STACK 132 October Issue

30 / 120

MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS
When we last left Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and his fellow Gladers, they’d
successfully completed the maze trials and discovered that the Earth has been
scorched by a solar flare that also unleashed a deadly virus, to which they are
all immune. And that WCKD – the World Catastrophe Killzone Department –
is every bit as sinister as its acronym. Transferred to a way station, Thomas
discovers the true nature of WCKD’s possible cure and what it means for
his group (it's not good), necessitating an escape into the “Scorch” where
they must negotiate a desert wasteland and the ruins of civilisation in order
to reach the mountains and a revolutionary group opposed to WCKD, who
offer sanctuary for the immune. The Scorch Trials is a much bigger and more
visually impressive film than its predecessor, and for the most part delivers
a familiar but rousing trip across a blasted landscape overrun by hordes of
zombie-like infected (known as Cranks). But it ultimately slips into the familiar
groove established by prior YA adventures. The Maze Runner raised more
questions than it answered. The Scorch Trials provides the answers, as well
as the realisation that it’s time for the young adult dystopian sci-fi genre to
diverge from formula and play a different kind of game. Scott Hocking
FURTHER VIEWING: Divergent, The Hunger Games
EVEREST
Everest might look like a traditional Hollywood disaster movie with an all-star
cast in a mountain of trouble, but once you strap in for the ascent, you'll realise
it's anything but. Based on the 1996 true-life tragedy that befell a group of
climbers led by Kiwi Rob Hall (Jason Clarke in one of his finest performances
to date), this is the cinematic equivalent of scaling Everest, right down to
the minutiae involved in reaching the summit from base camp. In the hands
of a more flashy filmmaker, Everest would have been a disaster of a movie,
but Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur balances the spectacle and high
adventure with verisimilitude and the most immersive use of 3D since Gravity.
This dedication to realism makes several scenes particularly difficult to watch;
flesh blackening from frostbite, bodies freezing solid on the mountainside,
and the debilitating and life-threatening effects of high altitude. Moreover, the
time taken to get to know the characters (from Jake Gyllenhaal's hippie guide
to Josh Brolin's rich Texan) before the mother of all blizzards sweeps in and
disaster strikes makes their respective fates all the more impactful. You'll exit
the theatre exhausted and with a newfound respect for those with the fortitude
to conquer the world's highest peak. Scott Hocking
FURTHER VIEWING: Touching the Void, Cliffhanger
visit REVIEWS CINEMA
RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: Wes BallCAST: Dylan O'Brien,
Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Aidan Gillen RATING: M
RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: Baltasar Kormákur CAST: Jake Gyllenhaal,
Jason Clarke, Keira Knightley RATING: M
RATING KEY:
Wow!
Good
Not bad
Meh Woof!
THE WALK
"F*** the Police!" we hear you cry as director F. Gary Gray delivers his
epic opus on the true story behind NWA, the group that forged new roads
into rap/gangster popular culture. It’s all here in glorious colour and no
punches pulled (well, maybe a few) as we watch Ezy E, Dr Dre and Ice
Cube change the face of American popular music during the late ‘80s, early
‘90s; complete with automatic weapons, copious drugs, countless women
dancing near pools in bikinis, and crooks aplenty. Clocking in at just over
two hours, SOC packs in as much as possible between a young Cube
writing lyrics on a school bus and Dre walking out of Death Row (records,
that is). To say the young actors portraying these figures of legend are
‘good’ is a gross understatement; uncanny physical resemblances aside,
they are simply amazing. The tone, texture and delivery of this piece is
worthy of any mega-budget offering you’re likely to see, with set-pieces
that are intimidating to say the least. Drama and cinematic tension does
take a back seat to the ‘factual displays’ we all want to see, but hey, that’s
the biz, yo! Yes, you need to see it, even just for the feeling of that bass
during the live performances alone. Chris Murray
FURTHER VIEWING: Boyz n the Hood, 8 Mile
RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: F. Gary Gray CAST: O'Shea Jackson Jr.,
Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell RATING: MA15+
Robert Zemeckis made the amazing Back to the Future trilogy, but he also
made the self-important horror that was Forrest Gump. Thus while capable of
brilliance, he’s also able to deliver slices of over-sweet sponge cake you know
you’ll be vomiting up later. Somewhere in the middle is this visual spectacle
that's being sold on the popularity of the award-winning 2008 doco Man on
Wire – the story of a crazy Frenchman who pulled off an illegal high-wire walk
between the Twin Towers in 1974. Squinty talent-bucket Joseph Gordon-Levitt
is perfect as the over-the-top French annoyance, Philippe Petit. An ‘always-on’
performer, Petit is the kind of guy you don’t mind meeting at a party, but you
want him (and his unicycle) out the door after an hour. A love story is explored,
then quickly abandoned, and it’s full steam ahead to the greatest coup of all –
sneaking up the World Trade Centre and setting this mad caper up. This is where
the film shines brightest; played with such solid tension and panache, you can
forgive the ‘oh my, isn’t this quaint’ hour or so leading up to it. The 3D and FX
are brilliant, and the fact we know this actually happened stops us from thinking
the scale is way too far fetched. The Walk is safe, A-grade family fun all the way,
unless you’re scared of heights. Chris Murray
FURTHER VIEWING: Man on Wire
RELEASED: Oct 15 DIRECTOR: Robert Zemeckis CAST: Joseph Gordon-Levitt,
Ben Kingsley, Charlotte Le Bon RATING: PG
STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON
030 OCTOBER 2015