Deep Water

 This review may contain spoilers!

 

Deep Water follows a wealthy husband and his adulterous wife negotiating their morally complex marriage. When Melinda's sexual partners start disappearing mysteriously, the suspicion falls on her husband, Vic. I love how swiftly and abruptly the film managed to capture Vic's sudden outbhursts, and not just in relation to the murders. Vic is a man who is frayed and has compromised all of his trust, engaging in the darkest of acts in order to maintain a degree of possession over his marriage. It's a very warped motive but in those intense volatile scenes it will have your entire attention. I think seeing how the film reconciles both Melinda and Vic as volatile individuals who are deeply destructive to one another is fascinating. Marco Beltrami really achieved quite the feat with the score for the film, creating some palpable moments of tension. I thought the soundtrack worked really well with the upscale drunken adult party settings too, plus Grace Jenkins singing along to Leo Sayer's 'You Make Me Feel Like Dancing' is exceedingly cute.

 

Ana de Armas, who played Melinda, is far from her recent string of great roles here but she confidently owns the part; de Armas is constantly an alluring and disarming figure who wields a great deal of power over and around Affleck. Tracy Letts, who played Don Wilson, was both quite an interesting performance and quite a comedic one; I loved that this paranoid writer role was one of the few to really piece together the truth behind Vic's secret. Grace Jenkins, who played Trixie, gives one of the best child actor performances I've seen in a while; she is this chaotic whirlwind of energy that sees right through the messy drama her parents are going through in her own way. Brendan Miller, who played Joel Dash, is the only one of de Armas' on-screen lovers that I found interesting; the way Miller segues from a non-chalant figure to one who is quite outwardly fearful of Affleck's character is brilliantly done.

 

However, the best performance came from Ben Affleck, who played Vic. The film is mostly viewed through Vic's eyes which means every subtle emotional reaction and response we feel needs to stem from this man. Affleck is very deft at convincing you Vic is a laidback figure who enjoys the casual nature of his and his wife's relationship. You begin the feature wanting to like Vic; he's extremely caring for his daughter and he takes care of his often drunken wife. But as the feature progresses you see the mild-mannered mask chip away. Vic begins threatening his wife's lovers in an aloof yet intense manner, he also begins having open aggressive outburst about his wife's behaviour behind closed doors. There's one scene in which Affleck hisses "I love you" mid-argument with de Armas that left me absolutely speechless, it was probably their best scene together in the film. Watching Affleck begin to embrace the cold confidence and manipulative manner of his wife in such a dark and horrific way was a wonderful fall from grace. This is a firm reminder that while Affleck has made a brief recent foray into superhero features, he has a real strength in the thriller/drama scene.

 

The thing about films like Deep Water is that they live and die on how gripping the twists and turns are, the audience needs to be left guessing even to some degree. But the issue here is that the film practically tells us right from the beginning what type of person Vic is and then proceeds to show him engaging in very predictable actions throughout every act of the film. Frankly having Vic quietly threaten a man in the first fifteen minutes of runtime after such an easy-going temperament leaves not a single audience member guessing. The film then proceeds to showcase his murders, moment after moment without a hint of suspense. The entire narrative is just a snapshot of a jealous husband steadily descending into the realm of a killer. The other issue here is that Vic and Melinda aren't extremely relateable figures, their peculiar and fraught upper class marriage appeals to quite a niche group of people. I don't know who this film is for, there are many moments where it doesn't seem to know itself. I found it amusing that the promotion for this feature alludes so heavily to Affleck's work on Gone Girl, a film founded on intrigue whereas this feature has none. I thought the use of erotic sex scenes to sell the viewer achieved little, if anything having Melinda use sex as a weapon against her husband felt like writing from decades ago. Adrian Lyne's direction clearly leaves a lot to be desired and this was no more evident than in his visual layout for the film. The number of repetitive close ups we had of Affleck brooding over his wife from a distance got pretty old quick, I also couldn't quite comprehend some of the strange zooms and sudden tracking shots peppered throughout the entire piece. The editing for the film was a sluggish pace and begged for more to have been left on the cutting room floor. 

Dash Mihok, Lil Rel Howery and Devyn A. Tyler, who played Jonas Fernandez, Grant and Mary Washington respectively, are wildly unnecessary and forgettable as Affleck's main cadre of friends; I especially found Howery to be out of place in his usual comedic relief position. Kristen Connolly, who played Kelly Wilson, is very poorly placed throughout the film; Connolly plays to being outraged at her husband in a very immediate and over the top way without ever sharing a scrap of chemistry with Letts. Finn Wittrock, who played Tony Cameron, barely feels like a role in this movie; I know the man was meant to be the last lover for de Armas' role but aside from empty charisma and a winning smile I don't know what he brought to this film.

 

Despite a stalwart leading performance from Ben Affleck, I couldn't help but feel this film never a surprising story to tell. I would give Deep Water a 4/10.

The Adam Project

 This review may contain spoilers!

 

The Adam Project follows Adam Reed, a young kid struggling with school bullies and the recent loss of his Dad. His entire world is turned upside down when his future adult self travels back in time in an epic adventure to save their wife and prevent the creation of time travel from ever occurring. At its core this is a film about relationships, the bonds we have with one another and how these connections affect our emotions. I loved seeing the dysfunctional relationship between Adam and his future self, the way his younger version was quite annoying and rude while the adult Adam was blunt and sharp-tongued. They both dealt with personal pain in extremely different ways, but only through understanding one another were they each able to personally grow from it. I loved the more turbulent relationship between Adam and his mother, a woman who is trying to stay strong even though she really struggles with her own grief. Also the extremely loving relationship between Adam and Laura was really right at the heart of the film, their chemistry was so immediate in spite of the short screen time it got. Finally, I think this film even wrapped up pretty positively by reonciling the feeling each of the Adams had towards their father, it was a moment of open and sincere love that I really liked.

 

Ryan Reynolds, who played Big Adam, actually leads this film quite well; despite it being somewhat outside of his usual role he portrays a character with a chip on his should well and pairs it nicely with his usual sharp wit. Jennifer Garner, who played Ellie Reed, is such an empathetic maternal figure; I loved how Garner portrayed the private struggle her role was facing with raising her son and grieving over the loss of her husband. Braxton Bjerken, who played Ray, is actually quite a good classic bully; I like how he flares up in retaliation to verbal barbs and was a nice minor antagonist for Scobell's role.

 

However, the best performance came from Zoe Saldaña, who played Laura. This may very well have been the main character with the least physical screen time but Saldaña puts the work in to have you absolutely hooked from the start. Her introduction is fast moving, high octane action that sets the bar for the best action sequence in the feature. Laura immediately becomes this tough fighter who handles herself almost better than Adam can, she is certainly more objective oriented throughout the fight. Saldaña and Reynolds have insane amounts of chemistry before they even start speaking, which is applaudable on Saldaña's part considering how late she arrives in the feature. But the way these two reunite with one another is full of yearning and this immense amount of joy that feels real. I was really impressed with the pain Saldaña portrays when she has to explain that Adam has to leave her yet again and erase their timeline, I think it was the best moment of acting in the entire film.

While I think the heart and true intent of this film tends to shine through it often lets itself down in the execution and the structure. From a narrative perspective I felt The Adam Project could've worked a little harder to find some consistency. When the two Adams first meet it takes a long time for the film to really narrow down on how it wants adult Adam to be. He has moments where he can be very broody and grim, and others where his sharp wit is as fast as his younger counterpart and he wears his heart on his sleev quite openly. This awkward beginning with our two main stars is a good example of how this film knows what it wants but struggles to gel things together. The entire antagonist sci-fi storyline is always less appealling than the characters themselves, and if you pay too much attention its certainly not the sort of sci-fi story built to engage the viewer. Watching both Adams rather abruptly go from missing their Dad to meeting an abrasive version of him, whom they trade punches with to get one another to listen for some reason, isn't a great segue into the final act of the film. I also couldn't really fathom why the film struggled so much to place younger Adam in the forefront as the film moved along, especially when we'd been seeing so much of the sotry from his perspective up until that point. The cinematography is very rarely good, often keeping to shots that set up the big special effects reveals. However, that visual choice is let down by the overwhelmingly poor special effects. The entire sci-fi jet chase before the final act looks horrible and a lot of the CGI seems separate from the other elements of any given shot. I thought the score was very generic action fanfare, while the soundtrack wanted to be a blend of Guardians of the Galaxy and Top Gun  but just came off as dated.

Walker Scobell, who played Young Adam, is a performance I was initially impressed by but found myself less so throughout the feature; the fact is Scobell is good at imitating Reynolds' witty delivery but flounders at portraying the emotional range required for his role. Mark Ruffalo, who played Louis Reed, is difficult to ever really like as this stoic and abrupt role; his portrayal of a distant father married to his work is quite two-dimensional and something I've entirely seen before. Catherine Keener, who played Maya Sorian, is shockingly offbeat as the major antagonist for the feature; her entire self-serving plan is never convincing and she just feels like your stereotypical big evil corporate figure. Alex Mallari Jr., who played Christos, is one antagonist role too many in my opinion; nothing is ever gained by giving Keener's character a henchman with dialogue so Mallari has no reason to be here.

It's an inspired cast with some good messages but ultimately tends towards quite a shallow blockbuster venture. I would give The Adam Project a 6/10.

The Batman

 This review may contain spoilers!

 

The Batman is the latest adaptation of the famous DC comics superhero, this time without the origin story and picking up within his second year of crime-fighting. In this feature the Dark Knight meets his match in the guise of a dark web terrorist known as The Riddler. I quite enjoyed how tonally the film sought to craft a more investigative piece, in which Batman stalked around crime scenes and followed leads to start collating evidence. While it isn't a new aspect of his character, it certainly isn't one given as much focus as it is here. I also quite enjoyed how the access he had into these criminal investigations meant he had some fantastic chemistry with Jim Gordon right from the start. I think contrasting Batman's very driven outlook towards solving crime with Selina's unrestrained pursuit for vengeance was a nice way of showing the difference between the two characters. The way this film is shot is quite well done for the most part, the way major set pieces and key moments are masterfully framed just speaks to Matt Reeves' experience as a director. I was also seriously impressed with the fight choreography and the detail involved with some of the practical effects. The score for this feature is so absolutely iconic that it is fair to say Michael Giacchino joins the absolute top tier greats, Danny Elfman and Hans Zimmer, who have defined the sound of Batman over the years.

 

Robert Pattinson, who played Batman, has finally found a leading role that I'm actually quite impressed by; the way he inhabits the almost relentless drive Bruce Wayne has for his campaign against crime is really impressive. Zoë Kravitz, who played Selina Kyle, is right up there alongside the best Catwoman performances; Kravitz is a woman out for her own goals and toys Batman along as long as she finds herself in need of him. Jeffrey Wright, who played Lt. James Gordon, is a very fun take on the character; he has a very quick chemistry with Pattinson's Batman from their very first scene together that is extremely fun to watch. Peter Sarsgaard, who played District Attorney Gil Colson, portrays a man living in fear well; the way Sarsgaard nervously stumbles between spilling secrets and clamping down tight is an extremely convincing performance. Gil Perez-Abraham, who played Officer Martinez, is a real hotshot that I enjoyed seeing as being quite abrasive to Batman at first; watching Perez-Abraham deftly show his role as mellowing out and even aiding a figure he was initially opposed to made for a great character. Con O'Neill and Alex Ferns, who played Chief Mackenzie Bock and Commissioner Pete Savage respectively, really felt like intense figures of authority in the feature; O'Neill especially really knew how to rail against Wright's Lieutenant role.

 

The best performance came from Colin Farrell, who played Oz (The Penguin). The one thing this film really grapples with is having a strong presence from any of the leading antagonists. But Farrell is in the prime spot as this sleazy henchman figure, the number two in an organisation that has Gotham by the throat. I enjoyed seeing Farrell totally transform, both in appearance and through his voice work here. The man slips into this thug that you never really trust but who you admire for his cocky attitude. Farrell plays the character with a degree of shrewdness, he knows when to try and talk his way out of a situation and when to attack a scene with aggression. Watching Oz cower and work loyally for Turturro's crime boos leads to a nice contrast when he explodes at the man for betraying the criminal underworld. Farrell finds the balance between a witty figure and a real villainous bruiser.

 

This film is a remarkable one when it comes to style but it loses everything when you spend a second too long thinking about the narrative. I found myself initially becoming quite enthralled by Batman actually being painted as a detective, encountering clues and trying to piece the mystery behind The Riddler together before it's too late. But after a while you start to realise a pattern, Batman is solving nothing until after Riddler has already committed a crime and, beyond the final battle of the film, he never once outsmarts Riddler before Riddler executes his plan or kills someone. Riddler isn't even caught by Batman at the end of the day; no the main antagonist of the film hands himself in to the police ultimately. The police themselves are only ever half a beat behind Batman, some of the cops even giving Batman the answers to mysteries he's trying to solve. After a while I had to wonder what Batman was actually achieving that the police weren't already doing? More than this The Batman decides to give Bruce Wayne's parents a dark, hidden secret from their past that paints them as bad people. This secret ultimately reveals Bruce's father to have been involved in the murder of a journalist, basically making Bruce feel like the crusade on crime he has been fighting in honour of his parents has lost its motivation. And the film fails to back track on this point convincingly! There's a lot more plot elements that don't really work from a storytelling point of view: Riddler being a dark web streamer took the punch out of the role, Bruce and Selina's romance subplot just stumbles into existence and there's a gratuitous sequel tease with the Joker. While I liked the cinematography for the feature I have to say that I don't enjoy how Matt Reeves captures chase scenes, they're often very slow; and the first time Batman deploys his glide wings looks absolutely ghastly. This film may also have the most unremarkable depiction of the Batmobile yet. The fact this film plays the same Nirvana song twice as its soundtrack is almost disrespectful to the exceptional work Giacchino has done, once was already too much. 

Paul Dano, who played The Riddler, really doesn't work the more of him you get throughout the film; Dano's sudden milder presentation of his role once he's arrested and revealed to be a streamer makes him feel extremely underwhelming to watch. John Turturro, who played Carmine Falcone, really has no business playing a mob boss; his nasally voice has suited him in more comedic roles but fails him majorly here. Andy Serkis, who played Alfred, might be my least favourite actor to have taken on this role; Serkis plays a more stoic and distant Alfred that really feels too separate to his younger ward. Barry Keoghan, who played Unseen Arkham Prisoner (Joker), was a future character tease I would've much rather we altogether avoided; Keoghan's voice work feels ill-fitting and his laugh is so disappointingly plain. Jayme Lawson, who played Bella Real, is probably the most two-dimensional main role of the film; Lawson portraying a generic pure of heart political candidate added nothing to the feature.

After the first act I started to realise this wasn't a good Batman film, Michael Giacchino had just really pulled out all the stops to give us a wildly great musical score. I would give The Batman a 4.5/10.