Craig Gillespie’s remake of Tom
Holland’s 1985 classic Fright
Night is definitely not
afraid to go its own way beyond the recognisable title and basic premise of a teenager’s encounter with a vampire next door. This ends up both a good and bad thing.

Jerry Dandridge, as essayed by Colin
Farrell, is ‘the shark from Jaws’ according to Evil Ed (Christopher
Mintz-Plasse). However this zaps him of personality completely, but perhaps
that’s the whole point. Here we have the humdrum vampire: the banality of
vampirism. He kills, he feeds, he lives. Holland’s version was a Ted Bundy-like
charmer with a sweet tooth for blood. Some of this serial killer aesthetic
remains, but not much.

Jerry is a mean and moody charm vacuum
and when he doesn’t get invited into the Brewster home – he torches it, forcing
the family out. While we can appreciate his directness and lack of manners,
it’s also a bit OTT. We first meet Jerry murdering a family before Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) and Amy (Imogen Poots) enter the picture as a standard
Hollywood high school pair. Yelchin’s Charley is nothing at all like William
‘You’re so cool Brewster’ Ragsdale.

Here he’s a teenager trying to be one
of the hip kids and hides his geeky past. He’s not even friends with Evil Ed
and sees him more as a pest than anything. The arc of the narrative is
changed fundamentally because Charley discovers Jerry is a vampire through
hearsay and only acts when mounting evidence suggests Jerry is clearly not all he seems. The Peeping Tom set up is discarded, again changing course for the
remake, but robbing it of interest.

Charley’s pervy antics in Tom Holland’s
film became the portal into a nightmarish world of sex and death. In discarding
this idea the plot becomes simply ‘the vampire must be destroyed!’ and no
longer the boy who cried wolf. Charley’s mother features a lot more in Gillespie’s remake than she figured in the original too. 

Screenwriter Marti Noxon’s time on Buffy
the Vampire Slayer and Angel provides the film with a bit of charm, laughs and some nice
gags. Indeed, Joss Whedon’s spirit rests in this material as if it’s more a
homage to his work than Tom Holland’s film.

Fright Night also features some of the
murkiest cinematography seen for a very long time. The 3D doesn’t help one
iota. It causes some serious eyestrain and what could have looked atmospheric
is rendered near anti-cinema. The Las Vegas setting doesn’t add much to
the narrative. It’s still humdrum suburbia mainly.

David Tennant as the new Peter Vincent
is a world away from the gentle, callow-hearted and avuncular actor played by
Roddy McDowell. Tennant goes for rock star posing and spoilt brat gestures before
removing the make up and being much more in line with McDowell. It works well
enough but one senses the Americans will find his antics more amusing than a
British audience used to his mugging as Doctor Who.

At times, Noxon’s story changes feel
completely cosmetic and not truly a new vision of what Fright Night could be.
The set pieces are bigger and the finale more action-packed, but the material
was never about explosions and car chases.

Chris Sarandon, the original Jerry, gets
a cameo as a murder victim and the disco scene is referenced too. But therein
lies another problem – Brad Friedel’s rather cool soundtrack is replaced with
bland pop songs – clearly the marketing have an eye on CD and iTunes sales.

Noxon brings the nice idea of ‘types of
vampire’ which feels very Buffy, in some respects. This does allow for some new
background information on Jerry but again Hollywood seems obsessed with
explaining back stories and origins.

The film, thankfully, is funny. There’s
the obligatory Twilight gag and the hospital scene is excellent with Charley fixing crucifixes all over his mother’s room and quipping to a nurse she’s very religious. Fright Night (2011) is a vampire flick for the post-Whedon
generation. As remakes go it’s not as bad as it could have been in the hands of a hack and the
creative team clearly love the original whilst staking a claim for their own
vision.

But where are the iconic moments, the
truly memorable scenes? There are none. Jerry gets to say “Welcome to Fright
Night for real,” but it makes no real impact given the context of Peter
Vincent’s background and occupation have changed. Yes, his magic show is called
Fright Night, but it’s very weak compared to Holland’s late night horror show
idea which more accessible and recognisable to horror fans. 

Expected rating: 5 out of 10

Actual rating:

Fright Night is released in the US August 19th, and the UK on September 2nd

If I’m honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this movie. I really liked the first two in the series. The third was OK, and the fourth one bored the pants off me. The fifth movie in any series is not usually an improvement on its predecessors (look at Friday 13th: A New Beginning, or Nightmare on Elm St: The Dream Child).

This instalment starts off in much the same manner as the others. It introduces you to a group of people (in this instance, a group of workers in a paper mill, off to a company retreat), sets up the massive, effects laden disaster, kills them all off in glorious 3D and then has one of the victims wake up from his vision, in time to save his friends from being splattered.

The special effects are very well done, especially at the start, but as the movie rumbles along and the body count increases, the sense of déjà-vu becomes overpowering.  I started to lose interest, despite the elements of black humour and the couple of sly winks to other films in the series.

Then, around 2/3 of the way through, the film surprised me. The story took an unexpected twist that threw things up in the air, and made me sit up and take notice again. The ending actually impressed me.

The film has its faults. Some of the acting is woeful, and more than a couple of the characters are little more than cardboard cut-out caricatures, waiting for their inevitable demise. I also got the feeling that they spanked most of their special effects budget on the opening disaster. A few of the death scenes were very sudden, and lacked the red herrings or build up from the earlier movies in the series.

On the positive side, the special effects work very well, especially in 3D. A few of the deaths made me cringe and/or laugh out loud, and I loved the ending, which ties the whole series up nicely.

If you liked the other Final Destination films, then you’ll enjoy this one. It’s not exactly cerebral, but it’s fun, hits all the notes that fans will expect, and adds a couple of plot twists to keep things interesting. It’s a refreshing return to form for a series that I’d all but written off. I wouldn’t complain if they ended things here, but deep down I know that somebody, somewhere, is probably working on Part 6. Another Final Destination, at this point, seems as inevitable as death.

Expected rating: 4 out of 10

Actual rating: 

Final Destination 5 is out now in the US, and is released in the UK on the 26th of August

Favreau fails to inject any amount of fun into this western meets science fiction mash up. On paper this film should work; it has a strong cast including the man who played Han Solo, Harrison Ford and the current James Bond, Daniel Craig. It has an original premise with a lot of potential for creativeness to shine, but somehow it manages to be boring. A disappointing offering from director Jon Favreau, who is yet to reach the same high standard he managed in the first instalment of Iron Man.

When aliens attack Earth and abduct the innocent inhabitants of Absolution, a group of locals team up and form a posse to get them back. The strapping Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) leads the charge on this rescue mission along with cattle ranch owner Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford), enigmatic Ella Swansen (Olivia Wilde) and the local bar owner Doc (Sam Rockwell).

The main problem with this film is that it doesn’t achieve the mood of a great western film or offer enough development of the alien presence to reach the levels of solid science fiction. There are some redeeming qualities though, the metal bracelet attached to Jake Lonergan’s arm offers a wealth of cool special effects and there is an excellent battle scene that reveals some extra alien assets but overall it is lacking severely in terms of character development and tension. The tone is much darker than the title would suggest and the focus is mostly on the western side of the tale.

The performances are all pretty solid; Sam Rockwell provides some comic relief by being the one man in the Wild West who can’t use a gun, Olivia Wilde is a welcome female presence who can hold her own, and the young Noah Ringer (The Last Airbender) plays the wide-eyed kid in the troupe with flair. Paul Dano makes an appearance as the spoilt brat son of Woodrow Dolarhyde who takes on the mysterious Lonergan in an act of arrogance. The strength of the opening act of the film, where the coward takes on the cool, fits in with the western styling and gave the film an intriguing and attention-grabbing beginning. Unfortunately it just didn’t continue throughout as it loses pace with a rambling sequence through miles of desert.

It looks as a western should – full of cattle, swinging saloon doors and a whole lot of horses – and delivers on the witty banter between the characters, but the pacing and the way the story plays out overall is jagged. Nothing seems to flow that well, one moment you are holding your breath at  an alien abduction and the next the characters kind of shrug the whole thing off and you are left feeling deflated. The reactions of the characters are not emotionally engaging enough to warrant any real investment in caring about what happens to them.

The set pieces are immense and are pretty impressive to watch on the big screen and all the actors are suitably attired in authentic looking garb, it’s just a shame the actual film lacks that certain spark needed to connect with its audience. The cowboys and aliens interaction is minimal with one major battle scene being the most contact they have. The focus is on the humans and their quest to save the world from destruction. This leads to the generic go-to reason for the alien attack on Earth, and a deficient amount of time being spent on developing the alien presence.  Imagination is lacking in their appearance also, with the usual H.R. Giger inspired replicas being churned out.

Scott Mitchell Rosenberg of Platinum Studios fame penned the graphic novel on which this was based but he doesn’t appear to have had a hand in the screenplay. Instead of being innovative with the source material Favreau and his band of writers (six in total, including Robert Orci who was a part of the team responsible for the fabulous Star Trek reboot) turn this into a hackneyed, boring and unsatisfying watch.

Expected rating: 8

Actual rating:

Cowboys & Aliens is released in the UK on August 17th

Confession time: I only recently saw the 1981 John Milius directed Conan the Barbarian starring the legendary or reviled Arnold Schwarzenegger. I loved the film and it’s surprising how well the film stands up today. It feels epic and is generally a really well made piece of fantasy cinema. I didn’t have perhaps quite the level of scepticism as some over the re-boot of this franchise starring a virtual unknown in the Conan role. People were probably more sceptical when Marcus Nispel, director of the largely redundant Texas Chainsaw and Friday the 13th remakes was handed the director’s chair. The results are a bit of a mixed bag but not as bad as it could have been. It’s a film that tries hard to cater to the older audience familiar with the first film as well as trying to be something of a crowd pleaser. As a result it’s a film that feels a little too familiar.

The film starts with a classic Morgan Freeman voiceover as we learn of a mask which has been scattered into fragments but which will give the wearer infinite power as well as the ability to raise the dead. We are then transported to ancient Hyboria and Cimmeria where Corin (Ron Perlman) and his pregnant wife slug it out on a blood soaked battlefield. Corin’s wife is mortally wounded and baby Conan is cut out of her womb in the midst of battle. Flash forward some years and Conan is making a name for himself as a young warrior and has become a savage lethal killer in his own right, which we see in an impressive scene where he kills some savages in the woods all whilst holding an unbroken egg in his gob. One day the evil Khalar Zym (Stephen Lang) and his army ride into town and slaughter the Cimmerians and kill Corin in front of Conan. Flash forward some twenty or so years and Conan is an adult. He is still brutal and ruthless but also has a sideline in being a thief and a pirate with his cohort Ukafa (Bob Sapp). One day Conan catches sight of one of Khalar Zym’s men who he disfigured during the Cimmerian massacre all those years ago. Still needing to avenge his father, he follows a trail of destruction to track down Zym who is questing for the ancient mask to bring back his sorceress wife with his now grown daughter Marique (Rose McGowan) who is now a sorceress in her own right. Conan blazes a trail across Hyboria with Tamara (Rachel Nichols) whose blood holds the key to the power of the mask and who Zym ruthlessly pursues.

Now from what I understand there is a great deal of humour in Robert E.Howard’s original Conan stories that gets overlooked. What I also know of the character is that he is often portrayed as an anti hero, performing heroic deeds only when it benefits him and his own survival. Conan the Barbarian 2011 as directed by Marcus Nispel certainly has personality issues and we get much of his snarling grunty speech  and see his general bad attitude towards women. We also get a Conan who seemingly has allies in every scum infested hive in Hyboria who he can use to his advantage. This Conan also seems to generally like his allies, especially Ukafa who he seems to have genuine affection for. The problem with this is that the film often feels like you are watching a Pirates of the Caribbean film or god help us Prince of Persia. This atmosphere of high adventure and romping doesn’t seem to sit well with the often brutal violence in the film. The film is brutal and fans hoping for a gory hardcore take on the Conan saga won’t be disappointed. Especially in the early scenes where Conan as a child takes out his rivals savagely and with maximum blood shed. That he would grow into a pretty nice guy all things considered is something that obviously wasn’t thought through when they were writing this iteration of the character. Towards the end of the film Conan uses a secondary character to gain access to a stronghold and then goes back to save the man when he is in danger. It doesn’t seem like this is something he would do but that’s this version of the character and we have to live with it. The adventure in a fantasy world feeling that you get from this film is something that we have seen all too much lately in increasingly dull ways in many bloated blockbusters and as a result it feels pretty stale.

I hate to be the one to run down a guy in his first major role but Jason Momoa is no Arnold Schwarzenegger. Ah-nuld had the acting range of a gas oven but the guy had charisma and presence which made up for his lack of thesping chops. Momoa certainly looks the part with his scowl and muscles but he just doesn’t come across as a movie star, especially for the all round crowd pleaser that the studio wanted this to be. Momoa growls his way through the barely there characterisation of Conan and seems a little out of his depth. The rest of the cast are adequate, the less said about the female contingent the better though, they are reduced to sex objects or treacherous wenches. Best of all is Stephen Lang as the villain in what is his first major villain role since the iconic Colonel Quarritch in Avatar. Get used to seeing Lang in these roles as I have a feeling this won’t be the last time we see him in a major studio film as the villain. Lang brings gravitas and fury to a fairly underwritten role which could have been developed more into a real character had the screenwriting not been so by the numbers.

I’m not completely down on the film, it moves at a fair old lick and sometimes it’s hard to keep up with the plot between the slayings. It felt like it was about ninety minutes but was actually closer to two hours so it’s an easy mindless watch. The effects in the film are also pretty good. I was thinking it would be a CG overload but it seems to often favour practical effects over green screen and computer fakery. A scene with some warriors spawned of sand is impressive as they cut between actual actors in make up and CG transformation seamlessly. There is also a tense fight with some beast in a sewer which recalls one of Fellowship of the Ring’s finest moments. It’s also pleasingly brutal as previously mentioned, noses are ripped off, heads are crushed and limbs are lopped. The early scenes with young Conan and Ron Perlman as his father are the strongest in the whole film and honestly I could have done with more of this even though it seems to make up most of the first act.

Based off of the success of the Schwarzenegger films there have been a whole host of interesting sounding Conan projects that never made it beyond script stage. All of which sounded more interesting than what we ended up with here. There is a whole generation now who are not familiar with the 80s Conan films and this film will be the first they know of the character. Fifteen year olds out for blood and boobs will have a hell of a good time. The rest of us we are left wondering what could have been.

Expected rating: 2 out of 10

Actual rating:

Conan The Barbarian is released in the USA on Aug 19th, and the UK Aug 24th.

Sho (Ryunosuke Kamiki) is sick and has been sent by his parents to stay with his aunt Sadako (Keiko Ohtake) in her large house, on the edge of Tokyo.  Sadako is away much of the day and her maid Haru (Kirin Kiki) is a strange, irritable, old woman who constantly mutters under her breath as she goes about her everyday duties, so Sho has little company and it is up to him to amuse himself in the gardens and empty rooms of the rambling house.  Upon his arrival Sho believes he sees something, or someone, in the garden.  But they are minute, no more than a few centimetres high, and everyone knows ‘little people’ don’t exist.

However under Sadako’s house they do, and a young girl Arrietty (Mirai Shida), the little person Sho saw in the garden, and her parents live a life by ‘borrowing’ what they need from the humans.  The humans who must never see them, otherwise it will mean certain death.  But now the humans have seen them…

Sometimes, though it’s increasingly rare, a film comes along which restores your faith in the industry.  There’s no violence, no sex, no unnecessary gratuitousness passing itself off as clever, self referential humour.  It doesn’t involve superheroes (at least not in the conventional sense), bickering families or angst ridden teenagers.  That none of it has anything to do with Hollywood or America, neither the books on which the film is based or the film makers who have brought it to the screen, will hardly come as a surprise.  It appears Hollywood is increasingly incapable of producing anything original or for the pure and simple enjoyment of film – their bottom line, as I guess it always has been, is whether it will make a fast buck and recuperate the millions they have pumped into the production.

To find a film these days which is simply beautiful you have to go to Europe, as with the recent The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec, or further east with the likes of the magical cartoon Spirited Away.  It is from Studio Ghibli, the same geniuses behind that classic, and their recent retelling of Diana Wynne Jones’ fantasy Howl’s Moving Castle, that a film comes which is a sheer joy to behold.  Their visualisation of Mary Norton’s classic fantasy quartet ‘The Borrowers’, in the form of the new release Arrietty, is ninety minutes of intoxicating bliss.

That the film is set in Japan may initially be off-putting to Norton purists, however much of what you see on the screen from a ‘location’ viewpoint is pretty neutral.  Once Sho enters into the grounds of his aunt’s home, he crosses into a never-land where the real world stops at the boundary walls and fantasy takes over.  The scenery and backgrounds of this peaceful oasis appear as though someone has taken a paintbrush and washed the screen with a palette of muted pastels.  Rivers undulate through the gardens, butterflies and birds flit amongst the bushes, whilst the house itself is a haven of empty rooms, silent corridors, and sun dappled stairways.  It is the perfect place for the sick boy to rest.  It is also the perfect place for his vivid imagination to take over, as at first he is unsure whether what he sees out of the corner of his eye are people or tricks of the light.  It is as the film progresses, and he eventually meets the ‘little people’ face to face, that the fantasy element of the film really kicks in.

What may have been reality with a ‘fantastic’ edge above ground is reversed when we enter the world of Arrietty and her family beneath the floors and behind the walls of the human’s house.  The borrower’s imaginative use of everyday human objects, from nails stuck at intervals in a wall to form a staircase, to painted backdrops of a sandy cove with the sun glinting of the waves outside their kitchen window hiding the reality of a bare brick wall, come vividly to life on the big screen, giving the viewer a real sense of the little people’s perspective.

The film is, apart from a truly breathtaking artistic achievement, ultimately an ode to childhood.  To be a successful children’s writer you have to see it from the child’s point of view, though never in a condescending way.  C. S. Lewis achieved this with his Narnian books, and so did Norton with The Borrowers.  Here it is the children, both isolated and misunderstood, but self sufficient and older than their adult counterparts give them credit for, who are the heroes.  In many ways they are more mature and grown up than, in Arrietty’s case her superstitious and suspicious parents, and in Sho’s case his aunt and her housekeeper who worry about his upcoming operation to which he seems to take an adult like, almost fatalistic approach.  Perhaps this film with its visual beauty and philosophy on life, has something to teach everyone, whether child or adult?

 

Alternate versions of the film are on release, both in Japanese with English subtitles, or dubbed in English.

A combination of excellent directional flair from Rupert Wyatt, well crafted technological know-how from Weta Digital and motion caption mastery from Andy Serkis makes Rise of the Planet of the Apes an entertaining, visually engaging sci-fi action film.  This reboot or re-imagining of the original series of films from the 1960s manages to hold its own as it develops a story of genetic engineering and animal testing gone wrong to create a believable and horrifying tale.

Will Rodman (James Franco) is a scientist working to develop a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. He carries out a genetic experiment on chimpanzees for the corporate gain of pharmaceutical company GenSys, and the personal want to rid his father (John Lithgow) of the debilitating and frustrating disease.  Making Rodman’s motivation personal makes his character likeable and Franco does a good job with the material he has been given. When testing is shut down due to an angry chimpanzee rampage, Rodman takes on the responsibility of taking home a baby chimp and rearing him as a part of the family. The chimpanzee shows high levels of understanding, intellect and the ability to communicate with humans and this is aptly shown by Andy Serkis as he manages to convey so many emotions through the well crafted CGI in his role as Caesar.

The amount of work that went into the special effects really shows and it is nothing short of phenomenal. The main character is Caesar and he guides us through his life from cheeky chimp to fearless leader with a believable and touching performance from Serkis. The interaction between the real life actors and the apes is seamless and even as the apes interact with each other it is easy to be fooled into thinking you are watching real animals. An exquisite looking Orangutan, a fierce gorilla and a few other chimps help Caesar in his bid for freedom and they are each given their own personality traits.

The build up to the final uprising is long, but the sequence of events leading up to Caesar’s transformation into a ruler of apes is much needed to pack the powerful punch of the final scene. The key to the success of this film is in the development of Caesar’s character and how he grows up in a world where he doesn’t quite fit in. He is neither a member of the human race nor an ape with natural instincts, from the leash around his neck to the appalling way he is treated when forced into an ape enclosure, the frustration of his situation leads the audience to sympathise with his actions.

Caesar’s time in the ape enclosure plays out like a prison escape drama, complete with guards who mistreat the inmates with cattle prods and mind games. Tom Felton (aka Draco Malfoy) takes on the villainous role of Dodge Landon (a lovely name check for the fans of the original) a guard who gets on the wrong side of Caesar; and he does so with the same sneer he is famous for in his Harry Potter role. Brian Cox is sadly underused as the head of the ape prison and father to Dodge, with not much dialogue or character development, he is there simply to move the story along.

The setting of San Francisco is used to great effect as the final battle between man and ape is realised with some fast paced action sequences on the Golden Gate Bridge. The standoff between police and the charging chimps is exciting, edge of your seat viewing. The pace is pounding throughout, attention to detail is of a high standard and nods to the original films are fitting but don’t take the attention away from all those damned dirty apes!

Expected rating: 7 out of 10

Actual rating:

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is in cinemas now

 

Director Ben Wheatley’s navigation of different genres and making them work together is quite masterful in this new British horror film. Kill List’s opening quarter could be a social realist picture, what with all the shouting and stony silences between a husband and wife. The domestic set up is a brilliant way to blindside the audience into what is actually coming.

Kill List is a chameleon and changes from relationship drama to gangster movie to nightmare horror. There’s a pretty good clue very early on as to where this film might lead when a dinner table guest tells her hosts she’s in the ‘human resources’ business. In hindsight, it’s a macabre joke, but also relates to Jay’s (Neil Maskell) line of work too. He’s a hitman.

A seemingly routine job to rub out a select, unfortunate bunch gets stranger and stranger. Jay and Gal (his partner in crime) are assigned a series of targets. First they kill a priest, then a librarian, and finally are told to murder a politician. They don’t question a thing until they find and watch something on a laptop. We’re never sure what it is they see, but could be a snuff movie. Jay starts to behave more and more violent and unprofessional. Clean kills become messy affairs.

Wheatley’s film also possesses a fine ear for dialogue. Kill List might be a horror flick but it’s got some great comedic lines. The cast, too, are credited with ‘additional dialogue’. “Right, let’s go and kill this MP,” Gal says at one point, as if going to fix a dodgy satellite dish or mow the lawn. The attitude to their line of work is often very funny.

The sense of daring with the material is remarkable. Whilst rooted in genre – different genres, at that – the way it changes course is surprising and scary. Kill List could go anywhere. It’s violent too. Not in an outlandish kind of way either. More like a Scorsese flick.

The atmosphere moves from handheld immediacy to stoned weirdness with a creeping sense of the bizarre building up. The final scene ensures a spooky pay off but a level of ambiguity hangs regarding these last moments, giving the viewer plenty to ponder long afterwards.

Neil Maskell puts in a very sure performance as Jay. He’s usually cast as a wideboy gangster type in low budget Brit flicks. The character may be a bit of a weirdo and not a very nice man, but his haunted, confused state helps us understand his situation. There’s something incredibly ordinary about him (and even Maskell’s performance) but at the same time this heightens the premise. It’s like he’s wandered into the wrong film entirely. 

Wheatley delivers nail-biting tension as if an old pro. The woodland scene in the third act is terrifying. The two hitmen are sleeping during a stake out of an MP’s country gaff when they’re woken by chanting. Slowly, torchlight snakes through the trees and we see hooded figures in procession. Is it a dream or really happening? The mystery pagan ritual recalls The Wicker Man but it then delivers an action scene with guns blazing as faceless, hooded freaks attack the pair like it’s a Wild West shoot out between cowboys and Indians.

The use of chapter headings for each ‘kill’ lends the movie a deepening, episodic quality. We never really understand the crimes of the targets but we can guess. A priest, some dodgy Internet pornographers and a politician all seem rather timely targets in this day and age. Jay is doing his job but something else is happening to him. Does his misguided sense of justice and ease with murder make him an ideal candidate to enter the service of the Devil? Wheatley doesn’t spell it out at all making this fantastic British cinema.

Kill List is showing in UK cinemas now

 

Back in 1991, on holiday in America, I dragged my tired then-girlfriend into a San Francisco cinema to see director Joe Johnston’s The Rocketeer on its opening night. This thrilling, retro comic book movie was set to launch a new Disney franchise and whilst the story of an unexceptional 1940s US test pilot who stumbles upon an experimental jetpack and uses it to foil a Nazi conspiracy was full of thrills, spills and derring-do, there was an undeniable sense that there was something missing, that little bit more which turns a ‘nice try’ into a ‘must see’. The general consensus was that The Rocketeer was a pleasant bit of fluff but ultimately eminently forgettable. Then all eyes turned towards Terminator 2 which opened the following weekend and poor old Rocketeer never stood a chance…

But that was then and this is now. Twenty years later Johnston gets to return to 1940s America and this time he gets it right – and how – in the best superhero movie since Iron Man, a non-stop balls-to-the-wall extravanganza bursting with astonishing spectacle, brilliant action sequences and blessed with a sharp sense of humour, something very often right down at the bottom of the script shopping list in some of our more po-faced superhero movies (cough, Dark Knight cough). This is Captain America: The First Avenger and, as the last movie in this particular sequence until next year’s Avengers mash-up, I’d go as far as to say that Captain America gets so much so right so often that, as someone with only a passing interest in comic books these days, I’m genuinely quite excited about the prospect of The Avengers for the very first time.

Like Thor and Iron Man, Captain America isn’t exactly major league superhero stuff in the UK and there was always a worry that the wartime setting and the potential for a bit too much jingoistic ‘America is great, we won the war ya limeys!’ sloganeering might be too much for an international audience to bear. But Johnston’s slick movie avoids all that by sticking resolutely to the source material in its story of puny weakling soldier Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) who is enlisted into a US Government ’superserum’ project which turns him all muscley, super-strong and super-athletic. But instead of pitching their new superstar into the field of battle, he’s togged up in a tacky costume, dubbed ’Captain America’ and dispatched around the US to rally the spirits of the population and later, the troops on the frontline. When Cap realises his best friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) is effectively a prisoner of war, captured by vicious Nazi spin-off movement Hydra headed by the sinister Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving), he sets off on an explosive rescue mission which turns him into America’s greatest war weapon.

Captain America is terrific, joyous fun pretty much from rousing start to slightly-downbeat (and yet powerfully exciting) ending. The script has a great time with the scrawny Steve Rogers (I don’t know how they made Chris Evans look so weedy and I’d really rather not know, thanks), setting up his ongoing sneery relationship with Tommy Lee Jones as Rogers’ deadpan commanding officer Colonel Phillips and sewing the seeds for his slowburn (and ultimately doomed) romance with British officer Peggy Carter (Hayley Attwell). Once Cap takes on the mantle of supersoldier (rather than superhero) leading the fight against Schmidt (now revealed as the evil Red Skull) and his Hydra hordes with their devastating death rays the gloves are off and the film kicks into high gear with set piece after set piece as Cap penetrates deep into Hydra’s strongholds, his trusty and virtually indestructible supershield demolishing everything in its wake. The action scenes are breathless and relentless – and surprisingly graphic – and the final battle with Red Skull as he attempts to destroy the major cities of the world is the sort of climax a modern-day Bond film can only dream of. With the Red Skull defeated Cap has to wrest control of a powerless armed aircraft as it hurtles towards Manhattan and faces the ultimate sacrifice if he is to save millions of lives…

With its uncharacteristic 1940s setting and distinct Indiana Jones action vibe, Captain America is a real superhero breath of fresh air in a genre which has become a little bit stuffy of late, despite successes like Thor and the underrated Green Lantern. Big and blousy, brash and loud and with a distinct twinkle in its star-spangled eye, it’s the action movie to see if you really can’t stomach any more wand-waving wizards and transforming robots.

Expected rating: 7 out of 10

Actual rating:

Captain America: The First Avenger is out now.

 

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Set in 1940s New York, this origin story detailing how Steve Rogers became Captain America is a visual delight, as
director Joe Johnston manages to capture the essence of the war time era along
with the spectacle of the superhero tale. The title character is played by
Chris Evans and his performance is as endearing as it is commanding.

The main focus of the film is the character
of Steve Rogers and how he is ultimately chosen to take on the role of Captain
America. Steve is an undersized adult who wants to serve and protect his
country but due to his size and health issues has been rejected from joining
the US army on numerous occasions. 
His determination is finally rewarded by Dr Abraham Erskine (Stanley
Tucci) when he witnesses his purity of heart and decides he is a suitable
candidate for the super soldier serum. The main issue this film was always going to have was how to deal with
the transformation of Rogers into Captain America. For the first part of the
film Evans appears on screen as a tiny figure and the special effects actually
work really well, I would even describe them as nearly seamless, there are no
tell tale signs that what you are watching is not real. Evans performance is
believable, but it was a strange experience watching his small form on screen
as outside of the film everyone knows what the bulk of the man really looks
like.

The backdrop of the 1940s allows the
camaraderie and patriotism of the time to convey the message and starting point
of Captain America correctly. The detail in the fashion adds to the overall
feel of the film, even the final creation of Captain America’s sleek suit is of
the time. Many of the male cast and extras sport well kept moustaches and the
women’s hair is coiffed to perfection.

The relationships Rogers builds up before
his transformation are dealt with equally well. Introducing Bucky Barnes
(Sebastian Stan) as a reliable best friend and big brother figure to Rogers
works well as the bond between the two needs to be tight to make their
storyline emotionally engaging. 
Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) is a strong woman making her stand in a
man’s world. Her charm is her strength and faith as she acts as a moral compass
to those around her including Captain America. The love story between the two is a credible message of this
film; knowing Rogers before and after transformation makes it clear that she
has fallen in love with his goodness rather than his appearance.  Of course there are some saucy moments,
including an accidental chest touch and some awkward conversations about
fondue, which are all dealt with in a cheeky and humorous manner. Dr Erskine is a father figure to the
orphaned Rogers, he is the wise observer who nurtures and encourages, and Tucci
gives the character enough depth and warmth to warrant Roger’s friendship and
trust. It is a combination of all
of these bonds that enables Captain America to lead the final part of the film
into some satisfying action scenes. 

Tommy Lee Jones excels as the stalwart
Colonel Chester Phillips, and has been given some of the best one-liners to
suit his haughty character. Hugo Weaving emulates evil as the Red Skull, whose
make-up and prosthetics are impressively moulded on to his face to create an
even red sheen that allows for expressions. With his inflated ego and wilful
destruction he acts as a perfect nemesis to Captain America. A handpicked team of “howlin’
commandos” that follow Captain America into battle for his country are made up
of Gabe Jones (Derek Luke), Morita (Kenneth Choi), Jacques Dernier (Bruno
Ricci), Montgomery Falsworth (J.J. Field) and the particularly memorable bulky,
bowler hat wearing Dum Dum Dugan (Neal McDonough). 

Joe Johnston has taken note of the source
material and references it in a subtle enough manner for the comic book fan to
enjoy and other audience members not to feel left out. Some characters have been changed to
fit in with the narrative but this is to be expected. It ticks all the
superhero, fast paced action boxes that it needs to and there isn’t much to
criticise here, but it just didn’t blow me away. It was lacking some of the
oomph of Thor and Iron Man, but overall it’s a solid introduction to the character of Captain
America in anticipation of the upcoming The Avengers.

Expected rating: 6 out of 10

Actual rating:

Captain America is released in the UK on July 29th.