lekgolah

Speaking as someone who has not seen the Swedish adaptation of the famous series or read the books for that matter, I had little to go by on what to expect other than what i had seen in the trailers and heard about from friends, so I was going into the film fresh and I can say that I highly recommend it.

As with The Social Network, Fincher strikes the perfect balance between involving the audience with all the information on screen while not overloading them at the same time. It is tricky to do, but with his talent in directing, the film's two hour plus running-time goes by in a flash. The film is in many ways a master-class in all that it does; from perfectly honed performances to the fantastic editing (edited by the Oscar winning team who did The Social Network and won again for this).

Prior to this Rooney Mara had a only a few noticeable roles to mention, but does a fantastic job settling in as the film's protagonist, Lisbeth. Daniel Craig gives a subtle understated performance as her partner who work together to solve a 40-year old plus murder. Supporting actors including Christopher Plummer and Stellan Skarsgård are also brilliant.

The only weakness that I can think to mention is that we are sometimes unsure of who the main suspects are as the film moves at such a pace, however this is not Scooby Doo and the film features several scenes to remind you of that.

Whether or not Fincher chooses to continue with the series, he has made yet another fantastic film that is well worth checking out but not when eating.

The concept for Safe House sounds cool and exciting with lots of promise - A CIA agent's safe house in South Africa becomes under attack when an important person is interrogated. From there, the agent must keep the VIP safe as they are chased through SA until the CIA can get a team in and rescue them. Sounds simple enough. The story has plenty of opportunity for some fast-paced action and with Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds leading the way this could be really good. Training Day in South Africa? Far from I'm afraid.

Despite starting off with a lot of unnecessary shaky hand-held camera angles, the film soon gets going as Denzel is captured and brought into the Safe House. From there he is questioned and things start to look bad as a knife is brought out when... mysterious bad guys break in through one single door and manage to kill everyone except the leads. The film could have had a mini Assault on Precinct 13 style action scene but it is poorly handled and gets the film off to a bad start.

Sold as a straight-forward action film, it does just that but despite a few impressive hand-to- hand fight scenes, the action is just poorly shot and that really hurts the film, particularly towards the end. It is also just too long at 115 minutes for such a paper thin story. Sam Shepard, Vera Farmiga and Brendon Gleeson are given little to do with roles that should have gone to smaller actors, so you don't see how truly wasted they are.

Denzel is always great in whatever he does but the film remains humourless throughout it's running-time, when the role needed a touch of charisma to help make it more enjoyable. Reynolds (who was great in the mediocre Smokin' Aces) manages to give a decent performance but again, without any humour in an action film like this, it becomes over- serious and tedious towards the end.

If the film was shorter, the dry, serious tone wouldn't be as much of a problem but as it is, this has been done before and has been done better.

Sometimes when you see a director's name on a new film, you imagine it to be like their previous work. In this case I was expecting The Road or something on that level but with prohibition instead of an apocalypse, so it made for a refreshing change to see that John Hillcoat has taken a different direction in his new film with a lighter(ish) atmosphere. The screening I was in had the audience laughing at the jokes and cringing at the violence, which combined with a well-told (if well trodden) story, made for an enjoyable viewing experience.

While the story of the film may appeal to fans of that era, it is the cast which will likely be the reason why people will come to see this film. It boasts a good list of names and are all brilliant. Tom Hardy brings out another terrific performance as Forrest, the middle brother, Shia LaBeouf gives what could be his strongest performance yet as the youngest and Jason Clarke as the oldest brother is great but doesn't get the screen time, which is a shame since he brought his character to life with such energy, I wanted to know more about him. Speaking of screen time, much has been said about Gary Oldman and while it is true that is only in the film for no more than three scenes roughly, he does a great job, showing his dedication to even the smallest of roles.

Guy Pearce stars as the city police officer who shakes things up from the moment he arrives on screen, and while his performance does veer on the comic, almost belonging to another film entirely, he is fantastic to watch and gives energy to the film. With such a strong male cast, Jessica Chastain manages to hold her own and bounces off Tom Hardy's character well. Even the smaller performances of Mia Wasikowska and Dean DeHann impress. Although LaBeouf's and Wasikowska's relationship needed more time to truly develop.

My only major complaint about the film is the pacing and movement from scene to scene. After once particular scene, the film just cuts to black similar to a TV programme when on a cliffhanger. In one scene a character has bruises and in the next he doesn't, one scene looks like a hot day in Virginia, in the next it is snowing and then it isn't. Some indication into the time would have helped the film but that is only a minor complaint.

Ultimately it's the performances that make the film. While it may not be entirely original, it is certainly entertaining. Hardy's performance shows that he is well on his way to becoming one of cinema's greatest.