Every critic seemed to have a different take on this extraordinary film. For me it was all about what was in the genes.Michelle's past meant that any assault, whether physical or verbal, although not acceptable, was somehow to be expected. So the attack she endures at the beginning was meant to show that even the ultimate of everything she could endure was still a consequence of that past and therefore something she tries to ignore. Or at least prepare for it happening again.
Isabelle Huppert is extraordinarily good as Michelle. How she did not win the Oscar for best actress can only be because this is a French movie. If she had an ounce of feeling, Emma Stone should have passed the award straight over.There is absolutely no comparison. Very rarely do I agree with Camila Long's film reviews in the Sunday Times, but her five star rating is spot on. She describes the movie as "mad" (a pretty bonkers plot), "wild" (you never know what to expect next), "horrible" (some really sordid scenes), "provocative" (a woman being assaulted is not nice), "funny" (there are a few laugh out loud moments) "dark" (her father's crimes, that are slowly and cleverly revealed, never go away), and "determined" (director Paul Verhoeven doesn't worry about what certificate the film gets).
Verhoeven has made something startling original, part thriller, part satire, part farce. Amazingly, the original book Oh.... by Philippe Djian has been adapted, first into an English language screenplay by Danile Birke before being translated into French. Even by the subtitles we know this is a terrific script and should at least have been nominated for the Oscar. Everything is so daftly unpredictable and, like Camilla, I loved it.
Logan is a weird mix of intense drama and very violent clashes. I remember now that Mark Kermode on the Film Review programme did warn us about the gore. But then, like he said, there was enough clever plotting, good dialogue and themes of aging to keep it interesting. Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart show that given the right material, they are very good actors. Somehow they are even upstaged by a fabulous performance from Stephen Merchant as Caliban. Director James Mangold is on top form. He explains about why a different actor played Caliban in the previous X-Men movie. "It’s a funny, messy story of how so often these things are not as coordinated as everyone thinks, I actually had written him into our movie, and they didn’t know [he was] in Apocalypse, and then they kind of wrote it in their movie, and they cast someone in their movie and I had not seen it and was working away on mine.” He refused to alter his casting of Merchant, thank goodness.
Although this is a prequel to the Peter Jackson 2005 King Kong movie, the helicopters this time come off worst, or is that the other way round? Whatever, we get a lot of tributes to other films as the story progresses. Apocalypse Now and any monster film you can think of have been thrown in. So a reasonably entertaining B-movie with impressive CGI that is probably why some of those scenes go on too long. The high class cast are let down by a hammy screenplay, but that was not why they were here. The craziness is typified by an incredible 70's soundtrack. Even CCR get two tracks. And then there is Vera Lynne. Oh, and I just love the poster.
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