Feb
21
2012

EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE

by Roy

Reviewed by GREG KING

Director: Stephen Daldry

Stars: Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Max Von Sydow, Viola Davis, John Goodman, Jeffrey Wright, Zoe Caldwell, Stephen Henderson.

British theatre director Stephen Daldry tackles big political and emotional themes in his films (Billy Elliott, The Reader, etc). Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close poignantly deals with the devastating aftermath and sense of loss in the wake of 9/11 as people tried to adjust to life after the tragedy. Daldry doesn’t trivialise the significance of the event. However he does allow the film to wallow in some unnecessary and cheap sentimentality that some may find offensive.
The film is based on the 2005 novel written by Jonathan Safron Foer (Everything Is Illuminated, etc). Oscar-winning screenwriter Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, etc) cuts out several subplots but retains much of the quirky tone and episodic nature of the novel. He gives the film a non-linear structure, with lots of flashback sequences, which may prove a distraction for many.
A year after his jeweller father was killed in the attack on New York’s World Trade Centre, precocious nine-year-old Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn) is still struggling to make sense of what he calls “the worst day.” Oskar also keeps his father’s last messages on an old answering machine as a way of remaining connected.Oskar is mildly autistic and hyperactive. One day while rummaging through his father’s closet he finds an envelope with the word “Black” written on it, containing a key. He believes it has been left to him by his father, and he begins a desperate search through the city to discover which one of its many people named Black that it belongs to.
His quest brings him into contact with a number of people, all survivors in their own way, whose lives are touched by Thomas and his tale of loss. Included in this motley group is Stan (John Goodman), the wisecracking concierge at his apartment block, and the sympathetic Abby (Viola Davis) and her estranged husband William (Jeffrey Wright). Oskar is accompanied on his journey by an enigmatic elderly gentleman known as “the renter” (Max Von Sydow), who lives in his grandmother’s apartment. The renter has not spoken since WWII, and only communicates via a notebook in which he scribbles messages. He also has the words “yes” and “no” written on the palm of his hands.
The extraordinarily mature, confident and assured performance of newcomer Thomas Horn (a former Jeopardy! Kids Week winner) enhances the film’s emotional core. As we see most of the events through his eyes, he carries the weight of the movie on his relatively inexperienced shoulders. But he does a superb job, and it is puzzling how he was overlooked in the Oscar nominations.
Tom Hanks’s role here as Oskar’s father who encourages his pursuit of science and exploring is fairly small. However, his sincerity, generous spirit and honesty lends gravitas to his role, and his presence is keenly felt even when he is not on screen. And Sandra Bullock, in her first screen role since her Oscar-winning turn in The Blind Side, brings compassion to her role as Linda, Oskar’s still-grieving and distant mother. Von Sydow is moving in a silent role that requires him to covey a range of emotions through facial expressions. Veteran stage actress Zoe Caldwell plays Oskar’s sympathetic grandmother and his closest friend.
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is a film that deals with universal themes of death, sorrow, forgiveness, reconciliation, family, and the healing power of love.
Oscar-winning cinematographer Chris Menges has shot the film in bright, warm colours that wonderfully offsets its themes of grief and loss. However, Alexandre Desplat’s score is extremely manipulative and perfectly suits Daldry’s lack of restraint and subtlety.
Daldry judiciously uses some telling images from television news reports to flashback to that fateful day. But in reopening the raw wounds of 9/11 again in such obviously and shamelessly manipulative fashion this is also a self-important and overly long movie that is likely to divide audiences. Despite the strong cast, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is something of a disappointment.

**1/2

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Feb
19
2012

ONE FOR THE MONEY

by Roy

Reviewed by GREG KING

Director: Julie Anne Robinson

Stars: Katherine Heigl, Jason O’Mara, Daniel Sunjata, John Leguizamo, Sherri Shepherd, Debbie Reynolds, Debra Monk, Nate Mooney, Adam Paul, Fisher Stevens, Patrick Fischler, Ana Reeder, Annie Parisse, Ryan Michelle Bathe, Leonardo Nam, Gavin-Keith Umeh, Louis Mustillo.

The comic crime film One For The Money has been released into cinemas without media previews, which is never a good sign. The film is based on the first novel in Janet Evanovich’s long-running series featuring the character of Stephanie Plum, a former lingerie saleswoman who gets a job as a bounty hunter in Trenton, New Jersey. One For The Money was previously filmed as a tv movie in 2002, starring Lynn Collins as Plum. This big screen adaptation stars Katherine Heigl (from Grey’s Anatomy, etc) as Plum, but if the producers were hoping that this film would be the launching pad for a potential new franchise they have badly miscalculated both the appeal of the character and the strength of the film.
It also recalls the recent Gerard Butler/Jennifer Aniston turkey The Bounty Hunter, but not in a flattering way. Here though the gender roles have been reversed. This is a flat, pedestrian and laboured film that suffers the same fate as Kathleen Turner’s mediocre attempt to launch a franchise with V I Warshawsky, based on Sara Paretsky’s series of novels about a tough female private eye.
Divorced and unemployed, Plum reluctantly accepts a job as a bounty hunter for her cousin Vinnie (Patrick Fischler), a job for which she is ill-prepared for. But with the bills mounting she is desperate for the money she will earn tracking down felons. And there is also the chance for some payback against Joe Morelli (Jason O’Mara), with whom she shares a history. Morelli is a cop who has been charged with the murder of a local drug dealer, but has gone into hiding. However, despite her lack of experience, Plum sets out to bring him in.
She gets advice, and some tools of the trade, from veteran bounty hunter Ranger (Daniel Sunjata). Murder, double-crosses, a motor-mouthed prostitute (Sherri Shepherd), and a colourful cast of villainous characters liven up the formulaic plot.
There are enough holes in the convoluted plot to drive a fleet of SVUs through. One For The Money is the first feature film written by Stacy Sherman (the intriguingly titled short Goodnight, Vagina), Karen Ray and television writer Liz Brixius (Nurse Jackie) and their inexperience shows in the uneven tone and off kilter balance between black humour and action.
There is zero chemistry or sexual tension between Heigl and O’Mara despite their occasional banter. This is another dud for Heigl, whose ambitions of a big screen career as a leading lady seem to be faltering due her choice of projects. Heigl seems to be playing a variation on the type of one-dimensional character she has played on-screen before, and there is little nuance to her performance and she doesn’t seem invested in the character. Her dry and humourless voice over narration also does little to propel the narrative forwards. This feels like the type of film Heigl (who is also credited as one of the producers) has done purely for the money!
Debbie Reynolds pops up as Plum’s feisty grandmother, but she is wasted in her couple of scenes.
Julie Anne Robinson is a veteran director of tv series, including Grey’s Anatomy where she worked with both Heigl and Sunjata, but her handling of the material is rather tired and uninspired. The film looks and feels like a failed pilot for a tv series. Evanovich’s novels are popular, but even fans of the Plum series will be disappointed with this dull and lifeless adaptation.

*

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Feb
19
2012

TYRANNOSAUR

by Roy

Reviewed by GREG KING

Director: Paddy Considine

Stars: Peter Mullan, Olivia Colman, Eddie Marsan.

 

This hard hitting and confronting drama marks the directorial debut of actor Paddy Considine (In America, etc). Considine appeared in a number of films by British director Shane Meadows (A Room For Romeo Brass, Dead Man’s Shoes, etc), and he seems to have absorbed the gritty, uncompromising and bruising style of his mentor. Tyrannosaur is an intense and disturbing study of male violence, rage, abuse and its consequences.
Peter Mullan (My Name Is Joe, etc) brings a fierce and brutal presence to his role here as Joe, a hard drinking, lonely, violent and bitter man propelled by rage on a self-destructive journey following the death of his wife. “I’m not a nice human being,” he admits. When we first meet him he is kicking his dog to death in an alley. But he finds a chance for redemption through Hannah (Olivia Colman), a shy and deeply religious woman who works in a charity shop. Hannah is trapped in a loveless marriage to the brutal and abusive James (Eddie Marsan).
Joseph and Hannah form a connection based on their own mutual miserable circumstances and a desperate need to escape from their own cycle of violence and despair. The relationship between the three leads to a devastating denouement. Joseph also lives opposite a foul-mouthed neighbour with a pet pit-bull terrier, and this subplot reveals another dimension to Joe’s personality. But it leads us into some dark territory also.
Tyrannosaur has been developed from characters Considine first introduced in his BAFTA-winning 2007 short, Dog Altogether. Tyrannosaur is a blistering character study of some wounded and deeply scarred characters, and the corrosive effects of violence. The violence here is visceral and deeply unsettling. The film offers little hope of redemption. The film’s unusual title comes from a moving speech Joe delivers about his late wife.
Mullan has a real working class quality, and he projects Joe’s sense of loneliness and deep despair. He also has a quite intimidating physical presence here, and his portrayal of a man driven by rage bursts off the screen. But surprisingly, Mullan also makes his Joe a pitiable character who earns a measure of sympathy by the end of the film. And Colman, who is better known for her comic work, delivers a solid performance that captures Hannah’s vulnerability and desperation, but also her inner reserves of strength. Marsan is quite chilling as the vile James.
Like Steve McQueen in Shame, Considine understands the power of silence in heightening tension and drama, and there are many effective dialogue free moments throughout the film. Cinematographer Erik Alexander Wilson (Submarine, etc) captures the grimy squalor of the film’s settings and his washed-out colour palette emphasises the bleak nature of the material. Tyrannosaur captures that same gritty realism and searing quality of the dramas of Ken Loach and the like.
A confident and assured directorial debut from Considine, Tyrannosaur is certainly unpleasant viewing, and many may find it tough to sit through without occasionally flinching and ducking for cover.

***1/2

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Feb
18
2012

KILLER ELITE

by Roy

Reviewed by GREG KING

Director: Gary McKendry

Stars: Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Robert De Niro, Dominic Purcell, Aden Young, Yvonne Strahovski, Ben Mendelsohn, Adewale Akinnuaye-Aghaje, David Whiteley, Lachy Hulme, Firass Dirani, Nick Tate, Matthew Nable, Billie Brown, Grant Bowler, Michael Dorman.

 

This formulaic but exciting action thriller is not a remake of Sam Peckinpah’s violent 1975 film The Killer Elite, which starred James Caan and Robert Duvall as a pair of rival assassins. Rather it is based on a non-fiction book called The Feathermen, written by Ranulph Fiennes, a former adventurer and SAS soldier, and cousin of actor Ralph. The book is allegedly based on Fiennes’s own experiences. However, debutante screenwriter Matt Sherring seems to have taken a number of liberties with the story to turn it into this violent, fast-paced and brutal action thriller.
An exiled Sheik seeks revenge on the SAS soldiers who killed three of his sons during Britain’s dirty secret little war during the Dhofar Rebellion in Oman. He kidnaps veteran assassin Hunter (Robert De Niro) in order to force his ex-partner Danny Bryce (Jason Statham) to complete the mission. Bryce has retired from the business, but in a cliché of this genre he has been lured back to do one last job.
Bryce assembles his own small team of professionals to track down the former soldiers and eliminate them. However, he needs to make the deaths look like accidents. His team consists of the volatile Davies (Dominic Purcell) and technical expert Meier (Aden Young).
But the feathermen, a shadowy group of former SAS men operating a quasi-military security force and whose agenda sometimes runs counter to the British government’s aims, gets a whiff of Bryce’s operation and sets out to stop him. Ex-SAS soldiers who are now legitimate businessmen, they call themselves the feathermen because their touch is light and they leave no trace of their presence. Their chief man in the field is Spike Logan (Clive Owen), a deadly efficient former soldier whose killing skills are more than a match for Danny’s.
Danny and Spike play out a lethal cat and mouse game that races from Oman to Wales and Paris, and the confrontations between these two hard men add some spice to an otherwise fairly formulaic actioner. Even though the film is set in the early 80s, its take on political intrigue, government deception and geopolitical concerns still has resonance today.
First time feature director Gary McKendry maintains a frenetic, brutal pace throughout that temporarily glosses over the numerous holes in the plot. McKendry comes from a background directing commercials, and his 20-minute short Everything In This Country Must was nominated for an Oscar in the live-action short category. He brings a slick and stylish look to the action, and his robust direction keeps the testosterone levels high.
The action has been slickly shot by cinematographer Simon Duggan (Live Free Or Die Hard, etc), who is a dab hand at shooting elaborate action sequences. However he still resorts to choppy hand held cameras for some of the action sequences, which undercuts the mayhem. Killer Elite was partially shot in Melbourne last year, and you can catch a glimpse of a number of local actors like Ben Mendelsohn, Aden Young, Lachy Hulme, Michael Dorman, and Firass Dirani (from ABC series The Straits, etc) in small roles.
Statham has carved out a niche for himself in these big boisterous action films (the recent remake of The Mechanic, The Mean Machine, etc), many of which go straight to DVD, and he has a credible physical presence, much like Bruce Willis in the late 80s and early 90s. De Niro plays second fiddle to Statham, and is largely wasted in a one-dimensional and fairly thankless role. Owen is suitably cold-blooded and credible as Spike, and he brings a nice ambiguity to his character, who would otherwise have been a noble and virtuous hero.
Killer Elite is the sort of macho tough guy actioner that Sam Peckinpah may well have made in his later years!

***

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Feb
16
2012

SHAME

by Roy

Reviewed by GREG KING

Director: Steve McQueen

Stars: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan James Badge Dale, Nicole Beharie.

This powerful, uncompromising and sexually explicit drama reunites Michael Fassbender with Steve McQueen, the director of Hunger. Shame is a confronting character study about loneliness, sex, addiction and the high price we sometimes pay for our addictions. It is probably the most disturbing study of the nexus between sex and addiction since David Cronenberg’s 1996 drama Crash.
Fassbender plays Brandon, a successful stockbroker who seems to live the good life in New York. But Brandon is also addicted to sex – he hires prostitutes, engages in casual sex with women he meets on trains or in bars. He masturbates in the shower at home and in the toilets at work. And his computer at work is full of pornography. But it is all empty sex – there is no human connection whatsoever. But Brandon seems able to manage both these aspects of his life, until his emotionally fragile and wayward younger sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) comes for a visit.
An aspiring cabaret singer who flits from one gig to another, Sissy has emotional needs of her own, and her visit has devastating consequences for the pair. There are hints at a dark and troubled shared past between Brandon and Sissy that has left both of them emotionally damaged. “We’re not bad people. We just come from a bad place.” Sissy’s presence also shakes his normal detachment and sense of being in control. Brandon’s life suddenly begins a downward spiral leading to a startling personal revelation.
Shame has been written by Abi Morgan (who also wrote the recent Margaret Thatcher biopic The Iron Lady), and offers a painfully true examination of the human condition, loneliness, and how our base needs can consume us. Morgan’s script is sparse and refrains from painting in too many details.
McQueen comes from a background as an award-winning visual artist, and it shows in his visually stylish direction – the way he has framed the film, and the way he often uses reflective surfaces like mirrors and windows to capture Brandon’s emotional state. He also uses silence effectively in creating a distinctively unsettling mood for the film. There is a deliberate repetition and rhythm to the film as it track’s Brandon’s daily routine.
And McQueen’s regular cinematographer Sean Bobbitt uses deliberately framed long takes, close-ups and a mix of static shots and tracking shots to good effect. He also uses the New York streetscapes to open the film out from its often oppressive feel.
Fassbender has often delivered draining performances, such as with the raw physicality of his role as hunger striker Bobby Sands in Hunger. But here his performance as the self-destructive Brandon is a more internal and nuanced one that hints at his character’s contradictory nature and tortured psyche. He delivers an emotionally raw, revealing and brave performance full of self-loathing and pain.
Mulligan is a versatile actress capable of playing a wide range of characters. She is also excellent, and shows a brash sexuality and emotional vulnerability in a raw and demanding role. Her rendition of New York, New York is a haunting ode to loneliness. Harry Escott’s string-laden score is also haunting.
There is solid support from James Badge Dale (The Pacific, The Grey, etc) as Brandon’s rather callow boss David, and Nicole Beharie as Marianne, a co-worker with whom Brandon has a brief but unsatisfactory relationship.
Shame is a bleak, downbeat and sexually explicit film that makes for uncomfortable viewing, and it will not appeal to everyone. There is some full frontal nudity here, both male and female, which has earned the film its R rating, but the effect is numbing rather that titillating or shocking.

**1/2

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Feb
14
2012

THE VOW

by Roy

Reviewed by GREG KING

Director: Michael Sucsy

Stars: Rachel McAdams, Channing Tatum, Sam Neill, Jessica Lange, Jessica McNamee, Scott Speedman, Wendy Crewson, Tatiana Maslany, Lucas Bryant.

Loosely inspired by a true story The Vow is a rather ho-hum and formulaic romantic drama that is the perfect date movie for Valentine’s Day.
Paige (Rachel McAdams) and Leo (Channing Tatum) are a happily married couple whose lives are changed by a car accident. Paige, a free spirited sculptor, lies in a coma with serious head injuries. When she awakes she suffers from amnesia, and forgets all the details of her married life with independent record producer Leo.
Leo is desperate to try and help her recall their life together her. “I gotta make my wife fall in love with me again,” he says. This is the same dilemma that Adam Sandler played for bittersweet laughs in the far superior romcom 50 First Dates. He takes her to familiar places, shows her photographs and videos, hoping to jog her memory and rekindle their relationship.
However Paige’s wealthy estranged parents (Jessica Lange and Sam Neill) come back into her life and take her home with them, anxious to have her return to her old life before she met Leo. They are determined to keep her away from Leo, who they think is too lower class and bohemian for her. They want to send her back to law school and help her reconnect with her former boyfriend, the charming and wealthy businessman Jeremy (Scott Speedman). Leo is concerned for Paige while her parents selfishly want what’s best for them.
The Vow also comes across like the sort of syrupy romantic drama that Nicholas Sparks regularly churns out. The Notebook is probably the prime example of Sparks’ formula, in which two people passionately in love are kept apart by difficult circumstances, family or social class. The Vow seems like a sub-par Nicholas Sparks story, and writers Jason Katims (a veteran of tv series like Roswell and Friday Night Lights, etc) and Abby Kohn (a veteran of romcoms like He’s Just Not That Into You, etc) seem to have his formula down pat. Making his feature film debut here, Emmy-award winning director Michael Sucsy (the HBO mini-series Grey Gardens) ensures that The Vow does not become an overly manipulative tearjerker.
McAdams and Tatum are both veterans of adaptations of Spark’s novels – she from The Notebook, he from Dear John – which further reinforces the vibe of his novels. Tatum is normally a wooden actor, but here he provides the beefcake factor. He also finds some emotional range and conveys Leo’s pain and frustration effectively enough. McAdams (recently seen in Midnight In Paris) is appealing and delivers a good performance in the more demanding and slightly unsympathetic role. However, the pair fails to develop that easygoing and realistic rapport that may have lifted the movie.
An underused Lange and a rather stiff and humourless Neill do their best with one-dimensional roles. And Aussie actress Jessica McNamee (Home And Away, Packed To The Rafters, etc) makes the most of her Hollywood debut as Paige’s sister Gwen.
The Vow is a passable, predictable and sweet romance, but it is also an eminently forgettable film.

**1/2

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Feb
13
2012

THE GREY

by Roy

Reviewed by GREG KING

Director: Joe Carnahan

Stars: Liam Neeson, Nonso Anozie, Joe Anderson, Dallas Roberts, Dermot Mulroney, Frank Grillo, Anne Openshaw.

 

It’s man versus wild in this harrowing tale of survival that makes the Anthony Hopkins/Alec Baldwin film The Edge seem quite tame by comparison. The Grey has been adapted from Ian Mackenzie Jeffers’s short story Ghost Walker, and there is an almost existential touch to the story as it also deals with the theme of death.
A plane carrying a number of workers from a remote oil refinery in Alaska crashes in the middle of the Arctic Circle. The handful of survivors consist of brawlers, drinkers, outcasts and lost souls who are forced to band together to survive the harsh conditions. The small group of survivors includes Burke (Nonso Anozie), Flannery (Joe Anderson), the deeply religious Henrick (Dallas Roberts), the quiet and literate Talget (an almost unrecognisable Dermot Mulroney) and the ex-con Diaz (Frank Grillo). But unlike Alive the rather gruesome 1992 drama about a South American soccer squad that crashed in the Andes, they don’t resort to cannibalism. But they are being hunted by a pack of savage man-eating wolves, which pick them off one by one.
The enigmatic and taciturn John Ottway (Liam Neeson) seems like the natural leader of this motley group. A marksman he has been hired by the oil company to shoot wolves and protect those men working on remote pipelines. He is also something of an expert on the behaviour of the predatory wolves, and he says that their best chance of survival is to walk into the trees they can see in the distance. The wolves, Ottway says, are only defending their territory. “Wolves are the only animal that kill for revenge.”
They begin a gruelling trek across the vast snow-covered terrain to try and find sanctuary. But there is also tension and disagreement between the survivors, shaped by their own sense of insecurity, bravado and false courage, which further jeopardises their chances of survival. Increasingly aware of his mortality, Ottway has dreams of happier times with his wife (Anne Openshaw), who is seen in a series of flashbacks.
The Grey has been directed with brutal efficiency by Joe Carnahan, who brings a visceral and muscular, testosterone-fuelled quality to his films (Narc, Smoking Aces, the recent The A-Team, etc). The plane crash sequence itself is quite superbly done and deliberately disorients the audience. With his lean and spare approach to the material, Carnahan brings an unnerving air of danger to The Grey. The CGI created wolves, designed by Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger, pose a horrific threat. And even when they are not seen they can be heard and sensed as an omnipresent threat.
The film was shot on location in British Columbia by cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi (Warrior, etc). Takayanagi has captured the chilling snow-covered environment in bleak greys and washed out colours that is almost lyrical in its beauty, but also enhances the palpable air of danger.
The Grey is a visceral and at times scary survival thriller that benefits from the formidable physical presence of Neeson. He undergone a career renaissance as a credible action hero in take-no-prisoner films like Taken, Unknown and The A-Team, and that is put to good use in this tense and exciting thriller.

***

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Feb
12
2012

THIS MEANS WAR

by Roy

Reviewed by GREG KING

Director: McG

Stars: Reese Witherspoon, Tom Hardy, Chris Pine, Til Scwheiger, Chelsea Handler, Angela Bassett, Jenny Slate, Abigail Spencer.

This is a moderately entertaining romantic comedy about two CIA spies who discover they are dating the same woman, and then use the full resources of the agency to spy on each other and undermine their budding relationship. This Means War is a standard chick flick with the added bonus of testosterone-fuelled action with car chases, explosions and a couple of shoot-outs that will also appeal to males.
Tuck (Tom Hardy) and Foster (Chris Pine from the Star Trek reboot, etc) are two CIA agents and best buddies. But they find themselves unceremoniously desk bound and bored to distraction after they spectacularly blow a covert mission in Hong Kong. Foster suggests that the divorced Tuck get back in the dating game by joining an on-line dating service. Which is how Tuck meets Lauren (Reese Witherspoon), a consumer products tester, and is attracted to her.
Foster later meets Lauren in a video store, but she dismisses him after a discussion over the merits of Hitchcock’s films. But she runs into him again on the street and uses him to avoid an embarrassing encounter with a former flame. The pair realises that they are attracted to each other.
But then Tuck and Foster begin to compare notes on their relationships, which is when they discover they are interested in the same woman. Foster and Tuck make an uneasy gentleman’s agreement, but proceed to compare notes on their dates and spy on each other. Which is when the (alleged) fun begins.
Lauren is also facing a dilemma as she realises that she likes both men. Her happily married sister and confidante Trish (stand-up comic Chelsea Handler, from Chelsea Lively, etc) gives her plenty of helpful advice, and her forthright raunchy dialogue is often quite funny. But in the end Lauren decides that the only way to choose between the two is to sleep with them, a move that will have feminists everywhere shaking their heads.
And there is also the dangerous spy Heinrich (Til Schweiger), whose quest for revenge against our two heroes throws a further spanner in the works.
It takes a huge suspension of disbelief to take in the silly premise from actor turned writer Timothy Dowling (Role Models, Just Go With It, etc) and Simon Kinberg (the recent Sherlock Holmes, etc). Kinberg previously wrote the action comedy Mrs & Mrs Smith, which bears a few similarities with This Means War.
The director is Joseph McGinty Nichol, who goes by the alias McG (Charlie’s Angels, Terminator Salvation, etc), and he brings his usual lack of subtlety to the material. The two key action sequences that bookend the romantic comedy are clumsily handled with the typical choppy editing style that renders them all but incomprehensible.
Witherspoon is too intelligent an actress to take this silly material too seriously and she throws herself into it with abandon. However, her role here shows that the good solid dramatic roles are just about drying up for her. Hardy (from the bruising Bronson, Warrior, Inception, etc) normally has an intense physical presence, and he seems uncomfortable with the demands of light comedy. Apparently his role was originally intended for Sam Worthington, who may have been a better fit. Pine seems more comfortable with his role as the cocky womaniser. But Hardy and Pine are attractive leads, and they develop an obvious chemistry that elevates the patently silly material.
However, the whole concept of two men trying to outwit each other in order to win over an attractive girl was previously done with much more humour and appeal in 1988’s superb Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. McG apparently filmed multiple endings, but has settled on this compromise that ends the film on a happy but vaguely unsatisfying note.
This Means War is a perfectly disposable popcorn movie and is being released in cinemas on Valentine’s Day. It may not be the best date movie around (that would probably be The Vow), but it certainly has broader appeal, as male audiences will enjoy the macho posturing of Hardy and Pine.

**

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