Bollywood World

Rating : 5 /10
Release Date : 30th April, 2016
Time : 147 minutes
Directors : Anthony Russo, Joe Russo; Writers : Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely based on the comic book by Mark Millar and characters by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby; Music : Henry Jackman
Starring : Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Daniel Bruhl, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Emily VanCamp, Tom Holland, William Hurt, Martin Freeman



What happens when you hit a dead end as a script-writer ?

Super-hero angst, existential crisis, back stories have already been done to death.

There are no super-cool, megalomaniacal villains left � no new worlds left to conquer, and threatening aliens are so passe.

What then do you do ?



Turn your super-heroes one against the other ? Make them battle against each other on the flimsiest of pretexts ? And why stop at one, lets make them fight in groups ? Iron Man vs Captain America, Black Panther vs The Winter Soldier, Hawkeye vs Black Widow, Ant Man vs Spider Man � all together !



But it just doesn�t make any sense. Logical flaws abound. Soundbytes and classic filmy poses take the place of a sensible story. And it all gets too grim, the fabulous repartee, humour (of say, Avengers, Guardians of The Galaxy and Deadpool) taking an undeserved back seat.


The world has decided they only want to let the Avengers function under a UN supervised panel � who would call upon them, only if it deems fit. The collateral damage caused by the superheroes running amok, across territorial borders, has got to a point where it can�t be tolerated anymore. Some of the superheroes are for such a move � while an equal number are against it. A couple of more incidents � orchestrated by Sebastian Stan and Daniel Bruhl � and the For and Against sides begin an �epic� battle against each other. Sparks, suits and blows fly � but it�s essentially dueling with handbags.


Shouldn�t the side with the most powerful superhero, logically, have triumphed ? Shouldn�t the battle have been really short and sweet ? Perhaps there shouldn�t even have been a battle in the first place ? Chris Evans inspires trust but is just too uni-dimensional. Robert Downey Jr is uncharacteristically confused in thought. Daniel Bruhl is intense but nothing he does is possible / logical.


Wish they had chosen a different method to settle their differences � maybe a toss of coin or a drinking competition ? Or even Russian Roulette or a round of blackjack ?

Rating : 7/10
Release Date : 28th August, 2015
Time : 116 minutes
Director, Co-Writer : Guy Ritchie; Co-Writers: Jeff Kleeman, David C Wilson, Lionel Wigram based on the TV series by Sam Rolfe; Music : Daniel Pemberton
Starring : Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Debicki, Luca Calvani, Sylvester Groth, Hugh Grant, Jared Harris, Christian Berkel, Misha Kuznetsov



This one is all style, barely any substance but still quite good fun


It�s 1960, the peak of the Iron Curtain paranoia. An American agent , robber turned spy, Henry Cavill and Russian KGB, Armie Hammer, have to combine with East German car mechanic, Alicia Vikander, to track down her father (Udo), a top Nazi nuclear scientist, who�s disappeared from the USA. The suspicion is he has been taken by a wealthy Italian couple, Elizabeth Debicki and Luca Calvani, known to be Nazi sympathizers, who work closely with his brother, Sylvester Groth, and plan to sell nuclear weapons to the Nazi remnant�s, seeking to make a comeback to the world stage.



One thing you�re guaranteed with a Guy Ritchie film is a pulsating soundtrack, and an attitude to match. This one doesn�t disappoint either front and you get a gaggle of good-looking people too.



I�d never really warmed up to either Henry Cavill (Man of Steel), found him wooden, or Armie Hammer (Lone Ranger), who came across as a bit of a softie, but here they work in their respective roles. Alicia and Elizabeth provide plenty of leggy glamour, while the men strut around in fancy suits, with all posh fashion brands bandied about (What would go better with a Boss belt, a Rabanne suit or a Dior?). The one liners are pithy, crisp and plentiful. The contrast between the leading men well-defined. And everyone lives in this beautiful, happy world while plotting world destruction.



The plot, strangely for a Guy Ritchie film, is the weak link here. Nothing much really happens and what does, doesn�t make complete sense (there would surely be easier ways to do this and surely wealthy, intelligent villains should display more sense ?). But, it�s undeniably fun and you surely wouldn�t mind another film in the series, especially with Hugh Grant, from British intelligence, running the show�

Rating : 5/10
Release Date : 26th June, 2015
Time : 137 minutes
Director : Daniel Espinosa; Writer : Richard Price, based on the novel by Tom Rob Smith; Music : Jon Ekstrand
Starring : Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Vincent Cassel, Fares Fares, Jason Clarke



This is like one of those brooding, heavy Russian novels � where an oppressive, weighty air of depression hangs over everybody and everything (most of the movie is set in the just-rid-of Stalin 1953). I think there is actually just one scene where someone smiled. And in the midst of it all, Tom Hardy, a rising star of the secret service, has to cope with the intrigues of office politics, the indifference of his beloved wife (Noomi Rapace), and the �minor� challenge of finding a serial child killer in a country where murder doesn�t officially exist. Murder, after all, is a capitalist disease, borne of greed and cannot exist in Paradise.



There is a touch of much ado about nothing. Something cinematically is not handled the right way as the emotion, the shock, the revelations don�t come through with the requisite impact. There is a lot happening � the jealousy of a fellow officer, Joel Kinnaman, who�s a little too quick to pull the trigger. The travel internally, the glimpses of industrial Russia, the chasing down of a traitor (Jason Clarke), the change in fortunes, the horrible death of the child of a close friend and colleague (Fares Fares) and the meeting with a General, Gary Oldman, who reluctantly helps with the investigations. It was also disappointing to see Noomi, so feisty in Sherlock Holmes : Game of Shadows, reduced to a rather passive role.




But through it all, it doesn�t manage to inveigle us emotionally � apart from some feelings towards our hero � waging a lone, heroic battle against the rest of the world � you don�t truly feel the shock, horror, anger that you should as the tragic, horrible events occur. Just an overall sense of apathy, which isn�t good for a film which seems to last longer than it actually is�




PS : Rant Begins : Why do westerners take so much delight in only showing, portraying the negative sides of the non-western bloc countries ? Has there ever been a Hollywood film, set in Russia, which shows its positive aspects, happy people ? Isn't this a most dangerous, insidious form of propaganda ? : End of Rant

Rating : 4/10
Release Date : 14th November, 2014
Time : 101 minutes
Director: Chad Tahelski; Writer : Derek Kolstad; Music : Tyler Bates, Joel J. Richard
Starring : Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Dean Winters, Adrianne Palicko, Willem Dafoe, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, John Leguizamo, Bridget Moynahan



Vengeance. Against the mob. Albanians / Russians. For stealing his car and killing his dog. Keanu Reaves is John Wick. He used to be their enforcer, laying a trail of bodies at their command. But then got out, amicably, with the boss, Michael Nyqvist�s permission. To be with his wife. Who died of a disease a few days back. And then, the mob boss� son, Alfie Allen (of Game Of Throne�s fame) took a fancy to his car.



There was nothing new in terms of story or action to really keep you interested. The essential strategy was to walk in and shoot, knife, fight, kill. Got monotonous after a while, especially as we weren�t really emotionally invested in the characters. Keanu has essentially one expression through the film and the bearded look didn�t help enhance his boyish charm. The music was good, rock & trance accentuating the violent bits.



The one new idea was that of a Hotel C, a kind of mob / contract killers hangout. With strict rules about not doing business on the premises. Where everyone knows everyone. And no one has forgotten Keanu, even though he�s returning after five years.


Watch if you enjoy the sight of random blood being spilt. Avoid if you�re looking for something to accompany the red body fluid. Like a story. Or anything else.

Rating : 4/10
Release Date : 29th August, 2014
Time : 108 minutes
Director: Roger Donalson; Writers : Michael Finch, Karl Gajdusek, based on Bill Granger�s book �There Are No Spies�; Music : Marco Beltrami
Starring : Pierce Brosnan, Olga Kurylenko, Luke Bracey,Bill Smitrovich, Lazar Ristovski, Will Patton, Mediha Musliovic



An ageing Pierce Brosnan is unable to convince us that he could still pass off as a Bond style secret agent, who comes out of his retirement for one last assignment. A wafer thin plot, full of more holes than Rahul Gandhi�s election strategy, borders on the ridiculous at times, and is only given a tinge of seriousness by Luke Bracey�s menacing presence.


Everyone seems to have a secret in this one. A Russian general, Lazar Ristovski, on the brink of becoming the President, has one. The CIA head of the Belgrade office, Bill Smitrovich also has one. Even Pierce Brosnan, who retired from active service, has one. And everyone is after Mediha, who wants to reveal Lazar�s secret, with Olga, an aid worker in Belgrade, turning out to be a key person as well.


I think I�ve reached the point, where political conspiracy films rarely shock me anymore. Most revelations barely making me, like Jeeves, raise my eyebrow by a miniscule millimeter. In this film, I doubt if any of the spilt secrets would even induce a yawn in anyone. Would, after what�s happened in Afghanistan, Pakistan Iran, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, the fact that the CIA helped foment a war, with a power hungry General in a former Soviet nation, come as a surprise to anyone ?



Also, imagine the same General, now also a Presidential candidate, staying in a hotel in Belgrade for a major energy summit. Protected only by 4 guards. Whom Pierce Brosnan casually walks up and shoots. With a gun without a silencer. Then proceeds to interrogate the General in his room. Without being disturbed by anyone �hotel security / cops / no one. Then CIA operatives brandishing guns run inside the same hotel. Again, are stopped by no one, no alarms are raised. And proceed to have another gun battle with Pierce. Again, without anyone interfering. I mean, I know he�s a former James Bond, but don�t you give up your license to kill when you retire from the role ?


Pierce�s big secret too, buried from his employers (including close friends in the agency) for over 20 years, is discovered within a few minutes, from, don�t hold your breath, file photographs, which were on record. Its just all too easy, too convenient and much ado about nothing.


The locations are nice. Olga looks great, especially when she walks into the hotel wearing a dress that does full justice to her lovely long legs, but seems uncomfortable in the scenes which require her to emote. Luke, playing Pierce�s prot�g� in the CIA, is the only one who actually fits his role perfectly � ice cold, menacing, with a bee in his bonnet to prove that the student has surpassed the teacher. Wish that was what the movie was actually about rather than the rather convoluted plot they actually came up with. It even sorely lacks the sense of humour, one liners that made Pierce so devastatingly good in most of his other films. This one unfortunately just doesn�t work in any month�November or otherwise�