Mubi Monday: Galveston (2018)

Mélanie Laurent has been acting in feature films for the past couple of decades. Unbeknownst to me, however, she has also turned her hand to directing. I need to check out some of her other directorial work, because this is a very good crime drama. In fact, I'm surprised to have not really heard this mentioned before, either in conversations about films in general or conversations about modern crime dramas.

Ben Foster plays Roy, a hitman who is told that he only has a short amount of time to live. It's a problem with his lungs. Despite his impending death, Roy fights back, successfully, when his latest job turns out to be a trap. He then flees, accompanied by a young woman named Rocky (Elle Fanning). Rocky also wants to rescue her younger sister, Tiffany, and Roy eventually finds himself making some tough decisions in order to keep both girls safe.

Written by Nic Pizzolatto, Galveston is nothing very new or unique. It is a film made better by the cast, and the straightforward and unfussy direction from Laurent (although there is one lovely bit of work that allows a scene to play out in an extended single shot, yet without feeling overly precious about the technique). But the strength of these things together - script, direction, cast - creates a film that shows how important every individual element is. Take enough care with the basics and you can easily end up with something that is more than the sum of its parts, like this.

Foster is very good in his role, playing the kind of pained and relatively tight-lipped character he has played in some other movies. Fanning is equally good, allowing her character to show the mix of optimism, slight naivete, and determination that is written in. Beau Bridges also does well, in a small, pivotal, role, but the film constantly revolves around the central trio of Roy, Rocky, and Tiffany (played by Anniston and Tinsley Price).

For a film that has a sense of foreboding from the very first scenes, Galveston is most surprising in the moments when viewers can contemplate a happy ending for some of the characters. The pacing, the characters, the journey, they all allow space for some big highs and lows. Laurent shows how good her instincts are, having faith in the script and the performances, and the finished product shows that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel to deliver something familiar that also manages not to feel tired and lazy.

 

8/10

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Noir-vember: Max Payne (2008)

All the signs were there that I wasn't going to be a big fan of Max Payne. I wasn't even very aware of the videogame when it was popular (all I knew is that "bullet time" played a part). Directed by John Moore, who has a filmography not exactly stuffed with classics. Written by Beau Thorne, someone who doesn't seem to have written any other features. And starring Mark Wahlberg, an actor who really depends on a director and cast helping him to do his best.

Wahlberg is Payne, a cop who is more dangerous than he used to be thanks to the death, a few years ago, of his wife and child. Payne likes to go out at night and take care of criminals without the hassle of arresting them and going through any paperwork. His nocturnal activities put him in the company of people who are enjoying a fun new drug. Fun until it makes the user hallucinate some scenario that leads to their sudden death. It's a great product though, apparently, and Payne will come up against a variety of enemies as he sets out to destroy the supply chain. He might also come closer to finding out just why his wife and child were killed.

I really hoped that I would be able to list SOME positives here, considering how often I can find the simplest pleasures in films that are otherwise not really worth giving time to. Unfortunately, that's not the case. There's not one thing here that actually works. The script is a messy mass of clichés, which could have worked if the design, characters, and tone of the film had been managed better. Moore directs with the approach of someone who is actually stringing together videogame scenes without any need to worry about the plotting in between. Are there moments that look pretty cool? Yes. I'd say there were about four or five. You do get the slo-mo bullets, and you also get some demons that appear to the drug addicts who are about to quickly shuffle off this mortal coil. Those moments are the only ones I am willing to acknowledge as being remotely considered highlights.

Wahlberg is very . . . Wahlbergian in the lead role. He's tough. He scowls a lot. He's a tortured soul who wants to make the world a better place. It's a horrible performance from him, despite the fact that he's a potentially great fit for the role. The supporting cast has some better faces, but none of them get good enough material to work with. Olga Kurylenko is a welcome addition to any film, as I have said on many occasions, but she's not onscreen for long enough. Mila Kunis is similarly under-used, and her character is not one that plays to her strengths. Beau Bridges pops in and out of the proceedings until an inevitably strong presence in the finale, and I guess he tries his best, but there are better small turns from Donal Logue, Amaury Nolasco, and Ludacris.

It lacks any decent writing or characters, which isn't entirely unexpected when you go into a movie based on a videogame, but it also lacks enough moments that showcase some cool FX work, doesn't have any memorable set-pieces, and seems unable to move in any way from the plodding and sombre tone that you don’t really want from a lightweight videogame movie.

3/10

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