Film Review: DEVIL (2010)

Director: John Erick Dowdle
Co-Writer/Producer: M. Night Shyamalan
Running time: 77 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Horror/Mystery/Thriller
UK Release date: 17^th September 2010

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 23^rd July 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

The story revolves around a legend about the devil coming to Earth in human form to torment his victims before taking their souls. Now if you buy into that then I guess you’ll find this film a lot creepier than I did. I know that M. Night Shyamalan has had a few duds recently and I guess he was hoping for a little redemption with this one. Well, it’s a step in the right direction, but there are many steps to go yet before he’s going to convince me he’s back on form. Here’s a brief summary before I give you my thoughts.

After a suicide at the same building, five people get on an elevator which gets stuck between floors. They are a mechanic, an old woman, a young woman, a security guard and a salesman. The building security men know about it and send a maintenance man to try and sort it out. There is something sinister going on and every time the lights blink out in the lift, something bad happens. One of them is killed in what seems to be a bizarre accident and the police are called. Detective Bowden and his partner Detective Markowitz arrive on the scene and take control of the situation. The Fire Department come in but don’t seem to be able to gain entry to the lift shaft; they will have to cut through the wall. All this time strange and frightening things are happening in the lift as one by one, the occupants are killed off. Who will be left…? Who is the Devil? Guess I’d better leave it there.

This film reminded me very much of the little known 2008 film Blackout starring Amber Tamblyn and Aidan Gillen (my review here). Devil, however does not have the claustrophobic feel of that one and I think that doesn’t really work in its favour. All the performances were ok, with Chris Messina doing a good job as Detective Bowden. Also worthy of note were; Logan Marshall-Green as the mechanic, Jenny O'Hara as the old woman, Bojana Novakovic as the young woman, Bokeem Woodbine as the security guard and Geoffrey Arend as the salesman.

I have read that it’s easy to spot who the devil is from the very start, but I didn’t try to guess. I had my suspicions that changed as the story unfolded, but the reveal did surprise me somewhat. The opening credits I found a little disturbing, flying upside down over Philadelphia is not very pleasant. The music was great though, reminded me of a classic Hitchcock thriller. I guess this one didn’t quite live up to expectations. Although the level of tension is kept pretty high throughout, it didn’t really work for me. Not that it’s a bad movie, it’s well produced, well shot, there are no faults with the acting or direction; I just didn’t buy into the concept behind it all. Over all, Not Recommended.

My Score: 5.6/10

IMDb Score: 6.4/10 (31,493 votes when this review was written).
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 52/100 (83 reviews counted when this review was written).

LINKS:

(RT = Rotten Tomatoes)
IMDb Page: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1314655/
RT Page: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/771203480/
Official Site: http://www.thenightchronicles.com/devil/
Trailer:

Film Review: THE LAST AIRBENDER (2010)

Writer/Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Running time: 99 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Fantasy/Adventure
UK Release date: 13th August 2010

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 16th July 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

There has been an awful lot written about this film and the vast majority I have read is not very positive at all. Many have warned me off seeing this, but you know me and curiosity… I had to see for myself just how bad it could be. Well, as always, I’m going to give you my honest opinion and I have a feeling there’s one or two out there that may not like what I have to say. More of that later, here’s a very brief summary first.

In a world that is split into four realms, those governed by the four elements; Air, Water, Earth and Fire, a boy is discovered who is thought to be the Avatar. The Avatar is master of all the elements and the only one who can speak with the Great Spirit and is the only one that can unite the realms. When he was trained and about to learn his skills, he ran away and has been missing for a hundred years. In the intervening time a war has raged and those in charge of the Fire realm have taken over most of the other realms, even destroying all of those who have power over the Air. This makes Aang, the boy, the last of his kind… the last Airbender. He must learn the secrets of bending Water, Earth and Fire if he is to stop the war. To this end he travels north with his new friends, Katara and Sokka. Also hot on their trail is the disgraced son of the leader of the Fire realm, Prince Zuko. Can Aang fulfil his destiny, or will there be a surprise waiting for him? Of course I can’t tell you here of them Spoiler Police will be all over me like a cheap suit.

On the positive side, I thought the music, by James Newton Howard was excellent and the special effects were also first rate. The acting, although far from perfect, ranged from good to adequate in most cases. I thought Dev Patel did a decent job as Prince Zuko, as did Nicola Peltz as Katara and Jackson Rathbone as Sokka. The main let-down, I guess, was Noah Ringer as Aang, he could handle the physical side of the role very well, but I think a few more acting lessons might be in order.

For a plot based on a children’s animated TV series, I thought it wasn’t too bad. What let it down was the dialogue; it just seemed to be written by someone, to me, who was lacking confidence. I don’t want to worry anyone out there, but it’s left wide-open for a sequel, we only got half way through the story. Over all though, I didn’t find this half as bad as some have led me to believe. It’s not awful, the effects and the music are very good and, yes, some of the acting and the dialogue are not that polished, but I didn’t find it a terrible experience… I’ve seen much worse.

My Score: 4.5/10

LINKS:
(RT = Rotten Tomatoes)
IMDb Page: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0938283/
RT Page: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/last_airbender/
Trailer:

Film Review: THE HAPPENING (2008)

Writer/Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Running time: 86 mins (approx)
Certificate (UK): 15

Watched on DVD Wednesday 19th August 2009.

PLEASE NOTE: POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I’ll admit to being a bit of a fan of some of M. Night Shyamalan’s work, in particular The Village (2004), Unbreakable (2000) and The Sixth Sense (1999). Unfortunately, I found ‘The Happening’ a bit of a disappointment. It’s almost like he’s trying a bit too hard to make a film in the style of Alfred Hitchcock. I may be wrong, but that’s the impression I get. The concept of the story is fine, it’s just the execution seems, for me, a bit lacking somehow.

Elliot Moore is a science teacher in Philadelphia who has to leave town suddenly when people begin to mysteriously kill themselves. With him is his wife, Alma, his friend and colleague, Julian and Julian’s daughter, Jess. They take a train heading out of the city only to be abandoned in a small town when the train operators lose contact with everyone. Julian decides to go back to Philadelphia to find his wife, leaving Jess with Elliot and Alma. The three hitch a ride with some locals, but have trouble finding a way out of the affected area because at every turn, it seems, there are bodies in the way. Can the find a way out and, more importantly, what’s causing everyone to kill themselves?

Quite a tense thriller, but as I said at the beginning, it seems somewhat lacking. Decent performances from Mark Wahlberg as Elliot, Zooey Deschanel as Alma and John Leguizamo as Julian. I thought the best performance came from the young actress Ashlyn Sanchez as Jess. There are a few gory scenes, but over all it’s a bit of a miss in my book. A good way to kill an hour and a half… if you have it to kill, but otherwise you may want to avoid this one. We can but hope M Night Shyamalan’s next effort is much better.

My score: 5/10

LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0949731/
Official Site: http://www.thehappeningmovie.com/