Movie Review – Venom

Fan-favourite and Spidey rival Venom gets a solo venture, but despite its best efforts, this lethargic slog lacks the panache of its web-slinging cousin. 

 ⭐ ⭐
Rhys Pascoe 

Okay, let’s get the confusing stuff out of the way. Yes, Venom is a character closely tied to Spider-man comic-books. No, this movie doesn’t feature Spidey, Tom Holland or any other crossover with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That’s where the issues start (and certainly not where they end), because when all is said and done, even though Venom has its redeeming qualities, this superhero spin-off is in dire need of the heart, humour, and polish that audiences have come to expect from Marvel.

The film centres around investigative reporter Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), who finds himself out of a job and separated from his lawyer fiancée Anne (Michelle Williams) after he leverages sensitive information from her work laptop for a story on shady billionaire Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed). Down on his luck, Eddie delves a little deeper in Drake’s secretive business and lands himself a gnarly symbiote from outer space (don’t you just hate it when that happens). The gooey entity – which calls itself Venom – speaks to Eddie and bestows him with a number of special abilities, which Eddie puts to good use in combating Drake’s nefarious operation.

So, here’s the bottom line. Venom isn’t up there with cinematic abominations such as Catwoman or Green Lantern. It’s not even bad enough to be oddly entertaining, like 1997’s Batman and Robin. It just washes over you, neither entertaining nor horrifying enough to hold your attention. I found myself strangely bored by the mish-mash of ugly VFX, dark cinematography and uninspired design oozing from every frame.

There’s a lot of talent striving to excel, but the writing puts a swift end to that. Williams’ character is as bland as white bread and shares about as much chemistry with Hardy as two soggy logs. Ahmed’s villain is your standard scheming corporate cardboard cut-out. At least Hardy is having fun with it – his performance is filled with weird idiosyncrasies that range from inspired to downright bizarre.

There are some moments of schlocky horror. There are some moments of side-splitting humour. But in hedging its bets, Venom excels at nothing in particular. One could argue Venom would’ve been better had all involved stuck to their guns and served up something gory and aimed at adults (like Logan or Deadpool), but more violence wouldn’t fix its myriad other issues. At the end of the day, this film is just the latest effort from a studio trying to ape Marvel’s formula – and it doesn’t do a very good job.

Venom is available in Australian cinemas from October 4 2018. 

Also screening as part of  the RoofTop Movies Program 1 on Nov 29.

Image courtesy of Sony Pictures 

 

Movie Review – Dunkirk

Christopher Nolan serves up another masterpiece in his scarily authentic capturing of Operation Dynamo.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ½
Rhys Graeme-Drury

It’s May 1940. The Allied forces of Britain, France, Canada and Belgium have been rapidly driven back across Europe by the ruthless German army, and now find themselves encircled on a stretch of beach called Dunkirk. 400,000 soldiers are practically in sight of safety, but, without a fully mobilised navy to carry them across the English Channel, are under threat of persistent bombing and shelling. A flotilla of civilian vessels is commissioned to ferry the soldiers home, but time is running out as the Germans steadily tighten the noose and advance on the beach.

It is this colossal military disaster (Winston Churchill’s words, not mine) that visionary writer/director Christopher Nolan tackles in Dunkirk, his tenth feature film. Using an ensemble cast of British actors (Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh, Mark Rylance), Nolan plunges the audience into the midst of the action at a moment’s notice. For 106 minutes and across three brilliantly staged threads, Dunkirk is wall-to-wall tension and existential dread that holds you in its firm grasp.

It does this by composing its story across a trio of intersecting and overlapping timelines; one told across a week, the second a single day and the final a mere hour. They all begin at the start and come together briefly at the end, which ensures the film always has something happening and actions in motion.

There are no rousing speeches and no soaring fanfare; Nolan eschews longwinded exposition or lengthy character backstories, with some reflecting the harsh namelessness of wartime by simply being called something like Shivering Soldier, as is case of Murphy’s character.

Remarkably, this is one war film where the enemy is not once glimpsed in the flesh. And yet, despite that, the Germans are a persistent presence – from the first frame through to the very last, they cast a long shadow over everything. Nolan imbues the film with a trickling sense of dread that soaks into every frame, so that even though the enemy is never seen, their aura is never absent.

In a technical sense, Dunkirk personifies exemplary. The throbbing soundtrack, once again courtesy of frequent collaborator Hans Zimmer, employs blaring horns and sheer noise to rattle your bones. An almost omnipresent ticking stopwatch underlines the impeccable sound design, which places you in the moment. Every bullet carves the screen and lands with a deafening thud; every dive from a Stuka bomber pierces the air like a shrieking banshee. It’s a terrifying aural and sensory assault from which the audience is unable to escape, much like the stranded soldiers around which the film revolves.

Nolan’s slavish pursuit of authenticity in Dunkirk is just one in long list of commendable aspects. Is it his magnum opus? It’s simply too soon to say, and with a filmography that also boasts The Prestige, Inception and Memento, it’s a question that is practically impossible to definitively answer. However, it is undoubtedly his most haunting and his most visceral, and you owe it to yourself to seek out the largest screen possible to soak it in.

And yes, for the One Direction fan who somehow found their way onto this review; Harry Styles does look pretty perf in camo.

Dunkirk is available in Australian cinemas from July 20

Image courtesy of Roadshow Films

Movie Review – The Revenant

Presenting cinema’s most terrifying bear attack scene – it’s worth the price of admission alone. Stay for a gob-smacking survival revenge epic, and perhaps the biggest blast you’ll have at the movies this year.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ½
Corey Hogan

Did Alejandro González Iñárritu just become the most exciting filmmaker of today? Not that he’s ever produced anything short of outstanding, of course, but with the one-two punch of Best Picture winner Birdman, and now the equally worthy The Revenant, he’s achieved something fellow directors can only envy. He’s secured his spot among the great innovators of film, with only six features under his belt – everyone in Hollywood is bound to be lining up for a chance to work with him now. It’s just a shame that the Academy is unlikely to honour the same victor twice in a row, but otherwise he could very easily sweep every award ceremony again. At the very least, it seems highly likely that one man involved could (finally) walk away with that little golden statue.

It’s 1823, and much of the American wilderness still remains uncharted, begging to be explored. Based on an actual expedition-gone-horribly-wrong in these parts, The Revenant finds frontiersman Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his team of explorers just as hell descends upon them, in the form of a vicious Native American tribe. Attacking and scattering the clan, Glass’ remaining hunting team seeks to return to their base camp; complicated further by a chance encounter with a grizzly bear, leaving Glass horrifically and near-fatally mauled. Now little more than a tattered corpse, Glass must navigate the deadly natural terrain against the odds of survival back to camp, with one motive – vengeance against his fellow crew member John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) who has destroyed something of great value to him.

An entire world away from the madcap Hollywood satire of Birdman, The Revenant nonetheless shares a penchant for extreme long takes (no single take this time, though you’ll be too immersed to notice the cuts) and swooping of the camera to places we’d never dream of, allowing once again introspective new means of revealing the madness and desperation in its cardinal character. The film’s main stretch supersedes recent visionary one-man survival ordeals Gravity and All Is Lost, and arguably surpasses them through sheer relentless brutality and an epic grandeur – elements of thrillers, adventure parables and Westerns are all here.

Iñárritu reportedly went full Kubrick on his actors and crew while filming, running outrageously over schedule and over budget and firing staff not meeting his standards. He created a literal hell for his team, and every ounce of anguish comes across on screen. Perhaps we finally have a man worthy of Kubrick’s crown.

It’s a bold claim to make so early, especially without awareness of other contenders, but this looks dead set to be Leo’s year for the Best Actor Oscar. It almost seemed as though he’d enter history as one of the all-time greats never recognised by the Academy – he, like many, is far too good for them anyway – but even in a role in which he barely speaks for most of the runtime, he puts most other actors to shame. Every excruciating second of pain Glass endures bleeds through DiCaprio’s performance as a good man in a nightmare – you’ll feel every second of it, though perhaps not so much as the heartbreaking emotional turmoil Fitzgerald inflicts upon Glass. The supporting cast is routinely excellent – Hardy, Will Poulter and Domhnall Gleeson in particular – but Leo’s raw agony practically forces them off the screen.

One last mention – Emmanuel Lubezki, the unparalleled cinematographer to sink all others; his breathtaking photography of the chilly wilderness will have you wondering at times if you’ve stumbled into a BBC documentary. He, DiCaprio and Iñárritu gift us the visceral, metaphysical, poetic… hell, quite possibly the film of 2015.

The Revenant is available in Australian cinemas from January 7

Images courtesy of 20th Century Fox

Best Films of 2015

To kick off the new year with a bang – and force ourselves to forget the terrible films we discussed in our last post – we’ve decided to now celebrate the greatest films of 2015. It was a long and arduous process to be able to bring you this list. We underwent a battle of wits; challenging one another with our varying opinions. We debated. We squabbled. Blood and tears were spilled (well, sort of… not really…) but we came through in the end to bring you the top 10 films of 2015 as voted by the Hooked On Film team. Enjoy!

10. Ex Machina
Maybe Oscar Isaac is the key to a successful Sci-Fi these days?

“Ex Machina’s underlying intensity builds throughout the crackling keep-you-guessing narrative. Divided up via “Ava: Session…” titles, Garland’s taste for hyper-violence and psychosexuality hurls the audience into a twisted vision of the not-too distant future”. Read more

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9. Youth
Paolo Sorrentino + Michael Caine + Harvey Keitel… do I really need to say anymore?

“Others who can put up with darkly blunt revelations and sudden jumps between dream-like imagery and reality are in for an enormously rewarding experience, one that will perhaps cause them to look again at themselves and their own family – from the young to the old”. Read more

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8. 99 Homes
Andrew Garfield may have 99 problems in 99 Homes, but his performance ain’t one!

“99 Homes is so unrelentingly intense and scary that it could almost be labelled a horror movie. But this is a film grounded in reality, and perhaps the first to give us an honest look at the heartbreaking emotional turmoil that encompasses eviction.” Read more

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7. Selma
It don’t matter if you’re black or white.

“David Oyelowo, a devout Christian, stated in an interview that he believes God called upon him to play Martin Luther King, Jr. Even non-believers will have a difficult time debating this after witnessing the actor ignite the screen”. Read more

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6. Sicario
Prepare yourself for chills and thrills!

“Sicario soon rumbles along with the tenacity and mercilessness of its core subjects. With the US Presidential election and US-Mexico relations key to world news, the film provides a fresh, blistering take on such a harrowing topic.” Read more

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5. Inside Out
It’s OK to be sad sometimes, but you’ll be feeling anything BUT sad after watching this!

“Disney and Pixar have outdone themselves with this beautiful new idea that expresses how the mind works, and how personalities develop through memories and emotions. As Amy Poehler said; it’s so great to have a story tell children that it’s OK to feel sad sometimes, particularly in a world where all are so busy in the pursuit of happiness.” Read more

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4. Birdman
“People, they love blood. They love action. Not this talky, depressing, philosophical bullshit” says the Birdman… well, this film begs to differ!

“Birdman is a rare delight of a film that works on every level. Multilayered and incredibly complex beneath its darkly humorous surface, it represents a departure from the gloomy tone of Iñárritu’s previous films (21 Grams, Biutiful). Read more

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3. Mad Max: Fury Road
It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad, mad world… and it’s awesome!

“As our heroes are pursued further into the barren deserts, Miller unleashes the full extent of his imagination in a series of astounding action scenes that transcend our expectations for modern filmmaking. Fury Road is a symphony of mayhem that effortlessly dances across the screen”.
Read more

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2. The Martian
Suck on this Interstellar. Ridley Scott > Christopher Nolan.

“Every line in this film’s script radiates with wit, and Damon’s character in particular is given some hilarious quips to overcome his unbearable loneliness. There are more “laugh out loud” moments in The Martian than in most blockbuster comedies you will see this year.” Read more

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1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
The Force is strong in JJ Abrams

“This is precisely what tips The Force Awakens over the edge into greatness. Its mammoth plot is secondary; its likeable characters come to the fore. They are immensely interesting individuals who share on-screen chemistry, and have set up personal stories that are more than capable of going the distance of a trilogy.” Read more

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Images courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Lucasfilm, Roadshow Films, Pixar Animations, Twentieth Century Fox, Madman Entertainment, Universal Pictures and StudioCanal

The AACTA Awards: Australia’s Version of the Oscars?

The 5^th AACTA Awards have commenced, with anticipation building to the main event next week – but what does this ceremony mean for the future of the Australian film industry?

Corey Hogan

2014 set the bar incredibly high for not only the AACTA Awards, but Australian filmmaking in general. From spine-tingling horror (The Babadook), to boundary-pushing romcoms (The Little Death), to time-travelling, mind-fucking science fiction (Predestindation) – we saw the strongest set of Aussie releases since the mid-nineties.

It goes without saying that 2015 had some pretty big shoes to fill, but did it manage to build on last year’s success…?

That would be a negative.

Just think about it… the misguided black comedy Kill Me Three Times, the bizarre Brett Lee-led romance UNIndian, and don’t even get me started on the blasphemous 3D reboot of Blinky Bill that pretty much outraged the whole of gen Y.

So with the 5^th AACTA awards due to be announced next week, how exactly will it be able to find anything on par with last year’s nominees?

Speaking of next week’s ceremony, just a few days ago, Australia’s version of the Oscars decided it would be a great idea to announce half of its winners before its main gala with a night of recognition for “Screen Craft Excellence”. Apparently, if you’re a production designer, editor or screenwriter, you’re not good enough to be part of the televised ceremony… awkward.

OK, let’s be fair. There’s more than 40 categories in the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts awards; would it even be feasible to announce that many winners in one night? Which then begs the question – does it really need to cover both film and television?

The Golden Globes are able to pull off this feat due to the exclusion of most technical categories. On the flip side, the Academy is able to take the time to acknowledge the likes of sound design and visual effects because it isn’t burdened by the need to cover the small screen as well. The AACTAs bite off more than it can chew in attempting to cover it all.

We already have the Logies – aka how many times can we recognise a different actor from Home & Away? – so do we need the AACTAs to cover television as well? Admittedly, the Logies are voted by the public (hence the outpouring of love for Channel 7’s soapie), whereas you need to actually have some form of screen accreditation to be able to have your say in the AACTAs.

So maybe there is a need to recognise achievements in television via the AACTAs – plus it would be annoying and even more confusing to have to rename the awards yet again (prior to 2010 it was the AFI awards) – but the current format just isn’t working. It doesn’t really make sense to split the awards night according to what falls under the umbrella of “Screen Craft Excellence” versus everything else, particularly when it lumps television directors and actors into the former category. Perhaps it would be more effective to do one presentation for television, and another for film?

But I digress; let’s talk about what everyone really cares about – the nominees.

Jocelyn Moorhouse’s The Dressmaker leads the charge with a whopping twelve nominations, which is quite surprising given its divisiveness among critics. So far it has only cleaned up Best Costume Design, and regardless of whether you loved or hated this Kate Winslet-led period drama, you can’t deny that all of the actors were dressed in spectacular fashion.

At the halfway mark the big victor is George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road with 6 wins: cinematography, music, visual effects – you name it – the AACTAs are lapping up the return of this apocalyptic series. Let’s just hope this favour carries through to the major awards next Wednesday, as it’s easily the strongest contender for Best Picture.

Despite being one of the best films of 2015, Mad Max does draw attention to a problem that continuously looms over the AACTA awards – America’s shadow.

If you cast your mind back to the 3^rd AACTA awards you’ll remember how The Great Gatsby dominated nearly every single category. Though it was filmed in Sydney by Australian director Baz Luhrmann, and featured several Aussie stars, it was a very Hollywood take on a very American piece of literature. Even stranger was Leonardo DiCaprio earning Best Lead Actor over a number of Australian nominees.

While Mad Max is a follow-up to a classically Australian action franchise, it’s led by international actors Tom Hardy, Nicholas Hoult and Charlize Theron, who, along with Winslet, is up for Best Lead Actress. It seems unfair that these seasoned Oscar-winners should compete alongside still up-and-coming Australian actresses Robyn Butler (Now Add Honey) and Ningali Lawford (Last Cab to Darwin) – especially when, as evidenced by Leo – they could very well win.

Other Best Picture nominees include Michael Caton’s comeback in the otherwise ordinary Last Cab to Darwin, and the charming, children’s movie Paper Planes, which features what is perhaps Sam Worthington’s most wooden performance to date – a tough feat! The Dressmaker also has its hat in the ring, which leaves only the emotive Holding the Man as a worthy, and truly Australian winner.

Don’t get me wrong – the AACTAs are definitely on the right track toward boosting the Australian film industry, but we need to focus less on films and actors that are already well-known worldwide, and find a better way to package the awards. It’s time we took the reins of our own entertainment industry, and stop lagging behind the rest of the world.

Images courtesy of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts

Movie Review – Legend

It’s Tom Hardy² going kray-kray (sorry) in a double-whammy as London’s most sinister, criminal twin brothers Ronnie and Reggie Kray. But is Legend truly legendary?

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ½
Corey Hogan

Thought you were seeing double with Armie Hammer’s dual performance as the Winklevoss twins in The Social Network? Well, that split-screen photography, and digital face-grafting technology is back – this time taking centre stage in Legend, writer/director Brian Helgeland’s (A Knight’s Tale, 42) very British, very violent take on the true crime story of the notorious Kray twins; the gangster siblings who famously terrorised London’s East End throughout the 60’s with their prolific organised crime syndicate.

Released after eighteen months of prison-time in 1960, Ronnie Kray (Tom Hardy) reunites with his identical twin brother Reggie Kray (er, Tom Hardy), and the pair immediately resume their shady rise to criminal-overlord status, now fronting as charming celebrity nightclub owners. Ronnie, the calmer, more judicious half, strikes up a romance, and eventually weds 16-year-old Frances Shea (Aussie Emily Browning) whilst keeping a watchful eye over his unscrupulous business partner-in-crime Reggie, a very openly homosexual oddball with worrying psychotic tendencies. A police investigation is carried out by Detective “Nipper” Read (Christopher Eccleston) as the years pass, and The Krays rise to the height of their power, until the pair’s descent into violent hysteria and murder lead to an inevitable downfall.

While certainly never dull, Legend bears a distinct lack of an actual plot; Helgeland instead opting for a shapeless, episodic jump from one life event to the next, from the Kray gang’s turf war with the South London “Torture Gang”, to Ronnie’s tabloid scandal, and so on. Potentially interesting characters, like Paul Bettany’s soccer-loving rival gang leader, and David Thewlis’ anti-violence business manager come and go as the film aimlessly searches for a core around which to gravitate. In the end it settles for the love story between Ronnie and Frances that decomposes into a sour, biopic cliché of neglect and abuse. We are given little insight into what the Krays actually do; we instead see mostly the consequences of their gangster profession, where a balance of both could have made this film into the gangster classic it so determinedly strives to be.

Thank God then that astounding acting can elevate this near-miss. Tom Hardy continues his ascent with not one, but two completely committed performances as the brothers-in-arms, differentiating the pair by giving each brother unique, subtle character traits, twitches and quirks; all brought to life by some truly impressive face-mapping graphics. The effect is breathtaking in that it is completely unnoticeable – it genuinely feels as though the brothers are both physically present squaring off against one another; the Krays’ hyper-violent brawl, wherein they beat each other almost to a pulp, is expertly executed, and stands out as one of the film’s best sequences. Emily Browning fares less well as the paramour, then victim of the piece; while she is believable, the decision to hand her a second role as narrator is poorly judged. It means we as an audience are on the outside perspective of the Krays’ business, and Frances’ breaking of the fourth wall betrays the tone of realism.

A good film of any length should never drag, but liberties and contrivances taken with the plot lead Legend to inevitably run out of steam in its final third, confirming a shortfall from gangster greatness. It’s the inspired touches here and there that stick, like the long tracking shot chronicling Ronnie and Frances’ unorthodox first date (though likely borrowed from Goodfellas), and the exciting possibilities for the future of dual performances. Keeping a disappointingly standard biopic funny, shocking and entertaining throughout, it’s Tom Hardy who is the real legend here.

Legend is available in Australian cinemas from October 15

Images courtesy of Universal Pictures

Movie Review – Mad Max: Fury Road

It’s a mad, mad world for Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron in Mad Max: Fury Road, George Miller’s triumphant return to the iconic Aussie film series that continues to redefine post-apocalyptic action.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ½
Review by Rhys Graeme-Drury

Thirty years since the last installment, Mad Max: Fury Road finds our titular hero Max (Hardy) alone in the desolate wasteland once more. After he is captured by a barbaric band of hooligans lead by a fierce warlord named Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) and chained up as a blood bag for demented grunt Nux (Nicholas Hoult), Max is reluctantly plunged into a relentless pursuit across the desert in search of Imperator Furiosa (Theron), a stray lieutenant who has pledged to save Joe’s harem of wives from years of torment and rape by leading them to the prophesized Green Place.

The action and characters in Miller’s Fury Road are all mental, from Hoult’s utterly deranged Nux, to the flame throwing, guitar-shredding weirdo stood atop a speeding truck with chaos and destruction reigning down around him. It’s like Jim Carrey’s Riddler snorted a dozen lines of cocaine with a Matthew Vaughan movie and they decided to spend a weekend off-roading in the Outback.

Hardy bears the weight of expectation by stepping into Mel Gibson’s weathered boots with ease. With barely two-dozen spoken lines throughout the film, he effectively conveys a wide range of emotions through the minutest of details, from a half-smirk here, to a troubled grimace there.

The real star of the show, however, is Theron as the fierce and uncompromising Furiosa. Complete with shaved head, bionic arm and steely determination, Theron’s magnetic and captivating performance offers justification for its own solo spin-off movie. Miller takes the time to afford Furiosa, along with each of Joe’s battered and beaten harem, a satisfying and emotionally resonant character arc, from Rosie Huntington-Whitely’s angelic leader Sapphire, to Zoe Kravitz’s plucky youngster Toast.

In fact, it’s this ensemble of strong three-dimensional female characters, which includes Aussie model Megan Gale and Bunbury’s Courtney Eaton, that makes Fury Road so refreshing and distinctive from others in its genre. Miller hasn’t shied away from crafting a kickass action movie with equally strong male and female characters where the latter aren’t just there to look sexy and pout.

As our heroes are pursued further into the barren deserts, Miller unleashes the full extent of his imagination in a series of astounding action scenes that transcend our expectations for modern filmmaking. Fury Road is a symphony of mayhem that effortlessly dances across the screen through meticulous choreography, and seamless editing that is never hard to follow or disorientating. It’s a full on sensory assault with practical effects and stunts that leave you feeling exhilarated and amazed through every single frame.

This vivid imagination is shared by chief production designer and art director Colin Gibson; from the nightmarish doom cars torn straight from the fuel-soaked tracks of Death Race 2000, to the dirty dieselpunk lovechild of Bane and Dark Vader that is Immortan Joe; every costume, car and set looks authentic and rich in detail.

In addition to this, Miller’s adrenaline-fuelled demolition derby proves itself to be much more than just unrelenting carnage. Amongst the chaos, Fury Road is a film that also finds time to comment on some heavy themes, from the abuse of women, to the rapidly degrading environment and our insatiable hunger for natural resources.

Mad Max: Fury Road is an unparalleled display of action storytelling that serves as a benchmark for every genre. It excels across every element of filmmaking; from acting to direction, art design, score and editing, this is one of the most captivating and memorable action films in recent memory. You’d be mad to miss it.

Mad Max: Fury Road is available in Australian cinemas as of Thursday May 14th

Images courtesy of Roadshow Films

Movie Review – The Drop

Even if a stereotypical crime drama is not a film you would usually go for, we guarantee that you will still enjoy Tom Hardy’s latest film The Drop.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Review by Chantal Victor

Belgian director Michael R. Roskam brings us new crime drama The Drop, based on the short story Animal Rescue by acclaimed author Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, Shutter Island). Bob Saginowski (Tom Hardy) works as a bartender in an establishment managed by his cousin Marv, played by the late James Gandolfini. The bar, uniquely named “Marv’s Bar,” is one of many cash drop off hubs used by local gangsters throughout the town. The film follows a particular drop off that involves a little more than the standard procedure, which consequently leads to a robbery, and many unwanted questions from police and criminals alike. What happens next will surprise everyone.

What a great film; the first act introduces the audience to the bar with a voice over explaining the drop off sequence, and how it works. Nothing needs to be explained again, and anyone from any background can understand how it works, which means the audience is able to focus more on the characters rather than trying to figure out any logistics.

I fell in-love with Tom Hardy (Inception, The Dark Knight rises) in this film as he expressed a certain vulnerability that made me want to protect him, and I empathised with him throughout the entire film. This film also stars James Gandolfini (The Sopranos, The Mexican) whom we all know was a phenomenal actor who tragically died in 2013. The Drop is his last film role, and I would say a fantastic last film for him.

The only performance that disappointed me was Noomi Rapace, who is the lead actress in the 2009 Swedish film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I believe she suited her role, however, I don’t think it allowed her to explore her true acting abilities, particularly when compared to her strong performance as Lisbeth Salander in the above mentioned film. There is lovely chemistry between Rapace and Hardy, however, at times this is a little awkward to watch, as it’s a sort of puppy love that exists between them, and not the usual romance you see in a film of this genre. It’s very similar to the relationship between Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) and Pat (Bradley Cooper) in Silver Linings Playbook. All the characters possessed an adequate back story to convey the reasoning behind their actions, and that is enough for me as a viewer; if I don’t question any actions then it’s a script well done.

Most of the screen time was dedicated to developing the characters in order to build a relationship between them and the viewer. In such a short time I felt like I was a part of the mob scandal, and anticipated anything and everything to go wrong. There were one or two gruesome shots of body parts, but it wouldn’t be a proper mafia film without this. These scenes did not derail any opinions of those in the audience who were female; I heard some ladies outside the cinema saying that they don’t normally enjoy a these types of films, however this time around they found this film to be really entertaining. I would honestly say the same.

This was a great crime drama to watch with the typical underdog, a mafia boss and the man in the middle trying to score his own way. This film has a pleasant love story, some interesting characters and even a really cute puppy. It’s a nice popcorn film that anyone can watch, and then quickly carry on with life afterwards. I give The Drop a hearty 3 stars.