Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

Sometimes you can have 15 good ideas and kill them all off with one bad one. Thus came this somewhat messy drama about the hunt for courier of Osama Bin Laden.

The bad idea is the character Maya. She brings nothing to the story. Poor Jessica Chastain is the skidmark of the cast in this (naturally there were awards to get for her). I suppose Bigelow wanted to add a conscience into the horrors, but it's misplaced Hollywood'ism of the worst sort in every single scene in the first third. She comes up with some softer, smarter interrogation techniques, making it even more moralizing. It gets a bit more believable as she gets so caught up in her work (even downright obsessive after a while), that she starts to accept all the torture (and even adopts the style of her mentor), but it's still a pedestrian character that lacks exceptionally in depth. And therefore interest.

Jason Clarke, however, is absolutely brilliant in his callousness and thorough demeanour well flanked by Reda Kateb as the broken Ammar (they give us a deep impact of a start). He's quickly sidelined though. Another spectacle is James Gandolfini. Such a small part, such great impact. Just a fat diplomat with ugly hair and a quiet voice. Now there's a character of quality and a casting-choice of sheer brilliance.Who needs to yell when everyone in the room knows you are the most powerful person there.


The film is slow-paced and often dialogue-based. I like that. It is smart and at times demanding to follow. It's at its best when dealing with politics. Overpaid bureaucrats in quiet hallways, threatening each other in most diplomatic and friendly ways, leaving the recipient pondering the consequences. However, Bigelow fails to come up with any suspense to mention until the very end, and even the parts you don't remember from the news is fairly predictable.

The story itself isn't bad. Furthermore, it has a keen sense for detail. The problem is that the main character is the worst character in the movie. Less than believable and stereotyped in development. And there is no real explanation for the development either.


A very popular and predictable Hollywood-technique with films like these is the random inserting of archive footage from actual incidents to remind the viewer how real this is. Call me a cynic, but I'm tired of it. It's manipulative and has been done to death.

I thought "The Hurt Locker" was overrated. This flick is vastly so. I suppose the world respects Bigelow much more as a director than I do. Does no one remember "K19: The Widowmaker" and "Point Break"?

6/10

Another 48 Hours (1990)

Ah. The estranged sequel. Produced as much as eight years later it actually made more money than its predecessor. Unfortunately, that only proves that the world wants to be fooled. Not a bad film, but it falls short of the original. As is usually the case.


Nolte and Murphy show some early promise on their banter, Nolte's calm, dry comments a hilarious response to the world screwing Murphy over and over. Generally Murphy isn't as funny as the first instalment, but his "bad day" speech with finale is outstanding. All whilst Nolte stands tall with no reaction at all. Unfortunately, the chemistry is more hit-and-miss than the original.

On the bright side, the bad guys are given more time on-screen, thus giving them more impetus. On a darker note, they are very much stereotype evil sadistic bikers on hogs.They also scream incessantly whenever they are shot at. Most annoying. The Iceman-obsession is not very believable and the final twist is more daft than it is surprising. Better is the Internal Affairs-angle, but that is mostly due to the extremely despicable Kevin Tighe finding some meat on a very old bone. Besides, he brings out the best of Nolte's self-righteous anger. Many angles you say? Yes, there are. And when they also follow a hit-and-miss-pattern, the film loses focus.

In the American tradition of a sequel having to be "bigger, faster and louder" the action-scenes are more massive. Some outright cool. You can't go wrong with a bus flipping over multiple times. The scenery is much the same as it was. There are bars and plenty of boobs. It would appear that all shoot-outs and bar-fights need a least one pair of tits in these flicks. Fair enough.

And in case you wandered: Nolte still has "the look".

5/10

48 Hours (1982)

What ever happened to Eddie Murphy? He got old. And only Martin Lawrence has a worse streak of crap in his career now than Murphy. But in 1982, Murphy was the next Lenny Bruce. He was edgy and funny. And to team him with a grumpy white brute of a cop in the shape of Nick Nolte was brilliant.

Nolte clearly is the better actor of the two and gets to handle most of the suspense and all of the drama, although there is very little of the latter. Murphy is left with comedy and action.Perfect division of labour.

It's fun to see what they got away with of racism and sexism in the eighties. As humour, most of it would be completely shocking and unacceptable now. Cops calling girls sweetpants, calling african-americans watermelons, and always having a few punches for new prisoners. Not to mention what Nolte and Murphy call each other. The police captain in this movie is of course a loud-mouth, always talking at the top of his voice. And usually angry and threatening. At least they make a (rather good) joke out of it. And yes, the word "suspended" is used.

The interaction between Murphy and Nolte is very good, and their fist-fight is old-school and most cool (rhyme unintended). Violence can be most funny when done correctly and both men (particularly Nolte) really do fight dirty. As far as this genre goes, the leads need to bring something extra to the table, and the boys deliver in spades.

Walter Hill never was the best director when it came to suspense, and where some calm and quiet would serve him well, he drives along at the same pace and increases the music. Not a good idea. The action is good though, and the set-pieces not at all shabby.

As for the story, it's not terribly original but these films rarely triumph in that area and it is adequate. With a running time of 92 minutes it will keep you entertained for almost all of its duration. Very nice. And Nolte has one of the coldest look ever seen by a non-crooked cop during a shoot-out.

Though it has not completely passed the test of time, this still is a very good film for it's genre and well worth a re-visit.

7/10

Finding Nemo (2003)

Of the animated flicks, none have as grim a start as "Finding Nemo". Life's cruel realities thrown in your face within seconds. Apart, perhaps, from Tim Burton, but that is stop animation.It doesn't last very long though, but sets a nice background for Marlin's obsessive behaviour towards his only son.

And, as most often with Pixar, there is a grand adventure, a great distance to be travelled and many exciting new friends to discover. Most of them done nicely.

The imagery is stunning, and perfectly fitted to the short tones of Thomas Newman. A score that works for the film, but is a bore alone. All the more credit to the animators. 

The greatest problem with this flick is the lack of laughs. Though it is light-hearted, there are very few good jokes, and a total lack of clever jokes. DeGeneres does her usual stressed-out annoying self. But there are no good lines for her and that fact she can't remember anything adds very little. Actually little enough to make you wonder why they would add that feature at all. That goes for a lot of the scenes. The vegetarian sharks. Smart idea, but nothing funny comes from it. At all.

There are also a bit too many pieces of small fishes being chased by big fishes. Sure, that is what life is like in the ocean, but in an animated feature you would think they could come up with something more interesting.

A lot of things are happening though, and "Finding Nemo" is never a boring film (and it is definitely cute), it just has too low highs.The emotional parts are great, however. With just the right amount of sentimentality, it tugs at your strings with perfect regularity and strength.

A most charming film, without really succeeding as a comedy on any level.

6/10