Saturday 17 January 2015

American Sniper

Hi guys! I'm sorry it's been so long but I will make it up to you with a review of the eagerly anticipated 'American Sniper'. Being a huge fan of the war genre I was incredibly excited for it's release and I wasn't disappointed.


American Sniper (2014)


                                                     





Synopsis:

American Sniper was directed by Clint Eastwood and follows the true story of the U.S Military’s most lethal sniper, Chris Kyle. Bradley Cooper portrays Kyle as he is sent out to Iraq to protect his fellow soldiers but when the opposition realise how lethal he actually is, they put a bounty on his head and he quickly becomes a prime target. Despite the stress and worry his wife has been put through, Kyle goes on to serve four tours of Iraq but when he finally decides to retire he realises that he will never truly escape the war.


Review:

American Sniper is a powerful and thought-provoking film that delves into the realities of the Iraq war and the soldiers who risked their lives every single day. Cooper’s portrayal of Chris Kyle is so believable and moving, it allows you to distance yourself from the Hollywood star and invest in the character of Chris Kyle. I believe the film would have benefited from paying more attention to the after effects of the war and how soldiers deal with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. American Sniper does cover this topic briefly but it focuses more on dramatic gun fights and Kyle’s ability to somehow be good at everything.
Cinematic, action packed and incredibly tense, American Sniper looks beyond the ‘legend’ of Chris Kyle and allows the audience to almost put themselves in the centre of the war and witness the true horrors he had to endure. There were several points throughout the film when I had to hold my breath and even shield my eyes from one particularly brutal scene, it does shock the audience but that is the harsh reality of war and it’s clear Eastwood has created an inspiring and honest masterpiece.
I am a huge fan of the war film genre and American Sniper is definitely up there with the best, it manages to provoke all of your emotions. There were times when I was incredibly tense and hoping Kyle would make it out of the dangerous situations, it also brought a tear to my eye time and time again and most of all, it made me feel an overwhelming sadness about these wars and the effects it has on the soldiers. Bradley Cooper is the main attraction in American Sniper and his ability to take on this role with sympathy and elegance is worthy of an Oscar.
American Sniper is one of those films you can watch several times and enjoy it again and again it offers so many depths of the story and will never cease to blow you away. I would definitely recommend this film to all of my friends and I already know it’s going to be joining my DVD collection when it’s released.

4/5



Saturday 3 January 2015

The Woman in Black 2: The Angel of Darkness

Happy new year guys! Well, it's now 2015 and the reviews must continue, starting with The Woman in Black 2. Now, I hadn't expected much from this sequel because the original was fantastic but I have to say, although it was lacking any real scares, I wasn't disappointed and actually enjoyed it.
So here we go.



Synopsis:


The Woman in Black 2: The Angel of Darkness is set 40 years after the first Woman in Black film, it has all new characters but follows the same back story of Jeanette Humphreys and the death of her son in the treacherous marshes. The film’s lead character is Eve Parkins, a school teacher who accompanies a group of WWII evacuee children to Eel Marsh House. The village has been derelict for years and the group are told that they are the only people on the island but after a series of strange events and several sightings of a woman in and around the house, Eve begins to believe they are not alone.



Review:


The Woman in Black 2 is atmospheric and tense from the very beginning; it contains the perfect setting for a horror film with long, dark hallways, creaking floorboards and a sinister looking cellar but it tries too hard to live up to its predecessor and only provides the audience with cheap jump scares that are all too predictable.
Eve Parkins played by Phoebe Fox does bring the narrative to life and I thoroughly enjoyed the back story to her character, it allows you to connect with her and makes it much easier to invest in to her world. The character building in this film is incredibly strong, the audience gains all the information it needs on the main characters but of course, it still doesn’t live up to Daniel Radcliffe’s roll in the previous film.
Towards the end of the film I could predict every single jump scare and sometimes they weren’t necessary. The eerie silences, the deep shadows and the unnerving camera angles would have been enough to make the viewer feel uneasy and add a bit more depth to the film, rather than follow the stereotypical cheap, thrills but I wasn’t completely disappointed and I may have come off my chair a couple of times to begin with.
Although the casting didn’t include any big names I felt as though they exceeded my expectations and brought the story to life, they were all believable and had their own little back stories to give more information on their personalities. I was personally a huge fan of Harry (Jeremy Irvine) and really enjoyed watching his character develop. I wasn’t sure whether to trust him to begin with and feel that Irvine added a mysterious presence to Harry’s character, which we later discover more about his past and his strange actions.
Before watching The Woman in Black 2 I knew it would never live up to the first one but I enjoyed the film much more than expected. The film is let down by its overuse of cheap thrills and repetitive scenes to fill up gaps in the story but the characters are likeable and relatable and the setting of Eel Marsh House will always send a shudder up my spine. Unlike the original Woman in Black, I wouldn’t want to watch this film again but it’s definitely worth a watch if you’re a fan of this genre and you scare easily.

3/5