Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

Prolific director, he has over one hundred directors credits on IMDB, Takashi Miike’s Dead or Alive trilogy is getting an Arrow release. Miike has made some brilliant films, such as the classic horror Audition, but a career as busy as his will always contain rubbish. Is the Dead or Alive trilogy good enough to be counted amongst his best?

Dead or Alive blasts on the screen with a frenetic montage full of kinetic energy as gangland criminals are bumped off in an excessive fashion, one having his throat slit during anal intercourse in a public toilet and the other blasted by a shotgun which sends a stream of noodles from his eviscerated stomach and straight at the screen. It’s a slap in the face as the film grabs you and shouts at you. Unfortunately, the rest of the film doesn’t continue in the same manner. Ryuuichi (Riki Takeuchi) is the head of the small gang who perpetrated the killings and Detective Jojima (Shô Aikawa) is the policeman trying to catch him. You’ve seen this kind of plot before and the film does come with some clichés, the detective with a suffering family life, the gangster with an innocent younger brother, the police partner whose fate is sealed as soon as you see he is a loving father. However, there are streaks of Miike in Dead or Alive such as the pornographer who specialises in canine on human action or a character who is drowned in a children’s paddling pool filled with human excrement. You don’t get that with Michael Mann. The film’s got an anime sensibility to it with the over the top action and it’s self-aware at points but not enough to really make a point of it.

Dead or Alive 2: Birds sees Miike directing Takeuchi and Aikawa again, this time as two hitmen whose paths cross during a job. They realise that they were childhood friends and take a trip back to the island that they lived on in an orphanage. What’s surprising about this second film is just how funny it is. Its humour is absurd and once again has an anime influence and the film has several genuinely laugh out loud moments which culminates in a completely inappropriate play for a group of children. This happens about forty-five minutes in and then the film loses its way. It lacks much of a plot and after this point, it feels like the film struggles to know what to do with itself.

Dead or Alive 3: Final sees Takeuchi and Aikawa, the only links to allow the films to call themselves a trilogy, in a post-apocalyptic future with Takeuchi as a police officer fighting rebels fighting against a regime that forces people to take a pill to stop them reproducing. Aikawa is a cyborg who becomes wrapped up in the rebel force. This is easily the weakest of the trilogy. It lacks the energy or fun that the previous two contain. Instead, it feels like a struggling low-budget sci-fi film with the ropey effects to go with it. It misses out on saying anything about its subject matter though the ending does grasp at a through line to the trilogy, saying that Takeuchi and Aikawa are always destined to meet each other throughout time.

Miike is a frustrating director and the Dead or Alive trilogy proves it. Sporadically fun and entertaining, the films never reach the heights that Miike is capable of and you probably won’t be re-watching them regularly.

DEAD OR ALIVE TRILOGY / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: TAKASHI MIIKE / SCREENPLAY: ICHIRO RYU, MASA NAKAMURA, HITOSHI ISHIKAWA, YOSHINOBU KAMO / STARRING: RIKI TAKEUCHI, SHOW AIKAWA, RENJI ISHIBASHI / RELEASE DATE: 27TH MARCH

Ahhh, the movie trailer. It’s almost a lost art form; it seems as we now live in an age in which films are marketed with such ferocity that by the time we see the finished product we feel like we’ve seen the whole film already. Now we can relive the glory (and gory) days of a time when films didn’t cost the earth but were advertised so much bigger.

Trailer collections in the past have usually been made up of scratchy public domain materials that don’t look any better than you’d find on YouTube. However, this set from Australia’s Umbrella Entertainment is in glorious HD and contains some really rare gems that will keep you viewing for hours. Six of them to be precise.

Split into two parts, rather naturally the ‘60s and ‘70s, the collection takes in such genuine classics such as Peeping Tom, Barbarella, The Hills Have Eyes, Mad Max, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture as well as the obligatory Hammer pictures. There are some fantastic curios, though, like Code 7 Victim 5, Fantastic Invasion of Planet Earth, Jennifer and the incredibly creepy What the Peeper Saw, which was also released as Night Child, and stars Mark Lester (yes, Oliver himself) and Britt Ekland as a boy and his step mother who have a rather suspect relationship. It’s fascinating watching the development of the selling of these movies, particularly if you compare them to the flashy trailers we see today. The gritty – and quite often grimy – nature of the films is never underplayed and but it’s still shocking to see how much explicit material made it through to these few minutes of promotional material. Full frontal nudity, gore and violence as well as large plot points are often front and centre, but it still makes one want to see the movies – even today. We’re lucky that we don’t have to wait for these flicks to turn up at our local fleapit now; many have been released in lavish Blu-ray versions of their own and are readily available. It’s still great to sit through the collection, though, and try to imagine what an audience would have thought at the time. No wonder cinemas were doing great business until the video industry took over.

Although only available as an import, this Umbrella Blu-ray release is region free and will provide hours of entertainment.

DRIVE-IN DELIRIUM – ‘60S AND ‘70S SAVAGERY / CERT: TBC / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

We live in a post-Birdemic world. When it comes to ‘so bad it’s good’ zero-budget animal massacre movies, the rules all changed with James Nguyen’s 2010 rip-off of Hitchcock’s The Birds that had geeks wondering if its awful effects, sound, acting, camerawork and, well, everything else were genuine or some kind of feature-length prank. Any attempt to emulate such tragic incompetence was always going to flounder and, sure enough, Birdemic 2 was an altogether more self-conscious product. So what’s an aspiring indie outfit to do if they want to go down the same route but with that vital innocence lost? Only one thing for it – non-stop jokes and gratuitous lady flesh!

The plot to The Beaster Bunny is simple and to the point: giant zombie bunny messily kills lots of stupid people. The plentiful jokes are generally terrible but, to be fair, they do seem to wave at you in advance as if to say ‘awful pun incoming!’ so you at least get the chance to duck. You’ll probably know if you’re going to last the course within the first 15 minutes because by that point, writer-directors The Snygg Brothers have already laid on a blizzard of poor gags, a couple of dismemberings and loads of female nudity. Mind you, that probably makes it sound better than it is.

Effects are generally of the ‘look what I knocked up in After Effects last night!’ variety but some of the gore work is pretty innovative. Look out in particular for a homage to Evil Dead 2’s flying eyeball scene that, depending on your state of indulgence, may raise a genuine laugh. You might also appreciate the chain-smoking dude who gets decapitated and still finds time to exhale. Quite funny, that. The bunny itself is atrocious on every level; a rancid, half-zombified horrorshow badly composited into the nudie action like a refugee from the Bagpus toyshop popping up in an old Electric Blue video. Casting is by a guy called Bob Gonzo and, sure enough, he must be having a laugh. You’ll look far and wide for a more inept ensemble cast than this unless your local amateur dramatic society is having a go at The Deer Hunter, in which case, bingo.

It starts quite well with a genuinely funny wedding speech from a disgruntled stoner whose rich old Dad has just ditched the poor dude’s mother and married a hot young damsel. If the line ‘I hope you enjoy his olds balls’ doesn’t get you where it hurts there really is no justice in the world. If the rest of the script had been as good as this first scene we’d be looking at the Citizen Kane of giant bastard bunny movies, as opposed to the Citizen Smith.

If you’re a connoisseur of wannabe-bad movies, there are definitely things to enjoy about The Beaster Bunny, but it’s all been done before and it’s all been done much worse.

THE BEASTER BUNNY / CERT: 15 / DIRECTORS & SCREENPLAY: THE SNYGG BROTHERS / STARRING: JON ARTHUR, KRISTINA BEDOUIN, VALERIE BITTNER / RELEASE DATE: 3RD APRIL
 

It’s well known that Italian producers, writers and directors spent much of the ‘70s and ‘80s building a profitable business from riffing on and ripping off the bigger international hits of the time. Filling them with blood, gore, sex and violence it brought in the cash and left behind cult films that range from the awful to the brilliant in their own right. Of course, Italian cinema isn’t just that and the hugely inventive craftspeople involved brought us the best neorealism, peplum, spaghetti westerns, giallo, horror and some of the greatest directors film can offer. That drive to replicate the success of international studios started earlier than the ‘70s too. Which brings us to Caltiki the Immortal Monster.

In many ways very much an Italian version of the Quatermass / X the Unknown films, it concerns an expedition to a ruined Mayan city, headed by Dr. John Fielding. Hoping to discover what happened to the Mayan people and why they left behind their civilisation centuries before, the group instead finds unimaginable horror. Following the deaths of a number of the party, Fielding and the expedition makes its way home with the last remaining living piece of a previously undiscovered, probably alien creature and an injured colleague, near death and probably going mad. When that man, slowly being taken over by the creature’s influence, escapes and goes on a murderous rampage, Fielding has to find a way to try and cure his friend and save the world.

Directed by Riccardo Freda with significant help from cinematographer and special effects man Mario Bava, it’s a lustier version of those British sci-fi classics. Like many a monster movie since, the bits with the humans and their melodramatic relationship woes are generally tedious, threatening to underwhelm, but it really doesn’t matter. What you’re here for is a monster flick and it doesn’t disappoint. Some vivid, impressively gory imagery collides with charming, inventive model work to make Caltiki more than just its influences and something special in its own right. It works as a more ludicrous, blood-thirsty matinee monster movie, but added to that is the place the film holds in the burgeoning Italian genre field. As a document of the developing direction for Bava’s talents, it’s invaluable.

For this release Arrow must be commended. There are two welcome commentaries, one each from Bava enthusiasts Tim Lucas and Troy Howarth, as well as Kim Newman talking about the film’s influences, and some archival interviews about Freda and the film’s genesis. If you’re a fan of shrieking monster movies this certainly scratches that itch, but if you’re a fan of Bava, Freda or Italian genre movies then it’s an essential package and comes very highly recommended.

CALTIKI THE IMMORTAL MONSTER (1959) / CERT: 15 / DIRECTORS: RICCARDO FREDA, MARIO BAVA / SCREENPLAY: FILIPPO SANJUST / STARRING: JOHN MERIVALE, DIDI PEREGO, GÉRARD HERTER / RELEASE DATE: 10TH APRIL

When successful Horror writer Roger Cobb (William Katt) inherits a spooky family home from his recently deceased aunt, it seems like the new beginning he’s been searching for. Yet it’s not long before the weird starts knocking at his door. As Roger settles in to begin his latest novel (based on his experiences in Vietnam), the ghosts of his past quite literally return to haunt him, as the house seems to come alive with only one aim, to drag him to hell.

 

What sounds like a straight-up horror isn’t at all. The inherent charm of 1985’s unexpected hit is the comedy. At the forefront of the horror/comedy sub-genre, House deftly set up rubber faced gags, scares and gore and follows them all with a punch line. The result is a fun nostalgic walk through the mid-80s and an enjoyable ghost house ride that culminates with the classic appearance of Big Ben, a 6’ 7” zombie marine.

 

Then came the sequels. Actually, sequel isn’t really the right word. There are few film series as eclectic as House. With the small (and undeniably tenuous) exception of House IV, none of the following films have anything to do with the first film, or for that matter each other. Instead what we have are three films that don’t even share the same sub-genres.

House II: The Second Story (yeah, really) has another poor sap inherit a house only to discover that it’s a pan-dimensional gateway filled with historic crazies who all want the crystal skull that his newly rejuvenated zombified great, great grandfather found years ago. Adventures, insane creatures (including a caterpuppy) and literally no horror ensue.

House III: The Horror Show is so far removed that it wasn’t even a House movie in the US (and the house doesn’t play a part in the story at all). Instead genre stalwart Lance Henrickson faces off against the ever-watchable Brion James in a spooky case of cop versus recently electrocuted ghost serial killer. This is by far the second best of the series and certainly gives Wes Craven’s Shocker a run for its money.

House IV: The Repossession (get it) sees the return of Roger Cobb, although he is neither a writer or has the same wife and his son has been replaced by a daughter. In fact you’ll learn that he was only hired at the last minute which is why his character has nothing to do with the original at all. It’s terrible.

 

The star of this box set is the bonus footage. With the exception of House III, each film comes with excellent new documentaries, featuring new interviews with the key players. Each disc also comes with an Audio Commentary, all of which are compelling if only to truly understand why the series is such a clusterfuck. Also, any Audio Commentary in which the director calls up James Cameron to confirm that we’re watching what he deems to be the ‘most disgusting moment in film history’ is a must to listen to.

 

Original Featurettes, Stills Galleries and original Trailers are also available across the four-disc set. As a slice of ‘80s horror history, the House: The Complete Collection is an invaluable addition to any collector, even if the only disc that will ever get any extra play after watching all of the extras, will be the first one.

 

HOUSE: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION / CERT: 15 / DIRECTORS: STEVE MINER, ETHAN WILEY, JAMES ISAAC, LEWIS ABERNATHY / SCREENPLAY: ETHAN WILEY, ALAN SMITHEE, LESLIE BOHEM, GEOFF MILLER, DEIDRE HIGGINS / STARRING: WILLIAM KATT, ARYE GROSS, LANCE HENRIKSEN, TERRI TREAS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

It’s that time again for another outing of Shaun the Sheep mayhem. This DVD release compiles the last ten episodes of series 5, and follows the same formula of previous episodes before it, including Shaun, the flock and Bitzer getting into all sort of mishaps and capers, while trying to avoid attention from the grumpy Farmer. What’s in store here involves the gang trying to rescue the Farmer from being stuck inside a loo (‘Out of Order’), Bitzer babysitting Timmy (‘Babysitter Bitzer’), Shaun trying to reclaim his hair (‘Baa-d Hair Day’), and so on. As always, there is still huge heaps of enjoyment to be found in these episodes, being consistently humorous and charming to watch, and can easily appeal to audiences of all ages.

 

The light-hearted, sweet-natured appeal sweeps you up in ease, and there’s little to nothing that will offend or outrage even the most cynical of people. The humour worked when this show started, and it still works now, with the slapstick-inspired gags coming in thick and fast. The most notable highlight involves the Farmer getting his foot crushed by a hammer twice (‘The Farmer’s Nephew’), and the timing along with the vocal/sound effects makes those moments absolutely priceless to behold. Like before, the quality is still consistent and the animation on display is still gorgeous and creative, which just goes to show how much talent and creative energy Aardman have at their disposal.

 

Like the other DVD releases, this volume deserves to be picked up as this show will have you leaving amazed and dazzled by its top-notch quality in delivering incredible animation and creative gags that’ll leave all audiences laughing their heads off. With the level of wit, humour and charm on display, you have to give enormous amounts of credit to Aardman for still maintaining this level of quality since they began the show back in 2007. It’s true that life’s a treat with Shaun the Sheep, but that’s pretty much been true for quite a while now!

 

SHAUN THE SHEEP: SPOILSPORT / CERT: U / DIRECTORS: VARIOUS / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: VARIOUS / RELEASE DATE: 10TH APRIL

The decade or so following the Summer of Love was, as we are now becoming painfully aware, a period during which certain people forwent the rules governing reasonable behaviour, indulging in whatever took their fancy in a haze of intoxicated permissiveness that would, in these more temperate times, be regarded as criminal activity. The Blue Lagoon is a film that wouldn’t be contemplated, let alone made, in 2017 – and yet its lingering full frontal shots of naked pre-teenaged children and sex scenes involving an actress who turned fifteen just weeks before the film’s 1980 premiere, are now available in high definition Blu-ray.

 

Producer Randal Kleiser knew exactly what he was doing casting Brooke Shields as Emmeline. Having two years previously appeared as the eponymous Pretty Baby in Louis Malle’s film about a child prostitute, and recently having famously gone sans underwear for a Calvin Klein ad, Shields had posed naked for Playboy at ten and would guarantee audiences both curious and lascivious. The Blue Lagoon was the ninth biggest film in the US that year.

 

Based faithfully on the 1908 novel by Irish author Henry De Vere Stacpoole (and actually the third of around five films inspired by the book), The Blue Lagoon is quite vacuously dreary in execution, brimming with superficially pretty compositions and clumsy symbolism, an almost impossibly benign nirvana fantasy with workaday dialogue that services its sub-pornographic intent. The first half hour is livened by Leo McKern as ship’s cook Paddy “Mr” Button, but once he’s drunk himself to an early exit we’re left with just the nascent romance between the budding adolescent castaways – whom a heavily expository early scene informs us in no uncertain terms are actually cousins, to no doubt great relief all around.

 

There’s a lot of “tasteful” near-nudity and “tastefully shot” actual nudity, which for balance is equally as leering over 18-year-old debutant Christopher Atkins’ Richard as it is Shields. But in spite of Atkins carrying the dramatic heft, there’s little doubt that Shields is the focus of the production, one that neuters the brutality of its subject concerns in order to venerate and fetishise its star.

 

It’s sad that The Blue Lagoon exists at all. Not the story, a pretty obvious synthesis of Robinson Crusoe and Romeo and Juliet, but the concept behind the 1980 production. For all its crystal-clear wildlife documentary trappings, its salaciousness is barely disguised. It is at once quite unnervingly shocking in intention and deceptively innocuous in execution, a real wolf in sheep’s clothing of a picture. As a product of its times, it’s as much of a reflection and indictment of those times as are those less public activities which are now coming to light. Uncomfortable viewing.

 

Special Features: Trailer / Contemporary Making of Featurette / 2 Commentaries

THE BLUE LAGOON (1980) / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: RANDAL KLEISER / SCREENPLAY: DOUGLAS DAY STEWART / STARRING: BROOKE SHIELDS, CHRISTOPHER ATKINS, LEO McKERN, WILLIAM DANIELS / RELEASE DATE: 10TH APRIL

It is 1880, and as Thomas Edison unveils his invention of the electric light bulb to the world, twin baby girls are born to a young mother in Budapest. Their names are Dora and Lili, and the stars are looking down upon them. We can even hear the star’s whispered voices, and they will continue talking at intervals throughout the film. Dora and Lili are seven years old when they fall asleep together after selling matches during a snowstorm. While they are sleeping, two men descend. They each take one of the girls and disappear off with them in opposite directions.

For the next few years, the twin’s lives take very different paths. Dora (Dorothy Segda) becomes a good-time girl who uses her sexual charms to get what she needs whereas Lili (also played by Segda) becomes a bomb throwing terrorist, the complete antithesis of her lost sister. While Dora is stealing jewellery, Lili is bombing movie theatres. But, as fate would have it, they both independently fall into the orbit of a man known only as Z (Oleg Yankovsky). Z attempts to seduce Lili, but she will have none of it. However, Lili is more susceptible to his charms and also rifles Z’s wallet for good measure. Meanwhile, there are digressions aplenty. Nikolai Tesla hurls lightning bolts across a lecture hall, and a dog that has been wired with electrodes is released from the laboratory by the chattering, tittering stars. In the zoo, a chimpanzee tells Dora about his captivity, and a magical donkey appears looking like it stepped out of a Salvador Dali film. But, more significantly, we witness the birth of the ‘wireless telegraph’ as it bounces a message around the world and we watch a demonstration of the very first motion picture projector. And all the while the stars’ watch and comment like a Greek chorus, until finally Dora and Lili are united on the Orient Express.

Ildiko Enyedi’s My 20th Century is sometimes a frustrating experience because it often feels like the film doesn’t quite know where it wants to go, but in this particular case the journey is definitely more important than the destination and if you go with the flow and just enjoy how quirky and downright beautiful this movie is to watch, you’ll almost certainly be delighted by it. That is especially true for lovers of early cinema, because in many ways My 20th Century is a paean to the birth of movies, especially the tale of the electrode-studded lab dog who seems to escape into its own surreal cinematic reality. There is also something very silent movie vamp about the twin sisters, and credit must be given to Dorothy Segda for playing both roles so cleverly, drawing a clear line between Dora and Lili (although, not surprisingly, she seems to be having the most fun playing Dora). Second Run’s blu-ray presentation is wonderful (this is My 20th Century’s world premiere release on blu-ray) and includes a fascinating new interview with the director. Absolutely superb.

MY 20TH CENTURY (1989) / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: ILDIKÓ ENYEDI / STARRING: DOROTHY SEGDA, OLEG YANKOVSKY, PAULUS MANKER / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Farren Blackburn has a genre history as long as your arm – he’s directed episodes of Daredevil, Doctor Who, The Fades and Survivors and his debut feature was the underrated Norse actioner Hammer of the Gods – but here he’s been saddled with the first produced screenplay from future Transformers scriptwriter Christina Hodson, and it’s not exactly a meeting of minds. Indeed, if the closest anagram for your title is “Shit Un”, you’d better make very sure nobody watching your film ever feels the need to invoke it. Sadly that isn’t the case here.

 

The script itself seems to be aiming for a kind of Hitchcock-esque melodrama by way of Kubrick’s The Shining – Oliver Platt even turns up as Scatman Crothers just to nail the point home – but the film’s first half is so underwritten it demands Blackburn find too low key a level to escape from once the mid-point revelation turns everything on its head. The second half is scuppered by the lack of any momentum in the first.

 

Naomi Watts (looking more like Helen Mirren every day) plays Nicole Kidman as a widowed psychologist, who balances receiving patients in the room above her garage with looking after her auto-non-functioning tetraplegic stepson, who managed to avoid serious injury despite having almost died in the accident that claimed her husband. After a deaf nine-year-old client that she’d like to adopt goes missing on the isolated property, Watts begins hearing strange noises in the woodwork at night, and despite being a highly-qualified doctor suspects the boy has died and his ghost has returned to haunt her. And that’s when the ice storm hits, cutting Watts off from civilisation (or the local police at least; Platt still manages to arrive quickly and easily enough) just as the truth about the two boys in her life comes climbing out of the cellar.

 

Shut In – with its three meanings, describing in one way or another each of the three principal characters – isn’t anything like as exciting as that brief precis might have made it appear. Hemmed in by its appropriation of genre clichés but unwillingness to play their games, and soundtracked to resemble a more staple horror than the psychological thriller it is instead attempting to be, Hodson’s screenplay dispenses with both ambiguity and character depth, leaving a black hole where either audience empathy or plausibility might reside. Instead, the first fifty minutes goes very slowly and terribly clumsily through the motions of setting up the last thirty, by which point it’s become entirely impossible to give the first fig about any one of the people on the screen – and the explanation provided for the central plot twist is possibly the most risible piece of dialogue written this century.

 

The performances are mostly unconvincing, and the visuals – while pretty enough – are just as dull as the writing, leaving the film just as much of an auto-non-functioning tetraplegic as Watts’ stepson.

 

SHUT IN / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: FARREN BLACKBURN / SCREENPLAY: CHRISTINA HODSON / STARRING: NAOMI WATTS, OLIVER PLATT, CHARLIE HEATON, JACOB TREMBLAY, DAVID CUBITT, CLÉMENTINE POIDATZ / RELEASE DATE: 10TH APRIL

 

Released in the aftermath of British Film Year 1985 and one of three films produced by the Goldcrest company, Roland Joffé’s The Mission is as much an expression of artistic intent as a reflection of what the British Film Industry was aiming for. Unfortunately, the two other films in the trio, Hugh Hudson’s Revolution (1985) and Julian Temple’s Absolute Beginners (1986) didn’t quite hit the heights they should have done, a process which led Goldcrest to it’s inevitable demise soon after.

 

Re-issued on Blu-Ray as part of Warner Home Video’s ‘Premium Collection’, The Mission is based on a true story set in South America in 1750 and chronicles the quest of Father Gabriel (Jeremy Irons), a Jesuit priest who is helping to build a mission for a local tribe, the Guarani, and thus introduce them to Christianity. It is a noble intent, but is complicated by the actions of mercenary and slave driver Rodrigo Mendoza (Robert De Niro), who has enslaved some of the tribe, but has to deal with emotional issues compounded by his murder of younger brother Felipe (Aidan Quinn) when he catches him in bed with fiancée Carlotta (Cherie Lunghi). Mendoza decides to undergo a penance with the help of Gabriel deep amongst the Guarani and tries to achieve some sort of redemption….

 

Although a major award contender and Palme D’Or Winner at Cannes, The Mission lacks a dramatic centre. Part of the issue is that priests in movies are passive characters and there is no exception here in Irons’ Father Gabriel. This is a clear disadvantage in a film that is as reliant on location spectacle and a strong conflict between cultures. The recent Scorsese film Silence was another drama that suffered because of this clear passiveness and didn’t really come to life until the second half of the narrative.

 

As always, De Niro is excellent as Mendoza and it is his arc of development that is the key focus of the film, rather than Irons. There is also good support here from the likes of Paddy McNally and Liam Neeson. One of the Assistant Directors on The Mission is Uberto Pasolini, who went on to produce the Oscar-nominated British classic The Full Monty (1997), having worked for a period of time under producer David Puttnam, who is a trade envoy these days. Legendary Stunt Co-ordinator Vic Armstrong handles action duties here.

 

Overall, The Mission scores highly technically, not only with Chris Menges’ Oscar-winning Cinematography and Stuart Craig’s Production Design , but also in Ennio Morricone’s classic score (which was sampled on the first trailer for Braveheart (1995). It’s just a pity that more focus on a tighter narrative and action wasn’t becoming.

 

THE MISSION (1986) / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: ROLAND JOFFÉ / SCREENPLAY: ROBERT BOLT / STARRING: ROBERT DE NIRO, JEREMY IRONS, RAY MCANALLY, AIDAN QUINN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW