Film Review: Son of a gun

Quentin Tarantino's films, always seem to have a few scenes, where everything is tense and every moment hinges on whatever is said or done. Very much, edge of your seat viewing.

For this film, Julius Avery's writing and directing feature debut, that same level of intensity and sharpness is maintained for the full hour and forty eight minutes.

For those viewing who's hometown is the city of Perth, (where the film is set and filmed) it is even more of a strong film that draws you in and makes it so hard to come down from.

JR, portrayed by Brenton Thwaites, is in jail for a minor offence. Mr Thwaites is a fine actor, I would go as so far to say, a Heath Ledger in waiting.

While inside, he meets Ewan McGregor's and Matt Nable's characters, Brendan Lynch and Sterlo respectively. Both are great actors and in this they prove their depth and skill.

Its Brendan who is the more charismatic out of the two, but as the film unfolds, the other parts of his deeply layered character come to light. And JR seems to be more and more taken in and taken care of, but not in an enviable or frankly healthy way.

Nash Edgerton, Damon Herriman, Alicia Vikander, Jacek Koman, Tom Budge and Eddie Baroo make up the supporting cast, and all give their characters' their considerable all.

Its not an easy film to watch, but the ending is worth the watch and its something that stays with you long afterwards.

Comments

  1. Film & TV Commentator2 July 2015 at 03:02

    This quote comes from another film, just as frantically paced as the one reviewed above.

    Tobin Frost: You're a good boy, Matthew. You know what you are? [gasping] I know what you're not... You're better than me.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Film Review: Moneyball

Most of the sports films that have been made, have had very Hollywood plot lines. It was almost a recipe. Underdog team/coach/player/ whatever, trying to do something. A few montages of things going badly, then a winning formula, or new coach/player that tells them "they just have to believe in themselves" or teaches them how to work together with a few gimmicks. Which means, when you watch a well written film like Moneyball, you are completely unprepared by the realism and length of film that really tells you the true story. Or close to it, at least. With Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillan (Mr Zaillan wrote screenplays for The Interpreter, American Gangster and Clear and Present Danger) writing the screenplay, Brad Pitt portraying the character listed and the direction is tight and without any excess scenes, Bennet Miller was nominated for an Academy Award for his work with the film Capote - its a film worth watching for the all of the above and the finished product that
Read more

Film Review: Theater Camp

 In the middle of year six, I started attending Helen O'Grady's Drama Academy. Typical education sneakiness of actually teaching kids the skills to enable them to be confident out in the "real world" and with the fun bonus of how to project your voice while simultaneously messing about on the "stage" and acting out improvisation prompts and at the end of each year, a whole play. Nearly seven years, growing and learning in community buildings, after school during term time.  Good times all round. And it was definitely part of the draw card for me, for this new film, set at a summer theatre camp that beautifully illustrates the allure of performing on stage, telling stories and bringing them to life, for both the kids that attend and the teachers - and it's hard to tell who is the more committed or passionate about the craft. It's clearly a labour of love for Molly Gordon, Ben Platt, Noah Galvin and Nick Lieberman - all four wrote it, the first three a
Read more

TV series reviews: The Bear & The Newsreader

 For your consideration today, two reviews for the price of one. The Bear and The Newsreader.  Not only do both series have a strong cast and gripping scripts for each and every episode but both also open the curtains for us to have a peek behind the scenes of a world usually off limits for mere mortals. We only see the finished product but here we see the shouting matches fuelled by emotional energy, impassioned speeches, tears, hugs and luck of the moment that brings it all together to make it work, that of a high end restaurant and the newsroom respectively. Both worlds also have that sense of the "other" family bond, strengthened by joint victories and triumphs and sour moments of failures made less painful by those in the room, bonded together through thick and thin to make a perfected dish or news television broadcast.  And indeed, they are not only fighting each other but up against the world, nameless - if not faceless, critics, ever judging, never silent and always o
Read more