Film Review - Everest

 

High Enough

Film: Everest

Cast: Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, Jake Gyllenhaal, Emily Watson

Directed by: Baltasar Kormakur

Duration: 2 hrs

Rating: * * * 1 / 2

Based on the true story of a mountain climbing expedition that took place in 1996, Everest takes a slightly different approach to the story-telling than the conventional Hollywood movies. The studios love ‘disaster’ movies wherein they can show case mass scale destruction with special effects but there isn’t a great deal of scope to do that on rather lonely and arduous trekking trip to mount Everest. The story then focuses on the human element of the one way trip undertaken by a bunch of non-professionals coming from different geographical locations and diverse backgrounds.

To climb the 29,000 feet peak, the team is headed by a seasoned climber who has been there done that. Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) has come all the way from New Zealand leaving a heavily pregnant wife (Kiera Knightley) behind. The ever reliable Emily Watson is a-coordinator at the base camp while Jake Gyllenhaal plays the leader of another group who are in the same business of helping amateurs achieve glory by climbing the mountain.

A rich guy (Josh Brolin) has come all the way from Texas while a postman (John Hawkes) realizing it is his last chance for glory joins the aspirants along with a Japanese lady who has achieved a lot but this is the last frontier.

We also get a brief insight on why, just why anyone would take such a risk to climb a mountain. In some cases, it is a point that they want to prove to themselves and for others they want to show to the world what they are made of.

The film doesn’t rush into the action straight away, which is what I liked. We are given a fair background of the characters and the trying conditions that await them. While there is enough drama on the way up, given the nature of the story, tragedy has to strike at some point.

There again, the director and the writers, William Nicholson and Simon Beaufoy (Oscar winner for Slumdog Millionaire)  have done a decent job, under the circumstances it would have been tempting to go with the histrionics but they have refrained.  Hollywood anyway gives us an overdose of heroism from time to time so it is good to watch a film that takes a step back to see the drama unfold.

Backed by commendable performances, Everest is eminently worth a watch.

Published in The Navhind Times on 20th Sept. 2015
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Film: Terminator Genisys

Back To The Future

Film: Terminator Genisys
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke, Jai Courtney, Emilia Clarke
Directed by: Alan Taylor
Duration: 2 hrs 5 mins
Rating:  *  *  *

“I am old, not obsolete” says Arnold Schwarzenegger more than once in Terminator Genisys, reprising that iconic role that made him famous all over the globe. That was when director James Cameron made The Terminator in 1984 (followed by Judgment Day in ’91) giving us two of the most memorable sci-fi action movies. There were couple of films later but the Terminator was not the same without Cameron. Terminator Genisys (the fifth film in the franchise) is more of a throwback on the first and second part with a lot of references.  And among all the films, this involves the most time travel, you have to keep a close eye on who is coming and who is going.

It opens with a little boy Kyle (Jai Courtney) being rescued by a man who turns out to be John O’Connor (Jason Clarke) who is leading the human resistance against the machines led by the program that has gone rogue, Skynet who sends a machine back in time to kill Sarah Connor (Emilia ‘Game of Thrones’ Clarke) while Kyle who has become John’s trusted lieutenant volunteers to go and save her. She doesn’t need a great deal of help because the Guardian (Arnold Schwarzenegger) whom she fondly calls Pops, is still around. But Kyle has to team up with Sarah for other reasons.
When Kyle rewinds back to 1984, a deadly android (playing Korean superstar Byung hun Lee) is already waiting for him – that’s not all, we are also treated to a good Arnold vs bad Arnold duel. You have to be familiar with the first two Terminator films to know what exactly is going on - Not just to understand the plot but also the characters. Besides, there are several other references some obvious ones which are actually quite enjoyable. In fact it is the humor and the self references that keep the film going.

The science gets a little more complex with references like parallel timelines but everything else that could have been explored involving Sarah, John, T1000 and Skynet has been done before. On the surface you might get the gist of it but to get to the minutiae, you will have to scratch your head to figure out the exact sequence of events.

True, Terminator may be old but it is not obsolete, and as the post credits reveal, there is more to come. 

Published in The Navhind Times, Goa on 5th July 2015

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Film Review-Dawn Of The Planet of The Apes

A For Apes

Film: Dawn Of The Planet of The Apes

Cast: Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman

Directed by: Matt Reeves

Duration: 2 hrs 10 mins

Rating: * * * * 

To put it plainly, Dawn of the Planet of Apes is one of the best mainstream Hollywood films we have seen in recent times and this fact is all the more commendable because most of the sequels and franchise films are mostly out there to make moolah at the box office with creativity taking a backseat.

But this film is different.  As a sequel to Rise of the Planet of Apes or even as a stand-alone, it is rock solid. The team of writers is pretty much the same and huge credit goes to the director Matt Reeves, this film is in complete contrast with Cloverfield (2008).  The visual effects are splendid but more importantly, Dawn Of The Planet of The Apes has a good story to tell. 

It is set at a non specific time after the previous film ended. The human civilization is in shambles and there is a group of survivors in Los Angeles trying to make contact with other humans, if there are any. But the opening act is about the apes, how they live and what their clan is like. Caesar (Andy Serkis, adding another feather to his cap after King Kong, Gollum and Captain Haddock) is their leader who has just become a father again. His elder son Blue Eyes, his trusted aide Maurice and Koba who is disillusioned with human beings, play a key part. 

On the human side there is Malcolm (Jason Clare) and his friends who are attempting to generate electricity from a dam that lies in an area where the apes live. There is a strong distrust in some of the members of the two species, but Malcolm and Caesar build a bond over a period of time. Gary Oldman plays a soldier who has no qualms in obliterating the apes.  But he is not one of those one dimensional villains of the piece, he has a soft heart as well but that is when it comes to his family, not the apes.  

Subtlety is the key here and it makes allegorical references rather than hammer down what it is has to say. And this is not just a story of friendship between humans and animals, there is more to it. At times the apes behave like humans and vice versa. As evolution has proved, there is after all a thin line between us and our predecessors. 

Published in The Navhind Times on 13th July 2014

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