Exodus: Gods and Kings

(Ridley Scott/2014/USA, UK & Spain)

Having breathed life back into Roman and Greek classical history genre with 2001’s Gladiator, Ridley Scott tackles the biblical epic here but falls way short of the mark. I’m not sure what the attraction was for an outspoken atheist to make a film about a religious myth but the obvious pitfall of that situation is the lack of connection with the source material. As a result the film is an exercise in big budget action dressed up in historical drama but missing any proper spiritual core which, ultimately, is the point of the story of Moses. The focus is all on effects and battle action and even when the story rolls around to Moses’ spiritual crisis it is without any real religious zeal. The voice of god is embodied in the form of a child, Malak (The Hebrew name for angel), this immediately removes direct contact with the divine being and you have Christian Bale seeking the advice of an invisible child for the remainder of the film. 

 

Exodus is really centred on the rivalry of Moses and Ramesses, his adoptive cousin who becomes King of Egypt and with whom Moses struggles to free the Hebrews from their enslavement. Scott can’t help tinkering with the story instead of playing it straight and as a result it begins to ring hollow. The plagues almost seem as a by the way, over and done within a few minutes so the story can progress to the chase to the Red Sea. And that scene itself has a pompous standoff between Moses and Ramesses in the shadow of the waves of the sea crashing back after the Hebrews have passed through. This is the bible dude, you can’t just start making up shit. The pacing is off kilter at times too and at two and a half hours it’s just not worth the effort. A big budget misfire from Scott and along with Aronofsky’s Noah it looks like 2014 wasn’t a great year for resurrecting the biblical epic in cinema.

(1.5/5)

Force Majeure

(Ruben Östlund/2014/France, Sweden & Norway)

A superbly observed family drama about a Swedish couple on a skiing holiday with their two kids who have a crisis of faith in their relationship. When an incident occurs with a controlled avalanche that comes dangerously close to the restaurant balcony they and other guests are dining at the actions of dad Tomas cause a schism in his marriage to Ebba and a breakdown in personality and self belief. It’s acutely paced, building slowly from Tomas’s refusal to face facts to his eventual implosion of moral doubt. His resolution of character in the penultimate scene sees him regain his confidence but there’s a hint that Ebba has maybe manufactured the scenario to get her husband back on an even keel. The final scene when Ebba more or less replicates Tomas’ questionable actions in a moment of panic is a nice flourish to undercut the rest of the movie. Everyone is capable of mistakes and no one knows for sure how they will react to fight or flight situations. It’s funny, questioning and brilliantly unsettling with a lovely, slightly eccentric ending.

(4/5)

The Connection

(Cédric Jimenez/2014/France & Belgium)

The connection in the title being French as in the 1971 William Friedkin film about drugs smuggling through Marseilles to New York based on real events. The Connection looks at the story from the French side and details the story of Judge Pierre Michel and criminal Tany Zampa who were more or less arch rivals on the side of law and disorder respectively in 1970’s Marseilles. The film is an excellent character study of both the protagonists and has plenty of action and style but it is at the end of the day a gangster film and doesn’t push against or beyond that genre in any way. It’s a good film and a compelling story but there’s nothing spectacular about it in and of itself.

(2.5/5)

Dunkirk

(Christopher Nolan/2017/UK, USA, France, Netherlands)

Eschewing dialogue in favour of telling the story through sound and vision Dunkirk is an ambitious and artistic undertaking that successfully puts you in the midst of the tension and terror of the mass extraction of allied troops from Northern France in 1940. As an added touch it takes three timelines of differing length and viewpoints that cross at a couple of points and weaves them together over the course of two hours. So we have a week at the beach with the troops awaiting transport, a day at sea with civilians aiding the Navy and an hour in the air with a spitfire pilot defending the ships from enemy bombers. It sounds confused and certainly there is jumping back and forth in time but it all makes sense and each narrative unfurls and reveals aspects of the other two with a dawning sense of the scale of the operation involved. It’s a superb movie that blossoms before you like a flower. The minimal dialogue is affecting and the score by Hans Zimmer is brilliant and immersive and relays the rising panic and fear and tension as everyone waits like sitting ducks for either a boat to take them home or a German plane to strike terror from the skies. The desperation of the situation pervades the film like an odour of impending doom and the score is absolutely central to this. It’s a wholly visceral cinematic experience and a film unlike any other I’ve seen from a mainstream director in quite a while. Christopher Nolan has been one to watch for some time now but Dunkirk is an achievement that makes him an essential director to follow.

(4/5)

Moonrise Kingdom

(Wes Anderson/2014/USA)

I’ll come right out and say I’m not a big fan of Wes Anderson’s style of films. The quirkiness seems too contrived and there’s an overabundance of elements that seem to cry out for vindication – “hey look, I know movies!” He certainly knows how to create a cinematic ambience and is adept at kneading the heart strings of the viewer but it’s all too sickly sweet to fully grab me, that aside Moonrise Kingdom is hard not to like. It’s a big adventure tall tale rollercoaster with a cornucopia of big name stars lending their weight to proceedings but at the heart of it are two wonderful performances by Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward. A couple of 12 year old social misfits fall in love and elope to the woods a day before a bad storm is due to hit the area sending friends and family into panic and a search party ensues. Simple enough story but Anderson litters it with eccentricities of characters and situations. Great performances from Frances McDormund, Bill Murray, Ed Norton and Bruce Willis and a pacing that picks you up and carries you crashing to the end all make this Andersons best film for me. I’m a sucker for a good coming of age flick anyway but he nails it.

(3.5/5)

Noah

(Darren Aronofsky/2014/USA) 

Like a cross between Lord of the Rings and The 10 Commandments this is a religious epic in fantasyland. It is the Old Testament after all and the source material for the Noah story is scarce enough as it is but with angelic “watchers” in the form of stone golems cast from heaven traipsing around Aronofsky goes full scale biblical myth here. He focuses on Noah and the internal struggle of the man who has to carry out the word of God. It’s utterly silly at points and to be honest I struggled to stay with it to the end but there is an arc that Noah’s character traverses. Not that you’d guess from Russell Crowes performance who reduces his range from a bit gruff to very gruff throughout. In the end you have to ask what the point of it is, shrug the shoulders and move on...

(1/5)

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

(Rian Johnson/2017/USA) 

Right from the get go Last Jedi lays down a marker that things in the Star Wars universe are changing. Luke Skywalker nonchalantly tosses his old light sabre over his shoulder and storms off past Rey. We aren’t going to be taking things as seriously as before and we are going to have a bit of fun. For the most part it stays true to this throughout the rest of the movie without over egging it on the comedy side of things and also maintaining a decent amount of respect for what’s gone before. But there is a clear message that Star Wars, under Disney, is going to change and break away from the past and it will be done with good humour. There are constant references in dialogue to doing just that, letting go of the past, facing a brave a new future etc but then the entire closing section of the film is a rehash of the Empire Strikes Back scenes on Hoth. This jars a little, especially after two hours of meandering between the light and dark sides of the force. Don’t get me wrong, the story as a whole holds up and engages but it is overlong for a kids movie. I’m all for throwing bones to the kidult nerd fans but Star Wars is a franchise aimed squarely at kids and my nine and seven year olds both agreed it was a long haul. My wife thought it was fine however, just for balance, you know, in the force and all that... It’s not the best Star Wars movie but neither is it the worst. There were a few questions running through my head with it but to be honest, at this point, I’m happy just to watch and enjoy new Star Wars flicks with my family and not trouble over them too much. For what it’s worth my ranking of the episodes goes thus: 5, 4, 6, 7, 3, 8, 1, 2.

(2.5/5)