rutvig

Compelled to write a review after some time. This series has been fantastic however, as a finale, this absolutely does not work. If you're a fan of Marvel Comics, the 'big bar' Easter Eggs are aplenty throughout the series. If you're not, then it will definitely feel as though the end villain comes out of nowhere.

Kang talks about something about plot moving and going somewhere etc. (I'm paraphrasing of course, but he refers to story tropes at one point in this exposition heavy episode) and ironically, the episode doesn't actually go anywhere in terms of characters. There is near zero payoff and all the ep serves is to set up the multiverse of madness. Which is great but, remember your characters? Their motivations? Bar Silvie (maybe), all the characters are left on a cliffhanger which'll frustrate rather than satisfy.

The Empire Strikes Back (the only story that comes to mind at the moment) managed to balance character development and payoff whilst still keeping the ending open, perfectly.

This alas seems to fail to do that.

I'll need to return to the episode to see if my opinion changes but as Kang himself says, "it's a swing and a miss"!

Oh the irony.

Welcome to the Punch...I think...

So, I actually managed to get to the advanced screening of Welcome to the Punch this evening. Unfortunately, not a single one of my 150ish London based Facebook friends could accompany me to the free advanced preview of the film and, at first, I must admit that I was very disappointed. But now, I find myself wondering whether they knew something that I didn't!

Eran Creevy, writer and director sets the stage clearly with an opening sequence that plays out in London's glossy, glass and steel covered Canary Wharf. It pulls us in straight away. We find ourselves almost immediately invested in both the protagonist (James McAvoy as Max Lewinsky, detective cop chap whom we're meant to root for) and antagonist (a stern Mark Strong playing naughty bad guy, Jacob Sternwood), willing the story to tell us more about these two characters and the motivations behind their actions.

Borrowing heavily from the audio visual flare of Nolans bat films, particularly 'The Dark Knight', we're lead to believe that a stylish cat and mouse action / crime caper in the style of Heat awaits us. I honestly found myself asking whether this could actually be the British 'Heat' after the first 10 minutes or so. Unfortunately, about 15 minutes in, my first 'gripe' smacked me in the face (from McAvoy's performance no less!) This was followed by the second, and the third, and continued to do so until the end finally came, with a twist that was visible from a mile away and a convoluted plot that had to be explained through exposition about 10 minutes before the film ended!

Relationships between characters felt shallow and under developed, making empathy nigh on impossible and ultimately, leaving me somewhat bored of the whole thing. None of the questions that the film raises in our minds as we progress through its 'narrative' are answered and I was left feeling cheated every time. The audience needs to know why certain things are happening surely?; Sternwoods treatment of Lewinsky and vice versa, for one. So why not just tell us?

The cast deliver strong performances with what material they have bar McAvoy, surprisingly, who gave one too many clichéd reactions which caricatured our hero and made us less sympathetic to his plight.

For all of the films good moments it has its bad and ultimately, the bad simply overpowered the good. The little niggles (in the form of conveniently placed tools, bad aim etc.) and wannabe Bourne esque plot, along with a serious lack of satisfaction from the 'bad guy' being trumped (because, technically, the 'bad guy wasn't) made the film a lot poorer than it rightly deserved to be. Because from a technical stand point, the film looks and sounds great. And the story still feels interesting, and I want to know more. But, with the serious lack of character development and exploration of their (implied) back stories, the film finds itself lying flat on its gun riddled back after its 99 minute runtime.

Sadly another missed opportunity for British cinema.

Unless of course, this was designed as an Infernal Affairs style film and a prequel / sequel fills in all the 'gaps'?

Welcome to the Punch opens nationwide on 27th March.

Rutvig Vaid

My initial thoughts, during the film were 'boooring' 'done before' and 'oh Lord please make it stop'!! The film is neither original nor expresses anything new. Once again Bollywood unabashedly rips off multiple Hollywood films, slaps it all together into an oddball mix and produces another Hindi film..only this time, it's a superhero flik. Being an old school comic book fan, I was very eager (if not sceptical) to see this. Suffice to say, it was an incredibly huuuge disappointment! It takes elements from Minority Report (the computer), Spiderman (parts of the score), Superman (the farm the protagonist lives on is very reminiscent of the Kent Farm), Matrix (surprise surprise), House of Flying Daggers (environment) and the list goes on amongst other things. Even the mask reminded me of Night wing (the original Robin character as an adult)...and it took the designers SIX MONTHS to design it?! Please! The story seems reasonably tight but runs far too slowly during the first act, and is full of typical 'Hindi filmisms'. Uneccessary to tell the story. The second act however, wasn't terrible.

The pro's are the effects (which the filmmakers are keen to show off...which in turn unfortunately detracts from the narrative and slows it down in places). The visual effects studio have done an absolutely marvellous job and this has to be, so far, THE most technically competent Hindi film to date (i've not seen Alag so cannot comment on it's effects).

Having said that though, the wire-work was just tremendously hard work to watch. Whilst it was ambitious (down right insane in some places), the protagonist just has this moronic habit of wailing his legs around like a numpty whilst jumping around the landscape. I say jumping...in hardly any scenes are we given the impression of the character having any weight! He just...floats....whilst flailing his legs around. And most of the time, this 'jumping' is pointless. THEN, when the character is needed to reach a point in a short amount of time, he decides to run along the streets....in the middle of the street. This is then followed by some more pointless floating/jumping/flailing and then..god only knows what cos I fell asleep at this point.

Aneways, watch it. hate it, then maybe like parts of it after some reflection, then realise that there actually is an interesting character here with much potential...then think how you could have written/directed it better. Well..that's what I did.

Oh, and the music was shite bar the first two tracks. The background score is overall quite good and relatively catchy/memorable. The performances are not bad, with some being better than others. Much more could be said but it's not worth it!