Lucy

Year: 2014 

Genre: Science Fiction

There is an urban legend that suggests that the human race only uses 10% of our brain capacity, with the remaining 90% remaining locked away and untouched. What would happen if as humans, we could access 100% of our brain? What could we do? What would be capable of achieving?

Enter into the ring Lucy, played by Scarlett Johannson. Lucy (we never find out her surname) is living with her ex boyfriend in Taipei. She is tricked into delivering briefcase containing the mind bending drug CPH4 to a Chinese mafia boss in an upmarket hotel. He forces her to be a drug mule, but when the bag bursts in a fight, the drug enters Lucy's bloodstream and she develops superhuman mental powers. 

So what of the film itself? The main problem with 'Lucy', is that quite ironically, it only uses 10% of it's premise, and so many other films have done what it itends to do better. Neil Burger already explored the 100% of the brain storyline with his 2011 film 'Limitless'. The flat, emotionless character Johansson plays in Lucy is limp in comparison to Bradley Cooper's struggling writer in the aforementioned. The 'Matrix' style elements of the film are also hugely disappointing, with little or nothing being made of the fact Lucy can manipulate objects with her mind and bend the laws of physics. What the audience is left with, is a protagonist who makes people float to the ceiling and do little or nothing more. 

So, if you go into the cinema expecting a modern day Matrix style film like we did (and as trailer suggests it is), you will come out feeling disappointed. That isn't to say 'Lucy' is a bad film though, as there are some gorgeous special effects that compliment the latter half of the film's dream like sequences. It is quite evident that Besson borrowed heavily from Nolan's 'Inception' for inspiration in these parts. 

I can't help but feel that if Luc Besson had used more than 5% of his brain, and gave the audience the action sequences they came to see the film for, 'Lucy' would be more of a box office success that it turns out to be. The trailer is misleading, and most of the audience will leave the auditorium feeling a little cheated I suspect. 

So what does Lucy get? 3.5 stars. Worth catching, but I would for the DVD. 

The Inbetweeners 2

Year : 2014

Genre: Comedy

Originally released in 2011, 'The Inbetweeners Movie' holds the record for the highest grossing opening weekend a comedy film has achieved in the UK, taking 2.5 million . It stayed at number one in the charts for four weeks, by which point it's box office takings had reached over 40 million pounds (yes pounds, not dollars). It parodied young Brits abroad perfectly, and anyone who has ever been on a lads/lasses holiday in their early twenties will have been able to relate to what happens to Will, Jay, Neil, and Simon in Malia.

Even though talk of a sequel was always always hush hush when the cast where interviewed, the monumental box office takings ensured that it was almost inevitable. Fast forward three years, and we have the inventively titled 'Inbetweeners 2'. This time set in Australia, Will, Simon, and Neil go out to visit Jay while he is working in a Sydney club as 'DJ Big Penis'. What follows is a similarly structured, not
quite as funny re hash of the original.

The film's location becomes a problem from the outset, as the lads are shoehorned out their familiar UK backdrops into somewhere wholly unfamiliar to the majority of the target audience. It doesn't work anywhere near as well as it should, and strips away an potential for jokes that a UK backdrop or Mediterranean holiday would allow for.

Characterization is hugely unbalanced, largely due to the fact there is only one female lead this time round, up and coming Brit actress Emily Berrington (Simone from 24 Season 9). The complete lack of any other female characters removes all of the warmth and emotional resonance that was evident in the original, and will more than likely alienate the fifty percent in the audience. I also felt the Australian stereotypes in the film were so hammed up they became almost xenophobic and potentially offensive.

Ultimately though, it's just not as funny as the first one. The humour just isn't there. There is literally nothing to compare to the now iconic club scene of the original. The film rapidly becomes a series of 'gross out' jokes, and relies far too heavily on profanity to get laughs rather than intelligent set pieces which was always the strong point of the tv show. Sequels rarely ever live up to the quality of the original, and 'The Inbetweeners 2' is no exceptional to this rule.

Worth a watch, but don't expect to come out of the cinema with the nostalgic feeling like you did in the first one, because you won't.

Three stars.  

     

Hercules

Year: 2014

Genre: Action

The Greek legend 'The 12 Labours of Hercules', is a series of episodes that have a lot of cinematic potential given the advanced computer generated imagery techniques available to modern directors. Done in the right way, they could showcase some pretty epic battles on the big screen. Slaying the nine-headed Lernaean Hydra, obtaining the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, or capturing the Erymanthian Boar. It's almost like the screenplay and script are already written, and all they have to do is get the right people for the job. 

Sadly, 'Cliffhanger' director Renny Harlin got there first this year, with 'The Legend of Hercules'. Harlin made what is largely considered to be one of the worse adaptations of the legend in cinematic history. If the origins of the character have already been explored so recently, where is there to go? 

This Summer's Hercules, is Brett Ratner's (Rush Hour / Prison Break) big screen adaption of the graphic novel 'Hercules, the Thracian Wars', and refers to the labours of Hercules in the opening scene but that is pretty much the last the audience hears of them. The protagonist has already completed his twelve labours by now, and is leading a band of mercenaries which include Ian McShane crowbarred into the plot for comic effect and Ingrid Bolsø Berdal who seems to be there for no other reason than balancing the books gender wise. 

I found the plot to be unnecessarily hard work, with awkward twists and confusingly complicated turns throughout. Little is made of the main character's potential, or his mythos, with set pieces comprising of watered down '300' esque battles that if you have seen aforementioned, were done so much better by Zack Snyder and Gerard Butler. Dwane Johnson plays Hercules competently, with his sheer steroid enhanced physical size giving gravitas to a character that needs an actor with huge stage presence. Lets be honest though, it's hardly a role that requires someone with a Shakespearean background. 

I found little going for the film and left the auditorium disappointed. That's not to say others didn't enjoy it though, as there are plenty of 7/10 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes if you care to look. 

2 out of 5 stars.