Cinema Review: The Adventures of Tintin - The Secret of the Unicorn (2011)

It’s easy to forget the simple joys of a well-made opening credits sequence. Steven Spielberg’s first film for three years begins by resurrecting this quickly evaporating cinema staple. Refusing to copy the current trend of jumping straight into the action without even so much as a title card, Tintin opens with a carefully crafted sequence, where stylised 2D figures act out a sort of Greatest Hits of Tintin’s adventures. There are hints of the legendary Saul Bass, as well as Spielberg’s own Catch Me If You Can. This is Spielberg indicating he has more faith in modern attention spans than some of the newer breed of directors, content to let the credits gently ease you into the world and atmosphere of the film. Maestro John Williams – also working for the first time since the director’s last effort, the fourth Indiana Jones - may not provide the sort of rousing, instantly memorable march the likes of which made him famous, but he does leave his indelible musical stamp, unmistakable amidst the sea of Hans Zimmer clones who score everything else these days.

Indeed, the term ‘old-fashioned’ comes to mind a lot while watching Tintin, which is slightly paradoxical in that Spielberg is using the most modern and cutting edge of filming techniques to tell his story – namely, 3D performance capture. But it’s old-fashioned in an entirely complimentary sense – as in, it takes you back to when action adventure films were fun and driven by relentless optimism and pure joie de vivre rather than world-weary cynicism. In short, Spielberg’s 1980s output. The Beard himself is on the sort of crowd-pleasing, family friendly form the likes of which haven’t been seen since 1993 when a bunch of digital dinosaurs revolutionised the Hollywood blockbuster. It’s also old-fashioned in its approach to storytelling, concentrating on a slow build to a memorable payoff rather than the constant assault of, say, Michael Bay.

Many of Tintin’s most euphoric highs are anything but old-fashioned, though. Building on, and exceeding, his contemporary Robert Zemeckis’ dalliances with the technology, Spielberg makes at times utterly inspired use of the immense freedom afforded by the new toys. Two sequences in particular are absolute gems. One, a massive Man o’ War battle on the high seas, provides more piratical thrills in ten minutes than the whole of Jack Sparrow’s most recent adventure. The director keeps the camera fluid, transitioning seamlessly from the past to the (film’s) present via numerous creative means that could not have been achieved in live action. The second highlight is the film’s main action showpiece, a jaw-dropping helter-skelter chase through a North African town, which is filmed in one single, continuous take. It’s a genuine stand-up-and-applaud moment.

Aside from the action scenes, though, what any film needs is compelling characters, and it’s only in this department where Tintin struggles slightly. Despite Jamie Bell’s earnest efforts, Tintin himself is bland – perhaps intentionally so, in order for him to function as an audience proxy – which makes the quieter moments, and the times when he’s alone, more of a lull than they should be. Fortunately he’s not alone all that often, as he usually has the colourful Captain Haddock with him, entertainingly performed by motion capture stalwart Andy Serkis. (That’s not to mention Snowy, his faithful dog, who has as much character as any of the humans.) Even the larger performances, though, tend to feel a little too restrained, which may be a side effect of utilising motion capture as opposed to more exaggerated and expressive, but less strictly realistic, animation. As a result some of the comic relief falls a bit flat, particularly the physical, slapstick stuff. On the plus side, the CGI itself is top-drawer - dead eyes are not a problem here.

The fact that a Peter Jackson-directed sequel has already been given a preliminary start date points to the film’s other flaw, its climax, or rather lack thereof. It goes for a more open ended approach which teeters on unsatisfying. In hindsight, the film does have a good final showdown, but it doesn’t feel like the finale because it follows straight on the heels of the end of the second act, with a more low-key final few minutes afterwards that seem to be setting up for another action beat that never arrives. The film thrives on atmosphere, though, be it the unspecified European (Brussels? Paris?) city where Tintin lives, a grimy cargo ship, or the Sahara Desert, and this distinctive character is maintained right to the end. You can’t help but be swept along.



Summary
This is Spielberg having more fun than he has in years, which translates into a supremely enjoyable, precisely crafted boy’s own adventure yarn. It’s refreshing and invigorating, if not vintage.

Blu-ray Review: The Blues Brothers (1980)

The Blues Brothers is the definition of a cult classic: perhaps not particularly widely seen (especially in recent times, relegated to late night showings on ITV4), but worshipped by many loyal fans. The story of two brothers, one just released from jail, who find themselves on ‘a mission from God’ to raise $5000 for an orphanage, it has character to burn and a unique sense of humour. It's also quite evidently the work of a relatively inexperienced crew, particularly in terms of handling the large-scale scenes of carnage, making for a film that is rather ragged editorially. Most of the film, even many of its great highlights, could be improved with a little more fine-tuning, but that's probably a big part of its appeal: it's a loveable mongrel, not a flawless but bland pedigree.

A large part of the enjoyment of the film stems from the interplay between the brothers themselves, played by John Belushi (two years before drugs cut short a legendary career) and Dan Aykroyd, who also co-wrote the script. Permanently wearing their black suits and sunglasses, and never ruffled - not even by a mysteriously homicidal Carrie Fisher who stalks them throughout - they're just a pleasure to be around. On their episodic mission they encounter numerous musical legends making memorable cameos, such as Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, and inadvertently manage to make a whole battalion of enemies from country singers to neo-Nazis. They all converge to hilarious effect in the concert climax.

Not content with just entertaining us musically, director John Landis also crafts several action scenes, the final one an enormous car chase through Chicago - setting a record for vehicular destruction - before the army descend. The sheer scale just piles on the absurdity to breaking point, but the enterprise never crashes down under its own weight. Indeed it's in this final third where Blues Brothers' classic status becomes truly deserved. Up to this point, it's an endearing offbeat affair with a few good laughs, but the finale elevates it to an iconic piece of movie folklore.

Release Information
Country: UK / Region: Free / Version: Blu-ray + Digital Copy / Discs: 1 BD, 1 DVD / Distributor: Universal

Presentation
The film looks pretty damn good, all things considered, once the murky opening titles have passed (once again, blame optical compositing). The level of detail is surprisingly high, as is the clarity, and Universal have thankfully stayed away from the DNR knob, leaving the natural grain intact. The soundtrack is only in standard DTS - 768kpbs, same as a DVD - which is hard to believe for a film where sound is so key, but fear not: this is a cracker of a track, with brilliant depth, thumping bass, and great directionality, doing the music proud.

Extras
You get the option of watching an extended cut, seamlessly branched (or not so seamlessly, as the picture quality differs noticeably). An option just to watch the added scenes alone would have been welcome as the film is already too long in its theatrical cut, but it's interesting to note that the film was originally envisaged as an old-fashioned 3-hour roadshow event. Not all of the missing footage has been recovered - the extended cut is about 20 minutes longer. Otherwise, there's a healthy 56-minute Making Of, and two shorter featurettes: one a 25th anniversary retrospective, and one a tribute to John Belushi.



Summary
A highly flawed but, at its best, raucously funny musical comedy, Blues Brothers builds to an exhilarating finale, glancing a couple of speed bumps along the way.

Blu-ray Review: Green Lantern (2011)

Green Lantern certainly has one of the more elaborate mythologies in superhero comic books, with a truly cosmic scale and all sorts of factions, alien races, rules and characters. Another word for 'elaborate' in this instance could also be, to the uncharitable, 'weird'. That makes it a bit of a hard sell for a blockbuster, but Warner Bros. are understandably keen to try to milk their B-level DC heroes (i.e. not Batman or Superman) like Marvel have been so successful at doing. They were optimistically hoping to capitalise on Avatar's success with another story about a human sucked into a fantastical alien world, but, for whatever reason, the film was stillborn at the box office: little over $100 million domestic, and $200m worldwide, does not nowadays a blockbuster make, when outlay on production and marketing far exceeds that.

Green Lantern opens promisingly. Rejecting the dull domesticity of many a recent superhero’s origin stories, the film goes straight to the realm of science fiction, with an intriguing beginning showing the release of the film’s ultimate big bad. The ambitions are on display immediately, the scale appropriately grand. From there we cut to Earth, where we meet Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds). The character turns out to be a mix between Tony Stark (cocky, womanising) and Top Gun’s Maverick (hot shot jet fighter pilot). Reynolds is surprisingly likeable in the role – not a quality he has often portrayed – and delivers his lines with enjoyable wit and conviction. His special powers arise from a ring that's given to him by a dying alien, a member of the Green Lantern Corps, a group of intergalactic peace keepers, and are not your run-of-the-mill super strength or speed. Rather, he's able to materialise anything he can imagine out of green energy, as well as fly. The powers are potentially a bit cheesy, and the line is crossed from time to time as he turns into something like Inspector Gadget (go-go-gadget-minigun!) meets a Looney Tunes character, but for the most part it's an interesting and unfamiliar twist that opens up some unique opportunities for action sequences, even if the potential is not fully exploited.

A large part of Green Lantern's appeal to comic book fans is its major science-fiction trappings, and they have been quite vocal in their disappointment with the film's mostly Earthbound events. The narrative's trips to Oa (the Lantern Corps' home world) are sporadic and mostly brief, including Jordan's induction and training, which seems overly abridged. However it's plain to see that the filmmakers were trying to walk a fine line between appeasement of the fans and wider appeal, so you can understand their reluctance to fully indulge in the more outlandish elements of the mythos. As it is they remain at least visually faithful to the source material, which itself may be offputting for mass audiences as it is pretty, well, weird (that word again) - Oa is truly alien, unlike, say, Avatar's Pandora, which is strange-yet-reassurringly-familiar in its flora and fauna. The style hews closer to Superman than anything in Marvel's arguably more grounded canon, Thor being the exception.

It remains hard to fathom quite how Lantern cost $200m, but then the budgets of many a blockbuster boggle the mind these days. It surely has something to do with the decision to render the super suit entirely in CG, the rationale being that it’s meant to be made of pure energy, rather than spandex. It works for the most part, the suit given a visual flair that could not have been achieved without effects, although the quality of those effects does vary. Unfortunately, too, the film suffers from the now-expected third act meltdown from an origin story. Whether your hero is Iron Man, Hulk, Green Hornet, even Batman, it seems no origin story can sustain a memorable protagonist as well as a villain, leaving the climactic showdown as something of a rushed affair, more of a tease for a sequel than a satisfying payoff. In an extraordinary bout of optimism, WB have already greenlit (no pun intended!) the next adventure, so we may yet see the payoff that is promised.

Release Information
Country: UK / Region: Free / Version: Triple Play Steelbook / Discs: 1 BD, 1 DVD / Distributor: Warner Bros.

Presentation
Image: Colours come through strongly, particularly (you guessed it) green, with some slightly over-pink skin tones, but the prevalent deep shadows mean that the image is none too bright. This 2D Blu-ray transfer handles it with few undue artefacts or similar problems, but we all know a dark image is not great for 3D, so I would expect that release to be one to avoid. Detail and sharpness are pretty good despite an overall digitised look to the film which probably occurred at the intermediate stage; some grain survives intact, but many shots look slightly smoothed over. Still, it remains an overall slick, pleasing transfer.

Sound: This is one of those 'wake the neighbours' tracks, which might be good or bad. It certainly doesn't lack for power or impact but may require some volume riding for more sensitive ears. Surround effects are employed well.

Extras
The typical WB assortment for a new, high profile release, which means: Maximum Movie Mode, a bunch of "Focus Point" featurettes, and a few other goodies. There's also an extended cut, about nine minutes longer, which adds a really quite important sequence of Hal's childhood. The MMM is a bit disappointing, lacking any director walk-ons or moments where the film pauses to dissect a scene. Still, the picture-in-picture segments are continuous and frequent, so it's certainly worthwhile. The Focus Points add up to a pretty thorough 47 minutes, which are supplemented further by an interesting - and illuminating for the uninitiated - 20-minute piece on Green Lantern's comic book history. There are nine minutes apiece on Ryan Reynolds' preparation for the role and a 'digital comic' of the first issue of the recent Justice League series. The deleted scenes are memorable only for the glimpse into what the film looked like before CGI worked its magic.



Summary
Its design and mythology may be an acquired taste, but Green Lantern is an efficient, if structurally conventional, superhero origin movie, with a science fiction backdrop that adds interest and scale. In the superhero movie pantheon, it ranks somewhere near Ang Lee's similarly hued Hulk: an interesting, alternative take, destined to be underrated by many.

Blu-ray Review: Paul (2011)

With its frequent, flagrant references to mainly 1980s science fiction classics, and its irreverently comedic tone, Paul has all the hallmarks of a parody, yet it manages to feel anything but. Rather, it feels like a really enjoyable alien-flavoured road trip written by and starring two guys with evident love of the genre. Parodies rely on the viewer’s knowledge of a film’s antecedents to get the jokes, but whereas Paul has its fair share of in-jokes (some of which prove to be hilarious given the context in which they are used), it doesn’t rely on them. It’s successful on its own terms: as a comedy, as an action film, and also as a slightly twisted variation on the buddy movie.

Paul is the first film to feature the starring British combo of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost on which they haven’t collaborated with Edgar Wright. While he went off to make Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, the two actors who bonded through their Star Wars obsession went on a road trip through the UFO hotspots of America. The film they wrote as a result recreates many of the experiences they had on the trip, with one major addition: foul-mouthed, pot-bellied, bulbous-headed E.T. Paul. As the title character and also, no doubt, the recipient of much of the budget (as a fully CGI creation), he’s a crucial component, one that is fortunately successful. Seth Rogen may seem an odd choice to voice such a critter, but his vocal stylings are perfectly suited to the character. The joke that he’s less of an alien in the US than the two wide-eyed tourists he tags along with proves to have plenty of comic mileage.

It’s clear from the Making Of material on the disc that Pegg and Frost see the film as their baby, but the choice of director also pays off. Greg Mottola, the man behind the wonderful Adventureland, brings real pathos, an eye for character, and also a great contact list of acting talent. The supporting roles are stuffed to the brim with scene stealers, including Jason Bateman, Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig, not to mention numerous cameos. Hader and Wiig in particular are just hilarious, though unlike in Adventureland they do not constitute a double act here: Hader is a hapless fed and Wiig an unwilling passenger on Paul’s interstate journey.

Fortunately, too, Pegg and Frost are as likeable as ever; you never question that they've been friends for years, and in many respects seem to just be playing themselves. Paul comes across as a very personal passion project for the pair, and they prove that they can work as a double act without Edgar Wright's frenetic direction. In Mottola's hands Paul is a more laid-back affair than the whizz-bangery of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, which works brilliantly for the story. Pegg and Frost were aiming for the vibe of a classic road movie that just happened to have an alien in it, and despite all the explosions, juvenile gags, geeky references and Spielberg riffs, they pulled it off.



Release Information
Country: UK / Region: Free / Version: Single disc / Discs: 1 / Distributor: Universal

Presentation
Right from the Universal logo, Paul's warm, earthy colour timing is in evidence. Overall it looks great, no seams evident with the visual effects despite the relatively low budget, and with entirely satisfying detail. The soundtrack, too, is everything you'd expect of a modern movie, the music particularly making great use of the 5.1 configuration.

Extras
An ample and engaging array of supplements includes a commentary, 40 minute Making Of, gag reel, numerous featurettes (many Blu-ray exclusive), and an extended 'unrated' cut.



Summary
A surprisingly heartfelt yet also hilarious road trip, mixing an iconic American backdrop with a British fish-out-of-water sensibility and more than a little love of Hollywood science fiction.

Blu-ray Review: 13 Assassins (2011)

The title that 13 Assassins unavoidably brings to mind is the monumental Seven Samurai - both are about the titular group of warriors facing a siege of a small village - but the numerical advantage of Assassins proves to be indicative of a significant shortcoming. Whereas legendary director Akira Kurosawa luxuriated in three-plus hours to introduce his band of seven, Takashi Miike (a Japanese director famous for rather more sordid work) allows us only two hours in the company of thirteen. The end result is that it remains rather hard to remember each character, and virtually impossible to discern any particular traits in all but a couple of the cast. Few, if any, of them receive any individual screen time or opportunities to differentiate themselves from the rest.

Even the (at times tortuously) slow first act of the film ignores much in the way of character development, Miike more intent on detailing political alliances and establishing the late Shogun-era backdrop of the mid-19th Century. This section is largely confined to rather similar looking, murkily lit interiors, and conversations throw around many unknown names. The director's almost complete avoidance of establishing shots in this section gives it a hemmed-in, set-bound feel, which is not initially promising. Flashes of the trademark Miike brutality are the only memorable moments, albeit perhaps not for the most desirable reasons.

Then, however, after about an hour, proceedings open up considerably. Done with establishing the various clan rivalries and political manoeuvring, 13 Assassins settles down into a rather straightforward small group of heroes versus overwhelming odds scenario. The film finally explodes into an extraordinary orgy of swordplay that Miike manages to sustain for 45 thrilling minutes. Some suspension of disbelief is required - there's a bovine stampede rendered with iffy CGI, and the enemies do tend to line up one-by-one rather than make use of their huge numbers - but the incredible kineticism of the action, not to mention its supreme choreography, is a sight to see. Despite this the violence remains surprisingly restrained, extreme bloodletting kept to a relative minimum.

It's only in this final showdown where characters do come to the fore, their actions defining them better than any earlier dialogue scenes. Particularly Koji Yakusho as the heroes' leader Shinzaemon emerges as a monolithic figure, oozing gravitas, and the chilling detachment of Goro Inakagi's bloodlust-fuelled villain Lord Naritsugu proves an able foil. A shame, then, that just before we finally get to know some of the protagonists, most of them die, preventing any real investment in their plight.



Release Information
Country: UK / Region: B / Version: N/A / Discs: 1 / Distributor: Artificial Eye

Presentation
The film proves to be a bit disappointing in the looks department, with drab colours throughout (even in sunlight) and fairly soft detail. I was tempted to reach for the TV's dreaded Vivid colour settings to inject a bit of life - never a good sign. A high bitrate keeps any artifacting in check, however, meaning the quite strong grain never becomes intrusive. Sound-wise it's more successful, the DTS-HD track delivering thundering horse charges and the exaggerated thwunk of sword on flesh with ease.

Extras
Twenty minutes' worth of deleted scenes - all in 1080p/24 and with 5.1 DTS-HD audio to boot - are offcuts from the film's longer Japanese version. Most consist simply of extended ins and outs of scenes and add little, but there are a couple of more major trims, one in particular I'm grateful was cut, its outlandish tone jarring with the rest of the film. Typically, it's this contentious scene that the director cites as his favourite in the accompanying 20-minute interview (subtitled).



Summary
A thrilling hour of samurai heroics preceeded by an at times slightly dull set-up, 13 Assassins rewards patience with but never manages to overcome its more indelible flaws.