Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes

Virtually nothing was expected of 2011's Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, so the fact it turned out to be one of the best films of the last few years was a joyous surprise both for the cinema goer and, crucially for their planned reboot of the Apes series, 20th Century Fox. Therefore, we now have the follow up film. The problem is though that expectations have been raised and new director Matt Reeves (following on from the impressive Rupert Wyatt) can't deliver a product which lives up to the previous outing. Storyline wise we're now ten years on from the previous film and, following a world wide pandemic which has annihilated the human population, we explore the interactions between a number of human survivors and the disease free apes. After a nice start showing the apes hunting some prey, the films pace slows to a crawl and never recovers. The first hour is basically spent telling the audience that apes have feelings too which, for those that know their evolution (i.e. anyone with a brain) is hardly a shocking revelation. With far too much time spent on dialogue the set pieces need to deliver and, surprisingly for Reeves who has decent form in this area, he can't produce the required goods. In fact the set pieces are a good marker to use when describing all aspects of the film: passable, but Rise did it better. For example, whereas in the last film the sight of Caesar emerging from the San Franciscan fog atop a horse was a truly breathtaking moment, the equivalent scene here of a ape charging into battle sitting on a steed whilst firing two machine guns just looks ludicrously silly. On the plus side there are a couple of scenes of impressive tension (with the now somewhat already infamous moment of a when an ape murders a couple of humans a nice draft of how to build up tension in a scene where it's already implicit what the end result is going to be), but they are few and far between. Script wise this lacks the emotional impact that the last film had between Caesar and his human "family" and there's a lack of a strong female character. Overall, when watching this it feels like there's a film in between Rise and Dawn that they just forgot to make or that we're actually just picking up the story on disc five of a ten disc DVD box set. The film ends on a mesmerising and menacing close up shot of Caesar's baby blues as he contemplates what the future holds but, as with the original franchise, it looks like this storyline has run its course already. Rating: 5/10.

The Raid 2

Gareth Evans didn't pay much attention to plot or character development in his surprise 2011 hit The Raid. It was mainly all about lashings of claret and some of the most bonkers action scenes seen since John Woo was in his prime. For this follow up Evans has a much broader canvas on which to paint his violent masterpieces, but the film gets stuck between telling a fuller story and Evans trying to throw in as many outrageous moments as he can. This sequel starts off but a few hours following the end of the last film, but the uninitiated will be able to pick up what’s going on as this is basically an undercover cop in the criminal underworld type deal. This is a frustrating film from Evans. At times he’s a skilled operator behind the camera (some of his swooping tracking shots are reminiscent of Wells and Scorsese) and whist the sub-plots of feuding between gangs and family’s are old hat in gangster films, the script has enough to distract you from the over the top action. To that action then; this is where the film (unless you’re a card-carrying genre fan) falls down. Despite some great moments fight fatigue sets in well before the end and it’s all a bit silly in parts (a scene of hammer mayhem on a train is where the film comes dangerously close to parody). Plus it’s hard for Evans to deny this isn’t just violence for violence’s sake, especially an infamous shotgun head shot that is shown in such hideous detail it’s really only gone in for shock value. Throw in other negatives like Iko Uwais’ performance (he can certainly kick bottom, but his thesping leaves a lot to be desired) and odd plot devices like the one involving a bug which is so huge it wouldn’t look out of place in a 1960’s episode of Mission: Impossible, you’ll begin to wonder if these films are getting better critical plaudits than they actually deserve. Still, if you like films that involve scenes of bloody murder involving characters called such things as “Hammer Girl” and “Baseball Bat Man”, then step right this way. Rating: 6/10.

Calvary

After the fantastic The Guard, John Michael McDonagh’s follow up has been eagerly anticipated. Be warned though that Calvary is a change in style and tone from his directorial debut that may leave some disappointed. Teaming up again with Brendan Gleeson, we kick off with a verbal assault on the ears as during a confessional an unseen parishioner explains to Father Lavelle (Gleeson) that he was sexually abused by a priest when he was child and that he will take revenge on the Catholic Church by killing Lavelle the following Sunday. Lavelle pretty much takes the threat in his stride and the film follows him as he goes about his business for the week, mixing and speaking to a number of eclectic people that are resident in the town. Gleeson is great as always, but the film gets a bit lost in its addressing of it’s weighty issues. McDonagh has said he made this film as he wanted to tell the story of a “good” priest, which in effect he has done, but the constant church bashing gets tiresome, highlighted by a forced scene where a father “protects” his lost daughter from the kindly Lavelle. It’s more dramatic than funny (though the occasion moments do produce some hearty guffaws), but the storyline doesn’t hook you like it should due to the slow pacing and a cast of mainly unlikable characters. McDonagh has a way with a script though and the films conclusion will certainly play on your emotions. Throw is some beautiful cinematography and the end result is an above average production overall but, unlike The Guard, this is unlikely to warrant further viewings. On that note it’s rumoured that McDonagh is teaming up with Gleeson for a third time for a film where Gleeson will play a paraplegic ex-copper who hates able-bodied people. Now that sounds a bit more like it…..Rating: 7/10.