Pan

This review may contain spoilers!

A very good film that could have benefited from some attention to detail. I would give Pan a 7/10.

I think the strongest part of the film was the soundtrack and score; you can't get much better than Hugh Jackman entering to and singing Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'. The basic plot of Pan is well executed and presents quite a fun retelling of the origins of Peter Pan; this entire film is well paced with action scenes or fun comedic moments. The cinematography had some nice flow to it, these are some interesting sets and it's clear that the director goes to great lengths to show these off. Most of the special effects are incredible in this film, particularly the flying pirate ships and the fairies.

Levi Miller, who played peter, showed a lot of talent in this film's leading role; it's clear that Miller can hold his own in a major character position and his exuberant Peter is a high point of the film. Garrett Hedlund, who played Hook, is a fantastic gruff protagonist; I like the begrudging relationship that forms between him and Miller. Rooney Mara, who played Tiger Lily, has an exceptionally fierce dominating presence once she's a part of this film; in fact she's one of the performances who feels most a part of the world that the film builds up. Adeel Akhtar, who played Sam Smiegel, is such a fun comedic performance; Akhtar really embodies the cowardly bumbling essence of Smee. Kathy Burke, who played Mother Barnabas, was quite a good antagonist in this film; her over the top bellowing nasty matron was exceptional to watch.

However the best performance came from Hugh Jackman, who played Blackbeard. Jackman is erratic and full of energy in this film, he is throwing himself into this role completely. You feel this way from the get go when he enters singing and bellowing in such a fantastic manner. Beyond this we see Jackman portray a really interesting range of emotion within this antagonist; his first meeting with Miller is quite powerful. In this scene you see Jackman go from angry and intimidating to tearing up and growing very morose.

Where the film failed was it's lack of detail towards subplots; the Hook/Tiger Lily romance as well as the back story behind the natives and fairy kingdom all felt too rushed or put into the film far too late. This film focussed on Peter but failed to develop the stories of it's other characters enough to make this film really stand out. I also have to say that while I love most of the special effects, the Neverbirds looked absolutely atrocious.

Nonso Anozie, who played Bishop, was an antagonist who fell into the background more often than not; his role was diminished to glorified muscle for Blackbeard. Lewis Macdougall, who played Nibs, wasn't a great child actor, his performance felt like he was reading his lines rather than portraying their meaning. Jack Charles, who played the Chief, was kind of a caricature role; his accent was out of place and his entire performance was quite basic.