Hell or High Water (2016)

The phrase ‘game-changer’ is overused these days, but one film that I think really deserves that title is Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven (1992). To date Eastwood’s last western, Unforgiven seemed to be the last word on the entire genre, turning all of the familiar tropes inside out and leaving the few westerns that have succeeded it looking redundant; while there have been successful westerns since 1992, these films often feel more like tributes to older movies rather than statements in themselves. Hell or High Water looks to change all of that.

The plot is beautiful in its simplicity. Brothers Toby and Tanner Howard (Chris Pine and Ben Foster) are on a bank-robbing spree in West Texas, and Texas Rangers Marcus and Alberto (Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham) are out to get them. And that’s it. But it’s the telling of the tale that really sets Hell or High Water apart, and the sparseness of the plot gives us ample time to admire the well-crafted characters. The brothers are interesting; at first you think that Tanner is the crazy one and Toby is more level-headed, but as time goes on it becomes clear that they have more in common than it first appeared. The rangers are good too, a pair of straightforward old-timers trying to make sense of a world that seems to be leaving them behind. Special praise must go to Jeff Bridges as Marcus, who appears old and worn-out but is still sharp as a tack when it matters most. Death hovers over the film; although we are almost certain from the start that at least one of the main characters won’t make it to the end credits, this does not lessen the impact of the inevitable bloody showdown between them.

But the plot is only half the story, and you could say that Hell or High Water is also about America itself. Director David Mackenzie takes us off the beaten track and into a world we don’t often see in big movies, a rural America ravaged by poverty and debt, where no one has any sympathy for the banks that are being robbed. It’s definitely the same world as films like Unforgiven, but we get the sense that it is very much on its last legs. The dusty highways and earthy fields are filmed and photographed really well, and the soundtrack is laced with appropriately twangy guitars.

Hell or High Water successfully brings the western into the 21^st Century, and will hopefully spark a resurgence for the once-mighty genre. If I had to describe it in one word I would say ‘meaty’; meaty like a steak and just as satisfying.

Bob Dylan: Fallen Angels (2016)

The origins of Bob Dylan’s Fallen Angels stretch right back to the inaugural Farm Aid event on 22^nd September 1985, when Bob performed the popular standard ‘That Lucky Old Sun’ for the first time. Songs from the Tin Pan Alley-era are not what most people would associate with Bob Dylan, but since then his interest in old standards has only appeared to grow. He performed George Gershwin’s ‘Soon’ at a Gershwin tribute event in 1987, sang ‘Answer Me, My Love’ at the 1991 Guitar Legends event, and in 2001 recorded the Dean Martin-sung ‘Return to Me’ for the soundtrack of The Sopranos. That same year Dylan released the album Love and Theft, on which tracks like ‘Bye and Bye’ and ‘Moonlight’ represented his first foray into self-penned jazz balladry. With all of this in mind, it shouldn’t have been a surprise when Bob Dylan released his first collection of standards, Shadows in the Night, in 2015.

I initially wasn’t very keen on Shadows in the Night (although I am now), and for this reason I approached Fallen Angels with caution, afraid that it would be more of the same. What I should have remembered, looking back, is that Bob Dylan never – ever – does the same thing the same way twice. No album of his, for better or worse, has ever been a total re-tread of a previous one, and Fallen Angels is no exception.

Bob kicks things of with an affecting rendition of ‘Young at Heart’, which sets the tone for the rest of the album. It has the laid back feel of a lazy summer afternoon; warm and inviting, a sharp contrast to the nighttime atmosphere of the previous album. All of the songs have the same general effect, but I think my favourite would be ‘Polka dots and Moonbeams’, which has a lovely instrumental intro that gives Dylan’s band a chance to shine. While Shadows in the Night  featured Donnie Herron’s pedal steel as the lead instrument, the sound here is much more varied, and we are treated to pleasant passages of violin and guitar.

Bob doesn’t contribute instrumentally on this album, but Fallen Angels does continue the remarkable recovery of Dylan’s voice, which a few short years ago looked to be ravaged beyond repair. I'm not sure how Bob has managed to recapture so much of his old range, but the main thing is that he is stretching himself again, and that’s good.

So what’s next for Bob Dylan? At this point in a career filled with the unexpected, it's truly impossible to guess. Bob holds all the cards, and he's keeping them close to his chest.

Suicide Squad (2016)

Not many people liked Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Maybe it was the darkness of the film, maybe its close proximity to the very well-received Captain America: Civil War, maybe it was the jumbled and overly complex story; whatever it was, Batman v Superman just wasn’t what a lot of people wanted from the first real DC Universe film. While it wasn’t a huge success in terms of likeability, its $872.7 million box office takings guaranteed that the DC Universe would continue to expand, with the next film being the David Ayer-directed Suicide Squad. Personally, I found a lot to enjoy in Batman v Superman (which I mulled over in a previous review), and also happen to think that Marvel is in serious need of some big-screen competition, which meant that I was very excited to see what Suicide Squad had to offer. Would it take the DC Cinematic Universe to new heights? Or leave the upcoming Justice League with the unenviable task of having to rescue the franchise?

Suicide Squad picks up exactly where Dawn of Justice left off. The showdown between the Caped Crusader and the Man of Steel has left the world reeling, and the US government decides that measures must be put in place in case anything similar should happen again. Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) – a government official who is essentially a cold, hard, extremely sinister version of Marvel’s Nick Fury – suggests putting together a team of incarcerated supervillains; the worst of the worst, powerful enough to battle out-of-control superheroes, and yet totally expendable in the event that they fail. Under the watchful eye of Colonel Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), the team consists of Deadshot (Will Smith), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), El Diablo (Jay Hernandez) and Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), and the incentive for the criminals to participate in the scheme is an explosive implanted in their necks. Before long an ancient witch called Enchantress (Cara Delevingne) has awakened from a centuries-long slumber to make a play for world domination, and the newly-formed squad is called into action for their first mission. Meanwhile, Harley Quinn’s boyfriend – who happens to be The Joker (Jared Leto) – sets out to steal back his girlfriend.

Where the plot of Batman v Superman was very convoluted and hard to follow, the story of Suicide Squad sometimes feels perfunctory and familiar; a threat arises and the team simply has put aside their differences and find a way to destroy it. However, this actually works in the film’s favour, as the straightforwardness of the plot allows us to focus all of our attention on the interaction between the film’s superb cast of characters. A problem with making films about villains, and one which Suicide Squad could easily have fallen into, is that you can end up with a group of horrible, unlikable characters who the audience have no sympathy for. Thankfully, the film gets around this by ensuring that its characters are multi-layered and interesting. We have Waller – ruthlessly efficient and willing to stoop to any depth to get the job done, yet ultimately working for the greater good. Deadshot – committing high-priced assassinations to provide a secure future for his daughter. Harley – a tough and resourceful criminal hopelessly in love with a man who is pure evil. El Diablo aspires to forgo his life of crime to become a man of peace, while Rick Flag goes from supervising the team to gradually becoming one of them. Captain Boomerang mainly serves to provide comic relief, and Killer Croc remains engagingly mysterious without coming across as one-dimensional.

The film’s wildcard is The Joker, who is not aligned with Waller, Enchantress or the Squad. He just wants his girlfriend back. The Joker’s relationship with Harley is fascinating in is horribleness: she has clearly become ensnared by his extraordinary personal magnetism, but his attachment to her seems far more sinister, and the exact purpose of it is never fully revealed. Never before has the Joker been more grotesque and vampire-like; he is like a cross between Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter and Klaus Kinki’s Count Dracula in Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979). While he doesn’t appear often enough to steal the show, he makes a big impact, and the best is surely yet to come when this Joker eventually goes toe to toe with Ben Affleck’s Batman.

Characters aside, Suicide Squad has a lot going for it on a technical front. A big highlight of Batman v Superman was its sustained mood, and its successful efforts to create a universe for its characters to inhabit. Happily, that mood has carried over to Suicide Squad; it isn’t a sequel, but we definitely know we are in the same world as the previous film. Suicide Squad has a very distinct look, a sort of grey fog contrasting with bright colours in the form of flashing neon lights and the characters’ costumes. Occasionally the colour-o-meter swings too far in one direction, leaving us with either garishness or murk, but on the whole the photography is effective and has a genuine comic book flavour to it. The Joker’s scenes are a highlight in this respect; they have a weird, otherworldly vibe which is completely in synch with Jared Leto’s interpretation of the character.

One slight problem with Suicide Squad is the way the first part of the film is edited, and you suspect that the cold reception afforded to Batman v Superman forced the team to make some last minute changes to this film in an attempt to save it from the same fate. Consequently, where the first third of Dawn of Justice was slow and ponderous, the first third of Suicide Squad passes by in a blur, as it rushes to introduce all the characters and set up the plot. However, I can’t hold this against the filmmakers; they clearly listened to the criticisms of Batman v Superman and acted (perhaps overzealously) to rectify them with Suicide Squad, and you can’t fault that.

All in all, I think Suicide Squad is a success. It serves as an effective continuation of Batman v Superman, lays the table for Justice League, and manages to work on its own terms as a standalone feature. I particularly like that the DC films up to this point have a real heft to them that the Marvel films, for all of their positive attributes, tend to lack; Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy keep you thoroughly entertained while you’re in the cinema, but Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad will have you thinking about them weeks later. Suicide Squad also continues to establish DC’s cinematic identity. The anti-Marvel: dark, violent, but ultimately driven by a strong cast of complex and interesting characters played by top-tier actors. That’s a recipe for success, and I’m looking forward to the next helping.