Film reviews
Men In Black 3
It’s not a sequel that needed to be made, but thanks to the charm of its leads and a tone that harks back to the wit and humour of the original, it’s a pretty enjoyable trip.
Bel Ami
The excellent female support cast saves this patchy effort, which is let down by its leading man and a flat screenplay.
The Dictator
A disappointing, often repulsive and mean-spirited mess of a film with seemingly only one real criterion on its agenda: to shock and offend.
The Woman In Black
Packed with atmosphere, this old-fashioned but deftly told ghost story delivers ample chills and thrills.
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The Debt (Film)
Rating: MA
Running Time: 114
Country: USA
Director: John Madden
Cast: Ciaran Hinds, Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson, Sam Worthington
Distributor: Universal
Release Date: November 10, 2011
Film Worth: $14.00
FILMINK rates movies out of $20 - the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worthThis may be a case of style over substance and it certainly strains credibility, but it’s also suspenseful and gripping stuff.
The Debt should have been a lot better than it is. It's a remake of the 2007 Israeli film, Ha-Hov, and its premise is inherently intriguing, and the cast is impressive too. The "present day" is 1997, and a couple of retired Mossad agents in Tel Aviv are reminiscing publicly about a supposedly heroic mission that they and a colleague, David Peretz (played by the estimable Ciaran Hinds), undertook over thirty years ago. One is Rachel Singer (Helen Mirren) - who's just written an acclaimed book on the subject - and the other is her wheelchair-bound former husband, Stephan Gold (Tom Wilkinson). Stephan was maimed by a car bomb, but the protagonists' psychic wounds are the meat of the matter. The bulk of the movie comprises an extended flashback to1965 and East Berlin, where the trio set about kidnapping Nazi war criminal, Dieter Vogel, eerily known as The Surgeon Of Birkenau. Vogel is portrayed to chilling effect by Jesper Christensen.
From the moment that Rachel, Stephan and the brooding David - played as young people by Jessica Chastain, Martin Csokas and Sam Worthington, respectively - set about their daring errand, implausibilities begin to pile up. And if the capture strains credulity, what happens afterwards snaps it. The story is admittedly about deception, so a lot of it isn't supposed to be believed by the viewer. But unfortunately it's unbelievable way beyond that point, and the ending is frankly ludicrous. Essentially this is a triumph of style over substance.
The Debt - directed by journeyman John Madden (Shakespeare In Love, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Ethan Frome) - is often stagey, and its subject is overly familiar. Yet, despite its imperfections, it's also very watchable, and quickly gets us in. It's satisfyingly engrossing and suspenseful.
