Pitt drives F1 into winner’s circle
The very definition of a star vehicle, Joseph Kosinski’s FI features Brad Pitt, really fast cars, Brad Pitt, international locations, Brad Pitt, a pedestrian plot, Brad Pitt, dynamic filmmaking, Brad Pitt and a sleek visual approach.
Brad Pitt is in it as well.
With a budget north of $250 million, Warner
Brothers and Apple Original Films are wisely putting the international movie
star front and center in the many, many promotions for the movie. It’s a wise approach as the actor and all his
Pittness is necessary in keeping the viewer engaged as F1 runs afoul of the
many pitfalls that have that have caused other racing films to spin out. While we’re on the track, it’s dynamite; when
the action switches to the boardrooms, hospitals and pit area, not so
much.
The script by Ehren
Kruger and Kosinski leans heavily on convention, the duo eschewing originality
as if it were a plague. Pitt is Sonny Hayes, a one-time promising racer who is
now a driver for hire. Out of the blue, he’s contacted by his old rival Ruben
Cervantes (Javier Bardem), the owner of the APXGP race team, which is in big
trouble. Having failed to place in the top 10 in any of the first nine races of
the season and having lost his lead driver, he hopes Hayes will step in to help
salvage the rest of the season.
He agrees but is
hardly given a rousing welcome. Crew members doubt whether he still has what it
takes, what with him being seen as the senior citizen of the circuit, while his
unorthodox, old-school approach doesn’t mesh with their modern, high-tech method
of racing. Kate McKenna (the lovely Kerry Condon) is hesitant to put the car
she’s built in his hands while the arrogant rookie driver on the team, Joshua
Pearce (Damson Idris), resents his inclusion on the team, refusing to recognize
the wisdom the veteran has to offer.
Films as
predictable as this live or die by the ability of their actors to bring life to
the familiar and, if nothing else, Kosinski has assembled a cast more than
capable of doing that. Relative newcomer Idris proves he can play with the big
boys, his live-wire energy a nice counterpoint to Pitt’s laid-back persona.
Bardem brings his simmering intensity to every scene, Condon proves once more
she deserves to be a constant presence on the big screen and Pitt is Pitt. Like
his contemporaries, Clooney, Cruise and Smith, he effortlessly commands our
attention, his smile still able to dazzle, his boyish good looks barely visible
beneath, giving way to a Robert Redford-like weathered beauty that remains
arresting. His moments with Bardem are a delight, their opposing styles leaving
me wanting a film focused on only them, much like last year’s Wolves
with Pitt and Clooney.
Without question,
this is a movie that demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible,
Kosinski putting us inside the car with the drivers, as well as catching every
twist and turn of the tracks they find themselves on. The small digital cameras
being used allow the director to bring an immediacy to these sequences that’s
thrilling. That being said, this doesn’t reach the heights of Ron Howard’s
criminally underseen Rush, the gold-standard of modern race movies. But
in the end, it gets the job done.
Surprisingly,
though it runs over two-and-a-half hours, the movie never feels bloated.
Covering nine races, the story’s structure never allows it to lag, the
opportunity to get us back on the track always at hand. It’s June, which means
it’s time for a summertime movie and F1 fills the bill handsomely. Built
to dazzle and deliver a feel-good story, Pitt and company succeed in doing just
that. That you might not remember it a
day after you saw it is inconsequential – it’s how much you enjoy your popcorn while watching it that does. In theaters.
Poignancy salvages Years
At times terrifying, at others
tedious and finally, moving, Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later is nothing
short of ambitious as the director returns to the franchise he birthed some 23
years ago. While there are social and political concerns at the film’s core, at
times it seems his intent is do nothing more than make us soil ourselves. Having been saturated with zombie violence
over the last two decades, Boyle knows he needs to amp things up in order to
get a rise out of viewers and he achieves this with a visceral approach that’s
shocking and off-putting. That he
emphasizes the humanity of those being dispatched makes it all the more
horrifying.
After a shocking
prologue that manages to make the Teletubbies more disturbing than they already
are, the action shifts to a small island off the British coast. Twelve-year-old
Spike (Alfie Williams) is about to go through a rite of passage, his mother
Isla (Jodie Comer) vehemently opposes. He’s to accompany his father, Jamie
(Aaron Taylor-Johnson), to the mainland via a causeway that makes the trip
possible during low tide. These excursions, made in the hope of finding food
and supplies, are fraught with peril, as those infected with the Rage Virus are
still about, eager to consume anyone that crosses their path. Still, Jamie is
confident in his son’s skills with a bow and arrow and feels this is a vital
step in his development.
Of course, things go sideways, yet the father and son manage
to return, but not before Spike sees a fire in the far-off forest. His father
informs him it’s coming from the home of Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), a
physician he says has gone mad. What with his bed-ridden mother acting strangely
of late, he suggests they take her to see him. And though Jamie says it’s too
dangerous, Spike ultimately takes matters into his own hands, sneaking away
with Isla to the mainland in the hopes of getting her help.
This is a flimsy premise at best, and the film’s pacing
slows dramatically during this quest. While the moments between Williams and
Comer are effective, their scenes proceed lugubriously, taxing our patience.
Contributing to the ever-encroaching tedium are needless action scenes with a trio
of – and then only one – soldiers who attempt to help the mother and son. These
moments of carnage add nothing to the already blood-soaked story.
However, once they reach Kelson, the film rights itself,
emphasizing the theme of maintaining hope in hopeless times to genuinely
poignant effect. His philosophy
regarding death proves to be a balm for Spike and Ilsa. His perspective
transcends the movie, a reward for the viewer, having endured the brutality
Boyle’s created.
The director employs rapid editing, a destabilized camera
and varying visual speeds to create an unnerving experience. Shooting at eye
level, he puts us in Spike and Jamie’s shoes, creating a sense of panic as we
see from their point of view the quickly moving threat closing in on us. The effectiveness of this approach never
wanes, the terror of the situation palpable throughout.
A sequel, The Bone Temple, has already been shot,
Spike left in a potentially dire situation that promises further commentary on
societal norms, nationalism and demagoguery.
With Boyle’s outlook on the world so sobering, it makes the glimmer of
hope he and screenwriter Alex Garland provide all the more meaningful. Like the
best horror films, Years serves as a bracing metaphor for our times. I
just wish it had gotten to its point a bit quicker. In theaters.
Chemistry keeps things humming in Deep
“I wonder how long you can keep this thing going?”
So
says Billings (Sean Bean), a London police officer, to three amateur thespians
he’s using in an ever-expanding drug investigation in Tom Kingsley’s Deep
Cover. I kept asking myself that same question regarding the film’s script,
a twist-filled concoction from four writers that contains one surprise after
another. Any screenplay crediting more than a pair of scribes usually means
trouble, yet this proves to be the exception to the rule. To be sure, the
script by Derek Connolly, Colin Trevorrow, Ben Ashenden and Alexander Owen does
push things towards the ridiculous, yet it follows a sense of logic that never
gets too outlandish … at least, in the realm of action movies.
Three
sad sacks are at the center of this lunacy, each managing to fill in the gaps
the others possess. Hugh (Nick Mohammed) is an IT specialist at a trading firm
who just doesn’t fit in. Try as he might, he just doesn’t click with his
co-workers, always saying the wrong thing or a beat behind whatever joke is
being told. Marlon (Orlando Bloom) is his own worst
enemy as well, the aspiring actor taking himself and his craft far too
seriously. That he is known as a swashbuckling hero in a series of pizza ads is
not something he’s proud of. These two happen to wander into an improv class
run by Kat (Bryce Dallas Howard). Like Marlon, she too has seen her share of
frustration in the acting world, embarrassed by the fact she’s reduced to
teaching in an out-of-the-way club.
However, things take a radical turn for the
trio when they are approached by Billings. He’s looking for three actors who are adept at thinking on their feet to pretend to be buyers of
illegal cigarettes at local markets. The pay is good, they have nothing better
to do, and agree to help him out. But, of
course, things go sideways and before you know it, they’re buying heroin from
the local drug lord, Fly (Paddy Considine), eventually rubbing elbows with the
crime kingpin, Metcalfe (Ian McShane).
Kingsley keeps things humming, not allowing
us to think too long about the shenanigans that are unfolding. There’s no
shortage of surprises, but none are employed for shock’s sake; rather, they all
evolve organically from the story, a natural progression of events leading to a
standard action climax. What does keep things fresh is the seemingly haphazard
way things develop. Kit and Hugh are put to the test at every turn, each of
them constantly on their toes for whatever comes their way, most of it the
result of Marlon’s flair for the dramatic. To be sure, he’s good at
improvisation, but his tendency to take things to the extreme repeatedly puts
them in peril.
And while there is little ground broken
where action cinema is concerned, it’s the chemistry between the three
principals that keeps us hooked. Mohammed’s timidity and Bloom’s grandiosity
complement each other wonderfully, differing comic beats emerging from each
that keeps the humor fresh. Howard mediates between the two, her reactions to
her co-stars essential to defining their characters while simultaneously
providing background on Kat.
The film wisely
doesn’t overstay its welcome. It turns out, Kingsley and his crew can keep the
schtick going for an entertaining 99 minutes. Their escapades are so engaging,
I wouldn’t mind seeing them out in the field once more, as Deep Cover’s
perfect combination of humor and action delivers far more than expected. Streaming
on Amazon Prime.