Tag: Sharlto Copley

Movie Review – ‘Free Fire’ – Shooting Blanks

Directed by Ben Wheatley
Written by Amy Jump & Ben Wheatley
Cast: Enzo Cilenti, Sam Riley, Michael Smiley, Brie Larson, Cillian Murphy, Armie Hammer, Sharlto Copley, Babou Ceesay, Noah Taylor, Jack Reynor, Mark Monero, Patrick Bergin, Sara Dee (voice), Tom Davis
Soundtrack: Geoff Barrow & Ben Salisbury

This isn’t my first go ’round with this crew.

I saw Ben and Amy’s High-Rise last year, and wasn’t particularly impressed, but far be it from me to not give people second chances if it feels warranted.  After all, Free Fire obviously features a whole lot of guns, and a good handful of actors I actually like, so how bad could it be?

Well, frankly, I wish I hadn’t even asked the question.

This movie sent up red flags almost immediately, thanks to some bad Boston accents, and it never got much better from there.  The plot is razor thin (and boring), the characters are thin (and boring), and the action is poorly executed (look, I get that the joke is that they’re all bad shots, but you’ve got to give me some geography, man).  Seriously, I haven’t been this bored watching people shoot at each other since Jason Bourne (at least Free Fire has the decency to not be two hours long, although, honestly, the shorter runtime doesn’t help much).

Much like with High-Rise, there’s just something missing with Free Fire (maybe a lot of things, actually).  It’s not funny enough, violent enough (with the exception of a couple of quick moments), stylish enough, frightening enough, or clever enough to make you feel like you saw something worthwhile.  I can’t even tell you how much of the runtime I spent asking myself, “What emotion am I supposed to be feeling right now?”  I did chuckle a few times (which is why it’s not getting zero stars), but that was it; there was nothing else to grab onto.

Not every movie has to be the same, not every MacGuffin has to pay off, and not everything has to have “a point,” but every movie has to have something, and at the end of the day, Free Fire‘s pretty much got nothing.  I didn’t think I liked High-Rise all that much, but it feels like a quantum leap ahead of this movie, I tell you what.

Maybe I’m just not on board with Ben Wheatley (who knows?), but this movie is not one to be seen.

Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

Movie Review – ‘Hardcore Henry’ – Be Careful What You Wish For

Directed by Ilya Naishuller
Written by Ilya Naishuller and Will Stewart
Cast: Sharlto Copley, Danila Kozlovsky, Haley Bennett, Tim Roth (cameo), Andrei Dementiev, Svetlana Ustinova, Darya Charusha, Oleg Poddubnyy
Soundtrack: Darya Charusha

There is no denying the influence of movies on videogames.  From directly licensed properties to heavy homages, it’s only natural that game developers would draw inspiration from the silver screen.

Now, it seems the reverse is happening in a significant way.

What started with a couple of NSFW music videos by Russian director Ilya Naishuller has morphed into something bigger, and I’m not afraid to call it groundbreaking.

‘Hardcore Henry’ is a violence-laden action thriller with a sci-fi twist that’s shot almost entirely in first person perspective.  Now, the POV shot has been around for ages; the movie version of ‘Doom‘ featured a “first person shooter” sequence (although that was more so a compilation of movie magic than what ‘Henry’ is), and the 2012 remake of ‘Maniac‘ is almost entirely first person (though done with more traditional techniques), not to mention there’s been the unfortunate proliferation of shakycam “found footage” films, but no movie has ever been quite like ‘Henry’.

This is, of course, largely thanks to the magic of GoPro® cameras.  With a special rig attached to a performers head, the makers of ‘Henry’ were able to put the audience right inside the action like never before.  The result is largely spectacular, but there are drawbacks.  For one, the highly portable cameras simply can’t compete with traditional film or standard digital HD in terms of image quality (this isn’t prevalent throughout the entire runtime, but it crops up quite a bit), nor can they compete in terms of stabilization.  I love me some roller coasters, but I was a bit unnerved to feel my head tilting at one point when I wasn’t actually tilting my head; other people may feel stronger side effects and I want to give fair warning.

Basically, the world is not ready for a slew of ‘Henry’ imitators because the technology just isn’t quite there yet (and, frankly, I don’t want every single movie to become first person; I see in first person every day); but don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it to action fans and videogamers, and the work that went into its creation absolutely has my respect, both in front of and behind the camera.

What really makes the movie work, other than the gratuitous action set pieces, is its sense of humor.  The movie knows what it is and has the good sense to not take itself too seriously (I think I would seriously loathe it if it wasn’t funny).

Nowhere is this more present than in the character of Sharlto Copley’s “Jimmy”.  I can’t say too much without giving away major spoilers, but let’s just say he has a very unique role and he fully embraces every bit of it, much to the audience’s delight (and who knew he could dance?).

So, if you’re in the mood for some videogame-type action, or just want to see something different, pop some Dramamine® and go see ‘Hardcore Henry’.

Rating: ★★★★☆

P.S.
For those going to Alamo Drafthouse, the “Hardcore Cocktail” was delicious, but they ran out of the Bacon Cheesecake before we could get some, so I can’t give you my opinion.  Next time, baby.