Category: War

Civil War

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★★Civil War

Rated: MA15+

Directed by: Alex Garland

Written by: Alex Garland

Produced by: Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich, Gregory Goodman

Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Nick Offerman, Wagner Moura, Jefferson White, Nelson Lee, Evan Lai, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Greg Hill, Edmund Donovan.

‘Mines ahead.’

In a word, Civil War is unflinching.

Set in the near future, the fourth film directed by Alex Garland, follows war photographer, Lee (Kirsten Dunst), along with fellow journalist Joel (Wagner Moura) and veteran journalist Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) as they document a civil war in America.

The Western Forces, an armed alliance of states rebel against the federal government as the film opens out of focus, to a closeup of the president (Nick Offerman) prepping himself to tell lies to the nation, rehearsing in between flashes of war on the streets.

A crowd waits while soldiers hold machine guns.  The press take photos.  The soundtrack builds.  A young girl, Jessie (Cailee Spaeny) with a camera gets in close to the action as pressure builds, as the violence builds with the music.

Jessie gets smacked in the face; unprotected, she puts herself in the face of violence until Lee shepherds her away.

Then a bomb explodes.

Then silence as Lee takes photos of the carnage.

Jessie wants to be just like Lee.

So when Lee and Joel decide to go to DC, to photograph and interview the president before the The Western Forces take over the capitol, forcing surrender, Jessie talks her way into coming along.

After decades of being a journalist, Sammy wants a lift a Charlottesville, not DC.  Not where journalists are views as combatants.  He doesn’t want in on their suicide pact.  And Lee doesn’t want to be burdened by a journalist who’s too old to run away.

It’s 857 miles to DC.

The countdown a timeline of the film as the four determined documenters of war make their way into an ever-increasing crisis of violence.

It gets brutal.

Civil War

There’s a callous tone to this film.  The violence has that element of senselessness that comes with war movies, Garland making a point not to sensationalise the violence, “‘It is exceptionally difficult’, Garland says, ‘to make a war movie that is, in fact, anti-war.’”

The perspective of the film is watching the journalists document the war, adding another dimension of psychological callousness, or how the callous mindset develops – Lee has a duty to record, wanting to capture that perfect shot.  The questions about what is happening is for other people to ask.

Joel is addicted to the adrenaline of being on the front line, ‘What a fucking rush.’

Jessie has never felt more alive as when she thought she was going to die.

It’s senseless and brutal.  But I couldn’t look away.

Civil War is a film that finds that edge, to walk that fine line to understand the need to document; the journalist not only risking life but also harnessing the ability to close the door on feeling empathy, even morality.

To only be the observer, a lens.

It’s disturbing.

The balance of that loss of humanity is the toll the job takes on Lee.

The superstar photographer, losing her belief in journalism.

Difficult themes to unpack and like Garland’s previous films (Men (2022), Annihilation (2018), Ex Machina (2014)) Civil War feels unique but not in a fantastical way; this time he’s grabbed the truth by the throat and has not held back shining a bright light on what people are capable of closing their eyes to – the journalists taking photos to show the world while closing their eyes to what they’re documenting.

And the point is made because this is a very well-made film: the camera work, the cast and performances, Kirsten Dunst of course, but Jesse Plemons as an unknown soldier asking the question, ‘What kind of American are you?’ is unforgettable.

Some of the images stain the mind and remain long after the credits roll.

I really don’t like war movies because of that senseless violence, but Civil War is worth seeing because there’s something different here, the unpacking of the complex psychology of the characters adds a thought-provoking darkness that is uniquely Alex Garland.

 

A Call To Spy

Rated: MA Call To Spy

Directed by: Lydia Dean Pitcher

Written by: Sarah Megan Thomas (original screenplay)

Produced by: Sarah Megan Thomas p.g.a.

Edited by: Paul Tothill (BAFTA nominee)

Starring: Sarah Megan Thomas, Stana Katic, Radhika Apte, Linus Roache and Rossif Sutherland.

It’s your light that lights the world

Inspired by true events, A Call To Spy follows two civilians recruited by Churchill’s new spy agency’s (Special Operations Executive (SOE)) Vera Atkins (Stana Katic), to become the first female spies in the recently fallen France during WWII.

Nazi domination in Europe 1941 asks for extreme measures to disrupt Occupation, to create rebellion, to set France on fire.

Virginia Hall (Sarah Megan Thomas, also producer and writer) is to lead on the ground.

Noor Inayat Khan (Radhika Atpe), the fastest wireless in her unit, to radio the messages.

Operation Brigitte (Virginia’s byline as alias journalist: Brigitte LeContre) is born.

It’s inspiring to watch the courage of the unlikely spies being trained: Virginia the rich American with a wooden leg who dreamt of being a diplomat, and the Muslim pacifist, a descendant of Indian Royalty and believer of peace and truth who refuses to give up, who has resolved to resist the Nazi Occupation of the country she grew up in and loved, France.

The film sheds new light on the hideous grip Nazi Germany had over the French population, the lack of food, forced labour – the betrayal of friends bred out of desperation.

It’s not that the film becomes too bloody or gory, but I always find war movies a difficult watch.

The seeming lightness of, A Call To Spy at the beginning drew me into the exciting world of rescue and secret messages; the danger of getting caught, yet escaping.

But as the war progresses, the deeper the conflict and the more at stake.

As mistakes are made the Colonel Maurice Buckmaster (Linus Roache) admits the horror when doing your best just isn’t enough.  When making the wrong decision means lives are lost.

The task given to Britain’s amateur spies is described by the Colonel as a lonely courage.

So the reality of war, the murder, the betrayal and the secrets even amongst the spies is revealed as the sadness and horror of the brutality of war continues.  Which is why I find watching war movies difficult.  It gets me every time.  The anger.

Yet, I got swept up in this story, which provoked admiration of the courage to keep going, no matter the danger.

Bon courage.

Which shows the quality of the cast and the restraint by director, Lydia Dean Pilcher.

If you’re sensitive to those war provoked emotions.  This one sneaks up.

Virginia Hall is the subject of three 2019 biographies. Her prosthesis, Cuthbert, is named on the Congressional Gold Medal awarded to OSS (precursor to CIA). Noor Inayat Khan was recently commemorated with Britain’s prestigious Blue Plaque.

1917

Rated: MA15+1917

Directed by: Sam Mendes

Written by: Sam Mendes & Krysty Wilson-Cairns

Produced by: Sam Mendes, p.g.a., Pippa Harris, p.g.a., Jayne-Ann Tenggren, p.g.a., Callum McDougall, p.g.a., Brian Oliver

Executive Producers: Jeb Brody, Oleg Petrov, Ignacio Salazar-Simpson, Ricardo Marco Budé

Starring: George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Mark Strong, Andrew Scott, Richard Madden, Claire Duburcq with Colin Firth and Benedict Cumberbatch.

A tense, end-of-seat drama about mateship and the moments in the machine of war that gives a solider back his humanity. 

April 6, 1917 is when two young British soldiers, Lance Corporal Schofield (George MacKay) and Lance Corporal Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) are handed the task of saving sixteen-hundred lives.

Thinking the Germans have cut and run, Colonel Mackenzie (Benedict Cumberbatch) plans to give chase, to make a real difference in this bloody war, without realising the retreat is a trap – a strategy to lure the soldiers to certain death.  One of those men, Blakes own brother.

This is a high-stakes drama that rides on the suspense rather than confronting with the gore of war.  This is about mateship and family and the drive to help even when exhaustion is so deep you could drown just to rest.

1917 is a linear story that follows the conversation of the two mates as they take the task of the near impossible, across No Man’s Land, through the trenchers of the enemy, behind enemy lines, through a countryside not their own.

It’s a contrast of rotting dead bodies and wildflowers as we follow the young men, as they meet fellow soldiers on their mission, as they battle through traps and trip wires and giant rats.

The tension runs high because the film follows the story of the two soldiers closely so no one knows what comes next.

‘Sometimes, men just want to fight,’ warns General Erinmore (Colin Firth), the man sending them on their mission.

The only thing that matters is getting that message to Mackenzie.

A lot has to be said about the soundtrack here, a low vibrating drone creating that just below the surface feeling something bad is about to happen.

I jumped, that tension breaking with a shot or unexpected fall – you know that bad thing that happens.  Not the super bad or expected, but the papercut or trip.  That blip in life that catches you unaware.  It’s kinda like that, but in a war, the consequences of a slip equals death.

I’m not a fan of war movies because it all gets a bit too real, too confronting.  And there were moments here that stirred that anger.  But this isn’t gory, it’s more about the suspense and characters, the young men fighting to make sense of where they are and where they’re being ordered to go.  And making sense of it in the little things: giving a hand to get a truck out of a bog, to hand over a bottle to another because he knows he’s going to need it more.  That’s how to make sense of it.  By understanding the little things.

Hunter Killer

Rated: MA15+Hunter Killer

Directed by: Donovan Marsh

Screenplay by: Arne L. Schmidt and Jamie Moss

Based on: The Novel “Firing Point” written by George Wallace and Don Keith

Produced by: Neal H. Moritz and Toby Jaffe, Gerard Butler, Alan Siegel, Tucker Tooley, Mark Gill, John Thompson, Matt O’Toole, Les Weldon

Starring: Gerard Butler, Gary Oldman, Common, Linda Cardellini, Michael Nyqvist and Toby Stephens.

HUNTER KILLER ( hən(t)ərˈkilər ): a naval vessel, especially a submarine, equipped to locate and destroy enemy vessels, especially other submarines.

Based on the book, “Firing Point” written by George Wallace (retired commander of the nuclear attack submarine, USS Houston), and award-winning journalist, Don Keith, Hunter Killer has action above and below the water.

Russian and American submarines play cat and mouse under the heaving Barents Sea; the Americans ghosting a Russian sub when they watch it being blown to pieces.

The Cold War may have ceased above ground, but below the surface of the ocean, torpedos are incoming.

When the American sub goes off-radar, the Brass above ground, trigger-happy Admiral Charles Donnegan, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Gary Oldman) and the more cautious Rear Admiral John Fisk (Common) along with senior National Security Agency analyst Jayne Norquist (Linda Cardellini), send the only Hunter Killer they have nearby, the USS Arkansas: enter ‘pride runs deep’ Captain Joe Glass (Gerard Butler).

When the USS Arkansas crew discover they’ve just sailed into a coup with Russian President Zakarin (Alexander Diachenko) held captive by Admiral Dmitri Durov (Michael Gor) gone rogue, it’s a high-stakes play to extract the president from Russian soil without starting WWIII.

Riding the helm, director, Donovan Marsh (iNumber, Number (2017)) uses three threads to tell the story: the convert battle from the sub, the Black Ops team on the ground and the tension in the War Room; a successful technique condensing a complicated military novel into a comprehensive film.

Yet unable to resist that action military cheese that dominates this genre, the screenwriters throw in lines like, ‘We’re not enemies, we’re brothers’, from Glass.

And you can just see it, the Gary Oldman character Admiral Charles Donnegan stating, ‘When someone makes a move on a chessboard, you respond.’

So, there’s that.

And the shifting of the Russians speaking their native language to then speak English, to each other when really, they’d be speaking Russian, constantly jolted me out of that suspension of reality.

Sticking to Russian with English subtitles would have given the film more authenticity and impact.  A shame because there’s so much effort with the detail of the sub, Marsh placing the film’s entire submarine set on a massive hydraulic gimbal to forge realistic movement.  And the U.S. Navy contributing and advising through-out to get the details as close to the real deal as possible.  To have all that effect taken away by a few pieces of dialogue was disappointing.

I will say that although there were cheesy moments with the brothers-in-arms rhetoric, Gerard Butler brings it in a role more subdued, yet quietly still the man of action Captain.  And Michael Nyqvist as the Russian counter-part, Captain Andropov, added to the tone of brave men making life and death decisions.

Rest In Peace Michael Nyqvist who passed away in June 2017.

And wow, the action and suspense really ramps-up as the story of the film builds.

Overall, not the best I’ve seen in the genre but the suspense and action make Hunter Killer worth a watch.

The Death Of Stalin

Rated: MA 15+The Death Of Stalin

Directed by: Armando Iannucci

Produced by: Yann Zenou, Laurent Zeitoun, Nicolas Duval Adassovski, Kevin Loader

Based on the comic books: THE DEATH OF STALIN by Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin

Original screenplay by: Fabien Nury

Written by: Armando Iannucci, David Schneider and Ian Martin

Additional material by: Peter Fellows

Starring: Steve Buscemi, Simon Russell Beale, Paddy Considine, Rupert Friend, Jason Isaacs, Olga Kurylenko, Michael Palin, Andrea Riseborough, Paul Chahidi, Dermot Crowley, Adrian Mcloughlin, Paul Whitehouse and Jeffrey Tambor.

The poster for, The Death Of Stalin warns: ‘A Comedy of Terrors’ –  I should have realised a film based on the days in the Soviet Union after Stalin’s death had senseless murder and mayhem.

I’m not saying there’s gratuitous blood and guts, but the ridiculous behaviour of those in power – Stalin’s Politburo including the security forces of the NKVD and The People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs – who rape and murder while patting each other on the back astounds and at times, tickles:

‘When I piss I always try to make eye contact with an officer,’ says Malenkov (Jeffrey Tambor) to Khrushchev (Steve Buscemi) while peeing against a tree. ‘It ruins their day’.

The majority-rules-group-mentality spearheaded by the iron fist of Stalin unravels when he dies.  The fear felt by his people shown by the hesitation in speech, the inability to come to his aid when he strokes-out on the floor in his own ‘indignity’ because the soldiers are too scared to check what that thud on the floor actually means: What if nothing’s wrong?

So the soldiers wait until morning, safeguarding Stalin’s dying brain, waiting for the housekeeper to arrive with his morning tea.  All based on fact.

Writer-director, Armando Iannucci has created a dark satire that turns the facts into something so terrifying and ridiculous it’s funny.

Once Iannucci was on-board, the cast came together starring the likes of, Steve Buscemi, Michael Palin and Maria Yudina as the concert pianist, Olga Kurylenko: a solid cast working a dynamic script, much like the beloved communist dictum of a working machine focussing on the whole rather than its parts.

Although the decision was made to allow each actor their own native accent (rather than speak with a Russian inflection), it’s difficult to highlight any individual as they were all different yet essential in the ridiculousness of their nature: from the sad clown Malenkov who knows he’s way over his head as Stalin’s Number 2 (girdle included), to the sociopathic tub of evil genious, Beria (Simon Russell Beale), to Khrushchev (Steve Buscemi) who could make Stalin laugh; notes taken every night by his faithful wife, drunken quotes read in the morning to remember topics that worked to those that didn’t to CAAAAA: the sound of a throat being cut.

In other words, he’s on, The List.

The Death of Stalin is gallows humour with the back and forth of words spoken with a blank face changing the meaning so it was more about the way the words were spoken and how best not to get caught saying them.

I expected a laugh-out-loud comedy but the truth of evil doesn’t allow for that; it’s hard to let go of the terror.  Instead, there’s a quick brilliancy; a film of dialogue that could be played out on stage including gems like, ‘Can you ever trust a weak man?’

The film tickled with subtle comment by walking the fine line between the seriousness of committing mass murder against the humour terror brings when people are behaving at their evil worst.

With so many layers it’s a film I’d watch again.

[amazon_link asins=’B07B867P5P,B077MKM4RK’ template=’ProductGrid’ store=’gomoviereview-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’f57c0156-2be5-11e8-836a-33c04a074122′]

Human Flow

Rated: MHuman Flow

Director:  Ai Wei Wei

Producers: Andrew Cohen, Jeff Skoll, Diane Weyerman

Writers: Chin-Chin Yap, Tim Finch, Boris Cheshirkov.

Human Flow is a visual experience to be endured. A journey for the soul. A glimpse into the duty of care, and lack thereof, affecting our societies.

Forgotten places and forgotten faces reach out and I struggle to remain seated. To comprehend the magnitude of what film director Ai Wei Wei intended. The camera remains. Lost souls stare onto it, onto the abyss. Dignified, proud, hopeful. Despite everything.

Statistics and news headlines appear. Foreign voices makeshift the background. Subtitles demand the attention of the viewer. Everyone must seat and watch. There is no easy way out for us as there is no easy way out for the millions of refugees stranded across the globe.

Oceans of humanity flow, stretching as far as the next border, people like waves reaching for the coast, seeking relief after a long journey. Aerial views of makeshift camps. Tents set along trains never to halt. People resting on the side of the road. On the verge of tears. Vulnerable to disease, under the elements, moving ever forward with their loved ones. All borders shutting down.

The system collapses, numbers increase and countries build fences and walls with money that could be used in so many other ways. No questions are asked or aid provided. Left behind, human beings facing the most inhuman conditions in the history of our race.

Those who are victims of the circumstances, run for fear of persecution. Those who pushed them into exile remain immune. Those who watch, what are we? What am I, but a privileged voyeur? A far removed entity able to switch off my screen at any given time. Sheltered, fed, safe. Free. Ashamed of myself as I type these words. Dreading the moment I move onto the next thing, and forget.

[amazon_link asins=’B075VJNKZC’ template=’ProductGrid’ store=’gomoviereview-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’9fc0e01c-2837-11e8-95a1-f5fc038f280d’]

12 Strong

Rated: MA15+12 Strong

Directed by: Nicolai Fuglsig

Screenwriters: Ted Tally, Peter Craig

Produced by: Jerry Bruckheimer, Molly Smith, Trent Luckinbill, Thad Luckinbill.

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon, Michael Peña, Navid Negahban, Trevante Rhodes, Geoff Stults, Thad Luckinbill, Rob Riggle, William Fichtner, Elsa Pataky.

12 Strong is a hero movie based on the true story of twelve soldiers, Green Berets known as ODA (Operational Detachment Alphas), volunteering to fight in Afghanistan after the twin towers attack on 9/11 (2001): the first soldiers to set foot on Afghani soil after the attack, a fact unknown at the time being an Army Special Forces team on a covert mission.

There’s some good action here, based on the 2009 bestseller written by Doug Stanton, Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of U.S. Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan. 

Unlike the majority of the patriotic, sickening over-dramatisation of Americans’ fighting in wars, 12 Strong focusses on the action in Afghanistan and the clash of cultures as Mark Nutsch, ODA-595 Special Forces Captain (re-named in the film as Captain Mitch Nelson (Chris Hemsworth)) leads a mission, Codenamed Task Force Dagger, to fight alongside the Northern Alliance: separate Afghani groups led by warlords who hate each other almost as much as they hate the Taliban. 

For any hope of gaining ground against the Taliban and Al Qaeda and to stop more attacks on American soil, team leader Captain Mitch Nelson must convince General Abdul Rashid Dostum (Navid Negahban), a fierce warrior and warlord, to join forces; the only motivation to fight together being a common enemy.

Willing to assist the Americans from the ground, the Americans support from the sky with bombs dropped on targets from coordinates given by Captain Nelson. 

Set in the extremes of the Afghanistan landscape, with dust and snow and steep rocky mountains, movement is restricted to horseback. 

There’s something poetic about horses in battle; whether it reminds of wars in the past or the majesty of the animal, I could only wonder at the skill required to ride while under enemy fire from missile launchers and T-72 tanks and to shoot a machine gun with bullets whizzing by the horses ear; to control an animal usually frightened by loud noise and to stay the course without bolting.

But unbelievably, as General Abdul Rashid Dostum (Navid Negahban) states, Afghani’ horses won’t scare: they know the bombs are American.

12 Strong is a fascinating story shot beautifully with Nicolai Fuglsig making his feature film debut as director, his past as a photojournalist showing his experience in capturing war on film.  Up close and showing the ‘killer eyes’ of his cast, the action is taken higher with views from horse back galloping through explosions and fire. 

It’s a film full of heroism with careful casting – Chris Hemsworth showing the humility and bravery of Captain Nelson.  And yes, there’s always a bit of drama in these war-hero films, with Captain Nelson stating he refuses to write a death letter to his wife, left at home, ‘I made her a promise I was coming home.  I’m not writing a letter to say I broke it.’

And I thought, Oh no, another cheesy, self-congratulatory, family-plucking-the-heart-strings, indulgence – however when the men got to Afghanistan, the film ramped up into an action-packed, suspenseful, yet thoughtful story.  And Michael Peña as the Green Beret, Sam Diller, added some needed humour, keeping it real for those who don’t like too much drama.

The real interest of the film was the insight of this previously unknown story, by entering the Belly of the Beast to see the complicated history and terrible crimes already inflicted on the innocent of Afghanistan making 12 Strong not only an action film, but also an engaging story.

[amazon_link asins=’1501179950,B002K7SWKQ’ template=’ProductGrid’ store=’gomoviereview-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’aeb95484-228b-11e8-942a-bb17865d298b’]

[amazon_link asins=’B0791WYX81,0061661236′ template=’ProductGrid’ store=’gomoviereview-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’85beea0c-228b-11e8-a481-5bb8b83034ff’]

Darkest Hour

Rated: PGDarkest Hour

Directed by: Joe Wright

Written by: Anthony McCarten

Producers: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Anthony McCarten, Lisa Bruce, Douglas Urbanski

Starring: Gary Oldman, Kristen Scott Thomas, Lily James, Stephen Dillane, Ronald Pickup and Ben Mendelsohn.

Set over the course of four weeks in 1940, Darkest Hour is based on the true story of Winston Churchill and the immense burden he carried as newly-appointed Prime Minister when Nazi Germany invaded Western Europe.

It’s a critical time in history.  A decision must be made to either fight in another world war against all odds, the Germans surrounding the entire British army on the shores of Dunkirk – or to negotiate with a madman.

The fight on Dunkirk is fresh in the minds of film enthusiasts after the recent release of Christopher Nolan’s memorable, ‘not-a-war movie’, Dunkirk.

Darkest Hour shows a different version of WWII, focussing on the same time in history yet here the story unfolds not on the ground – the soldiers dodging bullets or falling into the icy waters – here, we follow the men making the decisions and observe the politics and strategies of war held behind closed doors.  And with Churchill, sometimes the most important conversation taken on the telephone behind the door of the lavatory.

Darkest Hour is based on the beginnings of WWII, yes, but the story is about the man – Winston Churchill and all his flaws.  A man who has never taken the tube (well, only once during the strikes), a man whose wife (Kristen Scott Thomas) finds him intolerable but loves him anyway.  And no matter his power or position will always know him as, Piggy.

Churchill never gives up, and it’s precisely his flaws that give him the strength to succeed.

Gary Oldman is every bit deserving of his recent Golden Globe award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama.  See his acceptance speech here.

As Winston Churchill, Oldman’s barely recognisable as he embraces the part and becomes every bit the British Prime Minister affecting all the required mannerisms of the mumbling, alcoholic, cigar smoking, yet brilliant mind and oration of the man.

Ben Mendelsohn finally gets to be the good guy, here as King George VI.  Not the regal performance of Colin Firth in, The King’s Speech (2010) but suiting the tone of the film better with the gritty human nature of the characters used for amusement amongst all the seriousness of the story.

And there’s not many tricks here – director Joe Wright (Atonement, Hanna, Pride & Prejudice, Anna Karenina) keeping any effects subtle with a sometimes lofty birds-eye-view to convey the overall feeling of politicians seeing the population as small parts to be manuvered for the greater good.

Mostly, this is a character-driven film, focussing on the dialogue and emotion of those who discuss the fortunes of thousands of lives.  We, as an audience, get a window into the world of Churchill as he weighs the cost; to ultimately decide no cost is too much – there is only perseverance to fight until the very end.

So, for all Churchill’s flaws, we are shown true grit and the character required when the world ceases to make sense.  And can the man speak!  The real pleasure of the film watching Churchill use his words to win over a nation, his famous speeches delivered by the believable performance of Gary Oldman.

Would I watch the film again?  Probably not.  This isn’t a thriller that keeps you on the edge, this is a stirring education and insight into just how close we came to losing our freedom.

The Wall

Rated: MA15+The Wall

Directed and Produced by: Doug Liman

Written by: Dwain Worrell

Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson and John Cena.

A taunt psychological thriller set in 2007 when President George Bush declared the War in Iraq over.

Rebuilding the country, contractors are brought in to build pipelines across the desert.

After been radioed for assistance, two soldiers, Sergeant Isaac (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) an Army Ranger who serves as a spotter to Sergeant Matthews (John Cena), lie amongst the rocks, camouflaged, waiting for movement.  All they see on the dusty ground is the bodies of dead contractors, all head shots, and one marine holding a radio in his dead hand.

All is quiet, yet they wait, watching, trying to figure out the story behind the dead and if there’s still a threat.

As the story unfolds, so do the men as they’re stripped, piece-by-piece by the faceless, hidden sniper who pins Sergeant Isaac behind a crumbling wall, to then speak into his earpiece, to burrow like a worm into his mind.

Although, The Wall is about soldiers, this isn’t a movie about war, this is suspense created through stretches of quiet: a patient relentless waiting of a killer who plays with his intended kill like a cat with a mouse.

The soundtrack is the wind whistling through the bricks and the distant clap of metal sheeting and the crackle of voice; of men fighting and hiding behind words.

Director, Doug Liman (Mr & Mrs Smith, The Bourne Identity) has taken a solid script from first-time screenwriter Dwain Worrell and made a low budget film into a simple yet very effective suspense thriller.

Dwain Worrell researched the daily life of soldiers extensively, including PTSD.  Creating a story of strangers murdering each other.  About legendary Iraqi snipers creating a paranoia that comes to life.

The Wall

Adam Taylor wrote an article in, The Washington Post, in January 2015: “There were similar legends of Iraqi insurgent snipers.  Probably the most famous was that of ‘Juba’, a sniper with the Sunni insurgent group Islamic Army in Iraq, whose exploits were touted in several videos released between 2005 and 2007.  Some attributed scores, even hundreds, of kills to the sniper, and accounts from the time suggest he got deep under U. S. troop’s skins.”

The idea of psychological torture reminded me of the original, Saw film (2004), similar in that the characters are trapped and tormented through the words of a faceless enemy.  And dang it, after the film finished and I was walking out of the cinema, I overheard another critic saying they had the same feel as the, Saw Franchise, because that feeling of being trapped is there.  Yet, The Wall is more about the suspense then the gore.  Giving a glimpse into those suffering from PTSD: the tense waiting for the bad to happen, the waiting being the torture.

A seemingly simple film: two characters, one wall set over the course of one day.  Yet, The Wall was a thoroughly absorbing story handled by the sure hand of smart director.

If you like your suspense, this is a well-paced journey with a well-thought ending.  Much better than expected.

Dunkirk

Rated: MDunkirk

Written and Directed by: Christopher Nolan

Music by: Hans Zimmer

Cinematography: Hoyte Van Hoytema

Starring: Fionn Whitehead, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jack Lowden, Harry Styles, Aneurin Barnard, James D’Arcy, Barry Keoghan, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance and Tom Hardy.

I’m still trying to figure out the feeling, that swell in the chest I felt while watching Dunkirk.  Whether it was pride or love of humanity or patriotism, Dunkirk was an emotive intersection of timelines during Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of troops from, Dunkirk, France, during World War II.

The film focuses on three different Fronts from:

1. The mole: Tommy (Fionn Whitehead) the soldier who’s been on the ground for a week;

2. To the steadfast Commander Bolton (Kenneth Branagh) for a day;

3. To Farrier (Tom Hardy) the pilot of a Spitfire in the air for an hour.

All of these men are fighting the same war and all of these men are either trying to escape or save the men surrounded by the Sickle Cut (war strategy) the German forces have maneuvered on French soil; the Allied forces stranded on the beach where they desperately wait for ships to take them back to Britain, just across the channel:

Commander Bolton: You can practically see it from here. 
Captain Winnant: What? 
Commander Bolton: Home.

With leaflets falling from the sky depicting the hopelessness of their effort to escape – an arrow pointing: ‘You are here’, surrounded by the enemy and literally being pushed into the sea only to be picked off by fighter pilots dropping bombs, the soldiers watch battleships sink, one after the other to then watch the tide bring in the dead.

But this film isn’t about blood and guts, Dunkirk is about celebrating the small victories and how all those victories eventually add up.

Hence that swell in the chest because there’s this overriding feeling of people doing the best they can and somehow the everyday civilian can make all the difference: Sometimes doing right, wins.

Take that notion and add the suspense of the desperation to escape, full credit going to Hans Zimmer and his soundtrack creating tension with music like a ticking time-bomb.  Director and writer, Christopher Nolan uses little dialogue, instead it’s about the words unspoken, just a nod here and the audience knowing the music is building.

There’s a simplicity to each scene combining the different threads of storyline in real time like a formula pulled together by sound: the low thud of bombs, the droning of jets, the running of boots on sand and bullets popping through the hull of a ship like copper coins hitting tin.  There’s much to be said about the soundtrack, but watching the film on IMAX with that big square screen?  Can I say it didn’t really need it?  But what am I saying, go see that expanse of beach and ocean on IMAX – why not?

Dunkirk

The effort to film the movie on 65mm film (transferred to 70mm for projection) brings the story to life all the more, leaving little room for error.  Dunkirk is such a solid film, with such beautifully orchestrated performances (was also a win to see Harry Styles finally get a haircut!) to see the views from air to the beach to under the water on such a large screen just added more to an already impressive project.

Lastly, I just want to say I usually struggle with war films.  The reality of the violence of war makes my blood boil. I love the fact that there’s no unnecessary violence here.  We all know what happens when a bomb goes off.  We don’t need to see or imagine our ancestors or grandparents getting blown apart.

Nolan has used his talent to bring the true story of Dunkirk to the screen without over-dramatising, allowing us to admire the courage and valour of the civilians of Britain who saved more than 330, 000 soldiers’ lives.

Subscribe to GoMovieReviews
Enter your email address for notification of new reviews - it's free!

 

Subscribe!