Ray Winstone

While Sean Penn lends this thriller some political subtext, the fact remains that it's actually just another vacuous revenge fantasy from Taken director Pierre Morel. Clearly for Morel, the violence is the point, and any depth of meaning is irrelevant, which leaves the film superficially entertaining but a waste of the considerable talent on-screen.

Penn plays Jim, a charity worker in the wartorn 2006 Democratic Republic of Congo. His hot doctor girlfriend Annie (Jasmine Trinca) has no idea that Jim is secretly a black-ops sniper working with fellow mercenary commandos Cox, Felix and DuPont (Rylance, Bardem and Elba). Then their latest mission requires Jim to disappear. Eight years later in an all-new life, Jim discovers that someone is trying to kill him, so he travels to London to find Cox. When Jim's pursuers turn up, Cox sends him to talk to Felix, who now lives in Barcelona with Annie as his wife. With the mysterious killers still on his trail, Jim heads to Gibraltar to tie up the loose ends with DuPont, and finally discovers the truth about what's going on and who's behind it.

Yes, everything is leading to a brutal confrontation inventively set in a bull-fighting ring. But not much else here is either original or convincing. The whole African politics premise is little more than a plot device, while hopping from Congo to Britain to Spain does little more than change the background scenery. Otherwise, the script is so simplistic that it barely holds water, and each ambush, fight and chase sequence feels like something we've seen before. Especially since everything is both over-choreographed and gratuitously grisly. Still, Morel is great at creating a sense of tension that builds ominously from start to finish, adding some gritty urgency through corrupt politicians and self-serving businessmen. Unfortunately, the film continually sidelines these intriguing ideas for more mindlessly violent mayhem.

Continue reading: The Gunman Review

Far from the standard biographical documentary, this is a strikingly artistic exploration of the life of musician, actor and writer Nick Cave, assembled with the rhythms and energies of his work. It's such an inventive approach to filmmaking that it's both gripping and surprisingly moving, shot with a lush visual style that weaves in Cave's distinctive, provocative music and earthy humour.

The film follows Cave over the course of one day, which he has calculated is his 20,000th. Born in rural Australia, Cave is now 56, and lives in Brighton, England, with his wife Susie Bick and their cheeky twin sons Arthur and Earl. Over the course of this day, Cave reminisces about his life as he goes through his usual routine: writing his next script, working with his songwriting partner Warren Ellis and watching TV with his boys. On this day, he also visits the recording studio, talks about issues from his childhood with noted psychoanalyst Darian Leader, trawls through his archive and offers lifts to friends and collaborators like Kylie Minogue, Ray Winstone and Blixa Bargeld. 

There are moments when we can feel Cave and filmmakers Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard straining to find a clever way of inserting the usual documentary elements, so the film sometimes feels a bit belaboured. For example, Cave's archive is a cluttered basement full of old documents, photos and videos that are projected on to the walls as archival clips. This may be contrived, but it's also bracingly original, as is turning the usual to-camera interviews into revelatory conversations with the man himself. And the songs are performed in jam sessions, practice rooms and beautifully shot stage pieces. For his part, Cave goes through this odyssey with deadpan wit and refreshing transparency, opening up about his personal life, creative processes and the tricky balance between fame and artistic integrity.

Continue reading: 20,000 Days On Earth Review

Darren Aronofsky continues to ambitiously experiment with genres in this Old Testament blockbuster, but this is his first real misstep as a filmmaker, as the impressive parts simply don't add up. Still, there are flashes of genius as the epic struggle between good and evil is echoed both in the grand spectacle and within the characters themselves.

It starts with the original sin, which divides Adam and Eve's sons - brutal killer Cain and peaceful caretaker Seth - into warring factions. A few generations later, all that's left of Seth's righteous line is Noah (Russell Crowe), his wife (Jennifer Connelly) and three sons (Logan Lerman, Douglas Booth and Leo McHugh Carroll), plus an adopted daughter (Emma Watson). After he has a vision that God is planning to cleanse mankind with a flood, Noah consults his grandfather Methuselah (Anthony Hopkins) and builds an ark to save his family and all of earth's animals. He also gets help from the Watchers, rock-encrusted fallen angels who previously assisted Cain's descendant Tubal (Ray Winstone), who goes into battle mode to stop Noah.

All of this is inventively set in a post-apocalyptic landscape left in ruins after generations of fighting. And Noah is the last true believer tending to creation, refusing to eat meat (although he wears leather accessories) and ruling over his family like a tyrant. This of course creates various carefully scripted conflicts for his family over the months they're stuck in the ark. But the moralising is never as deep as it pretends to be.

Continue reading: Noah Review