valkyrie (2009)

a lot of criticism has been levelled at the use of the respective actors own accent in bryan singer's "valkyrie", yet i feel this is a fairly trivial criticism. if anything the dropping of german accents actively helps the performances, pushing the accessibility whilst dropping any form of distraction. i think a lot of people are forgetting that, at heart at least, this is a popcorn adventure film, and nothing more (despite the best intensions of the filmmakers.

the film tells the story of colonel claus von stauffenberg, a key player in a plot to assassinate adolf hitler. obviously hisory dictates that he wasnt successful in his endevear, yet the suspense of the film still flows.

this is tom cruise's film, something that will be blazingly obvious to anyone who has seen the films marketing campaign or indeed any tom cruise film this decade. i once wrote an essay on how cruise is perhaps unique in the sense that he is the only actor who could be considered an auteur, in the respect that he makes the majority of the creative decisions on a film project, akin to how a director would usually. thats not to say that the rest of the performances in''valkyrie'' are invisible. kenneth branagh, terrence stamp and thomas kretschmann (the actor originally set to play von stauffenberg, prior to cruise's involvement) are all great, although bill nighy annoys (as usual).

stylistically the film isnt the usual thing that one would expect from bryan singer, its far too pedestrian. alas it does what it intends to do, and for a couple of hours at least, is an entertaining saturday night film.

the limey (1999)

terrence stamp plays the limey of the title in steven soderbergh's low key post-modern homage to the british popular culture of the 1960's and the revenge genre. watching this so soon after godard's french new wave piece "pierrot le fou" opened my eyes to the great influence the movement clearly had on this film. the style and tone are very similiar, structure wise especially (though the comparisons to earlier godard work may be fairer).

the most notable feature of "the limey" is its use of editing. the unique way in which the flashbacks and flashforwards compliment and dictate the story is very interesting, and manages to portray a hidden segment of the characterisation that would otherwise be hidden, or even missing.

wanted (2008)

mark millar and myself have never quite gelled. a comic book loving friend of mine has encouraged a deep hate of the guys work and it appears to have stuck, so wanted passed me by on its original theatrical release this year. as it was a dirt cheap price on pre-order and and im a sucker for a summer blockbuster on a cold winter night i decided to pick this one up last week. as the actual concept of the comic book (loser finds out his father was a magneto/dr octopus/green goblin style super villain and he is his expected heir) i was kind of disheartened to discover that the film deviates from the original plot quite significantly, despite the story being appoved of by millar himself. add to this the macguffin that holds the whole film together is known as the loom of fate (it does exactly as it says on the tin) and i figured i would i'd pretty much hate the whole thing. alas i was surprised to fid that i really enjoyed wanted. mcavoy was an apt leading man, jolie performed as expected/required and morgan freeman added the usual gravitas to the elder role, with surprise of the day coming in the form of director timur bekmambetov's fellow night watch-alumni konstantin khabensky as the rat utilising bomb expert.

stylistically i felt as tho bekmambetov held back slightly. the film wasnt as over the top as night watch, tho thats not to say that wanted isnt bonkers as all hell, its just not as visually innovative as bekmambetov's previous work.