An absorbing, slightly manic and convoluted thriller from Danny Boyle, Trance is a crazy but very watchable movie. The combination of a heist plot and the rigours of hypnosis is an unusual but effective story. Sometimes the screenplay by Joe Ahearne and John Hodge is too clever for it's own good, but Boyle keeps us enthralled with the settings and dazzling photography. I never know what to make of James McEvoy. He seems to always play these unhinged characters, and it is getting as if he is laughing at the audience. Maybe that's just me. Rosario Dawson and Vincent Cassel are suitably glossy and two dimensional. But as a package, I have to say it was an enjoyable couple of hours.
Oblivion is similarly, but more strangely, watchable. It is an ultra high tech science fiction film which depends totally on Tom Cruise in action man mode. He must have spent 90% of his time in front of a green screen which makes for an unsettling experience. But the CGI is top drawer, I guess it had to be. And in the best, but not largest screen in my local multiplex, it made for an impressive viewing. I never did see Tron, but the same director Joseph Kosinski obviously learnt his stuff well. The strangest thing is that the second lead is the brilliant Andrea Risborough, glammed up as never before. But she only appears well down the credits, as possibly unknown in the USA. Not any longer.
If you can picture the first Die Hard movie and transfer it to the White House, substitute Bruce Willis with Gerard Butler, and you get Olympus Has Fallen. All the old cliches are here, and nothing really original in the script. But the action makes for a reasonable thriller, but one that is instantly forgettable.
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