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June 11, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Watched: Hellion (2014).I feel like there is some sort of through-line with this film, Short Term 12 and Smashed - all three chart the stories of individuals who are doing their best to make things work, fucking up in the ways that people inevitably… — Watched: Hellion (2014).
I feel like there is some sort of through-line with this film, Short Term 12 and Smashed - all three chart the stories of individuals who are doing their best to make things work, fucking up in the ways that people inevitably fuck up, but managing to draw something good out of the whole mess. Here, the interplay that bears out that story is between Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad alumni and Smashed co-star) and Josh Wiggins as his rebellious, sometimes-unhinged son.
Aaron Paul’s stock-in-trade is tortured performances, so it’s no surprise that he performs well here, but Wiggins is a revelation; he creates a character who often lacks even basic consideration for others into a role filled with empathy, inner conflict and the understanding that the feelings of children are just as pure; they just lack the necessary tools to express them constructively. There’s a terrifying escalation toward the end of the movie, but even as things take a turn for the horrific, his performance keeps you rooted in his perspective, rather than throwing you out.

June 10, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Watched: Pride (2014).I openly sobbed while watching this film, which doesn’t necessarily make it good (though I think it is), but does give you an idea of the tone of the film. In a sense, to make a film about gay rights and anti-Thatcherism so una… — Watched: Pride (2014).
I openly sobbed while watching this film, which doesn’t necessarily make it good (though I think it is), but does give you an idea of the tone of the film. In a sense, to make a film about gay rights and anti-Thatcherism so unabashedly populist is a powerful act, given that much of the audience for films with this kind of tone tend to occupy more socially conservative ground.
The film documents the efforts of a group of LGBT activists who, in the mid-eighties, banded together to raise money for the striking miners whose welfare benefits were being forcibly cut off by Margaret Thatcher’s government. Much of the narrative focuses on the two apparently disparate groups finding common ground and learning a lesson in tolerance, and there are often times where the larger political struggle takes a backseat to interpersonal drama.
At times, the tone is a bit strange. A casual look at Britain’s recent history will reveal the fact that the miners ultimately lost this fight - eventually, the union voted to return to work, and it was a significant blow to collective bargaining power in the UK, with the eventual result that mining was largely privatised and massively reduced - but this is underplayed in the film. There’s a third-act turn to focus almost exclusively on the LGBT activists and what they did next, and it just about saves the film from ending on a sour note.
It’s extremely funny sometimes, and the characters shine through, and it tells a story that deserves to be told in a way that the maximum number of people can appreciate. There’s value in all of that. Films like this matter.

June 9, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Watched: Mission Impossible: III (2006).In the five years between this and the film’s predecessor, a few things have changed: MI:3, for all its flaws (and it has a few), feels considerably more coherent. There’s an arc here, rather than a simple esc… — Watched: Mission Impossible: III (2006).
In the five years between this and the film’s predecessor, a few things have changed: MI:3, for all its flaws (and it has a few), feels considerably more coherent. There’s an arc here, rather than a simple escalation, and while it’s one that involves the death of one major female character and the kidnapping of another, it is at least something.
Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt is beckoned out of retirement at the start of this one - at some point in the last five years he’s managed to get engaged and settle down, without much explanation as to how the hell that happened - and from there the film largely follows the similar setup of a charismatic villain (here, in the series’ best so far, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman), chased across the globe, with one or two MacGuffins thrown in the mix. The only key difference here is that there are some elements of narrative subversion that don’t just rely on convincing face masks - in fact, one of the subversions comes from being given the foreknowledge to know exactly what’s going on when Philip Seymour Hoffman runs into Philip Seymour Hoffman in a public bathroom, rather than guessing identities.
The narrative twists and turns largely work, and genuinely did surprise me (though maybe I was just gullible, or excited to see Simon Pegg in a blockbuster). Philip Seymour Hoffman is incredible, and Tom Cruise gets to flash his winning, terrifying smile at least a handful of times. I just wish they hadn’t damseled Michelle Monaghan. She deserved better.

June 7, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Watched: Mr. Turner (2014).I understand what people mean when they say that they felt like they could smell this film - there’s a grubby, earthy tone to it that is sometimes at odds with the subject matter, but more often than not complements it. Th… — Watched: Mr. Turner (2014).
I understand what people mean when they say that they felt like they could smell this film - there’s a grubby, earthy tone to it that is sometimes at odds with the subject matter, but more often than not complements it. There’s a real commitment to the period, both in the environments Mike Leigh painstakingly recreates and in smaller details, like the particulars of treatment for infectious diseases.
None of this is to say that it’s a realist enterprise, necessarily - while Timothy Spall evidently researched his subject, it’s probably fair to say that his Turner is more of a general embodiment that he plies to great effect, disappearing into the role. There’s a painterly attitude toward the directing of the film, too - often, Leigh will happily settle on a gorgeous vista for upwards of a minute, forcing the reader to take in the natural transcendence of it all.
As for Turner himself, he’s a fascinating character, often communicating in powerfully evocative grunts, half-smiles, and groans, with Spall lending the man an overwhelming physicality that never obscures his sensitivity and shrewd mindset. It’s easily one of the best performances of the last year, and the film might be one of the most innovative period pieces I’ve seen, simply by virtue of the fact that it skirts regency drama in favor of something far more exciting.

June 4, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Watched: This Is Spinal Tap (1984).After watching Better Call Saul, which I saw before this, I feel sorry for how badly Michael McKean has aged (though he still has just as fine comic acting). I also completely understand why Americans think that Br… — Watched: This Is Spinal Tap (1984).
After watching Better Call Saul, which I saw before this, I feel sorry for how badly Michael McKean has aged (though he still has just as fine comic acting). I also completely understand why Americans think that British people talk the way they think they talk.
Anyway: not much to say about this one, in part because I’m extremely late to the party and it’s already been said. It’s an incredibly funny, skewering take on the egocentrism of rockstars, the bullshit that encircles the entertainment industry, and is instantly quotable, mostly thanks to Christopher Guest’s Nigel Tufnel and his outright absurd outlook on life. It shares a lot of the comic sensibility and absurd satire of Guest’s later film, Best In Show, which I could watch again and again.
The music’s pretty good too, if you can get past lyrics like “sex farm woman, I’m gonna mow you down”. Which might be difficult. But I gather that’s the point.

June 3, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Watched: The Theory of Everything (2014).This was a strange film, marked by incredible performances and a script that often felt muddled at best. Eddie Redmayne is transformational in the truest sense of the word, here - you’re never once reminded t… — Watched: The Theory of Everything (2014).
This was a strange film, marked by incredible performances and a script that often felt muddled at best. Eddie Redmayne is transformational in the truest sense of the word, here - you’re never once reminded that he’s actually a handsome young actor inhabiting the role of Stephen Hawking, and as the film charts the spread of the effects of Hawking’s motor neurone disease, Redmayne occupies the role with dignity and a great deal of character. Felicity Jones is similarly charismatic - she’s really the window into the film, and a lot of the emotional beats of the film belong to her.
That’s largely where the film fell down for me, though, narratively speaking - it’s based on Jane Wilde’s memoir about her marriage to Hawking, and as such it’s rooted in her experience even as the major events of Hawking’s life play out. That’s not to say that the relationship between the two is important - it is, absolutely - but so are Hawking’s discoveries, and a lot of the script tended to focus on the pitfalls of living with a genius, rather than the intrinsic quality of genius itself.
There’s also this weird obsession throughout the film about what Hawking’s discoveries have to say about God (answer: really not much, unless you’re reaching), and it’s presented as a genuinely insightful discussion, rather than the emotional twaddle that it is. Hawking, an atheist, is blunt on the topic when it comes up, but he’s never one to raise it - and it’s moments like these, where the script and camera’s sympathies clearly lie with Wilde, that are the hardest to take seriously. It’s less that Hawking’s discoveries raise metaphysical questions - they do, I guess - and more that the actual science is so oversimplified and understated that, based on this film, you’d be fooled into thinking that Hawking isn’t that smart after all.
Maybe I’m being hypercritical, though - and, it’s worth saying, there’s a possibility that I’m discounting Wilde’s perspective far more than I should. Regardless of where the flaws lie, though, the performances in this are marked by brilliance, and it’s worth seeing for those alone.

June 2, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Watched: Blue Velvet (1986).Why am I less uncomfortable with this film than Wild At Heart? My guess, and it’s as good as anyone’s, is that Blue Velvet fully commits to establishing a surreal tone whereas the aforementioned film doesn’t, exactly - he… — Watched: Blue Velvet (1986).
Why am I less uncomfortable with this film than Wild At Heart? My guess, and it’s as good as anyone’s, is that Blue Velvet fully commits to establishing a surreal tone whereas the aforementioned film doesn’t, exactly - here, there’s a key narrative thread that feels solid enough that chaos can swirl around it without it breaking.
So yes, there’s a scene in this film who is subjected to an extremely degrading sexual assault (so, uh, big ol’ content warning for this one), and the theme of sexual slavery is there throughout, but so is the idea of encountering the grim world of adulthood for the first time, and grappling with events you don’t quite understand, and finding light in the darkness against all odds. There is a point to it all here, whereas Wild At Heart sometimes felt like an exercise in puerile nihilism.
It took a while to come to this point, though. I’ve realised that when violence against women (of any kind) is depicted on-screen, I’m not exactly sensitive to it, but I will be quicker to dismiss the potentially-redeeming qualities of an otherwise good piece of work. That’s partially because I’m close to a number of people who suffer from PTSD for whom this kind of media can trigger flashbacks, but it’s also because rape and violence against women is often a crutch for (white, male) film directors who don’t know how to otherwise create a grim atmosphere.
Here, though, there is a point, and not just one that serves a facile end. Sex is bound up in this film, coercive or otherwise, and to take it away would make for a much less nuanced piece. There’s a brilliant line in this - “I don’t know whether you’re a detective or a pervert” - and that doesn’t work if the idea of being perverse is implausible in the world of the film.
If you want to read something else that isn’t just me grappling hamfistedly with the film, try this - a back-and-forth correspondence in Stylus magazine between two people who fell on very different sides of the fence when it came to whether or not Blue Velvet is misogynistic, a point of contention that I still can’t fully commit to either way. Having spent some time thinking about it, I’m inclined to say it isn’t, but it’s potentially muddled by Lynch’s other less accomplished work.

May 25, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Watched: The Imitation Game (2014).I was curious as to how this would end, given the tragic trajectory of Alan Turing’s life (he was sentenced for homosexual indecency and chemically castrated, leading to his suicide two years later); ultimately, it… — Watched: The Imitation Game (2014).
I was curious as to how this would end, given the tragic trajectory of Alan Turing’s life (he was sentenced for homosexual indecency and chemically castrated, leading to his suicide two years later); ultimately, it’s the ending that’s weakest, flashing back to the final moments between the team that cracked the Enigma code before they went their separate ways, as a series of biographical notes appear along the bottom of the screen. It’s sweet, but it’s also kind of rote.
A good thing, then, that the rest of the film is so well-crafted. A fair number of critics lumped Benedict Cumberbatch’s interpretation of Alan Turing in with his Sherlock Holmes, and I don’t think that’s fair - the man in this film is much better-defined, brilliantly intelligent but inarticulate rather than cold when it comes to his own emotions.
Much of the discussion at the time seemed to revolve around the fact that this film contributed to LGBT erasure by portraying his relationship with Joan Clarke so strongly; with respect, I don’t think that critique holds up to much scrutiny. Ultimately, the strongest emotional thread that I got was of Turing’s attempt to create a lasting legacy of his late first love, Christopher Morcom, and the flashbacks to his childhood stand out to me as the emotional touchstones of the film. The portrayed relationship with Joan never struck me as anything more than a platonic meeting of minds, and I can’t help but feel like critics arguing against its inclusion would rather the filmmakers invented a male character with whom Turing could have a perfectly happy, proud, utterly implausible love affair instead.
It’s a film not without its flaws - even ignoring the ending, sometimes the emotional beats are more mawkish than sentimental, and Charles Dance’s military commander is a bit one-note - but it’s a worthwhile portrayal of an incredible man, and maybe that’s enough.

May 10, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Watched: Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).(No spoilers ahead, so don’t worry.)This isn’t a perfect film by any means - the camerawork is a little shakier, there are some plot decisions (like a relationship between two characters that, the more I think… — Watched: Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).
(No spoilers ahead, so don’t worry.)
This isn’t a perfect film by any means - the camerawork is a little shakier, there are some plot decisions (like a relationship between two characters that, the more I think about it, is questionable at best) that don’t gel well with the other films, and a character motivation that is kind of wobbly - but there is a lot to love, here. Characters who have been reduced to bit parts in the past finally get a chance to say their piece, new heroes blow the others out of the water, and there are some emotional beats here that are just wonderfully-executed.
It’s tough to make a sequel to a film that, no matter which way you look at it, did extremely well critically and commercially, but this is a decent stab at a daunting task. There’s some infighting this time around, but it’s always within the understanding that the Avengers are an unbreakable team, and that solidification means that the film can turn elsewhere to delve into what turns out to be a hell of a lot of exposition. A lot of seeds are planted in this film and will likely bear fruit in any of the two hundred films Marvel has planned for the next decade, but there’s still room enough for a plot and a villain whose charisma bleeds off the screen whenever he’s on it. Best seen on as big a screen as you can muster, while you still can.

May 8, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Watched: Rosewater (2014).There are parts of this that feel slightly less nuanced than you’d hope - Jon Stewart, it seems, would love the world to think that filming injustice will always pave the way to eradicating it, and I’m not convinced that’s … — Watched: Rosewater (2014).
There are parts of this that feel slightly less nuanced than you’d hope - Jon Stewart, it seems, would love the world to think that filming injustice will always pave the way to eradicating it, and I’m not convinced that’s entirely true - but overall this is an incredible film. In a sense, it feels like two films taking place in the same universe - there’s Maziar Bahari (Gael García Bernal, playing the role with humor and depth and brilliance) before his incarceration as he tracks the disputed 2009 Iranian election, and another depiction of him during his time in prison for (among other absurd charges) the supposed crime of foreign espionage. It’s the second part that carries the power as it tightens the focus - Kim Bodnia’s desperate, often-ridiculous and always-terrifying interrogator (whose nickname carries the film’s title) is electric whenever he’s on-screen, and demonstrates the depths someone will sink to in order to get a confession.
It’s curious that the film ends up being about something other than political ideology; instead, it looks like a portrayal of how corrupt governments will do almost anything to appear as if they have everything under control. Javadi, the interrogator, almost looks as if he’s preparing for a scene when we see him in the moments before entering Bahari’s cell, and it’s made clear that his handling of Bahari’s case will be the deciding factor in an upcoming opportunity for promotion. When providence finally comes for Bahari, then, it’s so much more of a relief - we figure out early on that his release is more dependent on his political value than of the nature of his so-called criminal activity, but as time goes by and we learn no wider context, we feel him lose hope, only to get it back again after a slipped comment by a guard betrays quite how much outside forces are trying to get him out.
Ultimately, it makes for a wonderful film - a political piece, sure, but also a compelling character study with Stewart’s characteristic satirical bite. If I’m right, it just came out in the UK, so if you’re there you should seek it out while you can.

May 6, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Watched: Ex Machina (2015).I loved this. The premise is a simple one: Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) goes on a retreat to a research facility owned by Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac), the eccentric founder of Bluebook, a sort of latter-day Google with questi… — Watched: Ex Machina (2015).
I loved this. The premise is a simple one: Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) goes on a retreat to a research facility owned by Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac), the eccentric founder of Bluebook, a sort of latter-day Google with questionable data practices (which, you know, is prescient enough). There, he meets, Ava (Alicia Vikander), and over the course of seven days attempts to conduct a Turing test to figure out if she has true consciousness. Being a psychological thriller, things don’t quite work out as planned, and the film takes a few twists and turns that I didn’t expect.
There’s one element which will estrange some people - there is a considerable amount of nudity in this film, almost all of it of women, and there’s a definite sexual focus. The reason I think it gets a pass, here, is that sexuality is a core focus - Caleb is a single straight man, and the nature of Ava’s sexuality - as a robotic diversionary tactic, as a genuine expression of affection, or as an attempt to manipulate - is discussed openly and frankly. Whenever naked bodies are on-screen, it’s plot-relevant, rather than window dressing. It’s upsetting at times, because Nathan is an upsetting character (there’s no sexual violence, but he kind of embodies everything wrong with men in the tech industry), but it ultimately serves as a reason for the viewer to stay on their toes; Ava’s sexuality is clearly designed to obfuscate something, but one of the central mysteries is exactly what is being obfuscated.
There’s also just the basic idea that when we create robots, we’re probably going to create robots we want to have sex with. There’s a point where Caleb, overwhelmed and out of his depth, asks if Nathan created Ava’s appearance based on Caleb’s porn history. Nathan laughs, and slaps him on the back, and leaves. There is a slice of this film which feels rooted in how people already behave, rather than a utopian vision of how they should be behaving, and that’s ultimately what keeps it interesting; such a strange and dazzling concept as artificial consciousness feels closer than ever in a film like this.

May 2, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Watched: A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014).I’ll admit that I was fooled into thinking that this was actually filmed in Iran (it wasn’t - retrospectively, I have no idea how a film like this could be made there), and that illusion certainly hel… — Watched: A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014).
I’ll admit that I was fooled into thinking that this was actually filmed in Iran (it wasn’t - retrospectively, I have no idea how a film like this could be made there), and that illusion certainly helps; the world of Bad City is one that feels at once foreign and familiar, where drugs are everywhere, the streets are empty, and a vampire is roaming around picking off some of the more unsavory elements of society. Parts of this almost felt like a Western - there’s a cautious romance to the whole thing that is initially hard to buy into, but by the end you’re desperately hoping that the two leads can make something good out of their (so far bleak) lives. Gripping, surreal, fascinating stuff.

May 1, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Watched: Foxcatcher (2014).Steve Carell is a revelation in this - his John Du Pont is a study in microexpressions, with the camera often lingering on his face as he remains almost entirely still, forcing us to absorb everything we can. I can see why… — Watched: Foxcatcher (2014).
Steve Carell is a revelation in this - his John Du Pont is a study in microexpressions, with the camera often lingering on his face as he remains almost entirely still, forcing us to absorb everything we can. I can see why this film polarised some - it’s a stark, sparsely-populated film, and so much of it depends on what assumptions and prejudices the viewer brings. For me, it was almost tragic - Du Pont in the movie is a man who desperately wants to be validated - by sporting institutions, by his mother, by his athletes - and will outright lie or manipulate others to convince himself that he’s a Great Man.
Channing Tatum is similarly hard-to-read, even as the film invites you to figure out what’s going on behind the eyes. I suspect that’s deliberate - Mark Schultz is the only principal character of the film who’s still living, and he went from open co-operation with the filmmakers to outright condemning the feature upon its release (largely when reviewers started talking about the potentially-sexual tension between Du Pont and Schultz, which I honestly didn’t see), then apparently changing his mind again. Having seen it, I suspect he was so wobbly because judgements of the character were so variable - there’s very little that’s prescriptive here, and that’s what makes it so exciting to watch.

April 30, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Watched: The Emperor’s New Groove (2001).This was funnier than I expected it to be, and that’s a double-edged sword when it comes to Disney movies; there’s some excellent meta-narrative here, and so many quips are packed into the lean running time t… — Watched: The Emperor’s New Groove (2001).
This was funnier than I expected it to be, and that’s a double-edged sword when it comes to Disney movies; there’s some excellent meta-narrative here, and so many quips are packed into the lean running time that you feel breathless by the end, but that means that it lacks the big emotional swells of other contemporary Disney movies. That’s okay, though. And I totally understand why Kronk ended up being the protagonist of the sequel, now. What a sweetie.

April 29, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Watched: Tracks (2013).This unfolds in a similar vein to Wild, though the motivations of the protagonists and the environments vary considerably. Here, Mia Wasikowska’s portrayal of real-life author Robyn Davidson is of a woman who craves to get awa… — Watched: Tracks (2013).
This unfolds in a similar vein to Wild, though the motivations of the protagonists and the environments vary considerably. Here, Mia Wasikowska’s portrayal of real-life author Robyn Davidson is of a woman who craves to get away from people, finding that even in the desolate nowhere of the Australian outback that it’s easier said than done. There aren’t really any neuroses to be worked out here, no personal vision quest - instead, the film is happy to sit back and let the incredible environments do the talking.
There’s some small joy in seeing a character like Robyn as the protagonist of this kind of film - much like Cheryl Strayed in Wild, she’s by no means perfect, often coming off as stand-offish and occasionally a little idealistic, but that she can hold these characteristics without being given some absurd redemption arc or villainized is, I think, a promising sign that movie producers sometimes see the value in non-conventional female narratives.

April 19, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Watched: John Wick (2014).I feel like this movie, along with Marley and Me, are probably the reasons why there’s a website called Does The Dog Die. A dog - a cute one, too - absolutely, horrifically dies in this movie, and Keanu Reeves’s John Wick r… — Watched: John Wick (2014).
I feel like this movie, along with Marley and Me, are probably the reasons why there’s a website called Does The Dog Die. A dog - a cute one, too - absolutely, horrifically dies in this movie, and Keanu Reeves’s John Wick responds in the most calm way possible: by revenge-killing 77 men. That’s it. That’s the film. It’s magnificent, and satisfying, and even has something resembling a happy ending.
The best thing I’ve seen said about this film is that it is smart enough to know its action-movie heritage while still being an ostensibly original property (thanks, Neil); there is no John Wick line of novels, or theme park ride, or play already (my god, how would you even make this work on stage?). It’s smartly-filmed - there is little to no shaky-cam in this movie, and Reeves did all of his own stunts - and wickedly funny throughout.
I feel like a lot of the best action movies nowadays are rooted in other genres. Edgar Wright’s Cornetto trilogy are all comedies, first and foremost, even if the stunt work is jaw-dropping. The Marvel films are genre pieces. That leaves you with films like The Expendables, which everyone agrees are a bit shit. John Wick is an action movie, proudly asserts itself as one, and is great to boot. That’s worth some recognition.

April 18, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Watched: Troll Hunter (2010). — Watched: Troll Hunter (2010).

April 12, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Watched: God Help The Girl (2014).This musical film was written and directed by Stuart Murdoch of the indie pop group Belle and Sebastian, and it lives and dies depending on whether or not you like the songs (which, unsurprisingly, reflect the music… — Watched: God Help The Girl (2014).
This musical film was written and directed by Stuart Murdoch of the indie pop group Belle and Sebastian, and it lives and dies depending on whether or not you like the songs (which, unsurprisingly, reflect the musical style of the band). The spoken segments, which thankfully aren’t huge, are the kind of garbage you’d expect the white kid with dreadlocks in your philosophy class to spout, but the songs retain a nice sort of innocence that really decides the tone of the film.
There is a threadbare sort-of story here: girl has anorexia, girl leaves hospital prematurely and moves in with platonic guy friend, girl forms band with guy friend and another girl, girl dates cool frontman, girl leads on platonic guy friend, guy friend gets jealous, girl decides to leave for London, girl has last-minute heart-to-heart with guy friend, all interspersed with lots of music. It’s all a bit twee, but it keeps the film bobbing along.
If I had one chief problem with this film, it’s that Emily Browning’s character (who is, honest to god, called “Eve”) is a bit of a manic pixie dream girl - the camera endlessly ogles her, and while I expect the filmmaker’s defence is that she’s the arguable protagonist, you get the sense that she’s still being viewed through the lens of the male deuteragonist, played by Olly Alexander, who is utterly smitten with her. The anorexia, which has the potential to be handled well, almost begins to feel like the token flaw - she does grow as a person, and it’s far from a perfect example of the trope, but it is there to a limited extent. The whole film starts to feel like one big song by a guy about a girl’s internal monologue, and it can get off-putting.
But it’s still sweet. Mostly.

April 12, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Watched: Big Hero 6 (2014).I have very little to say about that film, other than that I openly wept three times and you should read that as a ringing endorsement. — Watched: Big Hero 6 (2014).
I have very little to say about that film, other than that I openly wept three times and you should read that as a ringing endorsement.

April 11, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Watched: The Raid 2 (2014).This is certainly a more ambitious undertaking than its predecessor - there are multiple locations, several antagonists, and a plot that delves more into city-wide corruption than one Big Bad - and it both benefits and suf… — Watched: The Raid 2 (2014).
This is certainly a more ambitious undertaking than its predecessor - there are multiple locations, several antagonists, and a plot that delves more into city-wide corruption than one Big Bad - and it both benefits and suffers as a result.
The first film was a masterwork in simplicity - there was something beautiful and stark about the brutal fighting that the film was largely comprised of, and as a result it felt lean and smart in its execution. Here, that focus isn’t quite the same - there are a lot of characters here, and while scenes never last longer than they need to, there do need to be a certain number of scenes just to establish a number of plots. As a result, there’s the odd moment in The Raid 2 where it feels just a little bloated.
All that said, the characterization is on point, and some characters - particularly the girl above, credited simply as “Hammer Girl” - find extraordinarily inventive ways of killing a hell of a lot of people. That’s this series’ hallmark - racking up a huge body count in the most gleefully choreographed ways possible - and it still delivers in spades, making for a film that certainly doesn’t feel like it’s 150 minutes long.