Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - SPOILER Review

Right, I’ve been waiting three years for this film so I’m not going to waste time on an introduction, neither am I waiting a week to talk details, so expect big fat SPOILERS ahead. 

Forget Star Wars Episode 7, Deadpool fans can crawl back into the woodwork and Marvelites go watch your Saturday morning cartoons (nah, you’re fine too): it’s time for the greatest gladiator match in the history of the world... 

1.       Protagonist(s)

First and foremost, let’s hope this puts to bed the notion that Michael Keaton is the best on-screen Batman. Even if you somehow rate him above Christian Bale (despite his horribly oversized mask that you could literally slide your hands in while he’s wearing it), Batfleck makes Keaton look like Adam West’s mopey cousin. And before you whinge about this new Batman killing, bear in mind that every live-action Batman kills multiple people except for George Clooney – and I’ll be damned if I’m letting his be considered the most comic-accurate depiction of the character.

When Batman is in costume – best Batsuit ever by the way – he’s terrifying. His first scene is like something out of a horror film; with the creepy, rising, screeching score and the way he moves like a demon hanging from and scuttling across the ceiling. Ben Affleck’s Batman is more ‘creature of the night’ than ‘cop in a costume’, like Bale’s.

Likewise, his Bruce ‘James Bond’ Wayne is a much more accurate representation of a character dubbed ‘the world’s greatest detective’ – he gets business done just as well out of the cowl as in it, and it makes sense that this iteration of the character could go toe to toe with Superman, thanks to his experience and intelligence.

As for Superman himself, I continue to appreciate the very conflicted portrayal Henry Cavill is giving us. You really feel the weight of the S on Clark; his every action is not only scrutinised (as it probably should be, as someone with so much power and no-one to answer to), but is unfairly nit-picked and scanned over for seemingly any possible negative.

I feel this reflects many reviews of this film; no other comic book franchise has been held to such impossible standards as the DC films since The Dark Knight set the bar so high back in 2008. Slap a Marvel logo on this and people will be happy with a few one-liners and some colourful action. For some reason, a DC logo means having to justify the more serious approach and attempting to make more than a popcorn movie.

With many people, both in the film’s world and our own, not deeming this Superman worthy of the ‘hero’ title after the destructive climax of Man of Steel, it’s easy to sympathise with his conclusion that “no-one stays good in this world” until he proves himself wrong in the gut-wrenching finale. Again, spoilers, but he literally sacrifices his life twice in the span of fifteen minutes for the sake of this world. More on that under Plot.

1 mark

2.       Antagonist(s)

Easily the most divisive aspect of the film, Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor is, erm, different. I personally was hoping for a Brian Azzarello style Luthor who hates Superman because he feels the hero’s existence represents the end of human achievement; no matter what we do, we can’t ever live up to Superman. Here, his motivation was not absolutely clear – it appears to be a mix of jealousy and fear of Superman, hence the whole ‘if God is total power then he cannot be total good’ speech. He embodies the notion that power corrupts, and while he fears that may drive Superman to destroying humanity eventually, just like comic-book Lex he fails to see (or uses it as an excuse) when his power and influence blends with his paranoia and leads to devastation.  

While he admittedly was too over-the-top at times, he was definitely menacing and manipulative – orchestrating and enhancing the two heroes’ drive to confront each other with mysterious deliveries of evidence of Batman’s brutality, and the devastating effect of the Battle of Metropolis on Wayne employees.

But let’s get one thing straight: he was not Joker-like at all, for those making comparisons. The Joker knows exactly why he’s doing what he’s doing and he’s not a twitching, self-correcting intellectual. If parallels were to be drawn to any Bat-villain, he’s definitely Riddler-esque; with a compulsive need to prove himself superior and a brain working too fast for anyone (even sometimes himself) resulting in eccentric mannerisms and grandiose speeches. Eisenberg’s performance reminds me of the Arkham video games’ portrayal of Edward Nygma.

The other villain of the piece, Doomsday, comes into play when Luthor’s plan for Batman to get rid of Superman fails (as he half-expects it to). I personally didn’t like this aspect of the film for a few reasons: why have Doomsday look like a giant turtle? Why not have it look like it does in the comics with the huge spikes, at least post-evolution? Why hide most of the fight behind explosions and fire? I could go on… and I will under Action.

My real complaint with Doomsday was that it was a bit of a leap to going from relative realism (especially with Man of Steel’s efforts to ground this Superman in our world) to fighting a big CGI monster. Perhaps if Lexcorp had found another ancient Kryptonian ship buried in, say, a desert, and Doomsday was awoken upon being discovered inside, beginning a path of destruction that interrupted the Batman v Superman fight, that would have made for a more natural team-up and finale.

0.25 of a mark

3.       Secondary Characters

Even though she had little screen-time, Gal Gadot was spot on as Wonder Woman. Weaving in and out of the story tantalisingly yet organically, she certainly wasn’t jammed into the film like some had feared just to set up future instalments. As a result of Lex Luthor stepping up research into metahumans post-Battle of Metropolis, Diana Prince is one of the people being observed by his company and shows up here to prevent stolen photographic evidence of her existence leading to further intrusion. She has a few interactions with Bruce Wayne which both fit her motivations and convince her to pick back up the sword and shield when Doomsday is unleashed, after Bruce shows her there are others out there with powers. I’m very much looking forward to the Wonder Woman solo film.

Amy Adams returns as Lois Lane and is much more integral to the story than I thought she’d be – I was afraid she’d be lost in the caped-mist, but a considerable amount of key plot points are put in motion by her actions. I also thought Lois was a very humanising presence in the film, watching the burden of power weigh down Clark and trying to help without being able to. My only complaint about this character is more suited to discussion under the Romance section of the review and so will be discussed there.

With a new Batman must also follow a new Alfred, and this one is the snarkiest yet. Jeremy Irons – or Scar to his friends… well, to me – was much more hands-on than previous versions. He essentially performs the role of ‘Oracle’, for those familiar with the Arkham games; guiding Batman through missions over the Bat- Computer and offering technical support when needed, such as taking control of the Batwing or mapping an environment. He also brought timely moments of levity when appropriate and there was a tangible familial bond between him and Bruce, which added to the feel of an established, experience crime-fighting career where maybe Alfred enjoys and believes in The Mission moreso than Bruce.

1 mark

4.       Plot

I feel much of the apparent disappointment with this film comes because it’s focus is very much on the plot, rather than the action. The entire purpose of the movie is to examine how the world would react to Superman – a question posed midway through Man of Steel by Perry White. The characters in the film are all written in a way that puts a face to those reactions; some would irrationally hate him (Lex), some would fear him (Bruce), some would question him (Senator Finch) and some would love him (Lois).

Like I said earlier, this is more than just a popcorn movie with a big-money punch-up – but I’ll discuss the themes a bit more under Drama.

Some have complained about this film being depressing, but to them I’d ask: have you seen the Dark Knight? The bad guy won in that movie – Harvey Dent was corrupted beyond redemption and Batman broke his one rule and was forced to retire. And yet this film, where Superman is not only heavily implied to have survived the fight with Doomsday, but also has resurrected Batman’s faith in humanity (“Men are still good”) to the point where he’s going to assemble a team of heroes to honour Superman, is depressing?

For those I’ve seen asking why/how Lois knew to go back for the Kryptonite spear, it’s pretty simple: she was at the Daily Planet when the wreckage of the Kryptonian ship started going crazy pre-Batman vs Superman fight, so it was obvious to her that whatever Luthor had unleashed was Kryptonian in it’s biology and therefore vulnerable to Kryptonite.

The final nit-pick I’ll address is how fast Batman agreed to help Superman, after being on the verge of killing him. It’s like people forgot that Bruce was investigating Lex Luthor for literally the entire film between the flashback opening and the final fight. All it took was for Clark’s humanity to shine through and Bruce to see him as an actual person, rather than some dangerous ‘other’ (more on that under Drama), for all the pieces to fall into place in the mind of The World’s Greatest Detective and bring about the realisation he had been manipulated into the fight to begin with.

To the ending of the film, some might say it’s too early to kill Superman off, but the fact is that he needed to die. For the Justice League to form, there has to be reason more than a conveniently timed alien invasion – especially seeing the backlash Superman received for every action he takes, other metahumans would have been scared to reveal themselves. But now, as a result of his sacrifice and recognition as a hero, they will be open to forming a team to make up for Superman’s absence. Especially with Batman and Wonder Woman being the ones to bring them together.

1 mark

5.       Action

Now, for what most people came to see. Right off the bat, every time Batman was in costume, it was excellent stuff. I’ve already discussed his horror-movie style introduction, but that is followed up by the best Batmobile chase-scene ever put to film. If you’re solely interested in the ‘no guns, no killing’ Batman, then this sequence might make you hurl because a whole bunch of guys get absolutely pancaked. I was a little disappointed there was only one ‘Batman vs some goons’ fight scene (the warehouse one from the trailer), and that’s a point I’ll address under Pacing, but when it arrived it was everything I wanted; even on the ground Batman dwarfs the bad guys and his costume is a lot more protective than it appears. There’s also a fun nod to The Dark Knight Returns in the way it ends.

The title bout was a little shorter than I expected, and I would have preferred some time being shaved off the Doomsday battle to extend the Batman v Superman fight, considering the build-up. But, no-one can deny that the fight delivered; we got to see how Batman’s experience and tactics steered the fight in his direction, how much of an affect Kryptonite has on this Superman and for how long, and the part of the fight where the gas wore off while Batman was punching Superman was both funny and made sure it was an even match – even if Batman had to win to justify the fight existing in the first place. We also saw Batman’s planning in action by staging the fight in an abandoned part of Gotham near the bay and keeping the fight mainly within one building.

I personally didn’t like the final Doomsday fight. A lot of the action was difficult to see, as mentioned under the Doomsday part of the Antagonist(s) section. Wonder Woman was the best part of that whole fight sequence, which is for the best considering she’s the warrior in DC’s Trinity. Batman acted more as a distraction and as the brains, leading the monster to an abandoned part of Gotham within reach of the Kryptonite spear.

I also felt it was smart to show Superman attempt to take the fight to space – a common complaint in Man of Steel was how he didn’t put enough effort into taking the fight to somewhere more remote (even though the whole point was General Zod made it his new mission to kill as many humans as possible, so he wasn’t exactly going to follow Superman into a desert) – but now we see it’s not a solution. Again, we saw this film’s efforts to address the destructive end of Man of Steel by having the Doomsday battle take place mostly on an empty island, resulting in very low (if any) civilian casualties.

0.75 of a mark

6.       Drama

Most of the drama is centred around Superman and how the world perceives him. From the opening flashback to Man of Steel’s final fight, which had a very 9/11 feel to it, to the look on Superman’s face in the aftermath of the courtroom scene, it’s clear this film is about who Superman is – something neither he nor the rest of the world truly understand until the ending.

Clark felt like an alien right through Man of Steel to the very end of this film, and even kept referring to Krypton as ‘his world’. It wasn’t until he picked up the Kryptonite spear and flew at Doomsday that he realised, “This is my world”, which was a massively uplifting moment.

On the Batman side of things, parallels can be drawn to real life attitudes on topics such as immigration and terrorism. Post-9/11 and right through to today (especially in the aftermath of a terrorist attack), you can hear very similar sentiments to Bruce Wayne’s almost xenophobic view of Superman being echoed: “if there’s even a one per-cent chance that he is our enemy, we have to take it as an absolute certainty”.

I feel the dramatic aspects of the story may have been too thought-provoking for an audience looking just for some cool action and a bit of entertainment, but if you’re prepared to really dig into the implications a being like Superman would have – politically for the world and personally for the being in question – the film is a fascinating watch as well as a visual spectacle.

1 mark

7.       Comedy

The DC films aren’t as comedy focussed as the Marvel films, but they don’t need to be; it’s good to have different studios taking different approaches because it stops oversaturation of the market. If all superhero films had the same tone, they’d all blend into one and people would get bored.

In terms of this film, much of the levity is provided by supporting characters like Alfred and Perry White. They offer enough to break up the serious moments without ever stealing focus or feeling out of place. Funnily enough, the most fun moments were involving Bruce Wayne’s investigation of Lex Luthor. With Alfred guiding him through Luthor’s house to install a hacking device and infiltrating an underground fighting ring, Bruce’s scenes definitely had a James Bond feel to them, as I mentioned earlier.

However, there wasn’t really enough to justify awarding more than half a mark here, so…

Half a mark

8.       Romance

The problem that I mentioned earlier when discussing Lois Lane, is that there’s no real development of Clark and Lois relationship. They get together at end of Man of Steel after each finding in the other something they’d never found before, and at beginning of this film they’re 18 months in and living together.

We don’t see it develop – it’s just skipped over in that 18 month period and it’s as if they’re together because they’re Clark Kent and Lois Lane and just have to be. Why does Lois love Clark, other than because he’s Superman? It’s never shown beyond the fact he’s a super-handsome superhero.

That said, it’s clear to see how they feel about each other and the sense of loss at the end of the film is palpable. I just wish the relationship was more fleshed out in terms of the ‘why’.

Half a mark

9.       Pacing

After a hard hitting opening that introduces us to our new Bruce Wayne and reintroduces us to Superman, the film steadies into part-political examination/part-spy movie with some horror and action elements thrown in. With so much build up to the title fight, it does feel a tad slow in the middle – perhaps a scene of Superman’s crime-fighting methods being juxtaposed with Batman’s would have broken up the slow-burn and conveyed why the conflict could exist in the first place.

Much has been made of the Knightmare sequence, and while it was brilliantly shot and plotted, it did feel a bit out of place in it’s placing in the story. I can’t help but feel like if that whole dream was an after-credits stinger, then no-one would be complaining and everyone would be talking about what it means going forward; does Superman come back evil etc. I also felt like we didn’t need Flash appearing out of a portal to warn Bruce too. Especially as the casual movie-goer didn’t recognise him as the Flash anyway (why not just put him in the usual Flash costume?) – my Dad actually thought it was meant to be Robin.

Despite these nit-picks, however, I was never bored and I felt like the film took it’s time setting up the conflict and the motivations enough to justify going all-out in the final third.

0.75 of a mark

10.   Re-watch-ability

Seeing as the Justice League movie is coming out next year – which feels very weird considering we waited three years for this film – it’s definitely worth going back over this movie to spot all the little nods to upcoming characters and events, and not just in the metahuman files. I must say though, it baffles me why DC dropping visuals of these characters in the context of the actual story is an issue, especially when it serves a narrative purpose in convincing Wonder Woman to fight, but no-one bats an eye when Marvel do the same thing after the credits.

In general, there is so much to process, that you really need repeat viewings to judge the film totally; gut reactions will prove to be incorrect with time on this one, I think.

In terms of going forward, the Ultimate Edition DVD will expand on a lot of stuff, including revealing that the photographer shot at beginning was Jimmy Olsen – a fun extra nod even if some people looking for anything to hate will cry that he was killed immediately (it’s like they are forgetting that he’s a completely irrelevant character that could serve no purpose in this universe anyway, seeing as there’s no clumsy cartoonish Clark Kent to say “oh golly” to every five minutes).

The aspect of the extended cut I’m looking forward to the most is the longer, more violent action scenes, and particularly Jena Malone’s cut role. She was heavily rumoured to be playing Barbara Gordon, and is most likely to feature in a flashback to the Joker paralysing her. Perhaps that will be another Bruce Wayne nightmare and contain a horror-style twist, like the bat-monster bursting out of Martha Wayne’s bleeding grave.

1 mark

Total Score: 7.75/10

I absolutely love this film as a fan, but rating it as objectively as I can and acknowledging the problems I had with some aspects personally, I think this mark is fair. Many of my review scores change in my mind over time, and I sometimes get caught up after seeing a film I enjoy (for instance I don’t rate Jurassic World as an 8/10 anymore), but I feel I’ve been as fair as I can with Batman v Superman.

Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens - SPOILERS

Right, I’ve waited a week/couldn’t be bothered until now (delete as appropriate) to spoil the absolute Ewok out of this, so be warned: I’m about to make every plot point of this film more painfully obvious than some George Lucas romantic dialogue.

Although, I suppose for context I should rank each of the other six Star Wars movies out of ten beforehand, so FINE! Bear in mind, these are just my own personal enjoyment scores, not necessarily my opinion of their objective quality – so the nostalgia goggles are coming on.

A New Hope – 8.5/10

The Empire Strikes Back – 9/10

Return of the Jedi - 8/10

The Phantom Menace – 6.5/10

Attack of the Clones – 6.5/10

Revenge of the Sith – 7.5/10

Nostalgia goggles off, let’s go.

1.      Protagonist(s)

 

Rey, played by my wife (for all you know) Daisy Ridley, is a blend of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia from the original trilogy. Abandoned on a desert planet as a child, she retains hope of their return and survives as a scavenger – finding odd bits and pieces and selling them for food. With Luke’s sense of wonder and desire to act, coupled with Leia’s proactivity and stubbornness, Rey is like-able, competent and fun; a perfect protagonist for a Star Wars film.  

I’ve heard some say she’s a Mary-Sue (too good at everything, with no struggle – she’s an ace pilot, a strong force user AND can defeat a trained ex-Jedi apprentice in her first lightsaber battle?), but let’s not forget Luke Skywalker infiltrated a high-security giant space station and then blew it up just days after leaving the sand-covered purgatory that is Tatooine.

John Boyega plays deserting Stormtrooper FN2187 (renamed Finn). While some of his characteristics are out of place – where did he get his sense of humour from? I thought he was trained his whole life to be a killer – Finn is a pretty unique character for a Star Wars film, in that he admits fear. He’s brave when he has literally no other choice, but he makes sure we know that the First Order (the remnants of the shattered Empire) aren’t to be taken lightly. 

From the opening scene where he experiences his first attack as a Stormtrooper and his reluctance to even fire his blaster, you appreciate his very human response to the orders he’s been given, and that makes him immediately stand out. When’s the last time we saw a Star Wars protagonist show fear? For me, Finn is one of two new characters who will help make this trilogy stand apart from what came before.

1 Mark

2.     Antagonist(s)

 Kylo Ren (played by Adam Driver) is the other stand out character. Everything about this guy was excellent – he was terrifying, intriguing and powerful, but also conflicted, burdened and surprising. Whereas the other two trilogies focussed on a protagonist trying to resist the dark, here we get a villain trying to resist the light, and that is something that hooks you right from the first scene where Max Von Sydow’s short-lived Lor San Tekka (yes, I had to Google that) teases us about Kylo Ren’s lineage. 

Although I would have preferred the actual reveal that he’s Han and Leia’s son, Ben Solo/Skywalker (a nice nod to Ben Kenobi), to have been saved for the confrontation on the bridge, I felt as though this is exactly how a kid raised by those two volatile characters would have ended up. How can you live up to war-hero parents? Especially when one is royalty! 

In short, I loved the design of the costume and the lightsaber – that both looked and was wielded like an actual sword, which makes sense seeing as he is a Knight of Ren. I loved the twist that he was all talk and bravado under a mask, but a character burdened by legacy without it, and I admire that the developers decided on a villain that would progress just like the hero over the course of the story, rather than being the finished article from the get-go.

1 Mark

3.       Secondary Characters

Oscar Isaac plays expert Resistance pilot Poe Dameron with the earnestness of Luke Skywalker and the confidence of Han Solo – another great blend of Original Trilogy characters. Whereas Rey and Finn seem to be making things up as they go along, Poe Dameron knows exactly what needs doing and is tough enough lead from the front doing it. He’s all charm and no smarm – take note, Solo.

Speaking of Han, the moment he bursts into frame with Chewbacca on the Millennium Falcon for the first time was one of the great ‘moments’ of the film. Unlike Indiana Jones 4, this isn’t an old Harrison Ford revisiting a role; this is Han Solo coming back after thirty-odd years. He’s still our favourite Nerf-herder but you can tell he’s seen some stuff, man, he’s seen some stuff. Watching him admit he was wrong about the force being all nonsense and his face drop when Finn mentions Luke Skywalker was the point in the film where it really started to feel like a Star Wars film. 

But come on, Han! Who walks out over a giant abyss on a long-ass bridge with no railings!?!

Chewbacca was used as effective comic-relief for the most part, but his reaction to Han’s death was enough to make you forget he’s actually just a really tall guy in a dog/bear costume who can barely walk. Kudos for getting a shot in on Kylo Ren, too. 

You don’t see much of Leia (now a General, not a Princess – seeing as she has no planet to claim sovereignty on… too soon? It’s been almost 40 years, Alderaan’s not coming back!), but I thought it was a good decision to have had her and Han drift apart between trilogies. They were never going to live happily-ever-after, regardless if they had a son who murdered a whole bunch of people or not – she’s a fighter and he’s a smuggler, and it was clever to have them fall back into old habits after losing their son. Sidenote: I appreciated Leia quoting Padme’s final words about Anakin to Han about their son; the prequels do count!

BB-8, in short, was brilliant. Not only does it avoid the difficulty of stuffing a person inside shuffling tin can – instead, being able to roll at speed – but he was adorable and hilarious. As long as you don’t contemplate the horror that someone has created yet another robot capable of human emotions like sadness and fear, but just focus on how cute his little lighter-thumbs-up was, everything will be fine.

Supreme Leader Snoke is the new bad guy working in the shadows, calling all the shots behind the First Order. I’ll save speculating on his identity for maybe another post (it’s totally Darth Plagueis, though), but Andy Serkis – as always – did an excellent job with the mo-cap role. We don’t really find out much about him and he doesn’t do anything except drop exposition and shout a bit, so the only point to bring up is that he fulfilled his role in the story and set up another mystery for the sequel.

JJ Abrams admitted that they only cast Gwendoline Christie as Captain Phasma late on in the game, and so her part was only ever a small one. A shame, considering how cool she looked and the possibility for another Boba Fett character was there for the taking, but that’s another improvement for the sequel to make. Although, she was like Boba Fett in that she was completely incompetent when it mattered; shutting down the Starkiller Base’s shields just because Finn threatened to shoot her – which he wouldn’t have done, let’s be honest. I do think it would have been a good idea to at least have her be the one who has the fight with Finn once he gets hold of the lightsaber, instead of just some random Stormtrooper with s stun-stick thing.

General Hux was awful. There’s not much else to be said here. He was just a cartoon. I guess JJ forgot to direct him. Maybe tone it down a notch, next time, Domhnall? You made Palpatine in Episode 3 look like a masterclass in subtlety.

0.75 of a Mark

4.       Plot

The plot, unfortunately felt a bit formulaic at times. If you were to bullet point the events of A New Hope then you could tick off the boxes while watching this one: Stormtrooper raid opening the film to introduce the villain, important information stored in a droid who encounters a force-sensitive young person on a desert planet, an old war hero helps them get the information where it needs to go before being killed by the villain who has a pre-existing relationship with them while the protagonist can only watch, and a big space station gets blown up but the villain survives. See what I mean? When the time comes to watch all nine main movies in sequence, by the time you get to 7 it will be hard not to think ‘didn’t I just watch this?’

I also found it weird how there were no giant star destroyers guarding the Starkiller Base. A case of arrogance, or a lapse in logic? Why not just have the heroes disable the super-weapon and keep the threat going into the next film? Where do they go from here – an even BIGGER Death Star?

It wasn’t all bad, though. The execution was fun and the doubts only sink in after repeated viewings (another questionable part was when Rey got so angry at Finn for wanting to flee after the meeting with Maz Kanata – the yellow one – when literally five minutes earlier she said she had to go back to Jakku when Han offered her a place on the Falcon).

Half a Mark

5.       Action

The action scenes were all spectacular. The aerial battles between the X-Wings and the Tie Fighters looked like someone had put the Original Trilogy dogfights through a Prequel Trilogy filter – it was the best of both worlds; the tangibility of the old with the scope of the new.

It was interesting to see new ways for the Force to be utilised as a weapon, as well. We’ve had pushes, lightning and choking before, but now Kylo Ren has introduced freezing someone on the spot and what looks like a mixture of mind-reading and putting physical pressure on the brain as a torture technique. Strange how he didn’t apply either of those skills to the lightsaber fight with Finn and Rey, but I got the impression he was toying with Finn and testing Rey – so that’s forgivable. 

A couple of things felt out of place, such as the sequence with the big monsters on Han’s ship – so much of the rest was practical that a CGI heavy chase stood out as a bit jarring – but all in all, there’s enough here to compete with the slew of set-piece heavy blockbusters that have spoiled us recently.

0.75 of a Mark

6.       Drama

I’ll admit it: got choked up a few times – which may or may not include the moment ‘a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away’ faded onto the screen. You know what? I’m just going to list them; because if there’s one thing the internet loves, its lists of things: the ‘Chewie, we’re home’ moment, Han’s reaction to hearing Luke’s name, Han and Leia’s reunion, Hans death and Leia/Chewbecca’s reaction to it, and then seeing old-man Luke Skywalker. So basically, whenever the old cast were on screen. 

The internal conflict within Ben Solo was also handled very well – as I mentioned earlier, we haven’t seen this kind of struggle in Star Wars before; the burden of the legacy of his parents and of his grandfather competing in his own mind to create a goal he’s never going to be able to reach. That kind of internal pressure could only ever push him to the dark side, and it’s going to be interesting to see what cost his inevitable return to the light will come at.

1 Mark

7.       Comedy

My only minor gripe with the humour was that there seemed to be a few too many Whedon-isms (Avengers style quips). Like Poe Dameron’s ‘Who talks first?’ bit with Kylo Ren – you just saw him stop a blaster bolt dead in mid-air with the force, and you’re making a joke? And Finn’s ‘Got a cute boyfriend?’ line to Rey seemed out of character for someone who’d been raised to kill. They were funny, but out of place, I felt.

Otherwise though, Han was charming, Chewbacca was utilised surprisingly effectively and BB-8 was so good that I’m sensing an R2-D2 heroic sacrifice to save Luke in the next film to keep the new guy front and centre while preventing the old-boy from being overshadowed.

0.75 of a Mark

8.       Romance

Although I felt the relationship between Finn and Rey was more of a friendship that will likely develop into a romance in future films, I include it here because they appeared to have genuine chemistry in a way that Anakin and Padme never did. They both saved each other a bunch of times and it was understandable why they wanted to stick together as the story progressed – at the expense of their individual aims. 

Obviously, seeing Han and Leia back on screen together was great. Just watching their body language, it was clear that they had drifted apart but still cared for each other. It was touching to see a character as snarky as Han become so sincere during those brief moments that when he was eventually killed by his son, it felt all the more devastating because we got to see a previously unseen side of him beforehand. 

1 Mark

9.       Pacing

Seeing as the plot was so similar to A New Hope, the pacing is pretty much the same, too. You get a big, flashy opening before settling down with the hero and a steady build to the finale. What this film does have over Episode 4, however, is that a lot of the times it appears to be slowing down, either one of the old faces gets reintroduced or we get a Kylo Ren tantrum. But there are some moments that drag which become clear with a second viewing, such as the meeting with Maz Kanata – i.e. Mos Eisley Cantina 2.0.

My other negative point with regards to the pacing is in relation to the sequence with the monsters on Han’s ship again – it felt like action for the sake of it just to hit the customary ten minute beat.

All you need to know is that I had no qualms holding in a wee from meeting Rey on Jakku to the end of the movie. I did the same thing with Revenge of the Sith a decade ago– I guess Star Wars just gets me excited.

Half a Mark

10.   Re-watch-ability

Look, if you care enough about this film to read a blog post by some nobody, then the chances are you’ve already seen it at least twice. The film is intriguing, surprising yet familiar, tons of fun, and everything you remember from the original film but with slightly less laggy moments in the middle.

If you get the chance, see it in IMAX 3D – I hate 3D usually but I honestly could tell the difference between this particular viewing and my 2D showing. See it as many times as you can in cinemas, because there was a time the thought of another Star Wars movie felt impossible.

1 Mark

Total Score: 8.25/10

Legend - Movie Review

Right, I’ve not posted a review for a while so here’s the roundup of films I either saw too late or didn’t bother seeing but might be of some interest: 

Ant-Man – pretty damn good and somehow the second best Iron Man movie. 7.5/10

Man from UNCLE – wanted to see it but didn’t. I imagine it’s probably a 7/10, and I’ve never been wrong before.

Fant4stic – didn’t see it, didn’t want to see it and by all accounts it’s crap. I’ll give it a 4/10 for the sake of a pun.

Anyway, on to business.

1.                   Protagonist

Weird accent and violent role enthusiast Tom Hardy plays both of the Kray twins, but most of the film is based around Reggie Kray (the one in the red tie) – who has a normal cockney accent and is only a little bit violent… comparatively.

The main crux of the plot is the relationship which develops between Reggie and Frances Shea (played by Emily Browning – who you might remember from playing Violet Baudelaire in the A Series of Unfortunate Events film they should have made a sequel to), and how his life as a gangster is affected by it.

The character is romanticised quite a bit so the audience actually likes him – he is a violent criminal, after all – but the charisma seems well earned and you buy that he’s the leader of his gang and community.

1 Mark

2.                   Antagonist

Christopher Ecclestone (aka no-one’s favourite Doctor Who) plays the copper who’s charged with investigating the Kray twins, and if you’ve seen Peaky Blinders then his character will feel very familiar to Sam Neill’s Northern Irish policeman – in fact, the tone of this movie is quite similar to that show and a few actors cross over, including Tom Hardy (duh) and Paul Anderson (who played the moustachioed Arthur Shelby). There’s also a cameo from Welsh pop-star Duffy, but that’s not particularly important.

Where was I? Oh, yeah – so crap Doctor Who only really has a small role in the film, seeing as they’ve got to give Tom Hardy two roles as well as a love interest and find time to flesh out his gang, but with the limited screen time he’s given he does a serviceable job. Nothing spectacular, but there’s a scene where he explains to Reggie Kray exactly why he’s got such a hard-on for him and his brother and the motivation and sense of conflict is interesting – it’s just a shame it wasn’t really expanded on in more depth.

Half a Mark

3.                   Secondary Characters

Ronnie Kray (again, played by Tom Hardy) is the mentally unstable and pretty much psychopathic twin brother of Reggie – and he’s also the source of most of the films funny moments. For all the efforts Reggie makes to move their enterprise in more legitimate directions, Ronnie seems determined to maintain the gangster aspect of their existence. I don’t want to spoil too much about Ronnie’s part in the film, as much of the plot revolved around his interactions with his brother.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Tom Hardy is the best British actor working today. He may pick eccentric roles and make some odd choices, but watching Legend you sometimes have to remind yourself that he’s playing both roles – he’s that good that it feels like its two completely different actors. Sitting in the second row from the front, you could see each twin even has different teeth! 

Frances Shea is the love interest that the emotional core of the film hangs on, but sometimes it’s hard to empathise with her. The movie does a great job of showing the development of the romance, but when times inevitably get hard you do sit there and think ‘hey, you knew he was a violent criminal gangster from the moment you met him’. Of course, that doesn’t excuse Reggie’s abusive behaviour but it almost glamorises domestic violence by having the audience get back on Reggie’s side after everything comes crashing down.

All in all, Emily Browning does a great job in the role you do sympathise with and like the character a lot.

1 Mark

4.                   Plot

The story begins with the Kray twins already established in the East End; Ronnie is in psychiatric care (not for long) and Reggie is keeping the community and his club ticking over, while charmingly dealing with determined police. So no origin story about how Tom Hardy was bitten by two radioactive criminals, causing him to split in two, unfortunately.

Throughout the film, there’s a great balance of humour, violence and romance that should appease most general audiences. The running time is fairly long, but the story is interesting enough and the performances dynamic enough that you never look at your phone to check the time.

The only real issue is that there’s not much of a conclusion except a voice-over and some bullet points about what happened to the Kray twins in later life – which would have been fine if Ronnie was given any sort of closure on his side of the story. As it stands, Reggie gets a full plot thread, but Ronnie is just kind of there to watch.

Half a Mark

5.                   Action

Like most Tom Hardy films, there’s a few great punch ups in Legend. Who needs to see skyscrapers come crashing down when you can see Tom Hardy bottle Tom Hardy over the head?

The best action scene of the film is when the twins attend what was slated as peace-meeting between their gang and a rival one. I won’t spoil what happens but it starts of hilarious and ends brutally.

There’s not an overload of fight scenes, but the three main ones are very satisfying and well crafted. Some people might complain that there wasn’t as much action as they’d anticipated, but this is a case of quality over quantity. 

So, a paranoid schizophrenic walks into a bar…

1 Mark

6.                   Drama

The main dramatic beats centre around the relationships between Reggie and Frances, and the twins themselves.

It’s established early on that both Ronnie and Frances are mentally fragile – Ronnie more obviously and dangerously so. You almost get the feeling there’s going to be an ‘Of Mice and Men’ moment between the two brothers (or a Carol and Lizzie moment, for you Walking Dead fans out there), but rightly or wrongly, Reggie’s loyalty pervades and the consequences for such an apparently unbreakable bond between two violent people prove disastrous for anyone connected to them.

As the film goes on and Reggie and Frances move past the honeymoon period, the reality of life alongside a criminal eventually sets in. Broken promises, legal problems, feelings of inadequacy and isolation become Frances fate until she finds her resolve – however misguided it ends up being.

As fun as the film is, it’s a biopic, so don’t necessarily expect a happy ending.

1 Mark

7.                   Comedy

As said earlier, most of the comedic moments come from Ronnie Kray and his love of being a celebrity-like gangster. And his sexuality – there’s a few scarily funny moments centred around that aspect of Ronnie, too.

There’s not really much I can elaborate on in regards to the film’s sense of humour – much of it is character and plot related, so discussing it in any kind of depth would potentially spoil aspects of the story.

All I’ll say is don’t bring a rolling pin to a shootout.

1 Mark

8.                   Romance

The romance is the main focus of the story, and it plays out very well. You see how and why Reggie and Frances fall for each other and how why things fall apart. I mentioned earlier that occasionally it was difficult to empathise with Frances, due to her knowingly getting involved with a violent criminal, but if you can’t sympathise with all of her actions, you at least can with her motivations and the decisions she takes.

Certain moments may make you doubt whether Reggie really cared for Frances at all, but the finale of the film makes absolutely sure you know he did, even if it doesn’t excuse the pain he caused her.

1 Mark

9.                   Pacing

The film has a pretty weak voice over from Frances Shea, which could have been cut in all honesty – it doesn’t add much that the scenes don’t already deliver visually. I said before that the running time seemed quite long for a general audience, even if the level of interest never really drops.

The pacing throughout the film’s middle is spot on, but the voice over slows down the beginning and the end just sort of cuts off, so I can’t give out a full mark – I’m not made of them, you know!

Half a Mark

10.               Re-watch-ability

If you’re a Tom Hardy fan, it is definitely worth another watch, even if just to try and spot the subtle mannerisms in his duel performance that separates each twin. There’s enough engaging dialogue, action and humour to make you want to come back for another viewing while it’s still on the big screen.

But then again, if you’re the kind of person who prefers the more lavish big-screen affairs (aka a Tom Hardy hater), perhaps a film so performance based only really warrants a single watch before the DVD release.

Half a Mark

All in all, Legend is a pretty damn good film and you won’t leave disappointed.

Final Score: 8/10