Race

For F*** Magazine

RACE 

Director : Stephen Hopkins
Cast : Stephan James, Jason Sudeikis, Jeremy Irons, Carice Van Houten, Barnaby Metschurat, William Hurt
Genre : Biography/Drama/Sport
Run Time : 135 mins
Opens : 3 March 2016
Rating : PG

            Rousing tales of athletes overcoming all odds in pursuit of ultimate triumph: audiences have seen them a hundred times, but we keep coming back for more. There certainly is competition for the title of “most powerful and inspiring” true story in sporting history, but that of Jesse Owens arguably leads the pack.

James Cleveland “Jesse” Owens is a promising track and field star enrolled in Ohio State University, where coach Lawrence Snyder (Sudeikis), a former Olympic hopeful, takes Owens under his wing. Training religiously in between his studies and working a part-time job, Owens goes on to break three world records at the 1935 Big Ten track meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan and is poised to be part of the U.S. Olympic team. International Amateur Athletic Federation chairman Avery Brundage (Irons) fights a boycott of the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, as Jeremiah Mahoney (Hurt), president of the Amateur Athletic Union, believes that American participation will indicate an endorsement of Nazi ideology. In the face of bigotry at home and the stoking of the fires of World War II in Europe, Owens must chase his dreams and bring home the gold.

While Owens was the subject of a 1984 made-for-TV movie starring Dorian Harewood, it’s somewhat puzzling that there hasn’t been a theatrically-released biopic made about him until now. All the ingredients for a supremely compelling story are right there, and it seems like a natural awards contender project, so it’s also somewhat puzzling that it’s being released in March, right after the Oscars actually take place. The film’s title, Race, tells you most of what you need to know about its approach. While Owens’ identity as a black man in the 30s definitely figured heavily into his career, the movie seems more concerned with being a political statement than actually shedding light on the person himself. Instead of the racial politics of the era being a backdrop to the biographical drama, it’s the other way around.

For a film about one of the most famous runners of all time, Race is often flat-footed, its handling of the talking-point big issues earnest but clumsy. There’s a predictable formula to Owens’ journey but then again, this is a sports movie and said formula exists for a reason after all. While general audiences might be fuzzy on the minutiae of Owens’ life and times, they should have a rough idea of the basics: he represents the U.S. in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, clinches four gold medals and leaves Hitler and the Nazi regime with egg on its face, discrediting the notion of non-Aryan inferiority. At 135 minutes, Race is definitely too long. Excessive time is dedicated to the subplot of whether or not the U.S. will boycott the Olympics, and the question of Owens’ participation in the Games is played for suspense, when we all know he did end up on the team. The establishing shots of Berlin are accompanied by almost-comically ominous music and there’s a lot of effort taken to demonstrate that the Nazis were evil. Well, duh.  

Young Canadian actor James, who replaces the initially-cast John Boyega, ably carries the film with a steadfast portrayal of Owens. Owens is gifted but also disciplined, yet far from superhuman and infallible. There’s a nervous energy and a welcome lack of cockiness, since star athletes are often portrayed as hybrid underdog divas. While the film surrounding him can come off as rote, there is a freshness and honesty that James brings to the table. Unfortunately, as is often the case with films of this type, the romantic subplot with Ruth (Shanice Banton), the mother to Owens’ daughter, feels largely extraneous.

The role of coach Snyder is the first major dramatic part for Saturday Night Live alum Sudeikis, and it’s always a gamble when a comedic actor wants to convince audiences that he’s got range too. As characterised here, Snyder is like any number of coaches in inspirational sports flicks past: his glory days are behind him, he’s haunted by previous failures, he sees the potential in a young person and takes it upon himself to guide said young person towards success, and of course, he’s strict but ultimately well-meaning. It’s a competent performance but one that sometimes calls attention to itself, Sudeikis occasionally giving off “look at me, I’m a serious actor now!” vibes.

Irons is reliable as usual; the subplot of Brundage’s dealings with the Nazis in the lead-up to the Olympic games might seem off to the side of Owens’ personal journey and is sometimes boring, but Irons himself isn’t. German actor David Kross is supremely sympathetic as German long-jumper Luz Long, who defies the Nazis he represents by befriending Owens.

To this reviewer, the most interesting character by a long shot is Leni Riefenstahl (Van Houten), the director tasked with filming the Games for posterity. Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels (Metschurat) looks down on her, but Riefenstahl is undeterred by him and resolute in her artistic vision. Even though she has a relatively small role in this story, it’s fascinating to see how Riefenstahl presented Owens’ victories to the world against the wishes of her superiors. This is a pioneering filmmaker whose reputation was forever tarnished because of her close association with the Nazis and seeing her depicted in Race made this reviewer want to watch a full biopic centring on Riefenstahl. There have been several attempts at such a project but none have come to fruition.

Race did bring this reviewer to tears, but the heart of this remarkable true story about a real American hero does often get lost in the shuffle of racial politics, historical procedure and established sports drama tropes. Hopkins helmed the far more unconventional biopic The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, but his credits also include Predator 2, Lost in Space and A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child. There’s the sense that he’s going through the motions with Race, and while a Jesse Owens biopic that is less preachy yet more passionate is easier said than done, that’s the treatment the historical figure deserves.

Summary: The Jesse Owens story is too compelling to mess up entirely and Race does attempt to do its subject justice, but Stephan James’ excellent lead performance gets crowded out by heavy-handed preachiness; a certain spark missing in the storytelling.

RATING: 3 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong 

Brooklyn

For F*** Magazine

BROOKLYN 

Director : John Crowley
Cast : Saoirse Ronan, Domhnall Gleeson, Emory Cohen, Jim Broadbent, Julie Walters
Genre : Drama
Run Time : 1 hr 52 mins
Opens : 18 February 2016
Rating : NC-16 (Sexual Scene)

One heart is torn between two lands in this historical romance. Said heart belongs to Eilis Lacey (Ronan), a young woman from the small Irish town of Enniscorthy. Eilis’ older sister Rose (Glascott) arranges for Eilis to go to Brooklyn in search of better prospects, Eilis leaving Rose and their mother (Jane Brennan) behind. Father Flood (Broadbent), a priest active in the Irish community in Brooklyn, arranges for Eilis to stay in a boarding house run by the landlady Madge Kehoe (Walters). Father Flood also enrols Eilis in bookkeeping classes at a night school. Eilis meets and soon falls in love with Tony Fiorello (Cohen), a plumber from an Italian family. When Eilis returns to Ireland after a family emergency, she begins spending time with eligible bachelor Jim Farrell (Gleeson), a mutual acquaintance of Eilis’ best friend Nancy (Eileen O’Higgins). The small Enniscorthy community, unaware that Eilis is already in a relationship with an American boy, expects her and Jim to end up together. Eilis begins to re-evaluate the future she has planned, feeling the pull of home and of the promise of a bright future in Brooklyn.

            Brooklyn is based on the novel of the same name by Irish author Colm Tóibín, adapted for the screen by Nick Hornby. This is not a particularly grand story, but the intimacy and honesty of the tale draws one in. Director John Crowley has crafted a drama that is earnest and wonderfully devoid of cynicism. It’s a throwback to a bygone era without being self-conscious and it captures the period in eminently relatable fashion. While Eilis is meant to represent any number of young Irish girls stepping across the pond to forge new lives in America, the story doesn’t sacrifice the character’s individuality in the process. Its portrayal of the immigrant experience is quietly stirring and thoughtful rather than overtly political. Tonally, Brooklyn hits all the right marks to make a maximum impact: there’s a pervading melancholy that achingly conveys what it feels like to be homesick, but the film never becomes dreary and Hornby’s script contains well-placed moments of wit and humour.

            Ronan reminds us yet again why she’s among the finest performers of her generation, Brooklyn capitalising on her talents in the best way possible – she gets to use her delightful natural Irish brogue, for one. The blend of impish charm, raw vulnerability and emotional depth that Ronan brings to the role of Eilis is ever so appealing. The audience is in her corner from minute one and it is satisfying to see the initially tremulous Eilis’ confidence gradually increase as she becomes accustomed to her new life in Brooklyn. As an Irish-American herself, Ronan says she identifies strongly with Eilis’ journey. With this role, Ronan has become the second-youngest actress to be nominated for two Oscars. One hopes that many more projects like Brooklyn find their way to her.

The film’s portrayal of young love is clear-eyed and just sentimental enough, Cohen endearingly awkward and just sweet as can be as Eilis’ suitor Tony. The “aww shucks” factor he brings to the part comes off as genuine and wistfully romantic without straying into sappiness. We’re cheering for Eilis and Tony to stay together, so Gleeson has an uphill battle in making Jim seem like anything more than a nuisance. His measured dignity ensures there is an actual conflict as to who Eilis ends up with. Walters and Broadbent are perfectly cast as the stern, traditional landlady and the kindly priest respectively. Eilis’ housemates are sometimes catty, but the girls do form a certain camaraderie. A scene in which two of them teach Eilis how to twirl spaghetti without making a mess, in preparation for Eilis’ visit to Tony’s house for dinner, is amusing and heartfelt.

            Brooklyn is comprised of several conventional narrative elements, but it ends up being far more than the sum of its parts. This is a relatively simple story that is absolutely captivating, a romance that is sweet but not cloying, a drama that is heart-rending yet not manipulative. The specificities of the setting and the care taken in realising the 50s Brooklyn and Enniscorthy locales imbue the movie with texture and authenticity. It’s old-fashioned but steers clear of stifling stodginess and is resonant even if one doesn’t have a personal connection to the specific culture and period depicted. Lyrical, engaging and sincere, Brooklyn is a work of disarming beauty.

Summary: Personal and richly humane, Brooklyn is a small tale gracefully told, carried by a glowing, transcendent performance from Saoirse Ronan.

RATING: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong 

The Finest Hours

For F*** Magazine 

THE FINEST HOURS 

Director : Craig Gillespie
Cast : Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Eric Bana, Holliday Grainger, Kyle Gallner, John Magaro, John Ortiz, Josh Stewart
Genre : Drama
Run Time : 118 mins
Opens : 18 February 2016
Rating : PG (Some Intense Sequences)

Venture into the tumultuous waters of Cape Cod to witness of one of the most harrowing rescues in maritime history in this historical disaster drama. It is February 1952 and the S.S Pendleton, a T2 oil tanker, is caught in a severe storm off the Chatham coast, breaking clean in twain. Bernie Webber (Pine), a newly-engaged Coast Guard crewman, is dispatched by Chief Warrant Officer Daniel Cluff (Bana) to take his tiny lifeboat out to sea to rescue the Pendleton’s crew. Bernie takes Richard Livesey (Foster), Andrew Fitzgerald (Gallner) and Ervin Maske (John Magaro) with him. Aboard the severed stern section of the Pendleton, first assistant engineer Ray Sybert (Affleck) is forced to take charge, devising a method to keep what’s left of the ship afloat as long as possible. Bernie’s fiancé Miriam Pentinen (Grainger), along with the townsfolk of Chatham, await the safe return of Bernie, his crew and the men of the Pendleton, as their odds of survival grow slimmer by the minute.

            The Finest Hours is based on the book of the same name, subtitled “The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard's Most Daring Sea Rescue”, by Michael J. Tougias and Casey Sherman. Director Craig Gillespie has delivered a resolutely old-fashioned adventure drama, harking back to the days “when men were men”, so to speak. While there’s definitely a certain dignity to The Finest Hours in its celebration of heroes who aren’t widely known to non-maritime history buffs, it’s also something of a drag in parts. There are individual sequences that are genuine nail-biters featuring convincing visual and special effects work, but in between those, there’s a curious dearth of momentum or urgency, particularly since this revolves around a time-sensitive rescue attempt. In fact, it’s only around 45 minutes into the film that Bernie and his crew actually get into their lifeboat and set sail.

            

While Pine is more Abercrombie pretty boy than Old Hollywood rugged, there’s a matinee idol quality to him that makes him an ideal candidate to portray the determined, courageous hero in a period adventure piece. That “Bawston” accent he’s attempting is iffy, though. The film doesn’t begin on the high seas, but rather by establishing the romance between Bernie and Miriam, hoping that this will be the emotional anchor. Unfortunately, it’s not a particularly compelling romance and this element of the film has been dramatized the most from how things really unfolded. Miriam is portrayed by Grainger as a headstrong, proactive woman, but when she charges into Cluff’s office to demand that he makes Bernie turn the lifeboat around, it comes off more as an annoyance than a loving act of concern. The trope of the worried significant other back home pining for our hero’s safe return is often unavoidable in films of this type, and the attempts to add to this are generally unsuccessful.

            Casey Affleck’s demeanour is not as traditionally masculine and heroic as that of his older brother Ben, but he does sell the role of someone who has to think fast and work hard under pressure. As the boss from out of town who is not generally well-liked, Bana has sufficient gravitas but noticeably wrestles with the character’s southern accent. The performances are generally serviceable but ultimately, there isn’t enough to distinguish most of the crew members of the Pendleton, or the men with Bernie in the lifeboat, for that matter.

            Michael Corenblith’s production design and Louise Frogley’s costume design bring a level of authenticity to The Finest Hours and in the grand scheme of movies billed as “based on a true story”, The Finest Hours makes relatively minor deviations from established history. This is director Gillespie’s second film for Walt Disney Studios, following sports drama Million Dollar Arm, also based on a true story. While The Finest Hours is Gillespie’s most ambitious film on the technical front, it pushes no boundaries in its narrative. The startlingly intense and immersive scenes of the tiny lifeboat getting ravaged by immense waves are thrilling, but the film never quite reaches the rousing, inspirational heights it’s aiming for.

Summary: Harking back to the disaster dramas of yesteryear, The Finest Hours has its riveting moments but the story, as remarkable as it is, ends up insufficiently impactful.

RATING: 3 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong

            

Bridge of Spies

For F*** Magazine

BRIDGE OF SPIES

Director : Steven Spielberg

Cast : Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Amy Ryan, Alan Alda, Austin Stowell, Will Rogers, Sebastian Koch

Genre : Drama

Run Time : 142 mins

Opens : 15 October 2015

Rating : PG13 (Some Coarse Language)

We’ve had our late-summer fun with The Man From U.N.C.L.E., but with fall awards movie season upon us, it’s time to revisit the Cold War in a far more serious manner. It is 1957 and Soviet spy Rudolf Abel (Rylance) is captured by the FBI in Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Bar Association elects for insurance attorney James Donovan (Hanks) to serve as Abel’s counsel. Three years later, after U-2 spy plane pilot Francis Gary Powers (Stowell) is captured by the Soviets, Donovan is tasked with negotiating his release. The deal is an exchange of Abel for Powers. Naturally, things aren’t that clear-cut, and the East Germans have American student Frederic Pryor (Rogers) in custody. With the odds stacked high against him, Donovan flies to East Berlin to bargain for the safe return of both Americans as the threat of nuclear war between the two superpowers looms ever greater. 

Bridge of Spies is based on the 1960 U-2 incident, an actual event, with a screenplay by Matt Charman and rewritten by Joel and Ethan Coen. The title refers to Glienicke Bridge, which was the site for several prisoner exchanges between the Americans and Soviets. The film has been described as a “Cold War thriller”, but it’s more of a courtroom drama and not an action-driven spies vs. spies affair. Director Spielberg’s follow-up to 2012’s Lincoln is another sombre awards contender, but this is more accessible to the average filmgoer, less dense and scholarly. Bridge of Spies is an old-fashioned drama, with the bleakness of a rubble-strewn East Germany evoking the gloomy vision of Vienna as seen in the classic spy film The Third Man. There is a stillness about the film, which is very much a slow burn. Spielberg’s films are seen by many as varying degrees of schmaltzy. While Bridge of Spies certainly has its emotionally impactful moments, it is largely restrained and the feeling of frigid detachedness effectively captures the atmosphere of the Cold War.

If the film that surrounds him is cold, Hanks is Bridge of Spies’ warm, beating heart. In this, his fourth collaboration with Spielberg, Hanks is called upon to embody the archetype of a decent man in an indecent time. If there’s anything Hanks can play, it’s “decent” – he does that and so much more here. James Donovan is a consummate professional who is flung into unfamiliar territory but who always stands his ground, his attentiveness and upstanding nature recalling To Kill a Mockingbird’s Atticus Finch. It turns out that Gregory Peck almost played Donovan in 1965, with Alec Guinness set to play Abel opposite him, but the film was ultimately called off as the era was too fraught with political tension for it to be made. When Donovan arrives in East Germany, construction has just begun on the Berlin Wall, and the angle of a relatively ordinary man caught up in extraordinary circumstances is the audience’s way in. As Donovan is accosted by gang members, catches a cold and has to deal with Soviet and East German officials, he remains admirably steadfast, clinging to his principles, the ideal unassuming hero. 

Rylance, a veteran of the London stage, is coolly compelling as Rudolf Abel. Abel is a Russian spy, ostensibly the bad guy, but the film doesn’t demonise him, taking the stance that the Soviets had their spies and the Americans had theirs. Rylance’s Abel is unflappable and inscrutable, and the unlikely bond that Abel forms with Donovan makes for a fascinating and subtly moving dynamic. While audiences are very familiar with Hanks, Rylance isn’t as recognisable a name, and perhaps that unfamiliarity adds to Abel’s mystique. Spielberg apparently enjoyed working with the actor and Rylance will play the title character in Spielberg’s next film, The B.F.G. Defending Abel makes Donovan a very unpopular man indeed, and this takes its toll on his family, especially his wife Mary (Ryan). The scenes involving Donovan’s family and Pryor’s arrest at the border are the closest Spielberg comes to indulging his more sentimental sensibilities, but these moments are necessary to establish the personal stakes involved. 

Spielberg’s usual cinematographer Janusz Kaminski and editor Michael Kahn bring the technical polish that we’ve come to expect from his films, but one key collaborator is missing: composer John Williams. Owing to a minor health issue which has now been resolved, Williams was replaced by Thomas Newman. Newman’s score is appropriately dignified, containing his own trademark instrumentation while not sounding a million miles away from what Williams might have written. 

Spielberg has always been an idealist, and along with lead actor Hanks, he brings a reassuring, old-fashioned moral certainty to this tale set in one of the murkiest eras in modern history. Even so, Bridge of Spies avoids being naïve and manipulative in its account of the U-2 incident negotiation process. Perhaps this reviewer just isn’t that much of an intellectual, but the one action sequence in which Powers’ U-2 spy plane is shot out of the sky did make him hanker for another Spielberg-directed straight-up action adventure. Of course, that’s not the kind of film Bridge of Spies is, and it lives up to the pedigree before and behind the camera, succeeding at being a sturdy, well-made historical drama. 

Summary: As prestigious as prestige pictures get, Bridge of Spies is a restrained, quiet drama anchored by Tom Hanks’ reassuring presence, with thespian Mark Rylance stealing the show from him at times. 

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong  

1965 Movie Review

For F*** Magazine
 
1965

Directors: Randy Ang, Daniel Yun

Starring: Qi Yiwu, Joanne Peh, Deanna Yusoff, Sezairi Sezali, James Seah Mike Kasem, Lim Kay Tong
Genre: Drama/history

Run time: 130 minutes

Opens: 30 July 2015

Rating: PG-13

            There’s been no shortage of events commemorating Singapore’s Golden Jubilee – most of us won’t say it, but we are kinda burnt out on SG50, and it’s not even National Day yet. Historical drama/thriller 1965 is probably the most-hyped SG50 film. Set against the backdrop of the lead-up to Singapore’s separation from Malaysia, 1965 focuses on police inspector Cheng (Qi), whose young daughter Xiao Yun (Sun Yi En) goes missing. Khatijah (Yusoff), blames Cheng for failing to save her son during a racial riot, and suspicion arises amongst the Chinese that the Malays have kidnapped Xiao Yun in retaliation. Khatijah’s remaining son Adi (Sezali) is a rookie policeman working under Inspector Cheng, complicating matters. Also caught in the fray is Zhou Jun (Peh), the daughter of a coffee shop owner and Pakistani reporter Raj (Kasem).

            Over the course of 1965’s development, producer and co-director Daniel Yun has had to repeatedly clarify on what the film is not: “it’s not a political film”, “it’s not a biopic about Mr. Lee Kuan Yew”, “it’s not a propaganda film” and so on. Let us issue a disclaimer of our own: this opinion on the quality of the film hasn’t got anything to do with politics. 1965 is a bad movie when judged as, well, a movie. Intended as a sweeping historical drama of great import, it instead comes off as heavy-handed, clumsy and dramatically inert. Andrew Ngin, who co-wrote the screenplay with co-directors Randy Ang and Yun, said that the script required more than 60 revisions. It could have done with 60 more. Film is a visual medium, but 1965 is all telling and zero showing, comprising a flagrant overuse of voiceovers, wall-to-wall exposition and platitude-laden speeches. It’s poor storytelling and it’s a slog.

            We won’t deny the credit that the film’s production design is due; there is a palpable effort made to capture all the tiny details of life in Singapore circa 1963-1965. Period-accurate sets were constructed at Infinite Studios’ facility in Batam and there are many little nostalgic touches that those who grew up in that era will appreciate, in between copious amounts of F&N product placement. That said, the Singapore we see in 1965 is little more beyond a couple of stretches of shophouses, a police station and a kampong (village) – it’s a corner, not a world, sometimes convincing but never wholly immersive. The sound mix is also off, making most of the dialogue sound like an announcement over a public address system.

            The characters are uniformly dull, intended to be a microcosm of Singapore at the time, but always feeling several steps away from being fully fleshed-out. Generally, the acting is fine – Qi Yiwu’s police protagonist is as bland as wet cardboard but he tries to inject some intensity into his performance. Deanna Yusoff’s turn as a grieving, anguished mother is sufficiently compelling. As her son, Singapore Idol winner Sezairi Sezali is earnest but not overeager and is one of the more likeable characters in the film. Joanne Peh does stick out at times, her character never really coming off as authentically from that time period. Former opposition politician Nicole Seah, playing the wife of Qi’s character, turns in a more natural performance, surprising given it’s her first acting gig. Mike Kasem is an odd casting choice for Raj, requiring a whole lot more than that beard to come off as a believable Pakistani. While there is some degree of competence, nothing fits together and everything feels incomplete.

            Of course, the spotlight is trained directly on veteran stage and screen thespian Lim Kay Tong, who shoulders the responsibility of playing the recently-deceased first Prime Minster of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew. Lim does a dutiful re-enactment of the iconic televised speech Lee gave when Singapore separated from Malaysia, but his screen time is extremely limited and Lee’s role in the plot has no direct bearing on our main characters. Lee passed away on 23 March 2015 and the film includes footage of his funeral procession cut to a sappy power ballad. This may seem like a respectful tribute at first, but this reviewer found it to be opportunistic, tacky and manipulative. Instead of constructing emotional stakes from scratch, the film opts for the easy way out, attempting to get audiences to feel something by presenting them with a recent event that will resonate with most of them. This would have been perfectly acceptable if 1965 were all about Lee Kuan Yew, but as Yun empathically stated, this is not a biopic. The further implication is that the story of every Singaporean is the story of Lee Kuan Yew, and that’s a slippery slope this reviewer does not want to slide down.

            Singapore has endured more than its share of tumult as a nation and its history is definitely ripe with heart-rending true stories of courage and tenacity. 1965 ignores all that and serves up a painfully dull, preachy, simplistic and condescending fictional story set against the backdrop of the country’s struggle towards independence. There are elements of the film that may resonate with Singaporeans of a certain vintage, but as a cogent, sweeping historical drama, 1965 is a failure.

Summary: If you enjoy being hit on the head with a social studies textbook for two hours while someone tries to cut open your tear ducts with a scalpel, 1965 is the movie for you.

RATING: 2 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong

            

The Imitation Game

For F*** Magazine

THE IMITATION GAME

Director : Morten Tyldum

Cast : Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Mark Strong, Matthew Goode, Charles Dance, Allen Leech, Vanessa Kirby, Rory Kinnear, Matthew Beard

Genre : Thriller/Drama

Run Time : 114 mins

Opens : 22 January 2015

Rating : NC16 

Alan Turing: mathematician, cryptanalyst, often considered the father of modern computing and a unique war hero who was persecuted later in his life. The man is as fascinating and compelling a biopic subject as they come. Benedict Cumberbatch plays Turing, the story shifting between three pivotal periods of Turing’s life: his school days, his secret wartime code-breaking work at Bletchley Park and his post-war conviction of gross indecency. Much more at home with puzzles and ciphers than in social settings, Turing’s co-workers at Bletchley Park’s Hut 8, particularly chess champion Hugh Alexander (Goode), find him insufferable. As the Second World War rages on, Commander Alastair Denniston (Dance) breathes down Turing’s neck for results. Turing goes about developing a machine with the goal of deciphering German messages encoded with the Enigma Machine – a task deemed impossible.

            The Imitation Game is based on Alan Hodges’ biography Alan Turing: The Enigma. Graham Moore’s screenplay landed at the top of the Black List, an annual survey of the most-liked unproduced scripts in Hollywood, in 2011. The title The Imitation Game refers to the Turing test, which determines how well a machine can imitate the thought processes of a human being. At face value, this looks entirely like an Oscar-bait biopic carefully engineered for maximum Academy voter appeal. Despite its Norwegian director Morten Tyldum and American screenwriter Moore, it does seem very British indeed, and if there’s anything the Academy loves, it’s British-y biopics built around an attention-grabbing tour de force performance – see The King’s Speech’s triumph over The Social Network at the 83^rd Academy Awards. We reckon it is possible to go into the film harbouring all these cynical pre-conceived notions and to walk out of the theatre afterwards unmoved, but one would have to be a special brand of jaded to do so.

            The standard biopic tropes we’ve come to expect of awards-contender “based on a true story” prestige pictures are all there, but The Imitation Game handily transcends them, never letting up in just how absorbing it is. Naturally, this is due in no small part to Benedict Cumberbatch’s portrayal of Turing. Cumberbatch has captured the world’s imagination and is that rare combination of a superstar, a “serious actor”, a geek icon and, as he is probably tired of being described as, an unlikely sex symbol. We’ve become accustomed to “eccentric geniuses” in various media, the smartest people in the room who don’t suffer fools and have unorthodox but highly effective methods of solving problems – Cumberbatch’s take on Sherlock Holmes could definitely be classified as such. There have also been various explorations of the “dark side” of genius, the inner demons that misunderstood prodigies grapple with. As Alan Turing, Cumberbatch is able to paint a highly sympathetic portrait of a man who, if he were “normal”, would not have accomplished what he had. When audiences question the veracity of a biopic, it is often brought about as much by the shortcomings of the actor as by the script’s fictionalisation of real events. This reviewer did not detect that here. To dismiss Cumberbatch’s Turing as “just another troubled wunderkind who can’t make personal connections” would be a great disservice.

            While the film was in production, there was the worry that Turing’s homosexuality would not be mentioned. Thankfully, it is addressed, and as such Keira Knightley’s Joan Clarke is far from the superfluous love interest she could have been depicted as if such liberties were taken with the source material. Joan has to battle the deep-seated misogyny of the time, never mind that she has repeatedly proven herself as an expert code-breaker. The character’s introductory scene when she is almost turned away from an entrance test because it is automatically assumed she is up for a clerical position is dynamite. Knightley and Cumberbatch play off each other in a manner that steers clear of being cloying or saccharine and the relationship between Turing and Joan is a well-developed one.

            A surprising element of The Imitation Game, given its often heavy subject matter and wartime setting, is its humour. There are plenty of well-judged moments of levity, most derived from Turing’s interactions with others without feeling like they are at the man’s expense. As Hugh Alexander, Turing’s fellow code-breaker whose frustration is often justifiable, Matthew Goode is appealing and comes off more likeably caddish than smarmy. Charles Dance is also funny as the irascible Commander Denniston and Mark Strong is believable and coolly charming as spymaster Maj. Gen. Stewart Menzies.

            If there’s any particular weakness, it would be the quality of the computer-generated imagery used to depict the WWII battles in brief cutaways. However, this deficiency barely registers because of how expertly the film is put together on the whole, the story flowing naturally through those three time periods in Alan Turing’s life. It seems there’s the danger of the film being written off by some, ironically enough, for its pedigree and awards potential. Ignore those voices; see this, tell everyone you know to see it. It’s a cliché, but this is a story that needs to be told and to be heard.

Summary: Moving, entertaining, thrilling, thought-provoking, even funny, The Imitation Game is a powerful, well-made biopic anchored by a brilliant leading performance from Benedict Cumberbatch.

RATING: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong

The Railway Man

For F*** Magazine

THE RAILWAY MAN

Director: Jonathan Teplitzky
Cast:         Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Jeremy Irvine, Hiroyuki Sanada, Tanroh Ishida, Stellan Skarsgård
Genre: Drama, Biography
Run Time: 116 mins
Opens: 13 March 2014
Rating: NC16 (Some Violence)

Eric Lomax, a British Army officer during the Second World War, was one of many thousands forced to work on the infamous Thailand-Burma Death Railway as a Prisoner of War. He lived to tell his tale in the autobiography The Railway Man, which serves as the basis for this film. Colin Firth plays Lomax who, in 1980, meets and falls in love with Patti (Kidman). Lomax’s post-traumatic stress disorder manifests itself and drives a wedge in his and Patti’s relationship, so a concerned Patti goes to Lomax’s best friend and fellow WWII survivor Finlay (Skarsgård) to learn about what really happened. Flashbacks featuring a young Lomax (Irvine) and Finlay (Sam Reid) depict this. In the present, Lomax tracks down Takashi Nagase (Sanada), the Japanese officer who imprisoned and tortured him, to settle an old score.



As students, most Singaporeans would have studied the Japanese conquest of South-East Asia, but watching this first-hand account is something different altogether. With its intimate focus, The Railway Man personalises the historical tragedy in a way that is eminently relatable. The film starts out under the guise of a romantic drama, with a meet-cute on a train and the depiction of a middle-aged couple’s whirlwind courtship, but as old wounds are re-opened, the audience is thrust into the harshness of the Death Railway and the extent of the suffering borne by Lomax and many who were not as lucky as him is laid bare. A clever, haunting visual device has Lomax walk out of the hotel in which he and Patti are having their honeymoon and straight into Burma of the past, where he confronts the demons which have been gnawing away at him.

Many movies have featured shell-shocked veterans whose lives are irreparably shattered following the trauma of war, but The Railway Man examines the long-term effects of such trauma as well as how it can weigh on a significant other. There’s also that “the past is a foreign country” theme, Finlay scoffing at tourists taking “Bridge On The Bloody River Kwai holidays,” a reminder to never forget the atrocities of war even if they seem like they may not directly impact us. However, a major change that this movie makes from the true story is how Lomax’s reunion with his tormentor is couched as an almost-Oldboy-esque quest of vengeance rather than one of reconciliation. Ostensibly, this is to up the tension and the scenes are indeed nail-biters, but the conflict comes off as feeling forced and this embellishment ultimately seems disingenuous.

The ever-dependable Firth is on expectedly excellent form, conveying the bottled-up torment of having lived through the war, while also displaying quick flashes of child-like innocence in Lomax’s love of trains. Irvine, who was a revelation in War Horse, is good as the young, pre-trauma Lomax, his performance lining up with Firth’s nicely. Sanada more than holds his own opposite the Oscar-winning Firth and he deserves his growing status as Hollywood’s go-to Japanese actor. Kidman is in a more passive role, having the story told to her for much of the movie, but she and Firth are relatively believable as a couple. While an excellent actor, Skarsgård’s Swedish accent is still audible and perhaps a British actor would have been better suited to playing Finlay. Seeing him and Firth together also conjures up images of a solemn semi-Mamma Mia! reunion.

Cinematographer Gary Phillips and composer David Hirschfelder both provide the film with plenty of atmosphere and, while the end result has its moments of stirring emotion, it can’t help but feel engineered and inauthentic at times. Even though the story’s focus makes it more involving, there’s also the danger of losing sight of the bigger picture and The Railway Man doesn’t quite balance this as well as the best war movies have. That said, Eric Lomax’s story is one that should be told onscreen and Firth’s performance possesses enough power to make up for the film’s shortcomings.

SUMMARY: The artistic license that The Railway Man takes feels forced, but Colin Firth’s turn as Eric Lomax is undoubtedly moving.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong

300: Rise of an Empire

For F*** Magazine

300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE

Director: Noam Murro
Cast:         Sullivan Stapleton, Eva Green, Lena Headey, Rodrigo Santoro, Hans Matheson, Jamie Blackley, Jack O'Connell, Andrew Tiernan, Callan Mulvey, David Wenham, Mark Killee
Genre: Action, Fantasy
Run Time: 103 mins
Opens: 6 March 2014
Rating: M18 (Violence and Sexual Scenes)

The comedians at Rifftrax theorised that a sequel to 2007’s 300 would be named 300 2: 301. Instead, we have 300: Rise of an Empire, best described as a Bourne Legacy-style side-quel. Athenian general Themistocles (Stapleton) leads the Greek fleet at the Battle of Artemisium, a naval engagement that was unfolding concurrent to the Battle of Thermopylae fought by King Leonidas and the 300 Spartans. The Persian navy is led by the ruthless Artemisia (Green), cunning, manipulative and skilled with the sword. Themistocles also visits Leonidas’ wife Queen Gorgo (Headey) to petition for access to Spartan ships, and we get some back-story about the Persian god-king Xerxes (Santoro).

The first 300 film is very similar to the first Matrix movie in that both utilised a visual style that was captivating and ground-breaking initially, but that quickly got run into the ground by imitators in the years between the original and the sequel(s). While the two Matrix sequels arrived four years after the first Matrix, 300: Rise of an Empire comes a whole seven years after 300. In that time, everything from Immortals to the Spartacus TV series to The Legend of Hercules to the Malaysian film Vikingdom has tried to recapture the striking aesthetic of Zack Snyder’s movie. As Snyder was busy with Man of Steel, new director Noam Murro dutifully duplicates 300’s look, but the novelty and charm has slowly eroded away, annoyance taking its place.



Nobody’s going to call this a “historical movie” with a straight face (say hi to the sea serpents), but then again, that’s part of why 300 became such a huge hit, its stylisation of Ancient Greek history and its interpretation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel original and eye-catching. Here, we get another parade of chiselled physique, pixelgallons of computer-generated blood and what can best be described as “sexfighting”. The blood here seems already semi-coagulated when it is drawn, seeming more like chocolate fudge than anything else and slopping across the lens with regularity. We guess there’s nothing wrong with an R-rated action flick in an age where every studio executive wants every movie to be rated PG-13 to reach as wide an audience as possible, but 300: Rise of an Empire crosses into unintentional silliness all too often, due in part to the excessive, cartoony violence.

If King Leonidas came from the Scottish section of Greece, then Themistocles came from the Australian section. Themistocles is a more measured, less choleric protagonist than Leonidas and Sullivan Stapleton does look the part of an action hero, but he’s also far less charismatic than Gerard Butler was and does at many times feel like an also-rans substitute. Eva Green, a dab hand at playing the femme fatale, glowers and pouts her way through the film in a scenery-chomping turn that is just impossible to take seriously, though that was probably the intention. It seems she took inspiration from Angelina Jolie’s equally ridiculous performance in Alexander and it is difficult to buy Green as a battle-hardened warrior. It’s also eye-roll worthy that someone as formidable as Artemisia has to fall back on her seductive wiles. It is nice to see Lena Headey return though, for the primary purpose of providing a lengthy voice-over or two.



This isn’t a terrible movie, but it’s more of the same seven years too late. 300 was far from the most sequel-ready of films (spoilers for something that took place 2500 years ago: all the 300 Spartans died) so this seems unnecessary and forced. A lot of the film is taken up by exposition and flashbacks and all the naval battles blend together into an indistinguishable mash. There’s also a father-son subplot with Scyllias (Mulvey) opposing the idea of his son Calisto (O’Connell) joining the fight, an unsuccessful attempt to inject pathos into the proceedings. And to top it all off, co-writer Kurt Johnstad sneaks in the line “an act of valour” which has got to be a reference to the movie of the same name he wrote. Still, it’s entertaining, there’s an effort made to establish continuity, it isn’t poorly made and the 3D is pretty fun.

Summary: Madness? THIS! IS! A! MEDIOCRE-BUT-WATCHABLE! SIDE-QUEL!

RATING: 2.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong

The Legend of Hercules

For F*** Magazine

THE LEGEND OF HERCULES

Director: Renny Harlin
Cast:         Kellan Lutz, Gaia Weiss, Scott Adkins, Roxanne McKee, Liam McIntyre, Rade Serbedzija, Johnathon Schaech, Luke Newberry
Genre: Action, Adventure
Run Time: 100 mins
Opens: 9 January 2014
Rating: PG13 (Violence)

Somewhere in Hollywood exists a fabled well, a fount that has stood for time immemorial. Movie studio executives go to the well to draw “ideas” for new films, and comprising the waters of this spring are stories which have been adapted as many times as there are stars in the sky. Robin Hood, King Arthur, The Three Musketeers, Dracula, Tarzan, Zorro, Alice in Wonderland and of course, Hercules. Later this year, Dwayne Johnson will star in Hercules: The Thracian Wars but first, The Legend of Hercules is unleashed upon the world. Its title is the most inspired thing about it.

It is 1200 B.C. and the tyrannical King Amphitryon (Adkins) is on a spree of conquering neighbouring lands for their wealth. His wife Queen Alcmene (McKee) is aghast at the monster her husband has become and prays to the goddess Hera for someone to take the throne from him. Queen Alcmene is subsequently impregnated by the god Zeus and gives birth to the demigod Hercules, who is named “Alcides” to protect his divine identity. 20 years later, Hercules (Lutz) is in love with the princess Hebe (Weiss), but his conniving mortal half-brother Iphicles (Garrigan) has his sights on her. Amphitryon plots to send Hercules to his death so Iphicles can marry Hebe and ascend the throne. With loyal wingman Sotiris (McIntyre) by his side and with the counsel of the wise Chiron (Serbedzija), Hercules must fight his way back to his kingdom, to his love and to defeat his stepfather and half-brother.



Since cannonballing his career with 1995’s infamous flop Cutthroat Island, director Renny Harlin has never quite recovered, helming such duds as the Sylvester Stallone racing flick Driven, whodunit Mindhunters, supernatural hunk-fest The Covenant and John Cena action vehicle 12 Rounds. With The Legend of Hercules, Harlin doesn’t merely continue his losing streak, he creates an instant classic of the “so bad it’s good” sort. Here we have Clash of the 300 Immortal Spartacii, a film bereft of a single original image or thought, something which makes the re-enactments on the History Channel look high-budget by comparison. Harlin apes the now-tired style popularised by Zack Snyder’s 300, using the ramping effect past the verge of unwitting self-parody. The footage is sloooooweeed dooooowwwwn then spedbackupagain, sloooooweeed dooooowwwwn then spedbackupagain, repeat ad nauseam.



Billed as “the epic origin story of the legend of Hercules”, the film’s delusions of grandeur are frankly adorable. Filmed at the Nu Boyana Film studios in Bulgaria, home to the lowest filmmaking tax rates in Europe, The Legend of Hercules’ production values are of a straight-to-video quality or lower. The Nemean Lion looks like it’s somehow wandered out of a cut-scene from a video game on the PlayStation 2 and the digital matte paintings might as well have been scanned from a storybook. When the Egyptian soldiers clad in Anubis helmets show up, one half expects Arnold Vosloo to pop up and yell “ANCK-SU-NAMUN!” That's to say nothing of the gloriously tin-eared dialogue. Among the many gems are this description of Hercules, as delivered by Hebe: “he’s the reason that I wake up in the morning to embrace the day!” Co-writer Sean Hood is a part-time screenwriting lecturer at the esteemed USC School of Cinematic Arts. Make of that what you will.



Let us preface this paragraph by saying that Kellan Lutz is, by all accounts, a decent guy and this is nothing personal. There’s that out of the way. Our Hercules is the poor man’s Channing Tatum – and here we thought Channing Tatum was the poor man’s Channing Tatum. With his dirty blonde hair, frat boy grin and surfer tan, former Abercrombie and Fitch model Kellan Lutz looks as out of place in the film’s ancient Greek setting as anyone ever has, impressive physique notwithstanding. An alumnus of Summit Entertainment’s most lucrative franchise, Lutz’s attempts at dramatic acting are nothing short of laughable. When Hercules delivers a stock motivational speech to his troops, Lutz renders already-hilarious lines like “tonight we fight, not for what we have, but for that which has been so savagely ripped from our BREASTS!” all the funnier. This guy will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Harrison Ford, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Expendables 3. Gulp.



Gaia Weiss spends most of the film looking tired and playing the weeping damsel pining for her knight in shining armour to the point where one almost expects her to be tied to non-existent ancient Greek train tracks by a moustache-twirling villain in a top hat. Roxanne McKee fares slightly better, affecting a Lena Headey impression, but she’s subjected to the “divine impregnation” scene in which billowing curtains and bed sheets symbolise an invisible Zeus as she writhes and moans in supposed ecstasy. Scott Adkins is an impressive martial artist and fighter, yes, but fails to lend any gravitas or true authoritative menace to his portrayal of King Amphitryon. Liam Garrigan plays the spiteful half-brother with an over-the-top sneer and Johnathon Schaech has no idea what accent he’s going for as the leader of the Egyptian soldiers. Rade Serbedzija cashes a paycheck as “the Obi-Wan” and Sam Worthington clone Liam McIntyre only reminds us that Starz’s Spartacus series did all this far better. So much for not getting typecast.



“Every man has a destiny”, this movie’s tagline tells us. So does every movie, and this movie’s destiny is to become a favourite of beer-fuelled riff parties with friends, the kind of gathering where one gets drunk, heckles the movie and tosses popcorn at the screen with wild abandon. To put things into perspective, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys starring Kevin Sorbo is less of a molten fondue cheese-fest than this is. And that was a TV show from the 90s.

SUMMARY: This Hercules doesn’t go the distance, except as a masterpiece of unintentional hilarity.

RATING: 1.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong