CAST: Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, Alan Rickman, Barkhad Abdi
DIRECTION: Gavin Hood
Eye in the Sky is an engrossing and provocative thriller that reveals bureaucratic red-tapism and the moral dilemmas of those indulging in military warfare. It also explores the farce regarding the price of winning the propaganda war.
It dwells on the multi-nation efforts to fight terrorism, especially between the British, the US and Kenyan governments, who constantly calculate the risks and benefits of their respective military actions.
While the film is about drone warfare and its perils, what keeps you riveted to the screen is the urgency of decision-making and the dilly-dallying, non-commital and passing-the-buck attitude of the politicians.
This is a race-against-time film that shows how the scales of decision-making waver.
Colonel Katherine Powell, a hardcore British military officer in charge of Egret, an operation to capture a radicalised English woman Susan Danford and her husband Abdullah al-Hady, is tipped that the duo would be in suburban Nairobi to meet a terrorist, who she has been pursuing for years.
But when the moment of capture arrives, Colonel Powell’s plans abruptly change when the technologically-advanced spy camera — a cyborg beetle — reveals the devious plans of the terrorists. How she icily manipulates her way — from “operation to capture” to “order to kill” situation — forms the crux of the tale.
Helen Mirren as Colonel Powell, and often referred to as ‘Mom’ by her juniors, is at her fiery best. This is probably one of her best roles till date.
Alan Rickman as General Benson initially sounds buffoonish when he resignedly discusses dolls, but gradually he plays the sympathetic, caught-in-between note to perfection.
Aaron Paul as Steve Watts, the drone pilot based in Las Vegas, responsible for shooting, is sensitive yet over-dramatic. His moral and psychic toll on pilots who engage in long-range warfare, killing people from a safe distance, seems false and pretentious.
Barkhad Abdi who had earlier featured in Captain Phillips leaves a compelling impression, playing a Somalian undercover agent with elan.
While the entire film pivots on an emotional note, it is Aisha Takow as the little girl Alia Mo’allim, who steals your heart. Her demeanour and the innocence in her eyes is what sets her apart.
In putting the entire legality of war against one singular military action, director Gavin Hood and scriptwriter Guy Hibbert successfully create a war movie that seems at once essential and distinctly individual.
But, while the motive is to capture the terrorist, the script does not show any preparedness regarding the same and also the absence of the Kenyan government’s representative shows how lopsided the script is.
Overall, the film, though tense, has a notably playful flavour. —IANS
A manipulated horror
By Troy Ribeiro
FILM: 10 Cloverfield Lane
CAST: John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher Jr, Cindy Hogan, Bradley Cooper
DIRECTION: Dan Trachtenberg
Convincing but never satiating, 10 Cloverfield Lane, is a horror film with a sensationally fabled narrative. A near-sequel to producer J J Abrams’ 2008 release Cloverfield, this one bears virtually no formulaic or stylistic resemblance to its predecessor.
With three distinct conflicts, presented in a generic manner that forms chapters to the narration, the director makes an impressive debut. The first starts off on a conventional note. Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a designer miffed with her husband, leaves home and drives aimlessly on a freeway till she meets with an accident. This lays an idealistic foundation for the story to progress.
The second chapter starts with Michelle, waking up in an underground bunker with a stranger, Howard (John Goodman), telling her that he is her saviour who saved her life as, “the world outside is no longer safe”. Suspicious of Howard’s motive, Michelle tries to escape from the claustrophobic cell, only to find that accompanying her in the bunker is Emmett Dewitt, a neighbour of Howard who reiterates Howard’s claim.
What keeps you glued to your seat is director Trachtenberg’s treatment of the story. Like a psychological thriller, the scheme constantly changes. Is Howard lying or telling the truth? If he is lying, then the outside world, is a desirable possibility. But, if he is telling the truth, what next? The inter-personal dynamics in the bunker are akin to the account of the Brie Larson starrer Room.
Michelle’s escape, with all its genre tropes of a catastrophic horror film, forms the third chapter. The narrative shifts, rushing into a high-adrenaline action mode with some thrilling set pieces.
Each inciting moment is surprisingly impactful. The director creates a nail-biting atmosphere that vacillates between a spirit of unease and relaxed camaraderie. The script never resorts to stereotypes. It delivers an end-of-the-seat series of suspenseful sequences which navigate in a vacuum, as most of the tension always threatens to erupt into violence.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead in the lead as Michelle splendidly balances the flight-or-fight reactions with a surprising ingenuity and self-confidence that’s a challenging match for Howard’s perverse manipulations. She is genuinely supported by Gallagher Jr. as Emmett, who in a docile role, ends up being caught between Michelle and Howard.
Fluctuating between a cartoonish and an aggressive, over-the-top character, John Goodman as Howard, the creepy but well intentioned doomsday prepper, is brilliant.
Overall, one cannot complain about the lack of entertainment. There is enough material to keep you busy throughout the 100-minute film. But the problem is, with its shifting genre gears, the film does not do justice to any of them and is unable to satisfy the viewer completely. — IANS
A gritty tale
FILM: Back in the Day
CAST: William DeMeo, Alec Baldwin, Danny Glover, Michael Madsen
DIRECTION: Paul Borghese
Boxing movies are seldom about the boxing. It’s more about the boxer. It’s about the hurdles, the let-down and the triumphs.
Set in both the late 80s and current day, Back in the Day is a gritty tale about Anthony Rodriguez (William DeMeo), a half Italian-half Puerto Rican teenager growing up on the streets of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, then a racist neighbourhood filled with bullies, big shots and social clubs.
Anthony had to endure an abusive, alcoholic father but was blessed with a nurturing, hard-working mother whom he loses at a very early age.
In spite of the odds, he struggles to uphold the morals his mother taught him and retain his dignity.
Anthony is taken under the wing of a local mob boss, Enzo DeVino (Michael Madsen), who along with his boss Gino (Alec Baldwin) supports Anthony’s wish to escape his demons through the sport of boxing.
Enzo unites Anthony with a trainer, Eddie “Rocks” Trevor (Danny Glover), who turns Anthony into a contender.
As Anthony journeys into adulthood with the nearly impossible goal of achieving a successful professional boxing career, he manages to not only go pro, but to fight his way to the Middleweight championship.
Love and loss, humiliation and retaliation all play major roles in his journey, but when he finally makes it to the top he realises that the real fight was outside the ring.
DVDs courtesy:
Saqr Entertainment Stores, Doha
