Transcendence. The review.

I wanted to like Transcendence more than I did.

The directorial debut of Christopher Nolan's favourite cinematographer, Wally Pfister, it boasted a top drawer cast and a great idea.

After all, any movie with Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy and Paul Bettany have to be worth a look, didn't it?

The tale of an assassinated computer genius who becomes a digital avatar/Godlike figure was pretty heady stuff. But while the tale unfolded intriguingly, it went nowhere fast.

Too many tracking shots of solar panels does not a great thriller make.

The special effects are pretty good, the performances are all top-notch and the script isn't bad either.

While I am all for sci-fi thrillers that are more cerebral than explosive, this was anti-climactic.

And that may be the main reason it underperformed in the states.

It's bound to attract a cult following on DVD and Blu-ray, but I doubt many people will be desperate for a second viewing on the big screen.

Olympus Has Fallen - the review

If you had to use one word to sum up Olympus Has Fallen, the new movie with Gerard Butler, 'generic' would sum it up admirably.

As you may have heard this is Die Hard in the White House, one of two films we see this year on the same theme.

Butler is the best mate of US president Aaron Eckhart. We know this because they love boxing together at Camp David. Gerard is also best mates with the President's son and the First Lady. In fact they seem to be one big happy family.

So when a film starts with everyone getting on like a house on fire, you know it's only a matter of time before a house is actually on fire, in this case the White House.

The most famous building in America is compromised in a mere 13 minutes by Korean terrorists who stay one step ahead of the US defence forces, but don't count on Butler, who works in a nearby building and hasn't forgiven himself for the death of a key individual 18 months earlier.

So the generic bad guy is desperate to get his hands on the codes for Cerberus, a top secret mcguffin capable of wiping out most of America.

As the drama unfolds, every attempt by outside forces to stop the terrorists ends in bloodshed, but Butler and bullets get on about as well as oil and water. They just slide off him.

By the third act, Morgan Freeman, Robert Forster and Angela Bassett have spent most of the movie arguing with one another or Butler about how bad things are while hostages are shot on camera. The trio are like a rich bernaise poured over cheap meat loaf in the hope you think you are eating top steak.

The whole thing is excessively violent, the script excessively dull and a bit stupid while the special effects are just plain average.

There are also huge potholes, such as near the finale when Morgan and his colleagues are given a scant amount of information and yet assume the President is dead. At one point Morgan sits back in his chair looking utterly dejected. I know how he felt.
6/10

Oblivion - the review

Tom cruise's latest big budget epic looks like a mash up of Moon, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Independence Day, wall e, Mad Max and assorted other genre entries. That said it's an engaging, thought provoking yarn with some occasionally touching scenes.
Cruise plays Jack, a repairman fixing robots on a devastated earth. He lives in an elegant pad with his colleague/lover Andrea Riseborough, and tries to avoid Scavs, mysterious bad guys.
However it soon turns out nothing is as it seems.
Don't worry, no spoilers here.
Oblivion looks great, and features solid turns from all, including Morgan freeman. The movie takes its time telling a clever story, and the effects are pretty good.
If you get the chance, pay a few extra quid and watch it Dbox rumble vision. Yes it makes the movie more like a theme park attraction, but like 3d it enhances the storytelling process.
Joseph Kosinski does a better job here than he did with the visually stunning but rather dull Tron legacy. Hopefully he'll land a more original screenplay next time as this version of his unpublished graphic novel is compromised by its nods to some better films.