the near psychotic retribution that awaits them at the hands of the Tans if they are caught. Weary of the violence, England called a truce and Irish delegates went to England to negotiate a treaty. The resulting treaty, which defined Ireland as a "Free State", which called for an oath of allegience to be sworn to the Crown and which partitioned 6 counties in Northern Ireland, splintered the country in two, despite being ratified by the Irish people in a national referendum. The pro-treaty group hailed it as a stepping stone to full independence, saying that they were never going to get the full independence demanded by the government in waiting. The anti-treaty side saw the treaty as a sell out of the struggle that had been raging in Ireland for centuries but which had come to a real head in the previous few years with the 1916 rising and the success of the IRA in bringing the British to the negotiating table, albeit at the barrel of a gun. There followed a bitter civil war that pitted former allies against each other, the pro-treaty side armed and aided by the British, the anti-treaty side the overwhelmed rebels of old. Brother literally fought brother and this is the route the film takes as Teddy advocates the treaty and Damien is simply unable to.
The Wind That Shakes the Barley works much better intellectually, as a slice of Irish history and as a parallel for world events today, than it does emotionally. When the film is in gear it really is excellent, thanks to a strong script by Paul Laverty, a cast on form and assured direction from Loach. A scene in which Damien is forced to execute one of his own group as a traitor is gripping and heartbreaking. The ever present threat of violence from the Black and Tans hangs over the film like a dark cloud and you're never completely relaxed as a result. Little moments light up the screen, like a simple but wonderful scene when a young messenger boy with an apparently vital message, arrives on his bike with the message lost somewhere en route. However the film is less successful in the second half. Throughout the whole film I found myself watching with a strange detachment but this was less of a problem when atmosphere and historical and intellectual argument were compensating. When the treaty is signed and Damien and Teddy are on opposite sides of the civil war, the emotional stakes should be at their highest and our emotional involvement should be at its peak. Yet the detachment remained. This isn't helped by the fact that no time is spent at the start of the film building up the brother's relationship. A love story between Damien and a local girl, Sinead, is unconvincing and the tragically inevitable ending fails to resonate as it should. This is a real shame because the film works so hard in other areas and generally succeeds. The Wind That Shakes The Barley is flawed but is generally good and worth seeing.
Finally we have Pirates of the Carribbean: Dead Man's Chest. I have to say from the start, I seem to be the only person on the planet who wasn't won over by the first film. Johnny Depp was a joy to watch, the film's highlight, one of the most diverse actors at the top of his game. The script by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio was universally hailed as being witty and fun. Fun, maybe, structurally sound and (just about) sufficiently imaginative. Yet to me, the success of the humour almost always derived from Depp's performance, his inflections, swagger, the way he carried himself. The actual gags as scripted I found frequently lame. Supporting characters were horribly bland, not helped by the casting of Orlando Bloom who is wetter than the Atlantic (though I don't need a google search to confirm I wouldn't say no there. Whoa Mama...!) and Kiera Knightley, the death of acting as we know it. Geoffrey Rush did well but again because he is a great actor, not because the script was doing him any real favours. Yet I am definately in the minority and $600+ million dollars worldwide and an oscar nomination later, here we are at the sequel which for me is pretty much exactly the same, only without the surprise factor and with a ludicrous running time of 2 1/2 hours. The plot sees Davey Jones (an unrecogniseable Bill Nighy, buried under some impressive CGI tentacles) calling on Captain Jack to fulfill a bargain they struck which calls for Jack to now give Jones his soul and serve on Jones' ship, the Flying Dutchman, for 100 years. Being a pirate and a scoundrel, Jack of course tries to get out of it by locating the key to the dead man's chest which contains the beating heart of Davey Jones. Whoever has the chest, controls Jones and his terrifying digital Kraken. All manner of double and triple crossing ensues as the writer's go to great pains to give every character their own motives for getting to the chest first, with Keira Knightley's Elizabeth probably having the most interesting character development.
But who cares? Certainly not me. By the time the cliffhanger finale and surprise cast addition occured at the end of the film's 145 minute running time, my arse was aching and I was desperate to see sunlight. Yet again for me the script was lacking that extra spark required for a film like this to really fly. The visual effects are generally impressive, though by the third time the Kraken's tentacles are tearing through a ship I was completely bored. Much more interesting is the effects work on Bill Nighy and his crew of half men/half sea creatures. Little script moments and ideas like that are nice and the film would benefit from having more of them. Also deserving of mention is whatever software package that was used to digitally graft expression onto Orlando Bloom's face. A three-way swordfight atop an enormous out of control wooden wheel is probably the best set piece in the film though by the time we get to it it's too little too late. If you've read my post about Back To The Future you'll know what I think a film like this requires. Wit, character, a sense of fun and a great story. Like its predecessor, this film lacks all of those. Still, what does it matter when I've just read on Rotten Tomatoes that it now holds the record for the highest one day gross ever of $55 million. Maybe in a time when films like this rarely work, we'll accept the closest thing and I would grudgingly conceed that POTC is that. That doesn't mean however that it's any good.
One of the things I thought I would do when considering how to fill the blog was to write reviews of the films I see, to give a sense of the kinds of things I respond to. I am normally at the cinema a couple of times a week. Typically, for various reasons I haven't been to the cinema in three weeks! I can't remember the last time I experienced such a cinematic drought. Thankfully the drought was alleviated by a downpour this weekend. I saw Thank You For Smoking, The Wind That Shakes The Barley and Pirates of the Carribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest. Here goes...
Thank You For Smoking is painfully dull. From the trailer I thought it might be good but at the same time there was a sense that it may not quite happen. Understatement of the year. The script, by Jason Reitman, based on the novel by Christopher Buckley, falls flat at every turn. I really can't be arsed going into much detail. Suffice to say, not only is it nowhere near as biting as it thinks it is, it fails even at raising a smile. Gags are signposted, predictable and unfunny. Moments that attempt quirky or worse still "cool" irritate. The cast, let by Aaron Echkart, do their best but are ultimately undermined by pedestrian writing and directing. More than anything however, it's a bitterly disappointing opportunity missed. And why is it every time I go to the cinema these days I see that pesky kid Cameron Bright?
Next up and much better was The Wind That Shakes The Barley, Ken Loach's Palme D'Or winning take on the Irish Civil War. Set predominantly in West Cork in 1920, the film stars the ever gorgeous Cillian Murphy as Damien, Padraic Delaney as his less gorgeous but you still wouldn't say no older brother Teddy. Would you say no? Hmmm... I've been single a long time and maybe I'm losing perspective. A quick google picture search confirms that in fact I would say no. Apologies for the facietiousness. The film is set during the height of English occupation in Ireland when, to bring order back to a defiant population, Lloyd George, the then English PM, sent over a group of soldiers, the Black and Tans, so-called for the colours of their uniform, to suppress the population. Atrocities by the Black and Tans are well documented throughout Irish history but the English are perhaps less aware of them and it will be interesting to see how they respond to the film. Damien is a young, intelligent lad about to embark on a bright future as a doctor in England. At the start of the film, Damian witnesses a friend beaten to death in front of his mother by the Tans. At the train station about to leave Cork, he witnesses yet more violence and so he joins his eldest brother Teddy and a band of locals in the fight against the occupation. The film expertly documents the nature of the guerrilla warfare, with the Irish rebels outnumbered, outgunned and always in danger of the near psychotic retribution that awaits them at the hands of the Tans if they are caught. Weary of the violence, England called a truce and Irish delegates went to England to negotiate a treaty. The resulting treaty, which defined Ireland as a "Free State", which called for an oath of allegience to be sworn to the Crown and which partitioned 6 counties in Northern Ireland, splintered the country in two, despite being ratified by the Irish people in a national referendum. The pro-treaty group hailed it as a stepping stone to full independence, saying that they were never going to get the full independence demanded by the government in waiting. The anti-treaty side saw the treaty as a sell out of the struggle that had been raging in Ireland for centuries but which had come to a real head in the previous few years with the 1916 rising and the success of the IRA in bringing the British to the negotiating table, albeit at the barrel of a gun. There followed a bitter civil war that pitted former allies against each other, the pro-treaty side armed and aided by the British, the anti-treaty side the overwhelmed rebels of old. Brother literally fought brother and this is the route the film takes as Teddy advocates the treaty and Damien is simply unable to.
The Wind That Shakes the Barley works much better intellectually, as a slice of Irish history and as a parallel for world events today, than it does emotionally. When the film is in gear it really is excellent, thanks to a strong script by Paul Laverty, a cast on form and assured direction from Loach. A scene in which Damien is forced to execute one of his own group as a traitor is gripping and heartbreaking. The ever present threat of violence from the Black and Tans hangs over the film like a dark cloud and you're never completely relaxed as a result. Little moments light up the screen, like a simple but wonderful scene when a young messenger boy with an apparently vital message, arrives on his bike with the message lost somewhere en route. However the film is less successful in the second half. Throughout the whole film I found myself watching with a strange detachment but this was less of a problem when atmosphere and historical and intellectual argument were compensating. When the treaty is signed and Damien and Teddy are on opposite sides of the civil war, the emotional stakes should be at their highest and our emotional involvement should be at its peak. Yet the detachment remained. This isn't helped by the fact that no time is spent at the start of the film building up the brother's relationship. A love story between Damien and a local girl, Sinead, is unconvincing and the tragically inevitable ending fails to resonate as it should. This is a real shame because the film works so hard in other areas and generally succeeds. The Wind That Shakes The Barley is flawed but is generally good and worth seeing.
Finally we have Pirates of the Carribbean: Dead Man's Chest. I have to say from the start, I seem to be the only person on the planet who wasn't won over by the first film. Johnny Depp was a joy to watch, the film's highlight, one of the most diverse actors at the top of his game. The script by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio was universally hailed as being witty and fun. Fun, maybe, structurally sound and (just about) sufficiently imaginative. Yet to me, the success of the humour almost always derived from Depp's performance, his inflections, swagger, the way he carried himself. The actual gags as scripted I found frequently lame. Supporting characters were horribly bland, not helped by the casting of Orlando Bloom who is wetter than the Atlantic (though I don't need a google search to confirm I wouldn't say no there. Whoa Mama...!) and Kiera Knightley, the death of acting as we know it. Geoffrey Rush did well but again because he is a great actor, not because the script was doing him any real favours. Yet I am definately in the minority and $600+ million dollars worldwide and an oscar nomination later, here we are at the sequel which for me is pretty much exactly the same, only without the surprise factor and with a ludicrous running time of 2 1/2 hours. The plot sees Davey Jones (an unrecogniseable Bill Nighy, buried under some impressive CGI tentacles) calling on Captain Jack to fulfill a bargain they struck which calls for Jack to now give Jones his soul and serve on Jones' ship, the Flying Dutchman, for 100 years. Being a pirate and a scoundrel, Jack of course tries to get out of it by locating the key to the dead man's chest which contains the beating heart of Davey Jones. Whoever has the chest, controls Jones and his terrifying digital Kraken. All manner of double and triple crossing ensues as the writer's go to great pains to give every character their own motives for getting to the chest first, with Keira Knightley's Elizabeth probably having the most interesting character development.
But who cares? Certainly not me. By the time the cliffhanger finale and surprise cast addition occured at the end of the film's 145 minute running time, my arse was aching and I was desperate to see sunlight. Yet again for me the script was lacking that extra spark required for a film like this to really fly. The visual effects are generally impressive, though by the third time the Kraken's tentacles are tearing through a ship I was completely bored. Much more interesting is the effects work on Bill Nighy and his crew of half men/half sea creatures. Little script moments and ideas like that are nice and the film would benefit from having more of them. Also deserving of mention is whatever software package that was used to digitally graft expression onto Orlando Bloom's face. A three-way swordfight atop an enormous out of control wooden wheel is probably the best set piece in the film though by the time we get to it it's too little too late. If you've read my post about Back To The Future you'll know what I think a film like this requires. Wit, character, a sense of fun and a great story. Like its predecessor, this film lacks all of those. Still, what does it matter when I've just read on Rotten Tomatoes that it now holds the record for the highest one day gross ever of $55 million. Maybe in a time when films like this rarely work, we'll accept the closest thing and I would grudgingly conceed that POTC is that. That doesn't mean however that it's any good.
posted by Garreth at 12:28 pm
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