Eden Lake (5/10): An uncomfortable but effective horror thriller

"Follow the blood!”

James Watkins’ feature directorial debut is an unsettling and gruesome one in which a young couple decides to escape the hectic city life for a romantic weekend at a remote lake side. The beautiful location will soon contrast with the horrors the couple will face as we get several early warning signs that things aren’t going to go exactly as they had planned. From the moment in which Jenny (Kelly Reilly) and Steve (Michael Fassbender) arrive at the town and are pulling up to a local restaurant another vehicle cuts in front of them and steals their parking space. The local people aren’t very friendly and there happens to be a group of young adolescents nearby led by Brett (Jack O’Connell) who act very disrespectful towards them. At first Steve and Jenny ignore them because they are here for a romantic and peaceful getaway, but after being provoked by these young kids he stands up to them. The kids are even more disrespectful and pretty soon things begin to escalate and brutal violence ensues. 

The film reminded me a lot of Alexandre Aja’s High Tension for its gruesome violence, and Michael Haneke’s Funny Games for its dark depiction of human behavior. Eden Lake is also reminiscent of 70’s horror films. There are many brutal and unrelentless scenes that made me feel uncomfortable, but I have to admit that I cared for the characters’ wellbeing so I was engaged despite having to turn my face away during some of the torture scenes. The film is well paced and thrilling and the performances are pretty solid, but I can’t recommend it because it was just too violent and dark. Why even watch this movie then, you may ask? Because of Michael Fassbender who I could watch in absolutely anything. He is one of my favorite actors, and this was one of his early films, but it one of his weakest roles. This film came out the same year as Hunger and Fassbender got all the attention for his role in that movie, so I had overlooked this horror thriller. I was also surprised to find out that Jack O’Connell had a supporting role here considering what a breakthrough he has had in the last year. His performance here is so villainous that I want to go back and watch Unbroken just to see him suffer. There is something wrong about wanting these young kids to get what they deserve, but they are so hateful that audiences won’t be able to help it. Kelly Reilly has also made a name for herself, starring more recently in the second season of True Detective alongside Vince Vaughn, and here she plays the lead character. She surprisingly stole every scene she was in despite playing a character who made some very poor decisions.

As effective as Eden Lake is, I still can’t really make up my mind if I cared so much for these characters of for the actors. I was engaged because I wanted Fassbender to teach the kids a lesson, but I can’t say if the film would work without a well known and likable actor. This British film has inspired remakes of several similar themed movies which in turn probably inspired this one and opened the doors for their new versions, such as I Spit on Your Grave (1978,2010) and The Last House on the Left (1972,2010). Eden Lake may seem as pretty much a standard horror film that follows the basic genre formulas and cliches, but it does have a shocking finale. It is effective and accomplishes what it sets out to do, but since it is not my type of film I didn’t get much enjoyment out of it and it did bother me that some of the decisions made by the characters seemed to be so ridiculous that they can only be explained as serving the plot. It is a very upsetting film and fans of the genre would probably be very pleased with it.          

'71 (7/10): Jack O'Connell is quickly becoming a household name.

“Hey, listen, I don't want you worried about me, okay? I'll be fine, promise you.“

Yann Demange’s theatrical debut couldn’t have come at a better time for its lead protagonist, Jack O’Connell, after the success of Starred Up and his breakout Hollywood lead role in Unbroken. O’Connell couldn’t have chosen more physically challenging roles than he has in these three films, but he has managed to make a name for himself and he is an actor I will continue to look forward to. In ’71 he plays Gary Hook, a young British soldier who is sent to Belfast along with his unit during the war in which Irish factions were divided between the Catholics who wanted to be liberated from British rule and the Protestants who supported British involvement. The film however doesn’t spend time explaining the politics and it simply introduces us to this soldier’s life who is abandoned by his platoon when a riot breaks out in the streets. Hook struggles for his life in the midst of the turmoil in these unknown streets where he is deemed as the enemy. He runs into several people along the way without fully knowing who is on his side or who wants him killed. The action takes place during the course of one day and there are several thrills and twists along the way.

Jack O’Connell delivers another solid performance playing a soldier who is struggling to survive. We’ve seen the premise of the left behind soldier done many times before, but in ’71 we don’t get the typical war hero who fights his way through enemy lines. Here Hook fears for his life and is forced to rely on the people he encounters without knowing if they are friend or foe. Burke’s screenplay is minimal but full of thrills and suspense, and its shot with a hand-held camera that gives the chase scenes an authentic feel to them and a sense of immediacy. ’71 doesn’t give the audience a back-story and we are forced to piece the events together as they happen (or rely on our prior knowledge of the events that took place in Belfast), so the politics can become a bit unclear, but the film delivers several thrills along the way. The action escalates as the situation gets out of control pretty quickly and we easily identify with Hook’s character from early on. So it becomes more about his survival than about the politics and reasonings behind the war. Sean Harris, Paul Anderson, Sam Reid, David Wilmot, Corey McKinley, and Barry Keoghan are among the supporting actors who deliver compelling performances, but it’s O’Connell who stands out once again.

The action sequences in ’71 are the highlight of the movie thanks to the sense of immediacy captured through the lens of the hand-held camera as Hook runs through the narrow streets of Belfast. But that same technique also contributes to some headache inducing shaky camera moments. Overall it is a compelling suspenseful thriller that proves once gain that Jack O’Connell can carry a film on his own.   

Unbroken (7/10): The Passion of the Christ of War movies

“A moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory.”

Directed by Angelina Jolie, Unbroken focuses on the inspiring true story of Olympic winning medalist, Louis Zamperini, who later went on to serve during World War II going through all kinds of hardships. Unbroken opens with an incredibly strong action scene (which might be the best in the movie) and as the story unfolds we get some flashbacks of Louis’s childhood and upbringing. It is a bit formulaic in the sense that it follows pretty much the same conventions as most biopics have done in the past. One of my favorite quotes in the film is when Louis’s brother tells him that “A moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory,” but ironically after getting through this film the quote feels like it works better the other way around, “A moment of glory is worth a lifetime of pain” because Jolie makes sure we witness all the trials that he went through during the War. She focuses more on Louis’s lifetime of pain and only a moment of glory. Unbroken is The Passion of the Christ of war dramas because we experience the hardships that Louis has to go through in a very detailed manner. There is no doubt in my mind that this was an inspirational story, but Jolie spends most of her time going from one scene to the next without ever trying to develop the character or tell us who Louis really was. In other words she tells an inspiring story but doesn’t transmit anything about the man who went through it all. There are several reasons why I did enjoy this film despite its flaws and the first one is because of Roger Deakins’s cinematography which is always outstanding. I could see pretty much any movie that this man shoots. The second reason is because the Coen brothers were involved in the adaptation of Laura Hillenbrand’s best-selling novel. The Coen brothers aren’t as successful when they don’t direct their own screenplays, but this time they had strong material to work with. Hillenbrand is a great writer (Seabiscuit  and now Unbroken) and the story is inspirational so there is a lot to like. 

The film hooked me from the opening scene where we experience a great action scene from within a bomber aircraft overflying the Pacific Ocean. Then the generic flashbacks began and the film lost some of its potential. Jack O’Connell plays the lead character Louis Zamperini. After his solid performance in Starred Up, O’Connell, is definitely someone worth keeping your eyes on because he’s extremely talented. In Unbroken we see him enduring a great amount of suffering (thus the comparison with The Passion of the Christ) so the film focuses on that aspect instead of giving us any insight on O’Connell’s character. I still think the story is so inspirational that it manages to hook us and captivate us throughout the entire run time. Jolie is interested in simply telling the story so we go from one scene to the next without learning much of who the character’s really are. The opening was fantastic, the scene where the plane crashes into the Ocean and the survivors struggle to survive was also another highlight of the film, and finally the torture he endures as a prisoner of war was inspiring. The technical aspects of the film are fantastic and Deakins cinematography is gorgeous. The supporting performances from Domhnall Gleeson and Miyavi are also very solid. But by the time the end credits start rolling you kind of wish the film had focused on the later aspects of Louis’s life which were perhaps even more inspiring than the torture he endured.

Starred Up (8/10: The best UK film of 2014

“Starred Up means you're leader.”

Starred Up is unquestionably the best UK film of the year. It’s no surprise because the best prison dramas that have come out over recent years come from Europe (think Bronson, Hunger, and A Prophet). What surprised me the most about Starred Up is that the humanity of these prisoners is never lost. These are guys who do questionable things and constantly have anger issues, but somehow as an audience we are still drawn to them and care for them. It isn’t something easy to achieve but thanks to David Mackenzie’s solid direction and Jonathan Asser’s brilliant and realistic script we get an authentic prison drama with characters we can engage with and are worth investing in. Asser actually based the script on his personal experience when he worked as a voluntary therapist at a prison. It really comes through in the script because you have a sense that he sees these prisoners as actual human beings and not just stereotypical prisoners which we sometimes get from movies. He raises some important issues that most prison movies fail to do so and which concern him. There are two ways we can view prisons: as a place where we can set apart the criminals and keep them away from society or as a place where we send these criminals to be rehabilitated. He firmly believes in the second cause and that is why he includes a voluntary therapist in this film that is trying to rehabilitate some of these prisoners. These are issues that aren’t usually raised in films of this genre, but through this authentic portrayal of life behind bars we get a sense of it. That is why Asser is so concerned with humanizing the main character, Eric Love, played brilliantly by Jack O’Connell (Unbroken), who has just been sent to prison after spending years in juvenile institutions for his violent behavior. He’s sent to the same prison where his father (played by Ben Mendelsohn) has been spending most of his life. Their hurtful relationship gives us a glimpse of why Eric behaves the way he does and it is ultimately what engages the audience with his character. However my favorite aspect of the film is the relationship he shares with the therapist (Rupert Friend) who is trying to help with his violent nature. The film is gritty and it also has a lot going on with the rest of the prisoners and guards as well. As opposed to what we feel for the prisoners, the guards don’t really view their humanity. Starred Up succeeds as an authentic portrayal inside a prison.

This is only the second time I have seen a film directed by David Mackenzie and he is back on my radar now. I had seen Spread, starring Ashton Kutcher, and I really disliked that movie. This film felt like it was directed by a completely different person. A lot of the credit has to be given to the screenwriter for writing such a compelling prison drama with scenes that you are completely invested in and have you at the edge of your seat. But of course one can’t leave out the brilliant performance from Jack O’Connell who delivers one of the most memorable prisoner characters I’ve seen. His physical performance is just inspiring. There are a number of secondary characters that will also be remembered. Ben Mendelsohn as Eric’s father is great and so is Friend as the therapist. I enjoyed many of the interactions Eric had with them and with some of his inmates. There are several things going on as we sort of get a slice of life of these prisoners life. I may have been describing this film mostly as a drama, but believe me there are several moments of incredible tension and gritty violence. It balances these themes very well and makes for a compelling watch.