THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES (2014) review: "The Lonely Mountain..."

The Defining Chapter...

THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES is a 2014 film starring well over a dozen actors, most notably Martin Freeman and Ian McKellen, and directed by Peter Jackson. The film follows Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins on the final part of his journey, with his company forced to defend the Lonely Mountain against the titular five armies ranging from Orcs to Elves.

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The Battle of the Five Armies stands as the hopefully final film of the Middle-Earth saga with a reasonably satisfying conclusion to the otherwise middling trilogy.

The cast of this film is far too large to have a complete breakdown - however all of the performances seen in this film are more than serviceable, if not great, with the slight exception of a rather CGI-looking Billy Connolly. For some reason his character in particular definitely crosses the uncanny valley. Swiftly moving on, as aforementioned there isn't really any notable stand-out performance throughout the entire film. Everyone does as expected, not bad but not outstanding either.

Will you have peace... or war?

The cinematography by long-time Peter Jackson partner, Andrew Lesnie is as good as the previous Lord of the Rings trilogy, you can understand why he got an Academy Award for Best Cinematography, at least with that trilogy. The film did undeniably look great, however much of that can I owe to the cinematography? That's questionable. The film overall did have a nice style to it - but doesn't have any specific stand out moments that I could pick out because it all really does blend together.

Just like the cast, there is an unusual amount of people writing the screenplay or script. A total of four, including the previous writers of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Peter Jackson and his wife Fran Walsh, as well as Phillipa Boyens, with the rather odd addition of Guillermo del Toro, director and writer of the frankly incredible Pan's Labyrinth as well as most recently, Pacific Rim. 

The screenplay overall is adequate with several little niggling issues such as the obvious initial pacing issues with the character of Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch). His character was there to die and complete the cliffhanger set up by The Desolation of Smaug, the previous film in the trilogy. The reason I consider this a pacing issue is that there is this sudden burst of action for the first 15 minutes of the film only thereafter to be swung into an entirely different plot. However, this may or may not be attributable to the writers of the screenplay so much as the production, distribution and marketing companies. Without the cliffhanger set by the last film, there would have been no drive the see the next with general audiences, therefore the pacing and overall quality of the films has to suffer in order to ramp up hype for this inevitable final part. Put it into perspective when the whole trilogy gets its also inevitable home release, you're re-watching the whole trilogy and The Desolation of Smaug ends, that whole cliffhanger is rendered entirely pointless unless you're able to conjure up a years worth of hype the entire minute or so it takes to swap discs. (Or choose the film from a digital menu, if you're inclined towards streaming.) It is there purely to service those who don't care about the actual film itself - and only care about the amount of money the film takes at the box office.

There is also some laughable moments tied to Legolas' (Orlando Bloom) fight scenes with Azog the Defiler (Manu Bennett), some of the spectacle fighting that goes on in these scenes is sometimes too far even for a epic fantasy such as the Middle-Earth saga, such as Legolas using falling stepping stones to climb back up and ultimately win the fight against Azog, which makes me feel as if some parts of these scenes aren't scripted (which is heavily unlikely) or were them writing themselves out of a corner frankly. Hell, I could and most likely am thinking way too hard into it and they were just writing these fight scenes on the basis of what they think is the most entertaining... and frankly a bit too over the top.

Howard Shore, also a previous Peter Jackson collaborator on the Lord of the Rings (also doing some other great stuff with David Cronenberg on A History of Violence, Eastern Promises and countless other films), composes yet another epic score to go along with The Battle of the Five Armies, one of the best parts about the film in my opinion, with a mostly gentle or soft quality to it that isn't afraid to ramp up when the titular battle happens... three quarters into the movie.

"I will have war."

I usually don't mention this but really should, the production design and sets utilised by this film, as the Lord of the Rings before it is simply amazing, it creates this living, breathing world that simply looks great while the characters traverse from one set piece to another, the detail of each of the sets lost to some of the film's aforementioned questionable pacing, either going too slowly or far too quickly.

Overall, as much as it may seem that I dislike The Battle of the Five Armies, it is an enjoyable film, but it is a film that should not exist. With the Lord of the Rings you could understand stretching that into a trilogy, as the books themselves were in three parts at about 400 pages a piece. The Hobbit however was only one book that was 300 pages in length. That brings it to roughly a hundred pages per film. The Hobbit trilogy is somehow so bloated with such little story involved. Peter, you will always be a good director, but please, move on. The Middle-Earth needs to be left to its own wits, there is literally not more that you can do with it. The whole Hobbit trilogy seems to follow a similar theme: exceptionally made, all of the pieces should come together and add up, but there is this emotional disconnect that struggles to pull you in. I could only ever recommend this film to anyone who is desperate to see the end of what will hopefully be the last of the saga, but to everyone else? Just go watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy instead.

"Will you follow me, one last time?"

THE IMITATION GAME (2014) review: "Codebreaker..."

Behind Every Code Is An Enigma...

THE IMITATION GAME is a 2014 film starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, directed by Morten Tyldum. The film follows Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing, pioneer, computer scientist and fascinating cryptanalyst who is one of the key figures in cracking the Nazi's infamous Enigma code, and thereafter being criminally charged for being homosexual. It entails his breakthrough and often anti-social behaviour whilst working for the military.

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The Imitation Game is a solid biopic and will most likely stand the test of time as a highly memorable film that I will revisit several times, despite some slight historical inaccuracies.

Benedict Cumberbatch takes top billing as the film's ever so important protagonist - Alan Turing. He is what makes the film, his performance holds everything together. The role was perfect for Cumberbatch. You can sense the emotional struggle and his character has within this film, as is necessary for the dramatic tale. Everything that Cumberbatch brings to Alan Turing feels natural and authentic.

Keira Knightley takes the supporting role in The Imitation Game as Turing's wife and supposed "partner", Joan Clarke. Her performance is also to be noted, adding a wit and charm to the film as she seemingly has a way of doing so in several past roles. Always quick off the mark and always has something to say. Similar to Cumberbatch, I personally couldn't imagine anyone else in the role after seeing this film. It is engrained in my mind that she really is Joan Clarke. A job well done to both Knightley and Cumberbatch.

This doesn't mean that I've forgotten about the rest of the cast, Turing's code breaking team including Matthew Goode, Allen Leach and Matthew Beard. All of them giving solid supporting performances and adding to the overall believability to the film. In addition to the crew, there is the MI6 agent Stewart Menzies and Alistair Denniston, played by Mark Strong and Charles Dance respectively. These two also bringing similar traits, Strong emitting his own enigma, a walking secret with little to tell unless the time is right, but willing to joke with the other characters. Dance being the uptight Commander completely focussed on results and nothing more. A man of actions, not words. This finally leads to good old Rory Kinnear, known by most as Bill Tanner in the Bond franchise, known by me as the Prime Minister in Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror, doing some rather questionable things as you may know if you've watched that series. His performance is just as strong as the others, albeit he has much lesser screen time, taking a back seat.

"Are you paying attention?"

The look that this film has very distinct, clean, clinical. It adds to what the film is going for, what seems like a bleak outlook on what may be an unbreakable code. Each shot feels succinct and is very well lit, it looks great. Props to the relatively unknown Oscar Faura on creating a sculpting a visual style that genuinely looks beautiful.

The writing by Graham Moore is good, the interactions between all of the characters feels suitably snappy and witty and overall very articulate as well as detailed. No wonder why it reached number 1 in the Hollywood Blacklist of 2011 (a survey taken by production company executives to judge which is most liked that hasn't been put into production yet) as it is suitably fantastic and notably interesting.

The direction by Morten Tyldum is great, leading on from his previous work Headhunter, which was previously critically acclaimed, albeit of a much different tone. Actors feel motivated amongst one another, and you can tell that the best performance has been extracted from Cumberbatch, as aforementioned when detailing his performance. 

The score by long-time composer Alexandre Desplat is very cinematic and covers the film within a general "epic" theme. It comes off as a bit generic, similar to Hans Zimmer, doing so many scores that they all blend together. However, Desplat has done some very notable works before such as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Tree of Life and Argo, that's to name a few. It is a very competent score, but it is nothing memorable. Nothing really sticks, I struggle to remember any sequence where the score enthralled me. It comes off as sadly forgettable.

Overall, The Imitation Game does bring some great thrills and will forever remain as a memorable biopic. It all comes together due to a very competent crew and is glued solid by Cumberbatch's central performance as Alan Turing. I would highly recommend this to most anyone, or specifically anyone that is looking for a good historical drama.

"I'm just a mathematician."

GONE GIRL (2014) review: "Chasing Amy..."

You Don't Know What You've Got 'Til It's...

GONE GIRL is a 2014 film starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike, directed by the celebrated David Fincher and written by the original author of the book the film is based upon, Gillian Flynn. The film entails Ben Affleck as Nick Dunne, a man whose life is turned upside down when his wife's (Rosamund Pike) disappearance has excessive media attention and are led to believe that he is responsible for her aforementioned disappearance. 

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Gone Girl joins Nightcrawler amongst the best films of 2014 with this brutal story about what was once thought of as a simple life.

Ben Affleck takes what is initially the main role of the film, Nick Dunne, the unassuming husband of the missing Amy. Ben Affleck delivers a strong performance, consisting of a suave and smug personality, finding light within a dark subject matter, which leads to the media's suspicions that he is her kidnapper. He takes the material that he is given and makes a solid performance out of it, even if his material restricts him to being the slightly dopey husband, the perfect person for a set-up. He plays the part to its strengths and does it exceptionally well.

Rosamund Pike then takes the title role of the film, the "Gone Girl", the equally unassuming "victim" and wife of Nick Dunne who is by far the best performance that this film has to offer, the incredibly intelligent, sociopathic seductress who is hell-bent on framing her husband for her murder, for treating her wrongly, being unfaithful to their marriage. One second she is Amazing Amy, the next she is the opposite. When you see her character on-screen, you don't know what she is going to do next with her twisted motives. You feel her frustration with Nick, whilst at the same time being detached from her because what she is, is downright insane. She plays a cat and mouse game with Nick, with her attempting to run from the media until Nick is successfully framed and Nick appeals to her through the same thing that is trying to execute him. It is a incredible performance from Rosamund Pike.

"She may be the reason I survive..."

Neil Patrick Harris takes the third of the four top billing cast members as Desi Collings, Amy's ex, and eventually the fall guy, literally undergoing the knife as Amy's devilish plan unfolds. Harris also delivers a solid performance as par with any David Fincher film, you can just tell the kind of person that Desi is going to be by looking at his face. Sly and with a slimy motive, shameless in whatever shameful act he wishes to attempt. That act being to rekindle his relationship with Amy, which as aforementioned, backfires horribly. Neil Patrick Harris portrays his character admirably.

The final of the four top billing cast members, Tyler Perry as Nick Dunne's attorney to help him throughout the case, Tanner Bolt. Tyler Perry was initially my only scepticism that I had with Gone Girl going into it, but I came out of the film pleasantly surprised. Tyler Perry is a very capable actor whilst under Fincher's control - unlike in some of his own films like the seasonal A Madea Christmas or in general his Madea franchise. Please don't watch those for the sake of your humanity. Back on-topic, is that Perry plays his role well, being some of the comic relief within the film, often cracking some light-hearted quirks whilst displaying his intelligence as his attorney and all round very casual. You believe that it is his job that he has done for a while. Good on you, Tyler Perry.

"I swear - you two are the most fucked up people I've ever known, and I specialise in fucked up."

Before moving on, I cannot forget to mention the rest of the cast within this film because they all show some great performances, notably Kim Dickens as the sympathetic detective, Rhonda Boney, as well as Carrie Coon as Nick's twin sister, Margo. They both really do show some top of the line acting.

The look and stylisation is as always with a Fincher film - incredible. Jeff Cronenweth delivers some immaculate cinematography, similar to his other works with Fincher such as Fight Club, The Social Network and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Each individual shot having a dark undertone to them, often with characters' physique or facial expression shrouded in shadows, and even with a limited colour palette, it displays some striking visuals, which makes it all the more effective and enjoyable due to its effectiveness.

"Smile."

The writing is expectedly good, that obviously being how it was written by the author of the book that the film was based on, Gillian Flynn. Dialogue flows nicely between characters, with plenty of articulate ramblings for both Nick and Amy, as well as natural dialogue between Nick and his sister, they talk casually around one another, sinking in that they have had a life-long relationship. What else would you expect from her own fictional baby?

The direction by David Fincher is of course as meticulous as it has always been, with one of the films producers stating that on average, scenes took as many as 50 takes to be considered completed. You can tell he has obviously gotten the best out of each of the actors that he has worked with on this film, you can tell how he has nailed all of the actors' expressions and gestures down to a fault - exactly as he wanted and it really adds to the quality of the film. He still remains one of the best and most influential directors still making films.

This leads us to the final piece of the puzzle, the score. From Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor and his long time partner Atticus Ross comes yet another moody, ambient and downright atmospheric score. They have also worked with Fincher twice before on both The Social Network and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, marking their third collaboration. The entire score that plays throughout the film is just perfect for this film, a soothing sound that somehow unleashes anxiety upon listening. Unnerving being the word to describe it. It accentuates the more brutal scenes in Gone Girl, and even the lesser scenes, to ensure that it leaves its mark. 

Overall, Gone Girl is stylish and beyond gripping, a thriller that is willing to stand strong amongst some of the best, and will definitely keep you thinking about it for days or even weeks after watching it. I highly recommend this film to anyone who is looking for a sleek and well-made thriller or to those who are fans of Fincher's past works such as Se7en, as this is sure to please.

"Man of my dreams - this man of mine... may kill me."

NIGHTCRAWLER (2014) review: "A gift you give yourself..."

The City Shines Brightest At Night...

NIGHTCRAWLER is a film released in 2014 starring Jake Gyllenhaal and directed, as well as written by Dan Gilroy, in his directorial début. The film follows Jake Gyllenhaal as Louis "Lou" Bloom, a young man struggling to find a job in Los Angeles, whom is inspired when he stumbles upon a film crew shooting footage for a local news channel and attempts to get into the business himself, blurring the lines between what is real and what is fabricated as he muscles his way into crime journalism with a local television news reporter known as Nina Romina, played by Rene Russo. 

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To begin, I can say that hands down, Nightcrawler is personally my favourite film of 2014.

It is led by an exceptional performance from Jake Gyllenhaal, acting Lou Bloom's sociopathic tendencies to a tee. You can sense his demanding presence from the look that he conveys to other characters, manipulating and blackmailing his way to success, dealing with those who he can't convince. You simply feel uneasy when he is on-screen, yet you can't keep your eyes off of him the whole time he is. 

This isn't to say that the surrounding cast isn't good as well, with solid performances from Rene Russo, Bill Paxton and Riz Ahmed. 

Rene Russo's character, Nina, of whom is a news reporter desperate for footage to save her news channel from declining ratings, seeming tough and reluctant on face value, but pressured, willing to do anything to get the footage that Lou brings on air. Whilst watching, you feel conflicted about her character, sympathetic with her on that she is being manipulated by Lou when he brings footage for the station, but dismissive of her about her disrespect to those who are being recorded. In one instance with her character, Lou brings in footage of a home invasion in which all of the family members are murdered, she is ruthless towards it, not caring about those therein but only about whether they can air it on the station. 

"Morning news - if it bleeds, it leads..."

Bill Paxton's character, Joe Loder is Lou's main competitor, inadvertently making Lou a competitor after he is rejected by Joe when he first finds him, leading to Lou doing it on his own. Paxton fits right into the cocky character archetype after being cast as it several times before (most notably in Aliens), the man who is the best at what he does - night crawling. Paxton offers a natural performance, good, but ultimately overshadowed by the other cast members.

Riz Ahmed's character, Rick is Lou's reluctant partner, recruited shortly after Lou goes off on his own, similar to Lou starting off, a young man struggling to find a job within Los Angeles, however nowhere near as driven as Lou. His character is willing to take anything to make any semblance of money and it shows, at least when he initially takes the job with Lou, before he uncovers the nature of what he is getting into. Rick ends up being the balance to Lou, for everything that Lou wants to do, Rick is there to counter the moral values that Lou has. In addition to his performance, you wouldn't believe that Riz Ahmed is actually British - pulling off a flawless American accent, unless you knew prior, that is.

Leading on from the performances, the look of Nightcrawler is astonishing, with a similar visual style to Nicholas Winding Refn's Drive, flooded with neon and car lights and dark city skylines. The city of Los Angeles is the canvas for this film to exist. You are soon sucked into the atmosphere of the film, living in this nocturnal world, the night is day for those who night crawl. It can most definitely be categorised as a neo-noir. The cinematography on display here is simply fantastic, which isn't surprising from a cinematographer like Robert Elswit, of which is most notable work being with Paul Thomas Anderson, working on the majority of his films such as Magnolia and There Will Be Blood. The film from a visual standpoint is unquestionably great.

"The Closer You Look, The Darker It Gets..."

The writing and directing that Dan Gilroy provides is also tremendous, the dialogue between characters always feeling sharp, with Lou himself notably having enough jargon and intellectual dialogue to heavily reinforce Lou's antisocial characteristic, complimenting his direction, all of the characters feel believable in what they are doing, especially Gyllenhaal, you can tell that he literally lived and breathed as Lou Bloom for the duration of the shoot.

Finally, the score created by James Newton Howard may seem unusual or ruin the immersion for some, as initially it feels unfitting, a very triumphant score, playing when Lou is going through some very questionable actions, a notable example being when Lou readjusts a body at a crime scene in order to obtain better footage. However, it clicks when you realise that the score is to reflect Lou's character, what he feels instead of an objective film score. You are hearing the score as he hears it in his psychopathic mind, which is something that some may not have caught onto the first viewing, and ultimately raises the quality of the film after its initial stumble.

Overall, Nightcrawler is nothing short of an amazing film which would have been a much lesser film without Gyllenhaal, as he overshadows the entire film, stealing the show. It is very well made for its budget, fulfilling in every aspect, all of it comes together to make a chilling and thought-provoking thriller. I would highly recommend Nightcrawler for those who are looking for a film that is darker than most. This film is a gift you give yourself.

"If you wanna win the lottery..."