San Andreas (2015) Review

San Andreas is a Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson disaster movie. He plays a helicopter rescue pilot who in the midst of a massive earthquake and must first rescue his estranged wife followed by his daughter who is stuck in the turmoil in San Francisco. 

With movies of this genre, it is always going to be a tall ask and a hard sell. Big disaster flicks haven't gone down too well with fans and critics for years.  Enter Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. Johnson has had a good run recently with the box office. He is a one man PR/Marketing machine and studios love that. The Rock plays a rescue helicopter pilot called called Ray. You are introduced to Ray while he saves a young girl from a car  which has gone over a cliff from a rock slide (that wasn't a pun). As always Johnson plays Ray as an all American action hero, ripping car doors off with his bare hands and punching car thieves for good measure.  

Carla Gugino plays Ray's estranged wife Emma. Gugino and Johnson have strong chemistry and it shows that this is the pairs third time of working together. 

Alexandra Daddario plays the pair's daughter Blake. Blake is in San Francisco when the big earthquake hits. It is a strange casting. Not because she is bad, but because The Rock who is playing Daddario's father is only 14 years older than her. Blake is meant to be 17 but has been played by an actress who is pushing 30. At no point does she convince the audience as a 17 year old. Not her fault, just strange casting.

The rest of the cast are a strange mix: a "blink and you miss it" cameo from Kylie Minogue which is more distracting than enjoyable, a couple of actors playing brothers with the worst British accents in recent history, Ioan Gruffudd running around looking very confused, and the wonderful Paul Giamatti chewing up dialogue in typical Giamatti Style. He does most of the heavy lifting in terms of explaining what is actually happening to the US coast and even makes some of the dialogue believable.  

The script is by far the film's downfall. The dialogue is very wooden and in some places very, very cringe worthy. The 2D dimensional characters are instantly forgettable. There is a back story about a dead daughter between Ray and Emma which tries to give the story more depth but sadly is more a hindrance than a help. 

The pacing of the movie is fine but every twist and turn is predictable. Being predictable isn't a good thing when you're meant to be glued to your seats and routing for your heroes in near death experiences.

I do have to give a mention to the special effects, especially the big set pieces.  They are truly breathtaking. Hours and hours of people working must of gone into slowly crafting some of the best and most bonkers earthquake set pieces that there has ever been on film.

San Andreas is a combination of great special effects and a terrible script. It's predictable and does the play by play of stupid disaster movie clichés. But if you ignore all that and just enjoy it for what it is - a big, dumb, fun disaster movie with a big action star at the heart of it, you will have an OK couple of hours of viewing pleasure. Probably better than what came before it but still not the disaster movie it aspired to be and what the audience were hoping for.

⭐️⭐️

- Dave Curtis

Legend (2015) Review

Legend is based upon twins Reggie and Ronnie Kray; two of the most notorious criminals in London's History in the 1960s who organised crime in London's east end. 

The film is directed by Brian Helgeland who was a co-writer of 'LA confidential'  and stars Tom Hardy, Emily Browning and Christopher Eccleston amongst others. 

The story goes that Director Brian Helgeland originally wanted Hardy for the role of Reggie, and Tom Hardy wanted the role of Ronnie. But after further talks, Helgeland was persuaded to let Hardy try his hand at both. The end result is a joy to watch from an actor who always gives everything. 

Hardy is excellent as both Reggie and Ronnie. He brings different qualities to characters who are both complicated people. Hardy's Reggie is the less troubled soul out of the two brothers. Hardy plays him as the straighter (no pun intended) of the two, with more brains, charm and wit. Hardy also plays the paranoid schizophrenic, unhinged, homosexual twin brother Ronnie. His love for his brother can only be matched by his love for violence. Ronnie is very much the comic relief of the story but sometimes that borders on being too cartoonish. Sadly it feels Ronnie is a secondary character and spends large chunks of the movie taking a back seat to Reggie and Frances.  

Emily Browning plays Frances Shea, Reggie's future wife. Browning's east end accent is spot on and her portrayal of a woman who is dealing with the ups and downs of being in a relationship with London's most infamous criminal is compelling to watch. The only problem I have with Frances is the narration which she delivers and is suppose to inform the viewer the direction of movie. There is completely no need for it. Not only is it an annoyance, it's also no way needed. Cut it out and the film would run just as smoothly and maybe cut down on the two hour runtime which in places drifts and starts to lose its way.

Overall Legend has an excellent supporting cast from the likes of Paul Bettany, David Thewlis, Taron Egerton, Paul Anderson, Colin Morgan and Christopher Eccleston. Personally I would liked to have seen Eccleston get a bit more dialogue to chew on but that is a very minor quibble. 

Legend is based on a book by John Pearson which was written in 1969, 'The Profession of Violence'. So basically the film is about two very horrible brothers who did some truly horrific things to many people. It seems like portraying them as some kind of anti-heroes and glamourising them and the violence which in some parts of the movie is almost comedic is a strange route. Its more 'Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' than 'The Long Kiss Goodnight. Don't get me wrong its an entertaining film but probably misses the mark to been taken seriously as a true representation of what The Kray twins were like and what they did. In the film Ronnie always wanted to be known as a famous gangster and I'm sure he would have loved this film.

The script is well written and the film is well directed. Helgeland makes London look great. Legend has a good soundtrack with a great theme from Carter Burwell. Tom Hardy holds everything together from his dual role and has great support from the whole of the cast.

⭐️⭐️1/2  (out of 5)

-Dave Curtis

Doctor Who - River returns this Christmas

So for any big Doctor Who fan today had a big surprise. Alex Kingston will be returning as Professor River Song in this years Christmas special. 

No details have been released so far but with filming due to start this week it won't be long until we start getting snippets of information. What we do know is that Steven Moffat is on writing duties and Douglas Mackinnon will be in the directors chair.

Moffat did have this to say. “Another Christmas, another special for Doctor Who - and what could be more special than the return of Alex Kingston as Professor River Song? The last time the Doctor saw her she was a ghost. The first time he met her, she died. So how can he be seeing her again? As ever, with the most complicated relationship in the universe, it’s a matter of time...”

To date River Song has appeared in 15 episodes. Her first appearance was in 2008 'Silence in the Library'. This will be the third incarnation of the Doctor that River has had involvement with that we know of. It will be her first meeting with Peter Capaldi's doctor, which personally I think will be great. The two of them in the TARDIS can only be a good thing.

Rivers Song has always had a mixed reaction from the Doctor Who fans, but she has been part of some of the biggest story lines over the past fews years. Maybe some thought the character was never to been seen again when Matt Smith departed but luckily Steven Moffat thinks the character is still needed and has a story to tell.

The Doctor will return to BBC One on Saturday, 19 September with a 12 episode series, followed then by the Christmas special which as always is on Christmas Day.