Brandon Henderson

I’ll never get used to seeing Childish Gambino in films. I used to watch this quite often when I was younger and I remember adoring it, so it’s quite a shame that years later my opinions on it have changed so drastically. I do say drastically with a pinch of salt because I do not think this is a bad film, I actually think it’s a relatively solid and at times pretty good Sci-Fi survival film. There’s just far too much to dislike about this for me to hold it at any high pedigree when it comes to its fellow films in the genre and that’s mainly down to the poor dialogue and, this may be harsh, but the fact it almost never looks good. Sci-Fi is one of those genres where you have unlimited potential to create something truly special and mesmerising, we’ve seen it an abundance of times wether that be *2001: A Space Odyssey *or even something more recent like *Project Hail Mary *and this just failed to really capture me the way those and so many other movies do. The cinematography is so lacklustre and unappealing and completely takes away from the fact this movie is set on another planet. If it wasn’t for Matt Damon kicking about in a spacesuit, you’d honestly be forgiven for forgetting this film was set on Mars. I’m not going to throw any shade to Andy Weir because I’ve never actually read the source material of this and I hear that it’s great, but the writing and the dialogue especially was so poor. For the last hour it did just feel like there was a repetition of Chiwetel Ejiofor and Sean Bean arguing over a plan and it got so boring at times, although I say bored lightly because I am quite tired. This film isn’t all doom and gloom however and like I said, I did actually like it despite my criticism. Even though this hardly feels like a Sci-Fi film it still manages to fully take on these aspects of last ditch survival to a relatively good extent. Although I would’ve liked to see it touch more on the consequences of isolation and I know for a fact Ridley Scott could have done that. I never realised how stacked this cast truly was until now, it felt like every 20 minutes a new character was getting introduced that had me pondering where I’d seen them before. They all give okay to good performances with Matt Damon taking the crown and Chiwetel Ejiofor being very good. Whats really took me back slightly was how poor Jessica Chastain was here, she’s an actor who I know is well more than capable of this and I just felt like every second line was delivered without any real effort or concern. Could be the writing though.

Hero Tiffin as a young Voldemort is ridiculously elite casting. The inconsistency with this franchise continues as we yet again get what is a pretty average film succeeding a great one. I really thought after ‘*The Rise of the Phoenix’ *we were in for a complete step up in quality but this did just seem very shallow, uninteresting and worst of all, boring. For a film with an 150 minute long runtime and considering we’re very near the end of a long franchise, I’m really disappointed with how David Yates handled nearly every minute of this film. There is about 2 hours of this movie that ,more or less, only focuses on the characters love lives and who they’re going to be coupled with. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s cute and there is alot to be admired with Ron and Hermione and especially Harry and Ginny, but people, we are in the most dangerous and critical stage of these films and Voldemort is very much on the loose, surely all this could’ve been handled in a different film or not take up majority of this film. The story itself is a real mixed bad, watching certain characters progress in a way that I wanted was really satisfying and there was certain moments that really kept me on the edge of my seat but it was really hard to actually care about the so called “Half Blood Prince”. Snape being him was hardly shocking in a sense considering we see him pledge himself with Bellatrix near the start but I will admit I was expecting a different outcome. Technically it’s a bit of a mixed bag which is a real shame because so far I’ve loved the way these films have thrived on their individual atmospheres and fantastic world building. But unfortunately the editing is messy and the lighting is really weird at times, the only real great technical moments that I can think of is the memory sequences. The main issue with this film and it is a major problem is the fact that there is no Voldemort, sure he’s mentioned plenty but after a double feature of him being a significant presence he really needs to have some sort of screen time. I do imagine we’ll get an abundance of him over the next two though. What is really carrying this film and lifting my rating by at least a star is that ending. It does have everything necessary for a great ending from a massive shock, story bravery and a bit of a plot twist. But that doesn’t give this enough credit to make it anywhere near the better end of these films.

Next level aura on show here. This is large scale franchise blockbuster to the maximum extent here, truly marvellous stuff on show. These films have have been something I can pretty confidently say that I’ve enjoyed. I think there’s been some very high moments but I do think the low moments we see are relatively matched on the other end of the spectrum. But this is exactly what I’ve even dying for in this series, a high stakes tale that really dives into the fantasy aspects that are so integral to these films. The tonal switch since Voldemort was introduced has been tremendous. It really just takes ahold of that dark and sinister aura that should surround the character and plagues it throughout the whole film. Morals, friendships and the will for survival are all tested here as every character faces their own individual battles and struggles. It makes for such a challenging watch whenever we see Harry trying to face his more intimate battles and I think that’s made all the more better by Daniel Radcliffe’s performance. I think we really see everyone at their best here emotionally and mentally, which is honestly quite relieving considering there’s still a few more films left. I’ve been relatively quiet on my opinions on the performances from the main three considering how incredibly young they are, but they do really show improvement here and I think we see them really embrace their roles. I do hope we get to see more of Snapes backstory in the upcoming films because those flashbacks were amazing, he’s such an interesting character and Alan Rickman is tremendous. It is getting slightly tedious having every single ‘Defence against the Dark Arts’ teacher end up bad though, hope that changes.

Paul Newman is really, really cool. It’s quite an achievement that something so dirty and unappealing could be so stylish and nuanced. I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to sit down and watch this film for a short while now and while I definitely don’t regret it, apart of me wishes I watched it feeing more awake and certainly more aware of what I was going into.  There is a powerful story here about self determination, power and societal struggles which are themes that do follow a large majority of prison dramas and it does work here, but I couldn’t help but find this really hard to connect with. Luke’s character is easily admirable, very inspiring and it’s written tremendously but I do think his characteristics are too dissimilar to mine for me to have any intimate or emotional connection to him. Some scenes really do stand out from the rest and help significantly with the fact the first 45 (ish) minutes feel very slow. The ‘egg scene’ in particular felt very refreshing at the time adding some needed comedic elements and what feels like a real tonal switch for the story and the characters themselves. The stand out scene for me would have to be when Luke is playing his Banjo, I think it’s the only moment that really brought me in and made me feel any sort of emotional appreciation for his character. Technically this film is superb though and props to the cameraman because this is some elite stuff. The performances here are brilliant too, Paul Newman brings a necessary charm alongside this destructive side that adds so much to his character. George Kennedy was all fantastic and makes for a perfect sort of ‘side kick’ character. Although I do seem quite critical of this, I do really like it and I think I’ll watch this again some day when I’m feeling more up to the challenge. I do also think this is one of the best posters of all time, I love it so much.