David R. Walker

Archive for April, 2024

The Fall Guy

Director: David Leitch

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham, Teresa Palmer, Stephanie Hsu, Winston Duke, Ben Knight, Adam Dunn

Running Time: 2 hours and 6 minutes

Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Stuntmen never get that much credit. All those car chase sequences and falling out of windows and only the main action star gets his name in lights.

This disparity between film star and stunt man is brilliantly explored with a heavy dose of loud music, lots of stunts and energising entertainment in Bullet Train director David Leitch’s new film The Fall Guy bringing together Barbie star Ryan Gosling and Oppenheimer star Emily Blunt, both of which were Oscar nominated for those films.

Gosling and Blunt make a great onscreen couple all blond hair, blue eyes and perfect teeth but it is really Ryan Gosling who steals the film as the hapless but courageous stunt man Colt Seavers who accidentally stumbles upon a plot to cover up an accidental death on a big budget Hollywood Sci fi film being shot on location in Sydney, Australia.

Emily Blunt plays the no-nonsense aspiring film director Jody Moreno who is frantically trying to complete a huge star studded big budget film about a battle between cowboys and aliens. Moreno’s hard edged menacing producer Gail Meyer wonderfully played by Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham who is trying to keep the studio off their back while secretly trying to find out where the main action star really is.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Nocturnal Animals, Kick-Ass, Tenet) plays the macho big action star Tom Ryder, who is basically a poster boy for toxic masculinity, recklessness and an ego gone wild. Ryder and Seavers do not get along, although when both dressed as space cowboys they look identical so kudos to the casting director, who managed to get Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ryan Gosling together.

The Fall Guy with its cinematic self-reflexive narrative is filled with lots of noisy action sequences and multiple scenes of Ryan Gosling getting shot at, beaten up or falling off buildings. A notable scene is the garbage truck fight sequence through the pristine streets of Sydney between Gosling and henchman with a man bun Dressler played by Australian actor Ben Knight. Another Australian star Teresa Palmer (Hacksaw Ridge, Point Break) makes a memorable appearance as Tom Ryder’s volatile girlfriend Iggy Star.

While parts of The Fall Guy are very over the top, it is Ryan Gosling’s lovable star persona which saves The Fall Guy from being just another action film as he imbues each scene with a hint of goofy sexiness and almost naiveté. Gosling’s version of Colt Seavers is relatable and funny, mad and mischievous, a remarkable tribute to the stunt men in the film industry as alluded to in the original 1980’s TV series of the same name starring a young Lee Majors.

Although the storyline is weak, The Fall Guy is recommended viewing as an entertaining popcorn film with some outlandish action scenes cleverly making use of its Australian location, while the film’s hero discovers a deep fake Sydney style.

See The Fall Guy for Gosling, some explosive action sequences and a surprising cameo at the end.

The Fall Guy gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10 and is loud and crazy like Colt Seavers and his outlandish outfits from neon to space cowboy. See it at a cinema near you.

Please note all images used courtesy of Universal Pictures approved images. UPI Media

Civil War

Director: Alex Garland

Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Jesse Plemons, Nick Offerman, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Jefferson White, Nelson Lee, Evan Lai

Running Time: 1 hour 49 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

Novelist, writer and director assembles a grim dystopian future in his new film Civil War set in a strife ridden America in which the Western Forces (California and Texas) has waged a secession battle against the United States and what follows is a violent and bloody civil war waged across America leaving cities like New York, sparse and filled with refugees.

Civil War follows a group of war photojournalists lead by the hardened Lee Smith wonderfully played with a steel determination by Oscar Nominee Kirsten Dunst (The Power of the Dog), in a role which she plays brilliantly against type. Kirsten Dunst has often been seen in costume dramas and was a time a darling of the more Avant Garde directors like Sofia Coppola and Lars von Trier. Dunst plays this role perfectly and is the best in the film along with a brief but spine-chilling appearance by her real life husband Jesse Plemons (Killers of the Flower Moon) as a xenophobic militant in what is the best scene in the film.

Unfortunately for Civil War, Alex Garland creates a dystopian future with absolutely no context, it is just this bland violence filled American landscape with no rationale behind it. The only thing that seems to drive the soldiers of the Civil War is violence for the sake of violence. There are mass graves, executions and slaughter on a massive scale.

This level of atrocity seem surreal as Lee and her fellow photojournalists, the young Jessie Cullen wonderfully played by Cailee Spaeny (On the Basis of Sex, Vice) and hardened action man Joel played by Brazilian actor Wagner Moura, who seems to be immune to the bloodshed around him, travel from New York to Washington DC where the Western Forces are closing in on the White House.

The ineffectual President played briefly by Nick Offerman of HBO’s The Last of Us series, has too small a role to play in this film. Jefferson White of Yellowstone fame, also plays another eager photojournalist.

Two things that save Civil War and elevate the film is the superb editing by Oscar nominated editor Jake Roberts (Hell or High Water) and the use of sound in the film.

Civil War asks viewers some complex question about at what stage do journalists actually get involved in the military conflict? Do they take sides? Do they just capture the horror and slaughter? Do they only get involved when one of their own is threatened?

Without a cohesive narrative and lacking any backstory, Civil War has one brilliant scene in it involving the journalists and Jesse Plemons’s militant character, then after that the rest of the film just descends into meaningless violence without any cathartic release. Actors like Nick Offerman , Jefferson White and Jesse Plemons are just wasted in this nihilistic narrative without any moral redemption.

Civil War was too bleak and far too dystopian in a 2024 world in which regional conflicts seem to be growing globally. Despite high production values, Civil War does not reach its full potential as a cinematic story about photojournalists in a war zone. There have been far better films about this topic than this depressing tale. The Oscar winning films The Year of Living Dangerously, and The Killing Fields should be your filmic guide on this morally complex topic.

See this film at your own risk as it makes for grim viewing. Civil War gets a film rating of 7 out of 10, saved only by some crisp editing and stark visual imagery.

Back to Black

Director: Sam Taylor-Johnson

Cast: Marisa Abela, Jack O’Connell, Eddie Marsan, Lesley Manville, Bronson Webb, Sam Buchanan

Running time: 2 hours and 2 minutes

Film Rating: 8 out of 10

UIP Universal release – Film Preview – Suncoast – Thank to UIP Pictures for the invite to the Preview.

Contemporary biopics are difficult to pull off successfully. Often the artist or pop star is still fresh in the collective cultural memory and the British jazz and soul singer Amy Winehouse is no exception.

Director Sam Taylor-Johnson (Fifty Shades of Grey) does a sterling job of creating a contemporary cinematic biopic of Amy Winehouse, the legendary and hugely talented singer who become a music sensation with such songs as Rehab, Back to Black and Love is a losing Game in her latest film Back to Black starring British actress Marisa Abela in the title role opposite a superb Jack O’Connell (Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Ferrari, Unbroken) as Amy’s low life drug addict boyfriend Blake who proves to be the pop singer’s downfall.

Set almost entirely in North London, Back to Black has a great supporting cast including Oscar nominee Lesley Manville (The Phantom Thread) as her grandmother Cynthia and Eddie Marsan (Wrath of Man, The Gentleman) as her devoting father Mitch Winehouse.

As Amy’s career takes off thanks to her music manager Nick Shymansky played by Sam Buchanan, the singer’s talent is offset by her unbridled alcoholism and her refusal to play by the rules of traditional music marketing, which could have made her into a superstar.

At the heart of Back to Black, in which director Sam Taylor-Johnson emphasizes is the immense talent that Amy Winehouse had, whose voice was unbelievable and her soulful husky songs would lead her to win a Grammy Award in 2008 for Best Female Pop Vocal performance.

Both Marisa Abela and Jack O’Connell are brilliant as the tortured toxic couple Amy and Blake whose crazy drug fuelled romance and brief marriage echoed such similar tragic partnerships as Nirvana’s lead singer Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love and Sex Pistols anarchist frontman Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen.

Back to Black could have been edited in parts, yet the film is saved by Amy Winehouse’s unforgettable music which makes Back to Black worth seeing especially if you are a big fan. Amy’s famous response when she won the Grammy is “This is for Camden Town!”

Unfortunately Amy Winehouse joined the 27 club like Kurt Cobain but her music is what endures and lives on like a flash of brilliance amid the murky years of the early 2000’s in which the director paints London as a dreary city filled with smoky pubs and hardworking North Londoners amidst a British music scene which was recovering from the stupendous Spice Girls hype of the late 1990’s.

As musical biopics go this film is worth watching as a tale about a musical genius whose talent was decimated by her unbridled addiction. The best line in Back to Black is when the police arrest a stark naked Blake, Amy’s husband and asks if there are any drugs in the house? Blake replies “No, we have taken them all.”

Back to Black gets a solid rating of 8 out of 10 and is a commendable musical film from Focus Features who generally never deliver poor quality. Highly recommended viewing.

Monkey Man

Director: Dev Patel

Cast: Dev Patel, Sharlto Copley, Pitobash, Vipin Sharma, Sikander Kher, Adithi Kalkunte, Sobhita Dhulipala, Makarand Deshpande

Running time: 2 hours and 1 minute

Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Incorporating Hindu mythology and folklore particularly around the legend of Hanuman, Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel pulls off the difficult task of writer, director and actor in his latest film Monkey Man in which he stars as the John Wick inspired hero Kid, who returns to the fictional Indian city of Yatana to avenge the death of his mother by Rana, a brutal local policeman who destroys local tribal land at the request of sociopathic guru Baba Shakti played by Makarand Deshpande.

Shot on location in Indonesia, which doubles for India, Monkey Man is a gritty action film featuring an extremely muscular Dev Patel who certainly with flamboyant dexterity manages to direct, write and act in a very fascinating film entwined with Hindu mythology, violence, fleeting beauty but significantly telling a story of bloodlust and revenge.

Monkey Man is nothing you will expect as a viewer, with lightning fast editing by the editing trio Joe Galdo, David Jansco and Tim Murrell, who expertly craft Monkey Man into a highly energising action film in the tradition of the early Bruce Lee films (think Enter the Dragon) with influences from Eastern action films from Japan to Korea to Indonesia.

To add some light relief to an otherwise grim and gritty narrative about Kid taking revenge for his mother on the perpetrators who frequent the lavish men’s club The King’s Club, there is South African actor Sharlto Copley (District 9, Chappie, Maleficent) who is cast complete with a hefty South African accent as the shady emcee Tiger in the underground fight club scenes in which Kid fights fellow wrestlers wearing symbolic animal masks for cash. Hence, Kid’s nickname Monkey Man.

Kid after nearly being killed seeks refuge with an outcast tribe of third gender hijra, where the relentless mother of this mystical sari wearing tribe, Alpha played by Vipin Sharma who urges Kid to gain his strength back and boldly navigate the bloody path of struggle and vengeance against the wealthy rulers of Yatana.

What holds Monkey Man together is the muscular performance of Dev Patel who sheds his type cast polite boy image as seen in such films as The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Slumdog Millionaire and The Man who Knew Infinity. Patel recreates his own image as a tough action hero and an actor to be reckoned with as he successfully moulds a fascinating Hindu action film complete with mythology, malevolence and malicious intent.

Monkey Man, despite it’s extreme violence, stands as an energising action film which will keep audiences entertained by some exotic action sequences especially the final show down at the Kings Club in downtown Yitana.

Thanks to Oscar winner Jordan Peele (Get Out) who acts as producer on Monkey Man, he fought for Monkey Man to have a theatrical release, ensuring that Dev Patel’s talent will be seen worldwide in cinemas globally and not lost on some obscure streaming site. A brilliant decision indeed.

Monkey Man contains some niche appeal, but as a gritty, bloodletting action film it does not disappoint and Dev Patel proves his worth in Hollywood, who upon his arrival as the star of the Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire in 2008, he was initially treated as an unknown British newcomer, whose talent had to be proven.

Monkey Man through its sheer tenacity and energy, gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10 and is recommended viewing for those that love fast paced action films complete with wrestling, gun fighting and martial arts.