STACK New Zealand October Issue 67

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PAN
In 1991, Steven Spielberg pretty much put the 'never again' into Neverland for a
lot of viewers with the horrible Hook, and we didn't see J.M. Barrie's boy who
could fly on the big screen again until 2003, in P.J. Hogan's Peter Pan. Now the
timeless tale has been revisited by Joe Wright (Atonement ) and while the trailer
makes it look every bit as cringeworthy as Spielberg's pantomime, Pan is so
far removed from the candy-coloured Neverland of Disney and Hook, it exists
in an entirely different universe. The dark cinematography of the opening act,
in which Peter Pan (newcomer Levi Miller) is kidnapped from an orphanage run
by monstrous nuns during the London Blitz, is sustained throughout the entire
film. There's no colouful transition when we reach Neverland as per The Wizard
of Oz, rather things get progressively more bizarre. Peter ends up on a floating
cloud island ruled by the flamboyant pirate Blackbeard, played with obvious
relish by an Hugh Jackman, who replaces Hook as the villain; the latter is now
a charming Irogue (Garret Hedlund) who helps Peter escape to the forest
where he meets Tiger Lily (Rooney Mara) and her tribe. Ah, so it's an origin
story! Kudos to Wright and co. for creating a Tim Burtonesque, steampunk
version of Peter Pan quite unlike what has gone before. Scott Hocking
FURTHER VIEWING: Hook, Peter Pan
THE MARTIAN
Mars movies have generally failed to engage audiences, unless it's the red
planet attacking us. Even big name directors have crashed and burned on its
rocky surface, like Brian De Palma with the miserable Mission to Mars in 2000.
Enter Ridley Scott, who makes amends for the hash that was Prometheus
with a far more satisfying return to the genre. Recently stranded on a planet in
another universe in Interstellar, Matt Damon again finds himself as an astronaut
cast away, albeit this time closer to home. Left behind and presumed dead after
the Ares III mission is forced to make an emergency lift off from the Martian
surface, Damon is faced with the predicament of how he's going to survive,
and more importantly, contact NASA to arrange a rescue mission. Rather than
dwell on the hopelessness of his situation, he's an optimistic chap and it's his
humorous outlook and determination to "science the shit" out of his dilemma
that makes The Martian so damn entertaining. This is an atypical Ridley Scott
movie: the spectacle and detail is all there, only this time there's also a sense
that Scott knows he's making a big, crowd-pleasing blockbuster. A survival
story that celebrates the endurance of the human spirit without the obligatory
spoonful of sugar, it's got all the right stuff. Scott Hocking
FURTHER VIEWING: Interstellar, Robinson Crusoe on Mars
visit REVIEWS CINEMA
RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: Joe Wright CAST: Hugh Jackman, Garrett
Hedlund, Rooney Mara RATING: PG
RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: Ridley Scott CAST: Matt Damon, Jessica
Chastain, Jeff Daniels RATING: TBC
RATING KEY:
Wow!
Good
Not bad
Meh Woof!
THE WALK
From its opening frame, Sicario is a masterful experience. Employing equal
measures of intense sound, engaging cinematography and no-nonsense
acting usually reserved for high-end TV, you’ll be on the edge of your seat for
the majority of the two hour ride on this violent roller coaster. Emily Blunt is
the capable FBI agent who wants to play fair, but also wants satisfaction for
losing members of her team after a booby-trapped raid. With this as a carrot,
she agrees to be a part of a somewhat confusing taskforce (Brolin, del Toro)
whose mission, alongside a menagerie of mercenaries, is to infiltrate the
higher echelons of a Mexican drug cartel. What will soon be clear is playing
fair gets no results, and perhaps not all members of the crew have the same
objective. No, this isn’t a ‘I knew that guy was a baddie!’ style twist-and-turn
affair. It’s instead a nail-biting slow reveal of the machinations behind crime
fighting when the rules don’t apply, or are ineffective. With set pieces to rival
anything Ridley Scott or Michael Mann have ever achieved (a Mexican border
crossing sequence you will never forget) and an ever-present sense of doom,
excitement and amazing sensory immersion, Sicario is a hard-boiled triumph
of frenetic filmmaking. Chris Murray
FURTHER VIEWING: Traffic, Prisoners
RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: Denis Villeneuve CAST: Emily Blunt, Josh
Brolin, Benicio del Toro RATING: R16
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 22 DIRECTOR: Robert Zemeckis CAST: Joseph Gordon-Levitt,
Ben Kingsley, Charlotte Le Bon RATING: PG
SICARIO
34 OCTOBER 2015