For It Is Man's Number: rachel brosnahan

Showing posts with label rachel brosnahan. Show all posts

Friday, 8 August 2025

The Amateur (2025)

There's a fairly decent idea at the heart of The Amateur, I guess, but it's weakened by some casting and the pacing of the whole thing. At least one character turn doesn't seem to make any sense, there are a few too many coincidences for something revolving around someone trying to out-think others, and you're likely to forget all about it within a week or two.

Rami Malek plays Heller, an employee of the CIA who seeks revenge after the death of his wife (Sarah, played by Rachel Brosnahan). There are some problems with his plan though. One, he's a tech guy, and not really any use out in the field. Two, the people responsible for the death of his wife are people that the CIA don't necessarily want taken out of action immediately. Three, putting himself in the field might be a very easy way for the CIA to ensure that he isn't able to bother them again.

Based on a novel by Robert Littell, The Amateur has been turned into a movie by writers Ken Nolan and Gary Spinelli. Those two writers don't have many real highlights in their pasts, which would explain the flat end result here, and director James Hawes, while a very competent film-maker, doesn't have the imagination or flair to liven things up. I will happily give Hawes a pass, considering the fact that he sat in the director's chair for the first season of the superb Slow Horses, but it soon becomes clear that this is an action thriller made by people who aren't quite attuned to the rhythms and requirements of blockbuster entertainment.

And, as much as I enjoyed his fine work in Mr. Robot, one of the main requirements of blockbuster entertainment would seem to be avoiding the casting of Rami Malek in a central role. He was the weakest part of the excellent No Time To Die, he was outshone by a cast of more memorable supporting players in the Night At The Museum movies, he's attached his name to Need For Speed, Battleship, and Dolittle, and I'll only give him credit for Bohemian Rhapsody because that felt like the one role he was actually perfect for. It's all well and good to have him supported by people like Rachel Brosnahan, Jon Bernthal, Adrian Martinez, Laurence Fishburne, Holt McCallany, Julianne Nicholson, and Michael Stuhlbarg, but not very satisfying when almost all of them are sorely underused.

It's easy to see the appeal of this. Make an action thriller hero who has to keep using his brain instead of brawn and/or firepower. It needed something else though. Either some shinier star power, some more inventive set-pieces, or a plot with many more interesting twists and turns. It's decent, staying pretty easily watchable for most of the runtime (which clocks in at about the 2 hour mark), but you may get to the end credits and decide that you could have picked a far better viewing option. I know I did.

5/10

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Tuesday, 15 July 2025

Superman (2025)

I'm not interested in comparing this incarnation of Superman to other recent onscreen incarnations. Mainly because this film blows away almost every other film outing for the man of steel, but also because there's no need. I will say that I did enjoy a cinematic exchange between Superman and Batman that had the latter refining a definition of what constitutes bravery. It's a shame that the movies didn't really dive much further into those kind of considerate diversions more often, particularly when you see how effective it is in this movie.

As beloved as the character of Superman is, he's always been a bit tricky for some to get a handle on. It's difficult to create tension and fun around someone so seemingly-invulnerable and full of noble intention. There are only so many times that we can see him being felled by a piece of kryptonite.

Writer-director James Gunn tackles this problem head on, giving us a Superman movie in which our hero is often, to put it bluntly, on the end of a major bloody hiding. Things start in the middle of one such encounter, with Superman (David Corenswet) having just been defeated in a fight for the very first time. It's a bad defeat, particularly for someone not used to the concept. Thankfully, a fortress of solitude and some helpful robots soon get Supes back in the air. That means that he can soon get back to his usual schedule of maintaining his Clark Kent disguise alongside Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) and co. at the Daily Planet, keeping the people of Metropolis safe from the many strange invaders that keep trying to smoosh them, and being monitored and plotted against by Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult).

Christopher Reeve remains my favourite Superman. He is the high benchmark against which all others are measured, although it must be said that everyone given an opportunity to don the suit and cape on cinema screens has had a bloody good go at truly embodying the character for a new generation. Nobody gets everything right though. Cavill was fantastic as Superman, but I found him less believable in the few times we saw him as Clark Kent. Brandon Routh found himself stuck in a film that ensured he could never avoid being overshadowed. Corenswet is very good here, although he doesn't get too much time mixing with people in his normal "human" mode, but I have to say that he has the advantage of being the star of what is now my favourite Superman movie. I still love many of the others, but Gunn shows just how much he knows, and believes in, this hero.

There's nothing subtle here, but nobody really expects subtlety from a Superman film. Still, considering the fact that you have scenes with someone taking a stand against a genocidal government that makes them unpopular, a moment depicting busy online trolls in the best possible way, a busy plot that makes room for some deliberately old-fashioned and vital investigative journalism, and an entire plot revolving around someone good becoming demonised by others simply because of the circumstances that led to their arrival in America . . . this puts our hero in a world that is both a beautifully-realised Metropolis and also something not too dissimilar to our own.

Intentionally or not, and it has to be the former (let's be honest), Gunn gives audiences a much brighter and apparently lighter take on the hero that we've seen mired in some grimdark fare for a decade or so now. That doesn't mean the film is full of sunshine and rainbows though. There are big themes dealt with here, and the main characters are sketched out so well that a few major moments in the third act had me getting all misty-eyed in the cinema. In fact, there's a speech here that, while not unlike dialogue we have heard from various other movie characters throughout the years, is incredibly moving simply BECAUSE it is being said by Superman, and he's portrayed as someone that we know absolutely means every word of it. That's what this film has that other recent Superman outings have lacked - heart. There's also some humour, of course, but it's not the same kind one-note witticisms that have started to become an issue with many other blockbusters recently.

Neva Howell and Pruitt Taylor Vince are a wonderful and warm new set of foster parents (aka Ma Kent and Pa Kent), Skyler Gisondo is a good fit for the role of Jimmy Olsen, and María Gabriela de Faría, Edi Gathegi, Nathan Fillion, and Isabela Merced all have fun as, respectively, The Engineer, Mr. Terrific, Guy Gardner, and Hawkgirl. Wendell Pierce is an excellent Perry White, Sara Sampaio eventually gets a scene or two in which to shine as Eve Teschmacher, and, if you've seen any of the pre-release advertising, you should already be prepared for Krypto to steal the show/slightly irritate you, depending on how you feel about very cute dogs wearing capes. Everything relies on a central trio though, and I cannot find fault with Corenswet, Brosnahan, or Hoult. They're given enough room to step into some big shoes and try to make each role their own, and I'm going to say that they succeed more than I had thought possible. I didn't spend any of my time watching this film comparing their characters against past portrayals. I quite simply rooted for Superman, waited for Lex Luthor to come unstuck, and enjoyed the intelligence and tenacity of a Lois Lane who wields her journalism skills as her very own super-power.

Superman will, like all of the best super-heroes, mean so many different things to so many different people. But this Superman is probably the hero we need right now. And it's only one or two very minor criticisms that have stopped me from rating this as a perfect film. Hell, the final scene made me smile so much that I might even add that one extra point whenever I get around to rewatching it, and I am definitely aiming to rewatch it ASAP.

9/10