Review: The Interpreter

Director : Sydney Pollack
Main Cast : Sean Penn, Nicole Kidman

The Interpreter is a taut, emotional and gripping thriller about political intrigue and conspiracy starring two of the biggest acting heavyweights in the trade today in Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn. Even though the film opens with a cold-blooded murder carried out by - seemingly innocent at first - machine-gun wielding children, it’s not a sign of things to come. Instead, we get a clever drama that relies heavily on the storyline and the tension created throughout the film. Something like The Bourne Supremacy, but without the guns and explosives. Ironic then that the best scene in The Interpreter was the bomb-on-a-bus scene where 3 of the characters involved, together with their respective undercover Secret Service “tails”, unknowingly converge on a bus that later explodes.



Like so many post-9/11 films, The Interpreter is a film with a message, that diplomacy and the UN is the best and only way to solve major conflicts, rather than casting it aside and do things unilaterally, and we are constantly reminded (a bit too much, I think) about this by Nicole Kidman’s character. Indeed, besides the two leads, the star of the show is very much the United Nations itself, finally making its debut on the silver screen. It’s been reported that even Alfred Hitchcock himself didn’t get permission to film there in the past.

Review: Sin City

Director : Robert Rodriguez

Main Cast : Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba, Benicio Del Toro

First of all, let me make clear that other than my daily dose of Calvin & Hobbes, I'm not really a comic 'person', and prior to this have never before heard of Frank Miller. Therefore, this review on Sin City would be based entirely on its merits as a film, and nothing more.

I was really excited when I first found out that Sin City would be Robert Rodriguez' latest project. Along with Tarantino and Tim Burton, Rodriguez is one of my favourite 'fun' directors, as can be seen in films like Desperado, From Dusk 'Til Dawn, Once Upon A Time In Mexico and the Spy Kids trilogy. One thing about him is that he simply adores CGI and digital film-making, and embraces it with arms wide open. In fact, the Spy Kids films were actually his 'experiment' on the wonders of this new technology.

Sin City is based on 3 in a series of graphic novels (comics) penned by Miller, about 3 very separate yet inter-twining stories, ala Pulp Fiction. First we have Mickey Rourke as a seemingly indestructible ex-con avenging the murder of "the best laid he ever had". Then we have Clive Owen helping a town run by S&M-attired prostitute amazons defend their town from the local Mob. And last but not least Bruce Willis as a cop on a mission to catch a pedophile. Yup, it's that kind of film, and together with its nudity and graphic violence I very much think that the only way Malaysian viewers would get to see Sin City is via the neighbourhood DVD seller.

With its anti-heroes, voiceovers, echoing dialogue, night-only scenes and saxophone-filled soundtrack, Sin City is certainly classic Film Noir. It's set in black-and-white with splashes of colour here and there, much like chilies would make any bland plate of "mee goreng" look nicer. This certainly makes a major contribution to the film's uniqueness and ultimate cool-factor. Sin City also retains much of its comic roots in its visuals, certainly the best since Dick Tracy.

Sin City probably has one of the biggest ensemble casts of the year. Besides Rourke, Owen and Willis, there’s also Jessica Alba (in the first of her two blonde comic characters this summer), Elijah Wood, Benicio Del Toro, Brittany Murphy, Josh Hartnett and Nick Stahl. Though honestly I just don’t dig the idea of Mr. Frodo Baggins himself, Elijah Wood, as a cold-blooded cannibal.

As I mentioned earlier, there’s certainly a lot of graphic violence in Sin City, with severed limbs literally flying in all directions. The last time I saw so much blood was in the superb Kill Bill Volume 1 by Tarantino. Speaking of which, QT himself is a guest director on Sin City, directing the conversation that Clive Owen has with the “dead” Del Toro in the car. It was his idea in fact for Del Toro to change the way he speaks because of the large slit in his throat.

After watching the film, I came across a bookstore in London that had copies of the Sin City comics by Frank Miller. I flipped through the first few pages of one, from which one of the stories in the film was based on. And guess what: every single angle, dialogue, pose, costume and expression was exactly the same as it was in the film. I later read that Rodriguez actually used the comic as his storyboard while making the film. No wonder he sacrificed his place in the Director’s Guild of America (DGA) just so that he can have Frank Miller’s name as co-director of the film. Rodriguez also indicated that he had to leave certain scenes from the comic out as he had to fit three stories into a feasible running time. However, when the official DVD comes out later in the year, we should be able to watch each of the 3 stories IN FULL. Now that’s something to look forward to.

There are rumours going around that Rodriguez plans to make two sequels. I honestly see this happenning, as there are after all another 4 as-yet-unfilmed Sin City comics, and Rodriguez has this knack of making trilogies. I certainly hope that he does make those sequels, as Sin City certainly lives up to its billing as the coolest film of the year, and may even be the coolest film since Pulp Fiction. Watch Sin City if you have the chance, ‘cos it’ll be a sin to miss it!

Review: Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith

Director : George Lucas
Main Cast : Hayden Christensen, Ewan McGregor, Samuel L. Jackson, Ian McDiarmind

After 28 long years since the release of the first film in 1977, the end has finally come. Or rather, the beginning, as you could say that the whole new trilogy is just an introduction to the first one.

Anyway, there I was in the large cavernous theatre of the Odeon Leicester Square. As the trailers for upcoming films were shown on the screen, you could sense the feeling of excitedness and eager anticipation from the audience, most (like me) having bought their tickets weeks in advance. As the lights were dimmed and the screen turned blank, suddenly the whole cinema erupted in applause. This was it. The first prequel was crap, with stupid and annoying characters like the young Anakin and Jar Jar Binks. The second one was much better, though spoilt by the cheeeesy “love” scenes. Let’s hope that Mr Lucas would somehow be able to produce a magnificent film in Revenge Of The Sith (Revenge) to erase all the bad memories of the first two ones.



After the customary crawl at the beginning of the film, bringing the viewer up-to-date with events since the last film, the next 20 minutes were simply awe-inducing, nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat all-out action. Certainly the most frenzied start to a Star Wars film ever, ending with a light saber battle between a much improved Anakin and the evil Count Dooku. With Dooku finally losing his hand, and his life at the mercy of Anakin, there was Palpatine, sitting on a throne-like seat and salivating at the prospect of a new convert to the Dark Side, urging Anakin to kill Dooku. The new apprentice to kill the old one. To most of us Star Wars fans (the proper ones anyway) we've been here before, albeit between Luke and Vader in The Empire Strikes Back instead of Anakin and Dooku. However, whereas Luke resisted the Dark Side and spared his daddy's life, Anakin coldheartedly decapitates Dooku. Indeed, this scene is the first of several with an eye to the first Trilogy.

However, after all the action of the first 20 minutes, it's back to the politics and romance that bogged down the first two films. The chemistry between the wooden Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen was simply non-existent. And you’ll find more wood in the twosome’s acting than in a furniture shop. Of course, they were not helped by the cheesy lines. And man, were they cheesy! You could actually hear the older audience cringe when lines like “Hold me like you used to hold me in Naboo” were said. Fortunately it wasn’t as bad as the rolling-in-the-fields scene in Episode II, a scene that would make any Bollywood director proud. Thankfully too that with no Jar Jar Binks (tortured and died a slow death I hope), the Natalie-Hayden scenes were the only real big negative points of the film.

Lucas has certainly listened to fans' gripes over the first two films, and upped the ante in Revenge especially in terms of the action. Indeed, we are treated to no less then five lightsaber battles! The best of which being the climatic double duels of Yoda-Emperor and Vader-Kenobi. We are also shown a host of new worlds, albeit only given a brief glimpse of some of them during the Order 66 scenes.

Lucas has also created a new villain for Revenge in the asthmatic General Grievous, the half-alien half-robot commander of the separatist forces, a precursor to what would become of Anakin in the not-too-distant future. He certainly lacks the coolness factor of the villains of the first two films, but where Darth Maul had his double-bladed lightsaber and Count Dooku his cool lightsaber hilt, General Grievous himself wields four lightsabers! However saying that, the whole film, indeed the whole prequel trilogy, is about the creation of the ultimate uber-villain, the Sith Lord Darth Vader himself.

When Episode I was released in 1999, fully computer-generated backgrounds and characters were still considered a new thing in moviemaking, and an equal amount of praise and criticism was given to the profuseness of its use in that film. However since then, (a) the realism of CGI has increased tenfold, and (b) almost every other film uses it. Both contributing to the ironic fact that, for all its state-of-the-art stunning visuals, in Revenge the attention is drawn away from the special effects towards the real actors and acting. Don’t get me wrong though, the graphics are really superb. General Grievous looks so real that you’d think that he’s a guy in a robot suit, rather then been created out of thin air. And the different diverse environments blend in with the characters so flawlessly that you wonder if such worlds really do exist. Especially so if you you’re lucky enough to watch it in a cinema equipped with a digital projector, such as the Odeon was. Crystal clear picture that literally jumps out from the screen, you’ll be hard-pressed to find even the minutest of blemishes.



Much has been said about the darkness in mood of Revenge compared to anything before in the Star Wars saga, with the film even given a PG13 rating in the States. Well, it certainly is very dark and disturbing at times, with slain Jedi younglings, and a limbless Anakin burnt beyond recognition, writhing in pain. It’s the darkest film of the second trilogy, much as The Empire Strikes Back was to the first one. The intercutting between the birth of Luke and Leia with the “birth” of Darth Vader, though somewhat clichéd, was quite poignant. However the mood is spoilt when Vader, after taking his first step in his robo-suit, ala Frankenstein, upon learning from the Emperor that he killed Padme, suddenly lets out a squeal of “Noooooooooo!”. I’m sure most of you, like me, burst into laughter when this happened. I mean, what was Lucas thinking about? This is DARTH VADER, for heck’s sake. Large, imposing, menacing, heartless, merciless, and with a deep and booming voice that commands your respect, fear and attention all at once. He’s not supposed to have emotions. I think it would be better if he knew about Padme’s death before he was transformed into Vader, while he was still bleeding and writhing in pain. Now that will be cruel.

Revenge, without doubt, is much much better than the first two films. It almost erases the bad memories of those films and the utter disappointment that us fans experienced after all the hype and anticipation. Plot-wise, a lot of things happen in Revenge, without doubt more than Episodes I and II combined. In fact, I am of the opinion that by adding 20-odd minutes to the start of Revenge, Lucas could’ve told the whole story of the prequel trilogy in just one film. Earlier I compared Revenge with The Empire Strikes Back. Well, many would disagree with this, but I am hereby (controversially) saying that Revenge gives The Empire Strikes Back a real run for its money as the best of the whole series. Enough said. May the Force be with you, always.