Rating : 5/10
Release Date : 26th June, 2015
Time : 137 minutes
Director : Daniel Espinosa; Writer : Richard Price, based on the novel by Tom Rob Smith; Music : Jon Ekstrand
Starring : Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Vincent Cassel, Fares Fares, Jason Clarke
This is like one of those brooding, heavy Russian novels – where an oppressive, weighty air of depression hangs over everybody and everything (most of the movie is set in the just-rid-of Stalin 1953). I think there is actually just one scene where someone smiled. And in the midst of it all, Tom Hardy, a rising star of the secret service, has to cope with the intrigues of office politics, the indifference of his beloved wife (Noomi Rapace), and the ‘minor’ challenge of finding a serial child killer in a country where murder doesn’t officially exist. Murder, after all, is a capitalist disease, borne of greed and cannot exist in Paradise.
There is a touch of much ado about nothing. Something cinematically is not handled the right way as the emotion, the shock, the revelations don’t come through with the requisite impact. There is a lot happening – the jealousy of a fellow officer, Joel Kinnaman, who’s a little too quick to pull the trigger. The travel internally, the glimpses of industrial Russia, the chasing down of a traitor (Jason Clarke), the change in fortunes, the horrible death of the child of a close friend and colleague (Fares Fares) and the meeting with a General, Gary Oldman, who reluctantly helps with the investigations. It was also disappointing to see Noomi, so feisty in Sherlock Holmes : Game of Shadows, reduced to a rather passive role.
But through it all, it doesn’t manage to inveigle us emotionally – apart from some feelings towards our hero – waging a lone, heroic battle against the rest of the world – you don’t truly feel the shock, horror, anger that you should as the tragic, horrible events occur. Just an overall sense of apathy, which isn’t good for a film which seems to last longer than it actually is…
PS : Rant Begins : Why do westerners take so much delight in only showing, portraying the negative sides of the non-western bloc countries ? Has there ever been a Hollywood film, set in Russia, which shows its positive aspects, happy people ? Isn't this a most dangerous, insidious form of propaganda ? : End of Rant
3 comments:
What does being normal mean ? What, for you, is the meaning of life ? Why are people never satisfied ? If they have a little, they want more. If they have a lot, they want still more. Once they have more, they wish they could be happy with little, but are incapable of making the slightest effort in that direction... What could be sooo urgent that it stops people taking time to contemplate the lovely sunny day, the turquoise blue sea, the palms fringing the beach ?
Connoisseur, just came to know that the Italians refer to what used to be called 'Champagne' - Asti Spumante ... Because the use of the word champagne was banned under the Protected Designation of Origin... Champagne simply means a white wine made using a particular bacteria which, when rigorously controlled, begins to generate gases inside the bottle as the wine ages over a period of at least 15 months. The name refers to the region where it's produced. Spumante is exactly the same thing, but European law doesn't allow it to be known by the French name, since the vineyards are in Italy and not in the Champagne region of France... What a discovery...
Being scattered with ambrosia dust...manna from heaven.
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