The Law of Diminishing Returns

Shrek the Third - 2.5/5

The most disappointing of the summer's threequels so far. It still looks great, but the main problem is that its just not funny enough.

Part of the problem seems to be that Shrek (Mike Myers) himself has actually developed as a character - he's grown, become happier and less insecure - all well and good, but it makes him one heck of a lot less funny! Then you have the comedic golddust of Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss-in-Boots (Antonio Banderas) who stole the first and second movies respectively. They don't seem to know what to do with them here, so they're subjected to a rather lame body-swap sub-plot which the scriptwriters obviously get embarassed by and do very little with. It amounts to a total waste of great characters.

And the thing is, that with the gag rate down, the sentiment and the same "just be yourself" message actually starts to be a bit mawkish.

That's not to say Shrek the Third doesn't have its moments and there are some genuinely funny bits here - John Cleese as the king in an incredibly drawn out death sequence, the fairy-tale princesses going into battle mode and Eric Idle as an incompetent Merlin is intermittently funny. There's certainly enough here to keep little ones entertained and older ones amused, but it all finishes up rather anti-climactic as the final battle is stopped by more sickening sentiment, your left feeling like a good punch-up would have been more satisfying. The closing credits musical number also feels like a by the numbers attempt to copy parts 1 and 2 than any genuine inspiration.

This isn't a bad film - its a passable, fun, entertaining, family animation, but after the genius of the first two films, comes as a bit of a crashing disappointment and means that the news that Shreks 4 and 5 have already been greenlit strike a note of dread into your heart.

A Triumphant Return to Form

Ocean’s Thirteen – 4/5

After the huge disappointment of Ocean’s Twelve, Messers Clooney, Pitt, Damon et al (Pacino, in this case) have obviously realised where they went wrong and come up with the most entertaining and enjoyable film of the summer so far. Gone are Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta Jones (their absence explained early) and it turns out this is a good thing. Even Don Cheadle’s incredibly irritating Mockney accent seems to have been turned down a notch or four. Somebody, it seems has been listening. The too-clever-for-their-own-good in-jokes have almost totally gone, and the few there are, are actually funny – watch out for Clooney’s last word to Pitt.

After a brief preamble (showing how bad guy Willy Bank (Pacino) provoked gang member Elliot Gould’s heartache by a double-cross), we are plunged straight into the middle of the revenge-scam with technical wizard Eddie Izzard arriving to bail the gang out of a fix. This allows for much exposition of the scheme at the start, so go in prepared to pay close attention to the numerous flashbacks and forwards. However, having got this out of the way, the film is able to sit back and enjoy the ride. After the first film, and many others in the genre, it was always going to be more difficult to pull the wool over the audience’s eyes this time round, so there are few genuine surprises in the plot. But to be fair, they don’t really try to take you in, just to make the journey to the expected conclusion as enjoyable as possible.

The film is also a return to form for director Steven Soderbergh and the film looks amazing, full of great shots including some amazing swooping tracking shots across the casino floor. He also nails the tone just right, as is typified by Clooney’s repeated undercutting of Andy Garcia’s character’s macho posturing. The scheme is as ingenious and confusing as ever, sprinkled with enough incomprehensible jargon to add flavour but not to drown it. The action sequences work well, but really it’s the humour that drives this forward – whether it be a running gag about Oprah or Casey Affleck’s and Scott Caan’s hilarious sidetrip to Mexico.

Each member of the gang gets their moment in the spotlight this time and use it well. Clooney and Pitt resume their seemingly effortless comic double act, but this time Damon, both as character and as actor, more than matches them, showing yet again what a versatile performer he is. Without Roberts or Zeta-Jones, the actress duties fall mainly on Ellen Barkin as Pacino’s right-hand-man and she does a wonderful job, whether in cold-hearted bitch mode or in intoxicated attempts to seduce Damon.

In fact, the biggest let-down here is Pacino, the world’s greatest living actor (I mean, when was the last time De Niro did anything remotely challenging or even decent). He brings suitable menace and panache to the opening scenes with Gould, but thereafter the character goes nowhere and finishes as an underused waste of a great actor.

That said, this is definitely well worth watching, and whilst it might not quite match the first instalment, it’s infinitely better than the second.


Water – 3.5/5

This film completes Canadian-based, Indian director Deepa Metha thematically linked ‘elements’ trilogy, following Fire and Earth. That it is 9 years since the last film is indicative of the trouble she had getting this one made following trouble with Hindu fundamentalists who objected to what they saw as an attack on their values. So, it obviously touched a raw nerve in its depiction of widowhood in a 1938 India in the throes of Gandhi-inspired change.

The plot centres around 8 year old Churyia (played impressively by Sarala), already a widow, and so dispatched by her family to a widow’s ashram where she’s supposed to spend the rest of her lives. There she meets a variety of other widows - the sincerely devout one (Seema Biswas), the beautiful one (Lisa Ray) who is prostituted to the local gentry by the greedy, hypocritical den-mother of the ashram. There’s also the slightly crazy old one, who’s experience of being married and widowed at a young age, seem to have left her in a permanent child-like state, forever craving sweets.

Things start to unravel when Ray attracts the attentions of a liberal thinking Brahmin (John Abraham) but their romance hits a tragic stumbling block when she discovers his father is a former client of hers. There is also real evil in the abuse here as is only revealed right towards the end.

The whole is stunningly shot and well-acted. However at times the dialogue does become a bit heavily pointed in a “this is the point kind of way”. As a whole, the film examines the use of religion as a means of control with Biswas moving from more passive onlooker to active hero of the piece as she begins to question her faith. The titular element provides a deeply ambiguous image for this religion – the holy river seemingly something to purify, whilst being used to ferry Ray to her clients under the cover of darkness.

Not always easy-viewing, but well worth checking out.

The Summer of the Threequel - Midterm report

Well this weekend's release of Pirates of the Caribbean at World's End is the second of 5 big name part 3 that mark this summer's blockbuster season. And at the moment it looks like despite the hype, we might be heading for a rather disappointing time:

Spiderman 3 was a bit of a confused mess - entertaining at times, but a let down after parts 1 +2.

Pirates (full review to follow soon) is likewise a bit of a confused, but entertaining mess. A marginal improvement on part 2, but still leaves you with the feeling they'd have been better off leaving well alone after the unexpected success of the first movie.

Next up comes Ocean's Thirteen - Clooney, Pitt, Damon and co. in their collective apology for Oceans Twelve (a film that looked like it was far more fun to make than to watch). They at least have the advantage that Twelve was so bad, almost anything would be an improvement, so expectations are that much lower.

Early reviews of Shrek the Third suggest it could be the biggest disappointment of the lot, having almost completely lost the humour of the first two films.

Which might leave it to Jason Bourne and his Ultimatum to save the day again, coming at the end of the summer (August release date) and somehow, despite two commercial and critical successes under his belt, still seeming to manage to slip in under the radar and the hype of the bigger films. This is currently my prediction for the summer's best blockbuster.

Of the other, non threequel blockbusters - The Fantastic Four has so little expectation after the fun, but not that great original, it might turn into a pleasant surprise. Personally, not really too excited about Transformers, although the trailer is quite cool. Die Hard 4.0 is such a bad idea it might just work, but will probably be dreadful. On the other hand, if Shrek fails, hopefully The Simpsons can be relied on for a burst of animated humour. I doubt Evan Almighty will live up to Bruce, but maybe Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will turn the weakest of the books into the best of the films.

On a less blockbuster'y note, for those who prefer a bit of politics in their films, watch out for Taking Liberties an angry British Documentary about the erosion of civil liberties under New Labour - out next month, whilst The War on Democracy tackles American involvement in Latin America.