Darkmatters Review: SAFE HOUSE

Safe House (15)

Dir. Daniel Espinosa

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

‘When they tell you “You've done a fine job, Son. We'll take it from here.” That's when you know you're screwed.’

Step up for a high-energy espionage action thriller from director Daniel ‘Tony Scott wannabe’ Espinosa. Safe House sees Denzel Washington star as Tobin Frost - a notorious C.I.A. super spy who went rogue and has been messing things up for the international intelligence community ever since. Frost has got himself mixed up with a lot of very nasty people who want him dead and so turns himself in after being cornered by an army of hit men.

Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds), is a young C.I.A. "housekeeper" – frustrated at being paid to watch a largely unused Safe House and hoping for the change to prove himself worthy of a more exciting position… So when Frost is brought to Weston’s Safe House for a spot of ‘persuasive questioning’ or torture by water-boarding as it turns out – you just know that it won’t be long before Weston will be up to his neck in action.

"mean n moody"

Then everything kicks off as a team of tooled up mercs attack the Safe House killing all the C.I.A. operatives and forcing Weston to go on the run with Frost in his custody. Cue exciting car chases, gun battles and fist fights aplenty interspersed with some frankly dull and slightly unnecessary soppy character development as Weston tries to prevent his beloved girlfriend Ana (the very sexy Nora Arnezeder) from becoming a target for his pursuers.

The action scenes are what really impress here – breakneck paced chases mixed with gritty feeling fights – Safe House is a film that will satisfy those who like their gunfights loud, well staged and where characters actually get hurt / killed.

The film rocks some impressively shot cinematography too, which elevates it from the straight to DVD action efforts starring Steven Seagal etc… Throw into the mix some quality double crossing and paranoia inducing ‘don’t’ trust the system’ messaging and you’ve all the ingredients for a fun action thriller.

"stand down dude"

Whilst Denzel acts Ryan off the screen (they should have gone for Ryan ‘Drive’ Gosling if they wanted a Ryan who can hold his own) the pair do generate some chemistry and are ably supported by quality actors such as Liam Cunningham, Brendan Gleeson, Rubén Blades and Vera Farmiga.

Safe House might not be a classic but it certainly delivers enough to make it worth seeing on the big screen.

Out of a potential 5 you have to go with a Darkmatters:

ööö1/2


3.5 – No one is safe

Awesomeness öööö – The car chase scene is pretty epic!

Laughs öö – mildly funny in places

Horror öö – some savage fights but not overly gory

Babes ööö – Nora Arnezeder is yummy!

Spiritual Enlightenment öö – trust no-one

"fun C.I.A. undercover work!?"

"boom"

Darkmatters Review: The Book of Eli

The Book of Eli (15)

Dir. The Hughes Brothers

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

It’s the near future yet again and we’ve managed to wreck the world thanks to massive war which pretty much wiped out civilisation and left us in a Mad Max style wild wasteland. The law has collapsed, bandits rule the roads ruthlessly preying on travellers – and cannibalism is widespread in a world where food and water are now scarce.

Through this apocalyptic future comes a traveller by the name of Eli (a noble turn from Denzel Washington). Eli is a man on a mission to reach the West Coast of America, a trek that he has been on for 30 years, he carries with him a treasured possession – the very last copy of the bible. As a fellow bible carrier (on my iPhone at least) and fully signed up believer, The Book of Eli’s reverence for the Good Book is an interesting plot device.

It’s extremely rare to find a big budget Hollywood action film that takes religion quite as seriously as this and yet directors the Hughes Brothers have created a violent epic centred around a devout man of faith. Eli’s odyssey sees him having to fight, kill and kick copious amounts of ass, especially when he comes up against the evil Carnegie (a snarling Gary Oldman) who is the self appointed leader of a small west wild style town. Carnegie is a seeker of books – not just any books either – as demonstrated when one of his bandit biker gangs brings him a collection including ‘The Da Vinci Code’ which he immediately has burnt. He knows that the bible alone has the words which can sway people’s hearts and he wants to use it to bring order and control to his populace.

Caught up in the ensuing power struggle are Carnegie's daughter Solara (a spirited Mila Kunis) and her mother Claudia (Jennifer Beals) who both suffer at her deranged father's ways.
The gritty plot unfolds at a pleasing pace, building up to and beyond the climatic showdown between Eli and Carnegie. Action fans are well catered for with frequent burst of sensational ultra-violence, yet the film as a whole has a moral core message that will challenge all who see it.

The cinematography and look of the film are absolutely superb, the apocalypse has simply never looked so good, all shot in a super desaturated bleached palette that really sets this apart from inferior ‘near future’ efforts. Pick of the scenes for me was a five on one fight in shot in the silhouette of a highway underpass.

The Book of Eli is the first ‘must see’ action film of 2010, The Hughes Brothers have, as the Good Book might say, ‘fought the good fight, finished the race and kept the faith’ and have answered the prayers of action film fans.

For gamers, this is the nearest thing yet to a movie adaptation of Fallout 3 or Borderlands...Highly recommended viewing.

UNSEEN DELETED SCENE:

In a twist that didn't make the final cut... The Book of Eli turns out not to be the bible but the novel 'Darkmatters' - and it saves the world!?


Darkmatters rating: ööööööööö (9 righteous road warriors out of 10)

Darkmatters quick reference guide: Action 9 / Style 9 / Babes 7 / Comedy 6 / Horror 6 / Spiritual Enlightenment 10

"The righteous shall kick the ass of the unrighteous"

Darkmatters Review: The Taking of Pelham 123

The Taking of Pelham 123 (15)

Dir. Tony Scott- who previously brought you True Romance, Man On Fire etc

Reviewed by Matt Adcock (viewed in Luton with a bunch of pals)

ONE WORD SUMMATION: Motherfrekinhostigisation


Movie credits running over a classic Jay-Z track?
Check.

Zip zoom / flash cut cinematography using the highest possible techsatellite high definition images?
Check.

Denzel Washington looks good, being mean, moody and unfeasibly cool?
Yep…

Oh yes, we’re deep in Tony ‘Top Gun’ Scott territory here and it’s all aboard the New York subway for a thrill ride remake of Joseph Sargent's classic 1974 hostage drama.

It’s certainly a bad day to take the train as a ticked off and heavily armed Mr Ryder (uber baddie John Travolta sporting this year’s best moustache) takes over the Pelham 123 with the help of a couple of ‘rent an Eastern European retard’ henchmen. Seems that he’s looking to make a swift tax free $10million – or he’ll start executing the passengers, I guess it’s one way to try and beat the credit crunch?


It falls to decent train co-ordinating Walter (Denzel ‘I always put in a good performance for Tony Scott’ Washington) to negotiate with Ryder over the radio… Walter has his own issues as he’s being investigated for possible bribe taking but deep down he’s a good guy, the only question is ‘can he pull through and save the day?’

As the one hour deadline for the cash ticks down, the tension, the number of needless but very exciting car chase scenes and general body count all keep ramping up. You certainly don’t need to be a genius to realise who is going to win this battle of wits but The Taking of Pelham 123 isn’t trying to do anything new, it just wants to entertain you and for the most part it succeeds.

Where the original was slow-burning cat and mouse game, the 2009 version is a hyperactive, foul mouthed and violent car crash. It shouldn’t really be as fun to watch as it is. Sure the clichés come thick and fast from Brian ‘LA Confidential’ Helgeland’s script – he must have been taking ‘dumb-down’ pills since then - but everyone in the packed screening I saw this at was having a very good time.


The two lead actors eat up the screen and make the film worth watching and they are backed up by quality support from Luis Guzmán as a traitorous subway worker and James Gandolfini as the mayor of NYC.


"Basically, if you’re looking for a slick, fun action thriller, the Pelham 123 is a ride worth taking…"


Darkmatters final rating of: öööööööö (8 – wham blam snazzy visual overload, don't think about it too much!)


Darkmatters quick reference guide:

Action 8 (bullet to the head)

Style 8 (smooth and high tech, that's how Scott rolls)

Babes 6 (cute girlfriend webcams herself)

Comedy 6 (Travolta chews up some great one liners)

Horror 6 (innocent people get dead)

Spiritual Enlightenment 5 (nice guys always win)

Film Review: Deja Vu

Déjà Vu (12a)
Dir. Tony Scott

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

Greetings, I’m writing this review in the future – you don’t have to believe me but I’m also watching you from exactly four days and seven hours ahead of your ‘current’ time.
Yep, I know how crazy this sounds but stop for a second and consider – what if it’s true?
Oh yes, the film… Well, if you’re at all familiar with the work of director Tony ‘Top Gun / Man on Fire’ Scott you’ll know what to expect in terms of slick heavyweight action, adrenaline soaked plotlines and excitably frenetic camera work. In Déjà Vu you get all of that usual Scott stuff and a bonus bonkers time travel plot device thrown in to shake up the well worn action formula.
Denzel Washington is on cracking form here as US special agent Doug Carlin – a guy who gets things done, a guy who will not stop until he’s saved the day, a guy who looks impossibly cool taking off his sunglasses in slow motion. You know the type. You’ve already seen him doing this before…
Déjà Vu takes you to a place where the US Government can monitor the past in a constantly running ‘signal’ which broadcasts what happened exactly four days ago. It’s technology that makes Google Maps look rubbish – this thing can zoom in, see through walls and track individuals at the flick of a joystick (think PlayStation 3 on steroids). One scene has the team of nerdy scientists (led by Val Kilmer) using the machine to track a gorgeous female played by Paula Patton as she struts around in her underwear and takes a shower. And it’s just as well that they can because a deranged terrorist has just blown up a ferry killing hundreds of innocent men, women and children and this babe is linked to the attack. As luck would have it Washington gets the chance to use the super time bending device to go back and try to thwart the bomber but not before falling for the smokin hot Patton whose life he may also be able to save. It might not completely stack up in the quantum physics time travel theory department but it does make for cracking viewing. For a decent dose of action choose Déjà Vu.
In fact I think you may already have?

Darkmatters rating system (out of 5):

Action öööö - quality, breathless and genuinely exciting
Laughs öö – not a chucklefest but it doesn't need to be
Horror ööö – satisfyingly grim for a 12a!
Babes öööö – Paula Patton is hot!!!

Overall öööö (if you like action movies - you need to see this film!)


"OK now can you show me the 'full frontal' shower cam?"

Darkmatters: H O M E