The Program (2015) Review

Director: Stephen Frears 

Cast: Ben Foster, Chris O'Dowd, Lee Pace, Dustin Hoffman and Jesse Plemons.

The rise and fall of Lance Armstrong could also be another title of this film. For those who don't know who Lance Armstrong is and what he has did, he was once the 7 time winner of the most grueling bike race in the world, The Tour de France. He survived cancer and became an icon and one of the most famous and rich sporting personalities on the planet. The only problem is that he cheated throughout his entire career using the most sophisticated blood doping program known to man. 

The film is based on the book 'Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong' by writer David Walsh. David Walsh played here by Chris O'Dowd, was the journalist whose pursuit of the truth was a key factor in the downfall of the one time King of cycling.  O' Dowd plays down his normal funny bones and portrays Walsh as the everyman and hero of the story. He is convincing but sadly is given little to do in order to spread his acting wings. 

Ben Foster plays Lance. Foster is normally that guy who is great in that movie that you can't remember the name of and didn't really like. He embodies Armstrong mind, body and soul.  To play the part, Foster trained with the Garmin pro-cycling team. He watched and studied hours of archive footage of Armstrong competing. He also took performance-enhancing drugs (hopefully under watchful eyes) to fully become the man. The results are compelling and highly convincing. It's a shame that the rest of the film doesn't quite match Ben Foster's commitment and performance.

Guillaume Canet plays team doctor Michele Ferrari. He was the brains behind the doping program who turned normal and average cyclists into suped-up winning machines. Canet seems to be having fun as Ferrari but his Italian accent sometimes verges on the wrong side of good.

Breaking Bad's Jesse Plemons is Floyd Landis, one time teammate and future winner of the tour. Plemons not only looks identical to Landis but is the heartbeat of the second half the film. His regrets, doubts and disillusion to the blood doping program becomes entangled with Fosters Armstrong's bullying, who is convinced that doping is the only way to win. This is an interesting relationship to watch develop. 

The amount of detail the filmmakers have gone into is tremendous. From the bikes to the team briefings and news conferences. Everything cuts in perfectly with the original footage which is spread throughout.  Sometimes it is not clear which is which, this is a great testament to the film.

The script by Frears and John Hodge is fine but is doesn't really delve deep enough and improve upon on the brilliant documentary 'The Armstrong Lie' by Alex Gibney in 2013. Key moments are mentioned and shown like witnesses Besty Andreu and the team physio Emma O'Reilly, but these are skipped over quickly with little thought. The last 10 minutes feels rushed. Most people know the outcome of Armstrong but it would have been nice to enjoy and watch the compulsive liar and cheat squirm more.  

The Program has a excellent central performance at the heart of it, couple this with strong visuals and a script which just about informs. It also does keep you engaged for the runtime. It's just a shame the film assumes previous knowledge before watching the film to really get the best out of it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

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The Walk 3D (2015) Review

The Walk is based on the Philippe Petit book 'To Reach the clouds'. It tells the story of his now famous walk between the twin towers (the World Trade Centre) on nothing but his wire. It stars Joseph Gordon Levitt, Charlotte Le Bon and Ben Kingsley. It's directed by Robert Zemeckis whose past films include Back to the future, Forrest Gump and Flight.

This isn't the first time Philippe Petit's story has been bought to the screen. In 2008 James Marsh’s brilliant Oscar winning documentary Man on Wire was released. So most people are some what familiar with Petit's tightrope antics in 1974. But now Hollywood has sprinkled it's magic and we have the all singing, all dancing, live action version with a sexy leading man and of course it gets the 3D treatment.

Most the time 3D films haven't really brought anything new. They are generally a complete waste of time and are a way for the studios to squeeze more money out of the paying customer. I can probably count the ones I liked on one hand - in fact the best film I had seen in 3D was probably Jackass. That was until now. The Walk could be the game-changer not only that the studios were looking for, but for us as an audience as well. It's a film which nowadays is rare. Its truly been made for the cinema. My advice is to watch it on the biggest screen as possible and if you have the means, on IMAX 3D as well.

The director has taken the stories components and instead of stuff just flying out at you he uses the 3D to help tell the story. The whole third act when JGL is on top of the towers and about to do his walk will give some people vertigo. It feels like you up there with him and you could fall at any point. It's stunning. As there is actually no real life footage of the event, Zemeckis has done a great job of re-staging it.

What could have been a straight forward boring, run of the mill movie, is actually a fun heist movie or as Philippe calls it, an 'artistic coup'. Each member of the coup comes with different skill sets which makes it feel rather like one of the Ocean films or even the Italian Job. 

The entire cast is excellent and have great chemistry. JGL opens his mouth and the French accent of Philippe Petit comes out. This will probably take you a little by surprise. It does take a few minutes to adapt and in some places it sounds a little comical and cliché. But with JGL's charm (a stereotypically French trait) he is as reliable as he normally is. This is his film from start to finish and thankfully he can carry it. Charlotte Le Bon is also great as Annie, Philippe's girlfriend and partner in crime. (No dodgy accent from her as she is French). Ben Kingsley is also good As Papa Rudi. I couldn't place his accent but when can you.

The Walk is a great fun film which should be seen in the cinema. The two hour runtime isn't a problem, the pacing is perfect. Cast are great and should be applauded. My only concern is that it may not have the magic on the small screen or in 2D but that's a worry for another time.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️