Film-watching 2006 (3)

Yes, it is indeed very much evident that I am shamelessly going to fill this blog up with reviews and more reviews. But what the heck. Films are my only respite from the brain-drilling neuroanatomy sessions nowadays (ironic as hell I know) and lamabasting about them is a high I can't get enough of. So, kindly adjust.

Inside Man (2006): ** and 1/2

I was barely done making myself comfortable in my seat when the opening credits started rolling with a shockingly familiar note. It was a Bollywood song that the maker had decided to accompany the introductory footage and my immediate reaction was that of surprise (wow! An Indian track!), which later turned to befuddlement (Hold on a sec! What exactly has Chaiyya Chaiyya to do with some random boring Manhattan shots) but then like a true forgiving Indian I reconciled with the whole concept when I saw like 15-20 people in the cinema nodding and tapping to the beats. A thing to note here–There were only about 40-50 people in total. So moral of the story–Bollywood music rox!

The film per se (almost forgot about it) is your typical heist thriller. So there's a lot that is expected and some that isn't. The players essentially remain the same–the evil, all-knowing, ever-so-sharp mastermind out on a mission as some kind of social police on the more influential people (Clive Owen) vs the conscientous, give-a-damn cop(Denzel Washington). And so does the game. Which leaves one with little guessing to do. Only two questions keep you sat till the end–do the robbers actually manage a successful heist and if yes, then how. Like every decent thriller, Inside Man manages to answer these whys and hows alright but with little newfound energy. Its all been-there-seen-that stuff and the film's screenplay is replete with now-hallmark sequences of heist flicks (from the phone conversations, the tactics, the climax, scenes like the bad guy deliberately bumping into each other etc). Okay so they threw in a drop-dead-persuasive female broker (Jodie Foster is told not to wipe off her I-know-it-all smile and she doesn't) and the humanitarian banker with a dark past. So what!

There's little by the way of actual plot and whatever there is, just isn't worth the £5 you spend. There's little sense of dread (we are shown flashforward-ed footage of the hostages being interviewed throughout which negates anything catastrophic even before the actual "hostage" situation unfolds) and a dull sense of surprise here and there. So, except for some racist humour and self-important dialogue (both tastefully done), the film has only one other thing to offer — Washington, who still manages to be an absolute fireband that he is and shows that even a film as mediocre as this just can't keep his infectious enthusiasm down. If you must, watch Inside Man for him.

PS: They play Chaiyya Chaiyya again in the end credits as well.

Hostel (2006): ** and 1/2

American Pie meets Wolf Creek in this latest Hollywood slasher flick. Its a ludicruous premise of tourists being drilled, torched, cut open, sewn back, sawed into by pleasure-seeking rich businessmen in a remote Slovakian slaughterhouse after luring the victims into a whorehouse of a hostel, but one that manages to sustain your attention with shock and shock value alone.

Made in the back-with-a-bang "raw" horror flick format (imagine Saw, Wolf Creek, Texas Chainsaw) that packs in the graphic gore of the 80s and captures the victimised Generation Y in all its grit and grime, its a small patch on the genre-defining films for sure but because it doesn't take itself way too seriously, its good fun. I was actually quite surprised to see humour in such a film (especially two sequences–one, where a nervous sawyer runs towards his screaming chained victim with a motorised saw and just when the blade's about to chop the victim's shoulder, the sawyer slips on the victim's blood and ends up cutting his own arm and leg in half and the second–another American sawyer starts babbling about the best way to slash a person), scenes that were almost as entertaining to watch as when the director neatly sews up different angles of the plot into a redeeming climax (Redemption is something unheard of in the unforiving modern day horror films).

And then there are the usual long silences and loud sudden bangs and thuds which no self-respecting Hollywood horror film can do without. The last 15 minutes of Hostel rock bigtime with eyes torched, danglings eyeballs cut, car-chases, accidents, suicides, gang of kids stoning people to death (absolutely unmissable!), more fingers hacked–all done with ample spray of blood. The length of the film is just right with the director not making gory or the buildup sequences overtly long and the acting is also pretty consistent. Actually, the first half an hour can be quite bland for those who have the ability to look beyond the shockingly high amount of nudity. I don't have that, so I ended up enjoying the whole film.

Its a no-brainer (don't think too hard about how its possible to scream with more force as your Achilles tendons are slashed in quick succession and your thighs are screwed into the chair, and don't even go near how three otherwise sane guys who are having enough fun and sex in Amsterdam can be lured into going into a remote town halfway across Europe just by a few nude pictures of chicks and you'll be fine), but it delivers its thrills and chills in a clever little well-hyped (Quentin Tarantino presents!) package that makes for a decent enough matinee watch. Enjoy!

King Kong (2005): ***

A blockbuster movie that works. Not bigtime. But well enough to warrant 1 and maximum 2 viewings. I remember getting so overwhelmed by the special effects in the cinema first time around that I had noticed little else. A recent DVD watch cleared things up. Jackson has masterfully milked the whole storyline of any scope for jaw dropping visuals but the over-ambitiousness in the art direction just can't hide the mediocrity in the treatment of the actual story. The characters are a joke. Okay, so for a blockbuster movie, you don't need to spend reels on showing layers in characters, but seriously, except for the lead female Ann Darrow, the others are so predictably sketched, you see their intentions and actions coming like an hour before. There really isn't anything even remotely identifiable in these caricatures (supposedly "real" people) with everyone filling up space just because Jackson still is punchdrunk with LOTR format and want this to be another three hour epic.

With a one sentence long story and the pressure of delivering another safe blockbuster, clearly he hadn't had an easy time. But by infusing such stupid moronic sidekicks, the already long buildup sequence has been rendered absolutely unwatchable. Amidst the mess though, the unstoppable CGI fest once the adventure dice starts rolling still stacks up as reasonably watchable stuff and almost all the (preciously few) moments between Ann Darrow and King Kong are in absolute sync with the spirit of the story and the genre (Naomi Watts and Andy Serkis–way to go!). The finale strikes a chord alright but with the puny space that the the beauty and the beast are rewarded with in the preceding three hours, all you remember after the viewing are the dinosaurs falling off cliffs and monster spiders and carnivorous giant leeches. Not all good news then!

Derailed (2005): **

I confess. The day I'll get over my crush on Jennifer Aniston will be the day I'll stop watching hogwash like Derailed the very day its released. Since the possibility of my recovering from Aniston-mania are remote, I might as well focus on the positives of this flick. First, there's Aniston. The ultra-feminine, svelte, lissome smooth talking lass is cast as a-hold your breath-seductress and boy, does she rock or what. As far as I know, this has to be her first foray into an out-and-out serious venture in the thriller genre, and the actress gives it all to a role that has shades much darker than we are used to seeing Aniston play.

The film's pretty atmospheric too and the competent acting from the small ensemble is enough to make you forget for a moment how hackneyed the actual twist is. For any thriller worth its salt, the "twist" is an acid test. Which Derailed fails. But with the kind of enthusiasm and naviety the director lets the layers unfold, its a delight to see someone so sincere in his craft. Sadly enough, I turned out to be way too clever for this one.

More reviews to follow!!