No man can walk out on his own story (Rango 2011)

280.

Rango

7/10

Finally, I am back watching some movies and typing up so maybe a couple of people have a read. Carrying on with the Netflix A-Z and we hit Rango at R. Between some laptop issues and no spare time, it is nice to relax and watch some movies again. Rango is a movie that has never been on my radar and I'm surprised considering the cast that has been brought on board for this animation. Johnny Depp is playing Rango, who I have just witnessed sailing the seas as I made my way through the Pirates of the Caribbean movies once again. The other interesting aspect is the director Gore Verbinski who was also involved with the first three Pirates movies. Clearly, Gore and Depp enjoyed working with each other and have also brought on board Bill Nighy, who was in the swashbuckling franchise. With Isla Fisher and Ray Winstone adding some more voices, this isn't a bad line up.

We are introduced to the story by 4 singing birds, narrating our first few minutes before we then enter with Rango, who is still unnamed. Rango is in the back of a car travelling across the desert as something causes a sway and his tank flies out of the back window. This Charmeleon, which I hadn't mentioned yet, has also fancied himself as a kind of actor but now thrust into the wild, it's time to act tough.

 He meets an armadillo which has initially become roadkill but ends up being some sort of spirit guide and sends the lizard on his way. He makes his way to a town, pretending to be some sort of vigilante from the west and takes everyone by shock with his stories of killing famous outlaws. He is quickly thrust into action and takes down a bird, mainly by luck, but the population of this small town named Dirt only see success. This town has been short of water for a long time and the mayor soon makes Rango, who has now named himself after a drink company, the town's Sheriff.

 You know that this Mayor is a little dodgy, you've seen enough movies to make that assumption. We follow this journey that feels all too familiar as Rango first has success, is then challenged and outed as a fake before he meets his spirit guide once again and heads back to town to win the day. There must be around 5 or 6 movies that follow this narrative and it's always a success. This is no exception here and as the movie ends, we get the town with what it needs and more importantly, Rango has a name and a belonging. 

The cast did not fail to impress and Depp really can play every role put in front of him. The excentric figure was on show at times with the lizard's nervousness and false confidence until this then changed to a unique hero shining through and the tone of voice changing. If I hadn't read that the female lead was played by Isla Fisher, I would still not know right now. The actress played a country girl who was a far cry from anything else that I have seen her in in the past. The final cast member I would like to mention is Bill Nighy. After watching him as Davy Jones, I would have liked to have seen his character in this movie a lot more. There were little side villains that didn't last long, along with the Mayor who was our main antagonist but Nighy played a rattlesnake who was mentioned a few times in the movie before only making it in towards the end and the scenes weren't exactly the longest. A missed opportunity in my opinion. 

I'm a little disappointed in myself for leaving the viewing of this movie for so long considering it came out in 2011. It was a goofy animation with some adult undertones which makes it stand up a little higher than other animations in my opinion. With some innuendoes and even an Easter egg of another Depp's movie as he landed on the windshield of the car from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. It was interesting to learn that rather than recording their voices at different times and them all being added to the movie, the cast actually all came on set and voiced alongside each other. This helped with the chemistry of the cast and I suppose left some room for improvisation. This would be a movie that I would have come about when it is on TV one time and had probably no intention of investing in at that point. It was a good choice to add to the list as it was quite an enjoyable watch. 

They won't let us out! (Quarantine 2008)

279.

Quarantine

5/10

The letter Q gave us a movie that can, pretty much, describe what is coming up to the past year. I have to be careful with some of the words that I use on this one, as I was put into Instagram jail when I review Outbreak. The told me I was spreading misinformation when they picked up on the C-word and I mean COVID. This time I will be as careful as possible in describing anything regarding the topic but thankfully we haven't had anywhere near the issues the people in this movie are going to face. Quarantine is a found footage film and a remake of REC, which is a Spanish movie of the same concept. Let's get down to it and see what we find.

The move starts with a news reporter named Angela Vidal and her cameraman filming a report about firefighters and we focus on one cocky firefighter along with another reserved firefighter.

 Many a movie of this coming scenario have been made and if you had to hazard a guess, you'd be looking at the reporter and reserved firefighter being the last ones standing. After being called out to an apartment block, they are greeted by some worried tenants as they make their way to an old lady's place. They heard some screaming and as they enter the room, the old lady is clearly not right. Blood down her front, standing in the darkness, before she heads to bite into the cocky firefighter's neck. They run out of the room and the movie becomes a fight for survival. One by one, the residents drop, only to rise again as bloodthirsty zombies. 

They have been blocked off from the outside world, as the army roll in and shoot anyone trying to escape. They are reporting nothing as to what is going on inside the apartment block but some health investigators head inside, kitted up in hazmat suits. A vet living in the apartment believes that it is rabies, but his primary concern is his father, who is bedbound upstairs. It is actually the reporter and her cameraman who are left standing as humans within the apartment and they are pushed to the attic area by the zombies. After entering they find cutouts from newspapers explained a doomsday cult and a stolen virus from a hidden facility, making everything a little clearer. The pair find a hatch in the darkness but they are no longer alone. Some sort of shrivelled up human, who is seemingly blind and deaf, is now scrambling around the attic until it comes upon the cameraman. The reporter picks up the camera to look around using the night vision and after pointing it in the direction of the noise, her partner is being eaten. She can't keep her shit together and makes too much noise, being attacked herself the camera lands in front of her, showing the viewers as she gets dragged into the darkness and the movie ends. 

I have now seen the Spanish and American versions of this movie and the Spanish is by far the better and more immersive. This type is a breath of fresh air though as a shorter horror and one that does not have the typical ending. I do enjoy an ending that much more when nobody makes it out alive and the situation remains unresolved. Where do we go from here and did anyone escape? There is a sequel to this movie, which seems to be centred around an airport terminal but am yet to sit down and watch it. I don't even know if it was an after-effect from this story or completely separate. The storyline was pretty conventional for the genre as the reserved character steps up, our main characters if we can call them that, last for most of the movie. The end is the turning point for not being our usual conclusion. 

Each person brought a different characteristic to the movie with all styles of stereotypes and member of society involved. This, at times, compliments the storyline as it causes conflicts between the residents but our main two characters would be the news reporter and the quiet fireman. I could include the cameraman as he is always in attendance but only at the end is he in front of the camera and not in the best of circumstances. Jennifer Carpenter came and went in this movie as our lead female and considering it's been 13 years since this movie came out, I can't remember seeing her in anything since. As for our lead fireman Jake played by Jay Hernandez, I far from recognised the fact that he played Diablo in Suicide Squad. Does that show how much of a lack of impact the movie had on me or just the guy himself?

This movie had been on my list for a long time. There seemed to be a moment when I loved to watch found footage movies and horror will always be up there for me. This movie ticked the boxes for what was expected but at the same time, ticking boxes is all well and good, but it needed to try and go that little further. It felt like it could have been made by anyone, anywhere and the redeeming feature for me was that no one actually made it out alive rather than having a finish that easy. I may go and watch the straight to DVD sequel but that's only if I stumble across it by accident. 

There are 3 kinds of people, the ones above, the ones below and the ones that fall. (The Platform 2019)

278.

Platform

7.5/10

A Netflix exclusive Spanish movie, which, as soon as I saw a glimpse of the trailer a while back I knew I would get around to see. There was only going to be one movie I watched under the letter 'P' and that was Platform. The movie seemed very dark and very interesting as the main concept revolved around, what I believed was a prison and one table of food. Pairs are on different levelled platforms within the prison and after the higher level is finished with the food, the food platform is lowered to the next, with the bottom lot getting nothing. The nature of what the movie was about definitely piqued my interest and drove me towards this one. Listed as a 'social science fiction-horror', I hope that it isn't struggling for an identity. Let's delve into the story.

We are going to be following Goreng, who wakes up in a cell with 38 on the wall and an older gent sitting across the room from him. Being on the middle floor, the food comes down mostly eaten but there is a choice.

 The cellmate had to explain what the lower floors are like. He ate his cellmate to survive and soon the movie is looking a lot darker. One day, as the food platform lowers, there is an Asian woman sitting on board. Apparently, she is riding down and does so every month to try and find her young daughter. She is constantly battered, raped but also does some killing as she travels, never giving up. Goreng has taken a book in as his luxury item where are his cellmate has taken a self-sharpening knife. We both know who is really winning here and as the days go on, the pair get to know each other, exercising but all of a sudden some gas is filtered in. Their month on that level is over and it's time for level 171. Goreng is tied to the bed and his former friend is now ready to explain the act. We already know what is coming as he uses his knife to take little pieces of Goreng after if after 8 days, they receive no food. He is willing to feed Goreng to himself and in doing so, they may both survive. The Asian rides down in time to kill the cannibal and free Goreng. She cuts off pieces of the dead man, feeding it to Goreng as she nurses him and then leaves when he asks about her child. Trimagasi, the cannibal cellmate now appears as a vision, telling Goreng that they are now the same and he is going to live inside him. 

After another month, Goreng wakes on floor 33 with a new cellmate. A female named Imoguiri and her dog as a luxury item have made it in. Goreng recognises her as the admin officer who signed him up to enter the cells. She is dying of cancer and had no idea of the conditions inside the cell. She has come in to use her last days trying to improve things. She shouts down to the floor below that she has made them plates of food and to do the next for the floor below them. Shouting up, she begs that the floor above only eats what they need to. It takes weeks and Goreng threatening to shit on their food for the cell lower to agree. It isn't long until we see the Asian again but Goreng's new cellmate says she knows the place inside and out when it comes to the cellmates and no children are within as there is a strict code that no kids are allowed. A few mornings later and Goreng is alone again as the female has decided to hang herself with her bedsheets. This is because they have both woken on level 202 and Goreng has to feast on his cellmate for a month to keep himself going for a better level. This comes in the form of level 6. 

The new cellmate is Baharat, who is going to attempt to climb to the top floor. Failing, he comes back to discuss this next movie with Goreng, who convinces him to ride down the platform with him, rationing out food and beating the shit out of everyone who doesn't comply. As they get lower and lower, the bodies pile up but not because of them. People have been eating each other lower down as they get below level 300. The come across a level where the Asian woman is fighting two men, jumping from the platform, they try to save her but are too late. Baharat takes a gash to the torso and Goreng is beaten to a pulp but they are the last left alive and the floor. The continue down to floor 333 where eyes appear under a bed. Out creeps a little girl and it's the child. Reluctantly getting off the platform. They feed the pannacotta that they were saving as a message to the top dogs, to the child. Goreng passes out and has a dream that Baharat is telling him that the child is the message, not the food. He wakes up to find his friend has bled out and just him and the little girl left to ride the platform, they ride down to a dark abyss where Goreng's first cellmate is waiting for him. Walking out of the shadows, he explains that the message does not need a messenger and they both walk into the darkness as the little girl zooms up top on the platform as the movie end. 

There is a lot you can take away from this movie and maybe a lot that can be interpreted by each viewer. Another movie that leaves me with plenty of questions to come away with myself. From beginning to end it got me thinking. Goreng put himself in the situation to quit smoking and earn a degree once he got out, not knowing what sacrifices he would make whilst inside. What drove this man to try to make the change at the end and at which point did he die? For me, I'm not too sure he ever woke up and rode down to walk off into the darkness but I do think that the child was actually there. The main topic and taking point for the movie is the metaphor it stands for. The main vision was to show the problems with capitalism as 'fat cats' at the top take as much as they can because they can whilst everything then filters down and people at the lowest part must turn to crime to survive. All when there is enough to go around as the platform holds every cell members favourite meal. If things were distributed evenly, everyone would stay alive. Maybe the child was the message as change can come from the next generation. As for Goreng, he was beaten by the system and never made it back to the heights that he once had. 

100% of the cast were fresh to me. Each character brought some different characteristics and levels to the development of the story and the development of our main character Goreng. Played by Ivan Massague it was interesting to see this guy go from an innocent bystander, waiting for his stint to be over to better himself. This turned sour within a month and he had to become something he never knew possible in order to survive. By the end, he had seemingly sacrificed himself for the greater good, trying to prove a point to those people in charge. I was really impressed with the character and the gent playing him. In fact, there wasn't a single character that I disliked on the screen.

In all honestly, I really enjoyed around 90% of the movie and the last 10% didn't live up to where I was expecting it to go. There was no real conclusion and I was left with some unanswered questions. The plot was very simple but seemed spoiled towards the end as we never really found out whether the young girl simply slammed into the roof. The writer definitely had something to say when creating this storyline and I didn't expect it to be anywhere near as thought inducing as it became. It can be enjoyed on more than one spectrum for that reason alone and after reading about what the writer and director thought the believed happened at the end, this gave a new perspective. Another enjoyable one. The fact that the movie was dubbed didn't cause any struggle in the viewing. I'm not sure whether watching the Polish movie recently helped with this or if I had just gotten into the movie a bit more than the other, but either way, it was easily overlooked. If you have a strong stomach, give it a watch, there were plenty of disturbing scenes and blood splatter to go along with them.

First we're fighting over the dogs now a virus. I can't believe this! (Outbreak 1995)

 

277.

Outbreak

7/10

For once, Netflix kept a movie around long enough to get back to my initial selections. Outbreak is a film from the 90s' which I actually thought I had seen years and years ago but I must have been walking through the living room as the parents had it on as I can't remember anything about it. Dustin Hoffman and Rene Russo, two leads that I haven't had the chance to experience in other movies or at least anything that comes to mind will bring a new direction for me. Other cast members include Donald Sutherland, Cuba Gooding Jr, Kevin Spacey and the everlasting Morgan Freeman. That's not a bad ensemble for a 90s' movie. You can guess from the title what the movie will be centred around and with what's gone on in the past year, I wonder if there are similarities.

The movie starts in the 60s' during mutinies in the African Jungle in which the American's glad send some extra troops to help. During their time there, they are exposed to a virus which is a deadly fever and mortality rate is at 100% once you've been exposed. To cover this up, two U.S. Officers played by Sutherland and Freeman, drop a bomb on the village and wipe everyone out within a mile radius. 

It was very interesting to see where we go from here as firstly we are given a tiny back story for Hoffman and Russo's characters who are going through a divorce but in good old fashioned movie magic, they are going to have to work together to save the world. This is when we begin to relate to the state of the world right now. The virus is not taken with the respect it deserves and ends up finding its way to the mainland USA through a smuggled monkey that attacks a couple of blokes. A couple of days later and everyone is bamboozled as these guys die with blood coming from everywhere possible. As the virus was once just passed on by contact with the host, the virus mutates whilst in a small town. Sound familiar? It is now airborne and everyone is asked to stay inside and isolate until a cure is found. People are out protesting, getting sick, the hospitals are overrun and they are still no closer to working out who the host was and getting the antibodies to create the cure. Things turn a little personal as Spacey contracts the virus along with Russo's character and Hoffman takes it on himself to cover the truth and get the vaccine.

The movie turns a little politic as Hoffman then tries to find out the secrets which were covered up years before. The US had been keeping a strain of this virus as a chemical weapon and along with that, a cure for that strain. The issue is that they still need the host of the new strain to cure everyone. In the town, things have gotten violent as a lockdown is forced and everyone begins to panic. This is all while Sutherland is still trying to cover up the past by shooting down Hoffman as he is flying to the lab with the monkey who is holding the cure. Finally, Morgan Freeman steps up and asks his fellow leader to step down. Calling off the bombing that they had planned for the town and eventually letting Hoffman's character do his job. Giving Hoffman the chance, the vaccine is rolled out and he sits at the side of his ex-wife as she recovers and the movie ends there. Quite abruptly in my opinion. I still had some questions like did the vaccine work? Surely someone made it out of the town whilst carrying the virus? I just did expect the credits to roll so soon after the 'cure' being plugged into one of the lead character's arms. 

I don't think I have nodded along with a movie as much as I had done with Outbreak. Each time something else was happening, it was happening in 2020/2021 too. Lockdowns, protests and strains were the buzz word in the film just as they had been in the media for the last ten months. The story was always going to follow the standard struggle until our lead saved the day but it was very interesting to see the man-made virus aspect and using the virus as a weapon. There had been conspiracy theories floating around regarding the coronavirus and COVID-19. I hope that people with that theory don't come across this movie because it'll just fuel them. The movie was easy enough to follow but it still gets me with how the movie ended in such a manor. I expected to see patients back on their feet, the correct people being put behind bars and even a little twist that the virus has been detected elsewhere. Instead, we got a couple trying to patch up their marriage and a black screen for our troubles.

As mentioned earlier, this was a decent cast listing for a movie in the 90s' with Hoffman and Russo being the ones that aren't really active at the moment, along with Spacey but let's not get into that. The one role that stood out for me and I wanted to follow the character arch throughout was with Morgan Freeman. I racked my brain to remember if I had ever witnessed Freeman in a 'bad guy' role in the past but there's nothing I can come up with. I refused to believe that the character would remain in the role and with Sutherland fulfilling the role instead, it was easy for Freeman to turn into what we expect by the end and actually help in saving the day. I don't have a bad word to say about anyone in this movie when it comes to the acting and roles played. I enjoyed each character and as none were alike, they all brought something new to the story.

I came into this film thinking that with everything going on in the world right now, a sense of escapism is always needed. It's impossible to get that from a movie that would remind you of what's going wrong outside your door but I really enjoyed this movie. With the events of what will soon be the last twelve months, it's crazy to see so many similarities between this 90s' movie and real-life 20 years later. With how quick this one ended, it's only a dream right now that it becomes the case with COVID.

Urmarli bez internetu (Nobody sleeps in the woods tonight 2020)

276.

Nobody sleeps in the woods tonight

4/10

Once again, Netflix had other plans when it came to watching the next movie on my list. I was looking to watch No Escape but with it being taken off and not much choice, I went for a horror movie, simply because I love the genre. Nobody sleeps in the woods tonight took my eye from the 'bloody' poster and after a quick read of the synopsis, I was willing to spend a relatively short time watching the movie. At first glance, it had a 'Hills have eyes' vibe with possible a family of hillbillies turning to cannabilism to survive and therefore we are ready to watch a gang get picked off whilst trying to guess who is going to survive. 

For 90% of this movie, the storyline was everything that I expected. There is a little bit of action to start, a killing as someone is dragged to the basement and not much is actually revealed. We then switch to a few years later and a camp is set up for youngsters who rely too much on technology. Always a good start to a movie when you know that they won't be able to call for help. We focus on a few youngsters to start, a quiet girl, geeky guy, a girl full of make-up and two other lads.

 They all get put into a smaller group and are sent off camping with one of the counsellors. We get the usual awkward sex scene that comes with a horror and then finally people start getting picked off. I've already assumed that the quiet girl is going to be the one who survives and so far she is doing well. With three people left in two separate groups, we know that one has to die at least. It's just the way it goes. The girl and the geeky guy come across another cabin and inside is the guy from the first scene that we saw dragged to the basement. He has lost his legs but he also has a story to tell. He knows the origin of the twins and this is where the movie gets a little too ridiculous. I can get on board with the creepy storylines of cannibals and people so far out of touch with normality, that they just cause carnage. This movie seemed to be heading in that direction until it took a step in the complete opposite direction. Their twins' story begins as they are innocently playing in their garden with the dog as their mother hangs out some washing. They are a poor family, no father but are happy all the same. As it turns dark, they see an explosion in the sky and something hit the ground a little deeper into the forest. It was an asteroid and after collecting a big piece, hiding it under their bed, they fall asleep. The little asteroid then cracks open and out pours some black ooze. Now the closest I can compare this too is how Venom entered the movie in Spider-man 3. This ooze gets into the two boys and turns them into possessed versions of themselves. Their mother wakes up to see them eating their dog in the basement and she locks the door on them. They age very badly, boils over their body, deformities and superhuman strength makes them the most dangerous things in the forest. 

The other camper, who is now alone, stumbles across a church with a wicked priest inside who is ready to abuse this lad. He ties him up before a wood chipper is turned on outside by one of the twins and suddenly all that's left of the priest are his shoes. The twin then makes his way into the church and opens the confessional box where the young lad is hiding, just as the screen cuts to black.

 We then cut back to the remaining two who are hiding back to the twins' house. They know their mate smuggled a mobile phone and it's still with his body. The return ends with the geeky guy's life coming to an end and out quiet girl taking a step into killer's territory as she finds a machete and drives it through one of the twins who is sleeping in his bed. The other twin as gone walkabout and we head back to the old guy in his hut, sitting with a shotgun and listening to the noises outside as his handle starts to turn and we think the last remaining twin is about to open a can on him. A shot is fired but instead of the remaining twin laying on the floor, it's actually the kid who has somehow escaped from the church. This time he's dead for sure. This leaves us with one camper from the group. The girl has now escaped and we cut to a policeman giving a prostitute his life story before she leaves and he's shocked as our remaining camper runs into his car. He's happy to drive her into town and listen to her story but doesn't keep his eye on the road and runs over the final killer. In true horror fashion, he leaves the girl in the back of the police car and heads off to investigate the body. She screams a warning but it's too late, the brother is back standing and drives and axe from head to arse through the policeman and heads over to the car.

 Wrestling herself to the driver's seat, she pulls away before stopping, reversing into the guy and putting him under the wheels a couple of times. Back at the twins' house, it's now night and we find out that although he's been repeatedly stabbed through the chest, this brother is still alive as he walks to his front door and we see police lights outside. Two drunks guy are walking down the road celebrating Hitler and stubbled across the other brother, still lying after being run over. The movie ends without giving us an answer as to whether this one is still alive.

A massively cliched movie of the horror genre if nothing further. The storyline followed every other cheaply made film and the only reason it ever got any different was when it strayed into the ridiculous on the origin side of things. We had the group of teens, nudity, a shack in the woods, the 'never split up' rule and even a useless policeman being killed. If you don't plan on being too surprised by a horror film and don't mind a predictable twist at the end, stick it on for a couple of hours but do not expect something new. It wasted some time for me sitting around during the lockdown but it also felt like a waste of my time because I could have been watching something great. I have to admit that I didn't know what to expect considering that this was a Polish movie, dubbed over with English but it felt like a cheap American horror, maybe a late installment to the Wrong Turn franchise, rather than something standalone and fresh. 

With the movie being dubbed, it was hard to gauge how well the cast was truly doing. Yes, you would see their actions, which played well and you know which stereotype each was playing but at the same time, it felt hard to connect with anyone of them. The closest I could get to anyone reminding me of someone would be the lead role of our female camper. Julia Wieniawa-Narkiewic played Zosia Wolska and once she started slipping into gear, applying medkits and using weapons there was the slightest hint of Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft in Tomb Raider. This then didn't come to fruition, as once an act of revenge was taken, Zosia went back to a helpless youngster for a while until then once again, slipping back to a killer. A lot of the time the remaining staff were either as predictable as the story or just plain awkward.

I am always willing to give foreign films a watch and even went into this film expecting to read subtitles for the duration. I'm not too sure whether I would have preferred reading the bottom of the screen as the predictability meant that I wouldn't have missed too much with my eyes not on the prize. The ending seemed to leave room for a sequel and maybe, just maybe if that comes about then I'll stick it on in the background but I wouldn't be rushing to find out whether Netflix has signed up for it. If you go down to the woods today, you're not going to get a big surprise. 

Well, everything you do is questionable (Murder Mystery 2019)

 275.

Murder Mystery

7/10

Back at it with the letter 'M' and it brings us two cast members that I've recently watched in another movie. Adam Sandler and Jennifer Anniston are going to be working together once again but unlike 'Just go with it', they are already married in this one. I have to admit this wasn't the movie originally on my list but Netflix forced my hand by removing 'Mercury Rising' from their streaming service. I'll have to watch that another time. I was pretty impressed with the chemistry of Sandler and Anniston in their last outing so I'm intrigued if they can keep it up. Additionally, I have just watching Law Abiding Citizen and am in the mood to fail at solving another couple fo murders, that's for sure. 

I had wondered how the story would play out from the moment I clicked go. There had to be a level of comedy with the first two cast members listed but there was still going to be a sense of seriousness considering the topic. I'm not going to try and reveal too much as I'd hate to read about the answers to a crime story before I had the chance to guess myself so let's keep it nice and simple. The main couple, Nick and Audrey have been married a while now and need a vacation. Audrey is a Hairdresser whilst Nick is a cop, who keeps failing his tests to be a detective. Instead, he lies to Audrey about his promotion and the spouses end up heading off to Europe for their very very late honeymoon. Whilst on the flight, Nick is outers whilst Audrey sneaks into the Upper-Class bar and meets Luke Evans' character, Charles Cavendish. Audrey even mentions that his name sounds like a bad guy from the novels she reads. He's my first suspect, even though nothing has happened yet.

 He invites them both to his uncle's yacht which will sail for Monaco and gives us a little back story regarding the uncle. He is worth $70 million or so and also stole Charles' fiance and 'wifed' her up. Once they arrive at the yacht they are introduced to more family members, an actress and Formula 1 driver, all who have earned their living with thanks to this old rich bloke. Problem is, he's now going to cut ties and scrap his will so that it now his new wife gets the lot. Obviously, it isn't going to go down well. As he is signing, the light pop off and once they come back on, he's got a dagger in his chest. We now have a race for the American couple to explain why they were ever on the yacht whilst everyone else claims it was them. 

Several bodies drop, some places are visited but the married couple are still the main suspects for the police, although we as viewers know differently. It's now all about them solving the mystery to prove their innocence and even when I realise it would be more than one person, I don't get one of them correct. The story actually becomes a little more complex than first thought. I was bamboozled once again. I'm losing my touch. The movie ends with a great car chase accompanied by some ACDC music and once all is solved, Nick and Audrey get to complete their honeymoon courtesy of the French Police Force. 

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie as it played out. The storyline kept my appetite wet for the crime genre but at the same time, was nowhere near as intense as Law Abiding Citizen was. The way the narrative continued, it definitely gave the audience red herrings throughout and just as you thought you had nailed it down, something else was in the mix, a confession or accusation entered the fold and even those didn't suffice for true evidence. As frustrating as it can be sometimes, it's never a bad thing to be wrong in these movies because rather than ending the movie with a, 'knew it all along', you can give it a, 'well shit, didn't see that coming!'. That's exactly what I sit down to a film to experience. 

Once again Sandler and Anniston bounced off each other throughout this movie with Anniston playing a pivotal role by the end. I have always maintained that I'm a big fan of Adam Sandler, especially the early stuff but there was something about this character that I wasn't a fan of. He was a cocky, over the top New Yorker and at times we'd see the old humour that made Sandler famous but it was too few and far between. I was a big fan of the collective cast too. David Walliams wasn't in the movie too long, the same with Terence Stamp but both started a chain of characters which were completely different from the last. Luke Evans and Gemma Arterton then progress into figureheads for the group of characters other than Sandler and Anniston. From the first moment I believed that Luke Evans was going to be our main antagonist, just by the demeanour that he brought from the off. Every single character was different, just like in a game of Cluedo and I don't have a bad word about what the added to the movie. 

This won't be the last movie that I have on my A-Z list which stars Adam Sandler but it will be the last time that I see Sandler and Anniston's chemistry on my screen for now. Just go with it was a good movie for the comedy and storyline bringing me back to some of the earlier Sandler movies, 50 first dates being a prime example. This time I enjoyed the movie more so because of the twists and turns of the story itself. This is far from a criticism of the cast but just shows that this was something a little different than a Rom-Com. It follows a pattern of movies that I have watched recently, where rewatching the film would be a very low percent. Again, not a criticism but I would hardly run back to a movie once you know all of the answers. The enjoyment level comes from trying to guess who is behind the kills and getting the truth by the end. If you like some crime movies with a 'whodunnit' aspect, this is one that could be easily missed but one worth sitting down and enjoying. 

It's not what you know. It's what you can prove in court. (Law Abiding Citizen 2009)

274.

Law Abiding Citizen

9/10

Back on to the Gerard Butler train for my 'L' movie but chuck in some Jamie Foxx and we have a movie that I've been waiting to get around to for a while. When telling people that this was on my list, they said it would be one of the better ones and others told me to watch out for the twists. From a short synopsis and excited friends, this story was regarding a guy taking the law into his own hands after being let down by the corrupt justice system. I'm actually excited by this one and it's going to get my full attention. 

The storyline begins at Clyde Shelton's house where he is working on contraptions whilst his daughter looks on and the wife cooks dinner.s Minutes later, there is a home invasion when he is knocked off his feet with a baseball bat and stabbed in the torso. He wife gets the knife too until there is an uncomfortable rape scene as their young daughter walks in before she is lead off by an invader. We flip to a scene in the solicitor's office where a distraught Clyde, played by Butler, is in a meeting with Foxx's character who is Nick Rice, the lead investigator on the case. He breaks the news that the lead invader is willing to give evidence to avoid the full sentence whereas the lesser invader, who everything is going to be framed on, will be sentenced to death. Shortly after the court case, the invader shakes the hand of Rice outside the court for the press to see whilst further in the background, an onlooking Clyde is far from happy. 

This is now the moment the story turns Clyde becomes our villain of the story and my interest increases. Every time I see Butler in a movie, he's there to save someone or even the planet. This is going to be a great change of pace. This is going to be a quick middle explanation as Clyde now uses a mixture of disguises and his own inventions to firstly kill his invader and send the video to Rice and his family and then turns on the people involved in the case. Even though the police attention turns to him, he cleverly words his answers in a way which doesn't incriminate himself. At the same time, a judge and lawyer die so Rice is distracted with who would be next.

 In the end, Clyde admits to the kills but this isn't the end of the story, not by a long shot. After being taken to prison, the killings continue and it gets personal for Rice as he starts to lose friends. He figures there has to be someone helping Clyde with the kills and suddenly my mind begins to race. We have a detective on the case who is a little quiet and grumpy, sometimes making eye contact with Clyde. Then we have a female junior detective who is, at one point, constantly looking at her watch and seems a little distracted but once they all die in multiple car explosions, my mind is blown too. 

There are only two more that Clyde is going after. These would be Rice, who people figure would be last as he is pretty much being made to watch and the other being the Mayor. Back in prison, Clyde is put into solitary for killing his cellmate but this is exactly where he wants to be. After some detective work and finding a lot of properties that Clyde has recently bought, one was right by the prison. Rice and his partner inspect and discover a tunnel that leads all of the way to a little workshop and a hatch into Clyde's cell. One issue, Clyde isn't home. Instead, he is out and about, ready to plant a bomb beneath the room where the Mayor is having a massive meeting about locking down the city until everything is under control. Clyde has been helping himself out and there wasn't an accomplice to the kills. Rice makes it to the bomb in time but the audience is fooled a little by the timeline. As Clyde makes it back to his cell, Rice walks out of the shadows. This doesn't stop Clyde pressing the button but it begins the countdown to the bomb that Rice has now put under his bed. Rice leaves, locking the hatch and leaving Clyde to his demise. The movie ends with Detective Rice watching his daughter in her school recital. Something he had put off whilst tied up in his work. 

I think the movie lived up to the hype that my friends had given it. Several aspects interested me throughout the movie which included the fact that this was a crime thriller in which the twists and plot turns could rival any. I found myself enjoying the movie a lot more watching Gerard Butler play the villain in this movie but somehow, a man that you could understand and maybe even sympathise with. Halfway through the movie, once they announced that there may be an accomplice to the crimes, I was on edge, suspecting everyone whilst never seeing the twist that was to come from the ending. For me, this is the sign of a great storyline as I like to think I'm aware of where a story may be going and who is involved. Sometimes I have an issue with a storyline this good and if the movie has the 'rewatchability' factor. Not that that's even a word but from where I'm standing, I would definitely go back and watch this, even knowing the twists. 

The successes of the movie then transfer into the cast members. I've already mentioned Butler and his role but I'm more than willing to mention it again. As a villain, this guy had the role nailed down and I much preferred seeing him playing Clyde than some guy in space in a storyline as far fetched as shit from China. There was a confidence of the killer and righteousness about what he was doing that could draw in the audience enough for them to understand his cause. Jamie Foxx, the main Detective on the case, seemed to have a sort of character arch which is well worth exploring. Going from a guy who was happy to follow the best deal of the court and simply doing his job to someone who things were made much more personal for. Once his family and friends came into the mix, his attitude changed and by the end, it's safe to say he didn't follow procedure. The role was portrayed really well by Foxx who went from calm and collected to somewhat desperate towards the end. This then ended with a sense of acceptance in his actions and maybe even a struggle with his conscience as to whether his actions were justified. I was even impressed with the little side roles by the end of the movie. With each facial expression and action, I truly believed that any of them could have been an accomplice to the murders.

It seems that this type of movie has become a lost art recently and I can't recall seeing a movie of this type in the cinema for a long time. Everything right now is relying on special effects, superheroes or remakes to sell tickets. This relied on a great storyline being told and the audience sitting and taking it in. This makes it even more effective as how little it takes to make the movie a huge success. I'm disappointed in myself for waiting so long to get around to watching the film and I need to track down some more within this crime/action genre. I would highly recommend anyone given this movie their full attention and although at times it can look a little dated, that only adds to the grittiness of the storyline.